The Complete Guide To
NEON GENESIS EVAGELION v.2.0 (and some irrelevan irrelevantt thoughts thoughts of my own) by Roriconfan (last update: 10/2010)
WARNING! MAJOR SPOILER ALERT! Do not read this text unless you hae seen the series "al# the #un lies in tryin$ to #i$ure out the %eanin$ on your o&n 'ou hae (een &arned
Errata and A)olo$eti*s This guide has been remade after I learned of the Confidential Files information. They were not around 5 years ago when I originally made the guide and many things were left to speculation. The extra info I found now clarifies some things and cancels out some others I wrote back then. Therefore I now fixed those parts by including the info I got from those extra files. Damn you Anno, making it so hard for me, lol. These new data are to the most part given outside the series, as !" by itself was very vague and many issues were left open for you to give an answer. The new data pretty much cancel out lots of theories coming out from 5 years ago. They are supposed to be hinted in#series but you would never imagined that T$I% is what they meant. In any case I am not held responsible for spreading false information I though were correct myself. ow that the &ebuild movies are coming out and differences and contradictions keep appearing, many claim that 'nno is trolling the fans and others that he is now free to tell the same messages better than back in the ()*s. %upposed the current economic crisis is more severe and global to the point where his message can now be understood understood by most. If you agree or not to this, it*s up to you. 'nyway, additions and and corrections are marked in red. red. The only exception to this is the the red text in the +&eligious and $istorical &oots section, in the first part of the guide. It was already in red you see. Further additions will be made when all four &ebuild movies are made. 'nno keeps changing stuff and there is no way for me to know beforehand what is not clear in the first place.
Dee)er %eanin$s
-oy This text is huge /hy you may ask is eon !enesis "vangelion so appealing to write about so much0 $ere are some reasons1 •
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"vangelion is brimming with allusions to biological, military, religious, and psychological concepts. There is a bit of every theme you can think of. The characters are compared with psychological, philosophical, religious and even historical terms. &ei, 'suka, %hin2i and 3isato represent the different methods people use to validate their own existence and individuality, and to separate themselves from their fellow human beings 4the concept of 'T#Fields. The big theme in "vangelion is the 6heart of people6. The relationship with others, the meaning of the existence of self, what is the self. The series is partly mecha anime. $uge robots r obots wrecking havoc Cool "vangelion started as a realistic %F mecha action anime. 't first, the 6people7s heart6 issue of the main characters is 2ust some add#on to the drama. $owever, as the plot moved forward, the issue of 6people7s heart6 grew much bigger than the other elements and the mecha action became an undertone. The series focuses to flashbacks and analyses of the primary characters. 'll characters in the anime display a variety of mood disorders, problems with emotional health, depression, trauma, and separation anxiety disorder. They are struggling with their positions in their environment, as individuals and as a part of a whole. The creator/director, Hideaki Anno, suffered from a long period of depression prior to creating Evangelion; much of the show is ased on his own e!periences in dealing with depression through psychotherapy.
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The character designs contributed to the popularity of "vangelion. The attractive female leads, 'suka, &ei, and 3isato have been immortali8ed as anime sex idols. The series was indeed a +eon !enesis for many fans, since it rekindled many adults7 interest in anime. The series also made an +Impact of its own as it introduced a new wave of fans who are far less interested in the technical aspects of science fiction anime and more interested in analy8ing the metaphysical symbolism that they perceived, in contrast to !undam and many previous anime of the hard science fiction genre. 'ccording to $ideaki 'nno, "vangelion was an attempt attempt to make all perspectives into one, creating characters that represent different things to different viewers to make it impossible for everyone to arrive at a single theory. %o, there are no solid answers to what exactly happens in the story. ot even my text is 9)): accurate, since there never meant to be specific answers. The series started to broadcast after the %arin gas attack on the Tokyo subway on 3arch ;), 9((5. The feeling of constant anxiety in Evangelion can Evangelion can be seen as a reflection of the constant anxiety
-oy This text is huge /hy you may ask is eon !enesis "vangelion so appealing to write about so much0 $ere are some reasons1 •
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"vangelion is brimming with allusions to biological, military, religious, and psychological concepts. There is a bit of every theme you can think of. The characters are compared with psychological, philosophical, religious and even historical terms. &ei, 'suka, %hin2i and 3isato represent the different methods people use to validate their own existence and individuality, and to separate themselves from their fellow human beings 4the concept of 'T#Fields. The big theme in "vangelion is the 6heart of people6. The relationship with others, the meaning of the existence of self, what is the self. The series is partly mecha anime. $uge robots r obots wrecking havoc Cool "vangelion started as a realistic %F mecha action anime. 't first, the 6people7s heart6 issue of the main characters is 2ust some add#on to the drama. $owever, as the plot moved forward, the issue of 6people7s heart6 grew much bigger than the other elements and the mecha action became an undertone. The series focuses to flashbacks and analyses of the primary characters. 'll characters in the anime display a variety of mood disorders, problems with emotional health, depression, trauma, and separation anxiety disorder. They are struggling with their positions in their environment, as individuals and as a part of a whole. The creator/director, Hideaki Anno, suffered from a long period of depression prior to creating Evangelion; much of the show is ased on his own e!periences in dealing with depression through psychotherapy.
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The character designs contributed to the popularity of "vangelion. The attractive female leads, 'suka, &ei, and 3isato have been immortali8ed as anime sex idols. The series was indeed a +eon !enesis for many fans, since it rekindled many adults7 interest in anime. The series also made an +Impact of its own as it introduced a new wave of fans who are far less interested in the technical aspects of science fiction anime and more interested in analy8ing the metaphysical symbolism that they perceived, in contrast to !undam and many previous anime of the hard science fiction genre. 'ccording to $ideaki 'nno, "vangelion was an attempt attempt to make all perspectives into one, creating characters that represent different things to different viewers to make it impossible for everyone to arrive at a single theory. %o, there are no solid answers to what exactly happens in the story. ot even my text is 9)): accurate, since there never meant to be specific answers. The series started to broadcast after the %arin gas attack on the Tokyo subway on 3arch ;), 9((5. The feeling of constant anxiety in Evangelion can Evangelion can be seen as a reflection of the constant anxiety
Title The
%hin %eiki means 6ew Century6 in
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"vangelion means 6!ospel6 in !reek.
The decision to change the name in eon !enesis "vangelion in "nglish was intentionally made by !ainax. The "nglish title for the series, eon !enesis "vangelion is wholly !reek 4 =>?@ A>@BDE GH>JD?@. It literally translates to 6ew -eginning !ospel6. •
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eon, is the neuter form of the !reek word 6ew6. !enesis means 6origin, source6 source6 or 6birth, race6 and is also the !reek title for the first book of the -ible, describing the creation of the universe and early $ebrew history. "vangelion is an 'nglici8ed version of the !reek word for 6good news6 4the prefix 6eu6 meaning 6good6 and 6angelion6 meaning 6message6 6message6 from the same word that means 6angel6, and is typically translated 6gospel6 in the -ible. It was a word originally used to describe the runners who brought news in ancient !reece. It only came to mean 6good message6 or 6good news6 over time and eventually became most commonly associated with the Christian gospels. This dual meaning is the reason both the series itself and the 6mecha6 are called "vangelion.
'dditionally, the term 6"va6, 6"va6, a freKuent abbreviation of "vangelion "vangelion used in the anime, is the the name of the biblical "ve in !reek, coming from the $ebrew name 6Chavva6 meaning 6breath6 or 6life6. There are freKuent allusions to the biblical 'dam and "ve throughout the series, as well as to the "vangelion7s relationship with the Tree of Life. There has been a mistake in the correct pronunciation of 6"vangelion6. The original
Religiousand Historical Roots This chapter describes the religious and historical events Hideaki Anno based his ideas on, while making Neon Genesis Evagelion. They are rather boring if you don’t care about the fine details and I do get to blabber a lot. So you might want to skip this part and go straight to the next Chapter. Text Color Index Black Color:The Color:The text refers to real historical events or commonly accepted religious facts. Red Color: The text refers only to the Christian Testament. Blue Color: The text refers only to the Jewish Torah or the teachings of the Jewish Cabbala. Purple Color: The text refers to notes Hideaki Anno made exclusively and applies only for the series. GreenColor: My GreenColor: My personal side notes. They have nothing to do with religion or history. Genesis In the beginning of time, God created the Heaven, the Angels, the plants and the animals. Last of all, He crated The First Man Adam, the best of His creations and the only being that was made after His image. He then placed Adam to live in The Garden Of Eden. WARNING!This is not what we see in the series. In Genesis, Godcreateseverythingon His own. In the series, it is the First Ancestral Racewho createsAdam.Whoare they?Well, they are a race of God-like aliens who madeAdamin order to terraformEarth. A sort of pioneer, sent to colonizefertile planets. Plus, it is Adamwho createsthe Angels, not God. This is basedon the Cabbalateachings,whereAdamis createdfirst and then do the Angelsand all living beings. Because God didn’t want Adam to be alone, He created a mate and helper for him. He madeThe First WomanLilith, fromthe sameearth that He madeAdam.Althoughthey were differentbeings, they were unitedin one body. Here we see the first major differencebetweenChristianity and Judaism. Lilith is accordingto Judaism,the MotherOf All Evils. Christianity doesn’t acceptthe idea that humansand monsters have the sameroots, so Lilith was bannedfromthe Bible. I personallyfoundfascinatingthe whole Lilith concept. Christiansshowoff as purists in this mannerand that is very irritating. In the series, again, it is the First Ancestral Race whocreatesLilith. Cabbalistscalledthe pair of the first two HumanBeingsas Adam-Kadamon,meaningthe perfect Man beforehis Original Sin and fall. Christianity and JudaismdescribeAdamas a normallooking, agelessand nakedhuman,living in a garden. Cabbalistson the other handpresentMan to be a very powerfulbeing. CabbaladescribesAdam-Kadamonas a radiant giant of immersepower, living in a dimensionof light and perfect positive energy. Whichso happensto be the original formAdamhas in the series and most likely everyonein the First Ancestral Race.
The Original Sin ith wantedmore independen independence.She ce.She becamedi becamedisobedie sobedientt ntto o Adamand stopped Problems started to arose when L when Lililith obeyinghim. God God created Eve from Adam’s rib, as a substitutefor Lilith. Because Eve was flesh of Adam’s flesh, she was loyal to him, unlike Lilith who was a whole differentbeing with a mindof its own. The most powerful of all Archangels, Lucifer (later known as The Devil) envied Man for being the only creature made after God’s image. He rebelled against God, calling Him cruel and uncaring, not suited to rule over all creation. He was a very unsatisfiedbastard. He was numbertwo in Heavenand that was still not enough?For God’s sake! God didn’t give the concept of Evil to Man. He gave Man the choice never to learn about it by giving him a simple order. He told Adam and Eve that they could eat anything they liked besides the Fruit from The Tree Of Good And Evil. If they did, they would die. Lucifer wanted to make Man to sin before God, in order to lose His favour. He took the form of a snake and tricked Eve by saying that the fruit would make them Gods themselves. Eve seduced Adam and both ate the Forbidden Fruit. Curiosity was enough for them to fall for it. God banned Lucifer from Heaven for his pettiness, along with the other Angels who chose to follow him in his rebellion. He also banned Adam and Eve and Lilith from The Garden Of Eden for not accepting responsibilities for their actions (they were blaming each other instead of accepting their mistake). Bewarepeople! God doesn’t hate nor punishes.It is a mistaketo think that they were bannedby God. It is more correct to say they “bannedthemselves”out of guilt. They movedaway fromGod becausethey felt guilty beforetheir kind creator. In the series, noneof that happen.There is no Lucifer and no Eva. Adamand Lilith are simplytwo different pioneers, called Seedsof Life, madeby the First Ancestral Race and sent to colonizeplanets. But we can say they were also not gettingalongnicely becauseeach one of themhad a very differentway to create life. Plus, they were not supposedto be togetheron the sameplanet.
The First Impact Adam-Kadamonand Eve were banned from The Garden Of Eden. More scientifically, they transcendedto a lower plane of existence,that of Earth, froma higherplane of existence,that of Heaven. While Adam-Kadamonwas transcending to Earth, God decidedto strip him of all his divine powers(he had immersepowers,as Cabbaladescribeshim). Andthushe became mortal by having no access to the Fruit of Life, the source of immortality in. But he still kept the Fruit of Wisdom, gained by the Fruit from The Tree Of Good And Evil. Earth wouldn’t be muchof a problemif Adamcould freely performmiracleson his own. In the series there is no sin or reformerschool. What went wrongwas an accident. Four billion years ago, Adamlanded on the as-of-yet-lifelessEarth and was about to spreadhis seeds, whichwouldproducethe Angels(again aliensand not messengersof God). For that he createdthe White Moonin Antarctica(his egg fromwhichall life wouldbegin). But Lilith was passingby Earth at that moment,headingto her designatedplanet. She was pulledin by the Earth’s strong gravitationalfield and crash-landedon the SouthPole (that area later slowly movedtowardswhereJapanlies today). And this is whereall the troublebegan. The collisionwas so powerful, it incineratedthe surfaceof the planet and beganterraformingit accordingto Lilith’s type of planet. This event was knownas the First Impact. Both Adamand Lilith had a *ontrol %e*hanis% of sorts calledTheLanceof Longinus,whicheffectivelyworkedas fail-switchin case somethingwent wrongin their terraformingpowers The Lan*es &ere also %ade (y the +irst An*estral Ra*e aliens and sent alon$ &ith the Seeds o# Li#e, Ada% and Lilith Lilith-s Lan*e $ot destroyed in her *ollision into Earth As the only re%ainin$ Lan*e on the )lanet, Ada%-s Lan*e %ade the (est o# a (ad situation, and .turned o##. Ada%, sendin$ hi% into a dor%ant state, rather than let t&o a*tie Seeds exist on the sa%e )lanet Lilith also #ell in slu%(er (e*ause o# the *rush She also (leeds L/L 0)ri%ordial oo1e2 and #ro% that $ae (irth to all li#e 3nintentionally, she sent forwardher own seedsto populatethe planet by forming her ownegg, the Black Moon. Meaning,all life on Earth was createdby the wrongpioneer.
The main differenceis that Earth was supposedto be inhabitedby Angelswho wouldbe ageless(they possessedthe Fruit of Life) but not very intelligent, while humanspossessedthe powerto learn and adapt (the Fruit of Wisdom)but were otherwisemortal. The explosionalso causeda great portionof Earth to be blastedto the sky and formedits moon. Hideaki Annomay have takenideas fromthe Babylonianmythof Nibiru, and the theoryof Panspermia.
