Thoughts&Observations | Mangá Vol.33 Part 2/3 (The Death of Priest Mahado)

Now I have reached the 2nd part of this volume, when it focuses on Priest Mahado's death and what conducts to it, because his death is very important for his character and his role in the series overall...
It may come more posts per month around 2 or 3 posts and sometimes 4, like old times. :)


Plot Summary:

The next day after the battle against thief Bakura, they were determined to train and practice their ka battle and their teamwork, between the priests being divided in two teams consisted of 3 members each, Team Mahado (Mahado, Isis and Kalim) and Team Akhenaden (Akhenaden, Seto and Shada) while the pharaoh and the vizier are watching their training...Team Mahado showing an exemplary teamwork but Priest Seto fights ruthlessly and mercilessly even with his team members to the point of sacrificing one or three Ka of their teammates to power up his ka and win the battle against team Mahado, priest Seto starts to criticise priest Mahado about his ka and performance and Kalim tries to defend him but priest Seto conceitedly disagrees, since the pharaoh, Dark Yugi didn't approve priest Seto method of winning the match, he does lecture him in going overboard and is willing to give a demonstration by having a match with priest Seto requested by priest Seto himself, Dark Yugi easily wins without summoning a god but a different ka, the kuriboh while pointing out priest Seto weaknesses.
After the training, Mahado is on the outskirts of the palace and senses someone inside one of the decorative vases, asks to come out, introducing a new character that looks very familiar, a young girl named Mana and is Mahado's pupil, her intentions was to see his master off to serve the valley of the kings in order to protect the pharaohs tombs, specially the former king's tomb and has a conversation with the vizier Siamun, when priest Mahado leaves, the conversation continues between the vizier and Mana.
In the valley of the kings, the guards are preparing for something ordered by priest Mahado, putting a stone slab on the outskirts of the former king's tomb and priest Mahado is inside to catch and defeat thief Bakura, thief Bakura sucessfully enters the tomb and there is a match between their Ka, at the end of this fight, priest Mahado sacrifices himself to fuse his Ba with his Ka in becoming the Black Magician/Dark Magician, with his attack, thief Bakura has fallen from the collapsing bridge inside the tomb, it's uncertain if he died or not but priest Mahado shows up in the stone slab outside the tomb as Black Magician/Dark Magician...then is delivered to the pharaoh to give the sad news...


Key Points:

 

Priest Seto methods is quite extreme and ruthless, even before thief Bakura threat, he was little extreme, but here is on a new level that is very unsightly, showing thirst for power, I guess thief Bakura put him on a new level of extreme...he sacrifices the Ka's of his team members in making sure he would achieve victory...Kaiba is also quite similar in this part...

Priest Kalim is quite right, thinking about it, if priest Seto didn't use such method to win, his team would be the one to lose because of Priest Mahado Team having better teamwork than Priest Akhenaden Team.

"Hmph...War isn't won by the number of soldiers...or the number of words. Mark these words, priest Kalim....I'll listen to you after you become a more worthwhile opponent."

To be honest, I quite disagree and agree, but power isn't the answer to win a war or a fight, that's quite naive and short-sighted, but he is right that isn't won by number of soldiers or words, also he does have the same problem as Kaiba, seeing the result of a battle as black and white, only if you win you have the right to say whatever you want and "to be right" and the loser has to bow his head, so conceited and close-minded, this kind of mindset irritates me and I strongly disagree.
Honestly, Priest Seto seems to have a problem with priest Mahado...



If you wish to continue reading click "Read More" below:

 

I like this scene, this is a first time seeing Dark Yugi actually scolding someone who is an ally, usually when his enemy, he tends to be eager in expressing his disagreement but when comes to his allies and subjects like this instance, call out on him first (it isn't with anger, but when a leader calls to give a lecture on someone's behaviour) and when he points it out, he does it calmly and serious with a touch of his caring nature.

Regarding his lecture on Priest Seto, I do pretty much agree, it's not an efficient battle strategy by relying on strength and has weaknesses and as he said:

"True power would never mean hurting your allies...your friends."

Sacrificing your allies or hurting them to make you more powerful blindly like that, you're letting your guard down on other parts...which he will show in the next few key points...

Priest Seto is getting quite ahead of himself with his boldness and thirst for power by challenging the pharaoh...

 

Priest Seto, as we see is quite confident (overconfident, to be more precise) that his ka is on the same or closely matched to the power level of the pharaoh's gods (keep dreaming), despite the vizier shocked at such behaviour from priest challenging the pharaoh to a match and even more seeing the pharaoh agreeing, but he does it calmly as a way to teach that "power"/"strength" isn't the key to a real victory, much less in a war, as way to show, he won't summon any of the gods...Dark Yugi was always someone who doesn't rely on power, that's not his style

 

I actually like a lot that Kuriboh's effect didn't changed much in the modern world compared to the Ancient Egypt timeline, Priest Seto underestimating the pharaoh is a bit insulting for not summoning the gods as if is the only thing he got that he acknowledges as powerful..., and overconfident too...

