chinaman91

Awesome ending, it glorified Lelouch as the hero when the other chracters didnt, and effectively died for the sake of everyone else.

Furthermore it left us questioning whether Lelouch is really dead or not... thats an ending

I don't agree when you say that only Lelouch can be considered like a hero. And Suzaku. From the beginning he takes every burdens on him. Even at the end, only Suzaku could have to kill Lelouch and take the final burden : to lose his identity for the sake of the world.

Will

I don't agree when you say that only Lelouch can be considered like a hero. And Suzaku. From the beginning he takes every burdens on him. Even at the end, only Suzaku could have to kill Lelouch and take the final burden : to lose his identity for the sake of the world.

Note that Lelouch doesnt want to use geass on Nunally. Why did he do it? They both wanted to be hated and shunned by society, but Lelouch wanted to be the one responsible to create peace. Sure Suzaku has a heavy burden at its conclusion, but unlike Suzaku, Lelouch pays with his life.

Will

I don't agree when you say that only Lelouch can be considered like a hero. And Suzaku. From the beginning he takes every burdens on him. Even at the end, only Suzaku could have to kill Lelouch and take the final burden : to lose his identity for the sake of the world.

And Lelouch had his name stained forever in history book. IF people's theory about him became immortal is true, he'll have to hide his identity as well like Suzaku with only C.C and possibly Orange and Suzaku to show his real self. How does that sound to you, hm?

If it is true, like Suzaku, he will have to stay hidden. In another hand, like you said, it is only a theory. So nothing can prove that he will have to hide himself. Moreover, I'd like to point out Suzaku stays cursed by the Geass of Lelouch which didn't allow him to die. Do you really think Suzaku wasn't ready to pay his own life for the sake of the japanese, of the humanity ? Everybody knows if he will have to do it, just like Lelouch, it will.
Because he knew he made mistakes in the past like kill his father, he tried be forgiven and for that he always puts the life of the other before himself, always saving people, civilian in the middle of the chaos.

My point is that everybody think Lelouch is a hero and I agree. But I can't bear that all the credits are given to him. You can't forget the other like Suzaku or Nanally who were ready to do the same thing in their own ways =)

I don't know, but it seemed obvious to me that Lelouch certainly is still alive and I have some key reasons to back it up.

1 Based on the past deeds of Lelouch, even though he is trying to rebuilt the world would you think he actually made a plan to sacrifice himself in the end?
2When Lelouch "died" in the parade and touched Nunnally's hand there was a transfer of memory which made me believe that Lelouch has the geass code, since the only other time the memory transfer happen is when C.C touched Susaku in the forest in season 1
3 Mr.Orange stopped the knightmare which were firing on Susaku dressed up as Zero. Why? so he could become a staircase for Susaku? This is unlikely, so im presuming that he knows Lelouch has a card up his sleeve.
4.Last but not least, the ending scene with C.C, that scene alone made me believe Lelouch is alive since her goal was to protect Lelouch, she wouldn't be that happy in the end (and same goes for Mr.Orange, I wouldn't start picking oranges off a tree if my leader was killed after conquering the world)

Am I the only one who noticed Nunnaly's seeing the memories of her brother when she touched him? It was like the time of Lelouch's touching to C.C. I mean, the only explanation I come up with is Lelouch had the power of Geass. Thanks to that, he didn't die. And also at the end C.C. asked him "The power of kings, known as Geass, brings one solitude. Not quite accurate, is it?" meaning that not all the Geass users become lonely. If Lelouch was dead, what did she mean? Isn't death one type of solitude?
I read the theories here but i couldn't see an answer explaining Nunnaly's touch, C.C's question and Nunnaly's pink bird near C.C (why would she kept that as -YuriSama- said) altogether. I think the only explanation of them is Lelouch's still being alive. I may be missing something, though.

Recently I've been thinking of something... If the producers really wanted to make absolutely clear that Lulu died, there'd be no final scene with CC. I mean, if he's dead what's the point? What's the point of the origami bird? What's the point of CC saying "Right, Lelouch?"? What's the point of not showing the face of the driver?

The point is, he's alive, of course, hahaha.

Personally I believe its wishful thinking to think that Loulech is still alive and people are just in denial. All the evidence that people have pointed out is circumstantial like CC tilting her head and saying "Right, Loulech?" That can also be interpreted as CC looking up at the sky and speaking to Loulech's spirit. People tend to do that when talking to someone whose passed on, no? It doesn't have to mean she was talking to the cart driver. Or how about why was she crying in the church just before Loulech died? If CC knew that Loulech was immortal there would be no need for the tears or her praying.

