Death Note Ownership Transfers
 

Source - Death Note Official Guide Book - How to Read pp144 - 147

SPOILERS all the way till the end! Read at your own risk!

Transfer of Ownership Rights Between the Various Death Notes

In total, there are four Death Notes. Of which three are seen throughout, the fourth is Ryuk's own DN and he rarely uses it. (Since he's too lazy to. :D )

First Arc

1. In the beginning

DN1 (The first in the story, the one with English instructions on it)
Shinigami - Shidou
Human owner - N/A

DN2
Shinigami - Jealous
Human owner - N/A

DN3
Shinigami - Rem
Human owner - N/A

2. Ryuk cons Shidou of his DN, in which he deliberately drops it into the human world. And the story begins here

DN1
Shinigami - Ryuk
Human owner - Light

DN2
Shinigami - Jealous
Human owner - N/A

DN3
Shinigami - Rem
Human owner - N/A

3. Jealous falls in love with Misa. When the time comes for Misa to die, Jealous extends Misa's life instead and dies in her place. Rem retrieves Jealous's DN and gives it to Misa.

DN1
Shinigami - Ryuk
Human owner - Light

DN2
Shinigami - Rem
Human owner - Misa

DN3
Shinigami - Rem
Human owner - N/A

4. Misa gets captured by L. She relinquishes ownership of her DN rather than talk, and Rem comes to Light asking him to save Misa by giving him DN2.

DN1
Shinigami - Ryuk
Human owner - Light

DN2
Shinigami - Rem
Human owner - Light

DN3
Shinigami - Rem
Human owner - N/A

5. Light begins his masterplan. He first asks Ryuk and Rem to exchange their DNs...

DN1
Shinigami - Rem
Human owner - Light

DN2
Shinigami - Ryuk
Human owner - Light

DN3
Shinigami - Rem
Human owner - N/A

6. ...He then relinquishes ownership of DN1 and sends Rem off. He buries DN2 in a forest but has Ryuk follow him. Afterwards, he voluntarily has himself imprisoned.

DN1
Shinigami - Rem
Human owner - N/A

DN2
Shinigami - Ryuk
Human owner - Light

DN3
Shinigami - Rem
Human owner - N/A

7. Once the time was right, Light relinquishes ownership of DN2 as well.

DN1
Shinigami - Rem
Human owner - N/A

DN2
Shinigami - Ryuk
Human owner - N/A

DN3
Shinigami - Rem
Human owner - N/A

8. A few weeks later, Rem chooses Higuchi as the new owner of DN1. The amnesiac Light joins forces with L to track Higuchi down.

DN1
Shinigami - Rem
Human owner - Higuchi

DN2
Shinigami - Ryuk
Human owner - N/A

DN3
Shinigami - Rem
Human owner - N/A

9. Once Higuchi is captured, and upon recovering his memories, Light promptly has Higuchi killed off and ownership of DN1 is transferred to Light. Thanks to the fake rules, DN1 falls into the Investigative HQ for "safekeeping".

DN1
Shinigami - Rem
Human owner - Light
Custody - HQ

DN2
Shinigami - Ryuk
Human owner - N/A

DN3
Shinigami - Rem
Human owner - N/A

10. Light has Misa recover DN2 and begin her killing spree again.

DN1
Shinigami - Rem
Human owner - Light
Custody - HQ

DN2
Shinigami - Ryuk
Human owner - Misa

DN3
Shinigami - Rem
Human owner - N/A

11. In order to protect Misa from getting captured again, Rem has L and Watari killed, at the cost of her own life. Light recovers Rem's DN from her "ashes".

DN1
Shinigami - N/A
Human owner - Light
Custody - HQ

DN2
Shinigami - Ryuk
Human owner - Misa

DN3
Shinigami - N/A
Human owner - Light

Second Arc in next post

Continued from above

Second Arc

1. The beginning. After L's death, HQ has decided that Yagami Souichirou will keep the DN for safekeeping. Since Light hasn't been using this note for quite some time, ownership was transferred to his dad as well. Light and Misa mainly use DN3 for their killing spree.

DN1
Shinigami - N/A
Human owner - Souichirou

DN2
Shinigami - Ryuk
Human owner - Misa

DN3
Shinigami - N/A
Human owner - Light

2. Mello kidnaps Yagami Sayu. Souichirou is forced to hand over DN1 to Mello's gang. Mello's lackey, Snyder was designated as its new human owner.

DN1
Shinigami - N/A
Human owner - Snyder
Custody - Mello

DN2
Shinigami - Ryuk
Human owner - Misa

DN3
Shinigami - N/A
Human owner - Light

3. Shidou decides he wants his DN back, so he comes to the human world looking for it and comes across Mello.

At the same time, Light has Ryuk possess DN3, relinquishes control of DN3 and then sends him and DN3 to the Japan HQ in the name of Kira. Souichirou volunteers to become its new owner and possess the Shinigami eyes.

To make sure he doesn't lose his memories, Light has DN2 secretly strapped to his body.

DN1
Shinigami - Shidou
Human owner - Snyder
Custody - Mello

DN2
Shinigami - Ryuk
Human owner - Misa
Custody - Light

DN3
Shinigami - Ryuk
Human owner - Souichirou

4. DN1 was recovered, but at the cost of Souichirou's life. Light regains ownership of DN3. As DN1 is of no use to him, he returns it to Shidou, and DN1 is no longer relevant to this story.

DN1
Shinigami - Shidou
Human owner - N/A

DN2
Shinigami - Ryuk
Human owner - Misa

DN3
Shinigami - Ryuk
Human owner - Light
Custody - HQ

5. Light sends a bunch of Kira fanatics to try and smoke Near out, but was outsmarted by Near instead. Now the Japan HQ suspects Light. Before they decide to place him under heavy surveillance, Light instructs Misa to transfer ownership of DN2 to Mikami.

