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| “ | Our only choice is to make changes with our own hands for the future. I will be praying that Unit-01 will accomplish its task. | ” |
| —Keel Lorenz |
Chairman Keel Lorenz is the enigmatic leader of the mysterious SEELE organization.
Some controversially argue that he is the principal antagonist of Neon Genesis Evangelion.
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Keel Lorenz at a SEELE meeting
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.
In other media
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Sadamoto's Manga
Sadamoto's manga depicts SEELE as having been around for centuries.
Rebuild of Evangelion
Keel is represented as a monolith in Evangelion 1.0; it is not until Evangelion 2.0 that he is credited by name.
Keel's monolith appears in Evangelion 3.0: You Can (Not) Redo, being silent during his first appearance. As the Monoliths are turned off one by one by Fuyutsuki, while Gendo thanks SEELE for their guidance of humanity. Keel accepts his death with dignity, saying that their wish will be fulfilled. He prays for the peaceful unification of all souls before Fuyutsuki turns him off.
Notes
- Keel was named for both the ship part and the Austrian biologist Konrad Lorenz. Originally, his name was actually going to be "Konrad Lorenz". Lorenz is best known for his work in the field of animals psychology.
- 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. Keel is, of course, a nautical term, referring to both an integral part of the hull of a ship and how much a ship tilts while moving. 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.
- 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.
- Lorenz's visor bears some aesthetic similarity to that worn by Geordi LaForge in Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Trivia
- Keel Lorenz's voice actor is Makoto Terada (A.K.A Mugihito), who also voiced Douglas Williamsburg from Max Anarchy By SEGA and Platinum Games.