Lelouch: Hero, Anti-Hero, or just Batshit Insane?

[inulovinkit.livejournal.com]

Well, with R2 kicking off, I suppose it's as good of a time as ever to discuss Lelouch, and where we think his character is gonna go with Season 2.

The first thing everyone notices about Lelouch is that in ways of personality, he's practically a Yagami Light clone. Well, sure, they've got the sidekick that gave them the awesome power, the strive to create a better world, the intelligence, and the questionable sanity, but there was always one thing about Lelouch that seperated him from Light in my mind:

While Light would kill anyone, for even trying to catch him, or heck, if they insulted him and he got pissed (in the case of Lind L. Taylor), Lulu seems to still have retained a bit of his soul, and most of the time, does feel sorry about the more innocent people he has to kill. While I suppose "Lelouch Vi Britannia commands you to die", awesome as it may be, is still a bit shocking, usually, if Lulu is in a sticky situation, uses his Geass to get people out of his way instead.

That, and he also cares deeply for his family, and his friends (and Suzaku, though the hate!love there opens up many more layers that I won't be getting into), and at the end of it all, does feel sorry for what he has done to achieve his goal. (He did angst quite a bit with the Shirley and Euphie things).

And because Lulu is doing an arguably good thing, trying to defeat Britannia, which, I'm sure, we can all agree needs to be defeated, it makes me wonder if we're supposed to view him as a hero or an anti-hero.

While there are many connotations for the word "anti-hero", the most widely accepted definition is a protagonist that is doing bad things to achieve a goal that the audience may not agree with. Take Sweeney Todd for example. He went around killing people, yet we were supposed to sympathize, heck, even root for him.

So, applying it to Lelouch, it's not so cut and dried. True, he does do bad things, but is goal is of a more noble cause than most anti-heroes; he's not doing it for himself, but for someone else, and his cause is a righteous one. However, he does not fit into the archetype of a "hero" because "heroes" are supposed to be noble (Like Suzaku before he went apeshit at the end of season 1) and not manipulate people for the cause.

Which is why, for me anyway, it's hard to place Lelouch into either these categories. He stands up for a right cause, but he understands and willfully kills innocents for it (not to mention using the Japanese just so he could wage war on Britannia). And, while many anti-heroes seem to have "sold their soul" and will do bad things without a second thought, Lelouch always has his angsty "what have I done?" moments in the series.

He was created this way, I know, but it goes to show that sometimes, there really is no clean cut distinction between good and evil, unlike stories like Harry Potter would lead us to believe.

Also, the study of his character brings into the question of his sanity. There is a fine line between genius and insanity, I know, but Lulu...with this kid, you never know. He seems almost normal sometimes, in the happy schooltime episodes, and then he goes and starts cracking up and laughing his ass off when he finds out he's fighting his best friend. I suppose no one wholly sane could have pulled off what he did, but it also makes me wonder if Lelouch was like this from the start ("Suzaku...I will destroy Britannia!") or if it was a by product of his Geass and what he realized he had to do to achieve his goal over time. (And that Epic Grin in episodes 1 and 23...I'm sorry, but no one completely sane can make that grin).

If he's insane by Geass, then it makes sense...after all, Light Yagami could have been considered sane until he got his hands on the Death Note. Absolute power corrupts absolutely and all that. Or it could be that he thought it would be easier to deal with what he had to do for the sake of his goal if he cast aside most of his sanity.

If he was insane from the start...well, I'm not surprised. Given the amount of incestuous subtext in the Britannian Royal family, there's probably a lot of inbreeding going on there.

So, those are my thoughts, think of them what you will.

Comments

[powercorrupts.livejournal.com]

I always love commenting on discussions like this, I had no idea my screenname would be this hilarious in this context when I chose it.

Really, I'd beg to differ. I'd say Lelouch and Light have a lot of differences. Both are tragic figures, protagonists with numerous villainous qualities and tendencies. And there are some number of similarities. But you could argue similarities with any number of western tv show or movie or novel characters as well, so I think it's just ill fortune for Geass that it came out with such proximity to Death Note that the likenesses would be so noticed. I don't think they have any more in common with each other than either would to any two particularly clever anime villains, it's just the matter that both are heroes instead of villains that makes people notice the similarities more.

Personally, I find Lelouch vastly more sympathetic than Light. Light, to me, is intriguing and fascinating and wonderful to watch, but I never really felt a great deal of emotional rapport when it came to him. Lelouch, on the other hand, breaks my heart every few episodes. A lot of it has to do with the difference in their characters and the storytelling styles - note that Death Note shows us Light's discovery of the Death Note, but then jumps fast forward very quickly and only shows us snippets of his moral quandaries. CG, on the other hand, gives us great detail of Lelouch's questioning of his methods.

