Backgrounds on the Characters That I Write With :

[Mariku]

Marik
Marik Ishtar is a later antagonist of Yu-Gi-Oh! and one of the foremost adversaries of the series. His family has guarded the tomb of the pharaoh for generations. Marik holds the Millennium Rod and with his Ghouls organization (called the Rare Hunters in the English anime), he wishes to obtain the three God Cards, and with them, unlock their power for himself so he can gain the title of "Pharaoh" and set his family free.

As with most antagonists, Marik has a rather tragic backstory. His mother died shortly after he was born. She had beseeched Odion, her adopted son, to look after Marik, and so Marik has always had the company and partnership of his adoptive brother. Marik's elder sister, Ishizu Ishtar, also the holder of the Millennium Necklace, has always cared deeply for Marik and has tried to make her brother see the error of his ways, even following him to the Battle City Finals. Marik, consumed by his hatred for the Pharaoh, refuses to let his sister foil his plans.

He also has a hidden agenda - to get revenge on the ancient Pharaoh's soul for killing his father, as he was made to believe. In the English anime, he is considerably more fiendish. He wants the God Cards and the Millennium Puzzle to gain the power of the Pharaoh and rule the world. He believes that Shadi killed his father and is not particularly concerned as he never had any real affection for his father.

Marik's mad quest to defeat Yami Yugi has made every single one of Yugi's friends and himself to suffer. For example, he's possessed the minds of Téa Gardner and Joey Wheeler in order to break Yugi to the core. He's even more ruthless and cruel when his plots failed to accomplish anything. Marik later appears at the Battle City Finals, diguised as Namu who befriends Téa and Joey. Unknown to Marik himself, his hatred and rage have been fueling his dark side, Dark Marik, for all the time. Later, after Marik was taken over by his dark side, he sought refuge in the mind of Téa and warned his older sister, Ishizu, to hide Rishid (Odion in the English anime), away from the hands of Dark Marik.


[edit] Dark Marik
File:Yami marik.jpg
Dark Marik (Yami Marik)The sadistic alter ego of Marik Ishtar, he is an entity that was created when his host was only ten years old. After having the secrets of the Pharaoh forcefully carved onto his back, Marik struggled to cope with the agony and hatred he felt against his father. It also manifested itself into his other self, Dark Marik who could only emerge if Marik himself were full of rage.

He made his first appearance when he murdered his own father (in the manga he specifically skinned his father's back with the millennium rod and threw it on Odion) before being sealed away in Marik's body by Odion, waiting for his chance to break free. But when Odion is knocked out in his battle with Joey Wheeler on the Battle Ship during the Battle City semi-finals, Marik is so furious and in despair that Dark Marik finally escapes, embarking on a rampage of destruction, horror and madness.

He then traps the soul of Mai Valentine and has several brain insects slowly devour her body after he manages to easily defeat her in a shadow game (in the English version, he banished her soul to the shadow realm). After this, Joey is determined to duel Marik and save Mai even if he dies in the process.

Dark Bakura (Yami Bakura) teams with Marik's soul to stop Dark Marik, but fails as well and loses the Millennium Ring. Joey becomes severely injured to the point where he can no longer duel. As time goes on, Dark Marik becomes the dominant host of Marik's body, with the real Marik's soul slowly fading out of existence. Dark Yugi (Yami Yugi) is the only one who could stop Marik. When Dark Yugi and Dark Marik duel, Odion wakes up and he makes Marik realize he had to accept his responsibility for being a tombkeeper.

With this confidence, Marik overpowers his evil self and forfeits, destroying Dark Marik. Marik gives Yugi the Millennium Rod and Ring as well as the Sun Dragon Ra a.k.a. The Winged Dragon of Ra. Marik then reveals the tombkeeper's initiation. The carving of the Pharaoh's (Dark Yugi a.k.a. Yami a.k.a. Atem) memory onto the back of a tomb guardian involves using either a hot dagger (as in the manga), a normal dagger (in the Japanese version of the second series anime), or a tattoo (in the English second series anime) on his back (see below right image). Fulfilling his duty as tombkeeper, Marik goes with Ishizu and Odion and returns to Egypt to start a new life.

