Light Yagami
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Light Yagami  | ||||||||
Character information
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Light Yagami, also known as Kira, is the villain protagonist of the Death Note manga series.
Skills
- Death Note expertise: Ryuuk points out during the story that Light is more proficient at using the Death Note than even death gods. He has meticulously studied its rules, including performing several experiments to understand how its power behaves in special cases. Thanks to that, he knows how to best exploit the rules in creative ways for his plans. One of the main ways in which he does this is by using the Death Note's ability to detail the circumstances of death to manipulate a victim's actions before they die. He also discovered that detached pages and even scraps of the Death Note retain its powers, which he uses to his advantage several times, for example to hide scraps of the Death Note in his person for emergencies or to have other people write names on them.
- Emotional manipulation: Even without the powers of the Death Note, Light is very good at manipulating people. He has good social skills and a natural charm and charisma, and whether it is by gaining the trust of his enemies, making women fall in love with him, or drawing the admiration of his followers as Kira, he knows how to use these talents to get people on his side. This is especially notable with Misa Amane, who is completely dedicated to him both as Light and as Kira, and whose emotions Light frequently manipulates by pretending to love her while actually seeing her as a useful but ultimately disposable pawn.
Modus operandi
After finding the Death Note and discovering its powers, Light soon architects a plan to use the notebook to deliver his own brand of justice to the world. Crucial to his plan is the fact that the default cause of death provoked by the Death Note is a heart attack. The epidemic of heart attacks in criminals all over the world is what allows the international community to realize there is someone behind the deaths, and what leads to the development of the myth of Kira. Light's reasoning is that people will be less likely to commit crimes if they are aware of a powerful entity delivering punishment for them. However, for those murders that serve a more utilitarian purpose, usually of the people who came too close to discovering his identity, Light will use the powers of the Death Note to provoke a less conspicuous cause of death, such as by accidents, natural causes or suicide.
Notable Tricks
- Secret Compartment Trick: Light creates a secret compartment to hide the Death Note in a locked drawer in his bedroom. The compartment is rigged with a mechanism that ignites the notebook if someone tries to open the bottom without disabling the booby-trap, which can be done by inserting the ink reservoir of a common ballpoint pen in a small, inconspicuous hole underneath the drawer. Finally, the compartment includes a decoy diary that would provide an excuse for the existence of the security mechanism. (Chapter 4)
