Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-168.221.143.68-20140224164428/@comment-213.140.59.155-20141101091835

He told her (translation by THORA, since I'm too lazy to translate myself) "For your sake ? I see my little sister is as presumptuous as ever. You think it is natural for people to always help you out of pity ? All you do is criticize the actions of others while your own hands remain undertied. You're the very embodiment of the aristocracy which I have rejected. I do this for no one, it is for my own benefit that I take over the world. If you chose to ally yourself with Schneizel and stand in my way, I have no choice but to crush you without mercy."

He took the key by force from her, displayed the most cruel of faces before her, let her fall in the stairs, and left her like that when he knew she couldn't even help herself back to her wheelchair. I can only guess that calling him "a demon, despicable, coward, and a liar" was the only way for her to remain strong after all that. The fact is that Nunnally is far from being as sweet inside as she is outside (stated in the wiki), but her being always gentle and cheerful while with Lelouch is her way to express her gratitude to him, and so he'd love her. (He knew very well the truth and still loved her regardless). The two of them made it a point never to thank the other, and never to apologize to the other, since those words could only bring out their sadness. (source : Nunnally's regret message from Code Geass Complete Best CD)

For her at that moment, there was no way she could tell for sure he was lying (this was something to illustrate how brilliant of a liar Lelouch became, even if I find it myself quite irrealistic. But after DAT conversation video with Schneizel, they could write anything, it'd still be more believable. Even Nunnally falling to his lies becomes possible. Easy scenario everywhere !  ). However, I think that she started to fire the bombs because he told her "you only criticize the actions of others without dirtying your own hands", and she came up with her plan (of making Damoclès a symbol of hatred) out of her love for her brother and her hatred for her own weakness. So she wasn't teaming up with Schneizel against Lelouch as much as she was using him. In the case Lelouch lost, while Schneizel disregarded the human nature and what would come of it (he would just keep the world in peace by using fear), in Nunnally's point of view, what would have happened would have been something of the sort :

-Lelouch would die against Damoclès. Damoclès would become a tyranny against the whole world, and people would hate it. People would think Lelouch knew of everything and fought to protect the world from Damoclès' tyranny. Everyone would remember him as a hero instead (the "I'll erase my brother's sins" part.). People would stop conflict (because of their common hatred towards the system) and move towards the future. Damoclès (and probably Nunnally since she'd have nothing left after Lelouch's death) would eventually get destroyed for people's happiness.

I think what the authors wanted to show here was that Nunnally was actually hardly different than Lelouch ; because both of them didn't see the world as would any other prince and princess. They had met people who struggled hard for happiness, saw how very tragic life could be, and how it was in the very human nature to still find happiness in these moments. (one should not forget that Nunnally spent 7 years of her life as a disabled commoner. Yes, Lelouch protected her the best he could, but he was himself aware that it wasn't nearly enough with their conditions, which was why he started a war in the first place. And she was very aware of the fact that he lied a lot to protect her feelings (as children, when he described the storeroom as a luxiurious room, when he told her they were passing by some garbage when they were walking by corpses, etc. ), she didn't have a  reaction towards Lelouch at all when Suzaku called him a  liar in the first case, and didn't confirm his lie in the second. So assuming she was perfectly innocent and ignorant of the world is quite out of the character. (In the picture drama with Euphy, at the end, she says "A happy era, the last day my brother and I enjoyed our childhood. After that, the two of us learned that there  was not only tenderness in the world.". She was presented as someone who has suffered a lot, a tormented character just like her brother (who considered her that way.), and who hides it brilliantly, even though the show focuses a lot more on Lelouch.)

I still think that the end part was very poorly written because there was no time left, but it still makes sense. I wish they could develop more the darkness in Nunnally than with just two random statements by Lelouch about her smile (in ep.21 "Nunnally's smile is the only way for her to express her gratitude", and in one of the next episode previews where he said "only I know the tragedy behind your smile." )