SEELE

Biodata

Organization and Authority

• Hidden world leadership: SEELE is described as the world’s highest authority, having existed since the dawn of civilization. Its United Nations affiliation conceals its actual position above the institution 101.
• Control of NERV: Gendo Ikari and Kozo Fuyutsuki formally answer directly to SEELE. SEELE entrusted NERV and the EVAs to Gendo while demanding adherence to its scenario 9 65.
• Restricted Headquarters authority: Despite their nominal command over every branch, Gendo and Fuyutsuki have little practical control outside Japan. SEELE maintains separate control over branches, research, and EVA systems 60 65 105.
• Compartmentalized operations: The United Nations initially knows nothing of Human Instrumentality. Even NERV Headquarters is denied access to the Marduk Plan’s central technologies 102 105.
• Leadership meetings: The Elders communicate through the Throne of Souls monoliths. Their representations appear in Central Dogma and later reactivate at Neuschwanstein Castle 9 101 102.

Goals and Doctrine

Human Instrumentality Project

SEELE’s ultimate objective is a humanity-initiated Impact that abolishes individual existence and returns the Lilin to Lilith 99.

• Collective godhood: Humanity’s separate identities are to become a single whole, with an EVA serving as the collective souls’ physical vessel 99 181.
• Necessary power: Humanity possesses the Fruit of Knowledge but requires the Fruit of Life—an Angel’s S2 Engine—to ignite an Impact 99.
• Angel extermination: Defeating the Angels is only an intermediate step in SEELE’s covenant with Lilith, not its final purpose 9.
• Predetermined scenario: The Elders treat the Dead Sea Scrolls as the basis of their plans and regard pilots and EVAs as pieces whose usefulness depends on fulfilling that scenario 9 103.
• Public deception: NERV’s stated mission of saving humanity conceals SEELE’s intention to trigger the catastrophe itself 99.

Repeated Worlds

The later SEELE identifies itself as an Adjuster intervening from another world within the World Tree 162.

• It describes Instrumentality as a recurring test: failure causes the world to restart and humanity to face the same task again 163.
• Its tradition began with an order to build the Ark of the Covenant. Limited understanding of divine technology enabled travel between worlds, changes of form, and survival across time 163.
• The Ark preserves life information and can shorten the reconstruction cycle to 4,400 years, rather than allowing life to develop over billions of years 162 185.
• SEELE denies creating or controlling Almaloz/Armaros. It identifies the Black Giant as Instrumentality’s failsafe and the enforcer of the World Tree’s rules 163.
• Although it claims extensive experience, SEELE admits it does not know who established those rules or where the God behind them has gone 163.

History

Oversight of the EVA Program

After Shinji defeats Shamshel, SEELE questions Gendo about deviations from its scenario. The Elders identify Shinji as the key to fate but insist that his power remain under their control. Gendo assures them that the other EVA projects are proceeding and pledges obedience 9.

SEELE’s oversight does not prevent assets from reaching Gendo. Ryoji Kaji retrieves the sealed Key of Nebuchadnezzar from Bethany Base and delivers it to him. Meanwhile, Unit-02 arrives in Japan as both reinforcement and a counterweight to Headquarters, with its permissions and live system data retained by Europe and SEELE 54 60.

Conflict with Gendo Ikari

SEELE develops Unit-06 at the lunar Tabgha Base while excluding Gendo and Fuyutsuki from landing there. Recognizing it as a rival route to godhood, the two accelerate their plans to awaken Unit-01 65 103.

Following Unit-04’s destruction, SEELE challenges Gendo’s competence and assigns Unit-03 to his custody. Its operatives had also infiltrated Headquarters under cover of an Angel attack, only to be eliminated through MAGI. Gendo later suspects that Unit-04 may have been deliberately destroyed to conceal control of new-energy technology; this remains his suspicion rather than an established fact 101 102 106.

SEELE subsequently begins impeachment proceedings to replace Gendo as NERV’s Commander-in-Chief. Unidentified allies delay his removal 116.

Assault on Headquarters and Fall

During the Power Angel’s advance, SEELE attacks Headquarters through at least five MAGI units, compromising external terminals and disabling systems. Fuyutsuki identifies the intrusion as the opening move in an attempt to seize Headquarters and the remaining EVAs 121.

