#wammys first generation

[a-for-alternative]

Were you an only child? What was it like?

I was.

It's a double edge sword, though you don't realize it until the time with your parents is tapering down to a point, then only you will be there to bear the brunt of it, especially if you don't walk the straight and narrow... you'll be the only scape goat or return on investment or sunk cost in their little venture.

You're never quite a person unto yourself.

They can't separate you from what you personify.

When you get out of turn, they reveal all the wounds left behind on them by those you're descended from. They will say you are demonstrating all the worst traits of someone that's been dead for decades, especially if you've never met, then they'll say you got that dreadful disposition from the other parent-- they'll tell you all the things they despise about each other, try to excoriate whatever traces of them they see blooming in you and leave you wondering,

'Is this what familial love amounts to?'

'Surviving each other long enough for one to drop dead?'

I was the product of a mistake made by two adults that knew better, but they warmed to the idea of mistaking me into existence anyway-- choosing not to terminate things before I could be burdened with the consequences of their actions.

... Even still... being the singular progeny, you are prized and venerated for the sake of saving face, if only because not doing so would communicate more that they were failed parents than you were a failed child-- ils pourraient vous dire que vous êtes un petit garnement, un bâtard ingrat, ... but they will refuse any such accusations from others,

. . . meme si elles sont vraies...

You're trapped under the subjugation of two people who do not sympathize with you and cannot empathize with you, see no value beyond your utility, see no intent beyond what they assign to your actions.

Solitude, through it's familiarity, becomes a comfort, you adapt but like trying to mature in a tight box, you will grow malformed and... that kind of isolation tends to engender some... eccentricities that are not compatible with social mores.

Fate relieved me of them, but I found adjusting very difficult. Misery and purposelessness replaced the familiarity of loneliness as I became another invisible blight of society, a faceless ward of the system that tucks away all these unsightly human tragedies like me.

I would be lying if I said being brought to this-- to our- institution wasn't a relief-- for a short time, I had returned to a position I felt most suited to; high pressure, high expectations, leniency for the sake of no one responsible for me wanting to admit they may have made a mistake...

Then, .... He came.

You see, they had decided I wasn't enough.

[a-for-alternative]

There is a tenuous disgust at the corner of his mouth, subtle as a reptile through reeds, only a trimmer of existence shivered to the surface before it disappeared somewhere —living, breathing, buried beneath skin and pseudo-civility.

Somewhere beyond the reach of sight, Alternative bit into the bitter fruit of malice he had fostered long ago for Backup, refusing to swallow her saccharine invocations without a proper chaser.

For every charitable remark she made was followed by the internal renunciation that he held back behind his teeth.

—B is a brat the way a switch blade is merely an instrument composed of metal alloy

—B cares about me the way fire cares about kindling, the way the blade cares about blood

—B is a stray that ought to be adopted out, returned to the pound, put down-

The mere mention of that pernicious little sociopath irked something right on the edge ungracious but he managed to still hold his tongue, letting her compare the harbinger of his ruin to a house cat.

Backup had long since shed his performance of innocent ignorance, no longer pretending he lacked the grasp of English, that Alternative was spoiled and resented having attention divided between him and the new baby.

He is not my brother, he is a brood parasite, the egg of a cuckoo left in the nest of foreign parents that fail to recognize the artifice for what it is.

Alternative collected himself and began to consider the bed of Yoriko's roommate, "You never told me, if you liked him... Don't you and your roommate share a common origin?"

"I've thought that was why they roomed you together that and... the rumor is that Z only likes boys. Well— ...maybe the thought was that you and he wouldn't have too high an affinity for each other."

"I'm sorry if I am being too presumptuous, ... I don't even know if you like boys, Yoriko."

"... While I don't enjoy being seen like this, I don't feel there is much other choice. I'm not feeling well, B is trying to take advantage of that and I am trying to find somewhere to sleep that he can't easily slither into."

"Come in, come in." Z is off elsewhere for the night, so his space is free. She makes sure the door is closed and puts a door stop in place. This is a B-free zone. "You can have my bed, it is no worry at all."

Hers does also happen to have better blankets.

"Do you need anything? I can make a drink?"

[ale-wastaken]

Roger: A, where's B?

A: Listen, I don't always have to know where B is, he's not my problem.

*Roger raises an eyebrow.*

A: On the roof.

[43501]

Opened my copy of Another Note: The Los Angeles BB Murder Cases for the first time in a decade and man, I forgot this is a goldmine of info and Mello characterization. It lets us know what kind of person Mello is almost more than the source material. Every time he's on panel/screen he's always so intense, it's fascinating to see him write and kind of get this feeling of "oh, he is also a normal guy outside of those situations".

