flights of wonder

Yugi’s daemon is a gentle female named Wadjet, named after the goddess in Egyptian mythology who was the protector of kings. She was named so by his grandfather’s dæmon due to his inclination towards Egyptian mythology. Her name has two meanings: she is the guardian of Yugi, who is the ‘king of games’, and Yugi is the guardian of the Puzzle and therefor Atem, the Pharaoh. Pre-series, she usually took a form of a small, timid creature such as a mouse or butterfly. After solving the Puzzle and making friends, however, she tended to take forms that were a bit larger, usually a breed of dog and occasionally a feline, especially when she was around Atem’s daemon.

Her settled form is a great dane. I knew I wanted Yugi’s final daemon to be a dog of some sort because of his loyalty and loving nature, and I decided on the great dane because despite their size, they are the gentlest of all the dog breeds. I also wanted a daemon that could come close to capturing the size of Yugi’s heart and courage. Also, the image of Yugi having a daemon that’s bigger than him is just a funny one. 

She settled after the Ceremonial Duel, and she is the last of their friends to settle. She’s very affectionate and likes to climb onto her friends’ laps, forgetting how big she is. Since daemons rarely let people other than their human touch them, the fact that Yugi’s daemon allows and seeks out touch from them is proof of the absolute trust they have in their friends. Some days, though, she does nothing but pace the floor and bat the air - almost as if she’s trying to reach out to something that’s no longer there.

Yami/Atem’s daemon goes through the most shifts due to the mysterious and ever-evolving nature of Atem’s character. His daemon cannot settle because they do not have their memories, but there are certain forms the female daemon prefers to take. When they were first freed from the puzzle, the nameless daemon took the form of a tiger: large, calculating and threatening. The shadows from the puzzle refused to let her go. They visibly clung to her fur and puddled at her feet like slick oil. Other daemons noticed this and were unsettled by her the minute the saw her. She was ruthless and merciless, as she had to be after fighting away shadows for thousands of years, and she directed that restless energy towards protecting her host.

When Yugi and Atem became aware of each-others’ existence, bit by bit, the shadows released their hold of her and dissipated. After that duel with Kaiba in Duelist Kingdom, she never transformed into a tiger again. Even without any memories of her past self, with the help of Yugi and Wadjet, she grew more sure in who she was and didn't shift as often. She was most often in the form of an Asian Golden Cat. It was a less threatening form than a tiger, but still a predator that demanded respect. Yugi convinced her to be called Ka, after what ancient Egyptians believed to be the soul of a person.

Eventually they learn that her original name was Khemsait, “royal companion”, and that she settled into the form of a peregrine falcon after Atem’s coronation because to their loyalty to their people and the leaders they had to become. After returning from the memory world, however, she settled into her Asian Golden Cat form. Their experiences with Yugi and their friends changed them significantly enough to settle into something other than her original settled form, but they were content. Despite this, her time in her newly-settled state was brief in this world. After losing the Ceremonial Duel, she walked proudly into the afterlife by her king’s side, finally earning her peace.

daemon website info: asian golden cat / peregrine falcon