The Grateful Dead is a humanoid torso covered with eyes. It has no mouth. It lacks legs but has large arms, and it walks on its hands, where each have four huge metal-like and segmented fingers evenly spaced around its circumference. Hanging from its waist, where its legs should be, are four segmented tentacles. The eyes all over its body gives it the look of a yokai. Araki originally intended to draw the lower half of its body but changed his mind.[1]
The Grateful Dead emits a light mist, but it is unknown if the mist is linked to its power.[2] The anime adaptation seems to imply that the two are connected, as Pesci reacts with shock and fear when he sees it manifest.
In both the colored manga and PS2 video game adaptation, The Grateful Dead is portrayed as purple, with yellow sclera on the eyes, and orange fingers,but the mouth piece is in different colors.In the manga adaptation, The Grateful Dead's mouth piece is purple. In the PS2 adaptation, The Grateful Dead's mouth piece is yellow. In the anime adaptation its fingers are instead purple, its body is a lighter shade of purple than the colored manga, and its eyes have green sclera with yellow pupils.
The Grateful Dead's greatest asset is its ability to forcefully age people over a large area, a terrifying power because of its potential for massacre.
Thankfully the aging can be slowed, and while The Grateful Dead isn't weak, it isn't a match for other close range Stands like Sticky Fingers.
The Grateful Dead has the ability to cause organisms to age physically and mentally at an accelerated rate.[2]
There are two ways The Grateful Dead can deploy its power. The first mode is to spread the aging over a large area and indiscriminately attack friends and foes, which is dangerous for Prosciutto's companions.[2] The second mode is to direct its power precisely by grabbing someone, in which case the aging is faster than one can react.[3] The activation of this ability manifests itself as mist spreading from The Grateful Dead although it is unknown if the mist is directly connected to the aging.
When under the effect of The Grateful Dead, people age rapidly with all the effects it implies: their skin develop wrinkles, their teeth begin to fall, the tips of the limbs begin to necrose, the bones and joints shrink, and their cognitive ability is reduced.[2][4] Infants would succumb to the effect of "aging", with their skin wrinkling and hair falling out, rather than simply growing into an adult quickly. Even fruits and flower wither and dry up.[2][5]
Because the spirit is also aged by The Grateful Dead, enemy Stands are also weakened. Their power and stamina are sapped[3] and even a powerful close range Stand like Sticky Fingers can become slower than the rather slow The Grateful Dead.[6]
Prosciutto is normally immune to The Grateful Dead and can stay young inside its range. However, he can freely toggle the aging on himself, notably fooling Mista into thinking he's a mere civilian.[3]
The rate at which people age is dependent on their body heat. The warmer one's body is, the faster they age. Because of minute differences between men and women's body, women also age more slowly.[4] Thus things warming the body like intense physical activity will accelerate the aging[7] but exposure to cold, like ingesting ice, will counter and reverse The Grateful Dead's power immediately,[4] although both effects balance themselves and insufficient coldness will not have an effect.[7]
Manga Appearances
Anime Appearances
The Grateful Dead's description and stats
Pesci screaming when he sees the Stand
Proscuitto and The Grateful Dead
View of the Stand's back
The Stand's first demonstration; its effect on Narancia Ghirga
Ability's effect on Giorno Giovanna, Pannacotta Fugo, and Leone Abbacchio
A women and her child are affected by The Grateful Dead's ability
The Stand's ability reaching its peak in Narancia
Giorno discovers the secret of the Stand's ability
Trish Una puts some ice on Narancia's face
The train engineer attacked by Beach Boy dying of aging
A crowd of aging passengers
The stand's direct effect on Mista
Reverting it's user to his younger state.
Destroys a dashboard to find Coco Jumbo
Prepares to kill Team Bucciarati's members
Blocking a sneak attack from Bucciarati
Sticky Fingers dodges an attack from The Grateful Dead by using a zipper portal
Sticky Fingers is faster than The Grateful Dead
Bucciarati unzipping his head to dodge a punch from The Grateful Dead
Attacked by Sticky Fingers
Deflecting Sticky Fingers' punch
Cover A, Chapter 489
Cover B, Chapter 489
Cover, Chapter 491
Cover, Chapter 492
Cover B, Chapter 493
Cover B, Chapter 494
Cover A, Chapter 495
Cover A, Chapter 497
Cover B, Chapter 497
Prosciutto and The Grateful Dead
Vento Aureo poster
Prosciutto and The Grateful's model, Vento Aureo
Stage 5-1, Vento Aureo
Prosciutto and The Grateful Dead as Naples Station's stage hazard, EOH
Prosciutto with The Grateful Dead, Super Action Statue
Part 5 Volume 2, Chara Heroes
