History Headscratchers / CodeGeassMiscellaneousOne

*** Personally, I set myself a goal to ''not'' hate either Lelouch or Suzaku, because both were [[AntiHero morally ambiguous characters]] with high body counts, who both prove to be [[{{Hypocrite}} hypocritical]] [[{{Jerkass}} dicks]] who [[KickTheDog kick puppies]] - and occasionally, those puppies happen to be each other. When I saw the episode in R2 where Suzaku is literally stomping Lelouch's face into the ground, I thought on the one hand that Suzaku was having an epic KickTheDog moment, but on the other hand, [[KickTheSonOfABitch Lelouch kind of deserved it]]. They were both mentally and emotionally screwed up individuals who, by the end of the series, get something of a raw deal [[spoiler: When you consider Lelouch and Suzaku are now the most hated person in history and constantly in hiding, assuming the identity of the infamous masked terrorist Zero, respectively.]] Honestly, I love Suzaku and Lelouch both, and frankly don't get the hate towards either of them myself.

* In the first episode terrorist attack and steal bbeiological weapons (which turned out to be CC) and then go into a heavily populated area to use civilians as human shields from the pursuing military. At the time the Britannians had 2 choices either alldouow the terrorist to escape with WMD that would cause the death of thousands or attack the people thnatruiey were using as shields killing them to get to the bad guys. It was pretty much a catch 22 for Clovis at that point and obviously thought that attacking the people the terrorist were trying to hide behind was the lesser of 2 evils. Yet people act like the empire goes around committing slaughter on a whim and for fun. At the same time they tend to give a free pass to the terrorist that stole the weapons and drew the army there, and act like an attack that they provoked was justification for their actions later in the series

** Wiping out the entire ghetto was still disproportionate. I actually feel that, post-mortem, Clovis is given HiddenDepths to become actually a fairly sympathetic character, but whatever his reasons, whiping out all of Shinjuku is still a MoralEventHorizon. He could have simply sent his forces in to recover the 'biological weapon' no matter what, but because he was panicking and saw a chance of that not working (in reality, it was a slight chance, particularly seeing as the soldiers were hardly like to be kind with the populace), he went for the simple option and just ordered the entire ghetto to be wiped out.

* Kallen is a JerkSue KarmaHoudini with a questionable moral code. She has a hand in all the major disaster and deaths in the series, in the first episode she lead the Britannian military into a crowded area to use the people as human shields after stealing chemical weapons yet nobody blames her for the inevitable conclusion. Later she sets off a device causing massive landslides and the biggest casualty count at that time including the father of one of her best friends and barely shows any emotion over it. Later she tries to kill a man she knows she can not be killed and he releases a nuclear bomb because of it (granted she did not know about it before attacking him), yet she seems only concerned about Lelouch after it happened. She also showed no qualms about murdering her friends in cold blood if they might have made her as a terrorist. She tries to stab both Lelouch and Shirley in the back and they were only saved by lucky interruptions (in one of the cases it was planed). She is also a BloodKnight that seems to only be in it for the killing sure, she gave Japanese independence as her reason to fight but it was established during her DayInTheLimelight episode that she really does not like them either because they are weak especially her mother(even though she does gain some sympathy for her). The worst thing to happen to her in the series was being captured and her friend considered using EnhancedInterrogationTechniques on her but decided against it because it was to much like something her side would do, yet she still viciously beats him for even considering it after he lets her out. She was also taunted by a JerkAss which people act like is the worst thing to happen to somebody. She never gets punished and she gets a happy ending. Amazing what you notice re-watching the series

*** No terrorist ever has the intention of being caught however the police were already in pursuit by the time we see her there were plenty of chances for them to either ditch the cargo or get to a less populated area before they turned into the ghetto tunnels where Britannia trapped them. Also she did not want to use the gas because it would kill the two of them not because of the safety of the people around them. She was also willing to kill her friends because she thought they might have identified her as a terrorist (I know the saying "One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter"). She only seemed a little disturbed after the land slide contrast that with Lelouch who was actually devastated. Her view on most of the japans was that they were weak subservient to the Britannians, maybe not as literal as her biological mother but it was the same principle. She thought this because they weren’t fighting like she was and the empire actually had a higher approval rating then the terrorist until the tower. Suzaku did not drug her because it would damage her, what Zero does damages people. They did not trick her into betraying him. They simply asked him to bring him there so they could confront him about the pile of evidence, plus they assumed that she had been keeping information from them which she was. Ohgi seemed to have better morals then her and even though he was used by a pair of evil princes in there insane revenge schemes like she was, he was always much more cuscus and did not have a hand in any mass murder.

