Lelouch Lamperouge
Lelouch Lamperouge is a male anime character that features in the Code: Geass series.
Contents |
Biography
Origin
Lelouch vi Britannia was the male dark haired offspring of Emperor Charles zi Britannia of the Holy Britannian Empire and one of his wives named Lady Marianne vi Britannia. He as born into nobility with numerous half-brothers and sisters though an actual sister born from his mother was Nunnally vi Britannia. As a child of the emperor, he was designated as the 11th Prince of the Britannian Holy Empire and 17th in line to the throne. As a prince, he spent much time with his various siblings where he regularly played with Nunnally, Euphemia li Britannia and her older sister Cornelia li Britannia. One of the guards that looked after the palace and safety of Lady Marianne vi Britannia was Jeremiah Gottwald.
Events changed forever when an assassin attacked Lelouch's mother who was gunned down and killed. His sister Nunnally was traumatized in the incident and badly wounded where she lost her sight as well as the use of her legs. Due to being crippled, she was considered worthless in the eyes of her father as it meant that she could not be married off for political reasons. In anger, Lelouch had an audience with his father and demanded why his mother was not protected or saved. His father Charles zi Britannia scolded the boy telling him he was nothing to his eyes as he was weak and only had status due to being a prince. The emperor stated that the world worked by the strong devouring the weak with the latter having no place in it. An outraged Lelouch then decided to renounce his heritage as a prince with the emperor punishing his son by stripping him along with his sister of their status as royals. In addition, he had the pair sent off to Japan that was not designated as Area 11 in order to be used bargaining chips for the future. Upon arriving in Japan, he carried his sister as they approached the Kururugi shrine where they encountered Suzaku Kururugi. Suzaku initially despised Lelouch for being a Britannian but this changed after the Empire conquered Japan.
Zero
In her seemingly last few moments, the green haired girl formed a contract with Lelouch and imparted on him the power of Geass where he could compel anyone to follow his commands through eye contact. Upon facing the soldiers, he manifested the use of this ability to command the soldiers to kill themselves which they were compelled to do so thus sparing Lelouch's life.
On his way to rescue Nunnally, his Knightframe was intercepted by Lord Jeremiah who had been augmented by the Geass Order and was piloting the Siegfried. Initially, he managed to lose him after the battle but Jeremiah appeared again as Lelouch with C.C. approached Kamine Island. As the Gawain had suffered damage in the earlier battle, they were unable to defeat the cyborg with C.C. deciding to sacrifice herself whilst Lelouch was dropped off to rescue his sister. Gawain's slash was used to destroy the Siegfried's float system sending both C.C. and Jeremiah crashing into the bottom of the ocean. Meanwhile, Lelouch was on the island when he was confronted by Suzaku Kururugi with Kallen also appearing at the scene. Kururugi shot a bullet that shattered Zero's mask revealing him as Lelouch Lamperouge much to the shock of both Suzaku and Kallen. He attempted to broker a truce but Suzaku was distraught at what Lelouch had done to Euphemia and refused to listen. This led to Lelouch in anger drawing his pistol with the two friends firing at one another. Lelouch's shot missed whilst Suzaku's knocked out his friends gun whereupon he held him in a lock whilst Kallen left. With Zero caught, Suzaku took his former friend to Britannia and presented him to Charles zi Britannia who used his own Geass power to rewrite his son's memories making him forget his past with Lelouch instead believing he was just a simple student at Ashford Academy. Lelouch was made to forget his role as Zero or his connection to the Royal Family and even had his sister Nunnally rewritten out of his memories forcing him to live the life of a simple civilian in Area 11 with him being watched by the Office of Secret Intelligence to ensure he did not regain his past.
Zero Requiem
Cornered by the OSI, it was deemed that his purpose in bringing C.C. out of hiding was over and that his usefulness as bait was over. Thus, the colonel in charge intended to kill him but Lelouch had regained his memory of his past and used his Geass to cause the Britannian soldiers to kill themselves. Thus, he became Zero again with the remnants of the Black Knights willing to follow him once more. Lelouch stated that the world needed to change and that he would be the one to change it. Once alone with Lelouch, Kallen drew a gun on him and demanded to know if he had used his Geass on her to force her to obey him. Lelouch confessed that her decision to follow Zero was entirely under her own free will and once convinced she decided to follow him as Zero once more.
