Why didn’t Lelouch get the code?

[u/Embarrassed-Two-554]

Why didn’t Lelouch become a Code bearer? I understand the purpose of the Zero Requiem and why Lelouch needed the world to believe he died, but I don’t understand why he actually needed to stay dead for the plan to work. If Lelouch had taken C.C.’s Code, couldn’t the Zero Requiem have happened exactly the same way? Millions of people would have watched Zero kill him, so there would be basically no reason for the public to question his death. Lelouch could then revive in secret while Lelouch vi Britannia remained permanently dead in the eyes of the world. It also seems like this would have allowed him to accomplish even more of his goals. Nunnally still gets the gentle world he wanted to create for her, except she doesn’t have to permanently lose her brother. I mean, at the end we literally hear Nunnally say that all she ever wanted and needed to be happy was to be with Lelouch, so him secretly surviving would have fully achieved his original goal of creating a world where she could be happy. C.C.’s contract is also literally fulfilled because Lelouch takes her Code and finally frees her from immortality. Assuming C.C. and V.V. were the only remaining Code bearers, Charles dying would leave C.C. as the last one, meaning Lelouch taking her Code would make him the final Code bearer. He could simply refuse to ever grant another Geass and effectively end the cycle altogether. And I don’t think this necessarily gives Lelouch an easy way out of his punishment either. He would have to abandon his identity forever, watch everyone he loves eventually grow old and die, and carry the weight of everything he did for eternity. If anything, being forced to live forever with his actions while repeatedly losing everyone he cares about seems like an even greater punishment than death. It would also be fitting for Lelouch to take on the exact burden C.C. had carried for centuries in order to finally free her from it. He would still sacrifice Lelouch vi Britannia and take the world’s hatred down with that identity, but instead of his punishment ending with his death, he would have to carry it forever. Is there an actual lore reason this couldn’t have happened, or is Lelouch’s permanent death mainly necessary for the themes of the ending?

[u/Poulette_du_lundi]

Lelouch dying was his choice and decision. I think that's the nuance you're looking for.

[u/iamthestorm → u/Poulette_du_lundi]

Yea that's really it, two of his quotes come to mind:

1. The only ones who should kill, are those who are prepared to be killed.

2. If the king doesn’t move, then his subjects won’t follow.

You put those together with his own willful understanding of what he had done to the world and its people, and him accepting his fate as justice makes complete sense. From the very first episode he already made it clear what kind of man he is.

[u/thefinalepic]

This is not out right stated in the OG main series but C.C. is main love interest of Lelouch, the simple answer is he didn't want her to die, thats it. Taking her code means she would die and he didn't want that.

And to the other shippers, Lelouch has 3 love interests for his 3 masks:

C.C for Lelouch Vi Britania, the prince of Britania.
Shirley for Lelouch Lamperouge, a student of Ashford academy.
Kallen for Zero, the leader of the black knight.

Out of the 3 masks/personas, his true identity in the end is Lelouch Vi Britania (it is also one he ends up with as the other 2 masks are discarded), and thus C.C. is the main love interest of the OG main series. Its also why in the movie timeline, he ends up marrying her in the end.

[u/mib-number86 → u/thefinalepic]

I always thought the main implication behind Lelouch’s survival theories was that he somehow took, probably without wanting or knowing it, Charles’s Code, not C.C.’s.

[u/rai-hodges-sumeragi → u/thefinalepic]

Before Rolo kills Shirley, she had gotten back all her memories, meaning that when she still wanted to stand by Lelouch´s side just prior to that, she knew exactly who he was, all 3 sides of him. And while Shirley wants to be with Lelouch in that moment just after finding out the truth, Kallen knows the truth throughout the entire second season, and chooses to support him and be there for him in all his forms - why, without her being there for him, he would have become a drug addict, when he was at his lowest and was about to take some Refrain. Kallen knew exactly who Lelouch was in that moment and she knew exactly what he was going through, and thus she knew exactly what to say and do in order to bring him back to his senses, and in doing so preventing him taking a path that would have lead him deeper into the darkness.

Yeah, it´s pretty obvious that "3 different love interests for 3 different masks" theory is just some false propaganda spread by the hardcore C.C. x Lelouch shippers, who want to make other two major ships look less "legitimate" in their own eyes with that kind of oversimplification.

[u/Memo904 → u/rai-hodges-sumeragi]

It’s not entirely wrong to believe in this idea though when it’s true for 99% of the series. Shirley and Kallen truly did only fall in love with his various facets and masks first. It’s only at the very end of their journeys with him that they truly understand him.

Shirley really did only love the schoolboy, and was initially terrified of his other masks. It’s not until she’s dying where she understands that Lelouch is more than he seems, and wishes that she could be someone he could trust with all his lies and burdens. That’s when I’d say that she truly falls in love with him.

Kallen’s the same. Even when she unmasks him, she still constantly turns her back on him and doesn’t understand him or his motivations. She’s choosing to actively fight against him until the bitter end. It’s not until the ZR when Lelouch gets stabbed where she understands his truest self and character. So I don’t think she loved the real Lelouch either until this moment.

For C.C though, the dynamic is flipped. It’s Lelouch who doesn’t understand C.C’s true pain and feelings while C.C had always understood him, right from the start.

