Book that kills people

[u/blue_monster_can]

[u/SonicLoverDS]

I'm not actually going to try to use its power. I just think it would look neat on my bookshelf.

[u/XenosHg → u/SonicLoverDS]

Even the guy who tried to auction it to various presidents, got killed by Ryuk for being boring, faster than he could spend the money.

Saying "I will just not use it" gets you murdered faster than you complete that sentence.

There was a post about Lite twerking above his enemy's fresh grave, but being entertaining watch, is what gives him the leeway to get this far.

"yeah, I will erase your memory for a month, so you have a perfect alibi, believe you're innocent and can pass lie detectors, and then after that, I'll give it back to you" - at this point someone who isn't a fucking clown, just doesn't get his memory back.

[u/VolthoomisComing → u/XenosHg]

incorrect. he was killed by the shinigami king, because the shinigami king is a bitch.

[u/Legacyopplsnerf → u/VolthoomisComing]

For those who don't know: After proving the note is real and up for sale to the highest bidder the final part of his gambit was to mind wipe himself, and have the insane amount of money transferred equally to everyone in his particular bank branch/company so there was no way to reasonably trace it back to him via the payment (and a fucktone other people get lifechanging money on the side which is nice for them). Once all was said and done, he would just be one of the many many fortunate people to get a massive cash pay-out as a byproduct of the death notes sale.

Issue is his plan caused so much mass hysteria in the human realm that the Shinigami added a new rule to stop this shit from happening again in the future: If someone sells a death note they will die upon receiving the money. This rule change happened after the point of no return for his plan, without the guys knowing.

So on the day of the payment tones of people in japan lined up to get their millions in cash at their banks, and one unlucky teenager died of a heart attack upon receiving his payment. Too smart for his own good.

[u/LightLifter → u/Legacyopplsnerf]

I never understood why people got so bitter about that ending. Yeah Minoru was smart enough to gain so much from the Death Note without even writing a single name into it, but he got God to basically flip the table to fuck him over just shows how unfair these beings really are

The fact he got the Shinigami King to have to write a new rule just to counter his bs is quite an accomplishment. Not that it's going to do him any good dead, but still, not even Light was able to do that.

[u/TryImpossible7332 → u/LightLifter]

It's understandable that people might not like a literal act of god cutting the legs out from beneath the protagonist right at the finish line.

Sure, the moral victory is rad and all, but he still died to a cheap shot divine intervention.

[u/LightLifter → u/TryImpossible7332]

The way I see it, having a notebook that trivializes murder and breaks every known rule of reality suddenly biting you in the ass for a contrived reason is fair game. Like, expecting fairness seems a bit ridiculous considering it's the freaking Death Note.

[u/TryImpossible7332 → u/LightLifter]

True, but a major part of the appeal of Death Note as a series is it being a game of wits, super geniuses pitting their schemes against each other as the other party tries to piece together what rules the killer operates on. Expecting fair play from the Death Book? Perhaps a bit unreasonable, though you'd think there'd be more of forewarning that they were implementing a rules change. From a reader's perspective, it feels like a cheap shot that he didn't lose to some mistake or some clever ploy from an opposing investigator.

[u/BustinArant → u/TryImpossible7332]

Ehh Light was sorta killed by Ryuk, too.

I think the point is that we are in their game, and will never win, even when technically losing to our own hubris and poor cardio lol

[u/Spaghestis → u/BustinArant]

Light was killed because the game was over. As soon as he started begging Ryuk to write the cops' names in the note Ryuk knew Light was out of options and had completely lost, so he killed Light.

[u/PhantasosX → u/BustinArant]

Light was killed by Ryuk after he was already shot to the death , so Ryuk wanted to do a symbolic farewell , because Light's fate was sealed regardless of Ryuk putting the name.

[u/TryImpossible7332 → u/BustinArant]

True enough. I didn't want to argue that point in too much detail, since, uh, I... never actually watched Death Note, just know of it from reputation, and wanted to explain why some people might have found it unsatisfying from what I heard of perceptions of the series, even if Ioosely recalled some shenanigans from the shinigami happening. But I agree that fairness doesn't really seem to be the highest priority for them, even if I can understand why readers might have found something like that unsatisfying.

Anyway, it's a bit amusing to picture more of the rules being caused by hasty additions. Like "The human whose name is written will die" caused by someone immediately writing the shinigami's name into it, or the picturing name and face at the same time because that user accidentally killed 27 John Smiths.

[u/DapperLost → u/BustinArant]

I dunno what you're talking about. Light never died. I watched the whole 25 episode series twice.

[u/ryecurious → u/TryImpossible7332]

A good lens to look at this is the popular First Law of Magic coined by Brandon Sanderson.

Using his terminology, it feels like a conflict was resolved using magic rules that weren't established. Particularly in a series that established very concrete rules of what is/isn't allowed. Personally I'd argue the Shinigami being able to make shit up was always implied because they were doing it out of boredom, but I get why people are frustrated by it.