Lilim and Humanity On Earth, Adam and Eve bore Abel and Cain. Cain killed Abel out of envy and left in the wilderness. There, he met Lilith and becameher mate. Later, Adam and Eve bore Seth and many other daughters. From the unionof Seth and his sisters (yes,throughincest) and fromthe unionof Lilith and Cain (again throughincest), all Mankind came to be. Lilith also becamemate with Lucifer himself, turned into a de%on &ho atta*4ed the ne&5(orn (a(ies, and sedu*ed %en &ho are slee)in$ so that they e6a*ulated in their slee) She gave birth to manydemonsand monstersthat plaguedthe Earth. Thesedemon-spawnswere knownas Lilim. In the series, there is no mentionof all that. Lilim are simplythe childrenof Lilith. Meaningall living thingsbesidesthe Angelsare Lilim. Humansthoughtthey were too civilisedto decentfromCain (they didn’t considerthemselvesto be monsters,like the Lilim). So they thoughtthey decentfromSeth and not by Cain. A very goodanti-racist messagethere. We are not better than the monsterswe fear. We kill, lie and cheat all the time, as all the monsterswe give anathemado. In the series, Humansare presentedlike one beingwith manybodies. All peopleessentially share only one soul, the one that Lilith bestoweduponthem(there is not a differentsoul for each individual). The AT-Field keepseach person as an individualpersonality but not as a differentbeing. We are all one big family. In a very buddhisticway of thought. Adamfell in slumberunder the icecapof Antarctica, inside the huge egg fromwhereall Angelswere supposedto be born, knownas White Moon. Lilith fell in slumberin a cave in a place that today lays Japan, inside the huge egg from wherehumanitywas born, knownas Black Moon.
Christ and The WanderingJew Moving a lot forward. 2.000 years ago, Mankind crucified Jesus Christ, the Son of God. While still on the cross, a half-blind romansoldier by the nameof Longinusor a godlessJew pierced Christ’s rib to make sure he is dead, so some of the blood from Christ’s body fell on him. The man miraculouslyfoundhis sight again and becamea Christianpreacheror was cursedby Godfor hurtingHis son. He becameimmortal and was knownas The WanderingJew, cursedto roamthe world in sufferinguntil the End Of Times(the series take on to the Jewishversion of the story). Essene Around the same time, there was a sect of Jews known as the Essene who, like the first Christians, believed in the coming of Christ (although they never met the Christ). They wrote a very different version of the New Testament, in the form that later was known as the Dead Sea Scrolls. In the series, the DeadSea Scrolls are presentedas a textbookleft behindby the First Ancestral Race, and worksas an operationalmanualof how to operatethe Spear of Longinus,as well as mentioningthe basics of what was later used for the Instrumentality project. The Essene were nothing but rebels in the eyes of the Roman Empire. Roman soldiers butchered them and they were totally forgotten… until a century ago. Cabbala Moving forward again. In the 16th century, another sect of Jews known as Cabbalists also wrote a different version of the Apocalypse. Their teachings refer to The Tree Of Life and the aspects of God’s creations. They were considered to be blasphemers and the Catholic Church never accepted their teachings. But their teachings were not forgotten either. Koumran
Forward once again. 100 years ago, the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in a cave in Koumran. Their contents were kept secret by the Vatican, in fear of uproar from the retelling of the Apocalypse. Actually, there are dozensof scripts that retell the Bible altogether, namedthe Apocriphaor Lost Gospels. But many narrow-mindedpriests have either hid themor destroyedthem.
The events before the series WARNING!The followingtext is total fiction. Do not start lookingaroundfor SEELEor NERV. The Wandering Jew was a very rich and powerful man by the beginning of the 20th century, and was going by the name of Keel Lorenz. He was not content with his life and was doing anything possible to end his misery. Because of God’s curse, this could only happen with the destruction of the world as we know it. With his money and connections, he took his hands on the Dead Sea Scrolls. He thus found out an artificial way towards man's next and final evolution. All he needed to do is combine the powers of Angels with those of Lilim and produce a living God, a being both immortal and sentient that would fuse together all of mankind by taking down all barriers that keep people as individuals. It was an existence devoid of pain (which is all he seemed to care about) but also devoid of pleasure. This sacrifice of losing pleasure to defeat pain and suffering leaves nothing but a vague existence (but Keel didn’t care). He did his best to force mankind down the path toward the highest point of existence without many people knowing it except for those in his secret organization known only as SEELE (German for "soul"). With the aid of the scrolls, he found the location where the Lance of Longinus was burried. He also found Adam and Lilith (who were still sleeping) and captured them. He began experimenting on them with human DNA to create a premature and artificial evolution which would eventually turn mankind into a living God. He based his plan on the teachings of the Cabbalists and named it Instrumentality Project. He placed the crucified Lilith inside a laboratory named Terminal Dogma. Atop the laboratory, he built his Japanese Headquarters and named it Gehirn (German for “brain”). He gathered brilliant scientists from around the world to take part in Project E. That involved the creation of Eva, creatures made of angelic DNA to be used originally as vessels for the Living God but later had to be modified into weapons against the Angels. Some point before the turn of the millennium, the brilliant young female scientist Ikari Yui joined the ranks of SEELE, thanks to her being the daughter of an influential member of the organization. She soon learned of Keel's plans by reading the Dead Sea Scrolls herself. She quickly got involved in this her boyfriend Gendo, who approached her in the first place because he wanted a position of power, and her moral and intelligent teacher Kozo Fuyutsuki, who wanted to stop the madman from destroying the world. Fuyutsuki and Gendo joined the secret organization Gehirn. The only chance that they had to fight this ultimate design was to continue working for Keel in the hope that they might be able to stop his plans from inside the agency.
In the year 2000, a Gehirn expedition was sent to Antarctica, in order to perform tests in the GeoFront where Adam was kept in slumber. The leading scientists were doctor Katsuragi and Ikari Gendo. In September of the year 2000, the Second Impact occurred in Antarctica. This was caused by an accident, when Adam awoke by impaling the Lance of Longinus into him. The original plan was to test the artificial S2 Core they had designed and see if it was ready to be used in the Instrumentality Project. Unfortunately, it wasn’t and the test resulted to a great tragedy. The energy released melt the Antarctic Ice Cap and caused a Great Flood that wiped out most of life on the south hemisphere. The polar axis shifted and the climate worldwide changed dramatically. Wars, famine and plagues spread across the Earth in the Flood's aftermath helping to expand the damage done. By the time stability returned to the world, half of mankind had perished.
This event released some of Adam’s seeds onto the world. 15 Angels awoke in Larva Form and began to evolve. They were preparing to find their creator and unite with him as means to claim dominion over Earth, which was taken over by the Lilim. The Second Impact signalled the drying of the Room of Gauf, the home for souls not yet born, according to Jewish mythology. All children born afterwards were literally soulless, beings without free will of their own that were just responding with their instinct rather than their divine soul (like animals do). Adam was eventually shrunken down to embryo size in order to be easier hidden from the Angels, who could sense his powerful AT Field. Fortunately for Ikari Gendo, he wasn’t in Antarctica during the Second Impact. The only survivor of the expedition of the Gehirn team in Antarctica was a little girl, Misato (doctor Katsuragi’s daughter). Misato hated her father for loving his work more than his own daughter. But in the end, he gave his life to save her. She had a mental breakdown and was hospitalised in a mental clinic for 5 years. The media, controlled by SEELE, made a cover up and only told to the world that the catastrophe was caused by a meteor collision on Antarctica. Soon after that, Yui and Gendo married and their son Shinji was brought into the world. Around the same time, Asuka and all of Shinji’s classmates were born. The original plan had failed and now the Instrumentality Project lacked the S2 Core they needed. Plus, the Angels would attack in any moment. So research shifted to the synchronization of people with the Evas. But even that was not without its problems. In 2004, an accident occurred when Yui, and Naoko Akagi were attempting to synchronize their brainwave patterns with the EVAs. Yui was completely absorbed into the faux Angel's consciousness and never came out. Gendo’s world was shattered and his goal changed from saving Mankind to personally leading him to the Final Impact so that he could be reunited with his wife. It was at this point that Gendo personally went to SEELE and asked to head the Human Compliment Project along with Project E. He proposed to use the Evas as weapons to stop the Angels and acquire a real S2 Core from one of them, a plan that was accepted. Gendo began in secret to prepare his own version of the Human Instrumentality Project, practically preparing to betray SEELE. His beloved Yui was secretly cloned with a mixture of Lilith's DNA to form Ayanami Rei. His aim was to fuse Rei with Adam after all the Angels were killed (no competition left) as means to create the being Keel wanted. He continued with having an affair with Naoko in order to get her to complete the Magi Systems. Then, the day they were completed she found out from Rei I, that Gendo was only using her. She killed the clone in rage and then herself out of grief. Her death didn't matter to Gendo. He made a copy of Rei (Rei II) and even placed Rei I’s emotions inside Eva 00 in order to be easier compatible with her brainwaves. This made Rei II acting quite emotionless. After that he gained control of the Magi Systems. Soon after, Gehirn was given to him and renamed it NERV (German for “nerve”), turning it from a research organization to a military one. He was officially put in charge of two important projects: the Human Instrumentality Project and Project E. Around the same time, Asuka’s mother went crazy when her husband abandoned her for another woman. Her maternal side was eventually trapped inside Eva-02 during a similar experiment to that of Yui’s, making her not recognising Asuka. She loved a rug doll instead of Asuka and eventually hanged herself in front of her. Shinji grew up without his parents, feeling deserted and unwanted. His father never cared for him and was only looking after Rei II. Gendo simply replaced Shinji with Rei II and Yui with Ritsuko (Ritsuko became his new lover, whom by the way was Naoko’s daughter. Sick!). In Germany, Asuka grew alone and tried to act as if she was perfect and didn’t need anyone’s aid. In Japan, Misato finally came to her senses and left the mental clinic. She kept wearing her father’s cross as memento of how much she hated him and the angels for all the mess they did. Full of hunger to make for all the years she lost, she met Ryoji Kaji. He reminded her of her hateful father and in a very Freudian
way, they quickly became passionate lovers. After a long time of non-stop sexual intercourse, the two of them regrettably had to split up and follow their separate careers. Kaji became a spy for SEELE and Misato the main tactician of NERV. A few years later, the Angels reach maturity and attack...
Angels Angels are supernatural beings that possess a variety of forms (giants, microscopic computer viruses, pure energy, even human-like). They are immortals and indestructible, with their core to be their only weakness. As long as their core is intact, their S2 organ allows them to regenerate extremely fast any damage they are dealt. Also, they produce an AT Field that makes them immune to all weapons Man possesses. Every Angel was awoken on the day of the Second Impact and hadn't come to maturity until recently. Angels are presented by NERV like alien invaders who want to destroy mankind (a typical description, found in countless B-movies). But that is just a cover up. In reality, they were meant to be the native inhabitants of Earth, while mankind came to be by mistake. In a way, to them Man is the alien invader. Each species has its own unique features. Angels possess the 6Fruit of Life6 whereas 3an possesses the 6Fruit of Intelligence6. Man possesses the knowledge of both Good and Evil and he is capable of learning from his mistakes. Angels on their part are ageless and almost immortal. They count as a cousin species to Man, as their creator is made by the same race as our creator. Being immortal, life and death were the same for them. That is why most of them are willing to selfdestroy if that helps them to unite with Adam. Their only objective is to find and become one with Adam, who is in NERV's possession, in order to take back Earth from the invaders. They are also seen by some as those sent by God to test the human spirit and will to survive and "evolve". The angels want to reawaken 'dam by coming in contact with him and claim dominion over the 4originaly their planet. This will result to the Third Impact that will wipe out humanity by terraforming the planet into that of an 'ngel planet. Mnce 'dam is awake, he will start to produce more 'ngels, thus wiping off all other alien 4from his point of view life on "arth.
Angels can’t attack in numbers. Compared to organisms born from Lilith, they are predisposed towards enormous si8e and individualistic existences. They are selfish beings that don’t want to cooperate not even amongst their own kind; so only one Angel could advance against NERV at a time. Their selfishness is also the reason they have the all-powerful AT Field. It is their way of keeping everything separate from themselves. Mankind was supposed to be prepared for the coming of the Angels thanks to the Dead Sea Scrolls. Unfortunately, SEELE kept the truth only to itself and left the rest of humanity in the dark, so that it could manipulate anyone it wanted for its selfish reasons. A notice must be made about HOW the Angels or Humanity could unite with Adam. Only a complete individual can come in contact with Adam. The Angels were individuals and could do it from the start. That is why they were going after Adam and didn’t care about killing the humans (the Third Impact would have done that, anyway). But since humans were separate bodies of the same being, they couldn’t do it. Technically, the word "Angels" used in Evangelion is a bad translation. The Japanese word used is Shito, which is closer to the English word "Apostle" or "Disciple". Gainax translated it to English as "Angel" (just
as they translated "Shinseiki" to "Neon Genesis" and not "New Century" or any of a hundred others). Nothing we can do about that since something is always altered when it is translated from one language to another. The Angels in the series don’t look like beautiful white humans with wings and halos as they are described in the Old Testament. Hideaki Anno didn’t base their forms by reading the current Bible. The book of Enoch is an early scripture that was originally in the Bible but later was banned for being filled with superstitions. The book describes the children born of Angels who mated with Human women. They were called Nephilim and had many bizarre forms and shapes, which match those of the Angels in the series (Fallen Angels with Nephilim shapes! Hideaki Anno really loves to mix things). All the Angels in the series are named after renown Angels and Fallen Angels. Look into it yourselves. There were 17 Angels, each with a different physical appearance from the other. Their pictures and fates are as follows:
Initially he was a pioneer, like Lilith, made by the First Ancestral Race in order to colonize planets. Adam landed on the as-of-yet-lifeless Earth and was about to spread his seeds, which would produce the Angels (again aliens and not messengers of God). For that he created the White Moon in Antarctica (his egg from which all life would begin). But Lilith was passing by Earth at that moment, heading to her designated planet. She was pulled in by the Earth’s strong gravitational field and crash-landed on the area where today lies Japan. The collision was so powerful, it incinerated the surface of the planet. This event was known as the First Impact. Both Adam and Lilith had a control mechanism of sorts called The Lance of Longinus, which effectively worked as fail-switch in case something went wrong in their terraforming powers. The Lances were made by the aliens and sent along with the %eeds of Life. Lilith7s Lance got destroyed in her collision into "arth. 's the only remaining Lance on the planet, 'dam7s Lance made the best of a bad situation, and 6turned off6 'dam, sending him into a dormant state, rather than let two active %eeds exist on t he same planet.
