The tragedy of Syrus Truedale, an analysis

A common and valid complaint I hear about GX is that the initial friend group of season 1 contains the rather annoying duo of Syrus and Chumley, two lackluster duelists who oftentimes complain and mostly just get in the way. In Chumley's case this derives from the school simply not being the right place for him and the writers wisely write him off the show in a respectable manner while even giving Crowler a nice moment as well.

VERY RESPECTABLE

Syrus doesn't get so lucky.

Season 1

Syrus does get an arc in season 1 revolving around his brother Zane's advice on being able to play a card vs knowing how and when to play a card, starting off not knowing the difference but eventually proving his worth in his tag duel against the Paradox Brothers alongside Jaden, his idol and pretty much his mentor.

Wow Syrus actually did something cool?!

Aside from that there's a moment where during Zane's duel with Camula Syrus admits he still considers himself to not belong and be a far inferior duelist to Zane and Zane should just allow Syrus's soul to be sacrificed so Zane can win. But then Zane's brotherly love for Syrus is reaffirmed when Zane without hesitation decisively surrenders to Camula at the risk of the world just to spare Syrus's soul, and Zane even tells Syrus he was wrong to think Syrus didn't belong at the academy and he loves him as a brother.

There's no way this'll turn sour come season 2!

So everything seems to be going smoothly, Syrus has proven to the others that he belongs at the Academy and Zane's words of encouragement have convinced Syrus of this fact as well. He's still but a first-year Slifer Red though, so there's ample time to show how he develops with this newfound confidence.

Season 2

Then season 2 happens. And things are looking good for Syrus! Syrus gets to prove his worth again early in season 2 when he earns a promotion to Ra Yellow and gets the crowd to cheer on him as Syrus Truesdale rather than just as Zane's brother. He even gives Power Bond away to prove he can win without relying on his brother's ace card, and he does. Things are looking up for Syrus and even Jaden is impressed, giving Power Bond back to Syrus, Syrus's worries that his friends are all ahead of him and that he lives in his brother's shadow seem to fade.

SÜPËR VËHÏCRÖÏD JÜMBÖ DRÏLL ÏS DÏGGÏNG THÏS WÄY

Then immediately during the next episode Zane loses. And loses. And loses. And then he goes insane. And then he wins. And wins. And wins. Oops. Syrus is crushed at first, but steadily grows determined that he has to be the one to save Zane.

The whole Dark Zane arc is already rather weird, and we see that nobody's able to talk sense into Zane. He easily conquers Chancellor Sheppard, his mentor in the Cyber Legacy, and quite brutally says he doesn't care at all that Cyber Dragon is crying out to him in pain during the duel, all he cares about anymore is victory. 

He shrugs off Jaden and Aster, who have drawed with and beaten him before respectively. His friend Atticus tries to free Zane from the darkness that controls him in a duel, but Zane retorts that he's not being controlled by anyone anymore and crushes Atticus. In the end it's Syrus who has to resolve his character arc and challenge the brother he once looked up to and now it has to be Syrus to teach Zane how to be a respectful, honorable duelist rather than the other way around.

Oof

But Syrus just... Fails. He tries his hardest, he uses his brother's signature card Power Bond once more now that he feels worthy of using it, he uses all sorts of spells and traps to try and play around Zane's moves, but it's still not enough in the end. I guess the writers realized that Zane's edginess and mecha dragons were cooler than Syrus's geekiness and googly-eyes vehicles. Contrary to the show's morals about fair and respectful play and treating one's deck and opponent's with dignity, Syrus instead gets manhandled by Zane and is actually hospitalized. Zane doesn't even show a slight care and he just drops out of the season altogether, I guess the writers made too much filler to give Zane a real climax this season.

I'll also briefly point out the small mini-arc between Syrus and Hassleberry where the two clash over who's Jaden's right-hand man and eventually they make up and even have a tag duel together against a powerful duo of tag duelists and they eventually fuse two of their monsters as part of their supposed winning play. Sounds similar to that time Syrus tagged with Jaden against the Paradox bros? Well, no, because Syrus and Hassleberry lose because the plot requires it, so that whole arc kinda ends on a big dud, losing to one-off characters who nobody even remembers.

