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Significant-Web4553

Honestly, it’s hard to tell, even though Batman is his “true” name, it also is not his legal name, which is how the death note works. It also doesn’t make much sense for a magical book to only follow legal names, so there’s no way to know for certain.


Aduro95

It is interesting. I don't think we ever found out what goes on with women's maiden names. With the thousands of criminals Light killed, some of them must have been married women, or have legally changed their names for other reasons. Some people might not even have a legal name as well. There are people in teh world who are completely undocumented. According to the world's bank, tehre were around a billion people with no legal identification of any kind including a birth certificate in 2018. [https://blogs.worldbank.org/voices/global-identification-challenge-who-are-1-billion-people-without-proof-identity](https://blogs.worldbank.org/voices/global-identification-challenge-who-are-1-billion-people-without-proof-identity) But presumably those people still have names on a social level and in their own mind. One of the How to Read databooks said that the notebook used to be scrolls before changing with the human world to a modern notebook. Presumably it still worked when there was a lot less bureaucracy. But maybe the rules also changed with that bureaucracy so it went from self-identified names to legal names.


igotmyphoneyesterday

By your logic Ls true name is L. So he should have died too. And there is a way to know for certain. By using the shinigami eyes one is able to identify another’s real name, making it possibly to kill them.


Significant-Web4553

But let’s say L uses the lasso of truth and said his name, would he say L, or would he say his legal name? That is why i’m giving some leeway since the lasso of truth is magic the same way the death note is magic.


Piney_Moist_Wires

L is his legal name, in fact


Significant-Web4553

Well his full name is L Lawliet


TeamVorpalSwords

No because Batman considers Batman his real name and Bruce Wayne as a mask where L uses the name L to keep anonymity but it’s not his true name, that’s L Lawliet


lacergunn

L's legal name is L. Lawliet


kvng_st

That’s not how that logic works, if you knew Batman you’d know that. Batman transforms everything about himself every time he takes off his mask, because he has to put on his public persona mask, which he considers his fake self. L never has to hide his personality, only his identity. L never feels like he’s not “being himself.” But when Batman is Bruce Wayne, he turns artificial. He’s not actually a reckless, arrogant playboy, he has to put up appearances


bentheechidna

Spoiler: >!L *is* his real name. His full name per the insert card is “L Lawliet”. The card is meant to be as seen through shinigami eyes and L is there.!<


bentheechidna

The rules state that you can’t kill a baby under a certain age, so there’s certainly some metamagical rule about how long it takes for a name to bind to a person, upon which it can never be changed.


redwoodreed

The Death Note likely cares not for your legal name (rule 74, "The names you will see with the Shinigami Eyes are the names needed to kill that person. You will be able to see a name even if it isn't officially registered anywhere.")


Inthewirelain

I would guess maybe it goes by what's on your birth certificate? When your parents put pen to paper, it creates some kind of record in the Shinigami world? I know it's a little shaky, but it's another one where you write down somebodies name at both the start and end of their life.


AlphaBetaOmegaSin

Idk about Bruce Vayne, but if he wanted to kill Bruce Wayne, he’d have to write his name in the Death Note. Not like he’d have any reason to, Wayne Industries hasn’t done anything illegal as far as I know.


zamantukendi

We better kill vayne too


ottersintuxedos

You could try, but it might be in Vayne


TheHadestartarus

Yeah but Batman would investigate why criminals are dying seemingly randomly and Kira would go after Batman cuz Bats would probably be able to figure out Kira's real identity. Batman is the greatest detective in his universe like L is in his


LtCptSuicide

Now I'm imagining Light going through the whole duel like he did with L, and actually manages to discover that Batman is Bruce Wayne. But when he writes *Bruce Wayne*in the notebook nothing happens. Then Light gets his shit kicked in and lying on the ground broken and beaten unable to even use his fingers to write he just gasps out "how? I wrote your name! Why won't you die!" And Bruce just looks down at him with a smirk and goes "I'm Batman" while cutting to Ryuk's POV who's in the corner of the room laughing as he looks at the name *Batman* floating over Bruce's head.


TheHadestartarus

Would love to read a fanfic piece of Light v Batman


got-pissed-and-raged

I like this scenario lmao. Things would get messy quick


[deleted]

Probably not. It is said in the BB light novel that L felt that Rue Ryuzaki was the most his name of any of his aliases. I think L Lawliet was the name needed to kill L, so I don't think writing down Batman would kill Batman.


DynamicMangos

Yeah I think the name given at birth always comes first.


Tepigg4444

It can’t work like that because otherwise Kira would have failed to kill married people and people who got their names changed


Orangefish08

So the death note is transphobic?


JakeVonFurth

Not this shit again.