First Angel
Adam AT-Field Power: 1000
Lilith also fell in slumber because of that. %he also bleeds LCL 4primordial oo8e and from that gave birth to all life. Nnintentionally, she sent forward her own seeds to populate the planet by forming her own egg, the Black Moon. Meaning, all life on Earth was created by the wrong pioneer.
He is the being that all Angels are from and must return to, Adam was a harbinger of doom for mankind. He came as "The Giant of Light" in Antarctica (where the White Moon had lain dormant since the First Impact) when testing of the S2 engine (the manmade version of Angels' immortality) began. Adam awoke by impaling the Lance of Longinus into him. The energy released melt the Antarctic Ice Cap and caused a Great Flood that wiped out most of life on the south hemisphere. The polar axis shifted and the climate worldwide changed dramatically. Wars, famine and plagues spread across the Earth in the Flood's aftermath helping to expand the damage done. By the time stability returned to the world, half of mankind had perished. This event released some of Adam’s seeds onto the world. 15 Angels awoke in Larva Form and began to evolve. They were preparing to find their creator and unite with him as means to claim dominion over Earth, which was taken over by the Lilim. He was also shrunk to embryo size so that from him could a new Eve be created. Gendo kept his powers low so that it would be a lot more difficult for the Angels to find him, by tracing his AT Field. This way, he was passing unnoticed and the Angels were mostly going after Lilith. Adam’s soul was given by SEELE to Tabris, the 17 th Angel. When Tabris was killed, his soul floated aimlessly until it merged with Lilith-Rei in the Third Impact.
All EVAs except for Eva-01 are clones of Adam. They were named like that because they came from Adam, just like Eve did. They have the same shape as Adam, they have places for cores in the same place, and they have yellow wings. Like Lilith, Adam is not really an Angel. He is far beyond an average Angel and is in fact their creator. He has only been categorized as one because of his omnipotent AT Field. Kabalists say that before Adam fell from grace by disobeying God's command, he was of enormous size and radiance, like the Angels. As a result of his sin, however, he was diminished in stature and glory. That makes a parallel to his original form we see in the series. Kaji stole Adam from SEELE HQ and then merged him on Gendo’s hand. He was freed by Rei III and melded with Lilith during the Third Impact. Fate:
Initially she was a pioneer, like Adam, made by the First Ancestral Race in order to colonize planets. Lilith was passing by Earth, heading to her designated planet. She was pulled in by the Earth’s strong gravitational field and crash-landed on the area where today lies Japan. The collision was so powerful, it incinerated the surface of the planet. This event was known as the First Impact. Both Adam and Lilith had a control mechanism of sorts called The Lance of Longinus, which effectively worked as fail-switch in case something went wrong Second Angel in their terraforming powers. The Lances were made by the aliens and sent Lilith along with the %eeds of Life. Lilith7s Lance got destroyed in her collision into AT-Field Power: 999 "arth. 's the only remaining Lance on the planet, 'dam7s Lance made the best of a bad situation, and 6turned off6 'dam, sending him into a dormant state, rather than let two active %eeds exist on the same planet. Lilith also fell in slumber because of that. %he also bleeds LCL 4primordial oo8e and from that gave birth to all life. Nnintentionally, she sent forward her own seeds to populate the planet by forming her own egg, the Black Moon. Meaning, all life on Earth was created by the wrong pioneer.
In Jewish mythology, she was the first wife of Adam. She was made from the same earth that created Adam, but she was not composed of any part of him (like Eve), so she was not loyal to her mate. Lilith left her husband and wandered the land where she eventually met Cain (Adam and Eve's son who slew Abel) and they became the parents of all humanity (aka Lilim). Lilith is the one from which mankind has come, and to which he must return (in the form of the Third Impact, according to the series). She was later found by SEELE and her soul was used to create Rei. The Seven Eyes of God and the triangle symbol that decorates Lilith's mask became the SEELE logo. Her body was used to produce LCL. Her "blood" is the LCL that is used in the Eva Plugs that allows the pilots to better communicate with the Evangelion (it is like amniotic fluid, which protects babies in the womb and allows them to breathe). Lilith is not really an Angel. Only the creatures Adam made get that title. NERV only categorized her because she had a strong AT Field, like the rest of the Angels. Her presence was enough to fool the other Angels to think that she was Adam and allow NERV to move the real Adam to safety (who was on Gendo’s hand, who was always fleeing NERV during the attacks). Fate: She
was merged with and freed by Rei III clone and helped collect the fractions of the soul of all of mankind.
The first Angel who attacked NERV and one of the most humanoid in appearance. He easily made his way to Tokyo-3 with little resistance from the UN Forces due to his impenetrable AT Field.
Third Angel
Sachiel AT-Field Power: 2
Eva-01 was only able to win when its first time pilot (Shinji Ikari) allowed his mind to go savage therefore allowing the Eva Unit to turn into a "Berserker". Sachiel's weapons were some sort of particle beam, a hammer-punch forearm device, and the ability to amass muscle strength in its limbs. Sachiel self-destructed to try and destroy Eva-01 when it was clear that it had lost the First Battle of Tokyo-3. He failed. Fate:
The Second Angel to attack Tokyo-3 was the Insectoid Shamshel. It attacked with energy whips that could be used to slice any object in two. It was able to sever Eva-01's power cord thereby severely limiting the Test Type's time to defend itself and attack. It was able to destroy many Armament Buildings and cause some damage to Eva-01's armour and body, but it was not an equal match for the Evangelion when its human pilot went crazy with rage. Shamshel was killed when Eva-01 damaged its core with a knife, but remained intact and was carefully studied by NERV scientists. Fate:
Fourth Angel
Shamshel AT-Field Power:3
One of the best-designed Angels in terms of defence is Ramiel. Described as a "Floating Fortress", the Fifth Angel glided to a spot directly over Geofront with hardly any resistance from the EVAs and NERV. When there, it began drilling straight down to NERV HQ. Fifth Angel
Ramiel AT-Field Power: 10
He would attack any object that came within several miles of it that might cause the slightest threat. He attacked Unit 01 and caused major damage to the Eva and its pilot when it appeared up from the ground. Only by using the combined electrical power of all of Japan to power a giant sniper canon fired by Shinji in Eva-01 while using Eva-00 with Rei as a shield, was this powerful Angel finally defeated. Its body remained intact for the NERV scientists to study. Fate:
The first and only aquatic Angel, Gaghiel attacked the UN Pacific fleet in search of the Adam embryo that Ryoji Kaji was carrying with him from Germany to NERV HQ in Tokyo-3. It was able to destroy more than half of the fleet. In the first under-water sortie, it was proven that EVAs have little defence when submersed in water. The combined synchrony rates of its two pilots (Shinji Ikari and Soryu Asuka Langley) helped the Eva-02 to overcome its situation. Blown up when Eva-02 dissolved its AT Field and opened its mouth long enough for two explosive laden UN ships to enter and self-destruct. Fate:
Sixth Angel
Gaghiel AT-Field Power:3
The Seventh Angel turned out to be a double threat. He could split himself into
Seventh Angel(s)
Israfel AT-Field Power:4
two separate Angels with two different cores. Any damage done to him was instantly repairing by harmonic waves the one core was sending to the other, making him impossible to kill. When he first appeared off of Japan's coast, he made short work of Eva-02 and Eva-01, causing great shame to the pilots. Only after a synchronized combined attack performed by the two EVAs against its two cores, was Israfel able to be destroyed. The Seventh Angel's defence and attack demonstrated how man had to start thinking in new modes of strategy and assault if he hoped to survive. The "dance" of the two EVAs forcibly recombined him and defeated him with a powerful set of kicks. He exploded in a cross-shaped pillar of fire. Fate:
What was NERV's biggest break in the battle against the Angels turned into one of its worst catastrophes. Sandalphon was originally found in a live volcano still in its pupa form. NERV ordered its acquisition in order to study him alive before he became active and dangerous. It awoke and grew to its adult size in the middle of Eva-02's capture operation. It almost destroyed Unit 02 by striking it inside the volcano. Eva-02 was only saved when Shinji (in Eva-01) jumped into the lava and pulled it out.
Eighth Angel
Sandalphon AT-Field Power:2
The Eighth Angel was disintegrated by Eva-02's coolant system being force-fed into it in the middle of the lava lake. It was only an adult for 2.5 minutes. Fate:
Matarael attacked when NERV and all of Tokyo-3 were in the middle of a blackout (deliberately caused by SEELE so that the Geofront could be mapped while it was defenceless). The spider-like Angel appeared and began burning an acid hole directly through to Geofront from the surface. Ninth Angel
Matarael AT-Field Power: 1
With only five minutes of energy apiece, the EVAs 00, 01, and 02 attacked the Angel from below and killed it with little effort. The Ninth Angel was easily subdued with only a large machine gun (which proved useless on previous Angels). It died without exploding and was Fate:
therefore another perfect specimen for the scientists at NERV.
The Tenth Angel was a very unique aggressor. In its high Earth orbit, it would actually drop pieces of itself to bombard the surface with. When it got used to its aim, it dropped its entire body on top of Tokyo-3. Sahaquiel was stopped by the combined AT Fields of the three Eva Units and blew up in a large cross-shaped explosion when Eva-02 drove its psyonic knife into its core. Fate:
Tenth 'ngel
Sahaquiel AT-Field Power:4
In an attempt to avoid Eva combat, the Eleventh Angel (in the form of billions of microscopic nanomachines) attacked NERV in a soft spot - the Three Magi Computers.
Eleventh Angel
Ireul AT-Field Power: 4
After taking over the body of a Dummy Plug Test Eva, Ireul quickly adapted to any attack that NERV threw at it. It soon began infiltrating the Three Magi, starting with Melchior, in an attempt to override them, rewrite them, and selfdestruct them. With its AT Field in place to deflect any physical attack, Ireul's only weakness was the Super Computers themselves. With Ritsuko Akagi's quick thinking and typing skills, NERV was able to stop the attack and purge the Magi of Ireul completely by simply erasing him like a common virus. Fate:
The Twelfth Angel appeared like a giant "shadow ball". It seemed that it could disappear and reappear at will to easily avoid the firepower thrown at it. It was only when the Eva-01 pilot got too cocky and stepped on to its actual form. (The shadow on the ground that was less than a tenth of a centimetre thick) and was sucked into a Dirac Sea where it remained immobile. With no obvious weakness and Shinji Ikari still trapped inside the Angel's self, NERV was ready to drop all the world's remaining Non-Nuclear (N2) bombs into its center in a desperate attempt to free the child and destroy the threat.
Twelfth Angel
Leliel AT-Field Power:10
In the final seconds before the drop, the Eva-01 went Berserker when its restrains where left dry of power and burst free of its intended tomb in a bloody explosion of rage and fear that killed Leliel. Fate:
Originally the Eva-03, the airborne Bardiel infested the Unit while it was transferred by air, on its voyage to the synchro test site in Japan.
Thirteenth Angel
Bardiel
He was powerful like an EVA and carried a human hostage in its entry plug (the Fourth Child, Toji Suzuhara). Bardiel made short work of Eva-00 and Eva-02 and attacked Eva-01 as a Berserker. With elongated arms as weapons, it started to crush Eva-01's and Shinji Ikari's throat. The Third Child refused to defend himself in fear of hurting the 14-year-old pilot in the Thirteenth Angel.
(Also EVA-03) AT-Field Power: 8
Ikari Gendo ordered his son to be taken off line and have the Dummy Plug initiated to attack the Angel. Eva-01 killed Bardiel in a heartbeat and proceeded to rip its corpse apart, severely damaging the trapped pilot in the process. Fate:
Zeruel was a walking wrecking ball. He marched right through EVAs 00 and 02 and right to Central Dogma's front door (Eva-01 stopped him before he could reach Terminal Dogma). For weapons, the fourteenth Angel had ultra sharp, whip-like blades for arms and a photon discharge from its "mouth". With its whip-blades, it was able to slice up Eva-02’s head and arms. Its armoured skin was also strong enough to withstand Eva-00's attack with an N2 bomb. It had even mutilated and defeated Eva-01, but it did not finish it off before it went Berserker (again with no power).
Fourteenth Angel
Zeruel AT-Field Power:8
Fate: "hin#i
and Eva$%& ripped 'eruel apart. (n its )erserker mode, *nit$%& finished the fourteenth Angel off y eating it and its "+ rgan -which made the Eva fully operational without any outside electrical energy source and it allowed the *nit to grow to its fullest potential as a weapon and part Angel. ne of 'eruels whip lades was ripped off and attached as Eva$%&s left arm.
The fifteenth Angel to appear was a being of pure light. It remained high above Earth's orbit and only attacked when Asuka and Unit-02 showed up. It mind-raped Soryu Asuka Langley and forced her to relive her most painful memories that she chose to lock away years ago. It was unrelenting. Fifteenth Angel
Arael AT-Field Power:20
The pilot of Eva-02 couldn't stop the flow of emotions that Arael was forcing her to feel and she cracked. The Angel's attack could only be focussed on one mind at a time, and Asuka was only saved when Eva-00 and its pilot showed up. After a failed attempt to shoot the target down, Ayanami Rei was given orders to retrieve the Lance of Longinus from Terminal Dogma, with which she launched a physical attack at the Angel. The Lance of Longinus cut through Arael's AT Field and destroyed the Angel of Light. The Lance landed on the moon and remained there until the Third Impact was about to begin. Fate:
Armisael had the form of a double helix (like the Lance of Longinus) closed up in a circle. Its main means of attack was to merge with the EVAs and attack the minds of the pilots. When Armisael first attacked Eva-00 and its pilot, it made Rei to experience true emotions for the first time in her life. It made her realize that she was truly
lonely in her existence and had never opened herself to anybody, not even those closest to her.
Sixteenth Angel
Then Shinji appeared in Eva-01. The sixteenth Angel tried to attack him too, but the First Child self-destructed herself and her Eva in an attempt to destroy the Angel before it could hurt Shinji.
