Karen

Karen is a character from Legendhiro's Yu-Gi-Oh! DF. She is one of the more important characters, often portrayed as the most important character next to central character John, and portrayed as being just as strong, if not stronger. Any weaknesses in Karen's ability to duel come from a combination of guilt over having been used against John and the Duel Force by Yami, and from the fact that she has grown bored with playing Duel Monsters. She instead wishes to design the cards that future Duelists will one day use.

Karen's Spirit Monster and favorite monster is Dark Magician Girl and its Toon counterpart.

Personality/Mannerisms
Karen is an overall good person. She cares more about others than herself. This is evidenced in the fact that she cares little about her outward appearence, and the fact that, while she was under Yami's control, she fought hard to break it, even though it meant she might die. Karen is usually quiet and sweet, but she can become very serious, or even use her natural charms to manipulate others if the need arises. Karen is often overly emotional. She is very creative.

Karen has a unique skill. She can, unaided by magic, accurately predict the moves of her opponent by profiling them based on their mannerisms.

Before the Duel Force
Before Karen was a member of the Duel Force, she was a member of the Duelists of the Order, and a mind controlled minion of its Leader Yami. She was made a mind controlled minion at the same time as Mony and Lawrence, and was aften assigned to lead them on missions regarding Order business. But before joining the Duelists of the Order, Karen was mentored by Maxamillion J. Pegasus. She was given a set of Toon cards by Pegasus, who taught her how to use his own style. This was an honor afforded only to her. Shortly after this, however, her parents died in an accident. This drove her to, like many others, seek refuge in the Duelists of the Order. As a brainwashed Order member, she was sent along with Monty and Lawrence to stop John and the Duel Force from obtaining the Souls, and later simply to retrieve the Soul for the Order. She, Monty and Lawrence failed, and they were released from Yami's control. Yami then attacked them, meaning to convert them, body and soul, into raw energy, but they were saved by John. This is when Karen began to feel attracted to him.

Story
Karen's original role was that of John's rival. Later, after she becomes his ally, her role was that of his unofficial second in command.

Gather the Duel Force
In the first story arch, Karen leads a team consisting of herself, Monty and Lawrence, all still under Yami's control, to defeat John and his team and gain possession of the Duelist's Souls. She and her allies first attack John, Sarah, Jen and Tucker before they board their plane to Egypt, seemingly trying to convince the Duel Force to back off. They use some magic borrowed from Yami to cause John and his team physical pain during the duel. They defeat the Duel Force, but this only reinforces the Duel Force's resolve. Later on Karen and her team face off against John and his team again after they have opened the Burial of the Souls, obviously meaning to kill them and take the Souls for their master.

It becomes apparent that the true goal of Karen and her team when attacking the Duel Force earlier was to increase the Duel Force's resolve so that they would continue forward and reach the Burial. Karen claims that only the Duel Force could open the Burial, but that, now that it was open, anyone could enter and take the Souls for themselves. Their plain backfires, however, when John and his team mates manage to access the power of their Souls and defeat Karen and her team mates.

Reign of the Reaper
In the second story arch, Reign of the Reaper, Karen, Lawrence and Monty engage the Duel Force yet again. They face new Duel Force members Amanda, Rocky and Kimi respectively, and they are defeated again. After this second defeat, they are released from Yami's control immediately before they are attacked by Yami in the form of a Shadow Apparition. John saves them, and Karen reveals that they were unwilling pawns of Yami. She also reveals that during the most recent duel, she and her allies were mentally restraining their own power so that they Duel Force would win and Yami woul release them. She knew that Yami would attack soon after, and she relied on John to save them. Soon afterwards, Karen, Monty and Lawrence join up with the Duel Force and recive the Souls of Imagination, Knowledge and Power.

Later on, Karen accompany's the rest of the Duel Force (save Amanda, who stays home) to the abandoned construction site where John and Max will fight their final battle.

The Dark Duel Force
Karen takes command of the Duel Force while John is comatose. She organizes them against the Dark Duel Force, and fights in the last wave alongside Max, against Archfiend Ruler. However, her overly emotional nature coupled with her subconscious guilt over her past actions limits her effectiveness, and she is defeated.

