Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion

[AmuroNT1]

I hardly think Lelouch is going to go the Shinn Asuka route; he's extremely popular with the fans, and the staff apparently loves him too.

But still, this isn't really a straight revenge thing. His primary goal is, above all else, making the world a safe place for his sister. A similar discussion came up in the discussion on GameFAQs, and Celiss (who translates most of the spoilers and magazine info) made this point:

He is doing it for Nunnally. He explains everything in the 3rd episode -- how the Ashfords will not be able to hide him and Nunnally forever, especially after he graduates from Ashford Academy. Also, it seems that the Ashfords aren't exactly protecting them out of love; Fake Okouchi mentions they may have hidden political motives. Sounds like LuluNana are actually VIP half-hostages, which isn't hard to believe considering Milly's parents are so power-hungry they're forcing their own daughter into an arranged marriage.

At the moment Nunnally is everything to Lelouch. In episode 1, when he was about to be shot, the last thing he thought of was Nunnally. Cue C.C.'s "It seems you have a reason to live..." In episode 16 he gave up his pride and actually admitted defeat to Mao. When Mao "killed" Nunnally anyway Lelouch reacted as though he doesn't have anything to live for anymore. I think if Mao had asked him to give up fighting Britannia in exchange for his sister's life, Lelouch would have agreed to it without a second thought.

In episode 21, his anger at Euphie was first triggered by Nunnally's reaction towards Euphie and Suzaku's relationship. He was already all "Euphie! How dare you take Suzaku away from Nunnally and make her sad! Grrr!" before Euphie's Special Zone announcement.

In episode 22, Euphie telling Lelouch the Special Zone is for Nunnally changed his mind about her.

In picture drama 1 and the Stage -0- novel, Lelouch is so protective of Nunnally he wouldn't let anyone else touch her, even getting into a fight with Suzaku when he tried to touch her hair.

In short, Nunnally is most important to Lelouch. The tragic thing about all this is that Lelouch doesn't understand that the same goes for Nunnally -- Her brother is everything to her. As long as she has him she doesn't need anything else (episode 21). Him not being able to understand this is his biggest mistake, IMO, but then again this is Lulu. He's always been dense when it comes to matters concerning himself (see: Shirley / Cornelia / Euphie / Clovis / Kallen / Milly's love for him) It's as though he doesn't / cannot believe someone might actually truly love him. That's what happens when your mother is killed, your father sends you and your disabled sister away as hostages and everyone else is either delighted by your misfortune or cooking up schemes on how to use you to their own advantage. Irreparable psychological damage, indeed.

One thing she didn't mention, though, that I think is rather important. In episode 7, Lelouch is talking with C.C., and she comments that the Emperor's belief in Social Darwinism is correct; the weak die and the strong live on. This makes Lelouch pretty angry, and he demands to know how Nunnally, who was blind and paralyzed by forces beyond her control, fits into a world like that, and why she should suffer because of it.

[Shinji103]

How is his doing it for Nanally changing that he's heading towards the Dark Side? He's using people and sacrificing others, all for his own goals. He's starting a war in which he is perfectly aware that many people are going to die under the guise that he's trying to free Japan. He's starting to turn into a Light Yagami, and unless that changes, somebody is going to have to smack him down like Shinn Asuka. And again, his face in those last shots aren't making him look any less evil. That doesn't look like the face of somebody who's only fighting to protect his sister. And somebody had a theory that these powers make the user go insane, ie Mao. (can't remember if it was Random Curiosity or Animesuki forums)

And if he's truly doing it for Nanally, ie out of the good of his heart, why does he not seem to care when innocent people are getting killed for no reason? Like in the episode where Cornellia was massacreing all those innocent people to recreate the Shinjuku scenario and lure out Zero, Lelouch didn't flinch. All he cared about was getting to Cornelia. At the beginning of the series he was clearly concerned about the killing of innocents and even non-innocents, but now he's starting to not care if anybody dies unless it disrupts his plans. And that finall shot makes it seem like the last bit of his care for human life evaporated with Euphemia's death.

[AmuroNT1]

As long as Britannia exists, weak people like Nunnally will be trampled upon while an elite few enjoy their prosperity. The cycle will never end unless somebody does something about it. In episode 7 he realized that he couldn't do it all by himself, so he organized the Black Knights with the intent of forming an army with which to fight Britannia. Unfortunately, the upper echelons of Britannia happen to consist of his brothers and sisters, but he's resolved that sacrifices must be made, and those who support the system are his enemies.

