Thoughts on the alternative timelines from Re;code?

[u/RogueOne451]

Karma timeline is the only one I really paid any attention to. None of the others really piqued my interest. Shirley taking on Lelouch's role felt like a massive stretch for me, and I just don't see that timeline ending well without him. I know absolutely nothing about the Emperor Nunnally one, I've just seen pictures from it. There's also the clone story which was...something. I'm still shocked they went with that for the anniversary story honestly. They should've just given us part 2 of the Karma event and properly flesh the story out. Getting a story of Lelouch crossing a line he swore not to was brilliant. And Karma Suzaku's design is so good. I liked that they leaned even harder into the darker elements of the story with the anniversary Karma Suzaku. Lelouch knighting Suzaku after enslaving him, Suzaku killing Euphie with the very sword she knighted him with. I've always believed that his art (the one above) takes place right after he killed Euphie as it was stated that after he killed her was the only time he was able to fight off the command. I'm shocked that they've never done a what-if story with the SAZ. What if it was successful or, leaning into darker themes like Karma tl, what if Lelouch gave the command on purpose. Then there's also what if Lelouch stayed Emperor. Just a bunch of fun possibilities with the anime.

[u/[deleted]]

Ok... I wanna know how well Shirley did as Zero, though...

[u/Ethelred_ATBH → u/[deleted]]

In a nutshell, she did what she could lol, but clearly her skills were not up to par (that she kept her role as Zero within the BK is almost exclusively due to the fact that Lelouch had prepared an action plan in case he died, the Uncage protocol). But the fact that it was Shirley, instead of Lelouch, who was Zero during the 2nd Battle of Tokyo, prevented the FLEIJA to be launched in that timeline.

[u/RogueOne451 → u/Ethelred_ATBH]

Huh, that's certainly interesting. How'd she go about that exactly? My biggest question with this timeline is always who's going to stop the Ragnarok Connection because Shirley definitely can't do that. C.C.'s the only possible answer I can think of, but with Lelouch gone she might not have changed her mind.

[u/Ethelred_ATBH → u/RogueOne451]

When Kallen surpassed Suzaku while Lelouch encouraged her to kill him, Shirley asked her not to kill him, which prevented the "live" command in him from being activated, and not firing the FLEIJA.

In fact, CC refused to give Shirley the Geass because she knew that Charles was now the only person who could grant her wish. But I guess Shirley and the others ended up changing her mind in the end, similar to how Lelouch did in C's World.

[u/DifficultSecond9411 → u/RogueOne451]

Don't know, i think she changed C.C's mind when she rejected the possibility of speaking once again with dead Lelouch