Hi, Can you elaborate on L not being morally sound?
Alright, here’s what will (hopefully) be my “once and forall” answer regarding this question.
Ahem- L Lawliet was not a morally sound individual, and here’s a list explaining why:
- L used questionable means to get what he wanted,and was willing to do damn near anything to prove that Light Yagami was, infact, Kira. His methods were often inhumane.
o Theinstallation of 64 cameras and audio recording devices within the Yagami andKitamura households- without the consent or knowledge of the family membersthis action put at risk. L also didnot have enough probable cause to truly warrant such an invasion of basic humanrights.
o L’sconfinement of Light, Soichiro, and Misa- with only a nagging suspicion acting asjustification for his actions. During said confinement, Misa especially was treated heinously-blindfolded and bound; she also stated that she hadn’t had any water (andpresumably, food) in three days, at one point.
o Lconvinced Soichiro to threaten to/pretend to kill Light in order to coax aconfession out of him before setting him and Misa free. It should beobvious why psychological warfare like this is… Well, not often carried out bygood people.
- L emotionally manipulated those around him. His “testof loyalty” toward Aizawa being one of the most glaring examples of this.
o DespiteAizawa wanting to stay on the Kira case, L attempted to make him choose betweenhis stable job at the police force, and working on the Kira investigation-knowing full well that Aizawa had a wife and children to support, and wouldtherefore be forced to choose the most financially stable option.
o As if this isn’t bad enough, it’s made even morebothersome by the fact that he was testingAizawa’s loyalty. When Watarireminded L about the large sum of money they had set aside in order tofinancially support the families of the Task Force members should they lose their jobs underANY circumstances, L made it apparent that he was attempting towithhold that information from Aizawa entirely. This is horrible all around, nomatter how you look at it. Even if L’s intentions were good (they weren’t),intentions =/= outcome.
- Building upon one of my previous points, L isconceited enough to refer to himself as “justice”- while not only breaking thelaws that he is meant to uphold (numerous times), but while also solving cases for his own selfishvendetta. He admitted this, himself, in chapter 109 (also known as the DeathNote One-shot Special):
He went on to state, “The same way you all like to solve mysteries and riddles, or clear video games more quickly. For me too, it’s simply prolonging something I enjoy doing. That’s why I only take on cases that pique my interest. It’s not justice at all. And if it means being able to clear a case, I don’t play fair, I’m a dishonest, cheating human being who hates losing.”
o Why doesthis matter? It matters because this further proves that L was not amorally sound character, because his horrible treatment of those he investigatedwas not justified by a “sense of justice” but by L wanting to solve these casesfor his own selfish reasons. He treated people like shit because he wanted to,full-stop.
- Wammy’s House was an absolutely horribleenvironment for children to be raised in, and L did nothing about it.
o Due tohis success, L was absolutely loaded with money (as is made evident when hisfortune was canonically shown), yet the situation at Wammy’s House seemed to beless than ideal for the children living there.
o Examplesto back this theory up:
o The children at Wammy’s House seemed to- almost exclusively-wear clothing that was old, tattered, and ill-fitting. A great example of thisis Mello’s original outfit- which was far too big for him, tattered at the edges,and drug across the floor. The children were also shown eating off of lunchtrays instead of proper plates- which again, isn’t inherently wrong- but implies that funds weren’t quite as abundantas they could have been if a certain detective would have provided somefinancial support. L was literallyfilthy, stinking rich- so I can’t quite think of a good enough excuse as to whyhe couldn’t help support an orphanage that existed almost solely to raisechildren to carry on his legacy.
o Speaking of that, Wammy’s House cultivated aculture among its children that focused primarily on becoming the next L. This is an issue for multiple reasons, but Ithink the canonical events of the series speak for themselves:
+ A killedthemselves due to no longer being able to withstand the pressure of living upto being the next L.
+ B becameunhealthily obsessed with L, and turned into a serial killer.
+ Matt andMello ran off and joined the mafia as teenagers-basically children- and were entirely capable of robbing, kidnapping, and killing in order to prove their worthand attempt to show up Near by catching Kira first.
+ To buildupon this, Mello proved his worth to Rod Ross (the Mafiosi he ended up workingwith) by killing rival mob bosses. Imean, he literally delivered Rod’s enemy’s heads to him in order to prove hisworth- these aren’t the actions of an emotionally stable individual.
+ Inreference to the fate of L’s successors, Mello and Near were of the fourthgeneration- while A and B were the first. There are two generations ofsuccessors that we don’t know the fate of, but Mello himself stated (in AnotherNote) that the first generation were “prototypes” and “expected to fail”, whichgives us a bit of insight as to what probably happened to the other two,unaccounted for generations… As well as how Wammy’s House viewed the childrenin question.
+ The factthat Mello was so incapable of working with Near is a wonderful example of thecompetition and rivalry these children felt to become the next L.
+ Speakingof Near, the cold, calculated, emotionless nature of his personality- whileendearing and perfectly valid- isn’t something you typically see in a teenagerhis age who hasn’t lived through some less-than-ideal situations.
o Why does this matter? It matters because L, andhis legacy, was the reasoning behind allof this. L had the power to do something about the situation at Wammy’sHouse- and he didn’t; full-stop. That speaks volumes about his character.
I’m sure I missed some things, but I think this adequatelyexplains why I think L was a relatively horrible individual.
I don’t think you’re a bad person if you like him. I don’tthink you’re horrible if you disagree with me- but people kept asking why I thought he wasn’t a morally soundindividual, so… Here it is.
Oh, and to be fair, I do believe that Watari and Roger wereequally as responsible as L for the situation at Wammy’s House- but thisparticular post is about L, himself, so I decided not to delve into that.
I apologize in advance for any mistakes. I’m incrediblytired and just typed this out in the middle of a sugar rush at 2 am.
tl;dr: L was a shitty person and he said so himself.
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