Code Geass/Characters/Main Characters

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


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...

  • 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.
    • In Super Robot Wars Z 2: Saisei-Hen's regular route, Lelouch enacts his Zero Requiem, which is a plan to "collect" all the hate in the world towards a single person, a common enemy, which is him. After you down his Damocles, he'll retreat to where the people are going to be executed, like in the final episode of Code Geass R2. Suzaku (dressed as Zero) arrives and stabs Zero, "killing" him. Later, Zero wakes up in the treatment room of the Ptolemaios 2. He was cured by those pods there. Suzaku tells him that the whole world saw Lelouch die, and a lot of the ZEXIS people tell him that they still need him as leader, but because Lelouch is dead, he'll have to be Zero for the rest of his life.
  • 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 geass the world's equivalent to God, and when you think how Geass is referred to as 'the power of the king' it makes sense. Lelouch thought otherwise.
  • Big Bad: As Emperor Lelouch, to the world.
  • 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.
    • He practically starts a bitchfight between every major regime of any sort on the planet and comes out on top, for then to turn the nature of power upside down for the sake of Nunnally. Just to hammer it out, Lelouch himself is no idealist, altruist or pacifist by any stretch. He subscribes completely to the view that the world is a rotten place where the strong devour the weak. He sets out to change that, and succeeds. Why? Because otherwise, what would happen to his blind and disabled sister?
  • 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.
    • As he dies in the Japanese dub, his final farewell to his sister uses the same language you'd say goodbye to your lover with, though at that point it's questionable if he's even speaking to her.
  • But Now I Must Go At the end of "Nightmare of Nunnally," he says goodbye to his friends and loved ones before leaving to be Demon King.
  • 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 Emperor Lelouch gets quite campy.
  • Cannot Spit It Out: Lelouch has a habit of dodging questions even when he'd be better off answering them.
  • Cartwright Curse
  • 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 and certainly most well-liked, being a former Knight of the Round.
      • 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.
  • Conspicuously Public Assassination: 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.
  • Crucified Hero Shot: He dies at the bottom of a trail of his blood leading from the middle of the Britannian flag, the resulting visage being reminiscent of the Christian cross.
  • 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 once Jeremiah gets his Geass Canceler
  • The Dandy
  • Dark Messiah: To the core.
  • Deadpan Snarker
  • Death Seeker: Becomes this following both Nunnally's apparent death and the Black Knights' betrayal.
  • Death Wail: He does this after Shirley dies.
  • Deceased Fall Guy Gambit: The power of Absolute Control makes this easy for a Chessmaster like Lelouch.
  • Defeat Means Friendship: Subverted Trope. After Lelouch finally beats Schneizel in the second-to-last episode, he uses a Geass to force Schneizel to serve him. Or, more precisely, to serve Zero -- a distinction soon to become important.
  • 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 following Nunnally's apparent death and the Black Knights' betrayal, leading him to plan on isolating himself inside the Sword of Akasha with Charles, and later, the Zero Requiem. See also: Death Seeker.
  • 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 Not Get the Girl: The amount of Ship Sinking in R2 was epic.
  • Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Lelouch's geasses God itself to stop Instrumentality and kill his parents. In all fairness, however, he asked politely and didn't even include the second part, so it's more like Did You Just Ask Cthulhu For A Favor?
  • Died in Your Arms Tonight: Shirley died in his and he died in Nunnally's.
  • Decapitated Army/And There Was Much Rejoicing: The reaction to his death. It causes his entire army (giant robots, tanks, and armed soldiers) to collapse and run away from an angry mob. Makes sense actually, since he has 0% Approval Rating and the only member of his army who isn't brainwashed to be his slave is in on the plan.
