Cornelia li Britannia

Cornelia li Britannia (コーネリア リ ブリタニア, Kōneria ri Buritania), 27 years old (28 at R2), is the second princess of the Britannian Imperial Family and is Lelouch's half-sister. She is extremely skilled in Knightmare Frame combat and completed the establishment of Area 18 shortly before arriving in Area 11. She serves as one of the main antagonists during the first season, but later becomes a neutral character during the second. She is voiced by Junko Minagawa (Japanese), Mary Elizabeth McGlynn (English).

Character Outline
Cornelia is the Chief General of the Imperial Army and goes to Area 11 to apprehend Clovis' murderer, the mysterious Zero, as well as avenging Lelouch and Nunnally (unaware of the fact that they survived their predicament as political hostages) by putting an end to the conflict there. This loss of the three siblings seems to be the source of her distrust toward foreigners and Honorary Britannians, even though she finds out during the Black Rebellion that Clovis' murderer is Britannian. She pilots a customized Gloucester Knightmare Frame and has her own circle of devoted officers. After Clovis' death, Cornelia becomes the new Governor-General of Area 11.

She displays an extremely cold-blooded exterior, dismissing anyone she feels is opposing Britannia. She constantly refuses to accept change, none the less, she deeply cares for the lives of her soldiers especially her Knight Guilford. During the second season she has been shown to have kept her ruthless demeanor but now fights to avenge her younger sister and clear her name.

As a child, she appeared to have doted upon her younger sister Euphemia; as a result, Euphemia is Cornelia's only known weak spot. Clovis believes that she and Prince Schneizel know about the truth regarding the murder of Marianne vi Britannia, although Euphemia later tells Lelouch that Cornelia has long idolized Marianne and conducted investigations on the murder.

In the beginning of the series, Cornelia had an unrivaled sense of patriotism as she took pride in her epithet as Britannia's "Goddess of Victory." However, after the Black Rebellion, she apparently changed her views about her nation and would go as far as to betray it for the people she loves; this was evidently shown when she met V.V., who she recently discovered to be her uncle, and did not hesitate on being his enemy despite on how this likely meant for her to fully betray to her father. She was against Suzaku's method of ends justify the means due to the fact that she is following orders than going against it. While originally one who would sacrifice as many lives needed, in order to achieve needed goals, Cornelia later begins to show signs of change as she apparently takes more value in human life and that status quo isn't worth everything. This was shown when she talked to Viletta after when the Black Knights betrayed Zero and was shocked to hear how Schneizel chose to sacrifice the Britannian capital, and along with its inhabitants, which is contrary to how Lelouch one time mention that Cornelia was the type that would sacrifice her own people to gain results. Further is shown as Cornelia was against Schneizel's plan to place Damocles in a position to strike every country in the world, which is also odd considering her previous lack of empathy for the lives of foreign nations. Not only that she was shocked to hear how Schneizel let Lelouch get away all this time for his agenda to go even further so that no obstacles can stand in his way.

First Season
Second Princess Cornelia li Britannia first appears in episode five, having established Area 18 before entering Area 11. Cornelia endeavors to take charge of Area 11 as Viceroy and intends to bring Zero, now the Holy Britannian Empire's number one enemy and most wanted man, to justice.

After entering Area 11, Cornelia continues her hunt for Zero. She destroys several rebel strongholds, but finds no clues to his whereabouts. She attends Prince Clovis' funeral and hears the Emperor of Britannia make a speech on the virtues of inequality and the social battle for evolution and betterment.

Cornelia sets a trap for Zero at the Saitama Ghetto by simulating the conditions in Shinjuku Ghetto. She thinks that Zero took the bait due to a combination of her superior tactics and the resistance cell's dissimilar motivations. Just when she believed that she cornered him, however, Zero, who is actually C.C. who donned Lelouch's Zero costume, reveals "himself" to the Britannian Army, distracting Cornelia from her plans. However, Cornelia allows Zero to escape, believing that he already has an escape route since "he" revealed "himself".

