Charles zi Britannia is the 98th emperor of the Holy Britannian Empire and the primary antagonist of Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion. He only makes a few brief appearances in the first season but takes a more active role in R2. Charles is the father of Lelouch and all the other Britannian princes and princesses that appear in the series, having sired all of these children with different consorts.
Japanese Voice: Norio Wakamoto
English Voice: Michael McConnohie
Background[]
Charles was a very big 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.
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 consciousness, thus uniting humanity as a single mind. In spite of this, Charles did show some care for a select few of his children, particularly Lelouch and Nunnally. He is very perceptive of his children's relationships, 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.
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.
Death[]
Charles intended to use the Sword of Akasha to trigger Ragnarök, that would destroy the gods and once destroyed, every human that has ever existed, living or dead, will be united and exist as one mind. Lelouch, realizing that such a world would be stagnant and without a future, rejects this plan in favor of accepting reality. He then uses his fully-evolved Geass to command the Gods to deactivate and destroy Ragnarök, therefore causing the Gods to turn against his parents and dissolve them into nothing.