Nine SEELE-controlled Mass-Production Evangelions enter the battle, overwhelm the Power Angel with replica Spears of Longinus, and regenerate through their S2 Engines. Their mission is to eliminate obstacles to Instrumentality, not to rescue NERV’s defenders. Kaworu and Unit-06 constitute another contingency, but Kaworu acts to protect Shinji rather than simply carry out SEELE’s wishes 127 128 129.

Kaji exposes the Human Instrumentality Project with Shinji’s help, allowing the United Nations to turn against SEELE. Over the following three years, SEELE loses its position as the world’s supreme power and becomes a terrorist organization condemned for crimes against humanity. Its remaining members disappear without a trace 133 149.

Succession Through Ryoji Kaji

While searching a church basement in Cyprus, Kaji and Kensuke Aida discover a Small Tablet in a hidden chamber. It melts into Kaji’s hand and transfers SEELE’s memories, knowledge, and mission into him, completely overwriting his consciousness and creating a new successor 156.

The entity introduces itself as formerly Noah and now SEELE. Shinji refuses to let it use Kaji’s name. After revealing Kensuke’s role in Kaji’s sacrifice, SEELE offers information as leverage and summons Shinji to Dades Valley in Morocco 161 162.

There, SEELE reveals the Ark and the remains of a previous world’s battle involving more than a hundred EVAs. It proposes using Shinji and Unit-01 to complete Instrumentality before Armaros acts 162.

Failed Ritual and Captivity

Shinji rejects the proposed sacrifice. SEELE nevertheless activates an additional Impact ritual, drawing residual S2 Engine energy from the EVA corpses to reconstruct the Tree of Life and forcibly pull at Shinji’s divinity 163 164.

Instead of submitting, Shinji absorbs the Tree of Life. SEELE blames him for humanity’s impending destruction and attempts to escape through phase distortion, but Shinji’s A.T. Field blocks the attempt 164 165.

Held captive, SEELE reluctantly agrees to investigate other possibilities after Ritsuko challenges whether its repeated Instrumentality plans were based on a wrong answer. Shinji preserves it for its knowledge while privately telling Misato that it will be killed once it is no longer useful 167.

Final Defeat

SEELE’s remaining assumptions fail when Kaworu removes the Spear of Longinus from Lilith without triggering an Impact. It also recognizes that Shinji is approaching godhood in a way its ritual model cannot explain: Shinji appears to have crossed a threshold that Unit-01 has not 181.

The successor acknowledges that it arrived only during the current cycle, received no useful information from this world’s original SEELE, and built the local Ark itself. Its inherited experience therefore does not explain the world’s unusual past 181.

SEELE celebrates Almaloz’s emergence near the Moon, but Shinji eventually returns as a godlike Evangelion. While SEELE rejoices at seeing God, Shinji erases it from Kaji’s body and restores Kaji to himself 188 193.

Capabilities and Technology

Consciousness Inheritance

SEELE preserves knowledge and will through transferable information 156 181.

• The Small Tablet carries memories across cycles, knowledge of Instrumentality, and the successor’s mission 156.
• Its transfer overwhelms Kaji’s consciousness and turns his body into SEELE’s vessel 156.
• Inheritance preserves only what SEELE understands; it does not provide omniscience or reliable knowledge of unprecedented events 181.
• Shinji ultimately removes SEELE without destroying Kaji 193.

EVA and Angel Research

SEELE directs programs intended to make Instrumentality technically achievable 71 105.

• Marduk Plan: Includes Cloned Eligibles, Entry Plug technology, Angel Modification and Control, unmanned Mass-Production Evangelions, and the Artificial Angel Drive 105.
• Artificial S2 Engines: Directs secret German-branch development using Dr. Katsuragi’s super-solenoid theory, Angel remains, and Adam-related technology; the resulting engine is supplied for Unit-04’s American experiment 71.
• Research priorities: Rejects animal-gene modification proposals because the resulting pilots could fight but could not initiate Human Instrumentality 174.
• Cyberwarfare: Coordinates multiple MAGI systems against Headquarters’ defenses 121.

Impact Rituals

SEELE prepares multiple routes to initiate Instrumentality 162 181.

