History Characters / Yugioh5Ds

* BadassBiker: Most D-Wheelers qualify.

* OutOfFocus: Many characters, whether DemotedToExtra or suffering from ChuckCunninghamSyndrome.

* RippleEffectProofMemory: The Signers and Team Ragnarok.

* HotTeacher: Maria, full stop.

* {{Dark Skinned Blond}}e: Patty.

The page has been split up into subpages as with other Yu-Gi-Oh! anime due to [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters having a plethora of named characters]].

The page has been split up into subpages as with other Yu-Gi-Oh! anime due to [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters having a plethora of named characters]]. Some subpages probably [[Administrivia/NeedsWikiMagicLove need wiki love]], especially regarding descriptions.

The pages has been split up into subpages as with other Yu-Gi-Oh! anime due to [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters having a plethora of named characters]]. Some subpages probably [[Administrivia/NeedsWikiMagicLove need wiki love]], especially regarding descriptions.

The pages has been split up into subpages as with other Yu-Gi-Oh! anime due to LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters. Some subpages probably [[Administrivia/NeedsWikiMagicLove need wiki love]], especially regarding descriptions.

The pages has been split up into subpages as with other Yu-Gi-Oh! anime due to LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters. Some subpages probably [[Administrivia/NeedsWikiMagicLove need wiki love]], especially regarding organization descriptions.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Game Only]]
!!Surtr
----
%% * ArtificialHuman
* {{BFS}}: He has one as his Duel Disk.
%% * CoolShades
%% * FacialMarkings
%% * GoodHairEvilHair
* Myth/NorseMythology: He is named after the fire giant that will set the world ablaze at Ragnarok.
* TomatoInTheMirror: He was unaware that he was actually a Transer-type robot.
* TurnedAgainstTheirMasters: He attacks Odin after learning the truth about him, breaking Odin's armour, but is promptly destroyed.

!!Odin
----
* DemonicPossession: He initially possessed one of the scientists who were investigating Yggdrasil. When he committed suicide in an unsuccessful attempt to [[TakingYouWithMe take Odin with him]], Odin possessed his daughter, Alina. Judging from a line after Surtr breaks his armour, there might be a little more to the second case.
* TheFaceless: Until the end.
* ManipulativeBastard
* Myth/NorseMythology: He is named after the king of the Norse Gods.
* SamusIsAGirl: Odin is possessing the body of Alina, the daughter of one of the scientists investigating Yggdrasil.
%% * ShouldersOfDoom
* TakingYouWithMe: Odin attempts to bury the group with him at the bottom of the ocean after his loss.
* TinTyrant: Apparently the armour is meant to prevent Odin's soul from escaping. Whether it is a RestrainingBolt or a [[SoulJar Soul Anchor]] is unclear.

!!Transer ''(Transcender)''
----
%%* MechaMooks

!!Player (World Championship 2009)
----
* CloningBlues: It's implied that the player is a clone, but it's never made clear and is left to the audience to decide. Either way, there are ''four'' clones of the player that they have to take on.
* IAmWho: He/She is actually a fake signer created by Rex Godwin in an attempt to summon the Crimson Dragon. He succeeds... but the Crimson Dragon quickly dissipates.
%% * PurelyAestheticGender
* RefusedTheCall: At the conclusion of the Fortune Cup, the Crimson Dragon removes their fake Signer Mark, with the implication that this is what they wanted.
%% * TheVoiceless

!!Player (World Championship 2010)
----
* TheAce: Of Team Satisfaction. Kiryu even mentions that he/she would make a better leader than him.
* BrainwashedAndCrazy: From Chapter 1 to Chapter 4
* EleventhHourSuperpower: Gains his/her Mark of the Dragon before the final boss duel.

!!Player (World Championship 2011)
----
* TheAce: Of Team Future Speed (Or whatever other name you chose in game).
* EleventhHourRanger: Temporarily joins Team 5D's near the end of the game
* EleventhHourSuperpower: Before the final three duels, he/she gets three special cards: Ally of Justice Decisive Armor, Trident Dragion, and Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier.
* ParentalAbandonment: Later revealed that they both perished alongside Toru's parents on a D-Wheel accident.

!!Toru
----
* BoisterousBruiser
* ChildhoodFriends: With the player.
* DishingOutDirt: Uses a Scrap Deck
* HeartIsAnAwesomePower: Scrap monsters seem to have terrible effects that involve destroying themselves. Seemingly useless, but it helps the Scraps greatly out if used correctly.
* TheLancer
* ParentalAbandonment: Later revealed that they both perished alongside the player's parents on a D-Wheel accident.

!!Misaki
----
* AbortedArc: She tells the main character to evolve their Synchro Summoning, alluding to Accel Synchro and Bruno's role in the anime. This doesn't actually lead up to anything in the story and is dropped entirely.
%%* DeadpanSnarker: Has her moments.
%%* DistaffCounterpart: Of Bruno.
* KillerRabbit: Her Watt monsters are very cute, cartoonish animals that are all out to get you. Averted with her boss monsters, though: Wattchimera and Watthydra are very fierce-looking.
* PerpetualFrowner
* ShockAndAwe: Uses a Watt Deck.
* ShoutOut: Like Bruno/Dark Glass, one to Kamen Rider.
* SugarAndIcePersonality
* {{Tsundere}}: Mostly to Toru
* WeakButSkilled: Her Watt deck. Her monsters are weak, but can lock down your opponent's field. This is used to show how strategic and strong Misaki is.
* WhenSheSmiles
* WrenchWench: Like Bruno, she's good with machines.
* YouGottaHaveBlueHair

!!Klaus
----
* MakingASplash: He plays with a Cloudian deck.
* OurAngelsAreDifferent: Cloudians are Fairy-types.
* ParentalSubstitute

[[folder:Manga Only]]
!!Sect Injuin

* BerserkButton: Looking down on him. It's played for laughs, but horribly subverted later as it ends up being the crux of his corruption.
* BigCreepyCrawlies: Runs an Insect deck.
* BrainwashedAndCrazy: From the Card of Darkness the Skeleton Knight gave him.
* DrunkOnTheDarkSide: Due to Beelze's influence.
* EvilCostumeSwitch: Once Sect joins the Skeleton Knight, he trades in his biker outfit for some sweet looking medieval armor.
* HiddenDepths: A twofold case, both positive and negative. While derided as Satellite's weakest duelist, he notably got better over time ''and'' it's revealed his friendly personality caused Yusei to have a JerkassRealization that led to the Satellite dueling community becoming far more accepting and friendly with one another. On the negative side however, he ended up accumulating a rather large amount of legitimate frustration with his losses and the resulting teasing, which ended up being how Beelze got its hooks into him.
* ItsAllAboutMe: While DrunkOnTheDarkSide to ridiculous levels. To reiterate, his entire motivation at that point is simply to be the best duelist for the sake of power, ignoring how this will awaken the Ultimate God, and thus likely kill everyone on the planet.
* '''{{Jerkass}}''': It's only while he's evil, but ''damn'', he's a massive prick at that point.
* MeaningfulName:
** His Card of Darkness, Demon King Dragon - Beelze, is named after Beelzebub, who is also known as the 'Lord of Flies'. Sect uses [[FridgeBrilliance Insect-Type monsters]].
** Also, since family names are placed before given names in Japan, Sect's name is Inju'''in Sect'''.
* NoSell: You can't destroy Beelze or Beelzeus. Period.
* TheRival: Yusei has declared him this, although Jack kinda lives more up to the role.
* SuperMode: For his Duel Dragon, Beelze: Demon King Super-Dragon Beelzus.
* TookALevelInBadass: After gaining Beelze, and in the first chapter he'd come a long way from the fellow that we later see in the flashbacks. Even after being freed, he's still capable of the advanced Sense techniques he developed while under its influence.

!!The Skeleton Knight

* AdaptationalHeroism: Rudger was, for all intents and purposes, an insane DiscOneFinalBoss obsessed with the cycle of destiny in the anime after Uru brainwashed him. While he puts up a malevolent front in the manga, he's far more respectful to his opponents should they prove themselves, ''didn't'' get possessed in the backstory, doesn't display any of the ranting psychosis of his anime counterpart, and urges Yusei to save Rex from the darkness of the Ultimate God.
* AffablyEvil: He's not above complimenting his opponents, and he's sincere when he does so.
* AntiVillain: All he wants to do is save his brother from the Ultimate God.
* BigBad: Apparently. Later usurped by his brother.
* CanonCharacterAllAlong: He at first seems to be a CanonForeigner created for the manga, but he's later revealed to be the manga version of Rudger Goodwin, Rex's brother.
* DealWithTheDevil: Duelists can call upon him to obtain powerful cards, but those Cards of Darkness corrupt them into his service.
* EvilCounterpart: His ace monster, Underworld Dragon Dragonecro, specializes in creating these of any monster it battles. Its evolved form, Dragococytus, could also be seen as one to Ascension Sky Dragon...[[SubvertedTrope if Ascension]] wasn't [[LightIsNotGood evil itself.]]
* HellishHorse: Skeleton Knight rides a skeletal one in place of a D-Wheel.
* {{Irony}}: Duelists make Deals With the Devil with him. He became said Devil in attempting to make one with the Ultimate God himself.
* MyHorseIsAMotorbike: Inverted, as he uses a horse instead of a D-Wheel.
* NoSell: A somewhat unusual example with Underworld Dragon Dragonecro, which cannot destroy monsters in battle, and in fact renders them immune. Played straight with its SuperMode form, Dragocutos, which can't be destroyed in battle.
* TheReveal: The Skeleton Knight is actually Rudger Godwin.
* SuperMode: For his Duel Dragon, Dragonecro: Dragocutos, the Impure Underworld Dragon.
* UrbanLegend: His sunset salute, said to grant rare cards.

!!Priests of Light

* InTheHood: One of them wears one that covers his face. It is later revealed that he looks like Yusei.
* IdenticalStranger: They all look like Yusei and his friends.
* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: They're, for all intents and purposes, the manga version of the Signers.

!!Dark Crow Hogan

* MirrorMatch: Uses the same cards and strategies like Crow does.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: The last time he was seen, Dark Crow had just summoned his duel dragon and was facing Crow. The next time Crow appears he's holding the duel dragon card, which implies that Dark Crow was defeated off-screen.

!!The Ultimate God

* AdaptationalVillainy: As the Crimson Dragon of the manga.
* AsLongAsThereIsEvil: As it's about to be destroyed it warns Yusei it was born from the actions of humanity and as long as humans desire power it will always be revived.
* EldritchAbomination: Sealed Evil in a Can? Check. Corrupts anything that comes close to it? ''Check''. Has a true form that is more powerful and hideous than the last one? '''Check'''.
* {{Expy}}: Its original form resembles Obelisk the Tormentor. Its true form looks like the Crimson Dragon.
* {{Foil}}: It's one to Utopic Future in the OCG/TCG. Both have a level/rank of 0 and possess an attack and defense of 0. Both have effects that work the opposite of each other and both are used by a hero and villain in the final battle of their respective series.
* FusionDance: Merges with Rex Godwin to become Ultimitl Bishbalkin the Ultimate Legendary God.
* IdenticalStranger: People who gotten the Ultimaya Tzolkin card might confuse it with the Crimson Dragon itself.
* MyHeroZero: While not a hero it is the first level zero monster to appear and possesses an ATK and DEF of 0.
* SealedEvilInACan: It was sealed in a monstrous statue 5000 years ago.

!!Ish Kiq Godwin

* BackFromTheDead: Revived by the Ultimate God which leads to...
* CameBackWrong: Was corrupted by Shadow Miasma.
* FanDisservice: A shot of her corpse is shown in the present.
* MsFanservice: In her ceremonial outfit.
* LivingBattery: Or Unliving Battery in this case. Her corpse was being used to harness the Ultimate God's Miasma.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Game Only]]
!!Surtr

%% * ArtificialHuman
* {{BFS}}: He has one as his Duel Disk.
%% * CoolShades
%% * FacialMarkings
%% * GoodHairEvilHair
* Myth/NorseMythology: He is named after the fire giant that will set the world ablaze at Ragnarok.
* TomatoInTheMirror: He was unaware that he was actually a Transer-type robot.
* TurnedAgainstTheirMasters: He attacks Odin after learning the truth about him, breaking Odin's armour, but is promptly destroyed.

!!Odin

* DemonicPossession: He initially possessed one of the scientists who were investigating Yggdrasil. When he committed suicide in an unsuccessful attempt to [[TakingYouWithMe take Odin with him]], Odin possessed his daughter, Alina. Judging from a line after Surtr breaks his armour, there might be a little more to the second case.
* TheFaceless: Until the end.
* ManipulativeBastard
* Myth/NorseMythology: He is named after the king of the Norse Gods.
* SamusIsAGirl: Odin is possessing the body of Alina, the daughter of one of the scientists investigating Yggdrasil.
%% * ShouldersOfDoom
* TakingYouWithMe: Odin attempts to bury the group with him at the bottom of the ocean after his loss.
* TinTyrant: Apparently the armour is meant to prevent Odin's soul from escaping. Whether it is a RestrainingBolt or a [[SoulJar Soul Anchor]] is unclear.

!!Transer ''(Transcender)''

%%* MechaMooks

!!Player (World Championship 2009)
----
* CloningBlues: It's implied that the player is a clone, but it's never made clear and is left to the audience to decide. Either way, there are ''four'' clones of the player that they have to take on.
* IAmWho: He/She is actually a fake signer created by Rex Godwin in an attempt to summon the Crimson Dragon. He succeeds... but the Crimson Dragon quickly dissipates.
%% * PurelyAestheticGender
* RefusedTheCall: At the conclusion of the Fortune Cup, the Crimson Dragon removes their fake Signer Mark, with the implication that this is what they wanted.
%% * TheVoiceless

!!Player (World Championship 2010)
----
* TheAce: Of Team Satisfaction. Kiryu even mentions that he/she would make a better leader than him.
* BrainwashedAndCrazy: From Chapter 1 to Chapter 4
* EleventhHourSuperpower: Gains his/her Mark of the Dragon before the final boss duel.

!!Player (World Championship 2011)
----
* TheAce: Of Team Future Speed (Or whatever other name you chose in game).
* EleventhHourRanger: Temporarily joins Team 5D's near the end of the game
* EleventhHourSuperpower: Before the final three duels, he/she gets three special cards: Ally of Justice Decisive Armor, Trident Dragion, and Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier.
* ParentalAbandonment: Later revealed that they both perished alongside Toru's parents on a D-Wheel accident.

!!Toru
----
* BoisterousBruiser
* ChildhoodFriends: With the player.
* DishingOutDirt: Uses a Scrap Deck
* HeartIsAnAwesomePower: Scrap monsters seem to have terrible effects that involve destroying themselves. Seemingly useless, but it helps the Scraps greatly out if used correctly.
* TheLancer
* ParentalAbandonment: Later revealed that they both perished alongside the player's parents on a D-Wheel accident.

!!Misaki
----
* AbortedArc: She tells the main character to evolve their Synchro Summoning, alluding to Accel Synchro and Bruno's role in the anime. This doesn't actually lead up to anything in the story and is dropped entirely.
%%* DeadpanSnarker: Has her moments.
%%* DistaffCounterpart: Of Bruno.
* KillerRabbit: Her Watt monsters are very cute, cartoonish animals that are all out to get you. Averted with her boss monsters, though: Wattchimera and Watthydra are very fierce-looking.
* PerpetualFrowner
* ShockAndAwe: Uses a Watt Deck.
* ShoutOut: Like Bruno/Dark Glass, one to Kamen Rider.
* SugarAndIcePersonality
* {{Tsundere}}: Mostly to Toru
* WeakButSkilled: Her Watt deck. Her monsters are weak, but can lock down your opponent's field. This is used to show how strategic and strong Misaki is.
* WhenSheSmiles
* WrenchWench: Like Bruno, she's good with machines.
* YouGottaHaveBlueHair

!!Klaus
----

[[folder:Spirits and Monsters]]
!!Crimson Dragon
[[quoteright:350: https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Crimson_dragon1_7226.jpg]]

The embodiment of the Red Star worshiped by the People of the Stars 5000 years ago. After sealing the Jibakushin within the Nazca Lines, its power was divided into 5 separate pieces and infused as Dragon's Birthmarks into the 5 individuals known as Signers. The 5 Dragons who protect the Signers are its servants.

A sixth birthmark later appears as the Crimson Dragon's "heart", and is given to Lua alongside a 6th Signer Dragon, the Life Stream Dragon. At the very end of the series, once Neo Domino City is permanently at peace, the Crimson Dragon takes back the six birthmarks and disappears, its duties having been fulfilled.
-----
* AllYourPowersCombined:
** When a Signer is fighting with great determination the Dragon's Birthmarks can unite onto their back, forming the Full Dragon's Birthmark and allowing them to draw [[DeusExMachina Savior Dragon.]] Godwin later turns this on them when he gets the Dragon Head.
** Again with Shooting Quasar Dragon. It's summoned using all of the Synchro Monsters except Stardust Dragon as Synchro Material (although it is an evolution of Stardust Dragon anyway), its [[http://images.wikia.com/yugioh/images/9/96/ShootingQuasarDragonMG03-JP-UR.jpg card artwork]] features tuning rings the same colors as all the Signer Dragons, and as noted [[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Card_Trivia:Shooting_Quasar_Dragon here,]] it has effects somewhat reminiscent of all the Signer Dragons.
* BecauseDestinySaysSo: The Signers having to come together and face the Dark Signers and Earthbound Gods every 5000 years.
%%* BigGood: Indeed.
* ChekhovsGun: Life Stream Dragon, appearing to Lua as the final Signer Dragon ''over two years'' after it initially cameoed in the second ED, ''Cross Game'', and again in Luca's vision in Episode 30.
* ChekhovsSkill: Doubles with ChekhovsGun above. At first, Lua's Life Stream Dragon being a Synchro Tuner monster and having the effect to manipulate the levels of other monsters on the field (in the anime) seems fairly random and a waste. However, after Lua lends it to Yusei for the final battle with [[BigBad Z-One]], Yusei tunes it to all the other Signer Dragons (minus Stardust Dragon) to Synchro Summon [[AllYourPowersCombined Shooting Quasar Dragon.]]
* DeusExMachina: Savior Dragon and the Synchro Monsters it summons, Savior Star Dragon and Savior Demons' Dragon. Aside from the two Synchro monsters being incredibly powerful (although the real life card game {{Nerf}}s them to a degree), Savior Dragon only appears after the Crimson Dragon adds it on top a Signer (in this case Yusei and Jack's) decks. This means that Yusei and Jack are battling using a card ''not even in their decks.''
** AwesomeButImpractical: The Savior Dragons revert back to their original forms at the end of the turn, making them unfavorable in the actual card game. This comes up In-Universe where Yusei is aware that he cannot use Savior Star Dragon because Placido's setup makes it useless and would cause Stardust to get absorbed.
* ElementalPowers: The Signer Dragons and their attributes.
** BlowYouAway: Yusei's Stardust Dragon
** CastingAShadow: Jack's Red Demons' Dragon, and Crow's Blackfeather Dragon.
** DishingOutDirt: Lua's Life Stream Dragon
** LightEmUp: Luca's Ancient Fairy Dragon
** PlayingWithFire: Aki's Black Rose Dragon
** MakingASplash: The only attribute not represented by a Signer Dragon.
* EverythingsBetterWithSparkles: The Savior Dragons, again.
* EvilCounterpart: The manga versions of Ancient Fairy and Power Tool look to be these. The Crimson Dragon gains one in Ultimaya Tzolkin.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: The Crimson Dragon showed the Signers a vision of Satellite being engulfed by the flames of the Spider Geoglyph.
* {{God}}: The Yu-Gi-Oh version of Quetzalcoatl to be precise. Its level of power is shown to be even stronger than the gods of the previous ''Yu-Gi-Oh!'' franchise, especially in the 10th anniversary movie, where the Crimson Dragon is the being that allows Yusei to travel back to Judai and Yugi's time periods.
* JesusTaboo: Because of this, the 'Savior' in the Savior Dragons is replaced with 'Majestic' in the TCG and in the English dub, and Savior Demons' Dragon being renamed Majestic Red Dragon. Also a lesser example, "Red Demons' Dragon" being re-named "Red Dragon Archfiend" like other Archfiend monsters.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: When Rex Godwin grafts the head birthmark onto himself with the intent of abusing its powers, the Crimson Dragon simply takes it away from him without the protagonists having to do a thing.
* TheMagicGoesAway: The birthmarks, at the very end of the series. The Crimson Dragon itself also leaves, its duties having been fulfilled.
* {{Mayincatec}}: The Crimson Devil's mini-arc states that the Crimson Dragon is actually Quetzalcoatl.
* OurDragonsAreDifferent: It's a gigantic red dragon that appears to be made of fire or light.

!!Earthbound Gods/Jibakushin ''(Earthbound Immortals)''
[[quoteright:350: https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/300pxEarthboundimmortallsearthboundgods1_408.jpg]]

Embodiments of evil sealed within the Nazca Lines by the Crimson Dragon and its servants. They were unleashed from the Underworld 17 years ago, after the Zero Reverse incident blew a hole between this world and theirs. They are the driving force behind the Dark Signers, and are as follows; Uru (Spider), Cusillu (Monkey), Ccapac Apu (Giant), Aslla piscu (Hummingbird), Ccarayhua (Lizard), Chacu Challhua (Killer Whale) and lastly Wiraqocha Rasca (Condor). Much like the 5 Dragons serve the Crimson Dragon, they serve the King of the Underworld (Meikai No Oh). There is another 'lost' Earthbound God, Scar-Red Nova, which was personally sealed by the Crimson Dragon 5000 years before the others, and was too violent for the Dark Signers to use. Its power was sealed by Jack to create Scar-Red Nova Dragon.
-----
* AchillesHeel: They're completely powerless without a Field Spell in play. Of course, when summoned in a Turbo Duel (as four of them were), this isn't an issue.
* AnimalMotifs: Most of them are based on animals.
** Uru is based on a spider.
** Aslla piscu vaguely resembles a hummingbird.
** Cusillu possesses the appearance of a monkey.
** Ccarayhua moderately resembles a reptile.
** Chacu Challhua looks like an orca.
** Wiraqocha Rasca is modeled after a condor.
* AttackOfThe50FootWhatever: They are ''absurdly'' large. Ccarayhua is about three-quarters to two-thirds the height of the Arcadia building.
* AwesomeButImpractical:
** Wiraqocha Rasca. It has 100 ATK and DEF and its effect is that when it's Normal Summoned, you can return up to three cards you control to your deck to have your opponent discard that many random cards from their hand and increase Wiraqocha Rasca's ATK by 1000 for each card discarded this way. Powerful, but it requires the player to have enough cards for both the Tribute Summoning and the effect and only works when Wiraqocha Rasca is Normal Summoned, so you can't use if you Special Summon Wiraqocha Rasca.
** Cusillu's unique effect is hard to use as well since it requires it to be destroyed by battle and for you to have another monster on the field. Since the Immortals cannot be targeted for an attack, you would have to let Cusillu attack a stronger monster on purpose just to use its effect when you could keep Cusillu on the field and keep attacking directly. Another way for it to happen would be for your opponent to negate Cusillu's effect and then attack it but that would require them letting you keep a monster on the field or using effects to make sure you still have a monster by the time Cusillu is destroyed.
* BeatStillMyHeart: When Earthbound Gods are summoned, a disembodied heart appears and starts beating as it absorbs people's souls.
* BreathWeapon: Wiraqocha Rasca, and the King of the Underworld.
* CherryTapping: Wiraqocha Rosca's 1 ATK, meant to compliment [[HPToOne its key anime effect]].
* DarkIsEvil: {{Kaiju}} sized [[EldritchAbomination embodiments]] [[MadeOfEvil of evil]] who are pitch black aside from the colored lines on them.
* DemonicPossession: They will do this if they are not happy with their Dark Signer.
* EarlyBirdCameo: They are first seen in episode 30 covered by a dark fog. Despite this you can make out which is which by their colored highlights. Also the condor geoglyph can be seen as well.
* EldritchAbomination: ''All'' of them are ginormous embodiments of evil that eat souls en masse just by being summoned. They also have effects that bend numerous rules of the game to make themselves nearly unassailable.
* EvilIsBigger: These things are {{Kaiju}}-sized in the anime and dwarf all of the Signer Dragons.
* EvilIsNotAToy: Dark Signers cut deals with Earthbound Gods upon death for whatever reason. If they start to have any second thoughts the Earthbound Gods will pull a VillainOverride on them. Once a deal is made they will, willingly or not, continue to serve the Earthbound Gods until death.
* EverythingsEvenWorseWithSharks: Chacu Challhua is a killer whale, but looks and moves in a shark like manner as well.
* [[EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys Everything's Worse With Monkeys]]: Cusillu.
* GenericDoomsdayVillain: They don't get any dialogue. They exist as embodiments of evil that must be defeated. Luckily the Dark Signers get enough characterization to make up for it.
* GiantEyeOfDoom: Ccarayhua, to the point of obscuring an entire full-floor window.
* GiantFlyer: Aslla piscu and Wiraqocha Rasca.
* GiantSpider: Uru.
* GodOfEvil: They are called Earthbound '''Gods''' in the Japanese variation.
* GreaterScopeVillain: The King of the Underworld is built up to be this until it is revealed that [[BigBad Rex Goodwin]] was using it the whole time.
* HPToOne: Wiraqocha Rasca's anime effect.
* {{Kaiju}}: They're an interesting variation - they cause plenty of destruction, but it's their geoglyphs rather than the monsters themselves most of the time.
* KnightOfCerebus: Any time an Earthbound God is summoned in a duel it's sign things will get bad. Unlike monsters made real in duels from the previous shows, being on the wrong end of an attack by Earthbound God will actually kill you. If someone tries to reason with a Dark Signer, the Earthbound Gods will pull a VillainOverride in order to make them keep fighting.
* MadeOfEvil: According to Bruno, they were manifested from the evil in people's hearts.
* {{Mayincatec}}: They are all based on Nazca Lines.
* MeaningfulName: Not only are their status as "Earthbound Gods/Immortals" references to their imprisonment in the Nazca Lines by the Crimson Dragon, but their individual names have rough definitions in the Quechua language[[note]]The Quechua language is spoken by people from the Peruvian Andes, and the Nazca Lines are located in Peru.[[/note]] (e.g. "Ccapac Apu" is derived from the Quechua words "Qhapaq", which can mean "King" or "mighty", and "Apu", powerful mountain spirits in Inca mythology).
* AMillionIsAStatistic: Earthbound Gods' sacrifices require the souls of other people.
* NobleBirdOfPrey: Wiraqocha Rasca, particularly as it's the most powerful of the seven.
* NoPronunciationGuide: The Earthbound Gods' names are in Quechuan, meaning that typical English pronunciation rules need not apply. Ccapac Apu and Ccarayhua in particular can throw viewers for a loop, as the double "C"s in their names are pronounced separately.
* OhCrap: Prominent when they are summoned.
* OlympusMons: They're utterly enormous monsters, in case you haven't figured it out yet.
* OurDragonsAreDifferent: The King of the Underworld, which appears as an EvilCounterpart to Life Stream Dragon. [[FridgeBrilliance It represents Death, while Life Stream represents Life.]]
* OurGiantsAreBigger: Ccapac Apu is a giant. Though it's not any bigger than the other Earthbound Gods.
* SealedEvilInACan: Old Momentum being the can-opener and the Nazca Lines, of all things, being the can.
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: No, that's not a typo, Aslla piscu really is spelt with a lowercase "p".
* TakingYouWithMe: In a flashback which Luca experiences as a dream, when the Earthbound Gods are destroyed by the Signer Dragons, the disembodied head of Uru uses its web strands to drag Ancient Fairy Dragon into the Nazca Lines causing her to be sealed alongside the Earthbound Gods.
* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: Boy howdy. Firstly, when they debuted they were the biggest monsters in the franchise bar the Great Leviathan. Then there's their effects. Immunity to Spells and Traps are the norm for boss monsters in the franchise, but immunity to attacks and being able to flat-out direct attack is something else. Let's not even start around the brutal effect of Aslla piscu, which not only nukes the field, but also burns the opponent.

