Rafael

Rafael (ラフェール Rafēru), is a fictional character from the Waking the Dragons (or Doma) arc in the Yu-Gi-Oh! second series anime, known in Japan as Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters. Of Doma's Three Swordsmen, Rafael is often considered the strongest, and the most mysterious in his strategy. He is the only swordsman that defeated his target once. He is also the only swordsman not to lose his soul after he was defeated by his target. He and Alister were responsible for bringing Rex Raptor (Dinosaur Ryuzaki in the English-language manga and Japanese versions) and Weevil Underwood (Insector Haga in the English-language manga and Japanese versions) to Dartz. He is also one of the two characters who is able to defeat Yami Yugi (Dark Yugi or Yu-Gi-Oh in the English manga, Yami no Yugi in the Japanese versions) in a duel without cheating or any form of manipulation (the second character being Little Yugi during The Ceremonial Battle).Rafael comes from a very wealthy family, and led a perfect life. He had a little sister and brother, and two parents. Rafael was separated from them when, on a luxury cruise, the boat went off course and directly into a tidal wave. As a result the family was killed (In the English anime version the story was altered to say that the family survived, but had forgotten about Rafael). Rafael was stranded on a deserted island with only his Duel Monsters, which included Guardian Eatos, Guardian Grarl, and Guardian Kay'est, which he treasured. One day, Rafael saw a city right off the island. He quickly sailed towards it, but as he got near, it disappeared, and he was pulled down underneath the sea by a tidal wave. There, Dartz's voice told him to remember his voice, for they would meet again. Rafael became conscious aboard his raft, and was then rescued by a fishing boat. He traveled and eventually went with Dartz to a graveyard, where he was tortured by digging (In the Japanese version the grave he was digging was his siblings' grave, but was changed to an Orichalcos marked grave in the English version) until he found their skulls (in the original. In the dub he merely finds a Chaos Duel Disk.) He was then seduced by a Dark Guardian, and given The Seal of Orichalcos card. Forced to do Dartz's bidding, he then became one of his many minions. Until the duel between Yami Yugi and Seto Kaiba vs. Dartz, Rafeal did not know that Dartz drove the ship into the tidal wave.

Rafael is probably the most complicated of all Dartz's lackeys, except perhaps Mai Valentine (Mai Kujaku in the English-language manga and the Japanese versions). He honestly believed that he was simply following his set destiny, and proceeded to capture many souls in the series, including Yugi's and Mai's. He believes the pharaoh Yami Yugi was an evil pharaoh and thus desires his soul above all others. To this end Rafael forces him to play the Seal of Orichalcos, revealing his "true nature" as an evil king (unaware that anyone becomes evil under the Orichalcos' influence). Rafael eventually defeats Yami Yugi, but Yugi Muto steps in and lets the Orichalcos take him instead. After discovering this, Rafael duels Yami Yugi again, and this time plays the Seal himself. His Eatos is still powerful, but Yami Yugi defeats it, and Rafael in turn calls forth Guardian Dreadscythe. After sacrificing his monsters left and right like Yami Yugi did, Yami Yugi plays Underworld Circle, sparking a vision of Rafael's past that snaps him out of the Orichalcos' control. Rafael then concedes defeat by using Soul Charge to revive all his monsters and deplete his Life Points. Afterwards the Orichalcos attempts to take his soul, but his stone shatters and he is freed. He rescues Mai and Valon from the collapsing building and confronts Dartz, where his soul is taken. In the anime, he uses mostly Guardian cards. Unlike many other duelists in the show he does not activate his strongest monster and rush at his enemy with that creature. Rafael went slowly, and corrupted the person from within, with his/her own monsters. Rafael was very slow in his first battle with Yami Yugi, making Yami Yugi use the Seal of Orichalcos, which unleashed his dark side. Yami Yugi was then hated by his monsters, and when he lost the duel, Yugi sacrificed himself in place of Yami Yugi.

He has two monsters who represent his character. Guardian Dreadscythe represents his dark mind and Guardian Eatos his light mind. Following his "rebirth" by Dartz, Eatos was also "reborn", in a wicked, twisted sense, creating the separate Guardian Dreadscythe.

