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Prominent game pieces and characters from the manga and anime series Yu-Gi-Oh. For significant cards, see here.
ALL spoilers will be unmarked ahead. Beware major spoilers.
Monster World Tabletop RPG
Dark Master Zorc (ダーク・マスター ゾーク; Daaku Masutaa Zooku)
Last Zorc (ラスト・ゾーク; Rasuto Zooku)
- Voiced by: Shōzō Iizuka (Japanese Toei anime)
Dark Master Zorc was the Player Character of Dark Bakura that served as the Final Boss of his Monster World role-playing game against Yugi, Jonouchi, Honda, Miho in the Toei anime, Anzu, and eventually his host, Ryou Bakura.
According to the lore of Monster World, Monsley Kingdom had once been a peaceful kingdom, until Zorc awakened from his long sleep. The sky turned black to signify Zorc's arrival. Zorc assassinated the king and turned the castle into his evil den. Zorc then created monsters to do his bidding and dominated the kingdom's people with great cruelty. After many years under Zorc's rule, the once peaceful kingdom became known as Monster World. The citizens lived in fear and cursed their lives - until a group of heroes came forward (the main cast's Player Characters), setting out to defeat the Dark Master.
Zorc of the Monster World RPG, as well as his story, closely parallels Zorc Necrophades and the demon's battle with Pharaoh Atem 3,000 years ago—except in Monster World, Zorc managed to defeat the king and spread his influence. According to Dark Bakura, the Monster World RPG was created as a warm-up to the final game of the series, so Dark Master Zorc of the Monster World RPG is a Call-Forward to the ancient Zorc Necrophades and the Shadow RPG.
For information on Zorc Necrophades, who this Zorc was based on, see Yu-Gi-Oh! Ancient Egypt.
- Absurdly High-Stakes Game: Tabletop role-players often fear Total Party Kills. Dark Yugi fears Zorc's Total Party Killing moves for a whole different reason, because his party contains the souls of his friends.
- Achilles' Heel: Last Zorc may be his most powerful and dangerous form, but it's not so dangerous once Yugi realizes that his weak point is the giant eye on his chest. It's his "last resort" for a reason.
- Adaptation Dye-Job: Last Zorc's blue in the manga. In the Toei anime, he's brown.
- Adapted Out: He appears in the Toei anime, but not Duel Monsters.
- Attack Its Weak Point: Last Zorc's weak point is his eye.
- Based on a True Story: In-universe example. Dark Master Zorc, and his RPG, are based on the real Zorc Necrophades.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Dark Master Zorc starts off as a stranger lying unconscious in the middle of the road, who the party helps and befriends. He lies and says his goal is the same as the adventures, and that he was heading to the next town to give the Chosen One a holy sword that would defeat Zorc, but he leads the party into a trap and reveals himself as the Dark Master Zorc himself.
- Big Bad: An In-universe example in the game of Monster World.
- Big Bad Duumvirate: With Dark Bakura in the Monster World RPG arc.
- Boss Banter: Half of his dialogue consists of reminding Yugi and his party of their hopeless situation.
- Card-Carrying Villain: Dark Master Zorc isn't one for subtlety.
- Chekhov's Gunman: His appearance is a hint at the Greater-Scope Villain of the series, Zorc Necrophades.
- Dark Is Evil: Red eyes, his first form looks like a mutant Dracula, and Last Zorc has a bunch of horns and a man-eating eye on his chest.
- The Dragon: He's the Big Bad of the Monster World RPG's story, but in terms of the entire arc he's just a servant of Dark Bakura.
- Eldritch Abomination: Last Zorc's man-eating eyeball chest is quite the ugly sight.
- Evil Is Bigger: When he transforms from the villager to Zorc he grows about 6 times his height.
- Evil Laugh: It helps that Dark Bakura narrates his dialogue.
- Eye Scream: In the manga Jonouchi's character takes out one of Zorc's eyes with his sword, blinding Dark Bakura on his corresponding eye as well.
- Final Boss: Of the Monster World RPG.
