Millennium Items
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Millennium Items are fictional objects in the manga Yu-Gi-Oh! and both anime series based off of the manga, Toei's Yu-Gi-Oh! and Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (internationally known as simply Yu-Gi-Oh!). Some fans call the items the "Sennen Items", as the "Millennium" titling is Sennen ("1,000 Years") in the Japanese languaged version of the Franchise.
Contents |
[edit] History
There are two different, contradictory accounts that explain how the Millennium Items were created.
In an early chapter of the manga (Duel 14: The Man From Egypt (Part 2) in Volume 2: The Cards With Teeth), Shadi explains that the Millennium Items were created by the magicians of the pharaohs in Ancient Egypt to punish thieves who rob the pharaohs' tombs. Shadi says that this is written in the Pert Em Hiru, or Coming Forth By Day (the Egyptian title of The Book of The Dead). The first series anime also uses this story.
The later chapters of the manga (published as Yu-Gi-Oh! Millennium World in North America) and the second series anime explain the origin differently, performing a retcon. With Egypt under threat from invading armies in 3,000 years ago (5,000 in English Version), the Pharaoh Akhenamkhanen (Aknamkanon in the English anime, Akunamkanon in the Japanese anime) sought to protect his land through mystical means, and laid down the command for the seven magical Millennium Items to be forged. Akhenamkhanen's brother, Akhenaden (Aknadin, Akunadin in the Japanese) was charged with creating the items, but Akhenaden refrained from informing his brother that in order to do so, ninety-nine human sacrifices were required. The village of Kul Elna became the victim of the Pharaoh's unwitting decree, as Akhenaden had them slaughtered, their blood, bone and flesh melted in with the gold that was cast in the mystic rite that formed the items (in the English anime, to replace this gory concept, it is the spirits of the slaughtered which are harnessed to complete the rite that forges the items).
With Akhenamkhanen possessing the Millennium Puzzle, the remaining six items were entrusted to his high priests - the Millennium Ring was held by Mahado (Mahad in English anime), the Millennium Rod by Seto (ancient version of Seto Kaiba), the Millennium Tauk (Millennium Necklace) by Isis, the Millennium Key by Shada, the Millennium Scale by Kalim (Karim) and the Millennium Eye by Akhenaden himself. Using the Items' combined power, an army of Duel Monsters was summoned which repelled the invading foes of Egypt. However, upon discovering the dark truth behind the Items' creation, Akhenamkhanen attempted to atone by offering his soul up to the Egyptian Gods as penance, sparing his son from any future retribution for his own indirect actions.
When his father died, the Pharaoh Atem was given the Millennium Puzzle, and in time, Siamon Muran (Shimon) relinquished the Millennium Rod to the hands of Seto, a young priest who was, unknown to everyone, including himself, the son of Akhenaden, who became a strong friend of Atem, though both young men remained unaware that they were cousins. Thief King Bakura, a survival of the slaughter in Kul Elna, stole the holy duel disk from the tomb of Akhenamkhanen. By using it, Bakura could summon the ka, or soul, sealed in slates in the tomb of Akhenamkhanen and the demon Diabound, which created by the ka of the deceased people in Kul Elna (orignally, a Millenium Item was needed to summon Ka, except your own.). After failing to beat Atem, he defeated Mahado and acquired the Millennium Ring. Then, using the Millennium Ring, Bakura injected evil thoughts into Akhenaden's Millennium Eye to corrupt his mind. Akhenaden wanted his son, Seto, to become the new Pharaoh, so he helped Bakura defeat the other priests and Atem, then he placed the Millennium Items upon the stone slab to summon the Dark God Zorc. While Zorc attempted to decimate the planet, Atem used his own name and the magics of the Shadow Games, within the Millennium Items, sealed Zorc along with his own soul in the Millennium Puzzle, wiping his memory so that he could not recall it, so that the binding might never be undone.
With Atem's eventual death, the Millennium Puzzle was entombed along with him in his crypt in the Valley of the Kings. And in a chamber beneath the village of Kul Elna, a sculpted stone rested - should the seven Millennium Items be placed upon it, along with the eighth key, the Pharaoh's name, Zorc would be free again.
