#be merciful

to start, i'd like to share my interpretation of what Wammy's House is based on what's been said about it, and the kinds of people it's produced.

i believe that before L was introduced to the orphanage, it was a place for gifted children to stay where they could better develop their interests. i believe this is still the case after L's arrival, but also training a few of perhaps the smarter children to become L's successor.

we learn about the beginning of this through A and B. many people use this as a means of heavily criticizing Watari's character, which is fair enough. A did kill themself over the stress of becoming the next L, and B became a serial killer as a means of surpassing L. what i think some people fail to consider is that it's very possible Watari was upset and grieving after A's death. of course this still doesn't excuse the fact that this training was one of the core reasons they committed suicide. but what's interesting to me is that gifted programs in real life aren't held to the same standard of "it's abusive" to place so much stress on young minds. and while i don't like gifted programs, i also don't see why we wouldn't view Wammy's House in the same light of... "it's stressful, but it'll be worth it in the end, teehee". i feel like im contradicting myself a lot right now, my brain is a mess trying to word this, i had to write three essays today and my brain is fried. MY POINT IS !! i don't see why people use "A killed themself" as a reason to justify the argument that "Watari didn't care about the children" that's the point i was looking for, there we go. and i feel like after that event there might've been more measures taken to help the mental health of the kids. remember, A and B were just like... testing the waters for creating successors for L. i'm sure they fixed the bugs after that.

as for B... i don't think Wammy's House was the sole reason he became a serial killer. yes his motivation was to surpass L, but he was born with shinigami eyes and was so fascinated by death as a child that i think it would have been very difficult for him to NOT fall down that path. that's not to say i think B was always a horrible person, i do believe he has some empathy, but overall, i think just the fact he was born with shinigami eyes was the biggest catalyst in him killing people.

the reason i don't think it's solely a training camp for detectives and is still based around the interests of the children is the existence of catchers like Linda or Dr. Kujo. Linda becomes a famous artist, and Dr. Kujo becomes... a doctor. if it were just for training detectives, ain't NO WAY Linda would've survived Wammy's House. so part of the reason i don't think Wammy's is the worst place in the world is because it still serves in interest of the kids, at least partly. it's a special interest training ground when you really get down to it.

now, i'm less interested in defending Wammy's House as i am in defending Watari personally.

i think a lot of people also forget that Wammy's House was NOT the only orphanage Watari opened. he opened many across the world, it's just that Wammy's House was the only one for gifted children. which to me... doesn't sound like he was only doing it for the money? people love to talk about L like he was just a money maker for Watari, like- yes L was able to help him invest well and make a shit ton of money, but that was NOT the reason he created the orphanages. and if you think he cares about money so much, why the FUCK would he let L spend all that money on building however many stories high headquarters for the task force. no fucking way. not to mention all the sweets L eats, all the cell phones and electronics he just casually throws out out of security. or even Near, dumping all that money out on the January 6th raid of people, ain't no way Roger would have let him do that if it were about the money.

as for calling Watari abusive... say what you will about the treatment of L's successors, i'm less focused on that, but i've seen people draw Watari yelling harshly at L and i just cannot stress enough how much i do NOT think that's happening. Watari's issue is NOT him being too forceful on the children, his issue is being WAAAAYYY too permissive, letting L just... solve possibly gruesome crimes at the ripe age of eight? ..great... anyway, that's the biggest mischaracterization i see of him. he's noooot the classic "you need to do this and this and this because i said so" type of abusive, he's the "you wanna do this? sure, go for it" kind.

as for saying he didn't care about the children? i really don't see why people say this. like i know it's mostly the issue of A, but like... he definitely cares about children, otherwise he wouldn't have opened so many orphanages 😭

also as for characters like L. i've seen people depict him as a child and saying "just wants a normal life. wants to go play, etc" that's just... totally out of character for him. L's entire character is being strange, and he was confirmed to be an odd child. he didn't want to go outside and play, he didn't get along with the other children, and he would rather stay cooped up inside on his computer. some of y'all making him too neurotypical, treat him with a little more respect. i bet it was fuckin Watari that made L get into tennis. he was probably all like, "i know you like that computer i got you, but you really gotta see the sun."

i'd like to say, for an old man in the 1980s raising a bunch of autistic children, i don't think he was doing an awful job. i would've liked to be under his care, i don't think it would've been as bad as the gifted programs im in now. seeing characters like Linda come out of Wammy's House, you're saying i could've been trained by like... college level professors on how to draw? that's insane.