#sunii rambles

HI I ONLY JUST SAW THIS ASK TODAY

Okay so The Story of Babel, for people who don't know, is in Genesis 11:1-9 and explains the story why people speak different languages and have different cultures. The story of Babel is widely agreed to be about the both horrible and wonderful things humanity can do when unified, and it's also a lesson about the sin of Pride.

In the Drama, it's implied that both Near and Mello do work under the name of Babel, not just Near. We see Mello with them in their first four scenes, they even ask him questions about the cases ("Who's Kira?"). This, to me, shows that Babel is both of them, not just Near acting alone. Babel is derived from the root meaning "to confuse", which makes sense as when Babel first appears, they are presented as an enemy and not an ally. Actually, Babel is differentiated from Near very fast by L, ("I forgot to mention, but Babel is actually an acquaintance of mine. [...] Though Watari and I call them Near.") He refers to Babel as an acquaintance despite it showing us that L and Near are relatively close in this adaptation. This could be because he's trying to protect their status as his successor infront of Light, but this doesn't seem in character considering the after-death videos he made where he reveals very casually that Near is his successor. If anything, it seems like he's trying to say, that while Near is Babel, Near and Babel do different things and act in different ways. So Mello is also Babel! However, why is this relevant? Well, in the Story of Babel, when humanity tries to build a tower into Heaven, God separates them into different areas of the world and confuses their speech. Making them all have different languages, this makes communication and co-operation very difficult to ensure that they won't try something like that again. Babel implies multiple voices simultaneously, trying to co-operate unsuccessfully. We do see this with Near and Mello, because while (if my theory is correct) both of them are the detective Babel, Near is consistently trying to repress Mello. It's even seen with L, (*in response to Mello* "Shut up! Listen to me, don't get in Near's way.") Who uses more aggressive language when talking to Mello (だまれ (Damare), a very impolite way of telling someone to shut up). Which, ironically, L is more aggressive to Mello than Mello is to him (うるさい (Urusai), which is still aggressive but less so.). So yes, Babel shows multiple voices who don't know how to communicate. When Mello and Near finally begin to genuinely co-operate with one another, Mello's faked take over, the Alias of Babel is shed, showing they can actually understand one another for once.

Another little thing I noticed, The Story is said to be about the sin of Pride, and what it does. In the Drama, Light is not greedy, not lustful, obviously cares about not wasting what his family has in the house, so not gluttonous either. After becoming Kira, Light's always very motivated, so he's not slothful, the only one you can really argue for is Wrath. But, one thing stays consistent, Light is prideful. He takes pride in what he does, this is part of his downfall in every adaptation. How ironic, the story of Babel is about how Pride leads to failure, and the Prideful Kira is taken down by Near and Mello A.K.A Babel!

HI YES OFC

Okay so for Near I imagine that one of his quirks is that he chews the skin around his nails (not because I do that what noooooo /s) but I also imagine that on stressful days when he does the hair twirling he'll tug mildly aggressively on it. For long haired Near this is more common but instead of pulling on it he'll just hold some strands in his hands and make them go swish swish if you get what I'm trying to say here

For disability obviously I think Near is autistic (I don't think he's autistic, I KNOW he's autistic). But also I believe Near has problems with his legs, specially he has Osteoarthritis in his knees. This starts with pains and swolen joints when he was young but by the time the Oneshot manga takes place most of his knee cartilage is gone and he needs a walking stick in order to walk properly and without pain.

Mello!!!! Yello Mello!!!!! For Mello's appearance I think he has moles, like, they're quite small and not really noticeable bec they're mostly on his back and legs and stuff. But they are there. Also I think Mello has a birthmark. I have no idea what this birthmark looks like, but it's on his upper back.

i use a mixture of Google and Pintrest (primarily pintrest)

Basically, I get the vibe I want to go for, for example the Mello moodboard i did was about religion, and he's very commonly headcannoned to be catholic. So I searched things like 'religion' 'catholic' and added aesthetic afterward (not saying religion is an aesthetic it just helps to find nice pictures). If you want certain colors or details in it, then add that to the search bar too. Also, something I find that helps if that if you click on an image that fits with the vibe you're going for but doesn't actually work with what you have, underneath or to the side they'll be similar images and you can just keep going until you find one that works.