This WMG page is for theories pertaining specifically to Stardust Crusaders. For theories regarding the series as a whole, click here. For theories for other parts, visit one of the following pages:
- Phantom Blood
- Battle Tendency
- Diamond is Unbreakable
- Golden Wind
- Stone Ocean
- Steel Ball Run
- JoJolion
- The JOJOLands
Holly's Stand is connected somehow to Hermit Purple
What we saw of it implied it was some kind of plant vine, while we know Hermit Purple looks like thorny vines.Plus, Holly IS Joseph's daughter, so it would make sense.
- This is actually quite more likely than you may think. In the JoJonium volume 9 interview
, Araki says that there is a correlation between the vine-like appearance of Joseph's stand and his role as a Ripple user, to the point of heavily implying that Hermit Purple is actually the Ripple itself manifesting as a stand (he even goes as far to say that if a stand user like Jotaro travelled back in time to his battles with the Pillarmen fifty years ago, he could see Joseph fighting with Hermit Purple), this also explains why Jonathan's unnamed stand is identical in appearance and the swirly purple designs on Star Platinum (latter one confirmed by the JoJoveller stand commentaries). Since the Ripple was inherited by Joseph in a Lamarckian manner, it's not too far-fetched to assume Holly might have had some potential to awaken its abilities, which explains the appearance of her stand.
Stopping time isn't the power of Star Platinum or The World
It's actually just something DIO and Jotaro can do naturally, and has nothing to do with stands. The World's power is not Time Stands Still, but Ditto Fighter
The World is a concentrate of all Tarot cards. Dio was not only able to stop time, but also seemed to replicate Hermit Purple once, and his stand was able to fight on even ground with Star Platinum. When all of this happened? For the second, when Joseph tried to spy on him; for the third, when he was fighting Jotaro. In other words, Dio replicates the powers he is the target of or of those he is fighting. If we go with the theory that stopping time is Jonathan's power, then Dio is using a Loophole Abuse by using Jonathan's stand to freeze time and his own stand to not be subjected and move freely.- Except Dio stopped time several times, even when Jotaro was not present (against Abdul, Polnareff, Hol Horse, etc...). A more valid theory that is circulating is that Dio's / Jonathan's stand can replicate any Stand power of other Joestar family members that are alive at the time. That would explain both his Star Platinum-like abilities (and the humanoid shape of his Stand), and his Hermit Purple-like abilities (and the vine-like shaped Stand that we got a glimpse of). Jotaro's Stand had started manifesting before the story starts, so even if Dio's Stand needed Star Platinum to be active to copy it (which is not necessarily true), it's believable that it already was when Dio first faced Abdul.
- The World's power is actually most likely the powers of all living Joestars. The official explanation about the Hermit Purple-like Stand is that it is Jonathan's Stand, but a flashback in Part 6 has Dio healing Pucci's foot. Either Jousuke or Giorno are alive at this point, and both Crazy Diamond and Gold Experience can heal others.
- Neither Crazy Diamond nor Gold Experience are capable of the healing that DIO did to Pucci's foot. Crazy Diamond can only return things to previous states, but Pucci's foot was deformed for well beyond the time limit (Which the final Kira fight shows was never that lon to begin with). Gold Experience heals by creating perfect donor flesh which then heals naturally, which is obviously not what happened to the foot at all. DIO was able to heal the foot because of his vampire abilities, which have always been to manipulate the structure of bodies, such as with DIO's chimeras in part 1, his own and Vanilla Ice's heads in part 3, and most obviously with the pillar men in part 2, especially Wham's daisy chain of nazis whose hands he fused together.
- It has the power to copy other stands. Stands are generally shown to be both unique even among family (Joseph and Josuke's have literally nothing in common despite being father and son) and based on one's personality so it makes very little sense that Dio and Jotaro's stands possess the exact same powers despite being vastly different personalities, nor would it make sense for Jonathan's body to possess an exact copy of Hermit Purple since he and Joseph are almost exact opposites, so the most likely option is that those aren't Dio/Jonathan's stands. They literally are Star Platinum and Hermit Purple copied by The World. Due to the mentioned spiritual link between Dio and the Jostars it would make sense their abilities are the first copied. What better ability is there for the selfish egotistical sociopath than to have the power of every stand in The World at his fingertips?
