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thegeassorder · 4 months ago

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C.C. x Lelouch Side Material and Statements post R2 //Canon

I'm making this article in order to have a full article about everything canon about C.C., because I found an article about them which was mixing canon release like character poem and profile and non canon ones like novels or editors article from magazines, which led a lot of people to be confused or mislead about C.C.. In this article you'll only find canon material, which means, no content from the magazines like Newtype, megami, Animage or Animedia, as those are text made up by editors or novelist, they don't come from the staff; unless of course, those are interviews, or staff release content (Like the Newtype booklet from 2008 which came with the Newtype but was filled with staff information/comments) Same for novels, for Code Geass, novels aren't canon, they are made up and more like headcanons and interpretation from the author who wrote thoseas as confirmed by Mamoru Isawa (Code Geass novels authors) and Goro Taniguchi (Code Geass anime director) in a discussion they had at tht end of one of the first novels.) Anything that's not from the staff is made up (that's why a lot of novels contradict each other and even canonical event from the show)

Those are canonical release that you can use to understand what C.C. was about in canon OG (and some elements about her relationship with Lelouch) Enjoy !

(I only added the during R2 and post R2 release, as they are those which holds most the answers about C.C.)

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So For C.C. We have her R2 character Song, Connect, which is a lovely song i'd advice anyone to listen :

CODE GEASS Lelouch of the Rebellion R2 Sound Episode 1 CONNECT / YUKANA

You can’t see ahead, you can’t read tomorrow Your face from the side looks distressed Searching for the answer, your heart is withering You hide your weakness, too It’s okay even if you cry softly Remove your mask of bravado Because on a night with only the two of us, I’ll accept you You’re not alone

I’m embracing you with my heart Spreading my wings that envelop you Even when the times are good, even when it’s not so I’m by your side Everything is cold to you And the dark night seems to be endless Nevertheless, because the beginning will take place, I’m always watching you

Because even when we’re able to understand or oppose each other I’m supporting you I’ll promise you, you may believe in me Our encounter was inevitable You softly and tenderly Wiped away my teardrops Because your clumsy fingers are warm

I’m not alone If you would overtake yesterday’s dream And stand still somewhere Then close your eyes and feel me I’m by your side

Because even if the season when the two of us Will be walking on separate paths comes someday I’ll become the wind connecting the remote starry sky It’s okay even if you cry softly Remove your mask of bravado Because on a night with only the two of us, I’ll accept you

You’re not alone I’m embracing you with my heart Spreading my wings that envelop you Even when the times are good, even when it’s not so I’m by your side

Everything is cold to you And the dark night seems to be endless Nevertheless, because the beginning will take place, I’m always watching you

Note : This song is lovely and filled with tenderness and care for Lelouch, I think it fits perfectly her feelings toward the end, where she was finally there to comfort him; She can see his suffering and wants to watch over him, it's a more positive view of what she feels when it comes to his pain that of her poem, which holds a certain darkness. I think Yukana's statement about C.C.'s feelings being akin to those of a goddess could fit, but seiyuu's views aren't canon material so it's up to interpretation (especially since we have no canon answer about her feelings)

****************************** C.C.'s regret message from the Code Geass Complete Best.

Waga Routashi Aku no Hana (My Beautifully Elegant Flower of Evil)

From the entire beginning, I should have warned you. That the power of the king would isolate you. You will lose your friends, become different from your childhood friend, and you will be betrayed by your subordinates.

Your parents will vanish from your sight, your siblings will disappear like dew.

Yes, it's terribly burdensome. And pitiful.

Now, your sole companion is solitude. There is nobody who will embrace you, who has been smeared in blood. Rocks have been pelted at you by many, and as retribution, you trampled over them. At that time, nobody noticed that the shriek that was secretly welling up inside your heart.

Yes, it's pitiful. Seeing that visage, my wounds often throbbed. Now, I think you to be dear because you are miserable. As the pain kept stabbing your tender heart, why does this feeling of solitude gradually heal?

The whole world is pelting rocks at you, showering you with insults. That is something the I have experienced from this world.

Without realizing, you have shared me in my solitude. Without knowing, you shouldered my sins.

It's as if you are a poisonous amaryllis blooming from the ground. Only I know of its elegence.