This is how you win a war, it's about outsmarting your enemy, the true form of battle strategy, it's also Dark Yugi's style using his smarts and quick-thinking and I agree with what he says beside attacking without thinking (which is unexpected from priest Seto, but since he is clearly hot-headed, he can act impulsively)...

"See! Power is a fragile thing."

Power based on brute strength alone, it's technically fragile because it lacks defenses, agility, among other types of strengths, power in itself varies, because technically there is different kinds of powers but even those have their unforeseen weaknesses, political power despite looking quite powerful but is depended on the citizens in the end, judicial power is dangerous while delicate but if it isn't balanced, it will fall into chaos, power of the media, it can be scary but if it fails in credibility is the same as useless, it becomes self-destructive and destructive in general if not balanced.

From the sound of it, priest Mahado position seems to be an important one, it's also nice to see Dark Yugi starting to get into his role as pharaoh and the duties that comes with his position as ruler of his country, what's curious is that he doesn't speak awkwardly anymore here...

Vizier Siamun is quite right if they repair, the tragedy would repeat, so is pointless, the best it can be done is using as many guards as he can...

 

New trap...hmmm

Seriously, Priest Seto seems to have a problem with Mahado and he says this:

"Hmph...Mahado...you won't get a second chance to clear your name. The next time the pharaoh's tomb is robbed, you will be stripped of the priesthood!"

I wonder why priest Seto seems to pick on him, maybe it has to do with the fact that Mahado and the current pharaoh had been friends since childhood? (which is implied), Dark Yugi calls priest Mahado by name only, while priest Seto by title and name, Priest Seto may not be satisfied with his own position and prefer to have priest Mahado's position and also being a good chance to catch thief Bakura, he may think that Mahado became one of the priests due to have a close bond with the pharaoh...and I think priest Seto is being quite unfair with him and getting arrogant ideas as if he is his boss to decide about priest Mahado's fate, however priest Mahado's reaction to these words suggests that he silently agrees with priest Seto, as the vizier rightfully says, that's up for the pharaoh to decide (further implying that it might be the case why priest Seto has a problem with Priest Mahado)...plus Dark Yugi is giving good advice to Priest Mahado and implying that is very important to him that he protects his father's tomb.

 

Mana in the anime is a bit different from here in the manga, who is priest Mahado's pupil is a also displayed as pharaoh's childhood friend, as much as I hate to admit it, the anime makes it more clear, in the manga is just implied, Mana is very familiar too(she is the most obvious one, even more than Mahado), I do like the reference from the vizier about when Dark Yugi was younger, he did the same thing as Mana hiding in these pots, which shows he was bit playful (a side of him that we sometimes we see of him, just not often).

Vizier Siamun reminding him his duties to mainly focus on that, if the royal tombs are to be reinforced and inspected, it will be more difficult for thief Bakura to slip by, but priest Mahado suspects something and is preparing himself for it...

 

Vizier Siamun guessed well what priest Mahado is thinking, in fighting thief Bakura, but when you think logically, if he is to come back again to try to defile a second time the former king royal tomb, priest Mahado won't have a choice but to fight him anyway to defend the former king's tomb, even vizier is right that the only way to defeat him is with the pharaoh and the priests together, but still inevitable for priest Mahado to fight him alone because he is the one in charge of the position to begin with in protecting the royal tombs.

Another note, vizier Siamun always address him by his name only, which shows that they are close and knows him for years, probably since he was kid, then again implying he pharaoh's childhood friend...

I also find this scene quite interesting, when priest Mahado mentions that demon ka is born and grown from a person's hatred...vizier replies:

"Not just hatred...the ka grows with strength of the heart."

I like this line and I agree with it, I'm someone who believes the true strength comes from the strength of heart (inner strength, the heart of the self), even priest Mahado did put these words into thought and tells that...

"Then in place of hatred, I have my devotion to the pharaoh! My faith in him cannot die!"

One individual's strength varies, Yugi is kindness, Dark Yugi is his protective nature, Anzu in giving advice, Jounouchi is loyalty and fighting spirit, Honda is support, priest Mahado here is devotion and loyalty to his ruler...

Priest Mahado is mostly right, the pharaoh wouldn't execute him though, the chance to fail again could make him lose his job, that is very likely, but due to limited resources during this time, he is doing the bes that can be done with the limited resources, from the looks of it there is no specialised fighters either, I guess the peaceful 40 or 39 years of ruling, made the guards and the priests stale in their fighting and defending skills.

Since priest Mahado is sure that he will fight thief Bakura alone, since thief Bakura couldn't take all the priests and the pharaoh by himself, so priest Mahado suspects he will obviously go one by one first to have more increased chances in getting their millenium items, being it very likely to happen, since is most possible that he will die fighting thief Bakura, he is preparing something that he put his life on the line, he will die protecting the king's tomb if it needs to.

