Light vs L vs Lelouch...... most intelligent?

[† RazorDan]

Who do you think the most intelligent out of these three is, do not for who you like the most. IMO it's lelouch then L then Light.

[Edder]

you will get my vote as soon as i finish Code Geass. only started watching it this week. Death Note was amazing though!!

[mrheihachi]

Light is absolutely brilliant... and obviously the smartest... that's why he has to kill everyone else

[Koby]

Anyone who can honestly say Lelouche is the most intelligent simply does not know what true intelligence really means (or simply never seen Death Note and just voted unfairly). He never could adjust to the situation and if anything changed in his plans his whole plan was f**ked. The only reason he managed to get by was because of some new dues ex machina introduced to advance the plot and he had 'main character plot armor' to protect and save him from his failed planned because he was unable to adapt his plans to the situation at hand.

Lelouche had to plan his plans in advance and couldn't make a new one on the spot when it called for it. L and Light both were intelligent enough to adapt to the situation and change their plan according to the situation at hand in an instant.

That alone is enough to prove Lelouche wasn't intelligent at all.

Next is to judge Light vs. L.

Light managed to beat L (if you consider L dying a defeat), however L had long since figured it out, he only needed to prove it. He had actually pretty much the whole thing in the back when Light decided to trick the Shinigami into using her own life to rob L of his to save Misa. Light didn't actually beat L he had to trick a Shinigami because he had actually lost.

[† RazorDan]

koby koby koby. Sorry my friend, I disagree with you. Lelouch was unpredictable. IMO Light and L just fought against each other, so there was a smaller chance of their plans going wrong. Lelouch took on a whole empire. I can't remember Death Note completely so can't really comment on it too much, but NO ONE knew what Lelouch would do next, remember the finale. L and Light, sure they were smart but Lelouch had to beat lots of enemies, they didn't.

[Nero D. Ace]

Light managed to beat L (if you consider L dying a defeat), however L had long since figured it out, he only needed to prove it. He had actually pretty much the whole thing in the back when Light decided to trick the Shinigami into using her own life to rob L of his to save Misa. Light didn't actually beat L he had to trick a Shinigami because he had actually lost.

L actually started to doubt himself after Light managed to prove his innocence by doing the whole Notebook exchange thing. Everyone in the Kira Task Force were convinced of his innocence after that, so much that they made him the next "L".

If it were a game, then Light's goal was to find "L"'s name and kill him while L's goal was to find evidence incriminating Light. In terms of tricks, Light was able to plan a couple more steps ahead and gain the upper hand.

The only reason he lost against Near was because there were 2 of them - Near and Mellow and because of the fact that Near "cheated", if you will. If i had to tell who the most "intelligent" is however, I'd go -

1. L
   
2. Lelouch
   
3. Light
   

L was the world's greatest detective. But even he couldn't do anything against a supernatural God of Death.

Lelouch was a military strategist. Whenever his plans didn't go right, he was in a jam. But considering that he was able to pull off what he did being a single guy with Geass against the entire Brittanian Empire as well as his final "sacrificial" move, I'd say he's the second most "intelligent"

Light, I would consider to be the least "intelligent" among the three. He simply killed people by writing their names in his notebook. Finding out their names took "cunning", not intelligence.

[Koby]

Lelouch was unpredictable. IMO Light and L just fought against each other, so there was a smaller chance of their plans going wrong. Lelouch took on a whole empire. I can't remember Death Note completely so can't really comment on it too much, but NO ONE knew what Lelouch would do next, remember the finale. L and Light, sure they were smart but Lelouch had to beat lots of enemies, they didn't.

Unpredictable does not = intelligence though. Fighting an army vs.. fighting a genius doesn't point to being intelligent either. You have yet to provide any basis for your argument sorry but you need to go watch both series again.

True intelligence is being able to adapt. Which is something Lelouche was never capable of.

Lelouche had a false sense of intelligence brought on by the use of deus ex machina to further the story time and time again. Many people seem to have fell for it.

[† RazorDan]

Don't want to debate the true meaning of intelligence with you man, but I admit I need to see Death Note again. All I can say at this point is this: that smartness didnt help them in the end except for Lelouch, he's still alive.

They both failed. L died trusting someone who he knew wasn't trustworthy. That doesn't sound very intelligent and strikes me as foolish.

[Koby]

Don't want to debate the true meaning of intelligence with you man, but I admit I need to see Death Note again. All I can say at this point is this: that smartness didnt help them in the end except for Lelouch, he's still alive.

They both failed. L died trusting someone who he knew wasn't trustworthy. That doesn't sound very intelligent and strikes me as foolish.

