How would you use the Death Note?

[Alexander]

I'd write my shopping list in it.

Whaddaya mean all the milk died, and the eggs died, and the bacon died, and the laundry detergent died? Wait a minute, how can laundry detergent die, anyway, it wasn't alive in the first place?

*laughs non-stop*

*cough* Please...stop...it's too much...

*falls over laughing more*

Anyways, I've never read or seen the series (hence why I was a little confused at the topic) but I'll still contribute.

I wouldn't use it. I don't sentence anyone to death. That's God's word and his word only.

[termyt]

Wait a minute - now there's something else I don't understand about all of this -

Whay can't ninjas have bazookas?

[Mr. SmartyPants]

Wait a minute - now there's something else I don't understand about all of this -

Whay can't ninjas have bazookas?

Because Ronald McDonald said so.

[Sheol777]

I had expected this thread to be discouraging, so I was pleasantly surprised.

I started this as sort of an experiment. I am genuinely curious for the answers. More importantly however, I am looking for cleverness

[mitsuki lover]

I came across a similiar anime today.It's called Hell Girl and the premise is that there's this website one can access(but only at midnight)if one is being harassed
and tormented.If you are willing to abide by the terms of the agreement they send a seemingly young red eyed girl in a black seifuku named Emma Ai to your house the next night.She carries a straw doll with a string around it's neck.If you are willing she will ask you to take off the string.If you do it is a sign that you agree to use her services.
Then she conducts whoever is tormenting you to hell that night.However part of the contract you agree to is that you must deliver your own soul up when you die to Emma so that she will conduct you to hell as well.

[Sheol777]

I came across a similiar anime today.It's called Hell Girl

Seen it. VERY repetitious. The "story" only reveals itself at the last quarter of the series. It is beautifully animated though.

The second series is currently running, Hell Girl: Second Cage.

[uc pseudonym]

YES! UC reads The Adventures of Dr. McNinja!

For a while I wasn't sure how to answer this, and then I thought "What would Batman do?" Excuse me while I find a warehouse with a skylight...

I started this as sort of an experiment. I am genuinely curious for the answers. More importantly however, I am looking for cleverness

The thing was, I was fairly certain I knew what the results of your experiment would be and my projection was not encouraging to me. I enjoyed Death Note but I have been generally dismayed by the attitudes I see many taking toward the moral issues raised by the series. However, I was wrong, which is a good thing in this case.

[mitsuki lover]

Does it work if you put your own name down on it or does it have to be someone else's?Curious just want to know if anyone could accidentally kill themselves by thoughtlessly writing their name down.

[Fish and Chips]

Actually, you know what? I wouldn't use the Death Note, per se, as much as I'd walk around collecting "Autographs."

[MasterDias]

Does it work if you put your own name down on it or does it have to be someone else's?Curious just want to know if anyone could accidentally kill themselves by thoughtlessly writing their name down.

Yeah, it will kill whoever has their name written down, although as a sidenote, you also need a face in mind since it can't kill random people you've never seen.

Actually, you know what? I wouldn't use the Death Note, per se, as much as I'd walk around collecting "Autographs."

Fear them autographs...

[RedMage]

For a while I wasn't sure how to answer this, and then I thought "What would Batman do?" Excuse me while I find a warehouse with a skylight...

That's just a great quote standing on its own. No need for context or anything.

[SnoringFrog]

You're right, that is. I'm sigging it.

[mitsuki lover]

If you write down the IRS does that mean everyone in the IRS will die?

[RedMage]

You can't picture the faces of everyone in the IRS, can you?

[uc pseudonym]

And even if you could none of them are truly named "IRS". You'd have to methodically name and picture them individually.

That's just a great quote standing on its own. No need for context or anything.

You're right, that is. I'm sigging it.

I'm glad that I decided to post it, then.

[mitsuki lover]

Ok,so I'll just put down Luffy D. Monkey.

[RedMage]

Ok,so I'll just put down Luffy D. Monkey.

And you'll accomplish nothing.

[uc pseudonym]

General notice: this thread is approaching Goof Off material. I'd rather see it remain serious (the subject is one that could potentially provoke interesting discussion) so before posting in the future first make sure what you're going to write either truly adds something to the topic or is very funny.

[mitsuki lover]

I think the very nature of the topic pretty much assured that it would go off into
extreme goofiness.

[uc pseudonym]

I disagree. The topic is about what you would do if you were given the supernatural ability to kill... that strikes me as very serious. It leads to issues of what justice means, if evil can be used to do good, what rights human beings have as opposed to what rights are God's, and potentially the question of violence itself.

