#and he certainly doesn't care about family legacy lol he only cares about his mother

[justiceburst]

Human Values Test

Goro's strongest values are Achievement and Self-Direction.

[kiranatrix]

Felt like sharing something about L - based on not just canon but fanfics too. I was thinking why I love him so much and it's partly coz a part of me wants to be like him. He has that "nothing fazes me" vibe. Like Light is extremely smart too but he also wants people to know & acknowledge it & like him & respect him- whereas L's entire personality is that he dresses, acts, sits, eats like he doesn't give a single f. (1/2)

Hi pashmina-dhaage, thanks for you ask! One bc it’s nice to hear people’s thoughts on the characters, but two so I can thank you again for the fic you wrote for me in the SE exchange ❤️.

Regarding L, yes I certainly see that fans admire certain traits about him, like his detachment from seeking others’ approval, and his ability to stay calm and focused even under tremendous pressure. Most of the time nothing does faze L— even in the face of the deaths of those around him or the risk of his own. He confidently strides into To-Oh or meeting the other officers with wild hair and eye bags, in just jeans and a tee, uncaring how he’s perceived by others. He makes a stark contrast to Light’s beauty and perfect appearance and social graces, and we know Ohba meant it that way. They are foils of each other, but are also very alike under the superficial exteriors. It also makes the few times L IS fazed (falling out of his chair at the word shinigami, getting depressed and fighting with Light, etc) more hard hitting in their rarity.

Regarding Light’s desire for recognition, I haven’t read the fanfic you mention but it’s certainly a common trope in a lot of fanfic that Light craves praise. In canon, I’d argue he was numb to it when it came for achievements he didn’t care about— academics, tennis, romance, etc. He barely spares a glance to his mother upon handing her his test results, quit tennis and had no plans to play at To-Oh (despite the coach’s enthusiasm), was bored when he gave the freshman speech, scoffed at Ryuk and Matsuda when he was admired for his way with women (pft). Light was used to being showered with praise and i don’t think he cared if he got it for those things. It came too easy to mean anything.

What Light did want praise and recognition over was his actions as Kira. He wanted it from his father most of all, and Light reacts very negatively (inside) to his father speaking badly of Kira. When people start to accept him, Ohba and Obata include illustrated fantasies Light has as ruling as a god, it obviously occupies much of his thoughts. Now this is is something he has to work for— not only to make it happen but to bring people to his point of view. And that makes the praise he receives for it, when it happens, extremely meaningful to him. It also devastates him when he never gets the chance to change his father’s mind before he dies, and it unravels him completely in the last scene when he’s unable to convince Near and the team that what’s he’s done was necessary and good vs. ‘just murder.’

Back to L and why he doesn’t seem to give a single f but Light does, it’s their personalities to an extent but I’d also look at their upbringing. L was raised in complete isolation from the norms of a stable society and indulged by Watari in all ways. L never had to go to normal school, never had parents hovering over him and worrying about his future. He didn’t have to worry about getting a degree or a job or an income. He was L and his whole life had been plotted out and smoothed down by Watari, who took care of his needs but also made anything and everything easy. L never had to conform like Light did, and in Japan there is high pressure to conform and achieve. Light was demonstrably bored with those aspects of society. His plans as Kira superseded that upbringing actually; deciding to lead vs. follow/conform, to act on his own morals vs. society’s. L also forms his own environment/rules/morals but still conforms to the legacy Watari has laid out for him and his successors. I suppose he found happiness there (of a kind) while Light didn’t find any in his prescribed role in society. Agree or disagree with Light, it takes a ton of confidence to cast that upbringing aside and forge on your own into danger, especially at his young age.

One last thing about a difference between L versus Light and approval-seeking was L had no one to look up to except Watari, and in the manga it was a very aloof relationship. The anime was warmer, slightly, but you have to go into fanfic to find anything actually fatherly or loving. Light on the other hand had that with his family and especially Soichiro. His father simultaneously represented everything that was good and worth saving about humanity, as well as how the rotten world and it’s justice systems can fail. Soichiro was the police chief but crime still existed, murders still happened, women harassed on the street and schoolchildren taken hostage. If the best man Light knew couldn’t stop it, who could? To him the answer was Kira, and he spent everything he had up to his last moments trying to convince by either words or actions that was true to the world.

And L is also cool lol despite being objectively odd because Ohba and Obata wanted him that way. :) A lot of answers the two of them give about L’s designs and mannerisms is along the lines of ‘we just thought it was cool.’ Thanks for the thoughts and sorry for the ramble!