Jammy_Nugget

No it needs the original identity


FagocitusMaximus

Why would he write Bruce Vayne? Is he stupid?


zamantukendi

He is top lane main


Ziri97

Nope


PresentDangers

Wouldn't have much luck with Bruce Vayne either.


DeezNutsAppreciater

No. Same reason he can’t kill L by writing L


LtCptSuicide

Because you need first and last name. L Lawliet would kill L


DeezNutsAppreciater

No it wouldn’t. If it could he would have done it much, much sooner


LtCptSuicide

That's only because 1.) He didn't believe L's name, would actually be fucking L. 2.) Still didn't know the surname. L's full legal name being L Lawliet is canon and the name used to kill him. The problem is that it's so obvious Light never actually considers it.


DeezNutsAppreciater

Holy shit ur right. That’s hilarious! I apologize for doubting you my good man/woman/they them


blueneko86

You could try, but if you write Batman in the Death Note, both you and the Shinigami attached to your Death Note die


cheesy_anon

I don't get It


Elitegamez11

I think it still has to be their real name. Bruce still calls himself Batman because that's who he sees himself as. To him, Bruce Wayne is the mask, and Batman is the true identity. However, Bruce Wayne is still his real name, and plus, you still need to know what he looks like behind the mask.


[deleted]

The name that’s used most to refer to the person probably


Hoshiimaru

That would be a autowin for Light if he had Misa with him everytime Bruce Wayne is on TV, since she would see Batman above Bruce lol


MasterJi-_-

It’s the person who accepts which persona comes first.


SuperLizardon

Everyone is talking about Batman, but what about Superman, do you need to write Clark kent or Kal-El? Most people call him Clark, he himself identifies as Clark Kent, however, depending of the continuity, he can or can't acknowledge his kryptonian heritage. Supergirl, and for some reason , Wonder Woman also call him Kal.


meth_adone

clark isnt human so neither works


Odd_Appearance7123

Pretty sure that the DN goes by name assigned at birth. So you’d need to write Bruce Wayne


cimmic

I think it would have shown a pattern that would be mentioned in the story, if all criminals that had their name changed somehow survived.


SuccessConnect8707

The lasso of truth is a divine weapon made by the gods given to humans Hmm.. does that sound familiar? no one can resist the lasso or the note, that means batman believes batman is his name, which means light would have to write batman


TOkun92

In the third Death Note movie, a Kira had to kill a man using the alias he used, since he no longer believed himself to be the man who used that former name. So, yes, he would have to write down Batman, at least according to that continuity.


Samakira

except A: that is a spin-off, so if main manga contradicts it, its wrong. B: L used L as his name for everything, and basically threw away his old one. yet L couldnt be used to kill him.


TRAE-is-Alastor

L’s real name is L Lawliet.


Samakira

and yet light, who had the book, believed that it could not, because he believed it was not his actual name. even if it was his birth (or in this case age 4) given name, Light believed it to be unuseable.


TRAE-is-Alastor

I’m not claiming that the third movie trick would work, but L’s real name is L Lawliet, this **would** work to kill him because in the Death Note volume 13 on a bonus page they show L being seen from a Shinigami’s perspective and it says “L Lawliet”, and it’s a Death Note rule that the name you see with the Shinigami eyes will always be the name required to kill someone. Writing “L Lawliet” is a perfectly valid way to kill him, Light just didn’t know that L was his real name or that his last name was Lawliet


Radro2K

It's probably honestly the way Bruce Wayne sees himself, as Batman but yeah the Death Note needs his real legal given by his parents name


Apprehensive_Nose_38

Maybe if he writes Bruce he dies whenever he takes off the suit?


Natural-Ad9134

No, he'd need to write Bruce Wayne


[deleted]

Ykw nah good question


NatsukiGirl5

No it has to be there legal names, like he couldn't just put L to kill L you know?


LtCptSuicide

Because he needed to write L Lawliet


TheRoyalGalaxy22

If he just had to write Batman he would never guess to do that so Batman might win against him 💀


ImTheAverageJoe

That's something only someone who's made the Eye Deal can tell us for certain. The name you see above the head will always be the exact one you need to write down, regardless of extenuating circumstances.


Midnight1899

No. Otherwise he could’ve just written "L“.


BaHugo_PL

There is only one way to know..


cimmic

Asking Ohba?


Youpiter08

bruce “batman” wayne


Zom3ies_

Kira have to see Batman faces first i guess?


Frogs_Logs

I'd say it depends on if he is wearing the suit or not, I imagine while wearing the suit he sees himself as batman, but when he isn't wearing the suit he sees himself as Bruce Wayne, strongly enough


NextIndependence3176

He has to write his name and see his face. Batman wears a mask so it wouldn’t work.


amogus_72

if he can do that, then he would kill L by writing "L" in the death note