Characters / Yu-Gi-Oh! Ancient Egypt

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Ancient Egyptian characters from the manga and anime series Yu-Gi-Oh.

ALL spoilers will be unmarked ahead. Beware major spoilers.

Tropes applying to most characters

• Broad Strokes: While these characters are canon to the original series, many of them fill or otherwise approximate roles from the Bandai games canon, many of which first appeared in Yu-Gi-Oh! Forbidden Memories.
  • Siamun (Sugoroku's former self) is straight up based on his Bandai games self, though his face is exposed and he no longer has blue skin.
  • Akhenaden fills Heishin's role as the traitorous mystic conspiring in league with an ancient evil and his attempts to court Seto to his cause are reminiscent of Bandai's priest Seto being The Dragon for Heishin.
  • The Pharaoh's priests in general are prefigured by Bandai's mages, who also held the Millenium Items; the mages, however, were villains working with Heishin against the pharaoh.
  • Mana, who in the original series canon is the not-yet Black Magician Girl, serves as the Pharaoh's childhood friend, a role which in Forbidden Memories was filled by doppelgangers of Joey and Tea (who would presumably reincarnate into their modern selves).
  • Zorc Necrophades, the demonic entity who created the Shadow Realm, fits perfectly into the spot originally held by Bandai's recurring Final Boss character, the demon-god of the cards "DarkNite" (or "NiteMare"), who in Forbidden Memories is revealed to be the creator of the Shadow Games.
• Cast from Hit Points: In the Memory World RPG (the Shadow RPG), the Ba Gauge served as both hit points and magic points for the character cards, since the real life versions of these characters used their life energy (Ba) to summon and power-up their Monster Spirits (Ka).
• Non-Player Character: Everyone except Atem, Thief King Bakura, Zorc, and Akenaten. Played with as both players can control their party however they like, but when not given a command, their non-player characters continue to act according to their original mindset.
• Summon Magic: Most of the characters are able to summon Ka(Duel Monster spirits born from a human soul).

Pharaoh Atem

Pharaoh Atem (アテム; Atemu)

Voiced by: Shunsuke Kazama (Japanese), Dan Green (English)

A Pharaoh from Ancient Egypt who sealed himself inside the Millennium Puzzle and became Dark Yugi. During the Shadow RPG, which is a recreation of the past in the form of a Tabletop Roleplaying Game, a portion of Dark Yugi's soul enters the RPG version of Pharaoh Atem within the game world, who serves as Dark Yugi's main player character while the other portion battles Dark Bakura at the RPG table.

For information on Atem, see his page.

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Thief King Bakura

Thief King Bakura (盗賊王バクラ; Touzoku'ou Bakura)

Voiced by: Rica Matsumoto (Japanese), Ted Lewis (English).

Thief King Bakura is an ancient Egyptian incarnation of Bakura that was a thief and a graverobber, who serves as one of two of Dark Bakura's Player Characters on his side of the Shadow Role-Playing Game. Though an alter ego of sorts for Dark Bakura, Dark Bakura's true identity, however, is not as simple as him being the Thief King's sealed soul, as a shard of Zorc was fused with him.

For information on his reincarnation, see Yu-Gi-Oh!: Main Characters. For information on his successor, see Yami Bakura's own page.

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• Accent Relapse: In the dub, he mostly speaks with his modern counterpart’s Evil Brit speech patterns. But when he gets released from control, he speaks with a standard American accent.
• Adaptational Wimp: In the manga, he's first seen letting himself into the palace (along with all the treasures he successfully plundered from Atem's father's tomb) and showed up any guards that tried to stop him, he was just as wicked as Dark Bakura and even schemed openly with his future self, and while he was scared at turning into sand he still tried to summon Zorc while it was happening. Within the Memory World in the anime however, he's first seen captured by two random guards and stumbling as they haul him along, before immediately being possessed by Yami Bakura and taking on his personality from that point on. When Yami Bakura releases him after he's outlived his usefulness, he's confused and horrified as he turns into sand.
• Badass Longrobe: A rather regal looking one, befitting a king of thieves.
• Back from the Dead: In the anime, Dark Bakura restores him after he's turned into sand. He dies for good later on to revive Zorc.
• Big Eater: In the manga, there was a scene in the tavern where he used all his stolen gold to buy piles of food, and he wolfs it all down while casually killing the bar patrons with shadow magic.
• Body Horror: Yami Bakura disposes of him by slowly turning his body to sand.
• Cannibalism Superpower: This is what makes Thief King Bakura's Ka, Diabound, so dangerous—every time it kills an adversary it gains that creature's raw power, if not its actual abilities.
• Disc-One Final Boss: Was this to Zorc in the real past; in the Memory World RPG he's essentially The Dragon to his own future self and acts as a literal Disc One Final Boss.
• The Dragon: To Zorc in the past. He becomes The Dragon to Dark Bakura during the events of the Millennium World arc as one of his Player Characters. In other words, he is The Dragon to his future self.
• Establishing Character Moment: In the manga, he waltzes into the palace in broad daylight with all the treasures he just plundered from the previous pharaoh's tomb, shows up any guards that try to stop him, then rubs the high priests' and current pharaoh's noses in how he just successfully desecrated the previous pharaoh's tomb, and throws said pharaoh's mummy at their feet. He also introduces himself as the "Thief King," and reveals his bottomless hatred for the royal family for his village and how powerful it made his Ka for it.
• Evil Plan: Originally a master bandit during Pharaoh Atem's reign, he declared the Pharaoh and his court his archenemies and wanted revenge for the destruction of his hometown by resurrecting Zorc Necrophades.
• Eviler than Thou: Believe it or not, he manages to be this for Dartz of all people in the anime. The reason that Dartz didn't try to capture the Pharaoh's soul when he encountered him in Egypt? Bakura was in his way.
• Eye Scream: When his Diabound gets shot right in the left eye, Bakura's left eye goes out.
• Fantastic Aesop: Never massacre an entire village of peasants and melt their blood and bones into the Millennium Items. One of their survivors will end up merging their soul with an ancient demon and try to destroy the world.
• Freudian Excuse: As a child, Bakura witnessed and was the only survivor of the massacre of his entire village. Said massacre was directed by the Pharaoh's father (unknowingly) and his uncle (knowingly) to create the Millennium Items. The Pharaoh's father died soon after, but Bakura wasn't satisfied with that and transferred his hate to Atem and Egypt as a whole.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: He would have been just another peasant boy living a meaningless life in his village. Then the Pharaoh's brother slaughtered that village in order to create the Millennium Items, and the rage and pain engendered by that experience transformed Bakura's Ka into the monstrous killing machine Diabound, which gets stronger as it devours other people's Kas.
• Genocide Backfire: Akhenaden slaughtered his village to create the Millennium Items. This is what led to Bakura trying to summon Zorc.
• Good Scars, Evil Scars: Thief King Bakura has a very ugly scar on his face, just below the eye.
• Grave Robbing: How Thief King Bakura got his start. He began by robbing the tombs of the Pharaonic line that butchered his village, and it only gets worse from there. Eventually he stops caring whether his victims are dead or not.
• Incoming Ham: The way he introduces himself in the manga is so audacious, it can't be anything else than this.
  Bakura: A King is robed in gold, isn't he? Then that must make me a king, too! A KING OF THIEVES! H-HA HA HA HA!'
• It's Personal: He blames Atem's father for the massacre so he defiles his tomb.
• Leitmotif: Thief King Bakura's theme.
• Light Is Not Good: His Diabound is a holy spirit at first, but it turns into a horrific monster with every creature it absorbs. In the anime Diabound is a beast from a stone tablet created from the rage of Kul Elna's slaughtered victims, rather than a holy beast dwelling within Thief King Bakura's soul.
• Misplaced Retribution: While he initially blames Atem's father for the massacre, once he dies he transfers the hatred to Atem and the people of Egypt, who also weren't responsible. By the time he finds the person who did order the massacre, he brainwashes him rather than kill him.
• Mr. Fanservice: He wears a wide, open coat and short shorts. The anime includes a very detailed closeup of his legs as he's restored from sand.
• No Name Given: He doesn't actually have a canon name, and is only referred to as Bakura as a reference to his future self's present-day host.
• No Shirt, Long Jacket: It's a great outfit for combining fanservice, the obligatory long dramatic coat, and avoiding a sunburn.
• Personality Powers: His Diabound is a holy beast at first, but as it absorbs more monsters it becomes more monstrous itself, reflecting off of the increasing darkness in his heart.
• Player Character: Serves as one of two for Dark Bakura during the Shadow RPG.
• Power Copying: His Ka, Diabound, steals the abilities of the other Ka it defeats.
• The Power of Hate: His Diabound is fueled by his immeasurable hatred towards the Pharaoh and his supporters.
• Pungeon Master: In the manga and dub, he's fond of cracking jokes and making bad puns relevant to the situation.
• Revenge: Wanted revenge for the destruction of his hometown.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Marches into the palace to show Atem and the priests what he had done to Atem's father.
• Shirtless Scene: In the anime, he's first seen as a chained prisoner without a shirt.
• Sins of Our Fathers: With Atem's father dead, he transfers his hate to Atem himself.
• Sole Survivor: Of the massacre at Kul Elna, his hometown.
• Unwitting Pawn: Bakura is used as a pawn by both Zorc in the actual past and his own future self in the RPG.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Until his whole village was slaughtered.
• Walking Shirtless Scene: Thief King Bakura in his shorts and wide-open robe.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: In the anime, we don't get a sense of his true personality since Dark Bakura takes him over almost immediately. Although he is later revived without Yami Bakura inside him and now aware of his role as a game pawn, and he seems just as hateful and crazy, he sacrifces himself shortly after.
• Whole Costume Reference: Appropriately enough, given the setting and his backstory, the red robe kinda makes him look like a topless version of the classic depiction of Moses◊, as in The Ten Commandments.
• Wicked Cultured: In the dub, he's exceedingly polite and formal when doing or saying awful things. The manga and Japanese version has him be more openly vulgar and ax-crazy.
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Thief King Bakura, given that he became what he was later because he survived and witnessed the gruesome killing of all the people in his village. Granted, they were a village of thieves, but he was an innocent child before this happened. Takahashi said that if the massacre hadn't happened he would be more like Ryou Bakura.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Dark Bakura sacrifices the Thief King to resurrect Zorc. That's right—he pulls this on himself.

