“You the Japan Liberation Front; You whose time has left behind; You who have forgotten basic human decency; You and your dream of a bygone golden age shall fall and rot to nothingness.“

 

Cornelia li Britannia, 27 years old, is the second princess of the Britannian Imperial Family and is Lelouch’s half-sister. She is extremely skilled in Knightmare Frame combat. She serves as one of the main antagonists during the first season, but later becomes a neutral character during the second.

 

Personality

She 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. During the second season she has been shown to have kept her ruthless demeanor but now fights to avenge her younger sister and clear her name.

Relationships

Euphemia li Britannia

Euphemia is Cornelia’s younger sister, and she loves her sister very much despite having to lecture her due to her naive actions. It also worries Cornelia that Euphemia may go too far with her actions which is then confirmed when she was shocked to hear the SAZ proposal. Euphemia’s death sparked Cornelia’s ill will towards Lelouch, Geass, and V.V. She even gave up her title as Viceroy, for a time, in order to track down the true culprit of the Special Administrative Zone Massacre and clear her sister’s name. After Lelouch’s death, most of his actions has obscured Euphie’s name and Corneilia gave up her quest as a result.

Gilbert G.P. Guilford

Guilford is Cornelia’s loyal knight and a possible love interest. Guilford is shown to be completely loyal to Cornelia, to the point of betraying and fighting against Britannia after he was forced by Geass to believe that Lelouch was Cornelia. Guilford later made a desperate attempt to push Lelouch (whom he still believed to be Cornelia) outside of the blast radius of the F.L.E.I.J.A. bomb. He later shows his loyalty again by joining Cornelia’s resistance group. She and Guilford worked with Rakshata on the Knightmare Frames in the UFN.

Lelouch vi Britannia

Cornelia originally cared greatly for Lelouch, and his sister Nunnally, to the point where their supposed death had drove her to capture Zero, unaware that Zero was Lelouch. After Lelouch had revealed that he was alive, Cornelia began to understand Zero’s motives and how deep his grudge was to the Britannian Imperial Family. However, she could not forgive Lelouch for killing Euphemia, thus their relationship soured. The extent of her hatred towards Lelouch was shown when Cornelia later joined the Black Knights in opposition of Lelouch.

Strengths

She pilots a customized Gloucester Knightmare Frame and has her own circle of devoted officers. After Clovis’ death, Cornelia becomes the new Governor-General of Area 11.

Weaknesses

As a child, she appeared to have doted upon her younger sister Euphemia; as a result, Euphemia is Cornelia’s only known weak spot. Clovis believes that she and Prince Schneizel know about the truth regarding the murder of Marianne vi Britannia , although Euphemia later tells Lelouch that Cornelia has long idolized Marianne and conducted investigations on the murder. 

Character Depth/Development

While originally one who would sacrifice as many lives needed, in order to achieve 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. This was shown when she talked to Viletta after when the Black Knights betrayed Zero and was shocked to hear how Schneizel chose to sacrifice the Britannian capital, and along with its inhabitants, which is contrary to how Lelouch one time mention that Cornelia was the type that would sacrifice her own people to gain results.

Character Role Fulfilment

In the beginning of the series, 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 as to betray it for the people she loves; this was evidently shown when she met V.V., who she recently discovered to be her uncle, and did not hesitate on being his enemy despite on how this likely meant for her to fully betray to her father.

Unique Characteristic Quality

She is extremely skilled in Knightmare Frame combat. 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, outmanoeuvring and repeatedly scoring hits on Zero’s supposedly superior Gawain unit, before Darlton, under the influence of Lelouch’s Geass disables her Gloucester and wounds her.

Rating: B

She’s a feirce, strong and smart woman; trust me you don’t want to get on her bad side.