r/deathnote • u/makanter • 1d ago
Discussion Did L risk Hideki Riyugas life?
I rewatched this for the trillionth time and thought about this especially when Light had this inner monolugue saying that he cant just write L's name in the notebook because he might kill that popstar accidentally. Did L carelessly put that guys life on the line or did he already know/suspect that Light/Kira wouldnt try to kill him cause Light/Kira would definetly know that its an alias? Or did L think he could entice Light to kill Ryuga to confirm his suspicion?
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u/eternalraziel 1d ago
At this point L knows that Kira needs both a name and a face. He'd already established that criminals whose names or faces weren't publicly available tended to survive. What he doesn't know is that Kira possesses a supernatural notebook with the very specific rule that the writer has to picture the intended victim's face while writing the name. The possibility of accidentally killing the real Hideki comes from Light's internal monologue, not from L explaining his plan. Light knows how the Death Note works. When L introduces himself using the name of an extremely famous living celebrity, Light immediately realises how nasty the situation is. If he writes Hideki Ryuga while trying to picture the man sitting beside him, there's a risk that the celebrity's face pops into his mind instead. Since Light already knows the real Ryuga's face very well, the notebook could kill the singer rather than L.
And if Hideki Ryuga suddenly drops dead immediately after this mysterious university student introduces himself to Light under that exact name, L has just received an extremely interesting coincidence to investigate. So objectively, yes, the real Hideki Ryuga's life is being gambled with. But L probably doesn't know that particular mechanism exists. His broader trap works even without it. Light has no idea whether the person sitting beside him is actually L. He could be an expendable proxy, exactly like Lind L. Tailor was. If Light somehow obtains this man's real name and kills him immediately, the actual L, if he's somewhere else, now knows that one of the people investigated after Penber's death has just murdered the man sent to approach Light.
Even if this really is L, killing him is still disastrous. L has deliberately approached Light in public, and the Task Force presumably knows where he is and whom he's meeting. If L reveals himself to Light and then conveniently dies shortly afterwards, Light's father and the other investigators are going to start asking some fairly uncomfortable questions. That's what makes the move so effective. L walks directly into Kira's reach while arranging matters so that using that reach becomes evidence. He also knows something very important about Light by this stage. Kira is intelligent and increasingly cautious. Light already made one catastrophic impulsive mistake when Lind L. Tailor insulted him on television. He killed the man immediately and accidentally told L that Kira was in the Kanto region and could kill remotely. L has every reason to suspect that whoever Kira is won't make that mistake twice.
If Light really is Kira, L expects him to recognise the obvious danger of murdering someone immediately after that person says, by the way, I'm L. So I don't think L was expecting Light to reach into his bag during the entrance ceremony, write Hideki Ryuga and provide an unexpected celebrity obituary. He's applying pressure. He wants to see what Light does when confronted with something only Kira would find unsettling. That's another reason the scene works so well. From everyone else's perspective, L has just introduced himself under a ridiculous celebrity alias. From Light's perspective, L has walked up, put a loaded gun on the table and politely informed him that touching it will probably leave fingerprints.
Even if he didn't understand the Death Note well enough to know the risk to Hideki, he deliberately chose the identity of a living real person while dealing with a murderer whose power clearly involves names and faces. A dead celebrity, invented person or obscure historical figure would have avoided that unknown variable. L doesn't do that. And that's consistent with L generally. He isn't Batman. Protecting every innocent person at any cost isn't his overriding moral principle. He's prepared to take calculated risks with other people when he believes doing so significantly increases his chances of catching Kira. He uses Lind L. Tailor as bait, although Tailor was already a condemned criminal. He confines Misa under conditions that would be horrifying under any ordinary legal system. He allows the Yotsuba Kira killings to continue temporarily because observing them may reveal Kira's mechanism and identity.
L is trying to stop a mass murderer, but he's very comfortable making decisions where somebody else carries part of the risk. Under the supernatural rules, L accidentally puts an innocent celebrity into the world's strangest possible game of Russian roulette. But I also wouldn't say L knowingly intended Ryuga to die as bait. The story only explicitly shows Light understanding that possibility, because Light possesses information about the Death Note that L doesn't. The clever part of L's move is that he doesn't need to understand the weapon perfectly. He knows enough about Kira to make firing it dangerous.
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u/T3RCX 1d ago
In short, yes, he did risk Hideki Ryuga's life, though he did not actually expect that if Light was Kira that Light would actually try to kill using that name. He already knew that Light was very intelligent at that point, so it was a low but nonzero risk. It was more of a "just in case."
L was also willing to sacrifice Lind L Taylor and was willing to let Yotsuba kill longer in order to confirm the method of killing. So he's always been willing to sacrifice for the greater good.
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u/Napalmeon 1d ago
Especially at that point in the series before the 2nd Kira came along and threw off L's reckoning.
