Why does Doflamingo wear Glasses?
Does he have sensitive eyes?
Maybe a bolt fashion statement?
Or is there some other meaning behind them, that connect to his complex character on a
much deeper level than you might have thought.
In this video we will explore who Doflamingo truly is as at heart, what his conflict with
Luffy meant for the story and what makes him one of the most iconic antagonists in the
entire series.
Oh yeah and before we get into it, if you haven’t subscribed to the channel yet, make
sure to hit that big red button below this video.
Doflamingo is a special antagonist in the story for a number of reasons.
His unusually early introduction into the story, the fantastic and clever ways he uses
his devil fruit, his conquerors Haki as well as his eccentric appearance are just the tip
of the ice berg here.
Because I believe that he is actually the most complex villain in the story so far.
Doflamingo is a former celestial Dragon, who has been locked out of paradise.
Giving him this sort of backstory was a fantastic move by Oda, as it ties his chaotic and evil
nature together with one of THE major antagonistic forces of the story.
Doflamingo is not just evil for evil’s sake.
He is the tragic result of the unjust world order, created by those around him.
His entire childhood, Doflamingo grew up under the ideology that as a world noble he was
practically a god.
Having people serve at his will and ruling over them with absolute control and power
was not only an idea, but something that constituted everyday life in Marijoe.
And yet, when his father decided to leave this world of perverted excess, egotism and
exploitation behind, he was suddenly confronted with the harsh reality of the real world,
where there were no slaves to do the work and satisfy his every desire.
In fact is was the exact opposite: Hated for their heritage, his family was prosecuted
by the commoners.
Being forced to go into hiding and live off garbage, eventually his mother succumbed to
illness.
Finally, one day together with his father Homing and his brother Corazon he was lynched
by an angry mob of commoners that had suffered under the hand of
the Tenryuubito.
This sudden transition from one extreme into the other traumatised and broke the young
boy, who until then had known nothing but pleasure and entitlement his entire life.
And interestingly, while this tragic experience brought out the very best in his brother Corazon
it brought out the very worst in himself.
A wonderful example of nature vs nurture, I think.
Maybe, in the end, the decisive factor between the two brothers contrasting development was
that Rosinante was able to show and share his emotions and pain, lauding, crying and
suffering side by side with his parents.
Doflamingo meanwhile could never show his true feelings or connect to them on a human
level and thus ended up projecting all of his hate, fear and pain on his family.
Being thrown into misery through the well-meaning, but terribly naive decision of his father
to try and live a normal life, he felt betrayed, ultimately covering his deep emotional wounds
and sudden lack of self-confidence with rage and the sense of importance he had been spoon
fed his entire life.
Finally, when his traumatising experience with the villagers was added to this already
toxic brew of emotions, Doflamingo cracked.
And I believe that it was at this point that he truly gave in to ‘evil’ and as a result
executes his father.
This tragic past results in one of my absolute favourite speeches of the show.
As chance would have it, in this moment of deepest darkness, he was discovered by none
other than Trebol, who instead of showing him care and love, once again hailed him as
a king and as superior to all others.
Filling the hole in his chest with even more ideas of power and importance and being handed
the tools to act on them, Dofi started to develop into the cruel and manipulative villain
that Luffy encounters on Dressrosa.
Betrayed from all sides - by his family, by the nobles and by the people - he had seen
just how cruel this world was and realised that it needed to be reborn, in his message
that is.
However his lack of self-confidence and true love would never allow for that.
And so, while he loves nothing more than present himself as a messenger of chaos and destruction,
to the world at large, in reality we find out that he is a control freak in every sense
of the word, desperate to literally try and pull all the strings behind the scene.
He needs to be the puppeteer that has full power over whatever is going on in his small
world.
And this is exactly the reason why betrayal and disloyalty is the worst possible thing
for him as we see with Corazo - - and Law
All of this also shows really well in the relationship he has with his family.
While, like a real Don, family seems to be incredibly important to him, his relationship
to his crew is quite screwed.
There is no doubt that he does seem to care for them to a certain extend, as we can see
after Vergo’s and Monet’s death or the lengths he went to to protect baby five.
However, the things that matter most to him are absolute loyalty and dedication.
While it might pain him to sacrifice one of his family members, he will do so to reach
his goal.
After all, he is a king, a god, who stands above everyone else.
His will has priority.
In many ways Luffy and Doflamingo are two sides of the same coin.
Just like Dofi, Luffy also strongly values the wild patchwork family he has gathered
around him and those close to him.
However never in his wildest dreams would Luffy put his own ambition over that of his
crew, nor sacrifice even a single one of them for any of his goals.
Because the straw hats, other than the Donquixote pirates are a crucial part of his ambitions
to begin with, and not just pawns to be used.
It is one of THE major underlaying messages of the story: It doesn’t really matter what
type of values you hold, but how you act on them in the world.
. Dofi feels like he is entitled to be king and stand above everyone else, he is just
taking what is rightfully his through pure strength and power of will.
Luffy meanwhile, also is convinced he can become king and takes what he wants, and he
does so by pure strength and willpower as well.
