#quatro

The Burden of Destiny

When I say that IV and Nasch share a special relationship, I mean that they are the exact same person with all of the same flaws. This is why Nasch chooses to duel IV of all people to convince himself that none of his humanity is left, because killing IV is in itself an act of self destruction. He is destroying Ryouga, by destroying the person who knows him best so he can be fully Nasch.

Before I get to speaking about the duel itself, I am going to elaborate on their characters and their shared flaw. The title of this section is the burden of destiny, because in most series destiny is seen as a good thing because it makes you the chosen special boy. However, Nasch and IV both deconstruct the idea of destiny, because having their free-will taken away from them and being controlled by outside forces, existing as essentially a character in a story written by someone else is the cause of their suffering.

IV shares all of Nasch's flaws, and I'm going to start with him because unlike Nasch, his flaws are a lot more obvious. IV is a character who contrary to his edgelord persona actually wears his heart on his sleeve. IV is introduced to us as a celebrity duelist who basks in the admiration of his fans, but in a duel his true nature is revealed when he explains that his "fanservice" is inflicting suffering on his fans for his own personal gratification.

In spite of wearing a fake persona in public, IV is actually the most emotional of his brothers, his scars are clearly on display, literally on his face. The trauma of being used as an instrument of his father's revenge to harm Nasch's sister has him permanently marked. Something IV didn't want to do, but felt like he was forced to because he was at the time existing as a character in his father's revenge play.

Iv is simultaenously someone who resists destiny but also succumbs to it, as shown in his decision to play the card that would start the fire that injure Rio, Nasch's sister, and also his decision to defy Tron's orders and save her which got his scar. IV is also painfully aware that he's marked as his father's least favorite, because of both his attempts to defy his father's will and his overly emotional nature. Iv is only hurt by his connection to his father, but he also clings to it because his family is all he has even if that burden of destiny is something that only makes him suffer.

I mean destiny in this sense as a character feeling they have no choice but to act because of some outside force controlling them, in IV's case it's because he feels trapped in the revenge between his father and Dr. Faker that was created by Dr. Faker's betrayal long in the past. In Shark's case it's first an obligation to avenge his sister, and eventually later on it's a literal destiny he realizes with the discovery that he is truly Nasch therefore he must abandon his friends to fight for the Barians.

In both cases though Shark and Nasch are not the main characters of their own story, they are characters being pulled along by a pre-determined path willfully giving away their own agency. IV believes he has no choice but to follow his father's revenge even if all of his attempts to please his father are met with his father's disdain. Nasch feels like he has no option but to serve as the leader of the Barians. In fact you could also connect IV's sense of obligation to his family, to Nasch's obligation to the Barians. IV must stay loyal to his father and his brother's even though he disapproves of his father and is the target of his father's abuse. Nasch as the leader of the Barians must fulfill his obligation to protect the Barians even if it means sacrificing all of his old friends.

In spite of all of these things they have in common, and even more I'm going to point out, Nasch has no sympathy for IV whatsoever.

IV: You can’t trust me that much. Just because I can’t become an obedient servant to you like III and V. IV: But even so…I still also…for your sake. IV: Dad, you always smiled gently in the past. IV: But… after you returned from the parallel world it’s like you had an entirely different personality. IV: Despite that we were still willing to follow you, Tron. Shark: Even if you were being used, I won't forgive you for what you did.

It's very easy for Shark to hate IV, because of all the things they share in common, which makes IV a convenient target for Shark's self loathing. Shark blames IV for hurting his sister, but he also equally blames himself for being unable to protect her. Shark pointing his anger at other people has always been his coping mechanism for his inner feelings of weakness and his guilt for being unable to protect others.

Not long after uttering this line, Tron uses Shark's anger to control him, using him as a convenient weapon to point at Yuma. Shark loses all control in the duel and points that anger at Yuma the same way he pointed it at Nasch. By his own words, even if he was being used what Shark did to Yuma was unforgivable. Shark probably doesn't forgive himself for that action either, so as harsh and unforgiving as Shark can seem towards IV, he's even worse with himself.

Moving back to IV, IV's character centers around his fanservice where he vents his suffering on other people. However, IV's obsession with fanservice is covering up a desperate need to feel loved. IV, like Shark covers up all of his vulnerability and insecurities (the insecurity that he is weak because he feels particularly unloved by his father) with shows of anger in violence. IV's overt displays of violence are particularly over the top because he uses cards with names like "GENOCIDER" or "SERIAL KILLER". Besides being hilarious names, IV's cards also show that violence is a desperate act of communication and expression of the pain inside of him. IV violently combusts and spreads the hurt around when he's subjected to too much abuse. In doing so he projects strength and covers up his own weaknesses.

