| 1 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 2 | |
| 3 | [[folder:Fridge Logic]] |
| 4 | * Sayoko attacks Ohgi and Villetta under Diethard's orders and they fall from a great height into a river. They then appear together as if everything were A-OK, with no explanation given as to how they survived the fall. |
| 5 | [[/folder]] |
| 6 | |
| 7 | [[folder:Fridge Brilliance]] |
| 8 | * Fans had varying reactions to [[spoiler:Lelouch's death]] at the end of the series, with many being upset and even choosing to claim it is not true. However, it can be considered as the perfect fate that he decided for himself from the moment he killed Clovis. All along he has believed in one idea. Those who kill or cause the deaths and misery of others must be prepared to experience the same fate. If not for the "Zero Requiem" he would be only a hypocrite. He was prepared for the fate he bestowed upon other and that is why he completed his plans in the matter he did. |
| 9 | ** Unfortunately that still leaves [[KarmaHoudini many other more complicit characters in the entire mess who had way worse kill/help ratios off the hook]]. If he hadn't gone with the Zero Requiem (he has noted there were other options; he lost his will to live on and carry a bare minimum of standards to that end following the betrayal), he wouldn't even need to kill himself; he could continue on by helping with the reconstruction and aftermath afterwards. A lot of the damage he did was a matter of lack of options due to an imposing foe. And he still managed to gather a legitimate worldwide movement against the empire that would have in all likelihood caused less destruction than the Zero Requiem, which did more overall damage in a few episodes than Zero's rebellion, which again, was fought with a surfeit of options, and more than made up for it by helping liberate the masses who had suffered under Britannia, not to mention the Chinese Federation. Not to mention, "Those who kill should prepare to be killed" doesn't mean that everyone who kills dies, which never happens, but "if thou shalt try to end me, and fail, then I shall cast a terrible vengeance upon thee", which he spends the entire series attempting to bring about. Furthermore, Lelouch repeatedly puts his life at needless risk, or attempts to kill himself, like with [[spoiler: his response to Euphemia's SAZ (discredit her by having her shoot him) and his attempt to stop his father (by trapping him underground with explosives, after going inside himself, explicitly pointing out that they will suffer together)]] so... maybe Lelouch isn't too concerned about morality, and after losing everything important in his life, just wants to kill himself in the most grandiose way he can imagine, just like he does everything else. |
| 10 | ** The skeptical point of view presented above is that Lelouch might have supposedly gone with less destructive options than Zero Requiem, on paper, without needing [[spoiler:to kill himself after a set of tragedies that culminated in the betrayal of the Black Knights and Nunnally's apparent demise.]] In a more perfect world, he might have continued on as Zero at the head of an international coalition against Britannia, or he could have remained as the "Emperor of Justice" to reform the Empire from within and aid the reconstruction. However, while he was always presented in a very romanticized and sympathetic manner, Lelouch was much closer to borderline villainy than to the pure heroism or plain normalcy either of these options imply, both in terms of personality, ideals and actions. Unlike a traditional hero, Lelouch was driven by numerous passions even to his own detriment. He often refused to present any excuses for the damages he caused, nor did he try to explain his motives even when publicly questioned. The guy constantly chose to bear all the burdens alone, as much as possible, and while he did have a strong sense of right and wrong at his core, Lelouch combined this with a more selfish desire to also have the ends justify his means. He was not seeking to avoid punishment nor retribution for his crimes, even as Zero, but only intended to receive those after achieving at least one or more of his goals. Another key phrase that he repeats a number of times, in both seasons, is that destruction must come before creation, which he puts in practice as Zero and during his brief stint as Emperor, including Zero Requiem. Rather than just reflecting a momentary death wish, it stems from his previous mindset, albeit taken to the extreme, and it does carry an explicitly moral implication. The statement "Those who kill should prepare to be killed" is not a mere cry for vengeance but it reflects Lelouch's own implicit readiness to be judged accordingly. There is also the matter of the contract with C.C., which was destined to isolate him from most of his friends and family, sooner or later, and Lelouch knew about this warning even if he wasn't fully aware of its implications. Taking all this into account, it's possible for some fans to consider that the way Lelouch chose to end it all, even if it wasn't the most recommended or constructive alternative at his disposal in theory, was ultimately fitting given his behavior and characterization. |
| 11 | ** And some don't think he actually died. As the location of C.C.'s Geass Mark is noticeably covered by her hair throughout that scene and never seen, leaving to the logical idea that she gave Lelouch the mark and he was immortal by that point. |
| 12 | ** It could also be argued that this outcome was foreshadowed from the very beginning of the show. In the first OP, after the music ends, we see a chessboard with what is clearly the black king piece laying on its side, the chess sign for surrender/resignation. Since the Zero costume is intended to resemble the black king, it's hard not to at least acknowledge the symbolism. |
| 13 | *** Except for the fact ''R2'' wasn't written at that point and there had been no conclusion planned thus for the second season; the OP makes more sense in regards to how Suzaku takes down Zero at the end of the first season. |
| 14 | * The appearance of [[spoiler:Zerozaku]] has the same music as Zero's debut in R1, when Lelouch uses Geass on Jeremiah in front of a global audience. |
| 15 | * You can see Rolo use his Geass in the first episode of R2: In the beginning of the attack on Babel Tower, Kallen is leading Lelouch away from the casino. The scene cuts to Viceroy Calares meeting with the delegation from the Chinese Federation, and when it cuts back, Rolo’s locket swings over a black background, and he’s leading Lelouch away from Kallen, who looks surprised. |
| 16 | * The Geass symbol looks like a bird in flight. Folded cranes are used throughout the series as a symbol for a wish. Near the end, Lelouch reflects that Geass is like a wish... |
| 17 | ** Also, the symbol of the Black Knights, which seems to be based on the symbol of Geass, looks very similar to a crane viewed from the front. This is appropriate because not only do the Black Knights represent a wish, they also represent Japan, the culture where the custom of folding cranes comes from. |
| 18 | * Suzaku’s unrequited love for cats parallels the relationship between him and Britannian society; though Britannia despises him, he continues to serve it. Arthur’s saving Suzaku in the finale of the first season mirrors this as well, because eventually Britannian upper echelons trust and depend on Suzaku. |
| 19 | * Lelouch and Suzaku both gained power from performing a noble act. Lelouch ended up in the terrorists’ truck because, unlike the other people standing around, talking, and taking pictures of the crash, he went down to see if anyone was hurt. Suzaku refused to shoot his best friend, even under threat of discharge or death, so he was wounded and Lloyd and Cecile found him. This led to them allowing him to pilot the Lancelot. |
| 20 | * One of the minor headaches of the first season was the lack of an explanation for why C.C. decided to abandon her {{Yandere}} Mao. Though this is never explicitly brought up in the second season, the reason why Geass powers are handed out is revealed and thus provides a viable explanation: [[spoiler:since he wants to be with her for the rest of his life, he refused to fulfill their contract--[[DeathSeeker killing her]] and taking on her immortality to live forever without her.]] Alternatively, [[spoiler:she cared about Mao too much and fled to avoid the temptation to [[WhoWantsToLiveForever curse him with immortality]].]] |
| 21 | * There was a lot of debate about [[spoiler:Nunnally's apparent return from the dead]], with many fans considering it an AssPull. One blogger, however, pointed out several clues that showed it had been planned the whole time, including [[spoiler:a second airplane in the Britannian hangar, and the fact that Sayoko was able to reach Nunnally before Rolo, despite her detour to free Kallen and recover the Guren, while Rolo was specifically ordered to find Nunnally, as well as the fact that the two never crossed paths once. All this works together to show that Nunnally was on one plane with Sayoko, while Rolo was tracking the decoy plane.]] |
| 22 | * So, why did Lelouch resolve to reject Charles and Marianne's plan? Simple: he had confronted Mao and seen how much damage just one person can bring when having access to everyone's deepest secrets. If everyone had Mao's mind-reading powers, humanity would sink into utter chaos and depression. |
| 23 | |
| 24 | * Why ThereAreNoTherapists for Nina? Simple: why would Schneizel ever let a therapist near his warhead-producing MadScientist? |
| 25 | * When Mao from ''Anime/CodeGeass'' not only survived [[spoiler:getting shot up by heavy caliber rounds]], but [[spoiler:was up and around in ''less than a week'']], you could assume the writers were just [[AssPull bringing him back]] because they [[spoiler:had killed him off too early]] so as to [[spoiler:bring forth TheReveal about Suzaku killing his father]], but then R2 rolled around and it turned out that [[spoiler:Geass was basically a method of ''transferring immortality'', and only those with Geass can take immortality away from immortals, meaning that alterations must be occuring to the body of the Geass user to ''prepare'' them for said immortality, making them more resilient and faster to heal!]] What was an AssPull turned out to be extremely effective ForeShadowing, making that scene much better in context. |
| 26 | ** And another thing about Mao: there's a lot of debate about why so many episodes are concentrated on him and not the war of liberation. His detractors blame him for hijacking the story and even many of his fans agree that he's just thrown in for filler (or the closest thing an AnimeFirst series has to filler, anyway), except... that if you really think about him and the situations he's in, it's really necessary to devote all those episodes to him. Think about it: the basic premise of ''Anime/CodeGeass'' is that all the characters have things to hide and everyone needs to pretend to be someone they're not at least once. Mao is a mind-reader, and so he knows what all the other characters are hiding and could easily reveal anyone's secrets anytime he wants. As such, at the time he's an even greater threat to Lelouch than the evil Britannians and so Lelouch can't very well get back to the main action until Mao's removed. |
| 27 | ** This troper also thinks that [[spoiler: Lelouch's runaway Geass]] would've been less believable and not as forboding if we hadn't seen it with Mao first. |
| 28 | ** The first two episodes focused on Mao mostly are devoted into shedding more light on C.C.'s character, though the first episode also drops reveals about how Geass develops. The third episode however? That one is actually about Suzaku and Lelouch's dynamic, how they work well together and showing how they ''will'' win victory together. Mao is not defeated by Lelouch alone, but by Suzaku and Lelouch working as a team, brains and brawn. This makes the reveal in the next episode to Lelouch that Suzaku has been his enemy from day one and the fact they are stuck on opposite sides more tragic. |
| 29 | * At first, the idea of having Pizza Hut in the series seemed like stupid ProductPlacement, but it now hits me that unless some really bad InspiteOfANail is going on, this is yet another sign that the "official history" in the series in complete b.s. |
| 30 | * I'm not sure if this was deliberate, but I've noticed something interesting about the episode references to Lelouch as a demon as well as his tendency to speak of himself this way. Lelouch has a much remarked similarity to Light in Death Note, but of course, Light always refers to himself as ''[[AGodAmI God]]''. This really underscores how different the two characters actually are |
| 31 | ** Lelouch was (or at least started out as) something of a Light Yagami rip-off. They're both teenage geniuses who suddenly gain great power and try to use it to change the world. But, on further thought, Light and Lelouch have some crucial differences. Lelouch, even from when he's a little kid, vows that he will one day destroy Britannia, and in fact gaining Geass only ''speeds up'' his plans to topple the Empire. Light never seriously thought he would be able to do anything to change the "rotten" world he lives in until he discovers the Death Note. But there's one thing that completely sets Lelouch vi Britannia and Light Yagami apart: their pasts. Lelouch is a prince, not an OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent like Light, and his motives (at least initially) are revenge (for his mother's murder) and to create a better world for his sister. His motivation is very much rooted in his family and his past. Light, however, is utterly normal. He has a normal family, with two parents and a younger sister (he may get his "justice" thing from his police chief dad, but it's not an uncommon thing to believe in) - in fact, he basically has the ideal "Nuclear Family". He never had any involvement in the evil he sought to purge from the world, other than seeing it in the news. Besides his abnormally large brain, Light is the Everyman up until he finds the Death Note - which raises the question in the ordinary people who watch ''Manga/DeathNote'': "What would ''{{you|Bastard}}'' do if you ever found something like the Death Note?" Which is completely not the point of Code Geass at all. -@/{{Munkiman}} |
| 32 | *** Don't forget the fact that Light is also super athletic while Lelouch is outrun by Milly in a dress. -@/{{neobowman}} |
| 33 | *** Honestly, what set them apart for me was, that despite being an intelligent young mind, Light was always for me some really unlikeable man. And he never went through any progress, he literally has no character arc. He has always the same self-obsessive goal and even when he regains his memory (opportunity wasted btw) does not spend a single thought about it or the sense of it all, Even when L. and his former self put it in perspective. And for the man of such elaborate plots he came up with some simple, labourous and boring solution to the problem of the "corruption of the world", he isn't even an Idealist and spends his life in denial since the third episode or so. Lelouch on the other Hand changes his motivations, his goals, overthinks things, is irrational at times, regrets, makes mistakes and is a complete Monster at times, but I never stopped to like him since he always regains awareness of what he actually does and really tries to justify his sins in always changing contexts which I personally find a lot more humanlike and Intelligent than Light's bland delusional state. |
