Millennium Rod (manga)

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The Millennium Rod

The Millennium Rod (千（せん）年（ねん）ロッド Sennen Roddo) is an item in the Yu-Gi-Oh! manga. This is the original depiction of the Millennium Rod.

The Millennium Rod is one of the seven Millennium Items, which were created to help Egypt defend from foreign invaders.

Powers

In ancient Egypt, like all Millennium Items, the Millennium Rod could be used to summon up to three ka from stone slabs in the Shrine of Wedju.[1]

Like other Millennium Items, the Rod could be used to turn games into Shadow Games[2] and inflict Penalty Games on the losers.[3]

In the twentieth century, the Millennium Rod enabled its wielder to control the minds of any individual it came into contact with[4] and to be able to do so from a distance.[5] Once a per The mind control powers include:

  • Being able to brainwash a person, such that they act on their own accord, but follow motives the wielder gave them[6]
  • Ability to take complete control of the individual, in which case the skin on the forehead of the person being controlled swells and takes the form of the Eye of Wadjet[7][6][8]
  • Access to the controlled individual's memories[6][9][10]
  • Ability to see through the individual's eyes[11]

Marik Ishtar described The Millennium Rod's power by noting how easily people are influenced, how they can create split personalities or believe they hear God and by combining his charisma and dominance with their internal image of God, he could control them with the Rod.[9] He noted that by using its powers he could kill someone by just thinking about it.[5]

People are capable of resisting the Millennium Rod's brainwashing if substantial feelings or memories of their former self are invoked.[12][13] Some individuals, such as Dark Bakura are immune to the Rod's influence.[14]

The Millennium Rod could be used to immobilize people.[3]

The handle of the Millennium Rod acts a sheath concealing a blade inside it.[2]

History

Ancient Egypt

See also: Millennium Items (manga) § Creation

The Millennium Items were created using shadow alchemy and a sacrifice of human lives in the Kul Elna massacre, in order to protect the Egypt from foreign invaders. The first holder of the Millennium Rod was a High Priest.[15]

The Millennium Tauk was later passed onto the High Priest, Seto.

Akhenaden acquired all the Millennium Items and placed them in the Tablet of the Pharaoh's Memories, as part of a dark pact with Zorc Necrophades to gain power. He became the High Priest of Darkness and waged war with Atem.[16]

Tomb Guardians

The Millennium Rod and Tauk under the care of the Ishtar family

The Millennium Items were looked after by generations of Tomb Guardians, with the Rod and Tauk falling into the care of the Ishtar family.[17] They saw it as their mission to safeguard the Millennium Items until they could give them to the reincarnation of the Pharaoh's soul.[18]

Battle City

Marik Ishtar possessed the Millennium Rod and used it to implant a bit of himself in the Rare Hunters, allowing him to control them remotely.[7] He arranged for a number of them to be present in Domino City for the Battle City tournament. Among them was the "Doll", whose consciousness Marik had fully controlled with the Millennium Rod. He had the Doll stand on the same spot in Domino Park for two days[8] and programmed him to kill Dark Yugi, should the Doll defeat him in a Duel.[9] He had another keep an eye on Dark Yugi's friends.[19]

Marik was also curious as to why there was a picture of a man that looked like Seto Kaiba holding the Millennium Rod on the mural from the mortuary temple. And hoped to use the tournament as a chance to use the Rod to read Kaiba's memories to find out why.[10]

Marik Ishtar uses the Millennium Rod to take complete control of the Rare Hunter and communicate through him

After Dark Yugi defeated a Rare Hunter in the Battle City tournament, Marik took control of the Rare Hunter using the Millennium Rod, in order to introduce himself to Dark Yugi.[7] He demonstrated the power of the Rod by making the Rare Hunter do a humiliating dance.[20]

Similarly, following Pandora's defeat to Dark Yugi, Marik used the Millennium Rod to take full control of him. This time he introduced himself to Yugi Mutou. When he was done, Marik saw Pandora as a loose end that needed tidying up, so used the Millennium Rod to look through the network of Pandora's memories. He found two times he contemplated suicide, forced those memories to resurface and stirred them up a bit, with the intention of having Pandora take his life once he released control of his body.[6]

