File 13: A Collection Of Theories Chapter 2, a death note fanfic

Hello there. For those of you who've skipped ahead to chapter two for some reason, I'd highly reccommend going back to the start and reading from there. You won't understand what's going on, otherwise.

For those of you who have read the first chapter, in this chapter I'll be going over my theories about Wammy's House and L's past. Get excited, guys. *cranks up L's Theme*

First, let's start off with a quote:

"Ever since the boy, barely eight years old, had made his existence known as the peerless and unrivalled Detective L and had been given the power to dispatch the police and intelligence agencies of the world, it became the purpose of Wammy's House to find and nurture a child with the talent to follow in L's footsteps." L: Change The World, pg. 17

As I mentioned briefly in the first chapter, L Lawliet was (possibly) born and raised in France. This was until he met Quillish Wammy at 8 years old, in 1986, and was brought to Wammy's House in Winchester, England (heehee, Anglo-French rivalry). L's parents were presumably killed during the Winchester Mad Bombings, spurring his motivation to track down the culprit.

L was taken to Wammy's House orphanage in Winchester, England. According to the Death Note oneshot L:One Day, barely one hour after he had arrived, L was already causing a disturbance, and had knocked six of the children at the orphanage unconscious.

That scene interests me. L claims, in his words, that after saying "A new face! Let's cuddle him!" they "employed violence against me." So, either that was unwarranted sexual harassment or, possibly more likely, L cannot distinguish people's emotions properly, nor understand their meaning. Autism, perhaps?

Several people on various Death Note forums have hypothesised things which I find interesting. The general consensus is that the orphanage "bullies" had planned to beat L up to put him in his place in the hierarchy at the orphanage. But L established in one hour that he was the true dominant at Wammy's, and his judgement stands as the law. Notice how he doesn't run to adults for help, guidance, or judgement; he makes the decisions himself.

Interesting, isn't it? What type of a home life would L have had to foster such a worldview?

The L:One Day oneshot goes on to say, from Quillish/Watari's point of view, that L monopolised the things he liked because he was "stronger", and always played by himself. L soon wanted to do harder puzzles and games, and it became apparent he possessed outstanding abilities.

Now, the scene that follows interests me immensely. Quillish claims he presented L with a room of his own. That's all very well and good… except that room shares an uncanny similarity with a padded cell.

Let's look at what a "padded cell" actually is, shall we? A padded cell, or rubber room, is a cell in a psychiatric hospital. The padding is an attempt to prevent a patient from hurting themselves by hitting their head or other body parts on hard surfaces such as walls.

This begs questions about Wammy's House, doesn't it? Namely, just what sort of an establishment is it? I think it's fairly safe to say it's an orphanage, given the amount of evidence we have. An orphanage is a residential institution devoted to the care of children whose biological parents are deceased or otherwise unable or unwilling to care for them. In the absence of relatives willing to care for the children, they become a ward of the state, and orphanages are one way of providing for their care, housing, and education.

That's the traditional meaning of the word. But there are other types of institutions.

Residential treatment centres, sometimes called "rehab", provide treatment for adolescents with various issues and disorders, as well as drug and alcohol abuse. Some RTCs are lock-down facilities, where the residents are locked inside the premises. By comparison, an unlocked residential treatment facility allows them to move around the facility with relative freedom, but they are only allowed to leave the facility under specific conditions. Residential treatment centres generally are clinically focused, and primarily provide behaviour management and treatment for adolescents with serious issues.

In contrast, therapeutic boarding schools provide therapy and academics in a residential boarding school setting, employing staffs of social workers, psychologists, and psychiatrists to work with the students on a daily basis. A therapeutic boarding school, or TBS, is a boarding school that offers an educational program together with specialised structure and supervision for students with emotional, behavioural, substance abuse, or learning difficulty issues. This form of treatment has a goal of academic achievement as well as physical and mental stability in children, adolescents and young adults.

