Charles zi Britannia

Charles zi Britannia (チャールズジブリタニア, Chāruzu ji Buritania), known as Charles di Britannia in the English subbed), born on August 4th 1955 a.t.b. (63 years old) was the 98th emperor of the Holy Britannian Empire, the father of Lelouch vi Britannia (and many others) and V.V.'s twin brother. He had a Geass power that allows him to suppress and alter the memories of those he achieved eye contact with, but lost this power in exchange for V.V.'s code which granted him immortality. He serves as the main antagonist in both of the series. He is voiced by Norio Wakamoto (Japanese), and by Michael McConnohie (English).

Appearance
Charles was a very large man, towering over nearly all other characters in the series, and appears to be muscular and well-built. He had long white hair (though it was originally a light brown) styled into Renaissance-style curls. He had violet eyes and angular features.

Personality
Charles was a cold and intelligent man who believed strongly in concepts such as social Darwinism, believing that only the strongest are worthy of rising in society. His philosophy was not reserved solely for his adversaries, however, as he treated Lelouch harshly after the death of Marianne, offering no sympathy to his then-adolescent son.

He had no moral compunctions in how he dealt with his enemies. His rise to power saw numerous political rivals and their allies killed, and even as Emperor, Britannia continues to engage in global conflict with its adversaries. Ultimately, he cares little for the casualties of Britannian military conflicts, be they enemy combatants, innocent civilians, or even Britannian soldiers.

However, his views and ideology seem to stem from his traumatic upbringing. As a child, he often witnessed his family kill each other in pursuit of the throne, thus he naturally came to understand that without power, one cannot survive. It can be assumed that had he had a gentler upbringing, he would've been a much better man.

Character Outline
Charles had 108 consorts. He installed most or all of his children into important positions throughout the empire to see what their true abilities were. Charles saw his children as extensions of the collective consciousness rather than human beings, and showed little concern for their well-being. He plotted to destroy the collective conscious, thus uniting humanity as a single mind. In spite of this, Charles did show some care for a select few of his children, particularly (and somewhat ironically) Lelouch and Nunnally. He is very perceptive of his children's relationship especially between Lelouch and Nunnally.

Publicly a strong proponent of Social Darwinism (publicly supporting inequality as well as calling for and inviting competition to promote progress), Charles actually planned to make all of mankind equal and truthful by destroying "God," the collective consciousness of humanity, and thus uniting every living being as one mind that was incapable of deceit. In the seventh episode of Code Geass R2, he reiterated that traditional morals of not murdering, deceiving, stealing, and remaining faithful to one's spouse are counter-progressive lies made by the weak to defend themselves, and that this is Britannia's duty to show the world. Despite openly supporting warfare, he viewed it as an ineffective tool compared to diplomacy and bargaining. Above all else, he hated deceit, seeing it as the root of all evil, which was apparently brought about by trauma during his childhood wherein members of the imperial family lied and murdered for the right to succeed the throne.

First Season
Charles appears only occasionally in the first season. In a flashback, a ten-year-old Lelouch questioned why he did not try to protect Marianne. Appearing irritated by this, Charles disowned Lelouch there and then, sending Lelouch and Nunnally to Japan as political hostages. Most of his appearances in the first series are brief, though show that he apparently knew of Lelouch's actions, particularly his use of Geass. In The Stolen Mask, he claimed to be speaking with Clovis even after his death at the Sword of Akasha.

Second Season
In a flashback, which occurred in-between the seasons, Lelouch was brought before Charles by Suzaku Kururugi, who requested to be made one of the Knights of the Round as a reward, which the Emperor granted because of Suzaku's willingness to sacrifice his friendship with Lelouch to begin his quest to change Britannia from within. He then used his previously unknown Geass power to rewrite Lelouch's memory and suppress his Geass, which he also did to the students of Ashford Academy. Charles decided to make further use of Lelouch by making him contribute to Europe's annexation until his return at Ashford.

