How Did Nunnally Survive the F.L.E.I.J.A? Here Are My Theories

How did Nunnally survive the F.L.E.I.J.A War Head? I am sure many of you were wondering that after Nunnally re-appeared in Turn 22.

Was it bad writing, dumb luck? Or maybe Code Geass did explain what happened and subtlety left clues to help put the pieces together.

In today’s article, I am going to break down everything we learn from Turns 18 – 23 to answer how Nunnally survived the F.L.E.I.J.A War Head.

I will first answer important questions about the event then provide a time of the events.

By the end, you will know the information to answer this question. As always heavy spoilers in this one and these are just theories since we do not know for sure what happened.

Now that all tasks have been cleared lets’ begin.

Let’s first discuss Rolo’s actions during all of this. We know that he wanted to find Nunnally and kill her. So why did he get into a KMF?

Obviously, his Geass would have stopped Sayako from interfering. I have two theories on this.

1. Rolo found out that the shuttle that was the wrong one. He was then messaged by Sayako that she found Nunnally and need air support. So Rolo decided to grab a KMF and shoot them out of the sky once they launched.
2. Rolo never checked the ship and Sayako messaged him to provide air support. So, Rolo got in the KMF and waiting for that ship to take off assuming that Nunnally and Sayako were both in it.

Either way, this explains why we see Rolo not moving in the Sutherland. He was obviously waiting for the shuttle to launch.

Whether he was waiting for the shuttle to launch to shoot it down or protect will always be up to speculation.

So, the next question to ask is did Rolo believed that Nunnally could be or was alive?

We can tell immediately after F.L.E.I.J.A. destroyed most of the Tokyo Settlement that Rolo wanted Lelouch to move on.

He tells him that Nunnally is dead and later on that the two of them have been fine up to this point. Rolo does not suggest that Nunnally could possibly be alive.

I think this was the opposite when he spoke to Jeremiah. Rolo tells Jeremiah “it may not mean much of anything” and “Lelouch needs some times”.

Here are the different ways that I interpret this:

1. Jeremiah was asking if Rolo actually saw Nunnally and Sayako before they left?
2. Rolo is assuming that the shuttle he saw was the one that Nunnally and Sayako were on. Meaning that Nunnally could not have been on another shuttle.
3. Also, Rolo did not want Jeremiah to let Lelouch know that he was going to look for her as he wants Lelouch to forget about Nunnally.

The second point could be somewhat canon since Jeremiah asks Sayako later about the ship that was destroyed and if it was the decoy. Jeremiah was not shocked at all to learn that F.L.E.I.J.A. destroyed the decoy shuttle. I concluded that this is what Rolo told him on the phone.

This might also explain why Jeremiah was searching for Nunnally. Since Rolo was not sure about her fate there was a chance that she was alive.

Considering that Rolo was just waiting in his KMF for the shuttle supports this as well. Since Rolo never saw the shuttle launch, he assumed that Nunnally and Sayako must have died in the explosion.

This one is explained through the events that unfold throughout the episode.

How We Know Sayako and Nunnally Escaped the Blast.

1. When the F.L.E.I.J.A goes off Nunnally and Sayako reacts in a calm manner while Alicia is panicking. Obviously, if she was with them then they would have all been calm or panicking. We also do not hear the pilot panicking or anyone else on the shuttle (including Britannian troops). This also proves that Sayako and Nunnally must have been at a safe distance away from the explosion.

2. I would also like to point out that from the image it looks like from the way that Sayako is standing near Nunnally that they were in flight.

3. We only see Alicia and Nunnally separately with any footage of inside the shuttle.

5. Given how bright the light from the explosion as it is very likely that Sayako could see it from a difference. Keep in mind that the limiter was on the F.L.E.I.J.A so it was only a “smaller” blast radius than the full potential of the bomb.

How We Know that Alicia was in a Decoy Shuttle.

1. Notice that Alicia Lohmeyer, Nunnally’s assistant never acknowledges that Sayako broke into the shuttle. We see Nunnally turning around but no sign of Alicia.

2. We never see Alicia get into Nunnally’s shuttle.

3. One more thing Alicia said that having KMFs around the shuttle would make it a target. So why would the shuttle that Rolo arrived at have KMFs?

4. This is just more proof that it must have been a decoy. The last piece of evidence comes from Sayako herself after she meets with Jeremiah. She explains that there was a decoy shuttle.

Given everything here that shuttle that Rolo found must have ben it.

This is one all speculation since all we learn from Sayako is that Schneizel had a trap set which involved the decoy.

I have a couple of theories.

1. The shuttle was on autopilot. We never see Sayako driving the shuttle so that means either the pilot was a Britannian Soldier under duress or Black Knight or a computer.

The Black Knight pilot theory would explain how they could be moving without showing Sayako piloting the shuttle.

2. If it was moving on its that would explain how Schneizel captured it and Sayako as well since it was programmed to go to Schnzeil.

3. Schneizel intercepted the shuttle Star Wars style and captured both.

4. Sayako and Nunnally were able to land somewhere in the distance but since the shuttle had a tracker Schneizel, later on, ambushed them.

Okay so now that I have answered these questions here is the timeline of events that unfolded. Remember in anime and like most TV shows time moves differently than in real life.

We all remember when Frieza said Namek would blow up in five mins. Which took 20 episodes for the fight to conclude.

So, keep this in mind when looking over this timeline. Remember just because the anime shows us something later in the episode it does not mean that it did not happen earlier in the actual timeline.