With Emperor Charles zi Britannia gone, Lelouch decided on his next plan to atone for his actions and to bring about world peace. He conspired with C.C. and Suzaku in order to unite the world by placing himself as the villain as well as bearer of all of its hatred. This plan known as the Zero Requiem involved becoming the cruel tyrannical Emperor of the world whereupon he would be assassinated by Suzaku who would be disguised as Zero to free the populace from his rule. Thus, he returned to Britannia and assumed the throne as the empire's newest Emperor with Suzaku as his Knight of Zero. Under his command, he dismantled the aristocracy and allowed Area 11 to be granted its independence as Japan. He then proceeded to assemble his military forces to conquer it again if the United Federation of Nation's rejected allowing him to have a controlling share within it.
Several months into his reign, he controlled much of the world and had a parade in his name where he drove down the streets of Japan. The convoy was obstructed by a man that was dressed in the garments of Zero. In reality, this was the supposedly dead Suzaku who had followed Lelouch's plan by becoming a knight for justice. With his superior skill, 'Zero' evaded the Britannian soldiers and made a fatal strike on Emperor Lelouch. He whispered to his old friend Suzaku that this was his punishment to forever remain behind the mask and be a hero. Lelouch's body later fell to the ground before his sister Nunnally who was on the float and when she took his hand she learnt of what her brother's true intention. In his last moments, he commented about his sacrifice that he had destroyed the world and made it anew. His dead body was cradled by his sister Nunnally who was in despair at the loss of her brother where she stated that all she wanted was to be with him. In the aftermath, the people revolted and Japan along with the world was freed from the 'tyranny' of Emperor Lelouch. His former lieutenant Kallen came to known of Lelouch's plans and commented how the world had embraced peace as they blamed all the evil's around the planet on him. C.C. who was free also stated that Lelouch had proved her wrong that the power of Geass did not condemn him to a life of suffering and loneliness.
Overview
Personality and attributes
In appearance, Lelouch was a young high school student with short dark hair and his violet eyes that he inherited from his parents. He was shown to hold a scrawny build with little muscle and being rather thin. Despite this being the case, he was considerably tall standing over his classmates. He was shown as being a skilled liar and felt that it was a natural part of human society. Lelouch stated that everyone had a mask and that lies were necessary for the greater good.
Suzaku was among his dearest friends who he claimed was his first and last true friend. Lelouch claimed that there was nothing they could not do if they worked together. It was for this reason that he was deeply hurt when he believed Kururugi had betrayed him to Britannia. For a brief time afterwards, he had a cold streak and believed feelings of friendship were weaknesses as a result of Suzaku's actions. This changed afterwards as he included Suzaku in his final plan in bringing about peace to the world.
Lelouch admitted that Euphemia was the first girl he had ever loved. As such, he shed tears of sadness when he gave the command to kill her.
Initially, he was oblivious to the feelings Shirley Fenette had for him. This was until she kissed him after her father died in a battle with Zero's forces. Since that time, he came to love her and did not want her in harms way. As a result, he decided to use his Geass to make her forget him. He reasoned that his life as Zero would lead her in harms way and that the further she was from him the better. He admitted that he never realised his feelings for her until after he had caused her to forget and how she saved him with her smile. As such, after that moment, he believed he could never get that friendship with Shirley. This caused him some reluctance in forming a relationship with Shirley again after she fell in love with him again. When Shirley regained her memories, she nearly committed suicide as she did not trust anyone around her but Lelouch stopped her and told her that he did not want her or any other of his loved ones to die. He was left in anguish when she was killed as he desperately used his Geass to compel her to live whilst she told him she would always love him.
With regards to Kallen, he was shown to had feelings for her and cared for her. On one occasion, he was distraught at having no strategy against Britannia and when Kallen arrived he asked her to comfort him as a woman where he tried to kiss her but she slapped him. When she was captured by the Chinese Federation, he was distraught and was ready to move his forces to recover her against the advice of his lieutenants. He only reluctantly decided to pull back his forces but promised Kallen that he would rescue her. When the Black Knights turned against him, Kallen wanted to know if the charges they made were true. Lelouch knew that if he told her the truth she would stand by his side but that this would cost her life and thus he decided to play the part of the villain causing everyone to turn against him. When Kallen was leaving, he whispered for her to live which she managed to hear. During his Zero Requiem plan, Kallen wanted to know how Lelouch felt about her and kissed him though he demonstrated no reaction. However, this was because he intended to sacrifice his life and as Kallen left he said that this was their goodbye.
On C.C., Lelouch told her that the pair were accomplices and co-conspirators.
