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Evangelion Index

Eva Guide Intro

Chapter 1- An Overview

Chapter 2- Shinji Ikari

Chapter 3- Rei Ayanami

Chapter 4- Asuka Langley Sohryu

Chapter 5- The Angels

Chapter 6- The Evangelions

Chapter 5-The Angels

There are 18 Angels in the world of Evangelion. Generally they are huge creatures with a red sphere in their chest (or corresponding body part) called an S2 Engine- a remarkable device that can turn matter directly into energy, giving them effectively infinite power, limited only by their ability to channel it.

Originating from the Geofront found in Antarctica, the Angels subsequently were deemed enemies of mankind, and due to a series of events all tried to reach Adam, who they believed to be kept in the Geofront under Tokyo-3. (We learnt this from Kaworu who ponders the reasoning for returning to Adam shortly before his death at the hands of Shinji, piloting Eva-01).

Of course, saying they come from Antarctica is not very accurate. The Geofront in Antarctica was home to the Angels Hall of Gaffe- this is from mythology, and is said to be the resting-place of souls yet to be born into the world. Both the Angels and the Humans have one, the Angels in the Antarctica Geofront, the Humans in the Tokyo-3 Geofront. By the time the exploration team and scientists had reached it, there were no more Angel Souls left in that Hall of Gaffe- the last Angel ever born naturally was Karowu Nagisa. (I say born naturally in reference to Lilim- it existed before, but only became a true angelic form after the death of Kaworu.)

We learn this from Ritsuko, who said, in as many words “the hall of Gaffe was empty.” The others were born prior to this event, and remained scattered across the globe, until the attack of Sachiel as it first attempted to reach Adam, which it believed lay under Tokyo 3- the only intact Hall of Gaffe left.

In the second impact, caused by the Katsuragi Expedition, the Hall of Gaffe was opened, and Adam was pierced with the spear of Longinus, the only weapon capable of penetrating an Absolute Terror Field (In the series it is referred to as a lance- that is poor translation on the part of Gainax, but to be fair, I don't even know if the Japanese have different words for lance/spear). The Spear is also part of mythology- Christian, to be precise. It is said to be the spear belonging to the Roman soldier, Longinus, who pierced the side of Jesus Christ, before he died once and for all on the cross. Covered with blood of both human and divine properties, the spear, in Evangelion, must have taken on divine properties in of itself.

The point of this was to be able to return Adam to its foetal state, for unknown uses- probably for the sheer power of its potential. This potential was made even greater by the inherent risk- in piercing the AT field of Adam, it was also necessary for Adam to absorb some of the human DNA inherent in the Spear of Longinus. Due to this, it gained both the fruit of life, held by Angels, and the fruit of knowledge, held by humans, and became God. It is in this sense that Adam was a giant of light- God is perfection, and no imperfection can withstand the presence of god. Life being imperfect, it is broken down in gods presence and reverted to its original form- LCL. Therefore, the power of god is the anti-AT field, which Adam used to become the giant of light, and turned all living things nearby into LCL. Thankfully (for humans), despite this Adam did not awake quickly enough to save himself- the experiment to revert Adam using a reflected anti-AT field was successful, and Adam became a foetus once more. The Angel Hall of Gaffe was destroyed, the Spear of Longinus lost, and no life, except Misato Katsuragi, survived from Antarctica- we learn from Fuyutski that there aren't’t even any micro-organisms left alive in Antarctica. It’s just a sea of LCL.

Another reason was to be able to create the Evangelions- from conversations between Ritsuko and Misato, it is possible to piece together that the Evas were not designed to have human souls, but that it was “salvaged” with them having human souls. In other words, they intended to raid the Angels Hall of Gaffe for the souls of unborn angels to turn into weapons of war and destruction (Steel Angel Kurumi, anyone?). In the end, this backfired- human life had to be sacrificed (Yui Ikari, Asuka’s mother (do we ever learn her name? I don’t remember seeing it mentioned in Evangelion)) to create these weapons to defend the human Hall of Gaffe from the Angels.

