Gendo
| Gendo Ikari | |
|---|---|
| Neon Genesis Evangelion character | |
 |
|
| Created by |
Hideaki Anno (series creator) Yoshiyuki Sadamoto (character designer) |
| Voiced by |
Fumihiko Tachiki (Japanese) Tristan MacAvery (series and movies) John Swasey (director's cut, Rebuild of Evangelion) (English) |
| Profile | |
| Relatives |
Yui Ikari (wife) Shinji Ikari (son) Rei Ayanami (ward) |
Gendo Ikari (碇 ゲンドウ Ikari Gendō) is a fictional character in the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise. He is the commander of NERV. While all of the English versions romanize his given name as Gendo, Gainax's website romanizes it Gendoh, and some fansites romanize his name as "Gendou".
In NERV, Gendo is responsible for the research done on the Evangelion Project and the Human Instrumentality Project. He is the father of the Third Child, Shinji Ikari. At the start of the series, Rei Ayanami only reliably interacts with him.
Gendo is a brilliant scientist and politician who works diligently for his organization; however, he is an extremely callous person and a cold and distant father towards his son, and has no qualms about using and discarding people to achieve his goals:
"Gendo is the type of person who can see & think about the welfare of an organization as a whole. In other words, he'd do anything to succeed. He takes drastic and extreme measures, by fair means or foul, or by hook or by crook, in order to accomplish his own purpose. In some ways he's mean, he hardly cares about Shinji."
His last lines in The End of Evangelion reveal his regret and the true motivations for his ruthless behavior. He intended to use Third Impact to become godlike and create a better future for humanity together with his wife Yui Ikari, whom he intended to rejoin at the conclusion of Instrumentality. However, when Rei defies him he realizes that his efforts are in vain and that he ignored the real wishes of Yui. She intended to bring about a brighter future for their son Shinji, whom Gendo has sacrificed in order to bring her back. In essence, Yui's dreams and principles were violated to resurrect her. He was also afraid that his love for Shinji would instead hurt him and therefore distance himself from him. Shortly after, in the surreal sequence Unit 01 is shown grasping Gendo in its hand before decapitating him. The camera then shows Gendo's lower body still standing with his upper torso severed.
In the new Rebuild of Evangelion franchise his overall role and actions (at least concerning the first film) have remained consistent.
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Wikipedia