What you have been calling an "evil spirit" is but a powerful apparition—created by your own life energy! And since it stands next to you, it is called...a Stand!
A Stand (スタンド, Sutando) is a physical manifestation of a person's "life energy" (生命エネルギー, Seimei enerugī).[1] It is a power unique to the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure series.
A Stand is an entity psychically generated by its owner, referred to as a Stand User (スタンド使い, Sutando Tsukai).[2] It generally presents itself as an ethereal figure hovering over or near the user and possesses abilities beyond that of an ordinary human, which, depending on the Stand User, can be wielded for good or evil.
Stands are defined as personifications of "life energy" whose abilities are given visual form. When first presented, the term is written as "Stand" (幽波紋, Sutando),[3] with furigana to change the pronunciation of what literally means "Ghostly Ripple" (幽波紋, Yūhamon) in kanji. According to Joseph Joestar, the name "Stand" comes from the fact the vast majority of Stands usually manifest themselves standing next to the User: ready to act on their command.
Stands are typically used in battle
To an extent, a Stand embodies the individual's psyche, usually as the representation of their User's "fighting spirit". However, the will required to manifest a Stand doesn't need to be confrontational, deriving from any exploration of the mind's possibilities, be it mastery of a craft or a strong personal crisis. Beyond that definition, Stands present themselves in a large variety of forms and with different behaviors, if they are sentient at all. They follow a loose set of rules, with no definite standard by which one can fully classify them. As an embodiment of someone's psyche, Stands are therefore as varied as human minds can be.
Due to their diversity, Stands are not made equal. Some can be incredibly powerful due to their User's outstanding grit, others can be highly situational because of a defining quirk of character, or even detrimental to their User if they do not have the necessary fighting spirit.
Stands and other supernatural abilities, like the Ripple, the Spin and the powers given by the Stone Mask, are all somehow linked in nature.[5] These abilities are said to be one of the potential stepping stones towards developing a Stand, which someStands are an example of.
Stands are also connected to an alien virus contained in the rock of a meteorite that fell in Cape York, Greenland. It is explained that the virus can infect people and for the most part kills them, but the few who survive are granted a Stand ability.[6]
Rules
The Stand is created from someone's psyche, which includes not only humans but also other living creatures. That individual is referred to as the Stand User. The User then gives their Stand a name and uses it for various purposes.
A Stand and the User usually share wounds
Unless bound to a specific object or automatic, Stands are attached to their User's body. In that case, any damage the Stand sustains results in an equivalent injury on the User's body and vice-versa. Exceptions to this rule include automatic Stands and bound Stands, which usually do not reflect the damage into the User, or special abilities like Silver Chariot's armor.
Except for rare occasions, when a Stand User dies, their Stand disappears with them. If a Stand suffers so much damage they are destroyed, the User dies as well. However, a User can survive with their Stand destroyed[7] if the Stand is automatic or depending on the level of the User's injury. Inversely, some Stands can survive beyond their Users through exceptional abilities like Notorious B.I.G.
Since a Stand is the form of its User's psyche, they share an intimate psychic bond. First and foremost, Stands usually obey their Users' command without question. If a User demands it, the Stand will perform any task within its capacities, which includes attacking someone, defending the User, or any miscellaneous order. In the case a Stand is sentient, they can occasionally advise their User that an order is unwise but will carry it on all the same. Stands are also shown to protect their users in certain instances, such as when Jotaro tries to shoot himself,[8] or Weather Report tries to commit suicide.[9]
Holy falling sick from having a Stand
However, there are instances when a Stand cannot be controlled by the User. It can be either automatic like Super Fly or the User can acquire a Stand but not have the fighting spirit to control it like Holy Kujo.[10] In both cases, a Stand can accidentally work against its user's interests through their unsupervised power. However, specifically in the second case, a Stand can go out of control and slowly kill its User like a disease. According to Muhammad Avdol, the User becomes ill, then falls into a coma only to never wake up again; moreover, such occurrences are common enough for him to claim having witnessed many people succumbing to this.[10]
One of the defining rules about Stands is that someone may only have one Stand (at a time). Although Stands may take different forms, or be split into several entities, no one is able to summon several Stands at once. Although exceptional circumstances may lead to someone wielding several Stands, only one will be the User's bona fide Stand. A Stand generally remains attached to its User, but it can sometimes change Users. For instance, it can be stolen from its original User, or if the Stand's ability involves changing User. Thanks to Whitesnake's DISCs, a Stand can change Users but will act to protect its new User instead. Others Stands, like Anubis or Cheap Trick, will actively try to change Users, and their malevolent nature makes them harm their Users instead of protecting them.
