Gendo Ikari

"The human being forget things to survive, but there are certain things that should not be forgotten."

- Gendo Ikari

Gendo Ikari is one of the most notorious villains of the franchise Neon Genesis Evangelion, being an anti-hero of the original series, a secondary villain of the film The End of Evangelion and the main antagonist of the film Evangelion 3.0: You Can (not) Redo, third film in the Rebuild of Evangelion series, and is expected that returns as the role of central antagonist of the latest installment of the series, Evangelion 3.0 + 1.0. Cold and calculating commander of Nerv is the main leader of the war to annihilate the angels and one of the masterminds of the Human Instrumentality Project. His voice is performed by the seiyu Fumihiko Tachiki.

Early Years
Born as Gendo Rukobunyi in April 29, 1967, during his early years in college Gendo was hated by most of his fellow receiving abuse form them. Gendo somehow discovered the existence of Seele, a secret organization comprised of incredibly powerful men who worshiped an alien race known as The First Ancestral Race, creators of the human species whose technology they planned to take. They called their plan as The Human Instrumentality Project. To approach Seele Gendo was devoted to make that Yui Ikari, daughter of a prominent member of Seele and one of the brightest geneticism students of Japan fall in love for him. This relationship facilitated him gain as tutor to the profesor Kozo Fuyutsuki, a close friend and mentor of Yui who despised him.

After marrying with Yui he changed his name to Gendo Ikari.

Gehirn's Head
In 1999 one experiment funded by Seele at the south pole to seize Adam, the seed of life created by the First Ancestral Race accidentally caused the Second Impact, catastrophe that wiped out a huge proportion of life on earth, including half of the human species.

As Gendo wanted his relationship with Yui provided him with great privileges with Seele, and after the disaster Seele commissioned him leadership the scientific foundation Gehirn, whose secret goal was to revive Adam, with whose genetic samples were eventually created the Evangelions, as part of the Seele’s plan to create a divine being with the powers of the First Ancestral Race that become them in deities.

Thanks that after the Second Impact Seele had secretly seized control of the world’s government, Gehirn counted among their staff with the world's best scientists, including Dr. Naoko Akagi, Professor Fuyutsuki and Yui herself. But during an experiment in which Yui sought to achieve the highest level of synchronization with an Evangelion (Eva Unit 01 Specifically, genetic clone of Lilith, the second seed of life) Evangelion absorbed Yui, endorsing her soul and disappearing her body.



Yui's disappearance was decisively traumatic for Gendo. Obsessed with meeting her Gendo took his own vision of The Human Instrumentality Project, hoping to use the powers of the divine being to resurrect her. As part of his new goal Gendo created a set of geneticallyengineered clones of  Yui called the Rei series, individually known as Rei Ayanami, designed to be depositories of the soul of Lilith, and preferring to share with her and being totally immersed in his goal abandoned his son Shinji considering him a nuisance, forever fracturing his relationship with him without even come to mind.

Also as part of his goal Gendo made sure to love and make his lover Dr. Akagi to ensure her loyalty while she worked in the creation of the three Magi supercomputers, key instruments for the Human Instrumentality Project. But during his private moments with Rei, Gendo came to express his contempt for Naoko, and the girl repeated her words to the doctor, and that with Magi already built she was no longer u

seful for him and listening that she went mad and killed her in a fit of rage. As soon he knowing what happened Gendo murdered Naoko in retaliation for later pretend that it had been a suicide.

Commander of Nerv
To quell the scandal left by the death Gehirn’s name was changed to Nerv, and part of its structure was modified to make it a secret military agency. As part of his machinations Gendo took as his mistress to Ritsuko the daughter of Naoko, to ensure her loyalty, as he had with her mother, assigned as his second in command of the organization to Fuyutsuki, and recruited as head of military operations to Misato Katsuragi, a survivor of the team of scientists who caused the Second Impact. As the architect of Seele’s plans, Gendo led the Nerv as the organization intended to destroy the Angels, Children of Adam to prevent Third Impact and protect humanity. Actually the destruction of the Angels was simply a necessary step by Seele could conduct their own vision of the Third Impact, as they had discovered the Secret Dead Sea Scrolls. Nerv created a series of Eva's designed to fight and destroy the Angels, but Eva's could only be piloted by humans born after the Third Impact, so Gendo chosen as pilot his son Shinji because his soul was compatible with of his  mother Yui, trapped within the Eva Unit 01, without the slightest regard for the feelings of his son at such a frightening task.

Over the war against the Angels the Seele members perceived increasingly as Gendo rebelled to their wishes for accomplish of himself. With each new Angel invading Tokyo-3 thet pilots and other staff of Nerv fell increasingly psychological crises and his son was led increasingly to dangers and unimaginable despair without Gendo gave no sign of empathy. As part of his preparations for the Impact an embryo Adam was grafted onto Gendo’s hand, giving him powers to generate A.T. fields. Also for the emotional crises carried away by his subordinates and his excessive interest in Rei Ayanami, Ritsuko herself ended up hating him and sought betray him in revenge for handling her.

The Giant Impact
Immediately after the destruction of the last angel, Kaworu Nagisa, Seele sent UN’s security forces and the Mass Production Eva series to attack Nerv, already knowing that Gendo planned to betray them to ensure the fulfillment of Human Instrumentality Project. While Nerv staff defended them from the siege Ritsuko looked carry out her revenge using the Magi computer to destroy Nerv, and thereby Gendo plans. But emotions of Dr. Naoko implanted in the Magi prevented her plan succeeded, and discovering the betrayal Gendo punished killing her, as he had with her mother.

