Giant robots, genius lead characters, and tons of chess references. What more could a 2000's era anime fan want? Code Geass was the story of Lelouch vi Britannia, a young man who had the power to make anyone obey any command he gave them, and it was a technique he used liberally as he aimed to discover who was responsible for ruining his life.
But what about the first characters Lelouch used his Geass power on? Who were they, and what did he ask them to do? Considering he could only use it once on a person, someone might assume these were always the most strategic moves possible. But, Lelouch was still a teenager during this.
10 “Britannian Soldiers”
One of the more memorable moments of the original series. Being placed in an impossible situation involving the Britannian guards and a group of terrorists, Lelouch is nearly killed by the Britannians who assume he’s just another terrorist.
But he gains the power of Geass at just the right time, and issues his very first command, telling all of them to die. They immediately take their own guns and shoot themselves, leaving Lelouch alive to escape.
9 Viletta Nu
Lelouch’s first command on a character with an actual name was with Britannian soldier Villetta Nu. Completely helpless on the battlefield as a normal person, he first tries a command to tell her to get out of her Knightmare.
This command fails because he wasn’t able to look her in the eyes, but later he managed to look her in the face, commanding her to hand over her Knightmare and allowing him to make it to the battlefield.
8 Clovis la Britannia
After sneaking his way onto the Britannian base, Lelouch comes face to face with one of his relatives. He forces Clovis to make his army stand down, saving the lives of the remaining terrorists and civilians. Then he demands that Clovis explain who was responsible for killing his mother.
Clovis was unaware of the information, and instead says some of their other family members might know better. Unable to get more information, Lelouch kills Clovis in one of his more cold-blooded moments.
7 Kallen Kozuki
After making it back to Ashford Academy, Lelouch confronts Kallen Kozuki and activates his Geass once again. His first question: to discover if she was the pilot of one of the Glasgow suits during the attack in Shinjuku.
She confirms his suspicions, which allows him more information on the terrorists in the area. Of course, this was also how he learned the limitation of Geass, as he tried to command her to forget about Shinjuku and to return to class, only to fail both times.
6 His Teacher
After realizing he needed to understand the rules of Geass, he decided to start testing it by asking random people questions. The first person he chose to test it on was one of his teachers. He asked him what the questions would be on the essay exam.
The teacher gives him a detailed response, but when Lelouch tests it again the teacher laughs him off, not realizing he’d already given away the answers. Not that he needed the answers anyway, since he was one of the most intelligent characters in the series.
5 Jeremiah Gottwold
This is how someone’s career gets ruined. He was one of the most respected people in the series when the show began. But when Jeremiah decides to work with the purebloods and have Suzaku killed, Lelouch arrives as Zero and destroys the show.
He commands Jeremiah to let both the terrorists and Suzaku go, and even to defend them. With no control over himself, Jeremiah does just that and fights on their side to allow Suzaku to leave.
4 Ashford Academy Student
This is the longest-running Geass in the series. While he was testing his powers, Lelouch approached one of the girls in his class and told her to make a hatchmark on the wall every day at a specific time.
It's not shown on screen, but is explained to C.C. later as he figures out how to test his powers. The character continues to do this throughout the series, and as it’s explained later, the only reason she stops is because eventually she’s too far away from the school for the Geass to work at all.
3 Ashford Academy Girls
Fairly early in the series, a cat steals Lelouch’s Zero helmet. Considering this is literally the only thing that could connect him to his role as Zero at Ashford Academy, Lelouch is pretty frantic about how this could play out.
Rather than take a chance, anyone who sees the cat wearing the helmet is immediately Geass’d and commanded to forget everything they’ve seen.
2 Britannian Pilot
Trapped in a battle against Britannian forces aiming to set him up, Lelouch finds his back against the wall in the seventh episode of the series. During the episode, he winds up needing to acquire a mecha, and does so by approaching a Britannian pilot while dressed in Britannian gear himself.
He commands to be given control of a Sutherland, and they immediately hand it over.
1 Britannian Youths
In the ninth episode, Lelouch and Kallen both run into some Britannians that are assaulting a poor Japanese person attempting to sell hot dogs. They seem to be quite into abusing him until Lelouch asks if they’re tired of beating up elevens, causing them to agree and walk off to an arcade.
This is done in such a non-chalant fashion everyone thinks Lelouch simply convinced them to stop.