Death Note: L for Legacy

***SPOILERS in the case you have not read or watched, in which you should***



While even now I cannot help but grief the death of L, I am certain that it is the best possible way for him to die.

It is not just a death in battle, not just an honourable death dying trying. The way he died, he did not really lose to Kira, being tricked by a fake rule impossible to guess without testing (Mello tested and then confirmed with the deathgod) and being killed by a deathgod when one least expect. This way, he can still live up to his greatness (no pun intended).

In fact, his death not only befits that of the greatest detective in the world, it made him even greater.

The greatest make themselves dispensable. What someone indispensable can accomplish is limited to his lifetime but by passing down his skills, by inspiring others, his legacy can carry on long after his retirement (or death in L's case). L shows that his work can be picked up and continued even after his death (primarily through Watari which failed and then through Near and Mello). He inspired them to follow his model, to exceed him and to accomplish what he could not. He is already the greatest; he is not indispensable and thus he is even greater.

As how Kira is great not for eliminating evil but for bringing out the hatred of evil in his followers and the awareness of evil in his non followers.