@Yangbo: Your reason 3 could also be explained as so: Jeremiah stopped the knightmares from attacking because he knew it was Suzaku dressed as Zero. This is supported with him saying "Go forth, masked knight". He needed to make it look like he at least attempted to stop Zero or else it would have been seen as failure of duty. His comment demonstrates Jeremiah was aware that it was Suzaku inside the costume and therefore there was some sort of plan going on. Now Jeremiah had also sworn complete loyalty to Loulech and has since served him fatefully. If Loulech told Jeremiah the truth about the final part of Zero Requiem, Jeremiah as a knight sworn to chivalry, would have to go along with his master's wishes or face dishonor. Right after Loulech's death there was a small riot. Rather than staying and fighting off the rioters (which he had the clear advantage) Jeremiah ordered his men to retreat "stating" that they're too many to fighting. Jeremiah ordered that retreat way to quickly for a man that just lost his master. Which supports the idea that even the retreat was planned.

It was a great ending with lelouch dieing a noble death without anyone who knew what he did for humanity, but there are still things not well explained about for example c.c, and i still want to know her true name.

I totally agree with nychi002. For me Lelouch is dead. If it is not, therefore his sacrifice wouldn't be so heroic and then i would more disagree the fact a lot of people consider Lelouch like the only hero of the show.
Please don't forget Suzaku, who forgave the murder of his love, his bestfriend, protect him to the end; Suzaku who believed in his convictions until the end. Suzaku who fulfill the last wish of Lulu.

I loved the ending, the death of Lelouch gave the anime a more definitive end.

Yeah, I think it is better this way. All Hail Lelouch. Rest In Peace Beautiful Emperor...

@~nychi002

Then why wouldn't they bother to show the cart driver's face? If it's just some random guy, we wouldn't mind to see his face and no one gonna say the possibility of lelouch's being alive.

Someone else once saying that Nunnally just kinda 'get' the idea of what Lelouch's doing. But why did the one happened in Akasha appear? I'm pretty sure it's some kind of memory transfer like what people had said over and over. Remembering Jeremiah kinda traumatized by the fact he failed to guard Marrianne that she got 'killed', I don't see how he can still smirk after Lelouch died. He should at least showed a bit sadness or frowned. If there's a genius who saw this, he/she might figure out that it's something the victim has planned.

Btw, talk about strange, how come no one realize that Lelouch was smiling while being stab by Zerozaku and even touched his face? There's about million of people there.

ROLililala1618

Then why wouldn't they bother to show the cart driver's face? If it's just some random guy, we wouldn't mind to see his face and no one gonna say the possibility of lelouch's being alive.

Depending on the region CC was traveling in that could be typical garb for a peasant worker. Maybe the driver simply wanted to keep the sun out of his eyes. To add realism to a show you have to make the characters look the part. If people from a particular region of the world normally drive when their faces covered to block out the sun then you should draw them as such. But hey if You want to believe Loulech is alive won't stop you.

ROLililala1618

Remembering Jeremiah kinda traumatized by the fact he failed to guard Marrianne that she got 'killed', I don't see how he can still smirk after Lelouch died. He should at least showed a bit sadness or frowned. If there's a genius who saw this, he/she might figure out that it's something the victim has planned.

I saw Jeremiah's smirk as "My master's plan went off without a hitch" After all Loulech did in fact plan his own death. That's not something you can do very easily while deceiving a lot of people.

ROLililala1618

Btw, talk about strange, how come no one realize that Lelouch was smiling while being stab by Zerozaku and even touched his face? There's about million of people there.

At the time more people were concerned with the fact that "Hey here's Zero, a man reported to be dead by the Black Knights. What's he doing here?" than to notice that Loulech was smiling. Plus they were standing several meters away. It's pretty hard to see if someone's smiling without a close up if all you can make out is his head. AS for Loulech's hand, when he touched Suzaku's mask his hand was cover by the collar of the cape. Only those looking from the right angle would have caught it and that's only if they were not too distracted with the fact that "Hey, the Emperor's just been slain".

Like Will said, if you want to believe Loulech is alive go ahead. If you think he's dead that's okay too.

Aren't we forgetting something important? Lelouch made a promise to CC, the promise to let her have a smile on her face at the time of her death. I don't think Lelouch would just ignore that. "Well, yeah CC, you gave me the geass, and you're the reason I could make this happen... but I think I'm going to die now and leave you alone. Sorry."
Lelouch planned things without ever ignoring a single little detail, and I don't think at the end he would just "forget" his end of the deal.