- Plenty of people have very similar stands to each other, including the D'Arby brother's soul theft, Terrance D'arby and Joseph sharing telepathy, Wheel of Fortune and Strength being very similar as well. DIO and Jotaro are not as different as they appear, and neither were Jonathan and Joseph.
- It's also possible The World can replicate other Stands but not more than one at a time. Once Dio realized the potential of time stopping he promptly forgot the others existed. He didn't use his vampire powers much in this part so it would be in character to forget the more niche powers.
The design of Dio's The World is a sneaky reference to the Ronnie James Dio song "Holy Diver".
Ever wondered why it looks like The World has a pair of air tanks on its back, like a diver? It might be another musical reference, referencing the name of the song "Holy Diver", which is made by the very artist that gives Dio—the owner of the Stand—his name. If Stands in Stardust Crusaders were named after bands, songs and albums like in later parts, it might even be possible that The World would have been called Holy Diver. The D'Arby brothers were lying when they said their deaths would mean the souls they took would be lost forever with them.
How can we trust the two on their word alone when they say that their deaths would mean losing Polnareff, Joseph and Kakyoin's souls forever? They obviously never tried it before to see if it worked, so the most likely idea is that they flatout lied about this in order to avoid an angry Jotaro and his remaining pals smashing their faces in and getting their friends' souls back in the easier, old-fashioned way, as well as lure them into another vulnerable position.Lying and cheating fits Daniel J. D'Arby perfectly as well, though it might be harder to justify this for Terrence.
Alternatively...
The D'Arbies were in fact telling the truth because it happened to one of them before.
This could be because one of the brothers, most likely Terrence, is a vampire. He probably died after gathering a bunch of souls but was brought back by DIO using his blood like he did with Vanilla Ice. However when Terrence came back, none of the souls he got up to that point came back with him so he started his collection anew. Daniel was probably there to witness it and figured the same thing applied to his Osiris as it did to Terrence's Atum.I say Terrence might have been the vampire because Daniel is sitting out in open, very much legitimate sunlight in his chapter with no ill effects, and said sunlight plays a role in his chapter as well. As for Terrence being in open daylight? Remember that the room Terrence and the heroes had their battle in was an illusionary room created by Kenny G's Stand which cracked when Terrence was sent flying into the "horizon" by Star Platinum, and dispersed when Kenny G was beaten, so the sun seen in that room was a harmless illusion, giving off no UV rays or vampire-killing rays of light or what have you.
Kakyoin is distantly related to the Zeppeli family
He fills pretty much the same role that Caesar did in part 2, and aside from him, the only other lancer with a roughly similar role and degree of relevance would be Hermes.- Bucciarati is much more similar to Zeppeli and is the same nationality. Kakyoin doesn't have all that many similarities to the Zeppelis other than dying while imparting information.
- It wouldn't be completely out of the realm of possibility for Kakyoin to be related to the Zeppelis: Caesar had many siblings, so one of them could've married a Japanese person and had a child who would go on to have Kakyoin. That Kakyoin often travelled abroad with his family (he had gone to Egypt before the start of Part 3) makes this all the more probable. In addition, consider the Capcom fighter. While Avdol and Iggy both survived in their endings when they died in the manga, Kakyoin (both versions of him) ultimately died in their endings. Definitely echoes of the Zeppelis' curse: helping another at the cost of their own life...
- I'm not opposed to this theory, but there's one problem: the Zeppeli family children we saw were all blondes. Kakyoin is shown to have pink hair—while it's possible he dyed his hair, if it's natural, then he should have some shade closer to strawberry blonde as opposed to pink (as shown by genetics, explained here).
- Why does he need to be a Zeppeli just because he fulfills a similar role to them? What would that add to the story? Is being a kind-hearted, self-sacrificing person something that only the Zeppelis can do? It's just a Recurring Element, nothing more.
Hermit Purple does not need the camera to be smashed in order to make Spirit Photos
But because of Joseph's hot-blooded nature or World of Ham, he smashes it.- Wasn't this implied or even confirmed when DIO uses a Hermit Purple-like stand himself without smashing the camera?
If Hermit Purple had been a humanoid stand with Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs capabilities, its war cry would have been Dorarararararararara...
- This kind of thing seems to be hereditary in the Jojo-verse. Compare with Jotaro and Jolyne (father and daughter, both use Ora Ora Ora) or Dio and Giorno (father and son, both use Muda Muda Muda).
In the manga, Dio activating his Stand resulted in the Joestar birthmark.