** While I agree about the morality not being stark, the Britannian Empire had a habit of taking over nations through military actions and striping them of every drop of individuality, demoting its citizens to second class (or worse), cheerfully followed a guy who claimed that all morals were mere attempts by the weak to trick the strong into playing by their rules and thus could be completely ignored, ordered pogroms of entire districts to keep their dirty laundry from being aired, and nonchalantly followed said orders when given to them. Even Cornelia, who seemed more interested in protecting/avenging her family and finding a good fight than in any real political goals, was casually racist (classist?) against anyone that wasn't Britannian, at least up until she found out about Geass. While some of them weren't quite that bad, and several of the other factions were quite nasty as well, Britannia as a whole was a cancerous blight upon their world.
*** I do not understand where the stripping cultures of their individuality argument came from, it was only said by Zero in a speech to terrorists. The Britannian settlement culture seems much closer to Japanese than Western culture like they were trying to adapt to the local setting. Also if everyone born a Number was discriminated against how come an Eleven was a high ranking knight of honor and later became viceroy of the area despite Japan only joining 7 years earlier. It seems much closer to the Japan's system where being born in a place does not make you a citizen but you can become one with full rights. The destruction of the ghetto was from the terrorists using human shields against a pursuing military; it was a dammed if you do dammed if you don’t for the military. Also Cornelia was by far the most brutal member of the family since she was the only one who went on offence. Still I do not think she was racist considering the fact she had an Eleven as her personal knight, she did not like the terrorists. Calling the empire a cancerous blight is a bit harsh

*** What evidence do you have that their culture was suppressed besides the black knight saying so. People where seen dressing in traditional japans clothing practicing customs and even apparently adapting there social ideas (have you ever seen a 17 year old western girl reacting to having to kiss somebody like they were being forced to lose their virginity). Also the knight I was referring to was not Suzaku are you forgetting that Gilford was also Japanese a knight and became viceroy, yet nobody bated an eye. I think Britannia apprehension around Suzaku was more because he was the son of a former enemy than that he was a former number. And even though Cornelia was the most brutal viceroy and like her brother considered dead civilians collateral damage, she did attempt to evacuate areas they were planning on attacking.

*** Clovis did care about the casualties but it was not his choice to fill in the tunnels it was the legislators, the viceroy only appeared to be in charge of the military. Also of the incidents you mentioned one was done by pursuing terrorist that were attempting to use the people as human shields and the other was done by VV and the Geass cult not the Britannia military.

*** Clovis cared a lot of thing then his reputation, and considering what it was he did not care about it at all. Also you do not escape into or under a highly populated area if you are not planning on using the people there as shelter.

*** What show were you watching, it was the Britannians who tried to minimalis casualties by evacuating people from areas where they thought battles were going to take place. Lelouch did not really care who died as long as it furthered his goal. This is best illustrated at the battle of mount Narita but he had Kallen detonate the VARIS which caused a giant landslide that killed not only enemy soldiers but also his JLF allies and countless InnocentBystanders who were in nearby towns one of which was Shirley father (who was a geologist working for a mining company). He wagged several other battles in heavily populated areas.

*** Regardless of whether he was a civilian or not, there is a difference between collateral damage and purposefully killing someone. The whole Shirley's dad situation forces Lelouch to face (and come to terms with) the fact that he will occasionally have to kill people that didn't completely deserve it or where completely innocent if he wants to engage in an all out war.
*** Britannia was the aggressor, and a ruthless racist authoritarian regime which occupies numberous countries, including the Japanese's native country, by military force. There is no moral equivalance between them and the resistance whatsoever. As for Lelouch, regardless of his personal motivations, he’s fundamentally on the right side. And in the context of the world history, he isn't even a very questionable character - there were many liberation and resistance leaders regarded today as heroes who committed much graver atrocities and could laugh Lelouch in the face for being a whiny pussy. Like for example the pearl-clutching over the Mount Narita avalanche. When you are a resistance fighter collateral damage like this is inevitable, and no real leader would have problem with that. Winston Churchill, one of the most revered figures in modern British history, ordered deliberate bombing of German civilian targets which resulted in tens if not hundreds of thousands of deaths. David Ben Gurion ordered the ethnic cleansing of Lydda and Ramle. Tito ethnically cleansed the Italian population from Istra and the German population from Vojvodina. Ask Eastern Europeans what they thought of value of life of German civilian in the occupied countries in 1943. Believe me - they didn't think much.

