| NOTE: This article is mainly about Yami Marik who possessed the REAL Marik Ishtar, not the REAL Marik. |
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| “ | I'm the true Marik, and I'm not as kind as the one you've come to know. | „ |
| ~ Yami Marik's first and most famous quote. |
Dark Marik, also known as Yami Marik in the 4Kids version, is the secondary antagonist of the original Yu-Gi-Oh! series, serving as the main antagonist of the Battle City arc and serving the overarching antagonist of the Virtual World arc. He is the malevolent split personality of Marik Ishtar, and the one responsible for leading them down a path of villainy, before taking over their body for their own plans. He is the archenemy of Joey Wheeler.
He was voiced by Tetsuya Iwanaga in Japanese and Jonathan Todd Ross in English.
Personality
Dark Marik's personality is the manifestation from Marik Ishtar's own hatred and trauma. Cruel and malicious, Dark Marik lacks any form of empathy towards others. He's an extremely deceitful and treacherous sadist, to the point that it even extends to his dueling strategy, implementing torture-themed cards that his dark powers can manifest it into reality to make his opponents suffer for his own amusement. He is also a masochist, reveling in the pain he experiences himself during his duels. He considered his original self to be his "weak HALF".
Dark Marik places his self-preservation as a very high priority. He carries a strong hatred for Odion, whose presence was soothing for the original Marik and repressed his dark personality. Once free, Dark Marik made several attempts to kill Odion while he was unconscious so he couldn't be sealed away again (even threatening his sister Ishizu if she did not reveal his location). He was generally fearless, as he seemed to enjoy suffering consequences of his own shadow games if it gave his opponent the illusion of winning, only so he could enjoy ripping that hope away. There were rare instances in which his arrogance would drop, such as when Joey almost defeated him due to remaining conscious briefly after suffering an attack from the Winged Dragon of Ra; he was also shocked by Yugi's successful use of his two Egyptian God Cards, though recovered once he foiled their attacks. When threatened with true death following his final match with Dark Yugi, Dark Marik became desperate and pleaded for his life – displaying none of his usual confidence.
Dark Marik is also a trickster and one of the most twisted duelists in the series. He allowed Mai to take his Winged Dragon of Ra when she doesn't know of the ancient chant, though she alternatively could would have won had she not chose to summon it. He eventually tricked Dark Bakura when he summoned Winged Dragon of Ra in Dark Marik's advantage. In his duel against Atem, he created a shadow duel by his own rules either he and Yugi or his original self and himself will go to hell, which was rigged that even if he lost, it would only be his original self that would be consumed by shadows. In his verge of defeat, he tried to manipulate his original self to not surrender so that they would obtain both Atem's powers and the three Egyptian God cards.
In the Virtual World arc, Dark Marik was also shown to be quite headstrong and reckless, by destroying a computer that was the only means of stopping a missile launch that would kill him along with everyone else in the digital fortress.
Appearance
Dark Marik looks almost identical to his true self as expected since they share the same body. However, he also appears to be far more manic with his facial expressions and strains his muscles to the point of his veins appearing like they're popping out of his face, his hair stands up on end in multiple places and has an eye of Anubis symbol on his forehead.
When he first took over Marik, he wore his original outfit but quickly ditched the former's hoodie and instead sported his black tank top in alongside a long purple cape with gold chains at the front, he also swapped his jeans for a pair of khaki combat trousers.
Biography
First Appearance
| “ | Now then, father, time to send you... to the Shadow Realm! THE FUTURE IS MINE!!! | „ |
| ~ Marik as he exiles his own father to the Shadow Realm in the 4Kids dub. |
Dark Marik was awakened out of Marik's hatred and anger at the pharaoh for having to be his tomb keeper, along with Card Majin's spirit in the Millennium Rod. He took over Marik's body and imprisoned his father in the Shadow Realm, but was contained by Rishid. In the original Japanese, Dark Marik murdered his father. He almost did the same thing to Ishizu before he was stopped by Rishid.
Battle City
When Rishid was knocked out by the Winged Divine Dragon of Ra, Dark Marik was able to reawaken within Marik as he had no protection, and as such took over his body, and trapped him inside of his own mind. He then proceeded to duel in his true self's place in the tournament.
