Did Gendo ever love Shinji?

Setzer · Post by **Setzer** » 2003-11-24 07:32am

I remember reading a line about Gendo in an EVA fic, where SHinji was thinking "He wanted a wife, not a son."

Given the way he treats Shinji, It's easy to conclude that Gendo has no paternal love for Shinji, and is only using him as an EVA pilot.

I personally think Gendo would have prefered a family of just him and Yui.
He was willing to put up with children because Yui wanted a family, but after she died, I'm thinking he figured "Well, she won't be around to object when I get rid of the brat. I'll just use that hag who has a crush on me if I need to get off."

JME2 · Post by **JME2** » 2003-11-24 10:34am

Gendou's death scene in EoE says it all.

ShinjiGohan · Post by **ShinjiGohan** » 2003-11-25 05:16am

I was about to say the same thing.

MKSheppard · Post by **MKSheppard** » 2003-11-25 03:26pm

No. From the 10~ episodes of EVA I've seen, Gendo was a total tool
towards his own damn son!

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2003-11-25 04:36pm

MKSheppard wrote:No. From the 10~ episodes of EVA I've seen, Gendo was a total tool
towards his own damn son!

...Once again, Shep completely ignores that which has been said, and makes an inaccurate statement based only on what he has seen of Evangelion!

Hamel · Post by **Hamel** » 2003-11-25 05:28pm

I watched NGE in its entirety, as well as EoE

My theory is that Gendo realizes the end is near, and pulls some psuedo-confession out his ass so Yui thinks more of him.

Yui sees through the bullshit and eats him~

Shinji was nothing more than a tool in Gendo's eyes

MKSheppard · Post by **MKSheppard** » 2003-11-25 06:48pm

DPDarkPrimus wrote: ...Once again, Shep completely ignores that which has been said, and makes an inaccurate statement based only on what he has seen of Evangelion!

Hey fuck you, shithead. I don't need to watch the entire run to realize
that there was no fucking love between the two.

Post by **weemadando** » 2003-11-25 06:56pm

I think Gendo loved his son enough to give him the power to influence what was going to happen.

Sure, he might have been a tool of sorts in a larger scheme, but Gendo also gave his son a chance.

ShinjiGohan · Post by **ShinjiGohan** » 2003-11-26 04:53am

besides there werea couple episodes (well 1 that I can think of off the top of my head), where Gendo protects his son. Granted it can be seen in different lights. But it can still be perceived that Gendo did deep down love his son.

I also believe what Gendo said at EoE, he was going to die no matter what, so what would be the point of lieing?

Macross · Post by **Macross** » 2003-11-26 05:06am

I believe Gendo saw Shinji as just another tool to accomplish his goals. I do believe that he loved Rei.

Lord of the Farce · Post by **Lord of the Farce** » 2003-11-26 05:47am

weemadando wrote:I think Gendo loved his son enough to give him the power to influence what was going to happen.

Sure, he might have been a tool of sorts in a larger scheme, but Gendo also gave his son a chance.

From my viewing of EoE (and reflecting with what I've read in this thread so far), I conclude Gendo didn't truly give a damn about Shinji (I agree very much with what Hamel is saying). After all, did Gendo send anybody to escort Shinji until he could get inside Unit 01 for safety? Nope, all he cared about was being reunited with Yui.

Exonerate · Post by **Exonerate** » 2003-11-26 09:23pm

Macross wrote:I believe Gendo saw Shinji as just another tool to accomplish his goals. I do believe that he loved Rei.

I don't think so, he treated her like a tool too. She just looks like Yui...

Singular Quartet · Post by **Singular Quartet** » 2003-11-27 06:17pm

I got the impresion that he loved Shinji until Yui got sucked into Unit-01. Then Gendo just started hating Shinji, possiblely becuase it reminded him of Yui.

Darth Yoshi · Post by **Darth Yoshi** » 2003-11-27 06:18pm

I can't really say whether or not Gendo ever cared. The way he carries himself is like an evil Vulcan; his emotions are kept in check and you can never really know what's going on in his head. But if he did care, he did a damn good job of hiding it.

Lord of the Farce wrote:From my viewing of EoE (and reflecting with what I've read in this thread so far), I conclude Gendo didn't truly give a damn about Shinji (I agree very much with what Hamel is saying). After all, did Gendo send anybody to escort Shinji until he could get inside Unit 01 for safety? Nope, all he cared about was being reunited with Yui.

Well, if everything had gone according to plan, they'd have been a happy family again, so that didn't matter too much.

As for Rei, Gendo viewed her as a valuable tool, but a tool nonetheless.

Darth Fanboy · Post by **Darth Fanboy** » 2003-11-28 04:06am

The only reason I think he gave one teeny shit about Shinji is because half of his DNA was Yui's. Shinji was well taken care of materially and even though he proved himself quite valuable to Nerv, Gendo had no interest in raising him or seeing him beyond what duty required.

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2003-11-28 12:21pm

I think Gendo did love Shinji somewhat, but didn't really care much about him. Shinji also reminded him too much of himself, which made Gendo afraid of his son.

To him Rei was just a tool to use when the time came. The only person Gendo truly ever loved and cared about was Yui.

SyntaxVorlon · Post by **SyntaxVorlon** » 2003-11-28 03:54pm

Gendo was afraid of Shinji because of their similarity, but he also knew the power that Shinji had. He needed to use that power to accomplish his goal, and was prepared to do whatever manipulating he could to accomplish it. I doubt he held any form of love or respect for his son. Bastard deserved a few centuries on the Tree of Thorns IMHO.

Kon_El · Post by **Kon_El** » 2003-12-01 12:12pm

Id say he did love him untill Yui died but then sent him away because he didn't know how to be a father. After a few years apart though his love for his son went away

Setzer · Post by **Setzer** » 2003-12-01 06:39pm

No one "knows" how to be a parent, it's something you do, not something you learn. Some are good at it, some aren't, but no one with familial love for their offspring would just dump them.

And if a few years apart made parents stop loving their children, families would fall apart after the kids moved out.

Darth Fanboy · Post by **Darth Fanboy** » 2003-12-01 07:18pm

Im not sure Shinji so much hd a "power" but that Gendo recognized the potential connection he could make with Unit 1 based on Yui's accident.

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2003-12-01 07:58pm

Shinji had no "power" whatsoever.

The only thing that was special about Shinji was that since EVA-01's soul was Yui's, he was the only person that had the best chance to synchonise with Her.