| “ | I always promised to put others instead of my ambitions but now that must change. I must be ruthless, I must put nothing before my desire to rule this world. | „ |
| ~ Adrian Gecko upon finding Exodia |
| “ | Nothing's changing me. This is who I've always been. You see, I'm just finally unleashing who I really am. | „ |
| ~ Adrian Gecko to Aster Phoenix |
| “ | Everything I did was to create a world void of pain and suffering. A safe world where darkness can't exist. | „ |
| ~ Adrian Gecko to Yubel |
Amon Garam, named as Adrien Gecko in the dub, is the secondary antagonist of the third season of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX.
Adrian is the champion of Duel Academy's East Branch (East Academy) and the eldest son of the Gecko family. In the third season, Adrian is one of the four overseas champions invited to Duel Academy's primary branch. He initially investigates Thelonious Viper who is possession of the duel spirit Yubel. When Duel Academy is transported to an alternate dimension, Adrian aids Jaden Yuki and his friends while secretly spying on them for a Yubel-possessed Marcel Bonaparte. He later chooses to remain in the alternate dimension to obtain the power of Exodia the Forbidden One. To achieve this goal, Adrian sacrifices his childhood friend Echo and kills Aster Phoenix. He then challenges a Yubel-possessed Jesse Anderson to a duel, intent on ruling over the Duel Monsters spirit world unopposed. Despite being revealed to have a heart devoid of darkness, Adrian is defeated and subsequently dies when Yubel takes advantage of the darkness lingering in Echo's heart. Adrian is one of the few characters who does not return after Jaden defeated Yubel.
He is voiced by Nobuya Mine in the Japanese version and Darren Dunstan in the English Dubbed version.
Biography[]
Adrian Gecko was an orphan who was abandoned by his family as a child. He awaited his death in the desert by staring at clouds in the sky. One day, he is found and adopted by the head of the Gecko family, a conglomerate in the petroleum, heavy chemical, and information technology industries. Adrian is initially groomed to become the Gecko family's heir and is given a playmate named Echo. When his adopted parents give birth to a child named Shido, Adrian loses his heirship status and his parents' attention. He attempts to murder an infant Shido out of bitterness and jealousy but is stopped by Echo. From that moment on, Adrian dedicates his life to protecting his younger brother and the interests of his family. When Shido is afflicted with an illness several years later, Adrian begs a doctor for medicine and is overcome with emotion when the former recovers.
Adrian enrolls at East Academy and becomes its top student. He travels to Duel Academy during its third year alongside Jesse Anderson, Jim Crocodile Cook, Axel Brodie, and Professor Thelonious Viper. While presenting himself as a laidback party animal, Adrian's true intention is to investigate Viper and a card of interest to the Gecko family. He is suspicious of Viper's bio-bands and takes note of its ability to drain the energy of duelists after a survival duel. Adrian investigates Viper's headquarters but is unknowingly caught by the security cameras. He is then forced by Viper to engage in a survival duel under threat of expulsion. Upon realizing that Viper intends to raise the energy absorption rate to a lethal level, Adrian throws a party at the Obelisk Blue dorm where several survival duels occur at once. In doing so, he makes it so that Viper cannot kill him without also killing multiple other students. He then accepts a challenge from Chazz Princeton and recounts his difficult childhood before defeating the latter with his Cloudian deck. Despite the threat to his life being averted, Adrian still passes out from the bio-band absorption.
Following his duel with Chazz, Adrian manipulates Jaden Yuki and his friends into acting as decoys while he infiltrates Viper's headquarters. He reaches Viper first and threatens him to hand over a card in his possession. He then sets off the timed explosives he planted to prevent Jaden's group from interfering. Aware of the the risk posed by the bio-bands, Adrian attempts to take the card by force. He manages to outmaneuver Viper for a time before the spirit of Yubel inteferes by using their power to pin him to a wall. Adrian is forced to watch Viper's duel with Jaden as Yubel probes his heart for darkness. The duel spirit explains how his strong will and loyalty towards his family only serve to hide his true desire for power. After some time, Adrian is able to overpower Yubel's grasp and makes his way to the machine controlling the bio-band absorption. Despite having the opportunity to shut it down and respond to Echo's messages, Adrian is seduced by Yubel's words and chooses to do neither. As a result, Yubel is revived by the energy absorbed from Jaden and Viper's duel. Adrian then retrieves the duel spirit's arm and hides it in the library just as Duel Academy is transported to an alternate dimension.
