Cornelia li Britannia

**Cornelia li Britannia**is a character in *Code Geass.*She served as one of the main antagonists in the first season but become a neutral character in the second season. She is the Second Princess of the Britannian Imperial Family and is Lelouch vi Britannia's half-sister, she is extremely skilled in Knightmare Frame combat and is also Chief General of the Britannian Imperial Army.

## History

### Background

Cornelia li Britannia is the Chief of the Imperial Army and the Second Princess of the Britannian Imperial Family. As

   a child, she appeared to have doted upon her younger sister Euphemia li Britannia. Cornelia investigated Marianne vi Britannia's assassination for many years but never reached a satisfying conclusion. Before arriving at Area 11, she completed the establishment of Area 18.

### Code Geass

Cornelia has arrived at Area 11 after completing the establishment of Area 18, she endeavors to take charge of Area 11 as Viceroy and intends to bring Zero, now the Holy Britannian Empire's number one enemy and most wanted man, to justice.

After entering Area 11, Cornelia continues her hunt for Zero. She destroys several rebel strongholds, but finds no clues to his whereabouts. She attends Prince Clovis la Britannia's funeral and hears the Emperor of Britannia's speech on the virtues of inequality and the social battle for evolution and betterment.

   Cornelia sets a trap for Zero at the Saitama Ghetto by simulating the conditions in Shinjuku Ghetto. She believes that Zero took the bait due to a combination of her superior tactics and the resistance cell's dissimilar motivations. Just when she believed that she cornered him, however, Zero, who is actually C.C. who donned the costume, reveals "himself" to the Britannian Military, distracting Cornelia from her plans. However, Cornelia allows Zero to escape, believing that he already has an escape route.

Later, a group from the Japan Liberation Front takes a hotel and it's occupants hostage including a disguised Princess Euphemia li Britannia. Cornelia, who dotes on her little sister, refuses to take a move against the hostage takers for fear of endangering her, which Zero realizes and takes advantage of. He mounts a rescue operation with Kaname Ohgi's resistance cell. As ordered by Cornelia, Suzaku Kururugi sinks the hotel using the Lancelot. However, Zero derails any rescue efforts by the army so he can take credit for the rescue. In a public broadcast, he announces the creation and purposes of the Black Knights, "allies of justice" who will judge the world and protect the weak from those with power. Cornelia does not attack Zero as a result of her fear that Zero may take the Britannians as hostages.

During the Battle of Narita, Cornelia leads the attack on the Black Knights along with Andreas Darlton and Gilbert G.P. Guilford. Guilford warns her to stay away and she responds by destroying several Burais.

After the landslide created by the Guren, Cornelia is more worried about Darlton and her other subordinates than her own safety. She is then informed of the Black Knights entering the battle. She is later seen retreating but is stopped by Kallen Kozuki in the Guren. Zero has her cornered in his Burai. Cornelia shoots at the Guren who easily dodges. She then uses her Gloucester's Slash Harkens to cling to the cliffside. Zero's Burai shoots her back down. Zero tells her to surrender and she responds by trying to impale the Guren with her lance. The Guren uses the Radiant Wave Surger to destroy the right arm of her Gloucester. Zero shoots off the left arm. She tells her knight Guilford to protect Euphemia and that she will fight like a royal princess. The Lancelot shows up to protect Cornelia's Gloucester and she tells him to deal with the Guren and she will go after Zero. After the battle between the Guren and the Lancelot she instructs Suzaku to go after Zero since her Gloucester has collapsed.

Worried about her younger sister, Cornelia convinces Euphemia to take on a personal Knight. Though Euphemia eventually agrees, Cornelia remains concerned when Euphemia selects Honorary Britannian Suzaku which tells her that Euphemia would be better off being Empress instead. Cornelia's concerns regarding Euphemia's safety only increase when Euphemia proposes and establishes the Special Administrative Region of Japan, a plan which Cornelia personally opposes but allows Euphemia to proceed and sends Darlton to oversee it.

Following Euphemia's death, Cornelia was brokenhearted to the point that she locks herself up in Euphemia's room during her mourning period. Picking herself up, she vows to take down Zero during the Black Knights' first open attack on Tokyo. She almost succeeds, outmanoevring and repeatedly scoring hits on Zero's supposedly superior Gawain unit, before Darlton, under the influence of Lelouch vi Britannia's Geass disables her Gloucester and wounds her. Lelouch initially plans to use her as a hostage to force the opposing Britannian Military to surrender but is thwarted by Jeremiah Gottwald.

