Jakob

Jose is the primary antagonist of the World Riding Duel Grand Prix in Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's. As the leader of the Three Emperors of Yliaster, his master plan is to erase one of what Yliaster believes to be one of history's greatest mistakes: Ener-D. The attempt is ties to completing what the three emperors refer to as the Infinity Circuit.

Design
José is the largest member both in height and mass of the three emperors. Although no official height has been given, José is over seven feet tall, and has massive arms, as seen when Sherry was able to wrap her entire body around one of his arms. As the oldest Emperor of Yliaster, José has wrinkled skin, most notably under his eyes, and a long, father-time style gray beard that reaches all the way down to his waist. In addition to the beard, José has an overgrown right eyebrow that covers his right eye, and his left eye is yellow. Other than the beard and the eyebrow, José does not have any other hair on his head.

Like the other emperors, José primarily wears white, has a white cloak and hood, and a red gem on his head. Unlike the other emperors though, José's gem is above his right eye instead of between his eyes. He also has a gray patch with an Infinity symbol on his face, but unlike Lucciano and Placido, José's patch covers his nose and mouth similar to a gas mask, which muffles his voice.

José's color variation other than the white is a dark golden orange, as seen on his pants, front, and the shoulder pads that pin his cloak. José wears black gloves, metal arm bands and black boots. His pants, which are the golden orange and white, are loose around his feet, and underneath José wears black boots. The white cloak that José wears covers a white armor shell over his chest, back, and shoulders, which on the front bears an infinity symbol similar to that of the Machine Emperors. However, rather than a glowing green core, José's symbol is shut. Directly underneath the symbol on the chest, José's abdomen unfolds to reveal a duel disk is built onto him.

Personality
Jose acts as the group's superior and is the wisest of the trio. He moves slowly and methodically, planning each move carefully, and holding a great deal of patience to both complete his plan, and dealing with obstacles in his path. Especially when it comes to Placido, who has not always been in agreement with José and has attempted to thwart José's plans so that he can go forward with his own. José though is not all calm, showing great distaste for humanity as he sees them as arrogant, shortsighted, and in constant need of Yliaster's help to stay on God's path to avoid destruction. He holds a cold attitude towards those he's harmed, such as Sherry LeBlanc, justifying her parents murder and his lacking memory of why Yliaster did it as just another correction in history.

José reflects on himself through observing his own teammates, thinking back to when he was younger while watching Luciano duel Luna and Leo, and how he outgrew Placido's brash arrogance when planning the Diablo Riding Roid Army.

The Initial Appearance
José first appeared alongside Placido and Lucciano when Placido acquired his Machine Emperor Wisel Infinity. José noted that they did not have to do anything for the tablet to arrive on its own, and pondered on whether that means that all the tablets will just show up on their own. When Security arrived to investigate the site, he recognized Lazar, and comments that they were suppose to meet Lazar earlier, but he they had stood him up to come and retrieve the tablet. José stood quietly as Placido and Lucciano explained to Lazar who they were and that they were the new directors to replace Rex Goodwin.

José reappeared behind the scenes again during the WRGP opening party, where he, Placido and Lucciano all watched the dinner from a back room. Lazar came in from giving his opening speech, and José complimented him on a job well done. Lucciano is amused by the fact no one at the party knows how they're being used, but Placido pointed out that this effort seems to be a waste, suggesting that they force the fight with their own strength. José though objects because they do not have enough strength to complete their task themselves, and the WRGP would draw all those who have the power to do what he intends to do, which angered Placido. Just as their discussion was ending, Bokuru, a Turbo Duelist who doesn't like Turbo Duels being showcased as little games of entertainment crashes the party. Lazar is shocked to see this, as José is disgruntled to see the party crasher, but also is annoyed by how amused Placido is by the intruder. When Akiza Izinski uses her psychic powers to thwart Bokuru's rampage in the party, José noted her psychic abilities. Then Placido, annoyed that Security couldn't actually catch the intruder, goes out on his T-666 and crashed Bokuru by using Wisel, alerting everyone to a reappearance of Ghost.