He says he had one extensive in-person meeting with L, which is backed up by this other post of mine where I point out that, in the anime at least, Mello references having spoken to L personally. If we take it as canon it means L and Mello met at some point between Kira emerging and L leaving England for Japan.

He expresses a strong sense he might die. I've seen people say that he's "narrating from beyond (heh) the grave" and it's nonsensical, but that's not what's happening here. He's just writing while anticipating his death and writing as if these notes may be discovered posthumously.

He thinks that, in the event he dies, Near is the one who will discover his writings. This is interesting to me because it suggests Mello either knows Near knows his whereabouts, or would figure it out and recover his belongings. I actually think this is outright supported by canon - we see Near eating Mello's chocolate in the manga's epilogue. I don't think he instructed his staff to go out and buy that same chocolate, I think that's straight up Mello's stash.

At some point he started identifying less with the "Mello" alias and calling himself Mihael.

He's so sentimental... ending the prologue simply with "Good memories and nightmares". Bro.

"Imagine you were going to kill someone. What do you think would be the most difficult part? .... The correct answer: killing someone." Damn, I love you Mello lol. Also fascinating when you remember that he achieved his status in the mafia by beheading someone. Yes, he would know how hard it is to kill a person.

Mello states that he and Near belong to the "fourth generation" of Wammy's House kids.

He expresses open sympathy for Beyond and his state, twice... based on his own narration and how he portrays B in the course of the story, he definitely relates to B's emotions.

"Perhaps these gods actually wanted a blood soaked world of betrayal and false accusation. Perhaps the entire episode exists as a lesson to teach us the difference between the Almighty and the shinigami." I can't entirely make sense of this, and I don't want to get ahead of myself, but is "Almighty" capitalized here to definitely refer to the divine? Like, the Christian God but in a bit of a sidestepped, roundabout way? Wish I could see the original Japanese text for this line. If anyone has essays/posts about it, please show me.

And on a meta-textual level, the ambiguity of our role/perspective as the reader of these notes is also interesting. We're probably just an omniscient, unmoored observer being told about this set of notes Mello wrote and his line to the effect of "if it happens to turn into [a book]" is tongue-in-cheek. I know there's a slight, hanging implication that Near did in fact publish his notes, but I think that's unlikely since they contain so much sensitive/classified information.

[vamphorica]

MellodraMattic and Queerness: An Essay

Before I begin, I need to make it clear that my thoughts on this subject are directly inspired by this post by overkeehl. I not only recommend but insist that you read it before continuing, as I am going to be exploring a small component of the greater idea that they have already established. Essentially, I am taking the idea of Mello's character being queer-coded and developing it in regards to how MellodraMattic becomes a very validating ship in the context of marginalised sexual and gender identities.

I am also going to touch on internalised queerphobia, so consider this as a warning if that's not something you fancy reading about.

Anyway.

Mello is a distinctly queer character. I don't say this from an entirely projective approach because I think there are plenty of examples throughout Death Note where Mello's visual presentation and characterisation signifies it. His androgyny is the most explicit indicator of nonconformity in relation to traditional gender expression. I fondly remember when I first read Death Note, aged ten, and was convinced that Mello was a girl for several pages. Suffice to say, Mello's appearance is rather ambiguous, making him an adaptable character for one to project queerness onto. We will go into more depth on this later on.

It is also worth mentioning that Mello's style is quite camp. I love the way he dresses and only wish I had the confidence to pull off his outfits, but they are also very ridiculous and inconvenient. One of my Top 10 Mello Moments Ever is when he tails Mogi and Misa, wearing this:

Those sunglasses are doing absolutely nothing to keep him out of sight, but I appreciate the fact that he obviously thinks otherwise. He simply must serve cunt to the detriment of the task at hand.

If I have not convinced you that his style alone is a good hint that he is a queer character, even in the most general sense of the term, there's plenty within Mello's character context that isn't exactly subtle in how he is portrayed as evidently nonconformist. I do think you have to be careful not to equate certain traits with queerness when it may not be appropriate to do so (after all, there's many characteristics relating to neurodiversity that can be identified in those who originated from Wammy's House, and while I won't get into the whole discussion about the overlap there because it's not my place to do so, I also think it would be an interesting subject to explore).