* Was anyone else disappointed by the Knightmare Frame designs as the series went on? Something that always bothers me about mecha anime is that these incredibly advanced, nigh-unbeatable machines are always over designed, with unnecessary fins and frill (not to mention bizarre color schemes). Which is why I was delighted when I started watching Code Geass and saw the likes of the Glasgow and the Sutherland, which were distinctly utilitarian and militaristic. But then starting with the Lancelot, and particularly during R2, the designers just threw all sense out the window.
** The Lancelot looking that way makes sense due to being a prototype and being one of a kind. Plus it's creator Lloyd is a BunnyEarsLawyer. In [=R2=], it was somewhat due to ExecutiveMeddling.
** The more and more extreme Knightmare Frames as the series goes on (NO, Gino, having your robot transform into a plane isn't needed whatsoever, try again) actually makes a lot of sense when you take a look at who's using them. On the empire's side, the only Knightmares that have a bunch of wacky designs and add-ons, with the exception of prototypes Lancelot and Gawain, are used solely by Britannian Royalty (Cornelia's Gloucester) and Knights of the Round. The kind of people with the ranking and power to have machines designed to their specifications, looking the way they want. Compare the flashy black and gold Gawain with the Gareths that were created from it's design, or the Lancelot and offshoot Vincents. Clearly, Britannia still is primarily concerned with utilitarianism and mass production. Even on the side of the Black Knights, we have the Guren, Shen Hu, Shinkiro, and Zangetsu, all designed by Rakshata, and the Siegfried, a specially modified siege weapon designed by Britannia and [[BrickJoke presumably painted orange because someone in R&D had a real sick sense of humor.]] Basically, the flashy Knightmare designs call back to historical knights, who would have intricately designed armor, shields, and swords, paid for by either their lord or out of their own pocket. They weren't cost-efficient for mass-production, but were a symbol of their value as knights. Basically, R2 is when Lelouch stopped fighting fodder units and started having to face Knights of the Round, and the designers started getting flashy. The battles between the more militaristic mass-produced units are still there, only we're following the protagonists who all use the special ones.
* Why do people keep saying that Shirley was {{Mind Rape}}d by Mao? When he met her she was already mentally broken having found out that the terrorist who had killed her father was the boy she had a crush on and then panicking and shooting a knight of honor. From there dialog it was pretty clear that she had already decided to kill Lelouch and then herself. While Mao certainly did not help her and gave her a push to go through with her plan, he certainly did not MindRape her. I am not saying that he is not capable of mind raping people as he was shown doing it to Suzaku a few episodes later, he just did not have to do it to Shirley. This is especially ironic considering the fact Lelouch did use his geass to mind rape Shirley later that episode.
** Because Mao did mind rape her. She wasn't dead set on killing him. She arguably wouldn't even have done it, considering she still hadn't accepted shooting Villetta. What he did is classic mind rape, dragging all the skeletons out her closet to haunt her with. There's no other way to describe it.
** Also, ''Lelouch'' [[MindRape Mind Rapes]] Shirley?! What gave anyone that idea? All he did to her was apply LaserGuidedAmnesia and there's no evidence that her mind was any more broken for it....
** He did mind rape her and for the rest of the season she was seen struggling with her memory loss and trying to find out what caused it. When Zero and the black knights appeared in the season final she attempted to attack him and wanted to know what he did to her mind. Sounds like MindRape to me.

*** She did not run and listened to him because she was that mentally defeated after what had happened and she was glad that some one offered her understanding and agreed with what she was thinking, while Mao did give her a push she was already defeated and wanted to avenge her father, Mao offered to help her achieve her goals and she took him up on it.

** At the time, it would be an irrelevant detail. Only those with Geass powers(or those with a Code) can see the Geass symbol when it's in use. So all Diethard's cameras(and Jeremiah, by extension) would see is his mask open up and his eye.

