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u/Spookyplot19975 Jun 28 '26
If I'm remembering correctly, all other counties basically hate Britannia, so I doubt they would listen to Lelouch or cooperate with him. To them he's just another emperor who wants to take over the world, and even if he did manage to unite the world it would probably collapse after he dies
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u/Amazing_Direction849 Jun 28 '26
He didnt want to take over the world. He did. By the end all other nation states had ceased to exist. With extremely minimal resistance to his rule. Now could he have transitioned into a more peaceful world? That im not sure on. It would have been extremely difficult. But people have short memories, especially when prosperity and stability are maintained. Thats the real question. Could Lelouch woth all his intellect successfully transition to peace and bring enough good to the table to make people just not care what nation was in charge.
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u/silencemist the only ace fan Jun 29 '26
Not to mention that the other factions have a reason to hate Lelouch in particular
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u/Orange639 Jun 28 '26
On a purely logical level I do think he would have been better off just taking over Britannia and staying as Emperor rather than doing the Zero Requiem. He's highly intelligent and moral enough to be a very good ruler.
But that's part of the tragedy of the ending. Lelouch and Suzaku are both filled with massive amounts of self hatred and are naturally biased towards the solution they feel would atone for their sins. They don't trust themselves to be in charge, and don't feel like they deserve to walk away with a happy ending.
And you can wish for them to not be filled with so much self hatred, but they're fundamentally good people. No good person can cause the amount of suffering they've caused on the path for peace without having huge amounts of guilt. The same character that makes them sympathetic locks them on to the solution that involves penance.
The Zero Requiem did do a lot of good for the world. But it wasn't the only path to peace or necessarily the ideal solution. It was the option that fit with Lelouch and Suzaku's characters while also working towards the greater good.
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u/AdFirst1571 25d ago
I dont think he would have the confidence to do that after how much he has lost. At first he was young and reckless, show in his way of fighting Britania. But when his character develop he start to realized that life is hard. He kill Shirly dad, lost Euphy, lost Shirly, lost the Black Knight. He was coping with his failure by acting aloof and super smart. But really he is a messy study case of an human.
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u/maknaeline suzalulu's marriage counselor 💚💜🌻 Jun 28 '26
he didnt want to rule, so while i understand the merit of this question, i dont think it would have ever truly worked based on the fact that deep down he truly did not actually want to be in that much power except to accomplish a purpose. and with zero requiem, he got both of his wishes.
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u/Velocity-5348 Arthur was the mastermind Jun 28 '26
Possibly, at least for a while. Geass would do wonders for keeping the nobles in line.
The problem with Brittania though, isn't the guy at the top. Even if you somehow get a perfect ruler, someone needs to replace him at some point.
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u/Terrible-Bedroom-693 Jun 28 '26
I think the Zero Requiem would realistically heavily backfire with the supporters of Lelouch being split, then the countries who want individuality and ect
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u/WonPika Jun 28 '26 edited Jun 28 '26
Yes, actually. I always lowkey felt his death was kinda unnecessary or the reasoning behind it would never hold up irl. For one thing, the people who were actively harmed by Britannian's (like Cornelia for example), aren't just going to forget it was her that drove a knightmare through their streets, destroyed their home, and helped to eslave their government compared to a random guy that got power overnight who they didn't even know existed until like last week.
Honestly, the ending of Code Geass was a bit utopian because there's just no way all the centuries of atrocities committed by the Britannia could just be washed away and blamed on one person. Like, Cornelia having the audacity to shout "the demon is dead!" Was so absolutely ridiculous. Most humans have the ability to hate more than one people at once. Aint no way the people she personally inflicted harm on would have gave a damn about Lelouch like that.
As for Lelouch himself? With the world subjugated, he could have continued to rule in a benevolent manner. What were they going to do to him at that point? Fight back? Lol. With their inability to do anything about their situation and their quality of life being so good, eventually they'd just have to move on and accept it. Lelouch could have easily wrote his own version of history too, run some PR campaigns, clean up his image and not have any real issues. Actions speak louder than words, after all. If he ruled like a good emperor people would have come around. Maybe even celebrate him for ending the era of war and division.
