Stands lore

A Stand is a physical manifestation of a person's "life energy". It is a power unique to the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure series.

A Stand is an entity psychically generated by its owner, referred to as a Stand user. It generally presents itself as an ethereal figure hovering over or near the user and possesses abilities beyond that of an ordinary human, which, depending on the Stand user, can be wielded for good or evil

Stands are defined as personifications of "life energy" whose abilities are given visual form. When first presented, the term is written as 幽波紋スタンド, with furigana added to change the pronunciation of what literally means "ghostly Ripple". According to Joseph Joestar, the name "Stand" comes from the fact the vast majority of Stands usually manifest themselves standing next to the user, ready to act on their command. The term 立ち向かうものスタンド has also been used by Mountain Tim to describe Stands, which translates literally to "that which stands and confronts"

To an extent, a Stand embodies the individual's psyche, usually as the representation of their user's "fighting spirit". However, the will required to manifest a Stand doesn't need to be confrontational, deriving from any exploration of the mind's possibilities, be it mastery of a craft, strong desire or even personal crises. Beyond that definition, Stands present themselves in a large variety of forms and with different behaviors, if they are sentient at all. They follow a loose set of rules, with no definite standard by which one can fully classify them. As an embodiment of someone's psyche, Stands are therefore as varied as human minds can be.

Due to their diversity, Stands are not made equal. Some can be incredibly powerful due to their user's outstanding grit, others can be highly situational because of a defining quirk of character, or even detrimental to their user if they do not have the necessary fighting spirit.

When Stands were first introduced in Stardust Crusaders, they were named after Major Arcana of the Tarot and then Ancient Egyptian deities, with their designs often featuring motifs of those cards or mythological figures. Towards the end of Stardust Crusaders and in all subsequent story arcs, the vast majority of Stand names are references to musicians, bands, albums, and songs from American, Australian, British, and European music scenes; only one Stand's name has ever referenced Japanese language music.

Stands and other supernatural abilities, like the Ripple, the Spin and the powers given by the Stone Mask, are all somehow linked in nature. These abilities are said to be one of the potential stepping stones towards developing a Stand, which some Stands are an example of.

Stands are also connected to an alien virus contained in the rock of a meteorite that fell in Cape York, Greenland. It is explained that the virus can infect people and for the most part kills them, but the few who survive are granted a Stand ability.

The Stand is created from someone's psyche, which includes not only humans but also other living creatures. That individual is referred to as the Stand user. The user then gives their Stand a name and uses it for various purposes.

Most of the time, Stands are attached to their user's body. In that case, any damage the Stand sustains results in an equivalent injury on the user's body and vice-versa. Exceptions to this rule include automatic Stands, which usually do not reflect the damage into the user, or special abilities like Silver Chariot's armor. Some Stands are "Materialized" or considered bound to an actual object separate from the user, in which case damaging the Stand and damaging the object to which it is bound are practically the same.

Except for rare occasions, when a Stand user dies, their Stand and ability disappears with them. If a Stand suffers so much damage they are destroyed, the user dies as well. However, a user can survive with their Stand destroyed if the Stand is automatic or depending on the level of the user's injury. Inversely, some Stands can survive beyond their users through exceptional abilities like Notorious B.I.G.

Since a Stand is the form of its user's psyche, they share an intimate psychic bond. First and foremost, Stands usually obey their users' command without question. If a user demands it, the Stand will perform any task within its capacities, which includes attacking someone, defending the user, or any miscellaneous order. In the case a Stand is sentient, they can occasionally advise their user that an order is unwise but will carry it on all the same. Stands may automatically protect their users from self-inflicted death, such as when Jotaro tries to shoot himself but his Star Platinum catches the bullet, or when Weather Report tries to commit suicide in various ways only to be thwarted by his ability.

However, there are instances when a Stand cannot be controlled by the user. It can be either automatic like Super Fly or the user can acquire a Stand but not have the fighting spirit to control it like Holy Kujo. In both cases, a Stand can accidentally work against its user's interests through their unsupervised power. However, specifically in the second case, a Stand can go out of control and slowly kill its user like a disease. According to Muhammad Avdol, the user becomes ill, then falls into a coma only to never wake up again; moreover, such occurrences are common enough for him to claim having witnessed many people succumbing to this.

One of the defining rules about Stands is that someone may only have one Stand (at a time). Although Stands may take different forms, or be split into several entities, no one is able to summon several Stands at once. Although exceptional circumstances may lead to someone wielding several Stands, only one will be the user's bona fide Stand. A Stand generally remains attached to its user, but it can sometimes change users. For instance, it can be stolen from its original user, or if the Stand's ability involves changing users. Thanks to Whitesnake's DISCs, a Stand can change users but will act to protect its new user instead. Others Stands, like Anubis or Cheap Trick, will actively try to change users, and their malevolent nature makes them harm their users instead of protecting them.

Occasionally, a Stand can emit a Rush Attack, shouting repeatedly while delivering a beatdown.

When a user acquires their Stand, their control over it is partly instinctual but needs practice.