| 34 | ** Let's examine ''Manga/DeathNote'' and ''Code Geass'': ''Manga/DeathNote'' is a dark anime, in which most of the scenes and characters are dark and toned, and it contains a CrapsackWorld, but also a protagonist who subscribes to LightIsNotGood. ''Code Geass'', on the other hand, seems much more straightforward and even optimistic, uses a lot of bright colors in its characters and scenery, and comes with a protagonist who subscribes (at least initially) to DarkIsNotEvil. ''Code Geass'' has a hopeful BittersweetEnding while ''Manga/DeathNote'' has a ShootTheShaggyDog style DownerEnding. The two shows could easily be seen as counterparts. -- @/{{2writeis2life}} |
| 35 | ** After rewatching R2, I realized Schneizel is an expy of Light. This dawn on me when Cornelia and he were arguing, and he said he will become god. Schneizel throughout most of the series seemed a reasonable man, just like how Light had created an image of a man with a good sense of justice to the rest of the world, throughout most of Death Note. Schneizel is described as having no motivation, just like how Light was before he got the Death Note. They were both dragged down by circumstances beyond their control, the author did stated before Light had gotten the Death Note, he was very pure, Cornelia also states that if they were not in war, Schneizel would have been a good king. They have similar methods, Light plans on using the Death Note to strike fear in criminal, Schneizel planned on using the Damocules to scare the world into peace. They are both disgusted by their world, Light feeling he need to clean the scum of the earth, while Schneizel was disgusted by his father's rule. Schneizel is covered in white, indicating a connection to light, like Light was. The writers of Code Geass, probably created Schneizel seeing that people would compare Leluoch to Light, and to let people see the differences between the two characters. |
| 36 | * Due to DisappointingLastLevel and poor planning and explanations, ''Code Geass'' seemed more like a ShootTheShaggyDog-style EsotericHappyEnding itself. Lelouch goes with a plan with no guaranteed chance of success, and without himself to keep things from falling apart, and the road there involves doing things below even the lowest of his baseline standards during the bulk of the series. And he went with this plan because he had no one to turn to who really valued life to help him out, especially with Nunnally apparently dead. And guess who turned up an episode after he started the plan? --@/{{azul120}} |
| 37 | * Most of what I'd heard about the show focused on the Geass and Lelouch being a chessmaster; it wasn't until later that I heard about the HumongousMecha, and I was expecting that to ruin it for me. While watching the show, it didn't jar as much as I expected it to, but it was only when reading the manga version without the robots that I realized that the giant robots make a surprisingly natural complement to Lelouch's giant hamminess. It meant that all the action in the series was scaled up, and without that aspect, Zero seemed rather underwhelming. -- @/{{Haven}} |
| 38 | * I've been enjoying the show since day one for its epic giant robot action and amazing main character, but it wasn't until recently that I realized the whole thing isn't just a reversal of the classic hero and villain archtypes, but also of the classic SaturdayMorningCartoon tropes. The Black Knights are like [[Anime/PokemonTheSeries Team Rocket]] or [[WesternAnimation/InspectorGadget M.A.D.]], with their faceless leader and blackclad mooks carying out his latest cunning scheme. Then we have Suzaku, who embodies the InvincibleHero, almost never failing to save the day with his SuperPrototype. - @/TheGunheart |
| 39 | ** Don't forget the Gundam reversal, specifically. -- @/ShayGuy |
| 40 | *** Ooh! There's also the fact that Suzaku is the InvincibleHero piloting a mech named after ''Lancelot''. -- @/{{Haven}} |
| 41 | *** Not to mention having a cat named Arthur. |
| 42 | * One of the reasons I like Suzaku is that he's actually quite a good {{Deconstruction}} of the InvincibleHero archetype, with the first season gradually exposing the huge psychological issues and painful backstory that would go into making someone like that, and ''R2'' showing the gradual disintegration of this status until the end of the season [[spoiler:when he does the PropheticName thing and is reborn as Zero, an entirely different kind of hero]]. - @/{{Drakyndra}} |
| 43 | * At first I through the High Eunuchs from R2 sounded rather {{Narm}}y (well, more so than usual) with their annoyingly high-pitched voices. Then I learned that Scholar-Gentry Eunuchs in Ancient China had to have their [[GroinAttack testicles]] cut off before they could accept their position. |
| 44 | ** Umm, yea. That's what [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eunuch "eunuch"]] means. |
| 45 | * At the time I was watching the show, [[spoiler:Lelouch's unfortunate PowerIncontinence which royally screwed up Euphemia's plans to create an independent Japanese state]] seemed like just a contrived way move the plot along. After reading though the wallbanger page for Code Geass, it would seem others feel even worse about how that situation played out. However, then it hit me that this was really the first time that Lelouch's geass had badly backfired on him. Lets be realistic here: Lelouch is no superhero, by any means. It would follow that his "superpower" should not be an absolute advantage with no unfortunate side effects, and that those side effects would end up hurt not just him, but those around him as well. So, what was once a bit of a wallbanger has now become, in my mind, an indispensable part of the development of Lelouch's ability. |
| 46 | ** Of course his Geass had unfortunate side effects. Earlier in the episode, it showed that his Geass wasn't working properly, not working when he wanted it to, and giving him a migraine. Thus, the reverse may also have been possible: sudden, unexpected activations. It was logical that something was going wrong, and he needed C.C.'s help, and to be very, very careful, especially after seeing what a mess Mao had become. He didn't. Lelouch himself acquires a sudden, extremely maddening case of Fridge Logic. |
| 47 | *** That could certainly be considered foreshadowing for problems to come. Headaches could hardly be considered a devastating blow. And, It isn't surprising that Lelouch would not ask for help. He is a very confident person, after all. In any case, when you really think about it, this little mishap adds more to the story than just a plot ticket. |
| 48 | *** Also, it makes more sense once you realize that [[spoiler:subconsciously, Lelouch wanted Euphemia's plan to fail, which may have affected his Geass. Or his choice of words]]. |
| 49 | *** But at the same time, he [[spoiler:didn't want to kill his (2nd most) beloved sister, and didn't want to kill civilians. That's why he told Euphemia to kill him: He didn't want to see Euphemia's dream be destroyed, and combined with his own inferiority complex, was a lethal combination... which kinda makes the end of R2 even more depressing.]] |
| 50 | *** It also makes sense that Lelouch would lose control of his Geass in the same episode where Euphemia’s SAZ plan threatens his control over the Black Knights and the Japanese masses, especially since his love for Euphemia restricted him in terms of what strategies he could use to prevent the Black Knights from disintegrating due to her plan. Also, [[spoiler: C.C. in R2 says that Geass powers are based on a wish fundamental to the user, so if Lelouch desires control to the point that his Geass manifests as taking absolute command of another human’s actions, it makes sense that his mental state in this situation would compromise his ability to effectively use his Geass.]] |
| 51 | ** It really seemed like Euphie running up to the microphone was supposed to directly follow Lelouch proclaiming to her "I will now stain your hands with blood, Euphemia li Britannia!" (cue Lelouch's iris turning into the Geass symbol) implying he was initially supposed to just make her commit genocide out of resentment (her being an Imperial Family member and "stealing" from him, like he perceived Cornelia and Schneizel to have done in the past) as well as practicality, and that the creators simply changed their minds and shoehorned in the "it was all an accident!" part in order to build more sympathy for Lelouch, so he wasn't an out-and-out monster, which was quite irksome given that the entire point of Lelouch's character is that sympathy for him comes entirely from his cause rather than any perceived moral infallibility like with other heroes. That would have made the part where the Emperor is laughing manically before cutting to Schneizel's shocked face upon seeing Diethard's broadcast - implying that Lelouch has surpassed Schneizel in Charles eyes (he seems to think very little of Schneizel from that point on) or that since he favours Lelouch's mother over Schneizel's, and now that the former has finally lived up to Marianne's ruthlessness, he's ecstatic - much more poignant. It does come off as a bit of an AssPull. |
| 52 | *** And yet, Geassing Euphemia into killing those people would underscore that his cause is meaningless. If he intentionally has civilians killed for the sake of his own moral superiority, then he clearly doesn't care about his cause at all. He simply becomes another Britannian prince carrying out a power struggle against his family - and is perfectly happy to kill an innocent sibling to do it. From that point on, the audience would believe that in spite of everything he's said thus far, he'd kill Nunnally for power. Thus, no sympathy. |
| 53 | *** It was one of those sort of fake call backs, like Suzaku later proclaiming he would "kill Zero", only to [[spoiler:kill the man who was Zero in the end]]. |
| 54 | *** That's actually a good example of a valid call back, however, since Suzaku did in fact live up to his proclamation, only in a slightly different sense than what he meant at the time. Zero may have died at his hands, as initially announced, but a new one was born at the same time. |
| 55 | ** When I first saw the scene, I thought it a brilliant twist for something like this to happen ''without Lelouch's planning it'', and found a bit funny how [[HumansAreBastards everyone thought]] it was part of his plan. Getting back on it, some time later, I just found it predictable, because he was almost "asking for it", saying so many commands as a "simple example". Then I (and I think he did too) realized episodes later that he got what he wanted: Zero being a hero again (like many characters called him out on him not being Zero for Nunnally, but for his own goals), ''and Suzaku finally being Nunnally's Knight''. And what seemed to be just a bad and obvious scene became more meaningful when we realize the "what I could do to you" revolves around his needs, not harmless pranks. The first one is "I could make you remove Suzaku from being your Knight", which would give him a technical advantage, maybe a decent way for him to get closer to Nunnally too, and maybe make the Japanese people become untrusting of her good will, removing one of them and such. The one that "went in" is worse, but the previous (I remember they were three "I could"s, I may be wrong) would, in the longer term, put things similarly to how it went. And consider, he could have said "jokingly" stuff, like "I could make you act like a cat/dog" (a common "hypnosis joke") or "I could make you get undressed/make sex to me" (another "man-thing"), but his subconscious only dictates him viable solutions for his problems, which include tarnishing her name and intention. If the other command would have entered, and this would have been said previously without effect, [[spoiler:The Euphinator]] would have been only a footnote on the FridgeHorror page. So when you look over that scene again, you can see it was barely coincidental... |
| 56 | *** At that point, Lelouch isn't a complete bastard but he is also a very analytical person. I wouldn't be surprised if part of him was seriously musing on what would happen if he made Euphie do those things. Not to mention he was mentioning things [[TemptingFate that were completely antithetical to Euphemia]], just to highlight the power of Geass. |
| 57 | *** It was a matter of timing. He could have went on to bring up any of those other hypotheticals given an extra moment or two before PowerIncontinence kicked in, and the last one to be uttered would have happened instead. |
| 58 | *** It's also worthwhile noting that a) Lelouch only turns to look at Euphie for that last example and b) the framing of the animation does ''not'' show Lelouch's eyes during that conversation. He's looking away, looking up at the ceiling. It's likely [[spoiler: his Geass was already out of control]] but it's only when he turned and faced Euphie that it could come into effect. If he had turned to face her for another example or not looked at her at all during that conversation, it's likely it wouldn't have happened. But his choice of turning to face her matches up with the example he gives; it's that much of an awful thing and turning to face her was in a way of him making it clear ''he was honest'' and not joking about his power. Shame he ended up proving it to her in the ''worst'' way possible. |
| 59 | * Why was Lelouch not able to stop Euphemia before she started [[spoiler:firing into the massive crowd of Japanese people at the SAZ press conference?]] Because he’s been shown to be comically out of shape so he probably can’t physically catch up to her on foot. |
| 60 | * Many people are turned off by the rapid technological progression during R2 where lead-characters pull super-awesome technology or Knightmares out of thin air. However, those who pay attention almost always see that technology episodes before in a one-off prototype, SOMEWHERE... |
| 61 | * A year after I watched Code Geass, I decided to check it up on wikipedia, since it had an alternate calendar, I was curious as to when the events would be taking place in our timeline. When I found the calendar was started about fifty years before gregorian calendar was, I did that math and found out that the year series takes place is in 1968! the same year when Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King were assassinated, thus [[spoiler:poetically lining Lelouch's death with theirs, as he sacrificed himself for world peace, just as those two were willing to die for a chance at it as well, which also makes a lot of sense because the Code Geass world is going through THEIR version of the Sixties!]] |
| 62 | ** It gets better: It actually starts '''55''' years before 1 A.D., which means that the series starts in 1963. [[UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy And just WHO was assassinated in 1963?]] |
