Santana
Santana is a character from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 2: Battle Tendency. He is the first of the ancient super-beings known as the Pillar Men to awaken in the modern era. Considered the lowest-ranking and youngest among his kind, he slept isolated in a Mexican ruin, separate from his three superiors who rested in Rome. His name was temporarily bestowed upon him by Nazi officer Rudol von Stroheim after his discovery, while his original name remains unknown.
Overview
Santana is a character from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 2: Battle Tendency. He is the first of the ancient super-beings known as the Pillar Men to awaken in the modern era. Considered the lowest-ranking and youngest among his kind, he slept isolated in a Mexican ruin, separate from his three superiors who rested in Rome. His name was temporarily bestowed upon him by Nazi officer Rudol von Stroheim after his discovery, while his original name remains unknown.
Appearance
Santana is a heavily muscular, topless man featuring small horns on his head and long, wavy hair. Depending on the media, his hair is depicted as red or blonde, and his eyes as red or blue. His physical structure includes doll-like joints visible on his body.
Personality
Santana possesses an intensely arrogant posture toward humans, treating them as nothing more than prey or physical matter to consume. Calm and analytical, he exhibits a terrifying degree of intelligence and adaptability, swiftly evaluating unfamiliar modern human machinery and absorbing new concepts without hesitation.
Abilities
Although lacking a specialized elemental Mode, Santana possesses immense intelligence, superior bodily flexibility, and the physical power of a Pillar Man, allowing him to absorb biological matter directly into his body. He can compress his physical frame to slide through extremely tight spaces such as air vents. He learns human speech in moments, instantly comprehends mechanical designs (allowing him to strip an MP40 submachine gun in seconds), and can discharge trapped bullets from inside his tissue. His distinct techniques include "Open Ribs" (Ribs Blades), in which he extends his ribcage up to 132 cm outward to crush opponents with intense pressure, and "Malevolent Meat Morsels" (Meat Invade), which infiltrates an enemy's flesh with his own tissue to drain their life force.
Background
Originally raised as an infant alongside Wamuu by Kars and Esidisi, Santana was left sleeping alone in a Mexican ruin while the others traveled to Europe. In the 1930s, the Speedwagon Foundation discovered his stone form, which was subsequently taken by the German military for research. Awakened after being fed human blood, he wiped out the facility staff. Following a desperate confrontation against Joseph Joestar and Rudol von Stroheim, he was exposed to natural sunlight and turned back into stone. His petrified body was secured by the Speedwagon Foundation, where he remains safely immobilized under continuous ultraviolet light.
Relationships
He is regarded as an immature subordinate by his fellow Pillar Men—Kars, Esidisi, and Wamuu—who looked down on his lower standing. Major Rudol von Stroheim assigned him the designation "Santana" upon his awakening in captivity. During their battle, he encountered Joseph Joestar, whose unfamiliar Hamon techniques briefly bewildered him due to his lack of awareness regarding the energy.
Trivia
While his in-universe name is explained as coming from the Santa Ana winds, his real-world namesake is the famous American Latin rock band Santana and its lead guitarist Carlos Santana.