Marik Ishtar

Marik Ishtar (マリク・イシュタール Mariku Ishutāru) in the original Japanese anime and manga, is a character in the Yu-Gi-Oh! manga and ''second series anime.

Marik
Marik Ishtar is a later antagonist of Yu-Gi-Oh! and one of the foremost adversaries of the series. His family has guarded the tomb of the pharaoh for generations. Marik holds the Millennium Rod and, with his Ghouls organization (called the Rare Hunters in the English anime), he wishes to obtain the three God Cards, and with them, unlock their power for himself so he can gain the title of "Pharaoh" and set his family free. He also has a hidden agenda - to get revenge on the ancient Pharaoh's soul for killing his father, as he was made to believe. In the English anime, he is considerably more fiendish. He wants the God Cards and the Millennium Puzzle to gain the power of the Pharaoh and rule the world. The character's sister is Ishizu Ishtar.

Dark Marik
Dark Marik (or Yami Marik as he is known in the English anime) is the psychotic alter ego of Marik Ishtar, that was created by Marik's hatred for being a tombkeeper and for his father who strictly enforced that he continue his family's lineage Dark Marik slowly grew by Marik's hatred,

Marik was forbidden to leave the Pharoah's tomb due to his father's fear that the freedom and marvels of the outside world would further divert Marik's attention away from his heritage. But Marik convinced Ishizu to let him take a forbidden trip outside, 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 his father back onto Rishid. In the Japanese anime he killed his father to stop him 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, and remains sealed away until Rishid is knocked out in his battle with Katsuya Jonouchi (Joey Wheeler in the English anime) during the Battle City semi-finals.

He then traps the soul of Mai Kujaku and has several brain insects slowly devour her body after he beats her in a shadow game (in the English version, he banished her soul to the Shadow Realm). After this, Jonouchi is determined to duel Marik and save Mai no matter how high the cost.

Dark Bakura (Yami Bakura) teams with Marik's soul to stop Dark Marik, but fails as well and loses the Millennium Ring. Jonouchi becomes severely injured to the point where he can no longer duel. As time goes on, Dark Marik becomes the dominant host of Marik's body, with the real Marik's soul slowly fading out of existence. Dark Yugi (Yami Yugi) is the only who could stop Marik. When Dark Yugi and Dark Marik duel, Rishid wakes up and he makes Marik realize he had to accept his responsibility for being a tombkeeper. With this confidence, Marik overpowers his evil self and forfeits, destroying Dark Marik. Marik gives Yugi the Millennium Rod and "Sun Dragon Ra" (a.k.a. "The Winged Dragon of Ra"). Marik then reveals the Tomb Keeper's initiation. The carving of the pharaoh's memory onto the back of a tomb guardian involves using either a hot dagger (as in the manga), a normal dagger (in the Japanese version of the second series anime), or a tattoo (in the English second series anime) on his back. Fulfilling his duty as tomb keeper, Marik returns to Egypt to start a new life.

Naming
Marik's name is also commonly read as Malik by fans. There is no conclusive evidence that the character's name was originally meant to be romanized as Malik; most fans believe that it was made fairly obvious that it was meant to be romanized that way given the meaning of the name "Malik", and given the fact that Malik is a fairly common Arabic name; additionally, "Malik" can be defined as "the controller," a well-fitting name given his excessive use of the Millenium Rod. Marik Ishtar is known as "Malik Ishtar" in Indonesia.

Likely Marik comes from the fact that often "l" and "r" alternate in names from Japanese to English.

Marik's name is derived from the Arabic word Malik ("king") and the Mesopotamian deity Ishtar.

Deck
Marik's deck theme is Immortality. While slowly torturing his opponents and watching them squirm, he plays and replays The Winged Dragon of Ra in the ways he finds most evoking of pain. To this end he relies primarily on reviving it via "Monster Reborn" and continually transfering the card to his hand via "Left Arm Offering" and "Zombie's Jewel", among other cards.

Besides this, his deck is largely composed of Fiend-type monsters, and his cards rely on draining an opponent of strength: "Helpoemer" discards cards, "Viser Des" lowers the ATK of an opponent's monster, etc. A great deal of his cards also rely on Effect damage. In particular to the theme of pain, "Biser Shock", "Viser Des", and "Nightmare Wheel" are all modeled after torture devices.