Code Geass/Characters/Main Characters

This is the character sheet concerning the main characters of Code Geass.

Lelouch Lamperouge / Lelouch vi Britannia / Zero
"Voiced by: Jun Fukuyama and Sayaka Ohara (Adult and child; Japanese), Johnny Yong Bosch and Michelle Ruff (Adult and child; English)"

""I am Zero! The man who destroys worlds -- and the man who creates them!""

The central character of Code Geass, Lelouch Lamperouge is a Magnificent Chessmaster who was given the power of an Evil Eye called a Geass that allows him to compel anyone to obey him to do anything he demands -- although It Only Works Once on any given person. Few even of his closest friends know that he is actually a fallen White Prince of the Britannian Empire. He plans to rebel against his estranged father, the Social Darwinist Emperor Charles zi Britannia, who, he thinks, was unforgivably apathetic about his mother's death -- and may even have had a hand in it. Lelouch demands vengeance, and he'll settle for nothing less than the complete destruction of the Britannian royal line.

Well, not the entire Britannian royal line: Lelouch wants to protect his paralyzed and blind little sister Nunnally -- and not just to protect her, but to make a better world for her. He'll do just about anything to accomplish his goals, and he doesn't mind if he has to be labeled "evil" in the process. Especially if he gets to make being evil look damn good as he announces his new anti-Britannian movement.

As the series evolves, Lelouch finds a worthy opponent, his buddy Suzaku Kururugi, who eventually becomes the biggest obstacle to his plans.

He also finds an unexpected ally, a beautiful and Mysterious Waif who usually goes by the "name" C.C. She isn't what she seems to be. But then, neither is Lelouch.

"Lelouch: My name is Lelouch vi Brittania, eldest son of Empress Marianne, the prince who was abandoned by his empire. If anyone wishes to stop me, let them try! If there is anyone who can go beyond my despair..."
 * Abusive Parents: His father the Emperor.
 * Achilles in His Tent: During most of Turn 19.
 * Affably Evil: Gives off this, as he is remarkably polite, when he isn't killing or manipulating his enemies.
 * Alliterative Name: If he's using his mother's surname.
 * Aloof Big Brother: As part of his Jerkass Facade near the end.
 * Always Save the Girl: Backfires when he tries this.
 * A Man Is Not a Virgin: Subverted so ridiculously hard that it's hilarious.
 * Anti-Hero: Type III -> Type IV. For most of the series, he averages out to Type IV, while having moments of Type III and Type V.
 * Anti-Villain Protagonist: Type II and Type III, from a different point of view.
 * Attractive Bent Gender: The Picture Dramas and games are surely very fond of having him go [[media:Luluko.jpg|around]] [[media:Lulu_pretty.jpg|in]] drag. Stupid Sexy Luluko!
 * Awesomeness By Analysis: He is about the only one smart enough to use Shinkiro's full combat potential.
 * Badass
 * Before you say huh?, remember in the second episode where Viletta threatened him by blowing the walls around him? He. Didn't. Even. Flinch. 2:50
 * Badass Bookworm
 * Badass Cape
 * Badass Boast - Several. See the quote above, next to the picture. See also the one below.
 * Badass Cape
 * Badass Boast - Several. See the quote above, next to the picture. See also the one below.

"Rivalz: He's even got a housekeeping book.
 * Heartbroken Badass: After.
 * Bastard Bastard or Heroic Bastard: Lelouch is the child of one of the the Emperor's recognized wives, who was killed before the series began. Lelouch was disowned and ultimately rises up in rebellion against his father. Lelouch certainly gets around in the Bastard tropes.
 * Batman Gambit: He loves playing these. He's the victim of a few of them, too, but he usually prevails.
 * Battle of Wits: Par for the course.
 * Becoming the Mask: Several times, on several different levels.
 * The Beautiful Elite
 * Be Careful What You Wish For: His Geass. And his plans in general.
 * Best Served Cold: One of his motivations behind his mission is to deliver vengeance to his father for his abandonment and what he represents as a Darwinist.
 * Beyond the Impossible: His dad said it was impossible to, and when you think how Geass is refered to as 'the power of the king' it makes sense. Lelouch thought otherwise.
 * Big Good: You know the world is messed up when he's the closest thing we have to this.
 * Big Brother Instinct: He only, you know, started a war for her. A World War. Against the greatest superpower on the planet. Pretty much by himself.
 * Big Screwed-Up Family: Where the whole mess starts.
 * Bishonen
 * Born Unlucky: Oh so very much. See also Butt Monkey and Cosmic Plaything.
 * Brains Evil Brawn Good: Played with in that though he acts like a stereotypical villain, he is a Well-Intentioned Extremist Byronic Hero, whereas Suzaku is a Charles Atlas Superpower Anti-Villain working for the Big Bad.
 * Brilliant but Lazy: His school persona. Of course, he's anything but lazy.
 * Brother-Sister Incest: Toward Euphemia (of whom he says, "You may have been the first girl I ever loved"), and even more toward Nunnally (his "reason for living"). His love for them is not sexual -- or at least not explicitly sexual -- but it's certainly unhealthy.
 * At the end of "Nightmare of Nunnally,".
 * Butt Monkey: Regardless of his karma meter -- or maybe because of it -- he just can't catch a break. See also Born Unlucky and Cosmic Plaything.
 * Byronic Hero: Attractive, charismatic, singleminded, sophisticated, introspective, melancholy, idealistic, ruthlesss in the pursuit of his cause, driven to rebellion, tragically flawed, arrogant, ambitious... His life and character traits practically read like a textbook case.
 * Calling the Old Man Out: Aside from his desire to make Nunnally's dream of a kind world come true, Lelouch's main reason for basically starting a world war was to do this to the Emperor. (Let it never be said that he does anything by half-measures.) Near the end of the series, he finally does it.
 * Camp: Initially only as Zero but
 * Camp Straight or Camp Gay is something that is better not to discuss here.
 * Cannot Spit It Out: Lelouch has a habit of dodging questions even when he'd be better off answering them.
 * Catch Phrase: "All tasks at hand have been cleared."
 * "Lelouch vi Britannia commands you..."
 * Most of his other catch phrases are Arc Words. "I am Zero!", "I will destroy the world and create it anew", "The only ones who should kill are those prepared to be killed", and a few more. As Zero he also poses questions to people rather often only to rebuff their answer and trigger a trap on them.
 * Celibate Hero: If only out of necessity thanks to his chosen profession. Strangely, the second season focuses heavily on Lelouch's love life -- especially the tragic ending of episode 13.
 * Chair Reveal: Late in R2.
 * Character Development: Lelouch becomes more and more extreme - and in some ways, heroic - as the series progresses. He also becomes more openly emotional and less Stoic.
 * Character Tic: The flourishing gesture he uses to draw attention to his eye before invoking the Geass.
 * Char Clone: In fact, if you take this perspective, Code Geass literally becomes Mobile Suit Gundam with the perspectives skewed, instead of following Amuro (Suzaku), you're following Char. In fact, in one of the scenarios of Saisei-Hen, Milliardo Peacecraft and Mr. Bushido team up with him.
 * The Chessmaster: Literally and figuratively. Although as a literal chess master, it's more of an Informed Ability, as no one in-universe really seems to know how the game works.
 * Chess Motifs: He's the king on the chess board; his Zero costume even resembles one. Although his physical combat skills are less than impressive, he's the one who commands the whole board. He's always on the battlefield with his troops, because, as he puts it, if the king won't lead, his subjects won't follow. Mind you, that doesn't usually work in actual chess, and certainly not as Lelouch applies it, but it is just a metaphor.
 * Chick Magnet: An extreme example.
 * Clark Kenting: ...Sort of. Lelouch does wear a mask that conceals his whole head and does tricks with voice recording to throw people off the trail. But the fact that his sister Nunnally--who is blind and therefore relies primarily on hearing--never recognizes him as Zero is a bit much. Not to mention the other people who are extremely close to him.
 * Made worse by the fact that he is supposedly in hiding from pretty much all of Britannia, even before he becomes Zero, and yet he uses his real name from when he was a prince and his mother's maiden name as his "disguise". Remember that his mother was arguably the most (in)famous of any of the Emperor's consorts
 * Well, Lamperouge being Marianne's maiden name is Word of Dante, not canon. The rest stands, though. Lelouch could however simply be a common name in the CG Universe, and given there are dozens of princes and princesses, the odds of any one individual being able to pick up on it are rather small.
 * Clasp Your Hands If You Deceive: As a common trait of the quintessential Magnificent Bastard, Lelouch is fond of doing this.
 * The Complainer Is Always Wrong: Feels the Britannian government is rotten to the core and must be dismantled. Too bad for him, two of the most important people in his life don't agree.
 * : It's a Call Back to when he rescued Suzaku in season 1 episode 4.
 * Consummate Liar: Very convincing at telling lies although Suzaku doesn't buy some towards the end of R2.
 * Cosmic Plaything: See Born Unlucky and Butt Monkey.
 * Cursed with Awesome: Aside from some Diabolus Ex Machina, his Geass has virtually no drawbacks, and he can get around the ones that do. Except for one: It Only Works Once, and he even finds a small way to get around that
 * The Dandy
 * Dark Messiah: To the core.
 * Deadpan Snarker
 * Death Wail: He does this after.
 * Deceased Fall Guy Gambit: The power of Absolute Control makes this easy for a Chessmaster like Lelouch.
 * Defeat Means Friendship: Subverted Trope.
 * Defector From Decadence: His response to Charles' cold indifference to Marianne's murder and Nunnally's crippling and declaration that the Britannia is defined by the strong ruling over the weak. He gets sent to Japan along with Nunnally for his troubles. The takeover of Japan by Britannia is what drives him to revenge.
 * Its not just the takeover, its the takeover while he and his sister are there as political hostages when Britannia attacks does Lelouch lose it because of the obvious betrayal. Ironically Lelouch's and Nunnaly's presumed death is why several of his siblings of relevance hate Japan because they think it was Japan's fault. Moral Myopia anyone?
 * Despair Event Horizon: Goes over the edge
 * Desperately Looking for a Purpose In Life: Subverted. His boredom mainly has to do with his initial inability to fulfill his wish to go against Britannia.
 * The Determinator
 * Diabolus Ex Machina: Sometimes, you'd be forgiven for thinking Lelouch's main opponent was called Murphy.
