Cardinal Sin

Dragon Quest monster Cardinal Sin
Art by Akira Toriyama Japanese アントリア Romaji Antoria First appearance Dragon Quest VII Old localization Antoria

Cardinal Sin is a boss that the player faces in Alltrades Abbey in the game Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past.

Characteristics

Cardinal Sin has the appearance of an overweight, yellow-skinned humanoid demon with purple tattoos on his body, three spikes at the top of his head, long pointed ears, and small, solid white eyes. He wears a peculiar red and green cape that reaches down to his feet and has black sleeves, but leaves his chest and belly bare. The cape is attached to black pants with two belts below his arms. He wears a green loincloth over his pants, black shoes with white socks and red spats, and silver jewelry on the middle of his belly with a red tassel. In his original art, Cardinal Sin only had three fingers on his hands, but from the 3DS version onward, he now has five digits on each hand. He wields a long silver staff with a demon at the top struggling to hold up a globe with lines of lava all around and a light blue crystal orb in his left hand; he is able to telekinetically throw both of these orbs at the same time in his deadly attacks. Due to his corpulence, Cardinal Sin's belly shakes whenever he moves. In order to fool unsuspecting adventurers, he disguises himself as the High Priest of Alltrades Abbey.

History

The Demon King understood the importance of Alltrades Abbey because of its potential to create a Hero. The Demon King sent Cardinal Sin to take over Alltrades. He commanded monsters and overtook the temple. Many of the guardsmen were killed. Jacqueline, the High Priestess, was captured by the monsters and imprisoned in the Dungeon of Descent, encased in a pyramidal energy field, powered by two magical conductors.

With the monsters finally in control over Alltrades Abbey, Cardinal Sin comes up with an ingenious scheme: knowing that travelers would come to the Abbey to change vocations, Cardinal Sin decides to steal their skills. How it works is simple: The traveler comes to Alltrades Abbey to change vocations. The monsters, disguised as priests, pushes vocational change onto the unknowing traveler, telling them about the advantages of changing their vocation. When the traveler is sold on the idea of changing vocations, they go to the High Priest, who is actually Cardinal Sin in disguise. Cardinal Sin asks the unsuspecting traveler what vocation they wish to become. When the traveler makes their choice, Cardinal Sin first asks the traveler to bathe in the pool behind him. When the traveler bathes in the pool, Cardinal Sin reveals his ruse. Bathing in the pool seals the travelers' abilities. With the traveler powerless, he is sent to Pilgrim's Perdition, a town filled with the tricked travelers. It is cut off from Alltrades Abbey by mountains and connected by a long cave.

In Pilgrim's Perdition, the travelers are trapped by the monsters with no way out. Pushed to the brink, the trapped people turn against each other. Those who relied on strength before being tricked by Cardinal Sin and the monsters usually attack the people who relied on magic. Should a person try to leave the penal colony, the only way out would be to go through the cave. It is a dangerous cave, surrounded by poisonous marshland. On the fourth floor, two powerful monsters, Rashers and Stripes, guard the floor. They are given some of the power stolen by Cardinal Sin which makes them near unbeatable.

To further torture the people, the monsters tell them that the only way to recover their stolen powers is to use a weapon known as a Soulsword. A Soulsword is the manifestation of a person's soul made into a weapon. It allows the user to harvest the souls of the trapped people in Alltrades Abbey. The people whose souls were harvested are taken to a settlement cut out of the mountain. There they guard the priests who weren't killed in the battle for the Abbey.

The people whose harvested the five souls required to return their stolen powers are taken into Allblades Arena underneath the abbey. There they are told that in order to gain their freedom, they must fight in five battle matches against others who have had their powers restored. The monsters require that the the fighters make groups of four but because the warriors do not trust one another, they choose to pair up with monsters. They must win five matches and then defeat the current champion. Should one person complete this task, monsters arrive and escort them into Alltrades Abbey's interior. There, they are taken before Cardinal Sin.

Cardinal Sin reveals why he did what he did. Stealing their powers strengthens the Demon King. Furthermore, the battle arena increases the rate that the Demon King gains strength exponentially. Cardinal Sin reveals that he will not allow people to escape and those who complete the battle arena are destroyed by him personally.

