JoJo's Bizarre Wiki
Advertisement
JoJo's Bizarre Wiki

La Li Ho! Isn't it romantic to die inside a dream?

—Death Thirteen, Chapter 169

Death Thirteen (デスサーティーン(死神13) Desu Sātīn), sometimes stylized as "DEATH 13", is the Stand of Mannish Boy; featured in Stardust Crusaders.

Appearance[]

JoJo Tarot 13 - Death

Death

Death Thirteen appears as a humanoid cloaked in a dark robe. It wears a smiling jester mask with downwards curved eyes and an eerie smile, accompanied by metallic gauntlets, shoulder pads, a collar, and a high hat. The face's design takes inspiration from the masks found during the Venetian carnivalW.[1]

Death Thirteen is armed with a great scythe.

Outside of its head and arms, Death Thirteen has no physical body, meaning any attacks aimed at its clothing will simply pass through the emptiness under its mantle.[2]

In the colored manga and anime, Death Thirteen wears a white mask over dark purple clothes. Besides that, the colour theme for the rest of its body differs between the manga and anime versions. In the manga its gauntlets and collar are golden, while in the anime its gauntlets are silver and the collar is a dull gold. The scythe's handle is golden in the manga but is black in the anime.

Personality[]

Being an extension of Mannish Boy's consciousness, Thirteen reflects its user's vulgar and sadistic personality. In the dream world where it is almighty, Death Thirteen constantly insults and belittles its victims and takes pleasure in torturing them; having at one point made Kakyoin swallow several eyeballs just to horrify him.[3]

It has the habit of shouting "Lali-ho." This Stand represents the Tarot Card DeathW, which represents transformation and change. The Stand's name also cites its place as the 13th card of the Major Arcana.

Abilities[]

Death Thirteen is unique in that it can only exist inside a dream world and thus requires that its victims are asleep. It is incredibly dangerous because of it's capability to take people by surprise. It was only through chance that the Joestar Group survived its encounter. It is offset by the fact that its user is both physically defenseless as an infant and trying not to arouse suspicion while his targets are awake.

Dream World Control[]

Death powa

Death 13 is the master of the nightmare and the only Stand allowed inside it.

This ability comes in two parts. When anything alive (human or otherwise) falls asleep near Mannish Boy, Death Thirteen's User, they are drawn into Death Thirteen's dream world - which manifests as a massive carnival complete with Ferris wheels and roller coasters.[4] Anything in the victims immediate vicinity, such as the clothing they were wearing when the fell asleep, will be brought into the dream world with them.

The most redoubtable property of this dream world is that Stand Users are unable to summon their Stand inside the dream world and are defenseless.[5] Death Thirteen explains that because Stands are made of spiritual energy, during their sleep their spirits are "off-guard" and cannot defend themselves, thus Users cannot conjure Stands.[6] However if a Stand User falls asleep (or gets knocked unconscious) with their Stand already active, it will be brought to the dream world with them.[7]

Death13park

The amusement park in Death Thirteen's dream world.

Furthermore, Death Thirteen has full control over this dream world. It is able to make death machines out of mechanical items, summon objects out of nothing, manipulate Polnareff's hair or Joseph's hand; basically shaping everything as it sees fit.[6] Although, it can't automatically distinguish whether or not something is from the dream world or the real world. It also lacks awareness of if a Stand User has fallen asleep with their Stand activated. As such, it believed that Hierophant Green was one of the fake Stands Death Thirteen created to mess with the Joestar group until it revealed itself to be real.

In the dream world, Death Thirteen is free to torment and kill anyone inside the dream with its scythe. Any injuries the person receives in the dream world are transferred to their body in the real world, including fatal ones.[4] Inversely it can also heal wounds if coerced, the effects of which also transfer into the real world.[7]

No one can willingly wake up from the dream world even if they injure themselves.[3] However, they can be normally woken up by someone else in the real world and thus saved until the next time they fall asleep.[4] When they wake up, the surviving victims won't be able to remember anything from the dream. Although they will still feel the dread felt from being subjected to Death Thirteen's torment, giving the impression that they simply had a nightmare.[4] There's an exception to this, as anyone who manages to bring their Stand into the dream world will still remember everything after waking up.[2]

Since people cannot summon their Stands while asleep, Death Thirteen is basically invincible in the dream as only a Stand can beat a Stand. Though if circumstances do obligate it to fight a Stand, it remains dangerous because of its mastery over the surrounding world but simultaneously very fragile and weak as it relies mainly on scythe sweeps to wound. Thus it was easily defeated by Hierophant Green.[7]

Chapters / Episodes[]

Manga Appearances
Chapters in order of appearance
Anime Appearances
Episodes in order of appearance


In Video Games[]

JoJo RPG (SFC)[]

Unlike the original storyline, in the game, Mannish Boy attacks the entire group from inside a plane en route to India. During the battle, Death Thirteen's main attack consists of using its scythe several times.

Heritage for the Future (PS1/DC/Arcade)[]

Death Thirteen appears as a special enemy faced in Arcade Mode. The conditions to fight him include using only one of the eight main hero characters (including Young Joseph and New Kakyoin) and the player cannot lose a single battle. If these conditions are completed, a "Here Comes a New Challenger" will appear on the screen, taking the player to the world of dreams to fight Death Thirteen.

In the PlayStation version, the events from the Death Thirteen story arc appear in the Super Story mode, where the player has to defeat the Stand using Kakyoin. During the fight, Death Thirteen can summon a fake Star Platinum, Silver Chariot and Magician's Red to attack the player (these fakes are defeated with one attack), as well as fly around the stage and throw its sickle.

Death Thirteen's special battle can also be unlocked on Gallery mode (Oingo and Boingo's book), but the player can only play as one of the eight heroes (including Young Joseph and New Kakyoin).

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Eyes of Heaven[]

Death Thirteen's nightmare world appears as a stage in the game. The Stand is a stage hazard and attacks players who cross its path with its scythe.

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

  • Death Thirteen's powers are similar to those of horror icon Freddy KruegerW: both can enter others' dreams and kill them there to kill them in the real world.
    • In a grander sense, it's also possibly inspired by the famous urban myth that if you die inside your own dream, your brain can't handle the stress and you will suffer a heart attack and die.
    • Keeping in line with its Stand User's age, Death Thirteen's nightmares are more akin to night terrorsW found in small children, as they both involve the victims screaming and flailing in their sleep and waking up without any recollection of their dreams.
  • Unlike the other Tarot Stands, Death Thirteen's appearance is almost identical to its picture on the Tarot Card it represents.
  • His repeated phrase "Lali-ho" is in reference to the original name of the sleep spell in the Dragon Quest series, itself a reference to the rallying cry of The Impossibles. The spell would leave the target helpless for several turns, even while being killed. Some months before Death Thirteen's debut, Araki was among the many Shonen Jump artists photographed in Dragon Quest cosplay for their 1990 No. 6 cover celebrating the fourth installment

References[]

  1. Artbook: JOJOVELLER
  2. 2.0 2.1 Chapter 173, Death XIII Part 6
  3. 3.0 3.1 Chapter 170,Death Thirteen Part 3
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Chapter 168, Death Thirteen Part 1
  5. Chapter 169, Death Thirteen Part 2
  6. 6.0 6.1 Chapter 172, Death Thirteen Part 5
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 Chapter 173, Death Thirteen Part 6

Site Navigation[]

Advertisement