History Characters / JoJosBizarreAdventureJosephJoestar

* OddNameOut: {{Tarot Motif|s}} of Hermit Purple aside, Joseph is the only major character in the ''entire'' series who doesn't have a name or Stand name that references anything. (Jonathan is named after a Japanese fast food chain, and Jotaro's last name is based on ''Literature/{{Cujo}}'').

* SoLastSeason: As the last shown Hamon user by the time Stands are introduced, he gets hit with this ''hard''. While Hamon can be used against humans to a degree, it cannot innately harm Stands, making it practically useless in most fights from this point onwards. Even DIO, the one opponent that should be most vulnerable to Hamon, can practically ignore it entirely using his Stand. This isn't helped by neither Joseph's old age nor his fairly weak Stand. By the time of Part 4, he pretty much drops Hamon entirely. Not that it matters much, as age had reduced him from a Hamon warrior capable of defeating the UltimateLifeform to a senile old man barely able to walk on his own.

* ATragedyOfImpulsiveness: As ''Eyes Of Heaven'' cements, [[spoiler:the disagreement and Caesar rushing off to fight Wamuu was ultimately due to both Joseph and Caesar and saying things neither party meant, and ultimately leads to Ceasar to what would be his untimely death.]] Old Joseph comments

* SpellMyNameWithAnS: His name is listed in several places as Jose'''f''' rather than Joseph.

* ATragedyOfImpulsiveness: As ''Eyes Of Heaven'' cements, [[spoiler:the disagreement and Caesar rushing off to fight Wamuu was ultimately due to both Joseph and Caesar and saying things neither party didn't mean, and ultimately leads to Ceasar to what would be his untimely death.]] Old Joseph comments

* GutturalGrowler: His voice as an old man is rather gravelly compared to the [[BaritoneOfStrength voice he had when he was young.]]

* AdaptationalPersonalityChange: The ''Stardust Crusaders'' [=OVA=]s turn him into a soft-spoken, serious-minded, ''Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar''-esque CoolOldGuy who remains focused, calm and collected; which is a near-total reversal of his anime and manga version, who's very prone to being [[LargeHam hammy]], trolling, and cracking jokes.

* TrueCompanions: He is absolutely devoted to his grandma Erina and uncle Speedwagon.

* DirtyCoward: Subverted. Joseph is famous for utilizing [[ScrewThisImOutOfHere The Joestar Famiy's secret technique]], but at the same time he never actually runs from a fight. When Joseph opts to run away, he's actually looking for a more strategic position to give himself the advantage. More often than not, [[GuileHero it works.]]

* AmbiguouslyBi: He's definitely attracted to women but is also the subject of repeated QueerPeopleAreFunny gags, such as being surprisingly upset at the Nazi soldiers' lack of attraction for him in his blatantly obvious crossdressing disguise, and the non-canon ''VideoGame/JoJosBizarreAdventureEyesOfHeaven'' game has him hit on many of the other male characters (including saying ''Phantom Blood'' Speedwagon has [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNN4IEeV66s&t=113s 'handsome eyes']]), and a [[https://youtu.be/J6r4-OXWQF4?t=1804 deleted line]] from the game has him outright ask Caesar to be in a relationship with him while in drag.

* AmbiguouslyBi: He's definitely attracted to women but is also the subject of repeated QueerPeopleAreFunny gags, such as being surprisingly upset at the Nazi soldiers' lack of attraction for him in his blatantly obvious crossdressing disguise, and the non-canon ''VideoGame/JoJosBizarreAdventureEyesOfHeaven'' game has him hit on many of the other male characters, and a [[https://youtu.be/J6r4-OXWQF4?t=1804 deleted line]] from the game has him outright ask Caesar to be in a relationship with him while in drag.

* AmbiguouslyBi: He's definitely attracted to women but is also the subject of repeated QueerPeopleAreFunny gags, such as being surprisingly upset at the Nazi soldiers' lack of attraction for him in his blatantly obvious crossdressing disguise, and the non-canon ''VideoGame/JoJosBizarreAdventureEyesOfHeaven'' game has him hit on many of the other male characters, and a deleted line from the game has him outright ask Caesar to be in a relationship with him while in drag.

* FreudianExcuse: Both his parents were absent during his formative years, leaving him in the care of his grandmother Erina (who was too old and tired to properly discipline him outside of whacking or shouting distance) and family friend Speedwagon (who was even older and was often away on business).

* GlassesOfAging: He starts wearing glasses in ''JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond Is Unbreakable'' as shorthand that he has become old and senile.

* AwesomenessByAnalysis: Established early on in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWj635t-16g a standoff with a mafioso]], wherein Joseph quickly determines that his opponent uses brass knuckles, that he used them recently, and that he had no choice but to put them in his back pocket since his coat was off. In general, Joseph has an uncanny ability to read his opponents, to the point where predicting their next sentences word-for-word is a CatchPhrase of his.

* CatchPhrase:

** [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]] because he's not a bad guy in any way, just a JerkWithAHeartOfGold, but he really loves his grandmother Erina and his BerserkButton is seeing others upsetting her. When he confronts DIO in ''Stardust Crusaders'', Joseph declares he'll defeat DIO for the same of Erina, showing even years after she's passed away, Joseph loves her dearly, and wants to put to rest of such suffering for her.

