Pre-series timeline question

[otakukeith.livejournal.com]

I'm starting an AU fanfic in which Lelouch dies before the start of the series, and I'm trying to figure out the sequence of events with respect to Lelouch, Suzaku and Nunnally between the beginning of the Britannian invasion and their parting.

It seems from some of the dialogue that Suzaku killed his father before parting with the other two, because he says something like "I wanted to tell Lelouch..." over an image of the two sitting together before they parted. What isn't clear is how this fits with the timeline: did they make it to a Japanese military base where Suzaku killed Genbu, then they went their separate ways? If anyone knows of supplementary information, e.g. from the tie-in novels, that can shed any light on this, it'd be much appreciated.

(For the curious, the fanfic will be titled Code Geass: Nunnally of the Liberation and feature Nunnally getting a Geass after living with the Sumeragi family for 7 years, Nunnally/Suzaku, and Nina falling for a different person after the hoteljacking.)

Comments

[rainbow-cnxn.livejournal.com]

You just happened to ask about the one event that seems to be the MOST different between the novels and the series.

FYI, in the novels, Suzaku found out about Genbu's plan to kill the vi Britannias and sell Japan and more or less committed a pre-meditated murder (with a katana, lol) months before the invasion (April, FYI). The rest of the summer was them awaiting the inevitable Britannian invasion.

In the series, though, I think everyone got the idea that the summer was mostly unmarred by thoughts of patricide up until the invasion began and that Suzaku's killing Genbu was a split-second instinctive reaction some time after the invasion began.

I don't think PD/SE materials really shed light on the timeline, either, unfortunately. Anyways, I'd take caution in using the novel for guidance on this particular plot point (and on Genbu's characterization, in general).

[otakukeith.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'd noticed that there seemed to be a different version of events for Genbu's death in every different version of the story. In the series, it seems to be pretty well established that Suzaku killed him during the invasion, not before, so that's the version I'll use, and it sounds like I can be flexible in my assumptions of when that actually happened.

[sabonasi.livejournal.com]

Yeah, you definitely have flexibility. Stage 0: Entrance and Stage 0.543 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7thxap6Q2o) pretty much directly contradict each other. If you want to go with Suzaku killing Genbu during the invasion, then I'd recommend ignoring the light novels and going with the picture dramas/sound episodes. The PDs & SEs for the first season are all consistent with the series proper (and each other), from what I can tell.

Anyway, in both versions, Suzaku killed Genbu before parting ways with Lelouch & Nunnally. The difference is how far before.

[sincere]

I agree with you -- I think the novels are more useful for getting a feel for the setting and finding ideas, and any actual facts in it should be worked into canon or headcanon instead of taken as word of god. The novel is actually pretty terrible timelinewise! I mean, I don't believe that the kids were ONLY together for three months, e.g. a summer, probably that's them summarizing what seemed like one big happy half-year period into the summer they spent together. But according to the novel they spent an entire year together except for a summer! The novels start with Lelouch and Nunnally arriving in like September and then shit going down in like the April after, so there is no summer there whatsoever. It's just sad.

ANYWAY, to answer the question: There isn't CONCRETE canon, but we do have a couple of short scenes that take place in flashback. There's a scene where the kids are walking through some terribly decimated area and Lelouch is carrying Nunnally while Suzaku is extremely upset. Then there's the scene where the kids are going their separate ways. It's reasonable to assume (especially since Suzaku is in his pink fluffy kid clothes) that the first scene takes place before his father's death, just after some first strike of war -- they say that they're moving to another Kururugi house, so it's possible that the place where they were staying has been attacked, and they're heading to wherever Genbu is. (Possibly Suzaku went straight for the Britannians when he realized there was an attack, and then they had to head to the safe zone alone?) Suzaku gets his first real sense of what this war means, and how horrible it is, and he gets back to the shrine and confronts Genbu, where he realizes that [choose one or more: Genbu means to off the royal kids and engage in all-out war; Genbu means to set Japan to war and then sell them out and retire to China; Genbu means to fight in a war because he's a jackass] and then stabs him in a fit of rage. Thereafter I believe (although again, no canon) Kirihara would start spreading the lie about Genbu immediately upon learning what happened to him, and no more than a week later the war is over and the kids go their separate ways -- Suzaku to a military base where some kin will be taking care of him, and Lelouch and Nunnally to the Ashfords. Suzaku in this scene is wearing more "adult" clothes, torn jeans and some drab green t-shirt, and he is very obviously still deeply affected by what he did, and hasn't yet managed to block it out the way he does with enough time.