!!Machine Emperors/Kikoutei ''(Meklord Emperors)''
[[quoteright:350: https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Infinity31_3068.jpg]]

A series of monsters used by the Three Emperors of Yliaster. They are: Machine Emperor Wisel, owned by Placido; Machine Emperor Skiel, owned by Lucciano; and Machine Emperor Granel, owned by Jose. Arriving on Earth one at a time via stone tablets, they have the ability to absorb Synchro monsters - and since most people in the series use them, this is a bit of a problem for anyone facing them. There is a fourth Machine Emperor, Aporia's, called Machine Divine Emperor Machinicle Infinity Cubic. Related are the three Machine Imperial Soldiers and Machine Emperor Dragon Asterisk. During the WRGP final, it is shown that an army of Machine Emperors attacked humanity at the height of its development, before Momentum went out of control and destroyed the world.
-----
* AntiMagic: Their deck style is against the use of Synchro monsters, culminating in their signature emperors. Although it's less "killer" and more like "absorb them into their monsters". The first time Yusei encounters them, he has nightmares about Wisel until gaining Accel Synchro, which basically teleports them before they can be snagged. Of course, Granel and Machinicle can counteract that too.
** Wisel itself can negate Spell effects.
* TheAssimilator: All of them can absorb Synchro monsters.
* CognizantLimbs: Each Meklord Emperor card only represents the machine's central core, with its limbs, base, and head all represented by separate monsters that can be destroyed separately.
* CombiningMecha: Each one is made up of 5 separate components with effects that support one another, and can be replaced or upgraded to make the Kikoutei more powerful, though only Placido used parts from another Emperor on his own.
* CyberCyclops: While some of them are more questionable cases, Granel & Infinity Cubic are definitely this.
* TheDreaded: Before Yusei got Shooting Star Dragon, he was ''terrified'' of them for their ability.
* EEqualsMCHammer: The fourth Emperor is called ''Infinity Cubic''. How one cubes infinity is anyone's guess.
* EverythingsBetterWithSparkles: Wisel has a pair of boosters on its upper legs that emit a trail of sparkles.
* FeatheredFiend: Skiel, which vaguely resembles some sort of winged creature.
* GaiasVengeance: They were created by Momentum to eliminate the cause of the system's instability, which was due to the human race becoming greedy, apathetic, and conceited with progress.
* GreaterScopeVillain: Ultimately, they can be considered this for ''5Ds'' as a whole, being responsible for the cataclysmic event that started Z-one's whole scheme.
* HumongousMecha:
** While Machine Emperors Wisel and Skiel aren't ''that'' humongous, Jose's Emperor, Granel, certainly is.
** And then there's the gigantic monstrosity that is Machinicle Infinity Cubic. [[http://static3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110116010337/yugioh/images/1/15/5Dx143_More_Machine_Imperials.jpg Look at its size compared to Machine Imperial Soldier Skiel Ein]].
* KillerRobot: They effectively wiped out humanity in the BadFuture.
* KnightOfCerebus: All of the Meklords are handled incredibly seriously, what with being TheDreaded and their terrifying presence. Granel in particular deserves special mention thanks to being directly responsible for at two of the biggest despairs in Aporia's past, and partially responsible for the third.
* ManofKryptonite: Designed to kill Synchro Monsters.

** Infinity Cubic attacks by shooting a stream of small energy cubes. Its attack is also called "The Cube of Despair".
** Machine Emperor Dragon Asterisk has an asterisk on its head.
* MechanicalMonster: Good lord, ''yes.''
* NumerologicalMotif: They all have an infinity sign on their chest.
* OddNameOut: Infinity Cubic and Asterisk.
* OurDragonsAreDifferent: Asterisk looks more like an eastern dragon then the western dragons most dragon-type monster card resemble. Then again, it's a machine-type, not a dragon-type.
* PlotBasedPhotographObfuscation: All of them appear in the opening credits, but until they have actually appeared in the show, they are mostly hidden by shadow.
* ShoutOut: The tablets that they arrive in are similar to the monolith from ''2001: A Space Odyssey''. Not to mention the Ka Tablets from the ''[[Anime/YuGiOh original show.]]''
* YouWillNotEvadeMe: Unlike Wisel and Skiel, Jose's Granel has the ability to prevent Synchros that it attacks from removing themselves from the field, as Jack found out rather painfully. Adding more is that it can drag out the Synchro from the Graveyard into its body.

!!Duel Dragons
A series of Dragon Synchro Monsters that appear only in the manga. Six of them are dark versions of the Signer Dragons — in fact, the Signer Dragons appear in the manga in alternate forms as Duel Dragons. They were used in ancient Turbo Duel rituals to seal darkness, or so Rex Godwin claims. In actuality they were worshippers of the Ultimate God, Ultimaya Tzolkin, the manga's equivalent to the Crimson Dragon. Rex Godwin intends to use the Duel Dragons to revive the God and claim its power.

* AdaptedOut: Oddly enough, there never was a Duel Dragon counterpart to Life Stream Dragon.
* AdaptationalVillainy: In the anime, the Signer Dragons and the Crimson Dragon are benevolent. In the manga, the Duel Dragons are tools of evil and the Crimson Dragon is re-imagined as Ultimaya Tzolkin, the GreaterScopeVillain of the manga.
* BigCreepyCrawlies: Beelze.
* BlackEyesOfCrazy: When a Duelist is completely controlled by them.
* CastingAShadow: All of them except Stardust, Black Rose, and Dragoascension.
* DarkIsEvil: Even the Signer Dragon counterparts look much darker and more ominous compared to the anime, with the exceptions of Stardust, Dragoascension, and Black Rose.
* DarkIsNotEvil: Blackfeather Darkrage Dragon after Crow obtains it.
* DemonicPossession: They can do this to the Duelists that use them.
* DrunkOnTheDarkSide: Tends to happen to those possessed by their Duel Dragon.
* DubNameChange: All of the Duel Dragons names have been changed in the English manga and TCG:
** Machine Dragon - Power Tool > Power Tool Mecha Dragon
** Fairy Dragon - Ancient > Ancient Pixie Dragon
** Burning Demon Dragon - Red Demon > Hot Red Dragon Archfiend
** Flashing Karat Dragon - Stardust > Stardust Spark Dragon
** Demon King Dragon - Beezle > Beelze of the Diabolic Dragons
** Purgatory Dragon - Ogre Dragoon > Void Ogre Dragon
** Mysterious Winged Dragon - Black Feather > Blackfeather Darkrage Dragon
** Underworld Dragon Dragonecro > Dragonecro Nethersoul Dragon
** Dragoascension, the Supreme Dragon of the Heavens > Ascension Sky Dragon
** Moon Flower Dragon - Black Rose > Black Rose Moonlight Dragon
** InconsistentDub: Between Volumes 3 and 4, Power Tool has gone from Power Tool Mecha Dragon to Machine Dragon Power Tool, and Red Demon from Enma Dragon Red Demon to Jeweled Red Dragon Archfiend.
* EvilCounterpart: Meta-wise, they are this to the Signer Dragons, as plot-important Synchro Dragons. But where the Signer Dragons are good, the Duel Dragons are evil.
* {{Expy}}: Six of the Duel Dragons shown look exactly like the Signer Dragons, but with strange markings on their bodies. They also play a similar role to the Signer Dragons.
** Stardust is revealed to be a Synchro Tuner monster just like Life Stream Dragon.
** Stardust Sifr in appearance is very similar to Shooting Star Dragon though it has six wings instead of two. Also the way it is summoned is very similar to Shooting Quaser Dragon.
* LightIsGood: Stardust Spark and Moonlight Dragon Black Rose.
* LightIsNotGood: Dragoascension.
* PersonOfMassDestruction: Red Demon can destroy every single other Attack Position Monster in play with just its effect.
* ShoutOut: Dragoascension has Osiris the Sky Dragon's signature effect.
* SuperMode: ''Demon King Super Dragon - Beelzeus'' for Beelze, ''Dragococytus the Impure Underworld Dragon'' for Dragonecro, ''Holy Spark Dragon God - Stardust Sifr'' and ''Stardust Chronicle Spark Dragon'' for Stardust and ''Burning Demon Dragon - Red Demon Abyss'', ''Burning Demon Dragon - Red Demon Belial'', and ''Burning Demon Dragon King - Red Demon Calamity'' for Red Demon.

!Other

* ManiacMonkeys: Zeman.
* OlderThanTheyLook: Torunka due to the Minus Curse de-aging him. He's actually the Dark Sage monster.
[[/folder]]


[[folder:Manga Only]]
!!Sect Injuin

* BerserkButton: Looking down on him. It's played for laughs, but horribly subverted later as it ends up being the crux of his corruption.
* BigCreepyCrawlies: Runs an Insect deck.
* BrainwashedAndCrazy: From the Card of Darkness the Skeleton Knight gave him.
* DrunkOnTheDarkSide: Due to Beelze's influence.
* EvilCostumeSwitch: Once Sect joins the Skeleton Knight, he trades in his biker outfit for some sweet looking medieval armor.
* HiddenDepths: A twofold case, both positive and negative. While derided as Satellite's weakest duelist, he notably got better over time ''and'' it's revealed his friendly personality caused Yusei to have a JerkassRealization that led to the Satellite dueling community becoming far more accepting and friendly with one another. On the negative side however, he ended up accumulating a rather large amount of legitimate frustration with his losses and the resulting teasing, which ended up being how Beelze got its hooks into him.
* ItsAllAboutMe: While DrunkOnTheDarkSide to ridiculous levels. To reiterate, his entire motivation at that point is simply to be the best duelist for the sake of power, ignoring how this will awaken the Ultimate God, and thus likely kill everyone on the planet.
* '''{{Jerkass}}''': It's only while he's evil, but ''damn'', he's a massive prick at that point.
* MeaningfulName:
** His Card of Darkness, Demon King Dragon - Beelze, is named after Beelzebub, who is also known as the 'Lord of Flies'. Sect uses [[FridgeBrilliance Insect-Type monsters]].
** Also, since family names are placed before given names in Japan, Sect's name is Inju'''in Sect'''.
* NoSell: You can't destroy Beelze or Beelzeus. Period.
* TheRival: Yusei has declared him this, although Jack kinda lives more up to the role.
* SuperMode: For his Duel Dragon, Beelze: Demon King Super-Dragon Beelzus.
* TookALevelInBadass: After gaining Beelze, and in the first chapter he'd come a long way from the fellow that we later see in the flashbacks. Even after being freed, he's still capable of the advanced Sense techniques he developed while under its influence.

!!The Skeleton Knight

* AdaptationalHeroism: Rudger was, for all intents and purposes, an insane DiscOneFinalBoss obsessed with the cycle of destiny in the anime after Uru brainwashed him. While he puts up a malevolent front in the manga, he's far more respectful to his opponents should they prove themselves, ''didn't'' get possessed in the backstory, doesn't display any of the ranting psychosis of his anime counterpart, and urges Yusei to save Rex from the darkness of the Ultimate God.
* AffablyEvil: He's not above complimenting his opponents, and he's sincere when he does so.
* AntiVillain: All he wants to do is save his brother from the Ultimate God.
* BigBad: Apparently. Later usurped by his brother.
* CanonCharacterAllAlong: He at first seems to be a CanonForeigner created for the manga, but he's later revealed to be the manga version of Rudger Goodwin, Rex's brother.
* DealWithTheDevil: Duelists can call upon him to obtain powerful cards, but those Cards of Darkness corrupt them into his service.
* EvilCounterpart: His ace monster, Underworld Dragon Dragonecro, specializes in creating these of any monster it battles. Its evolved form, Dragococytus, could also be seen as one to Ascension Sky Dragon...[[SubvertedTrope if Ascension]] wasn't [[LightIsNotGood evil itself.]]
* HellishHorse: Skeleton Knight rides a skeletal one in place of a D-Wheel.
* {{Irony}}: Duelists make Deals With the Devil with him. He became said Devil in attempting to make one with the Ultimate God himself.
* MyHorseIsAMotorbike: Inverted, as he uses a horse instead of a D-Wheel.
* NoSell: A somewhat unusual example with Underworld Dragon Dragonecro, which cannot destroy monsters in battle, and in fact renders them immune. Played straight with its SuperMode form, Dragocutos, which can't be destroyed in battle.
* TheReveal: The Skeleton Knight is actually Rudger Godwin.
* SuperMode: For his Duel Dragon, Dragonecro: Dragocutos, the Impure Underworld Dragon.
* UrbanLegend: His sunset salute, said to grant rare cards.

!!Priests of Light

* InTheHood: One of them wears one that covers his face. It is later revealed that he looks like Yusei.
* IdenticalStranger: They all look like Yusei and his friends.
* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: They're, for all intents and purposes, the manga version of the Signers.

!!Dark Crow Hogan
----
* MirrorMatch: Uses the same cards and strategies like Crow does.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: The last time he was seen, Dark Crow had just summoned his duel dragon and was facing Crow. The next time Crow appears he's holding the duel dragon card, which implies that Dark Crow was defeated off-screen.

!!The Ultimate God
----

[[folder:Yliaster]]

!!Ghost
->'''First Ghost Voiced by:''' Masahito Kawanago (Japanese), Creator/JasonGriffith (English)

A mysterious duelist who has been infecting and destroying D-Wheels. It's actually a prototype 'Riding Roid' which was developed by Security to assist in tackling D-Wheel related crimes. Unfortunately it was purloined by Placido, who wanted to give his new cards a test drive, and programmed to hunt down any D-Wheelers holding Synchro monsters. Placido later uses Yusei's engine program to upgrade an army of Riding Roids similar to Ghost, the Diablos, which he later unleashes upon the D-Wheelers at the [=WRGP=] in attempt to complete the Circuit sooner.

The first Ghost uses Placido's deck. The Diablos use Ally of Justice decks.
----
* BaldOfEvil: As seen in ''Tag Force 5'', Ghost is bald underneath his helmet.
* DarkIsEvil: Ghost wears black, rides a black D-Wheel, and has a grey "skin".
* EvilLaugh: A rather creepy one thanks to its robotic voice.
* EvilSoundsDeep: Inverted. The first Ghost has a creepy high-pitched voice.
* GlowingEyesOfDoom: Justified, since the Ghosts are robots.
* GratuitousSpanish: "Diablo" is Spanish for 'Devil'.
* {{Irony}}: Ghost's programmed personality was designed to express a hate for Synchro monsters. Its successor, the Diablos, use Ally of Justice cards, an archetype whose strongest monsters are Synchros.
* MechaMooks: The Diablos are mass-produced Ghosts with the same evil personality.
* RoboticReveal: After Yusei makes it crash and the lads come to help, Crow touches its shoulder and its arm falls off.
* ZergRush: The Diablos force people into Free For All Duels and then swarm them with monsters.

!!Fake Jack Atlas
->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/TakanoriHoshino (Japanese), Creator/TedLewis (English)

A robot created by the three emperors who is disguised as Jack. His personality is based of the time when Jack was the King, but Fake Jack is much more ruthless. Fake Jack has his own Wheel of Fortune and has the same deck as Jack, with the only difference being that Fake Jack has three Red Dragon Archfiends. He commits several crimes on the highway and injures other D-Wheelers to hurt Jack's reputation, and to lure him out. Jack loses to him in their first match, but later he returns and destroys the imposter with Majestic Red Dragon.

He uses the same deck as the real Jack, but with three copies of Red Dragon Archfiend and no Majestic Dragon or Majestic Red Dragon
----
* BadassBiker: Pretty much the only thing to describe his impossible maneuvers.
* CarFu: What he does with his Wheel of Fortune.
* DarkIsEvil: He has the same color scheme as the real Jack, only darker.
* EvilKnockoff: To Jack. His personality is based off of Jack from Season 1. (Jack even gives him a lengthy WorldOfCardboardSpeech on that to boot.)
* EvilSoundsDeep: Inverted in the dub, where his voice is higher than the real Jack.
* ImposterForgotOneDetail: His deck contains ''multiple'' copies of Red Dragon Archfiend, which is impossible in-universe. This is what ultimately clears Jack.
* {{Jerkass}}: He's based off the old Jack after all.
* LargeHam: He is surprisingly a bit less hammy than the real Jack, but he's hammy enough to scare him.
* MirrorMatch: With Jack, of course.
* NonIndicativeName: His three Red Demon's Dragons are purple, blue, and yellow instead of red.
* RedEyesTakeWarning: Fake Jack has red eyes instead of purple.
* RoboticReveal: When his body is destroyed by Savior Demon Dragon.
* RuleOfThree: He has three Red Demon's Dragons, which might be a nod to Kaiba's three Blue-Eyes White Dragons. However, his Red Demon's Dragons have different colors.

!!The Three Emperors of Yliaster
[[quoteright:350: https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/300px-Yliaster_No_Sankotei1_9776.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[-From left to right: Lucciano, Jose and Placido.-] ]]

A mysterious trio from Yliaster who succeed Godwin as the Head of the Bureau, and the main antagonists of the third arc. Initially not much is known about them, but they apparently intend to use the power of the duelists competing in the WRGP to complete a "circuit" with which they can discover the 'location of god' and attain an even greater power. Their main goal, however, is to change the future by destroying Neo Domino City.

During Team 5D's confrontation with them in the W.R.G.P, it is revealed that they are, in fact, the same being divided into three, each of them representing a period of despair in the life of a man called Aporia.

* BigBadTriumvirate: Later deposed in favor of a single BigBad, their true form Aporia.
* BigThinShortTrio: Jose is big, Placido is thin, and Lucciano is short.
* ButForMeItWasTuesday: They have "erased" so many people throughout the years that they can't recall any specifics, such as Sherry's parents.
* DespairEventHorizon: Each of them represent the three different times Aporia crossed it.
** Lucciano represents the time when he lost his parents.
** Placido represents the time when he lost the one he loved.
** Jose represents the time when he was the only person left alive (actually one of the last four people alive), slowly driven mad by the loneliness.
** Subverted when Aporia loses to Yusei. He believes this to be his "fourth despair", but after losing to Jack, Lua, and Luca he realizes that what he's feeling isn't despair, but [[HopeSpringsEternal hope]].
* DubNameChange: They are called Primo (Placido), Lester (Lucciano), and Jakob (Jose) in the dub, disrupting the ThemeNaming the Japanese version employed ([[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Three_Tenors the Three Tenors]]).
* {{Expy}}: The trio are wearing white clothing with hoods, which makes them appear to be the ''Yu-Gi-Oh!'' version of the [[Series/KamenRiderBlack Gorgom High Priests]]. However, the Three Emperors later reveal themselves to be a single person during the final story arc.
* EyepatchOfPower: Sorta. Lucciano and Placido have metal plates with the Infinity symbol on them covering one of their eyes. Placido's covers his right eye while Lucciano's covers his left eye.
* FreudianTrio: Lucciano is the Id, being immature and overtly emotional. Placido is the Ego, prone to going rogue and doing his own thing simply because he wants to. Jose is the Superego, far more restrained and focusing on their objective rather than acting on his impulses.
* FusionDance: Jose and Placido can merge with their D-Wheels. It's also how Aporia was created. Even their D-Wheels and D-Board combine to a single D-Wheel when Aporia appears, following with him fusing with it.
* InTheHood: They wear white hoods most of the time.
* KnightTemplar: They're trying to prevent a worse catastrophe.
* [[KnightofCerebus Knights of Cerebus]]: The WRGP arc is a lot darker when they're around.
* MasterOfDisguise: Both Lucciano and Placido do this to trick Lua and Luca.
* MajorInjuryUnderreaction: After losing to Shooting Star Dragon for the first time, Placido is HalfTheManHeUsedToBe. Jose and Lucciano don't see this as a big deal. Justified, since all of them are androids.
* AMillionIsAStatistic: What's one city compared to the entire world?
* NumerologicalMotif: Infinity.
* PowerCrystal: They each have one of these on their forehead.
* RoboticReveal: Turns out Placido is an android with the compatibility to merge with his D-Wheel. Lucciano and Jose are later revealed to be the same.
* ThemeNaming:
** The three of them are named after the Three Tenors: Jose Carreras, Placido Domingo and the late Luciano Pavarotti.
** Aporia breaks the theme but is part of another one with his peers, referring to a logical fallacy.
* TimeTravel: They can rewrite history to a certain extent due to this, such as erasing Momentum Express and Lucciano's time at Duel Academy, and inserting themselves into the W.R.G.P.
* YouCantFightFate:
** They fiercely believe in this, and Placido even compares the humans' struggle to survive to the dance of worker bees. They don't dance because they ''want'' to, but because it is their role written by fate itself. Just to punch in some extra symbolism, the bee's dance describes the Infinity symbol.
** Jose also reveals that it's their task to make sure history stays on a predetermined course. As such they have a bone to pick with Yusei, because the discovery of Momentum by his father jacked up everything.
* YouHaveFailedMe: They erase Clark from history after his failed attempt to dispose of Yusei.
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: They leave Jeager and Team Catastrophe to die without blinking an eye once they stop being useful.

!!!Placido ''(Primo)''
[[quoteright:358:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/5a85e61939b7dc015b3413bcee68a892.png]]
->'''Voiced by:''' Masakazu Nemoto (Japanese), Creator/JasonGriffith (English)

The emperor who received the first Machine Emperor, Wisel. He gives his deck to the original Ghost to let him assault D-Wheelers, until Yusei defeats Ghost. Since then, Placido develops a grudge towards Yusei and he starts to develop his own plan to complete the circuit. He sends an army of Ghosts, the Diablo, to attack the participants of the WRGP, but his plan is foiled when Yusei discovered the power of Accel Synchro, defeating Placido during their duel. After he erased Clark Smith, Placido and his fellow emperors enter the WRGP as Team New World.

Placido represents Aporia's despair of the time he lost his lover. He uses an anti-Synchro deck built around Meklord Emperor Wisel.

* ArchEnemy: Placido feels Yusei is his, for defeating the first Ghost. [[UnknownRival Yusei doesn't even know he exists until Placido confronts him directly.]]
* BerserkButton: He gets annoyed when his fellow Emperors suggest that he might not be able to defeat Yusei.
* CoolSword: It also doubles as his Duel Disk. He can plug it into his D-Wheel in order to fuse with it.
* DontYouDarePityMe: Appear to have this reaction to Yusei even just showing concern over his having been ripped in half.
* FacialMarkings: After being repaired, he has red markings on the left side of his face.
* GratuitousItalian: Placido's upgraded form is called Placido Ripresa, with Ripresa being Italian for "recovery".
* HalfTheManHeUsedToBe: He certainly came off worse for wear after his duel with Yusei. He's an android, so fortunately for him he gets better.
* HesGotLegs: Wears high-heeled boots that go nearly up to his crotch.
* IHatePastMe: Well, more like "I Have No Respect for Past Me", seeing as he'll even steal from Lucciano.
* RedEyesTakeWarning: This is later carried over by Aporia.
* RevengeBeforeReason: Placido is so obsessed with killing Yusei that Jose and Lucciano are worried that he'll screw up their plans.
* SpannerInTheWorks: Had Placido not messed with Antinomy, the latter would have not become Bruno and would have remained as an Z-One's ally and Team 5D's enemy and Bruno would have never taught Yusei Delta Accel Synchro or would have inspired him to surpass it.
* SpikyHair: Pretty common in this series.
* {{Technopath}}: To a certain extent. Justified in that he's an android.
* TheWorfEffect: In contrast to his fellow emperors, Placido never defeats a Signer; though he does lose his last duel on purpose. His losing streak seems to be carried over by Aporia.

!!!Lucciano ''(Lester)''
[[quoteright:358:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/5da891af974944fd15b8856955750184.png]]
->'''Voiced by:''' Hitomi Yoshida (Japanese), Tom Wayland (English)

The second emperor to receive his Machine Emperor, Skiel. Lucciano infiltrates the Duel Academia to test Luca's strength. Soon he challenges Luca to a Riding Duel, with Lua joining in to help his sister. Despite Lucciano defeating both of them, he fails to kill them due to the Crimson Dragon and Luca's Duel Monsters spirits saving them. Along with his fellow emperors, he participates in the WRGP as a member of Team New World.

Lucciano represents Aporia's despair of the time when he lost his parents. He uses an anti-Synchro deck built around Meklord Emperor Skiel.

* TheBadGuyWins: He defeats Luca and Lua in their Riding Duel.
* ChickMagnet: As a transfer student he's pretty popular with the girls, especially Luca.
* EvilLaugh: Lucciano has a laugh very similar to Jeager's, only much crazier... and [[ChewingTheScenery hungrier]].
* EvilRedhead: Since he's modeled after Aporia's childhood, he has red hair. He also happens to be the craziest of the three.
* EvilSoundsDeep: Inverted. While it's justified that he hasn't got a deep voice due to being a kid, his evil voice is higher and shrill in comparison to his nice-guy voice.
* ForeHeadOfDoom: His forehead is rather big.
* GigglingVillain: ''Holy crap.''
* GratuitousEnglish: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4Zmmw7TIJ0 "Bye, bye!"]]
* TheHyena: There are very few scenes where he ''isn't'' letting out some shrill laughter.
* LargeHam: Even '''Creator/BrianBlessed''' would tell the kid to tone down.
* LaughingMad: Does this when Jose reveals a vision of the future, which causes him to relive the moment of his parent's death. It makes his constant giggling a lot more [[SadClown tragic in hindsight]].
* LongHairedPrettyBoy: What the female elementary school students think about him.
* NearVillainVictory: A weird example. Despite the fact that he ''does'' defeat Lua and Luca, both of them are protected by PlotArmour when they are supposed to die.
* NewTransferStudent: Disguises himself as a transfer student in Episode 77.
* PrincelyYoungMan: As his transfer student disguise. He even has Placido as his butler.
* PyrrhicVictory: Despite winning aganist Lua and Luca, he leaves pissed as his goal was to capture Ancient Fairy Dragon.
* RollerbladeGood: Lucciano wears rollerblades for no reason. He uses a D-Board which is invented by himself. For some reason he's allowed to participate in the WRGP with it instead of using a D-Wheel.
* SignificantGreenEyedRedhead: He's certainly got the [[LargeHam passionate]] part of it down, and the Duel Academia girls think he's very attractive.
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: His name is spelled with two [=Cs=] in the anime. Some fans spell his name with only one C.