AT-Field Power:20
Armisael
Armisael was vaporized in the blast (as was most of Tokyo-3) caused by Eva-00's self-destruction. Fate:
The seventeenth Angel was also the Fifth Child. His name means 'Kaworu of the Seashore'. Keel Lorenz knew that he was indeed the final messenger of man's fate and even gave him Adam’s soul. Lorenz cloned a human body for him and sent Tabris to NERV headquarters in order to hurry the prophecy of the Dead Sea Scrolls along. When Tabris arrived at Geofront, he quickly became Shinji Ikari's best friend and the best synchro-rated pilot of the children. Soon after his Tabris (KaworuNagisa) (Also coming, however, he began his attack. Because he had Adam’s soul, he the 5th Child) could control unmanned EVAs without even getting into the entry plug. With Eva-02 as his bodyguard he made his way to Heaven's Door and AT-Field Power: 30 Terminal Dogma in the heart of NERV HQ. While an enraged Shinji and Eva-01 attacked Eva-02, Tabris realised that he had been duped by SEELE when he finally saw the white giant nailed to the cross above the lake of LCL. Seventeenth Angel
When Tabris realized that the Angel that he was face to face with was Lilith and not Adam (the one whom all Angels must return and who's soul was inside Tabris' human shell) he allowed Shinji to grab him with Eva-01. He explained that life and death were the same to him and that he would allow himself to die so that mankind could decide for itself the path that must be chosen. After 60 seconds of pause, Shinji squeezed and Tabris/Kaworu died. Fate:
At one point, Misato refers to humanity as if all people are an Angel of their own. Her exact words are: "We are the 18th Angel, born from the source of life, Lilith. Other angels are possibly a separate race of beings that threw away their physical forms. They were doomed to a sad existence of betrayal and pain because they rejected each other. We, people are the same" . It's just a comment at how destructive people can be to their fellow man (especially when they break into your base of operations and shoot at anything that moves!). Also, the Angel’s DNA match our own by 99,89%. It is pretty close but it still enough to separate us as species by them. By saying that man is the final Angel, Misato is showing her utter distaste for all humanity (just as she loathed the Angels themselves). But if mankind truly were an Angel, a simple touch with Lilith would have begun the Third Impact . Or, when we came in contact with Adam we would have initiated the destructive Third Impact and the series would have been over before it began. Katsuragi was only being sarcastic. The Angels were not 17 without reason, though. In demonology, the number 18 is considered unholy, since it is the sum of the three digits of the devil’s number 666 (6+6+6=18). Mankind may have defeated 17 perils but now faced the biggest threat of them all: its own self. In End Of Evangelion man kills man for selfish reasons, proving how powerless humans are, even without huge monsters going after them. They are being destroyed by their ambitions alone.
Even in the manga version of the series, where the Angels are decreased from 17 to 12, the number is still not random. 13 is also a very unlucky number.
The First Ancestral Race ' !od#like race of aliens, the first extraterrestrial intelligence. They created 'dam and "ve and sent them to coloni8e planets through Oanspermia billions of years ago. They are never shown or mentioned in the series. 's of yet, we do not know their motives or for what they were aiming.
The Seeds o# Li#e The characteri8ation of 'dam and Lilith as givers of life. 'dam*s off#springs possess the Fruit of Life, while the children of Lilith possess the Fruit of /isdom.
The +ruit o# Li#e In !enesis, it is the fruit 3an ate while in the !arden of "den from the Tree of Life, which was the source of immortality. 'fter his banishment, he became mortal. In the series, 'ngels have its powers in the form of their %; core, offered by their creator, 'dam. 'dam is the Fruit of Life which produced the 'ngels, offering giant si8e, superpowers and almost immortality. -ut the same time such beings are few in numbers and not sentient enough to make a civili8ation.
The +ruit o# Wisdo% In !enesis, it is the forbidden fruit 3an ate in the !arden of "den from the Tree of /isdom, which was the source of the Mriginal %in. $umans disobeyed the order of !od and ate its fruit, gaining the knowledge of good and evil. 's a result, !od banished humans from the !arden of "den and imposed many constraints of freedom on them. /isdom was gained in expanse for freedom. This is the power Lilith offered to all her children, the Lilim. The product of this wisdom is 6%cience6, which is praised by !endo as 6the power of humans6 but ridiculed by Fuyutsuki as what 6caused the %econd Impact6. -oth "P' and the $uman Complementation Olan are all the products of this wisdom.
S2 Engine or Organ
S2 stands for Super Solenoid. It is a codename for an Angel organ, positioned close to its core. It is also the true shape of the Fruit of Life. 's the world is formed with spirals, the engine acKuires energy from its shape, which is the same as Q'. From here, the %R "ngine was being envisioned as an energy source that would attempt to procure helical energy S in other words, an inexhaustible supply. All Angels are immortal because of this power generating system. EVAs are not Angels only because they don’t have one. SEELE tried to artificially create one, but nothing good came out of it. When they tested an S2 Engine on Adam, The Second Impact occurred. When they tried again by inserting an S2 Engine in EVA-04, the EVA merged with the Dirac Sea and annihilated everything in a wide radius. When EVA-01 ate the S2 organ from the 14th Angel, it became an Angel itself. 'n "P' loaded with this engine has infinite active time. That is why "P'#)9 and "P's )5#9, who possess this engine, do not need an Nmbilical Cable any more.
LCL Also called Link Connection Liquid. It is the liquid that fills the Entry Plugs. /hen its molecular arrangement is changed by electricity, it can perform several functions, including a mental link between an "P' and its pilot, supplying oxygen and providing both physical and mental protection to the pilot. It allows the pilots to better communicate with the EVAs while operating them in the cockpit. It works like amniotic fluid, which protects babies in the womb and allows them to breathe. LCL is sticky and smells like blood. In reality, it is the blood of Lilith. The liKuid springs from her wounds and fills a lake, in the lowest floor of the Terminal Qogma where she is crucified. It is the essence, which turns inanimate matter into living beings; more commonly called 6the soup of life6 . When the Third Impact occurs, humanity loses the AT Field that kept each person as an individual. The physical boundaries dissolved and everybody’s physical form turned to LCL and merged into one being. LCL can be seen like Anima, the life force within all living creatures. Like the soul, it is incorporeal, imperishable and exists only within living matter. But unlike the soul, which departs from the body and transcends from the physical world to the afterlife, the Anima is something that disperses in the area around the dead body (it never leaves the physical world).
The Dirac Sea The Dirac Sea is practically a sea of LCL. It is a place where life begins to arise with birth and returns to with death (if you have played Final Fantasy 7, you will know it as Life Stream). It is shown in the series when someone is about to die or to be born. It is also the last thing we see in The End Of Evangelion. All living things on earth became a Dirac Sea.
The Dead Sea scrolls These scrolls are never shown in the series (the picture in the left is from a real museum). They are existing parchments that were written from 200 B.C. to 100 A.D. These parchments were written by the Essene, a sect of Jews who, like the first Christians, believed that the coming of Christ shall change the world. They wrote a very different version of the New Testament, in the form of the Dead Sea Scrolls. They were all killed by Roman soldiers, in the desert surrounding Koumran and they were forgotten until a century ago. The scrolls were discovered in the 20th century, in a cave in Israel. Their contents were kept secret by the Vatican, in fear of uproar from the retelling of the Apocalypse. Hideaki Anno uses the scrolls in a total fictional way. The scrolls (also called Evangelions in the series) are supposed to be prophecies, made to prepare Mankind against the Angels. In reality, they are an ancient alien manual left behind by the 6First 'ncestral &ace6. They explain how to de#activate or activate a %eed of Life. %""L" found the scrolls since 'ncient Times, gave to the public only the unimportant parts of the translation and abused the knowledge to enact Instrumentality in the hopes of becoming 6!ods6 themselves.
The Black And White Moons In the series, The White Moon is the place of rest for Adam and also the egg that gave birth to the Angels. It was buried somewhere in today Antarctica. The White Moon was destroyed when humans awoke Adam during the Second Impact and began the awakening of the Angels. In the series, The Black Moon is the place of rest for Lilith and also the egg that gave birth to Man. It was buried somewhere in South Pole and because of tectonic movements slowly moved towards the area where Japan lies today. The Black Moon was destroyed when Rei liberated Lilith during the Third Impact and ended Humanity. In a way, the Moons represent the Taoist symbol of Ying-Yang, the power of two opposites. In Taoism, the world was originally a huge homogenous egg. One day, two opposite forces were formed that cracked the eggshell. Since then, the world took countless forms that don’t have their original equilibrium. The same thing is described in the Book of Genesis, where the harmonic world became a dangerous place after Man sinned before God. And let’s not forget that astrophysics believe that the universe was originally a small homogenous sphere that expanded because of opposing forces and an explosion called Big Bang created the universe as we know it today. There is the scientific belief that life on Earth began by bacteria, which were inside asteroids, which crash-landed on Earth. The same can be said about the White and Black Moons, from which were alien in nature and began life. There is a Babylonian myth that describes a mysterious planet called Nibiru, home of a powerful alien race. The myth describes that this planet left the gravitational force of its solar system and merged with our solar system 1,5 billion years ago. With a trajectory of 3.500 years, passed through our Earth and colonized it for its most needed minerals. It created humans with a mixture of their DNA and that of apes and used them as workers. During that time, Earth had two moons and our solar system had 12 planets. The powerful gravitational force of Nibiru, destroyed two planets (which formed today’s asteroid belt) and
made one of its moons and one of Earth’s to collide with her. The destruction was enormous but in the same time gave birth to life as it is today. Maybe Hideaki Anno had the above in mind when he thought of the two moons. That may be also the reason the ending song is called “Fly Me To The Moon” (performed by different female voice actors of the series each time).
Shifted Axis When the Second Impact occurred, the polar axis shifted and the climates worldwide mixed up big time. Japan for instance, became a permanently tropic country. And the facts that prove that are: •
The country has always summer and it is constantly going through a heat wave all year long.
•
Everyone has air conditioners in their homes.
•
Summer crickets constantly make irritating noises (a constant “kric, kric” we hear in open spaces).
The First, Secondand Third Impacts The Impacts refer to the major events (earth shattering) that mankind and Angels alike faced on this planet. The First Impact was the fall of Lilith. It also caused the Black Moon and White Moon to be buried under Tokyo-3's present location and Antarctica respectively around 4 billion years ago. This "Impact" set everything in motion as eventually all the Angels came from the White Moon and mankind soon appeared thanks to the Egg of Lilith (the Black Moon). All life in general began with The First Impact. The Second Impact occurred when Man succeeded in shrinking Adam to embryo size (after he was awakened by the testing of the artificial S2 engine by SEELE's people). The energy released was considerable enough to melt the Antarctic Ice Cap and cause a Great Flood, destroyed the White Moon and awakened the rest of the Angels from their slumber. Wars, famine and plagues spread across the Earth in the Flood's aftermath helping to expand the damage done. In the end, half of mankind was wiped out. The South Pole turned red by Adam’s blood and became toxic for humans. The real reasons remained hidden from the public and a cover up story regarding the fall of the meteorite was established as the cause of this global catastrophe. The Third Impact took place when mankind "evolved" into a single being, a Living God.
The differencebetweengetting killed and evolving with the Third Impact According to many religions, when humans die, their souls are judged. They either transcend to a joyous place (like Heaven) or to a terrible one (like Hell). The Third Impact merges Mankind into one being (as it originally was long ago) devoid of any pain. Keel and SEELE wanted to become a Living God, with no concept of joy or pain, a more satisfying existence in comparison to the distressful one we currently know. This "Judgement of Humanity" as individuals would still occur even if an Angel returning to Adam started the Third Impact. Humanity would not evolve into one pure creature and instead it would die. The soul of Humanity would literally fade away. When the Third Impact occurs, all of humanity loses its physical forms (they turn to LCL) and their souls unite (it was only one soul in the first place). /hen everyone comes to this state, they no longer feel the pain or loneliness that would typically precipitate from interaction between humans. It is comparable, but not eKual, to death. %o, anyone alive merges into one being 4'dam#Uadamon. /hat about the ones who died before the Third Impact occurred0 /ell, the Third Impact wasn*t about physical bodies but instead, it was about souls. The souls 4or better say, the pieces of the same soul from all the dead of the past return from their afterlife 4that would be the Qirac %ea. There is no $eaven, $ell or anything else in the series and also merge with 'dam#Uadamon. That was the purpose of the Third ImpactV to unite everyone into one.
The Lance Of Longinus In the series, The Lance Of Longinus is a huge tool, which is used to activate or de-activate the Seeds of Life (Adam and Lilith). Both Adam and Lilith had a control mechanism of sorts called The Lance of Longinus, which effectively worked as fail-switch in case something went wrong in their terraforming powers. The Lances were made by the aliens and sent along with the %eeds of Life. Lilith7s got destroyed in her collision into "arth. 's the only remaining Lance on the planet, 'dam7s Lance made the best of a bad situation, and 6turned off6 'dam, sending him into a dormant state, rather than let two active %eeds exist on the same planet. It somehow resembles a DNA double helix and contains the information on how to separate and unite Adam-Kadamon. Lilith’s Lance was destroyed during the First Impact. Adam’s Lance was found in the bottom of the Dead Sea by SEELE in the 20th century. It caused the Second Impact when the scientists in Antarctica performed experiments on the sleeping Adam and pierced him with the Lance. NERV recovered the Lance in 2015 and took it to their base. It was powerful enough to even kill the 15th Angel and got stuck on the moon until it was summoned during the Third Impact. In Christian beliefs, The Lance Of Longinus is the spear that pierced Christ’s body, while He was on the cross. It became a miracle-healing tool because of Christ’s blood on it. It is even mentioned in the epic tale of King Arthur and The Knights Of The Round Table.
In Jewish beliefs, The Lance Of Longinus is a cursed magical spear that pierced Christ’s body, while He was on the cross. It is said that Christ was immune to normal weapons and only an unholy weapon could kill him (something that even He wanted to, in order to save humanity). If you are looking for an answer to what the lance is doing in the series and why it became so huge, this is a good one. The lance in the series is NOT really the historical Lance Of Longinus. Keel Lorenz named it like this because its use reminded him of the original spear he used himself to kill Christ (remember that he is the Wandering Jew). There is a very known huge spear and it is found in the Genesis of another culture, that of Japan. In Shinto (the native religion of Japan) the First Man Izanami and the First Woman Izanagi (like Adam and Eve) created Japan with the aid of a huge magic spear. Hideaki Anno probably had this myth into account when he thought of the Lance Of Longinus.
The Instrumentality Project and The Tree Of Life According to the teachings of the Jewish sect of Cabbala, there are 10 aspects and 32 paths that connect the soul with life and the universe. Man is made after God’s image; therefore he is also able to reach God if he acquires these 10 aspects. These aspects are described in the Book of Zohar, in a diagram known as Tree Of Life. Each aspect goes by the name of Sphere Of Sephiroth and describes how each man can use his inner divine light to form a huge community. The ten levels of cabbalist reality, figured as an arrangement of the ten Sephiroth, represent the glorious original human being, called AdamKadamon, Man before his Original Sin. If all men can simultaneously use all aspects, the imperfect world will be destroyed and humanity will reach God. In the series, the teachings of Cabbala are the main purpose of the Instrumentality Project. Keel Lorenz planned to unite all humanity into one being (by force and not by free will, as Cabbala teaches) during the Third Impact.
