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Mao
Voiced by: Takeshi Kusao (Japanese), Ezra Weisz (English)
"C.C., I can't live without you!"
"Let me into your mind!"
"I know EVERYTHING..."
A Chinese orphan whom the immortal woman C.C. finds as a six-year-old boy and whom she "gifts" with the Geass power of telepathy. As happens with Geass, he loses control of it, forcing him to listen to everyone's thoughts constantly and involuntarily, without any possibility of blocking them — except by avoiding human contact altogether. Thus his telepathy has the tragic side effect of rendering him completely, permanently, and irrevocably dependent on C.C. for all of his social needs. For a time, as part of her "contract" with him, she takes care of him, lives with him in the wild, and helps shield him from the intruding thoughts of the world, during which time he falls completely in love with her. When the time comes to fulfill their contract, he proves unable or unwilling to do so, though it isn't until much later in the series that we learn her wish is to die, making this come off Harsher in Hindsight. She abandons him, confident that his Geass will prevent him from ever going among people again, and he goes insane.
Now Mao's one desire is to find and keep his eternally beloved C.C. (see Yandere)— to hell with anyone else, especially anyone who gets in their way.
- Abduction Is Love: He tries to kidnap C.C. and take her to a house he bought in remote Australia where they can live away from all the thoughts his Geass forces him to hear.
- Accentuate the Negative: Basically the core of his various More than Mind Control attempts. He doesn't lie, but he does focus on the worst possible interpretation, although he's merely reading their mind.
- Adapted Out: He ends up absent in the Compilation Movie series as well as in the Lost Stories mobile game, leading to some notable changes without him, though it's implied that his plotline still happened in Lost Stories as Shirley's father still died like in the original series unlike in the Compilation Movies, which means that Mao is simply offscreen in the game for the most part.
- All There in the Manual: Additional information about his backstory. Mao once used his Geass to reveal the secrets of everyone in a small village, causing everyone to turn on each other and wipe out the settlement.
- Anime Hair
- Anti-Villain: The Woobie Anti-Villain.
- Arc Villain: While he shows up as early as the twelfth episode, he takes center stage as the central antagonist of episodes 14 through 16.
- Ax-Crazy: Although maybe it should be CHAINSAW crazy!
- Badass Longcoat: He wears a white great coat, studded with black belts and blue trim.
- Batman Gambit: His tactics focus on getting inside the target's head, getting to know them, and then concocting a plan built to take advantage of their weaknesses.
- Beneath the Mask: His Wicked Cultured manner of speaking, as well as his status as a White Hair, Black Heart, most of which are classy and cool, give him an air of sophistication and self-satisfaction that he doesn't actually possess. So while he seems like a very high-functioning Smug Snake in his early interactions with Shirley and the like, he's really just an insane (and deeply hurt) Psychopathic Manchild, and accordingly. See Hidden Depths.
- Berserk Button: He really wanted to know C.C's real name.
- Beware the Mind Reader: His Geass lets him read minds. Which he can't control, driving him to madness and being a dangerous Psychopathic Manchild.
- Beware the Honest Ones: Although a dangerous villain he's one of the most staunchly honest characters in a series where just about everyone puts up a front of some sort and keeps secrets from one another at least to some degree. See also Will Not Tell a Lie and Villains Never Lie.
- Big Eyes, Little Eyes: His eyes are actually pretty wide, though they don't look that way in all shots. This becomes especially true when he interacts with C.C., though they're still small in comparison to Lelouch's or Suzaku's.
- Blessed with Suck: He can read minds, but unlike Lelouch he can't turn his Geass ability off, so it sounds like people are always talking to him in his mind, which drives him crazy.
- Blue-and-Orange Morality: He seems to have his own definition of right and wrong that revolves around C.C. Given his upbringing and legitimate insanity, it should come as no surprise, leading him to take Refuge in Audacity more than once. What perhaps illustrates this best of all is the fact that almost no other character ever tries to argue that what he's doing could be wrong, likely seeing it would be a pointless exercise.
- Book Dumb: He's a Teen Genius who manages to pose a serious threat to Lelouch but he's never been to school and possibly isn't even literate (note that C.C. specifically states that he couldn't read or write when she first found him; whether she ever did anything to correct that is never explained). Then again he was spending his time in a library.
- Break the Cutie: In his flashback. Evidently he was just an innocent little boy until his Geass started getting to him. He's probably the most hopelessly and irreparably broken character in the entire story (even at the end of the story, he's still up in the top three). See also Freudian Excuse and
Cry for the Devil. - Break Them by Talking: This is how he breaks other people: look for the most painful memories and berate them for it.
- Brutal Honesty: He tells the other characters exactly what he thinks all the time which makes his Breaking Speech have such impact which can be seen when he subjects Sukazu to one. See also Beware the Honest Ones, Will Not Tell a Lie and Villains Never Lie.
- Chainsaw Good
- Character Tics: He has a habit of clapping while talking to people.
