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peebleswrites · 4 years

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Slight spoilers for the Code Geass Movie (proceed with caution)

A/N: You ever just get in one of those moods where there’s an urge to revisit a series out of nowhere? That was me, like, all this week. Because I haven’t really been into Code Geass since the movie was released back in May of last year (gosh, I can’t believe time has gone by so quickly).

Anyway! I got back into it and I started remembering the movie and how much I enjoyed it. But then i remembered the parts I didn’t like so much. Specifically what was done with Kallen. I’ll tell you up front, I love me some Kallen. To me, she is best girl aside from Euphie. And I just didn’t like her scenes with Lelouch. I got so much second hand embarrassment just watching how she kind of threw herself into him and was a sobbing mess like...wtf.

So, like any self respecting member of a fandom who’s left unsatisfied with a piece of fictional media, I turned to fanfiction! Unsurprisingly, there’s not a lot of Kalulu fans anymore. In fact, I was saddened to find out that much of the fandom kind of hates Kallen. Which is really discouraging because she’s so badass! She’s always been badass and I guess...she doesn’t fit in the typical waifu box despite the many useless fanservice scenes they shoved down our throats.

ANYWAY. To make a long story short, I threw together a little Kalulu fic. In honor of all those who still ship Lelocuh and Kallen but don’t get enough love! THIS IS FOR US.

Enjoy~.

His Light, a Code Geass Fanfiction

 “Kallen, you about ready? I hear he’ll be landing soon.” Ohgi’s voice sounded from behind the door, muffled by the barrier between them. The sound jarred her out of this stunned state of perpetual staring into the long mirror with eyes that never truly focused on her own reflection.

“Yes, I’ll be out in second.” It was strange, she had to admit, being back at Ashford after all this time. Strange to walk the halls, the campus grounds. Strange to be in her Black Knight uniform, surrounded by fellow Black Knight personnel and not her friends, not members of the student council.

Not yet, anyway.

She was sure they chose her to escort him for a number of reasons. Her relationship to him, their past together, and given that out of all of them, she’d be the one least likely to kill him. It made sense, but it was also a bit coincidental. And bittersweet.

When all this is over, will you return to Ashford with me?

It was perhaps the last real thing he ever asked of her. Shortly after, she was captured and held prisoner for a number of days. And when she was finally released, the Lelouch she’d come to know was no more and in his place was a shell of a man who still tried to act as if he were whole.

You have to live, Kallen.

It seemed like he was always saying such things to her. The kind of thoughts that become words without much effort. A manifestation of feelings that only breach the surface. Never deep enough. Never the kind of depth she knows she deserves. Because…because…

“I'm feeling a bit anxious, do you mind if we take a walk around campus?” She didn’t pick up on it. Not right away, at least. That this was his final attempt to extend a meeting between them. That after this, there would be no more rendezvous. No more interactions. No more banter. No more…anything.

“I thought it was strange you picked this place. There are a lot of memories here. Though I can’t imagine this is what you meant when you asked me to return to Ashford with you.” She started off lightly, taking a steady pace just far enough in front of him to hold a conversation privately.

“Then again, you’ve always been hard to read. Maybe this is what you meant, after all. I guess it’s not for me to know…” There was a brief pause as she alluded to a poignant fact. There were a lot of matters concerning him that just weren’t for her to know. She had to accept that.

“You know I…I really didn’t like you, at first. And when I found out you were Zero, the one I’d entrusted my brother’s dream to, I didn’t know how to feel. I had to stop separating Lelouch from Zero but…I was afraid of what Lelouch’s intentions were for Japan and in the long run. We weren’t your endgame, I knew that…so I ignored Lelouch’s plans in favor of Zero’s.

“Now that Zero is gone, I’m forced to face the reality of the unknown. What your actual endgame was…if it’s still the same…what’s your reason behind doing all of this…and will knowing change anything? Will it matter if I know?” They’d entered the student council clubhouse, the ballroom entrance. She moved to mount the stairs only to pause and turn toward him. There was that certain bittersweetness to her expression that even Lelouch couldn’t stand the sight of.

“It does matter. Otherwise you would’ve told me. Or said something. It matters so much that telling me is something you absolutely can’t do. It’s why you told me to live, isn’t it? Because…you…you and Suzaku are doing something only you can do.”

“And if you knew, you’d try to do it also. After all this time, you’ve finally seen right through me.” He remarked with a slight expression and inclination of his head that denoted some level of defeat at her hands. He planned very early on not to say anything. Not to give an inch. But Kallen surprised him in a way she’d never been able to. To him, she was a comforting variable that never ceased to meet his expectations.

She’d changed, somehow.

“I still don’t know what you have planned or how far you’re going to go but…those aren’t the answers I was looking for when I came here. Lelouch I…just need to know if I should still love you or not…and I think I have my answer…” Before he could react to her words, her hand rose up to cup his cheek. There was considerable distance between them, even with her heeled boots, she only reached his chin. But that didn’t matter in light of the lovely expression painted on her suddenly very bright features.

She was undoing him in ways not thought possible. His comforting variable was spiraling down a path of unknowns and it terrified yet excited him at the same time. What was she going to do? What would she say? How would he feel in the end? He’d done so well to school his features but failed at keeping her completely in the dark.

“No matter what, I’ll always love you.” He’d thought about it bleakly one evening not too long ago. Since the birth of the requiem, he’d thought a lot about what he’d lost and what he was losing and what he’d yet to lose but would inevitably slip through his fingers. Kallen was one of those things and while he would’ve called himself content maybe even five minutes ago with such an outcome, there’s this inner raging turmoil that’s begging to differ.

This love. This unconditional love. Because Kallen knows him. Knows of his sins and shortcomings. Has seen him at his lowest and didn’t indulge him in a moment of weakness but rather took the high road to bring him up out of the darkness. She was a light. Perhaps she’d always been a light but now, it seemed she shone brighter than ever.

And with him willingly paving down a path of perpetual darkness, a light as bright as hers is impossible to ignore.

“This is as far as I go…” A hushed whisper.

“The meeting will commence in the gymnasium.” She was leaving. Her hand had fallen from his cheek and the warmth soon left shortly afterward.

In a panicked yet fluid motion, Lelouch took hold of the woman, sweeping her into his chest with an arm curling around her waist whilst the other rested upon her cheek, just to angle her head upward as he’d every intention of kissing her.

When their lips touched, a deep feeling of longing festered within him. A feeling he expected, all things considered. It was this very feeling he dreaded and yet it was the same feeling that keep his lips attached to hers for just seconds longer than he originally intended.

He needed her light. Just a little longer.

“…I apologize. I acted on an impulse.”

“I…I understand.” She could see it in his eyes. This thing that he was doing. His mind hadn’t changed. There were specs of hesitancy gleaming insistently. But he would stay on course in the long run. So, this was it.

“Goodbye, Lelouch.” And she would let him go. His variable was back, and he hated it. He hated how he predicted her complacency and wished with rather selfish indignation that she would throw away her countenance and come with him. But then…she wouldn’t be a light. His light.

“Goodbye, Kallen.”

A/N: My take on the kiss scene between Kallen and Lelouch. I feel like Kallen’s not given enough credit in terms of knowing how Lelouch thinks at this point. She might not have known about the Zero Requiem but she had to guess that him distancing himself from her had to be some form of protecting her from his endgame.

Another thing I noticed about Kallen is her feelings of love and whether she’ll act on them or affirm them are very dependent on Lelouch’s responses. She asks him a couple of times ‘What do I mean to you?’ and never gets an answer but I think we all know she holds a special in his heart and that he believes she deserves better. Hence the ‘You have to live’ comment.

Anyway, I think it’s important for Kallen to both recognize her feelings and turn them into something more concrete by taking this last encounter to confess, rather than force a kiss on him. It shows that unconditional devotion she’s most praised for and (in this instance) triggers a rather impulsive/selfish reaction from the man in question. I hope you enjoyed this little snippet. Let me know what you think!

#code geass #lelouch x kallen #kalulu #lelouch vi britannia #lelouch lamperouge #kallen kouzuki #kallen stadtfeld #kallen x lelouch #theres not enough kalulu!#fanfiction #kallen #lelouch #spoilers

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lelouche · 5 years

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Orphans of the Storm: Attachment, Trauma and the Developmental Trajectories of Lelouch and Nunnally in Code Geass

Alternatively titled, Matt Has a Lot of Thoughts About the Lamperouges. 7000+ words of thoughts, to be exact. Some of them might even be semi-intelligent. Admittedly, much of this was written from a hospital office while procrastinating writing patient journals for actual patients who are real humans and not fictional characters. Thank you to my supervisor for not supervising me very much.

I. Introduction

First, let us first briefly set the stage. The story of Code Geass is set in an alternate universe where the social-darwinist, imperialist superpower The Holy Britannian Empire is ruling large parts of the world. Lelouch and Nunnally vi Britannia are born into the royal family as children of 98th Emperor Charles zi Britannia and one of his consorts, Marianne. After their mother is assassinated in a terrorist attack at the Imperial Palace, an incident which leaves Nunnally blind and paralysed from the waist down, the two are sent to Japan as political hostages. The Britannian Empire then invades Japan shortly after they arrive, and they must seek refuge with the Ashfords, a wealthy family with ties to their mother Marianne. Presumed dead by the rest of the royal family, they take on the surname Lamperouge and begin to live in hiding in the now-colonised Japan, renamed Area 11.

These events constitute what is to become Lelouch’s raison d’être through the entire series - finding out who assassinated his mother, and creating a safer, kinder environment for his sister to grow up in. Nunnally is an extremely, and I cannot stress this enough, extremely important figure for Lelouch through the entire series (to the point where it’s kind of a joke in most spin-off material). He’s her main caregiver along with their maid Sayako, and protecting her is his primary goal - often at the expense of his own safety, his friends’ safety, and/or massive collateral damage. In this essay, I will analyse their relationship with their parents and each other through the lens of attachment theory, and discuss how these dynamics shape their developmental trajectories as they grow up. I will focus on two domains of development in particular: (1) emotional regulation and (2) identity. Based on this analysis, I’ll make the argument that Nunnally, despite being the one experiencing the most trauma, ended up more well-adjusted than Lelouch. Furthermore, although the series places much emphasis on how Lelouch is the one protecting Nunnally, he is actually more dependent on his sister than she is on him. I will also discuss how these central themes tie into Lelouch’s goals and political ideology.

