Vigilantes are characters who punish criminals, but act outside the boundaries of the law. Vigilantes can either be good or bad, the distinction is based on how they react with other people. A good vigilante won’t fight the police if confronted nor kill innocent bystanders, while a bad vigilante will fight back the police and may kill non criminals if necessary.

While most vigilantes fall into the “good guys” category, Light definitely doesn’t. Even though he wanted to create a better world, Light crossed the line when he became absorbed in the fight against his enemies (L first, Mello and Near after), and his idea to become a god. That gave start to his slow downfall. With that said, here are the most important vigilante traits applied to Light.

Alias

Every decent vigilante needs a nickname. There is Batman for Bruce Wayne, Spider-Man for Peter Parker, Punisher for Frank Castle, or Rorschach for Walter Joseph Kovacs…well you got the drill. For Light keeping his identity a secret is vital because being uncovered means being caught and sentenced to death, something which clearly clashes with his dream of becoming the god of the new world. Furthermore an alias creates a huge halo of mystery around him. And the fact that Light is able to kill simply with the name and face of a person in mind certainly increases the fear of him even more.

Unlike most vigilantes, Light didn’t chose his alias himself. Rather his first “fans” picked one for him:

Light: Kira…probably from “killer”. I don’t know if I like the sound of that, but I guess I’m Kira to the whole world now. [volume 1, chapter 2, page 13]

Enemies

Given that a vigilante’s actions are against the law, he soon has to face people trying to stop him. With Light, things get very personal when L comes into the picture and he goes to great lengths to beat him first, then Mello and Near who take L’s place after his death. While he never stops killing criminals to pursue L, Mello or Near, he devotes a lot of time and energy to plan his moves and to find a way to eliminate them before they eliminate him. For Light, L, Mello and Near, are challenging him and he is eager to prove he is the best, he is the one who’s right.

Even using the Death Note is personal for Light because he thinks he is the only person who can do it. Although Ryuk made clear that he didn’t pick Light to be the owner of his spare notebook¹, he also realises that Light is special². Light believes that he alone can pass judgements on criminals (he lets other people do that only when he cannot carry out the job by himself) and he is truly convinced he is justice.

Ideals

While it is true that L’s (and later Mello’s and Near’s) destruction became an important aim for Light (see above), he always continues to keep his dream alive. Even when he cannot pass the judgements himself, he finds someone who can do it for him. This is especially true with Mikami, the last Kira, who shares Light’s point of view (although Mikami punished some “types” of criminals Light didn’t consider guilty, such as reformed criminals).

Fulfilling his utopia, is so important for Light that he won’t stop in front of anything, being ready to sweep out his way everything and everyone who is a threat. Light was blinded by his desire to carry out his plan at all costs, and his dream to become a god among humans eventually lead to his tragic downfall.

Justice

Light’s collaboration with the police pre-Death Note shows that tried to help in the best way a teenager could. After obtaining the Death Note, Light decides to take a more active role, so to speak, in making the world a better place. Although he never details his discontent for the current law system besides his famous statement “this world is rotten”, his decision to punish criminals probably stems from his desire to fill a void and he has a very clear idea of what kind of people should be killed. Furthermore, claiming that he is justice implies that his idea of justice is different from the normal one, which is represented by L (even though it is made clear that L himself has a good deal of flaws).

Unlike Mikami Teru who is given a background story, allowing us to see the reasons that brought him to be the person he is, very little is mentioned about Light’s past. It is unknown whether there was a specific episode that triggered Light’s hate for criminals or if it is a general feeling. Still, what matters is that Light’s belief that a world without criminals would be a better place, is what drives him to ceaselessly pursue his utopia. And killing criminals is the way to achieve that. Light is aware that murder is a crime, although he probably condones it because, from his point of view, it is for the greater good³.

1. Ryuk: Don’t flatter yourself. I just dropped the notebook […]. It happened to fall around here…and you happened to pick it up. [volume 1, chapter 1, page 26] [↩]
2. Ryuk: You’re the only one who’s killed so many in only five days. An ordinary person would be too chicken to do this. [volume 1, chapter 1, page 21] [↩]
3. It is interesting to notice that amnesiac Light doesn’t think that killing criminals is the correct way to have justice, you can read more about that on the [cref 68] page. [↩]