User Profile

Character Name; Atem/Yami no Yugi
Series/Fandom; Yugioh

Personality; In terms of most situations, Atem is a bit like a cucumber. As in, he's pretty cool and level-headed, particularly when it comes to games. He observes, he internalizes the information, and tries to find the solution, just like in a game, where the way to winning is all about solving a puzzle. Which is a bit of an anology of Atem's life (and afterlife) in general, solving puzzles and watching things go on.

Generally, he's not extremely emotional and isn't exactly one whose willing to share his emotions or have outbursts in public, though there are times when his emotional guard can be broken down unexpectedly. Otherwise, to certain people outside of his circle of friends (especially those considered enemies), he can be rather brusque, suspiscious, even cruel and violent if you hurt those he cares for. However, those who know him and those he trusts will see the much kinder side of the former pharoah, someone who's learned how to smile and appreciate the things in life outside destroying people's sanity and dueling.

This may a bit truer with his time in the afterlife, which has also helped to mellow Atem out a little more, sometimes to the point where some might find him apathetic on the surface. But again, it is a guarded apathy, a facade while the pharoah watches andstrategizes.

Strengths/Abilities; Atem wasn't called King of Games without reason. Any game you throw at him, even if it's a game he's never played before, chances are, he'll kick your butt in it. Whether luck, or the will of the gods, or just because he's that good at becoming one with the game that is being played at the moment. Few people can claim to have won a game fairly against Atem, and most of those who tried to cheat were punished by the power of the punishment/penalty game - a by-product of the power of the Shadow Games.

Through the power of the Puzzle, Atem is capable of imposing a Shadow Game or a punishment/penalty game on anyone. The Shadow Game brings out a person's darkest sins to play, and if the person loses the darkness is banished, which normally results in various levels of insanity or death. He can also sense the presence of other Millennium Items and undo the magic of other Millenium Items with the aid of the Puzzle.

Atem's strongest game in general is Duel Monsters, and his deck is arguably the most powerful deck ever created. In it are the God Cards, three cards so powerful they are capable of killing duelists who are unable to wield them properly.

Weaknesses; Though Atem is a powerful player in games like Duel Monsters, he is not invincible, and can be blindsided. Those like Seto Kaiba, in particular, who have some insight in how he plays and have cards to challenge his deck properly, can make strategies to hinder or halt a victory. The God Cards can be destroyed in play, even if all three are played simultaneously, though it takes a specific strategy to do so - but they can be stopped.

His friends are also a weakness, as once an enemy learns of them, they can be used against him. Though Atem is a ruthless player and warrior, even he is reluctant to go all out on a friend who is brainwashed or under someone else's control. It can be a painful experience for him, as in order to defeat his friends he may have to revert to his less-than-compassionate ways from his early days with Yugi - which he is not very keen on returning to.

Also, Atem's Puzzle only works when it is on or around him; if he loses it he loses his ability to impose Shadow Games or punishment/penalty games. The same goes for if the Puzzle is shattered, and it takes some time to reconstruct it if the Item is broken up again.

Background; Atem was born a little over three thousand years ago into the pharaoic dynasty that presided over Egypt. His memories of his mother even now are sparse, and his father, to atone for the creation of the powerful Millennium Items, tools of darkness, sacrificed himself when Atem was barely a teenager, effictively making him pharoah at a young age. Aided by his priests, Atem did his best to rule Egypt in his father's stead.

However, some time later, the demon Zorc Necrophades, who had been awoken with the creation of the Items, struck Egypt, and with the aid of the Thief King Bakura, he proceeded to destroy nearly all of the holders of the Items in order to take over the world. Atem, refusing to allow the monster to win, used his Puzzle to seal the power of the Shadow Games within it, along with himself, effectively destroying Zorc for the time being. Using his own name as the spell, Atem ordered that the Puzzle be broken so that it could not be easily used in the future. Later, his successor and cousin, the priest Set, also effaced Atem's name from every monument, thus erasing the pharaoh from history.

As the centuries passed, Atem's mind eventually forgot everything, including his name, and he became slightly corrupted by the darkness, becoming a vegeful, angry spirit. It was destined that someone would reconstruct the Puzzle and help destroy Zorc once and for all, but until then, the remains of the Puzzle lay in a small sarcophagus in a forgotten corner of a random tomb, cursing those unworthy of setting foot near it to insanity and death. It was this way for 3,000 years....until Sugoroku Motou came along.

An archeologist, adventurer, and a game player himself, Sugoroku came upon the sarcophagus and took it for himself - however, instead of selling it or bringing it to a museum, he brought it back to his game shop and left it amongst the other games once he found himself unable to solve it. There it sat until Yugi, Sugoroku's grandon, got a hold of the box and started trying to put it together. It took him nearly a decade, but he managed to do so - and the moment he did, Atem possessed him.

It was a strange marriage to begin with, as neither Atem nor Yugi were aware of the other's existance - Atem simply assumed most of Yugi's memories were his and would appear when Yugi was angry or upset to punish the people who hurt him or his friends. Meanwhile, Yugi would lose consciousness and would wake up not knowing what happened. In time, however, through various different contests and trials, the two became aware that they were two different souls - and that Atem was a pharoah, albeit a nameless one, who was connected to the spirit that resided in the body of one Ryou Bakura, hodler of the Millenium Ring.

Eventually the truth of Atem's part, and of the role of the Items, were revealed to him upon gaining the three God Cards and using them to enter the memories locked inside the Puzzle. The group that accompanied Atem - Yugi, Katsuya Jounouchi, Hiroto Honda and Anzu Masaki - aided him in recovering his name and defeating Zorc Necrophades once and for all, preventing him from destroying the world. After that, there was one thing left before Atem could rest in peace - the Ceremonial Duel. If Atem lost, he would be able to ascend to the afterlife at last.

It was Yugi who fought him, and Atem didn't go easy on him. First, he threw out all three God Cards at Yugi, forcing Yugi to come up with an ingenius solution to defeat all three of them in one turn. Then, Atem utilized the Black Magician and Black Magician Girl - two of Yugi's favorite cards - to fight, which Yugi defeated with difficulty. Then, Atem went to resurrect one of his Gods, which would have ended in him winning - only for Yugi to negate his move, thus winning the duel, and sending Atem to a peaceful rest.

In a matter of speaking. Atem still watches his friends and foes from from where he is, albeit he's more into playing games as opposed to playing a harp. But he's still with his friends in spirit and in his friends' hearts, just as Jounouchi said. That is, until he one day abruptly 'falls' from heaven - right into Paradisim.

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