The Sun Dragon Ra ( character ) The Sun Dragon Ra , known as The Winged God Dragon of Ra ( ラーの " Rā no Yokushinryū " ) in the Japanese version , is a character in the " Yu - Gi - Oh ! " manga . It is one of most powerful monster spirits , the Egyptian God s . Its corresponding " Duel Monsters " card is " The Sun Dragon Ra " . Appearance . Ra is a giant golden dragon that appears to be composed of or covered in golden metal . It has a saurian posture and bird - like features ; its head and neck are sculpted to resemble that of a bird of prey , with feather - like ornaments on each side of its head and at the elbows , and a jagged cone surrounding its neck . Its wings have the appearance of being feathered . Ra has a large arch connecting its shoulder pauldrons that is where its " Blaze Cannon " attack is generated before being channeled to its mouth through the feather - like ornaments on its head . Prior to being Summoned during Dark Marik ' s Duel with Mai Kujaku , Ra was obscured by golden light and black flame when Summoned during Jonouchi ' s Duel with Rishid , or partially shadowed when seen outside of a Duel . During " Yu - Gi - Oh ! Millennium World " , Ra ' s beak is toothless and more bird - like in shape and its tail is thinner . In Ra ' s Sphere Mode it appears as an orb of golden metal that unfolds into its Battle Mode . In its Phoenix Mode Ra becomes a giant flaming bird with its wings and head shaped in a similar manner to its Battle Mode . Biography . Ancient Egypt . Ra is one of the three Egyptian God s , along with The God of the Obelisk and Slifer the Sky Dragon . These monsters were only capable of being summoned by the pharaoh . Battle City . 3000 years later , Maximillion J . Pegasus created cards depicting the three Egyptian Gods , for his game " Duel Monsters " . Pegasus was unable to decipher the hidden powers of Ra , which were wrote in Hieratic text , so he transcribed the Hieratic text onto the card . This text was only visible in the light emitted from Ra ' and had to be recited in order to Summon " The Sun Dragon Ra " . The souls of the Gods came to dwell in the cards , making them powerful weapons . On realizing this , Pegasus regarded their creation as one of his greatest mistakes . He tried to destroy the God Cards , but could not bring himself to do it , so he had the Egyptian supreme council of antiquities bury the cards in different locations in the Valley of the Kings . The Ghouls managed to steal the " Slifer the Sky Dragon " and " The Sun Dragon Ra " cards . However the Egyptian supreme council of antiquities was able to prevent them finding the card , " The God of the Obelisk " . Ishizu Ishtar , from the council , later gave it to Seto Kaiba , so that he would host the Battle City tournament to retrieve the other two . The leader of the Ghouls , Marik Ishtar entered the Battle City tournament with the " Slifer " and " Ra " God cards . Rishid , posing as Marik , Dueled Katsuya Jonouchi in the quarter finals . Towards the end of the Duel , Jonouchi expressed disbelief that his opponent was Marik . Marik then tried to create some false proof by having Rishid Summon " The Sun Dragon Ra " . He believed Rishid would be capable of Summoning it . However the card was a counterfeit and this angered the real Ra , who smote the Dueling arena with lightning , hitting both Duelists . During Mai Kujaku and Dark Marik ' s quarter final Duel , Mai took " The Sun Dragon Ra " using the effect of " Amazoness Chain Master " . However when she Summoned Ra , it appeared in its Sphere Mode . Unable to read the Hieratic text , Mai could not Summon it . On his next turn , Dark Marik recited the inscription and Summoned Ra to his side of the field . He prepared to attack Mai , who was held still by his torture cards . The nature of the Shadow Game , meant that this attack would kill Mai . However as Jonouchi tried to free her , Dark Yugi stood between them and Ra and took its blast on his back , preventing Mai from dying . Kaiba used satellites to get images of the Hieratic text and was surprised to find that he was able to read them . In the night , Dark Bakura , with the help of Marik , Dueled Dark Marik . However Dark Marik defeated them with Ra ' s One Turn Kill ability . During the semi final Duel between Jonouchi and Dark Marik , Dark Marik Special Summon ed " The Sun Dragon Ra " . Since he did not Sacrifice any monsters , its ATK and DEF became 0 . However Dark Marik converted Ra to its Egyptian God Phoenix form and destroyed Joey ' s monsters . This inflicted immense pain on Joey , which Dark Marik did not expect him to withstand . Joey did manage to stay standing after the attack , but collapsed during his turn before he was able to finish the Duel . Dark Marik and Dark Yugi Dueled in the finals . Dark Marik demonstrated the rest of Ra ' s abilities . Yugi tried to destroy it several times , albeit unsuccessfully . He first tried to defeat " Ra " with " Devil ' s Sanctuary " , but Marik played " De - Fusion " to negate the attack of " Ra " and boost his Life Points . Yugi also tried to use " Soul Taker " to sacrifice Marik ' s " God Slime " to bring Yugi ' s " Obelisk " to ∞ ATK , but " Ra " was immune to the effect of " Obelisk " . He was ultimately defeated when Yugi played " Dimension Magic " . Project R . A . . Dark Yugi attempted to Summon Ra to destroy " The Wicked Dreadroot " while Dueling the Yako - possessed Gekko Tenma , but Yako used " The Selection " to negate the Summoning of the Egyptian God . Ra briefly appeared before being destroyed by the card . " The Wicked Avatar " was stated several times to have power that was at least equal to that of Ra . Memory World . When Dark Yugi entered the Memory World , he relived some of his life as Pharaoh Atem , and fought the battle against Bakura , King of Thieves , in which he summoned Slifer , again . This time after Slifer was defeated by Diabound , Yugi and his friends arrived on the scene and Yugi was able to lend Atem strength , allowing him to Summon Ra and defeat Diabound . However , Dark Bakura at the Shadow RPG table used an Hourglass Token to reverse time . This time , Dark Bakura distracted Yugi , so that he would not reach Atem and Ra was not summoned . Upon relearning his name , Atem was able to summon the three Gods from the cards in Yugi ' s Deck and combine them into The Creator God of Light , Horakhty , who defeated Zorc .