Characters / Yu-Gi-Oh! GX Jaden Yuki

Jaden Yuki (Judai Yuki)

"Get your game on!"

^{Click here to see his appearance in Seasons 1- 3}

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The Supreme King

Voiced by: KENN (Japanese), Matthew Labyorteaux (English)

The top student at Duel Academy and the series protagonist. Jaden is happy-go-lucky and eager to prove himself. He's a dueling prodigy, but is regularly mentioned to have awful grades and often sleeps through or skips classes. Since his character in the first two seasons is radically different from the second half of Season 3 and Season 4, we had to split it into three different sections.

He uses an Elemental Hero deck, augmented with Neospacians in Season 2. His ace monsters are Elemental Hero Flame Wingman (Season 1) and Elemental Hero Neos (Season 2 onwards). In the manga continuity, he replaces the Elemental Heroes for Masked Heroes. His Supreme King Persona uses the Evil Heroes, twisted versions of the original Season 1 Elemental Hero fusions to overwhelm his opponents with raw power. His ace cards in this form are Evil Hero Malicious Edge and Super Polymerization.

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Jaden in General

• The Ace: Aside from school work, Jaden is this. To note, he is charismatic, a prodigy duelist, an athlete, possesses mystical abilities, can operate several vehicles, and is capable with a computer.
• Adaptational Wimp: The manga version has a far less impressive win-loss record than the anime version, being defeated several times by rivals and foes.
• Almighty Janitor: Never leaves Slifer Red, the lowest academic tier, one that is mocked for being full of stereotypical losers, but is the best duelist in the academy. He actually receives a promotion to Ra Yellow once, but decides to turn it down, and continues to stay in his old dorm until graduation.
• Ambiguously Bi: On one hand, he's so oblivious to female romance that his Tag Force profile goes out of its way to mention it◊, says things like "Washing each other's backs naked brings us guys closer together!". On the other, he does blush around female duel monsters and accepted Yubel's "love", the latter being a technical Hermaphrodite. These things could also make him bisexual or pansexual but it is rather unclear. In the end Jaden's sexuality is really ambiguous.
  • Funnily enough, Word of God expressed some regret at how he portrayed season 3, likely referring to Jaden and Yubel's relationship. Thus, this is heavily toned down in later stories.
  • In the dub version of episode 36, Jaden mentions he has dueling crushes in his deck and says "they bring loads of luck". Considering his deck contained one female at the time... though it's entirely possible that Jaden is oblivious to the idea of what is considered a crush and instead just has an admiration for the monsters in his deck.
• Anime Hair: An astonishing aversion compared to the Yu-Gi-Oh franchise's other main characters. His hair is a fairly plausible two-tone brown and it hangs down in a realistic mop.
• Anti-Role Model: An in-universe example. As Professor Stien tells him, Jaden's bad attitude to schoolwork has a negative impact on other students. His success despite his bad grades gives other students the idea that they don't need to work hard to succeed, but since they're not as naturally gifted as he is, it causes them to fail.
  • That said, this isn't really Jaden's fault per-say, since he never told any of the students to slack off alongside himself. Given how old his classmates are, they should already know better than to be lazy when their current ability isn't enough to compensate for poor grades. Likewise, said speech completely ignores Stien's own failings as a teacher, namely his dull teaching style and lack of of disciplinary action.
  • Furthermore, considering how several students like Chumley end up doing better specifically because of Jaden's unorthodox influence, a case can be made against this. In fact, alongside Chazz and Alexis, Syrus even becomes the class valedictorian by the end.
• Bash Brothers: With Syrus against the Paradox brothers. Also, with Jesse on two occasions.
• Big Brother Mentor: To Syrus and Hassleberry. They both call him "big brother" in the original, even though Jaden and Syrus are about the same age.
• Big Eater: Jaden's appetite knows no limits.
• Bond Creatures: His spirit partners include: Winged Kuriboh since the beginning; in Season 2, Elemental Hero Neos and the Neo Spacians were added; in Season 3, it's revealed that during his childhood he also had Yubel, but was separated from them. They reconcile by season 4 though.
• Book Dumb: He's a dueling prodigy, but is regularly mentioned to have awful grades and often sleeps through or skips classes. The only reason he's even in Slifer Red is that he scored close to the bottom on the written entrance exam.
• Born Lucky: Even outside of dueling he is lucky enough to have gone on a 10-day streak of drawing the Golden Eggwich correctly, a type of one-per-day food made in Duel Academy's cafeteria and hidden among hundreds of other sandwiches.
• Character Development: As you will notice while scrolling further below.
• Character Tic: Whenever he wins a duel he points to his opponent with two fingers and says "Gotcha! That was a fun duel!"
• Cast from Hit Points: Double Fusion is a card that let's him pay 500 life points to fuse twice, it was used twice and both times it was to bring out Shining Flare Wingman (with 3700 attack points) in one go, Saiou commented that this was fitting card for him in the subs.
• Character Catchphrase: "Gotcha!" in Japanese / "That's Game!" in the English dub, followed by him giving a small finger salute to his opponent, as his way of saying he had a fun duel. In the dub he also uses "Get Your Game On!" when starting a duel, and "Here goes something!" when drawing in a pinch.
• Character-Driven Strategy: Jaden Yuki is famed for his Elemental HERO deck. A deck themed after superheroes (and his unambiguous role as The Hero of the story), Jaden's deck relies on summoning low-level monsters used as fodder to summon stronger Fusion monsters from a nigh-bottomless number of options, showing a clever and resourceful side beneath his ditzy exterior. When placed under the control of The Supreme King, "Dark Fusion" is added to his deck which allows him to summon Evil HERO cards, a variation of the Elemental HERO cards that relies more on brute-force.
