Charlotte Linlin is, most commonly called, "Big Mom". She is the main protagonist in Eiichiro Oda's manga and anime series One Piece. She is a captain of the Big Mom Pirates and was formerly one of the Four Emperors who rule over the New World; hence, incredibly powerful and influential in the world of One Piece. What makes her so interesting is her stature as the main antagonist and a really complicated Backstory.
Background
The birth of Charlotte Linlin was out of the ordinary. With otherwise normal human parents, Linlin was already exceptionally tall and strong as a child. Her childhood years were lived in the Sheep House under Mother Carmel's care. This period of her life remains in the dark, from her experiences to what really had happened to Mother Carmel and the other children in the orphanage. These early experiences had greatly shaped Linlin's character and had her well on her way to becoming one of the world's most feared pirates.
Appearance
Charlotte Linlin is as imposing in appearance as she is in reputation. She is an unusually tall woman, towering over most of the characters in the series. She comes with the most striking face shape, round in nature, and sports a wide, menacing grin; pink hair, styled in two large braids. Linlin is often depicted wearing a purple hat with a lightning bolt motif, which has become one of her iconic features. Her overwhelming size and weird appearance accord well with the general presence expected of a character ranked among the most powerful in the One Piece world.
Personal Information
Name: Charlotte Linlin
Alias: Big Mom
Age: 68 (debut) 70 (current)
Birthday: February 15th
Height: 880 cm (28'10")
Bounty: 4,388,000,000 Berries
Devil Fruit: Soru Soru no Mi (Soul-Soul Fruit)
Position: Captain of the Big Mom Pirates, Former Emperor of the Sea
Personality
Charlotte Linlin has a character that is at once erratic and contradictory. She reverts to childish behavior, the most pronounced of which is her inordinate appetite for sweets—this can easily degenerate into bouts of violent mood swings if not satiated. Contrasted with this, Linlin proves to be a shrewd and ruthless leader who can hold up an extensive pirate empire. She views all of her relationships as transactional and even treats her children like political tools to extend her influence. She has a very volatile temper, going from maternal affection to brutal violence in a snap. These mood swings make her quite unpredictable and dangerous.
Motivations and Goals
Charlotte Linlin strives to create a utopia for all races to coexist peacefully, as influenced by the Sheep House days. However, she enforces this with cruel and very selfish methods. She tries to augment her power through political marriages between her children and other powerful pirates and by getting rare races to complete her collection. Linlin's insatiable appetite for power is only equaled by her actual appetite for sweets that pushes her to absurd limits in search of satisfaction for both.
Fighting Styles
Being a One Piece character, Charlotte Linlin's fighting style is primarily concentrated on the Paramecia-type Devil Fruit known as the Soul-Soul Fruit—Soru Soru no Mi. The said power allows Linlin to manipulate souls, hence offering her bizarre yet formidable abilities in combat. The Soru Soru no Mi was originally consumed by Mother Carmel but somehow passed on to Linlin after Carmel's death.
One of the most notable uses of the Soru Soru no Mi is Linlin's ability to produce Special Homies. Basically, these are lifeless objects or animals that she infuses with human souls, which momentarily brings them to life and puts them at her service. Special Homies can be as simple as trees and flowers or as complex as her personal sun. These are powerful Homies that increase Linlin's actual combat capability, letting her control the weather and fire off elemental attacks. With high physical strength and durability paired with the weather control from Zeus and Prometheus, she's essentially invincible.
Among the crucial techniques in Linlin's disposal is Soul Pocus. This ability enables her to extract souls from any human being by giving them fear. When a person encounters Linlin and creates the emotion of fear, their life force can be subtracted and added into her collection. Such a technique not only debilitates opponents for her but also feeds Linlin with more Soul Energy to create and empower her Homies.
Ikoku Overtaker Sovereignty is Linlin's signature attack. This dangerous technique has Linlin swing her sword as Napoleon, one of her Homies, creates a giant gale that is imbued with Soul Energy. This technique can inflict damage on a wide area, which shows just how much raw power Linlin can output with her powers from the Devil Fruit.
