Adam is the progenitor of most of the Angels. It is represented as a giant of light with features similar to those of an Evangelion. A research team named the Katsuragi expedition, led by
Misato Katsuragi's father, finds Adam in Antarctica and begins to examine its energy source, the S2 engine. The scientists of the expedition accidentally awaken Adam as a result of a contact experiment, causing a planetary catastrophe known as the Second Impact to occur. Half of the human population dies, and Adam is reduced to an embryonic state. Behind the event is the secret organization Seele, Agent
Ryoji Kaji transports Adam to the Nerv headquarters, handing it over to the commander of the agency, Gendo Ikari. Adam's
soul is incorporated in the seventeenth Angel
Tabris, Its name comes from the Biblical
Adam. In the Jewish
Kabbalah, Adam is described as a kind of deity, a being that is capable of giving life and as an entity to which all things are destined to return at the end of time. According to writers Kazuhisa Fujie and Martin Foster, in the series
Kaworu Nagisa states "those who come from Adam must return to Adam" referring to this tradition. Writer Virginie Nebbia compared Adam's arrival on the White Moon to that of Bemular, Ultraman's very first enemy, on a blue sphere. According to Nebbia, Adam's luminescent appearance during the Second Impact also recalls that of the giant of light from
Ultraman 80. Academic Fabio Bartoli likened Adam's role to the
Kabbalistic concept of Adam Kadmon; in
Hermetic terminology, Adam Kadmon refers to humanity in a state of mental and spiritual perfection. A being named Adam was also introduced by Gainax in the series
Nadia. In one of Mitsuo Iso's proposals, Adam would have been discovered by the
Essenes, a Jewish sect particularly scrupulous about excrements, known for having their latrines kilometers away from Qumran; from Adam's excrement would have been born a man later known as .
Lilith is the second Angel. It is kept in the Terminal Dogma, the deepest section of the Nerv headquarters. Lilith's face is covered with a mask on which are drawn the seven eyes of a symbol called the Seele emblem. Lilith has the appearance of an anthropomorphic giant whose hands are nailed to a cross. Instead of lower limbs, it has small, humanoid legs. Lilith is pierced on the cross by a weapon called Spear of Longinus. The soul of the Angel is kept inside
Rei Ayanami. In the film
The End of Evangelion (1997), the Angel's body unites with Rei, takes on the form of a giant Ayanami, and grows to the size of the Earth, developing a giant anti-AT Field and starting the Third Impact, an event in which the souls of all human beings merge into one being. Writer Gerald Miller noted that just as the intercourse between Adam and Eve was the genesis of humankind's lineage in the Judeo-Christian story, so does the union of Adam and Lilith lead to "a new genesis for humankind". Lilith, according to the video game
Neon Genesis Evangelion 2, arrived by chance on Earth in a celestial object called Black Moon, also called Lilith's Egg, which along with a White Moon of Adam was sent by an alien "First Ancestral Race". According to the video game Classified Informations, the First Ancestral Race, billions of years before the series, sent seven Moons into the universe with seven beings called the Seeds of Life, including Adam and Lilith, seven objects to contain them named Spears of Longinus and instruction manuals named Dead Sea Scrolls. Adam's first wife. According to Jewish legends, demons called
Lilim were born from their union. According to character designer
Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, the original scenario did not include Lilith, which was introduced following the airing of the series and some staff research on Christianity because "not touching Lilith seemed to hurt Anno's pride". Writer Virginie Nebbia compared Lilith's arrival on Black Moon to Ultraman's arrival on a red sphere
in the series of the same name. Iso designed the cross of Lilith, then called Adam, with a regular crystalline structure, intending it to be made of a special material that could withstand Adam's force field. He drew the seven eyes of the face following the director's instructions. In the original sketches, Iso also added graphemes corresponding to the angel's hands. Lilith was originally supposed to be deformed and have a swollen abdomen, similar to that of a pregnant woman, but the author rejected anything that might suggest deformity or disability. The idea of the mutilated lower body came to Iso, and as Iso himself noted,
Mamoru Oshii's works also feature characters with similar lower bodies. In the
Rebuild of Evangelion tetralogy, Lilith is present from the beginning. Misato shows Lilith to Shinji before the battle against Ramiel. In the saga, Lilith's aspect has been modified by animator
Okama and Hideaki Anno: in
Evangelion 1.0 (2007) Lilith has scars on its chest, the result of scientific experiments; its mask is similar to that of the Angel Sachiel. Lilith, along with Rei and Eva-01, has been compared to the
Jungian archetype of the
Great Mother, the feminine authority that represents protection, fertility, darkness and inescapable abyss. Its role can also be likened to the
astrological concept of the Black Moon, which is also named
Lilith.
