The True Powers Of The Millennium Items

[@snowboundwhale6860]

It's neat that the separation between "Justice" and "Darkness" items is somewhat reflected in how they granted their respective wishes. The Ring, Eye, and Rod all taking varying degrees of monkey's paw approaches, reflecting their darker nature: The Eye taking Pegasus' wish to see his dead wife "once more" literally and unempathetically. The Rod hearing Marik's wish to be free to see the world and going "Make it happen king! Here's the power you need to do so", empowering him to free himself by means of sheer force, be it against his abusive father or any other potential authority he'd be opposed by due to a combination of generic dark magic and the rod's mind controlling powers. You already talked about the original monkey paw wish Ryou Bakura got, but I'd like to further point out that even Bakura eventually making friends with our main cast is offset into being bittersweet by Yami-Bakura's whole existence, HIS goals and the way HE relates to Yugi/ the Pharaoh and every other millennium item. He doesn't even get to be in control of himself most of his time with them due to Yami-Bakura possessing him so often while also pretending to still be Ryou Bakura around the others. All 3 of these grant/ start granting the wish immediately and do so in incredibly direct and amoral ways. Meanwhile the items of justice all grant their wishes much more passively as a "This will happen, but there's a matter of process for it to occur properly".fulfilled The only instant gratification wish that didn't have a catch and still follows a "proper process to achieve the wish long term" seems to have been Yugi's wish on the Puzzle, with him beginning to make genuine friendships within the following 24 hours and going on to make many more friends while forging stronger bonds with the friends he already had, and almost entirely through "normal" means that don't appear to depend on magic. Appropriately this came from the wish made on the one item that represents BOTH Darkness and Justice and the balance between the two. retaliation

[@snowboundwhale6860]

Also, while you mentioned the Puzzle's ability to move souls around, and you brought up how any item can do it as a punishment for losing a shadow game, it's worth noting that the Ring/ Yami-Bakura use that particular ability a LOT relative to everyone else and do so without needing to win a shadow game prior, sealing souls into game figurines to "give Bakura friends", sealing Yugang's souls into cards with the intent of leaving the puzzle unguarded, sealing a fragment of his own soul into a piece of the puzzle when Keith broke it. I think also sealing part of himself into the ring in the first place way back in the original conflict? Unless Bakura was always merged with Zorc on their original summoning to be sealed along side them by the puzzle. So either dragging souls around is a generic millennium item ability, or the ring also has it as a secondary power.

[@BloodrealmX]

@@snowboundwhale6860 Parasite Mind is absolutely the Millennium Ring's power, along with the dowsing.

[@BloodrealmX]

Yugi started making friends with Jonouchi before he even solved the Puzzle. He _coudn't_ have solved the Puzzle if that hadn't happened, because Jonouchi wouldn't have returned the last piece that he stole to him. It wasn't the Puzzle that granted Yugi's wish, it was Yugi.

[@bigd1348]

I am the amazing Big d you will bow to me

[@RelinquishedSoul]

Great explanation as to how the metaphor is appropriate and awesome to see this pinned. Am curious though as to what is the source of the distinction between items of justice and darkness? Was this directly mentioned in the manga or anime? As they all share the same dark origins, I would have thought they were all items of darkness even if used for Justice.

[@psychoticcoconut4047]

"It cost 99 human souls." "Their bones, flesh and blood put into a boiling pot of gold." man OG yugioh was dark!!!

[@omnientertainment5852]

He got 99 souls but Bakura wasn't one.

[@umbraryu3714]

You ought to read the manga, the first season of it was very very dark and the pharaoh didn’t mind messing people up badly.

[@bennitori4]

@@umbraryu3714 Honestly the duel monsters stuff removed the "both justice and darkness" part of the millennium puzzle. OG pharaoh was kind of a monster. At one point, before Yugi and the Pharaoh were on speaking terms, Yugi even said he was scared of the other him. And then it took a long time for Yugi to build up the courage to ask the pharaoh to stop mind crushing people. He genuinely had no problem with destroying people's lives for trivial reasons. Duel Monsters kinda turned him into a mildly edgy justice guy, as opposed to a blend of both justice and darkness.

[@NormalWinterFox]

I wish it had stayed that dark. I have the original manga (season 0 if you will) and I loved that yu-gi-oh! had different games. I felt that Yugi being “the king of games” made more sense. And also Yami-Yugi fit more to his name because Yami means dark in Japanese

[@psychoticcoconut4047]

@@NormalWinterFox that should have been a full on anime on its own. Wish they didn't stop at season 0

[@KaoruMzk]

The scales also let you fusion summon in ancient Egyptian Yugioh, very OP when you consider only the wielder of this item can have an extra deck at all.

[@noticeme6412]

That was also the power creep in later seasons

[@DannyBoy0619]

Kaibas millennium duel disk also had the power of fusion. Lol

[@kingpaddy9009]

and the keys has some sealing and unsealing abilities seen in case of the exodia

[@vanesslifeygo]

To be fair, Fusions in Goat Format/early Yugioh were not used competitively. It was in GX where they took off, and GX did not do a good job relating to the ancient Egyptian aspects of DM.

[@Xeno-The-Wanderer]

one could say that it allowed fusion in general granting the ability to fuse any and all monsters together regardless, the fusion monsters seen in the anime and I guess the card game at points could be recorded fusions made by the scales but really the amount could be infinite like say fusing Exodia and like Gate Guardian could be done with the millennium scales... speaking of ancient egypt why haven't those season 5 Ba's been printed yet, I want my damn Duos and Duos dragon damn it

[@misskata8511]

The Millennium Ring also can delete/make you forget your memory. If you remember during S1 Bakura made Pegasus forget how Tea, Tristan and Bakura found his "secret" place.

[@VampireNewl]

Why did you have to phrase it that way?

[@1cjl2]

I think that was just some of that basic magic aspect

[@StarryEyed0590]

I think all the Millennium Items can do that. It's hard to say for sure, but I think the reason we see the Millennium Ring display a more versatile range of abilities is because Yami Bakura is an extremely experienced and magically powerful wielder compared to most of the other item holders. By contrast, Yami/Yugi could definitely have done more stuff with the Puzzle, but they either don't know how or morally choose not to.

[@guillermopena8412]

Is it really that the Millenium Items grant immunity to the powers of other Millenium Items? Because the pothole wouldn't just be with the Millenium Eye, it would also be with the Millenium Key because Shadi was able to use it with Yugi. However, when Shadi entered Yugi's mind, he made a point to comment that Atem's room had a bunch of protections, traps, and challenges that kept that side of the soul safe. So maybe, The Millenium Items don't actually grant immunity from other Millenium Items, but they do grant huge resistance and protection from them. So Yugi putting the Puzzel on Joey simply helped his great will overpower the Millenium Rod because it gave him more defenses against it. This way, the Millenium Eye and Millenium Key being able to work on Yugi is no longer a plot hole, as they can work but Yugi has more defenses against them and can resist them or trick them.