Another one-of-a-kind feature in Linlin's abilities is her Incarnations. These large black blobs of Linlin's self-soul are able to do something independently and communicate on their own. Linlin sends out these Incarnations to enforce her will and harvest souls across her territory. This shows the extent that Linlin's soul manipulation abilities reach, such as projecting her presence across vast areas.
Other than this, Linlin has extraordinary physical strength, which is usually mixed with her soul manipulation powers. Her enormous size and strength also allow her to carry heavy weapons easily, increasing the potential of destruction if she were to attack.
The Story
Early life and tragic beginnings
Charlotte Linlin, popularly known as Big Mom, happens to be one of the most dreaded characters in the world of One Piece. Born into this world having extraordinary physical strength and an unending appetite that could not easily be satisfied, Linlin's childhood was filled with tragedy and mayhem. When Linlin was five years old, her parents deserted her because she had grown so fierce and violent that they could no longer contain her. She was adopted and taken in by Mother Caramel, who operated the orphanage known as Sheep's House.
The destructive nature of Linlin manifested during her time at Sheep's House. One of the most famous instances was when she had rampaged through an Elbaf village and killed a lot of giants during the Winter Solstice Festival because of hunger rage. This incident would be seared into her memory, completing the hostility toward her among those around her.
The Mysterious Disappearance of Mother Caramel
The most crucial and mysterious turn of events in Linlin's early life was the disappearance of Mother Caramel and the children. During the feast that was prepared for Linlin to celebrate her sixth birthday, she suddenly developed an overwhelming hunger that rendered her unconscious. Upon waking, all was gone, leaving no trace of Mother Caramel and the children. It is heavily implied that in her frenzy Linlin consumed Mother Caramel and her companions, inadvertently eating Caramel's Soru Soru no Mi and thereby receiving her powers.
The Rise of the Big Mom Pirates
With these new soul manipulation and giving life to inanimate objects powers, Linlin amassed her strength quickly. She established the Big Mom Pirates and eventually set her eyes on ruling the New World. With the dream of creating a utopia where all races live together, she stabilized her power through strategic marriage and other alliances, gaining influence across the world.
Yonko Ascendancy
Soon enough, Linlin's will and strength would earn her the title of one of the Four Emperors of the New World, turning her into one of the strongest and most influential pirates on the seas. The center of her empire was Whole Cake Island—an island whimsical and dangerous, crowned with sentient homies living on land.
The Mother and the Family
This Big Mom did by having multiple husbands of different races and many children, all with special abilities. Among these children are people with special talents, occupying key positions in the Big Mom Pirates.
Even with all the evident motherly love, the relationship between Linlin and her children was quite complicated, not to mention hard on them. Her intense mood swings sometimes turn violent, creating a climate of fear and thus securing the strictest loyalty from her offspring. One of her most famous children, Charlotte Katakuri, played a significant role in maintaining order and carrying out her will.
The Whole Cake Island Arc
She has had only one major arc in her history: the Whole Cake Island Arc, where the Straw Hat Pirates came to infiltrate and rescue their crewmate Sanji and destroy her plans. This arc portrayed Big Mom as a powerful character who could create storms using Zeus and Prometheus, two subordinates conjured from her soul.
The conflict escalated until several fierce battles broke out. Big Mom, despite being overpoweringly strong, was faced with many problems from the Straw Hats and their allies. The arc also focused on the confusing personality of Linlin by grouping her weak and cold-blooded sides.
Battle Against the Straw Hats
The final battle against the Straw Hats revealed the strength of Big Mom herself and her tenacity. It was Luffy's determination and strategic thinking, with the help of his fellow crew members and friends, that brought about such an epic battle. The stakes were high, but the action showed much more depth as it fleshed out just how big Big Mom truly is and how relentless the Straw Hats can be. Big Mom couldn't be defeated by the Straw Hats as they just angered her and then escaped from her territory.
Alliances and Ongoing Wars
Big Mom, after the events of Whole Cake Island, continued flexing her presence within the New World. She allied with another Yonko, Kaido, for power against the coming threat of the Straw Hats and their allies. This would eventually open up a path for more future conflicts and deepen Big Mom's position as a central character amidst the power struggle happening across the New World.
