Concepts/Items
Jojo's also has numerous infulential concepts and items which have affected the course of the story.
Stand
Stands are perhaps the most iconic part pf Jojo's, introduced in Part 3 and appearing heavily in every part since. Almost every character from Part 3 on has a Stand.
In essence, a Stand is a physical manisfestation of one's fighting spirit. Only strong-willed people can control a stand- should someone without this fighting spirit gain a stand, they will begin to die (seen in Holly Joestar or Josuke Higashikata as a young child).
Stands operate on a few base rules. First, only those with Stands can see other Stands. Second, only a Stand can hurt another Stand. Third, any damage done to a Stand is relfected on its user, and vice versa. Lastly, there is only one Stand per person. Beyond this, there are no limits to what Stands are or what they can do. Stands can appear as an object, a humanoid figure, or even as nothing. They can be bound to physical objects, which allows them to be seen by normal people.
Some examples of different forms of stands are: Star Platinum, a humanoid Stand, The Fool, a Stand that takes control of sand, creating its form from it, Hermit Purple, which is made of vines, Strength, which is bound to a boat, and Beach Boy, which appears as a fishing rod.
Stands are judged on six categories, ranked on a scale of A (best) to E (worst):
- Destructive Power: This is the physical, brute strength of the Stand
- Speed: How fast the Stand can move
- Precision: How accurate and precise the Stand's movements are
- Endurance: How many hits the Stand can take
- Range: How far a Stand can operate away from its user. This can apply to attacks or how far away it can manifest
- Development Potential: While this is technically descirbed as how much of the Stand's abiltiies have yet to be discovered, it is often used to describe how powerful its 'special ability' is.
Beyond these stats, most (if not all) Stands have a 'special ability' associated with them. Since every stand is unique, there are millions of special abilities, each usually with their limitations and conditions. Some abiltites include: stopping time, creating life, predicting the future, creating new universes, creating bombs, spinning fingernails, healing people, undoing actions, erasing time, and turning into string. The possibilities for Stand abilties are endless.
Stone Mask
The Mask which belonged to
the Joestars in the 1800s
The Stone Mask is the first item to have any huge impact on the series. A series of Masks were designed by Kars thousands of years prior to the series's start, and were designed to unlock the hidden potential of the Pillar Men and turn them into the ultimate being. They did not work on Pillar Men, and so Kars fashioned a new mask which needed the Stone of Aja to function, this Mask ultimately turning him into the Ultimate Being.
While the Masks did not work on Pillar Men, it worked on humans. When blood touches the surface of the mask, stone claws spring out of it and pierce certain spots in the wearer's brain. When these spots are punctured, the wearer becomes a vampire.
Vampires in Jojo's do share some similarities with classical vampires, but are ultimately very different. While they do share a weakness to the sun (and by extention, Hamon) and do drink blood to survive, they host a large share of differences. Jojo's vampires can survive being mutilated to the highest degree (even getting one's head cut off), and only need to drink blood to get themselves stronger and speed up their recovery. While they do gain sharp canines, they instead drain blood using their fingers jabbed into their victims' skin.
Additionally, vampires gain immense strength and the ability to manipulate their bodies to the highest degree. Dio, being the most creative of all vampires, demonstrated the ability to cool down his skin so much he could freeze anything he touched, and being able to eject fluids out of his eyes with such pressure they could break glass and even kill. Vampires also somehow gain the ability to fuse living beings together, the epitome of which demonstrated when Dio successfully fused his head onto the body of Jonathan Joestar. Vampires also have an acclelerated healing rate, which can be further sped up with blood. While it is not explicitly confirmed, it is implied that becoming a vampire also makes one go mad and evil with power.
The Stone Masks are terrifying devices capable of turning even the weakest human into creatures unbeatable by normal means, and they caused a chain of events which eventually lead to the universe itself being reset.
Stand Arrow
One of the Six
Stand Arrows
The Stand Arrows are ancient arrows fashioned from a meteorite which crashed into Earth 50,000 years ago. These arrows- of which six were made- have the unique ability to awaken Stand abilities in those cut with it. Should one have the mental stamina to have a Stand, they will survive, and gain a Stand; if they do not, they will die. The Arrows, along with Discs from Whitesnake and the Holy Corpse in Part VII, are the only ways to gain a Stand without being born with it.
The six arrows were first discovered by an archeologist team in Egypt, but were soon stolen by Diavolo. He sold five of them to Dio, and kept the other to give the members of his gang Stand powers. Eventually, these arrows found themselves around the world, leaving people like Jotaro Kujo to track them down and keep them from those who would misuse them.
