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"Mature Content Warning!" |
Gendo Ikari is the main antagonist of the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise.
He is the commander of NERV, funded by the group SEELE, who fight off creatures known as "Angels" intending to destroy humanity while acting for the true purpose of merging humanity into a single being. He intends to cause a reversible version of Human Instrumentality for his own purposes and his wife Yui Ikari's wishes in order to counter SEELE's agenda.
In the series itself, Gendo is defined by his adverse relationship to his son and main protagonist Shinji. Gendo also implants the soul of the seed of life Lilith into a clone of his wife and names the girl Rei Ayanami, who he creates numerous clones of and raises as an adoptive daughter who will one day be used to initiate instrumentality.
In Japanese, he was voiced by Fumihiko Tachiki, who also played Megatron in the Japanese dub of Transformers: Robots in Disguise. In English, Gendo has been voiced by Ray Chase in the Netflix dub, Tristan MacAvery in ADV and the films, and his current voice actor, John Swasey.
His Evil Ranking[]
Debated Validations[]
- It's shown throughout the series that Yui's ultimate goal was to cause a temporary Third Impact that would undermine SEELE's goal and remove their power. Gendo is indicated to be in on this plan though didn't know of Yui's plan to deliberately put herself into the EVA Unit-01. Therefore, he could be considered a well-intentioned extremist as he wants to follow her plans in order to get rid of SEELE's power. However, given that this plan involves temporarily annihilating humanity regardless and Gendo seems more motivated by his grief towards her than any good will, his motivations towards this are questionable.
- He might have killed Naoki Akagi, but this is ambiguous, as the alternate universe manga states she kills herself.
- Some viewers think his relationship with Rei is predatory due to a scene of him groping her breasts in End of Evangelion and Rei being a clone of Yui, but he doesn't ever show any actual sexual lust towards her and his preoccupation and relationship with her is closer to that of a parent, and the scene of groping the breast is metaphorical.
What Makes Him Heinous?[]
Overall[]
- Gendo is responsible for nearly all of Shinji’s suffering and faults. He emotionally manipulates and abuses his teenage son, abandoning him as a small child before calling him back to fight in life-or-death situations against horrific monsters. He almost never shows Shinji any hint of compassion or warmth and attempts to undermine his self-confidence constantly.
Original series[]
- When Shinji initially refuses to pilot the EVA, he has a heavily injured Rei carted by to suggest to Shinji that she could be physically killed if he doesn't agree to go with him. While Rei had numerous clone bodies and therefore could have her mind transmitted into a new body if she needed to be, this still shows how manipulative he is.
- He uses several young children in order to fight monstrous creatures that risk their certain death and has them usually left with severe injuries after their fights. It's eventually revealed he covertly enlists candidates from Tokyo-3's high school itself.
- After enlisting Shinji's classmate Toji, he orders Shinji to destroy the Unit he was in after it's possessed by Bardiel, knowing this would likely kill Toji. When Shinji refuses, he forcibly wrests control from Shinji and uses a Dummy Plug to make the EVA Unit-01 finish the job regardless. Toji survives this but is severely injured. Even worse is that Gendo made Shinji take the fall for the whole incident when he sought revenge, accepting no responsibility at all.
- Even though he allowed Shinji back into NERV during Zeruel’s attack, he made no effort to apologize for the Bardiel incident.
- He leads Ritsuko and Naoka on a leash by pretending to be romantically interested in them so that he can get closer access to their secret. He maintains his loyalty to Yui while doing so as he only flirts with them, however.
- He uses Rei for the purpose of initiating Third Impact, and emotionally manipulates her while keeping her true purpose of causing this apocalypse secret from her.
- He knows that SEELE will invade NERV and try to initiate Third Impact after all the angels are defeated and is uncaring of the deaths this will cause.
- He guns Ritsuko down when she tries to stop him from initiation Third Impact.
- He intends to initiate an alternate version of Third Impact. While it would be reversible and is used to counter SEELE's agenda to ascend to godhood, it still involves turning humanity into a puddle of goo, that it will take months or years for them to re-manifest from and would certainly result in mass societal disruption.
Rebuild[]
What Makes Him Inconsistent?[]
- He very deeply loves his wife. He doted over her constantly and was profoundly close to her prior to the EVA Unit-01 incident and spends over a decade using any means he can possibly find to get her back, and goes through numerous ends in order to help fulfill her goals.
- He deeply cares about Rei despite his emotional manipulation of her, as she's one of the few people he is concerned with and treats her as his own daughter. When he fears that she might have been injured, he rushes over to her hatch as quickly as possible to try to force it open and burns his hand while doing so.
- He is tragic, as he is demonstrated to be caught in deep self-loathing and despair and believes he does not deserve to be happy or loved. He's heavily implied to have been abused as a child, and Yui was the only person who provided him with a feeling of love and attachment, and he completely broke when she was integrated into the EVA unit.
- He reflects upon his life and comes to regret his cruel treatment of Shinji in his last moments, showing that he refused to emotionally interact with him because he was scared he would just hurt him further. His last words are to beg Shinji to forgive him and to be better than him.
- In Thrice Upon a Time, he finally takes responsibility for his crimes and sacrifices himself as the world is restored to a peaceful state. This action is a symbol of killing all of Shinji’s flaws and wins back Yui’s love as they finally die together for Shinji’s survival.
External Links[]
- Gendo Ikari on the Evangelion Wiki
- Gendo Ikari on the Villains Wiki
- Gendo Ikari on the Magnificent Baddie Wiki
- Gendo Ikari on the Base-Breaking Character Wiki
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 Inconsistently Heinous
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