II. Ode to My Family: The Fundamentals of Attachment Theory

Attachment theory is a psychological theory originating from the work of John Bowlby, concerning the bond between caregivers and their children. Put simply, Bowlby proposed that children are biologically predisposed to form deep, lasting bonds with their caregivers, and this bond has an important influence on subsequent development. In the attachment relationship, the caregiver functions as both a secure base from which to explore (for example, a child feeling safe when playing knowing a parent is nearby), and safe haven to turn to for emotional support (if they get scared or hurt when playing). Caregivers, on their end, facilitate secure attachment through moderate and appropriate stimulation of the child, warmth, mutually responsive interactions, and other behaviours that promote ‘connectedness’. Especially interesting is a trait called mind-mindedness, which can be described as a caregivers ability to conceptualise their child as an independent person, understand their mental/emotional state and respond appropriately. Important to note about attachment bonds is that they’re not “horizontal” - the caregiver and child aren’t on the same “level” as mutual attachment figures to each other, but the caregiver (as the older, wiser, and more experienced person who is able to provide care) will be a figure that the child can rely on.

A healthy attachment bond has a variety of important functions. It promotes the growth of self-reliance (which promotes independency), increases capacity for emotion regulation, promotes later social competence (such as empathy and mutual relationships), and is important for later identity development. This happens through the acquisition of so-called internal working models, that the child employs through their life. To simplify a bit, think of attachment as the mechanism by which caregivers, through their behaviour, teach children what to expect from the world around them, and what strategies to employ to best cope with it. At its core, it is about seeking security and safety - a form of healthy and adaptive dependence that provides a solid foundation and sense of security from which independence can grow

There are three main classifications of attachment bonds - secure, insecure and disorganised. Securely attached children will develop positive internal working models, where world is a fundamentally safe place, they are loved and worthy of that love. Interactions with the caregivers are frequent, mutual and predictable. For insecure attachment, there are two subcategories: avoidant and ambivalent. Insecure-ambivalent attachment is associated with unpredictable interaction styles, where some interactions between caregiver and child may be warm and mutually responsive, while others are more detached or unpredictable. This leads to frustration and confusion, and an ambivalent relationship. Insecure-avoidant attachment, on the other hand, is typically associated with a non-responsive and uninvolved form of care, or an absent caregiver. In this case, the child may feel rejected and like they cannot rely on anyone. Disorganised attachment simply means there is a lack of any organised form of attachment, but that’s not going to be relevant here so let’s ignore that one.

In summary:

Did you really think you were getting through this one without at least ONE chart? (Note: ambivalent and resistant attachment is the same thing)

Also, important note before moving on from this bit: (1) Attachment is not the be-all end-all for positive/negative developmental outcomes, and (2) I’ll obviously be a bit quicker to assume correlation and draw conclusions than I would in real life, because in my mind applying this stuff to literary analysis vs. applying it to real people are two completely different things. Fiction consists of a series of deliberate choices of storytelling and elements you can easily pick apart and draw lines between (preferably with red string on a corkboard wall, while looking slightly manic), whereas people are, like, more complicated and stuff - nature and nurture and all that.

Now, with attachment theory in mind, let’s have a look at the evil Britannian disaster parents.

III. The Mother We Share: (In)Secure Attachment in the Imperial Palace

Before taking a deep dive into Lelouch and Nunnally’s relationship with one another, it’s essential to discuss their relationships with their parents. Unfortunately for me, there really isn’t much canon material regarding their lives prior to Marianne’s death and the subsequent exile in Japan. However, even with the limited information available, I think it’s fairly safe to say neither Charles nor Marianne deserve a parent-of-the-year award - a point cleverly foreshadowed by me when I referred to them as evil disasters just a few sentences ago.

As for Charles, I hardly need to even make a case that he probably wasn’t a great father. It’s never outright stated in the series, but I’m going to assume they had minimal or no contact with Charles. The main reason behind this is: why would they? He had 108 (!) consorts with whom he had many children, and was busy ruling the largest empire in the world. And as if that wasn’t enough, Lelouch and Nunnally weren’t even particularly high up in in the line of succession and would have been unlikely to ever rule in their lifetime (if it hadn’t been for, er, circumstances). Furthermore, because of his grand plan to fuse humanity into one collective unconscious through the Ragnarök Connection, none of this would matter to him anyway. Additionally, I think his lack of contact with his children is very apparent through the way Lelouch interacts with his father when confronting him about Marianne’s death, which I’ll get back to.

So, we can reasonably conclude Charles was an uninvolved/absent caregiver. However, things get a little more interesting with Marianne.

This isn’t relevant to the topic or anything, I just think it’s neat how they made Lelouch so visually similar to his mother. In addition to physical traits, Marianne’s dress here has a really similar structure to what would later become her sons rebellion outfit of choice. She even has a chess-piece-esque hat to go with. Then again, I suppose the alternative was making him visually similar to Charles, and that wouldn’t make for a lot of good fanservice now would it. Anyway, this image description is too long.

As mentioned, avenging his mother’s death is one of the most significant driving forces for Lelouch throughout the series. Her assassination impacted him greatly, both in and of itself and through the harm it caused Nunnally. Whenever she’s brought up, they both seem to get visibly downhearted, and there’s never any indication they remember her anything but fondly. In picture drama 22.25 (from their time as children in the Imperial Palace), the Britannian siblings find a commemorative plate that belongs to her in Euphie’s room. They start to bicker over it, because Nunnally wants to have it herself, while Lelouch thinks Euphie should keep it because it belongs to her. This all indicates that the royal children admired Marianne, and she was obviously an important figure to them both. Through this idolisation, as well as Lelouch’s obsession with what happened at the Imperial Palace, the narrative seems to want us to assume she was a good parent.

However, there are a few things that call into question how reliable of a narrator Lelouch actually is concerning Marianne. Towards the end of the series, it’s revealed that she is actually very much alive, and completely on board with Charles’ Ragnarök plan - making her one of the series’ main antagonists. During Lelouch’s final confrontation with his parents in C’s World in S2 E21, she is unable (or unwilling) to see how faking her death, traumatising her children, shipping them off to a country the Empire promptly invaded without ever making sure they’re still alive, and then trying to convince them to get on board with her human instrumentality plan is wrong. As her wiki bluntly states: “She only superficially loves her children and will not hesitate to kill them if they get in her way.” Taking this information about her character into account, I consider it more likely that the reason Lelouch and Nunnally idolised Marianne was either (1) because they based their impression largely on her reputation, rather than because she genuinely was a loving mother, or (2) she was a very good actor.

At least she provided some strategies to prepare her children for having to cope with the emotional trauma she was about to inflict on them.

How to make sense of their relationship with Marianne from an attachment perspective? I think this is largely up to interpretation due to lack of pre-series material. Lelouch and Nunnally both seem to like and look up to her, but that does not necessarily indicate secure attachment. I would argue they had an insecure relationship with Marianne, and that argument is based on two things. First, her personality traits and actions (rather than Lelouch and Nunnally’s accounts of her): she blatantly uses her children as pawns for her plan, and doesn’t care all that much that they were suffering as a result. Even though she does argue all her planning was well-intentioned, this act quickly fall apart when Lelouch challenges her. As C.C. tells her, “the only people you love are yourselves”. Calling this sort of behaviour “poor mind-mindedness” or “lack of parental warmth” is an understatement - I simply don’t see a scenario where Marianne would genuinely care.

Secondly, I’d argue you can infer it from Lelouch’s patterns of behaviour as he grows older. Many of his actions, and the themes surrounding him as a character, could be seen as a manifestation of insecure attachment - his attitude towards Nunnally, attitude towards his friends in the student council, his emotionality, and the general theme of a fragmented identity, to mention some. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Point is, there is good reason to believe Lelouch or Nunnally had any form of secure attachment bond to either of their parents, and this has some implications for their development as the series goes on.

IV. Abandoned by the Empire: Trauma and Parentification

In addition to not having the best relationships with their parents to begin with, Lelouch and Nunnally were then burdened with more baggage after their mother’s death. In Nunnally’s case, her trauma from the incident was primarily physical (blindness and paralysation of her legs), due to her being literally in Marianne’s arms as she was shot. Lelouch was a witness, and escaped without physical injury. Afterwards, while his sister is still in hospital, he takes it upon himself to confront his father about what happened, and accuses him of having allowed, even facilitated, the assassination through purposefully neglecting security measures that day.

While Nunnally was by all means most harmed by the attack, it is here in the aftermath I’d argue Lelouch takes his “main blow” in the parental trauma department. When confronted, Charles gets angry and tells Lelouch that everything in his life has been handed to him by virtue of being a child of the royal family, and thus he’s never truly accomplished anything - he might as well be dead, and therefore has no right to doubt or disobey him. This is an especially cruel statement in the context of the social-darwinist Britannia, where the strength to survive by your own measures is seen as highly important, maybe even the only thing that truly is important. Lelouch then visibly flinches and falls back when Charles stands up, in a manner that seems outright terrified. Keep in mind, all this is happening in front of the Royal Court.

This scene in particular is the main reason I cannot imagine Lelouch or Nunnally having any kind of relationship with Charles prior to the incident, much less a secure and healthy one. You’d think the threshold for a young child to turn and publicly accuse his father of premeditated murder in front of the Britannian Royal Court would be astronomically high, especially if he actually liked and trusted him. Additionally, as I mentioned earlier, one of the most important functions of the caregiver is being a secure base in difficult and unsafe situations, which means that children typically tend to turn towards their parents during situations where they feel scared. Flinching away (so severely he even falls back, with a horrified expression on his face), rather than seeking closure, is highly indicative of insecure attachment/parental neglect.

As if all this wasn’t enough, Lelouch and Nunnally are then separated from all their siblings to be relocated to Japan as political hostages. Again, the pre-series material is pretty thin, but throughout the series there are indications that they had good relationships with some of their siblings. For example, Lelouch recalls playing chess with Schneizel, and possibly had some kind of relationship with Clovis judging by their conversation before Lelouch kills him. Both Lelouch and Nunnally also seem to have been very close with Euphie - in Stage 22.25, they’re playing in her room and don’t want to go to sleep because they’re having so much fun. Lelouch even refers to Euphie as the first girl he ever loved (let’s just... not unpack this one). Point is, not only do they get traumatised by and separated from their parents (whom they already had an insecure relationship with), but they’re also ripped away from their entire network of social support, except for each other.

This image is so fucking sad. Fuck.