Of course, we don't know for sure why they are attempting to reach the centre of the humans Hall of Gaffe- it is possible they want revenge, or they want the power of the original Angel for themselves, or perhaps they really are messengers of God, simply trying to stop humans from killing themselves by sacrificing their souls to a false god in the form of Lilim, by destroying one of the required elements- Lilith. The last one would explain why the Angels have a tendency to ignore most things, for example, Ramiel could have annihilated all of Tokyo-3 with its energy beam, but instead only used it defensively, even though it had nothing to lose- it has infinite energy thanks to its S2 Engine.

The Angels are as listed below-

Adam- the giant of light. Originally found in Antarctica, crucified in the Angel Hall of Gaffe, it is later reverted to egg, and used as the basis for the design of Eva-02. It is unclear whether its soul comprises part of Eva-02, but regardless of that, its body is absorbed into Gendou Ikari before the creation of Lilim (perfect form). That part of Gendou taken by Rei, Adam becomes one with Lilith, his first wife, and gives Rei the ability to take on the power of both Adam, a being of light, and Lilith, a being of darkness, to help give shape to Lilim.

Lilith? -

There are several possibilities as to who, or what, is the 2nd Angel. The most common belief is Lilith, while others believe that it is the Evangelions, Rei, humanity (i.e. that humanity is an angel as humanity, but can become another angel, lilim, through Seele's instrumentality.)

It is not completely clear whether Lilith is an Angel. Her soul is used in Evangelion unit-00 (the force that attacks the soul of any pilot that tries to synchronise with it), which suggests she is an Angel- the original Evas were, after all, intended to be powered by Angel souls. However, Lilith was said to be created by Lucifer in some creation stories, whilst Angels were meant to be creations of god. Other creation stories tell of how she was created by God, but turned away from Gods grace, and mothered demons instead. It is possible the second Angel is Eve, but Eve was made of man’s flesh, so again, not of god.

In Episode 25, Kaworu confronts Rei and says that he believes she is an Angel, like him. This would be very damning evidence, except that we know also that Kaworu was groomed by Seele to be their pawn- If Kaworu knew the complete truth from the beginning, he would never have allowed himself to die at the hands of Eva-01, and may have disrupted instrumentality. Rei has no S2 engine, and while an artificial construct, also possesses a soul of her own, formed by her interactions with others. However, the soul she was given at her creation, that of Yui Ikari, may be what Kaworu is recognising as kindred insofar as is not in natural harmony with its body, and its field ia absolute- it is not affected by its interactions with others.

The reason Rei is told she is an Angel is because the at field produced by lilim would itself have to beleive in its own existance as an angel, thus the order, or superego, of the Angel would have to believe itself to be so in order to form itself appropriately. If Rei had time to digest the information she would realise that she was not an angel- the facts do not support it, but in a maelstrom of emotion caused by such a revelation, expected to be very, very close to instrumentality, it would be close enough for the fact of the matter, the perception of viewing oneself, would sway her opinion enough for it to become reality. Gendou did not tell her she was an Angel because episode 26 was his instrumentality- It was Seele, not Gendou Ikari, who wished for the ascension of Lilim.

The soul of Yui Ikari is present in both Rei and Eva-01, and so possesses unique qualities in its interactions with the physical world. Also note that Kaworu is given to believe by Seele that Commander Ikari is the same as him, simply by having initiated the absorption of Adams empty body into his own. Obviously this does not make Gendou an Angel, but equally it does not entirely invalidate Kaworu's beliefs.

Personally I believe that Lilith is the same as a human- the potential to be angelic, but ultimately, not. After all, Lilith has no visible S2 engine, and is different in both how it was created, and what it creates, to Adam. Eve makes no direct appearance in Evangelion. However, Evangelion as a word is comprised of 2 different German words, meaning Eve and Angel. As Eve was made from man, Evangelions were made from the souls of mankind. Also note that the Evangelions are each referred to as the shadow of an Angel, except Eva-01, the Eva that has a soul counterpart to the one Rei hosts. Therefore, i believe that indirectly the second Angel is Eve embodied in the Evangelions, reincarnated through the soul of Yui Ikari. The second Angel is Eve (or, Evangelion unit 01) in my opinion. (I do not claim to even be completely sure in my own opinion, on this topic. There are not enough facts to completely rule out any of the possibilities.)