 * Didn't See That Coming: Despite all his elaborate planning even.
 * Episode 22 of the first season in particular is the poster child for this trope.
 * Deus Angst Machina: It only gets worse during the final 9 episodes of the series.
 * Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?:
 * Disproportionate Retribution: Sort of. To avenge the death of his mother, he wishes to bring about the destruction of the entire Britannian royal line -- with the notable exceptions of his beloved sister Nunnally, Euphemia, and himself. However, he has plenty of legitimate gripes against the Empire which do not involve those two things, mainly the Social Darwinism that drives the country to conquer the entire world and oppress everyone who isn't Briannitan, and the aforementioned members of the royal family are the only ones known to oppose said policies.
 * Doom Magnet
 * Don't Tell Nunnally: He tries to keep his sister ignorant of his alter ego.
 * Dude Looks Like a Lady: Oh yes. In one picture drama he was made to look prettier than the girls simply by putting on a wig and an Elegant Gothic Lolita dress.
 * Establishing Character Moment: After ordering a group of soldiers to kill themselves, Lelouch looks shocked and disturbed for a few seconds, before breaking into a smile.
 * Another, often overlooked Establishing Character Moment takes place moments earlier. The soldiers are seconds away from killing him, and he pretty much knows that he's about to die... and his final thoughts are of Nunnally. Then C.C. gives him Geass.
 * Et Tu, Brute?: Happens twice, and with him getting sold out to the two baddest of the Big Bads in the show (obviously barring V. V. ). I do not envy this man.
 * Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Though the bad part is debatable. Flipped around in R2 episode 21:.
 * Even Evil Has Standards: Despite being a Magnificent Bastard, he really seems to regret the deaths of innocents.
 * Even the Guys Want Him: Of course Milly, Shirley, Kallen and Kaguya are head-over-heels in love with him. (As well as 108 other girls. And C.C. Possibly.) But there's also Rolo, and maybe even Suzaku.
 * Evil Eye: The Geass. It allows him to give direct commands to anyone he makes eye contact with (which they must obey, even if the command is explicitly suicidal or goes against every moral fiber of their being), but It Only Works Once per person.
 * Evil Gloating: Lelouch is fond of this. It's very lucky that all of his Geass victims are polite enough to listen to his monologues before he orders them to commit suicide, or whatever else they would really rather not ever do.
 * After C.C., she asks him about this. He dismisses her criticism with no attempt to justify himself at all. Presumably it's just not in his nature to turn down an opportunity to be dramatic.
 * Evil Laugh: Frequently, as Zero. Borders on self-parody. One of his defeat quotes when piloting the Sword of Damocles consists of this.
 * Expy: Lelouch has been considered at least a partial Expy of any number of fictional and even historical figures, especially the Byronic heroes of V for Vendetta and The Count of Monte Cristo.
 * Wears black all the time, lies to the people he loves and is obsessed with avenging a dead parent. Is that you, Hamlet?
 * Facing the Bullets One-Liner / Final Speech: When faced with . Subverted a second later when its revealed that he's only doing this to.
 * Fake Memories / Wistful Amnesia: Early R2.
 * Fallen Hero: In some parts of the second season, he is reasonably well meaning for a while, but ultimately the results of his old sins catch up with him in a seriously disproportionate way and he falls back to his more tragically flawed ways.
 * Fallen Princess
 * Fatal Attractor: Very bad things tend to happen to those he loves.
 * Fix Fic:
 * Freudian Excuse
 * The Gadfly: Teases Kallen during season 1 as part of his identity at Ashford.
 * The Gambling Addict: Before becoming Zero, he was infamous for his intense gambling addiction, often skipping classes and running off to casinos. Slightly averted in that it was his own way to cope with "going through the motions of living." After becoming Zero, he used his known gambling tendecies for a short while as a cover for his Black Knights operations.
 * Suzaku firmly suspected that Mao was a criminal that Lelouch pilfered in a game. He never learned who Mao really was, though.
 * Geek Physique
 * Generation Xerox: Not only having inherited the Manipulative Bastard gene from Chuck, his life story is playing out much like his father's, with the characters around him playing out similar roles to Chuck's earlier years.
 * Genghis Gambit:
 * Gory Discretion Shot: Used when Lelouch kills his half-brother Clovis and whenever he employs his Geass to order mass suicides.
 * Good Eyes, Evil Eyes: His eyes are ambiguous, as they are fairly large throughout (in stark contrast to another anime Magnificent Bastard he's often compared to).
 * Guile Hero: He prefers to play politics to sideline his opponents most of the time. For instance, at one point after losing his most important fighter and being attacked by the two most powerful armies in that universe - the Chinese and the Brittanian - he manages to manipulate the Eunuch Generals into announcing their evil plans to their entire country, inciting riots and getting them to lose their Brittanian support. This plan went very smoothly because he managed to steal it from a third bad guy without that third opponent ever telling anyone about it, who had no choice but to support Lelouch after this fight. Using politics he managed to sideline one bad empire, destroy a second one and get the support of the third one. The only reason he might not deserve to be on this list is your interpretation of his actions.
 * Guilt Complex: It's partly what leads to such actions as.
 * Hero with Bad Publicity: Fights the good fight, even if via some questionable methods, and has to put up with bad Britannia press for it.
 * Hidden Depths: Well, in-universe anyway, since only a few people know he's actually an exiled Prince of Britannia, or that he's Zero, etc.
 * High Collar of Doom: Zero, which is an early sign this isn't the hero Lelouch is making out this persona to be.
 * How Do I Shot Web?: When he first gains his Geass power, he automatically understands the basics, namely that it allows him to give commands that cannot be refused. However, he discovers the hard way that his power has limitations, like requiring direct eye contact, and only working once on a particular person. After the first time this causes a problem for him, he uses a logical and scientific method to test his powers and determine obscure details like maximum range and duration of effect. However,  Which sucks.
 * Hypocrisy Nod: Lelouch openly tells Suzaku he that doesn't have time to debate who's the bigger hypocrite of the two.
 * I Did What I Had to Do: Lelouch whilst squaring off with Silly Lelouch.
 * Idiot Ball: Has put Nunnally in danger several times due to temporary stupidity.
 * I Have the High Ground: First season opening. Actually, he likes the high ground a lot.
 * Impossibly Cool Clothes: As a civilian, and also as Zero. Zero's helmet-mask is particularly cool and equally impossible.
 * Improbable Age: How many seventeen-year-old paramilitary masterminds do you know? While Code Geass has many examples of this trope, Lelouch is among its most extreme.
 * Informed Ability: His skill at the actual game of chess (but not his skill as The Chessmaster). We see him win chess games, but the actual moves he plays tend to be weird. Rule of Cool and all, but in Real Life, weird moves don't win chess games against skilled opponents.
 * It Gets Easier: Lelouch got physically ill from thinking about killing his brother Clovis. As his hands get dirtier, it gets easier for him to kill more people.
 * In the Blood: Lelouch has shown himself to be very prone to manipulating people (and letting them die) in order to get what he wants. Just like the old man he despises so much . The major difference is that Lelouch is is aware of the nature of his acts and his self-destructiveness.
 * It Only Works Once: His Geass.
 * It's All My Fault: Develops this attitude as time goes by, and to this effect, gives Suzaku this as a Sarcastic Confession concerning Euphemia, Shirley and other things.
 * It's Not You, It's My Enemies: Works with Kallen,.
 * I Was Just Joking: Lelouch's denial of C.C.'s antics when Nunnally asks if C.C. is Lelouch's girlfriend.
 * Also when Lelouch is cooking in episode 3 of R2
 * High Collar of Doom: Zero, which is an early sign this isn't the hero Lelouch is making out this persona to be.
 * How Do I Shot Web?: When he first gains his Geass power, he automatically understands the basics, namely that it allows him to give commands that cannot be refused. However, he discovers the hard way that his power has limitations, like requiring direct eye contact, and only working once on a particular person. After the first time this causes a problem for him, he uses a logical and scientific method to test his powers and determine obscure details like maximum range and duration of effect. However,  Which sucks.
 * Hypocrisy Nod: Lelouch openly tells Suzaku he that doesn't have time to debate who's the bigger hypocrite of the two.
 * I Did What I Had to Do: Lelouch whilst squaring off with Silly Lelouch.
 * Idiot Ball: Has put Nunnally in danger several times due to temporary stupidity.
 * I Have the High Ground: First season opening. Actually, he likes the high ground a lot.
 * Impossibly Cool Clothes: As a civilian, and also as Zero. Zero's helmet-mask is particularly cool and equally impossible.
 * Improbable Age: How many seventeen-year-old paramilitary masterminds do you know? While Code Geass has many examples of this trope, Lelouch is among its most extreme.
 * Informed Ability: His skill at the actual game of chess (but not his skill as The Chessmaster). We see him win chess games, but the actual moves he plays tend to be weird. Rule of Cool and all, but in Real Life, weird moves don't win chess games against skilled opponents.
 * It Gets Easier: Lelouch got physically ill from thinking about killing his brother Clovis. As his hands get dirtier, it gets easier for him to kill more people.
 * In the Blood: Lelouch has shown himself to be very prone to manipulating people (and letting them die) in order to get what he wants. Just like the old man he despises so much . The major difference is that Lelouch is is aware of the nature of his acts and his self-destructiveness.
 * It Only Works Once: His Geass.
 * It's All My Fault: Develops this attitude as time goes by, and to this effect, gives Suzaku this as a Sarcastic Confession concerning Euphemia, Shirley and other things.
 * It's Not You, It's My Enemies: Works with Kallen,.
 * I Was Just Joking: Lelouch's denial of C.C.'s antics when Nunnally asks if C.C. is Lelouch's girlfriend.
 * Also when Lelouch is cooking in episode 3 of R2
 * Also when Lelouch is cooking in episode 3 of R2

