Celiss' Field Guide to Lelouch
The current Celiss GameFaqs thread is about to die. But like hell I'm going to lose Celiss' gorgeous essays on Lelouch! For the moment, you can still find them here. Do go and tell her how astounding she is. These are all her interpretations that I am saving for prosperity.
As always, Celiss words my view of Lelouch infinitely better than I, and her essays often serve as my "player's guide."
I.
Strangely, comparing Lelouch to Light is popular only with the English-speaking audience. There were some sentiments about Code Geass being a Death Note rip-off in the beginning, among Japanese fans, but that was shot down quickly enough, along with the idea that Code Geass is Anti-America.
I think the biggest difference between the Japanese fans and the non-Japanese fans is this: We were all excited over Lelouch's evil smirk at the end of episode 1, but only the Japanese looked beyond this and realized that the scene with Lelouch thinking about Nunnally when he was about to die is equally -- if not more -- important. The theory that Lelouch is simply the good guy acting the role of the bad guy surfaced on 2ch as early as episode 1, but only gained popularity much later. The Western audience, for whatever reason, has been considerably less receptive towards this idea. I think the misleading subs are partly to blame here...
Lelouch never really thought of anyone as "tools", IMO. Remember Tamaki, Kallen and Ougi's conversation in episode 11: they actually discuss the possibility of this. Ougi's conclusion is that Zero cannot possibly be using them as pieces in a game; those who know anger, must know sorrow as well (in this case, it all started with Lelouch's sorrow over the death of Marianne, as well as Nunnally's predicament) Not many people seem to understand the significance of this scene; it stuck with me because before this all 2ch had been aflame with debates on the morality of Zero's actions, with many arguing that Lelouch is despicable for toying with the lives of people. This scene, therefore, was very unexpected; it actually felt to me as though the writers had suddenly cut into the debate, using Ougi & co. as a mouthpiece. It didn't really work though, because until this very day not many people remember this scene. Or rather, I think it's more of a case of the fans conveniently overlooking all the scenes that would tear apart their idea of Evil Bastard Lelouch...
Listen to Ougi. He's the only one, aside from C.C., who truly understands Lelouch, IMO. He was the only one who noticed that something was wrong with Zero on the night of the Battle of Tokyo Bay, for instance (Diethard noticed, but thought that was Zero showing his true colours; Ougi knew that wasn't the real Zero) He was also the only person to instinctively know that Zero had to leave in episode 25 because he was in trouble himself. Maybe it comes from his experience with dealing with children / teens back when he was still a teacher -- or maybe it's simply a case of people with bad fashion sense understanding each other.
Lelouch knows there are lives at stake, and he does not simply throw them away; even as early as episode 2, he thinks to himself, "This is a game... a game with lives at stake." He uses the words "game" and "pawns" not because he thinks of his people as such, but because that's how limited his experience as a commander is: he is a chess player, leading an army. The Secret Notes in DVD Magazine I also reveal that holding a chess piece in hand has a calming effect on him. I'd need to stay calm too, if I'm to take on 1/3 of the world.
II.
It looks to me as though the writers made Lelouch a chess player to reinforce the image of him being a strategist, a commander, a king, perhaps, and not the usual uber 1337 pilot in mecha shows so far. It sort of backfired though, because the idea of "pawns" is simply too strongly connected to chess. Not even the writers' attempt to show that Lelouch is not your usual chess player by having him move the King first in every game could change this. "The King has to move first, for his subjects to follow." somehow ended up lost, and the image of a callous King sending his pawns to die while he sits comfortably on his throne stuck instead, even though that has never been Lelouch's style of playing. He's always out at the front lines, and his life hangs on the same fragile thread with all the others -- he may be the King, but in the end he also sees himself as a piece on the chessboard, to be used whenever necessary.
III.