[@Demoneyeskyo1000]

I agree with the resistance instead of immunity cause regular Yugi was still basically dying in the Pegasus duel. But I'm pretty sure the Millenium eye just works on anyone, because Atem can't block it. Although the power of friendship stopped it for whatever reason Edit: Maybe the happy face was made with lead based ink and the Millennium eye is like Superman's x-ray vision

[@triforceofcourage100]

I think that the millennium defense might be something that takes a moment to activate. That’s why Pegasus could so readily read Yugi’s mind taking only a moment to do so each time. This would also explain how Shadi was able to enter Yugi’s soul so readily but had so much trouble while in there. I mean it explains why the mind shuffle strategy worked in the first place. If Pegasus could just constantly read Yugi’s mind shuffling the mind wouldn’t work as he would just have constant access.

[@Demoneyeskyo1000]

@@rob19ny That makes sense. Do you also know why the power of friendship blocked the Millenium eye?

[@ZenoDLC]

@@Demoneyeskyo1000 Mind-based power, having your friends believing in you increases your confidence and greater confidence leads to a stronger mind. Basically, everyone projects a psychic field by default that acts either as an attack or a barrier as necessary and the stronger your will, the stronger this field is. Millenium Items can interfere with this field like reading it with the eye or melding it with your own for a bit with the key, but the stronger the mind, the harder it is to tamper

[@DannyBoy0619]

Yugi and Atem not being able to stop Pegasus in the beginning could be because they were both so new to what was going on. Yugi was still somewhat of just a weak child and atem had just woken up from a thousands of years slumber. We can also say that the puzzle doesn’t just help with luck in pulling cards but when I’m dire needs he can call on the puzzle to help him do whatever is needed. And in that dire need he looked to yugis friends to help realize his dire need to block Pegasus from reading his mind for a limited amount of time.

[@WillRennar]

Yugi: [hides Dark Magician under the Magical Hats] Millennium Ring: [points to the 2nd hat] Bakura: [attacks the 2nd hat and destroys the Dark Magician] Well well, guess this thing is useful in a Duel after all.

[@ekayasa13]

Unfortunately it was negated by millenium puzzle luck boost. 😂

[@kylepessell1350]

It's too bad that the Millennium Puzzle outclasses the Ring. However, the Ring could still be pretty overpowered in a duel with non-Millennium Item holders. Especially those decks which rely on trickery or luck.

[@derianvandalsen]

@@kylepessell1350 e.g. Joey

[@mithmoonwalker]

@@kylepessell1350 it could serve to make choosing cards easier

[@doom9128]

@@kylepessell1350 I'm not sure about that, zorc is pretty powerful, so he prolly makes the ring even more powerful than all the other items combined aside from the puzzle. The puzzle's broken but the millenium ring def holds on more than we see.

[@NX101]

Just a reminder: _"If you lose the duel, you lose your SOUL"_

[@Redknight-g1z]

purple realm

[@RocksDXebec-dw3cn]

@@Redknight-g1z SILENCE!!

[@Redknight-g1z]

@@RocksDXebec-dw3cn i am just saying

[@monkey_blu]

Shut up Tristan

[@DannyBoy0619]

Shang Tsung approves this comment

[@wangstanation6400]

There's the Millennium Armour: made for plot reasons

[@sun332s7]

You wanna step outside for that joke?

[@igorlopes8463]

The most op millennium item

[@nich6200]

Don’t forget the millennium falcon

[@roninwarriorsfan]

Mellinum shield?

[@erict6276]

@@nich6200 very nice

[@shadexvii3975]

One thing of note about the ring is that its compass ability is likely part of why it was able to return to Bakura during the Duelist Kingdom Arc, after Tristan tossed it into the forest. In the anime and Manga it was also a dowsing rod for the other millennium items, tracking the eye in duelist kingdom and Ishizu’s necklace in Battle City. It also seemed to have an ability to sever connections as well, when Zorc/Yami Bakura used it to cut off the mental hold Marik had on Bandit Keith

[@lordofthered1257]

I think that all items have a shared ability to manipulate souls. Like when Bakura splits his soul in two and pits himself in the puzzle. I also think the items can counter other items.

[@shadexvii3975]

@@lordofthered1257 that’s pretty likely, although I’m uncertain how far those powers extend

[@lordofthered1257]

@@shadexvii3975 It was probably left mysterious on purpose. To make the items seem more mystical.

[@if7723]

@@lordofthered1257 I always thought that was just a power flex. Yami Bakura just going "aw cute, you think you can mind slave people" and dispelling it.

[@roncerjani9063]

​@@if7723Didn't di dispell it though, Bandit Kieth was still sensing another presence inside his head, which caused him to go mad. So he didn't remove Marik completely, simply weakened his control for a while.

[@The_XnXlXzXr]

You know, i always wondered how powerful Jaden is. Considering he is the supreme king and has all these crazy abilities like summon real monsters and be inmune to hypnosis. Would be fun to see.

[@bigfish5544]

Yeah he's basically not human. He's the Supreme king, meaning he possesses the power of the gentle darkness : a cosmic entity at the source of the universe. He is half duel monsters, which allow him to break the boundaries between the human world and spirit world, and he possesses a ton of incredibly powerful cards like Yubel, a monster cursed with the light of destruction powers, the neo spacians and neos (basically aliens), or super polymerization, a card that holds the power to literally destroy the twelve realms of existence. If you want my opinion, he's pretty strong lol

[@nkyfong]

He can also shoot lasers

[@jaernihiltheus7817]

He can do everything you see Yubel do throughout Season 3 and more, theoretically. He just doesn't because he's not evil. Realistically he's far more powerful than Yugi is in terms of raw magical powers. Since he's both a demon and a god.

[@dancostello4872]

Not to mention that weird anti-Shadow Charm he had that could cancel out pretty much any Shadow Game, which was received 'compliments of Atticus'. Jaden really was a complex individual, causing literal genocide and then after returning to the Academy, was basically a god running around in a Slifer jacket.

[@EJY809]

Since the supreme king was based from kamen rider's "creation king" (concept wise) you can tell that Jaden can destroy "everything" if he wanted to. He's more powerful than Yugi(Atem) as he doesn't need to connect to the gods for power as he already has it.

[@nkyfong]

Shadi being a ghost is a lot more blatant in the Yu-Gi-Oh manga, as that is what Dark Side of Dimensions is a sequel to. An example is where we see him telling Marik his fate to show Atem his back tattoo despite how he could not have known where they could live due to them living underground.

[@Deathmare235]

Also how mysterious Shadi is honestly I thought he was a spirit at first

[@burningandrew1062]

Technically you missed one or two from the movies. The pyramid of light was an attempt to recreate the power of the millennium puzzle by Aknadin to give to his son Seto to rival the pharaoh, so its a bit questionable if it counts or not. Also the quantum cube/millennium cube from dark side of dimensions was literally stated to be the 8th millennium item in the Japanese version, not sure about the dub though. Also fun fact, THAT was how Kaiba got into the afterlife at the end of dark side of dimensions, as the cube has the power to transport between dimensions and he managed to get his hands on it after Yagami/Diva was defeated and basically plug it into his tech. I don't think that was ever explained very well but it is canonically how he did it.

[@maguc5906]

The Pyramid of Light isn't canon, else it would be a millennium item The millennium cube is actually canon tho, so yeah missed one but I can see why he just stayed with the original7

[@Deathmare235]

Wait how was it made and what was it’s purpose did it give shadi immortality or did his family have it

[@firewolf950tfwgaming7]

@@Deathmare235 The millenium cube is basically the representation of Shadi’s wish that those who suffered greatly will be able to have a peaceful end, that being the world of the plana and also the originator of said item. It’s also important that this item only because active when the duties of the pharaoh are done which suggests that its power is confined by the powers of the other items with an additional restriction being that if the pharaoh should return, the plana’s power leaves.

