User:Zoltier/Sandbox2

Creation and Development
B.T., the protagonist in Cool Shock B.T., is a basis for young Dio. When writing Dio, Araki was inspired by wondering about the motivations of serial killers and also because FBI psychological profiling was a popular topic during that time.

Hirohiko Araki considers Dio to be "the true protagonist" of Phantom Blood. Not only did Araki develop Dio's character design before Jonathan, Dio also makes his debut first. Araki pondered in deciding what would be the scariest factor Dio would have, and decided that "evil from the past" coming to get the present descendant would be the most frightening thing. Dio was developed with this concept in mind. After this, Jonathan Joestar's 'light' was designed to counter Dio's 'darkness'.

While Phantom Blood was being serialized, Araki hadn't actually prepared a weakness for Dio and had difficulty coming up with a way for him to be defeated.

Dio's name in Phantom Blood is written normally, but is later spelled in English as "DIO" from Stardust Crusaders onward (as well as in one chapter of Phantom Blood). This was probably done to accentuate his metamorphosis as a villain, as well as his more intimidating, fear-mongering, and overall villainous personality.