Note : C.C.'s character poem is actually quite dark, she talks about Lelouch's burden and explains how, while he was shouldering more and more pain, she was slowly healing, she even came to say that seeing him in pain had her growing more attached to him;

Not to say that C.C. Is some kind of sadistic, but we get the feeling that most of all, her solitude and her past trauma are what burdened C.C. the most, with Lelouch having to deal with the same misery, she was able to heal, as if he was taking this misery instead. I know some C.C. fans weren't happy about her poem and the undertones of it, it's more obvious in japanese but it implies strongly that C.C. used Lelouch to achieve happiness. I personally absolutely love this poem, because It's a very sad, and yet incredibly elegant poem, like C.C. and I think it fits her perfectly.

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Code Geass picture drama Turn 9.34

While Lelouch, C.C. and Kallen conduct a mission in China, and Lelouch gets fed up as ending up cross dressing as a woman, C.C. ends up showing a bit of envy at the thought of how fun the school crossdressing festival and activies looked, and Lelouch tell her when they get everything back, if she wants to be a student, she'll be able to experiment this life (The whole thing end up in classical Lelouch/C.C. banter with her planning to open a pizza club and having Lelouch as the vice president)

Note : While it echoes Turn 9 and Lelouch asking Kallen to get back to Ashford with him, it's still quite different, since Lelouch doesn't ask for C.C. to come but he notices she is interested and he reacts in telling her she'll be able to do those things she wants to do if she wants to. He basically shows he cares in a very Lelouch way, and we still get a nice banter between them so it definitely belonged there.

You can watch it here

Code Geass picture Drama Turn 22.05

You can watch it here

This picture drama happens right before Turn 22 and allows a talk between Cecile and C.C. where they talk about their aspirations, past and about their relationship with Lelouch and Suzaku ; It's actually pretty interesting for C.C. since Cecile actually asks her if she loves Lelouch and she doesn't seem to know (In Turn 24 she'll give a very similar answer to Kallen); It's very interesting to have this talk between those two older ladies who have been watching over the boys from their side during the show.

My own analysis : For C.C.s feelings I think it fits the major theme of her character, Lelouch made her feel human again through a contract which became a promise, so she certainly has an hard time figuring out what Lelouch is to her, even though he is special. We have to remember this woman lived for hundred of years and her views of feelings and love in general might very well different of the one of those who lived only for a few years compared to her.

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NT Booklet : The only content of interest about C.C. and Lelouch is in the Turn 24 corner and about this picture drama, the staff talk about how they thought it would be nice to have C.C. in a long gown playing lyre; They also say that C.C.'s role was to watch over Lelouch till the end (The rest is about Schneizel, his world and Suzaku and C.C. believing in Lelouch's world)

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And Last but not least, C.C.'s various official profile :

CC profile on Geass*net (Geassnet was a website available through cellphone only in japan it was run by the staff and had a fee of 300 yen/month to access to it) You can see those profile being refered in various forums, community, or in wikipedia (there were picture of the various profile but photobucket didn't kept them because this website really suck)

"Knowing that Lelouch does not hate her for giving him the Geass, she is now able to show her true feelings. With the realization of "Zero Requiem", her time with Lelouch, who was able to forgive and accept her, came to an end, but the memories created with him has, without doubt, saved her from eternal loneliness."

C.C. Profile on the Code Geass R2 Complete Official Guidebook :

"After she found the orphan child of Marianne, and because of what happened with Mao, C.C. chose to not give geass to the young Lelouch and to watch as he grows, but she was captured by Bartley. When C.C. found Lelouch in Shinjuku, she gave him Geass to save him from a dire situation. To Lelouch, who was devoted to fight for his desire and got intoxicated by the power of Geass, C.C. declared, "You and I are accomplices" ; It is a self-defense measure born from her experience with Mao. Surprisingly, Lelouch kept respecting the position of an accomplice.

While she is entrusted to be a body-double and negotiator, he never asked for her to be a mother-figure or a lover; It is thanks to Lelouch that C.C. was able to be considered an equal for the first time as a partner.

Lelouch, who promised to fulfill her wish despite the unfair conditions, became a special existence to C.C.; When C.C. was trying to protect him in exchange for her life, Lelouch hoped for her to live and repeatedly said “I will surely make you smile!”. To answer those feelings, C.C. sealed her code and resisted Charles. She chose to believe in Lelouch.

Her trust wasn't betrayed. Even when she lost her memory, Lelouch did not stop being kind [to her], and when he launched into battle resolved to kill his beloved sister if it came to it, he did not utter a single word of hatred.

This is probably why C.C. has found the resolve to live for a long time. "Hurry up and go. Then come back. You're going to make me smile, aren't you?" As C.C.'s words suggest, what she received from the partner she finally met after hundreds of years, was a powerful "promise"."

***Note: The major theme behind C.C.'s story appears to be the evolution of a contract between witch and human to a promise between two human beings. In another one of those Code Geass ironies, C.C. became human by choosing to keep her immortality.

