Seed of Life
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"I've heard this story countless times already." |
Seeds of Life (生命の種, Seimei no Tane) are artificial progenitor beings created by the First Ancestral Race to spread life onto planets throughout the Milky Way. Seven total were created[1], each paired with a Spear of Longinus, and placed within massive transport carriers dubbed "Moons" (or sometimes "Eggs").
Seeds of Life appear to all start off fundamentally the same, with the ability to choose between two different paths for the type of humanity they will create. If they gift their offspring with the Fruit of Life, each individual will be born essentially a god unto itself possessing incredible psychokinetic power, and able to decide its own physical form. If the Fruit of Knowledge is chosen, then the Seed's progeny will be mortal and of fixed form, with individuals relying upon collective existence for strength; civilization and technology are expected outcomes. An entity that possesses both of these Fruits is said to be equal to God.[2]
Only two Seeds of Life actually appear in the series: Adam, a "Fruit of Life"-type Seed, and Lilith, a "Fruit of Knowledge"-type Seed. A third, nameless Seed appears in the PSP game Neon Genesis Evangelions: Another Cases to speak to Kaworu using his image and voice.
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, was the first Seed to land on Earth, over 4 billion years ago. Before Adam-based life could be established, however, Lilith's Black Moon collided violently into the Earth and causing the event now known as the First Impact. Lilith's Spear of Longinus is thought to have been a casualty of the incident.
Due to an unspecified law in the First Ancestral Race's plan, two Seeds cannot co-exist on the same planet. Because of this, Adam was put into suspended animation by its own Spear. Lilith is then implied to have released the LCL she uses for blood in the oceans of Earth, resulting in the creation of primordial ooze from which terrestrial life evolved over the course of billions of years. During this time, Adam remained inactive until it was accidentally awakened via the Katsuragi Expedition's contact experiment, resulting in the Second Impact.
The phrase "Seed of Life" comes from the video game Neon Genesis Evangelion 2, which provides generous exposition on the anime's science fiction backstory. In the series itself, both Lilith and Adam are only described as "sources of life" (生命体の源, seimeitai no minamoto), by Misato Katsuragi in episode 25'. The manga adaptation by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto uses the term "egg of life" (生命の卵, seimei no tamago) instead.
- ↑ This was stated in the NGE2 game as part of several "routes", see: http://forum.evageeks.org/thread/8703/NGE2-First-Ancestral-Race-and-Seeds-of-Life
- ↑ "God" is sometimes interpreted as meaning the First Ancestral Race, who have a symbolic status as the "God" of the NGE universe, but nothing concrete is known about what Fruits the FAR may have possessed. Their advanced technology capacity implies they possessed the Fruit of Knowledge. However, if they possessed the Fruit of Life as well, there seems little reason why they would rely upon Seeds of Life to transport their souls off their doomed planet.
| 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 |
