History Characters / DeathNoteLightYagami

[[folder:Tropes 0-D]]

* ButNotTooChallenging: While Light does enjoy a "battle of wits" against L, and later Near after the 5-year timeskip, he'll ''never'' accept losing as a possibility. His refusal to accept loss is justified given that "losing" in his case means that he can kiss whatever goals he has as Kira, his social life, and his freedom goodbye behind bars, assuming that he doesn't get killed beforehand or get the death penalty, it also shows his raging God complex, narcissism, and refusal to admit to any fault.

* AmbiguousStartOfDarkness: Whether or not Light was a good person before he picked up the Death Note is unclear. While it could be that he numbed himself to death and convinced himself what he was doing was alright, he showed some sociopathic traits beforehand. For his part, Near is convinced that Light was ''always'' messed up in the head, arguing that he wouldn't have used the Death Note like he did if that wasn't the case. An in-depth examination of the character makes all of this even more confusing considering that we know very little about his interaction with his peers and his personal life before picking up the notebook. It is vaguely implied that he was adored by his peers and was a model student; however, when his memory is extinguished, we notice that he has an incredible lack of emotional intelligence and a HairTriggerTemper, even without the influence of the notebook. However considering that he was dedicated to stopping Kira after losing his memories he could possibly have traits of a SociopathicHero.

* LackOfEmpathy: After picking up the Death Note, Light casts away his empathy for anyone but himself; to him, everyone else is either pawns to be manipulated and then rid of, enemies, people to kill to instigate plots to mess with the authorities or some combination of the three.

* {{Narcissist}}: The creators confirm that Light thinks himself above most other people; he's a popular, handsome genius [[BrokenAce and he knows it]]. Once he gains power over life and death, it takes him less than a week to develop a [[AGodAmI raging god complex]].

* NinetiesAntiHero: Subverted. Light is a ruthless {{vigilante}} who wants to change the world by using the title notebook to kill criminals, which many Nineties Anti Heroes like to do. Unfortunately, Light is far from being actually heroic -- his first two kills in the anime were the closest he actually got to being heroic with the book until his decision to become Kira led to him JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope and becoming a KnightTemplar VillainProtagonist, as the police opposition to his actions and [[BerserkButton people calling his actions evil]] was an affront to his overweening {{Pride}}.

[[folder:Tropes A-D]]

* ForTheEvulz: It's subtle, but it's still there. Indeed, there are very few justifiable reasons for Light to do what he does throughout the course of the story. There are no personal or particularly tragic events that, at the very least, justify his malice and his quest for power, beyond his disdain for the state of the world and his desire to shape it in his own way and to his own form. His malice, sadism, and malignant narcissism are not the result of [[FreudianExcuse Freudian Excuses]]. From the outset, we learned that he comes from a very functional family that always cared for him, and he never had anything resembling real problems. He was always a child who was given everything and never had to suffer ''anything''. Instead, he seeks an excuse for thousands and millions of people to praise him and submit to his whims. The fact that everything he did, he did because he was bored and to inflate his ego doesn't help.

* ForTheEvulz: It's subtle, but it's still there. Indeed, there are very few justifiable reasons for Light to do what he does throughout the course of the story. There are no personal or particularly tragic events that, at the very least, justify his malice and his quest for power, beyond his disdain for the state of the world and his desire to shape it in his own way and to his own form. His malice, sadism, and malignant narcissism are not the result of [[FreudianExcuse Freudian Excuses]]. From the outset, we learned that he comes from a very functional family that always cared for him, and he never had anything resembling real problems. He was always a child who was given everything and never had to endure "anything". Instead, he seeks an excuse for thousands and millions of people to praise him and submit to his whims. The fact that everything he did, he did because he was bored and to inflate his ego doesn't help.

* ForTheEvulz: His murder of Naomi Misora, being just cruel for cruelty's sake. He tells her that he's Kira the moment before the Death Note takes effect, just to see [[OhCrap the look of horror on her face]] as she realizes what's about to happen, and [[EvilGloating taunts her]] with offers to get her in touch with the Task Force, knowing that she can't do anything about it.

* HisOwnWorstEnemy: Downplayed. While Ryuk indirectly puts Light on the path of becoming a SerialKiller, it's also Light's own DetrimentalDetermination, growing arrogance and madness, and his refusal to believe he's not infallible that ultimately lead him to his humiliating defeat and his death.

* SanityHasAdvantages: While Light Yagami is an intelligent young man, his god complex, arrogance, narcissism, and his SanitySlippage cause him to make increasingly detrimental mistakes that would eventually lead to his undoing. Killing Lind L. Tailor just [[CantTakeCriticism because he called his methods evil]] allowed L to confirm Kira's existence and narrowed down his location, his bad habit of EvilGloating ends up exposing him as Kira, and his arrogance leads him to underestimate his opponents to the point he won't consider the possibility of losing at all, making him more careless and leaving him completely unprepared when he's finally OutGambitted.

* AgeLift: Every adaptation of the series initially starts off in ThePresentDay, and thus, in the films, manga, and anime, Light is a child of TheEighties. By the TV drama, airing in 2015, his birth year is shifted to as late as 1995.

* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: When both he and his father and imprisoned for weeks on end during L's attempt to prove he is not Kira, he never begins to look any worse for it. While Soichiro grows a beard and his hair rapidly turns grey, Light remains cleanly shaven and his hair becomes only slightly disheveled, as any true {{Bishonen}} would.

* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: The official color seems to be red. Also wears a lot of [[ObviouslyEvil black]] and [[LightIsNotGood white]].

