Jeremiah Gottwald

**Jeremiah Gottwald**is a character in *Code Geass.*He held the rank of Margrave in Area 11's Military Hierarchy. He failed to prevent Marianne vi Britannia's death, so he joined the Britannian Army to hopefully redeem himself and regain some honor before finally defecting to the Black Knights after learning of Lelouch vi Britannia's true intentions.

## History

### Background

Jeremiah Gottwald is an elite Knightmare Frame pilot and a member of the Purist Faction. He attended the Imperial

   Colchester Institute before joining the Britannian Army. Jeremiah was a guard at the Aries Palace when Marianne vi Britannia was assassinated, and considers the incident his biggest failure. Afterwards, he transferred to Japan, the land that apparently had taken the lives of Marianne's two children Lelouch and Nunnally vi Britannia in an attempt to redeem himself.

Initially, he held the rank of Margrave in Area 11's Military Hierarchy.

### Code Geass

Jeremiah along with Villetta Nu enter Knightmare Frames after Prince Clovis la Britannia commands all Knightmare pilots to recover the capsule that was stolen by the terrorists. When Kallen Kozuki, piloting the Glasgow, emerges from the vehicle that the terrorists were using, Jeremiah battles her with his Sutherland and outmatches her.

   Jeremiah leads the Sutherland unit in Shinjuku Ghetto. Lelouch Vi Britannia, directing the resistance forces, easily defeats the unit and manages to assassinate Prince Clovis. Having used his Geass to make Clovis' guard leave, their subsequent memory loss leads Jeremiah to suspect them of treachery. He has most of them arrested.
The Purebloods within the Britannian Army frame Suzaku for Clovis' murder,

    planning to use him as an excuse to rid the army of Honorary Britannians. As a result, they arrange Suzaku for execution. However, Zero, interrupts the execution, announces himself publicly as Zero, and declares it was he who killed Clovis. He hints that Jeremiah has been bribed by calling him "Orange". Lelouch uses his Geass on Jeremiah to force him to assist in Suzaku's rescue, resulting in Jeremiah's disgrace when they ultimately succeed with his aid.

    Following the incident Jeremiah's standing with both the Army and Britannia is severely dropped, he is reduced in rank to pilot and his superiors and fellow Knightmare pilots refer him to as "Orange" as a way of mocking him, though Villetta remains loyal to him. His fellow pilots even try to assassinate him but is rescued by Suzaku and Villetta.

Seeking to regain his status, Jeremiah seeks out any opportunity to capture or kill Zero, even disobeying orders to do so. He gets his chance during the Battle of Narita. His impatient and impulsive action leads to his defeat at the hands of Kallen Kozuki, who has recently aquired the Guren Mk-II. It's radiation arm quickly disables the Knightmare, but he refuses to eject. The system eventually ejects on his behalf, but by this point he is badly injured and his escape pod nigh-inoperable. Delusional and barely able to walk, he stumbles upon Prince Schneizel el Britannia's team of scientists who pick him up. He is officially listed as killed in action at the Battle of Narita because everything suggesting otherwise was lost along with his Knightmare's signal, giving an easy cover-up for the scientists.

Schneizel's scientists perform experiments on Jeremiah, enhancing him with various cybernetic devices. The implants run up his spine and cover the entire left side of the body. His mind has also been tampered with, as the

    scientists make mention to tearing down and rebuilding his emotions. Before the process is complete, he goes insane at the mention of Zero. He breaks out of the research facility and steals the Knightmare Frame Siegfried. After chasing C.C. and Lelouch to Kamine Island, Jeremiah and the Siegfried are dragged into the ocean by C.C. in a kamikaze attack.
Despite the fact that C.C. was eventually crushed by the pressure of the deep, Jeremiah somehow escaped that fate, ending up as an ally of V.V. Jeremiah's implants appears to have been almost completely internalized, though his left eye is still noticeably cybernetic. He wears an orange mask with an opaque eyepiece over the eye, and clothing very similar to the Knight of the Rounds. He appears to be aware of Lelouch's identity as Zero and mentions with adjustments neither Lelouch or C.C. will be a match for him, which Bartley Asprius and his research team are

    reluctantly helping to complete. The Geass Canceler negates the effects of other Geass, which includes restoring memories suppressed or modified through Geass abilities. In the case of Lelouch's Geass, it also removes the immunity gained from being exposed, so those canceled can be affected by it once more. Though Jeremiah is not immune to the effects of other Geass, he can negate their effects by himself, including Rolo Lamperouge's paralyzing Geass. Other modifications include retractable blades attached to his wrists and bulletproof armor. His cybernetic eye can also see beyond the visible light spectrum. Though the modifications make Jeremiah a formidable opponent, the presence of sakuradite in his artificial components allows Gefjun Disturbors to paralyze him; though he can continue to move, doing so nearly kills him since his cybernetic life support is inactive.