| 63 | *** Even better than that, though this might be getting into WMG: JFK is one of the few people in history to have literally saved the world with the force of his personality, in the Cuban Missile Crisis. Guess what Lelouch had done just a few episodes before? |
| 64 | * Everytime the OP changes within a given season, it's at an episode where something happens or is about to happen to Shirley or Euphemia. It seems even less coincidental if you consider the fact that one way to interpret Shirley is how Euphemia would have been had she not grown up as royalty. And Shirley and Euphemia, between the two of them, are the ones who initiate all the series' [[WhamEpisode Wham Episodes]]. -- @/{{2writeis2life}} |
| 65 | * Also worth noting that, if you're looking at Code Geass as a retelling of ''Hamlet'' then these two split the character of [[spoiler:Ophelia]] between them. Shirley even gets a [[spoiler:Polonius]], her father, and Euphemia gets a [[spoiler:Laertes, Suzaku.]] In fact, just about all of my Fridge Moments regarding this series were of the "whoah, just like that guy in Hamlet" variety. -HollowGolem |
| 66 | * A few weeks after watching R2 episode 21, it hit me. [[spoiler:A (probably gay) teenage boy with dad issues and a dead-but-not-gone mother is the main pawn in his dad's plan to re-work the world in daddy's ways to make the world an 'ideal' place where dad and mom can be together.]] Code Geass has been [[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion Evangelion]] all along. |
| 67 | * (With thanks to the anonymous Troper on the IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy page, who pointed out the Kallen part of this) At different points in ''R2'', when Lelouch has doubts about continuing, he gets told by Kallen to continue lying to her until the end to free Japan, and by Suzaku to turn his lies into truths and work with him to make things better. And during the Zero Requiem arc he [[spoiler:lies to Kallen to free Japan (and to prevent her from suffering with him in his ZeroApprovalGambit), and he works with Suzaku to make all Zero's talk about making a better world actually true.]] - @/{{Drakyndra}} |
| 68 | *** Suzaku was telling him to "become a true champion of justice". It was Lelouch who wanted his help. Pretty sure the two parallels were unintentional to begin with, especially since Suzaku [[{{Hypocrite}} was still being misguided]]. |
| 69 | * So, Lelouch is sometimes accused of the IdiotBall for not telling people certain things, making him seem much more sinister than he really is. Telling [[spoiler:Suzaku that the Euphie incident was an accident and that he really wanted to free Japan, or giving his side of the story when the Black Knights turn on him]] might have changed everything. But you realize that Lelouch has a '''massive''' GuiltComplex about his morally-grey actions. He doesn't want to reject responsibility for things that are even remotely his fault, even if it could help him with his goals. He wants to be punished, and so he sabotages himself by letting others believe the worst. - @/{{Treblain}} |
| 70 | ** And another one:the ending seems stupid with [[spoiler:too many KarmaHoudini characters getting their EsotericHappyEnding despite making mistakes they should have paid for like Lelouch and Suzaku--both willingly at that--did]]. I myself dislike that much too. Then I thought of something: ''Code Geass'' is a ''subtle parody''. And here it's parodying [[spoiler:happy endings by making one happen when by all accounts it shouldn't]]; just [[spoiler:listen closely to the music, it's too freaking happy for what had just happened to Lelouch the SilentScapegoat]]. It may not make what happened to [[spoiler:Lelouch or Suzaku]] that much more likeable, but who says it needs to be? - @/MasterKnight |
| 71 | * In the series C.C. calls Geass "The Power of the King" and we never get any real explanation of what it really means. Well it hit me one day that all the Geass' are mental powers and things that a king (or a queen in C.C. and Marianne's cases) metaphorically can do. Lelouch's word is law with his Geass just like any absolute monarch. The Emperor can overwrite memories just like a king can rewrite his nation's history. Rolo can control the perception of time for people. A bad king's reign can seem to go on and on. Mao knows everything the people around him are thinking and a ruler would (or at least should) be able to monitor a lot of what goes on in his kingdom. C.C's Geass let her be loved by everyone and a good king or queen could be idolized to that point. Even Bismark, Marianne and that random kid in the Geass cult relate. A good king should be able to predict how their actions will effect things, Marianne's is the equivalent of your ideas living on through a successor and the random kid who could move people's bodies was like a manipulative king who makes the entire kingdom dance to his whims through bureaucracy. Finally, the ultimate goal of the Geass is to make someone immortal and a ruler can often become immortalized by the actions they do in life.- Tropers/WindWeaver19 |
| 72 | ** I had a FridgeBrilliance over your FridgeBrilliance. At first the explanation for Rolo's power seemed contrived and reaching, but then I realized: His power is ''flawed''. It stops his heart. In other words, ''he's a bad king''.- @/{{Discar}} |
| 73 | *** Marianne's ability allows her to live on through her successor. [[EvilMatriarch Many a bad Queen in both RealLife and fiction have damaged their heirs]] [[MyBelovedSmother through raising them as clones]] [[KnightTemplarParent instead of letting them live their own lives]]. |
| 74 | *** When you think about it from this context, the entire [[spoiler:Euphinator]] Incident serves to underline the fact that a king must choose his words carefully. This isn't the first time that [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Becket#Assassination someone died]] because a flippant remark was parsed as a royal command. |
| 75 | ** Only question is… how does Orpheus fit in to this? |
| 76 | * The technological breakthroughs of ''Code Geass'' over the course of the series can seem a bit... rushed and even farfetched, at times. Technology shouldn't improve at such a rate, especially not knightmares (7 years for the 4th and 5th generations, 2 years for 7, 8, and 9th generation frames). However, it becomes brilliant when you consider 2 factors: ''Code Geass'' takes place during a period of astounding technological growth in our world (the Cold War era), and: [[spoiler:Schneizel ''planned this out the entire time''. He ''wanted'' to build Damocles, and so poured countless resources into developing the relevant technologies. The float systems, shielding, knightmares, and even the FLEIJAs become awesome when you realize that they were all meant to be used together from day one]]. |
| 77 | ** For those people who watched ''Code Geass'' before they watched shows like the Gundam Franchise and [[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion Evangelion]], I would suggest watching those series next, followed by rewatching ''Anime/CodeGeass''. I won't get into the Eva references, since those have been done to death on this site, but take a look at ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam''. In particular, take a good look at the Zabi Family, particularly Degwin Sodo Zabi (Charles zi Britannia), Gihren Zabi (Schneizel), Dozle Zabi (who is likeable like Odysseus, but has a reputation akin to Cornelia), Kycilia Zabi (Cornelia herself!), and Garma Zabi (who is obviously Clovis). Meanwhile, Lelouch vi Britannia is based off of Casval Rem Deikun, and both have a famous alias: Zero and Char Aznable (hell, Char even means "four", fitting with the number theme). He also uses the alias Lelouch Lamperouge (possibly inspired by Char's alias Edward Mass), and is known to some as "The Black Prince" (The Red Comet, of course!). Then his sister Nunnally vi Britannia is based off of Char's sister Artesia Sum Deikun (Nunnally Lamperouge = Sayla Mass). Nunnally may also have some connection (being inspired by or inspiring) to Mineva Lao Zabi (Audrey Burne). Marianne vi Britannia, who was described as loving and a general saint by those that knew her (and was later assassinated) could have some inspiration drawn from Zeon Zum Deikun, who was a philosopher and a pacifist. Basically, ''Code Geass'' takes the entire plotline of Char's vengeance against the family of dictators and translates it to a Japan/Britannia battlefield, with the added twist that they're all part the same family now! They even have the same habit of using those nonsensical honorifics in their names. Hell, Lelouch killed Clovis first, just as Char did to Garma! Charles is much like Degwin, both seeming like ruthless tyrants while, in reality, being tired of war. Charles simply had a very Gendo-esque way of ending it! Gihren inspired Schneizel (from the pseudo-German name right down to the superweapon), mixed in with Charles' speech-giving powers. Both even tried to take over near the end. Sadly, Cornelia's attempt to shoot Schneizel near the end was far less successful than Kycilia's assassination of Gihren. In addition, the idea of these characters being royalty (and exiled royalty) rather than just pseudo-noble dictators was taken from ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing'', with Lelouch being much like the infamous CharClone, Zechs, who is an exiled Prince with blood on his hands (also note that Milliardo and Zechs are both Number based, like Zero, as was the theme in ''Wing'')! Which would make Nunnally based on Relena! ... [[YourHeadAsplode Wow]]... In short, no matter how [[AssPull completely out of the blue]] many plot points may seem, its obvious that they had been using previous Gundam series as inspiration the whole damn time. Perhaps people would have been far more able to discover the motives and suspected actions of many characters if they simply watched the series that came before and followed what the equivalent character did (or tried to do). |
| 78 | ** Speaking of Lamperouge, if rouge means red and lamp means a holder of light, then considering that Geass is depicted as a bright-red bird contained in Lelouch's eye... |
| 79 | ** The fact that Suzaku [[spoiler:vows to be the one to kill [[MyHeroZero Zero]],]] and at the end of R2, despite the situation having changed significantly [[spoiler:still ends up fulfilling that promise.]] Ironically, he's also the one that [[spoiler:takes up the mask, resurrecting the identity of Zero and enabling the symbol of him to live on.]] |
| 80 | * It always bugged me that in R2 the mechas always explode after receiving fatal damage, something which happened less in R1. But then I realized that the new mecha were built after the conquest of Japan, the worlds largest supply of sakuradite, which was used as a mecha power source. The knightmares were upgraded with more sakuradite, and thus made big explosions. |
| 81 | * The conversation between Schneissel and Lelouch in R2 turn 24 always seemed impossible, due to their being no way that Lelouch was able to predict the words strategy and plan. But after rewatching I realized that he didn't need it. Lelouch's manner of speaking is a triumphant monologue about the subject that Schneissel would likely start about. He only makes it look like a conversation by pausing after each sentence. It is just coincidence Schneissel uses the same words as his monologue, but it would still be a believable conversation even if he didn't. Lelouch is acting like he is scolding a child, interruptions, lack of relevant replies and weird pauses are par for the course in that sort of conversation. |
| 82 | * Clovis. Am I the only one who thinks he's one of the most brilliantly handled characters in this show? For all the time he's alive, he's basically your typical SmugSnake, [[AristocratsAreEvil incompetent but callous ruler]], who perhaps [[AlasPoorVillain earns a bit of sympathy for his death]] but is otherwise just someone to showcase the evils of the Britannian Empire and let Lelouch have his CurbStompBattle. Then the rest of his appearance (or rather, when he's referred to) spend their time deconstructing this notion: he clearly loved his family, he was a fairly talented artist, he even treasured all of his visits with Lelouch when they were younger, despite the fact that he always lost their games of chess - not the reaction you'd expect he of the hopeless ego to have. Even his most horrendous action, the demolition of the Shinjuku ghetto, is, if not justified, certainly given an excuse - it becomes abundantly clear over the rest of the show that Clovis really would've gotten in quite a lot of trouble with a lot very powerful, very nasty people if anything with C.C. had come to light. So, whilst the action he took was still monstrous, one can understand his being a tad irrational with fear at the time - indeed, one even realises that this probably him in the worst light possible. All in all, it becomes apparent that for all his many failings and the typical vices of the SocialDarwinist Britannian aristocracy, Clovis was actually quite a nice guy. A JerkAss? Yes, by dint of the job. But a JerkAssWoobie in this troper's opinion. |
| 83 | ** Clovis seems like a pretty evil guy compared to Lelouch's AntiHero tendencies... until we get halfway through the series and start to see how the good guys aren't as good and the bad guys aren't as evil as we first believed. Considering all the CharacterDerailment and RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap that we see in the living characters, it makes perfect sense that Clovis ([[spoiler:and Marianne]]) get the exact same treatment. |
| 84 | ** There's also the audio drama that shows how Clovis originally decided to take that position. He clearly has no inclination towards war and politics, and no desire to involve himself in it, but in the Britannian royal family, if you're not a soldier, you're trash. Cornelia and Schneizel are incredibly rude to him and he just takes it. Then he tells them that he has accepted the position of viceroy of Area 11, and they're shocked and they don't think he can do it. He tells them he wants to do it to make Lelouch's "final resting place" peaceful for him, for the younger brother who never knew how much Clovis cared for him. Euphemia tells Clovis that Lelouch sent her a letter and mentioned making friends with a boy his age in Japan. Clovis says that he thinks he should be gentle to the Elevens in that case, since Lelouch had a friend among them. Bot Cornelia and Schneizel tell him that he can't let himself be soft, and that a viceroy should be ruthless. So he's a weak-willed person who has essentially been told that his actual skills and talents are worthless, and the only thing he could do that would be worthwhile would be to become a ruthless tyrant. Keep in mind that he is a sheltered Britannian royal who probably has never been exposed to ideas other than what the empire wants everyone to believe. While it's true that everyone has choices in live, and no one ''has'' to order a massacre, it's also true that if every single piece of information a person receives points to one conclusion, it's incredibly unlikely that they would be able to think of an alternative on their own. The ability to think on that level is what sets people like Lelouch and Schneizel apart from the rest of humanity - and Euphie is also a lot closer to it than most people give her credit for. But for the rest of them? If you look at how their information is being manipulated, you realize that they don't need to be condemned, they need sympathy. |