The magic of the Shadow Games was unleashed when the Millennium Puzzle was solved by Yugi Mutou in the present day, and he embarked on a series of adventures that eventually resulted in the locations of the Millennium Items being revealed, and the three Egyptian God Cards coming into his possession. Placed on a stone tablet that professed to chronicle a battle between the Pharaoh and Seto, the cards and the Puzzle opened a gateway to Ancient Egypt, through which the soul of the Pharaoh was pulled. Back in his original body, but still lacking in his memories, the Pharaoh was reunited with his priests, and Akhenaden's treachery was revealed as the Spirit of the Millennium Ring, which had also travelled back in time, stole the Items from their owners and used them to resurrect Zorc, only to have him be eradicated for eternity at the hands of the union of the three Egyptian Gods, The Creator of Light. Back in the present, following Atem's defeat at the hands of his vessel, Yugi, in the conclusion of the Ceremonial Battle and the series, the Millenium Items, placed onto the tablet just before the duel began, would open a gateway to the afterlife, allowing the Pharaoh Atem to be finally at rest. Afterwards, the temple would then crumble, sealing all 7 Millenium Items deep underground for eternity.
[edit] Individual Items
The primary power of the Millennium Items is to enact Shadow Games, transporting the players into an alternate realm if desired (the English-language anime's Shadow Realm), summoning real Duel Monsters, and inflicting "Penalty Games" upon the losers, making them suffer various different, but ironically fitting, punishments that affect both mind and body. Additionally, each Item possesses its own unique abilities.
[edit] Millennium Puzzle
Accounts of how the Millennium Puzzle was removed from the Pharaoh's tomb are contradictory. According to Sugoroku Mutou (Solomon Muto), the Puzzle was discovered in the beginning of the 20th century by a team of British archaeologists. The members later died mysterious deaths, and the final words of the last man to die were, "The shadow games." Conversely, the manga later performs a retcon, stating that Sugoroku himself found the Puzzle in 1960. Hiring two guides to help him enter the Pharaoh's tomb, Sugoroku became the target of his guides, who planned to kill him so they could acquire the Puzzle for themselves. Both of them died along the way, but the spirit of the Puzzle saved Sugoroku. The first series anime uses the first account, while the second series anime uses the second account.
The Puzzle was eventually given to Sugoroku's grandson, Yugi Mutou, a game expert who, after eight years of trying, successfully reassembled the puzzle. Immediately, the magic of the Shadow Games was unlocked, and the soul of the Pharaoh, still dwelling within the puzzle, infused itself into Yugi's body, periodically taking control to challenge others to contests.(It should be noted that Yugi does not get older when he uses the puzzle, but he is just standing in a different position as Yugi is stated to be the same height as the pharaoh in one of the data books) It would be some time before Yugi and his friends truly understood that a second personality was existing within Yugi, but once it became apparent, Yugi and the Pharaoh co-existed peacefully, and Yugi dedicated himself to helping the Pharaoh regain his memories.
The Millennium Puzzle, in addition to holding the soul of the Pharaoh, was able to fulfill one wish of the one who solved it, and heighten its owner's chance of success in a game judging by his or her skill as well as the importance of the game at hand. The hieroglyphics on the puzzle say, "The one who solves me shall gain the powers of knowledge and powers of darkness..."
In addition to keeping the Pharoh's spirit, it was mentioned in the final duel involving Yugi that the Millennium Puzzle can cause the desired card to appear at the top of the deck if the user desires it strongly enough.
The inside of the Millennium Puzzle looks like a big labyrinth with staircases and walkways that lead to unimaginable places. There are also doors that lead everywhere. These rooms are meant to distract from Yami Yugi's soul room, and are often filled with traps to catch any intruders. Yugi and the gang find themselves inside the Millennium Puzzle on a few occasions. One of the most important of these occasions happened in the Yu-Gi-Oh! Movie, in which Yugi and his friends were trapped inside of it.
