Code Geass/Fridge

Fridge Brilliance

• One of the minor headaches of the first season was the lack of an explanation for why C.C. decided to abandon her Yandere Mao. Though this is never explicitly brought up in the second season, the reason why Geass powers are handed out is revealed and thus provides a viable explanation: since he wants to be with her for the rest of his life, he refused to fulfill their contract--killing her and taking on her immortality to live forever without her.
  • Or alternatively, she cared about Mao too much and fled to avoid the temptation to curse him with immortality.
    • But that doesn't explain why she was willing to let him live the rest of his life without her, and with a Geass that isolated him from everyone else in the world and was driving him insane. Even if she turned out to mean well, there's really no justification for what she did to him.
    • Well considering that she admitted she loved him, it's not too improbable that she, you know, didn't want to actually kill him. She encounters the same problem when she tries to shoot him later and doesn't even squeeze off a shot despite the fact that she has him at point blank before he could do anything about it.
  • There's generally a lot of Fridge Brilliance in this show. See the main page for details.
• There was a lot of debate about Nunnally's apparent return from the dead, with many fans considering it an Ass Pull. One blogger, however, pointed out several clues that showed it had been planned the whole time, including a second airplane in the Britannian hangar, and the fact that Sayoko was able to reach Nunnally before Rolo, despite her detour to free Kallen and recover the Guren, while Rolo was specifically ordered to find Nunnally, as well as the fact that the two never crossed paths once. All this works together to show that Nunnally was on one plane with Sayoko, while Rolo was tracking the decoy plane.
• So, why did Lelouch resolve to reject Charles and Marianne's plan? Simple: he had confronted Mao and seen how much damage just one person can bring when having access to everyone's deepest secrets. If everyone had Mao's mind-reading powers, humanity would sink into utter chaos and depression.
• I was bothered that nobody talked about nuclear weapons until the development of FLEIJA (I didn't know how Nuclear Weapons Taboo would fit in the setting), but then I remembered that this is an alternate history, with an alternate numeration of years. 2018 is equivalent to our 1962, when the Cold War was going on, and the development of nuclear weapons was reaching its peak.
• Why There Are No Therapists for Nina? Simple: why Schneizel would a pay or suggest therapist for her?
• When Mao from Code Geass not only survived getting shot up by heavy caliber rounds, but was up and around in less than a week, I assumed the writers were just bringing him back because they had killed him off too early so as to bring forth The Reveal about Suzaku killing his father, but then R2 rolled around and it turned out that Geass was basically a method of transferring immortality, and only those with Geass can take immortality away from immortals, meaning that alterations must be occuring to the body of the Geass user to prepare them for said immortality, making them more resilient and faster to heal! What was an Ass Pull turned out to be extremely effective Foreshadowing, making that scene much better in context. — User:Narvi
  • And another thing about Mao: there's a lot of debate about why so many episodes are concentrated on him and not the war of liberation. His detractors blame him for hijacking the story and even many of his fans agree that he's just thrown in for filler (or the closest thing an Anime First series has to filler, anyway), except... that if you really think about him and the situations he's in, it's really necessary to devote all those episodes to him. Think about it: the basic premise of Code Geass is that all the characters have things to hide and everyone needs to pretend to be someone they're not at least once. Mao is a mind-reader, and so he knows what all the other characters are hiding and could easily reveal anyone's secrets anytime he wants. As such, at the time he's an even greater threat to Lelouch than the evil Britannians and so Lelouch can't very well get back to the main action until Mao's removed. — User:2 writeis 2 life
  • At first, the idea of having Pizza Hut in the series seemed like stupid Product Placement, but it now hits me that unless some really bad In Spite of a Nail is going on, this is yet another sign that the "official history" in the series in complete b.s. --- User:Jordan
    • I'm not sure if this was deliberate, but I've noticed something interesting about the episode references to Lelouch as a demon as well as his tendency to speak of himself this way. Lelouch has a much remarked similarity to Light in Death Note, but of course, Light always refers to himself as God. This really underscores how different the two characters actually are.-- User:Jordan.
