Sure. On the surface, it’s a cat-and-mouse game between two investigative savants whom use their wits and cleverness to out-maneuver one another to claim psychological victory. But there’s a deeper story that is rarely, if ever, discussed. Which is unfortunate because it is central to not only understanding the main characters, but ourselves. Before we open that can of worms, however, let’s provide a little background knowledge, as it may have been a while since you’ve last seen the series.
A young Japanese prodigy, Light Yagami, is a model citizen who excels at his school work and investigative undertakings. But despite his numerous successes and the acclaim he received from his family and academic preceptors, he could not overcome his state of cognitive ennui. Or, in other words: Light harbored a dissatisfaction for life and overall boredom from daily activities. The feeling of excitement had been zapped from his very soul, or perhaps he had unconsciously repressed it due to certain life decisions (more on this latter). But all this changed when fate granted him a blessing — or perhaps a curse — in which he could eliminate people with a couple strokes of a pen.
The Death Note, as it were, was Light’s escape from his dull existence to an electrifying one with the power to influence humankind at his discretion. An existence where he judged humans as either righteous or evil. A line of thinking that dates back to between 1500 and 500 BCE to the ‘father’ of philosophy, none other than Zoroaster. A man whose influence can be seen in Judeo-Christian values and Greek Philosophy via the dichotomy of good versus evil. Light asserts that by using the Death Note in this manner, that he will create a world that is morally just. A concept that he believes he supersedes due to his superior intelligence and ‘God’ given ability.
Light’s philosophy, then, stems from ancient principles that go as far back as the Code of Hammurabi, which was a Babylonian code of law that predates the Hebrew Bible. One law that stands out in particular, goes as follows, “If a man destroy the eye of another man, they shall destroy his eye. If one break man’s bone, they shall break his bone…” The eye-for-an-eye paradigm in the modern culture is symbolic for inflicting an equal amount of pain to the instigator of said pain; thereby, creating a ‘just’ society via the fear of retaliation. But such a society that lives in constant fear can never truly call itself free.
Nevertheless, this is the framework that Light operates under for the majority of the series. And because the outcome of any name written in the Death Note is human expiration, Light must determine if a certain individual’s crimes warrant deletion. Of course, due to his antiquated mind set — in which Light knows what’s best for everyone else — and his supercilious behavior, he quickly fashions himself to be the new God of this changed society. Which is quite humorous because if you’ve read John 1:5 it states: “God is [L]ight”…Yagami!
But what is Light without an opposing darkness? Carl Jung, a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, eloquently calls this inner darkness the ‘Shadow.’ And I quote, “Everyone carries a shadow, and the less it is embodied in the individual’s conscious life, the blacker and denser it is. At all counts, if forms an unconscious snag, thwarting our most well-meant intentions.” Think of the ‘Shadow’ as a repressed, unconscious component of our very being that we divorce ourselves from because we reject/deny its very presence. But just because we reject that ‘rogue’ constituent of our being, does not nullify its existence; and far more importantly, does not prevent it from wreaking havoc on our goals and overall happiness.
Before proceeding forward in discussing Light’s ‘Shadow,’ it should be noted that that term is not alluding to a malevolent energy or an evil alter-ego. The ‘Shadow,’ as Jung stated, means unconsciousness. Visualize it as a form of opposing resistance to the conscious self; therefore, it can either be considered ‘evil’ or ‘good.’ For example, if a person is cruel and condescending on the outside, we would expect their ‘Shadow’ to be a warmhearted individual who seeks to express empathy. Therefore, psychoanalyzing Light’s impeccable, Christ-like facade, would yield a ‘Shadow’ that is its direct opposite; that constituting a rancorous, narcissist who represents the antithesis of the symbolic Christ-like figure, that being: the Antichrist.
This autonomous opposite is realized via Light’s unconscious creation of Kira. For the remainder of this discussion, think of what others see as Light Yagami as Light’s ego (or his conscious self), and the manifestation of Kira as Light’s inability to integrate his unconscious elements into his consciousness. Because Light has not found a method in which he can integrate his shadow into his outward persona, he has projected it onto the external world. To such an extent, in fact, that Light claims “This world is rotten, and those who are making it rot deserve to die.” And while we all acknowledge that atrocities occur across the globe ranging from common theft to all-out war, it should be recognized that the vast majority of people are not immoral, and in fact aim to live an amicable life. Hence, we can use Light’s statement about the world being rotten as potential indicator of a rotten element within himself. But he doesn’t acknowledge this element because he has permitted his ‘Shadow’ to dissociate from himself to the point that it has beget a split personality.