So, when Lelouch and Nunnally arrive in Japan, they’re on their own. And because he is older, and because of Nunnally’s disability, Lelouch ends up taking on most of the responsibility. He carries her up the stairs when they arrive at the shrine, washes their clothing, buys their food, and so on. In addition to these practical tasks, he also tries to comfort his sister emotionally and seems to also feel responsible for her well-being - for example, when discovering their lodgings were small and quite sad-looking, he tries to shield Nunnally from it by lying and telling her it looks like Euphie’s room. When Suzaku first meets Nunnally, Lelouch instantly runs into the room because he heard a noise, and freaks out at Suzaku because he thinks he’s going to harm her. For all intents and purposes, he steps into a caregiver role for his sister - an attachment figure, one might even say. This shift in their dynamic becomes very apparent when comparing their relationship in Japan and onwards, to the aforementioned bickering-over-a-plate incident in Euphie’s room, where they were fighting and playing like siblings.

This phenomenon is sometimes called parentification, in which the absence of adult figures providing sufficient care causes one child to bear more responsibility than is normal for the age, and step into the role of “parent”. Parentification can be adaptive and healthy with concrete/practical tasks, in small periods of time and with plenty support, for example pre-teens babysitting their younger cousins. Suffice to say, Lelouch had none of those things. He is Nunnally’s sole contact, made worse by himself by being stubborn and not wanting to let anyone else in to help. Additionally, plenty of other risk factors for destructive parentification is present - the tasks are diffuse, all-consuming and way above the level appropriate for his age, he gets no sort of recognition, reward, or help, it lasts a long period of time (permanently), generational lines become somewhat blurred, and his own needs end up taking second priority to him. And, as you’ll remember from the attachment theory section, this kind of relationship is not horizontal in nature - Lelouch and Nunnally don’t provide each other mutual support of this nature, but rather Lelouch is the one providing a function for Nunnally.

In the beginning of this section, I mentioned that Nunnally’s trauma as a result of Marianne’s death was primarily physical. However, she evidently went through a great deal of psychological trauma as well. A novel detailing their childhoods in Japan states that Nunnally privately had a terrible time coping with the changes in her life and would throw tantrums when left to her own at Kururugi residence, destroying nearly anything she could get her hands on. However, unless she secretly throws tantrums whenever her brother is off screen, this doesn’t seem to be an issue during the span of the series. I’d argue this could be attributed to Lelouch functioning as a caregiver for her - she had someone there to help her, calm her down and provide external emotional regulation, which in turn helped her learn to better regulate her emotional states on her own. Lelouch provides safety and warmth, and, in doing so, becomes a buffer for his sister.

Lelouch, however, has no such buffers. Because of this, it’s easy to draw a line between his parental problems and trauma, and his subsequent maladjusted pattern behaviour when the siblings arrive in Japan. At the Kururugi residence, both him and Nunnally are offered both food and clothing, but he is insistent on providing everything himself - he washes all their clothes, and buys their food with coupons in town, despite being beat up by the other boys there for being Britannian. He’s distrustful towards everyone there (before later warming up to Suzaku) and hypersensitive for any possible threat to Nunnally’s safety. In my opinion, it’s evident Charles’ words had an impact on him. When Suzaku asks why he is so hellbent on refusing help, he responds with: “I’ll live by my own strength, and I won’t be dead any longer!” Through caregivers, children learn what to expect from the world and their own place in it - in Lelouch’s case, he clearly sees the world as an unsafe place with few people to truly trust, and considers himself only worth something if he is entirely independent. Although independence is often seen as a “mature” trait in children and therefore indicative of “good” development, healthy dependence and attachment in childhood is crucial for the facilitation of later healthy independence. And unlike Nunnally (who has him), he doesn’t have anyone to rely on and turn to for his security.

Diverting slightly from the topic at hand, I think this highlights the interesting narrative role of C.C. as the closest thing Lelouch has to a caregiver proxy. I am in no way trying to imply she is outright maternal towards him, but she’s of help and offers practical and sometimes emotional support - a role no other person in Lelouch’s life really fills. I already explained why Nunnally isn’t a possible candidate, and Suzaku, while an important figure in Lelouch’s life, has his own essay-worthy plate of parental problems to deal with. Additionally, their whole enemy situation doesn’t make him someone Lelouch can reliably turn to for comfort and support. C.C however, is older, wiser, more “stable”, and seems to know how to offer emotional support in a way that somewhat calms Lelouch down. In turn, he occasionally tries to reach out to her in difficult situations (or at least he gives into having breakdowns in front of her), which he doesn’t seem to do with anyone else. If only she’d intervened when he was a child instead of just standing there dramatically in the background. But alas.

V. Some Things Just Stick in Your Mind: Differential Susceptibility

Earlier, I briefly mentioned Nunnally being the one most harmed by Marianne’s death. She was younger when it happened, more directly involved, and experienced a greater loss of function as a result which altered her lifestyle significantly. Based on this, I could easily argue that the incident would have far more damaging implications for her long-term psychological well-being compared to her older brother. I could, but I won’t, because it didn’t. Despite all these risk factors present in Nunnally’s case, their mother’s death seems to have made far more of a long-term impact on Lelouch. We’ve already discussed the most important reason why: Lelouch providing Nunnally with protective care associated with a secure parent, thus functioning as a buffer for her trauma. In this section, I’d like to discuss another important factor, interacting with attachment security: namely, differential susceptibility (also sometimes called responsiveness for care).

When we meet Lelouch in the beginning of Code Geass, he feels stuck and utterly powerless in his situation. He gambles on chess to pass time, but feels otherwise bored, restless and detached from his environment. When he receives the power of Geass from C.C., it gives him what he claims he wanted all along - a tool to take control of his life, get revenge on those who wronged him and actually do something. Thus, a plan to overthrow the Britannian Empire is formed and set into motion. The main targets seem to be the royal family as he struggles to systematically take down the empire and search for information - once he meets his brother Clovis, he shoots him (seemingly) without much hesitation. As time goes on, he sacrifices more and more time and energy to his obsessive goal, while his web of lies and various interpersonal becomes increasingly difficult to manage. There is a reason his character is often compared to the likes of Light Yagami (despite them having completely opposing ideologies, but that’s an essay topic for another day) - his arc follows the same downward spiral pattern, where one thing leads to another and suddenly you’re up to your ears in civilian casualties. It’s obvious Lelouch hasn’t accepted, gotten over, or forgiven his family in the slightest, and takes this anger out on those he perceives wronged him in search of an answer.

Meanwhile, Nunnally doesn’t exhibit anything close to this kind of grudge. She seems upset whenever it is brought up, but otherwise seems to have made peace with what happened and ready to forgive her family. One might argue this comes down to a difference of opportunity - Nunnally doesn’t exactly have the power of Geass, or even functioning eyes of the non-mind control variety, so it might be a bit more difficult to get certain things done. Such as killing off most of the Britannian royal family. However, even before Lelouch got the power of Geass, he expressed a wish to destroy Britannia for what they did to him and his sister. So, unless Nunnally has some secret desire to kill that was just never mentioned (in which case this whole essay is null and void, I suppose), Lelouch seems to be coping with his trauma in a much more maladaptive way than his sister, turning his sadness and feelings of rejection into anger and resentment, which ended up staying with him pretty much until the day he died.

Reach your arm out and grab the stars or whatever that quote from LoGH is.

Based on this, I’d argue Lelouch is what one might call a flexible strategist. This doesn’t refer to his military tactics (although he seems pretty flexible with those as well) but simply means that, for better and for worse, he’s relatively sensitive to factors and people in his external environment. On one hand, he seems to flourish in environments where he gets support. During his childhood in the Imperial Palace, he seemed to mostly get along with and care about his siblings (as mentioned earlier). He was also by all accounts a very bright child - he did say he never managed to beat Schneizel at chess, but to give Lelouch some credit here, Schneizel at the time would have been an adult man in his early 20s, while Lelouch was, like, 7. The fact he even stood a chance is fairly impressive. I do not want to argue chess ability is the ultimate measurement of childhood functioning, but my point here is this: he seemed to be on a decent developmental path, both cognitively and socially, all things considered. On the other hand, he tends to react poorly whenever something goes wrong. I’ll talk about this in more depth in the emotional development section, but tl;dr: Lelouch is a very volatile character, who tends to have very high highs and low lows.

While Lelouch seems to be more “formable” by both positive and negative environmental influences, Nunnally is more of a so-called fixed strategist. She, like Lelouch, seemed to be in a decent place before the incident, had a period of acting out after her trauma (throwing tantrums etc.), but got “back on track” through Lelouch fairly quickly. She seems more forgiving of her family, for example when she is instantly supportive of Euphie’s special administrative zone (which Lelouch has a very ambivalent relationship with). Towards the endgame in S2, she even aligns herself with Schneizel. As her arc goes on, she shows herself more and more capable of functioning without Lelouch’s help, and make decisions of her own, based on her own opinions. Her outlook on the world seems to be much more down-to-earth and less black and white. Even when her own brother (the only person she’s been able to rely on for most of her life) geasses her and literally leaves her lying on the floor, she tries to reason with him. This is obviously just speculation, but I think had something similar happened to Lelouch he would have, psychologically speaking, completely lost it (in fact, he does lose it multiple times, which I’ll also get back to). Additionally, from the glimpse we see of Nunnally with Suzaku after Zero Requiem, it seems like she’s been able to cope relatively well with her brother’s death. In general, she seems to find her feet much easier than Lelouch and is more stable across situations.

To summarise everything so far: I’d argue neither Charles nor Marianne were secure caregivers for Lelouch and Nunnally. This is implied not only by their traits and actions, but can be inferred from Lelouch’s maladaptive developmental path. The reason we see this pattern develop in Lelouch but not Nunnally is that he, through parentification, functioned as a buffer for her. Furthermore, this difference in trajectories is amplified by their different underlying susceptibilities - Lelouch more sensitive/formable by negative events and loss in general, while Nunnally is more resilient. From this point on I’ll focus mainly on Lelouch, and discuss how this magnificent cocktail of risk factors explain his developmental outcomes as an older teenager - in particular, how it shines through when it comes to his emotionality, identity, and goals/motivations.