* Why does everybody blame Ohgi and Schneizel for the Black Knight's defection? While it is true learning about Lelouch's past and Geass ability was the straw that broke the camel's back, the coup had been being planed by the Four Holy Swords, specifically Asahina and Chiba, since the massacre of the Geass order and he replaced the previous high command with the Pureblood commander and an unknown Britanian. While the reveal of his identity and powers did probably help with some like Diethard and Tohdoh all the stuff he did leading up to it had probably already sealed his fate.
** There are a number of reasons. First and foremost, Schneizel's claims have virtually zero real evidence behind them. He couldn't prove half of his claims, even if on a base level they were true. The thing is, Ohgi came in, having bought Villetta's story on no evidence at all, and started verifying everything like a damn moron. He's in even less of a position to know for sure, and he's playing Schneizel's game like he has half an idea what he's talking about. Villetta said jump and he did, it's that simple. As for your claim of a coup in progress, that's just nonsense. They may not have trusted him, and Asahina outright betrayed him (and got nuked for it, not that he would have survived against Rolo anyway), but they weren't planning any coup. Chiba especially, who heard nothing about the massacre. Jeremiah and the others were also in no position of power, just trust, which as Rolo notes is the more important thing to Zero. Finally, Diethard was never won over. He was forced into playing along because he couldn't salvage the situation in the face of their irrational behavior. Tohdoh didn't even bring up the cult massacre.
*** Schneizel actually did have proof, he had a recording of Lelouch talking about his powers and admitting what he did to Euphey. Also we don't know exactly Villetta told and showed Ohgi, however she did have recordings of him using his power and talking about it from when she was working with him in the Britannia secret base at school. It also filled in holes about strange behavior people seemed to have around him like why the spearhead of the empire Viceroy Gilford suddenly turned on them, and why the senior commanders of the JLF suddenly decided to commit suicide before they joined Lelouch. Also Rolo and Orange did apparently outrank the swords in the black knights as Rolo overrode an order of theirs to a soldier after the massacre. Also it was pretty clear that the pilot who transmitted the information to Asahina was also broadcasting to her. Tohdoh was seen think about it and what Assahina had said before the meeting but the killing of his top soldiers probably did factor more into it. Finally Diethard did stay loyal because he had suspect that Zero was lying and being underhanded since he blew up General Katase but for some reason he was the one they put all the blame for the coup on.

*** I should point out that Asahina sent the data to Tohdoh and Chiba's Knightmares, and after Zero vanishing during both battles for Tokyo, though in the second case it was because he was being tag teamed by two Knights of Round and four elite pilots until Kallen saved him. Schneizel also said that there was a recording of Zero knowing about the FLEIJA, which while true, was an absurd claim as no weapon of that power had ever been used before, and the idea that it would authorised to be used in an ally city was a level of heartlessness that exceeds anything done in the series before that. Oh, and he didn't have the latter recording, nor did he have Suzaku verify, as that would result in Suzaku admitting that the next part of the former recording was realising that Lelouch DIDN'T do it. And Lelouch's voice is different to Zero's, so they shouldn't have been able to know whether or not it was a fake. And the recording that Schneizel gave said nothing about what Lelouch's powers did, only that he used them. And Schneizel's dossiers of people Lelouch used Geass on was surprisingly accurate, but either stolen from the Emperor, or magically summoned. Either way, the information bared research to validate it, but they certainly shouldn't have tried to execute him so quickly - especially not without input from their other two bosses, Kaguya and Xingke.

** Come to think of it, how on earth did Mao set that bomb up on his own? It's ridiculously heavy and extremely unstable. I mean, it explodes if you mess up it's swinging. How could he possibly have gotten it up there?

** It's Main/AwesomenessByAnalysis. Don't ask.

*** acctualy geass did exist back then, how old is c.c.? what about the immortal nun (who lived long nuf to go batshit insane)? geass may not have been controlled by britannia, but it existed.

** From what I've read, The idea started from when an ejection seat on more traditional vehicles was created, that was eventually fitted with robotic legs to help in escaping. Scientists eventually just took that idea to its [[FridgeLogic logical conclusion]].

** Not to mention, it's because of Suzaku that ''Japan ended up as Area 11''. You know, back then Premier Kururugi the ONLY one who posed a serious threat to Britannia and he was ready to kill himself and LOTS of people to take the Empire down. That's quite the hard weight on * anyone's * shoulders. Still, people love to forget it because, unlike Lelouch, Suzaku is "not cool enough".