“It is often tragic to see how blatantly a man bungles his own life and the lives of others yet remains totally incapable of seeing how much the whole tragedy originates in himself, and how he continually feeds it and keeps it going.” — Carl Jung
We can go back to the first episode of Death Note to identify the beginning stages of this unconscious split. A scene occurs in which Light passionately executes all the worst criminals on the face of the earth via his judgment. After telling Ryuk that his plan will eventually culminate in a fair and honest world, where people work hard toward a brighter future. Ryuk, without equivocation, asks the most pointed question: “But if you did that, it would make you the only bad person left.” This statement, simple as it may seem, carries a great deal of weight. First, it confirms the premise we’ve been operating under in which Light’s ‘Shadow has projected itself onto the world, and, thusly, created a rift with his conscious self. Secondly, for Light to create the God character via his conscious ego, his subconscious, as a result, fostered the enantiodromia to balance out the imbalance — thus, birthing the devil.
“The brighter the light, the darker the shadow.” — Carl Jung
This notion is reinforced further through numerous symbolic clues. Take Light’s name, for example. As Misa points out in Aoyama, it can be pronounced as moon (which is a representation for darkness). Yagami, in addition, uses the kanji for ‘night’ and ‘God.’ Lucifer’s name, ironically enough, can be interpreted as light-bringing, and there was even an instance in the Bible in which “Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.”
The integration of apples — symbolic for the original sin in the garden of eden — bestows Light with an ironic form of immortality, a temptation to kill that he can never quelled, and the fall of his moral virtue. Apples, of course, represent the cursed gift that is the Death Note. A gift conferred from God — a God of Death, that is — to tempt the individual whom dares to reap in its power. Colors are extremely important in conveying moods and intentions in Death Note. Light is often portrayed in a red hue to exemplify his indignation, bloodthirstiness, and callous nature. Lucifer is also depicted in red, especially when in the fiery embers of Hell. L, who is portrayed in blue, is the antithesis of everything Light (Kira) is: calm, humane, and kindhearted.
Perhaps the last description seems a bit out-of-place, given L’s indifference towards others. But it makes sense given his pro bono approach toward solving the world’s toughest cases, which often seem like miracles to the various governments around the world. In addition, L provides financial support to the task force members whom must abandon their jobs in the midst of the Kira investigation. And the pronunciation of his name is identical to the Jewish pronunciation of God (El). Therefore, if Light is analogues to the devil, that would make L christ-like.
This dynamic is reinforced when L predicts his own death by hearing bells, and subsequently washing Lights feet; similar to when Jesus washed the feet of Judas Iscariot before his death. Also, because L’s real name is never stated, and he goes by numerous aliases (much like God), it could mean the ‘L’ stands for Lord or the Lamb of God. After the death of Jesus, he is resurrected after three days; whereas L is resurrected after three years via his two replacements: Near and Mellow. There are several other instances to speak of, but the examples provided should support these claims.
Now to provide an analysis of Light’s descension into the role of the devil, and not of L’s into that of Christ would be disingenuous. But how does one judge a supposedly perfect being emulating God (let alone the creator himself)? Well, it just so happens Carl Jung wrote a book titled, ‘Answer to Job,’ in which he accuses Job of doing just that. For those unfamiliar, Job was a virtuous man that singed God’s praises due to his wonderful family and rich lands. In God’s reverence, he directs Satan to take notice of his servant Job. Satan, not impressed, queries: “Does Job fear God for nothing?” After which the two make a wager to see whether the faithful Job will lose his conviction in God, after he loses everything important to him. After experiencing physical, emotional, and spiritual hardships, God confronts Job to discuss the situation. Surprisingly, though, Job does not refrain from speaking his mind whilst in God’s presence. Jung thusly claims that Job stands on the moral high ground in this encounter, revealing an evil within God that must be reconciled.
This harkens to when Light projected his ‘Shadow’ onto the world, in this instance, however, God is projecting his own ‘Shadow’ onto Job. What appears to be skepticism from a mortal man in the presence of the Almighty, is, as Jung argues, skepticism in his own faithfulness to Job. Why else would God allow Satan to test Job’s resolve if he had the utmost confidence in his loyal servant?—An ego trip over Satan, perhaps? Doesn’t sound likely. Therefore, Jung argues that “Yahweh [God] must become a man precisely because he has done man wrong.”
The reason this perspective is crucial to L as a representation of God, is to recognize the transformation of God from the ‘Old Testament’ to the ‘New Testament.’ L, not unlike the ‘Old’ God, displays a certain bitterness in his personality, even stating “an eye for an eye” in his fight with Light. Towards the end, however, we begin to see the integration of the Christ-like figure into L’s self. Nevertheless, the process of individuation — i.e., integrating the ‘Shadow’ into the conscious self — is never fully realized before L’s demise. Thus, leaving a void for Light to enact his wickedness onto the world.
Until two successors — Mellow and Near — take the challenge of stopping Kira’s reign of terror. To understand Mellow and Near in the Jungian sense, it is paramount to view Near as L’s conscious self and Mellow as L’s ‘Shadow.’ When they are at odds with one another, the prospect of stopping Kira is insurmountable. But when they combine their talents — ala, the symbolic union of ‘Shadow’ into full consciousness (the Jungian self) — they achieve a state of ‘God-hood,’ in a manner of speaking, and rid the earth of the Devil.
“All the gods, all the heavens, all the hells, are within you.” — Joseph Campbell
