I don't think it's a stretch to say that in the Code Geass fandom
everyone's favorite ship is Lelouch with C.C. Any Code Geass group on social media is proof of
this. They are packed with so much fan art of the couple. But despite what fans think, based on the
original series Did C.C. actually love Lelouch? Well if you look at it from Lelouch's perspective
it's never made clear. Recently I tried to take a crack at Lelouch's relationship
with the three girls and the link is available in the description below.
Not only is Lelouch vague about this, C.C. herself to figure out. After all,
she does come and go like the wind as Lelouch once described her. I wanted to discuss how
C.C.'s relationship with Lelouch develops over R1 and R2 of the original series.
A couple of disclaimers before we start. This video will contain spoilers. My analysis
will only come from R1 and R2. Because in the new universe it clear how C.C. feels about Lelouch.
Now that all tasks have been cleared let's begin. If C.C. was in love with Lelouch it was definitely
not clear early on in the series. In Stage 1 C.C. takes a bullet for Lelouch, which resulted
in the famous scenes of C.C. offering Lelouch a contract while in a seemingly unconscious state.
Lelouch uses that newly acquired Geass power to kill those men and would go on
to help the terrorists fight the Britannians. Believing that C.C. was most likely dead,
imagine his surprise when Lelouch comes home and sees C.C. waiting for him in the dorm room.
Lelouch eventually grabs C.C. and they head to his bedroom.
From here C.C. makes it clear that she gave him the Geass power as a part of
their contract. She is very inquisitive and asks him tons of questions about his
plans. But it's not a two-way street as C.C. refuses to answer any of Lelouch's questions.
She is fair and states later that he is not required to answer any of her questions.
On the roof at Ashford academy, C.C. states that they are co-conspirators and are in this together.
But the contract and ultimately her needs come first. C.C. makes this very clear when she
threatened to shoot him in the legs if he went to fight Cornelia. Lelouch was able to persuade
C.C. to allow him to fight Cornelia. But she sure gave it to him after he loset to her.
It was a mix bag of teasing and expressing legitimate frustration about the situation.
C.C. was almost implying that Lelouch should have listened to her and never left.
C.C. conveys from her tone that being with Lelouch is a nuisance. The contract is all
that matters not the mundane goals he has. She at least seemed amused by them though.
Things would start the change after the Battle of Narita. C.C. saves Lelouch's life by sending
images to Suzaku by touching Lancelot. Lelouch acting out of concern tries to pry her apart
from the Lancelot. It backfires as Lelouch sees images of C.C.'s past.
And once she was no longer touching the Lancelot Suzaku goes berserk firing everywhere. One of
those blasts breaks a rock into pieces and one of those hits C.C. Lelouch cleans C.C.'s wound
in a cave. While doing so he hears C.C. murmur her real name while she sleeps.
After she awakens Lelouch says her name and thanks C.C. She was originally upset with Lelouch for
using her real name. But in a moment of shock and happiness, C.C. cries and then states no one has
ever thanked her before. And from what Lelouch and the audiences just saw that makes perfect sense.
C.C. then asks Lelouch to say her name one more time only with tenderness and love
but Lelouch messed it up. Now I was thinking at this point that C.C. must now see Lelouch
as a friend. but I was wrong once they both get back to Ashford C.C. goes back to only caring
about the contract and not Lelouch's feelings. Shirley cancels her date with Lelouch to confirm
her father's dead body in Narita. What's funny is before this happens Lelouch told
C.C. that he was going to cancel the date and then C.C. replied with keep your contracts.
Proving again that the contract is the most important thing to her. Lelouch is
understandably upset after Shirley's funeral. He is having second thoughts about everything.
C.C. antagonizes Lelouch instead of comforting him during this rough time. She adds fuel to the
fire by insulting him. She attacked him for falling apart because Lelouch never
cared before about hurting anyone but now it bothers him because it was someone he knew.
C.C. makes it worse by asking him "I thought you were going to embark on the path of blood".
She concludes with “you won’t disappoint me right” and “you are in too deep
to turn back now”. This was the wrong thing to say to Lelouch at this time. But thankfully he
was able to find the motivation from within to continue despite all that had been sacrificed.
We can't discuss C.C.'s relationship with Lelouch without talking about Mao.
After all, Mao almost ended their relationship but in the end strengthen it. Lelouch and C.C.
both start to look for Mao after what he did to Shirley in Narita. C.C. searches on
foot where Lelouch uses the Black Knight. Before this takes place Lelouch and C.C.
share a conversation in his bedroom concerning Mao. In his anger, Lelouch blames C.C. for what
happened to Shirley. According to him giving people contract like that make you a monster.
And that's exactly what he calls her. This conversation is very important
and will be mentioned later on so keep it in the back of your mind.
But for now, let's continue. So, C.C. and Lelouch meet up at the hall
where many club activities happen. After a phone call from Mao, C.C. bids Lelouch farewell
as she heads out to meet up with Mao. Lelouch acted as if this was a betrayal,
but C.C. counters with “when were you my friend never we were just co-conspirators that’s all”.
