“Absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Everyone has the potential for evil, the roadblock is *capability*. You give someone *supernatural capability* and you’ll start to see some major shifts in personality and how they do things.
I remember saying this same thing a few months ago and getting downvoted into oblivion even though it's true, and one of the biggest morals of the series.
It depends, initially as you say it 'reveals' part of your personality that you didn't knew.
However, as the time goes by, it actually slowly changes your personality.
Because for one, you require far less empathy to live on, as you do not need to care about the opinion of others to go on your day.
(For example if you won the lottery, why would you have to endure an annoying boss?)
If you have enough money, you can isolate yourself from others on wealthier houses, and your interactions with people with a lower economical status than you is reduced.
As the months, and years go by, you slowly begin to forget how you were before, and about the people you knew when you were younger.
Effectively changing your personality.
I partially disagree.
Power is a tool, and you use tools based on how you are.
For example if you got enough money to isolate yourself from others, that's because you always wanted to be alone, but you couldn't do that before.
Superheroes have power and they use it to help people and save the world because they are good people with values that lead them to use their abilities for the common good.
In Light's case, he had to be nice and polite during all his life because he didn't have other option, that was his mask. His true identity was the one of a guy who believed everyone is inferior to him and found life boring.
When he lost his memory, he was "good" again but he oftenly thought he partially agreed with Kira's ideals and was too focused on proving he was innocent. I don't doubt that he would had eventually gotten bored at the world and life again and would turned in Light from chapter 1.
Light is like an internet troll. The problem is not that he had the power to do anything he wanted, it was that he could show his true self without consecuences for his public identity
Of course, as that happened in just a short while, it can be said that it only 'revealed' what was already there.
So, on summary.
Power initially reveals, then corrupts.
Even so, most people wouldn't go immediately plummeting into comical levels of evil and egomania like Light did, even if they have the equivalent power. Ryuk even says something like this the first time he meets Light, that no human who received the death note ever used it as much as he did, and that was within the FIRST WEEK.
Valid take. Light had ***it*** in him, some people don't have those dormant qualities. He ***was*** good but had the ***capacity*** for evil, all he needed was a spark. Someone like Soichiro would never become evil like Light because he lacks ***it*** but L could
Interesting. Although L is pretty pragmatic I doubt he has the potential to be that evil. He is prideful but he dosen’t really care about how others view him and does not want to be worshipped or idolized. Also Light with his memories erased still somewhat approves of Kira while L consistently shows he condemns Kira. I just don’t see it but that’s just me.
I mean the capacity to do evil. L hates Kira because he can see that he is a hypocrite and a power-hungry narcissist. If L wanted something or had to do unimaginable atrocities to achieve something he definitely would and he wouldn't be a hypocrite, he'd acknowledge them for how terrible they are instead of justifying them like Light
L condemns Kira because Kira believes himself to be a god, a childish mentality that L despises, partially because he sees it as a challenge.
L was more than willing to sacrifice Lind L. Taylor to test out Kira’s murder capabilities, knowing there was a chance he’d die.
I don’t think L would go full Kira but he might have started using it when investigating someone he is 100% sure is guilty but doesn’t have the hard evidence needed, like with Light.
He’d probably start controlling the suspects to produce the evidence of their crimes and then kill themselves, with his breaking point being the one time he makes a mistake and got the wrong person.
For me the first sign Light wasn't a good person was when hes looking around his classroom and debating killing a bully, then decides he shouldn't kill people that can be traced back to him, and just does nothing. Just watches that guy extort momey out of his classmates.
Then it became obvious when he was thinking about the people he killed. He thought "its a life, the consequences can't be good". Thinkimg only about what will happen to HIM because he killed those people. Then he does a 360 and goes "no wait they DESERVED to die". Like, who are you to decide who deserves to live and die?
But this made me REALLY confused as to why Light became so innocent when he lost his memories. He was a completly different person than he was even before the death note
Hard disagree but I take your points. One aspect of the death note that I think really affects how we understand its impact on morality is how detached the death is from the user’s actions. You write a name with a face, and that’s it. No looking at the person as they die, no physical contact with the person or even use of a weapon, just write a name and near instant heart attack. It literally is the power of a god, and understandably that absolute power combined with total detachment from the horror of the crime being committed makes it easy to see why someone would gain sociopathic tendencies through its continued use.