Adrian reunites with the other students and saves Bastion Misawa from being attacked by a Harpie Lady spirit. That night, he returns to the library only to find that Yubel's arm is gone. Adrian later finds a Ra Yellow Student named Marcel Bonaparte whom Yubel has chosen as their new host. Despite being furious that he was not chosen as the host, he still agrees to work with Yubel in exchange for their power. To protect his identity and appease Yubel, he accompanies Jaden and the other overseas champions as they investigate the Gecko submarine in hopes of finding medical supplies for an ailing Blair Flannigan. When tasked with holding a safety rope to save Jaden and Axel from danger, Adrian secretly contemplates releasing it before being inadvertently stopped by Jim. After getting the supplies, the group then returns to Duel Academy only to find that the school has been taken over by Duel Ghouls. Adrian aids Jaden by defeating one ghoul but keeps his knowledge of Yubel's involvement to himself. He later follows the Yubel-possessed Marcel to the Spirit Gates and challenges them to a duel for the Sacred Beast cards. Marcel terminates the duel after the Sacred Beasts awaken. Adrian initially protests only to realize that Marcel was one card away from completing Exodia the Forbidden One. Marcel tells him that the only way to become his true self is to become the "devil" and that they could share the alternate dimension together. Sometime later, Adrian ends up on the Duel Academy building where he witnesses Jaden and Jesse's duel with Marcel along with the reveal of Yubel's true form. As the duel concludes, he stays behind in the alternate dimension while the school and other students are transported back to Earth.
Sometime later, Adrian obtains the five Exodia cards and meets with Yubel who is now in possession of Jesse's body. They then infuse his left arm with scales to signify their bond. Despite this, Adrian believes that the only way to achieve ultimate power is by obtaining the power of Exodia and using it to destroy Yubel. After the Supreme King's defeat, he finds the cave containing Exodia's spirit and learns that a sacrifice is necessary to release them. Adrian then transports Echo, who had traveled to the alternate dimension to look for him, as well as the remainder of Jaden's friends to his location. Upon seeing him, Jaden realizes he has allied with Yubel while Echo is disturbed by his current state. Adrian tries to take Echo away to be sacrificed, first through physical force and then by appealing to her loyalty towards him. Appalled by his abusive behavior, Aster Phoenix challenges him to a duel to which he accepts. Adrian is almost able to win by drawing Exodia but is stopped by Aster's "Force of Four" card, limiting both Duelist's hand limit to four cards. He then activates "Ritual of the Ultimate Forbidden Lord" to summon "Exodius the Ultimate Forbidden Lord". He also convinces Echo to give her life to Exodia and shows no remorse as she screams in agony. Adrian is ultimately able to win the duel using Exodius' alternate win condition. Consequently, Exodia is released, Yubel's scales are removed, and both Echo and Aster are killed. Adrian then taunts Jaden over his actions as the Supreme King and departs, promising to defeat Yubel in Echo's honor.