- Final Boss Preview: His appearance foreshadows the existence of the true Zorc Necrophades, another boss of another RPG who was an actual demon during the Pharaoh's reign.
- Fixing the Game: His constant critical hits aren't just the work of the Random Number God, but Dark Bakura rigging his dice to always roll less than 10.
- Guest-Star Party Member: He accompanies the adventurers for a short while as an NPC before revealing himself to be Zorc.
- Large and in Charge: In terms of the diorama. Still not anywhere near as big as the real Zorc though.
- Legacy Character: In-universe, he is named after Zorc Necrophades and has similar abilities.
- Living Apart: After Honda shoots his left arm off, it turns into "Zorc Arm Dragon" and "Zorc Arm Eyeball".
- Mythology Gag: While he doesn't appear in the second anime, he was made into a real-life Duel Monsters card, which Dark Bakura uses in Duel Terminal machines and Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links as a reference to the Monster World arc.
- No Fourth Wall: As the quote in his description shows, he seems to realize he's in an RPG.
- One-Winged Angel: Last Zorc. The Dark Master Zorc is relatively humanoid, but his final form is a complete Eldritch Abomination, comparable to the real Zorc.
- Obviously Evil: The "help the injured stranger in the middle of the road" cliche? Yeah, good idea guys!
- Player Character: Serves as Dark Bakura's avatar for the entire Shadow Game.
- Playing with Fire: Zorc Inferno!
- Retcon: The Millenium World series, in which Dark Bakura oversees an RPG whose ultimate villain is named "Zorc", retroactively establishes that Dark Bakura's Monster World RPG was really his ultimate plan in miniature.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: When he woke up, he killed the king and turned his kingdom into a land of monsters.
- Shout-Out: Zorc's name is a reference to Zork, an early text-based adventure game.
- Warmup Boss: He's ultimately a warm-up for the stronger Zorc Necrophades, who appears at the end of the series.
Pokii (ポキー; Pokii)
- Voiced by: Konomi Maeda (Japanese Toei anime)
Pokii was a monster from Dark Bakura's Monster World tabletop role-playing game. It originally started as one of Zorc's minions, but after Beast Tamer Yugi frees it from Zorc's evil influence using his magic, he joins the side of the adventurers.
- The Cameo: Makes a cameo appearance as a statue in 5D's.
- Heel–Face Turn: His alignment switched over to the party thanks to Yugi's Beast Tamer magic.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Avoided. When Zorc's weak point was exposed, Pokii tries to do this by jumping into the hole to prevent it from closing. However, Yugi manages to defeat Zorc and rescue Pokii in the process.
- Pokémon Speak: It can talk, but often says his name, "Pokii"
- Ridiculously Cute Critter: Just look at it!
Pao (パウ; Pau)
Zorc Arm Dragon (ゾーク・アーム・ドラゴン; Zooku Aamu Doragon)
- Voiced by: Masaya Takatsuka (Japanese Toei anime)
Pao was a dragon from the Monster World RPG. It initially started out as Zorc Arm Dragon, but was brainwashed by Beast Tamer Yugi to join the side of good.
- Heel–Face Turn: He was originally an evil monster before being exposed to Yugi's Beast Tamer magic, turning him into an ally.
- Living Apart: Was originally Dark Master Zorc's arm.
- Ridiculously Cute Critter: After becoming a good guy.
Old Barman (酒場のオヤジ, Sakaba no Oyaji)
The barman was a non-player character resident of a town found in the role-playing game Monster World.
- The Bartender: The heroes ask for his advice.
- Mr. Exposition: He tells the adventurers who Zorc is and what he's done to the village.
- No Name Given: Jou (Jonouchi) doesn't even call him barkeep, he just calls him "old man" (oyaji).
- Non-Player Character: Within the Monster World RPG, and abides by the GM's will.
- Quest Giver: The adventurers, looking for more information, get their main objective from the bartender—defeat Zorc.
- Welcome to Corneria: The fact that he's one of the souls trapped in Dark Bakura's figurines means he was intended to be stuck as the bartender for all eternity and repeat the same lines in every Monster World campaign.