Officially revealed in the English-language manga, Dark Marik is an alter-ego of Marik. When he received the tombkeeper's initiation and was tattooed, Marik created a second personality to deal with the pain and agony of the ritual. This can be used to explain Dark Marik's obsession with pain: he was a vent through which Marik's pain was shunted he is a textbook example of sadistic personality disorder. Overall, Dark Marik and Marik are most likely suffering form dissociative identity disorder, more commonly known as suffering from multiple personalities.

Bakura is extremely polite, and uses honorifics in his speech almost all the time; in the 4Kids English-language dub of the series, he speaks with a British accent to represent this (conversely, the Singaporean English anime gives him a Western/Southern US accent). By contrast, Dark Bakura speaks with no honorifics and refers to himself as "ore-sama" in the Japanese anime, a boastful and prideful way of saying "I". While the English dubbed Bakura retains his host's accent, his voice is deeper and his speech patterns are still more casual than his good counterpart. In all incarnations, Dark Bakura is able to mimic his host's voice and speech patterns to avoid detection when possessing him.


[edit] Dark Bakura

Dark Bakura in the 2nd series animeWhile on a trip in Egypt, Bakura's father, the curator of the Domino City Museum, purchased an ornamental ring from a street peddler, which he gave to his son because - according to the animated series - it was connected with the Duel Monsters card game, which Bakura was fond of. In truth, this unassuming object was the Millennium Ring, one of the seven mystically-empowered Millennium Items. Contained within the Millennium Ring was an evil spirit, which took possession of Bakura, and came to be known as Yami Bakura ("Dark Bakura," in English). Unlike the similar relationship between Yugi Mutou and the spirit of his Millennium Puzzle, the spirit of the ring is a malignant entity, and completely suppresses Bakura's soul when it takes over his body.

Beyond these facts, however, the actual identity of the Spirit of the Ring is fraught with complication. Writings about the series would often state that the spirit within the ring was that of a tomb robber from ancient Egypt (who would later be named "Thief King Bakura", detailed below) and Yami Bakura delivered several remarks that corroborated the claim, without explicitly identifying himself. Conversely, however, during the manga version of the final story arc of the series, Dark Bakura explicitly identifies himself as a fragment of the soul of the Dark God, Zorc Necrophades... and yet, within the same story, also refers to the thief's soul existing within the Millennium Ring. Although not discussed in detail in the anime (where the reference to the thief's soul is not made, and Yami Bakura is identified only as Zorc), the manga establishes that Zorc is capable of possessing other beings, and that eventually, his soul becomes "as one" with those of these victims (specifically, this was described as happening to the High Priest Ahkenaden), so from this, it may be presumed that the Spirit of the Ring is the soul of Thief King Bakura, subsumed by that of Zorc Necrophades.


[edit] Thief King Bakura
Bakura, the King of Thieves, was the sole survivor of the slaughter of the village of Kul Elna perpetrated by Ahkenaden, as part of the ritual to forge the Millennium Items. Seeking revenge on the son of the pharaoh who had ordered this act, Bakura stole the Millennium Ring from the priest Mahado, and was consumed by a portion of the soul of Zorc Necrophades, which the demon had been sealed in the Ring at the moment of its creation. At the urging of Zorc, Bakura (with the help of Ahkenaden, into whose body he transferred another portion of Zorc's soul using the ring) succeeded in stealing all the Millennium Items and resurrecting Zorc.

The ultimate fate of the Thief King was never revealed. When Yugi and his friends witnessed these past events re-told as an interactive RPG-style Shadow Game, the thief's body was shown to turn to sand, but this was a metaphorical representation of Yami Bakura removing his "playing piece" from the "board" after it had served its purpose in the story, and not what truly happened to him. In the anime, Yami Bakura brought the Thief King back briefly in order to occupy the forces of good and stall for time leading up to the moment of Zorc's resurrection, finally sacrificing him to bring Zorc back to life.

After being given the pieces of the ancient Egyptian artifact called the Millennium Puzzle by his grandfather, Yugi spent eight years attempting to solve the puzzle. When he eventually succeeded, he unknowingly undid a binding spell created by the ancient Egyptian pharaoh Atem, who had sealed the magic of the Shadow Games in the Puzzle and the other Millennium Items thousands of years ago in order to stop the victory of the evil demon Zorc Necrophades. The Pharaoh had bound the spell with his own name and sealed his own soul within the puzzle; when Yugi solved the puzzle, both the magic of the Shadow Games and Atem's soul were released, and Yugi's body became host to the spirit of Atem.

