Talk:Knights of the Round/@comment-44997843-20200724001817/@comment-27492705-20200725143001

I have absolutely no doubt that if Lelouch had given Suzaku an option that accomplished the same goal but allowed Lelouch to live, he would have done that and preferred it. Despite his almost violent demand that Lelouch must stick to the plan despite Nunnally, Suzaku questioned Lelouch at least twice. In the final episode he asks something like, "You're really going through with this?" and in one of the short stories Okuchi wrote for the Mutuality artbook, Suzaku asks "Is there really no other way?" and Lelouch tells him there is none, but Lelouch's inner monologue explains there might have been another way, but he refused to think about it because they both needed to be punished. Suzaku who wanted to die would live, and Lelouch who wanted to live would die. Lelouch chose his death even when Suzaku didn't want to. He had promised.

But it also wouldn't be simple to just leave Lelouch alive. If, for example, Lelouch had been injured instead of killed on that stage, there would be no one who wanted to treat him, and he had many people who would want him dead, and people would always be looking for him. And even if they somehow managed to make it look like he died his funeral would have had to have been closed casket which would be suspicious. And he couldn't just not be attacked on that stage or all the slaughter Lelouch caused would be for nothing because all the malice he'd gathered wouldn't dissipate unless he was very clearly gone from the world. Suzaku knew he wasn't clever enough to come up with something like that on his own and the only person he could work with was C.C.. He would only trust a plan Lelouch had made and he would follow through as promised even if it hurt.

But also, why would you care about Emperor Lelouch but not Zero? Zero is more authentic to Lelouch himself than his role as Emperor was. He made Zero to enact the change he wanted. He took the throne because he had few choices at that point and decided he couldn't play hero anymore. Zero is an anti-hero but Emperor Lelouch is a villain. And both are still the tormented abandoned prince who loves his sister too much underneath it. Zero was less fake than Emperor Lelouch. Zero did what Lelouch wanted. Emperor Lelouch did what Lelouch had to do even if he didn't want to.