Organizations and Their Hidden Agendas

[Jornophelanthas]

Based on the events in the three movies so far, some things can already be deduced about what each of the three secretive organizations (SEELE, NERV/Gendo and WILLE) wants to achieve with regard to Evangelions and Instrumentality. Here I shall present the known agendas of each of the three organizations, followed by a few attempts at explaining the events seen or alluded to in 3.0 in light of these agendas.

SEELE
SEELE is an ancient organization that wants to achieve Human Instrumentality. To this end, they planned the creation of Evangelions by NERV, which were to destroy (almost) all the Angels in order to fulfill their "pact with Lilith". It may even be suspected that SEELE released the Angels on humanity one by one, so that NERV's Evangelions could eliminate them.
However, Kaworu Nagisa - the First Angel - is part of their conspiracy. Kaworu is SEELE's intended "trigger" for the Impact that will achieve Human Instrumentality. This was originally intended to be done through Evangelion Mark-06, which was constructed on the moon from an Adam. How exactly this was supposed to go down remains unclear, but Rebuild 2.0 states that Mark-06 was supposed to awaken and become the "true god".
In Rebuild 3.0, it has become clear that Mark-06 failed in this purpose. The new Evangelion Unit-13 was created to realize SEELE's to take over from Mark-06, and to achieve godhood for SEELE. Although Unit-13 did awaken, it was deactivated before it could fulfill SEELE's agenda, the SEELE council was tricked into suicide, Kaworu was moved to suicide for Shinji's sake, and SEELE now no longer exists.

NERV/Gendo Ikari
NERV was originally founded in order to carry out the operational side of SEELE's plans. NERV was to engineer the Evangelion series, and operate these in order to fight off the Angels.
However, NERV commander Gendo Ikari has a plan of his own, involving his wife Yui Ayanami, Evangelion Unit-01 (which now houses Yui's soul), a clone of Yui's called Rei Ayanami, and Gendo and Yui's son Shinji.
It is clear that Gendo wants to be reunited with Yui after she disappeared into Unit-01. Whether or not this was voluntary on her part, and whether or not her disappearance was part of the plan that Gendo is now carrying out, are unclear at this time.
What is clear, however, is that Gendo wants to hijack SEELE's Human Instrumentality project to realize his own variant, and that this requires Unit-01 (containing Yui) to awaken into godhood, instead of Mark-06.
During Rebuild 3.0, Gendo and the remains of NERV serve SEELE's agenda (and deploy the Nemesis series to combat their mutual enemy WILLE), but Gendo covertly tricked SEELE into self-destructing, leaving him and Fuyutsuki free to pursue his own agenda in the coming future.

WILLE
WILLE is a new organization that is dedicated to fighting NERV and SEELE. They appear to be opposed to Human Instrumentality of any kind, as all its members react very negatively to any kind of Impact occurring, as well as to the people involved in causing it. It is unclear, though, whether WILLE knows that Gendo Ikari has his own agenda.
It is suggested Kaji is involved with WILLE, as one of the Wunder bridge crew mentions knowing him. Also, Kaji's connections with the marine biology reservation seen in 2.0 suggest his dedication to maintaining life on earth, rather than running away towards self-created gods.
In Rebuild 3.0, WILLE has grown to be a force to be reckoned with, due to its acquisition of not only Unit-01, but also of the AAA Wunder, in addition to its ability to field two Evangelions with highly qualified pilots.

Explaining Events in the movies
In this section, I shall list a number of events or situations seen in Rebuild 2.0 and 3.0, and the stance of each of the three organizations concerning it, in hopes of providing explanations for the things that happen.