[@ziridestaudios]

So the question becomes, did he use that same power to return after the Duel with Atem in the afterlife? Or is he trapped there forever?

[@johnlucas2838]

I thought the Millennium Cube was called the Quantum Cube.

[@NeverGonnaTellALie]

Just a tidbit on the Millennium scale, it's based on the Egyptian mythology of Ammit the destroyer and Anubis. Anubis guards the the entry to Duat or the egyptian version of underworld. Your "heart" is weighted against the feather of truth and if your heart is not pure, Ammit will devour it, ending your journey in the afterlife. Pretty cool.

[@brolytriplethreat]

Yep. Mind you the Anubis of Yugioh is...well

[@mattcampbell2600]

Well that was winged kuribos job

[@rainbowdragon168]

It was very gruesome that the Millennium Items were made but it’s cool that each of the Items have their own unique abilities. However I think they could’ve done more with the Millennium Scales as the writer just probably forgot about the Scales and decided not to do anything.

[@jaernihiltheus7817]

Scales and Key get the short end of the stick what with their wielder being a ghost who doesn't show up all too often.

[@pn2294]

I’d say it’s pretty terrifying. Mr. Kanekura can attest to that.

[@rainbowdragon168]

@@rob19ny Nope I’ve read the manga too but I still think it could’ve had more written about it

[@rainbowdragon168]

@@rob19ny Oh my bad. It was a typo since I wrote it fast

[@rainbowdragon168]

@@jaernihiltheus7817 Yeah

[@grinreaperoftrolls7528]

I miss this era of Yugioh. I really love the mysteriousness and just how freaking cool it was overall.

[@elimanic7925]

Important note, in the original sub, Pegasus didn't want any more Millennium items. He just wanted Kaiba Corp so he could use their projection technology to make a perfect copy of his lost lover.

[@brolytriplethreat]

Which is weird and overconvoluted, especially since I get the impression Kaiba and Pegasus had an amiable enough relationship prior to the whole "kidnapping my brother" thing. Not to mention that a hologram isn't the real thing. Unless manga Pegasus is a superficial a-hole who only cared about Cecilia because she was pretty and thus a hollow puppet in her likeness is perfectly acceptable. Either way, the Kaiba thing aside, using incredible amounts of dark magic to return a soul from the beyond works pretty well with this series

[@l.n.3372]

​@@brolytriplethreat Yeah quite frankly it just makes more sense overall. Kaiba and Pegasus were business partners beforehand. Pegasus and the big 5 chose to screw over Kaiba and steal Kaiba corporation. But if Pegasus just wanted help for a hologram, that's a tad extreme to steal the whole company. Not to mention that Pegasus wanting the millennium items just makes far more sense with the overall goals of other characters too, such as with Yami Bakura. Also, in that episode where Tea, Tristan and Bakura sneak around the castle at night, they accidentally encountered Pegasus and Pegasus makes it clear that he wants the millennium ring too. This makes sense if he's already collecting the items as a whole, since he wants the puzzle as well.

[@roncerjani9063]

​@@l.n.3372But it doesn't make sense that he went so far to take Kaiba Corp. Dunno how the manga went with this, but in the anime he definitely needed Kaiba's technology.

[@l.n.3372]

@@roncerjani9063 That's literally what I said if you read the comment I wrote. That the dub explanation makes more sense because collecting the millennium items is more logical.

[@roncerjani9063]

@@l.n.3372 Yeah but I think you didn't read mine. If he is after the items, what does he need Kaiba Corp for?

[@Dragon66898]

With the Millenium Eye it could be that it takes a little longer to read another Millenium items as when it came to reading the minds of Seto Kiba Joey and Bandit Keith with very little effort while with Yugi and Bamdit King Bakura he had to actually had to wait like a second or two to see the cards. In short it can still read the minds of other Millenium item users but it just takes more time.

[@siddhartashakara5240]

Also, it requires mastery of the item; let's not forget that Akhnani as well as Pegasus had been using the items for quite a while when they came into the story

[@raro344]

@@siddhartashakara5240 Yeah, in fact mastery over shadow power is what set yami marik over others.

[@l.n.3372]

​@@raro344 Tbh I've always called BS on this. Yami Marik should NOT be more powerful than Yami Bakura. The millennium ring literally has Zorc inside it. There's no way a human should be more powerful than the dark incarnation of Zorc given form by the ring. They just allowed Yami Marik to be stronger cuz he was the plot based arc villain for Battle City while Bakura had nothing much to do in Battle City after he lost to Yugi in the quarterfinals.

[@raro344]

@@l.n.3372 I mean, Yami is shadow of king thief bakura in a way no diferent that yami marik being the darkness of marik. Also is mastery no power, Bakura always make his battle a shadow game and was succesfull for quite a while

[@l.n.3372]

@@raro344 Yami Bakura says in the manga, in the anime sub and in the anime dub that he is Zorc. Yami Bakura is not thief king Bakura. He's Zorc. So yes, that's a huge difference of Yami Marik compared to Zorc. Which is why he is more powerful than Yami Marik.

[@LunarWingCloud]

The Millennium Items are one of the major reasons I got into Yu-Gi-Oh, it was such a cool factor of the lore of the series

[@SWad250]

I was never too big a fan of the items being separated into explicated "good/justice and evil/darkness." I would have liked it more if the items were more expressly like Lovecraftian objects. They don't necessarily change you for the better or worse, they just heighten who you already are, and thus your actions are still your own. We see a bit of that with the villains of Duel Monsters, mostly Pegasus and Marik, but the fact that the objects were later defined as already dark and thus it was inevitable that those that picked them up would be "evil," I tend to be a bit disappointed.

[@commonviewer2488]

I don't think they were inherently evil, so much as exaggerated the evil tendencies of the wielders. Yugi was arguably an anti-hero at the start, but later became less vindictive. Ishizu and Shadi had the best of intentions and never showed signs of corruption. It's really just Millennium Ring that is inherently evil.

[@SWad250]

​@@commonviewer2488 That's how I wanted to interpret them too, but then Takahashi had it expressly written about the details of the "justice" and "darkness" items, thus taking away from the notion in a sense.

[@Monster33336]

They call it duel monsters for a reason the world of duality and between good and evil. The items can be a bit confusing, some tend to have no control over them like Bakura.

[@abstractAnomaly]

Bit of high expectations for a series like this, but I do empathize. Definitely would’ve been neat from a storytelling perspective for there to be more nuance to how the artifacts work.

[@namoma4922]

@@commonviewer2488 I think the anti hero side we saw more at the start is more due to him having different values as a pharaoh Judgement back then were way more brutal so what is appropriate for him isn't for us

[@filipvadas7602]

I always felt the lore behind the Millenium items and DM in general was kind of underutilised in the grand scheme of things The premise alone , that being Ancient Egyptian dark magic reawakening in the modern world, Is awesome but I kinda get the feeling the creator only scratched the surface

[@phoenixgemini42]

They kinda changed it so that the Egyptians we're the first to unearth the magic, but not the only ones to utilize it through history, nor were they the ones to create it, they just found it so to speak.

