Geass Analysis: Suzaku
Kururugi Suzaku.
I hate him because he's the type of character you are suppose to hate who ruins the plan of the main character.
Personally I think he is a hypocrite, naive, self-righteous bastard who is either an complete idiot or just a huge tool.
Guilford is not amused.
Let us begin, shall we?
I'm really, really tired of all of these accusations. Self-righteous? Suzaku is probably the kindest and most genuine character out of the main cast. Before you accuse me of fanboyism, listen for a moment.
As humans, we all think we are strong. Strong enough to overcome whatever weaknesses life throw at us. Yet, as we will learn, and Suzaku soon learned... We're far from it. We're easy to be hurt, and even easier when it comes to making mistakes.
For his ideals - the ideals of a peaceful world, Suzaku learned to be strong. He's painfully aware of his weaknesses - his only strength that thought he could truly call a strength is that ideal he had. His physical prowess, piloting abilities...etc, he didn't really see as a great strength.
Yet, how fickle is the winds of war? The ideals that he had was mercilessly destroyed by the events that quickly escalated into an open rebellion. Were it not for Euphemia (Yes, I'm bringing Euphie up again), I think he might have truly given up, right then.
Suzaku wanted to change the world from the inside, because he saw, first hand, what war could do. War couldn't accomplish anything. It could only kill, and destroy. Euphemia was like a gateway to his heart, and an accomplice much in the same way C.C. became an "accomplice" for Lelouch. They were soul-mates, close friends, someone to lean on in times of trouble.
I mentioned earlier that Euphemia gave Suzaku everything back, didn't I? I still believe in that point. The moment he met Euphemia, everything suddenly had an additional purpose. To make Euphie happy; to be her knight; to protect, love, and help her to his fullest extent.
Ah...could you see that smile on his face, as he realized that he was no longer alone? Someone else was there, with him, on his side. Someone who believed the same things he did, and wanted to go about fixing the horrible world in the gentlest, kindest way they could think of.
There's a part in the opening of first season, where Euphie and Suzaku were dancing together in a ballroom. I feel the corners of my eye getting wet whenever I see that part, because I know what happened afterwards....
Geass.
Geass. Because of one incident. How many lives were lost? How many bodies, stained crimson in that one singular incident?
Bloodstained Euphie was the name of that episode's title. Yet, it wasn't only her body that was stained. Her purity...her name...everything that was good in the people's eyes suddenly became a "hypocritical" action.
I would not count those against her - especially because of the Geass. Suzaku didn't understand Geass, or what it was, but I don't think anyone could hurt more than he did at the time.
I wanted to pull screencaps, but again. I can't do it. I just ... can't.
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Euphie's death was a turning point in his life. You'll see the idiots on TVtropes or other forums go "lol yeah they killed his gf he mad now."
Mad is an understatement, and not wholly accurate. Suzaku was more hurt than angry, I think - because in a later interaction, when he tried to take his anger out on Lelouch, he found that he couldn't really do what he planned to do. Unlike most people today, Suzaku understood the fact that punching or hitting or whatever won't fix the issue. Euphie's gone. Nothing's going to change that.
His ideals? Mercilessly crushed.
The one person in his life? Gone.
His love? Perished in the gunfires of war.
Euphie died.
His heart died alongside her.
Everything that was ever beautiful and good in the world to him faded away. Euphie, his ideals, his faith and optimism.
Everything was gone.
And yet, he still carried onward. Bravely living with the fact that everything is gone. What the hell is this guy doing? Why doesn't he kill Lelouch? Why does he end up helping his old "friend" in the end? Why doesn't Suzaku show us the little self-righteous bastard for who he is, and hate? Hate? REALLY HATE.
...Because, Suzaku isn't like that.
Suzaku, as I've said, is the kindest character in the cast of Code Geass. He's almost a picaresque expy of Lancelot of the Lake (Lampshaded in his mecha, probably) - the original Lancelot, and not the Lancelot with all the baggage that we associate him with today.
Suzaku cried twice in the show. Once, when Euphie died. The second, and last time he ever did cry on screen, was when Lelouch died.
Will anyone cry for him, when the knight dies, then?
No one. That's the answer. When Suzaku took upon that Zero mask, it was almost like King Arthur picking up Calarant from the stone.
Unlike Arthur, who was a young man, full of hope and courage to take on the burden of rulership, Suzaku had already lost everything. Suzaku has nothing else to gain from it - only more to lose, if that was possible.
This young man is going to take up a thankless, painful role. There is no respite, no happiness for him. What was waiting for him is loneliness, isolation, and a crushing burden that could only increase as the days go on. And yet, despite all of this. He takes up the sword - because it was the right thing to do.
That's all. No grandiose proclaimation. No glory. No nothing. Even Lelouch mournfully concludes that it was a monumental task, and that Suzaku, in the end, was true to his ideals of a peaceful world all along.
So, as far as Suzaku's character goes.
"Hypocrite."
"Traitor."
"Back-stabbing scumbag."
I'm sorry. I'm tired of hearing all of that.
"He deserves it."
"He killed his dad."
"He killed people."
"You can't like someone who is so evil."
Maybe you don't like him. Maybe you hate him. Maybe you simply can't tolerate the idea of there is someone who is willing to go through such torment for an ideal - and a pair of promises.
Whatever it may be, the knight has my support.
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This post is really a "response" to the "experts" out there, who are quite narrowminded in their liberalized, erudite mindsets. But, just like Euphemia, what is truly good do not need me to defend. I simply write because it needed to be recorded. That is all.