The birthmark did not appear until the third arc of the manga. Thus, it can be assumed that just like how the Stands of all Joestars activated when Dio activated his, the birthmark would appear at the same time. Perhaps the birthmark appeared in the place where Dio pierced himself with the Bow and Arrow, too... The final scenes of the Stardust Crusaders anime...
Will feature "Get Back", a song Jojo fans have been wanting to see as an ED since Phantom Blood, but was reserved for this moment as it's here that Joseph canonically plays it in his walkman.The Stinger for Stardust Crusaders will cut to the late eighties Morioh, where Tomoko Higashikata will hear that her little boy Josuke has miraculously recovered from the fever that had plagued him for nearly the past two months.
- Jossed. Stardust Crusaders ended with no licensed music, and the Diamond is Unbreakable adaptation wasn't even foreshadowed until months later.
"Ora Ora Ora" actually comes from Jotaro's childhood.
After being aged down by Set, Jotaro delivers the Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs himself as a seven year old boy, all while shouting Star Platinum's Ora Ora. It's possible the sound was something Jotaro made as a kid to sound cool or tough, like he was emulating a hero from TV or comics. When he got older, he grew out of the trend but held onto it subconsciously. So his Stand, a manifestation of his own will/psyche, calls out the old sound as he proves how tough he is. The Stardust Crusaders OVA is the version of the events Joseph told Suzie and Holly when he came back from Egypt, and the anime/manga is what actually happened.
The OVA cuts out a lot of Joseph's buffoonery, abridges a lot of stuff together, or cuts parts out entirely (like the fact that the Crusaders had to fight a baby, a child and his teenage brother, a hawk, an orangutan, and a pedophile/child abuser). He wanted himself to look cooler and more responsible, and to worry his non-Stand-using family members less.- Plus Joseph wasn't there to watch or unaware of all the events listed. Death 13 is dream-based and removes all memories he would have of his experience with him. Both of Boingo's fights with the Crusaders bounced around Joseph, and the Pet Shop/Alessi fights didn't involve him, the later was during the same time as when Joseph was having trouble with Mariah.
- However, you mention Joseph didn't want to mention he fought an orangutan, but Forever was in the OVA. Also, I'm pretty sure Joseph wouldn't mix up details such as where they met Polnareff or who was there when Avdol and Iggy died. He was also there for both of the D'Arby brothers, so how could he forget one but remember the other? Then again, Joseph is, in fact A. old, and B. could've fabricated a lot of things.
The whole main cast of Stardust Crusaders is multilingual.
- The whole story arc is them travelling across the the globe, and the cast itself is pretty racially diverse, so it's possible all of them know how to speak another language.
- Jotaro is fluent in Japanese and can also speak English since he talks with DIO (see below) and also has some Gratuitous English lines.
- Joseph can speak English, Italian possibly from spending time with Caesar and Suzie Q, Japanese since Holly is married to a Japanese man and possibly learned how to speak it from him, and possibly Cantonese Chinese because he said once that he stayed at Hong Kong once long enough to be able to read a restaurant menu.
- Kakyoin can speak Japanese, English for similar reasons as Jotaro in addition of writing "Baby Stand" on his arm in English, and also possibly Cantonese Chinese since he's the only character besides Joseph to talk to the residents in Hong Kong (although the scene was anime exclusive) and happens to know a few cultural trivia of Hong Kong, implying that he once traveled there long enough to learn the language.
- Polnareff can speak French as it is his native tongue, English, and also possibly Italian since he appears in Part 5, where the setting is in Italy and the majority of the cast is Italian.
- Avdol can speak Egyptian Arabic and English since he talks with Joseph and English is a commonly learned foreign language in Egypt.
- DIO however can only speak English as he very likely knows no Japanese since he spends 100 years in the ocean and lived his life mostly in England.
Jotaro unconsciously performed Hamon breathing and didn't even know it,
And that's why he still looks so young after Stardust Crusaders. The way he uses Star Platinum to deal with Justice is where this idea comes from. Magician's Red, based on tarot mythology, could've been an Independent Stand.
Magician's Red has a developmental potential stat of D, meaning that Avdol had learned a grand majority of what it could do, but there was still some things left over that he had yet to discover. Now the Magician card's symbolism is that the figure depicted is usually holding a wand pointed towards heaven, and the gesture is said to symbolize the magician's ability to bridge the gap between the heavens and the earth. If Avdol had learned to "bridge that gap" provided his Stand was capable of it, there might've been a chance that Avdol could bridge said gap by granting his stand independence, therefore having it traverse the earth even after the day he'd eventually pass on, similar to Anubis.