[@sharkspeedo]

yeah it was the main plot and yeah he just scratched the surface, because his intention was to create a battle manga about the things he likes the most and that was games, he created a manga about games, not just duel monsters, at the end of each volume you can read, the instructions and rules of games he propose to the reader, and well the editors didn't want to allow him to create a battle manga, but he strived and found a way around it, trough duel monsters that ultimately became his most popular game.

[@weridplusho]

Sadly, Japanese readers didn't like the Ancient Egyptian stuff, they only liked duel monsters. The ratings tanked when that arc began which led the manga to be canceled. Which is crazy to me because the AE stuff was the best damn part.

[@sofarsogood8680]

The subplot about millennium items are one of the things that intrigued me to read and watch Yugi Oh DM. Very fun to see their powers. Also put a higher stake and tension during dueling.

[@notraju3880]

Just my thoughts but,i think that the millennium eye's real ability was to see through other's eyes and have a photo memory of that.This could explain the hole that when peeked through with a scope,would show the cards of the challenger.This would also clear the reason his powers were still working against Yami.The reason he was still able to see Yami's cards in his first duel was simply because Yami wasn't Sure of his ability and was simply caught off-guard. However,after Yami Bakura ran off,he finished off the guy that was looking at Yugi's cards through a scope.And Pegasus could no longer see Yami's cards.So,he instigated a shadow game so that he could see Yami's cards cuz uh,idk he made the rules that way.

[@sharkspeedo]

the power name is mind scan, it literally sees what the person is thinking and their previous thoughts.

[@matthewkuscienko4616]

@@sharkspeedo That's true; this can be seen when Pegasus duels Yugi and is able to counter Yugi's cards because he knows which ones Yugi will play and how he plans to use them, such as when he used his trap displacement card to move Yugi's spellbinding circle from Ryu Ran to Summoned Skull

[@cutecats532]

The eye is the window to the soul

[@cpMetis]

I never caught that the Millenium Rod helped out Kaiba due to him being the original user. That's an awesome detail and I never noticed. Makes me wonder: are the millenium items not inherently totally loyal to the current wielder? Do they have a slight moral compass? Did the Rod respond that way due to loyalty to Seto overpowering its control by Marik, or because it saw Kaiba as more worthy? Or is it simply because they had been viewing the events of the past with Seto and that caused the Rod to become oversensitive with the past user so close by?

[@BloodrealmX]

The Rod responded to Kaiba because he was the present version of a past wielder (Priest Seto). The Key might have responded to Grandpa Sugoroku (the counterpart of Siamun) if he had been near it.

[@matthewkuscienko4616]

I think that the millennium items are completely loyal to their wielders if they have a strong enough connection to them, as we have never actually seen any of the other millennium items act in a similar way at any point in the series (at least not that I can personally think of, let me know if I'm missing any other instances of such occuring). This would also explain why the millennium rod reached out to Seto Kaiba on his duel with Ishizu: it recognized him as being the reincarnation of it's previous wielder in ancient Egypt, causing it to intervene when the powers of another millennium item, in this case, the millennium necklace, was being invoked, probably as some sort of safety precaution to keep their wielders from fighting amongst each other or something to that effect

[@ShadowSaberBaroxio]

I think Kaiba is the "true" wielder chosen by the Millenium Rod; Marik is just able to use it because he's one of the Pharaoh's Gravekeepers. Same for how he can summon Ra despite not having a direct connection to it.

[@santosic]

There's certainly a level of loyalty to its original owners; the Rod kicking in against Marik's wishes to help Seto or show him something happened more than once, and every time Marik was pissed off and demanded it to reveal what it was showing Seto, but of course it didn't obey him. So it does seem like it has a preference.

[@Deathmare235]

The rod never betrayed Marik though guess they help all its users I mean I’m pretty Marik would’ve rather had Kaiba win than Ishizu so it could be Marik’s wish

[@DannyBoy0619]

Is anyone else bummed that they never dig deeper into the key and scale? I wanted separate seasons for each item and a villain unique to each one. Or at least a better back story on them aside from season 5 where they go back to Egypt. That’s just me though. I really miss the original series. I crave so much more from it lol

[@Blade_291]

Just remember the milenium key also had the power to seal away exodia, literally the key to his chains.

[@InvaderWeezle]

Akhenedan also makes a wish on the Millennium Eye for his son Seto to become Pharaoh, and that also eventually becomes true.

[@JapaneseMagician]

Well is the Millennium Eye the only Item that can seal people's soul inside cards/an Item? I mean Pegasus used this on Mokua without it beng in a Shadow Game (or as a pnishment game)?

[@raro344]

@@JapaneseMagician Probably other do but pegasus decide on that.

[@JapaneseMagician]

@@raro344 I don't know. Maybe only the items (Eye, Ring and Rod) that lean towards the dark side. As the Necklace, Scales and Key never did something like that while the ring let Bakura seal a part of his soul inside a piece of the Puzzle and the Rod send people to Shadow Realm (like the Eye).

[@sakuraryuji01]

@@JapaneseMagician that’s sort of a plot hole but the only explanation in how come that happened is probably a punishment penalty due to how mokuba broke the rules of his tournament enough to invoke the penalty in the first place. Reason being : Tournament gives duelists star chips. Mokuba stole a duelist star chips and deck while being on his island castle. He also had to possess either prize card the kings right or left hand before challenging Pegasus. He then stole star chips from yugi in the middle of their duel. So I guess that’s all Pegasus needed to get those codes to mokuba shares to finish his hostile takeover of Kaiba Corp.

[@JapaneseMagician]

@@sakuraryuji01 That surely is possible and an interesting explanation, because without your reasoning a penalty game would be at least unusual

[@CamKoudo]

13:19 love the editor's note here, Kaiba is just so bad ass that the millenium rod belongs to him even if it doesn't belong to him xD

[@TheRasp10]

three thing: 1. i would love to see these items as full on cards, to be used in card game 2. an episode about the duel spirits and how they were born 3. i would go for the millennium key mostly cause it be cool to have on me (but being a fan of yugioh the puzzle of course)

[@darkknight5541]

I have some fun ideas for how they could be used in the game as cards, trying to match them to the abilities they displayed during both the egyptian arcs and main timeline as best I could. Important note is that they're all continuous spells, and the list isn't complete: 1. Millennium Rod: Once per turn, you can take control of 1 monster your opponent controls. If this card is destroyed, destroy all monsters on your field taken by this effect, and inflict damage to your opponent equal to half their combined attack. 2. Millennium Eye: As long as this card remains on the field, your opponent must play with their hand revealed. 3. Millennium Necklace: Once per turn, you can declare the name of any card. If that card is in your opponent's hand, they must discard it. If that card was a monster card, they take damage equal to that monster's attack points. 4. Millennium Scales: Once per turn, you can send monsters listed as material on a fusion monster from your hand or field to the graveyard, Fusion Summon that monster. If this card leaves the field, return all monsters summoned this way to the extra deck, and summon as many of those fusion materials as possible from the graveyard. 5. Millennium Key: Undecided 6. Millennium Ring: Undecided 7: Millennium Puzzle: Once this effect resolves, banish three cards of your choice from your deck face down. If your life points are lower than your opponents by at least 2000, you can add one of those at random to your hand instead of conducting your draw phase. 8. Millennium Stone: Once per turn, you can pay 1000 life points to add one "Millennium" continuous spell card from your deck to your hand. If Seven "Millennium" continuous spell cards with different names are in your graveyard and/or on your field, you instantly win the duel.