** And how it's Lelouch NOT a DracoInLeatherPants? Your fixation on Suzaku bering the * ONLY* DILP is ''insane''.

*** In other words, Lelouch succeeded where Suzaku failed. Lelouch and Suzaku are both antiheroes ''at absolute best,'' with each spending at least some time at Type V and even outright villainy. They're both NecessarilyEvil [[WellIntentionedExtremist Well Intentioned Extremists]], but where Lelouch tends toward the chaotic end of the scale, Suzaku favors the lawful. Why do more people seem to favor Lelouch? Maybe it's because he actually gets results in the end, where Suzaku just seems to end up doing little more than help the evil empire. Maybe it's because people see Lelouch as more sympathetic due to the story being told predominantly from his side of things. Maybe it's because people just tend to resent authority, and so are more likely to favor the rebel trying to tear it down from the outside over the participant trying to change it from within.

*** There's also how the characters are portrayed in the side materials. A lot of people pay attention to those, and they tend to change many viewers' perceptions of the characters. For example, Clovis was portrayed as a genuinely loving older brother who cared about his siblings and thought that he was doing Lelouch and Nunnally justice with his actions in Japan (state-policy racism + vengeance for dead family will do that to your morals), and also as a ChivalrousPervert, making him ''much'' more sympathetic in the eyes of the fans. The side materials are also credited on this site as one of the main reasons why Clovis won the [[http://code-geass.bandai-ent.com/poll/pollb.php North American popularity poll]] (which, as you'll notice, Suzaku didn't even place on). A similar situation happened with [[EnsembleDarkhorse Jeremiah Gottwald]], who was given a sympathetic treatment in one sound episode where he explained his motivations vis-a-vis Marianne and her children. This, combined with his [[TheWoobie humiliation]] and increasingly over-the-top appearances, made him the most loved character in the show. This despite massacring a ghetto in the first episode. However, getting to the point, Suzaku actually experienced the ''opposite'' treatment by the show. On top of the dickish moves made on-screen in the series proper, side materials actually get into his actions in between R1 and R2: in one picture drama/sound episode Suzaku helps conquer a new area and then finds a little girl in the rubble, after treating her, she finds out that they're Britannian and starts screaming and crying at them about how her father and brother were good people and that the knights murdered them. Maybe it was just me, but it became harder to sympathize with Suzaku after that. Later picture dramas would give us another gem: Suzaku, Scheizel, Kanon, and the Rounds all enjoying a day out at a casino (whilst the Black Knights are, ostensibly at the point in the series, fighting for their lives and exiled en-masse). This, combined with what we know about Lelouch's crappy childhood and the suffering of the other Japanese characters, makes the Black Knights in general and Lelouch in particular look like Woobies compared to the evil decadent Britannians, despite what the entry below would have you believe. From a PR point of view, it's just hard to see Suzaku as the good guy. Not that I think Suzaku is really evil, just doing what he does best: acting on his emotions, in the case of his feelings about Lelouch, anger.

* How the hell did Rollo survive the FREIA explosion? If he was "covering Nunnaly's shuttle" like Wiki/ThatOtherWiki says or planned to kill her like my intuition says, either way he would have been well within the blast radius. Even Zero barely managed to Main/OutrunTheFireball in his prototype mech, so how did Rolo do that in his lousy stolen Glasgow?

*** Wow, [[YouKeepUsingThatWord way to misappropriate words.]] That's a PERFECT definition of misotheism, but a terrible one for atheism.