      • For all that I love Code Geass, I used to feel like Lelouch was (or at least started out as) something of a Light Yagami rip-off. They're both teenage geniuses who suddenly gain great power and try to use it to change the world. But, on further thought, Light and Lelouch have some crucial differences. Lelouch, even from when he's a little kid, vows that he will one day destroy Britannia, and in fact gaining Geass only speeds up his plans to topple the Empire. Light never seriously thought he would be able to do anything to change the "rotten" world he lives in until he discovers the Death Note. But there's one thing that completely sets Lelouch vi Britannia and Light Yagami apart: their pasts. Lelouch is a prince, not an Ordinary High School Student like Light, and his motives (at least initially) are revenge (for his mother's murder) and to create a better world for his sister. His motivation is very much rooted in his family and his past. Light, however, is utterly normal. He has a normal family, with two parents and a younger sister (he may get his "justice" thing from his police chief dad, but it's not an uncommon thing to believe in) - in fact, he basically has the ideal "Nuclear Family". He never had any involvement in the evil he sought to purge from the world, other than seeing it in the news. Besides his abnormally large brain, Light is the Everyman up until he finds the Death Note - which raises the question in the ordinary people who watch Death Note: "What would you do if you ever found something like the Death Note?" Which is completely not the point of Code Geass at all. -User:Munkiman
        • Don't forget the fact that Light is also super athletic while Lelouch is outrun by Milly in a dress. -User:neobowman
    • Let's examine Death Note and Code Geass: Death Note is a dark anime, in which most of the scenes and characters are dark and toned, and it contains a Crapsack World, but also a protagonist who subscribes to Light Is Not Good. Code Geass, on the other hand, seems much more straightforward and even optimistic, uses a lot of bright colors in its characters and scenery, and comes with a protagonist who subscribes (at least initially) to Dark Is Not Evil. Code Geass has a hopeful Bittersweet Ending while Death Note has a Shoot the Shaggy Dog style Downer Ending. The two shows could easily be seen as counterparts. — User:2 writeis 2 life
      • Due to Disappointing Last Level and poor planning and explanations, Code Geass seemed more like a Shoot the Shaggy Dog-style Esoteric Happy Ending itself. Lelouch goes with a plan with no guaranteed chance of success, and without himself to keep things from falling apart, and the road there involves doing things below even the lowest of his baseline standards during the bulk of the series. And he went with this plan because he had no one to turn to who really valued life to help him out, especially with Nunnally apparently dead. And guess who turned up an episode after he started the plan? --User:azul 120
  • Most of what I'd heard about the show focused on the Geass and Lelouch being a chessmaster; it wasn't until later that I heard about the Humongous Mecha, and I was expecting that to ruin it for me. While watching the show, it didn't jar as much as I expected it to, but it was only when reading the manga version without the robots that I realized that the giant robots make a surprisingly natural complement to Lelouch's giant hamminess. It meant that all the action in the series was scaled up, and without that aspect, Zero seemed rather underwhelming. — User:Haven
    • I've been enjoying the show since day one for its epic giant robot action and amazing main character, but it wasn't until recently that I realized the whole thing isn't just a reversal of the classic hero and villain archtypes, but also of the classic Saturday Morning Cartoon tropes. The Black Knights are like Team Rocket or M.A.D., with their faceless leader and blackclad mooks carying out his latest cunning scheme. Then we have Suzaku, who embodies the Invincible Hero, almost never failing to save the day with his Super Prototype. - User:The Gunheart
      • Don't forget the Gundam reversal, specifically. — User:Shay Guy
      • Ooh! There's also the fact that Suzaku is the Invincible Hero piloting a mech named after Lancelot. — User:Haven
      • Not to mention having a cat named Aurther.
      • One of the reasons I like Suzaku is that he's actually quite a good Deconstruction of the Invincible Hero archetype, with the first season gradually exposing the huge psychological issues and painful backstory 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 does the Prophetic Name thing and is reborn as Zero, an entirely different kind of hero. - User:Drakyndra
  • At first I through the High Eunuchs from R2 sounded rather Narmy (well, more so than usual) with their annoyingly high-pitched voices. Then I learned that Scholar-Gentry Eunuchs in Ancient China had to have their testicles cut off before they could accept their position.
    • Umm, yea. That's what "eunuch" means.
  • At the time I was watching the show, Lelouch's unfortunate Power Incontinence which royally screwed up Euphemia's plans to create an independent Japanese state seemed like just a contrived way move the plot along. After reading though the wallbanger page for Code Geass, it would seem others feel even worse about how that situation played out. However, then it hit me that this was really the first time that Lelouch's geass had badly backfired on him. Lets be realistic here: Lelouch is no superhero, by any means. It would follow that his "superpower" should not be an absolute advantage with no unfortunate side effects, and that those side effects would end up hurt not just him, but those around him as well. So, what was once a bit of a wallbanger has now become, in my mind, an indispensable part of the development of Lelouch's ability.
    • Of course his Geass had unfortunate side effects. Earlier in the episode, it showed that his Geass wasn't working properly, not working when he wanted it to, and giving him a migraine. Thus, the reverse may also have been possible: sudden, unexpected activations. It was logical that something was going wrong, and he needed C.C.'s help, and to be very, very careful, especially after seeing what a mess Mao had become. He didn't. Lelouch himself acquires a sudden, extremely maddening case of Fridge Logic.
      • That could certainly be considered foreshadowing for problems to come. Headaches could hardly be considered a devistating blow. And, It isn't surprising that Lelouch would not ask for help. He is a very confident person, after all. In any case, when you really think about it, this little mishap adds more to the story than just a plot ticket.
    • Also, it makes more sense once you realize that subconsciously, Lelouch wanted Euphemia's plan to fail, which may have affected his Geass. Or his choice of words.
