Stand

A Stand is a visual manifestation of life energy.‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎

A Stand is an entity psychically generated by its owner, referred to as a Stand User. It generally presents itself as a figure hovering over or near the user and possesses abilities beyond that of an ordinary human, which, depending on the Stand User, can be wielded for good or evil.

Definition
Stands are defined as personifications of "life energy" (although it's later changed to "spiritual energy") whose abilities are given visual form. When first presented, the term is written as "Stand" ( Sutando), with furiganaW to change the pronunciation of what literally means "Ghostly Ripple" (幽波紋 Yūhamon) in kanjiW. According to Joseph Joestar, the name "Stand" comes from the fact they usually manifest standing next to the User: ready to act.

A Stand can also represent the manifestation of an individual's innate "fighting spirit" and embodies, to an extent, the individual's psyche. However, Stands may also derive through the exploration of possibilities and expression of the mind, in which case, only a large amount of mental strength is required. Beyond that definition, Stands present themselves in a large variety of forms and with different behaviors, if they are sentient at all. They follow a loose set of rules, with no definite standard by which one can fully classify them. As an embodiment of someone's psyche, Stands are therefore as varied as human minds can be.

Due to their diversity, Stands are not made equal. Some can be incredibly powerful due to their User's outstanding grit, others can be highly situational because of a defining quirk of character, or even detrimental to their User if they do not have the necessary fighting spirit.