Written Rules

A Shinigami's "Death Note" is a notebook with the power to kill the human whose name is written on it. All Death Notes follow a specific set of rules.

Before releasing his Death Note in the human world, Ryuk wrote the basic rules on the Note's first page. The rules were written in English because he was convinced this was the most popular human language. The basic rules are as follows:

How to Use: I
1. The Human whose name is written in this note shall die.
2. This Note will not take effect unless the writer has the person’s face in their mind when writing his/her name. Therefore, people sharing the same name will not be affected.
3. If the cause of death is written within 40 seconds of writing the person’s name, it will happen.
4. If the cause of death is not specified, the person will simply die of a heart attack.
5. After writing the cause of death, details of the death should be written in the next 6 minutes and 40 seconds.

How to Use: II
1. This note shall become the property of the human world, once it touches the ground of (arrives in) the human world.
2. The owner of the note can recognize the image and voice of the original owner, i.e a god of death.
3. The human who uses this note can neither go to Heavon nor Hell.

How to Use: III
1. If the time of death is written within 40 seconds after writing the cause of death as a heart attack, the time of death can be manipulated, and the time can go into effect within 40 seconds after writing the name.
2. The human who touches the DEATH NOTE can recognize the image and voice of its original owner, a god of death, even if the human is not the owner of the note.

How to Use: IV
1. The person in possession of the DEATH NOTE is possessed by a god of death, its original owner, until they die.
2. If a human uses the note, a god of death usually appears in front of him/her after he/she uses the note.
3. Gods of death, the original owners of the DEATH NOTE, do not do, in principle, anything which will help or prevent the deaths in the note.
4. A god of death has no obligation to completely explain how to use the note or rules which will apply to the human who owns it.

How to Use: V
1. A god of death can extend his life by putting human names on the note, but humans cannot.
2. A person can shorten his or her own life by using the note.
3. The human who becomes the owner of the DEATH NOTE can, in exchange of half his/her remaining life, get the eyeballs of the god of death which will enable his/her to see a human’s name and remaining lifetime when looking though them.
4. A god of death cannot be killed even if stabbed in his heart with a knife or shot in the head with a gun. However, there are ways to kill a god of death, which are not generally known to the gods of death.

How to Use: VI
1. The conditions for death will not be realized unless it is physically possible for that human or it is reasonably assumed to be carried out by that human.
2. The specific scope of the condition for death is not known to the gods of death, either. So, you must examine and find out.

How to Use: VII
1. One page taken from the DEATH NOTE, or even a fragment of the page, contains the full effects of the note.
2. The instrument to write with can be anything, ((e.g. costumes, blood, etc)) as long as it can write directly onto the note and remains as legible letters.
3. Even the original owners of the DEATH NOTE, gods of death, do not know much about the note.

How to Use: VIII
1. You may also write the cause and/or details of death prior to filling in the name of the individual. Be sure to insert the name in front of the wriiten cause of death. You have about 19 days (according to the human caledar) in order to fill in a name.
2. Even if you do not actually possess the DEATH NOTE, the effect will be the same if

Ryuk (リューク, Ryūku?)
A shinigami who dropped a Death Note into the human world, which Light would pick up. Acting out of pure boredom, Ryuk begins the story of Death Note on a whim. It is stated that Ryuk obtained the second Death Note in the shinigami world from "tricking the old man" for another one. Ryuk is not Light's ally, and in fact declares in their first meeting that someday he (Ryuk) would write Light's name into his own Death Note. Ryuk often refuses to aid Light and instead enjoys watching him struggle for his goals. He acts for his own interests and entertainment, and often fails to tell Light key details about the Death Note. However, Ryuk will aid Light if it serves his own goals, such as providing amusement or obtaining apples, without which he suffers a form of withdrawal symptoms.

Rem (レム, Remu?)
The female shinigami who first gives Misa her Death Note and trades her for the Shinigami eyes. Similar to Ryuk, Rem possesses two Death Notes; however, she purposely gives one of them to Misa Amane. Rem inherited her second Death Note from Jealous, another shinigami who died when he saved Misa's life, and thought it only right to pass it on to Misa. Rem inherits Jealous' love for Misa as well and is prompt to defend Misa even at the cost of her life. Rem shows this when she states that she will kill Light if Misa dies before her time.