Unit-05 battles the 3rd Angel, ending in mutual destruction
- SEELE was probably the mastermind behind placing the Third Angel in Bethany Base in the first place, so they probably were not pleased with the course of events.
- NERV/Gendo Ikari was not in charge of the NERV branch that was running Bethany Base, so the loss did not affect him in the slightest. He was pleased to receive the Key of Nebuchadnezzar from Kaji, which Kaji was seen taking away from Bethany.
- WILLE might not have existed yet, but the events tied in directly to their agenda: an Angel was destroyed, an Evangelion was destroyed and a NERV base was destroyed. Furthermore, an important artifact belonging to SEELE was given over to NERV commander Gendo Ikari, who could possibly be going rogue with it.
The Third Angel battle in Rebuild 2.0 could also foreshadow WILLE's rise, due to both Kaji's and Mari's presence there, and the fact that the Angel, the Evangelion and the entire base are destroyed. The large amount of mishaps during that sequence of events (the unexplained escape of the Third Angel, the sudden failure of Unit-05's weapons and limbs, Mari's willingness to self-destruct Unit-05 inside the base (blowing it up), and Kaji's removal of the Key of Nebuchadnezzar with no evidence but smoking debris) raises suspicions of sabotage.

Unit-01 consumes the 10th Angel, which had consumed Unit-00 just before
- SEELE had been suspecting Gendo of treachery, and were hoping that the 10th Angel would destroy the man and all his tools, holding Mark-06 in reserve to finish off the Angel as soon as Gendo's Evangelions were all destroyed. They were very displeased at seeing Unit-01 awaken and achieve (near-)godhood upon consuming the Angel, because this was a direct threat to their plan to have Mark-06 fulfill this role. Kaworu (serving SEELE) did not hesitate to deactivate Unit-01.
- WILLE (or its future members) were horrified to see (Near-)Third Impact occur. Misato did not notice it at first, but reacted in horror when she recognized the repeat of Second Impact. Mari's piloting of Unit-02 in order to destroy the Angel before any other Evangelions could get involved may be seen as an attempt to prevent any awakenings happening.
- NERV/Gendo was very pleased with the outcome, even if what happened did not go as originally planned. His original plan consisted of having Shinji and Rei become close, then inserting Rei into Unit-01's core (just like Yui), in order to ensure Shinji's loyalty. But then Shinji quit on him. So his backup plan was to use the dummy plug to pilot Unit-01 to replace Shinji. Meanwhile, Rei was lost in combat. (Gendo did not mind as much, because her main purpose had been to bind Shinji to him, and that was no longer necessary. Also, he had spare Reis.). But then Unit-01 refused the dummy plug. Gendo was out of options until Shinji returned. And against all Gendo's expectations, Shinji managed to not only awaken Unit-01 (ahead of schedule), but also to absorb Rei into Unit-01's core. Gendo now had an awakened Evangelion and (he believed) Shinji's unwavering dedication to be with Rei in Unit-01's entry plug. And then Kaworu's spear came down, causing a 14-year delay in his plans.

Another event happens that destroys Tokyo-3 beyond recognition, fuses Mark-06 and Lilith (killing both), involves the 12th Angel, and dislocates the moon. Also featuring a large amount tanks, airplanes and ships.
- Given that Kaworu was the designated pilot of Mark-06, he was likely piloting it to do SEELE's will. SEELE either intended to fulfill their Human Instrumentality project here (also because it was stated in Rebuild 1.0 that there would be 12 or 13 Angels) and were thwarted in some way, or they were trying to stop Gendo from fulfilling his agenda. Pulling the moon out of orbit could very well have destroyed SEELE's moonbase, and the mountains of Failures of Infinity are all that remains of the intervening armies, NERV and SEELE staff, and any civilians that were not fortunate enough to make it out in time.
- Lilith being turned into a Giant Naked Rei has Gendo's signature all over it. Perhaps he was trying to achieve godhood himself (with the Key of Nebuchadnezzar?), or perhaps he was only trying to destroy SEELE and the Mark-06. Whatever happened though, an Impact occurred, Kaworu survived, but Lilith and Mark-06 did not.
- WILLE would have tried to oppose either party with everything they had at their disposal, which probably included at least Mari and Unit-08, but possibly also Asuka and Unit-02. I am guessing that WILLE was responsible for the fact that humanity did not end that day, as both SEELE and NERV appear to have lost that day.