Lelouch: How do you know!?

Rivalz: Crap, you really do?"


 * I Will Protect Her: Goes to varying extremities to protect his loved ones, be they his little sister Nunnally, his unrequited love interest Shirley, and his bodyguard Kallen.
 * Jerkass Facade: He would have more friends if he didn't act like a complete dick at the most inappropriate times. Though some characters do like that about him, these people are insane and/or immortal, generally. Justified in most cases, though, as he's doing it on purpose for this exact reason.
 * Well, he invokes it on occasion, especially towards the season 2 finale, however, he actually has loads of genuine friends in school, mainly because he's a more than perfectly nice and considerate guy as long as it doesn't interfere with his plans.
 * Jumped At the Call: His declaration of the Order of the Black Knights.
 * Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: He takes a flying leap off it in episode fourteen of R2.
 * Kick the Son of a Bitch: It's obviously played as Lelouch heading down the slippery slope, it's just that his victims weren't exactly very nice people, given what they are responsible for. Even the test subjects, who could be considered victims, are able to and feel no compunctions about forcing some of their attackers to kill each other.
 * Kansas City Shuffle:
 * The Kirk
 * Knight Templar Big Brother: Virtually the Trope Maker.
 * To elaborate, someone among the Britannian royal court was responsible for the death of his mother and the crippling and blinding of his sister. Rather than attempt to discover who exactly it was, Lelouch decides to declare war on Britannia itself and kill off the rest of his family, bar one or two of his other siblings, in order to be thorough.
 * La Résistance: Initally irked by it, he soon decides he might as well lead it, as long as he gets a chance to avenge his mother and defeat Britannia.
 * Large Ham: Fabulously so, mostly in his Zero persona. C.C. naturally lampshades him using opportunities to be one on occasion.
 * Laser-Guided Karma: See Butt Monkey entry.
 * Laughing Mad: Lelouch does this as well at the end of episode 17 in the first season.
 * Let No Crisis Go to Waste: When he takes advantage of the
 * Living with the Villain: Lelouch and Suzaku attend the same school, and for a while, neither of them realizes that the other is their regular opponent. Inverted in R2, where.
 * Love Makes You Evil: When Lelouch's resolve fails and he betrays his ideals and the Black Knights, he does it.
 * Not really. Lelouch never holds any illusions about prioritizing his sister far above the rebellion, and acts accordingly whenever she's in danger.
 * Magnificent Bastard: Very much one.
 * Manchurian Agent: Lelouch does this several times with the Geass. Once with Again with  while destroying his career without realizing it. As well as to the Britannian special forces  Even  gets this done to him, making him think  Justified since it's Mind Control.
 * Manipulative Bastard: Not as bad as you might think, considering his Geass only works once per victim, but he still has his moments. The greatest example of this comes in the second season:
 * I agree that Lelouch is a Manipulative Bastard, but does the last bit of this example really count? Lelouch wasn't actually trying to manipulate at that point, and being saved at that point was totally unexpected.
 * Meaningful Name: Lelouch Lamperouge roughly translates to "suspicious red light". Specifically, the French term it derives from is 'le louche', literally "the suspicious one" - or, when taken with his surname, "the suspicious red lamp/light", as noted above (although technically, it should be "la lampe rouge louche", but we can let grammar slide here). What's even more interesting, though, is that the word "louche" derives from the Latin adjective "luscus", which means "one-eyed" - very fitting given how his Geass manifests itself.
 * Punny Name: Of the Fridge Brilliance variety: he's a Celibate Hero whose surname means, roughly, "red light".
 * Also, when talking about liquids, "louche" can mean "cloudy" - possibly a reference to the shades of grey in Lelouch's character (perhaps most so of any in the series, not that the others are black and white themselves).
 * Claude Lelouch is also a French producer.
 * Memory Gambit:
 * Mind Over Manners
 * Milking the Giant Cow: Takes this to memetically Fabulous levels.
 * Millionaire Playboy: Is perceived as this as part of his Rich Idiot With No Day Job persona.
 * A Million Is a Statistic: Played straight, subverted and averted with Lelouch.
 * Mission Control: Being a strategist, he often performs this role.
 * Mr. Fanservice: To a degree. He gets his shower and shirtless scenes.
 * My Hero Zero: Or My Villain Zero.
 * My Sister Is Off-Limits: Unless you're Suzaku.
 * Necessarily Evil: Invoked during a discussion with Guilford.
 * His final plan, and the actions he takes to carry it out, is either this or Designated Evil.
 * Nice Hat: Nice enough to have its own fan club.
 * Noble Demon
 * Noble Fugitive
 * Nom De Mom: Along with the above trope, he and Nunnally go by their mother's maiden name while hiding in Japan.
 * Non-Action Guy: This trope is played with in sundry ways. Physically, Lelouch is at-best-mediocre compared to his comrades. Even Euphie can outrun him on foot. But he can more than hold his own on the battlefield, especially against Mooks. For more details, see the trope example.
 * Nothing Can Stop Us Now: Whenever he says, "All tasks at hand have been cleared," something's bound to go terribly wrong in a way that the poor guy couldn't have possibly expected. Borders on Cosmic Plaything at times.
 * Not What It Looks Like: Usually with Kallen. Usually witnessed by a fretful Shirley. Similarly -- as Zero -- with C.C., witnessed by a fretful Kallen.
 * Ominous Opera Cape
 * Ordinary High School Student: The preferred mask Lelouch wears when not wearing his preferred mask.
 * Out-Gambitted: Does this to enemies a few times and it happens to him too.
 * Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette
 * Paranoia Gambit: One word: "Orange".
 * Parental Issues: While almost everyone on the show has these, his prove more lethal than most.
 * Pay Evil Unto Evil - See the main page quote.
 * Personality Powers
 * Playing Against Type: Lelouch's Seiyuu Fukuyama Jun usually plays as straightforward, naive heroes (such as Watanuki from XxxHolic). The English dub follows suit by picking Johnny Yong Bosch (you might remember him as Idiot Hero Ichigo Kurosaki, soft-spoken philosopher Itsuki Koizumi or goofy Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass Vash the Stampede... or, if you want to go even further back, the Green Zeo/Turbo Ranger and the second Black Ranger).
 * Powered Armor: In Nightmare of Nunnally, sort of (it's complicated). Zero can fight Knightmares hand to hand.
 * Power Incontinence: Hits him at exactly the worst possible second.
 * Promotion to Parent: After their mother was murdered and their father abandoned them, Lelouch became Nunnally's primary caretaker.
 * Psychic-Assisted Suicide: Lelouch uses his Geass to do this at least four times. The first of which is at the end of the very first episode.
 * Psychotic Smirk: Borders on Slasher Smile sometimes, but whenever he's just wiped out an enemy taskforce or thwarted one of their plans, Lelouch's typical alternating scowl/smug expression goes off into an awesomely evil smile. Often preceded or followed by an equally entertaining Evil Laugh.
 * Purple Eyes: They become red when he uses his Geass.
 * Real Men Wear Pink: Aside from his "fabulous" wardrobe as, Lelouch is also apparently a pretty good cook. The latter is justified, since he had to learn housekeeping skills to care for Nunally.
 * Rebel Prince
 * Red Eyes, Take Warning: When he uses his Geass. Otherwise he has Purple Eyes.
 * Red Oni, Blue Oni: Evoked a few times, with a few different characters:
 * Mao (red) and Lelouch (blue)
 * Lelouch (red) and C.C. (blue)
 * Suzaku (red) and Lelouch (blue)
 * Lelouch (red) and Schneizel (blue)
 * Red Right Hand: His left eye,.
 * Rich Idiot With No Day Job: His non-Zero persona. Then again it was all a front because he was in hiding, and therefore did things that did not call attention to himself.
 * Royal Blood
 * Sanity Slippage: This started.
 * Sarcastic Confession: Gave one to Suzaku and Schneizel took great advantage of it.
 * Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: Lelouch with nearly any girl he can be paired with, due to his Squishy Wizard nature. Only Nunnally, C.C., and maybe Sayoko don't fall under this.
 * Scheherezade Gambit:.
 * Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: A Deconstruction, through his and Suzaku's interactions.
 * In more ways than one. When they first met during their childhood, Lelouch really was the sensitive one, while Suzaku was the ruffian. It was the subsequent occupation of Japan by Britannia that supposedly inverted things, with Lelouch becoming more vengeful and embittered, and Suzaku,, becoming neurotic and attempting to be even more mild-mannered and chivalrous. Though of course, cracks in their respective facades would show throughout the series.
 * Sex for Solace: Subverted when a depressed Lelouch propositions with this and she slaps him instead.
 * Shield Surf: During his duel with Guilford.
 * Shoot the Shaggy Dog: One of the reasons
 * Shrouded in Myth: People thought Zero was a woman, Prince Clovis or a prince of another country.
 * Shut UP, Hannibal: Twice. First, in season one, after Mao most unpleasantly discloses that Suzaku and then precedes to berate Lelouch's thoroughly traumatized friend, Lelouch has clearly had enough, and commands him via Geass to never speak again. The second time is in R2, when confronted with Charles'  plan for Instrumentality with the Ragnarok Junction and the revelation that, Lelouch rebuts and banishes Charles  to C's World with the assistance of the collective unconsciousness.
 * Silent Scapegoat: Zero Requiem.
 * Slave Mooks: Gets an entire army of them in the final arc.
 * Slouch of Villainy: He does these in the cockpit of whatever Knightmare he's riding in.
 * Slowly Slipping Into Evil
 * The Smart Guy: While Code Geass has almost as many TV Geniuses as it has idiots, Lelouch still stands out as among the very smartest.
 * Smart People Play Chess: Lelouch is introduced by having him win an unwinnable chess game. He's the second smartest person in the entire world of the series.
 * The Social Expert
 * Spanner in the Works: Lelouch's affection for his friends has scuttled his plans almost as many times as Suzaku has.
 * Squishy Wizard: This trope is played with in sundry ways. In physical strength, speed, endurance, and coordination, he's not remotely in the league with Kallen, Cornelia, or most of his other allies and adversaries -- much less Suzaku, whose Charles Atlas Superpower allows him to dodge machine-gun bullets. Even Euphie can outrun him on foot. He manages to power through when it counts, though.
 * Star-Crossed Lovers: With.
 * Stop or I Shoot Myself: Does this in response to C. C. pointing her gun at him to prevent him from going anywhere.
 * The Strategist: Naturally.
 * Straw Hypocrite: He starts out using and manipulating the Japanese liberation cause as a cover for his own personal revenge. Only to later on embrace it for real.
 * Student Council President: Well, Vice President.
 * Superheroes Wear Capes: As part of his hero identity.
 * Sure, Let's Go with That: The other Black Knights assume that C.C.'s his mistress, and he doesn't bother to correct them.
 * Take a Third Option: Lelouch tends to do this.
 * Taking the Bullet: He did this to save Rolo..
 * Talking to Himself: With Touga Tenkuji of all people in Super Robot Wars Z 2.
 * Tall, Dark, Handsome and Snarky
 * Tame His Anger
 * The Tape Knew You Would Say That: Twice!
 * Tempting Fate: Constantly. See also Nothing Can Stop Us Now, above.
 * Tragic Hero/Tragic Villain: Depending on perspective. Possibly both at the same time.
 * Trauma Conga Line: The writers of Code Geass R2 traumatize Lelouch every two episodes like clockwork from episode thirteen on -- so much so that by his fourth trauma he could not even cry when he was told that.
 * Troubled but Cute
 * Tsundere: Type A. He loves mocking his enemies and rivals, but God is he dere to those he loves.
 * Ubermensch
 * The UnFavourites: Lelouch and Nunnally, apparently, as a side-effect of the rest of the court's disdain for their mother Marianne.
 * The Unfettered: Initially he did have a few fetters, but one by one they disapeared.
 * Urban Legend Love Life: Thanks to Sayoko setting up 108 dates with him, many of his classmates think he's a Millionaire Playboy and the Black Knights think C.C. is Zero's mistress.
 * The Uriah Gambit:
 * Utopia Justifies the Means: Lelouch is willing to go to almost any lengths to create a perfect world for Nunnally. By the end of R2, this includes.
 * Villain with Good Publicity: Seems to evoke this.
 * Visionary Villain: Just wants to remake the world, is all.
 * Wake Up, Go to School, Save the World: Part of his non-Zero persona.
 * We Would Have Told You But: He keeps nearly everyone else in the dark about.
 * Weak but Skilled
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist: Towards the end of R2 he seems to be more Necessarily Evil.
 * What Measure Is a Mook?
 * What the Hell, Hero?: Happens to him a few times -- perhaps most ironically, by Mao.
 * White-Haired Pretty Boy: The Other Wiki tells us this was originally in his character design. Along with a mask. Blond Anti-Hero rival with great plans. Does this remind you of anyone?
 * White Prince: A fallen one.
 * Will Not Tell a Lie: To Nunnally at least. To the point where, in R2
 * Xanatos Planned This Character
 * Xanatos Gambit, Gambit Roulette (formerly Xanatos Gambit) and Xanatos Speed Chess: Everything he does or forced to resort to.
 * Lelouch REALLY gets around in The Plan and Gambit indexes. Just count all his Gambit-centric entries...
 * Yandere: A possible interpretation of his character.
 * You Killed My Mother
 * You Wouldn't Shoot Me: Lelouch pulls this a few times. The first, when C. C. threatens to shoot him in episode 7 to prevent him from going off and putting himself in danger, which he counters by pointing a gun at himself. A few episodes later, a few the Black Knights threaten to shoot him after he strands them, along with himself, on top of Narita, prior to the incursion of Cornelia's forces, and he defies them to find anyone else cunning enough to lead them. Finally, Kallen, at the start of season 2, including walking up to her and pressing the gun to his chest before finally taking it away. At the same time, this is also a subversion of the trope on several levels. Kallen is his bodyguard and thus far from "helpless", and is confronting him to find out whether or not he used his geass on her to make her love him. She's also killed many times before before, and could Easily kill Lelouch with or without the gun. Lelouch also doesn't intimidate her into giving him the gun; rather, he simply tells her the truth and asks whether or not she believes him.
 * Weak but Skilled
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist: Towards the end of R2 he seems to be more Necessarily Evil.
 * What Measure Is a Mook?
 * What the Hell, Hero?: Happens to him a few times -- perhaps most ironically, by Mao.
 * White-Haired Pretty Boy: The Other Wiki tells us this was originally in his character design. Along with a mask. Blond Anti-Hero rival with great plans. Does this remind you of anyone?
 * White Prince: A fallen one.
 * Will Not Tell a Lie: To Nunnally at least. To the point where, in R2
 * Xanatos Planned This Character
 * Xanatos Gambit, Gambit Roulette (formerly Xanatos Gambit) and Xanatos Speed Chess: Everything he does or forced to resort to.
 * Lelouch REALLY gets around in The Plan and Gambit indexes. Just count all his Gambit-centric entries...
 * Yandere: A possible interpretation of his character.
 * You Killed My Mother
 * You Wouldn't Shoot Me: Lelouch pulls this a few times. The first, when C. C. threatens to shoot him in episode 7 to prevent him from going off and putting himself in danger, which he counters by pointing a gun at himself. A few episodes later, a few the Black Knights threaten to shoot him after he strands them, along with himself, on top of Narita, prior to the incursion of Cornelia's forces, and he defies them to find anyone else cunning enough to lead them. Finally, Kallen, at the start of season 2, including walking up to her and pressing the gun to his chest before finally taking it away. At the same time, this is also a subversion of the trope on several levels. Kallen is his bodyguard and thus far from "helpless", and is confronting him to find out whether or not he used his geass on her to make her love him. She's also killed many times before before, and could Easily kill Lelouch with or without the gun. Lelouch also doesn't intimidate her into giving him the gun; rather, he simply tells her the truth and asks whether or not she believes him.
 * You Killed My Mother
 * You Wouldn't Shoot Me: Lelouch pulls this a few times. The first, when C. C. threatens to shoot him in episode 7 to prevent him from going off and putting himself in danger, which he counters by pointing a gun at himself. A few episodes later, a few the Black Knights threaten to shoot him after he strands them, along with himself, on top of Narita, prior to the incursion of Cornelia's forces, and he defies them to find anyone else cunning enough to lead them. Finally, Kallen, at the start of season 2, including walking up to her and pressing the gun to his chest before finally taking it away. At the same time, this is also a subversion of the trope on several levels. Kallen is his bodyguard and thus far from "helpless", and is confronting him to find out whether or not he used his geass on her to make her love him. She's also killed many times before before, and could Easily kill Lelouch with or without the gun. Lelouch also doesn't intimidate her into giving him the gun; rather, he simply tells her the truth and asks whether or not she believes him.

