Yubel (character)
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| Other names | Boy of Light / The Eye (through closed captioning) | ||||||
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| Previous organization | Martin Empire | ||||||
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| Anime debut | Yu-Gi-Oh! GX episode 106: "A Jewel of A Duel: Part 1" | ||||||
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| Yubel (character) | |||||||
Yubel is the primary antagonist of the Dimension World arc of the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX anime. A malevolent Duel Monster whose card was in Jaden Yuki's possession when he was a child, Yubel was deranged and manipulative, exploiting various individuals to accomplish their machinations. They are later redeemed after Jaden fuses with Yubel, reuniting them both forever. Since then, they acted as Jaden's partner, similar to Yugi's relationship with Yami Yugi.
Contents
Design
Appearance
Yubel has a demonic appearance, with mauve skin, large black wings, and a third vertically placed monstrous eye in their forehead. In many details, Yubel's body is split down the center in its design. The arm and leg on their left side resemble a dragon's, with scales and large claws. This side of their body has indigo-colored hair and a teal eye, and is also male, with a bare pectoral muscle and a masculine hip shape. The right side of Yubel's body has white hair, an orange eye, and is female, with a breast, a rounded hip, and a heeled shoe. They also have blue lips and pointed teeth.
Their Duel Disk is an extension of their arm that grows out when they Duel. Their clothing is black and asymmetrical to fit with their half-male, half-female design, with the right breast covered and the left pectoral left bare. In the card's art, the bare portions of their torso are gray and have the appearance of tight clothing. In the dub, Yubel's top half is covered in black to look less revealing and more female, and in later episodes their chest is redrawn to have two breasts instead of one, as Yubel is depicted in the dub as exclusively female.
In Yubel's past life as a human, they are depicted as a child around ten that appears to be male, with the indigo hair and teal eye color of the male side of Yubel's monstrous form. They had light tan skin, wore a mauve tunic, a gold choker, and a blue gem on a chain over their forehead.
Personality
After being sent into space, they were exposed to the Light of Destruction, causing them to go insane. In the Japanese version, Yubel is not only evil and deranged, but also quite psychopathic. They know how to manipulate others to do what they want by playing on their innermost feelings and hidden desires. Staying true to their villainous nature, they don't bind themself by their word: although they made a pact with Viper to bring back his son, Pierce, Yubel instead merely changed his memories so that he thought his son had never died. Yubel also throws away allies that they deem as useless as seen with Viper and Marcel, and brutally punish those who betray them. In addition to the above, they are also quite emotionally sadistic, often enjoying picking at the insecurities of others for the above reasons or their own enjoyment and crushing/trivializing their hopes and ideals after they attempt to bond with their opponents. Despite how much they mock their opponents, they are actually capable of sincerely respecting them, though it's overshadowed by how much they enjoy their suffering. This is missing from the dub; they no longer care how much suffering their opponent endures and do not respect them (in Zane's case, on several occasions they mocked his heart condition).
Yubel's ambition was to keep Jaden all to themself, and is willing to harm anyone that gets between them and Jaden. In fact, all of their plans revolve around getting Jaden, even taking control of the Duel Spirit dimensions was only something that they wanted so they could have a world with Jaden. Despite their outspoken love for Jaden, Yubel has no qualms about hurting him to accomplish their goals or bend him to their will. Initially, Yubel made comments that Jaden "belongs" to them (essentially claiming him like he is their property), although they stopped making them after their reappearance. Yubel also doesn't care how dangerous the situations they manipulate Jaden into are (possibility of him dying during the Survival Duels, his journey into the second alternate dimension, etc.), because they always assume (albeit correctly) that Jaden will survive. Yubel has further been shown to have an enormously warped and sadomasochistic view of love: because love, in part, is sharing feelings, both joy and suffering, Yubel therefore legitimizes Jaden's suffering as "true love". Yubel feels they have suffered greatly due to their time in space and the crash into the Earth that caused them to lose most of their body, and desires to share that suffering with Jaden. To that end, they go out their way to make him suffer the same fate.
