Friendship Never Dies: Yu-Gi-Oh's Greatest Unsung Hero: Tristan Taylor by Dan

The Best Friend of Yu-Gi-Oh!

In the original Yugioh series, one of the most important themes in the series is about friendship. The kinds that really come out of unlikely places. The primary group starts with the four core friends, Yugi, Tea, Joey and Tristan. Tristan may not be seen dueling, but his role is vital in the series, as he is more than just a mere pompom girl.

This is a guy who took out an evil spirit, and chucked an ancient magical artifact into a random jungle, after rescuing a comatose kid, almost by himself, and got back in time for half of Yugi’s duel against Pegasus. Tristan is always looking out for everyone else, much to his detriment at times, and yet, he gets the job done every time. He is the unsung hero of Yugioh, and he always has everyone’s back, and they wouldn’t have gotten as far as they did without his help.

We don’t know much about his background, just that he helped Joey out in a fight, when Joey fought to protect another kid. (Quite a bit of time before they met Yugi.) They were then inseparable and were always seen together, and seeing as how Japan has a lad culture, you will see them together for a long time, even when they move to different locations, you will see them communicating together. But this first meeting will define who Tristan is in the series, which is the guy who pretty much supports you from the background in a way that carries you to the finish line.

The colour that Tristan is often associated with is the colour brown, which is an earth colour, which demonstrates that he is the one who grounds the team. Joey often gets carried away, Tea sometimes can get emotional when it comes to Yugi and Atem, Atem has his temper, especially when it comes to Seto Kaiba, and Yugi may doubt himself too much. But Tristan is the member of the team that reminds them of the realistic situation. Other symbols that brown represents include Simplicity, Appreciation, melancholy, warmth, protection, honesty, death and wisdom. In Japan, it can also represent strength and durability, and is associated with tea and objects made of wood.

Simplicity may seem like it’s a slight against his intelligence, but it’s not. He is more direct with things, and doesn’t like things overcomplicated, because people overthink because of that, which is why this suits him.

He approaches a matter without having too many doubts and things that clouds his mind most of the time. He appreciates what he has, which is his friendship, and everyone relies on him and appreciates him as well. Even Seto Kaiba is grateful for what he did for Mokuba in the Duelist Kingdom arc, getting Mokuba’s soulless body out of the dungeon, although he never brings it up. He can be a very warm person, especially to Serenity, who often needs a masculine figure like her brother to keep her safe. There’s a reason why even she leans on Tristan over Duke Devlin.

The next traits are some that define him. He is the one who protects everyone, and will cover for them. Joey gets caught in a fight, and Tristan jumps right in. He uses his muscle to make sure that everyone is safe, and is even willing to protect their honour, and he would take a bullet for anyone he cares for, and by extension, those they care for.

As for Honesty, Tristan doesn’t care to lie, and will tell you straight up what he thinks, and will not cushion the harshness; unless one is Serenity. He does everything to spare her feelings to be hurt. As for wisdom, he will always help those around them if they need advice. Say Yugi needs to bounce ideas for his deck, and Tristan will make suggestions. Tea gets upset, and Tristan always has a shoulder for her to cry on. Mai gets frustrated with Joey, and he will remind her of what Joey’s like and how he thinks. Joey starts to freak out, Tristan will punch him to calm him down, and remind him of the situation, and freaking out won’t solve anything. If the four primary friends have all inherited something from Solomon, Tristan got Solomon’s wisdom, and reliability.

In fact, did you know that Tristan knows Duel Monsters inside and out, in ways that can surprise even Yugi, Kaiba and Atem? He just doesn’t duel normally. When it comes to strength and durability, it isn’t just physical.

It’s emotional and spiritual. Tristan never truly gives up on his friends, and is the most resilient member of the team. Atem sometimes gets frustrated and gets aggressive, Tea is prone to expecting the worst to happen, Yugi sometimes gets self-conscious, and Joey can panic at times. Even the extremely resilient and strong Kaiba tends to get frantic when Mokuba is around, and prone to panic. But Tristan is always strong deep down.

Then there are two traits that I mentioned: Death and Melancholy. Death doesn’t necessarily mean that he dies. To me, when it comes to Tristan, it means that he is willing to put everything down for those that he cares for, even his body and soul, as shown in the Virtual World Arc, when he uses his own soul as a shield against Serenity.

If his friends are on a burning ship, if it’s just them on the ship, then he will stay on the ship to make sure that there’s a way out, and if not, then he will go down with them, just so they don’t go down alone. This is akin to Tristan being a Bushi, and he seems like the one member of the group that follows the code of Bushido.

However, he can be prone to melancholy, expecting the worst to happen. Perhaps not to the extent of Duke Devlin, but there are times when he reminds Tea and the others that not everything goes as planned and that a duel can go wrong, and sometimes is very cynical when it comes to others, and it gives him a far more serious side. He may act like the class clown at times, and he will try hard to reassure those around him, but he can be prone to brooding. He doesn’t want others to worry, as he worries for everyone’s safety, including the Kaiba brothers, and his rival in love, Duke.

Contrasting Joey, who is far more of a knight, with Tristan being a samurai, is a neat approach to the duo, which helps bring both to life. The Justice of a knight like Joey, and the Loyalty of a samurai really brings both together for them to achieve greater heights. Even their approach with friends demonstrates this difference. We have the passion of Gawain, with the inner strength of Yukimura Sanada, that really helps Yugi and the others to reach the heights to overcome their enemies.

He is the friend that will do the hard duties for those around him. A girl is sick? He will be the one to hold back their hair. Someone needs to be told a relative died? He will volunteer for that job. A friend is in the hospital, even if the once-in-a-lifetime event he always wanted to go and experience happens, he will skip it and stay with his friend. If he’s the one in the hospital bed, he will insist the other person goes and experiences the event, and he can be persuasive on telling people to go and see those events. That’s the kind of friend Tristan is.

There’s a reason why Tristan is also a natural sharpshooter, and that’s cause he always has his eye on the prize, and on everyone’s goals. When he was younger, he won sharpshooting tournaments, able to shoot a 100-yen coin from 50 feet away.

This shows that he has steady hands, quite a bit of focus, and good eyes. And he brings these elements to shoulder the burden of the group. He’s an unsung hero, and none of the cast would have gotten as far as they have without him. Seto Kaiba wouldn’t have been reunited with Mokuba.

Tea wouldn’t have been able to protect the gang in the first virtual world from the Big Five when the gang went in to save Seto, Serenity wouldn’t have been able to get through to the mind controlled Joey, the group wouldn’t realize that Bakura is being possessed again several times, and even in monkey form, he saves the group and buys time for them to escape from the Big Five, yet again.

Atem and Yugi may be the main protagonists, Joey may be the co-protagonist and Seto Kaiba may be the strong willed anti-hero of the group. Tea may be the one delivering Friendship speeches, but Tristan is in some ways the real hero of the series. He may not throw down as often as the others in Duel Monsters, but he definitely has saved them every turn of the way.

If you enjoyed this article do check out the following story, which features a great deal of Samurai fun, fighting and drama kind of like this story.

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