Sachiel- The third Angel. This is the first Angel that Nerv must face in combat. Weak compared to the other Angels, Sachiel has no distinctive capabilities. The only reason it is a threat is because it possesses both an AT field and an S2 engine. The only Angel weaker than Sachiel is, possibly, Matariel. It is unclear how Sachiel would fare against an Evangelion's rifle.

Sachiel is one of the most popular and well known symbols for Evangelion as an anime.

Shamshel- The fourth Angel. This Angel is more powerful than Sachiel, but still not on the same level of power as an Evangelion. It attacks Tokyo-3 directly, and is intercepted by Shinji in Eva-01. After a short battle, during which Toji Suzahara and Kensuke Ide and up in the entry plug, Shinji defeats Shamshel moments before (well, simultaneously, pretty much) his Eva runs out of power.

Ramiel- The fifth Angel. Again, more powerful than its predecessors. Anything it considers to be hostile within a certain range is annihilated with an immensely powerful energy beam. In the end, it requires the use of a special rifle, powered by all the power plants in Japan, to defeat it. This strategy requires the teamwork of both Shinji and Rei, who has recovered sufficiently to pilot again at this point. Shinji aims and fires, whilst Rei provides defense against Ramiel's energy beam.

Gaghiel- The sixth Angel. An amphibious creature, it attacks a convoy of ships in an attempt to reach Adam, who is being guarded by the entire UN navy, Shinji, Asuka and Evangelion unit-02. Shinji and Asuka have no idea that Adam is on board, in fact, no one except Ryoji Kaji, Commander Ikari and Sub-Commander Fuyutski does. It's defeated without too much difficulty- the only major problem is that Eva-02 cant function properly underwater, so isn't too effective for fighting at sea.

Israfel- The seventh Angel. This Angel is unique in that while not hugely powerful, it can split into two lesser Angels, each of which is more powerful than any previous angel. It is eventually defeated by a combination attack of Asuka and Shinji. After it obliterates them the first time, the UN buys some time by dropping an N2 mine on it. During the respite this provides, Asuka and Shinji must endure synchronisation training that, while effective, is also extremely humiliating and testing. But hey, if it saves the world.

Sandalphon- The eighth Angel. Personally, I don't much like this Angel- the thought of fighting under those kinds of circumstances... Found still in its foetal state, floating in a volcano in Mt Osama, Asuka, in Eva-02, is sent in to attempt to capture it for research. Unfortunately for Asuka, the Angel awakes before it is fully extracted, and Asuka is left having to fight it in the middle of a volcano, surrounded completely by molten lava. Due to the intense heat, standard weapons are useless- guns cannot be used, and the progressive knife loses all of the finesse of its molecular structure- its no longer sharp due to the temperature.

Eventually Asuka, with a bit of verbal help from Shinji, defeats Sandalphon through use of thermal expansion- she shoves it so full of coolant that the pressure of it expanding blows the Angel up from the inside. The Angel's final act is an attempt to cut the lines holding Asuka- Eva-02 cannot swim in molten lava, and so is reliant on a series of lines, which being cut by the Angel, would have resulted in asuka falling to her death, if Shinji hadn't saved her in unit-01. (How the hell he did it i don't know- by the time she said anything about falling etc it would have been far too late to get down there in time to save her, and how else Shinji could have known i don't know.)

Matariel-The ninth, and possibly weakest, Angel. This angel happens to come along at the same time as a saboteur cuts power to Tokyo-3, giving it a huge tactical advantage- no one knows its coming until they see it inside the city. All 3 Evangelions are (eventually) deployed, and due to some quick thinking and effective strategising by Asuka, and good teamwork among her, Rei and Shinji, Matariel is defeated. Not much of a fighter, all it did was pour acid onto the geofront, but when the only way up to the angel is through the stream of acid, and you only have 2 and a half minutes power remaining, its still a challenge.

