His family name, Donquixote, is originally one word. In the English translations, it has been separated into two, Don Quixote, possibly due to the translators believing it was inspired by the titular character of a novel.
The Yaksha part of his epithet, Heavenly Yaksha, refers to demons of dual personalities who guard natural treasures hidden deep under the earth and roots, from Buddhism, Jain, and Hindu folklore. The English manga translated it into "Heavenly Demon", since "Yasha" in Japanese also means "demon".
Anime and Manga Differences
Jaya Arc
In the manga, Doflamingo's actions during the Shichibukai meeting after Crocodile's title was revoked were noticed by Tsuru. In the anime, his actions were noticed instead by Mozambia.
Marineford Arc
At the moment when Sengoku revealed the relationship between Dragon and Luffy in the manga, Doflamingo stated that was the reason why Ivankov was with Luffy.[2] In the anime, he did not say anything and was only briefly seen smiling.[3]
Colorization
In the manga and other related merchandise, Doflamingo has a different color scheme than the one that was presented initially in the anime. However, the anime later changed the majority of Doflamingo's color scheme to match that presented in the manga.[4][5][6]
Doflamingo's signature pistol was different in color schemes as well. The anime portrays the pistol as in the present, but in the flashback, the pistol that Doflamingo received from Trebol and later used to kill his father was merely an ordinary pistol. The manga shows it as the ornate pistol when Trebol gave it to him.
Haoshoku Haki
In the manga, Doflamingo awakening his Haoshoku Haki during his childhood was only mentioned. In the anime, Doflamingo was shown using Haoshoku Haki on the mob who hanged him and his family over the wall of fire right after he swore to kill them.
Early One Piece
Early concept of some Shichibukai from One Piece Green.
In One Piece Green: Secret Pieces, an early concept of Donquixote Doflamingo was revealed, showing that he was originally a rapper, and that he was supposed to be a little younger than his current setting.
Doflamingo's flag was the first "smilie" style Jolly Roger to be seen in the series. Doflamingo also stated that slavery is "out", but smilies are "in". With the introduction of SAD and his illicit underground network trafficking in man-made Zoans, "SMILE", the meaning behind his words and symbol become much clearer.[7]
His surname is a reference to Don Quixote, the main character of the famous Spanish novel "El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha", while his given name, Flamingo, is a bird whose plumage resembles Doflamingo's flamboyant jacket and likely comprises it.
In both the 5th and 6th Fan Poll, Doflamingo ranked 17th, making him the 3rd most popular of the original Shichibukai, and 4th most popular over all. This also ranks him as the second most popular major antagonist of the series.
Doflamingo is the second antagonist (the first being Caesar Clown) to have his own original soundtrack, the theme is called "Donquixote Doflamingo" and is part of the One Piece New World Soundtrack.
Doflamingo's alias, Joker, fits with the card-themed aliases of his own crew as well as the Beasts Pirates whom he was allied with. His alias particularly aligns with the names of the Beasts Pirates' All-Stars, as they are all based on playing card ranks.
Doflamingo shares some very notable parallelisms with Crocodile:
They both have been Shichibukai, both arrested after Luffy sending them crashing to the ground unconscious.
They both were leaders of a powerful criminal organization with multiple Devil Fruit users with codenames (both including a bomber, a human that can change their weight, a user that can change their limbs into steel, a user that uses their powers for art, and a user that can mobilize underground).
They both operated under the façade of celebrated heroes in their respective countries, committing dark dealings that contributed to the countries' deterioration.
Crocodile was the main antagonist of the second saga of Part 1 (Alabasta Saga), while Doflamingo was the main antagonist of the second saga of Part 2 (Dressrosa Saga).
They both are Devil Fruit users and have mastered their powers to high levels, able to severely distort the surrounding environments.
They both drape furry coats as capes for their common clothes.
They both aimed to control a whole country (with Doflamingo having succeeded) with similar plans: by framing the current king for unforgivable crimes against the people, while appearing later as the hero.
They both have earned the scorn of said country's princess who aimed to kill them for their crimes (Vivi for Crocodile and Rebecca for Doflamingo).
They were also both spied by said country's princess who went by a codename as well to keep their fathers alive (Crocodile by Vivi as Miss Wednesday for Cobra and Doflamingo by Viola as Violet for Doldo).
