L (alias)

L is an alias used by many major characters in the Death Note series. The term can apply to any detective working to capture Kira, most mentionabley the character, L Lawliet.

Personality
Those who use the alias L in the series typically have what is described by Takeshi Obata, the series' creator, as a "weird" personality. Usually having an apparent sweet tooth and exhibiting odd behaviors like stacking small objects for no reason or crouching instead of sitting. These behaviors have some significance as explained by the L in the series. L Lawliet explains that eating sweet foods gives the brain more calories, and Near uses his various toys to act out and explain his many theories.

List of L
This is the list of L's, in order, with a description of their time as L.

L Lawliet - The Original L, L Lawliet is known as the world's greatest detective. He has solved hundreds of cases that were deemed "unsolvable" by the rest or the world. He knew from the beginning that Light Yagami was Kira, but could not find enough evidence before his death. He died at the hands of the Shinigami Rem, as L was planning to put Misa Amane in harm's way to try to find evidence, something Rem wouldn't allow. So at the cost of her own life, Rem killed L and Watari to save Misa. L died immediately of a heart attack in Light Yagami's arms.

Light Yagami - Known as L to the world and as L-Kira to Near, Light Yagami is actually Kira, but took up the alias of L directly after the real L's death. Despite the fact that He used the title "L" and worked with the Kira Task Force, he purposely avoided finding any evidence that would lead to his capture. He did little to advance the search for Kira, and merely tried to lead the members of the investigation team away from suspicion of Kira. Three years later, Mello and Near came onto the scene, and challenged Light once.Near exposed him as Kira, and knowing he had been exposed, Light seemingly lost his sanity and died shortly after.

Near - The real person meant to take the title of L was Nate River. He is an extremely gifted child raised by Watari in Wammy's House. Because Light Yagami took the title L first, Near used a capital "N" in either Cloister Black or Wedding Text fonts, as well as the alias "Near" to hide his identity. Of L's three sucessors, Near is the most like L in terms of personality and investigative style. Near is arguably more "weird" than L was and has intelligence on par with that of L and Light's. After he exposes Light Yagami as Kira, he uses the title of L.

Mello - The second person in line to become L, Mihael Keehl was Near's rival and former friend. While at Wammy's House, he used a capital "M" in Cloister Black text as his alias and always thought little of Near. When the they left Wammy's House and Near was given the position of L, he became furious that he was not first in line for the position and escaped from the orphanage a short time before the two were going to released. On the outside, and with this new anger, he took the alias "Mello" and joined an organized crime ring in Los Angeles. Mello used this gang in a similar way that Near uses the SPK. After his gang was apprehended, he blew up their hideout to destroy any evidence, which left him with a large facial scar. After this, Mello teamed up with Matt and planned to use Kiyomi Takada's association Kira to their advantage by kidnapping her. What Mello didn't realize, however, was Kiyomi's possession of torn-out pages of Mikami's Death Note. Mello died of a hearts attack in the front seat of a truck at Kiyomi's hands. His body was incinerated shortly after in the fire Kiyomi started to kill herself.

Matt - Third in line to become L, Mail Jeevas grew up with Mello and Near in the Wammy House, using a lowercase "m" in Cloister Black font. Although he was obviously released from the orphanage and took the alias Matt, his wereabouts are unknown while Mello was in the Mafia. After Mello's gang members are all either dead or arrested, he he finds and teams up with Matt. The two work together and come up with a plan to kidnap Kira's spokeswoman, Kiyomi Takada. Matt's part in this plan was to blind Takada's bodyguards with a smoke bomb and lead them away while Mello takes Takada. Matt leads the bodyguards on a car chase while Mello gets away. After he is caught, Matt, believing the guards will keep him alive for questioning, gets out of the car willingly. Unfortunately for Matt, the bodyguards decided that questioning him would not be worth their time, and kill him in a long, intense hail of gunfire. Matt is last seen as his mangled body falls to the ground and his cigarette is put out.

Trivia
[[Category:L]]
 * Near is the only surviving L.