Black Sabbath

"There are two paths that you can follow. The first path is for the chosen ones who will live... and the other! The path of death!"

- Black Sabbath

Black Sabbath (ブラック・サバス) is the Stand of Polpo, featured in the fifth part of the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure series, Vento Aureo.

Only able to exist within shadows, it has the ability to pull an individual's soul from their body and pierce it with the Stand Arrow contained within its mouth.

Appearance
Black Sabbath appears as a large humanoid with a head, bound in a dark laced cloak and Venetian hat. Its body is riddled with small cables giving the impression of stitches. It also bears an Arrow motif on its hands and collar.

It is designed after a Venetian costume, notably inspired by the work of Casanova and by the image of Death. The borders of its hat and the scarf are used to evoke the image of Medieval Italy.

Personality
Black Sabbath is an automated Stand that blindly follows the instruction given to it and thus doesn't have a personality.

It nonetheless talks to its victim, grandiosely announcing their impending trial by explaining that they can either "follow the path of the chosen or that of death" when pierced by the Arrow.

Black Sabbath is said to often make a "Bfff" (ブフゥ~) sound.

Abilities
Black Sabbath is an automated Stand that follows simple and direct preset commands. As such, it is characterized by its long-range strength, lack of damage transfer (to an extent that Polpo was unaware that Giorno Giovanna beat Black Sabbath ), and straightforward way of attacking. A formidable adversary in the shadows, it is nonetheless vulnerable to sunlight. However, even if beaten, Black Sabbath can be summoned back.

For undisclosed reasons, Black Sabbath is linked to Polpo's test and his lighter. When someone holding the lighter puts it out but then reignites it, Black Sabbath materializes within the shadows and attacks all witnesses. It then automatically seeks to impale the souls of those present with the Arrow in its mouth to awaken a possible Stand, even if they already have one. Polpo uses this Stand to weed out weaker recruits and only keep those with a Stand. Those who pass the original lighter test and are therefore never given the opportunity to gain a Stand still pass, but are only linked to less combative areas such as intelligence teams or drug-running.

Polpo is seen chewing off his fingers, and in the next panel seemingly grows them back. While this is never explained, Giorno suggests that it may be part of Polpo's Stand ability.

Shadow Power
Black Sabbath's main ability is to draw power from the shadows. The Stand is incredibly powerful within the shadows; its prowess can increase at least to the point where it can overpower and outspeed Gold Experience.

Moreover, Black Sabbath can hide within shadows. It can sink inside a shadow as if it were water and go from one point to another near instantaneously as long as the shadows are linked, allowing it to easily re-position itself in the midst of battle. It can even hide in small shadows and use them as transportation, using a bird's shadow to cross a sunlit space and hide inside an isolated tree's shadow.

The drawback of this ability is that Black Sabbath is vulnerable to light. Being even partially exposed to sunlight pains it considerably, thus its movements are restricted to the shadows. To escape, the Stand must touch a shadow again and hide inside. In the sunlight, it is vulnerable and Gold Experience was able to destroy it with a barrage of punches.

Soul Pull
By grabbing an ordinary human's shadow, Black Sabbath is able to forcibly drag out their souls, whereas grabbing a Stand user's shadow would drag out their Stand.

Arrow Storage
Black Sabbath can store objects inside its mouth, and Polpo uses that to hide an Arrow inside. The Stand can then pull it out when needed, and continuously pierce people with the Arrow to awaken a Stand with little care about whether they have a Stand or not already. When Polpo unwittingly shoots himself in the mouth, he also destroys the Arrow inside Black Sabbath's mouth.

Background
At some point, either via one of the Arrows acquired by Diavolo or via natural talent, the gangster Polpo developed Black Sabbath as his Stand. Seeing the Stand's potential, Polpo chose to use the Stand as an initiation test for new recruits to the gang, weeding out unworthy gang members with an Arrow stored within its mouth. Polpo quickly became the primary capo responsible for matters relating to Stand abilities, and Black Sabbath would eventually bestow most of Team Bucciarati with their own Stands.

Vento Aureo
After Giorno Giovanna fails Polpo's initiation test by letting the flame of his lighter be extinguished at the youth's school, a nearby janitor accidentally reignites the lighter while inspecting it, triggering the appearance of Black Sabbath itself. Black Sabbath grabs the janitor's soul and pierces it with the Arrow within its mouth, killing him immediately. The Stand then goes after Giorno himself, who suffers a glancing blow but barely escapes thanks to the setting sun's position. Suddenly, Koichi Hirose emerges from the school building and accuses Giorno of killing the elderly janitor, revealing that he witnessed the lighter's reignition in the process. Black Sabbath thus goes after Koichi, only to be intercepted when Giorno turns the railing in front of him into flowers, forcing the Stand to retreat once more.

Giorno and Koichi concoct a plan to destroy the Stand by trapping it in sunlight, but Black Sabbath quickly catches up to Giorno once more by moving within the shadows of birds flying overhead. Black Sabbath grabs Giorno's leg, but is weighed down by Koichi's Stand, Echoes ACT3. Though the Stand refuses to loosen its grip, the hole created beneath Giorno's leg allows him to use Gold Experience to wilt the tree casting a shadow on Black Sabbath. The Stand attempts to escape into the shadow of the hole, but Giorno covers the hole with debris before pummeling it. At last, Black Sabbath succumbs to its injuries and the burning sunlight, seemingly withering away into dust.

Due to the Stand being a long-distance operation type, however, Polpo himself remains unharmed and unaware of the battle, and Koichi warns Giorno that Black Sabbath will reappear if the lighter is relit again. Giorno thus carefully protects the lighter's flame until he reunites with Polpo and is inducted into the gang. Shortly afterward, Polpo is fooled into committing suicide by Giorno, the latter having temporarily turned the gangster's gun into a banana. With Polpo's death, Black Sabbath and the Arrow inside its mouth are destroyed for good.

Gallery
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Trivia

 * The manner in which Black Sabbath attacks its targets with the Stand-creating Arrow is eerily similar to how the Alien from Ridley Scott's 1979 film kills its victims via an inner jaw impaling them in the head.