However, it is completely understandable why a lot of queer people see themselves in Mello. As a child, around the age that I think many begin to explore their sense of self, Mello's identity is ultimately threatened by L's death. He is confronted by the prospect of working with (accepting) Near in order to catch Kira. Instead, he runs away, and the narrative that follows is of a man tied up in complex feelings relating to his identity as a 'runner-up'. To put it simply, it conveys queer grief very well — Mello struggles with the fact that who he is as an individual does not align with the expectation that Wammy's House instilled in him from a young age. Similarly, some queer people may find that they must contend with accepting an identity they had been discouraged from exploring as children.

I think for many queer people seeing themselves in Mello, this sense of shame that can be identified as internalised homophobia or transphobia is unfortunately a common experience. It can take a long time to recognise, let alone challenge the societal standards that have been deemed 'normal' or 'correct'. Mello encapsulates this disconnect well in the sense that his goal to defeat Near as a means to prove himself as a worthy successor to L is doomed from the beginning. He was never meant to be the one to become L, and yet he runs straight to his demise in his desperation to receive recognition from an institution that he could never succeed within. I am not suggesting that all queer people go through this level of intense self denial when exploring their identities, but I think it ought to be appreciated that through Mello, there are a plenty of parallels that reflect the complexities of discovering your sexuality and gender identity.

Additionally, if you'll excuse me posting two rather grim examples of objectification in the manga, it is worth noting that Mello, in close proximity to two naked women, does not seem remotely interested in their bodies, which might suggest a queer identity on a very shallow level. I do think, given how misogynistic almost all the male (and some of the female) characters in Death Note can be, Mello is notable in the sense that he doesn't actively discriminate against the female characters. He treats both genders like shit. Feminist icon.

Mello is very easy to project an assortment of queer identities onto. For what it's worth, I headcanon him as bisexual and FtM, but I know you are not reading this essay for my personal projections. You can consider Mello as MtF, asexual, gay, nonbinary — all of these identities can easily be validated within the canon context because Mello is so versatile while still being a developed and nuanced character. His story mirrors so much of the struggle that queer people contend with, and while I think it is a massive shame that it isn't resolved, I think that in itself only exemplifies the complicated nature of identity.

So, where does Matt come into all of this?

It is important to remember that Matt as a character was created for Mello. In the main series, it isn't even mentioned that Matt is a Wammy's kid, this information only being revealed in 'Death Note 13: How to Read'. However, this is crucial knowledge because it conveys the very essence of what makes MellodraMattic so great.

I love Mello, I really do, but he is cruel and selfish, in addition to being arguably one of the most dangerous characters in the series. For those who might relate to him for any of the reasons I have given thus far, it is still important to understand that Mello is not a decent person. He is deeply flawed, and as much as I like to joke that his crimes are perfectly fine actually, I can still appreciate that he is not meant to be regarded as an 'good' character, even if he is on the right side as far as Kira is concerned. His behaviour is very much correlated with his sense of inferiority, so in this case, his identity struggles do not excuse his behaviour, but they can explain it.

Yet, despite all of this, Matt remains by his side, regardless. While there's a general consensus that the two were separated for some time after Mello ran away, they eventually reunite and work together. In these brief moments, we can still gain a good insight into their relationship dynamic from the way they speak to one another. For instance, Matt is cheeky in a manner that the reader would not expect Mello to tolerate. Yet the patience in how he responds to Matt's insolence almost appears uncharacteristic. I am of the belief that Mello is not a highly reactionary character, despite how the series tries to portray him as such, and this calm composure he is capable of can best be seen through his interactions with Matt.

There is a real familiarity between the two men that I don't think is comparable to any other relationship in Death Note. For example, in the image below, Matt is complaining about a task Mello has assigned him, one that isn't exactly difficult, and yet he's already distracted. Rather than get frustrated, a response we would expect from Mello, he answers Matt gently.

I appreciate these moments are few and far between (for fuck's sake, there's only two panels that feature the both of them) but I don't think I'm reading into it too much. I think they're genuinely suited for each other, which is, of course, because Matt was written for Mello. Their chemistry is dependent on the latter canonically.

Matt brings out the more approachable side of Mello because Mello does not see Matt as a threat that he must remain guarded around. If we as readers have become acquainted with Mello through his act of cruelty, albeit as a means of survival, we must assume Matt is familiar with this side of Mello, too. However, it doesn't deter Matt, nor does it scare him. Matt is completely loyal to the very end, and while such writing is perhaps a little superficial, I think it does emphasise the point that Mello has someone who will put his life on the line for him and God, I don't know. I think you have to read that as love to at least some extent.