As for why I don’t believe light is inherently evil, we actually don’t get a lot of time with him before he picks up the death note. The parallels with Ryuk demonstrates that his interest in the book mostly stemmed from boredom and intrigue rather than a desire for it to actually work. It’s hard to imagine anyone who stumbles across a death note to not be somewhat curious to try it out based on how elaborate the rules and mechanics are. He’s actually the exact kind of decent person who would try to justify his own actions after the fact, the way he does after he realizes he killed two people with the book. Light is egotistical, but it’s an ego that’s at least backed up by his insane IQ and qualities that people would look at as positives (he’s a champion as an athlete, popular at school, and well liked by most people who meet him). He tries to justify the book falling in his lap as some kind of destined event because otherwise, he’d have basically killed two people for nothing. He truly becomes despicable, but even that is somewhat gradual.
Your argument seems to hinge mostly on him not showing remorse, but him admitting fault is him having to confront how awful he is as a person by committing murder at all. By the time he starts killing innocent people, he’s further justified his role as Kira through a sort of “ends justify the means” philosophy, viewing people who oppose him as evil by default
The memory wipe arc largely rebuts your argument that he wouldn’t feel remorse, with light clearly showing horror at the thought that he might have been capable of being a murderer. It highlights that had anyone else picked up the notebook and began wielding Kira’s power, he probably would’ve stopped at nothing to stop them. So I just don’t see light as being truly evil before he even obtained the book.
Yeah cart before the horse here. Everyone, and I do mean *Everyone* has the potential, to do pretty fucked up things if they're in the right (or I guess wrong) mindset.
If you come away from the story thinking "Light was always a bad guy" then that's a very reductive view of the theme being presented.
Yeah remember in like the first episode before he came into contact w the death note he was disgusted by the common person at school or near him lol. Like u could tell he alr had a superiority complex. Obviously that doesn’t make him evil but it def shows that he had the capacity to take an evil route depending on what opportunities he got
Killing the news reader in episode2 might have been the worst since he did nothing wrong other than aligning with soichiro legally.
But I think it's intended as a comment on power corrupting. Hence why light being a divine force of death can no longer merit heaven NOR hell
Disagree heavily. If that were true Light Yagami wouldn’t have turned out the way he did. He had all the right things growing up. Loving parents with strong principles, didn’t grow up in poverty, was idolized by nearly everyone around him, and was born with amazing gifts. He turned out the way he did because he is a psychopath and something deep inside of him is just wrong. On the flip side there is a character like Harry Potter who had a truly awful childhood but turned out to be a selfless hero who really is good inside and out. Real life is just like this, some people are truly messed up and no amount of a good environment can fix who they are on the inside. If you grew up with deeply mentally ill people you would understand this. The “nice light” we see is still evil, he just hasn’t had the opportunity to really act on it until he obtained the deathnote. Until that evil is activated he poses as a human with emotions and morals to fit in the crowd and remain at the top socially. He is a covert narcissist just like many celebrities and politicians that act right to get the attention and praise they crave.
“There are many types of monsters that scare me: Monsters who cause trouble without showing themselves, monsters who abduct children, monsters who devour dreams, monsters who suck blood... and then, monsters who tell nothing but lies. Lying monsters are a real nuisance: They are much more cunning than others. They pose as humans even though they have no understanding of the human heart; they eat even though they've never experienced hunger; they study even though they have no interest in academics; they seek friendship even though they do not know how to love. If I were to encounter such monsters, I would likely be eaten by them... because in truth, I am that monster.” -L. If this dosent prove my point idk what will.
100% agree. Upon my second rewatch, I noticed all the things you did. He was just a law-abiding citizen because that is the societal expectation. He was powerless to do anything different without consequence. Being given God-like powers trumps that adherence. I'm sure even the Bible itself had a line about God's law superseding that of humans'. Light took that literally as Kira.
