Inspired by this:
Scenario 1: How would Columbo fair if he was the one called into the case, not L?
Scenario 2: How would he fair if he came in later, after Ls death?
Inspired by this:
Scenario 1: How would Columbo fair if he was the one called into the case, not L?
Scenario 2: How would he fair if he came in later, after Ls death?
I don't think that he would stand a chance, mostly because he simply didn't have anything even remotely resembling the type of international resources that L and company brought to the table, and even then they had to do some pretty unethical things to eventually get Light to fail, after 2/3rds of them died in the process.
Usually you would need to know a person's name to write them in the Death Note, correct? Is it enough to only know a person's last name?
Original join date: 11/23/2004
Eclectic Connoisseur of all things written, drawn, or imaginatively created.
A lot of that stuff was L's own personal resources and connections, to say nothing of Mello's criminal ties.
It all kind of hinges on if Columbo can actually get to the point of suspecting Light, which is a pretty decent sized leap. If he can get that far, I have no doubt he can talk Light into a corner. L spent a lot of time tipping his hand to goad Light. Columbo's old man routine is pretty different and likely to yield different kinds of results, so it's hard to think of what will happen. Light will be less stupid in general probably, but also less guarded and maybe more cocky about transitioning into the godking thing he wants to do.
If Columbo ever actually knows what the Death Note is, I think that will pretty much be game. He's pretty sneaky about rigging traps he knows about
I am a mighty wizard from magic lands
Manipulating arrogant douchebags who think they're smarter than everyone else into self incrimination was Colombo's speciality.
If he has the resources of Wammy house, it's not impossible.
L's main flaw was that he was exactly like Light. He was prideful and egocentric. He wanted to outsmart Kira and be seen doing it. Columbo is far more humble and has no problem playing possum.
According to the writers, you're not supposed to be able to read that; it was just meant to be something illegible written there that you only see for a second on your forty year old CRT. I'd say you could argue that doesn't matter since it still happens, but then he has had other first names mentioned before, with none ever really being verified, and he himself always obfuscates the matter. So the name written on the badge would be questionable in-universe anyway.
Because he's Odin.
Edit: I just wanna point out that Columbo is good enough at manipulating conversation/just plain predicting the future, to do things like set up an elaborate game of pool well in advance in a different room from where he confronts a killer so that every shot of his in appropriate bits of the conversation will end up in pockets where he's placed particular bits of evidence while also having had time to secretly recondition a guy's dogs.
Last edited by BitVyper; 12-01-2021 at 09:28 PM.
I am a mighty wizard from magic lands
*Should* be, and yet the matter is deliberately confused to the point where we can't even be sure that the name on his official police identification is correct. When people ask him his first name, he just says "Lieutenant" like he's a time lord. And Columbo isn't like the ex-FBI lady; If Light spends more than one second fishing for his name, it's going to give away the whole game, because that's exactly how Columbo operates.
Anyway, this really boils down to whatever the precise specifics of the scenario are. I mean you talk about resources, but the Americans were sending people over to Japan with the resources of the FBI behind them, so it's not like there's no way Columbo would even have access to the necessary resources, and if he's replacing L, he presumably comes into L's position, just like if someone replaces Batman we'd probably assume they have access to the Batcave. We might as well debate his ability to speak Japanese. His observational talents border on supernatural, so it's not hard to see how he'd get as far as L did in the initial stages of the investigation, and while I don't know that he'd do anything like get someone killed to further his investigation, he's also willing to move on less evidence and purely on his ridiculously good hunches. I think that if he reaches a point where he either speaks with Light or has a chance to look around Light's room, he's going to win, especially since no matter what the narrative says, Light really seems kind of... not good in those situations, and benefitted a lot from having an opponent who wanted to "beat" him with a mountain of iron clad evidence. Because a lot rides on the specific scenario, I'm not saying that definitely happens or not, just that it can.
I am a mighty wizard from magic lands