#jojoblogging

Most people's Stands embody a piece of themself, like Hermit Purple representing Joseph's cleverness / ability to predict things, and those Stands tend to have physical forms that reflect this specificity—Hermit Purple isn't Joseph, it's a bunch of vines that Joseph directs as he pleases. Silver Chariot is human shaped, but it's just armor and a sword, representing Polnareff's function as a knight / vengeance-seeker and his ability to put up walls against the world. That specificity is what gives Stands their most "supernatural" abilities; to specialize is to excel. Silver Chariot is the armor, which allows him to be far more impervious to attack than a human being. But Star Platinum has clothing. Star Platinum is—all of, and only—Jotaro in full. It has not only Jotaro's full human form with an ideal version of his physical prowess, but also his intelligence and his ability to act autonomously—until Jotaro squashes that, of course. Jotaro's will manifests not as a specific tool but a full human being. What does that say, psychologically, about Jotaro?

We know Jotaro is constantly acting. He thinks of himself as the main character (see that one cheeky fourth-wall breaking joke). He thinks it's his duty to be funny as well as strong. What I'm saying here is that Jotaro himself is a performance, and that performance goes so deep that he can't separate his self from any part of his self. Jotaro's armor against the world and his primary tool in any situation is himself, himself in full. The sheer energy he exerts to maintain his performance is incredible and it is unending and it sets him decidedly apart from everyone who is not constantly expending all their mental energy to be the perfect masculine archetype. To some extent everyone performs self, of course—but walk with me. walk with me. Jotaro's Stand is a full human being. A perfect human being. Jotaro, what happens to your identity if you ever fail?

No wonder Star Platinum has a diadem set with a jewel. I think about that so much. the absolute ego. the absolute pride of that. Seventeen year old Jotaro considered himself essentially royalty.

and then he does fail. he can't beat DIO by just being the perfect human being. the "self" that made him the king of his own world is not good enough to do anything but shield Jotaro from the worst of DIO's attacks. so he has to learn DIO's way: not to perfect his self but to dominate the world. canonically, DIO had to learn to believe that he deserved to be master of the universe to do that. and Jotaro and Star Platinum learned that too, because they had to.

and then Jotaro locks Star Platinum up for TEN YEARS. TEN YEARSSSSSSSSSS. he only uses timestop when he absolutely has to. more than that, he seems to manifest Star Platinum only reluctantly. His Stand remains what it has always been, but Jotaro himself wastes away physically and emotionally. ohhhhhh my god. points at Star Platinum. Are you seeing this? That's the manifestation of Jotaro's will, which manifests as Jotaro's whole damn self, and he comes to hate it!