Marik Ishtar



Marik Ishtar is the brother of Ishizu Ishtar and the male heir of the Tombkeeper Clan. When he was ten, he had to receive the Tombkeepers' initiation, which involved having the location of the pharaoh's memory tatooed on his back. He was upset and afraid of having this done because of all the pain. An evil was born within him that day, but Rishid (Odeon in the dub) suppressed that evil. Finally, that evil spirit in him killed Marik's father. At that point, Shadi arose and told him that this death was the will of the pharaoh. Because Marik didn't know about the evil within him, he went to seek revenge.

With the Winged Dragon of Ra (Sun of God Dragon Ra), Marik came to Battle City to try to kill Yami Yugi. Although he put both Yugi and Kaiba in tough situations, he failed to defeat either of them and lost his other god card (Osiris/Slifer the Sky Dragon) in the process. He had tricked Yugi's friends into believing that he was a friend by pretending to have found the injured Bakura and helping him (this was part of his alliance with Yami Bakura). Finally, when Rishid was unable to stand up after being struck in his quarter-final duel, the other Marik came out.

Marik realized that the death of his father was not the pharaoh's will when he listened to Ishizu tell the Ishtar tragedy to Yugi and his friends. Because those that Marik had control of in the past were still subject to be Marik's "spies," he then knew that this was all a mistake. Finally, he is able to defeat his evil side and surrenders to Yugi in the Battle City finals.