Characters / Yu-Gi-Oh! Other Characters

Yu-Gi-Oh! Main Character Index
Main Characters (Yami Yugi | Yami Bakura | Seto Kaiba) | Domino High School | Domino City Residents | Kaiba Corp | Industrial Illusions | Ghouls and Rare Hunters | Other Duelists | Ancient Egypt | Other Characters | Gaming Pieces | Cards

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

ALL spoilers will be unmarked ahead. Beware major spoilers.

Shadi

Shadi (シャーディー; Shaadii)

Voiced by: Kaneto Shiozawa (Toei anime), Nozomu Sasaki (Duel Monsters), Wayne Grayson (English), Ricardo Escobar (European Spanish)

"Yugi, you have passed all the trials... Despite my defeat, I am happy... because my family has been searching for a long time... for people like you... perhaps you will be able to open that door..."

A mysterious man from Egypt, Shadi was the guardian of ancient Egyptian tombs and the modern day holder of the Millennium Ankh/Key and Scales. He uses the Ankh to enter a person's soul room and redecorate their rooms to control the individual to his liking, and uses the Scales to measure a person's sins via a Weighing of the Soul Shadow Game and punish them as he sees fit. He first makes his appearance in the manga after Yugi's Millennium Puzzle is taken away by Kanekura and acts as the Arc Villain of the Trial of the Mind arc where he poses a series of Shadow Games onto Yugi as a test.

Afterwards he comes and goes as he pleases, with a slightly heavier presence in the anime. His role is crucial to some of the villains' backstories, including Pegasus and Marik. Throughout the series, he is an emotionless person who only seems to be interested in gathering the Millennium Items.

In the various video games, Shadi is often included as an opponent that the player can play with, despite him never being such a participant in the manga nor anime.

For information on Hasan, his non-player character in the Shadow RPG, see Yu-Gi-Oh! Ancient Egypt.

