History Characters / DeathNote

* [[MagneticHero Magnetic Villain]] - his cult of personality is so strong that he gets three other people ([[MyFriendsAndZoidberg four if we count]] [[spoiler: [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg Higuchi]]]]) to commit mass murder on his behalf. He gains Rem's loyalty as well despite the fact that she hates him ([[BlackAndGrayMorality because his motives are]] [[PureIsNotGood more pure]] [[CompleteMonster than Higuchi's]]).

* [[MagneticHero Magnetic Villain]] - his cult of personality is so strong that he gets three other people ([[MyFriendsAndZoidberg four if we count Higuchi]]) to commit mass murder on his behalf. He gains Rem's loyalty as well despite the fact that she hates him ([[BlackAndGrayMorality because his motives are]] [[PureIsNotGood more pure]] [[CompleteMonster than Higuchi's]]).

** Also played straight when he [[spoiler:lost his memories of the Death Note and being Kira, which caused him to revert to the state he was before finding the Death Note (though we aren't given any insight into his thoughts at that point).

The VillainProtagonist of the series.

* AffablyEvil: Or at least, that's how he starts out. As the series moves on he becomes more and more of a StepfordSmiler.

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: Is he a brilliant, sympathetic, and partially correct anti-hero, or an arrogant, disgusting psychopath with delusions of grandeur? You decide.

* BadBoss

* BigBad

* BigDamnVillains - [[spoiler: Beyond is one of Kira's judgments.]]

* CharacterAlignment: LawfulGood [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation or]] LawfulNeutral --> LawfulEvil --> NeutralEvil. Starts out with wanting to create a better world, but eventually shifts his focus to protecting himself regardless of who he has to kill.

* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder

* TheDutifulSon: The mask he wears anyway... [[spoiler: though it isn't a mask when he loses his memories.]]

* EscapistCharacter: for megalomaniac nerds everywhere. (YouBastard!)

* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes

* EvilCounterpart: Frequently {{lampshaded}} in regards to Kira and L.
* EvilGenius
* EvilGloating: Does this A LOT.
* EvilIsCool
* EvilIsSexy
* EvilLaugh: [[spoiler:Light's chilling reaction when Near proves he's Kira.]], or his laugh when he stays behind in the cemetery [[spoiler:after L's funeral and proceeds to ''crawl on top of L's grave''.]] (HellIsThatNoise)
* EvilOverlord: Kira in season 2.
** [[EvilOverlordList ..and he was doing so well, too.]]
* EvilRedhead (as Kira when depicted as the [[{{RedOniBlueOni}} Red Oni]] to L's Blue Oni)

* FromNobodyToNightmare

* HaveYouTriedNotBeingAMonster: [[http://lynkemma.livejournal.com/169874.html As pointed out in this essay,]] {{subtext}} galore arises from his concealment of the death note and criminal activities.

* JumpedAtTheCall: Once Light finds the Death Note, it doesn't take him long to use it for mass murder and declare himself a god.
* JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope

* LightIsNotGood: Literally as well as figuratively. Worth noting, though, that he's often depicted as gloomy and dark, surrounded by shadows.

* [[MagneticHero Magnetic Villain]]

* NietzscheWannabe

* OmniscientMoralityLicense: When he kills a criminal as Kira, he's NEVER wrong about his victim. Ever. Presumably, he's just that intelligent, but it seems hard to believe he only got real ones. Still, most viewers will consider it revoked after some point, they just disagree on what point it is.

* OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent: Light is a perfect example of this trope, until it's [[PlayingWithATrope derailed]] by the fact that he's both incredibly smart and megomaniacally insane.

* ProtagonistJourneyToVillain

* RousseauWasRight – Light believes this. That if he just gets rid of all the bad people, [[InsaneTrollLogic no one will ever do anything evil again.]] [[spoiler:FridgeBrilliance in that this may have actually caused Light to believe Mikami wouldn't even think of killing Takada, despite being loyal. He would have forgot that his [[AGodAmI God complex]] seriously fueled why he picked Mikami and this moment of being GenreBlind led to his defeat.]]
** Also played straight when he [[spoiler:lost his memories of the Death Note and being Kira, which caused him to revert to an apparently genuinely nice person.]]

