Exodia the Forbidden One is one of the most iconic monsters in the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise. It first appeared in Chapter 39 of the Yu-Gi-Oh! manga, but most fans probably remember it best from the first episode of the Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters anime (titled Yu-Gi-Oh! in the U.S.). The card known as “Exodia the Forbidden One” is a Level 3 monster with 1000 attack points and 1000 defense points. It’s effect reads, “If you have ‘Right Leg of the Forbidden One’, ‘Left Leg of the Forbidden One’, ‘Right Arm of the Forbidden One’ and ‘Left Arm of the Forbidden One’ in addition to this card in your hand, you win the Duel.”

Exodia is first featured in the manga at the end of the infamous Death-T arc, in which Seto Kaiba has forced Yugi, Jonouchi, Honda, and Anzu into a series of deadly trials in his “Death Theme Park”. The lore of Exodia is that it’s so powerful that it’s body was divided into five cards. As Yugi’s grandpa explains, the five pieces of Exodia are so rare that no duelist has ever managed to collect all five cards and summon him in a duel. Upon summoning Exodia, Yugi says, “Weak cards can join together sometimes, and together, they create an infinite power which can defeat any enemy.”

Throughout the Yu-Gi-Oh! series, there are constant themes of puzzles and friendship, and these two themes fit surprisingly well together. A puzzle is a collection of small pieces that when assembled, create a beautiful picture that not one piece could have made by itself. Likewise, when two people form a bond and work together, they can do things that not one of them could do on their own. Much like Exodia, and much like Yugi’s friends. That’s right, when Yugi talks about weak cards joining together to create infinite power, he is literally referring to the pieces of Exodia, but in a more figurative sense, he could also be referring to the power that he and his friends had been demonstrating throughout the entire course of Death-T.

In the first trial of Death-T, Honda was able to use his sniper skills to lead his friends through the laser tag arena and keep them all safe from harm. The second trial was split into three parts. In the first part, Jouji was able to use his size and innocence as a baby to crawl out of Anzu’s lap and defecate on the butler’s lap. In the second part, Yugi was able to use his wits to solve the word puzzle before he and his friends got their hands sliced off by the guillotine. In the third part, Jonouchi used his aggressive fighting skills and his resourceful tool-wielding skills to defeat the murderous Chopman. In the third trial of Death-T, Anzu used her rhythm and dancing skills to identify when and where the blocks would fall. In the forth and fifth trials, Yugi overcame his fear of revealing his ‘other self’ to his friends. He transformed into his alter ego, Yami-Yugi, and defeated the wicked Kaiba brothers at their own games. If any one of our heroes had faced the trials of Death-T alone, they would have died, but because they were able to work together and give it all they had, all five of them were able to survive and win the game. Thus, Yugi and his friends were weak individuals who joined together to create a power that not even a snobby billionaire could defeat.

Before Yugi drew the final piece of Exodia in his duel with Kaiba, he visualized all of his friends placing their hands over his deck as if they are each contributing a piece to his victory. From what I have seen over the course of the Yu-Gi-Oh! story, I would be confident to claim that Kazuki Takahashi is a master of symbolism. I would also be confident to conclude that Takahashi intentionally created Exodia and his five pieces to represent Yugi and his friends, or that he created his five protagonists to represent five pieces of one body. So if the five pieces of Exodia represent Yugi and his friends, which part of Exodia corresponds to which of the five heroes? Here is my conclusion:

Yami-Yugi is the Head

Yami-Yugi is the spirit that inhabits Yugi Muto’s Millennium Puzzle. Whenever someone harms Yugi or his friends, Yami-Yugi takes control of Yugi’s body and challenges the evildoer to a Shadow Game. These shadow games are dark contests that usually end in the loser receiving a cursing or even death.

Yugi Muto was alone and wished for a friend until the day he solved the Millennium Puzzle. Using his newfound abilities, Yugi was able to form friendships with his classmates: Jonouchi, Honda, and Anzu. Jonouchi used to pick on Yugi and made fun of him for being a sissy, but when Yugi defended him from a bigger bully, Jonouchi softened his heart and offered to be Yugi’s friend instead of his enemy. Anzu was Yugi’s childhood friend, but when she got a job as a waitress, she was held hostage by an escaped prisoner. Yugi used the power that Yami-Yugi bestowed upon him to save Anzu’s life. Since then, Anzu has fallen in love with ‘the man who saved her with a game.’ When Honda was about to get expelled for placing a love letter in his crush’s desk, Yugi transformed into Yami-Yugi to send the unfriendly teacher running out of the classroom.