[edit] Millennium Ring
Originally owned in by the priest Mahado, the Millennium Ring - possibly the darkest, most deadly of all the Millennium Items - was stolen by the tomb robber Thief King Bakura after he defeated Mahado in a Shadow Game. The Ring went on to wander throughout history, passing from owner to owner, until it eventually wound up in the hands of young Ryo Bakura, a gift from his father who acquired it on a trip to Egypt. Like the Millennium Puzzle, the Ring was revealed to possess a soul locked away within it, the unnamed "Spirit of the Ring," though this was an evil force which periodically took over Bakura's mind, creating "Dark Bakura."
Yugi and his friends became aware of these facts when Dark Bakura used the Ring's primary power to displace their souls, entrapping them within lead miniatures, and he became their most constant foe, regularly working behind the scenes in his attempts to acquire all the Millennium Items - a task made all the easier for him by the Ring's ability to detect other Items, its spikes independently moving to point out the direction of the Items. It was long presented as a fact that the soul within the Millennium Ring was that of Thief King Bakura, although it was never explained how his soul wound up within the Millenium Ring. Following the extended adventure in which the heroes and villains were displaced in time to Ancient Egypt (or more accurately, a complex Shadow Game of Dark Bakura's design simulating Egypt), however, it became apparent that Thief King Bakura and the Spirit of the Ring were separate entities, and the Spirit in fact revealed itself to be the soul of the demon Zorc Necrophades himself, or possibly an independent fragment thereof - the Spirit has on several occasions displayed the ability to fragment itself, installing parts of itself within the Millennium Puzzle and the mind of Hiroto Honda (Tristan Taylor).
It has also allowed Dark Bakura to banish people's souls, render them unconscious and summon monsters and magic to use himself in shadow games.
According to Yu-Gi-Oh! Capsule Monsters, one of the past owners of the ring was Alexander the Great. He tells of how the item brought his many victories, but began to twist and corrupt him. This is likely the influence of the spirit of the ring, although Alexander does not mention if the spirit ever possesses him outright. However, he does claim the Ring split his soul into two halves: one evil, one good, also a power demonstrated by the Ring. Alexander loses the Ring (to Shadi, it would seem) after failing a trial to prove he had earned the right to use the Ring.
[edit] Millennium Eye
Originally owned by Akhenaden in Ancient Egypt, the Millennium Eye was plucked from his socket by his own hands when the Items were gathered to free Zorc. It, like most of the remaining items, then came into the care of Shadi's bloodline, who watched over the items. In the late 20th Century, the current guardian, Shadi, forced the Millennium Eye upon Maximillion Pegasus (Pegasus J. Crawford in the Japanese versions), who was wandering Egypt, searching for a way to restore his deceased love to life, and was chosen by the Eye.
The Millennium Eye allows the user to read the minds of others, which allowed Pegasus great skill at the Duel Monsters card game, as he would read his opponents' minds and deduce their strategies. Pegasus forced Yugi to participate in his Duelist Kingdom tournament by entrapping the soul of his grandfather, later doing the same to Mokuba and Seto Kaiba, but after being defeated in a Shadow Game by Yugi at the tournament's climax, he was confronted by Ryo Bakura, who tore out the Millennium Eye. Retaining possession of the Eye for a prolonged period, Bakura eventually gave it to Seto Kaiba as part of his plan to lure him into the ancient past. In the manga, as the modern Seto is not involved in this saga, Bakura instead gives the Eye to Yugi.
[edit] Millennium Key
The first holder of the Millennium Key in Ancient Egypt was Siamun Muran, who called upon its power to summon Exodia, the Forbidden One, to battle. As an end result of that dedication, the Millennium Key became one of two items owned by the guardians of the Pharaoh's tomb throughout history. Owned in Ancient Egypt by the priest Shada, the Millennium Key remained safe throughout the years, guarded by his bloodline, eventually being held in the present day by Shadi. The Key has the shape of an ankh. Its primary unique ability is its power to unlock the doors of a person's soul, giving the user access to the "Room of the Soul," where their thoughts can be observed, or the "room" can even be "redecorated," allowing the user to alter a person's personality. Additionally, it can make the user, and others, invisible, and may or may not allow them to sense any disruption of the Millennium Items' mystical energies that would be cause by an Item being taken from its rightful owner. The Key is also sometimes called the Millennium Ankh. Strangely enough, the Key is the only Millenium Item to not visably feature the Wadjet Eye.
