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* AndShowItToYou: On the receiving end in the manga ending. After being shot and left to bleed to death, Light pleads with Ryuk to write the names of his enemies into the Death Note so he could get away. Instead Ryuk says that he's finally gotten [[BlueAndOrangeMorality bored of Light and doesn't want to stay in a prison with him]], so he writes down Light's name and shows it to him as Light claws at Ryuk's legs since he can't walk anymore.
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* AndShowItToYou: On the receiving end in the manga ending.ending, but in a not-immediately-Fatal way. After being shot and left to bleed to death, Light pleads with Ryuk to write the names of his enemies into the Death Note so he could get away. Instead Ryuk says that he's finally gotten [[BlueAndOrangeMorality bored of Light and doesn't want to stay in a prison with him]], so he writes down Light's name and shows it to him as Light claws at Ryuk's legs since he can't walk anymore.a final kick in the teeth to him.
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* AndShowItToYou: On the receiving end in the manga ending. After being shot and left to bleed to death, Light pleads with Ryuk to write the names of his enemies into the Death Note so he could get away. Instead Ryuk says that he's finally gotten [[BlueAndOrangeMorality bored of Light and doesn't want to stay in a prison with him]], so he writes down Light's name and shows it to him as Light claws at Ryuk's legs since he can't walk anymore.
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** [[AvertedTrope Averted]] in the live action films, since he seems to displays some feelings for Shiori, but since [[HoYay he still has some subtext with L,]] he could still count as AmbiguouslyBi.
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** [[AvertedTrope Averted]] in the live action films, since he seems to displays some feelings for Shiori, but since [[HoYay he still has some subtext with L,]] he could still count as AmbiguouslyBi. The same applies in the drama, where he ''does'' actually have some feelings for Misa...and ''lots'' of subtext with L.
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* OutOfCharacterMoment: An off-screen example, from ''[[Film/DeathNoteLightUpTheNewWorld Light Up the New World''. Knowing his views regarding women, it's quite surprising to learn that he had a child, especially since the mother's identity is never hinted at.
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* OutOfCharacterMoment: An off-screen example, from ''[[Film/DeathNoteLightUpTheNewWorld Light Up the New World''.World]]''. Knowing his views regarding women, it's quite surprising to learn that he had a child, especially since the mother's identity is never hinted at.
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* NoodleIncident: ''Film/DeathNoteLightUpTheNewWorld'' reveals that he had a child in the film continuity. Who the child's mother was, and their whereabouts in the movie, is never addressed, even in the novelization.
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* OutOfCharacterMoment: An off-screen example, from ''[[Film/DeathNoteLightUpTheNewWorld Light Up the New World''. Knowing his views regarding women, it's quite surprising to learn that he had a child, especially since the mother's identity is never hinted at.
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** Light is practically a ''[[SubvertedTrope subversion]]'' of this trope, as the ''very first time'' he's challenged on his ideals (when Lind L. Tailor calls out his killings as evil) he ''instantly'' leaps to murder of a supposed innocent, revealing that all his high-minded ideals of "justice" stem from nothing more than rampant egomania.
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* DyingMomentOfAwesome: [[ZigzaggedTrope Zig-Zagged]] across the various adaptations; in the manga its distinctly averted as he dies begging all of his dead or abandoned allies to kill his enemies while Raul writes his name down in the Death Note, in the anime he gets a slightly more dignified death in a shaft of light after running out of the warehouse, and in the movies he dies in his father's arms. [[RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgement Whichever death is the most warranted or fitting is ultimately the reader's judgement.]]
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* DyingMomentOfAwesome: [[ZigzaggedTrope Zig-Zagged]] across the various adaptations; in the manga its distinctly averted as he dies begging all of his dead or abandoned allies to kill his enemies while Raul Ryuk writes his name down in the Death Note, in the anime he gets a slightly more dignified death in a shaft of light after running out of the warehouse, and in the movies he dies in his father's arms. [[RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgement Whichever death is the most warranted or fitting is ultimately the reader's judgement.]]
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* DiesWideOpen: In the manga, after a bad bout of AintToProudToBeg and InelligantBlubbering.
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* DiesWideOpen: In the manga, after a bad bout of AintToProudToBeg AintTooProudToBeg and InelligantBlubbering.InelegantBlubbering.
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* DiesWideOpen: In the manga, after a bad bout of AintToProudToBeg and InelligantBlubbering.
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* DyingMomentOfAwesome: [[ZigzaggedTrope Zig-Zagged]] across the various adaptations; in the manga its distinctly averted as he dies begging all of his dead or abandoned allies to kill his enemies while Raul writes his name down in the Death Note, in the anime he gets a slightly more dignified death in a shaft of light after running out of the warehouse, and in the movies he dies in his father's arms. [[RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgement Whichever death is the most warranted or fitting is ultimately the reader's judgement.]]
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* TheChosenOne: {{Subverted}}. When Ryuk appears, Light asks him why he gave Light the Death Note. Ryuk laughs in his face and tells him he dropped the Note so ''anyone'' can find it. It's the reason the instructions are written in English, the most popular language in the world.
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* TheChosenOne: {{Subverted}}. When Ryuk appears, Light asks him why he gave Light the Death Note. Ryuk laughs in his face and tells him he dropped the Note notebook so ''anyone'' can could find it. It's the reason the instructions are written in English, the most popular language in the world.
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* CantTakeCriticism: Suggesting what Kira is doing is wrong is a very good way to end up dead; in fact, Light's immediate reaction to the fake L badmouthing him on national television was to kill him on the spot. He also walks out on a family meeting where [[ObliviousGuiltSlinging his father is calling Kira nothing but a murderer]] and later he looks visibly upset when the taskforce begins to (rightly) doubt his innocence again.
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* CantTakeCriticism: His biggest flaw (springing directly from his overwhelming {{Pride}}). Suggesting or outright stating that what Kira he is doing as Kira is wrong or evil is a very good way to end up dead; in fact, Light's immediate reaction to the fake L badmouthing him on national television was to kill him on the spot. dead. He also walks out on a family meeting where [[ObliviousGuiltSlinging his father is calling Kira nothing but a murderer]] and later he looks visibly upset when the taskforce [[spoiler:the Kira Taskforce begins to (rightly) doubt his innocence again.]] In fact, when Lind L. Tailor insulted him on national television, calling what he was doing evil, Light's [[BerserkButton immediate response]] was to use the Death Note to kill him on the spot, writing his name ''extra big'' in there!
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* EvilGloating: He practically dances on L's grave while bragging about his victory over the GreatDetective. Also, when he writes Naomi Misora's name in the Death Note, he openly admits to her that he's Kira just to see the look on her face before she dies. This winds up backfiring when he finally meets Near face to face and puts his endgame into action, only to realize he was outwitted with him being told straight up that by declaring "I win" he pretty implicated himself. Even then, he openly gloats to the police about his God complex, merely as a matter of pride to show how confident he was that he had successfully tied up all remaining loose ends.
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* EvilGloating: He practically dances on L's grave while bragging about his victory over the GreatDetective. Also, when he writes Naomi Misora's name in the Death Note, he openly admits to her that he's Kira just to see the look on her face before she dies. This winds up backfiring when he finally meets Near face to face and puts his endgame into action, only to realize he was outwitted with him being told straight up that by declaring "I win" win," he pretty much implicated himself. Even then, he openly gloats to the police about his God complex, merely as a matter of pride to show how confident he was that he had successfully tied up all remaining loose ends.
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Changed line(s) 101 (click to see context) from:
* ChickMagnet: Let's count all of the names that pop up in the manga: [[TheGhost Emi and Shiho]] (whom he mentions to Ryuk), [[SatelliteLoveCharacter Yuri]] (Spaceland Girl) and [[TheGhost Mayu]] (whom Misa cites as competition), [[HotScoop Kiyomi Takada]] (who begins her role in the story as the girl who asked him out in college) and of course [[LoveMartyr Misa Amane]] herself. During college he had about five or six girlfriends. Plus [[IncorruptiblePurePureness Shiori]], his girlfriend from the films.
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* ChickMagnet: Let's count all of the names that pop up in the manga: [[TheGhost Emi and Shiho]] (whom he mentions to Ryuk), [[SatelliteLoveCharacter [[UnwittingPawn Yuri]] (Spaceland Girl) and [[TheGhost Mayu]] (whom Misa cites as competition), [[HotScoop Kiyomi Takada]] (who begins her role in the story as the girl who asked him out in college) and of course [[LoveMartyr Misa Amane]] herself. During college he had about five or six girlfriends. Plus [[IncorruptiblePurePureness Shiori]], his girlfriend from the films.
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Changed line(s) 101,102 (click to see context) from:
* ChickMagnet: Let's count all of the names that pop up in the manga: Emi and Shiho (whom he mentions to Ryuk), Yuri (Spaceland Girl) and Mayu (whom Misa cites as competition), Kiyomi Takada (who begins her role in the story as the girl who asked him out in college) and of course Misa Amane herself. During college he had about five or six girlfriends.
** Plus Shiori, his girlfriend from the films.
** Plus Shiori, his girlfriend from the films.
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* ChickMagnet: Let's count all of the names that pop up in the manga: [[TheGhost Emi and Shiho Shiho]] (whom he mentions to Ryuk), Yuri [[SatelliteLoveCharacter Yuri]] (Spaceland Girl) and Mayu [[TheGhost Mayu]] (whom Misa cites as competition), [[HotScoop Kiyomi Takada Takada]] (who begins her role in the story as the girl who asked him out in college) and of course [[LoveMartyr Misa Amane Amane]] herself. During college he had about five or six girlfriends.
**girlfriends. Plus Shiori, [[IncorruptiblePurePureness Shiori]], his girlfriend from the films.
**
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** Let's see, you've got like every background character in episode 1, Ryuk follows him around everywhere, Raye Penber The Stalker, L and his weird obsession and surveillance cameras, Misa showing up on his door step, Takada directly asking him out, Matsuda and Mikami the Fanboys, and Near with his creepy smiles and he keeps calling and hanging up... [[IncrediblyLamePun Kira is a wanted man.]]
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** Let's see, you've got like every background character in episode 1, Ryuk [[MonsterRoommate Ryuk]] follows him around everywhere, [[SpannerInTheWorks Raye Penber The Stalker, L the Stalker]], [[AntiHero L]] and his weird obsession and surveillance cameras, Misa showing up on his door step, Takada directly asking him out, Matsuda [[NiceGuy Matsuda]] and Mikami [[TheDragon Mikami]] the Fanboys, and Near [[CreepyChild Near]] with his creepy smiles and he keeps calling and hanging up... [[IncrediblyLamePun Kira is a wanted man.]]
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[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:A-F]]
[[folder:A-F]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder:G-L]]
[[folder:G-L]]
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* GeniusBruiser: While he's not a fighter, Light is also the best Athlete at his school, along with the best student.
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* GeniusBruiser: While he's not a fighter, Light is also the best Athlete athlete at his school, along with being the best student.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:M-R]]
[[folder:M-R]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder:S-Y]]
[[folder:S-Y]]
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* WouldntHitAGirl: Mostly played straight, though he has no problem with writing women's names down.
** In episode 14 he says "this is the first time in my entire life I've seriously wanted to hit a girl" after being glomped by Misa.
** In episode 14 he says "this is the first time in my entire life I've seriously wanted to hit a girl" after being glomped by Misa.
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* WouldntHitAGirl: Mostly played straight, though he has no problem with writing women's names down.
**down. In episode 14 he says "this is the first time in my entire life I've seriously wanted to hit a girl" after being glomped by Misa.
**
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* YoungConqueror: His is youthful idealism at its darkest.
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* YoungConqueror: His is youthful idealism at its darkest.darkest.
[[/folder]]
[[/folder]]
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No need for that.
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!!Light Yagami/Kira
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* AdaptationNameChange: The American Netflix movie changes his surname from "Yagami" to "Turner".
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* AdaptationNameChange: The American Netflix movie changes his surname from "Yagami" to "Turner"."Turner" to go along with his RaceLift.
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Changed line(s) 133 (click to see context) from:
* DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife: His state of being as the series begins. He despises the state of the world, finds no challenge or meaning in anything, has no hobbies, views his highest ambitions as a matter of the course of time, and yet ''always does everything perfectly'', like laughing at jokes that aren't funny told by people he may even loathe because good, clean-cut students socialize, and studying for exams he could pass in his sleep. He shows symptoms of a clinically depressed possible psychopath, with reputation-defense and control issues to beat the band. And his egomaniacal tendencies begin to dominate his personality after he finds his purpose in conquering the world by fear and murder once he got his hands on the Death Note.
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* DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife: His state of being as the series story begins. He despises the state of the world, finds no challenge or meaning in anything, has no hobbies, views his highest ambitions as a matter of the course of time, and yet ''always does everything perfectly'', like laughing at jokes that aren't funny told by people he may even loathe because good, clean-cut students socialize, and studying for exams he could pass in his sleep. He shows symptoms of a clinically depressed possible psychopath, with reputation-defense and control issues to beat the band. And his egomaniacal tendencies begin to dominate his personality after he finds his purpose in conquering the world by fear and murder once he got gets his hands on the Death Note.
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* DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife: In the first episode, but then he finds one.
** After L's death in the anime, he seems to be quite listless and empty, EvilGloating aside; he only really perks up when Mello and Near come onto the playing field.
** After L's death in the anime, he seems to be quite listless and empty, EvilGloating aside; he only really perks up when Mello and Near come onto the playing field.
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* DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife: In His state of being as the first episode, but then series begins. He despises the state of the world, finds no challenge or meaning in anything, has no hobbies, views his highest ambitions as a matter of the course of time, and yet ''always does everything perfectly'', like laughing at jokes that aren't funny told by people he may even loathe because good, clean-cut students socialize, and studying for exams he could pass in his sleep. He shows symptoms of a clinically depressed possible psychopath, with reputation-defense and control issues to beat the band. And his egomaniacal tendencies begin to dominate his personality after he finds one.
** After L's deathhis purpose in conquering the anime, he seems to be quite listless world by fear and empty, EvilGloating aside; murder once he only really perks up when Mello and Near come onto got his hands on the playing field.Death Note.
** After L's death
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* DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife: His state of being as the series begins. He despises the state of the world, finds no challenge or meaning in anything, has no hobbies, views his highest ambitions as a matter of the course of time, and yet ''always does everything perfectly'', like laughing at jokes that aren't funny told by people he may even loathe because good, clean-cut students socialize, and studying for exams he could pass in his sleep. He shows symptoms of a clinically depressed possible psychopath, with reputation-defense and control issues to beat the band. And his egomaniacal tendencies begin to dominate his personality after he finds his purpose in conquering the world by fear and murder once he got his hands on the Death Note.
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* EvilGloating: He practically dances on L's grave while bragging about his victory over the GreatDetective. Also, when he writes Naomi Misora's name in the Death Note, he openly admits to her that he's Kira just to see the look on her face before she dies. This winds up backfiring when he finally meets Near face to face and puts his endgame into action, only to realize he was outwitted with him being told straight up that by declaring "I win" he pretty implicated himself.
to:
* EvilGloating: He practically dances on L's grave while bragging about his victory over the GreatDetective. Also, when he writes Naomi Misora's name in the Death Note, he openly admits to her that he's Kira just to see the look on her face before she dies. This winds up backfiring when he finally meets Near face to face and puts his endgame into action, only to realize he was outwitted with him being told straight up that by declaring "I win" he pretty implicated himself. Even then, he openly gloats to the police about his God complex, merely as a matter of pride to show how confident he was that he had successfully tied up all remaining loose ends.
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* MurderMakesYouCrazy: He's an ordinary school student until he writes the first name. After that, he develops delusions of grandeur and wants to cleanse the world of evil (leaving himself as the only evil person, as Ryuuk points out). In the manga, the reader first sees how Light has already killed numerous targets before flashing back to his first kill for maximum shock value and to show how far he has already fallen in such a short time.
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* MurderMakesYouCrazy: He's an ordinary school student OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent until he writes the first name. After that, he develops delusions of grandeur and wants to cleanse the world of evil (leaving himself as the only evil person, as Ryuuk points out). In the manga, the reader first sees how Light has already killed numerous targets before flashing back to his first kill for maximum shock value and to show how far he has already fallen in such a short time.
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** He kills Lind L. Taylor out of spite for calling him a criminal, leading to the real L knowing exactly where he is. Though it would have been tough to see such a gambit coming, given that Light was unaware of L's existence prior to his televised appearance.
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** He kills Lind L. Taylor out of spite for calling him a criminal, leading to allowing the real ''real'' L knowing exactly to significantly narrow down where he is.might be. Though it would have been tough to see such a gambit coming, given that Light was unaware of L's existence prior to his televised appearance.
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* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: What he does to Raye Penber and Kiyomi Takada. Also what he would have done to Misa were it not for Rem.
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* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: What he does to Raye Penber and Kiyomi Takada. Also what he would have done to Misa were it not for Rem. In the end, he himself is subject to this by Ryuk, who writes his name in his own Death Note at the end of the series, as Light no longer proves entertaining.
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!!!Voiced by: Creator/MamoruMiyano (JP), Creator/BradSwaile (EN), Creator/SergioZamora (Spain), Manuel Campuzano (Latin America)
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!!!Voiced by: Creator/MamoruMiyano (JP), Creator/BradSwaile (EN), Creator/SergioZamora (Spain), Manuel Campuzano (Latin America)America), Tatsuya Fujiwara (films)
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** Subverted with the Netflix movie where his American live-action counterpart is seen smoking.
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Changed line(s) 3,4 (click to see context) from:
Character subpage for Light.
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Character subpage for Light.
Light. '''Warning! Unmarked spoilers ahead!'''
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* AllForNothing: He sets out to be [[SerialKillerKiller Kira]] in order to, [[MotiveDecay at least at first,]] create a better, more just world. By the end, after several years, all he accomplishes [[spoiler: is getting [[HoistByHisOwnPetard himself]] and [[NiceJobBreakingItHero his father]] killed, and virtually everyone else in his personal life either [[KilledOffForReal dead]] or [[BreaktheCutie broken.]] And the crime rate, [[HopeSpot which had been reduced by 70%?]] [[ShootTheShaggyDog Shoots right back up after he's dead and gone]]]].
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* AllForNothing: He sets out to be [[SerialKillerKiller Kira]] in order to, [[MotiveDecay at least at first,]] create a better, more just world. By the end, after several years, all he accomplishes [[spoiler: is getting [[HoistByHisOwnPetard himself]] and [[NiceJobBreakingItHero his father]] killed, and virtually everyone else in his personal life either [[KilledOffForReal dead]] or [[BreaktheCutie broken.]] And the crime rate, [[HopeSpot which had been reduced by 70%?]] [[ShootTheShaggyDog Shoots right back up after he's dead and gone]]]].gone]].
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Changed line(s) 440 (click to see context) from:
* TheyLookJustLikeEveryoneElse: On the outside, Light is a handsome, hardworking and charming individual who gets along with just about everybody. On the inside...
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* TheyLookJustLikeEveryoneElse: On Light being being the outside, smart, charming, supposedly kindhearted honor-student son of the Chief of Police makes it difficult for many of the characters to take L's accusations seriously. L seems to be the only one who really believes that Light is a handsome, hardworking and charming individual who gets along with just about everybody. On Kira until very close to the inside...series' end.
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* TookALevelInDumbass: Light plays the role of TheEveryman in the TV drama, rather than a TVGenius. He becomes more tactical and CrazyPrepared as time goes on, but Rem writes this off as part of the general paranoia that comes with harboring a Death Note.
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* TookALevelInDumbass: After the TimeSkip. Light plays the role of TheEveryman goes from [[MemoryGambit erasing his own memory, trusting in the TV drama, rather than a TVGenius. He becomes more tactical brilliance of his planning to ensure L's death while cementing his own complete innocence]]... to ''hiding the Death Note in storage and CrazyPrepared as time goes on, but Rem writes this off as part really hoping no one finds it while he's not looking.''
** The whole Mello and Near arc has Light {{nerf}}ed down hard, making great mistakes apparently to balance the odds of thegeneral paranoia two kids-nemesis. He loses the note, he loses Sayu, he loses his father... and one of his "best" responses is to confirm to Near he's Kira by ''sending a mass of stupid people at the exact location (and '''only there''') of Near's anti-Kira organization with the '''great''' expectations that comes they'll lynch someone of L's level. An extended period of complacency between arcs with harboring a Death Note.no intellectual rival, and belief in his own [[AGodAmI hype]] likely have something to do with it, as does the fact that Near and Mello have far more information to work with than L did.
** The whole Mello and Near arc has Light {{nerf}}ed down hard, making great mistakes apparently to balance the odds of the
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Changed line(s) 43,44 (click to see context) from:
* AntiVillain: A WellIntentionedExtremist. Again until he [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope jumps off the slippery slope]].
** The TV Drama puts him closer to here throughout the series. He genuinely cares about his family, Misa, and Teru's safety.
** The TV Drama puts him closer to here throughout the series. He genuinely cares about his family, Misa, and Teru's safety.
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* AntiVillain: A WellIntentionedExtremist. Again until he [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope jumps off Subverted in most mediums except the slippery slope]].
** TheTV Drama puts him closer to here throughout the series. He Drama[[note]]Where he genuinely cares about for his family, Misa, as well as Misa and Teru's safety.Teru[[/note]]. At first glance he seems like a WellIntentionedExtremist but his words and actions make it clear that he just cares about [[AGodAmI being worshipped]] and that cleansing crime is just a means to attain this. Although he seems to [[KnightTemplar buy into his own propaganda]], he's quick to kill off anyone who questions him or tries to track him down, deciding that those actions make them just as guilty as criminals for going against him.
** The
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Changed line(s) 66 (click to see context) from:
* BigBad: As the main VillainProtagonist and, later, ShadowDictator.
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* BigBad: As While he is the main VillainProtagonist and, later, ShadowDictator.[[VillainProtagonist protagonist]] of the series, his use of the Death Note quickly turns him into a power-hungry maniac whose murders become the all-encompassing threat to L and the Japanese Task Force and the hunt for him proves the challenge of the work.
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Not Anti Hero
Deleted line(s) 43 (click to see context) :
* AntiHero: A PayEvilUntoEvil type until he [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope dives over the edge]] and becomes a straight up VillainProtagonist.
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This trope does not apply to him: see Psychopathic Manchild.
!!!Voiced by: Creator/MamoruMiyano (JP), Creator/BradSwaile (EN), Creator/SergioZamora (Spain), Manuel Campuzano (Latin America)
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->Voiced by: Creator/MamoruMiyano (JP), Creator/BradSwaile (EN), Creator/SergioZamora (Spain), Manuel Campuzano (Latin America)
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Deleted line(s) 492 (click to see context) :
* WiseBeyondTheirYears: An older example, but he is considerably more intelligent than almost all of the Task Force.
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->Voiced by: Creator/MamoruMiyano (JP), Creator/BradSwaile (EN), Sergio Zamora (Spain), Manuel Campuzano (Latin America)
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->Voiced by: Creator/MamoruMiyano (JP), Creator/BradSwaile (EN), Sergio Zamora Creator/SergioZamora (Spain), Manuel Campuzano (Latin America)
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* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: When both he and his father and imprisoned for weeks on end during L's attempt to prove he is not Kira, he never begins to look any worse for it. While Soichiro grow a beard and his hair rapidly turns grey, Light remains clean shaven and his hair becomes only slightly disheveled, as any true {{Bishonen}} would.
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Trope misuse.
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* BringMyRedJacket: This is what he wears when he doesn't have a white or black shirt on.
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[[Characters/DeathNote Back to main.]]
Character subpage for Light.
!!Light Yagami/Kira
[[quoteright:348:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/light-yagami-cool_4715.jpg]]
->Voiced by: Creator/MamoruMiyano (JP), Creator/BradSwaile (EN), Sergio Zamora (Spain), Manuel Campuzano (Latin America)
The [[TheProtagonist protagonist]] of the series, but not the [[VillainProtagonist hero]].
Light is a genius student who has [[FatalFlaw one major flaw]]... namely, [[AGodAmI one hell of a God complex]]. He has a hatred of the criminal element of the world, but for most of his life took a "what can you do" approach. Then, he finds the Death Note dropped by the Shinigami (Death God) Ryuk and his world is turned upside down. He begins using the notebook to kill criminals, believing that in doing so, he could scare the world into becoming more law-abiding.
He finds an equal and opponent in L, the elusive international detective hired to find and prove the identity of the mysterious string of murders.
