I think I'm probably going to end up saying nothing that hasn't already been said by other commenters, but here goes anyway. :( Let's start with a definition.
"Incest": sexual activity between closely related persons.
To say that Lelouch has incestuous feelings for Nunnally is to say that he wants to have sex with her. That's the fact of it.
Now, "love"! Hell if I'm going to define this, but keep in mind two important features of love:
1) Different depths of love exist. 2) "Love" does not necessarily come with "desire".
I can think of several people I would give my life for if it came down to it, because I love them that much. Some of them are family, some bosom friends, one a significant other. This doesn't mean I have the urge to boink them at some point in our 'relationship'. Likewise one can be devoted, heart and soul, to someone (or something) without ever considering taking things to the carnal level.
It's actually pretty... weird? Sad? That nowadays more often than not fandom chooses to perceive close relationships of any kind as leading to or already having a sexual nature. What happened to genfic and friendship? (It's the same IRL, even, which is why you hardly ever see guys letting themselves be open enough with each other as 'bosom friends', for fear of being called gay. But I digress.)
In Lelouch's case? Nunnally is the biggest, and possibly sole reason he holds onto to continue his existence as it is. He is willing to burn the world to the ground and build it up again if only to make it a peaceful world for her sake. He wants her to be happy even if it means leaving her with someone else (e.g. Suzaku). It's not an "I want to be with you forever, body and soul in every way" relationship. It's an "I would give my body and sell my soul to the devil so you could be happy" relationship. And if I'm not mistaken, this reflects Xing Ke's feelings towards Tianzi as well.
This is a form of love, and devotion, and taken to its dark side, obsession. It's not necessarily holier than desire. But it is distinct from desire, and should be remembered as such.
tl;dr Yes, Lelouch's feelings surpass that of many ordinary brothers. No, this does not necessarily an incestuous relationship. Other factors involved such as deliberate teasing on the part of the producers, fan-pandering and everyone's-right-to-ship-what-they-want will be left to other comments. :(b
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ninetydegrees![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
"Incest": sexual activity between closely related persons.
To say that Lelouch has incestuous feelings for Nunnally is to say that he wants to have sex with her. That's the fact of it.
Now, "love"! Hell if I'm going to define this, but keep in mind two important features of love:
1) Different depths of love exist.
2) "Love" does not necessarily come with "desire".
I can think of several people I would give my life for if it came down to it, because I love them that much. Some of them are family, some bosom friends, one a significant other. This doesn't mean I have the urge to boink them at some point in our 'relationship'. Likewise one can be devoted, heart and soul, to someone (or something) without ever considering taking things to the carnal level.
It's actually pretty... weird? Sad? That nowadays more often than not fandom chooses to perceive close relationships of any kind as leading to or already having a sexual nature. What happened to genfic and friendship? (It's the same IRL, even, which is why you hardly ever see guys letting themselves be open enough with each other as 'bosom friends', for fear of being called gay. But I digress.)
In Lelouch's case? Nunnally is the biggest, and possibly sole reason he holds onto to continue his existence as it is. He is willing to burn the world to the ground and build it up again if only to make it a peaceful world for her sake. He wants her to be happy even if it means leaving her with someone else (e.g. Suzaku). It's not an "I want to be with you forever, body and soul in every way" relationship. It's an "I would give my body and sell my soul to the devil so you could be happy" relationship. And if I'm not mistaken, this reflects Xing Ke's feelings towards Tianzi as well.
This is a form of love, and devotion, and taken to its dark side, obsession. It's not necessarily holier than desire. But it is distinct from desire, and should be remembered as such.
tl;dr Yes, Lelouch's feelings surpass that of many ordinary brothers. No, this does not necessarily an incestuous relationship. Other factors involved such as deliberate teasing on the part of the producers, fan-pandering and everyone's-right-to-ship-what-they-want will be left to other comments. :(b