Nebuchadnezzar's Key

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Nebuchadnezzar's Key

Nebuchadnezzar's Key (ネブカドネザルの鍵, Nebukadonezaru no Kagi^?) is an artifact from the Rebuild of Evangelion film series. The key resembles a miniature humanoid nervous system with the neck attached to a stylized key-like device. "Nebuchadnezzar" is written on the shaft of the key in cuneiform. The portable container holding the key bears writing in various mysterious characters, some resembling a simplified version of the symbols on the Angel-sealing hex pillars. The container is heat, pressure, electromagnetic and nuclear resistant. The container is made out of a biological, ultra-hard lightweight material. The seal is written by SEELE, with a catalog number of 000-000-▅▅▅▅, Specimen name and a codebar.

History

Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance

Nebuchadnezzar's Key is an item smuggled out of Bethany Base by Ryoji Kaji during the attempted escape of the Third Angel.

Upon Kaji delivering the item to Gendo Ikari, the following exchange occurs:

Kaji: Now, as I promised... The stored Lost Number, kept as a backup. The guidepost towards the unification of all souls unto God.

Gendo: Yes, used to open the door to Human Instrumentality... Nebuchadnezzar's Key.

Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo

The Key itself is not shown, but its container can be seen multiple times. The first time it is seen is when Kōzō Fuyutsuki informs Gendo Ikari about Kaworu Nagisa showing Shinji Ikari the result of the Near Third Impact, the second time is when Gendo is watching Second Angel Lilith's severed head.

Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon A Time

Gendo utilizes the Nebuchadnezzar's Key to surpass his own humanity. Multiple gunfire from Ritsuko is shown to be able to hurts his body, making him bleed and lose parts of his brain. But Gendo is able to get up and scoop parts of his brain and put it back inside his cranium. He says that Gods has no barriers. We accept everything that comes our way., Misato says that he used the Nebuchadnezzar's Key and asks if he willingly abandoned his own humanity. Gendo answer that he simply appended upon his body, information that transcends the Logos of our realm.

Upon initiating the Fourth Impact and attacking Wunder AAA to rescue the Unit-01, the blown head of Gendo is shown to be completely healed as if nothing ever happened. In the previous film, he was briefly seen floating in midair while talking to SEELE-01, and at one point in this film displays similar energy projection abilities to one of the Angels.

Gallery

Settei in Evangelion 2.0.

Writing in Akkadian language.

Trivia

• Nebuchadnezzar^WP was the the name of several Babylonian Kings, one of whom Nebuchadnezzar II invaded Jerusalem after God withdrew his protection of the Jews in response to their sinful idolatry. He subsequently exiled the Jews to Babylon according to the biblical books of Jeremiah and Daniel. While they were in exile Nebuchadnezzar attempted to force the Jews to worship a golden statue of himself as a god however the Jews refused leading to several of them being thrown in a furnace to die, only to be saved by an Angel. This story is very much reflected in Evangelion with Gendo using the key to surpass humanity in a failed attempt to attain godhood.
• The key was designed by Ikuto Yamashita.
• According to Dan Kanemitsu, they had help from a professor on ancient languages in the writing.