People often wonder why Lelouch has never Geass'd anyone into becoming his loyal servant forever (the case with Carve-tan confirms that the Geass can last forever, given the right wording). Usually the reply would be, "That's the same as asking a genie to grant all your wishes forever; it doesn't work". That may be true, I don't know, but I don't think that's the main reason. Lelouch simply doesn't want to. The Stage 1 novel tells us that while Lelouch finds the power useful, he is loath to use it because it isn't his; he thinks of it as something borrowed from C.C. (see: Lelouch's reaction to the noble in episode 22), and he doesn't want to confuse a power that was given him with his personal capability (also see: The Black King).
IV.
For all his talk of "The end justifies the means", Lelouch is strangely picky about methods. He wants people to choose to believe in him (episode 1, 4), he doesn't want to involve civilians (episode 4, 8), he wants to take on the Empire fair and square (episode 7) and he doesn't want to take the easy way out by Geassing everyone into destroying the Britannia empire. Lelouch uses the Geass for really insignificant things for most of season 1 (Most of them being "Pretend you didn't see anything"), not because he is stupid, but because he knows the Geass itself is a form of injustice, a gross disregard of rights and freedom of choice (listen to the preview for episode 19). He only uses the Geass to kill when he himself is in danger of being killed (episode 1, episode 8); other times he makes sure he is the one to pull the trigger himself, that the blood is on his hands (he could have told Clovis to kill himself, but instead cancels the Geass and shoots him; Kallen wanted to kill Euphie, but Lelouch tells her he'll do it -- the sin of killing her lies with him alone)
He's only started to be more ruthless with the Geass (Darlton, especially) at the end of season 1, when he had to use every form of deception to allow the army he created in a mere 6 months a fighting chance with Britannia. And yet, in the end, by choosing Nunnally, Lelouch shows that he simply cannot become "Zero", the impartial hero of Justice. Just as how Euphie had always been Euphie before she was ever a princess or vice-governor, Lelouch is always, first and foremost, Lelouch, the 17-year-old who decided to take on the world for the sake of his little sister. Being Zero means he is public property, and everyone should have an equal share of him, but Lelouch belongs only to Nunnally.
V.
At the end of season 1 Lelouch was willing to give up everything he created for Nunnally; Taniguchi, in DVD booklet #9, explains that that was the only possible choice for Lelouch. He lost everything by the end of season 1 (C.C.'s warning throughout the show), and for the first time truly became "Zero" -- nothing. That, IMO, is why the last episode is titled "Zero"; not because Lelouch has finally become "Zero" (on the contrary; he's shown that he doesn't yet have what it takes to be Zero), but because the show ends with him with no one left on his side. Nunnally has been kidnapped, Euphie is dead, C.C. is trapped in Gawain, Kallen is in two minds but appears to believe he has been using her all along, Ougi, who understands him even if Lelouch doesn't realize this, has been shot, the Black Knights are a world away fighting his battle and may very well lose it if he doesn't return soon... and his "best friend" has just invalidated his existence and wants to kill him. Lelouch has nothing left. "Zero".
VI.
(All loosely paraphrased; I'm writing from memory)
- Episode 1: "Even if you cry and mourn, it's not like they're going to come back to life."
- Episode 1: "Only those who are prepared to be shot themselves, are allowed to pull the trigger!" = "Only those prepared to die are allowed to kill" = "Soldiers must be prepared to face death at every moment; that is only fair"
- Episode 11: "We have to continue on, even if it means washing away the blood with more blood. Otherwise the people who died, will have died in vain."
- Episode 21: "Even if I mess up here, nobody has to die..."
- Stage 1 novel: Life and death are beyond his governance; people live and die of their own accord, and even the best-laid plans cannot prevent this. What he can do, however, is give meaning to death; that is his duty as a commander. (Explains why he did what he did with Euphie's death -- the only way to give her death meaning is to give her the independent Japan she wanted, even if it means sullying her name. Lelouch didn't want to go on after the accidental massacre -- he didn't think he had any right to be the messiah after what happened -- but the dying old lady reminded him that the only way to atone for his sin is to continue on, to give them the Japan he promised)
VII.