Relationships
The family of Charlotte is incredibly huge, as it consists of Charlotte Linlin and her 85 children: 39 daughters and 46 sons. The big family is a result of Linlin's 43 marriages throughout the years. Some of her children even have families on their own. The size of the family contributes to Big Mom's influence and power in the New World.
Linlin's relationship with her children is very complicated. While some of her children, such as Charlotte Cracker and Charlotte Pudding, are excessively loyal and uninhibited toward their mother, the attitude of many others is much more complicated. The only form Linlin's idea of family and love can take is superficial and infantile because, emotionally, she had been stunted. This thus created a situation in which her children were often viewed as nothing more than tools in realizing her ambitions rather than as individuals worthy of a mother's love.
Of course, several of those children are notable for their roles and relations with Linlin, like her eldest son Charlotte Perospero, many times shown advising his mother and often playing a major role in her plans. Her second son, Charlotte Katakuri, acts as one of the main pillars of strength for the Big Mom Pirates and is among her strongest children, very well respected in the family.
It extends to her family house and even political alliances in the case of Linlin. One perfect case in point would be the political marriage between her daughter, Charlotte Pudding, and Sanji from the Vinsmoke family; this was to forge a political alliance between the Charlotte and the Vinsmoke families, hence proving the point that Linlin reserves her children for political motives.
It is important to note that Linlin's children do not all share the same father. Her many marriages give her a diverse family with variable loyalties and abilities. Her known husbands include many, among them Pound and probably Streusen, who many believe is Linlin's first husband.
The second important relationship would be that with her crew members who are unrelated to her biologically. Many of her subordinates fear her immense power and explosive temper. Some, however, like Charlotte Brûlée herself, show unwavering loyalty and often boast to enemies of Big Mom's invincibility.
Indeed, Linlin has been continuously giving birth over the past 42 years, which subsequently affected her life and relationships with other people. In essence, the continuous expansion of her family has served to be one of the most critical factors that enable her to establish and sustain her empire within the New World.
Major Battles
One of her most famous confrontations would be in the Whole Cake Island arc when she clashed with the Straw Hat Pirates and their allies.
This was where Big Mom revealed her true powers, most especially her devil fruit, the Soru Soru no Mi or Soul-Soul Fruit. That was quite a showdown between her and the Straw Hats, after which she used two of her most special homies, Zeus and Prometheus, to make it rain elemental destruction upon them. These special homies have pieces of her own soul, therefore allowing Big Mom to harness weather elements and truly proving that she is not an enemy to be trifled with, even in a one-on-one battle.
Big Mom hitting them with her signature technique, Ikoku Sovereignty, could be considered the real key moment of the fight. This powerful attack includes a giant, destructive air slash created as Big Mom swings her sword, Napoleon (yet another Homie). The power of this technique can be assessed by how it extensively damaged the landscape of Whole Cake Island.
Another major battle Big Mom participated in was in the Wano Country arc. Because she was suffering from temporary amnesia at that time, Big Mom appeared in her "O-Lin" personality. This fight is very special because it points out another aspect of Big Mom's way of fighting. Her immense physical strength and innate fighting instincts were revealed as much as possible without her memories.
In the raid on Onigashima, Big Mom engaged in an intensive battle with two of the Worst Generation members: Eustass Kid and Trafalgar Law. This battle went on to be one of the most savory in the series and really pushed Big Mom to her limits. Advanced usages of her Devil Fruit powers were shown, such as gifting both objects and even herself with souls to increase her fighting potential.
One of her ultimate techniques revealed in this battle was "Maser Cannon," where she combined the powers of Prometheus, Zeus, and a new friend, Hera, to create a devastating beam attack. This technique shows the versatility and raising potential for destruction from her Soul Manipulation abilities.
Throughout all these battles, Big Mom's fighting style consistently involved the combination of powers from the Devil Fruit, immense physical strength, and advanced Haki techniques. Due to her manipulation of souls, she was able to create and control a number of homies at will, which basically made her capable of manipulating a number of elements concurrently. This, coupled with the fact that she could now master all forms of Haki, made her a versatile and dangerous opponent.
Even though Big Mom is extremely powerful, one thing that became clear through her battles was that she had some character flaws. The instabilities of her temper and food cravings further complicated things by getting in the way of her combat effectiveness, at times providing a gap for opponents to get the better of her.