Sachiel er portrays Sachiel at the
Anime Expo 2011. , the third Angel, has an anthropomorphic appearance. On the upper part of its trunk, it has a disk that is similar to a face, while on the outer sides of the legs it has two gills. Once on land, the armed forces of the
United Nations attack Sachiel, which can survive the UN's most powerful weapon, the N2 mine. The attack damages Sachiel's face and temporarily stop its advance. Sachiel then regenerates and replaces its face with a second face. After the crash, Sachiel learns how fighter aircraft work and can replicate their effectiveness, developing the ability to launch explosive light beams. It can also use a pair of "protractile spears" or "spears of light" incorporated into the forearms. In the second episode, "
The Beast", Sachiel fights with Eva-01, which goes into a berserk mode and manages to defeat the Angel. Eva-01 neutralizes Sachiel's AT Field, and Sachiel commits suicide by self-destructing. Its name comes from
Sachiel, the angel of water. Sachiel is considered a
cherubim who protects the
tree of life with spears of fire according to the Old Testament, a detail that possibly inspired the fictional Angel's protractible spears. Academics Sellés de Lucas and Hernández-Pérez linked its second face to the
Book of Ezekiel, where cherubims are described as having four heads. The authors initially intended the Angel to fight at sea against Unit 02 in the eighth episode "
Asuka Strikes!", but this idea was set aside and used for Gaghiel. Writer Dennis Redmond described it as a "strangely abstract, gilled creature" and a "
neo-Expressionistic Godzilla". Sachiel is based on Ishtar, an android that appears in the manga
Wahhaman by Yoshitō Asari; its back is inspired by that of a cat. Writer Virginie Nebbia also compared its design to Jamila from
Ultraman and King Bockle from
Return of Ultraman. In
Rebuild of Evangelion, Sachiel is known as the fourth Angel. The animators superimposed images of a light reflecting on an expanse of water and one of the
Milky Way on its luminescent core.
Shamshel , the fourth Angel, has an insect-like appearance and its form fuses that of a
mollusk and that of a
cetacean. Although it has limbs, Shamshel slowly flies at low altitude, to avoid detection by Nerv radar equipment. Shamshel uses two weapons that are similar to luminescent whips and have high cutting capabilities, being able to pierce the abdomen of Eva-01 in battle. Shamshel is shot down by the Unit 01, which pierces it with a weapon called Prog-Knife. According to
Ritsuko Akagi, the DNA map of the Angel corresponds with 99.89% of that of human DNA. It's named after
Shamsiel, who is believed to be the angel of the day. Its appearance is similar to that of an Alien Bira from
Ultraseven, and is inspired by that of a creature called "the three-meter extraterrestrial", whose
garage kit was made by a Gainax-associated company called General Products. Its battle took inspiration from the
Ultraman battles by director
Akio Jissoji. In
Rebuild of Evangelion, Shamshel is known as the fifth Angel.
Ramiel . is the fifth Angel. Its body is a regular
octahedron. A wide drill, which pierces the strong armor of the underground Nerv headquarters, extends from the lower body. Ramiel is equipped with a strong AT Field and an accelerated-
particle cannon, which, exploiting the collision of
subatomic particles, emits a powerful beam of
photons due to an inner torus reactor. Ramiel's core, unlike those of previous Angels, is located inside its body, overcoming the biggest weakness of its predecessors and revealing the existence of a direct link between the Angels. In the fifth episode, "
Rei I", Ramiel strikes Eva-01 with its light beam The fight concludes once Eva-01 hits Ramiel with a
positron cannon, permanently destroying it. As a source of inspiration for Ramiel, the authors took the monster from
Return of Ultraman.
