Rafael (Yu-Gi-Oh!)
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 Rafael |
|
| Appears in | anime: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (second series anime) |
| Debut | Season 4, Episode 1 |
| Birthday | Unknown |
| Deck | Guardian |
| Sign | Unknown |
| Age | 25+ years |
| Height | Unknown |
| Weight | Unknown |
| Blood type | Unknown |
| Favorite food | Unknown |
| Least favorite food | Unknown |
| Status at debut | Swordsman of Doma |
| Relations | Brother, sister: Sonja , Julian (deceased in japanese version living in english) |
| Seiyū | Yohsihisa Kawahara |
| Voice actor(s) | Marc Thompson |
Rafael (ラフェール Rafēru), is a fictional character from the Waking the Dragons (or Doma) arc in the Yu-Gi-Oh! second series anime, known in Japan as Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters.
Of Doma's Three Swordsmen, Rafael is often considered the strongest, and the most mysterious in his strategy. He is the only swordsman that defeated his target once. He is also the only swordsman not to lose his soul after he was defeated by his target. He and Alister were responsible for bringing Rex Raptor (Dinosaur Ryuzaki in the English-language manga and Japanese versions) and Weevil Underwood (Insector Haga in the English-language manga and Japanese versions) to Dartz. He is also one of the two characters who is able to defeat Yami Yugi (Dark Yugi or Yu-Gi-Oh in the English manga, Yami no Yugi in the Japanese versions) in a duel without cheating or any form of manipulation (the second character being Little Yugi during The Ceremonial Battle).
[edit] History
Rafael comes from a very wealthy family, and led a perfect life. He had a little sister and brother, and two parents. Rafael was separated from them when, on a luxury cruise, the boat went off course and directly into a tidal wave. As a result the family was killed (In the English anime version the story was altered to say that the family survived, but had forgotten about Rafael). Rafael was stranded on a deserted island with only his Duel Monsters, which included Guardian Airtos (commonly spelt as Guardian Eatos), Guardian Elma, Guardian Grarl, and Guardian Kay'est, which he treasured. One day, Rafael saw a city right off the island. He quickly sailed towards it, but as he got near, it disappeared, and he was pulled down underneath the sea by a tidal wave. There, Dartz's voice told him to remember his voice, for they would meet again. Rafael became conscious aboard his raft, and was then rescued by a fishing boat. He traveled and eventually went with Dartz to a graveyard, where he was tortured by digging (In the Japanese version the grave he was digging was his siblings' grave, but was changed to an Orichalcos marked grave in the English version) until he found their skulls (in the original. In the dub he merely finds a Chaos Duel Disk.) He was then seduced by a Dark Guardian, and given the Seal of the Orichalcos card. Forced to do Dartz's bidding, he then became one of his many minions. Until the duel between Yami Yugi and Seto Kaiba vs. Dartz, Rafeal did not know that Dartz drove the ship into the tidal wave.
Rafael is probably the most complicated of all Dartz's lackeys, except perhaps Mai Valentine (Mai Kujaku in the English-language manga and the Japanese versions). He honestly believed that he was simply following his set destiny, and proceeded to capture many souls in the series, including Yugi's and Mai's. He believes the pharaoh Yami Yugi was an evil pharaoh and thus desires his soul above all others. To this end Rafael forces him to play the Seal of Orichalcos, revealing his "true nature" as an evil king (unaware that anyone becomes evil under the Orichalcos' influence). Rafael eventually defeats Yami Yugi, but Yugi Muto steps in and lets the Orichalcos take him instead.
After discovering this, Rafael duels Yami Yugi again, and this time plays the Seal himself. His Airtos is still powerful, but Yami Yugi defeats it, and Rafael in turn calls forth Guardian Dreadscythe. After sacrificing his monsters left and right like Yami Yugi did, Yami Yugi plays Underworld Circle, sparking a vision of Rafael's past that snaps him out of the Orichalcos' control. Rafael then concedes defeat by using Soul Charge to revive all his monsters and deplete his Life Points. Afterwards the Orichalcos attempts to take his soul, but his stone shatters and he is freed. He rescues Mai and Valon from the collapsing building and confronts Dartz, where his soul is taken.
Rafael has two monsters who represent his character. Guardian Dreadscythe represents his dark mind and Guardian Eatos his light mind. Following his "rebirth" by Dartz, Eatos was also "reborn", in a wicked, twisted sense, creating the separate Guardian Dreadscythe.
[edit] Deck
Rafael uses a Guardian Deck, where many of the monsters require a specific Equip Magic Card to be on the field before they can be summoned. His particular attachement to his cards means that he will use any means necessary to protect them, which is seen with cards such as Rescuer from the Grave, Kishido Spirit and Swords of Revealing Light. Also, he uses Backup Guardna to equip the Guardian's respective Magic Card (allowing him to Normal Summon it), then uses its effect to transfer it to its owner. In the Japanese versions, this is because Raphael's family died, and he doesn't want the monsters he has spent his life with to suffer the same fate. The majority of his cards are also very old and worn, and can be seen with wrinkled edges and numerous discolored spots on their faces.
The majority of his early offensive strategy relies on Guardian Grarl, a powerful 2500 ATK monster that has 3000 ATK due to the presence of Gravity Axe - Grarl on the field before it can be summoned. His upmost protection of his monsters also serves another purpose, as his most powerful monster, Guardian Airtos, can be summoned with no Tributes as long as his Graveyard is free of any Monster Cards. Airtos has the potential to gain immense strength through its effect, which absorbs the Attack Points of every monster in the opponents' Graveyard, starting at the top and going down until it reaches a Magic or Trap Card. In Rafael's first duel against Dark Yugi, Airtos' Attack Points were raised to 10,000 because Dark Yugi, consumed by his darkness due to the fact he played the Seal of Orichalcos, fired off all his monsters at Rafael with Catapult Turtle.
In his second duel, he reveals his other Guardian that he has not been released yet, Guardian Dreadscythe, which can only be summoned when Airtos is destroyed. This monster has impressive regenerative abilities, being able to return to the field as long as the controller discards a card from their hand in the process - except that the controller has no choice, if they can, they must discard a card to revive Dreadscythe. Furthermore, for the sacrifice of other Guardian Monsters, Dreadscythe can increase its own attack strength. Rafael's willingness to sacrifice his own monsters at this point is due to the fact that Dreadscythe is the representation of Rafael's darker side and as such, is a completely different persona.
