Jeremiah Gottwald (ジェレミア・ゴットバルト, Jeremia Gottobaruto) is a character in Code Geass. His seiyū is Ken Narita and his English voice actor is Crispin Freeman.
Character outline
Jeremiah Gottwald is an elite Knightmare Frame pilot and a member of the Purists. He is deeply concerned with their supremacy, jumping on the chance to use Suzaku Kururugi, an Eleven (Japanese citizen) made an Honorary Britannian, as a scapegoat for both avenging Prince Clovis' death and reinforcing the Purists' superiority in Area 11. He hopes to limit military service to Purists alone. Jeremiah was a guard at the Aries Palace when Empress Marianne was assassinated, and considers the incident his first failure, dreaming of becoming the Knight Of One to make up for it. Afterwards, he transferred to Japan, the land that had apparently taken the lives of the Empress' two children Lelouch and Nunnally, in an attempt to redeem himself.
Initially, he held the rank of Margrave in Area 11's military hierarchy. After Clovis's murder, Jeremiah takes upon the role of Area 11's Acting-Consul, but upon losing Suzaku Kururugi to Zero in a very public fiasco, Jeremiah fell into disgrace, and soon into mental instability when denied the opportunity to regain his former status.
Character history
First season
At the start of the season, Jeremiah leads the Sutherland unit in Shinjuku Ghetto. Lelouch Lamperouge, directing the resistance forces, easily defeats his unit and manages to assassinate Prince Clovis. Having used his Geass to make Clovis' guard leave, their subsequent memory loss leads Jeremiah to suspect them of treachery. He has most of them arrested and tries to scapegoat Suzaku for Clovis' murder in a public execution.
Lelouch, in the guise of Zero, interrupts the execution and hints that Jeremiah has been bribed by calling him "Orange". (It is usually pronounced "Orange-kun" in the original Japanese version. The honorific -kun shows a level of formality that hints of a prior relationship between the two, to make it appear as if Jeremiah had been conspiring with terrorists. This is lost in the English dub.) Lelouch uses his Geass to force Jeremiah to help him escape with Suzaku, resulting in Jeremiah's disgrace when they ultimately succeed with his aid. Following this incident Jeremiah's standing with both the Army and Brittania is severely dropped, he is reduced in rank to pilot and his superiors and fellow Knightmare pilots refer to him as "Orange" as a way of mocking him, though Villetta Nu remains loyal to him. His fellow pilots even try to assassinate him from which he is rescued from by none other than Suzaku and Villetta.
Seeking to regain his status, Jeremiah seeks out any opportunity to capture or kill Zero, even disobeying orders to do so. He gets his chance during the Battle of Narita. His impatient and impulsive action leads to his defeat at the hands of Kallen Stadtfeld, who has recently acquired the Guren Mk-II. Its radiation arm quickly disables his Knightmare, but he refuses to eject. The system eventually ejects on his behalf, but by this point he is badly injured and his escape pod nigh-inoperable. Delusional and barely able to walk, he stumbles upon Prince Schneizel's team of scientists, who pick him up. He is officially listed as killed in action at the battle of Narita because everything suggesting otherwise was lost along with his Knightmare's signal, giving an easy coverup for the scientists.
Jeremiah after undergoing experimentation
Schneizel's scientists perform experiments on Jeremiah, enhancing him with various cybernetic devices. The implants run up his spine and the cover the entire left side of his body. His mind has also been tampered with, as the scientists make mention to tearing down and rebuilding his emotions. Before the process is complete, he goes insane at the mention of Zero. He breaks out of the research facility and steals the Knightmare Frame Siegfried. After chasing C.C. and Lelouch to Kaminejima, Jeremiah and the Siegfried are dragged into the ocean by C.C. in a kamikaze attack.
Second season
Jeremiah in Season 2
Despite the fact that C.C. was eventually crushed by the pressure of the deep sea (though her immortality allowed her to recover once she surfaced), Jeremiah somehow escaped that fate, ending up as an ally of V.V. Jeremiah's cybernetic implants appear to have been largely removed (or covered up), though his left eye is still cybernetic. He wears an orange mask with an opaque eyepiece over the eye, and clothing very similar to a Knight of Rounds. He appears to be aware of Lelouch's identity as Zero and mentions with adjustments neither Lelouch or C.C. will be a match for him, which General Bartley and his research team are reluctantly helping to complete. The Geass Canceler negates the effects of other Geass, which includes restoring memories suppressed or modified through Geass abilities. In the case of Lelouch's Geass, it also removes the immunity gained from being exposed, so those "canceled" can be affected by it once more. Though Jeremiah is not immune to the effects of other Geass, he can negate their effects by himself, including Rolo's paralyzing Geass. Other modifications include retractable blades attached to his wrists, and bulletproof armor. His cybernetic eye can also see beyond the visible light spectrum. Though the modifications make Jeremiah a formidable opponent, the presence of sakuradite in his artificial components allows Gefjun Disturbers to paralyze him; though he can continue to move, doing so nearly kills him since the cybernetic implants are inactive. After confronting Lelouch in a train station, Jeremiah asks Lelouch why he became Zero and betrayed his father. Lelouch tells him that it was to avenge the death of his mother, Empress Marianne. After hearing Lelouch's motivations, he swears his loyalty to Lelouch in order to redeem his failure to protect Marianne. He now takes the nickname "Orange" as a compliment, seeing it as the name of his loyalty. In the aftermath of the F.L.E.I.J.A.'s detonation, Jeremiah restrains an enraged Lelouch as the Black Knights retreat to reform their battle line. He then leaves to search for Nunnally, and comes across Suzaku in the crater left behind by the explosion. He considers their relationship is a peculiar one, in that Suzaku rescued him once despite Jeremiah having framed him, and muses that they are destined to be enemies before leaving to continue his search.
Abilities
Jeremiah Gottwald's Geass Canceler
In the second season, Jeremiah received a special anti-Geass power with the help of Code-R personnel and V.V., known as Geass Canceler. Situated in his left eye, which is normally hidden by his mask, it grants him the power to negate the effect of any other Geass within his field of influence. Like Rolo's Geass, it does not require eye contact and works through physical barriers. As part of its effect, it can restore memories erased or modified through Geass. When activated, the silver cover of his left eye opens, revealing an inverted blue sigil over his green cybernetic eye. The area of effect is represented by a blue bubble similar to Rolo's red version.
Behind the scenes
According to the writing staff of Code Geass, it was originally planned for Jeremiah to die in episode 10 from injuries sustained while fighting Kallen. However, the character's unexpected popularity with the fanbase inspired them to rewrite his story, reviving him in time for the end of the first season.