• The Chosen One: To wield the Darkness of Justice.
• Chronic Hero Syndrome: He's ever ready to stand and fight for his friends. Deconstructed horribly in Season 3, where his desire to rescue Jesse ends up overriding reason and indirectly causing a lot of trouble for everyone.
• Clueless Chick-Magnet: He unknowingly gains the feelings and interest of Alexis Rhodes, a top student of Obelisk Dorm, and Blair Flannigan, which she switch out from Zane Truesdale due to her duel with him, much to his horror.
• Combat Compliment: He always shows respect towards his opponents, with a few exceptions, even complimenting them and their cards during a duel.
• Contrasting Sequel Main Character: Is a more laid-back and carefree person than Yugi was. In fact, his personality and dialogue have more in common with Joey/Jonouchi than the actual main character. He even provides the trope image with his successor Yusei. It's also evident in his deck compared to Yugi's; Yugi/the Pharaoh largely relied on main deck monsters with an occasional fusion or ritual monster. Jaden, on the other hand, primarily relies on fusion monsters as his main strategy with an occasional big main deck monster.
• The Dreaded: In the Generation Next tournament, all his fellow students refuse to duel him because he is the best duelist in the school, a position that was his ever since Zane graduated and that he largely maintained for the rest of the series. Throughout the rest of the series, many of the lower-tier duelists actively avoid dueling him because they know they won't beat him.
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: He has defeated in order: The Sacred Beasts, The Winged Dragon Of Ra, and Darkness itself. Even Yugi and Yami themselves struggled against Ra, with or without Obelisk and Slifer at their side.
• Empathy Pet: Winged Kuriboh, as Jaden's spirit partner. In some ways, it acts as a substitute for Jaden's emotions in the first season, where he's a Perpetual Smiler.
• Empty Nest: In season 4, he is the only remaining student staying in the Slifer Red dorm with it showcasing his desire to stay alone and prevent others from getting caught in his problems.
• Even the Guys Want Him: Whether it's platonic or not, Yubel is definitely into him.
• First-Name Basis: In the Japanese version where referring to one another by last names is seen as either respectful or distant, everybody calls him Judai. There are almost no exceptions, no matter who they are and what kind of personality they have (Sho and Kenzan call him "Aniki" which roughly means "boss" or "big bro") because they admire him). Even if his last name gets referenced, it's usually a Full-Name Basis rather than just Last-Name Basis.
• The Fool: Many refer to him as this, with Sartorius using the eponymous tarot card to represent Jaden in his predictions.
• Fusion Dance: His entire deck is focused on this, he has mostly low-level monsters that can be fused together to form stronger fusion monsters with a variety of effects, as the show goes on he gets more ways to fuse monsters and stronger fusion monsters, culminating in getting the Super Polymerization card, which allows him to fuse monsters from even the opponent side of the field. Various characters acknowledge his efficiency with fusions.
• Giving Someone the Pointer Finger: Always accompanied by his catchphrase.
• The Hero: He's the heroic duelist who wins all the plot-important matches.
• The Hero Dies: Implied by the English dub, since the season after he "got sent to the stars" was never dubbed. However, the dubbed version of 3D: Bonds Beyond Time reveals Jaden is alive.
• Hero-Worshipper: He was one since childhood, hence his choice of cards.
• I See Dead People: He can see and talk with duel monster spirits, just like Yugi himself.
• The Idealist: Played utmost in Season 4, but whenever there's a duel involved he'll never doubt himself or his friends as long as a card can be drawn.
• Improvisational Ingenuity: Whatever he may lack in practical knowledge or strategy he more than makes up through pure improvisation.
• Ink-Suit Actor: Jaden looks a fair bit◊ like a younger version of his Japanese voice actor, KENN.
• Informed Flaw: He's accused of being selfish and not taking things seriously by numerous characters in Season 3. This however, goes against what's shown in the first two seasons where he's shown to know what's at stake and take things seriously at various times, plus he's shown to care for his friends and their wellbeing, trying to help them find the right path when they're stuck and he constantly tries to help strangers he meets with their problems (for one example: when Lynd asked him to bring Prince Ojin back, he directly went to challenge Ojin with a serious face, once he beat him and brought him back to his normal self, he immediately made a beeline towards Saiou bowing that he wouldn't let him do whatever he wanted anymore). It's a bit staggering that his characterization in the first two seasons goes against what was claimed in the third.
  • Furthermore, Word of God states that Jaden was incapable of defeating someone like Yami Marik until season 3, despite already besting a duplicate Winged Dragon of Ra in season 2. And unlike Yami Yugi, Jaden won without another God card or a specific card to counter Ra's abilities.
• Kirk Summation: Very often, especially in the first season, where he tends to call out the wielders of the Dark Games for distorting the purpose of a game that is meant to be fun. It happens less frequently as time goes on and Jaden's lackadaisical approach becomes more and more problematic.
• The Magic Poker Equation: There are real-life duelists who would kill for the luck Jaden has, able to top deck the exact card he needs several times per duel. To recap repeated sights with his duels:
  • If he has no hand he'll probably draw Bubbleman, Fifth Hope, Pot of Greed, or something else that lets him draw more cards, and it's not uncommon for him to pull something that lets him draw even more.