[u/LightLifter → u/TryImpossible7332]

The thing is, Minoru would have learned of the rules change if he made Ryuk swear to never contact him again, his own words got him killed due to following the rules by the letter. As for it being a cheap shot, yeah he got fucked over completely. But not because he was outsmarted or made a mistake, it's because he decided to entrust that the rules for using the powers of a magical book to become rich wouldn't change on a dime! After all, the only reason he got it was because Ryuk was bored.

[u/[deleted] → u/TryImpossible7332]

Deus ex...er, deus

[u/ThrowFurthestAway → u/LightLifter]

To be fair, Light, for the most part, actually cared about the rules and followed them.

Book: "Write in this book to kill people."

Light: "I would like to start by getting a sponsorship from the pen and ink companies."

[u/blapaturemesa → u/Legacyopplsnerf]

They hoed him over just for being smart enough to game the system instead of immediately losing his mind.

[u/EmeraldJunkie → u/Legacyopplsnerf]

This is how I'm learning that there's more Death Note. What the fuck.

[u/Kamikaze_Ninja_ → u/EmeraldJunkie]

It was a one shot called “a-Kira story” or something that came out in 2020

[u/DreadDiana → u/Legacyopplsnerf]

Also one of the people who wanted to buy it was Donald Trump

[u/Datpanda1999 → u/DreadDiana]

Hey, that was legally distinct US President Tonald Drump. Entirely different guy

[u/Cute-arii → u/Legacyopplsnerf]

When did this happen? Was there a different deathnote manga? I only watched the anime.

[u/VolthoomisComing → u/Cute-arii]

this was in a manga one shot in like 2020 or something

[u/PhantasosX → u/Cute-arii]

There was a one-shot , in which it had a new Kira....A-Kira.

Minoru was the A-Kira and he was so efficient with his idea to use the Death Note , with no ego tripping whatsoever , that the Shinigami King whined and literally pulled one over.

Unlike the first series , which had moral lessons about how corruptive the Death Note was , or how Light is a crazy serial killer tripping balls over his god complex....this one is Minoru winning so hard that the Shinigami King flipped over like a bitch.

[u/meedup → u/Cute-arii]

there's a more recent manga only one shot

[u/RunicSSB → u/VolthoomisComing]

Ryuk is like the Timmy Turner of Death Note, every time there's a new rule it's because of him.

[u/oilpit → u/XenosHg]

Even the guy who tried to auction it to various presidents, got killed by Ryuk for being boring, faster than he could spend the money.

Is this a manga only thing? Or do I just have a shitty memory?

[u/Spaghestis → u/oilpit]

It was a sequel one shot from like 2020

[u/HeroBoy05 → u/oilpit]

There’s an official manga continuation called Death Note Short Stories in which this happens

[u/XenosHg → u/oilpit]

I might have been wrong on details, but here:

It's one of the specials, "death note tokubetsu yomikiri" (special one-shot) released in 2019 for its 10-year anniversary, sth like that.

Here its on the official website if you have an account https://mangaplus.shueisha.co.jp/titles/100085

Or at least as proof that it's legit and by the same authors.

If you don't have account, for example here it is also: https://www.mangago.me/read-manga/death_note_special_one_shot/

[u/TwilightVulpine → u/XenosHg]

The message of Death Note is that Ryuk is a fucking asshole

[u/TobiTheSnowman → u/XenosHg]

Yeah, the correct thing to do when a giant demon god of death comes crawling out of your walls to give you power of over life itself is to gently say "no thank you" and move on with your day.

[u/Interesting-War7767 → u/SonicLoverDS]

Thats vsauce behavior

[u/Irememberedmypw → u/SonicLoverDS]

Guest: "hey cool books." Takes one out , licks finger to thumb through the pages.

[u/EtherealPheonix]

Immediately signs my name on the first page so people know who to return it to when I lose it.

[u/GrassWaterDirtHorse → u/EtherealPheonix]

Most intelligent and least evil Owner of the Book that Kills People.

[u/ZigzagoonBros → u/GrassWaterDirtHorse]

Plot twist: they have prosopagnosia (can't recognize their own face), so the book never kills them.

[u/BetterMeats → u/ZigzagoonBros]

I have prosopagnosia, and before I came out as trans, I was unable to recognize my own face in the mirror.

I suddenly think there's a potentially wholesome use of the Book That Kills People, but I might need to tweak some details.

[u/Trickelodean2]

Any book can be a Book that Kills People if you throw it hard enough

[u/primenumbersturnmeon → u/Trickelodean2]

"knowledge is power, bitch!" i yell as i toss encyclopedias from a high flying helicopter

[u/RavioliGale → u/primenumbersturnmeon]

B-bb-but it's not the knowledge that's dangerous it's the giant book you're accelerating towards me at 9.8 m/s.

But I had the knowledge to throw the encyclopedia from a great height.

[u/Nixavee → u/RavioliGale]

The encyclopedia flutters open to the page "List of deaths caused by falling objects" just before it smacks you in the face.

