Watching L and Raito trying to out smart each other, knowing the other knows who/what/and possibly how Raito and L is trying to trick each other is damn satisfying. It is chapters like this when I'm reminded why L, despite acting like a dork, scares me. He's just as ruthless as Raito, and sometime you have to wonder what would have happened if L had gotten the death note instead of Raito. Actually, L does have the death note now... oh bugger.
So, if the DN corrupts by its nature, what happens when two genius has it? Need to find translations to this chapter.
My PERFECT ending for this series would be L, Raito and Misa walking into the sunset (well skipping into the sunset, but I'll take walking). But it will NEVER be. NEVER! cries*
It's going to be a blood bath. Either literally or figuratively, either way Raito is not going to come out of this unscathed.
1. There's the Raito become Shinigami (poetic justice and all).
2. Raito become insane (not too far fetched) and get put into a padded cell.
3. Or Raito forgets everything if the DeathNote is removed from him permanently.
4. He wins, kills L, and does a little dance (highly unlikely; both the dancing and the winning).
I just don't see Raito dying in a permanent manner. If he does bite the bullet, see option #1.
Then you have to consider L.
1. L comes out of it the winner, which leads to #1, 2, 3 of the Raito ending.
2. L gets killed because Raito finally figure out his true name.
3. L gets the DeathNote and goes all EVIL! 'Cos power corrupts, yada, yada, yada. This leads to;
3a. L uses the DeathNote to kill Raito and becomes a Shinigami!
Yes, a lots of these needs work, but the brain is weary.
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chasethestars
chasethestars
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sometime you have to wonder what would have happened if L had gotten the death note instead of Raito
I had just been talking about that, too! I doubt that L would ever use it, just because his ruthlessness takes a different shape from Light's, but it would be very interesting if he did.
Does the DN corrupt by nature? I'd heard speculation to that end, but no references to canon. I think it might just be that Light was confident enough in his judgment (and Misa naive/immature enough) to take advantage of power offered.
Your endings scare me! :D I hadn't even thought it through that much; my only comment to my brother about that was "I like Light more, but L has to win." If Light won, he'd just continue what he's doing, and I don't think that that can happen (even aside from my not wanting it to). I like the idea of Light going insane, :D, because at least he'll be alive! I don't know how L will manage to survive, though, once Misa gets the second book. Unless it's already been found and taken by someone else. (In which case, argh, more chapters where L and Light are not in direct opposition. :/)
This series, though. <3.
The manga still haven't come out and said exactly what the DN does to a person. I remember earlier on when the Chief (Light's dad) was in the hospital and he commented on how KIRA can't be inherently evil. It is just that a mortal shouldn't have that sort of power, because it will inehrently change them. Then there was the whole fiasco with Light changing so MUCH after giving up the DN. I mean, what the...?
I'm one of those people who belief that there's no way in hell for Light to become Kira unless there was a basis for some form of God Complex already in action even before he received the DN. But the question still remains whether the DN is the straw that breaks the camel's back. Because it isn't just Light that kills once he received the DN, Misa also went and killed a lots of people. Sure, one can argue that Misa did it to get close to Kira but the fact is without the DN they didn't kill.
Having said all of that, it is also lilkley that the DN merely removes the safety bars on what a person can and can't do. I mean it is simple psychology, you have a book that allows you to kill anyone -without- getting caught. So, why not kill the bad people in the world. You are not doing anything wrong. But then Law gets in the way, and it is obviously the police's fault because you are not doign anything wrong by killing bad people. So, you have to get rid of the ploice because they'll get in the way of your work.
I just get the feeling that the DN doesn't corrupt. It just dangles this wonderful power in front of you, and humans are so weak against power. And once you have that power you begin to use that power. You don't want to lose the power so you'll have to get rid of anyone who tries to take the power from you.
I'm not sure what L will do if he receives the DN, which makes me more weary of him more than I am of Light. Light will kill those he consider evil, delivering his justice and so forth. But what will L do with that sort of power in his control? He has after all proclaimed that he wants to deliver Justice as well. The thing with L is that I get the feeling he -knows- his own limitations (and in that sense of the word he is more mature that Light), and that makes him more dangerous because he can -plan- around those same limitations. Light on the other hand sees himself as -perfect-, as the most intelligent. L might provide him some amusement but Light is much more devious, much more cunning, and that makes him less mature, more likely to make a mistake, yet more dangerous 'cos he'll do crazy shit.
But yes, my endings scares me too. I like all of them too much! But at the moment I'm leaning to ward padded cell, or shinigami. We'll just have to see. As for Misa... I keep on getting the feeling that she's the one that will be tipping the scale. The question is which side will she be tipping them. Ah, but they are always in direct opposition. Just silent ^__^ I love this SERIES!!!!
