Millennium Items
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The Millennium Items are fictional objects in the manga Yu-Gi-Oh! and both anime series based off of the manga, Toei's Yu-Gi-Oh! and Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (internationally known as simply Yu-Gi-Oh!). Some fans call the items the "Sennen Items".
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History
There are two different, contradictory accounts that explain how the Millennium Items were created.
In an early chapter of the manga (Duel 14: The Man From Egypt (Part 2) in Volume 2: The Cards With Teeth), Shadi explains that the Millennium Items were created by the magicians of the pharaohs in Ancient Egypt to punish thieves who rob the pharaohs' tombs. Shadi says that this is written in the Pert Em Hiru, or Coming Forth By Day (the Egyptian title of The Book of The Dead). The first series anime also uses this story.
The later chapters of the manga (published as Yu-Gi-Oh! Millennium World in North America) and the second series anime explain the origin differently, performing a retcon. With Egypt under threat from invading armies in 3,000 years ago (5,000 in English Version), the Pharaoh Akhenamkhanen (Aknamkanon in the English anime) sought to protect his land through mystical means, and laid down the command for the seven magical Millennium Items to be forged. Akhenamkhanen's brother, Akhenaden (Aknadin) was charged with creating the items, but Akhenaden refrained from informing his brother than in order to do so, ninety-nine human sacrifices were required. The village of Kul Elna became the victim of the Pharaoh's unwitting decree, as Akhenaden had them slaughtered, their blood, bone and flesh melted in with the gold that was cast in the mystic rite that formed the items (in the English anime, to replace this gory concept, it is the spirits of the slaughtered which are harnessed to complete the rite that forges the items).
With Akhenamkhanen possessing the Millennium Puzzle, the remaining six items were entrusted to his high priests - the Millennium Ring was held by Mahad, the Millennium Rod by Siamun Muran (Shimon Muran), the Millennium Tauk (Millennium Necklace) by Isis, the Millennium Key by Shada, the Millennium Scale by Kalim (Karim) and the Millennium Eye by Akhenaden himself. Using the Items' combined power, an army of Duel Monsters was summoned which repelled the invading foes of Egypt. However, upon discovering the dark truth behind the Items' creation, Akhenamkhanen attempted to atone by offering his soul up to the Egyptian Gods as penance, sparing his son from any future retribution for his own indirection actions.
When his father died, the Pharaoh Atem was given the Millennium Puzzle, and in time, Siamon Muran relinquished the Millennium Rod to the hands of Seto, a young priest who was, unknown to everyone, including himself, the son of Akhenaden, who became a strong friend of Atem, though both young men remained unaware that they were cousins. Akhenaden, meanwhile, his mind corrupted by the powers of darkness, used the Millennium Items to summon the demon, Zorc Necrophades, to Earth. Zorc attempted to decimate the planet, but Atem stepped forth to bind Zorc, and the magics of the Shadow Games, within the Millennium Items, entrapping his own soul in the Millennium Puzzle, and sealed the rite with his own name, wiping his memory so that he could not recall it, so that the binding might never be undone.
With Atem's eventual death, the Millennium Puzzle was entombed along with him in his crypt in the Valley of the Kings. And in a chamber beneath the village of Kul Elna, a sculpted stone rested - should the seven Millennium Items be placed upon it, along with the eighth key, the Pharaoh's name, Zorc would be free again.
The magic of the Shadow Games was unleashed when the Millennium Puzzle was solved by Yugi Mutou in the present day, and he embarked on a series of adventures that eventually resulted in the locations of the Millennium Items being revealed, and the three Egyptian God Cards coming into his possession. Placed on a stone tablet that professed to chronicle a battle between the Pharaoh and Seto, the cards and the Puzzle opened a gateway to Ancient Egypt, through which the soul of the Pharaoh was pulled. Back in his original body, but still lacking in his memories, the Pharaoh was reunited with his priests, and Akhenaden's treachery was revealed as the Spirit of the Millennium Ring, which had also travelled back in time, stole the Items from their owners and used them to resurrect Zorc.
Individual Items
The primary power of the Millennium Items is to enact Shadow Games, transporting the players into an alternate realm if desired (the English-language anime's Shadow Realm), summoning real Duel Monsters, and inflicting "Penalty Games" upon the losers, making them suffer various different, but ironically fitting, punishments that affect both mind and body. Additionally, each Item possesses its own unique abilities.
