| “ | What do I want? I have no needs. But if you really want an answer, I want to destroy all light, all order, and all life besides my own! I want to destroy everything! Destruction is my only pleasure! Destruction gives birth to my world! The dark world of death! | „ |
| ~ Yami Marik revealing his goal to Yugi (manga and Japanese anime). |
| “ | I'm the true Marik, and I'm not as kind as the one you've come to know. | „ |
| ~ Yami Marik's first and most famous quote (4Kids dub). |
Yami Marik, known as Dark Marik in the original manga and Japanese anime, is the secondary antagonist of the Yu-Gi-Oh! original series, serving as the overarching antagonist of the Battle City Arc and the main antagonist of the Tournament Finals Arc.
In the anime series Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters, he serves as the unseen overarching antagonist of Season 2, the main antagonist of Season 3 and the posthumous overarching antagonist of Season 4.
He is the alternate personality of Marik Ishtar and is homicidal with a penchant for wanting to torture individuals who duel him.
He was voiced by Tetsuya Iwanaga in Japanese and Jonathan Todd Ross in English.
What Makes him Pure Evil?[]
In General[]
- While his host body, the original Mark Ishtar, is tragic because of his horrific upbringing thanks to his abusive father's treatment towards him and his siblings, Yami Marik is not tragic because he didn't experience that abuse; Marik did. Yami Marik was merely birthed from this trauma and isn't at all affected by it. He even laughs immediately after recounting Marik's tragic past to Yugi and friends, explaining that it is the trauma that dominates the original Marik.
- While his original self cares about their family and only wants revenge against the Pharaoh under the mistaken belief that latter was responsible for Marik's father's death, and to gain the title of "Pharaoh" via acquisition of the three God Cards soley so that he can set his family free from the duty of the Tomb Guardians; Dark Marik cares for no one but himself, and has no goal beyond spreading pain, death, and suffering, solely for his own pleasure.
- In 4Kids' dub of the anime, both Mariks want the Egyptian God Cards and the Millennium Puzzle so they can unlock "the unlimited power of the Pharaoh" for themselves and use it to conquer and rule the world, in addition to Yami Marik's sadistic desire to spread pain. But the original Marik still genuinely cares about their family and ultimately redeems himself, while Yami Marik still cares only about himself and remains unrepentant right to the very end.
- Despite being a split personality, he possesses a clear moral agency and personality when he is seen expressing glee when he sees others in pain, has high intelligence, and able to come up with complex plans.
Background[]
- He took over Marik for the first time after the latter's forbidden trip to the surface, thanks to their abusive father's torture of their adopted older brother Rishid (Odion in the 4Kids version), who they all thought had died from the torture.
- He thanked his father for "killing" Rishid (and thus unknowingly freeing him), only to then murder his father on a whim.
- In the manga, he did so by skinning his father's back with a hidden dagger inside the Millennium Rod and then threw the skin onto Rishid's "dead" body while mocking Rishid for wanting proof of belonging in their family.in
- In the Japanese version of the anime, he fatally stabbed his father and then stated his intention to kill his sister Ishizu next.
- In the 4Kids dub, it's stated that he sent his father to "the Shadow Realm" (a concept created by 4Kids to to serve as a substitute for a character dying, though it's widely considered by viewers to be a fate worse than death itself).
- Although the murder of his father was horrible enough, some fans say that his father deserved this for the horrible treatment over Marik, though even then, this does not justify his actions overall because he was motivated by sadism rather than vengeance.
- After realizing that Rishid was still alive, Yami Marik immediately tried to kill him (send him to the Shadow Realm in the 4Kids dub) next, although this failed as Rishid was able to rouse himself, his presence calming Marik down and sealing Yami Marik away in Marik's body.
- He bided his time for the next 5 years, gaining strength, and driving Marik to further and further acts of cruelty in his quest to free his family from the duty of the Tombkeepers and kill the reincarnated Pharaoh (and, by proxy, the latter's host body: Yugi Muto), who Marik had been led to believe had driven Marik's father's to his death. Such acts include:
- Having the Ghouls (his underground group of rogue duelists, card thieves, and bootleggers) test out counterfeit copies of the "Winged Divine Dragon of Ra" card, consequently angering the real Winged Divine Dragon of Ra and leading to some of the Ghouls getting crippled, others losing their minds, and some even dying – to Marik's complete apathy.
- Painfully possessing the minds of each of the Rare Hunters (the combat section of the Ghouls) Yugi defeated in order to speak to Yugi from a distance at the end of each of these duels. The Rare Hunters in question were all rendered unconscious whenever Marik released his hold on their minds.
- In the 4Kids dub, whenever Marik possessed a Rare Hunter, he also trapped the latter's mind in the Shadow Realm as punishment for failing to defeat Yugi.
- Arranging a duel between Yugi and a Rare Hunter named Pandora (Arkana in the 4Kids dub) in which both duelists were shackled in place and the loser would get his legs chopped off by a buzzsaw (his mind sent to the Shadow Realm via a "dark energy disc" in the 4Kids version).
- In the original manga, upon Pandora's loss and escape from the buzzsaw, Marik decided to tie up loose ends, and using the knowledge of Pandora's twice-considered suicide gleaned from his memories, he brought up these memories and stirred them up a bit, so Pandora was assaulted by suicidal impulses and killed himself upon waking up.
- Arranging a tag-team duel between Yugi, Kaiba and two masked Ghouls in which the losers would fall to their deaths (into a vortex leading to the Shadow Realm in the 4Kids version).