Shidoh (シドウ, Shidō?)
The third Shinigami seen in the human world, Shidoh is revealed as the original owner of the Death Note Ryuk dropped at the beginning of the series. Initially upon entering the human world, Shidoh relentlessly follows Ryuk, demanding the return of their Death Note. Ryuk eventually admits he has no knowledge of the location of Shidoh's Death Note, said note having been used as a bargaining chip by Light and fallen into Mello's hands. Shidoh eventually locates his Death Note, and under questioning, reveals to Mello (who subsequently reveals to Near) that some of the rules written in the Death Note are fake.

Light Yagami (Kira) (夜神 月, Yagami Raito?)
The protagonist of Death Note, Light is an extremely intelligent but bored 17-year old student. When he finds the Death Note, dropped in the human world by Ryuk (a shinigami), he decides to use it to kill all criminals and earns the title Kira. His ultimate goal is to cleanse the world of evil to create a utopia and then reign over this new world as its god.

L Lawliet (L) (エル・ローライト, Eru Rōraito?)
L is the world's three top-rated detectives (through two additional aliases), tasked with tracking down and arresting Kira. As such, he is Light's arch-enemy. His disheveled appearance masks his great powers of deduction and insight. L has many quirks, such as sitting in an odd manner, snacking on sweets constantly, and holding his cellphone and other objects in a peculiar manner. He often takes drastic strategies to confuse and force the hand of his opponents. On several occasions he has willingly disclosed several of his weaknesses to Kira at the risk of his own life in the hopes that he would lure him into a trap.

Misa Amane (弥 海砂, Amane Misa?)
A girl with an immense crush on Kira, Misa is a popular idol in Japan, and tends to wear clothing in many different styles, depending on what she is doing. She is immature and tends to refer to herself in the third person in an attempt to be cute. Misa is completely devoted to Light, and she once said that she loved him at first sight. Light, however, only views her as an asset to his plans because of her Death Note and her Shinigami eyes (that she obtained at the cost of half of her remaining life span, twice). The murderer of Misa's parents had been punished by Kira, explaining her later devotion to him.

Mello (メロ, Mero?, real name: Mihael Keehl)
Mello was an orphan who grew up with Near in Watari's shelter for gifted children. Like Near, Mello was one of the candidates to become L's successor. Similar to L's fondness for sweets, he is often seen eating bars of chocolate. Although Mello is quite intelligent, he often lets his emotions get the better of him. Mello wears leather most of the time, unlike Near or L. He also appears to be less secluded in terms of his friends and hobbies, and seems to be fond of biking. When Mello is first released - Light tries to find and kill him, which he manages to escape - but due to an explosion, he is left with a scar over the left side of his face.

Near (ニア, Nia?, real name: Nate River)
Near was a primary candidate to become L's successor and calls himself N during the course of his investigations. He shares a number of similarities with L. Much like how L plays with things such as sugar cubes and forks, Near is frequently shown playing with toys or his hair. Near also sits in an unusual manner similar to L, but with some slight differences. He offered to join forces with Mello to fight Kira, but Mello turned him down. Near then gained the support of the US government and formed the Secret Provision for Kira (SPK).

Teru Mikami (魅上 照, Mikami Teru?)
Mikami is selected as the fourth Kira by Light, after Light decides that it is too dangerous for the Death Note to be near Misa or himself, since he and Misa are currently under surveillance by Aizawa and Mogi. A prosecuting attorney and adamant supporter of Kira, Mikami shares many of the same ideals, thoughts, and priorities as Kira, and is ecstatic when he discovers that Kira, his God, has chosen him, proving that God is on his side and watching. He is completely devoted and loyal to Kira, believing that divine justice must be brought down upon the people. Little is known about his personal life; he appears to have no hobbies or anything else of the sort. He chants "delete" with each name he writes down in the Death Note due to events in his past when he thought God was "deleting" the evil people in his life. He, like