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| Hellos!! |
So that last post was pretty long, huh?
Despite some of the difficulties around this year with the Covid, so stay strong and stay safe.
As for the post, originally I was thinking the Shadi's arc to be divided in 2 posts for later to realize, it's too many panels for one post, so Shadi's arc will be divided in 3 posts, which will make it a lot smaller and faster to write too, I might have to do the same with Episodic Arcs post after it like divided in 2 posts instead of all in 1 of each volume...it means more posts, but more well divided and distributed.
"But still...Ever since I completed this puzzle, there's been times when I lose my memory...I'd better not tell everyone...They'd think it was creepy..."
This shows that Yugi has been aware for quite sometime and noticing these "blackouts" as a strange occurrence for him not remembering certain timings, when Dark Yugi took over...he is starting to get some suspicions besides it's power helping to find someone (like we seen in previous post to find Jounouchi in "Hirutani's Torture Chamber" (😑), also he is worried that they would distance themselves from him if they knew, so he doesn't say anything, I can see his side on this and would probably do the same, but not for the same reasons, it can cause worry or not believing in you and joke about it...or don't take it seriously...however if Yugi told them, they would be worried though.
Plot Summary:
In Domino Museum will be hosting a Ancient Egypt exhibit, a friend of Sugoroku (Yugi's grandpa) invites Sugoroku and his grandson&co to visit and see the exhibit on Sunday.
Sunday comes, everyone is at the meeting place (front of the museum), the ones present to welcome them, introducing themselves Sugoroku's friend, Professor Yoshimori and Director or Owner of the Domino Museum, Mr. Kanekura, Mr. Kanekura reminds prof. Yoshimori to talk about the boy who solved the millennium puzzle, Mr. Kanekura requests Yugi if he could borrow his millennium puzzle for the Egyptian Exhibit for one day, Yugi reluctantly accepts the request since being for one day.
The exhibit goes smoothly without a hitch, however Mr.Kanekura is talking with a collector while showing to this collector the millennium puzzle, who is very interested in buying the artefact, Mr.Kanekura wants to sell it after the exhibit for the day in hiding it from Yugi then later give him money to "shut him up" (that wouldn't work anyway), while the Exhibit goes on, Yugi meets a mysterious man wearing a white robe and turban who was crying in front a mummy of a pharaoh...pats Yugi in the head mistaking him for a child.
After Yugi watched the Day 1 of the Egyptian Exhibit , Yugi waits for 10 minutes before it closes so he could go to Mr.Kanekura to get back his millennium puzzle, as he waits, the mysterious man comes to Mr.Kanekura's office, with the collector already dead...the mysterious man uses a magical artefact shaped like a balance scale, uses a feather from his turban and put in one of the levers in his balance scale and challenges Mr.Kanekura to a shadow game with morality-truth based questions...taking to Mr.Kanekura's death... notices the millinuium puzzle and he is shocked someone solved it and curious who did it and takes the millennium puzzle, the mysterious man leaves the room and meets Yugi again, Yugi asks about his millennium puzzle, the mysterious man is shocked the boy he met before was the one who solved it, so he uses another magical artefact shaped like a key and Ankh symbol named Millennium Key to see the boy's room of soul...
To the mysterious man shock, all he sees a corridor with two rooms of soul, he takes a peek to one of the rooms of soul with a door open, this door has toys and games which reflects and reveals to be Yugi's room of soul, then looks at the other room of soul, it's door is closed, the mysterious man gets closer, the door of the "other room of soul" starts to slowly open and sees another individual inside...Dark Yugi, the mysterious man enters Dark Yugi's room of soul, analyses the room, Dark Yugi then inquires who he is and his motives, the mysterious man says he is a wielder of two millennium items (Millennium Key and Millennium Scales-the balance scale shaped magical artefact) and explains it's powers, intent to investigate Dark Yugi's room of soul which is still dark and can't see almost nothing, so Dark Yugi challenges the mysterious man (he didn't give his name yet) to a game in finding the "true room" of his soul, his room of soul lights up to be revealed to be in form of a maze to hide Dark Yugi's "true room of soul", the mysterious man accepts the challenge.
The mysterious man has no success in finding the "true room" that he falls to one of the "maze" room's traps, Dark Yugi helps him get out of the trap, he asks the mysterious man that would be best for him to leave, the mysterious man questions if he lost the game, Dark Yugi responds that might be a beginning then the mysterious man exists Dark Yugi's room of soul to the corridor of rooms of souls to leave their mind and rooms of souls.
