History TearJerker / CodeGeass

** Despite the [[MauveShirt very nature]] of her character, Inoue's very quick but no less brutal death is worthy of some tears shed. As she take a turn while piloting her Knightmare, an explosive round hit her Knightmare. Surprised, she can only react with [[OhCrap fearful expression and small ''Huh!"]] as her cockpit went overheated before she eventually got engulfed in the flames of explosion. Also the fact that we only learned her name ''posthumously'', as Sugiyama reacts to her death.
** Sugiyama's shocked and grief-stricken reaction to Inoue's death, as he is just right behind her witnessing her fiery demise. One can possibly imagine him having SurvivorsGuilt over how he might think it could easily have been his death, had he is in the "wrong position".

* The scenes set to "Stories" near the end of the Season 1 finale: C.C.'s kamikaze maneuver against Jeremiah (and even his despairing yell as he crashes into the ocean is a bit sad), the Black Knights freaking out as the tide turns against them, [[MauveShirt Inoue]] can only react with fearful expression before her Knightmare exploded and killing her, Sugiyama's reaction to Inoue's fiery death, Diethard's utter confusion about what's happening, and Kaguya asking if Zero's abandoned Japan, all set to some serious SoundtrackDissonance.

* Two of the picture dramas near the end of the first season are quite sad. The first, 22.25, is quite heartwarming until Nunnally drops her half of her mother's commemorative plate, a memento of Euphemia, just as the radio cuts off at the start of the Euphinator incident. The second one offers a powerful look at Suzaku's despair, especially his belief that killing his father set everything into motion and the implied realization that he will have to face Lelouch.

* The last picture drama of the series, which dealt with Lelouch's promise of fireworks among other things, was such a Tear Jerker that you only needed to understand one word of Japanese, "yakusoku," to start sobbing hysterically.
* The last scene in the "Kiseki no Birthday" Picture Drama.

** Also at Shirley's funeral we see that Gino, Anya and Suzaku are wearing black Knight of Rounds cloaks, as opposed to their usual coloured ones. They knights have ''designated funeral cloaks''. Therefore, they must go to a lot of funerals, which in itself is very sad.

** After Euphemia's death, Lelouch confides in CC over the fact that Euphy was able to briefly resist the command to massacre the Japanese because it was so against her kind-hearted nature and her belief in equality and peace, he then silently sobs into CC's lap. As Zero he called Euphy a monster, a representative of Britania's cruelty but in reality he loved and admired Euphy and hated himself for accidentally leading her and thousands of innocent Japanese civilians to their death.

* [[NaiveEverygirl Shirley]]. When Lelouch shows up late for his date with Shirley and finds her standing in the rain outside the opera house, and Lelouch learns that Zero killed her father in the Narita battle. Made even sadder by the fact that Lelouch ''is'' Zero. Then there's the matter of how [[MindRape Mao took advantage of this situation]] By the time the episode is over Shirley is tearfully breaking down and is so utterly lost about everything that has just happened to her and its implied she believed she deserved to die over shooting Villeta and nearly shooting Lelouch, and what Lelouch did to [[LaserGuidedAmnesia ease Shirley's suffering]]...

** Hearing Suzaku lying to Euphemia that it was a huge success and everyone is so happy now.

** And in the still image montage the moment after Euphie dies, the images of Suzaku getting dragged out and a close up of him screaming for Euphie while everybody is chanting for Zero are arrows to your heart.

** Lelouch had also just decided that he would throw away all his plans and create Japan with Euphie. Then it gets even worse when Lelouch is the one to kill Euphie, through much of his own despair.

** The whole thing is saddening. Not only is she dead, but she will always be remembered as a monster who massacred Japanese, which renders her life absolutely meaningless.

*** Not to mention that as Euphemia is laying there dying, she can't even let herself be comforted by Suzaku, the man she loves, because she's still having to fight the Geass command telling her to kill him.

* [[NaiveEverygirl Shirley]]. When Lelouch shows up late for his date with Shirley and finds her standing in the rain outside the opera house, and Lelouch learns that Zero killed her father in the Narita battle. Made even sadder by the fact that Lelouch ''is'' Zero. Then there's the matter of how [[MindRape Mao took advantage of this situation]], and what Lelouch did to [[LaserGuidedAmnesia ease Shirley's suffering]]...

** A fairly brief one, but the death of Monica Krushevsky, the Knight of Twelve. An actually decent person in the Britannian Empire who actually carried a similar InternalReformist viewpoint than Suzaku did... and she meets her end staring down the barrel of the Lancelot Albion's V.A.R.I.S. Rifle. She doesn't even gets to finish Suzaku's name before her Florence is obliterated.

