Approximate Age: (by the Japanese anime) Fifteen to sixteen
Character Archetype: The Wounded Antihero
Probable Element and Alignment: Light, Chaotic Evil (pre-Mind Crush) Lawful Good (post Mind Crush.)
Most Obvious Vocal Quirks: He tends to have somewhat clipped speech, and he also tends towards rude manners of address. He's not very good at talking to people.
Kaiba is one of the easiest characters to write out of character. He's one of the (cough) most studied characters in the fandom and one of the least understood ones at the same time. As Eric Stuart would say, he's a pretty deep guy. It's interesting that we the fans, who supposedly have deeper insight into the world of Yugioh than the characters should, don't seem able to understand him any more than the other characters do-- he's often cast as either evil, the romantic "bad boy" or simply as the prick everybody loves to hate, but he isn't actually any of these things.
I tend to see Seto Kaiba as being one character very slightly fractured into two, in the way that Bruce Wayne and Batman are presented as being the same person but act very differently. In the case of Batman, Bruce is the mask, Batman the brutal true personality. In the case of Kaiba it's a bit different, because both aspects of his personality are equally himself.
I will refer to the two halves as "Seto" and "Kaiba," which is what I do when writing narratives anyway. XD
Seto is a tortured, frightened child. He's terribly sensitive, easily hurt, insecure, and extremely needy. Kaiba is the mask, the protective, badass outer layer that takes on a persona not unlike that of James Bond-- without the sex, because even loveless sex would allow another person too close to Seto. People can have relationships with Seto Kaiba based on one of the two personas or both. They aren't totally separated from each other but they're different enough that he can switch back and forth to an extent.
This can easily be traced to his chaotic childhood-- He grew up crooked because somebody kept breaking him bit by bit as he went. (I actually have this theory that his biological father accidentally started the process by constantly telling him to buck up and be strong.)
His only adult relatives (so says the manga) basically threw him and his brother away the minute they had gotten through the money his parents left behind. It's possible-- and sadly, somewhat probable, that they didn't even get through the money. He lived daily with the constant threat of separation from the last person left to him (it's little wonder he was desperate enough to cheat Gozaburo in order to get adopted.) And then it turned out that the man he himself had chosen was a psychotic and abusive jerk, if not a sadist. Who wouldn't be a little twisted after all that?
The other aspect of Seto Kaiba's character that makes him difficult to pin down is this: He's dynamic, and part of that changing character shows in that his two halves slowly meld together as the series progresses.
In the beginning of the manga, the only part of "Seto" that we see is the oversensitive part. "Kaiba" is almost entirely driving the boat, and that's what makes early manga Seto Kaiba so insane and bloodthirsty. What I find fascinating about early manga Kaiba is that Atem-- psycho, wrathful Atem, not the noble king he is by the end of the series-- has mercy on him TWICE. Yes, first he made him "experience death" and then he tears the poor boy's mind into pieces, but both times it's something he intends his adversary to learn and grow from. This is the man who came closer than anyone (excepting a certain gunman) to actually MURDERING Yugi and his friends, and Atem still has pity on him.
Because by the time Atem applies the "Mind Crush" (or whatever you choose to think of it as), Seto Kaiba is such a scarred and twisted human being that the only way to fix him is to shatter him, so that this time maybe he heals right. (This is even pretty close to what Atem tells Mokuba in the comic.) Even in the Duel Monsters anime, this is more or less accurate. As Atem says there, Seto is searching for himself.
In Duelist Kingdom, he's balanced more between the two (and this is fairly clearly authorial intent, if you HAVE read enough of the manga to be aware of the "inner puzzle" symbolism that originally went with that.) But we see much more of "Seto:" we see him hurting, loving, and even trusting Yugi so far that he's willing to risk death for it-- and also suicidal, since he doesn't seem to mind the idea that Atem MIGHT kill him after all. I personally think that one of the factors that brings Seto out so much more strongly in Duelist Kingdom is that Pegasus somehow got more past "Kaiba" than anyone before Mokuba, and so his betrayal hurts more deeply. (Consider how important Duel Monsters was to young Seto, and the fact that Pegasus essentially allowed this broken child to directly influence the way the game itself was played. That must have meant a lot.) I tend to see Kaiba's reaction to Pegasus later as that of someone deeply dissappointed in a personal hero.
