Name: Bakura Ryou  Name Meaning: The kanji in Bakura mean 'tapir' and 'good; pleasing; skilled'. (the kanji together have no meaning) The kanji for Ryou means 'complete; finish' [Read more here] Age: 16? [2nd year high school student] Family: His father owns Domino museum in the manga and is an  archeologist in the anime. His younger sister, Amane, and his mother are both deceased. Birthday: September 2nd Physical: 114.4lb [52kg], 5 ft 9in [176cm] Long pale purple hair [in the first series it was blue, in the manga, it's white with a very light purple tint]  Brown eyes in the anime, blue in the manga and green in first series. Blood Type: AB Favorite Food: Cream Puffs Personality: Very polite and supportive and often appears very light hearted. He hides a deep sorrow and loneliness behind his smile, and doesn't appear to have much self esteem or a good self image.  He doesn't stand up for himself much beyond token protests, but will do whatever it takes to help his friends, even going as far as to sacrifice himself for their safety.

General: Bakura is a bit of a strange character. He joins the main group after his other draws them into a dark game in an effort to take Yuugi's Millennium Puzzle.  He is in the same class as Yuugi and the group knows him from that, but he's still a bit outside the group.  His other, Yami no Bakura has complete control over him through the Millennium Ring and will often take control of Bakura whenever he feels like, so it is often hard to tell if it is truly Bakura or his dark side that is acting. This adds to the distance between him and the others in the group.

Manga: In the manga Bakura gets more development and an entire manga is devoted to the battle between his yami and his friends.  When he first transfers to Yuugi's school, he tells Yuugi about his favorite game, Monster World. When Yuugi insists that they should play it together, Bakura looks saddened. Later he tells the group that whenever he played the game with his friends, they wound up in the hospital in a coma, and that he doesn't want that to happen to Yuugi and his friends.  Despite this, Yuugi and co show up at his apartment the next day to play and before Bakura can warn them away, his yami takes over.

Yami no Bakura traps the souls of Yuugi, Jounouchi, Honda and Anzu into their character pieces as they play the game, and does his best to destroy them using his avatar in the game, the demon Zork. When Zork is injured by the players, the injury effects Yami no Bakura, so when Zork's left hand is severed, it makes it possible for Bakura to control his left hand again, saving his friends from being killed twice before his yami impales his hand on the castle tower. Soon after Bakura's avatar in the game, White Magic User Bakura, is rescued from Zork, and he continues to protect Yuugi's group. Finally, in the final roll in the battle against Zork, Yami Bakura uses the Millennium Ring to seal part of his soul in the dice, to make it fall how he wishes, but Bakura manages to make it so his soul is sealed instead. To enable Yuugi's group to win against his yami, he caused the dice to crack and fall apart, even though it meant he would be destroyed as well.

Millennium Item: Millennium Ring.  Given to Bakura by his father who bought it on a trip to Egypt. It holds the spirit of a dark duelist [Yami no Bakura]  In both the anime and manga, it has the power to detect other items. In the anime, it also has the power to seal souls into cards, bring Duel Monsters cards to life, always return to it's owner, fade memories and enhance hearing. In the manga, it can seal people souls into dolls and figures.

Favorite Card: Change of Heart Deck Type: Occult Playing Skill: Unknown. Bakura is never shown dueling, only his other is.

His initial appearance in the manga portrays him rather similar to early manga Yami Yuugi, only with a darker twist. On his first day at Yuugi's school, Bakura tells Yuugi that at his former schools, all his friends fell into comas after playing his favorite game, Monster World. When Yami Bakura is able to speak to his host after Bakura touches the Millennium Puzzle, he tells him that he was merely paying his rent by fulfilling Bakura's wish that he could play games with his friends forever, implying no ill will, only a twisted misinterpretation of what Bakura truly wanted. Whether or not Yami Bakura was truly misinterpreting or if he was just saying this is unclear.

Yami Bakura also tells his host in the same conversation that he is a thief intent on acquiring the seven Millennium Items, and that Bakura will forever be his (and the Millennium Ring's) host.

Yami Bakura's character appears to change slightly after his defeat in Monster World, and in Duelist Kingdom, he assures Bakura that he's not the same as he was before, and offers to help when the group appears trapped in the Maze Brother's arena. The only catch is that Bakura must again wear the Ring. Bakura agrees, and Yami Bakura is good to his word, providing a distraction that Yami Yuugi reflects helped his ruse not be caught, enabling them to best the Maze Brothers.

Later in Duelist Kingdom Yami Bakura helps rescue Honda from where he had been caught sneaking around in Pegasus's castle so that he and Bakura can rescue Mokuba

During the DDD arc, Yami Bakura again comes to Yuugi's rescue. Due to Bakura's uneasiness from Yuugi's disappearance, Yami Bakura returns to Otogi's father's store and finds the game in progress. He declares that Yuugi is the one who's been chosen by the Millenium Puzzle and Otogi has no chance. After assuring Yuugi that he's Yuugi's ally, he gives Yuugi the confidence he needs to win against Otogi by pointing out that there is a way he can win, and stands by Yuugi to taunt and mock Otogi until the end of the game. However, despite this aid, Yami Bakura takes advantage of the situation for his own gain. When retrieving the shattered Puzzle from Otogi, Yami Bakura uses the power of the Ring to seal part of his soul into a fragment of the Puzzle.
 

Yami Bakura is also not above using his host to gain an advantage. He offers use of his host to Malik to break apart Yuugi's group for Malik's plans, inflicting a serious wound on Bakura's arm to get Malik in the group's good graces. However, dueling his duel agaist Yami Yuugi when Malik is using Bakura's pain to try and force Yami Yuugi to forfit, Yami Bakura decides he doesn't like Malik's methods and takes control to take the blow for his host. As he's facing Osirus's blow, Yami Bakura's inner monologue states that one day he will obtain the power of Darkness, and for that sake, his host (Bakura) is the most important thing.
 
 

In the AE arc, it is reviled that Yami Bakura is connected with Thief King Bakura, a tomb robber who is the last remaining person from Kuru Eruna, the village of thieves that was slaughtered to create the Millennium Items. He desecrated the tomb of Mou Hitori no Yuugi's father, dragging the mummy into the court and declaring his hatred for the Pharaoh and his want for the Millennium items.