Mello is a complicated character, with plenty of attributes suggesting that he is queer. This only further contributed to his plot line that centres an identity struggle, which speaks to those who fall outside of cishetnormativity. Unable to reconcile his sense of self with the expectations placed upon him, Mello becomes ruthless. Yet, in spite of these flaws, he has Matt. He represents a kind of hope, I think, that those who connect to Mello through his queerness and subsequent struggles can gravitate towards. A hope that there's someone who will accept every aspect of your identity regardless, that there will be someone you can be yourself around.

To me, MellodraMattic is my favourite ship because I love Mello and Matt, and the way in which they interact with one another. It is also that initial identification with Mello, that makes Matt's character and their relationship more meaningful, an example of the fact that there'll always be someone who not only accepts, but loves you, regardless of the mess.

I think that's beautiful. 🍫🎮

[aizawashuichi]

not only i do not subscribe to the idea that Watari imposed L’s role on the wammy’s residents (for different reasons) or that wammy’s was created just for L, but I also don’t understand how that would work. Mello and Near are from the fourth generation (debatable but regardless, they don’t seem to be from the second) and if they are the successors, it means that the people chosen from the prior generations either died or decided to back down. It’s highly unlikely that everyone died, and if they decided to back down, that simply means that people can just do so, which goes against the most common headcanon in this fandom. I could accept that they all went into hiding, if only it weren’t for the fact that Mello, Near and L are highly competitive individuals so there must be someone before Mello and Near that wanted to be L, especially because the way Wammy’s is structured leads to competitiveness. So what happened to those people, that at the time L dies are mostly adults? I think they would surely be the first choices, just because they are older. They don’t even have to be individually the smartest people, because they can work together. I will always think that A and B’s generation is also L’s (or maybe one before), so it would make sense that after A’s death, the project was put on hold for a while, so nobody was actually chosen from the 2nd and 3rd generation (still debatable - do they actually exist or Mello’s came immediately after?). They probably weren’t even introduced to the idea of a successor programme, so they had no idea it existed, and only after that, as L was getting more well known (and maybe even after B’s attempt to ruin him or whatever he wanted to do) or when he started the Kira case, the successor programme was reinstalled. Still, no one is forcing anyone to be L. Near and Mello want to win, to be him. As Mello could just walk out of the Wammy’s, they could also say, fuck no, but they didn’t. True that the Wammy’s could idolise L, but if we take as canon what he said to the kids and the fact that some began to dislike him, he doesn’t want to be seen as an idiol and the kids are not brainwashed into thinking that. 

[a-for-alternative]

"Is t h a t what you tell yourself every time I beat you?

I would never.

I would never do that because when I defeat you, Backup, I want you to know that not an ounce of your acrimony goes unrequited, conquering you has to be unequivocal, it has to be sincere, it has to leave you bloodied down to the marrow-

—If you're not left panting, heart throbbing in your throat, and flushed, it's not good enough, and I deserve b e t t e r.

I deserve only your most vehement effort.

Not your instructors and not L — I deserve it.

Unless I've pulled you down to the sinews of your rational sense, pushed you to the border that separates the pretense of your humanity from the animal you really are, I've not tried hard enough.

And, you seriously think I would turn around and fake the climax?

... I'm fucking offended.

I won because you keep picking the one you think looks like me."

I really want to fucking stab you.

[mchib]

‘We need more bipolar characters’ 

YOU COULDBNT EVEN HANDLE HIM

first of all i think this is common knowledge but he exhibits a complex and erratic personality which i think could potentially be interpreted as symptom of bipolar disorder - bipolar is a characterized by extreme mood swings that include emotional highs (mania) and lows (depression) - throughout the series and manga (i think the manga shows this better) mellos behavior fluctuates dramatically displaying periods of intense energy impulsivity and irritability which align with manic episodes,,. - in the manga mellos depicted as ambitious driven and sometimes reckless in his pursuit of catching Kira. he has a chronic case of impulsive decision making such as kidnapping poeple and hijacking a character showcases a lack of regard for consequences which is a hallmark trait of manic behavior - i also think mellos extreme emotional responses ranging from fits of rage to moments of despair mirror the intense mood swings characteristic of bipolar disorder. he also struggles with self esteem and identity also point towards bipolar disorder... individuals with bipolar disorder often experience fluctuations in self esteem oscillating between grandiosity during manic episodes and profound self doubt during depressive episodes - mellos constant comparison to near (who he he and only he sees as his rival) and his need to prove himself could stem from underlying insecurities exacerbated by his mood swings

