Board Thread:Questions and Answers/@comment-70.162.157.217-20140910055008/@comment-50.131.165.180-20140918104259

You forget that Lelouche's geass does not require a specific command language (i.e. I command you to...) or anything of that nature. The probability that his geass would go rampant right at the moment he said, "kill the Japanese" AND Euphy was looking him in the eyes is rather low. However, many of the events throughout the story have low probabilities of occurring as they did.

I agree with Spino that the scene was written sloppily, however Euphy's death was absolutely necessary at this point in the story (any other way of destabilizing the SAZ would not have the same impact). In the meta-story if she lived, Lelouche would have settled with her "peace" in the SAZ and it would have accomplished his original objective (at this point of the story his only objective) of securing a peaceful future for Nunnaly. Though in the meta-story reality it would have been a short lived peace due to Charles zi Britannia's plans for the world.

Euphy's death was a major foil for Lelouche's development. WIth her death Lelouche harbored a newfound respectful fear of his geass, becoming more cautious and calculating in his use of it. The effect of her death due to his accidental use of geass caused total popular support among the Japanese population to rebel against Britannia, thus providing unconditional support from the people for Zero and the Black Knights. It was also a major motivation for his destruction of the Geass Order; the atrocities committed during his campaign of world domination were done to erase Princess Massacre from people's memory.

Remember, geass is the power of the king and those who possess will be isolated and alone. Euphy loved Lelouche and he loved her; the moment Euphy learned of Lelouche's identity, accepted him and his power, forgave his sins, and became willing to work with him to accomplish his goals she was destined to die. The same thing happened to Shirley. It is why he kept the third woman (Kallen) who loved him and who he loved at arm's length. In doing so he prevented her from triggering all the requirements for the death flag (she was never able to forgive what she never knew about and she never knew the true goal). This was a direct result of his understanding that to keep those he cared about safe he had to distance himself from them.

Changing this major event in the story in any way would have compromised the integrity of the story. Sure it could have been written better. But the tragedy of accidentally forcing his sister to commit an act so utterly against her moral character, witnessing her struggle against the power and her succuming to it, and finally seeing her gleeful and utterly alien expression while killing innocents changed Lelouche and made him into the character we love. He never once made excuses for Euphy's death, he shouldered the blame, and took upon himself the hatred of Nina and Suzaku allowing them to gain closure on their pain with his death.