Unit-01 (along with Shinji) had been shot into orbit
- WILLE were the ones to retrieve Unit-01 from outside of the atmosphere, and they encountered opposition in the form of the Nemesis series. This makes it unlikely that WILLE wanted Unit-01 out there.
- SEELE considers Unit-01 a threat to their Human Instrumentality project, due to its awakening at the end of Rebuild 2.0. It is quite likely that they were the ones who exiled Unit-01 to this fate.
- NERV operates the Nemesis series that oppose WILLE in retrieving Unit-01, probably under orders from SEELE. However, Gendo is quite willing to recruit Shinji to pilot for him once again, and he later sends Mark-09 to hack into Wunder (containing Unit-01), so he does not seem all that unhappy about having Unit-01 and Shinji back on earth.

NERV's and SEELE's co-operation at the Geofront, and Kaworu's presence.
- As far as WILLE is concerned, having all their enemies clustered together in one place makes them hard to assail. They would probably not have considered attacking the Geofront without the AAA Wunder, and still would not have done so except in case of another Impact. Which was what happened in 3.0, and caused them to unwittingly play into Gendo's hand (see below).
- SEELE probably lost all of their staff and materials except Kaworu during the event that killed Lilith, fused it with Mark-06, re-landscaped the Geofront and pulled the moon out of orbit. The Geofront base, Gendo, Fuyutsuki and the remaining Evangelions and technology there are probably all they have. Gendo and Fuyutsuki thus became SEELE's involuntary servants, and Kaworu is there to enforce that they do SEELE's will.
- Gendo and Fuyutsuki being under such close scrutiny by the SEELE council and Kaworu probably have very little freedom. However, this does not stop Gendo from plotting to remove SEELE's yoke from around his neck, even while working towards SEELE's instrumentality with Unit-13. And he succeeds by the end of Rebuild 3.0, as SEELE ceases to exist. Shinji's presence was a key part of manipulating Kaworu, just like Gendo used Rei to manipulate Shinji during 1.0 and 2.0.

Shinji's and Kaworu's descent into the Geofront in Unit-13
- SEELE intended Shinji and Kaworu to retrieve the spears of Cassius and Longinus, which would possibly initiate Fourth Impact immediately. Unit-13 is clearly meant to be the replacement for Mark-06, which had been lost in the earlier event.
- WILLE arrived in a desperate gambit to prevent Fourth Impact from happening. And they succeeded, killing Kaworu with the DSS choker in the process (who chose to let that happen). As predicted by Gendo.
- NERV/Gendo had removed the spear of Cassius, and had ordered Rei 3.0 to behead Mark-06, freeing the 12th Angel, which would be devoured by Unit-13, somehow granting Kaworu the ordinal of 13th Angel.

Mark-09 attempting to fuse with AAA Wunder
- SEELE consider WILLE to be the biggest threat to their plans, and would want them out of the way. Since they were happy to embrace death before Wunder appeared, they were either unaware of its existence or did not consider it enough of a threat. Anyway, Rei 3.0 inside Mark-09 was not under their orders, but under Gendo's.
- WILLE clearly had an impression of what Mark-09 was doing. Ritsuko's statement even suggests that Mark-09 was Wunder's "original master". Asuka and Mari mention that Mark-09 consists entirely of a large core. I am putting two and two together here, and surmise that Wunder is actually a giant Evangelion, and that Mark-09 is its original core, that has been swapped out for the artificial Unit-01. Therefore, if Mark-09 would be successful in its fusing attempt, it would have wrested control of Wunder and delivered all of WILLE to Gendo on a silver platter.
- Gendo must want Unit-01 back for his own Instrumentality plot. Not only is it the awakened Evangelion that he intended to awaken himself, but it also contains his beloved Yui. The side benefit of disabling or destroying WILLE in seizing both Unit-01 and Wunder would mean that Gendo would have defeated all his enemies in a single day, and the final victory would be his. That this attempt failed did not deter him, though, because he considers the day enough of a victory because of SEELE's elimination.