At first, Yugi has no awareness of the presence of this second personality within himself, which emerges in times of stress, takes control of his body, and punishes evildoers that threaten Yugi and his friends, leaving Yugi himself with no memory of the events. At the time, this personality - the true nature of which had not yet been divulged to the characters in the story - is referred to in Japan as Dark Yugi (闇の遊戯 ,Yami no Yūgi?), in reference to the particularly sinister mannerisms of the pharaoh at the time, and the vicious punishments he meted out, including turning losing or cheating opponents insane. With the introduction of the Duel Monsters card game as the main fixture of the Yu-Gi-Oh! storyline, the "Dark Yugi" moniker no longer seemed appropriate, as the character ceased to be the sinister, vengeful figure of earlier installments. Now, he would emerge from the Millennium Puzzle to take control of Yugi's body for the purposes of dueling others in the card game; rather than entirely supplanting Yugi's personality, as he had before, there was a degree of interplay between the two, wherein Yugi was aware of his surroundings and the events of the duel, but unaware of the presence of the pharaoh guiding his hand.

After a contest with Ryo Bakura, in which Yugi's soul was removed from his body, he and his friends came to properly understand that an additional soul existed within Yugi's body when the pharaoh's soul, left in the body alone, took control of it and bested Bakura in their contest. This led to "Dark Yugi" being referred to as "the other Yugi" (もう一人の遊戯 ,mō hitori no Yūgi?) by Yugi's friends, and as "the other me" or "my other self" (もう一人の僕 ,mō hitori no boku?) by Yugi himself. Additionally, Dark Yugi calls Yugi "partner" (相棒 ,aibou?). When it was properly revealed that "Dark Yugi" was the spirit of the pharaoh, he became known as the Nameless Pharaoh (名も無きファラオ ,namonaki farao?), as his true name was unknown even to him.

Solicitations and summaries for the English-language release of the manga consistently refer to the pharaoh as Yu-Gi-Oh, from the title of the series meaning "King of Games." Additionally, various English-language sources, notably video games, draw on the Japanese terminology and refer to the character as Yami Yugi. The English language translation of the series began referring to the character as Yami for the duration of the second season (perhaps to justify the "Yami Yugi" moniker without having to involve the Japanese language in the explanation), but this dropped early in the third season, and characters began to refer to Atem simply as "Pharaoh" without explanation to the sudden reversal of naming.

When the pharaoh takes control of Yugi's body, Yugi's undergoes a growth spurt, gaining additional streaks of yellow in his hair, and has differently-shaped eyes. Additionally, in the first series, Yugi's eyes were purple and Atem's were red. Also during the Duelist Kingdom arc, his shoes change when the Pharaoh takes over, from tennis shoes to what seemed like heeled boots. Whether or not such a transformation actually occurs within the fictional "world" of the series, however, is unclear, as no characters ever remark on his physical change, though some remark him as 'looking taller on TV'. Yugi's voice changes – in the manga, when the transformation happens in the presence of Anzu Mazaki (Téa Gardner in the English dub), who had her eyes closed at the time, the Pharaoh's voice was so different that she did not realize that Yugi was the speaker. In the English language dub of the first episode of the NAS/Studio Gallop anime, Seto Kaiba also notices a change in Yugi's voice. On several other occasions, other characters who possess Millennium Items are easily able to tell the two apart.

Yugi has a mother and a father; his father is away on business, so Yugi does not see him. Yugi's parents were written out in the 4Kids dub.

16-year old Jonouchi, who is in class 1-B at Domino High School, is a hothead and his mouth gets him in trouble often. Jonouchi starts out as a street thug and hangs in Hirutani's gang for long periods of time when he is in middle school. He also used to be a bully for young Yugi. He becomes best friends with Yugi Mutou, who melts his tough-guy exterior to reveal his true nature. Jonouchi's friendship with Yugi is a key element of the series as a whole and Yugi has credited his friendship with Jonouchi as one of the main factors that allowed Yugi to become stronger throughout the series. His other two good friends are Hiroto Honda (Tristan Taylor) and Anzu Mazaki (Téa Gardner). In the first series anime, Miho Nosaka is also one of Jonouchi's friends.


