Board Thread:Manga Discussion/@comment-39718735-20200516000645/@comment-36948583-20200628060322

My personal takeaway is such:


 * All stand arrows work the same way. The Requiem Arrow just has a different design.


 * Kira gains Bites the Dust after being personally pierced by the arrow because of his will to survive and move past what he did after killing Hayato. His sheer willpower and desire to get out of the situation he was in granted him another ability. If his stand was pierced at that moment, I suspect that we would have gotten Killer Queen Requiem.


 * Giorno doesn't gain Gold Experience Requiem in the fight against Polpo because he wasn't worthy yet. His will to survive hadn't been strained, and thus he hadn't 'earned' the power of the arrow yet for his actions.


 * Requiem can only be gained if you pierce your stand with the arrow and the arrow deems you worthy of such power.

This all ties into a bigger discussion about how exactly stand power is gained. It's wildly inconsistent and all over the place in the series. Hell, Joseph (and consequently, DIO in Jonathan's body) gets a stand ability because of their training with Hamon. Some people develop a stand on their own. The majority of Stand users are created by the arrows, however. I believe Stands are a universal concept in JJBA, and the arrows just help compatible users unlock that ability; as does Hamon with Hermit Purple, or just unlocking a stand through sheer willpower.

Obviously, you can just chalk this up to Araki Forgot, which is a valid argument. Because he forgets. All the time.