Bow and Arrow

“

He who fully controls the Arrow... will control the world!

”

—Jean Pierre Polnareff, Chapter 571: What Lies Beyond the Arrow

The Bow and Arrow (弓と矢, Yumi to Ya) (more generally the Arrow (矢, Ya)) is a powerful item introduced in the fourth part of the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure series, Diamond is Unbreakable. The Arrows become a major plot-driving force throughout the part due to their ability to create Stand users.

Some of the Arrows and their fragments influence the events of Stardust Crusaders, Vento Aureo, and Stone Ocean; in the latter two parts, the history and previous influence of the Arrows is detailed.

History

An excavation team discovers a virus inside a meteorite crater

Approximately 50,000 years ago, a meteorite crash-landed on Earth near an underpopulated region of Cape York, Greenland. In 1978, a mineral excavation team uncovered an unknown virus within the rocks of the surrounding area and determined that it had been lying dormant inside the meteorite. Despite extensive research, government doctors were unable to determine the alien virus's purpose outside of the total elimination of human life. It was soon discovered, however, that certain people possessed a quality that enabled them to not only survive when exposed to the virus, but gain supernatural abilities from it.^[1]

The creator of the Arrows

Several hundred years before the discovery of the virus, a man who wished to acquire the power of a god took material from the meteorite and fashioned it into Arrows. The Arrows were lost to time until 1986, when an Egyptian team of archaeologists that included a young Diavolo uncovered six of them in Egypt. The Arrows were eventually stolen by Diavolo, who sold five of them to Enya the Hag. The six Arrows changed hands several times, with three notably falling into the hands of Keicho Nijimura, Yoshihiro Kira, and Polpo.^[2]

The Arrows

The Arrow with the beetle design

Six Arrows have been discovered to date. Following their theft from an archaeological site in Egypt by Diavolo, five of the six were sold to Enya the Hag. Their subsequent usage is outlined below:

The Arrow kept by Diavolo, presumably used to awaken his Stand King Crimson, was later given to Polpo and placed in the mouth of his Stand Black Sabbath in order to create new Stand users for Passione. It is shattered during Polpo's death.^[3]
Keicho Nijimura obtained one Arrow from Enya after learning of her connection to DIO and thus his father.^[4] Keicho uses this Arrow on various residents of Morioh, attempting to create a Stand user capable of killing their father. The Arrow is later stolen by Akira Otoishi, who used it to grant Stands to two rats. Following Akira's defeat, the Speedwagon Foundation recovers the Arrow.^[5]
One Arrow, given to Yoshihiro Kira by Enya,^[6] was used to awaken his son's Stand Killer Queen. Following Yoshihiro's death and Josuke and the others investigation of Kira, Yoshihiro's ghost uses the Arrow to create Stand users in Morioh in order to protect his son. The Arrow later pierces Yoshikage Kira a second time, awakening Killer Queen's third bomb, Bites the Dust. It is presumably destroyed when Yoshihiro's ghost is destroyed by one of Killer Queen's bombs.
An Arrow possessing a beetle design was recovered in Egypt and kept by Jean Pierre Polnareff. Upon accidentally pricking Silver Chariot, the Arrow temporarily created Chariot Requiem. Polnareff pierces Silver Chariot with the Arrow a second time in Rome as he dies, summoning a berserk Chariot Requiem. After a fierce struggle for the Arrow, Giorno Giovanna pierces Gold Experience with the Arrow to create Gold Experience Requiem. The Arrow remains in the possession of Giorno and Polnareff's ghost afterward.

