Angels


Q:  What are the Angels?
A:  They are beings that possess a variety of forms and threaten mankind's existence.  They have taken the shape of giants, microscopic computer viruses, pure energy, and even that of a human boy.

Their only objectives are to find and become one with Adam, the second classified Angel who is in NERV's possession during the course of the story, and to test the human spirit and will to survive and "evolve".  Their "returning" to Adam is prophecied as being the beginning of the end, or the Third Impact which would effectively kill all of mankind. As the seventeenth Angel (Kaworu) proved, they do not want to initiate the Third Impact by coming in contact with Lilith. 

No matter their shape, every Angel has an AT Field, or "Light of Mind" barrier that is considered Holy Territory and that should not be befouled by unholy cretins (i.e. humans). *NOTE* All humans have ATFields too, but they are not physical barriers but mental barriers. The ATField is an actual term in Psychology that refers mostly to autistic children and their mental force fields they set up to keep human contact to a minimum. It is said though, that humans' AT Fields are all that keeps us as seperate and individual entities since we are technically one being (seen in EoE).

Their coming was foretold in the Dead Sea Scrolls which were written anywhere from 200B.C. to 100A.D.  The Evangelions were created from Angels (originally as an attempt to initiate an artificial Impact but eventually for the purpose of protecting man from them).

 It was once thought that they could be "Advanced Humans" who had been able to evolve past their physical boundaries, but that theory was trashed when the Third Impact occured and the final stages of man's evolution were truly revealed.

Q:  What do each of the Angels look like and what were the fates of each?
A:  There were 17 Angels, each with a different physical appearance from the other.  Their pictures and fates are as follows:

Lillith on a cross
First Angel 
Lilith

 The fabled first wife of Adam (and initially one being with Adam in the form of the almost God-like creature seen collecting humanity in EoE before they split in the First Impact), and therefore not the first Angel created, Lilith is none - the - less the first Angel the mankind encounters. She has been around since before the Second Impact and she is the reason that SEELE came to be.

 Lilith 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 very loyal to her mate (from the reallife folklore, people, not the series [sheesh!]). Lilith left her husband, Adam, after they had a quarrel 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). She is known as "the Specter", "Mother Nature" and "the Enemy of Newborns", but she is also the one from which mankind has come, and to which he must return (in the form of the Third Impact [now this is from the series]).

The Seven Eyes of God is the SEELE logo and the triangle symbol that decorates Lilith's mask, and her being is what makes the Third Impact possible. Her "blood" is the LCL that is used in the Eva Plugs that allows the pilots to better communicate with the Evangelions (it is like amniotic fluid, which protects babies in the womb and allows them to breathe). She patiently awaits for one of her kind to set her free and start the Third Impact which will allow humanity to evolve beyond its normal means into one (Angel?) being with her.

When and where she came from, and how she was captured and lost her legs remains a mystery (One very likely possibility is that she was found where the GeoFront is now).

It is also said that Lilith is a being far beyond the evolutionary status of a simple Angel and that NERV only categorized her as such to keep SEELE off their backs.

Fate: She merged with and was freed by the third Rei clone and helped collect the souls of all of mankind.



  Created in God's image and 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 he originally split with Lilith) when testing of the S2 engine (the manmade version of Angels' immortality) began. Mankind was attempting to play God, and God was not happy.

It is assumed that Adam also awoke to retrieve his wife in Lilith (the other half of the God-like Lilith) , whom which other experiments were being performed on (i.e. attempting to stimulate artificial Impacts through cloning). But we captured Adam too, and shrunk him to embryo size so that from him we could create our own Eve (or Eva), keep his powers low so that it would be a lot more difficult for more Heavenly messengers to find him, and (if we failed) lessen the damage that would occur when the rest of the Angels came and "returned" to him (as was prophecied in the Dead Sea Scrolls). When we did shrink him, the energy released from Adam was enormous, and the Second Impact occured.

Antarctica was melted, the Earth flooded, and billions of people died, but we managed to obtain Adam in embrionic form. A great price to pay for a little bit of Heaven.

 Like Lilith, it has been said that Adam is "beyond" an average Angel and has only been categorized as one by NERV to throw SEELE off.

(A faithful reader sent in this bit of information 'bout Adam taken from Jay Stevenson's The Complete Idiot's Guide to Angels. Interesting stuff:

"Each sefirot is an aspect of God and also an aspect of the original and eternal human being known as Adam Kadmon. Adam Kadmon is the unfallen Adam who bears the likeness of the angels.

"Cabalists 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. The ten levels of Cabalist reality, figured as an arrangement of the ten Sefirot, represent this glorious original human being.")

Fate:  Adam had been "borrowed" by Kaji from SEELE HQ and merged with me, but was freed by Rei and melded with Lilith during the Third Impact.

 The giant of light in Antarctica
Second Angel 
Adam as an embryo

Inserted into my Right hand
Adam



Sachiel and a missile
Third Angel 
Sachiel

  The first Angel to be seen in the series, Sachiel was 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.

Eva-01 was provided with its initial substantive battle scenario with Sachiel, and 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", thereby eliminating the Third Angel in a desperate hand to hand brawl.

