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Body and Appearance
1. Describe the character's height and build. Is he heavyset, thin, short, rangy? Despite the sheer amount of sugar L consumes, he is actually very thin. How to Read 13 has said that L is 5'10" and 110 lbs, which is not at all a healthy weight for such a height. With such a weight, one would think L didn't eat at all, when in fact he is seen eating much more than any other character in the series. Quite a conundrum, don't you think? While I don't wish to go against Ohba-sensei's word and with all due respect, this height-weight ratio is quite ridiculous.
2. How old is he? 25, but only just barely.
3. Describe his posture. Does he carry himself well or does he slouch? L is the epitome of a sloucher. Knees bent, spine bent, arms left hanging. He has spent quite a bit of time pouring over his technology, and thus his spine has shifted into a very distinct hunch. To put it simply, L is not one to model your posture after. Ever.
4. How is his health? Is he fit or out of shape? Any illnesses or conditions? Any physical disabilities? Going from canon, he seems to have one of the most unhealthy lifestyles you could ever imagine. Little sleep, little exercise, excessive amount of sugar intake, little to no sun, is waited on hand and foot. Despite this, L seems not to face any of the negative consequences of these things. He is very thin, can hold his own in a fight, and is attentive to small details. It makes one wonder if the reason he's able to live as he does is in part due to his genius.
As for what he's up to in Soul Campaign, I'd say his tendency not to sleep has been thrown out the window simply because there's no longer a motivation to stay up late for him. He has no cases to work on (which arguably makes a workaholic like him feel pretty antsy) and therefore has no reason to stay awake long hours into the night.
5. How does he move? Is he clumsy, graceful, tense, fluid? He's awkward in nearly everything he does, but despite this, he has trained in capeoira and therefore knows how to move. It's somewhat of an inconsistency, how well he can fight in comparison to how he moves in his day-to-day life, but perhaps that's how L wants it to be. He is very fond of taking people by surprise, after all.
6. How attractive is this character physically? How does he perceive himself in the mirror? Obata's intention was to make L ugly, and he is certainly unusually looking and unique, but the general consensus among fans is that L is somewhat cute in his social awkwardness. There are definitely shots where this holds true in canon, but they are not necessarily consistent, and the fandom tends to cutesify/romanticize L in fan art and so on in a way canon never does. His appearance is unique, but he is not the embodiment of any physical ideal.
As for how L perceives himself, he is actually quite fond of his appearance (he is, after all, the single most successful detective in the world; if he wasn't fond of his bug eyes or messy hair, he would change them, simple as that). I've also a theory on why he appears and acts the way he does. Not only is he comfortable in his casual state of dress and general being, he has quite a few distinctive quirks which are as natural to him as perhaps any other part of his personality. My thought is that he began developing these quirky behaviors in early adolescence (perhaps even earlier than that, but as adolescence is a general time of development, change, and growth into an adult, I thought it was appropriate), experimenting with a number of them, and kept the ones that pushed the boundaries of polite company in the ways he liked. It is also a sign of his arrogance, as he has developed this oddness initially as a way to toy with the world around him.
7. Describe his complexion. Dark, light, clear, scarred? Clear and very light, minus the dark rings under his eyes.
8. Describe his hair: color, texture, style. Messy, black, and straight. It isn't washed as often as it should be.
9. What color are his eyes? Black like his soul.
10. Does the character have any other noteworthy features? Not particularly.
11. What are his chief tension centers? His feet, which he uses to balance himself almost constantly thanks to how he sits, and his hands, which typically have to be moving and/or doing something in times of unease/dis-ease/whenever he's thinking absently.
12. What is the character's wardrobe like? Casual, dressy, utilitarian? Bright colors, pastels, neutrals? Is it varied, or does he have six of the same suit? L actually has a signature look, like many other anime/manga characters. However, he is one of the only humans in the series to have a distinct outfit which they always appear in (the others include Watari, Mello, Near, Matt... clearly, L's left an imprint). White cotton shirt with sleeves that slightly vary in length (always past the elbow, but often not covering the wrist - except for at least one particular time that I distinctly remember. Though of course that may just be purposeless inconsistency on the part of Obata or simply to show that L does in fact wear fresh clothes every day) and a pair of loose-fitted jeans. At times this ensemble may be accompanied by a pair of haphazardly put on shoes, but more often than not L wears nothing at all on his feet, and never a pair of socks.