** It starts with Lelouch having completely snapped; yelling, no...''screaming'' to his subordinates to find Nunnally, refusing to believe that she's dead. After Rolo takes him home, he looks worse than he did in the previous episode. He just...sits there only moving his eyes; not responding to anything around him. To put as simply as possible, he's psychologically comatose.

*** The third CompilationMovie makes it even worse. Here, the Black Knights aren't trying to ''kill'' Lelouch, and merely want questions answered. They sound confused ans scared for understandable reasons, and are worried that Kallen may be under the influence of Geass as well. When Lelouch takes off his mask and starts laughing at them for being nothing more than his pawns, Ohgi simply refuses to believe what he's saying, and begs for the truth. None of the Black Knights buy it, as they don't want to believe their leader has been leading them astray all this time. So Kanon arrives with some Britannian soldiers, and ''they'' prepare to open fire. The Black Knights panic and beg for Zero to explain himself, but they are dismissed with the logic that they're only giving Lelouch a chance to use his Geass again. Tamaki looks like he's about to cry all of a sudden, and Ohgi even screams, "ZERO, ''SAY'' SOMETHING!" It's easy to see why some fans prefer this outcome of the betrayal to the original, as here, the Black Knights simply wanted to know what was going on; if Lelouch hadn't been DrivenToSuicide in this moment, he might've still been able to convince his men to stand down. And Schneizel and Kanon remove any chance of reconciliation here when the Britannian soldiers prepare to execute him despite the Black Knights pleading to hear Zero out.

*** The compilation movies make it even worse. Here, the Black Knights aren't trying to ''kill'' Lelouch, and merely want questions answered. They sound confused ans scared for understandable reasons, and are worried that Kallen may be under the influence of Geass as well. When Lelouch takes off his mask and starts laughing at them for being nothing more than his pawns, Ohgi simply refuses to believe what he's saying, and begs for the truth. None of the Black Knights buy it, as they don't want to believe their leader has been leading them astray all this time. So Kanon arrives with some Britannian soldiers, and ''they'' prepare to open fire. The Black Knights panic and beg for Zero to explain himself, but they are dismissed with the logic that they're only giving Lelouch a chance to use his Geass again. Tamaki looks like he's about to cry all of a sudden, and Ohgi even screams, "ZERO, ''SAY'' SOMETHING!" It's easy to see why some fans prefer this outcome of the betrayal to the original, as here, the Black Knights simply wanted to know what was going on; if Lelouch hadn't been DrivenToSuicide in this moment, he might've still been able to convince his men to stand down. And Schneizel and Kanon remove any chance of reconciliation here when the Britannian soldiers prepare to execute him despite the Black Knights pleading to hear Zero out.

-->'''Bismarck:''' I've failed you, Lady Marianne...! ''[[DefeatEqualsExplosion (BOOM!)]]''

** The Black Knights betraying Zero. Schneizel has told them that their leader is an ex-Britannian prince and that his miracles ''are'' just tricks. What's worse is that Ohgi takes his, along with that of Villetta's, words for it. When Schneizel presents them with a recording of Lelouch falsely admitting to Suzaku of Geassing Euphemia, a list of his Geassed victims, and notifies them of the F.L.E.I.J.A. warhead ([[CassandraTruth Lelouch refused to believe it because of Suzaku's presumed duplicity]]), they're all convinced and then express their despair. Next, they manipulate Kallen into bringing him in to them, leading them to an ambush where the Black Knights point their guns at them and call out Lelouch for his actions. It really hurts for them, even Kallen trying to reason with them fails as they suspect she's under Lelouch's control with his Geass. Realizing there's no way out, Lelouch acts like the MagnificentBastard he is by falsely admitting he's using them all, including Kallen. Before the inevitable, he whispers to her "you have to live" just before [[BigDamnHeroes Rolo saves his ass in the last minute. Even so, it's still sad. So it's goodbye for Lelouch to be with his former team.]]

** Rolo's death scene has had people weeping for him. [[AlasPoorScrappy Even some haters]].

** Heck, the entire scene when Lelouch confronts his parents is one. Just count the number of time he says some variation of "You, our own parents, abandoned us!" This is a feud that's been building for resolution for years for Lelouch. Suzaku obviously has some measure of empathy for his situation, too, as he stays mostly out of it while Lelouch says his piece.

** One of biggest TearJerker scenes in the series was when Nunnally had to fire F.L.E.I.J.A.s during the final battle, and she cried at every shot. It was heartwrenching to see a girl no older than fifteen firing a weapon of mass destruction repeatedly.

** When Lelouch takes the F.L.E.I.J.A. detonator from Nunnally by using his Geass on her. As he takes it, he tells her, "Nunnally, you are already leading a way of life with your own set of admirable principles. That is why I can walk my own path now. Thank you. I love you, Nunnally." It certainly doesn't help that he says this right before walking away and acting like he doesn't care, and is made even worse by Nunnally insulting her brother afterwards and the expression he has on his face when she's not looking.

