Creating a Better, New World

A Comparative Analysis of Code Geass and Death Note

Code Geass (the original two seasons) is one of my favourite anime, so when people recommended Death Note as a similar story, I was intrigued. During the first episodes, I saw the similarities in the motives and decided to write a comparative analysis to extract the archetypes represented by the two protagonists (antagonists?), Lelouch vi Britannia and Light Yagami. Needless to say, this analysis contains full spoilers for both anime.

Dark Tetrad Traits

The dark tetrad is an extension of the dark triad personality traits proposed by psychologists Delroy L. Paulhus and Kevin M. Williams. It encapsulates the traits of narcissism (holding oneself in extremely high regard, sometimes infallible), Machiavellianism (seeing other people as means to achieve one’s goal), and psychopathy (being void of remorse and conscience). The fourth trait—sadism (finding pleasure in causing pain)—was proposed later, extending the triad into a tetrad. This collection of personality types is considered dark because they each lean towards malevolence, exploitation, and antisocial behavior. Exploring these traits is central to both stories, as is apparent in their main characters.

Light Yagami is a prime example of the dark tetrad. He’s clearly the unredeemable antagonist of the story, fully aware of the consequences of his actions yet completely committed to them. This demonstrates psychopathy, as he shows no remorse, no matter who he has to kill to achieve his goal—his utopia. He also displays Machiavellianism by considering sacrificing his sister to save himself and by pretending to work with the investigators, even “befriending” L. Most notable is his narcissism, putting himself in the position of god of the new world, being extremely smug about his victories and trembling in the face of defeat. This is probably Light’s most characteristic trait. His sadism is questionable, as he doesn’t actively cause unnecessary pain, but he can’t help announcing his victory to the defeated person every single time—even at the risk of getting caught.

Lelouch vi Britannia, on the other hand, is a much lighter case. In some sense, he could be called a humanitarian—rising against the oppression of the Japanese, fighting for his sister Nunally—but it’s not clear throughout the story if he’s more evil or good. Later, it turns out that his support of the oppressed was only secondary to his goal of destroying his father, which marks him as Machiavellian, along with his exploitation of Rolo, Shirley, and Kallen. His ongoing conflict with Suzaku revolves around whether the ends justify the means, furthering his Machiavellian tendencies. With the character of Zero, he also exhibits similar narcissistic behavior to Light, deeming himself the maker of miracles (a roundabout way of saying “I’m god”), which is further emphasized by his antisocial nature in his class (a trait he shares with Light). The sense of righteousness is another characteristic of a narcissist, as it puts them above others morally. In the Zero Requiem arc, Lelouch amplifies these traits to appear entirely antagonistic and draw the world’s hatred onto himself.

His self-sacrifice shows an improvement in his narcissistic traits by admitting that the world would be better without him, but paradoxically also states that only he could bring about the end of worldwide conflict and oppression. Sacrificing himself is the ultimate argument of his utilitarianism, showing that even his own life (something many hold most precious) is beneath his final goal, maintaining his integrity even after betraying almost everyone who trusted him (as opposed to Light, who holds his own life most dear). Where Lelouch remains relatable is in how he feels remorseful and grieves multiple times during the series, which excludes him from being a psychopath or sadist, unlike Light.

Values and Motivations

The backgrounds of the two antagonists (protagonists?) are strikingly similar. They both start off as excelling high-school students, which might be the most boring occupation out there. Where they diverge is the worlds they inhabit. While both find their worlds rotten, Light lives in what’s essentially the same as our world—though it has its problems, it certainly doesn’t benefit from his radical actions as Kira. On the other hand, Lelouch lives in a reality where there’s real oppression, real genocide, and real tyranny. Even though he’s in the privileged class, he can’t stay silent about it. In both series, storytelling amplifies this argument, showing only minimal crimes in Death Note but full purges and exploitation of the “Elevens” in Code Geass.

The two characters’ families also play a significant role in shaping their actions, but in an almost opposite way. Light inherits his sense of justice from his father and thus pretends to be his ally, whereas Lelouch is in conflict with his father (and most of his half-siblings), destined to fight against him. His sense of justice comes from his personal experience of abuse and stands in opposition to the exploitative nature of his ancestors. This isn’t unique to his generation, as Euphemia and Nunally also find Britannia despicable, but Lelouch is the one who takes action first.

Both characters claim to want to make the world a better place and are willing to take extreme measures to achieve it. But there’s an interesting difference: Lelouch wants a world where he and his sister can live peacefully—value added to the existing world—while Light wants a world without crime—something subtracted from the existing. I generally value constructive methods and tend to be skeptical of destructive ones. The outcomes of the two stories seem to support this, though it may also be rooted in their ability to make the correct sacrifices.

