Blackbeard’s Most Heinous Act Could Eclipse Killing Whitebeard in One Piece

Here is a theory that made me stop, blink twice, and then immediately reread a bunch of panels: what if Blackbeard literally cut every emotional tie out of his life on purpose, starting with his own mom, because he decided Rocks D. Xebec failed by caring?

Blackbeard: villain by design, maybe monster by choice

Since he sailed into the story, Blackbeard has been the big, messy threat on the board. Lately, the manga has also reframed him a bit: we now know he grew up under the thumb of Imu and the World Government’s terror, which does soften the edges of his origin story. It does not excuse anything he has done, but it explains how a kid can get forged into the kind of pirate who wants the throne.

The Reddit theory that goes full dark

According to a theory from Reddit user u/Ive-Got-No-Idea, Teach didn’t just drift into villainy; he made an early, cold-blooded decision to never "fail" the way his idol/possible father figure Xebec did. The theory hinges on this idea: Xebec supposedly came close to achieving his dream but lost it all because he chose to protect the people he loved. The kicker is a claim that someone named Eris told Blackbeard this, and Teach took the lesson to heart in the worst possible way.

• Teach hears that Xebec almost won but blew it when he tried to save his loved ones.
• Conclusion: attachments are liabilities. So he cuts them all, starting with his own mother.
• He erases any trace of his parents’ influence, reshaping himself into the perfect weapon to chase Xebec’s dream.
• It lines up with how easily he later betrays and kills father figures, including Whitebeard.
• Canon anchor: Blackbeard kills Whitebeard in One Piece manga chapter 577 (anime episode 485).

Quick note on that Eris detail: that’s the theory’s ingredient, not a confirmed canon briefing. But it is the sort of deep-cut connective tissue fans love to puzzle over.

The Doflamingo parallel that makes this even nastier

We have seen a version of this before. Doflamingo murdered his own father because he blamed him for their fall from Celestial Dragon status and the misery that followed. If Teach did something similar, just flipped to matricide, it puts him in the same moral basement… or maybe a floor lower. Killing a parent is one of the hardest lines to come back from in this world, and it is a big part of why Doffy is basically irredeemable.

Why this would make Teach scarier than Imu

If this theory is right and Blackbeard killed his mother to keep himself laser-focused on the prize, he is not just ruthless — he is strategic about dehumanizing himself. That arguably makes him more frightening than Imu, who is shaping up to be the final boss of the story. Imu is an institution; Teach is a self-made abyss.

It also helps explain his total lack of hesitation when it came to Whitebeard. If the one-time "pops" in his life was just another obstacle, it tracks with the idea that Teach decided long ago there would be no more loved ones to save — only steps to climb.

So… did he really do it?

Right now it’s a theory: smart, grim, and disturbingly plausible. The recent lore about Imu and the World Government makes Teach’s origin more tragic, but this take suggests he chose to go even darker than his circumstances required. If that turns out to be canon, Blackbeard’s villain cred goes from terrifying to legendary.

Do you buy that Teach killed his mother to keep himself locked on becoming king of the world, or is this a bridge too far even for him?

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