Priest Akhenaden (Aknadin)

Priest Akhenaden (神官アクナディン; Shinkan Akunadin) (Aknadin)
High Priest of Darkness (闇の大神官; Yami no Dai Shinkan)] (Shadow Magus)

Akhenaden

The High Priest of Darkness

Voiced by: Hitoshi Bifu (Japanese), Pete Zarustica (English)

Can you feel it, Yugi? Can you feel the evil aura from this corpse? Akhenaden's mummy is also playing this game! His soul is one with Zorc's! —Dark Bakura, Millennium World RPG arc

3000 years ago, Akhenaden was one of the six priests in service to Pharaoh Atem. He was the brother to Pharaoh Akhenamkhanen and was the original wielder of the Millennium Eye. During the previous Pharaoh's reign, he massacred the village of Kul Elna, a den of thieves, and melted their blood and bones into gold in order to create magical relics that would protect Egypt from impending war and invasion — the only survivor of the massacre being Bakura. Thus were born the seven Millennium Items — cursed items that held the power to initiate occult judgment games known as Shadow Games and housed an evil intelligence that would awaken the Evil God, the secrets of their creation haunting Akhenaden for years. He never told Akhenamkhanen of it, and had all of the soldiers that had taken part brainwashed to forget the incident. Making a wish on the Millennium Eye for his son, Priest Seto, to take the throne, he is eventually influenced by Zorc to betray the current king years later.

In modern times, Dark Bakura challenges Dark Yugi to the ultimate Shadow Game — the Shadow RPG, a game that re-imagines the events that transpired 3000 years ago. Within the Memory World campaign, a re-imagining of Akhenaden serves as one of Dark Bakura's player avatars — with the mummy of the real Akhenaden, High Priest of Darkness, animating the game piece.

