| “ | I'm the true Marik, and I'm not as kind as the one you've come to know. | „ |
| ~ Yami Marik |
Dark Marik, also known as Yami Marik in the 4Kids version, is the main antagonist midway through the first part of the Battle City arc, and later the main antagonist of the second part of the Battle City arc of the Yu-Gi-Oh! anime series, as well as the video game, Yu-Gi-Oh! The Sacred Cards. He is the malevolent split personality of Marik Ishtar.
Personality
Dark Marik's personality is the manifestation of Marik Ishtar's hatred. Cruel and insane, Dark Marik lacks any form of empathy towards others. He is sadistic, to the point that it even extends to his dueling strategy, implementing torture-themed cards that his shadow powers can manifest it into reality, in order to make his opponents suffer.
He displayed traits of masochism as well, as seen in the duel against Katsuya Jonouchi. In the duel, Marik's powers made it so every time a monsters is destroyed, the pain would transfer to their owner. When his Gil Garth was destroyed, he laughed and psychotically stated that he enjoyed the feeling.
Dark Marik places his self-preservation as a very high priority. He carries a strong hatred for Rishid, whose presence was soothing for the original Marik and repressed his dark personality. Once free, Dark Marik made several attempts to kill Rishid while he was unconscious so he couldn't be sealed away again (even threatening his sister Ishizu if she didn't reveal his location). When threatened with death following his final match with Dark Yugi, Dark Marik became desperate and pled for his life– displaying none of his usual confidence.
In the Virtual World arc, Dark Marik was also shown to be reckless, by destroying the a computer that was the only means of stopping a missile launch that would kill him along with everyone else in the digital fortress.
History
First Appearance
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. Dark Marik did murder his father (although this was changed so that he sent his father to the Shadow Realm in the 4Kids version). He almost did the same thing to Ishizu, but 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, possessed his body, and trapped him inside his mind. He proceeded to duel as Marik Ishtar 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 own mind, where she would ultimately die if Dark Marik was not defeated within 24 hours.
Later that night, Dark Bakura dueled Dark Marik on the request of Marik's spirit who wanted to 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 Noa Kaiba made the blimp land at a station where his virtual world was located in. After Noa 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 to 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 the energy that he lost, 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 tried to convince him not to, but was unsuccessful, and as Marik lost the duel, Dark Marik was destroyed 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 Rare Hunter, the Meikyu Brothers and the Player Killer of Darkness as Atem was trying to get to Yugi, whose soul was taken by the Orichalcos. It was unlikely that this was really him (as opposed to some sort of illusion), however, as neither the Meikyu Brothers or Keith were in Hell or taken by the Orichalcos.
Quotes
- "Let's check the damage and cause some more"
- "I'm not as kind as the Marik you've come to know..."
- "Is that fear in you're eyes, I like to see this side of you"
- "I don't need monsters to bring you to your knees." Dark Marik to Jonouchi
- "The shadows hunger for your soul." Dark Marik to Jonouchi
- "There is nothing I like more than toying with someone's mind" Dark Marik to Dark Yugi
- "It's such a lovely day. Isn't it Pharaoh? To bad some of you're friends can't enjoy it from all the way in the shadow realm"
- "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 light heading since I wipe out you're memories that is to be expected"
- "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
- "You have seen several Shadow Games of me before but this one will be different. I have thrown in some special twists especially for you" Dark Marik to Dark Yugi
Gallery
Trivia
- Because of his actions and clear lack of empathy towards anyone (including his good side), Yami Marik is often considered the most evil character in the Yu-Gi-Oh franchise.
- He is the only antagonist who wasn't actually defeated by Yami Yugi, but was destroyed by the other Marik instead.
- He does not refer to Ishizu and Odion in a familial matter (the two of them technically being his sister and adopted brother).
- He constantly refers to himself as the "true" Marik.
- Unlike Yami Yugi and Yami Bakura, he was spawned from Marik's pain, rather than being an entity that was sealed within a Millennium Item.
- Yami Marik goals are different in both the English and Japanese versions:
- English anime - He wishes to acquire Yugi Muto's Millennium Puzzle and all three Egyptian God Cards, in order to rule the world.
- Japanese anime and manga - He only wishes to spread pain and destruction, merely for his own pleasure.
- Yami Marik is similar to Ramsay Bolton from Game of Thrones, as they are sadistic psychopaths who enjoy torturing people, and are Complete Monsters. They also killed their fathers.