Big Mom, whose full name is Charlotte Linlin, was one of the four emperors in the manga One Piece. She is also the matriarch of the very large Charlotte family, whose many children make up the infrastructure of her crew. Her story is quite intriguing, and in this article, we will analyze a specific aspect of Linlin's personality. Namely, there are theories that Linlin is actually a cannibal and that she has eaten both other people and her own children in the past. In this article, we will tell you if Big Mom has eaten other people in One Piece.

Although never explicitly shown, Charlotte Linlin (aka Big Mom) ate Mother Carmel and the other children when she was younger; this is how the lot disappeared during one of Linlin's hunger attacks. It is also known that she unknowingly committed filicide by eating her own children later during said attacks.

Did Charlotte Linlin eat Mother Carmel and the other children?

To answer this question, we need to explain who Mother Carmel was and how her story relates to Charlotte Linlin's. Carmel began selling children on the black market around the age of 30, 113 years before the series began. She notably sold John Giant, the first Marine Giant, to the World Government.

About thirteen years later, after the Giants crew disbanded, some of their members were captured by the Navy. Carmel worked with the government and they organized an execution ceremony during which Carmel acted as if she was trying to block the execution in order to prevent a war and work for coexistence between the races.

The giants believed her, and Carmel opened an orphanage called Sheepfold on Erbaf, becoming known as Mother Carmel. She took in children who didn't belong there, regardless of their race. Through her connection to Erbaf, she was directly responsible for John Giant's promotion in the Navy. When Erbaf's pirate crew was executed, Carmel went to the scene and prevented the pirates' execution, claiming that Heaven wanted a less barbaric solution.

She confronted the Marines, wishing for all races to live happily together, and declared that their deaths would bring wrath upon the Gods of Erbaf. Carmel knew Charlotte Linlin early in her life, having raised her after her parents abandoned her. Carmel always forgave Linlin, no matter how much damage she had caused. She encouraged Linlin to persevere during Erbaf's twelve-day fast.

When Linlin lost her mind, Carmel tried to stop Yorle from attacking her. To extinguish the village fire, she called upon the abilities of the Soru Soru no Mi and created Pandora. She passed this off as a miracle from the Sun God of Erbaf. She then managed to convince Yarle not to kill Lilin, knowing that she would leave the country with her.

Soon after, Mother comes into contact with members of the Cipher Pol. She eventually convinces the men to buy Linlin from her for a huge sum of money. She finally announces that this is her last sale. Shortly after, she is seen celebrating Linlin's birthday with the other children. When Linlin finished eating, her mother and the other children vanished, leaving behind torn clothes. From what we know, Linlin's hunger disorder kicked in and she unknowingly ate everyone around her; it is unknown if she realized, at any point, what she had done.

During all of her tea parties, Linlin places a picture of Mother Carmel on the table in front of her. If Carmel's image is damaged, Big Mom enters a psychological crisis, leaving her vulnerable enough to be physically harmed. To this day, Linlin has no knowledge of Carmel's true nature.

Big Mom's Eating Disorder Explained

Big Mom suffers from an undisclosed condition called "eating disorder" (食いわずらい Kuiwazurai) and she wants to eat food. She suffered from this disorder before the age of 5, which is why she was banished from her homeland and why the giants hate her so much for destroying one of their villages and killing Jorul in a massacre.

In this state, she will destroy everything and everyone in her path, including her own castle, her own subordinates, and—horrifically—even her own children, until she eats the food she desires. When she is angry, her pupils flare and swirl. Once her urges are satisfied, she becomes more affable and has no memory of her actions during her kill.

Although she has suffered from this disorder for most of her life, she seems completely unaware of this psychosis. Big Mom seems to remain somewhat conscious in this state, as Perospero managed to convince her to go after the Straw Hats by lying about them stealing the leftover wedding cake (the food she wanted at the time). However, the fact that she so easily fell for such a lie shows her lack of rationality.

Her mental instability in this state also means that she cannot make rational decisions, as shown when she attacked the Thousand Sunny with a massive tidal wave, which she believed was carrying the wedding cake, after which she felt like she could have sunk the ship and ruined the cake. She was also willing to leave the Thousand Sunny to chase the Fire Tank Pirates' ship when she saw them with the cake, even though she had the perfect opportunity to destroy the Straw Hat Pirates at that moment.

She can give simple commands to her friends to help them pursue any perceived target. However, to some extent, she is able to recognize others in this state, as she recognized her daughters Pudding and Chiffon while angrily interrogating them for dating the Straw Hats. She also remembered what Prospero had said about the wedding cake and managed to recall the threat she made to Prospero that she would kill him if he lied about the cake.

Has Big Mom ever eaten her own children?

Although she appears to be a loving family, Linlin cares very little for her children, forcing them to marry others regardless of their opinions. When she experiences one of these urges, she shows that she may unintentionally murder her own children. This has never been explored in depth, but we know that she has committed involuntary filicide over the years. It is unknown which of her children perished during these urges, but we can only feel sorry for them; it must have been a horrible way to go about things.