How are Shinigami born? ("Death Note" Theory)

Greetings, dear humans and fellow humans!

You might have clicked this post because you really want to know how to become a god of death and never die. You might want to survive by killing humans. Hey, I can’t blame you, I respect your will to survive after death.

Or maybe you’re just curious about the creation of Shinigami in the anime “Death Note”.

If you’re here for the first one, I am sorry to inform you. It’s either something you’re born with or a great deal of luck and coincidence. We’ll see what you think at the end.

So, since the release of “Death Note Relight: Visons of a God”, a theory arose. In the beginning and ending scenes of that same movie, there was a strange unnamed Shinigami who people thought was a reincarnation of Light Yagami.

This is kind of a controversial theory because of the concept of the MU, where humans go after they die, and the fact that it in no way contradicts the quote “A human who’s used the Death Note can neither go to Heaven or Hell”. And the fact that she Shinigami has a weird axe made of bones and that he uses goggles similar to Matt’s and some other things also make it controversial.

First, let’s look at the visual evidence. If you pay attention to them, they’re absolutely massive and they scream “LIGHT YAGAMI IS THE UNNAMED SHINIGAMI!”. If I may say, I am a very strong supporter of this theory.

Let’s look at the facts.

(I copied this from http://deathnotefanon.wikia.com/wiki/Light%27s_Reincarnation_Theory at Fanon Wiki, by the way)

·  He wears a coat that looks very similar to the one Light was wearing when he died which also seems to be stained with blood which might be alluding to light being shot by Matsuda before he died.

·  He sports a red tie around his head that's similar to the tie of Light's high school uniform.

·  He carries a messenger bag, almost identical to the one Light often carried with him when he was in high school.

·  The Shinigami's mouth is shaped like Light's "Kira" smile.

·  He also has bright red eyes, like Light's red eyes at certain points in the anime (Light's being a result of artistic colouring used during particular moments of intensity).

·  Light also stands in the Shinigami Realm during the end of the second intro sequence - a possible foreshadowing of his reincarnation.

·  The Unnamed Shinigami also sports goggles, which could allude to the fact that Light never made the deal for Shinigami Eyes. Perhaps the goggles are some kind of backup used by Shinigami who do not have the eyes.

·  In the anime, right after Light regains his memories, he says "Just as I've planned!" in a voice identical to that of the Unnamed Shinigami.

·  In the anime Ryuk tells Light that now he has something to look forward to after he dies. (It had been stated many times in the series the humans who use Death Notes don't go to Heaven or Hell at death, however it is never said he can't go to the afterlife at all). The "now" part of that sentence suggests that perhaps only certain humans can be reincarnated as Shinigami (perhaps only ones that have used a Death Note? In that case there may be other characters such as Misa and Mikami who also became Shinigami)

·  The way he tosses the apple to Ryuk, as Light did when alive.

·  The Shinigami walks into a bright flash of light at the top of the stairs.

·  He walks with something of a limp, which could be related to the injuries Light sustained when shot several times by Matsuda.

·  Ryuk himself has some vague dialogue that could be interpreted as him referring to the Unnamed Shinigami as Light: After looking at his own Death Note, Ryuk speaks to Light as if he were there; "You were not God. You were just...gone already?" This could mean Ryuk was addressing the unnamed Shinigami as Light or that he was simply reminiscing.

·  Ryuk also allegedly addresses the Shinigami as Light when he asks "Wouldn't you agree, Light!?" at the very end of the special.

·  The Shinigami doesn't stay to hear the end of the story, which could imply he already knows how it ends.

·  In the Human world, Rem said "All Shinigami's ingestive system is either rotten or "evolved" and that they don't need substances to sustain themselves." Since, Light knows that only Ryuk likes the apples. He recalled at least some memories about Ryuk as he remembers him as a friend.

I don’t actually believe the goggles are a Shinigami Eyes backup, but the writer mentioned it and I decided to include it.

Now, I must mention that “Relight” is canon. So, this technically means it’s included in the story, even though “Relight 2” contradicts the manga and the anime. In the parts where it fits with the original story, it’s considered canon.

But then there’s the MU thing and the “heaven or hell” part. That seems to completely debunk this.

OR maybe it doesn’t.

You see, from where I’m standing, the reference to Heaven and Hell supports the theory as much as the MU. I have reasons to believe that the reference to Heaven or Hell is just Ryuk saying that a human who’s used the Death Note can’t go through what they believe people go through after they die.

Imagine if the notebook was picked up by, for example, a Buddhist. Ryuk would tell them “A human who’s used the Death Note can neither go to Heaven or Hell” and the human would reply “Yeah, whetever, I don’t care, I’ll be reincarnated”.

So… does that mean that, in the series, Christianity is the one true religion?

Heck, no! The one true religion is that of the people who believe in Shinigami and the MU.

What Ryuk says is “a human who’s used the Death Note can never go to the place you believe to be the afterlife”, which means they won’t have an afterlife like other humans.

And the theory wraps itself around and we’re lead back to the Shinigami Realm.

But what does this imply for the plot?

Well, if Light is indeed a Shinigami now, then so are Misa, Mikami, Higuchi and Kal Snydar (he’s the Mafia guy who owned the notebook).

Bad news for you, Light. Misa’s going to love you for all eternity. Literally.

But even though I am a strong supporter of the Unnamed Shinigami Theory, I am also a supporter of my own theory. I wouldn’t just copy paste someone’s work and then put it here, simply adding my own lame jokes.

