Diagnosing Light Yagami from “Death Note”

Full of confusing labyrinthine mind games, the first door to the anime world for many people and simply one of the most popular anime series is Death Note.

At first glance, the story tells us about a responsible and smart high school student, Light Yagami, but very soon we find out that under this facade, he hides a dark personality with moral high-ground ideals.

In Death Note, he is given the opportunity to be the judge of the fate of others, which awakens a dark side in him as he starts murdering in the name of justice. By doing this, he believes that this will banish evil from the world.

Light Yagami is creating a new world where criminals can no longer exist, and he justifies himself by saying: “This world is rotten and those who are making it rot deserve to die. Someone has to do it, so why not me? Even if it means sacrificing my own mind and soul, it’s worth it. Because the world… can’t go on like this. I wonder… what if someone else had picked up this notebook? Is there anyone out there other than me who’d be willing to eliminate the vermin from the world? If I don’t do it, then who will? That’s just it: there’s no one, but I can do it. In fact, I’m the only one who can. I’ll do it. Using the Death Note, I’ll change the world.”

Light has his own way of doing justice in which he never considers killing innocents unless he has to defend himself. In order to protect himself, he manipulates, plays and even kills innocent people.

Superiority Complex

Light’s superiority complex is evident even before he starts using the Death Note. He considers his classmates as inferiors. He does not communicate with them and does not have anyone with whom he can talk or discuss something, because he thinks that no one is as smart as him.

This complex is due to the fact that he has many achievements under his belt and has gained popularity. Others often express interest in him because of his appearance, grades and other characteristics which attract people around him. Although he gives off the impression of being an antisocial and, one might even say, a shy person, he does not get confused in social relations and, moreover, plays the role of an “ordinary” person very well.

Split Personality Disorder

Let’s remember that Light has a dark side by which we mean Kira, which reflects all the real desires and goals that Light has. I think it’s wrong to single out Kira as Light’s second personality because Light is Kira even when he is looking out the window at school and making a plan of how to rid the world of crime. Kira should be understood by people as Light’s dark inner world, which sees the best moment to show itself. That is why I’d say that Light does not have this disorder.

As planned, Light Yagami’s intentions are initially intended to be acceptable and likable to the audience, and then they are supposed to hate him. The anti-sympathy of the audience is often caused by Light’s killing of innocents. However, it is also worth mentioning that Light’s harsh punishment for minor criminal offenses is also a big disadvantage to his likability.

God Complex

Light’s god complex is also very apparent; remember how he announces that he wants to be “the god of the new world”? “I AM RIGHTEOUS! I’m the hero who’s liberating people from fear. I’m the savior who’s going to be like a god of this perfect new world!” He thinks that people should bow down to him and whoever opposes him is evil. With his Death Note, he becomes a judge, a jury, a prosecutor, a lawyer and, in short, he takes all the roles of law-makers into his hands and begins his executions in the name of God: “No matter what the world is, the god of that world creates the rules. In truth, you have been defeated by the rules I created. And as punishment for defying the God of the new world, you will die…”

A god complex is not a clinically diagnosed term or disorder; it is simply a term used to describe the behavior and emotional background of the subject. On such occasions, the subject believes that her/his thoughts and actions are infallible and correct, which is often a prerequisite of power or the feeling of power. In cases like this, an individual may disregard social norms and demand special attention or even privileges.

Narcissism, Sociopathy and Psychopathy

I have not yet mentioned narcissism, more specifically Narcissistic Personality Disorder which we often hear that Yagami suffers from which actually is not true. During the series, we see that the main character, on the contrary, stands out for his humility in society and shows himself to be an ordinary person. In his thoughts, he thinks that he is superior to others but he does not demonstrate it; for instance, he doesn’t try to gain people’s support or show everyone that he has godlike powers or even high intellectual abilities.

I also have not yet mentioned psychopathy and sociopathy, which is probably the most logical diagnosis for all viewers for a murdering type like him. After observing the character, you will realize that he is neither of them. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (the DSM) defines sociopathy as thus: consistent disregard of social norms and repeated violation of other people’s rights. People with this condition may appear attractive on the outside, but they often have trouble understanding other people’s feelings. They often:

• break rules and laws;
• behave aggressively and impulsively;
• feel a little guilt after hurting other people;
• manipulate, lie and control the behavior of others.

In short, maybe Light has some signs of sociopathy, but the main thing — impulsivity — (which was revealed only at the end of the series) is unnoticed. Just the opposite, he is very good at controlling his external feelings (although he is very petty on the inside) and he has a long-term goal with his plans whereas sociopaths tend to think not so far. In this regard, he can be called a psychopath. In addition, he shares many traits with psychopaths, such as the fact that he is very good at planning murders, is extremely manipulative and he lacks certain limitations that the vast majority of humans have, such as the inability to hurt an innocent person or the hesitation to lie. But he is extremely hardworking, which separates him from psychopaths who don’t want to work for their rewards (also sociopaths have the same problem).

Light Yagami is a normal person with high intelligence who decides to leave his own conscience, but this does not mean that he is a sociopath, narcissist or psychopath. Oh, and we must remember that he got rid of his boredom with the Death Note (the boredom he always felt in society). Let’s not forget that he never really kills anyone for fun, which psychopaths and sociopaths do; he only kills innocents when there is a significant risk of revealing Kira’s identity, and also he isn’t a sadist while killing people.

However, we can say that when diagnosing Light Yagami, we can make many different diagnoses from his behaviors, and since the characters in the series and movies are somewhat one-sided, tt will be difficult to give one answer to the question of what mental problem Light Yagami has. He exhibits quite strong psychopathic qualities, according to which we have the opportunity to make different types of conclusions.