Occasionally, a Stand can emit a Stand Cry, shouting repeatedly while delivering a beatdown.
Manipulating a Stand
When a User acquires their Stand, their control over it is partly instinctual but needs practice.
When a User discovers their Stand, they usually do not know anything about it and thus has to figure out what their power is. Sometimes the ability is straightforward and easy to understand like Koichi Hirose's Echoes, at other times a sentient Stand may explain the power directly to its User as Spice Girl did for Trish Una,[11] but sometimes the User will need time to know their Stand's power. For instance, both DIO and Jotaro possessed their Stands for some time until they discovered that they could stop time.[12]
DIO discovers his power to stop time
Afterward, it is up to the User to discover what their Stand can really do with its ability. A Stand User will need practice to develop their Stand's potential and manipulate it in a more precise manner. Hidden subtleties and applications of the Stand's power may require time for the User to notice. Giorno Giovanna, for example, had to use Gold Experience on Bruno Bucciarati in order to discover what its Life-Giving ability did to humans,[13] and similarly had to figure out that its abilities could mend wounds.[14]
To use a Stand, the User has to consciously summon it. Likewise, to use its power, the User has to command their Stand. Thus, Stand Users are still vulnerable to sneak attacks. This does not apply to automatic Stands which act by themselves.
In most cases, Stand Users are either born with the ability to use their Stands at an early age or with the potential to unlock one later in life. This Stand potential can notably be inherited,[15] however without it a person can not achieve a Stand through natural means. For those born with it, the trigger for unlocking one's Stand varies with the user but is generally derived through the refinement of their talents or skills throughout their life. As such, a Stand's awakening and abilities are often tied to the users' occupation.[16] Notable users who acquired a Stand through natural means include Noriaki Kakyoin, Muhammad Avdol, Tonio Trussardi, and Kenzou. In case of animal Stand Users, like Iggy or Bug-Eaten, it's left ambiguous whether their heightened intelligence is a result or a prerequisite of awakening a Stand.
Stands are also noted to awaken through the mere presence of powerful Stand Users in the general area,[17] however the most widespread way to trigger one immediately is to be pierced by a special Arrow made from a meteor from outer space. If a person has the potential, they will survive being stabbed and acquire a Stand. Otherwise, the person will die. Notable people who unlock their Stand this way include DIO, Koichi Hirose, Diavolo, Enrico Pucci, and Jolyne Cujoh.
Moreover, if someone acquires a Stand this way, their existing descendants will also gain a Stand, although it may not manifest itself at first or be uncontrollable. In one such case, Jonathan Joestar's body was pierced by the Arrow, causing every living member of the Joestar Family to awaken their own Stands. The way siblings acquire Stands is portrayed inconsistently: although Koichi Hirose awakened a Stand, his sister Ayana Hirose did not; however, the twins Enrico and Wes both awakened a Stand when Enrico was pierced.
In the new continuity of Steel Ball Run and JoJolion, the Arrows don't exist. Stands can still be developed naturally, like Pocoloco's, and their potential can still be inherited, as shown with the Joestar and Higashikata families. Outside of these means, Stands are usually brought out by certain supernatural landmarks.
Enduring through the harsh conditions of the Devil's Palm, a shifting plot of land in North America, or living long enough near the Wall Eyes of Morioh can draw out one's Stand. Notable Devil's Palm survivors include Mountain Tim, Oyecomova and Ringo Roadagain, while many Morioh residents, like Ojiro Sasame, Daiya Higashikata and seemingly most Rock Humans, unlocked their Stands through mere exposure to future Wall Eyes emergence sites.
Both the Devil's Palm and the Wall Eyes are either directly stated or hinted to have come from the power of the Saint's Corpse, a set of mummified relics with miraculous properties. Among them is the ability of individual Corpse Parts, usually housed within a Devil's Palm, to grant Stands to worthy bearers that the Corpse chooses to fuse with. Because the user's capacity to wield these Stands is initially tied to the Corpse's own holy power, they can be lost if the Corpse Part is extracted. However, as the user acclimates and develops their technique, the Stand can eventually become fully theirs to keep, like in the case of Johnny Joestar's evolving Tusk.
Uniquely, the Saint's Corpse can also grant Stands to the surrounding flora, creating cursed locales like Sugar Mountain Spring or Shakedown Road, and also manifest entirely separate Stand-like entities dubbed "guardians" for its own mysterious purposes. A Stand of a Corpse Part bearer might initially be one of these guardians, as was the case with Tusk.