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• Accent Adaptation: The English dub gives him a Middle Eastern accent.
• Adaptational Heroism:
  • In the first anime, while he puts Curator Kanekura through the same Shadow Game as he does in the manga, it doesn’t end up killing him. He also shows remorse for manipulating Anzu that he doesn’t share in the manga. This is somewhat backtracked upon as he ends up brainwashing the much more innocent Honda in Yoshimori’s place.
  • In the second anime, he's a little more noble than his other portrayals. He doesn't brainwash people like in the other versions, manages to save Honda and Otogi's lives at one point during Battle City, and in the final arc he gets the role Bobasa originally served in the manga, Heroic Sacrifice included (though Bobasa reveals himself to, in fact, be Shadi in disguise in the manga).
  • In the English dub of The Dark Side of Dimensions, while teaching his adopted children about the Quantum Cube, he does not twist his teachings, and tells Bakura's father to try to wear the Millennium Ring with regret. In the original Japanese, he allows him to try to wear it but with no hint of regret.
• Arc Villain: Of the first real arc of the manga. He is not actually evil, but he abides by the Egyptian standards of morality.
• Asshole Victim: He was killed by Dark Bakura in the flashbacks in The Dark Side of Dimensions and while Yami Bakura is no nice guy by any stretch of the word, Shadi wasn't exactly a saint himself.
• Because Destiny Says So: He showed Pegasus where the Egyptian God tablets were purely because it was prophesied that he would. Had he simply not interfered, it's unlikely Pegasus would have ever found them.
• Big Good: He later shifts to this being the Guardian of the Millennium items, guiding the young heroes in the Final Battle.
• Blue-and-Orange Morality: Shadi takes upon himself to judge people, but from an Ancient Egyptian view. If your heart is evil, you die. If your heart is good, but weak-willed, you'll likely want to die.
• The Cameo: He gets one in Yu-Gi-Oh! Reshef of Destruction, explaining the backstory to the game.
• Chekhov's Gunman: In the second anime series, where he doesn't make an appearance until the end of Duelist Kingdom. Until then, he's just a figure from one of Pegasus' paintings. In the manga, the cast recognizes him from the painting as they have met him before.
• The Chessmaster: Hasan in the Pharaoh's Memory World being revealed as Shadi might have been because of Shadi himself interfering with the Shadow RPG to save the Pharaoh. He also seemed to work behind the scenes to get the Pharaoh to the afterlife and seal the Millennium Items. See The Unfettered below.
• Composite Character: An odd variation in the Millennium World story, as in the anime version he also serves Bobasa's role, though Bobasa himself still appears, albeit with a drastically different personality than his manga counterpart. In the manga, Bobasa is Shadi in disguise.
  • The anime version also implies that he is the spirit of Priest Shada combined with that of Priest Karim, as Karim had died through giving his life force to Shada. This explains why Shadi holds both the Ankh and Scales.
• Dead All Along: This is the only consistent thing about him across the series. The Dungeon Dice Monsters game has him as a disciple of Anubis, which may explain some of it.
• Deader than Dead: He was already a spirit in the anime, but near the end of the Memory World arc, he joins in to supply a Heroic Second Wind to Hasan, the Pharaohs' protector, and is completely destroyed when Zorc takes Hasan down again.
• Dies Differently in Adaptation: Mixed with Adaptational Backstory Change—who Shadi is and where he comes from changes with each telling of the story. About the only consistent element in his past is that he's the remnant of someone who died.
  • In the Japanese dub of the second anime, he's possibly the combined reincarnation of Shada and Karim who was killed by Yami Bakura five years ago.
  • In the 4Kids version of the second anime, he's a millennia-old spirit whose body was destroyed by Thief King Bakura.
  • The manga has him be Hasan, a spirit who pledged loyalty to the Pharaoh from the afterlife and returned in Shadi's form to protect him, and was killed by Yami Bakura five years ago.
  • Yu-Gi-Oh! The Dark Side of Dimensions has him as a man with supernatural powers who was killed by Yami Bakura as soon as four-year-old Ryou put on the Ring.
• Dull Eyes of Unhappiness: His eyes always look like this due to him being dead.
• Early-Bird Cameo: In the second anime series, his portrait is briefly shown for the first time in episode 8 of the anime, and once again in episode 28. He makes his debut in episode 40. In the manga, since Shadi's arc happened before Duelist Kingdom, it's a Call-Back.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Seeing the power of friendship in action practically blows his mind.
