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Sartorius, known in Japan as Takuma Saio (斎王 琢磨 Saiō Takuma), serves as the main antagonist during the Society of Light arc in the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX anime, but becomes an ally to the protagonists after his defeat. He is a fortune-teller and, under the influence of The Light of Destruction, he was poised to remake the world in the image most befitting to the extraterrestrial entity.

Design[]

Appearance[]

Saiou Linework

Sartorius' design incorporates multiple layers of clothing and a wide range of expressions. Depicted here is the fortune-teller from front, side, and rear alongside views of his head from different angles.

Sartorius' character design was overseen by Kenichi Hara. His usual outfit consists of the standard Obelisk Blue uniform with a raised and buckled collar and matching cut-offs for his arms and legs. A Deck box is strapped to his right leg, presumably to house his regular tarot Deck. His blue hair is sectioned in two layers, the layer closest to his face a lighter shade of blue than the one behind it, which generally flows as a single unit. Directly above his nose is another section of hair, colored grayish white, and he also wears earrings and a pair of ornaments on either side of his forehead. He carries an Academia Disk on his left hand despite his initial preference of Dueling on a table, even claiming to have never used a Duel Disk before prior to Dueling Tyranno Hassleberry.

Interestingly, Sartorius donned his Obelisk blue uniform well before enrolling in Duel Academy.

His natural complexion is flesh-tone; however, with his evil personality in dominance, his skin takes on a more pallid quality. Furthermore, his eyes are more sinister and glazed over by light. When completely corrupted by The Light of Destruction, his hair becomes wild, his face inhumanely twisted, and his teeth elongated.

Voice and mannerisms[]

In the dub, Sartorius's voice is reminiscent of a young Hannibal Lecter. Because of his ability to see the future through his tarot cards, his attitude is calm as everything around is predicted from him. He is also very persuasive, able to find each person's character weak spots in order to do his bidding. His original series counterpart occasionally replaces certain Japanese words with anglicisms, the most common being his substitution of the words "shōkan" 「召喚」 and "hatsudō" 「発動」 with "play," an English equivalent to both "summon" and "activate," respectively.

Abilities[]

His primary power was seeing into the future with the aid of his tarot Deck, a divination technique he shares with his sister, Sarina. He is also a master manipulator who is able to say exactly what is needed to be said to get anyone he or his associates in the Society comes into contact with to do his bidding.

Sartorius wields, supernatural powers given to him by the Light of Destruction, including the ability to materialize Duel Monster effects, embed his power into Duel Monster cards, as well as other people, putting them under his control. He can also ward off weak spirits, cast illusions, and temporarily render others immobile. In addition to these skills, Sartorius' "other self" can use light to blast objects and perform telekinesis on them.

He loses all these abilities after the second season.

Biography[]

History[]

Sartorius is a mysterious figure introduced in the second year as Aster Phoenix's manager and the leader of the Society of Light. On the surface, the aim of Sartorius and his organization appears to be world domination starting with Duel Academy via expansion of their syndicate but the man's gravest concerns lie in putting his stalled Wheel of Fate back into motion through the powers of Jaden Yuki and his childhood friend, Aster, as a means of escaping the destructive future that destiny had set for him. Although this goal was always on his mind, he was pushed towards an ultimate motive of eradicating the "age of darkness" that had befallen the planet. It was his task to blanket the globe in light, destroy it, and kill all its inhabitants in order to restore balance to its imperfect state and create the world or on a greater scale, the universe, anew.

LightofRuin!Saiou

Sartorius being infected by the Light of Destruction.

As children, Sartorius and his sister Sarina were shunned and humiliated by others out of fear of their abilities to tell the future and ran away from home. The siblings shared a close relationship which extended into adolescence and Sartorius searched for hope of escaping his ruinous destiny in a young Aster.

Fearing the corrupt "Ultimate Destiny Card", the Pro League champion (The D) sought the kind and caring Sartorius for guidance but unintentionally imbued him with the will of a dangerous alien energy known as the Dark Light / Light of Destruction 「光の波動 / 破滅の光 Hikari no Hadō / Hametsu no Hikari」 known by the latter name Surge of Light or Light of Ruin 「破滅の光, Hametsu no Hikari」 in the Japanese version, which had taken up residence in the card. Like it had in The D, it provoked an onset of dissociative identity disorder, forcing Sartorius to contend with a dominant evil persona. The card would disappear from his possession shortly thereafter.

Yu-Gi-Oh! GX[]

Society of Light[]

Sartorius tells Aster to go after and Duel Jaden as he wants to see if he was the one who could defy destiny. Jaden wins the Duel mostly because Sartorius told Aster to lose the Duel on purpose.

