Hope's Shackles

There were seven immortals created by the Lord of Light to contain Hope. Their strings were torn out of the tapestry of fate, made to loop endlessly onto themselves, and placed into seven strange knives. The knives were both what made the Chain Lords eternal, and the only thing that could kill them. Each of Hope's wardens was entrusted with the key to another's death. This was what kept the balance between them.^[3]

Here are the list of lords their faith, domain, and what knife entrusted to them by Lord of Light and one that contains their string of fate:

Using the knives would only make the lords mortal.^[12]

• In Chapter 739, when Kai plunged the Glass Knife into Ivory Lord’s tongue, his fate was returned to him, becoming mortal again.

Note: Click Show Spoilers to reveal.
The Lord of Light bound Hope with seven brilliant shackles, and made those shackles eternal, that was the Chain Lords. He entrusted each of them with the fate of another, and a solemn duty to never let the Demon escape. For a few centuries, everything was fine but slowly, they grew tired. Doubt found its way into their hearts. After all, eternity is a heavy burden. Under its weight, unnoticed, one of them grew twisted, Aidre. So, another one made a choice to uproot the corruption. That was how the first of the Chain Lords died, murdered by Solvane, her beautiful grove burned to the ground.^[13]

After that, all of their fates were sealed. Six shackles still remained but Hope's prison wasn't perfect anymore. It enabled her will, her insidious influence to sip out, little by little, infecting all of them. Slowly devouring the whole kingdom, every living being in it, from the smallest insect to the mightiest immortal, igniting their desires, twisting them, changing them into something different, something terrible, rampant, and vile.^[13]

None of them noticed it for a long time, even after hundreds of years. It seemed that only Shadow realized it earlier and by the time the rest of them understood, at least those who were still sane enough, it was already too late. The whole of the Kingdom of Hope had been driven mad by its former ruler.^[13]

Aidre was entrusted with the Wooden Knife by the Lord of Light and Solvane had the Iron Knife which could kill her.^[7] After Aidre died, Solvane took possession of the Wooden Knife, which contained her own fate.^[5]

The Iron Knife was destroyed when Lady Aidre was murdered.^[14]

There were brothers who were both blessed by the Lord of Light and entrusted with a sacred duty. One of them tortured the other, as penitence for the sin his brother committed. The tortured brother was entrusted with the Ember Knife by the Lord of Light but was stolen by a Shadow. There's also the Ivory Knife entrusted to him by his brother but he forgot the location where he hid it.^[15] The brothers were the rulers of the Ivory City.^[13]

The Ivory Knife was entrusted to Sevras, the Sun Lord, who gave it to his twin brother, the Sun Prince. One day the Sun Prince came to Noctis with an unusual request. He wanted Noctis to erase the memories of where he hid had hidden the Ivory Knife and make him forget the request. Noctis agreed but instead of destroying the memory, he kept it for himself and eventually retrieved the knife.^[14]

However, the One in the North was still angry with Noctis and they had a rematch. The stakes were high and Noctis did not win. She got the Ivory Knife and threw it into the Sky Below.^[14]

The Shadow Lord was entrusted with the Glass Knife by the Lord of Light.^[8] He had stolen the Ember Knife from the Sun Prince.^[15][8] Then, he entrusted the Glass Knife to a Shadow, taken to the Temple of the Chalice, and given to a War Maiden.^[8]

Ember Knife was stolen and destroyed when the Shadow took his own life.^[14]

The Obsidian Knife had been originally entrusted to the One in the North, but she lost it to Noctis in a game of wit.^[16]

Noctis won the Obsidian Knife as a prize from the One in the North by playing cards but he sort of lost the knife later on.^[3]

The others weren't happy at all that he possessed two knives, so he placed the Obsidian Knife on the altar in his Sanctuary and proclaimed that everyone who manages to gather enough of his coins can take it. According to Noctis, the coins are very precious but a very determined and reckless young man managed to collect all of them. The daredevil took the obsidian knife and disappeared. He was probably killed for it, but no one knows where and how. The Obsidian Knife was lost temporarily lost and was back in the possession of Sunny.^[14]

The Ruby Knife was the one entrusted to Noctis by the Lord of Light but due to his concern about his state of mind and frightened what he might do he gave it to a dear friend of sorts for safekeeping.^[14] Noctis said to his friend that only give the knife to someone of pure thought and heart.^[17]

When Noctis entrusted the knife to the creature centuries ago, the purity of heart and thought meant the ability to remain of clear mind, true to his oath, and loyal to his sacred duty.^[18]

• According to Aidre, no matter which one of them falls, the one who remains will no longer be fateless. The balance of power between the seven of them will irrevocably be broken.^[7]
• According to Noctis, the knives never really stay lost for long. It was impossible to get rid of one.^[3]
• According to Noctis, the One in the North is perhaps the craziest of them all except for himself who admitted that he is the maddest person in all of the Kingdom of Hope.^[13]
• The immortals spent more than a thousand years bound together and they know the flaws of each other.^[19]
• In Chapter 2730, it was mentioned that Hope's prison was formed not solely by divine power or by the lives of her guardians, but by desire itself. Although seven Transcendent men were entrusted by the Lord of Light with the task of keeping Hope shackled, it was stated by Weaver that "seven human lives" were not enough to truly bind the Demon of Desire. Instead, it was Noctis' endless desire to keep her bound that built the walls of her prison and became her chains, rather than their unending lives.

• Dark Seed
• Divine Miracles