Adrian confronts Yubel when they return to their tower following a duel with Zane Truesdale. He demonstrates that he can match Yubel's power using that of Exodia's while also revealing that he had broken their previous bond. Noticing their lack of energy, Adrian challenges Yubel to a duel for the right to rule over the alternate dimension. Yubel accepts so they can restore their energy before they duel Jaden. Adrian's initial plan to draw into Exodia is thwarted by Yubel's "Hand Destruction" and although he is able summon "Exodius the Ultimate Forbidden Lord", it is banished by the effect of Yubel's ultimate Sacred Beast, Chaos Phantasm Armityle. He then initiates a backup strategy consisting of "Fog King", "Royal Sword", and "Fog Castle" to destroy Armityle. As the duel progresses, Yubel taunts Adrian by arguing that his sacrifice of Echo meant that he never truly loved her. Adrian is able to remain firm despite the taunts which causes Yubel to realize that he has no darkness in his heart. He claims this is because all of his actions were made to create a world devoid of suffering much to Yubel's disgust. When they destroy "Royal Sword", Adrian is able to activate "Crest Burn" to trigger the effect of "Fog Castle" to retrieve four of the Exodia parts. He also activates "Break the Seal" so he can add the fifth and final part to his hand on the following turn. The tide of the duel once again shifts when Yubel activates "Hand Destruction" to send the four Exodia parts back to the graveyard. Despite this setback, Adrian has one Exodia part in his hand due to "Break the Seal" and activates "Feather of the Phoenix" to add a second part to the top of his deck. On his next turn, he can win the duel by drawing the second card and using "Backup Soldier" to add the remaining three parts from the graveyard to his hand. Before this can happen, Yubel senses a hint of darkness within Adrian's deck which turns out to be the remnant of Echo's vengeful spirit. They are able to draw on this darkness to summon Torch Golem onto Adrian's field and tributes the Torch tokens to summon themselves. Adrian is then defeated when the Torch Golem summoned onto his field is forced to attack the Yubel card. As his life points drop to zero, Adrian expresses remorse and cries out for Echo before dying.
Adrian's death is shown to Jaden and his remaining friends prior to the latter's duel with Yubel. After Jaden and Yubel's souls are fused, all of the students who perished in the alternate dimension are revived and sent back to Earth with Adrian being one of the few exceptions. Jaden and Zane eventually return while Bastion chose to remain behind. Adrian's fate remains unknown as neither he nor Echo are mentioned for the rest of the series.
Personality[]
In the Japanese version, Adrian presents himself as an intellectual duelist who studies duel theorems and views the game through a philosophical lens. This is shown through his repeated use of "Cogito ergo sum" when commenting on the Bio-Bands. In the English version, Adrian is much more laidback and self-aware. In his duel with Chazz, he points out multiple cliches associated with the series itself. In both versions, these aforementioned character traits are largely a front to cover Adrian's true feelings and intentions. Due to his experiences as an orphan, Adrian felt like his life was meaningless and accepted his death until he was rescued by his adopted father. His gratitude towards his new family pushed Adrian to become an overachiever in academics and sports. When his position as family heir was taken from him by his Shido, Adrian's feeling of self-loathing re-emerged as he briefly contemplated murdering his brother in the Japanese version. He was stopped when Echo appealed to his humanity, showing that his morality was still intact at that point. Following this incident, Adrian dedicated his life to furthering the interests of his brother and the Gecko family. As Viper and Yubel would point out, his desire to perform dangerous tasks on his family's behalf is largely an attempt to compartmentalize his lack of self-worth. This "darkness of heart" is what later allows Yubel to take advantage of him.
In his attempts to thwart Viper's plans, Adrian manipulates several people and shows little remorse for the people he endangers through his manipulation. He allowed multiple students to engage in potentially lethal survival duels all to protect his own life. After using Jaden's group as decoys to enter Viper's headquarters undetected, Adrian set off dangerous explosives just to prevent them from interfering with his plans. He later tricked Jaden's group into thinking he was on their side when in reality, he had already sided with Yubel. By refusing to shut down the bio-bands and withholding his knowledge of Yubel, he endangered the lives of all the other students at Duel Academy.