José, still watching from the couch in the room, continued watching as Placido returns because Yusei Fudo engaged an unknown duelist in a Turbo Duel. However, no one sees the mysterious duelist perform his Accel Synchro Summon because the process jammed the feed. This initially led Lucciano to ignore the duel as a waste of time, but José did not agree because the duel completed one of the circuits in the Infinity Circuit, which also perked Placido's interest to pursue the mysterious duelist on his own.

Lucciano's Test
Later, prior to Lucciano's tablet arriving, José, along with the Lucciano and Placido watched Yusei and Akiza's Turbo Duel from their true base of operations. Lucciano is bored because the duel was not producing circuits for the Infinity Circuit. José realizes that it was not producing enough power but had faith that his plan would ultimately succeed through the WRGP. His musing though are cut off when Placido makes a point that the Crimson Dragon could still be a potential threat to the master plan, just as it was the end to Rex Goodwin's plan. Placido proposes that he should defeat Yusei in a duel and take Stardust Dragon to effectively cut off the Crimson Dragon's head. Lucciano finds the idea hilarious because Placido had already lost to Yusei once as Ghost, but the discussion was cut off by the arrival of Lucciano's tablet. José never commented on the issue.

José though stayed behind the scenes for Lucciano's plot to duel Luna, leaving the undercover work to Lucciano and Placido, who disguised himself as well because he wanted to see the Signer power as well. After Lucciano revealed himself, José and Placido watched Lucciano's from their thrones when he challenged Luna and Leo to a Turbo Duel at the same time. Once Lucciano summoned Machine Emperor Skiel Infinity, José and Placido had a brief conversation where Placido commented that Lucciano is getting ahead of himself, but José responded that children are just that way, adding that he remembers when he acted like that during his childhood. They continue watching intently, paying extra attention when Luna summoned Ancient Fairy Dragon, and Lucciano absorbed it with Skiel's effect. They see Leo take back Ancient Fairy Dragon from Skiel with Power Break, and then both are surprised when the Crimson Dragon saves Leo's life when Lucciano counterattacked and defeated Leo with Skiel Attack 5, and the duel monster spirits save Luna when Lucciano countered Luna with Infinity Force before defeating her as well. Following the duel, Yliaster erased Lucciano's presence as a transfer student from history, removed the mansion he used as well as any memory of him except from the Signers, who would later be revealed to be immune from Yliaster's ability to change history.

Creation of the Diablo
A rebellious Placido though soon took matters into his own hands. Defecting from José's plan, Placido built the Diablo Riding Roid Army and used Lazar to steal a D-Wheel program that Yusei Fudo and Bruno had worked together on. José confronted Placido by contacting him at the factory where he was completing the robots, asking him what he was doing, but Placido answered that he was carrying out his own plan. José protested that his plan will be ruined if Placido carried on like this, but Placido responded that he could care less about José's plan and would do as he wished, and then cut the transmission before José could say anything else.

José, fuming from the blatant disrespect, wondered what on earth Placido is thinking, and Lucciano commented that Placido was just immature, adding that José was once like that as well. José though argued that he outgrew and forgot Placido's sort of attitude a long time ago. Lucciano then deduced to José that Placido isn't interested in José using the Signers to complete the Circuit, he wanted to force it with his own strength. José realizes that is the purpose the Riding Roids would fulfill, but asked how did Placido know that the Signers were working on the program that Lazar stole. Lucciano didn't know but he taunted José by asking if he's now interested in Placido's plan, but then argues that it doesn't matter. Placido was not wasting time, and the three of them had the same goal of activating the Circuit. However, Lucciano pointed out that there wasn't a need to follow the same plan. José though objected that it is a waste of time to change their plans when they're so close to completing them. Lucciano though brushed it off that it's still just a matter of preference. Lucciano got excited because he realized that when the Circuit worked out, he would end up just like Placido and José, and he didn't ever want to get that old. José though just called Lucciano an impudent little brat. Following the argument though, Placido made his most deliberate attempt to ruin José's plan by attempting to kill three of the Signers (Yusei, Jack Atlas, and Crow Hogan) by blowing up the factory where he had just finished producing the Riding Roid Army. They all manage to escape before it's destruction, along with Lazar and Bruno.