VI. Thunder in Our Hearts: Emotional Development and Interpersonal Relationships

Lelouch frequently throughout the series, for lack of a better term, loses his absolute shit. For example, in the scene where he plays chess with Mao in S1 E16, he screams and dramatically falls backwards when the last piece is thrown onto the scale. He’s completely devoid of expression, and is well and truly out of it until Suzaku arrives. He ends up in a similar state of mind when he thinks Nunnally is killed in S2, where it seems like he’s completely detached from his surroundings - just repeating that he wants to speak with her. In addition to these dissociative-esque states in response to extreme stress, he has lesser breakdown and outbursts as well, such as: after Shirley’s father dies, after the incident with Euphie, when he’s flipping out at Rolo upon seeing his phone locket, etc. Additionally, he’s been shown to take stress and anger out on other people in the (kinda hilarious) scene where he goes to an abandoned street to use his Geass on random people, making them dance as he stands there being angsty. These bursts of emotion don’t exclusively concern negative situations either, as evidenced by his multiple periods of manic laughter and monologues during battle.

I once read this Geass analysis claiming Lelouch is an unemotional character. As evidenced by these screenshots, that was a correct take and not inaccurate at all. Emotions? Where?

In addition to being fairly emotional, Lelouch’s character is also very centered around the people in his life. His mother and sister are the primary motivation through the series. He uses Nunnally’s well-being to justify his actions. He let’s C.C. comfort him. He cares greatly about Shirley, and is devastated at her father’s death (though one can only assume he feels a bit better after punching a wall in the shower), to the point where he erases her memory to spare her the suffering he’s bringing by getting her involved. He obviously deeply cares about Suzaku (again - essay for another day), and orders him to keep on living no matter what, despite him being the number one obstacle for Zero’s plans. If he expresses this affection in a reasonable way is another question entirely - his main way of expressing his love for Nunnally seems to be killing thousands of people for her sake, Shirley by erasing her memory, and Suzaku by forcing him to live on at any cost, which is the exact opposite of what he wanted.

He also has a recurring pattern of requiring a lot of external emotional regulation through other people. Nunnally is the most obvious example of this (obviously) - whenever something goes slightly wrong, he usually defaults to screaming about her, and becomes absolutely devastated whenever she’s unsafe. If Lelouch functions as her buffer, I’d say she’s her crutch. He heavily leans on her for justification and a purpose in life. But, these maladaptive ways of leaning on people also occurs with other characters, such as in the scene with Kallen in the warehouse where he’s about to inject himself with refrain. Kallen takes the needle from him and throws it on the ground, and he reacts by walking towards her asking her to console him - saying “there are things a woman can do for that, right?”. Kallen promptly (rightfully) slaps him, and he seems to regain his senses.

The most frequently repressed scene by all Lelouch fans.

In summary, I’d argue Lelouch is the complete opposite of an unemotional or uncaring character. He often seems to struggle with controlling his (plethora of) emotions in healthy ways, and copes with them either through completely shutting things out, having frequent breakdowns, lashing out on others, or using people as emotional crutches. He’s also very centered around other people, but tends to express it in less-than-appropriate ways, and goes on about things in an almost childish way, at times. This, I think, is indicative of his insecure attachment and lack of sensitive caregivers. In contrast to Nunnally, who had him, he didn’t have anyone to provide safety and externally regulate his emotions, meaning he was never able to internalise such strategies. Thus, there is a pattern of unhealthy (lack of) regulation of emotional states, leading to these stark contrasts between high and low points, and the quite bad ways he deals with them. Years of stress, repressed restlessness and unhealthy coping mechanisms for trauma certainly didn’t help either. Put simply - he’s a bit emotionally immature, and this is a significant aspect of his character.

VII. Reflektor: Identity and Projection

One of the most prevalent motifs in Lelouch’s arc, save for the chess symbolism, is the theme of masks and a fragmented identity. Throughout the series, he uses different identities to fill different roles in his life: Lelouch vi Britannia the prince, Lelouch Lamperouge the student, Zero the terrorist/freedom fighter and eventually Lelouch vi Britannia again, the tyrannical 99th Emperor of the Holy Britannian Empire. This switch is the most obvious display of the fragmented identity theme, as he is quite literally changing his name and masquerading as different people. With his Zero persona he even puts on a literal mask to conceal his face, but he also uses subtler, figurative masks for his other personas in order to achieve various goals. Additionally, there are also subtler role shifts at play within these identities: Lelouch Lamperouge exists as Nunnally’s caregiver, a student council member, Suzaku’s childhood friend, etc. (as with all people, fictional or not).

It is here his main ideological conflict with his parents arises. Charles and Marianne wants, through their Ragnarök plan, to abolish all “masks” and fuse mankind into one collective unconscious. Their reasoning is that if everyone were honest and there were no separation between people, the world would be a better place. Lelouch, however, finds the concept of identity masks useful and even defines himself by them. This is clearly shaped by his own experience - in order to survive in Area 11 and protect his sister, he had to change his name and lie. In order to gain real power and influence to overthrow Britannia, he had to change his name and lie. This modus operandi goes straight to the heart of his identity, because it is the reason he is able to exert his will over the world in any meaningful way - which, as we discussed earlier, is the reason he is “not dead any longer”. His core idea is that those who are privileged enough to be able to tell the truth about themselves, have no right to deny others the right to lie for their own survival or to achieve their goals.

Carl Jung arguably had a much more significant impact on anime than he did psychology. Actually, this isn’t even arguable.

Another, subtler way the series conveys the theme of fractured identity is Lelouch’s projection of desires and wishes onto others. This is shown quite literally through how the Geass gives him the power to command anyone to do anything. But not only does he impose his will onto others through verbal command, he also projects his more abstract goals and desires into the people in his life. Again, Nunnally is the most obvious example of this: Everything he does, he claims is for the sake of Nunnally. It’s interesting he never outright says that he wanted to do any of this for any personal reason - it’s all about a kinder world for Nunnally, Nunnally’s smile, and how their parents abandoned them. In the final confrontation with Charles and Marianne, Suzaku asks him if he used Nunnally as an excuse to justify his actions. Lelouch confirms this, and then says he fought to protect everything he wanted to protect. Still, he never mentions he feels rejected, or that he would want to grow older in a kinder world, even though it’s obviously more his own wish than hers (as Nunnally mentions during Zero Requiem, she would have been happy just being with her brother). In a way, he considers himself two steps removed from his desires - only working against Britannia on the basis of what he imagines the people in his life would want him to do.

Lelouch also has a tendency to view his own identity(-ies) through abstract symbols, rather than as a concrete human being with a backstory, grudges and motivations. In exile he expresses frustration at being a pawn of Britannia, as Zero he functions as a faceless symbol of Japanese liberation and a rebellion against the establishment, and as Emperor he aims to become a symbol of people’s hatred towards their oppressors. Even the orchestration of his life’s ending is primarily a symbolic act to him; with the world’s hatred focused on a tyrannical Emperor, the world can be peaceful when that symbol disappears. Lelouch seems very aware of this himself: that he is past the point of no return, and destined to become someone who will bear the burden of sacrificing his own identity, morals and character to play a part. He, in a way, seems more comfortable in this realm of abstraction - in being more of a symbol. However, if we try to strip away his rather grand narrative for a second, we’re left with a person committing suicide at 19 because he thinks the world will be a better place for it.

Black king captures e1, checkmate.

VIII. Pity the Child: Politics and Spite

Lastly, I want to make the argument that the parental abandonment Lelouch and Nunnally experienced, and the subsequent cascade of issues is the most important aspect of the series. Even more so than the central ideological conflict of working against versus within systems of oppression. As I’ve already touched on a fair bit, I think Lelouch’s circumstances growing up and the experiences arising from that was the very foundation for his later ideology and hatred for Britannia, rather than his ideology in and of itself being the reason he hates his parents and the system they represent. This is best represented by the climax of the scene with Charles and Marianne in C’s world, where Lelouch speaks not of systems of power, racism, oppression, politics, etc. - he speaks of abandonment and hurt.

In my opinion, there’s reason to question whether he would have gone to the same lengths to destroy Britannia if he’d not been exiled from the system himself. In one of the picture dramas from his summer in Japan as a child, he lectures Suzaku on Britannian and Japanese foreign trade policy, making the argument they’re both unethical. This indicates he already knew of and disagreed with the actions of Britannia, but it’s only after he’s exiled and war is declared on Japan he begins talking about enacting revenge. Additionally, he has some truly magnificent displays of hypocrisy throughout the series that (in my unpopular (?) opinion) puts Suzaku to shame. Even the very act of him using Geass is contradictory to his fundamental belief: that opposing a well-intentioned act upon others is no different from an evil act. During their confrontation, he is very concerned with expressing this ideology to his parents, before promptly turning around and making his brother a geassed slave forever, two episodes later.

Not to completely undermine his ideological streak; I do genuinely believe he is anti-Britannia, and I do genuinely believe he values personal freedom highly. However, based on everything discussed so far, I’d argue he would perhaps not have cared as much, or at least been more open to a more Suzaku-esque approach, had he not had deep personal trauma connected to the whole situation as well. So, his main motivation isn’t to “bash the fash”, as it were, but rather bash these few specific fash who traumatised him and his sister before shipping them off to a foreign country they then immediately declared war on. Revenge, spite, and pure, childish anger towards a family that wronged him is a much more useful lens through which to view the series, rather than an ideological conflict per se.

IX. The Conclusion Bit, Finally

To summarise this entirely too long essay, Lelouch and Nunnally both suffered from insecure attachment and later trauma and parental abandonment. Nunnally’s main protective factor/buffer for this trauma was Lelouch, which gets her “back on track” towards becoming an emotionally stable and independent girl. Her brother, however, doesn’t have anyone to fill this role, and this cascades into dysfunctional behaviour and strategies across different domains: his trust issues as a child, obsession with revenge, immature emotionality, poor handling of stress, projecting onto others, and a fragmented concept of his own identity. Lastly, I think these personal issues constitute the crux of his motivation throughout the series - Lelouch’s arc is about trauma, parental neglect and spite more than it ever was about politics.

#code geass #lelouch vi britannia #lelouch lamperouge #nunnally vi britannia #@ everyone who's ever wanted to read a Long essay on code geass and developmental psychology: you're welcome #I hope some of it is understandable or even interesting #my essays #.........that's a VERY optimistic tag but I feel like I have to tag it with Something #analysis

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codetrainwreck · 5 years

Text

Lelouch of the Re;surrection Summary

This summary is extremely outdated/wrong and only here still for historical purposes. alchimique doesn’t speak Japanese at all so it was bound to be wrong in places.

I made a new, accurate summary after actually seeing the movie myself in Japan which you can view here.

This summary compilation post was sourced from:

My friend alchimique who went to Japan and saw the movie (check out the merchandise and cafe pics on her Twitter!)