L didn't really trust him, he just knew the fundamentals of keep your friends close and your enemies closer. He died when he figured something out and something that Light had said to the Shinigami about Misa's future if L ever got proof scared the Shinigami into giving her own life to kill L. Which Light did because that Shinigami was threatening Light's life if something were to happen to Misa so he killed two birds with one stone by tricking her into killing both L and herself. The fact remains L knew Light was guilty pretty much from the beginning, just he never could get proof because they live in a world where supernatural powers did not exist. The only reason Light lost in the end wasn't even something that had to do with him. He lost and died because of a mistake Mikami had made.

As for Lelouche, it's true he was the only one of the three to survive at the end of his series, but honestly if you've ever seen an Anime, Hollywood movie, read a book, etc.. you usually see that the people who survive merely did it upon dumb luck. True his planned worked great in the end, but then no one knew it was a plan but Suzaku and therefore not really anyway it could have went wrong. He had survived up to that point not because of his intelligence (which is debatable) but rather the character plot armor and the deus ex machina (I feel like I keep repeating myself). The end was a piece of cake to accomplish once you get to that point. Sure it was a decent enough of a plan, but there were other possible outcomes that could have happened as well that didn't necessarily have to involve his death or the faking of his death, he was just unable to come up with such a plan so he brought all hate unto himself then faked his death to end the hatred in the world.

[† RazorDan]

L didn't really trust him, he just knew the fundamentals of keep your friends close and your enemies closer. He died when he figured something out and something that Light had said to the Shinigami about Misa's future if L ever got proof scared the Shinigami into giving her own life to kill L. Which Light did because that Shinigami was threatening Light's life if something were to happen to Misa so he killed two birds with one stone by tricking her into killing both L and herself. The fact remains L knew Light was guilty pretty much from the beginning, just he never could get proof because they live in a world where supernatural powers did not exist. The only reason Light lost in the end wasn't even something that had to do with him. He lost and died because of a mistake Mikami had made.

As for Lelouche, it's true he was the only one of the three to survive at the end of his series, but honestly if you've ever seen an Anime, Hollywood movie, read a book, etc.. you usually see that the people who survive merely did it upon dumb luck. True his planned worked great in the end, but then no one knew it was a plan but Suzaku and therefore not really anyway it could have went wrong. He had survived up to that point not because of his intelligence (which is debatable) but rather the character plot armor and the deus ex machina (I feel like I keep repeating myself). The end was a piece of cake to accomplish once you get to that point. Sure it was a decent enough of a plan, but there were other possible outcomes that could have happened as well that didn't necessarily have to involve his death or the faking of his death, he was just unable to come up with such a plan so he brought all hate unto himself then faked his death to end the hatred in the world.

Nice little debate lol.

Lelouch was extremely smart. He had the ability to interpret what people said before they said it. When he got Schneizel in the end, he was able to predict everything that his arch rival, a man who to him was equal to how Light was to L, said. He defeated his nemesis and even got him on his side. Remember mao? he was obsessed with cc. Lelouch was able to predict the questions he would ask and answer them, and even paused at breaks he thought maow would speak at. Intelligence or what? Suzaku hated Lelouch's guts. He was determined to kill him and yet Lelouch managed to manipulate him into taking on the world's expectations whilst he went off with C.C. Lelouch succeeded and whilst you say it was luck or he could 'only fake his death'. Remember that wasn't his original plan. His plan was to defeat his father and Brittania whilst making the world a better place for his sister. Suzaku betrayed him, Schneizel taunted him and his father disowned him. He managed to get his revenge on all three, complete his original plan AND run away for an immortal life with C.C.

Where did L end up? In a grave.

[Koby]

Nice little debate lol.

Lelouch was extremely smart. He had the ability to interpret what people said before they said it. When he got Schneizel in the end, he was able to predict everything that his arch rival, a man who to him was equal to how Light was to L, said. He defeated his nemesis and even got him on his side. Remember mao? he was obsessed with cc. Lelouch was able to predict the questions he would ask and answer them, and even paused at breaks he thought maow would speak at. Intelligence or what? Suzaku hated Lelouch's guts. He was determined to kill him and yet Lelouch managed to manipulate him into taking on the world's expectations whilst he went off with C.C. Lelouch succeeded and whilst you say it was luck or he could 'only fake his death'. Remember that wasn't his original plan. His plan was to defeat his father and Brittania whilst making the world a better place for his sister. Suzaku betrayed him, Schneizel taunted him and his father disowned him. He managed to get his revenge on all three, complete his original plan AND run away for an immortal life with C.C.

Where did L end up? In a grave.