  • Every time he plays A Hero Emerges his opponent always picks a monster, even if he has multiple cards in his hand and only one of them is a monster.
  • If he uses a card like Card Trooper to mill cards from his deck, every time he does he mills Necroshade or Necro Gardna (if not both), and later in the duel he'll probably draw Miracle Fusion or Miracle Contact to use the other cards sent to the Graveyard.
  • To illustrate just how lucky his draws are, in one duel, he needs to draw a monster on his next turn in order to win, so he uses another card to put Neos (of which he only has one copy) on the top of his deck. However, his opponent then activates a card which lets him shuffle Jaden's deck, and he makes a big show of shuffling his deck very thoroughly. Jaden draws Neos anyway.
• Magnetic Hero: Ninety-five percent of the people he duels become his friends afterwards. Lampshaded in-universe.
  • Elaborated further with his friendship with Jim Crocodile Cook, whom Jaden is able to befriend in only a short time but receives great loyalty from. (Jim's Australian.)
• Meaningful Name:
  • Yuuki Juudai —> "a courageous teenager". ...No kidding!
  • There's another aspect to Yuuki. The yuu is the kanji meaning "game" — the same "yuu" that shows up somewhere in all other Yu-Gi-Oh! series' protagonists' names. Plus the ki can also be pronouned jou, which means that an alternate pronunciation of Yuuki is yuujou — "friendship."
• Nice Guy: Jaden is very cheerful, easygoing, and extremely friendly. He gives everyone a chance and has a very welcoming persona.
• Oblivious to Love: Towards Alexis. He never acknowledges that Alexis may have feelings towards him in a romantic way.
• Odd Name Out: Out of the seven protagonists in the franchise, Judai is the only one whose first name doesn't start with "Yu". His surname Yuki does have a "Yu" but because that's a last name, it still fits the trope. He's also the only protagonist to have his name changed into an English one "Jaden", while everyone else keeps their Japanese names.
• Red Is Heroic: His Slifer Red jacket. Apt for him, as he's the only character who remains Red for the whole series. Also he gains a Slifer Red duel disk as of Season 4 of GX.
• Rousing Speech: Has a talent for boosting the confidence of his friends whenever they need motivation in a duel. Like when he talks Syrus into dueling Zane.
• Rule of Fun: What he feels duels are all about. In real life, he'd be completely right, but since he lives in a world where card games decide everything...
• Selective Obliviousness: He seems ignorant of the dislike that other individuals have for him, as despite the obvious tension on their part, he considers himself to be good friends with Chazz and Aster. That said, Jaden may actually be correct to assume this, considering the similarities to Yugi's relationship with Kaiba.
• Ship Tease:
  • With Alexis, although it's a bit one-sided on her part. She's got a huge crush on him while Jaden always supports her, even when Alexis was brainwashed by Satorius.
  • With Johan, enough that his Stalker with a Crush Yubel gets jealous.
• Signature Move: In Season 1, he wins several duels with Elemental Hero Flame Wingman. Even when it isn't his strongest monster later on, he still admits that it's his favorite.
  • Fusion in general is this to him, even recognized by various characters in the series like Daitokuji, Kagemaru, Kaiser, Saiou and Sho.
• Technician Versus Performer: Leans very highly towards the performer side in his dueling. Lampshaded in his duel with Zane, when he calls Jaden out for being too technical and therefore uncertain in his strategy.
• To Be a Master: To be the best duelist.
• Took a Level in Badass: While he is good when he starts out, he gets progressively stronger as he develops his strategies and adds new cards to his deck.
  • He adds an Upgraded form of his original ace monster "Flame Wingman" in the form of "Shining Flare Wingman" midway through Season 1, on top of adding more fusion monsters as the season goes on to fight a wider array of enemy tactics, he also gets a strong main deck monster in the form of Bladedge.
  • He goes from losing to Zane in the start of Season 1 to ending up in a tie against him by the end of it.
  • By Season 2 he manages to defeat Aster's Elemental HERO deck when Zane couldn't, he also manages to hold his own somewhat against the Destiny HERO deck despite never seeing it before even if he ultimately loses ...then he gets Neos and the Neo-Spacians who ensure that he wins the second round against the Destiny HERO monsters.
  • In Season 3 he adds more Fusion Monsters to his deck as well as Triple Contact Fusions with his Neo-Spacians at the start, by the end of it he gains the Super Polymerization card as well as Yubel.
  • For the series finale, Jaden becomes strong enough to fight toe to toe with Yugi himself, whom claims Jaden as the strongest foe he ever faced, a sentiment Yami agreed with.
  • On a non-duel related thing, he also gains his powers as the Supreme King and gains Yubel's powers after fusing with them, namely being able to manifest duel spirits in the human world as solid forms, allowing him to fight without starting a duel and to resist mind control and other mystical powers on his own power instead of with artefacts like the Gravekeepers Chief's necklace.
• Trade Mark Favorite Food: Fried shrimp, fermented soybeans, and egg sandwiches. All in all though, he's not a picky eater.
• True Companions: He seems to inadvertently make new friends without trying; commented on in-universe.
• Uncatty Resemblance: His big brown mop of hair bears a distinct resemblance to his Winged Kuriboh.
• Weak, but Skilled: Discounting his fusions and a few pointed exceptions such as Neos or Bladedge, the majority of his monsters don't have much in the way of attack points. They tend to make up for it with a variety of effects pulled off by or through them.
• World's Best Warrior: By the end of the first season, he is the best duelist in Duel Academy, matching Zane/Ryo in the latter's graduation duel. By the time of his own graduation, Jaden proves an equal to the King of Games himself.

