Muhammad Avdol


 * "Trying to predict the future in front of a fortuneteller? Isn't that rather foolish?"

- -Muhammad Avdol


 * The character featured in this article is commonly referred to as "Mohammed Abdul".

Muhammad Avdol (モハメド・アヴドゥル) is a core ally in Stardust Crusaders.

Introduced as an old Egyptian friend of Joseph Joestar, he joins the group on their journey to defeat DIO, providing cultural wisdom and guidance along the way.

Appearance
Avdol is a black man (of Egyptian nationality) of above-average height and medium to heavy build.

His main attire consists of a heavy overcoat with sleeves of elbow length and a scarf. He has two identical scars on his chin, and on his head he wears a headband, underneath which he has hair that is tied upwards. Attached to his ears is a metallic necklace composed of several Egyptian symbols extended in the middle by a large tassel, and two bracelets on both of his wrists.

Up till the Emperor and Hanged Man chapter, he wears a maxi skirt/dress, but from the Judgement chapter onward, he wears pants.

Personality
Avdol is a serious, responsible and overall righteous individual.

Avdol possesses a "strong sense of duty and loyalty". He is highly dedicated to slaying DIO as one of the two first members of the party; remarkably so since he is the only one not to fight him for personal reasons. When Tower of Gray gratuitously killed unrelated bystanders, Avdol was furious. Besides, Avdol is willing to die for his comrades. On two occasions he placed himself in mortal danger to save Jean Pierre Polnareff and Iggy. During their duel, Avdol commended Polnareff's own chivalry and returned the Frenchman's gestures of honor, such as explaining his Stand's power to him. His loyalty is such that when Polnareff accused him to have fled DIO like a coward, Avdol almost lost his cool and hit Polnareff.

Rather serious, Avdol serves as the voice of reason to the rest of the team. Acting as Joseph's second in command, and being the second oldest man of the Joestar Group, Avdol is more focused on his goal than the others and is regularly seen reflecting on the group's next move. Aware of the danger they are facing, he frequently advocates caution during their journey. Being serious and mature, he acts cordially toward everyone.

However besides his seriousness, Avdol can be a jovial individual. He appreciates the tumultuous atmosphere of India for instance, and when in a particularly good mood such as his apparition before Polnareff, the latter notes that it looks like Avdol's personality made a U-turn before Avdol boisterous laughs and childish antics.

Avdol knows his strengths, and displays great confidence in them. The fortune teller isn't above boasting about Magician's Red's power, retorting to the enemy's own boasts, and shows a self-satisfied smile whenever he performs a successful move plus his trademark gesture mimicking a fire starter, which is done with a rotating thumbs-up while saying "Yes, I am! Tch! Tch! Tch!".

Abilities
Avdol's humanoid Stand is Magician's Red; able to generate exceedingly powerful yet finely controlled flames.

Different from the fire in nature that only goes up or follows where the wind blows, its flames obey Avdol's own will. Avdol was born with this Stand and has since then learned to master its power, utilizing it in unique ways that an experienced user would.

Stand Tarot Card
Avdol's Stand represents the first Tarot Card "The Magician," symbolizing the beginning of something. Polnareff notes that this is suitable, as when the world began it was surrounded by flames, implying Avdol's Stand represented the beginning of the world. Keeping up with the idea of beginnings, Avdol is shown to be the first character to act on many things: He's the first character to properly use a Stand and get into a fight; the first to encounter DIO; and the first to throw himself into danger to save someone.

Esoteric knowledge
As a professional fortune teller, Avdol is knowledgeable in divination, notably the symbolism of the tarot cards which he uses.

Moreover he seems to know about a great deal about Stands, acting as the expert in Standlogy during his journey, and knows about a noticeable number of the Stand users (namely Gray Fly, Devo the Cursed and Midler) sent after him and his companions. However his knowledge is limited, as he erroneously thought that the number of Stand users was limited by the Tarot, and didn't know about the Egypt 9 Glory Gods.