[@EvilLordCanas]

@@darkknight5541 The Millenium Necklace would be just a better Eye since it would force your opponent to reveal his hand all the time just to check if they have the card you predicted while also giving you the ability to discard said card.

[@meistercerberus4070]

Thank you for Honoring the Series that I love so much. I love when people can see that this Story is more than just a Card game.

[@meistercerberus4070]

@Regulus Yeah . Sesson 0 was so great. The whole Idea that the protagonist outsmarts His opponents and Shows how Smart he is. It was a great way to Show us what the Most powerfull weapon is, Not a Gun , Not autority. Its knowledge. Atem in Season 0 deserves the title „King of Games“ because he is the king of all games. But i Love Atem in the Duel Monsters Version as Well. The whole mythologic and the Story of the Connection people have with there personal struggles and Motivation. Yu-Gi-Oh is a S-Tier Manga and Anime

[@goldam1986]

One thing I think you missed was that every millennnium item has the power to shoot lasers. When combined with the user's mind. This was demonstrated by Pegasus & Yami Bakura. They may have been the only 2 to do it in the series. But later we get to see these energy colors from Marik's rode, and Yugi's puzzle, even though they never actually shot a beam.

[@28kingofkings]

so if Joey got his hands on a millennium item, it would have been the scales since Joey mostly took on cheaters, and it goes with his deck theme because end results can tip the scales to his favor or not

[@DrakeKnight99]

I'm surprised the Pyramid of Light wasn't mentioned because I believe it technically was a proto millennium item

[@jaernihiltheus7817]

The Pyramid of Light movie isn't canon, so it doesn't necessarily count. The Plana (Millennium Cube) does though, since Dark Side of Dimension is canon.

[@anonluxor470]

The pyramid of light is the first illuminati item

[@sharkspeedo]

that was USA filler movie, it was not produce by the OG creators. so it is non canon.

[@darkhunter5293]

@@jaernihiltheus7817 Ok, I've not seen DSOD, there's an 8th Item? (Seeing as the Pyramid of Light is not canon at all.)

[@jaernihiltheus7817]

@@darkhunter5293 there is... kind of. It's the reason shadi was so willing to give out the millennium items - as the pharaoh needs to gather the 7 items, regain his memories, and defeat zorc for it to appear. It's not technically an item but a power inherited by those who followed shadi (before his death at the hands of a newly possessed child named bakura) that takes the shape of a millennium cube. You should watch DSOD if you're interested in learning the ins and outs. It takes place after the events of the manga (and anime, though it's specifically a sequel to the manga so some details are a bit different, but the differences aren't major enough to where you NEED to read the manga to folloq along or anything). The plot set up is that kaiba is pissy about the pharaoh going back to egyptian heaven before he could beat him in a card game, so he digs through the wreckage of the Pharaoh's tomb in order to recover the pieces of the puzzle & use advanced ai to reconstruct it. Putting everyone's lives in danger on the off chance that completing the puzzle will being atem back. All the while some of shadi's followers, whose powers go away if atem ever does come back, try to stop kaiba and also try to kill bakura out of revenge along the way. It's the best of the movies imo and really puts a nice bow on not just yugi's character growth, but also provides a much more shadi backstory than the original series ever really did. Plus they actually duel with 8000 lp like you do irl.

[@samurexatlas7373]

Another possible explanation to Kaiba changing fate, the Necklace only sees likely futures, and not certain ones.

[@Demoneyeskyo1000]

I thought it was pretty clear in the anime that the Millenium rod cheated on Marik. Like a person going back to their ex.

[@xxProjectJxx]

I think willpower is a more consistent explanation as it also explains how Joey had some resistance to the Millenium Rod. If Ishizu could only see the most likely future, then she'd have probably been wrong before and wouldn't be so surprised that Kaiba defied fate.

[@samurexatlas7373]

@@Demoneyeskyo1000 Maybe so.

[@samurexatlas7373]

@@xxProjectJxx True, but willpower is what constantly changes our fate. Time is a thousand rivers, you never know which you're riding through. Every choice makes a river.

[@xxProjectJxx]

@@samurexatlas7373 but perhaps free will is an illusion, and only those with enough strength of will can defy their predetermined path.

[@thunderhunter4391]

Dude you should do a video going over which each yugioh series and the powers they had, to see which was the strongest. Millennium items, power of the supreme king, signer dragon/ crimson dragon, astral/barian force, dimensional dragons, and whatever vrains had.

[@RetroRetro23]

Love your channel bro. I get to relieve my childhood as a 30 year old adult and get cool explanations on things I never gave a damn as a kid

[@OnePieceSpecial]

This was great. The Millennium Items powers have been very vaguely defined so it's awesome that you laid out their abilities clearly. If possible, could you make a video about Kaiba's Duel Disk technology? While being holograms, there are many times where the monsters are able to physically effect the world around them and damage opponents even without a Shadow Game being active. The monsters also seem to show some level of sentience such as the duel between Yugi and Arcana, when Arcana's Dark Magician clearly shows distress when Arcana states he has no problem sacrificing his Dark Magician.

[@miss_xandra_mars]

3 item in line with justice, 3 items in line with darkness, and one item in line with darkness and justice, making it neutral. No wonder the millennium puzzle was given to the Pharoah (and Priest Set when Atem declared him Pharoah if I remember the anime right). Yugioh's idea of checks and balances for Ancient Egypt.

[@roseyp4837]

Really love that it's been over a decade and people still dive into yugioh :)You hav respect and amazing contents btw.

[@ultamisthefox6111]

The way there were made was pretty brutal but I think tbe most brutal item is the scale because of the instant death thing

[@ashhikari626]

The 99 souls to make the Millennium Items reminds me of how in Soul Eater the process to turn someone with a weapon form, such as soul eater evans, requires 99 Kishin souls/“eggs” and then the soul of a witch

[@TophDaGreat]

It always seemed to me that they ran out of ideas for the Millennium Scale. I don't remember it being focused on that much in the modern day setting.

[@slevinchannel7589]

Want some Watch-Suggests for Anime?

[@cr0wcr4w]

No. The scale was one of the first ones to apear in the manga. At that time, duels were not the focus of the story. They cut that part on the anime.

[@sameash3153]

@@cr0wcr4w we're talking about the superior duel monsters anime here sir

[@Shugunou]

You forgot to mention the powers they had back in Egypt, or at least in the Memory World. The scale, for instance, could fuse monsters together and the Rod could take a monster out of a person's body and command it.

[@KingNazaru]

I just assumed Atem couldn’t block Pegasus’ mind reading because Atem lost his memory of controlling the Millennium Puzzle’s full power.

[@borbadon]

I'm not sure if it was mentioned, but the millennium key can also make its wielder invisible from others as it was portrayed when Shadi and Pegasus moved through the underground tunnels in Egypt in search of the tablet depicting the three Egyptian gods without being noticed by the guards.

