The World

The World (世界 (ザ・ワールド)) is the Stand of Dio Brando, featuring primarily in Part III: Stardust Crusaders.

A similar incarnation appears belonging to the second Diego Brando in Part VII: Steel Ball Run.

Appearance
A humanoid Stand, The World is tall with a very muscular build. It wears a headpiece covering its face to below the place of its nose, slanting at a steep angle from the base of its forehead to a peak situated above the rear of its head by about half its height, leaving the face of an inverted triangle visible to the front; somewhat similar to the Red Crown of Lower Egypt.

It wears small, simple twin diving cylinders on its back, connecting via short, twin ridged cables to the rear of its mask; perhaps secured by thick, ridged or puffered straps running from the rear of its waist over both its shoulders to its front. The back of both its hands bear the shape of a simple clock face. Its chin, the base of its abdomen, its crotch and its knees are topped by heart shapes. Plates on its shins, its footwear bears curved, sharply pointed toes, similar to those of Dio's outfit in Part III.

It's revealed in Dio's notebook that he intends to engrave 14 words on his stand to remember them although it's unknown if he actually does before his death.

Personality
The World shows no particular personality. Its Stand Cry, seemingly communicated by Dio, is "無駄 無駄 無駄!" ("Muda muda muda!", "Useless, useless, useless!")

Its name is derived from the Tarot Card The World; symbolizing triumph, perfection and fulfilment.

In Part VI: Stone Ocean, it is suggested that if not for Dio's dominant personality, it would somehow go out of control.

Abilities
The World is one of the most dangerous Stands introduced yet.

Super Strength: Like Jotaro's Star Platinum, The World possesses phenomenal strength, senses and stamina. However, with a greater range, it is less durable. Its offense is characterised by rapid, punishing punches, and the occasional kick.

Time Stop: The World's defining power is its ability to stop time, allowing only itself and Dio to act within the duration of stopped time. Given Dio's weakened state during Part III, this ability only works for a few seconds in Dio's frame of reference before time flows again. However, also due to Dio's immortality, the duration of stopped time also increases as Dio becomes more accustomed to The World, reaching a maximum of eleven seconds. Had he not died the length would have continued to grow. The only way to counter this skill is with other time-manipulating skills.

Dio's development
The World along with Dio's second Stand awakened post-assimilation with Jonathan Joestar's body, the second Stand belonging to Jonathan while The World belongs to Dio.

Incarnation in Steel Ball Run
In the final chapters of Part VII: Steel Ball Run, a second Diego Brando appears, wielding a version of The World; utilized in many of the same ways as the original.

Due to Diego being human rather than a vampire like Dio, he is only able to stop time for ~5 seconds. It is not known whether this version of The World possesses similar statistics to the original. It also has D-shaped emblems instead of hearts on its body.

Trivia

 * The diving cylinders on its back may refer to the song Holy Diver by Ronnie James Dio, one of Dio's namesakes.
 * "Warudo" (ワールド), of "The World"/"Za Warudo", may be pronounced in Japanese as Waldo. In Chapter 251: Dio's World (5), Waldo can be seen flying through the air after Dio forces Senator Phillips to drive through a crowd.
 * Josuke Higashikata's Stand Crazy Diamond greatly resembles The World; both Stands sharing vaguely chronokinetic abilities (Crazy Diamond's being to restore objects to a previous state).
 * The World in Steel Ball Run takes a design closer to that seen in the JoJo A-Go!Go! artbook; replacing heart-shaped knee caps or pads with the shape of the letter "D".
 * The World and a version of Killer Queen are the only Stands to exist in both universes.
 * The World is referenced in the names of other Stands, including Underworld and Mandom (Lovers of the World), the former the Stand of one of Dio's sons; the latter also a chronokinetic Stand.
 * The World's range grade of "A" may refer to the universal range of its Time Stop ability; else it is an error in describing the Stand's actual, close range; no more than about 10 meters from Dio; which should be reflected in its Precision attribute.
 * In the manga, The World does not speak except perhaps for its Stand Cry of "Muda muda muda!"; but in the OVA it makes subtle roaring noises occasionally when attacking, and clearly when defeated by Star Platinum. In the OVA, only Dio cries "Muda!".
 * The World has inspired an internet meme, "ZA WARUDO"; based on Dio and The World's signature Time Stop ability and his Japanese pronunciation of "the world" (the lack of a "th" sound in Japanese and "n" being the only sound without a following vowel); as sampled first in the 1993 OVA and Heritage for the Future; which inspired and contributed assets to the famous flash animation "mudah.swf".