Millennium Rod

Millennium Rod

The Millennium Rod (千年ロッド Sennen Roddo) is often referred to as the "scepter" in the Japanese version.

Aside from the standard ability to materialize Duel Monster effects like all Millennium Items, this item grants the holder the power of bending the wills of others through mind control, and also lets its user telepathically communicate with his/her servants, as well as look into the network of their memories, akin to the Mind Scan, and control them such as when Marik made Arkana believe that his key disappeared, to the point that he cannot see or feel it. It can also be used to launch a telekinetic-like attack to send the opponent flying backwards, and paralyzing them. A victory duel is not required to use these abilities. As with all other Millennium Items, the Rod can cast a Penalty Game against the loser of a game. In the Virtual World arc, Marik commanded the Rod to unleash destructive lightning to cripple his surroundings and destroy the machinery inside Noah's undersea fortress.

There is also a short sword concealed in the bottom of the rod, although this was only used in the Japanese Anime and Manga. The shaft of the rod acts as the sheath. This is removed in some of the dubbed anime. In the original Japanese version, this knife was used for the Ishtar clan for carving the symbols on their first born male heir's back. Marik Ishtar was one of the many to endure this painful ritual, against his will, which gave birth to his dark side, Dark Marik.

Upon Dark Marik's awakening, he took the Millennium Rod and used the blade to kill his own father (skinning his back off in the manga, stabbing him to death in the Japanese anime, and sending him to the Shadow Realm in the English dub). After that, Marik took the Rod to assist him in his quest for world domination. In the English dub, Marik planned to collect all three Egyptian God cards and the Millennium Puzzle to become King. However in original Japanese version, he stated that after he gets his revenge, the Rod would be useless to him, and that he would have no qualms of giving it to Dark Bakura. After Marik's defeat at Battle City, he gave the Millennium Rod to Yugi.

A false Millennium Rod was created and given to Odion Ishtar, who was disguising himself as Marik at the time, in order to play his role more realistically. While Odion wielded the false item, Marik (under the pseudonym "Namu") utilized the real Rod's powers in secret, to make it look like Odion is the wielder of the item. When Odion played a false God Card Ra, it incurred the Gods' wrath and caused a lightning bolt to strike down Odion, shattering the false Millennium Rod, revealing Odion's true identity.

In Seto Kaiba's Duel with Ishizu Ishtar, the Millennium Rod showed Kaiba a vision of his past incarnation and the Blue-Eyes White Dragon, causing him to summon it instead of attacking with Obelisk the Tormentor (which would have caused him to lose the duel). This is because it was originally owned by the Egyptian Priest Seto, of whom Kaiba is a reincarnation. Its use in Egyptian times was to seal the Ka hiding inside of people into stone tablets.

"Ma'at" wields a staff that is made up of the Rod and the Millennium Key.

The Millennium Rod in Yu-Gi-Oh! Forbidden Memories.

In Yu-Gi-Oh! Forbidden Memories, the Rod is shaped and colored slightly different. It is also owned by Kaiba in the modern day instead of Marik.