      • But at the same time, he didn't want to kill his (2nd most) beloved sister, and didn't want to kill civilians. That's why he told Euphemia to kill him: He didn't want to see Euphemia's dream be destroyed, and combined with his own inferiority complex, was a lethal combination... which kinda makes the end of R2 even more depressing.
    • When I first saw the scene, I thought it a brilliant twist for something like this to happen without Lelouch's planning it, and found a bit funny how everyone thought it was part of his plan. Getting back on it, some time later, I just found it predictable, because he was almost "asking for it", saying so many commands as a "simple example". Then I (and I think he did too) realized episodes later that he got what he wanted: Zero being a hero again (like many characters called him out on him not being Zero for Nunnally, but for his own goals), and Suzaku finally being Nunnally's Knight. And what seemed to be just a bad and obvious scene became more meaningful when we realize the "what I could do to you" revolves around his needs, not harmless pranks. The first one is "I could make you remove Suzaku from being your Knight", which would give him a technical advantage, maybe a decent way for him to get closer to Nunnally too, and maybe make the Nippon people become untrusting of her good will, removing one of them and such. The one that "went in" is worse, but the previous (I remember they were three "I could"s, I may be wrong) would, in the longer term, put things similarly to how it went. And consider, he could have said "jokingly" stuff, like "I could make you act like a cat/dog" (a common "hypnosis joke") or "I could make you get undressed/make sex to me" (another "man-thing"), but his subconscious only dictates him viable solutions for his problems, which include tarnishing her name and intention. If the other command would have entered, and this would have been said previously without effect, The Euphinator would have been only a footnote on the Fridge Horror page. So when you look over that scene again, you can see it was barely coincidental...
  • A year after I watched Code Geass, I decided to check it up on wikipedia, since it had an alternate calendar, I was curious as to when the events would be taking place in our timeline. When I found the calendar was started about fifty years before gregorian calendar was, I did that math and found out that the year series takes place is in 1968! the same year when Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King were assassinated, thus poetically lining Lelouch's death with theirs,as he sacrificed himself for world peace, just as those two were willing to die for a chance at it as well, which also makes a lot of sense because the Code Geass world is going through THEIR version of the Sixties!
    • It gets better: It actually starts 55 years before 1 A.D., which means that the series starts in 1963. And just WHO was assassinated in 1963?
      • Even better than that, though this might be getting into WMG: JFK is one of the few people in history to have literally saved the world with the force of his personality, in the Cuban Missile Crisis. Guess what Lelouch had done just a few episodes before?
  • Everytime the OP changes within a given season, it's at an episode where something happens or is about to happen to Shirley or Euphemia. It seems even less coincidental if you consider the fact that one way to interpret Shirley is how Euphemia would have been had she not grown up as royalty. And Shirley and Euphemia, between the two of them, are the ones who initiate all the series' Wham Episodes. — User:2 writeis 2 life
    • Also worth noting that, if you're looking at Code Geass as a retelling of Hamlet then these two split the character of Ophelia between them. Shirley even gets a Polonius, her father, and Euphemia gets a Laertes, Suzaku. In fact, just about all of my Fridge Moments regarding this series were of the "whoah, just like that guy in Hamlet" variety. -Hollow Golem
  • A few weeks after watching R2 episode 21, it hit me. A (probably gay) teenage boy with dad issues and a dead-but-not-gone mother is the main pawn in his dad's plan to re-work the world in daddy's ways to make the world an 'ideal' place where dad and mom can be together. Code Geass has been Evangelion all along.
  • (With thanks to the anonymous Troper on the I Want My Beloved to Be Happy page, who pointed out the Kallen part of this) At different points in R2, when Lelouch has doubts about continuing, he gets told by Kallen to continue lying to her until the end to free Japan, and by Suzaku to turn his lies into truths and work with him to make things better. And during the Zero Requiem arc he lies to Kallen to free Japan (and to prevent her from suffering with him in his Zero-Approval Gambit), and he works with Suzaku to make all Zero's talk about making a better world actually true. - User:Drakyndra
  • So, Lelouch is sometimes accused of the Idiot Ball for not telling people certain things, making him seem much more sinister than he really is. Telling Suzaku that the Euphie incident was an accident and that he really wanted to free Japan, or giving his side of the story when the Black Knights turn on him might have changed everything. But you realize that Lelouch has a massive Guilt Complex about his morally-grey actions. He doesn't want to reject responsibility for things that are even remotely his fault, even if it could help him with his goals. He wants to be punished, and so he sabotages himself by letting others believe the worst. - User:Treblain
  • And another one: the ending seems stupid with too many Karma Houdini characters getting their Esoteric Happy Ending despite making mistakes they should have paid for like Lelouch and Suzaku--both willingly at that--did. I myself dislike that much too. Then I thought of something: Code Geass is a subtle parody. And here it's parodying happy endings by making one happen when by all accounts it shouldn't; just listen closely to the music, it's too freaking happy for what had just happened to Lelouch the Silent Scapegoat. It may not make what happened to Lelouch or Suzaku that much more likeable, but who says it needs to be? - User:Master Knight
  • In the series C.C. calls Geass "The Power of the King" and we never get any real explanation of what it really means. Well it hit me one day that all the Geass' are mental powers and things that a king (or a queen in C.C. and Marianne's cases) metaphorically can do. Lelouch's word is law with his Geass just like any absolute monarch. The Emperor can overwrite memories just like a king can rewrite his nation's history. Rolo can control the perception of time for people. A bad king's reign can seem to go on and on. Mao knows everything the people around him are thinking and a ruler would (or at least should) be able to monitor a lot of what goes on in his kingdom. C.C's Geass let her be loved by everyone and a good king or queen could be idolized to that point. Even Bismark, Marianne and that random kid in the Geass cult relate. A good king should be able to predict how their actions will effect things, Marianne's is the equivalent of your ideas living on through a successor and the random kid who could move people's bodies was like a manipulative king who makes the entire kingdom dance to his whims through bureaucracy. Finally, the ultimate goal of the Geass is to make someone immortal and a ruler can often become immortalized by the actions they do in life.- User:Wind Weaver 19
    • I had a Fridge Brilliance over your Fridge Brilliance. At first the explanation for Rolo's power seemed contrived and reaching, but then I realized: His power is flawed. It stops his heart. In other words, he's a bad king.- User:Discar
    • Marianne's ability allows her to live on through her successor. Many a bad Queen in both RealLife and fiction have damaged their heirs through raising them as clones instead of letting them live their own lives.