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• Adapted Out: In the manga, the corrupted soul of Akhenaden, merged with that of Zorc, was sealed inside the Millennium Puzzle and released during the Memory World game, inhabiting his mummified corpse outside of the game, and works with Dark Bakura. This is removed entirely in the anime, with any actions taken by Akhenaden's spirit given to Dark Bakura instead.
• Archenemy: In the end it's revealed that it was the High Priest of Darkness who was this to the Pharaoh. Thief king Bakura, Priest Seto and even Zorc Necrophades himself were just red herrings.
• The Bad Guy Wins: In a sense. Though he, Bakura, and Zorc are all defeated, the one true goal of his, to have Seto rule in Atem's place, ultimately happens, just differently than the way he had intended.
• Big Bad Duumvirate: The real Akhenaden's mummy shares this role with Dark Bakura for the Millennium World arc in the manga. The spirit of Akhenaden claims he is Zorc and turns his NPC/past/memory self into a puppet. In truth, everyone that Zorc infects basically becomes part of his being.
• Black Mage: After Dark Bakura successfully transforms his character class in the RPG into the High Priest of Darkness, Akhenaden gained "Black Magician skills" as well as leveling up.
• Blood Magic: He was behind the massacre of Kul Elna and the creation of the Millennium Items, which involved melting the villagers' blood and bones into the gold that was used to forge the items as per the ritual written in the Millennium Tome.
• Broken Pedestal: Seto thought Aknadin was a loyal priest and that his father was a noble soldier. Then he learns that Aknadin is his father and is a traitor to boot.
• Cold-Blooded Torture: He intended to subject Kisara to various torture methods in order to awaken the white dragon spirit within her.
• Death by Adaptation: He gets he dies earlier variant. In the manga, he survives past Zorc's death, and serves as the final boss of the Shadow RPG due to brainwashing Seto. In the anime, these events are moved to before Zorc's revival.
• Death Equals Redemption: Apparently. When Atem enters the afterlife, a younger Akhenaden can be seen standing next to Seto, implying that his soul was freed from Zorc after he died. Notably, the version seen is from before he went to the palace at all and created the Items.
• Diabolus ex Nihilo: His other side - the High Priest of Darkness - steps in at two crucial moments when the Pharaoh manages to kill the Thief King and uses chronokinesis to put his foe at a disadvantage. Much like Zorc Necrophades himself, the High Priest of Darkness had no foreshadowing.
• The Dragon: Becomes this to Zorc once he's released 3000 years ago, being the one who released him. During the Shadow RPG re-enactment, the manga depicts him as Dark Bakura's second player-character with Zorc, having two health bars of Ba to Zorc's three. In the manga, he replaces Thief King Bakura as Dark Bakura's Dragon after the Thief King dies in the game world (in the anime, he revives the Thief King and his Diabound).
• Dragon Their Feet: In the anime, he lasts just four episodes and is killed before Zorc is even unleashed, but in the manga, he goes off with Seto to find Kisara and is defeated after Zorc has been destroyed and the Pharaoh has recovered his name.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: The side of Akhenaden that was born from Zorc also wishes to make Seto pharaoh, which makes him hesitant to wipe out all the priests at once on Zorc's command.
• Evil Mentor: While the exact role he plays varies between anime and manga, he guides Seto to become stronger with the intent for him to become Pharaoh.
• Evil Sorcerer: Once he makes a contract with Zorc, which gave him the skills of a Black Magician and levels up, becoming the High Priest of Darkness.
• Evil Uncle: He's one to Atem, though more focus is put on his relationship with Seto; he clearly considers Seto more suited to the throne than Atem.
• Expy: His High Priest of Darkness get-up resembles Dark Master Zorc's first form in the Monster World RPG. Likely intentional.
• Face–Heel Turn: While he wasn't the nicest guy beforehand, Thief King Bakura turned him into his servant to aid in reviving Zorc. In the manga, during the Shadow RPG, when the Pharaoh and his priests manage to kill the Thief King's character, Dark Bakura uses one of his Game Master abilities to freeze time on the game board, and it's here where Akhenaden betrays the Pharaoh and steals the Millennium Items, placing the items into the stone slab and becoming the High Priest of Darkness (gaining the skills of a Black Magician and leveling up).
• Future Me Scares Me: The High Priest of Darkness appears to the normal Akhenaden in the manga at a time before his Face–Heel Turn, who naturally freaks out. But since he's just a non-player character in the Shadow RPG, he doesn't do anything differently.
• Greater-Scope Villain: While Zorc planted the spellbook for him to find, he ordered the massacre of Kul Elna, driving Bakura's hatred, creating the Millennium Items, and instigating the entire plot.
• Hate Sink: Initially, he felt guilty over killing 99 Kul Elna villagers to create the Millennium Items and acted as a strict but fair mentor to Seto, but once Bakura and Zorc reawaken his darker ambitions, he sheds most of his redeeming qualities and spends much of the arc scheming to put Seto on the throne, going completely power-mad, brainwashing his son, and trying to kill everyone.
• High Priest: Serving under the Pharaoh... and then Zorc.
• I Did What I Had to Do: Creating the Millennium Items to protect the kingdom by slaughtering an entire village.
• Ignored Epiphany: Initially, he was remorseful of his crimes against Kul Elna and worried that Seto might go down the same path. Once Bakura and Zorc get a hold of him, he completely forgets his guilt and joins the villains in order to put an unwilling Seto on the throne, even if it means dooming all of Egypt.
• Irony: He went such lengths to make his wish to turn Seto into the Pharaoh of Egypt to ensure the wish he made on the Millennium Eye comes true. It's Atem himself who willingly gave up his own life to seal Zorc away in the original timeline and outright kills Zorc and gives him the Millennium Pendant to became the new Pharaoh. In other words, Akenaden's wish to turn Seto into Pharaoh was on Atem's terms, not his.
• Karma Houdini: Played With. Despite his crimes, including setting the whole plot in motion by making the Items, he goes on to the afterlife and is seen living happily with the rest of the Pharaoh's court. On the other hand, his corrupted mummy is destroyed, signifying Zorc's control on him is now lost.
• Luke, I Am Your Father: He's Priest Seto's father, and abandoned his son out of fear that reprisals for what he did at Kul Elna would make others target his family.
• Meaningful Name: His name is most likely derived from the real life Pharaoh Akhenaten, a pharaoh best known for his ruinous attempts to upend Egypt's millennia-old polythestic religion and forcibly replace it with a new monotheistic one that made his reign a general mess for all involved.
• One-Winged Angel: Once corrupted by Zorc and Thief King Bakura, he becomes the High Priest of Darkness, gaining dark powers and performing an Evil Costume Switch. In the Shadow RPG, he also obtains a massive level-up and regains his previously-lost health.
• Papa Wolf: In a very twisted, evil sense. He thinks that Seto's ascension from a commoner with no father to the Pharaoh's High Priest is proof of his superior ability, and thus begins plotting to put his son on the throne.
• Parental Substitute: Seto thought he was being this, having personally teach him when he became a priest. He doesn't find out Akenaden is his father until he spells it out for him, since he grew up believing his father bravely died on the battlefield.
• Player Character: Serves as one of two for Dark Bakura on his side of the Shadow RPG.
• Soul Jar: The Millennium Eye, as with all the other Millennium Items, becomes one for Zorc — the evil intelligence influencing Akhenaden into becoming his servant. This is helped by Thief King Bakura, who sealed a part of his soul in the Millennium Eye during attack on the palace, which further allowed for such an influence to take place.
• Split-Personality Takeover:
  • Initially Akhenaden was just another pawn in the game between Yugi and Bakura, but once the Thief King taints his Millennium Eye, the High Priest of Darkness introduces himself before eventually commandeering his past avatar right when Yugi is about to win the game.
  • After the High Priest of Darkness kills himself, he transfers his mind into Seto and challenges the Pharaoh to a duel.
• The Starscream: Plots to overthrow the Pharaoh and put a new king on the throne. However, it's not himself that he thinks should rule, it's his son Seto.
• Superpowered Evil Side: Once he makes his pact with Zorc Necrophades, Akhenaden gets an upgrade in magic and develops a split personality similar to Bakura's. Confirmed by the ending where the good part of his soul is seen waiting in the afterlife with the other priests.
• Unwitting Pawn: In the manga, it is revealed that Zorc manipulated him into translating the spells that would create the Millennium Items, the plan being all along that the Items would revive Zorc.
• Vicariously Ambitious: He's hellbent on getting his son to usurp Atem, but Seto himself has no desire to do so. Unfortunately, this results in toxic parenting when Aknadin ignores this and brainwashes Seto into fighting the Pharaoh anyways.
• Walking Spoiler: He was the one who created the Millennium Items in the first place, so he's pretty much responsible for the entire story. He's also initially thought to be a priest loyal to the Pharaoh before Bakura brings out the full depths of his hidden jealously towards the deceased Akhenamkhanen, enforcing a Face–Heel Turn.

Pharaoh Akhenamkhanen (Akhnamkanon)

Pharaoh Akhenamkhanen (アクナムカノン; Akhenamkhanen) (Akhnamkanon)

Voiced by: Kobiyama Youichi (Japanese), Marc Thompson (English)

Akhenamkhanen was the previous Pharaoh of Egypt and the father of Atem. He reigned with his brother, Akhenaden, as his chief advisor. When Egypt fell under attack, Akhenaden urged him to take stronger measures to repel the invading forces; though Akhenamkhanen desired peace, he agreed to Akhenaden's suggestion to create Millennium Items in order to protect his kingdom. This allowed Akhenaden to commit the massacre at Kul Elna that created the Items, which Akhenamkhanen was unaware of until Mahad informed him of the truth. Out of guilt, he sacrificed his soul to the gods as penance for his brother's crime and asked that his son be spared from their wrath; because of this, he grew ill and died.

After his death, he appears as a Spirit Advisor to Atem during the Millennium World arc.

