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Writing Update: Tales from the Ryuzaki Files - Prologue, Chapters 2/23, Epilogue

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2,000 KIRIBAN: See this [link] journal entry for details.

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DISCLAIMER: This is not an official theory. This is not endorsed by the writers of Death Note. There is no official proof of any of this in the story. It's just a theory to explain some odd coincidental behaviour. Some people have put forward theories that Near has Asperger's Syndrome, or that he is not blind but behaves this way for other reasons. They, providing they utilise evidence from the manga, are just as valid as this theory. Please do not take this as a universal truth, but a nice and coincidental possibility.

UPDATED to contain a section pertaining to Near and his efforts to find [SPOILER FOR VOLUME 11] Mikami by watching multiple videos at the same time.

Nia/Near and Albinism (Edited May 25, 2007):

Those people who have read the manga Death Note may find this vaguely interesting. I've been a bit apprehensive about writing the next chapter in my fanfic, because I have to introduce the two other leads - Mero and Nia. It's kind of scary for me, since their first appearance will pretty much define their characters for the whole story. I have a good feel for Ryuzaki now, and Mero is coming along nice, but up until yesterday I didn't know what to do with Nia. He seemed very . . . bland somehow. I mean, we have Ryuzaki and his lovely INTJ habits, Mero with his rage against anything organized and happy, and Nia with . . . well, nothing but some apparently very random quirks that do not work together in the same way that Ryuzaki's do.

I'm so glad that I waited to write that chapter. On a whim, just a whim, I looked up "albinism" yesterday on Wikipedia. Nia has white hair, you see. I wanted to know if there were any medical issues that went along with albinism. I was floored. The medical characteristics of albinism explain almost every single one of Nia's strange behaviours. Observe:

1) In the flashback scene to Wammy's House, Nia is seen playing inside with a puzzle. When asked to go outside by the other kids, he declines and says that he is fine. This is interpreted by the children as just being general antisocial behaviour. He also spends most of his time with the SPK inside, in a darkened room.

Reasoning: Albinism leads to extreme sensitivity to the sun, both with skin and eyes. Individuals with albinism burn easily, and due to a lack of pigment in their irises, can be overexposed to sunlight because the light enters their eyes through both their pupils *and* their irises. Nia doesn't go outside because, literally, it probably hurts him to be exposed to the sun.

2) Nia often bends over to look at his puzzle. He also holds papers close to his face, makes odd expressions when studying text, and likes to sit on the floor when playing with his toys. He's eccentric, right?

Reasoning: Actually no, he's not. One of the defining medical characteristics of albinism is trouble with vision. Individuals with Type 1 albinism (which Nia has) nearly always have eyesight in the range of 20/200 to 20/400. 20/200 is considered legally blind in most countries if it is not corrected. They are also prone to astigmatism, lazy or wandering eyes, and several types of deformaties in the optical nerve. So, in fact, Nia is not acting strange; he is simply adjusting to the fact that he cannot *see anything*. The expressions he makes (see the chapters when he is squinting with one eye open and the other half closed) are his trying to focus without glasses. Laying on the floor also accomplishes two things. It keeps him close to the Earth center of gravity, so that he is in no danger of tripping and falling. It also allows him to get closer to what he's working/playing with at the moment. I asked my sister (who has very poor eyesight), and people with over 20/200 vision can't see a hand a foot away from their face. Their world literally exists in a space that's about two feet wide. Look at the manga, and check those measurements. Yes, Nia reacts to things around him, but his *immediate attention* is held by objects within about a two foot radius around him. Coincidence? No. He holds things to his face for a reason.

3) Nia doesn't move around much. He also seems to have poor aim when playing darts. He's not very athletic, is he?

Reasoning: Yes, he probably isn't. Not everyone is athletic. But his apparent lethargy and poor aim can also be explained, again, by his eye sight. If you can't see, moving around can be difficult. Nia may find it easier to remain in one place than to move. Unlike people who pace when they think, he curls up and stays still. Also, we don't see Nia playing any games other than darts. He seems to avoid games which involve hand eye coordination. When he does play darts, he misses the board horribly every time. This is, in light of the earlier comments, because he can't see very well. Why play, then? It's a challenge of course, and he likes challenges. The misses wouldn't seem sad to him, but instead an attempt to try and conquer a game that he's just not very good at.

