Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion Characters Guide

Code Geass is built on a single dangerous idea: a chess-obsessed exile is handed a power that lets him command anyone, and he uses it to declare war on the empire that ruined his life. Almost every character wears at least one mask, plays a double role, and sits on a moral line the show keeps redrawing. This guide covers every character who matters in Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion — who they really are, which side they fight for, and how their loyalties bend as the rebellion escalates.

All main characters at a glance

Character	Role	First appears	One-line description
Lelouch Lamperouge	Protagonist / Zero	Ep. 1	Exiled prince who becomes the masked terrorist Zero.
C.C.	Main / immortal contractor	Ep. 1	The immortal witch who grants Lelouch his Geass.
Suzaku Kururugi	Deuteragonist / Britannian pilot	Ep. 1	Honorary Britannian pilot of the Lancelot and Lelouch's oldest friend.
Kallen Stadtfeld	Main / Black Knights ace	Ep. 1	Fiery ace pilot of the Black Knights' crimson Guren.
Nunnally Lamperouge	Lelouch's sister	Ep. 1	Lelouch's gentle, blind sister — the reason for everything he does.
Shirley Fenette	Student council / love interest	Ep. 1	Kind classmate caught in the crossfire of Lelouch's double life.
Jeremiah Gottwald	Britannian officer (Purist)	Ep. 2	Zealous officer defined by the infamous "Orange" incident.
Lloyd Asplund	Britannian engineer	Ep. 2	Eccentric scientist who built the Lancelot Knightmare Frame.
Schneizel el Britannia	Britannian prince / rival	Late R1	Britannia's brilliant second prince and Lelouch's true intellectual rival.

Lelouch Lamperouge — the exile who declared war on an empire

Lelouch is the exiled eleventh prince of Britannia, hiding in occupied Japan under a false name with his sister until a chance encounter hands him Geass — a power that lets him plant one absolute command in anyone he looks in the eye. He weaponizes it instantly, taking up the mask and cape of Zero to lead a rebellion against the empire his own father rules. What makes him one of anime's great leads is that he is genuinely brilliant and genuinely dangerous: a tactician who treats war like a chessboard and a brother who will burn the world down for the people he loves. His tragedy is that the same command that makes him unstoppable carries a catch he can never fully control, and every victory as Zero costs him something as Lelouch. He is equal parts hero, terrorist, and self-appointed architect of a new world — and the show never lets you settle on which.

C.C. — the immortal behind the power

C.C. (pronounced "C-two") is the green-haired immortal who forms the contract that gives Lelouch his Geass, then attaches herself to him as partner, accomplice, and occasional conscience. She cannot age or die, has lived for centuries, and guards a past the series reveals only in fragments. Cool, cryptic, and famously fond of pizza, she treats Lelouch's rebellion with the detachment of someone who has watched empires rise and fall before. Her deal with him carries a price — a wish she expects him to grant one day — and that quiet obligation hangs over their entire relationship.

Suzaku Kururugi — the friend on the other side

Suzaku is Lelouch's oldest friend and his mirror image. The son of Japan's last prime minister, he chooses to serve the empire that conquered his country, convinced that real change has to come lawfully from within rather than through terror. As an Honorary Britannian he becomes the test pilot of the Lancelot, the military's most advanced Knightmare Frame, which repeatedly throws him into battle against Zero without either of them knowing the truth. His idealism is as absolute as Lelouch's cynicism, and the collision between "the ends justify the means" and "the means are everything" is the philosophical engine of the whole series.

Kallen Stadtfeld — the ace who keeps asking questions

Kallen Stadtfeld — born Kallen Kozuki — lives a double life every bit as sharp as Lelouch's: a delicate, soft-spoken half-Britannian noble at Ashford Academy, and the fearless ace pilot of the resistance out of uniform. As the Black Knights' best Knightmare pilot she commands the crimson Guren Mk-II, the one machine that can trade blows with Britannia's prototypes. Her loyalty to Zero is fierce but never blind; she is one of the few who keeps pressing to learn who the man behind the mask really is. Half-Japanese and half-Britannian, she also embodies the war's central wound in a single person.