* CrazySane: [[GoMadFromTheRevelation Light can't cope with the knowledge that he has killed two people.]] In order to justify his first (accidental) murders of criminals he has to convince himself that they needed to be killed. [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope But then why stop there?]] So in order to make things right by his own moral code he has to kill more because it's the responsible thing to do, that he'll use this power for "good" -- no matter the price. [[InsaneTrollLogic He convinces himself that the real crime would be NOT to use the Death Note to change the world.]] The God complex swiftly follows, no doubt accelerated by the need to look interesting to Ryuk and L's very public challenging of him. All of this happens with alarming speed, and it explains why Light during the MemoryGambit has such a different personality and is horrified by the possibility that he could be Kira. Without the memory of having killed and what effect it had on his mind, he's a completely different person.

* DiesWideOpen: In the manga, after a bad bout of AintTooProudToBeg and InelegantBlubbering.

* DomesticAbuse: Light takes his anger out on, controls, demeans, deceives, and initially plans to kill Misa. For various reasons, he doesn't go with it, and eventually chooses to erase her memories instead.

* DramaPreservingHandicap: Light refuses the Shinigami Eyes because he wanted to rule as God of the New World for a very long time, but if he had done it, it would have taken out a lot of tension and stakes between Light and L and needed to learn L's true name to kill him.

* DrunkWithPower: While it's clear that Light always was a bit of a troubled man, had he not picked up the Death Note he would have most likely gone on to live a good clean life simply due to the hold society has on him. After getting the Death Note and being forced to deal with the fact that he unwittingly ''murdered'' two people so easily, his darker ambitions take over and drive him towards his God complex.

* EvilIsAngular: If you pay attention, you may notice that his physical design becomes more angular as the show progresses. For example, his eyes become more squinty his face becomes a little less rounded than when he was innocent.

* FaceDeathWithDespair: Light, who has spent the entire series killing people without so much as batting an eye, is entirely undignified when it's his turn to go out at the very end, reduced to abject terror and begging for his life when Ryuk puts Light's name into his own Death Note, as he told Light he would do at the very beginning of the series.

** To Minoru Tanaka: The fact that [[spoiler:both are killed by Ryuk]] certainly cements this status. In terms of sheer intellect, Minoru lacks TheAce aspects of Light, being unable to translate his intelligence into his academics while Light excels at everything he puts his mind to. However, in many ways, the entire purpose of his character seems to be an answer to everything Light aspired to be throughout the course of the series: careful, meticulous, cunning, successful, and altruistic. Ironically, in his short period, he achieved what Light could never achieve: [[spoiler:defeat Near and being praised by thousands of people in his country]]. Another purpose of his character seems to be an answer to all the praise that Light has received from fans for more than ten years and to everything his [[DeconstructedCharacterArchetype archetype]] represents, letting Minoru himself carry out much more cunning and altruistic plans for his country. All these attributes show that, by the end of the day, Minoru is a far better person than Light, which is cruelly ironic considering that Minoru [[spoiler:did not seek to be praised and ended up being much more praised and loved than Light himself. One wonders what Light himself would think if he saw that another Kira managed to be much more loved than he ever tried to be...]]

* FreudianExcuse: In the TV drama, his mother dies when he is young, and due to his father's absence he is forced to act as [[PromotionToParent Sayu's parental figure]].

* GambitRoulette: A number of his plans rely more on luck and coincidence than genuine planning; so much so that this trope was once called the Yagami Gambit. The most famous of his plans being, of course, is the MemoryGambit.

* MeaningfulName: Done ironically seeing as Light is [[LightIsNotGood not good]]. Also Yagami (夜神) means "Night god" or "Dark god", so his name is "[[OxymoronicBeing Light Dark God]]". But the important thing is the ''[[AGodAmI god]]'' part.

** The amount Light objects to the morality of an act, apart from the part in which he loses his memories of the Death Note and is not acting as Kira, tends to depend on how much it affects his plans. Even his disapproval of Mikami killing people he didn't think necessarily deserved to die'' yet'' is largely based on how it makes Kira look.

* PayEvilUntoEvil: Under Kira, nearly ''any'' crime is punishable by death.

** His possibly genuine love for family might count. This changes later when he contemplates killing his sister, and only stopped (at least according to him) to prevent suspicion. He never seemed interested in hurting his mother, however.

* PragmaticVillainy: When Mikami begins targeting lazy individuals who don't contribute directly to society, Light disapproves, but not out of any moral grounds. Rather, he believes it's too soon for them to do so; once all the criminals are dead and Kira is regarded as God, Light fully intends to prune out other undesirable elements from "his" world.

* RousseauWasRight: Light believes this during the Yotsuba arc when he loses his memories of the Death Note and being Kira, which causes 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). He whole-heartedly argued that the members of the Yotsuba group other than the 3rd Kira shouldn't be prosecuted since no doubt Kira was coercing them into cooperating. In other words, they aren't evil- circumstances push them into being evil and once the evil is removed, i.e. arrested, they will live good lives. Doesn't stop him from killing them all after his memory returns though.

* StockShonenHero: [[InvertedTrope Inverted]]. He's a VillainProtagonist; he's a TVGenius, instead of being BookDumb; he doesn't have to go through TrainingFromHell to unlock his true potential, he just finds a magic notebook randomly; his strong sense of justice leads to him turning into a monster; he's cool and calculated instead of HotBlooded; where most {{Shonen}} protagonists are proponents of ThePowerOfFriendship, Light is almost completely sociopathic; and rather than having a ToBeAMaster plotline, he instead has a quest to get himself worshipped as a god via a prolonged mass-murder spree.

* TragicHero: Initially, he wanted to do was create a perfect world. Unfortunately, his LackOfEmpathy and overwhelming [[AGodAmI god complex]] get him killed in the end.

* WhatBeautifulEyes: Light has very pretty long-lashed {{Bishonen}} eyes and the anime pays them special focus being kind of a tell in letting the audience know [[TheStoic what he's really thinking]] and having them change color from brown, to goldish/amber, to [[GlowingEyesOfDoom red]].

