Schneizel el Britannia

Infobox animanga character
color = #000
color text = #FFF
name = Schneizel el Britannia
series = Code Geass


caption = Prince Schneizel el Britannia
first=
last =
voiced by = Japanese
Norihiro Inoue English
Troy Baker
nickname =
alias = White Prince
age = 27 (first season)
28 (second season)
gender = Male
born =
death =
occupation = Prince
Prime Minister of Britanniacite episode | title = Stage 9: The Bride of the Forbidden City | titlelink = List of Code Geass episodes | series = Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion R2 | serieslink = Code Geass | network = MBS | airdate = 2008-06-08 ]
title = His Highness
relatives = Charles di Britannia (Father, deceased)
See Britannian Imperial Family
nationality = Britanniannihongo|Schneizel el Britannia|シュナイゼル エル ブリタニア|Shunaizeru Eru Buritania is the Second Prince of the Britannian Imperial Family and the Prime Minister of the Holy Britannian Empire. He is a primary antagonist in the second season. He is also a strategist on par with Lelouch Lamperouge, and the only person Lelouch could not defeat in chess as a child.

Character outline

Schneizel is ruthless and cold as a strategist, willing to sacrifice lives without a second thought to achieve his ends. He is also extremely charismatic, accounting for his ability in manipulating others. He seems to show disdain for force when it's unnecessary, such as negotiating a peace treaty with the Euro Universe despite dominating them militarily in every engagement.Schneizel has ambitions for the throne, a fact which the Emperor is aware of but does not seem concerned by. Schneizel seems somewhat resentful of his father, remarking that he is not concerned with the present reality. [Code Geass R2: Lelouch of the Rebellion Episode 18 (10/8/2008).] Lelouch judges that Schneizel's ambitions are to want the present, in contrast to his own desire to want the future and Charles' ambition to want the past. [Code Geass R2: Lelouch of the Rebellion episode 24 (21/9/2008)] He also quite caring to his siblings and he refers that Lelouch is the man he loved and feared the most, however he is not more than willing to kill them if they get in his way. Cornelia notes that Schneizel has no desires, and in a peaceful world he would be the perfect king.

He also seems to have been involved in the murder of Marianne vi Britannia. Schneizel sponsors a number of experimental projects throughout the series. He is the patron of Lloyd Asplund, developer of the Lancelot, funded the construction of the Gawain, and takes possession of one of the Thought Elevators in Japan to study it. In the Drama CD, Schneizel is shown to dislike Japan after the supposed deaths of Lelouch and Nunnally, a sentiment shared by Cornelia and Clovis [cite episode | title = Short Drama Stage 0.884: nihongo|The Imperial Siblings|帝国の兄妹|Teikoku no Kyōdai | titlelink = List of Code Geass albums#Sond Episode 6 | series = Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion | serieslink = Code Geass | network = MBS] . Schneizel is suggested to know the truth about Marianne vi Britannia's murder. Clovis, when compelled to reveal who murdered Marianne by Lelouch's Geass, points Lelouch to Schneizel for further information. Cornelia similarly points to Schneizel while under the effect of Geass, stating that he was the one who took away Marianne's remains.

Character history

First season

Schneizel is first seen briefly at Prince Clovis' funeral, but makes his first major appearance in episode 18, where he orders Suzaku Kururugi to restrain Zero while the experimental Knightmare Frame Gawain bombards the area. When Lelouch uses his Geass to force Suzaku to survive at any cost, Schneizel uses his authority to clear Suzaku of the subsequent insubordination charge. He supports Euphemia's idea of creating the Special Administrative Region of Japan for the Elevens, but fails to mention it to Cornelia when he told Euphemia he would. This is because he believes that the plan would weaken the support for the terrorists' groups in Area 11, thus helping to pacify the region and restore public order, possibly even eliminating the Black Knights in the process. He is shocked and horrified when he sees her acting uncharacteristically and killing the Japanese people, and suspects something is responsible for Euphemia's change.

In episode 24, when his older brother, Prince Odysseus, is too indecisive to act during Zero's attack on Tokyo, especially after Euphemia's death, Schneizel steps up and volunteers to go to Cornelia's aid, taking the Pacific fleet to Area 11 to relieve her battered forces and restore order.

econd season

In the second season, Schneizel commands of the Britannian forces attempting to conquer the E.U.-controlled North Africa, ending with a peace treaty despite repeated victories. As he explains to Nina, he did this because nothing but conquest invites defeat since it destroys hope. He also attempts to bribe the High Eunuchs of the Chinese Federation into trading much of their land in exchange for being made nobility in Britannia. After the fact is exposed and the people rebel against the Eunuchs, he decides to give up on his plan, noting that leaders who do not have the support of their people cannot be called leaders at all. He leads the defense against the Black Knights attack on Tokyo, and manages to learn Zero's identity and of his Geass by having Suzaku followed. He uses this information, in tandem with the devastation caused by F.L.E.I.J.A., to convince the Black Knights to abandon Zero.

Schneizel begins his plot to usurp the throne after Suzaku volunteers to assassinate the Emperor in exchange for Knight of One status, noting that the Emperor's dismissal of the war as a "trifling matter" as well as his research into Geass makes him unfit to rule. When Lelouch ends up killing the Emperor and taking the throne, Schneizel is content to let his brother have it, placing more concern on a bigger confrontation between Lelouch's Geass and his floating fortress, the Damocles. He uses a F.L.E.I.J.A warhead to annihilate the Britannian capital, then reveals to Lelouch that he plans to have Nunnally, thought to be dead, become the new Empress. In private, he shows Cornelia his plan to place Damocles in a position to strike every country in the world, enforcing peace through terror and making him "god."

By letting Lelouch take over as Emperor, Schneizel makes himself seem like the lesser of two evils and the only hope to Lelouch's reign of "evil," enabling him to convince the Black Knights to work with him for the sake of stopping Lelouch. However, when Lelouch and Suzaku manage to break through Damocles' defenses even as Schneizel prepares to evacuate, Lelouch manages to trap Schneizel aboard the shuttle. He then proceeds to use his Geass on him, forcing him to serve "Zero" specifically. Two months later, Schneizel, along with the U.F.N. delegates and the Black Knights, are being transported to their executions. Schneizel's method of transport is designed to be far more humiliating than the others as he is chained to the post and he is dressed in rags instead of the standard prison uniform; he also appears to have been beaten. Jeremiah Gottwald is also serving as his personal warden. He is saved from his fate when Suzaku, under the guise of Zero, kills Lelouch. During the epilogue, he is shown to be working with the new incarnation of the Black Knights; as his Geass command was to serve "Zero", not "Lelouch", he is now loyal to Suzaku.

ee also

* List of Code Geass characters

References