History Characters / CodeGeassLelouchLamperouge

* [[ProdigalHero Prodigal Anti-Hero]]

* [[spoiler:ReallyDeadMontage: Receives one of the longest death scenes in anime history, and yet a large part of the fandom [[{{Fandumb}} still insists]] that HesJustHiding]].

* [[spoiler:SelfMadeOrphan: After finding out what ''both'' of his parents truly believed in. Yes, after spending 90% of the series trying to find out who killed his mother, he winds up doing it himself.]]

* GeneralRipper: Somewhat averted: While he will engage in ruthless tactics and use his subordinates as pawns, he does have his standards, is usually practical, and will enter the battlefield along with his troops.

* GeneralRipper: He is definitely this. To elaborate, see the ByronicHero above for proof.

* KnightofCerebus: After [[spoiler:Shirley's death]], Lelouch's actions take the show in a far, far darker direction with shocking speed. [[spoiler:He outright massacres the Geass Order; the body count included unarmed scientists, researchers, and children (though to be fair, it's implied none of those three groups were saints; after all, the children had Geass powers and were using them with no mercy.)]]

* IntelligenceEqualsIsolation: [[TheSocialExpert No, really.]] Lelouch seems to be very popular at school because of his good lucks and relatively easygoing nature, and is also admired by basically every Black Knight [[spoiler:for a time]] but he doesn't really appear to be close to ''anyone'' save for a handful, [[spoiler:and even then, most of that handful betrays him by the end of the show]]. Justified, however, because he's undercover all the time, what with his [[FallenPrince two]] [[WellIntentionedExtremist secret identities.]]

* ItsAllAboutMe: Played with- while he certainly is arrogant, he puts the priorities of others ahead of his, and he's deeply protective of the ones he loves (especially Nunnally). Do remember, though, that he basically started a new World War for her sake, which is comparatively petty, considering [[FantasticRacism how the Japanese our treated]]. When he finds out [[spoiler:that she's Japan's new Viceroy]], Lelouch pretty much calls it quits on leading the Black Knights. He does snap out of it, though.

* ItsAllAboutMe: To an extent - he certainly is arrogant and believes he/Zero will become the masked revolutionary who changes the entire globe. That said, he tends to place more value on the lives and desires of people he cares about (like his friends, but especially his little sister). Eventually, he [[CharacterDevelopment grows out of this trope.]]
* ItGetsEasier: Lelouch got physically ill from thinking about killing his brother Clovis. As his hands get dirtier, it gets easier for him to kill more people.
** However, Lelouch showed no issues with killing faceless mooks. And in a subversion, he suffers a major breakdown when he kills [[spoiler:Euphemia]], and then proceeds to never kill another sibling, regardless of how deserving they may be. It seems he doesn't want to do it.

** Episode 22 of the first season in particular is the ''poster child'' for this trope.

* [[spoiler:TheEmperor: The 99th Emperor of Britannia, to be precise.]]

* [[spoiler:EvilCostumeSwitch: When he became Emperor]].
* [[spoiler:TheEvilGenius: As Emperor Lelouch.]]

* [[spoiler:GoOutWithASmile: Subverted. He smiles while impaled on a sword and warning Suzaku about his FateWorseThanDeath, but when he actually dies there's no expression on his face at all.]]

* [[spoiler:ICannotSelfTerminate / SuicideByCop: He asks Suzaku to kill him to conclude the "Zero Requiem", dying in Nunnally's arms, but justified in that just killing himself wouldn't have helped anyone.]]

* [[spoiler:ILetGwenStacyDie: Shirley's death marks the beginning of the end of Lelouch's sanity, and is one of the leading causes of the events of the rest of the series, including Zero Requiem.]]

** KickTheSonOfABitch: It's obviously played as Lelouch heading down the slippery slope, it's just that his victims weren't exactly very nice people, given what they are responsible for. Even the test subjects, who could be considered victims, are able to and feel no compunctions, nor hesitation, about forcing some of their attackers to kill each other.

* [[spoiler:MoleInCharge: As Emperor Lelouch.]]

* [[spoiler:NoPlaceForMeThere: He dies to finish Zero Requiem and bring about world peace. Though it's more like he did it mostly as a SuicideByCop, considering there were other ways to bring about peace as he noted.]]