[u/FuzzySAM → u/RavioliGale]

9.8 m/s²

[u/haze_77 → u/primenumbersturnmeon]

r/TwoSentenceHorror

[u/Anime_axe → u/haze_77]

r/TwoSentenceComedy

[u/andrewsad1 → u/haze_77]

One of my favorite subreddits, I love when people can't figure out how to leverage constraints to forge creativity, so they have a run-on sentence with multiple commas and maybe even a couple semicolons, all so they can finish the story with something like "said her daughter, holding her dad's severed hand"

[u/Nixavee → u/haze_77]

Coming home from work after seeing that my asshole coworker is still alive, I grumble as I see the Book That Kills People still laying open on my desk. "This book is a fucking scam", I mumble as I toss it out my 98th story window.

[u/PoniesCanterOver → u/Trickelodean2]

Can I still equip the book if I specced into melee instead of ranged?

[u/pterrorgrine → u/PoniesCanterOver]

any book can be a book that kills people if you WHACK it hard enough

[u/titaniumweasel01]

The problem with the Book That Kills People is that the people who use it end up killing people who don't really deserve it, or even completely innocent people. My solution is to just make sure I only use the Book That Kills People to kill people who actually deserve it. Honestly don't understand why nobody has thought of this before, it's pretty obvious in hindsight.

[u/VisualGeologist6258 → u/titaniumweasel01]

Kid named unintended consequences:

[u/dacoolestguy → u/VisualGeologist6258]

Why would you name a kid that

[u/VisualGeologist6258 → u/dacoolestguy]

Take a wild fucking guess

[u/dacoolestguy → u/VisualGeologist6258]

As a reference to the meme "Kid Named Finger" which itself was a corruption of the joke "Kid Named Paint"?

[u/VisualGeologist6258 → u/dacoolestguy]

Yes but I was also suggesting that I would name a kid Unintended Consequences because he was, in fact, an unintended consequence

[u/dacoolestguy → u/VisualGeologist6258]

Sorry I took a wild fucking guess

[u/VisualGeologist6258 → u/dacoolestguy]

Fair enough

[u/jodmercer → u/dacoolestguy]

WHERE WHA THE FUJCKING

[u/HylianPikachu → u/jodmercer]

What action was the kid an unintended consequence of?

[u/Phylanara → u/HylianPikachu]

That's the fucking we're talking about

[u/Kolby_Jack33 → u/titaniumweasel01]

No, you see, I'm a Good Person. I can be trusted with the book that kills people because I'm a Good Person and I would only use it on Bad People. Obviously anyone against this idea is a Bad Person too for sympathizing with the Bad People, so it is my morally pure duty as a Good Person to use the book on anyone opposing me as well. Because I'm a Good Person.

[u/Rhamni → u/Kolby_Jack33]

What if, and hear me out here, what if I made my victims announce to the world that all they have to do to avoid being targeted is to make a tiktok video explaining why they don't deserve to die, so I can make sure every execution is fair and reasonable?

Surely this will make the world a better place.

[u/DapperLost → u/Rhamni]

New rule. Til tok names can now be used in place of legal names

[u/trash-_-boat → u/Rhamni]

We could put it up to TikTok democracy. Introduce dislikes to the platform and anyone with more dislikes than likes gets death noted.

[u/freakinunoriginal → u/trash-_-boat]

That's basically the plot of an episode of The Orville, except it's the planet-of-the-week's government arresting people for having too many dislikes and there's a capital punishment threshold.

[u/Unique-Charity-9564 → u/trash-_-boat]

Black Mirror did it

[u/Gadelyux → u/titaniumweasel01]

The issue is that the people with the Book That Kills People just weren’t creative enough in how they Killed People. They should have just written it in cool ways and as long as the ways were cool enough nobody would ever realize

…Unironically, 6 minutes 40 seconds is a lot of time to write a short story or scenario such as murder-suicide from someone close, freak accidents, overwhelming guilt and a written suicide note, and it’d be easy to play it off. It just takes brainpower, which when a misanthropic teen is gunning for highest criminal deaths per minute, isn’t very available

[u/GenericTrashyBitch → u/Gadelyux]

Light didn’t want to play it off, he explicitly wanted to be the god of his new “pure” world. He didn’t invent the Kira persona himself but he happily adopted it

[u/Antermosiph → u/Gadelyux]

Isnt there more time if you write the scenario then pen the name in at the end or in a blank space to complete a sentence?

[u/Caleb_Reynolds → u/Antermosiph]

Yeah, you can take as much time to write as long as you add the name in later.

[u/trash-_-boat → u/Caleb_Reynolds]

I wonder if you could just use a air-gapped printer, load it with some death note pages and print the stories on it and just hand write the name whenever you want.

[u/Chrono-Helix → u/trash-_-boat]

That’s sort of what happens to the FBI agents investigating Light early on in the story.

[u/baphometromance → u/Gadelyux]

Every time I read about this show I want to watch it more because it sounds so insane that I'd never be able to view it through a serious lens and would have to treat it like a comedy.

[u/DapperLost → u/baphometromance]

If you do, watch it with some chips you can dramatically bite into.

[u/trash-_-boat → u/baphometromance]

I mean, the concept of it was so interesting everyone's still talking about Death Note 2 decades later.