Synopsis

The party enters Alltrades Abbey and talk to Cardinal Sin, who has disguised himself as the High Priest. He asks them to bath in the pool behind him before he changes their classes. When the party bathe in the pool, their powers are stolen from them. Cardinal Sin reveals his ruse and sends the party to Pilgrim's Perdition afterwards.

The party makes their way back to Alltrades Abbey, having recovered their stolen abilities. They arrive to see another warrior talking with Cardinal Sin. The warrior demands his freedom, stating that he had won the tournament. Cardinal Sin agrees that he had won the tournament but reveals that it was all of the sake of strengthening the Demon King and himself. He burns that warrior until there is nothing left. The party goes up to challenge Cardinal Sin. With Jacqueline's help, the party finally defeat Cardinal Sin and liberate the abbey.

Boss Encounter

Cardinal Sin (アントリア Antoria)

Sprite	HP	MP	Attack	Defense
	700	55	85	63
Agility	Experience	Gold	Tame Rate
75	687	743	N/a

Bestiary No.	#294
Spell(s)	Sizzle Bang Magic Barrier
Skill(s)	Occasionally acts twice per turn Sends two balls of energy sailing towards the party (attack/2 +67, attacks twice randomly) Flame Slash
Location(s)	Alltrades Abbey
Item(s) Dropped	N/a

Evasion	Frizz Resistance *	Sizz Resistance *	Fire Breath Resistance *
1⁄64	0%	30%	0%
Bang Resistance *	Crack Resistance *	Ice Breath Resistance *	Woosh Resistance *
0%	30%	30%	30%
Strike/Rock Resistance *	Zap Resistance *	Drain Magic Resistance *	Whack Resistance *
100%	0%	100%	100%
Poof Resistance *	Poison Resistance *	Burning Breath Resistance	Fuddle Resistance *
100%	100%	100%	100%
Snooze Resistance *	Dazzle Resistance *	Fizzle Resistance *	Ban Dance Resistance
15%	15%	100%	100%
Stun Resistance *	Sap Resistance *	Army Resistance *
80%	15%	100%

3DS version changes

None

Strategy

Cardinal Sin is probably the hardest boss the player has encountered at this point in the game. He can attack twice in one round making things difficult. He can use Fire-based techniques like Flame Slash and Sizzle. His Bang spell can hurt the party as well. Cardinal Sin can also cast Magic Barrier that can nullify attack magic against him. However, his most powerful attack is when he hurls energy balls at the party. They hit for ~70 damage each and should they hit the same party member, it is most likely that that person will die.

If the player has equipped the Magic vestment bought from the Pilgrim's Rest Casino on both Maribel and Ruff, the damage received from Cardinal Sin's spells will be lessened.

Jacqueline will be a help becoming another target for Cardinal Sin's attack. She can also cast Crackle and attack for 30 damage. The Hero should cast Buff on everyone, especially Maribel. Then he should attack, stopping only to cast Midheal on anyone that needs it. Ruff should attack. Avoid using Howl as he will dodge it. Instead, focus on physical attacks. Maribel should be given the Salvation Stone and become the designated healer. She should cast Sap on Cardinal Sin twice though it should be noted that he does have some resistance to Sap. The party, before this fight, can find three Yggdrasil leaves. One should be given to a party member so that in the event that one should die in this fight, they will be immediately resurrected. It is also possible to put Cardinal Sin to sleep to prevent him from attacking, either by using Maribel's Snooze or using a Snooze stick as a tool in battle if it was purchased from Pilgrim's Perdition. His resistance to Dazzle is minimal, so it can be a good idea to have Maribel cast it on him early at the beginning of the battle to lower his chances of landing attacks on the party. However, it is only recommended to do this early in the fight as his Magic Barrier will increase his spell resistance.

Expect a long fight. Make sure that the party's health stays above 70 HP and Cardinal Sin will eventually be defeated.

Etymology

Cardinal Sin's new localization name is a play on the term "cardinal sin", a term from Christianity which refers to the Seven Deadly Sins, and cardinal, which is a high ranking title in the Roman Catholic Church. The Seven Deadly Sins are wrath, pride, lust, gluttony, envy, sloth, and greed, being established in their modern form by Pope Gregory I in 590 AD.

Related Monster

• Baron von Bellycose

Gallery

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  The party confronting Cardinal Sin in the 3DS version

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  Dragon Quest Monsters: Super Light