    • When you think about it from this context, the entire Euphinator Incident serves to underline the fact that a king must choose his words carefully. This isn't the first time that someone died because a flippant remark was parsed as a royal command.
  • The technological breakthroughs of Code Geass over the course of the series can seem a bit... rushed and even farfetched, at times. Technology shouldn't improve at such a rate, especially not knightmares (7 years for the 4th and 5th generations, 2 years for 7, 8, and 9th generation frames). However, it becomes brilliant when you consider 2 factors: Code Geass takes place during a period of astounding technological growth in our world (the Cold War era), and: Schneizel planned this out the entire time. He wanted to build Damocles, and so poured countless resources into developing the relevant technologies. The float systems, shielding, knightmares, and even the F.L.E.I.J.A.s become awesome when you realize that they were all meant to be used together from day one.
  • For those people who watched Code Geass before they watched shows like the Gundam Franchise and Evangelion, I would suggest watching those series next, followed by rewatching Code Geass. I won't get into the Eva references, since those have been done to death on this site, but take a look at Mobile Suit Gundam. In particular, take a good look at the Zabi Family, particularly Degwin Sodo Zabi (Charles zi Britannia), Gihren Zabi (Schneizel), Dozle Zabi (who is likeable like Odysseus, but has a reputation akin to Cornelia), Kycilia Zabi (Cornelia herself!), and Garma Zabi (who is obviously Clovis). Meanwhile, Lelouch vi Britannia is based off of Casval Rem Deikun, and both have a famous alias: Zero and Char Aznable (hell, Char even means "four", fitting with the number theme). He also uses the alias Lelouch Lamperouge (possibly inspired by Char's alias Edward Mass), and is known to some as "The Black Prince" (The Red Comet, of course!). Then his sister Nunnally vi Britannia is based off of Char's sister Artesia Sum Deikun (Nunnally Lamperouge = Sayla Mass). Nunnally may also have some connection (being inspired by or inspiring) to Mineva Lao Zabi (Audrey Burne). Marianne vi Britannia, who was described as loving and a general saint by those that knew her (and was later assassinated) could have some inspiration drawn from Zeon Zum Deikun, who was a philosopher and a pacifist. Basically, Code Geass takes the entire plotline of Char's vengeance against the family of dictators and translates it to a Japan/Britannia battlefield, with the added twist that they're all part the same family now! They even have the same habit of using those nonsensical honorifics in their names. Hell, Lelouch killed Clovis first, just as Char did to Garma! Charles is much like Degwin, both seeming like ruthless tyrants while, in reality, being tired of war. Charles simply had a very Gendo-esque way of ending it! Gihren inspired Schneizel (from the pseudo-German name right down to the superweapon), mixed in with Charles' speech-giving powers. Both even tried to take over near the end. Sadly, Cornelia's attempt to shoot Schneizel near the end was far less successful than Kycilia's assassination of Gihren. In addition, the idea of these characters being royalty (and exiled royalty) rather than just pseudo-noble dictators was taken from Gundam Wing, with Lelouch being much like the infamous Char Clone, Zechs, who is an exiled Prince with blood on his hands (also note that Milliardo and Zechs are both Number based, like Zero, as was the theme in Gundam Wing)! Which would make Nunnally based on Relena! ... Wow... In short, no matter how completely out of the blue many plot points may seem, its obvious that they had been using previous Gundam series as inspiration the whole damn time. Perhaps people would have been far more able to discover the motives and suspected actions of many characters if they simply watched the series that came before and followed what the equivalent character did (or tried to do).