Tron: You still have a way to win. Tron: You're different from IV because you can think calmly. IV: Tron, why are you helping Ryoga? IV: You don't want me to win? Tron: It doesn't matter if you win. I told you, didn't I? All you have to do is fulfill your role.

The revelation that he is essentially Tron's puppet, a character meant to fulfill a pre-determined role written out in Tron's revenge play and then exit the stage when his role is fulfilled is what eventually breaks IV and causes him to misplay. IV is actually one of the characters who we see deliberately misplay on screen, and having the act itself framed as a misplay instead of just the duel writers failing to notice the misplay, and he does so because his father's needling makes him go for a more aggressive playstyle and giving up the easy win he had.

TRON: Accept the number, Ryouga. TRON: Then everything will go as you desire. SHARK: Everything I desire. SHARK: Defeat IV. SHARK: Defeat Tron. SHARK: Complete my revenge. SHARK: Ever since that day... ever since the day my sister was injured.I have given all to my revenge. If I can make it come true, I won't even mind a demon taking over my body. SHARK: I have to win and I need power to do it.

However, Shark himself is also struggling against someone trying to control his destiny in this duel as it's part of Tron's longterm gameplan to make him his puppet, first by injuring his sister and embarrassing him at the championships to make him want revenge, and then by handing him shark drake so he'll eventually get possessed by the numbers card. Nasch is also a character battling against a pre-written destiny, and just like IV he loses.

However, after this duel is where they begin to diverge. Shark has a pattern, and that is defining himself as a protector of his loved ones in particular his sister. When he fails his role as a protector however, he grows angry and to cover up for his self loathing and self blame for letting harm to come to his loved one, he goes to war and points all of his anger at someone else. When he cannot be a protector, he chooses to be an avenger instead. This is the patented Shark pattern, and the circles that Shark keeps swimming around for the rest of the series.

This is also the cycle that IV is stuck in too. IV was completely helpess when his father disappeared and his family was separated. His father reappeared, but he became abusive and controlling. IV had no one to blame, so he began to take his feelings out on others in overt displays of cruelty, while he secretly loathed himself for not being his father's favorite, for his own weakness, for the things his father made him do. That cycle caused him to point all of his feelings at Ryoga, and blame Ryoga for the loss of his father's love when Tron began taking an interest in Shark as a pawn. However, IV is allowed to escape that cycle when Yuma confronts Tron about his wrongdoing and the way he treats his sons, and when he refuses to give up on Tron just like his father did so many years ago Tron's heart is converted. Tron repairs his relationship with his family, and through his connection IV starts to heal, and even approaches Shark from then on as a friend he shares a lot in common with rather than an enemy.

However, just as IV has grown and worked to repair the bond between the two of them, Shark begins to recess as a character and decides to break it which leads us to the duel.

Deck Analysis

Before I get into the duel proper I am going to reflect on the decks of each character, because in Yu-Gi-Oh the archetype a character uses usually ties into their character and symbolizes some aspect of himself.

IV's symbolism is once again the most obvious because he wears his wounds on his sleeve, he uses gimmick puppets a deck of creepy puppets. IV is introduced to us as a manipulative character who harmed Shark's sister, and also set up Shark to take a fall in the championships by purposefully knocking his deck onto the floor when he knew Shark was weak enough to take a peak.

However, while IV has a tendency to be manipulative it's something he learned from his father, and while his deck is made up of puppets IV himself is ultimately a puppet of his father's machinations.

His most commonly used cards are Giant Grinder, which is a card that devours an opponent's monster and then inflicts damage upon them, symbolic of IV's tendency to lash out at other people. Strings does effectively the same thing, destroying all monsters that have string counters on them and then inflicting damage. IV is a particularly volatile person, breaking everything around him because of what is broken inside of him.

His most powerful card is Leo, and its later upgrade Disaster Leo has an alternate win condition that allows him to win the duel. Ironically every time he tries to go for Leo or Disaster Leo's win conditions he loses the duel. I take this to be a symbol of IV's struggle against destiny, when he tries to use a card that makes him the destined winner of the duel he loses. Overall the gimmick puppets are all about IV desperately grasping for control when he's nothing more than a puppet himself.

Nasch's monsters are a little more subtle, they are either sea monsters or big warships. A sign of his connection to the water, his former role as the leader of a seaside kingdom, and his past mistakes of deciding to go to war after the death of his sister in a past life and destroying everything around him in the process of trying to destroy Vector.