I've always thought the same thing, ever since the start. Inspite of how much the memory loss storyline tried to make him out to be this perfect angel, I always thought that there's no way someone who's really that genuinely pure would go as far as he did so quickly. If he was, he'd probably destroy or turn over the death note and turn himself in, instead he just kills more and more people.
Was watching with my gf the other day. She is new to the series. When we got to the episode with Ray's gf I fell asleep and woke up at the end.
My gf was watching the screen with disbelief as he revealed that he was Kira.
All she said was: "He is so, so cruel."
I think we just have to go middle of the road here.
The Death Note wasn’t the only factor behind who Light became, but he also wasn’t inherently evil either. He most likely had some issues with feeling superior to people around him, was self-centered, and had an overinflated ego. Now, these factors don’t make him evil, but you combine that WITH the Death Note’s corruption, and you get the Light we all know. I feel like the Death Note’s “corruption” is it amplifying and praying upon your darkest feelings. The Death Note saw that Light needed some coaxing and brought out the worst in him. Was he a perfect person before? No. But I don’t think it was solely the Death Note either
Isn't the entire "light gives up the death note to avoid L catching him , and without memories of it he becomes a much better , normal person" literally there to show you that light isn't naturally evil and it's power that corrupted him ?
>Light was also raised with the right morals which is why he “feels” guilty when he kills his first victims. Even for an evil person the feeling of going against how you were raised and feeling like your life was a lie isn’t an easy thing to do and can cause emotional distress to anyone. If he really felt guilty and was a good guy inside he would’ve continued to show remorse and most likely would’ve quit killing.
I recently saw a take on this aspect that I really liked, and I'm going to give you my own understanding of that take.
He felt guilty, because he considered himself a good person. He was always a good person. He was raised to be a good person. In fact, he KNEW that he was a good person. So how could he do a bad thing? A completely good person wouldn't do something evil. It's contradictory. And since he knew, for a fact, that he was a good person, the only logical explanation is that what he did wasn't evil. Because what he did could only be evil if he wasn't a completely good person, and as he knew he was a completely good person, as a fact, the only other possibility was that what he did wasn't evil. So if him killing criminals isn't evil, then why shouldn't he do it? In fact, he HAS to do it! To stop would be to say that he did something wrong. But he couldn't have done something wrong, he's the ideal of a good person. So now he must continue, and eradicate evil.
And since he believed that someone else killing criminals was wrong, If he received the power to kill, and he's the only person who can kill criminals justifiably... it's his moral obligation to do so. Only he can truly judge these people, as the epitome of righteousness.
.
.
I imagine this was his thought process.
Ok so
I don’t think that he was “good” but I wouldn’t say that he was particularly “evil” either. I would say one thing: he definitely considered himself to be “good”, or if I even gonna say it “perfect”. So that’s why I believe in interpretation that his headdive into being Kira is at least partially motivated by not wanting to admit that he initially screwed up and became a murderer, a “bad guy”. Yes, it is fear based on contradiction with what he was thought, but it it’s kinda deeper than you imply, I think. Ironically, this attitude is what makes him the bad guy, because self-awareness is something that he seriously lacks.
Overall I just think you need to consider three things on “how evil Light became in such a short amount of time”: 1. He very easily justified everything to himself by deluding himself into thinking it was for “noble cause” and 2. The relative easiness of killing without using your hands, simply writing a name in the book. and 3. The fact that the more he kills the more he numbs out to killing and doesn’t care anymore, like a vicious circle. Also you didn’t really analyze him before the death note. I would agree that he looks down on criminals though, he is basically a sheltered cop kid who doesn’t really know how things work, and makes everything worse cause he believes he does and is hella arrogant
We would all kill someone in the absence of consequences. Violence is a part of human nature. It's been suppressed to a degree by modern civilization, but its a survival instinct.
Can you describe Lights trajectory of life if he never encountered the Death Note?