Allies and Pawns

As the journey of the two (anti)heroes unfolds, they both make allies, or at least sacrificial pawns, to help them achieve their goals. In Lelouch’s case, the supporting group is the Black Knights, a band of freedom fighters who doubt Zero, but have no better option than to serve him. In Yagami’s case, he joins the Special Provision for Kira only in the second half of the anime, and only as an extra layer of disguise. They, too, aren’t the pinnacle of competence, but they remain wary of him, and eventually catch on, which proves detrimental for Kira—similarly to how Lelouch’s situation worsens after Schneizel exposes him to the Black Knights.

More interesting to me are the allies who share in the powers: the Death Note and the Geass. Yagami has quite a few of them, but the main one is Misa Amane—a fanatic of Kira and Light, who gives up three-quarters of her life to get affirmation from a psychopath who discards her after she is no longer of use to him. A similar fate awaits all the other Kiras, who all get disposed of by Light when they achieve the goal they were given a Death Note for, or when Light is at risk of getting found out. Teru Mikami, Kyouske Higuchi, and Kiyomi Takada are all just pawns in Light’s quest, who can be sacrificed for the greater good—or so Light believes.

Lelouch has only one Geass-user ally: Rolo. He enters the story as a fake brother, sent by his father to keep him in check, but is manipulated into allying with Zero after he awakens. Similarly to Misa, he is emotionally unstable and naive, serving as a prime victim for the Machiavellian Lelouch. He becomes so attached to him that he sacrifices his life to save Zero. In this victim role, they both serve as examples of how one can be completely exploited and die for a lie they tell themselves.

Despite the similarities of their underlings, the two stories have a big difference, namely the supernatural entities bestowing the superpowers that change the world. Ryuk, as a god of death, has no interest in the success or failure of Light beyond entertainment and maybe as a way to eat apples, and he makes it clear that he doesn’t want to help him. After all, he’s only interested in humans dying, as that’s the condition of shinigamis. His only goal is to kill some time—in the most bizarre sense.

C.C., on the other hand, is deeply involved in Lelouch’s success, first as a partner in crime and with the goal of ending her own misery. I speculate that she harbors a great deal of regret—in the case of Mao, she even states it—but I assume she feels some responsibility for Britannia’s conquest. I base this on the support she provides Lelouch to achieve his aim, even from the beginning, by playing the part of a critic of his actions. Later, she grows emotionally attached to Lelouch, going as far as to give up her own wish of dying for the sake of the new world order based on his death—the event she spent the entirety of the story preventing.

Symbolical Similarities

Both series use symbols to convey deeper meanings. The main reason I wanted to write this analysis is the symbolic similarities, which are quite consistent between the two series.

The first is that both powers are linked to vision and eyes. Lelouch’s Geass requires eye contact to work, and the Death Note requires you to visualize the target as well as write their name into the book. Additionally, the shinigami eyes grant vision of names above the targets. These sets of restrictions provide challenges to the wielders of the powers, as they force personal contact, leading to intentionally exciting situations. But apart from being plot devices, they also highlight the visionary nature of the two lead characters.

Another interesting similarity is that both stories feature a memory loss arc. These allow us to peek into what would have happened if Light and Lelouch had never gotten hold of their powers and had never set out on their quests. But they also show that once they started on their mission, they are no longer content with ordinary life, and their fate at the end of the road.

But what fate awaits them at the end of the road? For both, it’s death. Light is taken out by Ryuk right after he is exposed as Kira, and Lelouch sacrifices himself at the hands of Suzaku to achieve his goal of making the world a better place to live in. Light gets close to his goal of becoming the god of the new world but fails in the end, whereas Lelouch succeeds—but only by sacrificing everything, including himself.

Sacrificing oneself to cleanse the world—this is clearly a parallel to Jesus Christ, who is known as the ultimate example of self-sacrifice for the complete salvation of mankind. Dying in the arms of Nunnally is also intentionally similar to the Pietà—the symbol of Holy Mary holding her dead son. Death Note also has its Biblical reference: when L washes Yagami’s feet, it mirrors the image of Jesus washing the feet of Judas Iscariot before being betrayed and killed by him. This reference even makes sense in-universe, as L’s origin (Wammy’s House) is illustrated with Christian symbols, including a church, so L might have been familiar with the Bible from his orphanage days.

Conclusion

The two anime — Death Note and Code Geass — showcase two similar characters whose alignment in terms of good and evil is comparable. Both are shown to possess traits that are known in psychology as the dark tetrad, but Yagami is much more pathological than Lelouch. Their relationships are mostly similar, both in terms of underlings and enemies, except for key differences that usually restore some of Lelouch’s humanity and reveal the extent of Yagami’s rotten nature. They end the same but differently—both characters die, closing their stories, but Lelouch succeeds in his goal by sacrificing himself, while Light suffers for sacrificing everyone and everything for his twisted ego.