The Ghost of the Navigator

So. This is Ryuk's own Death Note, worn in a strap holster that's secured by chains to his belt. Consider first that we do not see any other shinigami full-on open-carrying like this. Rem's notebook is kept somewhere entirely unexplained, given that she's not wearing enough clothes to hide her lipstick in let alone a full-size Death Note, and we don't find out where Shidoh puts his after getting it back but there's no obvious slot for it anywhere visible on him. We don't get to see any other shinigami with their Death Notes in hand, but there's also no sign of anyone else wearing anything similar to Ryuk's rig so it seems that "discreetly hidden in wherever you usually keep things" is the customary place for Death Note storage. Incidentally, we know that Ryuk does have alternative stash space of his own - he pulls the shinigami-realm apple that he lets Misa try a bite from, out of somewhere in his feathers. So first of all, it seems the holster is a deliberate choice on his part, not a no-alternative necessity.

And, as accoutrements go, that thing is flash. Black leather, studs, chains, fancy crown-cross and skull emblem on the front. It matches the rest of his gear, meaning it has to have been custom-made or at least extremely carefully selected to match, and it's stylish - by Ryuk's own aesthetic measures - but far from discreet. Also, his Death Note itself has been customised too, in the same way as the one he dropped for Light - it's got "Death Note" conspicuously written on it, in what we know is Ryuk's handwriting because it matches the script used for the various rules that we know he wrote down.

So much for the data. Now for the analysis. Death Notes are used by shinigami to kill and feed; ie, to take human lives. They are hunting weapons, and they have no other known function. So on the shallowest level of what's going on here, by wearing his Death Note so openly (and clearly labelled as such into the bargain), Ryuk is advertising his status as a predator. If you're a human looking at him, he's showing off the tool he could use at any moment to end you; if you're another shinigami, you're notified that you're facing one of your kind who shamelessly embraces their own nature as a hunter and killer. Superficially, it looks like a threat display or macho boast of sorts.

However. That said: despite the above, Ryuk's Death Note is actually less ready to his hand for functional purposes than if it was just stuffed in his feathers, because it's strapped into the holster. While we can't see how the closure on it works, it's going to take him an extra couple of seconds or even longer to draw when he's got to pause to unfasten whatever clasp secures it. So what does that add up to?

A weapon - a frankly vulgar display of power, to a degree that may even be actively violating a cultural norm - placed ostentatiously on show; but in a manner that, at least symbolically, restricts its actual use. Fangs behind a muzzle... or, to move the metaphor closer to the domain of experience I think we're actually occupying here, crotchless pants and a chastity cage. Ryuk's flaunting what he's got, in a very eye-catching fashion, but he's also hinting that he might not be too quick to use it. (And, indeed, over the entire course of the canon we see him draw his Death Note once and it's to euthanise Light at the very end. We never see him write any names on his own behalf at any point beforehand.)

So why might Ryuk be giving this particular mix of signals? Let's start with what we know of his attitude to the use of the Death Notes. Now, this is a bit blink-and-you'll-miss-it in the manga, but it's very much there (previous discussion post here): we get strong and consistent evidence, given right at the start of the manga in chapter 1, that Ryuk likes killing, and he prefers to do it from a front row seat. He says that killing humans while he's in the shinigami realm isn't enough fun for him. He comments that if other shinigami see you writing overmuch in your Death Note they'll laugh at you for working too hard (speaking from experience, we can only suppose). He even adds, perfectly casually, that "if I write the names of shinigami into the book, they don't die" - meaning Ryuk is so bloodthirsty that he's openly down to kill his own kind, let alone his natural prey (humans). He reacts with lit-up glee on seeing how many names Light has written in the Death Note over the first five days of owning it. All indications here, provided upfront as part of the very first reading we get on his character, are that Ryuk is fucking horny for mass murder and not even shy about it. Given which - you'd think that Death Note on his belt, all things being equal, ought to be getting used until it's red hot while he's in the human realm and free to have fun.

And yet it apparently isn't. Pin that thought for the moment though, because next we need to take a quick look at the opinions of those "other shinigami" whom Ryuk claims will laugh at you if you work too hard. We get a couple of scenes in part 1 where Ryuk's adventures are being discussed by his fellow shinigami, but the one that I'm mainly looking at here is in chapter 3, where a few shinigami discuss the rumour that Ryuk has dropped his Death Note. Now, two things get said here that I think are important. First of all, someone comments that if Ryuk has dropped his Death Note and a human picked it up, Ryuk will be stuck with the human until they die or the Death Note is finished (whatever that entails, since we never find out). Then comes the very telling exchange "Not even Ryuk would want to do something like that... you never know with Ryuk, though."