While Marik traveled from Port Othello to Domino City on his motorcycle, he used the Millennium Rod to inhabit the mind of the Doll and got him to run to Yugi's location, so that he could use the Doll as a proxy in order to Duel Dark Yugi.[8] After Marik's loss, he continued to control the Doll to warn Dark Yugi he had better get to his friends, as he had plans to use them.[19]

The Millennium Ring alerted Dark Bakura to the presence of the Millennium Rod and he confronted Marik announcing his intention to take the Rod.[4] Marik claimed to have no interest in the Millennium Items beyond getting his revenge on Dark Yugi. He proposed an alliance where if Dark Bakura helped him achieve this he would give him the Rod afterwards.[21]

Jonouchi and Anzu turned into "dolls" by the Millennium Rod

Although Marik had plans to use the Millennium Rod brainwash Yugi's friends, Dark Bakura believed they would suspect Marik was up to something and proposed using his "host", Ryo Bakura, as a means of infiltrating them.[22] Under the guise "Namu", Marik helped Bakura, who had been stabbed in the arm by Dark Bakura, as a means of getting close to Katsuya Jonouchi and Anzu Mazaki.[23] He used the Rod to brainwash Jonouchi and Anzu, making them "dolls" who made little movement or reaction outside of his orders.[5] He also brainwashed Bakura such that he would not feel the pain from his wound.[24]

Marik observed Dark Yugi and Seto Kaiba's Duel with his brainwashed Rare Hunters; Mask of Light and Mask of Darkness as a means to assess their Decks. After the Duel, he used the Millennium Rod to take complete control of Mask of Light to introduce himself to Kaiba, alert Dark Yugi that his friends had now been brainwashed, and that he expected Dark Yugi to fight Jonouchi.[11]

At Domino Pier, Marik had his brainwashed Ghouls add Forbidden cards to Jonouchi's Deck.[5] He implanted a desire to kill Dark Yugi in Jonouchi and got him to challenge Dark Yugi to a Duel. Marik spoke to Dark Yugi through Anzu and forced him to accept the Anchor Deathmatch Duel by threatening to command Anzu to swallow a capsule of deadly poison.[25]

Yugi insisted on Dueling instead of Dark Yugi and was able to appeal to Jonouchi's memories of their friendship, enabling him to disobey Marik's orders, despite the Millennium Rod's brainwashing.[12][13] Jonouchi eventually completely snapped out of the Rod's influence[26] and Marik was unable to control him from that point.

As the finalists gathered at Domino Stadium, Marik continued to pose as "Namu", while Rishid pretended to be Marik, but Jonouchi and Yugi became suspicious of Marik. However Bakura and Anzu, who were still brainwashed by the Millennium Rod spoke positively about him, putting the suspicions at bay. The brainwashed Bakura also showed Yugi that the Millennium Ring was reacting to a Millennium Item wielder as Rishid arrived, aiding the lie that Rishid was Marik.[14]

Rishid pretends to use the Millennium Rod on Bakura

Dark Bakura faced Dark Yugi in the first quarterfinal. Per his agreement with Marik, if he won, he would take Yugi's "Slifer the Sky Dragon" and exchange it for Marik's Millennium Rod. Marik offered to take control of Ryo Bakura for the Duel, but Dark Bakura was determined to beat Dark Yugi himself.[27] As Dark Bakura was about to lose the Duel, Rishid arrived holding the Millennium Rod. He claimed Bakura was being controlled by the Millennium Rod and that he could prove it by releasing his main personality. Dark Bakura relinquished control of his body to Bakura, who was feeling the pain of his stab wound and Rishid warned that an attack from "Slifer the Sky Dragon" could kill him in that condition. Dark Yugi was reluctant to attack, but Dark Bakura did not approve of this strategy and took back control of Bakura's body, as he possessed the mental strength to withstand the attack.[28] As the injured Bakura was escorted away, Anzu, still brainwashed by Marik, picked up his Millennium Ring.[29]

Dark Marik took full control of Marik's body when Rishid fell into a coma. He got ready to kill the unconscious Rishid using the blade concealed in the Millennium Rod, but refrained as he was called to Duel in the next quarterfinal.[2]