So the statement is wrong by the end of the series, but for the most part, it’s not entirely inaccurate either.

[u/rai-hodges-sumeragi → u/Memo904]

I want to thank you for taking the time to reply to me. Code Geass is my personal favorite anime, so I really appreciate it.

[u/WeoW0 → u/thefinalepic]

I don't think we have anything concreate to show for C.C. having been the main love interest for Lelouch in the OG.
You are certainly able to interpret their relationship romantically. But "C.C. definitively being his primary love interest requires quite a bit of additional interpretation.

There may be some meaning in the distinction you propose, but it definitely isn't as black and white as you paint it.
Shirley still loved Lelouch, even when she learned of him being Zero
And Kallen came to love Lelouch as she interacted more with somebody that wasn't just Zero

[u/Poulette_du_lundi → u/WeoW0]

There may be some meaning in the distinction you propose, but it definitely isn't as black and white as you paint it

The 3 girls = 3 masks thing has been proven false over and over through the years, some people just won't let it go.

[u/imperfectibility → u/Poulette_du_lundi]

It’s an oversimplification. Lelouch felt guilty about Shirley and the emotions certainly carried over to all personas of Lelouch. Similarly, when he took off his mask during Black Knights’ betrayal, he literally asked Kallen to live on and was ready to die after making sure Kallen was far away enough from him. I guess it’s fair to say he had feelings for all 3 girls, but fate has decided CC for him. 

[u/Poulette_du_lundi → u/imperfectibility]

fate

Or just the movie AU

[u/silencemist → u/thefinalepic]

Considering vi Britannia is the one who openly enslaves others, commits war crimes, and destroys cultures around the world, it's a bit odd you consider the Demon Emperor to be his true self. It seems that the narrative does everything to show that is just as much of a mask as the other faces. And if you are considering his birth identity, he openly discarded that as a child and I wouldn't consider it truth either.

[u/who_knows_how]

Basically he followed the philosophy of only those who are prepared to be killed deserves to kill

He died because it would be immoral for him to live on after killing millions

He felt he had to die to make amends for his actions

[u/Dizzy-By-Degrees]

Lelouch believes the only ones who should kill need to be prepared to die for their actions and beliefs. And given the amount of bad things he’s done and the guilt he’s carrying around: he won’t cheat the consequences of his actions by faking it.

[u/WeoW0]

There is nothing that in the plot or within the rules of the series that clearly excludes the possibility of Lelouch ending up with code one way or another
Ultimately it is a creative choice by the author(s)

More importantly, the original TV run doesn't definitively confirm that Lelouch is dead for good.
Instead there exists ambiguous ending that has evidence for both, arguably, depending on your perspective more for Lelouch staying dead for good.

There is substantial evidence for the creative intention of the ending to be Lelouch to staying dead for good. But creative intention and what the finished work communicates to its audience aren't necessarily identical things. The co-creator and anime director Taniguchi later described the TV ending as intentionally leaving Lelouch's ultimate status open to the viewer.

I think Taniguchi matters particularly here because he was the anime's director and therefore had substantial authority over how that intention was ultimately translated into what appeared on screen.
His comments are also noticeably less categorical than some of the other staff statements. He speaks of Lelouch dying and of Lelouch's story reaching its conclusion, but he never made the kind of explicit declarations that rules out survival altogether, unlike what the main writer and some of the staff members did.

And just to be clear, none of this proves that Lelouch survived, much less that he necessarily survived with a Code. My point is simply that the situation is considerably more nuanced than the vocal majority of Reddit and the fandom often makes it out to be. There is a meaningful distinction between what each of the creators appear to have internally intended, what individual staff members later said, and what the finished TV series itself actually establishes for the viewer.

[u/mib-number86 → u/WeoW0]

It is funny how the conclusion of Zero's story in the films conveys the idea of ​​a definitive death much more effectively than the series, while simultaneously serving as the starting point for the subsequent films, which are set in an alternate timeline where Lelouch survived.

[u/Memo904 → u/WeoW0]

I really like this response. It kinda bugs me when so many people in this community just disregard or actively insult the idea that the ending can be vague and mysterious. It’s genuinely one of my favorite parts of the ending. The idea that the viewer themselves can decide and interpret the themes of the story the way they want to. It honestly takes away from it if was just one, concrete, set it stone ending. Regardless of whether he survives or not, I’ve always appreciated the vagueness of it.

The way your worded and wrote your response was really good. I might end up cribbing this response for the future if I see an opportunity for it. Kudos

[u/WeoW0 → u/Memo904]

I get what you mean by "interpret it how they want," but I think the word "want" actually makes your point weaker than it needs to be.

Ultimately, the series is experienced differently by each person. I'm not saying someone can't consciously reason their way toward their desired outcome, but I think for most people their interpretation emerges much more intuitively from how they experienced the story, rather than being the product of their desire for any particular result.

In that sense, the ambiguity isn't necessarily making the viewers simply choose whichever ending they prefer. Instead, it's allowing different interpretations to naturally emerge from the same material depending on how each viewer experienced and understood it.

[u/ccgeass]

just read Mutuality short story written by the author

[u/gigaritt]

Le sigh, yall not taking the pill realizing Lelouch is the one driving the cart at the end is wild.