Sahaquiel-The tenth Angel, and a living bomb. First seen in orbit above Japan, it drops part of its body, each surrounded by an AT field, down from orbit onto Japan to calibrate its aim. Each part of its body that lands creates a huge explosion- the kinetic energy, the explosive properties of the Angels body, and the amazing power of the AT field work together to make an explosive force unlike anything seen before, and its intent on blowing up Nerv HQ by sacrificing its life. Again, all 3 Eva's are deployed, in positions around Tokyo-3 to try and catch the Angel as it descends. Despite the stupidly high odds against their success, the children manage to defeat the angel. Though there's still huge amounts of devastation from the explosion caused by its death, its barely noticeable compared to the amount of damage that would have been caused if it hadn't been stopped. (imagine- about 1/2 to 2/3rds of Japan would be a massive, somewhat flooded, crater. Fun.)

Ireul (Yroul?)-The eleventh Angel. Composed of millions of single-celled organisms, that work together to make a powerful computer-like system. Infiltrating the very core of Nerv HQ before being discovered, it is impossible to fight it using the Evangelions. Due to its AT field, it would survive even if they used the self-destruct system in the HQ. So, the logical step is to program a virus to infiltrate the Angels systems and reprogram it to destroy itself. This, however, isn't quite as easy as it sounds. Whilst everyone is working on the virus, the Angel is busy hacking the Magi supercomputers- once the computers have been taken, the Angel can initiate the self-destruct itself, leaving nothing to block its path to the Hall of Gaffe.

In standard hollywood style, it is defeated by Ritsuko with a single second to spare. The children, however, through a strange series of events end up being ejected in their entry plugs into the lake outside Tokyo-3, with no clothes, and no one except the somewhat busy occupants of Nerv HQ knowing their location. They don't appreciate that all too much.

Leliel- A sphere of nothingness, the eleventh Angel exists in a hypothetical space known as a Dirac Sea. The apparent form of the Angel, a giant sphere floating in mid air, is actually its shadow- the true angel is the darkness, only a matter of nanometres thick, that creeps along the ground, absorbing everything into the sea of nothingness it keeps inside of itself. Shinji, overconfident from having just attained the highest synch ratio of any of the children attacks too quickly, and is absorbed into the sea of dirac. Unable to free himself, his desperation and extreme emotional state awakes the spirit of Eva-01 again.

The spirit of Eva-01, Yui Ikari, Shinji's mother, helps him, and defeats the angel herself. How precisely she accomplishes it, I can't say for sure. I would hazard a guess that since the inverted space, the Sea of Dirac, is shaped by use of an AT field, if that AT field were to be neutralised then the inverted space would lose all irregular properties- the Angel would follow normal physical law once more, and would be forced to be the sphere, not the shadow, meaning it has Eva-01 in its soft and seemingly fleshy core. Awake and in full-fledged maternal protective mode, the Angel never stood a chance. (Mostly because it couldn't attack Eva-01, but that's beside the point. You don't get in the way of an awakened Evangelion and something it wants to protect, period.)

Bardiel-Intercepted somewhere between Matsushiro and Tokyo-3, Bardiel, like a parasite, infected and controlled the new Evangelion- Eva-04, the first Evangelion to be equipped with an S2 Engine. It easily defeats Asuka and Rei, and Shinji, though he could destroy it, is unwilling to. This is because he knows there is another pilot trapped inside the Angel. Eventually, Commander Ikari gives up trying to persuade Shinji to fight, and instead activates the dummy plug system. This results in the brutal slaughter of Bardiel, and nearly kills the pilot of Eva-04, Toji Suzahara, one of Shinji's classmates, and one of his few friends. This drives Shinji close to insanity, and his anger at being controlled, forced to almost murder someone close to him, results in him threatening to use Eva-01 to destroy Nerv himself. As a result of this, Shinji is no longer allowed to pilot Eva (Though, later a plot twist leaves Shinji as the only viable alternative to defeat the fourteenth angel, meaning the commander has to let him pilot again).