I agree that there's no way that he could have been as aggressive in his pursuit of justice if he didn't already have some sort of god complex, too. The amnesiac Light didn't seem to have the balls or the conviction to do it, and we know that Light had that. He had to believe in his own superiority, in his ability to judge that other people were irredeemable and deserved to be killed. Think of all the people he killed in just the first few days he had the note! (Misa's reasoning was entirely different; she didn't kill in order to bring justice to the world; she killed in order to find the Kira who avenged her parents, and then was ready to kill in service of Kira. She has a much more personal view of this whole thing than either of the boys does, though; she sees in terms of My Parents and My Hero, rather than in terms of Justice and Honour and Law.) And while they did only kill once they got the death note, I think it was just because it's so easy, and they might never get caught, and if they could have achieved the same benefit-to-risk ratio in another way, they probably would have gone for that, too--the only thing I'd blame on the death note itself is in the revelation that "Hey, I could kill the bad guys," which wouldn't really be the sort of thing you'd think in the course of a normal day. Again, though, the power doesn't necessarily change them--it just gives them a new way to use the traits they already have.
I'm definitely agreeing wih you on the DN being a device that allows killing to be easier rather than it being a corruptive device. I do think a lots of it is to due with human nature. That is, the corruption starts on a human iniative rather than 'DN is changing you. You have no control. Then End.' It is easy, why not continue. The "Hey, I could kill the bad guys," is perfectly apt. I mean I know that if something like the DN ever falls into my lap it'd be too tempting not to use, and if I have used it once there's no reason for me not to use it again. And everything afterwards... I'd not know. I do not kid myself thinking that I'm not corrupatble.
And Misa does indeed see everything on a more personal level than either L or Light. That makes interesting, she has no interest in making the world a 'better' place or killing in the name of Justice, but that makes her hard to keep track of, and I -really- want her to do somethign cool. I like her a lots! ^_^
L--I don't think that he would ever use the death note, if he got it. I think he'd keep it solely for the purpose of keeping it out of the hands of people who might misuse it. He's ruthless, yes, and he sees people as an abstraction to be protected and individual people to be pretty expendable for the cause of "the common good", but he also appears to respect the law, and to think that it does a pretty good job of handing out justice--except in the case of his own cases, when he seems to feel justified in using extreme measures to figure out the truth (imprisoning Misa for over fifty days, against her will, etc.). He's more mature, yes, and if he did decide to use the death note, he'd probably be much harder to catch (and it's possible that no one would even know that people were being killed)--but I think that actually using the death note, going so far as to kill someone, is against his character. L and Light both want the same thing--justice--but they wouldn't take the same road to get to that goal.
Misa will definitely tip the scale! I'm not actually sure about her; she seems a lot more intelligent than she makes herself out to be (which I guess is part of her image, as a model), and she is quite intuitive. Originally, I thought that she was one of those girls like Sakura who will just follow the person she likes and doesn't have much else to her, but I think she might be more than that. I'm really starting to like her quite a lot. Sometimes. :D I think she probably does have a purpose in the story, which is nice, considering how disappointing the portrayal of females has been in the manga so far. I can't help hoping that she stays on her own side most of all, in the end. (Although maybe I just say that because I don't want to see her hurting Light's cause, but I don't want Light to win, either.)
Curiousity is a huge motivating factor, and I think L, at first, would use the DN purely from a scientific POV. Afteraward it would be a question of whether L has enough will power and sense to realise that the DN is too tempting, too dangerous for any human to weild. I'm in agreement with you that L respect the Law too much to step beyond the bounds of it (too much anyway), and to a certain extend the maturity would dull a bit of any megalomaniac tendencies (you'd hope), but when it is all said and done it is all dependent on L giving up the DN. Which I think he would because as you pointed out, different roads to achieve Justice.
Misamisa!! Much love! No, no, no, I think you are right. I do think Misa will stay on her own side throughout most of the series! But I so want her to have a purpose, and considering DN is all about head games and using things to achieve goals I really hope they make use of Misa. And thank the gods she's not another Sakura. As for the disappointing portrayal of women... I have come to the realisation that Japan, as culture, like dumb women (innocent, naive, you can pretty it up however much you want to but when it comes down to it the whole thing is about damsels in distress, and the purity thing put my teeth on edge.) And I shall stop now, 'cos women in anime/manga is a huge ranitng point for me and if I ever start it properly I don't mean to stop for a very long time.
IMHO, L wouldn't use the DN. He'd like to, actually, just to see how it works, but it's against his rules. However, it's not as if L's rules are the same as society's rules. L sees himself as above the rules on certain matters.
I keep on thinking that L would at least try it once just to see if it is true and if it would work. But I do agree with you on what you say of L's character, so now I'm leaning to ward an L writing his own name in the DN -_-;;; My brain is going to strange places with this one.
Heh, I think no matter what happens, someone in the fandom is going to get disgruntled. XD Do you want to be money on this? ^_~