exodia the forbidden one

===Exodia===
[[Image:Exodia Necross.jpg|right|150px|thumb|Exodia Necross]]
Also known by its full title "Exodia the Forbidden One" (and at one time, the Great Defender of Egypt), Exodia is commonly perceived in the anime and manga as being among the strongest of all Duel Monsters. Although Exodia is typically shown as being summoned and attacking in the anime, its actual effect activates in the hand: players who gather all five Exodia parts in their hand can declare an automatic victory, regardless of Life Points. Exodia is split into a head, and four limbs (two arms and two legs). The story of why and how it was split and sealed is revealed in the final season, when its original master Shimon fragmented it because it was too powerful. However, when '''Zorc''' attacked the palace, Shimon released the beast to do battle with him. Although the two traded blows with near-equal power, Exodia lost because it was summoned by Shimon's energy, and thus when Shimon could no longer power it, Exodia was destroyed.

Exodia has a counterpart called '''Exodia Necross''', a ghostly, necromantic version of it. Used by [[Gozaburo Kaiba]] against his stepson Seto Kaiba,Episode 120. {{cite web | title=yu-jyo.net | url=http://www.yu-jyo.net/003/120.html}} this version of Exodia is powered by the five limbs being in the Graveyard and can only be summoned by the effect of the Spell Card '''Contract with Exodia''', and as long as all five parts remain, it cannot be destroyed in any way. Gozaburo uses the monster with the intent of dealing Kaiba an ironic defeat (the actual Exodia being the first monster to defeat Kaiba), but Kaiba overcomes Exodia Necross and claims victory by using the Trap Card Soul Demolition and unleashing the Blue Eyes White Dragon. Later in the GX anime, the character [[Adrian Gecko]] plays an Exodia deck featuring another counterpart called '''Exodius the Ultimate Forbidden Lord''', which is summoned by the effects of '''Ultimate Unsealing Ritualistic Technique''' ('''Ritual of the Ultimate Forbidden Lord''' in the English anime). Each time it attacks, it sends an Exodia part to the graveyard, and when all five limbs are sent, its controller wins the duel. Adrian acquires Exodia by sacrificing his love ''Echo'' to Exodia's spirit, but he is defeated in a duel to [[Martin Empire#Yubel|Yubel]] and loses Exodia's power. The real life card functions a bit differently; it has no corresponding spell card that summons it (you instead summon it by returning all monsters in the Graveyard to your deck) and when it attacks, you can send any normal monster to the grave from your deck, not just Exodia parts. In addition, Exodius looks like a more heavily-armored version of Exodia. Also, Exodia is one of the few monsters with an Egyptian appearance.