Dario Brando

"Go out there and take this useless world for all you can get."

- Dario Brando to his son

Dario Brando (ダリオ・ブランドー) is a minor character in Phantom Blood.

Dario is the father of Dio Brando. An alcoholic and abusive man, he is primarily responsible for contributing to Dio's descent into evil. After a tragic misunderstanding, George Joestar I decides to give him a favor and adopts his son Dio into the Joestar Family.

Appearance
Dario appears as an elder man with a stocky build. Balding save some hair on the back of his head and a white beard, he bears a scar crossing his forehead, and is missing several teeth.

Dario has a tattoo on his chest of a cross with the words 'In memory of mother' visible on the tattoo.

Personality
Dario Brando is portrayed as a corrupt, alcoholic, and abusive father.

Dario is repeatedly portrayed as deeply immoral. Being a petty thief, Dario has no qualm stealing from the dead, notably stealing a then unconscious George Joestar's ring, believing him to be dead. He also told his companion to let Jonathan, then a baby, die. When George woke up, Dario tricked him into believing he was saving him, hoping to exploit the gentleman's naivete. When George covered for him out of kindness, Dario couldn't understand the gesture.

Dario was an abusive husband and father, having presumably forced his wife to work to death. He was hated by his own son, whom he would yell at and beat for the flimsiest reasons. At some point, he asked his son to sell his dead mother's clothes in order to buy more booze. His alcoholic nature was shared with Dio, who hated himself for resembling his father after getting drunk.

Phantom Blood
Dario was a poor man in Victorian England who witnessed George Joestar I's carriage crash one day in 1868, looting the wreckage on the assumption that there no survivors. But as a girl he made his accomplice noted the infant is still alive, Dario was seen by George, who assumed that Dario saved his life and felt indebted to him. But even when George later learned the truth when the head inspector alerted him that Dario was in jail from trying to pawn Mary Joestar's wedding ring, George pressed no charges and asked Dario to become a good man for his family. But even after receiving money from George to start a hotel, Dario ended up back in poverty and worked his wife to an early grave.

For the next twelve years, Dario took out his frustration on his son Dio as he grew to hate his father enough to secretly murder him with poison he got from Wang Chan. With Dario unaware that his own son was killing him, he died telling Dio of the debt George made to him and tells his son to take advantage of it. However, Dio was unaware of the letter Dario had sent to the Joestar Mansion, which would played a role in exposing his attempted murder of George seven years after his father's death.

Phantom Blood (PS2)
Dario appears in the game's first cutscenes, similarly to the original story, as he gives his son a letter that will allow him to live with the Joestars. After the third battle against Dio, the villain briefly mentions his father as he drinks and later meets the one who would become the first vampire seen in the series.

Trivia

 * George mistaking Dario as his savior bears resemblance a similar scene in Victor Hugo's novel Les Misérables, in which Marius's father mistakes the corrupt innkeeper Thénardiers as his savior and sends Marius to seek aid from him on his deathbed. George also claims that he gave his ring to Dario Brando, who was imprisoned for stealing said ring, resembling the bishop Myriel claiming the same for Jean Valjean, who attempted to steal his silverware.