  • 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.
  • The Emperor: The 99th Emperor of Britannia, to be precise.
  • 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. who gets offed in R2 14)). I do not envy this man.
  • Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Though the bad part is debatable. Flipped around in R2 episode 21: not only does he come to hate her within one episode, after Marianne shows him her true colors, he also erased her from existence along with Charles.
  • 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 Costume Switch: When he became Emperor.
  • 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.
  • The Evil Genius: As Emperor Lelouch. Which is part of his plan in fulfilling Zero Requiem.
  • 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. fixes his erased memories at the start of R2, 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.
  • Evil Overlord: Setting himself up as one is a requisite for his Zero Requiem Zero-Approval Gambit.
  • 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?
    • In addition to his Char Clone aspects, he's also shown similarities with Reinhard von Lohengramm. Right down to his devotion to his sister.
    • There are also more than a few passing elements of Paul and Leto II Atreides in him as well. Whether it's the Compelling Voice or Zero Requiem being rather similar to the "Golden Path" in God Emperor of Dune.
  • Facing the Bullets One-Liner / Final Speech: When faced with a firing squad made up of his own men, he takes off his mask, laughs in their faces and tells them they are all fools who he was using like pawns. Subverted a second later when its revealed that he's only doing this to trick Kallen into leaving his side, rather then staying to die with him.
  • 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: In Super Robot Wars Z 2.2, if you follow the IF path, you are given the chance to avert the betrayal. The result: Kallen knocks some sense into him when he feels despondent and suicidal over Nunnally's apparent fate, he comes clean and apologizes to the Black Knights and they accept and remain loyal, Rolo lives because he doesn't need to sacrifice himself, Schneizel never gets Damocles off the ground and dies in the end, and thus, the Zero-Approval Gambit Requiem is completely averted. And for nice bonus points, Euphie and Shirley (the former a case of Never Found the Body) are alive at the end as well!
  • 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: Part of his Thanatos Gambit, Zero Requiem.
  • 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).
  • Go Out with a Smile: Subverted. He smiles while impaled on a sword and warning Suzaku about his Fate Worse Than Death, but when he actually dies there's no expression on his face at all.
  • 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 Zero Requiem.
  • He Who Fights Monsters: He's painfully aware of the bloodshed and pain he's causing with his actions. But even at his worst he refuses become just like his enemies.
  • 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.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: He turns himself into the most hated person in the world, so that Britannians and Japanese will no longer hate each other when he dies.
  • 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, he also finds out the hard way when his Geass become permanently active. 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 Cannot Self-Terminate / Suicide by Cop : He asks Suzaku to kill him to conclude the "Zero Requiem", dying in Nunnally's arms, but justified in that just killing himself wouldn't have helped anyone.
  • I Did What I Had to Do: Lelouch whilst squaring off with his father. Followed up by "Everybody lies to survive! No one is blameless!" 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. Subverted towards the end, where he strains to play the villain before Nunnally despite the pain it's causing him.
  • 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 and the mother he used to love and idealize. 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, but fails with Shirley.
  • 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

