Character · Death Note
Ryuk
A death god drops his notebook into the human world because he is bored, then follows it down for the show.
In Otakana the clue reads: Apple-loving death god who dropped his notebook
- Type
- Character
- Series
- Death Note
- Letters
- 4 · Easy
Ryuk had two Death Notes and nothing to do. The shinigami realm in this story is a grey place full of gamblers who mostly sleep, so he let one notebook fall to earth to see what a human would do with it. He does not help Light, he does not stop him, and he says outright that he is a spectator with no side in the argument.
Apples are the exception. Ryuk gets something close to withdrawal without them, twitching and knotting himself up until somebody hands one over, and Light uses that lever more than once. An apple is the only thing in the human world he actually wants, which tells you how thin the rest of his interest runs.
Obata's design is all angles: black feathers, a permanent grin, eyes with no calm setting. He floats behind Light for the entire series, invisible to anyone who has not touched the notebook, laughing at the parts a human would find upsetting. He states his own final rule early, in plain words, and everybody hears it as a joke.
Spelling RYUK
RYUK is four letters with no vowel after the R, which is what makes it awkward to type from memory. The Japanese carries a long U that English drops, so RYUUK and RYUUKU both look plausible and neither fits the row. Keep it tight: R, Y, U, K. The Y is a consonant here, covering for the vowel that never arrives.