Information; Application for hadriel

[stealer_ofsouls]

Information

PLAYER INFORMATION:

NAME: Muse
CONTACT: sometimesamuse or PM this journal
CHARACTERS CURRENTLY IN GAME: n/a

CHARACTER INFORMATION:

General:

CHARACTER NAME: 'Dark' / 'Yami' Bakura
CHARACTER AGE: Bakura's spirit is over 3,000 years old; he appears the same age as his host, which is in the 16 to 17 range
CANON: Yu-Gi-Oh, Yu-Gi-Oh Duelist, Yu-Gi-Oh Millennium World [manga]
CANON POINT: Battle City quarterfinals; directly after losing the tournament match to Yugi and the unofficial (as far as the tournament goes) match to Yami Marik

HISTORY:

For more information on Yu-Gi-Oh as a series, please refer to either the Yu-Gi-Oh Wiki or to the Wikipedia overview. Footnotes have been provided to direct the reader to specific volumes of the manga should more information be desired.

Warning: This summary is very long and very wordy. The wiki is perfectly sufficient, but as a player it's easiest for me to have all the information here like this, and with references to its specific volumes. This section contains spoilers for Yu-Gi-Oh volumes 6 and 7, and for Yu-Gi-Oh Duelist volumes 5 through 20, if you can consider the term 'spoilers' accurate for a series this old.

"Dark" or "Yami" Bakura — hereafter referred to as Bakura — is the spirit housed in the Millennium Ring, an artifact of ancient Egypt. He enters the Yu-Gi-Oh storyline at the same time as Ryou Bakura — hereafter referred to as Ryou — when Ryou enters the same school as the main cast as a transfer student. Though the spirit has resided in the Ring since before Ryou entered the picture, Ryou is unaware of his presence; indeed the first time he hears Bakura's voice is shortly after touching the completed Millennium Puzzle held by his classmate Yugi Mutou. At this point Bakura informs Ryou that the latter is merely his host; he reaffirms this fact by sinking the five needles hanging from the Millennium Ring into Ryou's chest.¹

When Yugi and company visit their new friend Ryou at his home, Bakura takes over his host's body to invite them inside to play a tabletop RPG, Monster World. His aim in so doing is to trap their souls within their game pieces and thus take control of the Millennium Puzzle; he does not anticipate Yugi's alter ego, the spirit of the Puzzle (sometimes referred to as "Yu-Gi-Oh," the King of Games) taking over Yugi's physical body and thus fulfilling the role of the "player" (i.e., the person throwing the dice and moving the game pieces). With the aid of a player piece representing Ryou — and inhabited by his soul — they are able to beat Bakura at the game and oust him from Ryou's mind. The souls – of Ryou, Yugi, their friends, and all the others Bakura imprisoned in game pieces — are then returned to their proper bodies.²

Bakura resurfaces later in the Duelist Kingdom arc, after the battle between Yugi and Jonouchi and the Meikyû brothers when the group of friends is searching for an exit from the hall in which the duel was held. He offers to show his host Ryou the way out — then threatens that without him, they would be trapped forever. Though it's not shown, it can be assumed that Ryou then put on the Millennium Ring — after the Monster World events he was carrying it rather than wearing it — as on the next page it is the spirit in control of his host's body. At this point in time Yugi solves the problem of the labyrinth's exit and Bakura once again retreats inside his host. Bakura also claims to have been leading Ryou and his friends toward Pegasus' castle — and more importantly, Pegasus' Millennium Eye — the entire time; whether he means the entire time on the island is unclear, but it is certain that he was from just after Jonouchi's "graveyard" battle with "Ghost" Kozuka, when the party was trapped underground.³

After the duel between Pegasus and Seto Kaiba — in which the former beat the latter using a combination of overpowered cards and mind reading — when the company was sitting down to dinner, Bakura asked Yugi for possession of the fake Millennium Eye that Pegasus had given each duelist (which had initially contained a slip of paper designating which space the duelist would occupy in the finals). Additionally, the way Bakura reacts to the portrait of Shadi hanging in the dining all suggests that he knows or knows of the Egyptian, though the connection is not made clear at the time. ⁴ Later, after the final battle between Yugi and Pegasus, Bakura presumably challenges Pegasus to a Shadow Game for possession of the Millennium Eye. This detail is unconfirmed but what is important is that Bakura walks away in possession of the Eye, while Pegasus himself is no longer alive — the fake Eye that Bakura had obtained earlier from Yugi is left in Pegasus' possession.⁵