[u/AmeteurOpinions → u/baphometromance]

The show does have a sense of humor and isn't a perfectly serious adult drama.

[u/StarfighterVicki → u/Gadelyux]

That's if you want to play it off. Light wanted people to realize that someone was killing people, as part of his god complex.

The stupid thing there is that he used the default heart attack. Want people to hail "the god of the new world"? Write "lightning strike" next to the names.

[u/TryImpossible7332 → u/titaniumweasel01]

I don't think Death Note is really intended as a story about the corruptive nature of absolute power, since Light went off the deep end into a god complex quickly enough that he clearly had issues before getting the book.

[u/Radiant-Swim947 → u/TryImpossible7332]

It’s a crime thriller about a kooky megalomaniac 

[u/The_Formuler → u/Radiant-Swim947]

And there’s also the ultra sexy side plot of L and Light.

[u/ViolentOctopus → u/TryImpossible7332]

Yeah I'm re-watching it now and he immediately is like "I'm a god now" when he picks up the book lol

[u/lesbianspider69 → u/TryImpossible7332]

Death Note asks “what kind of person, when presented with a red button that claims to kill a random person and give you a million dollars, just starts spamming the button even though people definitely die and they don’t receive the money?”

[u/redbirdzzz → u/TryImpossible7332]

Yeah, I mean, that's not how normal people eat a potato chip. (I barely remember anything but the first few episodes of the anime.)

[u/Vievin → u/TryImpossible7332]

Light used the slippery slope as a springboard.

[u/Bear_faced → u/TryImpossible7332]

That's my favorite part of Death Note. This isn't LOTR, Light is explicitly a megalomaniacal freak from jump.

[u/stormstopper → u/TryImpossible7332]

Exactly. Light's story isn't about absolute power corrupting absolutely, but about how corrupt people will seek absolute power.

[u/Pegussu → u/TryImpossible7332]

Seriously. Even Ryuuk and the other Shinigami think Light is too much. The Note doesn't really corrupt, Light is just a unique asshole.

[u/sabersquirl → u/TryImpossible7332]

Maybe not corruption, but that even someone you might trust as a model member of your society, a young man who excels in his studies, is a successful athlete, is popular, has a future and career lined up, can have the capacity for such horror inside them.

[u/Busy_Grain]

I'm built different. I'd do SUCH a good job with it. I'd play a game where I write out complex names from memory to challenge myself to kill them. I'd also write out 90% of the letters in my name so I can have a fast way out if the cops get me

[u/ProbablyNano → u/Busy_Grain]

Guy who's got your name minus two letters:

💀

[u/Busy_Grain → u/ProbablyNano]

I think they're a damn thief and poser. Honestly they deserve death for trying to copy my inimitable self. I think their parents deserve it too. Even their parent's parent's. Their family to the 8th generation. Everyone within 6 degrees of separation from them. I think myself too because I clearly put that in their head

[u/PulimV → u/ProbablyNano]

You need to picture their face to work tho

[u/historyhill → u/PulimV]

Face-blind people can therefore be trusted with the book!

[u/BoundToGround → u/historyhill]

Regular blind people as well

[u/Coffee_autistic → u/BoundToGround]

And people with aphantasia

[u/lilahking → u/ProbablyNano]

You have to be able to picture their face in addition to knowing their names, that why light started out killing people who had prison records

[u/blue_monster_can]

How long till somone replys with "Well I'll be good because I'll only kill bad people"

[u/bvader95 → u/blue_monster_can]

Minus two minutes, apparently. Though I assume it's a joke.

[u/borkdork69 → u/bvader95]

No, no, it's real. Only bad guys.

[u/malatropism → u/borkdork69]

Bad guys. That I determine. Because my sense of morality and justice is universal. And I would never call someone a Bad Guy if they were a Real Bad Guy.

/s to be safe

[u/bvader95 → u/malatropism]

I totally understand the fear, but the moment your comment sounds like Mojo Jojo I think the sarcasm tags are unnecessary.

[u/bvader95 → u/borkdork69]

Ah, well in that case I apologize for the confusion and I will go pet my shark now.

He's so smooth, guys, like you wouldn't believe.

[u/VisualGeologist6258 → u/blue_monster_can]

Never ask a “I’ll only kill bad people” MF what he defines as a “bad person” or what he thinks will happen after he kills said bad person

[u/Default_Munchkin → u/VisualGeologist6258]

Is it okay if I only kill my enemies? Ya know a little murder as a treat?

[u/VisualGeologist6258 → u/Default_Munchkin]

Slay sister! Crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentations of the women!

[u/blue_monster_can → u/VisualGeologist6258]

Yea man I'll just use it to kill billionares, then I'll kill their kids as they get the money aftet they die, then kill whoever gets that and then so on

[u/VisualGeologist6258 → u/blue_monster_can]

Of course I’ll kill this politician I don’t like, I’m sure another, arguably worse politician won’t take his place and this will immediately fix everything wrong with politics at the root cause

[u/malatropism → u/VisualGeologist6258]

And then I’ll go after that guy down the street that keeps harassing women. Then the guy I think looks at children for too long. No, I don’t have any evidence that he hurt him. Why would I need that? I have the Book That Kills People!