We see the symbol in Gendo’s office (as shapes on the ceiling and the floor), where he sits under the highest sphere, “The Crown Of God” (an egomaniac indeed!).
We also see it in the symbol that is created in the sky when the 9 unmanned Evas in the End Of Evangelion crucify EVA-01. The 9 unmanned EVAs represent the 9 aspects, with Eva-01 to be the 10th in the center, in the first sphere known as “God’s Manifestation”.
The shape Eva-01 takes after the crucifixion (a tall, red cross with many eyes and roots in the bottom) is just another form of the Tree Of Life. ' Tree of Life that has its roots and branches inverted appears on both $indu scriptures and the Uabbalah. This was called 6the I nverted Tree6
The science fiction author Qr. Oaul Linebarger, during /orld /ar II, worked in psychological warfare on behalf of the N.%. 'rmy, including propaganda efforts by the N.%. against the
Lilim and Humans Kaworu (the 17th Angel) is constantly referring to humanity as "Lilim". And that is not a good thing. "Lilim" were the demon-spawn children of Lilith and Lucifer. Practically, they were all the mythological monsters that plagued the world, such as Cyclops and Goblins. Humans are thought to be descendants of Adam and Eve, meaning good wiling beings and not evil monsters. In the series, Humans were descended from Lilith. Hideaki Anno presented humanity as monsters themselves who had fooled themselves to believe they were something superior to Lilim. That is why The Third Impact couldn’t occur if a human had touched Adam or a fooled Angel had touched Lilith in the Terminal Dogma. The Third Impact could only be initiated if a creature born of Adam touched him. As a side note, children born from the union of a human and an extra planar being are never considered good in Christianity. Lilim were half-demons and automatically evil (humanity included, according to the series). Nephilim were half-angels and were also evil. The Jewish mythology describes them as powerful giants who threatened to conquer the world in ancient times. In the Torah, God caused the Cataclysm (the flood which drowned the world and only those in Noah’s Arc were saved) in order to wipe out the Nephilim and not for to wipe out the sinners from the world.
Marduk The agency formed to find possible pilots for the EVAs. It had 108 branches worldwide and its actions were totally kept in secret. But all these were just hot air. Kanji discovered that there never was such an organization. It was just another cover up made by SEELE to make NERV believe that pilots were hard to find and that saving the world is an important thing to do. Bull! All the pilots it needed where Shinji’s schoolmates. In reality, it was Gendo who was choosing the candidates and he made sure it would be only people affiliated to him or his close acquaintances, in order to control them easier. Marduk was the name of the ruler of the Gods in Babylonian mythology. He was the one who killed Tiamat, an enormous dragon and formed Earth by its head. This is told in the myth of Nibiru, a planet that made two moons to collide with planet Earth, 1.5 billion years ago. The collision of the moons matches with the events of the First Impact. Marduk matches with AdamKadamon, who gave life to the planet. Tiamat matches with Earth, as it was lifeless before The First Impact. The number 108 is considered holy in Buddhism. It refers to the 108 desires and sins one must surpass in order to find enlightenment. This number is used to express holiness. The fact that SEELE had 108 fake branches shows how unholy their goals are.
N2 Bombsor Mines N2 stands for Non-Nuclear and it is Earth’s most powerful weapon. Works like an empowered nuclear warhead but instead of Uranium, it uses Cold Fusion for ammo. It leaves no traces of radiation and doubles the destructive force of a typical nuclear explosion by using the matter of the target as fuel. But, even such a weapon is useless against the AT Field of the Angels. The best effect they had was to scorch their surface and only slow them down.
Only fourteen-year-old pilots In the series, only fourteen-year-olds can pilot the EVAs. No one older can synchronize with them. There are two reasons for that. First, each EVA requires a trapped soul (giving it a human soul) in order to give the pilot a synchronization rate high enough to communicate with the man made Angels. And then, the souls inside each EVA have to accept their pilot. EVAs 01 and 02 accepted Shinji and Asuka because they had their mother’s soul inside. Second, only a soulless human can pilot an EVA. In Jewish mythology, all souls are born in Heaven, in a place called the Room of Gauf or Hall of Harad. When the Apocalypse begins, the Room of Gauf will be dried up and all humans born afterwards will be born without a soul. The Second Impact occurred 15 years ago, so the oldest possible pilots would be 14 years old (after the Second Impact fewer and fewer
children had been born). All of the prospective pilots were Shinji and his classmates (none of which appears to have a living mother while all of their fathers work at NERV. Very fishy!). Since The Second Impact acts as the Beginning Of The End, everyone born afterwards was like soulless. There were dozens of unfinished EVAs in the graveyard where Ritsuko showed the cloning tank to Shinji and Misato. In theory, anyone able to fulfil the above two requirements, could become a pilot. But a pilot would be useless if he didn’t have major psychological problems (you heard right!). EVAs produce AT Fields that are empowered by their pilots’ negative feelings and need of separation from others in fear of emotional damage (the more solitude, the better!). This whole concept is probably the main message the series wanted to give to its viewers. The selfish adults are willing to immorally disobey God’s will, over and over (fabricated Third Impact), lie to each other (cover up about the Second Impact), make human sacrifices (trapping souls to EVAs), using their own children to fight in their unjust battles (Shinji who is forced to become a pilot by Gendo), deliberately damaging them emotionally so that would be ruthless killing machines (AT Fields empowered by the pilots’ parental abandonment) and then kill each other to get what they want (SEELE and NERV onslaught in The End Of Evangelion). The children are the real victims here, seen only as soulless weapons by their parents. They have to face the sins of their forefathers, to be hurt by events that happened before they were born. Indeed, none of the characters in the series loves his parents. The whole series is an outcry to the inhuman society we created and live in today. It offers a lot of reasons for its cast to want to escape reality and fabricate an illusion where nothing hurts them anymore.
Existentialis% /hat the heck happens in the final episode, where %hin2i is imagining an empty world and an alternative life in school without "P's0 /ell, it all has to do with "xistentialism. "xistentialism is the philosophical theory which states that each human being creates a reality of each own. -ecause human beings are physically trapped within their own bodies, their thoughts and actions are trapped within their own realm of knowledge, never to be shared or understood in their most personal form with anyone else. "ssentially, human beings are alone because every individual differs in appearance, behavior, personality and way of thinking, making it impossible to be understood by anyone else. $owever, thanks to their isolation, they are uniKuely free to choose their own interpretations of events, to create their own realities in their minds and most importantly, to own these realities as true expressions of their world and themselves. 'll the characters in the series had created a world of their own, usually as a way to escape their harsh reality. %hin2i always listens to music, Misato always gets drunk, Ritsuko always pays attention only to her work and so on. The $uman Instrumentality Oro2ect of "vangelion is an attempt to break down the
barriers that separate mankind, and %hin2i7s ultimate decision is whether or not the limitations and inherent freedoms of the human condition as individual creatures are good things, or whether they should be denied. In the final televised episode, %hin2i is shown a world in which there is absolute possibility and absolute freedom. It is depicted as a simple, empty white background. In this reality there are no limitations to hinder %hin2i*s actions 4such as physical boundaries to prevent his movement or other people to argue with him. -ut in the same matter, there is no purpose in this reality 4no goals, no plans, no actions. Through %hin2i7s own free will, he is able to create the rules and in fact the whole world around him as a way to create a purpose for his existence. 'lthough it is not clearly shown of what he is doing, this is what he does, more or less1 •
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First, he gives himself a shape in order to define himself, thus intentionally deprives himself the freedom of not having a limited physical shape. -ut now he was floating about aimlesly in nothingness. $e creates gravity and the ground in order to define space and the definition of movement, thus intentionally deprives himself the freedom of floating without the boundaries of weight. ow he he was moving aimlesly in an empty space. $e needed something to define his movement in space and give his walking an evidense that is actually happening. $e creates trees and lakes and myriads of ob2ects in order to create a definition of movement, thus intentionally deprives himself the freedom of walking without the boundaries of matter. %till, he had nothing to do in this world. $e needed a purpose and you can*t have a purpose if you don*t have a need. %o, he creates needs that drive him to fulfill them 4such as hunger and thirst, thus intentionally deprives himself the freedom of not having any needs. Wet, he had no one to compare himself with. %o, he creates other individuals, who think and act independently from him, in order to define his actions through the impression he makes to others. Thus he intentionally deprives himself the freedom of doing anything he wants 4since the others will be arguing with him or preventing him from doing what he wants. ow, there are many people with individual thoughts and each one of them has a different image of %hin2i in their minds 4since each one of them understands him in a different way. $is +image of self is now defined by the way others perceive him and not by freely doing anything he wants. $is +being is granted not by his actions, but instead by the reactions of others around him. -y constantly comparing, arguing and selecting, he has a non#stop need to define himself and a purpose to hold on to.
To view it another way, only by negating certain possibilities and freedoms does %hin2i7s reality form. In other words, he is absolutely free to create the world as he wants, to negate only what he wishes, and leave only what he knows that will give him happiness. %o, even pain and suffering are needed parts of a world in order to define happiness. In the final episode again, %hin2i is having a normal life with his parents and friends. $is father is still uncaring, 'suka is still pushy and &ei is still distant. -ut it is a reality %hin2i can like for all its ups and downs.
This is a direct echoing of
"xistensialism is not part of $ideaki*s message in this series. "vangelion is in fact an anti#existentialist work, going against post#modernist deconstructionism, which usually places style over substance and fascination over realism. The point where %hin2i re2ects Instrumentality, is where he reali8es that he likes 6the real world6 better than any fantasy and it*s basically 'nno telling all the people who are suffering from the recession in the 9(()s not to live in a dream world. The world is painful but it is meaningful because it is real. &unning away to ideal anime worlds, listening only to your headphones and the like is meaningless.
Gehirn erv7s predecessor. It was dismantled in ;)9), the same year that aoko 'kagi completed the 3agi %ystem. /ith the exception of her, !ehirn7s personnel were transferred over to erv, the executive agency for all of the pro2ects. !ehirn7s ob2ective was the 'dam revival pro2ect 4 Oro2ect ". This actually entailed making copies of 'dam S in other words, creating the "vas. 'nd, as they approached the execution, the organi8ation7s style was scaled up and erv was formed. !ehirn is the !erman word for +brain.
Tokyo-3 It is originally presented as a normal Japanese city, under attack by alien invaders (the Angels), a very typical setting in many B-movies. In reality, the whole city is a camouflage for the GeoFront. It is actually a defence base built to look like a city, where the employees of NERV and the possible 14-year-old pilots of the EVA are housed and live in bliss. When the city is under attack, it takes its real shape by transforming into a battle fortress (wow!). The civilian buildings are transported underground and ballistic towers lift in their place. The name Tokyo-3 is a pun, used in many anime as a way to show that the original city was destroyed and its habitants rebuild a new city somewhere else. In this case, names like Tokyo-2 and Neo-Tokyo were used a lot of times in various anime, so Hideaki Anno didn’t want people to think the city had any relation to the cities in these other series. He named the city Tokyo-3 and called Tokyo-2 (the new capital of Japan) a different city, which we never see in the series.
The GeoFront The GeoFront is a huge underground city that lies underneath Tokyo-3. It was built using a pre-existing underground valley, ranging from 6 square kilometres in weight and 1 kilometre in height. Before the Second Impact it was originally at sea level but then it submerged and made to house NERV Head Quarters. It is so vast, that even a large forest and a lake were made inside its spare space. It is connected with the city above, using mid-air trains and rolling platforms. It receives illumination by mirrors, which deflect the sunlight from the skyscrapers of the city, down to the valley. The many high#rising buildings that hang upside#down on the top part of !eo#Front are called 6Ceiling City6. It looks exactly the same as eo#Tokyo# that sits above it, and is used to accommodate the submerged buildings of eo#Tokyo# when an 'ngel comes to attack.
It is heavily guarded from Angel attacks with numerous armour plating and the "defence city" itself, Tokyo-3 (whose main purpose was to protect GeoFront). Its main problem in terms of defence was that it had no real security against actual humans (i.e. Kaworu or the entire Japanese Strategic Self Defence Force). When the Third Impact began, it was clear that the GeoFront was not just a cave (another cover up!). The giant hollowed out cavity was in reality the Black Moon (aka the Egg of Lilith), which is where all human life began to live and began to end.
NERV ' special agency formend in ;)9) under the direct supervision of the Nnited ations. Its ob2ectives are to investigate, study, and eliminate the 'ngels. erv7s headKuarters are in Tokyo#, the 9st and ;nd -ranches are in 'merica, and the rd -ranch
is in !ermany. The $ead Xuarters used to hide 'dam and keep Lilith safe until the time of the Third Impact was at hand. It has the shape of a half buried pyramid, next to an upside down hollowed pyramid. It is the place where the EVAs are stationed and the strategic plans against the Angels are organized.
The shape of NERV is actually a deformed Jewish Star Of David. The half buried pyramid is the “male” part of God’s symbol and the upside down hollowed pyramid is the “female” part. They are not in balance though, like the world itself. NERV’s shape is not original. The glass pyramid in front of the Louvre museum in Paris has actually a hollowed pyramid near it, in exactly the same position.
Central Dogma The first Central Dogma was the Head Quarters for the Gehirn operations. It was destroyed along with the whole Gehirn Antarctica expedition team, during the Second Impact. The second Central Dogma was the Head Quarters for the NERV operations. This is where the Magi computers and NERV tacticians are stationed and monitor the Angels from afar. It was supposed to be the most protected place in all NERV, but this was just another cover up. In biological terms, 6Central Qogma6 means the irreversible information fl ow that occurs in the transformation Q' &' protein. Its name comes from the Greek words “YB@Z[DY\ ]\^H”, which means “main religious belief”. Of course, it is wrong as a dogma, since it is only “central” (what all people believe to be true). The truth lies within the Terminal Dogma (see below).
Magi Super computers They are the fastest and smartest artificial intelligence on the planet. They have actual human brains integrated into their system for easier interface and faster cogitating. The Magi Bio-Super Computers are the brainchildren (literally) of Dr.