Profile

Age: 20-30

Gender: Male

Hair Color: Blonde

Eye Color: Blue

Stone: On necklace

Target: The Pharaoh (Yami Yugi, a.k.a. Dark Yugi, a.k.a. Yu-Gi-Oh a.k.a. Atem)

Soul Taken: After trying to stop the duel between Yami Yugi, Seto Kaiba and Dartz

Deck: Guardian

Duels: 3

Current Place of Residence: Paris, France

Rafael has been involved in 4 of the 16 Orichalcos Duels. Two of which are with Yami Yugi and the third is with Mai Valentine.(In the 4th duel which was duel 16 Rafael doesn't duel he's just an spectator.) In his first duel with Yami Yugi, Duel 5, he gave his Seal of Orichalcos to him using his Exchange Magic Card. Yami Yugi's mind became evil because the Seal of Orichalcos tampered with his head. Yami Yugi eventually lost the duel, but Yugi Moto pushed him out of the Seal of Orichalcos and let the Seal take his soul instead. The next of Rafael's duels, Duel 14, is with Mai Valentine. There is no battle episode of this duel. (The only part that is shown is the very beginning after Mai tells Rafael she wants to leave Doma and threatens Dartz, and the very end where she collapses after she is defeated with the Seal of orichalcos in play which was apparently played by Rafael). Mai takes Joey's Hermos card and goes to the Headquarters of Dartz' group (Doma in the Japanese version) to challenge Dartz. Mai finds Rafael instead. A duel takes place and Mai ends up losing her soul. Rafael takes Joey's Hermos and gives it to Yami Yugi in their next duel, Duel 15. During this duel, much to everyone's surprise, Rafael plays the Seal of Orichalcos. Rafael uses his Guardian Dreadsythe to great effect (which included destroying his own trusted guardians) until it was destroyed and he could not bring it back from the graveyard (he had no cards to discard in order to bring it back). He gave up the last of his Life Points to revive his Guardians, making Yami Yugi the winner. Everyone is surprised however, when Rafael DID NOT lose his soul but only his dark mind. Later, during Duel 16, Rafael appears and demands that Dartz release all the souls he captured. Rafael then finds out that Dartz has been behind the past of all three swordsmen. Dartz believed that the warriors' destinies were already set in stone, and that he simply helped them along by destroying their loved ones. Rafael was furious and felt betrayed that Dartz ruined the lives of him and his fellow swordsmen. He attempts to stop the duel by playing the Seal of Orichalcos but his dark mind is gone so he can't use it. Dartz then says that Rafael's soul belongs to him and at that moment, Rafael collapsed and an image of him appears on the wall with the other captured souls. At the end of the arc, he is set free, along with all of Dartz' prisoners.

Notable Dueling Cards

Rafael uses a Guardian Deck, where many of the monsters require a specific Equip Spell Card to be on the field before they can be summoned. His particular attachement to his cards means that he will use any means necessary to protect them, which is seen with cards such as Rescuer from the Grave and Swords of Revealing Light. Also, he uses Backup Gardna to equip the Guardian's respective Magic Card (allowing him to Normal Summon it), then uses its effect to transfer it to its owner. In the Japanese versions, this is because Raphael's family died, and he doesn't want the monsters he has spent his life with to suffer the same fate. The majority of his cards are also very old and worn, and can be seen with wrinkled edges and numerous discolored spots on their faces.

The majority of his early offensive strategy relies on Guardian Grarl, a powerful 2500 ATK monster that has 3000 ATK due to the presence of Gravity Axe - Grarl on the field before it can be summoned. His upmost protection of his monsters also serves another purpose, as his most powerful monster, Guardian Eatos, can be summoned with no Tributes as long as his Graveyard is free of any Monster Cards. Eatos has the potential to gain immense strength through its effect, which absorbs the Attack Points of every monster in the opponents' Graveyard, starting at the top and going down until it reaches a Magic or Trap Card. In Rafael's first duel against Dark Yugi, Eatos' Attack Points were raised to 10,000 because Dark Yugi, consumed by his darkness due to the fact that he played the Seal of Orichalcos despite Little Yugi's warnings, fired off all his monsters at Rafael with Catapult Turtle.

In his second duel, he reveals his other Guardian that has not been released yet, Guardian Dreadscythe, which can only be summoned when Eatos is destroyed. This monster has impressive regenerative abilities, being able to return to the field as long as the controller discards a card from their hand in the process- except that the controller has no choice, if they can, they MUST discard a card to revive Dreadscythe. Furthermore, for the sacrifice of other Guardian Monsters, Dreadscythe can increase its own attack strength. Rafael's willingness to sacrifice his own monsters at this point is due to the fact that Dreadscythe is the representation of Rafael's darker side and as such, is a completely different persona.