Spiritual connections
Stand Users share a number of spiritual connections with each other, which manifest in several supernatural phenomena.
Firstly, Stand Users attract other Stand Users. Likened by different characters to either a "red string of fate" or "gravity", this link ensures that Stand Users will eventually meet one another, especially if they live in the same general area. This rule was most prevalent in Diamond is Unbreakable and Vento Aureo, where many fateful meetings, such as Koichi Hirose immediately bumping into Giorno Giovanna when tasked to find him,[18] had this phenomenon as their undercurrent explanation.
Secondly, if Stand Users happen to be related to each other, they will share a strong psychic bond. It's most prominently exhibited as an ability to sense the presence of Stand using relatives. Even without having met each other in person, people sharing this link will be able to roughly tell how far away they are from each other, although they usually can't discern the exact direction the sensation is coming from. They can also tell whether their family members are dead or alive regardless of distance.[19][20] These nuances were, for example, used in the battle with DIO, when the retreating Joseph Joestar "masked" the presence of Jotaro Kujo closing in on DIO from the back,[21] and were also the main reason for why the Boss of Passione considered killing his estranged daughter Trish Una essential to maintaining complete anonymity.[22]
If the familial ties between Stand Users are especially strong, such as the bond between twins or loving parent and child, the people in question will sometimes share injuries or even supernatural changes to their body.[23] This was showcased with Enya Geil manifesting her son's stab wounds after his death,[24] and Jotaro subconsciously sending a message to Jolyne Cujoh via Star Platinum carving her name in his skin.[25]
In the newcontinuity only the rule of Stand User attraction has been mentioned so far.[26]
The "Stands" in JoJo can be conceptualized as a reification of hidden talent, with their source being a sort of energy that's been in the Earth since ancient times.[27] The oldest instance of a Stand User dates back to the 16th century with the death of Caravan Serai and the emancipation of his Stand, Anubis.
The Arrows' creator
Approximately 50,000 years ago, a meteorite crash landed on Earth around an underpopulated region of Cape York, Greenland. Several hundred years before the discovery of the virus, a man who wished to acquire the power of gods took the rocks and fashioned them into a set of Arrows whose fate is undetermined.
In 1978, a mineral excavation team discovered the meteorite and uncovered an unknown virus within the rocks of the surrounding area and determined that it has been laying dormant inside the meteorite that hit Earth long ago. Despite extensive research, government doctors were unable to determine the alien virus' purpose outside the culling of life. Akin to the theory of evolution, it was discovered that certain people possessed the quality that would allow them to survive when exposed to the virus, rewarding them new abilities as they surpassed the trial.[28]
The Arrows resurface in 1986 when an Egyptian ruins investigation team uncovered six of them from underneath the Egypt desert. The Arrows were eventually stolen by Diavolo, who sold five of them to Enya the Hag. The Arrows allowed the wielder to unlock Stand abilities in those who had the potential to awaken one, essentially acting as the aforementioned trigger. Thus since the '80s, there has a been a sharp rise in the population of Stand users. The six Arrows were eventually distributed to various people, among them were Keicho Nijimura, Yoshihiro Kira, Jean Pierre Polnareff, and the Speedwagon Foundation.[29]
Stands are reintroduced in later parts with much vaguer origins. In Steel Ball Run, Stands were described as being granted by the Devil's Palm and the Corpse Parts it housed, which both bestowed power to those that could seek them out and survive their presence. In 1890-1891, in order to reassemble the Saint's Corpse and gain control of its miraculous power, the United States government staged the eponymous Steel Ball Run race as a way to scour the territory for individual Corpse Parts under the guise of a public event. The full Saint's Corpse was then sealed under Trinity Church, Manhattan, after which the Devil's Palm seemingly ceased to be.
The Saint's Corpse was then stolen and briefly smuggled into Morioh, Japan in 1901 by former Steel Ball Run contestant Johnny Joestar in order to cure his wife's terminal illness through the Corpse's power of Equivalent Exchange, after which the Corpse was retrieved by US government agents and returned to America.[30] Consequently to these events, the grounds of Morioh started exhibiting strange properties, one of which was the ability to draw out Stands. Despite the Wall Eyes, a geological formation similar to the Devil's Palm, emerging in Morion only during the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake , many of the town's Stand users have awakened their Stands long before 2011, some connecting that fact to having lived next to or even on top of future sites of the Wall Eyes.[31][32]
Despite an established connection connection between the Saint's Corpse and Stands, much of the specifics are shrouded in mystery. People who live near Stand-granting landmarks sometimes offer alternative explanations of their origin. For example, according to Native American legend, the Devil's Palm was a crater left by an ancient meteor, similar to the one from the original universe.[33] A significant number of Stand users also never came in contact with either the Saint's Corpse or the formations it left behind. Finally, it's up to interpretation whether the Saint's Corpse's power is something shared among other similar relics, as some characters have implied,[34] or is simply an extension of an abilitythe Saint had in life.