* PlayingAgainstType: Lelouch's {{seiyuu}} Creator/JunFukuyama usually plays as straightforward, naive heroes (such as Watanuki from ''Manga/XxxHOLiC''). The English dub follows suit by picking JohnnyYongBosch (you might remember him as IdiotHero [[Manga/{{Bleach}} Ichigo Kurosaki]], soft-spoken [[ThePhilosopher philosopher]] [[SuzumiyaHaruhi Itsuki Koizumi]] or [[ObfuscatingStupidity goofy]] CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass [[{{Trigun}} Vash the Stampede]]... or, if you want to go even further back, [[PowerRangers the Green Zeo/Turbo Ranger and the second Black Ranger]]).

* [[spoiler:TheScapegoat: Lelouch ends up one of these when the Black Knights betray him on account of several half-truths from Schneizel.]]

* [[spoiler:SparedByTheAdaptation: Suzaku of the Counterattack and Nightmare of Nunnally]].

* [[spoiler:TakingYouWithMe: Following the betrayal, he attempts to do this to his father by having them both sealed inside the Sword of Akasha.]]
* TalkingToHimself: With [[{{Gravion}} Touga Tenkuji]] of all people in ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars Z 2''.

* [[spoiler:ThanatosGambit: Dies for ''world peace''.]]

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: TheOtherWiki tells us he was originally going to be have white hair. Along with a [[MaskPower mask]]. {{Blond|GuysAreEvil}} AntiHero [[TheRival rival]] with [[WellIntentionedExtremist great plans]]. Does this remind you of [[Anime/MobileSuitGundam anyone]]?

* [[spoiler:ZeroApprovalGambit[=/=]ZeroPercentApprovalRating: Zero Requiem, literally.]]

* [[spoiler:TheAtoner: In the GrandFinale, the Zero Requiem is revealed to be an elaborate public performance intended to personally atone for his own sins by making the world hate him in death, even though his chosen method, leading [[TheMutiny circumstances]], and [[InferredHolocaust consequences accounted for]], with no real exploration of alternatives that would be just as if not better for atonement, make it likely he has [[DeathSeeker another hidden motive at that point]].]]

* [[spoiler:AwesomeMomentOfCrowning: "ALL HAIL LELOUCH, 99th EMPEROR OF BRITANNIA!!"]]

** BadassBookworm: Before you say [[SquishyWizard ''huh?'']], remember in the second episode where Viletta threatened him by blowing the walls around him? He. Didn't. Even. Flinch. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BR4P85eFu0w 2:50]]
** BadassCape
** BroughtDownToBadass: In Episode 20 of R2, [[spoiler:Lelouch has lost his manpower, support, and the trust of the Black Knights; all he has left is his Geass power and his personal Knigthmare frame, the Shinkirō.]] He uses both to maximum effect when he [[spoiler:finally decides to take down his father, Geass'ing an entire military base and using the Shinkirō's inventory of explosives to trap his father and himself inside of the Sword of Akasha.]]
** HeartbrokenBadass: After [[spoiler:his mother, Euphemia, Shirley and Rolo's deaths. Then, there's Nunnally's supposed death, after which he lost his cool in 3 seconds flat]].
* BastardBastard or HeroicBastard: Lelouch is the child of one of the the Emperor's recognized wives, who was killed before the series began. Lelouch was disowned and ultimately rises up in rebellion against his father. Lelouch certainly gets around in the Bastard tropes.

* [[spoiler:BigBad: As Emperor Lelouch, to the world. It turns out to all be an act though.]]

* [[spoiler:BreakHerHeartToSaveHer: Lelouch does this to Kallen and Nunnally during the final arc. And since they figure out the truth later on, they don't even end up hating him for it.]]

* [[spoiler:ButNowIMustGo: At the end of "Nightmare of Nunnally", he says goodbye to his friends and loved ones before leaving to be Demon King.]]

* [[spoiler:ConspicuouslyPublicAssassination]]: It's a CallBack to when he rescued Suzaku in season 1 episode 4.

* [[spoiler:CrucifiedHeroShot: He dies at the bottom of a trail of his blood leading from the middle of the Britannian flag, the resulting visage being [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic reminiscent of the Christian cross]].]]

* [[spoiler:DeathSeeker: Becomes this following both Nunnally's apparent death and the Black Knights' betrayal.]]