History
Gifted with a Stand from birth, Avdol made a living as a fortune-teller in a bazaar named Khan el-Khalili in the Islamic district of Cairo, Egypt. Four months prior, he encountered the newly resurrected DIO standing outside the first floor of his office, and barely escaped with his life and sanity after being warned by his friend Joseph Joestar that DIO was dangerous. Before the events of Part III, he had met and barely tamed the Stand-wielding dog Iggy.

Stardust Crusaders
Avdol first appeared when he accompanied Joseph to assess Jotaro Kujo's situation in prison. After a brief confrontation it turned out, through his own knowledge, that Jotaro is a Stand user and named his Stand Star Platinum after the Star tarot card. After that, with Noriaki Kakyoin free from DIO's control, they went to Hong Kong to take a ship, and encountered Jean Pierre Polnareff. Avdol was able to defeat him and after Jotaro destroyed DIO's buds controling him, Polnareff became their ally as well.

Polnareff, however, was impulsive and not careful, being a constant target for Stand users. In one of these attacks Polnareff was ambushed by Hol Horse and J. Geil, making Avdol try to save him. Unaware of the abilities of Hol Horse's Emperor and J. Geil's Hanged Man, Avdol initially fell prey to a combination attack of the two Stand users, being stabbed from behind by J. Geil's Hanged Man and shot by Hol Horse's Emperor. Their combined attack, however, didn't have the wanted effect, as the pain suffered by the stab of Hanged Man made Avdol tilt his head backwards, causing Emperor's bullet to only scratch his forehead instead of directly hitting it. His survival was kept a secret from Polnareff, as the group didn't want Avdol to be attacked while he was recovering from his injuries and Polnareff's lack of caution would cause the enemy to find out that Avdol was alive.

From there, it was assumed that he died while he was recovering. Avdol disguised himself as his father, refusing to talk to Polnareff to keep his secret. When Polnareff fell victim to Cameo's onslaught, tricked by clones made by Judgement of Sherry Polnareff and Avdol, the real Avdol revealed himself to be alive, saving Polnareff's life and defeating the Stand user. After joining again with the group they traveled in Avdol's new submarine, but it was quickly destroyed by Midler's High Priestess.

He then asked the Speedwagon Foundation to bring Iggy to join the group, and they were attacked by N'Doul. After tricking N'Doul's ears by simulating footsteps in the sand using his own ring cuffs, Avdol almost won the battle by evaporating N'Doul's Geb, but N'Doul found out the trick at the last moment and dodged the attack, injuring Avdol soon after.

Genesis of Universe Ch. 1
"The Genesis of Universe: One-Way Trip from Desert to Hell"

 (The italicized information below derives from a Light Novel not written by Araki. As such, it may or may not be considered canon.) 

Avdol was attached by Absalom's Satanic Coupler, who invaded his body as a miniature and threatened to kill him, but was eventually saved by Kakyoin and Jotaro.

Afterwords, he fell victim to Mariah's Bastet along with Joseph, attracting different metal objects. The two started to pass through difficult and embarrassing situations while following her, even being almost run over by a train. They eventually managed to trick Mariah into standing between them when the two had many heavy objects on their bodies. Attracted to each other via magnetic polarity, Avdol and Joseph crushed Mariah between them, winning the battle.

Genesis of Universe Ch. 2
"The Genesis of Universe: The Gravestone of Red-Hot Sand"

 (The italicized information below derives from a Light Novel not written by Araki. As such, it may or may not be considered canon.) 

''Avdol senses the presence of The Scribe Ani following the group. He along with Joseph attract him to a alley so people wouldn't get hurt in the fight, but is victim of a surprise attack by a roman warrior while trying to save Polnareff.''

When the group finally arrived in DIO's mansion, Avdol said that he couldn't act as Polnareff's guardian and he should be more careful from now on. Avdol managed to detect the presence of Kenny G. in the area before Iggy defeated him. Polnareff continued to be careless, making Avdol push him out of the way of Vanilla Ice's attack and receive the attack head on. Avdol is instantly erased, his arms being the only thing of his body left intact until Vanilla Ice's Cream came back and ate them. Ice would, however, while facing Polnareff, state that he was injured by Avdol before he died. After Ice's defeat, Avdol, along with Iggy were seen as souls transcending into heaven.