Somehow, I wouldn't put it past Quillish Wammy, greatest inventor in the world, to combine one or more of the two concepts. I'm thinking of something like a therapeutic orphanage. I think the therapeutic boarding school model would seem more likely here, as in the oneshot Wammy's House didn't seem as restrictive as a rehab centre seems to be. Wammy's House originally being an orphanage for children and adolescents with issues seems to fit, don't you think?

I think L being put in a padded cell directly links back to the scene earlier in the L:One Day oneshot, where L knocked six children unconscious. It's entirely possible that Quillish Wammy presented him with such a room out of fear of L injuring himself or threatening the safety of others.

Think of it this way. L's parents have just died. He probably loved them dearly, enough that he solves the Winchester Mad Bombings case out of a desire for vengeance. L's just been taken from France, and plonked down in a foreign country where he most likely doesn't speak the language, and isn't really in a good enough mental state to start assimilating himself. Is it any wonder that our poor genius comes across as a bit troubled here?

Back to the oneshot. Three days after being put in the padded room, L asked Quillish if he could acquire a computer to communicate with, claiming it would give him power. This is where I think a facility something along the lines of a therapeutic boarding school is a more accurate designation for the original Wammy's House. I bet you patients aren't allowed personal computers in rehab. Now, bear in mind, this is the year 1986. It would be fairly easy for Quillish, the greatest inventor in the world, to get one of the first computers — he probably co-designed it, or something.

After L obtained the first Macintosh (which was designed in 1984), he almost always sat in front of it without moving, according to Quillish's perspective in the oneshot.

This is 1986. So, essentially L taught himself to use a computer before the World Wide Web started in 1989, navigating via command lines and hacking away using TCP/IP. (TCP, or Transmission Control Protocol, is, amusingly, where the expression "Two tin cans and a string" came from).

After L grew proficient on the computer (heh, mental image of eight-year-old L chatting away with professors), he told Quillish Wammy to buy one million pounds with Japanese yen, and to buy all the company stocks he had written down on a list.

Two years later, in 1988, when L was 10 years old, Quillish Wammy's assets had reached almost 20 thousand times the original amount. *whistles in amazement*

Several years afterwards, L solved a serial murder case seemingly without any clues to the culprit's identity. L confirmed the serial killer's identity and details were Mr. Rushuall Bid, Washington D.C., District of Columbia.

It's also interesting to note that, during the 5 years he spent in England, L became tennis champion in the England Junior Cup.

L was brought to Wammy's at age 8, and left at age 13. It is perfectly possible he entered the tennis competition in the under-14s division. Sporting competitions like this, particularly a 'Junior Cup', typically get divided into categories based on age group. In this case, I'd imagine those categories to be something like under-14s, under-16s, and maybe under-18s. Possibly under-12s too. The name, the England Junior Cup, hints the tennis competitions is likely be staged around England.

The throwaway scene with L playing tennis is quite interesting to me. If we go by the theory (Epileptic Trees!) that Wammy's House started as some sort of therapeutic orphanage, then L may have been encouraged to play tennis as part of working with coping mechanisms, or some such psychological stuff.

Also, see these quotes from the novel L: Change The World about Wammy's House. This obviously details what the orphanage is like since L left and the purpose of Wammy's House became to train his successor:

"Watari, also known as Quillish Wammy, had used the enormous earnings from the patents of his many inventions to establish the Wammy Foundation, an organisation dedicated to building orphanages around the world." L: Change The World, pg. 13

Presumeably, this Wammy Foundation was fully in operation long before L had originally come to Wammy's House, if Quillish Wammy was already recognised as the world-renowned inventor.

"Among them, one orphanage took in highly intelligent children from around the world without regard to nationality, race, or gender, and provided them with a specialised education. The orphanage was called Wammy's House." L: Change The World, pg. 13

"There was no formal school or academic departments at Wammy's. Instead, university professors, researchers, and top specialists in their fields from around the world were invited to give individual instruction to the children according to their abilities and potential." L: Change The World, pg. 13

Not much to say here, except: That's interesting. What an innovative way to teach highly gifted children, who probably were bored with standard education anyway.