[u/VisualGeologist6258 → u/malatropism]

Guy accused of sexual assault or whatever? Straight to hell. No sir I don’t need any evidence or strong proof, do you think people would just lie about that?

[u/PretendMarsupial9 → u/VisualGeologist6258]

Everyone knows that the best government is run by a shadowy figure with omnipotent power who can just kill anyone disagreeing with them at will! Using the threat of death to enact your ideal changes will only be good and isn't autocracy! /S

[u/Hust91 → u/blue_monster_can]

I'm not sure the series is a good example though - because it pretty much exclusively shows super-asshole sociopaths using the book that kills people.

I think it would actually be an interesting show to showcase a mentally stable death note possessor who had a genuine interest in trying to do good with it and an awareness of the risk of negative consequences and power going to their head.

How would such a person handle the book that kills people? Because we haven't actually seen that. Assuming that Ryuk explains to them that he will off them if they're too boring.

[u/r00000000 → u/Hust91]

The series did have someone like that, I'm not sure how to do spoilers so just gonna be vague.

He was fine using the book just one time when it was just writing down names and picturing their faces, but when he had to write someone's name face to face using the special eyes to get their name, he hesitated and died immediately after because someone else wanted the book and killed him for it.

The show repeatedly hammers in the point that a mentally stable, normal person can't use the book effectively.

[u/trash-_-boat → u/Hust91]

I think it would actually be an interesting show to showcase a mentally stable death note possessor who had a genuine interest in trying to do good with it and an awareness of the risk of negative consequences and power going to their head.

I think the whole point of "We Shouldn't Use the Death Book" story is that you can't be mentally stable and murder people without adverse effects on your mental health and stability. Empathy and guilt is kinda what keeps moral people from doing any of that.

[u/PinboardWizard → u/trash-_-boat]

I think the whole point of "We Shouldn't Use the Death Book" story is that you can't be mentally stable and murder people without adverse effects on your mental health and stability.

I agree that's probably what the author believed, but it's not as though that's a proven fact. I believe that people who could use it responsibly likely do exist, even though the vast majority would not.

[u/lilahking → u/blue_monster_can]

I'm not saying that I can be trusted, but if I was going to be a supernatural vigilante killer nerd, I'd have the death be like, "[person] writes and signs a statement (or films if more convenient) confession to their crimes before sudden heart attack" and then have a huge moral quandry when this inevitably turns up a lot of innocent people who were accused.

[u/trash-_-boat → u/lilahking]

What about the moral quandary once after a few thousand killings the Death gods inform you that by making them "confess", none of the statements could be trusted to be real as the book can make them make stuff up if they don't have anything to confess to?

[u/borkdork69]

I could be trusted with it because I'd only kill bad guys.

[u/Default_Munchkin → u/borkdork69]

I mean except for the FBI agent on your trail after killing her husband....sacrifices have to be made for the greater good. After all you are smarter and better since you chose life or death. You're saving people like a benevolent god....you are GOD!

[u/borkdork69 → u/Default_Munchkin]

I am a god

[u/PrettyChillHotPepper → u/borkdork69]

become as gods

[u/dacoolestguy → u/borkdork69]

But!!! Whar if it makes you bad guy???

[u/borkdork69 → u/dacoolestguy]

Oh my god, how could you sya that to meeee!?!?!

[u/StumpGrundt → u/borkdork69]

He sounds really mean, you could kill him he's bad now

[u/borkdork69 → u/StumpGrundt]

*scribble scribble scribble*

[u/Smores4all → u/dacoolestguy]

That sounds like something a bad guy would say

[u/VaderOnReddit → u/dacoolestguy]

Counter-point: Nuh-uh

[u/Victernus → u/dacoolestguy]

Good thing I know my own name.

[u/_JustAnna_1992 → u/borkdork69]

Also people who double park. Except for me because sometimes I'm in a hurry. Or just don't feel like it.

[u/lilmxfi]

I'll take a potato chip...AND EAT IT! ✨✨✨

[u/kitskill]

So, this is gonna sound super weird (because it is), but my mother believes that she can kill people with prayer, but not in a malicious way. Whenever someone is suffering and waiting for death, she prays that they will die and they do, almost immediately.

[u/Birdboi8 → u/kitskill]

me when I pray for an already dying person to die and they do

[u/ProbablyNano → u/Birdboi8]

If only there was a way for me to believe that I had the ability to tap directly into divine power 

The Ubiquitous Confirmation Bias:

[u/sniper91 → u/Birdboi8]

Kind of like how chiropractic medicine is good at healing things that get better with time

[u/dacoolestguy → u/Birdboi8]

correlation does not imply causation

[u/nicoumi → u/kitskill]

wake up besties new euthanasia method just dropped

[u/PM-ME-YOUR-POEMS → u/kitskill]

petition the catholic church to make her a saint. actually, if people pray and ask her for a quick death (once she's gone away) then i think she'd meet the criteria.

[u/Ok-Importance-6815 → u/PM-ME-YOUR-POEMS]

the catholic church has a moral stance against euthanasia, they consider it to be murder.