- Chekhov's Gunman: He has two blink-and-you'll-miss cameos immediately prior to his formal debut. Even though he only appears in five episodes (if you count the cameos), Mao has a significant impact on the plot. See Foreshadowing below for the details.
- He still gets mentioned on several occasions as well, because he serves as the show's poster boy of how destructive the Geass "gift" can be to its recipient. In particular, Lelouch immediately thinks of Mao's permanently active Geass after accidentally forcing Euphemia into massacring the Japanese.
- Regarding Charles' Assimilation Plot, Mao becomes a perfect example of why a world without lies would be a dystopia for everyone. Exhibit A would be Suzaku killing his father, who wanted total war against Britannia. To protect Suzaku, Genbu's death was covered up as a suicide against Japanese resistance to Britannia.
- The Chessmaster: Not as good as Lelouch at planning except at genuine chess where he easily defeats him twice. He does this by focusing his Geass so he can ignore any other vagrant thought, either from Lelouch or an external source, in order to know all his moves. That said, it's stated by both C.C. and Mao himself that he is the worst opponent to someone like Lelouch, who critiques everything he does and also critiques the critic part of him. To a mind reader like Mao, he's basically giving him a "how to beat me at chess" manual unintentionally.
- Chess Motif: The method he uses to prove his superiority to Lelouch.
- Children Are Innocent: Apparently, so are Psychopathic Manchildren! He twists this trope in odd ways: when he was still with C.C., he would kill people whose evil impulses he sensed, because he worried they might try to hurt her, and he wanted to protect her.
- Cloudcuckoolander: A particularly nasty example and even by the standards of a Cloudcuckoolander, his grip on reality is tenuous. He convinces himself C.C. loves him too much to be able to shoot him. While it was her hesitation that gave him an opening, she couldn't shoot him even if she wanted to because he's already shot her.
- Cool Shades: Perhaps. See also Making a Spectacle of Yourself and Sinister Shades, below. It should be noted, however, that this may just be out of necessity as it renders him immune to Lelouch's Geass, which requires eye contact.
- Crazy Jealous Guy: Lelouch deliberately manipulates Mao by taunting him about how C.C. belongs to him now and uses language suggestive of a sexual conquest in order to make Mao angry and keep him distracted. Given his subsequent gratuitous destruction of the monitor that Lelouch is using to communicate with a chainsaw, it worked.
- Deal with the Devil: His acceptance of Geass, given what it ultimately turns him into....
- Death by Irony: He gets shot by C.C. with a silenced pistol. After Lelouch uses his Geass to silence him.
- Death Trap: What he puts Nunnaly into; if she moves a bomb will go off.
- Determinator: In his quest to reunite with C.C. and make her his own not even being shot stopped him. The first time it didn't. C.C finished the job.
- Disney Death: The first time. The second time, he's Killed Off for Real via Instant Death Bullet.
- Doom Magnet: Mostly of his own deliberate do(om)ing.
- Early-Bird Cameo: Is shown a couple of times before making his move, notably walking around Ashford campus at night and spying on Lelouch and Shirley from a nearby rooftop. In his last episode, he can also be seen at the airport watching Lelouch send C.C. away on a trip to the Chinese Federation which is the first hint that he is still alive.
- Et Tu, Brute?: How he felt when C.C. abandons him.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Shown only in Code Geass: Lost Colors where he informs Rai that he won't tell him about his past as he was not that cruel. It really is that bad.
- Evil Counterpart: At the time of his appearance, he's the closest thing Lelouch has to one. Several of his interactions with Lelouch are also very similar to those that Schneizel goes on to have with Lelouch in R2 (when he's his Evil Counterpart!).
- Fanboy: For C.C.
- Fate Worse than Death: MAO! NEVER SPEAK AGAIN! Thankfully, C.C. kills him right after this.
- Flaw Exploitation: He both uses this against Lelouch and company and takes it from Lelouch.
- Foreshadowing: The state of his Geass, and his many reveals, turn out to be important later on in the show. In particular, the ultimately uncontrollable nature of Geass, Suzaku's being a Death Seeking Self-Made Orphan and the true nature of C.C.'s contract, as well as the biggest counter-argument to Charles' Assimilation Plot.
- One might miss it at first, but Mao's first line is a response to something Shirley is thinking. This is before we learn that he has telepathy.
- Freudian Excuse: An orphan that was raised by a Broken Bird who later abandoned him and left him to be driven insane by his Geass.
- From Bad to Worse: You'd think losing your family would be a bad enough trauma for any childhood. Then he meets C.C. Oh boy.
- Gadgeteer Genius: Implied. Given his isolation, he couldn't exactly go bargain-shopping for a bomb of the exact specifications he wanted.
- Good Eyes, Evil Eyes: You can tell just by looking at him that he's a villain.
- Harmful to Minors: Once he reached the age when his Geass got out of control, he had to hear the thoughts of everyone around him, no matter how mature or gross they were. It did not bode well for his psyche.
