Pandora
From Janime
Pandora
 |
|
|---|---|
| Yu-Gi-Oh! (manga), Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters | |
| Dub Name | Arkana |
| First Appearance | Yu-Gi-Oh! manga Vol. 18, Duel 160 |
| Birth Date | Unknown |
| Known Relatives | Catherine (fiancée) |
| Height | Unknown |
| Weight | Unknown |
| Favourite Food | Unknown |
| Least Favourite Food | Unknown |
| Signature Card | Black Magician |
| Seiyuu | Takehito Koyasu |
| VA | Sam Riegel |
Pandora (パンドラ Pandora) is the second Rare Hunter, and belongs to Ghouls. A former stage magician and an expert on magic tricks, he is asked by Marik Ishtar to torture and kill Yugi Mutou. To achieve this, Pandora sets up a twisted game of Duel Monsters (Magic and Wizards in the original Japanese manga) where the closer a player's Life Points get to zero, the closer a buzzsaw will move to their shackled feet. Pandora considers himself a master of magicians, particularly his key card: the Black Magician.
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[edit] Personality
Pandora appears to be an absolute sadist, and even though he risks his own life too in the Duel Monsters game with Yugi, he keeps a spare key in his sleeve to unlock his shackles should he lose. As a conjurer, Pandora knows all kinds of ways to fool the eyes. He claims to have over a thousand techniques for cheating at cards and doesn't hesitate to shave the edges of his Black Magician cards so that they are subconsciously shuffled to the top of his deck.
Whilst he may seem completely villainous, in the anime Pandora's actions are given explanation. He is acting out of a desire to see his old fiancée, Catherine, again, which Marik has promised him should he succeed in killing Yugi. He seems to have completely lost touch with reality, and he speaks lovingly to a marionette dressed up as Catherine as if it were really her.
[edit] Biography
[edit] History
Pandora's history is only mentioned in the anime. Some time before the events of Battle City, he was a world-famous stage magician assisted by Catherine, his fiancée. However, when a standard escape trick went wrong, his body was badly burned. Whilst recovering, his disgust at loosing his good looks drove the sympathetic Catherine away. Regretting this, Pandora wandered until he found Marik, who promised to reunite him with Catherine if he fulfilled a certain task.
In the manga, the only mention of Pandora's history is what Marik finds when probing the man's mind. He discovers that there were two times in his life when Pandora considered suicide: at the death of his mother and when he lost his lover in a magic trick that went wrong.
[edit] Battle City
In the manga, when Marik notices that Yugi has realized that the card store was a front for the Rare Hunters, he warns Pandora of Yugi's upcoming arrival. As he waits, Pandora sets up the arena for the duel. In the anime, a strange harlequin gestures for Yugi to enter a big top with the name 'Magic Show'. Yugi does so, and inside he enters a Magic Box. The box appears to transport him to a second box at another location, which resembles the card store.
In both, a computer screen in the room turns itself on, showing Yugi's Duelist Data, and a holographic Black Magician appears from the screen. After the monsters claims that his master is the true Black Magician user, Pandora appears and introduces himself. Yugi accepts the duel without force and Pandora leads him downstairs to Pandora's Room. It is a strange arena shrouded by ragged curtains and the walls are adorned with various occult items and instruments of execution, more numerous and noticeable in the manga than the anime. The room itself is a reference to the misfortune unleashed from Pandora's Box, and Pandora explains the Greek legend to Yugi. Shackles emerge from the wall and restrain the feet of both duelists, and buzzsaws emerge from the walls. The more Life Points a player loses, the closer the saws will come. The 'hope' found at the bottom of Pandora's Box is the key sealed in a case at their feet, which will unlock the shackles of the winner.
Pandora sets himself off at an advantage using some card cheating tricks, but it is Yugi who manages to summon the Black Magician first. In the anime, Pandora reveals partway through the duel that beyond a curtain in the room is his lover Catherine, although she appears to make no movements. The duel goes back and forth between the spellcasters, but when Pandora seems sure to win by sacrificing his Black Magician for the effect of Ectoplasmer, Yugi's own one destroys itself in order to shield him. Pandora is shocked that a card could have its own will, and Yugi soon defeats Pandora with Black Magician Girl, who receives power from all the Black Magicians in the Cemetery - including Pandora's own, which he sacrificed.
Pandora tries to save himself from buzzsaw using a spare key he had hidden, but Marik controls his mind to remove the key from his vision. Yugi saves him just as the blade begins to touch his leg (in the anime, once free he embraces the marionette which he thought was Catherine, and the head of the doll falls off as he babbles at it). After this, Pandora - under Marik's mind control - explains his motive. When he has finished, in the manga, he says he will stir up Pandora's two saddest memories, hinting that Pandora may commit suicide afterwards. This isn't mentioned in the anime.
[edit] Other Appearances
In the Doma arc of the anime, Dark Yugi is led by Ironheart to a stone wilderness where lost souls haunt an ancient circle. Among the ghosts of defeated opponents, Pandora can be seen.
[edit] Magic and Wizards / Duel Monsters
Pandora's deck is based on his title of Master of Magicians, and focuses on summoning the Black Magician again and again. His cards to achieve this are often based on magic and escape tricks, such as Guillotine of Tragedy and Thousand Knife. He has little regard for his own monsters, and is perfectly willing to sacrifice them to the effect of Ectoplasmer. He seems to have few monsters other than Black Magician, but the ones which he does use have an occult theme, like the creepy Killer Doll and Evil Clown Legion. Despite his expert knowledge of the Black Magician deck, Pandora was not aware of the existence of the Black Magician's apprentice, Black Magician Girl.
