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. 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. Now Adam has come  to retrieve her. 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).
  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.
  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 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 was being taught a lesson by SEELE by having all of its  power shut down 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