him developing bipolar could totally be a normal trauma response from literally a lot of abuse that he has faced, most of the main characters from wammys house show no signs of like rebellion or outlandish behavior like he does but that doesnt necessarily mean that nothing happened and i think the author gave characters such as near and the other orphans way too much mental fortitude. bipolar can be developed at any age and its especially common between ages 15-19. not to mention other than it being genetic, theres a huge link between bipolar and childhood trauma. like imagine being groomed your whole childhood into this competitive environment with other 4 year olds to be the smartest toddler so u can substitute this crazy genius when he dies. and think of it like come on theres no chance all of these kids desperately wanted to be detectives when they grew up there was definitely like some sort of foul play. L is an exception obviously since the orphanage became abusive after he came and he was treated like a king basically while the other orphans mental state was completely disregarded because they were only brought in from several corners of the world solely to be his successor. in fact the first generation orphans were literally expected to kill themselves because of the pressure and A killing himself literally was not a shock at all to the orphanage in fact i suspect that a lot of the first generation orphans made to succeed L had a horrible mental state and also killed themselves which if you think about it B (which stood for backup) losing his mind was completely normal even if the way he went about challenging L was not. not to mention how he had to live with shinigami eyes but thats for another post lolol.,,, anyways yeah mello's behavior is actually justified when you think about how much of an abusive household he lived in even if its kind of obvious that the author disregarded coming up with an explanation for the orphans mental wellbeing and how it would have affected their adolescence except from the character of mello and even when they show mello they basically make him seem insane and watari like an angel . reading the la bb murder cases from mello's perspective really opened my eyes to like how it actually was in wammys house u can really understand it from his tone and stuff also with that one page hold on lemme find it

'but what if they could copy him? what if they could make a backup? that was us. L's children, gathered from all corners of the world. children gathered together, never told each other's names. but even for a genuis like watari, creating a fake L was easier said than done. even for near and i, who were said to be the closest to L... the more we tried to be like him, the closer we got, the farther away he was, like chasing a mirage. so i hardly need to tell you what it was like when wammy's house was first founded, when he was still experimenting. the first child, A, was unable to handle the pressure of living up to L and took his own life, and the second child, beyond birthday, was brilliand and deviant. B stood for Backup.'

'L was the goal of everyone in wammys house. everyone one of us wanted to surpass him. to step over him. to step on him. M did, N did and B did. M as a challenger, N as a successor. B as a criminal.'

sorry for my complete lack of spelling punctuation and grammar but i think i got my point across and also big thanks to @monards who helped me finish this draft by giving me the energy to continue and also encouraging my crippling death note addiction by feeding into it with questions and remarks like 'woah!' and 'eureka!'

[a-for-alternative]

[A big, beautiful rose rests neatly on A's pillow. There is no note, and no one waiting for him to discover it.]

Alternative enters the room cautiously, surreptitiously glancing out the window to see Backup, squaring off with a tree...

Relieved to be alone, A nearly startles when the mass of pink catches his attention. For a brief instant he doesn't recognize what it is perched on his pillow, roughly the size of his open palm.

His exhausted blue eyes settle on its dusty pink petals that furrow out indolently against his tightly made bed with a mix of consternation and an unsteady warmth.

Somehow, this is meant to intimidate

Alternative never receives flowers-- things here are never as they appear, they're never delivered without a subliminal menace.

He remembers giving Backup white lilies from the meadow when they were children and the threat me felt after seeing the boy's face light up with recognition of advantage he had just been handed.

He takes it between his fingers and knows that peace offerings don't exist in places like this and he can only fathom this coming from one place, Caustic... Not wanting to give the pernicious little sociopath the pleasure of seeing him keep it, he acts on his first instinct to throw it away.

But, something about it laying so innocently lovely in the discarded trash, a casualty of a feud between inimical teenagers bothers him...

The sight of it reminds him of something uncomfortable within himself that he's not ready to recognize and he takes it back out before putting it in a vase Backup had yet to plant a specimen in.

--And, put it on the table at B's bedside.

[ccmatta]

"Linda didn’t know what it was about him that drew her in so much. She barely knew him beyond what she’d observed from a distance, but she wanted to know more about him." From their first awkward interactions at Wammy's House, Linda finds herself inexplicably drawn to Matt, even if she can't quite understand why. Matt, on the other hand, is a puzzle – distant yet kind, aloof yet strangely attentive. When Mello suddenly leaves, Matt's world is shaken, and Linda becomes his unexpected anchor.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/63971707

Rating: General Audiences Relationships: Matt/Linda Tags: Fluff, Pining, (I think?), Domestic Fluff, Developing Relationship, First Kiss, First Dates, (it is a date. they just don't know that yet) Words: 3,504

For @dnrarepairweek. Day 3: Fluff, Firsts and Pining (maybe?), the whole package :3

[nearlymello0]

Wammy's orphanage (house)

Wow, it’s been weeks since I last came onto Tumblr to really share an analysis/theory or sometimes the occasional Bound Prince rant. But I am back, and I am back with my thoughts about how Wammys house operates, the environment, and how the building worked.