Orchestrating Impostor Jack Atlas
Shortly after Placido brought his Riding Roid Army online, José attempted to show Placido that the original plan was not flawed. José and his companions orchestrated the appearance of an imposter of Jack Atlas to gauge the power of the Crimson Dragon in an attempt to activate more of the Infinity Circuit. The initial appearance of Impostor Jack frames the real Jack Atlas for crashing Turbo Duelists. Yliaster then broke Jack out of his cell, knowing that he would attempt to clear his name and proceeded to set up a duel between him and his impostor. The impostor won the duel and sent Jack into the ocean. However, instead of letting him die, José ordered Jack be brought to a cave where he was forced to watch his impostor go around ruining his name. The three emperors watched as Placido asked José why they couldn't get rid of Jack because he had already lost to his impostor once. Jose answered that his connection to the Crimson Dragon could become a problem, and they couldn't risk it interfering. Lucciano just commented to them them the Crimson Dragon was their problem because he had enough trouble forging Jack's deck. Jack broke free from his virtual cell, which was in a cave along with his Duel Runner, and chased down his impostor.

The two Jacks dueled once more, and this time Jack defeated his impostor's three Red Dragon Archfiends with Trust Guardian and Majestic Red Dragon, which disintegrated the impostor Jack, a robot. After the explosion, the impostor's deck evaporated. Lucciano and Placido were upset at the lose, calling it a waste of time, but when the duel activated another circuit on the Infinity Circuit, José was pleased. Following the duel though, Yliaster once again removed the cave where Jack was held captive, removing all traces of their involvement with them, and left the Signers feeling like there was a much bigger force manipulating the situation.

The WRGP Commences
Following Yusei's return from Crashtown, Sherry LeBlanc and her butler and friend Mizoguchi attacked Sector Security building to force an evacuation. When the building was locked down after the evacuation, it came to the Three Emperor's attention of what was happening, which amused to Lucciano since as the directors of Sector Security, it was their job to do something about it. Placido blamed Lazar because he had abandoned his post after almost being killed in the factory that Placido blew up, but José told Placido to leave Lazar alone because he was of no interest, and to ignore the situation at Sector Security because they were too busy deal with such a trivial matter. Unbeknownst to José or the other emperors though, Sherry, Bruno, and Yusei met ZONE for the first time that day through Sherry's Z-One card.

The Three Emperors briefly appeared on the opening day of the WRGP, where Lucciano commented that they'll see if José's plan is truly worthwhile, and they proceed to watch the rest of the first round matches, including Team 5Ds match against Team Unicorn. The first round of the WRGP completed more circuits in the Infinity Circuit. As they continued to watch the Infinity Circuit's progress through more Turbo Duels, Lucciano admired how it was progressively completing itself, and José explained that the participants' Duelist power was going to change the future.

Things have started stirring up again during the second round of the preliminaries, as Placido had already launched a second plan of his own to try to take out the Signers. Placido had approached Team Catastrophe and given them Cards of Darkness, namely Hidden Knight -Hook-, who were using it to crash Turbo Duelists, including Crow, Akiza, Andore, and Jean. José never caught onto this plan, but Lucciano figured out Placido was up to something when he went to watch Team 5D's take on Team Catastrophe in person. When Team Catastrophe lost to Team 5D's without eliminating Team 5D's from the tournament, Placido decided to put his plan into full motion and unleash the Riding Roid Army, regardless of what the status of José's plan was.

