Valon

Valon is a minor anime only character in '''Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters'''. He is one of Dartz's three most trusted henchmen. He is responsible for leading Mai Valentine to Dartz. Ironically he, and Rafael seem to get along fine. But he doesn't get along with Alister.

Background
His birthday is never mentioned. Valon is shown as a young child who loves getting into brutal fights. He appears to be an orphan, but is looked after by a kind elderly female nun. One day she was in the church with Valon cleaning up the wounds he had gotten from a previous fight when a group of thugs entered, telling the nun that their boss has bought the church and that they must leave. Valon is ready to fight, and almost throws a punch at them. But the nun while smiling, grabs his wrist and shakes her head, telling him not to. That night a fire is started at the church. Valon is there, and spots the thugs from earlier who are laughing about it. (The nun is also suspected to have been in the church at the time of the fire).

Valon thinks that they are responsible, and later he is seen in an alley holding a length of pipe, the bodies of the thugs on the ground around him. It is uncertain whether he killed them or not as they have been briefly seen in later scenes. (This entire sequence is from the Japanese version, and is edited out in the English version)

Valon is taken to prison (or a juvenile detention center) where he gets into more fights. Eventually he is taken to the warden (or headmaster), who tells Valon that he will let him leave if he defeats all the other prisoners on an island using the 'Seal of Orichalcos". (The warden was working for Dartz) Valon defeats all of his opponents. He is then encountered by Dartz and offered to work for him, and Valon accepts. Valon doesn't know that Dartz was the one who had the church burnt down. He actually tells Dartz that 'be careful, since one day I may end up beating cha', to which Dartz merely smiled. In the English version, Dartz had instead framed Valon for his first crime.

Personality
While being an orphan, Valon hated being bullied. He also didn't like it when thugs burned down the church he was always going to. After being up the thugs that were responsible for the tragedy that killed the num who would always show kindness to him. He was sent to prison, where he saw that he had a passion for dueling. But he still wouldn't get along with anyone. After meeting Dartz, he got along with Rafael but he had many arguments with Alister. He also try to get along with Mai but to no success. However Mai was the only one he cared about, and hated Joey for causing her so much pain. But he also begged Joey to save Mai from the darkness. After the ordeal with Dartz, Valon was surprised when Mai gave him one of her cards.

Appearance
Valon's usual outfit consists of typical biker clothing including goggles, gloves and padding on his shoulders and elbows. His thick head of chocolate brown hair is styled in thick flares out in all directions. Valon wears his Ocichalcos Stone in a ring on his middle finger on his right hand. He carries a Chaos Duel Disk on his left wrist.

Waking the Dragons arc
Valon eventually became infatuated with Mai, although she does not appear to return those feelings as strongly as he wished she would. Partly out of jealousy and partly to help Mai let go of her past, Valon duels Joey Wheeler, a young man Mai thought fondly of. In their Duel, each gains immense respect for one another, each seeing the other's devotion to protecting Mai and his refusal to be intimidated. While Mai is initially angry at Valon for taking this duel, he refuses to let her take his place. In the final clash his drive to win is matched by the joy at facing a great opponent like Joey.

However, his focus wavers when Mai (knocked off her feet by the explosion from the attacks colliding) looks at the grappling opponents, and calls out Joey's name. Once he loses, he admits it, drops to one knee in exhaustion and remains conscious just long enough to entrust Joey with rescuing Mai from her own fears. He then collapses and the Seal takes his soul. His image appears on a tablet in Dartz's temple to signify his capture and the image shows him in the same kneeling state. It is noteworthy that, for all his combativeness and defiance in the past, he is one of only two characters whose soul-carving does not look like he's panicking at his imprisonment. The other is Joey.

Mai goes to him and shows great concern for him, but quickly regains her composure and deems him as having been weak. This act is the final straw for Joey and he challenges her to a rematch to dispel the changes to her heart. Valon's soulless body, along with Mai's, is rescued by Rafael and they are both restored when Dartz is defeated. He wakes up in a seaside house and realizes that Mai was there also when he sees that she left him one of her "Cyber Harpie" cards.

Grand Championship arc
He also makes a brief appearance at the end of the Grand Championship Saga. He is seen during the montage after Yugi Muto's victory with the la Sagrada Familia in the background.

Dawn of the Duel arc
He is lastly seen at the end of the Dawn of the Duel Saga on his motorcycle looking up at the sky.

Quotes

 * Mai we're alike
 * You really don't get it do ya Wheeler?

Trivia

 * He doesn't appear in the manga.
 * The name Valon means "seething".
 * His birthday is ?, and his bloodtype is ?.
 * In the English version, Valon has a heavily stylized Cockney accent, which was greatly mistaken for an Australian one.
 * His best friend relationship with Rafael is similar to Yugi and Joey's. Whereas his rivalry with Alister is also similar to Joey and Kaiba's.

Voice Actors
all information on Valon came from http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Valon
 * Japanese : Takeshi Maeda
 * English : Marc Thompson