| 85 | * The battle between Lelouch's Britannia and the UFN is reminiscent of Franchise/StarWars, except we are RootingForTheEmpire and the Death Star is on the side of the Rebels. |
| 86 | * Nina's, ahem, "romp" with Table-kun seems extremely out of place and, when I was watching with my father, embarrassing... but then you recall that Nina's full name is "Nina Einstein." Albert Einstein, although it's not commonly known, wasn't the celibate genius many people expect... |
| 87 | * After Lelouch accidentally geasses Euphemia into slaughtering the Japanese, we get a shot of the Emperor watching the massacre and [[EvilLaugh laughing maniacally]], declaring, "You are worthy of being called my child now!" At first this just served to make him seem like more of a bigoted nutter, being happy that his daughter was committing genocide. But then in R2 we find out that the Emperor already knew quite a bit about Geass and what Lelouch was up to. Meaning he probably guessed that Lelouch geassed Euphie, but thought it was done intentionally in order to stir up anti-Brittanian sentiment. That's when you realize, the Emperor wasn't cheering on Euphemia's AxCrazy rampage, he was cheering on Lelouch's ruthless manipulation of his sister and the Japanese population. He still comes off as a bastard, but a very different ''kind'' of bastard. |
| 88 | ** Plus, in the original Japanese episode, the subtitles show "He did it! He really did it!" or something along the lines of that. "He" would refer to Lelouch. |
| 89 | *** Not likely; Japanese does not differentiate pronouns by gender. There are no specific words for "he" or "she". |
| 90 | *** Actually, there are ("kare" and "kanojo", respectively), it's just that they are not used very often. However, in that case (if I heard correctly) Charles used the word "yatsu", which ''is'' gender-neutral. |
| 91 | *** On the other hand, given the context, who else is it going to refer to? Euphie? [[SarcasmMode Yeah, he was just waiting for her to snap and go kill-crazy all on her own...]] |
| 92 | * What in often considered one of Lelouch's {{Moral Event Horizon}}s (his crossing the line into using Geass to enslave all of Britannia) is actually all part of Zero Requiem. As well as making him seem even ''more'' like a heartless tyrant who only uses people as tools, it also (and this is the brilliant part) ''completely absolves everyone in Britannia of any responsibility for the subsequent war.'' Lelouch makes the world not only hate him, he also makes them feel pity for Britannia for being enslaved, not hatred for them supporting him. And since his plan was supposed to conclude with his death, the survivors would all be free again afterwards (unlike Schneizel, who he quite specifically enslaved to ''Zero''). It wasn't a MoralEventHorizon- even though [[TheEndJustifiesTheMeans he had to do it to carry out his plan]], he was ''sparing'' them from any reprisals! |
| 93 | ** Tell that to the love ones of all the people who died during that battle, especially those who Lelouch killed by destroying Mt. Fuji. He enslaved hundreds of people and then killed them just so peace could be achieved with his own death. |
| 94 | *** That world was in desperate need of peace, the world might have more technology than real life, but it lacked the maturity of real life earth leaders. Given the new development of FLEIJA warheads, season 3 would've been similar to Dr. Strangelove, had season 2 not ended the way it did. Given a world where loved ones are dead, and one where everyone is dead. |
| 95 | *** Schneizel and Lelouch could have easily talked it out, figured out that no one actually wanted to fight, and simply ended the war settling into an era of peace. Humanity isn't evil, you don't need to kill a bunch of people to make sure that the rest fall into line. The actions of the Royal Britannia Family where the actions of madmen, and they still haven't fixed the problem of the Britannia family still ruling Britannia. The family proved that it shouldn't be in charge of a Dairy Queen let alone the largest country in the world. |
| 96 | *** The problem with that is that Schneizel's plan had less to do with fighting Lelouch and more to do with nuking a bunch of cities to force the rest of the population in line with his idea of "peace", which in his view was a simple absence of war. Even if Lelouch and Schneizel recognized that they had similar goals and that Lelouch wasn't truly evil incarnate, Schneizel still held incredibly cynical views about humanity - ''he'' believed they were beyond saving, which is the main problem. Lelouch would have had to deal with him anyway, and Schneizel was good at convincing people to march to his beat. Not that he needed it; even if Lelouch somehow regained the Black Knights' co-operation, their trust in each other was mutually broken. |
| 97 | *** There was nothing that implied that Lelouch had even tried to co-operate to begin with. Or to even try thwarting Schneizel before FLEIJA got underway. |
| 98 | * I never understood the Ragnarok plan until I watched it again today. The whole thing emphasized Charles' detachment from the human condition. He could have stopped the violence by issuing a few edicts like the abolition of the Numbers system and instead he came up with a cartoony plan that made little sense to everyone else. |
| 99 | ** Only except the fact that most of the royal family would overthrow him. |
| 100 | *** Extra materials revealed they ''did'' try that when he first got to the throne. They are all dead now thanks to [[WorldsStrongestMan Bismark]] and [[ActionGirl Marianne]]. Plus, Charles has a Memory Alteration Geass and access to plenty of other Geass users through the Geass Order and V.V. as an Immortal Code Bearer. He does, in fact, have the power to make a difference through that. He simply chooses not to because he would prefer to erase the past and do something as inhuman as the Ragnarok Connection to "fix things". As Lelouch points out when he confronts him on his plan, it's a selfish plan that does not care for any outside of his very small personal circle. Not even his own children are taken into account with this plan. |
| 101 | * Remember the weird branching tree diagram at the Geass temple? It's a drawing of neurons. After all, Geass works in relation to people's minds. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuron |
| 102 | ** Not only that, but if you check the sequence every time Lelouch uses his Geass, it's a picture of a ''Geassed'' neuron. |
| 103 | * For characters whose backstory we learn about, it appears that their Geass is a type of {{Personality Power|s}} by granting the character's greatest desire. Lelouch, having no control his entire life gains the ultimate control over people. [[spoiler:C.C.]], we discover, wanted to be loved and gains the power to make anyone love her. [[spoiler:Charles]], after having his brothers and sisters killing each other due to ambition wants to rewrite history.[[spoiler:Bismark]], the consummate soldier, gains the ability to see what the enemy is going to do before he does it. It's even somewhat inverted near the end when [[spoiler:Rolo]] uses his power of [[spoiler:manipulating the perception of time]] to make to preserve his moment of belonging.--@/{{Tsukishijin}} |
| 104 | ** To add to [[spoiler:Charles']] explanation, he is also constantly seen berating the act of lying and saying that truth should conquer all. However, the fact that his power literally revolves around lies and falsities, moreso than any other Geass, shows that in his heart, he always was a gigantic liar, to the point that it was the key trait recognised by Geass. |
| 105 | * [[AllThereInTheManual According to supplementary materials]], the reason America lost its fight for independence in the Code Geass world is because Benjamin Franklin switched sides. This might seem to be a bit hard to believe - until you realize that in other supplementary materials, CC mentions having known him personally. If Benjamin Franklin had a contract with CC, considering the effect that other Geass-weilding politicians (for example, Lelouch) have had on the Code Geass world, it makes a lot of sense that the outcome of the revolutionary war depended wholly on him. |
| 106 | ** Given that the real Ben Franklin was largely responsible for America receiving aid from the French during the Revolutionary War, it's not that big of a stretch to believe that America would have lost the war if England had managed to turn Benjamin Franklin to their side. It is still possible that Geass may have been involved in turning him. |
| 107 | * I was browsing at the CG wikia and looking at the map of the second part of the series and I saw the Middle Eastern Federation was painted as red and also Indonesia and the Phillipines, so I realized that the Black Rebellion was actually a heavy blow to the Britannian Empire, even if it was a failure, because the Empire lost territory. With two royals dead and one missing and if the securing of the new areas wasn't going as good as expected because they had to redirect supplies to Japan, the control over those areas was feeble. It could be said that the UFN accepted the governments in exile, but the area corresponding to Persia is not alligned with the UFN, which leads the question of why didn't they join the UFN? Because the Britannian threat wasn't relevant. Then Britannia, after the Black Rebellion, redirected its efforts to the EU (the provider of supplies and technology to guerrillas over the world), conquering most of the ill-defended Africa (UnfortunateImplications for the EU? I am of the opinion that an African colonized by the EU had only a slightly better condition than a Number) while advancing in Europe with Schneizel's strategy of negotiating with states directly (serious, how could they conquer Russia in one year without making an accord?) and [[CharlesAtlasSuperpower Suzaku]], while arranging the purchase of China to not have the problem of mobilizing the entire army to retake the once conquered areas. As for the Toromo Agency in Cambodia, it could be argued that it's just the United States of Cambodia didn't care with their presence and the jungle would be a good cover for the research. Tropers/NotJMKeynes. |
| 108 | * FridgeBrilliance: Lelouch believed that you had to start a rebellion/work from the outside to achieve peace, while Suzaku thought the opposite--and in the end, both their views were needed to make their dream a reality. Lelouch took Suzaku's philosophy and took over as Emperor, and Suzaku took Lelouch's philosophy and became Zero. |
| 109 | ** It could have been done differently, with Lelouch being either a good emperor or continuing on as Zero, but as an agent of a more peaceful Britannia instead. |
| 110 | *** Possible, but not probable. Britannia was pretty set in its ways, and even with Nunnally it'll take years (being generous estimate) to fully change the course of the country and its population's worldview. Not to mention the fact that Lelouch ''wanted'' to die, believing Nunnally to be dead (and he was in too deep when he learned otherwise). |
| 111 | *** Exactly, Britannia was based on the ideology of might makes right as shown during Emperor Charles' speech (espousing fighting as a natural part of humanity). A great destructive war which resulted in the deaths of many Britannians may have been necessary to change that collective mindset and make them tire of war. A shift in ideology like that in Britannia would have helped the next ruler achieve peace. |
| 112 | *** Unfortunately the writers mainly presented the conflicting narrative that Lelouch fully intended to do so because he wanted to atone, yet still failed to explain the wisdom behind this. The Zero Requiem cost not only scores of lives when all was said and done (a likely case given the implication that Lelouch acted the worst tyrant ever), but also Lelouch himself, one of the smartest people in the world. Leaving people in charge who got fooled by Schneizel isn't the smartest thing to do, nor is leaving a wake of destruction for them to clean up the most ethical. Besides, suicide is never atonement; it's the easy way out. It's understandable that Lelouch wanted the latter, but the writers didn't present it as such, hence the logic failure of the ending. |
| 113 | *** Many good points, although you must remember, in the Japanese cultural mindset, suicide ''is'' a perfectly acceptable atonement, which is why Suzaku was a DeathSeeker for most of the show's run. As for Schneizel, Lelouch was probably banking on Suzaku keeping him in line, although I agree it's not the wisest possible choice. Lelouch (rightly or wrongly) also believed that he could never truly help build a new peaceful world after the things he'd done. He saw himself as too sinful, and left that job to people like Nunnally and the UFN. |
| 114 | *** What I meant was that most of the remaining cast was nowhere near a smart; may the gods have mercy on Ohgi if he performs another blunder. While Lelouch had done various destructive (albeit often necessary) things, he also did many heroic things as well, and had often proved he could help in a reconstructive leadership capacity, like when he helped form the UFN, a legitimate worldwide body. That says a lot more than many of the others who lived instead, and only gives credence to him giving up on life. All I'm denying is the narrative that Lelouch redeemed himself with his final act of playing tyrant and publically assisted suicide, which is self-contradictory given that it caused more death and destruction than his rebellion, which actually could have taken down the Britannian Empire given just a little more time, did, and that he left his work of changing the world to everyone else rather than continuing on to help. |
| 115 | *** I agree completely; Lelouch ''did'' have the capacity for good, constructive solutions, and he's essentially leaving the future of the world in the hands of some people who have been shown to be seriously misguided. But try telling ''him'' that. He wasn't exactly in a good state of mind following Nunnally's death, and Suzaku's blame game wouldn't have helped - he pushed Zero Requiem more than anyone. The idea that Lelouch somehow redeemed himself is a case of Japanese ValuesDissonance, which can easily be denied from a Western perspective. As for the UFN leadership, all we (and Lelouch) can do is keep our fingers crossed that the UFN's charter and Schneizel's continued service to Zero will be enough to keep things relatively peaceful and stable. |
| 116 | * The main argument against building a military mecha in the real world is the vulnerability of the legs, right? Well, ''Code Geass'' brilliantly dodges the issue by making the mecha in question so [[LightningBruiser friggin' nimble]] via RollerbladeGood that it's nigh impossible to accurately target the legs in combat. Of course, real-world mechas wouldn't engage in close combat but still. |
| 117 | * Unfortunately, This Troper forgets the specifics but once or twice (once during the R1 finale) Lelouch tells Suzaku that together they can accomplish anything. As we know, he was [[{{Pun}} dead on]]. By the end of the second season, they conquer the entire world and then achieve world peace. |