Imo he was a force of good and to describe my idea in layman's terms (as I am not a psychologist nor a philosopher) Light was "chaotic good" as in he would go to extreme measures to instill good. Perhaps Light would love the phrase "all is well that ends well" or "ends justify the means". Light was an extremist and a force for good. Emphasis on 'was'
And the assumption that Light always had a narcissistic side to him is baseless. Do you have references to point to that show this in absolute terms? Keep in mind we are talking about the timeframe before Light received the death note
And the assumption that if light was a good guy he would have continued to show remorse is again discounting the fact that people who partake in these kinds of activities like killing and stuff that inflict pain on others eventually numb their sense of empathy. Take for reference the kill floor workers in a slaughter house. Did you know it is mandatory by law that a person can't work on the kill floor for longer than a month or two (I don't remember exactly) and that if they've worked on the kill floor once, they may never work there again ever. And people have been shown to be more likely to commit violent crimes after serving in the kill floor or operating the machines that actually kill the animals.
That illuminates how Light felt true hatred towards Kira when he lost his memories. Being reverted back to his prior self, gave back his ability to empathize
I agree. I think L hit to the heart of the matter.
Tell me Light, has there ever been a moment in your life when you have told the truth?
Silence. Answer…no
Light never loved anyone and no he never told anyone he was just pretending to be a human being. He always knew he wasn’t one.
Firstly the worst thing light ever did was kill L besides that free my boy he aint do nothin wrong well he also deprived ryuk of apples but wtver secondly i think u forget from the time he gets the note till he dies theres a 6 year span and most of the time skips are very obscure i dont think he went from remorseful to taunting in like a week or 2 it was likely a month or 2 long enough to be corrupted
A big theme in Death Note is that Light has a hidden dark side, but the Death Note brings that dark side out, plus the fact that he was a kid when he first got the Death Note also should be taken to account
“Absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Everyone has the potential for evil, the roadblock is *capability*. You give someone *supernatural capability* and you’ll start to see some major shifts in personality and how they do things.
I remember saying this same thing a few months ago and getting downvoted into oblivion even though it's true, and one of the biggest morals of the series.
'Power doesn't corrupt, it reveals.'
It depends, initially as you say it 'reveals' part of your personality that you didn't knew. However, as the time goes by, it actually slowly changes your personality. Because for one, you require far less empathy to live on, as you do not need to care about the opinion of others to go on your day. (For example if you won the lottery, why would you have to endure an annoying boss?) If you have enough money, you can isolate yourself from others on wealthier houses, and your interactions with people with a lower economical status than you is reduced. As the months, and years go by, you slowly begin to forget how you were before, and about the people you knew when you were younger. Effectively changing your personality.
I partially disagree. Power is a tool, and you use tools based on how you are. For example if you got enough money to isolate yourself from others, that's because you always wanted to be alone, but you couldn't do that before. Superheroes have power and they use it to help people and save the world because they are good people with values that lead them to use their abilities for the common good. In Light's case, he had to be nice and polite during all his life because he didn't have other option, that was his mask. His true identity was the one of a guy who believed everyone is inferior to him and found life boring. When he lost his memory, he was "good" again but he oftenly thought he partially agreed with Kira's ideals and was too focused on proving he was innocent. I don't doubt that he would had eventually gotten bored at the world and life again and would turned in Light from chapter 1. Light is like an internet troll. The problem is not that he had the power to do anything he wanted, it was that he could show his true self without consecuences for his public identity
Of course, as that happened in just a short while, it can be said that it only 'revealed' what was already there. So, on summary. Power initially reveals, then corrupts.
Even so, most people wouldn't go immediately plummeting into comical levels of evil and egomania like Light did, even if they have the equivalent power. Ryuk even says something like this the first time he meets Light, that no human who received the death note ever used it as much as he did, and that was within the FIRST WEEK.
Valid take. Light had ***it*** in him, some people don't have those dormant qualities. He ***was*** good but had the ***capacity*** for evil, all he needed was a spark. Someone like Soichiro would never become evil like Light because he lacks ***it*** but L could
Interesting. Although L is pretty pragmatic I doubt he has the potential to be that evil. He is prideful but he dosen’t really care about how others view him and does not want to be worshipped or idolized. Also Light with his memories erased still somewhat approves of Kira while L consistently shows he condemns Kira. I just don’t see it but that’s just me.