Suzaku Kururugi


"Voiced by: Takahiro Sakurai and Akeno Watanabe (Adult and child; Japanese), Yuri Lowenthal and Laura Bailey (Adult and child; English)"

""A victory gained through dishonest means is worthless.""

The rival and "best friend" of Lelouch. Suzaku is a rather controversial character. Instead of following Lelouch's ideals to crush Britannia to save Japan, Suzaku opted to "change Britannia from the inside, to help Japan," and he is willing to crush Japanese freedom fighters and terrorists in order to achieve this (even those that share his ultimate goals, such as the Kyoto Group). Speaking of that, he got chosen to pilot the Humongous Mecha Lancelot, which enables him to do lots of otherwise-impossible physical feats. He often tells people that "results obtained using the wrong means are meaningless," which means he opposes Zero for using terrorism to achieve his ends, but this is actually.

Later, he finds love in Princess Euphemia li Britannia, and got picked as her Knight, nonetheless. But after a certain incident that made him lose her very cruelly and messily, he blamed Zero for it and became more "honest", showing more brutality and less restraint. Even after the revelation that Zero is Lelouch, Suzaku did not falter and turned against his best friend.

In the second season, Suzaku becomes a Knight of the Round and hopes to advance to the rank of Knight the First, since it will grant him honorary rule of any area. He plans to take control of Area 11 (Japan) and use his position to help the Japanese people.

Not to be mistaken for The Phoenix.

-

Suzaku embodies these tropes:

"Lelouch (still in Zero persona): You fight for a woman like --
 * Ace Pilot: The most obvious example in all of Code Geass.
 * Almighty Janitor: For the first half of the first season, Suzaku is treated like dirt because of his race, even though he's one of the best pilots in the series and pilots a nigh unstoppable Super Prototype.
 * Animals Hate Him: Well, cats do, anyway. Although eventually he seems to make his peace with Team Pet Arthur.
 * Anti-Hero: Type IV at best, Type V at worst.
 * Anti-Villain: Type IV -> Type II. Suzaku is one for most of the series.
 * Arranged Marriage: He was engaged to his cousin Kaguya when they were children, but that was broken once Genbu died. Later, Lelouch toys with the idea of asking him to marry Nunnally so he could protect her.
 * The Atoner
 * Badass Abnormal: Although obviously the Lancelot's inherent capabilities account for a lot of its destructive potential on the battlefield, Lloyd has made it quite clear that Suzaku himself is almost uniquely suited to it. But more importantly, a few scenes of Suzaku outside his Knightmare Frame demonstrate that he's quite capable in his own right as well.
 * In Tales Of An Alternate Shogunate, he can even fight Knightmares on foot.
 * Becoming the Genie: In the manga Suzaku of the Counterattack.
 * Badass
 * Badass Cape: As Knight of Seven.
 * Heartbroken Badass: After.
 * Beta Couple: With Princess Euphemia. She champions him (a risky thing for her to do, since he's an Eleven), and he becomes her official knight, both literally and figuratively. Suzaku / Euphemia sets up a nice contrast with Lelouch (for whom Suzaku is a Foil) / Shirley (who is in many ways similar to Euphemia, or how Euphemia might have been if she had not grown up as royalty.)
 * Beware the Honest Ones: Part of the reason for his Chronic Backstabbing Disorder. Verges on Hypocritical Humor since he lies almost as much as Lelouch in spite of it.
 * Big Brother Is Employing You
 * Big Damn Heroes: Suzaku just loves having these, but not just for the glory. (See Death Seeker.)
 * Big Eyes, Little Eyes: He has big eyes, to indicate his seeming innocence -- but not truly enormous eyes like Euphemia or Shirley.
 * In fact, both Suzaku and Lelouch sometimes seem to act as subversions of this trope, as both have large, expressive eyes despite both of them being lying, hypocritical anti-heroes/anti-villains with extremely high body counts. Since Code Geass plays this trope straight with most other characters, however, we can assume that their eyes are meant to imply both of their largely noble intentions and capacity for great good despite all the evil things they end up doing.
 * Bishounen
 * Black Sheep: Suzaku was disowned when he became an Honorary Brittanian.
 * Blue Blood: In a sense. His father was the Prime Minister of Japan, and there are those who want the family to retain power.
 * Bodyguard Crush: Towards Euphemia. Reciprocated.
 * Boring Invincible Hero: He's actually quite a good Deconstruction of the archetype, with the first season gradually exposing the huge psychological issues and painful back story that would go into making someone like that, and R2 showing the gradual disintegration of this status until the end of the season when he.
 * Brains Evil Brawn Good: Played with in that he is a Charles Atlas Superpower Anti-Villain working for the Big Bad, whereas Squishy Wizard Lelouch who is more like a stereotypical use of this trope is actually the Well-Intentioned Extremist Byronic Hero.
 * Broken Ace
 * Byronic Hero
 * Calling the Old Man Out: Like Lelouch, he tried doing that to his father.
 * Cats Are Mean: Cats are mean to Suzaku. Arthur seems to hold no ill will toward any other members of the cast.
 * Charles Atlas Superpower: For reasons pointed out but not fully explained in the anime, Suzaku is capable of performing athletic feats far beyond what normal humans are able to (like running along a wall and kicking off a machine gun with a 0.05 seconds time delay).
 * The anime does indicate Suzaku benefits from using his nigh-supernatural physical abilities under the influence of the
 * In a presumably non-canon Cd extra, Cecile remembers a time when she accidentally drops a chip under the Lancelot's foot. Much to her shock, Suzaku is able to lift the mecha's foot with his bare hands to allow her to grab the chip.
 * This was apparently going to be explained sometime in the second season. But that thread got lost in the mad scramble to keep the show going strong.
 * Chess Motifs: The knight piece: Suzaku is the white knight and his strange movements let him take Lelouch by surprise.
 * Chick Magnet: Very much so. Perhaps less so than Lelouch. Certainly less oblivious about it.
 * Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: So much so that other characters draw attention to it repeatedly. Before the series starts, he betrayed Japan to Britannia by  and joining up with the Britannia army.
 * Conflicting Loyalty: A big reason for the above. During the course of the show, Suzaku tries to balance his loyalties to Japan and its people, the Britannian military he has sworn to serve, the people he cares about and wants to protect, and his personal moral code. At almost any given time in the series, at least two of these will be in conflict with each other. Lampshaded by Lloyd, who points out that it will get him killed someday. That might have been the point.
 * Cool Shades: He only wears them on his days off.
 * Crash Into Hello: How he meets Princess Euphemia. An unusual example, in that it's vertical rather than horizonal: Euphie falls (or possibly jumps) on top of him while climbing out her window. This begins a pseudo-Rescue Romance that blossoms into a Bodyguard Crush that might have led to a real relationship and possibly even marriage.
 * Cursed with Awesome: He uses Lelouch's "Live On!" command to his advantage. It even becomes his Super Mode in ''Super Robot Wars Z2: Saisei-Hen
 * Death Seeker and Redemption Equals Death: Subverted BIG time . Both tropes are revealed and lampshaded by Mao.
 * The Determinator:
 * Deuteragonist:
 * Disappeared Dad: The aforementioned Genbu Kururugi, ex-Prime Minister of Japan who was heavily opposed to Britannia.
 * The Dragon:
 * Dual-Wielding: Suzaku's Humongous Mecha Lancelot would frequently use two swords, but when it was upgraded into its Albion form, it started carrying around a rifle in each hand.
 * Dynamic Entry: He does his Spinzaku Kick on his first appearance.
 * Even the Guys Want Him: His Ho Yay / Foe Yay with Lelouch and Gino.
 * Everything's Better with Spinning: His "Spinzaku" Fan Nickname says it all.
 * Expy: Of Kira Yamato with Euphie serving as an Expy of Lacus to round the pair up. Made even more clear later on when.
 * Failure Knight: Even when he does become Euphie's knight,
 * Fan Nickname: Several of them: "Uzaku" ('cuz some people don't like him), "Hax" (for pulling gravity-defying fighting moves), and "Spinzaku" (which is spreading through Memetic Mutation). Read on for the episode-specific variations.
 * There are also all the fan-ideated rewritings of his first name:  (after episode 14), "Doomzaku" &   (episode 18),   (episode 19), "Runzaku" (episode 20), "Roofzaku"   (episode 21), and "Deathzaku" (episode 22). Concluding with.
 * Then again, getting to  kinda helps to take the edge off.
 * The Fettered: Deconstructed
 * The Fool: A bit of a subversion. He tends to have incredible Plot Armor, which he would rather not have for particular reasons. Which also becomes a major liability for Lelouch.
 * For Want of a Nail, In Nightmare of Nunnally,, and as a result, is a more well-adjusted and moral individual.
 * Forgotten Friend, New Foe
 * Freak-Out: After, Suzaku snaps and goes through one, Evil Laugh included. It radically changes his character throughout the rest of the anime.
 * Also has one about one season earlier when Mao exposes his
 * Freudian Excuse: More Freudian than most examples.
 * Green Eyes
 * Guilt Complex/Survivor Guilt: So much so that he's a Death Seeker.
 * Heroes Want Redheads: Well, pinkheads, in the case of Princess Euphemia.
 * Heroic BSOD:
 * He Who Fights Monsters
 * Honor Before Reason
 * Horrible Judge of Character: Hates violence and discrimination. So why does he trust the very people who occupied his country?
 * Humongous Mecha: See Ace Pilot, above.
 * Hurricane Kick: The origin of "Spinzaku". In fact, even he recognizes it as his trump card, to the point that he immediately lost all hope of winning a fight when Kallen defeated it.
 * Hypocrite / Moral Dissonance: Preaches non-violence and working within the system, yet supports one that invaded and colonized his country, downgrading him along with all other natives to second-class status, and has no problems with violently oppressing them. Cranked up to 11 in R2 when . All of this of course is in hopes of Japan's well-being, but it turns out to me more self-contradictory and counterproductive than anything. Also qualifies as What an Idiot!.
 * Also believes the end doesn't justify the means yet works for Britannia to one day change it and is little more their enforcer for the majority of the series.
 * I Cannot Self-Terminate
 * Idiot Hero: Played for drama (if not deconstructed) as he painfully pays the consequences for his questionable decisions.
 * Idiot Houdini: On the other hand, and ironically enough, he survives against all rights, and his own wishes.
 * Inspector Javert
 * Internal Reformist:.
 * Ironic Hell: The whole situation with Lelouch and his dad.
 * It's All My Fault
 * It Gets Easier
 * I Will Protect Her: He becomes knight and love interest to Euphie.
 * Jade-Colored Glasses: What he acquires thorugh the series.
 * Karma Houdini: A case where the character thinks he is, and is arguably right. He gets away with killing his father, defies royal orders several times, yet is never really punished for it except for self-imposed ones. For much of the series, Suzaku's compulsion to atone for being a Karma Houdini -- along with his consequent self-hated -- is his driving motivation. All this is Lampshaded very Melodramatically by Mao in episode 16.
 * Katanas Are Just Better: In Tales Of An Alternate Shogunate, wields one with great skill.
 * Kids Are Cruel: Think he was a nice boy? Think again. He's just more passive-aggressive these days.
 * While he does have a nasty streak, he does also get over it and becomes a genuinely good friend to Lelouch and Nunnally.
 * Kindhearted Cat Lover: He is said to love cats upon his first meeting with Euphie (whom is playing with a cat he later takes in, named Arthur), but this also said to be a one-sided love which becomes something of a Running Gag for the show.
 * Or possibly Arthur does like Suzaku and bites him to show affection. Arthur even saves Suzaku's life by biting a Black Knight who's about to kill him when they take over Ashford. Heck, even the cats are Tsundere in this series.
 * Kissing Cousins: With Kaguya. See Arranged Marriage, above.
 * Knight in Shining Armor: In the beginning. Later, he became a Knight Templar.
 * Knight Templar: His intentions are noble in theory, but in practice they require ruthlessness to carry out. It also doesn't pan out so well for any country that isn't Japan or Britannia.
 * It doesn't pan out well for Japan either.
 * Laughing Mad: At the end of R2 episode 19 (doubles as his Heel Realization).
 * Lawful Stupid: Believes that he will be able to change the system from within, even though he has no chance. Ends up working against what he wants to do.
 * Lawful Selfish: When you consider his secret motives.
 * Love Makes You Evil: His descends into Knight Templar status.
 * Me Love You Long Time: His relationship with Princess Euphemia inverts this trope.
 * Meaningful Name: Suzaku and his late father, Genbu. His Knightmare's name qualifies, too.
 * A bit of Fridge Brilliance. The Phoenix rises from its ashes (or lays egg before it burns), so it's, kind of, immortal. Lelouch geassed Suzaku to live on, with the same 'rise from the ashes' effect. Not literally, of course.
 * He pilots the Lancelot, named after a knight who had a tragic affair with a noblewoman.
 * Meet Cute: With Princess Euphemia. Not just their vertical Crash Into Hello (when she falls on top of him while "escaping" imaginary villains), but the whole sequence that follows, which is arguably the happiest and most unambiguously romantic sequence in the series. So you just know things are going to go well from then on.
 * Memento MacGuffin: His Disappeared Dad's old pocket watch, which once saves him from death, as he's shot at very close range but the watch stops the bullet.
 * Meta Guy: Becomes this in the Picture and Audio Dramas, especially those from the R2 timeframe.
 * The McCoy
 * Mr. Fanservice: His Knightmare Frame-piloting uniform is really tight. He's pretty muscular, and he's got a really cute butt!
 * He also resembles Syaoran from Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle a little bit. Considering the designs were done by CLAMP, this shouldn't come as a surprise.
 * Moral Myopia: Toward the second season (really, anytime after ), he ultimately committed many of the same violent acts he decried earlier on. Arguably even before that, where he really has no problem with the massacre of every citizen in the Shinjuku ghetto, and even aids in it by removing the only thing keeping it at bay (the terrorists). In general, Suzaku seems to hold the belief that it's ok for Britannia to act this way because they're in charge, but no one else can no matter how justified it may be.
 * Rather, he tries his best to help and protect as many people as possible with his limited freedom as a Britannian soldier, and desperately(often delusionally) clings to the hope that it's for the greater good whenever he's ordered to partake in, execute or overlook needless violence. At no point does he believe it to be "ok" for anyone. He also seemed completely unaware and ignorant of the wanton killing of japanese civillians in Shinjuku.
 * My God, What Have I Done?: He has three of these.
 * Placed Into The Cockpit: In the beginning, he became the pilot of the Lancelot because he was the only soldier around. Everyone else was kicking lots of puppies in the Japanese Ghetto, so Lloyd and Cecile make him go out in the mecha.
 * Principles Zealot: Started off like this and then as events Got Worse, he moved away from it.
 * The Quisling: Ingratiates himself quite thouroughly into Britannian culture, particularly after.
 * Rags to Riches: Suzaku becomes one of the most respected men in Japan through his martial prowess, in contrast to Lelouch who is ex-royalty.
 * Red Baron: "The White Grim Reaper".
 * Ryu and Ken: To Kallen
 * The Scapegoat: Set up as the fall guy for the murder of Clovis by Jeremiah in hopes of having the Honorary Britannian system eradicated.
 * Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right: Up for debate. Suzaku, the pilot of a Humongous Mecha, punched the mech's designer in the face when he didn't let him go out and fight, as they weren't given orders to deploy. This is a big shift for pro-rules Suzaku. Now whether you consider his actions following this justice-driven or revenge-driven decides whether this belongs here.
 * It should also me mentioned that due to the heavy Gray and Gray Morality of the series, it's a matter of personal opinion whether Suzaku is doing the "right" thing or not at any given time, whether he's following the rules or not.
 * Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: He seems like this for part of the series, but it's a facade.
 * Shut UP, Hannibal:
 * Red Baron: "The White Grim Reaper".
 * Ryu and Ken: To Kallen
 * The Scapegoat: Set up as the fall guy for the murder of Clovis by Jeremiah in hopes of having the Honorary Britannian system eradicated.
 * Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right: Up for debate. Suzaku, the pilot of a Humongous Mecha, punched the mech's designer in the face when he didn't let him go out and fight, as they weren't given orders to deploy. This is a big shift for pro-rules Suzaku. Now whether you consider his actions following this justice-driven or revenge-driven decides whether this belongs here.
 * It should also me mentioned that due to the heavy Gray and Gray Morality of the series, it's a matter of personal opinion whether Suzaku is doing the "right" thing or not at any given time, whether he's following the rules or not.
 * Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: He seems like this for part of the series, but it's a facade.
 * Shut UP, Hannibal:
 * Shut UP, Hannibal:

Suzaku: (interrupts) Your Geass power is quite convenient, isn't it? You get to hide in the shadows while others take all the blame for doing your dirty work. You're just an arrogant coward. That's your true nature, the real you."


 * Spanner in the Works: Aside from the fact that he is usually the one to spoil Lelouch's plans (including his "Live" Geass),.
 * Tall, Dark and Handsome: He's 5'9" (175 cms) which is just above average, but the rest checks out.
 * Tame His Anger
 * To Be Lawful or Good
 * Took a Level In Jerkass: Quite a few levels in fact in R2. Though given everything that happens to him over the course of the series, it's sort of Justified.
 * Tragic Hero/Tragic Villain: Just like Lelouch, depends on perspective. Possibly both at the same time.
 * The Unfettered: Later in the series.
 * Unskilled but Strong: As a Knightmare pilot, though it's subdued. His natural talent and his extremely advanced Knightmare cover his weaknesses, but Suzaku is not a seasoned pilot and it shows. During his first battle against the Guren, Kallen effortlessly countered all his attacks, and Suzaku grows increasingly desperate until Lady Luck sabotages Kallen's efforts. When Kallen gets the SEITEN, he panics and just starts attacking like a madman. By comparison, Luciano, Complete Monster or not, had a sold strategy and matter-of-factly recognized that he wasn't going to win in a straight fight.
 * Unwitting Pawn: Suzaku is an earnest, well meaning lad with a healthy respect for authority stuck in a show filled to the brim with Magnificent Bastards and Chess Masters. As a result, he ends up being everyone's pawn... and often ends up derailing as many gambits as he helps build.
 * Wake Up, Go to School, Save the World
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist: He is. This, in turn, subverts the trope where mandatorily one and only one of the two arch-rivals is the Well-Intentioned Extremist, since BOTH of them fit the trope.
 * White Prince: A Deconstruction.
 * Wide-Eyed Idealist: Initially, though this brutally changes over the course of the series.
 * Would Not Shoot a Civilian: To the core.  He fights the Japanese resistance -- or any attempt (legitimate or otherwise) to free Japan -- precisely because it endangers civilians. Even in the heat of battle, Suzaku goes out of his way not to harm civilians, even if it means disobeying direct orders. (For example, in the very first episode, he refuses to shoot Lelouch -- although in that instance he also has personal reasons, as he and Lelouch are long-time friends.) Of course, the tragic irony is that Britannia is just as likely to harm Japanese civilians as the terrorists are, sometimes more so, and Suzaku participates (albeit very indirectly) in the first episode's massacre.
 * You Are Number Six: Is by definition, as a Japanese native, a Number. Ironically enough in R2, he refers to Kallen by her prisoner number when he requests Nunnally, who is conversing with her, to allow him to interrogate her. A signal of his further descent, especially in that he, the nation and the fellow countrymen he fights for are Numbers.

C.C.


"Voiced by: Yukana (Japanese), Kate Higgins (English)"

""Snow is white because it's forgotten what color it's supposed to be.""

A sarcastic, green-haired girl first found inside an alleged 'poison gas bomb', sporting bondage gear and a big butt. C.C. (pronounced "C2" -- or "Shi-Tsu") grants the Geass power to Lelouch, who apparently can give her her mysterious greatest wish, and later stays with him to watch over him. It's later revealed that she gave another Geass to a man named Mao. She has been a close attendant to Zero and has helped him various times, leading him to ally himself with her: "If you're a witch, then I'm a demon."

Speaking of witches, her past and her name both remain a mystery. Rumor has it that she's been living for many years dating back to the era of Kings, and ever since then she's been repeatedly tortured or killed because of her powers (shot to the forehead, burned at the stake, put inside an Iron Maiden, etc.). She also has a penchant for pizza, and always orders some from Pizza Hut using Lelouch's credit card (not a problem, since he's filthy rich, but it's still an annoyance to him).