Stand-endowing grounds have also historically been connected to the cryptid species of Rock Humans, the vast majority of whom are Stand Users. Rock Humans hold a great reverence for the powers found within the Earth, and as such they're drawn to places like the Devil's Palm and the Wall Eyes, considering them their "true home".[35]
Stands present themselves in a wide variety of forms. Some adopt a humanoid form, others, the appearance of an object or a tool. These Stands all share an inability to be viewed by ordinary humans, unless bound to physical objects. In addition, some Stands can simply be devoid of appearance, simply manifesting themselves as a special power.
Stands can be divided into 5 trends based on their appearance. Most of the Stands have features from two or more categories.[36]
A Stand's appearance is not set in stone. Stands change appearance as their Users age. As seen with Jean Pierre Polnareff's Silver Chariot[37] or Jobin Higashikata's Speed King,[38] young Stand Users have typically childlike Stands and when they become adults, the Stands' features also become adult-like. A special category of Stands that can evolve into different forms or ACTs, is also able to change form and therefore appearance. Finally, a Stand pierced by the Bow and Arrow can evolve into a brand new form called a Requiem Stand.
When a Stand is injured, they may either bleed like an organic being, crumble into ashes, fizzle out in flashes of light, or break into small pieces like a statue.
Personality
Some Stands emote, but most don't
Most Stands display no personality, sometimes because they do not have a form with which to emote, but the majority of humanoid Stands simply hover behind and above the user awaiting a command. Some Stands display bits of personalities through facial expressions, but it is ambiguous whether the emotions come from the Stand or simply reflect the User's state of mind.
For unknown reasons, a handful of Stands do have a separate consciousness from their Users. They are sentient and can converse with their Users whenever they are summoned. Although they display a variety of personalities, most still obey their Users to the letter. Examples of such Stands include Echoes, Spice Girl, and Whitesnake. Rarely, these Stands are uncontrollable and have no true master, and instead, move from host to host and actively seek to harm their "user" with their powers. Anubis and Cheap Trick are examples of such Stands.
Whenever a Stand talks, their otherworldly nature is indicated in the original manga material as a text written with Katakana. In the case of audiovisual media such as the anime or a video game, a Stand's voice will possess a ghostly echo and mechanical tone.
Each Stand possesses supernatural properties as well as a special, unique power, indirectly granting its User superhuman abilities:
Stands can act unseen from most
In general, a Stand is invisible to normal humans, yet can interact with normal objects. It allows the User to use their Stand unnoticed by a large majority of the population. The mundane use of a Stand has been likened to a poltergeist phenomenon by normal people. Even a Stand's power is invisible for ordinary humans; for instance, normal people cannot see Magician's Red's flames but can feel its heat.[39]
Stands are ethereal and, as a result, possess intangibility. It is uncommon but not unheard of for Stand Users to channel their Stands inside their bodies to protect themselves, using their Stand's superhuman durability to their advantage. It is even more uncommon for Stands to phase through objects, but the possibility exists.
A Stand is ordinarily invulnerable to any harm except against another Stand or if their Stand User is harmed. In the rare case that a powerful enough force is exerted on a Stand, it can take damage.[40]
As psychic projections, Users can also communicate through their Stands. Barring rare exceptions, a Stand User typically shares their consciousness with their Stand and is able to see through its eyes. Moreover, a Stand User can also speak through their Stand, enabling a form of distant communication. However, the Stand must have a mouth or otherwise be able to speak to do so. Notable examples include Star Platinum, Death Thirteen, Highway Star and King Crimson.
Only Stands can harm Stands
On the assumption that Stands are images created out of energy, Users possess the ability to slightly manipulate their form. The only two times this ability was consciously utilised were in the part where Stands debuted, Stardust Crusaders. The first instance was Jotaro focusing Star Platinum's energy into its fingertips to rapidly extend them for a piercing attack, only doing so when the rest of the Stand is immobilized.[41] The second was Kakyoin and Polnareff shrinking their Stands to a microscopic level. However, Polnareff indicated that it was difficult to manipulate the Stand at such a subtle level and that it was taxing to maintain the small size,[42] making that property impractical in most cases.