Later, a group from the Japan Liberation Front takes a hotel and its occupants hostage including a disguised Princess Euphemia. Princess Cornelia, who dotes on her little sister, refuses to make a move against the hostage takers for fear of endangering her, which Zero realizes and takes advantage of. He mounts a rescue operation with Ohgi's resistance cell. As ordered by Cornelia, Suzaku sinks the hotel using the Lancelot. However, Zero derails any rescue efforts by the army so he can take credit for the rescue. In a public broadcast, he announces the creation and purpose of his Black Knights, "allies of justice" who will judge the world and protect the weak from "those with power." Cornelia does not attack Zero as a result of her fear that Zero may take the Britannians as hostages.

During the Battle of Narita, Cornelia leads the attack on the Black Knights along with Darlton and Guilford. Guilford warns her to stay away and she responds by destroying several Burais.

After the landslide created by the Guren, Cornelia is more worried about Darlton and her other subordinates than her own safety. She is then informed of the Black Knights entering the battle. She is later seen retreating ,but is stopped by Kallen in the Guren. Zero has her cornered in his Burai. Cornelia shoots at the Guren who easily dodges. She then uses her Gloucester's Slash Harkens to cling to the cliff side. Zero's Knightmare shoots her back down. Zero tells her to surrender and she responds by trying to impale the Guren with her lance. The Guren uses the Radiant Wave Surger to destroy the right arm of her Gloucester. Zero shoots off the left arm. She tells her knight Guilford to protect Euphemia and that she will fight like a royal princess. The Lancelot shows up to protect Cornelia's Knightmare and she tells him to deal with the Guren and she will go after Zero. After the battle between the Guren and Lancelot she instructs Suzaku to go after Zero since her Knightmare has collapsed.

Worried about her younger sister, Cornelia persuades Euphemia to take on a personal Knight. Though Euphemia eventually agrees, Cornelia remains concerned when Euphemia selects honorary Britannian Suzaku Kururugi (despite the fact that he saved her in battle twice) which tells her that Euphemia would better off being an Empress instead. Cornelia's concerns regarding Euphemia's safety only increase when Euphemia proposes and establishes the Special Administrative Region of Japan, a plan which Cornelia personally opposes but allows Euphemia to proceed and sends Darlton to oversee it.

Following Euphemia's death, Cornelia was brokenhearted to the point that she locks herself up in Euphemia's room during her mourning period. Picking herself up, she vows to take down Zero during the Black Knights' first open attack on Tokyo. She almost succeeds, outmanoeuvring and repeatedly scoring hits on Zero's supposedly superior Gawain unit, before Darlton, under the influence of Lelouch's Geass disables her Gloucester and wounds her. Lelouch initially plans to use her as a hostage to force the opposing Britannian military to surrender but is thwarted by Jeremiah Gottwald.

Instead, Lelouch reveals his identity to Cornelia, who realizes that, since Lelouch is actually alive, Zero's actions were motivated entirely for the sake of Nunnally. However, she cannot accept that Clovis and Euphemia had to die as a result. Before Cornelia can argue with Lelouch, he uses his Geass on her in order to interrogate her about the day his mother, Marianne, was killed. Cornelia reveals that though she was the head of the security at the palace where Marianne was that day, Cornelia had been ordered by Marianne herself to remove the palace's defences. Unable to comprehend why Marianne would do such a thing, Lelouch continues to press Cornelia for information; his sister is unable to provide him with any other details save that their brother Schneizel el Britannia was the one who took Marianne's body away.

Lelouch flees soon afterwards to save Nunnally, who has been abducted, and the injured Cornelia summons Suzaku to her side. She was going to tell him her encounter with Zero and his identity but forgot due to Geass' effect and requests him to clear Euphemia's dishonoured name, "Massacre Princess". As a possible indication of change in her attitude of distrusting Honorary Britannians, she grants him the officially-recognized noble title of a knight in name and status. She also asks him to suppress the news of her injuries and appeared to have disappeared without a trace.