BTW, Mao went insane because he had voices in his head constantly from the time he was six years old. Lelouch probably won't go mad, since his power doesn't have the same downsides, and he could always just cover his eye (claiming it got hurt) and go back into society, however briefly.

Lelouch DOES care about innocents, but he's realized that all he can do is try his hardest not to get them caught in the crossfire. He can't mourn every single person who's killed in the conflict, or he'll never be doing ANYTHING but mourning. Besides that, he told the Black Knights to focus their efforts on the Britannian military and to leave the innocents alone.

[Chris]

Shinji, are you even watching the same series? How is Lelouch going to the Dark Side? How is he even slightly like Shinn or Light? You can't save everyone in war. He's leading a legitimate resistance against Britannia, which is a foreign invader. How do you fight a world power that will resort to almost any atrocity? You have to fight dirty and make sacrifices. The naive ideas of someone like Suzaku don't apply in that kind of situation. Lelouch is doing what has to be done.

[Shinji103]

Shinji, are you even watching the same series? How is Lelouch going to the Dark Side? How is he even slightly like Shinn or Light? You can't save everyone in war. He's leading a legitimate resistance against Britannia, which is a foreign invader. How do you fight a world power that will resort to almost any atrocity? You have to fight dirty and make sacrifices. The naive ideas of someone like Suzaku don't apply in that kind of situation. Lelouch is doing what has to be done.

How could one not think he's heading for the Dark Side with that face at the end of the episode? Not to mention all those evil faces he's made over the series, all the way since episode 1. And I'm most certainly not the only one who thinks this.

But anyway, I return the line "are we watching the same series" to you. Most of what you say there is moot. Yes, Lelouch is fighting Britannia, but since when has he been fighting them for the sake of Japan? His fight isn't about freeing Japan or saving the people or anything like that at all. He's merely using the resistance and using the fight to free Japan to accomplish his own goals of revenge. He's playing dirty and making sacrifices for his revenge, not to free Japan. Freeing Japan just happens to be an effective means of getting an army on his side.

And when did I say anything about Suzaku's ideals? I think Suzaku has been an idealistic idiot and is finally starting to see reality, but that's not the point nor is it what I have been talking about.

[Chris]

How could one not think he's heading for the Dark Side with that face at the end of the episode? Not to mention all those evil faces he's made over the series, all the way since episode 1. And I'm most certainly not the only one who thinks this.

But anyway, I return the line "are we watching the same series" to you. Most of what you say there is moot. Yes, Lelouch is fighting Britannia, but since when has he been fighting them for the sake of Japan? His fight isn't about freeing Japan or saving the people or anything like that at all. He's merely using the resistance and using the fight to free Japan to accomplish his own goals of revenge. He's playing dirty and making sacrifices for his revenge, not to free Japan. Freeing Japan just happens to be an effective means of getting an army on his side.

And when did I say anything about Suzaku's ideals? I think Suzaku has been an idealistic idiot and is finally starting to see reality, but that's not the point nor is it what I have been talking about.

So, ignoring everything he's done, you conclude he's becoming evil just because he laughs a certain way? Great.

Nothing of what I said is moot. Lelouch wants to create a free world for Nunnally, so is that somehow incompatible with freeing Japan? Is freeing Japan his primary purpose? No, but it's part of ridding the world of Britannia, and for all his actions, he's done far better at liberating Japan than any Japanese has for the last seven years. I brought up Suzaku as part of my point that Lelouch has to fight dirty to achieve his goals. There's no other way when fighting a global superpower that controls a third of the world.

[Turinu]

Wow. Just, wow. I just finished watching episode 23... and if there's something about this episode that truly pissed me off...

... It's the fact they won't be airing episodes 24 and 25 until this coming summer, supposedly. Aside from that it was a real good episode, but I shall not say anything aside from this saddening news. D:.

[Shinji103]

So, ignoring everything he's done, you conclude he's becoming evil just because he laughs a certain way? Great.

Nothing of what I said is moot. Lelouch wants to create a free world for Nunnally, so is that somehow incompatible with freeing Japan? Is freeing Japan his primary purpose? No, but it's part of ridding the world of Britannia, and for all his actions, he's done far better at liberating Japan than any Japanese has for the last seven years. I brought up Suzaku as part of my point that Lelouch has to fight dirty to achieve his goals. There's no other way when fighting a global superpower that controls a third of the world.