** All the translations were made by Galvea, Lixiangxing, Blottyparchment, Koshimizu, Roon, Lie, i only double checked since I owned the material (Those translators are part of those who worked hard to translate most of the material which was available during and after the Anime airing; You can find a lot of discussion about those over the internet on Gamefaqs/Livejournal/Animesuki if you want to triple check.)

Main source

Note : I know some part of her profile launched some riot in 2ch back in the Geass airing days (a lof of side material did actually.) but I think it eventually fits the show, even though everything wasn't crystal clear, especially when it comes to C.C., who suffered a lack of screentime in R2 (especially compared to season 1) While I was first a Lelouch x C.C. shipper during my airing days watch, I found myself not shipping them much as a romance (I still very much enjoy their relationship, but I have a different view of it now) when I rewatched it years later, it just felt different from what I thought i had seen at first, so I can now say I understand those profile and informations better and am not really surprised. Above all relationship matter, the fact Lelouch forgave C.C. and never hold any grudge against her has probably saved her from her loneleliness, and to be treated as a human being again, with this powerful promise, has certainly done wonder to her.

I would have loved a sequel with C.C. wandering around the world and discovering more of her humanity. There were so many great things to do with such a character within the canon timeline, but sometimes I think they created a character way too complicated to write and that's why they never were able to actually use her to her full potential.

As a Bonus I'd like to add this short snippet of Yukana's blog (C.C.'s seiyuu) that she wrote after the end of R2.

It surprised me that so many would ask me what C.C.'s real name is. I'm happy that so many are interested to know. I'm sorry! Taniguchi has cast a geass upon me... C.C.'s name is... Au..Au.. (it's a cute sound she often write on her blog) Eh? What was it? My apologies! I've forgotten! >_< That's how it's become. I think I'll cherish this name until the day I (C.C.) meet someone who I really want him to call me by the real name

I thought that while the whole thing was incredibly cute (at the same time, Yukana is), the last line was even sweeter. That's about it for C.C., Hope her fans enjoyed.

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thegeassorder · 5 months ago

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C.C. - Human or Witch?

This is my first actual post on Tumblr so excuse me if my formatting is not good 😭😭😭 I have a lot of essays written about C.C. (and I keep writing more), this one is fairly short I think and doesn't go really in-depth.

Inside C.C. resides two images of herself. The human and the witch. These two ideas constantly clash against one another, as C.C. is constantly attracting and repelling herself from these two sides. The witch side of her is the side that she shows to the world most of the time. The cold, selfish woman who brings misfortune upon others for her own goals. This side of her is the one that others feared and hated the most, ostracizing and inflicting endless suffering upon her because of her powers. C.C. internalized these feelings and began to hate herself, feeling as if she deserved the suffering. This is where her split comes from: she hates the witch side of her because she was rejected for it, as well as being the cause of her suffering. However she wants to stay as the witch, and she wants people to hate her because she feels as if she deserves it. For her, being the witch is both a punishment that she deserves and a curse that torments her.

She forces herself to act as a villain because she thinks that she should act that way and that she deserves her punishment. We see several times in the show where she says that she deserves punishment for what she does (Mao arc, Geass order attack, when she asks Lelouch if he hates her). As someone who is sinful, she feels as if she does not deserve to be human. She distances herself from others because she doesn't believe that she should connect with people, lest she harms them. Additionally it is important to note that her contracts are also a defense mechanism that protects her. The barrier that she forms between her and others is not only there to protect them from her, but to protect herself and her vulnerable feelings.

We see how tormented C.C. is over her vulnerable side whenever she opens up about then forcefully. She is afraid of her insecurities and her feelings, which is another reason why she closed herself off from others. Conversely she also battles with her human side, the caring part of her that wants affection. Deep down inside even if she believes that she has forsaken humanity long ago, she still has a human heart, capable of caring for others and feeling happiness. Even though she deceives people via contracts to trick them, her human side comes out whenever she gets closer to others. No matter how much she wants to repress them, her soft vulnerable side is shown to the very people that she wants to repel.

She doesn't feel like she deserves to be human, which is why she purposefully cuts herself off from others, even trying to make others hate her for deceiving them. This is where her vicious cycle comes from: she believes that she is selfish and inhuman, yet she is human to the point that she cares for the people that she uses. It makes no sense for C.C. to make contracts with people that she intends to deceive, only for her to get soft as time passes.