Power
Each Stand possesses an esoteric and unique power that defines it and sets it apart from other Stands.
A sword Stand and a fire Stand
A Stand's power can wildly vary between Stands. The nature of the power can range from relatively mundane powers such as using a sword or controlling flames to extremely powerful ones such as the ability to manipulate the flow of time. These powers have many different subtleties, such as a limited range or a special way of manifesting themselves, that can be exploited during a fight. For instance, Sticky Fingers can create zippers on any surface, but it has to hit an object with its hand to be able to create them. It is up to the User to know how to protect themselves or use their enemy's weakness to their advantage.
The User is sometimes immune, or protected to a degree against the power of their Stand. For instance, Prosciutto can stay young despite his The Grateful Dead aging everyone around it. However, the reverse is just as widespread, as Stand Users like Pannacotta Fugo with Purple Haze's virus, and Muhammad Avdol and Magician's Red's flames are stated to be just as vulnerable.
In rare cases, Stands can have the same abilities. Usually, siblings like the D'ArbyBrothers or tworats can roughly have the same power.
Barring rare exceptions, if the Stand is destroyed or the User is knocked out, the Stand's power immediately disappears and any modification to the environment due to its power is reversed.
Each Stand is unique, but many share enough characteristics that they may be grouped under specific Stand Types. Very uncommon special stands may appear in the story from time to time due to exceptional circumstances.
Despite the variety of powers shown throughout the series, no Stand has the ability to truly bring back a person whose soul has departed.[43]
Range
Great power can be offset by short range
One of the most important features of a Stand is its range. Stands in principle can only be used within a predetermined range centering around the Stand's owner. As such, for the sake of convenience, the range that a Stand can perform abilities is referred to as "Firing Range" (射程距離). A Stand's range and accuracy are inversely proportional; the further the Stand moves away from its firing range, the weaker and less subtle it becomes. This principle is applied to almost all Stands. Furthermore, this can be construed more specifically as an "effective firing range", as a Stand will only gradually lose effectiveness the further it deviates from its firing range, rather than just relinquish immediately.[36] The Stand's range is effectively just the range where it can optimally perform, though this can notably fluctuate depending on the emotional state of the user.[44]
From a general point of view, all Stands can be roughly divided into two types: "Short distance", and "long distance". As a trend, short-range types display great power, many of which excel at direct blows or destruction (Silver Chariot, Crazy Diamond, Sticky Fingers, etc.), and are often referred to as "Power Types". Long-range types typically have a special ability that can let them indirectly attack. (Hierophant Green, Echoes ACT1, Beach Boy, etc.)
Some long-distance types are referred to as "Automatic Pilot", in which the "power vs distance from user" principle does not apply, since autopilot types are typically an extension of an "effect" that results in a Stand triggering. As such, these Stands are independent of the Stand User's will and mental strength, and their power does not drop as a result. As a related note, certain Stand abilities do not have specified ranges (Earth Wind and Fire), an example being time-based powers, such as The World or King Crimson.[36]
Example of Stand parameters displayed (Star Platinum) in JOJOVELLER
Stand Parameters (スタンドパラメータ, Sutando Paramēta), or Stand Statistics are six statistics used outside of the story to gauge a Stand's capabilities. Some parameters refer to specific abilities of the Stand, such as in the case of Moody Blues and Whitesnake. They are in order (clockwise from top): Destructive Power, Speed, Range, Stamina, Precision, and Developmental Potential.
Destructive Power (破壊力, Hakairyoku):
Measures the Stand's strength and ability to cause destruction (physical injury or collateral environmental damage) in a given period of time. Close-Range Stands such as Star Platinum, The World, Crazy Diamond, Killer Queen, Gold Experience and Stone Free will typically boast high destructive power (Rank C or higher). There are also cases like C-Moon, where destructive power is low or not applicable, despite having fairly destructive abilities.
Speed (スピード, Supīdo):
Measures the Stand's agility and reflexes as well as performance speed. This is also typically evaluated fairly high for Close-range Stands. Sometimes it can be strengthened through training, such as with Stands like Silver Chariot.
