‘Yu-Gi-Oh!’ Painting Introduces Yami to His Egyptian Namesake

One of Yu-Gi-Oh’s main draws early on was the mysterious Egyptian spirit resting within the young Yugi Muto’s Millenium Puzzle and forced various people into death games with random criteria.

The biggest mystery throughout the entire series was the Pharaoh’s name, Atem, and in this slick fan painting sees the Pharaoh, widely known as “Yami Yugi,” meet his original Egyptian namesake. You can check it out below.

Reddit user pitty_chan shared the above painting, and fans have been instantly in love with the concept. As mentioned, the Pharaoh in the series came into the series not knowing his history and discovering his name became a major part of the story late into the series. It was a matter of blending together the past and the present, and this is captured very well in this intense painting.

Unfortunately for fans interested in the more Egyptian story elements of the original series, not much of it was rooted in actual history. Other than a few namesakes, the series went off on its own accord and told a fantastical tale of shadow monsters. Then again, there’s no guarantee there weren’t shadow duels back then. Paintings like this one would be a lot more common if Yu-Gi-Oh! were more based in history.

Yu-Gi-Oh! was originally created by Kazuki Takahashi for Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump magazine, and ran from September 1996 to March 2004. The series follows Yugi Mutou, a young boy who solves an ancient puzzle and is possessed by the spirit of the Egyptian pharoah. Being skilled at deadly games, the Pharoah goes on to create and solve problems for Yugi based on deadly games of chance.

Two anime adaptations were created for the series, but the one most fans will recognize is Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters. Duel Monsters was the first arc in the story to focus on the “Duel Monsters” card game and was the first season licensed for an English language release by 4Kids Entertainment. The first season of the series, which fans often dub as “Season 0,” has such deadly games of chance with horrible consequences that fans could not believe it was a part of this series at first.

With the series celebrating its 20th Anniversary last year, it’s now more popular than ever. Collectors have made the merchandise even more valuable than ever as a result, and now some of the rarest cards in the trading card game are selling for ridiculous amounts.

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