Wammy's House

July 4, 2020

In law school, we don't say "I love you." We say "It's ok. I didn't read either," and I think that's beautiful.

28 August 2020

Day 5 of 80 of the #QuarantineFallStudyChallenge

Today’s question!  Tea or coffee?  

Eh I was gonna write a longer meta about the parallels but in a nutshell it has more to do with Obata’s art than Ohba’s writing of L.

1. L’s curved-back chair in Obata’s illustrations is based on a real chair in St Peter’s Basilica called (wouldn’t you know it) Saint Peter’s Chair, and Obata’s art even places the gold rays in the same position behind. Three ray clusters up top and some on the sides.

2. L’s gold shield bearing the letter L in the art above and blank below is based on the papal shield above St Peter’s Basilica

3. Saint Peter was supposedly crucified upside-down by the ruthless Emperor Nero, and Obata gave us art of L upside down in front of a cross (left picture below).

Interestingly, Nero rose to power around age 17 and died young in his 20s in 68 AD. It was believed he committed suicide but since Nero’s body was never found, a resurrection cult (Nero Redivivus) believed he would return and persisted for over 500 years. Three imposters claiming to be Nero popped up over time but were all exposed/executed. Nero’s real name was Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, and Lucius translates from Latin to...Light.

4. Saint Peter is considered the first Pope by Catholics and the Popes that followed were his successors. Like L, there is just one Pope although others wait in the wings to take over at the Pope’s death. Historically there’s a ton of competition and intrigue around who get to be the next Pope, similar to the position of L. Obata nicely provided us with some Death Note art featuring a dead Pope, and the text in the illustration above describes Saint Peter’s Basilica and Saint Peter (right picture above). There’s also art of L in the chair beneath the gold papal shield and the window behind St Peter’s Chair alongside his successors Near and Mello.