* WhenAllYouHaveIsAHammer: All his obstacles look like nails that are in need of being hammered down.

* LightIsNotGood: He wears lots of white, his name is Light, but he's a psychopath and without question the single most prolific murderer in human history.

* PeacefulInDeath: In the anime, he dies in peace, seeing an apparition of L. Averted with his manga counterpart, who dies of a rather brutal heart attack, and we're then treated to a close-up of his body, a look of horror still on his face.

%%* SlasherSmile: Definitely. It's the last thing L sees.

** Let's see, you've got like every background character in episode 1, [[MonsterRoommate Ryuk]] follows him around everywhere, [[SpannerInTheWorks Raye Penber the Stalker]], [[AntiHero L]] and his weird obsession and surveillance cameras, [[NiceGuy Matsuda]] and [[TheDragon Mikami]] the fanboys, and [[CreepyChild Near]] with his creepy smiles and he keeps calling and hanging up... [[IncrediblyLamePun Kira is a wanted man.]]

* WrongGenreSavvy: Similar to how Misa seems to be under the impression she's living in a [[ThinksLikeARomanceNovel Romance Novel]], Light seems to think he's living in a [[ShonenGenre Shonen Manga]] which, while technically true, he's an [[WideEyedIdealist idealist]] living in a [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism cynical world]]. Light sees himself as TheHero and TheChosenOne - through the sheer power of [[TheDeterminator determination]] and his [[{{Narcissist}} genius]] [[GuileHero plans]] [[TautologicalTemplar that are always right]] [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans he will make this world a better place]]. He thinks of the Death Note as just a tool, no different then a gun. [[BlackAndWhiteMorality Heroes can use guns on bad guys and still be considered the heroes.]] [[SarcasmMode So why would people ever think what he's doing was wrong?]]

* YoungConqueror: His is youthful idealism at its darkest.

* AcademicAthlete: Light is not only the best student at his school, but also the best athlete.

* AcquiredSituationalNarcissism: As if the narcissistic traits he already displays weren't enough, his God complex only gets fed more and more as the series goes on with each and every one of his many successes. Eventually, his ego gets so overinflated that he ends up making uncharacteristic mistakes that bring his downfall.

** The version of him in [[Film/DeathNote2017 the American Netflix movie]] is by far his most sympathetic counterpart. While he still kills people, he makes sure to only target criminals. He never takes the initiative in killing the FBI agents who are tailing him, [[spoiler:his partner Mia does so behind his back]], and he is outraged when Mia voices her desire to kill his father for publicly declaring Kira the enemy. At one point, he is a little apprehensive about using a Kira fansite to find more people to kill since there is a chance that someone might want a person dead for a petty reason such as sleeping with their boyfriend/girlfriend. Even when he writes Watari's name in the Death Note in an effort to get L's real name, he intends to [[spoiler:destroy the page with Watari's name on it, which would have prevented the effects of the notebook taking effect. However, since Mia stashed the page in a calculus book, he is unable to save him in time.]]

* AdaptationalVillainy: The films actually manage to make this and AdaptationalHeroism apply to him. In the films, he ends up JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope much sooner than he did in the anime and manga, to the extent that he tried to kill his own father to prevent the Death Note from being analyzed. On the same coin, in the films, his ProtagonistJourneyToVillain involves the law being held on a BrokenPedestal, whereas the anime/manga version is a perfectionist who couldn't deal with the fact that he accidentally killed someone (thus, he reasons that it was okay, since the dude was an asshole, and that it's okay to kill criminals).

* AmbiguousStartOfDarkness: Whether or not Light was a good person before he picked up the Death Note is unclear. While it could be that he numbed himself to death and convinced himself what he was doing was alright, he showed some sociopathic traits beforehand. For his part, Near is convinced that Light was ''always'' messed up in the head, arguing that he wouldn't have used the Death Note like he did if that wasn't the case. In-depth examination of the character makes all of this even more confusing considering that we know very little about his interaction with his peers and his personal life before picking up the notebook. It is vaguely implied that he was adored by his peers and was a model student; however, when his memory is extinguished, we notice that he has an incredible lack of emotional intelligence and a HairTriggerTemper, even without the influence of the notebook. However considering that he was dedicated to stopping Kira after losing his memories he could possibly have traits of a SociopathicHero.

* AndShowItToYou: On the receiving end in the manga ending, but in a not-immediately-fatal way. After being shot and left to bleed to death, Light pleads with Ryuk to write the names of his enemies into the Death Note so he could get away. Instead Ryuk says that he's finally gotten [[BlueAndOrangeMorality bored of Light and doesn't want to stay in a prison with him]], so he writes down Light's name and shows it to him as a final kick in the teeth to him.

* AntiVillain: Subverted in most media except the TV Drama, where he genuinely cares for his family, as well as Misa and Teru. Initially, he's a WellIntentionedExtremist but his excessive narcissism and sadism, as well as his increasingly [[DisproportionateRetribution insane and petty standards for murder]] quickly takes him '''far''' away from here. Although he [[KnightTemplar genuinely believes he's in the right]], he's quick to kill off anyone who questions him or tries to track him down, deciding that those actions make them just as guilty as criminals for going against him.

* AppropriatedAppellation: "Kira", the {{Engrish}} pronunciation of "killer," [[BilingualBonus also means]] "sparkling," "shining," or "[[AtrociousAlias glitter]]" in Japanese. Additionally, Kira is also a Russian name by origin and is the feminine version of Cyrus. Cyrus comes from the Greek Κυρος (Kyros) which is the Greek version of the Persian name Kürush which may mean "far sighted" or "young" — this, in and of itself, may refer to Light's grand, far-reaching dreams and his own youth and inexperience. Where it gets more interesting, however is that the name is also sometimes associated with the Greek κυριος (kyrios), meaning "lord". Indeed, the Greek word Kyrios means "lord, Lord, and Master" and in religious usage designates God, appearing 740 times in the New Testament referring to Jesus. Consider, though, that one of the songs in the Death Note soundtrack is titled "Kyrie" which is a transliteration of Greek κύριε (kyrie) and a vocative case of κύριος (kyrios). An interesting connection, even if it wasn't done intentionally.