An anon from /m/ who also saw the movie and posted the movie pamphlet pictures

Japanese Twitter

touchreceptor’s summary, she also saw the movie!

Australians who saw the movie at the Madman anime festival

Screenshots used are from the existing trailers, review screenshots, KMF lineart, the movie pamphlet, and also the week 6 Japanese theater film strip bonus item. Major spoilers, obviously.

I have 3 disclaimers:

This summary is not perfect

No, I haven’t seen it yet either

I am, and always have been, a Schneizel fangirl only. I don’t ship Lelouch with anyone and I don’t have an agenda here. I have to say this at the start because depending on who/what you ship, this summary is going to make you question reality.

There are more pictures of Eyebrows-kun than other characters because he’s pretty and I’m the person compiling this so enjoy like, all of his appearances lmao.

Onwards!

(If you need a primer to Zilkhstan characters/stuff/lore, check out this post)

Opening scene is the first 5mins from the BD/DVD fan disk that was released before: Tamaki makes a 2nd cafe. Ohgi and Villetta are there with their son, Naoto, named after Kallen’s brother / Ohgi’s friend. We get narration that world is at peace. Nunnally is helping with refugees in the desert area near Zilkhstan. They get ambushed. Shalio is able to “predict” (we’ll get to that later) all of Suzaku’s movements thanks to his sister’s Shamna’s prophecies. There’s a trap set in the desert where Suzaku’s KMF lands. Suzaku and Nunnally get captured.

youtube

After Suzaku’s captured, it cuts to a portable TV in back of a truck showing cartoons of a cat and dog on a trampoline and a kid is pointing and giggling at them. The cartoons get interrupted by news about Nunnally and Zero going missing. CC lowers the volume and talks to Jeremiah. It pans to right to reveal a person wearing a tan cloak/poncho and white shirt and pants. And a familiar hat. Hat flutters away. It’s Lelouch. But his eyes are glassy and he’s like an empty husk. (The familiar clothes/hat is the cart driver outfit from the end of the R2 TV anime. However, the cart driver scene doesn’t exist in the recap movie and Re;surrection timeline. Additionally, it’s clear from Lelouch’s mental state that he couldn’t do something like drive a cart w/o CC’s help.)

(If you’d like to know more about how they got Lelouch’s body, check this separate post with an explanation from the movie pamphlet)

Cue “Kono sekai de”.

youtube

CC is seen traveling with Lelouch. She’s walking with a giant pack on her back while he walks slowly in front of her wearing a bandana on his head and a white shirt. Then he’s in the back of a truck (no bandana) just sitting around until turbulence causes him to fall over.

CC is seen driving the truck but then it breaks down. She tries to pay a mechanic to fix it but he refuses. They then take a train. Lelouch is seen ambling down the narrow hallway while CC struggles with the pack and she ends up falling and getting stuck while Lelouch doesn’t notice. There’s a nighttime scene at a open air structure and Lelouch is seen sitting on a stone wall in the dark. A spotlight passes over him and CC drags him down out of sight.

Lelouch is seen lagging behind so she nudges him along. Eventually they tag along with other refugees on a truck along a train track. He’s wearing a poncho and is squatting down as she’s making arrangements. He gets up when she puts her pack back on and then follows her quietly.

Then they’re seen going into town and they’re in their hotel. Both are dressed in local clothing. Lelouch is laying on the carpet watching Milly interview Shestal on the news with big blank eyes. CC realizes this while she’s cooking local cuisine (meat buns, naan-like bread, etc) and then switches the program to the same cartoons on the portable TV as before.

On the TV, Milly was talking about “The Puzzlement in Hashvess”. Milly is still a reporter and Rivalz is now her errand boy. There was news about Nunnally and Zero being MIA.

CC puts the food on a middle eastern dining style mat. We see that Lelouch has a Code on his throat. It looks like a shadow there. Lelouch picks up a bun and squeezes it. It starts oozing meat juices (clear at first, then turns red) and THIS FREAKS HIM OUT. He screams a lot and accidentally punches CC in the nose and makes her bleed. She calms him down as he tries to run away.

He’s still glassy-eyed half-dead doll person at this point. CC looks outside and sees a suspicious truck. She hides sleeping Lelouch in his bed behind a curtain and gets READY TO FIGHT. Turns out it’s Kallen. CC asks why she’s there, and Kallen says they (her/Sayoko/Lloyd) were sent to save Nunnally.

But it turns out that The Bad Guys (a squad of assassins led by Kujapat, all from the Geass Cult) followed them. Kujapat shoots CC because if she was a tourist, she wouldn’t be in this particular location. After, Kujapat Geasses Kallen, making him her ally and her real allies her enemies, so Kallen ends up fighting Sayoko and Lloyd cause she sees them both as Kujapat. Sayoko subdues Kallen. CC tries to shoot Kujapat as he escapes but she misses. After, Kallen is released from Kujapat’s Geass and he tries to Geass CC instead, but of course it doesn’t work and him and the bad guys scram.

CC remembers Lelouch is still there. He’s quietly freaking out behind the curtain in a ball. Kallen notices him and goes “O_O” and everyone else is like “Oh. Is that LELOUCH?” The sight of other people makes Zombie Lelouch freak the fuck out. CC explains that this isn’t the same Lelouch they knew before.

Cut to EVIL SCIENCE DEPARTMENT. Suzaku is tied up in his dungeon thing. Shalio wheels up and is like “Sup, Suzaku.” Gets mad at him and whips him a bit. Shalio has a camera that displays different parts of Suzaku’s body zoomed in / CSI enhanced as well. Shalio is then called to do something and leaves Suzaku all alone. Also, Suzaku’s spinkick is such a meme even in-universe that they identified Suzaku was the new Zero because of it.

Cut back to CC and the gang. They’re in Sayoko’s truck now. Lelouch is looking through a kaleidoscope and drinking something at the same time. Liquid dribbles down his chin and someone (CC?) wipes it away. Kallen asks what the hell is going on with Lelouch. CC explains that she revived him in body only, but now she needs to get back into Cs’ World to grab his soul, and an entrance to Cs’ World is under the Great Prison of Sorrow in the Gimsurat Flats. Kallen starts crying and thinks this is all terrible.

They take their truck and drive it to the prison (that one in the rocky place with the bridge) and Sayoko disguises herself as a man while the others disguise selves as prisoners (the white suits). Lloyd stays in the truck. Sayoko leads them in and then she and Kallen kick the shit out of everyone. CC gives the prison key card to one of the prisoners and the prisoners let themselves out and arm themselves.

Lelouch is confused. CC leads them all to the Gate of Alam - this chamber with a door with the Geass signal on it (it’s got softer curves). Kallen tries to Lelouch it’s okay, but she gets upset when Lelouch just stares blankly at her. She starts crying, and Lelouch tries to comfort her and pet her hair (reacting to her sorrow) and she ends up bawling into his shoulder/chest. She doesn’t like it when he looks at her with his zombie vegetable stare. The Gate of Alam is covered by water. CC activates the flood gates, revealing the door and a V-shaped path with a stepping stone in the middle.

CC activates the door and transports herself and Lelouch to Cs world. Sayoko and Kallen (skin under eyes puffy) chat a bit. Meanwhile Lloyd is doing some hacking into the facilities and creeps on Suzaku who is still alone in the dungeon and is like “oh this won’t do~~”. As it conveniently turns out, the door they need is also right under the prison Suzaku is in.

Scenes with most of the new Zilkhstan characters. At the temple in the capital city, Kujapat tells Shamna about CC and teases Shestal. (Supposedly, he teases him for being a pretty face on TV. Poor Shestal. Not his fault he was born super pretty. orz)

Back to Cs’ World, we see beams of light representing Lelouch and CC and they land in a rocky place with that purple orb from the trailer. They approach. Lelouch is still confused as fuck. CC then sees Marianne and Charles inside the orb with a look of disdain. CC remarks that she can’t believe Charles still hasn’t let go of Lelouch after all of this time. They don’t speak but just appear and then disappear. As she touches it, it turns into orange and black ash.

C.C’s shaken by it but tries touching the orb anyways. I think there’s a particle effect that happens (the chaotic stuff we see in the trailer) and Lelouch FREAKS OUT and screams as he stumbles backwards and disappears. (You see the common theme here so far...)

Cut back to Kallen and Sayoko. As it turns out, the “prisoners” that CC freed to use as a distraction are not actually prisoners. They’re hired hands working for Zilkhstan to bamboozle CC and the gang in exchange for KMFs. Sayoko is subdued by a bald skinny dude with a killer beyblade and sticky gunk. Kallen is subdued by Bitool. The ass from the trailer is hers.

Cut back to Cs’ World. CC reaches for him but misses. CC is seen flying/floating about trying to find him. Various silhouettes appear here (such as Euphy). The last silhouette is Charles. The silhouettes all reach out then fall. Then you see a hand reaching for a bright light. Finally, CC wakes up in front of the door. The prisoners are there and have Lloyd/Sayoko/Kallen in burrito things. Then they shoot CC a bunch.

(For the longer explanation from the pamphlet about this particular scene in Cs’ World, please see this post)

So she’s just bleeding on the ground and then we see another figure standing in front of the door on this little stone step (there’s a channel of water running to the door; stone steps). And it’s..... LELOUCH.

Lelouch is back. And his mark is RED (sometimes it’s red, sometimes it’s like a scar). He tells all of the fake prisoners to kill themselves, and they do. Lloyd and Sayoko (she wasn’t Geassed in the recap movies) cover their eyes. Lelouch pulls CC out of the water and tells her that he’s back, and that they’ll have something to talk about later. He has both Code and Geass and there’s a new animation effect when he uses his Geass. But when other characters use Geass, the animation effects are the same as during R2.

Cut back to Suzaku. Suzaku is bandaged (very much like in episode 2) and it’s night time. He stirs to see Lelouch sitting on the ledge of a large window. Lelouch has Geassed a guard and a doctor (to patch up Suzaku). Moonlit. Lelouch is chilling and looking at a portable computer from Lloyd, casually talking to Suzaku. Suzaku gets up and staggers towards him and asks, “Is it really you?”

And then Suzaku ever so gently touches Lelouch’s face with his index finger to make sure Lelouch is real. The touch had higher budget than CC flying through Cs’ World. It’s close up of Lelouch’s lips and cheek and you can see how soft his skin is and that he isn’t a ghost.

CC and Kallen chat. CC mentions to Kallen that Lelouch intended to die and what she was doing here is out of her own selfishness.

