Light Yagami of Death Note is an often controversial protagonist, because he’s far more villain than hero. While Light may have started with good intentions, the circumstances of the investigation forced him to make increasingly more extreme moves, until he eventually lost sight of why he started using the Death Note to begin with. It doesn’t help that Light is up against L, a less morally gray detective, and that their relationship takes on a very unexpected shape when Light loses his memory of the Death Note and winds up investigating alongside L.
It’s this turn of events that makes Light such a tragic character, as the story gives a glimpse at what Light would be like if he’d never gotten his hands on the Death Note. Fans can really sympathize with Light’s fall from grace as a result, and it doesn’t take long to realize how sad the events surrounding Light actually are, even if it seems like everything is working in his favor. Here are 10 of the saddest facts about Light Yagami, perhaps one of the most sympathetic villain protagonists of all time.
10 The Death Note Ruined His True Potential
Towards the beginning of the series, Light is portrayed as a hardworking young boy who’s a lot smarter than his peers. He seems to have a cynical perspective towards the world around him, but he never really acts on his latent sociopathic tendencies. It’s only when the Death Note drops out of the sky and gives him a god-like power that he starts changing for the worse. Without the Death Note, Light could have achieved greatness by putting his intelligence to good use. Considering his deductive abilities and his sense of justice, he might have been a good fit for the police force as well, but the Death Note ruined it all.
9 No One Seems to Truly Understand Him
Even before Light gets his hands on the Death Note, he’s very different from most other teenagers of his age. He spends most of his days locked up in his room, preparing for his entrance tests. And despite being quite popular among girls and fellow students, he avoids wasting his time on any unnecessary social activities. Part of the reason why he does so is that his perspective of the world is very different from most people, and especially from those who surround him. His idealist beliefs make him likable, but at the same time, it’s these beliefs that make him so unapproachable.
8 His Ego Made Him Fall for L’s Bait
Light could have easily avoided any kind of trouble if he had never fallen for L’s first bait. Being extremely driven by his hubris and god complex, Light goes on to believe that no one can outsmart him, and it’s this belief that makes him kill the first decoy L sets up for him. This moment of antagonizing L proved to the world that Kira was willing to kill non-criminals to protect himself, and cost him a lot of good will. It’s a scene created entirely by Light’s ego being bruised at the thought of someone challenging his convictions; a less arrogant Light would never have responded to L, and the world would’ve had a much harder time finding him.
7 He Had No Clue He Was Wrong All Along
Throughout the series, Light takes extreme measures to fulfill his skewed sense of justice. He eradicates several innocent people, mercilessly manipulates them for his own good, and even dismisses his own followers. He even convinces himself that by killing off all evil, he’s making an ultimate sacrifice with the Death Note just to make the world a better place for those who are honest and kind. Of course, Kira’s targets gradually shifted to lesser and lesser crimes as time went on, until Light was effectively punishing parking tickets with death sentences, all without him ever truly realizing it.
6 Although Initially Well-Intentioned, He Later Lost All Control
While it is arguable whether Light was initially doing the right thing or not, he was well-intentioned. He would even balance his time between his day-to-day teenage activities and his criminal-killing endeavors to bring more peace to the world. As a result of his actions, the crime rate in Japan really was starting to dwindle. The more he harnesses the power of the Death Note, however, the more he loses his sense of morality and responsibility. This can clearly be seen when he temporarily loses his memories by renouncing the Death Note; for a while, he returns to being the compassionate teenager that he used to be. But as soon as he gets the Note back, Light’s shot at redemption is gone.
5 He Would’ve Gotten Along Really Well with L
Light and L’s relationship goes through major development throughout the series. At one point, it reaches a stage where it looks they could have been good friends if it wasn’t for the Death Note. L, who’s almost as stoic as Light, even claims that Light is the closest thing he’s ever had to a friend. In the manga, Light shows signs of split personalities where he even reconsiders his decision of killing L as Light, but he snaps back to being Kira and convinces himself that he has no reason not to. While Light and L may never have met without the Death Note, the two are very similar, and would no doubt have been friends had they been given the opportunity.
4 Out of Billions of People in the World, He Was the Unlucky One to Find the Death Note
As Ryuk confirms in the beginning, the Death Note could have fallen into anyone’s hands. Light’s discovery of it was a matter of bad luck, or perhaps fate. While Light felt honored to be bestowed upon with the immense power of the Note, it actually ruined his life. If only the Death Note had fallen into someone else’s hands, Light would have spent the rest of his life pursuing something more meaningful and putting his high intellect to good use. He may well have even ended up on the Kira Task Force hunting down this other Death Note owner, with no knowledge that he’d do the same thing in Kira’s shoes.
3 He Cares for His Family, But Unknowingly Puts Them in Harms Way
There are moments where Light prioritizes his family’s safety over everything else. For instance, he stops his father from taking drastic actions when his sister gets kidnapped, even after knowing that doing this would help Mello get the Death Note. Other times, however, Light unknowingly throws caution to the wind and harms his family in the worst ways possible. The fact that he never even considers what will happen to his family’s reputation after getting caught shows how careless he can be, despite being so intelligent. It’s another error made because of ego and hubris, but this one affects more than just Light.
2 His Father’s Death
Light may not have directly contributed to his father’s death, but his actions lead to it. Many fans of the anime also believe that he was ready to kill both his father and sister, should the situation have called for it. Regardless of how he wanted things to be, he is clearly devastated by his father’s death when it actually happens. While it is questionable if he truly loved anyone or not, he did feel a sense of responsibility towards his family, at the very least. His father’s unexpected demise did have a negative impact on him, but it still wasn’t enough to make him reconsider all the choices that had led him to that moment.
1 His Humiliating Demise
In both, the manga and the anime, Light’s character ultimately meets a tragic end. And although he lived a life replete with misdeeds, as a viewer, one can’t help but feel terribly sorry for him. In the manga, he reaches out for all of his allies, only to realize that none of them are around anymore; he coldly discarded them when they needed him the most, and now he’s all by himself. During his final moments, he seems afraid, and constantly repeats “I don’t want to die” in his head. In the anime, he meets a relatively peaceful death, but it’s sad nonetheless, as he thinks about L during his final moments.
There are countless more small moments throughout the series that make Light sympathetic, even in spite of all he’s done, but these are some of the biggest reasons why fans mourn his ultimate fate. Light never cut himself off completely from who he used to be, and that wound up being a big part of his undoing. Had Light been less egotistical, or even colder than he already was, he might have actually succeeded at his goals. From a certain perspective, Light fell because he couldn’t let go of his attachments, even as his actions put them at risk, and that’s what makes him (and Death Note) so utterly tragic.