Anime News Network's Lynzee Loveridge described Ramiel's design as "Anno's shout out to
Future Police Urashiman", while Yasutaka Yoshimura compared it with some abstract shapes in the final scenes of
Stanley Kubrick's film
2001: A Space Odyssey. For writer Alexandre Marine its shape can be a reference to Nadia's pendant from
The Secret of Blue Water. It is named after
Ramiel, In
Rebuild of Evangelion, Ramiel is known as the sixth Angel and possesses the ability to transform its regular octahedron form into a variety of solids. For its
Rebuild design, the staff took inspiration from the depiction of the microorganism Andromeda in
Robert Wise's science fiction film
The Andromeda Strain and an image that Takashi Watabe drew twenty years earlier which depicts a four-dimensional body moving in a three-dimensional world.
Gaghiel , the sixth Angel, appears in "
Asuka Strikes!" in the Pacific Ocean and goes to attack the UN fleet, which is transporting Eva-02 and secretly the embryonic form of Adam. Gaghiel resembles an aquatic creature; its body has fin-like appendages and a hydrodynamic shape, allowing it to quickly move through water. The upper body has a face identical to the faces of Sachiel. The Angel attacks the naval fleet using the bulk of its body, sinking ships. When approaching its targets, it opens its mouth and squeezes its enemies in its jaws. Gaghiel's core, unlike those of previous Angels, is located inside the mouth. During the fight, Gaghiel jumps onto the
aircraft carrier Over the Rainbow and moves to attack Eva-02, leading the Angel and Eva to crash into the sea in the Itō area. Its body is long. Eva-02 neutralizes the Angel's AT Field and opens its mouth to allow two armored warships, which were evacuated and sunk with the
Kingston valves, to penetrate its jaws and fire on the Angel's core. The operation is successful and Gaghiel is defeated by
Asuka Langley Soryu and
Shinji Ikari. The behavior of the Angel, which appeared at sea away from Tokyo-3, is attributable to the presence of the first Angel Adam The name Gaghiel (Hebrew: ), also called Gagiel, Daghiel or Dagiel, in Judeo-Christian folklore is the angel of the fish. Its Hebrew name can be translated as "roaring beast of God", Thanks to the use of N² weapons, the UN can temporarily stop its advance. The only way to defeat Israfel, according to Misato, is "a double coordinated attack on its core"; between the two parts of the divided Angel is a bond that allows Kō and Otsu to share their behaviors and vulnerability. After a regeneration process, the Angel merges, regains its original form, and again begins its advance. In the second clash with the units, Israfel imitates the weapons used against it in the first battle, launching rays with high destructive potential against the Eva and using its upper limbs as blades. During the fight, Eva-01 and Eva-02, moving in synchronization, attack the Angel. Israfel splits again, and the two units jump into the sky, launching a synchronized kick that destroys its cores. The seventh Angel is named after the messenger of music and resurrection,
Israfil (
Arabic: إسرافيل), a detail related to the musical attack of Eva-01 and 02. According to Will Raus, Israfel's role of resurrection could allude to the Angel's ability to split. and
mercury.
Sandalphon , the eighth Angel, is detected inside the volcanic crater of
Mount Asama in a human-embryo-like state and enclosed in a
chrysalis. The Nerv decides to attempt to capture it, but the being awakens during the attempt and quickly mutates. Gualtiero Cannarsi, editor of the first Italian adaptation of the series, compared its adult form with the
Limanda fish. Sandalphon collides with Eva-02, demonstrating high levels of physical endurance. Its core is concealed within its body and is not visible to observers. During the fight, Asuka and other Nerv members using the concept of
thermal expansion to develop a plan to defeat it. Eva-02, using a
coolant in its equipment, causes Sandalphon to undergo thermal constriction, resulting in damage to its body structure. The fictional Angel's name alludes to
Sandalphon, the angel of embryos. During its metamorphosis into its adult form, the producers included a plaintive background voice using the electronically distorted howls of an infant. The Angel's design took inspiration from prehistoric creatures such as the
trilobite and the
Anomalocaris. The idea of an enemy-capture attempt was planned for the eleventh episode, but moved to the tenth during the production. According to writer Virginie Nebbia, for Sandalphon's battle staff took inspiration from the novel
Sundiver.