Suzaku’s very emotional about Lelouch’s return, but Lelouch is just like “cool”. Suzaku asks him how he’s alive, what he’s been doing, etc. Lelouch tells him he’ll accept any punishment, so Suzaku punches him and starts screaming. Part of this scene is semi-graphic. The other part is abstract silhouettes (for some reason it goes white and the figures are blue/white/purple colors). CC has to pull Suzaku back before he beats Lelouch back to death. It’s the part from the trailer where he goes, “CC...” then collapses.

Suzaku takes a fucking chill pill and is now wearing a prisoner outfit too. Then they meet with Lloyd, who’s driving a KMF. It turns out that Bitool is still alive as he wasn’t with the other fake prisoners when Lelouch told them to die. Lelouch and CC are in a control room. Lelouch has that portable computer thing again. CC is there. Kallen runs in and hugs Lelouch. Suzaku comes in in his prisoner outfit and hops into one of the KMFs.

Outside of the prison, Shestal and a group of soldiers have traveled through the desert (following the earlier scene w/the Zilkhstan characters) and surrounded the compound. Lelouch is seen Geassing prisoners as “Lelouch vi Britannia”, reaches out via sound-only to taunt Shestal by insulting his family and calling him a dumbass, then issues commands to Sayoko, “K1″ (Suzaku), and the Geassed prisoners.

A fight breaks out. Because Shestal is in fact a complete dumbass (and also Sunrise hates me), he gets pissed and goes down below to where Suzaku’s room was at and breaks open the window with his KMF, the Jarja Bakah. (They don’t even say the name of his KMF in the movie, so I don’t think we’re ever getting an official romanization for this LOL.)

This is the part from the trailer where he says he’s here to get Zero. Except Lelouch and the gang are long gone and have left a Sakuradite bomb trap behind for Shestal which takes out him + the other floors in the prison. (Given the fate of his Akito character who also died after 5mins, I guess Legendary FGO Space Whale Nobunaga Shimazaki is destined to never live long in Geass stuff. Maybe there’s an eyebrow threading salon in the afterlife. Dude is so pretty but then those eyebrows haunt my dreams.)

Sometime after Shestal dies, Volvona asks for permission to go kick Zero’s ass to avenge his son. Shamna, however, tells him not to do this because of her “prophecy”. (We’ll come back to what actually happened here later.) Nunnally is seen in a tank on Shamna’s ceiling.

Meanwhile, at UFN HQ, Schneizel, Kannon and Rakshata are discussing their options for getting Nunnally and Zero back. Schneizel’s Geass isn’t always on. He only gets red rings in his eyes when he’s talking about Zero. Also there are the Indian teenager engineers working under Rakshata. Schneizel refers to them all as geniuses.

There’s a map during this scene that puts Zilkhstan around current day Pakistan and India.

(Also Schneizel is wearing glasses when he’s at his desk here and he looks really fucking handsome. His wardrobe has changed to be more form fitting and modern and he just looks like he’s everyone’s dad[dy] now. Holy fuck. I’ve spent 13 years drooling over this guy after seeing him flick his bangs around in the opening of the very first episode of the first season and this is just WL;K4L234KFJLK234019284IFSJKKLASFJ14L243JKL23K4324JK43KKLWKLDAKJLDAJKSDKJLAKSLD!!1111 I’M NOT A FUNCTIONAL HUMAN BEING ANYMORE.)

Lelouch suits up into his Zero outfit. This time he’ll taking up the Zero mantle as “Lelouch Lamperouge” rather than “Lelouch vi Britannia”. Suzaku looks on with a frowny face. CC, who has apparently had enough of this fucking movie already, is drinking a martini by the window.

Meanwhile, Shirley is shopping. She tries to call CC on her phone, but she doesn’t answer. After, she meets up with Milly and Rivalz. Milly just got back from Zilkhstan.

Lelouch and the gang meet up with Cornelia and many other returning characters such as Guilford (not blind), Tamaki (wearing a white bancho jacket with a heart on the back w/Zero’s name written on it; JP twitter seemed to really like this lol), and Ohgi. Cornelia has a new outfit and a gun-sword.

Because Cornelia is like the only smart person there at the time, she’s the only person who is remotely hesitant about Lelouch’s return and such. Lelouch takes off his helmet and reveals himself to her. Everyone else chimes in and gets her to help. Tamaki also leans on her gun-sword. She’s upset that Lelouch is alive while Euphy remains dead, but she agrees to help them rescue Nunnally.

Some more people show up, including Jeremiah, Anya, Cecile and Nina. They chill at a local town and Cecile makes a gross drink for Lloyd that almost kills him. Outdoors, Tamaki and Ohgi are being dumb. Ohgi tries to kill himself after thanking Lelouch for Japan, but Lelouch-Jesus stops him from doing it and also forgives him.

Suzaku is talking to Cornelia in the town (she brought him a hot drink) when he notices Lelouch do the collar up signal from their youth for “let’s talk on the roof”. (Reportedly, this gesture is out of focus and only noticeable if you’re a fujoshi.) Up on top of a tower, Lelouch is on his tablet thing again, looking over a memory card full of info from Kaguya.

Lelouch encourages Suzaku to say whatever he needs to say cause Lelouch himself doesn’t understand his resurrection or if it was actually successful or if he’ll roll over and die tomorrow. Suzaku says there’s two things that he wants to say to Lelouch. The first is that he believes Lelouch should become Zero again. He starts to say the second thing, but he stops when he notices that Lelouch is watching Ohgi and Villetta’s wedding video which Kaguya included on the memory card.

The wedding was super duper extra and you also see other characters, like Minami from the Black Knights cutting the cake. Schneizel and Kannon got retconned into being wedding guests. Suzaku tells Lelouch that everyone’s been doing well since he died. Then the wedding video focuses on Nunnally who is happy and having fun. One of them mentions Suzaku’s unspoken line. Suzaku finishes it by saying that he’s happy Lelouch is back and how lonely the world is without him.

Suzaku asks Lelouch what he’ll do after everything is resolved It pans down to Kallen and CC on the lower level, who are having a similar conversation. CC looks kind of sad.

(To give you an idea of the pacing, we have now reached roughly the 1/2 way through the film point.)

We are back with Shamna hanging out on her royal couch with her 6 booby guards. Shamna has Nunnally in a sensory deprivation chamber on her ceiling. Shamna is trying to use the Gate of Alam in her temple to enter Cs’ World to do Evil Villain Things. Shamna uses Nunnally to enter Cs’ World and reaches for an orb, but she fails and is teleported back out.

Seemingly, Nunnally’s connection to both Charles and Lelouch makes her connection to Cs’ World strong.

Lelouch is disguised and goes to an outdoor train platform in desert and Geasses two of the workers and also all of the passengers on the train. By middle of night / early morning, all of the returning cast have new mechs and gear. Lelouch tells Suzaku and Kallen to fight in the desert while everyone else goes to the urban area to rescue Nunnally. They sneak their KMFs onto the trains then jump out of them.

CC gets a new outfit that doesn’t have pants. She gets into 2 seater KMF with Lelouch called the Gekkoi. (If you’ve seen Gundam, it’s reportedly similar to a Zeong.)

Communications are jammed for Lelouch and the gang. Lelouch and CC are isolated. Lelouch starts freaking out. CC asks him if he’s given up. Lelouch has no idea how to win against this enemy. That’s when CC calms him by taking a gun out and putting it against his forehead (but this scene is difficult to take seriously because of her pilot outfit and the way the scene is framed). CC asks him, “Does it feel like despair? Cause that’s been my whole existence.” Lelouch chills after CC outdoes his edginess. He starts writing down theories about what’s going on as he’s talking to CC, who has sensed Shamna’s power. It’s written in English and list is seriously like: “They seem to KNOW EVERYTHING!!1111”

Eventually, Lelouch and CC land in Shamna’s room and shoot the guards all to death while Shamna’s laying in her own Avatar pod chamber thing. Shama’s chamber opens up. Lelouch shoots Shamna with the gun on the KMF. But this is a trap - it triggers her Geass. Her eyes glow and the sigil is yellow.

As it turns out, Shamna’s Geass rewinds time 6 hours back whenever she dies. She doesn’t actually see “prophecies”, she just knows what happens then she shoots herself to force the time rewind and looks like a fucking prophet. In the earlier scene after Shestal dies, she has seemingly allowed Volvona to go after Zero, it doesn’t end very well, then she goes back in time to stop him. (Why doesn’t she just go back in time and prevent Shestal from dying in the fucking first place? Holy shit. Sunrise fucking hates me.)

So, this turns into the Edge of Tomorrow / All You Need is Kill. Shamna retains her memories when time rewinds. Her power hasn’t always been like this, but this change occurred after Lelouch made a request to [God / Cs’ World / the Collective Unconscious / Jupiter] to let time keep ticking.

After going back, she’s now in a large bathing area naked with Shalio. She has her hands on his shoulders behind him and tells him he can leave things to her. The camera pans slowly and reveals she has a Code on her lower belly. Like Lelouch, she has both a Code + Geass.

Reset 1: Lelouch is stopped from reaching Shamna because she’s ready this time around. Shamna tries to get into Cs’ World again, but fails. Schneizel arrives in Zilkhstan with Kannon on a helicopter. Volvona comes to speak with Shamna and says that the Britannians want to talk. Shamna shoots herself in front of Volvona and her guards.

Reset 2: Gino, Tohdoh, Chiba and Hong Gu are attempting [democracy]. (The blonde lady next to Tohdoh is a character from the ending stills of the Miraculous Birthday.) Jeremiah and Anya are in the urban area in Zilkhstan. Jeremiah destroys a power plant with a KMF that shoots orange juice laser beams. With the power out, Shamna has to wait for it come back up. Except Shamna does not have time for this shit, so she shoots herself again.

Reset 3: Lelouch and CC try again. This time around, Shamna sees Jupiter but wakes up in her chamber again and sees her guards on the ground, and assumes they’ve died again. But 2 of them are still alive, and they get up and restrain Lelouch. Buuut, it turns out that Lelouch Geassed the other guards, so the 4 of them them get up and surround Shamna. She asks Lelouch if he’s going to tell her to kill herself, but instead he orders her to sleep so she can’t rewind time again. He then sets a bomb to explode her temple after 10 hours.

In the desert above the city, Kallen has been fighting Bitool and Suzaku has been fighting Shalio.