Naturally, with all the money he could ever ask for at his disposal, this wardrobe is not only one outfit worn over and over, but many despite my leaning towards the lulz-y-ness of only having one outfit. Of course, that doesn't stop L from wearing the same outfit two, three days in a row when he's preoccupied with a particular case or task.
13. Do his clothes fit well? Does he seem comfortable in them? They're rather loose-fitting, but aren't overly baggy no pants on the ground here. He's quite comfortable in them, yes.
14. Does he dress the same on the job as he does in his free time? If not, what are the differences? Yes. Even when he's going 'undercover', he appears the same.
15. You knew it was coming: Boxers, briefs or commando? Boxers for comfort.
Speech
1. What does this character's voice sound like? High-pitched, deep, hoarse? As beautiful as the Japanese audio is, I have Alessandro Juliani's voice in my head whenever I play L.
2. How does he normally speak? Loud, soft, fast, evenly? Does he talk easily, or does he hesitate? An unemotional tone, he usually speaks evenly and articulately. He has no issue speaking in tl;dr (as he himself mentioned, talking a lot is typical of those who hate losing), but nor does he mind silence, as he spends a good amount of his time working in it.
3. Does the character have a distinct accent or dialect? Any individual quirks of pronunciation? Any, like, you know, verbal tics?
4. What language/s does he speak, and with how much fluency? Japanese and English at the very least. I'm sure he knows more than that, probably Chinese, French, Italian, Russian, Spanish, Dutch, German...
5. Does he switch languages or dialects in certain situations? No.
6. Is he a good impromptu speaker, or does he have to think about his words? He has to think about his words.
7. Is he eloquent or inarticulate? Under what circumstances might this change? I'm not sure if eloquent is the right word to describe him. He's articulate, yes, but in a purely practical way.
Mental and Emotional
1. How intelligent is this character? Is he book-smart or street-smart? L is grade A supergenius level smart. He's very skilled at reading people and making logical conclusions about them based in fact.
2. Does he think on his feet, or does he need time to deliberate? He likes time to deliberate, but if we're fair his deliberations don't often take very long. He's certainly capable of both, but on the overall he prefers having time to deliberate in order to think everything through.
3. Describe the character's thought process. Is he more logical, or more intuitive? Idealistic or practical? L walks the line between logical and intuitive very, very well. As a detective who works with fact, he stays logical and applies this to what he feels intuitively.
4. What kind of education has the character had? Tutoring set up by Watari
5. What are his areas of expertise? What, if anything, is he interested in learning more about?
6. Is he an introvert or an extrovert? L is an INTP
7. Describe the character's temperament. Is he even-tempered or does he have mood swings? Cheerful or melancholy? Laid-back or driven?
8. How does he respond to new people or situations? Is he suspicious, relaxed, timid, enthusiastic?
9. Is he more likely to act, or to react?
10. Which is his default: fight or flight?
11. Describe the character's sense of humor. Does he appreciate jokes? Puns? Gallows humor? Bathroom humor? Pranks?
12. Does the character have any diagnosable mental disorders? If yes, how does he deal with them?
13. What moments in this character's life have defined him as a person?
14. What does he fear?
15. What are his hopes or aspirations?
16. What is something he doesn't want anyone to find out about him?
Relationships
1. Describe this character's relationship with his parents. They're dead, have been for quite a while, although I've a bit of headcanon that they died in some mysterious way and that's what sparked L's devotion to justice.
2. Does the character have any siblings? What is/was their relationship like? Nope.
3. Are there other blood relatives to whom he is close? Are there ones he can't stand? Nada.
4. Are there other, unrelated people whom he considers part of his family? What are his relationships with them? Watari, or Quillish Wammy, is the closest person to L. He has been there for him pretty much ever since his parents died and is the other half of the mysterious detective "L". Watari is the practical side of things. He's the one who makes sure things get done when L barks out orders, and where L first got a good deal of his money. Watari is completely and utterly invaluable to L, for emotional, financial, and practical support.