To that end, they also openly welcome Jaden's insults and defiance, seeing the pain they suffer as Jaden expressing his "love". They also claim that life isn't worth living without that person that one loves the most, actually shedding a tear at the thought. However, they appear unable to understand any other form of love, and dismiss any relationships in which joy and suffering are not mutual as immaterial. The reason Yubel acquired their twisted concept of love was that during their time in space, they at first felt that Jaden had discarded them, but later came to believe making suffer by sending into space was done out love, likely due to coming in contact with The Light of Destruction. In the dub, they instead see this as betrayal. They are quoted as saying to Jaden "I was your friend. Your guardian. Your avenger. And how did you repay me? By letting them get their hands on me. You let them send me away. But destiny had a different plan, and it brought me back to you." Also of note is that in the dub, they did eventually realize that Jaden had put her through such pain to make them more powerful, and wanted to do the same to Jaden, but still resented how he had done it.
In episode 154, it is revealed that Yubel was paranoid to those they believed would stand in the way of their love, including the "Neo-Spacians" along with Jaden's friends (in particular, Jesse Anderson, which was part of their reasoning for possessing him), in their inconsiderable belief that they have "taken my place" and have "stolen Jaden from me". Yubel also believes that the supposed "deaths" of most of Jaden's friends and manipulating his "Neo-Spacians" in harming Jaden with Yubel's effect, then destroying them mercilessly, is their way of payback, claiming that "My love for you is greater than theirs". Ironically enough, what Yubel does to those they feel animosity towards is far less harmful then how they torment Jaden. In the Japanese version, they explicitly say that they believe that the love that Jaden's past life gave them now belongs to Jesse.
In the dub, Yubel's personality underwent some major changes. All references to Yubel's "love" for Jaden were omitted and replaced by their childish desire to "play" with him. They also state that they want Jaden to pay for "discarding them". This would indicate that their goal is to punish Jaden for their being banished into space, although this animosity isn't seen in the original version. However, they seem still to have some possessive feelings towards him, and may still try to reclaim him as their own. It's unclear, however, especially in earlier episodes Yubel showed their possessive feelings towards Jaden, but starting during his Duel with Viper they then switched to show hate for him. Also, Yubel acted extremely childish at first, after Jaden's Duel with Viper they started acting more fiendish, and intelligent. Yubel also takes Jaden more lightly than in the original (when he went to Duel when they were possessing Marcel, they were surprised he made it, while in the original they expected him to make it). All masculine aspects of their appearance were edited out as well, and both in the past life and the present life, they were given an excessively feminine voice as opposed to their voice in the original. The simplification of their motives may be due to the disturbing possible implications of Yubel's associating physical and emotional pain with love, often interpreted understandably as sadomasochism. Yubel hasn't shown to be as sadistic as they were in the Japanese version and only seem to enjoy tormenting Jaden. In the version they also use the term "destiny" several times, suggesting the Light has had a similar effect on them it did in Sartorius, at least in terms of influencing the belief that all is predetermined (in the original version, they never displayed any signs of this and were merely shown to be insane).
Towards the end of the series, Yubel's spirit appears on various occasion, and its noticeable that their personality has changed once all hatred towards Jaden and all influence from the Light of Destruction is gone, taking a more supportive role by lending their power to him. Particularly seen when Jaden is Dueling against Nightshroud, as Yubel's spirit appears to support him. Though at first they object and sort of mock Jaden for how the Duel has commenced, as well as that comment made by him stating that he was alone, Yubel counters that idea made by Nightshroud, telling Jaden that isn't true as their spirit is always with him (being that their souls are fused together). They again boost up his confidence when Nightshroud destroys "Neos Wiseman", thus telling him to remove her card from the game to bring back "Neos". As Jaden hesitates doing this, Yubel though telling him that he will now have to fight alone, thus convinces him to believe in his own power, and that also they're confident that he will defeat Darkness.
The reason behind their sudden change in personality can likely be linked to Jaden holding the power of The Gentle Darkness. In the movie Yu-Gi-Oh! 3D Bonds Beyond Time, Paradox referred to Jaden as a "Duelist with ability to control the spirits".[1] Thus, whether or not Jaden realized it, his power might have been able to calm Yubel's soul.
They are also present for Jaden's Duel with Yugi Muto. Yubel tells Jaden that they are impressed and that they recognize Yugi as being the True King of Duelists, as Yugi is able to sense their spirit. With the Duel advancing with him struggling as he's facing a formidable opponent, Yubel makes Jaden notice his shaking hand asking then if he is scared. As he questions this too, Yubel quickly denies this, telling him that they know of his true feelings and emotions at the time.