Kallen kills Bitool. Bitool was piloting a Guard Scorpion mech called the Batalaran Do that can resist the Radiation Wave due to its strong armor. In order to beat him, Kallen has to ditch the new armor on the Guren. Her new Guren armor blows up after she launches out of an energy bubble she was trapped in, and she apologizes to Shanti, one of the Indian teenagers working under Rakshata who made the new gear for the Guren and Lancelot.

Shalio beats Lancelot sIN into the ground (its wings are smoking), causing Suzaku’s live Geass to trigger. Shalio is both stupid strong and screaming about his sister. Like Kallen, Suzaku relies on the old Lancelot gear in order to defeat Shalio - after his new wings are busted, Suzaku uses the old energy wings.

Suzaku lands a critical hit and blows up Shalio. He’s yelling about Shamna cause he can’t feel her presence anymore, and thus can’t get “prophecies” from her anymore. Every loop, Shamna has been getting updates on the battle so she’s been telling Shalio and the others how to adjust plans. There’s a scene full of red and black scribble lines where Shamna screams and dies w/o resetting time. Her Geass can’t save her because No One Fucking Knows Why.

Cornelia and Volvona fight each other (apparently a rematch battle of sorts; they’ve clashed before). Cornelia corners him and thinks he should pursue a peaceful option. However, Volvona orders his troops to fire at both of them so he can sacrifice himself to take out Cornelia. But since the army has quit receiving “prophecies” from Shamna, Volvona is the highest ranking person left and now kinda in charge of the country so the army doesn’t actually want to sacrifice him.

Nina turned into MacGuyver so she kills Kujapat and the other assassins by dropping a wire from a KMF into water and electrocuting them to death. Cecile gets shot but no one covered her wound and people are worried she isn’t gonna make it. It’s clear that Lloyd is more connected to people now. After Cecile gets shot, he’s holding her. (Presumably, he feels bad about not protecting her - him and Nina have Cool Glasses that project Blaze Luminous shields.) Sayoko, Ohgi and Tamaki are in the urban area but it’s revealed after 12-13 years that Ohgi is about as good at running as Lelouch is.

Lelouch and CC go to get Nunnally out of the tank, but she’s in Cs’ World. They use Shamna as a route into Cs’ World. Lelouch finds Nunnally there through the fog laying on the ground. She wakes up and sees him and is shocked. They’re swallowed by black particles in Cs’ World. Lelouch holds her to his chest with the black and white filtering effect. Lelouch starts to Geass the approaching black mass, but then changes his mind, saying that Geass is his sin.

Following, a giant pair of rainbow hands emerges from the darkness, lifting the two up and the scenery turns colorful again with literal rainbows, and they’re safely teleported out of Cs’ World. Lelouch recognizes these hands as the people who helped him earlier when Cs’ World tried to consume him. In the real world, Shamna’s Temple explodes. The towns people of Gralbahd notice it.

While Lelouch is getting Nunnally, CC talks with Shamna as a distraction. It turns out that Lelouch’s Code is from Charles (hence the location of it on his body), but his Code and Shamna’s are both “incomplete” or “corrupted” (these words are the descriptions used by Japanese Twitter, I do not know what an “incomplete Code” is supposed to be). It’s explained here that Shamna’s goal was to use Cs’ World to make the world more fair for Zilkhstan. As a mercenary country, their economy was screwed pretty hard by Zero Requiem. However, she doesn’t want to return to being a mercenary culture, she wants them to be able to have peace too. (So... why not join the UFN?)

The movie pamphlet doesn’t mention fixing Zilkhstan at all, but rather that she’s doing this for Shalio’s sake since he’s disabled, similar to Lelouch’s goal in the anime. These can certainly be the same goal, but the pamphlet explains it differently.

Lelouch wakes up. Nunnally, Suzaku and Kallen are all there. They look outside and see shooting stars. The Ashford gang sees it too. Lelouch fulfilled his promise to see the fireworks with everyone. Lelouch talks with Nunnally. She begs him to be with her now, but she’s grown up now and doesn’t “need” him anymore. She’s sad, but she still smiles as Suzaku looks on. Kallen and Suzaku part ways; Suzaku now in a blue hoodie with the Zero suit in his arms.

The movie pamphlet contains pictures and a piece of the script where everyone parts ways.

CC is packed up already and is about to join a refugee caravan. Kallen comes and gives her the imitation Cheese plush. CC intends to depart. Then we see that Lelouch has run to catch up to her and is out of breath (lol). He says he wants to go with her, she tells him to stay with Nunnally or hit up Shirley, but he says that Nunnally doesn’t need him anymore and it’s too late for him to contact Shirley. CC tries to brush him off by saying she doesn’t even have a name. Lelouch replies that she can call him LL (pronounced L2), for Lelouch Lamperouge. CC starts crying and the 2 hold hands while walking through the refugee caravan together. “Revive” plays here.

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During the credits, we see a bunch of pictures:

Cecile recovers while Milly jabs Lloyd. Cecile looks annoyed about it.

Nunnally holding a puppy while hanging out with Kaguya + the Chinese Empress + the assumed EU girl (from the Miraculous Birthday ending stills) and they’ve all got matching outfits

Zerozaku visits the candle place from R2

Arthur is chilling w/another cat (btw, according to a staff member, Arthur is a girl cat)

Kallen with the new Indian engineers who hang out w/Rakshata (see: the Guren manga), Kallen is apologizing to Shanti for blowing up the Guren armor

Jeremiah and Anya are back on the orange farm with Sayoko hidden in a bush

Volvona and Cornelia sign a treaty with odd metallic heart in background while Gino, Kaguya, and the blonde girl’s secretary look on

Shirley gets a phone call

Villetta and Chiba are making food in the kitchen while Tohdoh has a child in a harness (unknown if it’s Villetta and Ohgi’s son or if Tohdoh and Chiba had a kid)

Ohgi reading a doujinshi about Tamaki’s love for Zero

In the post-credits scene, we see Lelouch and CC in front of a pile of bodies. They’re wearing complimentary black outfits that super extra fabulous and blingy. Lelouch has a rose choker. CC has a black transparent veil. Lelouch and CC have gone off to find other Geass users, take the power from those who can’t control it, and find those with the power to control it. The camera is facing Lelouch’s back. We hear him give the speech about how “The power of the King may isolate you”. He turns around to face who he’s talking to - you, the audience.

#code geass #lelouch of the resurrection #spoilers #lelouch lamperouge #cc #summary

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raintranslated · 5 years

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I take a very dim view of inconsistent translations of ambiguous but potentially romantic language

Obviously relevant to the last post about NGE, but I'm also thinking about the way 好き was translated throughout Code Geass.

There are a few significant uses of it, and more than one place in the series where I think it's wrong to use the word "like" instead of "love" (Lelouch and Nunnally talking about Euphy springs to mind -- given later context...), but when it comes to inconsistency that feels like deliberate censorship...

Well, there's the conversation Shirley has with Suzaku in R2 (and then continues with Rolo).

In Bandai's official subs, within a single conversation, the translation of 好き changes repeatedly!

Is Shirley talking about her own feelings for Lelouch? Then the word means "love". Is she talking about Suzaku's? Well, then it's "like"! Talking to Rolo, who she believes is Lelouch's younger brother? "Love" again.

I'm not saying that 好き always has to be romantic, or that it absolutely should have been "love" here, because it's not like Shirley is trying to start a polycule -- she's looking for allies -- but by translating it this way the English subs create a distinction between the feelings of the three characters that just isn't there, textually, and also mess up a direct parallel between this scene and the earlier one with Lelouch and Nunnally. (Suzaku and Lelouch are both asked if they 好き a character, and respond with ああ…好きだった / "Yeah... I did.")

iirc, the official subs have Shirley ask Suzaku if he "likes" Lelouch and declare that she "likes" him too, but then ask Rolo if he "loves" Lelouch and say that she "loves" him too........ it's a mess.

(Again, I would be completely on board with a wholly platonic version of this scene, or a fuzzier translation like 'cares for', which is what I am tentatively using in light novel translations, but the way this was translated kind of reeks of homophobia: complete intolerance for even the potential subtext.)

Side note: None of this is getting into the fact that 好き between two people should pretty much always be treated as romantic. I can honestly make a case for like instead of love in a few situations -- sure, Americans in particular are way freer with the Big L Word than Japanese people, but we still tend to confess our feelings with smaller words and hold onto the Big L until we've been together for a while... it just depends on the characters and the context, is all I'm sayin'.

#code geass #i also think subs where Lelouch is asked if he 'likes' Euphy are wrong #given later context #Nunnally was almost certainly teasingly asking if he ~likes~ Euphy #there is also a whole ass theme in this show #about the potential impermanence of affection #'are we still friends?'#'do you still care for her?'

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solaetis-moved-blog · 5 years

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just some overall feelings about code geass season 1

anyone with a good set of morals should have a hard time rooting for lelouch by now. the extreme methods he executed at this point are no longer justifiable or something that can be excused regardless of his intentions. the end justifies the means attitude here is already off the grid and one good proof of that is the death of euphemia.

euphie deserved better honestly even if it wasn’t intentional on lelouch’s part, how he reacted after that says well of what he’s been intending to do this entire time and he himself reflects on this well when he looks at the destruction he had caused. he looks back on the time he obtained the geass, he thought, perhaps it was what he was aiming for all along.

this is where characters like suzaku are needed, but he himself had displayed inexcusable actions out of anger. one that’s justifiable, but in his rage he had killed people as well, no longer caring about anything but just blinded in madness because he believes in euphie even after the ‘massacre’ it’s really just something euphemia is not capable of doing of her own volition. this is clear when lelouch said to cc that she was trying so hard to not follow the effect of the geass and furthermore made clear with how she did not kill suzaku, who is a japanese

why did i say suzaku is important?

suzaku is a good example of a character who has done something awful and has been trying to atone for it his entire life. i have a soft spot for characters like him because it’s easy to sympathize with his struggles. i’m not saying his murder of his father is something that needs to be glorified, but the way he responded to this says a lot about him as a person. i’ve always noticed how there was a certain abnormality to him that was too familiar (shirou emiya). the type of person who tries to repay for his actions by carelessly putting others above himself, always shoving himself in situations wherein he could die. it’s almost an obsession on his part. he’s trying to give back to the world in the only way he knows he can.

this is also why we should never take away from people their right to atone. there’s a lot of fictional characters who’ve reached a state of insanity just because they were not punished for the things they believed are their crimes. a good example of this trope would be lancelot du lac. so how is that relevant to suzaku and why did i make that kind of statement?

