There is an inconsistency in the theory of 'must die to activate code' idea. That being Charles and the events in Episode 15... and V.V.'s entire existence.
- Lelouch Geasses Charles, but we see no animation beyond it reaching his eyes and we see no red iris.
- Charles shoots himself, but this apperantely never happened because Lelouch never left him mech.
- After waking up Charles reveals his code and says that the Geass have no affect on him.
The problem arises in the absence of the rewiring scene, and the absence of the red circles on the eyes. Either he was not Geassed because he had already acquired the code from V.V., or there is a massive inconsistency and the animators fucked up. But then we know that Lelouch never actually left the Shinkurou, in that he never faced his father, and he never had him shoot himself. In which situation, Charles never died but his code was fully active. In either situation, the the idea that the code activates upon death, seems to fall through the floor.
The next problem arises in the code transfer, V.V. at the very least became disoriented after losing his code, but more likely than not (compounded by C.Chi) he lost his memories and reverted to a child. When Charles, died and 'supposedly' lost his Code, he was himself through till the moment he disappeared. Inconsistency is plausible here.
V.V.'s immortality does not seem to have had death attached to it either. There is a major lapse in judgment if he acquired the power but the only way to test it was to kill himself. Charles would not have let him do such a thing, as it is borderline idiotic. "Oh don't worry, I'll be fine." The last words of many a man. Further if he was actively acquiring the power, as his words would imply, he'd be aware of its existence within him. He could, very well, grow up with Charles since the code wouldn't activate until the time of dire need, eg his death.
Finally, the idea put forth by V.V., of actively accepting the burden of immortality (we hear it when he murmurs after losing his code) would imply that he would know full well when he acquired said burden. Further this, that if the code does not activate until a person's death, then there are other loop holes. For one, a person could unwittingly live out their lives without dying but carrying the code, and when they revive they revive as a desecrated corpse for all of eternity. What is that supposed to do?