The whereabouts of the remaining two Arrows sold to Enya are unknown.^[7] However, there are several instances in the series where an unidentified Arrow appears:

A shard of one Arrow was given by Jotaro Kujo to his ex-wife. It is later given to Jolyne Cujoh, who accidentally uses it to awaken her Stand, Stone Free. Ermes Costello then picks up the shard, incidentally awakening Kiss before selling it to Jolyne's cellmate Gwess. The shard is returned to Jolyne following Gwess's battle with her. This shard is later returned to Jotaro after he is placed inside the submarine.
One Arrow, bearing the same beetle design as Polnareff's Arrow, was given to Enrico Pucci by DIO in 1987.^[8] The Arrow later pierced Pucci, awakening his Stand, Whitesnake, as well as his brother's Stand, Weather Report.^[9] Its subsequent whereabouts are unknown.
The Bow, along with one Arrow, can be seen hanging on DIO's wall in the anime adaptation of Stardust Crusaders.^[10] This Arrow is presumably one of the five sold to Enya, though its subsequent whereabouts are unknown.

El Aleph Arrows

The information below derives from El Aleph which was not written by Araki. As such, it may not be considered canon.

In the light novel El Aleph, there is a Bow and Arrow in South America. Lisa Lisa reveals the theory that the Speedwagon Foundation came up with after discussing with many researchers: there was once a man who wanted to be as powerful as a god, who might have been a member of a family who had lived eternally since time immemorial, or perhaps a descendant of that family. The man instinctively sensed the true value of the unknown virus from the meteorite and came up with a scheme to turn the mineral into Arrows.^[11]

In 1966, a magnitude 8.1 earthquake strikes Peru, causing large deformations in the earth's crust. A research organization carries out a geographical investigation 40 kilometers east of the capital of Lima and Pucallpa. When the researchers enter an area that had a new, large-scale depression, they suddenly become afflicted with unexplained illnesses. Most illnesses result in unnatural deaths, but around three of the victims exhibit strange phenomena such as spontaneous combustion or electrical discharge. It is believed that they came into contact with a mineral containing the virus which got exposed from the earthquake. Lisa Lisa mentions there were cases of people finding and harvesting the mineral in regions other than Peru for their own purposes.^[11]

While working as a geological survey assistant, Fernando Alhorn gets his hands on the Bow and Arrow during one of his routes. Alhorn then becomes a gang leader of human traffickers, shooting people throughout South America to turn them into Stand users. He enslaves those Stand users to exploit their abilities, which Izahela Mena-Mena testifies to after being rescued by the Foundation in 1973. Lisa Lisa assumes Alhorn might have multiple Arrows and commands the rest of the Paranormal Phenomena Section of the Speedwagon Foundation to retrieve the Arrows from Alhorn.^[11] Throughout the years, Alhorn uses the Arrow on several victims, such as Pisco, Sasha Loggins, Joaquín Ruiz-Jorruda, Forever, and 33 other cases with abilities unknown to the Foundation.^[12] In the early 1980s, Octavio Luna Kan and Joaquín discover that Alhorn only has one Bow and Arrow and take it for themselves after defeating him.^[13] Octavio uses it to awaken several Stands for his army in the Selva Cartel.^[14] After Lisa Lisa defeats Octavio in 1986, Sasha and J.D. Hernández retrieve the Arrow from his possession and secure it in a safe storage area known only to a few.^[15]
In 1986, Lisa Lisa asks Pisco to create a replica of Alhorn's Arrow using his ability Yawar Fiesta, which she uses on herself to awaken The House of Earth.^[12]^[14] It is unknown what happened to the Arrow afterward, but the Foundation presumably kept it secure.

Concludes non-canon section.

Properties

Stand-Awakening Property

The Arrow's power awakening a Stand

The Arrows fashioned from the meteorite will catalyze and awaken the Stand of any living creature they pierce, given that the target has sufficient spiritual strength. If the target lacks sufficient spiritual strength, contact with the Arrow will prove fatal; on the other hand, the Arrows normally only seek out and pierce those who will live.

In certain cases, such as with Ken Oyanagi and Tama, the wound caused by the Arrow will heal and leave a hole about the size of an average coin.

Effects on Bloodlines

The Arrow's effects transfer through bloodlines, generally without exception. The Arrow that pierced DIO (and thus Jonathan Joestar's body) awakened Stands in the rest of the Joestar family. Members of a bloodline without the necessary spiritual strength to wield a Stand slowly die from its power, as if they were suffering a severe fever; such is the case with Holy Kujo and a young Josuke Higashikata. If the person responsible for the Arrow's influence dies, any family members suffering in this way are cured instantly, though Josuke fully awakened and retained his own Stand.

