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It is kind of intriguing the Death Note never runs out of pages...

> **How to Use: XXXI**
>
> The number of pages of the Death Note will never run out.

[Source](http://deathnote.wikia.com/wiki/Rules_of_the_Death_Note#How_to_Use:_XXXI)

Since it's made of an unknown matter it's not really that difficult to
believe, but we didn't really see the effects of this rule in the anime, which
I guess could be more important than most of the rules (unless you show me
some other point of view in the answers), by analyzing:

**The thickness of the Note should increase:**

By assuming that the number of pages will increase every time you use the Note
pages to make it endless, we would clearly see that the Death Note will get
thicker, since the number of pages is rising, and we would clearly see that
the Note of Light would be too thick after his long years using it.

**The already written pages remains:**

We could also deduce that the pages that are already filled do not disappear
since both L and Near did analyze the names written on the Notes and the names
of the dead victims as another evidence of the conviction.

**Now as a question:**

We know that the user can rip some pages from the Note to use them later, _now
what would happen if the user rips all the pages from the last one filled to
the end cover of the Note for using them later? :_

  1. Will it be judged as destroying the Note?
  2. Will it be judged as ripping some pages?

If 1), the Note will be rendered useless.  
If 2), would other pages appear in the Note? In case they appear, could the
user keep ripping off pages and giving them to hundreds of people making Kira
everywhere? Why didn't Yagami Light do such a thing as becoming the master of
the page users and the only one knowing their names in case they disobey him,
and as a result, creating an army for himself made of the Kira fans?

* * *

Check also: [Why is there an entire Death Note if only one page is
enough?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/q/6113)


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2013-11-23T18:27:03.807
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2017-12-31T05:06:33.793
2020-06-17T09:17:53.303
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death-note
Why does the Death Note never run out of pages?


Since there are multiple questions, I will divide the answer also into
multiple sections.

**Why doesn't the thickness of the Death Note increase?**

The rule quoted in the question seems to contradict a statement that Sidoh
makes in one manga chapter. He says that to get his Death Note back, he has to
wait until the current owner dies or **till the all the pages are filled up**.
Since both the manga and the _How to Read_ sections are canon, I would call
this an author mistake. However, an interpretation is possible wherein both
statements could be correct, without causing contradiction. Let us consider
the three cases.

  * _How to Read_ version of the rule is correct.  
If the pages in the Death Note never run out, we can assume that new pages
will grow somehow once all pages have been used up. The most plausible
explanation for why the book doesn't become thick is that Light tore away and
destroyed some or all old pages after the new pages grew.  
  
L or Near only verified that the people whose names were then present in the
Death Note had indeed been killed. They did not, and could not, verify that
there were _other_ people killed whose names are _not_ in the Death Note.

  * Sidoh's statement in manga is correct.   
In the manga pilot, the Death Note consisted of 60 pages with 38 lines per
page. Once you ran out of space, you could ask your Shinigami for a new one.1
The pilot chapter is usually considered non-canon, but it is possible that the
authors planned for the Death Note in the manga to behave similarly and simply
forgot about it when they wrote the _How to Read_.

  * Both versions are correct.  
We could interpret the statements as the following. When Sidoh said that the
Death Note's pages are filled up, he was referring to the _physical_ Death
Note. The _How to Read_ section refers to the _logical_ or _conceptual_ Death
Note. The new notebook that the Shinigami gives could be seen as the
"continuation" of the earlier book. Since there's no limit to the number of
times you can ask the Shinigami for a new book, the pages never run out
logically.

**How is tearing the last page interpreted?**

This is an easy one, since a torn page from the Death Note is still
technically a part of the same Death Note. This can be seen from the following
canon events, both of which Light puts to good use for his plan.

  * Someone touching the torn piece will see the Shinigami associated with that Death Note.
  * Someone who has lost memories of the Death Note, will remember them, after touching that torn piece. 

This implies that until that last page is filled up, the book is still
considered to be not filled up.

**Could Light rip-off pages and distribute them to create a Kira army?**

Technically, he could do it, but there are a number of reasons this would not
be a good idea.

  * From the explanations in the first two sections, it follows that unless all pages are used up, Light won't be getting any more pages. (Until all pages are filled up, new pages won't grow, or the Shinigami won't give you a new book, depending on which version is correct.)

  * Distributing the Death Note pages increases Kira's chances of getting caught. Even if he chooses people with a "high sense of justice" as he wants, not many would be as smart or careful as him in covering their tracks. There's a good chance someone would spill the beans, over a glass of alcohol, for example. Moreover, if the pages fall into the hands of Police, they could serve as evidence, which would eventually be backtracked to him.  
  
Even if Light has their names and faces, he cannot possibly keep track on
their every activity, and killing them after they have committed a mistake
would not help him much. In particular, note that:  
  

> what eventually contributed to Light getting caught was Teru Mikami acting
> on his own, without waiting for Light's orders.

* * *

1 Death Note Manga Pilot, Chapter 0, page 26.

![Chapter 0, page 26.](https://i.stack.imgur.com/eVGlOl.jpg)


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2013-11-24T06:58:23.167
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answer


While it's definitely vague, it could be assumed that the Death Note rule
about Infinite pages only applies to Death notes in Possession of a Death God
(i.e., full pages simply disappear and are replaced with new at the end of the
book, since Death God's have no real reason why they need to keep the pages),
where as Death Notes in possession of Humans have a finite number of pages (as
is specifically stated by a Death God), but can be erased and reused as needed
(If they think to do so before the pages are all used up).

Which is really the only way IMO that Near's trick could've worked.


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2015-03-06T02:12:08.657
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Some rules have been changed in How to Read from what was mentioned in the
manga. For instance, Sidoh states in the manga that for him to get his
notebook back, he would have to wait for the owner to die or use up all of the
pages, whereas in How to Read, it is stated that there are an unlimited amount
of pages in the Death Note. In contrast, the rules listed in the manga pilot
chapter, included in How to Read, state that the notebook has 60 pages with 38
lines per page, and that when the owner runs out of space to write in the
notebook, they "may ask the original Shinigami owner for another."


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2017-09-28T18:20:01.867
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answer


Well in the pilot manga, it states,

> There is 60 pages and 36 lines on each page, if you write small you can
> write as many names as you want.

Meaning eventually it would run out. But! It also says you can ask the
shinigami for a new Death Note. However, this doesn't happen in the anime,
meaning the pages must regenerate, somehow.


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