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• The Good King: From what little we see of his reign, he was a benevolent and just king who cared for his people. His discovery of the massacre Akhenaden committed in his name horrified him so much that he sacrificed himself to try to atone for it.
• Horrible Judge of Character: He was completely oblivious to Akhenaden's true nature and trusted him enough to let him make the Millennium Items however he wanted.
• It's All My Fault: He blamed himself for giving Akhenaden the go-ahead to create the Millennium Items, which was what caused the mass slaughter of Kul Elna, and gave his life to the gods out of guilt.
• Papa Wolf: In the anime, he appears as a spirit to shield Atem from the vengeful souls at Kul Elna.
• Spirit Advisor: His spirit speaks through his mummified corpse to Atem at some key points, and protects him from the spirits at Kul Elna in the anime.

Priest Seto

Priest Seto (神官セト Shinkan Seto)

Voiced by: Kenjiro Tsuda (Japanese), Eric Stuart (English)

Seto was the son of Akhenaden and nephew of the late Pharaoh Akhenamkhanen - although he grew up thinking his father was a soldier who died in battle. Seto joined the Pharaoh's court of priests as an orphan and eventually became a High Priest, wielding the Millennium Rod and serving his cousin Atem, initially unaware they were related.

He is Seto Kaiba's past incarnation and the second wielder of the Millennium Rod. Intrigued by the idea of monster spirits (Ka) more powerful than the Pharaoh's Gods when Thief King Bakura attacks the palace, he leads a Ka hunt behind the Pharaoh's back. Hoping to find monsters capable of defeating Bakura's Diabound, he finds a white-haired young woman said to house a very powerful Ka and begins seeking a way to extract it.

In modern times, he appears as an NPC during Dark Bakura's Shadow Role-Playing Game.

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• Aborted Arc: The manga's final arc greatly reduced the level of antagonism he has with the Pharaoh due to Kazuki Takahashi being pushed to wrap up the manga quickly and move onto his next project. Thus, the long-foreshadowed rebellion of Seto against the Pharaoh never happened.
• Adaptational Heroism: In the anime. The manga version of Seto is very much like Kaiba, an Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy who prizes power and sneers on teamwork, and thinks he'll experiment on extracting Ka in order to learn to control Kisara's. In the anime he's comparatively more mellow, and while he does plan to extract Ka to make an army of shadow monsters he's disgusted when Akhenaden tries to control them via torture. He's still more nice than Seto Kaiba in either version, which the main cast notes when they first witness him saving Kisara.
• Adaptational Wimp: He and Galestgoras do much better against Diabound in the manga than in the anime; in the manga, Diabound is forced to resort to shattering Galestgoras' tablet to win since Galestgoras, while likely not more powerful, was the better fighter. In the anime, Bakura summons the rather weak Winged Sage Falcos to destroy it while it's occupied with Diabound.
• Ambition Is Evil: He's seeking ever more powerful Ka, not content with the ones already captive. The "evil" part is avoided as he's doing it to further protect the kingdom, and once he sees Akhenaden attempt to order Kisara to be tortured in order to bring forth the white dragon, he puts his plans to a halt and tries to save her instead.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: In the manga, he felt no qualms with sacrificing Kisara as a means to obtain her Blue-Eyes White Dragon. Towards the end of the manga, he gets his wish, but by that time he has fallen in love with Kisara, thus feels heartbroken at witnessing her death. He laments while holding onto Kisara’s corpse that he doesn’t want her powers anymore, just her.
• Belated Love Epiphany: Has this moment after Kisara’s death in the manga.
  Kisara… The light which destroyed the evil god cannot reach my heart… For me… The world will never truly be bright again… Forgive me, Kisara… The truth is, I never wanted to let you go… I wanted to imprison you in the jail of my heart… You would have been the one point of light in a soul consumed by darkness… Not your spirit ka… Not your dragon… I wanted your light, Kisara… I wanted you…
• Childhood Friend Romance: In the anime, he and Kisara first met when they were children and he rescued her from slave traders.
• Connected All Along: He's Atem's cousin through their fathers. They were not aware of this familial connection.
• Demonic Possession/Grand Theft Me: Towards the end of the Shadow RPG, Priest Seto briefly gets possessed by Zorc's High Priest of Darkness/Akhenaden.
• Face–Heel Turn: Originally betrays Atem in the original timeline. In the Shadow RPG, he never follows through with it, staying firmly on his cousin's side.
• Freudian Excuse: In the anime, his village was destroyed as a child, much like Bakura's. Kisara saves him before he's killed as well.
• Friendly Rival: As Ishizu says to Kaiba in during the Battle City finals, the stone tablet left behind depicting Priest Seto's great battle with Pharaoh Atem did not represent a destined rivalry between their reincarnations - it was a prayer to the deceased king, a prayer to one of his closest friends.
• Hidden Heart of Gold: He's pretty no-nonsense in most of his scenes, but when he finds out the peasants are ganging up on a young woman just because she has blue eyes and white skin, he snaps at them for their racism and offers her refuge in the palace (albeit in a dungeon, but at least she had her own cell.)
• Ironic Echo: When Akenaden reveals his parentage to him, Seto retorts that his father died on the battlefield, the exact same cover story he told his beloved wife to tell Seto why he's a Disappeared Dad.
• Magic Wand: The Millennium Rod.
• Post-Final Boss: In the manga, he's brainwashed by Aknadin/Zorc and fought after Zorc is beaten.
• Reincarnation: Seto Kaiba is his modern-world reincarnation.
• Self-Made Man: Much like Seto Kaiba, he started with a humble background, only to work his way up to the Pharaoh's court.
• Sole Survivor: In the anime he's the only one of the original priests that served under Pharaoh Atem who survives the battle with Zorc Necrophades. Averted in the manga, as Isis also survives by the end.
• Spell My Name With An S: His name can vary between "Seth" and "Set".
• Split-Personality Takeover: When Seto refuses to become Pharaoh under the reign of Zorc Necrophades, the High Priest of Darkness discards his physical form (i.e. kills himself) and possesses Seto. This leads into the duel between the Pharaoh and his priest that was recorded on the stone slab.
• The Starscream: Played with. While Akhenaden thinks he should take the kingdom for himself when the Pharaoh vanishes, Seto thinks that even if he could wield power greater than the Pharaoh's Gods, he has no right to the throne.
• Tranquil Fury: Let’s just say… he did not take it well once Akhenaden murders Kisara. He “calmly” approaches Akhenaden as he announces that he still firmly believes his actual father has been long dead, then pulls out a sword and stabs Akhenaden right then and there. Obliviously cut out of the 4Kids dub.
• Undying Loyalty: Less noticeable than Mahado/Mahad's behaviour, but he is loyal to Atem. He refers to himself as 'the Pharaoh's true friend' on the Tablet of Memories, and he was likely the one to set up the Tombkeepers to protect the secret to Atem regaining his memories in case he ever returned.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: In both the anime and manga, while his attitude towards such varies, he rationalizes that capturing civilians and extracting their Ka is something they must do if they wish to protect the Pharaoh from enemies like Thief King Bakura, a nobody who turned out to have a very dangerous Ka in him.
• You Are in Command Now: After Atem defeats Zorc, he cannot remain in the world of memory due to the fact that he died in the original timeline. Before he disappears, he gives Seto the Millennium Puzzle and asks him to watch over everyone in Egypt as the new Pharaoh.