I’ll be using canonical material such as the manga/anime, while also supporting it using the semi-cannon of the LABB novel and the L change the worLd novel. Note that I will be using LABB more than L change the worLd as LABB has been recognised by the creator of Death Note (Ohba) as some sort of cannon. I’ll also use sources away from the Death Note manga/novels/anime like interviews and articles about Orphanages in the UK.

Do I think that Ohba thought much about the orphanage? No, this is all headcanon based on canonical information from the Death Note series.

///////////////////////////////////////////////

When discussing Wammys house we first need to know the system for the children and how many children it can hold. We can use Mellos words from the LABB novel, and some outside sources to figure out how many children an orphanage the size of Wammys can hold.

Wammys house is a larger orphanage, with extremely good funding, and a credibility behind it all. Most likely recognised by the government. Due to its size and funding we can figure out the maximum number of children the main orphanage that produced the successors for L can hold. We also need to remember legally there has to be children going in and out of Wammys. (Also for money reasons and capacity reasons.)

From the size of the building that we know has multiple floors and a large area we can determine from first glance that it can hold more than 25 children. From my research that due to the size of the orphanage in question it would probably hold around 150 children in it.

By how the anime shows the amount of children plus the snippets of the manga that shows Wammys plenty of children live there, and have some contact with L in a sense. Like in the short stories we see L talking with the children through a computer screen.

Like any typical orphanage I can see children coming in and out of the orphanages. That holds the question why the children in the successor program don’t get adopted, quick answer; Wammys probably didn’t list them as adoptable. Or Near, and Mello were refusing any adoption. It wouldn’t benefit Wammys at all to not re-house orphans, Wateri likes to make detectives so keeping children around when they could go to actual houses wouldn’t be logical. It would just fill up the orphanage, and cost them money.

Now for the successor program I think it pretty much is “hm this one”. Near and Mello got picked due to a look in their eyes and them analysing L. So I doubt that L really hyperfixates on them. He most likely picks them like he did with Near or Mello or sees the files of children that he is told to look at that could be “successors”.

By Mellos description Near and him have the “L code” while the others in the past generations didn’t. (1 - 3) We had zero knowledge of the second and third generation but we do know barely anything of the first generation.

Beyond Birthday and A are the only confirmed successors from that generation. Beyond Birthday after lighting himself on fire landed himself in prison and most likely had a naturally occurring heart attack, A committed suicide. There is no cannon name for A and Beyond Birthday and there will never be.

The first generation was most likely stressful, they were meant to fail and most likely be a test for the actual potential successors in the future. Second and Third generation would most likely be less stressful for the successors. The fourth generation would most likely be the least stressful on the successors

That’s my deductions. They most likely had shared rooms and multiple floors of bedrooms. They also probably had open rooms for activities, a cafeteria, nurses office, and of course Rodger’s office. Multiple bathrooms around the area obviously. They probably also had a large outside area with multiple play areas.

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

Do you think death note would be significantly different if Light (or L) was a woman? So much of Light's early characterisation is 'eldest son' how do you think 'eldest daughter' would change things?

Interesting question, that's very hard for me to answer actually. But let's try.

Sexism in Death Note

L is Woman

The thing about L is we don't know how/why Watari selected him. We don't know how they came in contact, why Watari set him up to be super detective and exactly how early that happened, and so on and so forth.

We do have a hint that L was around six or so when he was orphaned in that we get a hint of a flashback in the anime where Watari holds his hand when he's a small child seemingly at the gates of Wammy's, but we really know 0 about him other than that he did become this detective persona and that he keeps eating his rivals and stealing their names/business for himself.

Given L's incredibly young age and the successor program we see later run by a friend of Watari's who runs the orphanage, it seems like L was most likely Watari's idea and that Watari has a very particular vision in mind (that L does not always agree with).

What I'm getting at is, even if everything else is exactly the same, I don't know if a girl would be chosen as 'L' or an 'L' candidate by Watari and company.

The measurements on who gets to be L are deeply weird from the little we see of them. Neither Mello nor Near seem to have particularly relevant experience or much people skills. Mello's better in that respect than Near but it's clear this is... not valued highly given a) how L acts and behaves b) the fact that Mello is very clearly and narratively always second and never close to dethroning Near who has awful social skills. What seems to be most highly valued in an 'L' is 'intelligence' where that intelligence is measured... somehow. It's unclear if this is through puzzles like those Near solves, through academics, through intelligence exams, but what we do see is every successor we meet/L himself are men.