* [[spoiler:DecapitatedArmy[=/=]AndThereWasMuchRejoicing: The reaction to his death. It causes his entire army (giant robots, tanks, and armed soldiers) to collapse and run away from an angry mob. Makes sense actually, since he has ZeroPercentApprovalRating and the only members of his army who aren't [[MindRape brainwashed to be his slave]] is in on the plan.]]

** DidntSeeThatComing: Despite all his elaborate planning even, courtesy of the afore-mentioned DiabolusExMachina.
** Episode 22 of the first season in particular is the ''poster child'' for this trope.
** DeusAngstMachina: It only gets worse during the final 9 episodes of the series.
* [[spoiler:DidNotGetTheGirl: The amount of ShipSinking in R2 was epic.]]

* [[spoiler:DiedInYourArmsTonight: He died in Nunnally's.]]

* [[spoiler:HeroicSacrifice: He turns himself into the most hated person in the world, so that Britannians and Japanese will no longer hate each other when he dies.]]

* CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot: A ''fuckton'' of bad things that happened to Lelouch are due to Suzaku's interference. Had Lelouch only killed Suzaku when he had the chance (and he has multiple opportunities to do just that), maybe Lelouch wouldn't be so much of a CosmicPlaything.

* FromNobodytoNightmare: Went from a simple Britannian schoolboy into a masked revolutionary and symbol of justice for the Japanese people. After that, [[spoiler: he's the Emperor of Britannia. And then after that, he's Emperor of the whole globe.]]

!!Lelouch vi Britannia/ / Lelouch vi Britannia / Zero

* [[spoiler:DeathIsTheOnlyOption: At the series' end.]]

* BadassBoast: Several. See the quote above, next to the picture. The one below doubles as both one and a despair speech.

** BroughtDowntoBadass: In Episode 20 of R2, [[spoiler:Lelouch has lost his manpower, support, and the trust of the Black Knights; all he has left is his Geass power and his personal Knigthmare frame, Shinchiro.]] He uses both to maximum effect when he [[spoiler:finally decides to take down his father, Geass'ing an entire military base and using the Shinchiro's inventory of explosives to trap his father and himself inside of the Sword of Akasha.]]

* BeyondTheImpossible: His dad said it was impossible to [[spoiler:geass the world's equivalent to {{God}}]], and when you think how Geass is refered to as 'the power of the king' it makes sense. Lelouch thought otherwise.

* BrokenBird: Prior to getting his geass, he is bored, pessimistic and feels trapped after everything that has happened in his backstory, which has left him wanting to change the world, something for which he has had to bide his time. He still has a couple of these moments during the series.

** On the other hand, what he normally lies about tend towards being either blatantly obvious or completely illogical - like Zero being a hero to the Japanese... yet built from the ground up with western aesthetics, or [[spoiler:telling people that want to kill him that he's been manipulating and controlling them, ''when they're aiming guns at him''.]]

* CouldHaveAvoidedthisPlot: A ''fuckton'' of bad things that happened to Lelouch are due to Suzaku's interference. Had Lelouch only killed Suzaku when he had the chance (and he has multiple opportunities to do just that), maybe Lelouch wouldn't be so much of a CosmicPlaything.

* DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife: Subverted. His boredom mainly has to do with his initial inability to fulfil his wish to go against Britannia, and being unable to exert his real intellect.

* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: [[spoiler:Lelouch's geasses God itself to stop {{Instrumentality}} and kill his parents. In all fairness, however, he asked politely and didn't even include the second part, so it's more like Did You Just Ask Cthulhu For A Favor?]]

* NecessarilyEvil: Invoked during a discussion with [[KnightInShiningArmor Guilford]].

* AlliterativeName: If he's using his mother's surname.

* InTouchwithHisFeminineSide: Justified in that he had had to take care of Nunnally by himself since he was 10.

** BroughtDowntoBadass: In Episode 20 of R2, [[spoiler:Lelouch has lost his manpower, support, and the trust of the Black Knights; all he has left is his Geass power and his personal Knigthmare frame, Shinchiro.]] He uses both to maximum effect when he [[spoiler:finally decides to take down his father, Geass'ing an entire military base and using the Shinchiro's inventory of explosives to trap [[TakingYouDownWithMe his father and himself]] inside of the Sword of Akasha.]]

* AntiHero/ AntiVillain

Character subpage for ''Series/Code Geass'''s protagonist, Lelouch, given his own page due to the sheer number of tropes. For the other characters, view [[Characters/CodeGeass here]].