[@amberknight7301]

You forgot one thing. The Millennium Rod provides a form of telekinesis where you can send people and objects flying, which Marik did a lot throughout his time using the Rod. You can also use it to freeze people in place and restrict their movement. It can also seal monster spirits into tablets. The Millennium Ring can do the freezing part too, so honestly surprised Bakura didn't use it a lot more often. What's even more interesting is that Marik said himself that he couldn't move when Bakura froze him, so apparently Marik, who had a Millennium Item on hand, couldn't just resist the Ring's ability to freeze him.

[@xlegacyzero8878]

Yami yugi's puzzle was able to push yami bakura back when he tried to take the puzzle by force, and project a barrier that protected him from panics flamethrowers so it's safe to say all millennium items have some level of telekinesis.

[@ZenoDLC]

@@xlegacyzero8878 Those were explained in the common abilities as "mastery over magic"

[@ItsBradazHD]

0:34 legit thought you where about to smoothly transition into a sponsor there :P

[@turnerbrawley4715]

Unfortunately the drawback of mind controlling people with the millennium rod is that they have to have Steve in there name

[@catbuikhang6482]

The first owner of the Millenium Eye : Priest Aknadin wish was for his son to become King, and it also granted this to him. Priest Seto was the next king after Atem

[@kratal122]

If the Millennium Puzzle gives a luck boost, then just imagine if Joey were the one to get that luck boost. He’d be unbeatable.

[@oxylepy2]

I love the idea of pulling fully formed multiple component items in final condition out of a mold.

[@pietroopendragon]

You know that episode from Fullmetal Alchemist where Scar drew a huge alchemic circle around a small town to transform all the soldiers from the Capital into the philosopher's stone? That's what Akhenadon should have done: attracting the enemy soldiers to the sacrificial place and then use their souls as his part on the ritual, killing 99 enemies and even achieving incredible powers from the Millenium artifacts. It's a win win situation, but I guess having 99 criminals dead is also a good price to pay, anyway.

[@damiandusk9187]

Issue with that is that if they had such ease in controlling their enemy they wouldn't have needed the items in the first place.

[@ZenoDLC]

Stabbing and putting 99 bound impoverished criminals you just dragged to a ritual ground is easy, 99 enemy warriors from an army that's giving you so much trouble you need the ability to summon godlike monsters to beat is not. And you also have to consider the number of enemies, as this is a ritual, they can't just trap fifty, throw them in with the molten gold, then get another 49 from another garisson later, and they can't possibly keep the corpses fresh enough for a ritual without refridgeration. And if you want to capture 99 warriors alive, that's going to be harder than killing those same 99 warriors, not to mention you're in war, resource generation is going to have to go down so even if you can gather them one by one slowly, then you'd have to share resources keeping them alive until you can sacrifice them

[@Deathmare235]

@@damiandusk9187 the millennium items weren’t for normal foes

[@kitethetwinblade]

The ritual required innocents. The recipe for it was in a dark tome locked in the vaults. It was taken out and used because Akhenaten was losing the war with Atlantis and about to lose for good.

[@raro344]

@@ZenoDLC More important, if you do that with the army, the plan would be spoiled before being done.

[@dr.badguyreviews6785]

"Also reveals there darkness." I know it was just a mistype, but it sounds too funny xD That darkness, over there. Go get it.

[@masterofmythology]

Wasn't the puzzle originally the Millennium Pendant, and only became the Puzzle after Atem sealed himself and Zorc?

[@notraju3880]

No,it was the puzzle even before Zorc and Atem were sealed.Its shown in the starting of the flashback.

[@johnlucas2838]

The pendant becomes the puzzle as it shatters when Atem seals Zorc and himself inside the Millennium Pendant. Millennium World RPG may show a representation of past events but it isn't necessarily accurate to what actually happened. It's a shadow game they're playing about their past lives but is also an RPG.

[@TheBaltherion]

I think the puzzle unlocks your true potential, as well as dispelling offensive magic. I think Pego's eye trick worked because it wasn't an offensive magic, all be it invasive.

[@dannybeane2069]

Ya know honestly wish more protagonist/antagonists had powers (within duels) other then "destiny draw" or "luck boost". Yuya being able to literally invent a new card type was interesting (if not a total ass pull...) but not much other then that. Zexal was interesting in concept but boring in execution, as it only gave access to more extra deck options and a destiny draw like effect.

[@ZenoDLC]

The problem with Zexal is that the series as a whole focused too much on the Numbers, depriving most other XYZ, the mechanic the series introduces, of more free monsters that's not Numbers, and then there's the focus on Number 39 Hope/Utopia, like, all Zexal form cards seems to focus way too much on that archetype.

[@Anonomous518]

I wonder if Zorc was able to exert his will in the items of darkness, this could mean he not only created Yami Bakura, but Yami Marik as well, and possibly even manipulated Pegasus to an extent.

[@Blakey_B]

I think you forgot the greatest ability of all. The millennium eye and necklace have the ability to shoot ancient Egyptian laser beams at one another. The best power

[@misterglasses7151]

Swear to god. . . thought you were gonna say "friendship..." Glad it wasn't friendship! 😂 😂 😂

[@anonluxor470]

@@misterglasses7151 I thought he were gonna say draw two cards😂

[@johnlucas2838]

That was a fun one. Different from manga events that's for sure.

[@thomaswellerton3783]

The Milenium Ring can help in duels by leading you to more powerfull and rare cards outside of a duel, pointing to the cards you most want, say Kaiba got it, it would point out to the Blue Eyes White Dragon Yugi's granpa had

[@bigfish5544]

Honestly I would love to see an accurate source saying the millenium puzzle gives you a luck boost, because I'm not convinced it's ever brought up in the Manga. I'm pretty sure it's explained countless times (and even by the author in his goodbye letter to fans) that duels - and games in general - are basically just machinations of fate. It's not about luck, it's about soul and ideology. Everyone has the capacity to draw upon whatever they want, but only the purest, the most determined, can do it. You could say it's justified plot armor and I think it's something a lot of people miss, which is too bad. Making sense out of plot conveniences isn't something a lot of stories are known to do

[@marchmelloow]

You are correct, the luck boosting was anime-only to make the extended duel "cooler" which it failed at. Luck is based on a person's will in the series.

[@bigfish5544]

@@marchmelloow exactly, this is so dumb lol. It takes away all of the personal aspect of yugioh and replaces it with "Atem cheats since the power makes him luckee"

[@sirkoopa2412]

The way I see it is its not a luck boost, the opponent is meant to lose. Never had a chance. Going off of season 0 or the manga, all of the pharaohs victims had no chance to win against him and those games were always meant to reveal the opponents true self (he constantly tells his victims that when they cheat or not play the game properly anymore). Though because the card game took over, guess in the end that idea was sort of abandoned.

[@bigfish5544]

@@sirkoopa2412 no, not really actually, it got continued in the card game format. It's all about fate and soul, except they don't cheat that often in DM

[@sirkoopa2412]

@@bigfish5544 True. I guess I was thinking more of how duels play out in duel monsters compared to season 0. Like the pharoah isn't trying to punish anyone he duels in duel monsters. If it happens, it happens, he never started it. Very rarely did he do penalty games with his opponents. I can only think of kaiba and that one flashback where a guy was trying to rape tea. Though with kaiba he got rid of the darkness in his heart. So is that really a punishment.