Voice and mannerisms
In the Japanese version, Yubel has two different voices that alternate evenly, though Yubel tends to use the female voice when speaking to or about Jaden. Occasionally they use both voices, usually when its switching from one voice to another. In the Japanese version, Yubel usually uses the first person pronoun boku, which is strongly associated with male speakers.
In the dub, Yubel has only a single (androgynous though somewhat identifiably female) voice prior to fully revealing herself. Additionally, Yubel's English voice is given childish mannerisms and electronic effects that reflect their own childish nature: Yubel's initial behavior in the version is that of a spoiled brat determined to get their own way and remove those who oppose them. However, later on they behave in a more adult manner, especially after first shedding Marcel.
In both the original Japanese version and the English dub, while possessing others, their victims voice isn't changed (although their host's voice sounds more serious). However, they sometimes use one of their own voices in the Japanese version; in the English version, they sometimes use an altered version of their host's voice. (Marcel lost his French accent, and Jesse's Southern accent was weakened, and sometimes they used the same vocal effect as Yubel.) They still use their own voice when possessing others, but they do it far less than in the Japanese version (whenever they speak using their own voice in the English version, their host body glows purple).
Abilities
From within their card, Yubel can cause harm to others in a manner similar to the card's effect.
In spirit form, Yubel holds many supernatural abilities through their appearances. Viper has said in the Japanese version that "it has the power to create miracles". They can possess anyone with inner darkness in their heart and manifest themself through a being made out of energy. Yubel is able to magically turn card effects real as seen with the snakes that prevent Jaden's comrades from helping during his Duel with Viper. After absorbing massive amounts of energy, they are able to focus this magical power to a much greater extent, like summoning real monsters to use as servants, or using the "Polymerization" card to accomplish a fusion between spirit and human to create powerful duelists. Their great power makes them capable of wielding the Sacred Beast cards, despite their negative effects on Duel Spirits.
Yubel can also teleport themself and others on a large scale, as they did with the whole Duel Academy to an alternate dimension. They also have the ability to link with others in order to bestow power onto them, signified by their left arm having scales on them, as seen in Viper and Adrian. This gift gives them strength and supernatural abilities, just less potent than Yubel's. Yubel can also infect and control others, as shown with the "Duel Ghouls". Lastly, Yubel has the ability to peer into the mind and memories of others, and by extent, see the darkness of a person's heart, so they can tempt people to do their bidding by exploiting the person's individual desires. This ability is a necessity as Yubel derives their power mainly from the darkness of others.
As for their lesser-known abilities, they can also use telekinesis to immobilize a person, like they did to Adrian in Viper's base. They can also alter minds and memories. Yubel also has a degree of super-strength such as when they threw Marcel at Blair using only one arm.
Yubel's raw power is immense, as they were capable of subduing the three Sacred Beasts at the same time by themself, and even after being weakened in a duel against Zane, they had more than enough strength to fight and push back the powers of Exodia from Adrian while inhabiting Jesse's body, forcing him to duel them.
After Jaden fuses his soul with Yubel's, he obtains access to their abilities. However, because Yubel implied most of it came from The Light of Destruction, which was purged from them when they fused with Jaden, he may not possess the same power level as Yubel did before.
In Yu-Gi-Oh! 3D Bonds Beyond Time, even though they are still fused with Jaden, they are seen using their powers separately from him. They projected an energy blast in order to scare away people gathered at Domino City Plaza.
Biography
History
An unknown amount of time ago, Yubel and the boy who would become The Supreme King lived in an unnamed kingdom. The King informed Yubel that a certain individual held the power of the Gentle Darkness, and that he needed a guardian to watch over him until he grew to adulthood and could control his power. Yubel volunteered to be that guardian, and was transformed from a human into the form they are most commonly seen in, referred to as a dragon. Jaden's ancestor swore that he would love Yubel and only them after that transformation (in the dub, he promised to never forget Yubel and keep them by his side). In the modern era, Yubel's spirit is made into a card by Industrial Illusions.
The card was eventually found by Jaden's father and since Jaden was the reincarnation of the person Yubel swore to protect, and who Yubel remembered loved them and whom they loved, Yubel guarded him once again. Yubel wished to guard Jaden from any and all perceived threats, which unfortunately included any threats to their friendship.