- Headphones Equal Isolation: Justified by the fact that he hears the thoughts of everyone around him within a 500 meter radius. It's C.C.'s voice played on a loop, implied to be originally intended as a posthumous keepsake for him after her death.
- Hidden Depths: Wouldn't you know that the Smug Snake was all along just a boy who couldn't bear the world around him and only wanted to be with the one person who truly made him happy.
- See also Feigning Intelligence, above, for more of the same.
- Hormone-Addled Teenager: Considering his Evil Plan is to form a relationship with his mother figure....
- I Love You Because I Can't Control You: Part of what turns him into a Yandere for C.C. is that he doesn't have to hear her every thought, unlike with everyone else.
- Impossibly Cool Clothes: Just look at his picture. Granted, he does shed those after they get shot full of holes and becomes something of a Rummage Sale Reject.
- Innocent Blue Eyes: As he dies, his Geass fades away revealing he originally had blue eyes. Considering his nature, the trope fits but in a very twisted fashion.
- Instant Death Bullet: A rare example for a fairly major character in the series.
- Instant Expert: At chess. (If you believe him that he's never played it before.) A Justified Trope, in that he defeats Lelouch by reading his mind. Consider the possibility that most good chess players automatically work out what strategies the opponent might best use against any considered move and Mao doesn't even need to know how to play, he could just wait for Lelouch's mind to supply him with the best strategy.
- Insufferable Genius: Not merely insufferable, but deeply repellant.
- Irony: It's a very strange moral track, given their respective roles in the show, when Lelouch The Hero is a deeply conflicted, shady figure, and Mao is innocent and honest.
- There's also the fact that nobody screwed him over more than C.C.... and yet he treats her like an angel and Shirley, of all people, as a bad guy!
- It's All About Me: And C.C...
- Karmic Death: He thinks that the deaths of Shirley and Lelouch would be this, owing to his misunderstanding of her situation and his desire to protect C.C. from her contract with Lelouch. Ironically he himself never truly gets one. The first time around it's subverted as he doesn't die and when his time to die finally does come, it's made into a Mercy Kill because at that point his Freudian Excuse has been fleshed out and he's shown to be as much a victim as a villain!
- Kick Them While They Are Down: With Shirley, of course. He also ends up on the receiving end of this from Lelouch.
- Kiddie Kid: He's incredibly childlike. How could he not be? He was raised in isolation by C.C..
- Kids Are Cruel: As are Psychopathic Manchildren. His torment of other characters always manifests itself in fairly childish ways.
- As an actual child, though, he was apparently pretty nice... until his Geass started making his life hell.
- Knight in Shining Armor: Fancies himself as one for C.C.
- Knight of Cerebus: The first for the series. His involvement into the plot made things hell for Shirley, Suzaku, Lelouch and C.C.
- Let Them Die Happy: C.C. arranges this for him, more or less, when she tells him she did love him and to wait for her in C's World.
- Light Is Not Good: White hair, light-colored clothing, Telepathy in a world where the Dark Is Not Evil protagonist relies on keeping himself shrouded in mystery and a borderline Knight Templar. In addition, episode 14 features a chess game between him and Tall, Dark, and Handsome Lelouch. Predictably enough, Mao plays white, whereas Lelouch plays black. (Note: Choosing white in this case was also a very practical decision. In chess, white always plays first, and between sufficiently strong opponents, white has a small but statistically significant advantage (although for the vast majority of players, the advantage is extremely small). Thus if Lelouch is even half as good a player as we're told he is, getting white is important.)
- Lone Wolf Boss: He has no affiliation with any particular nation or faction. Everything he does is purely for his own self-interest and (by his own twisted logic) C.C.'s sake.
- Love Makes You Evil: Everything he does, including all his evil deeds, lead back to his feelings for C.C.
- A Love to Dismember: Mao's Evil Plan was to make C.C 'compact' and take her to a home he made for them.
- Mad Love: For C.C. Played for heavy, heavy drama.
- Making a Spectacle of Yourself
- Manipulative Bastard: Naturally his telepathy makes it easy for him to warp people's wills to his Evil Plan.
- Mayfly–December Romance: Mao is supposed to be around 17 while C.C. is Really 700 Years Old, and has known him since he was six.
- Meaningful Name:
- Possibly. For some, Mao is a name that brings to mind strong negative feelings.
- It's also the Chinese word for "cat"; make of that what you will.
- Memory Gambit: Lelouch's leads to his downfall; Mao couldn't see his true plan since Lelouch geassed himself into forgetting it.
- Mercy Kill: C.C. does this to him. Complete with Let Them Die Happy and a rare instance in Code Geass where a non-mook gets an Instant Death Bullet.
- A Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Read: An extreme example; constantly hearing the thoughts of everyone around him is what broke him.
- Mind Rape: His specialty, which he inflicts upon Shirley and Suzaku to devastating effect.
