Marduk Institute

The Marduk Institute is, supposedly, the secret selection committee that screens the global population for 14 year old children who would make suitable Evangelion pilots. However, Ryoji Kaji's investigations reveal that the Marduk Institute does not really exist; it is composed of 108 front companies. Evangelion pilots are not actually found through a screening process, but are hand-picked by Nerv itself. All potential Eva pilots are then transfered to Class 2-A in Tokyo-3, to keep them on-hand should Nerv require them.

Notes

• The "Marduk Institute" is really 108 front companies: there are 108 sins in Tibetan Buddhism, and 108 beads on a Buddhist rosary.
• In Episode 04 Gendo tells Ritsuko that "According to the Marduk Institute's report, the 4th Children has yet to be found." However, in Episode 15 the "Marduk Institute" is revealed to be a dummy organization, and Eva pilots are actually hand-picked by Nerv. However it's not entirely clear how Children are really picked, i.e. does Ritsuko pick them all by herself? Do Gendo and Ritsuko select them together? Does Gendo select them entirely on his own without consultation from Ritsuko? All of the potential Eva pilots are grouped together in Class 2-A by Nerv to keep them safe and on-hand. Moreover, in this scene Gendo and Ritsuko are just talking to each other (albeit with Rei standing with them). Gendo and Ritsuko are fully aware of the true nature of selecting Eva pilots, thus when essentially in "private" (with only Rei to hear them) it should probably be assumed that they were saying the truth. Thus, has the "Fourth Children" actually not been "determined" yet? Eventually, Toji Suzuhara is "selected" as the Fourth Child in Episode 17, but his "selection" is shown to be a sham. The overall question is: did Gendo and Ritsuko honestly not know which of Shinji's classmates would be selected as the next pilot this early in the series, or was he selected to be the Fourth Children years before the events of the series begin? Shinji synchronizes with Eva 01 because his mother Yui's soul is in it, and Asuka synchronizes with Eva 02 because her mother Kyoko's soul is in it. It takes years to build Evangelion Units. At what point is an Evangelion Unit imbued with a human soul? Do they select the most suitable pilot and then use the corresponding soul, or vice-versa?