Profile

Name: Ryuk

Fandom: Death Note

Media: Anime/manga

Played bymatrixrefugee

Physical description:Imagine an unsettling combination of a skeleton, a bird, and gothic clown. About six or seven feet tall and almost skeletally thin with greyish-white skin, spiky blue-black hair, large staring yellow eyes with reddish pupils and rubbery black lips at times curled back from a row of shark-like teeth. Seen at times with black wings that are somewhere between a bird's and a bat's, which convieniently fold back into his shoulders when not needed. Clad in loose black garments that appear to be made of PVC, with varying chain or studded belts draped about his lean hips and a row of piercings around the scoop-neck collar.

Personality: Inquisitive, curious, easily gets bored, has a bit of a gleefully morbid sense of humor. He might have an unsettling air about him, but it's hard to label him as evil per se; "amoral" probably fits him better. Loves eating apples and has described it as being like a human smoking cigarettes.

Short biography:Ryuk (リューク, Ryūku?) is the main Shinigami of the Death Note series. He is 6'0" according to Death Note volume 1, which is shown in a mug shot next to Light Yagami on the page of Chapter 1 Boredom. Bored with the activities (or lack thereof) of the Shinigami realm, Ryuk obtains a second Death Note and drops it in the human realm for someone to find, hoping to amuse himself. He deliberately writes the instructions on the front page (in English, which he assumed to be the most popular language in the human realm) so people would understand its purpose. The Death Note is discovered by Light Yagami, and Ryuk follows him around for much of the series to see how Light uses it. Ryuk has a fairly humanoid appearance. His skin is gray, or a purplish color, his limbs are abnormally long, and he has bulging yellow eyes with black irises (red in the anime); in the films, he is represented by CGI. He is voiced by Shidō Nakamura in the Japanese anime and live-action adaptations, while Brian Drummond voices him in the English dub.

Ryuk is characterized by his constant amusement by, and apathy in regards to, Light's problems. He enjoys seeing Light overcome the various challenges put to him, and often waits until the worst possible moment to inform him of a certain aspect of the Death Note just to get a laugh. He is occasionally helpful if it serves his own interests, such as obtaining apples or furthering his own amusement, but for the most part will jokingly ask Light what his next move will be or have Light explain to him the point of a certain action. The sfist describes Ryuk as a "crazy-looking, supernatural creature with these wicked eyes" who becomes "(surprisingly)" a "moral compass" for Light in the film version of Death Note.

Ryuk has a great fondness for apples, comparing them to cigarettes and alcohol for Shinigami (Shinigami apples are withered and taste like sand, as he shows Misa at one point), and will go through a type of withdrawal if he goes for too long without eating them. His withdrawal symptoms involve twisting himself up like a pretzel and doing handstands. He also states that he is shy around girls. In addition to apples, Ryuk is fond of video games, first shown in the omake eight-panel comic series, where he asks for a Silver Game Boy Advance SP, originally published in Weekly Shonen Jump Volume 4-5 (double issue) in 2005. On another occasion, Ryuk asks Light if he wants to play Mario Golf (changed to "video games" in the anime), but receives no answer since Light's bedroom is bugged with cameras.

As Ryuk explains when he first meets Light, he is bound to take Light's life when his time comes. In the manga, Ryuk does this after Light is shot several times by Matsuda. He desperately begs Ryuk to write the names of the investigation team and the SPK members in the Death Note, but Ryuk, reminding Light that he is not on anyone's side, just writes Light's name instead. He was expecting Light might have thought of some way out of his situation, but seeing as he was desperate enough to go to Ryuk for help, he decided it was all over for him. Ryuk returns to the Shinigami realm.

In the anime, Light does not ask for Ryuk's help and manages to escape the warehouse thanks to Mikami's suicide distracting everyone else. However, his wounds are too severe for him to escape very far, and Ryuk, who is watching him from atop a pole, decides that following Light around during a prison sentence is not worth his time and thus writes Light's name in his Death Note. Light dies peacefully, with an apparition of L standing over him - mirroring Light standing over L on his death.

In-game canon: Watch this space...