    • Speaking of Lamperouge, if rouge means red and lamp means a holder of light, then considering that Geass is depicted as a bright-red bird contained in Lelouch's eye...
  • The fact that Suzaku vows to be the one to kill Zero, and at the end of R2, despite the situation having changed significantly still ends up fulfilling that promise. Ironically, he's also the one that takes up the mask, resurrecting the identity of Zero and enabling the symbol of him to live on.
• It always bugged me that in R2 the mechas always explode after receiving fatal damage, something which happened less in R1. But then I realized that the new mecha were built after the conquest of Japan, the worlds largest supply of sakuradite, which was used as a mecha power source. The knightmares were upgraded with more sakuradite, and thus made big explosions.
• The conversation between Schneissel and Lelouch in R2 turn 24 always seemed impossible, due to their being no way that Lelouch was able to predict the words strategy and plan. But after rewatching I realized that he didn't need it. Lelouch's manner of speaking is a triumphant monologue about the subject that Schneissel would likely start about. He only makes it look like a conversation by pausing after each sentence. It is just coincidence Schneissel uses the same words as his monologue, but it would still be a believable conversation even if he didn't. Lelouch is acting like he is scolding a child, interruptions, lack of relevant replies and weird pauses are par for the course in that sort of conversation.
• Clovis. Am I the only one who thinks he's one of the most brilliantly handled characters in this show? For all the time he's alive, he's basically your typical Smug Snake, incompetent but callous ruler, who perhaps earns a bit of sympathy for his death but is otherwise just someone to showcase the evils of the Britannian Empire and let Lelouch have his Curb Stomp Battle. Then the rest of his appearance (or rather, when he's referred to) spend their time deconstructing this notion: he clearly loved his family, he was a fairly talented artist, he even treasured all of his visits with Lelouch when they were younger, despite the fact that he always lost their games of chess - not the reaction you'd expect he of the hopeless ego to have. Even his most horrendous action, the demolition of the Shinjuku ghetto, is, if not justified, certainly given an excuse - it becomes abundantly clear over the rest of the show that Clovis really would've gotten in quite a lot of trouble with a lot very powerful, very nasty people if anything with C.C. had come to light. So, whilst the action he took was still monstrous, one can understand his being a tad irrational with fear at the time - indeed, one even realises that this probably him in the worst light possible. All in all, it becomes apparent that for all his many failings and the typical vices of the Social Darwinist Britannian aristocracy, Clovis was actually quite a nice guy. A Jerkass? Yes, by dint of the job. But a Jerkass Woobie in this troper's opinion.
  • Clovis seems like a pretty evil guy compared to Lelouch's Anti-Hero tendencies... until we get halfway through the series and start to see how the good guys aren't as good and the bad guys aren't as evil as we first believed. Considering all the Character Derailment and Rescued from the Scrappy Heap that we see in the living characters, it makes perfect sense that Clovis (and Marianne) get the exact same treatment.
• The battle between Lelouch's Britannia and the UFN is reminiscent of Star Wars, except we are Rooting for the Empire and the Death Star is on the side of the Rebels.
• Nina's, ahem, "romp" with Table-kun seems extremely out of place and, when I was watching with my father, embarrassing... but then you recall that Nina's full name is "Nina Einstein." Albert Einstein, although it's not commonly known, wasn't the celibate genius many people expect...
• After Lelouch accidentally geasses Euphemia into slaughtering the Japanese, we get a shot of the Emperor watching the massacre and laughing maniacally, declaring, "You are worthy of being called my child now!" At first this just served to make him seem like more of a bigoted nutter, being happy that his daughter was committing genocide. But then in R2 we find out that the Emperor already knew quite a bit about Geass and what Lelouch was up to. Meaning he probably guessed that Lelouch geassed Euphie, but thought it was done intentionally in order to stir up anti-Brittanian sentiment. That's when you realize, the Emperor wasn't cheering on Euphemia's Ax Crazy rampage, he was cheering on Lelouch's ruthless manipulation of his sister and the Japanese population. He still comes off as a bastard, but a very different kind of bastard.
  • Plus, in the original Japanese episode, the subtitles show "He did it! He really did it!" or something along the lines of that. "He" would refer to Lelouch.
    • Not likely; Japanese does not differentiate pronouns by gender. There are no specific words for "he" or "she".
      • Actually, there are ("kare" and "kanojo", respectively), it's just that they are not used very often. However, in that case (if I heard correctly) Charles used the word "yatsu", which is gender-neutral.
        • On the other hand, given the context, who else is it going to refer to? Euphie? Yeah, he was just waiting for her to snap and go kill-crazy all on her own...
