Marik Ishtar

Marik Ishtar is the main antagonist of the Battle City story arc in Yu Gi Oh!. He is a former tombkeeper and the leader of the Rare Hunters. He owns the Millennium Rod, allowing him to take control of anyone, sometimes to the extent of speaking through them.

The Anime
When Marik Ishtar was born, it was decided by his father that he should be the next tombkeeper. However, unlike his adopted older brother Odion, he did not want to be a tombkeeper, and out of his hatred for the Pharaoh, his evil side, Yami Marik, was born. When Marik and his sister Ishizu snuck out (which was strictly forbidden to do!), and his father found out, he was about to banish Odion, when Yami Marik took over Marik's body, took the Millennium Rod, and banished Marik's father to the Shadow Realm (in the Japanese version he stabbed his father to death).

In the manga japanese version of Yu-Gi-Oh! the ghost of Shaddi told him that his fate and his father's death was the pharaoh's fault. Because of this, Marik set out to kill the pharaoh and gain his memory for himself to break free from his family's duty, which he regards as enslavement.

Battle City
Marik set out to take over the world, using his army of Rare Hunters to find the three Egyptian God Cards. He soon came to possess two of them, Slifer the Sky Dragon and the Winged Dragon of Ra. (He only wants to take over the world in the american adaptation. In the original japanese anime he wants revenge on the Pharaoh.)

He found Bandit Keith fighting for his life in the current after being ejected off the island by Pegasus, and turned him into his mind slave with his Millennium Rod. Speaking through Keith, Marik stoke Yugi's Millennium Puzzle and dueled him over it (as it had to be won from him), but the duel was interrupted with Yami Bakura severed his control over Keith.

Marik's Rare Hunters illegally entered Kaiba's tournament in Battle City so they could defeat Yugi and Kaiba (who possessed the third god card, Obelisk the Tormentor) to take the Millennium Puzzle and Obelisk. After one of the Rare Hunters, Seeker, lost a duel to Yugi, Marik took over his body and trapped his soul in the Shadow Realm. His next Rare Hunter was Arkana, who dueled Yugi, and whom he had convinced to join up with him by lying and saying that he'd bring his girlfriend (whom he drove away) back to him. Arkana lost to Yugi. Afterwards, Marik dueled Yugi through his mind slave Strings, who possessed Slifer the Sky Dragon, but against all odds Yugi defeated him and took Slifer. Marik then went to Battle City himself and teamed up with Yami Bakura, while posing as a good man named Namu to fool Yugi and the others.

Next, Marik sent two Rare Hunters, Lumis and Umbra, to defeat Yugi and Kaiba and their god cards, but Umbra was defeated and presumably sent to the Shadow Realm. Marik then possessed Lumis and trapped his soul in the Shadow Realm, telling him that Téa and Joey had been kidnapped.

Marik used his Millennium Rod to possess Joey to duel Yugi in a duel in which the loser would be drowned, but Joey fought Marik's control and drove him out, and in the end, both of them survived. Marik entered the Battle City finals, telling Odion to pretend that he is Marik. After Odion was knocked out by the Winged Dragon of Ra for playing a counterfeit Ra card, Yami Marik could no longer be contained. Seconds after revealing his true identity to Yugi, Marik was taken over by Yami Marik. From here, he remained trapped inside Yami Marik's mind, though he was able to speak through Téa, and appear alongside Yami Bakura as he dueled Yami Marik and lost.

Enter the Shadow Realm
Marik appeared beside Yami Marik as he dueled Yami Yugi, just as Yugi appeared alongside Yami, in a shadow duel that the loser's other half would vanish into the Shadow Realm or be destroyed. It seemed that the situation was hopeless, as even if Yami Marik was defeated, it would be the original Marik (who is now good) who would vanish, but when Yami destroyed the Winged Dragon of Ra in their duel, Marik and Yami Marik were switched around, so that Yami Marik was the victim and Marik regained control of his body. Realizing and accepting his destiny to help the Pharaoh fulfill his, Marik surrendered the duel to Yami, and Yami Marik was destroyed. He then gave Yami his Millennium Rod and Winged Dragon of Ra, making Yami possessor of all three Egyptian God Cards and one more of the seven millenium items.

Dawn of the Duel
After Zorc and Yami Bakura were destroyed, Marik appeared alongside Odion and Ishizu to witness the final duel between Yugi and Yami, in which Yami would have to lose in order to go through the door and rest with his guardians. Their duties as tombkeepers were finally completed when Yugi won, and Yami walked through the door.