Rivalz: He's even got a housekeeping book.
Lelouch: How do you know!?
Rivalz: Crap, you really do?


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 a result of the fact that he killed his father, former Japanese Prime Minister Genbu Kururugi, to end Japanese resistance to the Britannian invasion, which has made him hate himself greatly and try to atone by attempting to get himself killed in battle.

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:

  • 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.
  • Becoming the Genie: In the manga Suzaku of the Counterattack he obtains a code and becomes immortal.
  • Badass
  • Becoming the Mask: By becoming Zero and killing Lelouch for Zero Requiem. Even involves a literal mask.
  • 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 is reborn as Zero, an entirely different kind of hero.
  • 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. When that didn't work, he killed him, resulting in a failure even worse than Lelouch.
  • 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 Geass Lelouch cast on him, which forces him to preserve his own life at all costs. This makes Suzaku take full advantage of his own skills for pulling off the impressive feats of physical prowess necessary for his survival. Towards the end of the series, Suzaku has gotten quite good at making use of the Geass in this way.
    • 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 killing his father and joining up with the Britannia army. In the first season, he betrays Lelouch at the end of the season to the Emperor in order to become a Knight of the Round. (This is arguably a case of It's Personal, since Lelouch had just killed Suzaku's girlfriend and never explained why). In season 2, he first betrayed Nunnally's trust by using her to bait Lelouch (she found out and called him on it), then inadvertantly betrays Lelouch to the Brtiannians again (though it's not his fault this time, he was followed because they suspected him of having ties to Zero), then betrayed the Emperor himself and sided with Schneizel to quickly rise in rank. (Knight of One Bismark Waldstein lampshades this very well in their first battle against each other.) In episode 21, he betrayed Schneizel by becoming Emperor Lelouch's Knight of Zero (this can be considered his Heel Face Turn). In the end, he finally completed this by becoming Zero to kill his Emperor, making him a hero in the eyes of the world and the UFN. This is a subversion, though, as it was all part of his and Lelouch's plans.
  • 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 -- in a world without Geass -- 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 because for years he wants to die to atone for his murder of his dad, but not only do these suicidal acts become Big Damn Heroes moments, but then Lelouch geasses him into living, so every subsequent attempt ends in failure, at one point horribly so for many people. Finally, in the Grand Finale he kinda gets his wish. Everyone thinks he perished in battle and his "tombstone" regards him as the greatest hero in the war - but Suzaku not only is alive, he has become * Zero* now that Lelouch is dead. Both tropes are revealed and lampshaded by Mao.
  • The Determinator: Although he's outmatched by Lelouch.
  • Deuteragonist:
  • Disappeared Dad: The aforementioned Genbu Kururugi, ex-Prime Minister of Japan who was heavily opposed to Britannia. Suzaku killed him at the tender age of ten, after completely losing his shit because his old man was willing to sacrifice himself and Japan to resist Britannia until the bitter end. When Premier Kururugi was out of the picture, Japan promptly surrendered.
  • The Dragon: As Emperor Lelouch's Knight of Zero.
  • 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 he even gets a SEED-mode.
  • Failure Knight: Even when he does become Euphie's knight, since she dies horribly. By the time his friend Nunnally is believed to be dead due to a nuke that Suzaku fired under influence of Geass, the guy hits rock bottom.
  • 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: "Drugzaku" (after episode 14), "Doomzaku" & "Nukezaku" (episode 18), "Lolzaku" and "Crazyzaku" (episode 19), "Runzaku" (episode 20), "Roofzaku" and "Winzaku" (episode 21), and "Deathzaku" (episode 22). Concluding with "Zerozaku" (episode 25, when he takes Lelouch's place as Zero).