!!!Jose ''(Jakob)''
[[quoteright:358:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/3f966d5d4db5635613fcb996676ef81f.png]]
->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/TakayukiSugo (Japanese), Matt Hoverman (English)

The final emperor to receive his Machine Emperor, Granel. As the leader of three, he keeps the other two to stick with their main plan. Together with his fellow emperors, they participate in the WRGP as Team New World.

Jose represents Aporia's despair of the time when he was the only living (four) human(s) of the lonely world. He uses an anti-Synchro deck built around Meklord Emperor Granel.

* BaldOfEvil: He doesn't have a hair on his head, but it grows long everywhere else. His bald head could also reflect his wise character in comparison to the other evil emperors.
* BeardOfEvil: He's evil. He's got a long beard.
* BigOlEyebrows: That piece of hair sticking out from under Jose's hood? That's his eyebrow.
* EvilSoundsDeep: As the oldest of the three he has a deep and raspy voice, which sounds even more evil because of his mask.
* GeniusBruiser: He's the strongest and smartest of all three of Yliaster's agents. Episode 110 cements him as this when he easily defeats Sherry in a "fist" fight. Just in case anyone doubted his dueling prowess, in Episodes 132 and 133 he {{Curb Stomp|Battle}}s Jack and takes out Crow without much trouble at all.
* LargeAndInCharge: Jose is the largest and most senior member of the group, and has referred to himself as the leader of the Three Emperors. In parallel to that, his Machine Emperor Granel also easily towers over both Wisel and Skiel.
* MindOverMatter: Used to retrieve Placido's remains and to stop a meteor (the tablet containing his Machine Emperor) midfall.
* PeekABangs: His right eye is covered by his ''eyebrow''.
* PragmaticVillainy: He chastises Placido for trying to complete the circuit by forcing the city into a battle royale, stating that this plan wouldn't complete it properly. Instead, Jose would rather take the slower but guaranteed approach of completing the WRGP tournament.
* RefugeInAudacity: Started his Riding Duel by running on the track. Too bad he fused with his D-Wheel shortly later.
* SuperStrength: Displayed this when he and Lucciano were attacked by Sherry and Mizoguchi; he's able to effortlessly lift Sherry's D-Wheel with one hand. With her on it.
* ShoutOut: Combined with the above, Jose is one to ''Series/TheSixMillionDollarMan'' of all things, having a similar style of SuperSpeed and strength to said character.
* WouldHitAGirl: When Sherry attacked him physically, he punched her, chokes her and then threw her down from a tower. The last one would might not happen if Sherry wasn't trying to break his arm.

!!Aporia
[[quoteright:350: https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/aporia_2480.jpg]]
->'''Voiced by:''' Masakazu Nemoto (Japanese), Creator/JasonGriffith (English)

->''I am Aporia, guardian of despair.''

The true combined form of the Emperors (who are based on three different stages in his life), revealed in the WRGP final. Aporia is one of the few survivors in the destroyed future.

As a child, he lost his parents during the Machine Emperors' invasion, and later fought in the war against them where he lost his lover as well. After civilization was destroyed by Momentum going out of control, he wandered the world in despair, desperately looking for any other survivors.

Eventually he found Z-One, Bruno/Antinomy, and Paradox, and together they searched for a way to undo the destruction. However, Bruno/Antinomy and Paradox died of old age, and Aporia soon followed. Before dying he spoke to Z-One of the three despairs he had felt when alive, and entrusted the task of putting the future right to him.

He uses a combined Meklord anti-Synchro deck with extensive burn and field control effects. His trump cards are Meklord Astro Mekanikle and Meklord Astro Dragon Asterisk.

* AllYourPowersCombined: Since he's the combined form of the Emperors, he naturally has all of their cards, not that it helps him against Z-One.
* AntiVillain: His goal to erase Neo Domino City will kill everyone. But the sheer hell he went through in the war between the Machine Emperors and Humans, and the despair he felt through it all, can't help but give him immense sympathy points. Surprisingly, none of these qualities appeared in the emperors of Yliaster.
* BackFromTheDead Let's see. Z-One initially revived him as an android. Then, he is reconstructed and returns good as new after losing to Yusei and ''exploding.'' Then, he loses to Jack, Lua, and Luca, and appears to die then. ''But'', he returns again to challenge Z-One, although after losing that duel he dies for real. This is not even counting Placido, one of his three embodiments who returns good-as-new after being torn ''in half'' by Shooting Star Dragon.
* CatchPhrase: Uses the word "despair" about as much as Kiryu uses "satisfaction".
* ClimaxBoss: Of the 4Kids dub.
* DiscOneFinalBoss: Appeared to be the BigBad, but he is later revealed to be this when the Ark Cradle descends.
* DespairEventHorizon: Crossed it ''three times''.
* FinalBoss: Of the 4Kids dub of ''5D's'', due to that dub skipping the last seventeen episodes.
* FusionDance: He's the result of one.
* HeelFaceTurn: Makes one in Episode 146, and promptly challenges the BigBad Z-One, his own friend, to a duel for the sake of Team 5D's. He's aiming to show Z-One the hope he has discovered.
* HopeSpringsEternal: Comes to believe this after losing to Jack, Lua, and Luca, which triggers his aforementioned HeelFaceTurn.
* {{Irony}}:
** He duels Jack, Lua, and Luca at the same time, and loses to them. Those three were once defeated by Jose and Lucciano respectively.
** In his Duel with Z-One, the last card he draws, the one directly responsible for making him lose, is Machine Emperor Granel Infinity.
** Also, just this line from the dub. The trick is that the 'ending' of the dub is actually seventeen episodes before the actual conclusion of 5D's.
--> '''Aporia''': "I can assure you that the ending is worth the wait."
* KickTheDog: One very memorable one to Lua after laying waste to Luca and Jack in one turn, nearly defeating them.
--> '''Aporia''': "Young boy, ''this'' is despair." ''(shot of Lua in tears)'' "Turn end."
* LargeAndInCharge: He is the true form of the three Emperors, and he's so big that his cards look tiny in comparison. Even his D-Wheel resembles a giant car more than a motorcycle. Though in his human life, his height and build was average.
* LaserGuidedKarma: After all of his HopeCrusher actions against Yusei and Lua, Z-One crushes ''his'' hopes during their final duel.
* LightIsNotGood: His appearance is somewhat angelical, wearing all white, and with boosters on his back that sort of look like wings.
* MadeOfExplodium: Explodes ''magnificently'' after his defeat at the hands of Yusei.
* MeaningfulName: Aporia, referring to the confusion caused by multiple pieces of evidence supporting different answers, reflecting his nature as three different takes on the same person.
* MultiColoredHair: His hair is a combination of his three embodiments' hairs.
* OneHitKill: Averted. He employs a self-milling strategy in his Duel against Z-one with intention to guarantee that he draws Afterglow during the Draw Phase and deplete all of Z-one's LP in one go, but it backfires on Aporia hard after his Graveyard is shuffled back into his Deck and doesn't draw the card he needs.
* PersonOfMassDestruction: Just merely being fused together causes him to give off [[RedSkyTakeWarning Red Storm Clouds]], and causes lightning to strike everywhere in the whole city.
* RedEyesTakeWarning: From Placido.
* RedemptionEqualsDeath: After being defeated by Jack, Lua, and Luca, he has a HeelFaceTurn and duels Z-One to stop him. He loses and dies, but before his death, he gives his last power to Yusei's D-Wheel so that Yusei can duel Z-One.
* RuleOfThree: ''Everywhere''. Three embodiments, three despairs, three Machine Emperors, three Machine Imperial Soldiers. He duels three times (and also loses three times). Granel screws him over three times; first by killing his parents, second by killing 'the one he loved', and the third time when he draws it at the end of his Duel with Z-One, costing him the game and his life.
* ThemeNaming: Like Paradox and Antinomy, Aporia's name refers to a logical fallacy.
* UnusualEyebrows: ''Absolutely''.
* VillainousBreakdown: Has one when he finally realizes Yusei is about to defeat him. Has a bigger one after Lua becomes a Signer, and things go downhill very quickly for him.
* WalkingSpoiler: The fact that the Emperors of Yliaster are one person is a pretty big reveal.
* WellIntentionedExtremist: He intends to destroy a city and its millions of inhabitants, yes, but in doing so he will avoid TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt.
* WhamLine: "The three of us are one. My name is Aporia."
* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Thanks to him repeatedly crossed the DespairEventHorizon.
* TheWorfEffect: He loses all three of his duels, despite being a very threatening duelist. Just like Placido. Let's face it, his duel with Z-One consists of him being curb-stomped by his boss' cards just to hype Z-One up for the Duel with Yusei.

!!Z-one
[[quoteright:350: https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/z-one_full_view_8344.jpg]]
->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/HideoIshikawa (Japanese), Creator/MarcThompson (English)

A mysterious mechanical being that dwells within a cyberspace area, that has connections with Bruno and the Yliaster Trio (and possibly Yusei). It was first seen when Yusei, Sherry, and Bruno were brought to its world by the power of the 'Z-One' card. It later provided Yusei with a card with which to complete an Accel Synchro, after he achieved the state of mind necessary to use it.

It is later revealed that Z-One is the last known survivor of the destroyed future. Along with Bruno, Aporia, and Paradox, he had tried to find a way of undoing the destruction, but his allies eventually died of old age. When Aporia was on his deathbed, Z-One promised him that he would do everything he could to change the future.

He uses a Timelord deck.

* AchillesHeel: Z-One's Timelord Deck may be a SuperpowerLottery, but ironically [[ClippedWingAngel his ultimate Timelord, Sephylon, is less indestructible than the lesser Timelords]][[labelnote: note]] All other Timelords have inherent protection, but Sephylon needs to banish other Timelords to protect itself, meaning it cannot protect itself when there are no other Timelords.[[/labelnote]], enabling Yusei to beat him when he managed to rise Stardust Dragon's ATK higher than it and continuously attack it until he had no other Timelords to sacrifice.
* AscendedFanboy: Z-One is a Yusei fanboy, to the point that he decided to ''become'' Yusei in order the save the world. [[{{Irony}} Then he becomes Yusei's archenemy.]]
* BigBad: Not just to 5D's, but, due to the robot clone of Paradox he created that affected the time stream in the 10th anniversary movie, he is probably this for [[Anime/YuGiOh Duel Monsters]] and [[Anime/YuGiOhGX GX]] as well.
* BlatantLies: Yusei refuses to buy Z-one's claim that he is Yusei from the future. Thus, Z-one instead elaborates on how he came to be Yusei.
* BrokenFaceplate: His mask is cracked when Yusei manages to inflict some damage on him in their duel, and breaks away to reveal that his face is identical to Yusei's. The rest breaks away after Yusei deals the final blow and the device keeping Z-One alive shuts down, leaving him very little time left.
* CostumeCopycat: He changes his own face to look like Yusei's in an attempt to [[HopeBringer bring people hope]].
* CurbStompBattle: Effortlessly defeats Aporia while keeping his LP intact, after Aporia's self-milling strategy backfires hard.
* CyberneticsEatYourSoul: A flashback shows that a machine implanted in his head was damaged when he went through his DespairEventHorizon, which might have contributed to his extremism.
* {{Cyborg}}: Considering he's an old man, it's probably a life support system.
* DeadPersonImpersonation: He underwent surgery to become Yusei long after Yusei himself had passed away. He even crammed data into a metal plate that he had attached to his head.
* DespairEventHorizon: He may not have run over the line three times, but his crossing was no less painful. Having tried to make himself Yusei, he was given a HopeSpot when it seemed he had discovered a way for people to get to safety without being slaughtered by the Machine Emperors. That all came crashing down when they went berserk and killed crowds of people quickly; people fell calling out for "Yusei" to help them and Z-One could do nothing. When he realised that even with Yusei's form, he was as helpless as anyone else, he gave up on that plan and decided to work on a [[TimeForPlanB Plan B]].
* DramaticUnmask: Part of his mask is destroyed during his duel, showing that he has the same face as Yusei.
* FauxShadow: Despite the many hints, some more subtle than others, he is ''not'' Yusei from a BadFuture, rather just a normal man who assumed Yusei's appearance.
* AFormYouAreComfortableWith: Appears to Sherry alone as her father.
* GiantHandsOfDoom: Z-One's mechanical arms and hands are so huge that even the cards he uses are too large to be played on a conventional Duel Disk.
* AGodAmI: The Three Emperors and Antinomy have referred to him as a 'God of Destiny', and he says this to Yusei at the start of their battle:
--> '''Z-One:''' "Yusei Fudo, though you may have come this far with the intention to cut open the future with your own power... everything has merely traveled along the rails that I have laid out. To you, I am the equivalent of a God. [...] In order to change the future, Zero Reverse was caused and your lives were changed dramatically. You were orphaned, living in Satellite, and then rose up to the challenges in the WRGP. However, that victory was only a means to call out the Ark Cradle. [...] Do you understand? The meaning of me being your God? And if a God decides to take a path of destruction, then no one shall defy it."
* GodIsEvil: He compares himself to God and is, if KnightTemplar-ish, definitely evil.
* GrandpaGod: He's an old man that certainly fancies himself a god.
* GreaterScopeVillain: The man behind Zero Reverse and the the entire Yliaster organization, and thus likely this show's answer to [[Manga/YuGiOh Zorc Necrophades]] and [[Anime/YuGiOhGX the Light of Destruction]].
* HeroicSacrifice: While Yusei's heading to the Momentum core of the Ark Cradle, Z-One, having just been beaten, grabs his D-Wheel and tosses it away, contributing to Yusei's getting out JustInTime and Z-One smashing himself into the core.
* HopeSpot: He deliberately invokes this trope in his duel with Aporia, who staked his strategy on drawing Afterglow from his deck (while deliberately depleting his deck to facilitate this), and using its effect to inflict 4000 damage to Z-One to win. Z-One thus decides to humor Aporia by opting to Summon Lazion, a monster with 0 ATK, when he could have easily chosen to Summon a monster with at least 500 ATK to deplete Aporia's remaining LP. Z-One then uses Lazion's effect to return every card in Aporia's Graveyard to his Deck, and then challenges the latter to pull off a miracle by drawing Afterglow under these circumstances. Aporia fails to do so and loses the duel as a result, leading Z-One to dismiss the notion of believing in hope and miracles as fallacious.
* IAmNotLeftHanded: The reason he so thoroughly trounced Aporia in their duel is because the latter believed that Metaion was his ace monster and had no idea that there were even other Timelords in existence. Z-One simply decided to play along with this and did nothing to dissaude that notion. As such, Aporia tailored his deck to getting around Metaion and was throughly blindsided when Z-One decided to Summon Lazion and use its effect to completely disrupt his strategy.
* JustAMachine: His view on the androids he made using the memories of his deceased friends.
* LackOfEmpathy: Has lost all hope in humanity and decides to exterminate Neo Domino City rather than to trust the people solve the problem by themselves.
* LastOfHisKind: Following the deaths of his friends, he is the last human alive.
* ManBehindTheMan: Directly behind Aporia and Paradox, and through Yliaster is behind the Godwin Brothers and the first Zero Reverse that split the city apart. Thus, pretty much every major disaster and villain can be traced back to him.
* ManInTheMachine: His monsters also fit this trope, seeing as how those are ''angels'' inside the armor.
* NiceJobFixingItVillain: While things luckily didn't go exactly as he planned, his actions did alert the people of the present that a BadFuture was just around the corner, giving them a chance to fix things.
* PlotTwist: One of the most infamous in the entire franchise. After being hyped as a [[FutureMeScaresMe dark Yusei]] from the BadFuture, it instead turned out he was a random scientist who altered himself to look like Yusei.
* ShoutOut: Possibly to [[Manga/FullMetalAlchemist the Truth]]. He claims to be 'the one who knows the truth' and offers to tell Sherry the truth in exchange for her accepting her fate being changed.
* SuperPowerLottery: His deck. ''Trap cards that can be activated directly from the hand''. Any deck would get a big boost with just one of them, imagine a dozen or more! All of his monsters are totally indestructible and do varying types and levels of effect damage. One of them, Sandaion, does '''4000''' points of damage at the end of the Battle Phase, and that's not even his ace monster.
* TarotMotifs: The four Hand-Traps he's used are based on the first four Major Arcana.
* VillainsDyingGrace: Sacrifices himself in Yusei's stead to stop the Ark Cradle so that the latter won't have to give up his own life.
* WalkingSpoiler: His ultimate motives, the fact that he is the BigBad, and the RedHerring plot twist surrounding his identity makes it very hard to talk about him.
* WellIntentionedExtremist: He's trying to prevent a worse future by destroying Domino City.
* WhiteVoidRoom: He resides in one of these.
* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Thanks to crossing the DespairEventHorizon.
* YourDaysAreNumbered: He knows he doesn't have very long left to live.

[[folder:Spirits and Monsters]]
!!Crimson Dragon
[[quoteright:350: https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Crimson_dragon1_7226.jpg]]

The embodiment of the Red Star worshiped by the People of the Stars 5000 years ago. After sealing the Jibakushin within the Nazca Lines, its power was divided into 5 separate pieces and infused as Dragon's Birthmarks into the 5 individuals known as Signers. The 5 Dragons who protect the Signers are its servants.

A sixth birthmark later appears as the Crimson Dragon's "heart", and is given to Lua alongside a 6th Signer Dragon, the Life Stream Dragon. At the very end of the series, once Neo Domino City is permanently at peace, the Crimson Dragon takes back the six birthmarks and disappears, its duties having been fulfilled.
-----
* AllYourPowersCombined:
** When a Signer is fighting with great determination the Dragon's Birthmarks can unite onto their back, forming the Full Dragon's Birthmark and allowing them to draw [[DeusExMachina Savior Dragon.]] Godwin later turns this on them when he gets the Dragon Head.
** Again with Shooting Quasar Dragon. It's summoned using all of the Synchro Monsters except Stardust Dragon as Synchro Material (although it is an evolution of Stardust Dragon anyway), its [[http://images.wikia.com/yugioh/images/9/96/ShootingQuasarDragonMG03-JP-UR.jpg card artwork]] features tuning rings the same colors as all the Signer Dragons, and as noted [[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Card_Trivia:Shooting_Quasar_Dragon here,]] it has effects somewhat reminiscent of all the Signer Dragons.
* BecauseDestinySaysSo: The Signers having to come together and face the Dark Signers and Earthbound Gods every 5000 years.
%%* BigGood: Indeed.
* ChekhovsGun: Life Stream Dragon, appearing to Lua as the final Signer Dragon ''over two years'' after it initially cameoed in the second ED, ''Cross Game'', and again in Luca's vision in Episode 30.
* ChekhovsSkill: Doubles with ChekhovsGun above. At first, Lua's Life Stream Dragon being a Synchro Tuner monster and having the effect to manipulate the levels of other monsters on the field (in the anime) seems fairly random and a waste. However, after Lua lends it to Yusei for the final battle with [[BigBad Z-One]], Yusei tunes it to all the other Signer Dragons (minus Stardust Dragon) to Synchro Summon [[AllYourPowersCombined Shooting Quasar Dragon.]]
* DeusExMachina: Savior Dragon and the Synchro Monsters it summons, Savior Star Dragon and Savior Demons' Dragon. Aside from the two Synchro monsters being incredibly powerful (although the real life card game {{Nerf}}s them to a degree), Savior Dragon only appears after the Crimson Dragon adds it on top a Signer (in this case Yusei and Jack's) decks. This means that Yusei and Jack are battling using a card ''not even in their decks.''
** AwesomeButImpractical: The Savior Dragons revert back to their original forms at the end of the turn, making them unfavorable in the actual card game. This comes up In-Universe where Yusei is aware that he cannot use Savior Star Dragon because Placido's setup makes it useless and would cause Stardust to get absorbed.
* ElementalPowers: The Signer Dragons and their attributes.
** BlowYouAway: Yusei's Stardust Dragon
** CastingAShadow: Jack's Red Demons' Dragon, and Crow's Blackfeather Dragon.
** DishingOutDirt: Lua's Life Stream Dragon
** LightEmUp: Luca's Ancient Fairy Dragon
** PlayingWithFire: Aki's Black Rose Dragon
** MakingASplash: The only attribute not represented by a Signer Dragon.
* EverythingsBetterWithSparkles: The Savior Dragons, again.
* EvilCounterpart: The manga versions of Ancient Fairy and Power Tool look to be these. The Crimson Dragon gains one in Ultimaya Tzolkin.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: The Crimson Dragon showed the Signers a vision of Satellite being engulfed by the flames of the Spider Geoglyph.
* {{God}}: The Yu-Gi-Oh version of Quetzalcoatl to be precise. Its level of power is shown to be even stronger than the gods of the previous ''Yu-Gi-Oh!'' franchise, especially in the 10th anniversary movie, where the Crimson Dragon is the being that allows Yusei to travel back to Judai and Yugi's time periods.
* JesusTaboo: Because of this, the 'Savior' in the Savior Dragons is replaced with 'Majestic' in the TCG and in the English dub, and Savior Demons' Dragon being renamed Majestic Red Dragon. Also a lesser example, "Red Demons' Dragon" being re-named "Red Dragon Archfiend" like other Archfiend monsters.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: When Rex Godwin grafts the head birthmark onto himself with the intent of abusing its powers, the Crimson Dragon simply takes it away from him without the protagonists having to do a thing.
* TheMagicGoesAway: The birthmarks, at the very end of the series. The Crimson Dragon itself also leaves, its duties having been fulfilled.
* {{Mayincatec}}: The Crimson Devil's mini-arc states that the Crimson Dragon is actually Quetzalcoatl.
* OurDragonsAreDifferent: It's a gigantic red dragon that appears to be made of fire or light.

!!Earthbound Gods/Jibakushin ''(Earthbound Immortals)''
[[quoteright:350: https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/300pxEarthboundimmortallsearthboundgods1_408.jpg]]

Embodiments of evil sealed within the Nazca Lines by the Crimson Dragon and its servants. They were unleashed from the Underworld 17 years ago, after the Zero Reverse incident blew a hole between this world and theirs. They are the driving force behind the Dark Signers, and are as follows; Uru (Spider), Cusillu (Monkey), Ccapac Apu (Giant), Aslla piscu (Hummingbird), Ccarayhua (Lizard), Chacu Challhua (Killer Whale) and lastly Wiraqocha Rasca (Condor). Much like the 5 Dragons serve the Crimson Dragon, they serve the King of the Underworld (Meikai No Oh). There is another 'lost' Earthbound God, Scar-Red Nova, which was personally sealed by the Crimson Dragon 5000 years before the others, and was too violent for the Dark Signers to use. Its power was sealed by Jack to create Scar-Red Nova Dragon.
-----
* AchillesHeel: They're completely powerless without a Field Spell in play. Of course, when summoned in a Turbo Duel (as four of them were), this isn't an issue.
* AnimalMotifs: Most of them are based on animals.
** Uru is based on a spider.
** Aslla piscu vaguely resembles a hummingbird.
** Cusillu possesses the appearance of a monkey.
** Ccarayhua moderately resembles a reptile.
** Chacu Challhua looks like an orca.
** Wiraqocha Rasca is modeled after a condor.
* AttackOfThe50FootWhatever: They are ''absurdly'' large. Ccarayhua is about three-quarters to two-thirds the height of the Arcadia building.
* AwesomeButImpractical:
** Wiraqocha Rasca. It has 100 ATK and DEF and its effect is that when it's Normal Summoned, you can return up to three cards you control to your deck to have your opponent discard that many random cards from their hand and increase Wiraqocha Rasca's ATK by 1000 for each card discarded this way. Powerful, but it requires the player to have enough cards for both the Tribute Summoning and the effect and only works when Wiraqocha Rasca is Normal Summoned, so you can't use if you Special Summon Wiraqocha Rasca.
** Cusillu's unique effect is hard to use as well since it requires it to be destroyed by battle and for you to have another monster on the field. Since the Immortals cannot be targeted for an attack, you would have to let Cusillu attack a stronger monster on purpose just to use its effect when you could keep Cusillu on the field and keep attacking directly. Another way for it to happen would be for your opponent to negate Cusillu's effect and then attack it but that would require them letting you keep a monster on the field or using effects to make sure you still have a monster by the time Cusillu is destroyed.
* BeatStillMyHeart: When Earthbound Gods are summoned, a disembodied heart appears and starts beating as it absorbs people's souls.
* BreathWeapon: Wiraqocha Rasca, and the King of the Underworld.
* CherryTapping: Wiraqocha Rosca's 1 ATK, meant to compliment [[HPToOne its key anime effect]].
* DarkIsEvil: {{Kaiju}} sized [[EldritchAbomination embodiments]] [[MadeOfEvil of evil]] who are pitch black aside from the colored lines on them.
* DemonicPossession: They will do this if they are not happy with their Dark Signer.
* EarlyBirdCameo: They are first seen in episode 30 covered by a dark fog. Despite this you can make out which is which by their colored highlights. Also the condor geoglyph can be seen as well.
* EldritchAbomination: ''All'' of them are ginormous embodiments of evil that eat souls en masse just by being summoned. They also have effects that bend numerous rules of the game to make themselves nearly unassailable.
* EvilIsBigger: These things are {{Kaiju}}-sized in the anime and dwarf all of the Signer Dragons.
* EvilIsNotAToy: Dark Signers cut deals with Earthbound Gods upon death for whatever reason. If they start to have any second thoughts the Earthbound Gods will pull a VillainOverride on them. Once a deal is made they will, willingly or not, continue to serve the Earthbound Gods until death.
* EverythingsEvenWorseWithSharks: Chacu Challhua is a killer whale, but looks and moves in a shark like manner as well.
* [[EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys Everything's Worse With Monkeys]]: Cusillu.
* GenericDoomsdayVillain: They don't get any dialogue. They exist as embodiments of evil that must be defeated. Luckily the Dark Signers get enough characterization to make up for it.
* GiantEyeOfDoom: Ccarayhua, to the point of obscuring an entire full-floor window.
* GiantFlyer: Aslla piscu and Wiraqocha Rasca.
* GiantSpider: Uru.
* GodOfEvil: They are called Earthbound '''Gods''' in the Japanese variation.
* GreaterScopeVillain: The King of the Underworld is built up to be this until it is revealed that [[BigBad Rex Goodwin]] was using it the whole time.
* HPToOne: Wiraqocha Rasca's anime effect.
* {{Kaiju}}: They're an interesting variation - they cause plenty of destruction, but it's their geoglyphs rather than the monsters themselves most of the time.
* KnightOfCerebus: Any time an Earthbound God is summoned in a duel it's sign things will get bad. Unlike monsters made real in duels from the previous shows, being on the wrong end of an attack by Earthbound God will actually kill you. If someone tries to reason with a Dark Signer, the Earthbound Gods will pull a VillainOverride in order to make them keep fighting.
* MadeOfEvil: According to Bruno, they were manifested from the evil in people's hearts.
* {{Mayincatec}}: They are all based on Nazca Lines.
* MeaningfulName: Not only are their status as "Earthbound Gods/Immortals" references to their imprisonment in the Nazca Lines by the Crimson Dragon, but their individual names have rough definitions in the Quechua language[[note]]The Quechua language is spoken by people from the Peruvian Andes, and the Nazca Lines are located in Peru.[[/note]] (e.g. "Ccapac Apu" is derived from the Quechua words "Qhapaq", which can mean "King" or "mighty", and "Apu", powerful mountain spirits in Inca mythology).
* AMillionIsAStatistic: Earthbound Gods' sacrifices require the souls of other people.
* NobleBirdOfPrey: Wiraqocha Rasca, particularly as it's the most powerful of the seven.
* NoPronunciationGuide: The Earthbound Gods' names are in Quechuan, meaning that typical English pronunciation rules need not apply. Ccapac Apu and Ccarayhua in particular can throw viewers for a loop, as the double "C"s in their names are pronounced separately.
* OhCrap: Prominent when they are summoned.
* OlympusMons: They're utterly enormous monsters, in case you haven't figured it out yet.
* OurDragonsAreDifferent: The King of the Underworld, which appears as an EvilCounterpart to Life Stream Dragon. [[FridgeBrilliance It represents Death, while Life Stream represents Life.]]
* OurGiantsAreBigger: Ccapac Apu is a giant. Though it's not any bigger than the other Earthbound Gods.
* SealedEvilInACan: Old Momentum being the can-opener and the Nazca Lines, of all things, being the can.
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: No, that's not a typo, Aslla piscu really is spelt with a lowercase "p".
* TakingYouWithMe: In a flashback which Luca experiences as a dream, when the Earthbound Gods are destroyed by the Signer Dragons, the disembodied head of Uru uses its web strands to drag Ancient Fairy Dragon into the Nazca Lines causing her to be sealed alongside the Earthbound Gods.
* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: Boy howdy. Firstly, when they debuted they were the biggest monsters in the franchise bar the Great Leviathan. Then there's their effects. Immunity to Spells and Traps are the norm for boss monsters in the franchise, but immunity to attacks and being able to flat-out direct attack is something else. Let's not even start around the brutal effect of Aslla piscu, which not only nukes the field, but also burns the opponent.