• Friend to All Children: How he's portrayed in Yu-Gi-Oh! The Dark Side of Dimensions, adopting a group of orphans who have all suffered and granting them the power of the Plana.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Played the special NPC Hasan during the Shadow RPG, and ended up shielding the main cast, Atem and his priests from Zorc's Inferno.
• Journey to the Center of the Mind: He did this a few times with his Millennium Ankh, entering the "Soul Room" of the person of his choice. He's also capable of remodeling said rooms, thus altering that person's personality, up to making them into his puppet.
• Karma Houdini: He (with some reluctance) brainwashes Yoshimori to go berserk and makes Anzu stand on a plank over the school roof (and she almost falls when the effect gets canceled), as bargaining chips against Yugi in a Shadow Game, because he couldn't yet determine if he's worthy the Millennium Puzzle. As the initiator, Shadi is not penalized for losing and leaves.
• Lie Detector: The Millennium Scale lets him notice deceit in someone's words. If the subject of the judgment isn't answering Shadi's questions honestly, the Scale tips closer in favor of the Penalty Game.
• Master of None: The Millennium Key allows him to enter minds and read them through either observation or exploration of the "rooms" he finds, and to brainwash people by "redecorating" said rooms. While the range of abilities is useful, they're less effective than their more specialised counterparts in the Millennium Eye and Rod respectively, with the Eye and Rod offering straightforward mind reading and mind control that are both faster and more effective than the Key.
• Mind Probe: Millennium Key/Ankh allows him to enter a person's Room of the Soul, where he can judge their moral character from the decorations and also apply Mind Control from there.
• Mind Rape: His Millennium Key lets him brainwash people, and the Scales allow Ammit to enter their soul, eating them if they fail his tests.
• Mind Screw: Shadi has the reputation for being the most confusing character in the entire franchise thanks to his enigmatic nature and for having four identities associated with him (Teen Shadi, Adult Shadi, Hassan and Bobasa). The conflicting, bare-bones backstories between adaptations don't help.
• Named by the Adaptation: The Dark Side of Dimensions names him Shadi Shin, though the manga and both anime just call him Shadi.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: He gave (as in, forcibly inserted) the Millennium Eye to Pegasus, who was researching Egyptian culture to revive his lover, assuming he'll either die or will be considered worthy. Pegasus survived and Shadi left him be, further claiming that his wish can come true, turning him From Nobody to Nightmare and a major villain.
• Not So Above It All:
  • He's extremely serious most of the time, but in his first appearance he playfully ruffles Yugi's hair.
  • During his time with Yugi and co. inside the Millennium Puzzle, he chuckles and compliments Anzu on her quip that Jounouchi should invest in an art class.
• Older Alter Ego: When Yugi meets him, he appears as an adult man. When Pegasus meets him in Egypt in the manga, he appears as a young boy.
• Our Ghosts Are Different: Shadi was actually killed years prior to the story by the Spirit of the Ring, but his spirit continues on to fulfill his duties to the Pharaoh.
• Retcon: The Dark Side of Dimensions changes his appearance slightly, has him raise Aigami, Sera, Mani, and the Plana, and gives him powers he's never shown to have before, such as wielding the Quantum Cube, which can directly erase people from existence and send them to other dimensions. He can also transfer his powers to others, but they will lose them if the Pharaoh is reborn into the world a second time.
• Riddle Me This: All of his Shadow Games are riddles and puzzles. His very existence is a riddle.
• Shadow Archetype: To Yami Yugi. Shadi has the same take-no-prisoners approach to people who wronged him that Yami Yugi originally had. Their encounter paved the way for a slightly more forgiving protagonist who would give his opponents chances to redeem themselves (though he didn't outgrow the Penalty Games until halfway through Duelist Kingdom).
• Sink or Swim Mentor: He tests Yugi by endangering his friends and nearly killing them.
• Stealth Hi/Bye: He can appear and disappear seemingly at will, more so in the anime.
• The Unfettered: He commits himself to his mission of assembling the Millennium Items. He kills Kanekura and the man who intended to buy the Millennium Puzzle, temporarily brainwashes Yoshimori and Anzu in order to get Dark Yugi out from the Millennium Puzzle and somewhat manipulates Pegasus.

