Comparison of Light Yagami & Lelouch Lamperougue - A Difference in the Mind

Foolishly people will claim that Light Yagami and Lelouch Lamperouge are the same character, but they are not. It is an easy mistake to make, only upon close analysis can you identify the differences in their character. You must strip away the verbosity of their circumstances and look at their actions to see who they truly are. In the end, it is a difference of the mind with these two. In accordance to Freudian Psychoanalysis, my preferred method of analysis, Lelouch is a superego-dominated character and Light is an id-dominated character. One dominated by concern and the other by self-interest, both on the trail for world peace.

Quick Review - The angel is the superego, the id is the devil.

Light Yagami - A God-in-Progress

A brilliant child, one of the top students in all of Japan and on course to follow his father into detective work. Light spends the better hours of his nights studying locked up in his room, his focus entirely on school. As well as being dastardly intelligent, he is noted to be handsome, while not important to the series but contributing to his confidence. To top it off, he has the drive to accomplish his goals no matter the cost or effort it may take.

Where Light goes bad is his outlook on life. He is shockingly over-confident in himself because of his intelligence, but not to the point that it blinds him from reality. His own ability to predict every possible outcome keeps himself in check, but even that will not keep his God-complex under control. He is cynical and believes that the world is a rotten place because of it, he only places his trust in himself. Light is self-centered, too confident in his intelligence, and pessimistic about the world he sees.

Once the Death Note—a book allowing the writer to kill anybody as long as they know the name and face—falls into Light’s hand, his drive is channeled into his unyielding resolve to cleanse this rotten world. He trusts only himself and believes only in himself, allowing himself to wage justice on the world, claiming the name of God. Light’s claim to the name God is the first instance of his confidence blocking him from his goal, it is his incentive to be justice, to be a God. Out of his own interest he cleanses the world to become a being recognized as greatness, but he justifies his wrongful cleansing by doing so in the name of justice.

Light’s actions are wrong, but he avoids guilt by targeting criminals and those who really deserve judgement. Then, as he is more invested in becoming a savior, he starts to judge those who stand in his way, even his family. He is Kira, the savior of the world, not the Light Yagami that would slowly but legally penalized criminals as a detective.

Light Yagami was a child gifted with an intelligence matched by few. But his ability to reach greatness in life was skewed by his cynical nature and the Death Note that dropped into his lap. The Death Note brought about his change in personality, his overbearing self-confidence morphing into a claim to the title of God, the highest title of greatness he could grasp. He served his own interest in waging justice, not the world’s best interest.

Lelouch Lamperouge - A Light that became a Martyr

Lelouch was a former Britannian Prince, but was casted from the line of succession after the murder of his mother. Like Light, he is extremely intelligent and thinks of all possible outcomes to any given situation. Unlike Light, he spends his mind on the game of chess instead of schoolwork, which he calls trivial. Because of an aristocratic upbringing, he is somewhat arrogant, finding himself to be above others. Because of everything that happens to him and his sister, he has a deep hatred for the Britannian Empire and drive to back it up that will later bring his plans to fruition.

While ruthless in battle—like a game of chess against nobility—he is also a compassionate person. He makes daily visits to his sister Nunnally, blinded from special circumstances, and spends a lot of time with his friends. It was not until later in the series he recognized a love for his friend Shirley, but it was too late by that point in time. Lelouch’s ability to love is not bound to just Shirley, at moments he shows acts of compassion for C.C., Euphemia, and Kallen. His ambitions are fueled by compassion.

However, worldly-compassion was not his first incentive to change the world. It was personal revenge and to create a peaceful world for his own sister that fueled his drive, a smaller act of compassion. Soon after, with the gain of his geass, he changed his motives to encompass world peace, as he had an obligation. Lelouch felt a guilt, or rather a duty to those who died in his cause, because he vowed that his efforts would not be in vain. Very quickly Lelouch got rid of his id-fueled mentality to embrace the superego.

That superego, combined with his drive, pushed Lelouch to make the ultimate sacrifice. Lelouch sacrificed himself for world peace, achieving his goal. His life was the equivalent of world peace. While Lelouch held such a powerful position, we do not witness a slip into the arrogant behavior he knew well as a aristocrat. The only moments his arrogance showed were when his public appearances required it. Otherwise, he is a being powered by the superego, an unyielding desire for world peace.

Light vs Lelouch - Comparison & Clarification

To clarify, Light is the id and Lelouch is the superego. While characters are not predominantly one or the other but a combination, these two can be called as such with certainty. This is where Lelouch and Light are different, it is their mentality on the world.

Light, id-dominated, wanted to become a God, saying so himself. He walked along a path of supposed justice, but was rather the path to self-satisfaction. Criminal after criminal he killed with the Death Note, eventually killing anybody who stood in his way. Ultimately, Light did what he did to satisfy his bored and complacent mind.

Lelouch, superego-dominated, reached for world peace so that he could free the world of Britannia's iron death grip. He wanted a peaceful world so much that he sacrificed his own life. He knew the extent of what he did, the lives he ruined and that alone sent him into turmoil, but he pressed on so that his cause was not in vain. Instead of his id, the superego shines and dutifully he gave the world what it deserved.

The two are very similar and it is understandable that comparisons be drawn, but they are not the same character. One is self-centered while the other is outward-centered. One is a God, the other is a martyr.

Now this is the question. Which one was right?