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* TheAce: On the surface, Light is a handsome, athletic genius with countless friends and incredible skill at getting women. His status as this mixed with his own childishness is one of the main fuels for his god complex.
* AdaptationNameChange: The American Netflix movie changes his surname from "Yagami" to "Turner".
* AdaptationalHeroism:
** The films actually manage to make both this and AdaptationalVillainy apply to him. In the films, his StartOfDarkness involves the law being held on a BrokenPedestal, whereas the anime/manga version is a perfectionist. On the same coin, in the films, he ends up JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope much sooner than he did in the anime and manga, to the extent that he tried to kill his own father to prevent the Death Note from being analyzed.
** In the TV drama, he deeply cares about his family (even if he has a strained relationship with his father), actually returns Misa's feelings and was able to save people using the Death Note (getting rid of JerkJock Souta and saving his father from his mother's murderer).
* AdaptationalVillainy: The films actually manage to make this and AdaptationalHeroism apply to him. In the films, his StartOfDarkness involves the law being held on a BrokenPedestal, whereas the anime/manga version is a perfectionist who couldn't deal with the fact that he accidentally killed someone (thus, he reasons that it was okay, since the dude was an asshole, and that it's okay to kill criminals). On the same coin, in the films, he ends up JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope much sooner than he did in the anime and manga, to the extent that he tried to kill his own father to prevent the Death Note from being analyzed.
* AdultFear: In "The Last Name", he seemed genuinely concerned about Sayu provoking the second Kira.
* AgeLift: Every adaptation of the series initially starts off in ThePresentDay, and thus, in the films, manga, and anime, Light is a child of TheEighties. By the TV drama, airing in 2015, his birth year is shifted to as late as 1995.
* AlasPoorVillain: The ending of the anime when he is defeated in the end.
** Certainly just after Matsuda shoots him. The way he calls out to Takada and Misa, asking what he should do now that he's lost and going to die, is pretty heartwrenching.
** Also in the manga. He lays bloody on the ground, all allies having died or abandoned him, knowing that his death is coming. As his heart gives out, Light repeats over and over how he doesn't want to die, like a helpless child. Pitiable for some.
** From dying in his father's arms in the movies, to being ''burned alive'' in the television drama, Light's respective ends in live-action adaptations tends to be pretty horrific, too.
* AllForNothing: He sets out to be [[SerialKillerKiller Kira]] in order to, [[MotiveDecay at least at first,]] create a better, more just world. By the end, after several years, all he accomplishes [[spoiler: is getting [[HoistByHisOwnPetard himself]] and [[NiceJobBreakingItHero his father]] killed, and virtually everyone else in his personal life either [[KilledOffForReal dead]] or [[BreaktheCutie broken.]] And the crime rate, [[HopeSpot which had been reduced by 70%?]] [[ShootTheShaggyDog Shoots right back up after he's dead and gone]]]].
* AintTooProudToBeg: In the manga ending, after being shot, Light asks Ryuk to write the names of his last enemies into his Death Note. Instead, Ryuk writes Light's own name into the book and shows it to him.
* AllAccordingToPlan: Almost everything that happens to him goes "exactly as planned".
* AllergicToRoutine: Now if Light could have found some other intellectually engaging hobby the entire plot probably would not have happened.
* AloofBigBrother: To Sayu.
* AlternateCharacterReading: Light's name is very unusual ([[WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs as in what were his parents smoking]] [[http://silentpokefreak01.deviantart.com/art/Death-Note-Motivational-217376451]]) and this is {{Lampshaded}} [[WhoNamesTheirKidDude by several characters]]. It is read as Light but spelled with the kanji ''[[GenderBlenderName Tsuki]]'' or moon making it a MeaningfulName since the kanji has [[FourIsDeath four strokes]] and LightIsNotGood. Also a bilingual pun on "moonlight". Light or Raito is also a bilingual pun on ''Right'' or Righteous and ''Write'' as in writing.
* AmateurSleuth: [[{{Backstory}} Before picking up the Death Note.]]
* AmbiguousDisorder: He's undeniably insane, but it's never clarified where exactly it comes from. Between his monster [[AGodAmI god complex]], inability to cope with [[BlackAndWhiteInsanity any perceived evil]], and constant [[GigglingVillain manic laughter]], there's definitely something wrong with him; that's all without even discussing the fact that he picks up mass-murder like a new, exciting hobby. For the record, WordOfGod states that the reason Light [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope went off the deep end]] was because he was a perfectionist and couldn't reconcile that with the fact that he had unintentionally murdered someone except through InsaneTrollLogic.
* AmbiguouslyGay: Light has no interest in women, [[EffeminateMisogynisticGuy finding them useless and annoying]], and only uses the assumption of sexuality to cover his criminal activities. WordOfGod is that Light is probably not capable of loving a woman. However, this might very well make him ambiguously asexual if anything.
** [[AvertedTrope Averted]] in the live action films, since he seems to displays some feelings for Shiori, but since [[HoYay he still has some subtext with L,]] he could still count as AmbiguouslyBi.
* AmnesiacDissonance: Averted; he gives up his memories of being Kira, then his mind-wiped self tries to [[ClearMyName clear his name]] by joining a task force devoted to capturing Kira. Although he still keeps his intelligence and ''says'' that his thought patterns are similar to Kira's, his personality changes to that of a decent person rather than the self-righteous, prideful WellIntentionedExtremist[=/=]KnightTemplar he was before that would be willing to use the Death Note (the most jarring is the difference in how he treats Misa: while he was perfectly happy to seduce and manipulate her when they first met, memory-less Light vigorously opposes L's efforts to do the same). Even if he doesn't sympathize with Kira because he wants to clear his name, the personality change was the series' only notable headache. But when he gets his memories back, there's no dissonance - just a PsychoticSmirk. Everything that happened went "[[AllAccordingToPlan Exactly as planned]]."
* AmnesiacsAreInnocent: A deliberately InvokedTrope during Light's MemoryGambit. Yotsuba!Light is warm, open, kind and a NiceGuy because he doesn't remember he is Kira.
* AntagonisticOffspring: Light is a mass murderer, and his father Soichiro is the police chief trying to stop him. However, Soichiro wants to believe his son is innocent.
* AntagonistInMourning: He feels a profound sense of boredom, if not outright loss, when he finally defeats L, and considers L's successor Near as not worthy of taking up the mantle.
** Initially however, Light is ecstatic to have beaten him, literally dancing on his grave in the compilation special. It's only after a several year time skip of basically having the world in his pocket that he starts missing him.
* AntiHero: A PayEvilUntoEvil type until he [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope dives over the edge]] and becomes a straight up VillainProtagonist.
* AntiVillain: A WellIntentionedExtremist. Again until he [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope jumps off the slippery slope]].
** The TV Drama puts him closer to here throughout the series. He genuinely cares about his family, Misa, and Teru's safety.
* AppropriatedAppellation: "Kira", the {{Engrish}} pronunciation of "killer," [[BilingualBonus also means]] "sparkling," "shining," or "[[AtrociousAlias glitter]]" in Japanese. Additionally, Kira is also a Russian name by origin and is the feminine version of Cyrus. Cyrus comes from the Greek Κυρος (Kyros) which is the Greek version of the Persian name Kürush which may mean "far sighted" or "young" — this, in and of itself, may refer to Light's grand, far-reaching dreams and his own youth and inexperience. Where it gets more interesting, however is that the name is also sometimes associated with the Greek κυριος (kyrios), meaning "lord." Indeed, the Greek word Kyrios means "lord, Lord, and Master" and in religious usage designates God, appearing 740 times in the New Testament referring to Jesus. Consider, though, that one of the songs in the Death Note soundtrack is titled "Kyrie" which is a transliteration of Greek κύριε (kyrie) and a vocative case of κύριος (kyrios). An interesting connection, [[FauxSymbolism even if it wasn't done intentionally.]]
* {{Asexuality}}: He uses love and sexuality as a cover for his schemes, and WordOfGod confirms that Light is probably incapable of love. He also, while using a PornStash as a cover story while being watched, finds the porn to be incredibly boring.
* AwesomeMcCoolname: "Light" is written with the kanji for "moon" and "Yagami" is written with the kanji for "night" and "god".
* AwesomenessByAnalysis: This is his forte; quite a lot of his scenes involve a running inner dialogue where the audience hears him analyzing the scene around him, taking stock of his circumstances and options, and planning his next move. And of course after his genius plans come to fruition, he has to go over them in detail so that the audience has a chance to figure out what exactly just happened.
* AxCrazy: In ''the very first episode'', he locks himself into his darkened bedroom, pulls out his Death Note, opens it up to reveal all the pages and pages of names of the people he's killed, ''smiles'' down at it, and then breaks out into creepy, creepy laughter. That being said, he's ''very'' good at hiding it.
* BadBoss: Light rules his circle of supporters, namely Misa, Ryuk, Takada, and Mikami, with an iron fist. And although he's always polite, accommodating, and courteous to the Japanese Anti-Kira Taskforce, there's really no other way to take plotting their deaths. However... in retrospect, Ryuk was free to do whatever the hell he pleased... and that includes penciling in Light's own name into the Death Note.
** Misa quite possibly gets the shortest end of the stick. She devoted herself to serving him, gave up half her lifespan for him ''twice'', and endured brutal torture to protect him, and Light ''still'' sees her as nothing but a pawn to be manipulated and then disposed of.
** Justified in that Light is extremely security-conscious, and his success rests largely on the people in his command, both as Kira and the second L, not screwing up. Due to this, he kills or tries to kill almost everyone who helps him throughout the series.
* BadDreams: During his first week of judgments in the manga; he also has a psychotic NightmareSequence in ''Relight 2''.
* BadassArmFold: Light has done this pose on occasion when chatting [[TheRival with L.]]
* BadassBookworm: He's the top ranked student in the country and his room is filled with books - though he's only interested in [[ArtifactOfDeath one book in particular]].
* BadassInANiceSuit: He always looks professional, you've got to give him that.
* BarredFromTheAfterlife: Light was said by Ryuk to be preemptively banned from entering Heaven or even Hell from the moment he finished scribbling the first name in his Death Note. Of course, it turns out there is no Heaven or Hell in the first place, so go figure.
* BastardlySpeech:
** Gives one after L's death.
** Following his father's death, when Matsuda is questioning whether capturing Kira is right or wrong, Light says that history will favor the victor; Kira will be seen as a criminal if he's caught, and will be seen as justice if he prevails. While this is meant to come across as a suggestion that the investigation team will be vindicated if they are successful, it also represents Light's belief that the world will soon come to accept him.
* BatmanGambit: He's a master at manipulation. His entire period of amnesia and what followed is a clear example.
* BeautyIsBad: Undoubtedly.
* BecameTheirOwnAntithesis: Compare Light with the notebook and Light without the notebook: Without the notebook- an honorable, highly empathic, idealistic teen [[RousseauWasRight who believes in the inherent goodness of man.]] With the notebook- a petty, egotistical, manipulative, vindictive, lying murderer with a God complex who believes MurderIsTheBestSolution.
* BerserkButton: Don't suggest what Kira is doing is wrong. You'll end up dead of a heart attack.
* BigBad: As the main VillainProtagonist and, later, ShadowDictator.
* BigBrotherInstinct: [[KnightTemplarBigBrother Initially, (in fact, in the manga, this is part of his initial justification]] [[MotiveDecay for using the Death Note]]) [[TheDarkSideWillMakeYouForget but ends up being one of the many things forgotten by the Dark Side]]. Poor, poor Sayu.
* BigManOnCampus: He is very popular and has lots of friends. This is shown more in the manga than in the anime.
* BigSleep: In the anime, at least. When he was killed by Ryuk in front of the police in the manga, he DiesWideOpen.
* {{Bishonen}}: ''Very'' much so. Though his features do coarsen a bit as the series progresses as he becomes older and nastier.
* BilingualBonus: In the 1st live-action movie, he was reading [[http://www.amazon.de/Jenseits-von-Gut-B%C3%B6se-Streitschrift/dp/3458324623 this German book]].
* BitchInSheepsClothing: He acts polite, understanding, and caring towards the people around him, but in reality he's a ManipulativeBastard with [[AGodAmI a God complex]]. And boy, when that facade drops, can he get ''nasty''.
* BlackAndWhiteInsanity: Falls into this more and more as the series progresses. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]]: People matching the diagnostic criteria for [[{{Narcissist}} narcissistic personality disorder]] use black and white thinking, called splitting, as a central defense mechanism; they separate mental concepts into good versus evil, say, as an attempt to stabilize the sense of self in order to preserve self-esteem. Throughout the series Light certainly does show clear indications of perceiving himself as purely upright or admirable and others who do not conform to his will or values as purely wicked or contemptible.
* BloodbathVillainOrigin: He begins his first week as Kira by killing so many people that Ryuk, a god of death, is surprised.
* ABoyAndHisX: A Boy And His Shinigami. Ryuk became Light's main ally after he discovered the Death Note.
* BrainyBrunette: A brown-haired EvilGenius.
* BreakTheHaughty: This happens a bit every time he gets OutGambitted by his opponents, although he's fairly good at bouncing back. And, of course, his death counts as a truly epic example.
* BrilliantButLazy: In the first volume of the manga it seems people ''think'' he's this-Light's teacher throws chalk in his face for spacing out in class. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in that he's worried that he just killed someone. Also normal high school subjects probably aren't that interesting to a super-genius who already knows the subject material.
* BringMyRedJacket: This is what he wears when he doesn't have a white or black shirt on.
* BrokenAce: There are hints in the series that Light wasn't entirely stable even before finding the Death Note; being so effortlessly perfect while surrounded by a world that he considered "rotten" while having little ability to fix it left him bored and seemingly depressed. And of course, as the series progresses he uses his near-inhuman charm to cover up his true nature.
* BrokenMessiah: [[InvokedTrope Invoked]] word for word in the first opening credits (''"Doushite? Boku wa kowareta meshia?"''). Light was the first victim of the Death Note - he was very [[NiceGuy nice]] and very pure [[BreakTheCutie before realizing the notebook was real]] - then it was only a matter of how fast and how far he would fall.
* BrownEyes: His character inverts the symbolism; stable, trustworthy, and normal Light is ''not.''
* BrutalHonesty: Although it's a contrast to his usual approach to those around him, Light uses this tactic with Misa, most notably when he is just getting to know her and is sounding her out for motivation, understanding of the situation, and so forth.
* TheButcher: His kill-count earns him the name "Kira," an {{Engrish}} pronunciation of "killer."
* ByronicHero: A villainous one. Physically attractive, cunning and intelligent, arrogant with a [[AGodAmI major God complex]], prone to quiet brooding when things don't go his way, very passionate about his ideals, and absolutely convinced that what he is doing is right.
** He could also be a deconstruction of one: While people in and out of the series think he's misunderstood, he is genuinely evil and dangerous. Of course the "misunderstood" conception changes at the end, at least in-universe.
* TheCaligula: Kira makes for a dangerously insane ruler. The God of the New World does not like it when people question the way he does things. Dissenters are likely to find their names in a certain little black book.
* CallingCard: "L do you know..."
* CantTakeCriticism: Suggesting what Kira is doing is wrong is a very good way to end up dead; in fact, Light's immediate reaction to the fake L badmouthing him on national television was to kill him on the spot. He also walks out on a family meeting where [[ObliviousGuiltSlinging his father is calling Kira nothing but a murderer]] and later he looks visibly upset when the taskforce begins to (rightly) doubt his innocence again.
** Played with as well, when Light decides to "support" his father's decision to pursue Kira despite the imminent danger this puts him in.
-->'''Light''': If anything happens to you... I will personally put an end to Kira.
** And once again, when L introduces himself to Light. Light claims to have nothing but respect and admiration for someone who'd try so hard to hunt Kira down.
* CatchPhrase: Say it with me everybody...
** "I am the [[AGodAmI GOD of the NEW WORLD!]]"
** "[[AllAccordingToPlan Just as planned]]."
** "I am JUSTICE!" (this one is [[StrangeMindsThinkAlike shared with L.]])
** [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial "I'm not Kira."]]
* CelibateHero: Or rather, Celibate Villain. [[PlayingWithATrope Zigzagged]]: In the manga he dates as many as four women at a time to deflect suspicion, and has romantic trysts with Takada after becoming the second L in order to manipulate her into doing his bidding. However, he doesn't really care about romance or sex, so played straight in that regard.
* CharacterDevelopment: He changes so much over the course of the series you almost have to have the CharacterizationTags: [[DullEyesOfUnhappiness pre-note Light]], [[WideEyedIdealist early]]-[[VisionaryVillain note Light]], cackling-villainy Light, [[GoKartingWithBowser Tennis-with-L Light,]] [[NiceGuy Yotsuba Light]], [[AntagonistInMourning post-L Light]], [[SanitySlippage rapidly-losing-grip-on-remaining-sanity Light,]] etc.
* TheCharmer: When all else fails he switches to this tactic of [[ManipulativeBastard manipulation]] in order to get someone's name or to save himself.
* TheChessmaster: He manipulates and uses pretty much everyone he comes into contact with.
* ChickMagnet: Let's count all of the names that pop up in the manga: Emi and Shiho (whom he mentions to Ryuk), Yuri (Spaceland Girl) and Mayu (whom Misa cites as competition), Kiyomi Takada (who begins her role in the story as the girl who asked him out in college) and of course Misa Amane herself. During college he had about five or six girlfriends.
** Plus Shiori, his girlfriend from the films.
* TheChosenOne: {{Subverted}}. When Ryuk appears, Light asks him why he gave Light the Death Note. Ryuk laughs in his face and tells him he dropped the Note so ''anyone'' can find it. It's the reason the instructions are written in English, the most popular language in the world.
* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: Light betrays, has betrayed, or plans on betraying effectively everyone who was ever close in any way to him.
* ClaspYourHandsIfYouDeceive: He's done this on occasion: [[http://cdn.motinetwork.net/demotivationalposters.net/image/demotivational-poster/0907/gendo-pose-gendo-ikari-neon-genesis-evangelion-eva-anime-man-demotivational-poster-1249033157.jpg]]
* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: Official color seems to be red. Also wears a lot of [[ObviouslyEvil black]] and [[LightIsNotGood white]].
* ComplexityAddiction: Something of a defining trait, as established early after he figures out that he needs to hide the Death Note.
* TheConscience: Memoryless Light is ironically this for L.
* ConsummateLiar: [[NotSoDifferent L]] asks Light if he seriously considers himself to be the polar opposite of this while the audience understands that Light is actually this:
-->'''L:''' "Tell me, Light. From the moment you were born, can you honestly say you've never lied?"
* ConvenientlySeated: Light gets the symbolic window seat, and it also gives him a great view to the yard where the Death Note gets dropped.
* CosmicPlaything: He found the Death Note completely at random (if Ryuk is to be believed) and is heavily hinted to have been doomed from the beginning.
* CradlingYourKill: His rival, L, dies in his arms in "Silence". Of course, he did it with a SlasherSmile.
* CramSchool: He attends one despite being WAY too smart to need it.
* CrazyPrepared: Played with. When he starts acting as Kira, he rigs his desk to burst into flame if anyone tries to find the Death Note, has three different ways to tell if someone has been in his room - even ''before'' gaining the notebook - and is shown spending hours going over his past actions and future plans, as well as what's been reported in the news. He looks for mistakes and possible holes, and memorizes what has been reported, so L can't trip him up. Later, due to his raging god complex and his sense of complete superiority, he starts to view himself as invincible, and stops being so well-prepared. It doesn't end well for him.
* CrazySane: [[GoMadFromTheRevelation Light can't cope with the knowledge that he has killed two people.]] In order to justify his first (accidental) murders of criminals he has to convince himself that they needed to be killed. [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope But then why stop there?]] So in order to make things right by his own moral code he has to kill more because it's the responsible thing to do, that he'll use this power for "good" --no matter the price. [[InsaneTrollLogic He convinces himself that the real crime would be NOT to use the Death Note to change the world.]] The God complex swiftly follows, no doubt accelerated by the need to look interesting to Ryuk and L's very public challenging of him. All of this happens with alarming speed, and it explains why Light during the MemoryGambit has such a different personality and is horrified by the possibility that he could be Kira. Without the memory of having killed and what affect it had on his mind, he's a completely different person.
* CrucifiedHeroShot:
** The cover art of Volume 12 of the manga.
** Also during the second ending theme song's animation, although if you blink you'll miss it.
* CursedWithAwesome: [[PlayingWithATrope Though]] ''[[PlayingWithATrope he]]'' [[PlayingWithATrope doesn't think of it as a curse.]]
* CuteAndPsycho: Horror has never [[http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lightbedtimefanart.jpg been]] [[http://view.thespectrum.net/series/death-note-volume-01.html?ch=Volume+01&page=46 so]] [[http://www.macrochan.org/view.php?u=DWFPNREYPYS4DFJWR35L6US637WUVJST adorable.]] Many people have remarked that he [[http://browse.deviantart.com/?q=death%20note%20light%20motivational&order=9&offset=24#/d3myg5u looks]] [[http://browse.deviantart.com/?q=death%20note%20light%20motivational&order=9&offset=72#/d41mxwp a bit like]] ZacEfron.
* CutenessProximity: In the manga Light seems to have this reaction around ''Ryuk'' who Light refers to as "[[UglyCute cute.]]"
-->'''Light:''' Ryuk, you're so silly!
* DarkMessiah: "The Savior, the Messenger from Hell."
* TheDarkSideWillMakeYouForget: While he starts out killing criminals with the idea of it bringing about justice, he starts to slip once the authorities get on his case, as he begins to kill innocent people for merely getting in his way. It gets worse after the TimeSkip, where he has fully bought into the idea of being the God of his own new world, and he toys with the idea of also beginning to target people just for being lazy.
* DarkerAndEdgier: When compared to Taro Kagami, the Death Note user from the pilot chapter. Though even he decided to keep ''his'' Death Note...
** Ye gods, Light in the live-action movies! It makes his anime counterpart seem downright ''cuddly'' in comparison.
* DeathGlare: Don't screw up his plans. Just... don't.
* DeclarationOfProtection:
** Rem forces him, under direct threat of death, to adopt this mindset towards Misa in regards to his plans during the events that lead up to the Yotsuba arc.
** As a more genuine example, this is Light's attitude towards his little sister, Sayu. In the manga, though, he considers murdering her at one point, and lets her live only because he opts to gamble with her life--and their father's life--in order to find and kill Mello and get the second Death Note back.
* DeepCoverAgent: [[HeelFaceMindScrew He acts]] [[MemoryGambit as his own]] ManchurianAgent.
* DeskJockey: We rarely see him leave his desk during either the Yotsuba arc or the second arc, his "investigation" with Kiyomi Takada aside. He inherits this from L.
* DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife: In the first episode, but then he finds one.
** After L's death in the anime, he seems to be quite listless and empty, EvilGloating aside; he only really perks up when Mello and Near come onto the playing field.
* DespotismJustifiesTheMeans: Over time, his plans start to become more about becoming a god and less about making the world a better place. However, post-timeskip he once again begins to prominently talk about his "utopia", and thinks that eventually everyone will accept him as the ultimate arbiter of justice.
* {{Determinator}}: "Childish and hates to lose."
** Light as Kira is (from his perspective) on a [[KnightTemplar holy crusade against Evil]]. He's never going to quit his mission for the sake of his friends, family, or "true love." Sorry Misa and sorry [[MarySue fan]][[YaoiFangirl girls]].
* DevilInPlainSight: For the audience, and, later, Aizawa, Mogi and Ide.
* DevotedToYou: Misa is hopelessly obsessed with him and will do ''anything'' for him. She'd rather die than live any kind of life without him.
* DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife: His state of being as the series begins. He despises the state of the world, finds no challenge or meaning in anything, has no hobbies, views his highest ambitions as a matter of the course of time, and yet ''always does everything perfectly'', like laughing at jokes that aren't funny told by people he may even loathe because good, clean-cut students socialize, and studying for exams he could pass in his sleep. He shows symptoms of a clinically depressed possible psychopath, with reputation-defense and control issues to beat the band. And his egomaniacal tendencies begin to dominate his personality after he finds his purpose in conquering the world by fear and murder once he got his hands on the Death Note.
* DidYouJustScamCthulhu[=/=]DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: Light manipulates Rem into killing L and Watari in order to save Misa. Because this deliberately lengthened Misa's life - a big no-no for Gods of Death - it ensures that Rem will die as well.