Tropes exclusive to Jaden in the Duel Academy, Shadow Riders, and Society of Light arcs

• All-Loving Hero: No matter who you are, how evil you are, or how much you hate him, Jaden will have fun dueling you and make sure you enjoy it too.
• Asleep in Class: Shown more than once. He has a mask with eyes on it.
• Beat Them at Their Own Game:
  • He convinces himself that he can only beat Zane in the Graduation Match by outsmarting him. It doesn't go well, and Zane eventually convinces him to go back to dueling with his heart and instincts.
  • He beats Miller, a duelist who tried to make him deck out via that same mill strategy.
• Blithe Spirit: Everyone is bewildered by Jaden being a great duelist in spite of his incredibly laid-back attitude and poor grades when other students work their butts off to get recognition.
• Cavalier Competitor: There's nothing Jaden loves more than a good duel.
• Chaste Hero: One must wonder how sheltered he must be from the world outside of dueling if he doesn't even know what 'fiancee' means...
• The Chosen One: In the Shadow Rider Arc, Jaden is one of the seven top duelist to selected to guard the Spirit Key. He's the only duelist that never lost to any of the Shadow Riders and ends up to facing Kagemaru in the duel.
• Determinator: "The duel's not over until the last card is played!"
• Ditzy Genius: A brilliant duelist but lacks common sense outside of it.
• Dreaming of Things to Come: Unable to shake his fears regarding the Shadow Riders, Jaden had nightmares about the destruction of his friends and is suddenly challenged to a Duel by the Duel Monster Spirit Kaibaman. Ultimately, Kaibaman defeats Jaden with Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon which Jaden recognizes as the monster that defeated him in his nightmare, but reveals that he is not actually a Shadow Rider and really Dueled Jaden in order to ease Jaden's fear of losing.
• Fatal Flaw: Sloth. He's either ignorant to what's going on around him, or extremely slow to act on it. Despite his substantial skill, he's a very reactive thinker. The main reason the Society of Light got such a foothold was that he didn't step up to stop them aside from defeating anyone they threw at him until it was already almost too late.
• Go Back to the Source: He gets over not being able to see his cards by meeting the cards he designed when was a child for a Kaiba Corp contest when he first began his passion for dueling, his new Neo Space deck promptly restores his love of dueling and restores his old cards as well.
• Heroic BSoD: He has a slight episode (or few) when he is defeated by Aster and loses the ability to see his cards. This ends when he meets the Neo Spacians and they restore his love of dueling.
• Ideal Hero: Subverted; all of Jaden's friends think he's one of these, ignoring his obvious flaws such as his carelessness, laziness, and obliviousness to anything that doesn't involve dueling. It's all but stated that Jaden's actually a pretty bad influence, and it actually becomes a plot point.
• Idiot Hero: See Book Dumb above. Particularly in the first two seasons, Jaden is flat stupid when he isn't dueling.
• "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: In Season 2, his duels to save Chazz and Alexis from the Society of Light.
• Indy Ploy: As per tradition, Jaden's reliance on on-the-spot combos and luck is in contrast with his rivals and antagonists who rely on strategic and/or overpowering decks.
• Invincible Hero: He almost never loses, and when he does it's often a major plot point.
• Keet: Cheerful, happy-go-lucky, and easy-going.
• Nice Guy: Jaden is friendly, optimistic, supportive, encouraging, cheerful, and happy-go-lucky. In fact, unlike a good chunk of his other friends, Jaden never blames Chazz for turning Alexis into Satorious' pawn.
• Next Tier Power-Up: During his Heroic BSoD after his loss to Aster, he gains a new deck of Neo Spacians and Elemental Hero Neos. These are cards he made as a child that fall from outer space to aid him.
• No Sense of Direction: After gaining the Neo-Spacians and returning to Duel Academy, he ends up lost in the woods and nearly starved to death. Showcasing just how bad this is, Syrus was able to make several trips in the woods while managing to return to the dorm with no problem whenever he looked there for him and Wheeler outright tried to point him in the direction of Duel Academy, while also showing that the huge academy building is visible from the woods yet despite this it took Jaden days if not weeks to make his return. Not to mention the fact the school is on an island meaning that he could have easily found his way out if he simply went a single direction and followed the edges.
• Or Was It a Dream?: He was confused if he actually met aliens until he had a look at his new deck with the power of Neo Space.
• Poor, Predictable Rock: By Season 2, everyone knew about Jaden's Elemental Hero deck and he's easily defeated by Aster because Aster was familiar with all of them. Subverted, however, once Jaden gets his Neo Spacian deck of Heroes no one has ever seen before.
• Prodigal Hero: In Season 2, he leaves Duel Academy after losing to Aster and being unable to see his cards. Stuck out at sea, a cosmic phenomenon causes him to venture out into Neo Space where Aqua Dolphin informs him of the danger that season. After triumphing against an alien of light with his new deck, he returns to Duel Academy to defeat Aster and saves his dorm from demolition.
• Protective Charm: During the Shadow Riders arc he wears a Shadow Charm as a necklace. One half he won beating the Gravekeeper's Chief and the other half beating Nightshroud. In his duel with Camula, his Shadow Charm negates Camula's own Shadow Charm magic when she tries to put all of his friends' souls at stake through "Illusion Gate".
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: The recipient of one from Aster of their use of Hero cards. Aster is motivated because of his past history of his father's murder in comparison to Jaden, who doesn't have a purpose like that and usually just randomly helps people.
• Screw Destiny: His power and what makes him interesting to Sartorius in Season 2.
• Shut Up, Hannibal!: Strangely not to the actual villain in this case; when Zane was trying to break down Syrus in Season 2, Jaden reminded Syrus how important it was to duel with respect and helped Syrus maintain his morals.
• Skilled, but Naive: As a new student at Duel Academy, he beats Professor Crowler and many of the best duelists in his year, but still had a lot of hardships ahead of him.
• The Slacker: He sleeps through literally every class he's in and never does his classwork.
• Small Steps Hero: Most notably when he decided to save Aster by handing over his satellite key to Sartorius before challenging him to a duel.
• Strategy, Schmategy: Zane even manages to convince him his strength in dueling is his unpredictability.
• Think Nothing of It: To anyone he helps.
• Tiger Versus Dragon: The Dragon to Bastion's Tiger. A bit of an inversion from the usual imagery, as Jaden is the Hot-Blooded Idiot Hero, while Bastion is the more even-tempered, intellectual duelist.
• Warrior Therapist: He's constantly telling his Serious Business-thinking opponents to relax and just enjoy the duel.
• Wide-Eyed Idealist: He is much more light-hearted and cheerful than the other characters, and almost never angsts.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: Make sure you realize what show you're in before you think of Duel Monsters as, "just a game".

