JoJo’s Stands are one of the most versatile power systems out there. Their abilities can range from something simple like controlling fire to literally resetting the universe. Because of this complexity, some powers can confuse viewers. The most famous case is King Crimson. The confusion was so big that it even generated memes among the fanbase. Today, I’m going to clear up that confusion by explaining how Diavolo’s Stand works in an easy-to-understand way.
King Crimson abilities
King Crimson’s ability has two parts. Let’s start with Epitaph. This ability allows Diavolo to see up to 10 seconds into the future. These predictions are bound to happen because they are determined by fate.
Epitaph alone might seem like a weak ability since Diavolo would only see what will happen without being able to change it. However, this is where King Crimson’s other ability comes into play. With it, Diavolo can separate himself from reality for those 10 seconds, during this time he cannot interact with anything in the real world, which means he cannot attack or be attacked. So, when Diavolo sees what will happen to him in the next 10 seconds, he can use this ability to avoid any danger. Everything else continues as he predicted, but he himself is safe.
An example of King Crimson’s ability
Let’s take a casual example, Diavolo wants to change a lamp, and he can do it in just 10 seconds. With Epitaph, he can foresee the unavoidable outcome that the lamp will be successfully changed in that time. So, he uses King Crimson to erase those 10 seconds from his experience, making himself unable to interact with the real world during that period. However, once the time is up, the lamp is still changed as predicted. Even though Diavolo wasn’t physically there to do it, the actions he saw with Epitaph still occur, dictated by fate. This way, Diavolo avoids being present during the action while ensuring the lamp gets changed exactly as he foresaw.
In battle, this ability is extremely useful. Let’s say Diavolo foresees that he will take a fatal blow. He uses King Crimson to erase those 10 seconds. While he is separated from reality, everything else follows the exact path he predicted. The opponent delivers the fatal blow, but since Diavolo isn’t there, it doesn’t hit him. Instead, Diavolo can reposition himself wherever he wants during the erased time. He can appear behind his opponent, just as he does many times in the story.
After the erased time passes, Diavolo can interact with the world again. He now has the perfect opportunity to attack while his opponent is still confused. This confusion happens because anyone within a certain range of Diavolo forgets what happened during the erased time. The exact range isn’t confirmed, but it seems to have limits since not everyone in the world experiences the time skip or gets confused.
Usages of King Crimson
A good example is when Diavolo was in a hotel room. Given his secretive nature, he didn’t want anyone to know his identity. He was investigating Trish’s whereabouts and didn’t want to be seen by anyone. When the cleaning lady was about to enter the room, Diavolo used King Crimson’s time erasure ability. In the erased time, the room appears all cleaned up, without the laptops, photos, papers, or even Diavolo himself. This left the cleaning lady confused. What Diavolo did was simple. He saw with Epitaph that he would clean the room and leave. Then, he used time erasure, and everything happened just as he saw, but the cleaning lady had no memory of it.
All of Diavolo’s uses of King Crimson can be explained the same way. Whether it’s the Narancia case or the Trish case, Diavolo saw his actions using Epitaph, used time erasure, and left everyone confused. He didn’t suffer any consequences because no one could interact with him during that time, nor did they remember what happened.
To reinforce this, let’s take the Trish example. Bucciarati and Giorno were inside the elevator. Diavolo saw that he would take Trish with him. He erased time, took Trish, and Bucciarati had no idea what was going on because he lost his memory of those seconds.