* DirtyCoward: In the manga, at least. He has no problem sentencing others to death, but when faced with his own mortality, he frantically begs Ryuk to save him. It doesn't work.
* DisproportionateRetribution:
** He sentences ''a purse-snatcher'' to death.
** He considers eventually killing people for ''laziness''. [[PragmaticVillainy "Eventually" being the operative word]]; when his acolyte Teru Mikami openly declares slackers fair game, Light thinks he's gone too far.
** The utterly heinous crime of getting in his way.
* DissonantSerenity: He can remain perfectly calm and go about his daily routine while knowing full well that people are dying by his hand. The anime even shows a sequence, early on, that places scenes of criminals dying, sometimes violently, in-between scenes of Light walking to school, playing a game at gym, and opening a bag of chips at lunch.
* DoNotAdjustYourSet: He and Misa set several of these up throughout the course of the series, sometimes on national TV, sometimes on private laptops.
* DoesntLikeGuns: He refuses to accept a handgun for self-defense in the middle of a car chase. He has some less than pleasant experiences with guns throughout the series.
* DomesticAbuser: Light takes his anger out on, controls, demeans, deceives, and initially plans to kill Misa. For various reasons, he doesn't go with it, and eventually chooses to erase her memories instead.
* DontTellMama: "You ''told'' my father that I'm a suspect?!"
* DoomMagnet: Complete with LampshadeHanging.
* DoomedProtagonist: Kind of a given when you've picked up an ArtifactOfDeath; there's also more {{Foreshadowing}} when Ryuk informs Light that humans who come into contact with Shinigami have nothing but misfortune. Light assures him "[[{{Pride}} I'll show you the break in that pattern."]]. The "How To Read" caption on that picture says that "Light suffered a pathetic end. This line reveals his arrogance."
* DoubleConsciousness: "Don't panic. I have to act like Soichiro Yagami's son Light would act." Also made obvious with the fracturing image symbolism in the second opening credits. Also {{Lampshaded}} by L when he asks Light how, [[AmateurSleuth as a detective]], he would go about trapping Kira:
-->'''L:''' Absolutely amazing. The thing is I've asked countless investigators that same question and it took them minutes to even come up with an answer. But you, Light. [[OpenMouthInsertFoot You immediately thought of a scenario where Kira was talking directly to the investigators.]] I'm impressed. You'll make a ''fine'' detective someday.
* DrunkWithPower: While it's clear that Light always was a bit of a troubled man, had he not picked up the Death Note he would have most likely gone on to live a good clean life simply due to the hold society has on him. After getting the Death Note and being forced to deal with the fact that he unwittingly ''murdered'' two people so easily, his darker ambitions take over and drive him towards his God complex.
* DullEyesOfUnhappiness: Seen in episode 1 before finding his "purpose." Also in episode 26 when [[AntagonistInMourning trying to adjust to a world without L in it.]]
* TheDutifulSon: Probably the most horrible deconstruction of this. Light is more or less what is considered to be the perfect Japanese son, and the majority of his god complex seems to be linked to the praise he receives for it.
* DyingAlone:
** Although in the anime, there is an appearance from what appears to be L's ghost. This may or may not be a DyingDream.
** [[AvertedTrope Averted]] in the manga and [[DiedInYourArmsTonight film]].
* DyingAsYourself: Possibly at the end of the anime. Now that he's finally undone, the weight of everything he's done seems to finally hit him... a little too late.
* EngineeredHeroism: Well, he's perfectly happy [[SoProudOfYou soaking up lots of praise from the Taskforce]] for working to stop Kira... while being Kira.
* EtTuBrute: When the taskforce begins to turn against him in Season 2, [[DullEyesOfUnhappiness it's clear]] ''he'' sees it as a betrayal. Also the end of the series, "Matsuda, I thought you understood!" The manga finishes it up with Mikami screaming "YOU'RE NOT GOD!!"
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: He genuinely cares about his family ([[TheDeterminator not that that would ever stop him]] [[TheUnfettered from going through with his plans.]]) Although "he's likely not capable of loving a woman," he does "possess love for his family and for humanity as a whole." [[AdaptationalVillainy Averted in the second live-action film,]] wherein he writes Soichiro's name in the Death Note, [[EvenEvilHasStandards shocking even Misa to the point of tears]]. And just when we thought it couldn't get worse, it did: he dies in Soichiro's arms (who, by the way, survives here), begging him to believe that he [[FreudianExcuse acted as Kira to put justice, which Soichiro had taught him about since childhood, into effect]]. However, despite what he does in the live-action films, he was horrified to see [[MoralityPet his sister]] risk her life against the second Kira. In the original manga at least, the author does note that "Light would never kill his own father so [the author] worked hard to make the death an accident."
* EvenEvilHasStandards:
** He is initially dismayed when Mikami's killing spree extends even to relatively innocent people guilty of such minor acts as being lazy, but later thinks to himself only that it's "too early to be making statements like that," suggesting he may agree. Explicit in the manga when he actually toys with this very idea early on in the story.
** Light set up matters in the second arc so that he couldn't kill his little sister without incriminating himself. Though that's after he considers actually doing it.
** In the anime, Light looks quite irritated when [[JackTheRipOff a second Kira]] appears and uses his name to kill innocent newscasters and police officers for "no good reason."
** Light looks quite shocked when Misa offers to kill her friend who helped her distribute the Kira tapes.
** It's also possible that he felt pain when his father died and Light would never intentionally kill his own father.
** In general Light is disgusted by ''any'' crime ([[MoralMyopia unless of course he's the one doing it; in which case it's perfectly justified]]).
* EvenTheGuysWantHim:
** In the first episode of Death Note, a surprising number of men seem to be checking out Light. At each crossing he stops at, someone is giving him a sideways glance. And then there's his slightly too agog teacher when he listens to Light translate some lines to Japanese.
** Let's see, you've got like every background character in episode 1, Ryuk follows him around everywhere, Raye Penber The Stalker, L and his weird obsession and surveillance cameras, Misa showing up on his door step, Takada directly asking him out, Matsuda and Mikami the Fanboys, and Near with his creepy smiles and he keeps calling and hanging up... [[IncrediblyLamePun Kira is a wanted man.]]
* EvilAllAlong: Although he kept up the act of being a friend, or at least a decent co-worker, to L, Matsuda, and the rest of the taskforce, he is the mass murderer they've all been searching for. And although he would rather not kill off the taskforce, preferring instead to manipulate and deceive them, he will not hesitate to get rid of them if he feels that he needs to.
* EvilCannotComprehendGood:
** When Soichiro tries to arrest Mello rather than using the Death Note on him as Light expected, despite the fact that Mello had kidnapped and [[BreakTheCutie traumatized]] Sayu, Light is unable to comprehend why.
*** Averted. Light knows exactly why. He merely considers it [[StupidGood an act of idiocy]] on Soichiro's part. In the manga, he even expresses concerns that Soichiro won't be able to kill Mello if the situation calls for it.
** After Mello kidnaps Takada and is killed in subsequent events. Light, whose first loyalty is to his own survival, cannot conceive that someone like Mello would sacrifice himself for any reason and [[ThanatosGambit walks right into the trap convinced that Mello was just an idiot.]] Although not exactly hero and villain, this is clearly a case of selfishness cannot comprehend loyalty. It's worth noting that with other characters that are more clearly good guys, Light tends to have better success predicting their behavior - Near is an example - but, perhaps because Mello demonstrates a kindred disregard for human life early on, Light simply assumes that the other is driven by greed rather than revenge.
*** The above example is only valid if one assumes the interpretation that Mello's death really was a willing sacrifice, which was never confirmed.
* EvilCounterpart: To L.
* EvilGenius: Unquestionably genius. How and if he is evil depends on the point in the story; he starts off rather anti-heroic, but definitely is evil by the story's conclusion.
* EvilGloating: He practically dances on L's grave while bragging about his victory over the GreatDetective. Also, when he writes Naomi Misora's name in the Death Note, he openly admits to her that he's Kira just to see the look on her face before she dies. This winds up backfiring when he finally meets Near face to face and puts his endgame into action, only to realize he was outwitted with him being told straight up that by declaring "I win" he pretty implicated himself.
* EvilIsNotWellLit: His bedroom always seems to be dark, save for the light from his computer and television; as you can imagine, he has several eerie FaceFramedInShadow moments.
* EvilIsPetty: He has shades of this. Case in point: he kills Lind L. Taylor on national television simply because he was pissed that Taylor badmouthed him.
* EvilLaugh: [[GigglingVillain He's got some evil chuckles spread out throughout the series]] and [[LaughingMad the one in]] the GrandFinale is [[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=C65oaIHsdYM legendary]].
** [[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qd7fHOCcGnE English version.]]
** Not to mention the one he comes out with after L bests him for the second time, at his university entrance ceremony.
* EvilOverlooker: A few times, such as during the opening and closing themes, symbolically and literally overseeing his New World.
* EvilPlan: MotiveDecay changes it from the well-intentioned 'eliminate crime' to the insane 'become god of a new world'.
* EvilRedhead: Light's hair is stylistically colored blood-red when he's feeling particularly vile, along with his [[RedEyesTakeWarning eyes]], but even when that's not the case, his hair is closer to auburn than brown and the reddest in the cast.
* ExplainingYourPowerToTheEnemy: As part of his MemoryGambit, Light makes sure that L reads the rules of the Death Note so that his own fake rules, in the context of the other real rules, come across as legitimate.
* ExpressiveHair: Whenever he freaks out, his normally tidily combed hair becomes wild and messy.
* TheExtremistWasRight: During his MotiveRant, Light says that wars have stopped and crime has dropped 70% because of Kira. He succeeded in scaring the shit out of most of the world as an anonymous "God" and [[PersonOfMassDestruction walking deterrent.]]
* FaceOfAnAngelMindOfADemon: He's pretty good-looking for an evil mastermind.
* FallenHero: He was a NiceGuy and AmateurSleuth before becoming a SerialKiller.
* FalseFriend: A mutual example with L. Their supposed friendship is completely insincere on both sides.
** Also to Matsuda. Aizawa, Ide, and Mogi never seemed closer to Light than "co-worker," but Matsuda considered him a friend, probably because the two had Soichiro, who was Light's father and Matsuda's mentor, in common.
*** His relationship with Matsuda is probably closer then any of the other detectives since he believes that Matsuda is a BlackShirt who believes in [[AGodAmI Kira's justice]]. [[CurbStompBattle He was wrong]]. And of course, Light didn't hesitate to have Matsuda killed along with the other detectives.
* FamilyValuesVillain: Light doesn't approve of any crime. He is also a firm believer of that credo "respect the police ''and'' pressure them into murdering your enemies."
* FatalFlaw: His overwhelming pride, which reaches [[AGodAmI God complex]] levels at its worst and blinds him to the point where he refuses to even ''consider'' the possibility that he could ever lose.
* FauxAffablyEvil: He puts up a cool, polite, and friendly act, but in reality, he looks down on everyone around him.
** A particular example is when he's just written Misora's name in the Death Note. The moment she realizes that he is Kira and the Death Note takes effect, he asks her what the matter is and casually turns his phone back on, telling Naomi she can speak to his father now.
* FearIsTheAppropriateResponse: Light tends to panic when things don't go according to plan.
* FluffyTamer: "You shinigami are so cute!" ([[http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/chickenzombies8_7202.jpg Parodied in this doujinshi.]])
* FoolishSiblingResponsibleSibling: Sayu and Light, though subverted once Light becomes Kira.
* FreakOut: One of the most famous in all of anime.
** He has several smaller ones whenever it looks like his plans might fail.
* FreudianExcuse: In the TV drama, his mother dies when he is young, and due to his father's absence he is forced to act as [[PromotionToParent Sayu's parental figure]].
* FriendlessBackground: Though he's very popular [[IntelligenceEqualsIsolation Light doesn't seem to be particularly close to]] ''[[EatingLunchAlone anyone]]''. This varies somewhat from the manga to the anime. In the manga, Light is seen casually joking while walking home with friends, while in the anime, Light is shown pointedly declining an invitation to hang out and eating lunch alone. He had many friends though, and he was able to get a large group together when going out looking for the Second Kira.
* GadgetWatches: Light hides a piece of his Death Note inside his watch, meaning he can kill anyone at any time as long as he's not being watched carefully.
* GambitRoulette: A number of his plans rely more on luck and coincidence than genuine planning; so much that this trope was once called the Yagami Gambit. The most famous of his plans being, of course, is the MemoryGambit.
* GeniusBruiser: While he's not a fighter, Light is also the best Athlete at his school, along with the best student.
* GigglingVillain: He does this a lot, especially in his inner monologues. And when he does, your guts will squirm.
* GlowingEyesOfDoom: Such pretty [[RedEyesTakeWarning red eyes]].
* GoKartingWithBowser: He and L do this throughout the first arc.
* AGodAmI: After picking up the Death Note, Light sets out to become the God of the New World. Eventually, he declares himself to be God, at least in his own mind. By the final few chapters, Light has become so convinced of his own superiority to everyone else that he can't even comprehend the idea that he might fail. Even after he's caught, he outright declares himself God to the police.
* GodzillaThreshold: In the manga and live action films, he hits it during the final confrontation after being shot by Matsuda. Having run out of plans and been exposed as Kira, Light begs Ryuk to help him by writing the names of Near and the task force in his Death Note. Instead, Ryuk writes Light's own name in the Death Note, outright saying that since Light was desperate enough to turn to him for help instead of having a backup plan, then it was all over for him.
* GoodEyesEvilEyes: Before he jumps off the deep end and when he gives up his memories and becomes truly innocent, his eyes are [[WideEyedIdealist wide]]. When he is acting as Kira, contemplating and executing murder plots and plans for godhood, his eyes are noticeably narrower.
* GutFeeling: Among other situations, if Light hadn't felt this about Naomi Misora, the story would have had a very different ending.
* HannibalLecture: Light delivers one, MotiveRant style, after he's cornered and exposed as Kira. As noted below, Near responds with a KirkSummation.
* HarmfulToMinors: [[EvilIsNotAToy Death Note: Keep Out of Reach of Anyone.]]
* HatesBeingTouched: Misa never catches on.
* HeterosexualLifePartners: With [[VillainousFriendship Ryuk]]. Also fakes being this with both L and Matsuda whenever he benefits from it. It's mutual with L, but Matsuda genuinely believes them to be best friends.
* HeWhoFightsMonsters: It arguably takes only one chapter for him to become a monster (i.e. killing Lind L. Taylor).
** And he keeps on going from there. As the crusader against criminals, Light becomes the worst of them all. Ryuk even [[LampshadeHanging lampshades it]], remarking that Light will most likely eventually be the only evil person left in the world once his plan succeeds.
* HeelFaceBrainwashing: Which he pulls on ''himself'' via supernatural notebook.
* HeelFaceTurn: He gets rid of his memories and becomes far nicer. It doesn't last, though.
* HelplessGoodSide: [[NiceGuy Yotsuba!Light]] is a TechnicalPacifist who believes he's not even ''capable'' of killing and [[DoesntLikeGuns won't even accept a handgun]] [[TheFettered for self-defense.]]
* HeManWomanHater: Hates women, believing them to be an annoyance or a distraction. And, while Misa isn't very intelligent, he believes this even after meeting Takada, his mother, and sister, who are quite intelligent.
* HighSchoolSweethearts: He's College Sweethearts with Kiyomi.
* HiredToHuntYourself: Turned UpToEleven when he becomes the new L. It's one thing to string along a group of detectives for ''years'' while pretending to chase the mass-murderer you secretly are. It's another thing to get a paycheck for it.
* HolierThanThou: He thinks himself superior to everyone else around him.
* HollywoodHacking: How he is shown getting information from various sources over the course of the series.
* HolyHalo: On the manga cover art. Also gets HolyBacklight in the first episode when he first declares he's going to become the God of the New World.
* HorrorStruck: There's a brief but powerful image at the very beginning of the manga when Light is coming to grips with the power of the Death Note. He's shown huddled in bed, wrapped in a blanket, with this stricken ''look'' on his face.
* HowDoIShotWeb: Light being [[TheChessmaster Light]], he proceeds more intelligently than most.
* HowTheMightyHaveFallen: The ending leaves Light broken both physically and mentally, with all his sycophants either dead or not having a clue who he is. The anime scene with him running sobbing from the warehouse to be killed by a heart attack a few minutes later is the ''nice'' version of his death, and within a few years, the world's gone back to normal. In the original manga, he's killed while writhing in agony and whining that he doesn't want to die.
* HumanoidAbomination: If he really does end up becoming The Unnamed Shinigami.
* {{Hypocrite}}:
** He considers ''all'' killings to be crimes, even if he carries them out himself or they're done on his orders...though he still thinks he shouldn't be punished for killing people himself. Especially since his victims include plenty of innocent people, killed to tie up loose ends, because they were trying to stop him, or in one case when they used the Death Note to kill people for profit - even though he gave it to them and expected them to do exactly that.
** When Misa is introduced, she's killing innocent newscasters and police officers for simply speaking out against Kira; Light is anything but pleased with her for doing so, but he himself did much the same by killing FBI agents. Misa even lampshades it, defending herself and pointing out that Light did the ''exact same thing''.
* IAmTheNoun: "I am Justice!"
* IDidWhatIHadToDo: Light clings to this belief throughout the series. See MotiveRant for more.
* IHaveManyNames: Light Yagami, Kira (the Saviour, the Messenger from Hell, etc.), Light Asahi, "Mr. A an office worker", L (number two), God.
* IMeantToDoThat: Whenever L one-ups or humiliates him Light quickly recovers with "This is perfect. It's all according to plan." [[http://g0069.deviantart.com/art/DNF-Fifteen-HATE-95432389]]
* ImHavingSoulPains: [[DontTouchItYouIdiot "Ryuuzaki, let me see it!"]]
* IgnoreTheFanservice: In one scene in the second arc, Light walks into a room containing both Misa Amane dressed in lacy knee-highs, a corset, and very little else, and a computer with information on it. Guess which one he immediately focuses on and which one he completely ignores?
** In an earlier scene Misa comes into a room with the entire task force in it wearing a skimpy nightdress. Matsuda, Ide, Mogi, and Aizawa are clearly affected by it, but Light doesn't even look at her.
** When Light first ''meets'' Misa, she is dressed in black lace, a very short skirt, and a tight black corset. His reaction? "Everything she does is ridiculous."
* IgnoredEpiphany: At the very beginning. He is completely overcome when he realizes that the Death Note does indeed work and that he's just murdered two people - dry heaving, shaking, even a hint of tears. Then he starts thinking that this is exactly the opportunity he's been waiting for. "This world is rotting, and those who are making it rot deserve to die!"
* ImprobableAge: He's only 17 at the start of the series yet manages to be an even match for the world's greatest detective.
* ImplausibleDeniability: At the end of the series, after irrefutable evidence to his being Kira was presented, his first answer was insistence that he was framed and it was all a set up, to which Aizawa told him to give it up. Understandably, given that this evidence consisted of Light shouting "I win!", and his name being the only one of the people besides Mikami's not being in the notebook. Justified; as the RealLife section notes on the trope's page, clinical psychopaths have a tendency to never admit guilt even when faced with undeniable proof of their actions.
* IncriminatingIndifference: Although he tries to avert this.
* InferioritySuperiorityComplex: [[BrokenAce Light seems to be living his life under the assumption that he has to be]] ''[[BrokenAce perfect]]''. Perfect student, perfect son... and then he kills two people by accident just to satisfy his curiosity and his boredom. That ruins everything. [[GoMadFromTheRevelation It makes him a murderer, evil.]] The only way to become "perfect" again is [[ZerothLawRebellion to become Justice]], to become God. In his own words "If Kira is caught, then Kira is evil. [[WrittenByTheWinners If he wins and rules the world Kira is justice."]] [[BreakTheHaughty He gets caught.]] Also as per the trope at times he comes off as desperate to prove himself - especially in his interactions with L, where he seems to get overly-excited even when he gets simple answers right. And "feeling better about themselves by putting others down"... does the ''whole world'' count?
* TheInsomniac: though he's easily overshadowed by L in this department Light often pulls all-nighters to keep his plans running smoothly.
* InsufferableGenius
* {{Irony}}: He largely favored Mikami over Misa and Takada. Mikami's screw up at the end of the series leads directly to Light's ultimate downfall.
* ItGetsEasier: Early in the manga, Light is shown wrapped up in a blanket, wide-eyed and trembling, wondering if he has the guts to go through with his plan, after killing just two people. Days later, he's proudly showing off his ''pages'' of written names to Ryuk.
* ItsAllAboutMe: This is why he's ultimately a [[VillainProtagonist villain]]. Even [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans if you agree with him that criminals should be exterminated]], as far as he's concerned, even Kira supporters are just tools to be manipulated and discarded if they end up [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness outliving their usefulness]]. Especially since before long, he seems just as focused on stroking his own ego as he does on building his "utopia".
* ItsProbablyNothing: Light's reaction during the Yotsuba arc when thinking about how the ideals of the original Kira are disturbingly close to his own.
* IveComeTooFar: He says this nearly word-for-word at one point.
* JekyllAndHyde: When he gives up the notebook and his Kira memories he goes from being a [[{{Jerkass}} complete jerk]] to being the [[NiceGuy nicest guy]] you could ever know. Then, of course, he regains his memories and goes back to being evil again. But the change is so extreme, some fans consider Light and Kira to be two different entities.
** Some may even see the notebook as pure evil and Light as a WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds, seeing that it's possible that Light was taken over by Kira and is now unable to control his action. It's possible that the notebook possessed him the moment he picked it up.
*** Or, it's just a more subtle thing. Light with amnesia is a Light who had to mature and accept various flaws of the worlds and ended up a healthier person. Kira is a genius ''teenager'' (how many of those have you met who think they understand the world completely) who was handed a magic murder book. Nothing corrupts morality and hard truths like power.
* JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: He genuinely cares about his family... and hopes he doesn't have to kill them.
* {{Jerkass}}: While he's ''very'' good at hiding it, Light is nevertheless a narcissistic bastard who treats most of his followers/subordinates like tools.
* JerkassDissonance: He's had his fair share of fans throughout the run of the series, even after the credits rolled and he was decisively defeated.
** In-universe, this is Light's relationship with Misa. He is generally cold, commanding, and stern towards her (except when he wants something), and offhandedly orders her to go to bed, to be quiet, to go back to work, etc. And despite one or two quiet "You're so mean, darling," comments, she adores him until the end.
* JumpedAtTheCall: Once Light finds the Death Note, it doesn't take him long to use it to start changing the world.
* JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope: He begins using the Death Note to rid society of criminals, but soon his black list expands to include anyone who stands in his way for any reason, starting with the FBI. Along the way, he coolly manipulates the feelings of both people and shinigami. Repeatedly stating that he plans to become the god of the new world he is trying to create doesn't help matters, either.
* JustAKid: In the live action movie, it's outright stated that his dad doesn't want him working on cases yet for this reason.
* KarmicDeath: When he dies in the final episode, "New World".
* KarmicTransformation: The first ''Relight'' special hints that after he dies, he becomes a shinigami.
* KickTheMoralityPet: Light and his family.
* TheKillerBecomesTheKilled: See KarmicDeath.
* KnightTemplar: He claims to be a WellIntentionedExtremist but all he's doing is forcing the world to submit under his reign as an omnipotent dictator. He shows this early on when he immediately kills Lind L. Tailor just for [[DisproportionateRetribution questioning what he's doing]].
* KnightTemplarBigBrother: He really does love his little sister, Sayu, and is quite protective of her. When L and he are profiling Kira, and L suggests that Sayu is the one who best fits the profile, Light briefly loses it.
* KubrickStare: He does this quite a few times.
* LargeHam: "I will be the ''god'' of the ''new world''!!!"
** "[[MundaneMadeAwesome I'll take a potato chip... and eat it!!!]]"
* LeanAndMean: The official stats list him as 5'8, 119 lbs, leading to some fan speculation that he might have some sort of eating disorder, though when compared to the stats of the other characters they're all pretty lightweight. He also mentions in passing that during his first week as Kira that he's lost 10 lbs on top of [[BadDreams not sleeping.]]
** There's a scene in the first volume of the manga, actually, where he announces that he's finished eating, and his sister says, "What, already?"
*** This is even worse when you realise the official stats are mistranslated, and Light is meant to be 5'10! The "I'm not eating with the family", though, seems as if it's underscoring that he's bolting his food to get away from them.