DN2
Shinigami - Ryuk
Human owner - Mikami

DN3
Shinigami - Ryuk
Human owner - Light
Custody - HQ

6. SPK agent Giovanni begins to stalk Mikami and eventually discovers his DN. Upon learning this, Near orders Giovanni to steal Mikami's DN and replace it with a fake. Unbeknownst to Near, Light has already anticipated this and has Mikami hide the real thing in "somewhere safe", while deliberately allowing Near to swap a fake with another fake.

During this time, the actual killing of criminals is done by official Kira spokesperson Takada Kiyomi using some of the torn pages sent to her by Mikami, while Mikami pretends to play dumb and even allows Giovanni see him "kill" someone using the fake DN he carries.

Once everything is in place, Near makes an appointment to meet Light......

DN2
Shinigami - Ryuk
Human owner - Mikami
Custody (some pages) - Takada Kiyomi
DN2 now hidden in Mikami's safety deposit box

DN3
Shinigami - Ryuk
Human owner - Light
Custody - HQ

7. A few days before the showdown between Light and Near, Mello decides to make his move by kidnapping Kiyomi. Light has anticipated something like this may happen, and after confirming that Kiyomi has killed Mello using the DN pages she has with her, he kills her off, destroying all evidence in a blaze of fire. Apart from this diversion, everything seems to go according to plan for Light......

But then Mikami decides to be clever and goes to his safety deposit box where he also writes down Kiyomi's name, "just to be safe". Agent Giovanni reports on this unusual behaviour by Mikami, and this got Near suspicious. Near orders Giovanni to search for Mikami's deposit box, where he finds the real DN2.

Thus Near obtains the real DN2, and has Giovanni replace it with another fake one in Mikami's deposit box.

DN2
Shinigami - Ryuk
Human owner - Mikami
Custody - Near (both Mikami and Light are oblivious to this fact)

DN3
Shinigami - Ryuk
Human owner - Light
Custody - HQ

8. The final showdown. Light's hubris and overconfidence leads to his spectacular downfall. Mikami kills himself out of dejection (so does Misa after some time) and Ryuk writes Light's name down using his own Death Note, which has never been used before until now. The remaining two DNs in the human world are burnt at Near's orders. Thus ends the Kira Incident.

The End

Note: The two live-action movies more or less follows the first arc, only that it replaces Higuchi with Kiyomi instead. There is no "second arc". The ending combines elements from both arcs:

Spoiler for Mega spoiler for second movie:

L survives Light's trickery and wins, though still dying "peacefully" not long after.

I have to say this is TREMENDOUSLY helpful. All the ownership changes are so confusing! But I have a question: as in the last case, where Ryuk is responsible for both the Notes, where should he be? Should he stay at HQ or go to Mikami? I know in the end he goes to where Mikami is, but he has just as much of an obligation to stay with Light at HQ, doesn't he? And when he suddenly does leave, surely that would make the people at HQ suspicious....

That question will be answered as the story progresses.

And WHERE THE HELL IS EVERYONE!? 61 views and just one single bloody reply? I might as well ask Pellissier to merge this in the Q&A thread if interest in discussing this is so much lower than expected.

Its not really a topic to strike up a huge conversation --- you're just naming out the facts that have already been told in the series. It is good help for people who have forgot though. More like a sticky.

I guess you're right. I too believe this thread is better off as a locked sticky, but I'm not sure about the mods.

Thanks for the clear explanation. I was able to understand all the transfers until point 4 of the second arc.

Wow...i knew all that but like to take the time to type it out would be confusing. I'd get lost along the way. Very nicely done.

this is the best thing anyone could have written in the Death Note sub-forum. this cleared up about a dozen questions i was having. all the death notes flying all over the place had left me a little perplexed. this is such a clear and thorough explanation//timeline. thank you so much for posting this!!!

I taste a little poison, and I feel a little pain;

but still, since the entire story revolves around the notes I'd say this' a pretty comprehensive companion timeline. =D. Well, at least, the steps of the plots are clear and covered. Good job Riddle, you gotta keep that up XD.

This cleared things up for me! Thank you!

Why was Ryruk Light's shinigami if he dropped Shidou's DN? Was conning Shidou of his DN considered a transfer? Apparently so...

From what I remember from the manga, Shidou lent of his DN to Ryuk in hope that Ryuk will return it to him soon, or he'll have no DN to survive on. (Remember the rule about Shinigami living by killing humans and taking their lifespans?)

Anyway, I guess if the Official Guide Book says so, it's safe to assume that ownership is also transferred as long as Shidou willingly gives the DN to Ryuk, whether it be lending or giving it up.

I got lost when Light's masterplan came into being. Thanks for the clear ups!

You are only right up until after Rem kills L off. Misa digs up DN2 and begins killing for a while, to get Rem alerted to Misa's dire situation, forcing her to kill L. With L out of the way, Light can pool both DN2 and DN3 together. The guide suggests that DN3 was used more often from then onwards, by both Light and Misa.

Updated to include events up to episode 36. The rest will be revealed after next week's finale.

hwy doesn't light just kill the team he's with using a death note then bring a gun or too and kill the SPK then he'd be god automatically

Erm, because the DN he has is being watched over by the very people that's putting him on surveillance? Why did you think he made moves to ensure Misa's DN got sent to Mikami ASAP the moment he was being monitored?

Or are you talking about before Near made the Japanese HQ suspect Light? Then that would be because of Light being over-confident.

Same here.
Thanks a lot for this.