Yami Marik

Yami Marik, known as Dark Marik in the manga and Japanese versions, is Marik Ishtar's second personality created by his own inner hatred and pain. He serves as the main antagonist of the Battle City Finals arc after Odion falls into a coma, triggering his possession of Marik's body. Unlike The Other Yugi and The Other Bakura, Yami Marik did not originate as an entity sealed within a Millennium Item, but instead was spawned from the pain and suffered and hatred he endured from having his back craved as part of his family's rite of passage.

Appearance


Upon first awakening in the anime, he was wearing the original outfit of Marik, including a light purple sleeveless hoodie, black pants and black shoes, but wore most of his normal clothes underneath the hoodie in the manga. Yami Marik's usual outfit consists of a long purple cape with a gold chain, and the black sleeveless tank top and beige pants from the manga, making the whereabouts of his new clothes a trivial mystery. He wears golden earrings, neckwear, armbands and bracelets. His hair is spiked upwards and points in all directions, though he retains the same wing-like fringes of Marik's hair, and since he picked up the Millennium Rod, he bears the Eye of Wdjat on his forehead. Whilst Dueling, faint, ghastly images of his face frequently stretch out from his head. As the series progressed, visible veins slowly start to appear on his face. In the Battle City arc he wears a KaibaCorp Duel Disk on his left arm. As he is merely a split personality of the normal Marik, unlike Yami Yugi and Yami Bakura, who are both entirely different entities from their associated hosts in their own right, Yami Marik's facial structure is exactly the same as Marik's, though the similarities are offset by the differences outlined above.

Personality
Yami Marik is a person of pure cruelty and insanity who cares for no one but himself, as he was born of hate, anger, and envy. Yami Marik ruthlessly murdered his father, and was constantly trying to kill Odion for being a hindrance to his existence in the outside, and threatened Ishizu with death for hiding their brother. Yami Marik showed no interest for Yami Yugi's past or Seto Kaiba's past, something which his alter ego wanted to know. Also, unlike the latter, who had an actual goal fueled by a personal affliction towards the Pharaoh particularly, Yami Marik didn't seem to have any goal except for spreading pain and suffering like the sadist he is, and also existing outside, both to no longer be sealed inside his alter ego and because he considers himself the "true" Marik. Before his death, he tried to reason with Marik saying that they could rule the world together; however, given his personality, he was merely trying to persuade Marik to free him from his predicament. Aside from his lack of empathy, he also seems to be a sadist, building his Deck around torture-themed cards, and using the shadow powers to manifest them into reality, painfully hurting his opponents for his own pleasures. He even became dependent on his dark powers to win his Duels, since he would have lost his Duel against Mai Valentine right away if it wasn't for her attempting to Summon "The Winged Dragon of Ra", only to be given Ra's Sphere Form, and in his Duel against Joey Wheeler, he wouldn't have won if Joey hadn't collapsed from exhaustion because of the torturing of Marik's "Ra". During his last Duel he even stated that he got the most pleasure torturing Yami Yugi. In Noah Kaiba's Virtual World fortress, Yami Marik showed that he can be a reckless person, as he destroyed the fortress' computer, which was the only way of stopping the missile that was programmed to fire at the building. He also seems to enjoy thrill rides as he was seen smiling (with a bit of adrenaline rush) during the escape from the explosion. Despite his cruelty and evil, he valued his own life dearly, and tried to murder Odion so he would not be sealed back in. He also tried to plead for Marik to help him win against Yugi after Marik was able to regain control of his body. Still, he shows traits of a masochist as well, especially in the Japanese version of his Duel against Joey. For example, after his "Gil Garth" was destroyed and its pain was transferred to him, he laughed psychotically and stated that he was enjoying the feeling. Yami Marik demonstrated to be very clever in his Duels such as using his Egyptian God Slime to complete his strategy of immortality and do a follow-up with "Jam Defender" to make it the only monster Yugi could attack (thanks to its ability to regenerate); he also knew more about the abilities of "Ra" than Marik and he also outwitted his alter ego and Yami Bakura by changing most of the cards in his Deck. Yami Marik is shown to be clueless about advanced technology during the Virtual World arc as he was having trouble with a security pass-code when he pressed it, only to be denied.