Tropes exclusive to Jaden in the Dimension World arc

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• Angry Eyebrows: After Jaden lost his friends his expression switched from his usual happy one to pure anger towards Brron and remained that way after he became the Supreme King.
• Appeal to Force: The Supreme King's attitude, employing his sheer power to subjugate and keep his minions in line.
• Arc Villain: The Supreme King takes over as the main antagonist for several episodes after Brron's defeat before being defeated and restored back to normal, leaving Yubel as the Final Boss of the Dimension World arc and Season 3.
• Asskicking Leads to Leadership: The Supreme King commands an army of ruthless Evil Minions capable of decimating entire villages. As soon as the Supreme King is defeated, one of his previous minions seeks out Jaden to build his reputation by defeating him.
• Attack! Attack! Attack!: Enraged by the loss of his friends, Jaden continuously attacks Brron with Neos with several combos with the intent of destroying Brron's monster over and over until he feels better. Unfortunately Brron couldn't keep up.
• Bad Powers, Good People: When Jaden chooses to embrace the Supreme King's power against Yubel in their last duel. Subverted when it is revealed to be the Gentle Darkness, the power to oppose the Light of Destruction.
• Battle Aura: The Supreme King can emit darkness powerful enough to generate shock waves and create a dark aura around himself. While dueling, his opponents as well as spectators feel an enormous pressure coming from him, which can intimidate powerful duelists such as Axel to cower in fear of him.
• Battle in the Center of the Mind: This is seen through the Eye of Orichalcum. The Supreme King using Jaden's guilt to maintain control.
• Became Their Own Antithesis: Jaden becomes the Supreme King, someone who indirectly and directly hurt his friends.
• Being Tortured Makes You Evil: Seeing his friends die in his duel with Brron.
• Beware the Nice Ones: After being pushed to the limit by Brron and losing most of his friends, he snaps into a fit of rage, and after becomes the Arc Villain for a few episodes.
• Black Knight: As the Supreme King he's an evil Tin Tyrant clad in black armor.
• Break the Cutie: Yubel's scheme to have all of Jaden's friends killed has this effect on him.
• Broken Ace: As part of the Deconstruction of The Ace.
• Broken Pedestal: To several of his friends, mainly Syrus. Even post-Supreme King, Syrus continues to doubt whether Jaden can control himself and if he can save everyone. Becomes a Rebuilt Pedestal by the end.
• Creepy Monotone: Though Jaden and The Supreme King are both played by the same voice actor (in both versions), their voices are very different. In the Japanese version, The Supreme King's voice is much deeper and foreboding in Jaden's subconscious while it is still Jaden's voice, but harsher and forceful on the outside though it is in a monotone. In the English version, his voice is a harsher version of Jaden's voice complete with electronic effects; and while his voice does show emotion, it's never anything more than anger.
• Creepy Shadowed Undereyes: Has deep eye shadows to highlight his sinister appearance when using the Supreme King's powers.
• The Dark Side Will Make You Forget: Becoming the Supreme King made him forget all of the friends he'd lost, or that he even had friends in the first place.
• Deconstruction: Of all of the above-listed tropes in previous seasons. The second half of Season 3 examines what happens when the Idiot Hero who duels for fun is pitted against Chessmaster extra-dimensional invaders who duel to the death, manipulate the hero rather than directly fight him until it's necessary, and use his friends as antes. The results are not pretty.
• Death Seeker: For a bit during his Heroic BSoD. He finds himself in front of the site of his friend's deaths confronted by a former evil minion looking to usurp his previous status. Jaden accepts his challenge, determining that since his friends died here, it would be a suitable punishment for himself. Until he learns Yubel was behind everything and chooses to win that duel.
• Determinator: In the original during the final duel, he constantly reminds Yubel he won't be defeated.
• Devoted to You: In a past life, Yubel offered to be transformed into a Duel Monster to protect him forever, this moved Jaden's past self to the point of devoting himself to loving his only friend and never forgetting Yubel. Learning this leads Jaden to forgive Yubel and fusing themselves together.
• Et Tu, Brute?: Jaden feels Professor Viper told the truth and then says he is selfish due to his friends' deaths.
• Evil Costume Switch: Dons a suit of black armor as the Supreme King.
• Evil Makeover: For his monsters, the Supreme King uses Evil Heroes.
• Evil Me Scares Me: The very thought that he was once the Supreme King freaks Jaden out significantly. It takes him a while to get over it.
• Evil Wears Black: Wears black armor as the Supreme King.
• Expy: The Supreme King is a hellish fusion of all three of the Yami counterparts from the original series. He has Yami Yugi's Season 0 personality and base desire to protect his "other half", Yami Bakura's association with darkness (albeit originally intended as a different kind of darkness, though Jaden's mental breakdown ended up corrupting it into a more typical depiction) and his ruthlessly competent dueling style, and Yami Marik's background of being a darker side born from within Jaden's heart.
  • He has also more than a few references to Anakin Skywalker's transformation into Darth Vader during the Star Wars prequels. Specifically both Jaden and Anakin start out well-meaning, but their fear of losing loved ones are exploited to twist them into tyrannical dark figures complete with the black armor and Super Natural Gold Eyes. They later end up starting the path to redemption with a Heroic Sacrifice.
• Face–Heel Turn: Goes from the main hero to the main villain for several episodes.
• Face Your Fears: At the end of the season using Fusion and using the Supreme King's power to confront Yubel.
• Fallen Hero: You don't fall much further than going from All-Loving Hero to Evil Overlord.
• Fatal Flaw: His impulsiveness.
• Fist of Rage: Has this habit when using the Supreme King's power against Brron and Yubel.
• Fusion Dance: Of the Power Boost variety, with Yubel at the end of the Season.
• Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: Gets this from Bastion from his turmoil as the Supreme King.
• The Gloves Come Off: Against Brron, he's unable to attack and stuck in thought, and when his friends are sacrificed he absolutely snaps into a fit of rage awakening the Supreme King. Again in his last duel with Yubel he uses the Supreme King's power, accepting that their defeat is the final solution, but isn't actually.
• He Who Fights Monsters: The constant dueling to save the world finally takes its toll on him, and he becomes just a ruthless and victory-driven as the antagonists he's been fighting.
• The Hero Dies: Subverted in the last episode of this season when his friends, except Syrus, believe he may never return after his supposed Heroic Sacrifice, but he does.
• Heroic BSoD: Post-Supreme King, to the point that can't bring himself to Fusion Summon despite his deck relying heavily on it out of guilt for everyone he sacrificed into Super Polymerziation, up until he duels Yubel and saves Jesse.
• Heroic Resolve: When he plays Super Polymerization and rescues Jesse from Yubel and at the end when he returns everyone home to Duel Academy.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Subverted. Syrus believes this was his aim, but Jaden had another solution in mind with Yubel.
• I Am the Noun: "I Am the Supreme King", In the last duel with Yubel.
• I Did What I Had to Do: Syrus points out Jaden had no other alternative than to sacrifice Rainbow Neos to prevent losing the duel at one point to Yubel.
• "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: His duel to save Jesse from Yubel.
• I Let Gwen Stacy Die: He feels responsible for his friends being killed by Brron.
• It's All My Fault: Blames himself for Jesse's fate, which is why he's driven to save him now. Also for the apparent deaths of his friends.
• Kick the Dog: The Supreme King does this when he kills Jim in a duel, although Jim was never dead from the result. On the receiving end of this after his duel With Brron, after the Failure Is the Only Option duel is finished. He's called out by Syrus, who came in mid game and thought he sacrificed them on purpose, who then leaves, disowning him as his "Big Bro" and Jim and Axel take their leave too, breaking him to the point he completely submits to the Supreme King and becomes the Temporary Villan for the season.
• Klingon Promotion: After separating from Jim and Axel, he took over Brron's army, whom he already defeated earlier.
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: His parents had cutting-edge technology suppress all memory of Yubel because he kept having nightmares of them suffering (which were actually Yubel's attempts to call for help in outer space while suffering from the Light of Destruction). Only after seeing Yubel's restored body do his memories resurface.
