Warning: Spoilers Off applies to all Moments pages, so Unmarked spoilers ahead!
"It was 50 years ago... and still... those events... haunt us!"
— Erina Pendleton
Now, reader, your next line will be: "WHY ON EARTH AM I CRYING BY READING THIS PAGE?!" *
- Stroheim's Heroic Sacrifice by blowing himself up with a Stick Grenade to stop Santana from being unleashed upon humanity; one of the few times you will ever cry for any Nazi, let alone one as heroic as him. Heck, even Joseph himself was crying with respect for his bravery, and before Stroheim does the deed, begs him not to go through with it; to which the Major reaffirms that he must, gives him advice on what he has to do to defeat the rest of the Pillar Men, and quotes Greek Philosophy to comfort himself before he faces down (what initially seems like) his final destiny.Joseph: Von Stroheim... don't you dare!
Stroheim: "Human greatness lies in one's ability to face down their fears". Do you know who said that? The Greek historian, Plutarch. Farewell... annoying Englishman!
Joseph: (Unsuccessfully rushes to stop him) Don't do it! I still have questions for you! VON STROHEEEEIIIIIIIM!
(The Stick Grenade detonates, engulfing Stroheim in a massive explosion and throwing Joseph backward)
Joseph: Damn that crazy German and all his honor! (Starts to cry)'' ...I'm sure that we could've found another way.- It makes it even more awesome when he comes back rebuilt as a cyborg to fight on par with Kars for a short time, and even stays on as a cast regular. That said, it makes Stroheim's ultimate fate after the events of Battle Tendency rather sad as well. He died fighting in World War 2; sacrificing himself to singlehandedly cover a German retreat during The Battle of Stalingrad in 1943, and eventually falling to a Russian Stand user after having fulfilled his duty. The last we see of the Colonel is him proudly staring down the approaching Soviet forces with a grim smile and extending several very large, mechanically-mounted guns out of his back, well aware that he's not going to live through it.
- Mark's death at the hands of Wamuu, another example of Too Good for This Sinful Earth; he was one of Caesar's only friends. In spite of being a Nazi with great enthusiasm to the cause, he showed no signs of the terrible cruelty that many Nazis embraced, and was a genuinely Nice Guy who had plans to marry to his girlfriend after the war. These plans are cut short when the Pillar Men walk by and absorb half of his body while not even bothering to notice. Paralyzed, with the sheer pain growing worse and worse, and sobbing in agony, Mark's last words were to plead with Caesar to give him a painless death, who is forced to oblige despite wanting to somehow save his friend. Such a pointless Kick the Dog moment from the Pillar Men filled with Lack of Empathy fueled both Caesar and Joseph with intense vengeance... and campy poses.
- The flashback regarding Caesar's backstory, after years of wanting to exact revenge on his father for leaving him, he gets saved by him before he could be killed by the Pillar Men's trap. The wrenching part about it all? His father died without knowing he just saved his son.
- Three. Words: CAESAR ZEPPELI'S DEATH. It's not only the saddest moment in this part, but also quite possibly the saddest moment of the entire franchise, period. To elaborate, from the very realization he's dead, Joseph and Lisa Lisa are clearly distraught and trying their best to maintain their composure as they continue on deeper into the mansion, and then they find where Caesar died under the piece of debris. The moment they see blood leak out from the cross-shaped rock, Lisa Lisa, who was up until now the calmest of the group, breaks down into tears along with Joseph who screams his name, complete with highly emotional and wrathful Manly Tears. Only silence answers them, and the episode ends on Caesar's headband and Wamuu's ring lying on the rock.Narrator (Dub): They were deep in enemy territory. Kars and Wamuu were very nearby, but the two simply couldn't help themselves. JoJo called out Caesar's name. Lisa Lisa's tears flowed freely... but their heartbroken cries of grief were met only with a cold silence. Caesar... was gone. As they mourned him, they took solace in one simple fact; though his body had died, his soul would live on through them. Rest in peace... Caesar Zeppeli.
- Joseph is about to rage against his companion for being so calm and seemingly blasé about their friend's disappearance before he notices something: "Coach Lisa Lisa... your cigarette. It's backwards". Lisa Lisa, who had been attempting to put on a cool exterior to keep the group strong despite their mutual closeness — as Joseph himself notes afterward when he starts to calm down — starts to tear up as she breaks her cigarette in one hand. Then when they notice Caesar's blood pooling from underneath the stone cross and immediately realise what's happened to him, they both completely lose it.
- The anime recreates both this scene and Caesar's backstory in the same episode. It's depicted fantastically and is every bit as tragic in the manga, especially on how they deliver it. "Il Mare Eterno Nella Mia Anima
"note sums up the tearful emotions of the scene so perfectly it hurts.- It also makes Joseph's reaction to Caesar's death even worse because you can hear him bawling his goddamn eyes out and howling like someone tore a limb off of himnote over the death of his rival-turned close friend, as the music and narration starts to drown out all other sound.
- After this development, the part in the opening where Joseph does a Skyward Scream while wearing Caesar's bandanna suddenly makes sense; he's yelling out for Caesar. Listen here at the 1:18 timestamp.
