Yami Marik

Dark Marik (Yami Marik) is an entity 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, percipitated by a forbidden trip outside of the Pharaoh's tomb that he convinced Isis to let him take (forbidden 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), and when he was forced to take the initiation ritual to become a full Tombkeeper (a task his adopted brother Rishid (Odion in the English anime) failed to convince his father to take on himself), 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's back onto Rishid. Marik killed his father in the Japanese version of the Duel Monsters anime as well, though the reason was that the man was about to kill Rishid (In the English anime, it is explained that he sent his father to the Shadow Realm). Dark Marik is 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) on the Battle Ship during the Battle City semi-finals. Dark Marik has no specific goal or purpose. He simply enjoys killing, and especially wants to kill the Pharaoh since he is the embodiment of Marik's hatred of the Pharaoh. In the English anime, Dark Marik wants to gain the power of the Pharaoh and rule the world just like his counterpart.

Dark Marik unleashes himself when Rishid ends up in a coma. Dark Marik then traps the soul of Mai Kujaku (Mai Valentine in the English anime). In the English anime, Mai's mind is slowly erased in the Shadow Realm. After this, Jonouchi is determined to duel Marik and save Mai. 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 (Dark Yugi a.k.a. Yu-Gi-Oh a.k.a. Dark Yugi) 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 (see below right image). Fulfilling his duty as tomb keeper, Marik returns to Egypt to start a new life.

Although never said in the English dubbed anime, Dark Marik is an alter-ego of Marik. When he received the Tombkeeper's initiation and was tattooed, Marik created a second personality to deal with the pain and agony of the ritual. This can be used to explain Dark Marik's obsession with pain: he was a vent through which Marik's pain was shunted. Overall, Dark Marik and Marik are most likely suffering form dissociative identity disorder, more commonly known as suffering from multiple personalities. Because this is never mentioned in the English dub, some English dub fans believe that Dark Marik is an evil spirit like Dark Bakura and Dark Yugi. This theory is further strengthened by the fact that in the English anime Marik could be banished to the Shadow Realm while Dark Marik was safe. This theory is faulty because it is the mind that is banished to the Shadow Realm, and sufferers of DID can be said to have separate minds.