Akagi Naoko. She was a brilliant scientist who was "enticed" into creating the ultimate computer, back when NERV was known as Gehirn. The Three Magi were named after the Three Wise Men that visited Jesus Christ when he was first born in Bethlehem (Melchior-1, Balthasar-2 and Casper-3). They brought their King of Kings gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. The Magi System brings power, security and brilliant strategies in combating Angels and SEELE. Each one of them is programmed and able to work independently of each other and together, not as one mind, but as three separate minds in one body (just like the Triad God). Each Magi has a separate personality programmed into it that reflects that of their creator. Melchior is Naoko as a scientist, Balthasar is her motherly mind, and Casper is Naoko as a woman. The 3agi %upercomputers have also been seen as representing the Freudian psyche, namely 3other_-althasar "go, %cientist_3elchior %uperego, and /oman_Caspar Id. This is furthered with them representing these respective aspects and the creator of the 3agi %upercomputers.Casper is the Magi that halted Akagi Ritsuko's countdown when she tried to self-destruct the Super Computers, and therefore NERV in order to prevent Gendo from initiating his own version of the Third Impact. Naoko always loved Gendo (This was yet another reason for him to carry on his affair with Naoko). She programmed her own feelings into the Magi. That’s why the Magi helped Gendo instead of Ritsuko, Naoko’s daughter in End of Evangelion. The Three Magi were also used to destroy an Angel by themselves (Ireul, the 11th Angel) and to keep SEELE from taking over NERV HQ for awhile (with a program called 666!) in End of Evangelion.
Gauf Doors The name of the doors that seal the entrance to the Terminal Dogma. Also called Heaven’s Door. Their name derives from the Room of Gauf, the place from where all souls are born, according to the Jewish mythology. Hideaki Anno named them like this because when they were first opened during the Second Impact, all humans born afterwards were soulless because of them. In Jewish mythology, when the Apocalypse begins, the Room of Gauf will be dried up and all humans born afterwards will be without a soul.
Terminal Dogma The GeoFront may be beneath Tokyo-3 and the Central Dogma may be in the lowest parts of the GeoFront… but the Terminal Dogma is beneath even that! The most heavily protected place in all NERV and for a good reason. All the major secrets of NERV are in it.
It is the place where the Black Moon rests. Lilith is kept inside, imprisoned by being crucified on a red cross. From her wounds, blood is continually flowing and filling a lake around her. Her blood is used as LCL in the EVAs and in the tubes that withhold the Rei clones.
Around Terminal Dogma lies a graveyard filled with unfinished EVAs (which looks like a huge Coptic cross)…
…the place where Rei was first cloned (which looks like her regular room)…
…and the core of the Dummy Plug System (Rei’s clones).
The Angels are targeting this place because they believe that Adam is held captive there (but they are mistaken, since only Lilith is there). Its name comes from the Greek words “ZB[^HZDY\ ]\^H”, which means “final religious belief”. It is the true dogma, since it is “terminal” (the ultimate truth).
NERVlogo NERV’s logo is a half fig leaf with the quote “God in His Heaven, all is right with the world”. The fig has nerves and represents the name of the organization. It also represents the Original Sin, Man made to God (Adam and Eve wore fig leaves to cover their genitalia when they confronted God after their sin). The quote is from a Christian poem from a 19th century poet, Robert Browning. The original poem meant that as long as God is in His Heaven, he is looking after us and therefore all will be well in the world, no matter how cruel it becomes. In NERV’s version, the poem means that God has left Man to act in his own free will and leaves in bliss, up in His Heaven. All is right in the world, since Man can freely do anything he wants without fear of God’s punishment if he sins again.
Seele ' secret society that puppets erv from the shadows towards the fulfillment of the $uman Instrumentality Oro2ect. erv7s financial backing comes almost entirely from them. It is an esoteric secret society born during the medieval Qark 'ges and originally a religious order. %lowly but surely, they extended their influence, until at last they crushed the final forces of opposition in the mid#;)th century and became a latent power with covert rule over human society. Npon acKuiring the %ecret Qead %ea %crolls, %eele turned once again to a creed that, up to that point, they had considered naught but the pipe dreams of their ancestors. -y putting the miracle of divinity, in the form of prophecy, within their sights, they restored the faith. Their dogma is the Oath to 'dam Uadmon S that is, the approaching of a divinity both ageless and undying.
SEELElogo SEELE’s logo is an upside down triangle, covered by seven eyes.
Seven is considered a holy number, so Jews believe that even God has seven eyes. The upside down triangle is the symbol of water in pagan black magic tradition. Water symbolizes life, which began in water (Lilith created Humanity with LCL) The upside down triangle also symbolises the “female”. It refers to Lilith, as being the first woman. It also came to be the symbol of evil. God used to be symbolised with the Jewish Star Of David. In the beginning, God was considered to be hermaphrodite (both male and female). The face up triangle in the symbol is the “male” part of God and the upside down triangle is the “female” part. But in time, God came to be considered only to be male. He is now symbolized only as a face-up triangle (depicting the Holy Triad). The devil is symbolized as an upside down triangle as an antithesis to God (as does everything else in demonology). Lilith and all EVAs have an upside down triangle and seven eyes under their masks. It proves their common lineage as divine, female and (only in Phallocracy) evil, a false God.
Dolls Dolls play a major part in the series, even if they are rarely mentioned. The deep meanings behind a simple rag doll are the following:
Dolls are toys, made for children to practice their social roles through mimicking of the adults.
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1. Girls play with baby-like dolls to practice their future roles as mothers, or with girl-like dolls to practice their etiquette with fashion and cosmetics. 2. Boys play with soldier-like dolls to practice their future roles as possible soldiers in war, or with monster-and-robot-like dolls to become accustomed with taking part in dangerous, heavy labour occupations. In Asuka’s case, she saw her mother love a doll instead of her. Her mother preferred to commit suicide with the doll instead of her daughter. Asuka was scarred from this event and the only thing she “learned” from dolls was to hate the idea of becoming a mother herself. That explains her hatred with all the boys who circle her.
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Dolls are made after man’s image. They are tools made by humans to resemble their ideal personalities. That is why they all dolls look like beautiful children or muscular warriors. They are used to create a form of an illusory, ideal reality. Asuka’s mother preferred to love a doll instead of her real daughter. She was scarred by the divorce with her husband and her mind got mixed up and made her create an illusionary world. She loved a doll, which represented an ideal reality of her image, where she has everything she lacked from her previous reality. Practically, all the characters in the series have the need to escape reality and use “something like a doll” as an excuse to create a world of their own. Shinji is always listening to music, Misato always gets drunk, Ritsuko always pays attention only to her work and so on.
If God exists, humans will be like dolls to him, made after His image.
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Gendo played God and created Rei as his ideal image: his own dead wife, Yui. Rei was like an obedient puppet most of the time. She obeyed Gendo without ever question his actions, exactly like a doll which does anything we like and never complains.
On the other hand, if God doesn’t exist, humans simply made Him after their image.
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He would be like a doll, which represents their ideals.
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He would be a simple excuse to everything humans can’t explain (Only God knows).
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He would be a simple excuse to justify all actions humans consider unreasonable (Its God’s will. So don’t question His perfect wisdom; just shut up and do it).
AT Field All Angels and EVAs can create an aura, the light of the soul, an energy barrier called AT Field, which makes them immune to all
weapons Man possesses. If two AT Fields come together, they neutralize each other. That is why an EVA is the only thing that can beat an Angel. The AT Field is an actual term in psychology, where Sigmud Freud calls it “Absolute Terror Field”. It refers to mental barriers that someone produces to protect himself from emotional damage by keeping other people at an emotional distance. Although the series use this term only for naming the Angels’ barrier, they do refer to Shinji’s fear of approaching others as “the hedgehog dilemma”, which is pretty much the same thing. In the series, God banned the Devil (originally an Angel) for selfishly disobeying Him (for trying to become almighty by overthrowing Him). The Angels are so egomaniacs that produce AT Fields to keep themselves separate from everyone else. In their case, they are so powerful that their AT Fields are not only mental but also physical barriers. Back in psychology, traumatized children set up AT Fields as mental barriers to keep human contact to a minimum, because of parental abandonment. And the main dramas in the series are its teenage pilots who grew up without strong parental support. •
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Shinji’s father abandoned him and his mother died when he was little. Asuka’s father also abandoned her. Her mother went crazy, loved a rug doll instead of her and then she hung herself. Rei didn’t even have parents. She was created in a test tub and was used as a tool. She had feelings towards Shinji and Gendo but in a very twisted way (lover – mother and daughter – wife).
Their personal AT Fields as mental barriers should be enormous. While piloting the EVAs, their barriers would turn in physical barriers and fight against the AT Fields of the Angels. Meaning, the more distasteful the pilot is with his parents, the stronger the AT Field his EVA can produce is, and the more powerful it gets! Sick! As it is proven in End Of Evangelion, all humans have AT Fields (not just those traumatized) in a lot smaller capacity than the Angels. AT Fields are all that keeps us as separate and individual entities (like walls for our unique souls) since we are technically one being in many different shells. When the Third Impact occurs, all of humanity loses its physical forms. Because their AT Fields dissolved, their bodies couldn’t keep their forms and turned to what they originally were: LCL.
EVA
The origin of the name 6"P'6 was thought to derive from "P', the wife of 'dam, from the 6Mld Testament6 of -ible, and 6"vangel6, the "nglish word for the gospel.
EVAs were originally made as clones of Adam, vessels for the Living God but later had to be modified into bioorganic weapons against the remaining 15 Angels. EVA 01 as an exception is made by Lilith’s DNA as means to be used as the core of Lilith in the Third Impact. The formal name is 6!eneral#purpose $umanoid Qecisive Combat /eapon # 'rtificial $uman 4'ndroid "vangelion6. In order to implement the $uman Complementation Oro2ect, 9` years of time and astronomical amount of money were used to build "vangelion. -eing able to deploy 'T Field as well as neutrali8e it, it is the only weapon that humans have to counter the 'ngels. All Angels are protected with an AT Field, which makes them immune to all weapons Man possesses. Every Eva unit is made with Angel DNA and therefore can create an AT Field of its own. This way, the two AT Fields are neutralizing each other and the Angel becomes vulnerable.
EVAs are mindless. They cannot be trained to follow orders but they can be controlled remotely. If left alone, they behave like crazy beasts that don’t recognize friend from foe (meaning they behave like the other Angels). In early tests, NERV tried to control the EVAs by synchronizing the mind of a human with the core of the EVA. This proved to be catastrophic, since the minds of the humans were destroyed and their souls were absorbed in the core. Later, NERV found pilots that the souls of those within the EVAs accepted. They turned the inside of them like a typical cockpit we see in every mecha series. Although the EVAs were tools, they were no longer soulless. Each unit now has the soul of a female trapped in it.
EVA-01 has Ikari Yui trapped in it (that is how she disappeared in 2004). It accepted only Shinji for a pilot because he was Yui’s son.
EVA-02 has Asuka's biological mother's soul in it (which caused her to go crazy and commit suicide). It accepted only Asuka for a pilot because she was her daughter and had retained her maternal side.
EVA-00 has Rei I in it, or more specifically her feelings. Rei II was showing very few emotions because of that. The EVA-00 never accepted Rei or anyone else as a pilot. It went Berserker all the time unless Rei had a huge synchronization rate with her emotional side
The other units we see in the series (numbers 03 to 13) didn’t have a soul inside them and therefore never accepted anyone for a pilot. That is why they made more damage than good.
EVA-03 was infested by an Angel and fought to death with the other EVAs.
EVA-04 blew up in a failed experiment, killing thousands of people.
EVA-05 to EVA-13 were mass-produced and were used in the Third Impact to annihilate humanity.
A pilot is always needed to navigate the EVA from within. In the beginning, we are let to know that the pilot is needed to control the EVA. In reality, the pilot is only needed to empower the AT Field of the EVA with his negative feelings and need of separation from others in fear of emotional damage (the more solitude, the better!).
The pilots are entering the EVA through an opening called Entry Plug. It is a capsule#shaped cockpit inside which the "P' pilot sits. "P' is started by the insertion of such plug into its back neck 4the same applies to the virtual entry plug ## dummy plug. In emergency the plug can be e2ected and becomes an evacuation capsule. The plug is eKuipped with parachute and e2ection rocket for this purpose.
They are then covered in a liquid called Link Connection Liquid (LCL). LCL is practically the blood of Lilith and allows the pilots to better communicate with the EVAs (it is like amniotic fluid, which protects babies in the womb and allows them to breathe).
For extra aid, they wear a special suit that increases synchronizing, called Plug Suit. With it, they control the EVA as if it is their own body. There will still be space between the suit and the body after it is put on, but by clicking on a switch on the wrist the suit then sticks to the body.
Then they synchronize their minds with the EVA with a procedure called Apotheosis (which in Greek means “becoming one with God”). As a side effect, they also feel any pain the EVA feels when it gets hurt.
Not everyone can pilot an EVA. It doesn’t take only for the pilot to be accepted by the EVA. It also takes for him to be soulless. Only 14 year-olds, pilot the EVAs because they were born after the Second Impact and therefore they were the oldest, soulless candidates, with major psychological problems with their parents, NERV could find by the time the Angels begin to attack.
EVAs use energy to move. Because of their huge size, they consume enormous amounts of energy. Therefore, they have a huge umbilical cable in their backs, which connects with a huge power plant that constantly supplies them with electricity. It is the weak point of all the "P's as they have a very short autonomous active time#limit. If the cable is severed, they can still move for only 5 minutes with internal batteries. The Nmbillical Cable is actually the blood vessel, which extends from a baby7s navel to the placenta of its mother7s womb. Like babies who get their nutrients through this blood vessel, "P's get their electric power through the Nmbilical Cable. EVAs are covered with several layers of metallic armour. It was first thought that this armor was used to protect the EVAs but in reality it was only confining their true form and powers (something like a leash that keeps them at bay). It’s only this armour that forces the EVAs to take orders. In case of emergency, if the pilot is no longer able to fight, the Dummy System can still control the EVA Units. These are virtual "ntry Olugs, which were developed for starting and using "P' without the pilot. They are computers that simulate the brainwaves of the normal pilot and the angelic powers of Rei (in NERV) and Kaworu (for SEELE) in order to fool the EVA to believe its favoured pilot is still inside and in synchronization.
EVAs are not pure clones of Adam and Lilith. They are practically Angels themselves but what separates EVAs from Angels is their lack of an S2 organ (something like an Angel’s heart) as well as the lack of a soul (which was replaced by that of other humans). Ironically, humans hate the Angels, but they still use them to try to save themselves (pretty lame!). Symbolically, EVAs were created by Adam, just like the Biblical Eva was created by Adam.
Sti$%ata The name of the bloody wounds that appeared at both the hands of "P'#)9. Mriginally, it means the burn marks applied on cattle or slaves. In Christian teachings, it is the wounds suffered by crucified Christ on both hands, both feet, side of abdomen and forehead. They sometimes appear on humans with no external reason and are considered to be a miracle.