- He isn't out to kill all the members of the Britannian family. I'm not sure where that came from.... episode 8, when Lelouch tells Euphie that he killed Clovis because he is the child of the Emperor? I don't think that was the truth there, because otherwise he would have killed Euphie in episode 19, instead of allowing her to live knowing his secret. We should also have heard his plans to kill the rest of his siblings by now, but so far he is only intent on tracking down Cornelia and Schneizel to find out what actually happened to his mother. His first reason for killing Clovis, that it was because Clovis massacred the Shinjuku residents, sounds more like the truth.
I think the problem with understanding Lelouch is that, like with C.C. and Suzaku, half the time he isn't actually telling the truth. You have to figure it out by first understanding what kind of person he is; it's highly unlikely for someone like him to be telling the absolute truth, and when he does, he does it in a round-about, tsundere way. As Okouchi says in the Audio Commentary for episode 5, Lelouch enjoys reading other people like an open book, but builds a fortress around himself to prevent people finding out anything real about him.
VIII.
I don't think Lelouch is truly selfish. He has the strongest sense of Justice out of everyone in the cast; that's probably why Lelouch likes Tokusatsu shows, in which Justice always prevails. Consider:
- Lelouch saves Rivalz from an arrogant noble in The Black King, but in his usual tsundere attitude, tells him he didn't do it for him
- Lelouch, angered at the apathetic attitude of the Britannian onlookers, goes to help Kallen and Nagata after their truck crashes. Rivalz, being a typical Britannian, shows no concern. He instead complains about Lelouch sticking his nose in where it doesn't belong. Secret Notes also reveal Lelouch thoughts on the onlookers -- "I don't want to become like the lot of you!"
- Lelouch drags C.C. along with him even though she was only a liability to him. He could have ditched her and run off, but didn't.
- Lelouch tells Clovis to stop the massacre, and to administer medical aid to both the Britannians and the Japanese. If Lelouch really wanted to keep a low profile, and only wanted to "kill Clovis to further his ambition", he didn't need to do any of those. He could have just shot Clovis and be done with it.
- Lelouch tells Ougi and his group not to harm civilians -- destroying Britannia isn't equivalent to targetting every Britannian out there.
- Shirley relates the story of the traffic accident, and how Lelouch sided with the innocent elderly couple and punished the young brat who was causing so them so much trouble. What caught her attention was the way Lelouch did it as though it was only "natural"; he didn't gloat about it afterwards (unlike Rivalz)
- Lelouch willingly walks into Cornelia's trap in the Saitama Ghetto. Again, this was a stupid risk to take, but he was so bent on going and making a difference (especially since the Japanese were being killed to lure him out) he would rather kill himself than have C.C. stop him from going.
- Zero criticizes the JLF's manner of killing civilian hostages, and wipes them out (Kusakabe tried to kill Zero first, but whatever). He then makes his speech about how anyone who abuses his or her power -- Britannian and Japanese alike -- will have to face the Black Knights.
- Lelouch saves the hotdog vendor and other Japanese from the Britannian bullies in episode 9. If he had merely wanted the bullies to leave Kallen and him alone, he could have just said "Go away", but instead he told them to stop bullying the Japanese.
- Lelouch saves the young Japanese kid from the abusive noble in episode 22. This was a particularly risky move because it was in a public area, and a lot of people were watching. There was no need for him to play "hero" here, especially for someone who should be lying low, but he did.
Lelouch wanted to take on Britannia alone if possible (preview for ep 7); he wanted to cut Ougi and co. off because Ougi was getting "too friendly" with him. Lelouch's mask is there not only because he wants to protect his identity (to hide the fact that Nunnally is alive), but also because he doesn't want to be friendly with any of his soldiers. These are people who might die at any moment, because of an error of judgment on his part (see his line in episode 21), and he would rather keep a distance from them. He simply cannot afford to get too involved with them; the thought that people whose faces he has never seen are dying because of him already bothers him (episode 7). What more if these are people he knows well?
Lelouch is more like Shannon and Mai, IMO. Is he selfish for wanting to change the world, for the better? Maybe, but in that case, so is every other character in this show. Even Nunnally, who wants a better world yet doesn't have the courage to open her eyes, wants Suzaku to fit in at Ashford but does not do anything herself (she asks Lelouch to find a way instead), and wants to spend her life clinging to her brother. That's selfish, too.