The Arrow can also awaken a Stand within one's siblings, as the wound from the Arrow that pierced Enrico Pucci also transferred to his brother Wes Bluemarine, granting him Weather Report.

If a person affected by the Arrow in this manner has a child after the source of the Arrow's effect dies, the child does not inherit a Stand of their own. The only known example of this scenario is Jolyne Cujoh, who didn't awaken her Stand until she cut herself on a shard of an Arrow.

Repeated Piercings

Silver Chariot pricks its finger on the Arrow and becomes Chariot Requiem

A degree of uncertainty surrounds the effects of an Arrow piercing a Stand or its user after its awakening. When an Arrow pierces a Stand user, the user in question awakens a new ability; such is the case with Yoshikage Kira's Bites the Dust ability. However, this fact seems to be context-sensitive, as Giorno Giovanna's repeated contact with the Arrow in Black Sabbath's mouth seemingly has no effect beyond wounding him.

In certain cases, piercing a Stand may cause it to change its form and gain a completely new ability, one that holds dominion over souls themselves.^[16] These evolved Stands are referred to as Requiem Stands. In the two known cases of this phenomenon, Polnareff's Silver Chariot loses its previous abilities while Giorno's Gold Experience retains them. The transformation can usually be reversed by retrieving the Arrow from an evolved Stand, though the berserk Chariot Requiem retains its form even without the Arrow.

The information below derives from El Aleph which was not written by Araki. As such, it may not be considered canon.

El Aleph is also considered a Requiem Stand,^[17] being awakened when Joaquín Ruiz-Jorruda is shot by the Arrow. However, El Aleph's form is not tied to the Arrow, and does not demonstrate the same mastery over souls as other Requiem Stands.

Concludes non-canon section.

Stands Awakened by the Arrows

Awakened by DIO

Awakened by Akira Otoishi

Ratt

Bug-Eaten/Not Bug-Eaten

Awakened by Yoshihiro Kira

Awakened by Polpo

Sticky Fingers

Bruno Bucciarati^[18]

Purple Haze

Pannacotta Fugo

Anime only

Moody Blues

Leone Abbacchio^[18]

Awakened by Diavolo

King Crimson

Diavolo/Vinegar Doppio

Spice Girl

Trish Una

Bloodline

Awakened by Jean Pierre Polnareff

Chariot Requiem

Jean Pierre Polnareff

Second piercing

Awakened by Giorno Giovanna

Gold Experience Requiem

Giorno Giovanna

Second piercing

Awakened by Jolyne Cujoh's Pendant

Gwess

Awakened by Enrico Pucci

Bloodline

Non-Canon

Awakened by Reimi Sugimoto

Arrow Cross House

Penelope de la Rosa

Awakened by Dio Brando

C-MOON Ultimate Requiem

Kars/Dio Brando

Awakened by Octavio Luna Kan

Selva Cartel Army's Stands

Selva Cartel Army

Awakened by Lisa Lisa

The House of Earth

Lisa Lisa

Similar Phenomena

Steel Ball Run

In a desert along the trail of the future Steel Ball Run race, a meteorite crashed into the desert and formed a mobile formation of land known as the Devil's Palm. Feared by the natives near the area, it was rumored that the Devil's Palm sought out future Stand users and imposed a heavy affliction upon them, from which the person would obtain a Stand.

JoJolion

Following Johnny Joestar's seizure of the Saint's Corpse and self-sacrifice, the place where the Corpse was used beneath the Meditation Pine^[19] is imbued with a similar power to the Devil's Palm,^[20] in addition to gaining the property of equivalent exchange.

Video Games

Puzzle & Dragons (Android/iOS)

The Bow and Arrow was obtainable for a limited time in the mobile game Puzzle & Dragons as a free unit in exchange for 5x JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Collab DISC - Rainbow. It is meant to be an Assist Monster equipped to another unit to enhance its stats and add its Skill.