Death Note

The rule forbidding it is in How to Read.

Can a Death Note even kill a Shinigami? Iirc a big deal was made about how very impossible to kill they are.

No, a Shinigami can't be killed by having their name written in a Note.

Which is also mentioned in the rules from How to Read. There are ways to kill a Shinigami / cause them to die, but in general they aren’t known. Besides the “deliberately use the note to save a life” and “punishment for a class 3 or above crime”, only the former of which we’ve seen

Remember that most Shinigami haven’t studied the rules to the extent Light did, so Rem probably just didn’t know it was there when she saw it go into effect.

Edited by TheAirman on Feb 13th 2020 at 10:15:25 AM

The Shinigami in general are kind of an apathetic and lazy bunch, to the point that some die due to simply forgetting to write names in their Note. Small wonder many of them don't know all the rules of the Death Note — they're too lazy to read through the manual.

TBF, how many of us read through the EULA of everything we buy?

Edited by M84 on Feb 14th 2020 at 12:10:23 AM

Actually it occurs to me that with Light dead, Ryuk (thanks to being around all Light’s experimenting) probably knows more about the Note than anyone but the Shinigami King himself. Well, I suppose there’s also Near and that one guy who straight up forged a copy of it as well.

So the Shinigami King is less evil and more butt-hurt than anything? Got it. Still, no rule from, say, having the Death Note given to scientific research to discover the secrets of the shinigami and expose their existence. Muggle Power all the way!

Since the Death Note can plot up to 23 days, it could be used as a means of pulling a Better to Die than Be Killed.

• Government: "We're going to hang you at dawn"
• Condemned: "Yeah, we'll see how good you are at the noose".
• Condemned: Writes down his own name followed by dies of a heart attack while asleep in 22 days.

Only question is what happens when they try to hang the condemned.

I’m not sure how any of that will lead to anything substantial or signifies in general.

Or what revealing the Shingami’s existence to the wider populace entails. What exactly do you expect them to do if they actually do find out?

There really isn't anything mortals can do to stop a Shinigami from killing them, after all.

You seal away their Death Notes or at least limit the ability to use them

How? Shinigami don't have to visit the Human World to write names in Notes. And they're invisible to humans unless said human owns a Note.

And even if a Shinigami lost a Note, the Shinigami King is willing to give them replacements in exchange for apples.

Really, the main thing limiting the danger Shinigami pose to humans is that most Shinigami just plain don't give a fuck.

Edited by M84 on Feb 14th 2020 at 6:59:26 PM

Also Shinigami can bypass the physical plane & be intangible.

Ryuk was basically flying underground to prevent anyone seeing him enter Minoru’s house.

There is nothing on this planet that a Shingami can’t reach & there is nothing humans can do to stop them from getting the note back.

And don’t anyone say humans figure out a magic sealing spell because there is no indication of any such type of magic in this franchise whatsoever.

Edited by slimcoder on Feb 14th 2020 at 3:02:43 AM

Is this a Cosmic Horror Story or not? Guessing not because the shinigami are absolutely not pro-active

Um, most Cosmic Horrors aren't proactive either. That's the whole fucking point of Cosmic Horror — humans are so insignificant that the cosmic horrors don't really give a fuck about us.

And if they do they are actively malicious ala Nyarly.

In hindsight maybe the fault is more with the people who use the Death Note rather than the shinigami who are functionally just predators of humans

Ryuk literally drops the Note to entertain himself.

He's basically Nyarly.

Edited by OmegaRadiance on Feb 14th 2020 at 4:55:25 AM

Read the one shot again.

I just noticed that Ryuk writes Minoru's name right under Light's.

He's a real bastard.

It's still pretty infuriating that the kid died like that just because the Shinigami King decided to be a little bitch.

But as others say, having the Death Note period is Dangerous and will probably get you killed.

If they do another Death Note special, it'll be interesting to see what the next Kira would do, especially if he learned Mamoru's story, but have zero desire to use it either.

Knowing you can't selll the Note, but having no desire to kill anyone would put the holder of it in a real bind. After all the reason Mamoru did what he did is because he didn't just want Ryuk to give it to someone else so they could go on a killing spree.

We've talked about it before (and I still think Trump would be dumb enough to use it), but if the new rule hadn't been put into effect would there have been even less deaths since every one would know who did it? Plausible Deniability is useless when the Death Note is concerned: in fact, considering how much detail you can put in about a person's death, it'd be impossible to claim any death wasn't by it unless you showed them that you didn't write in it.

I almost get why the King was mad about it: the Note would have been rendered useless in that situation.

Destroying the Note is always an option. The Shinigami may be invincible, but the Notes aren't any more durable than a regular book.

In that case Ryuk would get in trouble, but fuck him.

Edited by M84 on Feb 21st 2020 at 2:05:21 AM

That would be one way to end your life.

He wouldn't even get in trouble. Both of the Death Notes that Light had in the original were destroyed by Near, yet as the first special showed The Shimigami King will simply give anyone who offers two apples a brand new Note no questions asked. Someone destroys the Death Note, Ryuk just shrugs and brings some apples back home as a bribe.

Edited by Shaoken on Feb 21st 2020 at 5:08:44 AM

] and Ryuk is also expressly stated to have 2 Death Notes when he drops the one that ends up with Light, and they say he shouldn't be having 2 Notes either. This is why he can easily write Light's name into a Death Note: he's had one of his own all along while Light did what Light does.

Edited by akanesarumara on Feb 20th 2020 at 7:10:30 PM

One of the rules of the Note is that a Shinigami who gives it to humans must make sure it is used by humans. If the human simply destroys the Note, the Shinigami has broken the rule.

And as mentioned, Ryuk stole another Shinigami's Note. That's the one he gave to Light.

Edited by M84 on Feb 21st 2020 at 2:10:55 AM

Ryuk may be lazy & scatter-brained but he's no moron.

He knows how to play the game unlike Rem who killed herself for nothing.

The problem is that Rem let herself care for someone. Ryuk isn't the type to do that ever.