Key Points:
This is one of the moments I have been waiting for, this is after Yugi told them about the Ancient Egypt Exhibit and that they were invited to visit the museum, the Opening Day they start the exhibit...Anzu brings up the Egypt as being an mystical place and also where Yugi's pendant (Millennium Puzzle was/Pendant in the past), however she reminds us the readers and Yugi about it's rumour according to his grandpa that the archaeologists who found it all died mysterious deaths...(reference to chapter 1), Jounouchi gets worried about Yugi if he is cursed, Jounouchi seems very scared of supernatural stuff, Yugi says he isn't and asks Anzu to not scare him, getting to the point at hand now brought up by Anzu and Jounouchi...Yugi inner monologue:
"But still...Ever since I completed this puzzle, there's been times when I lose my memory...I'd better not tell everyone...They'd think it was creepy..."
This shows that Yugi has been aware for quite sometime and noticing these "blackouts" as a strange occurrence for him not remembering certain timings, when Dark Yugi took over...he is starting to get some suspicions besides it's power helping to find someone (like we seen in previous post to find Jounouchi in "Hirutani's Torture Chamber" (😑), also he is worried that they would distance themselves from him if they knew, so he doesn't say anything, I can see his side on this and would probably do the same, but not for the same reasons, it can cause worry or not believing in you and joke about it...or don't take it seriously...however if Yugi told them, they would be worried though.
Before we get to introduction of these new characters, I want to point out some funny details about Yugi in this moment , so when they arrived, Anzu, Jounouchi, Honda all dress up and Yugi's grandpa wearing his usual overall that we see him wearing for most of the series, Yugi on the other hand is wearing his high school uniform, that Jounouchi brings up:
Jounouchi: "Yugi...don't wear school uniform on the weekends..."
Yugi: "... Why not?"
Apparently Yugi wears his "high school uniform" on weekends when goes out and this day is Sunday no less, I wonder what is the reason 😂, Yugi ponders a little then responds with a question, honestly is not difficult to guess the reason, Yugi maybe kinda good at hiding them but is clear he has complex about his height and "child-like" appearance, acts as an airhead "why not wear it on weekends?".
Now getting into introduction of Professor Yoshimori and Mr.Kanekura, as we see here, Yugi's grandpa is someone with a lots of connections, more specifically with archaeologists (his american friend, Arthur the one who gave him the Blue Eyes White Dragon who was also a gamer, in the filler anime he is archaeologist and gamer), however he didn't knew Mr.Kanekura, he funded the excavation in Egypt and is sponsoring the exhibit, he is the owner or Director of Domino Museum currently...I will bring him later close to the end... (Bakura's father).
If you wish to continue reading, please click "Read More" below:
In this particular Panels Ensemble, we see then there was "ulterior motives" in inviting them to come visit the museum from that "whisper talk" between Mr.Kanekura and Prof. Yoshimori, you can tell he was kinda forced to do this and also implies the kind of person he is, so Prof. Yoshimori asked his friend Sugoroku that he was told his grandson solved the millennium puzzle and exclaimed by seeing his grandson and his millennium puzzle...as for Mr.Kanekura is freaking obvious that he even is drooling of greed (yeah, that drool over there from his mouth...gross), he says:
"That's it! The Legendary Millennium Puzzle?! You must show it to me!"
What I find interesting in what he said is the "legendary millennium puzzle", experts including archaeologists must have investigated and analysed it if was the "real deal" after Sugoroku was able get it by beating the "shadow game" in the pharaoh tomb of a nameless pharaoh, because no one was ever be able to go further into the tomb as Sugoroku did, besides he has a friend or two who are archaeologists, for a gamer himself who must know it's history very well and having connections like these gets him to know more about games, as for it's "legendary" rank artefact, which makes Yugi's millennium very valuable and I would further say this can be applied to the other millennium items as very valuable historical artefacts from Ancient Egypt, there is one of kind of each item, they are 7 and are unique.
As to why would Sugoroku had the rights in possession of the millennium puzzle, for starters as we know over the course of the series be it in chapter one and DDM arc informed by Ryuji, Mr.Otogi (Mr. Clown), Yami Bakura and later by other character in this update and Monster World with Yami Bakura, that no one was ever be able to solve it, which means there was constant tries archaeologists, experts, maybe even by Sugoroku himself or not for keeping it hidden in the shelf...
He could have sold it if he wanted to at anytime just from this interaction when he said to his friend that he talked about "I did tell you that, didn't I...", as if suspicious of Mr.Kanekura intentions already and also he must have actually been requested by experts and collectors many times, Sugoroku may have talked about "how much is that worth it" with Yugi and him saying to his grandpa "you just want to sell it" in chapter 1, when in fact he could have done it at anytime if he actually wanted to sell it, so kept it for himself or to solve it one day or to give to his "successor" so he could have left a legacy in games.
As we can see, Mr. Kanekura holds the eyes of greed looking at the millennium puzzle...but he does mention some interesting things, that has been hinting who Dark Yugi really was..., I'll start quoting him:
"T...This is wonderful! Such an important piece of pharaonic history...and it's hanging around your neck!"