Famicom Jump II
Avdol appears as a support character for the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure arc story, where the player can talk to him in order to obtain minor information.

JoJo RPG (SFC)
Avdol appears as a playable character in game. He first shows up at Jotaro's house, and joins his party after the events at Jotaro's school. Unlike in the manga, Avdol can survive his final confrontation with Vanilla Ice.

Heritage for the Future (PS1/DC/Arcade)
Avdol is one of several playable characters in the game. In terms of movelist, he is the closest the game has to a "Shotoclone" in that he possesses a fireball (Crossfire Hurricane), a Shoryuken-type move and a movement based quarter-circle-backward input move. Most of his attacks also consist of using the fire-themed attacks he used during the entire PART III saga.

In his arcade story, Avdol manages to avoid his canon death at Vanilla Ice's hands, just barely ducking under Ice's Stand. Avdol's ending is notable in that, similar to Chun-Li's ending in Super Street Fighter II (since the game was made by Capcom), it can end in one of two different ways. After destroying DIO, Avdol returns to his shop in Khan Khallili and decides to read his own fortune first. The player is presented with two face-down tarot cards, one being The World and the other being The Magician. If the player manages to pick The Magician, Avdol, pleased, decides to reopen his shop. If the player got The World, however, DIO greets Avdol once more, hinting at an unexpected resurrection.

If Avdol starts a "Blazing Fist Match" against another character, he will make Magician's Red keep shooting a sequence of Crossfire Hurricane as his "ora ora" attack style.

Jump Super Stars (DS)
Avdol appears in the game as a special attack in Jotaro's 4-block battle koma, as he appears in front of Jotaro performing his "Crossfire Hurricane Special" attack utilizing Magician's Red.

Jump Ultimate Stars (DS)
Avdol appears again in the sequel as a special attack in Jotaro's 4-block battle koma, performing his "Crossfire Hurricane Special" attack utilizing Magician's Red, but can now cause a "burn effect", setting the enemy aflame and making them take damage over time. Avdol also appears during the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure World intro sequence.

All-Star Battle (PS3)
Avdol is one of the 9 characters representing Part III in the game, he was confirmed along with Hol Horse and DIO. His moves remain relatively similar to the Capcom game apart from a new HHA and GHA, and Crossfire Hurricane as a projectile attack.

The main difference from Heritage for the Future to All-Star Battle in terms of Avdol's gameplay is that his moveset now consist of medium-to-close-range attacks, compared to his long-ranged capabilities seen in the previous game, though most of his attacks now have greater combo properties.

His HHA has Magician's Red throttle the opponent with Red Bind before exploding them. His GHA has him summon an array of flame-ankhs that expand outward. If they strike, the opponent will be pelted by them and finally blown away by a gigantic Crossfire Hurricane Special erupting from the ground (much like how Avdol defeated Polnareff the first time they met).

Avdol possesses one alternate costume, inspired by his first appearance in the manga (where his appearance uses more scarfs and ribbons). In previous games, Magician's Red was primarily colored with one color (red), while in All-Star Battle, he also possesses two main colors itself (black from the waist down and red from the waist up).

Eyes of Heaven (PS3/PS4)
Avdol was confirmed for the game alongside Mariah.

Unlike the previous game, his main color scheme is now based on his anime incarnation.

Tournament
He is paired with Iggy in the Eyes of Heaven Tournament, but was eliminated in the preliminaries by Jolyne Cujoh and Gyro Zeppeli.

Trivia

 * Avdol's name is at times translated as "Abdul", a stereotypical name for Arabian or Middle Eastern men.
 * Avdol's manner of ultimate death was changed in the OVA. The heroes chose to break a window to let the sunshine flood into DIO's coffin, with Avdol attacking it. However, when the dust settled, Avdol was found lying inside the coffin (much like how Nukesaku ended up). Vanilla Ice then attacks and destroys the coffin, with Avdol along it.

Gallery
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