Ryo Bakura

"I am a thief and a stealer of souls, and I have done terrible things in my quest to possess the Millenium Items. You do remember the legends don't you?"

- Yami Bakura

Bakura Ryou is a friend of Yugi and a character of the Yu Gi Oh! franchise, who almost always appears when under the control of the evil remnant of the Dark God Zorc Necrophades. Because of this, his name is sometimes used to describe both the frindly high school student and the villain, as the two characters are often mixed. As Zorc's spirit (Yami Bakura, known as Dark Bakura in the Japanese and Manga versions) resides in the Millenium Ring, his possession could apply to both the ring and its unfortunate wearer.

=Universal Traits=

Bakura keeps several traits across the anime and manga. In both he is seen as pretty shy and quiet. He also seems very weak. But the millennium ring, a powerful egyptian artifact that posses the soul of an ancient grave robber often takes over him, and he is called Yami, or Dark Bakura in this state.

=The Anime=



In the anime, Bakura is very mysterious, and appears for a moment then seems to disappear. The millennium ring glows when Yami Bakura comes out. Bakura makes appearances throughout the anime, but rarely stays with Yugi's group. He is really a portion of Zorc's soul sealed inside the Millennium Ring to help him reawaken, not unlike a Horcrux in the Harry Potter universe.

Duelist Kingdom
Yami Bakura first appeared in Duelist Kingdom after Joey's victory over Rex Raptor. He took over Bakura's body to duel Yami Yugi in the Shadow Realm. Joey, Téa, Tristan, and the original Yugi and Bakura were turned into their favorite cards in the duel. At the duel's conclusion, Yami Bakura tried to use Change of Heart to turn Yugi (who was Dark Magician) against the others, but Bakura was the Change of Heart, and took over Yami Bakura's Lady of Faith. Yami used his Millennium Puzzle to switch Bakura and Yami Bakura around, and Yugi destroyed Yami Bakura with Dark Magic Attack (which is not unlike a Mind Crush in appearance), sending him to the graveyard where he was attacked by the Reaper of the Cards.

Despite his apparent death, he somehow managed to return when Pegasus was about to send Téa, Tristan, and Bakura to the Shadow Realm before the semifinals of Duelist Kingdom, and he erased everyone's memories of their encounter with Pegasus at that time. During Yugi's duel with Pegasus in the final round, Yami Bakura followed Tristan as he found Mokuba (whose soul had been imprisoned in a card by Pegasus), and was attacked by several of Pegasus's goons, but Yami Bakura set the Man Eater Bug on them and then sent them to the graveyard with a Morphing Jar where they were killed by the Reaper of the Cards. He then tried to possess Mokuba, but Tristan knocked him out and threw his Millennium Ring away. However, after Yami defeated Pegasus, Yami Bakura somehow returned to Bakura's body with the Millennium Ring. He faced Pegasus in a shadow game using their Millennium Items, but, as Pegasus was weakened from his duel with Yugi, Yami Bakura easily won, and took Pegasus's Millennium Eye.

Battle City
When Marik Ishtar was possessing Bandit Keith with his Millennium Rod, Yami Bakura knocked him out, but not before Marik/Keith smashed the Millennium Puzzle. Yami Bakura put a piece of his soul into one of the puzzle pieces.

In Battle City, Yami Bakura teamed up with Marik Ishtar to rule the world, and injured Bakura's arm while Marik pretended to be a good man named Namu, and Bakura was sent to the hospital. Yami Bakura took over and attacked Yugi's Grandpa and entered Battle City where he defeated Bandit Keith's ex-henchman Bonz in a duel in the Shadow Realm, and trapped Bonz, Sid, and Zygor in the Shadow Realm, taking their locator cards so he could enter the finals.

In the first round, Yami Bakura was up against Yugi, and revealed himself to the heroes for the first time since Tristan threw away the Millennium Ring. He appeared to have the advantage, though he did not take the duel to the Shadow Realm, and he used Destiny Board and a deck full of ghosts and ghouls. However, Yami Yugi was able to summon Slifer the Sky Dragon, his Egyptian God card, leaving Yami Bakura helpless, until Marik telepathically talked him into releasing Bakura from his control so Yugi would not attack him and risk hurting him. However, he soon feared that if Yugi did go through with the attack, both he and Bakura would be killed, so he took him over again and let Yugi win.

He was knocked out from this, and remained in the hospital until Marik, whose body had been taken over by Yami Marik, got Yami Bakura to duel Yami Marik so he could regain his body. They dueled in the Shadow Realm, and whenever one of them lost life points, their body began to vanish. Yami Marik won, and Yami Bakura and Bakura were trapped in the Shadow Realm. However, Yami Bakura escaped to Yugi's Millennium Puzzle (as part of his soul was inside it), and remained there until Yami defeated Yami Marik, who was destroyed.

Dawn of the Duel
Bakura and Yami Bakura did not appear in Season 4, Waking the Dragons. In Season 5's second half, Dawn of the Duel, Yami Bakura caught Weevil and Rex stealing Yugi's Egyptian God Cards and sent their souls to the Shadow Realm temporarily. He then did the same to Mokuba and dueled Seto Kaiba, but only as a means of destroying Kaiba's Blue Eyes White Dragon and absorbing his power. Once he did this, he canceled the duel.

Yami Bakura and Yami entered the memory world inside the Millennium Puzzle into an RPG, where Yami Bakura was his past self, Thief King Bakura. Everything happened as it was before, except it was slightly modified by Yami Bakura. After being defeated, Yami Bakura talked with Yami at a table in the Shadow Realm, until his master, Zorc, was awakened. He revealed that he and Zorc were one and the same, and he merged with Zorc while Yami merged with his past self, the Pharaoh.

During this time, Tristan was possessed by Yami Bakura, turning him into a clone of him, and he dueled Yugi, but was defeated, releasing Tristan from his control.

When the Pharaoh learned his true name, Atem, he fused the three Egyptian Gods - Obelisk the Tormentor, Slifer the Sky Dragon, and the Winged Dragon of Ra - together ingo the Creator of Light, whose rays of light alone were enough to destroy Zorc, also killing Yami Bakura, as he was merged with him at the time. Thus, Bakura was finally released from Yami Bakura's control.

=The Manga=



In the manga, Bakura is an exchange student. The girls all love him, and he just tries to be a normal person. He avoids games, knowing whenever he does the people who he played then with all die. But, when Yugi and friends ask the new student to play a game, he can;t help but accept their kindness. He introduces them to a RPG game, and they all creates their characters, though from the second they came in it was Yami Bakura in control. After they create their characters, Yami Bakura seals their soles inside pieces of them, forcing them to be in the game. They are able to survive, and free the good Bakura from the bad, and he is able to defeat Zorc, the boss that Yami Bakura created for the game. In the manga, instead of glowing, the prongs of the ring sink into Bakura's skin.