As always, Celiss words my view of Lelouch infinitely better than I, and her essays often serve as my "player's guide."
I.
Strangely, comparing Lelouch to Light is popular only with the English-speaking audience. There were some sentiments about Code Geass being a Death Note rip-off in the beginning, among Japanese fans, but that was shot down quickly enough, along with the idea that Code Geass is Anti-America.
I think the biggest difference between the Japanese fans and the non-Japanese fans is this: We were all excited over Lelouch's evil smirk at the end of episode 1, but only the Japanese looked beyond this and realized that the scene with Lelouch thinking about Nunnally when he was about to die is equally -- if not more -- important. The theory that Lelouch is simply the good guy acting the role of the bad guy surfaced on 2ch as early as episode 1, but only gained popularity much later. The Western audience, for whatever reason, has been considerably less receptive towards this idea. I think the misleading subs are partly to blame here...
Lelouch never really thought of anyone as "tools", IMO. Remember Tamaki, Kallen and Ougi's conversation in episode 11: they actually discuss the possibility of this. Ougi's conclusion is that Zero cannot possibly be using them as pieces in a game; those who know anger, must know sorrow as well (in this case, it all started with Lelouch's sorrow over the death of Marianne, as well as Nunnally's predicament) Not many people seem to understand the significance of this scene; it stuck with me because before this all 2ch had been aflame with debates on the morality of Zero's actions, with many arguing that Lelouch is despicable for toying with the lives of people. This scene, therefore, was very unexpected; it actually felt to me as though the writers had suddenly cut into the debate, using Ougi & co. as a mouthpiece. It didn't really work though, because until this very day not many people remember this scene. Or rather, I think it's more of a case of the fans conveniently overlooking all the scenes that would tear apart their idea of Evil Bastard Lelouch...
Listen to Ougi. He's the only one, aside from C.C., who truly understands Lelouch, IMO. He was the only one who noticed that something was wrong with Zero on the night of the Battle of Tokyo Bay, for instance (Diethard noticed, but thought that was Zero showing his true colours; Ougi knew that wasn't the real Zero) He was also the only person to instinctively know that Zero had to leave in episode 25 because he was in trouble himself. Maybe it comes from his experience with dealing with children / teens back when he was still a teacher -- or maybe it's simply a case of people with bad fashion sense understanding each other.
Lelouch knows there are lives at stake, and he does not simply throw them away; even as early as episode 2, he thinks to himself, "This is a game... a game with lives at stake." He uses the words "game" and "pawns" not because he thinks of his people as such, but because that's how limited his experience as a commander is: he is a chess player, leading an army. The Secret Notes in DVD Magazine I also reveal that holding a chess piece in hand has a calming effect on him. I'd need to stay calm too, if I'm to take on 1/3 of the world.
II.
It looks to me as though the writers made Lelouch a chess player to reinforce the image of him being a strategist, a commander, a king, perhaps, and not the usual uber 1337 pilot in mecha shows so far. It sort of backfired though, because the idea of "pawns" is simply too strongly connected to chess. Not even the writers' attempt to show that Lelouch is not your usual chess player by having him move the King first in every game could change this. "The King has to move first, for his subjects to follow." somehow ended up lost, and the image of a callous King sending his pawns to die while he sits comfortably on his throne stuck instead, even though that has never been Lelouch's style of playing. He's always out at the front lines, and his life hangs on the same fragile thread with all the others -- he may be the King, but in the end he also sees himself as a piece on the chessboard, to be used whenever necessary.
III.
People often wonder why Lelouch has never Geass'd anyone into becoming his loyal servant forever (the case with Carve-tan confirms that the Geass can last forever, given the right wording). Usually the reply would be, "That's the same as asking a genie to grant all your wishes forever; it doesn't work". That may be true, I don't know, but I don't think that's the main reason. Lelouch simply doesn't want to. The Stage 1 novel tells us that while Lelouch finds the power useful, he is loath to use it because it isn't his; he thinks of it as something borrowed from C.C. (see: Lelouch's reaction to the noble in episode 22), and he doesn't want to confuse a power that was given him with his personal capability (also see: The Black King).