Yami Marik considers himself as the "true" Marik, although that seems to be contradicted at certain times in the 4Kids dialogue of certain episodes, like when the real Marik in Tea's body and Ishizu confronted him at the Duel tower, he stated that Ishizu would be reuniting with "your father", instead of "our father", in the Shadow Realm. These dialogues even occasionally contradict other ones, such as in a flashback of him sending Marik's dad to the Shadow Realm, with young Ishizu saying he wasn't Marik and young Yami Marik stating "very perceptive", but before he sends Marik's dad there, he calls him "father"; so this dialogue contradicts his current beliefs in young Yami Marik not thinking of himself as the the "true" Marik during his and young Ishizu's short chat in the past, and contradicts the much later talk on the Duel tower, since he thought of Marik's dad as his own father when he was young. However, although believing he is the true Marik, these dialogue contradictions may be because (now) he does not think of himself as part of the Ishtar family, since in a previous conversation with Ishizu before the Duel tower confrontation, when she called him "my brother", he claimed that "her" brother had been getting in his way instead of accepting that he was related to her. Another reason to show he considers himself as the true Marik is in the 4Kids version of his Duel against Mai, when he even explained Marik's biography as if it was his own, mentioning the ancient scriptures, guarding the Pharaoh's tomb, and the supposed pain he suffered as a result. He could have just been toying with their minds since none of that was ever implied in the future at all and that these were actually pieces of Marik's history and that Yami Marik birthed from this pain, but did not endure it himself.

Birth
Yami Marik was "born" from the pain and suffering that Marik had endured when he was forced to take the initiation ritual to become a full Tomb Keeper at ten years old by his father. A year later, (after Marik's forbidden trip to surface), Yami Marik emerged for the first time when Marik returned from his trip (most likely out of worry for Odion) and was horrified when he saw his father torturing Odion to a presumed death (in the dub, Odion was going to leave the tomb forever but was still almost unconscious on the floor), and also to resist his father's punishment on himself and claim the Millennium Rod for himself. Ignoring his father's orders to put the Item down, Yami Marik used its powers to smash him against the wall. When his sister Ishizu protested for him to stop, she suffered the same strike. Yami Marik then proceeded to murder his father. In the Japanese anime, he killed his father to stop him from killing Odion (while in the dub, he sent his father to the Shadow Realm), but ironically then he moved over to Odion to do the same. However, Odion was able to raise himself, and thus he sealed Yami Marik away in Marik's body. Although it is likely that Yami Marik continued to influence Marik for all of those years that Marik had been antagonizing the Pharaoh, because, even after the death of his father, Marik was still a sad child and probably wouldn't have become so villainous if he didn't get some "help" (which a fact confirmed in the manga).

Battle City Quarterfinals


Yami Marik was released during the Battle City quarter-finals when Odion was rendered unconscious during his Duel against Joey Wheeler. Deciding Marik's Deck was weak, he changed it to add many new cards of his own, and also managed to learn of the hidden powers of "Ra". Unwilling to risk letting Odion wake up, he attempted to murder him, but changed his mind after he heard that he was Dueling next, deciding to let Odion live a little longer. In Marik's quarter-final match, Yami Marik Duels Mai Valentine in a Shadow Game. After initially trading blows, Yami Marik changed the Duel into a Shadow Game where when they lost Life Points, they lost memories, though this had no real effect on Yami Marik, who didn't care about the memories he'd lost but had a severe effect on Mai. Mai traded blows with Yami Marik fairly equally, even taking "The Winged Dragon of Ra". When she proceeded to Summon the Dragon, however, it was locked in Sphere Mode, and Mai was unable to release the God monster. Yami Marik proceeded to do so on his turn, remove Mai's last defenses, and attack her with "Ra", though the attack did not kill her due to the intervention of Yami Yugi and Joey Wheeler. After winning, Yami Marik trapped Mai's soul, where she is slowly buried in sand in an hourglass inside her mind. This left Mai with little more than a day to live before the torture kills her. (in the dub, he banished her soul to the Shadow Realm). After this, Joey is determined to Duel Yami Marik and save Mai no matter how high the cost.

He watched the Duel between Ishizu and Kaiba, believing that Ishizu had the Duel won easily, even though Kaiba had "Obelisk the Tormentor" out (which Yami Marik saw for the first time). As he began to leave, the Millennium Rod activated, and showed Kaiba a vision of Priest Seto's past, which convinced Kaiba to instead Summon "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" to win the Duel.