After the Duelist Kingdom tournament is over, everyone returns to Domino City and presumably gets on with their lives for a time. The next event of note is the opening of a new game show to rival the one run by Yugi's grandfather — and to rival Yugi himself, as the youth is challenged to a game of Dungeon Dice Monsters by Ryuji Otogi, the son of the game shop's owner. During the match, the shop owner — fueled by a vendetta against Yugi's grandfather — smashes the Millennium Puzzle. Using the Millennium Ring, Bakura can sense that something happened to the Millennium Puzzle; as such, he heads for the shop. Bakura mentions "I guess I'll have to do the king's dirty work again," though it is unclear whether he refers to Yugi's alter-ego Yu-Gi-Oh (the King of Games) by that title, or if it is an allusion to the alter-ego's true identity as the nameless Pharaoh of Egyptian history — an identity that neither Yugi nor the spirit know about at this point in time.

Bakura further alludes that the Millennium Items have pieces of the same mind —- "fragments of memories" — and that he needs Yugi to wield the Puzzle as he's the only host chosen by it in 3000 years. "As long as I still have some use for him, anyone who harms him will have to answer to me"; Bakura has a fierce protective streak, though admittedly it is fueled by his motivations and what he wishes to gain. Further, the allusion could be made that the other Millennium Items — the Ring included — have had other hosts over the years, though no mention of said hosts is made in canon at this point in time. When walking into the room in which Yugi and Otogi are dueling, Bakura claims to have turned over a new leaf and that he is now Yugi's friend. Furthermore, he spends the match encouraging Yugi toward victory while taunting his opponent, claiming that it is Yugi alone who will win and (re)gain possession of the Millennium Puzzle.⁶

When Yugi defeats Otogi, Bakura reveals — in internal monologue, not to the other characters — that his reason for coming to help was to get his hands on the (broken) Millennium Puzzle and, using the power of his Millennium Ring, seal a piece of his soul/spirit inside it. He calls the maneuver "Parasite Mind," intending for that piece to act as a spy in the labyrinth of the Pharaoh's memories. He also reveals (again internally) that when the seven Millennium Items are re-united in the tablet at Kul Elna (in Egypt), he believes he can take control of the "great evil power" that was sealed away by the Pharaoh and his six high priests. After returning the final piece of the Puzzle to Yugi — using the excuse of having accidentally dropped it on the floor — Bakura again retreats inside his host, allowing Ryou's personality to come forward once more.⁷

Not long after the Dungeon Dice Monsters incident, a new Duel Monsters tournament — Battle City — is announced. Bakura's interest is piqued when he senses a new Millennium Item — the Millennium Rod, in the possession of Marik Ishtar, one of the guardians of the Pharaoh's tomb — approaching the city. Bakura accosts a random duelist and takes his Duel Disk and puzzle card – the items needed to enter the tournament — and moves to intercept Marik while the tomb guardian is on his way to accost Yugi's friends.

Bakura threatens Marik, saying he won't allow the Egyptian to interfere with his plans to collect the Millennium Items and re-unite them to open the door of darkness and gain the evil power sealed therein. Marik knows it's not that simple; as such, he agrees to Bakura's plan — that is, he agrees to hand over the Millennium Rod in exchange for the right to Yugi's life; he intends to use Bakura as a pawn to get his revenge on the spirit of the Millennium Puzzle. Bakura, not knowing this or Marik's identity as one of the tomb guardians, agrees; he comes up with a plan to get Marik close to Yugi's friends. He offers Marik the "use of his host": he purposefully injures himself by stabbing himself in the arm with a knife, then retreats inside and allows his host's personality to come forward. As such, Yugi's friends find Marik — in the guise of amateur duelist "Namu" — helping a severely injured Ryou; they are instantly appreciative to Namu for the assistance he lends their friend. Ryou is sent to the hospital with Yugi's grandfather, leaving Marik alone with Jonouchi and Anzu — and giving the Egyptian a chance to possess them using the Millennium Rod.⁸

At the first opportunity, Bakura, once again in control of Ryou's body, snuck out of the hospital where his stab wound was being treated and dueled opponents in the city to gain enough puzzle cards to enter the finals. Of note is the fact that he isn't opposed to taking his opponents' lives along with their life points; in particular, it is shown that he does so to "Ghost" Kozuka, whom Jonouchi faced in Duelist Kingdom. He notes that this will be the most blood-soaked tournament in the last 1,000 years and as such he doesn't want to miss out on the fun.