Dungeon Dice Monsters
God Orgoth (ゴッド・オーガス; Goddo Ougasu) (Orgoth the Relentless)
God Orgoth was Ryuji Otogi's strongest Warrior-type unit during his game of Dragons, Dice & Dungeons with the regular Yugi, which was a dice/tile-based RPG board game. The game was created for the sole purpose of avenging Ryuji's father, Mr. Clown, and stripping Yugi of his Millennium Puzzle as well as his title of "King of Games".
During the manga's Dungeon Dice Monsters arc, Orgoth was a Level 3 warrior with the base statistics of 500 attack and 450 defense. When Yugi was able to figure out a way to get to Ryuji's Dungeon Master despite his army of monsters taking over most of the board, Ryuji manages to roll an Orgoth, which starts mowing down Yugi's units one by one. In the Duel Monsters anime, Orgoth had 20 attack and defense each along with 50 HP, and was also a Duel Monsters card used by Ryuji Otogi.
- BFS: God Orgoth's Diamond Blade is a huge magical great sword that raises its attack power by a ridiculous amount of points.
- Dub Name Change: The English dub of the anime calls him "Orgoth the Relentless."
- Final Boss: Serves this role for Ryuji's dice game.
- Implacable Man: He weathers almost everything Yugi throws at it until the end.
- Large and in Charge: He easily dwarfs every DDD creature seen in Ryuji's match against Yugi.
- Lightning Bruiser: Despite its size and tremendous power, it's no slower than any of the regular pieces.
- Magic Knight: Using three magic crests, it can use its Diamond Blade, which raises its attack by 2000. In the anime continuity, for every two magic crests spent, it permanently adds another 10 points to its attack.
Dungeon Master (ダンジョンマスター; Danjyonmasutaa) (Monster Lord)
During Ryuji Otogi's game of Dungeon Dice Monsters against Yugi, each player was given a "Dungeon Master" piece which was to be placed on their respective side of the board. These Dungeon Masters had three lives called Heart Points, and the goal of the game was to strategically create a path of monsters to kill the other player's Dungeon Master. Unlike traditional "Player Hit Points" found in Yu-Gi-Oh!, the Dungeon Masters were units of their own, and thus could be used to defend themselves, attack, and move around the board.
They only appear in the manga, and do not appear in the anime.
- Adapted Out: In the anime, they are replaced by generic heart points, which can't move on the game board.
- Big Bad/Big Good: In terms of the metagame, the opponent's Dungeon Master is the Big Bad. Yugi's Dungeon Master is the Big Good.
- Dub Name Change: In the English version of the tabletop game, it's renamed to the "Monster Lord."
- Homage: The Dungeon Master is named after the Game Master role in Dungeons & Dragons.
- Keystone Army: It doesn't matter how many monsters you have left—if your Dungeon Master is killed, it's game over.
- Monster Clown: Ryuji's Dungeon Master is obviously modeled after his Monster Clown dad.
- Non-Action Guy: Like a King in chess, there's really no use in moving your Dungeon Master around or attack with it until the end game, but when there's no choice left, Yugi uses its role as its own movable game piece to his advantage with Armor Wizard Pazoo.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: Pretty much the equivalent of what a King is in Chess, once the endgame comes around, the Dungeon Master will actually defend itself.
Little Wizard (リトル・ウィザード; Ritoru Wizaado) (Mighty Mage)
In the manga, Little Wizard was the first Dragons, Dice & Dungeons unit that Yugi manages to roll during his match with Ryuji Otogi. It is a Level 4 Spellcaster-type creature with an attack power of 500 and a defensive power of 600. Its spread in the Konami game is 50 HP, 30 Attack, and 20 Defense.
- Badass Adorable: A cute little spellcaster that packs a punch
- Dub Name Change: The English version renames Little Wizard to "Mighty Mage."
- Expy: The Silent Magician that's later added to Yugi's deck resembles this piece.
- Pintsized Powerhouse: It's cute and small, but boasts a very powerful attack.
- Shock and Awe: Its attack is a Lightning Rod.