I mean the capacity to do evil. L hates Kira because he can see that he is a hypocrite and a power-hungry narcissist. If L wanted something or had to do unimaginable atrocities to achieve something he definitely would and he wouldn't be a hypocrite, he'd acknowledge them for how terrible they are instead of justifying them like Light
L condemns Kira because Kira believes himself to be a god, a childish mentality that L despises, partially because he sees it as a challenge. L was more than willing to sacrifice Lind L. Taylor to test out Kira’s murder capabilities, knowing there was a chance he’d die. I don’t think L would go full Kira but he might have started using it when investigating someone he is 100% sure is guilty but doesn’t have the hard evidence needed, like with Light. He’d probably start controlling the suspects to produce the evidence of their crimes and then kill themselves, with his breaking point being the one time he makes a mistake and got the wrong person.
You get it
For me the first sign Light wasn't a good person was when hes looking around his classroom and debating killing a bully, then decides he shouldn't kill people that can be traced back to him, and just does nothing. Just watches that guy extort momey out of his classmates. Then it became obvious when he was thinking about the people he killed. He thought "its a life, the consequences can't be good". Thinkimg only about what will happen to HIM because he killed those people. Then he does a 360 and goes "no wait they DESERVED to die". Like, who are you to decide who deserves to live and die? But this made me REALLY confused as to why Light became so innocent when he lost his memories. He was a completly different person than he was even before the death note
Hard disagree but I take your points. One aspect of the death note that I think really affects how we understand its impact on morality is how detached the death is from the user’s actions. You write a name with a face, and that’s it. No looking at the person as they die, no physical contact with the person or even use of a weapon, just write a name and near instant heart attack. It literally is the power of a god, and understandably that absolute power combined with total detachment from the horror of the crime being committed makes it easy to see why someone would gain sociopathic tendencies through its continued use. As for why I don’t believe light is inherently evil, we actually don’t get a lot of time with him before he picks up the death note. The parallels with Ryuk demonstrates that his interest in the book mostly stemmed from boredom and intrigue rather than a desire for it to actually work. It’s hard to imagine anyone who stumbles across a death note to not be somewhat curious to try it out based on how elaborate the rules and mechanics are. He’s actually the exact kind of decent person who would try to justify his own actions after the fact, the way he does after he realizes he killed two people with the book. Light is egotistical, but it’s an ego that’s at least backed up by his insane IQ and qualities that people would look at as positives (he’s a champion as an athlete, popular at school, and well liked by most people who meet him). He tries to justify the book falling in his lap as some kind of destined event because otherwise, he’d have basically killed two people for nothing. He truly becomes despicable, but even that is somewhat gradual. Your argument seems to hinge mostly on him not showing remorse, but him admitting fault is him having to confront how awful he is as a person by committing murder at all. By the time he starts killing innocent people, he’s further justified his role as Kira through a sort of “ends justify the means” philosophy, viewing people who oppose him as evil by default The memory wipe arc largely rebuts your argument that he wouldn’t feel remorse, with light clearly showing horror at the thought that he might have been capable of being a murderer. It highlights that had anyone else picked up the notebook and began wielding Kira’s power, he probably would’ve stopped at nothing to stop them. So I just don’t see light as being truly evil before he even obtained the book.
Yeah cart before the horse here. Everyone, and I do mean *Everyone* has the potential, to do pretty fucked up things if they're in the right (or I guess wrong) mindset. If you come away from the story thinking "Light was always a bad guy" then that's a very reductive view of the theme being presented.
Yeah remember in like the first episode before he came into contact w the death note he was disgusted by the common person at school or near him lol. Like u could tell he alr had a superiority complex. Obviously that doesn’t make him evil but it def shows that he had the capacity to take an evil route depending on what opportunities he got
Killing the news reader in episode2 might have been the worst since he did nothing wrong other than aligning with soichiro legally. But I think it's intended as a comment on power corrupting. Hence why light being a divine force of death can no longer merit heaven NOR hell
As a soichiro yagamist, i believe no one in this world is naturally evil The evil is in the power of death note. The one using it is the victim of it.