* LighterAndSofter: In the television drama, the pre-Kira Light is much more extroverted and friendly (opposed to his reserved and somewhat brooding anime/manga counterpart), is so disgusted with himself over the first murders that he nearly commits suicide over them, spreads out the subsequent deaths at a much slower pace, and genuinely cares enough about Misa to deliberately target the man who killed her family.
* LightIsNotGood: No pun intended.
* ALighterShadeOfBlack: As lampshaded by Rem, while Light is certainly no saint, he's still better than Kyosuke Higuchi.
* LimpAndLivid: After getting shot by Matsuda in the finale.
* LivingEmotionalCrutch: To Misa.
* LivingWithTheVillain: Soichiro, Sayu, and Sachiko all live with Light in the first season (which makes for some ''really'' awkward family discussions).
* LonelyAtTheTop: Sure, lots of people worship him from a distance. But he either screws over or emotionally distances himself from pretty much everyone he knows.
* LoveIsAWeakness: Light believes this. In the manga when Light meets Misa who is madly infatuated with him he thinks "I can't develop feelings for her. That's how idiots get caught."
* MadeOfIron: Rather impressively, especially for such a thin guy, Light both stood up ''and'' managed to run for quite a distance after being shot 5 times. Not that it saved him from the grip of the Death Note shortly thereafter, though.
* MagneticHero: His cult of personality is so strong that he gets three other people ([[MyFriendsAndZoidberg four if we count]] [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg Higuchi]]) to commit mass murder on his behalf. He gains Rem's loyalty as well even though she hates him ([[BlackAndGrayMorality because his motives are]] [[PureIsNotGood more pure than Higuchi's]]).
* TheManBehindTheMan: In manipulating both Misa and Higuchi; Mikami and Takada both count, too. He is the original Kira, functioning through a series of proxies and decoys throughout the series.
* {{Mangst}}: He does feel emotional pain for his sister's kidnapping and his father's death. And maybe even for betraying his "good friend" L, it's just very subtle and well-hidden.
* ManipulativeBastard: Whoo boy. Deceit and manipulation pretty much define all of Light's relationships. The crowning moment of his manipulations is when he manages to get Rem to kill L in order to save Misa's life, thereby ending her life as well.
* MaskOfSanity: The TropeCodifier, no less. Light ''seems'' to be a calm, stable, [[TheAce ace]], but in reality, possibly even before the series started, he has some serious mental problems.
* MasterActor: [[AllThereInTheManual According to the guidebook]], his acting skills are 10/10.
* MemoryGambit: He allays suspicion by exploiting the rule that anyone who relinquishes the ownership of a Death Note also loses all memory of owning it unless that person later touches the same Death Note later, [[GambitRoulette even counting on his amnesiac self to genuinely join the side of good]] in tracking down the new owner of the Death Note. This leads to [[MemeticMutation the popular phrase]] "JustAsPlanned," '''eight episodes''' after putting his plan in motion.
* MeanCharacterNiceActor: Creator/MamoruMiyano is ''nowhere'' as cruel, blackhearted and cynical as Light becomes.
** Ditto for his dub actor, Creator/BradSwaile.
* MeaningfulName: Done ironically seeing as Light is (probably) [[LightIsNotGood not good]]. Also Yagami (夜神) means "Night god" or "Dark god", so his name is "[[OxymoronicBeing Light Dark God]]". But the important thing is the ''[[AGodAmI god]]'' part.
* TheMentallyDisturbed: If you think Light can keep his grasp on his sanity once he gets a hold of the Death Note, you haven't been watching the series ''nearly'' as close enough as you should.
* MindRape: Does it to himself as a result of his MemoryGambit.
* MirrorScare: The [[SlasherSmile sinister]] [[TomatoInTheMirror Kira]] [[GlowingEyesOfDoom reflection]] at the end of ''Relight'' in the Taskforce HQ's HallOfMirrors.
* MistakenForMasturbating: Light deliberately [[InvokedTrope invokes this trope]] [[InfractionDistraction to conceal the fact he's killing people]] with a magical notebook.
* MoleInCharge: During the TimeSkip, he is in charge of the task force investigating his murder spree.
* MoralMyopia:
** He claims that L is evil because he used another human being as a scapegoat in Episode 2... despite the fact that the man in question was on death row and scheduled for execution the next day, as well as the fact that ''Light himself'' was the one who killed him, as well as countless others.
** In general, Light is a perfect example of this trope, at least in the beginning, as he endeavors to kill all the criminals and bad people on the planet but sees nothing wrong with killing thousands upon thousands of people, because he's a [[VillainProtagonist good guy]]. When Ryuk mentions at one point that Light will be the only evil person left on the planet should he succeed, [[ObliviouslyEvil Light has no clue what he means]].
** The amount Light objects to the morality of an act, apart from the part in which he loses his memories of the Death Note and is not acting as Kira, tends to depend on how much it affects his plans. Even his disapproval of Mikami killing people he didn't think necessarily deserved to die'' yet'' is largely based on how it makes Kira look.
* MoralSociopathy: Kira's justice. He definitely has a moral code and he doesn't care who he has to kill to uphold it.
* MotiveDecay: Invoked throughout the series. His megalomania causes him to completely lose sight of his original goal ([[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans to improve the world by removing its criminal element]]) and degrade into using the Death Note to [[AGodAmI become "The God of the New World" and destroy his enemies]], as well as clean up any undesirables; by the final chapters, he's starting to kill people just for being ''lazy''. He also turns from a ManipulativeBastard who carefully plans everything out into a CardCarryingVillain who is so sure of his own success that the very concept of his own failure seems to confuse him. Many a character points out that Light is just another SerialKiller by the end, but Light's so blinded by his pride that it takes his impending death for him to catch on.
* MrFanservice: As Near points out, "Light Yagami is a lady-killer."
* MundaneMadeAwesome: He's not the title page character for this trope for nothing. The potato chip scene is an epic example of this.
** Light and Misa [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nx6-AJ6QsEM share an epic hug]] in the anime, including views from several different angles, creepy music, and a ''shaft of light.''
* MurderIsTheBestSolution: If someone becomes a nuisance [[InternalMonologue he first thinks]] something along the lines of "I have to kill him!"
* MurderMakesYouCrazy: He's an ordinary school student until he writes the first name. After that, he develops delusions of grandeur and wants to cleanse the world of evil (leaving himself as the only evil person, as Ryuuk points out). In the manga, the reader first sees how Light has already killed numerous targets before flashing back to his first kill for maximum shock value and to show how far he has already fallen in such a short time.
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: ''Night god'', anyone? Also his first name is a name that real parents in Japan would never give to their child because the character for moon is written with [[FourIsDeath four strokes]] [[PropheticNames meaning his adult life would be dominated by death.]]
** Also his GoToAlias "Asahi" means "morning sun" or "morning star". Light Morningstar [[LouisCypher think about that for a moment.]]
* {{Narcissist}}: Light grows completely divorced from humanity, and eventually percieves himself as a god, valuing other people according to their usefulness to him (like Misa, Takada, and Mikami) or his personal interest in them (like his family).
* NecessarilyEvil: Starts out this way, determined to sacrifice himself for the greater good. However, [[ThisIsYourBrainOnEvil less than a week later]] he's {{squee}}ing over his [[AGodAmI promotion to Godhood]]. It doesn't keep him from occasionally toying with the concept of himself as selfless and self-sacrificing though, and in his climactic MotiveRant, he claims that his ascent to Godhood and becoming Kira was a purely selfless and altruistic act on his part.
* NeverHurtAnInnocent: Initially.
** ''He'' seems to think of himself that way, though.
* NiceGuy: Not very much after he picked up the Death Note, but when his memories are wiped during the Yotsuba arc, he reverts to the way he was/would have been before picking up the Notebook.
* NightmareFetishist: Light has referred to Shinigami as "cute," finds all that Ryuk will tell him about Shinigami quite fascinating, makes ''jokes'' about how being a shinigami might be interesting, and his fascination with the Death Note is a little... eerie.
* NonActionGuy: Well, he only writes people's names in the Death Note, and has never done physical harm.
* NonActionBigBad: This is his game plan. When his ego starts to balloon out too far, he forgets this was how he saved his own self time and time again. Inevitably, Light steps out into the open... and makes the worst mistakes of his life.
* NoPlaceForMeThere: Played with. Ryuk asks Light if he believes in this philosophy. When Light rejects this in favor of becoming [[AGodAmI the god of his new world]], it's the audience's first hint he isn't just a WellIntentionedExtremist. On the other hand, ''[[AllThereInTheManual How To Read]]'' reveals that he ''does'' think there's no place for Takada or Mikami, who have used the Death Note on his orders.
* NoSenseOfHumor: Other than making a [[CannotConveySarcasm "joke"]] about wanting to trade away half of his life for shinigami wings, he [[EvilHasABadSenseOfHumor lacks any sort of sense of humor]].
* NotCheatingUnlessYouGetCaught: "If Kira is caught, then Kira is evil. [[WrittenByTheWinners If he wins and rules the world, Kira is justice.]]"
* NotSoDifferent: Frequently lampshaded. Both he and L are genius [[TheChessmaster Chessmasters]] [[TheManBehindTheCurtain that hold vast power by remaining anonymous]]- L solves criminal cases behind his computer screen, Light judges humanity from the comfort of his bedroom. They're two sides of the same coin: [[VisionaryVillain Light has great ideals and no integrity.]] [[HonorBeforeReason L has great integrity and no ideals.]]
** Also with Matsuda: Both are [[NewMeat youthful]] [[WideEyedIdealist Wide-Eyed Idealists]] with SamaritanSyndrome but their attempts to "help" just make things worse.
* NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist: Even before his JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope, Light is fascinated with becoming the god of the new world he plans to create. As time goes on, his motive shifts from making the world a better place to just wanting to fuel his god complex.
* NothingCanStopUsNow: [[WhatAnIdiot "Looks like I win."]]
* ObfuscatingStupidity: "[[CrowningMomentOfAwesome What's that,]] Rem? I don't understand... could you explain to me the rules of ownership again?"
* ObliviouslyEvil: He consistently views himself as a DarkMessiah WellIntentionedExtremist whose actions are [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans justified]] and [[NecessarilyEvil necessary]]. When Ryuk remarks that he'll be the only evil person in the world left should his plans succeed, Light outright says he has no clue what Ryuk means.
* OddNameOut: Light is the only Yagami not to have a name that starts with "S" (Sochiro, Sachiko, Sayu)
* OfferedTheCrown: L unexpectedly offers Light his title as the "Great Detective L" should he die. Light ([[MemoryGambit who no longer remembers that he is Kira and at the moment genuinely likes L)]] refuses [[LiteralMetaphor for as comrades chained together by a common destiny]] [[TogetherInDeath they would die together anyway,]] but then he realizes it was just [[SecretTestOfCharacter another test.]]
* OffscreenVillainDarkMatter: Light somehow has the funds that he can 1) trash a mini LCD TV without remorse and 2) drop out and then resume his college studies. Also it's never addressed how Souichiro can afford to gift him with an [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omega_Speedmaster Omega Speedmaster]] on a policeman's salary.
* OmniscientMoralityLicense: When he kills a criminal as Kira, he's ''never'' wrong about his victim. Ever.
* OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent: Both the anime and the manga introduce Light at school; he notices the Death Note fall because he's staring out the window, bored.
** Not quite ordinary since he's {{The Ace}} at the start.
* OutGambitted: By Near at the end thanks to [[SpannerInTheWorks Mikami's]] screw up.
* PaperThinDisguise: Light [[InTheHood wears a hoodie]] and beanie when manipulating Raye Penber, which renders him unrecognizable to both Raye and the investigators that view the surveillance cameras.
** Though Raye never sees him until it's too late, and the chances are he doesn't recognise Light's voice because he's already under the effects of the Death Note.
** And L does note that Kira likely examined the subway beforehand and made use of the blindspots of the cameras.
* PayEvilUntoEvil: Under Kira, ''any'' crime is punishable by death.
* PeacefulInDeath: In the anime, he dies in peace, seeing an apparition of L. Contrasted with his manga counterpart, who dies of a rather brutal heart attack, and we're then treated to a close-up of his body, a look of horror still on his face.
* ThePerfectionist: Of course taken to extremes and applied to the entire world.
** PerfectionIsImpossible: His inability to accept this fact is pretty much the root cause of everything that happens in the series, [[ProtagonistJourneyToVillain from his descent into villainy,]] [[NiceJobBreakingIthero to the lives he destroys.]] If he just simply acknowledged at the start that killing was wrong, that [[TheAce he of all people]] made [[HumansAreFlawed an honest to goodness mistake]] (granted, killing someone, even if they're [[AssholeVictim assholes,]] is a hell of a mistake to make) and [[ForWantOfANail went through with getting rid of the death Note as he initially considered,]] the ''entire story'' would never have come to pass.
* PersonOfMassDestruction: He kills hundreds, if not thousands, of people.
* PetTheDog: He often helped Sayu with her homework, but this was partially done to throw suspicion off him.
** His possibly genuine love for family might count. This changes later with he didn't seem to care about his father's death and thought killing his sister would put more suspicion on him. He never seemed interested in hurting his mother, however.
** When his memory is erased and he's helping with the investigation, he notes that Kira never killed anybody who had already served their sentences, displayed genuine remorse, or had seemingly justifiable reasons for their crimes.
* PlayingWithPuppets: [[HowDoIShotWeb When testing the extent to which he can control victims with the Death Note.]]
* ThePowerOfActing: [[AllThereInTheManual According to the guidebook]], his acting skills are 10/10.
* PreachersKid: The irony is that Kira is actually a detective's son.
* PrecisionFStrike: His language, for the most part, consists a lot of "damn", "hell" and "bastard". However, a few times in the series (or at least the original dub), he has uttered the word "fuck" once or twice, especially in the finale.
* {{Pride}}: He quickly loses sight of his original goal through the series and builds himself as an important godlike figure whom the world needs.
* PrinciplesZealot: Falls under this trope during the Yotsuba arc. The entire Kira-mission falls under this as well.
* ProtagonistJourneyToVillain: The series chronicles Light's life as he goes from a relatively well-intentioned person who seeks to change the world for the better to a manipulative, sadistic lunatic who kills to fuel his [[AGodAmI raging god complex]].
* PromotionToParent: In the TV Drama he is forced to take up this role after Sachiko's death, especially since his father is rarely home.
* ProperlyParanoid: After all, they ARE all out to get him.
* PropheticNames: Light Yagami = [[OxymoronicBeing Light Night/Dark]] [[AGodAmI God]].
* PsychopathicManchild: He qualifies as Type C (flirting with [[CuteAndPsycho D]]). When L details the psychology of Kira to the police, one of them suggests that they could stop him by no longer publishing the name of convicts in the news, as he clearly was getting the names of his victims from the media. L states that won't work because Kira will then simply start killing people he ''thinks'' are guilty and will further blame the police for any innocent people he kills, specifically identifying his childlike personality as the reason for this. Sure enough, Light does display lots of childlike evil throughout the series, such as killing the fake L for insulting him on national television and his need to gloat to L and Near when he thinks he's beaten them. His VillainousBreakdown at the end takes the form of a blatant childish fit.
* PsychoticSmirk
* RealMenHateSugar: When L offers to share his cake. "Er... no thanks." In the manga during the second arc Takada remarks that Light takes his coffee black but will take one sugar cube in his tea.
* RealMenWearPink: Light does wear a pink shirt when hanging with Matsuda in Aoyama. Also, fear the God of the New World's mad [[TextileWorkIsFeminine sewing skills!]] [[http://songue.deviantart.com/art/Motivation-Yagami-Light-161024000]]. Light also wears a pink butterfly belt-buckle in the anime opening, as seen here [[http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm96/sozima/LightYagamiisGay.jpg]]. Also in the manga at one point Light wears a corset in order to hide the Death Note... [[http://lady-liara.deviantart.com/art/DN-caught-in-the-act-89257006]]
* RedEyesTakeWarning: After he gains the Death Note, the anime makes a point of catching his eyes so that they have a red cast to them. This is made even more obvious when he is contemplating something particularly nasty, and the anime colors his eyes, metaphorically, bright red.
%%* RedOniBlueOni: The red to L's blue. The anime makes this [[ColorCodedForYourConvenience very obvious]].
* RedRightHand: By the end of the first ''Relight'' special (everything after the funeral scene) Light seems to be sporting ''fangs'' in addition to perpetually glowing red eyes.
* RegularlyScheduledEvil: Early in the series it is explained that Light had set aside specific time slots in which to kill criminals, in order to provide himself with a healthy balance of sleep, homework, and death.
* ReligionOfEvil: His cult worships him, a ruthless mass murderer, as a god.
* RousseauWasRight: Light believes this during the Yotsuba arc, when he lost his memories of the Death Note and being Kira, which caused him to revert to the state he was before finding the Death Note (though we aren't given any insight into his thoughts at that point). He whole-heartedly argued that the members of the Yotsuba group other than the 3rd Kira shouldn't be prosecuted since no doubt Kira was coercing them into cooperating. In other words they aren't evil-circumstances pushed them into being evil and once the evil is removed, i.e. arrested, they will live good lives. Doesn't stop him from killing them all after his memory returns though.
* RulesLawyer: Light uses the rules of the Death Note in ways even Ryuk had never thought of before.
** He has a hard time coping with the Near-and-Mello situation because Near and Mello aren't particularly inclined to play by the rules.
* {{Sadist}}: As he gets in the habit of killing, he starts to ''really'' enjoy it and often smiles and laughs as he slaughters people by the score. He also appears to get off on being a ManipulativeBastard, and can't resist the urge to gloat to his enemies that he's literally signed their death warrant, or take cruel pleasure in [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness discarding and betraying his own allies, even girlfriends]]. Some of his deaths are needlessly nasty as well (eg. said girlfriend, he has her ''set herself on fire'') and on several occasions he takes a moment to watch his victims die; for example, when he writes Naomi Misora's name in the Death Note, he reveals himself as Kira to her just because he wanted to see the look on her face before she died. And of course, like many sadists, he absolutely believes that his victims [[NeverMyFault had it coming, and that he himself is blameless]].
* SamaritanSyndrome: An evil version.
* SavvyGuyEnergeticGirl: Savvy Guy to Misa's Energetic Girl, and although Light's family and co-workers seem to think that there's NoAccountingForTaste, a few people do comment on their unlikely relationship.
* SanitySlippage: He gets crazier with every passing episode barring the time he loses memory of the Death Note.
* ScareEmStraight: This is essentially what he's trying to pull on the entire world. As it turns out, with a supernatural, godlike entity willing to kill you if you commit a crime, people are much less likely to commit crimes. The rate drops accordingly.
* ScheherezadeGambit: Light knows that Ryuk is only here because he's bored and he can kill him at any time. Ryuk wants to be entertained and if he gets too bored, he'll just kill Light and go home. Light constantly reminds Ryuk how entertaining he can be. It works for six years.
* TheScourgeOfGod: Light's mission statement though he also will kill anyone who comes after him i.e. defies Kira's will.
* ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections: Light knows that his father's position is what is protecting him from being seriously considered as a suspect by the normal police.
* ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem: When he becomes fully aware of Ryuk and the Death Note again, and remembers that he asked Ryuk to put a couple of fake rules on the Death Note (which L must then assume to be real), he goes into a little mental rant about how he is basically a god because he can change the rules like that. It's no longer clear how fully he recognizes that he ''didn't'' change the rules.
* SealedEvilInACan: [[HelplessGoodSide Yotsuba!Light]] is a variation on this with the twist that [[MemoryGambit Kira!Light did it to himself.]]
* SelectiveObliviousness: Light is in denial about quite a few things:
-->'''Ryuk''': But if you did that, you'd be the only bad person left.
-->'''Light''': Huh? I have ''no idea'' what you're talking about, Ryuk.
%%* SelfRestraint:
%%% "X of this trope" is not proper context.
* SerialKillerKiller: Kira only kills horrible criminals like serial killers. At least, that's what the general public thinks. The rest of the cast knows better.
* ShadowArchetype: L and Light have a whole reciprocal shadow ''thing'' going. Light is the social one, who not only understands but really ''cares'' about proper socialization and not being indecorous, but as Kira he's also the one who's the most prolific serial killer in history. L is antisocial and willfully unsocialized, and he doesn't really care about a little thing like illegal detainment, mock executions, and torture, but he's the one trying to enforce the fact that ''you don't go around killing people'', and he means it. Enough to be unwilling to test the Death Note. They're certainly both liars. The primary difference between L and Light - two childish geniuses who hide behind their claims of justice and have no idea how to be wrong - is that L is capable of accepting and coping with his own and the world's flaws, something that Light absolutely ''refuses'' to do.
-->'''Light''': The world was too rotten, with too many rotten people... [[MotiveRant Somebody had to do this!]] The world ''had'' to be fixed!
* ShadowDictator: He becomes this in the second arc.
* SharpDressedMan: On rare occasions, which tend to define him in the eyes of the fandom.
* SissyVillain: He's sharp, effeminate, and a genocidal megalomaniac.
* SittingOnTheRoof: Light does this a couple times, [[EvilOverlooker symbolically overlooking]] [[AGodAmI his "New World."]]
* SlasherSmile: Definitely. It's the last thing L sees.
* SlowlySlippingIntoEvil: Light's actions earlier on in the series could be considered a combination of exceedingly ruthless schemes and PetTheDog moments. Then, as the series goes on, he finds new allies, who are almost sycophantic in their devotion to him, and whom he treats as inferior and expendable, becomes ever-more consumed by his God Complex as the world slowly falls under his grip, and resorts to increasingly extreme and cold-blooded means to cover his ass and maintain his reign on the world.
* SmallNameBigEgo: While calling him a small name is going too far, Light immediately believes himself to be the only person worthy of purging the world of evil simply because he's the BigManOnCampus at his high school.
* SmugSmiler: The God of the New World takes to showing an [[InsufferableGenius insufferably superior]] expression when no one but the audience is looking.
* SmugSnake: Unlike many {{Smug Snake}}s, Light ''is'' very bright, but his ''massive'' [[AGodAmI god complex]], childish {{Freak Out}}s ("he got me!"), borderline [[LackOfEmpathy sociopathy]], and tendency towards kicking dogs can and do cost him the sympathy of many, while his sheer ego, and tendency towards underestimating his opponents (and the incompetence of his own allies) can sometimes derail his plans and ultimately do get him killed. Light is incredibly smart, but his arrogance gets in the way of him giving some of his opponents as much credit as he should.
* SocialDarwinist: Averted in that he begins as ''protecting'' the weak by [[PayEvilUntoEvil paying evil unto evil]] before jumping off the slippery slope. Ironically, given his god complex, he would consider it divine natural selection.
%%* TheSocialExpert
* TheSociopath: Just listen to his speech to Ryuk in ''episode 1''. Though he only becomes a sociopath due to the power he's been given through the Death Note, we later see he'd be the exact opposite without it. Light's life was pretty much ruined the minute he picked up the Death Note.
* SoftspokenSadist: Among other examples, Light's voice is chillingly calm and pleasant even when taunting Naomi Misora after revealing himself as Kira. "My father's phone is back on, didn't you want to talk to him?"
* SpeakIllOfTheDead: At the end, he tries justifying his actions by claiming that in a [[CrapsackWorld world so rotten]], idealists like his ''own father'', who died trying to stop Kira, will always be made out to be fools unless Light can continue to rule. He says this right in front of Matsuda, who idolized Soichiro, and gets shot five times for it.
-->'''Matsuda''': You led your own father to his death, and now that he's gone, you call him a ''fool''?!
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Light or Raito?
* StartXToStopX: He commits mass homicide to put an end to all crime.
* StepfordSmiler: He presents himself as positive, thoughtful, and cheerful to the world, but at the beginning of the series he's so bored and empty inside that a quest for a new world and godhood seems like a great idea; and of course, as the series goes on, that smile hides an increasingly unstable and cruel personality.
* TheStoic: Whatever else you may say about him, Light has a great poker face. This serves to give his NotSoStoic moments even more of an impact.
** {{Lampshaded}} by L. He kills criminals without even changing his expression.
* StraightEdgeEvil: He's never shown drinking, doing drugs or smoking, unlike Misa, the mafia and Matt, respectively.
* StrangeMindsThinkAlike: With L, and Mikami.
** With Misa, as well, considering their opinions on how to go about creating a New World. "To defeat evil, there must be sacrifices, right?"