Lelouch was shown to hold a deeply manipulative streak and was a skilled liar. He was able to mask his true intentions in order to get his objective. This was evident when he masked fake sibling feelings for his 'brother' Rolo in order to use his skill sets. He orchestrated events to make it appear that he saved Rolo's life and thus indebted the assassin to Lamperouge as he believed Lelouch was his genuine older brother. After Rolo killed Shirley, Lelouch bid his time in order to kill Rolo but the opportunity never presented itself. The reasoning for killing Rolo initially changed from removing an obstacle to getting revenge for Shirley.
According to him, those that killed should be prepared to be killed. He stated that the world had to change then he would be the one to change it. After learning of his parents goals, he rejected them as he concluded that they did not truly love their children despite their motivations. This was because if they did they would not have allowed Lelouch and Nunnally to suffer the way the did in Japan. Furthermore, he believed that the use of the Sword of Akasha would trap everyone in a stagnant past and unable to move into the future. As such, he rejected not only his parents but their plan to eliminate world conflict by forcibly unifying human consciousness. Similarly, with his brother Prince Schneizel he rejected his brother's plans as he felt it locked the world into the present in a state of fear. Instead, he desired humanity to experience joy, happiness and peace by progressing into the future.
Despite his talent for lying, he was shown to hold some noble thoughts of sacrifice for the greater good. For the sake of Nunnally, he lied to Suzaku by claiming that he deliberately used his Geass on Euphemia to cause her to massacre the Elevens and told Kallen he used her in order for her to be spared from death for siding with him. Similarly, he decided to bear the sins of the world in order to bring about a future of peace. This even went as far as acting like a villainous tyrant and arranging his own assassination in order to be identified with evil. Lelouch took this to such an extent that he behaved cruelly to those he cared about such as Nunnally, Kallen and his other friends in order to fulfil his role. As such, he died as a villain when in fact he had united the world against his tyranny.
V.V. commented that Lelouch was a lot like his father Charles zi Britannia.
Powers and abilities
He demonstrated himself to be very charismatic and persuasive with him being a skilled speaker. Lelouch was able to win the support of a populace through the use of well-delivered speeches that were combined with acts of miracles that he engineered through superior strategic planning.
In general, Lelouch was shown to be a formidable foe with him being able to devise and execute strategies at great speeds along with precision. He was a strategist and rarely battled his opponents on a one-to-one setting but rather attacked with coordinated groups or armies under his direct commands. Alternatively, he made use of clever plots or schemes and deceptions in order to get an advantage over his opponents such as rigging the environment in a way to destroy large number of his enemy opponents. He equated this coordination of battles to be similar to a chess game as he himself was a skilled player who always defeated his opponents in a match. During his school life, he often gambled on his chess games against skilled players or embers of the nobility out of sheer boredom where he won these games. His talent in chess was present even when he was a child as he played such games with his siblings in the Royal Family though his brother Schneizel was the one opponent he never managed to defeat. Lelouch's skill operated in real time battles where he predicted his foes moves and countered them. When facing overwhelming odds, he always resorted to a plan that destroyed all the enemy forces at once in a grand fashion.
Despite his skilled mind, he was not as good physically with that state being poor. Despite that, he showed above average hand-eye coordination both in the use of firearms and control systems.
After meeting C.C., he was given the power of Geass where his talent was the ability to compel anyone to follow his command. This compulsion operated by altering the structure of the brain and the person had no choice to follow Lelouch's commands. However, this power could only be done once on the same person whereupon they did not experience anything a second time. Furthermore, the compulsion only worked through direct eye-to-eye contact between Lelouch and the person he intended to command. Operating through a mask or a monitor did not allow the power to operate. Once used, it manifested as a Geass symbol over his left eye with this same red sigil appearing on the eyes of those subjected to his power. Initially, Lelouch was able to use the power whenever he intended but as it grew in strength it became a curse that he was unable to control. This led to his eye manifesting the Geass commands when he had no intention to use them such as when he unintentionally caused Princess Euphemia to kill all the Japanese in Japan.
Though not typically involved in combat, he was sometimes noted to make use of a Knightmare Frame. Initially, these were whatever Frame he had managed to steal from his enemies or acquired for the Black Knights. This culminated in the theft of the Britannia Shinkiro that he used to support his forces on the battlefield in large campaigns.
Notes
- Lelouch Lamperouge was created by Ichirō Ōkouchi, Gorō Taniguchi and Clamp where he was voiced by Japanese actors Jun Fukuyama as an adult and Sayaka Ohara as a child.
- The character was voiced by English actor Johnny Yong Bosch who did the adult Lelouch and Michelle Ruff who played Lelouch as a child in the dubbed series.
Appearances
- Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion:
External Links
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