What

Season 3

So come season 3, Syrus is now in Obelisk Blue? Somehow he promoted off-screen and it's barely remarked on by anyone, but character-wise he regressed more into his Slifer Red persona. Hes got no confidence in himself at all once the survival duel program is instilled. Perhaps he's still shaken by losing to Zane, or it's season 3 pushing away its season 1&2 cast in favor of the new season 3 cast. Axel uses him as bait to duel Jaden under Viper's orders and Syrus chooses to drop back to Ra Yellow voluntarily so he can be closer to Jaden. But oops, there's Jesse and he's got much better chemistry with Jaden than Syrus ever did.

Hm yes character development

So Syrus doesn't really get to do much at all except stand back and become self-aware that he's a sidekick in an anime series (god I love the dub) until the Dark World arc, where most of his friends get sacrificed and 'sent to the stars' (god I love the dub), Jaden blames himself for it and becomes the Supreme King which makes Syrus completely disillusioned with Jaden who he'd always put on a pedestal like his brother and he even meets and reconciles with Zane. Wow, there's a lot of hooks for them to develop Syrus, his friends are gone, his brother is back and seems a little more reasonable and now Jaden has fallen to the dark side just like he saw happen to Zane. Everything seems set up for Syrus to overcome his disillusionment and prove himself once again, he can be the one to save his best friend Jaden from the darkness and not fail this time, and perhaps even still save Zane from self-destruction.

Also, the BEST TEAM-UP IN ANIME HISTORY

But that doesn't happen. In the end it's Axel who gets to sacrifice himself to save Jaden. Yes, Axel, who thus far had one duel with Jaden and like zero chemistry whatsoever, mostly being either puppeteered by Viper or playing the role of the savvy soldier survivalist. I guess it's season 3 so the honor of beating the Supreme King has to go to a season 3 character. Syrus is just stuck as a neutral observer from a distance, making sure to never get involved and just passively overcoming his disillusionment when Jaden duels Yubel.

Also Jaden just flat out dies here in the dub, ouch.
Final shot of the dub is Syrus crying, season 4 never happens. :(

Speaking of Yubel, in the end it turns out to be her to finally give Zane a defeat after his turn to darkness. Yubel, who has absolutely no interest in Zane whatsoever beyond as a means to hurt Jaden. Syrus does admittedly get an emotional moment with Zane as Zane's 'sent to the stars', but it leaves a very shaky foundation for season 4 which tries to round up Syrus's development.

Season 4

So come season 4, Syrus once more gets promoted to Obelisk Blue and once again it happens off-screen. A shame, but I realize they were on a tight limit on the number of episodes this season. Luckily Syrus does get a focus episode this season, where Zane strands on the beach of Duel Academy, apparently surviving his heart attack in season 3. He's still in a critical state though, and requires Syrus to look after him. Zane cannot even safely duel anymore, and when he gets challenged by a rival from the Jinzo Legacy (who also crushed Sheppard, poor Sheppard) he ends up unable to resolve the duel, so he instead gives his deck to Syrus for Syrus to master.

Being a bald character in YGO, of course Sheppard could only lose.
Too lazy to retake this screenshot, sorry.

I will admit this is a decent moment of growth, Syrus makes the deck his own, he beats the rival from the rival school and Zane flat out states to Syrus that Syrus has surpassed him. Zane asks Syrus to found a new pro dueling league with him, which Syrus is happy with but also fills him with doubt, both due to his still enduring self-confidence issues and Zane's deteriorating health. In the end this makes Syrus prey for the seasonal villain Nightshroud/Darkness just like everyone else, until Jaden bails them all out.

And that's fine, really. I think season 4 handles Syrus well just like they did with Chazz and Alexis who also got kinda shafted in season 3. So I don't mind them having to be bailed out by Jaden, the moment still works and feels meaningful. Syrus graduates at the top of the class alongside Chazz and Alexis, having finally proves he does indeed belong with his friends in the pro league unlike his worries early in season 2.

The problem

So overall I think the problem really starts with the duel between Zane and Syrus. Syrus's loss here basically completely derails his character arc for no real reason. Syrus fails at what he's been trying to do all season while Zane completely shrugs off the victory and just walks away until season 3. It leaves Syrus without any proper resolution for his work all season while Zane is given no cause for his mellowing out and change of heart come season 3.