IV.
For all his talk of "The end justifies the means", Lelouch is strangely picky about methods. He wants people to choose to believe in him (episode 1, 4), he doesn't want to involve civilians (episode 4, 8), he wants to take on the Empire fair and square (episode 7) and he doesn't want to take the easy way out by Geassing everyone into destroying the Britannia empire. Lelouch uses the Geass for really insignificant things for most of season 1 (Most of them being "Pretend you didn't see anything"), not because he is stupid, but because he knows the Geass itself is a form of injustice, a gross disregard of rights and freedom of choice (listen to the preview for episode 19). He only uses the Geass to kill when he himself is in danger of being killed (episode 1, episode 8); other times he makes sure he is the one to pull the trigger himself, that the blood is on his hands (he could have told Clovis to kill himself, but instead cancels the Geass and shoots him; Kallen wanted to kill Euphie, but Lelouch tells her he'll do it -- the sin of killing her lies with him alone)
He's only started to be more ruthless with the Geass (Darlton, especially) at the end of season 1, when he had to use every form of deception to allow the army he created in a mere 6 months a fighting chance with Britannia. And yet, in the end, by choosing Nunnally, Lelouch shows that he simply cannot become "Zero", the impartial hero of Justice. Just as how Euphie had always been Euphie before she was ever a princess or vice-governor, Lelouch is always, first and foremost, Lelouch, the 17-year-old who decided to take on the world for the sake of his little sister. Being Zero means he is public property, and everyone should have an equal share of him, but Lelouch belongs only to Nunnally.
V.
At the end of season 1 Lelouch was willing to give up everything he created for Nunnally; Taniguchi, in DVD booklet #9, explains that that was the only possible choice for Lelouch. He lost everything by the end of season 1 (C.C.'s warning throughout the show), and for the first time truly became "Zero" -- nothing. That, IMO, is why the last episode is titled "Zero"; not because Lelouch has finally become "Zero" (on the contrary; he's shown that he doesn't yet have what it takes to be Zero), but because the show ends with him with no one left on his side. Nunnally has been kidnapped, Euphie is dead, C.C. is trapped in Gawain, Kallen is in two minds but appears to believe he has been using her all along, Ougi, who understands him even if Lelouch doesn't realize this, has been shot, the Black Knights are a world away fighting his battle and may very well lose it if he doesn't return soon... and his "best friend" has just invalidated his existence and wants to kill him. Lelouch has nothing left. "Zero".
VI.
(All loosely paraphrased; I'm writing from memory)
- Episode 1: "Even if you cry and mourn, it's not like they're going to come back to life."
- Episode 1: "Only those who are prepared to be shot themselves, are allowed to pull the trigger!" = "Only those prepared to die are allowed to kill" = "Soldiers must be prepared to face death at every moment; that is only fair"
- Episode 11: "We have to continue on, even if it means washing away the blood with more blood. Otherwise the people who died, will have died in vain."
- Episode 21: "Even if I mess up here, nobody has to die..."
- Stage 1 novel: Life and death are beyond his governance; people live and die of their own accord, and even the best-laid plans cannot prevent this. What he can do, however, is give meaning to death; that is his duty as a commander. (Explains why he did what he did with Euphie's death -- the only way to give her death meaning is to give her the independent Japan she wanted, even if it means sullying her name. Lelouch didn't want to go on after the accidental massacre -- he didn't think he had any right to be the messiah after what happened -- but the dying old lady reminded him that the only way to atone for his sin is to continue on, to give them the Japan he promised)
VII.
- He isn't out to kill all the members of the Britannian family. I'm not sure where that came from.... episode 8, when Lelouch tells Euphie that he killed Clovis because he is the child of the Emperor? I don't think that was the truth there, because otherwise he would have killed Euphie in episode 19, instead of allowing her to live knowing his secret. We should also have heard his plans to kill the rest of his siblings by now, but so far he is only intent on tracking down Cornelia and Schneizel to find out what actually happened to his mother. His first reason for killing Clovis, that it was because Clovis massacred the Shinjuku residents, sounds more like the truth.