!!Machine Emperors/Kikoutei ''(Meklord Emperors)''
[[quoteright:350: https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Infinity31_3068.jpg]]

A series of monsters used by the Three Emperors of Yliaster. They are: Machine Emperor Wisel, owned by Placido; Machine Emperor Skiel, owned by Lucciano; and Machine Emperor Granel, owned by Jose. Arriving on Earth one at a time via stone tablets, they have the ability to absorb Synchro monsters - and since most people in the series use them, this is a bit of a problem for anyone facing them. There is a fourth Machine Emperor, Aporia's, called Machine Divine Emperor Machinicle Infinity Cubic. Related are the three Machine Imperial Soldiers and Machine Emperor Dragon Asterisk. During the WRGP final, it is shown that an army of Machine Emperors attacked humanity at the height of its development, before Momentum went out of control and destroyed the world.
-----
* AntiMagic: Their deck style is against the use of Synchro monsters, culminating in their signature emperors. Although it's less "killer" and more like "absorb them into their monsters". The first time Yusei encounters them, he has nightmares about Wisel until gaining Accel Synchro, which basically teleports them before they can be snagged. Of course, Granel and Machinicle can counteract that too.
** Wisel itself can negate Spell effects.
* TheAssimilator: All of them can absorb Synchro monsters.
* CognizantLimbs: Each Meklord Emperor card only represents the machine's central core, with its limbs, base, and head all represented by separate monsters that can be destroyed separately.
* CombiningMecha: Each one is made up of 5 separate components with effects that support one another, and can be replaced or upgraded to make the Kikoutei more powerful, though only Placido used parts from another Emperor on his own.
* CyberCyclops: While some of them are more questionable cases, Granel & Infinity Cubic are definitely this.
* TheDreaded: Before Yusei got Shooting Star Dragon, he was ''terrified'' of them for their ability.
* EEqualsMCHammer: The fourth Emperor is called ''Infinity Cubic''. How one cubes infinity is anyone's guess.
* EverythingsBetterWithSparkles: Wisel has a pair of boosters on its upper legs that emit a trail of sparkles.
* FeatheredFiend: Skiel, which vaguely resembles some sort of winged creature.
* GaiasVengeance: They were created by Momentum to eliminate the cause of the system's instability, which was due to the human race becoming greedy, apathetic, and conceited with progress.
* GreaterScopeVillain: Ultimately, they can be considered this for ''5Ds'' as a whole, being responsible for the cataclysmic event that started Z-one's whole scheme.
* HumongousMecha:
** While Machine Emperors Wisel and Skiel aren't ''that'' humongous, Jose's Emperor, Granel, certainly is.
** And then there's the gigantic monstrosity that is Machinicle Infinity Cubic. [[http://static3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110116010337/yugioh/images/1/15/5Dx143_More_Machine_Imperials.jpg Look at its size compared to Machine Imperial Soldier Skiel Ein]].
* KillerRobot: They effectively wiped out humanity in the BadFuture.
* KnightOfCerebus: All of the Meklords are handled incredibly seriously, what with being TheDreaded and their terrifying presence. Granel in particular deserves special mention thanks to being directly responsible for at two of the biggest despairs in Aporia's past, and partially responsible for the third.
* ManofKryptonite: Designed to kill Synchro Monsters.
* MeaningfulName:
** Infinity Cubic attacks by shooting a stream of small energy cubes. Its attack is also called "The Cube of Despair".
** Machine Emperor Dragon Asterisk has an asterisk on its head.
* MechanicalMonster: Good lord, ''yes.''
* NumerologicalMotif: They all have an infinity sign on their chest.
* OddNameOut: Infinity Cubic and Asterisk.
* OurDragonsAreDifferent: Asterisk looks more like an eastern dragon then the western dragons most dragon-type monster card resemble. Then again, it's a machine-type, not a dragon-type.
* PlotBasedPhotographObfuscation: All of them appear in the opening credits, but until they have actually appeared in the show, they are mostly hidden by shadow.
* ShoutOut: The tablets that they arrive in are similar to the monolith from ''2001: A Space Odyssey''. Not to mention the Ka Tablets from the ''[[Anime/YuGiOh original show.]]''
* YouWillNotEvadeMe: Unlike Wisel and Skiel, Jose's Granel has the ability to prevent Synchros that it attacks from removing themselves from the field, as Jack found out rather painfully. Adding more is that it can drag out the Synchro from the Graveyard into its body.

!!Duel Dragons
A series of Dragon Synchro Monsters that appear only in the manga. Six of them are dark versions of the Signer Dragons — in fact, the Signer Dragons appear in the manga in alternate forms as Duel Dragons. They were used in ancient Turbo Duel rituals to seal darkness, or so Rex Godwin claims. In actuality they were worshippers of the Ultimate God, Ultimaya Tzolkin, the manga's equivalent to the Crimson Dragon. Rex Godwin intends to use the Duel Dragons to revive the God and claim its power.

* AdaptedOut: Oddly enough, there never was a Duel Dragon counterpart to Life Stream Dragon.
* AdaptationalVillainy: In the anime, the Signer Dragons and the Crimson Dragon are benevolent. In the manga, the Duel Dragons are tools of evil and the Crimson Dragon is re-imagined as Ultimaya Tzolkin, the GreaterScopeVillain of the manga.
* BigCreepyCrawlies: Beelze.
* BlackEyesOfCrazy: When a Duelist is completely controlled by them.
* CastingAShadow: All of them except Stardust, Black Rose, and Dragoascension.
* DarkIsEvil: Even the Signer Dragon counterparts look much darker and more ominous compared to the anime, with the exceptions of Stardust, Dragoascension, and Black Rose.
* DarkIsNotEvil: Blackfeather Darkrage Dragon after Crow obtains it.
* DemonicPossession: They can do this to the Duelists that use them.
* DrunkOnTheDarkSide: Tends to happen to those possessed by their Duel Dragon.
* DubNameChange: All of the Duel Dragons names have been changed in the English manga and TCG:
** Machine Dragon - Power Tool > Power Tool Mecha Dragon
** Fairy Dragon - Ancient > Ancient Pixie Dragon
** Burning Demon Dragon - Red Demon > Hot Red Dragon Archfiend
** Flashing Karat Dragon - Stardust > Stardust Spark Dragon
** Demon King Dragon - Beezle > Beelze of the Diabolic Dragons
** Purgatory Dragon - Ogre Dragoon > Void Ogre Dragon
** Mysterious Winged Dragon - Black Feather > Blackfeather Darkrage Dragon
** Underworld Dragon Dragonecro > Dragonecro Nethersoul Dragon
** Dragoascension, the Supreme Dragon of the Heavens > Ascension Sky Dragon
** Moon Flower Dragon - Black Rose > Black Rose Moonlight Dragon
** InconsistentDub: Between Volumes 3 and 4, Power Tool has gone from Power Tool Mecha Dragon to Machine Dragon Power Tool, and Red Demon from Enma Dragon Red Demon to Jeweled Red Dragon Archfiend.
* EvilCounterpart: Meta-wise, they are this to the Signer Dragons, as plot-important Synchro Dragons. But where the Signer Dragons are good, the Duel Dragons are evil.
* {{Expy}}: Six of the Duel Dragons shown look exactly like the Signer Dragons, but with strange markings on their bodies. They also play a similar role to the Signer Dragons.
** Stardust is revealed to be a Synchro Tuner monster just like Life Stream Dragon.
** Stardust Sifr in appearance is very similar to Shooting Star Dragon though it has six wings instead of two. Also the way it is summoned is very similar to Shooting Quaser Dragon.
* LightIsGood: Stardust Spark and Moonlight Dragon Black Rose.
* LightIsNotGood: Dragoascension.
* PersonOfMassDestruction: Red Demon can destroy every single other Attack Position Monster in play with just its effect.
* ShoutOut: Dragoascension has Osiris the Sky Dragon's signature effect.
* SuperMode: ''Demon King Super Dragon - Beelzeus'' for Beelze, ''Dragococytus the Impure Underworld Dragon'' for Dragonecro, ''Holy Spark Dragon God - Stardust Sifr'' and ''Stardust Chronicle Spark Dragon'' for Stardust and ''Burning Demon Dragon - Red Demon Abyss'', ''Burning Demon Dragon - Red Demon Belial'', and ''Burning Demon Dragon King - Red Demon Calamity'' for Red Demon.

!Other

* ManiacMonkeys: Zeman.
* OlderThanTheyLook: Torunka due to the Minus Curse de-aging him. He's actually the Dark Sage monster.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Bonds Beyond Time]]
!!Paradox
[[quoteright:350: https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/300px-Paradox_infobox1_742.jpg]]
->'''Voiced by:''' Atsushi Tamura (Japanese), Creator/SeanSchemmel (English)

->''If I let history be, the world will be destroyed. I've come here to change that hopeless future.''

The main antagonist of the movie Anime/YuGiOhBondsBeyondTime who comes from a destroyed future. Believing Duel Monsters to be the cause, he traveled back in time to kill Pegasus before he could create the game, requiring the main protagonists of the three series to team up to stop him.

It is later shown that he was part of a group of survivors including himself, Aporia, Antinomy, and Z-One, who sought to change the future. However, he, Aporia, and Antinomy eventually succumbed to old age and died, leaving only Z-One left.

* AllYourPowersCombined: His deck is composed of Malefic monsters which, except for his three own cards, are evil, corrupted versions of the ace cards of friends and allies of Yugi, Judai and Yusei. They include Kaiba's Blue-Eyes White Dragon, Jonouchi's Red-Eyes Black Dragon, Kaiser and Sho's Cyber End Dragon, Johan's Rainbow Dragon, and Yusei's own Stardust Dragon.
* AntiVillain: Like Aporia and Z-One, he's trying to prevent a BadFuture. Although he acts much more maliciously than them.
* AxCrazy: In contrast to his three stoic friends.
* BadassBiker: A D-Wheeler who travels through time with his D-Wheel, and steals dragons while riding it in the middle of a duel.
* BigBad: Of the movie.
* CoolBike: It can transform into a flying machine and also travels through time. It has a similar design to Dark Glass' D-Wheel, which foreshadows their connection.
* CoolMask: He wears a white and black mask resembling his Malefic theme. It actually doesn't conceal his identity, since nobody knows him to begin with.
* CurtainsMatchTheWindow: He has yellow eyes to his blond hair.
* EvilLaugh: Does this sometimes, despite his claims to have a noble goal.
* FillerVillain: Averted. Despite being a movie villain, he is also a canon character of the series.
* FusionDance: When he summons Malefic Truth Dragon, he combines with it in a manner similar to that of Yami Marik and Ra.
* HighClassGlass: His older self, as shown in Episode 135, wears a monocle.
* IHaveTheHighGround: How he encounters Judai, and how Yugi sees him for the first time.
* {{Irony}}: Meta-example. Despite being a movie villain named Paradox, he is canon.
* LongHairedPrettyBoy: He is a handsome man with really long hair.
* MakeWrongWhatOnceWentRight: How the protagonists view his goal.
* MalevolentMaskedMan: His mask has the Malefic theme. Is this ObviouslyEvil enough?
* MeaningfulName: Paradox, referring to a self contradictory proposition, reflecting his goal to destroy the game of Duel Monsters using the very same game.
* AMillionIsAStatistic: His attack on Domino City killed a bunch of people, but what's their sacrifice compared to the entire human race?
* MultiColoredHair: He is mainly blond, but his bangs are purple. Also, his right eyebrow is red.
* OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: It is never shown how he stole Cyber End Dragon, Rainbow Dragon, Blue-Eyes White Dragon, and Red-Eyes Black Dragon.
* OurDragonsAreDifferent: All his Malefic monsters are dragons, except for Parallel Gear. (Also Cyber-End Dragon technically, as it's a Machine-Type).
%% * RummageSaleReject
* SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong: How he views his goal.
* ShouldersOfDoom: Part of his outfit.
* ASinisterClue: He is left-handed, which foreshadows his connection with Yliaster.
* SpikesOfVillainy: On his arm wrists.
* ThemeNaming: Like Aporia and Antinomy, Paradox's name refers to a logical fallacy.
* TimeTravel: He travels back in time to kill Pegasus before he could create Duel Monsters.
* UnskilledButStrong: His Malefic deck is extremely powerful, capable of instantly calling forth powerful high-level Monsters without any real cost. This is counteracted by the fact that Paradox tends to make rather novice mistakes in his duel against Yugi, Judai, and Yusei. He wastes his Malefic Force Trap Card when attempting to protect Paradox Dragon from Yugi's monster-stealing spell, without waiting for Yugi to mention that he was instead targeting his stolen Stardust Dragon. During his last turn, he has his dragons attack the Dark Magician Girl and Elemental HERO Neos that the protagonists have in Defense Position, which leaves them alive with enough Life Points to give them enough room to make a counterattack and defeat them. Had he instead attacked the Dark Magician or Stardust Dragon in Attack Position, he would have dealt enough damage to them to have taken the protagonists all out in one fell swoop.
* UnusualEyebrows: His red right eyebrow has an impossible design.
* WatchingTheSunset: One of his flashbacks shows him watching the sunset of the destroyed Earth.
* WellIntentionedExtremist: His goal is to save the world.
* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Like Aporia and Z-One, he crossed the DespairEventHorizon and is trying to prevent a worse fate for humanity.
* WouldHitAGirl: While any duel is guaranteed to have this, Paradox's first attempt in defeating Yugi, Judai, and Yusei after summoning Malefic Truth Dragon is having Malefic Red-Eyes Black Dragon attack Dark Magician Girl. While it does benefit Truth Dragon's effect, the protagonists had 2600 life points, and the former's effect deals 800 damage based on how many monsters are destroyed by its effect. Dark Magician Girl was in defense mode and they had 3 other monsters on their field otherwise, dropping them down to 200; had he attacked Dark Magician, Stardust Dragon, or Neos Knight instead with Blue-Eyes or Truth Dragon, he would've won in a single move.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Manga Only]]
!!Sect Injuin

* BerserkButton: Looking down on him. It's played for laughs, but horribly subverted later as it ends up being the crux of his corruption.
* BigCreepyCrawlies: Runs an Insect deck.
* BrainwashedAndCrazy: From the Card of Darkness the Skeleton Knight gave him.
* DrunkOnTheDarkSide: Due to Beelze's influence.
* EvilCostumeSwitch: Once Sect joins the Skeleton Knight, he trades in his biker outfit for some sweet looking medieval armor.
* HiddenDepths: A twofold case, both positive and negative. While derided as Satellite's weakest duelist, he notably got better over time ''and'' it's revealed his friendly personality caused Yusei to have a JerkassRealization that led to the Satellite dueling community becoming far more accepting and friendly with one another. On the negative side however, he ended up accumulating a rather large amount of legitimate frustration with his losses and the resulting teasing, which ended up being how Beelze got its hooks into him.
* ItsAllAboutMe: While DrunkOnTheDarkSide to ridiculous levels. To reiterate, his entire motivation at that point is simply to be the best duelist for the sake of power, ignoring how this will awaken the Ultimate God, and thus likely kill everyone on the planet.
* '''{{Jerkass}}''': It's only while he's evil, but ''damn'', he's a massive prick at that point.
* MeaningfulName:
** His Card of Darkness, Demon King Dragon - Beelze, is named after Beelzebub, who is also known as the 'Lord of Flies'. Sect uses [[FridgeBrilliance Insect-Type monsters]].
** Also, since family names are placed before given names in Japan, Sect's name is Inju'''in Sect'''.
* NoSell: You can't destroy Beelze or Beelzeus. Period.
* TheRival: Yusei has declared him this, although Jack kinda lives more up to the role.
* SuperMode: For his Duel Dragon, Beelze: Demon King Super-Dragon Beelzus.
* TookALevelInBadass: After gaining Beelze, and in the first chapter he'd come a long way from the fellow that we later see in the flashbacks. Even after being freed, he's still capable of the advanced Sense techniques he developed while under its influence.

!!The Skeleton Knight

* AdaptationalHeroism: Rudger was, for all intents and purposes, an insane DiscOneFinalBoss obsessed with the cycle of destiny in the anime after Uru brainwashed him. While he puts up a malevolent front in the manga, he's far more respectful to his opponents should they prove themselves, ''didn't'' get possessed in the backstory, doesn't display any of the ranting psychosis of his anime counterpart, and urges Yusei to save Rex from the darkness of the Ultimate God.
* AffablyEvil: He's not above complimenting his opponents, and he's sincere when he does so.
* AntiVillain: All he wants to do is save his brother from the Ultimate God.
* BigBad: Apparently. Later usurped by his brother.
* CanonCharacterAllAlong: He at first seems to be a CanonForeigner created for the manga, but he's later revealed to be the manga version of Rudger Goodwin, Rex's brother.
* DealWithTheDevil: Duelists can call upon him to obtain powerful cards, but those Cards of Darkness corrupt them into his service.
* EvilCounterpart: His ace monster, Underworld Dragon Dragonecro, specializes in creating these of any monster it battles. Its evolved form, Dragococytus, could also be seen as one to Ascension Sky Dragon...[[SubvertedTrope if Ascension]] wasn't [[LightIsNotGood evil itself.]]
* HellishHorse: Skeleton Knight rides a skeletal one in place of a D-Wheel.
* {{Irony}}: Duelists make Deals With the Devil with him. He became said Devil in attempting to make one with the Ultimate God himself.
* MyHorseIsAMotorbike: Inverted, as he uses a horse instead of a D-Wheel.
* NoSell: A somewhat unusual example with Underworld Dragon Dragonecro, which cannot destroy monsters in battle, and in fact renders them immune. Played straight with its SuperMode form, Dragocutos, which can't be destroyed in battle.
* TheReveal: The Skeleton Knight is actually Rudger Godwin.
* SuperMode: For his Duel Dragon, Dragonecro: Dragocutos, the Impure Underworld Dragon.
* UrbanLegend: His sunset salute, said to grant rare cards.

!!Priests of Light

* InTheHood: One of them wears one that covers his face. It is later revealed that he looks like Yusei.
* IdenticalStranger: They all look like Yusei and his friends.
* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: They're, for all intents and purposes, the manga version of the Signers.

!!Dark Crow Hogan

* MirrorMatch: Uses the same cards and strategies like Crow does.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: The last time he was seen, Dark Crow had just summoned his duel dragon and was facing Crow. The next time Crow appears he's holding the duel dragon card, which implies that Dark Crow was defeated off-screen.

!!The Ultimate God

* AdaptationalVillainy: As the Crimson Dragon of the manga.
* AsLongAsThereIsEvil: As it's about to be destroyed it warns Yusei it was born from the actions of humanity and as long as humans desire power it will always be revived.
* EldritchAbomination: Sealed Evil in a Can? Check. Corrupts anything that comes close to it? ''Check''. Has a true form that is more powerful and hideous than the last one? '''Check'''.
* {{Expy}}: Its original form resembles Obelisk the Tormentor. Its true form looks like the Crimson Dragon.
* {{Foil}}: It's one to Utopic Future in the OCG/TCG. Both have a level/rank of 0 and possess an attack and defense of 0. Both have effects that work the opposite of each other and both are used by a hero and villain in the final battle of their respective series.
* FusionDance: Merges with Rex Godwin to become Ultimitl Bishbalkin the Ultimate Legendary God.
* IdenticalStranger: People who gotten the Ultimaya Tzolkin card might confuse it with the Crimson Dragon itself.
* MyHeroZero: While not a hero it is the first level zero monster to appear and possesses an ATK and DEF of 0.
* SealedEvilInACan: It was sealed in a monstrous statue 5000 years ago.

!!Ish Kiq Godwin

* BackFromTheDead: Revived by the Ultimate God which leads to...
* CameBackWrong: Was corrupted by Shadow Miasma.
* FanDisservice: A shot of her corpse is shown in the present.
* MsFanservice: In her ceremonial outfit.
* LivingBattery: Or Unliving Battery in this case. Her corpse was being used to harness the Ultimate God's Miasma.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Game Only]]
!!Surtr

%% * ArtificialHuman
* {{BFS}}: He has one as his Duel Disk.
%% * CoolShades
%% * FacialMarkings
%% * GoodHairEvilHair
* Myth/NorseMythology: He is named after the fire giant that will set the world ablaze at Ragnarok.
* TomatoInTheMirror: He was unaware that he was actually a Transer-type robot.
* TurnedAgainstTheirMasters: He attacks Odin after learning the truth about him, breaking Odin's armour, but is promptly destroyed.

!!Odin
----
* DemonicPossession: He initially possessed one of the scientists who were investigating Yggdrasil. When he committed suicide in an unsuccessful attempt to [[TakingYouWithMe take Odin with him]], Odin possessed his daughter, Alina. Judging from a line after Surtr breaks his armour, there might be a little more to the second case.
* TheFaceless: Until the end.
* ManipulativeBastard
* Myth/NorseMythology: He is named after the king of the Norse Gods.
* SamusIsAGirl: Odin is possessing the body of Alina, the daughter of one of the scientists investigating Yggdrasil.
%% * ShouldersOfDoom
* TakingYouWithMe: Odin attempts to bury the group with him at the bottom of the ocean after his loss.
* TinTyrant: Apparently the armour is meant to prevent Odin's soul from escaping. Whether it is a RestrainingBolt or a [[SoulJar Soul Anchor]] is unclear.

!!Transer ''(Transcender)''
----
%%* MechaMooks

!!Player (World Championship 2009)
----
* CloningBlues: It's implied that the player is a clone, but it's never made clear and is left to the audience to decide. Either way, there are ''four'' clones of the player that they have to take on.
* IAmWho: He/She is actually a fake signer created by Rex Godwin in an attempt to summon the Crimson Dragon. He succeeds... but the Crimson Dragon quickly dissipates.
%% * PurelyAestheticGender
* RefusedTheCall: At the conclusion of the Fortune Cup, the Crimson Dragon removes their fake Signer Mark, with the implication that this is what they wanted.
%% * TheVoiceless

!!Player (World Championship 2010)
----
* TheAce: Of Team Satisfaction. Kiryu even mentions that he/she would make a better leader than him.
* BrainwashedAndCrazy: From Chapter 1 to Chapter 4
* EleventhHourSuperpower: Gains his/her Mark of the Dragon before the final boss duel.

!!Player (World Championship 2011)
----
* TheAce: Of Team Future Speed (Or whatever other name you chose in game).
* EleventhHourRanger: Temporarily joins Team 5D's near the end of the game
* EleventhHourSuperpower: Before the final three duels, he/she gets three special cards: Ally of Justice Decisive Armor, Trident Dragion, and Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier.
* ParentalAbandonment: Later revealed that they both perished alongside Toru's parents on a D-Wheel accident.

!!Toru
----
* BoisterousBruiser
* ChildhoodFriends: With the player.
* DishingOutDirt: Uses a Scrap Deck
* HeartIsAnAwesomePower: Scrap monsters seem to have terrible effects that involve destroying themselves. Seemingly useless, but it helps the Scraps greatly out if used correctly.
* TheLancer
* ParentalAbandonment: Later revealed that they both perished alongside the player's parents on a D-Wheel accident.

!!Misaki
----
* AbortedArc: She tells the main character to evolve their Synchro Summoning, alluding to Accel Synchro and Bruno's role in the anime. This doesn't actually lead up to anything in the story and is dropped entirely.
%%* DeadpanSnarker: Has her moments.
%%* DistaffCounterpart: Of Bruno.
* KillerRabbit: Her Watt monsters are very cute, cartoonish animals that are all out to get you. Averted with her boss monsters, though: Wattchimera and Watthydra are very fierce-looking.
* PerpetualFrowner
* ShockAndAwe: Uses a Watt Deck.
* ShoutOut: Like Bruno/Dark Glass, one to Kamen Rider.
* SugarAndIcePersonality
* {{Tsundere}}: Mostly to Toru
* WeakButSkilled: Her Watt deck. Her monsters are weak, but can lock down your opponent's field. This is used to show how strategic and strong Misaki is.
* WhenSheSmiles
* WrenchWench: Like Bruno, she's good with machines.
* YouGottaHaveBlueHair

!!Klaus
----

[[folder:Crash Town[=/=]Satisfaction Town]]
!!Lotten ''(Lawton)''
[[quoteright:358:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/5aa6dccf59b283d375226fa6596b0fbe.png]]
-> '''Voiced by:''' Creator/MasamiIwasaki (JP); David Wills (EN)

The younger brother of Malcolm, the head of the Malcolm Family. Lotten is a very skilled duelist who conquers Crash Town after Yusei defeats Kiryu of the Ramon Family. Despite that Yusei and Kiryu are sent to the mine and are doomed to work there for the rest of their lives, Lotten rides to the mine to ensure their death and ends up surprising them when they try to escape. Yusei challenges him to a Riding Duel, but in the end Lotten uses dynamite to try and kill Yusei and Kiryu.

Believing they died by falling into a canyon, he, Barbara, and Malcolm's subordinates betray Malcolm and take over Crash Town, renaming it Lotten Town. However, Yusei and Kiryu turn out to be alive, and they challenge him in a 2-on-1 Tag Duel. Lotten loses, and the town is saved by Team Satisfaction. He and Barbara are taken into custody by Security.

He uses an anime-only Ogre burn deck.