* Kallen is a JerkSue KarmaHoudini with a humongous dose of MoralDissonance. She has a hand in all the major disaster and deaths in the series, in the first episode she lead the Britannian military into a crowded area to use the people as human shields after stealing chemical weapons yet nobody blames her for the inevitable conclusion. Later she sets off a device causing massive landslides and the biggest casualty count at that time including the father of one of her best friends and barely shows any emotion over it. Later she tries to kill a man she knows she can not be killed and he releases a nuclear bomb because of it (granted she did not know about it before attacking him), yet she seems only concerned about Lelouch after it happened. She also showed no qualms about murdering her friends in cold blood if they might have made her as a terrorist. She tries to stab both Lelouch and Shirley in the back and they were only saved by lucky interruptions (in one of the cases it was planed). She is also a BloodKnight that seems to only be in it for the killing sure, she gave Japanese independence as her reason to fight but it was established during her DayInTheLimelight episode that she really does not like them either because they are weak especially her mother(even though she does gain some sympathy for her). The worst thing to happen to her in the series was being captured and her friend considered using EnhancedInterrogationTechniques on her but decided against it because it was to much like something her side would do, yet she still viciously beats him for even considering it after he lets her out. She was also taunted by a JerkAss which people act like is the worst thing to happen to somebody. She never gets punished and she gets a happy ending. Amazing what you notice re-watching the series

** [[StrangeMindsThinkAlike Seconded]], though honestly, that they're nuts [[CrazyAwesome is why I love them]].

*** Something tells me that this issue, as well as the issue previous, is one of the greatest themes of the series. Both Suzaku and Lelouch desire something good, but pursue evil and increasingly hypocritical means. It's also kind of a NotSoDifferent idea, with the both of them.

*** OHHH, so that's what that man was designing...[[CompletelyMissingThePoint I thought Lelouch acquired the Guren from that guy]]
*** Actually, I do completely get the point, but I thought that's the guy he got the big mobile base from.

*** Always possible, I'll admit, but it's a common saying that every man has his price. Maybe Britannia just isn't as cheap.

** I think that it stems from the fact that asian cultures don't necessarily view gods in quite the same way as western cultures do and the show was made by those from an asian culture. In the West, where religions like Christianity, Islam, and Judaism are big, we tend to view God as an all-powerful being who created the world. We also tend to think of God in the singular. In eastern culture, you have people talking about ancestors being gods, the emperors of some countries have been considered gods, and - as Lloyd points out in episode 2 of R1 - asian cultures sometimes believe that gods live in objects (such as [[Manga/{{Kannagi}} trees]]). I get the impression that the term god when used by asian cultures has a tendency to mean something more along the lines of a being superior to humans than an all-powerful being like those in the West think of. That being the case, Schneizel would be claiming to be a more powerful being than humans as opposed to all-powerful - and with the ability to basically wipe most of them out, that's arguably true.

*** He didn't have to have noticed Schneizel was there. He should have noticed the [=BKs=], and that should have been enough for him to Geass everybody in the area, including Schneizel and Kanon. After all, the [=BKs=] only ''fired the bullets he kept from hitting Lelouch''. And killing Schneizel while he had his senses stopped by the Geass so that he couldn't speak or anything would have shut down the ability of the mutiny to threaten either him or Lelouch, since he'd have a far easier time sneaking Lelouch out if needed. Really, the scene made the PlotArmor of both Schneizel and the [=BKs=] crystal clear at that point, because Rolo ''killed [[WhatMeasureIsAMook random soldiers]]'' during the escape so that he could evacuate Lelouch. The BKs would have been random soldiers to him, since it's Lelouch he's attached to, not them.

* Alright, so what the fuck is the state of the world now that the series is over? I can't see Suzaku or Nunnaly taking over the government of Britannia, which means that it mostly broke down (If this isn't the case, I have another problem with it). And then they expect us to believe that everything's hunky-dory? Nuh-uh. I don't think so. You don't just dissolve the autocratic dictatorship of the ''entire fucking world'' and expect that things are going to go smoothly. The war and chaos that would erupt as groups grapple for power would ''boggle the mind.'' We're just lucky that all the FREYAs were destroyed and no one built nukes, or else my money would be on the world being destroyed. You create a vacuum of power like Lulu did, and people are going to try to fill it. Unfortunately, a lot of different people who don't like each other will try, and that leads to an awful lot of violence, to put it lightly. If someone does take over the reins of Britannia...well, you've still got a global dictatorship, which means that all Lulu did was to advance Britannia's cause. If they're going to try and move it towards a democracy, then one generally doesn't need ''global war'' to be able to accomplish such a feat, and...argh, watching this show as an International Relations major is ''hard.''