- Moral Myopia: He seems to have this mindset when dealing with Shirley and Lelouch, although he's more concerned with getting to C.C. than actually caring about the world. Taken to extremes, thanks to his childishness as he berates the characters for doing (or thinking, or remembering doing or thinking) things that he sees as bad... even though he needs to Mind Rape them to do it. (And he's also probably murdered several people.)
- More than Mind Control: His Geass gives him the ability to do this.
- Motor Mouth: He will go on and on and on about horrible his target is because he has their entire life for material.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Shares a name with one of the most brutal dictators in history.
- Near-Villain Victory: Mao successfully More than Mind Control's Shirley into killing Lelouch for him, while he has his only escape covered with his own gun. Not only that, but they're all in a secluded area and Mao is immune to Lelouch's Geass at the moment. Only Shirley's Heroic BSoD foils it, but then Mao simply retreats and primes his shotgun, ready to kill them "the old boring way". In the end, Lelouch is only spared a Blast Out by the timely and unexpected arrival of C.C. who is able to divert Mao without him detecting her.
- No One Should Survive That!: If people remember one thing about him, it's probably the time he comes back for Lelouch after being riddled with bullets in the previous episode.
- Only One Name: He doesn't appear to have a family name. Considering his background, it's not surprising.
- Parental Abandonment: He was orphaned as a young child, no older than six. Then C.C. — his only possible human contact in the world — abandoned him.
- Personality Powers: According to supplementary materials his mind-reading is an extension of his uncommonly good perception of people.
- Power Incontinence: Initially he could control whose mind he heard but after a while he heard them all, all the time.
- Psychic Powers: Telepathy.
- Psychopathic Manchild: A 17 year old who manipulates and humilitates on his way to reuniting with his mother figure.
- Psychotic Smirk: Apparently his default expression. Which he wears very well.
- Pure Is Not Good: So pure, innocent, and utterly unsullied by the world that he's willing to Mind Rape people who may have done or thought of bad things, and destroy them; all with no apparent idea he's doing anything wrong. See also Children Are Innocent, Light Is Not Good, and Moral Myopia.
- Quick Draw: Knows he can't take people on physically so he relies on his pistol. He's a astoundingly good shot, blowing C.C's gun out of her hand and then kneecapping her before she can react.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Justified, his eyes have a red hue from his Geass. You do get to see his eye without Geass very briefly as he dies. It's actually blue. Makes you wonder....
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: He could be considered the red to Lelouch's blue as he is a big personality that tends to shout and act implusive.
- The Reveal: Not surprising, given the nature of his power and his personality. Most especially, he reveals that Shirley attempted to kill Viletta to protect Lelouch and Suzaku is a Death Seeker who murdered his own father, the latter a fact that had thus far only been subtly hinted at.
- Sadistic Choice: He presents several. Sometimes his victims manage to Take a Third Option.
- Sanity Slippage: Mao was never all there in the head but his losses to Lelouch only serve to drive him even further off the edge.
- Sarcastic Clapping: He has a habit of clapping when talking to others, often for no apparent reason which only further signifies his insanity.
- Scary Shiny Glasses:Shirley seems to think so, anyway....
- Selective Obliviousness: He's so perceptive he can read people's minds, and yet he completely ignores or argues against any attempts C.C. makes to push him away. To wit:Mao (* is holding the gun he used to shoot C.C.* ): I knew you couldn't pull the trigger! That's cause you really love me, C.C.!Mao: What are you saying? You shouldn't tell lies like that, you really shouldn't! Lies are very, very wicked!
- Shut Up, Hannibal!: Lelouch used his Geass power to inflict a permanent one — soon before Mao's death at C.C.'s hands.
- Single-Target Sexuality: For C.C. Justified in that he has no other options outside of her.
- Sinister Shades
- Smart People Play Chess: Borderline case, as he at least claims he's never played chess before, and he defeats Lelouch at chess only because he can read Lelouch's mind. See also Instant Expert, above.
- Stalker with a Crush: He relentlessly searches for C.C. while listening to her voice constantly in his headphones.
- Stalking is Love: Seems to think so. And so is listening to your love interest on your headphones. And so is attempting to mutilate said love interest!
- Stepford Smiler: He could be, on some levels. When he first confronts Shirley he looks extremely cool, confident, and self-satisfied. It's only after that it becomes clear just how screwed-up and miserable he really is. See also Hidden Depths and Feigning Intelligence, above. Although, in an unusual variation, he doesn't seem to play this part deliberately.
- Talkative Loon: By necessity, since he can only use his Geass to his advantage if he can talk to his victims.
- Teen Genius: In this series, that's almost a given. (He gets outsmarted by Lelouch, but who doesn't?)
- Telepathy: His Geass power.
- Terms of Endangerment: Makes a point of calling Lelouch "Lulu" likely since the first one he targeted to get Lelouch out of the way was Shirley.
- TV Genius: Possibly — see Gadgeteer Genius above.
- The Unfettered: There's nothing he won't do to establish a eternal relationship with C.C.
- Unhappy Medium: Very, very unhappy and became one when he was only about six years old.