* [[AppealToForce Appeal To Dynamite]]: How Lotten ended his Riding Duel with Yusei.
* BadassBaritone: His voice is not only low, it sounds more impressive than any of the other guys from Crash Town.
* ChekhovsGunman: Lotten is first mentioned by Malcolm, and then appears right after Kiryu's defeat and Barbara's betrayal.
* CombatPragmatist: This guy throws dynamite at Yusei and Kiryu in the middle of his Riding Duel with Yusei to kill them. Later he tries to escape in the middle of the Tag Duel, but Kiryu follows him and defeats him.
* CoolBike: His D-Wheel is huge, it can stretch its limbs, and it's equipped with several Duel Disks.
* DragonInChief: He's working for his older brother Malcolm, but Lotten is the best duelist in the family, is very competent, and the FinalBoss in Crash Town. He eventually betrays Malcolm and takes Crash Town over.
* DirtyCoward: When Kiryu gains the upper hand in their duel, he uses his dynamite and runs the first chance he gets. Kiryu chases him down and forces him to continue the duel (or just has him arrested if you watched the English dub).
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: After the viewers are told that he's a skilled duelist who might be able to defeat Kiryu, Lotten defeats Ramon with a First Turn Kill during his first appearance.
* EvilLaugh: Sometimes.
* GatlingGood: Lotten's Gatling Ogre, which is able to perform a First Turn Kill.
* ItsAllAboutMe: He eventually betrays even Barbara in order to escape.
* {{Jerkass}}: He doesn't care for anyone, even his own brother, and he forces his own men to duel against each other when there's nobody from the Ramon Family left.
* MeaningfulName: Lotten (which sounds the same as "Rotton" in Japan) is the obvious one.
* NumerologicalMotif: 800. His Gatling Ogre has 800 ATK and DEF, and it inflicts 800 Effect Damage for each face-down card sent to the graveyard. Also, the ATK and DEF of his Full Armor Ogre and Big Cannon Ogre are twice and thrice as high as Gatling Ogre's.
* OneHitKill: Lotten's Gatling Ogre can perform a First/One Turn Kill, inflicting 800 Effect Damage for each face-down Spell/Trap Card that Lotten sends to the graveyard.
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Lotten/Rotten. The anime uses both variants, though it's only written as "Rotten" during the Riding Duel. The rest of the anime uses "Lotten". In the dub, it's written and pronounced as Lawton.
* TheStarscream: Not only does ''he'' betray his older brother to take over Crash Town, everybody else of the Malcolm Family joins Lotten's side too.
* StoneWall: His Longbarrel Ogre has 0 ATK and 3000 DEF. Despite this it's actually very destructive, since it can destroy the strongest monster on the opponent's field and inflicts Effect Damage equal to half of the destroyed monster's ATK. This effect can be used twice per turn.
* WeakButSkilled: His monsters are not very powerful -- his strongest has only 2400 ATK -- but he's very skilled and inflicts mostly Effect Damage.
* WhipItGood: Uses a whip to prevent Yusei from saving Nico and West in Episode 91.

!!Barbara ''(Barb)''
[[quoteright:358:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/beba92f35cfceac616a77d79c63d0704.png]]
-> '''Voiced by:''' Creator/AkemiOkamura (JP); Creator/LisaOrtiz (EN)

A florist who sent Yusei a letter so that he could come and save Kiryu from Crash Town, under the pretence of being his ally. However, she turns out to be a part of the Malcolm Family, and betrays Yusei right after he defeats Kiryu of the Ramon Family. Later, she betrays Malcolm with Lotten and takes over the town. After Lotten's defeat by Yusei and Kiryu, she and Lotten are taken into custody.

* AdaptationalBadass: This is sort of zigzagged in the video game ''Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's World Championship 2011''. While not as evil in the game, she ''does'' duel the player. (With a Mai Valentine-ish deck.)
* BareYourMidriff: Part of her outfit.
* BitchInSheepsClothing: She pretends to be a nice woman who cares for Kiryu and Yusei, but is actually an egotistical woman who doesn't care for anyone.
* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: Betrays Yusei and then Malcolm. As a part of her karma, she's later betrayed herself by Lotten.
* DecoyDamsel: She pretended to be a helpless woman who wasn't able to save Kiryu from his up-coming "death", and asks Yusei for help to save him. She actually wanted Yusei to defeat him, so that the Ramon Family would lose their best duelist.
* TheDragon: To Lotten.
* EvilLaugh: Together with Lotten in Episode 92.
* FemmeFatale: She seduces Malcolm to take over the town legally, then she gives her right as the owner to Lotten.
* GoldDigger: She says that she's only attracted to men with power. Of course, she prefers Lotten over Malcolm.
* ImpossiblyLowNeckline: Part of her outfit.
* InnocentFlowerGirl: She's a florist who uses her flowers to cover her real nature. She also hides explosives and a shock gun with her flower bouquets.
* {{Jerkass}}: Probably worse than Lotten.
* MeaningfulName: The dub shortens Barbara's name to Barb, which is a word for something spiky or prickly (as in barbed wire).
* MsFanservice: Her outfit is rather {{Stripperific}}, and she uses a whip during the climax.
* TheUnfought: Possibly the most dangerous villain in the franchise who never duels even once; it's not even known if she can. (She does in video games, however.)
* WhipItGood: She's skilled with the whip.
* WouldHurtAChild: She constantly reminds Yusei and Kiryu that she's holding Nico and West hostage. Thankfully, Jack arrives and hits/pushes her for this.

!!Others
----
* AllBikersAreHellsAngels: Both the Malcolm Family and Ramon Family. Though the members of the Ramon Family look more like actual bikers.
* {{Cowboy}}: Both the Malcolm Family and Ramon Family. Though the members of the Malcolm Family look and act more like cowboys.
* {{Determinator}}: The whole three-headed family (Sergei, Nico, and West) do not give up at any point.
* ForeHeadOfDoom: Malcolm has a large forehead.
* HeroicSacrifice: Nico and West's father, Sergei, falls to his death, but saves his children and Kiryu in the process.
* MarkOfShame: The members of the Malcolm Family have criminal markers, with the exception of Lotten and Barbara.
* ShockAndAwe: The mine workers wear collars that give them electric shocks when their slave-drivers play a card on their Duel Disks. There are also shock guns that look like shotguns.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Yliaster]]

!!Ghost
->'''First Ghost Voiced by:''' Masahito Kawanago (Japanese), Creator/JasonGriffith (English)

A mysterious duelist who has been infecting and destroying D-Wheels. It's actually a prototype 'Riding Roid' which was developed by Security to assist in tackling D-Wheel related crimes. Unfortunately it was purloined by Placido, who wanted to give his new cards a test drive, and programmed to hunt down any D-Wheelers holding Synchro monsters. Placido later uses Yusei's engine program to upgrade an army of Riding Roids similar to Ghost, the Diablos, which he later unleashes upon the D-Wheelers at the [=WRGP=] in attempt to complete the Circuit sooner.

The first Ghost uses Placido's deck. The Diablos use Ally of Justice decks.
----
* BaldOfEvil: As seen in ''Tag Force 5'', Ghost is bald underneath his helmet.
* DarkIsEvil: Ghost wears black, rides a black D-Wheel, and has a grey "skin".
* EvilLaugh: A rather creepy one thanks to its robotic voice.
* EvilSoundsDeep: Inverted. The first Ghost has a creepy high-pitched voice.
* GlowingEyesOfDoom: Justified, since the Ghosts are robots.
* GratuitousSpanish: "Diablo" is Spanish for 'Devil'.
* {{Irony}}: Ghost's programmed personality was designed to express a hate for Synchro monsters. Its successor, the Diablos, use Ally of Justice cards, an archetype whose strongest monsters are Synchros.
* MechaMooks: The Diablos are mass-produced Ghosts with the same evil personality.
* RoboticReveal: After Yusei makes it crash and the lads come to help, Crow touches its shoulder and its arm falls off.
* ZergRush: The Diablos force people into Free For All Duels and then swarm them with monsters.

!!Fake Jack Atlas
->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/TakanoriHoshino (Japanese), Creator/TedLewis (English)

A robot created by the three emperors who is disguised as Jack. His personality is based of the time when Jack was the King, but Fake Jack is much more ruthless. Fake Jack has his own Wheel of Fortune and has the same deck as Jack, with the only difference being that Fake Jack has three Red Dragon Archfiends. He commits several crimes on the highway and injures other D-Wheelers to hurt Jack's reputation, and to lure him out. Jack loses to him in their first match, but later he returns and destroys the imposter with Majestic Red Dragon.

He uses the same deck as the real Jack, but with three copies of Red Dragon Archfiend and no Majestic Dragon or Majestic Red Dragon
----

[[folder:Dark Signers]]
The antagonists for the second arc of 5D's. Just as the Crimson Dragon chose the Signers, the Earthbound Immortals chose the Dark Signers. Dark Signers are people who have been revived by the Earthbound Immortals upon their death, usually because they have died harboring revenge towards one of the Signers, hungered for power, or, in one case, displayed a great will to live. According to Rex Godwin, this transformation is irreversible as they are already dead (but he turns out to be wrong).

!!!Here is a list of tropes that can be applied to all of the Dark Signers:
* AlasPoorVillain: Aside from [[FlatCharacter Demak]], their defeats are all heartwrenching moments.
** Bommer realizes that the Dark Signers were really responsible for destruction of his home and is subjected to a VillainOverride when he tries to stop the duel. After he's defeated he uses his last act of live to save Crow from being crushed by falling debris.
** Kiryu learns that Yusei never betrayed him and died as his friend.
** Carly and Jack confess their love, but Carly is subjected to a VillainOverride when Jack gets through to her. He planned to arrange the due to end in a draw so they would die together, but Carly uses a last act of free will to make a move that costs her the duel so only she dies.
** Misty realizes that Divine killed her brother, kills him and tries to surrender because she got her revenge and doesn't want to kill Aki. As you might expect by this point, she's subjected to the same VillainOverride. Aki doesn't want to kill Misty and believes she can save her by destroying Earthbound God. She fails to win without depleting Misty's lifepoints and is devestated to have killed her.
* BackFromTheDead: All of them generally die before becoming a Dark Signer.
* BadassCape: All of them have a cape and are badass duelists.
* BlackCloak: They all wear black clothes.
* BlackEyesOfCrazy: Their eyes turn black once they become Dark Signers.
* BrainwashedAndCrazy: Even if they're originally very kind people, such as Carly, they'll have no qualms about forcing people into a Duel of Darkness.
* CameBackWrong: They are described as undead people.
* DarkIsEvil: Dark clothes, dark monsters, etc. All very evil.
* DeathIsDramatic: Kalin crumbles while held in Yusei's arms within Majestic Star Dragon, Devack and Rutger (to varying degrees) try TakingYouWithMe, Carly and Jack have an AnguishedDeclarationOfLove, and the list goes on.
* DisneyDeath: After being defeated, the people they used to be come back to life.
* EvilCostumeSwitch: Becoming or revealing to be a Dark Signer changes their clothes.
* EvilLaugh: All of them are rather prone to this, particularly if their Earthbound Gods take over. Kiryu's takes the cake though.
* FaceHeelTurn: Most of them were good guys at first.
* FacialMarkings: Aside from their [[PowerTattoo Birthmarks]], they also have patterns on their face similar to the criminal markers.
* FailureIsTheOnlyOption: Trying to reason with a Dark Signer never works. It's certainly possible to appeal to their humanity, but if you do their respective Earthbound God will [[VillainOverride take control of them]].
* TheFatalist: They follow fate as the Dark Signers.
* InstantRunes: When they duel, a huge flaming Geoglyph corresponding to their Earthbound God appears, tearing up the nearby scenery and trapping anyone who is too close - ripe for sacrifice to the Earthbound God.
* NearVillainVictory: The Underworld King was seconds away from getting out.
* TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou: To the Signers.
* RainbowMotif: Each of them have a color scheme that corresponds to their respective Earthbound God; Rutger is red, Demak is yellow, Misty is green, Kiryu is blue, Carly is orange, Bommer is indigo, and Rex is violet.
* RedemptionEqualsDeath: Subverted. The second they become redeemed their Earthbound God will take over the duel instead and, should said God be defeated, the Signer will survive.
* ResetButton: After the Crimson Dragon destroys the King of the Underworld, most of the Dark Signers are brought back to life as they were before they were transformed.
* {{Revenge}}: The Earthbound Gods generally target people who are looking for revenge, and offer them that chance by becoming Dark Signers.
* RuleOfSeven: A total of seven Dark Signers are seen throughout the show.
* TragicVillain: None of them, aside from Demak, were evil people in life. Through one reason or another, they cut a deal with the Earthbound Gods. Rutger was forcibly corrupted by the Earthbound Gods and didn't have much of a say in the matter.
* UndeathAlwaysEnds: The eventual fate of every Dark Signer is to crumble to dust, due to losing Duels of Darkness. However most of them [[UnexplainedRecovery got better]].
* VillainOverride: They can fall victim to this if they don't follow their Earthbound God's orders.
* WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity: The powers of being Dark Signers and the power of the Earthbound God's makes them more and more insane.

!!Rutger Godwin ''(Roman Goodwin)''
[[quoteright:358:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/64c19b1abeab0e277bf6bd2862f6b8b9.png]]
->'''Voiced by:''' Tora Take (Japanese), Creator/MarcDiraison (pre-Dark Signer), Creator/MarcThompson (English)

->''By the time I even realized it, my fate was in the hands of the Gods. I chose the darkness in my own heart. This world will soon be reborn! That is my answer!''

The leader of the Dark Signers, bearing the Spider's Birthmark. The older brother of Rex Godwin and, like him, the former assistant of Dr. Fudo, whom he replaced as lead developer on the Old Momentum Project just before the Zero Reverse occurred.

It is later revealed that he was the original bearer of the Dragon's Head (rather than his brother) who was driven mad by the Jibakushin after looking into Momentum's light. While he still had a small bit of sanity left, he severed his arm and gave it to Rex, telling him to gather the Signers to stop him. He then let Old Momentum run out of control, dying in the resulting explosion and being reborn as a Dark Signer.

He uses a Spider deck built around summoning his trump card, Earthbound Immortal Uru, the spider.

* AnArmAndALeg: He severed his left arm with the Dragon Head mark and gave it to his brother, telling him that he must stop him.
* AntiVillain: After his body got corrupted by his dark birthmark, he decided to become a Dark Signer so his brother and the Signers could stop him. After losing more of his sanity, Rutger's personality is more typically villainous, but his original motivation is still this trope.
* ArtificialLimbs: Like his brother, Rutger has a prosthetic left arm after severing his biological one.
* BigBadWannabe: You think he is the BigBad, but he isn't. [[DiscOneFinalBoss He's not even the last Dark Signer defeated]].
* CainAndAbel: He is actually the Abel to Rex's Cain, but this trope is not played classically. Rex loves his older brother, but to end the circle of the battle between the Signers and Dark Signers, Rex desires the two powers Rutger once possessed. While owning Rutger's Dragon Head arm, Rex duels Rutger in a Duel of Darkness and loses on purpose, so he will die and be revived as a Dark Signer. That's right, it's the Abel who kills Cain.
* DemonicPossession: The spiders he controls can do this.
* DiscOneFinalBoss: He dies before the Dark Signers arc is over, before it's revealed Rex was the BigBad. Not only that, but Rutger is defeated before Carly and Misty.
* EvilSoundsDeep: He has a very deep voice.
* FallenHero: He was originally supposed to a Signer. The Earthbound Gods had other plans and he became a Dark Signer while hoping his brother could stop him.
* GiantSpider: He has them as his superpower, his birthmark, and his deck type.
* HadesShaded: He has a dark tan compared to his brother.
* HairOfGoldHeartOfGold: Before he became a Dark Signer, he was a nice blond man.
* TakingYouWithMe: After losing to Yusei, he detonates his arm and destroys the bridge they were standing on, sending Yusei falling into the depths of Old Momentum.
* TogetherInDeath: After Yusei defeats Rex, the two brothers pass on together.
* WhiteHairBlackHeart: His hair turned white after becoming a Dark Signer.

!!Demak ''(Devack)''
[[quoteright:350: https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/9a2c1f7c8b0a86dbf34eb06fcf9612d81253145326_full1_3500.jpg]]
->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/KenjiNomura (Japanese), Scottie Ray (English)

The Dark Signer with the Monkey's Birthmark. Nothing was revealed about his past, but he was supposed to bear hatred towards the Signers for unknown reasons. He was responsible for the corruption of the Spirit World through his servant Zeman and held control over the seal on Luca's dragon. He was the first Dark Signer to fall, through the combined efforts of Lua and Luca.

He uses a Graveyard-centric Ape deck, and his signature card is Zeman the Ape King. His Earthbound Immortal is Cusillu, the monkey.
-----
* {{Backstory}}: None whatsoever, though WordOfGod says he bore hatred for the Signers for some reason.
* BaldOfEvil: Noticeable when the hood comes off.
* TheBrute: For the Dark Signers, though his actual role appears to be Rutger's NumberTwo.
* EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys: His deck is based on apes and monkeys.
* EvilSoundsDeep: Similar to Rutger.
* FamousLastWords: "Rutger, forgive me, Demak, for being of no help. Glory to the Dark Signers!"
* FauxAffablyEvil: Demak has a rather polite speech pattern and he is not much of a jerk, but he's not a nice villain either and wants to crush his opponents regardless if they're Signers or not.
* FlatCharacter: The least developed Dark Signer personality-wise, with no backstory to speak of. All we know about this guy is that he's evil and hates the Signers for some reason.
* InTheHood: Unlike the others, he keeps his hood up even while dueling.
* NotSoStoic: Sometimes he laughs a bit. During the climax of his duel, he is more emotional.
* ScaryBlackMan: He really is, though it's not addressed.
* TheStoic: Demak doesn't show that much emotion and keeps a serious face for most of his appearance.
* UndyingLoyalty: To Rutger.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: It's unknown what becomes of him after he is brought back to life.

!!Kyosuke Kiryu ''(Kalin Kessler)''
[[quoteright:358:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/eca27892871756ac48b641e3d1dd4b70.png]]
->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/YukiOno (Japanese), Creator/MarcDiraison (English)

->''[[{{Shinigami}} Gods of Death don't die.]]''

The Dark Signer chosen to bear the Giant's Birthmark, Kiryu was once the leader of Team Satisfaction, a group consisting of himself, Yusei, Jack and Crow. Together they managed to defeat every other Duel Gang around and 'conquer' Satellite. However, he wasn't satisfied with this and kept looking for more enemies to defeat, becoming more sadistic and eventually causing his teammates to desert him.

This culminated in him provoking Security, severely injuring an officer before being arrested. A misunderstanding led Kiryu to believe that Yusei betrayed him, when he was actually trying to take the fall for Kiryu. Kiryu later died in prison and became a Dark Signer to take revenge. His first duel with Yusei gets interrupted due to Yusei's D-Wheel crashing at the very moment that Kiryu is about to win with his Earthbound God Ccapac Apu's attack. His rematch ends with his defeat, with Kiryu realising that Yusei never betrayed him before dying in his arms. After the defeat of the King of the Underworld, Kiryu is revived as a normal human who begins wandering around the world.

He eventually remembers his sins as a Dark Signer and cannot forgive himself for all the things he has done. With Duel Monsters being the only thing that keeps him alive he reaches Crash Town, a place where the losers are doomed to die in hell[[note]]There are two families that are competing against each other. Both send a duelist that represents them. The loser becomes a slave worker and works in a mine to work for his rest of his life[[/note]], and he continues dueling for the Ramon family until the day he can "find his death". However, due to an intrigue of the Malcolm Family, Yusei ends up in Crash Town with the intent to save Kiryu. Yusei defeats Kiryu in a showdown duel, and both of them are sent to the mine.

Despite Kiryu constantly telling Yusei that he wants to die to pay for his sins, Yusei forces him to escape from the mine. Yusei and the two children who admire Kiryu, West and Nico, as well as the father of the children (Sergei) convince Kiryu to live, and he decides to protect the people in the town. After defeating Lotten, the new leader of Crash/Lotten Town, Kiryu takes over the town with the help of Team Satisfaction and renames the town Satisfaction Town.

He uses an Infernity deck, and his signature card is Infernity Doom Dragon. His Earthbound Immortal is Ccapac Apu, the giant.
-----
* TheAtoner: During the Crash Town arc.
* AxCrazy: Easily the most AxCrazy of the Dark Signers.
* BadassBiker: As a Dark Signer.
* BadassLongcoat: He wears one of these during the Crash Town arc.
* BareYourMidriff: His Dark Signer outfit.
* BeardOfSorrow: A variation: Kiryu in the Crash Town arc is so depressed that he's not even bothering with cutting his hair; it's longer and has bangs that nearly cover his eyes.
* BloodKnight: Kiryu's search for satisfaction via dueling became like an obsession. Even after conquering Satellite he challenged every remaining team his team could find, regardless of whether the adversaries were jerks or not. It became the reason why Crow and Jack distanced themselves from Kiryu, and even Yusei left when he decided to try and crush Security. As a Dark Signer, Kiryu became an AxCrazy BloodKnight who enjoyed inflicting damage on Yusei. After being revived as a normal man, Kiryu lost his joy for ''Duel Monsters'' until Yusei reminded him of it.
* CameBackStrong: Kiryu's old deck was apparently a Beatdown deck with strong Level 4 monsters. After being revived as a Dark Signer he has an Infernity deck, a strong archetype that technically defeated Yusei and left Kiryu undefeated for a long period of time.
* DarkIsNotEvil: Kiryu got his Infernity deck when he became Dark Signer. He still uses it after he is revived as a normal human.
* DeathSeeker: At the start of the Crash Town arc.
* DespairEventHorizon: After being brought to prison he endured every physical mistreatment, but he finally broke when Security took his deck from him. Before he died there he made a DealWithTheDevil to get revenge on Yusei, who ''apparently'' betrayed him.
* TheDragon: Helped by the 'Ryu' (Dragon) in his name. Though technically Demak acts more like the NumberTwo.
* EvilLaugh: Probably the best example within this series. His laugh rivals [[Manga/YuGiOh Yami Bakura]].
* ForgottenFriendNewFoe: In part due to the ExpansionPackPast.
* ItsAllMyFault: He blames his actions for being a Dark Signer on himself.
* LaughingMad: He '''loves''' to break into a terrifying EvilLaugh at any given moment.
* TheLeader: Of Team Satisfaction, which included Yusei, Jack, and Crow.
* MyHeroZero: Infernity Zero. Also, his Infernity monsters can only use their effects if he has zero cards in his hand.
* NearVillainVictory: During his first duel with Yusei, he would have killed him if Yusei's D-Wheel hadn't [[PlotDrivenBreakdown given out]] from the damage it had sustained.
* NormallyIWouldBeDeadNow: He possesses a special monster, Infernity Zero, that allows him to remain in a Duel even if his LP is zero. He uses it to survive Lotten's One Turn Kill.
* NumerologicalMotif: His three ace monsters, Earthbound God Ccapac Apu, One-Hundred Eye Dragon, and Infernity Doom Dragon, have all 3000 ATK.
* PromotionToParent: At the end of the Crash Town Arc, for Nico and West.
* RedemptionEqualsDeath: He did [[UnexplainedRecovery get better]] though.
* TheRival: To Yusei in the Dark Signer arc.
* RussianRoulette: His cards ''Infernity Randomizer'' and ''Infernity Death Gunman'' have damage effects that emulate this.
* {{Shinigami}}: What he is called by some of the people in Crash Town, and he calls himself this in the final duel of the arc as well.
--> '''Kiryu''': "I told you, I'm a God of Death. [[BadassBoast Gods of Death]] ''[[BadassBoast don't die]]''."
* ShoutOut: When using Infernity Des Gunman; "To be honest, [[Film/DirtyHarry I've forgotten how many monsters there are in my Deck]]."
* TrueCompanions: He deeply cares for his friends, and he risked his life to save Yusei during their time in Team Satisfaction. Yusei tried to sell himself out as Team Satisfaction's leader to protect Kiryu, but he failed, which led to a big misunderstanding between Kiryu and Yusei. Yusei, Jack, and Crow still regarded him as their best friend even after he became a Dark Signer, and their friendship returned completely in the end of the Crash Town arc.
* UsedToBeASweetKid: Shown in the manga to be caring towards the other kids trained under Godwin and even his [[WellIntentionedExtremist stealing Red Demon's Dragon was more for Jack's sake.]] Then it went and started corrupting him...
* WhiteHairBlackHeart: While as a Dark Signer.

!!Carly Nagisa ''(Carly Carmine)''
[[quoteright:358:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/424b8f8806adc9f01768549815a54b70.png]]
->'''Voiced by:''' Li-Mei Chiang (Dark Signer-WRGP pre Finals), Aki Kanada (Japanese), Creator/VeronicaTaylor (English)

->''When I cheer on someone doing their best, I think I can do a little better myself. That alone makes me happy.''

An unsuccessful, clumsy, and nervous reporter, who becomes tangled up in the events of the series after noticing the Dragon's Birthmark during Yusei and Jack's duel at the end of the Fortune Cup. In the process she learns many secrets, but something usually prevents her from writing a story about it. She uses a Fortune-Telling Deck to read her own fortune and decide on her actions.

She meets Jack Atlas when he is attacked by a possessed Ushio, and after helping Jack fend him off she safeguards him from the media at her home. During his stay with her she learns about his past and how foolish he has been, and gives him some advice that helps him to find his way. As events become more dangerous he leaves her behind for her own safety, but Carly, having developed feelings for him, follows his trail - with disastrous consequences.

She uses destiny-themed decks, which she uses to tell her fortune as well as to duel. She starts off using a Fortune Fairy deck, which is focused on swarming and powering up weak Normal fairies. After being reborn as a Dark Signer, this evolves into a Fortune Lady deck, comprising monsters that become more powerful as time passes plus spell and trap cards with stall effects. Her Earthbound Immortal is Aslla piscu, the hummingbird.