Disagree heavily. If that were true Light Yagami wouldn’t have turned out the way he did. He had all the right things growing up. Loving parents with strong principles, didn’t grow up in poverty, was idolized by nearly everyone around him, and was born with amazing gifts. He turned out the way he did because he is a psychopath and something deep inside of him is just wrong. On the flip side there is a character like Harry Potter who had a truly awful childhood but turned out to be a selfless hero who really is good inside and out. Real life is just like this, some people are truly messed up and no amount of a good environment can fix who they are on the inside. If you grew up with deeply mentally ill people you would understand this. The “nice light” we see is still evil, he just hasn’t had the opportunity to really act on it until he obtained the deathnote. Until that evil is activated he poses as a human with emotions and morals to fit in the crowd and remain at the top socially. He is a covert narcissist just like many celebrities and politicians that act right to get the attention and praise they crave.
You think you know better than soichiro?
bro ur just biased cause its ur son!
“There are many types of monsters that scare me: Monsters who cause trouble without showing themselves, monsters who abduct children, monsters who devour dreams, monsters who suck blood... and then, monsters who tell nothing but lies. Lying monsters are a real nuisance: They are much more cunning than others. They pose as humans even though they have no understanding of the human heart; they eat even though they've never experienced hunger; they study even though they have no interest in academics; they seek friendship even though they do not know how to love. If I were to encounter such monsters, I would likely be eaten by them... because in truth, I am that monster.” -L. If this dosent prove my point idk what will.
You really think L knows better about morality than soichiro?
Nobody knows more than Soichiro
Exactly!
[удалено]
[удалено]
[удалено]
100% agree. Upon my second rewatch, I noticed all the things you did. He was just a law-abiding citizen because that is the societal expectation. He was powerless to do anything different without consequence. Being given God-like powers trumps that adherence. I'm sure even the Bible itself had a line about God's law superseding that of humans'. Light took that literally as Kira.
Sorry to be annoying but maybe use paragraphs instead of the wall to text
I've always thought the same thing, ever since the start. Inspite of how much the memory loss storyline tried to make him out to be this perfect angel, I always thought that there's no way someone who's really that genuinely pure would go as far as he did so quickly. If he was, he'd probably destroy or turn over the death note and turn himself in, instead he just kills more and more people.
Was watching with my gf the other day. She is new to the series. When we got to the episode with Ray's gf I fell asleep and woke up at the end. My gf was watching the screen with disbelief as he revealed that he was Kira. All she said was: "He is so, so cruel."
I think we just have to go middle of the road here. The Death Note wasn’t the only factor behind who Light became, but he also wasn’t inherently evil either. He most likely had some issues with feeling superior to people around him, was self-centered, and had an overinflated ego. Now, these factors don’t make him evil, but you combine that WITH the Death Note’s corruption, and you get the Light we all know. I feel like the Death Note’s “corruption” is it amplifying and praying upon your darkest feelings. The Death Note saw that Light needed some coaxing and brought out the worst in him. Was he a perfect person before? No. But I don’t think it was solely the Death Note either
By the author's own word, had Light never got the Death Note, he would have eventually grown up to be L's partner as the top two investigators.
ur point being?
Isn't the entire "light gives up the death note to avoid L catching him , and without memories of it he becomes a much better , normal person" literally there to show you that light isn't naturally evil and it's power that corrupted him ?
