Tree(Green leaves and gray bark.)
The Great Tree of Sugar Mountain is a giant tree serving as a Devil's Palm, where the Saint's Corpse's ears and left arm can be obtained, introduced in the The Promised Land: Sugar Mountain story arc in Steel Ball Run.
The tree is a Stand User, wielding the Stand Sugar Mountain, which is bound to it. This Stand possesses guardians of the same name and uses its ability to carry out supernatural trials, testing the greed of passersby who pursue items possessed by the tree.
Physical Appearance
The Great Tree of Sugar Mountain is a massive ancient tree with a babbling spring nestled amidst its sprawling roots. Embedded within the tree's trunk are the unfortunate souls ensnared by its Stand, with their faces usually contorted in anguish. The tree holds chamber adorned with etchings of horses and oxen skulls on the walls. Within this chamber, the current guardian drew a make-shift floor plan to emulate a home for a family.
Color Schemes
The series is known for alternating colors between media, the information presented below may or may not be canon.
Summary
The tree submits passersby to two trials, overseen by a prior victim. Sugar Mountain is the current host when Johnny Joestar and Gyro Zeppeli come across it. The springs nearby are connected to the tree and are part of the trial.
An object dropped into the 'fountain' transforms into a top-quality item! If one lies, the tree pulls out their tongue. Honest answers are rewarded with highest grade goods, which must be traded before nightfall. Otherwise, the person will become the tree's 'fruit'.
Abilities
Stand
- Main article: Sugar Mountain (Stand)
The Stand attaches itself to the great tree and functions as a trial for those who discover the tree and its current guardian. Although seemingly easy to pass, the test becomes more difficult as it goes on and will push a person's will to its limits.
History
Early History
At an unknown point in time, the Great Tree became the resting place of the Saint's Corpse's ears and left arm, turning it into a Devil's Palm and granting it the Stand, Sugar Mountain.
Over the course of several decades, the Great Tree possessed the likes of hunters and explorers, and those who failed to complete the trials were turned into tree fruits, where they would slumber inside of the tree for years, cycling through different guardians.
Sugar Mountain Tests Johnny & Gyro
While on their search for the ears and right arm of the Saint's Corpse, one of Gyro's Steel Balls is possessed by the Great Tree. The two of them enter the Tree and meet its guardian, Sugar Mountain, who tests them on their greed. Gyro and Johnny pass the test and receive the corpse's ears, but before they are sent on their way, they are given their second test: they must use up all the items they acquired within the tree by sunset, or else they too will become its fruits.
When they succeed, Sugar Mountain, along with her parents, are released from the Tree.
Chapters
Manga AppearancesChapters in order of appearance
- Steel Ball Run Chapter 45: The Promised Land: Sugar Mountain, Part 1
- Steel Ball Run Chapter 46: The Promised Land: Sugar Mountain, Part 2
- Steel Ball Run Chapter 47: The Promised Land: Sugar Mountain, Part 3 (Mentioned only)
- Steel Ball Run Chapter 48: Tubular Bells, Part 1
Trivia
- Sugar Mountain's ability was likely inspired by one of Aesop's Fables, about an woodcutter who accidentally drops his axe into the lake. When Hermes offers him a silver or gold axe, the woodcutter tells him the truth that his axe was simply a normal one, and Hermes rewards him with all three for his honesty. In Japanese variants of this tale, Hermes is usually portrayed as female.
- Sugar Mountain's ability may also be based on the plot of Brewster's Millions (1985 film)