Now, I want to talk (type?) a little bit about who entered Wammy's House during A, Beyond Birthday, Near, and Mello's time.

We already know this much:

The first generation of students at Wammy's, A and B, would have stayed from 1992 to 2002, for ten years.

The second generation would have stayed from 1994 to 2003, for nine years.

The third generation would have stayed from 1996 to 2004, eight years.

The fourth generation, Mello and Near, would have stayed from 1997 to 2004, seven years.

Just from looking at those dates, you can see there's a fair bit of overlap between them. We know in the L: Change The World movie that D, P, Q, G, I, E, and K were all shown on L's mailing list, therefore assumed to be graduates from Wammy's House. Therefore, if we take those letters out from the alphabet, the remaining letters C, H, J, M, N, O, S, U, X, Y, and Z, twelve people (excluding B, F, R, A, V, and T, since they were greyed out on the mailing list, implying they were killed) must still be in Wammy's House. If we go by the flashback in Death Note Relight 2: L's Successors when L is talking to the Wammy's House children via computer, there are clearly twelve people in the room, excluding the people I think are A and B.

*bounces* This is exciting, isn't it?

It is clear from the flashback that C, H, J, M, N, O, S, U, X, Y, and Z (twelve students) were all still in Wammy's House in A, B, Mello, and Near's time, from 1997 to 2004. D, P, Q, G, I, E, and K must have all graduated beforehand.

Now, let's try and identify some of those people, drawing information from the various movies, one-shots, etcetera.

So, we know A, B, F, R, T, and V were killed. D, E, G, I, K, P, and Q graduated Wammy's House. C, H, J, M, N, O, S, U, X, Y, and Z are all at Wammy's House.

A was the first child ever to enter Wammy's House in 1992, the 'prototype L', the one who couldn't stand the pressure and ended up committing suicide.

B, alias Backup, alias Beyond Birthday, alias Rue Ryuzaki, arrived at Wammy's House in 1992, and went on to commit three murders in Los Angeles in an attempt to create a crime L could not solve.

L is L Lawliet, greatest detective in the world.

W is Quillish Wammy/Watari, greatest inventor in the world and dedicated philanthropist.

M is Mihael Keehl, alias Mello, one of the fourth generation of students at Wammy's House, and directly chosen as a candidate to succeed L.

N is Nate River, alias Near, who went on to succeed L following the death of Mello, the other viable candidate.

J is Mail (pronounced 'mile') Jeevas, alias Matt, possible surveillance and kidnapping specialist. The fact that he was designated a letter indicates that he had graduated Wammy's House by the time of Takada's kidnapping in 2010, when he helped Mello.

See this quote about the methodology behind graduation from Wammy's House:

"The designation of a letter in Wammy's alphabet held a special significance for those who graduated Wammy's House. It signified that they were charged with changing the world. There were only twenty-six letters to exist every generation, and these young people were part of an illustrious list of past letters who had time and again been instrumental in saving the world from catastrophe. Above all, the designation signified Quillish Wammy's trust." L: Change The World, pg. 176 & 177

Interesting, isn't it? I hope this is giving you ideas.

In the movie L: Change The World, a man named 'F' is documenting the results of a deadly virus in a small village in Thailand named Bangnum.

Kimiko Kujo, or 'K', works as an assistant to scientist Kimihiko Nikaido in the Infectious Disease Centre of Asia, in Tokyo Japan, as stated in the movie and novel L: Change the World

'Q' designed the security system for Professor Kimihiko Nikaido's research lab, the Nikaido Research Lab, situated the outskirts of Tokyo, Japan.

X, Y, and Z were briefly mentioned in the novel Death Note: Another Note by Mello:

Right. Now that that's done, I'll get right down to my theories. This next part deals with various theories and headcanons of mine about L's past:

L's parents presumably died during the Winchester Mad Bombings in 1986, of which they may or may not have been a part of. Shaken, L is taken to the therapeutic orphanage Wammy's House in Winchester, England, where he sets about obtaining a computer and teaching himself how to hack, presumably so he can find his parents' killer. Several years later, L solves a serial murder case without any clues, confirming the culprit is Mr. Rushuall Bid.