** Also with Ryuk in the first episode when they both contemplate how rotten their respective worlds are.
* StrawMisogynist: While Light thinks ''everybody'' is below him, he seems to have a particular distaste in women, frequently going on about how they're nuisances who waste his time talking about pointless things. Of all three of his minions he seems to favor Mikami over both Misa and Takada, despite him being arguably the ''least'' competent of the three.
* SuperIntelligence: In the How To Read 13, Light is described as abnormally intelligent in the character quiz.
* SuperOCD: His room is immaculately tidy for a teenager, so don't try to steal anything- least of all killer notebooks- from it. And definitely don't catch him by surprise.
* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: One of his {{Catch Phrase}}s is "I'm not Kira."
* TakeOverTheWorld: Well, he wants to becomes its God, and that's pretty much the same thing.
* TakingYouWithMe: [[TheLastDance In his first week as Kira, Light was expecting some sort of punishment for using the notebook]] but decided it's WorthIt if he can [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans make the world a better place by]] taking out as many bad guys as possible before he's killed or his soul is dragged off to {{Hell}}. Then Ryuk informs him there is no punishment, he wasn't [[TheChosenOne Chosen]] or anything, [[ForTheEvulz and its all a joke.]] [[GoMadFromTheRevelation Light does not take it well]] — in the Manga Light has his first [[LaughingMad crazy laugh]] of the series after that particular revelation.
* TalkingYourWayOut: With a high success rate.
** Near dares him to do this in the finale.
* TallDarkAndSnarky
* TaremeEyes: Especially in the beginning before ArtEvolution kicked in and when his memories are wiped.
* TautologicalTemplar:
-->'''Light''': "Me? Evil? I am ''justice''! Those who oppose me — ''they're'' the evil ones!"
* TeenGenius: He's the top scoring student in ''all of Japan.''
** Not to mention that he manages to stay on L's level and focus on school-work.
* TerrorHero: He sees himself as one (Type 3).
* ThatsWhatIWouldDo: He freaks out his father pretty badly when he voices this to L.
* TheseHandsHaveKilled: In the manga. "I-I've killed two people..."
** In the last episode, while he's arguing his side, the camera pans up from a shot of his open hands.
* TheyLookJustLikeEveryoneElse: On the outside, Light is a handsome, hardworking and charming individual who gets along with just about everybody. On the inside...
* ThirdActStupidity: Once he starts buying into his own [[AGodAmI hype]].
* TooCleverByHalf: He fails in the end after being exposed by Near as Kira.
* TogetherInDeath: With L, at the end.
* TookALevelInDumbass: Light plays the role of TheEveryman in the TV drama, rather than a TVGenius. He becomes more tactical and CrazyPrepared as time goes on, but Rem writes this off as part of the general paranoia that comes with harboring a Death Note.
* TookALevelInJerkass: Believe it or not, he UsedToBeASweetKid before finding a [[ArtifactOfDoom killer notebook]] and it just keeps getting harsher from there as he shifts his focus away from his vision of "[[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans a perfect world]]" to "[[ItsAllAboutMe not getting caught.]]" After the time skip his [[EvenEvilHasStandards standards]] have slipped considerably.
** Light in the live action movies- [[ALighterShadeOfBlack he makes anime!Light look like a nice guy.]]
* TookALevelInKindness: When he relinquishes his Death Note memories during the Yotsuba arc. It doesn't last.
* TotalitarianUtilitarian: He wants to create a New World where only kind, good people will live.
* TrademarkFavoriteFood: Potato chips. Barbecue to be exact. He exploits this by hiding a mini LCD tv in a bag of barbecue chips because he's the only one who eats that flavor.
** [[MemeticMutation He'll take that chip... And EAT IT!]]
* TragicDream[=/=]TragicHero
* TranquilFury: Kira's default mood.
* TrappedInVillainy: Unlike any of the other Kiras who all had a {{Shinigami}} pop up to explain the notebook Light was literally trapped into becoming a murderer by confirming the notebook is real.
* TVGenius: His [[TheChessmaster cleverness]] at times reaches beyond the plausible. (Not as extreme as L's, though.)
** Averted when it comes to social skills since he's TheSocialExpert.
* TwoAliasesOneCharacter: By the second arc, he's playing the role of both L and Kira.
* {{Ubermensch}}: One interpretation of his character. He certainly sets up his laws by which he lives.
* UglyHeroGoodLookingVillain: Light is the handsome villain to L's more... unique looking hero.
* TheUnchosenOne: He found the Death Note purely by accident.
* UndignifiedDeath: At the very end, he goes out whining, cursing, and pathetically begging for mercy in a puddle of his own blood.
* TheUnfavorite: Mr. Yagami is absolutely certain that Sayu can't be Kira but isn't so certain about his son. Even though it's true it does hint at ParentalFavoritism.
* UnholyMatrimony: With Misa.
* UnwittingPawn: Averted. Light knows exactly that Ryuk sees him as an entertainment, therefore he keeps providing it while working on his own goals.
* UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans: Light consistently and sincerely believes that he can bring about an ideal new world free of evil. Even when, post-timeskip, the world is slowly becoming a totalitarian place ruled by propagandistic TV channels and secret executioners, he's very happy about it because he thinks people are finally starting to come around to his vision. Throughout the series, when he's trying to stay ahead those fighting against him, he says he's doing so to protect "his utopia".
* TheVamp: How he gets Misa and Takada to serve him. Or rather ''continue'' serving him, given that they were Kira loyalists from the outset.
* VictoryIsBoring: When Near and Mello appear on the scene, Light, after first being enraged and frustrated, remarks that "Things are getting interesting again!"
* VigilanteMan: Death is the only punishment he ''can'' dish out. Early on, he states that he's going to create a world filled with only good-hearted people he approves of. He's simply going to ''start'' with the criminals... and he quickly crosses over into "bad" vigilante man territory, when in the fifth episode he [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope leaps off the slippery slope]] and begins to target and kill all those who oppose Kira, including law-enforcement officials.
* VillainBall: He does this a disproportionately high amount of times.
** He kills Lind L. Taylor out of spite for calling him a criminal, leading to the real L knowing exactly where he is. Though it would have been tough to see such a gambit coming, given that Light was unaware of L's existence prior to his televised appearance.
** He kills the FBI agent Raye Penber, [[CrazyPrepared thinking that Penber would only come after him harder in the future if he wasn't disposed of quickly.]] He neglected to check whether his wife may have been an FBI agent herself...
** He admits he is Kira to Misora, when he's written down her name in the notebook in front of her, in broad daylight on a city street. Had Aizawa been paying slightly more attention before he walked out of earshot, or had he not been using an umbrella due to the providencial snow, Light would've been caught.
*** Again, when he believes that he killed the task force. Leading to his complete reveal that he is Kira when they didn't die.
* VillainProtagonist: To L's HeroAntagonist.
* VillainWithGoodPublicity: The polls by the second arc indicate that much of the world agrees with him, or views him positively.
* VillainousBreakdown: Has a few, his end being the most notable.
* VillainSong: Nearly all of his numbers in the stage musical qualify as one, but the most notable ones are "Where is the Justice?" and "Death Note". [[note]]named "Hurricane" in the original English version.[[/note]]
* VillainsWantMercy: Upon his defeat at the end of the series, Light freaks out and desperately begs for someone, ''anyone'' to save him, because despite having killed thousands of people, he's scared shitless at the thought of dying himself.
* VisionaryVillain: He really believes in that new world of his.
* VitriolicBestBuds: Light and Ryuk, arguably both types 1 (i.e. laughing it off whenever Ryuk reminds him that he's a Death God and that [[KillYouLast he's going to kill him one day.]]) and 2 (insulting each other in equal measure).
** Also with L during the Yotsuba arc.
* VoiceWithAnInternetConnection: As the second L.
* WakeUpGoToSchoolSaveTheWorld: He doesn't "save" the world, more like wants to control it with his own brand of justice.
* WeWantOurJerkBack: During the Yotsuba arc, with L ("I think I wanted you to be Kira").
* WellDoneSonGuy: Light has daddy issues. His father is always out working to catch the bad guys and hardly ever sees his family. [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation It's been speculated that this might be the ''real'' reason he hates criminals with such a passion - they stole his father away from him.]] Also how he walks out on the family meeting where his dad is talking about catching "that evil bastard Kira." Also it's well established that Light is the top-ranked student in the country but his father is still surprised that he can keep up with L. Later that instance of his father pretending to shoot him in the head on L's orders might have added to the dysfunction as well.
* WellIntentionedExtremist: He ''consistently'' sees himself as this and he might have started this but at the end of the day, the one who is benefitting most from his plans is himself. As the series goes on, he betrays this pretence by killing not only criminals but ''anyone'' who would threaten the security of his power.
* WhatBeautifulEyes: Light has very pretty long-lashed {{Bishonen}} eyes and the anime pays them special focus [[WindowsOfTheSoul being kind of a tell in letting the audience know]] [[TheStoic what he's really thinking]] and having them change color from brown, to goldish/amber, to [[GlowingEyesOfDoom red]].
* WhatIfGodWasOneOfUs: It would end '''badly'''. Textbook example of The Prince, though he imagines himself as The Shepherd.
* WhenAllYouHaveIsAHammer: All his obstacles look like nails that are in need of being hammered down.
* WhiteShirtOfDeath: He ends up having blood on his white shirt underneath his coat when Matsuda shoots him.
* WideEyesAndShrunkenIrises: This happens to him quite frequently. This first examples being once he discovers the notebook's powers are real and when he laughs manically after killing Lind L. Taylor.
* WiseBeyondTheirYears: An older example, but he is considerably more intelligent than almost all of the Task Force.
* WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity: There are hints that Light wasn't entirely sane even ''before'' he gained the power to kill anyone in the world at any time, but his sanity certainly heads downwards from the minute he gets the Death Note.
* {{Workaholic}}: During the first arc, Light devotes all of the time that he's not working on work for school or cram school to killing criminals as Kira; in the anime, he turns down offers to hang out with other students, something Ryuk comments on. And let's give the kid some credit: keeping up four girls at once isn't exactly easy, even if it is for a relatively brief period of time.
** And in the second arc, when he's balancing his jobs as L and Kira, he often goes without sleep to keep his schemes running smoothly. At one point, Matsuda calls Light's ability to work endlessly "amazing."
* WouldntHitAGirl: Mostly played straight, though he has no problem with writing women's names down.
** In episode 14 he says "this is the first time in my entire life I've seriously wanted to hit a girl" after being glomped by Misa.
* WrongGenreSavvy: Similar to how Misa seems to be under the impression she's living in a [[ThinksLikeARomanceNovel Romance Novel]], Light seems to think he's living in a [[ShonenGenre Shonen Manga]] which, while technically true, he's an [[WideEyedIdealist idealist]] living in a [[SlidingScaleLongName cynical world]]. Light sees himself as TheHero and TheChosenOne - through the sheer power of [[TheDeterminator determination]] and his [[{{Narcissist}} genius]] [[GuileHero plans]] [[TautologicalTemplar that are always right]] [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans he will make this world a better place]]. He thinks of the Death Note as just a tool, no different then a gun. [[BlackAndWhiteMorality Heroes can use guns on bad guys and still be considered the heroes.]] [[SarcasmMode So why would people ever think what he's doing was wrong?]]
* XanatosSpeedChess: He's a master of this.
* YouAreWhatYouHate: Ryuk points out in the first episode when Light explains his plan to get rid of all the bad people that there will always be one bastard left.
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: What he does to Raye Penber and Kiyomi Takada. Also what he would have done to Misa were it not for Rem.
* YouJustToldMe: Happens to Raye Penber and (in the manga) the President of the United States.
* YouWillBeSpared: Provided someone is useful to him and/or doesn't get in his way. i.e Misa and Mikami. Also the Taskforce for most of season 2.
* YoungAndInCharge: He is 18 when he assumes L's name and control of the Japanese Taskforce after L's death, and even at twenty-three in the second season he remains both its youngest member and leader.
* YoungConqueror: His is youthful idealism at its darkest.
Character subpage for Light.
!!Light Yagami/Kira
[[quoteright:348:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/light-yagami-cool_4715.jpg]]
->Voiced by: Creator/MamoruMiyano (JP), Creator/BradSwaile (EN), Sergio Zamora (Spain), Manuel Campuzano (Latin America)
The [[TheProtagonist protagonist]] of the series, but not the [[VillainProtagonist hero]].
Light is a genius student who has [[FatalFlaw one major flaw]]... namely, [[AGodAmI one hell of a God complex]]. He has a hatred of the criminal element of the world, but for most of his life took a "what can you do" approach. Then, he finds the Death Note dropped by the Shinigami (Death God) Ryuk and his world is turned upside down. He begins using the notebook to kill criminals, believing that in doing so, he could scare the world into becoming more law-abiding.
He finds an equal and opponent in L, the elusive international detective hired to find and prove the identity of the mysterious string of murders.
-----
* TheAce: On the surface, Light is a handsome, athletic genius with countless friends and incredible skill at getting women. His status as this mixed with his own childishness is one of the main fuels for his god complex.
* AdaptationNameChange: The American Netflix movie changes his surname from "Yagami" to "Turner".
* AdaptationalHeroism:
** The films actually manage to make both this and AdaptationalVillainy apply to him. In the films, his StartOfDarkness involves the law being held on a BrokenPedestal, whereas the anime/manga version is a perfectionist. On the same coin, in the films, he ends up JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope much sooner than he did in the anime and manga, to the extent that he tried to kill his own father to prevent the Death Note from being analyzed.
** In the TV drama, he deeply cares about his family (even if he has a strained relationship with his father), actually returns Misa's feelings and was able to save people using the Death Note (getting rid of JerkJock Souta and saving his father from his mother's murderer).
* AdaptationalVillainy: The films actually manage to make this and AdaptationalHeroism apply to him. In the films, his StartOfDarkness involves the law being held on a BrokenPedestal, whereas the anime/manga version is a perfectionist who couldn't deal with the fact that he accidentally killed someone (thus, he reasons that it was okay, since the dude was an asshole, and that it's okay to kill criminals). On the same coin, in the films, he ends up JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope much sooner than he did in the anime and manga, to the extent that he tried to kill his own father to prevent the Death Note from being analyzed.
* AdultFear: In "The Last Name", he seemed genuinely concerned about Sayu provoking the second Kira.
* AgeLift: Every adaptation of the series initially starts off in ThePresentDay, and thus, in the films, manga, and anime, Light is a child of TheEighties. By the TV drama, airing in 2015, his birth year is shifted to as late as 1995.
* AlasPoorVillain: The ending of the anime when he is defeated in the end.
** Certainly just after Matsuda shoots him. The way he calls out to Takada and Misa, asking what he should do now that he's lost and going to die, is pretty heartwrenching.
** Also in the manga. He lays bloody on the ground, all allies having died or abandoned him, knowing that his death is coming. As his heart gives out, Light repeats over and over how he doesn't want to die, like a helpless child. Pitiable for some.
** From dying in his father's arms in the movies, to being ''burned alive'' in the television drama, Light's respective ends in live-action adaptations tends to be pretty horrific, too.
* AllForNothing: He sets out to be [[SerialKillerKiller Kira]] in order to, [[MotiveDecay at least at first,]] create a better, more just world. By the end, after several years, all he accomplishes [[spoiler: is getting [[HoistByHisOwnPetard himself]] and [[NiceJobBreakingItHero his father]] killed, and virtually everyone else in his personal life either [[KilledOffForReal dead]] or [[BreaktheCutie broken.]] And the crime rate, [[HopeSpot which had been reduced by 70%?]] [[ShootTheShaggyDog Shoots right back up after he's dead and gone]]]].
* AintTooProudToBeg: In the manga ending, after being shot, Light asks Ryuk to write the names of his last enemies into his Death Note. Instead, Ryuk writes Light's own name into the book and shows it to him.
* AllAccordingToPlan: Almost everything that happens to him goes "exactly as planned".
* AllergicToRoutine: Now if Light could have found some other intellectually engaging hobby the entire plot probably would not have happened.
* AloofBigBrother: To Sayu.
* AlternateCharacterReading: Light's name is very unusual ([[WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs as in what were his parents smoking]] [[http://silentpokefreak01.deviantart.com/art/Death-Note-Motivational-217376451]]) and this is {{Lampshaded}} [[WhoNamesTheirKidDude by several characters]]. It is read as Light but spelled with the kanji ''[[GenderBlenderName Tsuki]]'' or moon making it a MeaningfulName since the kanji has [[FourIsDeath four strokes]] and LightIsNotGood. Also a bilingual pun on "moonlight". Light or Raito is also a bilingual pun on ''Right'' or Righteous and ''Write'' as in writing.
* AmateurSleuth: [[{{Backstory}} Before picking up the Death Note.]]
* AmbiguousDisorder: He's undeniably insane, but it's never clarified where exactly it comes from. Between his monster [[AGodAmI god complex]], inability to cope with [[BlackAndWhiteInsanity any perceived evil]], and constant [[GigglingVillain manic laughter]], there's definitely something wrong with him; that's all without even discussing the fact that he picks up mass-murder like a new, exciting hobby. For the record, WordOfGod states that the reason Light [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope went off the deep end]] was because he was a perfectionist and couldn't reconcile that with the fact that he had unintentionally murdered someone except through InsaneTrollLogic.
* AmbiguouslyGay: Light has no interest in women, [[EffeminateMisogynisticGuy finding them useless and annoying]], and only uses the assumption of sexuality to cover his criminal activities. WordOfGod is that Light is probably not capable of loving a woman. However, this might very well make him ambiguously asexual if anything.
** [[AvertedTrope Averted]] in the live action films, since he seems to displays some feelings for Shiori, but since [[HoYay he still has some subtext with L,]] he could still count as AmbiguouslyBi.
* AmnesiacDissonance: Averted; he gives up his memories of being Kira, then his mind-wiped self tries to [[ClearMyName clear his name]] by joining a task force devoted to capturing Kira. Although he still keeps his intelligence and ''says'' that his thought patterns are similar to Kira's, his personality changes to that of a decent person rather than the self-righteous, prideful WellIntentionedExtremist[=/=]KnightTemplar he was before that would be willing to use the Death Note (the most jarring is the difference in how he treats Misa: while he was perfectly happy to seduce and manipulate her when they first met, memory-less Light vigorously opposes L's efforts to do the same). Even if he doesn't sympathize with Kira because he wants to clear his name, the personality change was the series' only notable headache. But when he gets his memories back, there's no dissonance - just a PsychoticSmirk. Everything that happened went "[[AllAccordingToPlan Exactly as planned]]."
* AmnesiacsAreInnocent: A deliberately InvokedTrope during Light's MemoryGambit. Yotsuba!Light is warm, open, kind and a NiceGuy because he doesn't remember he is Kira.
* AntagonisticOffspring: Light is a mass murderer, and his father Soichiro is the police chief trying to stop him. However, Soichiro wants to believe his son is innocent.
* AntagonistInMourning: He feels a profound sense of boredom, if not outright loss, when he finally defeats L, and considers L's successor Near as not worthy of taking up the mantle.
** Initially however, Light is ecstatic to have beaten him, literally dancing on his grave in the compilation special. It's only after a several year time skip of basically having the world in his pocket that he starts missing him.
* AntiHero: A PayEvilUntoEvil type until he [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope dives over the edge]] and becomes a straight up VillainProtagonist.
* AntiVillain: A WellIntentionedExtremist. Again until he [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope jumps off the slippery slope]].
** The TV Drama puts him closer to here throughout the series. He genuinely cares about his family, Misa, and Teru's safety.
* AppropriatedAppellation: "Kira", the {{Engrish}} pronunciation of "killer," [[BilingualBonus also means]] "sparkling," "shining," or "[[AtrociousAlias glitter]]" in Japanese. Additionally, Kira is also a Russian name by origin and is the feminine version of Cyrus. Cyrus comes from the Greek Κυρος (Kyros) which is the Greek version of the Persian name Kürush which may mean "far sighted" or "young" — this, in and of itself, may refer to Light's grand, far-reaching dreams and his own youth and inexperience. Where it gets more interesting, however is that the name is also sometimes associated with the Greek κυριος (kyrios), meaning "lord." Indeed, the Greek word Kyrios means "lord, Lord, and Master" and in religious usage designates God, appearing 740 times in the New Testament referring to Jesus. Consider, though, that one of the songs in the Death Note soundtrack is titled "Kyrie" which is a transliteration of Greek κύριε (kyrie) and a vocative case of κύριος (kyrios). An interesting connection, [[FauxSymbolism even if it wasn't done intentionally.]]
* {{Asexuality}}: He uses love and sexuality as a cover for his schemes, and WordOfGod confirms that Light is probably incapable of love. He also, while using a PornStash as a cover story while being watched, finds the porn to be incredibly boring.
* AwesomeMcCoolname: "Light" is written with the kanji for "moon" and "Yagami" is written with the kanji for "night" and "god".
* AwesomenessByAnalysis: This is his forte; quite a lot of his scenes involve a running inner dialogue where the audience hears him analyzing the scene around him, taking stock of his circumstances and options, and planning his next move. And of course after his genius plans come to fruition, he has to go over them in detail so that the audience has a chance to figure out what exactly just happened.
* AxCrazy: In ''the very first episode'', he locks himself into his darkened bedroom, pulls out his Death Note, opens it up to reveal all the pages and pages of names of the people he's killed, ''smiles'' down at it, and then breaks out into creepy, creepy laughter. That being said, he's ''very'' good at hiding it.
* BadBoss: Light rules his circle of supporters, namely Misa, Ryuk, Takada, and Mikami, with an iron fist. And although he's always polite, accommodating, and courteous to the Japanese Anti-Kira Taskforce, there's really no other way to take plotting their deaths. However... in retrospect, Ryuk was free to do whatever the hell he pleased... and that includes penciling in Light's own name into the Death Note.
** Misa quite possibly gets the shortest end of the stick. She devoted herself to serving him, gave up half her lifespan for him ''twice'', and endured brutal torture to protect him, and Light ''still'' sees her as nothing but a pawn to be manipulated and then disposed of.
** Justified in that Light is extremely security-conscious, and his success rests largely on the people in his command, both as Kira and the second L, not screwing up. Due to this, he kills or tries to kill almost everyone who helps him throughout the series.
* BadDreams: During his first week of judgments in the manga; he also has a psychotic NightmareSequence in ''Relight 2''.
* BadassArmFold: Light has done this pose on occasion when chatting [[TheRival with L.]]
* BadassBookworm: He's the top ranked student in the country and his room is filled with books - though he's only interested in [[ArtifactOfDeath one book in particular]].
* BadassInANiceSuit: He always looks professional, you've got to give him that.
* BarredFromTheAfterlife: Light was said by Ryuk to be preemptively banned from entering Heaven or even Hell from the moment he finished scribbling the first name in his Death Note. Of course, it turns out there is no Heaven or Hell in the first place, so go figure.
* BastardlySpeech:
** Gives one after L's death.
** Following his father's death, when Matsuda is questioning whether capturing Kira is right or wrong, Light says that history will favor the victor; Kira will be seen as a criminal if he's caught, and will be seen as justice if he prevails. While this is meant to come across as a suggestion that the investigation team will be vindicated if they are successful, it also represents Light's belief that the world will soon come to accept him.
* BatmanGambit: He's a master at manipulation. His entire period of amnesia and what followed is a clear example.
* BeautyIsBad: Undoubtedly.
* BecameTheirOwnAntithesis: Compare Light with the notebook and Light without the notebook: Without the notebook- an honorable, highly empathic, idealistic teen [[RousseauWasRight who believes in the inherent goodness of man.]] With the notebook- a petty, egotistical, manipulative, vindictive, lying murderer with a God complex who believes MurderIsTheBestSolution.
* BerserkButton: Don't suggest what Kira is doing is wrong. You'll end up dead of a heart attack.
* BigBad: As the main VillainProtagonist and, later, ShadowDictator.
* BigBrotherInstinct: [[KnightTemplarBigBrother Initially, (in fact, in the manga, this is part of his initial justification]] [[MotiveDecay for using the Death Note]]) [[TheDarkSideWillMakeYouForget but ends up being one of the many things forgotten by the Dark Side]]. Poor, poor Sayu.
* BigManOnCampus: He is very popular and has lots of friends. This is shown more in the manga than in the anime.
* BigSleep: In the anime, at least. When he was killed by Ryuk in front of the police in the manga, he DiesWideOpen.
* {{Bishonen}}: ''Very'' much so. Though his features do coarsen a bit as the series progresses as he becomes older and nastier.