What these examples show is that SEELE is rather straightforward in their agenda. Their agenda changes little over time. We know what they want (Human Instrumentality), but not why they want it, and what steps exactly are required.
Gendo/NERV has the most interesting agenda, because it is exactly the opposite of SEELE's: we know why he wants what he wants, but not what it is (except that it involves both Human Instrumentality and being reunited with Yui).
WILLE are the good guys to the extent that they are the only side who do not choose to abandon human life as we know it, but they are flawed and fallible individuals and their origins still remain a mystery.

I welcome any discussion.

[Charsi]

I have only this to add so far.

Kaji is aware of the split within Seele/NERV and is playing it in 2.22. He's going rogue against Seele and currying favour with Gendo Ikari of NERV. In 2.22, if WILLE even exists, it is at best an early starter concept kicking around in his head. They just don't have the manpower to go up against Seele or NERV at this point.

The overarching agency (IPEA, a pleasing fiction) technically controls Bethany Base, Golgatha Base, the destroyed US base and NERV. It is responsible for Project E and it's goal is to defend the planet from angels (presumably) and it follows funny rules like the Vatican accords. Behind it in the shadows stands Seele, whose goal is human instrumentality. However, NERV is secretly pursuing it's own form of Instrumentality. Destroying other IPEA bases - that remain loyal to Seele - is in NERV's best interest. So is the fact that a convenient base sized explosion covers the theft of a certain key.

That's where Kaji comes in. The destruction of the base and the Eva were intentional. Not only do they rob Seele of a loyal pawn, but they cover the theft of the key which Kaji delivers to NERV.

By 3.33, all other Project E branches outside of NERV are obliterated and WILLE's opponents have crippled themselves - it's time to break away. Everything from the initial reveal of WILLE tells me they are a relatively new organization. Always on the lookout for the "Nemesis series", always retreating to a new hideout when spotted, don't yet have a working battleship, and the crew don't even know their duties. They're new. The concept may be old hat, but the actual breakaway happened relatively recently.

re: the final fight in 2.22 - I don't believe Eva-01 consumed the 10th angel. It beat the living snot out of it, but the goal of that was to retrieve the core of Unit-00.

[Giji Shinka]

I have wondered, why did Kaji even wanted to help a man like Gendo to achieve his goal? Did Gendo blackmail him?

[TruthfulLie]

I have wondered, why did Kaji even wanted to help a man like Gendo to achieve his goal? Did Gendo blackmail him?

He's probably just acting as a double spy in an attempt to buy trust from him? Or make him think he is loyal. He probably and obviously had his own agenda, but it's hard to say anything at this point since we don't see him at all in Q. *sadface*

[LordEvan88]

A really good analysis, I have to give you big props for putting it all out clearly and concisely. One can only hope the evidence holds up and this is what Anno is doing.

re: the final fight in 2.22 - I don't believe Eva-01 consumed the 10th angel. It beat the living snot out of it, but the goal of that was to retrieve the core of Unit-00.

Considering it exploded into a big shower of blood which them coalesced into a GNR which then was kind of sucked into Unit 01 which was, afterwards, shown to have 2 cores, it's safe to say Unit-01 consumed it/fused with it/absorbed it. Not to mention the fact that Unit-01 now has an S2 engine as it is able to power the Wunder

I have wondered, why did Kaji even wanted to help a man like Gendo to achieve his goal? Did Gendo blackmail him?

It's implied that Kaji is trying to level the playing field here, playing Gendo and Seele off of each other while getting in Gendo's good graces does nothing but advantage the alleged proto-WILLE.

[Jornophelanthas]

Thanks for the positive feedback on my interpretations. I was expecting a lot more disagreement.