* AwesomenessByAnalysis: This is his forte; quite a lot of his scenes involve a running inner dialogue where the audience hears him analyzing the scene around him, taking stock of his circumstances and options, and planning his next move. And of course after his genius plans come to fruition, he has to go over them in detail so that the audience has a chance to figure out what exactly just happened.

* BadBoss: Light rules his circle of supporters, namely Misa, Ryuk, Takada, and Mikami, with an iron fist. And although he's always polite, accommodating, and courteous to the Japanese Anti-Kira Task Force, there's really no other way to take plotting their deaths. However... in retrospect, Ryuk was free to do whatever the hell he pleased... and that includes penciling in Light's own name into the Death Note. Misa quite possibly gets the shortest end of the stick. She devoted herself to serving him, gave up half her lifespan for him ''twice'', and endured brutal torture to protect him, and Light ''still'' sees her as nothing but a pawn to be manipulated and then disposed of. Justified in that Light is extremely security-conscious, and his success rests largely on the people in his command, both as Kira and the second L, not screwing up. Due to this, he kills or tries to kill almost everyone who helps him throughout the series.

* BeautyEqualsGoodness: {{Deconstructed|Trope}}. In many ways, he seems to be perfect, both physically and intellectually. However, it's that same perfection that lead him to the summit of villainy and narcissism.

* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: When both he and his father and imprisoned for weeks on end during L's attempt to prove he is not Kira, he never begins to look any worse for it. While Soichiro grow a beard and his hair rapidly turns grey, Light remains clean shaven and his hair becomes only slightly disheveled, as any true {{Bishonen}} would.

* BitchInSheepsClothing: He acts polite, understanding, and caring towards the people around him, but in reality he's a ManipulativeBastard with [[AGodAmI a God complex]]. And boy, when that façade drops, can he get ''nasty''.
* BlackAndWhiteInsanity: Falls into this more and more as the series progresses. {{Justified|Trope}}: People matching the diagnostic criteria for [[{{Narcissist}} narcissistic personality disorder]] use black-and-white thinking, called splitting, as a central defense mechanism; they separate mental concepts into good versus evil, say, as an attempt to stabilize the sense of self in order to preserve self-esteem. Throughout the series Light certainly does show clear indications of perceiving himself as purely upright or admirable and others who do not conform to his will or values as purely wicked or contemptible.

* BornLucky: {{Deconstructed|Trope}}. While Light's SuperIntelligence and being TheSocialExpert does make him an effective [[TheChessmaster Chessmaster]], along with his status as an AcademicAthlete and the son of a Police Chief giving him a shield to prevent anyone from strongly suspecting him, sans [[ProperlyParanoid L]], one could make an argument that a lot of his {{Batman Gambit}}s worked out as they did mainly due to good luck. Case in point, his gambit to learn Raye Penber's true identity through a bus jacking could've gone wrong in a ''number'' of ways and it's mostly because of Raye's own incompetence that made Light's gambit worked. Furthermore, Light's own {{Fatal Flaw}}s regarding his prideful and childish personality gives him obvious blindspots to how people, and by extension, the world, ''works'', which doesn't help how his string of successes after the 5-year timeskip worsen his flaws to the point he can't even '''fathom''' the idea that he can lose and it finally cultivated in him being OutGambitted by Near.

* ChickMagnet: Let's count all of the names that pop up in the manga: [[TheGhost Emi and Shiho]] (whom he mentions to Ryuk), [[UnwittingPawn Yuri]] (Spaceland Girl) and [[TheGhost Mayu]] (whom Misa cites as competition), Kiyomi Takada (who begins her role in the story as the girl who asked him out in college) and of course [[LoveMartyr Misa Amane]] herself. During college he had about five or six girlfriends. Plus [[IncorruptiblePurePureness Shiori]], his girlfriend from the films.

* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: Official color seems to be red. Also wears a lot of [[ObviouslyEvil black]] and [[LightIsNotGood white]].

* CrazyPrepared: Played with. When he starts acting as Kira, he rigs his desk to burst into flame if anyone tries to find the Death Note, has three different ways to tell if someone has been in his room -- even ''before'' gaining the notebook -- and is shown spending hours going over his past actions and future plans, as well as what's been reported in the news. He looks for mistakes and possible holes, and memorizes what has been reported, so L can't trip him up. Later, due to his raging god complex and his sense of complete superiority, he starts to view himself as invincible, and stops being so well-prepared. It doesn't end well for him.

* CryLaughing: PlayedForDrama. It's only exclusive to the Italian dub, but it has Light appear as though he is crying from being exposed as Kira by the Task Force and the SPK members, until he breaks out LaughingMad in his defeat.

** He very quickly ends up being one of the VigilanteMan archetype, showing just how narcissistic and self-serving one would have to be to delude themselves into thinking that breaking the law and killing people, criminals or not, is both moral and beneficial for society. While he sets out to only kill criminals initially, a combination of [[CantTakeCriticism wounded pride]] and self-preservation drives him to start murdering innocents and police officers who take exception to his methods and try to bring him to justice, showing how inevitably close these sort of people are to JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope.

* DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife: His state of being as the story begins. He despises the state of the world, finds no challenge or meaning in anything, has no hobbies, views his highest ambitions as a matter of the course of time, and yet ''always does everything perfectly'', like laughing at jokes that aren't funny told by people he may even loathe because good, clean-cut students socialize, and studying for exams he could pass in his sleep. He shows symptoms of a clinically depressed possible psychopath, with reputation-defense and control issues to beat the band. And his egomaniacal tendencies begin to dominate his personality after he finds his purpose in conquering the world by fear and murder once he gets his hands on the Death Note.
* DespotismJustifiesTheMeans: Over time, his plans start to become more about becoming a god and less about making the world a better place. However, post-timeskip he once again begins to prominently talk about his "utopia", and thinks that eventually everyone will accept him as the ultimate arbiter of justice.

** The anime has him die peacefully in a warehouse while Ryuk muses about their time together, noting (no pun intended) "it's been fun."

** The musical has him killed off just after L dies, because Ryuk thinks VictoryIsBoring. Again, he begs for his life, to no avail.

* DirtyCoward: Arguably, his inability to confront his own hypocrisy is what engineers his turn into Kira. Played straight in the manga and downplayed in the anime. In the manga when faced with his own death, he frantically begs Ryuk to save him and at the end he dies screaming and crying for his life. In the anime, when he is faced with his own mortality, he is also absolutely terrified and start to begs for someone to save him, eventually crawling away while the others debated on if he was too pathetic to chase after, but ultimately accepts his fate and embraces death at the end (when he doesn't have a choice).

** The utterly heinous "crime" of getting in his way, see: Lind L. Tailor.

* DissonantSerenity: He can remain perfectly calm and go about his daily routine while knowing full well that people are dying by his hand. The anime even shows a sequence, early on, that places scenes of criminals dying, sometimes violently, in-between scenes of Light walking to school, playing a game at gym, and opening a bag of chips at lunch.
* DoesntLikeGuns: He refuses to accept a handgun for self-defense in the middle of a car chase. He has some less than pleasant experiences with guns throughout the series.

* DoomedProtagonist: Kind of a given when you've picked up an ArtifactOfDeath; there's also more {{Foreshadowing}} when Ryuk informs Light that humans who come into contact with Shinigami have nothing but misfortune. Light assures him [[{{Pride}} "I'll show you the break in that pattern."]] The "How to Read" caption on that picture says that "Light suffered a pathetic end. This line reveals his arrogance."

* DramaPreservingHandicap: Light refuses the Shinigami Eyes because he wanted to rule as God of the New World for a very long time, but if he had done it, it would have taken out a lot of tension and stakes between Light and L and needing to learn L's true name to kill him.

* EtTuBrute: When the taskforce begins to turn against him in Season 2, [[DullEyesOfUnhappiness it's clear]] ''he'' sees it as a betrayal. Also the end of the series, "Matsuda, I thought you understood!" The manga finishes it up with Mikami screaming "YOU'RE NOT GOD!!"

** Downplayed in that [[spoiler:Light sheds away his initial care for his family after his descent in morality. When his father died, he was just frustrated that he failed to deliver Mello's real name but otherwise never mourned him. When his sister was kidnapped by Mello, he seriously considered to kill her with the Death Note and only relented because it would frame him as Kira. On top of that he threatened his girlfriend Misa to kill her and had his other girlfriend Takada burn herself to death. That being said, he never ''wants'' to kill any of his family, and likely would've let them live had he been in control of everything.]]

* EvilAllAlong: Although he kept up the act of being a friend, or at least a decent co-worker, to L, Matsuda, and the rest of the taskforce, he is the mass murderer they've all been searching for. And although he would rather not kill off the taskforce, preferring instead to manipulate and deceive them, he will not hesitate to get rid of them if he feels that he needs to.

* EvilIsAngular: If you pay attention, you may notice that his physical design becomes more angular as the show progresses. For example, his eyes becomes more squinty his face becomes a little less rounded than when he was innocent.

* EvilIsNotAToy: Ryuk dropped a Death Note close by for Light to pick up, basically giving him a chance to kill people by the stroke of a pen. And for the majority of the series, Ryuk more appears like a HarmlessVillain, looks creepy, but ultimately spends his time watching Light's antics, eating apples or [[VillainsOutShopping playing Mario Golf]]. It isn't until the end, when Light has been exposed as Kira and has "become boring" that Ryuk proves that he's still a {{Shinigami}} and writes Light's name into his own Death Note, [[CallBack just as Ryuk told him he eventually would]].

** His relationship with Matsuda is probably closer then any of the other detectives since he believes that Matsuda is a BlackShirt who believes in [[AGodAmI Kira's justice]]. [[CurbStompBattle He was wrong]]. And of course, Light didn't hesitate to have Matsuda killed along with the other detectives.
* FamilyValuesVillain: Light doesn't approve of any crime. He is also a firm believer of that credo "respect the police ''and'' pressure them into murdering your enemies."

** And finally, his propensity for EvilGloating when he's about to kill an enemy, because he ''has'' to make sure they know he beat them. He got away with telling Naomi that he was Kira right before the Death Note kicked in and compelled her to walk off and kill herself. He got away with sneering down at L as he died in Light's arms. But when he smugly told Near "I win" just before Mikami's (fake) Death Note conclusively ''failed'' to kill all his enemies, he threw away any possible chance of salvaging the situation for himself, sealing his fate.

** To L. Both are extremely intelligent young men who can play others like a fiddle, but while Light uses his smarts to commit acts of tyranny and oppression he believes are for the greater good, L uses his genius to prevent them and/or catch the criminal(s) responsible. Furthermore, both L and Light have a whole reciprocal shadow ''thing'' going. Light is the social one, who not only understands but really ''cares'' about proper socialization and not being indecorous, but as Kira he's also the one who's the most prolific serial killer in history. L is antisocial and willfully unsocialized, and he doesn't really care about a little thing like illegal detainment, mock executions, and torture, but he's the one trying to enforce the fact that ''you don't go around killing people'', and he means it. Enough to be unwilling to test the Death Note. They're certainly both liars. The primary difference between L and Light -- two childish geniuses who hide behind their claims of justice -- is that L has emotional intelligence and is capable of accepting and coping with his own and the world's flaws, something that Light absolutely ''refuses'' to do.

