Should Themes Trump Logic - Code Geass' Chess Treatment

I love Code Geass hard stop. But it's not perfect, certainly it weighs story above common sense at points which results in some hilarious moments - but is the infamous illegal chess move one of those points? What does this tell us about the way that chess is treated in Code Geass, what the hell is artistic license have to do with it and why don't I care about this scene at all? All of those questions and more.

#ReplayValue #CodeGeass #Chess

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Music: Madder Sky - Code Geass OST
Labyrinth of Thinking - Alderamin on the Sky OST
Requirements of an Adventurer - Log Horizon OST
Strategy - Sangatsu no Lion OST
Le Repos Du Geurrier - Code Geass OST

Thumbnail Art & Logo: Drawplex

[night]

I'd have taken the king with the pawn just to mock him.

[tonyofhousestark]

I would've captured the king with my pawn and stated "the people have spoken".

[bfranciscop]

The scene works even if everybody _in_ the scene knows the move is illegal. Nobody would dare stand up and tell them "acshually that's an illegal move". Schneizel is breaking the rules, staring Lelouch in the eye, and asking "What are you going to do about it? Are you going to cry foul? Are you going to cry foul when you are treated unfairly in real life too? Do you think anybody in this court is going to stand up and tell _me_ that I'm doing an illegal move?". This is a bit as if they had decided to have a fencing duel instead, and Schneizel decides to display his confidence by throwing his sword away.... nobody is going to stand up and tell these two that it's actually disallowed.

[emmettsmith]

I feel they could have just changed the scene by having Shniezel acknowledge that it's and illegal move. The reason that it's and illegal move is because you would instantly lose the game because your opponents king can always capture. Its the same as moving into check. So it's not that the move is truly illegal, but more that it's suicide. The statement Shniezel makes is that he is willing to sacrifice himself for his goals, whereas lelouch is not. You could make this apparent by having the white king be surrounded by pieces waiting to pounce on Lelouch as soon as he won. Shniezel would then forfeit the game but Lelouch's hesitation and reaction would be all he needed to learn something about Zero.

[LanceRGoebel]

I'm a chess expert. Had a similar reaction; understood the motif the story was going for and was fine with the illegal King move.

But the audience saying it was even was ridiculous.

[JustynHill-Hand]

I never cared that Schneizel made an illegal move... The way I always interpreted it was that Schneizel knew he was making an illegal move, and he was trying to give Zero the message "If I go down, you're coming with me. You will never beat me."

[AscendantStoic]

I think at the point that move was made that game completely stopped being actually about chess and became 100% a game about the clash of ideology and ideals between the two players.

And more importantly they weren't playing at some sort of official chess tournament, it's more of theatrical chess match where people focus more on thr personality of the players and the messages they are exchanges through the match rather than their actual moves themselves.

[saltnfreshwaternz]

It's amazing to think that people are still discussing this show after so many years. Truly a timeless series!

[bluespaceman]

I find this to be a very good point. Code Geass does follow some internal rules in terms of dramatics and central themes, but it is not interested in realism. Having accurate chess is not the end goal of the episode nor key to the viewer experience. Rather, the framework of the series constantly places the main emphasis on stimulating an emotional reaction and developing certain aspects of Lelouch and Suzaku as characters. That can work in favor of fueling an admittedly soap opera style of drama, while annoying others who do not embrace that. But I think the series does have an internal logic after all, which is why the themes make sense. Regardless of the inaccurate chess.

[freetoplayking]

everyone: THAT'S AN ILLEGAL MOVE


me (someone who barely knows much about chess): YOU COULD'VE KILLED HIM WITH A PAWN

[razorfang]

Imo the story is so epic that I can forgive the weird chess inconsistensies.

[YoshiKirishima]

More code geass content from you finally!!!

I like your unique perspective of explaining it that it is prioritizing "themes/story" above "real world logic", and that being consistent with the in-world themes/logic ultimately IS following logic. (In-world logic vs real world logic etc.)

2 of the most controversial moments in the show are the Euphemia twist and the Checkmate scene. I'm just going to type a huge wall now because I think this could be a good place to discuss and share my thoughts. Whoever's reading this, if you aren't interested then don't feel obliged to read this lol.

First is the Checkmate scene.

I think most are familiar with the defense in favor of the Checkmate scene, and I don't get why people don't see how it makes total sense why Lelouch didn't call him out for doing an illegal move. The characters even explain this, though it is fast paced so perhaps people didn't understand what they meant. When Schneizel makes the illegal move, Lelouch is enraged, showing that he does know that what Schneizel did was ridiculous and that he felt insulted by it. Instead of taking the King (like his father would), he instead retreats. If he had taken the King, it could have looked hypocritical to the spectators, since the Black Knights are supposed to be protectors of the weak, not those who prey on the weak. They are supposed to be noble and righteous, not opportunists. They wouldn't take a disrespectful victory like the one Schneizel was giving them, but would rather honorably fight them head on (or at least that's the image the Black Knights want to give to people). Schneizel was fine with potentially losing, if it meant he could see more of what kind of person Zero was. Many argue that you can't learn anything about someone's personality from playing a game with them which is totally false if you ever played games somewhat seriously. He saw that Zero had pride and wouldn't take the easy victory.

I'm really glad that you pointed out how the spectators DID react at how ridiculous of a move that was. They said things like "this has got to be a joke", etc. I just don't get why people are so frustrated with this scene. The scene never said that Schneizel's move was legal or anything, if it implied anything it was that the move was illegal (or at least so stupid that it should be illegal, because someone accidentally forfeiting like that would be lame).