A lot of that is supposition, but I hope it helps?

[otakukeith.livejournal.com]

I hadn't noticed he was wearing different clothes in those two scenes - thanks! (That also explains why Nunnally is being carried in the first scene and in a wheelchair in the second.)

I've just posted the prologue to the fic (I'll do a LJ post linking to it once it actually shows up on FFN). In terms of the above, the point of divergence from canon comes during or just after the first scene - Lelouch gets murdered on the road, Suzaku fights off the assassin, and then he and Nunnally make it to their destination to find Genbu's already "committed suicide".

[otakukeith.livejournal.com]

Addendum: one interesting tidbit I got from the novels (well, from Nunnally's Wikipedia entry, which says the information comes from the novels) is that Nunnally used to (quite understandably) throw violent tantrums when she was left alone during her and Lelouch's stay with the Kururugi's. This is quite pertinent to Nunnally-cetric fics as it makes her less of a perfect moe figure and more human.

[rainbow-cnxn.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's a really nice tidbit. Instead of just "OMG, Nunnally laughs around you, u r awesum nao *cheeeeeese*", it's "Oh thank god, Nunnally isn't batshit crazy when she's around you. You're actually healing her, and that's something that I can't thank you enough for."

In general, I like the novel rendition of most events a bit more, with Genbu's characterization and Suzaku's lolwut premeditated murder of Genbu pretty much the only prominent exception so far.

[rainbow-cnxn.livejournal.com]

Not to mention the fact that in the novels, Suzaku meets the vi Britannias before they actually get to the Kururugi Shrine. I don't know if it was actually September when they first met, but it was certainly before April.

But I'm not sure what you mean by "there is no summer there whatsoever". In the novel, Genbu died in April, but the invasion was still on August 10. The next four months were of the kids trying to live as normally as possible and Suzaku changing. The novel uses Lelouch and Nunnally's dialogue to make it clear that Suzaku is now "different". There's still a blissful summer; the difference is whether or not Suzaku's traumatized throughout the entire time, lol.

But in general, I agree with your timeline.

Btw, OP: The Stage 0 novel takes a few liberties with the timeline, but it's the biggest offender by far out of all the novels. Pretty much every other novel fits seamlessly with the canon. (Or at least, I haven't noticed any major discrepancies.) IMO, it's a good reference if you want to read a take on Code Geass characters not named "Lelouch", though I don't think Nunnally has had that much coverage in the novels yet.

[kerina.livejournal.com]

It's reasonable to assume (especially since Suzaku is in his pink fluffy kid clothes) that the first scene takes place before his father's death

My thoughts exactly. But I remember coming across an old post on AS back when someone supposedly from the show was answering questions from viewers, and they said this scene actually took place after Suzaku's patricide (not that it must be true, but it was that one person who spoiled stuff days in advance and always got it right). Hence puzzlement. Buuuuuuuuuuut I can't find it again so idk, maybe I made that up or can't remember it properly. xD; Let's pretend it never happened or said person was wrong, because this ^ works perfectly, and I find the thought of Suzaku putting the pink clothes on again after he killed his father in them slightly disturbing anyway. :')

[sincere]

That's interesting, thanks for letting me know! I'll keep it in mind, although a source with spoilers is not necessarily a source who knows all the correct answers, if you know what I mean? The kid clothes/adult clothes thing is a nice symbolic stroke, but I can totally rationalize it either way, I have noooo special attachment to the theory. It just makes the most sense this way, IMHO. XD

[kerina.livejournal.com]

You're welcome! \o/ Yeah, I know what you mean, but I think the reason this one caught my attention was because it came from a supposedly reliable source. But yeah, supposedly 8D; And I can't find it again anyway so bleh xD;