** This. With heavy emphasis. I figured that Lelouch sarcastically acquiesced to Kaguya's demand that he split Brittania up into individual voting "states" once he has control of the Damocles. This was the only barrier that the UFN put up before Brittania could be allowed to join, and once he has the FLEIJAs, it's not like he's going to have any trouble getting the votes he needs anyway, not when anyone who would try to vote against him would be running the risk of getting nuked off the face of the planet. At the end of the series he is declared, as I recall, to be President of the UFN and CEO of the Black Knights. If he sucked most of Britannia's power into the UFN, then that means that the Brittanian military and the Black Knights are more or less the same thing, and are controlled by whoever has the most votes in the UFN- and whoever has the most votes in the UN will require the support of a great many different ethnic groups, since presumably every country in the world is now a member. And nobody's in the mood for more oppressive asshattery after what Emperor Lelouch did. If he ordered all his soldiers to be members of the Black Knights, well, they're geassed, so that's what they'll do even if the CEO isn't the Emperor of Brittania. Even if that fails the only heirs apparent to the Brittanian throne would be Nunnally, Schneizel, and Cornelia, since they made the heroic LastStand against Lelouch and at least two out of the three of them are going to try and preserve peace at all cost. This is the whole reason why Lelouch made such a big deal about taking over the UFN instead of destroying it. The UFN's charter is presumably designed in such a way that there's no way to mobilize a military force against anyone except an extremely evil common enemy. The only reason it was bad under Emperor Lelouch is because he was blackmailing everyone into voting to do whatever he wanted. By giving the individual countries free will, his death created an insurmountable bureaucratic deadlock.

** Also, it doesn't help that Suzaku is so self-righteous, thinking that whatever side HE'S on is the only side that's right. He only sees things in black and white, and the worst part is that the series actually depicts him as being the one that's [[FamilyUnfriendlyAesop RIGHT]]. Another thing that is incredibly annoying about him: He constantly owns Lelouch at everything. His mecha is an extreme example of a DeusExMachina, where, no matter how much Lelouch plots and plans strategies, all it has to do is go out and it will be an instant win. It's also incredibly frustrating that the storyline works its way around him illogically just so he can stick around and conquer Lelouch. Example: Lelouch turns into a moron when he's around Suzaku, not using his geass on Suzaku to order him to leave Britannia and live an ordinary life. It doesn't make sense, because, looking at Lelouch's personality normally, that would definitely be in character for him to do.

** First off, he's the protagonist, so we're automatically going to want to like him and give him the benefit of the doubt. So, we're far more willing to forgive him for doing nasty things than if the story were told from a different point of view. Next off, he's fighting against the evil empire that's busy discriminating against everyone else and trying to take over the world. And probably most of all, he's just plain ''cool.'' I mean, sure he does things that he really shouldn't. He's not necessarily the nicest guy. But he's a [[MagnificentBastard genius]] and is constantly pulling [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome crowning moments of awesome]]. So much of what he does is just plain ''[[RuleOfCool cool]].'' So, while you may not always agree with his methods, he's so cool that much of the time it just plain doesn't matter - or at least you let it slide. He also has a much better attitude about things than Suzaku does. He's a bit narcissistic, but he fully acknowledges that what he's doing isn't necessarily nice. And, as Diethard pointed, ''he gets results.'' Lelouch may be too willing to be nasty at times, but he's definitely cool.

*** The idea that Lelouch has both a geass and a code violates the lore of the anime. the show never mentions this possibility and there are no precedents which means it's nothing but a fanfic idea pulled out of thin air, and not canon AT ALL. Lelouch's death on the other hand has been officially confirmed by WordOfGod MANY times. They said so in [[https://forums.animesuki.com/group.php?do=discuss&gmid=38473 interviews]] (e.g. [[https://imgur.com/a/do0fiOb Animage 10 and 11]], [[https://www.retromags.com/galleryimgs/monthly_2017_10/small.59f05755697f9_ContinueVol.42(October2008).jpg.f9ec262ce76541c515b3ea32e65060c8.jpg Continue Vol.42]], etc), [[https://imgur.com/a/2dxGMFX tweets]] by the director ([[https://imgur.com/a/HoF6xhX translation]]), the [[https://d2ydh70d4b5xgv.cloudfront.net/images/c/a/code-geass-lelouch-of-the-rebellion-r2-official-guide-book-japan-anime-free-s-h-3dd125709d6de684a48b26ffff07f459.jpg official guide book]], ..., and Lelouch is listed among the dead in [[https://imgur.com/a/GdjEhBD the Death List for R2]]. C.C. even explicitly says Lelouch is dead in [[https://streamable.com/d8dji the new epilogue]] (from 2009). Then it was announced that he was confirmed to be the main character in the sequel which is officially named "Lelouch of the Resurrection", which aligns with the mountain of official statements about his death.