-

"Kallen: So you're stopping here huh? No choice then....You better come back or else...
 * Action Girl: Borderline. She doesn't do much actual fighting but she's perfectly capable of it; see Waif Fu below.
 * Alliterative Name: If those are indeed her initials.
 * And I Must Scream: Very nearly, with Mao. Probably happened to her a lot, given her Immortality and healing powers.
 * Anti-Hero: Type IV.
 * Badass: You know it!
 * Be Careful What You Wish For: Her offering Lelouch and Mao their Geass powers..
 * It's played with, though, in that the characters don't consciously decide what their 'wish' (that is, their Geass) will be; however, it does seem to be decided by their inner desires, making it still a more or less straight example of this trope.
 * Belated Backstory: We didn't learn who she truly was until the second season.
 * Big Eater: Her love of pizza, which she can frequently be seen eating.
 * Blessed with Suck: Her immortality and.
 * Body Horror: See And I Must Scream, above.
 * It actually does happen to her in the actual story, however; according to Word of God, when she sinks into the ocean at the end of the first season she's crushed to pieces by ocean pressure, and the pieces eventually resurface and come back together.
 * Broken Bird: Due to her past, she came to not consider herself a human being anymore, and only now is starting to get her human feelings back thanks to Lelouch.
 * Cannot Spit It Out: Let's just say that the show wouldn't very interesting if.
 * Cry Cute: A cold-hearted, manipulative bitch like C.C. only cries with good reason ... but when she does, the sheer warmth makes you wonder if you are looking at the same person.
 * Cursed with Awesome: Oh, sure, she's got that immortality to worry about, but she can do just about anything thanks to her powers.
 * Dark Is Not Evil: Wears one when she's with the Black Knights.
 * Light Is Not Good: Her other outfit, as seen in the picture.
 * Dark Mistress: Subverted. She's far from it, but the Black Knights assume that she is. While Lelouch doesn't bother to correct them, she at least tries to set the record straight with Tamaki, though he doesn't believe her.
 * Deadpan Snarker: Lord, yes.
 * Defrosting Ice Queen
 * Disney Death: In the first episode.
 * Doom Magnet
 * Draco in Leather Pants: People love to ignore that, despite her really terrible backstory, she's very, very morally ambiguous, and that many of her actions have her sitting on the fence of the Moral Event Horizon. (Just like Lulu, if you wonder)
 * Also, Mao gives C.C. the DILP treatment in-universe. He sees her as a perfect angel even though she robbed him of his life by giving him his Geass that ultimately completely destroyed him when he was a little boy under the age of eight! After he refused to fulfill her contract, C.C abandoned him thinking that he would hate her, but yeah, it didn't work out....
 * Nightmare of Nunnally removes her truly negative deeds, and implies that she has no choice about the rest.
 * Eyes of Gold
 * Fan Nickname: Pizza Butt.
 * Fan Service: Look up. She is also number twelve on the list. Yes, of course they have a list
 * Femme Fatale
 * Fish Out of Temporal Water: After.
 * The Gadfly: Sometimes it seems as if she just likes to push Lelouch's buttons.
 * Girl in a Box: Or better said, Girl in a Poison Gas Tank.
 * Gratuitous English: Her "name" C.C. is pronounced See-Two on the English dub but more or less Shi-Tsu in the original Japanese.
 * Honest Advisor: C.C. to Lelouch. Usually.
 * Well...not so much considering she willfully withheld plenty of information from him, especially concerning her history with Mao and the true horrific nature of her contract. But at least she admitted to Lelouch that she wouldn't tell him anything she didn't want to.
 * Immortality
 * I'm Taking Her Home with Me:
 * Mao also tries to take her to a house he bought in remote Australia where they can live away from all the thoughts his Geass forces him to hear.
 * Laser-Guided Amnesia:  Reversed when.
 * Manipulative Bitch
 * Mayfly-December Romance: C.C. the ageless, deathless witch is romanced by Mao, a seventeen/eighteen-year-old boy.
 * Kick the Dog: But it's a bit difficult to look at her in quite the same way after the flashback to Mao's childhood, as her treatment of him isn't any more excusable than his treatment of Shirley. Not only did she transform an innocent little boy into an insane, murderous animal; but she also in doing so created a major threat that comes back to drag both her and innocent bystanders down with him. Lelouch, for his part, calls her out when he learns about her and Mao because her carelessness in dealing with him indirectly led to Shirley's More Than Mind Control. Then she apparentlykills Mao, which may be the only thing that prevents it from being a genuine Moral Event Horizon-crossing action.
 * That said, she didn't abandon Mao just to be cruel. She thought that, in abandoning Mao, he'd come to hate her for it and get over the fact that she asked him to kill her. Sadly, she underestimated Mao's obsession, and it turns out that he blames everyone but C.C for her deserting him and is perfectly willing to kill anyone else who she tries to make a contract with (like Lelouch). She herself believed in isolating herself to protect her loved ones, and attempted this with Lelouch... who of course had none of it.
 * In addition, it should be noted that a) we don't know the exact circumstances of her contract with Mao and b) she had no way of knowing he'd get quite the power he did. The latter point is somewhat null in that she seems fully aware of the fact that Geass powers tend to ruin more lives than they improve, but that still leaves the decision to contract with Mao only worse than contracting with anyone in that Mao was just a kid. And again, we don't know the exact circumstances.
 * Ms. Exposition: When she's not snarking, she sometimes bothers to fill Lelouch in on events; such as the whole deal with Mao.
 * Ms. Fanservice
 * Mysterious Past: For a long time, we didn't know anything about her. This was reversed in R2 episode 15, which describes her past in detail.
 * Mysterious Waif
 * Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: That whole business with her and Mao. See also Kick the Dog, What an Idiot!, and What the Hell, Hero?.
 * Nigh Invulnerability: Comes with being immortal.
 * No Name Given: Lelouch is the only one who knows of her true name, and the dialogue is muted both times it is mentioned.
 * No One Could Survive That: Takes a bullet to the head for Lelouch in the very first episode. Shows up fine as the fourth episode's cliffhanger, and Lelouch comes home to find her playing with Nunnally.
 * Not So Different: Invoked with her and Mao.
 * Asakim and C.C are immortals. Asakim was overcome with despair. C.C. chose hope, by giving power to other people. At first for entertainment, then hoping for a change, which she finally acknowledged in Lelouch.
 * Not What It Looks Like: Kallen keeps walking in on C.C. and Zero "just talking."
 * Older Than They Look: Although she looks like a teenager, she's Really Seven Hundred Years Old.
 * Poisonous Friend
 * Power Incontinence: It's implied that she originally took over the Code to get out of hers.
 * Pretty Freeloaders: She gets to enjoy all the comforts of the academy on Lelouch's dime.
 * Rapunzel Hair
 * Really Seven Hundred Years Old: She's been alive for centuries, after she . She apparently even knew some of the masterminds behind the American Revolution on a personal basis.
 * Red Oni, Blue Oni: She could be the blue to Lelouch's red.
 * Sarcasm Mode: Like there's some other mode.
 * Satellite Character: In-universe only, to Zero
 * The Spock
 * The Stoic: Nearly always. But, on rare occasion...
 * Not So Stoic: Code Geass being Code Geass, she does get emotional on several separate occasions.
 * Strange Girl: Heck, it just happens to be the name of her theme song.
 * Sugar and Ice Personality
 * Tall, Dark, Green-Haired, AND Snarky Bishoujo
 * Time Dissonance
 * Tomboy and Girly Girl: Most often Kallen (tomboy) and C.C. (girly girl), but other pairings come up too. Like Kallen, C.C. herself is a mix of both types. In one Save-Quit intermission skit in Saisei-Hen, they have a chat on how to give the player a proper farewell. C.C does it in a cutesy, feminine way.
 * Time Dissonance
 * Tomboy and Girly Girl: Most often Kallen (tomboy) and C.C. (girly girl), but other pairings come up too. Like Kallen, C.C. herself is a mix of both types. In one Save-Quit intermission skit in Saisei-Hen, they have a chat on how to give the player a proper farewell. C.C does it in a cutesy, feminine way.

C.C.: What are you doing saying farewell to the player like that?

Kallen: Then how do you suppose I do it?

C.C.: I guess I'll show you the ropes then...Erhmmm (in moe voice) Master, it's rather unfortunate that we have to part here, so please come back as soon as possible... And there you have it.

Kallen: What the heck was that just now?"


 * Trademark Favorite Food: Pizza.
 * Trickster Mentor
 * The Unfettered: Moreso than just about any other character, since she's not bound by anything, including death.
 * Vitriolic Best Buds: With Kallen in R2 and all the material that takes place during its' timeframe.
 * Waif Fu: While not on the same level as Kallen, she is quite an adept Knightmare Frame pilot, serving as Lelouch's copilot and once able to hold her own with limited support in a chaotic air battle against Suzaku, amongst others. She's also skilled in hand-to-hand combat, although it comes up much less frequently.
 * Walking the Earth: She did this when she left the Britannian palace after Marianne's death.
 * Who Wants to Live Forever?: Revealed to be ; puts a whole new spin on "The Power of Kings will condemn you to a path of loneliness."
 * Word of God turns this into a subversion after the Grand Finale, with the revelation that
 * Wife Husbandry:  Not C.C.'s plan, per se. (Probably.)
 * Woman in White: Though mostly when she's in her straitjacket.
 * You Gotta Have Green Hair: The Geass universe has quite different ethnic characteristics, with violet eyes common in the Britannian nobility, but even then C.C.'s green hair is unique. It might just be an uncommon trait like red hair, however, since it is never commented on in-show.
 * Zettai Ryouiki

Kallen Kozuki / Kallen Stadtfeld


"Voiced by: Ami Koshimizu (Japanese), Karen Strassman (English)"

""If only you had justice on your side!""

Kallen is an outspoken half-Britannian, half-Japanese girl who is damn proud of her Japanese heritage and opposed to the hostile takeover of Britannia. She has a rather frail and gentle Japanese mother, whom she kind of despised at first, but eventually decided to make her the reason for fighting after directly witnessing how much she suffered for Kallen's sake. She also attends Ashford Academy with Lelouch, playing the Ill Girl role to avoid suspicion of her involvement with the movement against Britannia. She also has a rather nice pair of boobs.

Later, Kallen joins the Black Knights as the Ace Pilot of the Gurren Nishiki and becomes a bodyguard or sorts to Zero. She's one tough and tsun-tsun girl, but in front of Zero, she gets gushy and dere-dere.

-

Kallen embodies these tropes:

"C.C.: So how do you feel riding Guren, Kallen?
 * Absolute Cleavage: Just look at the damn pic!
 * Ace Pilot: Arguably the best in the entire series.
 * Action Girl
 * Anti-Hero: Type III -> Type II. Went from Type III to Type II after becoming a Black Knight and stayed that way even as Zero slid farther down the slope.
 * All Is Well That Ends Well: It's surprising how quickly she's willing to forgive  for everything he puts her and her friends through.
 * Alliterative Name: Kallen Kozuki (or Kozuki Kallen), when she's using her mother's surname -- which she does a lot.
 * Always Someone Better: To virtually every other Knightmare pilot of repute in the series, she is this, to the point of likely being the most talented pilot in the world. Let us count the ways:
 * Anime Hair: She has a typically Code Geass crazy hairstyle when in her guise as a rebel. See Expository Hairstyle Change, below.
 * Armor Piercing Bright Slap: Used on both Lelouch and Suzaku.
 * Badass Normal: Of the four main characters, Kallen is the one completely without any specific superhuman abilities -- yet she is arguably the best pilot in the series. (Lelouch has psychic Mind Control powers; Suzaku has Charles Atlas Superpower; C.C. has Immortality.)
 * Bash Brothers: With Chirico Cuvie in Super Robot Wars Z2.
 * Berserk Button: Do not call her, her nation, or its people Numbers. If you do this and are an enemy in combat, she will destroy you with extreme prejudice.
 * Berserker Tears: In R2's first opening.
 * Big Brother Worship: Towards her dead older brother.
 * Biker Babe: Each incarnation of her Guren comes with a motorbike seat.
 * Bodyguard Crush: Towards Lelouch.
 * Broken Bird: Not in the traditional sense, but the Britannian invasion and her home life have definitely made her bitter.
 * But Not Too Foreign: Half Japanese, half Britannian.
 * Cheerful Child: Was [[media:geassdaawww_9318.jpg|fricken']] [[media:geassdaawww2_3454.jpg|adorable]] as a kid. Then shit happened.
 * Chess Motifs: The queen. Starts off as a pawn but becomes the strongest piece on the board. Her code name, Q-1, is the old-fashioned (i.e., pre-algebraic) shorthand for the square the white queen begins the game on. However, unlike an actual chess queen, her primary role is to stay by the king's (Lelouch's) side and protect him; like a chess queen, she's perfectly capable of attacking should the need arise.
 * The Complainer Is Always Wrong:
 * Custom Uniform: For the Black Knights.
 * Dead Little Sister: In this case, a dead older brother (Naoto Kozuki), for whom she nurses Big Brother Worship. Heck, her Ashford hairdo is similar to that of Naoto.
 * Deadpan Snarker: Not to C.C's level, but the tendencies are there.
 * Defector From Decadence: To as big an extent as possible. Though she is of noble blood, she has rejected Britannia and strives to free Japan, but attends Ashford Academy as a cover, and to continue her studies.
 * Defrosting Ice Queen
 * Demoted to Extra: In the Alternate Universe spinoffs, her importance dramatically declined. Even in the Lelouch of the Rebellion manga adaptation, in which she actually has an even larger role than in the original anime, the equivalent of episode 9 of the first series (which focused on her past) is all but cut out except for a scene of her at home and with her mother in the hospital.
 * Which may be just as well, though, since the drama with her mother in the anime never amounted to much afterwards.
 * Expository Hairstyle Change: Kallen used two different hairstyles (loose, straight and long-ish when she's at Ashford Academy, spikier, slightly shorter and with a headband when with the Black Knights) during the series, to avoid having her cover blown.
 * Expy: Color her hair black and make her a guy, and she looks a LOT like Domon Kasshu. For bonus points, her mecha has a signature attack nigh identical to the Shining Finger. They even have matching Hot-Blooded personalities!
 * Face Palm of Doom: her signature Finishing Move
 * Fan Girl: She could be considered one for Zero.
 * Fan Service: Her breasts, mostly, but also her butt. And of course, the shower scenes. In the non-sexual vein, she beats up Suzaku . Many fans enjoyed watching this scene.
 * Many a places have come to know her as "Serial Showerer Kallen"
 * Fan Service with a Smile: Early in the second season, as a part of her cover. There's a funny scene in Saisei-hen based off Kallen wearing the bunny suit.
 * Many a places have come to know her as "Serial Showerer Kallen"
 * Fan Service with a Smile: Early in the second season, as a part of her cover. There's a funny scene in Saisei-hen based off Kallen wearing the bunny suit.