Priest Mahado (Mahad)

Priest Mahado (神官マハード; Shinkan Mahado) (Mahad)
Black Magician Mahado (黒魔道士マハード Yami Madoushi Mahaado) (Dark Magician)

Voiced by: Kazunari Kojima (Japanese), Michael Sinterniklaas (English)

Mahado was one of the six High Priests of the Pharaoh's court and wielded the Millennium Ring. Mahado was a loyal mage in charge of leading a group of guards who were tasked with the duty of protecting the royal tombs at the Valley of the Kings from intruders.

Being a sorcerer, he is capable of using Heka (deification of magic in Egyptian mythology), which he uses to suppress the Millennium Ring's dark powers. He sacrifices his life after performing a spell that fused his own spirit with the Magus of Illusions during Thief King Bakura's attack on the Pharaoh's tomb, and loses his Millennium Ring to the thief in a Shadow Game. He later returns as the Black Magician spirit to serve his king once more.

In modern times, he appears as an NPC during Dark Bakura's Shadow Role-Playing Game.

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• Black Mage: He's one of the Pharaoh's sorcerers, whose spirit later fused with the Magus of Illusions, gaining the skills of a powerful Black Mage (and also becoming the precursor to the Black Magician of the Magic & Wizards card game in the modern setting)
• Came Back Strong: During the Memory World, despite his valiant efforts, Priest Mahado is killed by Thief King Bakura. He comes back later as a Monster Spirit, fusing with the Magus of Illusions as an even stronger sorcerer in order to serve his king once more in the battle against Zorc.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Obviously since his spirit is the Black Magician, Mahad makes appearances long before his official introduction in the Millennium World arc. Also, Mahad's voice makes a brief appearance as the Black Magician during the Capsule Arc.
• Heroic Sacrifice: He sacrifices his life to use a spell that fused his spirit with the Magus of Illusions in order to defeat Bakura. His spirit later returns to help Atem fight Zorc.
• Incorruptible Pure Pureness: A combination of his magic and loyalty to the Pharaoh allowed Mahado to resist the will of Zorc Necrophades and become the holder of the Millennium Ring.
• Magic Wand: The Black Magician's staff.
• Non-Player Character: He starts off as the "Priest Mahado" character card, and later becomes the Ka card Black Magician after his original game piece dies.
• Ship Tease: With Priestess Isis in the anime.
• Soul Jar: He begins to realize the Millennium Ring is one - detecting the evil of the previous priest that wore it - and suppresses the evil power with his own. After his death, the Black Magician's stone tablet becomes one for him.
• Spell My Name With An S: The English dub calls him "Mahad", which is also a valid rending of his Japanese name.
• Training from Hell: Literally. Mahado is implied to have gone through this in the afterlife, coming back as a Monster Spirit after sacrificing his life to fuse with the Magus of Illusions using one of his spells, stronger than ever before, in order to serve his king once more in the battle against Zorc.
• Undying Loyalty: His loyalty and conviction for Atem runs deep. He continues to serve his king, even in death (and as a Magic & Wizards card for the Pharaoh's present incarnation).
• We Hardly Knew Ye: He dies very quickly in, so not much is seen of his personality.

Priest Kalim/Karim

Priest Kalim (神官カリム Shinkan Karimu)

Voiced by: Masahito Kawanago (Japanese), Marc Diraison (English)

Karim was one of the six High Priests that served under Pharaoh Atem in Ancient Egypt during his reign, and was the owner of the Millennium Scales at the time. A powerful and incredibly loyal man, Karim was dedicated to serving his king, going as far as even sacrificing his life for him.

In modern times, he appears as an NPC during Dark Bakura's Shadow Role-Playing Game.

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• Authority Equals Asskicking: Especially when he teams up with Priest Seto during their last battle with Thief King Bakura.
• Heroic Sacrifice: He sacrifices his remaining Ba to Shada, so Shada could continue to aid the Pharaoh.
• Spell My Name With An S: His name could be either "Kalim" or "Karim".
• Strong Family Resemblance: A flashback reveals that his father looked exactly like him, albeit with a beard. He even carried the Millennium Scales as well.
• Undying Loyalty: He's willing to die for the sake of his king.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: While he sticks around longer than Mahad, what is seen of his personality is minimal.

Priest Shada

Priest Shada (神官シャダ Shinkan Shada)

Voiced by: Nozomu Sasaki (Japanese), J. David Brimmer (English, credited as Michael Alston Baley)

Shada was one of the six High Priests of Pharaoh Atem's royal court. He wields the Millennium Ankh, which allows him to look into a person's soul room and identify evil ka spirits within human hearts.

In modern times, he appears as an NPC during Dark Bakura's Shadow Role-Playing Game.

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• Heroic Sacrifice: He sacrifices his life to shield his king from a blow from Zorc.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: He and Seto seem to have an odd friendship, and share quite an amount of panel time together.
• Journey to the Center of the Mind: Uses his Millennium Ankh to enter the minds of criminals and graverobbers to look for evil ka and judge their heart.
• Red Herring: His name is similar to Shadi, they both wield the Millennium Ankh, and in the Japanese anime, they both have the same voice actor. In actuality, they have nothing to do with each other, though the anime version of Shadi is hinted to possibly be a composite of Shada and Karim's spirits (as Karim had given his life-force to Shada in this version). The dub deviates completely from this by insinuating that he's the past incarnation of Rishid/Odion instead.
• Undying Loyalty: Although he was convinced to aid Priest Seto in his ka hunt, he remains loyal to his king nevertheless, even sacrificing his life to save him.

Priestess Isis

Priestess Isis (神官アイシス Shinkan Aishisu)

Voiced by: Sumi Shimamoto (Japanese, Adult), Sakura Nogawa (Japanese, Young), Karen Neill (English)

Priestess Isis is one of the six High Priests that served Pharaoh Atem in Ancient Egypt and wields the Millennium Tauk.

Ishizu Ishtar is the modern day reincarnation of Isis. The "actual" Isis appears as an NPC during Dark Bakura's Shadow Role-Playing Game.

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• Action Girl: Participates in the battle against Zorc alongside the other priests and, in the manga, is the only survivor of it.
• Death by Adaptation: In the anime, she's killed by Zorc in the RPG.
• Heroic Sacrifice: In the real past and in the anime she died saving Atem from Zorc.
• High Priestess
• Ship Tease: With Mahad in the anime.
• Spared by the Adaptation: In-universe for the manga. During the actual events of the past, she probably died during the battle with Zorc. However, during Dark Bakura's Shadow Role-Playing Game, events were modified enough by the players that Isis ended up being the only surviving party member aside from Priest Seto. She goes on to serve as a priestess under Pharaoh Seto in the RPG world.
• Reincarnation: She was reborn as Ishizu in modern times.
• White Magician Girl: Her Ka (Spiria and Holy Elf) provide support magic during Atem's battles with Thief King Bakura and Zorc.
• You Shall Not Pass!: In the anime, she's killed by Zorc after trying to buy time for Mana to give Atem his Millennium Pendant.

Kisara

Kisara (キサラ Kisara)

Voiced by: Rie Nakagawa (Japanese), Carrie Keranen (English)

The white-haired, fair-skinned peasant woman whom Kaiba’s former incarnate saves and falls in love with. Her strange coloring marks her as the victim of discrimination amongst the Egyptian citizens. She is later revealed to be the human vessel of a very powerful Ka, the Blue-Eyes White Dragon. Near the end of the arc, she sacrifices herself to protect Seto from Akhenaden. According to Takahashi, Seto’s feelings for her are a major reason behind modern-day Kaiba’s fixation with the Blue-Eyes.