 

This is quite a fascinating reveal is that he didn't go all out, because most of his magic power was actually sealed in the millenium ring, for what reasons did he do such a thing, he only uses summoning magic as the other priests, it could be the reason why priest Seto has a problem with him because he might have noticed, priest Seto is prideful and he might consider this an insult for not going all out, but I don't think he knows this, so it isn't the case, if the vizier didn't even knew, from the looks of it, only Mana knows that most of his magical power are sealed...the other interesting fact is that he did this 5 years ago when he became one of the priests, the day he started to wear the millenium ring, this foreshadows that he knew of the evil within the millenium ring and must have been on this same day that he got to know about it as well...

This scene alone is already foreshadowing his death, even priest Mahado knows he will die the moment thief Bakura appears, because he suspects will go after him and his millenium ring, so he thought ahead about it, once he dies, the tomb will be sealed and his soul will appear in the stone slab, his spirit ka resembles Black/Dark Magician and Mahado face resembles it too, which implies something, the readers already suspected...but how will it happen exactly, we can't be sure at this time...

 

Thief Bakura is a grave mistake underestimating your enemy, it's a small advantage for priest Mahado because  his enemy never saw him fight to his full potential, here he reveals the reason why he holds back, because his magic power (heka) is so powerful that he has to worry about innocent bystanders, in this moment reveals that he knows of the evil power within the millenium ring but he is resistant to it, his magic can protect him from it for now and tells the result of what happens if you don't have enough, the individual will die, but I find it curious is when he says this line:

"The millenium ring hides a dark power...it must have absorbed the evil of the last priest who wore it...for now, my magic keeps the evil at bay..."

In this line, we have the confirmation that he knew the evil within the millenium items, remember the the post from the last part of volume 1 left clues and pointed them out..., the question is why did he omitted and the same can be applied to priest Akhenaden, since priest Mahado sealed his magic to protect himself from the evil power within from the day he become a priest (he only got to know on this day), the curious part is that the millenium ring absorbed the evil from the previous wielder, we can assume he was a sorcerer like Mahado and Mana, possibly he was also involved in the creation of the millenium items...

 

This spell he speaks of, it's the foreshadowing of him to become the Black/Dark Magician we know, by fusing his Ba with his Ka, but that means giving his life, fusion of Ba and Ka is unheard of, but this won't be the only case here...but is a little different due to different circumstances...this line is very important about his character in this moment to in the future, that includes in the modern age...

"Pharaoh...My soul is your eternal servant..."

Mahado is pretty much making a promise to himself in becoming a sort of spirit guardian to the pharaoh due to his devotion and faith in him, this much devotion we usually see in characters or people whose job being a butler, steward or governess, etc, the kind of job that requires loyalty and devotion to the family they serve (however I do consider the possibility to be some romantic feelings for the pharaoh, but I think is most likely the kind of devotion you would see from the jobs I mentioned, there is characters very similar to him, such Frederick from Fire Emblem Awakening, Jakob from Fire Emblem Fates, Emile from The Prince and The Dressmaker and Raven from Hakushaku to Yousei/ The Earl and The Fairy, just to name a few examples).

 

Wow, what a death, at least it was quick...by the way thief Bakura..are you deaf? he just said he would fuse his Ba with his Ka by giving his life, dammit...The moment when Mahado becomes the Dark/Black Magician that we know plus Yugi and Dark Yugi's ace monster.
On the subject of someone fusing his or already fused Ba with his Ka (soul with his spirit), according to the lore about the Ba and Ka in this post , where I wrote about the Ka representing the manifestation and reflection of the subconscious and emotions and the Ba being the self and conscious of the individual, making all of that into one, technically it would make the individual as a whole, completed and true and full form and awareness of the self, this part of the lore will get more complex once we reach part 3 and 4 of Volume 4 of Memory World.

 

The signature attack of Black/Dark Magician, as we see, his attack is quite powerful (well it is a powerful monster card with 2500 ATK with 2100 DEF, only a few cards can surpass it), his attack was so powerful that not only made thief Bakura take a lot of damage but also lose balance and fall into the abyss, this is how when Mahado goes all out but since he has given life to fuse his Ba with his Ka...

 

Honestly, priest Seto...I do understand his worries about thief Bakura but don't say "Never mind that" regarding Mahado's death, that's insensitive (and I'm usually insensitive myself).

Dark Yugi seeing Mahado's inside the stone tablet while recognising being his ace and favourite card, Dark Yugi did understood well Mahado's intentions with this, in not just his unwavering loyalty to him but thinking ahead by always protecting the pharaoh even in his afterlife, technically he did this, Dark Yugi suspects it might be related like how Black Magician acted on his own during his duel against Pandora , he also understood better Black Magician action from that duel, because the spirit of the card already knew Dark Yugi was the pharaoh, he understood, accept, respect and very moved his choice of sacrificing himself in order to protect the pharaoh even in afterlife but that doesn't mean he agrees with it, the fact that he usually calls him by name implying they were childhood friends, it also hints that the memories of his childhood have been restored (we'll see further proof as we advance).

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