The Parallel Between Dante's Inferno and the Impel Down arc from One Piece
In the arc Impel Down, Luffy goes to the greatest prison on Earth and one of the World Governments 3 major facilities, Impel Down to rescue his older brother Ace before he is taken to Marineford and executed. Impel Down has six levels that go underground, and these six levels are the crimson hell, beast hell, starvation hell, blazing hell, freezing hell, and the sixth one is a secret level called the eternal hell.. And the criminals keep getting worse as the level gets deeper, and the punishment for the prisoners also. The most notorious prisoners are in the final level, level 6 of Impel down.
This is where Fire Fist Portgas D. Ace was, and First Son of the Sea Jimbei. Dante’s Inferno is split up into 9 circles and they go in this order, Limbo, Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Wrath, Heresy, Violence, Fraud, and Treachery, and at the end there is the center of hell. First let me explain each individual level in Impel Down and how its a parallel to The inferno.
The first level, the crimson hell, is used for less wanted criminals. This level is a forest of red, bladed trees and the grass on the floor is as sharp as spikes. The prisoners are also being chased by poisonous spiders, the level is called crimson hell because all of the prisoner’s blood makes the forest crimson. And at the end there’s a well that leads to a lower level, in Dante’s inferno there's a well in the 8th circle that leads to the 9th circle.
Level 2 is called the beasts hell, here prisoners with bounties of more than 15 million are kept. The level is filled with beasts like puzzle scorpions which can join together to make giant centipedes. There are also Manticores which are man eating human faced lions. In level 2 there’s also two gigantic beasts, the Basilisk and the Sphinx. And if you guys remember, in the inferno there’s a manticore named Geryon that transports Dante and Virgil.
Then there is level 3 the starvation hell. Prisoners with bounties of up to 50 million or higher are kept here. The punishment is that the prisoners get starved, and since the level itself is a desert it is very dry and hot, the prisoners are always in a near death state. This level is similar to circle 7 section 3 for the blasphemers in the Inferno. Both of the circles/levels are deserts, and the prisoners are burning because of the hotness of the sand though in the inferno there's fire raining down on the sinners.
Level 4 of Impel Down the blazing hell, is a cave with a pool of boiling blood, and the prisoners are forced to do hard labor inside the cave. Some of the prisoners commit suicide by jumping into the pool of boiling blood.
This is a parallel to circle 7 section 1 of Dante’s Inferno which had the sinners guilty of violence against others. Both of these have a pool of boiling blood, however in Impel down the prisoners are not submerged in the pool because well they're still alive unlike the Inferno.
Then there is level 5, the freezing hell which is what it sounds like. The prisoners are frozen and they cannot move , and there is also a lot of wind which is described as very cold as well. There are also wolves that can hunt prisoners down if they do manage to move, they couldn't be kept with the other beats in level 2 because they hunted the other beasts down. The prisoners here have a bounty higher than 100 million.
And this level is a very good parallel of circle 9 of The Inferno, both have everything frozen, and in both the wind is described as well. And in both stories the freezing hell is seen as way worse than the burning one. Though the only difference is the wolves and that Satan is not directly present in Level 5. Level 6 of Impel down is a secret level, though there really aren't any parallels that I can see to the Inferno. The prisoners here are people on Death row or on a life sentence. The punishment here is that they are “ erased” from history. I think the reason Oda made level 6 like this is because he wanted to make a social commentary and that is that criminals in real life do not get the punishment that they deserve.
The similarity between Luffy and Dante is that they go into this journey but they do not belong there. As Dante is not dead, and Luffy has not been arrested by the world government. Both of them have a guide as they travel to hell. Dante’s guide is the legendary Roman poet Virgil, Luffy’s guide is Buggy the Clown.
And there is a minotaur present in both stories, In Dante’s Inferno Minos the Minotaur is the one who judges the sinners and decides which circle they go to. In One Piece the Minotaur is one of the 5 jailer beasts who put the prisoners in their cell. The Minotaur in One Piece does not look scary but it is very powerful, the Minotaur is an awakened zoan devil fruit user. It does not matter how many times you beat it, its always going to come back as seen in Impel Down.
Also Sadie, one of the people running the jail, is very lustful and violent. She represents the devils in circle 18, because she's very lustful and violent and she enjoys torturing people with her whip, exactly like the punishment from Canto XVIII.