Shizuka Kawai (Serenity Wheeler)

Shizuka Kawai (川井 静香; Kawai Shizuka) (Serenity Wheeler)

Voiced by: Michiko Neya (Toei anime), Mika Sakenobe (Duel Monsters), Amy Birnbaum (English, First Appearance), Lisa Ortiz (English, All Subsequent Appearances), Alison Lester (Singapore, English), Carme Cervantes (European Spanish)

Jounouchi's sister who lost her eyesight, Jounouchi entered Duelist Kingdom to win the money to pay for her operation to heal her. She accompanies the gang for the later parts of Battle City.

She never plays any games in the manga; her role in Battle City is to give Jonouchi her support. In the anime, they play her up and let her duel in the Virtual World arc. The one time she duels, her deck doesn't have a theme other than the monsters are all female and/or religious. Her trump card is St. Joan.

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• Action Girl: In the anime, she manages to play the part by the end of her duel with Soichiro Ota/Nezbitt. She also demonstrates athletic ability by diving into the sea to save her brother.
• Adaptational Badass: She mostly exists in the manga to be Jounouchi's motivation and support. Although she has the same role in the anime, she's more proactive—she saves Joey from drowning instead of Kaiba, and she actually gets to duel (and win) in the Virtual World filler arc.
  • In the video game Nightmare Troubadour, she's even more-so. Several moments with Shizuka invoke this and Crowning Moment of Heartwarming: when a player meets her for the first time she will tell him/her that she started dueling like her brother. She also helps the player get ready to the final play off and is enthusiastic about getting better as a duelist like her brother. In her typical meek fashion she will ask the player to trade for certain cards and if the player accepts, she cheerfully says that Joey will be jealous of her trade. When the player gets a draw against her might just take the cake, though. She smiles and tells you "Yay! It's a draw! I'll keep practicing so our next duel will be even more fun." Her enthusiasm also comes through in her letter to the player, with her expressing her joy over learning how to duel and how she can't wait to duel the player again. Overall this game offers a great, understated look into her as a duelist, making her even more of an Adaptational Badass and more adorable than even the anime canon, and can make watchers of the anime wonder What Could Have Been.
• Adaptational Skimpiness: She wears long sleeves and pants in the manga, but has short sleeves and very short shorts in the anime, on top of also being the object of Tristan/Honda and Duke/Otogi's affections.
• Adaptation Dye-Job: Her hair is blonde in a piece of manga artwork, but she's lavender-haired in the Toei anime and she has brown hair in the second anime.
• Amazon Brigade: Her deck is all female monsters, though they range from the exceptionally girly Forgiving Maiden to Fallen Angel Marie the Fallen One to Lady of War St. Joan.
• Ascended Extra: She's mostly a minor character in the manga and only shows up prominently in the Battle City arc. She has more screentime in the anime, due to the addition of the Virtual World filler in Battle City.
• Badass Adorable: In the anime. Sweet, cheerful, and also the one to ultimately take down an opponent in a three-on-one duel.
• Beauty, Brains, and Brawn: The Beauty to Anzu/Tea's Brains and Mai's Brawn. One could argue that in her duel alongside Ryuji/Duke and Honda/Tristan she also plays this role, with Honda/Tristan as the muscle, and Ryuji/Duke the brains.
• Beginner's Luck: Against Soichiro Ota/Nezbitt. Sure she has lots of help from Honda/Duke and Ryuji/Tristan, but the fact remains that she managed to take him down with cards she herself had picked out, despite not having a clue what most of them did.
• Big Brother Worship: Like Mokuba, she loves her big brother, despite being separated from him for years. In the anime, her love for Jonouchi extended to her jumping in the river after just having her eye surgery, and having not been certain if it had actually worked or not seconds beforehand. Talk about devotion.
• Big Damn Heroes: Before she removed her bandages, the anime plays her off as an ill girl who needs escorting and to be with someone. What does she do right as she takes them off? Dives into an ocean from a pier, and saves her drowning brother.
• Chekhov's Gun: At the start of the duel with Soichiro Ota/Nezbitt, we see her specifically selecting St. Joan. Guess which card takes out Ota's Perfect Machine King?
• Dude Magnet: In the anime, both Otogi/Duke and Honda/Tristan fight for her affections.
• Cuteness Proximity: In the Virtual World arc, she gets at least four instances of this! The first is when she is isolated by a pond, admiring swans (in the 4Kids Dub she says the exact words "Aww, how cute") with a cheerful smile. The next instance is when she's picking cards for the duel against Ota, as she is drawn to cards she find cute. Later in a flashback of Tristan teaching her the rules, she innocently misunderstands him and thinks that the monster cards have stars all over them, and she compares it to a cute ladybug. Then, when she meets the Acrobat Monkey Tristan, she calls him adorable.
