Adrian Gecko

Adrian Gecko, known in the Japanese version as Amon Garam (アモン・ガラム, Amon Garamu) is a new student hailing from East Academy who enters Duel Academy in the third year. Reserved and secretive, Adrian is a neutral character whose actions seem to only serve the Gecko Family and himself. However, after acquiring the spirit of "Exodia the Forbidden One" in the third alternate dimension, he intends to rule it and acts as a major antagonist towards Jaden and co.

His given name in the Japanese version is derived from an alternate spelling of the name of an Egyptian air deity, Amun.

In the Japanese version, the older Adrian is voiced by Saichouya, while in flashbacks, the younger Adrian is voiced by Saori Terai. In the English dub, Xaivor Willis takes the part of his voice acting.

Character biography
Adrian is the eldest son of the Gecko Family (Garam Group; ガラム財閥, Garamu Zaibatsu in the Japanese version), which has considerable influence over the world's petroleum, heavy chemical industry, and information technology. Abandoned by his father when he was young, Adrian developed an inferiority complex that convinced him that he had nothing left to live for. He observed the sky and awaited death, but was one day adopted by the Gecko Family which intended for him to become its heir in light of the family's failure to produce a biological child to fill the position. However, when a son named Shido was at last conceived, Adrian grew jealous of his younger brother (in the Japanese version, he contemplates killing him), but chose to continue working diligently for his sibling's sake.

From the outset of the third year, Adrian works undercover to learn more about Viper's plot. He is eventually approached by Professor Viper himself, who threatens to return him to East Academy if he refuses to Survival Duel. Suspecting that he will set the Bio-Band energy absorption level on maximum—which can cause death—for his scheduled duel, Adrian invites Ra Yellow and Obelisk Blue students to a party to participate in Survival Duels with one another, intending to overload Viper's project. As he leaves the Obelisk Blue dormitory, however, Chazz lifts him off the ground by helicopter, challenging him to a duel. Intrigued by Chazz's determination stemming from his time at North Academy, Adrian reveals the hellish past that he too has suffered. Despite this similarity, he concludes that Chazz is "nothing special," and although he wins the duel, the energy absorption level on his Bio-Band was not minimized enough to prevent him from collapse.

After recovering from the duel, Adrian infiltrates Viper's hideout. The two spar for ownership of a certain card that Viper possesses, of which the Gecko Group holds interest, but the spirit within the Survival Duel energy chamber restrains Adrian just as he seems to gain the upper hand. Managing to temporarily short circuit the facility’s power source, Adrian escapes and finds the machine responsible for Survival Duel energy absorption, but succumbs to the darkness of his heart and chooses not to shut it down.

While trapped in the alternate dimension along with Jaden Yuki and co., Adrian teams up with them to fight off the duel zombies, but mysteriously erases a file about him while on a Gecko submarine, trying to get medicine for an ill Blair. On numerous occasions, he meets Marcel who was possessed by Yubel. Asking Yubel why it didn't choose him to use its power, Yubel mockingly replies that Marcel had an unexpected and greater darkness in his heart at the time. Enraged over this, Adrian continues to monitor Yubel and ends up stranded in the alternate dimension after Yubel is defeated by Jaden and Jesse.

Adrian later reappears in the third alternate dimension after the fall of Haou the Supreme King with his left arm imbued with a portion of Yubel's power. Intending to become the dimension's king, he sacrificed the only woman he ever loved, Echo, to free the spirit of "Exodia the Forbidden One" from imprisonment and make it his servant. He meets up with Jesse in Yubel's castle to prove he is worthy of being king, but is defeated, feeling the pain of losing Echo a second time beforehand. During that the duel he revealed that he intended to become the dimension's king with intent of ridding the world things such as poverty and suffering which Yubel mocked him for.

Voice/Mannerisms
In the English dub, Adrian presents himself as somewhat of a party animal, while his original series counterpart instead possesses a flexible intellect capable of immediately dealing with any opponent and takes a highly philosophical approach as a duelist, once quoting René Descartes "Cogito ergo sum" to express the meaninglessness of passionate battles such as the Survival Duels announced by Viper.

Deck
Adrian plays a Cloud Deck. His cards take advantage of a unique set of abilities, including monster destruction via Fog Counters and Direct Damage. The summoning speed of his monsters is strengthened by "Summon Cloud" and "Big Summon Cloud", which allow him to instantly call forth his Cloudians as long as they are in his hand. In desperation, he can also activate Wonder Cloud, removing almost all his cards from play to draw more cards. His signature card, "Cloudian - Eye of the Typhoon", is capable of shifting the battle positions of all his opponent's monsters the moment it strikes.

After making his reappearance in the third alternate dimension after Haou the Supreme King is defeated, he adopts Yubel's Exodia Deck and focuses on the gathering of the five pieces of Exodia. If the initial strategy fails, he can also summon "Exodios, the Ultimate Forbidden God", allowing him to achieve the same results as the above strategy by gathering all the pieces in his graveyard. As a back strategy he can also try win using the combination of "King Mist", "Sword of the Royal Family", and "Castle of Mist".