Besides the normal Stand activation, the Arrow has another few abilities. When one peirces themselves with an arrow, their living descendants gain a Stand as well; this is seen when Dio stabs Jonathan Joestar's body, giving his grandson (Joseph), great-grandchildren (Holly and Josuke), and great-great-grandchild (Jotaro) all Stands.
The Arrow also acts differently when a Stand user is hit. If the user themselves is stabbed, their Stand gains a new, powerful ability, seen with Yoshikage Kira getting stabbed by the Arrow and his stand Killer Queen gains Bite The Dust, a time-altering ability.
If the Stand itself is hit, however, a completely different change takes place: the Stand turns into a Requiem stand. Requiem Stands have completely different appearances and abilities than the original Stand, and these abilties are immensely powerful. The most famous Requiem Stand is Gold Experience Requiem, a Stand which can undo any action and is considered the most powerful Stand to ever exist.
Holy Corpse
The 9 parts of
the Holy Corpse
The Holy Corpse is the corpse of an ancient saint, never explicitly stated but heavily implied to be the corpse of Jesus Christ. Around the time of the Steel Ball Run, the Corpse had been split into nine parts and scattered across the continental United States. Obtaining the parts of the corpse was the main goal of the Steel Ball Run. The Corpse is unique in that they only exist in one universe, meaning that the presence of the Corpse designates the 'base universe,' in the terms of the Stand D4C. In other universes, the Corpse is replaced with diamonds, or other treasures.
Besides these aspects, the Corpse could be considered the Stand Arrow of the SBR Universe. When one comes into contact with a Corpse part (or an area where is has been) they gain a Stand. This is seen when Johnny Joestar gains Tusk. When Funny Valentine gains all nine parts, his stand gains the ability Love Train, which can be seen as equivalent to the Arrow giving a Stand a new ability.
Hamon
Will A Zeppili
demonstrating Hamon
Hamon- literally translated to Ripple- is a special form of energy, the only thing besides the sun and fire which can defeat vampires and Pillar Men. It is an advanced breathing technique that allows one to produce a sort of energy, flowing through the blood, that resembles the light of the sun. Hamon is usually represented as yellow bolts of energy flowing around the skin, but this is mostly stylistic. Hamon is not really seen unless standing in water, where the energy of Hamon causes exact ripples in the water, thus the name 'Ripple.'
Hamon is the main weapon of Parts 1 and 2, and during these parts, some rules of Hamon have been estalished. First, breathing and bloodflow are essential to usage of Hamon; if either of these are stopped for a time, usage of Hamon is impossible. Second, Hamon can 'flow' through objects, allowing a Hamon user to turn about anything to turn about anything into a weapon against Pillar Men and vampires. Hamon flows through organic things and liquids best, meaning that oil is one of the best Hamon conductors. Hamon, when put into something, can only be retained for a short time, meaning there must be a constant flow of Hamon into the object to stay voatile. Hamon can also flow through Stands, as seen with Hermit Purple.
Hamon is also extremely useful for its ability to amplify the surface tension of water. The ripples of Hamon make the surface tension of water much stronger, allowing them to walk on its surface. Being a good Hamon conductor combined with this property makes water a powerful battlefield for a Hamon user (as long as they aren't submerged to too long).
There also exist Hamon amplifiers like the Red Stone of Aja, which take Hamon and condense it into a powerful beam (this property also applies to all light). Additionally, advanced Hamon users can imprint their Hamon with 'messages,' which can allow them to 'control' non-Hamon users as long as the Hamon flows through them. The entirety of one's Hamon can be given to another at the moment of death, allowing the recipient to gain incredible power.
Jonathan and Joseph Joestar are some of the most powerful Hamon users, the former mastering it within a week and the latter being born with the ability.
Hamon is extremely versatile and can be used in hundreds of ways besides fighting those weak to it.
Multiverse
The Multiverse theory is simple: there exist infinite universes, each slightly different from the other. There are at least four alternate universes shown in Jojo's: the original universe, shown in Parts I-VI, a universe shown briefly before resetting to another unnamed universe only shown in the final chapters of Part VI, and the Steel Ball Run universe of Parts VII on.
Some Stand abilities revolve around the multiverse theory. D4C is one such Stand; it allows its user to travel freely between alternate universes. Made In Heaven is a similar Stand which allows its user to speed up time until the current universe breaks, allowing them to recreate the universe as they want. Enrico Pucci used this method to end the original universe and create another one, which was again reset after his death.
Most alternate universes are very similar to each other, with the difference being subtle. As such, many universes have alternate counterparts, like the Jonathans of the original and Steel Ball Run Universes.