[@archdiangelo7930]

4:06 "The darkness within you being exorcised" Ah, yes, the darkness within Kaiba was DEFINITELY exorcised that day, mhmm, yeah, totally...

[@insanemakaioshin]

4:25 - Correction: If you don't've the will power to overcome the influence of a millennium Item, you can't use one & will fail its test. 7:10 - False! Pegasus can see her whenever he wants, but he can't hold or touch her! 8:50 - False! That's an ability Atem, Yugi, Seto, Joey, Jaden & others *always possessed.* The ability to summon the Egyptian Gods before they were made into cards however is unique to the puzzle. 13:19 - This image implies the ability to seal people's souls, or at least memories inside the item aren't unique to the puzzle.

[@mielkee4235]

Proof?

[@ssjgotenks2009]

no sadei said if your not mitn to hold the items then it iwll kill he told pagues this do you think yuo knwo mroe then shadei and the god card cna be sued by any who ahs antiem past jaden has oen joey does not

[@karimh9958]

This makes me appreciate yugioh lore more than the duels itself.

[@luigifan001]

In Capsule Monsters, Yugi can redirect mind attacks and trap the foe's mind into the "endless" rooms inside of the Millenium Puzzle. (As seen vs alexander) This is pseudo immunity to mind attacks and pretty broken against some characters. Imagine Yugi just trapping professor X, Luke Skywalker and M.Bison's minds endlessly if they were to fight.

[@MrDarksol]

Oh yes the millennium items, the things that made me interested in the original Yugioh. It was pretty cool when we got to later episodes we started building on these more and more as the show went on and it was interesting to see just how they worked. Not only that but each had different powers that could work in duels, making them pretty handy. Was not surprised that puzzle was both justice and darkness especially since season 0 exists......shudder THAT Atem was terrifying. Overall fun video as always!

[@badbloodkiller3471]

Yeah, season 0 Atem was more anti-hero than anything and the manga version of him was more brutal since in the manga, he got a criminal to set himself on fire while in the anime is was a just an illusion.

[@MrDarksol]

@@badbloodkiller3471 I know cuz I OWNED the manga when I was in the sixth grade.........my brain froze and jaw hit the god damn floor lol.

[@tyronmilward-bridges7100]

I agree with you the ring would be the coolest to have. Pity about the side effects 😂

[@LightingbladeShen]

"Seven to dwarf-lords in their halls of stone.." I mean, seven to the Souls in their halls of sand

[@brianfoust1216]

I just want to say I really love your videos and always look forward to seeing more!! Thank you and keep up the great work!!!! 👍

[@TGSAnime]

Thank you so much!

[@Grievousapprentice15]

One thing I’m curious about is if there is a banlist in the world of the Yu-Gi-Oh anime, at least the first generation. Since we see cards banned in the real world like Pot of Greed and Graceful Charity used all the time in their decks, I wonder what cards had to get banned in their world. It’s a fun idea, and it’d be cool if there was a video on it.

[@anonluxor470]

In the game Yu-Gi-Oh forbidden memories the millennium rod had a different look I don't know if it a early design but just know that at one point the rod had a different look

[@TheKpa11]

Indeed, and the stone tablet in that game summoned the “Darknite” essentially some demon that “Created the cards” supposedly too And the items were sacrificed completely too

[@anonluxor470]

@@TheKpa11 I thought I was the only one who remember forbidden memories

[@TheKpa11]

@@anonluxor470 Oh I know forbidden memories, it’s a guilty pleasure for me, and for others on KZbin it seems. There’s actually a channel that does speed runs of that game a lot

[@ssjgotenks2009]

will soem tiems game tell the future of thigns paln ort ha where planed yugioh gx tag forc 3 and 6 show storys that where palen for gx and 5ds that were never used to rushing tot he next sries and yugioh 5s world champship 2010 for told ther eb 6 signers marks befor it even happend int he show

[@Chief-Remeldian-Olympus]

The only problem I have is how Pegasus used Millennium Eye against Yami. However one could say at the time of Pegasus vs Yami duel Yami doesn't really know how to truly use the full power of the puzzle. Every time there a duel between two Millennium Items there seem to a spiritual ritual symbols. Often sometime is it a similar thing they just different ways of getting it.

[@pikagammerpluspizza7478]

Video follow up idea: What can the Barian Emperors actually do?

[@namoma4922]

Hm interesting A lot of them were able to do shadow duels even as humans. As Barian emperor they definitely are able to create card/affect destiny A lot of them were warriors That's what I can remember of the top of my head

[@MyTime1863]

Damn... as a kid I thought the show was dark when Yugi kept hitting Weavel with attacks even though he was in the negative. Learning the Millennium Items were made by a blood sacrifice and the bodies melted and mixed with gold is just a whole other level

[@shinraset]

An odd thought has been rattling around my head ever since I watched this video. How would the temperament of the millennium items have changed if instead of 99 bandits it was instead 99 volunteers with as close to complete understanding of what was being asked of them?

[@cutecats532]

Sounds like a cult with extra steps so might add more crazy.

[@raro344]

Probably still evil becaue it require a brutal act of sacrifice.

[@mistergianpaulo]

You missed out on "The millenium power of love and friendship" grants the user to overcome obstacles from level 1 rescue lost kitty, to final level... kill a god

[@BloodrealmX]

I feel like more could have been said about the variety of Penalty Games in order to illustrate what Shadow Games are capable of. For example, Experience of Death was an interesting one, partly because it _technically_ has no lasting effect and partly because it's what inspired Seto Kaiba to invent the Solid Vision hologram technology (well, in the manga and the Toei anime, anyway... the Duel Monsters anime just kinda... had the holograms exist). The wish thing is... iffy. Just because these things came true doesn't mean that the Millennium Items actually _caused_ them to happen. Yugi stood up for Jonouchi and Honda against Ushio before he even completed the Puzzle; in fact, _that's why Jonouchi brought the final piece back to Yugi so he could solve it in the first place!_ I think Yugi granted his _own_ wish without even realizing it. That's not the power of the Millennium Puzzle, _anyone_ can do that; putting your heart into things makes them respond in kind, sort of like how psychics claim there's a resonance of a person in items they own and that are important to them. Grandpa Sugoroku knew this, and he taught that to Yugi and Jonouchi. Even _Kaiba_ learns this eventually. You missed a power of the Millennium Ring: Parasite Mind. It has the power to relocate souls and even _pieces of souls._ This is something the other Items seem to only accomplish with the magic of Penalty Games. Why are we so focused on using the Millennium Items to cheat at Duel Monsters?