Instead, Lelouch reveals his identity to Cornelia, who realizes that, since Lelouch is actually alive, Zero's actions were motivated entirely for the sake of Nunnally vi Britannia. However, she cannot accept that Clovis and Euphemia had to die as a result. Before Cornelia can argue with Lelouch, he uses his Geass on her in order to interrogate her about the day his mother, Marianne, was killed. Cornelia reveals that though she was head of security at the palace where Marianne was that day, Cornelia had been ordered by Marianne herself to remove the palace's defenses. Unable to comprehend why Marianne would do such a thing, Lelouch continues to press Cornelia for information; his sister was unable to provide him with any other details save that their brother Schneizel el Britannia was the one who took Marianne's body away.

Lelouch soon flees afterwards to rescue Nunnally, who had been abducted, and the injured Cornelia summons

    Suzaku to her side. She was going to tell him her encounter with Zero and his identity but forgot due to Geass' effect and requests him to clear Euphemia's dishonored name "Massacre Princess". As a possibly indication of change in her attitude of distrusting Honorary Britannians, she grants him the officially-recognized noble title of a Knight in name and status. She also asks him to suppress the news of her injuries and appeared to have disappeared without a trace.
Gilbert G.P. Guilford and the rest of her knights are waiting in Area 11 for her return. Princess Guinevere su Britannia questions Bismarck Waldstein the Knight of One about Cornelia's whereabouts and says that Guilford hasn't contacted her. Cornelia becomes a rogue, abandoning her status in the royal family. She begins investigating the mystery of Geass in order to clear Euphemia's name and to prove to the world that her sister was innocent. She discovers the location where V.V. and Jeremiah Gottwald had made their base and confronts General Bartley

    Asprius. He unexpectedly asks her to help in escaping, believing that the Emperor's goal could bring about the end of the world, but is captured by V.V.. During the Black Knights' assault on the Directorate, she escapes and uses a damaged Akatsuki rigged with numerous weapons and other Akatsuki units to attack V.V.'s Siegfried, damaging it and allowing her to deliver the final blow in tandem with Lelouch. Jeremiah saves her from being crushed by the plummeting Siegfried and brings her before Lelouch. She is held prisoner by the Black Knights, but manages to escape before the second battle of Tokyo and joins Prince Schneizel el Britannia when he arrives as an evoy. She reveals everything she discovered at the Geass Directorate to him. When Schneizel reveals his intention to usurp the throne, Cornelia is reluctant but doesn't object. She then joins Schneizel and his faction after Lelouch installs himself as the new Emperor. Cornelia is disgusted after finding out how far Schneizel is willing to go to achieve his goals when she finds that he destroyed Pendragon and is shocked that he allowed Lelouch to take the throne in order to advance his own plans. When she learns of his plan to position Damocles in such a way it could strike all the countries in the world at once, she attempts to stop him, only to be gunned down. She is later shown in a hospital bed, recovering and being comforted by a newly found Guilford. Two months later, after the

    culmination of Lelouch's plans, she is shown leading a small resistance group including Villetta Nu and Guilford. They take advantage of Lelouch's assassination after realizing the Zero Requiem to restore order. She is last seen in a photo alongside Guilford at Kaname Ohgi and Villetta's wedding.

## Personality

Cornelia displays an extremely cold-blooded exterior, dismissing anyone she feels is opposing Britannia. She constantly refuses to accept change, none the less, she deeply cares for the lives of her soldiers especially her Knight Guilford. After the death of Euphemia and the battle of Tokyo, she now fights to avenge her younger sister and clear her name.

As a child, she appeared to have doted upon Euphemia; as a result, Euphemia is only Cornelia's weak spot. Cornelia also had long idolized Marianne. Cornelia had an unrivaled sense of patriotism as she took pride in her epithet as Britannia's "Goddess of Victory". However, after the Black Rebellion, she apparently changed her views about her nation and would go as far to betray it for the people she loves. She was against Suzaku's method of ends justify the means due to the fact that she is following orders than going against it. While originally one who would sacrifice as many lives as needed, in order to achieve her needed goals, Cornelia later begins to show signs of change as she apparently takes more value in Human life and that status quo isn't worth everything. Cornelia was also against Schneizel's plans and even attempted to stop him.

## Quotes

* "You the Japan Liberation Front; you whose time has left behind; you have forgotten basic Human decency; you and your dream of a bygone golden age shall fall and rot to nothingness."
* "Guilford, don't treat me as though I'm another one of your women."
* "Lelouch the Demon is dead! Free his prisoners!"