Shadow Riders

The Shadow Riders, known in Japan as the Seven Stars Assassins (セブンスターズ刺客, Sebunsutāzu Shikaku), serve as the main antagonists of the series' first season, intent on resurrecting the Sacred Beasts. They are composed of seven duelists and their leader of varying origins and backgrounds who each have their own agendas, the Shadow Riders.

History
Enlisted by the elderly Kagemaru in his quest to retrieve his lost youth, the Shadow Riders are a collection of elite duelists who work towards the goal of reviving the Sacred Beast Cards (三幻魔, Sangenma, Three Phantom Demons). Each of the members that Jaden and company face possess a Shadow Charm (闇のアイテム, Yami no Aitemu, Dark Item in the Japanese version), similar to the Millennium Items in terms of supernatural power, but of unknown origin. These relics bestow upon their owners different abilities depending on the Shadow Rider in question.

In the past, Kagemaru was forced to seal the Sacred Beasts away behind the Spirit Gates underneath Duel Academy due to their inability to grant his wish at that time. In order to access their true abilities, he bestows upon Chancellor Sheppard the seven keys capable of unlocking the Spirit Gate, and pits his subordinates against the school's finest to create the strong dueling presence needed to resurrect the Sacred Beasts.

Nightshroud
Nightshroud, known in Japan as Darkness (ダークネス, Dākunesu), is the first of the Shadow Riders to challenge Jaden, and the owner of the other half of the Shadow Charm pendant in Jaden's possession. Nightshroud sets a Shadow Game in which the loser would have his soul sealed in a card. When defeated, Nightshroud's soul which represented by the mask is sealed away, and Atticus, who had been the dark personality's vessel, is freed.

During the Genex tournament, Atticus uses Nightshroud's Deck in hopes of convincing his friend, Zane, that the dark path taken by a duelist is a terrible course. As a result, Nightshroud's influence that lay dormant within his cards is once again able to take control of Atticus, only to be permanently banished following his defeat.

However he makes a subsequent return in the fourth year after Jaden challenges Atticus to a rematch to discover Nightshroud's secrets. Atticus also has nightmares about the day he became Nightshroud's host, which reveal he was not the first or only person to take up Nightshroud's soul. Adding to the mystery, while visiting the arena underneath the Abandoned Dorm, Atticus is attacked by Yusuke Fujihara, knocking him unconscious in the process. After he recovers, Jaden visits Atticus in the nurse's office and Atticus comes up with the idea of having Jaden duel Nightshoud (despite the obvious dangers) in order to uncover the entity's origins, which he does (Jaden wins again so Atticus stays free from Nightshroud); turns out, Yusuke had learned about the entity before the incident at the Abandoned Dorm, heading to the Dorm's subterranean duel arena in order to perform a ritual to free it and gain its power. However, Atticus, Yusuke's friend, followed him and interrupted the ritual, which fatally injured Yusuke and forced the boy to make Atticus its host in vengeance. Atticus resisted Nightshroud's influence from then on, until he was forced to embrace it and become its host in order to survive the Dorm's events.

Character design

Nightshroud's character design was overseen by Kenichi Hara. Nightshroud wears a tight-fitting overcoat with raised shoulders and waistline and gold and green trimmings.

His dark dragon mask, similar to that worn by his signature monster "Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon", is completely black with the exception of blue eye-pieces and a red stone in the center of the forehead. In this incarnation, the bangs closest to his face are positioned in front of the mask.



Deck Nightshroud plays a "Red-Eyes B. Dragon"-based Dragon Deck. It focuses on quickly summoning "Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon" and strengthening it by placing a large number of Dragon-type monsters in his graveyard.

Camula
Vampire Camula (吸血美女 (ヴァンパイア) カミューラ, Banpaia Kamyūra) is a female vampire who is the second of the Shadow Riders. She’s very serious when it comes to dueling for she hopes to revive her race from its destruction by the people of Medieval Times.

Camula is voiced by Bella Hudson in the English dubs and Kanako Irie in the Japanese version. Camula's name is derived from the name of Joseph Sheridan le Fanu's novel, Carmilla.

Character design

Camula's character design was overseen by Kenichi Hara. Her usual outfit consists of a long dress, displaying her cleavage with long slits revealing the side of her legs, straps crossing her arms just below her shoulders attached to a cape and bat broaches below her cleavage and above the slits, gold armbands and bracelets on both arms, and healed shoes with laces continuing up her shins. She has long straight green waist length hair with one large curl above her forehead. She wears her own exclusive Shadow Rider Duel Disk that's Monster Card Zones were in the shape of bat's wings, on her left arm.

Name Origin Her name comes from Carmilla, a vampire story that predates Bram Strokers Dracula. It was first published in 1872, printed in a magazine called dark blue. There are hints of lesbianism throught the book but, it is harder to detect since the book was from a more conservative era.