During that time, Yubel caused anybody that Jaden dueled to fall into a coma, including an acquaintance of Jaden's named Osamu. This caused other people to view Jaden as cursed and they became too scared to duel him. Under Jaden's request (hoping that Yubel would gain the "powers of justice" that "Elemental Hero Neos" would eventually gain, and that it would correct whatever was causing Yubel to harm innocent people), Yubel was sent into outer space by KaibaCorp in a separate satellite from Jaden's contest-winning card designs, the Neo-Spacians. Unlike the Neo-Spacians, Yubel's satellite was exposed to The Light of Destruction, something that Yubel actually meant to help Jaden's past self fight against. The Light caused Yubel to go insane (in the dub, the card absorbed power from what Yubel described as "a darker form of energy" than Neos, which made them powerful but caused them extreme pain).
Yu-Gi-Oh! GX
Dimension World
After an indeterminate amount of time in isolation, Yubel's capsule returned to Earth, though the shock of reentry destroyed all but a single forearm of Yubel's body, which was eventually found by Thelonious Viper. Tricking Viper into helping them with the promise of restoring his adopted son Pierce to life, Yubel coerced him into creating the Bio-Bands and Survival Duels, absorbing the energy produced by them so Yubel could reform their shattered body, and eventually take back Jaden. In the English version, Yubel's goals appear to be far more widespread; they consist of making Jaden suffer for "discarding" them, protecting him from everyone and everything until he needs to defeat a great evil, and to take him for Yubel's own as well.
After Viper was defeated by Jaden, Yubel tricked him into believing his son was alive, making Viper fall off the arena because Yubel had no further use for him (In the English version this is cut out; instead Yubel grabs his face and destroys him out right with their Devil Arm). Yubel then transported Duel Academy into another dimension and possessed Marcel Bonaparte. They turned the students of the displaced faculty into Duel-obsessed zombies (known as Duel Ghouls in the dub) to help fuel the restoration of their body, and eventually secured the Sacred Beasts and made a deal with Adrian Gecko. While possessing Marcel, Yubel challenged Jaden to a Duel, threatening to dispose of the Duel Ghouls if he turned the challenge down, and that they would send everybody back home if Jaden won (although Yubel had no intention of keeping their word). Jaden then faced the Yubel-possessed Marcel, but the Duel was going badly for Jaden until Jesse showed up. Late in the Duel, Yubel left Marcel's body, having gained enough energy to fully restore their own body. Yubel nearly won the Duel using "Chaos Phantasm Armityle", but was stopped by Jesse's "Rainbow Dragon" card. The monsters battling resulted in an explosion that consumes both Jesse and Yubel, although it's later shown that they both survived.
Yubel later reappears in the Duel Monsters Spirit World, possessing Jesse to continue their mission to destroy those who dare separate them from Jaden. Yubel tries to unite all twelve Duel Spirit dimensions together with the "Super Polymerization" card so they may reign over them together with Jaden (in the English version, they states they want to unite the entire universe so that no one feels the pain and loneliness Jaden made them feel). Meanwhile, Yubel also orchestrated the events that led to Jaden's descent into darkness as The Supreme King in order for Jaden to understand Yubel's cruel ideology of love and to complete the card necessary for their plan, "Super Polymerization".
When Yubel first reappears in Jesse's body, they Duel Zane Truesdale after he willingly challenges them. Yubel uses the "Advanced Crystal Beasts", and eventually manages to Summon "Rainbow Dark Dragon", but Yubel has to fend off Zane from winning several times. Zane manages to Summon "Cyber End Dragon" with 16000 ATK, but loses due to the effect of "Power Bond". Despite their victory, Yubel is exhausted from the Duel and returns to their palace to recover their strength, but finds that Adrian Gecko has turned against them in an attempt to unite the twelve dimensions under his own rule. Yubel uses the Sacred Beasts against Adrian's "Exodia" strategy, dismantling both "Exodia" and "Exodius the Ultimate Forbidden Lord", but Adrian removes "Chaos Phantasm Armityle" from the field and begins his efforts to add his "Exodia" pieces back to his hand. Yubel uses their own card to attack and succeeds in defeating Adrian by turning the spirit of Echo against him using their own power, regaining their energy lost from dueling Zane as well as killing Adrian (this is changed to "sent to the stars" in the dub, though death is still heavily implied).
