#lind. l. tailor

[purplink8]

I think it's worth noting just how much Light detests being called evil. Which is likely due to his father's morality being strictly ingrained in his personality.

On Lind. L. Tailor's appearance, Light was surprised, sure, but he also took him lightly:

He was amused really. I don't think Light was thinking about killing this guy at this point. Lind. L. Tailor was, after all, a 'moron' as far as Light was concerned, and wasn't much of a challenge.

Contrast this with the striking kneejerk reaction Light has when the aforementioned 'moron' uses Light's trigger word ('EVIL'):

...wow. ('L' went from a regular moron -> too damn stupid haha)

In all seriousness, the worst thing you can call Light is probably 'Evil'. He CANNOT stand it.

This is because Light spends his whole life trying to live up to his father's ideals, to be righteous, to incorporate his dad's morals to every fiber of his being.

So look at how emotionally conflicted (and hurt) he is when Soichiro indirectly calls him (Kira) evil. He is much more affected by Soichiro being the one saying it (compared to when Lind. L. Tailor said it) as he can't bring himself to completely dismiss it (compared to Lind. L. Tailor: Light didn't give a damn about his opinions).

His father would not ever bow to evil (said in reference to the Kira case, but it holds true universally for Soichiro).

Being Kira complicates matters since his father very obviously doesn't agree with Kira's morals- so Light draws a line in the sand for himself.

He would not, under any circumstance, cause any harm to his family as Kira.

But since Death Note is a Tragedy, we know that Light being Kira indirectly puts his family at risk and then we come to this heartbreaking scene:

This, as can be expected, CRUSHES Light. Not only does it mean that Soichiro had doubts against Light being Kira even after the mock execution, it also means that he still views Kira as evil, as he's glad that Light isn't Kira, inadvertently disowning Light (who IS Kira) on his death bed.

And the worst thing is, Light would never get a chance to change his father's mind.

[blackstarchanx3new]

Something about death note that's always fascinated me is who exactly Lind L. Taylor was.

Like assumably he KNEW he could possibly die from a heart attack during that broadcast but put his whole ass pussy into the performance he was L.

Like was he a professional actor or smth.

What was his crime.

I'm so fascinated by this man.

Like was he excited to do this??? He full blown SMIRKS in the anime while delivering this monologe. So like...I kinda wanna say he was fully on board with this crazy shit. XD

L found somebody who matched his freak and did the performance flawlessly.

I've seen like NOBODY discuss him so I wonder how many of my questions actually have answers by the authors.

[smallsinger5901]

probably my favourite tiny death note detail is that in episode 2, the only bit of Lind L Tailor’s name that we actually see Light write down is ‘L’.

[greensaplinggrace]

I feel like Light would actually not be that much better off if he'd ignored L tbh. Yeah, sometimes it's wiser to back down from a fight and fly under the radar, but that only really applies when your enemy does not have massive amounts of power, the ability to gain ground against you at an astronomical rate, the obsessive fixation of a man with nothing else to do and all the time in the world, and the dedication of someone whose entire life is the game. L is simply not the type of enemy you want to leave to his own devices.

[dinnertea]

Thinking about Lind L. Tailor and have the urge to ramble for a bit. Obviously ‘what if Light didn’t kill Lind L. Tailor’ isn’t a new concept by any means, but it’s always about Light’s future— which is fair since he’s the MC— but what about Lind L. Tailor? What’s he supposed to do after reciting the same broadcast to every corner of the world?

I mean, for L to keep up appearances/avoid confusing the public, Tailor would probably have to make more appearances as L for a while and maybe even act as a liaison between L and the NPA. Maybe he’d refuse, maybe L would hold Tailor’s survival over him as a fucked up bargaining chip or use some other method to get him to comply. If they did this then L would definitely have to protect Tailor from getting assassinated by anyone who isn’t Kira, because that could mess with the investigation.

When Misa comes into the picture she would probably just murder Tailor immediately. From that point the story would probably start looking a little more like we’re used to but that still leaves a significant period of time in which Light could potentially be under the impression that Tailor is the real L and the only problem with killing him is the timing.

