Seed of Life
Seeds of Life are life giving alien entities created by the First Ancestral Race to spread life on new planets. The First Ancestral Race were ancient progenitor aliens which attempted to seed life on planets throughout the galaxy, and in order to do this they created the "Seeds of Life". Seeds of Life were sent to their destination planets in massive transport containers dubbed "Moons" (or sometimes "Eggs") such as the "Black Moon" or the "White Moon". A multiple number of Seeds were created but it is unknown exactly how many were created: it is possible they were spread to almost every solar system in the galaxy.
Seeds of Life were created in two varieties: one whose progeny benefited from the "Fruit of Life" and gained vast physical powers and strength, and a second type whose progeny benefited from the "Fruit of Knowledge" and thus mastered scientific knowledge and developed civilization. If a creature possessed both of these halves, it would possess power on-par with that of the First Ancestral Race.
- This reflects the Biblical story, Genesis 1:22, of how after eating the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, Adam and Eve were cast out of the Garden of Eden by God so they could not also eat the fruit of the Tree of Life, and become like God.
Only two Seed of Life organisms actually appear in the series: Adam, a "Fruit of Life"-type Seed, and Lilith, a "Fruit of Knowledge"-type Seed. Throughout the galaxy on planets which Lilith-like Seeds landed, they began the first processes of life in the primordial seas of alien worlds, which evolved into what humans would consider more or less normal "terrestrial" environments, culminating in the rise of various intelligent alien civilizations ("normal" in that they were probably carbon-based and not fundamentally different from humans, but that doesn't mean they were exactly like humans at all, because they evolved differently, i.e. a civilization of squid-men like Admiral Ackbar from Star Wars, etc.). Meanwhile, on planets which Adam-type Seeds landed, truly bizarre Angel-dominant ecosystems developed a global scale, using their amazing and almost super-scientific powers, which it would be difficult for humans to comprehend compared to "life" as humans normally understand it. However, of all the worlds across the galaxy which the First Ancestral Race seeded with life, Earth is unique in that two Seeds of Life accidentally landed on the same planet.
Adam, contained within the White Moon transport container, was the first Seed to land on Earth, at least 4 billion years ago. Before angelic life could start however, Lilith crash landed on Earth within the Black Moon transport vessel (apparently destroying her Spear) and causing the event now known as the First Impact. Due to an unspecified law in the First Ancestral Race's plan, two Seeds cannot co-exist on the same planet, possibly because the "forbidden union" of an Adam-type and Lilith-type Seed would create a truly god-liek being rivaling the power of the First Ancestral Race itself. Because of this, the only remaining Spear on the planet took the initiative to permanently subdue one of the Seeds: Adam. Lilith then spread the primordial ooze - Lilith's own blood, LCL - from which terrestrial life evolved over the course of billions of years, while Adam remained inactive until she was forcibly awoken by the Katsuragi Expedition, resulting in the Second Impact.
As both Adam and Lilith are "Seeds of Life", co-equal beings each created by the First Ancestral Race, and the Angels are properly speaking the progeny of Adam, it is ultimately misleading that Lilith is termed the "Second Angel" as strictly speaking Lilith is not an "Angel". Adam and Lilith exist in a category above humans and Angels but below their creators, the First Ancestral Race.
| Angels |
| Angels (general) |
| First and Second Angels (Seeds of Life): Adam | Lilith |
| Third to Seventeenth Angels (Adam's Children): |
| Sachiel | Shamshel | Ramiel | Gaghiel | Israfel | Sandalphon | Matarael | Sahaquiel |
| Ireul | Leliel | Bardiel | Zeruel | Arael | Armisael | Tabris |
| Eighteenth Angel: Lilin |
| Rebuild of Evangelion: ?Adams? | Lilith | 3rd Angel | 4th Angel | 5th Angel | 6th Angel | 7th Angel | 8th Angel | 9th Angel | 10th Angel | 11th Angel | 12th Angel | 1st/13th Angel |
| Other: Extracanonical Angels |
