| “ | You see, I've found that, given the proper incentive, anyone can be made to play my game! | „ |
| ~ Pegasus J. Crawford, moments before stealing Sugoroku Muto's soul with his Millennium Eye. |
Pegasus J. Crawford (known as Maximillion J. Pegasus in the 4Kids version) is the main antagonist of the Duelist Kingdom arc of the Yu-Gi-Oh! anime series. He possesses the Millennium Eye, and can use it to read minds or trap people's souls inside cards. He is the American creator of Duel Monsters and the head of the Industrial Illusions company.
The Anime
Duelist Kingdom
Pegasus was in love with a woman named Cyndia (Cecilia in the 4Kids dub), but she was killed by an illness. He searched for a way to bring her back, and found Shadi in the area where the Millennium Items were kept, discovering that with Kaiba Corp's technology and with all seven Millennium Items he could bring her back to life. Shadi gave him the Millennium Eye, saying that if he is destined for it, he will get to keep it, but if he is not, he will be condemned to eternal nightmares beyond his imagination. He was the one destined to possess the Millennium Eye, which replaced his left eye. He created the Duel Monsters card game based off the ancient Shadow Games people used to play in Egypt.
Pegasus then set out to collect all seven Millennium Items and take over Kaiba Corp. He was initially a good friend of Seto Kaiba, but soon attempted to take over Kaiba Corp by force, conspiring with the Big Five and kidnapping Kaiba's younger brother Mokuba when he was gone. Before he did this, he hosted a tournament called Duelist Kingdom in order to win Yugi's Millennium Puzzle. He defeated Yugi in a duel and trapped his grandfather Sugoroku's soul inside a card in order to get him to enter. The finals took place in Pegasus' castle, where Pegasus held Mokuba prisoner, and when Kaiba found him, he trapped his soul inside a card. Kaiba dueled Pegasus but lost, as his opponent could read minds with his Millennium Eye, and Pegasus imprisoned his soul inside a card.
After Yugi won the finals of Duelist Kingdom, he dueled Pegasus, and eventually gained the advantage against him by switching around between Yugi and Yami Yugi so Pegasus could not read his mind. However, Pegasus regained the advantage by taking them into Hell, which weakened Yugi and nearly killed him, but the power of Jonouchi, Anzu and Honda's friendship was able to overpower Pegasus' mind-reading power, and Yami Yugi defeated Pegasus. He released the souls of Sugoroku and the Kaiba brothers. He was then attacked by Yami Bakura, who defeated him in a duel using their Millennium Items, as he was tired from his duel with Yugi, and he took Pegasus' Millennium Eye. Pegasus was last seen being taken away by his men, who told Yugi and the others that he was ill. He was also the one who was interested by Duke games, after Yugi beat him and he was ill, Duke get angry at Yugi blaming him for ruining his chance to sell his game, but after Yugi beat Duke his company accepted to have his game after see the match on TV.
Waking the Dragons
Pegasus never returned until Season 4, Waking the Dragons, where he made a card for Yugi that would help him defeat Dartz (by turning the legendary dragons into knights), but he was defeated by Mai Kujaku, who was under the influence of Dartz, and his soul was taken by the Orichalcos. He was released when the Orichalcos God was defeated, and later appeared in Season 5 during one scene before Yugi's duel with Yami. It is interesting to note that the left side of his face (which once had the Millennium Eye) always remains hidden by his hair.
Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's
A poster featured in episode 98 reveals that the World Racing Grand Prix was sponsored by several corporations featured in previous Yu-Gi-Oh! series, as well as implying that by this time, Pegasus had passed away.
List of Cards
- Parrot Dragon
- Toon Alligator
- Mermaid Archer
- Toon Mermaid
- Devil Box
- Copycat (refers it as "Doppelganger")
- Dragon Egger
- Toon Dragon Egger
- Jar Djinn
- Toon World
- Pot of Dragon-Tribe Sealing
- Thousand-Eyes Pagan God