Lelouch listened to the recording of the phone call after c.c. left and heard Mao's threats
against him. He was basically blackmailing C.C. to come back. But I am not sure if C.C.
went along because she cares about Lelouch or because she cares about the contract.
Because remember she needs Lelouch alive to fufil her contract.
Either way, she chose to go to Mao for Lelouch. Lelouch was smart enough to realize that Mao had
evil intentions with reuniting with C.C. so he put his plan into action to save her.
While the cops surround Mao, Lelouch carried C.C. away in his arms. C.C. tries to convince Lelouch
to let her talk to him. But this request falls on death ears as the cops shoot Mao anyways.
What we learn here is that C.C. is not fully committed to Lelouch as she wanted
to still help Mao. She had a chance to kill him before but could not pull the trigger.
And this forced Lelouch to save her. After the rescue, Lelouch declares that
he will fulfill his contract and not let Geass overtake him as it did Mao.
C.C. accepts the contract with the same expression and tone she showed in the cave at Narita.
C.C. shows her commitment to Lelouch when she kills Mao at the end of Stage 16. This will be
the first of three times in the story where C.C. kills/ betrays people she worked with in the past
to support Lelouch now in the present. There are moments of a potential romance
between them in but we don't see much until after the massacre of the Special
Administration Zone of Japan. We actually get two. The first one is when C.C. tells Suzaku
that she will never allow him to kill Lelouch. This happened after Lelouch and Suzaku in a rage
went to charge at him at him to get her. What separates this from the time she saved
him from Cornelia is her tone. It's more emotional and less business like
how she was when they first worked together. The other moment is how Lelouch broke down after
his conversation with Nunnally. Everything that he had done had hit him al at once and C.C. hugged
him. She promised to be with him to the end. This promise was not just about the contract
anymore as we will see later on. During the Black Rebellion,
there is a shift in C.C.'s priorities. Lelouch has finally gotten Cornelia where he wanted
her. But C.C. interrupts the interrogation to tell Lelouch that Nunnally has been captured.
She understands that is his reason for living. C.C. is acting on Lelouch’s sake
and interests rather than her own. C.C. and Lelouch share a lot of nice
moments once they arrive on Kamine Island. The first one is where Lelouch tells C.C. that he
trusts her. And she is very relieved to hear it, almost appreciative.
And the other is after they trigger the Geass booby trap. Where Lelouch see’s C.C.’s memories.
And eventhougth C.C. says that she is alone, Lelouch tells her you are not alone. I will be
your devil if you are a witch. This moment of tenderness
is ruined when jeremiah ruins. During the battle against Jeremiah
C.C., tells Lelouch that she will handle him. What follows is the first of the two times
that C.C. kisses Lelouch. C.C. kisses Lelouch after telling him that he must prevail.
Lelouch asks C.C. to not die after she drops him off on Kamine Island. C.C. then replies
who are talking to. This would be the start of C.C. and Lelouch's
series of flirting/ teasing in Code Geass. So after R1 C.C. went from someone who only
saw Lelouch as another contract to a close friend and maybe something more. But you will see from R2
how this relationship evolves to the next level. The beginning of R2 starts with the rescue of
Lelouch. One of my favorite parts of this is when C.C. tells Lelouch that she knows his true self.
It subtly shows how C.C. cares more about Lelouch than the contract.
During this rescue C.C. would kiss Lelouch for the second time and the purpose was to
undo the effects of Charles’ geass. After the rescue, Lelouch and C.C.
share another moment of friendly teasing and flirting. If you pay attention to Code
Geass R2 you will find many examples of this. It's one of the examples that you can point to as
proof that a romance is forming between them. Another example is how C.C. shifts her priorities.
She spends more time talking with Lelouch about saving Nunnally and then fulfilling her contract.
It would be more accurate to say that the contract is no longer a priority. Even when talking with
Marianne, C.C. mentioned that Lelouch seems to have forgotten about the contract altogether.
Lelouch interrupts that conversation to talk to C.C. about Shirley. This takes place right
after Rolo killed her. Lelouch demands to know where the order is and requests C.C.
to help him destroy it. C.C. agrees to this making this the second time she kills past
acquaintances to show her loyalty to Lelouch. This was a hard decision for C.C. and during the
massacre, you can tell that she did not want to do this but she did so to help Lelouch.
After the massacre of the Geass Order Lelouch ends up at the Sword of Akasha.
He encounters his father who tricks him into thinking his Geass had worked on him. Charles
transports Lelouch to another dimension and during their conversation C.C. appears.
She explains that her wish is to die and that Lelouch must take her code from her to do this.
When Lelouch refused C.C. almost allowed Charles to take her code. But she stops after Lelouch
convinces her that she should die with a smile on her face and that he can make her wish come true.
He of course learned about C.C.'s wish while experiencing her memories first hand.
C.C. seals her code and memories during her rescue in Turn 15. She gets them back in Turn 20 around
the same time Lelouch confronts his father in C's world right after the Black Knights betrayed him.
C.C. and Suzaku join Lelouch in confronting Marianne and Charles in C's world.