[@ssjgotenks2009]

yes but yugi never killed ushio as he is alvie in 5ds as a cop the maker siad it the some ushio so what yugi did to made him better paosn its not chating dude peages made the rules ind ueslts and kabia in battle ity did the rule sya no items no so its not chating

[@LazyPanda5416]

The scale can also fuse monsters, we see this during atem reliving his past

[@jamesturner6979]

It’s not explicitly stated, but I like to headcanon that the reason the Ring, Rod and Eye are all “weak to darkness” is because of Zorc. We know that’s literally the case for the Ring as Thief King Bakura’s Zorc-infected Soul was sealed inside of it but it’s very noticeable that the two other people who came under Zorc’s influence (Aknadin and Priest Seto) were both holders of the Eye and Rod respectively. It’s not a huge leap to assume that Zorc may have negatively affected those Millennium Items as well. Furthermore, it would neatly explain the plot hole of Yami Marik claiming to want revenge on what Atem did to him “thousands of years ago”, if he was more than just Marik’s repressed abuse but also partially born from Zorc’s influence from the Rod. 🤔

[@weridplusho]

...You just blew my mind with that last paragraph. Great headcanon, man.

[@DJKokaKola]

The whole "scales eating you whole" thing comes from the myth of Ammit and Anubis. Anubis would weigh your soul on the scales of justice when you died, and if you failed you would be fed to Ammit, a hippo/crocodile/lion hybrid

[@chosenonea2992]

... So random thought... if the scales just... kill truly terrible people, would just carrying that thing around and using it on people count as depraved heart murder (which is more or less where you knowingly expose others to risk of death without giving a damn whether they die, and woopsie someone dies.) when the alligator pops out and eats someone? Because like... you *know* (at least after the first time) if you meet a bad enough person, and use it, they'll die... so if you keep using it without precaution, then wouldn't that count? Kinda ruins the item a bit. Unless it's an "if x you can" effect, and ghosty friend just *chose* to use it, in which case killing someone would totally be murder, but, hey, free usage as a lie/terrible person detector without risk of pesky murder charges.

[@jacobsova6423]

Why 99 human souls? Why not 100

[@McGoofy1001]

I always kinda took it as a portion of each sacrificed soul in each item. The wielder of the item is the 100th soul. Idk, just my headcanon.

[@monkasteele6050]

I think a good video would be Duel Spirits explained, I always found it an interesting concept from GX that one could form a bond with cards in their deck that they can see them outside of duels and have relationships with them much how Johan sees all the Crystal Beasts as him family and Judai seeing both Elemental Hero Neos and Yubel. I think it would also be cool to explain how the duel spirits can actually influence the duel such as letting the duelist basically top deck the card they have a bond with at any given time during a match.

[@arrownoir]

Why would a dark spell requiring human sacrifice have a justice component? All the items should be dripping with malevolence. It should be darkness, corruption and chaos, not justice. It would only make sense if the souls were pure, causing them to act as a balance to the darkness, hence birthing items of justice among the millennium items.

[@EvilLordCanas]

I believe Bakura stated how among the victims of that bloodbath were innocent family members of these thieves, so not everyone in that village was deserving of death.

[@Its_Stephen]

Bro that FIRE beat in the back tho 🔥🔥🔥

[@vginsprdsobepr9698]

Thanks for the video Sam! I still miss the original Yu-Gi-Oh series since the story and characters were far deeper.

[@waelhassanmd]

I think that the millennium rod is more influencing the mind then controlling it. That’s probably how the stronger willed people resist the mind control, and influencing the mind could also be considered as a way to make people speak for you, or something.

[@urahara64360]

Honestly I kind of like the idea of the shadow realm being it's own separate dimension only accessible by those who wield the items. It's a bit more existentially horrifying that way since they are able to basically usurp the very properties of death. Though that's me making a head canon that only works if you ignore those 2 specific duels in battle city

[@johnlucas2838]

Shadow Realm was basically the death censor.

[@urahara64360]

@@johnlucas2838 l know that's what it actually was but I'm trying to make it slightly less goofy with head canon

[@KertaDrake]

Don't forget that the Rod has the power of being useful if you like poking people with sharp objects!

[@humangirl2122]

You forgot to say that the Millennium eye has the power to take people's soul's.

[@iKhanKing]

The Millennium Key is the Life Equation. The Millennium Rod is the Anti-Life equation

[@praveencherry238]

you forgot one thing Millenium Scale also allows you to fuse monsters as u wish

[@PhazonOmega]

I love how there's an explanation for all this. It makes the story make FAR more sense.

[@CindyHelms]

4:11 "Or, what seems to be the default option, having your soul just... ripped from your body-" *WRONG CHOICE OF WORDS; MUST FIX!* "I mean... getting sent to the Shadow Realm.... no one dies in Yu-Gi-Oh...." _nervous laughter_ *looks at the camera like the office*

[@trevorrose3769]

It’s funny, I use to watch your Millennium item and shadow charm videos a lot back in the day so I’m really excited to watch this new video of yours!

[@JioVega]

I like to think of the Mill items as a dysfunctional family: Millenium Puzzle: Oldest kid probably, gets good grades but has a chip on their shoulder. Millenium Eye: Nosy. Always poking around in other peoples business, reading their texts. Millenium Rod: The Angry one. Wants to see others suffer and hopes to cause as much pain as possible. Probably in jail once before graduating high school. Millenium Ring: The crazy one. Probably close in maturity to the Rod, but younger so the ring takes things way too far. Millenium Necklace: The know it all. Older sibling to the Eye. The eye looks through whats already happened, while the necklace possesses foresight. Definitely the straight A student. Millenium Key: Seemingly up to no good but also good at staying/keeping quiet. Millenium Scale: Probably a control freak

[@sharkspeedo]

I will point out a few things, Yugis's granpha was not sealed in a card OG but in the same video tape Pegasus sent to Yugi, he was not projected into the tape it was a pre-recorded one with hidden messages that lead Atem to play certain type of monsters, that allowed Pegasus to win some battles since monsters had proficiency against other types/elements in early duel monsters, he was playing mind games with him, also this friends and Sugoroku(GP) were aware about what was happening. The Dark aura is an anime exclusive thing, that did not happen in the manga, it all happen in the minds of those playing the shadow game. Millennium items also granted their wielder to summon monsters with no life cost/soul getting hurt, in the ancient Egypt they could summon monsters using an bracelet with a wing design similar to a duel disk on each feather you could see the mana or soul power that each human possessed, thus you can use your soul to summon monsters draining your own vitality however MI magic power acted as a replacement for the necessary cost needed to be paid. Shady presented himself to Pharaoh before duel kingdom ark in the manga, that part in the anime in Pegasus mansion happened before in the manga but as it was necessary for the history it was showed in the anime that way. Also one of his items can hidden him from people's eyes, maybe it was the scale there are a ton of differences between manga and anime and it can be a video material.

[@DaniG._.German]

The Millennium Rod grants you the ability to create an army of Steves.

[@Liam_is_outside]

I’ve got the scales tattooed on me love the meaning behind them 🔥

[@heliossol-diosmortal5263]

10:14 someine else got that? "...wich is really good" he said it exactly like he who comment a card effect and i love it XDDDD

[@Kosteru-des]

Just a theory, a Yu-Gi-Oh! theory! Nice reference there ;)

[@TGSAnime]

Thanks for watching!

[@SpyrotheHedgehog1]

I think the only powers he forgot is that in Millennium World they had a few extra ones. Such as the Millennium Puzzle being the only one with Authority to summon the God Monsters. The Millennium Eyes ability to bring out Monster Spirits from inside people. The Millennium Rods ability to Seal Monsters inside stone slabs. The Millennium Scales ability to Fuse Monsters. Then finally, the shared ability that those who can wield them automatically can summon and control these monsters.