Oda based King’s design on the titular Angel of Retribution from Judas Priest’s 2005 album.
Note the wings, the horns, the spiked pauldrons and, most notably, the corona of light behind the angel’s head. It mirrors King to a T. You can’t debate this.
This isn’t Shinto, Buddhist or Hindu imagery Oda’s drawing from – it’s the Western conception of a fallen angel.
So, what’s the deal with King’s black-feathered wings?
Well, let’s first dive into everyone’s favorite piece of eschatology: the Book of Revelation AKA the Apocalypse of John.
From Revelation 9:11
“And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.”This figure of Apollyon is doubtless a reference to Apollo, a Greek solar deity.
From Wikipedia:
According to the lexicon, the Hebrew : אבדון ’ăḇaddōn is an form of the and verb stem אָבַד ’ăḇāḏ “perish”, transitive “destroy”, which occurs 184 times in the Hebrew Bible. The , an early Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, renders “Abaddon” as “ἀπώλεια”, while the Greek Apollýon is the of apóllymi, “to destroy”.
As for Apollo’s name:
Several instances of are attested from ancient authors. Thus, the Greeks most often associated Apollo’s name with the Greek verb ἀπόλλυμι (apollymi), “to destroy”.And if you think the etymological similarity is just a coincidence, there’s actually an important clue two verses earlier in Revelation 9:9
“And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle.”So this angel/king of the bottomless pit has minions whose wings sound like chariots? Funny, since the chariot is perhaps Apollo’s most enduring symbol.
But what else is associated with Apollo? Specifically, what animal? You guessed it.
The raven.
Again, from Wikipedia.
In , ravens are associated with , the God of prophecy. They are said to be a symbol of bad luck, and were the God’s messengers in the mortal world. According to the mythological narration, Apollo sent a white raven, or crow in some versions to spy on his lover, . When the raven brought back the news that Coronis had been unfaithful to him, Apollo scorched the raven in his fury, turning the animal’s feathers black. That’s why all ravens are black today.
There you have King’s black wings and his fire/solar aspect.
Oda has a basic enough understanding of Greco-Roman myth to be familiar with Apollo. He already knows Apollo’s fellow Olympian Zeus, as well as the Titan Prometheus. You also have the Ancient Weapons Pluton (Hades), Poseidon and Uranus. In fact, One Piece Green: Secret Pieces reveals that Kumadori’s name was originally meant to be “Apollo.”
Even on the Judeo-Christian front, he’s knowledgeable enough to know obscure Biblical names like Absalom, Bartholomew, Moria(h), etc. The idea that he would run into Apollyon in his research and tie it to Apollo doesn’t seem far-fetched at all. Oda is clearly a voracious researcher.
Getting back to the topic at hand, what does this mean for King?
The most logical conclusion is that his race stood in opposition to the Celestial Dragons. They lived on the Red Line, and were cast out of heaven by the gods. Personally, I subscribe to the theory that the Red Line is an artificial construct. If the World Government used Pluton or some other means to reshape the layout of the continent, they might have found King’s race to be an inconvenience and decided to genocide them.
As a reversal of the Skypieans, Shandians and Birkans descending from the moon, I wonder if King’s race did not, in fact, come from under the earth’s crust? The idea of a subterranean hellscape matches the fallen angel theme. With the Red Line being restructured or forced to the surface, their abode was disturbed and they had no choice but to fight the World Government. This makes me think that King will side with whomever opposes the World Government in the final war. What do you think?
As for the name of King’s race, I think that’s the least important part. They don’t need to be called “demons” in the same way that Skypieans don’t need to be called “angels.”
*Theory by Simon Magus