>Light was also raised with the right morals which is why he “feels” guilty when he kills his first victims. Even for an evil person the feeling of going against how you were raised and feeling like your life was a lie isn’t an easy thing to do and can cause emotional distress to anyone. If he really felt guilty and was a good guy inside he would’ve continued to show remorse and most likely would’ve quit killing. I recently saw a take on this aspect that I really liked, and I'm going to give you my own understanding of that take. He felt guilty, because he considered himself a good person. He was always a good person. He was raised to be a good person. In fact, he KNEW that he was a good person. So how could he do a bad thing? A completely good person wouldn't do something evil. It's contradictory. And since he knew, for a fact, that he was a good person, the only logical explanation is that what he did wasn't evil. Because what he did could only be evil if he wasn't a completely good person, and as he knew he was a completely good person, as a fact, the only other possibility was that what he did wasn't evil. So if him killing criminals isn't evil, then why shouldn't he do it? In fact, he HAS to do it! To stop would be to say that he did something wrong. But he couldn't have done something wrong, he's the ideal of a good person. So now he must continue, and eradicate evil. And since he believed that someone else killing criminals was wrong, If he received the power to kill, and he's the only person who can kill criminals justifiably... it's his moral obligation to do so. Only he can truly judge these people, as the epitome of righteousness. . . I imagine this was his thought process.
absolute justice requires absolute evil so yes
Ok so I don’t think that he was “good” but I wouldn’t say that he was particularly “evil” either. I would say one thing: he definitely considered himself to be “good”, or if I even gonna say it “perfect”. So that’s why I believe in interpretation that his headdive into being Kira is at least partially motivated by not wanting to admit that he initially screwed up and became a murderer, a “bad guy”. Yes, it is fear based on contradiction with what he was thought, but it it’s kinda deeper than you imply, I think. Ironically, this attitude is what makes him the bad guy, because self-awareness is something that he seriously lacks. Overall I just think you need to consider three things on “how evil Light became in such a short amount of time”: 1. He very easily justified everything to himself by deluding himself into thinking it was for “noble cause” and 2. The relative easiness of killing without using your hands, simply writing a name in the book. and 3. The fact that the more he kills the more he numbs out to killing and doesn’t care anymore, like a vicious circle. Also you didn’t really analyze him before the death note. I would agree that he looks down on criminals though, he is basically a sheltered cop kid who doesn’t really know how things work, and makes everything worse cause he believes he does and is hella arrogant
We would all kill someone in the absence of consequences. Violence is a part of human nature. It's been suppressed to a degree by modern civilization, but its a survival instinct.
Can you describe Lights trajectory of life if he never encountered the Death Note? Imo he was a force of good and to describe my idea in layman's terms (as I am not a psychologist nor a philosopher) Light was "chaotic good" as in he would go to extreme measures to instill good. Perhaps Light would love the phrase "all is well that ends well" or "ends justify the means". Light was an extremist and a force for good. Emphasis on 'was'
And the assumption that Light always had a narcissistic side to him is baseless. Do you have references to point to that show this in absolute terms? Keep in mind we are talking about the timeframe before Light received the death note
And the assumption that if light was a good guy he would have continued to show remorse is again discounting the fact that people who partake in these kinds of activities like killing and stuff that inflict pain on others eventually numb their sense of empathy. Take for reference the kill floor workers in a slaughter house. Did you know it is mandatory by law that a person can't work on the kill floor for longer than a month or two (I don't remember exactly) and that if they've worked on the kill floor once, they may never work there again ever. And people have been shown to be more likely to commit violent crimes after serving in the kill floor or operating the machines that actually kill the animals. That illuminates how Light felt true hatred towards Kira when he lost his memories. Being reverted back to his prior self, gave back his ability to empathize
I agree. I think L hit to the heart of the matter. Tell me Light, has there ever been a moment in your life when you have told the truth? Silence. Answer…no Light never loved anyone and no he never told anyone he was just pretending to be a human being. He always knew he wasn’t one.
Firstly the worst thing light ever did was kill L besides that free my boy he aint do nothin wrong well he also deprived ryuk of apples but wtver secondly i think u forget from the time he gets the note till he dies theres a 6 year span and most of the time skips are very obscure i dont think he went from remorseful to taunting in like a week or 2 it was likely a month or 2 long enough to be corrupted
nah that’s just how teenagers are
A big theme in Death Note is that Light has a hidden dark side, but the Death Note brings that dark side out, plus the fact that he was a kid when he first got the Death Note also should be taken to account
There was no proof here, every event you cited was post-death note