The Divine Battle over New Domino City
José did not immediately find out that Placido had made his move. Instead, Lucciano, who figured it out after Placido left Team Catastrophe's match suddenly, teleported back to their base of operation where José was continuing to monitor the Circuit. José was then pestered by Lucciano, who pointed out that relying on the Turbo Duels to produce the Infinity Circuit was sure taking a long time as the Circuit formed bit by bit. José played along, answering that they need the power of Ener-D, and therefore Turbo Duelists, to complete the Circuit. The result would make would reveal God's location, bringing his Shrine to New Domino City. Lucciano pointed out the Infinity Circuit was just so huge. Big enough to cover New Domino, so its completion would destroy New Domino City when the castle arrived. But José responded out that was a trivial sacrifice to save the future. But then Placido's Riding Roid Army, which was attacking the WRGP, started appearing on the monitors and surprised José. Lucciano declared in a grand gesture that those were Placido's Riding Roids. José realized those were the ones that Placido built, but still wonders what's going on. Lucciano continued that Placido ran out of patience and is finally took matters into his own hands, unleashing his troops. Laughing, Lucciano said this was getting interesting. José was not amused, and cursed under his breath at Placido.

So José contacted Placido directly through his eyepatch. Placido, who was already angry that Yusei was turning the tide of the invasion of the Ghosts towards the humans favor, told José to go away. José demanded to know what Placido thought he is doing. Placido retorted to José that his way was weak and explained that by forcing everyone to duel, the Circuit would surface in no time at all. José tried to explain to Placido that he didn't understand because forcing the fight would not bring out a person's inner potential. José said that a true Circuit wouldn't ever be completed that way. Lucciano though butted in, taunting Placido that he might as well listen to José since Yusei Fudo was already causing Placido trouble, adding that Placido had already lost to Yusei once. This enraged Placido. José tried to continue to reason with Placido, but Placido cut the transmission.

José continued watching with Lucciano, and was alarmed when a tablet crashed outside of New Domino City, but it was not his. It was Yusei's! José realized this meant that Yusei has made contact with God as well, which angered Lucciano because he did not want to accept any possibility that Yusei could be like them. Yusei got the monster from the tablet, and after a brief conversation with ZONE, returned to New Domino to try and stop Placido. When Yusei caught up to Placido, José contacted Placido to warn him that Yusei possessed a new power. Placido was apprehensive at first, but then Lucciano explained that Yusei had received a tablet form God. José told Placido to return because there was no guarantee that he could win. Placido was enraged at the idea that José believed that he might lose, cut the connection, and combined with his Terrible Omen to fight Yusei.

José watched the duel between Placido with Lucciano on their thrones. Lucciano at first kept objecting to the idea that Yusei could possible have gotten a tablet from God because tablets were suppose to just be entrusted to them in order to restore history to its proper path, but José tells Lucciano to be quiet and watch when he realized that God willed this fight. José and Lucciano continued watching Yusei and Placido duel until Yusei is able to achieve Clear Mind and summon the card from his tablet: Shooting Star Dragon. Lucciano asked José what they should do. José realized Yusei's monster as the card from the tablet and that the fate assigned by God was starting to escape their grasp. He wondered if the power of humans was coming before them, and cautioned that they needed to be even more careful now. Before Placido lost though, Lucciano noted that Placido's duel completed a large area of the Circuit. José though explained that the Circuit wouldn't be complete from this one duel, and that they would need more Signer power to complete it.

José Reveals Himself
Placido then lost to Yusei's Shooting Star Dragon, and is torn apart from the resulting attacks. Yusei tried to approach Placido to check on him, but José used telekinesis to lift all of Placido off of the highway to him and Lucciano, who were both atop the monument in the middle of Highway commemorating the unification of New Domino and Satellite. José told Yusei to not worry about Placido because receiving the loser's sympathy would damage his pride. As Lucciano took possession of Placido's sword, Yusei recognizes him from his duel with Leo and Luna, and Lucciano explained he was just testing them, but Placido went through the whole trouble of creating the Diablo Riding Roid Army to just have it end in failure. Lucciano then took back his cards from Placido, along with his entire deck as Jack, Crow, and the mysterious duelist arrived at the monument as well.