* AffablyEvil: As a Dark Signer she's still nice to Jack and tries to turn him over to her side. She only acts like an evil bitch to Divine, the guy who killed her, but he deserved it anyway.
* AlliterativeName: Her name is ''C''arly ''C''armine in the English dub.
* BackFromTheDead: Comes back to life after the final battle with Rex Goodwin, with no memories of her stint as a Dark Signer.
* BareYourMidriff: In her Dark Signer outfit.
* BeautifulAllAlong: Without her glasses on (as you already knew).
* BikerBabe: As a Dark Signer. Carly is also the first female D-Wheeler of the series.
* BreakTheCutie: Who can blame her for breaking down in tears at the end of Episode 39. She thinks she's killed someone, seems doomed to a future of evil that will have her fight her beloved, and on top of that, she's dead.
* ButtMonkey: The poor girl is chronically incapable of catching a break.
* CameBackStrong: As a Dark Signer, she is revived with a stronger version of her old deck. She then gets to strut her stuff by beating down Divine, who absolutely massacred her a short time ago.
* CharacterDevelopment: One of the more fleshed-out characters in the series. Until the ResetButton.
* ClingyJealousGirl: After the Dark Signers arc.
* ContraltoOfDanger: Has a low voice as a Dark Signer.
* CuteClumsyGirl: She trips a lot, though she is capable of jumping a fence when motivated.
* DangerouslyShortSkirt: Her Dark Signer outfit.
* DarkActionGirl: As a Dark Signer.
* DemotedToExtra: After being quite prominent in the Dark Signer arc, her character was dropped like a hot potato in the next season. She became just another one of Jack's fangirls, without any mention of their ''mutual'' love confession.
* DiedInYourArmsTonight: In Jack's. She gets better.
* DisneyVillainDeath: Her first death is the product of Divine [[DestinationDefenestration sending her out a window with his psychic powers]]; the impact is never shown, though her body is.
* TheDogBitesBack: After [[CurbStompBattle losing]] to Divine and being thrown out of a window, she accepts the offer of the Eartbound Gods and then she [[CurbStompBattle returns him]] the favor.
* DramaticIrony: She snuck into Arcadia to try to get closer to Jack. [[GoneHorriblyRight She succeeded.]]
* DyingDeclarationOfLove: Even though she has dropped not-so-subtle hint about her feeling towards Jack, only when she was about to [[DisneyDeath die]] did she let the L word out (in the original version, at least).
* {{Evil is Sexy}}[[invoked]]: She loses half her clothing when she becomes a Dark Signer. At the same time, her monsters change from cute girls to adult women in heels and lingerie.
* {{Expy}}: With her glasses on, she seems like a female version of Mousse from ''Ranma 1/2''.
* FightingYourFriend: Against Jack.
* FingerlessGloves: Part of her Dark Signer outfit.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: Though by then it was pretty obvious how screwed Divine was.
* AFriendInNeed: In the dub, she is this to Jack.
* GoingForTheBigScoop: As a part of her IntrepidReporter status. She knows fully well that The Arcadia Movement is dangerous, but her curiosity and desire to understand Jack more won over. It led to her demise via Divine... [[CameBackStrong for all of five minutes]].
* TheGlassesGottaGo: Happens a lot in the Dark Signer arc.
* HeroicSacrifice: Despite the emissary of the underworld having her under control, Carly still has enough of her own will to end the duel against Jack by activating a Trap Card that defeats herself, preventing Jack ending the duel in a draw that would kill both of them.
* HiddenBuxom: Though still visible in her normal outfit, her Dark Signer outfit shows how stacked she is.
* HotWitch: Her Fortune Fairy deck are ones that were formerly CuteWitch. She herself looks like one as a Dark Signer.
* IntrepidReporter: Her job. Apparently, she's not a good reporter either.
* KickTheSonOfABitch: After coming back from the dead the first thing he does is send Divine out of the same building he throw her out of.
* LaserGuidedAmnesia: She doesn't remember anything about her time as a Dark Signer.
* LotusEaterMachine: Inflicts this on Jack while in her Dark Signer mindset, showing him a future where he loses, is turned into a Dark Signer, and rules a world turned to hell with her at his side. He snaps out of it when he realizes that the Carly he knows wouldn't want that.
* LoveMakesYouEvil: The possibility of a future with Jack is what caused her to slip into her Dark Signer persona for a 2nd time.
* {{Meganekko}}: When her eyes are visible.
* MsFanservice: As a Dark Signer she wears a DangerouslyShortSkirt with a dose of BareYourMidriff, and is also the first BikerBabe.
* OfficialCouple: With Jack, one of the most canon-supported pairings. Though the ResetButton was pushed after she came back to life and they both act as if their mutual love confession never happened.
* OpaqueNerdGlasses: Her trademark.
* {{Otaku}}: Hinted.
* SheKnowsTooMuch: The reason Divine killed her.
* SlowMotionFall: Both times when she's defeated by Divine and Jack.
* SparklingStreamOfTears: Does this at the start of Episode 47 when Jack finds out what she's become.
* SuperpoweredEvilSide: Her Dark Signer self is a much stronger duelist.
* ThinksLikeARomanceNovel: Her Jack fantasies. Complete with roses, sparkles, and even a baby.
* TookALevelInBadass: Twice. First when she came back as a Dark Signer and gave Divine what was coming to him. Second when she became the first female D-Wheeler in the series and not only that, actually could have defeated Jack if she so chose. Considering her introduction at the start of the season, who could have seen it coming?
* WhatBeautifulEyes: Beautiful gray-blue ones visible without her glasses.
* WhatHaveIBecome: Happens in quick succession after "WhatHaveIDone" when she regains her senses after her battle with Divine, realizing that she (seemingly) just killed someone and is now undead.

!!Misty Lola ''(Misty Tredwell)''
[[quoteright:358:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/0caacb67c174bff091a5b5c6e602f410.png]]
->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/JunkoMinagawa (Japanese), Creator/CarrieKeranen (English)

->''(to Aki) Nothing will make him come back now. But, I want you to apologize at the very least... by going to where he is and doing so!''

The Dark Signer with the Lizard Birthmark. She is a top model, and like Carly she practices fortune-telling (though she reads people by facial appearance rather than through cards). She became a Dark Signer after her brother Toby was killed. Misty fell into depression following his death, leading to her losing focus and crashing her car in the ocean. While in hospital, she was spared by Ccarayhua and instructed to kill Aki - the one believed to be responsible.

Misty is the last member of the Dark Signer group to be defeated, and during her duel against Aki she learns the truth about the circumstances behind Toby's death; in doing so, she's able to succeed in her revenge by killing the true murderer Divine. After her revival, she became pen pals with Aki.

She uses a Reptilianne deck, supported by an anime-only Sad Story lockdown. Her trump card is Dragon Queen of Tragic Endings. Her Earthbound Immortal is Ccarayhua, the lizard.

* AntiVillain: She's one of the least vicious of the Dark Signers and only wants revenge against the person who killed her brother. She also doesn't care much about her mission, and tries to surrender her duel with Aki after she killed the true murderer. [[VillainOverride It doesn't end well.]]
* AloofDarkHairedGirl: Misty is the most popular model in the world. She is also quiet, reserved, and has little use for high society events.
* CoolBigSis: Misty deeply loves her younger brother and doesn't despise him being a psychic. She also acts like one to Carly.
* DarkActionGirl: She's the first female Dark Signer.
* DeathSeeker: Intended to take her own life after getting her revenge. The Earthbound Gods had other plans.
* EveryoneHasStandards: After she learns Divine is the real killer, she tries to forfiet her duel with Aki because she didn't want to kill an innocent person. Her [[VillainOverride Earthbound God wouldn't allow it.]]
* GenreBlindness: She thought she could cut a deal with an EldritchAbomination and then walk away when she got what she wanted. She was dead wrong.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: She sees the 'shadow of death' about Carly, predicting her death in the near-future. Sure enough, 8 episodes later...
* GorgeousGorgon: Some of her Reptilianne monsters are gorgons.
* HallOfMirrors: Made her last stand in one, and has a Field Spell called ''Mirror Labyrinth''.
* KickTheSonOfABitch: When Divine blurts out that he was the one who killed her brother, she has Ccarayhua eat him.
* LadyOfWar: She's an elegant beauty and quite the deadly duelist.
* NearVillainVictory: Not quite as terrifying as Kiryu, but she was in a position where all she needed to do was declare an attack with Ccarayhua to win. She was only delayed by Aslla piscu destroying the skyscraper.
* RevengeBeforeReason: Misty in particular has tunnel vision focused squarely on Aki due to her belief that Aki killed her brother, in spite of Aki's repeated protests that she doesn't remember him. While it turns out that Aki ''did'' meet Toby, she'd never heard anything about his death.
* TakenForGranite: What her Reptilianne Gorgon likes to do to her opponent's monsters.

!!Bommer ''(Greiger)''
[[quoteright:358:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/236caa7df403d316222a401b4c15f575.png]]
->'''Voiced by:''' Keiji Hirai (Japanese), Creator/SeanSchemmel (English)

->''[[RoaringRampageOfRevenge Vengeance is the darkness in one's heart which will never die out!]]''

Bommer initially appears as a participant in the Fortune Cup - an honorable duelist, proud yet stoic, who is perfectly willing to admonish the crowd at the Stadium when they start to speak ill of Yusei due to his marker. He comes from a destitute village and, like Crow, learned everything he knows from Duel Monsters Cards.

He's in a deal with Godwin to expose the Signers in the tournament in return for financial aid for his village. However, before his duel with Yusei, Bommer learns that his village has been destroyed, apparently by one of Godwin's experiments to summon the Crimson Dragon. This leads to him attacking Godwin after he is defeated, only to be stopped by Yusei. Afterwards, he is arrested by Security. During the attack on the Arcadia Movement, he is freed from custody by Demak, who invites him to join the Dark Signers to get revenge on Yliaster for his village's destruction. Later, when Demak is defeated, Rutger hangs Bommer over Old Momentum in order to make him a replacement Dark Signer, giving him the Killer Whale Birthmark and a second chance at revenge.

Crow challenges Bommer before he gets a chance to duel Yusei again, and Bommer eventually realizes that his village was destroyed by the Dark Signers. Crow manages to defeat him and saves the souls of the villagers -- making Bommer the second Dark Signer to be defeated. After he is revived, Bommer returns to his village.

He uses a Reactor lockdown deck built around summoning his signature card, Flying Fortress SKY FIRE. His Earthbound Immortal is Chacu Challhua, the whale.

* AntiVillain: He is tricked by the Dark Signers to become a Dark Signer himself, and they make him believe that his village was destroyed by Godwin and the Crimson Dragon.
* BadassBaritone: His voice is low and he's a strong duelist.
* BadassBiker: Not only is he a very skilled duelist and D-Wheeler, he almost assassinates Godwin with his D-Wheel.
* BiggerIsBetter: What he invokes with his D-Wheel.
* CoolBike: His D-Wheel is ridiculously huge and puts a huge pressure on his opponent.
* DoomedHometown: His home was destroyed by the Dark Signers, who made him believe it was Godwin's doing.
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: He's introduced with a PetTheDog moment where he stands up for Yusei, immediately revealing that he is an honorable duelist.
* LightningBruiser:
** His D-Wheel is huge, fast, and robust.
** His deck also relies on swarming monsters that can inflict effect damage to the opponent, and his boss monster is a very powerful card that can destroy other cards during either player's turn.
* MrExposition: During the Crimson Devil sub-arc.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Becomes shocked when Crow informs him that he sacrificed his people to Chacu Challhua, hesitating and questioning his reasons for fighting.
* NoSell: A bridge collaspses on him during his duel with Crow. It doesn't leave a mark. It demonstrated that the only way to get of a Dark Signer to beat them in a duel, nothing else will work.
* NotSoDifferent: He realizes that he has a lot in common with Crow. Both came from a poor place, they learned reading and math from ''Duel Monsters'', both shared their experiences with children, and they're both motivated by revenge when said children vanish.
* PetTheDog: To Yusei. See WhatTheHellHero below.
* RedemptionEqualsDeath: After his battle with Crow, he rams into him into order to save him from falling debris. Like the other Dark Signers, however, he [[UnexplainedRecovery gets better]].
* {{Revenge}}: Towards Godwin, which is why he became a Dark Signer.
* SixthRanger: He's the sixth Dark Signer, and Demak's replacement. He's also not assigned to guard one of the four towers or the Old Momentum, but to defeat Yusei, despite that already being Kiryu's "job".
* SlasherSmile: A little bit in the Fortune Cup arc. Definitely as a Dark Signer.
* SpikedWheels: On his D-Wheel.
* WhatTheHellHero: Delivers a magnificent one to the crowd in the Fortune Cup when they start booing Yusei for being a Satellite citizen:
--> '''Bommer''': "This man is undoubtedly a duelist, selected under the same conditions as we were. If one has cards, marker or no marker, they are the same as everyone else, and the people standing here should be ashamed of nothing. It is all of you, looking at him through your trivial rose-colored glasses, who are nothing short of vicious."
* TheWorfEffect: Despite his amazing strategy and powerful monsters, he has only won once on-screen (against Lua). He lost to Yusei, Crow, and Jack (off-screen).

!!Rex Godwin (Rex Goodwin)

->''Friends, bonds, legends, love - What good have they done? [[YouCantFightFate Have they managed to even put a ''dent'' in destiny!?]] Destiny merely scoffs at us, unchanged! [[ScrewDestiny However, I shall proceed upon the remaining path]]... [[WellIntentionedExtremist I shall create a new world!!]]''

See ''Public Security Maintenance Bureau''.

!!Dick Pitt ''(Grady)''
->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/YoshimasaHosoya (Japanese) Gary Mack(English)

Actually a normal street duelist, he is introduced as one of Rutger's BrainwashedAndCrazy Dark Signer Drones. He's the first enemy who drags one of the main characters into a Duel of Darkness, mentioning the existence of the Dark Signers and introducing the Dark Tuner Monsters and Dark Synchro Monsters. Rutger sends him to test Yusei, but Dick gets OTK'd by the latter's Nitro Warrior.

He uses an ice-themed deck built around summoning his trump card, Frozen Fitzgerald.

* AntiMagic: His ace monster Frozen Fitzgerald prevents the opponent from activating any Spell or Trap Cards when it attacks.
* BackFromTheDead: His ace monster, Frozen Fitzgerald, comes back in Defense Mode whenever it's destroyed. Yusei uses this to his advantage by using Nitro Warrior's effect.
* DoubleEntendre: [[DubNameChange Probably the reason his name got changed in the dub]].
* EvilIsHammy: He sounds rather dramatic while brainwashed.
* GigglingVillain: It's not that bad, though.
* GlowingEyesOfDoom: The whole time, indicating that he's BrainwashedAndCrazy.
* AnIcePerson: His deck as a Dark Signer Drone is mostly built with ice monsters, notably his ace monster Frozen Fitzgerald.
* InTheHood: During his entire duel with Yusei, Dick wears a hood that conceals his identity and makes him look evil.
* {{Mook}}: He's just one of Rutger's pawns, and Dick is not even a real Dark Signer. He doesn't have much personality either.
* StarterVillain: He's the StarterVillain of the Dark Signer arc. He introduces the Dark Signers, Dark Tuner Monsters, Dark Synchro Monsters, and the Duels of Darkness. Not bad for a minor villain.
* TookALevelInBadass: It's shown that his Dark Signer deck is much more powerful than his regular deck. Seriously, his normal deck has ''Karate Man'' in it.
* UnfortunateNames: ''Dick Pitt''.
* VillainOfTheWeek: He comes directly after Yusei defeated Jack in the Fortune Cup, and his duel lasts two episodes.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Crash Town[=/=]Satisfaction Town]]
!!Lotten ''(Lawton)''
[[quoteright:358:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/5aa6dccf59b283d375226fa6596b0fbe.png]]
-> '''Voiced by:''' Creator/MasamiIwasaki (JP); David Wills (EN)

The younger brother of Malcolm, the head of the Malcolm Family. Lotten is a very skilled duelist who conquers Crash Town after Yusei defeats Kiryu of the Ramon Family. Despite that Yusei and Kiryu are sent to the mine and are doomed to work there for the rest of their lives, Lotten rides to the mine to ensure their death and ends up surprising them when they try to escape. Yusei challenges him to a Riding Duel, but in the end Lotten uses dynamite to try and kill Yusei and Kiryu.

Believing they died by falling into a canyon, he, Barbara, and Malcolm's subordinates betray Malcolm and take over Crash Town, renaming it Lotten Town. However, Yusei and Kiryu turn out to be alive, and they challenge him in a 2-on-1 Tag Duel. Lotten loses, and the town is saved by Team Satisfaction. He and Barbara are taken into custody by Security.

He uses an anime-only Ogre burn deck.

* [[AppealToForce Appeal To Dynamite]]: How Lotten ended his Riding Duel with Yusei.
* BadassBaritone: His voice is not only low, it sounds more impressive than any of the other guys from Crash Town.
* ChekhovsGunman: Lotten is first mentioned by Malcolm, and then appears right after Kiryu's defeat and Barbara's betrayal.
* CombatPragmatist: This guy throws dynamite at Yusei and Kiryu in the middle of his Riding Duel with Yusei to kill them. Later he tries to escape in the middle of the Tag Duel, but Kiryu follows him and defeats him.
* CoolBike: His D-Wheel is huge, it can stretch its limbs, and it's equipped with several Duel Disks.
* DragonInChief: He's working for his older brother Malcolm, but Lotten is the best duelist in the family, is very competent, and the FinalBoss in Crash Town. He eventually betrays Malcolm and takes Crash Town over.
* DirtyCoward: When Kiryu gains the upper hand in their duel, he uses his dynamite and runs the first chance he gets. Kiryu chases him down and forces him to continue the duel (or just has him arrested if you watched the English dub).
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: After the viewers are told that he's a skilled duelist who might be able to defeat Kiryu, Lotten defeats Ramon with a First Turn Kill during his first appearance.
* EvilLaugh: Sometimes.
* GatlingGood: Lotten's Gatling Ogre, which is able to perform a First Turn Kill.
* ItsAllAboutMe: He eventually betrays even Barbara in order to escape.
* {{Jerkass}}: He doesn't care for anyone, even his own brother, and he forces his own men to duel against each other when there's nobody from the Ramon Family left.
* MeaningfulName: Lotten (which sounds the same as "Rotton" in Japan) is the obvious one.
* NumerologicalMotif: 800. His Gatling Ogre has 800 ATK and DEF, and it inflicts 800 Effect Damage for each face-down card sent to the graveyard. Also, the ATK and DEF of his Full Armor Ogre and Big Cannon Ogre are twice and thrice as high as Gatling Ogre's.
* OneHitKill: Lotten's Gatling Ogre can perform a First/One Turn Kill, inflicting 800 Effect Damage for each face-down Spell/Trap Card that Lotten sends to the graveyard.
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Lotten/Rotten. The anime uses both variants, though it's only written as "Rotten" during the Riding Duel. The rest of the anime uses "Lotten". In the dub, it's written and pronounced as Lawton.
* TheStarscream: Not only does ''he'' betray his older brother to take over Crash Town, everybody else of the Malcolm Family joins Lotten's side too.
* StoneWall: His Longbarrel Ogre has 0 ATK and 3000 DEF. Despite this it's actually very destructive, since it can destroy the strongest monster on the opponent's field and inflicts Effect Damage equal to half of the destroyed monster's ATK. This effect can be used twice per turn.
* WeakButSkilled: His monsters are not very powerful -- his strongest has only 2400 ATK -- but he's very skilled and inflicts mostly Effect Damage.
* WhipItGood: Uses a whip to prevent Yusei from saving Nico and West in Episode 91.

!!Barbara ''(Barb)''
[[quoteright:358:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/beba92f35cfceac616a77d79c63d0704.png]]
-> '''Voiced by:''' Creator/AkemiOkamura (JP); Creator/LisaOrtiz (EN)

A florist who sent Yusei a letter so that he could come and save Kiryu from Crash Town, under the pretence of being his ally. However, she turns out to be a part of the Malcolm Family, and betrays Yusei right after he defeats Kiryu of the Ramon Family. Later, she betrays Malcolm with Lotten and takes over the town. After Lotten's defeat by Yusei and Kiryu, she and Lotten are taken into custody.
----
* AdaptationalBadass: This is sort of zigzagged in the video game ''Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's World Championship 2011''. While not as evil in the game, she ''does'' duel the player. (With a Mai Valentine-ish deck.)
* BareYourMidriff: Part of her outfit.
* BitchInSheepsClothing: She pretends to be a nice woman who cares for Kiryu and Yusei, but is actually an egotistical woman who doesn't care for anyone.
* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: Betrays Yusei and then Malcolm. As a part of her karma, she's later betrayed herself by Lotten.
* DecoyDamsel: She pretended to be a helpless woman who wasn't able to save Kiryu from his up-coming "death", and asks Yusei for help to save him. She actually wanted Yusei to defeat him, so that the Ramon Family would lose their best duelist.
* TheDragon: To Lotten.
* EvilLaugh: Together with Lotten in Episode 92.
* FemmeFatale: She seduces Malcolm to take over the town legally, then she gives her right as the owner to Lotten.
* GoldDigger: She says that she's only attracted to men with power. Of course, she prefers Lotten over Malcolm.
* ImpossiblyLowNeckline: Part of her outfit.
* InnocentFlowerGirl: She's a florist who uses her flowers to cover her real nature. She also hides explosives and a shock gun with her flower bouquets.
* {{Jerkass}}: Probably worse than Lotten.
* MeaningfulName: The dub shortens Barbara's name to Barb, which is a word for something spiky or prickly (as in barbed wire).
* MsFanservice: Her outfit is rather {{Stripperific}}, and she uses a whip during the climax.
* TheUnfought: Possibly the most dangerous villain in the franchise who never duels even once; it's not even known if she can. (She does in video games, however.)
* WhipItGood: She's skilled with the whip.
* WouldHurtAChild: She constantly reminds Yusei and Kiryu that she's holding Nico and West hostage. Thankfully, Jack arrives and hits/pushes her for this.

!!Others
----
* AllBikersAreHellsAngels: Both the Malcolm Family and Ramon Family. Though the members of the Ramon Family look more like actual bikers.
* {{Cowboy}}: Both the Malcolm Family and Ramon Family. Though the members of the Malcolm Family look and act more like cowboys.
* {{Determinator}}: The whole three-headed family (Sergei, Nico, and West) do not give up at any point.
* ForeHeadOfDoom: Malcolm has a large forehead.
* HeroicSacrifice: Nico and West's father, Sergei, falls to his death, but saves his children and Kiryu in the process.
* MarkOfShame: The members of the Malcolm Family have criminal markers, with the exception of Lotten and Barbara.
* ShockAndAwe: The mine workers wear collars that give them electric shocks when their slave-drivers play a card on their Duel Disks. There are also shock guns that look like shotguns.

[[folder:Yliaster]]

!!Ghost
->'''First Ghost Voiced by:''' Masahito Kawanago (Japanese), Creator/JasonGriffith (English)

A mysterious duelist who has been infecting and destroying D-Wheels. It's actually a prototype 'Riding Roid' which was developed by Security to assist in tackling D-Wheel related crimes. Unfortunately it was purloined by Placido, who wanted to give his new cards a test drive, and programmed to hunt down any D-Wheelers holding Synchro monsters. Placido later uses Yusei's engine program to upgrade an army of Riding Roids similar to Ghost, the Diablos, which he later unleashes upon the D-Wheelers at the [=WRGP=] in attempt to complete the Circuit sooner.

The first Ghost uses Placido's deck. The Diablos use Ally of Justice decks.
----
* BaldOfEvil: As seen in ''Tag Force 5'', Ghost is bald underneath his helmet.
* DarkIsEvil: Ghost wears black, rides a black D-Wheel, and has a grey "skin".
* EvilLaugh: A rather creepy one thanks to its robotic voice.
* EvilSoundsDeep: Inverted. The first Ghost has a creepy high-pitched voice.
* GlowingEyesOfDoom: Justified, since the Ghosts are robots.
* GratuitousSpanish: "Diablo" is Spanish for 'Devil'.
* {{Irony}}: Ghost's programmed personality was designed to express a hate for Synchro monsters. Its successor, the Diablos, use Ally of Justice cards, an archetype whose strongest monsters are Synchros.
* MechaMooks: The Diablos are mass-produced Ghosts with the same evil personality.
* RoboticReveal: After Yusei makes it crash and the lads come to help, Crow touches its shoulder and its arm falls off.
* ZergRush: The Diablos force people into Free For All Duels and then swarm them with monsters.

!!Fake Jack Atlas
->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/TakanoriHoshino (Japanese), Creator/TedLewis (English)

A robot created by the three emperors who is disguised as Jack. His personality is based of the time when Jack was the King, but Fake Jack is much more ruthless. Fake Jack has his own Wheel of Fortune and has the same deck as Jack, with the only difference being that Fake Jack has three Red Dragon Archfiends. He commits several crimes on the highway and injures other D-Wheelers to hurt Jack's reputation, and to lure him out. Jack loses to him in their first match, but later he returns and destroys the imposter with Majestic Red Dragon.

He uses the same deck as the real Jack, but with three copies of Red Dragon Archfiend and no Majestic Dragon or Majestic Red Dragon
----
* BadassBiker: Pretty much the only thing to describe his impossible maneuvers.
* CarFu: What he does with his Wheel of Fortune.
* DarkIsEvil: He has the same color scheme as the real Jack, only darker.
* EvilKnockoff: To Jack. His personality is based off of Jack from Season 1. (Jack even gives him a lengthy WorldOfCardboardSpeech on that to boot.)
* EvilSoundsDeep: Inverted in the dub, where his voice is higher than the real Jack.
* ImposterForgotOneDetail: His deck contains ''multiple'' copies of Red Dragon Archfiend, which is impossible in-universe. This is what ultimately clears Jack.
* {{Jerkass}}: He's based off the old Jack after all.
* LargeHam: He is surprisingly a bit less hammy than the real Jack, but he's hammy enough to scare him.
* MirrorMatch: With Jack, of course.
* NonIndicativeName: His three Red Demon's Dragons are purple, blue, and yellow instead of red.
* RedEyesTakeWarning: Fake Jack has red eyes instead of purple.
* RoboticReveal: When his body is destroyed by Savior Demon Dragon.
* RuleOfThree: He has three Red Demon's Dragons, which might be a nod to Kaiba's three Blue-Eyes White Dragons. However, his Red Demon's Dragons have different colors.

!!The Three Emperors of Yliaster
[[quoteright:350: https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/300px-Yliaster_No_Sankotei1_9776.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[-From left to right: Lucciano, Jose and Placido.-] ]]

A mysterious trio from Yliaster who succeed Godwin as the Head of the Bureau, and the main antagonists of the third arc. Initially not much is known about them, but they apparently intend to use the power of the duelists competing in the WRGP to complete a "circuit" with which they can discover the 'location of god' and attain an even greater power. Their main goal, however, is to change the future by destroying Neo Domino City.

During Team 5D's confrontation with them in the W.R.G.P, it is revealed that they are, in fact, the same being divided into three, each of them representing a period of despair in the life of a man called Aporia.

