An extremely powerful time-controlling Stand wielded by an equally powerful user, The World is an esoteric Stand, both revered and feared by almost every character in Stardust Crusaders.
The World bears the appearance of a tall, heavily muscular humanoid - bearing a strong resemblance to DIO himself in terms of build and clothing. It wears a headpiece covering its face to below the place of its nose, slanting at a steep angle from the base of its forehead to a peak situated above the rear of its head by about half its height, leaving the face of an inverted triangle visible to the front; somewhat similar to the Red Crown of Lower Egypt.
It wears small twin diving cylinders on its back, connecting via short, twin-ridged cables to the rear of its mask; perhaps secured by thick, ridged or puffed straps running from the rear of its waist over both its shoulders to its front. The back of both its hands bears the shape of a simple clock face. Its chin, the base of its abdomen, its crotch and its knees are topped by heart shapes. It has armor plates on its shins, and its clogs bears curved, sharply-pointed toes, similar to those of DIO's.
In the colored manga, The World is completely yellow. In the anime, it is grey-skinned, has green heart motifs and has golden clothing. In the OVA, The World is grey-skinned, has bronze heart motifs and ivory clothing.
It is named for the Tarot card The World, the last card in the Major Arcana and symbolic of tectonic chance: the beginning of a new world order.
It's revealed in DIO's notebook that he intended to engrave 14 phrases on his Stand to remember them,[1] although it's unknown if he actually does so before his death.
Color Schemes
The series is known for alternating colors between media, the information presented below may or may not be canon.
Colored MangaSFC GameHeritage for the FutureOVAAll-Star BattleAnimeEyes of Heaven
Body(Yellow body, yellow/light yellow armor)
Eyes(Yellow)
Body
(Yellow body, yellow armor with brown accessories)
Eyes(Black)
Body
(Tan body, beige armor with gray accessories)
Eyes(Pink)
Body
(Gray body, beige armor with brown accessories)
Eyes(Dark Brown)
Body
(Light Gray body, gold armor with lime green accessories)
Eyes(Gold)
Body
(Gray body, yellow armor with light green accessories)
Eyes(Brown)
Body
(Green-gray body, gold armor with lime green accessories)
Eyes(Yellow)
Personality
The World shows no particular personality, although it occasionally smiles as it pummels others, hinting that it may be a rather cruel entity that takes pleasure in causing pain.[2][3] Its Stand cry is Muda Muda Muda! (無駄 無駄 無駄!, lit. "Useless, useless, useless!"),[2] however, the cry itself seems to be communicated by DIO.
The World itself doesn't make much attempts at speech. In the anime, The World makes grunting noises while fighting Star Platinum, and in the English dub, the grunting sounds are replaced with growling noises.
Abilities
The World is an exceptionally powerful Close-range Stand much like Star Platinum as noted by Noriaki Kakyoin and Jotaro Kujo, but boasting an effective manifestation range of approximately 10 meters.[4] Despite requiring a close distance to inflict damage, its overwhelming physical might and near unstoppable control over time undeniably make it one of the most dangerous Stands in the entire series.
Extreme Physical Power: The World possesses phenomenal strength, senses, precision, and incredible speed, being able to easily punch Kakyoin right through his abdomen. DIO claims that The World is even stronger and faster than Star Platinum since it bested the latter in a clash of rapid punches between the two.[2] However, it is unclear if this is an aspect of DIO's vampiric nature or simply having greater experience with his Stand. Its main offense is generally characterized by a flurry of speedy punches and the occasional kick.
Time Stop
The World stopping time
The World's signature power is its ability to stop time, allowing only itself, DIO and anyone with the same power, to act within the duration of stopped time.[5]
In the stopped time, DIO can move his own body freely along with any object he touches that he wishes to move, allowing him to strike his defenseless enemies, move to a superior position, and toy with his victims. All force applied by DIO during the time stop continues to exist after the time stop. This is seen when the objects that DIO throws can momentarily move during the stopped time before grinding to a halt. A flurry of thrown knives could fly for several meters before stopping near Jotaro.[6]
Another unique feature of the time stop is how DIO can seemingly levitate in stopped time. Since no forces other than the time stopper's exist during a time stop, there is no force of gravity, allowing DIO to move freely in space as he wishes, with the assistance of his stand.
It is notable that DIO needs to consciously activate Time Stop, which means that surprise attacks can prevent him from stopping time.[7]
Despite time not actively progressing, DIO quantifies the duration of The World's time stop using seconds.
Because of DIO's weakened state in Stardust Crusaders, this ability initially only works for up to 5 seconds in DIO's frame of reference before time flows again.[8] However, thanks to DIO's immortality, the duration of stopped time increases as DIO becomes more accustomed to The World and the scar around his neck heals, reaching a maximum of nine seconds towards the end of Stardust Crusaders.[9]
However, had he not died, the period during for which DIO could have stopped time would have continued to grow, seemingly indefinitely.[10]
The World also appears in the novel 'JORGE JOESTAR'. After Dio becomes an ultimate being like Kars, The World is capable of stopping time for nearly one hour.
While battling Dio, Kars develops his own enhanced copy of the Stand, known as The World Ultimate. Dio also awakens this version of the Stand after seeing Kars use it.
The World's name and power and the stair scene with Polnareff are a possible reference to the song "Stargazer" by Ronnie James Dio (DIO's namesake), verse 3:
"All eyes see the figure of the wizard" "As he climbs to the top of the world" "No sound, as he falls instead of rising" "Time standing still, then there's blood on the sand"
The World's design may have been inspired by the large figure on the album cover of Holy Diver, also by Ronnie James Dio.
The World was the first Stand to be created and designed by Araki, specifically to contrast with Jotaro's Star Platinum from the very beginning.[11]
The World's tarot card is the only card not to have "Lucky Land" written on it.
Coincidentally, the tarot card of The World was at one point referred to as "Time" in the Court de Gébelin deck.[12]
Manga Appearances
Anime Appearances
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