Rafael (Yu-Gi-Oh! character)

Rafael, known in Japan as Raphael (ラフェール)), is a fictional character from the Yu-Gi-Oh! second series anime, known in Japan as Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters. Of the three Doom warriors, Rafael is the strongest and the most mysterious in his strategy. He is the only DOOM Warrior that defeated his target once. He is also the only DOOM Warrior not to lose his soul after he was defeated by his target.

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 seperated 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 desserted island, with only his Duel Monsters, which included Guardian Airtos, 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 dissapeared, 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 concious aboard his raft, and was then rescued by a fishing boat. He traveled and eventually found Dartz in a graveyard, where he was tortured by digging (In the Japanese version the grave he was digging was his parents grave but was changed to an Orichalcos marked grave in the English version) until he found a Duel Monsters Duel projector. He was then seduced by a Dark Guardian, and given the Sacred 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 villians, maybe except Mai Valantine (Mai Kujaku in the English-language manga and the Japanese versions). He was also very ruthless, and proceeded to capture many souls in the series, including Yugi's and Mai’s. Eventually, he battles Yami Yugi (also known as Dark Yugi or Yu-Gi-Oh) atop Dartz’s skyscraper, where Yami Yugi defeats the dark Guardian and sets him free from evil. His Oricalcos Stone then shatters and he is brought to the light.

In the anime, he uses mostly Guardian cards. Unlike many other duelists in the show he does not activate his strongest monster and rush at his enemy with that creature. Rafael went slowly, and corrupted the person from within, with his/her own monsters. Rafael was very slow in his first battle with Yami Yugi, making Yami Yugi use the Seal of Orichalcos, which unleashed his dark side. Yami Yugi was then hated by his monsters, and when he lost the duel, Yugi sacrificed himself in place.

Profile

• Age: 25 – 30
• Gender: Male
• Hair Color: Blond
• Eye Color: Blue
• Stone: On necklace
• Target: The Pharaoh (Yami Yugi, a.k.a. Dark Yugi, a.k.a. Yu-Gi-Oh)
• Soul Taken: After trying to stop the duel between Yami Yugi, Seto Kaiba and Dartz
• Deck: Guardian
• Duels: 3
• Current Place of Residence: Paris, France

Duels

Rafeal has been involved in 3 of the 16 Orichalcos Duels. Two of which are with Yami Yugi and the third is with Mai Valentine. In his fist duel with Yami Yugi, Duel 5, he gave his Seal of Orichalcos to him using his Exchange Trap Card. Yami Yugi's mind became evil because of the Seal of Orichalcos tampered with his head. Yami Yugi eventually lost the duel but Yugi Motou pushed him out of the Seal of Orichalcos and let the Seal take his soul instead. The next of Rafeal's duels, Duel 14, was with Mai Valentine. There is no battle episode of this duel. Mai, took Joey's Hermos card and went to the DOOM Headquarters to challenge Dartz. But, she finds Rafeal instead. A duel takes place and Mai ends up losing her soul. Rafeal takes Joey's Hermos and tosses it to Yami Yugi in their next duel, Duel 15. During this duel, much to everyone's surprise, Rafeal plays the Seal of Orichalcos. Rafeal uses his Guardian Deathscythe to great effect until it was destroyed and he could not bring it back from the graveyard. He gave up the last of his Life Points to revive his Guardians, making Yami Yugi the winner. Everyone is surprised however, when Rafeal DID NOT lose his soul but only his dark mind. Later, during Duel 16, Rafeal appears and demands that Dartz release all the souls he captured. Rafeal then finds out that Dartz has been behind the past of all three DOOM warriors. Dartz said that their lives were too perfect, so he made some "adjustments". Rafeal was furious that Dartz ruined the lives of him and his fellow DOOM Warriors. He attemps to stop the duel by playing the Seal of Orichalcos but his dark mind is gone so he can't uses it. Dartz then says that Rafeal's soul belongs to him and at that moment, Rafeal collasped and a carving of him appears on the wall.

Notable Dueling Cards

• Guardian Deathscythe
• Guardian Airtos
• Guardian Gnarl
• Guardian Kay'est
• Guardian Elma
• Back Up Guardian
• Guardian's Treasure
• Guardian Force
• Crystal Seal
• Seal of Orichalcos
• Gravity Axe-Gnarl
• Scythe of the Dead God Deathscythe
• Exchange