And then when season 3 does happen, Syrus is mysteriously an Obelisk Blue all of a sudden only to choose to get demoted and be forced into a role of hanging on by the sidelines neutrally observing and contributing nothing to the plot despite being given importance of being the only surviving friend and his bond with Jaden.

This in turn makes season 4's resolution feel limp. Syrus doens't get a conclusion to his arc in season 2 and did nothing in season 3, so why does Zane suddenly respect him so much? Why doesn't Syrus ever get to prove himself against Zane, but rather has to prove himself by beating a proxy in the rival from another school?

The solution

Make Syrus defeat Zane in season 2. Heresy, I know, but think about it. Rather than reforming Zane, Zane instead develops the first signs of heart problems due to the shocks from the loss. Syrus succeeds in winning the duel, but Zane's not saved. Zane instead gets hospitalized in a coma, and thus is unable to reconcile with Syrus. Syrus cannot stay alongside Zane in the hospital during the climactic battle between Jaden and Sartorius, after afterwards Zane's out of the hospital already, against the wishes of the nurses and doctors. Perhaps Zane leaves a note or message for Syrus that sets up his death wish and desire to duel the strongest spirit in season 3.

Come season 3, make an episode where Syrus graduates from Ra Yellow to Obelisk Blue and make it about how Syrus feels Jaden doesn't really care since he's too busy with Jesse. Syrus is scared Jaden is drifting away, and he'll lose yet another idol he looked up to. It's an elephant in the room the show barely addresses, so let's address and deal with it.

Jaden and Jesse can't make it to Syrus's graduation duel because of Viper's machinations, leaving Syrus disappointed but still determined to make it on his own, without having to rely on Zane or Jaden. Then, just when the duel seems to be turning against him, Jaden and Jesse show up, start cheering for Syrus and Syrus gets to win his promotion match and get over his envy towards Jesse and worries he's drifting apart from Jaden.

Nothing else needs to change until we get to the Dark World aside from Syrus having more of a surprise when Zane duels Jesse to power the dimensional rift. In the Dark World, Syrus loses his friends, becomes disillusioned with Jaden and meets a cold, aloof and distant Zane. Zane has clearly mellowed out since losing to Syrus, but he won't say that outright. Their dialogue in season 3 doesn't need to change much, things are tense between the brothers and Syrus still sees Zane as someone who stands above him and who he couldn't save even though he won the duel. Eventually Zane tells Syrus he has to be the one to defeat the Supreme King and save Jaden, stating Syrus has done it before. Before Syrus can process all this, Zane's off to face Yubel alone against Aster's protests, which means Syrus gets to take Zane's place in the raid against the Supreme King's forces.

Syrus gets to duel the Supreme King instead of Axel and after a hard-fought battle it ends with a draw. Jaden is saved, but at the cost of Syrus being sent to the stars. Yubel couldn't be happier, she got Jaden to defeat his best friend, Jaden's more determined than ever to stop Yubel and Axel's inspired by Syrus's bravery, being surprised to see him like that after all of Syrus's bumbling earlier in the series, this way even Axel still gets a little bit of closure on that tiny arc.

Axel can accompany Jaden from there on instead of Syrus, taking a more active role in things such as calling out Adrian for falling for the same trick that Viper fell for.

Not much would need to change in season 4. Syrus would already be Obelisk Blue to start with and he can still have his full reconciliation with Zane where Zane finally flat out admits Syrus has surpassed him as a duelist, not only by proving to be a respectful duelist who can win but also by taming and making his own the Cyberdark Deck.

And then he can get absorbed by Darkness and saved by Jaden. Happy endings for all!

Oh no this became a fanfic didn't it

Yeah, it kind of did near the end. I just started thinking about why people look down on Syrus so much and how odd Zane's arc in season 2 was and it just struck me how harshly Syrus's whole arc got derailed by that one fateful loss against Zane. He simply never recovered from that which also left the final attempts of season 4 to salvage his character arc feel a bit stilted.

I hope people liked reading this analysis! It's no secret GX has a rather bloated cast and you could probably make a write-up like this for characters such as Alexis and poor Bastion as well. I still love the show very much, but YGO shows seem to have a knack for taking characters with bright potential and ripping that potential away for the strangest of reasons.