| 118 | * This Troper feels that the countless ways in which the characters foil one another throughout the series can be considered as multiple examples of fridge brilliance. The most complex examples involve Lelouch/Suzaku, Lelouch/Kallen, Kallen/Suzaku and Schneizel/Lelouch. But, of course, it doesn't end there. |
| 119 | * Knight of Zero! Get it?! [[DontExplainTheJoke ...Because he's suppose to be a position above the Knight of One but he's also Zero's knight]]. Also, he's the knight who becomes Zero. |
| 120 | * This troper always figured that Lelouch's [[MemeticMutation FABULOUS]] hand movements were always just that: [[LargeHam FABULOUS for no better reason.]] But it would make sense when you think about how he has to have direct eye contact with whoever he's using his Geass on, so what better way to make the subject look at his eyes? [[ChewingTheScenery Over-the-top hand gestures and poses, of course~!]] |
| 121 | ** While that certainly could be one explanation, this troper always felt that his hand movements were so over-the-top that they would be more likely to distract the target. A likely explanation could be that they are just intended to direct attention towards him. |
| 122 | * Suzaku's Knightmare Frame is called Lancelot. Think for a moment - what significance did Lancelot have in the Arthurian Legend? Lancelot betrayed King Arthur and made off with his wife. Now, "betrayal" is a running theme with Suzaku. Firstly, at the outset of the series, the other Elevens accused him of being a traitor in siding with the Britannians. Next, Lelouch finds out Suzaku's working for Britannia, and feels betrayed by this, especially seeing as he was planning on [[spoiler:Geassing him to live his life at Nunally's side]]. Then, finally, in R2, he betrays [[spoiler:the old Britannian royal family by siding with Zero]] |
| 123 | ** Also, factor in that Suzaku fell in love with Euphemia. What was Lelouch's [[spoiler:last words to the girl? "You were the first woman I loved".]] Lancelot stole Guinevere, Arthur's wife, from him; had Lelouch found out about the relationship, he might have, even for a second, feel robbed from. |
| 124 | *** He did find out about the 'ship. Remember the end of the school festival episode? Nunnally herself mentioned how Suzaku and Euphie made a nice couple. Lelouch looked quite angrily at her in the last scene. This could be because of the major SAZ wrench she had just thrown in his plans. However, it could also have been because he felt robbed by Suzaku (as you mentioned) for taking Euphie, or even because he felt robbed by Euphie on behalf of Nunnally (for taking away Suzaku as her knight and possible love interest). He could have also been projecting his own betrayal onto how he thought Nunnally felt. |
| 125 | *** In older versions of the tale, the love triangle involving Lancelot and Guinevere also included a lord - not Arthur - who was interested in ''Lancelot''. He offered him land, title, everything and anything...and Lancelot turned him down, which ultimately lead to him becoming the "betrayer". Now, remember how Zero offers to work with Suzaku early on and how that one choice of Suzaku to turn it down seems to be behind a lot of tragedy... |
| 126 | *** More nods to the Arthurian mythos here, the Knightmare Frame C.C. and Lelouch pilot is called the Gawain. Sir Gawain was 'well known to be the most trustworthy friend of Sir Lancelot.' [[spoiler: Sir Gawain died at the hands of Sir Lancelot.]] |
| 127 | *** More on the Gawain: as pointed out in the CelibateHero page, Sir Gawain spent many nights sleeping on the same bed as the Green Knight's wife but never takes advantage of her. Lelouch and CC are the ones to pilot the frame, the only couple in the show to "share a bed" (both in Lelouch's bedroom and Zero's quarters ThereIsOnlyOneBed) but -at least on screen- are never intimate, even when CC changes clothes, spends time in minimum clothing ([[SexyShirtSwitch including his shirt]]) and is generally [[ShamelessFanserviceGirl too comfortable]] around him, showcasing Lelouch's "virtue" (in the Arthurian tale, Sir Gawain rejected the lady's advances out of honor). |
| 128 | *** The Green Knight, and thus presumably his wife, were also fairly overtly magical. C.C is a witch. |
| 129 | *** Also the cat is named Arthur. And he spends the entire series attempting to maim the pilot of the Lancelot. |
| 130 | * A very subtle one: At the beginning of the series, Lelouch is nearly killed when his cell phone goes off at the wrong moment and attracts the attention of Clovis's royal guards. After that, his phone is always on vibrate. |
| 131 | ** Out of everything else on this page, this is the most brilliant point made, in this troper's eyes. That's so subtle and brilliant I have no words for it. |
| 132 | *** Ooh... so close! While his phone is definitely on vibrate during Episode 8, which makes sense since he did not need any interruptions while saving the hostages from the hotel jacking, his phone rings, not on vibrate in Episode 14 when he thinks it's Shirley, but it's actually Mao. |
| 133 | *** True, but then he was in his civilian identity and had no belief that the Royal Guard was keeping an ear out for him. He probably just learned when it was good to keep it on silent and when it was okay not to. |
| 134 | * Why does the Zero costume look like Franchise/{{Batman}} with Franchise/SuperSentai helmet? Because it was meant to invoke fear in the superstitious and cowardly Brittannians and hope in the Japanese while still being a not so nice hero of justice. What better way to do this than to combine their iconic superhero motifs. |
| 135 | * When Guilford duels Lelouch early in R2, after ejecting the rest of his weapons he spins his lance over the head of his Knightmare in a seemingly meaningless action. When you think about it, however, taking an action that requires such fine manual dexterity in a Knightmare Frame would be extremely difficult. Guilford is trying to intimidate Zero by demonstrating his prowess as a pilot. |
| 136 | ** That seemed obvious, puffing out the chest just prior to a duel. |
| 137 | * Why couldn't Lelouch just rule over Britannia? He had little to no support. The Numbered Areas might appreciate being released from Brittania's control but it's unlikely they would actually support him and he would have to let them go from Brittania to be an actual reformer. Its made clear during the reform phase of Lelouch's plan that there is constant rebellion. The privileged nobles are widespread and seem to have ALL of the high government jobs which means Lelouch would have to purge much of the government and the same goes for the military. Except that the military would likely rebel as Rome's privileged military did in its last couple of centuries whenever an emperor did not give in to their every demand. Lelouch usurped the throne from his father and stated he killed him on live international television. Who would support him? The homeland Brittanias MAY not be as racist as the nobles and military who benefit the most from Brittania's expansionist policy but they aren't likely to support the guy who admits to killing their emperor and thats not something you can simply keep under wraps with Schneizel running around. And how was Lelouch supposed to take control without mind controlling ALL of his siblings? Without them dealt with any opposing faction would have a more legitimate (THEY didn't kill their own father at least) claim to the throne which means more rebellion. Lelouch going for a benevolent emperorship would have only embroiled Brittania in a long series of civil wars with himself having none of the necessary support to actually succeed. |
| 138 | ** Right before he took the UFN hostage, he came to be known as the Emperor of Justice, and DID have mass approval. |
| 139 | *** Its unclear if that is the world's opinion or domestic opinion and this is after Lelouch's reform phase where he is already using {{slave mooks}}. And its likely that Lelouch has mind controlled numerous nobles offscreen to have a functioning government and military. When it comes down to it a lot Lelouch's rule relies on his {{co dragons}} and mind control. Admittedly fleshing out this early phase of Lelouch's plan would have cleared up whether Lelouch could ever rule with popular support. And how is he known as the "Emperor of Justice" if he admits to killing his father on national television? Most people don't take kindly to patricide even if it is {{laser guided karma}}. Lelouch still needed to use mind control on all of his siblings to deal with competition for the throne. And what about when Schneizel nuked the capital? Lelouch might have been there. There is also Cornelia, Schneizel, FLEIJA and Nunnally to think about. Lelouch won the final battle because of his {{slave mooks}}, could he have defeated the Damocles without them even if he did somehow convince the others to work with him? And what about other geass cancellers? Jeremiah's seems to be a cybernetic enhancement rather than through a contract, something that could be replicated and at the least used to free the other heirs to the throne which would complicate any peaceful reign greatly. Lelouch's plan wasn't perfect but the Brittanian Royal Family had to go and thanks to Chuck there were a LOT that needed dealing with. |
| 140 | *** He could have had them released from the geass, and enlisted a new military and government in the meanwhile. Schneizel's nuke was possibly a response to ZR itself. Nunnally's reappearance was totally unexpected. Moreover, he could have set up Schneizel as the enemy of the world, and at least tried to find and stop him before he got Damocles off the ground. |
| 141 | *** Schneizel was much more trustworthy in the public eye, Lelouch was at best an unknown and at worst a terrorist who was rejected by his former organization. Schneizel also makes it clear that he's trying to stop humanity's constant cycle of warfare, rather than any individual enemy. He wouldn't have stopped just because Lelouch talked to him. There's also the fact that a new military would not help. Ignoring the civil war that would erupt between the old guard of former military men (a Britannian JLF in all likelihood) and Lelouch's green, untraditional new army, the fact remains that most of Britannian society had Social Darwinism ingrained into their belief system. It would have taken generations for a truly forward-thinking, non-racist society to develop with no outside factors pushing them in that direction. |
| 142 | *** Lelouch could have used the old EngineeredPublicConfession method to out Schneizel once he beat him (see: Turn 11). There was no one publically backing him yet anyways. As far as it taking generations for a non-racist society to come out, the ending would change none of this. And again, he could have gotten started on dealing with Schneizel MUCH, MUCH earlier. |
| 143 | *** It ''may'' have worked, but that's assuming that people buy the confession. Most of the people who matter (the UFN/Black Knights leadership) would probably assume Schneizel was being forced to confess through geass, and wouldn't believe it. Especially since Lelouch's former comrades had pretty publicly threw their lot in with Schneizel (not that that particular blunder was their fault, Lelouch did himself no favours at the UFN negotiations). And societies change much faster when they go through a major culture shock as opposed to steady reform. In our world, WWII and the Holocaust opened our eyes to the horrors of eugenics and prejudice when taken to their logical conclusion, and a world without that would never have advanced as quickly as ours did on the social justice front. The Code Geass world never had that, and it would have taken living through a tyrant like Lelouch presented himself as to make Britannians in particular understand what a real dictatorship was. They still had rights and privileges under Charles, not so under Lelouch who made them equal to the numbers in their shared oppression. As such, they were far more open to freedom, democracy and equality after going through that. Attempts at reform via Suzaku's method would have taken entire generations, as real life has taught us in regards to American and European democracies. ''[[Manga/CodeGeassNightmareOfNunnally Nightmare of Nunnally]]'' makes a reference to this; [[FixFic Euphie survives to become Empress]] and frees all the Areas with the intent to rebuild both the countries conquered and Britannia's reputation. On the plus side, this is far more realistic than Zero Requiem. On the negative side, the challenges presented are also very realistic, since people still don't trust Britannia and the ending makes it clear that very few of these challenges are easily solvable. Maybe the anime's creators were simply trying to provide an ending that would be accepted for its relative optimism and happiness for the future? |
| 144 | *** Except that I'm inferring that Lelouch wouldn't have to do his tyrant shtick to begin with. Meaning, he could get the Black Knights on his side to begin with. And Schneizel already had his KillSat going, and was already feared in the world by anyone who wasn't Britannian. It wouldn't be too hard to turn the world against him with an EngineeredPublicConfession. Suzaku's methods not working were because they relied on a corrupt, fascist regime to work to begin with, and in which he had little pull over. Lelouch basically had free reign to do just about anything he wanted. It's true that WWII opened everyone's eyes, but the HBE was already at the level of Nazi Germany, or close to it; Germany and its fellow Axis nations never needed a ''worse'' dictator to be scared straight, only defeat and the Nuremberg trials were needed. Suzaku's methods didn't work because they depended on that very corrupt, fascist regime to comply, which it didn't. Lelouch actually had options. |
| 145 | *** That's assuming the Black Knights actually listen to him. They were watching him very warily, even when he was the "Emperor of Justice", and his actions for ZR really just justified their distrust rather than sparking it. As for Schneizel, The [=BKs=] had already fallen for Schneizel's act once. Even if they had doubts about Schneizel, the [=BKs=] didn't trust Lelouch any more, and they were still smarting from the broken trust between themselves and Lelouch. It's doubtful they could have gotten along with each other well enough to succeed. And Schneizel did have trust outside of Britannia; aside from Toromo in Cambodia, he had a lot of goodwill with European countries that he negotiated with, even if he could have just made them areas. He wasn't exactly alone, even with the Black Knights. Again, even with them on his side, the [=BKs=] would still have doubts about any confession that came from Lelouch after he captured Schneizel. As for Britannia under Charles, while it ''was'' bad, it wasn't "genocidal dictatorship" bad. Charles had an actual parliament of sorts during his reign, which was one of the first things Lelouch axed, as Xingke noted. Charles also never blew up a mountain or threatened the world with a KillSat; his sons were worse in that regard. As well, people actually had rights under Charles, and there was a hierarchy. Under Lelouch, former nobles and numbers were just as oppressed, not to mention the masses of average Britannians who suffered. Charles' Britannia was more akin to a 19th century empire, like the Kaiserreich or Russia under the Czars. Lelouch took it to Hitler/Stalin levels. |
