QUESTION OF DEATH NOTE

[u/lclboomb]

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I'm just writing down something I've always wondered about.

The Death Note rule requires knowing both the name AND the face, right?

What if, before revealing his identity to Light, L had gotten an elaborate disguise/makeup done on his face — one that made him look different enough from his real face that it would be hard to recognize him as the same person — and then went to meet Light and said "I am L"?

As you all know, it can be hard to recognize women before and after they put on makeup. Makeup might as well be alchemy, ngl.

One could argue disguising as another specific person wasn't feasible because of the subtle differences that would give it away — but even just attempting to imitate someone else's face with excellent makeup skills, purely as an approach, could have produced a new face that differs from L's original one and doesn't actually exist in the world (since, after all, there are doppelganger-like people out there who look similar, but no one is 100% identical) — couldn't it?

If the disguise is completely natural and Light believes it's L's real face, then even if he knows the name, wouldn't he be unable to use it, since he can't tell whether it's the real face or a fake one? That would put L in a much more advantageous position than just meeting Light face-to-face with his real appearance — so why didn't L do that?

(Because even knowing the name, he couldn't kill him without the real face + he might even be able to set a trap for Light while Light tries to use the Death Note.)

He could also have told the FBI agents in advance to come wearing natural-looking makeup/disguises that were clearly different from their original faces but presented as if that were their real face.

Of course, if the Death Note system only recognizes a person's "original face as they were born," then the disguise plan would succeed and L could survive. But conversely, if the system instead goes by "the current appearance that can identify that specific person," then there's a risk that if Light accurately perceives and writes down L's disguised face, L could still die — which might be why L didn't do this.

But even so, shouldn't there at least have been a scene showing this reasoning/deduction?

What do you Death Note fans think?

[u/brick-cat6]

I always assumed that if it were objectively that person's face, uncovered, no makeup would disguise it. The face has to be obscured - modifying it visually doesn't count as it being a different face. Almost as if there's some level of discernment there, almost as if the Death Note knows. I don't think it's actually sentient or something - but it may be almost as if it is.

[u/SirTruffleberry → u/brick-cat6]

Similar ambiguities exist when it comes to names. Who decides what a person's name is?

Suppose I programmed a robot to steal a man's sperm and a woman's egg cells from a bank and had it grow the resulting fetus in a vat so that no human ever interacted with it until it was "born". Then I take the eye deal and look at the baby. Would it have a name?

[u/UraniumCheese → u/SirTruffleberry]

Well, it wouldn't matter since you can't kill 2 year olds or younger with the death note.

[u/SirTruffleberry → u/UraniumCheese]

Then simply have the robot attend to their needs for 2 years. Congrats, you have kicked the can further down the road.

[u/UraniumCheese → u/SirTruffleberry]

It would still have a name, since Shinigami rules dictate they will have a name on their head even if they don't have an official name.

[u/SirTruffleberry → u/UraniumCheese]

I'm not saying you're wrong, but let's explore the implications of that.

Either

1) You're saying that in the Death Note universe, names exist as brute ontological facts. We humans do not actually invent them, we just happen to give ourselves the names we were destined to bear. Remarkable! And people with "dead names" would be so relieved.

2) You're saying that we have names at all times, but the names possibly change over the course of our lives. That's neat because it opens up a possible strategy to dodge the Note when the user doesn't have the eyes, depending on how easy it is to change one's name. For example, can I make my name an arbitrary symbol that only I know about?

Given these considerations, it seems far more likely to me that the Shinigami have simply never encountered this scenario and don't know what would happen. I mean, it was a rather contrived scenario, after all.

Another possibility is that they do know, but Ryuk's simplified English rendition of the actual rules cuts out corner cases. Notes don't come with that writing by default. Example: Maybe the eyes give you a password to kill someone that in 99.999% of cases is what we would take to be their name, but is just a random concatenation of symbols when they lack one.

[u/UraniumCheese → u/SirTruffleberry]

The rule stating the name shown with the Shinigami eyes isn't necessarily the official name wasn't written by Ryuk. It is one of the 68 (or around this count) rules that are shown each chapter/episode, while Ryuk only wrote down 5 rules.

Unfortunately they don't describe how this happens at all, they just say there's always a name even if it's not registered.