Sachiel's weapons were some sort of particle beam, a hammer-punch forarm device, and the ability to amass muscle strength in its limbs.

Fate:  Sachiel self-destructed to try and destroy Eva-01 when it was clear that it had lost the First Battle of Tokyo-3. It failed.



  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 armor and body, but it was not an equal match for the Evangelion and its human pilot.

Fate:  Shamshel was killed, but remained intact and was carefully studied by NERV scientists.

Shamshel
Fourth Angel 
Shamshel 


 Ramiel getting shot
Fifth Angel 
Ramiel

  One of the best designed Angels in terms of defense 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.

It would attack any object that came within several miles of it that might cause the slightest threat. It attacked Unit 01 and caused major damage to the Eva and its pilot when it appeared up from the ground.

Fate:  Only the first cooperative Eva operation was able to destroy Ramiel, and only by using the combined electrical power of all of Japan to power a giant sniper canon fired by Shinji in Eva-01. Its body remained intact for the NERV scientists to study.



  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 before the Production Model Eva-02 helped the UN Navy penetrate its AT Field and destroy it.

In the first under-water sortie between an Eva and an Angel it was proven that EVAs have little defense when submersed in a large body of water. Only with the combined synchro rates of its two pilots (Shinji Ikari and Soryu Asuka Langley) was the Eva-02 able to overcome its situation and help defeat the Angel.

Fate:  Blown up when Eva-02 dissolved its AT Field and opened it's mouth enough for two explosive laden UN ships to enter and self-destruct.

Gaghiel with an open mouth
Sixth Angel 
Gaghiel


Two Israfels
Seventh Angel(s) 
Israfel 

  The Seventh Angel turned out to be a double threat. When openly attacked, it would split itself into two seperate Angels proving very difficult to kill.

When it first appeared off of Japan's coast, it made short work of Eva-02 and Eva-01, causing great shame to NERV and the pilots.

Only after a synchronized combined attack performed by the two EVAs was Israfel able to be destroyed.

The Seventh Angel's defense and attack demonstrated how man had to start thinking in new modes of strategy and assault if he hoped to survive God's harbingers.

Fate:  Israfel was defeated when the "dance" of the two EVAs split it and forcibly re-combined it with a powerful set of kicks. It exploded in a cross-shaped pillar of fire.



  What was almost NERV's biggest break in the battle against the Angels turned into one of its worst (almost)catastrophies. Sandalphon was originally found in a live volcano still in its pupa form. It was at this point that NERV ordered its aquisition in order to capture/kill an Angel and study it before it 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 but was destroyed itself. Eva-02 was only saved when a brave Shinji (in Eva-01) jumped into the lava and pulled it out.

Fate:  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.

Sandalphon disintegrating
Eighth Angel 
Sandalphon 


Matarael dropping acid
Ninth Angel 
Matarael

  Matarael attacked at a lucky time. NERV and all of Tokyo-3 were in the middle of a blackout (deliberately caused by the powers that be so that the Geofront could be mapped when the juice started flowing back in again) when the spider-like Angel appeared and began burning an acid hole directly through to Geofront from the surface.

With only five minutes of energy a piece, the EVAs 00, 01, and 02 attacked the Angel from below and killed it with little effort.

Fate:  The Ninth Angel was easily subdued with only a large machine gun (which proved useless on previous Angels). It died without exploding and was 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.

Fate:  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.

Sahaquiel: Tenth Angel
Tenth Angel 
Sahaquiel


Ireul in microbe form
Eleventh Angel 
Ireul 

  In an attempt to avoid Eva combat, the Eleventh Angel (in the form of billions of microscopic entities) attacked NERV in a soft spot - the Three Magi Computers.

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 self-destruct them. With its AT Field in place to deflect any physical attack, Ireul's only weakness was the Super Computers themselves.

Fate:  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 the virus.



  The Twelfth Angel appeared without any warning over Tokyo-3 in what appeared to be a giant "shadow ball". It silently hovered in place until the EVAs attacked it.

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 (its supposed real  shadow on the ground that was less than a tenth of a centimeter thick) and was sucked into a Dirac Sea that the real threat became obvious.

With no known or 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 children and destroy the threat.

Fate:  In the final seconds before the drop, the Eva-01 went Berserker again (this time with no power) and burst free of its intended tomb in a bloody explosion of rage and fear that killed Leliel.

The Shadow of Leliel
Twelfth Angel 
Leliel 


Badass Bardiel
Thirteenth Angel 
Bardiel

  Originally the Eva-03, Bardiel infected the Unit on its voyage to the synchro test site in Japan. The Angel "Virus" became active during the test and in the process of destroying the NERV base escaped and headed for Tokyo-3.

A very dangerous enemy, the Thirteenth Angel was quick, agile, and carried a human hostage in its entry plug (the Fourth Children, 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 Children refused to defend himself in fear of hurting the 14 year old pilot in the Thirteenth Angel.

Fate:  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 heart beat and proceeded to rip its corpse apart severly damaging the trapped pilot in the process.

The Evangelion Angel FAQs Continue on Page II


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