I think the problem with understanding Lelouch is that, like with C.C. and Suzaku, half the time he isn't actually telling the truth. You have to figure it out by first understanding what kind of person he is; it's highly unlikely for someone like him to be telling the absolute truth, and when he does, he does it in a round-about, tsundere way. As Okouchi says in the Audio Commentary for episode 5, Lelouch enjoys reading other people like an open book, but builds a fortress around himself to prevent people finding out anything real about him.
VIII.
I don't think Lelouch is truly selfish. He has the strongest sense of Justice out of everyone in the cast; that's probably why Lelouch likes Tokusatsu shows, in which Justice always prevails. Consider:
- Lelouch saves Rivalz from an arrogant noble in The Black King, but in his usual tsundere attitude, tells him he didn't do it for him
- Lelouch, angered at the apathetic attitude of the Britannian onlookers, goes to help Kallen and Nagata after their truck crashes. Rivalz, being a typical Britannian, shows no concern. He instead complains about Lelouch sticking his nose in where it doesn't belong. Secret Notes also reveal Lelouch thoughts on the onlookers -- "I don't want to become like the lot of you!"
- Lelouch drags C.C. along with him even though she was only a liability to him. He could have ditched her and run off, but didn't.
- Lelouch tells Clovis to stop the massacre, and to administer medical aid to both the Britannians and the Japanese. If Lelouch really wanted to keep a low profile, and only wanted to "kill Clovis to further his ambition", he didn't need to do any of those. He could have just shot Clovis and be done with it.
- Lelouch tells Ougi and his group not to harm civilians -- destroying Britannia isn't equivalent to targetting every Britannian out there.
- Shirley relates the story of the traffic accident, and how Lelouch sided with the innocent elderly couple and punished the young brat who was causing so them so much trouble. What caught her attention was the way Lelouch did it as though it was only "natural"; he didn't gloat about it afterwards (unlike Rivalz)
- Lelouch willingly walks into Cornelia's trap in the Saitama Ghetto. Again, this was a stupid risk to take, but he was so bent on going and making a difference (especially since the Japanese were being killed to lure him out) he would rather kill himself than have C.C. stop him from going.
- Zero criticizes the JLF's manner of killing civilian hostages, and wipes them out (Kusakabe tried to kill Zero first, but whatever). He then makes his speech about how anyone who abuses his or her power -- Britannian and Japanese alike -- will have to face the Black Knights.
- Lelouch saves the hotdog vendor and other Japanese from the Britannian bullies in episode 9. If he had merely wanted the bullies to leave Kallen and him alone, he could have just said "Go away", but instead he told them to stop bullying the Japanese.
- Lelouch saves the young Japanese kid from the abusive noble in episode 22. This was a particularly risky move because it was in a public area, and a lot of people were watching. There was no need for him to play "hero" here, especially for someone who should be lying low, but he did.
Lelouch wanted to take on Britannia alone if possible (preview for ep 7); he wanted to cut Ougi and co. off because Ougi was getting "too friendly" with him. Lelouch's mask is there not only because he wants to protect his identity (to hide the fact that Nunnally is alive), but also because he doesn't want to be friendly with any of his soldiers. These are people who might die at any moment, because of an error of judgment on his part (see his line in episode 21), and he would rather keep a distance from them. He simply cannot afford to get too involved with them; the thought that people whose faces he has never seen are dying because of him already bothers him (episode 7). What more if these are people he knows well?
Lelouch is more like Shannon and Mai, IMO. Is he selfish for wanting to change the world, for the better? Maybe, but in that case, so is every other character in this show. Even Nunnally, who wants a better world yet doesn't have the courage to open her eyes, wants Suzaku to fit in at Ashford but does not do anything herself (she asks Lelouch to find a way instead), and wants to spend her life clinging to her brother. That's selfish, too.