She appears as an NPC of Dark Bakura's Shadow Role-Playing Game during the final arc of the story.

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• Aborted Arc: She was originally slated to have an arc focused on developing her and Priest Seto's relationship, including a part with Seto having to save her from torture at Akhenaden's hands and another in which he revolted against Atem to avenge her, but it had to be cut by Takahashi due to pressure to finish the Millennium World arc.
• Adaptational Badass: In the anime, Kisara is much more assertive, and determined to protect Seto. She fights Akhenaden with the Blue-Eyes White Dragon and dies protecting Seto. In the manga, she just gets attacked and dies.
• Adaptation Dye-Job: Played with. She does have white hair in the anime, as carried over from the manga, but the anime also colors her hair varying shades of blue in shots and shades it completely blue when in dim lighting.
• Adaptation-Induced Plot Hole: Making Kisara an Adaptational Badass in the anime creates a plot hole, as Kisara's Ka, the Blue-Eyes White Dragon, is also her Ba, which means the dragon is literally her soul, which is why her body passes out whenever the White Dragon emerges from her body. Her being able to remain conscious while summoning her literal soul out of her body is a plot hole.
• Albinos Are Freaks: Her white hair and pale skin made the Egyptians shun her.
• Barefoot Poverty: She's initially shown to be barefoot in Kaiba's visions, but she averts this trope in the actual arc she appears.
• Because You Were Nice to Me: Although not stated outright, it's made evident that her loyalty to Seto stems from showing her kindness when she was being stoned by a mob accusing her of being a witch.
• Blessed with Suck: Her power makes her a target for angry mobs and power-hungry rebel priests.
• Childhood Friend Romance: In the anime, she and Seto first met when they were children and he saved her from slave traders.
• Clothing Damage: In Kaiba's vision of Seto and Kisara during the Battle City tournament, he is shown cradling her nude body. In the actual scene, however, she keeps all her clothing.
• Damsel in Distress: Seto saves her life four times, once when they're children, again from a mob stoning her years later, and when she is pitted against two other prisoners who had unleashed their own ka in order to force hers out. Seto saves her twice in a row during that incident: when he intervenes to save her from the unleashed monsters she was facing, and when she nearly fell into a deep pit. In return, she unleashes the Blue-Eyes White Dragon to save both of them from falling, and later to protect him.
• Death Seeker: Implied. In the manga, she does nothing to call out the Blue-Eyes White Dragon to protect her from the prisoners trying to kill her with their Ka monsters and simply closes her eyes to accept her fate. It takes Priest Seto's intervention to save her life.
• Died in Your Arms Tonight: She dies in Seto's arms.
• Disposable Woman: In general, Kisara's character boils down to 'quiet, mysterious girl who's powerful, but is killed to motivate Seto'. In the manga, she's randomly attacked in the middle of a conversation and dies, enraging Seto and allowing him to be possessed until the end of the arc. The anime has her sacrifice herself to protect Seto and then free him from the darkness before the end of the arc. In the original plan for the arc, her death would have served to motivate an un-brainwashed Seto to rebel against the Pharaoh, fighting a three-way war to avenge her death.
• Heroic Sacrifice: She takes a hit from Akhenaden meant to kill Seto, saving his life but dying in the process.
• Hero's Muse: She provides an almost literal light to balance Priest Seto's inner darkness, and her Heroic Sacrifice and death in his arms provides the inspiration for his reign.
• Implied Love Interest: Seto and Kisara do love each other. It was never really expanded on in the series despite the obvious hints, but the fact it transcends time and space until becoming modern day Kaiba's fixation with the Blue-Eyes White Dragon certainly assures it was strong enough.
• Inexplicably Awesome: It is never explained why this random peasant woman has a spirit which rivals the gods in power.
• Light Is Good: A firmly heroic character, with the Blue-Eyes White Dragon as her ka.
• The Lost Lenore: To Seto.
• Love Redeems: How she saves Seto from Akhenaden's Mind Control.
• MacGuffin Super-Person: Her wielding of the Blue-Eyes White Dragon's power is what makes her the target of mobs and power-seeking priests.
• Mysterious Waif: Homeless, quiet, vaguely psychic, and the mysterious keeper of the spirit of the Blue-Eyes White Dragon, and in the anime sacrifices herself to protect the only person who ever showed her kindness, High Priest Seto... even 3,000 years later.
• Mystical White Hair: As the holder for the Blue-Eyes White Dragon, she has long white hair.
• Now, Let Me Carry You: In the anime, Seto saves her four times, and in return, she sacrifices herself to save him from his father.
• The Quiet One: She's not very talkative.
• Reincarnation-Identifying Trait: Her white hair and blue eyes and Seto's attachment to her make it fairly obvious that her "reincarnation" is the Blue-Eyes White Dragon.
• Reincarnation Romance: It's heavily implied that Kaiba's obsession with the Blue-Eyes White Dragon is because of Priest Seto's love for her and anguish at her death.
  • During Seto Kaiba's duel with Ishuzu Ishtar, it is hinted that Kisara saved him from losing by showing him the vision of Priest Seto cradling her in front of the stone slab where her Ka was sealed, making him realize that he should use the Blue-Eyes White Dragon, and ultimately defying Ishuzu's prediction. Kaiba wins the duel as a result.
• Ship Tease: Kisara has various instances with Priest Seto, and its obvious that their strong romantic feelings are mutual.
  • The brief meeting she has with Seto Kaiba can also be considered this.
• Shrinking Violet: Very mild-mannered and soft-spoken, which is at odds with her Ka, the Blue-Eyes White Dragon. She seems to have grown out of this by the time she faces off with Akhenaden due to her determination to save Seto from his influence, and even after her death.
• Silk Hiding Steel: Timid, quiet, and reserved... as well as the holder of the Blue-Eyes White Dragon, one of the most powerful monsters in the series.
  • She seems to have become much braver and more assertive than the first time she was revealed to be the vessel of the Blue-Eyes White Dragon by the time of her death due to her determination to protect Seto up to the point where she can consciously summon the said spirit without any problems to do battle with Akhenaden.
• Summon Magic: Unlike the other characters of the Shadow RPG, Kisara can't summon her Ka (the Blue-Eyes White Dragon) at will, but her subconscious does. This is because her Ka is also her Ba.
• Violently Protective Girlfriend: To Priest Seto. It's more emphasized in the anime, where she dies fighting Akhenaden for Seto's sake, but also present in the manga, where she appears as the Blue-Eyes White Dragon to save him from falling to darkness when under Akhenaden's control.
• Wrong Context Magic: Kisara's Ka is different from the others, since it is not born from the darkness inside people's hearts, but the White Dragon is also her Ba, making it her literal soul.

Siamun Muran (Shimon)

Siamun Muran (シモン・ムーラン Shimon Muuran) (Shimon)

Voiced by: Tadashi Miyazawa (Japanese), Maddie Blaustein (English)

Siamun was Pharaoh Atem's vizier and once served as a High Priest under Pharaoh Akhenamkhanen, Atem's father. He was the former wielder of the Millennium Ankh before he was succeeded by Shada.

He is the past incarnate of Solomon Mutou, Yugi Mutou's grandfather. Siamun appears as an NPC during Dark Bakura's Shadow Role-Playing Game.