With everyone on site, José addressed Yusei, Crow, and Jack. He began by explaining the importance of the monument as the symbol of the unification of Satellite and New Domino City, and appreciated the irony that they all met right there. Crow asked if that means they were responsible for the Ghost attacks, and Jack demanded to know who they are. José obliged to tell them their names and introduced himself, Placido, and Lucciano to the Signers as the Three Emperors of Yliaster. José introduced himself as the leader, to which Lucciano objected, but José gave Lucciano an angered look, which quickly got Lucciano to introduce himself as the sub-leader and Placido as the number one junior lackey.

Yusei asked them why they were making a commotion in New Domino, to which Lucciano said they owe them no explanation, but José decided to tell them because there was nothing they could do to stop it even if they know. José explained that there goal was to change the future. Jack objected to the notion, saying they decide there own future. Lucciano though told Jack that if he was doing such a fine job, then they wouldn't have to come out. Crow asked if they already know the future, to which Lucciano taunts them by asking them if they'd like to know, and then added that the future they were trying to create would not just be their own. Jack cursed at Lucciano, but José interjected, agreeing with Lucciano, explaining that Yliaster is an organization crafted by their God whose job is to set the course of history back on track. Yusei's stunned, but José explains that their organization has been around since prehistoric times and reached all across Earth. He added that no matter how humanity tried to change the future, they couldn't grasp the whole picture.

Crow was in disbelief because there's no way every important person could be in Yliaster's pocket, and José agreed with him because the power of the world was instead set up like a food chain or a pyramid, and all Yliaster wanted control from the people from the top of that pyramid. In exchange for providing those at the top with benefits, Yliaster was allowed to guide history.

Sherry and Mizoguchi then arrive at the monument, and Sherry demanded to know if they were responsible for her parents death. José though blew the question off, saying that he can't be bothered with remembering everyone that has faded away as a result of correcting history. Sherry then declared she would make him remember. Riding up the curve of the monument, Sherry launched her Duel Runner so that it was angled to land on José. Aiming to crush José, Sherry declared that now is the time for revenge, but José just commented that it was useless. He caught her Duel Runner with one hand, told her that her immature antics wouldn't work, and threw the duel runner off off the monument and into the ocean, almost taking Sherry with it. Mizoguchi came up the other side, and while Lucciano deflects his attack with Plácido's sword, José destroyed Mizoguchi's Duel Runner with a back-handed punch.

José continued, using the attack to explain that humans are full of stupidity and arrogance, calling the human imagination and repeated collapse the cause of history's negative change. He explained that from the shadows, the strength of Yliaster has always been involved to put humanity on the path of righteousness whenever humanity chose the path of foolishness. He then explained that no matter how they try to modify history, there was an unavoidable future coming. He addressed Yusei, telling him that when his father Dr. Fudo created Ener-D, he created an immeasurable mistake in history. Yliaster tried to use Roman Goodwin to make Ener-D disappear through Zero Reverse, but it failed. So now Yliaster is making a new revision to history to overcome the situation. José explained that they were going to erase all of New Domino City. Jack, Crow, and Yusei are in disbelief, but Lucciano told them that they're welcome to believe what they want to believe, and tells Yusei his curse hasn't ended yet.

Sherry though told Yliaster that she wouldn't let them do that and charged at José once again. José though dodged her attack, punched her with a left cross, and grabbed her by her collar. José told Sherry that to challenge an emperor like this made her a disgrace to real duelists. Sherry though ripped her collar free from José's grasp and wrapped around his left arm, telling him that she was taking his arm with him as she tried to break it off. José just wondered if there was any end to the foolishness and lifted Sherry over his head with just that arm. He told her to join her parents and threw her off of the monument. Mizoguchi jumped off the monument after her and used a parachute in his Duel Disk so that they could land. Yusei then asked Lucciano and José what they meant by erasing New Domino City, but José told them they must come to the WRGP in order to find out, adding that they would be participating in the main round. Jack was stunned, but José responded by telling them that the WRGP would answer everything.