Upon awakening or discovery of their Stand ability, the user naturally does not know anything about it and thus has to figure out what their power is. Sometimes the ability is straightforward and easy to understand. For instance Koichi Hirose easily discovers Echoes's ability to generate a sound. At other times a sentient Stand may explain the power directly to its user as Spice Girl did for Trish Una, but sometimes the user will need time to know their Stand's power. For instance, both DIO and Jotaro possessed their Stands for some time until they discovered that they could stop time

Afterward, it is up to the user to discover what their Stand can really do with its ability. A Stand user will need practice to develop their Stand's potential and manipulate it in a more precise manner. Hidden subtleties and applications of the Stand's power may require time for the user to notice. Giorno Giovanna, for example, had to use Gold Experience on Bruno Bucciarati to discover what its Life-Giving ability did to humans, and similarly had to figure out that its abilities could mend wounds.

To use a Stand, the user has to consciously summon it. Likewise, to use its power, the user has to command their Stand. Thus, Stand users are still vulnerable to sneak attacks. This does not apply to automatic Stands which act by themselves.

In most cases, Stand users are either born with the ability to use their Stands at an early age or have the potential to unlock one later in life. This Stand potential can notably be inherited. For those who have the potential, the trigger for unlocking one's Stand varies with the user, but is often related to the refinement of their talents or skills throughout their life. As such, a Stand's awakening and abilities are often tied to the user's occupation. Stands are also noted to awaken through the mere presence of powerful Stand users in the general area. Notable users who acquired a Stand through natural means include Noriaki Kakyoin, Muhammad Avdol, Tonio Trussardi, Scolippi, and Kenzou.

The most widespread way to trigger a Stand's awakening immediately is to be pierced by a special Arrow made from a meteorite in Greenland. If a person has Stand potential, they will survive being stabbed and acquire a Stand; otherwise, they will die. Notable users who unlock their Stand this way include DIO, Koichi Hirose, Diavolo, Enrico Pucci, and Jolyne Cujoh.

Moreover, if someone acquires a Stand this way, their existing descendants will also gain a Stand, although it may not manifest itself at first or be uncontrollable. In one such case, Jonathan Joestar's body was pierced by the Arrow, causing every living member of the Joestar Family to awaken their own Stands. The way siblings acquire Stands is portrayed inconsistently: although Koichi Hirose's sister Ayana Hirose did not awaken a Stand, twins Enrico Pucci and Wes Bluemarine both awakened a Stand when Enrico was pierced.

In the new continuity first seen in Steel Ball Run, the Arrows are not present. Stands can still be developed naturally, like Pocoloco's, and their potential can still be inherited, as shown with the Joestar and Higashikata families. Outside of these means, Stands are usually brought out by certain supernatural landmarks. Enduring the harsh conditions of the Devil's Palm, a shifting landmass in North America, or living long enough near the Wall Eyes of Morioh can draw out one's Stand. Notable Devil's Palm survivors include Mountain Tim, Oyecomova, and Ringo Roadagain, while many Morioh residents such as Ojiro Sasame, Daiya Higashikata, and most Rock Humans unlock their Stands through mere exposure to Wall Eyes emergence sites.

The power behind both the Devil's Palm and the Wall Eyes stems from the Saint's Corpse, a set of mummified relics with miraculous properties. Among them is the ability of individual Corpse Parts, usually buried at the eye of a Devil's Palm, to grant Stands to worthy bearers along with ownership of the Corpse Part. Because the user's capacity to wield these Stands is initially tied to the Corpse's own holy power, they can be lost if the Corpse Part is extracted. However, as the user acclimates and develops their technique, the Stand can eventually become fully theirs to keep, like in the case of Johnny Joestar's evolving Stand, Tusk.

Uniquely, the Saint's Corpse can also grant Stands to the surrounding flora, creating cursed locales like Sugar Mountain Spring or Shakedown Road, and also manifest entirely separate Stand-like entities dubbed "guardians" to aid in bestowing Corpse Parts. A Stand of a Corpse Part bearer might initially be one of these guardians, as was the case with Tusk.

Stand users share a number of spiritual connections with each other, which manifest in several supernatural phenomena.

Firstly, Stand users attract other Stand users. Likened by different characters to either a "red string of fate" or "gravity", this link ensures that Stand users will eventually meet one another, especially if they live in the same general area. This rule was most prevalent in Diamond is Unbreakable and Vento Aureo, where many fateful meetings, such as Koichi Hirose immediately bumping into Giorno Giovanna when tasked to find him, had this phenomenon as their undercurrent explanation.

Secondly, if Stand users happen to be related to each other, they will share a strong psychic bond. It's most prominently exhibited as an ability to sense the presence of Stand using relatives. Even without having met each other in person, people sharing this link will be able to roughly tell how far away they are from each other, although they usually can't discern the exact direction the sensation is coming from. They can also tell if their family members are alive regardless of distance. These nuances were, for example, used in the battle with DIO, when the retreating Joseph Joestar "masked" the presence of Jotaro Kujo closing in on DIO from the back, and were also the main reason for why the Boss of Passione considered killing his estranged daughter Trish Una essential to maintaining complete anonymity.

If the familial ties between Stand users are especially strong, such as the bond between twins or loving parents and children, the people in question will sometimes share injuries or even supernatural changes to their body. This was showcased with Enya Geil manifesting her son's stab wounds after his death, and Jotaro subconsciously sending a message to Jolyne Cujoh via Star Platinum carving her name in his skin.

In the second continuity, only the rule of Stand user attraction is shown to be in effect.