• Mass-Production Evangelions can arrange their Fruits of Life into the Kabbalistic Tree of Life as an Impact trigger 162.
• Kaworu and S2 Engine-equipped Unit-06 serve as a separate backup 181.
• At Dades Valley, SEELE uses the remaining energy of more than a hundred EVA wrecks to reconstruct the Tree of Life in reverse 163 164.
• These preparations fail when Shinji resists and absorbs the ritual’s energy 164 165.

Spatial Travel

• SEELE’s divine technology permits limited travel between worlds and changes of form 163.
• Its Kaji incarnation attempts escape through phase distortion, which Shinji’s A.T. Field prevents 165.

Assets and Facilities

• Mass-Production Evangelions — Nine pilotless units manufactured by seven NERV branches. SEELE directly controls them through a Dummy System based on Kaworu Nagisa’s personality 127.
• Replica/Pseudo-Spears of Longinus — Weapons with double-ended sword and forked-spear forms. Their divinity and functions fall short of the genuine spear, but their destructive power is stated to be no weaker 127.
• Unit-06 — The “true EVA,” developed at Tabgha Base and used as an Instrumentality contingency with Kaworu, an S2 Engine, and the Spear of Cassius 129 147 181.
• Unit-02 system access — Permissions and real-time data retained jointly by the European Branch and SEELE; the unit also contains unexplained hidden programs 60.
• Key of Nebuchadnezzar — Originally sealed by SEELE at Bethany Base before Kaji delivers it to Gendo 54.
• Ark — A database storing consciousness and biological information from Earth’s beginnings through the Great Flood in 2400 BC; intended to accelerate future cycles 162.
• Small Tablet — A black rectangular object with glowing scarlet, cuneiform-like markings; the medium that creates SEELE’s successor in Kaji 156.
• Bethany Base — Directly controlled by SEELE and responsible for Angel Modification and Control, including custody of the Third Angel 54 105.
• Tabgha Base — A crucial lunar facility where Unit-06 originates. Its importance to SEELE does not amount to uncontested ownership 65 147.

Symbols and Representation

• Emblem: An inverted triangle incorporating seven eyes, a serpent, and an apple 9.
• Throne of Souls: Seven black numbered monoliths displaying the red inscription “SEELE SOUND ONLY” and SEELE’s emblem 9.
• Meeting chamber: The monoliths surround a white-lit floor within a vast dark room, creating the appearance of a cage or judgment setting 9.
• Successor’s appearance: Retains Kaji’s handsome middle-aged body, short ponytail, and frequently his flippant mannerisms 161 163 182.

Personality and Conduct

The Elders favor religious imagery, predetermined scenarios, and control over individual actors. They praise Shinji’s effectiveness while discussing him as a piece to be used, and view Gendo’s independence as a danger to their plan 9 102.

The successor combines Kaji’s casual delivery with detached cruelty. It treats humanity’s destruction as a procedural consequence of failure and urges acceptance of injustice. When Shinji rejects its ritual, its composure collapses into accusations and hysterical anger 163 165.

Its willingness to cooperate remains instrumental: exploring alternatives is valuable primarily as research for a better future Instrumentality plan. Nevertheless, Shinji’s unprecedented development increasingly unsettles its confidence 167 168 181.

Relationships

• Gendo Ikari — Subordinate turned rival. He publicly promises obedience while pursuing his own godhood and reunion with Yui; SEELE attempts to remove him from command 9 116 126.
• Shinji Ikari — Initially a necessary key to the scenario, later SEELE’s proposed sacrifice, captor, and destroyer 9 163 165 193.
• Ryoji Kaji — Former operative and exposer of Instrumentality; subsequently becomes SEELE’s unwilling vessel before Shinji restores him 133 156 193.
• Kaworu Nagisa — Directly dispatched to Headquarters and used as the personality basis for the Mass-Production Dummy System. His loyalty to Shinji defeats SEELE’s backup plan 120 127 181.
• Ritsuko Akagi — Challenges SEELE’s assumptions and questions it about divine spear technology. SEELE admires her intelligence and considers her a desirable inheritor of its knowledge 167 182.
• Kozo Fuyutsuki — Formal subordinate who regards SEELE’s promised “return” as humanity’s destruction and seeks a different answer 65 103.
• Almaloz/Armaros — Instrumentality’s failsafe, not a SEELE-controlled weapon. SEELE understands aspects of its function but denies responsibility for it 163.
• United Nations — Initially SEELE’s public front; turns against it after Kaji exposes Instrumentality 101 133.