CODE GEASS: Article 5 The Black Knights

By Sam-2 aka wildmoo6

Before we profile and adapt the next major Code Geass Character, we will examine the Black Knights, Lelouch’s subordinates; Lelouch’s chess pieces in his battle to take over Japan. These characters play small, but pivotal roles in the Code Geass story.

The Two Perspectives

To properly adapt the Black Knights, we must distinguish between the character perspective and the narrative perspective, with regard to characters. Character perspective is about who a character is and their motivation. Generally speaking, major characters are defined by desires while minor characters are defined by traits. Batman is defined by his role as a guardian of Gotham City and his desire to impart fear to the fearmongers of Gotham City. Though Batman is smart, intelligence is only an attribute, not his identity. Yet minor characters are often characterized by one or two traits. The nervous doctor. The angry man. The bitter employee. The narrative perspective refers to the role that the character has in the plot, usually in line with our previous article on support characters.

Together these two perspectives help us understand who characters are and why they are in the story. For minor characters, we may need to adjust their motivations in order to preserve their role in the narrative. We may also find that we hope to adjust the narrative role of a character in order to preserve their identity as a character.

In the case of the Black Knights, their role as a group in the narrative perspective is to add emotional weight and conflict to the Code Geass story. Some of them are likeable, some are unsettling, some are very competent; and others can’t be trusted with small tasks. Some give emotional weight to tragic moments, others add emotional weight to victories. Still more are there to show progress that the Black Knights make in their goal of taking back Japan. Each member of the Black Knights has an important role in the story. Therefore, we must consider the role of each of the Black Knights as well as their motivations and identities where possible. For the purposes of this article, we will be writing about the original members and not those who joined later.

The Characters (Listed as Male or Female)

Ohgi (M)

Ohgi has a family man feel to him. He is the one who inherited the resistance operation after the death of Kallen Kozuki’s brother. He also has the feel of an older brother, who has to take care of his siblings and has a personality that is caring and sincere. Narrative ways, he is there to humanize the Black Knights, to remind the audience that the Knights are people with families and friends; they are not just chess pieces. Ohgi adds emotional weight to the entire story.

Tamaki (M)

Tamaki is a loose cannon. He is outspoken, reckless, and is characterized by being hot tempered and emotional. These identity traits allow him to easily insert conflict and uncertainty into the story making mundane events more interesting. It is also worth noting that his dislike for Britannians and for affluent Japanese is core to his personality.

Inoue (F)

Inoue is a tricky character to profile. Head of reconnaissance for the Black Knights, Inoue plays an observant and likeable character with a quiet disposition. Since she doesn’t often speak, her character must be revealed through action. Inoue’s character may need to rely heavily on a recurring gag to reinforce her identity, such as walking quietly and accidentally sneaking up on people.

Overall, Inoue’s narrative role is to add emotional weight to the story. Her character is recognized by being a warm, girl next door type.    

Sugiyama (M)

In a sense, Sugiyama is the Black Knight with the least emotional appeal, which is a surprisingly necessary role. Whereas, many of the Black Knights are in the story to focus on the emotional weight of the moment, Sugiyama is there to remove emotional weight. If, for instance, we needed to have someone polish a gun, the audience would read the task differently based on who was assigned:

• If it were Kallen, we would assume that this was a special task, a special gun meant for a special battle. We would assume this because we know that Kallen is special and assume that she only does special tasks.
• If it were Oghi, we would assume that this was a task that was special to the group and that this task had emotional relevance.
• If it were Tamaki, we would assume that this order would have ramifications later.

Yet if Sugiyama were sent, we would assume that the task had no greater significance apart from showing that Lelouch is cautious. It is often necessary to have such a character in a complex story.

Yoshida(M)

He is in charge of logistics and is very similar to Sugiyama from a narrative perspective. Overall, his character is very similar to Sugiyama.

Minami(M)

He is a character that is a gentle giant type. He is large likeable and has average competence. Average competence is extremely important when a writer needs to explain danger to an audience. Viewers do not have the same knowledge as the characters at the start a story. You catch up as the story progresses, by being told or by learning through observation. Hearing a fact is far less compelling than seeing it with your own two eyes. If a writer wants to show that a character is a skilled martial artist, having the character defeat a large opponent is a very easy way of doing so. You may notice that this happens in nearly every martial arts movie. In such movies, the hero’s first opponent is almost always a large and powerful opponent, someone unskilled in martial arts. In a similar way, I could have an antagonist overcome Minami, Yoshida, or Sugiyama showing that this antagonist was an unordinary threat. This would justify Kallen’s intervention or a clever strategy by Lelouch.

Summary

                Of the Black Knights, Oghi, Sugiyama, Tamaki, and Minami are the most essential. The others could be adjusted, but these should remain as close to their original forms as possible. The others may have altered backstories, altered genders, or even altered personality traits, depending on the available talent.