Duker of Twin Swords (デューカー・ツイン・ソード; Dyuuka Tsuin Soodo) (Knight of Twin Swords)
The Duker of Twin Swords was a Level 3 (360/200 ATK/DEF) Warrior-type Dragons, Dice & Dungeons unit deployed by Yugi during his game with Ryuji Otogi.
- Charged Attack: Using any number of Attack Crests, Yugi is able to multiply the power of its Twin Swords.
- Dub Name Change: The English version of the game renames him to "Knight of Twin Swords."
- Lightning Bruiser: Not only does it pack a punch, but it's able to move two spaces for each Movement Crest used.
- The Worf Effect: It nearly destroys God Orgoth until Ryuji managed to make one of his creatures take the hit. Then God Orgoth proceeds to annihilate the Duker of Twin Swords.
Swift Black Ninja (速攻のブラック・ニンジャ; Sokkou no Burakku Ninja) (Strike Ninja)
The Black Ninja was one of Yugi Mutou's units during his Dragons, Dice & Dungeons match against Ryuji Otogi in the manga. He's a skilled Level 3 Warrior-type unit with an attack output of 350 and a defensive power of 220. When Yugi manages to unfold a Rare Black die with a Warp Crest, he also manages to summon the Black Ninja.
In the anime, the Black Ninja (Strike Ninja in the English anime and TCG) is a Level 3 warrior with a spread of 20 attack, 10 defense, and 20 HP. He was made into a Duel Monsters card in the anime and was also released for the official card game. He serves as Ryuji Otogi's Deck Master for the anime's Virtual Nightmare arc.
- Caltrops: Using three Trap Crests, Black Ninja lays tetsu-bishi on the ground to impede enemy movement.
- Fragile Speedster: His defensive power isn't amazing, but his speed more than makes up for it. Yugi is able to move him three spaces for every one Movement Crest he uses.
- Invincibility Power-Up: In the anime, his Trap Crest ability is replaced with one-turn immunity to magical effects and attacks.
- Invisibility Cloak: Using three Magic Crests, he's able to turn invisible for one turn.
- Ninja Run: He even holds his dagger in a reverse grip with the front arm.
Iron-Ball Devil Gorogon (てっきゅうまじんゴロゴーン; Tekkyuu Majin Gorogoon) (Thunder Ball)
Iron Golem Gorogon was a Level 3 Warrior-type unit unfolded by Yugi during his battle with the young game master, Ryuji Otogi. Yugi summoned it and immediately used its special ability, which destroyed Ryuji's "Bomb Lizard" and "Lizard Dragon".
- Friendly Fireproof: Averted. Its rolling attack damages all types of enemies, allies included. Yugi being who he is, this never actually becomes a problem.
- Rolling Attack: Using one Movement Crest allows it to roll in a straight line as far as possible.
Anagora (アナゴーラ; Anagoora)
Anagora was a Level 3 Dragon-type creature from Dragons, Dice & Dungeons deployed by Ryuji Otogi during his game with Yugi Mutou.
- Adapted Out: It only appears in the manga.
- Chekhov's Gun: Ryuji summons it quite early in the game and it doesn't really do much, until God Orgoth was about to be decapitated by the Duke of Twin Swords.
- Taking the Bullet: Using a specific amount of movement crests allows it to move in front of an attacking unit and take a blow meant for one of its allies.
Memory World
The Creator God of Light, Horakhty (光の創造神ホルアクティ; Hikari no Souzoushin Horuakuti)
- Voiced by: Rica Fukami (Japanese)
The Creator God of Light, Horakhty is a game piece within the Shadow RPG and another deviation from the actual events of Pharaoh Atem's past. Because of his experiences in the modern world, Dark Yugi now had the knowledge of the Millennium Puzzle's true power—the power of unity, and once he remembered his true name and had all Three Gods at his side, he was able to summon Horakhty this time around and kill Zorc Necrophades instead of reliving his sacrifice. Her name is derived from Ra-Horakhty, a combined god of Horus and Ra in Ancient Egyptian mythology. In the card game, she can instantly win the match if summoned.
- Ambiguous Gender: The deity it's based on is male, but it has a feminine appearance and voice.