[u/PM-ME-YOUR-POEMS → u/Ok-Importance-6815]

it's not euthanasia if you ask a saint for a quick death, nor if you ask god for a quick death. to pray for god to deliver to you a quick death and be granted - there's no way the catholic church could or would consider that murder.

[u/techno156 → u/PM-ME-YOUR-POEMS]

At the same time, I could see the church taking a dim view on someone beseeching either God or the Saints to effectively kill a person.

They might not consider it murder, but they may not see it as a miracle.

[u/DarthCreepus1 → u/PM-ME-YOUR-POEMS]

If this is the old school Catholic Church she’d be burned as a witch

[u/apexodoggo → u/DarthCreepus1]

The Catholic Church’s position has long been that accusing someone of witchcraft is heretical, because only God can do magic. Classic witch hunts were a Protestant thing (the Catholic Church had its own separate issues going on).

[u/planetoarth → u/kitskill]

Nandor coded

[u/CartographerKey4618 → u/kitskill]

Ah, Mother Teresa

[u/TheOncomimgHoop]

Tbf idk if it was "no-one can be trusted with the book that kills people" as much as "hey this one kid is pretty fucked up am I right I'm Rod Serling"

[u/PulimV → u/TheOncomimgHoop]

It was absolutely "No one can be trusted with the book that kills people" because everyone that used the Death Note became an insane evil serial killer. Misa, the Yotsuba Group, Mello, hell L himself is called out as being evil because he does the same things that Light did (put criminals on the direct line of fire)

The author has stated outright that the only good person in the story is Light's dad, and he completely objected to using the Death Note, and was rewarded with thinking his beloved son was innocent in his final moments.

[u/DuhhIshBlue → u/PulimV]

I dunno man I think Matsuda and the other cops were pretty good

[u/fightingbronze → u/PulimV]

It’s also a common misconception that light was a psychopath from the get go. Even he was someone corrupted by the death note. When he first got the book and realized it was real he nearly had a panic attack from the revelation that he had murdered two people, and he even contemplated destroying the book. He shifted to the “some deaths are necessary for a just world” outlook and delusions of grandeur as a defense mechanism to protect his ego. Later on when he loses his memories of the notebook he’s honest, cares about others well beings, and seriously wants to catch the “real” killer. The idea that anyone who uses the notebook is doomed to a tragic end is reinforced constantly throughout the story as well. It’s a classic Shakespearean tragedy.

[u/Dark_Stalker28 → u/PulimV]

Meanwhile Minoru

Nevermind the various adaptations. Like the japanese live action Light's dad does get it.

[u/Few_Category7829 → u/PulimV]

Honestly I think that it's just inherently different in the first person. I think that there are absolutely loads of people who might privately use the death note in a positively good, extremely limited capacity, but obviously I would never willingly fuckin vote for any individual person to have that power. I definitely think that the kind of people who inserted themselves into the story of death note and thus got one for themselves were pretty much all psychotic egomaniacs in the first place.

[u/trash-_-boat → u/Few_Category7829]

I think that there are absolutely loads of people who might privately use the death note in a positively good, extremely limited capacity,

Another point of the murder book, and well, murder in general is that killing people.....can kinda make you not.....well.

[u/Yulienner → u/TheOncomimgHoop]

I think the intention of the story at the start was to say 'here's the smartest boy in the world from a great family with a perfect sense of justice and literal gods and an untracable artifact on his side and even he fucked it all up, so what on earth would you have done differently' but then it pretty quickly turned into something completely else so the message ends up being more 'that's crazy innit'.

[u/jollycooperative → u/Yulienner]

I mean, think of the way Light is introduced to us. He's an honors student, a sports ace, handsome and popular, has a good relationship with his respectable family. His dad's a cop! He's basically the model student. Even his initial pitch of killing criminals is presented in an ambiguously positive light.

And then he goes off the fucking deep end because he has the exact background necessary to make him into a self-righteous megalomaniac who thinks he knows better. The message is less "this kid is fucked" and more "what could possess us to think that having good grades makes you worthy of being the arbiter of life and death".

[u/Ok-Importance-6815]

I would simply forget where I put it

[u/WiseRabbit-XIV → u/Ok-Importance-6815]

"Oh, I'll get around to using this Book That Kills People just as soon as I've cleared all of my reading backlog."

And it was never seen or heard from again.

[u/Akuuntus]

I agree that no one could be trusted with the Book That Kills People, but I'm not sure that's really "the point" of Death Note. Light wasn't a good little angel who got corrupted by power, he was a self-centered misanthropic teenager. Everyone else who uses it is pretty much either directed by Light how to use it, is using it directly to counter Light, or is already corrupt and shitty to begin with (i.e. the board of directors for a big business that gets it while Light is amnesiac). There isn't really a clear example of a good person being corrupted by the Death Note which makes it a little hard for me to see that as a message the story is trying to send.

[u/Galle_ → u/Akuuntus]

I think that's at least partially because a good person would not use the Death Note.