Dark Marik used the Millennium Rod to turn his his quarterfinal Duel against Mai Kujaku into a Shadow Game.[2] At the end of the Duel, Dark Yugi was left unconscious after standing between an attack from "The Sun Dragon Ra" and Mai. Dark Marik unsheathed the Millennium Rod's blade and toyed with the idea of killing Dark Yugi on the spot, but insisted killing him a Shadow Game would be more befitting. He used the Rod's power to immobilize Jonouchi and said he could kill him whenever he wanted. However he left him be and subjected Mai to the "Brain Insects" Penalty Game, giving her 24 hours to be rescued before her mind become completely eroded.[3]

Rite of the Duel

Atem placed the Millennium Rod along with the other six Millennium Items into the Tablet of the Pharaoh's Memories in the Shrine of the Underworld. This caused him to split into a separate body from Yugi, so that the two may face each other for the Rite of the Duel.[30] By experiencing defeat, Atem was deemed ready to pass on. His passing through the door to the afterlife, caused the Tablet of the Pharaoh's Memories to break and fall into the depths of the earth, taking the Millennium Items with it.[31]

History of possession

Holder Means of acquisition
High Priest First holder, after the Millennium Items were created
Seto Succeeded his predecessor as High Priest
Akhenaden Took to summon Zorc Necrophades
Seto Recovered
Tomb Guardians Safekept
Ishtar family Last of the Tomb Guardians to watch over it
Marik Ishtar Took
Rishid Lent to, to deceive people into believing he was Marik
Marik Ishtar Took back
Yugi Mutou Given to
Nobody Buried in the Shrine of the Underworld

References

  1. ↑ Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel 286 (Millennium World Duel 8): "Diabound vs. Galestgoras"
  2. ↑ a b c d Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel 218 (Duelist Duel 159): "One Duelist"
  3. ↑ a b c Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel 224 (Duelist Duel 165): "The Future is Now"
  4. ↑ a b Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel 178 (Duelist Duel 119): "Each Other's Duel!"
  5. ↑ a b c d Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel 191 (Duelist Duel 132): "The Place of Destiny"
  6. ↑ a b c d Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel 165 (Duelist Duel 106): "The Tablet of Memories"
  7. ↑ a b c Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel 154 (Duelist Duel 95): "To Destroy a Deck"
  8. ↑ a b c Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel 170 (Duelist Duel 111): "Nearer to God"
  9. ↑ a b c Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel 171 (Duelist Duel 112): "Fight of the Millennium!"
  10. ↑ a b Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel 216 (Duelist Duel 157): "God's Judgement!"
  11. ↑ a b Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel 190 (Duelist Duel 131): "Where Jonouchi Waits"
  12. ↑ a b Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel 194 (Duelist Duel 135): "The Card of Pride"
  13. ↑ a b Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel 196 (Duelist Duel 137): "The Last Piece of the Puzzle"
  14. ↑ a b Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel 202 (Duelist Duel 143): "The Eight Finalists"
  15. ↑ Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel 308 (Millennium World Duel 30): "The Birth of the Millennium Items!!"
  16. ↑ Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel 305 (Millennium World Duel 27): "Ruler of Shadows!!"
  17. ↑ Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel 214 (Duelist Duel 155): "The Cursed Bloodline!"
  18. ↑ Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel 233 (Duelist Duel 174): "Duel in the Dark!"
  19. ↑ a b Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel 177 (Duelist Duel 118): "Attack that Opponent!"
  20. ↑ Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel 155 (Duelist Duel 96): "Millennium Battle"
  21. ↑ Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel 179 (Duelist Duel 120): "Full Strength!!"
  22. ↑ Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel 180 (Duelist Duel 121): "Return of the Sea Scourge"
  23. ↑ Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel 183 (Duelist Duel 124): "The Reason for Dueling"
  24. ↑ Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel 202 (Duelist Duel 143): "The Eight Finalists"
  25. ↑ Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel 192 (Duelist Duel 133): "The Unwanted Duel!!"
  26. ↑ Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel 198 (Duelist Duel 139): "Friends till the End"
  27. ↑ Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel 204 (Duelist Duel 145): "The Thing in the Dark"
  28. ↑ Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel 208 (Duelist Duel 149): "The Line of Fire"
  29. ↑ Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel 209 (Duelist Duel 150): "Jonouchi's Revenge!"
  30. ↑ Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel 338 (Millennium World Duel 60): "The Rite of the Duel!!"
  31. ↑ Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel 343 (Millennium World Duel 65): "The Journey of the King"
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