Profile

Name: Light Yagami
Series: Death Note
Age: Seventeen at the start of the series; mid/late-20s by the end.

played by spurnedambition for the rp communities memento_eden and compound_rp

SPOILER WARNINGS.~ (For the manga)

Light Yagami was raised in a pretty normal family-you have his idealistic detective father, loving stay-at-home mother, and sister who looks up to him. He is a high school student when the story of Death Note first starts, disoriented and bored by the rotten world he sees. But while daydreaming in class he notices a mysterious black notebook drop from the sky-and later finds out that it is the Death Note, where you can write a person's name in there and they will die. Dismissing it as a prank, but still rather curious, he decides to try it out two times-and so it is confirmed. The owner of the Death Note, renegade shinigami Ryuk, makes an appearance to him.

At first he is frightened by the thought of becoming a murderer-but he sees this as an opportunity to change the world and purge it of evil. So he starts a crusade, killing criminals left and right. He finds himself relishing the results of his power, however, and wants to rule as the God of the new world he is trying to bring about.

Enter L-the superdetective trump card whose genius is enough to match Light's genius. And their battle of wits ensues. Through a series of events made to bring Kira out, eventually Light is a prime suspect. L investigates him by going to the same prestigious college Light goes to (and they both even participate in a tennis match in which they extremely analyze the other's moves and thoughts), and after some time requests for Light to join the task force (however small) going after Kira.

Especially with the introduction of Misa, an independent Kira who later becomes Light's girlfriend, Light knows that his situation has been stuck in jeopardy. So he plots to lose his memories of the Death Note and regain them. He puts himself in incarceration under L, gives up his Death Note, and ends up being released from his solitary confinement only to find himself handcuffed to L 24/7. Together, they investigate yet another Kira, this time one belonging to a big business corporation, Yotsuba. Once they do manage to find out who he is, Light gets the Death Note and his Kira memories back, and manages to manipulate Misa's shinigami Rem to kill herself, Watari, and L.

There is a timeskip to about 8 years later. Kira is accepted socially, Light becomes L and Watari. Through a series of events in which the director of the police force and Sayu Yagami are kidnapped, he finds out that there is someone out there who knows of the Death Note's existence-the emergence of one of L's successors, Mello. The task force, with the help of Kira (with Light pulling the strings) manage to retrieve the Death Note and eliminate most of the members of the mafia gang Mello is in. In which he also finds out of yet another L successor, Near, and the mission brings about the death of his father. And here there's more Death Note passing-while he keeps a Death Note on himself yet not owning it, another Death Note passes to Kira successors-Misa originally, then to extreme Kira loyalist Mikami, then to later Kira spokesperson Takada. Through the death of Mello and later Takada, Near is able to deduce something, and invites Light to a meeting at an abandoned warehouse-in which the series of events causes Light to be revealed as Kira, and already fatally wounded by Matsuda's gunshots and begging for his life as Ryuk deals the final blow, dissappointed that Light was not able to entertain him anymore.

At first glance, Light is the quintessential "golden boy." He's very good-looking, extremely intelligent, naturally charismatic, and not to mention an unparalleled sense of justice to boot. But behind his seemingly perfect facade lies a dangerous, driven mind-with many, many facets.

When we first meet Light in the story, he is listless and bored; depressed, even, about the state of the world. Due to his father being a detective, he's obviously been raised with a love of justice-but he cannot find it anywhere. He's a discouraged idealist, he knows his ideals are absent, but is so devoted to them, there's still a part of him that doesn't want to let go. He sees the world, a s rotten as it is, as ultimately meaningless. The victims, the criminals-all living for nothing in his eyes. But if you were to describe Light, "prideful" would be on your list for sure. Because of his immense pride in himself, he does not want to admit that his own life is meaningless.

All it took though, was one little notebook to make his whole personality change. He does start off a little on the rocks, throwing up and losing sleep, but leanrs to discard his social taboo conditioning and justify his own murders. Gone was the hopeless little boy, replaced instead by Kira. Light as Kira is extremely arrogant, proclaiming himself "god of the new world" that he is trying to bring about. You're either with him or against him-and if you're against him, he will judge you as an evil person. He's a sore loser, as per the words of L, that if you challenge him he would reply with a bigger challenge of his own. He's devious and knows how to manipulate others for his own benefit, such as in the case of Naomi Misora where he fabricates a different persona and a different story in order to eliminate her. One could even say he has good intentions, though-sure, tainted by his extremist methods, corruption, and ulterior motive, but objectively change the world for the better would count as "good." There are also many evidence of contract this-such as Light even takes delight in killing and triumphing over the criminals. However maniacal he might be inside, on the outside he's subtle and eloquent, still the perfect man if there was one. He glides through problems gracefully, both as Light Yagami and as Kira.

However, all this changes when he loses all memories of the Death Note. So what's changed? He's still as fanatically driven to his goals as before, maybe even to the same leve as when he was Kira, becuase now he's extremely determined to convince L of his innocence, because well...he doesn't remember being guilty. The prideful and manipulative mass murderer had changed to a prideful and honest detective hunting the same mass murderer. He still has his pride, but it's more of a dignified pride-he's not willing to stoop down to a lower level, which is why he loses all his manipulative ability, or at least his willingness to do it. He might say he would do anything to catch Kira, but he won't even manipulate Misa to get information because it "goes against his code." However, he still ahs that detatched feeling to him, and while he does show his emotions purely-he gives a smile, he punches and fights and scolds L for having the idea to give up-it's never really out of control. Innocent!Light certainly does have more than a shred of compassion for others, but he seems more resilient than even his father-there's something uneasy about him. His sense of justice is more like his father's too, instead of Kira-like. He He does think that there are certain people that the world would be better off without, but he thinks it's just wrong to kill, no matter what the reason. But the most pivotal change by far is that he does get what he wants-meaning to his life. As a detective on the force, he does have a challenge: I have to catch Kira, so I can prove to L that I'm innocent, that I'm a good person.

With the return of his memories and the death of L, his ego skyrockets. By now Kira is accepted literally as a god throughout the world, and his role as Kira seems to be merely reduced to "winning the game." He is almost like the Kira we saw earlier-treating people like pawns, putting himself on a high pedestal, scheming complex and mind-bending schemes-but to a much greater extreme. He still looks down upon people with a double standard, looking down on his enemies-the task force, the SPK, even just normal people who oppose Kira-while also looking down on his faithful followers, whether they be law-abiding citizen or another appointed Kira. By the time we see him, he's past the point of being past of the point of no return, completely unrepentant-and that's how he dies as well.

((only for memento_eden))

The Death Note, so that includes all memories of being Kira, too.
Note: On his arrival, he's in his amnesiac personality initially-and even as he regains his memories some of them would be edited-like in the manga, when L points out that Light could hack efficiently into other's computers, and then remarks that it would be a useful skill if Kira could hack into the police system, Light thinks to himself that it was only to catch up on the Kira case and not for the other reason-implying that some of his Death Note-related memories were edited. But gradually he will regain his Kira memories and personality will then shift to his Kira personality as a final result.