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CW: Code Geass Spoilers
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There& #39;s a really interesting parallel dynamic between Lelouch and Suzaku that I keep thinking about, and it has to do with their ideas of what is right and what is wrong when pursuing their shared goal, and their ideas of being virtuous.
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There& #39;s a really interesting parallel dynamic between Lelouch and Suzaku that I keep thinking about, and it has to do with their ideas of what is right and what is wrong when pursuing their shared goal, and their ideas of being virtuous.
At the beginning Suzaku mentions he joined the Brittanian military because he felt the best way to change things was to change them from the inside, and he looks down on people trying to change things in the "wrong" way because to him the process is more important than results.
Lelouch however feels that the goal is of the most importance, and even if he shares the same overall goal as Suzaku of making the world better, he wants to do it in his own way, bringing down Charles and the Brittanian Royal Family with it to get vengeance for his mother.
However, as the story goes on, we learn that Lelouch is a lot more honorable than he would let on - he doesn& #39;t involve civilians in his battles, he does his best to protect his subordinates, and he even sheds tears for Euphemia when he makes her do the unthinkable.
Meanwhile Suzaku& #39;s mental state had been obviously deteriorating since the death of Euphy, which culminates in him laughing about killing over 25 million people with the Fleija while Nina stares at him in shock and regret. He also betrays Charles and joins up with Schneizel.
Suzaku& #39;s betrayal of Charles shows a significant shift in his thinking, where he now believes that the result matters more than the process and that he was naive for thinking otherwise. However, you can say that he thought this all along and he only pretended to be virtuous.
The really interesting thing about Suzaku is that he was never the virtuous, perfect person he tried to come across as - in fact, he cared more about maintaining that appearance to others than he did about actually living up to it which would have entailed turning on Brittania.
Suzaku was so obsessed with the idea of living perfectly and dying beautifully that he lost his humanity desperately trying to keep that mask on, and kept hoping that death would free him from his sins so he wouldn& #39;t have to face them but Lelouch& #39;s Geass order prevented that.
In the end, Suzaku turned into the kind of person he didn& #39;t want to be just to keep clinging to his delusions of virtue, while Lelouch stayed supremely self aware the whole time knowing that he would have to face his sins & he had been ready to die since the first time he killed.
The beauty of the Zero Requiem is that it punished both with exactly what they didn& #39;t want - Lelouch wanted to live in peace with Nunnally, and Suzaku wanted to die and leave his burdens. Instead, Lelouch had to die and Suzaku had to live as the man he hated most, Zero.