As for the Euphemia scene, I hope this isn't too jumbled up and the general points come through. There are a lot of justifications/ramifications for the scene that I see basically never mentioned. I'll go over the common defense points first.

1) Lelouch is arrogant and everything has been going well for most of the show. It is poetic justice (or karma or whatever) that eventually he will make a critical mistake due to his hubris. A tragic moment like this is perfect for advancing the focus of his character arc at that point, which is the question of whether he wants to go all the way, or try to quit and go back to a normal life before he stains his hands with too much blood.

2) There is that little foreshadowing not only at the beginning of the episode, but the entire Mao arc! We saw the potential dangers of Geass.

3) We know that Lelouch has terrible humor, which is not an arbitrary trait but compliments (or helps to show) that he is a bit off when it comes to being a normal person, and that same something that he lacks could be why he has a disposition towards the path of vengeance he chose. He has a twisted nature in simpler words.

4) Euphie's intentions and beliefs and methods are pure, and win Lelouch over. Lelouch however deep inside him wants to be the righteous King who destroys Britannia. When he admits defeat, he is stubborn and jokes arrogantly about how great he is. The way the scene flowed made perfect sense and the consequence Lelouch faced was a fitting punishment of not only the way he is as a person and how he reacted to Euphy's proposal to join forces, but a fitting punishment for all the crimes he committed.

Ok, now for the thematic stuff that make me have a lot of respect for the thought went into this scene, that I haven't seen mentioned elsewhere really.

The BIG problem everyone has with this scene is that the Geass activated JUST when he gave the worst possible joke, and that this is seen as a huge plot convenience. Is it really a plot convenience though? Consider the following.


A big theme is lies and masks. Lelouch is honest for once in this scene when he is defeated by Euphy, but tragically when he tells her about Geass the worst happens. He is punished. In fact he's punished not just by the themes of the show but by the people of the world.


Remember that Geass is like the "wish of the people". And that "God" is really just the collective unconscious of the world; their desires and wishes.

So what happens when Lelouch tries to give in to Euphy's proposal, and put down his mask? After having committed to the path of vengeance and blood, it's too late for him to turn back. The world wants not just the Specially Administrative Zone, but to bring Britannia to justice. The world *won't let him* quit. And it is the greatest of ironies that when he tries to put down his mask as Zero (or at least the Zero that was going to destroy Britannia), and when he is honest for once, he is tragically punished and receives a huge burden.

This scene has huge ramifications for the entire show, and connects the end of Season 1 to the end of Season 2, when Lelouch needs to take see his lies to the end, so that they become the truth like Suzaku told him he must do. He goes through with the Zero Requiem and doesn't falter like he did in Season 1, even when he finds that Nunally is still alive.

You could say that the message here is that if you've stained your hands with blood, you have a responsibility to see it through to make the most of the lives who were lost. Lelouch tried to selfishlessly back down from his responsibility as Zero, to be on good terms with Euphy who was his love. Lelouch says himself to Toudou near the end of Season 1, that for the miracle Toudou pulled off vs Britannia in the past, he now carries the responsibility to see it through to the end until Japan is freed.


All the themes are there. They may not have been talked about front and center, but they are all present and develop throughout the show. The big question at that part of the story was what CC asked Lelouch, if he was ready to continue his path of vengeance or if he wanted to turn back. The Euphemia twist scene is the answer to that question. He *couldn't* turn back, not after staining his hands with so much blood. And that is also the truth that he accepts in tears, commanding the Black Knights to find Euphy and kill her.

If you read all of this thank you, I love Geass very much and just wanted to share what I felt was good about the scene, and that fans shouldn't look at the scene as a plot convenience.

[archieprime]

I never had a problem with the illegal move because lol warcrimes

[WraithReaper]

I have the box set of Code Geass. It includes booklets with additional information from the creators. In one of the booklets they state that they have no idea how Chess works and just treated it similar to Go.
So there is that.

[awseomness]

Honestly, though, any time they play chess in Code Geass I just substitute it for Duel Monsters in my head. Solves this problem real neatly.

[goodguycwyzz]

The audience doesn’t even need to know anything about chess or it’s rules to understand this scene. Schneizel is willing to sacrifice himself the king to win and lelouch at that point didn’t capture the king because he’s childish and didn’t want schneizel to feel like he won. This gives him info about what kind of man Zero is

[MannyXVIII]

was playing this in the background when I suddently notice the log horizon music, thank you for that

[TheVnom]

In shogi, japanese chess, you should eat the enemie's king after he concedes to an illegal move. Maybe the writer just had poor knowledge of chess and assumed the rules of shogi applied in that instance. This makes me believe the king to king move is a genuine writing mistake rather than play for the themes of the show.

[Superlegalyutube]

I don't think you got the point of the scene. The move is illegal.

Schneider makes a point by doing an illegal move, stating that he believes leaders can be above the rules. That also means he wouldn't concede whatever he promised. His move giving the opportunity of victory to Lelouch was measured so that he can have a glimpse into Lelouch's personality.

Would Lelouch be a sticker for the rules and denounce the illegal move, showing a lack of flexibility and understanding that in the real world there is no such a thing as absolute rules? Would Lelouch be naïve and take it believing he could get anything out of it? Would Lelouch still take it even without expecting anything, just for the sake of it as the emperor would? Or would he be proud and reject that victory?

He chose the latter.

[animalobsessed]

Lol, my brother plays chess. His takeaway when we watched that scene together was "oh, so Schneizel doesn't know how to play chess."
This fact was so distracting to him, that he missed the overall point of what was going on.
I don't think themes should trump logic. The writers CHOSE to put a chess theme into their show, so they should follow through. Plenty of alternative ways to portray the same thing have been suggested. Surely the writers could have done better.