After the quarter-finals, Yami Marik attempted to kill Odion again, but he was opposed by Yami Bakura, who teamed up with the real Marik's soul. With their Millennium powers equal, the duo Dueled in a match not part of the tournament. Yami Bakura managed to gain possession of "The Winged Dragon of Ra" via "Exchange", but Marik used "Joyful Doom" to lower the ATK of the monsters Tributed to Summon it to 0 and add their power to his Life Points, thereby weakening the Dragon's ATK to 0. Yami Bakura Tributes it to Summon "The Dark Ruler" and also Summoned "Dark Necrofear" and "Headless Knight" but Marik used "Monster Reborn" to bring "Ra" back and introduced its Point-to-Point Transfer ability, sacrificing all but 1 of his Life Points to raise the the ATK of "Ra" to 8549, then attacked to win the Duel. Marik tormented Bakura telling him that he will be in the darkness soon but Bakura claimed to be the darkness itself and vowed revenge before disappearing. The real Marik sealed himself in Téa Gardner's body and Bakura avoided death for both himself and his host via the part of his soul he had sealed in the Millennium Puzzle. Yami Marik claimed the Millennium Ring as his trophy from defeating Yami Bakura after his disappearance into the darkness, deciding to enjoy taming the darkness, wearing the Ring around his neck for the remainder of the tournament, now possessing two Millennium Items. He returned to try and kill Odion again, but Ishizu had been warned by Marik and moved Odion.

Virtual World
In the Virtual World arc, Yami Marik decided to wait and see how the situation unfolded for most of the arc. He eventually got tired of waiting and took matters into his own hands, and decided that no one hurts Yugi before he does. He investigated Noah's base to find Yugi and his friends, but got frustrated with the high-tech contraptions that blocked his way.

Eventually, the alarm set off and the fortress guard robots came after him, but with his Millennium Rod, they are easily dealt with. He forced his way through the base and destroyed the main power generator, which in turn, released Kaiba's blimp. Then, he found the console that controlled the satellite, which Noah programmed to fire a missile to destroy the base. Marik recklessly destroyed it, so there was no way to stop the missile. Luckily, he and the others managed to get out in time.

Battle City finals
The airship soon arrived at KaibaCorp Island, where the Duel Tower that the finals and semi-finals would be held in was located. The match-ups for the semi-final would be decided by a four-way Battle Royale Duel. Yami Marik didn't really care who he'd face, but eventually decided to match himself up against Yugi. However, despite his disruptive tactics, both Kaiba and Joey were intending to make sure that Yami Marik Dueled Joey, and Yami Marik was the first to be eliminated, followed swiftly by Joey.

When he had Dueled Joey during the semi-finals, he transformed the match into a Shadow Game, connecting the Duelists to their monsters so that they'd feel the pain their monsters did. He controlled the Duel with the effect of his "Helpoemer" in the Graveyard, which stole cards from Joey's hand as Yami Marik's "Coffin Seller" Trap Card drained his Life Points. Joey turned this against him by using "Question" to Summon his "Jinzo", crippling Yami Marik's strategy after it destroyed his Traps. Yami Marik Summoned "Lava Golem" to Joey's field to eliminate "Jinzo" and he drained Joey of strength via the effects of his duplicated "Plasma Eels" Joey managed to gain the upper hand with "Gilford the Lightning" until Marik Summoned "Ra", revealing its third power of Egyptian God Phoenix. However, Joey was still standing after its blast and Summoned "Gearfried the Iron Knight", a monster with enough power to win him the Duel. He attempted to attack Marik directly but collapsed from the Shadow Game and was unable to continue to claim victory. Yami Marik was horrified that he'd almost lost the Duel, though he recovered enough to gloat. Kaiba in turn claimed he knew how to defeat "Ra."

After he'd recovered, he had gone to watch Yami Yugi's Duel with Kaiba. He noted what had happened, though he planned to kill both of them whatever the outcome. He was intrigued when both Duelists Summoned their Egyptian God cards, and shocked when the Millennium Rod activated again after the Gods destroyed one another, showing Kaiba and Yami Yugi the memories of Priest Seto. After the Duel, he furiously demanded that the Rod show him what it had shown Kaiba and Yugi, and when it didn't respond, he tossed it away in frustration. Unfortunately for him, the original Marik had taken control of Tea Gardner, and he held his dark half at Rod-point. Yami Marik pointed out that it was thanks to Odion that he'd re-emerged, distracting Marik long enough to disarm him. He began to subdue Marik, but was stopped by the arrival of Ishizu, and then Yami Yugi. Yami Marik decided to wait until it was time for his Duel to finish things and departed, laughing.

