Rafael

Rafael is the strongest of Doma's Swordsmen and the most mysterious in his strategy. He is the only swordsman to have defeated his target once. He is also the only swordsman to not lose his soul after being defeated by his target, and was one of the first characters shown to be able to see Duel Spirits. He and Alister were responsible for bringing Rex Raptor and Weevil Underwood to Dartz. He is one of the few characters to have defeated Yami Yugi in a Duel.

Design


Rafael's usual outfit consists of a large open full-body coat with padded shoulders and belted sleeves and fingerless gloves with studded knuckles. His blonde hair is raised and points upwards behind his head it also features two locks in front of his ears turning through ninety degrees and pointing forward. His Orichalcos Stone is worn around his neck. He carries a Chaos Duel Disk on his left hand.

Biography
Rafael came from a very wealthy family, and led a perfect life. He had a little sister and brother, and two parents. During his birthday when he received his gift of "Guardian Eatos", Rafael was separated from his family, on a luxury cruise, the boat went off course and directly into a tidal wave. As a result the family was killed and he was the only survivor (In the dub the story was changed to say that the family survived and had forgotten about him). In the Japanese version, Rebecca stated that when she became the American champion, there were rumors that it was actually Rafael instead, even though he never participated in public Duels.

Rafael was stranded on a deserted island with only his Duel Monsters, which included "Guardian Eatos", "Guardian Grarl", and "Guardian Kay'est", which he treasured. As the three years passed, he ended up gaining longer hair with his only clothing being a tank top and what's left of his pants. During this time, his cards blew into the ocean and Rafael dove in and retrieved them. It appears at this time he began to see his cards Duel Monster spirits, but it was never shown if they talked back to him. One day, Rafael saw a city right off the island. Upon building a raft, Rafael quickly sailed towards it. But as he got near, it disappeared and he was pulled down underneath the sea by a tidal wave. There, Dartz's voice told him to remember his voice for they would meet again. Rafael became conscious aboard his raft and was then rescued by a fishing boat where his rescue was on the front page of the magazine.

In the original dub, Rafael's parents were presumed dead as he visited their graves. His surviving relatives took his dad's inheritance and wanted nothing to do with Rafael. Meanwhile, strangers simply wanted his fame. As a result he had no real friends. In the original dub, Rafael made his living by becoming dueling, eventually becoming the first duelist to become the first national champion in the United States, a feat that was believed to be accomplished by Rebecca. However, he never appeared in public outside of duels since people simply wanted to take advantage of him. In the dub, his family survived but forgotten about him.

He traveled more and eventually went with Dartz to a Graveyard and tortured by digging where he finds the skulls from his siblings' corpses, confirming that his family had died in the shipwreck (The skulls were removed from the dub version). He was then seduced by a Dark Guardian and given "The Seal of Orichalcos" card and a Chaos Duel Disk. Rafael became one of Dartz's many minions. Until Yami Yugi and Seto Kaiba Dueled Dartz, Rafael did not know that Dartz drove the ship that his family drowned on into the tidal wave.

At some point after joining Dartz, Rafael met Alister and Valon. Like Rafael, Alister and Valon had their childhoods tragically manipulated and destroyed by Dartz. Rafael obviously cared a great deal about his partners as he showed concern for Valon after he fell in love with Mai and was visibly upset when Alister lost his soul.

Rafael believed that he was following his set destiny, and proceeded to capture many souls, including Yugi and Mai's. He believes the Pharaoh, Yami Yugi was evil and thus desires his soul above all others. To this end Rafael gave his "The Seal of Orichalcos" to Yami, using "Exchange". Yami Yugi activated "The Seal of Orichalcos" out of desperation, but proceeded to lose the Duel. Yugi pushed Yami out of "The Seal of Orichalcos" and let the Seal take his soul instead.

After discovering that he had taken the wrong soul, Rafael Duels Yami Yugi again, this time playing the Seal himself. After Yami Yugi defeats "Guardian Eatos", Rafael calls forth "Guardian Dreadscythe". Rafael proceeds to sacrifice his monsters, like Yami Yugi did in their previous Duel. Yami plays "Underworld Circle", sparking a vision of Rafael's past that snaps him out of the control of "The Seal of Orichalcos". Rafael then concedes defeat by using "Soul Charge" to revive all his monsters and deplete his own Life Points as a symbolic apology to them.

Afterwards the Seal attempts to take his soul, but his stone shatters and he is freed. It is revealed that because he had no negative emotions within him upon his defeat, the Seal could not take his soul. When the building starts collapsing, Rafael hangs from an edge and gives Yami Yugi a computer chip with a map to Dartz's lair before he seemingly falls down.

He rescues Mai and Valon from the collapsing building and confronts Dartz, who confessed that he was the one responsible for sinking the luxury cruise that he and his family were on, and for the suffering he and his friends had experienced all along. After this revelation, Rafael finally saw that Yami was right and that Dartz was the true evil, and as a result, Rafael was shocked, distraught, and angered. He used his remaining strength to materialize Guardian Eatos to attack Dartz, but it backfired on him and ended up taking his soul.

At the end of the arc he is set free along with all of Dartz's prisoners. He is last seen standing before the Arc de Triomphe.

Deck
Rafael uses a Guardian Deck. The majority of his cards are very old and worn, and can be seen with wrinkled edges and discolorations. These card however had their backside replaced to be indistinguishable from other cards' backside. Rafeal's most common tactic is using Guardian Treasure to more quickly access his cards. His Guardian monsters rely on him first having the appropriate Equip Magic Card to be on the field before they can be Summoned, and he equips them to "Backup Gardna" for the purpose of the summoning before using the ability of "Backup Gardna" to transfer that Equip card to its corresponding Guardian. Rafael is very close to his cards and cannot tolerate their destruction, thus using a variety of Spell and Trap Cards to protect them, such as "Rescuer from the Grave" and "Self Tribute". As seen with "Self Tribute", as well as "Aid to the Doomed" and the un-played but seen "My Body as a Shield", Rafael will even give up his hand and Life Points to protect his monsters.

Rafael's dedication to protect his monsters is important due to his signature card "Guardian Eatos", which can be Special Summoned without any sacrifice if Rafael has no monsters in his Graveyard. When Eatos is destroyed in his Duel with Yami Yugi, Rafael Summons "Guardian Dreadscythe", a twisted evil incarnation of "Eatos" that represents the darkness in his heart. At this point, Rafael destroys his other Guardians to empower "Dreadscythe", his hatred and determination to defeat Yami Yugi overriding his bond with them. Furthermore, while Rafael would willingly sacrifice himself to protect his Guardians, "Dreadscythe" forces him to do so by making him discard a card to negate its destruction if it would ever be destroyed.

Trivia

 * In the original dub, Rafael shares a similar background to Seto and Mokuba. Their parents died and their relatives took all of their parents' inheritance and threw them out.