Lelouch Lamperouge
Lelouch Lamperouge is the main character of Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion, the exiled prince who becomes Zero. He is voiced by Jun Fukuyama in Japanese and Johnny Yong Bosch in English.
About Lelouch Lamperouge
Lelouch Lamperouge is the lead character of Code Geass, an exiled Britannian prince living under a false name in occupied Japan. Given the power of Geass by C.C., he creates the masked persona Zero, builds the Black Knights from Japan's resistance, and wages a brilliant, ruthless campaign against his father's empire, all to build a world where his sister Nunnally can live in peace. He is one of anime's defining antiheroes: a genius who treats war as chess and keeps paying its costs with pieces of himself.
Appearance
Lelouch is a tall, slender teenager with black hair, violet eyes and the kind of elegant, slightly theatrical bearing that gives away his upbringing no matter what uniform he wears. At Ashford Academy he is the model student in Britannian uniform. As Zero he becomes an icon: black and gold cape, high collar, and a full helmet with a purple visor that turns his voice into a proclamation. The design, by CLAMP, makes the two halves of his life read at a glance. The schoolboy disappears into rooms. Zero is built to be remembered by crowds and cameras.
Personality
Lelouch is a genius with the emotional wiring of a kicked dog. In public he is lazy, charming and theatrical: he performs both the bored student and the messianic Zero at full volume. In private he is soft where it counts, cooking for Nunnally, teasing his friends, and taking every death on his conscience personally while pretending not to. His arrogance is real and so is his self hatred. He believes the ends justify his means, says so constantly, and then keeps a private ledger of what his means have cost, which is why the ending the series gives him feels earned rather than announced.
Background & Story
Lelouch vi Britannia was the seventeenth prince of the Holy Britannian Empire, son of Emperor Charles zi Britannia and Marianne the Flash. When he was ten, Marianne was assassinated and Nunnally was blinded and lost the use of her legs in the attack. Lelouch confronted his father, was told the dead no longer matter, and was shipped to Japan with Nunnally as a political hostage, where the Kururugi family sheltered them and the invasion nearly killed them anyway. The Lamperouge siblings survived under false names at Ashford Academy, protected by the Ashford family, until a military truck, a capsule and C.C. gave Lelouch the means to start his war.
Powers & Abilities
- Geass: Absolute Obedience: Eye contact lets Lelouch plant one irresistible command in a person's mind, from answering questions to complex long term orders. It cannot be used twice on the same person, which turns every use into a resource decision.
- Strategy: A chess master of the highest level, Lelouch plans battles in layers, predicts enemy commanders, weaponises terrain, weather, media and morale, and regularly defeats larger forces by deciding where the fight happens.
- Zero Persona: The mask is a weapon in itself. Zero's speeches, timing and theatre turn a resistance cell into a national symbol, recruit an army and panic an empire, all without anyone knowing a schoolboy is inside.
- Knightmare Piloting: Lelouch is a poor physical pilot compared to aces like Kallen and Suzaku, and the series is honest about it. His machines compensate with systems, traps and the Shinkiro's absolute defence, all designed around his brain.
Key Relationships
- Nunnally Lamperouge: His little sister and his reason for everything. Lelouch's love for Nunnally is the purest thing in him and the lever every enemy eventually pulls.
- Suzaku Kururugi: His first and best friend, and his opposite in every method. They sheltered together as children, and the war puts them on opposite sides of every battle while neither can stop caring.
- C.C.: His accomplice and contractor, the immortal who gave him Geass and stays to watch what he does with it. Their partnership, part alliance, part argument, part something neither names, is the series' strangest bond.
- Kallen Kozuki: His ace and most loyal soldier, who does not know her commander is the classmate she disdains. Kallen's growing feelings and growing doubts run in parallel through both seasons.
- Charles zi Britannia: His father, the Emperor, the man who discarded him and Nunnally and answered a grieving ten year old with contempt. Facing him is the war's real objective.
Quick Answers
Who voices Lelouch Lamperouge?
Lelouch is voiced by Jun Fukuyama in Japanese, who won the leading actor prize at the first Seiyu Awards for the role, and by Johnny Yong Bosch in the English dub. His younger self is voiced by Sayaka Ohara in Japanese and Michelle Ruff in English.
What is Lelouch's Geass power?
Lelouch's Geass, given by C.C., lets him issue one absolute command to anyone who meets his gaze, which they must obey. Each person can only be commanded once, the power reflects off mirrors and lenses, and overuse makes it activate permanently in both eyes, one of the series' cruelest mechanics.
Because Nunnally is the reason for everything. Lelouch's rebellion began as revenge for his mother and justice for Japan, but his stated end goal never changes: a gentler world where his blind, disabled little sister can live safely. Nearly every compromise he makes is measured against that.
Is Lelouch a hero or a villain?
The series refuses to settle it, which is the point. Lelouch frees an occupied nation and breaks a corrupt empire, and he lies, manipulates and kills at a scale that horrifies his own allies. Code Geass gives him an ending that judges him more harshly than his enemies do, and lets the audience argue the rest.