Relações de poder, saber e ética em One Piece: uma análise do personagem Donquixote Doflamingo à luz do pensamento de Michel Foucault

Abstract

This paper analyzes the discourse of the character Donquixote Doflamingo, from Eiichiro Oda's manga and anime One Piece, based on Michel Foucault's theoretical framework on the relations between knowledge, power, and ethics, in dialogue with the character construction techniques proposed by Syd Field in his screenwriting manual. The starting point is the observation that the work allegorizes power relations of the contemporary world, a phenomenon evidenced by its appropriation in real political movements, such as the youth protests in Nepal in 2025. Doflamingo is chosen as a privileged object of analysis due to his narrative singularity: he is the only character who simultaneously occupies the roles of pirate, king, Celestial Dragon, and Navy-affiliated warlord, making him a living map of the multiple forms power assumes when it is not fixed within a single institution. The research also explores the interdiscursive dimension of the character's name, whose sound evokes Don Quixote de la Mancha, by Miguel de Cervantes, establishing a network of meanings between the nobleman who replaces reality with his own fiction and the villain who imposes his "reality" on Dressrosa through absolute control. Methodologically, the work draws on the Foucauldian concepts of discursive practice, enunciative function, and power relations, articulated with the three-act structure (setup, confrontation, and resolution) described by Field, in order to organize the character's arc between the presentation of his power (episodes 151–513), the revelation of his origin (episodes 623–659), and the confrontation in Dressrosa (episodes 659–736). The results indicate that Doflamingo's discourse articulates a conception of justice and morality as historical constructions determined by those who occupy positions of power, a thesis summarized in his famous line during the Battle of Marineford, according to which justice belongs to the victors. The revelation of his family origin, as a descendant of Celestial Dragons who renounced their title, shifts his characterization from an essentially monstrous antagonist to a product of a corrupt system, expanding the discussion on the relational and diffuse character of power in Foucault. Finally, the contrast between Doflamingo and his brother, Donquixote Rosinante, is used as an analytical resource to highlight the possibilities of resistance within the same power relations that produced both characters. It is concluded that the analysis of Doflamingo's discourse contributes to understanding how globally reaching fictions articulate and legitimize discourses on power, justice, and morality, also shedding light on ethical meanings within the social environment that consumes these cultural products.