Character biography She had been asleep within her coffin until Kagemaru uncovered it and invited her to join the Shadow Riders. She captures the souls of her opponents following their losses within dolls to fuel her cause, and uses the Shadow Charm choker around her neck to bet the souls of others in conjunction with the Shadow Game-exclusive Illusion Gate, (a powerful card that requires her to give a soul to the Sacred Beasts if she looses after playing it, but it has the power to over up anyone's she wishes) to ensure victory. She manages to obtain the keys off Crowler and Zane, but during her duel with Jaden, her Shadow Charm's power is negated by the completed item that Jaden possesses. Out of over self-confidence, Camula places her own soul on the line (in the Japanese version, she does not have a choice because the card was already activated), and it is dragged into the Gate after she loses, leaving her body an empty husk which crumbles into dust.

Deck Camula plays a Vampire-orientated Zombie Deck. Several of her monsters such as Zombie Werewolf and Vampire Bat can feint revival by either summoning or discarding additional copies of themselves when destroyed through battle. Camula is also able to combine the recursion ability of Vampire Genesis with Genesis Crisis to repetitively raise her undead army from the Graveyard.

Tania
Tania (アマゾネス・タニヤ Amasonesu Taniya) is an Amazoness who is the third of the Shadow Riders.

Character design

Tania's character designs were overseen by Kenichi Hara and is based on an Amazon. Tania's usual outfit consists of a skin tight tube top, two double buckled belts, combat pants belted below her knees, spiked wrist, ankle bracelets and collar, an elbow length left and wrist length right glove with studded knuckles. Her left hand has various rings and an "Eye of Anubis" artifact. Her hair is tied back in one long plait reaching below her waist. The character is very muscular. She wears her own exclusive Shadow Rider Duel Disk in the shape of a sword on her left arm.

Character biography She falls in love with Bastion, and after some sweet talking and showing off her amazing dueling skills, defeats Bastion and makes him her bridegroom for a short time until she grows tired of him. She fights Jaden in a soul match with the effect of Amazoness Arena, and later reveals her true form to be that of a white tiger, using a Shadow Charm gauntlet she obtained from joining the Shadow Riders to assume human form to find a worthy duelist to be her husband. She eventually resumes her true form and runs off.

During the third year, she appears before Jaden and his group while they are in the middle of their search for the missing Jesse. She was returned to her human form when she was sucked into the second alternate dimension since their last visit. She serves as their guide through the first town they encounter, and stays behind with Bastion after Jaden liberates the town.

Tania also has a pet tiger named Bass, who resembles the "Amazoness Tiger".

Deck Tania's Amazoness cards, based off the Amazons of Greek mythology, are divided into two decks: Courage and Knowledge. She uses the Knowledge deck against Bastion Misawa, and the Courage deck against Jaden Yuki.

Don Zaloog
Don Zaloog (首領－ザルーグ Shuryō Zarūgu) is the fourth of the Shadow Riders.

In the English version, Zaloog is voiced by Darren Dunstan, while Taiten Kusunoki takes the role in the Japanese version.

Character design

Zaloog's outfit consists of the standard Dark Scorpion uniform with additional gun straps, a strap of bullets and an eye patch. His grey hair is shoulder length, with a fringe covering most of his forehead.

Character biography

Zaloog is actually a Duel Monster spirit of Don Zaloog brought to life by the power of the Shadow Charm eye patch he wears. He is also the leader of the band of thieves known as the Dark Scorpion Gang (Black Scorpion Graverobber Gang; 黒サソリ盗掘団, Kurosasori Tōkutsu-dan), who were also brought to life by the item. Zaloog is sort of a Robin Hood figure, as he steals from the rich and never hurts or kills anyone. He masquerades as a detective named Detective Zaloog (Police Inspector Manguer in the Japanese version), sent to assist the students in hiding the remaining spirit keys, while his posse work on taking the keys incognito. However, since they fail to obtain the keys in a duel, they are unable to unlock the spirit gate of the Sacred Beasts. When Zaloog and his gang are discovered, he and Chazz duel with all the remaining keys on the line. In the end, he and his cohorts are defeated, and the power of his Shadow Charm is nullified. After reverting back to their spirit forms, the Dark Scorpions join the many weak monsters in Chazz's care, to the young duelist's annoyance. He never uses them however, and they haven't been seen since aswell.

Deck Zaloog plays a Dark Scorpion Deck, themed on bringing together the members of the Dark Scorpion Gang and triggering their five effects in unison, with support from cards such as Mustering of the Dark Scorpions and Dark Scorpion Combination.

