[Tristelune]

Originally Posted by aca85

Well yes,but you say it like it is a bad,thing,all he did was kill off the criminals,bad people etc etc,

Although I am more of a L fan then Light, I have to admit that Light character have more ground to analyse his psyche then L. L was all about total coolness, however we do find out very little about him. The Author do leave a lot of info throughout the manga for a more in-depth analise of Light. He is after all the main character of the serie.

The difference between Right and Wrong can be very slim. No one really can said what is right and what is wrong. However, Nate River (the character that most people think is boring and kill the serie) did said something about the notion of what is Right and what is Wrong in chapter 105 (Impossible):

Nobody can tell what is right and what is wrong, what is righteous and what is evil. Even if there is a God, and I had his teachings before me, I would think it through and decide if that was Right or Wrong myself. I am no different from you. I believe in what I think is Right, and believe that to be righetous. You are no God and I feel that the whole idea of you setting the path for all the people to follow is neither peaceful nor righteous. And anybody who claim to be God and kills people from left to right is definitively evil by my standards.

The reason why I am quoting near is to give a clear definition of what is Right and what is Wrong and I think that this definition do fit my way of thinking. In Society, what is Right or Wrong have been pre determinated pretty much by the Society you live in. Doing one thing in a country might seem right because people consider it normal, however doing the same thing is totally inacceptable in another country. Per example, the act of Kissing in public is pretty much normal by today standard. However in some countries such as in Malaysia is consider a crime. Should the same law being applied in North America, people will react and will protest because it is their belief that the law is wrong. Kira left no ground for such protest. Protest and you died.

Now, Light said thoughtout the serie that he is cleaning the World and that he is the only one who can do it, have been choosen to do it. He then wanted to be the God of this new World and that what he do is Right. Well this is what he said he is doing. One can argue that he really believe it. Should that really be the case, then based on the definition of Right or Wrong earlier, he is not a evil person. However, I am afraid that Light motive behind all that killing is not what he is saying or what he is trying to teaching to the Mass. His motive, sadly, is not even worth the sacrifice of L. How can I say that, it is very much... childish...

Let me explain. First, we need to know what kind of personality Light has. We can get most of that on the 1st volume of the Manga.

Light Yagami is a very smart teenager. He have know success and knows no failure. His family have very high hope in him. Light have a very strong sense of Justice, mainly du to the fact that he's father is a Police's Chief. He also help crack some tough case for the police. And more so, he is innocent, that is, until he found the Death Note. So by my standard, the Light before Death Note is definitively worth praising and under different situation, he might be 'L' best buddy and the duo would work hand-to-hand and bring all criminals to Justice.

However, after he found the Death Note, things start to change. After testing it, he felt sick and definitively guilty. He is tainted, no longer innocent and definitively, and I believe he knows it, he is wrong. However, because of who he is, he cannot accept that change so he need to made what is wrongs right. He start finding excuse for his killing and justified it. The whole process could be seen in chapter 1 in a series of Flashback where a innocent Light is fighting the eventually Evil Light.
Near pretty sums up everything in chapter 105 in the Manga:

No. You are just a murderer and this notebook her is the worst murder weapon in the history of mankind. If you had been a normal person and had used this notebook once out of curiosity, you would have been surprised and scared of what had happened, regretted what you had done and never used this notebook again. To speak of extremes I can actually understand those who would use this notebook for their personal interests and kill a couple of people and even think that they're normal. But you have yelded to the power of the notebook and shinigame and have confused yourself with a God. You're just a crazy mass murderer, nothing more, noting less.

He kill two person out of curiosity. He feel guilt. He should have stop using the Death Note. However he did not, he convince himself that he is the choosen one and that it is his fate to clean the world and rule on it. If his motive is really cleaning the World by killing off the criminals, he never really show it. Yes, he did kills criminals, and a lot of it. But he did the killing not based on his beliefs that the World will be better off but because he is trying to justify his wrong but also another more childish reason in which I'll end my post with.

Should he really kills off the criminals because he belief that the World will be a better place and that he is cleaning the World, his character will be close resemblance to the one of Sephiroth in Final Fantasy VII. He would have walk the path and not getting affected by distraction. Thats what Sephiroth did, he stayed to the very end to what he belief is the right thing to do and will focus on that goal of his. In that sense, I don't think anyone define Sephiroth as a evil character. He is the bad guy, but he is not evil. Light Yagami have been distracted and stray away from his goal too often in the serie. Should he have not been distracted that much, it would be much more easier to convince me that his character is not evil.

Let say that he is killing criminals to make this world a better place, he would not have kill Lind L Tailor. There was no way that he know he is criminal. And beside, with the nature of how the killing is done, there is no way anyone can link the killing to him. Eventually L will find out that he live in Japan area and that he is a student but that would pretty much stop there and Kira would be able to continue his project of cleaning the world.

Unfortunaly for him, he did not. he killed Tailor and allow 'L' to corner him. That allows 'L' to get more hint to ID Kira. Eventually L will narrow his search and sent out FBI for help. Should Kira just keep doing what he is doing normally, he could avoid his doom. But no, he choose to challenge L and kills the FBI. 2nd mistake. 'L' seach list have been narrows to a few person and eventually to Light Yagami.

Now, is killing L and killing the FBI right? I mean L did so much for the World by cracking down and bringing some worlds most dangerous criminals behind bar. The FBI are doing their duty, they want to find the truth and stop what they think is wrong. They are certainly not the criminals that made the World a rotten place to live in. Kira is a egoist person, that much we know. He can only think of himself and show no respect to anyone... except L.

Misa also used the Death Note to kill people. Do I find her character Evil? Not a single. She act on her belief. She wanted revenge and thanks Light for revenging his parents and do the killing because she love Light. But never in the serie did I feel any evil intention out from her.

If saving the World is not what Light wanted to achieve, then what is his goal? Like I said earlier, part of it is to justify his first killing. But the main goal and he said it himself in the first Chapter:

I was bored too.

Yes, his act, his killing, the whole serie, it was because he is a bored kid and he is looking to killed his boredom. Having the Death Note allows him to do so. It attract him adrenaline. It allows him to fight opponent such as L where his life can be in danger. L test him and Kira took challenge L to a deat match. It was a game. "L" pretty much describe the mental process to the task Force in chapter 11:

Kira is childish and he hates losing.

While i think Light Yagami is a very depth character, I do show him no respect and was quite happy with the way he died. People said that the way he died is so out of character. I would said that the way he died is his true character. He is a kid. And he is losing for the first time and big time.