L Lawliet (Japanese: エル・ローライト, Hepburn: Eru Rōraito),[1] known mononymously as L, Hideki Ryuga, and Ryuzaki is a fictional character and the main antagonist in the manga series Death Note, created by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata.

L attempts to expose Light as the infamous serial killer "Kira", who is responsible for massacring high-profile criminals worldwide through apparently supernatural means.

Tsugumi Ohba, the writer of the series, created L as a young adult, since he believed the story would not hold much interest if L were significantly older than his opponent, Light.

For L's name, he wanted to use a single letter with a lot of significance; he considered "I" and "J", but eventually he chose "L" after careful consideration.

[4] During the development of the early manga chapters, Obata feared L would appear "so suspicious that Light would know instantly it was L if they ever met".

The outfit Obata designed for L was a "simple" white, long-sleeved shirt and jeans, to convey that L does not put thought into choosing his clothing.

In Death Note 13: How to Read, Ohba presented an initial rough draft of L and said that, with a "cool expression" and without the bags under his eyes, L looked like a different person.

Obata added that if he drew L eating "mountains of sweets" before revealing his face, he would not have "much credibility as a super detective" and people would ask if he was "crazy".

[13] L, who also uses the aliases Hideki Ryuga (流河 旱樹, Ryūga Hideki), Ryuzaki (竜崎, Ryūzaki), Eraldo Coil (エラルド＝コイル, Erarudo Koiru), and Deneuve (ドヌーヴ, Donūvu), the latter two for which he has developed reputations as the second- and third-best detectives in the world, is a very discreet and secretive individual and only communicates with the authorities through his assistant/representative Watari.

Whilst presented as an enigmatic, nameless, highly-intelligent, cunning and globally-esteemed international consulting detective, L is revealed to actually be a tall, disheveled and gaunt youth in his 20s with a pale complexion and visible dark circles around his eyes.

L has spent most of his life dedicating himself to solving crime cases, and hunting down and apprehending notorious criminals and felons around the world.

After deducing that the serial-killings are all connected and perpetrated by a single mastermind and are sourced from Japan, L allies himself with the Japanese police force and assists them in investigating the murders.

Although he strongly suspects the series' protagonist, Light Yagami, a high school genius and the son of detective superintendent Soichiro Yagami, one of the primary members of the Kira investigation allied with L, to be Kira's alter-ego, he is unable to prove his theory, due to lack of evidence, but nonetheless remains suspicious of Light and carefully observes him.

The majority of the series' initial focus is on L and Light's complex, cerebral and intricate psychological mind-game of cat and mouse, as both use their wits and intellect in an attempt to outdo the other and expose them.

[14][2] Although his true identity and birth name is obscured in mystery throughout the series, L utilizes a number of aliases to maintain his anonymity, such as "Hideki Ryuga" or "Ryuzaki", the latter of which he uses as his primary pseudonym throughout the Kira investigation.

This version of the character retains much of his manga counterpart's traits and characteristics, such as his preference to crouch rather than sit, his fondness for sweets, his socially-awkward, quirky and eccentric personality, and his tendency to hold things with his index finger and thumb.

As a result, his mental psyche was severely affected, which explains his unusual quirks and his unstable, irrational behavior in the film's second half.

After his training and the institute's subsequent shutdown, L gained a reputation as an expert international detective with the help of Watari, who kept his mental stability in check and acted as a handler.

[20] Anime News Network found that the mental duels between L and Light are appealing to viewers of the series due to how each attempts to discover the identity of the other while at the same time wanting to hide their own.

[21] The Hyper staff and Mania Entertainment's Julie Rosato agreed with Martin, with the latter commenting that L's and Light's rivalry as one of the best parts from the series to the point of being something "unique" in a manga.

Manga artist Katsura Hoshino, a former assistant of Takeshi Obata, has said that she likes the way the L is often drawn as he gives the appeal of a chill character.