4) Nia seems to ignore others when he is talking. He rarely looks at them, and when he does, it seems to be with an uninterested or often vague expression. This is often interpreted as a lack of interest, or an inability to connect with other people. For example, when Mero comes to speak to him later on in the second story arc, Nia hardly turns around to speak to him - he's ignoring him, right?

Reasoning: Yes, but not because he's being rude. This behaviour is most easily explained as a learned habit due to Nia's poor eyesight. Individuals who are nearly or fully blind will look in the general direction of a speaker, but not maintain eye contact - or they will not look in their direction at all. Most chose to look out of curteousy, but the truth is that people with 20/200 vision without glasses cannot see a thing past their own feet. It's very possible that Nia's apparent and extreme introversion is a combination of his personality and of the fact that he can't connect with other people because he can't see them. When Mero comes to see Nia, Nia doesn't turn to look at him - but this isn't a brush off. Nia hardly looks at members of his own team. You'd think if he could see Mero, that after six years he'd actually want to have a look at him. But if he can't see him, what would be the point? And if he turned to look at him, and *didn't* comment on the scar on his face (or anything else Mero may have happened to have acquired over the years), that would be perceived as even more rude.

5) Nia always wears white clothes - this is just a symbolic contrast to Mero's black wardrobe, right?

Reasoning: Yes, but the white also serves a very practical purpose. White clothing reflects sunlight extremely well. Individuals who are sunsensitive can actually burn through clothing, so Nia, being extremely sensitive to sunlight, would want to wear as light an outfit as possible to keep the sunlight off of his skin. A simple, yet effective, measure to keep burns away.

6) Nia seems very withdrawn from everyone. He hardly seems disturbed by the events of Chapters 58 to 59 and 99 to 108. Does he just not care about anyone, or is there something else going on?

Reasoning: Good question. Given what happens, you'd think Nia would have shown a bigger reaction. But we have to remember one thing, first, before we discuss this in the light of his albinism - we do not see Nia's direct reaction to those events. We only see him afterwards, in a high stress situation, being forced to discuss the events in a calm and rational manner. For all we know, he could have bawled his eyes out for hours afterwards. Granted, we see the same thing when he speaks to Roger at The Wammy's House. Does he really just not care, then? No, he most certainly does care. That is shown at the end of the manga, during his speech to Light. Nia says outright that he respected L a great deal, and that he and Mero both wanted to be like him. Nia's reaction to the events of Chapters 58 and 99/100 can therefore be explained by two things. First, Nia is an introverted person. He likely experienced some sort of trauma which lead to him arriving at the orphanage, and from that may be naturally withdrawn. His method of coping with stress may literally be hard denial of any emotions whatsoever. Second, one can look at the effect of his eyesight on his personality, and how that affects his introversion. It's quite possible that Nia is the type of person who does not feel things unless he sees them. He will accept events having happened, but they are not made real to him until he actually realizes that people/things/etc. are no longer there to talk to him/help him/etc. His poor eyesight may have even contributed to a bit of a mindset where nothing around him really feels real to him, except what he can see in front of his face. It's not that he doesn't care - it's just that he's been trained to ignore things except what he can see. He is in happy (or unhappy) denial of traumatic events, and pretends that they didn't matter a thing to him. This also explains his apparent inability to connect personally with other people - they don't exist in his two by two foot world, so he cannot emotionally connect with them. Now, you may say, there are visually impaired individuals who lead happy and loving lives with families - why is Nia any different? I would say that each situation is unique, and while people with eye trouble may display these behaviours, not all of them do. A equals B, but B does not necessarily equal C. Therefore, while some people find ways to connect through their other senses, Nia has just decided (conciously or subconciously) to withdraw completely. A combination of past history and current medical problems likely combines to make one very bad case of introverted denial in reaction to traumatic events.

7) It is never mentioned in the manga that Nia has red eyes - he can't be albino, can he?

Reasoning: This is a common misconception based on misinformation about albinism. Most individuals with albinism have very pale blue eyes - red or purple eyes are extremely rare, and are due to blood vessels surfacing in the eye close to the irises. As a side note, there are several types of albinism, three of which do not lead to white hair and skin. Light blond hair, red hair (when experienced by people of darker skin tones), and tanning are all possible within certain kinds of albinism. Nia has the most extreme kind, which leads to white hair, very pale skin, and extremely ice blue eyes.

8) Why, oh why, if he has all of these problems, does he not wear glasses?