Later before Aster duels Zane Truesdale, he chides Aster on his careless vigilante ways and advises him that he would not expect the man he seeks to be among the petty criminals in that area. As Sartorius begins to predict Aster's future, he draws The Chariot tarot card. But before Sartorius can tell Aster of its meaning, Aster reveals that Sartorius has predicted that he will have a perfect victory against Zane and that the Chariot has been the only card that appears when he tells him of his fortune. Aster continues that even in his last Duel with Jaden he would've won, but that Sartorius ordered him to lose and that he would rather continue being at the top of the Pro League instead of wasting his time at Duel Academy. Sartorius reassures Aster that there are not mistakes with the future he predicts, and Aster then agrees that he will defeat Jaden, after he defeats Zane. After Aster defeated Zane in their match, Sartorius tells Aster that he must Duel Jaden again and Aster agrees mostly because he believes that his Hero Deck was better than Jaden's. Sartorius secretly implanted a part of the Light of Destruction into Aster's Deck to ensure that the Light of Destruction will place Jaden under its control upon his defeat. Although Jaden loses, he is blinded of his own cards due to his power to defy destiny which left Sartorius puzzled. He decided to get a servant who can see Duel Monster Spirits like Jaden. Later he arrives at Duel Academy meeting Vellian Crowler and Jean-Louis Bonaparte. The two wanted to show him around, but Sartorius told them he has business to take care of alone.

In his debut Duel, Sartorius set his sights on Chazz Princeton in the woods near Duel Academy, frightening his opponent by displaying his ability to see straight through his own cards and claiming that he already knew the outcome of their battle from the start. Though Chazz has a shot of winning using his "Armed Dragon LV10", Sartorius plays mind games with him telling Chazz that if he joins him, he can use his power to defeat Jaden. He summoned "Arcana Force XII - The Hangman", a card most dreaded by Chazz for it represented himself, without so much as a flick of his wrist. Chazz's stagnant fate was brought to a close when he concluded that he still wanted to defeat Jaden, thereby admitting him to the Society of Light. Following his win over Chazz, Sartorius leaves Duel Academy feeling glad he got Chazz on his side. However, he still wishes for Jaden to "see the light". Sartorius looks at his cards and wonders if his powers will be any match for Jaden's willpower. He sees one of his cards fall and observes that it is diagonal. He then predicts that Jaden wouldn't be able to escape from his destiny.

After sensing something, Sartorius tells Aster that he senses that there is someone who can defy destiny and that the answer can be found at Duel Academy. Aster was surprised at going back to Duel Academy, but decides to do so (In the dub, Sartorius tells Aster that he senses a threat and Aster believes that the threat is against him). Aster would Duel Jaden (who has acquired the power of the Neo-Spacians) once again as part of a set match made by Bonaparte. Although Sartorius predicted that Jaden would lose the Duel, he surprisingly defeated Aster.

While Chazz went around and defeated Obelisk Blue students such as Taiyou Torimaki, Raizou Mototani, Alexis Rhodes and Bob Banter to make them Society of Light members, Sartorius wondered how Jaden won and he later found out through his cards that Jaden was the one he should go after to further his plans, not Aster (In the dub, it was also because Aster was of no use to him). Sartorius would then instruct the Society of Light members to Duel and defeat Jaden to turn him over to their side, but Jaden defeats each and every one that is sent such as Lorenzo and Howard X Miller. When Lorenzo loses to Jaden, Sartorius punishes Lorenzo for his failure, taking complete control of him and his future and leaving Lorenzo's hair stark white, which Chazz describes as being "reborn". After Jaden beat Howard, Sartorius learned that Jaden overcame the fate of the God of death and wants him more than ever to see the light.

Subsequently, Sartorius learned that Tyranno Hassleberry shared a connection with Jaden and Aster in terms of their power to influence his fate. He challenged Tyranno to a Duel that he assured would not force him to become one of his Society's members. Although Tyranno was overwhelmed by "Arcana Force VIII - The Strength", which turned his own power against him and cause him to lose, Sartorius was unable to make him join the Society as he had secretly intended much to the relief of Jaden and Syrus Truesdale. Aster however knew that Sartorius had other plans.