The water can also symbolize the emotions that Shark has buried deep in his heart, because when he is being possessed by the numbers he is depicted as sinking into the numbers. Water is a common sign of the unconscious mind, that is all of the emotions we are not consciously aware of.

IV is associated with fire, they duel on the volcano field, Gimmick puppet Disaster uses a fire effect to contrast Shark's water based monsters when they clash in their final duel. Shark is someone who is calm on the surface to hide his deeper emotions of anger, whereas IV is extremely volatile on the surface burning everything around him like fire but as a tradeoff he is at least more aware of his emotions.

However, his ace has one particular effect that is meaningful to Shark's character. His ace card always takes the form of a knight, in reference to his desired role as a protector. The ace card he uses always has an effect that revives itself when it's sent to the graveyard. This is a sign of Shark's particularly strong will which is also his greatest flaw, Shark will never give up ever, not even when the path he is on might be wrong. No matter how many attempts IV or even Yuma make to reach him Shark is doomed to never change his mind, because he's caught up in the cycle of violence and he cannot ever stop fighting.

If he stopped fighting then he would break down from the sadness of everyone he has lost so far. What Shark calls destiny that makes him fight over and over again is an obligation to the dead, the past controlling the present, the same obligation that IV feels to avenge his father. It's because they both have suffered the burden of destiny, of being unable to heal from their past wounds that IV believes he can reach out to Shark which leads to their final duel.

My One and Only Friend

While Yuma is unconscious, IV decides to confront Shark on his own because he believes that since the two of them have already patched up their friendship once, he can still reach IV and convince him that the bonds he's made with his human friends still matter and can be repaired. IV and Nasch are dueling with opposite goals and opposite ideologies

. IV believes that the bonds can be broken no matter how damaged they become, because he has witnessed the repair of his own relationships with both his father and Shark. Whereas, Nasch is not only trying to burn those bridges down, he is attempting to self destruct. IV is dueling to save Nasch, and Nasch is dueling to destroy himself - at least the human part of himself. IV has defied destiny, whereas Nasch is making himself a willing victim of destiny because as he said before he doesn't care about being possesed by a demon if it gives him the power he desires. IV is dueling for Yuma's belief that once you've dueled someone you are connected to them and dueling should be used to make friends, where Nasch is trying to destroy that connection and only using duels as a weapon to harm others.

This clash of opposites, of IV's desire to save, and Nasch's desire to die is shown right away when Nasch thinks the only reason IV is staying behind is to die and willlingly sacrifice himself for the others. Which is what Nasch is trying to do right now, sacrificing himself for the rest of the Barians and because Nasch projects on IV.

IV: Yuma has said with a duel our bonds can be revived. That's what I will do. NASCH: IV, you and me already live in different worlds. You wouldn't be able to understand if we dueled 10,000 times. IV: I felt that way until recently you know, that once a friendship is broken it can never be healed again. But you know Ryoga. It isn't that way with you and me. If it's broken, isn't it okay to just link it up again?

IV is attempting to convince Nasch they can still understand each other, whereas Nasch is insisting a mutual understanding is impossible and once a friendship is lost it can never be restored. IV however, is determined to make his friend understand him and his fanservice which was once just IV mindlessly spreading the hurt around is now reflective of his desire to connect.

IV starts the duel with a rank up card given to him by his brother's. This immediately highlights what they share in common, IV duels for the sake of his family, whereas Nasch duels for the sake of his bonds with his sister and the reset of the Barians. Nasch's manifestation of his bond with the rest of the Barians is his ability to share his strength with them and give them all the ability to simulatenously destiny draw into a rank up card. However, IV has overcome the idea that everyone else besides his family is an enemy. IV was once controlled by his obligation to his father, whereas Nasch's obligation to the Barians is currently controlling him.

IV also frames his rank up magic as an attempt to reach NASCH and drag him back down to earth, because for IV this duel is all about communication.

While Shark is convinced that he's sunk too far deep into the abyss to ever leave, that friendships cannot be repaired, that people like him cannot be saved and cannot be understood.

Shark's belief that he cannot heal or reforge his bond with his friends, is again a manifestation of his own self loathing. Nasch failed his friends in his previous life, therefore he does not deserve his friends, and instead must protect the souls that remain in the Barian world in this lifetime because of how much he failed in a previous life. Nasch cannot escape his destiny, cannot escape the cycle of violence he is trapped in, because he does not deserve to.