• What in often considered one of Lelouch's Moral Event Horizons (his crossing the line into using Geass to enslave all of Britannia) is actually all part of Zero Requiem. As well as making him seem even more like a heartless tyrant who only uses people as tools, it also (and this is the brilliant part) completely absolves everyone in Britannia of any responsibility for the subsequent war. Lelouch makes the world not only hate him, he also makes them feel pity for Britannia for being enslaved, not hatred for them supporting him. And since his plan was supposed to conclude with his death, the survivors would all be free again afterwards (unlike Schneizel, who he quite specifically enslaved to Zero). It wasn't a Moral Event Horizon- even though he had to do it to carry out his plan, he was sparing them from any reprisals!
  • Tell that to the love ones of all the people who died during that battle, especially those who Lelouch killed by destroying Mt. Fuji. He enslaved hundreds of people and then killed them just so peace could be achieved with his own death.
    • That world was in desperate need of peace, the world might have more technology than real life, but it lacked the maturity of real life earth leaders. Given the new development of FLEIJA warheads, season 3 would've been similar to Dr. Strangelove, had season 2 not ended the way it did. Given a world where loved ones are dead, and one where everyone is dead.
      • Schneizel and Lelouch could have easily talked it out, figured out that no one actually wanted to fight, and simply ended the war settling into an era of peace. Humanity isn't evil, you don't need to kill a bunch of people to make sure that the rest fall into line. The actions of the Royal Britannia Family where the actions of madmen, and they still haven't fixed the problem of the Britannia family still ruling Britannia. The family proved that it shouldn't be in charge of a Dairy Queen let alone the largest country in the world.
• I never understood the Ragnarok plan until I watched it again today. The whole thing emphasized Charles' detachment from the human condition. He could have stopped the violence by issuing a few edicts like the abolition of the Numbers system and instead he came up with a cartoony plan that made little sense to everyone else.
• Everyone says the Euphinator Incident was a Shocking Swerve. It was foreshadowed, though. Honestly I knew something very, very wrong was going to happen in that meeting. I also knew the Geass was starting to act beyond Lelouch's will when he almost geassed someone by accident, and I knew Mao's Geass simply never stopped. But I wasn't expecting this to happen. I expected Euphie to get the Clovis treatment. And then, that's the beauty of it, the show completely distracts us from that sense of doom and even the sense of narrative logic. Eupohie's unexpected display of competence was so surprising, and she was so sweet, she talked both the viewers and Lelouch into lowering our guard, and forgetting that the story advancing from there would suck... while on the other hand busying our minds with the myriad unexpected possibilities their deal opened. I for one was starting to imagine a Pendragon arc, with lots of Deadly Decadent Court scheming and deception and drama and... And then, when our head is in the coulds and our hearts open... the writers strike with a traitorous, cruel backstab. With minimal effort, all that castle of cards tumbles down. And the original plot (Zero VS Britannia, Lelouch VS Suzaku) is not just Reset Button ed, it's reinforced. Brilliant, I say. Slightly lazy, but brilliant nonetheless.
• Remember the weird branching tree diagram at the Geass temple? It's a drawing of neurons. After all, Geass works in relation to people's minds. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuron
• For characters whose backstory we learn about, it appears that their Geass is a type of Personality Power by granting the character's greatest desire. Lelouch, having no control his entire life gains the ultimate control over people. C.C., we discover, wanted to be loved and gains the power to make anyone love her. Charles, after having his brothers and sisters killing each other due to ambition wants to rewrite history.Bismark, the consummate soldier, gains the ability to see what the enemy is going to do before he does it. It's even somewhat inverted near the end when Rolo uses his power of manipulating the perception of time to make to preserve his moment of belonging.--User:Tsukishijin
• According to supplementary materials, the reason America lost its fight for independence in the Code Geass world is because Benjamin Franklin switched sides. This might seem to be a bit hard to believe - until you realize that in other supplementary materials, CC mentions having known him personally. If Benjamin Franklin had a contract with CC, considering the effect that other Geass-weilding politicians (for example, Lelouch) have had on the Code Geass world, it makes a lot of sense that the outcome of the revolutionary war depended wholly on him.
• I was browsing at the CG wikia and looking at the map of the second part of the series and I saw the Middle Eastern Federation was painted as red and also Indonesia and the Phillipines, so I realized that the Black Rebellion was actually a heavy blow to the Britannian Empire, even if it was a failure, because the Empire lost territory (because, judging by the map before the UFN, it looked like the Empire was practically a Villain Sue). With two royals dead and one missing and if the securing of the new areas wasn't going as good as expected because they had to redirect supplies to Japan, the control over those areas was feeble. It could be said that the UFN accepted the governments in exile, but the area corresponding to Persia is not alligned with the UFN, which leads the question of why didn't they join the UFN? Because the Britannian threat wasn't relevant. Then Britannia, after the Black Rebellion, redirected its efforts to the EU (the provider of supplies and technology to guerrillas over the world), conquering most of the ill-defended Africa (Unfortunate Implication for the EU? I am of the opinion that an African colonized by the EU had only a slightly better condition than a Number) while advancing in Europe with Schneizel's strategy of negotiating with states directly (serious, how could they conquer Russia in one year without making an accord?) and Suzaku, while arranging the purchase of China to not have the problem of mobilizing the entire army to retake the once conquered areas. As for the Toromo Agency in Cambodia, it could be argued that it's just the United States of Cambodia didn't care with their presence and the jungle would be a good cover for the research. -Not JM Keynes.