At the end of episode 73, it was announced that Sartorius would be placed in Obelisk Blue as a first-year (third-year in the Japanese version) transfer student, making him one step closer to taking over Duel Academy. Before the school goes on their field trip he has Princess Rose duel Jaden to make him join the Society. Rose loses and Jaden announces that the field trip will be to Domino City, the site of the Battle City tournament which Sartorius finds to be perfect. When the school arrives to Domino city, he orders Chazz to find Sarina. He later meets Seto Kaiba and asks him to use Kaiba Land. Kaiba allows it, but asks his bodyguards to keep an eye on him. By episode 79 after Sarina loses to Jaden and Aster, Sarina reveals the troubled past that she and her brother share. When the two were younger they were shunned and humiliated by others out of fear of their abilities to tell the future, but this fact only strengthened their bond. Sarina emphasized that her brother had once been a kind and caring person and that it was because of a Hero card shown to him by a guest Duelist that he began acting with evil intentions. Aster believes that it was most likely the Destiny Hero stolen at the time of his father's murder (kidnapping in the dub), and his suspicions are later confirmed as the "Ultimate D-Card" surfaces as a carrier of the energy that infected both Sartorius and The D. Sarina continues, saying that the card is no longer in her brother's possession as it had disappeared shortly thereafter. Upon hearing of his sister's failure to deal with Jaden and Aster, Sartorius displays the first signs of dissociative identity disorder; within him, the true Sartorius contends with the dominant evil personality brought on by the will of the Light of Destruction. After Chazz defeats, America Uchimura, an unnamed student and Ishiki Erishi from Ra Yellow, Bastion Misawa heads to the white dorm to get Sartorius to duel him. However, he has Bastion duel Chazz instead due to the fact that his deck needed to be worked on. During the duel Bastion has the advantage, but he takes advantage of Bastion's self-doubt and desire to be accepted, convincing him to intentionally lose to Chazz and finally join the organization. He and the rest of the Society are present when Chancellor Sheppard returns and announces the start of the Genex Tournament. Sartorius selects Prince Ojin as his first opponent in the Genex Tournament, wishing to obtain the destructive satellite technology of the prince's country. He predicted that the Duel would end before his first turn came while his opponent believed that he would be the one to claim victory in one turn. Playing only three cards during his opponent's first turn, Sartorius reduced Ojin's Life Points to zero. He earned the title of the first Duelist in the history of the anime to have ever performed, as Bastion called it, a "Zero Turn Kill", i.e. winning the Duel without even starting his turn. With Ojin's defeat, the wealthy Duelist obediently relinquished the briefcase containing the control switch for his laser satellite and the two keys for its activation. In the dub, Sartorius planned to control the minds of the Earth's inhabitants, making them forget about things like corruption, greed and violence, while in the Japanese version he planned to destroy the Earth instead, killing all its inhabitants to restore balance to its imperfect state.

In order to prevent his evil side from instigating world destruction, Sartorius approaches Jaden and Aster and gives them the keys. He uses his mind control powers on Jaden to make sure that he never returns the key. Shortly after this the evil Sartorius uses his mind control abilities on Alexis and brainwashes her, making her cold and heartless. Sartorius orders her to Duel Jaden and defeat him so that she will be able to return the key to Sartorius, only to be defeated. Furious over the fact that his plans have been delayed, his evil personality sends Dr. Eisenstein and Ojin to contend with Jaden but is unable to recover his key.

Saiou GX

Sartorius possessed by The Light of Destruction.

He is eventually sought out by Aster in episode 100, who breaks into the Obelisk Blue dorm to find him in the Society of Light's private Duel field. It is revealed that Aster made a promise to his friend when they were young to save him from his destiny of becoming a destroyer and that The D was indeed the visitor that imbued him with the Light of Destruction, but merely by accident, as he came before the fortune teller due to his fear of the corrupt Ultimate D-Card. As Aster is about to give Sartorius his key to the satellite, Jaden intervenes and tells him its true purpose, prompting Aster to wager it in a Duel instead. Recognizing the present Sartorius as an impostor posing as his lost companion, he struggles against the Arcana Force monsters who deny him control over his fate by stopping their own rotations in their master's favor. Although Aster makes a comeback with timely help from Good Sartorius , The Light of Destruction unleashes "Arcana Force EX - The Light Ruler" to end the Duel.

Afterward, The Light of Destruction and Jaden face one another to determine the fate of the world. Similar to the preceding match with Aster, the diviner's cards continue to stop their own rotations. Having obtained both keys to the satellite due to a blunder on Jaden's part, Evil Sartorius uses his mind powers and sends Ojin to arm the laser satellite while he keeps Jaden distracted. With the combined efforts of Elemental Hero Neos, Hassleberry, and the returning Sarina, the weapon is dispatched and Jaden defeats Evil Sartorius, sealing away the Light of Destruction. Finally free from his fate of ruin and the burden of seeing into the future, Sartorius thanks both Jaden and Aster for their kindness and is reunited with his sister. The two are then transported to KaibaCorp hospital to recuperate.

Darkness[]

Saiou season4

Sartorius' rematch against Jaden.

