DIO Brando || Jjba || JoJo's Bizarre Adventure

Originally a man of low birth but peerless ambition, Dio is a cunning villain of little conscience and an insatiable hunger for power. After becoming a vampire, Dio sets out to conquer the world with an army of zombies at his command, bringing a lifelong feud between himself and his brother by adoption, Jonathan Joestar, to a head. He later becomes a Stand user wielding the all-powerful The World, and is responsible for setting many of the series's major events in motion. He has shoulder-length blond hair and is often topless, exposing Jonathan's muscular body (on which his head is attached in place). Due to prolonged attachment, Jonathan's body has become pale, so pale that it seems transparent. He wears pants with suspenders, boots, shiny cuffs on both wrists, and heart-shaped knee guards. This form of DIO is commonly referred to as Shadow DIO (影DIO) or Evil Incarnate DIO (邪悪の化身ディオ, Ja'aku no Keshin DIO), the names having originated from its appearances in JoJo's Venture and Heritage for the Future respectively.

Due to his nature as a vampire, DIO is often stated to be a very attractive being, described by Avdol as exuding a bewitching sensuality, speaking with a deeply soothing voice and possessing a piercing gaze. Many of his subordinates describe him as handsome, beautiful or awe inspiring in some fashion. Attacking his visage even severely enrages Vanilla Ice, one of his most loyal underlings. Supernatural charisma helped DIO build his army and despite the fear that his mere presence instills, many of the people who encounter him feel a bizarre sense of calm from it. When he finally confronts the Joestar Group, DIO dons a jacket with a tight tank-top underneath, along with chaps with an exposed crotch. His face is now in full view, and heart motifs adorn his knee guards and the circlet on his head. Initially, he also wears a necklace covering his neck scar, but he stops wearing it after his first confrontation with Polnareff. When pursuing the Joestar group, DIO dons a cloak, which he discards during his confrontation with Kakyoin.

Dio's most recognizable characteristics are his boundless ambition and his love of power. Abused by his father and having lived in the most miserable living conditions, Dio sets for himself the goal of becoming the richest, then the most powerful being on Earth. To do so, Dio uses anything or anyone that he can to further his goals, disregarding any kind of morality that would restrain the range of actions available to him. Using either manipulation, seduction, or plain violence, Dio constantly seeks to become more and more powerful. Dio enjoys being in a position of power and has repeatedly stated how great he felt being in a dominating position. On the contrary, Dio never considers anyone to be able to stand up to him or equal him in power and becomes enraged and deeply disturbed at the thought.

Throughout his life, Dio surrounds himself with witless cronies and minions, who are attracted by his natural charisma. He prefers attracting those he deems as particularly evil, claiming that evil people aren't bound by rules such as honor and thus are stronger mentally. This belief culminates in including the absorption of 36 souls of sinners, or, as he claims, particularly strong souls, to unlock a power greater than that of his Stand, The World.

Naturally, Dio is incredibly selfish, focused solely on his own interests—at best ignoring those of others, and at worst, trampling them underfoot. Due to his composed nature, Dio can and will manipulate and take what he can from all sorts of people, using any method, as long as the person suits his present desires or he is interested in their capabilities. Dio is the type who is incapable of loving another person wholeheartedly. The only people he can be said to have held some type of affection for are Jonathan Joestar and Enrico Pucci, as Dio comes to recognize Jonathan's worth as equal to his own and deems Pucci as a friend. Still, Dio steals the former's body, and his friendship with the latter is proven nonetheless beneficial to a grander plan to further himself. When interacting with someone, Dio will constantly try to manipulate them and sway them into his side, using a veneer of gentleness and his natural charm to make people admire and like him. For instance, he acts as the model son and popular charismatic friend to Jonathan's father and entourage to better isolate him, and as a vampire, his charisma only increases as he appears as a charming mysterious individual. However, his natural arrogance leads him to openly insult and belittle his enemies, notably disparaging their insignificant strength before his vampiric or Stand powers. He is the type who is comfortable being with a man or woman, but will do anything to get what he wants and would "absolutely never pour 100% of his love into a specific person."

Dio approaches obstacles and problems in several ways, depending on the situation and his mood. Before his vampiric transformation, Dio is careful and methodical in trying to break Jonathan's spirit, and slowly poisons George for a sizeable time, only being thwarted due to unlucky twists of fate. As a vampire, Dio at first lets his arrogance get the better of him and takes a laissez-faire approach, only sending subordinates to kill Jonathan's party while he rests and recovers. However, his defeat by Jonathan teaches him to be wary of the Joestar family in its entirety, and so he later ambushes Jonathan and company. During the events of Stardust Crusaders, he sends his minions to delay the Joestars as much as possible to recover strength. In the final battle with Jotaro, his wariness, tactical acumen, and arrogance clash as DIO alternates between meticulous approaches and overconfident attacks. His natural ruthlessness is exposed very early when plans to exploit the Joestar family despite them being kind enough to adopt him. To better position himself to replace Jonathan Joestar and seize the Joestar family fortune, Dio resorts to the most underhanded tactics to break him mentally. These methods include humiliating Jonathan in public sport fighting, ostracizing him from his friends, and finally stealing Erina Pendleton's first kiss to drive a wedge in their budding relationship. When he is eventually foiled, Dio opts to slowly poison George Joestar I and kill Jonathan with the Stone Mask to make both deaths seem natural and accidental. Dio shows a remarkable determination to reach his goal, never losing his drive despite the numerous defeats he suffers throughout Phantom Blood and always trying to find a way to get back at Jonathan for them.

Dio's lack of empathy is also apparent, as despite living for years with the kind Joestars, he never thinks of them as anything more than obstacles, and is hinted to utterly resent the upper class he frequents. As a human, Dio maintains a facade of a charming and agreeable person to everyone aside from Jonathan, and yet never becomes close with anyone. At the end of the part, the only person Dio appreciates is Jonathan Joestar himself, begrudgingly acknowledging his valor as his archenemy, attempting to "grant" him a painless death, and even being shocked at his death. Overjoyed to have changed into a powerful vampire, Dio spends his later battles in the part taunting various humans about their weaknesses and belittling them in favor of the apex predator vampires. Dio also sadistically changes a mother into a zombie just to watch her devour her baby. When in a position of strength, he also tends to torment them further, such as sneakily sticking his thumb into Jonathan's eye during a punch Dio shows a lack of restraint in his violence, and is prone to murderous outbursts even as far as his childhood, notably trying to stab Jonathan when he beats him up, and violently slapping Erina. He is also incredibly cruel to Jonathan's dog, Danny, going so far as kicking him on their first meeting. When Dio is defeated by Jonathan, Dio secretly has Danny incinerated. He is shown to be utterly enraged when someone stands up to him, which is the cause of his outbursts. He acknowledges that his anger was a weakness, but remains unable to truly control himself throughout his life.

Dio's personality may be explained by his poor childhood and the abusive relationship he shared with his father, Dario Brando. Speedwagon, however, rejects this as the cause of Dio's personality, claiming that Dio was simply born this way and that his poverty has nothing to do with it. True to that, Dio, already an immoral person, openly relinquishes his humanity in favor of becoming a vampire upon being cornered by the police. He trades his underhanded scheming persona for a more arrogant and hedonistic personality that is dismissive of humanity and revels in evil. Nonetheless, Dio respects determination and sees Jonathan's determination as equal to his own, earning him the dubious honor of serving as Dio's new host after being reduced to a head.