Yami Marik (DF)

All that Yami Marik ever wanted was to take his torturous and murderous impulses out on those around him. Is that really so bad? He never thought so. Compete against strong opponents? Nope. Win titles and awards? Not his cup-a-tea. Rule the world or otherwise increase his power? Sure, if it meant more lives to ruin. Yami Marik only wanted to take the turmoil that created him within the mind of the original Marik out on those around him. After all, that's why he was created by Marik's subconscious. He was the ultimate defense mechanism. Then he developed a mind of his own and he became so much more than that. He became a being more dangerous than anything the world had ever seen. A being that would litterally destroy his other self, body and soul, if it meant one more moment of inflicting pain on others.

Then the Nameless Pharaoh defeated him and banished him to the Shadows, and Yami Marik's priorities changed. With no body and his only link to our dimension existing in the form of a supernatural connection to the region in which he first emerged, Egypt, to keep him going, he became desperate to return himself to his former glory and exact revenge on those who had instigated his greatest, and only, defeat. These are his goals during his time as the first main antagonist in Legendhiro's Yu-Gi-Oh! DF.

Personality/Mannerisms
Marik will only keep you around as long as he can use you. He is self-serving and proud, while still enjoying his own pain, and he will kill anyone if it even remotely serves his purposes to do so. Sometimes even if it doesn't. He is a sociopathic, psychopathic, sadomasochistic murderer, and he's not afraid to show it.

Story
Yami Marik, often called Yami because, as Karen explains, he is never seen without darkness shrouding his face (yami being the Japanese word for darkness), is the original founder of the Duelists of the Order of the Divine Cards. He sends three of his minions (Karen, Monty and Lawrence) after the original members of the Duel Force in the first story arch, Gather the Duel Force, in an attempt to secure the Twelve Duelist's Souls for himself, for reasons unknown. His trio fails in their mission, and Yami almost immediately switches tactics, allowing one of his oldest and most powerful followers, Max, to chase after the Duel Force himself (Book Two, Reign of the Reaper). In the mean time, Karen, Monty and Lawrence return, in an attempt to regain their master's favor. When they are defeated yet again, Yami appears to claim their souls, which he will use to fuel his own power. The three are saved by John who even goes so far to duel Yami alongside Karen, risking his life, and it is revealed that Yami had been controlling the actions of the three for some time. Karen, Monty and Lawrence soon gain possesion of three Duelist's Souls, maening that those Souls were meant for them the entire time. When John finally defeats Max, Yami tries to claim Max's soul as he tried to claim the souls of Karen and her allies. John takes a risk by saving Max, betting that Max is also being influenced by Yami. It is revealed that Max had been influenced by Yami, but through fear rather than magic. Standing up to Yami helps Max gain mastery of his fears, and Max recieves a Soul as well. From Karen, Max, Monty and Lawrence John and his fellow Duel Force members learn that Yami is gathering magical items to increase his own power and the power of his troops, and that he is now after the Duelist's Souls. They, however, have no idea why.

Finally, Yami enacts a plan to cripple the now complete Duel Force and take the Twelve Souls all at once. For whatever reason he cannot emerge to battle John directly, so he waits until John is (mysteriously) rendered unconscious and unable to fight. He chooses five of his willing followers, who are also five of the strongest Duelists in his employ, and brings them together as the Dark Duel Force (Book Three, The Dark Duel Force). He sends the Dark Duel Force against the Duel Force with express orders not to engage John if he reawakens, as they cannot defeat him. But after defeating every other member of the Duel Force and sending their spirits and Souls to Yami via Shadow Game, the last remaining member of the Dark Duel Force, Archfiend Ruler, moves on the kill John. He finds John recently reawakened, renewed with new abilities, and goes against his masters orders. Archfiend Ruler is defeated. John follows Archfiend Ruler's severed spirit back to Yami and is surprised to find that he knows Yami as Marik, the duelist who fought Yugi Muto in the finals of Battle City, using the God Card The Winged Dragon of Ra. Yami Marik explains that after he was defeated by Yugi, utilizing the power of the Nameless Pharaoh, he barely held on. At first he could only observe our dimension, searching for a means to create a body for himself. He eventually found a spell meant to restore the body of the Pharaoh three thousand years ago using the power of the Millennium Items until it was abandoned. But the Items had been destroyed, and their immitations, the Shadow Items, were not powerful enough.

Yami Marik developed abilities that allowed him to influence Duelists with pain or darkness in their hearts and to create temporary forms for himself in certain places, and only with great preparation. He used these powers to form the Order, searching out the Shadow Items that would temporarily restore his strength, as well as a means to fuel the spell without the Millennium Items. What he found was the Duelist's Souls, which he could only aquire once the Duel Force had already aquired them themselves. When Yami Marik sees John, right there, in his home base, Yami Marik is ecstatic. Here he can duel John in a Shadow Game using his full power; the God Cards stolen from Industrial Illusions some time after Yami Marik's return. But even after Yami Marik summons Sky Dragon of Osiris, John still manages to defeat him, against all odds, using the God's own power. John destroys Yami Marik completely, wins the God, and frees the spirits of his friends, ending the threat of Yami Marik forever.

Deck
Where in the second series Yu-Gi-Oh! anime Yami Marik designed his deck partially around the power of Ra and partially around torture, here he builds his deck partially around drawing the three Gods, and partially around summoning/using them once he does. Marik's deck is primarily a machine deck in this continuity.

Trivia

 * Legendhiro chose Yami Marik as a villain in his story for three reasons:
 * 1) He wanted to anchor the story to the cannon Yu-Gi-Oh! universe, forcing himself to remain true to the original story and concept.
 * 2) He felt that the way in which Yami Marik was defeated in the anime left an opening for him to return, and wanted to exploit it.
 * 3) Marik is AWESOME!