Reasoning: This is a very difficult question which I will attempt to answer. I will start at the beginning, during his time at The Wammy's House. I am almost certain that someone somewhere along the line (perhaps even Ryuzaki or Mero) would have noticed Nia's odd behaviour. He also likely would have been seen by a doctor at some point during his stay at The Wammy's House. Why then does he not wear glasses? The truth of the matter - that he does seem to have eye trouble, and that he does not take measures to correct it - cannot be escaped when one looks closely at the manga. I would like to wager a guess and say that he may have worn lenses during a brief time at Wammy's House, and then cast them off later because they were an identifying feature. As strange as this sounds, Nia, as a successor of L, would not want to make himself more noticeable. While Mero bases most of his strategy on things like shock value, Nia is all about carefully hiding away and hacking away at problems one little piece at a time. He already has white hair, which is memorable enough - but glasses are another feature that make someone identifiable. They are also a *known weakness*. I'll freely admit - I wear glasses, but if someone knocked them off me, I could still see. However, someone like Nia wouldn't be able to see at all without them. Therefore, it's quite possible that he intentionally chose to not become dependent on them, and instead developed a lifestyle of adaptation which allows him to live and function without actually being able to see. This may seem unbelievable, but there are thousands of people who cannot read who get through daily life without anyone ever suspecting them of illiteracy. The same also holds true for contact lenses - though they are not obvious, they can pop out at inconvenient times. Nia would still be completely reliable on them in order to see. It's also possible that Nia, who is a withdrawn and introverted character naturally, feels more comfortable *not* being able to see things. He may find that he can concentrate better if his personal world is very small. By the time he ends up working with the SPK, he has already adjusted - and I doubt that anyone there would mention his odd habits, as they are perceived to be just that, odd habits.

Additional Questions (Added February 2, 2007):

9) If Nia is supposed to be albino, how is it that he has very dark eyes in the manga?

Reasoning: To be honest, I see this as a stylistic difference between different sets of characters in the manga. First, I would like to draw careful attention to the eyes of the rest of the characters. You may have noticed that three characters, specifically, share a very unique eye/iris design: L/Ryuzaki, Mero, and Nia. All three of them are drawn with pitch black eyes. The possibility of them also all having extremely dark brown eyes is extremely small. Therefore, I work under the assumption that the eyes accomplish three things in regards to these characters. First, the identical eyes link them thematically, meaning that L and his successors all function with at least one identical feature. Second, the eyes create a feeling of depth within the character's face and intellect; it is extremely unnerving to look at them, because you feel as though you are looking into empty pits. From an artistic perspective, this is intentional, because it gives a certain feeling to the characters that some or many readers (and indeed, characters in the story) cannot quite place their finger on. Finally, the black eyes may accomplish all of this, and still not denote the actual iris colour of the characters. Drawing from Ryuzaki's composition in the anime, I can say that his eyes are not dark, but in fact extremely dilated. That is to say, the pupils are extremely large, and create the impression that the blackness of the pupil is actually the eye itself. Therefore, I will assume that the same will be shown when Mero and Nia premiere in the anime. I will also assume, then, that Mero and Nia also have extremely dilated eyes, and in fact, their eye colour is not indicated. This implies that Nia may indeed have extremely pale eyes, which are not shown directly for artistic and logical reasons. (Also, it can be noted that Nia's eyes would be very, very dilated from him spending so much time in darkened rooms - at least in terms of the later fragments of the manga.)

Question edited August 27th, 2008:

It's been mentioned to me several times that Near has "dark eyes" in the anime or manga, which is an incorrect statement. Although it's not made explicit in the manga if his eyes are dark or simply dilated (the later makes more sense given the realistic art style utilised in Death Note), the anime shows Near with extremely dilated pupils surrounded by grey/blue irises. This would make sense if Near were in fact albino. We never see him in bright/direct sunlight, and given that he spends most of his time in darkened rooms (even though they are lit by computer monitors), it would make sense that his eyes are this dilated. My initial assumption, that Near's eyes would be like Ryuzaki's eyes as shown in the anime, did end up being correct.

SPOILERS for Chapter 100 onward:

10) If Nia is so blind, how can he see Ryuk in the final few chapters of the manga?

