This story does not have a single protagonist. It has three, in a way at least. The stories of three kingdoms that exist within the monster world shall be unraveled. Tune in as a tyrant, a scheming ruler, and an oppressor take the spotlight. Monarchy in the world of Yu-Gi-Oh! is no different than in real life.
Disclaimer
This is the fourth entry to my series Stories Inside Cards. There is a link between Marauding Captain's story and this one. As always in this series, two things must be clarified. Only TCG-released cards are covered in these articles. Moreover, this is how I see the story told through those cards. Yours might be the same or completely different. Either way, take this interpretation with a grain of salt.
The Emperor's New Clothes
The first story is about an emperor, a tyrant actually, whose tale was inspired by a famous fairytale. As the title of this section suggests, I am talking about The Emperor's New Clothes. Before I move on, let me give you a bonus fact: The original OCG artworks of the cards below depict the tyrant without a shirt on, while the TCG cards show him wearing a white T-shirt or undershirt.
The emperor was a happy tyrant enjoying in his kingdom. Unaware that he was half-naked (or that he was wearing an ugly white shirt), just like in the fairytale, he was happy to walk between his people. The people of the empire could see the truth, though, and laughed at the tyrant's naivety.
As the head of the empire, the tyrant showed his true face to his subordinates. We have already seen how he treated and , two excellent warriors who had fought horrific monsters to protect the people of the kingdom. But he didn't just yell at them. He also mistreated the . This last bit doesn't only show his disrespectful behavior; it also shows his corrupt nature as the goblins are not a friend of people. had fought them .
Apart from yelling and shouting at his people, the emperor had huge all for himself. He ate and drank so much to the point that he went completely out of . I would not like to be one of these soldiers trying to calm him down. To complete showcasing his circle of activities, the tyrant also drank coffee and . However, he at that.
All of the above is pretty much everything the tyrant did. The best thing he could do for his poor people is to offer them a good laugh. As a result, people gathered and attempted to him. Unfortunately, their goal did not come to fruition. The tyrant managed to the revolution. But luckily, there was still hope for his people. The biggest difference between a tyrant and the king is that a tyrant is not the king.
The true monarch of the kingdom and dethroned this fake one. The guards would no longer protect the tyrant against the . His glory days on the throne were gone, and the oppressive dictator finally got what he .
This certainly has some Disney's Robin Hood vibes
A Deal-Making Emperor
Moving on, I want to make another disclaimer. It is obvious that the naked emperor and the emperor mentioned in the third section later on are two completely different people. However, for the next one, this isn't quite as clear. They look completely different to me, but still, they appear to be rulers of the same kingdom. The castles depicted on and are the same. The latter is probably the successor of the former to the throne.
The next monarch actually is a familiar face to the series. It is the who and other monsters from the Different Dimension. It is possible that he ordered them to attack , leading to the events of , which have already been covered in a previous article. The also had for his own .
Even though this emperor acted like an figure preaching to younger people, he was probably responsible for some . At some point, probably towards the end of his reign, he off all of them. This monarch was also responsible for the of the kingdom.
When the order is imperial
The Royal Decree
The final , succeeding the , was by far the most oppressive one. He treated both the people of his kingdom and his enemies harshly.
Like most kingdoms, this one has an of its own. Having a powerful military force was extremely important to this king, so he the soldiers himself. But a strong army wasn't enough to him—an empire of this size needs more to defend itself. Thus, the king ordered the construction of a to keep out all the Mex— … all the enemy armies.
Moreover, the empire did not only employ soldiers to attack and defend. There were plenty of men in various positions of authority. One of them was in charge of who was coming in and out of the castle. He would any unwanted intruders, and in front of his superiors and let them pass through. He would also any that was delivered to the castle. This was essential to get rid off any . The last of his duties was to other to capitulate in the face of his king.
Some say that a king is nothing without his people. This also holds true in our story here, but there is a twist—he also would have been nothing if he did not oppress his people as much, with all of his wealth coming directly from them. His were pretty much stealing the people's wealth. As if that wasn't enough, the king imposed heavy onto his people in possible.
The unreasonable taxation was not the only problem, though. His people had to take much more than that. But the rest of their suffering and how they dealt with it will be covered in the next section, which is solely dedicated to the people.
Everything the light touches ... is our kingdom
Uprising
The people of the aforementioned kingdom had to bear with a lot. Apart from the and straight up , they also had to withstand unreasonable . Unfortunately, the abuse from the authorities and the king did not stop there. It got as well.
Luckily, some people decided to not take it any longer and to their oppressors. Their scattered resistance did not end well, though. They faced brutal from the soldiers of the kingdom. Some of them were , some got , and heaven only knows what might have happened to the least fortunate ones.
If you look closely, the prison did not only house rebellious citizens of the kingdom. The had also an .
These events were the last straw. The people finally had enough. Things needed to change, but this time for real. The resistance had to be an organized and shared effort between the . Thus, at their lowest point, the people together and started a .
Things got violent really fast. The people gathered outside the . They also got their hands on some weapons and in order to the castle. After a fierce battle, the people forced the king to . Having regained their freedom, they had to re-write the laws and politics of their land, hopefully as a democracy.
We will be victorious
The Exiled Force
Some inhabitants of these kingdoms were . They were probably and then by the final monarch, but could theoretically also be prisoners from the first kingdom's failed .
The once exiled group started to the lands. Through their journeys, they managed to collect special weapons, one for each member of the group. To be exact, they got their hands on , , , , and . One of the members, however, did not get a weapon, but something more of a ; the same curse that once troubled .
All of these weapons certainly gave them power and made them stronger. But this did not come without any cost. As time passed, finally, the moment to pay the toll for those powers arrived. They turned into of their former selves. One of them is missing. The member who suffered the pestilence passed away. The rest of them also suffered deeply. The wielder of the axe turned into a fool and the shield bearer got his strength drained. And finally, the one who messed with the cursed bill was restrained by an evil spell and the armament made its wearer knee and cry.
The force ain't really strong with this one
That's it for today's article. I hope you enjoyed the stories of these three kingdoms of the monster world. The next article is going to be about a monster mentioned in this article. Can you guess which one? Do you have ideas for any other stories to be covered in this series? Give us your opinion and leave suggestions in the comment section below.
Opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, not of Cardmarket.