- Big Good: The Creator God of Light to Zorc Necrophade's Great Evil God.
- Fusion Dance: Horakhty is the unified power of the three gods and is only summoned by combining them.
- Good Wings, Evil Wings: Sports metallic, almost angelic hawk wings.
- Holy Hand Grenade: After everything Zorc throws at the cast, she instantly kills him in one hit.
- Infinity +1 Sword: She managed to curbstomp Zorc, who had three health bars in the manga.
- Light 'em Up: How she kills Zorc, the ultimate darkness.
- Light Is Good: She's a light elemental god and is Dark Yugi's final trump card in the Shadow RPG.
- Sealed Good in a Can: This time around, Dark Yugi manages to summon it to destroy Zorc.
- Spell My Name With An S: The name could be spelled "Horus" as well, and the card game named her Holactie.
Diabound (ディアバウンド; Diabaundo)
Diabound is a Monster Ka from the Shadow RPG. Historically, it was Thief King Bakura's holy ka created by the spirits of the slaughtered town of Kul Elna desiring revenge, and had the power to absorb the abilities of other ka it defeated. Its form evolved as its powers grew, turning it from a holy beast into a dark monstrosity. In the anime and real-life card game it's also a Duel Monsters card called Diabound Kernel, which similarly absorbs opposing monsters.
- Cannibalism Superpower: This is what makes Thief King Bakura's Ka, Diabound, so dangerous—every time it kills an adversary it gains that creature's raw power, if not its actual abilities.
- Evolution Power-Up: As it levels up and gets stronger, its form changes
- The Heartless: It was created by the vengeful spirits of the slaughtered town of Kul Elna.
- Light Is Not Good: Diabound is a holy spirit at first, but it turns into a horrific monster with every creature it absorbs.
- Personality Powers: Diabound is a holy beast at first, but as it absorbs more monsters it becomes more monstrous itself, reflecting off of the increasing darkness in Bakura's heart.
- Power Copying: Sometimes uses the abiltiies of the creatures it has killed.
- Summon Magic: Life force is required to summon it.
Duos (デュオス; Dyuosu)
Duos was Priest Seto's personal ka, which was summoned to stop Thief King Bakura. It had the ability to increase its raw power by slaying its allies with the Duos Blade.
- Adaptation Dye-Job: In the manga, Duos is white. The anime turns him black.
- Fusion Dance: It's able to fuse with Kalim's Curse of Dragon to form the mighty Duos Dragon.
- Summon Magic: Life force is required to summon it.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: As a humanoid wielding a BFS that gains power from allied monsters slain in battle, it has a particular resemblance to the Swordstalker monster from Seto Kaiba's Duelist Kingdom deck, which had similar abilities.
- Team Killer: Its strength is doubled for each ally it murders with its Duos Blade.
Magus of Illusions (げんそうのまじゅつし; Gensou no Majutsushi) (Illusion Magician)
The Magus of Illusions was Priest Mahado's personal Ka, which was summoned to help kill Thief King Bakura in the royal tombs. In desperation, Mahado cast a spell that fused himself with the Magus of Illusions before his body was sliced up by the tomb's blade traps, creating the "Black Magician".
- Adaptation Dye-Job: Its dark blue armor is changed to purple in the anime.
- Black Mage: It has the skill set of a Black Mage which carried over to Priest Mahado's spirit form, the Black Magician.
- Dub Name Change: Its dub name, Illusion Magician, is a valid alternate translation of the Japanese name.
- Fusion Dance: Priest Mahado fused himself with it to create Black Magician Mahado.
- Morphic Resonance: The Magus of Illusion's robes are immediately recognizable as the same ones worn by the Dark Magician in the present day.
- Power Limiter: It wasn't as powerful in its first appearance because Mahado was using a lot of his magic to suppress the Millennium Ring's evil influence.
- Pintsized Powerhouse: Starts out as this in its first appearance, but grew once Mahado decided to release all the magic he's been using to seal the Millennium Ring's evil.
- Summon Magic: Life force is required to summon and strengthen the Magus of Illusions.