Nasch is trapped by his destiny, and his feelings of responsibility, guilt, and self-blame leave him feeling unable to escape it. Nasch has no choice but to fight, because if he doesn't fight the sadness will overcome him.

Rio: But Nasch, are you going to have to fight against Yuma and the others to protect this world? NASCH: Fight, there'll be a fight. I am nasch, even though they may have been my friends, I have to bury all that for the barian world.

Nasch is dueling in effort to not only bury his feelings, but bury himself. IV is dueling to dig up Nasch's feelings and revive his friend Ryoga. Honestly, it has a lot in common with Jim's duel against the Supreme King in GX, where Jim is making attempts the entire time to reach Judai in the supreme King persona, but Judai continues to hide behind the Supreme King because power and anger are what he uses to cover up the pain caused by the loss of all his friends.

The central theme of this duel however, is once again the burden of destiny. Shark accepts a painful destiny, because he believes he has no other choice. IV was in that exact same position last season, believing he was obligated to fulfill his father's revenge which rendered him nothing more than a puppet on strings.

While IV always resisted his father in a way though, Shark again and again willingly gives up his agency, losing control to anger, losing control to Tron's possession, and finally deciding he has no choice but to fulfill his responsibility as the leader of the Barians. Throughout all of this Shark never frames these actions as decisions he is actively making, but something he is forced to do.

Nasch willingly suffers through his destiny, because he thinks he deserves to be hated, that he deserves enemies and not friends. He encourages IV to think of him as an enemy the entire duel. A part of Nasch may have even wanted IV to win, because losing the duel and dying right there would have relieved him of the burden of his destiny. He is so set on self-destruction, he wants IV to hate him because deep down he hates himself so much he'd rather sink into the depths of his own self-loathing then try to swim out.

However, IV has fallen into that pit before and managed to climb his way out and now he's offering Ryoga a hand to attempt to do the same.

IV: This card is filled with feelings of people I believe in. They should be with you as well. All the feelings I have amassed through duels. NASCH: Those words don't fit you at all. IV: Sure, but Yuma and you ryouga, have changed me into a man that can say those words! As I was changed by the duel I shall change you back again.

A common theme this entire duel is IV's determination to remind Nasch of their friendships, no matter how many times Nasch personally hurts him with his words or insists that their friendship means nothing. Conintually insisting upon Nasch's ability to change, and that he's not too far gone.

The force of IV's feelings are even able to temporarily bring back Nasch's humanity by forcing him to revert from his Barian form to his human form. However, this is when Dark Knight's affect activates and he is resurrected to the field. As I discussed above, this symbolizes Nasch's complete unwillingness to stop fighting or even change his mind. Nasch will always choose violence.

IV however, is just as obstinate as Nasch. What happens when an unstoppable force of forgiveness and understanding meets an immovable object of guilt and self-loathing?

NASCH: Though I dumped all the humanity from my heart, the passion you threw at me still went in. But I don't want any of your passionate feelings. I want all and everything to be devoured by hatred.

The answer to that question is exactly why IV loses the duel. Usually in Yu Gi Oh, the character with the moral high ground and strongest resolve is the one who wins. However, this duel is specifically a tragedy in the same vain and Ai and Yusaku's final duel in Vrains.

There is a single moment where IV falters but I would argue the reason he lost the duel isn't because he gave up on his hope of saving Ryoga, but rather because he refused to give up on saving him. There are just times in life when you can't save someone who is so determined to self-destruct.

IV: Damnit shark, you let yourself fall that low.

There comes a point in the duel where IV realizes that Nasch's determination to fall into hell is unshakeable, but rather than give up the notion of saving him, IV makes the damning choice to not give up and ends up falling in hell together with Nasch.

The duel is decided on a destiny draw, where Nasch must draw a monster in order to win. Ryoga of course loses, because he's not the main character (joke). But actually though, Nasch wins because he is chosen by destiny - but that is never framed as a good thing. Destiny is a burden which hurts him and compels him to harm all his friends because he doesn't feel like he has a choice. Destiny is only something that traps Ryouga, as he is determined to walk into hell.

As I said before, the revelation that Nasch is falling into hell doesn't make IV stop reaching out, but rather decide to fall into hell with him. IV doesn't even express any regret or anger over his lost, just more sympathy for Shark and the terrible destiny that awaits him.

IV even expresses happiness in his last moments, that if he isn't able to save him he can still fall into hell together with Nasch.

Nasch on the other hand through completing his self-destruction by destroying IV, the person who understands and sympathizes with him the most in this world has sealed his own fate. Shark accepts his death at the end of the battle, knowing that IV is in hell waiting for him.