When Bakura shows up at the finals, it is initially under the guide of Ryou, who claims to have merely gotten lucky in his battles. He also claims that his injury — which has been bandaged but is still severe and most likely in need of formal medical treatment — doesn't pain him at all. The reasoning behind this is that Marik has brainwashed Ryou's persona, such that he is in control when Bakura retreats inside; Marik's brainwashing is so great that Ryou is unable to feel the pain of the wound in his arm.

The first match of the quarterfinals pits Yugi against Bakura, in which the Ring Spirit is in control of the host. He reveals, through both dialog and inner monologue, that he is merely after Yugi's god card (Slifer the Sky Dragon, also referred to as Osiris); he plans to trade it to Marik for the Millennium Rod. He doesn't actually want to hurt/kill Yugi: he needs Yugi to keep the Millennium Puzzle safe because he doesn't need it yet.⁹

During the battle itself, Bakura uses an occult-themed deck, employing a strategy of luring his opponent in by taking damage, then unleashing powerful cards to attack his opponent while simultaneously healing himself; his dueling strategy revolves around sealing or crippling his opponent while protecting himself. He believes his deck will defeat Yugi, even taunting him during the battle, only for the spirit of the Millennium Puzzle to turn the entire battle around by drawing and playing the god card Slifer. Initially he retreats inside and lets Ryou's spirit come forward as per his agreement with Marik: Marik intuits — correctly, as it turns out — that Yugi will not call the final attack and will instead purposely lose the battle to save Ryou, whose mind will be assaulted — perhaps fatally — by Slifer when the god attacks. Bakura, either in response to Marik's taunting or out of his own sense of honor, proclaims that even he has ways he likes to win and ways he hates to win; he forces Marik from Ryou's mind, pushes forward again, and commands Yugi to call the attack. Yugi does so with the knowledge that the ring spirit will shield and protect Ryou's mind. He does, and is believed to be, at the very least, forced from Ryou's body; additionally, the Ring itself is knocked off Ryou in the blast. Anzu tells Yugi she'll keep the Ring where Ryou can't get it; what he doesn't know is she's still being possessed by Marik and is keeping the Ring on his orders.¹⁰

During the quarterfinals, when Rishid is knocked into a coma, the darker side of Marik's split personality emerges; Rishid was apparently the key element keeping that persona in check. This darker side — hereafter referred to as Yami Marik — hell-bent on getting revenge on the spirit of the Pharaoh, and casting the whole world into darkness, suppresses Marik's good persona. After the final quarterfinal match Yami Marik goes to Rishid's room with the intention of killing the Egyptian such that he can never again be suppressed. He is interrupted from so doing by Bakura, once again in possession of the Millennium Ring, who states that while he doesn't care if Rishid lives or dies, he does need the Millennium Rod and the hieroglyphs carved on Marik's back. Bakura has also made an alliance with the good part of Marik's spirit, which left an imprint on Ryou when Marik brainwashed Bakura's host. The two settle things in the way of the wielders of the Millennium Items: with a Shadow Game, the wager of which stipulates that the loser dies.

Before the start of the shadow duel, Marik speaks with Yami Marik; their conversation reveals that Marik has learned the truth of his father’s death, namely that it was caused by Yami Marik, not by the Pharaoh. Also revealed is the presence of Shadi, who Marik believed at the time to be the Pharaoh’s spirit; Bakura reacts to this revelation with shock, though the reason why is not revealed at this time.

The duel itself seems to initially be in Bakura's favor — he is aided by Marik, who does have knowledge of Yami Marik's deck — until Yami Marik reveals a hidden ability of his god card, the Sun Dragon Ra; this turns the battle in his favor and allows him to defeat Bakura. Even as his form dissipates into the devouring darkness of the Shadow Game, Bakura proclaims that he will let Yami Marik win this time, but that Bakura himself will be resurrected to kill Yami Marik because Bakura is the darkness. Meanwhile, the good part of Marik's spirit is ousted from Ryou's body and moves to instead inhabit Anzu, whom he had also previously brainwashed; in so doing, Marik utilizes the girl's body to urge his sister to save Rishid from Yami Marik.

It's later revealed that Bakura has also survived the battle, and resides within the maze of Yu-Gi-Oh's memories thanks to his earlier "Parasite Mind" trick to imprint a piece of the Millennium Puzzle with a part of his spirit. At this point in time it is also to be noted that Yami Marik takes possession of the Millennium Ring.¹¹

Personality:

Bakura is very self-centered: he is focused on his goals, and doesn't really care whom he has to go through to obtain them. That being said, he is very good at hiding his true objective from people if he thinks that he can use them to further his own means. Along with this comes a fierce protective streak: if he thinks someone will be useful to him, he will do whatever he can to protect that person so that he may use him later. Said usage takes many forms, from using Ryou's body as a host to using other's souls as playthings.

