* [[RevolverVaris]] (Leader)

* [[Kiyoshi Kogami|Dr. Kogami]]* [[Faust]]* [[Kyoko Taki|Baira]]* [[Dr. Genome]]

The '''Knights of Hanoi''' (ハノイの{{Ruby|騎|き}}{{Ruby|士|し}} ''Hanoi no Kishi'') are a mysterious hacker group that hacks via Dueling inside [[Link LINK VRAINS]]. They appear as the main antagonists in the first season of the ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS]]'' anime. Their goal is to destroy the "AI World" known as " the [[Cyberse (world)|Cyberse]]" that exists somewhere in the depths of the Network.

The Knights of a Hanoi are an organization of hackers led by [[RevolverVaris]], with the top-ranking Knights consisting of researchers who played a part in the [[Hanoi Project]]. The Knights all use a mostly white uniform with lines of differing colours colors in some parts of the uniform. On top of it, they wear a hooded white coat that covers their body and reaches the back of their knees. All Knights revealed so far are masked , with the exception rank-and-file members of Specter and [[Dr. Kogami]]the organization also wearing masks. This is probably just their preferred [[Link LINK VRAINS#Avatars|Avatar]] on Link LINK VRAINS, used to hide their true appearances. RevolverThe organization's uniform lacks a hoodhigher ranking members do not wear hoods, revealing their faces, but wear clothing similar in style to the rank-and-file. Additionally, the [[Duel Disk]]s used by the members are differentiated between the ranks, showing with the grunts using Duel Disks that are silver-bordered and green, the higher ranks utilize styled clothings but keep overall similar aestheticslieutenants using those that are silver-bordered and yellow, while Varis uses one that is gold-bordered and red.

The Knights of Hanoi utilize "[[Cracking Dragon (anime)|Cracking Dragon]]" to assault the digital world with its power. Individuals who fall victim to this mechanical dragon while in [[Link LINK VRAINS]] have their accounts deleted from the system.<ref name="ep1" />