Matarael The ninth Angel, , resembles an
arthropod arachnid chelicerate. Unlike arthropods, it has a single central body, from the top of which extends four oversized legs, making it akin to the
opilionid subclass. The main body is similar to a geometric solid obtained from the section of
ellipsoid, Nine human-eye-like drawings are evident on its main body. The eyes are arranged in an equilateral triangle, and one of them is placed at the center of the body's lower section; from the central eye it pours a corrosive liquid on its enemies. The acid is likely produced by an
exocrine gland inside the Angel. The Angel pours its acid into the wells dug in the sixth episode of the series by the Angel Ramiel, and its strategy suggests it is mindful of its predecessor's actions. The name
Matarael (Hebrew:) comes from the
Book of Enoch, which describes it as the angel of rain. The name of
Evangelion Matarael refers to its offensive strategy and its powerful, corrosive acid, which it rains on its enemies. is similar to that of some single-celled organisms such as
amoebas. On its body are three geometric figures that resemble the human eye, with a big central eye in which the core is located. Before attacking the Nerv headquarters, Sahaquiel detaches some small portions of its main mass that are equipped with an AT Field, and hurls them to the ground to correct its trajectory. Gualtiero Cannarsi compared its ability to divide with the
budding of
protozoa and
mesozoa. the angel of the sky and guardian of the fourth heaven of Paradise, Sadamoto drew the Angel to show
Evangelion enemies may not always be anthropomorphic, like Seele. In
Rebuild of Evangelion, Sahaquiel is known as the eighth Angel. Its design by Mahiro Maeda has several changes; At the bottom of its main body, Sahaquiel develops an anthropomorphic entity that pierces Unit 01's hands with spear-like weapons, which were designed by director
Takeshi Honda.
Masayuki suggested having Sahaquiel die in a wave of blood that floods Tokyo-3, which was inspired by the
tokusatsu tradition and the scene in which Sapporo collapses in
Japan Sinks (1974).
Ireul is the eleventh Angel, which first manifests itself as corrosive stains on a wall of the Nerv headquarters. At this early stage, Ireul behaves as an obligate
anaerobic bacterium. Nerv attempts but fails to eradicate Ireul by increasing the presence of
ozone in the air, but Ireul starts a fast evolution process which allows it to resist to ozone. Ireul is a biological microprocessor and a colony of microscopic
nanomachine-sized individuals rather than a single Angel. These singularities, similar to bacteria, are united in an agglomeration that quickly evolves radically to take on the form of a computer. Ireul hacks and seeks the access code to the three Magi supercomputers, the most important part of the structure, to activate a program of self-destruction at the headquarters. Dr. Ritsuko Akagi devises a "reverse hacking" strategic plan, believing it is better to increase the enemy's evolution and insert a program to make Ireul choose to coexist with the Magi System. Ritsuko's program defeats Ireul, saving Nerv's headquarters.
Mitsuo Iso suggested a battle against an invisible enemy and the basic plot. is referred to as the angel of fear.
Evangelion Chronicle encyclopedia likened the Angel's program of self-extinction with cellular
apoptosis, while coexistence with the Magi System as a form of
symbiosis. Ireul's properties, such as
self-replication, are similar to those of a universal
molecular assembler.
Leliel appears as a black-and-white-streaked floating sphere and a black shadow. The spherical body is its true shadow, while the apparent shadow on the ground is the main body. The Angel is wide and thick. It extends its AT Field in the vicinity of its enemy, a process that coincides with the manifestation of the apparent shadow, which is capable of engulfing the matter it encounters. This physicality is maintained using an inverted AT Field, within which extends an
number-imaginary space, a vacuum and a
parallel dimension known as the "Dirac Sea". During the fight, this dark shadow extends to the feet of Eva-01 and begins to engulf it. It is not made clear whether Leliel's goal is the absorption of the humanoid or direct contact with its pilot,
Shinji Ikari. Dr. Ritsuko Akagi devises a strategy to destroy Leliel and recover Unit 01 using all existing N2 bombs. During the countdown to ordnance release, the spherical body breaks and Unit 01 emerges, causing an anomaly in the imaginary number circuit and shooting down the enemy. To explain the Angel's nature and its Dirac sea, Ritsuko said its body is made up of
strings.