Jonouchi from the first series animeIn the manga, Jonouchi is poor, due to his father's gambling addictions and alcoholism. Jonouchi goes to great lengths to repay his father's debts, such as working at multiple jobs (he was the "lone paperboy" in middle school, meaning that he was one of the few that were permitted to work while going to school) and going on the "Get the Million" game show. Many of his Duel Monsters cards contain a gambling theme, and on occasion, his strong luck helps him win in the end.

Jonouchi's skill at Duel Monsters is somewhat near as good as that of Yugi's, but he still duels as part of a tag team on occasions and he strives to improve his skill. This is a frequent subplot throughout the series, although it was muted somewhat in the English anime, and also he uses many warrior type monsters.


Jonouchi (Joey) in the second series animeJonouchi has a sister named Shizuka Kawai (Serenity Wheeler in the English anime; Shizuka Jonouchi in the first series Yu-Gi-Oh! anime). In the Japanese versions of Yu-Gi-Oh!, Shizuka's surname is her mother's maiden name while Jonouchi's is his father's surname. Their parents divorced when Jonouchi was 10. Shizuka was brought away by her mother while Jonouchi lived with his father. In the manga and the Duel Monsters anime, Shizuka started to go blind, so Jonouchi entered the Duelist Kingdom tournament to finance her eye surgery. Jonouchi would come second to Yugi in the event, although Yugi gives him the money to finance the surgery. In the first series anime, Shizuka is chronically ill and in the hospital. Therefore Jonouchi ensures that she gets the best care in the hospital. Throughout most of the anime and manga, Joey has a crush on Mai Valentine, and she returns his feelings.

In the English-language 4Kids dub of Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's a character, Jesse Wheeler, is Joey Wheeler's cousin. In the Japanese and original versions no cousins of Jonouchi appear at any time, and in the Japanese version of Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's the character is solely known by his given name, Jesse.[3]

Throughout the anime, Kaiba's role in the events of the past are constantly hinted, but not explained it detail. In the fifth season of the anime, Kaiba is revealed to be the reincarnation of the ancient Egyptian priest Seth (named for the Egyptian deity Set), cousin to the pharaoh Atem, whose spirit inhabits the body of Yugi Mutou in the present day. Holder of the Millennium Rod, Seth was one of the most dedicated followers of the pharaoh, but his father, Akhenaden, hoped that one day, Seth would rule Egypt. When the Pharaoh came under threat from Thief King Bakura, Seth had many villagers gathered together that he might identify those with powerful "Ka" - monsters created by the power of their souls - that might help to defend the Pharaoh's rule. This act, however, was performed without the Pharaoh's knowledge, as was the decision to have the prisoners fight to the death to strengthen their Ka and find the single most powerful one. One of the prisoners was a girl named Kisara, whose Ka was the Blue-Eyes White Dragon. Subsequently, when Akhenaden was empowered by the demon Zorc Necrophades, he killed Kisara and extracted her Ka. When Zorc was then defeated by the Pharaoh, Akhenaden committed suicide and his spirit possessed Seth, forcing him into a duel with the Pharaoh, during which he called on the power of the Blue-Eyes White Dragon. Seth was poised to win, but Kisara's spirit was able to purge Akhenaden from Seth's mind; the pharaoh went on to sacrifice himself to seal away the magic of the Millennium Items, and appointed Seth as his successor. Their duel, however, was forever preserved on a massive stone tablet depicting the two combatants.


Seto Kaiba in the YuGiOh! manga
[edit] Childhood
Kaiba's childhood is discussed throughout the anime and manga, although Seasons One and Three of the anime take a deeper focus on it. Seto's mother died after the birth of Mokuba, and their father died in a car accident when he was eight years old. Orphaned, their relatives used up their inheritance and left them at the orphanage - their original surname is unknown in all mediums. When Seto was ten (twelve, in the English language version of the series), the-head of KaibaCorp, Gozaburo Kaiba, arrived at the orphanage to perform a publicity stunt, Kaiba saw the chance to challenge him to a game of chess, with Gozaburo forced to adopt Seto and Mokuba should he win. Seto successfully bested him (in the manga, he cheated, whereas in the anime, he simply studied his methods) and the brothers were adopted, but Gozaburo forced Seto into a rigorous accelerated school program, making him study several subjects, including economics, social studies, foreign languages, and game theory. Six years later, however, these studies had given Kaiba the skills and knowledge to acquire less than Gozaburo's half of the company shares, but Mokuba gave Seto his percent, giving Seto KaibaCorp's shares, seizing control of the company and ousting his stepfather. Immediately after this, Gozaburo committed suicide by throwing himself out a window. In the American version, he uploaded his mind to a type of KaibaCorp software where he temporarily lived in cyberspace. These events take place six months before the events of the manga.


