Age: 17 (first season), 18 (second season)
Birthdate: July 10, 2000 a.t.b. (Cancer)
Blood type: O
Nationality: Japanese- Honorary Britannian
Height: 176 cm (5'9")
Occupation: Student, Military Officer, Knightmare Pilot, Knight
Allegiance: Holy Britannian Empire
Position: Knight of the Round
Knightmare: Lancelot, Lancelot Conquista, Vincent Commander Model, Lancelot Albion, Lancelot Albion Zero, Mahoroba Type-01, Lancelot siN
Suzaku is the anti-heroic deuteragonist of the anime and manga series Code Geass. He is an Honorary Citizen and soldier of the Holy Britannian Empire and the best friend and rival of Lelouch vi Britannia.
According to Lelouch, before the Britannian invasion of Japan, Suzaku was somewhat selfish, rarely putting others before himself. He also acted somewhat bratty when he first met Lelouch, beating Lelouch up and bullying him.
He dedicated his cause not to endorse terrorism or rebellion, which he believed would only result in the pointless killing. Unwilling to sacrifice the innocent, he also had a strong sense of loyalty, never questioning the orders of his superiors. Despite that, elders showed him to be willing to stab them in the back if necessary. Suzaku also wished to take responsibility for his actions, and his ultimate goal was to atone for the killing of his father.
Character Background:
Suzaku is the son of Japan's last prime minister, Genbu Kururugi. His existence was kept a secret from the public until after the war. Suzaku met Lelouch vi Britannia and his sister Nunnally vi Britannia when they moved to the Kururugi residence as a diplomatic peace trade. At first, Suzaku despised Lelouch because he thought he was a prince who didn't care about anyone. As time passed by, however, he came to know Lelouch better, and they soon became best friends. They became separated when Britannia invaded Japan but reunited in the Shinjuku Ghetto. When Britannia began its invasion of Japan, Suzaku got mortified by the violence, and his father's belief that resisting to the bitter end was preferable to surrender. Unable to change his father's mind, Suzaku murdered him during a heated exchange. Britannia covered up the incident, and Suzaku's life spared, while the government was thrown into disarray and surrendered to Britannia. Lelouch believes that, had Genbu lived, Japan would have likely been torn apart by war once the other major powers decided to intervene. His guilt over the incident causes Suzaku to constantly place himself on the frontlines in the hope of atoning his actions by death. It also inspires Suzaku's belief that the ends achieved by using the wrong means are meaningless since he created peace through murder. After firing the F.L.E.I.J.A. warhead under the command of Lelouch's Geass, he decides to achieve his desired results regardless of the means, even if it means joining forces with his enemy, Lelouch, and killing people to make true his objectives and ideals. Despite that fact, Suzaku is still interested in achieving a world where everyone can live happily and have a tomorrow, as seen in the last episode when all the acts of Lelouch and Suzaku were to achieve that world.
First Season:
Suzaku, along with Lelouch, makes his first appearance at the beginning of the first episode of the series as a child, watching the Britannian Military entering Japan; C.C. was watching them. After the invasion of Japan, Suzaku seemed detached but sad. Later, Suzaku is introduced as an Honorary Britannian soldier. Prince Clovis sent honorary Britannian Soldiers to retrieve the poison gas stolen by the Japanese Resistance. Among them, Suzaku finds the vehicle and confronts Lelouch, whom he believes to be a terrorist. When Nagata opens the capsule, Suzaku quickly puts his gas mask on Lelouch's face. The capsule opens, and instead of gas, as Suzaku expected, a restrained C.C. appears. Before they can get answers, Suzaku's superiors come and tell him not to question his briefing and to shoot the "terrorist" Lelouch. When Suzaku refuses, he got shot in the back. However, the bullet stopped by a broken pocket watch belonging to his deceased father. As a result of Lelouch's rebellion in a counter-attack against the Britannian Army and a twist of fate, Suzaku became the pilot of the experimental Knightmare