Ar4 In !enesis, it is a rectangular shaped boat that oah built and put all animals, pair by pair onto it, thus saving all species from a world#scale flood. In the series, it is said that "P'#)9 became an 'rk after it gained its %tigmata, which saved humanity*s soul from the nothingness of the Third Impact.
Destrado Ikari %hin2i*s Qestrado became physical 4or un#metaphysical, material during the Third Impact. Qestrado is a psychology term, meaning the energy of someone*s self#destructive impulse. It is the antonym of Libido. It*s also the active form of the passive Thanatos, the energy of 6Instinct of Qeath6.
NameOrigins The characters* names were not given at random. &ei and 'suka7s last names come from
Numbers The chronologies in the series have an apocalyptic meaning on their own. •
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The series started to broadcast after the %arin gas attack on the Tokyo subway on 9((5. The feeling of constant anxiety in Evangelion can be seen as a reflection of the constant anxiety
The first Angels reached maturity around 2013, the year when the Aztec calendar ends and many fear it will mean the End of Times.
Triads The protagonists represent many different kinds of triads, depending on their behaviour. $ideaki 'nno based their personalities on the following1 9. In %hinto,
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;. In christianism1 '. %hin2i behaves like a tormented Christian. Inside his soul wages a war between an 'ngel 4the timid &ei, dressed in white and a Qevil 4the selfish 'suka, dressed in red. -. Uaworu, Wui, and &ei represent the three parts of the Christian Trinity, although the same can be said of the !endo, %hin2i, and &ei trio. . In psychology1 '. Their behaviours match the distinct parts of the conscious mind, as %igmund Freud describes them. •
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'suka is selfish and an egoist, like the Id, the selfish desire for self#gratification and acknowledgement by others. &ei has cold unemotional demeanor, like the %uper "go, the analytical, rational thought of pure logic. %hin2i is always in disarray, trying to figure out what he is supposed to do to be liked by others, like the "go, the main personality that controls behaviour and takes the final decisions.
-. Their behaviours match the distinct drives of the unconscious mind, as %igmund Freud describes them. •
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'suka is presented like an erotic Lolita, like the Libido, the sexual drive that we all feel when we see something beautiful. &ei is presented like an emotionless puppet without will to act or live on its own, like the Thanatos, the drive of despair that we all feel when we feel awful and thoughts of murder and suicide cross our minds. %hin2i is always in disarray, like the Qestrudo, the violent drive that we all feel when we are emotionally damaged and want to break something or hurt someone as a way to outburst our anger.
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'suka is selfish and an egoist, affected by arcism.
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&ei has cold unemotional demeanor, affected by 'voidance.
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%hin2i is always in disarray, affected by %chi8ofrenia.
Episode &0s title was The "ickness *nto Death, the same as a ook written y "1ren 2ierkegaard, one of the first, and most religiously$oriented E!istentialists. To him, Despair comes in three forms3 Despair at not eing conscious of having a self; Despair at not willing to e oneself; and even Despair at willing to e oneself. 4iewers will note that 5ei, "hin#i, and Asuka can each e seen to resemle a different kind of Despair. 5ei has no soul of her own, and loses her 6self6 in each reincarnation; "hin#i is desperately trying to overcome a lack of self confidence; and Asuka covers up her own despair and inner turmoil y acting overconfident and giving the appearance that she is self$assured. Q. The five children 4&ei, %hin2i, 'suka, To2i, and Uaworu represent the Uobler &oss model of five stages of mortality acceptance1 denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. `. The 3agi %upercomputers1 are programmed to work independently of each other and together, not as one mind, but as three separate minds in one body 42ust like the Triad !od. •
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are representing the Freudian psyche, namely 3other_-althasar "go, %cientist_3elchior %uperego, and /oman_Caspar Id.
5. "ven Oen Oen has his own triple significance. 'nd it is no less the 3eaning Mf Life •
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$e is a hot#water penguin. ormal penguins died out when the poles of 'ntarctica melt. -y adapting to the new climate, Oen Oen can in theory survive and create a new breed of penguines that can survive the climate change. $e resembles the basic rule of life1 'd2ust to the changes around you or perish $e was created as an experiment in a research lab. /hen he had nothing else to offer to the schientists that created him, they wanted to get rid of him. 3isato felt sorry for him and took him at her home. $e resembles another metaphor for one*s children. Mur children are not tools we make 2ust to aid us and then throw away when the are no longer needed. They deserve to live no matter how useful or harmful they may be to us. 'll living creatures in that matter deserve to live, even if we don*t see any purpose for them to accomplish. $e was taken care by 3isato. 3isato didn*t go well with men and never managed to marry. Oen Oen was to her like a substitute for a family she never had. Mf course, a substitute is only an excuse to hide from the truth. o animal can replace the warmth of a real husband or child. !et real 3isato
Different Endings There are two very different endings to the series. One is the last two episodes and one is the movie End Of Evangelion. Although they seem out of place, in reality they connect perfectly. The episodes show what thoughts pass through Shinji’s and the other characters mind, during the Third Impact. It is an esoteric and irrelevant to time or space ending. The movie shows in real time what happens in the world, during the Third Impact. It is an external and relevant to time or space ending. In the end of the episodes, Shinji accepts all the others and decides to merge with the Instrumentality. In the end of the movie, he prefers to keep his individuality, even if that still makes him suffer. But in real time, the televised episodes end before the movie. The events in the episodes last (in thought only) up to the point where Rei is half-united with Shinji (in a very sexual pose).
F.A.Q. Does Rei love Shinji? Yes, Rei does love Shinji, even though it is not a romantic love (it is a mother-son or a sister-brother love). Rei has some of the same genes as Shinji too, which must also make her feel pretty close to him. But in the end she is just as confused as to who she really is, as Shinji seems to be.
Does Rei love Gendo? At first, Rei does love Gendo as a wife (when she was still Yui). Then she loves him as a father (he did raised her). After the loosening of her emotions and past memories by the Sixteenth Angel, Armisael, she began to be able to think for herself and she started to question her feelings for Gendo and his feelings for her. This revelation passed on to Rei III, which is why she was a lot colder to him and trashed the glasses that Rei II treasured so deeply. She began to realize that it was Yui he loved, and not Rei. Rei was just a thing that Gendo used to initiate his plans to be reunited with Yui. Rei was an object he needed to merge with Lilith and attempt to free his tormented soul. This is also why she betrayed him in End of Evangelion.
Why does Rei betray Gendoat the end of the story? Out of spite for Gendo, and love for Shinji. She wanted Shinji to have the final say as to what mankind's destiny would be.
Does Gendolove Shinji? After Yui disappeared Gendo virtually disowned Shinji. His plans for humanity's Complementation consumed him as he tried to somehow resurrect his wife through his own way of the Third Impact. He focused on the goals of Project E and the Human Instrumentality Project, instead of his son. Shinji was just one player out of many involved in his plans (not to mention the fact that Shinji is a total wuss!). The passion and love for Gendo’s wife grew into a dark obsession that turned him into a cold and unfeeling creature when she originally vanished.
Doesn’t Asukadie whenthe 9 Angels destroy her EVA? Is she resurrectedin the end or something? No, she doesn’t die. She is heavily injured but she manages to survive somehow. It is unknown (and hard to believe) how she got out of the EVA and how her injuries were treated. It’s a scenario hole, just bear with it.
What was Gendoplanningto do in The Third Impact? What does Rei allow Shinji to do, in place of Gendo? Gendo planned to create a reality of his own, where he would be living happy, along with Yui and Shinji (see the Existentialism section for more details). But Rei got sick of his ways and deprived him the pleasure. She let Shinji to create this reality. -ut %hin2i refused and preferred to stick to the harsh reality, as it is the only thing that is meaningful despite being painful. -asically he stated that reality overcomes Illusion. $e chooses to face reality since it has meaning. It will be painful, but he knows the world has value because his feelings are real. Thus &ei chose to die, sacrificing herself so that %hin2i can live in reality, a world with no Living !ods or Instrumentality. The body of the Living !od 4"va#)9 is fossili8ed and sent to space with the Lance of Loginus. The now eternal "va Nnit 9 and Wui7s soul represent the eternal testament that the $uman &ace once existed and would not be forgotten.
What the HELLfinally happenedin the End? The Instrumentality Project worked. Everyone’s soul united with Adam-Kadamon and left the planet while their bodies reverted to LCL and united with the Dirac Sea. Shinji and Asuka DIDN’T have a soul because they were born after the Second Impact. So they never had souls to be taken and their bodies had no reason to revert to LCL. Although it is not shown at all, the same can be said for anyone else who was of age 14 or younger. It is doubtful though if anyone else besides Shinji and Asuka survived. Shinji and Asuka became like the new Adam and Eve, whose purpose was once again to create a new world. Off course, anyone born by them would still be soulless. And by the way, God would have no reason to consider the new humanity to be still under the burden of the Original Sin.
Why does Shinji try to kill Asuka, in the final sequence?Why does he stop? Shinji once again was left alone and abandoned, with only company in the whole world the girl he sexually likes but could never… well… sleep with. Call it momentary regret; he didn’t like the aftermath of his choice. As psychological reaction, he tried to “let some steam” instead of feeling sorry for himself again (it feels good breaking something when you are angry, right?). But soon he came to his formal state, that of the coward, passive, pitiful wimp he always was and started crying again (he is an anti-hero indeed!).
Why does Asukasay that she feels sick? Hey! She was shred to pieces, the world around her ended and she suddenly became the new Eve of a whole new humanity. How do you think she should be feeling? Beyond that, Asuka’s statement for herself is also her statement for the modern society. All this mess happened because those bastard adults selfishly used their children like tools, blew everything up, called lies and murder as righteousness, and when everything fell apart, they had the nerve to ask for forgiveness. That is how today’s society looks through Hideaki Anno’s eyes.
Why does Asukahave bandagesin the sameplaces as Rei did, in the final sequence? Asuka is the only woman left and the source of future life. So, she was “like” Rei (without a soul of her own and with the purpose of creating a new beginning). The bandages are just a way of showing that what Rei symbolizes is now in Asuka. Yes, it’s pretty deep.
O##i*ially San*tioned S)in5O##s ' large deal of the merchandise has an amusingly detached or hilarious non#relation to the dark nature of the series, which is why $ideaki 'nno is so opposed to them. •
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The %an$a ersion of the series, written and illustrated by series character designer Woshiyuki %adamoto, exists as a separate entity from the anime, and features a number of distinct differences. Qrawing from the original story, as well as his own artistic freedom, %adamoto has portrayed an account of the story that has both distinct convergence and divergence with the anime version. Girl#riend o# Steel 4or Iron 3aiden is a video game based on the series. %ome fans consider it an additional episode of the series because it principally played out like a segment of the anime7s
story, fitting in 2ust before the mood of the series started to get darker 4 probably 2ust before the 9;th 'ngel, Leliel. •
Neon Genesis Ean$elion7 An$eli* Days is a manga based on the Qating sim !irlfriend of %teel ; which was, in turn, based on the 'nime. /hile !irlfriend of %teel was shoehorned into the original plot, the seKuel to the game, !irlfriend of %teel ;, takes place in a complete alternate universe. It uses most of the "vangelion characters in a 6normal6 schoolyard drama series.
The Characters and their fate NAME& AGE
CharacteristicsandAccomplishments
A child who feared to care for or be cared by anyone. Afraid to live but even more afraid to die, as he couldn't even take his own life. He used to run away from any and all problems that came his way. $e lost his mother when he was still young and spent his life until 9` living under an acKuaintance of his father. $e was forced by his father Ikari !endo, the chief commander of secret agency "&P, to become an "P' pilot, operating the Evangelion (Bio-Mecha) 01. $e lived in the apartment of his superior Uatsuragi 3isato because of a deep Shinji Ikari Age 14 communication gap between him and his father, who had been separated from (also The Third Child) him for a long time. $aving an introvert character, he often minds how others look him at. 'nd since he is weak at self#expression and communication with others, he freKuently engages in repetition of avoiding problems and disobeying orders. /hen the %trategic %elf#Qefence Force attacked "&P, he was trapped in a state of lost self. This is why his counter#attack was procrastinated. With the help of Misato Katsuragi, he had learned to open himself up to the world and to others. His choice to become his own self and not merge with the rest of the world in the Third Impact was a drastic and major act showing how far he had come in such a short time (this presumably happens when he realizes that even though there is no "pain" in the final form, there is no “pleasure” either. This makes existence vague and pointless). He chose to remain on Earth after the Third Impact. Along with Soryu Asuka Langley, they became the new humanity.
Another emotional shut-in, Misato refused to let others into her life while relying heavily on drinking and her revenge on the Angels to get her though life. She was as scarred outside (from the Second Impact) as she was inside (after losing her father and Kaji). MisatoKatsuragi Age 29 (NERVTactician)
Although she was a very able officer when she had to be, she preferred to live in disorder and dirt. The sole survivor of the Katsuragi Expedition and the Second Impact, she knows the truth behind what really happened in Antarctica in the year 2000, and this left her in a catatonic state for five years. Even though she never really loved her father, she dedicated her life to destroying the angels who took him from her (the cross pendant around her neck being her only keepsake of him). She loved Kaji because he reminded her of her father. It was a psychological attempt of hers to surpass her parental hatred by embracing it (something that rarely works). While living with Shinji, she also learned how to open her heart to others, and she also gave up beer. The greatest hurdle any character had to face in the series! After her lover Kaji was gone, she took up his quest to find the ultimate truth behind NERV and SEELE. In the end she did, but the truth came a little too late. She was blown to pieces by an anti-personnel rocket while protecting Shinji from the Japanese Strategic Self Defence Force, in End Of Evangelion.