Millennium Puzzle
Image:1000puzzle.sk.jpg Accounts of how the Millennium Puzzle was removed from the Pharaoh's tomb are contradictory. According to Sugoroku Mutou (Solomon Muto), the Puzzle was discovered in the beginning of the 20th century by a team of British archaeologists. The members later died mysterious deaths, and the final words of the last man to die were, "The shadow games." Conversely, the manga later performs a retcon, stating that Sugoroku himself found the Puzzle in 1960. Hiring two guides to help him enter the Pharaoh's tomb, Sugoroku became the target of his guides, who planned to kill him so they could acquire the Puzzle for themselves. Both of them died along the way, but the spirit of the Puzzle saved Sugoroku. The first series anime uses the first account, while the second series anime uses the second account.
The Puzzle was eventually given to Sugoroku's grandson, Yugi Mutou, a game expert who, after ten years of trying, successfully reassembled the puzzle. Immediately, the magic of the Shadow Games was unlocked, and the soul of the Pharaoh, still dwelling within the puzzle, infused itself into Yugi's body, periodically taking control and transforming him into an older form to challenge others to contests. It would be some time before Yugi and his friends truly understood that a second personality was existing within Yugi, but once it became apparent, Yugi and the Pharaoh co-existed peacefully, and Yugi dedicated himself to helping the Pharaoh regain his memories.
The Millennium Puzzle, in addition to holding the soul of the Pharaoh, was able to fulfill one wish of the one who solved it, and heighten its owner's chance of success in a game judging by his or her skill as well as the importance of the game at hand. The hieroglyphics on the puzzle say, "The one who solves me shall gain the powers of knowledge and powers of darkness..."
Millennium Ring
Image:Malik-ep142-064s.jpg Originally owned in by the priest, Mahado (Mahad), the Millennium Ring - possibly the darkest, most deadly of all the Millennium Items - was stolen by the tomb robber Thief King Bakura after he defeated Mahad in a Shadow Game. The Ring went on to wander throughout history, passing from owner to owner, until it eventually wound up in the hands of young Ryo Bakura, a gift from his father who acquired it on a trip to Egypt. Like the Millennium Puzzle, the Ring was revealed to possess a soul locked away within it, the unnamed "Spirit of the Ring," an evil force which periodically took over Bakura's mind, creating "Dark Bakura."
Yugi and his friends became aware of these facts when Dark Bakura used the Ring's primary power to displace their souls, entrapping them within lead miniatures, and he became their most constant foe, regularly working behind the scenes in his attempts to acquire all the Millennium Items - a task made all the easier for him by the Ring's ability to detect other Items, its spikes independently moving to point out the direction of the Items. It was long presented as a fact that the soul within the Millennium Ring was that of Thief King Bakura, although it was never explained how his soul wound up within the Ring. Following the extended adventure in which the heroes and villains were displaced in time to Ancient Egypt, however, it became apparent that Thief King Bakura and the Spirit of the Ring were separate entities, and the Spirit in fact revealed itself to be the soul of Zorc himself, or possibly an independent fragment thereof - the Spirit has on several occasions displayed the ability to fragment itself, installing parts of itself within the Millennium Puzzle and the mind of Hiroto Honda (Tristan Taylor). It has also allowed Dark Bakura to banish people to the shadow realm, render them unconscious and summon monsters and magic from the shadow realm to use himself.
Millennium Eye
Originally owned by Akhenaden in Ancient Egypt, the Millennium Eye was plucked from his socket by his own hands when the Items were gathered to free Zorc. It, like most of the remaining items, then came into the care of Shada's bloodline, who watched over the items. In the late 20th Century, the current guardian, Shadi, forced the Millennium Eye upon Maximillion Pegasus (Pegasus J. Crawford in the Japanese versions), who was wandering Egypt, searching for a way to restore his deceased love to life, and was chosen by the Eye.
The Millennium Eye allows the user to read the minds of others, which allowed Pegasus great skill at the Duel Monsters card game, as he would read his opponents' minds and deduce their strategies. Pegasus forced Yugi to participate in his Duelist Kingdom tournament by entrapping the soul of his grandfather, later doing the same to Mokuba and Seto Kaiba, but after being defeated in a Shadow Game by Yugi at the tournament's climax, he was confronted by Ryo Bakura, who tore out the Millennium Eye. Retaining possession of the Eye for a prolonged period, Bakura eventually gave it to Seto Kaiba as part of his plan to lure him into the ancient past.
