Quote:
Originally Posted by ginran
Im really curious now though~ I wonder when translations will start showing up?
I also heard that Lelouch mentions both Shirley and Rolo in his narration. Also, idk if this has been said here already, but the reason Shirley and Rolo were picked to do narrations along with CC and Lelouch was stated in an interview. It is because "their deaths were the most important triggers of Lelouch's actions."
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Ah~ I just love it. The feeling of all my ideas coming together. Last time extra material left me this satisfied was that fic about being at Ashford being Lelouch's 'ideal world'. I'm pretty damn excited for this commentary stuff now, hope I don't get disappointed.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bladeofdarkness
sheirly's death was the point where lelouch went from seeing geass as a powerful gift
to seeing it as a sin and a curse
thats why he tried wiping it out at the source
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:P I'm much rather inclined to take 'triggers of Lelouch's actions' as referring to Zero Requiem, but your interpretation is still pretty solid there. Lelouch did end up calling Geass a 'sin' by the end, even specifically the sin he was seeking redemption for, but it was pretty vague as to when he could have reached such a conclusion. To take Lelouch's "I'll be the only one to have Geass" comment after Shirley's death as anything other than self-serving isn't such a bad thing.
I still honestly believe Lelouch's death had less to do with feeling obligated (i.e. by redemption) to die so much as wanting to die. The despair over losing all hope of a gentle world with those he cared about plays an obvious role there. Zero Requiem wasn't just about Lelouch dying, though. It was also about giving the world a tomorrow, and doing so through a lie.
In that sense, I think I can (fairly) put it this way (lol awesome, I get to 'fairly' dump on Rolo): Shirley taught Lelouch that
he himself pursued a little piece of happiness, while Rolo taught him
everyone did. What Lelouch saw in Rolo's death was a person sincerely, desperately struggling for the small piece of happiness he knew as 'a peaceful life with an older brother that truly loved him', so in his final moments, Lelouch was kind, and lied to him; granting that happiness. This was probably where Lelouch's whole "masks are good! Lies are useful!" speech with Charles came from, and why he chose deception as his method in uniting the world towards the pursuit of happiness. You could probably say that 'lies' was the theme of Rolo's character, and what he brought to the show.
To which I say: fuck that! Lies suck, and the show did a poor job of convincing me otherwise. Charles' 'you fucking punk, stop hiding behind a mask like a little man and come fight me fair and square' honesty theme was awesomer than Rolo ever was. Not to mention, now that we've established that Lelouch was
lying to Rolo during his death, we can firmly assert that Rolo was a delusional little prick and that Lelouch didn't actually love him. Ahaha yay.
Anyway, back to Shirley though. As much as maybe I could get away with it, I couldn't honestly claim my Rolo bashing is on topic in a Shirley thread. As I said, Shirley taught Lelouch what happiness was (
OKAY SO IT WAS SUZAKU WHO CAME UP WITH THE CHEEZY METAPHOR, BUT IT WAS SHIRLEY WHO INSPIRED LELOUCH TO UNDERSTAND IT, OKAY?!?! *insert crazy person emoticon*), which would obviously lead to a willingness to embrace death once he lost hope for it, as I've said before. By making Lelouch aware of his struggle for happiness, though, she also allowed Lelouch to see past his hatred of Rolo to his own struggle for happiness, and find meaning in it, and therefore become willing to lie to grant it.
Anyway, then there's the whole 'the sun rises after the dark night' theme about putting your painful burdens of the past behind you and looking towards the future from Stage 14, which is basically a perfect metaphor for what the world did and what happened during Zero Requiem, so I'd say that was also part of the inspiration too. I'm kinda getting away from the topic of Shirley's
death though, so I'll stop here. Seriously though, unlike Rolo, there is not one thing about Shirley's death that contributed towards the happy ending. Making Lelouch believe Geass was a sin, making Lelouch eventually give up on his own happiness, all of this stuff contributed towards the
suicide part of Zero Requiem. It was only the things Shirley did while living that helped shape the 'future' part of Lelouch's final sacrifice. So it's pretty damn hard to get enthusiastic about it. Really though, I think Shirley played a principal role in shaping
both ends of Zero: Requiem, both the death part and the hope part, and I think that really shows the all-encompassing nature of how Shirley influenced Lelouch.