Now, bring on the Epileptic Trees.

Do you know what it was that took place from 1947 to 1991?

The Cold War.

"He [Watari] would accept L's every decision and support him however possible. That was what he had resolved to do the very first time he met l at the time of the Winchester Mad Bombings when an eight-year-old L had prevented the outbreak of World War III." L: Change The World, pg. 16

At the risk of coming across as insensitive, it would have been positively easy to trigger the outbreak of World War III during the Cold War.

The case was called the Winchester Mad Bombings case. If somebody bombing Winchester nearly triggered WWIII, the culprit would have had to be on the side of the Soviet Union. If you want to know why, look it up; I won't go into what the Cold War was about here, it's too complicated.

Something in the Winchester Mad Bombings prompted L to start shielding his identity from the world. To me, this implies that the culprit was after either L or his parents personally.

L claims he only does his detective work as a hobby, therefore his parents couldn't have previously been detectives. If one of his parents had an acquaintance with Quillish Wammy, the best inventor in the world, it would give him a reason to be admitted into Wammy's House, or for Quillish Wammy to take care of L, possibly even as his legal guardian.

If one or both of L's parents were highly influential and acquainted with Quillish Wammy, it could motivate the culprit behind the Winchester Mad Bombings to find them, spark the tensions in the Cold War, and start WIII.

My Headcanon:

(The following theories are strictly my own ideas. By all means, you can get inspired by them, but if any of you decide to plagiarise it all directly, I will hunt you down. You have been warned)

"If I had space left over I had intended to carry right on into the other two stories I heard from L: the story of the detective war between the three greatest detectives, all solving that infamous bio-terror case, with guest appearances by the last of the alphabet, the first X to the first Z from Wammy's House; and the story of how the world's greatest invention, Quillish Wammy, aka Watari, had first met L, then about eight years old — the case that gave birth to the century's greatest detective, the Winchester Mad Bombings that occurred just after the third World War." Death Note: Another Note, page 170.

As Mello had been told the story of the case from L, the Winchester Mad Bombings case could possibly be what inspired him to make the call to the President of the USA and threaten to start World War III, during the later half of the Death Note arc.

Mello wanted to blackmail the President of the United States via telephone into giving him funds and resources to aid his hunt for Kira, threatening that if his demands are not met he will use the Death Note to force the President to launch the United States' nuclear missiles and start World War III.

My headcanon is that L's parents were scientists, specifically nuclear scientists, given the task of developing various nuclear bombs and weapons during the Cold War. They formulated the schematics for a particularly powerful bomb, which Soviet serial bomber Rushuall Bid wanted to get his hands on.

Rushuall Bid blackmailed the President of the USA — if he is not given the schematics for the nuclear weapon, he will bomb Winchester. L's parents handed over the schematics for the bomb, but Rushuall bombed Winchester anyway and fled to Washington D.C. L came to Wammy's House, and you know the rest.

… damnit, now I really have to write a fic about this.

Ooh, and, one final quote which I thought I'd bring up since it's just too awesome. This is L in the Los Angeles BB Murder Cases, talking about his knowledge of Beyond Birthday, and his attitude to crimes in general:

"I have nothing to do with him," L said. "To be completely accurate, I do not even know B. He is simply someone I am aware of. But none of this affects my judgement. Certainly, I was interested in this case, and began to investigate it because I knew who the killer was. But this did not alter the way I investigated it, or the manner in which my investigation proceeded. Naomi Misora, I cannot overlook evil. I cannot forgive it. It does not matter if I know the person who commits evil or not. I am only interested in justice." Death Note: Another Note, pg. 145

Just… it's just *bursts out* Why would you write erotica when you could write about that? *gestures* I'd love to read a fanfic which incorporates that attitude into L's character, and keeps it consistent with his whole personality.

… Maybe I'll write one.