* BigBadTriumvirate: Later deposed in favor of a single BigBad, their true form Aporia.
* BigThinShortTrio: Jose is big, Placido is thin, and Lucciano is short.
* ButForMeItWasTuesday: They have "erased" so many people throughout the years that they can't recall any specifics, such as Sherry's parents.
* DespairEventHorizon: Each of them represent the three different times Aporia crossed it.
** Lucciano represents the time when he lost his parents.
** Placido represents the time when he lost the one he loved.
** Jose represents the time when he was the only person left alive (actually one of the last four people alive), slowly driven mad by the loneliness.
** Subverted when Aporia loses to Yusei. He believes this to be his "fourth despair", but after losing to Jack, Lua, and Luca he realizes that what he's feeling isn't despair, but [[HopeSpringsEternal hope]].
* DubNameChange: They are called Primo (Placido), Lester (Lucciano), and Jakob (Jose) in the dub, disrupting the ThemeNaming the Japanese version employed ([[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Three_Tenors the Three Tenors]]).
* {{Expy}}: The trio are wearing white clothing with hoods, which makes them appear to be the ''Yu-Gi-Oh!'' version of the [[Series/KamenRiderBlack Gorgom High Priests]]. However, the Three Emperors later reveal themselves to be a single person during the final story arc.
* EyepatchOfPower: Sorta. Lucciano and Placido have metal plates with the Infinity symbol on them covering one of their eyes. Placido's covers his right eye while Lucciano's covers his left eye.
* FreudianTrio: Lucciano is the Id, being immature and overtly emotional. Placido is the Ego, prone to going rogue and doing his own thing simply because he wants to. Jose is the Superego, far more restrained and focusing on their objective rather than acting on his impulses.
* FusionDance: Jose and Placido can merge with their D-Wheels. It's also how Aporia was created. Even their D-Wheels and D-Board combine to a single D-Wheel when Aporia appears, following with him fusing with it.
* InTheHood: They wear white hoods most of the time.
* KnightTemplar: They're trying to prevent a worse catastrophe.
* [[KnightofCerebus Knights of Cerebus]]: The WRGP arc is a lot darker when they're around.
* MasterOfDisguise: Both Lucciano and Placido do this to trick Lua and Luca.
* MajorInjuryUnderreaction: After losing to Shooting Star Dragon for the first time, Placido is HalfTheManHeUsedToBe. Jose and Lucciano don't see this as a big deal. Justified, since all of them are androids.
* AMillionIsAStatistic: What's one city compared to the entire world?
* NumerologicalMotif: Infinity.
* PowerCrystal: They each have one of these on their forehead.
* RoboticReveal: Turns out Placido is an android with the compatibility to merge with his D-Wheel. Lucciano and Jose are later revealed to be the same.
* ThemeNaming:
** The three of them are named after the Three Tenors: Jose Carreras, Placido Domingo and the late Luciano Pavarotti.
** Aporia breaks the theme but is part of another one with his peers, referring to a logical fallacy.
* TimeTravel: They can rewrite history to a certain extent due to this, such as erasing Momentum Express and Lucciano's time at Duel Academy, and inserting themselves into the W.R.G.P.
* YouCantFightFate:
** They fiercely believe in this, and Placido even compares the humans' struggle to survive to the dance of worker bees. They don't dance because they ''want'' to, but because it is their role written by fate itself. Just to punch in some extra symbolism, the bee's dance describes the Infinity symbol.
** Jose also reveals that it's their task to make sure history stays on a predetermined course. As such they have a bone to pick with Yusei, because the discovery of Momentum by his father jacked up everything.
* YouHaveFailedMe: They erase Clark from history after his failed attempt to dispose of Yusei.
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: They leave Jeager and Team Catastrophe to die without blinking an eye once they stop being useful.

!!!Placido ''(Primo)''
[[quoteright:358:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/5a85e61939b7dc015b3413bcee68a892.png]]
->'''Voiced by:''' Masakazu Nemoto (Japanese), Creator/JasonGriffith (English)

The emperor who received the first Machine Emperor, Wisel. He gives his deck to the original Ghost to let him assault D-Wheelers, until Yusei defeats Ghost. Since then, Placido develops a grudge towards Yusei and he starts to develop his own plan to complete the circuit. He sends an army of Ghosts, the Diablo, to attack the participants of the WRGP, but his plan is foiled when Yusei discovered the power of Accel Synchro, defeating Placido during their duel. After he erased Clark Smith, Placido and his fellow emperors enter the WRGP as Team New World.

Placido represents Aporia's despair of the time he lost his lover. He uses an anti-Synchro deck built around Meklord Emperor Wisel.

* ArchEnemy: Placido feels Yusei is his, for defeating the first Ghost. [[UnknownRival Yusei doesn't even know he exists until Placido confronts him directly.]]
* BerserkButton: He gets annoyed when his fellow Emperors suggest that he might not be able to defeat Yusei.
* CoolSword: It also doubles as his Duel Disk. He can plug it into his D-Wheel in order to fuse with it.
* DontYouDarePityMe: Appear to have this reaction to Yusei even just showing concern over his having been ripped in half.
* FacialMarkings: After being repaired, he has red markings on the left side of his face.
* GratuitousItalian: Placido's upgraded form is called Placido Ripresa, with Ripresa being Italian for "recovery".
* HalfTheManHeUsedToBe: He certainly came off worse for wear after his duel with Yusei. He's an android, so fortunately for him he gets better.
* HesGotLegs: Wears high-heeled boots that go nearly up to his crotch.
* IHatePastMe: Well, more like "I Have No Respect for Past Me", seeing as he'll even steal from Lucciano.
* RedEyesTakeWarning: This is later carried over by Aporia.
* RevengeBeforeReason: Placido is so obsessed with killing Yusei that Jose and Lucciano are worried that he'll screw up their plans.
* SpannerInTheWorks: Had Placido not messed with Antinomy, the latter would have not become Bruno and would have remained as an Z-One's ally and Team 5D's enemy and Bruno would have never taught Yusei Delta Accel Synchro or would have inspired him to surpass it.
* SpikyHair: Pretty common in this series.
* {{Technopath}}: To a certain extent. Justified in that he's an android.
* TheWorfEffect: In contrast to his fellow emperors, Placido never defeats a Signer; though he does lose his last duel on purpose. His losing streak seems to be carried over by Aporia.

!!!Lucciano ''(Lester)''
[[quoteright:358:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/5da891af974944fd15b8856955750184.png]]
->'''Voiced by:''' Hitomi Yoshida (Japanese), Tom Wayland (English)

The second emperor to receive his Machine Emperor, Skiel. Lucciano infiltrates the Duel Academia to test Luca's strength. Soon he challenges Luca to a Riding Duel, with Lua joining in to help his sister. Despite Lucciano defeating both of them, he fails to kill them due to the Crimson Dragon and Luca's Duel Monsters spirits saving them. Along with his fellow emperors, he participates in the WRGP as a member of Team New World.

Lucciano represents Aporia's despair of the time when he lost his parents. He uses an anti-Synchro deck built around Meklord Emperor Skiel.

* TheBadGuyWins: He defeats Luca and Lua in their Riding Duel.
* ChickMagnet: As a transfer student he's pretty popular with the girls, especially Luca.
* EvilLaugh: Lucciano has a laugh very similar to Jeager's, only much crazier... and [[ChewingTheScenery hungrier]].
* EvilRedhead: Since he's modeled after Aporia's childhood, he has red hair. He also happens to be the craziest of the three.
* EvilSoundsDeep: Inverted. While it's justified that he hasn't got a deep voice due to being a kid, his evil voice is higher and shrill in comparison to his nice-guy voice.
* ForeHeadOfDoom: His forehead is rather big.
* GigglingVillain: ''Holy crap.''
* GratuitousEnglish: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4Zmmw7TIJ0 "Bye, bye!"]]
* TheHyena: There are very few scenes where he ''isn't'' letting out some shrill laughter.
* LargeHam: Even '''Creator/BrianBlessed''' would tell the kid to tone down.
* LaughingMad: Does this when Jose reveals a vision of the future, which causes him to relive the moment of his parent's death. It makes his constant giggling a lot more [[SadClown tragic in hindsight]].
* LongHairedPrettyBoy: What the female elementary school students think about him.
* NearVillainVictory: A weird example. Despite the fact that he ''does'' defeat Lua and Luca, both of them are protected by PlotArmour when they are supposed to die.
* NewTransferStudent: Disguises himself as a transfer student in Episode 77.
* PrincelyYoungMan: As his transfer student disguise. He even has Placido as his butler.
* PyrrhicVictory: Despite winning aganist Lua and Luca, he leaves pissed as his goal was to capture Ancient Fairy Dragon.
* RollerbladeGood: Lucciano wears rollerblades for no reason. He uses a D-Board which is invented by himself. For some reason he's allowed to participate in the WRGP with it instead of using a D-Wheel.
* SignificantGreenEyedRedhead: He's certainly got the [[LargeHam passionate]] part of it down, and the Duel Academia girls think he's very attractive.
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: His name is spelled with two [=Cs=] in the anime. Some fans spell his name with only one C.

!!!Jose ''(Jakob)''
[[quoteright:358:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/3f966d5d4db5635613fcb996676ef81f.png]]
->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/TakayukiSugo (Japanese), Matt Hoverman (English)

The final emperor to receive his Machine Emperor, Granel. As the leader of three, he keeps the other two to stick with their main plan. Together with his fellow emperors, they participate in the WRGP as Team New World.

Jose represents Aporia's despair of the time when he was the only living (four) human(s) of the lonely world. He uses an anti-Synchro deck built around Meklord Emperor Granel.

* BaldOfEvil: He doesn't have a hair on his head, but it grows long everywhere else. His bald head could also reflect his wise character in comparison to the other evil emperors.
* BeardOfEvil: He's evil. He's got a long beard.
* BigOlEyebrows: That piece of hair sticking out from under Jose's hood? That's his eyebrow.
* EvilSoundsDeep: As the oldest of the three he has a deep and raspy voice, which sounds even more evil because of his mask.
* GeniusBruiser: He's the strongest and smartest of all three of Yliaster's agents. Episode 110 cements him as this when he easily defeats Sherry in a "fist" fight. Just in case anyone doubted his dueling prowess, in Episodes 132 and 133 he {{Curb Stomp|Battle}}s Jack and takes out Crow without much trouble at all.
* LargeAndInCharge: Jose is the largest and most senior member of the group, and has referred to himself as the leader of the Three Emperors. In parallel to that, his Machine Emperor Granel also easily towers over both Wisel and Skiel.
* MindOverMatter: Used to retrieve Placido's remains and to stop a meteor (the tablet containing his Machine Emperor) midfall.
* PeekABangs: His right eye is covered by his ''eyebrow''.
* PragmaticVillainy: He chastises Placido for trying to complete the circuit by forcing the city into a battle royale, stating that this plan wouldn't complete it properly. Instead, Jose would rather take the slower but guaranteed approach of completing the WRGP tournament.
* RefugeInAudacity: Started his Riding Duel by running on the track. Too bad he fused with his D-Wheel shortly later.
* SuperStrength: Displayed this when he and Lucciano were attacked by Sherry and Mizoguchi; he's able to effortlessly lift Sherry's D-Wheel with one hand. With her on it.
* ShoutOut: Combined with the above, Jose is one to ''Series/TheSixMillionDollarMan'' of all things, having a similar style of SuperSpeed and strength to said character.
* WouldHitAGirl: When Sherry attacked him physically, he punched her, chokes her and then threw her down from a tower. The last one would might not happen if Sherry wasn't trying to break his arm.

!!Aporia
[[quoteright:350: https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/aporia_2480.jpg]]
->'''Voiced by:''' Masakazu Nemoto (Japanese), Creator/JasonGriffith (English)

->''I am Aporia, guardian of despair.''

The true combined form of the Emperors (who are based on three different stages in his life), revealed in the WRGP final. Aporia is one of the few survivors in the destroyed future.

As a child, he lost his parents during the Machine Emperors' invasion, and later fought in the war against them where he lost his lover as well. After civilization was destroyed by Momentum going out of control, he wandered the world in despair, desperately looking for any other survivors.

Eventually he found Z-One, Bruno/Antinomy, and Paradox, and together they searched for a way to undo the destruction. However, Bruno/Antinomy and Paradox died of old age, and Aporia soon followed. Before dying he spoke to Z-One of the three despairs he had felt when alive, and entrusted the task of putting the future right to him.

He uses a combined Meklord anti-Synchro deck with extensive burn and field control effects. His trump cards are Meklord Astro Mekanikle and Meklord Astro Dragon Asterisk.

* AllYourPowersCombined: Since he's the combined form of the Emperors, he naturally has all of their cards, not that it helps him against Z-One.
* AntiVillain: His goal to erase Neo Domino City will kill everyone. But the sheer hell he went through in the war between the Machine Emperors and Humans, and the despair he felt through it all, can't help but give him immense sympathy points. Surprisingly, none of these qualities appeared in the emperors of Yliaster.
* BackFromTheDead Let's see. Z-One initially revived him as an android. Then, he is reconstructed and returns good as new after losing to Yusei and ''exploding.'' Then, he loses to Jack, Lua, and Luca, and appears to die then. ''But'', he returns again to challenge Z-One, although after losing that duel he dies for real. This is not even counting Placido, one of his three embodiments who returns good-as-new after being torn ''in half'' by Shooting Star Dragon.
* CatchPhrase: Uses the word "despair" about as much as Kiryu uses "satisfaction".
* ClimaxBoss: Of the 4Kids dub.
* DiscOneFinalBoss: Appeared to be the BigBad, but he is later revealed to be this when the Ark Cradle descends.
* DespairEventHorizon: Crossed it ''three times''.
* FinalBoss: Of the 4Kids dub of ''5D's'', due to that dub skipping the last seventeen episodes.
* FusionDance: He's the result of one.
* HeelFaceTurn: Makes one in Episode 146, and promptly challenges the BigBad Z-One, his own friend, to a duel for the sake of Team 5D's. He's aiming to show Z-One the hope he has discovered.
* HopeSpringsEternal: Comes to believe this after losing to Jack, Lua, and Luca, which triggers his aforementioned HeelFaceTurn.
* {{Irony}}:
** He duels Jack, Lua, and Luca at the same time, and loses to them. Those three were once defeated by Jose and Lucciano respectively.
** In his Duel with Z-One, the last card he draws, the one directly responsible for making him lose, is Machine Emperor Granel Infinity.
** Also, just this line from the dub. The trick is that the 'ending' of the dub is actually seventeen episodes before the actual conclusion of 5D's.
--> '''Aporia''': "I can assure you that the ending is worth the wait."
* KickTheDog: One very memorable one to Lua after laying waste to Luca and Jack in one turn, nearly defeating them.
--> '''Aporia''': "Young boy, ''this'' is despair." ''(shot of Lua in tears)'' "Turn end."
* LargeAndInCharge: He is the true form of the three Emperors, and he's so big that his cards look tiny in comparison. Even his D-Wheel resembles a giant car more than a motorcycle. Though in his human life, his height and build was average.
* LaserGuidedKarma: After all of his HopeCrusher actions against Yusei and Lua, Z-One crushes ''his'' hopes during their final duel.
* LightIsNotGood: His appearance is somewhat angelical, wearing all white, and with boosters on his back that sort of look like wings.
* MadeOfExplodium: Explodes ''magnificently'' after his defeat at the hands of Yusei.
* MeaningfulName: Aporia, referring to the confusion caused by multiple pieces of evidence supporting different answers, reflecting his nature as three different takes on the same person.
* MultiColoredHair: His hair is a combination of his three embodiments' hairs.
* OneHitKill: Averted. He employs a self-milling strategy in his Duel against Z-one with intention to guarantee that he draws Afterglow during the Draw Phase and deplete all of Z-one's LP in one go, but it backfires on Aporia hard after his Graveyard is shuffled back into his Deck and doesn't draw the card he needs.
* PersonOfMassDestruction: Just merely being fused together causes him to give off [[RedSkyTakeWarning Red Storm Clouds]], and causes lightning to strike everywhere in the whole city.
* RedEyesTakeWarning: From Placido.
* RedemptionEqualsDeath: After being defeated by Jack, Lua, and Luca, he has a HeelFaceTurn and duels Z-One to stop him. He loses and dies, but before his death, he gives his last power to Yusei's D-Wheel so that Yusei can duel Z-One.
* RuleOfThree: ''Everywhere''. Three embodiments, three despairs, three Machine Emperors, three Machine Imperial Soldiers. He duels three times (and also loses three times). Granel screws him over three times; first by killing his parents, second by killing 'the one he loved', and the third time when he draws it at the end of his Duel with Z-One, costing him the game and his life.
* ThemeNaming: Like Paradox and Antinomy, Aporia's name refers to a logical fallacy.
* UnusualEyebrows: ''Absolutely''.
* VillainousBreakdown: Has one when he finally realizes Yusei is about to defeat him. Has a bigger one after Lua becomes a Signer, and things go downhill very quickly for him.
* WalkingSpoiler: The fact that the Emperors of Yliaster are one person is a pretty big reveal.
* WellIntentionedExtremist: He intends to destroy a city and its millions of inhabitants, yes, but in doing so he will avoid TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt.
* WhamLine: "The three of us are one. My name is Aporia."
* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Thanks to him repeatedly crossed the DespairEventHorizon.
* TheWorfEffect: He loses all three of his duels, despite being a very threatening duelist. Just like Placido. Let's face it, his duel with Z-One consists of him being curb-stomped by his boss' cards just to hype Z-One up for the Duel with Yusei.

!!Z-one
[[quoteright:350: https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/z-one_full_view_8344.jpg]]
->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/HideoIshikawa (Japanese), Creator/MarcThompson (English)

A mysterious mechanical being that dwells within a cyberspace area, that has connections with Bruno and the Yliaster Trio (and possibly Yusei). It was first seen when Yusei, Sherry, and Bruno were brought to its world by the power of the 'Z-One' card. It later provided Yusei with a card with which to complete an Accel Synchro, after he achieved the state of mind necessary to use it.

It is later revealed that Z-One is the last known survivor of the destroyed future. Along with Bruno, Aporia, and Paradox, he had tried to find a way of undoing the destruction, but his allies eventually died of old age. When Aporia was on his deathbed, Z-One promised him that he would do everything he could to change the future.

He uses a Timelord deck.

* AchillesHeel: Z-One's Timelord Deck may be a SuperpowerLottery, but ironically [[ClippedWingAngel his ultimate Timelord, Sephylon, is less indestructible than the lesser Timelords]][[labelnote: note]] All other Timelords have inherent protection, but Sephylon needs to banish other Timelords to protect itself, meaning it cannot protect itself when there are no other Timelords.[[/labelnote]], enabling Yusei to beat him when he managed to rise Stardust Dragon's ATK higher than it and continuously attack it until he had no other Timelords to sacrifice.
* AscendedFanboy: Z-One is a Yusei fanboy, to the point that he decided to ''become'' Yusei in order the save the world. [[{{Irony}} Then he becomes Yusei's archenemy.]]
* BigBad: Not just to 5D's, but, due to the robot clone of Paradox he created that affected the time stream in the 10th anniversary movie, he is probably this for [[Anime/YuGiOh Duel Monsters]] and [[Anime/YuGiOhGX GX]] as well.
* BlatantLies: Yusei refuses to buy Z-one's claim that he is Yusei from the future. Thus, Z-one instead elaborates on how he came to be Yusei.
* BrokenFaceplate: His mask is cracked when Yusei manages to inflict some damage on him in their duel, and breaks away to reveal that his face is identical to Yusei's. The rest breaks away after Yusei deals the final blow and the device keeping Z-One alive shuts down, leaving him very little time left.
* CostumeCopycat: He changes his own face to look like Yusei's in an attempt to [[HopeBringer bring people hope]].
* CurbStompBattle: Effortlessly defeats Aporia while keeping his LP intact, after Aporia's self-milling strategy backfires hard.
* CyberneticsEatYourSoul: A flashback shows that a machine implanted in his head was damaged when he went through his DespairEventHorizon, which might have contributed to his extremism.
* {{Cyborg}}: Considering he's an old man, it's probably a life support system.
* DeadPersonImpersonation: He underwent surgery to become Yusei long after Yusei himself had passed away. He even crammed data into a metal plate that he had attached to his head.
* DespairEventHorizon: He may not have run over the line three times, but his crossing was no less painful. Having tried to make himself Yusei, he was given a HopeSpot when it seemed he had discovered a way for people to get to safety without being slaughtered by the Machine Emperors. That all came crashing down when they went berserk and killed crowds of people quickly; people fell calling out for "Yusei" to help them and Z-One could do nothing. When he realised that even with Yusei's form, he was as helpless as anyone else, he gave up on that plan and decided to work on a [[TimeForPlanB Plan B]].
* DramaticUnmask: Part of his mask is destroyed during his duel, showing that he has the same face as Yusei.
* FauxShadow: Despite the many hints, some more subtle than others, he is ''not'' Yusei from a BadFuture, rather just a normal man who assumed Yusei's appearance.
* AFormYouAreComfortableWith: Appears to Sherry alone as her father.
* GiantHandsOfDoom: Z-One's mechanical arms and hands are so huge that even the cards he uses are too large to be played on a conventional Duel Disk.
* AGodAmI: The Three Emperors and Antinomy have referred to him as a 'God of Destiny', and he says this to Yusei at the start of their battle:
--> '''Z-One:''' "Yusei Fudo, though you may have come this far with the intention to cut open the future with your own power... everything has merely traveled along the rails that I have laid out. To you, I am the equivalent of a God. [...] In order to change the future, Zero Reverse was caused and your lives were changed dramatically. You were orphaned, living in Satellite, and then rose up to the challenges in the WRGP. However, that victory was only a means to call out the Ark Cradle. [...] Do you understand? The meaning of me being your God? And if a God decides to take a path of destruction, then no one shall defy it."
* GodIsEvil: He compares himself to God and is, if KnightTemplar-ish, definitely evil.
* GrandpaGod: He's an old man that certainly fancies himself a god.
* GreaterScopeVillain: The man behind Zero Reverse and the the entire Yliaster organization, and thus likely this show's answer to [[Manga/YuGiOh Zorc Necrophades]] and [[Anime/YuGiOhGX the Light of Destruction]].
* HeroicSacrifice: While Yusei's heading to the Momentum core of the Ark Cradle, Z-One, having just been beaten, grabs his D-Wheel and tosses it away, contributing to Yusei's getting out JustInTime and Z-One smashing himself into the core.
* HopeSpot: He deliberately invokes this trope in his duel with Aporia, who staked his strategy on drawing Afterglow from his deck (while deliberately depleting his deck to facilitate this), and using its effect to inflict 4000 damage to Z-One to win. Z-One thus decides to humor Aporia by opting to Summon Lazion, a monster with 0 ATK, when he could have easily chosen to Summon a monster with at least 500 ATK to deplete Aporia's remaining LP. Z-One then uses Lazion's effect to return every card in Aporia's Graveyard to his Deck, and then challenges the latter to pull off a miracle by drawing Afterglow under these circumstances. Aporia fails to do so and loses the duel as a result, leading Z-One to dismiss the notion of believing in hope and miracles as fallacious.
* IAmNotLeftHanded: The reason he so thoroughly trounced Aporia in their duel is because the latter believed that Metaion was his ace monster and had no idea that there were even other Timelords in existence. Z-One simply decided to play along with this and did nothing to dissaude that notion. As such, Aporia tailored his deck to getting around Metaion and was throughly blindsided when Z-One decided to Summon Lazion and use its effect to completely disrupt his strategy.
* JustAMachine: His view on the androids he made using the memories of his deceased friends.
* LackOfEmpathy: Has lost all hope in humanity and decides to exterminate Neo Domino City rather than to trust the people solve the problem by themselves.
* LastOfHisKind: Following the deaths of his friends, he is the last human alive.
* ManBehindTheMan: Directly behind Aporia and Paradox, and through Yliaster is behind the Godwin Brothers and the first Zero Reverse that split the city apart. Thus, pretty much every major disaster and villain can be traced back to him.
* ManInTheMachine: His monsters also fit this trope, seeing as how those are ''angels'' inside the armor.
* NiceJobFixingItVillain: While things luckily didn't go exactly as he planned, his actions did alert the people of the present that a BadFuture was just around the corner, giving them a chance to fix things.
* PlotTwist: One of the most infamous in the entire franchise. After being hyped as a [[FutureMeScaresMe dark Yusei]] from the BadFuture, it instead turned out he was a random scientist who altered himself to look like Yusei.
* ShoutOut: Possibly to [[Manga/FullMetalAlchemist the Truth]]. He claims to be 'the one who knows the truth' and offers to tell Sherry the truth in exchange for her accepting her fate being changed.
* SuperPowerLottery: His deck. ''Trap cards that can be activated directly from the hand''. Any deck would get a big boost with just one of them, imagine a dozen or more! All of his monsters are totally indestructible and do varying types and levels of effect damage. One of them, Sandaion, does '''4000''' points of damage at the end of the Battle Phase, and that's not even his ace monster.
* TarotMotifs: The four Hand-Traps he's used are based on the first four Major Arcana.
* VillainsDyingGrace: Sacrifices himself in Yusei's stead to stop the Ark Cradle so that the latter won't have to give up his own life.
* WalkingSpoiler: His ultimate motives, the fact that he is the BigBad, and the RedHerring plot twist surrounding his identity makes it very hard to talk about him.
* WellIntentionedExtremist: He's trying to prevent a worse future by destroying Domino City.
* WhiteVoidRoom: He resides in one of these.
* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Thanks to crossing the DespairEventHorizon.
* YourDaysAreNumbered: He knows he doesn't have very long left to live.

[[folder:Spirits and Monsters]]
!!Crimson Dragon
[[quoteright:350: https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Crimson_dragon1_7226.jpg]]

The embodiment of the Red Star worshiped by the People of the Stars 5000 years ago. After sealing the Jibakushin within the Nazca Lines, its power was divided into 5 separate pieces and infused as Dragon's Birthmarks into the 5 individuals known as Signers. The 5 Dragons who protect the Signers are its servants.

A sixth birthmark later appears as the Crimson Dragon's "heart", and is given to Lua alongside a 6th Signer Dragon, the Life Stream Dragon. At the very end of the series, once Neo Domino City is permanently at peace, the Crimson Dragon takes back the six birthmarks and disappears, its duties having been fulfilled.
-----
* AllYourPowersCombined:
** When a Signer is fighting with great determination the Dragon's Birthmarks can unite onto their back, forming the Full Dragon's Birthmark and allowing them to draw [[DeusExMachina Savior Dragon.]] Godwin later turns this on them when he gets the Dragon Head.
** Again with Shooting Quasar Dragon. It's summoned using all of the Synchro Monsters except Stardust Dragon as Synchro Material (although it is an evolution of Stardust Dragon anyway), its [[http://images.wikia.com/yugioh/images/9/96/ShootingQuasarDragonMG03-JP-UR.jpg card artwork]] features tuning rings the same colors as all the Signer Dragons, and as noted [[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Card_Trivia:Shooting_Quasar_Dragon here,]] it has effects somewhat reminiscent of all the Signer Dragons.
* BecauseDestinySaysSo: The Signers having to come together and face the Dark Signers and Earthbound Gods every 5000 years.
%%* BigGood: Indeed.
* ChekhovsGun: Life Stream Dragon, appearing to Lua as the final Signer Dragon ''over two years'' after it initially cameoed in the second ED, ''Cross Game'', and again in Luca's vision in Episode 30.
* ChekhovsSkill: Doubles with ChekhovsGun above. At first, Lua's Life Stream Dragon being a Synchro Tuner monster and having the effect to manipulate the levels of other monsters on the field (in the anime) seems fairly random and a waste. However, after Lua lends it to Yusei for the final battle with [[BigBad Z-One]], Yusei tunes it to all the other Signer Dragons (minus Stardust Dragon) to Synchro Summon [[AllYourPowersCombined Shooting Quasar Dragon.]]
* DeusExMachina: Savior Dragon and the Synchro Monsters it summons, Savior Star Dragon and Savior Demons' Dragon. Aside from the two Synchro monsters being incredibly powerful (although the real life card game {{Nerf}}s them to a degree), Savior Dragon only appears after the Crimson Dragon adds it on top a Signer (in this case Yusei and Jack's) decks. This means that Yusei and Jack are battling using a card ''not even in their decks.''
** AwesomeButImpractical: The Savior Dragons revert back to their original forms at the end of the turn, making them unfavorable in the actual card game. This comes up In-Universe where Yusei is aware that he cannot use Savior Star Dragon because Placido's setup makes it useless and would cause Stardust to get absorbed.
* ElementalPowers: The Signer Dragons and their attributes.
** BlowYouAway: Yusei's Stardust Dragon
** CastingAShadow: Jack's Red Demons' Dragon, and Crow's Blackfeather Dragon.
** DishingOutDirt: Lua's Life Stream Dragon
** LightEmUp: Luca's Ancient Fairy Dragon
** PlayingWithFire: Aki's Black Rose Dragon
** MakingASplash: The only attribute not represented by a Signer Dragon.
* EverythingsBetterWithSparkles: The Savior Dragons, again.
* EvilCounterpart: The manga versions of Ancient Fairy and Power Tool look to be these. The Crimson Dragon gains one in Ultimaya Tzolkin.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: The Crimson Dragon showed the Signers a vision of Satellite being engulfed by the flames of the Spider Geoglyph.
* {{God}}: The Yu-Gi-Oh version of Quetzalcoatl to be precise. Its level of power is shown to be even stronger than the gods of the previous ''Yu-Gi-Oh!'' franchise, especially in the 10th anniversary movie, where the Crimson Dragon is the being that allows Yusei to travel back to Judai and Yugi's time periods.
* JesusTaboo: Because of this, the 'Savior' in the Savior Dragons is replaced with 'Majestic' in the TCG and in the English dub, and Savior Demons' Dragon being renamed Majestic Red Dragon. Also a lesser example, "Red Demons' Dragon" being re-named "Red Dragon Archfiend" like other Archfiend monsters.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: When Rex Godwin grafts the head birthmark onto himself with the intent of abusing its powers, the Crimson Dragon simply takes it away from him without the protagonists having to do a thing.
* TheMagicGoesAway: The birthmarks, at the very end of the series. The Crimson Dragon itself also leaves, its duties having been fulfilled.
* {{Mayincatec}}: The Crimson Devil's mini-arc states that the Crimson Dragon is actually Quetzalcoatl.
* OurDragonsAreDifferent: It's a gigantic red dragon that appears to be made of fire or light.