Pure intelligence alone could never have guessed 100% where a person would speak at, let alone what they'd say. After all the very thing that makes us human is our unpredictability which Lelouche was unable to account for in most of his strategies. The fact that he could guess their words and timing was some of the crap I talked about when I talked about plot armor and deus ex machina because the writers couldn't come up with decent plans to further their plot that actually made sense. So on the battle field Lelouche couldn't predict their moves and often got his plans ruined, yet when it called for it he could miraculously predict everything people would say? It simply doesn't make sense. That and add to it that Lelouche didn't come up with new methods but rather used the exact same thing on Schneizel as he did on Mao to conqueror both of them. Either way I look at this, I don't see any intelligence, only a lack of an idea on how to progress the story any other way that could be believable. Again, humans are unpredictable and the fact Lelouche could predict what they were going to say just shows this is an Anime where the creators failed at acknowledging the very thing that makes us human.

[† RazorDan]

oh well, I give up lol

[Nero D. Ace]

oh well, I give up lol

NOT SO FAST!

Well, if you listen closely when Lelouch leaves the recording for his Schneizel, he uses real general wordings and only gives slight pauses between sentences.

He didn't actually predict what Schneizel was saying, he was just stalling for time by thinking what their conversation would be like if they met and then filling up the most general form of his dialogues on tape.

Fighting against a single individual like this is different from fighting on the battlefield. There are a lot of variables to take into account, like a certain kamikaze pilot who suddenly took down the front line and blew himself up. Plans as long planned as these are bound to have some breakdowns and that's why it's up to the Commander to compromise with the best next plan.

[Tommy071095]

I would say they are all at the same level of intelligence,but in different manners.And also what is true intelligence?

[shyguysteve]

L is duh, he never goes away, even after death his disciples carry on his work and genius.

[matidiaolo]

It's L clearly ahead of the rest. Think about the success of the other 2: is there something in common? hmm, maybe the fact that they got some superpower??? At least a great portion of the success has to do with their powers and not their skills. On the contrary, L did not possess any super-power and he was great beforehand. The fact that he died had to do with his great disadvantage of trying to prove something that was really hard to be done.

In terms of manipulating people though, I think that Light and Lelouch are slightly better.

[EXE.Fate]

Lelouch FTW, Why not? He was able to change the world which is something neither L nor Light could do. Besides his powers of PERSUASION beats theirs anyday

[MISHNAM]

light due to the fact he was able to throw suspicion off himself and eventually create a situation to get the death god to kill L

---------- Post added at 12:33 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:31 AM ----------

I think that L is also worthy of a mention although he did have that whole autistic tick thing going on

[FluidX]

I'd go with Light hes just badass

[TheLostFool]

Well as subjective as this question and the definition of intelligence is I will put in my 2 cents. First lets take into account intelligence isn't as simple and static as some might be led to believe. In fact their are many different schools of thought as to what intelligence is and how it is gauged. Many of these schools of thought believe that there are in fact several different types of intelligence, that intelligence doesn't fall into one kind of category. But since this isn't a serious conversation as to the meaning of intelligence nor will it really touch base on the actual psychological aspects of it. I shall keep my answer in the realm of my opinion as everyone else is. As stated at the opening of my response this is a purely subjective question hence all answers will be equally subjective. Though it would be interesting to have this debate in a more serious tone with others who have studied psychology as well, that would be quite enjoyable.

But in any case, I believe the most 'Intelligent" character of the 3 is without a doubt Lelouch. For the simple fact that he is the only one out of the three who was actually able to complete what he set out to do and remain alive. Both Light and L met their demises before completing what they set out to do, in fact i believe they were full of themselves. And also the opponents and situations Light and L faced compared to Lelouch was much smaller in size, quality, and quantify. Also I completely disagree with the thought that humans are unpredictable. That is a complete and utter fallacy. On the contrary humans and civilizations are very predictable and have been since antiquity. There is a reason why History is often compared to an endless waltz, because much like the waltz the motions of history repeat itself. And if one were able to understand the motives and feelings behind the actions of people, it is quite easy to read people reactions and moves before they know it. Freuds works touch on this. The ability to foresee the actions before others do it is definitely a sign of intelligence. In fact that is what all good strategies strive to do, from war to chess it is all about reading your opponents moves. And truly all you have to do to be able to predict anothers actions is to understand their mindset and where they are coming from. Lulouch did something incredible, taking warring factions and people of different backgrounds into coming together against a common enemy. Some people mistake complexity for intelligence, but that again is a fallacy. Just because a plan doesn't seem overly and obnoxiously complex doesn't mean it lacks in intelligence. On the contrary its rather pretentious to believe such. In the end perhaps Lulouch's plan seemed rather simple, but as simple as it was it was effective. The more complex a process or plan is, the more areas and chances it has to fail. Now given those two options simple and effect to complex, clearly the latter is not the most intelligent.

And in the end Lulouch is the one who still breathes with his goal completed, where as L and Light are dead with their plans unfulfilled. Intelligence does nothing for those who are already dead.