There's a great deal of repition to it as well - in case we thought that his sickness at his murder of Clovis was a fluke or a beginner's weak stomach, he is once again sickened at what he has to do for Shirley. He sheds tears for Euphemia. Lelouch might think himself heartless enough to do what he must, but unlike Light, he can't simply set aside his human side forever; Lelouch can delay his conscience in moments of power high or necessity, but it comes back to him despite it all.

In casting Lelouch, a figure who would normally play a sympathetic villain role (I'll take this moment to compare him, instead, to Char Aznable of Mobile Suit Gundam - both are high-born masked military commanders known for their forethought in tactics, who systematically eliminate the ruling family of the show's antagonist nation for personal vengeance, and care deeply for a younger sister) as the protagonist instead, Geass allows us to see all the little moments when Lelouch falters in his resolve, when he questions his own might-makes-right and ends-justify-the-means attitudes. For all the viewers who would normally look right past a sympathetic villain's human side and instead only watch the heroes, Geass shoves them roughly into having to watch Lelouch instead.

I'm not sure if I'd call him insane. The term gets bandied around so often in fandom that I hesitate to use it for characters who do not have an obvious emotional disorder. As far as the issue of power corrupting, I see it as a definite theme of Geass. Season 2's first episode made it blindingly clear that Lelouch desires power, even without knowing cognitively what power he seeks. The first season's first episode could have been a boy faced with death grasping at whatever he could, but season 2 makes it very clear to me that Lelouch loves his power. It's something he's taken joy in from the beginning, and it's something that has affected his judgment from the get-go as well. His obvious glee as he killed Clovis, compared to the revulsion he displayed later, makes it obvious that he's very susceptable to getting caught up in the rush of being the one to have power. I think it's easiest to say that it likely stems from his father, and his father's constant affirmations that power is a god-given sign of one's right to rule.

Having seen very clearly how little being powerless gets someone, and how much being the one with power can give someone, I think it's little wonder that Lelouch loves it so much. The world of Geass makes it very clear who the haves and the have nots are, and Lelouch has seen both enough to know which he'd rather be.

[fox-holland.livejournal.com]

At that time Clovis ordered the destruction of the Shinjuku ghetto which ended up with not only nearly killing Lelouch, but Suzaku Kururugi, Lulu's best friend, was "killed" according to his own eyes. I'd say Lelouch was within an extreme emotional norm action that one would commit rather than as power crazy.

I'm not sure about how Lelouch cares for the innocent people. It's evident in the first half of the season one as Lelouch is using this as propaganda to bring support to the Black Knights, but his ideals and mind set are toward actually caring. Then it escalates at the end of episode 12, when Shirley tells him that her father, an innocent man, is dead because of Zero. Lelouch does that "What have I done?" expression and sympathizes. Afterward, caring for the innocent people is never directly taken account again.

[powercorrupts.livejournal.com]

Well, in rewatching the first two episodes, I'd have to disagree a little on that. I mean, I understand that Lelouch no doubt is angered by Suzaku's "death," but he makes no mention of it after he recieves the Geass. If revenge for Suzaku is a consideration, it's one among many.

He instead plays games with the Britannians and terrorists, and rather than righteous anger at Suzaku's percieved death, he instead seems to be full of glee at his victories. His words aren't any message of anger, but instead affirmations of his ability to defeat Britannia in battle in their own setting - of his power. Even when he kills Clovis, there's nothing in there about Suzaku. He mentions on his mother, and changing the world.

As far as innocents go, I think he doesn't inherently care, but neither is he completely "kill em all". He is selfish, and doesn't seem to care about innocents at all until they're pointed out to him, or somehow affect him personally - he's much like a spoiled child in that way. I think he only has a very childish mentality about it - that it's terrible that innocents have to die, but that those sort of things have nothing to do with him, even though he causes it at times. His attitude strikes me as a more extreme, more clearly defined version of most real teeangers I've known, who knew in a vague way that innocents suffering somewhere was wrong, but didn't care more than to say that it was a shame and go on with their lives.

[inclino.livejournal.com]

Well, I just had to point something. Actually I remember clearly a scene on episode 22, where Lelouch realizes what he had done, when the 'elevens' around him are all covered in blood. Then some old, dying woman asks for help and says something along the lines of "Zero, you are our hope", and he keeps saying "stop" with the usual "What have I done?" face.
There are more moments like that (maybe even on 24-25, not so sure though) but I don't remember them that well.
I don't think Lelouch is 'socially unconscious' at all, just egoistic as anyone in his position would be, IMHO. Think about it, he is lonely, and it's not like he had parents (past a certain age) to teach him morals, either... But even so, he knows what he's doing. But he thinks it's needed for "a better world", too.

I hope not to sound incoherent there. My english is terrible and it's been a few months since I last rewatched Code Geass so... >_>;