Lots of implications from the get-go that the millennium puzzle relates to the pharaonic history means by the history when Ancient Egypt was ruled by a pharaoh, the term itself is self-explanatory anyway, the way the man emphasizes being a "such important piece" of history as very important , I mean, it came from a Tomb of the Valley of the Kings, whose pharaoh they still don't know the name at this time, that many archaeologists died in the process even getting this artefact and not ever be able to until Sugoroku did it, these are another early hints of Dark Yugi being a spirit of pharaoh inside the millennium puzzle.
This speaking of Mr.Kanekura, I want to emphasize about him speaking about how millennium puzzle is a very important piece of pharaonic history to is "hanging around your neck", shows his passive-agressive characteristic and nature, he admires this piece and awareness of it's value while having a hidden anger of Yugi's ignorance and lacking awareness of it's importance and value (I can understand that only a little, more as dangerous hanging around his neck something made of real gold around, I'm still surprised he hasn't been robbed, assaulted or kidnaped because of it).
A quote from prof. Yoshimori, that more or less reveals to the readers Mr. Kanekura real intent:
"Kanekura makes his living in the art business. He has an eye for antiques!"
I think, most people or should I say is kinda common knowledge, an art dealer usually makes shady practices, usually they can tell from genuine and fake, but they sell forgeries many times as if is genuine even knowing full well is a forgery or even a forgery they requested themselves, sometimes even genuine in behind-the-scenes...like it is this case.
Yugi is surprised that is very valuable...Yugi...he knew it was valuable, but extremely...not much.
I like the Yugi's inner monologue after the man asked to showcase in the museum...:
"What should I do? I can't let go of my treasure for that long..."
Then agree for one day, it shows Yugi is already very attached to his millennium puzzle as "my treasure", if you remember at the end of the manga when the millennium puzzle had fallen when the underground shrine collapsed after Pharaoh Atem went to afterlife, he was sorry about his millennium puzzle not to see ever again, so Yugi's attachment to the millennium puzzle is not just because of "other me", he spent 8 years trying to solve it, so is pretty difficult to let go for him so early in the story.
Yugi not feeling comfortable without his millennium puzzle, not only just became a habit and also this is his intuition speaking too, something was off with a complete stranger asking to exhibit his millennium puzzle and satisfied for one day...
As for Prof. Yoshimori, I like his character, I wanted to put more panels about him regarding his job as archaeologist (trivia from him is that his job is actually one of the worst paid jobs), as a character in this panel shows overall he is a nice person, he kinda indirectly reveals why they were invited and requested by Mr.Kanekura and to bring up the millennium puzzle topic, you can tell even to Prof. Yoshimori didn't felt fine in conscience, the reasons he is so passive and lenient with Mr. Kanekura despite being quite self-centered and other things (greedy) it's because he is the one who funded the expedition he worked on and are showcasing in this exhibit, for Prof. Yoshimori isn't in a position to complain...I can understand that.
"These tears are not mine...This shrivelled form...he has become a doll of dust...but still he is the eternal pharaoh...his spirit lives on with his name. Even the eternal sleep is denied him...the cry of his soul becomes "tears and flows down my cheeks..."
I want to refer to this scene in particular because of what he says in this scene, this will involve the Memory World arc...
As is later revealed around the appearance of and calling himself Hasan being the guardian spirit of pharaohs, later at the end being Shadi, so we can say Shadi is some sort of "representative" of Pharaohs spirits, what he says though curiously can be applied to Dark Yugi/Atem too in this situation, Atem in his dying moments sealed his soul into the millennium "pendant" by breaking into pieces then becoming the "millennium puzzle", he wasn't really resting if you think about it, still in "pieces" of the millennium pendant/puzzle, not ever once gone to afterlife, now Atem has been "reseted"or "formatted" into Dark Yugi with no memories, even less of a "rest" he is in, he has to get his memories back before going to afterlife and have his rest in peace...
Another curious thing, is when he says "still he is the eternal pharaoh...his spirit lives on with his name.", can it be applied to Dark Yugi/Atem too? it can but albeit different sense in his case...as we know for a very long time after his death, his name was "erased" in the records except one place...his tomb where is supposed to start or represent his eternal sleep, in Dark Yugi's "subsconscious" in the world of his memories, it's possible this some of the clues/riddle that Takahashi-sensei has this idea and concept in mind since the beginning, but like to any storyteller, the development is always the tricky part and more "entangled" when writing and telling a story.
The last moment in this scene is the funny one, when Mysterious Man for now, mistakes Yugi for a child instead of a high schooler:
Mysterious man/Shadi: "heh. You're a nice little boy..."
*he turns around*
Yugi's inner monologue: "Little boy?! I'm in high school! Weird Egyptian!"