• Leeroy Jenkins: His impulsiveness is deconstructed during this season.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: He awakens the Supreme King's power when Brron kills his friends and uses them once again to duel against Yubel, determined to end them.
• Magic Feather: Played with. He believes he needs a magical artifact like the Eye of Orichalcum or a powerful force like Exodia to confront Yubel and save Jesse, then his monsters appear in his mind to convince him otherwise.
• Might Makes Right: The Supreme King firmly believes this, and promptly starts conquering the dimension once he takes control.
• Must Make Amends: Post Heroic BSoD, Jaden becomes very dedicated to doing this.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Once he realizes what his impulsive behavior has caused.
• My Greatest Failure: Failing to save Jesse and turning to darkness.
• Next Tier Power-Up: The Supreme King's power, followed by the powers he gets from Yubel.
• Not Himself: Unlike Jaden, The Supreme King is cold, collected and ruthless but always carries an air of intimidation as noted by Axel.
• Not So Stoic: The Supreme King begins to panic when Axel runs towards him, revealing the duel ends in a draw, forcing the Eye of Orichalcum to free Jaden.
• Not Worth Killing: The Supreme King doesn't personally handle duelists not brave enough to duel him and even let Axel run away in fear after defeating Jim.
• One-Man Army: In his search for Jesse, he single handedly defeats the Dark Army, going through their bases and defeating their King.
• One True Love: The Supreme King considered Yubel his, and once he regains his memories, Jaden accepts Yubel's devotion.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: During his Heroic BSoD, he becomes unwilling to use any fusion spell cards for Fusion Summon like his Polymerization and especially Super Polymerization because he hurt so many using it as the Supreme King.
• Past-Life Memories: The flashback he experiences revealing he is The Chosen One to wield The Sacred Darkness against the Light of Destruction, and also Yubel is the guardian of his vessel and a very dear friend sworn to his side.
• Pay Evil unto Evil: The Supreme King's method of trying to avenge Jesse is by brutally defeating everyone who gets in his way without any regard they die (sent to the stars in the dub) upon their defeat.
• POW Camp: The Supreme King ran Duelist camps where his minions would capture duelists and bring them to the King, so he could defeat them to complete his Super Polymerization card.
• Pragmatic Hero: Becomes this during his search for Jesse in the different dimension, he chooses to ignore the safety of his other friends to find Jesse. In the final duel, he resorts to using the Supreme King's power to oppose Yubel, and even regretfully sacrifices his most powerful monster Rainbow Neos to prevent losing the duel. Subverted in the end, Jaden ceases attacking Yubel with the Supreme King's power and settles their conflict peacefully instead.
• The Promise: Deconstructed, then reconstructed. His past self swore to love Yubel alone forever, but his present self is a Reincarnation that doesn't recall it, leading to a chain of events that caused them insanity and evil. Remembering that promise is what leads to him fusing their souls together, redeeming them both of their mistakes.
• Protagonist Journey to Villain: The guilt of his friends dying as a result of his impulsive actions drives him to evil.
• Psychotic Smirk: Unleashes one as he’s eager to make Brron pay for sacrificing his friends.
• Rage Breaking Point: Brron was already pushing his buttons, but once he start's sacrificing Jaden's friends, Jaden's pushed over the edge and becomes the Supreme King.
• Rebuilt Pedestal: To everyone, once he unselfishly and seemingly sacrifices himself to return them home to Duel Academy.
• Reincarnation: Learned he was the reincarnation of The Supreme King, The Chosen One to protect the universe.
• Reincarnation Romance: The Supreme King pledged his love to Yubel; once he remembers their past, Jaden forgives them and fuses their souls.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Against Yubel when he uses the Supreme King's power against them.
• The Sacred Darkness: The flashback during the duel with Yubel reveals the Supreme King's power is the power to oppose the Light of Destruction.
• Slowly Slipping Into Evil: When he enters the different dimension in search of Jesse, he continues to place his other friends' lives in danger while fighting the Dark Army. When he feels closer to finding Jesse he grows less and less concerned over their safety, and they become captured by the Dark Army. Once they are sacrificed by Brron he becomes ruthless while avenging them and is told by Brron that Jesse died. Losing all hope, he becomes the Supreme King as a result, losing control because of his guilt over losing his friends. The Supreme King then defeats several duelists to complete the Super Polymerization, kills Jim and nearly takes over all the villages within that dimension til he ties by Axel.
• Smiting Evil Feels Good: In the dub only, after Brron kills his friends, he outright says destroying Brron's monster over and over makes him feel better, in the subs this is Averted, he says that no matter how much he destroys that monster it doesn't make him feel better.
• Spikes of Villainy: Part of the Supreme King's outfit. Doubles as Scary Impractical Armor.
• Split-Personality Takeover: The Supreme King takes over his body.
• The Stoic: As the Supreme King, Jaden no longer displays any emotion, even ignoring attacks from his opponents in duels and down to 200 Life points in his duel with Axel, remains completely composed. He even crosses into Tranquil Fury territory because of how ruthless his attacks can be, this carries over to when he fights Yubel, coldly rejecting them at every point and any sympathy they might have had for them.
• Supernatural Gold Eyes: When using the Supreme King's powers, his eyes turn a shade of gold.
• Superpowered Evil Side: The Supreme King. The Evil Hero monsters he uses as the Supreme King are also much more powerful than their Elemental Hero counterparts.
• Sympathy for the Devil: Once he learns what Yubel has done for him, he acknowledges her sacrifices and forgives them, then fuses both their souls together.
• Take a Third Option: Jaden decides to fuse his soul with Yubel's to end the conflict in Season 3.
• Temporarily a Villain: The Supreme King is the main antagonist for about 4 or 5 episodes before he is snapped out of it. Then he has to make way for the arc's real villain, Yubel.
• That Man Is Dead: Post-freakout, he makes it very clear to his former friends that the Jaden they knew doesn't exist anymore. There is only the Supreme King, the only "friend" that matters to him is the darkness in his heart, and his sole motivation is to acquire overwhleming and absolute power over everyone and everything.
• This Is Your Brain on Evil: He turns to ruthlessness to defeat Bronn, and when it works out, he keeps going. After he is horrified to learn what his actions have caused.
• A Tragedy of Impulsiveness: Ignoring the safety of his friends lead to them being captured and sacrificed by the Dark Army.
• Trauma Conga Line: Jesse is left behind in the different dimension as a result of Yubel who was after him. His friends are killed by Brron indirectly due to his impulsiveness and reckless behaviour in searching for Jesse. He becomes the Supreme King who kills dozens upon dozens of duelists to complete the Super Polymerization card, kills 2 friends trying to save him, and is horrified to learn what he has done. Then he loses 2 more friends who try to get him back on his feet and then he has to save Jesse who is possessed by Yubel.
• Turn the Other Cheek: Once he learns what Yubel did in their past life.
• Two Aliases, One Character: Bastion reveals to Jaden, that he and the Supreme King are the same person. From that moment Jaden has to accept he was completely responsible for, and must work towards fixing, his mistakes. Although it is open to interpretation if Bastion was right since the Eye of Orichalcum revealed Jaden was being manipulated by a Superpowered Evil Side, or if that was just symbolism of the inner conflict within Jaden's soul.
• The Unfettered: As the Supreme King, his cruelty has no bounds as he is willing to sacrifice as many people as he has to in order to accomplish his goals along with his lack of remorse after defeating someone himself.
• Unstoppable Rage: While using the Supreme King's powers, regardless of his cause.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: His entire shmick as the Supreme King was believing that you have to become evil to fight evil. He sorely regrets this later.
• What the Hell, Hero?: He gets this from his friends, especially Chazz, who are captured by Brron, before they are sacrificed for Brron's ritual.
• Young Conqueror: Well since Jaden is still a teen... the Supreme King was basically this attempting to unite the dimension under his rule.

