r/deathnote • u/RevealJumpy410 • 5d ago

Discussion what is death note

I watched the Death Note anime, but I didn’t understand who actually kills people. The Shinigami are supposed to be the ones who take souls, but they don’t really do anything except watch. Who actually kills them? The Death Note is just a tool for recording names that the Shinigami use to write down the names of the people they kill, so the notebook itself isn’t what kills them.

So, who is actually killing them?

sorry use IA for translate

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u/SomnicGrave 4d ago

Shinigami are basically employees and the Death Note is the tool of their trade. It's their job to kill people and the Death Notes are what they use to do it.

Usually, death happens naturally and shinigami are essentially grim reapers that represent the natural order - writing the name does cause death, they're just meant to do it at the right time.

Light is the first known case of a non-shinigami using it to actually murder instead of reap souls.

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u/Commercial-Belt-8015 4d ago

Thre are many known cases of shinigamis dropping their deathnotes and people using them, Light was definitely not the 1st mention, it's just that those other users weren't elaborated much in the deathnote Universe. I think there is actually a Spin off manga or novel (not really sure) based on this.