Tohth
Tohth (トト神, Toto-shin, lit. "God Tohth") is the Stand of Boingo, featured in the third part of the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure series, Stardust Crusaders. It is also a member of the Egypt 9 Glory Gods, a group of Stands representing ancient Egyptian gods.
As the representation of the Egyptian god Thoth, the Stand takes the form of a comic book that allows its user to see premonitions of the near future.
Appearance
As a Materialized Stand, Tohth takes the form of a comic book that even non-Stand users can see and interact with. The cover of the comic is titled "Oingo Boingo Brothers Adventure," and adopts a peculiar, whimsical art style, comprised of distorted caricatures of the characters and the environment complete with abstract symbols and similar stylistic quirks.[2]
It represents the Egyptian God, Tohth, the god of knowledge, alluding to the Stand's ability to predict the future.[2]
Color Schemes
Personality
As a comic book, Tohth is not sentient and the narration inside only reflects Boingo's thoughts or describes what will happen in the third person perspective.
However, in the Crazy Diamond's Demonic Heartbreak spin-off, the Stand begins to show hints of personality. The narration in the book starts to directly address Boingo. For instance, it thanks him for always reading and then tells him to part way with the book.[3] Boingo actually thinks that Tohth is not truly his Stand and that there is a real 'Tohth' somewhere in the world who has merely chosen him to be the comic-book's guardian.[4]
Abilities
As a mere foretelling comic book, Tohth is not suited for direct combat at all, but is a valuable tool if one wants to take the upper hand in any situation. Thanks to it, the Joestar Group was almost killed in Aswan by Oingo and in Cairo by Hol Horse.[5][6]
Prophecies
Tohth's ability is to predict the future. The book is mostly filled with blank pages, but as time passes, more pages will fill up, predicting coming events up to several minutes ahead in the future.[2] Moreover, the events predicted in the book are always relevant to the reader, such as when a manga artist read his own future death,[2] or when Oingo read about his future attempts at assassinating the Joestar Group.[5] Boingo claims the events depicted in the comic book are guaranteed to come true;[7] in all its appearances, the predictions happen without fail, although sometimes in a roundabout way. For example, while it depicts Jotaro's head being split up by a blast,[7] it is Oingo, with the appearance of Jotaro, who is blasted apart by his bomb.[8]
However, Tohth only predicts key events without showing what happens between them or significant details. Because the drawings are incomplete and the narration is often misleading, everything Tohth predicts is subject to interpretation. For instance, Tohth stated that Hol Horse would kick a woman, after which she would be thankful and give him all her jewelry, leaving out the fact that Horse would do so to save her from being stung by a poisonous scorpion.[9] Furthermore, it only predicts the very near future, meaning that actions that seem beneficial may have consequences later. Because of the comic book, Oingo mugged a man he thought was easy prey,[5] only for the man to come back with several thugs ready to beat him up.[8] This makes Tohth incredibly difficult to use.
If someone were to not act as the comic book predicted, even by accident, like when Hol Horse shot two minutes ahead without realizing it,[6] Boingo claims that they would be punished and the events would conspire to make the predictions true at the expense of the offender.[10] Thus Hol Horse was shot through the page depicting Jotaro being riddled with bullets, making the predictions true in a way while almost killing Hol Horse.[6]
Fateful Link
In the spin-off manga Crazy Diamond's Demonic Heartbreak and the light novel Crazy Heartbreakers, Boingo claims that Tohth is actually not his Stand, but rather, something that was entrusted to him by the real 'Tohth' somewhere in the world. As such, it means that Boingo and the book share a unique link. Boingo states that even if someone were to get rid of the book, like when his father sold it, Tohth would reappear by his side without explanation.[4]
Universal Language
In the light novel Crazy Heartbreakers, Tohth allows Boingo to speak, read, and understand every language in the world. The ability extends to ancient inscriptions that haven't been deciphered.[11]
Spin-Offs
In the spin-off manga Crazy Diamond's Demonic Heartbreak and the light novel Crazy Heartbreakers, Tohth is elaborated upon and its nature revealed.
It is revealed that Tohth is an independent "record" of information that supposedly appeared long ago, long before DIO was active in the 1980s. It seemingly took many different appearances according to the current era and the mind of its current owner, with examples of Tohth looking like parchment or a stone tablet.
