Priest Seto

From Janime

Priest Seto
Yu-Gi-Oh! (manga), Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters
Dub Name	Seto
First Appearance	Yu-Gi-Oh! Episode 201
Birth Date	Unknown
Known Relatives	Akhenaden (father), Pharaoh Atem (cousin), Seto Kaiba (reincarnation)
Height	Unknown
Weight	Unknown
Favourite Food	Unknown
Least Favourite Food	Unknown
Signature Card	Duos (Ka), Blue-Eyes White Dragon (Ka)
Seiyuu	Kenjiro Tsuda
VA	Eric Stuart

Priest Seto (セト Seto) is the ancient Egyptian incarnate of Seto Kaiba. During the Memory World arc, he serves as a high priest in the court of Pharaoh Atem. Although technically Atem's cousin by blood, Seto is raised as a commoner; his identity as Priest Akhenaden's son (who is the brother of Atem's deceased father, Pharaoh Akhenamkhanen) is hidden from him out of fear for his personal safety. He is eventually able to become a part of the Pharaoh's court not because of his lineage, but because of his test scores, which are the highest the court has ever seen. This high degree of intelligence has apparently carried over to his modern reincarnation.

When Bakura - the arc's main antagonist - appears at the royal court with his powerful Ka Diabound, Seto decides that Bakura needs to be stopped and begins his search for Ka powerful enough to defeat Diabound. People could be tortured into revealing their Ka, so he decides to try rounding up and torturing criminals. This plan, he believes, would accomplish two things: both finding a Ka that could destroy Diabound and reducing the number of criminals that ravage the Pharaoh's kingdom. During his search, he encounters Kisara, who is being stoned because of her unorthodox complexion (white hair, pale skin, blue eyes). Shaada senses the great power within her ("even surpassing that of the gods") and Seto takes her back with him to the palace. There he remembers the first time they met: as children, Seto had saved Kisara from slave traders, who had kidnapped her from her home country and were planning to sell her for a high price. She repaid him by unconsciously releasing her Ka - the Blue-Eyes White Dragon - after the traders set fire to his village and killed his mother in retaliation.

Akhenaden, after being possessed by Zork Necrophedius, later attempts to test Kisara's power by forcing her to fight in a battle against two other prisoners. Seto steps in and saves her, but the two fell into danger, causing Kisara - out of fear for Seto - to release her dragon and save them both.

Akhenaden then orders Seto to kill Kisara and extract her Ka, claiming that the power of the white dragon can surpass the enemy and even the Pharaoh's three gods. If Seto can obtain it, Seto can become the new king. By this time, however, Seto has developed strong feelings for the girl, and he refuses. Akhenaden subsequently kidnaps him in an attempt to corrupt his mind with darkness. At this point Akhenaden reveals that he is in fact Seto's father, and that his lifelong desire has been to see Seto ascend to the throne.

Before Seto can succumb, however, Kisara runs to save him, ultimately convincing him to leave Akhenaden/Zork behind. Enraged, Akhenaden questions how his son can abandon the chance to rule over Egypt. Seto answers: "What is there to benefit from a world of darkness ruled by Zork? Since I met Kisara, I realized how much of the world was dark and dry. And the solution to make this darkness disappear is through this light called love" (Yu-Gi-Oh!, Episode 214). At this point Akhenaden fires off a beam of dark energy, and Kisara dies taking the blow meant for Seto.

After Kisara's death, Seto attempts to kill his father, but instead his mind is taken over by Akhenaden/Zork and he is forced to duel Pharaoh Atem. Kisara saves Seto once more by using her "light" to purge Akhenaden from his mind, making Seto the new keeper of the Blue Eyes White Dragon. Seto sheds his first and only tears in front of the BEWD tablet, with Kisara's dead body in his arms. Notably, this is the "vision" which appears to Kaiba during his duel with Isis Ishtar in the Battle City semifinals.

Subsequently, Seto fights bravely by Atem's side in the battle against Zork Necrophades using the BEWD. When Zork is defeated, Atem tells the priest his reign is over, and passes the throne on to Seto. Seto then creates the famous stone carving of the two of them, as a tribute to his friendship with Pharaoh Atem.

Kazuki Takahashi has stated that he originally planned for the story to have further explored the relationship between Seto and Kisara (including a subplot where Seto rebels against the pharaoh to avenge Kisara's death), but in order to meet a deadline these details had to be cut. According to the author, Seto's feelings for Kisara are the basis of Kaiba's modern-day obsession with the Blue-Eyes White Dragon.