* Shirley's character song, sung by her Japanese voice actress. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWXXf7NfcpM Listen to it at your own risk.]] [[ILetGwenStacyDie Considering]] [[BreakTheCutie her]] [[TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth tragic]] [[KillTheCutie fate]].

*** Also notice that she broke into tears when Geassed for the last time. She completely realizes how impossible it is to follow his "Don't die!" order.

*** Right after Lelouch [[LaserGuidedAmnesia erases Shirley's memories of Zero]], he visits her at the memorial. The way he talks, you'd think someone just died. In a way, [[DeathOfPersonality someone did]]. Even worse? That same someone actually does die almost exactly one season later. HarsherInHindsight doesn't even begin to cover it.

** And finally, in the GrandFinale, the famous Zero Requiem: Lelouch, having made himself the most despised man in the world with control over every country, allows his friend Suzaku, now having faked his own death and taken up the mantle of Zero, to publicly assassinate him. As flashbacks explain their plan, the scene cuts to show the people who knew Lelouch best - C.C., Kallen, and even Suzaku - begin crying as the sword pierces his chest and comes out of his back. After Suzaku removes the sword, Lelouch falls down next to Nunnally, who finally realizes his intentions were noble all along and, as he rapidly bleeds to death, begs him not to leave her and tells him that she loves him no matter what. And just to cap it all off, after Lelouch has finally died, Nunnally desperately cries and screams for him, and her inarticulate grief is drowned out by the crowd cheering for the man who murdered him. The [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic music]] didn't help.
** "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHViAiVuDsA Continued Story]]" begins playing immediately after Lelouch's LastWords. Hearing this song, as Nunnally cries over her brother's body, screaming for him to come back, Kallen figuring out the truth of Lelouch's actions, all while the crowd chants for his murderer, will really put a lump in your throat.
** "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2tGEiYU9KU Madder Sky]]" is powerful enough to be listed again here. Again, one of those pieces where simply listening to it will evoke ... feelings.

** What made Lelouch's death even worse was the flashing to the faces of the Black Knights, who were screaming at Zero, or turning away. Tamaki actually looked like he was about to cry, poor little Tianzi actually looked away in tears, Kaguya and Ohgi were shell-shocked... And also the flash to Cornelia and co. in the building attempting to rush outside.

*** Kaguya's own post-series character theme clearly indicates that she loves him, grieves him, thanks him, and wishes he would come back. She may not understand everything, she may not realize Suzaku is still alive... but she certainly gets the point. Indeed, this song is a tear jerker in itself.

** Tinged with a bit of FridgeBrilliance (or perhaps [[FridgeHorror horror]]), but the way Lelouch's death mirrors that of Euphie's. Not only do they both go down in history as villains, but they both die hand-in-hand with a loved one while the crowd cheers their deaths and chants the name of their killer... Zero. Though for more FridgeBrilliance, it's implied that Lelouch set himself up to be worse so the public can forget about what Euphie apparently did.

** The look on Lelouch's face just before Suzaku runs him through with the sword. It just drove home the fact that Lelouch planned all this, and he faces death with a satisfied little smile grin...
* The final words exchanged between Suzaku and Lelouch. Just the way Lelouch held him while he whispered his final wish, both a condemnation and a mantle of honor to Suzaku. And then Suzaku's, "This geass I gladly accept," with tears running from his eyes. The way Lelouch almost symbolically [[BloodOath smeared his own blood purposefully across Zerozaku's mask]] as he fell was also a punch in the gut.
** Lelouch's LastWords. After all the MagnificentBastard moves he pulled throughout the series, he died proudly yet still with his trademark arrogance. "I destroy the world...and create it...anew." With his life on flash-forward in the background, it truly drives home how complex and amazing a person Lelouch really was, and what end he had always wanted in his heart.
** Nunnally's idea of a good world was one where she can live in peace with her brother- who died in order to create what he saw as a better world for her.
* It's likely that Nunnally never knew just how bad things were. Lelouch, despite his promise not to lie to her, had been lying to her for about half their lives when he made said promise. When they are sent to Japan he lies about the place they would be staying in, making it seem nicer than it is. A year later, when the two of them and Suzaku are walking through a war-torn village following Britannia's invasion, he tells her than the stench of the dead bodies was caused by a nearby garbage dump. This protection of Nunnally from the truth likely continued for all the years they were in hiding, leading to her not realizing just what Charles had done in sending them to Japan as hostages and launching his war knowing his children would likely be killed in the crossfire, not knowing how Britannia treated the elevens once the conquest was complete, and not knowing about the atrocities which were committed by her own siblings, Clovis, Cornelia, and Shneizel. It is because she is so sheltered that she opposes Zero in the latter half of season 1, is willing to trust the people who kidnapped her in season 2, and convinced by Shneizel's lies about Lelouch. Had Lelocuh not gone as far to protect Nunnally from reality she might not have told the student council to leave her to rescue Suzaku in R1, leading to V2 kidnapping her, and she might not have been so cooperative with the royal family and government in R2. His refusal to tell her he's Zero in R2 continued this pattern.His earlier refusal to tell Nunnally how bad the world is ultimately leads to him being forced to demonstrate how cruel people can be by using his Geass on her and imprisoning her and threatening her with execution (which of course he was never going to carry out. It is only after he has forced her aboard the Damocles to see how cruel the world could be by being the avatar of cruelty that she can become capable of understanding not only his plan when she sees the Zero Requiem but how he shielded her for all those years. And it was also on the Damocles that Lelouch decided that Nunnally no longer needed him to protect her from the truth. It took him dying in front of her for her to realize just how much he protected her since they were little kids.