Charles trusted Suzaku enough to lead him to the Sword of Akasha, which hardly anyone else had ever seen. C.C. suggested that V.V. was the one who gave Charles his Geass, though the specific nature of their Code was to destroy the gods. In actuality, Charles is V.V.'s twin brother, whose process of ageing was halted at an early age because he became immortal. At the sword of Akasha, V.V. asks Charles why he did not tell Nunnally about Zero's identity and his geass and Charles replies that it there is no point and is unnecessary.

Charles initially possessed a Geass power, but gave it up in exchange for immortality when Lelouch and the Black Knights attacked the Geass Directorate. Lelouch trapped the Emperor inside the Sword of Akasha, or so he thought, until Charles announced to the world that he was still alive during the formation ceremony of the UFN and declaring that all Zero had done was made it so that whoever won the ensuing war would control the entire world; at that time, the world was literally divided between Britannia and the UFN. During the Second Battle of Tokyo, Charles arrived in Area 11 himself, much to the shock of Lelouch, and entered the Sword of Akasha through the Thought Elevator at Kamine Island. Once inside, Charles was confronted by Lelouch once again and soon after, Marianne, C.C. and Suzaku all arrived. During the time, Charles finally told Lelouch the truth of the events regarding his mother's death and all that had occurred, including his real reason for sending him and Nunnally to Japan as hostages. He and Marianne then explained their one true goal and began to initiate the Ragnarök Connection.

However, despite finally being told everything, Lelouch rejected his parents and all they believe. Lelouch saw Charles' ultimate goal as nothing more than creating stagnation that would doom mankind, rather than save it, and turned the gods against Charles, destroying him and Marianne. Just before his death, Charles warned Lelouch that Schneizel's world would be the one that awaits him on the outside.

Code Geass: The Manga
Charles' role in the manga is slightly different than that of the anime. He has a brief appearance in the first part of the storyline. Later Suzaku brought Lelouch in front of Charles for promotion of the Knight of Seven as the Knight of the Rounds and as a result, Charles erased Lelouch's memories only that of Geass and C.C. In the second part of the storyline, he altered most of the students memories at Ashford Academy other than the student council during his speech. Instead of him appearing at the Sword of Akasha during the assault at the Geass Directorate, it was V.V and later appears taking his code as well as appearing after Lelouch blew up the Thought Elevator by using the bomb. He reappears again during the initiation of the Ragnarok Connection and is absorbed along with Marianne by Lelouch when he forced upon the will of Gods to stop the march of time.

Suzaku of the Counterattack
He gets killed by Zero in the museum. But afterwards is shown to be actually killed by Schneizel as a trap to make Zero the killer to Suzaku.

Nightmare of Nunnally
Charles announces the declaration of the new nation called Holy Nation of Eden Vital and orders Rolo, the Cardinal of the Order and the rest of Britannia to arrest the Viceroys throughout the Areas. He begins the initiation of the Sword of Akasha at Eden Vital and Nunnally appears before him. He, Marianne, C.C., and Nemo disappears along with Eden Vital when Nunnally rejected the world that they have built.

Code Geass: Akito The Exiled
During the time after the Black Rebellion, countries along with those that have been conquered as Areas have declared war against Britannia for freedom. Charles this time began making his move towards activating the Thought Elevators so that he can make progress towards the completion of the Ragnarok Connection. European Union is one of those countries that he began taking advantage of at this point and other than that, he sent Julius Kingsley and Suzaku over there to begin E.U's downfall. Euro Britannia higher ups were not happy with the fact that he had granted Julius and Suzaku a higher authority over them and that they were the ones in command.

Code of Immortality
Charles has gained an immortal code to resurrect himself after killing his brother V.V. After attaining immortality, his Code mark was placed on his right hand.

Geass
Charles' Geass in the anime allowed him to freely alter an individual's memories at will, and also seal the Geass of others, as well as physical senses such as sight, though there are ways to break or weaken these seals, such as contact with an Immortal or sheer willpower, though the latter may have only been possible thanks to his death. He can use his power more than once on a person. Interestingly, Charles' Geass Sigils appear in both eyes, a display of his experience with Geass. As shown in Akito the exiled, one can fight the geass if reminded of something that was sealed away by the geass, for Lelouch it was his desire to protect Nunnally. Another reason that Lelouch was able to fight the geass may have been because an alternate personality was implanted into him by Charles in Akito the exiled, unlike R2 where Charles simply altered Lelouch's memories instead of completely changing them.

