Keel Lorenz
| Keel Lorenz | |
| |
| キール・ローレンツ | |
| Rank / Title | Leader of Seele |
|---|---|
| Affiliation(s) | Seele, Gehirn |
| National Heritage | Unknown |
| Age | Unknown |
| Birthday | Unknown |
| Height | 163cm[1] |
| Seiyū | Mugihito |
| Voice Actor | (English): Richard Peeples (TV), Tom Booker (films), Bill Jenkins (Rebuild), D.C. Douglas (Netflix) (Italian): Gianni Musy (1st voice); Glauco Onorato (2nd voice) (French): Gérard Boucaron (German): Horst Lampe (TV and Rebuild 1&2) , Bernd Kuschmann (Films) , Erich Räuker (Rebuild 3.33) |
Chairman Keel Lorenz is the enigmatic leader of the mysterious Seele organization, and (arguably) the real primary antagonist of Neon Genesis Evangelion.
Profile
Little is known of the Seele organization, and even less is known about its leader, Chairman Keel, who also serves as the head of the Human Instrumentality Committee, the five-man subgroup of Seele which directly oversees Nerv's Evangelion project (as well as their secret Human Instrumentality Project), and functions by working through the UN, secretly pulling the strings of world governments.
What is known for certain is that Keel was active within Seele's machinations before Second Impact, and was involved along with Gendo in the United Nations' cover-up of the true nature of the disaster involving Adam and the Katsuragi Expedition. Through Seele, Keel secretly backed Gehirn and later its successor organization, Nerv in their creation of the Evangelion project.
At some point between Second Impact and 2015, most of Keel's body, below the neck, was replaced with cybernetic implants. Although he uses a visor to see, Keel still possesses eyes (as indicated by production drawings). When the organic components of his body became LCL, the remaining mechanical components were left behind, and appear to include most of his spinal column.
In Other Media
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"Making something... Nurturing something is really great. You can see and learn so many things from the process." |
In Sadamoto's Manga
Sadamoto's manga depicts Seele as having been around for centuries.
In Rebuild of Evangelion
Keel is represented as a monolith in Evangelion 1.0, he's seen in Gendo's reunion with Seele after Eva-01's battle against the Fourth Angel, and at the end of the movie, where he appears in the Moon, this time without the others Seele monoliths, to talk to Kaworu. It is not until Evangelion 2.0 that he is credited by name. Keel himself is not shown in Rebuild of Evangelion, but the 01 monolith is still voiced by Mugihito.
Keel also appears in the third movie alongside the rest of the Seele monoliths, although he's the only member to speak in the whole movie. When Gendo bids his farewells to them as Fourth Impact is about to begin, he reveals that the Seele members have "changed the form of their souls", and that Seele has existed since millenia ago and gave to mankind the "gift of civilization", implying that the monoliths where the Seele's members' true form, though if they existed under that form since millenia ago or "uploaded" themselves into these monoliths is unclear. If the former hypothesis is true, them that would make "Keel" thousands of years old, and Lorenz Keel may not even be his true name(if he still has one)
He's last seen assuring Gendo that their wishes have come to fruition and that all his well as Fuyutsuki is seen turning switches that "deactivated" the Seele monoliths to return their souls "where they belong" as a part of the ritual for Instrumentality, seemingly killing him alongside the rest of Seele, all unaware that Gendo double-crossed them and twisted the events so Fourth Impact would be averted and with it their version of Instrumentality.
Notes
- Keel was named for both the ship part and the Austrian biologist Konrad Lorenz. Originally, his name was actually going to be "Konrad Lorenz". Lorenz is best known for his work in the field of child psychology.
- Lorenz's first name, "Keel", is actually spelled incorrectly for a native German. It should be "Kiel", which is the German spelling for "Keel" and pronounced the same as the English word. "Keel" in German would be pronounced like "Kayl" or "Kehl" in English. However, due to the proliferation of "Keel" in canonical materials, this spelling is used. The word Keel (spelt "Kiel" in German and Dutch) is, of course, a nautical term, referring to both an integral part of the hull of a ship and how much a ship tilts while moving.
- Keel's age is unknown, although he appears to be no more than in his seventies in the Second Impact coverup photograph. He has visibly aged in the subsequent 15 years, but it's uncertain if the reception of extensive cybernetic implants has prevented him from aging as much as he otherwise would have. The Proposal provides Keel's (or Konrad's, rather) age as 67, although there is no way to know if this carried through to the final show.
- Lorenz' visor bears some aesthetic similarity to that worn by Geordi LaForge in Star Trek: The Next Generation.
- ↑ Evangelion Chronicle has a character height chart, however it does not clearly state each character's height. An user has calculated their heights based on it here, taking Misato's height from Episode 25 as a reference.
| Characters |
| Main characters: Shinji Ikari | Rei Ayanami | Asuka Langley Soryu |
| Nerv staff: Misato Katsuragi | Gendo Ikari | Ritsuko Akagi | Kozo Fuyutsuki | Ryoji Kaji | Maya Ibuki | Makoto Hyuga | Shigeru Aoba |
| Classmates: Toji Suzuhara | Kensuke Aida | Hikari Horaki |
| Other characters: Kaworu Nagisa | Yui Ikari | Naoko Akagi | Kyoko Zeppelin Soryu | Dr. Katsuragi | Keel Lorenz | Pen Pen |
| Rebuild of Evangelion: Asuka Shikinami Langley | Mari Makinami Illustrious | Sakura Suzuhara | Ryoji Kaji (Jr) |
| Miscellaneous: Minor Characters | Minor Characters (Rebuild) | Extracanonical Characters |
| Theory and Analysis: Name Origins (Warships) | Designs | Relationships | Profiles |
| Resources: 2015: The Last Year of Ryohji Kaji |