😂 This moment is just too funny to not mention, from the sound of it...the mysterious man doesn't seem to know much Japan's culture and its customs, besides this uniform is pretty similar to middle school uniforms, however in middle school you're not a child anymore but not a teen yet (you're on your preteens)...This kinda confirms what I said in the 2nd key point, one of the reasons why he wears his high school uniform on weekends is for this...so people won't mistake him for a child, he acts like he doesn't know or an airhead, but as we see here, he is very well aware and very conscious that he looks like a child appearance wise, but hides it and has an inferiority complex about his appearance and height.
Also Yugi noticing something odd about him as he was carrying scale.
Yugi: "Hey, Anzu, I saw this egyptian guy..."
Anzu: "huh...?! I don't see anyone..."
From the looks of it, only the gang and Yugi's grandpa, Prof Yoshimori and the man talking with Mr. Kanekura were invited by Mr.Kanekura to see the opening early and present for the time being, plus Anzu couldn't see him, probably no one else at the moment besides Yugi can see him, it's pretty obvious the mysterious egyptian man to the readers that he wields two millennium items, also as reminder Yugi isn't wielding the millennium puzzle at the moment, we can easily assume is a "chosen by the millennium item" condition also as the one who solve the millennium puzzle, lastly he is the host of the pharaoh soul for Yugi to be the only one who can see him in this moment, I think there is other elements to it... but that will be much later, even after Dark Side Dimensions analysis.
So there is this "creepy" looking man talking with Mr.Kanekura, who wants to buy at any price the millennium puzzle, let's call him Mr.Collector, since we don't know his name anyway.
As we see, Mr. Kanekura is talking with someone who is clearly very rich and is a collector of antiques, from their exchange alone you can tell Mr. Kanekura set the museum exhibit and display the millennium puzzle to show to this man the real deal on display more to the Mr. Collector to see the artefact - the millennium puzzle, as a potential customer to sell an artefact, it seems his customer was getting really excited that even Mr. Kanekura had to shut him up and in a low voice, which means he intended to sell the millennium puzzle in secret from Yugi until it was too late, also the bastard thought of giving money to Yugi, to shut him up once he would know too late...dude...that wouldn't work...
Most of the time art dealers are shady or do shady business practices, this is common practice and including using forgeries on purpose for money.
Here is Mr.Kanekura greedily looking at the millennium puzzle thinking everything is going his way...then we see Mr.Collector at his door and knocking the door, then we see in the last panels, another person just arrived and killed Mr. Collector, now entering Mr.Kanekura's office, it's pretty easy to guess who is this other person who just barged in quietly...the mysterious man/Shadi.
The main reason why I even implemented this scene for key point is that Shadi is a ruthless millennium wielder, Pegasus is the same, Yami Marik, Marik, Yami Bakura is an odd case, he is ruthless, he doesn't exactly go for kill or gives a "very slow death", he is more of a sadistic individual but get to the kill quick if he wants to...I'm still not done with this subject...This is more of a "introduction".
The mysterious man claims as his bloodline guarded his tombs for 3000 years and servant of Anubis....Anubis is the egyptian god of death.
This is important for later...of what Shadi/mysterious man says here:
"My bloodline has guarded the tombs for 3000 years. I am a servant of Anubis"
What I want to take attention is that when he says, he is mentioning the Tomb Keepers/Guardians for the first time here, also the way he says "my bloodline" sounds like he is the first generation or is the "main head"...as later we found that is implied that he might be from the first generation and the one founded/created this clan...we all know it's true intent of this clan...to guard the Nameless Pharaoh's memories...Pharaoh Atem's memories, technically.
Another thing I also want to bring up is the interaction overall between Shadi and Mr. Kanekura, he says Mr. Kanekura will go on "trial" for trespassing the tombs of pharaohs in the Valley of the Kings, however in terms, he speaks after this page being this "trial" is a shadow game...as for Mr. Kanekura he comments something interesting:
"I get it! You're from the Egyptian Government! I don't sell antiquities on the Black Market!!"
The guts of this guy! 😠 Technically what he was about to do and his method with the millennium puzzle is illegal, you were going to sell an artefact to someone's else without the owner being informed, without even asking his permission, it's not really different from selling in the Black Market.
This is the result of the shadow game, even though the creature is an illusion but the feel and intent is real, the whole shadow game, but the intent is to show the true nature of their opponents and exploit it to their advantage, Dark Yugi did a few times, this man does the same, the caster of the shadow game always has the advantage and can have more advantage against another millennium item wielder, examples such as Pegasus (the caster) VS Dark Yugi/Yugi, Yami Marik(the caster) VS Yami Bakura, Yami Marik(the caster) VS Dark Yugi, Yami Bakura VS the gang (Monster World and Shadow RPG Memory World).
