The Marduk Institute, a fictional organization from Neon Genesis Evangelion, is yet another example of the show's fun little obsession with mythology. In the show, the Marduk Institute is a front group for NERV that has supposedly been given the task of finding the children capable of piloting the Evangelions and choosing the best among them for actual piloting duty. The mythological basis of the Marduk Institute is Marduk, a Babylonian god that the Babylonians sacrificed children to. The symbolism lies in the recreation of the sequence of human beings (NERV) rounding up children (The First through Fifth Children) and then sacrificing them to divine beings (the Angels) in the hopes of their own survival. For those viewers with a good knowledge of mythology, this served as a nice bit of foreshadowing, hinting at the brutal destinies that lay ahead for Rei, Asuka, Shinji, Toji, and Kaworu, the five children chosen to pilot the Evangelions.