Eva Q&A Thread #2 from GameSekai Forums

Note, this is not a transcript, this is edited to be as short as possible, and to be as accurate to my current theories and understanding of Evangelion.  Also, flaming, generic discussion, and irrelevent questions have been removed.  The original thread can be found here:

http://www.gamesekai.org/showthread.php?s=2ebfbd862d4e585dcd6ceaf4d7611caf&threadid=7474

Q: Is the red "core" of the angels their Sē-engine? What's the difference between them?

A: Generally the Angels have two things in common, a red globe refered to as a core, and a white face with 2 or more holes in it. The red core is not the S2, because the Evangelions posess cores, but not S2, (corollary: Eva 01 after episode 19, and the mass produced Evas have S2). It is generally accepted that all the evas and angels posses cores, and it is there that the soul resides. I believe that the white "face" is the S2, because when Eva 01 eats Zereul, it is only really shown eating the face. However, the S2 is never really identified at any point in the series, but it can be presumed that the face like feature on some of the angels (Sachiel, Zereul, Gaghiel, Israfel) is in fact the S2 organ, or at least, is what protects it, so that it can be used to fire energy blasts (Sachiel, Zereul, Israfel).

Q: What does Rei represent as a character? What are we supposed to be learning from her?

When I was watching the show, I felt that Rei was the easiest character to identify with, because she is rather one-sided. First of all, she is created from Yui's DNA, with the soul of Lilith, we know this, and as such, she just isn't right, she doesn't act as you would expect her to. At first I thought she was just very depressed, but as time went on it became very apparent that she was completely disconnected from everyone. She is emotionless and dead to everyone, very similar to a sociopath.

In short, Rei is endeavoring to find her purpose, trying to find what it means to be human. She is the part of you that just feels as if you dont really belong in this world. She didn't realize what she was until the very end, she realized what she was, what it meant to feel emotion, and she sacrificed herself to protect Shinji.

Q: What are the angel's purpose? When i first saw the 3rd Genesis, i didn't really understand why the angels attack Nerv. Its like they are just mindless beings with a soul to destroy. Clarify please!?!

A: Ok, one of the purposes of the angels throught christian mythos is that they are testers of man. In Eva they are the same. They don't seek to destroy humanity, they are incapable of understanding the value of life.

But, in actualitly, humanity is the final angel. In the series, humanity is trying to beat the angels, not to protect itself, more so to achieve instrumentality, and to evolve to a higher existence. Only one angel can do that, and it means death for everything else. Only one can survive.

Q: Why is Kaworu gay/Why decided Gainax to make Kaworu gay?

And why can we see him through his at-field? (Ep. 24 during the battle between Eva01 and 02) It's known even sub-atomic particals aren't able to get through it so why does the light?

A: Good questions, now, I can't really say for certain if he is in fact gay. You can take it one of two ways:

a) he is in fact gay, and is in love with Shinji.
b) his love for Shinji is purely platonic, and that it is more along the lines of "love thy neighbor as you love thyself", and that in a way he does love Shinji, but in a way more profound than erotic love.

In either case, Kaworu shows Shinji a form of love and acceptance that he had been searching for throughout the entire series. In the end he realizes this, and is forced to kill Kaworu. This was just the final blow for Shinji, to have to destroy the part within himself that has any hope of being loved and accepted.

As for the whole AT field thing....

Kaworu was in fact generating an AT field, and you could see through it. But then when he expands it, it becomes much stronger, and blocks out everything. But when he expands it, the sceen does go white, and possibly is to show that his at field is reflecting white light. And he uses his AT field in someway to break through to Terminal Dogma. At this point, both Evas are most likely within his AT field, unless he retracted it.

This may be reading into it too much, with the whole light thing. But his AT field is see through before he expands it. But it is true that the stronger a field becomes, the higher the energy is needed to break through it. But in the end, I don't think they took that much into account. You could probably find a way to explain it within the laws of science, but that would just be a waste of time and effort.

Q: In the End of Evangelion, when Ayanami merges with Lilith, Lilith removes herself from the crucifix and then hunches over and her "mask" falls off. Once her "mask" is removed she turns into a larger version of what appears to be Ayanami.

My question is this:

Was her "Mask" really a mask placed there by NERV as some sort of binding device? Or was it actually the face of her second form?

Any symbolism behind the upside-down triangle and seven eyes that were on her "mask"?

A: Now, the siginficant symbolism behind the seven eyes is that seven is the number of perfection, and the number of eyes god is said to have. This doesn't neccessarily mean that Lilith is god. Whether the mask is in fact Lilith's face is questionable. Though in the strict biblical sense Lilith and Adam are mirror images of each other, so its safe to assume that she resembles the angel adam. In such case, it isnt her face, because adam only has two eyes. Both the embryo, and the adult form seen at a few points in the series have two eyes. The mask bears the symbol of seele, and its purpose is unknown. Many depictions in the bible stated that god had a brilliant radiance to his face that prevented it from being looked upon. So the mask may simply represent something similar, Liliths face is too holy for humans to gaze upon. The significance of the pyramid is that of the Egyptians. The concept of a single god goes back to egypt, with Akehnaten (sp?) and the Aten. Even the dollar bill has the eye of god above a pyramid. It is in ancient egypt where the concept of montheism first originated, and grew into judeo christian mythos.   Also, the mask bears moon like craters, as one such myth was that the moon traveling through the night sky was collecting the souls of the dead, much like Lilith does in the Movie.

Q: Where/how does the N64 game of Eva tie in with the anime?

A: From what I know, the Evanglion NG4 game follows the anime's story exactly.

http://ign64.ign.com/objects/010/010258.html

Theres some movies and screenshots, you cant download all the videos in one sitting due to the bandwith limit, so I have them on my server.

http://www.evamonkey.com/evangelionangel.mov
http://www.evamonkey.com/evangelionfight2.mov
http://www.evamonkey.com/evangelionfight3.mov
http://www.evamonkey.com/evangemissionintro.mov

These vids should give you the gist of it.