The mysterious man/Shadi is one of those characters when is to "punish" someone for evil deeds, in this case "trespassing"(excavation) to a pharaoh tomb, he goes for the kill (I'm trying to imply something in comparison to Dark Yugi, in his cases are different, opens a bit of an exception if his life and someone else life is in real danger like the criminal fugitive with a gun pointed at his face and friend).
Another thing, after this man's death, someone will have his position in the museum...Ryou Bakura's father, who is referred in Memory World Arc and Dark Side of Dimensions movie.
After using the millennium scale to low key kill someone, then he speaks why that monster appeared in front of him, the name of the monster being Ammit, he speaks about his other millennium item quality item to him, as millennium key...going to quote him:
"Everyone has a room of the soul...My Millennium Key can open the door. The room of your soul is filled with the decaying scent of money and greed. Monsters like Ammit enjoy making their homes there. You will be eaten alive by the illusion born of your own crimes!"
He was talking to Mr.Kanekura as he was being eaten alive by his crimes... to be honest he is not wrong about have been made crimes, I don't mean "trespassing" since there was authorization, but as a shady art dealer we have seen earlier and doing it illegally, he may have gotten the authorization for the excavation through illegal means too....
Another detail to point out on how he literally said this illusion he built was meant to eat him alive, in other words, he is murdering the man, this is no self-defence situation or anything, he was following his own agenda of justice of his bloodline...he could have given the temporary illusion to last for a few days or a day, like Dark Yugi usually does at this time, but Shadi/mysterious man didn't (among others).
Okay, this is when it gets interesting and albeit confusing..., I'll quote Shadi's inner monologue:
"Th...This is the Millennium Puzzle!! And in it's completed form...! In three thousand years, it hasn't been solved once...!! Why is it here?!! Does it mean someone in this country has solved the puzzle?! Who in the world could it be?!"
There will be a lot of mentions from what happens ahead and before this chapter (specifically chapter 1) back and forth.
To start off with Shadi mention that "in three thousand years, it hasn't been solved once...!!", does it been attempted to be solved before? I mean before they put the millennium puzzle in it's "previous wielder" tomb / pharaoh Atem tomb, it seems to imply as much, then there is of course, no archaeologists were ever be able to pass or solve the Pharaoh tomb where the millennium puzzle came from until Sugoroku came along, however they weren't ever be able to know the pharaoh name, possibly because Sugoroku didin't know how to read the hieroglyphs but could subconsciously read for the most part due to his connection with pharaoh's vizier except for his name or maybe he did? it's up in the air...because where the millnnium puzzle stood in the pharaoh Atem 's tomb was where his Name also was, in fact it's the only place where his name hasn't been scratched and king-list temples and the pharaoh tomb that no one couldn't go further until Sugoroku(real life) and the gang (Memory World).
This is more confusing than it looks, because the king-list temples is the list of the early pharaohs, so all of them wouldn't be there, according to Ishizu, it was around the New Kingdom period (Atem is a 18th dynasty pharaoh in this work of fiction), in the king-list temples unless in these temples includes "Egyptian chronology" alas "Conventional Egyptian Chronology", which is where another place would be most likely be found, however Ishizu said that was "not found", she emphasized that his name was scratched in the pallete that illustrates him, as to say it is in the "Egyptian chronology but was not found yet....like it was not found in the tomb (because no one was able to reach it that far)...
I went off topic a little, this is to say the millennium puzzle might have been in the it's respective pharaoh tomb for a little less time like maybe 2900 years?2995 years? who knows really, unless the tomb keepers tried to solve it (the only ones who would know how to solve the pharaoh Atem's tomb) but were unsuccessful and even Shadi may have tried and failed...a lot of possibilities, also maybe implies Sugoroku tried to solve it before but was hidden as if still trying to solve it when he had the time but also was unsuccessful, I say this because Shadi knows a tingle idea what is happening with the millennium items, since he has a connection to all millennium items.
Regarding, the mysterious man/Shadi just using his millennium key in front of him in hurry without asking permission or anything, dude, this is a innocent individual own private room of soul...so rude.
Here is something interesting of note, look at the corridor Shadi enters, it looks more like a "hall of entrance" than a corridor that takes to two rooms, it's shaped like a pyramid or triangle, it's not shaped like a quadrat,(forwardly we can see Shadi doesn't have to go through a door, while here inside Yugi does), Yugi's room of soul walls look a lot like the exterior of the millennium puzzle, how is put together like a puzzle and the room which has the "all-seeing eye" symbol at the door which is closed (obviously is Dark Yugi's room) and the exterior it's with eye of wedjat, now called eye of horus (means according to wikipedia: protection, royal power and health and also sacrifice, healing, restoration and protection, wedjat was intended to protect the pharaoh in afterlife), it's meanings says a lot already and pretty much got it right, it also means that the door with the wedjat symbol represents the interior of the puzzle.
