User blog:BeholderofStuff/Pure Evil Proposal: Light Yagami


 * Original: https://villains.fandom.com/f/p/3179493162221867146/r/3179589320835374541

Surprised that Light Yagami hasn't been proposed yet.

Character's Traits

Light was originally a popular and genius honors student who happened to stumble across the Death Note and decides to assume the identity of "Kira" and use the note to kill all criminals in the world. Eventually though, he starts to develop a god complex and desires to become "God" of a "perfect world".

Heinous Standards

Light is the main protagonist AND the main villain of the story so he qualifies. Though his goal is ostensibly to rid the world of criminals, he was perfectly fine with killing plenty of innocent people including his own supporters if they got in his way.

Moral Event Horizon

Light does a lot of bad stuff in the series to remind you he's not a good guy, because its easy to be taken and fooled by his charisma. The first moment we really get to see how ruthless he is is when he uses the note to make a woman who was trying to track down Kira forcibly commit suicide. Later on, he sets up a situation to make the Shinigami Rem sacrifice herself in order to protect his "girlfriend" Misa, whom she feels protective towards. Probably his most horrific act would be when he used his note to force a follower of his to kill herself by setting herself on fire in order to cover his tracks, even though she had been completely loyal to him up until then.

Individual Capability

Light wields a book that can kill anyone simply by writing his or her name down, and he uses it to kill as many criminals as he can, along with anyone else who could pose a threat to him.

Moral Agency

Light is fully aware of his own actions and in complete control of himself, there is no evidence that he was influenced by the Note in any way. We see hints of his sociopathic personality early on even before he gets the Death Note when he expresses that the "world is rotten" at the beginning of the first episode. Though he believes his actions to be for the greater good he is in complete control the entire time.

No Groups

Light is not a group.

No Redeeming Qualities

Though his quest is to rid the world of crime, it quickly becomes clear that Light is just doing it out of pure ego rather than any truly altruistic motives, and his crusade against crime eventually devolves into him seeking to become "God of a perfect world". Light cares for nobody but himself and as stated above, is even willing to kill his own loyal followers to achieve his goals. While he feigns love for his family, Light is a sociopath incapable of loving anyone but himself and even contemplates killing his own little sister at one point in order to keep the Death Note from falling into someone else's hands, and only decides against it because it would bring too much suspicion on himself. Any care he displays for anyone is completely an act and the authors of Death Note have even stated that his acting abilities are "10/10".

No Sympathy

Though its easy to root for Light for how much of a brilliant mastermind he is, he's not someone with an ounce of sympathy in him. The only sympathy there is for him is for how far he's fallen from a popular honors student with a strong sense of justice to a fanatical sociopath with a god complex.

The Worst

Light is easily the worst person in his story and ironically outclasses all of the criminals he views as "evil" in terms of heinousness. All of the other "Kiras" in the story are either pawns or followers of his carrying out his will.