Jeremiah is sent by V.V. to eliminate Lelouch as an assassin. The two meet in a train station, where Jeremiah asks Lelouch why he became Zero and betrayed his father. Lelouch tells him that it was to avenge the death of his mother, Empress Marianne vi Britannia. After hearing Lelouch's true motivations, Jeremiah returns to his sanity and swears to loyalty to Lelouch in order to redeem his failure to protect Marianne. He now takes the nickname "Orange" as a compliment, believing it is the name of his loyalty. During the Second Battle of Tokyo, he is piloting the Sutherland Sieg, which was salvaged from the destroyed Siegfried. Jeremiah once again reunites with Suzaku during the battle discussing about their beliefs only to end up fighting Gino instead who surprises him. In the aftermath after the F.L.E.I.J.A.'s detonation, Jeremiah restrains an enraged Lelouch as the Black Knights retreat to reform their battle line. He then leaves to search for Nunnally, and comes across Suzaku in the crater left behind by the explosion. He considers their relationship is a peculiar one, in that Suzaku saved him once despite Jeremiah framed him, and muses that they are destined to be enemies before leaving to continue his search. After the Black Knights betray Zero, they report him to be dead to the world, Jeremiah included. Jeremiah does not seem convinced and asks to see Zero's face, but Kaname Ohgi avoids the request. He later joins Lelouch after he takes the throne of Britannia.

    During conversations with Sayoko Shinozaki, he tells her that she has an odd choice of loyalties and remarks that she, like himself, seem to follow the path of chivalry. He later helps Lelouch in his battle against Prince Schneizel el Britannia and the Black Knights, and encounters Anya Alstreim. He manages to break upon the Modred by self-destructing his own Knightmare Frame. He prepares to kill Anya but spares her life when she mentions of having no memories, he realizes she is under the influence of Geass and uses his Geass Canceler to restore her memories. Soon he is the first person to declare "All Hail Lelouch!" when he becomes the ruler of the world.

    During the planned execution for those who were against Lelouch, Jeremiah orders the soldiers not to fire and faces off against Suzaku who is disguised as Zero. However, he allows Suzaku through, knowing of the Zero Requiem. At the end, he is shown cultivating an orange farm with Anya, smiling constantly.

## Personality

Jeremiah is deeply concerned with Britannia's supremacy, jumping on the chance to use Suzaku Kururugi, an Eleven made an Honorary Britannian, as a scapegoat for both avenging Clovis' death and reinforcing the Purists' superiority in Area 11. He hopes to limit military service to Purists alone. Jeremiah was also extremely loyal to Marianne, considering his failure to save her as his biggest failure and only arrived at Area 11 in hopes of regaining his honor since it is the land that apparently taken the lives of her children Lelouch and Nunnally, and became possibly the main reason why he joined Lelouch.

Jeremiah fell into disgrace after the Orange Incident and soon went into mental instability when denied the opportunity to regain his former status. He soon became completely obsessed with killing Zero. After learning of Lelouch's motive for becoming Zero, he regains his sanity as well as a new-found purpose of serving Lelouch and Nunnally as an atonement for his previous failures. He also dislikes killing any member of the Britannian Imperial Family despite his loyalty to Lelouch.

## Abilities

Jeremiah received a special anti-Geass power with the help of Code-R personnel and V.V., known as Geass Canceler. Situated on his left eye, which is normally hidden by his mask, it grants him the power to negate the effect of any other Geass within his field of influence. It does not require eye contact and works through physical barriers. As part of it's effect, it can restore memories erased or modified through Geass. When activated, the silver cover of his left eye opens, revealing an inverted blue sigil over his green cybernetic eye. The area of effect is represented by a blue bubble similar to Rolo's red version. When it effects a victim of Lelouchs' Geass, Lelouch can use Geass on them again. The silver covering on his left eye works just like Lelouchs' Geass nullifying contact lenses, and when the covering is on his eye the Geass Canceler only affects Jeremiah. It also seems to set to activate by itself when Jeremiah is affected by Geass.

His skills with a Knightmare Frame are great enough so that he can fight against incredibly powerful Knightmares such as the Siegfried in a much weaker Sutherland and evade it's attacks that others with more powerful Knightmares are unable to do. Jeremiah was also able to hold the Lancelot back and damage it slightly without taking damage. He is also a skilled combatant, in and out of a Knightmare Frame. Combined with his cybernetic implants, he is able to engage against an SP like Sayoko with relative ease.

## Quotes

* "Orange!? Die!"
* "All hail Britannia! Mr. Zero, can it really be? What? Oh that luck, what fate, what evil fortune!"
* "You're the one who will talk here! Because I have my reasons I'm resolved to see my loyalty through!"
* "Look what happens simply by asking where Lelouch was."
* "Orange, you say? That's the name of my loyalty!"
* "There's so vengefulness. It's sheer loyalty."
* "All hail Lelouch!"
* "I beseech you...I'm begging you, please die."