Also to consider the eyes in Ancient Egypt mentions more different kinds of eyes such as Eye of Horus and Eye of Ra that I mentioned in chapter 1.
However, how is this happening when Yugi is not wielding the millennium puzzle and Dark Yugi isn't taking over? yet Shadi/mysterious man could enter and see this representation between Yugi and Dark Yugi of the millennium puzzle, I think I have a pretty good guess as to why, remember in Chapter 1 when after Yugi completed the puzzle, the same eye symbol appeared, as I stated before, it marked Yugi as the chosen host and guardian of the "millennium puzzle", in this case as we find later in Battle City and Memory World Arc as guardian of the pharaoh soul.
Also the millenium puzzle was close by in the mysterious man/Shadi's pocket.
I find amusing that the mysterious man/Shadi easily guessed the opened room door with toys and games was the boy he just used his millennium key on, but the closed door, the other room...the mysterious man/Shadi may have thought two rooms in his soul, that isn't exactly right...this might have been a bit of mistranslation in japanese to english a little here, because I don't know how the plural and singular works in japanese...so I presume is more Inside this boy there is two rooms of souls, would be more accurate...oh well, I'm not sure...I think this is more inside the mind with two rooms of souls, remember this place appears again when Yugi and Dark Yugi speak here when Pegasus is attempting to read their mind, Dark Yugi specifically...that's why I suspect this more of a "mind corridor/hall" where there is two rooms of souls...
This make me think a bit more about the lore of the millennium key, because the mysterious man/Shadi used his millennium key towards Yugi's "forehead" and others from their backhead, is this to say the "mind" is the entrance to the room of soul? Something to think about it.
Right off the bat, Dark Yugi already challenges the visitor, that was quick...xD, I guess he didn't like him for just "intruding" without permission into someone else's room (includes his room of soul too), later in this post confirms that he didn't like it.
The mysterious man was shocked, it seems interesting that seems he wasn't expecting there was someone there...
"I have visited the rooms of many people's souls in the past...They have different decorations and furnishings, but always there is only one room...!"
This is the first part of this key point about this inner monologue, because I want to focus on how he phrased he has visited many rooms of souls but inside each person is always one room of soul, I guess this can imply that he must have seen other people, including of his bloodline...*cough*Ishtar Family*cough*, remember that Shadi did already saw and met Marik, Ishizu and Rishid when they were very young, after Rishid helped from Yami Marik to Marik (that is the real case of "other self"/split personality/identity disorder in Marik's case was due to PTSD), which is to say, that Marik always had one room however as Yami Marik pointed out before in Battle City to Dark Yugi, Yami Marik is Marik's shadow and manifestation of his own darkness, so we can assume, Yami Marik was in form of a shadow in Marik's room soul, I guess.
Next thing I want to mention, the mysterious man more or less is saying more subtly that he never met someone with two rooms of souls, if we relate to what I mentioned regarding Marik and Yami Marik, this pretty much confirms Dark Yugi is not someone "other self" all along.
The 2nd part of mysterious man/Shadi's inner monologue:
"But...what is this other room in this boy's soul...it is dark...and cold...like a tomb of a pharaoh in Ancient Egypt...!!!"
The "this boy's soul" is he referring to? Dark Yugi's or Yugi for inside his mind have two rooms of soul? it's probably either way for him, however the implications, I would say clues that Dark Yugi was meant to be a pharaoh since the beginning and was always there, to reinforce this, when Dark Yugi's room of soul light up a little, we can in those pillars and drawings on the wall over the pillars we see in Ancient Egypt palaces and tombs of high officials and royalty (pharaohs).
"I came to discover the secret of the power of your millennium puzzle."
It's still not over about his reasoning, but I would say he is quite in a rush or being hasty, that's not good thing, he started in a anxious and rushed manner when he leaned or pointed his Millennium Key to Yugi's forehead...
"Yes. I know. Also that it is one of the millennium items... The story of the millennium items has been passed down from Ancient Egypt...3000 years ago in the Valley of the Kings. They were to punish thieves who would defile the tombs of the pharaohs and steal their treasures' by the magicians who served the ancient pharaohs. So it is written in the pert em hru...*" ("coming forth by day!-- the original title of the book of the dead)
This is the second or third mention of the Valley of the Kings, even more regarding the millennium puzzle, which further not hints that when ever the Valley of the Kings is involved and mentions it means is important to the plot and in the future, emphasises even more Dark Yugi is a soul of a deceased pharaoh.
Also if we think about the Memory World Arc when comes to the millennium items in matters of application, what mysterious man/Shadi is saying is pretty close to the truth, to punish grave robbers for trying to steal from pharaoh's tombs and who did the punishments were the magicians who served the ancient pharaohs, in Memory World Arc as we know, are the "priests"...as I pointed out before in the previous post, Takahashi-sensei probably had this concept story overall since the beginning and even more about Dark Yugi/Atem's past very early on at this stage but not in detail, he knew he would use this concept story already drafted eventually into the future, very likely close to the end as the last "story arc", which makes sense as to give "closure" to Dark Yugi/Atem before going to afterlife.