- Unreliable Narrator: He genuinely believes that C.C. is his One True Love and gushes over her. When she tries to tell him that she was just using him all along, he doesn't believe her and shoots her arms and legs to incapacitate her while revealing that he is going to take her away to live in Australia with him and plans to carve her up into tiny pieces with a chainsaw in order to "make (her) compact" enough to fit on the plane.
- Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Implied. All There in the Manual: Oh, he's so perceptive of other people! Oh, he's so innocent! Oh, he likes playing with little puppies!
- Villains Never Lie: He even states he hates lies, likely due to his mind reading abilities means he always got the "truth" one way or another. But see Accentuate the Negative above.
- Visual Innuendo: One involving his shadow and the shadow of his chainsaw.
- What the Hell, Hero?: He gives Lelouch one of these. A cruel version of this is a core aspect of each his Mind Rapes. See Moral Myopia above, for further details.
- White Hair, Black Heart: He's white-haired and also a frighteningly sadistic, dangerously insane, creepy stalker type.
- Wife Husbandry: C.C. met him when he was six, became his mother figure and made him dependent on her for all his social needs, causing him to develop a Precocious Crush on her which later becomes full fledged love.
- Will Not Tell a Lie: Because "Lies are very, very wicked!" Also, he's so used to relying on his mind-reading skills, which tend to render lies pointless. Not that he won't bend the truth, mind you, or practice Selective Obliviousness to an insane degree. He's not quite right in the head, after all.
- With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: Technically. It's what the power allows him to do that drove him mad, not the power in and of itself.
- Yandere: Obsessively fixated on C.C.
- Younger Than He Looks: He's only seventeen. Looks like he's in his twenties (for those of you keeping track, this all means he's a seventeen-year-old who looks like a twenty-one-year-old but who acts like a six-year-old!).
- If he puts on a nice conservative school uniform
rather than that crazy getup he usually wears, he actually does look more his age (of course the picture isn't really official).
- If he puts on a nice conservative school uniform
Rai
The Player Character of the Visual Novel Code Geass: Lost Colors, Rai is a mysterious young man who enters the story (approximately around Episode 8) when Milly finds him wandering around Tokyo with amnesia and takes him to Ashford Academy. He quickly learns that he has a Geass power of his own, effectively identical to Lelouch's except that Rai's is auditory rather than visual. From there, he meets the central cast, and can choose whether to become Zero's right-hand man in the Black Knights, or Suzaku's partner in the Britannian military (or, in a PSP-exclusive storyline, he can revive the Japan Liberation Front and oppose both the Black Knights and Britannia).
See Lost Colors character page for more details on Rai.
- The Ace: Becomes this in either the Britannian Military/Black Knights/Japan Liberation Front Routes.
- Attractive Bent-Gender: See him dress up as a girl.
- Bio-Augmentation: Was drugged and enhanced with kightmare abilities and knowledge of the current era by the same people that ran the Code-R project that involved C.C. as well, after they found him at Kamine Island.
- But Not Too Foreign: Part Japanese and part Britannian part of the upper class in both hertiages
- Canon Immigrant: Originally isolated solely to the Visual Novel, Rai would be canonized with the spinoff manga Oz The Reflection thanks to Nonette being an Ascended Extra there. That being said, what exactly became of him is down to Broad Strokes, as details revealed in Oz about him appear to be from seperate routes, some of which are nigh impossible to reconcile.
- Like the end of the "Geass Route", he's erased himself from everyone's memories, albeit Nonette can still remember him and is searching for him. This route would require that he joined the Black Knights at the behest of C.C. and became best friends with Lelouch, as that's the only route where Rai becomes terrified of his power enough to seal himself away.
- Like the "Britannian Military Route", Nonette is shown to be close to Rai, and is in possession of the Lancelot Club, albeit modified for her use. This route would require he joined the Britannian Military and became best friends with Suzaku, as it's the only route where the Lancelot Club is constructed, specifically to his parameters, and the only route in which he connects with Nonette.
- Chick Magnet: It is surprisingly easy for female characters to like him, because of the game's Dating Sim nature.
- Compelling Voice: A more literal version than Lelouch, but not quite as strong as his.
- Continuity Cameo: Rai, or at least someone looking a lot like him, appears in R2's second School Festival Episode.
- Easy Amnesia: Of his own doing after his geass went out of control. However, in Code Geass: Oz the Reflection, it's shown that Nonette still tries to look for him.
- Even the Guys Want Him: One of the routes lets him romance Lelouch.
- Expy: Of Lelouch and Suzaku; he has a Geass like Lelouch and Ace Pilot abilities like Suzaku.
- Featureless Protagonist: Averted; while the player can name the character (Rai being the default and "canon" name), he's got a set physical appearance, personality, and backstory.
- Likes Older Women: In the Britannian Military route Rai can pursue a relationship with some of the female characters, such as Villetta(27), Nonette(29), Cornelia(28) all of whom have a decade or more on him.
- My Greatest Failure: Just like Lelouch, an unintentional Geass command caused everything to go to hell for him.