  • Fate Worse Than Death: Suzaku's fate, which he voluntarily takes upon himself, can certainly be viewed this way. While his tombstone praises him as a loyal defender of Emperor Lelouch, given that Lelouch will be remembered as the worst dictator ever, it is likely that Suzaku will go down in history as The Quisling where Japanese people (except for Kallen, and maybe Tohdoh) are concerned, and as The Dragon to a deeply evil ruler for everyone else. Also, throughtout the series, he always argues for change within the system rather than through revolution - while he gets to change the system from within, it is through becoming Zero who will be celebrated as a hero for working outside of the system. And to make matters worse, he will never be able to be anything but Zero for the rest of his life, as only a small handful of people know who's under the mask, and they aren't stupid enough to spill the beans and ruin the plan. Oh, did we mention that as Zero he also has to spend the rest of his life as the murderer of the woman he loved?
    • Then again, getting to spend the rest of his life as The most beloved and admired person in history, kinda helps to take the edge off.
  • The Fettered: Deconstructed as all his initial morality is just a way to deal with his own guilt. And once he moves past it, his only remaining fetter is his "live" geass, which instead often forces him to cross any and all MoralEventHorizons to survive.
  • 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, he didn't kill his father; C.C. did, and as a result, is a more well-adjusted and moral individual.
  • Forgotten Friend, New Foe
  • Freak-Out: After nuking Tokyo under the effect of Geass, Suzaku snaps and goes through one, Evil Laugh included. It radically changes his character throughout the rest of the anime.
  • Freudian Excuse: More Freudian than most examples.
  • Green Eyes
  • Guilt Complex/Survivor Guilt: So much so that he's a Death Seeker.
  • Heel Realization: A variation. He stops himself before he forces Kallen to use Refrain, realising that if he goes through with it that he will be just like Lelouch. He also has one combined with Laughing Mad at the end of R2 Episode 19.
  • Heroes Want Redheads: Well, pinkheads, in the case of Princess Euphemia.
  • Heroic BSOD: After Mao reveals that Suzaku was the one to kill Genbu Kururugi. And an even bigger one after he fires the FLEIJA.
  • 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 he becomes a Knight of the Round, and becomes part of Schneizel's anti-EU campaign among other things, including the opposition to UFN's legitimate fight of liberation for Japan itself. 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 Unfortunate for him being a Death Seeker, this happens to Suzaku when Lelouch geasses him to "Live!"
  • 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: Initially.
  • Interrupted Suicide: Or Bungled Suicide, depending on the situation. Happens quite a bit throughout the series.
  • 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. Arthur is shown later watching over his "gravestone", though
    • 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.
  • Love Makes You Evil: His descends into Knight Templar status after the death of Princess Euphemia.
  • 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. Also, Suzaku killing Lelouch allowed the Zero persona to be reborn, like a phoenix, in him. The violent method would fit the fiery rebirth of a phoenix.
    • 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. When he leaves it with Euphie's body, it's a symbol of him finally letting go of the past and his Wide Eyed Idealism.
  • Meta Guy: Becomes this in the Picture and Audio Dramas, especially those from the R2 timeframe.
  • The McCoy
  • Mike Nelson, Destroyer of Worlds: Accidentally triggers the destruction of the area he had sworn to protect. Whoops.
  • 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 Euphemia's death), 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. First, when C.C accidentally undoes his Trauma-Induced Amnesia and he remembers that he murdered his father. Second, when he attempts to drug Kallen to get information out of her but stops himself from doing so at the last moment, realizing it's the kind of underhanded tactic he despises Zero for using. Third, when he fires the FLEIJA nuke while under the effect of his "Live" Geass, kills thirty million people (mostly on his side) and spends an entire episode brooding at the epicenter of the disaster.
  • My Hero Zero: After Lelouch becomes The Emperor, he became the Knight of Zero. Later in the story, as part of the Zero Requiem, he's required to drop "Knight of" from his title and wear a mask.
  • 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.
  • Prophetic Name: His name can mean "phoenix". Guess who "dies" at the end of the series and is "reborn" as an entirely new person.
  • The Quisling: Ingratiates himself quite thouroughly into Britannian culture, particularly after he becomes the Knight of Seven.
  • 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.
  • Self-Made Orphan: At the age of nine, he stabbed his own father to death, the prime minister of Japan, in order to put an end to the war. See also Disappeared Dad, above.
  • Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: He seems like this for part of the series, but it's a facade.
  • Shut UP, Hannibal:

Lelouch (still in Zero persona): Euphemia randomly murdered throngs of innocent Japanese people. You fight for a woman like --
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), Suzaku wouldn't have appeared inside the Sword of Akasha if it weren't for the Batman Gambit of Marianne, who was probably counting on either his love for her stepdaughter Euphie or his friendship with her Soul Jar Anya... which backfired when Suzaku sided with Lelouch regardless. If he hadn't been there, Charles and Marianne could have had a better chance of succeeding.
  • 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. At least at first. 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. At any rate, his previously iron-clad Would Not Shoot a Civilian position starts to crack after the first season, and it dissolves completely after the F.L.E.I.J.A. incident.
  • 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).

  • 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.
  • Baby Got Back: C.C. is the proud owner of the show's juiciest bubble butt, and the camera flatters it just about every time she's on screen.
  • Badass: You know it!
  • Be Careful What You Wish For: Her offering Lelouch and Mao their Geass powers. And to a greater extent, her own wishes to be loved.
    • 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 her own "love me" Geass before that.
  • 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 she told Lelouch from the start that both his parents were in on the same plan, and that there was no real reason to rage against his father or avenge his mother's death.
  • 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.
  • The Dark Chick: To Emperor Lelouch.
  • Dark Is Not Evil: Wears one when she's with the Black Knights.
  • 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 she was mentally reset to the person she was at the age of ten, which complicated matters greatly since she was Really Seven Hundred Years Old.
  • 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: The child-like persona she regresses to when she loses her memories in R2 Episode was adorable enough to provoke this reaction from fans much the same as Nunnally below.
    • 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.
  • 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.
  • Laser-Guided Amnesia: R2 episode 15 ends with C.C. losing all her memories to the point where she first acquired her Geass (when she was no older than 10, by the looks of things). Reversed when Marianne in Anya's body invoked Forgot the Call and "reset" her.
  • Manipulative Bitch
  • The Many Deaths of You: More than once, the viewer glimpses of C.C. being killed, both in the show itself and in flashbacks over her long life. Said deaths include being gunned down and burned at the sake.
  • Mayfly-December Romance: C.C. the ageless, deathless witch is romanced by Mao, a seventeen/eighteen-year-old boy.
  • 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: Her bubble butt especially deserves mention. Must be 'cause of all the pizza from Pizza Hut.
  • 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 but temporarily removes most of her memories after.
  • 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. Both of them received Geass at very young ages, under similarly desperate circumstances, and it proceeded to subsequently ruin their lives. C.C. was able to bounce back and take over the Code because her Geass was never as bad as Mao's and possibly also because she was slightly older than Mao when she received her Geass at first, in addition to the fact that she wasn't obsessively in love with the one who asked her to kill her and take her Code, unlike Mao. Whether she ever would have ended up like Mao if she hadn't taken over the Code when she did is never looked into.
    • 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.
    • It was later revealed that the Code was forced on her by the nun who gave her her power.
  • 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 got her own Geass in the end of the Middle Ages, and was made immortal in the Era of Kings. 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 except from the point view of Charles, Marianne and V.V..
  • The Spock
  • The Stoic: Nearly always. But, on rare occasion...
  • 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: She's lived for several centuries by the time the show is set, which has in turn skewered her perception of time.
  • 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.

Kallen: So you're stopping here huh? No choice then....You better come back or else...
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. And what she does after the Grand Finale.
  • Who Wants to Live Forever?: Revealed to be her motivation in giving people the Geass in the first place; 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 knowing that Lelouch honestly cared about her, and didn't blame her for the bad things that happened in his life after accepting the Geass, allowed her to open up to her true emotions and gave her the strength to carry on despite still being immortal.
  • Wife Husbandry: With Mao. 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. It's not a supernatural characteristic either, since she had the same hair color way back when she was just a normal girl.
  • 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?
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.

  • 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).
  • Foe-Tossing Charge: Episode six of R2, then again later in episode twenty-four (twenty-three enemy units plus C.C.'s Lancelot, in 36 seconds).
  • 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.
  • 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 Lelouch's own mother, Marianne. Both mix high social status with low-as-dirt origins (Marianne was a commoner who married into royalty, Kallen is half second-class citizen but her father is an aristocrat), both are quite possibly the most gifted Nightmare pilots of their age, both served as bodyguards to the Magnificent Bastard they were in love with, both were very close friends with C.C., and both are astonishingly attractive for their military lifestyle. However, Marianne served as a Lady Macbeth, willing to mess Anya up psychologically for a chance to live on and embracing her husband's plan despite the immense personal suffering it would bring to her own children and countless others. Kallen's sense of justice was strong enough that she put aside her feelings and took up arms against the one she loved most to protect the people his plan would hurt.
  • Hero Antagonist: In the final arc. As soon as she hears what Lelouch' plan is, however, she practically immediately stands behind it.
  • Heroes Want Redheads: Yes. Still, see You Gotta Have Blue Hair, below.
  • Heroic Bastard: The lovechild of a nobleman's affair with the Eleven woman that now works as the household's maid, 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 inverted, as she learns Suzaku pilots Lancelot.
  • 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: Kallen's a very fit young woman, and the show takes full advantage of it. She's been in showers several times, most of them interrupted, wore a Playboy Bunny costume undercover in R2, regularly pilots the Guren in a suit of Sensual Spandex (and she used to pilot her earlier mecha while wearing a set of booty shorts and a top that conspicuously showed off her very toned set of abs)... She might actually be the biggest (and most regular) provider of Fanservice in the show.
  • 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.
  • The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: After Lelouch starts playing the role of Evil Overlord, Kallen takes upon herself to be the one who takes him down. Also counts as an attempted Kill the Ones You Love.
  • Ordinary High School Student: Part of her cover in the first season. After the Grand Finale, she's reunited with her recovering mom and goes back to Ashford to complete her education (which is exactly what Lelouch wanted for her). Hey, from the looks of it she's even Late for School.
  • 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 destroying Suzaku's machine with the very last blow she has left before her machine shuts down. 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 they both switch roles, with Suzaku as the one defending Lelouch and Kallen opposing him. 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.[2]
  • Super Reflexes: Kallen, 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: The one thing she hates about the Ill Girl disguise she chose for Ashford is not being able to do PE with the other girls.
  • 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.