!!Earthbound Gods/Jibakushin ''(Earthbound Immortals)''
[[quoteright:350: https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/300pxEarthboundimmortallsearthboundgods1_408.jpg]]

Embodiments of evil sealed within the Nazca Lines by the Crimson Dragon and its servants. They were unleashed from the Underworld 17 years ago, after the Zero Reverse incident blew a hole between this world and theirs. They are the driving force behind the Dark Signers, and are as follows; Uru (Spider), Cusillu (Monkey), Ccapac Apu (Giant), Aslla piscu (Hummingbird), Ccarayhua (Lizard), Chacu Challhua (Killer Whale) and lastly Wiraqocha Rasca (Condor). Much like the 5 Dragons serve the Crimson Dragon, they serve the King of the Underworld (Meikai No Oh). There is another 'lost' Earthbound God, Scar-Red Nova, which was personally sealed by the Crimson Dragon 5000 years before the others, and was too violent for the Dark Signers to use. Its power was sealed by Jack to create Scar-Red Nova Dragon.
-----
* AchillesHeel: They're completely powerless without a Field Spell in play. Of course, when summoned in a Turbo Duel (as four of them were), this isn't an issue.
* AnimalMotifs: Most of them are based on animals.
** Uru is based on a spider.
** Aslla piscu vaguely resembles a hummingbird.
** Cusillu possesses the appearance of a monkey.
** Ccarayhua moderately resembles a reptile.
** Chacu Challhua looks like an orca.
** Wiraqocha Rasca is modeled after a condor.
* AttackOfThe50FootWhatever: They are ''absurdly'' large. Ccarayhua is about three-quarters to two-thirds the height of the Arcadia building.
* AwesomeButImpractical:
** Wiraqocha Rasca. It has 100 ATK and DEF and its effect is that when it's Normal Summoned, you can return up to three cards you control to your deck to have your opponent discard that many random cards from their hand and increase Wiraqocha Rasca's ATK by 1000 for each card discarded this way. Powerful, but it requires the player to have enough cards for both the Tribute Summoning and the effect and only works when Wiraqocha Rasca is Normal Summoned, so you can't use if you Special Summon Wiraqocha Rasca.
** Cusillu's unique effect is hard to use as well since it requires it to be destroyed by battle and for you to have another monster on the field. Since the Immortals cannot be targeted for an attack, you would have to let Cusillu attack a stronger monster on purpose just to use its effect when you could keep Cusillu on the field and keep attacking directly. Another way for it to happen would be for your opponent to negate Cusillu's effect and then attack it but that would require them letting you keep a monster on the field or using effects to make sure you still have a monster by the time Cusillu is destroyed.
* BeatStillMyHeart: When Earthbound Gods are summoned, a disembodied heart appears and starts beating as it absorbs people's souls.
* BreathWeapon: Wiraqocha Rasca, and the King of the Underworld.
* CherryTapping: Wiraqocha Rosca's 1 ATK, meant to compliment [[HPToOne its key anime effect]].
* DarkIsEvil: {{Kaiju}} sized [[EldritchAbomination embodiments]] [[MadeOfEvil of evil]] who are pitch black aside from the colored lines on them.
* DemonicPossession: They will do this if they are not happy with their Dark Signer.
* EarlyBirdCameo: They are first seen in episode 30 covered by a dark fog. Despite this you can make out which is which by their colored highlights. Also the condor geoglyph can be seen as well.
* EldritchAbomination: ''All'' of them are ginormous embodiments of evil that eat souls en masse just by being summoned. They also have effects that bend numerous rules of the game to make themselves nearly unassailable.
* EvilIsBigger: These things are {{Kaiju}}-sized in the anime and dwarf all of the Signer Dragons.
* EvilIsNotAToy: Dark Signers cut deals with Earthbound Gods upon death for whatever reason. If they start to have any second thoughts the Earthbound Gods will pull a VillainOverride on them. Once a deal is made they will, willingly or not, continue to serve the Earthbound Gods until death.
* EverythingsEvenWorseWithSharks: Chacu Challhua is a killer whale, but looks and moves in a shark like manner as well.
* [[EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys Everything's Worse With Monkeys]]: Cusillu.
* GenericDoomsdayVillain: They don't get any dialogue. They exist as embodiments of evil that must be defeated. Luckily the Dark Signers get enough characterization to make up for it.
* GiantEyeOfDoom: Ccarayhua, to the point of obscuring an entire full-floor window.
* GiantFlyer: Aslla piscu and Wiraqocha Rasca.
* GiantSpider: Uru.
* GodOfEvil: They are called Earthbound '''Gods''' in the Japanese variation.
* GreaterScopeVillain: The King of the Underworld is built up to be this until it is revealed that [[BigBad Rex Goodwin]] was using it the whole time.
* HPToOne: Wiraqocha Rasca's anime effect.
* {{Kaiju}}: They're an interesting variation - they cause plenty of destruction, but it's their geoglyphs rather than the monsters themselves most of the time.
* KnightOfCerebus: Any time an Earthbound God is summoned in a duel it's sign things will get bad. Unlike monsters made real in duels from the previous shows, being on the wrong end of an attack by Earthbound God will actually kill you. If someone tries to reason with a Dark Signer, the Earthbound Gods will pull a VillainOverride in order to make them keep fighting.
* MadeOfEvil: According to Bruno, they were manifested from the evil in people's hearts.
* {{Mayincatec}}: They are all based on Nazca Lines.
* MeaningfulName: Not only are their status as "Earthbound Gods/Immortals" references to their imprisonment in the Nazca Lines by the Crimson Dragon, but their individual names have rough definitions in the Quechua language[[note]]The Quechua language is spoken by people from the Peruvian Andes, and the Nazca Lines are located in Peru.[[/note]] (e.g. "Ccapac Apu" is derived from the Quechua words "Qhapaq", which can mean "King" or "mighty", and "Apu", powerful mountain spirits in Inca mythology).
* AMillionIsAStatistic: Earthbound Gods' sacrifices require the souls of other people.
* NobleBirdOfPrey: Wiraqocha Rasca, particularly as it's the most powerful of the seven.
* NoPronunciationGuide: The Earthbound Gods' names are in Quechuan, meaning that typical English pronunciation rules need not apply. Ccapac Apu and Ccarayhua in particular can throw viewers for a loop, as the double "C"s in their names are pronounced separately.
* OhCrap: Prominent when they are summoned.
* OlympusMons: They're utterly enormous monsters, in case you haven't figured it out yet.
* OurDragonsAreDifferent: The King of the Underworld, which appears as an EvilCounterpart to Life Stream Dragon. [[FridgeBrilliance It represents Death, while Life Stream represents Life.]]
* OurGiantsAreBigger: Ccapac Apu is a giant. Though it's not any bigger than the other Earthbound Gods.
* SealedEvilInACan: Old Momentum being the can-opener and the Nazca Lines, of all things, being the can.
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: No, that's not a typo, Aslla piscu really is spelt with a lowercase "p".
* TakingYouWithMe: In a flashback which Luca experiences as a dream, when the Earthbound Gods are destroyed by the Signer Dragons, the disembodied head of Uru uses its web strands to drag Ancient Fairy Dragon into the Nazca Lines causing her to be sealed alongside the Earthbound Gods.
* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: Boy howdy. Firstly, when they debuted they were the biggest monsters in the franchise bar the Great Leviathan. Then there's their effects. Immunity to Spells and Traps are the norm for boss monsters in the franchise, but immunity to attacks and being able to flat-out direct attack is something else. Let's not even start around the brutal effect of Aslla piscu, which not only nukes the field, but also burns the opponent.

!!Machine Emperors/Kikoutei ''(Meklord Emperors)''
[[quoteright:350: https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Infinity31_3068.jpg]]

A series of monsters used by the Three Emperors of Yliaster. They are: Machine Emperor Wisel, owned by Placido; Machine Emperor Skiel, owned by Lucciano; and Machine Emperor Granel, owned by Jose. Arriving on Earth one at a time via stone tablets, they have the ability to absorb Synchro monsters - and since most people in the series use them, this is a bit of a problem for anyone facing them. There is a fourth Machine Emperor, Aporia's, called Machine Divine Emperor Machinicle Infinity Cubic. Related are the three Machine Imperial Soldiers and Machine Emperor Dragon Asterisk. During the WRGP final, it is shown that an army of Machine Emperors attacked humanity at the height of its development, before Momentum went out of control and destroyed the world.
-----
* AntiMagic: Their deck style is against the use of Synchro monsters, culminating in their signature emperors. Although it's less "killer" and more like "absorb them into their monsters". The first time Yusei encounters them, he has nightmares about Wisel until gaining Accel Synchro, which basically teleports them before they can be snagged. Of course, Granel and Machinicle can counteract that too.
** Wisel itself can negate Spell effects.
* TheAssimilator: All of them can absorb Synchro monsters.
* CognizantLimbs: Each Meklord Emperor card only represents the machine's central core, with its limbs, base, and head all represented by separate monsters that can be destroyed separately.
* CombiningMecha: Each one is made up of 5 separate components with effects that support one another, and can be replaced or upgraded to make the Kikoutei more powerful, though only Placido used parts from another Emperor on his own.
* CyberCyclops: While some of them are more questionable cases, Granel & Infinity Cubic are definitely this.
* TheDreaded: Before Yusei got Shooting Star Dragon, he was ''terrified'' of them for their ability.
* EEqualsMCHammer: The fourth Emperor is called ''Infinity Cubic''. How one cubes infinity is anyone's guess.
* EverythingsBetterWithSparkles: Wisel has a pair of boosters on its upper legs that emit a trail of sparkles.
* FeatheredFiend: Skiel, which vaguely resembles some sort of winged creature.
* GaiasVengeance: They were created by Momentum to eliminate the cause of the system's instability, which was due to the human race becoming greedy, apathetic, and conceited with progress.
* GreaterScopeVillain: Ultimately, they can be considered this for ''5Ds'' as a whole, being responsible for the cataclysmic event that started Z-one's whole scheme.
* HumongousMecha:
** While Machine Emperors Wisel and Skiel aren't ''that'' humongous, Jose's Emperor, Granel, certainly is.
** And then there's the gigantic monstrosity that is Machinicle Infinity Cubic. [[http://static3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110116010337/yugioh/images/1/15/5Dx143_More_Machine_Imperials.jpg Look at its size compared to Machine Imperial Soldier Skiel Ein]].
* KillerRobot: They effectively wiped out humanity in the BadFuture.
* KnightOfCerebus: All of the Meklords are handled incredibly seriously, what with being TheDreaded and their terrifying presence. Granel in particular deserves special mention thanks to being directly responsible for at two of the biggest despairs in Aporia's past, and partially responsible for the third.
* ManofKryptonite: Designed to kill Synchro Monsters.
* MeaningfulName:
** Infinity Cubic attacks by shooting a stream of small energy cubes. Its attack is also called "The Cube of Despair".
** Machine Emperor Dragon Asterisk has an asterisk on its head.
* MechanicalMonster: Good lord, ''yes.''
* NumerologicalMotif: They all have an infinity sign on their chest.
* OddNameOut: Infinity Cubic and Asterisk.
* OurDragonsAreDifferent: Asterisk looks more like an eastern dragon then the western dragons most dragon-type monster card resemble. Then again, it's a machine-type, not a dragon-type.
* PlotBasedPhotographObfuscation: All of them appear in the opening credits, but until they have actually appeared in the show, they are mostly hidden by shadow.
* ShoutOut: The tablets that they arrive in are similar to the monolith from ''2001: A Space Odyssey''. Not to mention the Ka Tablets from the ''[[Anime/YuGiOh original show.]]''
* YouWillNotEvadeMe: Unlike Wisel and Skiel, Jose's Granel has the ability to prevent Synchros that it attacks from removing themselves from the field, as Jack found out rather painfully. Adding more is that it can drag out the Synchro from the Graveyard into its body.

!!Duel Dragons
A series of Dragon Synchro Monsters that appear only in the manga. Six of them are dark versions of the Signer Dragons — in fact, the Signer Dragons appear in the manga in alternate forms as Duel Dragons. They were used in ancient Turbo Duel rituals to seal darkness, or so Rex Godwin claims. In actuality they were worshippers of the Ultimate God, Ultimaya Tzolkin, the manga's equivalent to the Crimson Dragon. Rex Godwin intends to use the Duel Dragons to revive the God and claim its power.

* AdaptedOut: Oddly enough, there never was a Duel Dragon counterpart to Life Stream Dragon.
* AdaptationalVillainy: In the anime, the Signer Dragons and the Crimson Dragon are benevolent. In the manga, the Duel Dragons are tools of evil and the Crimson Dragon is re-imagined as Ultimaya Tzolkin, the GreaterScopeVillain of the manga.
* BigCreepyCrawlies: Beelze.
* BlackEyesOfCrazy: When a Duelist is completely controlled by them.
* CastingAShadow: All of them except Stardust, Black Rose, and Dragoascension.
* DarkIsEvil: Even the Signer Dragon counterparts look much darker and more ominous compared to the anime, with the exceptions of Stardust, Dragoascension, and Black Rose.
* DarkIsNotEvil: Blackfeather Darkrage Dragon after Crow obtains it.
* DemonicPossession: They can do this to the Duelists that use them.
* DrunkOnTheDarkSide: Tends to happen to those possessed by their Duel Dragon.
* DubNameChange: All of the Duel Dragons names have been changed in the English manga and TCG:
** Machine Dragon - Power Tool > Power Tool Mecha Dragon
** Fairy Dragon - Ancient > Ancient Pixie Dragon
** Burning Demon Dragon - Red Demon > Hot Red Dragon Archfiend
** Flashing Karat Dragon - Stardust > Stardust Spark Dragon
** Demon King Dragon - Beezle > Beelze of the Diabolic Dragons
** Purgatory Dragon - Ogre Dragoon > Void Ogre Dragon
** Mysterious Winged Dragon - Black Feather > Blackfeather Darkrage Dragon
** Underworld Dragon Dragonecro > Dragonecro Nethersoul Dragon
** Dragoascension, the Supreme Dragon of the Heavens > Ascension Sky Dragon
** Moon Flower Dragon - Black Rose > Black Rose Moonlight Dragon
** InconsistentDub: Between Volumes 3 and 4, Power Tool has gone from Power Tool Mecha Dragon to Machine Dragon Power Tool, and Red Demon from Enma Dragon Red Demon to Jeweled Red Dragon Archfiend.
* EvilCounterpart: Meta-wise, they are this to the Signer Dragons, as plot-important Synchro Dragons. But where the Signer Dragons are good, the Duel Dragons are evil.
* {{Expy}}: Six of the Duel Dragons shown look exactly like the Signer Dragons, but with strange markings on their bodies. They also play a similar role to the Signer Dragons.
** Stardust is revealed to be a Synchro Tuner monster just like Life Stream Dragon.
** Stardust Sifr in appearance is very similar to Shooting Star Dragon though it has six wings instead of two. Also the way it is summoned is very similar to Shooting Quaser Dragon.
* LightIsGood: Stardust Spark and Moonlight Dragon Black Rose.
* LightIsNotGood: Dragoascension.
* PersonOfMassDestruction: Red Demon can destroy every single other Attack Position Monster in play with just its effect.
* ShoutOut: Dragoascension has Osiris the Sky Dragon's signature effect.
* SuperMode: ''Demon King Super Dragon - Beelzeus'' for Beelze, ''Dragococytus the Impure Underworld Dragon'' for Dragonecro, ''Holy Spark Dragon God - Stardust Sifr'' and ''Stardust Chronicle Spark Dragon'' for Stardust and ''Burning Demon Dragon - Red Demon Abyss'', ''Burning Demon Dragon - Red Demon Belial'', and ''Burning Demon Dragon King - Red Demon Calamity'' for Red Demon.

!Other

* ManiacMonkeys: Zeman.
* OlderThanTheyLook: Torunka due to the Minus Curse de-aging him. He's actually the Dark Sage monster.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Bonds Beyond Time]]
!!Paradox
[[quoteright:350: https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/300px-Paradox_infobox1_742.jpg]]
->'''Voiced by:''' Atsushi Tamura (Japanese), Creator/SeanSchemmel (English)

->''If I let history be, the world will be destroyed. I've come here to change that hopeless future.''

The main antagonist of the movie Anime/YuGiOhBondsBeyondTime who comes from a destroyed future. Believing Duel Monsters to be the cause, he traveled back in time to kill Pegasus before he could create the game, requiring the main protagonists of the three series to team up to stop him.

It is later shown that he was part of a group of survivors including himself, Aporia, Antinomy, and Z-One, who sought to change the future. However, he, Aporia, and Antinomy eventually succumbed to old age and died, leaving only Z-One left.

* AllYourPowersCombined: His deck is composed of Malefic monsters which, except for his three own cards, are evil, corrupted versions of the ace cards of friends and allies of Yugi, Judai and Yusei. They include Kaiba's Blue-Eyes White Dragon, Jonouchi's Red-Eyes Black Dragon, Kaiser and Sho's Cyber End Dragon, Johan's Rainbow Dragon, and Yusei's own Stardust Dragon.
* AntiVillain: Like Aporia and Z-One, he's trying to prevent a BadFuture. Although he acts much more maliciously than them.
* AxCrazy: In contrast to his three stoic friends.
* BadassBiker: A D-Wheeler who travels through time with his D-Wheel, and steals dragons while riding it in the middle of a duel.
* BigBad: Of the movie.
* CoolBike: It can transform into a flying machine and also travels through time. It has a similar design to Dark Glass' D-Wheel, which foreshadows their connection.
* CoolMask: He wears a white and black mask resembling his Malefic theme. It actually doesn't conceal his identity, since nobody knows him to begin with.
* CurtainsMatchTheWindow: He has yellow eyes to his blond hair.
* EvilLaugh: Does this sometimes, despite his claims to have a noble goal.
* FillerVillain: Averted. Despite being a movie villain, he is also a canon character of the series.
* FusionDance: When he summons Malefic Truth Dragon, he combines with it in a manner similar to that of Yami Marik and Ra.
* HighClassGlass: His older self, as shown in Episode 135, wears a monocle.
* IHaveTheHighGround: How he encounters Judai, and how Yugi sees him for the first time.
* {{Irony}}: Meta-example. Despite being a movie villain named Paradox, he is canon.
* LongHairedPrettyBoy: He is a handsome man with really long hair.
* MakeWrongWhatOnceWentRight: How the protagonists view his goal.
* MalevolentMaskedMan: His mask has the Malefic theme. Is this ObviouslyEvil enough?
* MeaningfulName: Paradox, referring to a self contradictory proposition, reflecting his goal to destroy the game of Duel Monsters using the very same game.
* AMillionIsAStatistic: His attack on Domino City killed a bunch of people, but what's their sacrifice compared to the entire human race?
* MultiColoredHair: He is mainly blond, but his bangs are purple. Also, his right eyebrow is red.
* OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: It is never shown how he stole Cyber End Dragon, Rainbow Dragon, Blue-Eyes White Dragon, and Red-Eyes Black Dragon.
* OurDragonsAreDifferent: All his Malefic monsters are dragons, except for Parallel Gear. (Also Cyber-End Dragon technically, as it's a Machine-Type).
%% * RummageSaleReject
* SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong: How he views his goal.
* ShouldersOfDoom: Part of his outfit.
* ASinisterClue: He is left-handed, which foreshadows his connection with Yliaster.
* SpikesOfVillainy: On his arm wrists.
* ThemeNaming: Like Aporia and Antinomy, Paradox's name refers to a logical fallacy.
* TimeTravel: He travels back in time to kill Pegasus before he could create Duel Monsters.
* UnskilledButStrong: His Malefic deck is extremely powerful, capable of instantly calling forth powerful high-level Monsters without any real cost. This is counteracted by the fact that Paradox tends to make rather novice mistakes in his duel against Yugi, Judai, and Yusei. He wastes his Malefic Force Trap Card when attempting to protect Paradox Dragon from Yugi's monster-stealing spell, without waiting for Yugi to mention that he was instead targeting his stolen Stardust Dragon. During his last turn, he has his dragons attack the Dark Magician Girl and Elemental HERO Neos that the protagonists have in Defense Position, which leaves them alive with enough Life Points to give them enough room to make a counterattack and defeat them. Had he instead attacked the Dark Magician or Stardust Dragon in Attack Position, he would have dealt enough damage to them to have taken the protagonists all out in one fell swoop.
* UnusualEyebrows: His red right eyebrow has an impossible design.
* WatchingTheSunset: One of his flashbacks shows him watching the sunset of the destroyed Earth.
* WellIntentionedExtremist: His goal is to save the world.
* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Like Aporia and Z-One, he crossed the DespairEventHorizon and is trying to prevent a worse fate for humanity.
* WouldHitAGirl: While any duel is guaranteed to have this, Paradox's first attempt in defeating Yugi, Judai, and Yusei after summoning Malefic Truth Dragon is having Malefic Red-Eyes Black Dragon attack Dark Magician Girl. While it does benefit Truth Dragon's effect, the protagonists had 2600 life points, and the former's effect deals 800 damage based on how many monsters are destroyed by its effect. Dark Magician Girl was in defense mode and they had 3 other monsters on their field otherwise, dropping them down to 200; had he attacked Dark Magician, Stardust Dragon, or Neos Knight instead with Blue-Eyes or Truth Dragon, he would've won in a single move.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Manga Only]]
!!Sect Injuin

* BerserkButton: Looking down on him. It's played for laughs, but horribly subverted later as it ends up being the crux of his corruption.
* BigCreepyCrawlies: Runs an Insect deck.
* BrainwashedAndCrazy: From the Card of Darkness the Skeleton Knight gave him.
* DrunkOnTheDarkSide: Due to Beelze's influence.
* EvilCostumeSwitch: Once Sect joins the Skeleton Knight, he trades in his biker outfit for some sweet looking medieval armor.
* HiddenDepths: A twofold case, both positive and negative. While derided as Satellite's weakest duelist, he notably got better over time ''and'' it's revealed his friendly personality caused Yusei to have a JerkassRealization that led to the Satellite dueling community becoming far more accepting and friendly with one another. On the negative side however, he ended up accumulating a rather large amount of legitimate frustration with his losses and the resulting teasing, which ended up being how Beelze got its hooks into him.
* ItsAllAboutMe: While DrunkOnTheDarkSide to ridiculous levels. To reiterate, his entire motivation at that point is simply to be the best duelist for the sake of power, ignoring how this will awaken the Ultimate God, and thus likely kill everyone on the planet.
* '''{{Jerkass}}''': It's only while he's evil, but ''damn'', he's a massive prick at that point.
* MeaningfulName:
** His Card of Darkness, Demon King Dragon - Beelze, is named after Beelzebub, who is also known as the 'Lord of Flies'. Sect uses [[FridgeBrilliance Insect-Type monsters]].
** Also, since family names are placed before given names in Japan, Sect's name is Inju'''in Sect'''.
* NoSell: You can't destroy Beelze or Beelzeus. Period.
* TheRival: Yusei has declared him this, although Jack kinda lives more up to the role.
* SuperMode: For his Duel Dragon, Beelze: Demon King Super-Dragon Beelzus.
* TookALevelInBadass: After gaining Beelze, and in the first chapter he'd come a long way from the fellow that we later see in the flashbacks. Even after being freed, he's still capable of the advanced Sense techniques he developed while under its influence.

!!The Skeleton Knight

* AdaptationalHeroism: Rudger was, for all intents and purposes, an insane DiscOneFinalBoss obsessed with the cycle of destiny in the anime after Uru brainwashed him. While he puts up a malevolent front in the manga, he's far more respectful to his opponents should they prove themselves, ''didn't'' get possessed in the backstory, doesn't display any of the ranting psychosis of his anime counterpart, and urges Yusei to save Rex from the darkness of the Ultimate God.
* AffablyEvil: He's not above complimenting his opponents, and he's sincere when he does so.
* AntiVillain: All he wants to do is save his brother from the Ultimate God.
* BigBad: Apparently. Later usurped by his brother.
* CanonCharacterAllAlong: He at first seems to be a CanonForeigner created for the manga, but he's later revealed to be the manga version of Rudger Goodwin, Rex's brother.
* DealWithTheDevil: Duelists can call upon him to obtain powerful cards, but those Cards of Darkness corrupt them into his service.
* EvilCounterpart: His ace monster, Underworld Dragon Dragonecro, specializes in creating these of any monster it battles. Its evolved form, Dragococytus, could also be seen as one to Ascension Sky Dragon...[[SubvertedTrope if Ascension]] wasn't [[LightIsNotGood evil itself.]]
* HellishHorse: Skeleton Knight rides a skeletal one in place of a D-Wheel.
* {{Irony}}: Duelists make Deals With the Devil with him. He became said Devil in attempting to make one with the Ultimate God himself.
* MyHorseIsAMotorbike: Inverted, as he uses a horse instead of a D-Wheel.
* NoSell: A somewhat unusual example with Underworld Dragon Dragonecro, which cannot destroy monsters in battle, and in fact renders them immune. Played straight with its SuperMode form, Dragocutos, which can't be destroyed in battle.
* TheReveal: The Skeleton Knight is actually Rudger Godwin.
* SuperMode: For his Duel Dragon, Dragonecro: Dragocutos, the Impure Underworld Dragon.
* UrbanLegend: His sunset salute, said to grant rare cards.

!!Priests of Light