Board Thread:Questions and Answers/@comment-175.136.163.103-20141013135125/@comment-213.140.59.145-20141020141031

Actually, this part was very, very poorly written but still legit, and very fitting. The fact is that Lelouch's lies and half-truths were destined to crumble one day (and the more a secret is kept, the heavier it becomes), so it chooses pretty much the worst moment to do so (Murphy's law), plus the Geass' loneliness curse of losing every ally and loved one, which, even if not scientifically confirmed, has still manifested in more cruel ways. (the actual show points mostly, and repeatedly, Euphemia and Shirley for this, but even the Black Knights and Rollo end up being spoken of in this way.)

I was shocked at how easily they betrayed him as well, but it was just so rushed in the show, and not nearly enough detailed (the characters make up their minds pretty easily, even though some people still trusted him and started very defensively) ; Lelouch's secrets were very heavy by this point :

1 - He's a Britannian Prince : This, even if it shocked them, wasn't the cause they betrayed him (Todoh knew him well in his childhood, for example. ). By the way, "former" doesn't mean anything since Euphemia was a "former" princess as well, even if it wasn't publicly announced, but still held a high rank within Britannia. He hasn't the right to get to the throne, but, if we leave his crimes apart, he should still be above nobles in rank, if he returned to the Empire. (and the fact that he's no right to the throne anymore's not a point since we know what happens after that xD. Rights be damned, Geass works better ! )

2 - He possesses a power making anyone submit to him : Diethard tried to defend him there, saying that it'd be a good weapon to use against Britannia, but...

3 - He didn't use it only on enemies. The Japanese front in the hotel for example. And what really convinced the guys was the recorded proof that he actually used it on Euphemia (his own sister as Cornelia pointed) to make her kill the Japanese and then build his country on her corpse and on countless other Japanese people's, and all the while looking like a hero. See what you did there, Lelou'.

That he never meant the massacre to happen is a secret between himself, C.C and the viewer by that point. In other words, even if it looks unfair to us, for anyone in the show, Lelouch was just a bastard who didn't even deserve to live, let alone lead an army under the flag of justice and the world's freedom from Britannia's tyranny.

Diethard couldn't care less for that. But for him, Zero who can't keep his allies and battle Britannia anymore is no longer worth following. Which is why he searched for something else. His only interest is recording the rising of a divine symbol, after all. If Zero can't be it, then someone else must do.

Some gray areas remain of course. (But those are very common in Code Geass, and I could spend the night pointing all the points that lack coherence.) The fact that from the start Zero said he wasn't Japanese (and that he's a former heir to the Britannian throne can only justify him hiding his face), that Kirihara upon seeing his face told them that this was a true enemy to Britannia (but for all they know, he may have used Geass on him, even though the man was hiding behing a veil. Yeah, they don't know how it works. ), and the worst one out there is "using them as pawns". Hey, come on, he didn't ! He didn't use them more than they used him. If he had wanted to use them as pawns, he would have geassed them all and never risked a betrayal to begin with. They were just, from the start, terrorists who used each other against a common enemy and he never lied about his intentions being crushing the Empire and rebuilding Japan. Even more, it was one of the few points he didn't lie about. XD Ohgi asked him to be the leader because he had the power they lacked : if that is not using him, I'm not sure what it is...