- Power Incontinence: The reason he destroyed his nation. Though he didn't lose control of his Geass, he didn't seem to understand the full nature of its powers and he ended up ordering everyone to fight to their deaths.
- Sealed Good in a Can: In which he will go back to in one in the Code Geass routes.
- Super Prototype: The Gekka Pre-Production Test Type, Rai's Humongous Mecha on Japanese story routes, obviously. The Britannian equivalent, the Lancelot Club, is believed by Fanon to be the prototype for the Vincent from R2.
- This may actually be Canon; The Guren was the prototype for the Gekka, which then became the template for the Akatsuki, and the Pre-Production Test Type is Exactly What It Says on the Tin. It stands to reason that the Club is similar, since The Vincent is specifically stated to be the MP version of the Lancelot, with the Club and the Sutherland Club models acting as "Test Types". Due to appearing in a spin off game, it could be considered Word of Dante.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Rai is pretty much halfway between Lelouch and Suzaku in terms of personality and abilities. His design is reused from earlier drafts of Lelouch.
- Un-person: He is implied to have used the Geass ritual to make the entire world forget him like in the default game route in "Oz the Reflection", but it turns out Nonette still cares about him and keeps looking for him.
Mario/Maya Disel
Mario (left) and Maya (right)
Voiced by: Yūma Uchida (Mario), Ayaka Ohashi (Maya)
The protagonist of the Lost Stories mobile game. Born half-Japanese and half-Britannian, they were initially a normal high school student until a series of events leads them to joining the Black Knights.- The Ace: Alongside Kallen, they're one of the best pilots among the Black Knights and even get their own personal custom Knightmare Frame to reflect it. Tellingly, while Kallen's code name of Q1 marks her as the Queen, the protagonist is labeled K1 - the King.
- Ace Custom: The Sougetsu, which alongside the Guren MK.II, is a pure Japanese built Knightmare Frame and derived from the Gekka Pre-Production Test-Type. Before that, they use a custom Burai. After infiltrating the Britannian military, they gain access to a custom Sutherland, and then the Arondight.
- Action Girl: If playing as Maya Disel.
- But Not Too Foreign: Their mother was a Britannian while their father was Japanese.
- Canon Name: Mario Disel for the male player, Maya Disel for the female one.
- Contrasting Sequel Main Character: Or rather contrasting spin-off character in this case. Rai is an amnesiac boy who, depending on the player's choice, either stays out of the fighting and pursues a normal school life or joins either the Black Knights or the Britannian military, where they go on to become an invaluable member to their respective faction. He also possesses Geass like Lelouch, albeit sound-based rather than needing eye contact. Mario/Maya, on the other hand, preemptively joins the Black Knights of their own will as a prospective recruit with no special abilities beyond their talent with a Knightmare. This even extends to their Knightmares: In the Black Knights/Geass/JLF route, Rai pilots the Gekka Pre-Production Test-Type, a Gekka prototype equipped with a Radiant Wave Surger like the Guren. Mario/Maya's personal Knightmare, the Sougetsu, is derived from the Gekka prototype, but its left arm is a shield-claw meant for offensive and defensive capabilities.
- Defector from Decadence: Their mother, Vaniera, is revealed to be of noble Britannian blood but ran away from her family to start a new one with Soichiro Domeki, the man she loves and the eventual father of the protagonists.
- Determinator: Even after getting injured to the point they can't see because of all the blood in their eyes, they still keep trying to fight Suzaku during the Battle of Narita.
- Foil: To Kallen - both are half-Britannian, half Japanese members of the Black Knights who attend Ashford in their civilian lives. Both are/were nobility and were roped into joining the student council, and end up having a close relationship with Lelouch. But while Kallen initially followed Lelouch out of necessity and lack of options, the protagonist willingly threw their lot in for a chance at revenge. Also, while Kallen is distant to Lelouch but close to Zero, the protagonist knows that Lelouch and Zero are the same person, and thus enjoys a much closer relationship with the exiled prince. Lastly, while Kallen is Lelouch's main Love Interest, the Protagonist is The Confidant, and never develops feeling for Lelouch. Gameplay-wise, during the intermediate chapters between Lake Kawaguchi and Narita, both use Burai, but while Kallen uses a red one that can only fight in melee, the protagonist uses a blue one that is solely equipped for ranged combat.
- Gameplay and Story Integration: While having a Gacha Game protagonist take part in battle does happen occasionally, they're one of the few examples where this is translated into the playable roster - completing a mission set during the half anniversary awards them as a four star Executioner pilot, allowing them to directly take to the field alongside the rest of your team. Additionally, their stats are roughly equal in melee and range, allowing them to use any of their Ace Custom Knightmare Frames without loss in effectiveness.
- Happily Adopted: While this doesn't mean they don't occasionally butt heads with each other from time to time, their relationship with their adopted mother, Clarice, is generally a loving and happy one.
