The death of Lelouch Lamperouge aka Zero - Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion's unquestionably popular protagonist - remains one of the boldest plot decisions an anime has ever made. There was a lot of discussion about whether or not Lelouch even really died and, if so, what form that death took. So when the film trilogy came out, a decade after the end of the original anime, and retconned his death, fans were understandably up in arms.
The decision has been contentious, and the impending third season of the series has only made it more so. But there are good reasons for doing this that go beyond cashing in on the series’ popularity. Here are five reasons retconning Lelouch’s death from the original Code Geass anime was a good idea and five reasons they should have left it alone.
10 GOOD IDEA: Exploring Other Stories
Before we even consider what might happen after the time when Lelouch would have died in the series, it’s a good idea to look at what happened before that. The compilation movies, which broke down the plot of the anime series into three films, also took the time to adjust the stories so that retconning Lelouch’s death would make sense once we reached the end of the third film's new canon.
Doing this means that we were able to get all new story ideas for Code Geass that we wouldn’t have been able to see if Lelouch’s death had stayed the same as it had in the anime series.
9 BAD IDEA: The Original Anime Set Up His Death
On the other hand, the original anime was written with the idea that Lelouch would set himself up as a scapegoat to end the fighting and usher in an era of true peace. Everything that happens in the series up until that point was planned that way, making for a really tight narrative that ended up exactly where it was always meant to.
Retconning this ending means that the writing was a little more sloppy while also being less refined and focused when compared to the original finale that was always in place from the beginning of the series.
8 GOOD IDEA: A Code Geass Sequel
The film trilogy, which is where the retconning of Lelouch’s death initially happened, were for the most part a retelling of the Code Geass story. But retconning allowed for the release of Code Geass: Lelouch of the Re;surrection and for the coming third season of the anime.
While not everyone feels that this is necessarily a good thing, since the original series ended at a natural stopping point, for those of us who can never get enough Code Geass in our lives, the retconning of Lelouch’s death means that we get to go back into this world and spend more time with the characters and story that we love.
7 BAD IDEA: A Resurrection Is Thematically Inappropriate
We’ve already mentioned that the entirety of the Code Geass anime series was written around the idea that Lelouch would sacrifice himself at the end, which created a really careful storytelling experience. But more to the point are the themes that the series was playing with, which dealt with war, class divide, and how armed conflict affected different kinds of people.
Lelouch’s decision to sacrifice himself as an evil scapegoat in order to reset the countries and allow for peace perfectly plays into these themes. This means the original ending is perfect for getting across the ideas and messages the series was going for.
6 GOOD IDEA: More Time With Lelouch
Let’s face it: we love Lelouch. He’s a cool hero who does a lot of awesome stuff and also has an awesome mecha that he uses to move around in. If Code Geass is going to continue, there’s no way it could continue without Lelouch as the main character.
We’re not really prepared to follow anyone else into battle, so to speak. So if Lelouch’s death has been retconned so that we can continue with him into a third season of the series, we’re game, since it means more of him being more clever than his enemies and looking awesome.
5 BAD IDEA: Death Was A Suitable Ending For Lelouch
We mentioned earlier that the series was written with a particular ending in mind for the character. Additionally, we also mentioned that the themes of the series made it a perfect way for Lelouch to go out, as a tragically Pyrrhic hero who was saving the day at the expense of his own life.
It’s hard to imagine that anything Lelouch does after that is going to have the same impact or that any of the themes that were so strong because of the way he sacrificed himself for peace would remain if he was magically kept alive.
4 GOOD IDEA: There Are More Ways To Explore The World
While there’s no reason why we couldn’t continue with the world of Code Geass without Lelouch as the main character, he is still the way that we have entered this world in the first place. That means that whatever changes happen in the politics and drama of the world, the best person to teach us about it is Lelouch himself.
If Lelouch stays in the series, the worldbuilding can only increase and be fleshed out, since we’ve already spent so much time with him teaching us the ways that it works with the first two seasons of the anime.
3 BAD IDEA: Repeating The Past
This is always a concern when anime - or any television series, for that matter - is brought back after a long time off the air. Because it’s being brought back after so long without it, there’s always the risk that we’re going to retread the same ground that we’ve already seen and done.
Bringing Lelouch back in the next season of Code Geass means that the third season runs the risk of being a rehash of the first two seasons, instead of being something completely new that just happens to feature the same characters in the same world.
2 GOOD IDEA: Wrapping Up Plot Lines
We’ve already mentioned the tight writing that exists in the original Code Geass anime series. But there are definitely questions that were left unanswered and plotlines that never got wrapped up in the way that they could have.
If Lelouch comes back in the new season, it allows for us to get back to the basics and to take care of some of these unresolved plots and stories before moving on to new plot issues. This is a good way to justify having Lelouch back as well, since it’ll be an easy way to introduce ideas we’ve already seen.
1 BAD IDEA: There Are Other Characters Besides Lelouch
Lelouch is not the only character in Code Geass. He is the main character, and that does mean we spend a lot of time with him, and that we know him best of all of the characters. But there are a lot of characters in the series we identify with, along with other heroes we would like to see succeed.
More importantly, there are other characters with Geass abilities that we could follow in the new series. This would allow us to explore what Geass powers mean outside of just Lelouch having them and give us other opportunites to see what a person with these kinds of powers might do with them. Lelouch is great and we love him, but focusing on him again only narrows Code Geass' future more than its creators may have anticipated.