L Lawliet

L is analytical, secretive, skeptical, competitive, and willing to violate ordinary social expectations if doing so improves his chances of solving a case. He rarely accepts information at face value and frequently assigns probabilities to competing possibilities even when he already has a strong personal suspicion.

His appearance and habits clash with the public image of a prestigious detective. He sits in a crouched position, walks barefoot when possible, holds objects delicately between his fingers, and consumes enormous quantities of sweets. These eccentricities lead new investigators to underestimate him before his reasoning becomes apparent.

L is capable of deception and manipulation on the same scale as Light. He lies about probabilities, invents tests without informing colleagues, deliberately provokes suspects, and uses ethically questionable surveillance or confinement when he believes the evidence justifies it.

He is also intensely competitive. The Kira case becomes personal partly because Light is capable of answering his moves with comparable speed. L does not merely want Kira stopped; he wants to establish the truth of the hypothesis he believes he has correctly identified.

L possesses no supernatural abilities. His principal weapon is deductive intelligence, supported by enormous financial resources, extensive international contacts, technical infrastructure, and the authority he has accumulated through solving difficult cases.

He rapidly establishes that Kira can kill from a distance and requires information about victims. His televised Lind L. Tailor trap reduces the likely location of the original Kira dramatically by exploiting Kira's need to retaliate against a public challenge.

L is an accomplished strategist and profiler. He interprets changes in Kira's killing schedule, victim selection, and access to confidential police information to infer personal details about the killer. Those deductions eventually bring Light under direct suspicion.

Although rarely emphasized compared with his intelligence, L is also physically capable. He plays tennis at a high level and can defend himself effectively in close quarters.

His greatest limitation is evidentiary. L often reaches the correct intuitive conclusion before he has proof that would satisfy anyone else. The supernatural rules governing the Death Note make conventional evidence particularly difficult to obtain.

L enters the Kira case by arranging the Lind L. Tailor broadcast. Because the condemned man appears only in one region initially, Kira's immediate killing of him reveals that the murderer is in Japan's Kanto region and confirms that Kira can kill without physical contact.

He then works with the Japanese task force under strict secrecy. Evidence obtained from FBI surveillance, Raye Penber's death, and changes in Kira's schedule increasingly focuses L's attention on police families, including the Yagamis.

L eventually enrolls at To-Oh University under the alias Hideki Ryuga and directly tells Light that he is L. The move prevents Light from simply killing him without exposing himself, while allowing L to study his prime suspect at extremely close range.

The appearance of the Second Kira complicates his case. L identifies Misa as a likely suspect and detains her while maintaining surveillance on Light.

Light's memory-loss plan eventually produces a version of Light who genuinely does not remember being Kira. L remains suspicious despite their effective cooperation in pursuing Kyosuke Higuchi, because the recovered Death Note proves that supernatural mechanisms can alter what suspects know or remember.

After Light regains ownership and begins rebuilding his position as Kira, Rem realizes that L's continuing investigation will eventually endanger Misa. Rem writes the names of Watari and L in her Death Note, killing them and leaving Light able to inherit L's public investigative position.

Light Yagami is L's principal suspect, intellectual rival, and closest direct opponent. L repeatedly tells Light Yagami that he considers him likely to be Kira even while working beside him.

Watari is L's handler, guardian, assistant, and closest longstanding companion. Watari controls much of L's contact with governments and provides the infrastructure that allows him to work anonymously.

Misa Amane becomes L's leading suspect for the Second Kira. L's evidence against Misa Amane is strong enough that he authorizes extreme confinement while trying to determine how her killings were performed.

Soichiro Yagami leads the Japanese task force working with L. L respects Soichiro Yagami's integrity even while suspecting his son.

Touta Matsuda, Shuichi Aizawa, Kanzo Mogi, and Hideki Ide form the Japanese investigative team through which L conducts much of the Kira operation.

Nate River and Mihael Keehl are the two leading candidates raised at Wammy's House to succeed L. Their later investigation continues methods and questions created during L's original case.

Rem becomes the Shinigami whose protection of Misa ultimately gives Light the method he needs to remove L without personally knowing his true name.