However, where they fundamentally differ from each other is in their incentive: Dofi wants
to rule and control others and fill the hole in his heart by seeking the ultimate form
of attention.
Luffy on the other hand, simply wants to be free.
Doflamingo’s Nakama serve him, while Luffy’s crew are his equals, each with dreams and
ambitions of their own.
Dofi has subordinates and business partners that want a piece of the cake, while Luffy
has friends and allies and people that trust and believe in him and genuinely want him
to succeed and be happy.
They give Luffy purpose and together guide him towards the right path.
Helping and fighting for his friends is what got Luffy this far in the first place.
At first it was Shanks who inspired his dream.
Then it was the love and pain he shared with his brothers that made him fight for his dream
in earnest.
And finally, it was his crew that helps him do the impossible and defy the world to reach
their dreams together.
All of them believing in him, but none of them going easy on him.
Dofi never had that.
Corrupted by the perverse ideology of the nobles and maybe also cursed by his nature,
he never had the capability of laughing and crying with his family.
As for his executives, they never gave him anything to fight and strive for, they just
told him that he was entitled to be king and rule over all anyway.
As they like to say, it is very lonely, alone at the top.
This pattern just keeps going the deeper you dig.
Dofi despises the Tenryuubito and wants to tear down the old world for all the injustice
and pain it has inflicted on him.
Luffy also despises the Nobles and the world government, however because of what they have
done to his friends, not to him.
And while Dofi envisions a new world, where only the strong will make the cut, ironically
he is the only holding the old world together by pulling the stings from the underworld,
working with both the World Government and the Yonko to secure his position.
Only through his defeat by Luffy is the world thrown into real chaos as Dofi is the very
first to not make the cut for this new world order.
This deep irony makes him one of the most tragic characters in the story, I believe.
And so, this brings me to the main point of this video, that I think many people overlook
when it comes to Doflamingo’s character.
You see, based on all that we have discussed so far, I believe that the biggest irony of
the entire Dressrosa arc was the Bird cage and all the other bird symbolism united in
a man that Oda literally named Doflamingo.
Because he is literally a fragile and exotic bird that is caged himself.
Let me explain.
In many ways Doflamingo has always been the puppet of others, never really having any
say or control of his own life, his dreams or his destiny.
The tragedy however was that he never saw the strings himself.
He never really heard the commands to follow his purpose, never saw the walls raised around
him - isolating him from the world, never felt the push of other people using him for
their own interests, but he always followed through on them.
The Celestial Dragons told him to behave like a god.
His father made him atone for his own bad conscience and experience hell.
Then the world nobles treated him like an outcast, pushing him away.
Trebol and the other executives told him to behave like a king and strive for power.
And finally he was working for the government and Kaido, keeping control over his small
island, where he would be able to tyrannise the people and play god, while working for
other people’s dreams and ambitions.
Not once in his entire life did Dofi have the chance to learn who he truly is and what
he wants in life, always a slave to the ideals of others.
This is why Luffy will be the king of pirates, and Dofi never had a chance to play the game
in the first place.
Because to become pirate king and change the world, you need one thing above all: Freedom.
And so, once again it took Luffy to literally break the bird cage that held this rare and
exotic Flamingo his entire life by shattering all the expectations and stories about being
special that he had been fed his entire life and that had dictated his every move.
He wanted to be the puppet master, but ended up being the puppet.
He was supposed to be a bird that could fly free, but in the end was locked in a cage
his entire life.
This is why in his battle with Luffy, Dofi is a man with no love, no freedom and no dream
of his own and as a result has nothing left to lose: And so, by completely destroying
him and everything he worked for, as he so often does, Luffy not only frees dressrosa,
but Doflamingo as well.
The moment his cage crumbles and falls, Dofi finally escapes the prison he built himself
unknowingly.
And so, while we don’t know the original reason that Doflamingo started wearing glasses
in the first place, the fact that he was wearing shades his entire life, really symbolises
well the shadow under which he has lived since his childhood.
And Luffy finally breaking these glasses as he beats Dofi into the ground, finally gives
him a glimpse into the light.
The only question that remains is whether he will actually notice.
I think what Doflamingo’s character really is supposed to show us, is just how cruel,
toxic and unjust the world is under the rule of the Tenryuubito and how the system that
the world government has created produces true despair and evil.
And so Doflamingo and the entire Dressrosa arc ultimately present to us the true nature
of the world in miniature.
In the end Doflamingo is just another tragic victim of this system and Luffy is once again
the one that works to abolish it.
And so I believe that it’s all of these complex layers that are woven into Doflamingo’s
character, that make him one the most interesting & fascinating villains in anime.
There is another aspect to Doflamingo’s character, that I found incredibly interesting,
that however didn’t really fit into the context of this video.
The similarities between him and Crocodile.
So, I decided to make a small bonus video on the topic, that you can watch on the left.
Or, if you already want to look at the next villain in the story, you can learn how Katakuri
was able to win the fight against Luffy on the right.
Thanks guys.
Peace.