Zeruel- the fourteenth Angel. Scarily powerful, this angel tears through everything that stands in its way. Eva-02 cannot damage it at all with conventional eva-weaponry, and its not affected by Rei attempting a kamikaze via N2 mine either. Eventually, Shinji returns to Nerv HQ and fights it in Eva-01, and while he proves himself superior in combat to the Angel, to match pace with it requires use of maximum energy consumption. In other words, Shinji has barely over a minute of time to try and destroy the Angel. Unfortunately for Shinji, he doesn't notice this, and fights on the basis he has at least 5 minutes time. This means that he runs out of energy, and he nearly dies when his Eva stops moving. Fortunately for him (and all of humanity) his extreme emotional state awakens Yui's spirit again, and she controls the Eva herself.

Being inextricably linked to the biological component of Eva, she doesn't require the electricity Eva normally runs on. She easily defeats Zeruel. However, this comes at a price- being fully awakened, and fully in control of herself, she is the only driving force behind Eva-01. This gives her the ability to take Zeruel's S2 engine into herself, becoming more powerful than any Angel, all against the wishes of Seele. Also note that for her to be completely in control, there must be no presence in the throne of the soul- Eva-01 absorbs Shinji's soul into itself. Without a soul, the physical representation chosen by the soul cannot exist, and Shinji's body reverts to LCL, and is absorbed into Eva 01. (This is measured as a synchronisation ratio of 400%)

Eventually with Ritsuko's help he is able to revert to his individual form.

Ariel- the fifteenth Angel. A shining apparition that hovers in the border between the atmosphere and space, this angel deliberately stays out of the range where it could be attacked. This angel fights by use of its AT field alone- directing it into a form of beam, or vibrating wavelength, it uses its own AT field to try and force its opponent to show their AT field as a definite and fixed shape. Unfortunately for the person on the receiving end, if their AT field, the light of their soul that defines the boundaries of their existence becomes unable to change, that person would be unable to change their self, and without the ability to change, a human cannot exist. So, in effect this Angel dissects its opponents psychologically until they die. Rei rescues Asuka from this Angel by throwing the spear of longinus straight through the angel, easily penetrating the angel's AT field and wiping it from existence. Unfortunately for Seele, this leaves the Spear of Longinus, one of the key items to their plans of instrumentality, orbiting the moon, impossible to retrieve through any normal means. Needless to say, Seele is a tiny bit annoyed with Gendou for ordering this.

Armisael- the sixteenth Angel. This Angel can control its own shape, both by use of its AT field and by the abilities of its physical body. Virtually invincible, it fights by penetrating the enemies AT field and attacking their mind, urging them to forsake their individual forms, which would result in them reverting to LCL. It promises much, but would be unable to deliver should it have the opportunity. Effectively, it fights by urging its opponent to commit suicide. This backfires on Armisael- verging on suicidal, Rei recognises that it is unable to offer what she desires most, to be one with Shinji. Therefore, to save Shinji from the Angel, she uses the self destruct capabilities of Eva-00, wiping Eva-00, herself (2nd incarnation) and Armisael from existence.

Kaworu (Kaoru?) Nagisa (AKA Tabris)- the seventeenth Angel, and the Fifth Child, designated as pilot of Eva-02 after Asuka's mental breakdown. Appearance-wise, Kaworu seems identical to a human. His skin is paler than normal, and at times he seems to practically glow, but asides from that, the only indication he is an Angel is in his speech- he constantly refers to humanity as 'the Lilim'. Kaworu possesses the most powerful AT field seen till his arrival- so powerful Shinji in unit-01 is unable to even neutralise it. Kaworu was sent by Seele to be the fifth child, and replace Asuka as pilot of Eva-02, after she is unable to reach a synchronisation level of even 10% (she cannot even see anything). He quickly befriends Shinji, and earns his trust through displaying empathy, which is what Shinji (consciously) desires most in life.

After taking possession of Eva-02, Kaworu makes it all the way to the center of the Hall of Gaffe before he is confronted by Shinji, who was busy until this point fighting Eva-02, which Kaworu was controlling mentally. Eventually, Rei (third incarnation) appears, without an Evangelion, and neutralises Kaworu's AT field on her own. Shinji does not notice her presence. Eventually, Shinji kills Kaworu, though he is unwilling to do so. The only reason he does is because Kaworu begs him to- Kaworu knows that only one of the eighteen Angels can escape destruction and seize the future, and he wants that to be the eighteenth Angel, humanity.