Dark Marik's duels were all twisted Hell Duels. In the quarterfinals, he dueled Mai Kujaku in Hell, in which whenever a duelist lost a monster (to an attack by their enemy), someone would be erased from their memories. Unlike Mai, Dark Marik did not mind that at all, as there was no one in his mind worth remembering. He lost the memory of Pantomimer and Pandora the Conjurer during the duel. Mai managed to steal and summon the Winged Divine Dragon of Ra, the most powerful of the three Egyptian God Cards. But she was unable to control it, so she was defeated and trapped in Hell.
In the manga, the duel was even more disturbing as each contestant felt the pain that was caused by their loss of monsters and direct attacks as if they were real, along with illusions of blood and decapitation, and Mai was trapped in her mind, where she would ultimately die if Dark Marik was not defeated within 24 hours.
Later that night, Yami Bakura dueled Dark Marik on the request of Marik's spirit who wanted to regain his body. The two evil spirits dueled in Hell, in which whenever a player lost life points, their body would vanish. Dark Marik won and Dark Bakura was trapped in Hell (though a shard of him resided in Yugi's Millennium Puzzle).
Enter the Shadow Realm
The tournament was interrupted when Noah Kaiba made the blimp land at a station where his virtual world was located in. After Noah set the virtual world to explode, Dark Marik destroyed the control center so it could not be stopped.
Battle City continued from here, and a four-way duel between Yugi, Seto Kaiba, Katsuya Jonouchi, and Dark Marik was held to decide who would face each other in the semifinals. Dark Marik and Jonouchi both lost (as Jonouchi intended), so they dueled in the first round of the semifinals. Dark Marik took their duel to Hell, in which players would lose life energy as their monsters were destroyed. (In the manga, the contestant once again felt the pain of their monsters, just like any time Dark Marik would launch a Hell game.) Jonouchi held his own against Marik and resisted the Winged Divine Dragon of Ra's attack which should have reduced him to dust. Just as he was about to win, Jonouchi collapsed from exhaustion, and Dark Marik won by default. However, Jonouchi's soul did not go to Hell (because he survived and only fell into a coma).
Dark Marik dueled Dark Yugi in the final round, in which both Marik and Yugi, their original selves, would disappear whenever they lost life points (either to be destroyed or trapped in Hell, following the manga or the anime).
Eventually, Dark Marik's Winged Divine Dragon of Ra was destroyed, and Marik and Dark Marik were switched around, which made Dark Marik the victim. No longer evil, Marik decided to forfeit the match, so that the pharaoh could fulfill his destiny. Dark Marik unsuccessfully tried to convince him not to, and as Marik surrendered the duel, Dark Marik was destroyed forever and Mai, Bakura, and Dark Bakura were released from Hell.
Waking the Dragons
An apparition of Dark Marik appeared as a lost soul alongside Bandit Keith, Pandora the Conjurer, the Rare Hunter, the Paradox Brothers, and Panik as Atem was trying to get to Yugi, whose soul was taken by the Orichalcos. It was unlikely that this was him (as opposed to some sort of illusion), however, as neither the Paradox Brothers nor Keith were in Hell or taken by the Orichalcos. He also appears in one of Mai's nightmares, where he is shown to trap her in an hourglass.
Deck
Yami Marik modifies Marik's regular deck, turning it into an "Immortality-Torture" deck, designed to slowly torture his opponent and drain them of their strength while he revels in their suffering. Some of his cards, such as "Nightmare Wheel", "Byser Shock" and "Viser Des", are based on torture machines. In keeping with the theme of draining his opponent's strength, Yami Marik uses "Helpoemer" to force them to discard their hand, lowers their monster's ATK with "Dark Jeroid" and "Plasma Eel", and inflicts effect damage with "Coffin Seller" and "Bowganian". His signature cards are "Lava Golem", which he summons to his opponent's side of the field by tributing their monsters and causes them to receive effect damage each turn, and his Egyptian God Card, "The Winged Dragon of Ra", which he summons to land the final blow. His preferred method of summoning "Ra" is to send it to the graveyard and then revive it onto the field via "Monster Reborn", bypassing the three tributes required to summon it. If "Ra" is destroyed, Yami Marik uses cards such as "Left Arm Offering" and "Magical Stone Excavation" to retrieve "Monster Reborn" from his graveyard and summon his God Card again.
