One Piece is a story about powerful pirates, and the Yonkos are the biggest and ‘badest’ out of them. So being one of the four Yonkos, Big Mom aka Charlotte Linlin is certainly among the top one percent of the One Piece world when it comes to raw power and influence.
Although, she is one of the more developed characters, yet there remain some misconceptions surrounding her nature. Most fans were convinced that she is a truly wicked person to the core. As in the fish man island arc, she was introduced as a tyrannical extorter who was willing to destroy a nation over some candy.
Manga Spoilers Ahead!!!
Don’t read if you are not caught up till chapter 1011!
Is Big Mom One of the Bad Characters?
Oda has challenged this negative perception of Big Mom in Chapter 1011. Specifically, when Big Mom double-crosses Kaido after hearing about how O-Tama’s village was destroyed on Kaido’s orders. Understandably, most One Piece fans were angry and frankly a little confused over this switch. They claimed Big Mom is an inconsistent character, as she was also extremely ruthless to anyone who dared to oppose her.
She even ate one of her children god’s sake! How can a horribly cruel character like her be ever redeemed? All of that is true, but you should know that most of these vile things happened during one of her hunger fits. And as we all know, whenever she is having a hunger fit she doesn’t have any control over her actions, nor any recollection of the events. It’s something that is totally out of her control!
Honestly, it’s pretty tragic being hated for something she has no power over. In that way, she is vaguely similar to Gara from Naruto. He has killed a lot of people in his dark days. Granted, Gara was much younger and had a tragic life, but still, he had some control over his powers. So the biggest difference here is that Gara has already redeemed himself. He has changed himself for the better to become a respected leader of his people. Likewise, Big Mom also deserves a chance to redeem herself.
But some of you might ask, what about Lola? She is one of Big Mom’s daughters and she wants her dead! This has nothing to do with her hunger fits at all, right? Well yes, but another pretty sad thing is at play here, and it related to her hunger fits.
This anger for Lola has to do with Big Mom’s severe abandonment issues. So far, she has been abandoned by her parents, the giants of Elbaf, Mother Carmel, and the children of the orphanage. And as we all know their leaving was directly related to her fits. However, since Linlin doesn’t recall anything, she thinks it was for no reason at all.
From Big Mom’s perspective, she is the only good person in the world who is trying to create a utopia for all races. All she wants for everyone is to get all, yet Lola, her own blood got in the way of her noble plans.
If you remember, Big Mom was particularly hurt by this because Lola was betrothed to Prince Loki of Elbaf. It’s so important to her because this was Big Mom’s only chance of mending her tarnished relations with the Giants. Big Mom’s dream of having a Utopia for all races would’ve been completed if only the Giants had joined in. Hence, her biggest dream failed because Lola ran off from that marriage. Her own daughter abandoned her.
All of this doesn’t mean that she is completely innocent, it just means that after having a second look she is not as unredeemable as one might think. Big Mom continues to use her children as an extension of herself, and that’s just wrong. Apart from this, another disposable thing about Big Mom is that she is an extremely stubborn grown-up child that never listens to anyone. Although to be fair, not many people have dared to stand up to her. No one in her life has ever tried to tell her right from wrong. Everyone has let her do what she wants because she was always so monstrously strong.
Conclusion:
Just like Gaara Big Mom is not an irredeemable character. She is in the middle of her redemption arc, so we should give her a chance. As most of the evil things she has done are not really her fault, as she can’t control herself during a hunger fit.
In the end, one thing remains true, Big Mom is in dire need of psychotherapy—or its next best Shonen anime alternative, which means getting beaten by a good character until she sees her mistake. Just like what Naruto did to Gara, a good old Talk no Jutsu!