Millennium Key
Image:Shadi.PNG Owned in Ancient Egypt by the priest Shada, the Millennium Key remained safe throughout the years, guarded by his bloodline, eventually being held in the present day by Shadi. The Key has the shape of an ankh. Its primary unique ability is its power to unlock the doors of a person's soul, giving the user access to the "Room of the Soul," where their thoughts can be observed, or the "room" can even be "redecorated," allowing the user to alter a person's personality. Additionally, it can make the user, and others, invisible, and may or may not allow them to sense any disruption of the Millennium Items' mystical energies that would be cause by an Item being taken from its rightful owner.
Millennium Scale
When the original owner of the Millennium Scales, the priest Karim, fell to Dark Bakura (Yami Bakura) in Ancient Egypt, he gave the last of his energies, and the Scale, to Shada, and consequently, along with his Millennium Key, they were kept safe throughout the ages, ending up in the hands of Shadi in the present day. The Millennium Scale can weigh a person's heart against the feather of Ma'at, the goddess of truth; if a person lies while being interrogated by the owner of the Scale, the side opposite of the feather will lower, as if weighted down by the person's sins, and if the side without the feather drops to the bottom, Ammit, the monster of the abyss, will consume the person's soul. This item also contains the power of fusion, to be used on monsters in shadow games.
Millennium Rod
The first holder of the Millennium Rod in Ancient Egypt was Siamun Muran, who called upon its power to summon Exodia, the Forbidden One, to battle. Eventually, Siamun relinquished the rod to the younger priest, Seto, who was perhaps the most dedicated to protecting the Pharaoh. As an end result of that dedication, the Millennium Rod became one of two items owned by the guardians of the Pharaoh's tomb throughout history.
In recent times, when the next tomb-keeper in line, Marik Ishtar, was unwilling to perform his duty, he was overtaken by the dark side of his personality. This "Dark Marik" stole the Millennium Rod and slew his father with the dagger concealed in the rod's shaft, only to then be sealed away within Marik's mind by his servant, Odion (Rishid in the Japanese versions). Nevertheless, the evil part of his mind continued to influence Marik's actions, making him believe that the Pharaoh was responsible for all his pain, and he formed the Ghouls organization (Rare Hunters) in order to acquire the three Egyptian God Cards, using the Millennium Rod's power to enslave and control minds, acting through many pawns, including Katsuya Jonouchi (Joey Wheeler). When Odion was rendered comatose, Dark Marik emerged, but when he was defeated and banished by Yugi at the completion of the Battle City tournament, Marik was free of his influence and gave Yugi the Millennium Rod.
Millennium Tauk
Known as the Millennium Necklace in the English-language version of the anime series, this Item was originally owned by the preistess, Isis, in Ancient Egypt, and became one of the two Items owned by the guardians of the Pharaoh's tomb throughout history, eventually coming to be owned by Marik's sister, Ishizu Ishtar. The necklace allows its user to see through time, offering glimpses of the past and near future - futures whose outcomes can only be altered through the use of other Millennium Items. Using it to foresee her victory against Seto Kaiba in the Battle City tournament, Ishizu handed the necklace over to Yugi when her vision failed to come true, knowing that the necklace would no longer respond to her.
Pyramid of Light
Appearing exclusively in Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie: Pyramid of Light, the Pyramid of Light is not truly a Millennium Item; according to the novelization of the film, it was a failed attempt by Akhenaden (Aknadin in the English anime) to recreate the Millennium Puzzle for his son, Seto, to give him a power on a par with the Pharaoh, so that he might defeat him and assume the throne. The Pyramid was co-opted by the sorcerer, Anubis, who was then defeated in battle by the Pharaoh. Undaunted, however, Anubis sealed himself within the Millennium Puzzle alongside the Pharaoh and the other powers of the Shadow Games, eventually being released in the modern day when Yugi first completed the Puzzle.
Anubis sought to recreate his physical form by implanting a Duel Monsters card fashioned in the likeness of the Pyramid within the deck of Maximillion Pegasus, and then reanimating his own mummified remains, taking the Pyramid, which had been kept with them in his tomb. The Pyramid of Light card then fell into the hands of Seto Kaiba, who employed it during a duel with Yugi, using its ability to destroy the Egyptian God cards. However, now that the Pyramid was in play, Anubis could draw on the life energies of the two combatants, steadly regenerating himself. Taking Kaiba's place in the duel, Anubis seemed defeated when the Blue Eyes Shining Dragon destroyed the Pyramid of Light card, taking the artifact itself with it, but Anubis's spirit remained within the jewel at its centre, reforming as a giant monster, which the Blue Eyes Shining Dragon then destroyed, shattering the jewel and destroying Anubis.