| 146 | *** Again, you're assuming that this entails Lelouch not getting the [=BKs=] back on his side to begin with, which he never even tried in the first place. (There's another flaw; he made an unnecessary challenge gate for himself.) He could explain: "Hey guys, this is how Geass works; I never used it on you guys" and apologize for keeping secrets, not to mention having a word with them about Schneizel. And the EU merely weren't opposed to Schneizel at the moment; there's no indication they necessarily trusted him, esspecially given all the lives lost. Lelouch could out him as [[NukeEm Mr. FLEIJA-meister]] without any dictator shtick - world tyrant stopped, everyone wins. |
| 147 | *** It seems we're in agreement but for semantics; the unnecessary challenge gate is precisely my point. While I agree completely that Lelouch could (and should) have looked at all his options, and made the effort to reconcile, [[WeAreStrugglingTogether I just have a hard time believing they'd ever trust each other again.]] A combination of him not considering that option, the mutual broken trust between them following Schneizel's interference, and the pile-up of lies on both sides that led right up to the [=BK's=] coup following F.L.E.I.J.A.'s use on Tokyo meant that Lelouch probably figured that the reconciliation ship had already sailed, especially considering his experience with Suzaku. While it really could have been worth a try, Lelouch probably believed that it would never work. Even in his monologue before facing the emperor, he names the Black Knights alongside Nunnally, Shirley and Rolo, which implies he saw them as being dead to him as well. And since his mental state following Nunnally's apparent death and the [=BK's=] coup led him to try TakingYouWithMe against Charles, it makes sense he'd have this mindset right up to Zerozaku killing him. WE (and the fanfic writers) can see other possible options for him, but that doesn't mean he could. Especially since he wasn't omniscient and couldn't see things from the same perspective that we could. |
| 148 | * Many seem to have issues with the "Zero Requiem" being unrealistic, but on re-watching the series, I realized it makes perfect sense. In C's world, during the start of the Ragnarok Connection, Lelouch makes a request of the collective unconsciousness/God. Specifically, he requests the forward march of time continue onward, that he wants "tomorrow to come". When Lelouch geassed the collective unconscious, he implanted the desire for tommorow/the future. God itself watched everything that happened in the Thought Elevator, it sees Lelouch's desire to break the cycle of struggle that surrounds mankind. On a subconscious level, the entirity of mankind is aware of his desire to bring tomorrow, to bring forth the Zero Requiem. Despite not being consciousnesses aware of it, everyone is working towards that future from that point future. |
| 149 | ** It's just that though, a desire. Humans are given to disagreements and conflict, meaning that the peace could crumble at any given minute, and Lelouch practically lampshades it by calling Zero Requiem a gamble. Instead of going through with the evil tyrant plan at all, he could have helped out with the process, and not caused all the [[InferredHolocaust inferred death and destruction]] that came with the process. |
| 150 | *** True, but its also established that the collective desire of man is to end the cycle of struggle. To end war and constant clash. Zero Requiem did it, by focusing the worst of war, the worst of hate directly on Lelouch. Its established that Nunnally had the same plan, to focus hatred onto a single point, specifically on Damocles. Kallen says though that having a name vs. a thing was a deciding difference. By giving a name to associate wars and becoming an epitome of evil Lelouch gave someone the world could move on. Another way to think of it is as such. In my opinion, there is historical basis for this. |
| 151 | *** In our own world, ideas of one race being superior to others have existed for hundreds of years. Even with the end of slavery in the United States with the passing of the 14th amendment, African-Americans and other minorities were heavily discrimated against (see Plessy v. Ferguson). The Third Reich was built on such a premise, with Ayran's being a master race. With the conclusion of World War II, and the realization of the crimes of the Nazi regime, events like the Civil Rights Movement began to take place. |
| 152 | *** You can point to atrocities against minorities before, but to put a face to an ideal allows humanity to begin to reject it as a whole. Rejecting a concept is harder than rejecting a person and their beliefs. One can say they're against something, but that depends on the interpretative of said beliefs, i.e., one may reject say they reject war as a concept, but have a separate belief that a war can be just given the right circumstances (or in short, X is wrong, expect if Y is present). However, if you are against someone, it is easy to see if they were for or against something. Lelouch would be for war and ruling the world as a dictatorship, no matter what it required. By rejecting Lelouch, humankind would reject such lines of thought (i.e., the means justify the ends; creating peace through the threat of violence, etc.) |
| 153 | *** In effect, Lelouch created a person who the concept of war and violence could be squarely pinned on and thus allow humanity as a whole to move on. The problems of the world will not simply disappear overnight (nor did they as you can see Nunnally speaking with other leaders in the finale), but Zero Requiem, combined with individuals in the know, and the influence on the collective unconscious can break the cycle and ensure that humanity can finally move on. |
| 154 | *** If only it worked in real life. History has had many enemies to the world, and the reprieves following the death of each one never lasted. Besides, there is a sudden decrease in the world's energy supply from the detonation of Mt. Fuji that is never noted in the epilogue. And Nunnally coming up with nearly the same plan is a consequence of Schneizel screwing with her and convincing her that Damocles is the answer. |
| 155 | *** The reason it wouldn't work in real life is because it is real life. The reason Hitler's death didn't bring peace was because there were still others who believed in his cause and continued to practice hatred and racism. Lelouch controlled people with Geass, and the ones he didn't he already let in on the plan for the Zero Requiem. Therefore, when Lelouch died, there would be no one left who would believe in his hatred and oppression. However, if in real life a country could manage to do something like bomb the UN and make enemies of the world, and the people were in on the scheme from the start and would hold no animosity to their leaders being killed, then it might be possible. But it would never happen without Geass. |
| 156 | *** Even in the Geass-verse, Geass is esoteric to all but a few people. Everybody knew Lelouch as some kind of tyrant. Besides, the biggest problem is that it takes a few greedy people at the top, or with the means to get there, to muck things up again. It wouldn't need to be as bad as what he represented, just bad enough. And to go back a few points, the struggle to end violence is that, a struggle. And that goes against why Lelouch rejected the plans of Charles and Schneizel: people struggling is part of human nature. ZR in that regard was about as forceful, even if more temporal. A long term plan for peace with him remaining alive would have likely caused less damage. |
| 157 | * People are quick to point out that Britannia has nothing to do with ''Britain'' and is just an analogue to America - Holy Empire of Britannia instead of United States of America, Holy instead of United because it exists by rule of natural law (social darwinism) rather than a union of states coming together for a common purpose, Empire instead of States because Britannia has no individual states with their own identity and rights (obviously) and Britannia instead of America because they identify with each other due to a common ethnicity rather than common acceptance of core ideals. But it's really both, the main divergence between our universe and that of ''Code Geass'' is Elizabeth I having a male heir, thus King James VI of Scotland never ascended the English throne, and the foundation for the Kingdom of Great Britain was never layed, and never came into existence. As such, there was never a British Empire in that universe, and the Scottish Enlightenment never happened, meaning the American revolution never had any ideological basis and was just one of many failed revolutions throughout history. It also meant that when Napoleon came to power he never fought the ''British'' only the English, and easily defeated them. It's fair to assume that the Scottish Royal Court took in the English rulers (and possibly outed their sovereign) in order to benefit from the colonial holdings in North America (the same reason the UK exists today) and Scotland and the American colonies became the Empire of Britannia, with a calander begining when the Romans were expelled by the Celts. However, as the Scottish had no yet seen the benefits of said colonies, they never became a commercial force in the world, thus the people opted toward socialism (as they never had a concept of capitalism) and revolted, the English and Scottish (now Britannian) aristocrats fled to the Americas. So Britannia is both modern Britain and modern America, it occupies the same geographical location and place in the geopolitical stage as modern America, but is also the first "ethnically British" state that sees Englishness and Scottishness as being second to an all-encompassing British identity, and so it is an analogue to ''both''. This is supported by the epithet "Brit" (an analogue to "Jap") being used as a derogatory term for Britannians as there are no other "Brits" to speak of, the British Isles are simply the independent Euro-Universe member states of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. - Crombie |
| 158 | ** This troper saw it from another standpoint with the Black Rebellion being a representation of the American Revolution and Japan being a representation of the U.S.A. The United States of ______ declares their independence from the Brit Empire after a 'massacre' (Boston Massacre/the event which labels Euphie as the Massacre Princess) occurs and gives them enough political fuel to fully act. This nation, across the ocean from the Brit Empire, then goes on to create the United Federation of Nations (United Nations). So if Britannia is a representation of modern America AND modern Britain, does that mean that CG uses a backdrop in which America revolts against an American/British hybrid? |
| 159 | * [[spoiler:Charles]] is the deconstruction of TheWisePrince. [[spoiler:He survived a life of double dealing and backstabbing to become Emperor but he incorrectly believes this makes him a man of the people. His Ragnarok plan emphasizes his belief that all the suffering in the world is caused by other people, not of the ruling class.]] |
| 160 | * This troper was, after rewatching struck again during that episode in China in R2. Lelouch, after succesfully having rescued Li Xinque and the princess he has to call Shirley to let her answer the seemingly obvious question if loved ones should be allowed to marry. It makes total sense. Lelouch, coming from an aristocratic/ royal social environment doesn't get the concept of people marrying in complete ignorance on political or social benefits |
| 161 | * [[spoiler:Lelouch and Suzaku eventually swap philosophies - ends vs. means]]. Suzaku's inauguration is when Euphy [[spoiler: dies]] and he begins cunningly approaching his tasks instructed by Britannia, insisting on lying to obtain results. Lelouch, however, only truly mutualizes with Suzaku's initial ideologies when he explain that [[spoiler:the way his parents "abandoned" him and Nunally]] was too grave of an ordeal, even admittedly acknowledging the altruism of the end results (was desecrated as it was displaced on others.) |
| 162 | ** Only in a sense. Lelouch had limits he would never sink to, for instance, not geassing anyone whose loyalty he wished to earn on his own. Which, ironically, he had started to do, as he had pretty much given up all inhibitions since he was looking for an excuse for SuicideByCop. The one trait he had adopted from Suzaku was the latter's {{death|Seeker}} wish, having passed the DespairEventHorizon after losing everything, while Suzaku had given up on his own. |
| 163 | * In their last conversation before Lelouch was banished to Japan, Charles accidentally taught Lelouch, that when you are being confronted as responsible for something horrible that you don't want to talk or think about, the best thing to do is act like it's no big deal. It backfires on both of them the same way: for Charles, telling Lelouch that Marianne's death is "old news" and he doesn't really care that she died spurs Lelouch to seek revenge, and Lelouch doesn't achieve anything except make [[spoiler:Suzaku]] angrier when he says pretty much the same thing about [[spoiler:Euphemia]] at the end of season 1. |
| 164 | * A lot of people were really upset over Kaname Ohgi's seemingly unreasonable betrayal of Zero in the meeting with Schneizel (especially since he gained recognition, both in-universe and out, for being the [[OnlySaneMan the reasonable guy with a solid head on his shoulders]]). Putting aside the genuine concerns the Black Knights had with their leader, keep in mind that Viletta was with him, and is implied to have been explaining things (with her own obvious bias) to Ohgi. In this case, Ohgi actually portrays the very same viewpoint that V.V. cites nary an episode later when it flashes back to his murder of Marianne: "It's always been the woman who leads man astray." Sadly, this was seemingly never intended on part of the writers, as neither [[ProtagonistCenteredMorality Ohgi nor Villetta]] [[KarmaHoudini were ever called out for this]]. |
| 165 | ** Actually, Ohgi's status as the "reasonable" starts to fall apart ''as soon as Villetta'' shows up. She herself doesn't have anything to do with it; she's an injured woman to him who mentions Zero. So what does Ohgi do? The reasonable, sensible choice involves contacting Zero about her and calling for aid for her. Instead he sneaks her away to his apartment and does first aid on her himself, in the hopes of finding out more about Zero. And he was even ''there'' in the first place brooding over finding out Zero is Britannian and that he can't really be trusts; a subtle bit of racism that is actually echoed later on by Chiba ("I'm not a racist but" is specifically said by her when she's protesting Diethard's position). It's a subtle thing, but that's the start of Ohgi slowly but surely being shown to not be the OnlySaneMan but, at best, a ''seriously'' flawed man who lets his doubts and worries fester without talking to anyone and then bases a decision on all his bad feelings. |
