Category:Four Heavenly Knights

The Four Heavenly Knights (Japanese: 四天王 Shitennō) are four insanely powerful monsters next to the Monster Lord, usually considered leaders or powerful figures amongst their respective races.

Usually, when a Monster Lord is selected, the heir to the throne may receive a challenger, as in Cassandra's case. However, the last coronation saw four powerful monsters vouch for power against Alice XVI (Sixteenth), being Alma Elma, the free-spirited Queen of the Succubi; Tamamo, the kitsune tutor with a vast history; Erubetie, the Queen of all Slimes who hates humanity; and Granberia, the dragonkin with unmatched swordplay skills.

Each competitor had their own reasons for partaking in the battle. Alma Elma simply viewed the competition as mere fun; Tamamo, who was Alice's surrogate mother and the mentor of many Monster Lords before her, felt that Alice was outnumbered and would possibly be overwhelmed if she did not step in; Erubetie believed that the position of Monster Lord would benefit her race; and Granberia wished to test her skill against the current Monster Lord, having no intention of claiming the throne at all. During the battle, the winner would become the next Monster Lord; Alma Elma left the match early on a pure whim, Tamamo and Erubetie also K.O.ed each other out simultaneously later in battle, leaving Granberia to battle Alice. Alice managed to win, after seeing every move that the dragonkin had at her disposal.

After being defeated by Alice for the right to the Monster Lord’s throne, the Four Heavenly Knights were formed from the other combatants as a means of keeping power in check, though the Monster Lord does question their actions sometimes as they all tend to do their own things.

Indeed, the Knights have very different opinions on Luka, with Tamamo acting like a tutor, Granberia testing him for his skills as a possible rival, while Alma Elma treats him nonchalantly and seeming only teasing him in battle, and Erubetie wants to outright kill him due to her intense hatred of the human race.

Although some speculate there is some form of tier or ranking system with the Heavenly Knights due to their difference in HP and level, the order they are fought, and the nature of the competition to see who would succeed the throne, they act more like knights of a round table.When questioned about their levels of ability, Alice outright states that although they have their own strengths and weaknesses in various situations, they all have the same level of raw power. For instance, Alma’s speed and hand-to-hand fighting is unmatched, while Granberia’s swordplay is also peerless.

All Heavenly Knights are capable of teleportation and are said to possess the abilities associated with a particular element: wind, earth, water and fire for Alma Elma, Tamamo, Erubetie and Granberia respectively, though it is not unknown for the Heavenly Knights to dabble in the skills from other elements, as seen with Granberia.

Under Ilias’s order, Promestein created four special chimeras, the Next Dolls, to deal with the Heavenly Knights: Hainuwele, Amphisbaena, Tsukuyomi, and Arc-En-Ciel. She analyzed the Heavenly Knights and Alice and engineered these four chimeras to defeat them.

Trivia

 * The Japanese name, 四天王 Shitennō, translates to the Four Heavenly Kings, which references the Buddhist deities who watch over the four gates of heaven. The renaming from "King" to "Knight" during translation may have been because they are of lower status than the Monster Lord. Additionally, Granberia and Alma Elma do not act as leaders of their own race,even if the latter has the title "Queen".
 * Although the Four Heavenly Knights in the game are linked to elements via the Four Spirits, the traditional iteration of the legend does not link the four kings to the classical elements.
 * However, the original legend does state that each king is a guardian of a direction (North, East, South and West) though not linked to the Four Heavenly Knights, this extends to another four monsters being associated with this part of the legend, these being Poseidoness (North), Sphinx (East), Kraken (South), and Yamata no Orochi (West).