Leliel is the angel of the night and is called the "prince of conception". The fictional Angel's shadow and the outflow of Unit 01, which resembles childbirth and gives it the characteristics of a womb, allude to the biblical angel. Geometric figures similar to female genitalia are also visible in its pattern. and
optical art. which is presumed to be Leliel. The scene, which is set on a train, was the idea of
Kazuya Tsurumaki, who took inspiration from a dream he had as a child. In the initial scenario, Leliel would select
Japanese from the verses of some animals and several human languages so it could communicate with Shinji. Tsurumaki and the production staff changed their minds, According to the official film books of the series, the two Shinji in the sequence represent the psychological concepts of
ego and
superego. The Dirac Sea depicted in the anime took inspiration from
Paul Dirac's
concept of the same name and is also drawn from the novel by
Ryu Mitsuse.
Bardiel has a nature similar to that of a
fungus or a parasitic
bacterium, which allows it to infiltrate the body of Eva-03 during its transport by air from the United States of America to Japan. After the contamination, a crack opens on the unit's back, inside which molten filaments similar to
hyphae are visible. During its advance towards Tokyo-3, Bardiel fights against Eva-02 and Eva-00, making a white, irritant liquid drip inside the unit's body. Bardiel's attack mode does not belong to a single being, but to a colony of microscopic Angels. The Angel is defeated by Shinji Ikari's Eva-01, which is activated by a new piloting system named the Dummy System, which destroys the infected Evangelion. The fictional Angel's contamination of Unit 03 during its passage through a blanket of storm clouds is an allusion to its namesake
Bardiel, the angel of hail and lightning. Writer Dennis Redmond interpreted the scream of the infected Eva-03 as a reference to
Godzilla. Redmond also noted that Bardiel is framed against a setting sun reminiscent of the
Japanese flag in the episode. According to him, this is "a dead ringer for
John Woo's Hong Kong thrillers, and the conclusion will subtly quote Woo's trademark theme of warring brothers or battling doubles". Most of the scenes where Bardiel appears were produced by
Production I.G, who also contributed to the animation of the fight against Ireul. Writer Virginie Nebbia compared Bardiel's role to Imit Ultraman from the
Ultraman series, fake Ultramans controlled by Alien Zarab.
Zeruel , the fourteenth Angel, is almost anthropomorphic. On its back are signs of a pair of wings, which in classical and popular iconography are the symbol of angelic creatures. In combat, Zeruel shows great physical strength, It emits explosive beams of light from its eyes, and can use its thin upper limbs by means of a blade-and-bellows-like mechanism. Although the Angel's core is exposed in the center of the chest, it has a protective armor to hide it in case of danger. This ability suggests the enemy is aware of the N2 device and that there is some kind of communication system between the Angel specimens. After Zeruel defeats Eva-00 and Eva-02, it is finally defeated by Eva-01, which enters the berserk state to devour it, ingesting its S2 engine. Zeruel's first attack technique is similar to that of the
Ultraman series's Jet Beetle. Writer Virginie Nebbia also compared Zeruel to another
Ultraman monster, Zetton. a reference to its physical strength. Its name can be translated as "arm of God", to which its second offensive technique alludes. According to Will Raus, its limbs are as thin as a sheet of paper and suggest a pun on the Japanese words for and . In
Rebuild of Evangelion, Zeruel is known as the tenth Angel. Asari again designed the creature; except for the skull, which is almost identical to the one in the classic series, the movie's Zeruel has paper-like tentacles it wraps around its body like the bands of a mummy. During the fight, it devours Unit 00 with Rei Ayanami, assuming the appearance of an anthropomorphic female figure. For the likeness of the new Zeruel, the animators took inspiration from the monster King Joe from
Ultraseven and an Angel in the original draft of the series, a cube-shaped "
origami Apostolo" inspired by the
Möbius strip. The Angel makes Asuka relive her childhood trauma in an attempt to investigate her mental wavelength by learning her mechanisms and rendering the human on board the Evangelion harmless. According to Ritsuko, Arael's attack is an attempt to investigate the human heart and contact the unit's pilot. The energetic light beam is visible to humans, a phenomenon attributed to the presence of an unknown energy, something similar to an AT Field. Units 00 attacks Arael with its firearm, but its attempts are thwarted by its strong AT Field. Arael is ultimately defeated by Eva-00 after it launches into orbit a weapon called Longinus' spear, quickly reaching Arael and piercing through its AT Field. Virginie Nebbia compared Arael's design with Perolynga from
Ultraseven, Arael is the angel of birds; its bird-like appearance in the show is a reference to this. Its name means "light" or "vision of God", which Will Raus interpreted as referenced by its beam of light. The sequences of the psychological battle between the Angel and Asuka have been compared to
Gestalt psychology, in particular by the
field theory of the German psychologist
Kurt Lewin, according to which each individual is part of a context in which each one creates a personal reality.