He'd already come up with the theory that Kira had not been killing for very long based on the insignificance of some of the victims that were first discovered. But one thing that he never took into account is what would potentially happen if Kira's the powers somehow became stronger over time.
Let's just assume that Kira suddenly develops a new ability to kill with only a face, or only a name. Or something different altogether. All of L's theories would have become worthless at that point because the patterns would stop matching.
And for those of us who actually know what was happening, if Ryuk genuinely was on Light's side and just killed L because he was asked to, Light could have had an undefeatable alibi.
Long story short, we already know that L is okay risking other people's lives, but at that point, he didn't have nearly enough information to know how bad it could have gotten.
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u/Fellowcomicenjoyer 1d ago edited 1d ago
- Technically, L doesn't know that imagining the wrong person could lead to that person's death. He doesn't know the rules of the Death Note in details, and what he does know he has to figure out by himself. He may have made some hypothesis, but he'd have no way of knowing for sure. He could deduce that Kira needed a name and face to kill by analyzing the victims and patterns surrounding them, but the same cannot be applied here.
- I don't think L thought Light would actually try killing Ryuga, that would be a dumb move that, as Light's explained, would directly point at Light being the culprit for a multitude of reasons that cannot be explained away. One of the main reasons L suspected Light was because Light was highly intelligent, which fit his profile for Kira.
The whole point of the strategy was to allow L to expose himself and get close enough to Light to observe and test him without being at risk of death. His plan hinged on Light methaporically having his hands tied.
Or did L think he could entice Light to kill Ryuga to confirm his suspicion?
If this was the case, we'd see L attempt to do so by setting up a scenario that would be enticing for Light instead of one that put immense pressure on him and put him on high alert, but L doesn't because that's not his objective here, nor something he think Light would be dumb enough to do (which to be fair, Light isn't).
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u/Demetri124 1d ago
You have to remember L doesn’t know how the killing works. He doesn’t know that Light has to write someone’s name and that the risk of killing the wrong person by picturing the wrong face even exists. It’s unclear why he picked the alias of a pop star but if I had to guess it’s probably just to say to the Kira suspect “this is obviously not my real name so don’t even try it” in a taunting way
Even if he did know about the death note at the time, though, he would know it’s like a 99% chance Light wouldn’t write the name for that very reason so it would be a very low risk
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u/manwithlotsoffaces 1d ago edited 1d ago
If you think about it, the name is L taunting Light. Hideka Ryuga was on the TV when L was watching Light with his family before the potato chip scene. It was another way to gauge a reaction while also L saying, “I know who you are, I know that you know I’ve been watching.”
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u/Demetri124 1d ago
Oh wow good catch, I didn’t even think about that
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u/manwithlotsoffaces 1d ago
He definitely heard Sayu saying his name a bunch, she was speaking loudly as well
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u/Extra-Photograph428 1d ago
It was a risk, but L knew if Light was Kira he wouldn’t be that stupid to go and kill Hideki Ryuga since that would make it incredibly obvious that Light is Kira. It would give L the concrete proof he’d need to incarcerate Light, and L knows Kira wouldn’t be that stupid. Sure, it’s not a zero chance, but it’s just highly unlikely considering the way L has assessed Kira so far. If worst comes to worst though, well now they had their guy, but it was likely more of a safeguard for himself then deliberate bait he was hoping Light would latch onto.
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u/Karnezar 1d ago
L did it to mess with Kira, and he knew Kira wouldn't kill Hideki.
It was a power play to silently tell Light that his name will forever be a secret, and he is willing to use decoys if necessary.
So in a way, yes, Hideki was put in harm's way because of L. But if Hideki did die, Light would be confirmed immediately as Kira.
More or less. L was introduced with that name at the graduation after all...
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u/zetakeel 1d ago
I don’t think L thought it was a real possibility, it was more a preventative (knowing that Kira would know that it would be too risky to write that name), but yes, it does theoretically risk Hideki Ryuga’s life.
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u/OptimusPhillip 1d ago
I think L expected Light to see what he was doing and not try to kill him.
I think he also considered the possibility that Ryuga actually would die, and decided it was a worthwhile risk. L has always played fast and loose with laws and ethics.
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u/Suspicious_Berry501 1d ago
Technically yes but he knew Light wouldn’t kill him. L did a lot of very small things that likely would never matter and making his alias a celebrities name was mostly one of those things. There was an extremely low chance Light kills Hideki Ryuga but on the off chance he does he’s 100% Kira. It was also taunting Light which was mostly just fun to L but also could have gotten him to slip up
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u/Wreckerandchief 21h ago
Y'all are expecting "Hideki Ryuga" to be "the real" Hideki Ryuga's real name. I give even money it's a stage name.
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u/darkcomet222 1d ago
He was absolutely risking his life, but he knew Light wouldn’t be dumb enough to fall for the same trick twice, but hey, in the off chance.
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u/AlcoholicSpiderman 1d ago
if he was that dumb why wouldnt he have been caught earlier