* BilingualBonus: In the 1st live-action movie, he was reading [[http://www.amazon.de/Jenseits-von-Gut-B%C3%B6se-Streitschrift/dp/3458324623 this German book]].
* BitchInSheepsClothing: He acts polite, understanding, and caring towards the people around him, but in reality he's a ManipulativeBastard with [[AGodAmI a God complex]]. And boy, when that facade drops, can he get ''nasty''.
* BlackAndWhiteInsanity: Falls into this more and more as the series progresses. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]]: People matching the diagnostic criteria for [[{{Narcissist}} narcissistic personality disorder]] use black and white thinking, called splitting, as a central defense mechanism; they separate mental concepts into good versus evil, say, as an attempt to stabilize the sense of self in order to preserve self-esteem. Throughout the series Light certainly does show clear indications of perceiving himself as purely upright or admirable and others who do not conform to his will or values as purely wicked or contemptible.
* BloodbathVillainOrigin: He begins his first week as Kira by killing so many people that Ryuk, a god of death, is surprised.
* ABoyAndHisX: A Boy And His Shinigami. Ryuk became Light's main ally after he discovered the Death Note.
* BrainyBrunette: A brown-haired EvilGenius.
* BreakTheHaughty: This happens a bit every time he gets OutGambitted by his opponents, although he's fairly good at bouncing back. And, of course, his death counts as a truly epic example.
* BrilliantButLazy: In the first volume of the manga it seems people ''think'' he's this-Light's teacher throws chalk in his face for spacing out in class. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in that he's worried that he just killed someone. Also normal high school subjects probably aren't that interesting to a super-genius who already knows the subject material.
* BringMyRedJacket: This is what he wears when he doesn't have a white or black shirt on.
* BrokenAce: There are hints in the series that Light wasn't entirely stable even before finding the Death Note; being so effortlessly perfect while surrounded by a world that he considered "rotten" while having little ability to fix it left him bored and seemingly depressed. And of course, as the series progresses he uses his near-inhuman charm to cover up his true nature.
* BrokenMessiah: [[InvokedTrope Invoked]] word for word in the first opening credits (''"Doushite? Boku wa kowareta meshia?"''). Light was the first victim of the Death Note - he was very [[NiceGuy nice]] and very pure [[BreakTheCutie before realizing the notebook was real]] - then it was only a matter of how fast and how far he would fall.
* BrownEyes: His character inverts the symbolism; stable, trustworthy, and normal Light is ''not.''
* BrutalHonesty: Although it's a contrast to his usual approach to those around him, Light uses this tactic with Misa, most notably when he is just getting to know her and is sounding her out for motivation, understanding of the situation, and so forth.
* TheButcher: His kill-count earns him the name "Kira," an {{Engrish}} pronunciation of "killer."
* ByronicHero: A villainous one. Physically attractive, cunning and intelligent, arrogant with a [[AGodAmI major God complex]], prone to quiet brooding when things don't go his way, very passionate about his ideals, and absolutely convinced that what he is doing is right.
** He could also be a deconstruction of one: While people in and out of the series think he's misunderstood, he is genuinely evil and dangerous. Of course the "misunderstood" conception changes at the end, at least in-universe.
* TheCaligula: Kira makes for a dangerously insane ruler. The God of the New World does not like it when people question the way he does things. Dissenters are likely to find their names in a certain little black book.
* CallingCard: "L do you know..."
* CantTakeCriticism: Suggesting what Kira is doing is wrong is a very good way to end up dead; in fact, Light's immediate reaction to the fake L badmouthing him on national television was to kill him on the spot. He also walks out on a family meeting where [[ObliviousGuiltSlinging his father is calling Kira nothing but a murderer]] and later he looks visibly upset when the taskforce begins to (rightly) doubt his innocence again.
** Played with as well, when Light decides to "support" his father's decision to pursue Kira despite the imminent danger this puts him in.
-->'''Light''': If anything happens to you... I will personally put an end to Kira.
** And once again, when L introduces himself to Light. Light claims to have nothing but respect and admiration for someone who'd try so hard to hunt Kira down.
* CatchPhrase: Say it with me everybody...
** "I am the [[AGodAmI GOD of the NEW WORLD!]]"
** "[[AllAccordingToPlan Just as planned]]."
** "I am JUSTICE!" (this one is [[StrangeMindsThinkAlike shared with L.]])
** [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial "I'm not Kira."]]
* CelibateHero: Or rather, Celibate Villain. [[PlayingWithATrope Zigzagged]]: In the manga he dates as many as four women at a time to deflect suspicion, and has romantic trysts with Takada after becoming the second L in order to manipulate her into doing his bidding. However, he doesn't really care about romance or sex, so played straight in that regard.
* CharacterDevelopment: He changes so much over the course of the series you almost have to have the CharacterizationTags: [[DullEyesOfUnhappiness pre-note Light]], [[WideEyedIdealist early]]-[[VisionaryVillain note Light]], cackling-villainy Light, [[GoKartingWithBowser Tennis-with-L Light,]] [[NiceGuy Yotsuba Light]], [[AntagonistInMourning post-L Light]], [[SanitySlippage rapidly-losing-grip-on-remaining-sanity Light,]] etc.
* TheCharmer: When all else fails he switches to this tactic of [[ManipulativeBastard manipulation]] in order to get someone's name or to save himself.
* TheChessmaster: He manipulates and uses pretty much everyone he comes into contact with.
* ChickMagnet: Let's count all of the names that pop up in the manga: Emi and Shiho (whom he mentions to Ryuk), Yuri (Spaceland Girl) and Mayu (whom Misa cites as competition), Kiyomi Takada (who begins her role in the story as the girl who asked him out in college) and of course Misa Amane herself. During college he had about five or six girlfriends.
** Plus Shiori, his girlfriend from the films.
* TheChosenOne: {{Subverted}}. When Ryuk appears, Light asks him why he gave Light the Death Note. Ryuk laughs in his face and tells him he dropped the Note so ''anyone'' can find it. It's the reason the instructions are written in English, the most popular language in the world.
* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: Light betrays, has betrayed, or plans on betraying effectively everyone who was ever close in any way to him.
* ClaspYourHandsIfYouDeceive: He's done this on occasion: [[http://cdn.motinetwork.net/demotivationalposters.net/image/demotivational-poster/0907/gendo-pose-gendo-ikari-neon-genesis-evangelion-eva-anime-man-demotivational-poster-1249033157.jpg]]
* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: Official color seems to be red. Also wears a lot of [[ObviouslyEvil black]] and [[LightIsNotGood white]].
* ComplexityAddiction: Something of a defining trait, as established early after he figures out that he needs to hide the Death Note.
* TheConscience: Memoryless Light is ironically this for L.
* ConsummateLiar: [[NotSoDifferent L]] asks Light if he seriously considers himself to be the polar opposite of this while the audience understands that Light is actually this:
-->'''L:''' "Tell me, Light. From the moment you were born, can you honestly say you've never lied?"
* ConvenientlySeated: Light gets the symbolic window seat, and it also gives him a great view to the yard where the Death Note gets dropped.
* CosmicPlaything: He found the Death Note completely at random (if Ryuk is to be believed) and is heavily hinted to have been doomed from the beginning.
* CradlingYourKill: His rival, L, dies in his arms in "Silence". Of course, he did it with a SlasherSmile.
* CramSchool: He attends one despite being WAY too smart to need it.
* CrazyPrepared: Played with. When he starts acting as Kira, he rigs his desk to burst into flame if anyone tries to find the Death Note, has three different ways to tell if someone has been in his room - even ''before'' gaining the notebook - and is shown spending hours going over his past actions and future plans, as well as what's been reported in the news. He looks for mistakes and possible holes, and memorizes what has been reported, so L can't trip him up. Later, due to his raging god complex and his sense of complete superiority, he starts to view himself as invincible, and stops being so well-prepared. It doesn't end well for him.
* CrazySane: [[GoMadFromTheRevelation Light can't cope with the knowledge that he has killed two people.]] In order to justify his first (accidental) murders of criminals he has to convince himself that they needed to be killed. [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope But then why stop there?]] So in order to make things right by his own moral code he has to kill more because it's the responsible thing to do, that he'll use this power for "good" --no matter the price. [[InsaneTrollLogic He convinces himself that the real crime would be NOT to use the Death Note to change the world.]] The God complex swiftly follows, no doubt accelerated by the need to look interesting to Ryuk and L's very public challenging of him. All of this happens with alarming speed, and it explains why Light during the MemoryGambit has such a different personality and is horrified by the possibility that he could be Kira. Without the memory of having killed and what affect it had on his mind, he's a completely different person.
* CrucifiedHeroShot:
** The cover art of Volume 12 of the manga.
** Also during the second ending theme song's animation, although if you blink you'll miss it.
* CursedWithAwesome: [[PlayingWithATrope Though]] ''[[PlayingWithATrope he]]'' [[PlayingWithATrope doesn't think of it as a curse.]]
* CuteAndPsycho: Horror has never [[http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lightbedtimefanart.jpg been]] [[http://view.thespectrum.net/series/death-note-volume-01.html?ch=Volume+01&page=46 so]] [[http://www.macrochan.org/view.php?u=DWFPNREYPYS4DFJWR35L6US637WUVJST adorable.]] Many people have remarked that he [[http://browse.deviantart.com/?q=death%20note%20light%20motivational&order=9&offset=24#/d3myg5u looks]] [[http://browse.deviantart.com/?q=death%20note%20light%20motivational&order=9&offset=72#/d41mxwp a bit like]] ZacEfron.
* CutenessProximity: In the manga Light seems to have this reaction around ''Ryuk'' who Light refers to as "[[UglyCute cute.]]"
-->'''Light:''' Ryuk, you're so silly!
* DarkMessiah: "The Savior, the Messenger from Hell."
* TheDarkSideWillMakeYouForget: While he starts out killing criminals with the idea of it bringing about justice, he starts to slip once the authorities get on his case, as he begins to kill innocent people for merely getting in his way. It gets worse after the TimeSkip, where he has fully bought into the idea of being the God of his own new world, and he toys with the idea of also beginning to target people just for being lazy.
* DarkerAndEdgier: When compared to Taro Kagami, the Death Note user from the pilot chapter. Though even he decided to keep ''his'' Death Note...
** Ye gods, Light in the live-action movies! It makes his anime counterpart seem downright ''cuddly'' in comparison.
* DeathGlare: Don't screw up his plans. Just... don't.
* DeclarationOfProtection:
** Rem forces him, under direct threat of death, to adopt this mindset towards Misa in regards to his plans during the events that lead up to the Yotsuba arc.
** As a more genuine example, this is Light's attitude towards his little sister, Sayu. In the manga, though, he considers murdering her at one point, and lets her live only because he opts to gamble with her life--and their father's life--in order to find and kill Mello and get the second Death Note back.
* DeepCoverAgent: [[HeelFaceMindScrew He acts]] [[MemoryGambit as his own]] ManchurianAgent.
* DeskJockey: We rarely see him leave his desk during either the Yotsuba arc or the second arc, his "investigation" with Kiyomi Takada aside. He inherits this from L.
* DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife: In the first episode, but then he finds one.
** After L's death in the anime, he seems to be quite listless and empty, EvilGloating aside; he only really perks up when Mello and Near come onto the playing field.
* DespotismJustifiesTheMeans: Over time, his plans start to become more about becoming a god and less about making the world a better place. However, post-timeskip he once again begins to prominently talk about his "utopia", and thinks that eventually everyone will accept him as the ultimate arbiter of justice.
* {{Determinator}}: "Childish and hates to lose."
** Light as Kira is (from his perspective) on a [[KnightTemplar holy crusade against Evil]]. He's never going to quit his mission for the sake of his friends, family, or "true love." Sorry Misa and sorry [[MarySue fan]][[YaoiFangirl girls]].
* DevilInPlainSight: For the audience, and, later, Aizawa, Mogi and Ide.
* DevotedToYou: Misa is hopelessly obsessed with him and will do ''anything'' for him. She'd rather die than live any kind of life without him.
* DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife: His state of being as the series begins. He despises the state of the world, finds no challenge or meaning in anything, has no hobbies, views his highest ambitions as a matter of the course of time, and yet ''always does everything perfectly'', like laughing at jokes that aren't funny told by people he may even loathe because good, clean-cut students socialize, and studying for exams he could pass in his sleep. He shows symptoms of a clinically depressed possible psychopath, with reputation-defense and control issues to beat the band. And his egomaniacal tendencies begin to dominate his personality after he finds his purpose in conquering the world by fear and murder once he got his hands on the Death Note.
* DidYouJustScamCthulhu[=/=]DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: Light manipulates Rem into killing L and Watari in order to save Misa. Because this deliberately lengthened Misa's life - a big no-no for Gods of Death - it ensures that Rem will die as well.
* DirtyCoward: In the manga, at least. He has no problem sentencing others to death, but when faced with his own mortality, he frantically begs Ryuk to save him. It doesn't work.
* DisproportionateRetribution:
** He sentences ''a purse-snatcher'' to death.
** He considers eventually killing people for ''laziness''. [[PragmaticVillainy "Eventually" being the operative word]]; when his acolyte Teru Mikami openly declares slackers fair game, Light thinks he's gone too far.
** The utterly heinous crime of getting in his way.
* DissonantSerenity: He can remain perfectly calm and go about his daily routine while knowing full well that people are dying by his hand. The anime even shows a sequence, early on, that places scenes of criminals dying, sometimes violently, in-between scenes of Light walking to school, playing a game at gym, and opening a bag of chips at lunch.
* DoNotAdjustYourSet: He and Misa set several of these up throughout the course of the series, sometimes on national TV, sometimes on private laptops.
* DoesntLikeGuns: He refuses to accept a handgun for self-defense in the middle of a car chase. He has some less than pleasant experiences with guns throughout the series.
* DomesticAbuser: Light takes his anger out on, controls, demeans, deceives, and initially plans to kill Misa. For various reasons, he doesn't go with it, and eventually chooses to erase her memories instead.
* DontTellMama: "You ''told'' my father that I'm a suspect?!"
* DoomMagnet: Complete with LampshadeHanging.
* DoomedProtagonist: Kind of a given when you've picked up an ArtifactOfDeath; there's also more {{Foreshadowing}} when Ryuk informs Light that humans who come into contact with Shinigami have nothing but misfortune. Light assures him "[[{{Pride}} I'll show you the break in that pattern."]]. The "How To Read" caption on that picture says that "Light suffered a pathetic end. This line reveals his arrogance."
* DoubleConsciousness: "Don't panic. I have to act like Soichiro Yagami's son Light would act." Also made obvious with the fracturing image symbolism in the second opening credits. Also {{Lampshaded}} by L when he asks Light how, [[AmateurSleuth as a detective]], he would go about trapping Kira:
-->'''L:''' Absolutely amazing. The thing is I've asked countless investigators that same question and it took them minutes to even come up with an answer. But you, Light. [[OpenMouthInsertFoot You immediately thought of a scenario where Kira was talking directly to the investigators.]] I'm impressed. You'll make a ''fine'' detective someday.
* DrunkWithPower: While it's clear that Light always was a bit of a troubled man, had he not picked up the Death Note he would have most likely gone on to live a good clean life simply due to the hold society has on him. After getting the Death Note and being forced to deal with the fact that he unwittingly ''murdered'' two people so easily, his darker ambitions take over and drive him towards his God complex.
* DullEyesOfUnhappiness: Seen in episode 1 before finding his "purpose." Also in episode 26 when [[AntagonistInMourning trying to adjust to a world without L in it.]]
* TheDutifulSon: Probably the most horrible deconstruction of this. Light is more or less what is considered to be the perfect Japanese son, and the majority of his god complex seems to be linked to the praise he receives for it.
* DyingAlone:
** Although in the anime, there is an appearance from what appears to be L's ghost. This may or may not be a DyingDream.
** [[AvertedTrope Averted]] in the manga and [[DiedInYourArmsTonight film]].
* DyingAsYourself: Possibly at the end of the anime. Now that he's finally undone, the weight of everything he's done seems to finally hit him... a little too late.
* EngineeredHeroism: Well, he's perfectly happy [[SoProudOfYou soaking up lots of praise from the Taskforce]] for working to stop Kira... while being Kira.
* EtTuBrute: When the taskforce begins to turn against him in Season 2, [[DullEyesOfUnhappiness it's clear]] ''he'' sees it as a betrayal. Also the end of the series, "Matsuda, I thought you understood!" The manga finishes it up with Mikami screaming "YOU'RE NOT GOD!!"
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: He genuinely cares about his family ([[TheDeterminator not that that would ever stop him]] [[TheUnfettered from going through with his plans.]]) Although "he's likely not capable of loving a woman," he does "possess love for his family and for humanity as a whole." [[AdaptationalVillainy Averted in the second live-action film,]] wherein he writes Soichiro's name in the Death Note, [[EvenEvilHasStandards shocking even Misa to the point of tears]]. And just when we thought it couldn't get worse, it did: he dies in Soichiro's arms (who, by the way, survives here), begging him to believe that he [[FreudianExcuse acted as Kira to put justice, which Soichiro had taught him about since childhood, into effect]]. However, despite what he does in the live-action films, he was horrified to see [[MoralityPet his sister]] risk her life against the second Kira. In the original manga at least, the author does note that "Light would never kill his own father so [the author] worked hard to make the death an accident."
* EvenEvilHasStandards:
** He is initially dismayed when Mikami's killing spree extends even to relatively innocent people guilty of such minor acts as being lazy, but later thinks to himself only that it's "too early to be making statements like that," suggesting he may agree. Explicit in the manga when he actually toys with this very idea early on in the story.
** Light set up matters in the second arc so that he couldn't kill his little sister without incriminating himself. Though that's after he considers actually doing it.
** In the anime, Light looks quite irritated when [[JackTheRipOff a second Kira]] appears and uses his name to kill innocent newscasters and police officers for "no good reason."
** Light looks quite shocked when Misa offers to kill her friend who helped her distribute the Kira tapes.
** It's also possible that he felt pain when his father died and Light would never intentionally kill his own father.
** In general Light is disgusted by ''any'' crime ([[MoralMyopia unless of course he's the one doing it; in which case it's perfectly justified]]).
* EvenTheGuysWantHim:
** In the first episode of Death Note, a surprising number of men seem to be checking out Light. At each crossing he stops at, someone is giving him a sideways glance. And then there's his slightly too agog teacher when he listens to Light translate some lines to Japanese.
** Let's see, you've got like every background character in episode 1, Ryuk follows him around everywhere, Raye Penber The Stalker, L and his weird obsession and surveillance cameras, Misa showing up on his door step, Takada directly asking him out, Matsuda and Mikami the Fanboys, and Near with his creepy smiles and he keeps calling and hanging up... [[IncrediblyLamePun Kira is a wanted man.]]
* EvilAllAlong: Although he kept up the act of being a friend, or at least a decent co-worker, to L, Matsuda, and the rest of the taskforce, he is the mass murderer they've all been searching for. And although he would rather not kill off the taskforce, preferring instead to manipulate and deceive them, he will not hesitate to get rid of them if he feels that he needs to.
* EvilCannotComprehendGood:
** When Soichiro tries to arrest Mello rather than using the Death Note on him as Light expected, despite the fact that Mello had kidnapped and [[BreakTheCutie traumatized]] Sayu, Light is unable to comprehend why.
*** Averted. Light knows exactly why. He merely considers it [[StupidGood an act of idiocy]] on Soichiro's part. In the manga, he even expresses concerns that Soichiro won't be able to kill Mello if the situation calls for it.
** After Mello kidnaps Takada and is killed in subsequent events. Light, whose first loyalty is to his own survival, cannot conceive that someone like Mello would sacrifice himself for any reason and [[ThanatosGambit walks right into the trap convinced that Mello was just an idiot.]] Although not exactly hero and villain, this is clearly a case of selfishness cannot comprehend loyalty. It's worth noting that with other characters that are more clearly good guys, Light tends to have better success predicting their behavior - Near is an example - but, perhaps because Mello demonstrates a kindred disregard for human life early on, Light simply assumes that the other is driven by greed rather than revenge.
*** The above example is only valid if one assumes the interpretation that Mello's death really was a willing sacrifice, which was never confirmed.
* EvilCounterpart: To L.
* EvilGenius: Unquestionably genius. How and if he is evil depends on the point in the story; he starts off rather anti-heroic, but definitely is evil by the story's conclusion.
* EvilGloating: He practically dances on L's grave while bragging about his victory over the GreatDetective. Also, when he writes Naomi Misora's name in the Death Note, he openly admits to her that he's Kira just to see the look on her face before she dies. This winds up backfiring when he finally meets Near face to face and puts his endgame into action, only to realize he was outwitted with him being told straight up that by declaring "I win" he pretty implicated himself.
* EvilIsNotWellLit: His bedroom always seems to be dark, save for the light from his computer and television; as you can imagine, he has several eerie FaceFramedInShadow moments.
* EvilIsPetty: He has shades of this. Case in point: he kills Lind L. Taylor on national television simply because he was pissed that Taylor badmouthed him.
* EvilLaugh: [[GigglingVillain He's got some evil chuckles spread out throughout the series]] and [[LaughingMad the one in]] the GrandFinale is [[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=C65oaIHsdYM legendary]].
** [[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qd7fHOCcGnE English version.]]
** Not to mention the one he comes out with after L bests him for the second time, at his university entrance ceremony.
* EvilOverlooker: A few times, such as during the opening and closing themes, symbolically and literally overseeing his New World.
* EvilPlan: MotiveDecay changes it from the well-intentioned 'eliminate crime' to the insane 'become god of a new world'.
* EvilRedhead: Light's hair is stylistically colored blood-red when he's feeling particularly vile, along with his [[RedEyesTakeWarning eyes]], but even when that's not the case, his hair is closer to auburn than brown and the reddest in the cast.
* ExplainingYourPowerToTheEnemy: As part of his MemoryGambit, Light makes sure that L reads the rules of the Death Note so that his own fake rules, in the context of the other real rules, come across as legitimate.
* ExpressiveHair: Whenever he freaks out, his normally tidily combed hair becomes wild and messy.
* TheExtremistWasRight: During his MotiveRant, Light says that wars have stopped and crime has dropped 70% because of Kira. He succeeded in scaring the shit out of most of the world as an anonymous "God" and [[PersonOfMassDestruction walking deterrent.]]
* FaceOfAnAngelMindOfADemon: He's pretty good-looking for an evil mastermind.
* FallenHero: He was a NiceGuy and AmateurSleuth before becoming a SerialKiller.
* FalseFriend: A mutual example with L. Their supposed friendship is completely insincere on both sides.
** Also to Matsuda. Aizawa, Ide, and Mogi never seemed closer to Light than "co-worker," but Matsuda considered him a friend, probably because the two had Soichiro, who was Light's father and Matsuda's mentor, in common.
*** His relationship with Matsuda is probably closer then any of the other detectives since he believes that Matsuda is a BlackShirt who believes in [[AGodAmI Kira's justice]]. [[CurbStompBattle He was wrong]]. And of course, Light didn't hesitate to have Matsuda killed along with the other detectives.
* FamilyValuesVillain: Light doesn't approve of any crime. He is also a firm believer of that credo "respect the police ''and'' pressure them into murdering your enemies."
* FatalFlaw: His overwhelming pride, which reaches [[AGodAmI God complex]] levels at its worst and blinds him to the point where he refuses to even ''consider'' the possibility that he could ever lose.
* FauxAffablyEvil: He puts up a cool, polite, and friendly act, but in reality, he looks down on everyone around him.
** A particular example is when he's just written Misora's name in the Death Note. The moment she realizes that he is Kira and the Death Note takes effect, he asks her what the matter is and casually turns his phone back on, telling Naomi she can speak to his father now.
* FearIsTheAppropriateResponse: Light tends to panic when things don't go according to plan.
* FluffyTamer: "You shinigami are so cute!" ([[http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/chickenzombies8_7202.jpg Parodied in this doujinshi.]])
* FoolishSiblingResponsibleSibling: Sayu and Light, though subverted once Light becomes Kira.
* FreakOut: One of the most famous in all of anime.
** He has several smaller ones whenever it looks like his plans might fail.
* FreudianExcuse: In the TV drama, his mother dies when he is young, and due to his father's absence he is forced to act as [[PromotionToParent Sayu's parental figure]].
* FriendlessBackground: Though he's very popular [[IntelligenceEqualsIsolation Light doesn't seem to be particularly close to]] ''[[EatingLunchAlone anyone]]''. This varies somewhat from the manga to the anime. In the manga, Light is seen casually joking while walking home with friends, while in the anime, Light is shown pointedly declining an invitation to hang out and eating lunch alone. He had many friends though, and he was able to get a large group together when going out looking for the Second Kira.