- Kidnapping and brainwashing two of Yugi's best friends, Jonouchi and Anzu (Joey and Tèa in the 4Kids version), and forcing Yugi to face the brainwashed Jonouchi in a duel in which both duelists were chained to an anchor that would drag the loser to the bottom of the sea, and any attempt by anyone to stop the duel would result in the mind-controlled Anzu being made to swallow a suicide pill (crushed by a giant crate suspended directly above her head in the anime).
- Forcing Rishid to use a counterfeit "Winged Divine Dragon of Ra" card in his duel against Jonouchi despite the dangers.
Tournament Finals arc[]
- He takes control of Marik's body for the second time and traps Marik in a "prison" built out of his own fear and pity after Rishid falls into a coma following his duel against Jonouchi.
- He tries to fatally stab the still comatose Rishid (send him to the Shadow Realm in the 4Kids version) to prevent Rishid from sealing him away again. He only delayed the murder because his name was called in order to duel against his opponent Mai.
- In the original manga, he also murders the doctor guarding Rishid (in the anime, he merely sedates the doctor via the hypnotic powerso of the Millennium Rod).
- He sets up a series of Shadow Game (闇のゲーム Yami no Gēmu, literally Game of Darkness or Dark Game) duels where his targets are subjected to torture:
- In his duel against Mai, any injuries their monsters take, including beheadings and slashed torsos, are inflicted on them as well via illusions, though the pain is real. During the duel's final phase, he has Viser Des and Viser Shock (which resemble demonic versions of a head vice and an electric chair, respectively) directly attack Mai and then restrain her while he attempts to finish her off with a direct attack from the Winged Divine Dragon of Ra. After Mai loses the duel, but survives due to some last-minute intervention from Yugi, Yami Marik subjects her to a penalty game in which her consciousness is taken to her soul room, where he traps her in the the bottom half of a giant hourglass, the top half of which is filled with "brain insects" that will devour her soft tissue and slowly kill here over the course of 24 hours unless he himself is defeated and killed before then.
- In the anime, the duel instead makes it so that whenever one of Mai's monsters is destroyed, she will briefly see a mental image of one of her friends and then lose all memory of that person, the latter even literally becoming invisible to her. Also, Viser Des and Viser Shock are replaced by Holding Arms and Holding Legs, which resemble shackles, although the are still used to electrify Mai to near-death. Likewise, the "brain insects" are replaced with sand that will slowly take away her her life force and memory of everyone she's ever known. In addition, the hourglass is floating above a beach where illusions of Mai's friends are enjoying themselves — and seemingly forgetting all about her — as part of Yami Marik's ploy to add insult to injury.
- In 4Kids dub, the hourglass that Mai' soul is trapped in stated to exist in the Shadow Realm, and while she is not at risk of dying in this version, she's still in danger of losing all her memories and will remain trapped in the Shadow Realm indefinitely unless Yami Marik himself is defeated in a Shadow Game. (There's no deadline to save Mai in this version.)
- In anime, this torture would traumatize her and would later make her join Dartz in the Waking the Dragons arc.
- In the anime, the duel instead makes it so that whenever one of Mai's monsters is destroyed, she will briefly see a mental image of one of her friends and then lose all memory of that person, the latter even literally becoming invisible to her. Also, Viser Des and Viser Shock are replaced by Holding Arms and Holding Legs, which resemble shackles, although the are still used to electrify Mai to near-death. Likewise, the "brain insects" are replaced with sand that will slowly take away her her life force and memory of everyone she's ever known. In addition, the hourglass is floating above a beach where illusions of Mai's friends are enjoying themselves — and seemingly forgetting all about her — as part of Yami Marik's ploy to add insult to injury.
- In his duel against Yami Bakura, he would have parts of their bodies disappear when they lost life points. Eventually, Yami Bakura lost the duel and was sent to the Shadow Realm along with the good Marik Ishtar.
- However, Dark Bakura survived and resided within the Millennium Puzzle and had his host, Bakura Ryou, banished to the Shadow Realm in his stead. His host also survived through Tea.
- In his duel against Jonouchi, he would have a string attached to the monster. When the monster is destroyed, the player will lose energy. Eventually, during the duel, Jonouchi collapsed and he fell into a coma.
- In his duel against Yami Yugi, Yami Marik would have their other halves (Yugi Muto and Marik Ishtar) receive pain when they lose Life Points during the duel.
- In his duel against Mai, any injuries their monsters take, including beheadings and slashed torsos, are inflicted on them as well via illusions, though the pain is real. During the duel's final phase, he has Viser Des and Viser Shock (which resemble demonic versions of a head vice and an electric chair, respectively) directly attack Mai and then restrain her while he attempts to finish her off with a direct attack from the Winged Divine Dragon of Ra. After Mai loses the duel, but survives due to some last-minute intervention from Yugi, Yami Marik subjects her to a penalty game in which her consciousness is taken to her soul room, where he traps her in the the bottom half of a giant hourglass, the top half of which is filled with "brain insects" that will devour her soft tissue and slowly kill here over the course of 24 hours unless he himself is defeated and killed before then.
- In the anime only, when Noah Kaiba interrupted the Battle City tournament and later set his virtual world to explode, he destroyed the control room to prevent Noah from stopping the explosion.
- Before he was killed (sent to the Shadow Realm in the 4Kids version), he tried to manipulate the real Marik out of pragmatic reasons to continue dueling and take revenge on Pharaoh, which ultimately failed in the end.
External links[]
- Yami Marik on the Villains Wiki
- Yami Marik on the Yu-Gi-Oh! Wiki
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 Pure Evils
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Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's Zexal | ||