[edit] Personality
Kaiba is arrogant and self-centered, with little time for anyone beyond himself and his younger brother Mokuba, making him a typical anti-hero. He is dismissive in his manner of speech, represented in the original Japanese version of the series by his omission of honorifics, and his use of the boastful word ore to mean "I" instead of the usual boku.

Although magical powers and items are often employed in the series, as a rational man, Kaiba does not believe in such things, and, when necessary, convinces himself that it is all tricks and illusion. Although this trend had a tendency to be exaggerated in the English version of the series, it is present in both language versions of the anime and manga. Eventually he grudgingly comes to accept that there is little other explanation for the bizarre, fantastical events he witnesses throughout the series. In a similar vein, Kaiba is shown to have an affinity for machines and as such manufactures several holographic devices for Duel Monsters, and as suggested by Tea Gardner in the English dubbed anime, this may be the cause of his misanthropy.

Kaiba changes in personality from the second season of the second series anime onwards. In the first season, Kaiba acknowledges Pegasus' ability to read minds, as well as the "Heart of the Cards". Although he does not like Yugi and Joey, he does not act outright hostile towards them, except during the first episode. However, in the second season, his acceptance of faith and magic vanishes and, in the English anime, he adopts the habit of saying that it's "hocus-pocus nonsense". His desire to defeat Yugi also grows from a grudge to an obsession, and Kaiba shows an outright disregard for the safety of Yugi and his friends. Despite this, he still often helps them with defeating the villains they face, usually claiming that Yugi or one of his friends helped him and he thus owes them, or that the villain's desires are in direct conflict with his own interests.

Mokuba Kaiba (海馬 モクバ ,Kaiba Mokuba?) is Seto Kaiba's younger brother.

In the manga, Mokuba is characterized as a spoiled brat, always trying to trick Yugi Mutou to get back at him for defeating his older brother. In the first series of the manga Mokuba tries to defeat Yugi before Kaiba has a chance and challenges Katsuya Jonouchi and Yugi to a Roulette of Death and poisons Jonouchi. Yugi eventually wins and saves Jonouchi. Mokuba is another good game player who specializes in video games and Capsule Monster Chess ("Capmon"), but is not as good of a gamer as his brother. He is so committed to avenging his brother's humiliation that he sometimes resorts to extreme measures, such as having his friends brandish an Uzi, a knife, and a stun gun in one manga chapter to coerce Yugi to play "Capmon" with him. In the second series of the anime, Mokuba is eternally devoted to his brother Seto Kaiba and is constantly by his side. He is not as violent as his manga counterpart, and is not committed to avenge Seto's defeat.

In the anime, at a young age, Mokuba and Seto are orphaned (their actual surnames unknown). Seto's mother dies when Mokuba is born, and their father dies in an accident when Seto is eight. Their relatives use up their inheritance and leave them at the orphanage. When the head of Kaiba Corporation, Gozaburo Kaiba, arrives at the orphanage to perform a publicity stunt, Seto sees the chance to challenge him to a game of chess, with Gozaburo forced to adopt Seto and Mokuba should he win. Mokuba was five at the time, while Seto is ten in the manga and Japanese anime, and twelve in the English anime. Seto wins, and Gozaburo is forced to adopt them. Mokuba plays a vital role in Seto's later bid to take over the company, possessing the vital 2% of the company that Seto uses to vote Gozaburo out of power.

In the second series anime, Mokuba is entrusted with Kaiba Corp when Seto goes away on a journey, and is kidnapped by Pegasus as part of a plot to take over the company. Mokuba escapes and briefly attempts to sabotage Yugi's efforts to confront Pegasus in revenge before being recaptured. He is eventually rescued when Yugi defeats Pegasus. Mokuba spends Battle City and the KC Grand Championship as an enforcer of security and rules while Seto is otherwise busy. In the third season, he is kidnapped by Noah, who brainwashes him to hate Seto, and later captures his body for his own uses.