* SelfRestraint

* TheSociopath

* StepfordSmiler

* StraightEdgeEvil

* [[spoiler:{{The Bad Guy Wins}}: Or at least you would have thought at first...]]

* TookALevelInJerkAss

* TragicDream / TragicHero: [[{{Unwinnable}} though it's understated he's pretty much doomed from the start:]] 1) If he succeed in killing off all the bad people... [[HumansAreBastards there'd be nobody left...]] 2) If he managed to create a perfect utopia... Ryuk would get bored...
** [[InsaneTrollLogic "...Then no one will ever do anything evil again!!"]]
*** Incidentally, Ryuk comments at one point to the effect that once Light kills off all evil people, he's be the only bad person left alive.

* UsedToBeASweetKid
* TheVamp

* VillainousBreakdown: He starts off as a [[AffablyEvil rather decent guy, besides the God Complex and determination to kill the criminals of the world]], but slowly descends into complete madness, and it seems that he snaps in the last scene of the series.

* VisionaryVillain

* WellIntentionedExtremist: Until he [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope jumps off the slippery slope.]]
* WhatAnIdiot: I know you probably have become a CompleteMonster by the point of [[spoiler:your defeat]], but you clearly value [[spoiler:Mikami]] way more than [[spoiler:Takada]] so why do you [[spoiler:have ''only'' Takada hide a slip of Death Note paper on her person for ''in case'' Mello the random pest strikes]]?

* WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity: There are hints that Light may have not been entirely stable ''before'' he got the power to kill people at will with a notebook, but once that notebook showed up...

** [[spoiler: BadassAbnormal: Though he doesn't get to do much with it, he takes the Death Note and the Shinigami Eyes shortly before his death.]]

* [[spoiler: HeelFaceMindScrew]]

* RealWomenNeverWearDresses: According to FanDumb, how ''dare'' she not be an ActionGirl and free herself from [[spoiler: Mello]] singlehandedly, despite being just an OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent. Even if the series isn't good with its girls, the trope remains since, had Sayu been a male, boy!Sayu would be an absolute woobie worshipped by the "feminist" FanDumb.

* ButNotTooForeign

* CharacterAlignment: ChaoticNeutral / LawfulNeutral . He's a freelance detective only interested in the most challenging cases, and willing to use ''any'' means to solve them.

* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: official color seems to be light blue

** It is mentioned on Matt's character page in 13 that he enjoys video games, SoYeah. That's probably where that came from.

* CharacterAlignment: LawfulNeutral --> LawfulEvil --> NeutralEvil. Starts out with wanting to create a better world, but eventually shifts his focus to protecting himself regardless of who he has to kill.

* ZombieInfectee - Rather than acting completely GenreBlind, Raye acts like this about showing his name in the live-action movie.

* [[YouGottaHaveBlueHair You Gotta Have Purple-White Hair]]

* IncorruptiblePurePureness – "One day Shiori is going to understand..." (that KIRA IS JUSTICE!!!) Sure, buddy. [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking This is the same girl that gets ticked off at you for making bets on sporting events]] and [[WhatAnIdiot you think she's going to be cool with mass homicide?]]

* [[spoiler: TheGwenStacy]] – [[spoiler: with a really nasty [[TwistEnding twist.]] ]]

* DieForOurShip – when pairing off Naomi with other characters. The most {{egregious}} example would be fics that have the running theme of "It's such a good thing that [[spoiler: [[DracoInLeatherPants Light]] killed him]] because he was an [[RonTheDeathEater abusive ass.]]"

* DieForOurShip – when pairing off Naomi with other characters. The most {{egregious}} example would be fics that have the running theme of "It's such a good thing that [[DracoInLeatherPants Light]] killed him because he was an [[RonTheDeathEater abusive ass.]]"