judging by the comments, it's seems that you guys don't know(?) how to discuss and compare the morals of two people.
morality is not about who is smarter, stronger, more aware, or more useful. nor is it as simple as throwing around raw body counts or 'who saved more people' as an automatic moral scorecard without an actual framework.
doing that just reduces morality to how history is written from the perspective of the victors, so the hero and the villain are determined solely by the outcome. that's not how it should be.
the subtext of the comments is that what makes Lelouch morally better is his success... i'm sorry what does that have to do with the character's morality?
you can argue that Lelouch is morally superior, but not in this way.
i see the same mistake in "who is better written Light or Lelouch?" debates, with responses like "Light lost, therefore he's objectively bad written hehee" 🤨 excuse me, how can a character be worse about writing while still serving their writing purpose? first, fully understand the subject you're debating.
to discuss who is morally superior, (a) you should first state which moral model you are using, or what kind of method you have, and then explain with canon examples why one character is morally superior according to that model. (b) the characters you're arguing with may not agree with the moral model you've chosen so you can also evaluate them according to their own approved moral code.
when it comes to Lelouch & Suzaku, there is actually a common view that they both agree on:
"forcing your good intentions on others is no different from an evil act."
this line belongs to Lelouch and is a view that Suzaku completely agrees with. and what both of them do throughout the anime is force their own good intentions on others.
>"so what if he commits an evil act? Lelouch doesn't claim the moral high ground, and he admits that what he does is evil even by his own moral code. while Suzaku is too blind to see that he isn't much different from Lelouch, yet self-righteous enough to criticize him!"
that's the same old thing i’ve been hearing for years; i can see this coming. yeah great observation. but that... still doesn't make Lelouch morally superior — it just makes him more self-aware. in fact, that's precisely why Lelouch never denies any of Suzaku's criticisms in the first place. there’s nothing for him to deny anyway.
just as Lelouch can stand before his own father and call him out for the very things he does himself — without that making Lelouch a morally worse person — it doesn't make Suzaku morally worse either.
Lelouch was harmed by his father; of course he has every right to criticize him.
Suzaku was harmed by Lelouch; of course he has every right to criticize him.
i think this debate has no end, but if you want to debate so much, please at least do it properly.