An albino with a personality as bland as her skin. She is the result of an experiment that combined Angel DNA with that of a human. When Yui Ikari (Shinji's mother) died, Gendo Ikari decided to use her DNA in the cloning of Rei. She was named Rei because that was the name Yui chose to give her child (Shinji) if it was a girl. Rei Ayanami She is also quite literally the backbone of the NERV Dummy Plug System. Age 14 (alsoThe Rei was the guinea pig in most of NERV's experiments having to do with Project First Child) E and the Human Instrumentality Project. She was a good little doll. While there are many clones of Rei, there is but only one soul (that of Lilith). Somehow when the Rei with the soul dies, it passes into another body (it must be tough knowing that even if you die there will be a replacement). When Ritsuko killed her many clones in the Dummy Plug basement of NERV, she didn’t kill anyone, because they had no essence, no souls. Some of Yui Ikari's original memory still exists in Rei's mind and the memories pass on from one clone to the other with the soul. By the end of the story, three "Rei's" had been released into the world. Naoko Akagi killed the first in 2010, after she was told Gendo used her. The emotions of that Rei were inserted into EVA-00. The second Rei was left emotionless because of that and thus she was very obedient to Gendo. She killed herself to save Shinji's life in 2015. The third Rei regained her emotions and rebelled against Gendo, merged with Lilith to complete the Third Impact and evolve to a higher existence. Her soul is actually derived from Lilith. This would help to explain her necessity and ease for which she was able to merge with Lilith. But Rei is not the Second Angel. She was just a clone with Angel DNA. All her synchro tests indicated she was
more human that Angel (at least not 100% Angel). And given that she had such trouble synchronizing and piloting with an EVA (granted, the screwed up Unit-00) it is assumed that she had only a little Lilith in her (especially when it is seen what a real Angel like Kaworu can do with an EVA). If she were an Angel, she would be able to control them like a part of her (like Tabris). When Rei finally merges with Lilith in End of EvangelionLilith says, "Welcome home." Remember that all humans are from Lilith. She wouldn't say that to an Angel (who cannot and do not even want to unite with her). And, all Angels have to return to Adam (the second Angel), and don't try to merge with Rei (even the sixteenth Angel, Armisael, didn't sense that she was the one that it had to return to after it had bio-fused with her a little). It's also been theorized that both Rei and Kaworu are both the 17th Angel: One sent to destroy man (with Adam's soul implanted in him), and one to save him (with Lilith's soul implanted in her). Rei III was supposed to become one with Shinji in Adam-Kadamon. But because of Shinji’s refusal, she departed with Yui’s soul to Heaven.
An emotionally overcharged powerhouse, Asuka never learned to channel her energies properly. This was brought on by the abandoning by her father and the suicide of her mother early on in her life. Her mother, %oryu Uyouko eppelin, fell into mental breakdown after going crazy from a failed Eva Synchronization test. 'fterwards, she became a person who lived in her own world, so much so that she committed suicide. $er soul was used as the core of "P'#);. While the SoryuAsukaLangley same things happened to Shinji (lost mother and a run-away father), Asuka Age 14 (also The chose a far different way of coping. (SecondChild)
$er nationality is 'merican, despite being one fourth
Asuka was a child genius that only learned what she was missing and needed in life (human love and compassion) almost too late. She was shred to pieces while protecting NERV HQ and everybody that she cared for at the hands of the Eva series 5-13 in End of Evangelion. She somehow survived and along with Shinji Ikari, they became the new humanity.
A complex man. He loved his wife, neglected his son, loved Rei like his wife, hated his lovers (Naoko and Ritsuko Akagi), and loved/hated his job. $is old surname was &okubungi 4it means sextant. $e changed his name after he married Ikari Wui, whom he knew since student years. $e became the president of the &esearch Institue for 'rtificial "volution, which was actually a front cover for the works of 6" Oro2ect6. 'fter Wui died, he busied himself with 6'dam Oro2ect6 and 6$uman Complementation Oro2ect6. $e got the support from GendoIkari %""L", and managed to realise things like the construction of "P'. $owever, Age 48 (NERV his 6honeymoon6 with %""L" lasted only until the elimination of the last 'ngel. Commander) 'fterwards, their differences in ob2ectives became apparent and it developed into violent military clashes.
He used people throughout his life to get what he wanted and never thought twice about it. He only cared about "the goal", and never about humanity as a whole or as individuals. His only care after his beloved Yui vanished was to stop the Angels and complete his own form of the Third Impact, which would reunite him with the only being that ever truly loved him. Only when the world was ending did he feel any regret, when he whispered that he was sorry to his son. He was eaten alive by the berserker EVA-01, in front of Shinji’s eyes, in End Of Evangelion.
Almost as unfeeling as Rei, Ritsuko based her life on logic and not on emotions. She did not love her parents, but she fell into the same trap that her mother did. She was responsible for the Evangelion Project and was enticed along by Gendo's faux love. This fake blonde (to show how different she was from her mother) killed all of the RitsukoAkagi Rei clones to take out her revenge against Ikari Gendo for betraying her feelings Age 30 (NERV - just like her mother. Instead of killing herself (like her mother) she tried to kill TechnicalExpert) Gendo and the rest of NERV by self destructing the MAGI. Gendo shot her in the head when the "woman" part of the Magi (Casper) stopped the destruction.
Gendo's beloved wife and Shiji's mother (and world), Yui disappeared while trying to synchronize with Eva-01 (her spirit was trapped inside). She protected her son numerous times as the man made angel, and as the albino clone-girl Rei (who also contains some faded memories of her life as Yui Ikari). As Rei, she was confused as to her own identity and individuality. She loved Gendo but also hated him for what he did to her. As Eva-01 she was one of NERV's most prized possessions, only slightly behind Lilith and Adam. She helped Shinji to start the Third Impact by bringing Longinus' Lance back from the moon (as Eva-01), and by merging with him (as Rei) in order to help her son find the happiness that he desired. Yui Ikari 89::5;<<= (Motherand Wife)
%he was a %""L" scientist. %he was married to !endo, whom she knew since the Uyoto Nniversity years, and gave birth to %hin2i. 'fter marriage, she worked with !endo and spent a lot of effort towards the success of 6" Oro2ect6. She was the one who introduced Gendo to Gehirn and SEELE when she read the Dead Sea Scrolls and found out what Keel Lorenz was planning. She was the reason for Gendo's mad rush to beat Lorenz to the Third Impact. %he died in an accident during an experiment in ;))`. $er soul stayed on within "P'#)9. It seems that this accident was actually intended by her will.
She was freed from EVA-01 and Rei’s body after the Third Impact and returned to Heaven.
He started out as a simple professor at Kyoto University until he met Yui Ikari and her boyfriend Gendo Rokubungi. He was fond of Yui (he had a crush on her) and originally could not stand Gendo. He joined the Ikaris in Gehirn in order to find the truth behind the secret SEELE collective that was somehow responsible for the Second Impact. He soon became Gendo's number one man, and only friend.
KozoFuyutsuki Age 58 (SubWhen Yui vanished, he took it just as hard as Gendo. Commanderof NERV) He was absorbed in the Instrumentality and returned to Heaven.
This laid-back, cool guy was a double agent of SEELE. When he was still a child he had to steal in order to survive the aftermath of the Second Impact. He was forced to betray his own friends and brother in order to escape. Thus, he survived by sending all he loved to their deaths. He realized that the official explanation behind the Second Impact was a lie and vowed to make the ones responsible for his suffering pay. He became Misato's lover in college and again Ryoji Kaji Age30 (Spy when he was transferred to NERV's main branch as a way to use her in gaining workingfor SEELEMain information about Gehirn, since she was the sole survivor of the Antarctica Branch,JapaneseInternal Expedition. But, slowly he started to really love her. Although he was in love with Affairs, and for Gendo's her and vice versa, they often fought like tigers when they were together. NERV)
He was somewhat of Shinji's only father figure and the main focus of Asuka's affections. He went too far in search of "the truth" when he betrayed first NERV and then SEELE. He was shot and killed for his actions. He left all of his previous findings and all of his still unanswered questions for his old lover to find out.
A ruthless and dangerous man to cross, Keel Lorenz made it his business to decide the fate of mankind. He started the mysterious world organization, SEELE, in order to proceed with his Human Compliment Project and lead mankind down its final path to the perfect unified form, whether mankind was ready or not. He was the oldest human being, known as the "Wandering Jew" of Jewish Keel Lorenz Age 2.050 (Head legend (the soldier who injured Christ’s body at the Crucifixion and as punishment was made to walk the earth until the Apocalypse). $e was the of SEELE) chairman of the Committee of $uman Complementation, also the director of
%""L". $is body was totally machine from backbone down. $e gave instructions of direct occupation of the secret agency "&P, so as to start complementation with "P'#)9.
He finally got his wish when the End of the World came and man was artificially evolved into one being. He was then able to rest.
This mysterious child was sent to NERV directly from SEELE to replace the then catatonic Second Child (after her mind was attacked by the 15th Angel). Nothing was known about him except he was born on Sept. 13, 2000 (the exact day of the Second Impact). He became fast friends with Shinji and soon excelled at the synchro-tests with KaworuNagisa the Eva-02. When it became clear that he could synchronize with any Eva just by Age 15 wishing it, Misato found out that he was the last Angel. He was the same as Rei (also The Fifth Child & in substance and in his existence (whose only purpose was to be a tool for those in search of the ultimate power (becoming a god within the Third Impact). The 17th Angel) During his attack on Terminal Dogma he discovered that the Angel hanging on a cross above the lake of LCL was not Adam, but Lilith. Life and death were the same for him. He allowed Shinji to kill him and give humanity a chance for survival. In the end it became clear why his eyes were always filled with pity. It was the pity for man. He housed Adam's soul (just as Rei housed Lilith's). He was squashed to death by EVA-01. His head popped and fell in Lilith’s LCL lake. Even after his death, he was still exploited. SEELE used his synchro-rate as the backbone of their Dummy Plug System in the EVA Production Models 05-13. His image was used by Rei to calm down Shinji during the Third Impact
Ritsuko's mother was the genius scientist who created the Three Magi computers that ran Gehirn and then later NERV. She was proud and full of herself as she gave the three systems her personalities as a scientist, a mother, and a woman (this proved to be Ritsuko's undoing). She had a long-term affair with Gendo even before Yui disappeared, and may Nao4o A4a$i have even been responsible for Yui's disappearance. But when she found out 89>=5;<8< that she was only being used to finish the Magi systems, she killed the 0Te*hni*al Ex)ert) messenger (a mocking Rei clone number one). She then committed suicide by jumping off of the balcony at Gehirn HQ, to try and erase her shame. The daughter that she left was destined to repeat her same mistakes almost verbatim.
Maya was a very intelligent and sincere computer operator with very high morals. She became Dr. Ritsuko Akagi's assistant and a crush soon developed on her sempai (but nothing happened between them for all we see). She was a Second Lieutenant in charge of monitoring the EVA Synchro Rates of the children and gathering and analysing most EVA related data. MayaIbuki Age 24 (NERVComputer
She worked harder than almost everyone at NERV, but she was too modest and reserved to gain any notice from her superiors.
Operator)
She was absorbed in the Instrumentality by a Ritsuko image.
This calm and quiet young man liked to keep to himself a lot. He was a Lieutenant in NERV in charge of communication and data analysis. He fell in love with his fellow NERV employee, Maya Ibuki (but nothing happened between them for all we see). He instead focused all him time and energy on his music. He followed orders to the letter and never questioned authority. A good soldier and officer 'til the end.
ShigeruAoba Age 25 He was absorbed in the Instrumentality by a Rei image. (NERVCommunications Officer)
A very demure and proficient soldier who never left anything to chance. He never stressed out under pressure as he strived to make himself noticed to Misato Katsuragi, the object of his affection. He helped her spy on the other operations of NERV, and he was even known to do her laundry when she asked him too (but nothing happened between them for all we see). MakotoHyuga Makoto was a Lieutenant belonging to the first section of the Bureau of Combat Age 25 Operation of the Central Combat Department in NERV. He served Katsuragi who (Assistantto Misatoas was in command of Combat Operations. a NERVTactician) He let his feelings be known to Misato, but stepped aside when it became clear that she and Ryoji Kaji were an item once more. A complete gentleman. He was absorbed in the Instrumentality by a Misato image.
Like all potential Eva pilots, he was a motherless Junior High student. He was quick to anger and easy to rouse, but he was a fierce friend to those who earned his trust.
Toji Suzuhara Age 14 (also The FourthChild)
He loved his sister and hated Angels and Eva's (for hurting her in the fight between EVA-01 and Sachiel). The only reason that he became the Fourth Child was so that his little sister could be transferred to NERV's special hospital within Geofront. He lost his left arm and left leg when his EVA-03 was infected with Bardiel, the 13th Angel and fought with EVA-01. In the manga version, he doesn’t survive his injuries. In the anime version, he soon discovered Hikari Horaki's crush on him and learned to reciprocate in turn (but nothing happened between them for all we see). Although it is not shown, he was killed in the explosion of the N2 bomb that vaporized Tokyo-3.
The mother figure in her family, Asuka's sole friend, and the bearer of a deep crush on Toji, Hikari was a strong woman inside of a fourteen year-old's body. She took her responsibilities as Class Rep and "mother" very seriously and did her best to get everyone to like her. She was stubborn and never took "No" for an answer (especially when it came to Toji Suzuhara). She gained his love (but nothing happened between them for all we see).
Hikari Horaki Age 14 Although it is not shown, she was killed in the explosion of the N2 bomb that (Class Representative) vaporized Tokyo-3.
A very strange young boy indeed. Kensuke liked to spend every waking moment wishing that he were in the military. He became friends with Shinji when he found out that he piloted the Eva-01.
KensukeAida Age 14 (Military Fan)
He liked to talk and he loved to lose himself in his imagination and on selfimposed survival-training exercises. He wanted to pilot an Eva very badly, and was disappointed when all of his friends seemed to get the "chance". Although it is not shown, he was killed in the explosion of the N2 bomb that vaporized Tokyo-3.
A new breed of Hot Spring Penguin, Pen^2 (or Pen Pen) is the coolest character of the story. Saved by Misato when he was no longer useful as a guinea pig and became her best friend. He lived inside her fridge and occasionally mingled with Shinji and Asuka. Pen^2 Age 3 (Lovely Penguin)
He kept to himself most of the time preferring the TV or the icebox to human contact. Misato sacrificed a lot for him to keep him safe and happy. Although it is not shown, he was killed in the explosion of the N2 bomb that vaporized Tokyo-3.
The Rest of Humanity Anyone older than 14 years was absorbed in the Instrumentality. Their souls united with Adam-Kadamon and transcended to Heaven. Their bodies dissolved into LCL and returned to the Dirac Sea. Anyone younger than 14 years, who survived the Apocalypse, remained on Earth. Unknown if even one of these children survived.
Characters from "vangelion are based off a psychology textbook called Q%3#IP. 'lthough 'nno7s depression did affect the message and choice of direction for the show, the characters are not really based on his depression 4it only affected his choice in how he portrayed and more importantly developed the characters
A#ter%ath 3any sources of the past contributed to the atmosphere of "vangelion. -ut in the same time, "vangelion had a large influence on a variety of later anime shows. •
The psychological nature of the show and the constant use of religious symbols influenced later works such as &evolutionary !irl Ntena, %erial "xperiments Lain and &ahephon. 'll of which, like "vangelion, center around an ambiguous world#changing event to come. The show $is and $er Circumstances which was also directed by $ideaki 'nno shares many of the techniKues 4the