Honestly, I think that the majority of the people out there who play L tend to forget just how much Watari brings to the table and how dependent L is on him. Watari's been there for L since the very beginning. No one understands L like he does, and it's likely no one besides the two of them realize just how much Watari means to L.
5. Who is/was the character's best friend? How did they meet? Okay, so I know I just went off on this ~*~ Watari love ~*~ rant in the last question, but I'm going to have to answer this with Light Yagami. In the series, L claimed that Light was his first friend. Ohba-sensei has said that L is lying at this point, but the interesting thing here is exactly what he's lying about. Light may not be his first friend, but that doesn't discredit that Light is in fact his friend, now, does it? Not to mention, how people define being friends in Japan is not exactly on par with L's and Light's relationship - which is really more of the relationship of "frenemies", a concept not put to words in Japan as far as I know - and therefore doesn't discredit the relationship they have to say they aren't friends.
When you hear the term "best friend", it implies the person L is closest to, which would technically be Watari. However, Watari is very much a parental/older companion/I'll-take-care-of-you figure in L's life - and while it's not impossible for that figure to double as a best friend - "best friend" also implies the relationship that's most important to L, and that is his relationship with Light.
6. Does he have other close friends? Er, Misa is apparently the second friend he's made. I'm not sure how well she counts, though, considering he's torn between finding her cute and finding her annoying. (Annoying wins more often than not.)
7. Does he make friends easily, or does he have trouble getting along with people? For the most part, he isn't one to make friends easily, but this is also to his benefit and other people's safety. He's the most powerful detective in the world, his lifestyle is one of hiding away from the world and communicates with it through one person and his laptops for his safety. He's articulate and verbally polite, but his mannerisms definitely tend to weird normal people out.
8. Which does he consider more important: family or friends? Friends.
9. Is the character single, married, divorced, widowed? Has he been married more than once? Very single.
10. Is he currently in a romantic relationship with someone other than a spouse? /points to best friend question No.
11. Who was his first crush? Who is his latest? First crush? I'm thinking an older boy he knew at Wammy's House. His latest is Misa, but he's very over it. He's very over having crushes in general, actually.
12. What does he look for in a romantic partner? Kira /shot Intelligence is key, but honestly? L would be happy to just find someone he likes who likes him back and deals with his quirks and lets him be who he is while at the same time having the competence needed in order to survive with the sort of lifestyle L does. Although, with the sort of lifestyle he has, romance isn't really all that possible, at least not in the conventional way. Justice is his mistress, so on, so forth.
13. Does the character have children? Grandchildren? If yes, how does he relate to them? If no, does he want any? He has no biological children, as he's a virgin, and he doesn't want any. Instead, the Wammy kids are quite fine substitutes, and though he makes a very absentee parent, I'll often refer to them as L's babies, chilluns, etc.
14. Does he have any rivals or enemies? Is this a serious question? Ahem.
15. What is the character's sexual orientation? Where does he fall on the Kinsey scale? As much as I consider L and Light to be no less than soulmates L strikes me as a 3, but a very dry, sparse one who has no interest in pursuing romance even with those he finds attractive.
For example, I'm under the impression that L could easily be attracted to Misa on a physical level, and he finds her personality cute and endearing but at the very core of her being, Misa annoys L and therefore any relationship between the two beyond friendship is not going to work out. L knows this and doesn't think much, if anything, of his repressed attractions. Not that Misa would ever go for L in the first place, but just as an example.
16. How does he feel about sex? How important is it to him? It's not very important to him, since he's never experienced it with another person. He masturbates as often as he laughs.
17. What are his turn-ons? Turn-offs? Weird bedroom habits? If he's allowed to explore this side of himself, there will probably be quite a few of these. Foot fetish, anyone? As it stands, L is currently not interested in finding these sorts of things out.
