Names and Terminology; a guide

Sin Seiki Evangelion has a large cast and uses a lot of technical terms in the story. I'll be using them throughout this shrine assuming you're familiar with the characters and terms, in order to keep the pages concise. But I realize not everyone is as obsessed with the series like me, and consumes information like that, so this page serves as an abridged version of all the characters and terms I will be referencing. Let's begin with the characters! This is not a full list of all the characters in the series, but a list of characters mentioned on this site.

Akagi Ritsuko – the head scientist at NERV. Her mother was the creator of the Magi system, which NERV uses as its central computers. She is also an old college friend of Misato.

Ayanami Rei – The First Children, designated to pilot Eva Unit-00. She is closely involved with Ikari Gendou. Later, Ritsuko reveals Rei is actually a clone of Shinji's mother, Ikari Yui.

Ikari Gendou – the commander of NERV and Shinji's father, with his role in the story in that order. He treats Rei with much more care than his own son. His true intentions are to use The Human Intrumentality Project to see Yui, his deceased wife, again.

Ikari Shinji – the protagonist of the series and The Third Children, pilot of Unit-01. He both hates and desires acceptance from his father but has grown to like Rei, and holds ambivalent feelings toward Asuka.

Katsuragi Misato – sole survivor of the Second Impact, she joined NERV to fight the Angels and avenge her father, who was killed after saving her in the Second Impact. She becomes Shinji's guardian and has him live with her rather than alone, as Gendou originally intended.

Souryu Asuka Langley – the Second Children and pilot of Unit-02, Asuka can be very spirited and stubborn, often going against Shinji in pilot rivalry. When her mind becomes unstable after an Angel attack, Kaworu is sent to replace her as pilot.

Key Terms

Now for the technical terms used in the series. There's a lot of information to digest in Evangelion, but this list only covers what is related to Kaworu and what I mention on this site. As a note, SEELE and NERV are not acronyms, I just prefer to capitalize the names.

Adam – the first Angel, first discovered in Antarctica. When humans tried to capture him, the event known as Second Impact occurred.

Angels – know as shito in Japanese, the apostles. Monstrous beings that come to attack Tokyo-3 and NERV.

A.T. Field – Absolute Terror Field, a protective zone created by the Angels as well as the Evangelion Units, which is why the Evas are the only weapons capable of defeating the Angels.

Central Dogma – a location deep inside of NERV headquarters.

Dead Sea Scrolls – the scenarios carried out by SEELE for The Human Instrumentality Project are written down in this ancient document.

Dummy Plug – an alternative to the pilots, the Dummy Plug system in NERV uses Ayanami Rei's recorded personality, insticts, and decisions. The Dummy Plug system from SEELE uses Kaworu's recorded actions and judgment.

Evangelion – modelled after Adam, these are the only weapons able to fight the Angels. Eva for short, NERV mainly uses units 00-02 in its operations.

Lilim – name given to children of Lilith, the second angel. Kaworu calls humans by this name.

Marduk Institute – the organization in charge of selecting Eva pilots. Later revealed to be a dummy organization for NERV and SEELE.

NERV – the organization in charge of fighting the Angels. The name is not an acronym. They are formed under SEELE's powers.

Second Impact – the horrific event that killed off half of Earth's population. More under the intro.

SEELE – the throne of souls, a secret organization. Their faces are often hidden, most of the time they are represented by black doors with numbers on them. Sometimes known as the Committee or Old Men. Also not an acronym.

The Human Instrumentality Project – SEELE's ultimate plan for humanity, and the secret goal they have been advancing toward throughout the series. Sometimes known as the Human Enhancement Project, this is largely kept secret from nearly everyone but those at the top. Before this plan can be carried out, the Angels must be destroyed first, so they cannot interfere.

Third Impact – the prevention of this is what NERV is supposedly fighting for. This is supposed to wipe out humanity. Can occur if an Angel makes contact with Adam.