Bandit King Bakura

Bakura, King of Thieves, a.k.a. "The King of Thieves", or "Thief Bakura", or simply Bakura, is a character and the villain in the sixth arc (third arc in the manga) of Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters. He is used as a pawn by Zorc Necrophades in his bid for power. He is a similiar, but distinct entity from Yami Bakura.

History
Bakura despises Pharaoh Atem because he believes Atem's father, Akhenamkhanen, ordered the massacre of Kul Elna to create the Millennium Items. At that time, he was only a child and forced to watch as his family and friends were killed and their bodily components used to create the seven Millennium Items. However, the vengeful spirits of Kul Elna village granted Bakura an extremely powerful Ka: "Diabound", which is able to learn the abilities of the monsters it destroys. Bakura and atem had a few clashes and managed to obtain all 7 Millennium Items. Once placed back in the Millennium Stone Bakura Sacrificed himself to summon Zorc Necrophades.



Dawn of the Duel
When Dark Bakura enters the Memory World, he takes control of the Thief King Bakura and assaults the Palace of the Pharaoh alongside his minions. This merger is anime only; in the manga, Thief King Bakura merely attacks the palace on his own volition, due to his back story; and generally has the same personality as Yami Bakura; not meek like Ryo as the anime portrays (which generally makes more sense, as these events would have had to happen without Yami Bakura taking him over). Arriving in the central hall, he deposits the various treasures he has collected from the royal tomb and demands that the seven Millennium Items be returned to him. The six guardians of the pharaoh adamantly refuse and Priest Seto rises to challenge him. The beast he summons is destroyed when Bakura calls forth "Winged Sage Falcos", who is the Ka of the late Pharaoh Akhenamkhanen. Bakura reveals that he took a DiaDhank from his tomb as well as the capacity to use the former Pharaoh's favorite creatures. The rest of the guardians are inflamed and summon various creature to battle Diabound. Mahado's Ka, "Illusion Magician", easily destroys the "Winged Sage Falcos", but Diabound's assault crushes Akhenaden's, Karim's, and Shada's creatures. Seto then calls upon Mystic Horseman and Kalim fuses Seto's "Battle Ox" with "Mystic Horseman" to form Rabid Horseman. Bakura's "Diabound" easily disables this new fused beast with its serpent's tail and the "Illusion Magician" then seals "Diabound". However, "Diabound" breaks free with its attack and crushes "Rabid Horseman" and "Illusion Magician". In an attempt to finish off the guardians, Bakura instructs "Diabound" to finish them but the attack is stopped by Isis' "Spiria", which is destroyed.

The Pharaoh then steps forward, and with instructions from Akhenamkhanen, summons the Egyptian God "Obelisk the Tormentor". Obelisk attacks but Bakura tells Diabound to attack using Blue-Eyes' Burst Stream of Destruction attack, which it gained when Bakura used "Diabound Kernel" to destroy Kaiba's "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" in their duel in the future. Obelisk is stopped by the assault although "Diabound" is banished from the battle. Bakura retreats and later attempts to raid another tomb, only to find Mahado waiting in ambush.

The battle between Bakura and Mahado is fierce, as Mahado is able to access the power he had sealed there, becoming much more powerful in the process. Therefore, "Illusion Magician" is able to fight against Diabound with some success, especially after "Shadow Ghoul" joins the fray on Mahado's side with attacks from the shadows. However, Bakura's "Diabound" is able to evade "Shadow Ghoul's" attack and destroy it, severely weakening Mahado. It then deals a serious blow to "Illusion Magician", sending Mahado nearly to his death. Bakura is then struck with one of the traps in the tomb but frees himself with one of the hanging blades. He then instructs "Diabound" to attack from the shadows, something it gained when it destroyed "Shadow Ghoul". Illusion Magician is nearly destroyed, and in desperation, Mahado fuses his remaining power with his "Illusion Magician" to form "Dark Magician". The newly formed "Dark Magician" blasts Bakura and his "Diabound" out of the tomb with a massive assault, and Bakura is believed to have died in the rockslide that followed.



However, Bakura survived the assault and raids the city of the pharaoh once more. Furthermore, he has acquired Mahado's Millennium Ring and uses its power to evade the guards and enter Akhenaden's monster shrine. There, he speaks to Akhenaden about the assault on Kul Elna and awakens the darkness that was placed there by Zorc when Akhenaden created the Millennium Items. Bakura then instructs "Diabound" to cause utter devastation and flees, with the Pharaoh Atem in pursuit. Atem calls upon "Slifer the Sky Dragon" and it engages Bakura's "Diabound". Due to the fact Diabound defeated Mahado's "Shadow Ghoul", it is able to disappear into darkness, and Bakura utilizes this to hide "Diabound" from Slifer's power. Although Diabound is hit by Slifer after it reveals itself to attack, it disappears again and begins to lay waste to the city. Atem instructs Slifer to protect the citizens, although Slifer and Atem are badly injured when Diabound assaults again. Atem attempts to end the battle by having Slifer attacking Bakura directly but Diabound is revealed to be right behind Atem. Atem is saved by the swift arrival of Seto's "Duos", and they fight Diabound out of the city. As Diabound reveals itself, Atem tells Slifer to quickly attack, something that likely could have destroyed or severely crippled Diabound.