Range (射程距離, Shatei Kyori):
Measures a compromise of the Stand's range of manifestation, range of ability influence, and spatial mobility. In most cases it is inversely proportional to destructive power. However, there are cases where both power and range are excellent, such as Red Hot Chili Pepper and Weather Report. In addition, a Stand's range may decrease due to evolution, such as with Echoes and Made in Heaven.
Stamina (持続力, Jizoku-ryoku):
Measures the duration of time that the Stand can actively maintain its ability. It can also be used in the sense of the time it takes before a special ability can be activated again, such as Star Platinum: The World's time stop.
Precision (精密動作性, Seimitsu Dōsa-sei):
Measures the Stand's accuracy and range of influence/effect of their abilities to specified targets. Automatic type Stands are generally evaluated with Rank D or under with a fewexceptions.
Development Potential (成長性, Seichō-sei):
Measures the Stand's possible functions, utilization of its abilities and powers, and capacity to improve its overall capabilities. It decreases in rank as the user masters their Stand. For example, Jotaro Kujo's Star Platinum is Rank A in Developmental Potential during Stardust Crusaders, but is given Rank C during Stone Ocean, as Jotaro has had many years to hone Star Platinum's power. However, Rank C implies that all of Star Platinum's possible abilities and functions still had not been discovered or figured out by that time. For a Stand to gain an E-Ranking, it means that either their Stand user discovered all of their Stand's abilities or the Stand came with very few abilities and thus cannot grow any more than it has. Stands such as Green Day and Notorious B.I.G, with infinitely increasing abilities, will be evaluated very high in this parameter.
Each statistic is ranked from A to E; though rankings of None and Infinite are also possible. If a rank is Unknown, it will show a question mark (?); this is usually because the Stand or its full capabilities have not yet been revealed in the storyline. Rankings are defined as follows:
A: Very Good (超スゴイ, Chō Sugoi)
B: Good (スゴイ, Sugoi)
C: Average (人間と同じ, Ningen to Onaji, lit. "Comparable to a Human")
D: Poor (ニガテ, Nigate)
E: Very Poor (超ニガテ, Chō Nigate)
Stand Parameters were first introduced in Vento Aureo as part of a series of tailpieces inserted in specific chapters. Each page typically features information on a Stand relevant to the story arc, including their name, user, parameters, and description of their ability. Steel Ball Run and JoJolion do not display parameters, but Stands introduced during these arcs, as well as the arcs prior to Vento Aureo, are given them in artbooks.
Araki had conceived his idea of Stand following a need to illustrate his character's abilities and drew inspiration from several sources. As the Vampires and therefore the Ripple which was needed to fight them, became less relevant, there was a need to innovate the way characters in the series would fight each other. Araki mentions several trains of thought which would eventually lead into the creation of the Stands.
In several instances, Araki says that he was influenced by spiritualism, the ancestor cult of the Shinto religion giving him the idea of an otherworldly being protecting someone.[45][46] Moreover, Yokai legends and folklore would become one of the main inspirations for the Stands' appearances.[47] Araki also claimed that the concept of Stands were inspired by the 'guardian spirit' from Jiro Tsunoda's Ushiro no Hyakutarō manga.[48]
Alternatively, starting from the idea of psychic powers, Araki mentions that his natural skepticism about psychic powers inspired him to draw a psychic entity summoned by the characters. His interrogation about how psychic powers could affect the physical world without any medium led him into illustrating the psychic powers through Stands, which could make the reader visualize the way characters affected the world with their minds.[47] Araki mentions having in mind a punching fist coming out of the body to break an object, and thought that anything could be drawn, giving him a lot of artistic liberty.[49]
Araki explains that Stand abilities are often the first element he thinks of when he creates a character, and that he then develops the character's personality and appearance based on the harmony with said Stand power.[47][50]
A running theme in the Stand abilities of main antagonists is the power to manipulate time and/or space at some point. The World stops time, Killer QueenBites the Dust loops time, King Crimson erases time, Made in Heaven accelerates the flow of time, and Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap travels through parallel dimensions. This pattern stems from Araki's belief that the main antagonist should be overpowered and that if one were able to control space and time they would be unstoppable.[51]
While in the original universe, Stand was written as 幽波紋, in Steel Ball Run, 立ち向かうもの was briefly used by Mountain Tim, which literally means "the thing that confronts".
In Stardust Crusaders, most of the first Stands introduced are named after the Major Arcana of the Tarot (early on, also modified by a color or metal name). Rider-Waite-Smith numbering is also used (the Justice card visual manifestation features the number eleven). Later on, the remaining Stands excluding The World, Cream, and Tenore Sax are named after Egyptian deities.
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