Strings

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Strings
Strings
English name
  • Strings
Japanese translated
  • Pantomimer
Other names
  • Doll
  • Quiet One
Japanese name
Japaneseパントマイマー
RōmajiPantomaimā
Other language names
Arabic
  • الصامت
Gender
  • Male
OrganizationRare Hunters
Tournament Position
Battle City Did not place
DeckSlime/Slifer
Other Decks
Nightmare
Troubadour
  • Aqua Slime Deck
WC 2004
  • High Defense
Anime debutYu-Gi-Oh! episode 06565: "Mime Control, Part 1"
Video game debutYu-Gi-Oh! Worldwide Edition: Stairway to the Destined Duel
Appears in
Anime
Game Boy Advance
Nintendo DS
Other language voices
German
  • Gerald Schaale
Strings

Strings, also known as the Quiet One, and known in the Japanese version as Doll (人形にんぎょう, Ningyō) or Pantomimer (パントマイマ, Pantomimer), is a character in the Yu-Gi-Oh! anime. He is one of Marik Ishtar's Rare Hunters during the Battle City arc.

Design[edit]

Strings lineart

Strings is bald, has pointed ears, and his perpetually wide eyes are surrounded by heavy black circles and have very small blue pupils. He has many piercings all over his head: three near his right eye, one on each ear, three near his lip, one nose ring, and one lip piercing. He wears a black shirt and red pants with yellow suspenders. He wears a green bag across his chest, which is used to hold his Duel Disk. He wears large black shoes and has a pair of studded cuffs on each of his arms, with one at his wrist and one near his shoulder. He also wears a chain around his neck with a keyhole pendant at the bottom. When he is under Marik's control (which is whenever he is not standing motionless), a gold Eye of Wdjat appears on his forehead.

In Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters IV: Battle of Great Duelist, the Doll was shown in a different attire; a short-sleeved yellow shirt, and blue pants. This appearance was carried over for Yu-Gi-Oh! Nightmare Troubadour.

Biography[edit]

Strings was a mime that went mad after killing his parents, and sealed his own conscience away out of guilt. Eventually, he fell under Marik's mind control, and was easily bent to his will due to his crushed mind. At first, he appears to be a stationary mime in the park and is a curiosity for many of the people there, but when Marik takes control of him, he goes to confront Yugi and Duel him.

Strings himself is entirely devoid of personality, and is merely a shell for Marik's will; Marik programmed Strings to kill Yugi at all cost should he win the Duel against him.

Marik using the God Five combo to overwhelm Yugi.

Strings has a huge advantage up his sleeve: the Egyptian God Card "Slifer the Sky Dragon". The Egyptian Gods normally do not obey one without a Millennium Item, but Strings' empty mind allowed Marik to bypass this restriction: he commanded the obedience of "Slifer" without having to be present. However, Strings' lack of mental awareness also served another end: he had no conscience and could feel no pain, and so would hold nothing back. After Strings' loss to Yugi, Marik decided to talk through Strings one last time, then released control of him as he collapsed.

Using a five-card combo involving "Slifer", "Revival Jam", "Infinite Cards", "Jam Defender", and "Card of Safe Return", Strings puts Yami in a tight situation. Every time he attacks, Strings can redirect the attack to "Revival Jam", which regenerates itself after being destroyed, and thanks to "Card of Safe Return", he draws three cards from his Deck whenever this happens; because of "Infinite Cards", he can hold as many cards as he wants. With the ATK and DEF of "Slifer" proportional to the number of cards its controller holds, and with "Revival Jam" able to absorb and reform from any attack Yugi is able to make with the aid of "Jam Defender", Marik boasts the strategy is unbeatable.

Yami is just about to give up until Kaiba arrives and encourages him to fight on. The two manage to figure out the weakness of this combo and turn it against Marik. Yami attacks "Revival Jam" with "Buster Blader", and then uses "Brain Control" to take control of "Revival Jam" as it regenerates - this causes it to regenerate under his control, forcing "Slifer" to attack and destroy it with its second mouth. As "Revival Jam" regenerates again, Strings is forced to draw three more cards due to "Card of Safe Return", before "Slifer" attacks "Revival Jam" again, since it reformed under Yami's control. This creates an infinite loop that only ends once Strings' Deck is empty, causing him to lose the Duel through a Deck Out. Yami obtains "Slifer" for his victory.

Marik's memory of Strings is erased.

Strings' only additional appearance was during Yami Marik's Duel with Mai Valentine at the Battle City Finals. After Marik's "Makyura the Destructor" was destroyed during their Shadow Game, Marik's memory of Strings was erased, though Marik declared that no one in his mind was worth remembering anyway.

Deck[edit]

Strings uses a Slifer Deck, which focuses on getting cards in Strings' hand to increase the ATK of "Slifer the Sky Dragon" to terrifyingly high levels, making it virtually invincible. Other than that, it appears to be a Slime Deck, focused on defending until Strings can draw and Summon "Slifer". The amorphous forms of the Slimes could represent Strings' mind being formed and shaped by Marik.

Strings' ultimate strategy is to get five specific cards out onto the field, which, in the manga and original Japanese anime, is called the "God Five" combo. These five cards are as follows:

  • "Slifer": The main attack force with nearly unlimited ATK, also able to severely weaken if not outright destroy the opponent's monsters even on the opponent's turn.
  • "Revival Jam": The ultimate defense, to block any attack or counterattack and immediately revive itself afterward.
  • "Jam Defender": To allow "Revival Jam" to intercept any attack or counterattack aimed at "Slifer".
  • "Card of Safe Return": Each time "Revival Jam" revives, Strings draws three cards, allowing "Slifer" to gain 3000 extra ATK.
  • "Infinite Cards": Removes the six-card hand limit, allowing the ATK of "Slifer" to climb virtually without limit.

However, despite Marik's claim that this combo will allow "Slifer" to be completely indestructible, Yami Yugi proved otherwise, as he took control of "Revival Jam", forcing the effect of "Slifer" to constantly destroy the reviving monster, while Strings' own "Card of Safe Return" forced him to keep drawing until a Deck out occurred, thus causing him to lose. According to Kaiba, the combo's greatest weakness is that the ATK of "Slifer" is limited by the number of cards within the player's Deck.

Yami Marik re-uses various cards used by Strings during the Battle City finals.

Duels[edit]

Opponent(s) Episode(s) Outcome
Yugi Muto/Yami Yugi 65-67 Lose (posessed by Marik Ishtar)

Other appearances[edit]

The Doll appears under Marik's control, as in Battle City in Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters IV: Battle of Great Duelist, in which the player will have to fight against Slifer the Sky Dragon. Strings also appears as a Duelist in Yu-Gi-Oh! The Eternal Duelist Soul, Yu-Gi-Oh! Worldwide Edition: Stairway to the Destined Duel, Yu-Gi-Oh! Dawn of Destiny and Yu-Gi-Oh! Nightmare Troubadour (lacking "Slifer" in his Decks). When not under Marik's control, Strings is only capable of communicating basic sentences (sometimes not speaking at all).

Notes[edit]

  1. a b c A second copy can be seen in the anime after Strings drops his hand while Yami is explaining his infinite loop combo in episode 67.
  2. The artwork of this card was mistakenly that of "De-Fusion" in the English version of the anime.