On the other hand, I do understand how the topic lends itself to crack answers. I'd just ask they be kept to a minimum.

[rsnumber2]

This is a very serious thought. However, I think it borders on strange. Considering Satan, and his armies are seperated from God, and will suffer a second death, at the second coming, could you write Satan, and his dark force's names down. (At least the names that are known.) What would be the end result?

[termyt]

Generally speaking, any kind of wish granting agent could only grant what is in its power to grant. For example, say Bill Gates grants you a wish. If you wish for a billion dollars, Gates could grant it because it is within his power to grant it. If you wished for there was no such thing as hate, on the other hand Gates would not be able to fulfill that wish.

So, the requirement to be able to picture his face aside, the Death Note could only kill Satan if that was within the power of the agent granting the Death Note it’s power.

[rsnumber2]

Good point. I was curious what kind of discussion that would bring.

[mitsuki lover]

Another point to raise is the fact that even if the Death Note had that kind of power to destroy the Devil would it be right to do so?Just because something has the power to do what you wish does not imply that doing so would be a good idea.
Only God can in the end destroy Evil.So if you use the Death Note to 'kill Satan'are you not in fact replacing one Evil with another perhaps greater Evil?

[RedMage]

OK, first (of many) practical questions: do you know what Satan's face looks like?

[rsnumber2]

Just because something has the power to do what you wish does not imply that doing so would be a good idea.

That about sums up what is difficult about this entire thread, doesn't it?

I was just throwing the idea of somebody trying to "cheat the system." For example: Wishing for more wishes. Someone who is not very intelligent, or not thinking may try something like that.

Also, I am not familiar with death note. So does one have to literally see the face of the subject they intend to smite?

[Mr. SmartyPants]

Also, I am not familiar with death note. So does one have to literally see the face of the subject they intend to smite?

Just in your mind. The name must also match said face.

OK, first (of many) practical questions: do you know what Satan's face looks like?

[Fish and Chips]

The death note requires a person's name in order to kill them, and their image in mind in order to protect everyone else who shares the victim's name. Otherwise, we'd have a spontaneous John Smith genocide.

[uc pseudonym]

So, the requirement to be able to picture his face aside, the Death Note could only kill Satan if that was within the power of the agent granting the Death Note it’s power.

This isn't a philosophy answer, but hopefully it isn't a wasted post. Death Note takes place in a world with a different cosmology than our own, but we could take its rules and try to find a correlation. The Death Notes seem to be part of reality, not given their power by anyone in particular, but they cannot be used on the supernatural beings that are the normal possessors of them (they use them on people). I would think angels or demons fall into the same class as shinigami.

Only God can in the end destroy Evil.So if you use the Death Note to 'kill Satan'are you not in fact replacing one Evil with another perhaps greater Evil?

Well, if we're assuming Satan is as usually constructed in Christian tradition and we can overcome the basic requirements (for one, "Satan" is just a label, not a name at all), I think I would say no. Part of the concept of Satan is pure and irredeemable evil. We're called to work against Satan in the corrupted systems of this world, so I think using a Death Note would be in keeping with that.

However, speculation is somewhat pointless because the very idea requires you to add something new and very different into our world. That raises so many questions that to get to an answer you have to arbitrarily decide many new factors such that you can reach any conclusion.

[Mave]

OK, first (of many) practical questions: do you know what Satan's face looks like?

Questions ahoy!

Is Satan.....the only name we can use? What if we wrote down The Devil/The Beast or some other cultural reference to Evil?

Referring to something more human, what if an individual's name was changed during the course of his lifetime? The only thing that proves an individual is of said name is it's written down on some birth certificate, which is attached to some thumbprint. Either, how the Death Note may work is related to birth certificates or to the cognitive response of that individual to his/her own identity. If it's the former, you can get away if your birth was never registered. If it's the latter, then ppl who forgot who they are cannot be killed or have psychological disorders like multiple personality disorder.

Question: Am I right to say that the Death Note has no use for someone who is blind, especially one who was blind from birth?

Question: Does the Death Note work for someone who can only visualize the target when he was young? Ok, I want to kill Dude A coz as a kid, he bullied the crud out of me. I haven't seen Dude A for ages but I know his name. Can I still kill him if I remember his younger face and wrote his name down?

EDIT: To answer the original question, I guess I would destroy it. The only reason I would kill is on-spot self defence and the Death Note does not work on that approach.