In Battle City, he's starting to settle into being both Kaiba and Seto at once-- and the Kaiba aspect of himself is also a bit calmer, the Seto aspect a bit stronger. We see a lot less drastic switching back and forth. He doesn't scream or yell or throw people around when he's ticked off at them, either. (Except when they need it.) He has fun from time to time. During the anime's Noa arc and with the destruction of Battle City Tower, he symbolically and literally defeats Gozaburo and leaves him behind forever. During the Noa arc, the anime watchers get to understand why he is what he is, and his relationship with his brother becomes stronger than ever. (I'm sure I haven't gone enough into his relationship with Mokuba, so far as certain of you are concerned, but I feel that's actually better discussed in Mokuba's essay.) As far as the comic is concerned, this state of affairs is enough to let us, the readers, know that he's going to eventually be okay.
In the anime, of course, we get about two seasons more of Seto Kaiba character development, and for those of us who enjoyed that part of the anime (for one, me) Kaiba's behavior was one of the main points of enjoyment. He becomes closer to Yugi and company, for one, and betrays the fact that maybe, just maybe, he actually has warm human feelings for them. Note the scene in which the Yugi clan is running away from the possessed rats. Several times he keeps Tristan from dropping Joey's soulless body, at one point even dragging Joey onto a fire escape and then holding Tristan up long enough for the rats to pass by. His hissy fits are also wonderful-- the hissy fit about Yugi losing to Raphael (so that's how Kaiba acts when he's dissappointed in people), the panic attack at the discovery of Paradius (what else would you call that?), and that last delicious, encouraging jab at Atem from the dub-- "You'd better not screw this up." YES, it's a jerky thing to say, but it's also a word of encouragement. Kaiba's not very good at talking to people, remember. And, of course, the subplot involving Alister, deliberately set up to be Kaiba's mirror, is terrific. Kaiba displays pity and compassion for Alister-- not because he deserves any compassion, but because he needs compassion, and Kaiba has compassion in him to give. He's not a romantic hero, but he's hardly evil, and he's much more than just a mouthy prick.
The most important piece of character development in the anime after the Atlantis arc, I feel, is the reaction he has to Yugi's proclaimation that Yugi will be dueling Atem. (I am glad he's in the AE arc in the anime, of course, but mostly because that gives a sense of closure in that he finally understands his role more fully.) He wants to duel Atem, he says, because he was the one who should beat Atem. But what Kaiba says is rarely exactly the way he feels. He wants to duel Atem because not dueling Atem feels like he won't have properly said good-bye. Atem is as important to him as Atem is to the rest of the group, and his behavior here is what proves it.
This brings up one more important aspect to Kaiba when it comes to writing him in character. Kaiba almost never says what he feels. He keeps silent at times that most people would feel a need to say something. When he does say something, he often sounds like a jerk even when he's not trying to be. This makes his facial expressions fairly important, and I personally often finding myself writing what I WOULD have him say, if he said things, and then taking it out, simply because it works better when I know what's going on in his head but don't reveal it.
One last note, and this being on the interaction between Kaiba and Joey: I get the very strong impression that Kaiba thinks Joey is hilarious. This is why he picks on Joey; not because he hates him, but because Joey is fun to pick on. Except when he landed at Duelist Kingdom, and then he was picking on Joey because, quite frankly, Joey was being a jerk at the wrong time. Eventually he and Joey are essentially friends; more on this in Joey's entry, I'm sure.
Final Distillation:
Kaiba is a collection of extremes.
Kaiba is dynamic and becomes a more stable person through the series.
He is a jerk partly because he has no social skills, but also partly because he really is just a jerk.
He still has warm human feelings anyway, and can be somewhat needy.
He's actually rather fragile, at the same time that he's tough as nails.
He rarely says what he means, and often says nothing when most people would.
Feel free to comment on this and tell me whether you feel I've left something important out, or if you think I'm completely off base, or even if you agree with me. Comments can be made through email or right here, since I do believe anon-comments are enabled.