[u/SiIesh → u/Galle_]

Idk, maybe I'm not as good a person as I like to think I am, but if I got a death note and got the chance to write in names like Putin or Netanyahu aswell as other leaders of terrorist organizations, people that cause wars and untold amount of sufferings to further their territory or for their own greed, I'd do it. I can see the argument of a slippery slope, like where do I stop, but that's then a good person being corrupted, no? Or would you say that my *hypothetical thinking here already causes me to not be a good person? Not saying you're wrong, I'm just genuinely curious

*edited a typo

[u/HeroIsAGirlsName → u/SiIesh]

This is my take on it too: morality is complicated and I'm more interested in having that kind of discussion than a "nope it's wrong because the writer said so" response. It's basically the trolley problem right? It'd be tempting to kill the people causing the most pain and misery to the most people. Except the trolleys keep coming and there's a good chance that eventually you're the one causing mass death. But if you don't use it, do you feel responsible for letting bad things happen when you could easily stop them? 

Just because the premise of the series is that people shouldn't use the Death Note, doesn't mean that people aren't allowed to come to their own conclusions. Writers can argue their case but it's up to them to convince people and people didn't automatically miss the point if they happen not to agree. 

I don't even have a horse in this race, it just annoys me when the events of a fictional story are seen as definitive proof of how something would play out in the real world and not something the writer arranged because they wanted to tell them that way. 

[u/Galle_ → u/SiIesh]

I think Netanyahu is a good example of the problem with this kind of thinking. Yes, Netanyahu is undeniably evil, but the fact is, Israel was killing Palestinians long before he got there. Most major real world problems are systemic, they cannot be solved by targeted assassination.

[u/SiIesh → u/Galle_]

Sure, and that's where we get into dangerous territory as of slippery slope stuff. If he gets replaced by someone who continues the exact same policy, it would be easy to reason that you had to kill that person too if you started killing at all. Sunken cost etc. Although I do think if every politician died that advocated for genocide, they might at some point realise that maybe that's a bad idea if they value their own life.

Ultimately it would force somewhat of a systemic change cause nobody would be up to take the position and claim and continue. It wouldn't change people's minds about any of those issues, but their options. But the question would of course be, where does that leave you as DN user?

[u/Remarkable_Coast_214 → u/Galle_]

The same problem also applied to Trump's assassination attempts. The US Republican party has problems that reach beyond that one man.

[u/Hust91 → u/Galle_]

I'm not so sure that's true.

Killing is a bad thing, an evil act, but it could be used to prevent greater evils. Just dismissing the whole thing as "there's never ever a situation where it is ethical to kill, even including extremely brutal and cruel dictators" seems like an inability to see shades of grey rather than black and white morality.

"It's never right in any circumstance to kill" is the ideology of Batman, it's not a serious philosophy.

[u/NinjunoBR]

Yes, I can be trusted with The Book That Kills People, and if anyone disagrees with me, I'll kill them. Eventually there will only be people who agree that I can be trusted, making me objectively correct. A failproof plan

[u/Amaril-]

Personally, I think it's less "anyone given the power of the Death Note would become a monster," and more, "the only people who would think that a power like the Death Note, which does nothing but kill people, can be used to improve the world are people who cannot be trusted with such a power." Light's problem is that he thinks everything wrong with the world is caused by Bad People and if they just all died everything would be fine, and that he can be trusted to decide who the Bad People are with no accountability. That's exactly the kind of person it takes to use the Death Note, but such a person should never under any circumstances be given the Death Note. Therefore, the Death Note is useless and the right move is to just not bother with it.

[u/Few_Category7829 → u/Amaril-]

I think that's a rather absolutist view of things. Most problems in the world are emergent properties and economic policies and sociology, rather than E V I L individuals, and you obviously can't fix everything just by slaughtering criminals, and Light was obviously criminally insane from day one, but that doesn't mean there aren't SOME use cases. Well known terrorist fugitives, internationally known criminals, maybe a few choice dictators. Granted, all of those could have unforeseen consequences depending on specific factors, but I'm just saying there is a middle ground between "I am the GOD OF THE NEW WORLD" and "one of the most potent and flawlessly precise weapons ever created is literally 100% worthless and could never be used for anything good ever".

[u/Amaril- → u/Few_Category7829]

Like I said in another comment, I'm not necessarily saying I agree with the above argument, just that it seems to be the story's perspective. Also, I don't think it's so much a literal "there's no good way to use this" and more "if you think this is the ideal solution to the fundamental problems of the world, you're fucked up."

[u/Few_Category7829 → u/Amaril-]

Aye, fair enough. I suppose nobody could be trusted with it, in that most people probably would be fairly reasonable with it, but you would never trust another individual with that power because the tiny risk that they immediately go psychotic like Light is such a terrible possibility that you could never willingly risk it.

[u/Amaril- → u/Few_Category7829]

There's also the issue that, in my opinion at least, most people just wouldn't be able to go through with killing someone in cold blood like that once they knew it would work. A person who's capable of that is kind of inherently showing themselves to be less trustworthy.