Just as he holds himself in high regard, he considers everyone else below him: they are no more than pawns to be used and cast aside once their usefulness has worn out. Though he may at times support and/or encourage others, it is as a game maneuver for him: he is positioning and strengthening his pieces as he makes his advance across the board. As long as his "allies" act in a way that is beneficial to him, he will play the part of their supporter or friend. They minute they deviate, however, he deals with them as he deals with all who oppose him: very violently, and usually permanently.

He is a strategist, evidenced by the way he plays cards and the way he plays people. He is skilled in acting as one's ally or friend, and in claiming to have repented for past wrongdoings. He will play these same acts over and over again as long as they work — and as long as he needs the other person.

Bakura isn't above getting his hands dirty, moralistically or in actuality; in fact, he takes pleasure in killing other people, usually after crushing their spirits. He enjoys the violence that is killing, and admits to getting a "high" from making other people bleed. He does, however, possess his own sense of honor; the principles for which he fights are ones in which he truly believes. He is very committed to his cause — it just happens to be what most people would consider an evil one.

Inventory:

Bakura's host dresses plainly, preferring understated, simple clothes; Yami Bakura does very little to change this preference save for his addition of an overly dramatic black coat. Most notably his canon depicts him with:

an off-white long-sleeved sweater over a green collared shirt, with jeans and sneakers

Ryou's school uniform, consisting of a plain blue jacket over matching blue pants

a blue-and-white striped T-shirt under an unbuttoned blue shirt (sometimes with its short sleeves rolled up) over grey pants and plain shoes — this is the clothing in which he will arrive in Hadriel

a black ankle-length trenchcoat added to the above — this is the outerwear in which he will arrive in Hadriel

a deck of occult/dark-themed Duel Monsters cards, always kept on his person (the deck used in the Battle City tournament; a list of included cards is forthcoming)

a KaibaCorp second-generation Duel Disk (as per Battle City tournament regulations); when Bakura is wearing the Duel Disk, his deck is stored in the deck holder. When he's not, his deck is still on him, kept in a secure pocket.

a switchblade knife, always kept on his person (usually in a pocket)

the Millennium Ring, always worn on a cord about his neck and hanging mid-chest

the Millennium Eye, taken from Pegasus' corpse at the end of the Duelist Kingdom storyline and kept on his person (usually in a pocket)

Abilities:

Bakura knows how to throw dice (specifically, 10-sided ones) such that the roll lands in his favor. Additionally, using the Millennium Ring, he can seal souls into inanimate objects, including lead gaming figures and dice.

Bakura is able to intuit the functions of the other Millennium Items (i.e., the Eye's mind scan ability or the Rod's brainwashing ability) sometimes through observation of the Item in action and sometimes through the observation of someone affected by said item. He is also able to tell when the Millennium Items are in close proximity to himself. It is unclear if this knowledge comes from his own intuition or the influence of the Millennium Ring; the mun is inclined to believe the Ring — which Bakura refers to as the "Ring of Wisdom" — has at least some influence on this ability. It is later proved that the Millennium Ring has the power to point to what the bearer seeks; as Bakura seeks the Millennium Items, its needles act as a compass when they are near.

Perhaps his most powerful ability is being able to engage others in Shadow Games: contests that go beyond a mere game to truly test two people. The loser of a Shadow Game is subjected to a penalty game; one of Bakura's preferred Penalty Games is to seal the loser's soul inside a gaming item such as a figurine. Later in the series, he most often structures his Shadow Games such that the penalty is death to the loser.

Flaws:

Aside the negative character traits listed in the above personality section, Bakura definitely qualifies for being a flawed character. This is a man who removes people's souls from their bodies for fun, injures and/or tortures people for fun, maims his host body for fun, kills people for fun... the list goes on. Though the term is cliché, he could be called an agent of chaos in that he enjoys disrupting people's lives. He's a liar and a thief both and has no problem with pretending to ally himself with someone only to later stab that person in the back — literally or figuratively. His entire existence has focused on obtaining revenge for the massacre of Kul Elna and freeing the dark power of Zorc Necrophades so that he may cast the world into darkness; he will do anything, anything, to achieve this goal.

WRITING SAMPLES:

Action Log Sample:

It hurts of course, but the pain is nothing compared to the thrill coursing through him. To feel the power of a god! And to think that Yugi doesn't really know the true strength that lies in what he thinks are mere cards! Bakura throws his head back and laughs even as the darkness grows around him. After all, why should he be afraid of the dark?