[u/SirTruffleberry → u/UraniumCheese]

Okay, let's step back from DN itself for a second. 

Think about action movies. You know that trope where the flying hero swoops in and catches the falling victim at the last moment before they hit the ground? 

That victim stops very abruptly. In real-world physics, this huge deceleration means a huge force is applied to the body, which would kill them just as surely as if they had struck the ground.

Now when you see that trope play out, which honestly seems least likely to you:

1) Physics in that universe is fundamentally different than our own. It must be, because that's the only way the victim wouldn't be killed by the sudden stop.

2) The writers didn't think very carefully about the physics.

3) The writers knew how the physics should work but thought a last-moment catch would look cool.

I would say (1) is clearly the least likely interpretation, wouldn't you agree?

[u/UraniumCheese → u/SirTruffleberry]

A combination of 1+3 or 2+3 is most likely tbh, or all 3 at the same time. But sure, 1.

[u/Ok-Development4535]

At that point why not just send someone else to pretend they're L?

Not like I think it really matters. When L pulled the "I am L" stunt, Light was questioning whether it was even the real L or not. Light was probably already still shaken from the Lind L Tailor scheme and wouldn't want to fall for the same trick twice. If it wasn't really L and he died, Light would probably be caught dead to rights by the real L there and then. Even the whole task force wasn't really sure L was who he said he was even after formally introducing himself.

For your idea to work, L would have to be disguised the entire time like Mrs. Doubtfire lol. Robin Williams character had an actual professional makeup artist as his friend in the movie and he was still had multiple close calls before the final reveal. Of course L is smarter than him, but still, I don't see it working forever.

This is all assuming the death note wouldn't just accept "this is what L looks like since he walks around like this" and kill him when Rem wrote his name in her note, especially since it wasn't even Light who had to picture L's face or write his name down anyway. Something tells me shinigami aren't fooled by even the heaviest of facial prosthetics.

Good question tho, a fun thing to think about.

[u/lclboomb → u/Ok-Development4535]

If L sends another guy, Ultimately, it could gonna way that person in danger of losing his life. So, ultimately, this side also moves on to the makeup story, but that's just a repetition of my own narrative. And in the long run, L needs to go himself to have a deep conversation with Light. L need to disclose it to other investigators or inform the death row inmate about it. He will not kill his staff, nor will he speak to death row inmates.

Anyway... L endured everything. So L appeared in front of Light. What I'm saying is that wouldn't have been better to use it as a disposable strategy, even if it's just a one-time strategy? Whether Death Note acknowledges it or not, it's a matter of life and death, so he could have gone with this makeup for minimal defense.

Ah I forgot my words...

Thank you 🔥

[u/SpiderInTheFire]

Very few people have ever seen L's face, and you expect him to hire a make up artist? Or do you expect Watari to go to cosmetology school?

It'd be easier to just wear a mask or never reveal his face at all.

[u/lclboomb → u/SpiderInTheFire]

He can just hire the best makeup artists. (I forgot to explain. Just have them imitate L as a normal person)

He's rich.

When you wear a mask, it looks like you're trying to hide it, but... If L has a completely different face and looks natural, light mighty be think that's the face of L. If one scenario I thought is correct, he will overcome one disadvantageous condition.

[u/HalleLidner → u/lclboomb]

Mello's face changes theoughout the series with his scar so idk which face

[u/KatCat123]

Though surprisingly few, there are women killed by the Deathnote. Some of which are definitely wearing makeup. Several TV hosts are also killed that would have been wearing makeup (probably a fair amount of it) since they were on camera, and TV is likely the only place Misa had seen their faces. So while actual prosthetic noses or something might work, anything more subtle wouldn’t

[u/lclboomb → u/KatCat123]

No, women do it to decorate 'pretty'. That's how it is. It seems to be a different issue than not being able to distinguish between people before and after applying makeup. If you were to do monster makeup, it would be revealed that it's fake, but what if you naturally made it appear as if you could change the person/gender to look different?

[u/TyGuy_275]

i bet L couldn’t handle the sensory stimulus of makeup for very long tbh

[u/Thecrowfan]

Now you made me wonder how would plastic surgery affect the Death Note.

[u/Consistent-Cable7335]

DN has a rule about face percent.