There's a panel where someone shouts "Linda" in the orphanage, but we never see this character and we can't assume they're part of the successor program at all.

And it wouldn't surprise me, from the little we do see, if the tests for who gets to be L aren't, either intentionally or not, geared such that men pass them more easily than women.

We also see that L has very few professional interactions with women. We don't see many of his contacts, but they are dominated by cis men. The few women we see are Wedy who is treated as... track suit boobs and Naomi Misora who is very brilliant/L acknowledges as very brilliant, but we don't see them interact at all (and if we take LABB is canon, when they did it was horrible).

L's is an incredibly masculine and cultivated world.

Basically, what I'm getting at is that I don't think a female L would have been selected to become L in the first place. She wouldn't have been supported by Watari, wouldn't have been given the endless funds and support needed to become the canon L, and Watari would instead be making someone else L (as he/Roger tried to do with Mello and Near).

L might become a detective, but I doubt she'd be reaching international acclaim and fame, certainly not as an anonymous detective. At most, and a generous most, she might be living a modern Ms. Marple lifestyle where this very weird woman shows up somewhere and oh no there's a murder, guess she's solving it.

Light is a Woman

You guessed it, I don't think she's becoming Kira.

The Yagami household is a modern but traditional household with traditional values. Sayu is the sweet young daughter who is supported but brilliant Light Yagami is the apple of the family's eye/especially his father.

It's a very male dominated household in that while we see Sachiko visibly upset by the Kira case destroying her family, she never openly comments on this, not even when Light disappears for months with no explanation, Soichiro stops coming home and the stress is visibly killing him, or later when Soichiro dies, Sayu is kidnapped, and Light himself finally dies.

Soichiro is all about his job where his family is there to support him in their given roles, Sachiko and Sayu in their roles, and Light in his more active role where he can join the police.

There is never any hint of discussing that Sayu should join the police force or should live anything but an ordinary life and get herself an ordinary boyfriend/husband.

We know before the series that Light had been involved, perhaps far more than appropriate, in the police with the support of his father. He geared his entire college education towards becoming a police officer and had had that goal since before the series began.

If Light's born a girl, I don't see her getting the same support, at all, by Soichiro. Soichiro does not want her or Sayu involved with grizzly homicide cases, doesn't want them becoming police officers in homicide, and does not want to discuss the details of any of his cases (which he never does canonically with the entire family/when it's not just Light).

Light is brilliant still and I'm sure Soichiro's very proud of her, but I imagine he'd want to steer her towards some other path, any other path. Light will go to a good university, will get excellent grades, will get a nice career, and then will get married to a fine young man (who perhaps is a cop).

And while a combination of ennui/mental breakdown was what fueled Light to become Kira, I don't know if female Light who's struggling to find what she wants to do with her life/somehow be the best that she can be and be acknowledged as better than everyone else will ever feel the idle curiosity to write in the notebook in the first place.

Though, if she does... I think she'd be all in for much the same reasons that Light was canonically, and with a lot of angst as

[imarson404]

I wonder what the standard procedure was a wammy’s (sans Kira)

did they graduate? Could they stay as long as they liked? What was that like? Did people stay in touch?

we know that all sorts of people came out of Wammy’s- artists, like Linda, computer experts like Q. There were all sorts of lecturers and teachers (eg the biochemical scientist who appears in LctW) only 26 people every generation got ‘letters’, what was the selection process like? They weren’t all detectives obviously, there was usually only 1 per generation. That system preceded L.

did they have trust funds? did Watari continue to provide for them and their dreams after they left? for those gifted children who weren’t interested in the successors program (like Linda) what was it like for them to see Mello pushing himself to the brink just so he could claim the title of the ‘smartest person to come out of Wammy’s’? what other talents came from the orphanage? Did they take GCSEs, A levels, degrees? When did they specialise? L got his first computer at some point between 8-14, and just solved puzzles until he came across his first case around 14 yo. When did they offer them the successors role? Or was that just a option offered if they were smart enough?

who else did Wammy’s produce and where are they now?