Wow, way to try and over-simplify what I've been saying. I'm sorry, but when somebody is pulling a Light Yagami, I find it hard to believe that:

a) (from an in-show PoV) he's only fighting to protect his sister.

b) (from an out-of-show PoV) the staff expects us to think that he's only fighting to protect his sister.

Yes, he wants to protect his sister. Is that why he's making all those evil grins? (if that is why, he's missing some major parts upstairs...) And I think it should be obvious that those evil grins are very important. Would he look like Light Yagami if his intentions were all good? I don't see Judau Ashita looking like Light Yagami when he's pulverizing Neo Zeon suits.

Anyway, you're trying to make it seem like Lelouch wants to free Japan. Fact is, it's not really true. If you gave 500 dollars to a kid (to get him to go to a store and buy something) only so he would be out of your way when you move to stab someone in the back, would you be a nice guy?
Lelouch would be justified in this if he were actually fighting for the sake of Japan, but he's not. If there was a more effective way to be rid of Britannia than freeing Japan, he would take that path. Japan's freedom just happens to be on the path of the easiest way to be rid of Britannia, not for the sake of the world or to protect people, but for his own goals. So Lelouch is essentially doing this all for his own goals, and frankly, all this to protect his one sister is starting to push it. But as I said, those evil grins aren't helping the "he's only protecting his sister" stand.



EDIT: Hmmm, why do I see "Judau ZOINKS" in my post where I typed in "Judau A-s-h-i-t-a"? (I added the dashes inside the second set of quotes because it would appear as "ZOINKS" again if I just straight-out typed it)

[Turinu]

It's been a well known fact that the incident which involved his mother and sister while he was young has fueled his hatred against Britannia.

While he's doing this for his sister to create a world for her it is true that he is also doing this for himself, as a sort of revenge. His father basically exiled them to a foreign country after his mother was murdered. He was forced to live with foreigners in a country which would eventually be attacked by Britannia, and he would then swear to kill Britannia.

Sure he's doing it for his sister, but he's also doing it for himself. Both are valid reasons. He isn't pushing it when he's saying he's doing it for his sister... because the fact is, that is the truth. He's doing it for his sister while exacting his revenge against Britannia. Who said an Anti-hero figure can't multi-task his intentions?

Also, who's to say he's not enjoying doing these things?

On another note, it says ZOINKS because a vulgar word is between the two A's in the name.

[AmuroNT1]

Of course Lelouch has SOME revenge on his mind, but it's not like that's the only reason he's fighting.

And the reason he's got the evil grins and laughs going...well, aside from the fact that they're trying to show him as a certified badass, he's not tiptoeing around the fact that he is, essentially, a villain. If he's going to be remembered as a villain, then should he torment himself worrying about the fact that his actions are killing people, or should he continue on and do his job as best he can? This is the same sort of thing that we saw in GW when Milliardo pretended to hate Earth as part of his and Treize's plan to give the world a good few nudges towards peace. The only difference is that Lelouch is a bit darker than old Zechs.

And Judau's surname gets censored because, if you remove the As, it becomes a dirty word. I assume ZOINKS is just the mods being cleverer than just having it be A****a.

[Shinji103]

Sure he's doing it for his sister, but he's also doing it for himself. Both are valid reasons. He isn't pushing it when he's saying he's doing it for his sister... because the fact is, that is the truth. He's doing it for his sister while exacting his revenge against Britannia. Who said an Anti-hero figure can't multi-task his intentions?

Also, who's to say he's not enjoying doing these things?

On another note, it says ZOINKS because a vulgar word is between the two A's in the name.

Well, I'm not saying he can't multi-task, but I just can't see protecting his sister being high in his list of priorities or being on his mind when he has that kind of face. ^^;

Ah, I see, thanks for the info.

Of course Lelouch has SOME revenge on his mind, but it's not like that's the only reason he's fighting.

And the reason he's got the evil grins and laughs going...well, aside from the fact that they're trying to show him as a certified badass, he's not tiptoeing around the fact that he is, essentially, a villain. If he's going to be remembered as a villain, then should he torment himself worrying about the fact that his actions are killing people, or should he continue on and do his job as best he can? This is the same sort of thing that we saw in GW when Milliardo pretended to hate Earth as part of his and Treize's plan to give the world a good few nudges towards peace. The only difference is that Lelouch is a bit darker than old Zechs.