| 166 | * Another subtle-yet-brilliant one: Zero's outfit. As I was looking at artwork of it and [[ImpossiblyCoolClothes trying to puzzle through how it works]], I noticed that Zero's helmet is surprisingly tall in comparison to his head: the purple visor, which most people in-and-out of universe assume is his face, is actually only at eye-level to him at the bottom portion. [[http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ma2tivhIzc1r80lmj.gif His eye-hole for geassing people is located at the bottom of the purple visor]], which shows us that the piece we've all been instinctively looking at is not his face as we thought, but his forehead and hair, combined with the tall spikes that top it off, as well as the apparently high-heeled (and maybe platform?) shoes he's wearing, and the outfit clearly serves to make Lelouch look taller than he really is! Given that [[http://a.imageshack.us/img89/4838/geassheightimprovedcd7.jpg adults in Code Geass]] stand at over 6' on average (Lelouch is 5' 10" or so), this helps him be taken seriously by society, his comrades and his enemies. Who here takes a person of average stature (or potential teenager) seriously? It also helps to keep suspicion off his civilian identity: [[http://i1331.photobucket.com/albums/w583/TempestTales/CG_Height_zps256d5be2.png The height difference and cloak]] make it hard to get a good idea what his body type looks like, helping him to avoid being identified based on size and shape. |
| 167 | ** This has the added bonus of making it very difficult for snipers to land a headshot on him. |
| 168 | ** Furthermore, Zero's outfit is also sort of symbolic. In the western world (America and Europe), black generally symbolizes death or evil, while white colors symbolizes life or good. This is reversed in Japan. So by wearing a black outfit in Japan, the Japanese automatically think of him as someone good, while the Britanians will automatically think of him as someone evil. Then, when he becomes the Emperor, he wears a bright white outfit, and the Japanese see him as someone evil, while the Britanians see him as... well, not exactly good either. |
| 169 | ** For further commentary, let us not forget Suzaku and the Lancelot. A white machine seen as good(ish) by the Britanians, and a menace by the Black Knights. |
| 170 | * [[http://fc07.deviantart.net/fs31/i/2008/206/6/0/Code_Geass_Symbol_Set_by_solwyvern.jpg The Geass Symbol is EVERYWHERE]]. Just look at a quick compilation of all the symbols/markings used throughout the series, and tell me you can't see the basic "bird-in-flight outline" that defines geass. Now, how many of them were a stylistic choice by the illustrators, how much actually is actually hidden geass symbolism in-universe (almost like their version the Freemasonry symbolism conspiracy in our world), and how much is just WildMassGuessing is up to your own discretion. |
| 171 | * A minor one involving Charles, or at least his name: While it is an actual name used by royalty, it's a bit odd in that the Stuarts never ascended to the throne in this history, since Elizabeth I had a son (Henry IX). As such, Charles I and II were butterfly'd out of Britannian history, at least as far as England was concerned. ''However'', Social Darwinism became a building block of Britannian society, and the Royal Family and palaces are all located in a district of Pendragon centred on "''Saint '''Darwin''' Street''"... |
| 172 | * So, Charles spends most of the series preaching the evils of equality and truth, while praising Social Darwinism as a basic philosophy. Then we find out his master plan, and that he actually at the very least claimed to be a caring person who wanted to create a kinder, gentler world (in his own twisted way). Then we remember how over-the-top and bombastic his oratory was, as well as how Lelouch used similar techniques, especially when HE was playing the evil emperor role. We already know that Lulu had noble goals and a master plan to unite the world around himself as a scapegoat, but on second glance, it seems eerily similar to Charlie in its own way. Was Charles ''deliberately'' creating a {{Strawman|Political}}...? |
| 173 | ** Interestingly the four kids we see Charles either say he likes (Lelouch and Nunnally) or hint at (the photos of Clovis and Euphemia in C's world) are the ones the most removed from social darwinistic goals. Clovis is the closest but he's a painter and aritst by nature and not a politician, leader, and would probably be happier if he had stayed out of politics. The kids he likes are the ones that are the farthest from his false persona as possible. |
| 174 | * A small one, but based on the name Knightmare, instead of nightmare. While this is just explanation for them being knights, think of how chess plays such a huge role in this story. And what exactly is the Knight in chess? A horse, or, in other words, a [[StealthPun MARE]]. |
| 175 | * Sakuradite is the reason why Britannia is 55 years ahead in it's calender! The discovery of sakuradite in the middle ages that lead to scientific advancement thus moving humanity forward! The discovery and application of electricity has meant more available. |
| 176 | * When the students at the school are hearing about the incident in the Shinjuku ghetto on the news, the television has English subtitles on. Because they are foreigners, they would need subtitles, since the newscasters would be speaking Japanese. |
| 177 | * In R1 episode 5, Lelouch and Suzaku are monologuing to C.C and Euphemia. When Lulu responds to C.C's question about how his utopia would be achieved, he takes the white knight chesspiece and knocks over the black king with it when he answers "somebody wins." Keeping the main characters' nicknames in mind, fast forward to the finale... |
| 178 | * In R2 Episode 11, while Diethard is pushing hard to convince Lelouch to have the Chinese Empress [[ArrangedMarriage marry a member of the Black Knights]] to solidify the alliance, the ones who object are Kaguya, C.C., Chiba, and Rakshata (well, OK, [[ItAmusedMe in a sense for her]]). All women, but that's not the brilliant part. Lelouch is very surprised to see that even C.C. is objecting to the marriage, having figured it wouldn't bother someone as jaded as her. The brilliance comes in after we learn C.C.'s backstory and her [[LoveHungry experience with false love]] explaining why someone like her wouldn't be comfortable with such a marriage. |
| 179 | * Besides Authurian myth, Lelouch also shares many similarities with UsefulNotes/OdaNobunaga: not the favored son to take over the clan duties, rises up suddenly when he kills the retainer most likely to have succeeded in taking over Japan (at the time), is hated and feared by everyone (including his own retainers)--like Nobunaga, Lelouch is associated with being a demon--and ultimately killed by a trusted underling. This makes Suzaku a CompositeCharacter of Akechi Mitsuhide (the man who kills Nobunaga), Toyotomi Hideyoshi (at least in the eyes of the public, he's a nobody who rises to prominence and unifies Japan), and Tokugawa Ieyasu (the ultimate "winner" of the Sengoku era who spent his childhood as an Oda hostage). |
| 180 | * Ironically, Jeremiah and the Purebloods were not all that wrong in blaming Suzaku for Clovis's death. Suzaku being shot right in front of Lelouch would have definitely made him angrier than he would have without it, and he definitely unintentionally set up the events to give Lelouch Geass. Then Lelouch got to make his big debut as Zero to rescue Suzaku from them. Without Suzaku, the events at the start of the season could not have happened, at least as quickly. |
| 181 | * Each of Charles's children, at least the main ones, have a bit of him in them. |
| 182 | ** Clovis has his Hidden Depths. Both were introduced as one note bad guys, however [[spoiler: over time revelations and insight makes them more than what they appear]]. Clovis has an entire Fridge bit of this above while Charles has [[spoiler: his ultimate agenda]] |
| 183 | ** Cornelia has his single minded goal: Unlike most of his children Cornelia doesn't have any grand ideals. She conquers because she believes in Britannia, not for some grand plan of world peace or utopia or revenge. Charles [[spoiler: wants Ragnarok Connection to make the better world. His goals and plans all lead to this in some way or another, from what he wants conquered to what he and V.V work on]]. |
| 184 | ** Charles and Euphemia share one goal [[spoiler: Peace]]. He just goes for it in a way she wouldn't think of, or ever want to attempt. |
| 185 | ** He and Lelouch are both fond of being overdramatic in achieving their own goals. As ''[[Fanfic/CodeGeassMegiddo Megiddo]]'' put it, Charles is a[[spoiler: man who's waging a world war just to keep an audience occupied]] |
| 186 | ** Charles and Nunnally achieved something that, in series, is notably remarkable involving Geass [[spoiler: Charles was able to control Geass in both his eyes as 'Perfect Geass', while Nunnally was able to break the effect of Charles's geass that locked her eyes away with her own willpower]]. |
| 187 | ** Charles and Schneizel have a similar view to the Social Darwinism of the Britannian Empire [[spoiler: they don't themselves believe in it, though with Charles it's a cover while Schneizel lacks the ambition the concept generally entails]]. |
| 188 | * Similar to the above aspect, and highlighting their not so different status, Lelouch has ''a lot'' of similarities with his major family members. Ignoring the shared bit with Charles for sheer redundancy. These elements also make them excellent foils to him. |
| 189 | ** He and Cornelia are both Knight Templar big siblings to their younger blood siblings who are generally a lot nicer to them than most others around them, as well as both being frontline generals. However Cornelia is an ace who supports Britannia's ideals while Lelouch, while certainly good with a specialized Knightmare, is not and hates the ideals of Britannia. |
| 190 | ** He and Schneizel are both very dangerous leaders of large military forces despite not being particularly super skilled pilots themselves, though Schneizel is not shown to be active on the front lines as Lelouch tends to be. However Schneizel's plans are practical but predictable while Lelouch's are more unpredictable yet leaning on unpractical. |
| 191 | ** He and Euphemia both have a tendency to jump in to help people without hesitation or regards to what is 'proper' or 'expected'. They strive to achieve change to the world, though Lelouch is ''much'' willing to use violence than Euphemia is. |
| 192 | ** He and Clovis are both notably dramatic in their behavior. However Clovis had no place leading troops while Lelouch certainly has a talent for it. |
| 193 | ** Both he and Nunnally each had plans [[spoiler: to bring world peace while making themselves hated]] both brought on by similar end-game scenarios. However Nunnally was not [[spoiler: suicidal]] about it and would have been happy with not changing the world: a status that left Lelouch listless and miserable. |
| 194 | * I didn't notice this the first time I watched the show, since it's such a minor detail that has no real impact on the show, but does become HilariousInHindsight. In one of the early episodes, after Zero calls Jeremiah "Orange-kun", a Britannian soldier suggests that Jeremiah should just retire to an orange range. In the final episode of R2, after Zero Requiem ends, we see what all the characters are up to now. Jeremiah (and Anya) has retired and is now working... On an orange range. It's so subtle that it's easy to miss, but in hindsight, it's brilliant how they foreshadowed Jeremiah's eventual fate. |
| 195 | ** Given he was originally meant to die, clearly the staff had to get ideas from earlier jokes to be made foreshadowing. |
| 196 | * Several fan communities, such as Spacebattles, had often noted that it seemed like Charles wasn't particularly focused on doing things that empires would need to do to hold onto territory long term: this includes consolidation of new territory and marrying his many children off. Beyond R2 we never get an indication that ''any'' of the royals are married, and the only one mentioned to have done so was in side material and not particularly important (he was also a serial wife killer, but that is not relevant here). However given what Charles's ''real'' goal was, he'd have no need for long term imperial planning like that. |
| 197 | * Listening to the song "Hitomi no Tsubasa" and following the lyrics along, you can see that it's one framed for Lelouch. After watching the failure of the SAZ and later when the rest of the [=BKs=] go rogue against him in R2, Lelouch has decided to go along with the plan of Zero Requiem (later assisted by Lloyd, Suzaku, Nina, Jeremiah and CC), allowing Nunnally to live in a world with peace. |
| 198 | * A very minor one in the first season. Do you ever see Naomi Inoue (the blue haired female Black Knight) piloting Knightmare Frame other than in the final episode? She is a logistic officer, and even when she actually step into the frontline her role is mostly as "ground crew" in forward reconnaisance. No wonder she got killed rather quickly during the Black Rebellion, she might be a competent commander but her Knightmare piloting skill might be lacking. |
| 199 | * Code Geass is a series with 50 total episodes. This could be a nod to the 50 move rule (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifty-move_rule#:~:text=The%20fifty%2Dmove%20rule%20in,the%20opponent%20completing%20a%20turn).) in Chess, a game that Lelouch is known for playing. |
| 200 | [[/folder]] |
| 201 | |
| 202 | [[folder:FridgeHorror]] |
| 203 | * The Guren's main weapon system is pretty nightmarish once you remember that, besides blowing up an enemy's machine, it first microwaves the pilot alive. |
| 204 | ** Now you know, in detail, what happened to Kewell and his sister when the Guren mauled them into thin light (although Marika ends up surviving due to a {{Retcon}} in Oz the Reflection). |
| 205 | * Mao decides he wants to take C.C. to a "quiet, white, immaculate, special house" he built in Australia. Unfortunately, to get to Australia, he needs to take her on a plane, and she's apparently too big to bring on the plane. So he's going to have to [[MemeticMutation make her compact]]. Cue him revving a chainsaw. It gets worse when you consider C.C. does have a HealingFactor, so being "made compact" (cut into pieces) won't actually kill her... |
| 206 | * When you consider how the Britannians treat those they conquer, with such utter disregard to their rights to the point where discrimination against them is considered a national policy, how exactly did they deal with the Native Americans? |
| 207 | ** You can fridge that to a lot of the places they conquer. Try this for example: Thanks to Cornelia, Britannia controlled Jerusalem, Mecca, and Medina. There is no conceivable way that a nation like Britannia occupying holy cities did not create severe problems even if may have only been for a short period of time. |
| 208 | * Lelouch once commanded a bunch of punks to do a bunch of silly tasks just because they pissed him off and he was in a ''seriously'' bad mood. He didn't set an end condition, which means they'll never stop doing it. Ever. There's an insane asylum somewhere with five or six guys who will never recover, just continuously perform meaningless tasks just because they ticked off the wrong emo kid. |