- Hello, [Insert Name Here]: They have default names, but you can replace it with whatever you want to call them at the beginning of the game.
- It's Personal: They join Zero's crusade against Britannia after Hina, their younger sister figure, and her friends are killed after they're crushed by debris as a result of the conflict in the Shinjuku ghetto during the events of the first episode. This is on top of already suffering from the tragedy of losing their parents years ago due to Britannia's violent invasion, so Hina's death was the last straw to break the camel's back.
- The Mole: As of Chapter 8 in the main story, Zero tasks them with infiltrating the Britannian military so as to serve as this to the Black Knghts.
- Nom de Mom: Though they primarily use their adoptive parent's surname, "Garfield", in public, their mutual canon name is actually "Disel", which is their mother's surname. They only use "Domeki", their father's family name, when they're with the Black Knights.
- Parental Abandonment: Their biological parents died in their backstory, so they've been adopted and taken care of by their mother's friend, Clarice Garfield, in their stead.
- Strong Family Resemblance: Mario strongly resembles their father, whereas Maya has their mother's facial features.
- Trauma Button: Their maternal aunt, Carly Disel, is this for them, to the point that they physically get sick whenever they remember or interact with her. The whys aren't clear, but it's implied that Carly had something to do with their parents' deaths as well as Mario/Maya's difficulty in remembering their missing younger sister in the present.
- Trauma-Induced Amnesia: They're missing chunks of their memory after their parents' deaths, implying that something bad happened that caused them to forget the actual cause of that tragedy as well as the fact that they once had a younger sister that they'd only begun remembering only recently.
Clara Lanfranc
A member of the Geass Order who was tasked by V.V. to play the part of Lelouch's temporary younger sister after Nunnally goes missing before the events of R2. V.V. also gives her a Geass, which allows her to control someone's body even if they try to resist.
- I Just Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Clara in a twisted way.
- I Know Your True Name: Clara Lanfranc has the Geass power to take control of peoples' bodies if she looks them in the eye and speaks their true name. She tries using the power against "Oldrin", but it fails because it's actually Orpheus in disguise, and he's smart enough to kill her before she can give it a second chance.
- Un-person: Clara Lanfranc, the first person the Geass Directorate sent to spy on Lelouch while pretending to be his sibling, got erased from everyones' memories after Orpheus killed her and was subsequently replaced by Rolo Haliburton.
Caretaker of Spacetime
Voiced by: Haruka Kudō (Japanese), Michelle Rojas (English)
The collective consciousness of the Universe. They are a seer who watches the balance of the world from within. They do not exist for ordinary people, but exist for those who are able to see them.
- All-Powerful Bystander: They're neutral in the events of the world, but they can influence it occasionally.
- Anthropomorphic Personification: Of the consciousness of the Universe. The same one Charles and Marianne wanted to rewrite.
- The Bus Came Back: Following the conclusion of Akito the Exiled, they were nowhere to be seen for quite some time, but is finally set to return in a major role in Genesic Re;Code.
- Humanity on Trial: They tell Leila that they believe humans are nothing but pitiful, defective, selfish creatures, and that bestowing them with a Geass was a big mistake. However, through their intrigue over Leila's selflessness and altruistic nature, the Caretaker entertains the notion that their opinion on humanity could ultimately be disproven, so they give humanity one more chance to do so.
- Humans Are Bastards: Millennia of seeing humans abuse the power of Geass for their own benefit time and time again has soured the Caretaker of Spacetime's opinion of them, believing that bestowing the power of Geass onto them was a mistake.
- Invisible to Normals: They can become invisible to whoever they're not interested in talking to.
- Mysterious Watcher: The embodiment of the collective consciousness of the universe manifests as a mysterious woman who watches over humanity and the events that unfold as a result of their actions.
- Non-Human Non-Binary: They appear as a young woman, but because the Caretaker is actually the collective manifestation of the universe's consciousness, the Caretaker doesn't actually have a gender per se.
- Pet the Dog: As a reward for her good nature and the fact that she intrigued them, the Caretaker does Leila a favor by rewinding time to prevent her friends and comrades in the command center from getting pointlessly killed by accident by the opposing Euro Britannian invaders.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Gives one to Gene Smilas before Ashley kills him.
- Restored My Faith in Humanity: Despite their cynical stance on humans as a result of witnessing them constantly abuse the power of Geass for their own needs, Leila's selflessness ultimately convinces them that maybe humanity isn't as hopeless as she initially thought it was.
- Teleportation: As a non-corporeal entity, they can pretty much appear anywhere. But more impressively, just like V.V. they can teleport others. In their case, she warped Ashley to dispose of Gene Smilas as their last act in the series.
The Skull
Voiced by: ??? (Japanese), ??? (English)
A powerful and malevolent entity that "gifted" Shin Hyuga Shaing with his Geass - for a very costly price. Its origins, or true nature for that matter, are a complete mystery.
- The Devil: If the Caretaker can be described as an avatar of the collective consciousness (itself God in the Code Geass universe), then this would likely be the devil.