Five years before the start of the series, [[RevolverVaris]] assaulted "[[Cyberse (world)|Cyberse]]" with "[[Cracking Dragon (anime)|Cracking Dragon]]" with the intention to destroy it. The different Artificial Intelligences that protected it were restrained by Revolver Varis and thus unable to stop the destruction of their world. However the AI [[Ignis]] [[Ai]] appeared and forced a disconnection of the Cyberse World from the rest of the network, thus forcing Revolver Varis out of Cyberse while keeping its location known only to him. However, RevolverVaris, furious by IgnisAi' s interference, ordered his "Cracking Dragon" to capture IgnisAi, which led to the AI to be dismembered by the monster's jaws. This made Revolver Varis and the Knights of Hanoi spend the following years searching for IgnisAi' s parts in order to find the location of Cyberse.<ref name="ep1">{{episode|Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS|1|ref}}</ref> At some point, the Knights of Hanoi hunted down the [[Cyberse]] monsters and destroyed a significant amount of them to the point Varis was confident they were extinct. ===Playmaker===Five years later, the Knights of Hanoi continued their search of [[Ai]]; but had many of their operations interrupted by the mysterious Duelist [[Yusaku Fujiki|Playmaker]], who defeated their agents, earning a name for himself. [[Specter]], the Knights' second-in-command, informed [[Varis]] that a trace of Ai was detected and that [[SOL Technologies]] was in pursuit. Knowing that if SOL retrieved Ai, they would be able to restore Cyberse and ruin the Knights' efforts, forcing the Knights to act. Specter informed Varis about Playmaker, who had interfered with them before. Varis wondered if Playmaker was a member of SOL, but dismissed the possibility as they would act more publicly. Specter added that Playmaker erased every trace of his activity and eluded the Knights' searches, concluding that whoever he is he must be a skilled hacker. Varis became interested in Playmaker, but decided to leave him for now as Ai was their priority.<ref name="ep1" /> While SOL Technologies performed a city scan in order to search for Ai, the Knights of Hanoi decided to attack as the defenses of VRAINS would be left vulnerable at that point. Varis ordered his men to search for Ai, assaulting the digital world with their "Cracking Dragons" and ravaging the users in their way, deleting their accounts in the process. Ai's remnants in the form of an eye was swiftly cornered by the Knights until [[Yusaku Fujiki]] and [[Kal Kolter]] used the lowered defenses to create an alternative path for Ai, who used the newly made escape route, but ended up in Yusaku's [[Duel Disk]] as a result. Yusaku entered VRAINS using his persona Playmaker, saving the [[Celebrity Duelist]] [[Skye Zaizen|Blue Angel]] at the nick of time before she was deleted. Yusaku then confronted a Knight of Hanoi who told him that the AI they were looking for was on his Duel Disk and threatened to delete it if they did not cease their attack. Since Ai was bonded to Yusaku's Duel Disk, the Knights must defeat Playmaker in a Duel in order to obtain it. Varis, watching from afar, was amused at Playmaker while the Knights' agent accepted the challenge.<ref name="ep1" /> Ai estimated that Yusaku's current Deck was not enough to defeat the Knight's "Cracking Dragon". He caused a [[Data Storm]] and instructed Yusaku to ride the wind and enter a [[Speed Duel (VRAINS)|Speed Duel]].<ref name="ep1" /> Ai taught Yusaku the rules of Speed Duels. The Knight of Hanoi quickly Summoned his "Cracking Dragon", which he used for the remainder of the Duel, exploiting its abilities to avoid destruction and inflict effect damage, and further exacerbating his advantage through the [[Skill]] "Double Draw" which let him draw two cards during his Draw Phase. Ai realized they must have hacked the system as the Skill was not known to him. Although Yusaku fared decently against the Knight of Hanoi, his LP was on critical state so Ai instructed him to take a path where he was engulfed in a massive storm. Inside the tempest, Ai told Yusaku that his LP was low enough to use the Skill "Storm Access" to gain a powerful monster. Yusaku did so and was able to acquire "[[Decode Talker (anime)|Decode Talker]]" and Link Summon it. Through a combination of "[[Cyberse Wizard (anime)|Cyberse Wizard]]" and "Decode Talker", he was able to exploit the low DEF of "Cracking Dragon" and inflict [[piercing]] damage as a result of "Decode Talker" gaining ATK through its own effect, and due to [[Link Monster|being unable to be in Defense Position]], it bypassed the Knight's "[[Pulse Mines]]", defeating the Knight.<ref name="ep2">{{episode|Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS|2|ref}}</ref> Playmaker subsequently attempted to interrogate the Knight, who started a self-destruction mechanism in response before Ai suddenly deleted him from the system to protect himself and Playmaker.<ref name="ep3">{{episode|Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS|3|ref}}</ref> Specter and Varis discussed the events of the Duel with Playmaker. Varis preferred Playmaker having his hands on Ai for a while over SOL Technologies having him, but added they should not leave him with Playmaker for too long. He them summed up a list of characteristics of Playmaker's that might help discover his true identity, one of these being that Playmaker would eventually want to Duel him. Varis briefly logged out of LINK VRAINS to visit [[Kiyoshi Kogami|his father]].<ref name="ep3" /> The Knights of Hanoi eventually turned their attention to Blue Angel, as she openly challenged Playmaker to a Duel in public. Specter, confident they could use her, approached her claiming to be a fan. He gave her "[[Dark Angel (anime)|Dark Angel]]" and disappeared, with Blue Angel having a vague recollection of what happened. Ai lured Playmaker into facing Blue Angel after sensing Hanoi's presence on her. Playmaker accepted her challenge intending to investigate her.<ref name="ep6">{{episode|Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS|6|ref}}</ref> The Duel began and Blue Angel punished Playmaker repeatedly with the [[effect damage]] combo from her "[[Trickstar]]" cards forcing Playmaker to the defensive, although she later discovered it was his plan all along in order to use his Storm Access [[Skill]]. Varis watched from afar, confident that once Blue Angel used "Dark Angel" she would be unable to disobey them. Blue Angel attempted to defeat Playmaker using her Skill "Trickstar Trick" in order to force Playmaker to draw cards and inflict game-ending damage, but he prevented this by using "[[Defect Compiler (anime)|Defect Compiler]]" to nullify the damage. With little resources left, Blue Angel resorted to using "Dark Angel", which had a severe effect on her. Playmaker rapidly used a combination of "[[Encode Talker (anime)|Encode Talker]]", "Defect Compiler", and "[[Frontline Disturbance]]" to increase the ATK of "Encode Talker" and weaken that of "[[Trickstar Holly Angel (anime)|Trickstar Holly Angel]]" in order to defeat Blue Angel with a single attack.<ref name="ep7">{{episode|Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS|7|ref}}</ref>

===Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS===Five years later, the Knights of Hanoi continued their search of [[Ignis]]; but had many of their operations interrupted by the mysterious Duelist [[Yusaku Fujiki|Playmaker]], who defeated their agents, earning a name Dueled Varis for himself. [[Specter]], the Knightscure to Blue Angel' second-in-command, informed [[Revolver]] that s Virus and had a trace of Ignis was detected and that [[SOL TechnologyDRAW]] was in pursuittheir first encounter. Knowing that if SOL retrieved IgnisHowever, they would be able to restore Cyberse and ruin the Knights' efforts, forcing the Knights to act. Specter informed Revolver about a rematch occurred afterwards which Playmaker, who had interfered with them beforewon. Revolver wondered if Playmaker was a member of SOL, but dismissed He obtained the possibility as they would act more publicly. Specter added that Playmaker erased every trace of his activity cure and eluded the Knights' searches, concluding that whoever he is he must be a skilled hacker. Revolver became interested in Playmaker, but decided to leave him for now as Ignis was their priorityfreed Blue Angel.<ref name="ep1ep9">{{episode|Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS|9|ref}}</ref><ref name="ep10">{{episode|Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS|10|ref}}</ref><ref name="ep11">{{episode|Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS|11|ref}}</ref><ref name="ep12" >{{episode|Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS|12|ref}}</ref>

While SOL Technology performed At a city scan in order to search for Ignis, the Knights of Hanoi decided to attack as the defenses of VRAINS would be left vulnerable at that later point. Revolver ordered his men to search for Ignis, assaulting the digital world with their Kogami dropped a "Cracking Dragonsseed" and ravaging the users in their way, deleting their accounts in the process. Ignis' remnants in the form of an eye was swiftly cornered by the Knights until [[Yusaku Fujiki]] and [[Shoichi Kusanagi]] used the lowered defenses to create an alternative path for Ignis, who used the newly made escape route, but ended up in Yusaku's [[Duel Disk]] as into a result. Yusaku entered well-like environment somewhere within LINK VRAINS using his persona Playmaker, saving the Charisma Duelist [[Aoi Zaizen|Blue Angel]] at the nick of time before she was deleted. Yusaku then confronted a Knight of Hanoi who told him that the AI they were looking for was on his Duel Disk and threatened to delete it if they did not cease begin their attack. Since Ignis was bonded to Yusaku's Duel Disk, the Knights must defeat Playmaker in a Duel in order to obtain it. Revolver, watching from afar, was amused at Playmaker while the Knights' agent accepted the challengenext plan.<ref name="ep1ep20" >{{episode|Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS|20|ref}}</ref>

Ignis estimated that Yusaku's current Deck was not enough to defeat ===Tower of Hanoi===Hanoi then started a phenomenon known as the Knight's "Cracking Dragon". He caused a [[Data StormDeleted]] to find Playmaker. A virus which takes people inside of LINK VRAINS unwillingly and instructed Yusaku makes them unable to ride log out. They use the wind same parameters as Playmaker to hunt him down. Each one uses an old-style Duel Disk, they are all talented Duelists and enter a they are all hackers. Once taken into [[Speed Duel (LINK VRAINS)|Speed Duel]].<ref name="ep1" /> Ignis taught Yusaku the rules of Speed Duels. The Knight of Hanoi quickly Summoned his "Cracking Dragon", which he used for the remainder of the Duel, exploiting its abilities to avoid destruction and inflict effect damage, and further exacerbating his advantage through the [[SkillDr. Genome]] "Double Draw" which let him draw two cards during his Draw Phase. Ignis realized they must have hacked the system as the Skill was not known to him. Although Yusaku fared decently against the Knight of Hanoi, his LP was on critical state so Ignis instructed him to take a path where he was engulfed puts them in a massive stormcoma. Inside Varis later appeared in the tempest, Ignis told Yusaku Knights base and showed annoyance that his LP was low enough to use the Skill "Storm Access" to gain a powerful monster. Yusaku did so and was able to acquire "data on the [[Decode Talker (anime)|Decode TalkerHanoi Project]]" data would be erased and Link Summon itVaris would never know Playmaker's identity. Through Kogami appeared on a combination of "[[Cyberse Wizard (anime)|Cyberse Wizard]]" holoscreen and "Decode Talker", he said that the plan was able to exploit the low DEF of "Cracking Dragon" and inflict [[piercing]] damage as a result of "Decode Talker" gaining ATK through its own effect, coming together and due to [[Link Monster|being unable to be in Defense Position]], it bypassed the Knightquestioned Varis's "[[Pulse Bomb]]long face", defeating the Knight.<ref name="ep2">{{episode|Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS|2|ref}}</ref> Varis said he couldn't move on until he beat Playmaker subsequently attempts . Kogami seemed to interrogate the Knight, who started a self-destruction mechanism in response before [[Ignis]] suddenly deleted him from the system to protect himself and Playmakerunderstand his desire but said his plan couldn't wait long.<ref name="ep3ep22">{{episode|Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS|322|ref}}</ref>