[artificial-ascension]

Reading through the wolrds surely most accurate source, Death Note fan wiki, I have accumulated a list of Wammys kid letters that are confirmed in some source to have an individual associated:

A- First successor of L, dead by suicide, mentioned in Death Note: Another Note

B- Beyond Birthday, number two of the first known successors behind A and a main character of Death Note: Another Note

D- Shown on L's mailing list in L: Change The World film

E- Shown on L's mailing list in L: Change The World film

F- Appears in the opening of L: Change The World film on a massion for L, dies via helicopter attack*

G- Shown on L's mailing list in L: Change The World film

H- Sends L an email informing him of F's death in L: Change The World

I- Shown on L's mailing list in L: Change The World film

J- Appears in the game L: The Prologue To Death Note, the game is unavailable in English so little is know of them, presumably a Wammys kid based on name, a separate J appears in the second episode of Death Note: A New Generation, she is not out right stated to be a Wammys kid, but she is assumed to be

K- Antagonist of L: Change The World book and film

L- If you do not know who L is why are you here, also Linda is a child who appears briefly in the manga and is responsible for the drawings of Near and Mello (I belive that is only presumed but I may be wrong, I can not remember where it was said)

M- Mello, second successor of generation four and a main antagonist of Death Note's main series and Matt, unranked member of generation four appearing as Mello's comrade in both anime amd manga

N- Near, successor of L and number one of generation four, appears in half the places L dose

P- Shown on L's mailing list in L: Change The World film

Q- Shown on L's mailing list in L: Change The World film

R- Shown on L's mailing list in L: Change The World film, their letter is greyed out, presumably indicating they are dead**

T- Shown on L's mailing list in L: Change The World film, their letter is greyed out, presumably indicating they are dead

V- Shown on L's mailing list in L: Change The World film, their letter is greyed out, presumably indicating they are dead

X- Alluded to in Death Note: Another Note as helping in a detective war with L

Y- Alluded to in Death Note: Another Note as helping in a detective war with L

Z- Alluded to in Death Note: Another Note as helping in a detective war with L

Unused letters- C, O, S, T, U, W***, possibly J as both instances of the usage are for individuals only presumed to be successors

Letters with known duplicates- L and M, J(?)

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Conclusion:

1. L: Change The World introduced a shit ton of Wammys lore for apparently shits and giggles.

2. Alot less dead Wammys kids than I expected. (Only 9/24, that's only over a third. Maybe 10/24 if you count Watari.)

3. I can understand not finding a U or V, but how the hell were there no genius orphans with S or C names??

4. It is impossible for a Death Note title to not have a : in it.

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Notes:

I got this information from the fan wiki and my brain. If it is wrong I'd like to know. I'd also love to hear of any more orphans the fan wiki or I missed.

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*I can verify that that happened. I remember it vividly. Only known Wammys kid to die from a helicopter.

**A greyed name implies death as B's name was also greyed out. However, this also implies L could readily email B whenever he wanted, which is extremely funny.

***W is often totoed as Watari's letter. However, I am not considering him a Wammys kid but this may mean some of the letters shown do not indicate successors but rather other Wammys higher ups.

[43501]

Hotly debated perennial subject in DN fandom is whether or not L had any sort of direct contact (or even personal relationships) with the Wammy kids.

For the record: I'm firmly in the camp that Death Note was originally written as though L had contact with the orphans and the "oh, he only spoke to them through a screen exactly once" thing was decided by Ohba/Obata later. It comes up first in the C-Kira Story (released 2008, after anime finished and long after the original manga run) and again in the anime movie/re-write released around the same time. They're adamant about this detail, but it's also clearly an afterthought. Like... based on Near's finger puppet and mask of L... he clearly knew what L looked like. But we've all been over that: the thing that's been driving me crazy was that I could've sworn someone referenced talking to L directly and I finally figured out what gave me that impression.

Exclusively in the English dub Mello's line here is "he promised me he'd find kira and execute him". In the manga text and the Japanese audio, Mello's line here is a more general "(L) (said/proclaimed/etc) he'd find kira and execute him". My Japanese level isn't enough to determine whether the original JP text/audio implies in some way that this was a personal conversation.

[queer-omens-in-the-archives]

Jealousy (1/7)

The first instalment in our series of 7 Matt/Mello/Near drabbles written for @dnrarepairweek! :3 Prompt: competition.

Near is not an envious child.

Rarepair: Matt/Mello/Near Other tags: one-sided Mello/Near, Matt/Mello, Wammy's House Era, Jealousy

[read on AO3 or below] [series on AO3]

Near is not an envious child. He is generally content with the hand he’s been dealt, well-suited to the environment he is growing up in.

And yet he is familiar with sharp jealousy, the kind that twists his gut into knots, that makes him want to howl and snarl and bite even though he would never.

It’s all in the soft strands of red hair lain on the black of Mello’s shoulder; the easy touch of Mello’s fingers on a striped sleeve; their hands held so casually.

Near will never say anything, of course. He is not an envious child.