• Fridge Brilliance: Lelouch believed that you had to start a rebellion/work from the outside to achieve peace, while Suzaku thought the opposite—and in the end, both their views were needed to make their dream a reality. Lelouch took Suzaku's philosophy and took over as Emperor, and Suzaku took Lelouch's philosophy and became Zero.
  • It could have been done differently, with Lelouch being either a good emperor or continuing on as Zero, but as an agent of a more peaceful Britannia instead.
• The main argument against building a military mecha in the real world is the vulnerability of the legs, right? Well, Code Geass brilliantly dodges the issue by making the mecha in question so friggin' nimble via Rollerblade Good that it's nigh impossible to accurately target the legs in combat. Of course, real-world mechas wouldn't engage in close combat but still.
• Unfortunately, This Troper forgets the specifics but once or twice (once during the R1 finale) Lelouch tells Suzaku that together they can accomplish anything. As we know, he was dead on. By the end of the second season, they conquer the entire world and then achieve world piece.
• This Troper feels that the countless ways in which the characters foil one another throughout the series can be considered as multiple examples of fridge brilliance. The most complex examples involve Lelouch/Suzaku, Lelouch/Kallen, Kallen/Suzaku and Schneizel/Lelouch. But, of course, it doesn't end there.
• Knight of Zero! Get it?! ...Because he's suppose to be a position above the Knight of One but he's also Zero's knight. Also, he's the knight who becomes Zero.
• This troper always figured that Lelouch's FABULOUS hand movements were always just that: FABULOUS for no better reason. But it would make sense when you think about how he has to have direct eye contact with whoever he's using his Geass on, so what better way to make the subject look at his eyes? Over-the-top hand gestures and poses, of course~!
• Suzaku's Knightmare Frame is called Lancelot. Think for a moment - what significance did Lancelot have in the Arthurian Legend? Lancelot betrayed King Arthur and made off with his wife. Now, "betrayal" is a running theme with Suzaku. Firstly, at the outset of the series, the other Elevens accused him of being a traitor in siding with the Britannians. Next, Lelouch finds out Suzaku's working for Britannia, and feels betrayed by this, especially seeing as he was planning on Geassing him to live his life at Nunally's side. Then, finally, in R2, he betrays the old Britannian royal family by siding with Zero
  • Also, factor in that Suzaku fell in love with Euphemia. What was Lelouch's last words to the girl? "You were the first woman I loved". Lancelot stole Guinevere, Arthur's wife, from him; had Lelouch found out about the relationship, he might have, even for a second, feel robbed from.
    • He did find out about the 'ship. Remember the end of the school festival episode? Nunnally herself mentioned how Suzaku and Euphie made a nice couple. Lelouch looked quite angrily at her in the last scene. This could be because of the major SAZ wrench she had just thrown in his plans. However, it could also have been because he felt robbed by Suzaku (as you mentioned) for taking Euphie, or even because he felt robbed by Euphie on behalf of Nunnally (for taking away Suzaku as her knight and possible love interest). He could have also been projecting his own betrayal onto how he thought Nunnally felt.
• A very subtle one: At the beginning of the series, Lelouch is nearly killed when his cell phone goes off at the wrong moment and attracts the attention of Clovis's royal guards. After that, his phone is always on vibrate.
  • Out of everything else on this page, this is the most brilliant point made, in this troper's eyes. That's so subtle and brilliant I have no words for it.
• Why does the Zero costume look like Batman with Super Sentai helmet? Because it was meant to invoke fear in the superstitious and cowardly Brittannians and hope in the Japanese while still being a not so nice hero of justice. What better way to do this than to combine their iconic superhero motifs.

Fridge Horror

• Code Geass: The Guren's main weapon system is pretty nightmarish once you remember that, besides blowing up an enemy's machine, it first microwaves the pilot alive.
  • Mao decides he wants to take C.C. to a "quiet, white, immaculate, special house" he built in Australia. Unfortunately, to get to Australia, he needs to take her on a plane, and she's apparently too big to bring on the plane. So he's going to have to make her compact. Cue him revving a chainsaw. It gets worse when you consider C.C. does have a Healing Factor, so being "made compact" (cut into pieces) won't actually kill her...
  • When you consider how the Britannians treat those they conquer, with such utter disregard to their rights to the point where discrimination against them is considered a national policy, how exactly did they deal with the Native Americans?
  • Lelouch once commanded a bunch of punks to do a bunch of silly tasks just because they pissed him off and he was in a seriously bad mood. He didn't set an end condition, which means they'll never stop doing it. Ever. There's an insane asylum somewhere with five or six guys who will never recover, just continuously perform meaningless tasks just because they ticked off the wrong emo kid.
