, exclusively known by the mononym L, is a fictional character in the manga series Death Note, created by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata. He is an eccentric genius and international private detective, reputed to be the world's greatest, who takes on cases that have stymied national governments and Interpol. He opposes the series' protagonist Light Yagami by trying to prove that Light is the mass-murderer called "Kira" who is attempting to create and rule a world "cleansed of evil" as its "God".