Specter [[File:Knights_of_Hanoi_Attack.png|thumb|Three Knights of Hanoi attack innocent Duelists.]]Hanoi later attacked LINK VRAINS and Revolver subsequently elaborated some duelists who refused to Duel them. However the events Knights used a program to force them to duel. Each of the Duel with PlaymakerDuelists were defeated by Hanoi. Revolver preferred Playmaker having his hands on Ignis for Varis, who watched the action nearby, stated that over a while over SOL Technology having him, thousand joined the Knights but added they should not leave him with Playmaker were mostly "hoodlums" and that they only joined Hanoi for too longself-promotion and their opposition to LINK VRAINS. He them summed up a list of characteristics of Playmaker[[Faust]] and [[Kyoko Taki|Baira]] then appeared and stated that the "hoodlums" were tarnishing their reputation and said that it was time to carry out Kogami's that might help discover his true identitywishes. After the Knights had attacked the Duelists, [[George Gore|the Gore]] appeared, one of these being that disguised as Playmaker would eventually want , and easily defeated them without needing to Duel him.Dr. Genome later appeared and knew that Gore was in disguise, the two then commenced a Speed Duel with Genome using another program, the [[Data Storm#Data Gale|Data Gale]].<ref name="ep22" /> ==Members==A group consisting of over one thousand members<ref name="ep3ep22" />, the most notable members of the Knights are as listed:{| class="wikitable" style="width:100%"!Member!Status!Rank!Deck|-|[[Varis]]|Active|Leader|[[Rokket]]|-|[[Specter]]|Active|Second-in-command|[[Sunavalon]]/[[Sunvine]] |-|[[Dr. Genome]]|Active|Lieutenant|[[Helixx]]|-|[[Kyoko Taki|Baira]]|Active|Lieutenant|[[Virus]]|-|[[Faust]]|Active|Lieutenant|[[Motor Worm]]|-|[[Kiyoshi Kogami|Dr. Kogami]]|Inactive|Founder|Unknown|}

Regular Unlike henchman Duelists of past series, such as [[Diablo]] or the [[Obelisk Force]], the regular Knights of Hanoi members don't appear to all use identical Decks. While their Decks differ between members, their strategies appear similar: to quickly Summon [[DARK Machine decks focused around Summoning "]]-[[Cracking Dragon (anime)|Cracking DragonAttribute]]" and quickly dealing large amounts of monsters with high [[effect damageATK]]. The cards are themed around hacking, malware, and other elements used in order to damage computersoverwhelm their opponents.

{{Decklist|DARK Machine Cracking Deck|normal monsters =* [[Mystery Shell Dragon (anime)|Mystery Shell Dragon]]

* [[Aircrack Air Cracking Storm (anime)|Aircrack Air Cracking Storm]]* [[Big Bang Shot (anime)|Big Bang Shot]]

* [[Pulse Bomb Mines (anime)|Pulse BombMines]]}} {{Decklist|Steelswarm Deck|effect monsters =* [[Steelswarm Hercules (anime)|Steelswarm Hercules]]* [[Steelswarm Mantis (anime)|Steelswarm Mantis]] x3|spells =* [[A Feather of the Phoenix (anime)|A Feather of the Phoenix]]* [[Hand Destruction (later anime)|Hand Destruction]]* [[Soul Charge (later anime)|Soul Charge]]

| Unknown Duelist || [[Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS - Episode 064|64]] || Win|-| [[Yusaku Fujiki|Yusaku Fujiki/Unknown]] || [[Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS - Episode 064|64]] || Lose|-| [[Yusaku Fujiki|Yusaku Fujiki/Playmaker]] || [[Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS - Episode 001|1]] || Lose|-| [[Yusaku Fujiki|Yusaku Fujiki/Playmaker]] || [[Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS - Episode 002|2]] || Lose

| 3 Unknown Duelists || [[Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS - Episode 022|22]] || Win|-| 3 Unknown Duelists || [[Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS - Episode 024|24]] || Win|-| [[George Gore|George Gore/The Gore]] || [[Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS - Episode 024|24]] || Lose|-| [[Yusaku Fujiki|Yusaku Fujiki/Playmaker]] || [[Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS - Episode 024|24]] || Lose|-| Multiple AI Duelists || [[Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS - Episode 024|24]] || Lose|-|[[George Gore|George Gore/The Gore]] || [[Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS - Episode 025|25]] || Lose|-| Multiple Unknown Duelists || [[Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS - Episode 027|27]] || Win|-|[[Naoki Shima|Naoki Shima/Lonely Brave]] ||| [[Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS - Episode 002027|227]] || Lose