Death Note not only gave us an iconic anime, but it also threw us in a diabolical quandary. Whilst some fans think L from Death Note is a benevolent figure, there are many others who think that L is just as malevolent, treating human lives as guinea pigs to collect evidence, detain, kidnap and torture people to achieve ends.

Death Note was created with the objective of putting watchers in a moral dilemma, L's character being the biggest of them all. Death Note fans will always throw around the ends justify the means phrase for L, but that is not really enough. L has just as much blood on his hands as Light has, in that, both of them have killed. However, the motives of L and Light are the biggest subjects debate.

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10 Evil: Cherrypicking The Cases

The standout fact about L is that throughout the series, he only picked cases that seemed interesting to him (3500 of them). On the very outset, it doesn't seem like such a bad thing to do, but a further analysis says that, if L was such a defender and upholder of the law of justice, shouldn't all cases come under the purview of that?

For a case to pique L's interest, it should have victimized 10 people or have over one million dollars involved. So, these are basically just high profile cases and not ordinary ones. The explanation for this would be that L treats everything as a game. Games that satisfied his criterion piqued his interests and were dealt with. The Los Angeles BB Murder Cases, form an exception to this on account of them being personal to L.

9 Kind: Betterment of Society

At the immediate, it can't be denied that L does everything for the betterment of society. It could be said that L's means, though rotten, such as not respecting due process of law, torturing, and detaining people, he still does everything for the betterment of people and society at large.

This is more of ends justify means or means justify the ends debate. L was siding more with justice, even if the underlying emotion and driving force was selfishness or gratification.

8 Evil: Sensitive Pride

The thing about the world's greatest detective is that he has very sensitive pride and wouldn't want anyone in the world to prove his deductions wrong. L's sensitive pride is a direct outcome of his motive behind every case—the gratification of the self.

To this extent, L calls for achieving his means through ruthless measures, case in point: torturing Misa Amane, imprisoning Light for a lengthy period of time. In the Yotsuba arc, L is manifestly lethargic, he practically wanted Yotsuba to kill more innocents in order to gain more evidence.

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7 Kind: Helps National Police Agency

After L's deduction that Kira is based in Japan, he aids the National Police Agency by a computer. Earlier, he chose a policy of isolation, working alone and acting through the FBI, America, to an extent that teams of FBI agents entered Japan and investigated the National Police Agency. L's only intention throughout is to stop Light's killing spree.

The Japanese Taskforce invests humongous resources into the case of Kira so it would make more sense for L to qualify as the kindest, in that he helps them out. The goofy L also helps the Interpol to solve the Kira case epidemic heart attacks caused by any demented murderer.

6 Evil: Disregard For Due Process Of Law

Everything essentially boils down to upholding justice for L in Death Note, and he is prepared to go to any extent to achieve that. However, while the Rule of Law is supreme, Law should take its own course. L's actions, for the most part, insert the clause of duress, custodial murders of innocents and guilty, alike.

L readily sacrifices people to achieve a breakthrough in cases. He himself has stated to break the law and lie, just so it could finish things off. There is no coherence here, so does L practice what he preaches for others?

5 Kind: Raise Near And Mellow

L's role in shaping Mello and Near can't be ignored. The two boys are orphans from Wammy's House in Winchester, England. L addresses the Wammy's House children once in a child-like way, but at the same time educates them on various things such as monsters. L: Change The World addresses this concern very well.

Wammy's House is an orphanage, established by Watari as a training facility for children with high intelligence and exceptional skills. L picks Near and Mellow solely due to their refusal to question him and the nasty stare that they give him.

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4 Evil: Cold-blooded

L Lawliet From Death Note Staring

This has more to do with L's body language than his moral compass. In various scenes through the Death Note, everyone around L expresses human emotions such as discomfort, shock or awe. Yet, when it comes to L, he never shows any of these signs, let alone break a sweat on his face.

Ohba, the writer, while addressing Yotsuba Eight and Higuchi, said the latter not sweating is because he wanted to make Higuchi look cold-blooded and sweat interferes with that. Ohba and Obata have placed these clues in the manga to deliberately show that L lacks genuine human feelings of anxiety, shock, discomfort. He is just a cynical character with a creepy soul stare.

3 KIND: Lind L. Taylor Execution

Another counter-argument in favor of L's kindness is that the lives the took, such as those of Lind. L Taylor. The man was sentenced to execution and L only played with the method of execution. Lind. L Taylor was placed by L in a television decoy by making him introduce himself as L.

It can also be seen as a virtue of kindness in the light of the fact that these victims were given a fresh promise on life in case the method didn't work. Lind. L Taylor was a sentenced criminal, going to be executed any which ways, so him being used as a bait to get to someone in order to save the rest doesn't sound like an immoral thing to do.

2 Evil: Ohba's Admission

The creator Tsugumi Ohba whole talking about the character L has stated "I think L is slightly evil."

What L calls a divine mindset gets in the way of everything. Does what needs to be done, without showing remorse of hesitation. Hence, he forces Light to commit crimes, kill tiny men for infractions. He also poses a risk to Kira's butler.

1 Kind: Continued To Pursue Kira

L's debatable subject of morality can also be put to test on account of the fact that he never gives up whilst every other person around him raise their hands in the air. Knowing very well the kind of threat Kira poses to the world, L stays committed to the cause. L's decision in doing so can be partly attributed to his bravery. Was it a challenge for L? Sure. The intention? To rid the world of monsters. Best cue: go back to the address he made to Wammy's House children.

NEXT: 10 Anime Characters The Death Note Cannot Kill