No, sir! I have thoughts of my own about this matter!

And I believe there are two ways of creating Shinigamis (there may be other but we’re yet to see them.

But beware, I will go (*dramatic gasp*) beyond the anime and manga (*repeat dramatic gasp*).

Wow. My jokes really are lame.

Anyways…

Meet BB.

I know he looks an awful lot like L and it’s true. He’s kind of like a younger version of L that combs his hair and appears in public. The only pictures of him were fanart, this was the best I could find.

Let me quickly tell you his story.

A few years before the Kira case, L requested Naomi Misora’s help to solve a case known as the Los Angeles BB Murder Case, at the time known as the Wara Ningyo Murders. L already knew who the killer was: BB, or Beyond Birthday, who was one of his successors. There were three victims. In the house of the first one, Naomi found a strange detective that named himself Rue Ryuzaki (Recognize the name? It’s not L, I know what you’re thinking). Together, they try to solve the case and Ryuzaki turns out to be very intelligent and immediately pointing out all the clues, but in a way that Naomi thinks she found them. Needless to say, he obviously is the murderer.

The case ends when BB sets himself on fire (for… reasons…). He survives and is arrested. Years later, on July of 2004, he dies of a mysterious heart attack.

By the way, the book is narrated by Mello.

This whole thing isn’t just some crazy guy randomly murdering people. This a carefully planned serial killing made by someone who would be L’s successor. Much like Mello, BB left the Wammy’s House and decided to create a case so difficult that L would never ever solve it, while literally shoving his victims’ names into people’s faces. His plan was that he’d kill himself in the end so there would be no killer to catch.

It was a smart plan. But not so smart.

He chose to burn himself alive?! Do you know how painful that is?! It has been scientifically proven that being burned alive is the most painful thing a human being can ever feel! Why not stab yourself or something, man?! If he hadn’t burnt himself, he wouldn’t have lived! His plan would work!

But this isn’t one of the most mysterious characters in the series out of sheer pity and admiration (through Mello’s eyes).

Oh, no, my friends. There is something very odd about this guy. So odd, it gave him a VIP spot in my mind for weeks.

He had the Shinigami eyes.

Also, he was a clean freak that erased every single fingerprint in his victims’ house but that’s beside the point.

I know what you’re thinking: “If he has the Shinigami eyes, why doesn’t he just kill his victims with his Death Note?”. Either that or “THERE WERE MORE THAN THREE NOTEBOOKS IN THE HUMAN WORLD?! (*loud dramatic gasp*)”.

To both of those thoughts: no.

He can’t kill people by using his Death Note because he has never come into contact with one. He was just born with the eyes. He didn’t trade anything for it. They were just there. Some people have strange birthmarks, BB has Shinigami eyes. Perfectly natural… Right?

He killed those three people because their lifespans were ending. He didn’t alter them.

But there is one thing that really caught my imaginary eye (because this is a written novel): his looks.

He has spiky messy hair, pale skin, bags under his eyes, arched back and long fingers.

You know who else has all that?

Like… I’m not saying BB becomes Ryuk. Believe me, I’ve tried. His death occurred during the series, it’s absolutely impossible.

I’m just saying that, if you draw him kind of weirdly, he’ll look like any average Shinigami. Rem was also pale, with arched back and long fingers. It’s the basic looks for a regular Shinigami.

So… I don’t know if I should choose the first theory or the second one. It’s entirely up to you.

BUT I’ve been wanting to say two things about this series for a while:

1. L is not that good at tennis

Look, I’m not saying he’s terrible at it, but he had the chance to win a point and didn’t.

I’m also not saying he should have been slightly more to the right or to the left. What I’m saying is that he let an “out” pass.

I don’t really know the terms in English for this, so try to understand.

In the tennis match, Light and L use a yellow ball. There are four kinds of balls: red, orange, green and yellow. The red ones are less bouncy and the yellow are the bounciest of them all.

Now, playing with a yellow ball means you’re either in level 4 or that you just can’t find any other ball to play with. Since they’re at a fancy university with a great tennis club, I doubt it’s the latter.

In level 4, the players are at the end of the field so they can hit the ball if it is within the lines. Tennis is always played outside the field for that level.

When the ball bounces outside the line for the first time, it’s an “out”. If the other player makes an “out” in your field, the point will be yours. However, if you continue playing, you will not gain that point (at least not that way).

That is what L did here:

In this scene, we only hear Light’s racket hit the ball and not the sound the ball does when it hits the ground. Also, you can never play with a ball that has bounced twice in a row without being hit.

Trust me on this, I play tennis.

Apart from that, Light tried to score in the zone known as “corridor”, which, in a game of ones (one player vs. one player) is out.

So… Yeah, L, concentrate a little more.

Let’s move on to…

2. Shinigamis can age

It’s something I’ve noticed in “Relight”. It’s set in the future, so some years have passed. In the movie, we are shown that Ryuk has grey hair (and also really likes to wear a blanket around his shoulders). I’ll just leave the picture here. It’s no big deal.

I just wanted to point these things out since it’s my final word on this series (I’m not really sure, I’m somewhat known for always saying “OH! And ANOTHER thing…!”).

So… hope you enjoyed my theory!

Honestly, it sounded much more epic in my mind. I hope you’re not disappointed for having to wait so long.

Damn, I need a catchphrase.