Nunnally Lamperouge — the reason for everything

Nunnally is Lelouch's younger sister and, in his own words, the reason for everything he does. Left blind and unable to walk after the trauma that shattered their childhood, she is gentle, perceptive, and completely unaware that her brother spends his nights leading a rebellion. Lelouch's stated goal — a kinder, more peaceful world — is really a world he is building for her. That devotion is his greatest strength and his most exploitable weakness, and the series never lets him forget it.

Shirley Fenette — the ordinary heart in a war story

Shirley is a warm, earnest member of the Ashford student council and one of the few genuinely uncomplicated hearts in the cast. Her crush on Lelouch keeps pulling her toward a life she doesn't understand, and the gap between the classmate she adores and the revolutionary he secretly is becomes one of the show's most quietly painful threads. She stands for everything ordinary that Lelouch's war puts at risk, and the collateral damage of his crusade lands on her harder than on almost anyone.

Jeremiah Gottwald — from Purist to legend

Jeremiah Gottwald starts as a proud Britannian officer of the Purist faction, obsessed with pureblood superiority — until a single humiliating encounter with Zero derails his career and turns his name into the fandom's most famous meme (ask any fan about "Orange"). What makes him worth watching is his arc: few characters in the series travel further from where they begin, and his fanatical loyalty simply finds new targets in ways best left to discover unspoiled. He is proof that Code Geass loves nothing more than reinventing a character you thought you had figured out.

Lloyd Asplund — the mad scientist of Camelot

Lloyd Asplund is the "Earl of Pudding," the gleefully amoral scientist who designed the Lancelot and heads Britannia's experimental Camelot unit. He cares about his Knightmare Frames far more than the people piloting them, and his cheerful indifference to the human cost of war is played for both comedy and a genuine chill. As Suzaku's handler he keeps the story's most dangerous machine running, and his eccentric genius makes him one of the cast's most memorable side players.

Schneizel el Britannia — the mind that rivals Lelouch

Schneizel is the empire's second prince and prime minister — and the one opponent whose intellect genuinely rivals Lelouch's. Calm, courteous, and all but unflappable, he plays politics and warfare with the same effortless mastery Lelouch brings to the battlefield, which makes him far more frightening than any brute. He looms larger as the conflict widens, and the series treats him as the wall Zero must eventually climb. Where Lelouch gambles, Schneizel calculates — and he rarely loses.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is the main character of Code Geass?

The main character is Lelouch Lamperouge, an exiled Britannian prince who gains the power of Geass and becomes the masked rebel leader Zero. His childhood friend Suzaku Kururugi serves as the deuteragonist and his direct rival, fighting for the opposite side of the same war.

Who is Zero in Code Geass?

Zero is the masked identity Lelouch adopts to lead the Order of the Black Knights against Britannia. The audience knows Zero is Lelouch from the very first episodes; the tension comes from which characters inside the story do — and don't — manage to figure it out.

Who is the strongest character in Code Geass?

It depends on the kind of strength. Lelouch is the strongest strategist, able to win battles he has no business winning, and his Geass makes him uniquely dangerous. In a straight fight, though, Suzaku Kururugi and Kallen Stadtfeld are the elite Knightmare Frame pilots, with Suzaku's superhuman reflexes and the Lancelot generally considered the deadliest one-on-one combatant in the first season.

How many main characters does Code Geass have?

The story is anchored by two leads — Lelouch and C.C. — but plays out as an ensemble. Suzaku, Kallen, Nunnally, and the pilots and princes around them all carry major arcs, and the first season builds its drama out of how their loyalties overlap and collide.

What is Geass in Code Geass?

Geass is a supernatural "power of the king" granted through a contract with an immortal like C.C. Lelouch's specific Geass lets him give any person a single, absolute command they cannot resist — but it only works on each person once, and it grows harder to control as the story goes on.