Suzaku was mentioned as Lelouch’s sword, but I want to be Suzaku’s shield and to protect him from all the hate he got in this fandom. So I’d like to mention something.
On the subject of so-called “Japan’s treason”… his motherland stopped existing as an independent country 7 years ago. Guerrillas who organize terrorist attacks, as did Karen and Co. - are certainly cool, but their ‘honor’ is fake. What does it really make sense to aim for? How long is it normal to muddy the waters and kill people, including innocent, denying an accomplished historical fact? It was necessary to aim not for Japan’s freedom, but to change Britannian policy in relation to the Japanese, to guarantee that people could normally live and work as part of Britannia. Suzaku, in general, worked for this. Then you can accuse him of a plan to change Britannia and its policy toward Japan “from the inside” of naivety, but the question of the degree of naivety is highly controversial and deserves a separate discussion, and naivety in any case is not hypocrisy.
There is an opinion that a person in such circumstances has to make a contribution to his country’s liberation. Actually, this depends on the specifics. There should be more sober assessment of the reality and the opportunities. In the realities of Code Geass’s world it was the top of idiocy to think that the work of “Japanese Liberation Army” or groups of terrorists were able to restore the free Japan. Accordingly, those who were there were either idiots or were not looking for victory, but death, not being able to admit defeat during their life. However, Suzaku was looking for opportunities to make Japanese lives more normal, he wanted to restore not the symbols like the flag and the name, but to work for Japanese people, so that people could normally work, live a normal life without fear of becoming next genocide victims. In any case, Suzaku’s naivety was orders of magnitude less than that of those who believed that terrorist attacks and resistance could regain independence of Japan, as Karen believed. There were only two options - either as Suzaku, or to lie under China, but the second one is essentially just to change the flea, so nothing to discuss.
Where else is betrayal? The murder of his father? Sorry, but it’s a child of 10 yo, and even in the heat of passion and affect. It’s hardly possible to be called a deliberate betrayal, and on this basis to judge the character of his other acts committed seven years later.
The contradiction of the declared “humanist universal” values and his methods (the fact that he chose a military career)? This again is not a hypocrisy, but the incoherence and contradictions caused by childhood trauma. Not split personality, of course, but however. After the murder of his father he had two conflicting motivations: rejection of violence as a means to an end on the one hand, and the desire to constantly risk his life protecting others - on the other. This conflict generates contradiction and inconsistency in his words and deeds. In a sense, Suzaku is “worse” than it seems at first, since his goodness is not quite natural, but artificial, due to the fact that he had killed his father. But all of this again isn’t hypocrisy.
Suzaku didn’t fulfill any orders as his comrades-in-arms. He preferred to die from the hands of standing near him comrades in the ranks - watch first episode. And throughout all other episodes he has never been seen in the actions against civilians, executions, etc. Everything he did in the first season - fought and killed members of Japan’s Liberation Army and terrorists - Black Knights.
When people of Shinjuku were killed. There were different departments and different orders. Some soldiers had the task “to find a gas capsule”, others - to arrange the massacre of the Japanese to hide the action of the first group. Suzaku was in the first group - he reported that the capsule was found. The fact remains that anime never shows Suzaku participated in the massacre of the Japanese and to take any action against civilians, neither in the first episode, nor in any other. And then - the presumption of innocence.
And finally … there was very capacious and characteristic picture about the soldiers of Israel and Palestine, that says why they are different:
The picture is also applicable to Geass. The second episode is absolutely clearly and unambiguously shows that on the left side is Lelouch, while on the right is Suzaku. If you need to be reminded: Lelouch shot on houses to cause collapse and escape from Suzaku’s Lancelot, while Suzaku stopped to catch falling people, rather than to pursue Lelouch. From this screen, we can immediately see that asshole is on the left (Lelouch), rather than on the right (Suzaku).
And if you compare them - Lelouch had friends at school, was genuinely loved by his sister. Masked Zero, he was surrounded by the veneration. While Suzaku had nothing. Family - died. Compatriots - consider him as a traitor. Britannians - see him as a second-class person. And yet, not broken, he stubbornly goes his way and rises to heights.
So who is more courageous?
I was very surprised of Lelouch’s anger “He sold me to the Emperor!”. Actually, at that moment Suzaku had the opportunity and the full right to shot Lelouch in the forehead or simply strangle … but instead of this the prince lived to successfully carry out his plans. And I admire Suzaku’s resistance at the moment: he managed to control himself, and he chose not the personal revenge, but the option which would serve on the case. Yes, and Lelouch’s behavior in the scene does not contribute to a peaceful outcome. How selfish do you have to be, (3 hours after he Geassed Euphie to bloody massacre a million of innocent Japanese people, shot her, and he wrote her name into history as the woman who the whole world will despise and hate) to declare to Suzaku: Euphie is in the past! She’s over! And you, my friend, why do you suffer? You must help me to find Nunnally!
Hmmm, after all of those I’d act to Lelouch like Ramsay Bolton - kill britannian prince slowly and painfully.
And this is why Suzaku so often reproached Lelouch in Euphie’s death because he renounced vengeance in favor of a good case (to be a knight of the Rounds, then to become the first knight to receive Japan at his disposal and to normalize the lives of his people), but the anger, pain and despair don’t pass so easy. And how much his princess meant to him … she shines like the brightest star in his broken world and brings light and hope that were not any longer in Suzaku’s life. She tells him that he nor longer need to hate himself, that there are people who love him and will help. And she proves it, in fact, by creating a Special Administrative Region of Japan and rejecting her authority as the princess. And then, when the pieces of Suzaku’s world began to glue together, she was killed by his best friend and you can almost hear “hello darkness my old friend” playing in the distance.
It is not a surprise that throughout the season 2 Suzaku is a walking corpse with a stone face. When Gino saw a yearbook of the past year, he was shocked: “Wow! Suzaku knows how to smile! And I’ve never seen him like this.” Losing a meaning of the life is terrible, but to lose it again after the ray of Euphie’s sunshine was deadly. When you were attracted to the beacon of hope and then were thrown back into the darkness. And how his story ended in the series …
It’s significant, that neither Lelouch, nor Suzaku really weren’t able to succeed and win one without another. It’s evident even in how they saved Shirley from falling in 13R2
But in the process of achieving their goal they both not just stained their hands with blood … in fact, they’ve bathed in it, Lelouch - especially.
The prince paid with his death. The knight will pay with his life, because only a fool would consider a mask of Zero to be a blessing. And they both were well aware of that they have to do: Lelouch murdered people and he accepts his death. Suzaku was ready to die, so he kills Lelouch. A perfect circle. Balance, equilibrium and wisdom.
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