• Granola Girl: Sort of downplayed, but shown along with her Nature Lover tendencies.
• Grew a Spine: She wasn't a coward at first, but she spends most of her duel with Ota/Nezbitt scared and confused, not helped by the fact that she's not certain how to use her cards right. Towards the end, she finally develops a backbone and comes back strong, taking Ota/Nezbitt down.
• Heroic BSoD: After Honda/Tristan is defeated by Soichiro Ota/Nezbitt.
• Hidden Depths: Shows tremendous swimming ability. She also demonstrates knowledge of tropical animals in the Reshef of Destruction game when she mentions reading that chimps and dogs don't get along after the Acrobat Monkey Tristan interacts friendly with his dog Blankey during a side quest.
• The Ingenue: She's sweet and idealistic, even while she's losing her eyesight and requires expensive surgery to save it, but does have a hint or two of mischief in there.
  • Best shown after Yugi's defeat of Marik in the anime (the following is a scene directly from the manga that originally had Ryo Bakura instead of Shizuka), and Mai should be back. She appears to be the same as before though, and Jonouchi's really worried, ultimately saying he'd do anything to get her back... only for Mai to start laughing, saying that he fell for it hard, and thanking Shizuka for helping her pull the act off. An utterly-confused Jonouchi looks at her, and she simply sticks her tongue out as she giggles.
• Jeanne d'Archétype: Her trump card, St. Joan, who is obviously modeled on Joan herself, and with which she takes down Big 5 member Ota.
• Lady of War: Not Shizuka/Serenity herself (though she certainly tries) but her trump card, St. Joan who with 2800/2000 is one of the better female cards in the game, and at the time the show was made, was one of the strongest Fairy monsters around. She's specifically modeled on Joan of Arc and has the looks to prove it.
  • And then, in the one time she duels with some bits of help, she takes down one of the Big 5.
• Leitmotif: In the 4Kids dub, she has a pretty, but sad piece that plays in her first appearance and very briefly when she talks to Joey on the phone on the day of Battle City.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: In the anime; after the duel between Yugi and Jounouchi during Battle City (or rather, its consequences), she fearlessly jumps into the sea to rescue Jonouchi after he sacrifices himself for Yugi.
• Light Feminine and Dark Feminine: The light to Mai's dark (one of two).
• Light Is Good: Probably the nicest character in the Duel Monsters series, and most of her cards are light attribute. Plus, in the manga her hair was originally going to be platinum blonde.
• The Load: In anime filler, she starts out as this in her duel with Soichiro Ota/Nezbitt, repeatedly requiring Honda/Tristan and Otogi/Duke to bail her out (though in her defense, it was her first ever duel and she had to pick out her cards herself despite not knowing what most of them did). She manages to take a level in badass and transition to Action Girl before the end of it.
• Meaningful Name:
  • Shizuka means quiet, or silence. Her English name, Serenity, also reflects this.
  • Her Japanese surname, Kawai (川井) sounds like "kawaii" (かわいい), the Japanese word for "cute", and she is the cute little sister archetype.
• Morality Pet: For Katsuya Jonouchi, her older brother. She stops him from assaulting Noah and Roland on different occasions. Adding to the fact that without her in his life, he turned into a bully until Yugi's example taught him better.
• Nature Lover: She's shown a few times to appreciate the outdoors and nice weather, and thinks ladybugs and swans are cute.
• Nice Girl: One of, if not the kindest characters in the show.
• Oblivious to Love: In the anime, she didn't realize that Tristan liked her and she called him her friend.
• Pink Girl, Blue Boy: Her outfits commonly are pink, while Joey's often contain blue.
• Plucky Girl: She has her ups and downs, but still tries to do what she can.
• Shipper on Deck: In the Toei anime she tried to set her brother up with her nurse, Miyuki. In the second anime, she seems all for a potential Jonouchi/Mai pairing.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: Girly Girl to Anzu's Tomboy. Shizuka likes cute things and wears pink, while Anzu is more adventurous.
• Took a Level in Badass: In terms of the anime. You can spot the exact moment in the duel with Ota/Nezbitt where she decides to say "screw you", and starts channeling her brother's dueling spirit to take him down.
• Vague Age: A photo of her in Joey's wallet shows her in middle school, but beyond that, nothing is ever specified. Commonly, her age is thought to be around 13 years old.