Tropes exclusive to Jaden in Darkness arc & Bonds Beyond Time

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• Aloof Ally: He becomes more aloof after his return from Dark World, and distance himself from his friends because he wants to protect them by refusing to involve them in his misson. By the end of the series after he graduates, he left the school without even saying goodbye to them.
  • Subverted by the following movie, where it's shown that he kept in touch with his academy friends, as well as being cheerful towards Yugi, Yami, and Yusei.
• Anti-Hero: Type II on the sliding scale. He's VERY deep down under his unpleasant nature, hurt from trauma. He gets better.
• As Long as There Is One Man: In response to Darkness's claim of As Long as There Is Evil.
• The Atoner: He continued to blame himself for all the problems the academy has faced and wants to safeguard his friends from further danger by refusing to involve them. It took some time for Jaden to get over this.
• Aura Vision: Using the Supreme King and Yubel's powers he can see the auras of others, like when he checked to see if Sartorius was being controlled or when he saw the auras of the Egyptian Gods in Yugi's deck.
• Bat Family Crossover: In Bonds Beyond Time movie, Jaden teams up with Yugi Muto/Yami Yugi and Yusei Fudo from different eras to defeat the movie villain, Paradox.
• Charles Atlas Superpower: He was jumping on platforms while trying to escape from an exploding Kaiba Corp building, as well as jumping from building to building when he was attacked by Paradox in the movie.
• Clothing Damage: He suffers this when he gets hit by Malefic Stardust Dragon's powerful blast, resulting in baring the midsection.
• Combo Platter Powers: The Supreme King and Yubel's abilities allow him to see past illusions, manifest Duel Spirits, grants him immunity to Darkness' Lotus-Eater Machine, and more.
• Coming of Age Story: This season concludes with him learning to become much more responsible without letting go of who he is.
• Comes Great Responsibility: Concerning his powers of the Supreme King.
• Dark Is Not Evil: His powers over The Sacred Darkness remain.
• Deadpan Snarker: Developed into one with his other darker tendencies.
• Deconstruction: Continues the aftermath of the past season, realizing that many of the antagonists the heroes have faced have been drawn to the academy by him, and thus he's to blame for all the chaos of the series. As the season ends however, it leans more to a Reconstruction by restoring Jaden's Ideal Hero aspects.
• Decon-Recon Switch: The season starts with him a changed person from the events of the previous season, and he appears a much more cynical person for it. As the season ends however, his previous optimistic traits return as he's determined to convince others, and himself unconsciously, that they can move past their doubts of either past mistakes or the fear of the future. And finally at the very end with his duel with Yugi, after 2 seasons of life and death duels, he rediscovers his passion for dueling again.
• Determinator: It takes him a while to get there, due to the ordeals against Yubel sapping his passion, but the duel against Darkness is a true test of his willpower after he's the last man standing against Darkness' true form. Winning doesn't come easy, but he sticks it out to the end and convinces everyone else to do the same.
• Doom Magnet: From his traumatizing experiences, he believed he has become this (or so he thought).
• Duality Motif: When manifesting Yubel's orange and green heterochromia.
• Failure Knight: Losing his friends last season taught him what his friends mean to him and motivated him to try much harder to save them this season.
• Fire-Forged Friends: He brings this trope up with a metaphor about cards. How a person starts with a seemingly regular card but after countless duels, good and bad, a powerful relationship is forged. In his case, Elemental Hero Neos.
• Glowing Eyes of Doom: Whenever he uses Yubel's power.
• Growing Up Sucks: Subverted in his duel against Darkness. Having once hit rock bottom, he's the only one unafraid of moving forward and eventually convinces everyone else to overcome this fear as well.
• Heroic Safe Mode: The reason he's the way he is now is because he's still broken after the previous season. However, Jaden gradually becomes cheerful as the season goes on.
• Heroic Self-Deprecation: Played with and subverted. In the final duel with Darkness, it's brought to attention that Jaden is the only person left fighting for mankind, as everyone else has already given up. But Jaden points out he isn't as strong as he appears to be, having once been the Supreme King, and he fights to prove to everyone that despite their doubts and failures they can keep moving forward with their lives.
• He's All Grown Up: Downplayed. When he returns from Dark World Judai has grown slightly taller reaching the same height as Asuka, while in the previous 3 seasons he was slightly shorter than her. His hair has grown a bit longer and his facial features have became more sharper and mature to highlight his serious and brooding personality in Season 4.
• He's Back!: At the very end after dueling Yugi, he's finally recovered his cheerfulness and passion for dueling.
• In the End, You Are on Your Own: Initially played straight during his duel with Darkness, then subverted: first Yubel shows up to encourage him, then he convinces his friends to fight against the Lotus-Eater Machine and encourage them to not give up. This leads them all to appear while he deals the finishing blow to Darkness.
• Ineffectual Loner: Zigzagged. While Jaden is more distant from his friends in season 4, he doesn't exactly stop hanging out with them either. In fact, they seemed to have kept in touch after graduating Duel Academy, if Bonds Beyond Time is any indication.
• It Has Been an Honor: He thanks his deck after his last draw before defeating Darkness.
• Jade-Colored Glasses: He is much more cynical than before at first, as the loss of his friends and all the trauma he endured took a toll on his idealism. He gradually recovers his original optimism and love for dueling.