Second Season
Gilbert G.P. Guilford and the rest of her knights are waiting in Area 11 for her return. Guinevere questions Bismarck about Cornelia's whereabouts and says that Guilford hasn't contacted her. In Season 2, she returns as a rogue, abandoning her status in the royal family. It is revealed that she was actually investigating the mystery of Geass in order to clear Euphemia's name and to prove to the world that her sister was innocent. She discovers the location where V.V. and Jeremiah Gottwald have made their base and confronts General Bartley. He unexpectedly asks her for help in escaping, believing that the Emperor's goal could bring about the end of the world, but is captured by V.V. During the Black Knights' assault on the Directorate, she escapes and uses a damaged Akatsuki (rigged with numerous weapons from other Akatsuki units) to attack V.V.'s Siegfried, damaging it and allowing her to deliver the finishing blow in tandem with Lelouch. Jeremiah saves her from being crushed by the plummeting Siegfried and brings her before Lelouch. She is held prisoner by the Black Knights, but manages to escape during the second battle of Tokyo and joins Schneizel when he arrives as an envoy. She reveals everything she learned while investigating the Geass Directorate to him. When Schneizel announces his intention to usurp the throne, Cornelia is reluctant but doesn't object. She then joins Schneizel and his faction after Lelouch installs himself as the new Emperor.

Cornelia later shows disgust at how far Schneizel is willing to go achieve his goals when she finds that he destroyed Britannia's capital city and was shocked how he let Lelouch take the throne so that he could advance his plans. When she learns of his plan to position Damocles in such a way that it could strike all over the world at the same time, she tries to stop him, only to be gunned down. She is later shown in a hospital bed, recovering and being comforted by a newly found Guilford. Two months later, after the culmination of Lelouch's plans (the Zero Requiem), she is shown leading a small resistance group (including Villetta and Guilford). They take advantage of Lelouch's assassination after realizing the Zero Requiem to restore order. She is last seen in a photo alongside Guilford, at Ohgi and Villetta's wedding.

Gilbert G.P. Guilford
Guilford is Cornelia's loyal knight and a possible love interest. Guilford is shown to be completely loyal to Cornelia, to the point of betraying and fighting against Britannia after he was forced by Geass to believe that Lelouch was Cornelia. Guilford later made a desperate attempt to push Lelouch (whom he still believed to be Cornelia) outside of the blast radius of the F.L.E.I.J.A. bomb. He later shows his loyalty again by joining Cornelia's resistance group. She and Guilford worked with Rakshata on the Knightmare Frames in the UFN.

Andreas Darlton
Andreas Darlton was one of the Cornelia's most trusted soldiers as he was part of the princess's inner circle. While Cornelia was devastated at Darlton's apparent betrayal during the Black Rebellion, considering how she later known the existence of Geass, it is likely that she was aware on how Andreas was under Lelouch's control at the time.

Marianne Vi Britannia
Marianne was an idol to a young Cornelia. She loved Marianne and wanted to become like her. After Marianne's death, she investigated the incident for many years but never reached a satisfying conclusion since it was V.V. who orchestrated and performed the assassination.

Suzaku Kururugi
Initially, Cornelia saw Suzaku as no different than most Elevens. Despite his excellent skills with the Lancelot, Cornelia thought that it was risky to order Suzaku to help with the Japanese Liberation Front Hotel Incident since he was an Eleven himself. Even though Suzaku has saved Cornelia many times, she usually kept his rank low within the military as she limited Suzaku to nothing beyond the rank Warrant Officer. After Euphemia promoted Suzaku as her knight, Cornelia was visibly against this due to her strong belief in discriminating against numbers. Though this started to change as she learned of Zero's identity and began to trust in Suzaku. They didn't see each other until the plot to assassinate the emperor by Suzaku's suggestion and Schneizel's approval. However she didn't like to hear how Suzaku stepped into the line of insubordination regarding the FLEIJA warhead and Guilford's dissapearance. She did at one point question why Suzaku would help Lelouch become Emperor.

Euphemia li Britannia
Euphemia is Cornelia's younger sister, and she loves her sister very much despite having to lecture her due to her naive actions. It also worries Cornelia that Euphemia may go too far with her actions which is then confirmed when she was shocked to hear the SAZ proposal. Euphemia's death sparked Cornelia's ill will towards Lelouch, Geass, and V.V. She even gave up her title as Viceroy, for a time, in order to track down the true culprit of the Special Administrative Zone Massacre and clear her sister's name. After Lelouch's death, most of his actions has obscured Euphie's name and Corneilia gave up her quest as a result.