  • Lelouch geassed a Britannian student into marking a wall each day in order to test his geass' longevity. Problem is, he never dismissed it and in the second season, it's briefly mentioned that even though she's in a different timezone, she still wakes up in the middle of the night and sleepwalks at the exact same time whose Japanese local time is the one when she's supposed to mark the wall. In short, the geass is still in effect one year later. Unless Jeremiah used his geass canceller on her, she'll have to live with it for the rest of her life.
  • As part of the Zero Requiem, Lelouch basically made himself the world's biggest tyrant. When you consider that Charles was already horrible enough to begin with, well, it doesn't take much to imagine what he must have done to achieve that status. (We are told that he had people imprisoned and/or executed for simply disagreeing with him. Also consider the detonation of Mt. Fuji that was part of it, which was the source of the majority of the world's energy. The destruction may have also increased the death toll in Japan. Reasons like these are basically why the Zero Requiem isn't considered such a good idea.
• In regards to Lelouch accidentally geassing Euphie to commit genocide against the Japanese, she's shown struggling against it before the Geass takes over unlike previous victims. Lelouch concludes that this was due to the command being completely against her Pacifist nature which was why she struggled. However, Suzuku, Euphie's personal knight and later Love Interest is Japanese and an order to kill off all the Japanese would include him too which Euphie must have realized. So she fought against the Geass not just because it would mean the deaths of thousands but also because following up on it would've meant ordering the death of her boyfriend whom she'd pledged her eternal love to just two episodes ago.
  • Another case of terrifying Fridge Horror kicks in once you realize that by the time Euphie is geassed, Suzaku's "Live"-geass has already been planted, meaning if Zero hadn't shot Euphemia, she and Suzaku wouldn't be able to be in the same room together without BOTH their geasses kicking in... Euphemia trying to kill Suzaku without letting up and Suzaku trying to survive by any means necessary... which might have resulted in him killing her.
• If one thinks about it, Shirley's mother may in fact be the single most tragic character in the whole series. Consider this: Mrs. Fenette, who only appears in two scenes throughout the series, was shown grieving during the funerals of her husband and daughter. Basically, Mrs. Fenette had to deal with her husband being buried alive - in the eyes of many, and possibly her own, killed by Zero - only to be forced to bury her own daughter a short year later. Shirley's death, ruled suicide (despite the fact that no one who hears this explanation buys it; after all, Shirley was a very happy girl who dealt with her father's death quite admirably), was also easily linked to Zero. Therefore, she could easily draw the conclusion that her whole family was killed by the terrorist leader (there were probably a few families who felt that way at that point). This pales in comparison, however, to Zero killing Lelouch at the end of the series. Assuming that Mrs. Fenette survived the F.L.E.I.J.A. detonation in Tokyo (always possible) and that she had come to the conclusions mentioned above (also very possible), then she was alive to witness Zero murder Lelouch, her daughter's good friend and love. While many people would have known about Lelouch "The Demon King", what did Mrs. Fenette know about him? If she had a good, close relationship with her daughter (which seems very likely based on their shared grief over Joseph Fenette's death), then the only thing she really knew about him was that he was the nice boy her daughter would always talk about, and clearly fancied. It had been established when Emperor Lelouch went to negotiate with the UFN at Ashford Academy that most people recognized his Majesty as the guy who had been attending that school, so it really isn't that farfetched. Therefore, not only was Mrs. Fenette's husband killed by Zero, but also her daughter and her daughter's good friend/love interest. To see Zero's name chanted at the end of the Requiem, praised by the world as her daughter's sweetheart was just murdered by him, would be extremely tragic. Now, granted, most of this horror is based on 1) whether or not Mrs. Fenette survived F.L.E.I.J.A., and 2) how much of this she knew; however, it is completely in the realm of possibility - and likeliness - that this all holds true. Thusly, in at least one possible sequence of events, Shirley's mother is an extremely broken woman, is a perfect example of how the war between Britannia and the rebels had negatively affected even the most peripheral of characters in the series (a perfect way to show how the vast majority of people had no say in the fate of their world, and were basically walked all over by the masterminds on either side), and is easily the most tragic character in the series.
• Shirley's death could possibly be even more tragic than it seems. Even though Shirley's friends don't believe it was suicide because she seemed so happy, the circumstances of her being found with the gun in her hand (plus the official statement claiming suicide) would probably be enough to plant doubts. If her loved ones think, even briefly, that it really was suicide, then the only way to reconcile this with her previous bubbliness would be that she was really a depressed or unstable Stepford Smiler and they didn't notice. It's bad enough losing someone you love when it's indisputably not your fault, but how much worse if you've got the sneaking suspicion that you just didn't notice that your dear friend/daughter was suicidal?
• Fridge Horror: At first I thought that when Lelouche orders Shirley not to die, that her reaction was her interpreting the command. Then I remembered that nobody else ever interprets his commands. That means that when she talks about being reincarnated, that's the only way any part of her mind can see to follow his order. The knowledge of your own impending death being that deeply ingrained into your mind is utterly terrifying.

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