The influences behind Death Note

2003

Death Note

Tsugumi Ohba

Heisei. Japan. Written in Japanese.

Death Note (2003-2006), written by Tsugumi Ohba and drawn by Takeshi Obata for Weekly Shonen Jump, follows a student, Light Yagami, who finds a shinigami's notebook that kills anyone whose name is written in it, and the detective L who hunts him. It joins a cat-and-mouse detective duel to a Faustian bargain with a death god and a Raskolnikov-style theory of justified murder.

Where it came from

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1808

Faust, Part One

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Weimar Classicism. Germany. Written in German.

Verse drama in which the scholar Faust stakes his soul in a wager with the devil Mephistopheles, who follows him as a sardonic companion through seduction and ruin.

What it handed down

To Death Note (2003)

Thematic kinship, conjectural.

Ryuk, a bored supernatural being who attaches himself to a human, observes him with ironic detachment and will claim him at the end, plays the part Mephistopheles plays to Faust. The shinigami eye deal, half of one's remaining life traded for power, is a Faustian bargain. The resemblance is to the Faust tradition broadly; Ohba has not cited Goethe.

Where it came from

Historia von D. Johann Fausten, Anonymous 1587
Gospel of John, Anonymous c. 90 CE follow this thread
Book of Job, Anonymous c. 500 BCE follow this thread
Doctor Faustus, Christopher Marlowe c. 1592

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c. 1592

Doctor Faustus

Christopher Marlowe

Elizabethan. England. Written in English.

Tragedy of a scholar who sells his soul to Lucifer for twenty-four years of power served by Mephistopheles, and is dragged to hell when the term ends.

What it handed down

To Faust, Part One (1808)

Structural model, probable.

Marlowe's play, taken to Germany by English touring companies, became the basis of the German folk and puppet plays of Faust that Goethe saw as a boy. The scene structure of conjuring, pact and a servant devil passed to Goethe through those plays; he read Marlowe directly only later in life.

Where it came from

Historia von D. Johann Fausten, Anonymous 1587

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1587

Historia von D. Johann Fausten

Anonymous

German Reformation. Germany. Written in German.

Chapbook published by Johann Spies in Frankfurt telling how the magician Faust signed a pact in blood with the devil and was carried off at the end of its term.

What it handed down

To Faust, Part One (1808)

Direct source, well documented.

Goethe drew the figure of Faust, the pact, and episodes such as the conjuring scenes and the Helen story from the chapbook tradition descended from the 1587 Historia, which he knew in later versions and through puppet plays. He called the puppet play of Faust a memory of his childhood.

To Doctor Faustus (c. 1592)

Direct source, well documented.

Marlowe followed the English translation of the German chapbook, the English Faust Book by 'P.F.', closely for his plot: the bond signed in blood, the twenty-four years, the travels, and the final carrying off. Many speeches paraphrase its prose.

Where it came from

The Golden Legend (Legenda Aurea), Jacobus de Voragine c. 1260

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c. 1260

The Golden Legend (Legenda Aurea)

Jacobus de Voragine

High Middle Ages. Italy. Written in Latin.

Collection of saints' lives and feast-day stories, the most widely read devotional book of the late Middle Ages, which retells the legend of Theophilus and his pact with the devil.

What it handed down

To Historia von D. Johann Fausten (1587)

Thematic kinship, probable.

The Golden Legend spread the story of Theophilus, who signs a written contract with the devil for worldly advancement, throughout Europe. The Faustbuch's bond signed in blood is a Protestant version of this medieval pact story, but without the Virgin's rescue.

Where it came from

The Penitence of Theophilus, Paul the Deacon of Naples 9th century

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The Penitence of TheophilusPaul the Deacon of Naples

9th century

The Penitence of Theophilus

Paul the Deacon of Naples

Carolingian. Naples. Written in Latin.

Latin translation of the Greek legend of Theophilus, a church official who signs a written contract with the devil and is saved by the Virgin Mary.

What it handed down

To The Golden Legend (Legenda Aurea) (c. 1260)

Direct source, well documented.

Jacobus de Voragine retold the Theophilus legend in his chapter on the Nativity of the Virgin, following the Latin tradition that descends from Paul the Deacon's translation. The written pact, the repentance and the recovery of the document are kept.

Where it came from

The Legend of Theophilus, Eutychianus c. 6th century

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The Legend of TheophilusEutychianus

c. 6th century

The Legend of Theophilus

Eutychianus

Byzantine. Byzantine Anatolia. Written in Greek.

Greek account, attributed to a disciple named Eutychianus, of a cleric of Adana who renounces Christ in a sealed pact with the devil to regain his office.

What it handed down

To The Penitence of Theophilus (9th century)

Direct source, well documented.

Paul the Deacon of Naples translated the Greek account of Theophilus into Latin, dedicating it to Charles the Bald. This translation brought the legend into the Western church and its later literature.

Where it came from

Gospel of Matthew, Anonymous c. 80 CE

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c. 80 CE

Gospel of Matthew

Anonymous

Early Christian. Roman Syria-Palestine. Written in Koine Greek.

Canonical gospel that includes the temptation in the wilderness, where Satan offers Jesus all the kingdoms of the world in exchange for worship.

What it handed down

To The Legend of Theophilus (c. 6th century)

Thematic kinship, probable.

The legend dramatizes the temptation the Gospels describe, in which Satan offers worldly power for worship. Theophilus accepts what Jesus refused in Matthew 4, renouncing Christ in exchange for his office.

Where it came from

This is one of the oldest surviving works in its tradition; the line ends here.

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Where it came from

What it handed down

To Death Note (2003)

Where it came from

What it handed down

To Faust, Part One (1808)

Where it came from

What it handed down

To Faust, Part One (1808)

To Doctor Faustus (c. 1592)

Where it came from

What it handed down

To Historia von D. Johann Fausten (1587)

Where it came from

What it handed down

To The Golden Legend (Legenda Aurea) (c. 1260)

Where it came from

What it handed down

To The Penitence of Theophilus (9th century)

Where it came from

What it handed down

To The Legend of Theophilus (c. 6th century)

Where it came from

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