** To Near. Like Near, he's incredibly smart, cunning, smug, and arrogant. The big difference is that while Light has social skills and is perfectly capable of socializing, Near [[NoSocialSkills absolutely lacks social skills]].

** To Minoru Tanaka. The fact that [[spoiler:both are killed by Ryuk]] certainly cements this status. In terms of sheer intellect, Minoru lacks TheAce aspects of Light, being unable to translate his intelligence into his academics while Light excelled at everything he put his mind to. However, in many ways, the entire purpose of his character seems to be an answer to everything Light aspired to be throughout the course of the series: careful, meticulous, cunning, successful, and altruistic. Ironically, in his short period, he achieved what Light could never archieve: [[spoiler:defeat Near and being praised for thousands of people in his country]]. Another purpose of his character seems to be an answer to all the praise that Light has received by fans for more than ten years and to everything his [[DeconstructedCharacterArchetype archetype]] represents, letting Minoru himself to carry out much more cunning and altruistic plans for his country. All these attributes show that, by the end of the day, Minoru is a far better person than Light, which is cruelly ironic considering that Minoru [[spoiler:did not seek to be praised and ended up being much more praised and loved than Light himself. One wonders what Light himself would think if he saw that another Kira managed to be much more loved than he ever tried to be...]]

* FriendlessBackground: Though he's very popular, [[IntelligenceEqualsIsolation Light doesn't seem to be particularly close to]] ''[[EatingLunchAlone anyone]]''. This varies somewhat from the manga to the anime. In the manga, Light is seen casually joking while walking home with friends, while in the anime, Light is shown pointedly declining an invitation to hang out and eating lunch alone. He had many friends though, and he was able to get a large group together when going out looking for the Second Kira.
* FromNobodyToNightmare: He was just a brilliant, yet disaffected, OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent before he found the Death Note. With it, he became a notorious mass murder whose mere presence has stopped wars and vastly dropped the global crime rate within six years.

* GambitRoulette: A number of his plans rely more on luck and coincidence than genuine planning; so much that this trope was once called the Yagami Gambit. The most famous of his plans being, of course, is the MemoryGambit.

* GodzillaThreshold: In the manga and live-action films, he hits it during the final confrontation after being shot by Matsuda. Having run out of plans and been exposed as Kira, Light begs Ryuk to help him by writing the names of Near and the task force in his Death Note. Instead, Ryuk writes Light's own name in the Death Note, outright saying that since Light was desperate enough to turn to him for help instead of having a backup plan, then it was all over for him (not to mention that Ryuk would have died himself had he actually saved Light, so even if Light had continued in his schemes Ryuk wouldn't have been around to witness them, which was his whole reason for dropping the Death Note in the first place).

* GreaterScopeVillain: In the ''[[Manga/DeathNoteSpecialChapter Death Note Special Chapter]]''. With Ryuk occupying the title of BigBad and Light becoming a [[VillainousLegacy posthumous villain]], Light's influence is still prominent for the universe of the series. In fact, his mere existence is the reason why humanity has changed considerably, why Japanese detectives are terrified of the Shinigami, and why Kira's name is so relevant to humanity in general. Ultimately, Light is who triggers the events of the ''Special Chapter'' and is ultimately responsible for Ryuk's interest in humanity.

* HannibalLecture: Light delivers one, MotiveRant style, after he's cornered and exposed as Kira. Near responds with a KirkSummation.

* HiredToHuntYourself: Exaggerated when he becomes the new L. It's one thing to string along a group of detectives for ''years'' while pretending to chase the mass-murderer you secretly are. It's another thing to get a paycheck for it.
* HisOwnWorstEnemy: Downplayed. While Ryuk indirectly put Light onto the path of becoming a SerialKiller, it's also Light's own DetrimentalDetermination, growing arrogance and madness, and his refusal to believe he's not infallible that ultimately lead him to his humiliating defeat and his death.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: After spending the entire series killing people by writing down their names in his Death Note, Light himself goes out when his own name is written down in a Death Note by Ryuk, as Ryuk had warned him that he would at the very beginning. In addition, Light dies by the same kind of heart attack that he'd killed countless people with.

* TheHunterBecomesTheHunted: Kira is a vigilante who hunts criminals, and then he quickly becomes the target for a nation-wide hunt.

** He chastises Mikami for killing reformed criminals, even though he had previously killed the Yotsuba group who had intended on redeeming themselves.
** One of his most glaring examples comes from [[WordOfGod the official databook,]] which states that Light views both Mikami and Takada as murderous criminals (which, given his [[BlackAndWhiteInsanity nature]], implies he planned on killing both of them from the start). Completely ignoring the fact that they're both committing murders under his orders. This also demonstrates Light's horrifying lack of self awareness.

* IgnoreTheFanservice: In one scene in the second arc, Light walks into a room containing both Misa Amane dressed in lacy knee-highs, a corset, and very little else, and a computer with information on it. Guess which one he immediately focuses on and which one he completely ignores?

* ImplausibleDeniability: At the end of the series, after irrefutable evidence to his being Kira was presented, his first answer was insistence that he was framed and it was all a set up, to which Aizawa told him to give it up. Understandably, given that this evidence consisted of Light shouting "I win!", and his name being the only one of the people besides Mikami's not being in the notebook. Justified; as the RealLife section notes on the trope's page, clinical psychopaths have a tendency to never admit guilt even when faced with undeniable proof of their actions.