Due to Yubel's influence, Adrian becomes more self-centered and less concerned about his family's interests as the show progresses. His first confrontation with the duel spirit results in him later ignoring Echo's calls to report. His subsequent pursuits of Yubel in the alternate dimension were largely motivated by a desire to acquire their power for himself. Having been denied power his entire life, Adrian is motivated by Yubel to achieve his fully potential by not letting his morality constrain him. By the time he is searching for Exodia's power, Adrian has dropped his friendly facade and is openly antagonistic towards Jaden's group. He is cold, ruthless, and willing to do whatever it takes to achieve his goals. He is entirely apathetic towards the suffering of others, even his loved ones like Echo. When combined with his lust for power, Adrian's actions remind Jaden of his own alternate persona of the Supreme King. Even after killing both Echo and Aster, Adrian shows no remorse and even demonstrates a level of smugness towards Jaden whom he taunts.
During his final duel with Yubel, it is shown that Adrian does feel guilty about killing Echo. His feelings of guilt become more pronounced through the duel as his attempts to complete Exodia are thwarted. It is later revealed that Adrian's heart does not have any darkness. Despite his lust for power and the heinous actions he took to attain it, Adrian claimed he wanted to use said power to create a world where nobody would suffer like he once did. His sincerity is left ambiguous as he could just as easily be using this explanation to post-talk justify his actions. Upon being defeated by Yubel and realizing his plans were all for naught, Adrian openly expresses remorse for what he did to Echo, showing that he did love her to some extent.
Deck[]
When initially introduced, Adrian plays a "Cloudian" deck consisting of the titular monsters, with his signature card being "Cloudian - Eye of the Typhoon". He takes advantage of his card's unique set of abilities, such as using Fog Counters to destroy his opponent's monsters or inflicting effect damage. Adrien strengthens to Summoning speed of his monsters by using "Summon Cloud" and "Big Summon Cloud" to instantly Summon his "Cloudians" so long as they are in his hand. As a last resort, he can activate "Wonder Cloud" to discard almost all of his cards from play in order to replenish his hand. "Eye of the Typhoon" is his most powerful monster, and is capable of switiching the battle position of all his opponent's monsters when he declares an attack with it.
Upon his reappearance following the Supreme King's defeat, Adrien has discarded his "Cloudians" in favor of an "Exodia" deck. As with similar decks, his initial strategy is to gather all five pieces of "Exodia the Forbidden One" to his hand, thus resulting in an automatic victory. In the event of this strategy failing, Adrien instead summons "Exodius the Ultimate Forbidden Lord" so that he can achieve the same result by sending all of his "Exodia" pieces to his Graveyard. If he also fails to win with "Exodius", he tries to use a combination of "Fog King", "Royal Sword" and "Fog Castle". As a last resort, Adrien uses the effects of "Fog Castle" and "Break the Seal" to quickly gather his "Exodia" pieces. He also uses several Spells and Traps such as "A Feather of the Phoenix" and "Backup Soldier" to recover the pieces from his Graveyard.
Gallery[]
.png "Adrian plays Fog Castle Field Spell (Ep. 150).png (405 KB)")
Trivia[]
- While Adrian's fate remains unknown after his defeat in episode 150, his last actual appearance is in episode 156, where he is shown as one of the missing students in Chancellor Shepherd's files.
- It is unknown how Adrian ended up at the top of the Duel Academy Building, after his first duel; with Yubel; which took place at the underground Spirit Gates.
- In the flashback shown in Episode 112, the orphaned Adrian is shown to be living in a desert. This conflicts with the flashback shown in Episode 150 where the orphaned Adrian is shown to be living in the streets of New York.
- Since the Gecko family runs a larger conglomerate, Adrian's name in the English version name may be a reference to Gordan Gekko from the 1987 film Wall Street.
- Adrian's name in the Japanese Version is derived from the Egyptian air deity Amun and references the two decks he uses.
- Amun being an air deity reflects the Cloudian deck that Adrian uses at the start of the series
- Amun being an Egyptian deity reflects the Exodia deck that Adrian uses by the end of the series
- In Episode 98 of Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's, Adrian's family is listed as one of the sponsors for the WRGP in the Japanese version, showing that they are still a powerful entity at that point in the timeline.
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