Having been groomed by Seele, Kaworu believes that he is Adam incarnate, and that Rei is also an angel. Seele attempts to use Kaworu to disrupt Gendou's plans, whilst at the same time directing him to a situation where he himself would die. While Seele achieves the death of Kaworu, they are unable to disrupt Gendou's plans.

Lilim- the angelic form of humanity. Throughout Evangelion, Seele's plan was to turn humanity into its perfect angelic form. All of humanity except Shinji, Asuka and Eva-01 choose to become one with Lilim. For Shinji, this is because he speaks with Rei and Yui, and decides not to. For Asuka, it may be that Shinji willed her not to, or that because she was in her throne of the soul (entry plug) she was able to maintain her form throughout, or perhaps she was simply the only person aside from Shinji who chose a life of pain over sacrificing her individual identity. Without Shinji, Asuka and Eva-01, Lilim is incomplete, and so dies, leaving no human life behind except Shinji, Asuka and Eva-01. Of course, having individual humans forming separate parts of its mind, (ie Shinji is its Ego, Rei its superego, etc) it would be impossible for it to survive anyway. Its Libido (desire to live) was embodied by Misato, who died brief moments before Lilim's ascension to become a physical reality in the human world. According to Freud, a person is not truly a person without a Libido, a Thanatos, a Ego, a Superego and an Id. Lilim was lacking an Id (Asuka) a Libido (Misato) and a Ego (Shinji) and so even if Shinji had not refused it, its imperfection would have torn itself apart anyway.

Lilim is the result of Seele's instrumentality. The difference between Seele and Commander Ikari's Instrumentality, between episode 26 and "End of Evangelion" is simply a matter of timing. In End of Evangelion, Seele ordered an attack on Nerv HQ immediately after Kaworu's death. In Episode 26, they were too late. Without the intervention of the military, Shinji doesn't achieve the realisation of Eva-01's potential, and so Rei is not given the choice between Shinji and Gendou, and so she doesn't betray Gendou, resulting in his form of instrumentality being realised.. In End of Evangelion, she does betray Gendou, meaning that Gendou is unable to betray Seele, and their instrumentality is realised. (Lilim), though not quite in the method they wished for. Of course, Shinji refuses Seele and Lilim, meaning that Seele is never successful in either ending for the Evangelion series, but hey, that's their problem XP

(Note: for a picture, look at the background. Thats one of the forms Lilim takes on before death.)

There Can Be Only One!!!

Yet another somewhat confusing revelation by Kaoru- there can only be one species avoid destruction and seize the future. My take on this is that there can only be humanity as an angel, or the other angels as angels, because angels percieve humans as humans, not as angels. this is reflected in their AT fields, which than affect their perceptions of, and sothe universe itself. Since humanity would lose the benefit of their Evangelions, which made their own AT fields stronger than that of an angels by squaring its affect with another soul, they would only have the strength of one soul- the strength of only 1 AT field which would be weaker than that of any other angel, because of the youth of Lilim (Humanity is composed of individuals, and so had huge amounts of souls at their disposal before, meaning that in our imperfect form with proper understanding of the situation losing to the angels was never really very likely at all.). This AT field would then have to battle for supremacy against 17 other angels (or however many were still left at whichever point you wish to take it), and would inevitably lose resulting in the extinction of humanity. Fun.

This is also crucial to Gendou Ikaris instrumentlity. In fusing all of humanity into each other, there is no ego-border. Such things are ambiguous, and there is no definitive sense of self. without a sense of self there can be no AT field at all, since the strength of an AT field is determined by the strength of your perceptions of self. And, again, Angels percieve humanity as a group of humans, not as one mass of human souls meshed together. Humanity would be defenceless, and would be completely annihilated simply by the angels existance. So yeah, to remove pain from life, Gendou Ikari has no qualms whatsoever about the genocide of the Angels.

Chapter 1- An Overview
Chapter 2- Shinji Ikari
Chapter 3- Rei Ayanami
Chapter 4- Asuka Langley Sohryu
Chapter 5- The Angels
Chapter 6- The Evangelions