It’s all about ethics. If you had the power to save the lives of hundreds of people, let’s say, by killing one innocent child, would you do it? It would, after all, be for the benefit of hundreds of people. Can’t decide? Ok then, let’s make this easier: to make the world a better place, would you eliminate every criminal you could? It sounds like the job of a hero and many people out there would like to have the opportunity to play the part. That is exactly what Yagami Light sees the Death Note as: an opportunity, and perhaps that is part of his flaw as a protagonist, if that’s what he can be called. As a seemingly perfect student and squeaky-clean son of the detective superintendent of the NPA, Light is an ideal person to entrust the precious lives of people. However, he decides to be noble and judge them, killing those who wreak havoc or turn against him. We all know what a god complex he attained, but it couldn’t all be his fault, right? I don’t believe people are inherently evil or that they can become evil like a light can be switched on and off. In my opinion, the malicious Light is a result of outside pressures and the Death Note itself.

    First of all, it cannot be denied that Yagami Light is a humane person because we see what kind of character he has without the bias of having the Death Note in volumes 5 and 6 (chapters 35-52). Without any memory of being Kira, Light is determined and fully cooperative in the investigation, although still a suspect. He is intrinsically honest and true to that self when L asks him for his opinions and insights into the case, even if it sheds incriminating light on himself or the powers of Kira. That is because of his unmitigated sense of justice. When he is not thinking as Kira, we see a different Light. When asked by L if he would take his title should he die, Light’s immediate response was “What are you talking about...as long as we have this [chain linking us together] we die together!”(ch.45) He sides with the police so completely that he intends to die with L if that be the case.

    So then, why is Light so different as Kira?

    He started using the Death Note because he is a perfectionist, no doubt about it. The very idea of making the world free of criminals to attain a utopia would be an idealistic fantasy of any perfectionist. Creating such a world seems like a daunting task, but Light is used to being the best at everything, so who better to be responsible for this new world? That is what drives him to use it at first. However, it is the police and detectives after him that drive him to his dark ways.

    When he began using the notebook, Light didn’t seem all that bad. He was just making the world a better place. It is when he started using criminals as experiments and thinking how the means would justify the end that he became more evil. What pushed him to do this was pressure from the police force and L. Being threatened by L caused Light to react in his own self interest as well as for the future of the world, because honestly, there was no other way to protect himself and his ideal except by killing L. The fact that he failed on his first try only dangerously compromised his vision of perfection and spurred him to become more aggressive in order to protect it as well as protect himself. The moment he began to slip into obscure darkness was the moment he began thinking of himself as not only bettering the world, but as starting a “righteous” journey to become the god of a new world–his new world. He was forced into this egotistical mindset by L and the fact that it was the only way he could justify killing innocent people with his innate character: they became obstacles in his righteous path.

    It also seems to be in the Death Note’s natural ability to obscure the minds of its owner. As Ryuk said in the beginning, “there is the terror and torment that only humans who’ve used it will experience.” The shinigami/reapers don’t mind killing people because they don’t seem to have any morals or souls. For them, it’s a piece of cake. For a human, it’s more complicated. Taking the lives of others is a mind-altering experience. For Light, L once observed that his “psychological state has reached the divine level...judging sinners without batting an eye.”(Ch.18) This is opposite the state of mind we see Light originally has, as he insisted on protecting Misa’s life and as many others they could while working with L on the Kira case. Not to mention the notebook wasn’t even meant for the human world. As a human, it is quite a burden to have the power to kill someone so easily without immediate repercussions. It could mess with anyone’s head, and no matter that Light is a perfectionist, he is still only human.

    As a specimen of the human race, Yagami Light is the epitome of absolute power corrupting absolutely. He was a good, successful young man with high prospects for the future, but because of the Death Note, he put forth all his efforts into being the all-powerful Kira. The mind-altering ensued, and we got the magnificent bastard as we know him. The Death Note, the police, L...they could all be to blame for Light’s delving into darkness. Then again, perhaps there was something about Light that allowed him to commit to killing in the first place...The real question is, if he never laid hands on the notebook, what’s the probability that he would become evil anyway?

    I was thinking of writing another one on what would have happened if L was the one who got the DN instead of Raito, but it would be something that only further supports this essay. Go Raito, yeah!