He doesn't recognize the place where he wakes: it's not the airship duel arena, and it’s certainly not the apartment his host keeps back in Domino. It’s not even Eqypt, where he knows he must eventually return. But no, this arena isn’t any of those places — isn't any of the places he knows, and his memory is long.

It's not a Shadow Game. An unanticipated side effect of the power of a god, then? Perhaps. The only thing he knows for certain is that there is power here; he can practically taste it. He sits up, pushing himself off the ground and pausing halfway through the movement, cautious; he’s not alone. Though even as he notices it, he notices one very important detail: he himself is alone. He’s still in his host’s body but he can't sense Ryou Bakura's spirit. He can't even sense a void or something to tell him that the youth's spirit has been separated from him: it is as if Ryou doesn't exist but for the similarity of his physical form.

"Well Pharaoh, this is an interesting sort of game you're playing." Bakura speaks the challenge to the air as he stands fully, a wary eye on those around him. The Millennium Ring hanging about his neck sways, its needles dancing in several directions at once before he wills it to settle. He has other priorities right now, most notably the beast in front of him. Answers to his other questions will have to wait.

---

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
Though not a part of the application, this section is here merely for my own reference.

Appearance:

HEIGHT: Bakura's height is the same as his host's, 176 cm (approximately 5'9". This is a canon-given measurement; I'm quite aware of how unrealistic Bakura's height/weight ratio is.)
WEIGHT: Bakura's weight is the same as his host's, 52 kg (approximately 114.5 lbs. This is a canon-given measurement; I'm quite aware of how unrealistic Bakura's height/weight ratio is.)
BLOOD TYPE: AB (see here for symbolism)
BIRTHDATE: The Thief King's birthday is the 15^th of the second month of Akhet (the flood season), in the Egyptian calendar. It roughly translates to October the 25^th in the modern Gregorian calendar. Bakura's host's birthdate is September 2^nd
AGE: Bakura's spirit is over 3,000 years old; he appears the same age as his host, which is in the 16 to 17 range
HAIR: white; falls to mid-back. He's not an albino; rather, given the propensity for unnatural hair colors being normal in his canon, it can be assumed that the white is a natural shade.
EYES: brown
BUILD: Bakura is, in his current body, tall and slim — he's not frail, but he certainly won't be holding his own for very long in a fist fight. He's got long limbs and long fingers but is otherwise average (when compared to how the other characters are drawn).
DISTINGUISHING MARKS: Bakura has a few distinguishing marks, in the form of scars. They are:

five round scars forming a semi-circle in the middle of his chest/torso, from the needles of the Millennium Ring, self-inflicted; they never quite fade because he keeps reopening them with the Ring

a scar on his left hand, on both the palm and the back, self-inflicted; Bakura plunged the hand onto the spire of a plastic castle figurine as a punishment to his host

a scar on his left upper arm, from a knife wound, self-inflicted; Bakura plunged a knife into his host's arm, causing a wound severe enough to requite hospitalization

NOTES: It is to be noted that while the spirit is in control of the host body, the manga and anime both mark the distinction by drawing Bakura with a slightly wilder looking hairstyle (referred to by some fans as "batwing hair") and slightly more angular eyes. However, there is no physical difference in looks between the two, no matter which soul is controlling the body, as is shown by canon reactions of characters who cannot tell the two apart (true for all of the two-souls-in-one-body characters). The distinction comes in their mannerisms; the physical difference is only drawn as an aid to viewers. Characters are welcome to mistake Bakura for his counterpart Ryou, and vice versa (if we get a Ryou and/or if a character would have a reason for knowing Ryou).

FUTURE AND HISTORY:

In order to examine Bakura's past and origins, it is necessary to follow the series into the future. Thus, this section starts where the history presented above ends.

This section contains spoilers for Yu-Gi-Oh Duelist volume 20 through 24, and for the entirety of Yu-Gi-Oh Millennium World. It picks up from the history presented above.