*** That's not entirely correct, the theory comes from the fact that some people were simply unable to accept the death of their beloved character and started making up theories on how he could still be alive. This is a VERY common reaction in fandoms, just look at the Game of Thrones fandom which has theories for all of the beloved dead characters, even if their head got chopped off on-screen. The points which code theory suggests are POST HOC assumptions, i.e. they were made with the conclusion already in mind and thus this results in heavily flawed and skewed interpretations because they were actively looking something, ANYTHING, which could possibly justify the theory. Fact is that code theory can't possibly be true because it violates the lore of the anime itself. Sure, at first glance it seems plausible, Lelouch did have double eyed geass after all, but when you look past the surface it all falls apart because Lelouch used his geass long after his final confrontation with Charles, while the anime makes it very clear that receiving the code means losing the geass. Charles himself even says so! "I've gained a new power IN PLACE OF geass".
The idea of activating codes, yet another post hoc fix to attempt to save the theory, is never mentioned in the anime at all, is contradicted by the anime itself (Charles was visibly not affected by Lelouch's geass, no red rings around the eyes and no nerves realignment scene) and even explicitly denied by WordOfGod who said during a live commentary that Charles was immune to Lelouch's geass and just toying with his son. This live commentary was reported on by various people online who were present at the time. To protect the privacy of these people, all information which would allow them to be identified has been removed. This [[https://imgur.com/a/vVhX214 tweet]] reads パパんにギアス掛けるシーンも、「これギアス掛かってないのに死んだふりするんだよ」「息子を驚かせようと」「ルルーシュくんかわいそう」「これ一番ショックなタイミング計ってるよね」「絶対笑いこらえてるよ」って色々言われてて笑った。 which translates as: About that scene Lelouch geass his dad I laughed because they said like "He isn't geassed, just pretends he dies!" " He tries to surprise his son!" "Poor Lelouch" "He tries to choose the most shocking timing, doesn't he" "I'm sure he tries hard not to laugh". And this [[https://imgur.com/a/aow8Fmc blog post]] talks about various Code Geass things, the relevant part is highlighted in red and reads コウジロウさん「この人、ギアスかかってない じゃないですか。よく我慢してますよね。こことか 絶対笑い堪えてますよ」 which translates as: "He isn't under an influence form Geass, is he? He's good with pretending, sure. I'm sure he tries his hardest not to laugh right now.". This undeniably demonstrates that Charles was already immune to geass which means he already had an "active" code, which means that codes are never not active and don't require activation.
The idea of Lelouch having both a geass and a code is in direct violation of the anime's lore which forbids that, and the assumption that Lelouch is a special case is utterly baseless, the possibility is never mentioned in the anime in any way, shape or form, nor are there any precedents, which makes this assumption pure fanfic material and completely detached from the canon. Add to that that the infamous hay cart scene was DROPPED AND REPLACED on the ZR movie blu-ray, instead we get a new scene where C.C. narrates to the audience and explicitly explains that Lelouch is dead, that she mourns his death and that she comforts herself with the thought that he died accomplishing his goals.[[https://streamable.com/d8dji You can see the "new" (from 2009) epilogue here.]] The fact that they dropped the hay cart scene means that it wasn't important to understand the story, the fact that the replaced it with C.C. explicitly saying Lelouch is truly dead says more than enough.

** The creators did not flip-flop at all. The hay cart scene was never meant to be interpreted as a suggestion that Lelouch could be alive, that was merely the misunderstanding of people who couldn't accept that Lelouch was truly dead. To address this misunderstanding they even DROPPED AND REPlACED the infamous hay cart scene on the ZR movie blu-ray, instead we get a new scene where C.C. narrates to the audience and explicitly explains that Lelouch is dead, that she mourns his death and that she comforts herself with the thought that he died accomplishing his goals.[[https://streamable.com/d8dji You can see the "new" (from 2009) epilogue here.]] The fact that they dropped the hay cart scene means that it wasn't important to understand the story, the fact that the replaced it with C.C. explicitly saying Lelouch is truly dead says more than enough.