| 209 | ** Lelouch geassed a Britannian student into marking a wall each day in order to test his geass' longevity. Problem is, he never dismissed it and in the second season, it's briefly mentioned that even though she's in a different timezone, she still wakes up in the middle of the night and sleepwalks at the exact same time whose Japanese local time is the one when she's supposed to mark the wall. In short, the geass is ''still in effect one year later''. Unless Jeremiah used his geass canceller on her, she'll have to live with it for the rest of her life. |
| 210 | *** I don't recall any dialogue of the sort, but in the background of one scene in R2 you can see the wall with the final mark only partway completed. She did stop at some point, reason unknown. |
| 211 | *** It was in an official newsletter. Irrelevant, though, since Suzaku is shown to still have the "live" geass as well, over a year later. |
| 212 | * [[spoiler:As part of the Zero Requiem, Lelouch basically made himself the world's biggest tyrant. When you consider that Charles was already horrible enough to begin with, well, it doesn't take much to imagine what he must have done to achieve that status. (We are told that he had people imprisoned and/or executed for simply disagreeing with him. Also consider the detonation of Mt. Fuji that was part of it, which was the source of the majority of the world's energy. The destruction may have also increased the death toll in Japan. Reasons like these are basically why the Zero Requiem isn't considered such a good idea.]] |
| 213 | * [[spoiler:In regards to Lelouch accidentally geassing Euphie to commit genocide against the Japanese, she's shown struggling against it before the Geass takes over unlike previous victims. Lelouch concludes that this was due to the command being completely against her Pacifist nature which was why she struggled. However, Suzuku, Euphie's personal knight and later LoveInterest is Japanese and an order to kill off all the Japanese would include him too which Euphie must have realized. So she fought against the Geass not just because it would mean the deaths of thousands but also because following up on it would've meant ordering the death of her boyfriend whom she'd pledged her eternal love to just two episodes ago.]] |
| 214 | ** [[spoiler:Another case of terrifying FridgeHorror kicks in once you realize that by the time Euphie is geassed, Suzaku's "Live"-geass has already been planted, meaning if Zero hadn't shot Euphemia, she and Suzaku wouldn't be able to be in the same room together without BOTH their geasses kicking in... Euphemia trying to kill Suzaku without letting up and Suzaku trying to survive by any means necessary... which might have resulted in [[KillTheOnesYouLove him killing her]].]] |
| 215 | * If one thinks about it, Shirley's mother may in fact be the single most tragic character in the whole series; consider this: Mrs. Fenette, who only appears in two scenes throughout the series, was shown grieving during the funerals of her husband and daughter. Basically, Mrs. Fenette had to deal with her husband being buried alive - in the eyes of many, and possibly her own, killed by Zero - only to be forced to bury her own daughter a short year later. Shirley's death, ruled suicide (despite the fact that no one who hears this explanation buys it; after all, Shirley was a very happy girl who dealt with her father's death quite admirably), was also easily linked to Zero. Therefore, she could easily draw the conclusion that her whole family was killed by the terrorist leader (there were probably a few families who felt that way at that point). This pales in comparison, however, to Zero killing Lelouch at the end of the series. Assuming that Mrs. Fenette survived the FLEIJA detonation in Tokyo (always possible) and that she had come to the conclusions mentioned above (also very possible), then she was alive to witness Zero murder Lelouch, ''her daughter's good friend and love''. While many people would have known about Lelouch "The Demon King", what did Mrs. Fenette know about him? If she had a good, close relationship with her daughter (which seems very likely based on their shared grief over Joseph Fenette's death), then the only thing she really knew about him was that he was the nice boy her daughter would always talk about, and clearly fancied. It had been established when Emperor Lelouch went to negotiate with the UFN at Ashford Academy that most people recognized his Majesty as the guy who had been attending that school, so it really isn't that farfetched. Therefore, not only was ''Mrs. Fenette's husband'' killed by Zero, but also ''her daughter and her daughter's good friend/love interest''. To see Zero's name chanted at the end of the Requiem, praised by the world as her daughter's sweetheart was just murdered by him, would be extremely tragic. Now, granted, most of this horror is based on 1) whether or not Mrs. Fenette survived FLEIJA, and 2) how much of this she knew; however, it is completely in the realm of possibility - and likeliness - that this all holds true. Thusly, in at least one possible sequence of events, Shirley's mother is an extremely broken woman, is a perfect example of how the war between Britannia and the rebels had negatively affected even the most peripheral of characters in the series (a perfect way to show how the vast majority of people had no say in the fate of their world, and were basically walked all over by the masterminds on either side), and is easily the most tragic character in the series. |
| 216 | ** Shirley's death could possibly be even more tragic than it seems. Even though Shirley's friends don't believe it was suicide because she seemed so happy, the circumstances of her being found with the gun in her hand (plus the official statement claiming suicide) would probably be enough to plant doubts. If her loved ones think, even briefly, that it really was suicide, then the only way to reconcile this with her previous bubbliness would be that she was really a depressed or unstable StepfordSmiler ''and they didn't notice.'' It's bad enough losing someone you love when it's indisputably not your fault, [[TearJerker but how much worse if you've got the sneaking suspicion that you just didn't notice that your dear friend/daughter was suicidal?]] |
| 217 | ** [[FridgeBrilliance This could actually make]] the CompilationMovie series and ''Ressurection'' HeartwarmingInHindsight. Not only does she still have her daughter this time, but her husband isn't mentioned anywhere to be dead, implying he survived before finally having him appear in a background cameo during the Zero Requiem. This time, the whole family gets to catch a break, even if Shirley still ends up seeing Lelouch die some time later. |
| 218 | * For this troper, Anya Alstreim is the most direct example of FridgeHorror in the entire series. She had from time to time noticed that her memories were being rewritten, only had her diary to keep track of changes and [[NightmareFuel couldn`t even know for sure if the diary entry was made before or after the memory change]]. Shirley`s life had turned into nightmare in R2 (you remember, the whole thing about falling masks) because of only two memory edits, and she had her memories returned. Now just imagine ''what'' it was like for Anya... |
| 219 | * So Lelouch blows up the majority of the world's sakuradite reserves to win the Second Battle of Tokyo, right? Well, considering that sakuradite is the ''Code Geass'' world's equivalent of petroleum, wouldn't that pretty much spell global economic collapse and the end of civilization? After all, from the looks of it, having easy superconductors results in the world lacking chemical propellants and internal combustion engines... |
| 220 | ** Well, it does seem like Britannian infrastructure relies mostly on renewable energy, if those gigantic solar panels outside the Tokyo settlement are anything to go by. Sakuradite seems to be used mostly to power Knightmares. |
| 221 | *** The recent ''Anime/CodeGeassAkitoTheExiled'' OVA shows a number of additional solar panels in another city controlled by Britannia and, what might be far more interesting, the presence of huge wind turbines around the European capital of Paris. This confirms that Sakuradite is not the only important source of energy available, so presumably wind power and solar power will see a lot of extra investment in order to compensate. |
| 222 | ** We should also note that the world has just been engaged in several destructive conflicts, during which millions of people died and several large cities were devastated, so it's likely that energy consumption requirements are likely to go down -not up- after the fall of Lelouch and at least until the major powers can rebuild themselves as well as their standing armies. Naturally, there will be less Knightmare Frames in action too, particularly given the state of Britannia. Finally, it's entirely possible that lesser Sakuradite deposits elsewhere in Japan and around the world might help alleviate the shortage, though without concrete figures there's really no way to calculate what the exact effects are supposed to be. |
| 223 | ** Isn't Sakuradite just a liquid superconductor? Although running out of sakuradite means sakuradite based technology will be more expensive as the substance become harder to obtain, it's not going to end the world since their main source of energy still seems to be electricity. |
| 224 | *** Which becomes FridgeBrilliance when it sinks in that Lelouch deliberately destroyed the very energy source that got Japan enslaved in the first place, and between the peaceful society that he helped create, and the lack of Sakuradite, greatly decreased the need for Knightmare Frames in this new world. |
| 225 | * This one took a while to sink in. Charles' thought elevator gives him access to the collective subconscious. In one episode, he's even shown being able to communicate to Clovis using it. [[spoiler:When he's telling Lelouch and Suzaku of his plan in R2 episode 21, he points out that they will even be able to communicate with the dead if he succeeds... he doesn't mention that even without his plan succeeding, the thought elevator could allow them to do so! Charles hid the truth from Lelouch and Suzaku in order to try to use the fact that they lost loved ones to manipulate them! What a prick. And if he could talk to Clovis, he probably even knew Nunnally was alive but used their belief that she was dead against them as well.]] |
| 226 | * The reason C.C rejected [[spoiler:Charles and Marianne's]] plan? The love they had was only for themselves, not for their children. In other words she saw the all-too-familiar effects of false love and was disgusted. |
| 227 | * As bad as it is to say, it probably is for the best [[spoiler:Euphemia's plans didn't work out]]. With the way Britannia was, it probably would not have lasted. At some point, even if Cornelia wouldn't have, someone would have destroyed the SAZ, or it would quickly become overcrowded with people wanting their rights back. On a less horror general note, and a more singular note, [[BewareTheNiceOnes Euphie was probably the most dangerous person to Lelouch's plans]]. If she had, by some miracle, managed to keep her plan working, rebellion would have fizzled out. |
| 228 | ** To add to the horror '''V.V.''' is too quickly there to talk to Suzaku suggesting he was already there. Why? Possibly because Schneizel made it clear he was going to investigate the Thought Elevator on Kamine Island once things became peaceful in Area 11. Now Charles has no problem with Schneizel doing such a thing, but V.V. likely doesn't see it the same way and possibly was there to throw a wrench of his own into the situation. [[spoiler: Considering other actions he takes pre series and in season two, it wouldn't be the first time he did something Charles didn't want him to do.]] When things went down as they did, he seized the opportunity to set an angry, grieving Suzaku on Lelouch. [[spoiler: Considering Lelouch resembles his mother a lot, V.V. wanting him dead for more than just being a possible problem as Zero to the Empire makes sense.]] |
| 229 | ** On top of that, Jerimiah wakes up not even a day later, which could easily result in him charging after Zero and accidently making it seem as though the SAZ was a trap. |
| 230 | ** Say the SAZ works out and they even manage to start pushing for reform in Britannia in a positive fashion, turning the world in the direction to becoming better. Yay, they win! [[spoiler: Except for the Ragnarok Connection which no one would know about. It would result in likely the most ''brutal'' sudden twist ending with everyone losing to Charles because they didn't know anything about his ''real'' plan.]] |
| 231 | * Remember that Rollo's geass stops his heart. Now just what would have happened to him if he ever reached the stage where his geass is stuck in the ON position. Chances are it would not be very pleasant. And what if there are other geasses out there that put similar strain on the user. |
| 232 | ** If I remember correctly, V.V. calls Rolo a failed experiment at one point. I always believed that was because the nature of Rolo's Geass, or rather it's flaw, would prevent it from going evolving (assuming that a Geass must go runaway for at least a brief period before it can encompass both eyes). |
| 233 | *** Charles retained control over his Geass despite it occupying both his eyes, so it's possible. But he probably didn't use it much, whereas Rolo uses his Geass all the time. It would only be a matter of time before it went runaway. |
| 234 | * With 108 consorts, it is a bit concerning that there only seem to be less than 90 royal children (if we can guess based on the royal succession listings for Nunnally and Marrybell). Especially if we consider that there are several consorts with two children, such as Vi, La, Li, and Mel. While it is possible that some of the consorts just don't have children, it really makes you wonder just how many members of the Royal Family were killed in royal political assassinations.... |
| 235 | * Rolo is a highly skilled assassin, yet despite being able to simply put a bullet on her head for a quick death, he chose to shoot her in the upper abdomen. Anyone with decent knowledge in human anatomy will realize that the spot she got shot not only contains blood vessel but also spinal cord which responsible for lower body movement. This is the moment he kill someone because ItsPersonal (really, ''really'' personal) for him instead of JustFollowingOrders. He didn't simply want her to die, for him she has to die ''painfully''. Granted, it allows her to have final intimate moment with her beloved Lulu. Still, just imagine the moment between her getting shot to Lelouch arrival, writhing in pain while being paralyzed waist down and completely helpless. No wonder by the time Lelouch found her she simply gives up any hope for recovery and accept her fate. |
| 236 | ** Due to how Rolo's Geass works, there is also a possibility that Shirley never even know ''how'', let alone ''why'', she is bleeding to death in first place. |
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