So first of all, apparently Ryuk's reputation in the shinigami realm is as the benchmark for the bottom of the barrel when it comes to behaviour that other shinigami look down on. "Even he wouldn't do that... idk, would he though?" is pretty damning as verdicts go. Nobody is apparently going to be surprised if they learn that Ryuk is doing something they view as distasteful or degrading. And then someone comments "I heard he had two Death Notes," to which someone else replies "why would he want two?"

Why, indeed? The obvious answer: because that second Death Note, the one that never leaves his side, is his safety line. That's his escape if he finds his dropped note has been picked up by someone he doesn't care to play with, or if the finder of it tries to do anything with him that he isn't into - he can always pull out his own notebook and write their name. In other words, Ryuk has planned for his little adventure. The common shinigami understanding is that if a human gets your Death Note, you're captured - effectively made a pet, as it's explicitly described in a later scene in chapter 20. Ryuk has to know this. Ryuk has still gone ahead and dropped a note on purpose, volunteering for this particular form of highly stigmatised subjugation, but he's made damn sure that if he isn't enjoying it, he won't be stuck there. He is, effectively, subbing (to a randomly selected human!) with a lethally-enforceable safeword.

So just by doing any of this at all, Ryuk is already playing on ground that apparently makes most shinigami uncomfortable and a bit squicked to contemplate. But he's pushing even further out into red-line risk territory beyond that, because where is he keeping his all-important safeword Death Note? Not tucked away quietly in his feathers, where his human host wouldn't even know it existed until Ryuk was already killing them - which you'd think would be the safe and sane option.

Oh no. It's on his fucking belt, strapped up in a fucking bondage harness in front of god and everybody. Symbolically restrained from his own hand - but dangerously in reach for someone else's. He frequently stands so close over Light that Light could easily make a grab for the holster if he wanted to. And yes, Ryuk does say in the finale that nobody in the human world can touch his notebook... but is that always true? Is it true even if he's fully phased into material solidity, and maybe a bit distracted one way or another? Is Ryuk really hazarding his freedom on nobody, not even Light, figuring out a way to catch him by that Death Note?

And even if he is that sure it's safe, still what the hell is with the invitation it's implying, the suggestiveness of putting it right there in plain sight and reach? Is he getting off on the added danger here? Does he get turned on by the thought that it could happen and he might be caught and enslaved for real? - because gods damn, that explanation certainly fits the observable facts. He's dangling a leash from around his own neck and inviting catch-me-if-you-can to Light or anyone else who can see him and is brave enough to try. The total of what he's saying with that Death Note worn where and how it is, once you add up all the above-mentioned layers including the fact that he's rather noticeably not using it himself when you'd think he would be, could arguably be summed up as something like: "I can be very dangerous, and I like to be dangerous - but I'm able to control it. I'm willing to control it. I might play nice for you, if you can catch me. Maybe I want you to try and catch me..."

Of course, as I mentioned in my other previous post about Ryuk's submissive tendencies, the tragedy from his point of view is that Light is a comphet-addled vanilla disaster and picks up absolutely none of Ryuk's assorted signals, hints, flags and invitations. When Light does occasionally grab Ryuk and strongarm him into being useful (which always goes suspiciously well btw - look at Ryuk's faultless execution of his role in the part-2 plan when Light has him helping the taskforce with the mafia raid!) it's mostly born of annoyance and a lack of alternative options, not any recognition that Ryuk might be actively craving that kind of treatment.

And unfortunately, of course, Ryuk is badly stuck in the shinigami rules. He's not supposed to help Light at all, and openly confessing that he wants Light to scruff and subjugate him would likely be a bigger hint than he could get away with dropping. If he wants to be able to excuse himself to the shinigami king later by claiming a human made him do whatever mayhem he gets up to, he can't very well be caught on record asking said human to make him do it. (Not to mention of course that having to ask for it might take the shine off the kink element a bit, too. Wrong kind of humiliation entirely...)

So yeah, just some thoughts. Like, sure, I concede there might be an innocent explanation for all of this. The curtains are just blue, Obata drew Ryuk like that because it looked cool, none of this means anything, etc. But quite frankly, I feel like that's a lot less fun. XD