Armisael has a luminescent body and an ill-defined circular shape that later stabilizes above the valley of Ōwaku, rotating around its axis. Once its rotation stops, the Angel metamorphosizes into a string, It launches an attack against Unit 00, piercing its body at the level of the womb. Armisael seeks physical and mental contact with the target, violating the components of the unit, which is led by pilot Rei Ayanami. It is speculated Armisael continues Arael's psychic incursion, launching into a communicative attack on Rei. Under attack, Rei loses her senses and inside her mind she meets another self that is Armisael, which sweetly speaks to her using the words from her own unconscious mind. The Angel asks Rei to unite with it to alleviate the pain caused by the attack. After awakening, Rei activates a process of self-destruction of her unit. Rei causes a violent explosion that engulfs and annihilates the Angel, and much of Tokyo-3. Shortly before the explosion and the Angel's defeat, Eva-00 assumes the silhouette of Rei Ayanami, with Armisael arranged on her head like a
halo, an iconographic Christian attribute of angels and saints. Armisael, confirming the hypotheses of intercommunication between the Angels and the Angel being aware of their predecessors' experiences, is aware of the human psyche. In religious texts, Armisael is the angel of the womb; in Jewish tradition, a woman could relieve the pain of childbirth by invoking his name. During the battle on 00's back, a heteromorphic organism with contours that recall the forms of the previous Angels develops. Armisael thus contains the genetic information of the other Angels. Its shape is similar to a double helix ring and has been compared with the
DNA or a mathematical surface that cannot be oriented, such as the
Möbius strip and the
Klein's bottle.
Tabris goes by the name of Kaworu Nagisa, and becomes the replacement pilot of Eva-02 after Asuka's mental breakdown. After arriving in Tokyo-3, Tabris becomes a friend of Shinji Ikari, but betrays him and takes possession of Eva-02 in an attempt to break into the Terminal Dogma, where it believes Adam is kept. Upon discovering the giant guarded in Nerv is Lilith, Tabris decides to stop its attack and entrusts its fate to Shinji's Unit 01, allowing itself to be killed. Writer Virginie Nebbia compared Kaworu's role to Perolynga and Metron from
Ultraseven. Tabris is a demon and the angel of
free will. This is reflected in
Evangelion Tabris's decision to die at the hands of Shinji. Like Arael and Armisael, who both attempt to make contact with Asuka's and Rei's souls, Kaworu aggressively tries to touch Shinji's thoughts, but through peaceful human exchange rather than an open attack. Tabris claims that the Angels' AT Fields are the light of the soul and "the walls of the heart," possessed by everyone, so it neutralizes Shinji's AT Field by eliminating the emotional barriers around his metaphorical heart. Following previous Angels, which have taken various forms, Tabris adopted the form of a man by gathering information from its predecessors.
Lilin , or , is the name used by Kaworu Nagisa to refer to human beings. In the movie
The End of Evangelion, it is revealed humans are the eighteenth and final Angel, and direct descendants of Lilith. ==In
Rebuild of Evangelion==