Death Note

[lupinfan83]

When Ryuk was telling Light about shinagami he mentions how they spend there time mostly gambling.  Did he say they gamble with lives?  How do they transfer lives from one shinagami to another?

[ALchemist81]

That's a GOOD question! Well, maybe they can make wagers with their own lifespans or something. We certainly can't do that, but they're not exactly human, so I wouldn't put it past them.

[Meilag32]

Yeah, somehow they're able to transfer life energy or whatever it is they take from humans.  This is never really explored other than the Shinigami mentioning their gambling habits.

[lupinfan83]

That doesn't make sense to me since it would seem to violate the extending life rule. When they gamble they are going into a situation where they probably going to extend the life of another.

[Meilag32]

They're only extending the life of another Shinigami, which apparently is okay.  They are just forbidden from extending human lives. 

[SpikesMrsSpooky]

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lupinfan83 wrote:

When Ryuk was telling Light about shinagami he mentions how they spend there time mostly gambling.  Did he say they gamble with lives?  How do they transfer lives from one shinagami to another?

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He didn't say they were gambling with lives, just that they were gambling.  

I DID wonder what exactly they were using as currency though.  I doubt there is much of value in the shinigami realm other than time/life.  

Oh darn, now I have to watch it again to see what they were gambling with. I don't remember seeing anything about it in volume 13 either.

[lupinfan83]

I know I heard it somewhere, they also put it in the wikipedia page.

[SpikesMrsSpooky]

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lupinfan83 wrote:
I know I heard it somewhere, they also put it in the wikipedia page.

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I have to look for that in volume 13, it's very likely in there, I just haven't seen it.  That's interesting. 

I tend to not trust wikipedia though, especially when it comes to fannish stuff.  I usually watch the Cowboy Bebop pages and people put all KINDS of weird stuff in there, some of it completely out in left field, you know?  I can see the book where I'm stiting, I'm going to look for it now.  I'll let you know. 

[Meilag32]

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lupinfan83 wrote:
I know I heard it somewhere, they also put it in the wikipedia page.

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I could have sworn I heard it from somewhere too.  Just don't know where.  It might have been wikipedia, might not. 

Though I do remember the same thing from the second Pirates of the Caribbean movie...

[SpikesMrsSpooky]

I just went through volume 13 and I didn't find it in there.   In the chapter where it talks about the shinigamis, their names and personalities and also what life is like there,  I saw references to the shinigami who like to gamble, but nothing about what they're gambling with.

I thought I saw a bowl like object with what looked like stones in it.  I took that to be what they were gambling for, nothing of real value, just passing time playing cards and shooting the breeze.

It's possible too that there was an interview somewhere with Mr Ohba where he said that they were gambling for lifespans.  I don't know.

Oh well, I don't think it's true, but it does sound good.

[Meilag32]

The whole point of them gambling is weird.  That surely can't be the only way to pass the time?  And if not lifespans, what are they betting and winning/losing?  Random stones picked off the ground?  That's gonna get old, quick.  But then again, I don't understand gambling to begin with.  I never saw the allure of it.  I gamble risk-wise with my life and future, but that's different from going to a casino.

[SpikesMrsSpooky]

Frankly, I don't see the appeal in it either, unless one gets jollies out of winning even if nothing is at stake.  

I smoke, so I guess you could call me a gambler, but that's about it.  Casinos will bore the crap out of me in five minutes, but I'll feed the slots because the drinks are free.   My friends don't invite me over to play poker any more because I don't take it seriously and just goof around.  

These shinigami though, maybe they just enjoy each others' company and it's something to do.  What else are they going to do there though?  They could start stacking rocks and build something, but that would be too much like work and according to Ryuk, working too hard gets one laughed at.

[lupinfan83]

I would think a few of them would try and investigate why their world id dieing and maybe try to fix it.

[Meilag32]

Sounds like my poker playing.  I've never taken it seriously either.  It's just too boring.  I'd make extravagant bets knowing I'd lose just to screw up the game and make a joke. 

I don't think they enjoyed each other that much.  I think a few had a clique-ish friendship, but everyone wasn't friends with everyone.  But there wasn't much else to do, was there?

[Meilag32]

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lupinfan83 wrote:
I would think a few of them would try and investigate why their world id dieing and maybe try to fix it.

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That would require drive and ambition, which almost all of them lacked or made fun of if someone else showed it. 

[SpikesMrsSpooky]

No there really WASN'T much to do.  Volume 13 said they had jobs (!?) but nobody was in a hurry to do anything or get anything done.  They napped and played cards/gambled.

I think there are friendships there, but probably not close friendships.  Probably a group that don't mind each other's company, or probably like each other. the only one who showed any kind of friendship was Rem to Gelus.  The rest of the really didn't give a rat's ass.

Yeah, if I lived there, I'd probably start stacking rocks on top of each other to build something, just for something to do (and get laughed at for doing it).  Or I'd be obsessively watching the human realm. Shinigami are boring.

[Meilag32]

I think the "jobs" that Shinigami had were probably meant to curb human population or something big like that.  Something they long since lost the ambition to do.

Yeah, I'd leave the Realm for sure.  If I couldn't go higher along the path, I'd go lower to the Human World like Ryuk did. 

[SpikesMrsSpooky]

Yeah, I can't imagine what kind of jobs they'd have.  I mean really!  Yeah, this one was in charge of maintaining the portals to the human realms, this other one was in charge of piling up bones, the other in charge of piling up rocks.  Dunno.

And there was nothing there. Everyone had lost all ambition or motivation to do anything.  Frankly, I'm amazed they even had the ambition to write names in their notebooks.

From the looks of the Re Light special, "Visions of a God" Ryuk looked to be freaked out enough by his experiences with Light that he withdrew to a cave to digest it all.  At least one other shinigami was curious or ambitious enough to want to start something.  This makes me wonder if Ryuk would rouse himself to take what he learned - that is, ambition and drive - to make something of the shinigami realm.  I mean, looking at the environment there, I don't know what is possible, but if his ambition even approached his curiosity, maybe he COULD make a difference there, and not have that diffrence solely involve the human realm.

[Meilag32]

Considering there were portals to the Human World, Death Notes, and the unique sight of the Shinigami, their job probably involved us in some deathly way.  After all, the Shinigami don't know where the Notes came from, so you must assume a greater plan was in place that they weren't aware of. 

It was write names or die.  But there were Shinigami like Sidoh who barely wrote enough names to keep going for an extended period of time. 

Ryuk did seem changed.  And for the better.  Some of Light must have rubbed off on him.  I remember thinking that Ryuk would be the catalyst for something big within the Realm. 

[SpikesMrsSpooky]

Yeah. I can't imagine what kind of jobs, but they could very well have involved us.  it would be fun to speculate, but we'd never know for sure.

I too like to think that Ryuk would be a catalyst for change in that realm because of his experiences with Light.   Changes for the better, because I too think that some of Light rubbed off on him.

I think some of Light may have rubbed off on Ryuk. Wouldn't it be funny if because of Light's influence Ryuk inspired the other shinigami to start killing criminals in the human realm?  Light was dead but his work would live on.

[Meilag32]

It would be funny.  Let's see Near stop that. 

[westpark]

They probably gamble bags of potato chips.