* GadgetWatches: Light hides a piece of his Death Note inside his watch, meaning he can kill anyone at any time as long as he's not being watched carefully.
* GambitRoulette: A number of his plans rely more on luck and coincidence than genuine planning; so much that this trope was once called the Yagami Gambit. The most famous of his plans being, of course, is the MemoryGambit.
* GeniusBruiser: While he's not a fighter, Light is also the best Athlete at his school, along with the best student.
* GigglingVillain: He does this a lot, especially in his inner monologues. And when he does, your guts will squirm.
* GlowingEyesOfDoom: Such pretty [[RedEyesTakeWarning red eyes]].
* GoKartingWithBowser: He and L do this throughout the first arc.
* AGodAmI: After picking up the Death Note, Light sets out to become the God of the New World. Eventually, he declares himself to be God, at least in his own mind. By the final few chapters, Light has become so convinced of his own superiority to everyone else that he can't even comprehend the idea that he might fail. Even after he's caught, he outright declares himself God to the police.
* GodzillaThreshold: In the manga and live action films, he hits it during the final confrontation after being shot by Matsuda. Having run out of plans and been exposed as Kira, Light begs Ryuk to help him by writing the names of Near and the task force in his Death Note. Instead, Ryuk writes Light's own name in the Death Note, outright saying that since Light was desperate enough to turn to him for help instead of having a backup plan, then it was all over for him.
* GoodEyesEvilEyes: Before he jumps off the deep end and when he gives up his memories and becomes truly innocent, his eyes are [[WideEyedIdealist wide]]. When he is acting as Kira, contemplating and executing murder plots and plans for godhood, his eyes are noticeably narrower.
* GutFeeling: Among other situations, if Light hadn't felt this about Naomi Misora, the story would have had a very different ending.
* HannibalLecture: Light delivers one, MotiveRant style, after he's cornered and exposed as Kira. As noted below, Near responds with a KirkSummation.
* HarmfulToMinors: [[EvilIsNotAToy Death Note: Keep Out of Reach of Anyone.]]
* HatesBeingTouched: Misa never catches on.
* HeterosexualLifePartners: With [[VillainousFriendship Ryuk]]. Also fakes being this with both L and Matsuda whenever he benefits from it. It's mutual with L, but Matsuda genuinely believes them to be best friends.
* HeWhoFightsMonsters: It arguably takes only one chapter for him to become a monster (i.e. killing Lind L. Taylor).
** And he keeps on going from there. As the crusader against criminals, Light becomes the worst of them all. Ryuk even [[LampshadeHanging lampshades it]], remarking that Light will most likely eventually be the only evil person left in the world once his plan succeeds.
* HeelFaceBrainwashing: Which he pulls on ''himself'' via supernatural notebook.
* HeelFaceTurn: He gets rid of his memories and becomes far nicer. It doesn't last, though.
* HelplessGoodSide: [[NiceGuy Yotsuba!Light]] is a TechnicalPacifist who believes he's not even ''capable'' of killing and [[DoesntLikeGuns won't even accept a handgun]] [[TheFettered for self-defense.]]
* HeManWomanHater: Hates women, believing them to be an annoyance or a distraction. And, while Misa isn't very intelligent, he believes this even after meeting Takada, his mother, and sister, who are quite intelligent.
* HighSchoolSweethearts: He's College Sweethearts with Kiyomi.
* HiredToHuntYourself: Turned UpToEleven when he becomes the new L. It's one thing to string along a group of detectives for ''years'' while pretending to chase the mass-murderer you secretly are. It's another thing to get a paycheck for it.
* HolierThanThou: He thinks himself superior to everyone else around him.
* HollywoodHacking: How he is shown getting information from various sources over the course of the series.
* HolyHalo: On the manga cover art. Also gets HolyBacklight in the first episode when he first declares he's going to become the God of the New World.
* HorrorStruck: There's a brief but powerful image at the very beginning of the manga when Light is coming to grips with the power of the Death Note. He's shown huddled in bed, wrapped in a blanket, with this stricken ''look'' on his face.
* HowDoIShotWeb: Light being [[TheChessmaster Light]], he proceeds more intelligently than most.
* HowTheMightyHaveFallen: The ending leaves Light broken both physically and mentally, with all his sycophants either dead or not having a clue who he is. The anime scene with him running sobbing from the warehouse to be killed by a heart attack a few minutes later is the ''nice'' version of his death, and within a few years, the world's gone back to normal. In the original manga, he's killed while writhing in agony and whining that he doesn't want to die.
* HumanoidAbomination: If he really does end up becoming The Unnamed Shinigami.
* {{Hypocrite}}:
** He considers ''all'' killings to be crimes, even if he carries them out himself or they're done on his orders...though he still thinks he shouldn't be punished for killing people himself. Especially since his victims include plenty of innocent people, killed to tie up loose ends, because they were trying to stop him, or in one case when they used the Death Note to kill people for profit - even though he gave it to them and expected them to do exactly that.
** When Misa is introduced, she's killing innocent newscasters and police officers for simply speaking out against Kira; Light is anything but pleased with her for doing so, but he himself did much the same by killing FBI agents. Misa even lampshades it, defending herself and pointing out that Light did the ''exact same thing''.
* IAmTheNoun: "I am Justice!"
* IDidWhatIHadToDo: Light clings to this belief throughout the series. See MotiveRant for more.
* IHaveManyNames: Light Yagami, Kira (the Saviour, the Messenger from Hell, etc.), Light Asahi, "Mr. A an office worker", L (number two), God.
* IMeantToDoThat: Whenever L one-ups or humiliates him Light quickly recovers with "This is perfect. It's all according to plan." [[http://g0069.deviantart.com/art/DNF-Fifteen-HATE-95432389]]
* ImHavingSoulPains: [[DontTouchItYouIdiot "Ryuuzaki, let me see it!"]]
* IgnoreTheFanservice: In one scene in the second arc, Light walks into a room containing both Misa Amane dressed in lacy knee-highs, a corset, and very little else, and a computer with information on it. Guess which one he immediately focuses on and which one he completely ignores?
** In an earlier scene Misa comes into a room with the entire task force in it wearing a skimpy nightdress. Matsuda, Ide, Mogi, and Aizawa are clearly affected by it, but Light doesn't even look at her.
** When Light first ''meets'' Misa, she is dressed in black lace, a very short skirt, and a tight black corset. His reaction? "Everything she does is ridiculous."
* IgnoredEpiphany: At the very beginning. He is completely overcome when he realizes that the Death Note does indeed work and that he's just murdered two people - dry heaving, shaking, even a hint of tears. Then he starts thinking that this is exactly the opportunity he's been waiting for. "This world is rotting, and those who are making it rot deserve to die!"
* ImprobableAge: He's only 17 at the start of the series yet manages to be an even match for the world's greatest detective.
* ImplausibleDeniability: At the end of the series, after irrefutable evidence to his being Kira was presented, his first answer was insistence that he was framed and it was all a set up, to which Aizawa told him to give it up. Understandably, given that this evidence consisted of Light shouting "I win!", and his name being the only one of the people besides Mikami's not being in the notebook. Justified; as the RealLife section notes on the trope's page, clinical psychopaths have a tendency to never admit guilt even when faced with undeniable proof of their actions.
* IncriminatingIndifference: Although he tries to avert this.
* InferioritySuperiorityComplex: [[BrokenAce Light seems to be living his life under the assumption that he has to be]] ''[[BrokenAce perfect]]''. Perfect student, perfect son... and then he kills two people by accident just to satisfy his curiosity and his boredom. That ruins everything. [[GoMadFromTheRevelation It makes him a murderer, evil.]] The only way to become "perfect" again is [[ZerothLawRebellion to become Justice]], to become God. In his own words "If Kira is caught, then Kira is evil. [[WrittenByTheWinners If he wins and rules the world Kira is justice."]] [[BreakTheHaughty He gets caught.]] Also as per the trope at times he comes off as desperate to prove himself - especially in his interactions with L, where he seems to get overly-excited even when he gets simple answers right. And "feeling better about themselves by putting others down"... does the ''whole world'' count?
* TheInsomniac: though he's easily overshadowed by L in this department Light often pulls all-nighters to keep his plans running smoothly.
* InsufferableGenius
* {{Irony}}: He largely favored Mikami over Misa and Takada. Mikami's screw up at the end of the series leads directly to Light's ultimate downfall.
* ItGetsEasier: Early in the manga, Light is shown wrapped up in a blanket, wide-eyed and trembling, wondering if he has the guts to go through with his plan, after killing just two people. Days later, he's proudly showing off his ''pages'' of written names to Ryuk.
* ItsAllAboutMe: This is why he's ultimately a [[VillainProtagonist villain]]. Even [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans if you agree with him that criminals should be exterminated]], as far as he's concerned, even Kira supporters are just tools to be manipulated and discarded if they end up [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness outliving their usefulness]]. Especially since before long, he seems just as focused on stroking his own ego as he does on building his "utopia".
* ItsProbablyNothing: Light's reaction during the Yotsuba arc when thinking about how the ideals of the original Kira are disturbingly close to his own.
* IveComeTooFar: He says this nearly word-for-word at one point.
* JekyllAndHyde: When he gives up the notebook and his Kira memories he goes from being a [[{{Jerkass}} complete jerk]] to being the [[NiceGuy nicest guy]] you could ever know. Then, of course, he regains his memories and goes back to being evil again. But the change is so extreme, some fans consider Light and Kira to be two different entities.
** Some may even see the notebook as pure evil and Light as a WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds, seeing that it's possible that Light was taken over by Kira and is now unable to control his action. It's possible that the notebook possessed him the moment he picked it up.
*** Or, it's just a more subtle thing. Light with amnesia is a Light who had to mature and accept various flaws of the worlds and ended up a healthier person. Kira is a genius ''teenager'' (how many of those have you met who think they understand the world completely) who was handed a magic murder book. Nothing corrupts morality and hard truths like power.
* JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: He genuinely cares about his family... and hopes he doesn't have to kill them.
* {{Jerkass}}: While he's ''very'' good at hiding it, Light is nevertheless a narcissistic bastard who treats most of his followers/subordinates like tools.
* JerkassDissonance: He's had his fair share of fans throughout the run of the series, even after the credits rolled and he was decisively defeated.
** In-universe, this is Light's relationship with Misa. He is generally cold, commanding, and stern towards her (except when he wants something), and offhandedly orders her to go to bed, to be quiet, to go back to work, etc. And despite one or two quiet "You're so mean, darling," comments, she adores him until the end.
* JumpedAtTheCall: Once Light finds the Death Note, it doesn't take him long to use it to start changing the world.
* JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope: He begins using the Death Note to rid society of criminals, but soon his black list expands to include anyone who stands in his way for any reason, starting with the FBI. Along the way, he coolly manipulates the feelings of both people and shinigami. Repeatedly stating that he plans to become the god of the new world he is trying to create doesn't help matters, either.
* JustAKid: In the live action movie, it's outright stated that his dad doesn't want him working on cases yet for this reason.
* KarmicDeath: When he dies in the final episode, "New World".
* KarmicTransformation: The first ''Relight'' special hints that after he dies, he becomes a shinigami.
* KickTheMoralityPet: Light and his family.
* TheKillerBecomesTheKilled: See KarmicDeath.
* KnightTemplar: He claims to be a WellIntentionedExtremist but all he's doing is forcing the world to submit under his reign as an omnipotent dictator. He shows this early on when he immediately kills Lind L. Tailor just for [[DisproportionateRetribution questioning what he's doing]].
* KnightTemplarBigBrother: He really does love his little sister, Sayu, and is quite protective of her. When L and he are profiling Kira, and L suggests that Sayu is the one who best fits the profile, Light briefly loses it.
* KubrickStare: He does this quite a few times.
* LargeHam: "I will be the ''god'' of the ''new world''!!!"
** "[[MundaneMadeAwesome I'll take a potato chip... and eat it!!!]]"
* LeanAndMean: The official stats list him as 5'8, 119 lbs, leading to some fan speculation that he might have some sort of eating disorder, though when compared to the stats of the other characters they're all pretty lightweight. He also mentions in passing that during his first week as Kira that he's lost 10 lbs on top of [[BadDreams not sleeping.]]
** There's a scene in the first volume of the manga, actually, where he announces that he's finished eating, and his sister says, "What, already?"
*** This is even worse when you realise the official stats are mistranslated, and Light is meant to be 5'10! The "I'm not eating with the family", though, seems as if it's underscoring that he's bolting his food to get away from them.
* LighterAndSofter: In the television drama, the pre-Kira Light is much more extroverted and friendly (opposed to his reserved and somewhat brooding anime/manga counterpart), is so disgusted with himself over the first murders that he nearly commits suicide over them, spreads out the subsequent deaths at a much slower pace, and genuinely cares enough about Misa to deliberately target the man who killed her family.
* LightIsNotGood: No pun intended.
* ALighterShadeOfBlack: As lampshaded by Rem, while Light is certainly no saint, he's still better than Kyosuke Higuchi.
* LimpAndLivid: After getting shot by Matsuda in the finale.
* LivingEmotionalCrutch: To Misa.
* LivingWithTheVillain: Soichiro, Sayu, and Sachiko all live with Light in the first season (which makes for some ''really'' awkward family discussions).
* LonelyAtTheTop: Sure, lots of people worship him from a distance. But he either screws over or emotionally distances himself from pretty much everyone he knows.
* LoveIsAWeakness: Light believes this. In the manga when Light meets Misa who is madly infatuated with him he thinks "I can't develop feelings for her. That's how idiots get caught."
* MadeOfIron: Rather impressively, especially for such a thin guy, Light both stood up ''and'' managed to run for quite a distance after being shot 5 times. Not that it saved him from the grip of the Death Note shortly thereafter, though.
* MagneticHero: His cult of personality is so strong that he gets three other people ([[MyFriendsAndZoidberg four if we count]] [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg Higuchi]]) to commit mass murder on his behalf. He gains Rem's loyalty as well even though she hates him ([[BlackAndGrayMorality because his motives are]] [[PureIsNotGood more pure than Higuchi's]]).
* TheManBehindTheMan: In manipulating both Misa and Higuchi; Mikami and Takada both count, too. He is the original Kira, functioning through a series of proxies and decoys throughout the series.
* {{Mangst}}: He does feel emotional pain for his sister's kidnapping and his father's death. And maybe even for betraying his "good friend" L, it's just very subtle and well-hidden.
* ManipulativeBastard: Whoo boy. Deceit and manipulation pretty much define all of Light's relationships. The crowning moment of his manipulations is when he manages to get Rem to kill L in order to save Misa's life, thereby ending her life as well.
* MaskOfSanity: The TropeCodifier, no less. Light ''seems'' to be a calm, stable, [[TheAce ace]], but in reality, possibly even before the series started, he has some serious mental problems.
* MasterActor: [[AllThereInTheManual According to the guidebook]], his acting skills are 10/10.
* MemoryGambit: He allays suspicion by exploiting the rule that anyone who relinquishes the ownership of a Death Note also loses all memory of owning it unless that person later touches the same Death Note later, [[GambitRoulette even counting on his amnesiac self to genuinely join the side of good]] in tracking down the new owner of the Death Note. This leads to [[MemeticMutation the popular phrase]] "JustAsPlanned," '''eight episodes''' after putting his plan in motion.
* MeanCharacterNiceActor: Creator/MamoruMiyano is ''nowhere'' as cruel, blackhearted and cynical as Light becomes.
** Ditto for his dub actor, Creator/BradSwaile.
* MeaningfulName: Done ironically seeing as Light is (probably) [[LightIsNotGood not good]]. Also Yagami (夜神) means "Night god" or "Dark god", so his name is "[[OxymoronicBeing Light Dark God]]". But the important thing is the ''[[AGodAmI god]]'' part.
* TheMentallyDisturbed: If you think Light can keep his grasp on his sanity once he gets a hold of the Death Note, you haven't been watching the series ''nearly'' as close enough as you should.
* MindRape: Does it to himself as a result of his MemoryGambit.
* MirrorScare: The [[SlasherSmile sinister]] [[TomatoInTheMirror Kira]] [[GlowingEyesOfDoom reflection]] at the end of ''Relight'' in the Taskforce HQ's HallOfMirrors.
* MistakenForMasturbating: Light deliberately [[InvokedTrope invokes this trope]] [[InfractionDistraction to conceal the fact he's killing people]] with a magical notebook.
* MoleInCharge: During the TimeSkip, he is in charge of the task force investigating his murder spree.
* MoralMyopia:
** He claims that L is evil because he used another human being as a scapegoat in Episode 2... despite the fact that the man in question was on death row and scheduled for execution the next day, as well as the fact that ''Light himself'' was the one who killed him, as well as countless others.
** In general, Light is a perfect example of this trope, at least in the beginning, as he endeavors to kill all the criminals and bad people on the planet but sees nothing wrong with killing thousands upon thousands of people, because he's a [[VillainProtagonist good guy]]. When Ryuk mentions at one point that Light will be the only evil person left on the planet should he succeed, [[ObliviouslyEvil Light has no clue what he means]].
** The amount Light objects to the morality of an act, apart from the part in which he loses his memories of the Death Note and is not acting as Kira, tends to depend on how much it affects his plans. Even his disapproval of Mikami killing people he didn't think necessarily deserved to die'' yet'' is largely based on how it makes Kira look.
* MoralSociopathy: Kira's justice. He definitely has a moral code and he doesn't care who he has to kill to uphold it.
* MotiveDecay: Invoked throughout the series. His megalomania causes him to completely lose sight of his original goal ([[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans to improve the world by removing its criminal element]]) and degrade into using the Death Note to [[AGodAmI become "The God of the New World" and destroy his enemies]], as well as clean up any undesirables; by the final chapters, he's starting to kill people just for being ''lazy''. He also turns from a ManipulativeBastard who carefully plans everything out into a CardCarryingVillain who is so sure of his own success that the very concept of his own failure seems to confuse him. Many a character points out that Light is just another SerialKiller by the end, but Light's so blinded by his pride that it takes his impending death for him to catch on.
* MrFanservice: As Near points out, "Light Yagami is a lady-killer."
* MundaneMadeAwesome: He's not the title page character for this trope for nothing. The potato chip scene is an epic example of this.
** Light and Misa [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nx6-AJ6QsEM share an epic hug]] in the anime, including views from several different angles, creepy music, and a ''shaft of light.''
* MurderIsTheBestSolution: If someone becomes a nuisance [[InternalMonologue he first thinks]] something along the lines of "I have to kill him!"
* MurderMakesYouCrazy: He's an ordinary school student until he writes the first name. After that, he develops delusions of grandeur and wants to cleanse the world of evil (leaving himself as the only evil person, as Ryuuk points out). In the manga, the reader first sees how Light has already killed numerous targets before flashing back to his first kill for maximum shock value and to show how far he has already fallen in such a short time.
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: ''Night god'', anyone? Also his first name is a name that real parents in Japan would never give to their child because the character for moon is written with [[FourIsDeath four strokes]] [[PropheticNames meaning his adult life would be dominated by death.]]
** Also his GoToAlias "Asahi" means "morning sun" or "morning star". Light Morningstar [[LouisCypher think about that for a moment.]]
* {{Narcissist}}: Light grows completely divorced from humanity, and eventually percieves himself as a god, valuing other people according to their usefulness to him (like Misa, Takada, and Mikami) or his personal interest in them (like his family).
* NecessarilyEvil: Starts out this way, determined to sacrifice himself for the greater good. However, [[ThisIsYourBrainOnEvil less than a week later]] he's {{squee}}ing over his [[AGodAmI promotion to Godhood]]. It doesn't keep him from occasionally toying with the concept of himself as selfless and self-sacrificing though, and in his climactic MotiveRant, he claims that his ascent to Godhood and becoming Kira was a purely selfless and altruistic act on his part.
* NeverHurtAnInnocent: Initially.
** ''He'' seems to think of himself that way, though.
* NiceGuy: Not very much after he picked up the Death Note, but when his memories are wiped during the Yotsuba arc, he reverts to the way he was/would have been before picking up the Notebook.
* NightmareFetishist: Light has referred to Shinigami as "cute," finds all that Ryuk will tell him about Shinigami quite fascinating, makes ''jokes'' about how being a shinigami might be interesting, and his fascination with the Death Note is a little... eerie.
* NonActionGuy: Well, he only writes people's names in the Death Note, and has never done physical harm.
* NonActionBigBad: This is his game plan. When his ego starts to balloon out too far, he forgets this was how he saved his own self time and time again. Inevitably, Light steps out into the open... and makes the worst mistakes of his life.
* NoPlaceForMeThere: Played with. Ryuk asks Light if he believes in this philosophy. When Light rejects this in favor of becoming [[AGodAmI the god of his new world]], it's the audience's first hint he isn't just a WellIntentionedExtremist. On the other hand, ''[[AllThereInTheManual How To Read]]'' reveals that he ''does'' think there's no place for Takada or Mikami, who have used the Death Note on his orders.
* NoSenseOfHumor: Other than making a [[CannotConveySarcasm "joke"]] about wanting to trade away half of his life for shinigami wings, he [[EvilHasABadSenseOfHumor lacks any sort of sense of humor]].
* NotCheatingUnlessYouGetCaught: "If Kira is caught, then Kira is evil. [[WrittenByTheWinners If he wins and rules the world, Kira is justice.]]"
* NotSoDifferent: Frequently lampshaded. Both he and L are genius [[TheChessmaster Chessmasters]] [[TheManBehindTheCurtain that hold vast power by remaining anonymous]]- L solves criminal cases behind his computer screen, Light judges humanity from the comfort of his bedroom. They're two sides of the same coin: [[VisionaryVillain Light has great ideals and no integrity.]] [[HonorBeforeReason L has great integrity and no ideals.]]
** Also with Matsuda: Both are [[NewMeat youthful]] [[WideEyedIdealist Wide-Eyed Idealists]] with SamaritanSyndrome but their attempts to "help" just make things worse.
* NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist: Even before his JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope, Light is fascinated with becoming the god of the new world he plans to create. As time goes on, his motive shifts from making the world a better place to just wanting to fuel his god complex.
* NothingCanStopUsNow: [[WhatAnIdiot "Looks like I win."]]
* ObfuscatingStupidity: "[[CrowningMomentOfAwesome What's that,]] Rem? I don't understand... could you explain to me the rules of ownership again?"
* ObliviouslyEvil: He consistently views himself as a DarkMessiah WellIntentionedExtremist whose actions are [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans justified]] and [[NecessarilyEvil necessary]]. When Ryuk remarks that he'll be the only evil person in the world left should his plans succeed, Light outright says he has no clue what Ryuk means.
* OddNameOut: Light is the only Yagami not to have a name that starts with "S" (Sochiro, Sachiko, Sayu)
* OfferedTheCrown: L unexpectedly offers Light his title as the "Great Detective L" should he die. Light ([[MemoryGambit who no longer remembers that he is Kira and at the moment genuinely likes L)]] refuses [[LiteralMetaphor for as comrades chained together by a common destiny]] [[TogetherInDeath they would die together anyway,]] but then he realizes it was just [[SecretTestOfCharacter another test.]]
* OffscreenVillainDarkMatter: Light somehow has the funds that he can 1) trash a mini LCD TV without remorse and 2) drop out and then resume his college studies. Also it's never addressed how Souichiro can afford to gift him with an [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omega_Speedmaster Omega Speedmaster]] on a policeman's salary.
* OmniscientMoralityLicense: When he kills a criminal as Kira, he's ''never'' wrong about his victim. Ever.
* OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent: Both the anime and the manga introduce Light at school; he notices the Death Note fall because he's staring out the window, bored.
** Not quite ordinary since he's {{The Ace}} at the start.
* OutGambitted: By Near at the end thanks to [[SpannerInTheWorks Mikami's]] screw up.
* PaperThinDisguise: Light [[InTheHood wears a hoodie]] and beanie when manipulating Raye Penber, which renders him unrecognizable to both Raye and the investigators that view the surveillance cameras.
** Though Raye never sees him until it's too late, and the chances are he doesn't recognise Light's voice because he's already under the effects of the Death Note.
** And L does note that Kira likely examined the subway beforehand and made use of the blindspots of the cameras.
* PayEvilUntoEvil: Under Kira, ''any'' crime is punishable by death.
