#deeplore

We’re going to ignore Bobasa for this Deeplore™. All you have to know is that Shadi was disguised as Bobasa, who becomes Hasan. You don’t get snips of the manga for evidence because how he’s drawn makes me sad. But you can have this pic I made of the face Bobasa makes every time he’s threatened by the gang or sees Bakura, the kid who murdered him.

Shadi/Bobasa becomes Hasan when all seven Millennium items are placed in the stone. We’ll start off easy with some facts we canonically about Hasan, and relate them to things we canonically know about Shadi and the Prana, then we’ll dive deeper in the Deeplore™.

Some things to note about Hasan:

1.) Hasan is a spirit that was sealed into the Millennium Stone itself. This was done by Atem’s father, Pharaoh Akhenamkhanen. Akhenamkhanen had to sacrifice part of his soul to do this, and the action presumably led to his early death.

1A: If Hasan is intrinsically tied to the Millennium Stone, this would explain why Shadi persists after his death – his soul is literally bound to it.

1B: Furthermore, this would explain why Shadi’s soul is freed when the Millennium Stone is destroyed.

1C: It would make sense if the soul bound to the Millennium Stone took to watching over the items tied to it.

2.) Hasan’s self-proclaimed duty is to protect the Pharoah, Atem.

2A: This would entail protecting the means by which the Pharoah can return, defeat Zorc, and finally find peace in the afterlife IE. The Millennium Items.

3.) Hasan identifies himself as the exact opposite of Zorc. He refers to Zorc as the ‘Evil God’/’Will of Destruction’/’Darkness of the world beyond’. Zorc admits Hasan must be from the world beyond.

3A: Therefore, Hasan is claiming to be a ‘Good God’/’Will of Creation’/’Light of the World Beyond,’ and this is corroborated by Zorc himself, in some capacity.

3B: The Prana is an entity with the goal of creating a world without evil or fear. This fundamentally makes the Prana is the exact opposite of Zorc.

3C: Following this, we can conclude that Hasan is equal, in some capacity, to the Prana. We will come back to this idea later on.

4.) Hasan likens himself to a ‘shadow’ projecting into the world from the world beyond. He is not the Prana itself.

4A: At this point in the manga, unlike the Prana, Zorc has been fully summoned into the world. Aknadin placed all 7 items in the stone, which inadvertently freed Hasan, but used it to summon Zorc. Following this, we can conclude that the 7 Millennium Items being placed in the Stone only releases Hasan, specifically, and not the whole force of the Prana.

4B: Placing all 7 Millennium Items into the stone creates a portal to the “World Beyond” whether this be ‘the afterlife’ or the dimension where Zorc exists. Following this, it would be plausible that the portal could also open to the dimension where the Prana exists.

4C: The Prana’s full, world creating powers are only available once the Pharoah’s soul moves on to the afterlife. When the Pharoah does move on to the afterlife, the Millennium Stone shatters.

4D: Therefore, we can infer that the Prana’s power is already sealed within the Millennium Stone, and is freed once the Stone is magically, officially destroyed. The Pharoah can move on and the Prana can be released, all in one go.

I think it is therefore reasonable to claim that Atem’s father, Akhenamkhanen, made a deal with the Prana, just as his brother, Aknadin, made a deal with Zorc. Akhenamkhanen made a deal to sacrifice a part of his soul, in exchange for the Prana to protect his son. The Prana could’ve seen this as an opportunity to get into the world, and allowed itself to be sealed within the Millennium Stone. This would explain Shadi’s/Hasan’s goals of to finding, protecting, and helping Atem, as the Prana’s full power is reliant on Atem finding peace.

Now, Hasan goes by Hasan, and not Prana (Probably because the Prana as an entity hadn’t been thought of by Takahashi yet). But this fits the theory. Since the Prana is a collective consciousness, it’s entirely possible that Hasan was just one soul in the collective, and he, specifically, was called on by Akhenamkhanen, and thereby chosen to act as the Prana’s proxy. 

That or the Prana took a poll of every mind in the collective and they all settled on the name ‘Hasan’ to represent them.

Now, there is an additional mystery surrounding Hasan. 

Yami Bakura/Zorc has no idea who or what Hasan was. Therefore, Hasan must not have been present during the first battle between Atem and Zorc.

Timeline wise, we know that Atem’s father sacrificed himself to seal Hasan into the stone. We know Atem’s father is dead by the time the first battle occurs. We know Hasan had to be in the stone during the first battle. Just like Yugi and friends, Hasan is an additional player in the memory RPG.

The only difference between the original battle and the one in the memory RPG, as far as the Millennium Stone and Hasan’s soul within it are concerned, is the presence of Shadi. Shadi’s presence allows Hasan to exist physically. Keep this in mind, we’ll come back to it.

While the relationship between Hasan and the Prana is more strongly substantiated, the relationship between Hasan/Prana and Shadi is less so. Here are some things we know, for sure.

Shadi becomes Hasan, but only when all 7 items are in the stone.

Shadi knows that he can become Hasan. He refers to Hasan as his ‘other’ self. (No proof snip of this one cause of poor Bobasa)

Hasan has certain knowledge that Shadi does not; this includes knowing where to find Atem’s name.