Another meteor fell from outer space as José realized that his tablet has finally arrived. Jack was confused, but Lucciano pointed straight up. Jack, Crow, and Yusei tried to run, but they realized it's too late to go anywhere. José stopped the tablet with his telekinesis, and Yusei recognizes the tablet as one like the one that had Shooting Star Dragon. José extracted the monster from it, and the tablet shattered. A duel disk unfolded from José's stomach, and he put the five cards on there to summon Machine Emperor Grannel Infinity. José tells Team 5D's that if they wanted the truth then they needed to keep winning the WRGP. He lifted Placido with his telekinesis and told Lucciano that they were leaving. Lucciano wondered if there was still any use for Placido, made a portal with his sword, and they leaft with José bidding Team 5D's farewell. Once they left, power was restored to the city from when Placido attacked, and Grannel faded away.

A New History
José left Team 5D's alone, letting them do as they want. However, he was later contacted by Clark Smith, the President of one of Yliaster's shell company's: Momentum Express Development Organization. Clark explained that Yusei Fudo, Sherry LeBlanc, and a third guy infiltrated his company to steal information on Yliaster, so he had disposed of them by firing them into an unstable wormhole using the Infinity Device. José was not happy and decided that Momentum Express was no longer a needed organization. Clark begged for his life, but before José could erase him from history, Placido returned to his throne and said that it is already done, telling Clark that he no longer exists.

The ensuing change in history caused a white shockwave to spread across the world, one which Team 5D's, Lazar, Bruno, and Mizoguchi were protected from because of the Crimson Dragon, and Team Ragnarok was protected from because of their Polar Gods. The result was that Momentum Express was erased from existence, and Sherry LeBlanc was kicked from the WRGP and replaced with Yliaster's new team: Team New World. As a result of entering the WRGP as Team New World, the Three Emperors of Yliaster forfeited the knowledge that they had ever taken the position as Directors of Sector Security. A loophole that Lazar took advantage of to fill the seat himself..

As Team New World, José and the other Emperors swept their quarter-finals match and were projected to be the finalist of their bracket. They watched intently as the other matches produce more circuits in the Circuit, including the match where Team Taiyo summoned Sleeping Giant Thud against Team 5D's. The resulting matched provide enough Circuits for the Spiral building to appear in the sky over New Domino.

The following day, Team New World won their second match with ease, securing their position as a World Racing Grand Prix finalist. To pass the time, they watched their opponent's match: Team Five D's versus Team Ragnarok. They were observing the duel, and Lucciano was finding amusement out of Dragan putting Jack Atlas into a tight situation, but the emperors were astounded when Jack summoned Red Nova Dragon because it was a card that none of them recognized.

Power
As the leader of the Three Emperors of Yliaster, José has immense power, but it is difficult to gauge because he mostly works behind the scenes. His largest demonstration of his power was seen in episode 110, when he uses telekinesis to move Placido and stop his stone tablet, as well as possessing superhuman strength, as seen when he easily defeated Sherry in a fight using only one arm at a time, and threw her motorcycle into the ocean and destroyed Mizoguchi's. His Duel Disk unfolds from the hidden compartment built into his abdomen (which was also shown in Episode 110, when he reveals Machine Emperor Grannel Infinity by activating his Duel Coat). It is unknown if this is part of some mechanisms built into his clothes/armor or a look inside what could be cybernetic parts, like Placido.

Anime
Jose will play an Infinity Deck revolving around his Machine Emperor Grannel Infinity using multiple monster pieces. His Machine Emperor is the biggest of the three. Nothing is known of its specific abilities.