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• As You Know: He explains to Atem how duels worked in Ancient Egypt, even though he believes the Pharaoh already knows. He actually doesn't, since he just came back from the modern day to collect his memories.
• Call-Back: Earlier in the Millennium World arc, there was a flashback to young Sugoroku Mutou conquering the Shadow Games in Pharaoh Atem's tomb and finding the Millennium Puzzle. When a portion of Dark Yugi's soul gets sucked into the Shadow RPG and becomes his past shelf, it's revealed that Siamun was the one that turned Pharoh Atem's tomb into the Shrine of the Shadow Games and filled it with traps to ward off graverobbers, which his future reincarnation will have to conquer 3,000 years later..
  • His use of Exodia calls back all the way to the very beginning of the series, as while it was Yugi who actually summons Exodia, it was Solomon/Shimon's deck he was using.
• Canon Immigrant: He was in a number of Yu-Gi-Oh! video games before he was introduced in the manga. This is also true of Priests Seto and Isis, but Simon can be dueled against in every game from Forbidden Memories to 7 Trials to Glory, even the ones set in the present day, giving him no known connection to Sugoroku.
• Cool Old Guy: Like his present day reincarnation, don't underestimate his age. He takes out an entire army of undead when he reacquires the Millennium Ankh and summons his ka, the guardian of the palace, Exodia, which supposedly defeated 1,000 armies in a single night. Unfortunately, he was no match for Zorc Necrophades.
• Heroic Sacrifice: He tries to take down Zorc with the legendary guardian Exodia, but Exodia ends up getting sliced in half, killing Siamun in the process.
• Reincarnation: Sugoroku Mutou is his modern-world reincarnation.
• The Worf Effect: Siamun's summoning of Exodia is extravagant. Said to have taken down multiple armies in a single night and taking down Zorc's undead army with Exodo Flame, Siamun is shown to be pretty awesome... but then he gets one-shotted by Zorc.
• You Shall Not Pass!: He has this moment when he summons Exodia. He manages to destroy Zorc's army of undead, but he ends up getting killed by Zorc instead.

Mana

Mana (マナ Mana)

Voiced by: Yuri Nakao (Japanese), Bella Hudson (Engish)

A spellcaster studying under the High Priest Mahado/Mahad, who eventually summons a ka in the form of the Black Magician Girl after the death of her mentor.

In modern times, she appears as an NPC during Dark Bakura's Shadow Role-Playing Game. Her role is expanded on in the anime as the childhood friend of the Pharaoh.

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• Adaptation Dye-Job:
  • In the manga, she has blonde hair. It's changed to brown in the anime version and reddish brown in the colored manga.
  • Her Monster Ka gets one in the anime as well. In the manga, the "original" Black Magician Girl has brown skin and the pentagram on her chest is instead the Eye of Anubis - basically Mana in the Black Magician Girl's outfit. The anime gives her the modern design, light skin and a pentagram on her chest.
  • There is also an in-universe example, when Pegasus designed the Black Magician Girl with pale skin and changed the Eye of Anubis into a pentagram instead of how she was supposed to look.
• Adaptation Expansion: Her relationship with Atem is expanded on more in the anime, where it's shown they knew each other as children.
• The Apprentice: Studies under Mahado as an apprentice magician.
• Badass Adorable: She's cute and she kicks ass - especially when she channels her spirit as the Black Magician Girl.
• Black Magician Girl: Not only is she the apprentice of High Priest Mahado, who is a Black Mage, her Monster Ka is literally the Black Magician Girl - the trope namer.
• By the Eyes of the Blind: Mana is the only one capable of seeing Yugi and co. (and Bobasa) when they're present in the Memory World.
• Childhood Friends: In the anime, she and Atem are shown first meeting as children.
• Cute Witch: Sweet ray of sunshine, she is.
• Genki Girl: Generally bouncy and energetic, to the point of jump-glomping the Pharaoh in her first appearance.
• Incorruptible Pure Pureness: Like Mahado, she's able to wear the Millennium Ring without being posessed by Zorc Necrophades.
• Ship Tease: Has some with Atem in the anime, where they're close enough Childhood Friends for her to glomp him at one point.

• Younger Than They Look: Even though she's the basis of the series' most popular Ms. Fanservice, a character guide released in 2016 revealed that she's 13 years old.

Hasan

Hasan (ハサン Hasan)

Voiced by: Masanori Ikeda (Japanese), Brian Haley (English)

A spirit sealed in the Tablet of the Pharaoh's memories by the former Pharaoh in order to protect his son, Atem. He first appears to watch over Atem's recuperation from an injury, and later fights alongside the other priests. In the manga, he is the true form of Bobasa and one of the forms of Shadi, and in the anime he is the true form of the latter only.

For information on his other self (or selves), see Yu-Gi-Oh! Other Characters.

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• Big Good: Shadi, as Hasan, is the direct counterpart to Zorc and is the embodiment of light of the memory tablet.
• Heroic Build: He takes the form of a huge, muscled guy with a golden mask.
• Heroic Sacrifice: He dies saving Yugi and his friends from Zorc's attack.
• Heroic Second Wind: In the anime, courtesy of present-day Shadi.
• Undying Loyalty: Dies to give the Pharaoh and his friends the chance they need to release his name.
• Non-Player Character: Weird example. In the manga, he's an NPC that's actually played by the outsider, Bobasa (who is himself actually Shadi). In the anime, however, he's just a "Master Item" that's controlled by Shadi and summoned by Dark Yugi.

Gebelk

The overseer of the Pharaoh's underground prisons, Gebelk is an expert in the art of torture. He's apparently the pre-incarnation of Kaiba's butler.

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• Torture Technician: Priest Seto recruits him to torture prisoners into revealing their Ka.

Zorc Necrophades

The Great Evil God Zorc Necrophades (大邪神 ゾーク・ネクロファデス Daijashin Zōku Nekurofadesu)

Voiced by: Yoshitaka Kaidu (Japanese), Mike Pollock (English)

Akhenaden! By the terms of our contract, you have become a mere part of our greatness! We have no use for your parental emotions! We will kill them along with the Pharaoh and his priests! —Dark Bakura narrating Zorc's dialogue.

The ancient enemy Dark Yugi defeated in the past and sealed away. A great evil god that seeks to destroy the world and cover it in darkness, the tools for his release were accidentally created by the servants of the Pharaoh's father when they created the Millennium Items, the pivotal plot devices of the original series that allowed the occult judgment Shadow Games to be played and also allowed the Pharaoh's priests to seal the Ka of criminals into stone slabs, which take on the form of monsters. He's the ancient enemy Pharaoh Atem (now Dark Yugi, spirit of the Millennium Puzzle) defeated three thousand years ago, but reviving him is the goal of Dark Bakura, the spirit of the Millennium Ring. If Dark Bakura is the victor of the Ultimate Shadow Game, the Shadow RPG, Zorc will once again be unleashed onto the modern world.

He is the Final Boss of the Memory World Shadow RPG, having three full health bars ("Ba Gauges"). Prior to this, a Final Boss named "Dark Master Zorc" appeared as Dark Bakura's Player Character during the Monster World RPG arc, as a Call-Forward. In the English dub, Zorc is the creator of the Shadow Realm.