As Dark Yugi deduced he used a millennium item as the mysterious man/Shadi continues with his explanation:
"The Power of the Millennium Key! This Key open the door to one's soul...In room of the soul, one discovers everything about a person...who they are, what they love, what they fear...even what they themselves do not know."
There is a lot of interesting things that he speaks of, as he explained is more or less the person as whole...what piqued my most interest was that included that you can discover facts or information about the individual in his room of soul that the individual doesn't know, usually when is things regarding inside oneself that is unknown to them usually relates to the individual subconscious, possibly in this case too means hidden talents or powers or magic that didn't bloom yet...which funny enough this relates to Dark Yugi's current state and it's "dismantle" inside of Dark Yugi didn't know about himself and kinda knows or idea...we get to that in this post.
"And one more: the Millennium Scales. They weigh the sins of a person on trial! These are the two that I possess but even I don't know the power of the millennium puzzle. I don't know what power is bestowed upon the person who completes it...because it has never been solved!"
This pretty much confirms they have tried before and therefore why the mysterious man/Shadi is in such a rush to discover the secret power of the millennium puzzle, even though he could wait and observe from afar, but since it seems he uses his millennium Key rather often, so he just goes for it...he means by secret power, is that since each millennium item has it's own individual power like this case the millennium items he wield can weigh the sins of a person and the other enter someone's room of soul, we have seen the Eye to see through someone's true nature and thoughts, the Ring to sense darkness and where is the millennium items, Necklace to predict the future and clairaudience, Rod to control and brainwash people, as for the Puzzle/pendant is mostly unknown, we have seen Yugi using recently in "Wild Gang" Arc in previous post and later in the series, it can find the location of "people" they are connected to, shield someone from the mind being read...as for word specifically Dark Yugi has given his own answer to the mysterious man/Shadi and to Pegasus, the answer we will get there at the end of the last post of Shadi's arc, it's still a long way.
More explanation from the mysterious man/Shadi:
"If I can see a person's "room"...I can see what kind of power they possess. That is what I came to discover, and if that power is needed...I will draw it into my bloodline..."
Well...that's just plain rude, don't think that person will be that willingly in the first place for yourself, also what kind of power is he even expecting it anyway...I don't think you can just "draw it out" even more at this time, also from Dark Yugi's expression in his inner monologue "!" to say the following:
"This power you speak of does rest in my my room...However I can't let you see it that easily!"
Dark Yugi was waiting for this kind of answer and also he seems to know something or it's nature to be this confident that the mysterious man/Shadi that he won't be able to get it, also to consider that Dark Yugi technically "lives" in his room of soul.
"You know the routine...this is a game! a shadow game!!"
This rule when using the millennium items to create a shadow game, I wonder where it came from, I guess maybe it relates how in Ancient Egypt used Astragali dice to decide on people's fates mentioned by Dark Yugi, which is more or less the main point of shadow games, in a way gambling their fate, but still how Dark Yugi already knew in how to use it's powers for shadow games? it must be some subconscious knowledge?
Dark Yugi explains the rules to the mysterious man/Shadi,
"The rules are simple! somewhere within this soul is my true room...if you can find it, then you'll find what you seek."
This quote is pretty intriguing because he mentions a "true room", which seems to say inside his soul or room of soul there is more than 1 room, with a "true room" means most of them are fakes and possibly Dark Yugi tried himself before...
The mysterious man/Shadi mentions the other power of his millennium key:
"heh heh...I forgot to tell you about one other power that I have. When I enter the room of someone's soul, I can "redecorate" and control that person at will. I can even destroy their personality. heh heh..."
This is no laughing matter, to be able to destroy their personality, I don't think is that simple to do it yet he makes it sound as if it is but as for controlling is close to being the same power as Rod but the method is different as in next post we will see it...
The reason I don't agree as the mysterious man/Shadi as that simple destroying someone's personality, because when we look at psychological cases and personalities types and intelligences is not simple and not easy and definitely not fast, it happens during long periods of time, it takes very long.
Interesting is Dark Yugi's reaction to this information with a inner monologue "!" again while keeping a neutral face, he is good at keeping a poker face...it says that he considered this other power of the millennium key as relevant and to take note plus dangerous.
The mysterious man/Shadi does sound confident and conceited even accepting his challenge (in case you may haven't noticed, I don't like his character even after the help in Memory World Arc, but I consider him as one of the most relevant and important characters in the story, the way he does things, I don't agree for most of the time 😒).