From above: It's later revealed that Bakura has also survived the battle, and resides within the maze of Yu-Gi-Oh's memories thanks to his earlier "Parasite Mind" trick to imprint a piece of the Millennium Puzzle with a part of his spirit. At this point in time it is also to be noted that Yami Marik takes possession of the Millennium Ring.¹¹

At the very end of the Battle City tournament, when Yugi defeats Yami Marik and gains all three god cards, an echo of Bakura hovers above Marik in approval. Marik also turns over the Millennium Ring and Millennium Rod to Yugi, thus inadvertently aiding Bakura in his goal of getting closer to assembling the Millennium Items. Later, Ryou, newly awakened and with no memory of recent happenings, finds the Ring in Yugi's room and takes possession of it once more.¹²

After the Battle City tournament is over, everyone once again returns to Domino City and presumably gets on with their lives for a time. This so-called break is short-lived, however; it doesn't take long for a thief to break into Yugi's home and attempt to steal the three Egyptian god cards from him. Yugi pursues the thief but does not catch up to him before Bakura does; the Ring Spirit incapacitates the thief and returns the god cards to Yugi. When questioned by Yugi as to his motivations he tells the youth that he wishes to go to the afterlife along with the Pharaoh's spirit; what he does not mention is that he in fact has no intention of doing so, and instead means to use Yugi to collect the pieces to unlock the Pharaoh's memories and the great power that was sealed along with him. It is his plan to steal everything at the last moment. As a token of faith, Bakura offers Yugi the Millennium Eye that he took from Pegasus.

When the group converges at the museum to present the god cards to the stone tablet, the spirit of the Pharaoh is transported to the world of his memories to live out his final days and thus find out why he was so imprisoned. A servant sent by Shadi reveals that Yugi and his friends can also enter this world of memory using the Millennium Key, but before doing so they must first be judged by the Millennium Scales. All of his friends pass this judgment with the exception of Ryou, whose soul is tainted by Bakura. Ryou takes this rather hard and flees the museum in tears. Bakura, however, doesn't mind the outcome as there is still a little piece of his spirit inside Yugi already.

Meanwhile, in the vision of his past, the Pharaoh has come face-to-face not only with his high priests and his advisor — who remind him of people he has met in the modern world, most notably Seto Kaiba and Yugi's Grandfather — but also with a man calling himself Thief King Bakura. The thief has raided the tomb of the Pharaoh's father and brought the spoils and corpse to the throne room. Here he challenges the Pharaoh and high priests, demanding that they give him the Millennium Items.

A battle ensues between the Thief King and Priest Set; Set calls upon a monster to battle the evil god Diabound called forth from inside the Thief King's spirit. The battle itself is reminiscent of the modern-day Duel Monsters card game; it is a similarity the Pharaoh, with his memories of the present, notes. Diabound ultimately defeats the creature called forth by Set and the Thief King takes the opportunity to taunt the Pharaoh and his court by asking them if they know of the origins of the Millennium Items, and how they are connected to the Pharaoh's father. He goes on to say that the person who places the seven Millennium Items in the stone tablet at the ruins of Kul Elna will be given the power of the shadows by the evil god Zorc Necrophades, and proclaims that the Pharaoh's father was after this power — the power to rule the world through darkness — and thus no better than the Thief King himself.¹³

When the god Diabound looks as if he will overwhelm all the priests in one blow, the Pharaoh himself stepps forward to fight, and calls upon one of the three hidden gods of legend, Obelisk, the Giant God of the Palace. Obelisk is able to deal Diabound a mighty blow but the god and his human vessel escape before being completely destroyed.

While the Pharaoh's priests train themselves in practice battles to strengthen themselves for the struggle they know will come, the Thief King bides his time. He makes his move when Mahado, the priest in charge of guarding the tombs of the Pharaohs and the bearer of the Millennium Ring, moves to guard the tomb where the Pharaoh's father had been interred — the tomb the Thief King had initially robbed. This is a ruse constructed by Mahado, however: the deceased Pharaoh was interred elsewhere and he means to lure the Thief King into the tomb to do one final battle with him. The Thief King calls forth Diabound to face Mahado's Ka — essentially, the part of his spirit that can manifest itself outside his body. Ultimately the battle is fatal for Mahado, but not before he casts a spell to fuse his spirit with his Ka, creating the entity known as the Dark Magician, a powerful sorcerer sworn to serve the Pharaoh's soul for eternity. The Thief King's fate is unknown; he is last seen falling off the stone bridge on which he and Mahado battled.¹⁴

The Thief King does not, in fact, perish on the bridge in the tomb; he later resurfaces in the town and is in possession of the Millennium Ring. He destroys the people in the tavern in which he is resting when they move to demand the Ring from him; the act is observed by the shadow of his future self, who has followed Yugi and friends through the door they used to enter the memory world. (It is to be noted that these future shadows are as ghosts: they cannot be seen or felt by the denizens of the memory.) Later, he enters the Shrine of Wedju — the resting place of the stone slabs in which Ka is imprisoned until called upon — to challenge Akhenaden, the bearer of the Millennium Eye. Instead of killing him as he did to Mahado, he instead uses the power of the Millennium Ring to awaken the darkness in Akhenaden's soul.