Frame Lancelot since Britannia wouldn't risk actual pilots on a practical craft. Lelouch rescues Suzaku from his impending execution by assuming the identity of Zero and taking credit for Clovis' murder, forcing the military to acquit Suzaku due to lack of evidence. While Suzaku agrees with Zero on the latter's assertion that the Britannian Empire is corrupt and not worth serving, he wants to change and improve the Empire from within to show that his father's death was not in vain. As Suzaku claims, achieving results by wrong or illegal methods is meaningless. Having been acquitted of all charges, Suzaku meets Third Princess Euphemia li Britannia and escorts her around Area 11. In Shinjuku Ghetto, they conflict with Shinichirō Tamaki, a member of the Japanese Resistance, and Suzaku ends up intervening in an internal pureblood struggle. From this point on, Suzaku remains the pilot of the Lancelot. He enrolled at Ashford Academy at Euphemia's suggestion. Lelouch later confronts him, and they talk about their past, but Suzaku worries that he will only cause Lelouch and Nunnally trouble. Later Lelouch invites him to Nunnally at the clubhouse, but Suzaku leaves, wanting to keep their statuses as royalty a secret. His rank within the military is initially Private, but he is promoted to Warrant Officer by Cornelia when she first arrives in Japan. When Mao kidnaps Nunnally, Suzaku helps Lelouch rescue her. After detonating the bomb and rescuing Nunnally, Suzaku approaches Mao to arrest him; however, Mao uses his Geass and reveals the fact that Suzaku was the one who killed his father, Genbu Kururugi. Suzaku is appointed as Euphemia's personal Knight, granting him the rank of Major after a televised battle with the Black Knights makes his occupation public knowledge. During the fight on Shikine Island, Lelouch confronts Suzaku after luring him into a trap to recruit him by reminding him of his father's death. After reinforcements arrive, Lelouch is forced to use the power of Geass on Suzaku and commands him to "live." As this command gives no time or event limitations, it activates every time Suzaku feels threatened, and he must live by any means necessary. He eventually encounters Kallen at Kamine Island and captures her only to spend their time being stuck. While spending time on the island, Suzaku and Kallen talk to each other peacefully until Suzaku tries to convince Kallen to abandon the Black Knights, which causes her to retort that Suzaku's ideals will bring nothing but the suffering of the people. That makes Suzaku tell her that he killed his father and wants to atone for what he did. At the primarily Administrative Zone's inaugural ceremony, Suzaku sees Zero and wants to request Euphie's assistance, which Euphie said was okay. Meanwhile, Suzaku sees the Gawain, he had the same reaction regarding C.C., and the moment the two reacted, Suzaku lost consciousness. Suzaku later woke up and saw trouble going around the stadium. He commanded the troops to stop attacking but get denied since Euphie ordered it, which shocked him, and as a result, he went to find Euphie. Suzaku falls in love with Euphemia and is thus crushed emotionally by her murder at Zero's hands. He gets a visit from V.V., who explains Lelouch's power of Geass to him. Before heading out to battle, Suzaku calls Lelouch, whose number was Euphemia's, and discussed their current actions and wishes both other luck as friends. This drives him to find and kill Zero at all costs, exemplified when he brutally kills anyone who gets in his way, including senior Black Knights member Yoshida. After this incident, he was nicknamed the "White Reaper" or "White Death." He follows Zero to Kamine Island after Cornelia instructs him to. He meets Zero, and the two have a standoff. Lelouch tries to offer Suzaku a truce to rescue Nunnally, but Suzaku is too swept up in his grief to come to a ceasefire. In retaliation, Lelouch reminded his father's death. Enraged, Suzaku exclaims that Lelouch's very existence is a mistake, one he intends to correct, and tells Lelouch that he will be the one to save Nunnally instead. Lelouch draws his pistol as well, and both men attempt to shoot one another, at which point the screen fades to black, and the season ends with two gunshots.