lancelot was someone who protected the wife of his king. him as a trusted knight and guinevere as the queen merely bonded for their shared love and admiration for king arthur who always placed the kingdom above himself. king arthur offered his life to britain and all that britain is. lancelot also fell in love with guinevere and committed treason. arthur’s response to this is pretending not to know or simply accepting things as they are (depending on which legend you’re reading but the common theme is that, arthur dislikes confrontation and would rather let someone else do something about it)

adding to that, lancelot was also someone who betrayed guinevere, though unknowingly because he was manipulated and raped by elaine. guinevere viewed him as a traitor. imagine betraying both your queen and king, whom you loved and served with all of your heart. what made this worse is the fact that lancelot was never reprimanded or punished for the things he did, so ridden by guilt he either entered a monastery and died of old age and grief or reached a level of insanity that was impossible to recover from.

i think it was beautiful that suzaku piloted the knightmare frame lancelot because of what he is and what’s his role in this show. he’s that very talented pilot to the point of being a frustrating enemy to zero (remember lancelot was the strongest knight of the round table) whoso happens to be suicidal and trying his utmost to give back to everyone because of a past he could not run away from. he thinks himself better than zero in spite of him murdering his father for the greater good because he knows what it’s like to go down that path and he doesn’t want anyone else to become like him or endure that kind of burden. euphie was exactly the motivation he needed in order to continue being a pillar of greatness and believe in himself that he’s doing something good and valuable and inspiring people of japan, but then euphie is gone

i have so many other things i wanted to discuss but they’re not coming to me right now anyway it was weird as fuck when nunnally and euphie were talking about being lelouch’s bride as kids and zero shooting euphie and then declaring her to be his first love? gross

cc is still good and important

kallen? wife. strong. beautiful. will protect.

#⌈ ☼ ⌉ INBOX. || ✧ –––– AD ASTRA PER ASPERA.#im on mobile and i dont know what read more is #i'll be adding code geass to my blog now #just keep in mind im only aware of season 1

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q--uee--n · 5 years

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So, here’s Part 1 of my shamelessly pandering, fluffy Post-Zero Requiem headcanons/notes because I just want everyone to be happy and content and I don’t care how unrealistic some of these are. fuck

(Note: the following 999.9% disregards Re;surrection and falls in line with the events of the original series.)

Suzaku (Zero)

• at first throws himself into being Zero and protecting Nunnally, not at all thinking he deserves anything but the misery that’s been placed upon him.

• mistakingly believes Nunnally hates him for murdering her brother. She ultimately sets him straight, and though they’re fairly close, there are still moments where Suzaku’s guilt becomes an obstacle to their relationship.

• for the first few months, he is cold and stoic as Zero, but as time passes and he grows into the role, he begins to soften. Still, his Zero is relatively distant and mute compared to Lelouch’s grand, theatrical version.

• misses the hell out of Euphemia and Lelouch (even if his relationship with the latter was more complex than a Rubik's Cube) but, over time, slowly reconciles with their deaths. Slowly especially applies to Euphy’s case. It took a while, but he eventually limits his visits to Euphy’s memorial from once every two weeks to once a month to once every other month to once a year (in the distant future).

• formally reconnects with Kaguya after she brusquely informs him that she’s aware of his identity. She manages to swindle him into having tea with her. Every week. It’s at one of these meetings where he breaks down and apologizes for all the pain he’s caused her, but she reassures him that she’s just happy they’re together again. They often simultaneously laugh and gag at the fact that they used to be engaged, and Suzaku becomes so attached to her, Kaguya’s guard detail starts to become suspicious of his intentions.

• on the subject of his relationships, he, against all odds, becomes close to C.C. and even closer to Kallen. He and C.C. have a weird understanding based on their love for Lelouch, and he bonds with Kallen (once she maneuvers around her own issues) over their mutual painful experiences, which is where they find common ground.

• Gino discovers his identity by accident. Milly does so on purpose. Both are rather bizarre, cautionary tales, but as a result of them, Zero’s personal associates are up by two.

• ironically has a large following among small children, who are at the receiving end of his softest interactions with the public. Mothers everywhere adore him just for that. As do stores that make the most profit selling Zero birthday cakes.

• unironically has a large following among horny young adults. Is the topic of a popular tabloid, Zero Weekly, which mostly speculates about his sex life and what he looks like underneath the mask. He’s scandalized by the magazine, as are Kallen and Nunnally, but C.C. and Kaguya love it.

• utilizes multiple disguises, in part because Kallen refuses to be seen in a public setting with him while he’s Zero for a second time and the rest is because Nunnally just likes putting together outfits for him.

• in the little free time he has, his hobbies consist of feeding the stray cats he’s accumulated over the years, reading poetry (it reminds him of Lelouch and a kinder time when they were friends), and watching the ridiculously bad American soap operas he swears he doesn’t watch. Their content should make bad memories surface, but they’re just so horribly acted, the effect falls flat.

• only after years of it being drilled into his head, he eventually accepts that he doesn’t have to be alone if he doesn’t want to and that the whole Zero thing doesn’t have to be completely miserable.

• still healing from, well, everything but has acquired a loyal support base in the few friends he has, and though he still doesn’t quite think he deserves any happiness he’s found, he’s in too deep to reject it (and there’s no way in hell that anyone will let him).

• cries the first time someone says they love him, halfway out of disbelief because he doesn’t think he’s worthy of anyone’s love and halfway out of relief because he’d never imagined there’d come a day where the phrase was directed at him again.

C.C.

• hangs around after Lelouch’s death because she can, not because she, god forbid, cares about the people in her life. Nope. Not at all, thank you very much.

• lives in Suzaku’s quarters in the palace until he gets so frustrated by the pizza boxes piling up in his room that he asks Nunnally to give her her own space. C.C. is more than happy to move when she learns the room is Cheese-kun-themed.

• formally befriends Kallen after the realization that they’re both assholes with trust issues. They have bi-monthly girls’ nights of epic proportions, ones that usually culminate in a single whopping bad decision.

• is both intrigued and gobsmacked by the fact that Suzaku is still so cordial to her despite the circumstances and the things she puts him through daily. He’s the opposite of Lelouch in every way, but that’s what draws her to him the most.

• may or may not be attracted to Suzaku. It’s hard to tell.

• is online friends with Milly. Neither is aware of the identity of the other, but they’re nonetheless a powerful force that troll the internet with spam and shitposting.

• no one knows her real name. Except for Kaguya, of all people, and no one knows how or when or why they became close enough to be on first names basis, and it just doesn’t make sense at all, to the point where Kallen loses sleep at night thinking about it.

• once recounted the time Benjamin Franklin told her off to Suzaku after he returned from a particularly despondent assignment. Afterward, they stayed up eating pizza and reminiscing over fond memories they had of Lelouch, which allowed Suzaku to see a kinder, more vulnerable side of C.C. for the first time. It also marked the beginning of their weekly sleepovers, though they don’t refer to them as such.

• sometimes goes riding with Nunnally on weekends. The younger girl reminds her of her brother, and like his, Nunnally’s heart is pure and kind. She gives C.C. a warm feeling similar to the one she got from Lelouch.

• is constantly traveling and moving about but always returns to Nunnally and Suzaku’s side at their residence in Japan.

• is well aware of the fact that everyone she’s come to accept as friends will die while she’ll remain living. This is her biggest point of contention, and she contemplates leaving more often than not, but she stays because she can’t leave.

• "I said that Geass was the power of the king which would condemn you to a life of solitude. I think, maybe, that's not quite correct. Right, Lelouch?"

• has stopped accumulating experience and started living.

Kallen

• finishes her last year of high school and, soon thereafter, becomes a full-time college student. Focusing on her education, she takes time off the Black Knights but still works as a reserve officer and is never without the key to her beloved Knightmare Frame. Because just in case, and Rakshata is always updating the Guren.

• resented Zerozaku for months following the Requiem, even though she knew everything that happened was all according to Lelouch’s plan. She overcomes her negative feelings after coming across Suzaku at Euphemia’s grave and realizing he knows the pain she’s suffering. She finds that maybe they aren’t as different as she thought.

• proves vital in helping Suzaku heal and vice versa. They’re both disasters, and they’re opposite in every sense of the word, but all that means is that they never manage to stunt each other, even when they just can’t understand each other.

• after they become friends, C.C. is her second most contacted person. Milly is her first because that woman cannot be trusted.

• begins a charity in her brother Naoto’s name with the help of her mother. The charity is dedicated to reuniting families displaced by the war.

• discovers she has an extremely high alcohol tolerance once she’s of age and could outdrink anyone at any time (”yes, Tamaki that also applies to you. ...Please, Ohgi’s son has higher tolerance than you”) but generally doesn’t fuck with alcohol because she doesn’t like the idea of becoming dependent on it. She makes enough bad decisions on her own, thanks.

• is, like various other members of the original Order of the Black Nights, a hero of the rebellion and a bona fide celebrity, though she still has to work to support herself and her mother and is a tad bitter about that. Especially considering she has all the other “privileges” of celebrity such as sporadic street interviews while she’s on her commute to work.

• because of that one time she danced with Zero at that one party, everyone assumes they’re together, and the media plays it up. She can’t count the number of times she’s had to call in to news stations falsely referring to her as “Zero’s paramour”.

• “True or false? Are you involved with Zero?” “...Involved with–I’m not–who said–” “Ah. You hesitated. Does that confirm our suspicions?” “I didn’t hesitate because that shouldn’t have been a question” “Well, a source close to you informed us of the fact that–” “Source? What source–?” *cue the moment she realizes that the source is C.C. Or Milly. Or both.

• Gino is the source.

• sleeps over at the palace at Nunnally’s invitation when her mother isn’t home and she’s feeling particularly lonely, sometimes sandwiched between C.C. and Suzaku in his room but the bed is more than large enough. It’s weird but it’s comfortable and it makes her feel that much more secure.

• grows out her hair. By the time she’s twenty-two, it’s almost as long as C.C.’s.

• still loves Lelouch with all her heart, but does eventually become open to pursuing a relationship. (”Gino wants to go out with you, doesn’t he? Why don’t you just say yes?” “Just because I said I was open to dating doesn’t mean I want to date Gino, C.C.” “I suppose you’re right. Although that could be because you want to fu–” “One more word out of you and I’ll put Cheese-kun in the shredder.”)

• changes her legal surname to “Kozuki”.

#code geass #code geass: hangyaku no lelouch #code geass r2 #kururugi suzaku #zerozaku #c.c. (code geass)#kallen stadtfeld #kallen kozuki #headcanons #my notes #you don't have to take this post seriously #but i do

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