Yu-Gi-Oh! fans have latched on to Yugi, Kaiba, and Joey’s most iconic monsters because they are cool, but they actually have a much deeper meaning that makes them even better and even more important to the show than fans may think. It also provides even more meaning to the dynamics between Yu-Gi-Oh!‘s three main characters.
Yu-Gi-Oh!‘s three main characters are all very different from each other, but these differences make their character interactions very fun to watch. Yugi is the noblest of the three and also the best duelist, being versatile enough to adapt to a variety of situations. Kaiba is brash and headstrong, willing to crush his enemies any way he can to prove he is the best. Lastly, Joey is the worst duelist of the three but is also the one who grows the most throughout the series. Yugi and Kaiba are great rivals, Yugi and Joey are best friends, and Kaiba views Joey as an inferior duelist, not missing any chance to burn him with witty insults.
Yu-Gi-Oh!‘s Most Iconic Monsters Represent Its Main Characters
Each of their monsters reflects the primary personality traits of these three characters. Yugi’s Dark Magician is the ultimate wizard in terms of attack and defense, meaning that its all-around stats are the best for a spellcaster, which represents its versatility as well as the well-rounded abilities of its owner. Kaiba’s Blue-Eyes White Dragon is the best monster in terms of attack, which represents his aggressive ambition and his overwhelming power. Lastly, Joey’s Red-Eyes Black Dragon is the weakest of these monsters, but not by much, and the card’s description mentions that it has a ferocious attack, which matches its wielder’s spunky tenacity.
The way these cards relate to each other is also connected to the dynamics of their wielders. Joey’s dragon is strictly inferior to Kaiba’s dragon, which is exactly how Seto views him. However, it is only slightly weaker than Yugi’s Dark Magician, which represents how Joey and Yugi are very close friends even though the former is technically a weaker duelist. And of course, while Kaiba may initially seem like a much more threatening duelist than Yugi, similar to how Blue-Eyes outclasses Dark Magician in attack, Yugi is ultimately the more versatile and thus better player.
Yugi And Kaiba Have An Even Deeper Connection To Their Main Monsters
In the “Dawn of the Duel” arc in the anime’s final season, it would be revealed that Dark Magician and Blue-Eyes White Dragon had personal connections to their wielders in a past life, with the origin of Kaiba’s dragon being surprisingly dark. However, even without this explicit connection, the details of the cards themselves were enough to tie the monsters to their owners. This is a major part of what makes these Yu-Gi-Oh! cards so iconic as they not only remind fans of the coolest monsters from the original anime they also subtly remind viewers of the great characters wielding them.