Relationships
Family
- Marik Ishtar (original personality)
- Mr. Ishtar (father; deceased)
- Mme Ishtar (mother; deceased)
- Ishizu Ishtar (older sister)
- Odion Ishtar (adoptive older brother)
Allies
- Rare Hunters
- Bandit Keith
- Seeker
- Arkana
- Strings
- Lumis
- Umbra
Enemies
- Yugi Muto
- Yami Yugi
- Seto Kaiba
- Joey Wheeler (archenemy)
- Marik Ishtar
- Odion Ishtar
- Ishizu Ishtar
- Mokuba Kaiba
- Kaiba Corp
- Mai Valentine
- Tea Gardner
- Tristan Taylor
- Serenity Wheeler
- Duke Devlin
- Yami Bakura
- Battle City contestants
Quotes
- I'm finally free again.
- Which means...
- I can do things my way.
- I was restrained for may years by that fool Odion
- I'll take that key, if you don’t mind.
- Its to take care of something I should have done ages ago
- Odion you poor pathetic fool.
- Now, my old friend its time take a trip to the Shadow Realm
- After all, we can’t have you waking up and trying to contain me again now can we?
- Goodbye, Odion.
- And when you see Father give him a message for Me...
- Tell him I can’t thank him Enough for creating me
- Well how fortunate for you.
- But don’t you worry I Will be back.
- Odion it's time to do what i should have done Ages Ago.
- I Should have done this Long Ago.
| “ | Let's check the damage, and cause some more. | „ |
| ~ Dark Marik |
| “ | Is that fear in your eyes? I like to see this side of you. | „ |
| ~ Dark Marik taunting Ishizu. |
| “ | I don't need monsters to bring you to your knees. | „ |
| ~ Dark Marik to Jonouchi/Joey. |
| “ | The shadows hunger for your soul. | „ |
| ~ Dark Marik to Jonouchi/Joey. |
| “ | Great beast of the sky, please hear my cry! Transform thyself from orb of the light, and bring me victory in this fight! Envelop the desert with your glow, and cast your rage upon my foe! Unlock your powers from deep within, so that together we may win! Appear in this shadow game as I call your name! Winged Dragon of Ra! | „ |
| ~ Dark Marik when awakening The Winged Dragon of Ra. |
| “ | You and I will duel soon enough! | „ |
| ~ Dark Marik to Dark Yugi. |
| “ | There is nothing I like more than toying with someone's mind. | „ |
| ~ Dark Marik to Dark Yugi. |
| “ | You're merely postponing the inevitable. | „ |
| ~ Yami Marik ending his turn in Yu-Gi-Oh! Capsule Monster Coliseum. |
| “ | It's such a lovely day. Isn't it, Pharaoh? Too bad some of your friends can't enjoy it from all the way in the Shadow Realm. | „ |
| ~ Dark Marik |
| “ | Mercy is for the weak, like you my friend. | „ |
| ~ Dark Marik to Dark Bakura. |
| “ | You're supposed to save mankind, but based on your actions in this duel, I'd say you're destroying it. And I'm sure my other half would agree with me as he slowly slips away thanks to you — and to think that pour soul was once your loyal servant. It is nice to see he's getting repaid by his exalted king. | „ |
| ~ Dark Marik to Dark Yugi. |
| “ | Feeling lightheaded? Since I wipe out your memories, that is to be expected. | „ |
| ~ Dark Marik to Mai Valentine. |
| “ | This madness has just begun. | „ |
| ~ Dark Marik to Dark Yugi. |
| “ | Okay, but I can barely see you over there as soon you vanish completely. | „ |
| ~ Dark Marik to Dark Bakura. |
| “ | Why thank you. There's not one of my servants that I care to remember; I prefer to be alone. | „ |
| ~ Yami Marik displaying how his memory erasure shadow game causes him to suffer no detriment. |
| “ | This can't be... If he attacks my life points, I'll lose the duel *and* my Egyptian God Card. | „ |
| ~ A rare display of fear as he realised that Joey remained conscious after the Winged Dragon of Ra's Phoenix Mode. |
| “ | Ugh! Not Jinzo! | „ |
| ~ Marik when Joey summoned Jinzo. |
| “ | It appears my weak side doesn't know when to give up. Well, soon he'll be out of my way for good. | „ |
| ~ Yami Marik when the original Marik possessed Téa's body. |
| “ | Yes! Shuffle well, Pharaoh! And hope with all of your soul that Ra ends up on the bottom! | „ |
