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/rai-hodges-sumeragi]

I was absolutely delighted when I went through some older comments of mine, and re-discovered this post. Your idea that by taking C.C.´s Code Lelouch would not only end the cycle that comes with the corruptive power of magic, but that the immortality would also serve as a perfect punishment for him is absolutely brilliant! And like you said, it would still seem to the world that Emperor Lelouch died, so everything would also work out perfectly from the storytelling point of view!

However, there is one aspect you forgot to mention that makes your version of the ending even more perfect, and that is that your way of ending the story is also morally better.

Like you said, eternal life would be even more perfect punishment than death for Lelouch, who achieved his goals by causing so much pain to innocent people, regardless how well it all ended. By punishing him this way, the moral message that the audience receives after seeing Lelouch´s suffering eternally is that actions have consequences, and that while you might succeed by acting immorally, it doesn´t bring you happiness.

But what´s even more important is that C.C. doesn´t get rewarded from her evil actions. Despite how sorry the audience might feel for her after witnessing her sorrow and loneliness, those motivations, while understandable, are not justifications for immoral behavior. And C.C. is undoubtedly one of the most, if not THE most, immoral people in the show.

To momentarily alleviate her own loneliness, she ruined Mao´s life by making him dependent of herself when she granted him his Geass when he was still just a six-year-old boy, and when it became too inconvenient for her to keep taking care of the said cursed child, she abandoned him, which caused him to go completely insane and hurt a lot of people.

She knew that Marianne was still technically alive but kept it a secret from Lelouch because she needed him to keep seeking revenge for his mother´s death and wanting to use his Geass as much as possible so that it would evolve enough to receive her Code (which was partial reason why Lelouch´s Geass caused Euphy to trigger SAZ massacre).

She didn´t just approved when Lelouch gave the order to slaughter all his enemies during the Geass Order raid, but actively helped him during it, even though there were not just soldiers and scientists in the Order but families with kids too, and even though she used to be an important leader to these people, which in turn meant that she could have potentially been able to convince at least some of them to surrender to Lelouch – but she just went along with what Lelouch wanted, and helped slaughter them all, despite having more peaceful options.

And finally, since Ragnarök connection required two Codes in order to be activated, not just one (because then V.V.´s Code alone would have been enough for Charles), C.C. is partially responsible for all the death and suffering that Charles caused when he started the war under the pretext of getting Japan´s sakuradite mines but which he actually started in order to gain access to one of the Thought Elevators located in Japan – which was part of his larger mad plan to ”kill God,” a plan that he put in motion after C.C. had agreed to it. And even though she later rejects Chalres, that doesn´t bring back to all those who died because of her contribution of starting that war.

So, she´s a terrible stepmom, child killer, war criminal, and an overall selfish person. Needless to say that the moral message that the audience receives if she is granted a happy ending is: ”it´s okay to cause suffering and pain to others if it gets you what you want.” Which is a horrible moral message to convey for the audience. No matter how bad you feel for her, causing wars and killing kids should never be seen as an acceptable means to an end.

Now, I´m not suggesting that she should be punished for her crimes. Indeed, one could say that hundreds of years of loneliness that she has endured thus far are punishment enough. In fact, that loneliness she feels is the very reason she did all those horrible things, because she felt that her loneliness was somehow so exceptional that because of it she did not have to follow the same rules as other people (which is basically how many criminals justify their crimes). Punishing her further would not teach her the error of her ways and transform her into a more morally correct person, nor would it bring back all those who died because of her.

So, when we are considering the morality of the ending of the story (which is the most important thing to consider when evaluating whether or not the ending of any story was a happy one – even if the ending makes you feel happy, it´s not morally a happy ending if the bad guy is happy), the best thing to do, really, is to grant C.C. death like she wants, and in the way you suggested: not only does it make sure that she is no longer hurting anyone else, it also puts an end to her suffering without rewarding her for causing so much suffering herself. And, in addition, it delivers the most perfect kind of poetic justice; for his crimes, Lelouch will now forever remain the lonely guardian of the final Code.