In one piece, there are many pirates who's names are based off real life pirates. The most well known ones are:
Blackbeard = Blackbeard
Eustass Kid = William Kidd
Trafalgar Law = Edward Low
But what about Shanks and Luffy? While most people won't see the connection at first, there are two real life "pirates" I think could be the source of inspiration for their names.
I believe Shanks is based off Erik the Red. If any of you didn't know, Erik the Red is a viking who's epithet "The Red", was based off the color of his head. This parallels with Shanks's viking-esque ship, his connection to elbaf(based on vikings), and the fact that his epithet is "Red Hair".
If Shanks is Erik the Red, I believe that Luffy is based off Lief Erikson. Lief Erikson was the son of Erik the Red and is most well known for being the first European to set foot on North America.
Lief translated into Japanese = "Rifu"
If you just swap the vowels you get "Rufi" = Luffy
I also think that Lief Erikson's relationship to Erik the Red and his fame as a great explorer who discovered an unknown continent can easily be paralleled with Luffy's connection to Shanks and his eventual re-discovery of One Piece.
And who knows, maybe One Piece isn't all that Luffy will discover. Who's to say that Luffy won't surpass Roger and discover something Roger never did. Maybe Two Piece is real, lol.
Anyways that's the theory. I feel like someone must have already discovered this connection by now, as it seems really on the nose to me. If they have, kudos to them. Not trying to "steal theories" or anything, but I don't see anything about it on this site, so I figured I might as well share my realization.
Blackbeard = Blackbeard
Eustass Kid = William Kidd
Trafalgar Law = Edward Low
But what about Shanks and Luffy? While most people won't see the connection at first, there are two real life "pirates" I think could be the source of inspiration for their names.
I believe Shanks is based off Erik the Red. If any of you didn't know, Erik the Red is a viking who's epithet "The Red", was based off the color of his head. This parallels with Shanks's viking-esque ship, his connection to elbaf(based on vikings), and the fact that his epithet is "Red Hair".
If Shanks is Erik the Red, I believe that Luffy is based off Lief Erikson. Lief Erikson was the son of Erik the Red and is most well known for being the first European to set foot on North America.
Lief translated into Japanese = "Rifu"
If you just swap the vowels you get "Rufi" = Luffy
I also think that Lief Erikson's relationship to Erik the Red and his fame as a great explorer who discovered an unknown continent can easily be paralleled with Luffy's connection to Shanks and his eventual re-discovery of One Piece.
And who knows, maybe One Piece isn't all that Luffy will discover. Who's to say that Luffy won't surpass Roger and discover something Roger never did. Maybe Two Piece is real, lol.
Anyways that's the theory. I feel like someone must have already discovered this connection by now, as it seems really on the nose to me. If they have, kudos to them. Not trying to "steal theories" or anything, but I don't see anything about it on this site, so I figured I might as well share my realization.