They both contrabanded illegal substances (Dance Powder and SAD).
They both acted cruel to subordinates that they deemed useless and unworthy of their military powers (Crocodile discarded Galdino, Doflamingo discarded Bellamy).
They both attempted a genocide of the respective countries they were trying to control, both failing in the end.
They both were attacked in a way that would have decapitated them if they did not have Devil Fruit powers, but instead avoided harm altogether (Vivi attacked Crocodile with her Peacock Slashers but he dissipated into sand, Kyros appeared to lop Doflamingo's head off with his sword but Doflamingo had faked him out with a clone made of string).
They both were defeated by Luffy in a way that wrought havoc on the nearby residential areas where they had fought him (Crocodile was knocked out of an underground temple containing a Poneglyph, causing the road and some buildings above it to be thrown asunder, Doflamingo was sent crashing into the ground with such force it leveled all of the surrounding buildings).
Also the way Luffy destroys Doflamingo's string clone is similar to Crocodile's defeat, as they both are sent up to the ceiling and were beaten up by an attack which involves Luffy punching them multiple times until the ceiling gets destroyed as they fall to the ground.
Doflamingo's sunglasses being broken by Luffy paralleled Kuro's glasses breaking at the end of his fight with Luffy; both characters were closely associated with their glasses.
Furthermore, Doflamingo has always hidden his eyes behind some form of frames even in flashbacks to his youth. His eyes have been scarcely seen; his right eye has been glimpsed twice—once after waking up from a nightmare and again after his glasses were broken. His left eye, however, has never been seen uncovered.
Doflamingo is the very first Paramecia-type Devil Fruit User who revealed that he had his Devil Fruit power awakened.
Doflamingo's favorite food is lobster. His least favorite is barbecue due to the trauma he went through as a child.[8]
A reader asked Oda why Viola and Doflamingo called each other "Violet" and "Doffy" in chapter 788. Oda replied that there is a deep secret behind this, but because it is a pretty adult part of the story, he could not tell the reader more.[9]
Donquixote Doflamingo references his inspirational namesake to various degrees, as do many other characters around him and One Piece as a whole. Don Quixote De La Mancha was a noble committed to a traditional knight errant in the post-chivalry era, resulting in arguably tragic/comedic consequences at the expense of those around him. Around the French Revolution the text was popularly interpreted as a morality tale of individuals being correct over society being wrong.
Doflamingo experiences both of this, experiencing torture despite being only a child due to societal bias from his family status as a World Noble. Whilst in adulthood ironically embodying the same society's cruelty against King Riku Doldo and his family.
Further irony is Doflamingo's dismissal of Luffy (like other antagonists) as what is known as 'Quixotism' in reality, defined as an idealistic pursuit of goals with little regard for practicality and implied failure.
Rocinante's and Sancho Panza's roles as the followers who usually face consequences for their leader's adventures are mirrored by both the Donquixote Pirates and the Straw Hat Pirates.
Rosinante, named after Don Quixote's old and overworked horse suffer due to the deeds of Doflamingo. Whereas the horse was usually comically involved and arguably against Don Quixote, Rosinante comically opposed him in secret, only to meet tragedy once exposed.
Ganfall, whilst donning the armor of the Sky Knight (itself based on Don Quixote's armor) explained a similar sentiment to the Revolutionary interpretation of Don Quixote when explaining pirates to Conis and Pagaya.
Doflamingo's amoral nature is also a reflection of this interpretation dismissing much of the Marines sentiments and role in maintaining peace, seen during the Battle of Marineford and after his arrest, accurately predicting the chaos his removal from the underworld would cause.
Don Quixote de la Mancha would be considered a literary milestone in developing the 'picaresque' genre, which is based on low-class rogues as main characters with some comedic and satirical tones.
Doflamingo shares some similarities with my hero academia's Hero killer Stain.
Both are voiced by Robert McCollum.
Both are Skilled fighters.
Both their arrests caused a massive change in the criminal underworld.
External Links
Don Quixote — Wikipedia article about the main character of a famous Spanish novel, after which this character is presumably named.
Flamingo — Wikipedia article about the animal Doflamingo's animal theme is based on.
