The Agent Of Force - Mars Yu-Gi-Oh! Card Game Trivia

What trivia is there about The Agent of Force - Mars, one of the many cards in the Yu-Gi-Oh! card game?

What is so significant, meaningful and symbolic about it?

The aforementioned Yu-Gi-Oh! card is a level 3 Fairy-type with a Light-attribute.

You can see what it looks like and what its effect is via the image featured to the right.

Let's start with the origin of its name. This is actually part of "The Agent" archetype of cards. These cards all have "The Agent" as part of their name as well as the name of a planet and something that they're governing or being the agent of.

For instance, in this card's case, Mars is the agent of force. Another example of this archetype is the card called The Agent of Judgment - Saturn. Okay, let's get back to the "force" part. This term is actually very fitting and appropriate for the card in question considering who Mars is.

Mars is the name of the Roman god of war. The god Ares from Greek Mythology is his counterpart. Mars is also the name of the fourth planet from the sun, the Red Planet. The planet itself was named after the war god precisely because of its red color, which can easily be associated with blood, war and fighting. This is also the reason why the card itself has a red theme or motif.

If you look at the image of this card again, you can see what appears to be a big red circle or rock in the background. This is meant to represent Mars, the Red Planet.

The person on the image is, of course, meant to represent Mars, the god of war. This is the reason why said person looks very muscular, strong and powerful.

The way he looks really screams "war god," doesn't it? He even has a weapon and his face and very stance looks fierce and defiant.

He easily gives off an air of "do not mess with me". The effect of this card just reiterates and reinforces what we can glean from the looks of the image.

But, at first glance, if you just look at the attack and defense of this card, which are both zero, it really doesn't seem like it can be of any use. However, upon reading the effect of this card, we can see right away that The Agent of Force - Mars has the potential to be very powerful, given the right conditions.

Just imagine if The Sanctuary in the Sky is on your side of the field and there is such a huge difference between your life points and that of your opponent's. If that's the case, you can get a one-hit kill and be able to instantly defeat your opponent thanks to Mars.

This is indeed very fitting when you take into consideration that the god Ares in mythology is known as being powerful, fierce, brutal and warlike.

As the war god, it's only natural that Ares likes fighting and slaughtering. He represents the violent side of war.

But it is the Greek goddess of wisdom Athena (Minerva in Roman Mythology) who represents the strategic side of war, which explains why Ares is not exactly all that capable.

What this means is that, while he is dangerous and very powerful, he isn't wise at all.

This explains the constraints of the card and why it needs The Sanctuary in the Sky to power it. The Sanctuary can represent the money, resources and support that is needed in order to win a war.

Without the aforementioned field spell card, The Agent of Force - Mars is pretty much useless, considering its 0 attack and defense. Sure, it won't be affected by spell cards but what good will that do if any monster card can easily send it to the graveyard?

Furthermore, The Sanctuary in the Sky isn't the only thing you'll need to have if you want to power up Mars. You'll need a very high amount of life points as well. This can be likened to the god Ares who is actually not all that brave and courageous. He's pretty much a coward actually.

This can be seen in what happened during the Trojan War as mentioned in The Iliad by Homer wherein the hero Diomedes, who is a very good and capable warrior and fighter, attacks Ares.

Thank to Athena, the hero Diomedes
was able to injure the god Ares (Mars)

Diomedes was actually under the goddess Athena's protection, and, when he fought against Ares, Athena made sure that his attack would not miss and that he would not be harmed.

Because of that, Diomedes was able to injure Ares. When that happened, Ares displayed his cowardice by crying loudly at the pain and then running back to Mount Olympus, the realm of the gods.

This can thus explain the Mars card's reliance on the field spell card in question.

When The Sanctuary in the Sky falls and when your life points fall, Mars essentially becomes useless and this is how the god's cowardice and weakness is manifested as he can now be defeated easily.

But, if you manage to protect and even increase your life points as well as ensure that the Sanctuary remains on your side of the field, then The Agent of Force - Mars can really be a force to be reckoned with that can help you win matches and beat your opponents. What do you think of this particular card? Do you make use of it when playing the Yu-Gi-Oh! card game?

*Notes:
- Image with added text was modified by Freya Yuki based on the image by Peter Paul Rubens (Public Domain) from Wikimedia Commons
- Pic shows the Roman god Mars
- The rest of the pics are enlarged product images from Amazon.com; links shown above via Amazon's Native Shopping Ads widget