@Charsi:
I fully agree that WILLE is relatively new, and that little more than its seeds can be perceived in any of the Rebuild 2.0 situations. My pet theory, though, is that Kaji is the mastermind behind WILLE, and was working behind the scenes to sabotage both NERV and SEELE from the moment we first see him in 2.0, already deploying Mari to that end. (Remember his line: "I just don't like using children as pawns for the convenience of adults.") He must have had some backing, in order to smuggle Mari into the country, and to receive clearance from Europe to launch Unit-02 without NERV even noticing until after the fact. At some point after Near-Third Impact, Kaji must have recruited Misato and Ritsuko to his cause, after witnessing what apocalyptic destruction Evangelions can wield, and realizing that SEELE and NERV intend to end humanity with it.

But let's not make this in an exclusive WILLE topic. In essence, this topic is about all three organizations' agendas (and how Gendo bent each of them to his will).

[palerider1911]

My pet theory, though, is that Kaji is the mastermind behind WILLE

I'm sure he was involved in some fashion. One of WILLE's crew even mentions him around the 23 minute mark [screen cap over yonder].

Since we don't see him at all during the film though, I'm wondering if he's either dead, or if WILLE have some non-ship-borne location where he could be found.

[Jornophelanthas]

I'm sure he was involved in some fashion. One of WILLE's crew even mentions him around the 23 minute mark [screen cap over yonder].

Since we don't see him at all during the film though, I'm wondering if he's either dead, or if WILLE have some non-ship-borne location where he could be found.

He could be dead, but he could also be their secret patron inside whatever is left of human civilization, who gives them political backing [s]and provides the cover story that WILLE is merely an environmentalist organization making the oceans habitable again for marine life. (I know this cover story is canon because I've seen multiple people mention it, but I don't know its source.)[/s]

edit: crossed out the invalid cover story argument.

[pwhodges]

When I found and mentioned that cover story, it was made clear to me that the source is not canon.

[Monk Ed]

When I found and mentioned that cover story, it was made clear to me that the source is not canon.

What?! Oh man, here I'd been holding out hope that the existence of other humans had some level of confirmation, but if that's the case, maybe Nerv and Wille really are the last humans alive!

[pwhodges]

See here. To be fair, it's still in the Wiki, and there are a number of threads where it is mentioned without any qualification.

As for other humans, any assumptions about their presence rely on (1) the need for a substantial infrastructure to provide food, power and other technology to both Nerv (think of the automated Eva factory - it didn't just materialise, did it?) and Wille (think of the fleet of manned ships, the fact that they are loading and unloading palettes, and some remark IIRC about food and provisions), and (2) the need to have something to aim for as justification for trying to prevent the end of humanity.

[Monk Ed]

As for other humans, any assumptions about their presence rely on (1) the need for a substantial infrastructure to provide food, power and other technology to both Nerv (think of the automated Eva factory - it didn't just materialise, did it?) and Wille (think of the fleet of manned ships, the fact that they are loading and unloading palettes, and some remark IIRC about food and provisions), and (2) the need to have something to aim for as justification for trying to prevent the end of humanity.

(1) is what I have mentally relied on, but at the same time, I also recognize that fiction tends to take liberties with these kinds of things with reckless abandon, right up there with the law of conservation of mass. It's incredible enough that Gendo and Fuyutsuki seem to be just about alone manning their automated factory of a Nerv HQ.

It could be that Wille is just really, really big, not as in even nation-sized or anything but enough to encompass a sustainable population. This would satisfy both (1) and (2). But then the question would arise as to where these people came from and how they survived -- after all, how come some people survived Third Impact (including people who were right there when it started, even if it got interrupted for a while by the landing of Kaworu) and some did not?

[JimJam!]

What's the explanation on why Mari's so well versed and knowledgeable on EVA's? (Inverse Mode in 2.0)

[Charsi]

Why does Mari have a back door code? No idea.

Why can she unlock an Eva frozen under treaty? No idea.

Who's she working for? No idea.