| ~ Yami Marik to Yami Yugi when shuffling their decks. |
| “ | You have seen several Shadow Games of mine before, but this one will be different. I have thrown in some special twists especially for you. | „ |
| ~ Dark Marik to Dark Yugi. |
| “ | I WILL NOT BE DESTROYED!! | „ |
| ~ Dark Marik as he gets hit by Obelisk the Tormentor. |
| “ | I've come too far to lose my grip now! I am the true Marik! And will not be overpowered by my weak side! | „ |
| ~ Yami Marik when Marik regains control of his body. |
| “ | You can't do this, Marik! Listen, we can still crush the Pharaoh together! Remember how you wasted away your childhood serving this fool! It's not too late to destroy him and take what you deserve! The infinite power of the Pharaoh could be yours! If we win this duel, you and I can claim the three Egyptian God Cards and the Millennium Puzzle! We'll rule the world together! Don't be a fool, Marik! We've come so far! Don't throw away everything they've worked for! We can still win! | „ |
| ~ Yami Marik cowardly begs Marik. |
| “ | If you do this to me, you'll be sorry! You'll need me! (Marik Ishtar: Begone! I surrender this duel to the pharaoh!" Marik Ishtar reduces his Life Points to zero against Dark Marik) Noooooo! | „ |
| ~ Dark Marik's last word before being dissolved by his own original personality, Marik Ishtar. |
Gallery
.jpg "Weekly Shonen Jump No. 36 (2002).jpg (468 KB)")
Trivia
- He is the only antagonist in the original series who isn't defeated directly by Yugi, being destroyed by the other Marik instead.
- He doesn't refer to Ishizu and Odion in a familial matter, despite the two of them technically being his sister and adopted brother, respectively. Although, referred to them as such in past tense when thinking to himself, or acknowledging the bond when talking to them, but only to cause them suffering over the possible loss of the old Marik.
- Even if Yami Marik was never seen alongside Rare Hunters, he is their leader. During his duel against Mai, when he talks about them he calls them "his minions", which implied he may have had a subconscious influence on the original Marik.
- Unlike Yami Yugi and Yami Bakura, he was spawned from Marik's pain & suffering he refused to acknowledge, rather than being an entity that was sealed within a Millennium Item.
- It is implied that Marik's evil actions were subconsciously influenced by Yami Marik, who surfaced because of Odion almost being killed by the Winged Dragon of Ra, thus was simply able to more actively continue the scheme for conquest (English dub)/to spread chaos (original Japanese).
- Yami Marik goals are different in both the English and Japanese versions:
- In the English anime, he wishes to acquire Yugi Muto's Millennium Puzzle and all three Egyptian God Cards in order to rule the world, although implied motivations behind the goal are to spite his original self and the Pharaoh, rather than real ambitions to rule.
- In the Japanese anime and original manga, he only wishes to spread pain and destruction, merely for his own amusement.
- His torture of Mai Valentine left her traumatized, which allowed Dartz to manipulate her into becoming one of his followers; after Joey sacrifices himself to the Seal of Orichalcos, the manipulation is broken. Nevertheless, Yami Marik indirectly caused the friend group to splinter, and if Joey remained trapped in the Leviathan, Dartz would have succeeded.
- He is the youngest main antagonist of the series, as he was born from Marik's pain and despair when he was a child, and was erased roughly a decade later.
- He was among the few to hold more than one Millennium item at once, as he held the Millennium Rod and then Millennium Ring after defeating Yami Bakura and his original self in a duel.
See Also
- Yami Marik on the Pure Evil Wiki
- Yami Marik on the Yu-Gi-Oh! Wiki
 Villains
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