Marik Ishtar

Marik Ishtar (マリク・イシュタール Mariku Ishutāru) in the original Japanese anime and manga, is a character in the manga Yu-Gi-Oh! and the anime Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (known internationally as simply Yu-Gi-Oh!). His name is also commonly read as "Malik". Marik introduced at the 50th second series anime episode.

Marik Ishtar is a later antagonist of Yu-Gi-Oh!. His family has guarded the tomb of the pharaoh for generations. Marik holds the Millennium Rod and with his Ghouls organization (called the Rare Hunters in the English anime), he wishes to obtain the three God Cards, and with them, unlock the power of the pharaoh for himself. He also has a hidden agenda - to get revenge on the ancient Pharaoh's soul for killing his father, as he was made to believe. Sometimes, he wears a purple cloth, while sometimes he wears (a little bit messy) white shirt, and occasionally, black shirt. In the Japanese anime, when Marik is at his young childhood, he wears one of two shirts (depending on the time of day). The character's sister is Ishizu Ishtar.

Dark Marik (Yami Marik) is an entity was created by Marik's hatred for being a tombkeeper, and for his father who strictly enforced that he continue his family's lineage. Dark Marik slowly grew by Malik's hatred, percipitated by a forbidden trip outside of the Pharaoh's tomb that he convinced Ishizu to let him take (forbidden due to his father's fear that the freedom and marvels of the outside world would further divert Marik's attention away from his heritage), and when he was forced to take the initiation ritual to become a full Tombkeeper (a task his adopted brother Rashid (Odion in the English anime) failed to convince his father to take on himself), he unwillingly unleashed Dark Marik, who took the Millennium Rod for himself. In the manga, Marik specifically skinned his father with it and then threw his father's back onto Rishid. Marik killed his father in the Japanese version of the Duel Monsters anime as well, though the reason was that the man was about to kill Rishid (In the English anime, it is explained that he sent his father to the Shadow Realm). Dark Marik is sealed away in Marik's body by Rishid, and remains sealed away until Rishid is knocked out in his battle with Katsuya Jonouchi (Joey Wheeler in the English anime) on Kaiba Craft 3 - The Battle City Semi-Finals.

Dark Marik unleashes himself when Rishid ends up in a coma. Dark Marik then traps the soul of Mai Kujaku (Mai Valentine in the English anime). In the English anime, Mai's soul goes to the Shadow Realm. After this, Jonouchi is determined to duel Marik and save Mai. Dark Bakura (Yami Bakura) teams with Marik's soul to stop Dark Marik, but fails as well and loses the Millennium Ring. Jonouchi becomes severely injured to the point where he can no longer duel. As time well, Dark Marik becomes the dominant host of Marik's body, with the real Marik's soul slowly fading out of existence. Dark Yugi (Yami Yugi) is the only who could stop Marik. In the manga and the Japanese anime, the bodiless soul of the loser is destroyed. In the English anime, Yami Yugi is fighting in a duel where the bodiless soul of the loser is forever trapped in the Shadow Realm. When Rishid wakes up, he makes Marik realized he had to accept his responsibility for being a tombkeeper. With this confidence, Marik overpowers his evil self and forfeits, destroying Dark Marik. Marik gives Yugi the Millennium Rod and Sun Dragon Ra a.k.a. The Winged Dragon of Ra. Marik then reveals the Tomb Keeper's initiation. The carving of the pharaoh's (Dark Yugi a.k.a. Yu-Gi-Oh a.k.a. Dark Yugi) memory onto back of tomb guardian involves using either a hot dagger (as in the manga), a normal dagger (in the Japanese version of the second series anime), or a tattoo (in the English second series anime) on his back (see below left image). Fulfilling his duty as tomb keeper, Marik returns to to Egypt to start a new life.

Marik's name presumably derives from the Arabic word Malik ("king") and the Mesopotamian deity Ishtar.

Note

In Yu-Gi-Oh! Characters Guide Book: The Gospel of Truth, Marik's sign is indicated as "Sagittarius". When employing the sidereal zodiac, this is correct. But when employing the tropical zodiac, Marik's sign becomes Capricorn. Since the signs of all other Yu-Gi-Oh! characters in the book are either incorrect when using the sidereal zodiac or match with the birthdays in both tropical and sidereal zodiacs, the tropical zodiac sign is used here.

Reference

• Kazuki Takahashi (2002). Yu-Gi-Oh! Characters Guide Book - The Gospel of Truth (遊戯王キャラクターズガイドブック―真理の福音―). Shueisha. ISBN 4-08-873363-0