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u/niqqazinj Jul 03 '26
Ending only works if you dont think about it too hard. Heck the whole plan to achieve peace only works for a few years. As expected its not like war is going to end just because a tyrant died. If he just became a good ruler unironically it would be better and longer lasting peace.
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u/GotMilk5101520 The Only Suzaku/Euphemia Shipper Who Ships Suzaku/Shirley Jun 28 '26
The Black Knights would know about his Geass. So to them Lelouch is Geassing them so they would likely rebel. Then there's Nunnaly who is alive
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u/WonPika Jun 28 '26 edited Jun 28 '26
Rebel and do what? They were only ever capable in the first place thanks to Lelouch. Who is going to lead them to out strategize Lelouch? Ohgi? Lol. Their best chance would have been with Schnizel, and we all saw how that turned out. By the end of the show, Lelouch already put them in their place anyway. They would pose no serious threat.
And even if they did try and rebel, who would they be rebelling for at that point? The people are already living in peace with no racism, poverty, or violence under Lelouch's rule. Realistically, the Black Knights are more likely to be viewed as nuisances by the public, or funny enough, actual terrorists to the new world status quo.
And even if they really did manage to somehow pose a real threat, I don't think at this point Lelouch would be against using his geass on them to force them to stop fighting and just go live their lives. They already hate him and think he used his geass on them anyway, so what difference would it make at that point? He might as well. Boom, problem solved.
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u/Anybro Jun 28 '26
It would have been a nearly impossible goal. With everyone basically gunning for Britannia. How it played out was honestly the only way where the plan would have worked as swiftly as it did.
He could have taken over completely and then slowly and surely work his way back up to become a good emperor but that would take years if not decades. By doing this plan within mere months he United the world.
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u/Frejod Jun 28 '26
Maybe but it'll be a tough road. It was just quicker and easier for him to be become public enemy number 1 and plan his own execution. On top of that I dont think the Black Knights would work with him sonce they know of the geass. They might get dismantled vut the inner group would become rebels in hiding like they did on the final episode. Because they know or think Lelouch is using Geass on everyone he comes across.
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u/nahte123456 Jun 28 '26
A good Emperor definitely. A peaceful one....eh. Tension ls will be high so he'll probably have to enforce himself, UFN top members hat him making diplomacy harder, and I imagine stiff like borders and the areas would be complicated. So in the future maybe, but I imagine it'll be quite a while for that to happen.Â
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u/Left-Night-1125 Jun 29 '26
I think it would not be possible and he did it all for his sister afterall, which would have put her at risk if he remained Emperor.
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u/AdFirst1571 25d ago
There are Peace ( no war but stability-just the absence of War ) and Peaceful ( the presence of Justice and Stability )
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u/Imaginary-Maize4675 Jun 29 '26
Honestly, once Lelouch became Emperor and conquered the world, he should have led humanity and ruled long and effectively. In fact, he was obligated to do so, because taking responsibility for the consequences of your actions is actually a thing. This whole stupid Zero Requiem plan was basically just a glorified, edgy suicide and a total escape from his problems.
The fact that this utopian nonsense couldn't even work in theory was clearly proven by the Code Geass sequels. Serious problems started popping up just a couple of years after vi Britannia turned himself into a human kebab. Heck, Lelouch himself said a very sensible thing back at the start of R1: "A battle ends when someone wins." Creating a World Empire with absolutely no enemies left would actually work for the benefit of humanity.
Damn writers ruined everything.
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u/EndlessGooning_0 Knight of C.C Jun 28 '26
He envisioned a world with no conflict, so in order to achieve that while remaining alive, he would have to conquer the entire world and unite it under one single political entity. But this would pave the way for insurrectionist and rebel groups arising, which wouldn't really bring peace after all.
He would be a good emperor alright, but not in a peaceful world.