[edit] Millennium Scale
When the original owner of the Millennium Scales, the priest Kalim, fell to Dark Bakura (Yami Bakura) in Ancient Egypt, he gave the last of his energies, and the Scale, to Shada, and consequently, along with his Millennium Key, they were kept safe throughout the ages, ending up in the hands of Shadi in the present day. The Millennium Scale can weigh a person's heart against the feather of Ma'at, the goddess of truth; if a person lies while being interrogated by the owner of the Scale, the side opposite of the feather will lower, as if weighted down by the person's sins, and if the side without the feather drops to the bottom, Ammit, the monster of the abyss, will consume the person's soul. This item also contains the power of fusion, to be used on monsters in shadow games.
[edit] Millennium Rod
In the Ancient Egypt Arc the Rod was owned by Seto Kaiba's past life. The Rod was used to protect his cousin the Pharaoh. The previous owner was an unknown priest. In recent times, when the next tomb-keeper in line, Marik Ishtar, was unwilling to perform his duty, he was overtaken by the dark side of his personality. This "Dark Marik" stole the Millennium Rod and slew his father with the dagger concealed in the rod's shaft (A feature cut from the American version of the Duel Monsters anime), only to then be sealed away within Marik's mind by his servant, Rishid (Odion in the English anime). Nevertheless, the evil part of his mind continued to influence Marik's actions, making him believe that the Pharaoh was responsible for all his pain, and he formed the Ghouls organization ( Rare Hunters in the English anime , but Rare Hunter is also the title given to individual Ghouls members in the Japanese version) in order to acquire the three Egyptian God Cards, using the Millennium Rod's power to enslave and control minds, acting through many pawns, including Katsuya Jonouchi (Joey Wheeler). When Rishid was rendered comatose, Dark Marik emerged, but when he was defeated and banished by Yugi at the completion of the Battle City tournament, Marik was free of his influence and gave Yugi the Millennium Rod. The Rod is sometimes referred to as the Millennium Scepter.
[edit] Millennium Tauk
Known as the Millennium Necklace in the English-language version of the anime series, this Item was originally owned by the preistess, Isis, in Ancient Egypt, and became one of the two Items owned by the guardians of the Pharaoh's tomb throughout history, eventually coming to be owned by Marik's sister, Ishizu Ishtar. The necklace allows its user to see through time, offering glimpses of the past and near future - futures whose outcomes can only be altered through the use of other Millennium Items. Using it to foresee her victory against Seto Kaiba in the Battle City tournament, Ishizu handed the necklace over to Yugi when her vision failed to come true, knowing that the necklace would no longer respond to her.
[edit] Pyramid of Light
Appearing exclusively in Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie: Pyramid of Light, the Pyramid of Light is not truly a Millennium Item; according to the novelization of the film, it was a failed attempt by Akhenaden (Aknadin in the English anime) to recreate the Millennium Puzzle for his son, Seto, to give him a power on a par with the Pharaoh, so that he might defeat him and assume the throne. The Pyramid was co-opted by the sorcerer, Anubis, who was then defeated in battle by the Pharaoh. Undaunted, however, Anubis sealed himself within the Millennium Puzzle alongside the Pharaoh and the other powers of the Shadow Games, eventually being released in the modern day when Yugi first completed the Puzzle.
Anubis sought to recreate his physical form by implanting a Duel Monsters card fashioned in the likeness of the Pyramid within the deck of Maximillion Pegasus, and then reanimating his own mummified remains, taking the Pyramid, which had been kept with them in his tomb. The Pyramid of Light card then fell into the hands of Seto Kaiba, who employed it during a duel with Yugi, using its ability to destroy the Egyptian God cards. However, now that the Pyramid was in play, Anubis could draw on the life energies of the two combatants, steadly regenerating himself. Taking Kaiba's place in the duel, Anubis seemed defeated when the Blue Eyes Shining Dragon destroyed the Pyramid of Light card, taking the artifact itself with it, but Anubis's spirit remained within the jewel at its centre, reforming as a giant monster, which the Blue Eyes Shining Dragon then destroyed, shattering the jewel and destroying Anubis.
