Was Marik Ishtar really a bad guy? Well that's what I'll be talking about in today's blog post! There will be some spoilers for Yu-Gi-Oh in this post though, so proceed with caution! Now then, on with the post! First of all, Marik was a pretty big antagonist for part of the series. However, this doesn't necessarily mean he was a villain. Like most of the other antagonists in the series, Marik had his own reason for doing the things he did. However, he also had a much more villainous alter ego. Although he did a pretty good job of keeping his alter ego under control, he wasn't always the one in charge. Even if it seemed like he was the one in control when he did things like manipulate other people and control their minds, he could have been under the influence of the Millennium Rod or Yami Marik. Unlike the other two counterparts, Yami Yugi and Yami Bakura, Yami Marik wasn't originally his own being. Yami Marik was actually the physical embodiment of Marik's pain and anger, and this other side came into being because of the Millennium Rod. Because of this, it was quite possible that Yami Marik was still influencing Marik's actions even when he wasn't in control. So, it's hard to say if all of Marik's malicious actions were done through his own free will. Although he did want revenge on the Pharaoh for what happened to him when he was young, his counterpart Yami Marik is most likely the main reason Marik let his hatred and anger take over his life. But, these are mostly just my thoughts on this topic anyways. Nonetheless, I hope you guys still enjoyed this blog post! As a little bonus, here's a picture of Marik. Enjoy!