Sartorius returns to Duel Academy with Kagemaru to tell Jaden that they have sensed a crisis that might happen somewhere down the road. They also convince Jaden (who is planning to leave Duel Academy) that he should not leave the island because they sense the interdimensional energy that builds up and is released in the area around Duel Academy being the cause of all the odd incidents.

The meeting is cut short when Trueman appears, threatening the three. Sartorius and Kagemaru escape by helicopter while Jaden Duels Trueman. Later on, he is blackmailed by Trueman into challenging Jaden to a rematch in order to rescue his sister from the world of Darkness. Sartorius rescues Jaden from multiple clones of Jaden and Axel Brodie in Domino City where he sets the place where his Duel against Jaden will occur. In the middle of the Duel, his eyes begin to water and he tells Jaden that he lost his sister to the World of Darkness, saying that he is no longer at peace and that he had lost his ability to see the future. Originally, he didn't believe Jaden should have the responsibility of saving his sister because of everything he did in the past. Sarina would later tell Jaden that he must defeat Sartorius, so she can reach out to him. Near the end of the Duel, Sartorius releases "Arcana Force EX - The Dark Ruler" but Jaden was able to win by destroying "Arcana Force 0 - The Fool". After Jaden defeats Sartorius a second time, Sartorius, who is rejoined with Sarina, leaves Jaden the burden of saving his sister and the people already trapped in the world of Darkness before joining with them. He and Sarina are revived when Jaden defeats Nightshroud. After that, he was present at Jaden's graduation ceremony alongside Sarina and Kagemaru.

Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links[]

Sartorius appears in the game, now once more possessed by the Light of Destruction and intending to explore the new world in order to seek new ways to control people.

Tarot Readings[]

Sartorius often reads Tarot cards, which dictate the course of his actions, using certain cards to represent other individuals.

Deck[]

Sartorius uses an "Arcana Force" Deck, based off the Major Arcana, with Spells and Traps based on the Minor Arcana to complement his monsters. His cards have the unique ability to appear in either upright (normal) or reversed (upside-down) positions, which dictates their effects. When activated, Sartorius' cards rotate and it is up to the opponent to decide when to end the rotation, in turn deciding his/her own fate. (In the TCG/OCG, this "position" is represented by a coin toss.) The design of cards in the "Arcana Force" series has links to the Cthulhu Mythos. In the Japanese version the names of the "Arcana Force" monsters are separated by underscores instead of hyphens.

Sartorius later utilizes a new Lockdown/Mill strategy which reflects his changed philosophy on destiny revolving around the combination of "Arcana Force 0 - The Fool", "Tour of Doom", and "Sowing of the Fool". By slipping "The Fool" into Jaden's Deck, it enables Sartorius to choose which effects of any other "Arcana Force" monsters activate without relying on chance. Through this he can safely use the effect of "Tour of Doom", which has an equal chance of preventing either player from Summoning a monster during their turn, to shut out his opponent's ability to Summon monsters entirely. In addition, "Sowing of the Fool" gives Sartorius the ability to discard cards from his opponent's Deck. The use of "The Fool" in his rematch with Jaden is significant because during the Society of Light arc, Jaden's actions in Sartorius' predictions are determined by the Major Arcana card called "The Fool".


Duels[]

Opponent(s) Episode(s) Outcome
Unknown Duelists 73 (mentioned) (dub only) Win (offscreen)
Chazz Princeton 61 Win
Tyranno Hassleberry 73 Win
Prince Ojin 84 Win
Aster Phoenix 100-101 Win (possessed by The Light of Destruction)
Jaden Yuki 102-104 Lose (possessed by The Light of Destruction)
Jaden Yuki 170-171 Lose

Notes[]

  1. This card is discarded via its own effect in episodes 84 and 101.
  2. This card is discarded via its own effect in episode 84.
  3. This card can be seen on the bottom of his Deck when Chazz hands it back to him after shuffling it in episode 61.

Trivia[]

  • Sartorius can play the piano adequately.
  • Sartorius is likely named for David Sartorius, a 4Kids staff member involved with their first Yu-Gi-Oh! series adaptation.
  • His surname is not given in the anime. However, some video games give him the surname Kumar.
  • Sartorius coincidentally shares some similarities with Dio Brando (AKA DIO) from the other Shounen Jump series, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure:
    • They are both voiced by Takehito Koyasu; Dio's case however, would not be until around 2012.
    • The Arcana Force cards, which Sartorius uses, are similar to the Stands that have debuted in Part 3: Stardust Crusaders, especially DIO's Stand, The World.
  • Sartorius is the only real duelist that managed to perform a zero-turn kill.
  • Although Sartorius was the leader of the Society of Light he only brought Chazz and Ojin into the cult. Chazz was responsible for bringing all the other members into the cult.
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