As per usual, I agree with 95% of what you said, but you were able to convey that far more coherently than I could ever hope to and without the rambling musing and thought reversals that typify my Geass posts.
One thing, though. (And I have a suspicion that my objection is purely one of semantics, in which case I'M SORRY FOR MAKING YOU READ ALL THIS. D=)
I don't think Suzaku is using Nunnally, but he is using her importance to Lelouch.
That seems to me a rather pedantic distinction. What else would anyone use her for? Her political prowess? Or her administrative skills? Her one valuable, exploitable trait (as far as greater Britannia is concerned) is her connection to Lelouch. So I think that if you were to ask, "Is Suzaku using Nunnally?", the answer is "yes". However, the more interesting questions to ask are, "Does he have her consent to do this?" and "Who put her into the position of being used?" This doesn't just mean that this person is blackmailing Nunnally or anything of the sort. The person in question could have simply given her the relevant information about the current situation, and I have no doubt that Nunnally would have taken it upon herself to carry out these actions to save her onii-sama.
So who could it have been that clued Nunnally in to everything? The knee-jerk response would be "Suzaku", though my inner appraisal of Suzaku finds that unlikely to be true. I agree that he would never put her at any real risk, and the thought of Suzaku consciously and actively backing Nunnally into a moral conundrum is one that I don't believe in.
Another popular option is that Nunnally figured out everything by herself. I guess that this is possible, but I'm loathe to give Nunnally too much credit. Another equally viable option is that V.V. and/or Charles told her. I personally prefer this theory, as I do believe that Suzaku will turn against Charles later on, and this would give him one justification to do so. But this is just a pet theory of mine that has zero canon evidence to support it.
In any case, Nunnally is set into a position for her to be used by Britannia, and I'm sure that she's at least smart enough to realize that. Specifically, I think that she's at least somewhat in cahoots with Suzaku and allows herself to be used by him in this way, as well. I mentioned in a previous discussion about how I imagine Suzaku to be a knight-figure for Nunnally, and this exploitation does not necessarily shatter that conceptualization. We don't know what the current state of Nunnally and Suzaku's relationship is, but it's hard to imagine that she doesn't trust him. And if she trusts him, she may trust him enough for him to use her as such to bring about the best possible end for everyone. Her presence would not only give him a tool but also a leash. He can't act upon only his own ambitions and emotions; he must also take hers into account.
I still can't help but shake my small feeling of disappointment in Suzaku, though. Perhaps I wanted him to do more to keep her out of harm's way. And even if he couldn't prevent that from happening, maybe I expected him to not derive utility from it. Even if Nunnally were used by Britannia like this as live bait, my idealized, romanticized Suzaku would not use her in his plans. But the new Suzaku is far more cunning and far less noble, so my expectations were unrealistic, to say the least.
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too long, as usual
One thing, though. (And I have a suspicion that my objection is purely one of semantics, in which case I'M SORRY FOR MAKING YOU READ ALL THIS. D=)
I don't think Suzaku is using Nunnally, but he is using her importance to Lelouch.
That seems to me a rather pedantic distinction. What else would anyone use her for? Her political prowess? Or her administrative skills? Her one valuable, exploitable trait (as far as greater Britannia is concerned) is her connection to Lelouch. So I think that if you were to ask, "Is Suzaku using Nunnally?", the answer is "yes". However, the more interesting questions to ask are, "Does he have her consent to do this?" and "Who put her into the position of being used?" This doesn't just mean that this person is blackmailing Nunnally or anything of the sort. The person in question could have simply given her the relevant information about the current situation, and I have no doubt that Nunnally would have taken it upon herself to carry out these actions to save her onii-sama.
So who could it have been that clued Nunnally in to everything? The knee-jerk response would be "Suzaku", though my inner appraisal of Suzaku finds that unlikely to be true. I agree that he would never put her at any real risk, and the thought of Suzaku consciously and actively backing Nunnally into a moral conundrum is one that I don't believe in.
Another popular option is that Nunnally figured out everything by herself. I guess that this is possible, but I'm loathe to give Nunnally too much credit. Another equally viable option is that V.V. and/or Charles told her. I personally prefer this theory, as I do believe that Suzaku will turn against Charles later on, and this would give him one justification to do so. But this is just a pet theory of mine that has zero canon evidence to support it.
In any case, Nunnally is set into a position for her to be used by Britannia, and I'm sure that she's at least smart enough to realize that. Specifically, I think that she's at least somewhat in cahoots with Suzaku and allows herself to be used by him in this way, as well. I mentioned in a previous discussion about how I imagine Suzaku to be a knight-figure for Nunnally, and this exploitation does not necessarily shatter that conceptualization. We don't know what the current state of Nunnally and Suzaku's relationship is, but it's hard to imagine that she doesn't trust him. And if she trusts him, she may trust him enough for him to use her as such to bring about the best possible end for everyone. Her presence would not only give him a tool but also a leash. He can't act upon only his own ambitions and emotions; he must also take hers into account.
I still can't help but shake my small feeling of disappointment in Suzaku, though. Perhaps I wanted him to do more to keep her out of harm's way. And even if he couldn't prevent that from happening, maybe I expected him to not derive utility from it. Even if Nunnally were used by Britannia like this as live bait, my idealized, romanticized Suzaku would not use her in his plans. But the new Suzaku is far more cunning and far less noble, so my expectations were unrealistic, to say the least.