L (Death Note)

L Lawliet
Death Note character
L, drawn by Takeshi Obata
First appearance	Chapter 1: "Boredom" (退屈, Taikutsu?)
Created by	Tsugumi Ohba Takeshi Obata
Voiced by	Kappei Yamaguchi (Japanese) Alessandro Juliani (English)
Portrayed by	Kenichi Matsuyama (films) Kento Yamazaki (TV series) Teppei Koike (musical) Keith Stanfield (American film)
Profile
Aliases	L (エル,Eru) Hideki Ryuga (流河=旱樹,Ryūga Hideki) Ryuzaki (竜崎,Ryūzaki) Eraldo Coil (エラルド=コイル,Erarudo Koiru) Deneuve (ドヌーヴ,Donūvu) Suzuki (スズキ,Suzuki) L-Prime (in L: Change the WorLd) Yoshio Anderson (in the TV drama)
Relatives	Quillish Wammy (handler)

L Lawliet (Japanese: エル・ローライト, Hepburn: Eru Rōraito^?), exclusively known by the mononym L, is a fictional character in the manga series Death Note, created by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata. He is an eccentric genius and international private detective, reputed to be the world's greatest, who takes on cases that have stymied national governments and Interpol. He opposes the series' main character Light Yagami by trying to prove his (correct) suspicion that Light is the mass-murderer called "Kira" who is attempting to create and rule a world "cleansed of evil" as its "God".

In the anime adaptation, he is voiced by Kappei Yamaguchi in Japanese, and by Alessandro Juliani in English. He is portrayed by Kenichi Matsuyama in the live-action film series, and Kento Yamazaki in the TV drama; his counterpart in the American film will be portrayed by Keith Stanfield.

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 chose "L" after careful consideration. Ohba left most of L's character design to Takeshi Obata, artist of the series. Obata asked Ohba if L could be "unattractive". Afterwards Ohba included ideas in his thumbnails, including L's manner of sitting, "he's English", and "he's listless". Ohba added details regarding L's mannerisms and his interests in sweets. Ohba credits Obata for the character designs. Obata commented that L's thumbnails by Ohba had no bags under his eyes, and that he had a "plain face with no expression" which was very useful. Obata drew L as an "attractive young man" until chapter 11, when the character appeared in person. After chapter 11, Obata and Ohba agreed to contrast his appearance with Light's.