When Jaden finally Duels Yubel to save Jesse, it is revealed that Yubel actually removed Jesse's soul from his body and placed him inside the "Rainbow Dragon" card before taking over. Jaden manages to release Jesse from Yubel's influence, but Yubel manages to force the Duel to a DRAW using "Thousand Buster" and takes the "Super Polymerization" necessary for the completion of Yubel's plans with "Last Trick". Jaden later Duels with Yubel in order to settle the problems between them once and for all. Throughout the Duel, Yubel is repeatedly angered by Jaden's use of the Neo-Spacians, which Yubel felt were replacing Yubel as Jaden's companions. By the end of the Duel, Yubel believes that Jaden will never accept their love, and that he hates them for the suffering they caused him and his friends. Yubel then gives up their goal of ruling the Duel spirit dimensions with Jaden, and instead decides to destroy the dimensions along with Jaden. In the dub, Yubel never abandons their ultimate goals.
Jaden is able to forgive Yubel once he regains his memories from his past life, and vows once more to Yubel that he will love them for all time (in the dub, Jaden understood that Yubel wanted to do good things from the start but took the wrong turn in the process, and promises that the two of them will fight together in the same spirit). He proceeds to fuse their souls using "Super Polymerization", ending the Duel and binding them together for all time. They then leave on a journey to mature together that does not appear to be in the dimension they are in nor Earth.
Darkness
Yubel and Jaden eventually return to Earth and Duel Academia during the same school year. Jaden commonly uses Yubel's abilities during his encounters with Trueman, causing his eyes to change to Yubel's dichromatic colors. Yubel's presence is revealed to Jaden's friends early on, but Yubel themself does not make an appearance until Jaden Duels Nightshroud as the sole human remaining on Earth. Yubel reminds Jaden that he is not alone and bolsters his spirit, allowing Jaden to break Nightshroud's "Darkness" combo, which Yubel mocks as a cheap strategy for a "God". Angered that Yubel has aided Jaden and that they have fused their souls, Nightshroud uses "Darkness Outsider" to Summon "Yubel" to his field against Jaden. Jaden vows to get Yubel back, and he fuses Yubel with "Neos" using "Super Polymerization" into "Neos Wiseman", which turns the Duel in his favor. Nightshroud destroys "Neos Wiseman" with "Darkness Neosphere", and Yubel encourages Jaden to use the effect of "Neos Wiseman" to revive "Neos" by banishing Yubel from the Duel. They reassure Jaden that he is not alone.
Yubel later appears during Jaden's Duel in the past with Yugi Muto, and notes that Yugi was able to sense their presence, while they and Jaden were able to sense the presence of the Egyptian Gods. Yubel notes during the Duel that Jaden's hand is trembling and asks him if he is afraid, but notes that they know that he isn't; Jaden is having fun again.
Yu-Gi-Oh! 3D Bonds Beyond Time
In Yu-Gi-Oh! 3D Bonds Beyond Time, Yubel appears in their spirit form while Jaden is being told of Paradox's plot to eliminate Maximillion Pegasus by Yusei Fudo. After recruiting Yugi and going back thirty minutes before Paradox would attack Pegasus at the party he is to attend, Yubel uses their powers to scare away the other attendees before either Pegasus or Paradox would arrive. Before Jaden Duels Paradox with Yugi and Yusei, his eyes glow and Yubel's spirit appears behind him. Yubel also assists him during the Duel. Later Jaden and Yubel return to their own time.
Decks
Yubel uses a number of Decks in the anime.
Duels
| Opponent(s) | Episode(s) | Outcome |
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| 2 Obelisk Blue students (possessing Marcel Bonaparte) | 122 | Win |
| Adrian Gecko (possessing Marcel Bonaparte) | 127 | No result |
| Jaden Yuki and Jesse Anderson (initially possessing Marcel Bonaparte, later Duels as themself) | 129-130 | DRAW (Jesse), Lose (Jaden) |
| Zane Truesdale (possessing Jesse Anderson) | 147-148 | Win |
| Adrian Gecko (possessing Jesse Anderson) | 149-150 | Win |
| Jaden Yuki (possessing Jesse Anderson for most of the Duel, later briefly Duels as themself) | 151-152 | DRAW |
| Jaden Yuki | 153-155 | No result |