And Judau's surname gets censored because, if you remove the As, it becomes a dirty word. I assume ZOINKS is just the mods being cleverer than just having it be A****a.

"Some" revenge? ^^;

Choosing not to torment oneself about doing evil deeds, and grinning insanely when doing evil deeds, are quite different. And I never saw Miliardo going Light Yagami, either. Plus Miliardo had the interests of peace at heart, whereas Lelouch has revenge at heart.

[AmuroNT1]

"Some" revenge? ^^;

Choosing not to torment oneself about doing evil deeds, and grinning insanely when doing evil deeds, are quite different. And I never saw Miliardo going Light Yagami, either. Plus Miliardo had the interests of peace at heart, whereas Lelouch has revenge at heart.

Well, yes, some. But it's not his ultimate goal. So what if he finds the person who killed his mother? Killing him/her won't bring Marianne back from the dead, or undo the hell that his life has been the past decade. However, making the world a better place for his sister DOES have a more relevant benefit - it means that nobody else will have to suffer the after-effects of Britannia's power-greedy actions. No more pointless murders, invasions, or any of that just to feed the Emperor's Darwin-inspired ideals.

Besides, one important thing to note about Lelouch: He basically completely discarded his previous life the second he was shipped to Japan. It didn't matter that he lived with his mother and several siblings, all of whom loved him, or that he and Nunnally basically had nothing better at Kururugi's than a shed out back. He still considers the time he spent with Suzaku the best time of his life. This is because he doesn't believe that he was really "alive" while he was a prince, feeling that he mainly existed as a convenience to the Emperor and believing that those who supported him were just as bad. He doesn't see revenge as anything but closure on his mother's murder.

And the reason nobody ever compares Zechs to Light is because Wing came so long before Death Note that they'd already forgotten it by the time they were introduced to Light. Besides that, a lot of people have already written Zechs off as "acting OOC to make the series more like CCA".

[Mark064]

I'm sorry, but when somebody is pulling a Light Yagami, I find it hard to believe that:

a) (from an in-show PoV) he's only fighting to protect his sister.

b) (from an out-of-show PoV) the staff expects us to think that he's only fighting to protect his sister.

Yes, he wants to protect his sister. Is that why he's making all those evil grins? (if that is why, he's missing some major parts upstairs...) And I think it should be obvious that those evil grins are very important. Would he look like Light Yagami if his intentions were all good? I don't see Judau ZOINKS looking like Light Yagami when he's pulverizing Neo Zeon suits.

Anyway, you're trying to make it seem like Lelouch wants to free Japan. Fact is, it's not really true. If you gave 500 dollars to a kid (to get him to go to a store and buy something) only so he would be out of your way when you move to stab someone in the back, would you be a nice guy?
Lelouch would be justified in this if he were actually fighting for the sake of Japan, but he's not. If there was a more effective way to be rid of Britannia than freeing Japan, he would take that path. Japan's freedom just happens to be on the path of the easiest way to be rid of Britannia, not for the sake of the world or to protect people, but for his own goals. So Lelouch is essentially doing this all for his own goals, and frankly, all this to protect his one sister is starting to push it. But as I said, those evil grins aren't helping the "he's only protecting his sister" stand.

Lelouch has stated to everyone that he is not just doing this to free Japan and he is not having his whole war against Britannia for the sake of Japan either. This is not some dark alterior motive. Yes Lelouch's main objective in this is to find out about his mothers death and to create a better world of Nunally to live. But the fact of the matter is he wants to create a better world for her. A better world for her is really a better world for almost everyone, of course not the leaders of Brittania. Lelouch could clearly take the easy way of this and not create a better world for her but just a better area. While he does treasure his sister the most, this one goal extends to everyone as well. It's not like if Lelouch does achieve his goals that only he and Nunally will be the only happy ones. So this does work both ways. The same can be said if some guy goes and creates a cure for cancer to save his wife... while his initial reasoning for doing said act is to save his wife the action benefits a lot more people. Now on the other hand if Lelouch's goals in the end was just a purely selfish act for himself and his sister then I would agree with you.

[Rei Murasame]

I have to say I officially love this thread. Keep it up guys~

[Shinji103]

AmuroNT1: Yes, we all know that we can't bring people back from the dead by getting revenge. I don't see many revenge-ers realizing this on their own.