This could be avoided if Tailor’s identity as not-L were revealed to everyone including Light at some point, but his identity as a criminal would be kept secret until and unless it was somehow relevant. In this case, he could potentially survive as long as Wedy and Aiber did if not longer. I kind of like the idea of him getting a second chance at life as one of the criminals L keeps on standby, maybe he’d find some kind of fulfilment from contributing to the Kira investigation. Maybe he’d dislike L at first for using him as a pawn but then come to see him as a sort of mentor figure as the investigation continues? I like to headcanon Lind L. Tailor as a skilled marksman so maybe he could be the sniper on the helicopter instead of Watari when the task force goes off to catch Higuchi/Yotsuba Kira.

I think a lot of this depends on the reasons Light might have for sparing Tailor in the first place though. It could be because he figured out this guy isn’t L and/or the purpose of the broadcast, or because he wants to take his time planning his next move, or because he just thinks Tailor is too sexy to kill or something. That last one was obviously a joke but all of these options lead down vastly different paths and my brain has a lot of fun trying to follow them lol.

[kiyomitakada]

what if kiyomi was the first Kira and misa was still second Kira

i wonder!

(bleh that's one of my older ficlets it's before i realized L is polite to literally everyone except light… so it ought to be takada-san but that's fine.)

anyway this ^ was my first attempt at the idea but it has been plaguing me for months and it looks very different in my head now. here are some Thoughts:

kiyomi as first kira

kiyomi is a very outspoken character who is relegated to the most passive position in the narrative. i don't think this was intentional, i think it was Misogyny of the Author, but it is very interesting to me in the context of this AU. i imagine she picked up the notebook fully intending to throw it away but hung onto it for instincts unknown (light also says in canon that "that notebook has a power that makes you want to try it"; i don't really subscribe to the idea that the notebook controls you but i feel like it's fair enough to say it has some kind of weak draw), and then didn't try it until ryuk showed up and she freaked out.

ryuk would be like well if you don't want to use it then just give it back to me. kiyomi "superiority complex" "control freak" takada refuses immediately. i think she'd rather die than get her memory wiped (i have not thought far enough to get to yotsuba arc yet. don't worry about it) and the idea that ryuk dropped it randomly and giving it back might result in some ~mass murderer~ getting it would be horrifying to her.

so of course she has to use it.

i actually have a different post in my drafts about how i think each dn character would use the death note but here is what i have for her

kiyomi: picks up the death note out of curiosity, scoffs, fully intends to throw it away but forgets until ryuk shows up. at which point she starts killing specific government officials at a rate of about one per day (she can't stomach indiscrete killing the way the others can). all the officials are found with a fingerprint-less knife stuck in their chest, so the police suspect a mundane serial killer, but no level of protection has been enough to save any of them yet. kiyomi probably tries to make them write down political demands as her "calling card" and then gets mad when she can't do that (the death note doesn't allow people to write things they don't know). instead she has to send tapes to sakura tv, where she interns, to get her manifesto out. the one time a knife isn't immediately available, the death note makes the politician die of a heart attack, which the media naturally attributes to stress. but Something Feels Off to L… do you know how much i would pay for the protagonist kiyomi takada version of death note do you KNOW she'd be so insane in a completely different way

i stand by this. kiyomi is way more politically minded than light, she talks to him and mikami about supporting kira entirely of her own volition, her first move when light tells her to start airing her own opinions is to talk about how she thinks the education system should start teaching kids about kira and how kira should instruct the army on how to act. kiyomi takada is fucking terrifying. Do Not Let This Girl Into The Government.

"but she supports the canon kira so wouldn't she act like him?"

well the problem is kiyomi has the intention but never has the resolve until pressed

(i have the manga panels to prove this but i can't be bothered to dig them up right now. sorry. One Day i will write a full kiyomi analysis and it will even be decent)

in this way she is much like chapter 1 light yagami. light going on a murder spree because he thinks his soul is about to be taken = kiyomi shaking and bloody in the back of mello's truck thinking i have to judge as many people as possible right now.

so in this scenario, since she didn't start killing until ryuk showed up and explained things to her, kiyomi is not motivated by fear for her life but rather fear for her memory + her canon support for killing everyone + "if someone else had this they'd do much worse than me" (just like light, with that one) (who else would have the guts?). so she does kill people but not as many. she puts thought into each one. ideally she wants to kill as little as possible for maximum impact.