The reason Holly's Stand tried to kill her is because it technically wasn't her Stand—it was the Stand of her twin sister that she absorbed in the womb.
Holly's a chimera, having absorbed her twin sister in the womb. Said twin sister is really the one who has Holly's Stand, but since she was absorbed by Holly, it became Holly's Stand. Except since it's not really her stand, it tried to kill her.J. Geil's father is rapist
I heard that people, who birth from rape has defects. This is why J. Geil so ugly! It's also possible reason why he became who he is now - his dad inspired him!- It's probably worth noting that J. Geil inherited one of his deformities — his second right hand — from his mother, Enya. If the above WMG about his father is true, it's not too much of a stretch to assume that J. Geil's maternal grandfather had those proclivities as well. That in mind, it's no wonder J. Geil grew up to be a Complete Monster — the men on both sides of his family tree were just as bad as him.
- Alternatively Enya is a rapist. She's not that better than him and despite him being Obviously Evil she treats him like an innocent. Maybe they have more in common than we'd want to think about.
The two girls who argued over Jotaro are actually friends
They planned the "ugly, ugly, ugly/no-boobs, no-boobs, no-boobs" argument in advance trying to get Jotaro's attention because nothing else was working.Boingo is intended to be Araki's Author Avatar
Many people would like to point to Rohan Kishibe as Araki's self-insert character by value of him being a mangaka, but Araki doesn't share his sense of egotism or cultural distaste. On the other hand, Boingo matches up more with Araki's cloudcuckoolander tendencies. His art style (through Thoth) is very distinct and incorporates a lot of Body Horror, Boingo is an extreme Shrinking Violet with No Social Skills, which is something that Araki has struggled with in real life even as a married adult, and like Araki believes himself through most of his works, Boingo is a firm believer that You Can't Fight Fate, given that Thoth's predictions are 100% accurate and can't be changed by virtue of the butterfly effect.Enya wasn't wrong about DIO - Steely Dan killed her on someone else's orders
DIO may not be a nice guy, but he isn't exactly a typical Bad Boss either. Hol Horse failed his first mission, helped the Crusaders against Enya, and then tries to kill DIO, and DIO still allows him to live. DIO even explains his current physical weakness and uses his Stand right in front of Hol Horse and doesn't seem to worry that he might be able to figure it out and share the information. Meanwhile, Enya was one of DIO's most loyal followers and engaged mutually in the same sort of philosophical conversations he had with Pucci. While N'Doul later suggests Hermit Purple could extract information whether or not they wanted to share it, this wasn't used on D'Arby and he wasn't killed to keep him from eventually talking. However, there is someone else Enya had a connection to that was even more paranoid about their identity and didn't have any friendship with her: the man who sold her the arrows. Steely Dan was a hired assassin, not one of DIO's loyalists. It's possible his services were hired from Passione, and was given a secret mission by his boss.Star Platinum's real power is Adaptive Ability.
If it perceives anything that is faster, tougher or anything else physical, it will power up until it is just as fast or strong. It moved so quickly because of Jotaro firing the gun at his head, or just from his prior knowledge that bullets are fast and plentiful. It couldn't stop time until encountering Dio and his technically infinite speed, and slowly improved during the fight but not afterward. In later parts the fight with Sheer Heart Attack improved its defense (though we don't see much of it). Unfortunately the backwards time travel from Bites The Dust only occurs after he dies, and Pucci's infinite acceleration is still a slower velocity than moving in stopped time. Perhaps it's for the best he went into marine biology and not astrophysics, because dear lord...Mannish Boy/Death 13 can choose to let victims keep their memories of what happens in the dream world.
Only explanation for how Dio is able to communicate with him.Mannish Boy is an adult who let Alessi de-age him.
Giving Alessi the ability to choose whether or not his targets retain their memories and powers is more believable to me than a baby with the mind of an adult.That old lady from the bathroom who was briefly stalking Joseph was actually Mariah in disguise.
I mean, in one of the SDC games, the lady is the form Mariah takes sometimes. Their clothing is also similar as well, so it wouldn't be too out of the ordinary for it to be a disguise to trick Joseph and the rest of the Joestar Group into making them think that they got the wrong person.