* InsufferableGenius: It's mostly well-hidden, but Light is not only well aware of his brilliance, but considers himself to be superior to most people because of it. We mostly only hear about it internal monologue, but every now and then, it slips through the cracks and is shown briefly to the other characters, too. It gets more prominent just before Light dies.

* JekyllAndHyde: When he gives up the notebook and his Kira memories he goes from being a [[{{Jerkass}} complete jerk]] to being the [[NiceGuy nicest guy]] you could ever know. Then, of course, he regains his memories and goes back to being evil again. But the change is so extreme, some fans consider Light and Kira to be two different entities.

* JustAKid: In the live action movie, it's outright stated that his dad doesn't want him working on cases yet for this reason.

* KarmicTransformation: The first ''Relight'' special hints that after he dies, he becomes a shinigami.

** In fact, when Sayu was kidnapped by Mello, Light contemplates killing Sayu, his own sister, to protect his secret, only relenting because of the scrutiny it would draw. While he doesn't directly kill his father, he still has no regrets over being responsible for his death at Mello's hands, and later [[SpeakIllOfTheDead dismisses him]] as an idealistic fool.

* LackOfEmpathy: After picking up the Death Note, Light casts away his empathy for anyone but himself; to him, everyone else is either pawns to be manipulated and then rid of, enemies, people to kill to instigate plots to mess with the authorities, or some combination of the three.

* LegendaryInTheSequel: Zigzagged. Light Yagami's Kira, years after the main events, is referred to in teachings as an evil mass-murdering terrorist, but at the same time others still revere him as a god.

** In the television drama, the pre-Kira Light is much more extroverted and friendly (opposed to his reserved and somewhat brooding anime/manga counterpart), is so disgusted with himself over the first murders that he nearly commits suicide over them, spreads out the subsequent deaths at a much slower pace, and genuinely cares enough about Misa to deliberately target the man who killed her family.

* MirrorCharacter: L and Light are ostensibly on opposite sides of the plot, each trying to catch and stop each other, but...honestly, they're more alike than either are willing to admit. L, the detective, is selfish, childish, hates losing, is willing to resort to illegal, unethical means to pursue victory, and sacrifices criminals to do it, and Light is... selfish, childish, hates losing, is willing to resort to illegal, unethical means to pursue victory, and sacrifices criminals to do it. L's name "Lawliet" is even pronounced "low light" in Japanese.

** In general, Light is a perfect example of this trope, at least in the beginning, as he endeavors to kill all the criminals and bad people on the planet but sees nothing wrong with killing thousands upon thousands of people, because he's a [[VillainProtagonist good guy]]. When Ryuk mentions at one point that Light will be the only evil person left on the planet should he succeed, [[ObliviouslyEvil Light has no clue what he means]].

* MotiveDecay: Invoked throughout the series. His megalomania causes him to completely lose sight of his original goal ([[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans to improve the world by removing its criminal element]]) and degrade into using the Death Note to [[AGodAmI become "The God of the New World" and destroy his enemies]], as well as clean up any undesirables; by the final chapters, he's starting to seriously entertain the idea of killing people simply for being "unproductive". He also turns from a ManipulativeBastard who carefully plans everything out into a SmugSnake who is so sure of his own success that the very concept of his own failure seems to confuse him. Many a character points out that Light is just another SerialKiller by the end, but Light's so blinded by his pride that it takes his impending death for him to catch on. This is more apparent in the live action films, where his WellIntentionedExtremist side is played up in the beginning, only for him to attempt to kill his own father, the person who inspired him to seek justice.

** ''Night god'', anyone? Also his first name is a name that real parents in Japan would never give to their child because the character for moon is written with [[FourIsDeath four strokes]], [[PropheticNames meaning his adult life would be dominated by death.]]

* NoLoveForTheWicked: He uses love and sexuality as a cover for his schemes, dating as many as four women at a time to deflect suspicion, and has romantic trysts with Takada after becoming the second L in order to manipulate her into doing his bidding, and the writer confirms that Light is probably incapable of love. He also, while using a PornStash as a cover story while being watched, finds the porn to be incredibly boring. The disconnect to something people usually find humanizing and only using it to further his evilness further alienates him to the audience.

* NotSoDifferentRemark: Frequently lampshaded. Both he and L are genius [[TheChessmaster Chessmasters]] [[TheManBehindTheCurtain that hold vast power by remaining anonymous]] -- L solves criminal cases behind his computer screen, Light judges humanity from the comfort of his bedroom. They're two sides of the same coin: [[VisionaryVillain Light has great ideals and no integrity.]] [[HonorBeforeReason L has great integrity and no ideals.]]

* OpenMouthInsertFoot: Done in epic fashion when L asks Light how, [[AmateurSleuth as a detective]], he would go about trapping Kira, Light's secret SerialKiller alter-ego. Once Light has given L his answer, L "praises" him by pointing out that while it usually takes professional investigators several minutes to even come up with an answer to that question, Light immediately responded with an answer that a serial killer talking directly to the investigators would give.

* PaperThinDisguise: Light [[InTheHood wears a hoodie]] and beanie when manipulating Raye Penber, which renders him unrecognizable to both Raye and the investigators that view the surveillance cameras.

** In the live action films, Light's initial motives for killing was because the legal system was abused by those with connections. Soichiro acknowledges that imperfect people will create imperfect laws, but calls out Light for thinking serial killing will lead to perfect justice.

* PersonOfMassDestruction: He kills hundreds, if not thousands, of people[[note]]If [[WebVideo/GameTheory [=MatPat's=]]] calculations are correct, he kills about ''242,000 people'' himself[[/note]].