Beliefs
1. Do you know your character's astrological (zodiac of choice) sign? How well does he fit type?
2. Is this character religious, spiritual, both, or neither? How important are these elements in his life? He knows how to be reverent and respectful to both the religious and spiritual (whether he does or not is another story), and while the possibility of a God exists, he himself is quite the doubter. He is a practical agnostic who's quite close to atheism. He is able to entertain the idea of a higher being, but he has no 'faith' in such a being.
3. Does this character have a personal code of morals or ethics? If so, how did that begin? What would it take to compromise it? No. If anything, his moral code is 'the ends justify the means' but, even then, he doesn't prescribe to it himself. He has a goal in mind; he'll do whatever it takes to get to it. To him, whether he's justified or not doesn't matter, instead what matters are the results, and they speak for themselves.
4. How does he regard beliefs that differ from his? Is he tolerant, intolerant, curious, indifferent? Indifferent.
5. What prejudices does he hold? Are they irrational or does he have a good reason for them?
Daily Life
1. What is the character's financial situation? Is he rich, poor, comfortable, in debt? L is richer than rich, has fairly expensive tastes, and uses his money as if he has an unending supply of it. He buys in excess (does a number of things in excess, actually), especially when it comes to his work.
2. What is his social status? Has this changed over time, and if so, how has the change affected him? Higher than high. He is the number one detective in the world and thus he's naturally above everyone he meets and works with. Seeing as he started out a poor orphan boy, I'd say yes, this has indeed changed over time. However, he grew up with the change, and naturally growing up has changes of its own. It helped feed his arrogance, at least at first, and he probably had to deal with a bit of issues with his ego in the beginning. They're all resolved now, of course.
3. Where does he live? House, apartment, trailer? Is his home his castle or just a place to crash? What condition is it in? Does he share it with others? He moves from place to place, actually. While it's not an uncommon idea that L owns a number of houses all around the world, he does not often stay in one place to live in any one more than the other. However, everywhere he goes is also subject to being overrun with his technology. The only reason it stays clean is because Watari is there to pick up after L. Places are transient, and L has little emotional ties to any one particular location (Wammy's House is the except to this). Though in essence everywhere he goes is 'headquarters' for whatever particular case he's working on, where he stays is really just a place for him to set up shop.
4. Besides the basic necessities, what does he spend his money on? Expensive sweets, helicopters, skyscrapers, shit load of cameras and audio bugs, excess in everything, basically.
5. What does he do for a living? Is he good at it? Does he enjoy it, or would he rather be doing something else? L is the world's greatest freelance detective. He is the best at what he does, and he very much enjoys it. It is quite literally his life; he doesn't have a personal life and in the end he gives up his life for the sake of justice.
6. What are his interests or hobbies? How does he spend his free time? He enjoys tennis, but for the most part he's very focused on his work. Free time is mostly spent with Watari, and if he's not in fact working, it is hardly ever from his mind. The except to this would be if he's in between cases, in which he may take a vacation or a break.
7. What are his eating habits? Does he skip meals, eat out, drink alcohol, avoid certain foods? Sweets, sweets, and more sweets. And not only lots of sweets, but excess in sugar when he's eating or drinking anything that isn't outright full of sugar already. He eats rather often, and is the person seen eating the most in the series by quite a long shot. Not once have we seen him eat something that doesn't have sugar (in fact, there was a melon and ham treat that Watari prepared for him and L deliberately and carefully lifted the ham off of the melon and put it back untouched; he is quite the spoiled child in this regard).
Associations
Which of the following do you associate with the character, or which is his favorite:
1. Color? Gold, black and white, blue in reference to Kira
2. Smell? Rain
3. Time of day? 4 am, staring unblinkingly at a computer screen
4. Season? Autumn, I'm thinking.
5. Book? Sherlock Holmes series
6. Music? L's themes in the anime. This may be subject to editing when I find songs that I associate with him/remind me of him.
7. Place? England.
8. Substance? Sugaaaaar
9. Plant? Some sort of vine?
10. Animal? Spider
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