Akhenaden

Akhenaden (Aknadin in the English anime) is a character in the anime and manga series Yu-Gi-Oh!. He is the father of High Priest Seto, past incarnation of Seto Kaiba, and brother to the former Pharaoh Akhenamkhanen (Aknamkanon in the English anime).

Akhenaden was the advisor and brother of Pharaoh Akhenamkhanen. While he loved his brother dearly, he was secretly resentful of his brother for being Pharaoh while he was relatively unimportant. When Egypt was under attack, Akhenaden pushed his brother to fight back and protect his people, but Akhenamkhanen refused on the grounds he wanted peace. Eventually the invading armies grew too close to the palace to be repelled, and Akhenaden suggested using a spell from the Millennium Spellbook (Millennium Tome in the manga) to create the Millennium Items. Faced with the undeniable fact his kingdom may be destroyed, Akhenamkhanen agreed.

Akhenaden abandoned his son Seto and his wife for fear his actions would later cause criminals to target them, as well as to shield them from prejudice. Akhenaden led a group of soldiers to the village of Kul Elna, where he ordered the thieves there killed, and their blood collected for the ritual to create the items (in the English anime, the souls of the thieves are collected, although it is indirectly implied they are still killed). The only survivor of this slaughter was Bakura. The slaughter was so horrific that Akhenaden never told his brother of it, and had all the soldiers he had taken brainwashed so as to forget the incident.

Akhenaden succeeded in crafting the Millennium Items, but a chasm opened in the chamber where the ritual has taken place. Zorc Necrophades rose from the chasm and ensnared Akhenaden, presumably to kill him. Akhenaden gouged out his eye and placed the Millennium Eye into the socket, using its magic to protect himself and repel Zorc (in the manga, he just simply puts on the Eye wishing his son, Seto, to be pharaoh). On the journey back to the palace, all the soldiers but Akhenaden fell, and only he survived. Upon the invading army's attack, Akhenaden, his brother and five other priests used the Millennium Items to hold them at bay and defeat them.

Akhenaden would later remain a member of the Sacred Court after his brother sacrificed himself and his son Atem took the throne. Akhenaden also witnessed his son Seto's rise to power as the High Priest and holder of the Millennium Rod. Akhenaden was amazed his son had made his way from peasant to priest despite him abandoning him, and spent all his spare time training Seto, although he never told him they were related. Both Seto and Atem were unaware that they were cousins, although if Atem knew Akhenaden was his uncle or not is not addressed.

When Bakura attacked the palace and accused Atem's father of slaughtering his village, the Sacred Court denied such claims, but Akhenaden was horrified to realize Bakura must have survived the destruction, and as a result of the rage and evil that surely had taken root in him, the power of his Ka Diabound would be nearly limitless. Akhenaden would later be attacked by Bakura who told Akhenaden that he had a dark side he would bring out. Exactly what he did to Akhenaden is not known, although it affected his mind, and he became convinced his son should be Pharaoh. In an act that would ultimately lead to Atem's defeat (but not death), he attacked the stone tablet that housed Slifer the Sky Dragon, weakening it for Bakura to defeat it and cast Atem into a chasm. (In the manga, this did not occur. Instead, Akhnaden was visited by the soul of his true self, the Dark Priest, who held Zorc's soul within him and thus used Zorc's name. The Dark Priest explains the truth of the Memory World to Akhnaden and from then on is able to control him throughout the rest of the game.)

Akhenaden then had several prisoners, including the young girl Kisara, taken to a secret underground arena where he made them battle each other using their Ka. When Seto found him, Akhenaden explained he (Seto) would be the next Pharaoh, and he was simply doing his duty to him by creating an army for him: by having the prisoners fight, their evil souls grew stronger and their ka more deadly. When Akhenaden ordered Kisara to battle, Seto stepped in to save her at the risk of his own life, refusing to let Akhenaden kill her or to extract her Ka, the White Dragon.

Akhenaden accompanied the attack on Kul Elna, where he and the priest Shada found the tablet for Bakura's Ka Diabound. When Shada attempts to tell the other priests, Akhenaden knocks him unconscious and takes his Millennium Key. During this time, Bakura had been defeated by Atem, Mahado (Mahad in the English anime) and Mana. Overseeing the events, Yami Bakura used a talisman to freeze time, while Akhenaden collected the remaining Millennium Items from the incapacitated priests and placed them in the Millennium Stone to call Zorc.

Zorc endowed Akhenaden with a part of his soul, which transformed him into the Dark Priest (Shadow Magus), and Akhenaden proceeded to tell Seto of his royal lineage, encouraging him to join him and rule the world with him and Zorc. Seto refused, and Akhenaden attacked, only to be repelled when Hassan stepped in to protect them. During this time Yami Bakura used the power of the Millennium Items to revive Thief King Bakura and Diabound, who distracted the priests while Akhenaden drew Seto into a portal to appear at the palace, where he had also teleported Kisara (Most parts never happened in the manga). Seto protected Kisara once again, and Kisara responded in kind by calling forth the White Dragon to battle Akhenaden.

Akhenaden sealed the White Dragon in stone before killing Kisara herself (Kisara's spirit is sealed with the White Dragon in the English dub). Seto responded by summoning the White Dragon himself to strike down Akhenaden before stabbing him and killing him (in the manga, Akhenadin commits suicide by falling of to a chasm). Akhenaden sent his spirit into Seto, and controlled him to attack Atem who had just arrived. Atem was overpowered, but the spirit of Kisara in the form of the White Dragon entered Seto's mind, where she destroyed Akhenaden for good. In the English Dub, Aknadin is sent to the Shadow Realm.

In both manga and anime, Akhenaden is last seen in the afterlife as Atem is walking through the door to it. His appearance has changed to how he looked like before creating the Millenium Items, symbolizing that his soul has been cleansed from Zorc at last.