In the anime and manga world, Eiichiro Oda, the creator of One Piece is known as the God of foreshadowing. The creator over the period of almost 30 years has introduced many mysteries which has shocked the One Piece fan multiple times. Not only that, they also make the One Piece story interesting.
One such mystery that fans believe to be foreshadowed by Oda is the identity of Imu, the ruler or the “God” of the One Piece world. First introduced in the Reverie arc, Imu is the potential final antagonist of One Piece and although he has not made a full appearance in the series, he has already caused a lot of destruction.
There is a belief among One Piece fans that Imu has been inspired by Egyptian Gods and deities and may have a deeper connection to the Alabasta region of the One Piece world.
Imu is Inspired by Egyptian Figures
Although it has not been officially confirmed by Eiichiro Oda, there is a fan theory about Imu’s character which states that he is inspired by not one but two Egyptian figures. One of them is Imhotep, the high priest of Sun God Ra and the other is Medjed, who is known as the Smiter.
Imhotep was the high priest of the Sun God Ra in Heliopolis, who is considered to be the creator of everything. Imhotep was also a chancellor to the Pharaoh Djoser in Egypt and he earned the place of a celestial being, or a deity, in Egyptian mythology because many believed that he may have designed Djoser’s pyramid.
Just like Imhotep, Imu also shares connections to the Sun God in One Piece and was given the status of a “God” after the events of the Void Century. Interestingly, both Imu and Imhotep also share a similar name.
Another Egyptian figure that serves as the inspiration behind Imu is Medjed, who looked somewhat like Imu. Imu’s appearance in One Piece is majorly focused on his eyes, which according to the theory, share a lot of resemblance with Medjed’s eyes.
Another similarity between Medjed and Imu is that both of them are associated with punishment. Medjad’s description in spell 17, Book of the Dead reads, “I know the name of that Smiter among them, who belongs to the House of Osiris, who shoots with his eye, yet is unseen.” According to the Journal of geek studies, he could shoot lasers with his eyes and destroy anything he wanted, just like Imu did with the Lulusia Kingdom.
Eiichiro Oda Foreshadowed Imu’s Connection to Alabasta
The character of Imu was introduced during the Reverie arc of One Piece. He showed a keen interest in Vivi, the Princess of Alabasta. Later on, it was revealed that Imu had some kind of connection with her ancestor, Nefatari D. Lily, who was also one of the founding members of the World Government.
In Chapter 1085, Imu during his confrontation with Nefatari Cobra revealed that Lily was responsible for the scattering of the Poneglyphs all over the world which became a big problem for him. Thus, Imu’s connection with Lily and his character being influenced by Egyptian history and mythology indicates that he has some sort of connection with Alabasta.
Eiichiro Oda hiding such a big connection in the One Piece story proves why he is considered the God of foreshadowing in the manga world, and as the story reaches towards the conclusion, these foreshadowed mysteries will be unraveled soon.
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