Cyndia (Cecelia Pegasus)

Cyndia (シンディア; Shindia) (Cecelia Pegasus)

Pegasus' lover/fiancée (wife in the dub). Her death led to the creation of the card game and the Duelist Kingdom arc.

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• Bit Character: She is one, although she is important to the plot. She also serves as a Foil to flesh out Pegasus' character through his backstory.
• The Cameo: In Yu-Gi-Oh! Reshef of Destruction, her portrait can be seen in a room in Pegasus' Castle. In Yu-Gi-Oh! R, Pegasus shows the card he made for her to Tenma Yakou in a flashback.
• Chekhov's Gunman: Her portrait is next to Shadi's in Duelist Kingdom. At first it isn't that significant, then Yugi's friends notice it in Pegasus's dining hall. Her significance to the story was revealed at the end of Duelist Kingdom.
• Childhood Friend Romance: With Pegasus. They were around 10 years old when they met. Unfortunately, it didn't last for too long.
• Early-Bird Cameo: In episode 8 of the anime and chapter 73 of the manga, her portrait can be seen next to Shadi's for a brief moment. She is properly introduced when Croquet tells Pegasus's story to Yugi in the manga, or when Anzu finds his journal and reads it out loud in the anime.
• Kiss Me, I'm Virtual:
  • She would have been brought back in Solid Vision form if Pegasus' plan hadn't failed.
  • Also during Pegasus' vision after he receives his Millennium Eye - she's just an illusion.
• The Lost Lenore: Her tragic death informs Pegasus' entire character arc. Had she lived, not only would he be an almost completely different man, but the events of the entire series would have to shift dramatically.
• The Muse: In the dub, she inspired Pegasus to paint. Somewhat more ambiguous in the original, but it's still obvious that Pegasus loved painting pictures of her.
• Nice Girl: She was very supportive of Pegasus's dream to become a painter.
• Ojou: Implied; she met Pegasus when they were children at a party his wealthy father held, which indicates she was most likely at the same social status as him.
• Only One Name: Her surname is never given in the manga or the anime. This is averted in the dub, where she has Pegasus's surname from being his wife.
• Plot-Based Photograph Obfuscation: In the manga, when the portraits of her and Shadi are shown for the very first time when Pegasus is reading his Funny Rabbit manga, the top half of her face can't be seen. Dialogue and other objects conveniently obscure the entire portrait on a few occasions, while Shadi's is perfectly visible.
• Posthumous Character: She only appears in flashbacks.
• Satellite Character: Nothing's known about her outside of her relationship with Pegasus.
• Small Role, Big Impact: Her death was not only the motivating factor of the entire Duelist Kingdom arc, but also resulted in Duel Monsters' creation, indirectly contributing to the remaining arcs of the series and bringing about the next two series.
• Something about a Rose: She is represented by roses, and Pegasus remembers her death as her being swallowed up in a rose that burst into petals.
• Spell My Name With An S: Her original name is シンディア, which can be transliterated as Cyndia, although some spell it as Cynthia or Cindia. Then there's her dub name, Cecelia Pegasus, which becomes Cecilia, despite the fact that the proper dub name was shown in episode 40.
• Star-Crossed Lovers: With Pegasus.
• Together in Death: With Pegasus in the manga, according to Kazuki Takahashi.

