Short Answer: Seeds of Life are extraterrestrial beings sent by the First Ancestral Race (FAR) across the universe to preserve their legacy, where they create new life on new planets using FAR’s genes. In Neon Genesis Evangelion (NGE) series, the known Seeds of Life are Adam and Lilith, which arrived on Earth in ancient times. The ship that was used to transport the Seeds are huge spheres known as “moons” or “eggs.” Each Seed of Life has its Lance of Longinus, a living weapon that can weaken a Seed.
Seeds of Life appear in two noticeable variations: Seeds that have the “Fruit of Life,” and the other with the “Fruit of Knowledge.” Any lifeform having both the Fruit of Life and the Fruit of Knowledge would obtain supernatural abilities like FAR. So, FAR laid down an unknown regulation that only one Seed of Life can exist on each planet and if a planet has more than one Seed, the Lances of Longinus are used to immobilize the other Seeds.
Who is Lilith?
Lilith is one of the Seeds of Life created by FAR and it is because of her that humans exist on Earth. LiLilith is the second Angel created by FAR and it is because of her humans existed on Earth. Lilith’s fruit is the fruit of knowledge, making Lilith’s descendants able to learn, think, and evolve.
“Shinji, we humans were born from a being called Lilith”
– Misato Katsuragi
Lilith produced humans through her blood called LCL and the source used in Evangelion Entry Plugs. Billions of years ago, Lilith’s “Black Moon” ship accidentally crashed with Earth, known as the “First Impact”, making the Earth’s Moon. Due to the accident, Lilith’s own Lance of Longinus is said to be destroyed. Presently, Earth already had a Seed of Life on it, Adam, but because of the law where two Seeds are not allowed to coexist on the same planet, Adam’s lance activated to attempt to fix the crisis which leads to Adam’s condition of lethargy.
Lilith then spread her blood which brings life to Earth and advanced throughout the span of billions of years (microorganisms, fishes, bugs, and so on), then humanity. Lilith’s descendants, mankind, usurped the spot of Adam’s descendants, the Angels, as the prevailing race on The planet. For ages, the Dark Moon containing Lilith was nested inside the Earth, and because of moving tectonic plates, the Dark Moon moved underneath Hakone, Japan, forming the enormous, underground cave called the “GeoFront”.
Who is Adam?
Adam is also a Seed of life created by FAR. From him came the Angels that are referred to as Adam’s children. Adam has the Fruit of Life, also called the Super Solenoid, or S2 Engine. This makes Adam’s descendants, the Angels, have immense physical power.
“The starting point of everything, this is Adam.”
– Kaji to Misato
Adam is the first Seed of life to have arrived on Earth with the ship called the White Moon. Adam is supposedly the one to create life on Earth but before Adam could achieve their main goal, Lilith incidentally crashed onto Earth. Two Seeds existing on a similar planet are not allowed, and if this incidentally happens, the Lance of Longinus will execute one Seed dormant. Hence, Adam was paralyzed by its own Lance of Longinus, and the descendants of Lilith populated the planet rather than the Angels.
What was their mission?
Many people think that the Seeds of life was sent only to create life on planets and although they are not wrong, however that idea is lacking. The Seeds of life serve another purpose. The First Ancestral Race created the Seeds of life because they knew someday they would be extinct. In order to stop their abilities and genetic material from becoming extinct, they created seven Seeds of life onto whom they bestowed their abilities and genetic material. Basically, the Seeds of life were created to preserve the First Ancestral Race’s legacy by creating new life forms using their genetic material.
How did they get captured?
Adam and Lilith were never really captured, it just so happens that humans found both Seeds incapable of defending themselves and were easily experimented on by humans.
The dormant Adam, and the Lance that pierced it, were found by the Katsuragi Expedition Team. Adam, and its S² Engine which can make boundless energy, turned into the subject of extreme scientific analysis. This was cultivated in the Contact Experiment, which contributed to human DNA “diving” into Adam and physical fusing, and as a result, a cataclysmic Second Impact happened. As a result of that experiment, they were able to create an entity that later was known as Kaworu Nagisa.
The Dark Moon and Lilith were later found by a secret organization called SEELE. Gehirn, later known as NERV, base camp and Tokyo-3 were constructed around Lilith. Lilith was crucified to a gigantic cross in the deepest level of NERV HQ, Terminal Dogma, and used Lilith’s LCL or blood as a sustainable source for the Evangelion Units. SEELE and NERV utilized Lilith for different experimentations, then deliberately let Lilith develop to a point not long before it can be utilized to start Instrumentality.
“It’s already restored itself this far. It’s frozen inside dura-bakelite, but it’s still alive. Without a doubt, this is the keystone of the Human Instrumentality Project, isn’t it?”
Kaji
How powerful are they?
The power of the Seeds of Life is very vast to an immeasurable point. Based on the facts or clues given, we can assume that they are beings that have immense power. A Seed that possesses Fruit of Life, also known as Super Solenoid or S2 Engine has vast energy and enormous physical strength which you can witness in the Angels created by Adam. The Other Seed that possesses the Fruit of Knowledge has the power of reason, and the capacity to utilize the logical strategy to extend one’s comprehension and information on the universe. This was proven among the offspring of Lilith, the humans. Regardless of being frail, people can utilize the force of science and innovation to shape their surroundings and build progressed civilizations.
The best demonstration of the Seeds’ power is during the Third Impact where Lilith can easily wipe out the entire humanity. The Third Impact is the third of the three significant happenings on Earth including the interference of the First Ancestral Race. The intention behind the Third Impact was to achieve Human Instrumentality, the converging of all of mankind into a single living thing. While this objective is almost accomplished, it is denied and reversed under the control of Shinji Ikari.
Fun Fact: The Evangelion Units were made by making clones of Adam, except Evangelion Unit-01. Unit-01 is the main clone of Lilith, the “Test-Type”. Pictures in Episode 23 indicate that rather than simply taking hereditary samples from Lilith, Evangelion Unit-01 was made by tearing away from the lower half of Lilith.
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If you want to know more about SEELE, consider clicking here to check out our article called “What is SEELE in Neon Genesis Evangelion?“.
Our final thoughts
Basically, the Seeds of life are an ancestor to a certain entity, for example, Angels and Humans. They were sent and created by FAR to preserve FAR’s abilities and continue their bloodline because in a short period of time FAR will be extinct. FAR created seven Seeds of life, but the only known Seeds of life are Adam and Lilith (the ancestors of humans and Angels). The power of Seeds of life aren’t shown much but looking at a few clues, we know that the Seeds of life are very powerful because if two Seeds of life were fused, they could destroy all of the human lifeforms.
Thank you for reading!
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