Well anyways guys I hope you enjoyed the comparisons between the Impel Down arc of One Piece and Dante's Inferno. Next time I will be discussing the similarities between Satan from The Inferno and Blackbeard from One Piece.
This is where Fire Fist Portgas D. Ace was, and First Son of the Sea Jimbei. Dante’s Inferno is split up into 9 circles and they go in this order, Limbo, Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Wrath, Heresy, Violence, Fraud, and Treachery, and at the end there is the center of hell. First let me explain each individual level in Impel Down and how its a parallel to The inferno.
The first level, the crimson hell, is used for less wanted criminals. This level is a forest of red, bladed trees and the grass on the floor is as sharp as spikes. The prisoners are also being chased by poisonous spiders, the level is called crimson hell because all of the prisoner’s blood makes the forest crimson. And at the end there’s a well that leads to a lower level, in Dante’s inferno there's a well in the 8th circle that leads to the 9th circle.
Level 2 is called the beasts hell, here prisoners with bounties of more than 15 million are kept. The level is filled with beasts like puzzle scorpions which can join together to make giant centipedes. There are also Manticores which are man eating human faced lions. In level 2 there’s also two gigantic beasts, the Basilisk and the Sphinx. And if you guys remember, in the inferno there’s a manticore named Geryon that transports Dante and Virgil.
Then there is level 3 the starvation hell. Prisoners with bounties of up to 50 million or higher are kept here. The punishment is that the prisoners get starved, and since the level itself is a desert it is very dry and hot, the prisoners are always in a near death state. This level is similar to circle 7 section 3 for the blasphemers in the Inferno. Both of the circles/levels are deserts, and the prisoners are burning because of the hotness of the sand though in the inferno there's fire raining down on the sinners.
Level 4 of Impel Down the blazing hell, is a cave with a pool of boiling blood, and the prisoners are forced to do hard labor inside the cave. Some of the prisoners commit suicide by jumping into the pool of boiling blood.
This is a parallel to circle 7 section 1 of Dante’s Inferno which had the sinners guilty of violence against others. Both of these have a pool of boiling blood, however in Impel down the prisoners are not submerged in the pool because well they're still alive unlike the Inferno.
Then there is level 5, the freezing hell which is what it sounds like. The prisoners are frozen and they cannot move , and there is also a lot of wind which is described as very cold as well. There are also wolves that can hunt prisoners down if they do manage to move, they couldn't be kept with the other beats in level 2 because they hunted the other beasts down. The prisoners here have a bounty higher than 100 million.
And this level is a very good parallel of circle 9 of The Inferno, both have everything frozen, and in both the wind is described as well. And in both stories the freezing hell is seen as way worse than the burning one. Though the only difference is the wolves and that Satan is not directly present in Level 5. Level 6 of Impel down is a secret level, though there really aren't any parallels that I can see to the Inferno. The prisoners here are people on Death row or on a life sentence. The punishment here is that they are “ erased” from history. I think the reason Oda made level 6 like this is because he wanted to make a social commentary and that is that criminals in real life do not get the punishment that they deserve.
The similarity between Luffy and Dante is that they go into this journey but they do not belong there. As Dante is not dead, and Luffy has not been arrested by the world government. Both of them have a guide as they travel to hell. Dante’s guide is the legendary Roman poet Virgil, Luffy’s guide is Buggy the Clown.
And there is a minotaur present in both stories, In Dante’s Inferno Minos the Minotaur is the one who judges the sinners and decides which circle they go to. In One Piece the Minotaur is one of the 5 jailer beasts who put the prisoners in their cell. The Minotaur in One Piece does not look scary but it is very powerful, the Minotaur is an awakened zoan devil fruit user. It does not matter how many times you beat it, its always going to come back as seen in Impel Down.
Also Sadie, one of the people running the jail, is very lustful and violent. She represents the devils in circle 18, because she's very lustful and violent and she enjoys torturing people with her whip, exactly like the punishment from Canto XVIII.
Well anyways guys I hope you enjoyed the comparisons between the Impel Down arc of One Piece and Dante's Inferno. Next time I will be discussing the similarities between Satan from The Inferno and Blackbeard from One Piece.
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