* PsychopathicManchild: He qualifies as Type C (flirting with [[CuteAndPsycho D]]). When L details the psychology of Kira to the police, one of them suggests that they could stop him by no longer publishing the name of convicts in the news, as he clearly was getting the names of his victims from the media. L states that won't work because Kira will then simply start killing people he ''thinks'' are guilty and will further blame the police for any innocent people he kills, specifically identifying his childlike personality as the reason for this. Sure enough, Light does display lots of childlike evil throughout the series, such as killing the fake L for insulting him on national television and his need to gloat to L and Near when he thinks he's beaten them. His VillainousBreakdown at the end takes the form of a blatant childish fit.

* RealMenHateSugar: When L offers to share his cake. "Er... no thanks." In the manga during the second arc Takada remarks that Light takes his coffee black but will take one sugar cube in his tea.

* RousseauWasRight: Light believes this during the Yotsuba arc, when he 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). He whole-heartedly argued that the members of the Yotsuba group other than the 3rd Kira shouldn't be prosecuted since no doubt Kira was coercing them into cooperating. In other words they aren't evil-circumstances pushed them into being evil and once the evil is removed, i.e. arrested, they will live good lives. Doesn't stop him from killing them all after his memory returns though.

** Has made the rule of Kira consume much of the world and has it snub out any possible opposition. He also murders well beyond his would-be targets (Gluttony)

* SmugSnake: Unlike many {{Smug Snake}}s, Light is highly intelligent, but his ''massive'' [[AGodAmI god complex]], pathetic {{Freak Out}}s ("he got me!"), borderline [[LackOfEmpathy sociopathy]], and tendency towards [[KickTheDog kicking dogs]] can and do cost him the sympathy of many, while his sheer ego, and tendency towards underestimating his opponents (and the incompetence of his own allies) can sometimes derail his plans and ultimately do get him killed. His arrogance gets in the way of him giving some of his opponents as much credit as he should. After the TimeSkip, he's completely bought into his own [[AGodAmI hype]] and is completely incapable of considering the possibility he could ever fail.

* SpeakIllOfTheDead: At the end, he tries justifying his actions by claiming that in a [[CrapsackWorld world so rotten]], idealists like his ''own father'', who died trying to stop Kira, will always be made out to be fools unless Light can continue to rule. He says this right in front of Matsuda, who idolized Soichiro, and gets shot five times for it.

* TeenGenius: He's the top scoring student in ''all of Japan.'' Not to mention that he manages to stay on L's level and focus on school-work.

* TheoryTunnelVision: Light is firmly convinced that he's a good guy and that everything he does as Kira is necessary to [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans create a better world]], and refuses to see that his actions his actions [[HeWhoFightsMonsters make him no better]] than the criminals he's trying to rid the world of. [[CantTakeCriticism Heaven help you]] if you so much as ''suggest'' that what Light is doing is evil.

* UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans: Light consistently and sincerely believes that he can bring about an ideal new world free of evil. Even when, post-timeskip, the world is slowly becoming a totalitarian place ruled by propagandistic TV channels and secret executioners, he's very happy about it because he thinks people are finally starting to come around to his vision. Throughout the series, when he's trying to stay ahead of those fighting against him, he says he's doing so to protect "his utopia".

** He admits he is Kira to Misora, when he's written down her name in the notebook in front of her, in broad daylight on a city street. Had Aizawa been paying slightly more attention before he walked out of earshot, or had he not been using an umbrella due to the providencial snow, Light would've been caught.

* WideEyesAndShrunkenIrises: This happens to him quite frequently. This first examples being once he discovers the notebook's powers are real and when he laughs manically after killing Lind L. Taylor.

** One of his most glaring examples comes from [[WordOfGod the official databook,]] which states that Light views both Mikami and Takada as murderous criminals (which, given his [[BlackAndWhiteInsanity nature]], implies he planned on killing both of them from the start). Completley ignoring the fact that they're both committing murders under his orders. This also demonstrates Light's horrifying lack of self awareness.

** He kills the FBI agent Raye Penber, [[CrazyPrepared thinking that Penber would only come after him harder in the future if he wasn't disposed of quickly.]] He neglected to check whether his wife may have been an FBI agent herself...

* UnwittingPawn: Averted. Light knows exactly that Ryuk sees him as entertainment, therefore he keeps providing it while working on his own goals.

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Light suffers this fate at the very end of the series, when he himself has his name written down in a Death Note by Ryuk and dies the same way that he's made so many others die.

** [[CantTakeCriticism His refusal to accept criticism]]. Even as early as the second episode Light's ego starts hurting him when he kills Lind L. Tailor out of spite for calling him a criminal, instantly narrowing L's search from worldwide to a region in Japan.

* {{Pride}}: His defining characteristic:

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Multiple times throughout the series he could easily be in the clear if he weren't so determined to prove what a super-genius mastermind he is. He takes L's bait in killing Lind L. Tailor when Tailor mocks him, confirming his location and the limitations of his power; he doesn't just let Raye Penber naturally knock him off the suspect list, but instead kills him and the rest of the FBI agents while standing within Penber's line of sight, allowing L to infer that Penber's looking at him via security camera footage; he has Misa abandon ownership of her Death Note towards the end of the series, losing her as an asset despite her obvious devotion to him; and he smugly announces his victory over Near and the Task Force before he's 100% certain they've all been affected by the notebook.

* NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist: Even before his JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope, Light is fascinated with becoming the god of the new world he plans to create. As time goes on, it becomes clear his actual plan is for a totalitarian regime where he is treated as the sole authority. It's not helped that he also readily kills or tries to off anyone who [[CantTakeCriticism questions him]] or tries to stop his plans on the grounds that [[TautologicalTemplar he's justice and thus anyone who opposes him is evil for going against him]]. When he's outed at the very end of the series, Near states outright that Light is nothing more than a crazy SerialKiller and his rationalizations and justifications for his crimes are just self-serving nonsense.