Yami Marik turned his Duel with Yami Yugi in the finals into a Shadow Game that gave him a clear edge; when Yami Yugi lost Life Points, Yugi Muto's body would fade away, and when Yami Marik lost Life Points, the original Marik would fade away. While Yami Marik would survive if Marik didn't, if Yami Yugi lost, both he and Yugi would be destroyed. Discarding "Ra" on his first turn, Yami Marik helped Yugi get "Slifer the Sky Dragon" out so he could destroy it himself with "Ra", which he succeeded in doing with Egyptian God Phoenix. He reclaimed his "Monster Reborn", giving Yami Yugi a last chance to draw. Yami Yugi didn't even look at the card before he Set it, but Yami Marik wasn't interested. He brought out "Ra" again, this time using its Point-to-Point Transfer effect to raise its ATK and prepared to attack. He also revealed that he had taken the Millennium Ring from Yami Bakura, revealing that he was behind Bakura's disappearance to the group at large. When Yami Marik attacked, Yami Yugi revealed the card Kaiba had given him - "Fiend's Sanctuary", which forced Yami Marik to attack himself. Yami Marik was forced to use the "De-Fusion" that Yami Yugi had given him through "Exchange", separating himself from "Ra" and boosting his Life Points.

Yugi then Summoned "Obelisk the Tormentor" and attacked Yami Marik directly, badly injuring him, but this gave Yami Marik the opportunity to create a clone of it called "Egyptian God Slime." He used the Slime to stall until he could revive "Ra" to destroy "Obelisk", but Yami Yugi prevented this by using "Slifer" as a shield. Yami Marik simply re-revived "Ra" and began to boost its ATK, only for Yami Yugi to sacrifice the "Egyptian God Slime" to activate the effect of "Obelisk", boosting it to infinite ATK. Yami Marik blocked the attack with "Class System", and prepared to finish Yami Yugi off, attacking "Obelisk." Yami Yugi responded with "Ragnarok", that would destroy "Ra." While they Dueled, Odion woke up and made Marik realize that he had to accept his responsibility for being a Tomb Keeper and the death of his father. With this confidence, Marik overpowered his evil self and urged Yami Yugi to attack him. Yami Yugi did so, destroying "Ra." The shock of the monster's destruction while Yami Marik was fused to it allowed Marik to retake control, putting Yami Marik in the position of the sacrifice. Yami Marik begged his other self to work with him, but his efforts were in vain. Marik forfeited, reducing his Life Points to zero and resulting in the ultimate destruction of Yami Marik.

Waking the Dragons
Yami Marik made another brief appearance in Mai's nightmares at the beginning of Waking the Dragons, a factor that had huge ramifications concerning her alliance with Doma. He also appeared as a spirit in the Valley of Lost Souls, when Yami Yugi journeyed there to find his other half.

Yu-Gi-Oh! GX
Yami Marik appears in two flashbacks in Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, when Syrus Truesdale mentions some of Yugi's exploits and tells Jaden Yuki about the Egyptian Gods and when Franz uses the counterfeit copy of "The Winged Dragon of Ra".

Deck
Yami Marik runs an Immortality-Torture Deck, which focuses on slowly torturing his opponents and him watching them squirm. In the theme of pain, Yami Marik's cards slowly drain his opponent's strength, such as discarding their hand with "Helpoemer", lowering ATK with "Dark Jeroid" and "Plasma Eel", and inflicting Burn damage with "Coffin Seller" and "Bowganian". Some of his cards, like "Nightmare Wheel" and the manga-exclusive "Viser Shock" and "Viser Des", are based on torture machines. Yami Marik's Deck otherwise relies on a variety of powerful Trap Cards and Fiend-Type monsters. With "The Winged Dragon of Ra" as his trump card, Yami Marik uses a variety of cards to discard it, then revive it with "Monster Reborn" to devastate his opponents. He further relies on retrieving "Monster Reborn" to his hand after using it initially to continue to revive "Ra" again and again, using cards such as "Left Arm Offering" and "Mining for Magical Stones". Yami Marik also uses some of the cards previously used by Rare Hunters such as "Revival Jam" and in the anime "Masked Beast Des Gardius".

Trivia

 * In the dub, Yami Marik's voice starts out distorted, but low-pitched; this is same voice he had the first time he appeared in Marik's childhood. However, by the time of quarterfinals, his voice had gained a higher pitch.
 * Yami Marik is the only antagonist faced by Yami Yugi to not actually be defeated by him, instead ending up being destroyed by the other Marik instead.
 * In the dub, Yami Marik commonly calls Joey Wheeler "Little Joey". In the original version, Jonouchi has called him "Marik-chan", "-chan" being an honorific used for little children (and sometimes being translated in a similar to the dub name Marik calls Joey).