After hearing their plan, Lelouch rejects their ideas and commands C's world to stop
the ragnarock connects to not allow time to stop. Marianne and Charles are then consumed
by C's world but oddly enough C.C. wasn't. They were both confused why this happened
and C.C. explained that in the end, she did not believe in their plan. Plus she
realized that they only really loved each other. This is now the third instance where C.C. sides
with Lelouch over her past allies which leads to their destruction.
During the entire Zero Requirem C.C.'s true thoughts become apparent.
After Suzaku reprimands Lelouch for showing weakness after Nunnally unexpectedly called him,
Suzaku and C.C. talk outside of the room. Suzaku explains that he is Lelouch's sword
and C.C. is his shield. He calls Lelouch, C.C.'s accomplice.
C.C. whispers to herself Accomplishes? as is in a surprised manner. And there
is a lot to unpack here. C.C. is basically implying
that there is no contract anymore. After all, Lelouch refused to take her code
and the only other person who could have is dead. Plus C.C. no longer wishes to die anyways.
Now it is true that she does want Lelouch to fulfill her promise to make her happy
but that type of contract is not on the same level as the Geass one.
Also since the Ragnarock connection is now over C.C. has no reason to
stick around and help Lelouch. She is immortal and can move on with her life.
But here is the thing she doesn't which indicates to me that she loved Lelouch and meant it when
she promised to be with him until the end. The conversation they share on the bed
furthers this idea. But then we get to a
conversation in Turn 24 that I never thought about too much until a recent re-watch of the series.
C.C. asks Lelouch in the hanger if he haters her for cheating him out of his
life by giving him Geass. Lelouch told C.C. it helped him on the path to destroying Britannia
and it was his choice to do it. But why does C.C. ask this question? Where does
this thought even coming from? Remember when I said to remember the conversation between Lelouch
and C.C. after he erased Shirley's memories. Well here's where it comes into place.
In that conversation, Lelouch calls C.C. a monster, that she ruins people's lives
with Geass. So C.C. this whole time thought she ruined not only Mao's life but Lelouch's.
This is why Lelouch’s answer mader her smile and then she said "in all
my life I have never met a man like you." It must have been very conformting to know that
she did not ruin Lelouch's life. He chose this path. It’s not her fault.
C.C. expresses how she is very happy when Lelouch tells her that she is no match for the Guren
S.E.I.T.E.N. Eight Elements. She even tells Lelouch to please come back because that would
make her happy. And Lelouch promises to do so. So, again while C.C. never says I love you
it’s not unreasonable to interpret these statements as a declaration of love.
We do get a bump on the road that might go against this. During her battle against Kallen. When asked
by Kallen if she loves Lelouch, she responds with "I do not know." She does confirm that she
wants to start living. And keep in mind, Lelouch was the one that encourages her to think way.
While she might have some uncertainties by the time we get to the end of R2 Turn
25 it’s easier to see how C.C. feels. Before Suzaku as Zero kills Lelouch,
C.C. is shown crying in a church. And then towards the end of the series,
she closes Code Geass with the following: “I said that Geass was the power of the king which
would condemn you to a life of solitude I think maybe that’s not quite correct, right Lelouch”
You can either interpret this as she was talking to herself or Lelouch.
Either way it's points out that Geass brought them together instead of imposing a life of solitude.
And when you think about it this line summarizes how Lelouch and C.C. relationship
evolved in Code Geass. C.C. only wanted to be alone and just get this contract
over with so she could die. But she realized that actually living could be also be a reality,
she just needed the right person to show her the way.
C.C. left everyone to help Lelouch: Mao, The Geass Order, Marianne, and Charles,
Her commitment to Lelouch was not just bound by Geass but by life. C.C. found someone in
Lelouch that she had never had before. Someone who encourages her to keep going,
appreciates her, and was willing to save her. And for this and so many other reasons,
C.C. loves Lelouch and I think it's was a mutual relationship.
And one other thing I wanted to add. I wasn’t going to discuss
the Re;surrection film, but I wanted to point out one thing I think really relates to this.
So if you don’t want to hear spoliers on the film, skip to this part in the video.
But in that film, C.C. takes care of Lelouch eventhoug his mind has been wiped. Because hse
promised to be with him until the end. And what I like abou this, Lelouch also took care of her
when her mind wasn’t wiped it was sealed. So in both cases they took care of each other in their
worsts because that’s how devoted they were. And with that, we have come to the end. If you
enjoyed the video please share and like it. If you want more Code Geass content and do
not want to wait for videos to come out then please check out my blog.
I have plenty of Code Geass articles for you as well as other anime stuff that you can read.
Much like how Manga and anime adaptions work, my articles will come out first
with a video version to be made later. Please grab my anime streaming guide. The
January 2021 edition is out and I have big plans for this guide going forward. So it's
something that you do not want to miss. But I want to hear from you guys do
you think C.C. in the end loved Lelouch? If so what moment made a believer out of you.
Also What is your favorite Lelouch and C.C. moment?
Let me know in the comments. And heck let me know what other topics you want me to cover.
Anime, code geass, anything. Thanks so much for watching and have a great day.