Second Season:
In the second season, it is revealed that Suzaku managed to take Lelouch alive by shooting his pistol and then kicking him to the ground, leveraging his capture for a promotion into the Knights of the Round, the most powerful order of warriors in the Britannian Empire. Suzaku leads the Britannian Navy to wipe out the Black Knights to ensure that Nunnally's re-establishing the Special Administrative Zone of Japan will not be dismantled, but is completely surprised when the whole Navy got wiped out. In a surprising twist, Zero announces that he will accept Nunnally's offer in exchange for exile. Cleverly, Zero dressed all one million Eleven as himself, leaving Suzaku no choice but to remove the entire group to prevent another massacre. In the aftermath of Shirley's death, Suzaku investigates Shirley's supposed suicide and concludes that Lelouch murdered her. He decides to question Kallen about Zero's true identity, threatening to use Refrain if she does not cooperate. Kallen refuses to cooperate, but Suzaku does not use the Refrain, realizing that it would be no better than Lelouch by doing so. She beats him severely during their next meeting in retaliation, which he does not fight back. Frustrated, he goes to confront Lelouch personally and discovers that the Intelligence Agency is under the effect of Geass, confirming that Lelouch has regained his memories. During the second battle of Tokyo, Suzaku threatens to use the F.L.E.I.J.A. bomb, but Lelouch, having lost his trust in Suzaku, calls his bluff. Jeremiah Gottwald and Guilford attack Suzaku under the influence of Lelouch's Geass. Though both are drawn away from Suzaku, he is forced to battle Kallen in her improved Guren. She easily evades his attacks and significantly damages Lancelot. Kallen was ready to finish off Suzaku under Lelouch's order due to their broken trust. Driven to the edge, Suzaku realizes he cannot win and comes to terms with his death as an atonement. In doing so, Suzaku's Geass command activates and forces him to use the F.L.E.I.J.A. bomb. Kallen dodges, and the bomb instead hits the government complex, wiping out the entire government building and most surrounding areas. Following the battle, Suzaku can only laugh madly at the destruction he has caused. Suzaku concludes that the ends are more important than the means to reach them and becomes more focused on becoming Knight of One, which upset Cornelia and Gino's likes. He suggests to Schneizel that he could assassinate the Emperor. Schneizel agrees, and Suzaku heads to Kaminejima to complete his mission. Suzaku attempts revenge, but Suzaku's attempt to kill the Emperor is derailed by the Knight of One. When Lelouch attacks the island, Suzaku considers the task his burden to bear and heads off to find Lelouch, only to have the ground knocked out from under him by a stray blast. He is recovered by Anya, who Marianne possesses, and C.C. Suzaku enters the Sword of Akasha with C.C., who was told that Charles is already immortal, and looks on as Lelouch defeats his parents stops Ragnarök. He thinks about taking revenge for Euphemia right before Lelouch tells him that nothing is unforgivable, mirroring the conversation Shirley had with Suzaku before she died. The time shift one month later reveals that he became the Knight of Zero under his trusting friend Lelouch vi Britannia, the 99th Emperor of the Holy Britannian Empire. When four of the remaining Knights of the Round attempt to remove Lelouch from power, Suzaku battles them single-handedly. With the new Lancelot Albion, he easily defeats and kills all of them, sparing only Gino's life, asking his purpose to fight. He later assists Lelouch in taking the UFN leaders hostage. Following the destruction of Pendragon by Schneizel and the revelation that Nunnally is alive, Suzaku is stunned. Despite Lelouch's concern for Nunnally, Suzaku insists that their objective has not changed. He tells C.C. that he is Lelouch's sword and will remove his enemies and even his weaknesses and ask C.C. to be his shield since they are accomplices. He attacks the Black Knights to prevent them from reaching the Avalon but was too late. He joins Lelouch in boarding the Damocles, holding Gino off while Lelouch goes ahead. Suzaku fights Kallen to a standstill, eventually taking a blow to the chest, which causes his Knightmare to explode while she loses consciousness. He is shown as dead in the blast but later shows up as the new Zero to kill Lelouch. While simultaneously redeeming Lelouch's and Suzaku's sins by having them impose the most significant punishments on themselves: death for Lelouch, who wishes for a tomorrow with his sister, life for Suzaku, who wishes to atone for his sins through the end. With the Zero Requiem complete, Suzaku weeps his tears silently as Lelouch dies. As his final order and punishment, Lelouch tells Suzaku that he is dead from this day on, forced to exist as Zero and sacrifice his happiness for the sake of the world, an order Suzaku accepts.
After Lelouch's death, Suzaku becomes Nunnally's protector in the following months, aided by Schneizel, who Lelouch ordered to specifically obey Zero, the new leader of the Black Knights.
(Source: Code Geass Wiki, Anime and Manga Universe Wiki, Villains Wiki)
The knight is your traditional hero, fighting against monsters and wicked men to save kingdoms from evil. Legends of these heroes have persisted over the centuries and we continue to make new ones today.
The human mind can only take so much before it just snaps like a twig. When that happens people can have different reactions, from breaking down and crying to going on a killing spree. One bad day can be the tipping point that forever changes a person for better or for worse.