In the manga adaption, Nightmare of Nunnally, Charles' Geass is known as "The Dead Rise," which he used unconsciously after he and his parent were assassinated; as the name suggests, his Geass allowed him to come back to life and gave him immortality. This ability also extends to Knightmare Frames, which could also be regenerated after being destroyed, and he later used this power to resurrect an older generation of the Knights of the Round to serve as a personal army and protect Kamine Island while he and Marianne initiated Ragnarök.

Trivia

 * Charles Zi Britannia's character is similar to Gendo Ikari from Neon Genesis Evangelion. They both work for top secret organizations whose goal is to unite humanity into one through a top secret project. They also abandon their children for their own good intentions. They also lose their wives whom later resurface through hosts that resembles their looks.
 * Charles Zi Britannia is also similar to Father from Fullmetal Alchemist. Both are beings who control the government with the mysterious organization through the shadows by executing a plan that will change humanity through a supernatural power.
 * Charles is above all the most similar to Gihren Zabi from Mobile Suit Gundam. Charles' speech at Clovis' state funeral, and the response of the Britannian troops is an exact mirror of Gihren's more famous "Sieg Zeon" speech at the funeral of his brother, Garma Zabi. Ironically, both Clovis and Garma were assassinated by someone close to them: Clovis by his half-brother Lelouch, and Garma by his best friend Char (in reality the true heir to the Duchy of Zeon, Casval Rem Deikun).

Quotes

 * (To Lelouch) "You are dead. You were always been dead to me, dead from the moment you were born. Who gave you the fine clothes you wear and comfortable home? The food you eat and your very life? All of those, I have given to you, in short you are not nothing to me because you have never existed. Yet you dare to speak such foolishness to me?! Lelouch, you are dead, therefore you are not entitled to any rights. I am sending you and Nunnally to Japan, as prince and princess, you will serve well as bargaining tools."
 * "All men ... are NOT created equal! Some are born swifter afoot, some with greater beauty, some are born into poverty and others born sick and feeble. Both in birth and upbringing, in sheer scope of ability every human is inherently different; Yes that is why people discriminate against one another, which is why there is struggle, competition and the unfaltering march of progress. Inequality is not wrong, equality is. What of the E.U. which made equality a right? Rabble politics by a popularity contest. The Chinese Federation with its equal distribution of wealth? A nation of lazy dullards. But not our beloved Britannia, we fight, we compete, evolution is continuous. Britannia alone moves forward, advancing steadily into the future. Even the death of my son, Clovis, demonstrates Britannia's unswerving commitment to progress. We will fight on, we shall struggle, compete, plunder and dominate, and in the end, the future shall be ours. ALL HAIL BRITANNIA!!!!!"
 * "The world lies! Thou shalt not commit murder, thou shalt not bear false witness, thou shalt not cheat, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife. All of these are lies! Mere illusion, nothing more! They don't want to be killed, they don't want to be robbed. Using the twin lies of justice and morality, the weak endeavor to protect themselves. But the first truth is that the strong devour the weak, so let us feed upon people, upon wealth, upon riches and power! We of Britannia shall feast upon the raw flesh of the world itself! We must crush this deception and bring forth the truth! All Hail Britannia!"
 * "War has historically been an action favoured by idiots."
 * "Lelouch, I will now answer your previous question. Half a century ago, my elder brother and I existed in a Hell on Earth, our family were just rivals competing for the throne. Assassinations occurred with regularity, dealing with betrayal and spawned by lies. Killing each other off, my own mother fell victim to it. My brother and I were sick and angered by the world, we therefore both sworn an oath: to create a world without lies."
 * "You're a fool, Lelouch. God cannot be defeated by the power of the King!"