Jonathan Joestar/History

Early Life
"Give him a bloody nose, and he'll come back twice as fierce!"

- Dio assessing Jonathan's determination As an infant, Jonathan never knew his mother who died in a carriage accident. That same accident indirectly brought Dio Brando into his life as his father George Joestar I assumed Dio's thieving father saved his life and vowed to repay that debt. Twelve years later, after coming to the aid of Erina Pendleton despite lacking the strength to defend her honor as a gentleman, Jonathan would meet Dio when he was taken in by the Joestar Family. Despite Jonathan trying to be friends, Dio made his goal to break his new adoptive brother's spirit by overshadowing him in George's eyes and isolating him from his peers.

At that time, Jonathan crossed paths with Erina as she wanted to thank him and the two became close and fell in love. Dio learned of this and decided to deny Jonathan an chance of love by forcing kissing Erina as her first kiss, instilling deep shame in the girl. When Jonathan learned of this, he raced back the estate to confront Dio and was overwhelmed at first. But Jonathan's resolve to stand up to Dio for Erina's honor and his dignity gave him the strength to overpower Dio and made him bleed, noticing the Stone Mask that belonged to his mother reacting to the blood hitting it. Before things escalated and Dio stabbed Jonathan with a hidden knife, George separated them. Despite standing up to Dio, Jonathan never saw Erina again afterwards while learning that his beloved dog Danny died after being "accidently" placed in the incinerator. Jonathan expected Danny's death to be Dio's doing, though Dio noted the kind of person Jonathan is and decided to feign peace between them.

Phantom Blood (1888-89)
Seven years later, inspired by the Stone Mask and wanting to learn its secrets, Jonathan attends Hugh Hudson Academy where he intends to graduate as an archeologist. During that seven-year span, Jonathan was still wary towards Dio despite his façade. When George fell ill, Jonathan found the letter from Dio's father Dario and realized that Dio was poisoning his father to steal the Joestar family fortune. Though he has no physical proof other than Dio admitting the animosity he bore to his biological father, Jonathan leave his father in the care of physicians while he attempted to find an antidote. Jonathan's search takes him to Ogre Street, managing to win over the friendship of Robert E. O. Speedwagon who attempted to mug him before realizing the kind of person he was. With Speedwagon's help, Jonathan found Dio's poison supplier Wang Chan and received the antidote for his father.

Dio arrived to the estate and sees Jonathan waiting for him along with constables to take him away for attempted murder. But Dio, having learned the power of the Stone Mask and with nothing left to lose, attempted to kill Jonathan and use his blood to transcend his humanity to become an immortal vampire). But George took the stab wound meant for Jonathan, who stayed by his father's side before the seemingly killed Dio revives and slaughters the constables. Noting Dio's newly gain regeneration, luring him away from Speedwagon, Jonathan is forced to set fire to his home in hope the amassed heat kill him. After a long struggle before they plummet into the inferno, Jonathan manages to trap Dio inside the burning mansion by impaling him on a statue of the goddess Venus. As Dio curses him, Jonathan is blasted outside the manor by an explosion and is still alive despite many burns and injuries. Speedwagon manages to take Jonathan to a hospital, with Jonathan ending up seeing Erina for the first time in seven years. Despite Dio's action in the past, it did not change Erina's feelings for Jonathan as she nursed him back to health.

After being discharged from the hospital a few days later, Jonathan meets William Anthonio Zeppeli, who uses his Ripple to completely heal Jonathan's body. Zeppeli reveals that Dio survived the estate burning and offers to teach Jonathan to utilizeRipple in order to defeat Dio and destroy the Stone Mask. After a time of training, Jonathan learns from Speedwagon that Dio apparently set up back at Windknight's Lot due to strange disappearences in the village. Drawing near to the village, the group are an attacked by a zombified Jack the Ripper with Zeppeli making the zombie's defeat a final test for Jonathan. Zeppeli gives Jonathan a glass of wine and orders him to defeat Jack without spilling a drop, with Jonathan realizing he can use the glass to detect Jack before defeating him by transmitting Ripple through the wall. Once at Windknights' Lot by sunset, Jonathan and his group are unknowingly led by a hypnotized Poco to graveyard where Dio's large number of his minions ambush them the moment night falls.

Dio reveals himself at that time, having learned of the Ripple fighting style and using his flash-freeze ability to make bare-handed attacks with Ripple useless. Dio then reveals his strongest zombie warriors, the knights Bruford and Tarkus. Bruford sense Jonathan's fighting nobility, requesting Dio to let him fight the human in a duel. Taking their battle underwater after Bruford unsheathed his sword, Jonathan is at a disadvantage as he is unable to breathe and thus unable to use Ripple. But he finds air bubbles trapped underneath rocks which he uses to breathe, using a ripple attack to indirectly force Bruford out of the water. Bruford tries to finish off Jonathan, but he channels Ripple through the zombie's sword to literally disarm before unleasing a flurry of 'Sunlight Yellow Overdrive' punches on Bruford. As Bruford breaks down he regains his human soul and in respect for Jonathan leaves him his sword.

