User blog comment:Hihowru/Does Lelouch really die in the end?/@comment-76.119.241.202-20130725144532/@comment-11596933-20130726080823

You present a ton of interesting ideas and some stuff I never really noticed before. But I think it is good to get some counter points as well. For example: In episode 5 of R1, C.C. is very clearly folding paper cranes with Nunnally. So in point 2 why couldn't C.C. have just put the crane there in remembrance of the good ol' days? Also, the paper crane was a theme presented throughout the entire series. Makes sense for Clamp to put it in at the end as well, if only to keep the continuity going.

Point 3 is just pure speculation intended only to benefit your claim and isn't any kind of evidence or hard fact. I mean maybe he just saw a pretty girl or is simply content with his new life.

Point 4 relies on the fact that once the little kid was killed his Geass stopped working. Well of course it stopped working. The kid was controlling every movement of another person second-by-second. It's like I type on my keyboard and letters appear on the screen until I stop typing. The kid moves the body of someone else until he is no longer able to do so and the Geass stops. Lelouch's Geass is completely different. He issues a command and it is followed until the conditions that Lelouch gave in the command are met. So the two are incomparable with regards as to what happens after the Geass user dies. The second part of point 4 suggests that Lelouch gave Geass to Suzaku. Even assuming that it happened, every Geass is different, hence Suzaku's Geass would be different from Lelouch's. So your argument that it somehow passed on to Suzaku doesn't make sense.

Point 5 is based on music and the assumption that point 2 was a valid argument. Point 2 was not a valid argument and happy music doesn't necessarily mean that Lelouch is alive. It could easily mean that all of Lelouch's plans worked. To be honest I didn't even notice the crane the first time I watched it so I guess the music failed in underlining the importance of the crane.

Point 1 is the only point that has some credibility to it. While I agree it was slightly out of character for Jeremiah, it was not so far out of character to be unbelievable. It is possible that he was simply convinced about the necessity of the Zero requiem. That is not a crazy notion at all. But, regardless of that, one moment of a character behaving slightly different than normal can't even kind of be conclusive.

Finally, all your points on Lelouch receiving Charles' code is once again, personal speculation. The only rules ever explained are that the Geass user must have maxed out the Geass, as you say, and that an immortal gives the code. The stabbing thing is just random connections that are never stated (as far as I know. And, if it is stated somewhere I would like to know where). I also find it difficult to believe that Charles would wait until Lelouch used his Geass on him to shoot himself in the heart. Beyond that, we don't know how a code is transferred or anything else. Can a code even be taken by force (the only way Lelouch could have gotten it from Charles) or must it be given freely? Does the immortal need to die or not? The list of unknowns goes on and on. It is possible that he took it, but there is simply no way to know for sure.

I dunno those are just a few counter points I thought up off the top of my head. Depending on the day I sometimes like him to be alive and sometimes I think it is better if he is dead. In the end I guess his fate is ultimately whatever you want it to be.