Tohth is explained as being, in reality, a record of human history, whose power to predict is merely a side effect. As such, it simply presents facts and there is "no guarantee" that it will present a narrative that is convenient to the owner or even change the future. It is not only independent but also showed hints of having acted on its own, notably guiding Boingo to free him from DIO's curse.[12]
When Telence T. D'Arby first sees the book, it is titled "Boingo's Happy Life" instead of "Oingo Boingo Brothers Adventure". Boingo would sometimes hear the comic whisper a sound like "Toh-toh". After telling Telence about it, he realizes that the Stand is the god Tohth and names the other members of the Egypt 9 Glory Gods. Boingo had the book for as long as he could remember. As soon as his father had learned about it, he had tried to sell it off to someone else. However, the book returned to Boingo's bedside the next day and the buyer went missing. Since Boingo was the comic's rightful owner, even if someone else tried to make use of its predictions, they would be only a temporary user.[13]
Chapters / Episodes
- Chapter 189: "Khnum" Oingo and "Tohth" Boingo, Part 1
- Chapter 190: "Khnum" Oingo and "Tohth" Boingo, Part 2
- Chapter 191: "Khnum" Oingo and "Tohth" Boingo, Part 3
- Chapter 192: "Khnum" Oingo and "Tohth" Boingo, Part 4
- Chapter 217: Hol Horse and Boingo, Part 1
- Chapter 218: Hol Horse and Boingo, Part 2
- Chapter 219: Hol Horse and Boingo, Part 3
- Chapter 220: Hol Horse and Boingo, Part 4
- Chapter 221: Hol Horse and Boingo, Part 5
- Crazy Diamond's Demonic Heartbreak: Chapter 1
- Crazy Diamond's Demonic Heartbreak: Chapter 2
- Crazy Diamond's Demonic Heartbreak: Chapter 3
- Crazy Diamond's Demonic Heartbreak: Chapter 5
- Crazy Diamond's Demonic Heartbreak: Chapter 6 (Flashback)
- Crazy Diamond's Demonic Heartbreak: Chapter 8
- Crazy Diamond's Demonic Heartbreak: Chapter 9
- Crazy Diamond's Demonic Heartbreak: Chapter 11
- Crazy Diamond's Demonic Heartbreak: Chapter 14 (Flashback)
- Crazy Diamond's Demonic Heartbreak: Final Chapter
- Stardust Crusaders Episode 26: "The Fool" Iggy and "Geb" N'Doul, Part 2
- Stardust Crusaders Episode 27: "Khnum" Oingo and "Tohth" Boingo
- Stardust Crusaders Episode 36: Hol Horse and Boingo, Part 1
- Stardust Crusaders Episode 37: Hol Horse and Boingo, Part 2
- Crazy Heartbreakers Chapter 1: Dire straits
- Crazy Heartbreakers Chapter 2: Dazed date
- Crazy Heartbreakers Chapter 3: Dissonance
- Crazy Heartbreakers Chapter 4: Descent on (Mentioned)
- Crazy Heartbreakers Chapter 5: Disquietude
- Crazy Heartbreakers Chapter 6: Double doubt
- Crazy Heartbreakers Chapter 7: DIO
- Crazy Heartbreakers Chapter 8: Diamond
Creation and Development
Araki wanted to create an intriguing story by making an enemy with precognitive powers. He was inspired to create Tohth by thinking about his own future at the time, having recently been married.[14]
Gallery
Trivia
- Tohth's form as a comic book is a reference to The Book of Thoth, which was a book said to have been written by the Egyptian God Thoth, and is said to contain the knowledge of how to talk to animals as well as the ability to perceive oneself as a God, or having supernatural abilities, similar to the idea of a Stand.
- A rumor states that Tohth predicted the September 11 attacks 11 years before the event, because of depictions of the number "911" and a laughing plane. Hirohiko Araki states that he drew those as part of the story but didn't know what it means, and states that it's just a coincidence.[15]
References
- ↑ JOJO A-GO!GO!: STANDS, p.104
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Chapter 189: "Khnum" Oingo and "Tohth" Boingo, Part 1
- ↑ Crazy Diamond's Demonic Heartbreak: Chapter 3
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Crazy Diamond's Demonic Heartbreak: Chapter 6
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Chapter 190: "Khnum" Oingo and "Tohth" Boingo, Part 2
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Chapter 221: Hol Horse and Boingo, Part 5
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Chapter 191: "Khnum" Oingo and "Tohth" Boingo, Part 3
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Chapter 192: "Khnum" Oingo and "Tohth" Boingo, Part 4
- ↑ Chapter 217: Hol Horse and Boingo, Part 1
- ↑ Chapter 218: Hol Horse and Boingo, Part 2
- ↑ Crazy Heartbreakers Chapter 2: Dazed date
- ↑ Crazy Diamond's Demonic Heartbreak: Final Chapter
- ↑ Crazy Heartbreakers Chapter 4: Descent on
- ↑ JOJOVELLER: Araki's Stand Commentaries - Tohth
- ↑ Tameike Now (August 2007)