Ishizu Ishtar

Ishizu Ishtar is a character in the Yu-Gi-Oh! manga and the Yu-Gi-Oh! second series anime. Her name is sometimes rendered by fans as Isis Ishtar (as "Ishizu" is a possible pronunciation of the word "Isis" in Japanese). Her name supposedly derives from the Egyptian deity Isis and the Mesopotamian deity Ishtar.

Design


Ishizu's straight black hair trails just below her shoulders and features two locks wrapped in gold beads coming from behind her ears and continue in front, stopping at her neck. She is slender in build and has tanned skin. She wears the Millennium Necklace around her neck prior to giving it to Yugi.

Ishizu's first outfit consists of a long ankle length dress partially bearing her shoulders featuring brown patterns around the neck and the rims of the sleeves. Her jewelery consists of a gold piece of headwear circling her head and featuring an emerald where it meets at the front.

During the Battle City tournament she wears a cream colored sleeveless one-piece dress with the bottom similar to a sarong, a matching waist length veil which widens and spreads below her shoulders and gold sandals. Her jewelery consists of gold braclets, ankle braclets, armbands and brooch bearing the Eye of Udjat on her veil. She initally wears a piece of cloth over her mouth to conceal her identity.

Biography
Ishizu's family guarded the tomb of the pharaoh for generations and two of the Millennium Items, the Rod and Necklace were passed on to Ishizu and her brother Marik. Marik, who was forbidden to leave the Pharoah's tomb because it may divert his attention away from his heritage, convinced Ishizu to let him take a forbidden trip outside. Marik no longer wanted to become a Tombkeeper and when he was forced to take the initiation ritual to become a full Tombkeeper, he unwillingly unleashed Dark Marik, who took the Millennium Rod for himself. In the manga Dark Marik specifically skinned his father with it and then threw the skin of his father's back (bearing the scars of his own initiation ritual) onto the back of the unconscious Odion. In the Japanese anime he killed his father to stop him from killing Rishid. In the English anime he sent his father to the Shadow Realm. Dark Marik was sealed away in Marik's body by Rishid.

Ishizu attempts to stop Marik's quest of unlocking the power of the Pharaoh for himself by taking the Egyptian God Card,"'Obelisk the Tormentor" before Marik can.

In the Battle City, Ishizu is the Secretary General of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities. She became a museum curator in order to lure Yugi Muto and Seto Kaiba in order to save Marik from his darker alter ego, Dark Marik. She gave Kaiba the Obelisk the Tormentor card in exchange for him starting a tournament, where he could acquire the remaining God Cards, but told him that regardless he would end up returning the card. She had predicted this using the power of her Millennium Necklace.

Ishizu qualifies to the Battle City quarter-finals, where she duels Kaiba. She predicts all Kaiba moves and foresees her victory, but an unknown instinct tells Kaiba to summon his Blue-Eyes White Dragon. Kaiba follows claiming he makes his own future and tributes Obelisk the Tormentor and Gadget Soldier to play Blue-Eyes hence avoiding his defeat. Following her defeat, Ishizu gives the Millennium Necklace to Yugi claiming she no longer needs it because it no longer responded to her as the future it showed her was changed by Kaiba.

During the finals where Yugi faced Marik, Odion convinces Marik to accept responsibility, freeing him from Dark Marik. Ishizu and Marik are then able to fulfill their duties as Tombkeepers, by revealing the Pharaoh's memory which had been carved (tattooed in the English anime) onto Marik's back. Ishizu, Marik and Rishid then return to Egypt to start a new life.

After the Pharaoh recovers his memories and his name in the Egyptian Arc, Ishizu, Marik and Odion lead Yugi and his friends to the tomb of the Pharaoh in order for Pharaoh Atem and Yugi to have a final duel in order to determine if the spirit will move on to the afterlife or remain in the present. When the duel is over and the tomb is destroyed, Ishizu states that her family's duties as the Pharaoh's tomb keepers are finally complete since his spirit has returned to the nether world and the Millennium Items have been sealed forever.

Yu-Gi-Oh! Forbidden Memories
In Yu-Gi-Oh! Forbidden Memories, Ishizu under the name Isis appears as one of the contenders in Kaiba's tournament. After she loses to Yugi, her Millennium Necklace gets absorbed into one of the Millennium Item Cards.

Her appearance is slightly different and her personality is more fierce, greatly contrasting to how she appears in the anime and manga.

Voice
In the Japanese version, Ishizu uses the personal pronoun "watakushi", an antiquated and archaic self-reference.

Deck
Ishizu primarily plays EARTH Attribute Fairy-Type monsters which bear an Egyptian appearance. She is only seen dueling once. This is against Seto Kaiba who was running his Virus Deck. To counter his strategy of sending large amounts of cards to her Graveyard, hers revolved around returning his cards to his deck so she could play Exchange of the Spirit and cause him to deck out.

In Yu-Gi-Oh! Forbidden Memories, Isis plays a Water Deck. Her strongest card, "B. Skull Dragon", is her only monster that is not water-related.

In "Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championship 2008", her deck focuses on the use of "Gravekeeper's" monsters, with the trump card "The End of Anubis" to completely lock down the opponent's Graveyard.