I don't see how him not caring about his life as a prince is stopping him from wanting revenge, when he has made it clear he wants to get back at Britannia. They made his sister suffer, and he wants to kill them dead for that. And when did Lelouch say or indicate he only thinks of revenge as closure? All his evil-ity when he talks about crushing Britannia has indicated that he's out for major blood.

I'm not talking about people comparing Miliardo and Light. The two are clearly different anyway. Miliardo in no way showed as much evil-ness as Light, and anybody who understood Miliardo at all in the final arc knew he wasn't doing any of that to become the god of anything. And what does Miliardo acting out of character to make the end of GW like CCA have to do with being similar to Light, or Lelouch?


Mark064: You do realize that his talk of saving the whole world is pep talk to rally support, right? Do you think that if someone had ulterior motives like revenge, he would announce such to everyone?

The cancer thing is quite different. Lelouch's actions are nowhere near as clear-cut good as creating a cure for cancer. He's starting a war, taking advantage of everybody's wishes for independence to get his revenge on Britannia. Sure, if it works, it'll be great for Japan and the world, but that doesn't change his true motives nor the people he's sacrificing for those motives.

And he wouldn't take the easy route and make only the area better, because a) that wouldn't protect his sister for certain and b) he wouldn't be able to crush Britannia and get his revenge.

[Mark064]

Except I'm not talking about what Lelouch is directly saying or his so called "pep talks" this is what the narrator is saying. The narrator at the beginning of various episode states Lelouch's goals. The first is to avenge his mother and the second is to create a world where Nunnally can live happily in. The whole thought of revenge against Britannia falls into the first objective. Creating a world for Nunnally has nothing to do with revenge. So his second motive is the true "good" motive of his.

So while the people are being "used" for their own wishes for independence he is going further then that. Really Lelouch is looking at a bigger picture, the people in Japan wanted to free themselves from Britannia, but the problem of Britannia is still there. They could invade again. This is why Lelouch wants to create a world for Nunnally and not a country.

And what of the people being "used"? The fact is they aren't really being used. While they don't know the true identity of Zero or the fact he is after revenge, their own wishes are coming true. Lelouch wishes to crush Britannia, while the Order was a bit shocked about this at first but have now seemed to set their objective on that. So are the people being used? Not really. They are doing out of their own free will to create a better world, they are just not aware Lelouch really wants to do this for his sister. Their objective have now met eye to eye. Everyone in the Order has their own dreams, Lelouch just happens to be the leader.

[Antares]

Mark064 said:

And what of the people being "used"?

Well you could argue that since Zero/Lelouch has gone out of his way to make sure he is the only option available, he is using people to his advantage. Granted it fits with their hopes, but effectively having only one choice when you could've several is a controlling measure, or at least a very manipulative one. Also, I wasn't very much surprised by the backlash of Lelouch's Geass, because I remembered distinctly the lines from the first episode saying that the power of the king will make you lonely (or somesuch). I think the people in this thread have been spot on when they said that Lelouch clearly came to the crossroads and now decided to go all out to reach his goals, though I would claim that in fact the activation of the Geass did it really for him when he fragged Euphie's mind. After that there was basically only one course of action if he wanted to succeed. Lelouch put behind his doubts and committed fully. Now it only remains to be seen how it affects the presentation of his character in the series.

I can see Shinji103's point if we talk about the image of Lelouch; it doesn't matter if we think he is not über-evil, but if he is suddenly portrayed as such (manic evil bursts of laughter and grins like a deranged jack-o-lantern) the character will seriously lose depth. So you could argue that his image could be turned to the "dark side" in a very stereotypical fashion, which would be bad for the series.

In my opinion the series got a real thing going towards the end. The whole Euphie-debacle basically made the show much better than I had previously anticipated. The presence of Mao was rather lame (brought back to life only to die again rather meaninglessly much like Sting in GSD), and the Knightframe-jack while everyone else was taking a trip to dream-island in their heads was also quite.. classic. But indeed the paths now chosen seem much more interesting. For some reason I can't shake the GSD connotations of the series, which was also why I immediately started to dislike a pink-haired female person of authority who is making unpractical decisions. Luckily that turned out different than expected.

