Author: Gabriel Persechino-Forest Published: July 8th, 2018
Spoiler Alert!!!
Lelouch is Dead!!!
With the new series on its way and the confirmation that Lelouch is returning, many believed that Lelouch had survived R2’s ending all along. However, that appears to be a very wrong assumption based largely on wish fulfilment.
During previous interviews Okouchi (Writer for the series) has had, many quotes were made that makes it clear there was never anything ambiguous about Lelouch’s end:
Ichiro Okouchi (Ichiro Okouchi, ‘Continue’ vol 42, (October 2008). “Lelouch dead!? Was it a good one or a bad one!?”)
That’s true. There are probably a lot of people who think of it as a Bad End, a tragedy, considering the protagonist’s, Lelouch’s end as well. However, Lelouch says in the first episode: “Only those prepared to be shot are allowed to pull the trigger themselves.” If you were to think of that as his pride, then I think his getting shot (killed) in the end was a logical end. Of course, I understand that not all of the viewers will accept this ending. There were people who wanted a happier ending, after all.
…
No. It was decided fairly naturally. During the “Code Geass” script meetings, there are many cases in which there were a number of disputes, but there were barely any when it came to the scripts for (the previous series’s) episode 25 and the final episode. I think everyone felt the same when it came to the end of the character that is Lelouch.
…
Bold… yes, we were so bold as to chose this ending. Perhaps the show that is “Code Geass” ending up this way was decided the moment Director Taniguchi and I teamed up. I suppose you can call it our sense of aesthetics, or perhaps a part of our psychological makeup.
…
Which is why I think of both our and Lelouch’s decision as Happy Ends. I believe that there will be better things in the tomorrow awaiting Nunnally, Kallen and the rest who have been left behind. And surely Lelouch, who was able to make this into a reality, can only be happy [about this].
…
From the very beginning, [I/we] never planned on explaining everything. In fact, if you ask me, I think we might have overdone the explanations. While it’s undeniable that Lelouch’s story has ended with a full stop, the other characters’ stories are still on-going, and it’s not like the world [of Code Geass] itself has come to an end either. [I/we] didn’t want to end it by closing it up for good.”
I find this last paragraph very interesting as it indicates that we might eventually see a new Code Geass series without Lelouch as the lead and set within the original canon continuity (The TV series one). I had always hoped for that. Of course, we’ll have to wait until the current series (Resurrection) is over first.
Ichiro Okouchi (Animage Nov 2008, cast comments)
I think that this (work) was not a bad end, but a good end. This already appeared in Lelouch and C.C.’s conversation in Stage 7 of S1, but people who are ‘just’ living their lives are uninteresting. Lelouch saved his beloved sister and made the kind world that he envisioned, a reality. His life was not in vain. That’s why, Lelouch was smiling in the end.”
Also, C.C.’s profile on the official GeassNet (Mobile) website says the following:
“..Knowing that Lelouch does not hate her for giving him the Geass, she is now able to show her true feelings. With the realization of “Zero Requiem”, her time with Lelouch, who was able to forgive and accept her, came to an end, but the memories created with him has, without doubt, saved her from eternal loneliness.”
Also, in the Zero Requiem compilation movie (That recaps season 2/R2), we have this final monologue from C.C.:
“There was a boy.
He obtained the power to change the world, to create a new order.
The world was terrified of him, hated him.
… But, I know.
He, who passed away with a smile.
So. This is not a tragedy.
And yet, at the time, the night came where I sobbed with a sadness I wouldn’t resist.
I lament. A dirge. The Zero Requiem…”
Then we have the new compilation movies, who drastically changed the canon content of the TV series, indicating that they are establishing a new continuity separate from the main series. This is later confirmed by Okouchi in recent interviews when he says:
At the time of the television series, I intended to close the book on Lelouch’s story after the final episode…
Taniguchi himself (Director of the series) later added that the differences in the movies are not meant to undo the TV series but rather to show “One possible outcome”. Indicating that the two entities (Original TV series and the new movie trilogy and subsequent new series) are indeed separate.
The new series appears to be an entirely different take on the direction of the franchise and a heavenly gift for those who wanted to see Lelouch alive. But at the same time, it remains separate from the original continuity, in which Lelouch is very much dead (His sacrifice being instrumental to several themes within the original incarnation). While we all know that a new series is coming, the real question now is what next? After this series, are they going to continue with this new continuity or will they return to the original continuity and make new series and movies without Lelouch as the lead? Or will they go another way entirely? Considering how popular this franchise is we are likely to find out the answer to these questions sooner rather than later, meanwhile, we have the new series to focus on.
Source: Anime Suki, official interviews, scenes from the series and the original compilation movies and Article Image: Screenshot from Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion R2 series