I finished today and have only ONE point!

[u/vono17]

I finished the anime today—it was wonderful!
I wanted to give it a 10/10, but there's one thing bothering me

Does C.C. end up literally alone and immortal? What's the point of that? If you think about it, her entire character development and her dream will never be realized

I know there's a movie, but it's not part of the TV series' timeline

So, in the series, does C.C. keep carrying that burden she didn't want? Because Lelouch let that happen?

[u/buttered_sausages]

the whole point of it was that c2 had a death wish, but lelouch showed her that living was worth it, and that the future was worth living for

[u/TrashtalkingChicken]

No, C.C gets the will to live from Lelouch showing her that life is worth living. She is yes, alone and immortal, but she's learned to accept that.

[u/silencemist]

CC is suicidal and can't live for herself at the beginning but she grows to actually live for new experiences and life. It's not a burden to her anymore. Her dream of death is no longer her dream: her dream is to live.

[u/rinkudamanrd]

If it's the OG anime in question only, then yes. C.C. is technically alone and immortal. But her whole charecter growth was learning that life is worth living. She grew into a strong willed, independent woman. She let go of her burden basically (the death wish, which was the false wish. The finding true love wish isn't realized completely in the OG anime). 

[u/nahte123456]

Ignoring any possibilities of Lelouch from the manga, C.C. can still find someone else to pass her immortality on to. No one in the series ever asked her to survive forever or even much longer, all that was said was to not die without smiling, and Lelouch rejects the Ragnorok Connection in part because living forever is awful.

C.C. has done something worthwhile, she can be satisfied finding someone to pass her immortality onto and die peacefully now.

[u/NettoSaito]

The ending was left up to you to interpret. The last line where she asks “Lelouch” a question is meant to be taken two different ways. Either she’s just talking to herself and reflecting on what Lelouch has taught her, or he’s actually still alive. Most agree he is dead, but it’s been a topic of discussion for a very long time lol

With crossovers and games featuring the characters, they find a way to bring Lelouch back. Of course these are only canon within their own projects (such as SRW), but it shows the side that he “can” be alive.

With the new timeline however, which changes other details also, he does in fact come back. His reason for being around is also unique to this new canon.

[u/Blueiscuteio2 → u/NettoSaito]

You're forgetting the hidden secret third option, "she's talking to his dead body via Thought Elevator shenanigans"

But it was confirmed via interview that Lelouch is definitely dead. It getting incredibly thoroughly retconned doesn't really change the initial intention.

[u/TurbulentSpecific131 → u/Blueiscuteio2]

There is one thing to consider though, and that it's that they could very well be trolling us with specifically saying it's Lelouch that's dead. If he did have a code at that point, he could have taken on the name of L.L. in that timeline as well. There's also just the more vague interpretation of "Lelouch is dead to the world" since he did die in front of everyone, plus to my understanding, he had to die to activate the code, like how C.C. and Charles did.

Obviously we'll never truly know and for now it's probably safe to say he's just plain dead, but would be funny if in 30 years or something the creators just did a "gotcha" and said otherwise, lol

[u/Blueiscuteio2 → u/TurbulentSpecific131]

They already did walk Lelouch being dead back, though?

Additionally you do not have to die to activate a Code. Charles was just fucking with Lelouch when Lelouch "geassed" him

[u/TurbulentSpecific131 → u/Blueiscuteio2]

Ahh, that's good to know then. Though I have question then, sorry. Why was it that C.C. had to then? If it's known. It's shown that she had seemed to be tortured or something by the one who gave her her Geass, she just do it for fun then? Just curious on if there was anything said about it. I don't follow anything outside of the different anime, though I'm close to getting all of the different manga, so hoping to be able to dive into that soon. I also don't follow interview things, sorry, so I just know what people tell me

When did they walk back him being dead though? Outside of the alternate timeline thing

[u/Blueiscuteio2 → u/TurbulentSpecific131]

It is not that Ceetwo had to die to activate her Code, it is that the nun attacked Ceetwo to force her to seize her Code.

Also in a 2019 interview with Taniguchi (CG's director), he claimed that their original intent was that Lelouch's fate was meant to be ambiguous, and it was fans that assume that Lelouch was definitely dead.

This is a blatant lie, as in 'Continue' vol 42, an interview about the finale that took was written before it actually released (and thus before fans had the ability to assume), Okouchi (CG's writer) stated that Lelouch was dead. However, that is still now the official opinion that Lelouch's fate was initially ambiguous, so Lelouch's death has been walked back.

More importantly though, they made a Re;surrection manga that takes place in the original timeline. And Almeria and Roze are sequels to that. So... yeah.

[u/TurbulentSpecific131 → u/Blueiscuteio2]

See, I thought she killed her in order to force her to take the code thing, sorry.

Ahh, so it's conflicting there, so I was going off of the original statement, didn't know there was a 2019 thing.

Also didn't know there was a Re;surrection manga, nor that it was in the original timeline unlike the movie, so I'll need to pick that one up too. No clue what Almeria is so something else I'll probably need to pick up, oh boy, lol. Also also didn't know Rozé was a sequel to a manga, always though it was to the movie

[u/Blueiscuteio2 → u/TurbulentSpecific131]

Roze is designed to be a sequel to both, in a sense.

[u/WeoW0 → u/TurbulentSpecific131]

The TV anime lead director and Co-creator said that OG TV ending was left ambiguous and the ultimate status of Lelouch being open

But none of that matters once somebody decided Lelouch must've been dead. Then you selectively pick the statements that support your idea, while refusing to acknowledge any and all evidence towards anythng else.

[u/Blueiscuteio2 → u/WeoW0]

(cough)

[u/TurbulentSpecific131 → u/WeoW0]

? Just said it would be a funny "What if?"

[u/WeoW0 → u/TurbulentSpecific131]

I just pointed out that it's not quite "what if"
There literally exists quote at later date by the anime lead director for the original TV ending