As the Thief King leaves the shrine, he is pursued by the Pharaoh, who calls upon the god Slifer to aid him. The two battle until the Thief King makes his target the town instead, intending to harm as many people as possible and force the Pharaoh to expose himself — and expose Slifer to Diabound — in order to defeat him. The Pharaoh manages to turn the tide of battle briefly, enough to lure it away from the bulk of the city, before the Thief King gains the upper hand again. Diabound is moments away from destroying the Pharaoh when the high priests arrive, lending their strength to the fight.

Even their combined strength is not enough to bring down Diabound, who hides in the cover of darkness offered by the night sky. The Pharaoh uses the horribly injured Slifer to draw out Diabound's attack, such that the priests will be able to counter-attack. They do so, but the effort is wasted when the Thief King summons another monster as a shield. With the Pharaoh critically weakened the battle outlook appears grim — that is, until the future shadows of Yugi and his friends, visible to only the Pharaoh, lend him their strength. Thus, the Pharaoh is able to summon the sun god Ra and defeat both Diabound and the Thief King.

However, this is not the course of history; originally, the Pharaoh was fated to die on this night by the Thief King's hand. The future shadow of Bakura observes the lifeless body before going to the Shrine of Wedju to inform Necrophades — the evil spirit residing within Akhenaden's soul. That spirit reveals itself to the Pharaoh and unleashes its terrible power: the ability to rewind time.¹⁵ He does so, going back to where Yugi and friends helped to summon Ra, except this time as they rush to the Pharaoh's aid the future shadow of Bakura stands in their way. He uses the Millennium Ring to repel them; when questioned about his motives — and why he betrayed them in the first place, he reveals that the soul of the Pharaoh isn't the only soul to have been sealed within a Millennium Item. The Millennium Ring contains the soul of not only the Thief King, but also of Zorc Necrophades. This merged soul challenges Yugi's friends to a duel. Bakura is just about to kill Jonouchi by having a monster devour his soul when the Thief King pushes the pharaoh off a cliff. At this point the Pharaoh's memories fade, which means the scene itself fades to black for the future shadows.

History does not stop here, however: while search parties are out looking for the pharaoh, the remaining priests work to protect the palace. Akhenaden and Set in particular work to "harvest" the Ka of villagers, even going so far as to torture then so the Ka can grow into stronger monsters. All is done in the name of the Pharaoh. The priests are not the only ones busy making their preparations, however: the Thief King has retreated to the abandoned village of Kul Elna, the site of the massacre that provided the sacrifice necessary for the making of the Millennium Items during the Pharaoh's father's reign — the massacre of which the then-young Thief King was the only survivor.

The Pharaoh survived his fall, ending up in a cavern not too far from the valley in which one of the search parties is located. They are led to him and inform him that they have located the Thief King in Kul Elna; together, the Pharaoh and the priest leading the party head for the abandoned village. The Thief King greets them with the angry spirits of the dead at his side; he commands them to assault the Pharaoh and his men while he tells the Pharaoh of the true, gruesome origins of the Millennium Items. The Pharaoh wavers in his grief and is almost destroyed under the crushing anguish of the deceased until the spirit of Mahado manifests itself to protect him. Mahado gives the Pharaoh strength; in turn, he takes strength from the pharaoh to counter the attack of the spirits and Diabound.¹⁶

The battle is fierce; neither Mahado's spirit nor the Ka summoned by the priest Shada is able to overcome Diabound's strength. Indeed, Diabound deals a serious wound to Shada and is about to destroy Mahado when the other priests show up to lend their support to the Pharaoh. The battle continues just as ferociously, but even by fusing their Ka spirits, the priests are hard-pressed to counter Diabound's strength — indeed, the priest Kalim falls, and his Millennium Item is snatched up by the Thief King. It is only through trickery and teamwork that the priests are able to injure, and ultimately defeat, Diabound. Even so, the Thief King is not deterred, crawling to the stone tablet in which the Millennium Items were forged and fitting the four he has obtained into their slots.