i think she wavers between staging these deaths as suicides (invoking the societal stigma around them & so that there would naturally be a suicide note, etc) or making them obvious murders and would eventually go with the latter because she . also has a god complex. i mean nooo obviously it's because politicians will be more scared if they know someone's out there to get them!

anyway

what the fuck does the first arc look like

kiyomi imo gets just as mad as light does about being called evil. but unlike light she has more experience being called a cold bitch, snake, little miss perfect, etc, so she sees lind l tailor and does deep breathing exercises because killing him on air would do nothing but traumatize generations of children

so basically the broadcast ends and nothing happens until sometime around midnight lind l tailor drops dead of a heart attack

interpol was originally very mad at L for staging this whole thing because he has far less evidence that the killings are supernatural in this one, but they're kind of creeped out by this because of that other politician who had a heart attack — tailor was in the prime of his health and everything (L picked the death row inmate with the least history of cardiac disorders)

anyway [sighs really hard] this whole plot has to be reworked from the bottom up because kiyomi doesn't have access to police information and, unlike light, is not invested in The Game as much as she is societal change, so she wouldn't want to draw L out and eliminate him in the first place.

(i think kiyomi and light share the same fundamental loneliness in their souls — "if you were smarter this could've been interesting" / "you're the only man i've ever actually admired" — but kiyomi is drawn not just to intelligence but to people who share her principles, whereas light is drawn to people who can beat him at his own game. this is one area where they are different! thank god!)

(you could argue kiyomi is too, considering her reaction to misa, but her immediate response when misa starts getting under her skin is trying to leave)

(and besides i'm not even sure if kiyomi ever realizes lind l tailor was a scheme. like presumably she knows L is still alive and panics the day after when L is like hi. im still here. but since her killing was time-delayed L might not be able to get as much information and so he has no reason to gloat.)

anyway kiyomi's not giving L any clues so basically things are going to be a lot harder for L

but she's also going to spread kira's message through news stations so…………… more information source there? better not fuck up with that voice modulator kiyo

misa as second kira

oh thank god, l lawliet thinks, a development, i was about to die of stagnation

thankfully no matter how things shake out in first arc i think misa would still try to use the tv stations & the fake diary to get to kira, so that doesn't change. although since kira's voice is already becoming established she might have to do it in a more roundabout way (remember she also didn't want the cops to figure out she wasn't the first kira)

maybe this is how we can get manga misa to sing i'll only love you more????

anyway. they meet in aoyama, still. kiyomi went for the same reason light did: she has to size up her threat (see: inviting misa to dinner)

light & kiyomi significant difference no. 2: perceived gender

misa voice kira is a GIRL?!?!?!?!

she still buys all the information she can get on kiyomi. ("kiyomi takada… what a boring name.") (fun fact kiyo's pretty much the only character in death note with an entirely normal name; this is why her death is so shocking)

so misa shows up at her house all casual-like

light & kiyomi significant difference no. 3: where light's thought is "this girl isn't as stupid as i thought" kiyomi's thought is "this girl is the most dangerous person i have ever met"

like as far as kiyomi knows L is kind of useless. misa is the first direct challenge she has ever faced. misa can kill just by looking at a person. misa has a death note and she is sure as hell not giving it to kiyomi.

because if you interpret kiyomi this way, she hasn't avenged misa's parents

(i wonder if i could come up with a reason for her to do that because i admit the whole misa arc doesn't make as much sense otherwise… but let's assume not for now)

so why does misa want to meet up with her anyway?

well. who else is there who would understand.

anyway i kind of picture them close to this yagamane dynamic (sorry yagamane i'm stealing your valor). misa doesn't have any reason to be grateful to kiyomi, but she does want to be useful still, wants to have a purpose. wants to have people she can talk to in perfect honesty, but also has kiyomi's real name dangling over her head at all times and wants her to know that

also. crucially. she wants to have a perfect family because of course she does. in canon light is her gateway to this: by becoming his girlfriend she can integrate into the family dynamic. calls soichiro her dad, calls sachiko her mom… but this doesn't work with kiyomi because she's a girl and misa, as we all know, is totally one hundred percent heterosexual.

so. so:

Kiyomi sighs. "Okay. I… I suppose it's a deal." "Yay!" Amane jumps up and flings her arms around Kiyomi's neck; she's warm and unexpectedly bony and smells like artificially flavored shampoo and Kiyomi's heart spasms in her chest. It's been a long time since anyone's hugged her like this. She's a mature young woman and that means she doesn't hug people. "You won't regret this, Kiyo-chan!" "I am already," Kiyomi mutters. It's far too mean, far too revealing, but — oh, who cares, Amane already knows she's a serial killer. Amane's triumphant smirk as she pulls away carves its way into her skin regardless: she knows Kiyomi didn't mean to say that. "I'm so happy," Amane keeps going, patting her dress down like she's worried Kiyomi's gotten lint on it. "I've always wanted a little sister!" Kiyomi stares. "What." The look Amane casts her is pitying. "Didn't you know? You're a year younger than me." "That is not the problem here," Kiyomi hisses. (It is sort of the problem.) "I'm an only child!" "I know," Amane says very patiently, "I bought all your records, remember? I'm an only child too!" Is this a bonding moment? Is Kiyomi finally experiencing Lady Macbeth insanity? "We don't look anything like each other," she points out. "If you're planning on another disguise—" Amane rolls her eyes. "Ugh, you're so serious all the time. Lighten up a little! I'm joking! We can just be sisters from different mothers, or whatever they say. Together forever, you know? Through thick and thin? You won't die on me, will you?" Kiyomi, being an only child, is not entirely sure what having a sibling is like, but she's pretty sure the rage(?) coiling in her stomach isn't it. "…Not unless you kill me." Amane smiles. It's not as wide as usual. "Well, that's a start."

[burningarchitecture]

Cringetober day 4: Angel x Demon

[wearenotasfarwest]

So the Death Note replica my friend got me has some pages already filled out with various notable death scenes from the series and can I just say

Raye Penber had beautiful handwriting

[sparrowsabre7]

I honestly cannot emphasise enough how hard episode 2 of "Death Note" goes. Like, with some series people are like "oh yeah it gets good in the second season" or "give a few episodes it gets better." But if you are not on board with what "Death Note" is selling by the end of ep2 and the Lind. L Tailor incident then it's simply not for you.

No other show so clearly defines its leads or has such a wham moment so early on. It's just 🤌

[nullheaven]

[deni-means-flor]

Holy shit, now that I'm rewatching Death Note... Life would have been SO MUCH EASIER for Light if he had been a normal fucking dude aldodmdkdls

I'm especially focused on the episode where he plays tennis with L.

You know that first conversation they have? Right before they start playing and Light is telling him that he was surprised to get invited to play tennis, it would have been super easy to throw the dude off by replying NORMAL FUCKING THINGS to the conversation:

L: "I was the Youth Champion for Great Britain in tennis"

Light: "oh, so you're British then? Cool! Do you like *insert ANY British pop culture reference plausible for the Death Note universe*? Because I do! Maybe you should come to my house and we can watch it, I mean, once you catch this Kira asshole and you have some free time, I guess."

L: "I lived in England when I was younger, but save it, nothing in that story will let you know the true identity of L"

Light: "wow, you sound super paranoid dude. I mean, I understand because it's a really difficult case, but relax, let's just play tennis and take our mind off things. I'm surprised you invited me instead of working so I thought this would be fun for both of us, I recently passed my entrance tests and it's going to be hard to keep up my grades and reputation like that, so I need to unwind as well :( "

Like, boom! You've redirected the conversation to regular ass 17 year old boy bullshit

LIGHT YAGAMI, YOU'RE SO FUCKING CLUELESS, MY DUDE

[jump-back-jack]

Lind L. Tailor, what a mad lad.

[wouldkiraframethem]

[totheidiot]

ew whyd the jdrama make the absolute hottie lind l tailor look like that eww

[fromthevoidd]

Sinister brother of Siri

Ok but imagine the conversation between L and Lind L. Tailor. Like, I know it was probably all handled with the guards or whatevs, but imagine this guy in prison, death row, minding his own business, y'know, prison stuff. And then an old man in a trench coat comes out of nowhere, puts a laptop on his face, and the sinister brother of Siri starts talking to him, promising him freedom after just reading a speech in live television eight times, no more explanation than that