However, at this moment, Akhenaden, fully engulfed in his dark side, threw a sword at the stone tablet of Slifer the Sky Dragon, crippling it. Diabound then was able to destroy Slifer the Sky Dragon and Atem appeared to have been rendered powerless. The arrival of Yugi, however, rejuvenates Atem and he calls upon "The Winged Dragon of Ra", mightiest of the three Egyptian Gods. Ra's inherent nature of being the sun god results in the battlefield being engulfed in light, revealing Diabound. Bakura, still confident, reveals that Diabound now has the power of an Egyptian God due to the fact it destroyed Slifer the Sky Dragon. It then assaults Ra, but is repeled by Seto's Duos. The Winged Dragon of Ra then transforms into "Egyptian God Phoenix" mode and it incinerates Bakura's Diabound, apparently killing him. However, the Bakura (Zorc) on the Dark RPG table (to be revealed later) activates a Master Item to reverse time to the moment where Diabound was about to attack Slifer the Sky Dragon. Slifer is destroyed again, Atem is crippled, and Bakura is alive once more. Atem then falls into an abyss, barely holding on, and Bakura takes his Millennium Puzzle before sending him to his apparent doom.

Bakura returns to Kul Elna and inserts the Millennium Ring and the Millennium Puzzle into the Millennium Tablet and converses with Zorc, who instructs Bakura to find the eighth key (which is the true name of the pharaoh, Atem). Bakura then awaits the arrival of Atem and his guardians in Kul Elna and calls upon Diabound to fight them. Mahado arrives in the form of "Dark Magician" to aid Atem and Mana comes with her "Dark Magician Girl" to help as well. Although the attacks of these spellcasters are powerful, Diabound is protected by a shield created by the spirits of those who died in the Kul Elna incident.

Seto, Kalim, and Isis arrive and Seto and Kalim combine their "Duos" and "Curse of Dragon" respectively to create "Duos Dragon", with Dark Magician at its helm. This new beast is able to combat Diabound until Bakura uses a small monster to attack Kalim himself, bringing him close to death and destroying Curse of Dragon, and separating the fusion. As Bakura tells the spirits to slay Atem, who is defenseless, the spirit of the former Pharaoh Akhenmkhanen appears and repels the spirits. This also empowers the "Dark Magician", who literally rips apart Diabound with its assault. With Diabound defeated, Bakura is on the verge of death and desperately attempts to put the Millennium Items back into the Millennium Tablet. However, due to the fact that some of the items are still with their respective guardians, this is worthless until Akhenaden arrives and paralyzes the entire group. At this point, the Bakura (Zorc) on the Dark RPG table informs the Thief King Bakura that he has outlived his usefulness and the Thief King Bakura is reduced to sand.

When Akhenaden transforms into "Shadow Magus", the power of Zorc revives the Thief King Bakura. Bakura summons Diabound, revealing that the power of Zorc is so great that even though its tablet is destroyed, Diabound can still be summoned. Bakura then proceeds to toy with the group, putting them in different parts of Kul Elna and having mummies chasing them. He then appears in the middle of the village and sacrifices himself to summon Zorc Necrophades.

The death of the Thief King changed a bit between the anime and manga. In the manga, Yami Bakura tells the Thief King that he has "outlived his usefulness" and is turned to sand. This does occur within the anime; however, the Thief King is brought back to life by Yami Bakura (using one of his powers in the Dark RPG Game). He then separates Atem from his priests and puts them in different areas of Kul Elna. He is eventually killed as a sacrifice to resurrect Zorc.

One confusing factor about Thief King Bakura is to what extent he was being controlled by Yami Bakura. At the beginning of the shadow game, Yami Bakura seems to take over Thief King Bakura entirely, freeing him from a chain gang to attack the palace. Also, when Yami Bakura chooses to get rid of Thief King Bakura, the Thief King first sounds like Ryo Bakura, instead of Yami Bakura, indicating that Thief King Bakura is probably meek and would not have used such initiative against the Pharoah had he not been posessed by Yami Bakura. However, at one point, Thief King Bakura, while possessed by Yami Bakura, has a conversation with, and is even almost strangled by, Zorc Necrophades. As Zorc and Yami Bakura are "one and the same," Yami Bakura essentially conversed with and strangled himself.

Deck/Monster Spirits

 * Diabound (five forms)
 * Bone Snapper
 * Illushu
 * Winged Sage Falcos