- An additional element that makes this even more tragic is the guilt that Joseph must feel for having pressed Caesar's Berserk Button, which led the latter to his death out of pride and anger to prove the former wrong. Having the last thing he and his rival every say to each other is in anger, undoing the good will that they had built up just prior to that point and how that death could've been avoided if he had chosen to be more tactful in his words, truly must fill Joseph with self-loathing, even into his autumn years. Part 3 Joseph's reaction to witnessing his and Caesar's final conversation again in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Eyes of Heaven all but confirms this to be true, as he interrupts their arguing to yell at his younger self for being insensitive, and then chides Caesar for behaving so recklessly with his life when he has people who care about him. This also likely explains why Joseph is significantly nicer to his colleagues during the crusade to find DIO years later to not have a repeat of the same ordeal. And even then, he goes through the same thing again with the death of Noriaki Kakyoin decades later; another brilliant, brave young man who gave his life to save him.
- And Caesar's last act was to leave both Wamuu's ring and his own Hamon energy to Joseph, like his grandfather did to Johnathan. Despite how their last meeting had ended.
- During his battle with Wamuu, Joseph ties Caesar's headband to his head and says "Fight along with me, Caesar." Later, when he charges the headband with Hamon and uses it as a weapon, he calls on to Caesar to give him aid.
- Elizabeth Joestar aka Lisa Lisa's backstory, which involves her killing the zombie that killed her husband, George Joestar. Unfortunately, he had impersonated a highly ranked officer, which, when found out by a hapless soldier, led to her being forced to leave her son, Joseph, in the care of her mother-in-law while she was on the run as a fugitive. The kicker: the zombie was one of the surviving members of Dio's army, making the couple another victim of Dio's ambition.
- It also means that Erina has lost her husband, and her only son, and the daughter-in-law she's raised since infancy is forced to become a fugitive, and it's all because of Dio. And to add insult to injury, Lisa Lisa was orphaned in the first place because Dio's horde of zombie minions killed her parents at the end of Part 1.
- Seeing Wham/Wamuu return to the wind, while Joseph salutes him.
- Unlike the other Pillar Men, there is a genuine Cry for the Devil moment here (even though he was the one who killed Caesar), as reduced to a severed head, Wamuu has no ill feelings toward Joseph. He commends him as a Worthy Opponent, and even tries to save him from Kars' vampires with the last of his strength.
- Kars going back on his word to fight Lisa-Lisa honorably, after declaring he'd fight fairly in honor of Wamuu's death right before this. Showing a disrespect to not only Wamuu who died just earlier to take down Joseph and also to Esidisi who went through great sacrifices including sacrificing his own pride and dignity as a warrior just to see his friend's success. Seeing Kars taking the underhanded easier route is a posthumous Kick the Dog that spits on the legacy of his colleagues. Even Joseph in spite of killing Wamuu himself earlier, is angered by this act of dishonor.
- This is even sadder by the fact that Kars genuinely cares for his comrades. There are many moments in the story where this is made clear. Most clear of which is when Wamuu dies, he internally writes off his sense of honor as a flaw that made him weak... and then kills a group of vampires that spoke ill of him. And yet, when push comes to shove, Kars chooses his goal over truly honoring their memories without a hint of remorse.
- And on Joseph's part, he cuts his wrist and gives Wamuu some of his blood, in hopes of easing the pain of his passing. Wamuu cries out that he doesn't deserve his pity, to which Joseph clarifies that just like Whamuu himself sparing Caesar's bubble earlier, it wasn't an act of pity, but rather one of respect and honor.
- Everyone's reaction to Joseph's Disney Death at the climax of Part II. Especially Speedwagon, who starts tearing up and laments that "it's happening again", thinking back to Jonathan's death at the end of Part I.
- In the epilogue of Battle Tendency, is revealed that Erina, Speedwagon and Stroheim died before the start of the Part III. While they had more or less good deaths — Erina died of old age surrounded by all her loved ones, Speedwagon died of a heart attack at the age of 89, having achieved immense success in life after his redemption and the misery he suffered in his youth, and Stroheim died honorably as a proud German soldier; sacrificing himself to cover the retreat of his men during the Battle of Stalingrad — is quite sad to know that they died after spending so much time with them in the first two parts.
- It's also sad because, in a way, it marks the End of an Era in the JoJo series, specifically the era of the original generation of characters from Phantom Blood, the part that started it all. By Stardust Crusaders, DIO is the only character from that generation who's still alive... though karma eventually — and fortunately — catches up to him in the form of Jotaro Kujo and his crew.
- It's also the end of Hamon. In Parts 3 and beyond all combat is Stand based, and it isn't until Part 7 when we get a style similar to Hamon to compliment said Stand based combat, but Hamon itself is abandoned from this point onward.
♫ Sulla volta celeste
C'è il mare eterno nella mia anima
Ovunque tu vada
Ovunque io vada
C'è il mio amor nella tua vita
C'è l'amor nella tua giornata. ♫ Translation
C'è il mare eterno nella mia anima
Ovunque tu vada
Ovunque io vada
C'è il mio amor nella tua vita
C'è l'amor nella tua giornata. ♫ Translation