Mr. Ishtar

Mr. Ishtar

Voiced by: Anzaki Motomu (JP), David Wills (EN)

The previous head of the Ishtar clan was Marik and Ishizu's father, as well as Rishid's adopted father. Mr. Ishtar is a very strict tomb keeper who believes that guarding the Pharaoh's tomb is more important than his family. He treats Rishid like a slave while abusing him, and forces Marik to undergo the tomb keeper ritual, creating Dark Marik. When Mr. Ishtar tried to kill Rishid for letting Marik and Ishizu head into the outside world, Dark Marik awakened and skinned off Mr. Ishtar's back (in the English dub, banished his soul to the Shadow Realm), killing him.

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• Abusive Parents: Between refusing to let Marik go outside, neglecting Ishizu and treating Rishid like a slave, Mr. Ishtar is not exactly a parent role model.
• Asshole Victim: Admit it: You're actually cheering when Dark Marik goes to town on this guy.
• Berserk Button: The continuation of the families duties being in any way detained.
  • When Marik is bitten by a cobra he physically attacks Rishid and tells him if it happens again he will kill him, not because he actually cares about his biological son but because he needs a heir to continue the family business.
  • Rishid trying to be seen as part of the family is a big one for him. He throws a candle at Rishids head when he's practically begging him to let him take Marik's place in the initiation ceremony which would also indicate him as part of the family. He harshly tells him he is just a servant and threatens to cut off his tongue if he suggests this again.
  • When he finds out Rishid let Marik and his sister go to the surface he whips him to near death and would have whipped them too had Marik's dark personality not emerged.
• Create Your Own Villain: Although he believes his actions are in service to the Pharaoh, his abuse of Marik causes Yami Marik to manifest. Yami Marik would go on to be one of the most depraved villains in the series and a major obstacle to the Pharaoh.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: Skinned alive by Dark Marik in the manga, stabbed to death in the anime, sent to the Shadow Realm (where your soul would be shredded) in the dub. Either way, none of his fates were quick and easy.
• Deliberate Values Dissonance: His entire family has been stuck underground loyally guarding the Pharaoh's tomb since Ancient Egypt, which means he probably doesn't know or care about certain social and moral standards of the modern world:
  • In Ancient Egypt, it would have been perfectly normal to raise an orphaned child (Rishid) as your personal slave, but in modern times it is horrific child abuse.
  • It is also revealed in the final season that all the clans were raised under the belief that the only purpose they serve in life is to guard the Pharaoh's artifacts, and when the Pharaoh reclaims them they will have no reason to exist. Which would probably explain his extreme dedication and disregard for family beyond serving their purpose.
• Dramatic Irony: His loyalty to the Pharaoh is absolute, except he would have been horrified to see the lengths Mr. Ishtar would go to perform his duty. Indeed, when Marik shows Yami the inscription on his back in the aftermath of Battle City, he is completely aghast that the Ishtar Clan would perform such rituals.
• Entitled Bastard: He thinks just because he let his wife bring him inside instead of letting him die as a baby that he has every right to make Rishid his slave and kill him, thinking he owes him his life.
• Even Evil Can Be Loved: For all the horrendous abuse he inflicted upon his son, Marik is horrified by his father's death and, being told the Pharaoh was responsible, sought to avenge him in the Battle City arc. Upon learning it was he who killed his father and not the Pharaoh, Marik mourns.
• Fatal Flaw:
  • His obsession with protecting the Pharaoh's tomb at the expense of everything else, including his family, leads him to horrifically abuse his family in order to force them to fulfill the clan's duties, which causes the creation of Dark Marik when he forces Marik through the initiation ritual.
  • His pride also prevents him from accepting help from another family or acknowledging the pain he's putting his own family through by forcing them to follow tradition, leading to his death when Dark Marik awakens and kills him.
• Flayed Alive: Dark Marik kills him in the manga by flaying the skin off his back.
• The Fundamentalist: His Fatal Flaw. He believes in protecting the Pharaoh’s tomb over everything else, including his family, and he insists that it should be done according to tradition, even if those traditions are no longer considered acceptable in modern day, and not caring in the slightest if his family doesn’t want it. He forces his biological son to go through the tomb keeper initiation ritual despite his protests (resulting in the creation of Dark Marik) and he refuses to let Odion take Marik’s place and is utterly offended that Odion would mark his face. He refuses to let his children go to the surface because he doesn’t want the outside world to distract them from their duties, and when he finds out they did, he plans to punish them after either killing or banishing Odion depending on the dub. This leads to his Karmic Death when Dark Marik awakens after Odion falls unconscious and kills Marik’s father.
• Greater-Scope Villain: He's not exactly an evil man, if extremely, blindingly loyal, but the conception of Dark Marik and therefore the majority of the Battle City arc can be traced all the way back to his abuse.
• Hate Sink: A horribly abusive parent, he is not likable in the slightest.
• Jerkass: Absolutely. His utter neglect of anybody he doesn't view as useful to him shows his asshattery.
• Karmic Death: Mr. Ishtar is killed by Dark Marik, the Ax-Crazy Split Personality created as a result of forcing Marik to go through the tomb keeper initiation ritual. And the only reason this happens is because he seemingly kills Odion, the one person who was keeping Dark Marik from taking control.
• Karmic Injury: Mr. Ishtar was an abusive father whose cruel treatment of his son Marik included painfully carving the inscriptions of the Pharaoh's tomb onto his son's back as part of a ritual. When Marik's evil Split Personality emerged for the first time, he used the Millenium Rod to skin his father alive before killing him.
• Knight Templar: He was unable to get what he was doing wrong, thinking he was in the right even when he faced death.
• Lack of Empathy: All he cared about at all was his duties, the only reason he was protective of his son was because he needed a male heir. Everyone else he either neglected or treated like a slave.
• Not Blood, Not Family: He never considered Rishid his son, and actually forbade the latter from referring to him as such.
• Oh, Crap!: His rage at Marik’s disobedience and rebellion turns into pure horror when he realizes his own son is going to kill him.
• Papa Wolf: Averted. Though he was furious with Rishid for letting Marik get bit by a cobra and threatened to kill him if it happened again, it was less out of care for his son as his child than it was as his heir in continuing the family's duties of guarding the Pharaoh's tomb. While he wouldn't let his son die for pragmatic reasons, he wasn't above harming him physically if he felt he wasn't taking the family duties seriously. See Would Hurt a Child for more examples.
• Pride: He refused to let another family of tomb keepers take the job of protecting the Pharaoh's tomb, even if they are worthy, because he believes that only the Ishtar family can fulfill the job and no one else.
• Posthumous Character: Killed by Dark Marik five years before Battle City.
• Skewed Priorities: Protecting the Pharaoh's tomb was the most important thing to him, even more so than his own family. This has disastrous results.
• Small Role, Big Impact: He's only seen in flashbacks and has been dead for several years before Battle City, but his abusive treatment of his family led to the creation of Dark Marik.
• The Sociopath: He didn't care about people at all unless they are of use to him. He only cared about Marik because he needed a male heir, and he didn't care that his wife was dying as long as he had a son.
• That Thing Is Not My Child!: He never actually saw Rishid as his adoptive child, but his wife insisted as such. As soon as she died, he forbade Rishid from calling him father anymore, harshly and firmly telling him that he is nothing but a servant and treating him with cruelty afterwards. Going as far as to physically abuse him and threaten him with death and would have possibly even whipped Rishid to death had Dark Marik not killed him.
• Undying Loyalty: Deconstructed. Mr. Ishtar is extremely loyal to the Pharaoh, but this came at the cost of prioritizing the Ishtar clan's duties over the well-being of his own family, with disastrous results.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: He had no intention of screwing with Marik, but his actions resulted in Marik's actions during Battle City.
• Walking Spoiler: It's very difficult to talk about this man without mentioning how his abuse led to the birth of Dark Marik.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: All he wanted to do was to protect the Pharaoh's tomb, but he took his job way too seriously.
• Whip of Dominance: In the anime he whips Rishid as punishment for letting Marik go out.
• Would Hurt a Child: His own son, who was only 12 years old when he was forced to go through the Tombkeeper's Initiation and have hieroglyphs carved onto his back with a red-hot knife. Though this is a ceremony that every member of their family goes through, including him at his son's age, he has a Slasher Smile on his face before he goes through with it. He was also prepared to whip Marik for going to the surface against his orders right after he whipped Rishid to near-death.