Lelouch vi Britannia
Cornelia originally cared greatly for Lelouch, and his sister Nunnally, to the point where their supposed death had drove her to capture Zero, unaware that Zero was Lelouch. After Lelouch had revealed that he was alive, Cornelia began to understand Zero's motives and how deep his grudge was to the Britannian Imperial Family. However, she could not forgive Lelouch for killing Euphemia, thus their relationship soured. The extent of her hatred towards Lelouch was shown when Cornelia later joined the Black Knights in opposition of Lelouch.

Nunnally vi Britannia
Despite her later hatred towards Lelouch, this hatred did not extend to Nunnally. She got along with Nunnally during childhood and ever since she heard about their supposed death, she began to hate foreigners. Like Euphemia, Cornelia deeply treasures Nunnally to the point where she was willing to go against Schneizel.

Kallen Kozuki
Kallen and Cornelia fought against each other during their encounters at the First Black Rebellion as skilled pilots implying that they were enemies that time and had no interaction. Ever since Cornelia had a change of heart, her views towards Kallen changed and during the Zero Requiem, her love towards to the people who were prisoners drove her into freeing her. The only known time that the two have ever seen each other is during Ohgi and Villetta's wedding. She works with Kallen, Guilford, and Rakshata on Knightmare frames for the UFN military.

Schneizel el Britannia
Cornelia got along with Schneizel. Schneizel and Cornelia were on good terms during their past and even up to the point when Schneizel was willing to destroy anything in his path to become the god of his visionary world. Cornelia stated that if Schneizel were to be an emperor at this point, he could have made himself a great ruler who would bring good peace but instead his desire to create the world for his ideals corrupted him. It is unknown what is left of Cornelia's relationship with Schneizel after the Zero Requiem since Schneizel is under Lelouch's Geass influence.

Charles zi Britannia
Cornelia is one of Charles' children and it is unknown what their relationship was like. Cornelia, like her father, is a strong supporter of the Darwinist policy to conquer lands. Cornelia later began her quest to clear her sister's name and when she found out her father's connection to his plan that will change the world, she began to become curious of his motives but that was never expanded. After hearing about her father's death, she shows little to no remorse.

Orpheus Zevon
During her quest to clear Euphie's name, she met Orpheus at some point in order to locate the Geass Cult's location due to his connection with them.

Rakshata Chawla
Cornelia and Rakshata were enemies from the start until Lelouch's tyranny where they oppose him. After the Zero Requiem, she, Guilford, and Rakshata work together on Knightmare Frames as a part of the UFN military.

Jeremiah Gottwald
Cornelia became a Viceroy and before that, Jeremiah was an acting viceroy prior to her arrival. Jeremiah's demotion led him to become Cornelia's subordinate and it is unknown what their relationship was at that time. Jeremiah and Cornelia knew each other in the past due to their connection with Marianne Vi Britannia and Jeremiah was a subordinate of Cornelia at that time as well. After Marianne's death, she and Jeremiah drove to resolve the situation. It is likely that they got along back then and in Area 11. Cornelia's conversation with Schneizel about Jeremiah made wonder if he was going to be useful and suggests that she did care for him even after his defeat at Narita. After being injured by Zero, Jeremiah saved her from being captured but they don't meet again until the assault on the Geass Order. Jeremiah saved Cornelia in person since he didn't want to kill someone from royalty so as a result, she becomes a captive.

Quotes

 * "You the Japan Liberation Front; You whose time has left behind; You who have forgotten basic human decency; You and your dream of a bygone golden age shall fall and rot to nothingness."
 * "Guilford, don't treat me as though I'm another one of your women."
 * "Lelouch the demon is dead! Free his prisoners!"

Trivia

 * Cornelia shares many traits with Olivier Mira Armstrong from Fullmetal Alchemist. Both are high-ranking female officers, strict and highly aggressive, as well as brilliant commanders. Both also come from an influential and/or wealthy family. At the same time, both of them inspire a great deal of respect in the soldiers under their command, and are shown to an extent caring for them.
 * Cornelia's character design is based on Kasumi from X/1999 and Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles.
 * Cornelia's English Voice Actor Mary Elizabeth McGlynn did Kanoe from X/1999 both the TV series and Movie.
 * She is 11 years older than her sister, Euphemia.
 * Being the head of security at Aries Villa when she was 20, it would seem that both her and Euphemia were raised there by Marianne as well, along with Lelouch and Nunnally.
 * Like her sister Euphemia li Britannia, Cornelia also shares the middle name "li".