Kallen: So you're stopping here huh? No choice then....You better come back or else...
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. After learning his identity, at the very end of season one, it takes her a while to adjust to the concept, but eventually she goes deredere for him in both roles and basically falls in love with the man behind the mask.
  • Tsurime Eyes
  • Undying Loyalty: Considering the extremes to which she goes for Lelouch, she can rival Jeremiah in the loyalty department. At least, until Lelouch starts acting like a Complete Monster and (intentionally) forces her to choose between her loyalty for him and her sense of justice.
  • 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 first combat outfit.
  • 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. It's a dark, almost crimson shade of red that no human would grow naturally in Real Life. It's also got a bit of pink in it, though nowhere as much 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, after Lelouch is given Fake Memories and sent back to Ashford with Tyke Bomb Rolo in tow, Nunnally gets her Imperial Princess status back and is given the command of Area 11 aka Japan, like Cornelia and Euphemia. As the new Viceroy, Nunners works as hard as she can to make things better and ensure the Japanese are well treated, but with Lelouch recovering his memories and re-building La Résistance, it will NOT be easy.

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 saves the world by rejecting Charles and Marianne's Instrumentality plan by coming to terms with her feelings, resulting in her regaining her ability to see and walk, and their being erased from existence. She becomes a goodwill ambassador to Japan under Empress Euphemia.

Nunnally embodies these tropes:

  • Abusive Parents
  • Any Torment You Can Walk Away From
  • 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.
  • Awesome Moment of Crowning: After Lelouch's "assassination", she takes over and becomes Empress.
  • The Beautiful Elite
  • Beware the Nice Ones: She's genuinely friendly and kind-hearted, or at the very least strives to be. Nightmare of Nunnally, however, reveals that she has a lot of repressed, pent-up anger at those who wronged her and her brother. She's even willing to make herself the focus of the world's hatred if it meant bringing about a better world until Lelouch intervenes with his Zero Requiem.
  • Big Brother Attraction
  • Big Screwed-Up Family
  • Blithe Spirit
  • Blue Blood
  • Break the Cutie: Happens several times, but she bounces back each time. Even after Lulu's death, since she becomes a fairly cheerful and sweet-tempered Empress.
  • Brother-Sister Incest: Reciprocated at Lelouch, if her final words to him are anything to go by.
  • Calling the Old Man Out: In the climax of Nightmare of Nunnally, calls out Charles and Marianne for abandoning her and trying to start Instrumentality.
  • 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. Including Lelouch.
  • Disabled Means Helpless
  • The Empress
  • Evil Cripple and Hero Antagonist: At the end of the series. She even gets a "crawling on the ground helplessly" 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.
  • Eyes Always Shut: As a symbol of her trauma-induced blindness. She opens them in episode 24 of R2, as the proof of her overcoming that particular side of herself ... through sheer willpower.
  • Fallen Princess: Oh, so much.
  • Girl with Psycho Weapon: How about a girl with a nuke detonator, huh?
    • Arguably taken even further in "Nightmare of Nunnally" when she gets her own Knightmare Frame that she can summon out of thin air.
  • Heroic Willpower: How she finally manages to open her eyes after her father geassed them shut for years.
  • 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. That she is able to find out that Lelouch and Suzaku have both lied to her and not Schneizel, who used her in one of the most insidious Batman Gambits in the entire series extending back to R2 18 and lasting the rest of the series against Lelouch (and ended up breaking him down), quite possibly makes her Too Dumb to Live.
  • How Dare You Die on Me!: Nunnally does this to Lelouch after the Zero Requiem plan is completed, partly because she figured out what Lelouch's plan was all along.
  • I Am Your Opponent: To Lelouch and Suzaku at the end of Turn 22, after they have already started Zero Requiem.
  • 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, It seems that way at first. But then we learn that the reason she never opens her eyes is because of her father's Mind Rape, which forced her to become blind.
      • In the end, Nunners remains wheelchair-bound, but overcomes her blindness.
    • In Nightmare of Nunnally, both are psychosomatic, and both are reversed by the end.
  • 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 seeing the whole Zero Requiem plan after touching Lelouch as he's dying, 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.
  • The Messiah: To a degree.
  • Mind Rape: The source of her blindness. Inflicted to her by her father as a part of his and her mother's Gambit Roulette.
  • 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 the F.L.E.I.J.A. blast in R2 Episode 18, even though there arguably is a way to explain it. Hint, count the planes.
  • 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 ... until Schneizel subjects her to More Than Mind Control and gives her control of the Damocles.
    • Semi-justified when it was revealed that said blindness and disability weren't caused by her mother's death, but by her parents modifying her memories and forcing blindness on her as a part of their Gambit Roulette.
      • 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 to fire the FLEIJA warheads and wipe out entire armies might suggest that she's not quite as gentle as she looks.
  • Princess Classic: Deconstructed big time.
  • Princesses Prefer Pink: Several of her outfits, including her school uniform and her dress for when she's re-instated to the throne are pink.
  • Purple Eyes: She used to have those before she became blind. You can see them again more clearly later in the story.
  • 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.
    • This is subverted when we find about the truth in episode twenty-one of R2.
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: Reveals in the finale that she planned something similar to the Zero Requiem plan, but doesn't go into more details than making the Sword Of Damocles the focus of the whole world's hate. It should be noted that she was making the best of a really bad situation, but whatever it is that it takes to piss off the whole world can hardly be small.
  • What the Hell, Hero?: She gave Lelouch one of these in the Grand Finale. When he tells her he's been doing everything for her, she yells at him that she never asked for him to change the world and was happy just being next to him in Ashford. Of course, it does fail to take into account a lot of the little reasons Lelouch did it. She does it to a lesser extent with Suzaku in Turn 16.
  • 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.
  • Yandere: When she first snaps and activates her Geass in Nightmare of Nunnally. She quickly gets a hold of herself, however.
  • Youngest Child Wins: In the series finale she, the youngest of Charles' named children, inherits the throne. Technically, Carline is the same age, but she was ahead of Nunnally in line to the throne while Charles was alive.
  • 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. After Lelouch and the Ashford students are given Fake Memories (courtesy of Emperor Charles's Evil Eye) that erase Nunnally's image from their minds, Rolo was sent to pose as Lelouch's younger brother in the Academy. A boy raised by V.V.'s Geass cult members and trained as a Tyke Bomb, Rolo is perfect to keep an eye on Lelouch and kill him if it's needed. Or is he?.

In the Nightmare of Nunnally Alternate Universe manga, he is Lelouch's twin brother and a Cardinal in the Geass order. He despises Lelouch and seeks to gain C.C.'s power, but loses to Alice and dies when his body rots away from the side-effects of C.C.'s cells.

Rolo embodies these tropes:

"No one can live on the same time as me".

  1. ↑ Red-light district, anyone?
  2. ↑ The most correct form would be "Kōzuki", but since this is awkward to type, "Kouzuki" is also acceptable. "Kozuki" is technically incorrect since it doesn't reflect the long vowel, but is very common nevertheless.
Retrieved from "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Code_Geass/Characters/Main_Characters?oldid=2046876"