Card Appearances:The Winged Dragon of Ra

The following effects are not on the cards, but are the effects seen on the Anime (excluding effects that all Egyptian God Cards share):


 * This card's ATK is the sum of ATKs of the monsters Tributed to summon it; its DEF is the sum of DEFs of the monsters Tributed to summon it. If no monsters were Tributed to summon this card, it has an ATK and DEF of 0.


 * You may Pay 1000 Life Points to have this card attack all monsters on your opponents side of the field; when the monsters are attacked, they are automatically destroyed (Battle Damage is ignored); if the attack is redirected only the monster the attack is redirected to is destroyed. This card cannot be destroyed by any means until the End Phase of the turn that this effect is activated.


 * The effect of any card that would prevent this card from attacking on the turn that it is summoned is negated.


 * If this card has been in the Graveyard during this duel you may pay any amount of your Life Points to increase this card's ATK by the same amount.


 * If De-Fusion is used when the Life Point drain effect has been used, decrease this card's ATK to 0 and add its attack to your Life Points.


 * If this card has been in the Graveyard during this duel you may Tribute any number of monsters on your side of the field (excluding this card). The ATK of the Tributed monsters are added to this card's ATK.


 * If this card has been in the Graveyard during this duel and it destroys one of your opponent's monsters as a result of battle, it can attack once again in a row.

The following effects are not on the cards, but are the effects seen in the Anime and Manga:
 * Ra's ATK is the sum of ATKs of the monsters Tributed to summon it; its DEF is the sum of DEFs of the monsters Tributed to summon it.
 * When Ra is Special Summoned from the Graveyard, it obtains one of the following two additional groups of effects:
 * Pay any amount of your Life Points to increase Ra's ATK and DEF by the same amount. This is known as Point-to-Point Transfer.
 * In addition, sacrifice any number of monster other than Ra on your side of the field. Their ATKs are added to Ra's ATK.
 * Ra may transform into "Phoenix Mode" (Or Egyptian God Phoenix). If it does so, it gains the following effects:
 * Ra receives no Battle Damage, and becomes immune to all Monster, Spell, and Trap Card Effects.
 * Ra destroys any one monster at the cost of 1000 Life Points.
 * Ra also posesses the following effects:
 * Ra can attack during the same turn it is Special Summoned, also called Instant Attack.
 * Ra is unaffected by the effects of "Obelisk the Tormentor" and "Slifer the Sky Dragon"


 * In Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Sacred Cards and Yu-Gi-Oh!: Reshef of Destruction, Ra is a 4000 ATK/DEF monster that could reduce its owners Life Points to 1 and inflict damage to the opponent's Life Points equal to the amount the owner lost.


 * In Yu-Gi-Oh! Nightmare Troubadour: this is the effect:

The Winged Dragon of Ra

DIVINE

Divine-Beast

Level 10

ATK ????

DEF ???? You must offer 3 Tributes to Tribute Summon this card. The ATK and DEF of this card becomes the sum of the respective ATK and DEF values of the Tributes. When this card is Special Summoned, it is sent to the Graveyard during the End Phase. While this card is face-up on the field, it cannot be targeted by Spells, Traps, or Monsters that designate a target. When this card is successfully Special Summoned, you may activate one of the following effects:


 * Pay 1000 Life Points to destroy one monster on the Field and remove it from the game.
 * Pay all but 1 Life Points, and increase ATK and DEF by the amount of Life Points paid.

Meaning of the Hieratic Text
According to the Japanese version of Yu-Gi-Oh! anime and manga, the Hieratic Text printed on the card records the following three groups of Ra's abilities (quoted from Seto Kaiba's own translation of the Text in Duel 248 of the Japanese manga):


 * (1st ability) "太陽神は３体の生贄を束ねてその力を得る　ただし神を従えし者古の呪文を天に捧げよ "
 * (2nd ability) "神は地より蘇生する　再生の術と術者の命を与えよ　時はひとつであろうとも戦場の敵は炎によって屍と化す  "
 * (3rd ability) "時ひとつとして神は不死鳥となる　選ばれし魔物は大地に眠る  "

When (roughly) translated to English, it reads:


 * (1st ability) "Ra shall acquire the power of three tributes. However, only those who offer the ancient incantation to heaven shall God follow."
 * (2nd ability) "God shall revive from earth. By offering the Ritual of Revival and his own life, one shall be united with God, and all enemies on the battlefield shall be incinerated."
 * (3rd ability) "In an instant, God shall become a Phoenix, and all evil spirits chosen by it shall repose on earth."

In the English version of Yu-Gi-Oh! anime, though, the Hieratic Text appears to have a different meaning. This can be seen when Marik recited the Text while gaining control of Ra during his duel with Mai Valentine in episode 92:

"Great beast of the sky, please hear my cry. Transform thyself from orb of light and bring me victory in this fight. Envelop the desert with your glow and cast your rage upon my foe. Unlock your powers from deep within so that together we may win. Appear in the Shadow Game as I call your name, Winged Dragon of Ra!"

Note that in the English version of Yu-Gi-Oh! anime, when Marik Ishtar attempted to gain control of Ra in his duel with Mai, the viewer can hear him speaking understandable words. However, in the Japanese version of Yu-Gi-Oh! anime and manga, what he recited was the Hieratic Text itself (in the anime, Marik recites some unknown words; in the manga, his speech bubbles are filled with Hieratic Text). In the English episode 221 when Atemu (Pharaoh Atem in the English anime) summoned Ra, he uses the chant but it is changed (the Japanese version uses the incomprehensible Hieratic). Here is this chant:

"Almighty protector of the sun and sky, I beg of thee, please heed my cry. Transform thyself from orb of light and bring me victory in this fight.  I beseech thee, grace our humble game. But first I shall...call out thy name, Winged Dragon of Ra!"

Also note the UDE representatives used a copy of "The Winged Dragon of Ra" which had a different image and the Heratic text in the place of the flavor text.

Note: Ra also appears in Yu-Gi-Oh! GX. The The Winged Dragon of Ra in question is a copy designed for research purposes. Also it's controller, Franz, was able to Summon it without risking being sent to the Shadow Realm due to the rage of the Gods thanks to a Spell Card he created to control it called Mound of the Bound Creator.