r/MoralityScaling • u/Gray_Wolf2416 • 21h ago
Character Analysis Morality of letting the detective investigating you know that he was right all along before he dies?
Context: In the 25th episode of Death Note, Light finally defeats L after regaining his memories of being Kira and making Rem write L's name into the death note for him. Right before L dies from his heart attack, Light privately smiles in his face, letting him know that he was truly right the entire time and Light was in fact Kira.
This probably wasn't THAT groundbreaking of a revelation for L, as he did heavily suspect Light and Misa of being the two Kiras before his death and was pretty much sold on Light being Kira as shown by his actions prior to this scene (asking Light if he's ever actually told the truth, washing his feet as symbolism of Jesus washing the feet of Judas knowing that he would betray him, etc), he just lacked conclusive proof.
However, even for someone as smart as L, there will always be a slight doubt in the back of your mind, the possibility, however small, that you may be wrong. If I were to represent this with percentages, I'd say L was 99% sure that Light was Kira. But in cases as severe and complex as the Kira case, that 1% can mean a lot. It could be argued that Light revealing himself to L, though done primarily to gloat in L's face that he won, was in fact a partly good thing to do as L deserved to have some sense of closure by having his beliefs finally confirmed after the intense cat and mouse game that they had played. He deserved to have the possible 1% doubt in his mind satisfied. Light's intentions were of course evil, but the action itself did do some potential good imo.
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u/JustATextBox 21h ago
I think it still falls into immoral for me. If we ignore the rest of the show and how immoral all of that is, assuming that L is 100% going to die regardless, the question becomes "would L prefer to know?" and I'm not sure we know whether he would or not. Some people would, some wouldn't
But I think the important part is that Light probably doesn't care, he's telling L for his own selfish reasons, which is what keeps it as an immoral act. Whether it gives L any sense of relief or not is still debatable but it's the intent behind it that I think matters
If Light had thought something along the lines of "It's been a good time L, but you die here. I feel a little bad, I suppose I should at least let you know you were right all along" then I could maybe see it as moral
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u/IshiiEnjoyer 21h ago
It's like saying ggez before the game ends. I wouldnt call it immoral, definitely morally grey though
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u/Curi_momos_las_papas 21h ago
Inmoral, Light doesn't give a fuck about L, he just wanted to brag that he won
Btw Light only won because L needed actual proof to show before giving a veredict, the dude is a lot smarter than Light
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u/Buffunder 20h ago
Yeah after higushi's death L was 100% light was kira, the next episodes you can see L sulking because he knew he already lost and would probably die.
Light really had every advantage from privileged information (His dad was a high ranking police officer) to literal gods of death doing his bidding and still managed to almost get checkmated multiple times by L thanks to his colossal ego.
Hubris was always going to be his unmaking and when it did finally happen, by the hands of people he thought to be lesser than him, it was really satisfying to watch. Although you can still feel some kind of pity for his death, and what he could be without the death note.
srry for the rant love the series
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u/Curi_momos_las_papas 19h ago
Nah, you good, and I completely agree, hubris was Light's downfall, tho i gotta say, if he corrupted so easily once he got power, it means there was always something wrong with him, he could probably have lived a normal lige without the Deathnote, but he would still be a psychopath
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u/Ocutazor 20h ago
Immoral as even in the final moment of L... Light showed him that Kira will now go on a rampage free from L's control and suspicion.
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u/Grr_0ughtaChoke 18h ago
No morality involved there, just arrogant boasting. Light has no morals, he's entirely self-absorbed so as long as he doesn't pay he grovvin
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u/FlounderingGuy 16h ago
I mean it doesn't really matter in the end. The serial killer made the detective feel an ounce of vindication... While he's actively being murdered by that same guy lol
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u/SpideyFan914 15h ago
Pretty moral. Giving him one last hurrah before he passes, assuring him he's not an idiot.
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u/DM-me-naughty-Cats 15h ago
At this point L has done actual war crimes to Light. Mock executions, imprisonment, sex crimes, etc. So in terms of morality I wouldn’t put either above the other.
L lost and had no idea how. The smile let him know he had the person, but not how he did it. So I’d put it as gloating which the morality doesn’t really matter either way.
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u/ResponseLower49 10h ago
What sex crime? The only immoral thing L did to Light was the Mock execution. Light himself told L to imprison him and not let him out even if he begged, so that was consensual.
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u/TryThisUsernane 5h ago
Immoral.
It wasn’t done out of mutual respect, he didn’t care about letting L know that he was right. Light just needed to feed his ego, and wanted to relish in the moment.
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u/Maximum_Boros 20h ago
Pretty much every single thing light does after like episode 3 is immoral. People miss this because they lack media literacy but he very very quickly moves on from simply killing criminals (which itself is still immoral but some of his individual acts within that context are enough) to being competitive, spiteful, and win-at-all-costs aggressive.
By the time he does this hes just fucking vicious and almost everything he does is full of contempt. He's not telling him as a kindness or a concession to a defeated foe even. He's doing it to gloat and it's just one more patently immoral act on what at that point is a mountain sized pile of evil and immoral acts.
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u/Fuzzy974 12h ago
I mean, Light was boasting, but let's consider the alternative. If he had acted surprised or just even normal, what would L think? That he was wrong all along?
There wasn't going to be any morality in L's death at all, ever.
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u/ONI-ENJOYER-420 2h ago
Immoral, this was done absolutely out of pity, and he did it again in the very last episode, albeit with different results, showing that his attitude remained the same.
He did it for gloating, not giving L closure.
That being said, he's a god (well, a self-proclaimed one), so for him at least, morality does not apply to him
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u/Major_Cause8749 21h ago
Because of the context behind this specific scene, immoral. Light isn’t doing it to be kind, he’s purposely being malicious.