Keel Lorenz

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Chairman Keel Lorenz (キール・ローレンツ, Kīru Rōrentsu^?) is a fictional character from the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise. He is the enigmatic leader of the mysterious SEELE organization.

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.

History[]

Neon Genesis Evangelion[]

Keel joined SEELE at an unknown time before the Second Impact occurred. He replaced the parts of his body with cybernetic implants. He most likely joined SEELE a long time ago, as specified by Fuyutsuki, who mentioned that a man by the name of Keel Lorenz came in contact with Gendo Ikari many times.

Some time later after Sachiel attacked Tokyo-3 and Shinji's defeat of the Angel, Gendo and SEELE talk about this event. Later, Gendo and SEELE have a conversation about all the Angels that have lost against the NERV's EVAS, to which SEELE is impressed to only a certain degree. Keel later orders Ryoji Kaji to kidnap Fuyutsuki and bring him to SEELE, to which Kaji betrays SEELE and gets Fuyutsuki back to NERV, only to be shot by a hitman under SEELE's orders, but leaving a message about SEELE and Gendo's project, the Human Instrumentality Project.

SEELE acts upon NERV after the Spear of Longinus is lost in the battle against Arael, by sending Kaworu Nagisa to initiate the Third Impact. Kaworu, unknowingly, takes Unit-02 and goes down to Terminal Dogma where he expects to find Adam, but instead, finds Lillith, to which he realizes SEELE and Keel have deceived him and asks that Shinji kills him. After the last Angel, Kaworu is destroyed, Gendo starts the Human Instrumentality Project on his own.

The End of Evangelion[]

After Kaworu is killed by Shinji, Keel and the other SEELE members talk with Gendo, as they are at odds with Gendo's own plan. Keel tells Gendo that since the Spear of Longinus has been lost in a battle against an Angel, they want to use Unit-01 to finish the Human Instrumentality Project. Gendo flat out refuses them, claiming that it would be just death and no peace acquired to which SEELE hangs up but tells Gendo "then you deserve death".

SEELE has NERV revoked of their license in Tokyo-3 and has made the United Nations believe that they are a rogue organization, to which he orders the JSSDF to wipe out NERV and eliminate all members. The JSSDF make their way to NERV and start their invasion into NERV HQ. In the meanwhile, Asuka wakes up and is in Unit-02 activates. SEELE sends the Mass Production Evangelions to fight NERV'S Evangelions. Eventually, one of the Mass Production Evangelion uses the Spear of Longinus replica to pierce Unit-02's head, causing Asuka extraordinary pain. Evangelion Unit-02 is defeated by the Mass Production Evangelions.

As the Third Impact occurs, Keel is pleased with the outcome, claiming that the world is saved before getting turned into LCL, the only remnants of him being his cybernetic implants.

Neon Genesis Evangelion manga[]

In the Neon Genesis Evangelion manga, Yoshiyuki Sadamoto depicts SEELE as having been around for centuries.

Voice Actors[]

• Japanese: Mugihito
• English: Rick Peeples^WP[NGE], Tom Booker^WP[D&R][EoE], D. C. Douglas^WP (Neflix)
• French:
• Italian:
• Portuguese (Brazil): Luiz Laffey (Locomotion), Antônio Moreno (Animax), César Emilio (Netflix)
• Russian:
• Spanish (Spain):
• Spanish (Latin America):
• Catalan:
• German: Horst Lampe
• Hindi:
• Korean:
• Chinese (Simplified):
• Chinese (Traditional):

Trivia[]

• Keel was named after both Keel^WP, the ship part and the Austrian biologist Konrad Lorenz^WP.^[1] In the Neon Genesis Evangelion Proposal, his name was actually going to be "Konrad Lorenz". Lorenz is best known for his work in the field of animals psychology.^[2]
• Lorenz's first name, "Keel", is actually spelled incorrectly. It should be "Kiel", as "Keel", in German. The word "Kiel" however is pronounced almost exactly like its English counterpart. However, due to the proliferation of "Keel" in canonical materials, this spelling is used. The German word "Kiel" means "keel" in English and is also the name of the capital city of the German Federal State of Schleswig-Holstein^WP.
• 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.

References[]