* PeacefulInDeath: In the anime, he dies in peace, seeing an apparition of L. Contrasted with his manga counterpart, who dies of a rather brutal heart attack, and we're then treated to a close-up of his body, a look of horror still on his face.
* ThePerfectionist: Of course taken to extremes and applied to the entire world.
** PerfectionIsImpossible: His inability to accept this fact is pretty much the root cause of everything that happens in the series, [[ProtagonistJourneyToVillain from his descent into villainy,]] [[NiceJobBreakingIthero to the lives he destroys.]] If he just simply acknowledged at the start that killing was wrong, that [[TheAce he of all people]] made [[HumansAreFlawed an honest to goodness mistake]] (granted, killing someone, even if they're [[AssholeVictim assholes,]] is a hell of a mistake to make) and [[ForWantOfANail went through with getting rid of the death Note as he initially considered,]] the ''entire story'' would never have come to pass.
* PersonOfMassDestruction: He kills hundreds, if not thousands, of people.
* PetTheDog: He often helped Sayu with her homework, but this was partially done to throw suspicion off him.
** His possibly genuine love for family might count. This changes later with he didn't seem to care about his father's death and thought killing his sister would put more suspicion on him. He never seemed interested in hurting his mother, however.
** When his memory is erased and he's helping with the investigation, he notes that Kira never killed anybody who had already served their sentences, displayed genuine remorse, or had seemingly justifiable reasons for their crimes.
* PlayingWithPuppets: [[HowDoIShotWeb When testing the extent to which he can control victims with the Death Note.]]
* ThePowerOfActing: [[AllThereInTheManual According to the guidebook]], his acting skills are 10/10.
* PreachersKid: The irony is that Kira is actually a detective's son.
* PrecisionFStrike: His language, for the most part, consists a lot of "damn", "hell" and "bastard". However, a few times in the series (or at least the original dub), he has uttered the word "fuck" once or twice, especially in the finale.
* {{Pride}}: He quickly loses sight of his original goal through the series and builds himself as an important godlike figure whom the world needs.
* PrinciplesZealot: Falls under this trope during the Yotsuba arc. The entire Kira-mission falls under this as well.
* ProtagonistJourneyToVillain: The series chronicles Light's life as he goes from a relatively well-intentioned person who seeks to change the world for the better to a manipulative, sadistic lunatic who kills to fuel his [[AGodAmI raging god complex]].
* PromotionToParent: In the TV Drama he is forced to take up this role after Sachiko's death, especially since his father is rarely home.
* ProperlyParanoid: After all, they ARE all out to get him.
* PropheticNames: Light Yagami = [[OxymoronicBeing Light Night/Dark]] [[AGodAmI God]].
* PsychopathicManchild: He qualifies as Type C (flirting with [[CuteAndPsycho D]]). When L details the psychology of Kira to the police, one of them suggests that they could stop him by no longer publishing the name of convicts in the news, as he clearly was getting the names of his victims from the media. L states that won't work because Kira will then simply start killing people he ''thinks'' are guilty and will further blame the police for any innocent people he kills, specifically identifying his childlike personality as the reason for this. Sure enough, Light does display lots of childlike evil throughout the series, such as killing the fake L for insulting him on national television and his need to gloat to L and Near when he thinks he's beaten them. His VillainousBreakdown at the end takes the form of a blatant childish fit.
* PsychoticSmirk
* RealMenHateSugar: When L offers to share his cake. "Er... no thanks." In the manga during the second arc Takada remarks that Light takes his coffee black but will take one sugar cube in his tea.
* RealMenWearPink: Light does wear a pink shirt when hanging with Matsuda in Aoyama. Also, fear the God of the New World's mad [[TextileWorkIsFeminine sewing skills!]] [[http://songue.deviantart.com/art/Motivation-Yagami-Light-161024000]]. Light also wears a pink butterfly belt-buckle in the anime opening, as seen here [[http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm96/sozima/LightYagamiisGay.jpg]]. Also in the manga at one point Light wears a corset in order to hide the Death Note... [[http://lady-liara.deviantart.com/art/DN-caught-in-the-act-89257006]]
* RedEyesTakeWarning: After he gains the Death Note, the anime makes a point of catching his eyes so that they have a red cast to them. This is made even more obvious when he is contemplating something particularly nasty, and the anime colors his eyes, metaphorically, bright red.
%%* RedOniBlueOni: The red to L's blue. The anime makes this [[ColorCodedForYourConvenience very obvious]].
* RedRightHand: By the end of the first ''Relight'' special (everything after the funeral scene) Light seems to be sporting ''fangs'' in addition to perpetually glowing red eyes.
* RegularlyScheduledEvil: Early in the series it is explained that Light had set aside specific time slots in which to kill criminals, in order to provide himself with a healthy balance of sleep, homework, and death.
* ReligionOfEvil: His cult worships him, a ruthless mass murderer, as a god.
* RousseauWasRight: Light believes this during the Yotsuba arc, when he lost his memories of the Death Note and being Kira, which caused him to revert to the state he was before finding the Death Note (though we aren't given any insight into his thoughts at that point). He whole-heartedly argued that the members of the Yotsuba group other than the 3rd Kira shouldn't be prosecuted since no doubt Kira was coercing them into cooperating. In other words they aren't evil-circumstances pushed them into being evil and once the evil is removed, i.e. arrested, they will live good lives. Doesn't stop him from killing them all after his memory returns though.
* RulesLawyer: Light uses the rules of the Death Note in ways even Ryuk had never thought of before.
** He has a hard time coping with the Near-and-Mello situation because Near and Mello aren't particularly inclined to play by the rules.
* {{Sadist}}: As he gets in the habit of killing, he starts to ''really'' enjoy it and often smiles and laughs as he slaughters people by the score. He also appears to get off on being a ManipulativeBastard, and can't resist the urge to gloat to his enemies that he's literally signed their death warrant, or take cruel pleasure in [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness discarding and betraying his own allies, even girlfriends]]. Some of his deaths are needlessly nasty as well (eg. said girlfriend, he has her ''set herself on fire'') and on several occasions he takes a moment to watch his victims die; for example, when he writes Naomi Misora's name in the Death Note, he reveals himself as Kira to her just because he wanted to see the look on her face before she died. And of course, like many sadists, he absolutely believes that his victims [[NeverMyFault had it coming, and that he himself is blameless]].
* SamaritanSyndrome: An evil version.
* SavvyGuyEnergeticGirl: Savvy Guy to Misa's Energetic Girl, and although Light's family and co-workers seem to think that there's NoAccountingForTaste, a few people do comment on their unlikely relationship.
* SanitySlippage: He gets crazier with every passing episode barring the time he loses memory of the Death Note.
* ScareEmStraight: This is essentially what he's trying to pull on the entire world. As it turns out, with a supernatural, godlike entity willing to kill you if you commit a crime, people are much less likely to commit crimes. The rate drops accordingly.
* ScheherezadeGambit: Light knows that Ryuk is only here because he's bored and he can kill him at any time. Ryuk wants to be entertained and if he gets too bored, he'll just kill Light and go home. Light constantly reminds Ryuk how entertaining he can be. It works for six years.
* TheScourgeOfGod: Light's mission statement though he also will kill anyone who comes after him i.e. defies Kira's will.
* ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections: Light knows that his father's position is what is protecting him from being seriously considered as a suspect by the normal police.
* ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem: When he becomes fully aware of Ryuk and the Death Note again, and remembers that he asked Ryuk to put a couple of fake rules on the Death Note (which L must then assume to be real), he goes into a little mental rant about how he is basically a god because he can change the rules like that. It's no longer clear how fully he recognizes that he ''didn't'' change the rules.
* SealedEvilInACan: [[HelplessGoodSide Yotsuba!Light]] is a variation on this with the twist that [[MemoryGambit Kira!Light did it to himself.]]
* SelectiveObliviousness: Light is in denial about quite a few things:
-->'''Ryuk''': But if you did that, you'd be the only bad person left.
-->'''Light''': Huh? I have ''no idea'' what you're talking about, Ryuk.
%%* SelfRestraint:
%%% "X of this trope" is not proper context.
* SerialKillerKiller: Kira only kills horrible criminals like serial killers. At least, that's what the general public thinks. The rest of the cast knows better.
* ShadowArchetype: L and Light have a whole reciprocal shadow ''thing'' going. Light is the social one, who not only understands but really ''cares'' about proper socialization and not being indecorous, but as Kira he's also the one who's the most prolific serial killer in history. L is antisocial and willfully unsocialized, and he doesn't really care about a little thing like illegal detainment, mock executions, and torture, but he's the one trying to enforce the fact that ''you don't go around killing people'', and he means it. Enough to be unwilling to test the Death Note. They're certainly both liars. The primary difference between L and Light - two childish geniuses who hide behind their claims of justice and have no idea how to be wrong - is that L is capable of accepting and coping with his own and the world's flaws, something that Light absolutely ''refuses'' to do.
-->'''Light''': The world was too rotten, with too many rotten people... [[MotiveRant Somebody had to do this!]] The world ''had'' to be fixed!
* ShadowDictator: He becomes this in the second arc.
* SharpDressedMan: On rare occasions, which tend to define him in the eyes of the fandom.
* SissyVillain: He's sharp, effeminate, and a genocidal megalomaniac.
* SittingOnTheRoof: Light does this a couple times, [[EvilOverlooker symbolically overlooking]] [[AGodAmI his "New World."]]
* SlasherSmile: Definitely. It's the last thing L sees.
* SlowlySlippingIntoEvil: Light's actions earlier on in the series could be considered a combination of exceedingly ruthless schemes and PetTheDog moments. Then, as the series goes on, he finds new allies, who are almost sycophantic in their devotion to him, and whom he treats as inferior and expendable, becomes ever-more consumed by his God Complex as the world slowly falls under his grip, and resorts to increasingly extreme and cold-blooded means to cover his ass and maintain his reign on the world.
* SmallNameBigEgo: While calling him a small name is going too far, Light immediately believes himself to be the only person worthy of purging the world of evil simply because he's the BigManOnCampus at his high school.
* SmugSmiler: The God of the New World takes to showing an [[InsufferableGenius insufferably superior]] expression when no one but the audience is looking.
* SmugSnake: Unlike many {{Smug Snake}}s, Light ''is'' very bright, but his ''massive'' [[AGodAmI god complex]], childish {{Freak Out}}s ("he got me!"), borderline [[LackOfEmpathy sociopathy]], and tendency towards kicking dogs can and do cost him the sympathy of many, while his sheer ego, and tendency towards underestimating his opponents (and the incompetence of his own allies) can sometimes derail his plans and ultimately do get him killed. Light is incredibly smart, but his arrogance gets in the way of him giving some of his opponents as much credit as he should.
* SocialDarwinist: Averted in that he begins as ''protecting'' the weak by [[PayEvilUntoEvil paying evil unto evil]] before jumping off the slippery slope. Ironically, given his god complex, he would consider it divine natural selection.
%%* TheSocialExpert
* TheSociopath: Just listen to his speech to Ryuk in ''episode 1''. Though he only becomes a sociopath due to the power he's been given through the Death Note, we later see he'd be the exact opposite without it. Light's life was pretty much ruined the minute he picked up the Death Note.
* SoftspokenSadist: Among other examples, Light's voice is chillingly calm and pleasant even when taunting Naomi Misora after revealing himself as Kira. "My father's phone is back on, didn't you want to talk to him?"
* SpeakIllOfTheDead: At the end, he tries justifying his actions by claiming that in a [[CrapsackWorld world so rotten]], idealists like his ''own father'', who died trying to stop Kira, will always be made out to be fools unless Light can continue to rule. He says this right in front of Matsuda, who idolized Soichiro, and gets shot five times for it.
-->'''Matsuda''': You led your own father to his death, and now that he's gone, you call him a ''fool''?!
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Light or Raito?
* StartXToStopX: He commits mass homicide to put an end to all crime.
* StepfordSmiler: He presents himself as positive, thoughtful, and cheerful to the world, but at the beginning of the series he's so bored and empty inside that a quest for a new world and godhood seems like a great idea; and of course, as the series goes on, that smile hides an increasingly unstable and cruel personality.
* TheStoic: Whatever else you may say about him, Light has a great poker face. This serves to give his NotSoStoic moments even more of an impact.
** {{Lampshaded}} by L. He kills criminals without even changing his expression.
* StraightEdgeEvil: He's never shown drinking, doing drugs or smoking, unlike Misa, the mafia and Matt, respectively.
* StrangeMindsThinkAlike: With L, and Mikami.
** With Misa, as well, considering their opinions on how to go about creating a New World. "To defeat evil, there must be sacrifices, right?"
** Also with Ryuk in the first episode when they both contemplate how rotten their respective worlds are.
* StrawMisogynist: While Light thinks ''everybody'' is below him, he seems to have a particular distaste in women, frequently going on about how they're nuisances who waste his time talking about pointless things. Of all three of his minions he seems to favor Mikami over both Misa and Takada, despite him being arguably the ''least'' competent of the three.
* SuperIntelligence: In the How To Read 13, Light is described as abnormally intelligent in the character quiz.
* SuperOCD: His room is immaculately tidy for a teenager, so don't try to steal anything- least of all killer notebooks- from it. And definitely don't catch him by surprise.
* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: One of his {{Catch Phrase}}s is "I'm not Kira."
* TakeOverTheWorld: Well, he wants to becomes its God, and that's pretty much the same thing.
* TakingYouWithMe: [[TheLastDance In his first week as Kira, Light was expecting some sort of punishment for using the notebook]] but decided it's WorthIt if he can [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans make the world a better place by]] taking out as many bad guys as possible before he's killed or his soul is dragged off to {{Hell}}. Then Ryuk informs him there is no punishment, he wasn't [[TheChosenOne Chosen]] or anything, [[ForTheEvulz and its all a joke.]] [[GoMadFromTheRevelation Light does not take it well]] — in the Manga Light has his first [[LaughingMad crazy laugh]] of the series after that particular revelation.
* TalkingYourWayOut: With a high success rate.
** Near dares him to do this in the finale.
* TallDarkAndSnarky
* TaremeEyes: Especially in the beginning before ArtEvolution kicked in and when his memories are wiped.
* TautologicalTemplar:
-->'''Light''': "Me? Evil? I am ''justice''! Those who oppose me — ''they're'' the evil ones!"
* TeenGenius: He's the top scoring student in ''all of Japan.''
** Not to mention that he manages to stay on L's level and focus on school-work.
* TerrorHero: He sees himself as one (Type 3).
* ThatsWhatIWouldDo: He freaks out his father pretty badly when he voices this to L.
* TheseHandsHaveKilled: In the manga. "I-I've killed two people..."
** In the last episode, while he's arguing his side, the camera pans up from a shot of his open hands.
* TheyLookJustLikeEveryoneElse: On the outside, Light is a handsome, hardworking and charming individual who gets along with just about everybody. On the inside...
* ThirdActStupidity: Once he starts buying into his own [[AGodAmI hype]].
* TooCleverByHalf: He fails in the end after being exposed by Near as Kira.
* TogetherInDeath: With L, at the end.
* TookALevelInDumbass: Light plays the role of TheEveryman in the TV drama, rather than a TVGenius. He becomes more tactical and CrazyPrepared as time goes on, but Rem writes this off as part of the general paranoia that comes with harboring a Death Note.
* TookALevelInJerkass: Believe it or not, he UsedToBeASweetKid before finding a [[ArtifactOfDoom killer notebook]] and it just keeps getting harsher from there as he shifts his focus away from his vision of "[[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans a perfect world]]" to "[[ItsAllAboutMe not getting caught.]]" After the time skip his [[EvenEvilHasStandards standards]] have slipped considerably.
** Light in the live action movies- [[ALighterShadeOfBlack he makes anime!Light look like a nice guy.]]
* TookALevelInKindness: When he relinquishes his Death Note memories during the Yotsuba arc. It doesn't last.
* TotalitarianUtilitarian: He wants to create a New World where only kind, good people will live.
* TrademarkFavoriteFood: Potato chips. Barbecue to be exact. He exploits this by hiding a mini LCD tv in a bag of barbecue chips because he's the only one who eats that flavor.
** [[MemeticMutation He'll take that chip... And EAT IT!]]
* TragicDream[=/=]TragicHero
* TranquilFury: Kira's default mood.
* TrappedInVillainy: Unlike any of the other Kiras who all had a {{Shinigami}} pop up to explain the notebook Light was literally trapped into becoming a murderer by confirming the notebook is real.
* TVGenius: His [[TheChessmaster cleverness]] at times reaches beyond the plausible. (Not as extreme as L's, though.)
** Averted when it comes to social skills since he's TheSocialExpert.
* TwoAliasesOneCharacter: By the second arc, he's playing the role of both L and Kira.
* {{Ubermensch}}: One interpretation of his character. He certainly sets up his laws by which he lives.
* UglyHeroGoodLookingVillain: Light is the handsome villain to L's more... unique looking hero.
* TheUnchosenOne: He found the Death Note purely by accident.
* UndignifiedDeath: At the very end, he goes out whining, cursing, and pathetically begging for mercy in a puddle of his own blood.
* TheUnfavorite: Mr. Yagami is absolutely certain that Sayu can't be Kira but isn't so certain about his son. Even though it's true it does hint at ParentalFavoritism.
* UnholyMatrimony: With Misa.
* UnwittingPawn: Averted. Light knows exactly that Ryuk sees him as an entertainment, therefore he keeps providing it while working on his own goals.
* UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans: Light consistently and sincerely believes that he can bring about an ideal new world free of evil. Even when, post-timeskip, the world is slowly becoming a totalitarian place ruled by propagandistic TV channels and secret executioners, he's very happy about it because he thinks people are finally starting to come around to his vision. Throughout the series, when he's trying to stay ahead those fighting against him, he says he's doing so to protect "his utopia".
* TheVamp: How he gets Misa and Takada to serve him. Or rather ''continue'' serving him, given that they were Kira loyalists from the outset.
* VictoryIsBoring: When Near and Mello appear on the scene, Light, after first being enraged and frustrated, remarks that "Things are getting interesting again!"
* VigilanteMan: Death is the only punishment he ''can'' dish out. Early on, he states that he's going to create a world filled with only good-hearted people he approves of. He's simply going to ''start'' with the criminals... and he quickly crosses over into "bad" vigilante man territory, when in the fifth episode he [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope leaps off the slippery slope]] and begins to target and kill all those who oppose Kira, including law-enforcement officials.
* VillainBall: He does this a disproportionately high amount of times.
** He kills Lind L. Taylor out of spite for calling him a criminal, leading to the real L knowing exactly where he is. Though it would have been tough to see such a gambit coming, given that Light was unaware of L's existence prior to his televised appearance.
** He kills the FBI agent Raye Penber, [[CrazyPrepared thinking that Penber would only come after him harder in the future if he wasn't disposed of quickly.]] He neglected to check whether his wife may have been an FBI agent herself...
** He admits he is Kira to Misora, when he's written down her name in the notebook in front of her, in broad daylight on a city street. Had Aizawa been paying slightly more attention before he walked out of earshot, or had he not been using an umbrella due to the providencial snow, Light would've been caught.
*** Again, when he believes that he killed the task force. Leading to his complete reveal that he is Kira when they didn't die.
* VillainProtagonist: To L's HeroAntagonist.
* VillainWithGoodPublicity: The polls by the second arc indicate that much of the world agrees with him, or views him positively.
* VillainousBreakdown: Has a few, his end being the most notable.
* VillainSong: Nearly all of his numbers in the stage musical qualify as one, but the most notable ones are "Where is the Justice?" and "Death Note". [[note]]named "Hurricane" in the original English version.[[/note]]
* VillainsWantMercy: Upon his defeat at the end of the series, Light freaks out and desperately begs for someone, ''anyone'' to save him, because despite having killed thousands of people, he's scared shitless at the thought of dying himself.
* VisionaryVillain: He really believes in that new world of his.
* VitriolicBestBuds: Light and Ryuk, arguably both types 1 (i.e. laughing it off whenever Ryuk reminds him that he's a Death God and that [[KillYouLast he's going to kill him one day.]]) and 2 (insulting each other in equal measure).
** Also with L during the Yotsuba arc.
* VoiceWithAnInternetConnection: As the second L.
* WakeUpGoToSchoolSaveTheWorld: He doesn't "save" the world, more like wants to control it with his own brand of justice.
* WeWantOurJerkBack: During the Yotsuba arc, with L ("I think I wanted you to be Kira").
* WellDoneSonGuy: Light has daddy issues. His father is always out working to catch the bad guys and hardly ever sees his family. [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation It's been speculated that this might be the ''real'' reason he hates criminals with such a passion - they stole his father away from him.]] Also how he walks out on the family meeting where his dad is talking about catching "that evil bastard Kira." Also it's well established that Light is the top-ranked student in the country but his father is still surprised that he can keep up with L. Later that instance of his father pretending to shoot him in the head on L's orders might have added to the dysfunction as well.
* WellIntentionedExtremist: He ''consistently'' sees himself as this and he might have started this but at the end of the day, the one who is benefitting most from his plans is himself. As the series goes on, he betrays this pretence by killing not only criminals but ''anyone'' who would threaten the security of his power.
* WhatBeautifulEyes: Light has very pretty long-lashed {{Bishonen}} eyes and the anime pays them special focus [[WindowsOfTheSoul being kind of a tell in letting the audience know]] [[TheStoic what he's really thinking]] and having them change color from brown, to goldish/amber, to [[GlowingEyesOfDoom red]].
* WhatIfGodWasOneOfUs: It would end '''badly'''. Textbook example of The Prince, though he imagines himself as The Shepherd.
* WhenAllYouHaveIsAHammer: All his obstacles look like nails that are in need of being hammered down.
* WhiteShirtOfDeath: He ends up having blood on his white shirt underneath his coat when Matsuda shoots him.
* WideEyesAndShrunkenIrises: This happens to him quite frequently. This first examples being once he discovers the notebook's powers are real and when he laughs manically after killing Lind L. Taylor.
* WiseBeyondTheirYears: An older example, but he is considerably more intelligent than almost all of the Task Force.
* WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity: There are hints that Light wasn't entirely sane even ''before'' he gained the power to kill anyone in the world at any time, but his sanity certainly heads downwards from the minute he gets the Death Note.
* {{Workaholic}}: During the first arc, Light devotes all of the time that he's not working on work for school or cram school to killing criminals as Kira; in the anime, he turns down offers to hang out with other students, something Ryuk comments on. And let's give the kid some credit: keeping up four girls at once isn't exactly easy, even if it is for a relatively brief period of time.
** And in the second arc, when he's balancing his jobs as L and Kira, he often goes without sleep to keep his schemes running smoothly. At one point, Matsuda calls Light's ability to work endlessly "amazing."
* WouldntHitAGirl: Mostly played straight, though he has no problem with writing women's names down.
** In episode 14 he says "this is the first time in my entire life I've seriously wanted to hit a girl" after being glomped by Misa.
* WrongGenreSavvy: Similar to how Misa seems to be under the impression she's living in a [[ThinksLikeARomanceNovel Romance Novel]], Light seems to think he's living in a [[ShonenGenre Shonen Manga]] which, while technically true, he's an [[WideEyedIdealist idealist]] living in a [[SlidingScaleLongName cynical world]]. Light sees himself as TheHero and TheChosenOne - through the sheer power of [[TheDeterminator determination]] and his [[{{Narcissist}} genius]] [[GuileHero plans]] [[TautologicalTemplar that are always right]] [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans he will make this world a better place]]. He thinks of the Death Note as just a tool, no different then a gun. [[BlackAndWhiteMorality Heroes can use guns on bad guys and still be considered the heroes.]] [[SarcasmMode So why would people ever think what he's doing was wrong?]]
* XanatosSpeedChess: He's a master of this.
* YouAreWhatYouHate: Ryuk points out in the first episode when Light explains his plan to get rid of all the bad people that there will always be one bastard left.
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: What he does to Raye Penber and Kiyomi Takada. Also what he would have done to Misa were it not for Rem.
* YouJustToldMe: Happens to Raye Penber and (in the manga) the President of the United States.
* YouWillBeSpared: Provided someone is useful to him and/or doesn't get in his way. i.e Misa and Mikami. Also the Taskforce for most of season 2.
* YoungAndInCharge: He is 18 when he assumes L's name and control of the Japanese Taskforce after L's death, and even at twenty-three in the second season he remains both its youngest member and leader.
* YoungConqueror: His is youthful idealism at its darkest.
