‘JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure’: Joestar family tree explained

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure has been going strong for almost 40 years now and we’re now on the ninth part. Across Hirohiko Araki’s epic story we’ve witnessed generations of Joestars face off against a colorful variety of villains, but what does the Joestar family tree look like?

Where to even start? The current part, titled JOJOLands is the third to be set in the new continuity which went back in time to the late 1800’s and introduced a new version of the Joestar bloodline. But before part seven, we had the original continuity which also began in the 1800’s, but this time in England with Jonathan Joestar. So the logical thing to do would be to start with the Joestar family tree from parts one to six, and then we’ll delve into the new continuity and what that version of the Joestar family tree looks like.

The original continuity

The earliest member of the Joestar family that we are introduced to is George Joestar. He is not the protagonist for the first part, but rather his son, Jonathan is. We don’t see much of Jonathan’s mother, as she is killed in a carriage accident, moments after this accident is where the story starts as Dario Brando, father of the primary antagonist, Dio, (or DIO!) happens upon the wrecked carriage and unwillingly saves the lives of George and Jonathan.

Jonathan Joestar

Jonathan meets Erina Pendleton as a youth and later marries her. Leaving on a ship bound for America to celebrate their honeymoon Jonathan dies in a battle with Dio as Erina escapes with a child she was able to rescue as well as Jonathan’s unborn son.

We never really get to learn much about Jonathan’s son, George, other than the fact that he was a pilot with the Royal Air Force during World War 1. George was raised alongside the other child, known as Elizabeth, or Lisa Lisa, who was saved from the ship at the end of part 1. In 1920 with the two now being adults they would have a child together. George would ultimately die after discovering and confronting his superior officer who was revealed to be a zombie created by Dio decades earlier.

Joseph Joestar and his children

The son of George and grandson of Jonathan, this Joestar would have his own adventure starting out in the U.S. and ending in Italy in 1939. During his quest to defeat the pillar men, Joseph would meet Suzi Q who he would later have a daughter with. Holly Joestar would go on to marry Sadao Kujo and move to Japan where the two would have their own child, Jotaro Kujo, in 1970. 

However, before we move on to Jotaro we’re not quite done with Joseph yet, as part 4 of the manga/anime would reveal he cheated on Suzi Q sometime in the early eighties, fathering another son with Tomoko Higashikata.

Josuke Higashikata is the protagonist of Part 4: ‘Diamond is Unbreakable’. Born in 1983 he is 16 at the time his adventure takes place (1999) and by the end of the first continuity, it seems like he hasn’t had any children of his own making him the end of that particular branch of the family tree.

Jotaro Kujo

Jotaro is the protagonist of Part 3: Stardust Crusaders. His quest takes him across the globe as he is tasked with killing DIO who was able to steal Jonathan Joestar’s body and attach his head to it before the ship sank at the end of part 1. Sometime after his adventure he settles down, marries, and has a daughter although later divorces, we’re never even given a name for the person Jotaro has his daughter with.

Jolyne Kujo

Daughter of Jotaro and the end of the Kujo branch of the family tree. On top of that, her story is the last to be set in the original continuity before things get reset. As already mentioned, we know very little about her mother but we know that Jotaro is her father.

DIO’s children

Okay, so here’s where things get a little confusing. In part 5 it’s revealed that before the events of part 3 but obviously after DIO had returned with Jonathan’s body, he had a son with an unnamed woman. Giorno is technically DIO’s son, but he is also a member of the Joestar family as DIO was inhabiting Jonathan’s body at the time, it’s weird if you think about it too much but yeah.

DIO also had a few more children, I guess if we’re counting Giorno we have to count them as well. The three children are Donatello Versus, Rikiel, and Ungalo all of which appear in the sixth part as antagonists to Jolyne. Part 6 also features the Green Baby, another antagonist born from DIO’s bone, does he also count? At this point DIO is pretty much a member of the Joestar family so I’ll say yes.

The second continuity

Part 7 begins with a new continuity and new versions of old characters. It starts in the 19th century in America and the Joestars are descendants of British nobility. The earliest member of the Joestar family we’re shown is George Joestar II and Anne Joestar, the parents of Johnny Joestar and Nicholas Joestar. Johnny is the protagonist for Steel Ball Run. He goes on to meet Rina Higashikata whom he marries and has two children with, an unnamed daughter and George Joestar III.

Similar to the original continuity, George would go on to marry a woman named Elizabeth and have a son named Joseph as well as three other unnamed children. Joseph also marries a woman by the name of Suzi Q having two children, Barbara Ann and Holy Joestar.

Holy Joestar, her children, and Josuke Higashikata

Holy would go on to have two children with Yoshiteru Kira, Yoshikage Kira in 1982, and Kei Nijimura in 1989. In 2011 Yoshikage Kira and his friend Josefumi Kujo would steal branches of the healing fruit known as Locacaca in an attempt to heal Holy after she had become fatally ill. However, an unfortunate set of circumstances would result in the two being fatally injured. Thanks to the Locacaca’s properties, Yoshikage and Josefumi were fused creating Josuke Higashikata, the protagonist of the eighth part.

Jodio and Dragona Joestar

Over on Holy’s sister Barbara’s branch of the family tree, she has two children with an unnamed man. Jodio Joestar and his older brother, Dragona are small-time gangsters living in Hawaii. Jodio is the protagonist of part 9, the most recent part to be released as of the time of writing. 

So that’s the whole Joestar family tree, from 18th-century England to modern-day parallel universe Hawaii. It’s a pretty complex and often confusing lineage, but hey, that’s what you get when a manga story has been going on for nearly 40 years.