While the battle took place between Eva's, Gendo decided to ongoing his plan to attain divinity, merging his mixed  DNA with that of Adam with Rei Ayanami, whohe  believed to have complete loyalty to transform her along the Unit 01 into his Deity Puppet. But Rei-III, influenced by the love that in her previous life had felled by Shinji revolted to Gendo and snatched him the DNA of Adam. <p class="MsoNormal">While occurred the Third Impact the human souls released by the dissolution of their AT Fields led to Gendo to meet the spirit of Yui, who reproached him for not having protected Shinji, before his body was dissolved with the rest of humanity. During instrumentation, Gendo perceives a vision of what he calls "his punishment" in which he's devoured by the Eva Unit 01.

Rebuild of Evangelion
In the remake series Rebuild of Evangelion, Gendo like other characters plays a lot like the original series role in the first two parts of the series, Evangelion 1.0 You Are (not) Alone and Evangelion 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance. It can be assumed that most of the history of his origin before the start of the plot is essentially the same as in the TV series, as demonstrated most of the acts passed in the films, so his goals and methods are essentially the same.

In the third part of the series, Evangelion 3.0: You Can (not) Redo, takes place a time shift of 14 years in which the plot of the series takes a new plot twist diverging from the original story, and in this, far from his original position as an alternative villain to Seele, Gendo assumes full antagonism of history. After take place the battle against the Angel Zeruel, the Eva-01 piloted by Shinji entered in awakening mode after seize a S2 Motor, absorbing within itself the young pilot and opening a Door of Guf with which occurred a third impact. Although the impact was interrupted the level of disaster brought the world to a state of uninhabitable that caused the mass extinction of most living species and most of humanity.

After the catastrophe the former members of the Nerv’s staff understood that Gendo's ambitions were never prevent Third Impact, but provoke him, and rebelled against him. Gather the rest of the survivors of humanity they formed the Wille organization, led by Captain Misato Katsuragi and Dr. Ritsuko Akagi dedicated exclusively to destroy Nerv and Seele to prevent future impacts and ensure the future of the dying human race.

Although much of the events that occurred after the disaster is unknown it is possible to see that the subsequent clashes made that the head of Lilith stay in the old bridge of Nerv while her body was trapped in the central dogma impaled by two Loginus Lances along with an inactive Eva Mark 6. It was also implied that was destroyed the 11th angel during this period while the 12th was lying trapped in the Mark 6.

To destroy Wille, Gendo and Fuyutsuki created new Evangeliond piloted by Ayanami Series and other weapons of mass destruction, including clones in mass of Eva Mark 6 and cyber clones of angels inspired in Eva's designs, called the Nemesis Series. With his weapons ravaging the earth to wipe out the Wille’s forces Gendo becamein the ruler de facto of the uninhabited post-apocalyptic world. 14 years after the Third Impact the Wille’s Evas rescued the Eva Unit 01 which was orbiting the earth in an isolation chamber protected by Nemesis Series, rescuing in the process to Shinji, whose body was already reassembled unconscious inside the Eva. Wille rescued the Evangelion to use it as power source of AAA Wunder, giant airship became their mobile headquarters, so Gendo sent the Nemesis series to stop them and then to Eva Mark 09 piloted by Rei-III to recapture his son, recruit him again as his pilot to go ahead with his plans.

Once again reunited with his confused son Gendo entrusted him to pilot the Eva Unit 13, Unit 01 successor by rescue the Longinus Lances from the dogma terminal. Shinji fulfilled the order in team human-angel Kaworu Nagisa, believing that recovering the lances they could reverse the damage left to World by the Third Impact (apparently misled as part of the plan of Gendo). During the search began a new battle against Wille’s Evas, during which to recover the Lances was released on the 12th Angel. By consuming it and appropriating its N2 Motor Unit 13 awoke and turned the Mark 09 in an Adam Vessel, starting the Fourth Impact, where Gendo said that soon would meet with Yui. As the Impact happened Gendo and Fuyutsuki defused the now silent monoliths of Seele promising that their plans would be fulfilled, meanwhile took place a full battle with Wille starring by the Wunder itself, but the self-sacrifice of Kaworu, who committed suicide inside his plug made that Eva lost its power and the Door of Guf closed, preventing the impact reset to complete life on earth. After the Battle Captain Katsuragi and Gendo withdrew their forces, postponing the continuation of the war. Gendo concluded that even everything went according to his plans.

Personality
Extremely cold, calculating, manipulative and selfish, Gendo was seen by most people in his youth as a bully ruffian, being his wife Yui the only capable of find kindness in him. After the disappearance of his wife Gendo entered a state of shock that could never completely overcome. Completely absorbed in his obsessive goal of recover her, Gendo buried almost all hisemotions, becoming a cold unfathomable being, only able to express kindness to his adopted daughter (and Yui's clone) Rei Ayanami.

Most of the time Gendo is pondering his machinations, without showing any kind of fear or passion even in situations of combat, he expressed only slight signs of satisfaction when you see fulfilled his plans. Only the possible disobedience of his subordinates can make him to demonstrate the fiercest military discipline, and not in few cases a very calculated cruelty. All the staff of Nerv obey him properly, but find hard to treat with him.

Trivia

 * His seiyu is Fumihiko Tachiki, who also portrays to Don Krieg in One Piece and Kenpachi Zaraki in Bleach.
 * "Gendo" means "ilusion", Rokobunyi "sextant" and Ikari "anchor". The sextant and anchor are instruments of navigation. Probably not by accident many of the Evangelion's characters have names inspired form WWII's ships.
 * In Evangelion 3.0 Kaworu refers to him as "King of the Lilin".
 * His relationship with Rei is probably a reference to Elektra syndrome.
 * During the Giant Impact he admitted that the reason why he abandoned Shinji is because he feared the memories of Yui.
 * His visors in Evangelion 3.0 are very similar to those of Keel Lorenz, leader of Seele. This suggests that he is the new head of Seele.