Shadi and Hasan share some knowledge. Both refer to the Millennium Stone as the ‘Tablet of the Pharoah’s Memories’, and of course, Hasan retains Shadi’s memories of who Yugi and friends are.

Hasan looks just like Shadi except way more jacked and with a cool mask (which gets broken really dramatically and I enjoy the reveal)

The way Shadi refers to Hasan as his ‘other self’ makes it sound like Hasan functions as some sort of Yami to him. * Hasan is dependent on the Millennium Stone containing all 7 items, like how other Yami’s are dependent on their items, and Hasan is dependent on Shadi being an existing entity, like how Yami’s need a host to possess. Unlike the other hosts and their Yami’s, Hasan and Shadi’s personalities are not distinct, and impossible to separate because we barely get any time with either or them.

*Atem and Yami Bakura are completely distinct spirits and I would not consider them Yami’s.

I am hesitant to call Hasan Shadi’s Yami, mainly because a Yami is supposed to be the manifestation of the item user’s negative personality aspects. The item is supposed to corrupt the user into their Yami by drawing out their darkness. Hasan is not Shadi’s darkness. Shadi completely becomes Hasan, both do not exist independently of each other as Yami’s do. Hasan is just Shadi but with more magic (and 100% more beef).

We know fewer concrete things about Shadi, but we know a few, so we can pencil them in.

Shadi was probably not completely mortal

We’ve determined that Hasan/Shadi’s soul is tied to the Millennium Stone itself, so Shadi has been around for ~3000 years.

He knows about the massacre that happened at Kul Elna, despite it being a historical coverup

 And I know I’ve ignored the anime, but even in it he says he’s a centuries old spirit

I didn’t want to mention Capsule Monsters lol but according to that filler arc, Shadi was around to give Alexander the Great the Millennium Ring and it’s so out there I want it to be completely cannon 

Shadi was mortal enough to be physically killed by nondescript shadow magic

He dies. He super dies. Pretty easily, in all honesty.

Is likely, in some way, physically related to the Clan of Tombkeepers.

He refers to his bloodline in his first introduction in the manga

He knows the Tombkeeper drama

He does look a lot like Shada. If we’re being completely honest with each other, I think Shada was supposed to be the ancient counterpart to Odion (Rishid). In some panels, Shada definitely looks more like Odion, and while Shada was alive, Hasan’s spirit was already in the Stone

And that’s about it.

With all that being said, I would like to provide this helpful graphic:

Hasan is always Shadi, but Shadi is not always Hasan. It’s a rectangle square thing.

It gets worse. Hasan/Shadi is the proxy by which the Prana has influence in the world. Earlier, I claimed that Hasan represented the Prana to a capacity and I theorized that Hasan could have been an individual soul from the collective Prana. Remember, Hasan likens himself to a shadow projecting from the light of the world beyond, and not specifically the light itself. While Hasan/Shadi does have access to the Prana’s power, they are distinct from it, because at the end of the day, Shadi is killable.

He tells the children of the Prana, and I quote, “I may not always be here to give you guidance. My hope, however, is that I will remain in your hearts.” Shadi knew he could die, and though he probably didn’t expect it to be so soon, he knew it was a possibility, if not an eventual guarantee. I think it is plausible that he knew that once the Millennium Stone was destroyed, he would likely stop existing as he did, because his soul is bound to the Stone itself. This is likely why he adopted the orphans in the first place. If the full power of the Prana could be unlocked and its proxy still live on, why bother placing power in another set of hands?

The main mystery surrounding Shadi is not his motives, or his actions – it’s where he physically came from. We have determined that he is the original proxy of the Prana in the world. And we have determined that in order for Hasan, the spirit sealed in the Millennium Stone, to exist, Shadi, as an individual, must exist. Furthermore, we discussed how Hasan couldn’t join the original battle between Atem and Zorc, because of Shadi’s absence at the time.

This begs the question – where did Shadi come from, and when did he show up?

I don’t know, and there is no canonical evidence to support or disprove any theories.

I will say, that this conundrum is not entirely unlike the whole deal with Yugi and Atem. Yugi just inexplicably looks like Atem, though Yugi can’t be Atem’s reincarnation because Atem’s soul has been sealed in the Puzzle. Though Shadi and Hasan are functionally the same person, Hasan’s soul has been sealed in the Stone, and we see Shadi operating as his own person in DSOD and as a ghost.

Here is my leading theory for your consideration:

The Prana, within the Millennium Stone, chose a random person to become their proxy. Just like how Yugi had to be born to be the chosen one, Shadi had to be born to be the Prana’s chosen one.

Would explain Shadi’s general relationship to the Tombkeepers and his similarities to Shada

Would explain why he’s the self-appointed Guardian of the Millennium Items

Would explain why he needs the Quantum Cube in order to use the Prana’s power

Perhaps the Prana bonded him with Hasan??

Hasan’s body reincarnated without his soul, and that body is Shadi.

This one is very similar to the first theory

Sort of like how some people have said Yugi is the reincarnation of Atem’s body (this one is weird idk how to feel about it but here the theory is, for your consideration)

Would explain why Shadi is so soulless without the Quantum Cube

Even as the resident, self-appointed Shadi specialist, I cannot give you a definitive answer for Shadi’s physical existence. But I hope I have provided some interesting angles to look at Hasan’s relationship with the Prana.