Tarkus then begins his attack but the group manages to escape when Jonathan and Zeppeli use their Ripple on leaves to create a hang-glider. Tarkus gives chase, proving to be too dangerous a lackey to be ignored. Tarkus manages to trap Jonathan in the Lair of the Two-Headed Dragon within the knights' ruins and forces him into a Chain Neck Deathmatch. Even as Poco manages to get the others in, Jonathan was nearly killed by the more experienced combatant despite Zeppeli's attempt to save him. It was only after a dying Zeppeli infused Jonathan with his remaining ripple that the youth revived with strength necessary to defeat Tarkus. Afterwards, Jonathan cremated Zepeli's body before resuming the search for Dio.

Soon after meeting the Ripple masters Tonpetty, Straizo, and Dire, Jonathan saves Poco's sister from Doobie before confronting Dio. After Dire is killed by Dio's freezing powers Jonathan gets the idea to counter Dio's freezing by channeling his Ripple through Bruford's sword. Dio, livid over Dire's last attack, summons his zombies to take care of the others while he deals with Jonathan one-on-one. Jonathan lands a couple of sword attacks on Dio but he survives them with his inhuman powers. Jonathan is able to land a Sunlight Yellow Overdrive on Dio but he quickly puts himself together. Dio grabs hold of Jonathan's carotid artery but Jonathan is able to escape and the two clash one last time. But Jonathan set his fists on fire to remove Dio's advantage a lands a Ripple-infused punch into Dio's stomach while sending him plummeting off the edge of the balcony. Believing Dio dead along with most of his minions, Jonathan's group destroys the stone mask.

Two weeks after the Windknights' Lot incident, Jonathan marries Erina and two board a ship heading to America for a honeymoon. However, after nightfall, Jonathan sees Wang Chan and follows after him. But it turned out that Wang Chan was leading Jonathan to embodied head of Dio, whose epiphany of their fates deeply woven together motivated him to take the Joestar's body as his own. Dio then shoots beams of eye humor at Jonathan's throat in an attempt to instantly kill him, but the attack only fatally wounded Jonathan with his stopped breathing preventing him from using his Ripple. Regardless Dio ordered Wang Chan to rip off Jonathan's head while warning to be both respectful and wary of his new body. But Jonathan used the last available Ripple in him to destroy Wang Chan's head and manipulate his body to obstruct a piece of the cruise ship's mechanism. Jonathan intended this to cause an explosion that would sink the ship and hopeful put an end to Dio for good.

While Erina was contend to die with him in his final moments, Jonathan beseeched her to escape with the infant whose mother died dying protecting her from the zombies that Wang Chan sired. Dio makes a last-ditch attempt to take Jonathan's body at that time, only to be stabbed and restrained by Jonathan who felt at peace in his final moments. Dio attempted to convince Jonathan to let him go with promises of immortality, only to learn that he already died before they were consumed in the inferno caused by the ship's explosion. With his death, Jonathan was survived by Erina and their unborn son.

Legacy
Jonathan's story was known only to a few, namely his son George Joestar II and later his grandson Joseph Joestar and his descendants. Despite Jonathan's last act, Dio managed to take the headless body of his rival for his own and hid himself inside a second coffin that was dragged from the ocean depths a century later. Once freed, the renamed DIO used Jonathan's body to impregnate a few women he spared: resulting in the births of Giorno Giovanna, Donatello Versus, Ungalo, and Rikiel. DIO then pierced his new body with Bow and Arrow, awakening the ability to use Stands within himself and all members of the Joestar Family. DIO also gave Enrico Pucci one of Jonathan's finger bones to enact his dream of 'ascend to Heaven'.

By 1987/1988, DIO decided to completely integrate Jonathan's body to perfect his Stand by using Joseph's blood as a catalyst. But DIO ends up being utterly defeated by Jonathan's great-great-grandson Jotaro Kujo. After DIO's death by Jotaro's hand, he and Joseph exposed what remained of Jonathan's body to the sun as an apparent end to their feud with Dio and allowing Jonathan to rest in peace.

Steel Ball Run
Jonathan's counterpart in Steel Ball Run is Johnny Joestar, formally named "Jonathan". Johnny's family also bears noble lineage, but makes its residence in America instead. However Johnny's appearance and personality are very different from Jonathan's.