Terror of Blackheart
Karen is the first to sense that John is in trouble as Blackheart emerges in possession of John's body, She is the first member of the Duel Force to face Blackheart in battle, facing off against Sky Dragon of Osiris (Slifer the Sky Dragon). She does a very good job of feeling out Osiris' strengths, and given time she definitely would have defeated it. But Blackheart proves to be too ruthless. He defeats Karen, knocking her out, cracking her Soul, and draining its power. The process is interrupted, however, and she retains some of her power.

Later, Karen organizes the team into pairs in an effort to seek out Blackheart and slow him down until she can put her true plan into action. Her plan backfires when several members of the Duel Force are defeated, their Soul powers stolen. Karen's true plan, however, was to meet up with Pegasus and learn what he knows of Blackheart's powers and how to defeat him. She travels to Duelist Kingdom, accompanied by Tucker, Amanda, Kimi, and Jen. There the Dark Duel Force confronts them, knowing them to be in a desperate and, overall, weakened state. Karen, who just recently recieved the Toon monsters missing from her deck from Pegasus, defeats Archfiend Ruler. The Dark Duel Force, defeated again, is forced to relinquish their Shadow Items. Karen absorbs the magic from the five items into her Soul, restoring it to full power.

Back home, after meeting with Pegasus, Karen is approached by Hiro. She already knows him, and she helps the others to trust him. She is also the only member of the team to come to the realization that he is withholding information from them, convincing him to reveal the truth; that he is not a remnant of the Duelists power, but a remnant of the Duelist himself.

Kaiba Corp Invitational Tournament
Karen has already decided at this point that she wants to design cards, not duel. Her hesitation leads to her defeat at the hands of Max in the tournament's first round. Later on, Karen is the only member of the team to realize that John will have to kill the dangerous villain Exodus in order to preserve lives.

Special #2: The Looming Threat
Karen goes on a date with John, during which John falls comatose yet again. She again takes command of the team, organizing the others. She stays with John in his hospital room, and she is able to sense that he is fighting within his own mind. Her feelings for him are so strong that she is able to transfer her spirit into John's mind in order to help him fight the Dark Divine Dragon. She is also partially responsible for holding back Dark Divine Dragon's real world form until John can arrive to defeat it.

The Great Duel Force Tournament
Karen competes in the tournament despite the fact that she no longer wishes to become a Duelist. She does so because she realizes that John wants one more real duel with her before she give dueling up. She revamps her deck with powerful new cards that represent her true style, instead of borrowing Pegasus'. She and John duel in the first round, their duel coming down to a single draw. Later, Karen agrees to go with John to Duel Academy, where she plans to join the card design department.

The Soul of Imagination
Soul Quality: Inspiration

Soul Monster: Allure Queen

The Soul of Imagination has the power to grant the wielder's wishes in moments of great inspiration. Normally, it is actually weaker than the others. But at times when its power is at full, its magic rivals even the Soul of Chaos and its power to control any force greater than itself, including fate.

Deck
Karen's deck has always been a form of field control deck that encorporates the Toon monsters and "Sacrifice" cards given to her by Pegasus.

Gather the Duel Force - Terror of Blackheart chapt. 7
Karen's deck, Imaginative Power, is shown here in its earliest and weakest incarnation. She uses the same deck throughout the first three story archs, and through the first half of the fourth. Even so, this deck's power rivals John's and Max's power. Its power is only limited by Karen's personal failings.

Terror of Blackheart chapt. 7 - Kaiba Corp Invitational Tournament
This is the first version of Karen's advanced Imaginative Power deck, which uses the cards given to her by Pegasus, from his own deck. During the fourth story arch, Terror of Blackheart, Karen was holding John's The Fiend Megacyber, and, therefore, her deck contained it as well.

Special #2: The Looming Threat
Karen never duels in this arch. All that we see of her deck comes from when she used cards in battle outside of a normal duel. It can be assumed, however, that her deck contains her usual signature cards, Des Kangaroo, Big Koala, and Polymerization in addition to the cards listed here.

The Great Duel Force Tournament
This is the first appearance of Karen's more personalized Toon/Allure Queen deck, Creative Control.

Trivia

 * Karen is based on one of the author's first crushes. He will not reveal who she was.
 * The author reveals that Karen, at least in his version of the Yu-Gi-Oh! universe, was the card designer who came up with the idea for Synchro Monsters.
 * If Karen, Max, Tucker and John, as they appeared at the end of Yu-Gi-Oh! DF, were to duel against each other, all at once, their power would be equal. The outcome of the duel would be left to chance.