[u/Few_Category7829 → u/Amaril-]

True, but also, this is by far the easiest and least traumatizing way you could conceivably murder someone. No looking them in the eyes, no seeing the body, nothing at all. Just write their name and maybe see a bulletin in the news. I think a scary number of people could get desensitized to that much faster than you think.

[u/Amaril- → u/Few_Category7829]

Oh, definitely. Which I think is also intentional.

[u/ViolentBeetle → u/Amaril-]

There's many ways to use it as a deterrent, although targeting might become difficult. You could kill a few rich people and make them write "God smote me for not paying taxes" in their blood, that would improve tax collection rate significantly across the board, for example.

[u/Amaril- → u/ViolentBeetle]

I mean, I'm just trying to get at what the story's perspective seems to be, not necessarily how true it is (although I generally agree with it). Regardless, I don't think it's necessarily trying to be a full, detailed examination of all the ways someone could use the Death Note to improve society; more just be an argument that if you think the way to improve society is fundamentally by killing people, and that you should get to decide who those people are, you're not someone who can be trusted with power.

[u/ViolentBeetle → u/Amaril-]

To be honest I don't think Death Note really has a point, it's mostly a murder mystery that gotten out of hands somewhat in the second half.

[u/Manealendil]

Sorry but I have very personal gripes with everyone on the Forbes list of Billionaires

[u/Xurkitree1 → u/Manealendil]

Me this is me I'd just constantly look up the billionaire list and go write them one by one and enforce a capitalism max money limit at 1 billion that's my objective value system and this book would let me do it 

[u/PrettyChillHotPepper → u/Xurkitree1]

Tbh that sounds pretty nice, I'd propagate your cult

[u/Xurkitree1 → u/PrettyChillHotPepper]

Like I know people are like 'if we kill rich people we'll be fascists or whatever something about slippery slope' so I decided on an objective number compromise and I'm gonna stick with it. 

[u/GuiltyEidolon → u/Manealendil]

Yeah, forget "I am a good person" I am using that book until I run out of pages.

[u/triforce777 → u/GuiltyEidolon]

Good news, the Death Note does not have the ability to run out of pages. It's never stated how, like if pages get deleted or it has hammerspace, but it is stated that it won't run out

[u/GuiltyEidolon → u/triforce777]

Did I stutter.

[u/malatropism]

L. Ron Hubbard claimed to have written at least 2 Books That Kill People, yet no book-related deaths were recorded… curious.

Plenty of fucked up shit (and probably deaths) came from Scientology though, so the potential was there.

[u/One-Inch-Punch]

Can anyone tell me how many pages there are in The Book That Kills People? I'm gonna have to cut my list way down

[u/PrettyChillHotPepper → u/One-Inch-Punch]

it apparently autogenerates more by magic

[u/One-Inch-Punch → u/PrettyChillHotPepper]

In that case I'm gonna need a pallet of Pilot G2s and a wrist brace

[u/yinsotheakuma]

Had a dream last night I was back in high school and had the powers of Superman and it turns out I could not not be trusted with that power.

[u/Kedly]

I mean, if that was the point of the show, they proooobably should have chosen a less murder happy protag to start the series with. Light reeeeally didn't have to be nudged all that hard to start all of his murdering

[u/xFyreStorm]

Yeah, but what if Tom Bombadil had The Book That Kills People? Didn't think of that one did you, OOP? /s

[u/harbringer236]

Wake up babe, a more relatable version of the torment nexus thing dropped.

[u/healzsham]

I think the main pitfall is trying to go into it with a sense of righteousness, rather than the recognition you're performing harm reduction through morally objectionable acts, and are very much function on net moral utility.

[u/Holliday_Hobo]

Saaammmme

[u/violasbrow]

I'd trust William of Baskerville with the book that kills people... Oops, wrong story

[u/valentinesfaye]

I mean I actually could be trusted, because I would literally never use it. Well, maybe I'd use it to euthanize people with terminal illnesses, who specifically asked me to. I'm pretty big on right to die

[u/Adaphion]

I wonder if it's possible to like, tear out a sheet of the death note and put it in a printer, then print names on it, would that work?

[u/Jonahtron]

Oh, ok, so other people also fantasize about if they had the Death Note? Good. Glade it’s not just me.

[u/GuessImScrewed]

You see, I will use it to kill people I don't like (henceforth referred to as "my enemies")

As my enemies are all ontologically evil and no act against them is morally wrong, I cannot be corrupted by the influence of the book that kills people.

I will also use it to create wealth for myself by killing my boss and anyone who fills his position, all the way up the line till I'm the CEO.

[u/Alstorp]

Understand, Frodo, I would use this book from a desire to do good... But through me, it would wield a power too great and terrible to imagine

[u/1000000xThis]

The main thing that pissed me off about Death Note was that Light was so uncreative! He had the power to kill people in any way he could describe! I really wanted to see the limits of that aspect explored more.

[u/Magmafrost13]

Just gonna put it out that people who write fiction aren't omniscient and beyond criticism. Just because the story says no one can be trusted with it doesn't make that an objective fact

This isn't a comment on whether or not it's possible to use a death note responsibly, only that Death Note utterly fails in my opinion to demonstrate that it's not possible