Kallen: "How"...?

Ester: Get back Kallen. DM extermination is my specialty.

Kallen: Ester...are you mad about something?

Ester: I'm not frustrated...I'm not frustrated!

Kallen: You brought your triangle into the cockpit...

Ester: You're piloting the Guren wearing a bunny suit, aren't you?! So I'm bringing my work tool into mine too!


 * ding ding ding*

C.C.: It looks like she really is that frustrated that she couldn't become a bunny (girl).

Kallen: Sure looks like it...

Kiderra: Woman's jealousy sure is scary...

Ester: I said I'm not frustrated! Even though I'm not that pretty, or elegant, or friendly, or good as serving...

C.C.: (to all the above points) To a destructive degree.

Ester: I'll live my life as a (DM) buster. So bring it on, DM's.

C.C.: Looks like everything got solved by itself.

Chirico: Here they come."

"Kallen: So you're stopping here huh? No choice then....You better come back or else...
 * Fantastic Racism: Towards Britannians, due to their own racism and crimes against the Japanese. She gets better once she becomes friends with many Britannians at school.
 * Fiery Redhead: In keeping with standard anime coloring themes about ace pilots and the color red, Kallen has red hair, wears a red plug suit (several different ones, all red) and pilots a Red mecha named the Guren (Crimson Lotus).
 * But see You Gotta Have Blue Hair, below.
 * Foe-Tossing Charge: Episode six of R2, then again later in.
 * Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!: When Lelouch tries for sympathy sex, she decides what he really needs is a smack across the face. It turns out she's right, as he shakes his Wangst soon after.
 * Also used on Suzaku. See also Armor-Piercing Slap, above.
 * Go-Go Enslavement: When Kallen is captured she is tied to a table for no apparent reason. Later on she gets the standard Britannian prisoner garb (which is in fact rather similar to C.C.'s) and then a fancy dress, though she probably got to put the latter on in private.
 * Good Counterpart: Kallen is an odd reflection of
 * Heroes Want Redheads: Yes. Still, see You Gotta Have Blue Hair, below.
 * but that's kept secret so she doesn't have to deal with all the troubles of an Eleven or honorary Britannian.
 * Hot-Blooded: To the max.
 * Ill Girl: Part of her cover but makes her unable to participate in sports.
 * Irony: in R2, her mech is damaged, and she falls from the sky. The damage has prevented her from ejecting and the ground (or ocean in this case) is coming up quick. This is Ironic because her mech's special attack emits radiation that damages the enemy mech, and prevents them from ejecting as they're being microwaved alive. She didn't die, of course, but it was very ironic.
 * Humongous Mecha: See Ace Pilot, above.
 * Joshikousei
 * Justice Will Prevail: The line next to her picture says it all.
 * Knife Nut: She always carries her trusty pouch knife.
 * Lady in Red: More sporty, Hot-Blooded version.
 * Large Ham: When in Ace Pilot mode.
 * Last Kiss: Gives one to Lelouch.
 * Lethal Chef: Doesn't come up in-series, but Ami Koshimizu says it was in the character notes she was given at the start of the series. It was said that if she tried baking bread, it would come out as charcoal.
 * Living with the Villain: Played straight when Suzaku arrives at Ashford Academy & she doesn't know he's her regular opponent in battle. Later.
 * Love Martyr: Magnificent Bastard Lelouch has some major problems. Consider how many times Lelouch makes her cry during the course of the series...
 * Loves My Alter Ego
 * Male Gaze: She gets more of this than any other character, in conveniently provocative poses. For example, her frame uses a common layout for cockpits, but other characters' mounting position is rarely rendered onscreen as completely.
 * The McCoy
 * Memetic Badass
 * Moment Killer: Taken to ridiculous degrees in the second season when almost every single conversation she has with Lelouch seems to bring them closer only to be interrupted in some random way. (Causes of interuption range from a simple radio call, to someone walking in on them, to their walking into a deadly ambush.)
 * Lampshaded in this fanmade 4koma
 * More Than Mind Control: After Lelouch assures her he never Geassed her, she ruefully notes that she's still enslaved to him.
 * Ms. Fanservice: Doesn't have the personality, but she does have the assets. Is number three on the list.
 * Also, her clothing, but more than that, the situations the series puts her in. How many times has she been "interrupted" during her showers?
 * Nom De Mom: Uses her mother's Japanese name when she's working with the Black Knights.
 * Not What It Looks Like: She keeps walking in on C.C. and Zero "just talking." Similarly, Shirley keeps seeing what she thinks are romantic encounters between Kallen and Lelouch.
 * The Ojou: In fact, her own biological mother (who has been reduced to a servant in her house) calls her Kallen-ojou-sama -- or, more often, plain old Ojou-sama.
 * But Kallen only acts like The Ojou as part of her civilian cover, while her real personality, is very far from it.
 * Ordinary High School Student: Part of her cover in the first season.
 * Plucky Girl: When faced against the now practically superhuman Suzaku, she fights him to a standstill, reducing * both* of their machines to scrap before finally . Suzaku even wonders aloud how he can't beat her, even with his "live" Geass.
 * Proud Warrior Race Girl: She's Japanese! Don't you dare forget it!
 * Pursued Protagonist
 * Red Headed Heroine
 * Reluctant Fanservice Girl
 * The Rival: To Suzaku. Oddly enough, she remains as such even after . Also, his Worthy Opponent.
 * Rocket Punch: Kallen's new and improved Guren can fire its radiation wave arm at the enemy, while still connected to the Guren through a cable.
 * Ryu and Ken To Suzaku
 * She Fu: Blatantly guilty of this at times, especially in the first episode of season two.
 * Shower Scene/Shower of Angst
 * Spell My Name with an "S": Is it "Karen" or "Kallen"? She's called both by different people.
 * Also, Kouzuki vs. Kozuki.
 * Super Reflexes: Karen, being a combat mech pilot, has incredible reflexes, which tend to act up even when she is playing an Ill Girl in school. In one episode, when Rivalz accidentally sends a champagne bottle cork right into her face, she notices it even before he does and deflects it with her hand.
 * The Danza: Sorta, at least in the English-language dub. See Karen Strassman and Spell My Name with an "S", below.
 * Thigh-High Boots: Part of her Custom Uniform as a Black Knight.
 * Tomboy and Girly Girl: Kallen is herself a mix of both types, which manifest themselves in her Action Girl guise (tomboy) and her Ill Girl guise (girly girl), complete with different wardrobes and hairstyles. In addition, she finds herself in numberous other pairings, including:
 * Kallen (tomboy) and C.C. (girly girl). In one Save-Quit intermission skit in Saisei-Hen, Kallen gives a farewell in a rough, crude. C.C proceeds to correct her and does it in a girly, cutsey manner, confusing Kallen in the process.
 * Tomboy and Girly Girl: Kallen is herself a mix of both types, which manifest themselves in her Action Girl guise (tomboy) and her Ill Girl guise (girly girl), complete with different wardrobes and hairstyles. In addition, she finds herself in numberous other pairings, including:
 * Kallen (tomboy) and C.C. (girly girl). In one Save-Quit intermission skit in Saisei-Hen, Kallen gives a farewell in a rough, crude. C.C proceeds to correct her and does it in a girly, cutsey manner, confusing Kallen in the process.

C.C.: What are you doing saying farewell to the player like that?

Kallen: Then how do you suppose I do it?

C.C.: I guess I'll show you the ropes then...Erhmmm (in moe voice) Master, it's rather unfortunate that we have to part here, so please come back as soon as possible... And there you have it.

Kallen: What the heck was that just now?"


 * Kallen (tomboy) and Shirley (girly girl).
 * Milly (tomboy) and Kallen (Ill Girl guise) (girly girl).
 * Kallen (tomboy) and Kaguya (girly girl).
 * Kallen (tomboy) and Euphemia (girly girl).
 * Tsundere: Tempermental, tough and badass at one moment, sweet and vulnerable at the other. In season one, she thinks Lelouch is an arrogant Jerkass, but adores his alter ego Zero as a brave freedom fighter.
 * Tsurime Eyes
 * Undying Loyalty: Considering the extremes to which she goes for Lelouch, she can rival Jeremiah in the loyalty department.
 * Vitriolic Best Buds: With C.C. in R2 and all the material that takes place during its' timeframe.
 * Wake Up, Go to School, Save the World: Part of her taking the 'weak persona' cover up.
 * Waterfall Shower: On Kamine Island.
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist: In the beginning. Then she joins Zero, who makes her get better by comparison.
 * Who Wears Short Shorts?: Her combat outfits.
 * Worthy Opponent: To Suzaku. See also The Rival, above.
 * You Are Number Six: Is half-Japanese, which of course makes her something of a Number according to Britannia. (Do not call her this, though.) She gets a different sort of this treatment while she is imprisoned mid-season R2, and Suzaku refers to her by her prisoner number.
 * You Are Worth Hell: How she feels about Lelouch.
 * You Go, Girl!
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Her hair color is often described as "red." And it is. Mostly. But it's not any shade of red that humans would grow naturally in Real Life. It's a bit pink -- but not as outlandishly pink as Euphie's hair.
 * Zettai Ryouiki

Nunnally Lamperouge / Princess Nunnally vi Britannia


"Voiced by: Kaori Nazuka (Japanese), Rebecca Forstadt (English)"

""My wish is for a gentler world.""

The daughter of Emperor Charles and his consort Marianne, as well as Lelouch's younger sister. The messy death of her mother left her not only contained in a wheelchair, but also blind out of the trauma of having her mom bleeding all over her and dying. She's shown as a sweet, gentle, Ill Girl who attends Ashford Academy's middle school and serves as Lelouch's Morality Pet: she certainly doesn't know that her beloved and very overprotective big brother is willing to fulfill the promise of "making the world better before she can see" through bloodshed, Xanatos Gambits and Roulettes, and all that jazz.

In R2,

In Nightmare of Nunnally, she is the main protagonist, who receives a Geass that allows her to see the future and an alternate personality derived from her anger and other negative emotions that can move and pilot a Knightmare Frame. She initially sets out to find Lelouch, but also expands her goal to stopping bloodshed between Britannians and the Japanese. At the end of the series, she.