Reasoning: This is an extremely good question, and one that captured my attention when I read the later chapters of Death Note with Nia's albinism in mind. The first thing I thought of was, what the heck? Nia, of course, pays little attention to anyone during the scene. He barely looks at Light, which goes along well with his eye sight, as well as his general personality. Why, after all, would he give the suspected Kira the time of day? However, there is one moment in this scene which directly contradicts everything previously supposed for Nia: How is it that he can see Ryuk and comment on his general form and appearance? According to my sister, who, as mentioned above, has very poor eyesight, Nia would be able to see the general shape and image of Ryuk, even at a fair distance. He would, however, not be able to discern specific things. BUT . . . if we think back to Nia when he was playing with his tarot cards, the image on those cards was the stereotypical image of Death - that of a cloaked skeleton with a scythe. Nia would have been able to see Ryuk well enough to figure out that Ryuk was not hunched over, and did not carry some large instrument in his hands. Therefore, Nia's statment that Ryuk did not look like how he expected a death god to look was likely driven by Nia's western interpretation of "Death", and by the fact that Ryuk, quite obviously, does not look anything like what would be expected by someone who sees death as a cloaked figure with a scythe. This is not to say that Nia is not familiar with other death myths, but it would be a sufficiently logical guess to say that, given the hint granted by the tarot cards, he does subscribe, and least personally, to the stereotypical image of death. After all, very few people expect to meet a death god. Finally, I would like to add that, although this is highly improbable and has no real evidence to support it in the manga, it's possible that Nia did choose to wear contact lenses during the final confrontation. If he had expected to see the god of death, which he would have, given what Mero had told him previously, he would have wanted to be able to see him properly. This is assuming, of course, that he assumed he could not see well enough without them to at least see the presence of Ryuk. There is no proof to back up this observation, but if Nia is assumed to have albinism, and to not wear glasses, it is a reasonable secondary hypothesis to explain the events of the final volume.

Additional Questions (Added May 25, 2007):

11) SPOILERS for VOLUME 11: If Nia is blind, how can he see the monitors when he's trying to search for Mikami on the DVD videos?

Reasoning: Another very good question, and one I have been meaning to address for a while now. In order to address this, however, we must first study the scene where Nia is watching videos and speaking to Rester about trying to find Mikami. In this scene, the mangaka has gone to the effort of drawing the kanji for television sound effects onto the visual panel. This is made to seem very obvious to the reader. So, my theory hinges to two points, then: Why would Nia have the sound turned on at all if he is watching the videos? And, how would he be able to watch all the videos at once? Even a person with 20/20 vision would be required to turn sideways to see videos to the side or behind them. And, in that situation, they would then miss videos that are playing in front of them or to the opposite side of them. What this means is that if Nia were watching the videos, he would be missing information that he could not see from some of the monitors because they were be past the field of vision for even a perfect with perfect vision. I honestly could not see Nia doing this, since he could miss a key bit of evidence by not watching the right screen at the right time. I will therefore argue that Nia is not watching the videos at all, but is in fact listening to them. Yes, he could see the screens that are closer to his face - but he could also be listening for a common voice in all of the videos. And truthfully, Nia spots Mikami because of his speeches and presence at two events, not because of his simple presence. As for Nia's eyes darting around to follow sound: if you watch the panels closely, Nia is not watching all the screens anyway. He is following a select view, and his eyes seem to be darting in random directions. He is, quite simply, following the sound of what he is hearing. If Nia were to have exceptional hearing, as this implies, it would fall well into the theory of him having poor eyesight, as many individuals who are blind navigate by sound or develop exceptional skills with their other senses.

Additional Thoughts on Glasses/Contacts: A very kind person enlightened me to the fact that albinism induced blindness cannot always (or at all) be corrected with glasses. Apparently it leads to a sort of dimming of vision rather than a complete near-sighted state. I'm going to do more research into this to see what the facts are, and when I find some official official sources, I'll post the information here.


Conclusion: The writers of Death Note do not do things by accident. If you look at Mero's real name, Mihael Keehl, you can trace it back to Slovenia - a country that was approximately 90% Catholic at the time of his birth. Coincidence that he wears a Catholic Rosary around his neck? No. Coincidence that Nia has all of these seemingly random quirks about him? No. Absolutely not. Though I feel the reasoning behind his lack of glasses is a bit of a stretch, within the realm of Nia's developed character, it is actually quite believable. Nia, in his own way, has done things to keep himself annonymous, as well a safe. A weakness in this instance is likely better hidden than to be paraded around for all to see. And no, I am not saying there is anything wrong with glasses - I wear them myself. But all it would take would be one swing, and Nia would be completely blind. His reasoning therefore seems very sound. Why become dependent, when you can adapt independently? And there is no doubt that Nia is still a bit eccentric. After all, he is a teenager that plays with toys nearly 24/7. But, in the end, he's perhaps not as 'strange' as most people believe him to be.



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