Abidos the Third
Abidos the Third (アビドス3世, Abidosu San-sei) is an ancient pharaoh who never lost a single duel who is the fifth of the Shadow Riders. Abidos regained physical form through the powers of the Shadow Charm headband he wore. With an army of mummies, Abidos gathers Jaden and company on his celestial yacht for a duel. During the duel with Jaden, Abidos realizes that the only reason he kept winning was because his opponents always lost on purpose, simply because he was pharaoh. Jaden, however, manages to give Abidos a real duel in which the opponent actually tries to win. Satisfied with his defeat, Abidos departs for the afterlife, giving Jaden his Shadow Charm, the latter making a promise to meet him again in one hundred years time.

In the English version, Abidos is voiced by Darren Dunstan, while Mamoru Miyano takes the role in the Japanese version.

His name is derived from the name of the ancient Egyptian city, Abydos.

Deck Abidos plays a Servants of the Pharaoh Deck, themed on gathering three Sarcophagus cards to summon Spirit of the Pharaoh.

Titan
Titan (タイタン, Taitan) was a former carny at a circus, but is currently a hit man originally hired by Crowler to deal with Jaden. He captures Alexis and forces Jaden to duel for her life. Despite his reputation of possessing the power of a Millennium Item, it is in fact a fake Millennium Puzzle, and Titan uses various tricks to mimic a Shadow Game. He becomes the victim of a real shadow duel, however, and is dragged into the Shadow Realm, but is saved by Kagemaru under the condition that he will serve as the sixth of the Shadow Riders, wearing a Shadow Charm mask to bind him to the real world. Taking advantage of Alexis' desire to restore her brother's memories, Titan challenges her in the abandoned dorm where they first met. Following his defeat, his soul is pulled back into the pits of darkness.

He is voiced by Norio Wakamoto in the Japanese version.

Deck Titan plays an Archfiend (Demon) Deck, composed largely of monsters based off Chess Pieces, in his first encounter with Jaden, and uses Bullfighter Fiend cards in his duel with Alexis.

Amnael
Amnael (アムナエル, Amunaeru) is the seventh and final Shadow Rider, who challenges Jaden to a duel. "Amnael" is actually a pseudonym used by Lyman Banner, who eventually reveals his body to be is a crumbling homunculus vessel. Banner overpowers his former pupil, but Jaden manages to defeat him. After giving Jaden his Shadow Charm, the Emerald Tablet, Banner is reduced to dust, along with his original mummified body. His spirit, however, lives on in the body of his cat, Pharaoh.

Character design

Amnael's character design was overseen by Kenichi Hara. Amnael wears a hooded tunic with a flowing red scarf, boots, and a mask with yellow eye-pieces. On his right hand is a glove made of heavier material, and he carries a black model of the Academy-issued Duel Disk on his left despite the second Japanese opening sequence featuring him with the standard Disk given to all students and staff before his official debut as Amnael. In this incarnation, he has white hair, and the sides of his face are covered in pronounced veins and cracks.

The concept illustrations for Banner's facial expressions were identical for both Amnael and Banner.

Deck Amnael plays an Alchemy Deck, which draws a relationship between the science and universe. His strategy relies on the removal of his own cards from the game, supported by the special summoning of Alchemy Beasts (Alchemic Beasts; 錬金獣, Renkinjū), based off common base metals and animals used in alchemy to transmute and refine gold, and the Alchemic Processes, based off four of the seven main stages in transmutation, falling under calcination, dissolution, separation, conjunction, fermentation, distillation, and coagulation. In the Japanese version, the positions of the two words making up each Alchemic Beast's name are inversed, as well as "the" being omitted entirely. (Their names, as well as the names of the Alchemic Processes, are not hyphenated.)

Kagemaru
Kagemaru (影丸) is the leader of the Shadow Riders and former superintendent of Duel Academy. In horrible health, he hoped to attain eternal youth by sacrificing Duel Monster spirits to the Sacred Beasts. During his duel with Jaden, his youth gradually returned. After being defeated, however, he returned to his aged state. He then promised to renounce his former ways and asked for forgiveness, which Jaden was happy to give. Kagemaru was last seen being carried to the hospital by helicopter.

In the fourth season, Kagemaru returns to Duel Academy with Sartorius to tell Jaden that they have sensed a crisis that might happen somewhere down the road.

The "Kage" portion of his name is derived from the Japanese word "kage" (影), meaning "shadow."

In the English version, David Willis plays the old, frail Kagemaru while Marc Thompson plays the young Kagemaru. In the original Japanese version, Mugihito plays the old Kagemaru while Nobutoshi Canna plays the young one.

Deck Kagemaru's plays a Sacred Beast Deck. He carries a basic Fiend Deck to support Raviel, and plenty of Spell and Trap Cards to support Uria and Hamon.