A very important part of C.C.'s character is how she deals with the negative, "inhuman" aspects of herself. While I said earlier that C.C. acts like a bad person because she feels as if she needs to as punishment and to distance herself, that is not the full picture. C.C. is a bad person because her apathy and lack of morality is the product of her centuries of suffering. Her selfish and morally devoid side is not simply a facade, but also simply who she is. C.C. is no longer a good person, and she struggles with her understanding and acceptance of why that is. Ultimately the reason why she makes contracts with people and acts the way she does towards people is because she truly is not a good person, and this selfishness is one of her defining qualities. She believes that she is that way because she lost her humanity, when in reality that is simply who she has been shaped into as her feelings and morality eroded. In reality there is no split between the "bad witch" and the "kind human". These are simply just characteristics of who she now is, and she comes to accept them at the end of the show.

This battle between the two parts of her tears her conviction, as she constantly questions what she really wants. The very name C.C. is meant to remove her human side. Calling her by C.C., in her head, is addressing the witch, not the human. This is why when Lelouch calls out her real name, she exposes her vulnerability. He reminded her that her humanity still resides inside her, even if she casted it away. Regardless of the way that she acts and thinks, she still wants to be understood and loved deep down. C.C. is confused and does not understand what she wants. Does she want to pass off her immortality, or does she want someone to make her human again? Does she really want someone to suffer as she has for her own means? She questions herself as time passes and loses sight of what she wants. This cycle is what traps C.C. mentally in a prison.

C.C. is trapped in many prisons, physically and literally. She chooses to wear a straightjacket because it symbolizes how she feels about her place in the world; a prisoner. The most obvious prison would be her immortality, something that traps her on earth for eternity. It's the most literal use for the straightjacket, and it shackles her. However what is less obvious are the figurative prisons. The first one is the prison that is a product of humanity demonizing her over and over again. She has been rejected from society, destined to live a life in which people always cast stones at her for as long as she lives. This led her to distance herself from others and even internalize those feelings. The final prison is one of her own making, the cycling of the "human" and the "witch", forcing her to repeat the same charade. I say that this one is of her own making because even though the world has been largely unkind to her and thrust its malice onto her, as we see at the end of the show, she realizes that it was her worldview that was ultimately flawed in the end, even if she had a good reason to think of the world in such a way.

It’s interesting to note that at the end of the show, C.C. goes back to her straightjacket instead of the Black Knight uniform that she uses for most of R2. That is because in the end she remains a prisoner on earth, although she found freedom and peace in her mind. In the show's conclusion, C.C. learns to tear down the prison that she constructed and while she stays immortal, and while the world is still against her, she chooses to find meaning and enjoyment in life by herself.

She has a very unique sense of morality, stemming from her long time on earth. She is pretty detached from most worldly affairs at this point in her life, showing no real interest for Lelouch's cause or taking down Britannia. While all the characters in the show fight for their vision of a better future for humanity, C.C. is largely removed from that conflict. She's completely alienated from the world and while she does still criticize Lelouch and challenge his ideas, she doesn't actively denounce Britannia's actions. She doesn’t have a sense of moral righteousness, usually doing whatever she wants without really caring about how it might inconvenience others. Her lack of consideration for others is shown with how she treated Mao and left him when things didn’t work out, as well as her general unwillingness to cooperate with people.

This isn’t to say that she doesn’t have a sense of morality though; although she is generally more apathetic than most, she still does have a sense of right or wrong. When Lelouch called her out for what she did with Mao, she did show a sense of shame, which you don’t see often from her. Despite acting as an observer for most of the show, she often messes with people for her own amusement, which supports the idea that she mainly does things only if they directly benefit her in some way. She is not bound to any rules or moral code nor does she feel like she has any moral obligation to partake in the fight against Britannia, sort of like a third-party to humanity, if you will. When she does decide to help the Black Knights, it is only because of Lelouch, which a.) benefits her (contract) and b.) she wanted to stay with Lelouch out of her own will out of loyalty.

Ironically, despite being hated by humanity, C.C. still believes in the innate good of humans. She believes that every human is capable of good and bad, while firmly believing that hope is what drives us to the future while overcoming our difficulties. "In this world, evil can arise from the best of intentions. And there is good which can come from evil intentions." Ironically she doesn't believe in those things in herself, believing that she herself isn't human (although at the end of the show we see how these ideas even apply to her). Her ideals matched with the idea behind the Zero Requiem and aligned with Lelouch and Suzaku' values, which is why C’s world spared her and she ultimately cooperates with them

That's about it for today's essay, thank you very very much if you read all of it. I'd love to hear any ideas or thoughts you have about it :D in the future I wish to go into deeper topics when it comes to C.C.. Have a good one

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