** [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]] because he's not a bad guy in any way, just a JerkWithAHeartOfGold, but he really loves his grandmother Erina and his BerserkButton is seeing others upsetting her.

* ChronicHeroSyndrome: He differs from his grandfather in many ways, but he does share one important trait: he cannot tolerate an innocent person being victimized if he has any way to prevent it. That said, it only applies to ''innocent'' people. He doesn't feel the need to rush in to [[SaveTheVillain save evil people]] from their fates without a specific reason to intervene.

* WeakButSkilled: Is noted to be not particularly powerful ''or'' technically proficient with Hamon. However, unlike most users, he grew up with it and thus spent his developmental years sporadically practicing the bare basics enough to be very good at applying it in critical situations. Even after proper training and a noticeable increase in strength, he is never referred to as exceptionally powerful, unlike his grandfather Jonathan or Lisa Lisa, but gets even more creative and versatile. This proves to be vital in his victories over the Pillar Men: all of them are so powerful and intelligent that neither pure strength nor more straight-forward strategies would be enough for a human to defeat them. Only out-of-the-box thinking, creative applications of Hamon, and deception stand a chance at bridging the gap. In other words, Joseph's specialties.
** This gets more pronounced in Part 3. Age and lack of practice severely weakened Joseph's Hamon abilities, forcing him to battle Stand-wielding assassins with nothing more than Hermit Purple's barely-existent combat potential to defend himself. He had to get extremely creative to earn any victories in ''Stardust Crusaders''.

** Played for laughs and generally downplayed. He kicks a young man in the shin at JFK Airport for bumping into him after finding out that he's Japanese, but it's explained as just a grudge stemming from his OverprotectiveDad nature. His heart doesn't seem to be in it normally, though, as he easily tolerates his half-Japanese grandson Jotaro as well as the fully Japanese Kakyoin, and most likely got over his prejudice altogether by Part 4 with [[RetCon another Japanese descendant, Josuke]]. At the least, he states that while he's not fond of the Japanese, he does like his Sony Walkman.

* TheAce: Joseph was ''devastatingly'' handsome in his younger days, has many skills of a magician, and is the only [=JoJo=] to have both Hamon and Stand abilities. Later, he became a wealthy real estate tycoon, maintained a HeroicBuild into his late sixties, successfully led the party that destroyed DIO [[spoiler:although he temporarily dies]], and ended up being one of the only [[spoiler:two members]] born in the Joestar family to live long lives (the other being [[spoiler:his daughter Holly]]).

* TheAce: Joseph was ''devastatingly'' handsome in his younger days, succeeded in defeating [[UltimateLifeform the Four Pillar Men]], and is the only [=JoJo=] to have both Hamon and Stand abilities. Later he became a wealthy real estate tycoon, maintained a HeroicBuild into his late sixties, successfully led the party that destroyed DIO, and ended up being one of the only [[spoiler:two members]] born in the Joestar family to live long lives (the other being [[spoiler:his daughter Holly]]).

[[caption-width-right:300:[[labelnote:Click here to see Joseph as he appears from "New York's [=JoJo=]" to "The Game Master", and at the end of "The Ascendant One".]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jojo2.png[softreturn]''"I gave into my temper again! Crap! I'm in for it... Oh! Granny Erina's gonna be furious!"''[[/labelnote]]]]
[[caption-width-right:300:[[labelnote:Click here to see Joseph as he appears in ''Stardust Crusaders''.]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/purplehermit_animeav_0.png[softreturn]''"Like a fine wine, I guess I just get better with age!"''[[/labelnote]]]]
[[caption-width-right:300:[[labelnote:Click here to see Joseph as he appears in ''Diamond is Unbreakable'', holding Shizuka Joestar.]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jojosbizarreadventurediamondisunbreakablejosephjoestar.png[softreturn]''"I just wanted to look cool in front of my boy... Tell me, did it work?"''[[/labelnote]]]]

* BadassBaritone: [[Creator/TomokazuSugita In]] [[Creator/BenDiskin the]] [[Creator/UnshoIshizuka TV]] [[Creator/RichardEpcar anime]].

* GutturalGrowler: His voice as an old man is rather gravelly compared to the [[BadassBaritone voice he had when he was young.]]

* AdventurerOutfit: Associated with [[{{Irony}} stereotypical pilot gear]] in Battle Tendency, which Araki seems to consider his IconicOutfit over his actual one as of late, though he never wears it in the series proper. Wears Franchise/IndianaJones[[FedoraOfAsskicking -esque]] clothes in Part 3, which fits nicely with his [[WhipItGood Hermit Purple.]]

* TheTrickster: Continues this trend for Joseph: he doesn't need RapidFireFisticuffs, PlayingWithFire, or an AbsurdlySharpBlade to win, he just needs [[{{Seers}} the right information]] and [[WhipItGood the ability to reach whatever it leads him to]].

* WhipItGood: Old Joseph's video game appearances show that he can use Hermit Purple as a Hamon-infused whip.