Mrs. Ishtar

Mrs. Ishtar

Voiced by: Akari Hibino (JP)

Marik and Ishizu's mother, as well as Rishid's adopted mother, who found him abandoned. She later dies giving birth to Marik.

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• Death by Childbirth: Dies after giving birth to Marik.
• Good Parents: In a direct contrast with her husband, she loved Rishid/Odion as her own.
• Posthumous Character: Only appears in a single flashback.

Bobasa

Bobasa (ボバサ; Bobasa)

Voiced by: Yuu Mizushima (JP), Sean Schemmel (EN)

In the manga, he's a tombkeeper and a servant of Shadi's who helps guide the Yugi and the others into the Pharaoh's Memory World as non-player characters in the Shadow RPG. In the anime, he's an NPC who joins Yugi and friends after they follow Yami Yugi/the Pharaoh into his memories and helps them discover where the temple that holds his name is located.

For information on his true form (in the manga), Hasan, see Yu-Gi-Oh! Ancient Egypt.

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• Adaptational Comic Relief: His character is played more for comedy in the anime than he was in the manga.
• Adaptation Personality Change: In the manga he's a fairly serious and intelligent character. In the anime he's more simple minded.
• Big Eater: When the gang first find him, he's busy eating two huge piles of fruit, and keeps eating when Anzu tries to question him.
• Big Fun: Again, in the anime. He's primarily a comical character and also incredibly friendly.
• Body Horror: In the manga, his skin actually has indents in his flesh to hold each of the seven Millennium Items. It's a bit unnerving when it's first glimpsed to say the least.
• Decomposite Character: The anime made him a completely separate character from Hasan and Shadi.
• Mythology Gag: In the anime, he and Hasan are voiced by the same actor. This is because in the original manga they were infact the same character (specifically Bobasa's "master" Shadi), although in the anime only Shadi turns out to be Hasan's alter-ego. Possibly also serves as a case of Not His Sled.
• Nice Guy: Cheerful and friendly.

Arthur Hopkins (Arthur Hawkins)

Arthur Hopkins (アーサー・ホプキンス, Aasaa Hopukinsu) (Arthur Hawkins)

Voiced by: Saburo Kodaka (JP), Mike Pollock (EN)

Arthur Hopkins was an unnamed character in the original manga, who was Sugoroku Mutou's American gaming buddy who gave him the rare Blue-Eyes White Dragon card. He is only seen in a photograph. He is given an ascended role in the anime, where he is an archaeologist interested in Duel Monsters and its connections to Egypt and Atlantis. His granddaughter is Rebecca.

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• Ascended Extra: In the original manga, he was just a background character only seen in a photo. He's given a bigger role in the anime with his anime-created granddaughter Rebecca.

Amane Bakura

Ryo Bakura's deceased younger sister, Amane died with their mother in a car crash when Ryo was young. He writes letters to them in heaven, and was in the process of writing one when Yami Bakura took over. She is only mentioned in the manga for a single panel.

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• Adapted Out: She is not mentioned in either anime.
• O.C. Stand-in: Despite being dead, only mentioned once in the manga, and not mentioned at all in either anime, she's a popular character in fan fiction, both as herself and to deepen Ryo's character.
• Posthumous Character: She and Mrs. Bakura died before Bakura moved to Domino.
• Retcon: Her death seems to be this, as in Ryo's letter he asks her how school is, and later says his family is alive but away. A supplementary book later confirmed Amane and her mother were dead and he wrote letters to them in heaven to cope.
• Too Good for This Sinful Earth: Implied with her young age and her name, which has the meaning of "heavenly sound."

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