At this point the memory-illusion freezes, and the future Shadow of Bakura shows up to taunt the Pharaoh — and to reveal one more thing. Akhenaden has been excepted from the freezing; he has claimed the final Millennium Items from the frozen priests and is moving to fit them into the stone tablet. It is at this point that a horrible truth is revealed: the entire memory world has been no more than a Shadow Game in the form of a tabletop RPG — a throwback to the first game played between Bakura and the spirit inside the Millennium Puzzle just after Bakura's host Ryou transferred into Yugi's school. Unfortunately this game has real, and very dire, effects on the real world: namely, not only might Yugi and friends die, but the evil god Zorc Necrophades could be loosed upon the world.

As play resumes, Zorc — loosed by the Thief King and Akhenaden onto the game world — prepares a deadly attack to decimate the Pharaoh and his priests. That attack fails, however, when a man identifying himself as the Guardian of the Stone Tablet arrives to shield the Pharaoh until Zorc's time-stopping spell wears off. This intervention is unanticipated by Bakura, illustrating the point that there are NPCs in this Shadow Game over which the players — himself and the spirit of the Puzzle — have no control.¹⁷

Meanwhile, in the memory world, Yugi and his friends have made their way to the Pharaoh's tomb, in search of his lost name, which is somehow the key to defeating Akhenaden and Zorc. There they are challenged to a Shadow Game (in the form of Duel Monsters) by Bakura. Though Bakura's deck is designed to destroy Yugi's, Yugi manages to defeat him and instead destroy the shadow of Bakura's spirit that was acting for him within the game.

Bakura — the real one, not the shadow — then sets a natural disaster upon the game world, intending to bury Yugi and his friends in the rubble of the Pharaoh's tomb so that they cannot bring him his name. Zorc continues to attack the Pharaoh and his priests, killing Shada and Siamun. The mysterious guardian gives the last of his strength to protect the Pharaoh as well — with his mask in pieces, the Pharaoh makes the startling discovery that the spirit-man is none other than Shadi, the Egyptian mystic who once tested him. Once again the situation looks hopeless, but at that moment Yugi and friends reunite with the Pharaoh, lending him their strength. They also bring the knowledge of his true name — knowledge that allows the Pharaoh to not only call down the three gods, but to unite them into the ultimate being of light and thus send Zorc Necrophades back into the darkness of the underworld.¹⁸

Things are never as simple as defeating the enemy in front of oneself, however: the ground still shakes with the force of the earthquakes loosed upon the world, and an evil still lingers in the air. The Pharaoh — Atem — bids Yugi and his friends to return to the real world, and promises to join them there. Then he moves to seek out the source of the evil: the priest Set, under the influence of Akhenaden, who is revealed to be his father and Atem's uncle. Set challenges Atem for the right to the throne; the two battle, and Set's dragon defeats Mahado. Akhenaden-Set commands the dragon to turn on Atem next but the dragon instead turns on the shade of Akhenaden, driving it from Set and setting the priest free. After the battle Atem asks Set to become the Pharaoh in his place: his body is fading, as his memories do not extend past their battle. Set agrees to watch over Egypt and bring the light of peace back to it; he takes the Millennium Pendant, the symbol of the Pharaoh, as Atem fades from the landscape.

Atem is not dead, however: he is merely returning to the "real" world, the world in which he finds his friends awake and waiting for him. He also finds Ryou passed out — Bakura's spirit has left his body with Zorc's defeat, as per the rules of the Shadow Game. Finally, Yugi, Atem, and their friends travel to Egypt where Yugi defeats Atem in one final duel, allowing the Pharaoh's spirit to finally move on to the afterlife. After this battle the door is sealed, and the Millennium Items swallowed forever after by the earth.¹⁹

FOOTNOTES:

¹Yu-Gi-Oh volume 6

²Yu-Gi-Oh volume 7

³Yu-Gi-Oh Duelist volume 5

⁴Yu-Gi-Oh Duelist volume 6

⁵Yu-Gi-Oh Duelist volume 8

⁶Yu-Gi-Oh Duelist volume 9

⁷Yu-Gi-Oh Duelist volume 10

⁸Yu-Gi-Oh Duelist volume 14

⁹Yu-Gi-Oh Duelist volume 16

¹⁰Yu-Gi-Oh Duelist volume 17

¹¹Yu-Gi-Oh Duelist volume 20

¹²Yu-Gi-Oh Duelist volume 24

¹³Yu-Gi-Oh Millennium World volume 1

¹⁴Yu-Gi-Oh Millennium World volume 2

¹⁵Yu-Gi-Oh Millennium World volume 3

¹⁶Yu-Gi-Oh Millennium World volume 4

¹⁷Yu-Gi-Oh Millennium World volume 5

¹⁸Yu-Gi-Oh Millennium World volume 6

¹⁹Yu-Gi-Oh Millennium World volume 7