I love reading your take on Donquixote Doflamingo and whether heās capable of love, especially from your āDirectorās Cutā writer meme post.
I do believe he is. I think a good example of him purely loving someone was his mother.
With his mother, there are hints of genuine attachment. As a child, before his worldview fully hardened, he seemed capable of forming a bond. Her deathāand the suffering he watched her endure through illness beforehandālikely shaped his later emotional detachment. That early connection could be seen as a more āpureā form of love, before his personality fully developed into what we see later.
I also believe that, at the very least, he genuinely believed he loved his brother, Donquixote Rosinante, but his version of love was deeply conditional at that point in his life:
ā¢ Loyalty mattered more than emotional connection
ā¢ Betrayal (in his eyes) erased any bondāeven though, from my perspective, he did seem hesitant to pull the trigger at first
ā¢ In the end, his need for control outweighed care
This interpretation becomes even stronger when you consider how Doflamingo views loss.
He doesnāt just lose peopleāhe believes what he loved was taken from him. His motherās death, the loss of his status as a Celestial Dragon, and his fall from privilege all stem, in his mind, from his fatherās choices. That early loss isnāt something he processes in a healthy way; instead, it hardens into resentment and a deep sense of injusticeāsomething that is only reinforced by Trebolās influence and grooming.
From that perspective, his worldview starts to make sense. Love, for him, becomes tied to possession and permanenceāif something is taken away, it isnāt just loss, itās theft. This helps explain why he clings so tightly to control later in life.
This is where his version of love becomes distorted. It isnāt built on mutual understanding or independence, but on loyalty, control, and belonging within his world. When those conditions are broken, love doesnāt transformāit collapses into anger and punishment.
At the core of Doflamingoās character is a child who experienced real attachment and real loss but never developed the ability to process it. Because of that, he doesnāt stop being capable of love entirelyābut what he calls love becomes possessive, conditional, and inseparable from his need for control.
So, is he capable of love?
My short answer is: yesābut only in a very specific, complicated way.
Given everything we understand about Doflamingo, whether he could āfall in loveā with Saffron depends entirely on how we define love in his case.
What would draw him to Saffron?
Doflamingo is most likely to form an attachment when someone:
ā¢ Is strong, unique, or difficult to control
ā¢ Reflects or validates his worldview
ā¢ Doesnāt immediately submit to him
Saffron possesses independence, intelligence, and emotional depth, so she could absolutely draw him ināeven if she doesnāt want to, as we see in your story. He tends to become fascinated with people who stand out.
My answer would be yesābut that doesnāt mean itās healthy. Love isnāt something that fits neatly into a box you can tick off. Itās complex and comes in many forms. From Doflamingo, it would probably look like:
ā¢ Fixation or intense obsession
ā¢ A desire to possess her rather than simply be with her
ā¢ A need for loyalty above all else
In his mind, that is love.
The key factor: loss and control
Because Doflamingo equates love with ownership and permanence, loving Saffron would likely trigger his deepest fearālosing something important again. Someone he canāt replace. Heās even admitted in the story that he doesnāt think he could simply replace herāsheās his āgolden doll.ā
As a result, love wouldnāt soften himāit would likely intensify his worst tendencies:
ā¢ Heightened possessiveness
ā¢ Overprotectiveness, to the point of being frightening (though this would likely only be triggered if her life were almost taken or she became seriously ill)
Why his āprotectionā would feel so intense
For Doflamingo, love and ownership are inseparable. Saffron wouldnāt simply be someone he cares aboutāshe would be someone he believes is his. Given his belief that everything important to him is eventually taken, this creates a constant need to prevent loss.
His mindset would likely be:
ā¢ āIf I control everything around her, she canāt be taken.ā
ā¢ āIf she stays within my world, sheās safe.ā
His protectiveness wouldnāt be gentleāit would be calculated and overbearing:
ā¢ Eliminating threats before they can reach her
ā¢ Monitoring her relationships and environment
ā¢ Restricting situations where she is outside his influence
ā¢ Framing control as protection (a strong example being Calebākilled simply for making her laugh and smile)
From the outside, this could resemble devotion. In reality, it is driven by obsession, fear, and control as much as care.
Doflamingo is capable of falling in love with Saffronābut that love would be:
ā¢ Genuine from his perspective
ā¢ Deeply obsessive and potentially destructive to anyone he perceives as a threat to herāor to his claim over her
His possessiveness would absolutely translate into extreme protectiveness. However, that protection wouldnāt come from care aloneāit would stem from:
ā¢ A deeply rooted belief that what is āhisā must never be taken again
Which makes it compelling, complexā¦ and ultimately dangerous.
By the way, Iām the same person who asked about Saffronās height, Doffy in his prison outfit, and wrote that little scene of Saffron going out with Ethan š«£. Iām also a qualified counsellor.
Just to explain my āobsessionā with Doflamingoāand why I love your story so muchāwhen I was training, my class used to debate and break down fictional characters psychologically. One day, for fun, I threw Doflamingo into the mix.
At the time, I didnāt realise Iād basically dropped a nuclear bomb š
Only two people in my class even knew who he was, so my teacher set homework for everyone to research him and come back the following week. When we returned, the discussion turned into a full-blown meltdownāno one could agree on anything š«£š¤£ā¦ it was hilarious.
It took three full classes before we finally closed the debateā¦ and even then, everyone still held firmly to their own psychological interpretation. He was one of the few characters we couldnāt fully pin down or agree on.
And thatās exactly why I love himānot because heās a good person, but because heās so complex. That complexity is what makes him fascinating to try to understand. And this is also why I love your writing style of him. Youāre one of the few people Iāve come across who actually write him as the intelligent, manipulative, calculating, possessive, obsessive person he isānot just some deranged maniac, which heās not š.
No real question here, sorry š
āI just went on a full rambling deep dive about Donquixote Doflamingo. I hope you enjoyed the chaos š
And apologiesāI realise I structured it a bit like an assignment. Old habits die hard š - sending this twice because the first time. I forgot to take out the grammar check notes. At the beginning and end. šļæ¼
doffy reading as you psychoanalyze him to FILTHHHHH....
this is exactly what i meant when i said i wanted to leave the story open-ended/to not spoon-feed his emotions to the readerš„¹ it's so incredibly gratifying to see someone's thoughts on his character development, especially in reaction to something i wrote! and i completely agree that he's not just some deranged maniac...there's a method to that very convoluted madness and a consistent internal logic that seems nigh inscrutable to anyone operating outside it, but YES, it's THERE!
"For Doflamingo, love and ownership are inseparable." YES YES YOU GET IT, YOU GET WHAT I'M GOING FOR OMGGGGGGGGG
"By the way, Iām the same person who asked about Saffronās height, Doffy in his prison outfit, and wrote that little scene of Saffron going out with Ethan" --- YOU ARE MAGICAL, MY DARLING! thank you so much for the amazing asks and for sharing your writing! it's been so much fun to read your thoughts on all of these subjects and i've been so happy every time you submit something to my inbox! you are a light in my darkness and a cool wind on a hot day!
thank you again for your thoughts and generosity, not to mention your support on The Grasp of Gilded Strings...i'm working on the next chapter diligently between crises at work, and i can't wait to share it with you <3 tysmmmmmm!!!!
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