What I am more interested in is how the new world would then take shape? I am going too far ahead in time, but it is intruguing. Since Lelouch wants to create a world he has envisioned (*coughLightcough*), we might see a remodelling of the Britannian Empire instead of its dismantlement. Emperor Lelouch would no doubt deal harshly with those who would seek to unmake the world he has created for Nunnaly. Especially since Nunnaly herself might have different ideas as to what kind of a world she would like to live in.

[Chris]

Again about the point on "Lelouch pulling a Light" - there are some slight similarities, but when it comes down to it they're very different. Light does want to rid the world of crime, but his main objective is to rule over the world as a god. He's so dedicated to this that he's willing to (and does) sacrifice his own family. He uses people only as pawns.

Lelouch, on the other hand, doesn't have a selfish motive of wanting to rule the world. So what if he wants revenge? Is it wrong to want revenge against a criminal empire that allowed your mother to die and your sister to become blind and paralyzed? Also, we know his other motive is to create a world for Nunnally, which Mark064 pointed out means a better world for everyone. If Lelouch were pulling a Light, he wouldn't care about his sister and would've let Mao kill her. And once Lelouch finds out that Suzaku is the pilot of Lancelot, he lets him live 3 times when he could've killed him. It would've been convenient and 'just as planned' for Zero, but Lelouch isn't a monster and couldn't let his friend die, even though it was in his best interest for Suzaku to die. Light would've killed without hesitation.

Also, Lelouch doesn't use people in the same way Light does, and it's not really comparable. Lelouch is fighting a war and has an army. If you say he's using people, you could make the claim that any general is "using" their soldiers. Light uses people and lets them die so he doesn't get caught. Lelouch uses people and sometimes they die in battle, which can't be avoided. And since it will probably be mentioned, Euphemia was an accident. She had to be killed because she couldn't be stopped with that order. We see how much pain Lelouch is in after this happened - Light wouldn't even bat an eyelash.

[YazanGable]

There's a phrase I'm surprised no one has cited in this thread so far (...and, in light of what I'm hearing of the language censors, I'll have to doctor a little.)

'The road to Hades is paved with good intentions'

Yes, Lelouch is interested in creating a better world for Nunnally, but this doesn't mean he's somehow above becoming evil.
As Antares pointed out, a big part of why he's been rallied behind by this point is that the resistance people have no other options (he basically took over Ohgi's cell and, between the Britannians and his own actions, the Japanese Liberation Army was destroyed/absorbed (don't forget, it was Zero's decision to blow up the JLA leaders when it looked like they could fall into Britannia's hands...
...even though, when the same happened to Toudou, he was willing to launch a full-fledged prison break to get the man for his military skills.)

For all the comparisons people have made to Yagami Light in this thread, I honestly, cheezy as this might sound, see Lelouch getting a bit closer to the Anakin Skywalker vein.
Anakin became so fixated on being able to protect and save his wife and unborn children that he didn't care what he had to do for it. He was willing to become the devil himself if he felt it would help protect them. By the end, he'd gone so far down that path without even realizing it, he wound up causing the death of the one he'd sworn to protect.

Right now, understandably, Lelouch could be running the same risk. True, Nunally has been a key driving force for him to this point, but that doesn't necessarily ensure she'll be able to keep him good. For all we know, he'll become so fixated on his ideal world he won't even realize it's actually not what Nunally wants until it's too late.

Then again, I've honestly had reservations about Zero since the Order of the Black Knights first turned up. Personal rule of thumb - When a mysterious third party pops up out of nowhere and claims they serve justice, watch them very carefully. Especially if they don't explain how they define justice.

p.s. Am I the only one who was a little surprised Lelouch didn't seem to recognize Viletta in ep 21? True, there'd been quite a bit going on at that point, but she's pretty distinctive looking as Geass people go.

[Chris]

You can't really compare Lelouch and Anakin because the situations are very different.

-Anakin was being manipulated by Palpatine/Sidious. Nothing was wrong with Padme, but Palpatine planted the idea in Anakin's head that he had to learn Dark Side techniques if he wanted to keep her alive. Lelouch doesn't have someone manipulating him.

-Anakin was never in a position of power or had a plan for what he wanted to do. Lelouch, on the other hand, has been biding his time and making plans ever since the death of his mother.

-Lelouch knows what he is doing and is willing to accept what needs to be done. Anakin was so selfish and naive that he only saw what Palpatine was feeding to him.

If you want to compare anyone to Anakin, that would be Shinn Asuka, but this thread isn't the place for that and that comparison has been done to death.