Editing Marik Ishtar (section)

=== Background ===
Marik Ishtar's family served as the Pharaoh's Tombkeepers for generations, entrusted with guarding the tomb and safeguarding two Millennium Items: the Millennium Rod and the Millennium Necklace. His father, fiercely dedicated to their duty, forbade Marik from leaving the tomb, fearing the allure of the outside world would pull him away from their sacred heritage. However, Marik despised his role as a Tombkeeper and yearned for freedom. His adoptive brother, Odion, even volunteered to take Marik's place, but their father adamantly refused.

Marik's resistance to his destiny led to the initiation ritual, a painful rite that involved carvings (or tattoos, in the anime dub) etched into his back to solidify his role. The agony of the ritual awakened his dark alter ego, Yami Marik, as a coping mechanism. A year later, Marik and his sister Ishizu defied the family’s rules by sneaking to the surface. Their father discovered this transgression and attempted to punish Odion by killing him. In the chaos, Yami Marik emerged for the first time, seizing the Millennium Rod to resist his father's authority. Ignoring pleas to stop, Yami Marik used the Rod’s powers to subdue his father and, ultimately, killed him (though this event was censored in the dub).

Odion managed to seal Yami Marik back within Marik’s consciousness, but the traumatic incident left Marik mistakenly believing that the Pharaoh, through the loyalist Shadi, was responsible for his father's death. This misunderstanding fueled Marik’s resentment, leading him to abandon his clan and form the Rare Hunters organization.

Marik became the leader of the Rare Hunters, using the Millennium Rod to control others and orchestrating a plot to acquire the three Egyptian God Cards. His ultimate goal was to seize their power, overthrow the Pharaoh, and free his family from the Tombkeepers' obligations. In the anime dub, Marik’s ambitions extended to ruling the world.

Marik’s Rare Hunters successfully uncovered "[[The Winged Dragon of Ra]]" and "[[Slifer the Sky Dragon]]" but failed to retrieve "[[Obelisk the Tormentor]]," which Ishizu entrusted to [[Seto Kaiba]].