-

Nunnally embodies these tropes:


 * Abusive Parents
 * All Is Well That Ends Well
 * Arranged Marriage: Midway through the first season, Lelouch toyed with the idea of betrothing Nunnally and Suzaku, before he realized he and Suzaku were enemies.
 * In the sound episode Stage 0.521, it's revealed that, before the war, the Japanese considered an engagement between Nunnally and Suzaku's father Genbu Kururugi. When Suzaku protested and offered himself instead, his dad pointed out that he was already spoken for -- engaged to his cousin Kaguya Sumeragi. It is revealed that Lelouch somehow dissuaded Genbu from an engagement to Nunnally, but it's not revealed how.
 * The Beautiful Elite
 * Big Brother Attraction
 * Big Screwed-Up Family
 * Blithe Spirit
 * Blue Blood
 * Break the Cutie: Happens several times, but she bounces back each time.
 * Brother-Sister Incest: Reciprocated at Lelouch,.
 * Calling the Old Man Out: In the climax of Nightmare of Nunnally, calls out Charles  for abandoning her and.
 * Clingy Jealous Girl: Just a very little bit, with her older brother Lelouch. Nonsexual example ... we think.
 * Cosmic Plaything: Hoo boy... I do not envy her.
 * Covert Pervert: According to the Picture Dramas and the Lost Color games.
 * Dead Little Sister: Strictly speaking, dead older siblings, all of whom are killed by Zero.
 * Disabled Means Helpless
 * : At the end of the series. She even gets a  scene.
 * Expy: Of the anime version of Suzuhara Shuuko, which Okouchi (co-creator) worked on as Series Composition. The original CLAMP version shares nothing in common with Nunnally.
 * She also share's quite a bit in common with Kohane Tsuyuri as well, to the point that the two of them look like twins
 * Eyes Always Shut: As a symbol of her trauma-induced blindness.
 * Fallen Princess: Oh, so much.
 * Heroic Willpower: How she.
 * Hey, It's That Voice!: Voiced by Rebecca Forstadt in the English dub, who also played a somewhat adorable tank-thing. This eventually earned Nunnally the Fan Nickname "Nunnakoma".
 * Horrible Judge of Character: A wee bit too trusting of Charles, and especially Schneizel.
 * Ill Girl: Unable to walk because of bullet injuries to her legs. Also suffers from psychosomatic blindness, evidently as a result of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
 * Well,
 * In the end,
 * In Nightmare of Nunnally,.
 * I'm Taking Her Home with Me: The reaction she often provokes in fans of both sexes.
 * The Ingenue: For the first season. But this changes radically by the second.
 * Joshikousei: Of sorts.
 * Living Lie Detector: She can tell, thanks presumably to being able to sense pulse rate, sweating, and/or body temperature changes, if someone's lying if she's holding their hand.
 * However, there is one theory that appears in certain fanfics, and which is possibly supported in canon by her, which says that she has some sort of unexplained psychic abilities that work via touch. This theory does require a radical reinterpretation of her character and most of her actions in order to make it work, but it does address certain other inconsistencies.
 * Meaningful Name: Nunnally is an English given name and surname, but in Japanese it can sound a bit like "nunnery," i.e., convent. Perhaps intended to even further heighten the sense of her innocence.
 * Also, in Elizabethan slang, "nun" could signify a prostitute, and thus a "nunnery" a brothel.
 * The Messiah: To a degree.
 * Morality Pet: For Lelouch, and to a lesser degree, for Suzaku and Cornelia.
 * Nice Girl: Always nice and polite to those with whom she interacts, and one of a very few non-racist Britannians.
 * No One Should Survive That: Some people still wonder how she survived, even though there arguably is a way to explain it.
 * Oblivious Younger Sibling
 * Older Than They Look: She's a teenager but looks younger in several shots, and has a very youthful-looking hairstyle and school uniform.
 * The Pollyanna: You'd think the little girl would be a bit less of an ingenue after having her mom shot to death in front of her and die in her arms, causing her to go blind from apparent psychological trauma that has ONLY manifested as blindness, and having her mother's killers shoot her in the legs as well, paralyzing her. Seriously, any sane person would think that Nunnally would be the bug-fuck crazy 'All Kill Britannia' sibling, but she remains sweet and cute ....
 * Semi-justified when it was revealed that.
 * She still seems very un-bitter considering everything, so some consider her to be a Stepford Smiler (though not necessarily the bad kind) who hides the extent of her damage. Certainly, such an apparently sweet girl being willing and able  might suggest that she's not quite as gentle as she looks.
 * Princesses Prefer Pink: Several of her outfits, including her school uniform are pink.
 * Purple Eyes: She used to have those before she became blind.
 * Rapunzel Hair
 * Royal Blood
 * Spanner in the Works: On more than one occasion, Lelouch's love for her has scuttled his plans.
 * Tomboy and Girly Girl: In the Nightmare of Nunnally manga, she plays girly girl to Extraordinarily Empowered Girl Alice's tomboy.
 * Nunnally is also arguably the tomboy when paired with Euphemia or Shirley (girly girls to the max). She is the girly girl when paired with Nina or Milly (not exactly tomboys, but still more physically active).
 * Too Dumb to Live: Seems to be completely oblivious to Charles' and Schneizel's true intentions.
 * The UnFavourites: Lelouch and Nunnally, apparently, probably as a side-effect of the rest of the court's disdain for Marianne.
 * White Sheep
 * Wide-Eyed Idealist: Despite her Eyes Always Shut status, she's probably the second most Wide-Eyed Idealist on the show, after her half-sister Euphemia. (Shirley doesn't make the cut because of her willful lack of interest in politics.)
 * Wise Beyond Their Years: This becomes abundantly clear after she takes a major role in the plot in R2. Well, with a couple of critical exceptions.
 * World of Cardboard Speech: In chapter twenty-five of Nightmare of Nunnally, she admits that she has trapped herself in the past, refusing to move forward, and says that she now hopes for tomorrow.
 * Yamato Nadeshiko: Nunnally-chan is the most sweet, caring, considerate, well mannered and kind hearted little girl you'd ever meet. Ironically, she's British (well, Britannian), but otherwise she meets every other Yamato Nadeshiko criterion. The fact that she is painfully cute and huggable really helps too.
 * Zettai Ryouiki: In Nightmare of Nunnally she wears a Grade B, as it's a part of the Ashford middle school uniform.
 * Nunnally is also arguably the tomboy when paired with Euphemia or Shirley (girly girls to the max). She is the girly girl when paired with Nina or Milly (not exactly tomboys, but still more physically active).
 * Too Dumb to Live: Seems to be completely oblivious to Charles' and Schneizel's true intentions.
 * The UnFavourites: Lelouch and Nunnally, apparently, probably as a side-effect of the rest of the court's disdain for Marianne.
 * White Sheep
 * Wide-Eyed Idealist: Despite her Eyes Always Shut status, she's probably the second most Wide-Eyed Idealist on the show, after her half-sister Euphemia. (Shirley doesn't make the cut because of her willful lack of interest in politics.)
 * Wise Beyond Their Years: This becomes abundantly clear after she takes a major role in the plot in R2. Well, with a couple of critical exceptions.
 * World of Cardboard Speech: In chapter twenty-five of Nightmare of Nunnally, she admits that she has trapped herself in the past, refusing to move forward, and says that she now hopes for tomorrow.
 * Yamato Nadeshiko: Nunnally-chan is the most sweet, caring, considerate, well mannered and kind hearted little girl you'd ever meet. Ironically, she's British (well, Britannian), but otherwise she meets every other Yamato Nadeshiko criterion. The fact that she is painfully cute and huggable really helps too.
 * Zettai Ryouiki: In Nightmare of Nunnally she wears a Grade B, as it's a part of the Ashford middle school uniform.
 * World of Cardboard Speech: In chapter twenty-five of Nightmare of Nunnally, she admits that she has trapped herself in the past, refusing to move forward, and says that she now hopes for tomorrow.
 * Yamato Nadeshiko: Nunnally-chan is the most sweet, caring, considerate, well mannered and kind hearted little girl you'd ever meet. Ironically, she's British (well, Britannian), but otherwise she meets every other Yamato Nadeshiko criterion. The fact that she is painfully cute and huggable really helps too.
 * Zettai Ryouiki: In Nightmare of Nunnally she wears a Grade B, as it's a part of the Ashford middle school uniform.
 * Zettai Ryouiki: In Nightmare of Nunnally she wears a Grade B, as it's a part of the Ashford middle school uniform.

Rolo Haliburton / Rolo Lamperouge


"Voiced by: Takahiro Mizushima (Japanese), Spike Spencer (English)"

""I can't remember how many people I've killed. Nobody counts the number of times they brush their teeth or eat a meal. Same with this.""

This socially awkward, harmless-looking cute little boy is introduced at the beginning of R2.

In the Nightmare of Nunnally Alternate Universe manga, he.

-

Rolo embodies these tropes:

"''"No one can live on the same time as me"."
 * Ax Crazy
 * Becoming the Mask:.
 * Big Screwed-Up Family: In an Alternate Reality.
 * Blessed with Suck:
 * Cain and Abel: Despises his siblings  in Nightmare of Nunnally.
 * Cross-Dressing Voices: In the Tagalog dub.
 * Disproportionate Retribution: He killed one of the SIA... for touching the locket Lelouch gave him.
 * : In Nightmare of Nunnally.
 * Enfante Terrible: He was trained as a remorseless assassin from a young age.
 * In the Alternate Universe manga
 * Final Speech
 * Freudian Excuse:  That does NOT bode well for anyone.
 * Heroic RROD:  He was actually given an award to "most heroic character in 2008" in Animedia for this.
 * Hey, It's That Voice!: It's NaGARsumi!
 * And in the dub, it's Shinji Ikari!
 * Jerkass Woobie: Too Ax Crazy to be The Woobie. Not horrible enough to be a Complete Monster, either. (But don't tell his rabid haters that, though.)
 * Knife Nut
 * Lack of Empathy:
 * Lightning Bruiser: His Knightmare Frame is the first to be qualified as one.
 * Is that his Knightmare Frame? I thought that was him using his Geass to make the other pilots think he was teleporting, (although this would solve the problem of how he appeared to teleport on long-distance scanners that shouldn't have been affected).
 * Love Makes You Evil: His devotion to Lelouch did not mix well with his mental and emotional unstability.
 * Meaningful Name: "Rolo" probably comes from "roloi", Greek word for "clock".
 * No Sense of Personal Space: [[media:rolo.png|Very obvious here]]. Might be justified, since he just watched Lelouch trying to do the same thing to Kallen, only to be denied. There is certainly enough Ho Yay in his attitude to Lelouch to suggest he might have been hoping for better luck.
 * Poisonous Friend: He's really zealous in his purposes.
 * Psycho Supporter: Looks cute, shy and sweet. Is an insecure, murderous wreck if his buttons are pushed.
 * Purple Eyes
 * : Considering what he did? Of course.
 * : From  in Nightmare of Nunnally.
 * Shoot the Dog: He ganks a fellow intelligence operative who accidentally walks in on him talking with Viletta about classified information.
 * : In Nightmare of Nunnally, he intends to.
 * Stepford Smiler: He seems like a perfectly normal and very nice kid ... until people start dropping dead around him.
 * Time Stands Still: His Geass makes you think this happens. And in Nightmare of Nunnally.
 * Time Stands Still: His Geass makes you think this happens. And in Nightmare of Nunnally.


 * Tyke Bomb: He's basically a boy version of the Gunslinger Girls.
 * Villainous Breakdown: Has one in Nightmare of Nunnally, after being defeated and, but calms down somewhat before his final moments.
 * What Measure Is a Mook?:
 * When All You Have Is a Hammer: Rolo's conditioning and training results in him killing possible allies without hesitation if they might know too much, because he simply doesn't know how to deal with them otherwise.
 * Yandere: Becomes this in relation to Lelouch.