Just as the head of Exodia holds the arms and legs together, Yami-Yugi quite literally holds the other four heroes together. It is because of him that they all became friends, and it is because of him that they continue to fight together. This character is still quite mysterious in the early chapters of the manga, but eventually, he will be the main catalyst for every adventure our heroes will have. In this sense, he quite literally leads the group just as the head leads its arms and legs.

Jonouchi is the Right Arm

In the first chapter of the Yu-Gi-Oh! manga, Jonouchi can be seen picking on Yugi for being a wimp. He tries to get Yugi to throw a punch at him, but Yugi screams that he hates fighting.

Jonouchi has a bad history of getting into fights and joining gangs. In Chapters 11 and 12, we see Jonouchi rejoin the gang he once belonged to, although he did it because the gang members were threatening to attack Jonouchi’s friends. Jonouchi seems to always be ready to start a fight for any reason like when he tried to defend his class’s school carnival spot in Chapter 6.

Jonouchi’s history of fighting is what makes him correspond to an arm, but why is he the right arm? The right and the left sides of the body are symbols of truth and deceit respectively. This probably stems from the Bible when Christ says he will divide his true followers on his right side and his fake followers on his left side (see Matthew 25:31-46). Jonouchi’s representation as the right arm is a symbol of his loyalty and dedication. Even though Jonouchi may be a tough guy, he is always ready to protect and defend those that he cares about.

Honda is the Left Arm

Honda and Jonouchi have been friends since middle school. Much like Jonouchi, Honda also has a history of joining gangs and throwing fists. His aggressive fighting personality is also what makes him correspond to an arm, but what makes him the left arm?

When Yugi stood up to the bully Ushio, he protected both Jonouchi and Honda, but only Jonouchi made friends with Yugi afterwards. Honda didn’t become friends with Yugi until chapter 7. In the beginning of that chapter, we see that Honda still doesn’t like Yugi and makes him do things like carry his books. Whenever Yugi introduces a new game to his friends, Jonouchi is always ready to dive head-first into the game, but Honda is usually nowhere to be found. Like when Yugi and Grampa Muto were showing off the Duel Monsters cards, Jonouchi and Anzu were both there, but Honda was not. When Yugi and all of his classmates were joining the Digital Pet craze, Honda didn’t join because he had a real dog to take care of at home.

Honda’s representation as an arm is a symbol of his aggressive fighting personality, and his representation as the left arm is a symbol of his skepticism and his hesitancy to make new friends and join new activities.

Anzu is the Right Leg

While the arms are a symbol of protection and defense, the legs are a symbol of virtue and persistence. The legs of a person are what keep them moving forward in the right direction.

Anzu has been Yugi’s childhood friend for as long as they can remember. She has always been there to give Yugi an encouraging word and to help get him out of trouble whenever he gets picked on. Anzu has a dream to study dance in New York City. To make her dream come true, she got a job as a waitress even though her school won’t allow it. When Shadi uses his Millennium Key to enter Anzu’s ‘mind room’, he sees that the walls of her mind room are covered with mirrors, much like a dance studio. Shadi says this is a symbol of her own confidence.

Anzu’s representation as a leg is symbolic of her good morals, how she motivates her friends, and how she makes her dreams come true. Her representation as the right leg is a symbol of her confidence and determination.

Yugi Muto is the Left Leg

In the first chapter of Yu-Gi-Oh!, we see Yugi Muto sitting by himself playing with a game. A fellow student of Yugi’s asks if he wants to play basketball, but Yugi declines and says that any team he’s on will just lose. Shortly after, Jonouchi comes and swipes Yugi’s Millennium Puzzle. He tries to get Yugi to throw a punch at him, but Yugi screams that he hates fighting and violence.

Much like Anzu, Yugi also has good morals like when he refused to fight Jonouchi, or when he used his body as a shield to protect Jonouchi and Honda from Ushio’s attacks. Unlike Anzu, Yugi has a tendency to doubt his own abilities – particularly his physical strength and his social charisma. When Yugi solved the Millennium Puzzle, he made a wish for a friend. Through the help of his alter-ego, Yami-Yugi, he was able to become confident enough to stand up to bullies and protect his friends.

Yugi Muto corresponds to a leg because of his good morals, and he corresponds to the left leg to represent his doubt and uncertainty in his own abilities. However, this symbolism extends a bit further than that. In Egyptian hieroglyphs, depictions of humans are often seen walking with their left foot forward. This is because the left side of their body is where the heart is. Thus, Yugi’s representation as the left leg is not only a symbol of his good morals and self-doubt, but it also symbolizes his pure heart and his determination to keep moving forward. Even though Yugi doubts himself, he often is the one who takes the first step towards a new adventure. And that’s why Yugi Muto is the left leg.