I actually do have a strange theory. Mari is the opposite of Kaworu. Kaworu is reserved, thoughtful and pushes Seele's agenda of instrumentality, of repetition, of doing something over and over until you're happy with it. Mari is exuberant, outgoing and seemingly always looking forward to things. It makes me want to go back and rewatch what she said to Shinji in the shelter towards the end of 2.22. I feel like it might have been along the same lines.

I'm curious what song she was singing in 3.33.

[Jornophelanthas]

What's the explanation on why Mari's so well versed and knowledgeable on EVA's? (Inverse Mode in 2.0)

Mari has an organization backing her, most likely a proto-form of WILLE. It is heavily suggested that Kaji is among them, and that the group consists of a significant number of people who are knowledgable about the workings of Evangelions (and were likely involved in creating Evangelions in the first place).
Also, unlike NERV, this organization apparently educated their pilot in the Evangelions' nature and hidden functionalities, instead of just using giant guns and brute force.

Why does Mari have a back door code? No idea.

Why can she unlock an Eva frozen under treaty? No idea.

Who's she working for? No idea.

I actually do have a strange theory. Mari is the opposite of Kaworu. Kaworu is reserved, thoughtful and pushes Seele's agenda of instrumentality, of repetition, of doing something over and over until you're happy with it. Mari is exuberant, outgoing and seemingly always looking forward to things. It makes me want to go back and rewatch what she said to Shinji in the shelter towards the end of 2.22. I feel like it might have been along the same lines.

I'm curious what song she was singing in 3.33.

I used to have a theory that if Shinji represents the "ego", Mari would represent Shinji's "id" and Kaworu would represent Shinji's "super-ego". While Kaworu's role in 3.0 could line up with this theory, Mari no longer represents anything resembling primal force and simple desire - especially towards Shinji - so I consider my theory rebuked.

---

Once more, I want to avoid turning this into a WILLE-only thread. This is about WILLE's, Gendo's and SEELE's agendas.

[Monk Ed]

I used to call Nerv NERV and Seele SEELE, so I have a hunch that WILLE is actually Wille. Aren't these organizations not actually supposed to be capitalized everywhere all the time?

[Reichu]

I used to call Nerv NERV and Seele SEELE, so I have a hunch that WILLE is actually Wille. Aren't these organizations not actually supposed to be capitalized everywhere all the time?

No more than regular organizations that don't have acronyms for names. Ever see MICROSOFT or BOYSCOUTS OF AMERICA? I don't.

By the way, I think Jorno forgot about IPEA. They might be important, you know?

[Jornophelanthas]

No more than regular organizations that don't have acronyms for names. Ever see MICROSOFT or BOYSCOUTS OF AMERICA? I don't.

By the way, I think Jorno forgot about IPEA. They might be important, you know?

There is no indication that IPEA even exists during Rebuild 3.0. It could also be that it evolved into WILLE during the 14 year time skip.
This may even be likely, to the extent that IPEA in Rebuild 2.0 was (arguably) serving the sole function of regulating Evangelion use (such as enforcing the Vatican Treaty) in order to avoid Second Impact-like mass destruction, while WILLE not only wishes to destroy all NERV Evangelions, but also intervenes directly with the clear intent to stop Fourth Impact. This illustrates that both organizations are dedicated to the status quo.
The main difference between IPEA in 2.0 and WILLE in 3.0 is that WILLE has military power of its own (including Evangelions).

[Reichu]

There is no indication that IPEA even exists during Rebuild 3.0.

I'm not sure about NO indication...

[ElMariachi]

Well, since I don't know where else to post this, this the topic of the things we noticed is locked, but there :

SPOILER: Show

The tesseract holding EVA-01 in space has neo-NERV's logo on it, not the classical one. Would that mean that neo-NERV kept Unit-01 in custody for a long time, even after its split, and just decided to sent it in space because WILLE was becoming to pressing, or maybe that sending it in space was decided before the split and NERV just changed its logo before the split just because?