- Deal with the Devil: It simply "gives" Shin his Geass with no price, but it becomes quickly apparent there's a terrible catch. Namely, Shin's ensuing Sanity Slippage and being forced to constantly see the spirits of those he used it on.
- Eldritch Abomination: By far the most "inhuman" entity in the series yet - it's nothing but a floating skull with a Code on it that comes and goes like a ghost.
- Greater-Scope Villain: Of Akito The Exiled - and possibly more than that. Half of the series wouldn't have come to pass if it hadn't given Shin a madness-inducing Geass.
- Sequel Hook: Its origins and nature are a complete mystery, with potential future series inevitably delving into it.
Peace Mark
A world-wide terrorist organization that has connections with every terrorist faction around the world. They underwent an increase of operations at the end of the Black Rebellion, and has contacts with the Middle Eastern and Chinese Federations. Orpheus Zevon
Voiced by: Tatsuhisa Suzuki (Drama CD) (Japanese)
Orpheus Zevon is the twin brother of Oldrin Zevon. Born into nobility but abandoned by his parents so that Oldrin may succeed as the heir of the family according to its traditions, he was raised by a peasant family. However he was conscripted into the Geass Order against his will, using him as an assassin. Though he has long since broken ties with the Order, the cost was too great, and his lover Euliya died in the escape. When he discovered that his old family had a hand in his lover's death, he swore vengeance and returned to the battlefield.
- Ace Custom: Byakuen, the brother unit of the Guren Mk II. He temporarily abandons it during his time as "Lyre" in favor of the Vincent Gram, but regains it for the joint operation between Peace Mark and the Glinda Knights on the Damocles.
- Child Soldiers: He becomes one for PM after he joins their ranks.
- Half-Identical Twins: He and Oldrin are twins and look very similar to each other.
- Kill the Ones You Love: During his time as "Lyre", he came to care about Marrybell mel Britannia, and took his twin Oldrin's place as her most loyal head knight. When it came time for the Zero Requiem, he intercepted Oldrin's attempt to stab Marrybell, shortly before stabbing her with his own knife so as to spare Oldrin from having to kill her, the two falling from the Damocles together in a Murder-Suicide.
- Parental Abandonment: Born into nobility but abandoned by his parents due to traditions that demand the use of females succeeding as the next family head.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Following the death of his lover Euliya and learning it was his uncle Oiagros who killed her, he swore to one day destroy the family that discarded him, and personally kill Oiagros himself. When finally given the chance to do so with Oiagros at his mercy, he couldn't go through with it and spared him.
- Swiss-Army Weapon: The "7-Type Integrated Armament Right Arm" (aka 7-Type for short) is a large box on Byakuen's arm that houses 7 weapon attachments.
- BFG
- BFS
- This Is a Drill
- A giant claw.
- Single Blade
- weapon unknown
- and a hand.
- Western Terrorists: Orpheus is known to be a terrorist after working with PM.
Ze Dien
Ze Dien is a terrorist who is connected to “Peace Mark”. He is a young man originally from the Chinese Federation. He performs requests using a customized Glasgow he bought on the black market and remodeled to his preferences. He works together with Orpheus on missions along with Ganabati.
- Far East Asian Terrorists: A Chinese terrorist from the Chinese Federation.
- Purple Is Powerful: His clothes and Knightmare are purple and he's quite skilled.
Ganabati
An Indian man of Sikh origin, he's an engineer and merchant who helps out in PM. He's also the designated driver for the truck that carries the KMFs used by Ze and Orpheus.
Miss X
A mysterious woman who serves as PM's liaison officer with the outside world.
- Mysterious Past: Nothing's known about her, including her real name and nationality.
Wizard / Oiagros Zevon
Wizard is a mysterious masked man who styles himself as a “magician”, and is a financial supporter of Peace Mark. He possesses vast information and assets, and is said to be very reliable, but his hidden background and identity have many grounds for suspicion. He toys with the two “Oz”s, Oldrin Zevon and Orpheus Zevon, whose identities and pasts he is apparently aware of. He pilots the black Knightmare Frame, Agravain.
In reality, he is Oiagros Zevon, the uncle of both Oldrin and Orpheus Zevon, and the head of the minor noble Zevon family. He is also the leader of the Britannian organization "Pluton", which has carried out dirty jobs for the Britannian Imperial Family under the direction of the Zevon family for generations. In addition, he is the one responsible for killing Orpheus' lover Euliya on orders from the Geass Order, and is the enemy that Orpheus hunts and seeks revenge against.
- The Atoner: He is tortured by a guilty conscience for killing his older sister in order to take over as the head of the Zevon family five years ago, and furthermore killing his nephew (or so he believed at the time) on a mission. Because of this, he supports an anti-Britannian organization under the name of Wizard while being the head of "Pluton", and tries to support and protect both Orpheus and Oldrin in various situations as a way of atonement.
- Ace Custom: Agravain, the successor to the Gawain and predecessor to the mass-produced Gareths.