• Knight Errant: Becomes this by the end of the series after graduating from Duel Academy, deciding to search for those who he might be able to help with his powers of being able to connect with spirits.
• The Knights Who Say "Squee!": When he travels back in time to meet Yugi.
• Like an Old Married Couple: Yubel doesn't appear often, but when they do, their interactions have shades of this.
  Yubel: Judai, you're reckless and an idiot, but you can't fall here. Get up.
  Judai: (Smiling) Can't you do something about your back talk first?
• Lonely at the Top: Implied. Several characters comment that he has become something above humanity, which is partially the cause for his self-inflicted isolation.
• My Greatest Failure: His actions as the Supreme King last season and his friends falling one by one because of it. He becomes much more determined to save his friends this season with this in mind.
• Next Tier Power-Up: After last season's ordeal, he can now use the combined powers of the Supreme King and Yubel.
• "No More Holding Back" Speech: Brought up during the duels with Sartorius and Darkness about Jaden being corrupted by power, and Jaden responds that he now has responsibilities to use those powers against evil. Darkness calls him out for not understanding how helpless his friends are, and he responds that he isn't as strong as he appears to be and only continues fighting on sheer hope alone.
• No-Sell: Anybody trying to play with his mind or fool him with illusions is in for a surprise.
• Not Quite Human: Darkness viewed him as a "foreign object" that didn't belong in either world because he was a human who held a Duel Spirit within (referring to Yubel), and thus should be removed.
• Not So Stoic: By his duel with Yugi, he's back to expressing excitement at every turn of the duel and having so much fun he breaks out into laughter with Yugi. Thanks to his duels alongside Alexis, he'd managed shades of this even before that, in his duel against Fujiwara where he teamed up with Jesse. Their usual antics shine through and he even laughs heartily with his friend when they trick Fujiwara into believing that they're fighting each other.
  • By the end, he completely subverts this, acting more cheerful than Yugi or Yusei in their team-up.
• Patrick Stewart Speech: How he saves humanity from Darkness: by convincing them they can move past their fears.
• Powers via Possession: Yubel grants Jaden several abilities; seeing through illusions, manifesting Duel Spirits, immunity to Darkness' Lotus-Eater Machine, and more.
• Psychic Block Defense: Having Yubel within him prevents anyone trying to manipulate his mind this season.
• Rage Against the Mentor: Played for laughs with Banner — he dangles his spirit orb over a toilet as a threat.
• Resigned to the Call: When Sartorius explains his theory of Darkness coming into power because of himself, Kagemaru and Jaden. Jaden lampshades how he unfortunately has to clean up their mistakes as well as his own.
• Save Our Students: He does for Duel Academy, and the rest of the world.
• School Idol: Becomes one by this point to all the younger Duel Academy students.
• Sharing a Body: With Yubel's spirit.
• Shut Up, Hannibal!: To Darkness twice, after he and Jesse decided to Troll Fujiwara by directing a few attacks at each other to build up enough power to strike Darkness with. He isn't stupid enough to try and settle things with Jesse while the world's ending. He also denies that people are as weak as Darkness thinks.
• Significant Wardrobe Shift: His clothes in this season have a darker color scheme to them compared to the previous seasons where they were more lighter colored, which was done to reflect his dark and aloof personality in this season.
• Silly Rabbit, Idealism Is for Kids!: Subverted by his duel with Darkness.
• Split Personality: With Yubel, though he's usually the one in control and they are now benign.
• Stepford Smiler: Around his friends in the beginning of the season.
  • But once Jesse shows up he's back to his usual cheerful self, even when dueling against a powerful opponent.
• The Stoic: Brooding and quiet in comparison to his Keet tendencies before.
• Summon Magic: Using Yubel's powers, he summons Neos as a real monster whenever he's in danger.
• Symbiotic Possession: With Yubel. Unlike before, where Yubel's effect on Marcel and Jesse was less than willing Yubel and Jaden are full partners, with Jaden being able to make use of Yubel's power and Yubel's loneliness permanently cured.
• Took a Level in Cynic: He becomes more cynical, distant, and brooding this season due to the trauma he underwent at Dark world, and is unable to enjoy dueling like he did in the past. Jaden gradually starts to come out of it during his tag duel with Alexis. Moreover, when dueling Yugi, he finally subverted this entirely, reacknowledging his joy and passion as a duelist.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: He becomes more cold, distant, and aloof towards his friends this season. This turns out to be subverted when his friends realize he's actually putting up a Jerkass Façade as a way to protect them.
• Token Super: Jaden is later accompanied by Yubel, formerly an Arc Villain before having a Heel–Face Turn when Jaden fuses with them. From there on in, Jaden can harness Yubel's power as a Super Mode which manifests an Eye Colour Change.
• Tragic Dropout: He submits his Notification of Withdrawal to leave Duel Academy in the second episode after realizing how much danger is drawn to him. Subverted a few episodes later when he decides to stay and eventually graduate from Duel Academy.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: His clashes with Yubel in the third season are a contribution to the fourth season's Rising Conflict with Darkness.
• What Is This Feeling?: When his hand starts shaking in his duel with Yugi, Yubel points out that he's having fun again.
• Worth Living For: Inspires those trapped within Darkness to break free.
• Worthy Opponent: Yugi and Yami acknowledge him as the best duelist they faced.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Jaden convinces everyone trapped by Nightshroud to break free by restoring their faith in themselves, while at the same time accepting his past mistakes as the Supreme King and moving on.

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