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• Adaptational Badass: In the manga, Zorc is shocked to see all Three Eyptian Gods summoned, which then immediately merge into Horakthy for a There Is No Kill Like Overkill moment. In the anime, Zorc gets to fight all Three Egyptian Gods at once and he defeats all of them after creating an eclipse. When they are revived, they manage to kill him after merging into Horakthy.
• Artifact of Doom: The Millennium Items were used to summon him, and the Millennium Ring in particular is made inherently evil due to the presence of Dark Bakura, who is part of Zorc.
• Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Zorc is a gigantic monster that is the size of the Three Egyptian Gods and Exodia, and he terrorizes Ancient Egypt with his powers, killing a lot of people in the process.
• Big Bad: The true one of the entire series, Dark Bakura was his agent/herald all along and plotting to resurrect him, and the many evils of the Millenium Items were born of his evil influence. While he only appears in the last arc, it is made very clear that he was the biggest bad even if not alive in the present day.
• Breath Weapon: He can breathe fire from his regular mouth◊ or spit fire balls from the mouth of the dragon that's attached to his torso.
• Calling Your Attacks: Zorc is prone to shout the names of the attacks he is about to use.
• Card-Carrying Villain: You thought Dark Master Zorc sounded villainous? Try The Great Evil God.
• Casting a Shadow: Zorc possess a repertoire of darkness-related powers, such as the Dark Phenomenon, an attack capable of slicing Exodia in half, and in the anime, he can create an eclipse to strengthen his power while weakening the Egyptian Gods by depriving them from The Power of the Sun.
• The Corruption: Anything part of Zorc becomes Zorc to some extent, with his influence most strongly felt in the Ring, Bakura, and Akhenaden.
• Chekhov's Gunman: The name Zorc first appeared as a generic Final Boss in a tabletop RPG made by Bakura. This Zorc's appearance is much deadlier.
• Dark Is Evil: Red eyes, a second, draconic head, typical of an ancient demon.
• Dragon-in-Chief: The Shadow RPG version of Zorc is a player character controlled by Dark Bakura, but he's the main threat in the game as the game master can only do so much.
• Dishing Out Dirt: Zorc's third Hourglass ability is Natural Catastrophe, which causes the land to slowly sink around the game board. Dark Bakura activates this ability to destroy the Valley of the Kings first, in an attempt to kill Dark Yugi's friends.
• The End of the World as We Know It: This is pretty much his goal, being the embodiment of negative emotions.
• Evil Only Has to Win Once: Inverted in the anime, as Dark Bakura/Zorc recreates the events of Zorc's original attack in an elaborate Role-Playing Shadow Game, trying to rewrite history so that he never lost in the first place. In the manga, Dark Bakura winning the Shadow Game will unleash Zorc Necrophades onto the modern world so he could destroy it.
• Final Boss: Of the Millennium World arc. He's the final enemy that Dark Yugi has to defeat, or else Zorc is unleashed onto the modern world.
• God of Evil: In the original material, he's an Eldritch Abomination who claims to have come into existence eons before he was summoned with the power of the Millennium Items. In the dub, he created and rules the Shadow Realm, essentially making him Satan. Kazuki Takahashi depicts Zorc on "the Devil" tarot card.
• Greater-Scope Villain: He is this for the series. Zorc is the entity that the Pharaoh destroyed and Dark Bakura is trying to resurrect, and Pegasus indirectly mentions him as an "evil intelligence" inside the Millennium Items. Also, for most of the English 4Kids dub, he is frequently but vaguely referred to only as a dark evil defeated by the Pharaoh in Ancient Egypt who destroyed that country and which the Pharaoh is prophesied to defeat again. However, it is not until the end of the last arc that we find out who and what he is, and it's revealed/confirmed that Dark Bakura was working to release him all along.
  • Every story that has Dark Bakura as a Greater-Scope Villain technically has Zorc as an even Greater-Scope Villain by extension. See his character page for more details.
• The Heartless: Zorc was created by the collective hatred in the hearts of humankind, and physically unleashed into the world when a village was sacrificed to create the Millennium Items. The dub upgrades him to Satan or the closest equivalent of the "Shadow Realm".
• Homage: Like the Zorc from Monster World, Zorc's name may be a reference to Zork, an early text-based adventure game.
• The Juggernaut: In the anime, the heroes throw everything they have at him: the Black Magician duo, the Blue-Eyes White Dragon, Kaiba's Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon, Exodia and even the Egyptian Gods all fail to even scratch him. The only way Atem beats him is by combining the three gods to summon Horakhty, who destroys him once and for all.
• Kamehame Hadouken: He fires a giant fireball, the Zorc Inferno, from both of his hands.
• Killed Off for Real: Horakhty destroys Zorc in the final battle, destroying his evil entirely. Since the spirits of Dark Bakura, Thief King Bakura, and Akhenaden contained the fragments of his soul needed to resurrect him, and they were part of Zorc and thus also slain, his death is permanent.
• Large and in Charge: Undeniably the biggest villain of the series, alongside the anime's Leviathan.
• Made of Evil: He's made of all the negative energy of humankind since the dawn of their creation.
• The Man Behind the Man: A passive variation. The character of Dark Master Zorc was influenced by the Game Master, Dark Bakura, who is the soul of Thief King Bakura combined with Zorc Necrophades.
• Mass "Oh, Crap!": Exodia, the most well-known Instant-Win Condition in the Duel Monsters game, is summoned by Priest Siamun as a Ka to combat Zorc. After Exodia manages to one-shot Zorc's entire army of undead with Exodo Flame and proceeds to fire at Zorc, Zorc bifurcates him. Cue this reaction.
• Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist In the dub, he claims he merely seeks reality while true reality is Zorc wishes to plunge Earth into eternal shadows.
• Nigh-Invulnerability: The amount of punishment he can take from all of the anime's heavy hitters, up to and including the three Gods and Exodia, is insane. In the manga, he has three health bars on his RPG character card.
• Ontological Inertia: Despite Atem defeating him, his evil influence still remains in the Millennium Items. The Ring, being one of the most evil of them all, still survives in The Dark Side of Dimensions to corrupt Diva until Atem returns to destroy him for good.
• Player Character: Dark Master Zorc was Dark Bakura's main avatar for the Monster World RPG. Likewise, during the Shadow RPG, Zorc Necrophades became one of Dark Bakura's main avatars once Thief King Bakura died and Zorc was summoned by Akhenaden.
• Playing with Fire: His Zorc Inferno is the same fiery attack he had in Bakura's Monster World, only much bigger here.
• Reset Button: His first Hourglass ability allows him to rewind time once. This is used to make Diabound's death by Ra undone.
• Sealed Evil in a Can: Double example.
  • A part of him resides in Dark Bakura, the spirit of the Millennium Ring who is also trapped within the Millennium Ring. His soul was also sealed into the Millennium Puzzle along with Atem, and if Dark Yugi loses the Shadow RPG, his soul would be released.
  • There's a bit of Zorc's influence in several of the Millennium Items. Pegasus reveals this when he tells Yugi that all of the Millennium Items contain an "evil intelligence", while Ishizu later clarifies that only some of them (the Eye, the Rod, the Ring and the Puzzle) do and others (the Necklace, Scales and Key) do not.
• Time Stands Still: Zorc's second Hourglass ability stops time for the denizens of the Shadow RPG. This allows the Zorc-influenced Akhenaden to steal the Millennium Items and summon Zorc.
• Villainous Breakdown: He panics once he realizes that Atem manages to fuse the Egyptian Gods together and tries to pull a Taking You with Me on Atem as he dies.
• Visual Innuendo: His infamous dragon head, which comes out of his crotch. Various media try to censor it in various ways.
• Walking Spoiler: The reveal of his existence is connected to a whole bunch of plot twists that have happened, and in the manga, his name reveals his connection with Dark Bakura and Dark Master Zorc.

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