Orichalcos
Orichalcos (オレイカルコス Oreikarukosu) refers to an ancient evil force in the Waking the Dragons story arc in the anime series Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (known internationally as simply Yu-Gi-Oh!).
Orichalcos is a magical power linked to the ancient city of Atlantis, which was destroyed thousands of years ago.
The Seal of Orichalcos
When the mysterious, mystical stone known as Orichalcos rained down upon the ancient kingdom of Atlantis 10,000 years ago, its power turned man into beast, and tainted the mind of the kingdom's ruler, Dartz. In the present day, Dartz seeks to revive the Orichalcos God, the Great Leviathan, through the power of human souls collected through the power of the Orichalcos, which he infuses into Duel Monster cards to create the card known as the "Seal of Orichalcos". It consists of an inner layer where there is a unicursal hexagram and an outer layer where the word "Oreichalcos" is inscribed in Enochian (The enochian character for E is in place between the R and I characters). This card unleashes the Darkness' power of the player who playing it. However, even though this card is extremely powerful, practically all of duellists who play it lose one way or the other. Its effects are as follows:
The Seal of Orichalcos
- Attribute (Main-Type): SPELL
- Type (Sub-Type): Field
- Card Text: Increase the ATK of all monsters on the controller of this card's side of the field by 500 points. The controller of this card can Summon additional monsters in their empty Spell and Trap Card Zones (These monsters cannot be attacked unless there are no monsters in the controller's Monster Card Zones). This card cannot be destroyed by the effects of Spell, Trap and Monster Cards, but is immediatly destroyed if the three "Legendary Knights" (Timaeus, Critias, and Hermos) are Summoned.
It also displayed effects, that not only affected gameplay:
- The controller's monsters become of Darkness but keep their own Attributes.
- Neither player can leave the Duel, and no other player can enter the field (unless the person wishing to break the seal possesses a fragment of the Orichalcos Stone, which can break this enchantment).
- The losing player's soul is extracted from his living body to be used as nourishment for the Great Leviathan. There are very few exceptions to this.
- Such as if both players life points reach zero at the same time (resulting in a tie), then the effect is cancelled.
- This card can be destroyed by the shards of the "Orichalcos Stone" (This would immediatly end the Duel).
- As a sort of mockery of the Millennium Symbol, or Eye of Anubis, the player playing the Seal of Orichalcos will bear the Symbol of Orichalcos on their forehead.
- No other Field Spell can be played.
Contrary to popular opinion, this card actually exists in the real world. It is one of the rarest cards (if not the rarest) with only fifteen in existence. All of them belong to members of UpperDeck's R&D team.
The Other Seals of Orichalcos
There are also two other seals of Orichalcos: Orichalcos Deuteros and Orichalcos Tritos.
Orichalcos Deuteros (Second Seal of Orichalcos)
- Attribute (Main-Type): SPELL
- Type (Sub-Type): Continuous
- Card Text: This card can only be played if "The Seal of Orichalcos" is on your side of the field. During each of your Standby Phases, increase your Life Points by 500 points for every monster on your side of the field. When your opponent inflicts Battle Damages to your Life Points, you can tribute one monster on your side of the field to reduce the damage zero and destroy the attacking monster.
Orichalcos Tritos (Third Seal of Orichalcos)
- Attribute (Main-Type): SPELL
- Type (Sub-Type): Continuous
- Card Text: This card can only be played if both "The Seal of Orichalcos" and "Orichalcos Deuteros" are on your side of the field. You may negate the effects of Spell, Trap and Monster Cards that designate your monsters as targets.
In the Doma Arc of Yu-Gi-Oh!, after the Pharaoh Atem (Atemu in the manga and Japanese versions) possessing the body of Yugi Moto (Yugi Mutou in the manga version and Japanese version), Joey Wheeler (Katsuya Jonouchi in the manga and Japanese anime), and Seto Kaiba defeat Rafael, Valon (Varon in the Japanese version), and Alister (Amelda in the Japanese version) respectively, the Pharaoh and Kaiba team together to face Dartz, who is the only duellist to play the Second and Third Seals.
Unless one possesses the three "Legendary Dragons" and "Legend of Heart", it is impossible to destroy the three Seals of Orichalcos.
The Origin of Orichalcos
Orichalcos is another word for Orichalcum, a miracle metal used in Atlantis. Orichalcos is referred to as a miracle substance during the anime, giving it obvious ties to Orichalcum. Orichalcos/Orichalcum in Greek means "copper mountain" which explains the volcano that it came from.
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