* Arthur the cat in front of Suzaku's "grave".

** When Lelouch finds her fatally wounded, she expresses how glad she is to be able to talk with him ''"at the very end"''. And when Lelouch trying to call for paramedics, she simply stops him. Yes, she pretty much already accepts her fate by the time Lelouch arrives.
** The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACTmrDuHJXs music]]. Dear ''GOD'', the music. If the scene itself didn't make you cry, then the music most definitely '' will''. If there is a reason why she went from being TheScrappy to the audience going "AlasPoorScrappy", it's ''this'' scene in it's entirety.
** The real heart-wrenching part of that scene is when Lelouch ''begs'' for her not to die, and even tried using his [[MagicalEye Geass]] to keep her alive, repeatedly, but to no avail.
--->'''Shirley:''' No matter how many times I'm reborn... I'll keeping falling in love with you, Lulu. I suupose that it's simply fate.

** Lelouch frantically re-casting his Geass on her, screaming all the while...
--> '''Lelouch:''' No, don't die! '''''[[PleaseDontLeaveMe I ORDER YOU NOT TO DIE!!!]]'''''

* It worsens in ''R2'' Episode 13. After ''regaining'' all her memories and going through a period of having no idea who she could trust, Shirley accepts that whatever evils Lelouch has committed to further his schemes, she'll always be loyal to him, even when she still isn't sure what's going on. She makes the understandable mistake of assuming that if both her and Rolo are on Lelouch's side, then Rolo must be trustworthy. She has to pay the price for this mistake with her own life.
** When Lelouch found her fatally wounded, she express how glad she is to be able to talk with him ''at the very end''. And when Lelouch trying to call for paramedics, she simply stops him. Yes, she pretty much already accepts her fate by the time Lelouch arrives.
** The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACTmrDuHJXs music]]. Dear ''GOD'', the music. If the scene itself didn't make you cry, then the music most definately '' will''. If there is a reason why she went from being TheScrappy to the audience going "AlasPoorScrappy", it's ''this'' scene in it's entirety.

--->'''Shirley:''' No matter how many times I'm reborn... I'll keeping fall in love with you, Lulu.
*** Some FridgeHorror: she's invoking ReincarnationRomance, saying "no matter how many times I'm reborn, I'll always fall in love with you again..." What makes it really gut-wrenching is that, because Geass can compel a person to follow any command, she's really just doing her best to carry out Lelouch's order to not die. In other words, she's more or less saying "[[SorryThatImDying I'm sorry Lulu, but I can't help but die]]...the best I can promise is to hope for [[{{Reincarnation}} a second life]]".

** Lelouch's [[TheScream scream]] of anguish when Shirley finally dies.

** Lelouch frantically re-casting his Geass on her, screaming all the while "Shirley! Don't die! '''''I ORDER YOU NOT TO DIE!!!'''''"
** And Jeremiah himself in Episode 13.
** When Rolo walks in and explains what he did to Lelouch and Lelouch turns around and acts pleased and happy. The thought of what Lelouch must really be feeling... that just hurt.

* The scenes set to "Stories" near the end of the Season 1 finale: C.C.'s kamikaze maneuver against Jeremiah (and even his despairing yell as he crashes into the ocean is a bit sad), the Black Knights freaking out as the tide turns against them, [[MauveShirt Inoue's]] can only react with fearful expression before her Knightmare exploded and killing her, Sugiyama's reaction to Inoue's fiery death, Diethard's utter confusion about what's happening, and Kaguya asking if Zero's abandoned Japan, all set to some serious SoundtrackDissonance.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/shirley_lelouch.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Her face says it '''all'''.]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/shirley_lelouch_r2.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350: "Don't die! '''[[PleaseDontLeaveMe I order you not to die!]]'''"]]