It seems Dark Yugi slightly disagrees about how the mysterious man/Shadi confidence and conceitedness about destroying someone's personality as if is simple by laughing (when is no laughing matter) and warning him that it won't be that easy (he is more or less right)
I always thought it was such a cool idea of the author to present a room of soul or mind of someone who doesn't have memories consciously of himself as a maze with a true room hidden away as if is the subconscious of what he doesn't know about himself but is what it reveals who he is and what he is and why he is a spirit residing inside the millennium puzzle...
The maze itself is so cool, did the author took some inspiration from movie "The Labyrinth" (1986)? Because is quite similar to the complex maze appears in the movie, I didn't watched but is pretty famous and have seen screenshots.
The mysterious man/Shadi's reaction to the current nature of Dark Yugi's room of soul being a maze to hide the true room...is very satisfying.
** This is from one of the older writtings from a very old post that is currently being updated, so I copy pasted to here, it will remain here:
the picture on the left is from as you can see 1st chapter when Yugi arrives home after school at the start and the picture on the right it's the room of soul of the "dark yugi", doesn't look alike? I'm referring to it's shape, just so you know, so we can say, the room soul of the dark yugi is inside of the millennium puzzle, so in another words (it's so simple in my head and so hard to explain and to write), the corridor represents the division and the connection of the two souls between the one (the owner of the body) being Yugi and the other of who inhabits inside the millennium puzzle, which makes Yugi a host of the spirit of the millennium puzzle.
we can come to conclusions, for those who knows the story overall, we know this spirit of the millennium puzzle from the clues and hints, we can suspect he is a spirit of a pharaoh (which is true), this chapter and the end of this arc, pretty much reveals what's coming to the future, even Shadi at the end knew who really was "the dark yugi"(being the pharaoh, which will be revealed much later), while Dark Yugi didn't know about who he is or the power of the millennium puzzle at all, Kazuki Takahashi knew of this all along since the start. **
"Not this one...not this one, either... they do not lead to the true door! which door could it be...? This boy's soul is so tightly closed against strangers...it seeks to confuse me!!!"
It does this to mostly anyone including friends.... except to one person...because with Yugi is different, it shows Dark Yugi's memories and so his own memories since they are interconnected through the millennium puzzle(the link is different), as if only certain people can access to it, in this case only the host and chosen wielder of the millennium puzzle.
In the Panels Ensemble on the Right, once again some scenes I had to skip, quick summary, this part is after the mysterious man/Shadi gets a bit desperate and tries his luck in one door, when he enters he sees Dark Yugi in a room sitting on a chair waiting for him, at first the mysterious man/Shadi thought by finding him meant that he found the true room, so he took his first steps and the panels ensemble on the right happens, the floor where he was starts to fall apart...it seems this maze is not only protecting Dark Yugi's true room but even Dark Yugi himself..., as you can see this was a pretty close call ever for the mysterious man, he could have died for hastily trying to discover the secret of the millennium puzzle also he isn't the chosen person to do so anyway...
So is it Dark Yugi controlling this maze and all of this...?
"Shall I push you in...? heh heh heh..."
He is more or less saying I did warn you and also other way of saying "where is your confidence now?" , I say this while the mysterious man did fall to some of the traps asking if he will give up...appeared and disappeared wishing good luck...here we see that he could have push him to that abyss, he could have and then in the Panels Ensemble on the Right we see Dark Yugi giving his hand to help him get out of the edge of this hole...saying the following:
"Heh heh...it's all right. My hand isn't a trap."
This is more or less implying that he isn't the one "controlling" the maze, he can "apparate" and "disapparate" because this his room of soul still with a true room hidden within, the maze intent with traps and his room being a maze is to protect Dark Yugi and his true room of soul, as if protecting his true identity and something else...
"I had never imagined that you would save me...if indeed it is the same you..."
This shows that the mysterious man/Shadi is having some suspicions that this "boy(Dark Yugi)" in front of him is not the same the boy(Yugi) who he just used his millennium key on the forehead awhile ago, suspicions that he must be somebody else, because you see nothing bad happens to Dark Yugi, the same later for Yugi in his quest for Dark Yugi's/pharaoh soul true room in Memory World Arc, I find interesting specially at the end with this to at the end of this arc and later in Memory World Arc mentioned by Bobasa...
Dark Yugi says as well some interesting points:
"I don't like your hobby of peeking into people's souls. You better leave right now!"
I like he was pretty honest and it reveals that Dark Yugi saw through him in a lot of things, he pick up that the mysterious man/Shadi has the habit in "peeking into people souls" without their permission (I'm with him, it's very rude, specially in innocent ones) and warning him to stop it even more this room since his room of soul as the readers have seen is pretty dangerous.
Reminder, when the mysterious man thinking he lost, Dark Yugi answers is only just the beginning, he is indirectly implying that he himself doesn't know it but I would say the mysterious man/Shadi misunderstood in this moment what he really meant...
See Ya Next Post!!
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