You’re sitting back one day, thinking, “Hmm, I feel like watching something good that really makes you think, but I’ve already watched Lain 23 times...Maybe it’s time I finally give in to the hype and check out that Eva-whachamacallit series that I kept hearing about nonstop in ‘97...” So you go to the nearest Blockbuster and rent the first tape, only to discover....it’s another giant mecha show. Great. But still, you think Misato’s hot, or that Rei is some sort of embodiment of your own inner pain, so you decide to watch more. You discover well before episode 6 that the main character, Shinji, whines more than your little sister when your parents say that no, she can’t have the dollie and that she has to go put it back on the shelf. However, you can deal with that. It’s starting to get kinda interesting...maybe...this Angel thing is pretty mysterious, and it’s kinda weird that they call giant hulking alien things angels, so you figure, okay, I’ll watch some more of this. Well, my friend, now there is no turning back. You meet Asuka and Kaji, and now you can’t stop watching until finally...you reach the end of the series. The final tape. The last two episodes. You’ve heard rumors about this, so you prepare your aluminum foil hat before popping the tape into the VCR. After a couple minutes, all you can think is...’Dear God, what have I done?! My brain! It’s melting! Melting! Oh, what a world!’ Alright, so maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration. But there is no question that without some hand-holding, this could prove to be one of the most painful anime experience of your life...but hey, you’re game. You survived Lain, right? You can get through this. And we’re here to help.

Okay, so where did this whole concept come from? The truth is that most of this stemmed from the beliefs of a Jewish branch called ‘Kabbalists’ (sp.?) They believe that Lilith was actually Adam’s first wife and not created from Adam. She was completely independent, but was cast out of Eden because she refused to allow Adam to couple with her in the missionary position (I’m kinda winging it a bit here...I’m going on what I still remember from the mythology books). She was also supposed to be the only person to know God’s real name. Anyway, because Lilith refused to be subserviant, God decided that to get a woman that would be Adam’s b*tch, He’d have to create her from Adam himself. Hence Eve and her being created from Adam’s rib.

There are other stories surrounding Lilith, but this is the one I’m most familiar with and it seems to be the one to fit the series best in my personal opinion. And as we all know, humans are ‘lillans’ (sp?) and created from Lilith, whereas the angels were created from Adam.

Sachiel, Ramiel, Sandalphon - What’s their deal, huh? Well, let’s see, what do each of the angels have in common?

1.) Most of the angels’ names end in an ‘el’...Why is this significant? Well, supposedly, when God created the angels (who hated humans, by the way), He gave them infinite power. However, the ‘el’ at the end of their names allowed Him to control them.

2.) They’re all after Adam. Granted, they attack the Geofront before Adam even gets there, but we’ll get to that later. Why are they after Adam? Why, to cause another Third Impact and destroy all of humanity, of course.

3.) They all have something called an ‘S2’, or Super Solenoid, organ. Arguably, this is the ‘fruit of life’ which only the angels possess - hence why when Unit 01 took the S2 organ into itself, it became like a God, having already possessed the fruit of wisdom possessed by humans (this explained in further detail later).

4.) It’s rumored that all of the angels were created on the day of Second Impact (Note Kaoru/Tabris’s birthday - 9/13/00. Coincidence? Maybe not...) This, of course, is just speculation and there really isn’t much to support it in the series. (Why wait 15 years to attack? And Sandalphon didn’t even hatch until 2015...). Of course, there are arguments for both sides, so we’re just gonna leave it up to you whether or not to believe it.

1.) Adam

2.) Lilith

3.) Sachiel (First Eva battle)

4.) Shamshel (Shinji’s second battle - let Touji and Keisuke into the entry plug)

5.) Ramiel (Flying fortress - Operation Yashima)

6.) Gaghiel (Undersea beast - Unit 02’s first real battle)

7.) Israfel (“Dance Like You Want To Win!”)

8.) Sandalphon (First offensive attack and capture attempt since Second Impact - magma diving)

9.) Matariel (Attacked Geofront using acid during the blackout)

10.) Sahaqiel (Dropped parts of itself until it aimed properly - all three Evas had to catch and destroy it)

11.) Ireul (Nano-machines that attempted to take over the MAGI system - existence erased from NERV’s records)

12.)Leliel (Used shadow as a decoy, then drew Unit 01 into Sea of Dirac)

13.) Bardiel (Evangelion Unit 03)

14.) Zeruel (defeated Asuka and Rei utterly - Unit 01 awakened, Shinji’s sync ratio exceeded 400%)

15.) Arael (Relied on psychological attacks and raped Asuka’s mind - Lance of Longinus was sacrificed to save Unit 02)

16.) Armisael (Rei self-destructed Unit 00 in order to save Shinji and destroy the angel)

17.) Tabris (Kaoru)

“The Dead Sea Scrolls were written in Hebrew (predominately), Aramaic, and Greek. Most of the writings are on leather parchment (made from goat or sheep skins) and papyrus (an early form of paper), but a Scroll written on pure copper has also been unearthed. Some 223 or more of the total manuscripts discovered are copies of biblical books. So far a representative of every book of the Old Testament has been found with the exception of Esther, although it is apparent that Esther was known to the writers of the Scrolls. The remaining manuscripts include non-biblical books (apocrypha and pseudepigrapha), sectarian documents, apocalyptic works...” (excerpted from Secrets of the Dead Sea Scrolls by Randall Price)

More than likely, the Scrolls used by Seele were those of the apocalyptic works, but it is also possible that they were attempting to follow the Essenes’s (people who supposedly were responsible for the burial of the scrolls) schedule to redemption, which included a Former Age of Wickedness, a Latter Age of Wickedness, and the Age to Come, or the Age of Redemption. For a more comprehensible explaination and a diagram, look up the aforementioned book.

A scientist for GEHIRN and a member of SEELE, Yui Ikari was also the mother of Shinji Ikari. Her soul is the one within Eva 01. During the personality transplant (similar to the one done on the MAGI system), she was absorbed by the Eva. The attempt to salvage her failed, and her entire soul remained within it instead of just a part of it. This was probably intentional, as Ritsuko’s mother, Dr. Naoko Akagi, makes it pretty clear that it was her fault.

Shinji’s father and Commander of NERV. Prior to his appointment he was Chief of Research at the UN Artificial Evolution Laboratories. After his wife Yui died, he threw himself completely into the Human Instrumentality Project, with hopes of being able to be with Yui again. His relationship with his son is strained to say the least, and he has had affairs with both Naoko and Ritsuko Akagi. 

 Age: 14

Son of Gendo and Yui Ikari and the Third Child, pilot of Evangelion Unit 01, the test type. He has some serious self esteem issues and an almost non-existent relationship with his dad. He was present during his mother’s personality transplant, when she was absorbed by the Eva, but was too young to remember right away. He was the only one to ever reach a sync ratio of over 400% and make it out alive, even after absorption by the Eva.

 Age: Unknown

Head of SEELE and the puppetmaster behind Human Complementation. There are many theories surrounding Keel’s background, but none are really confirmed in the series. However, theories contest that Keel is the Immortal Wandering Jew of legend, or possibly the Roman who pierced Jesus’ side with the Spear of Longinus while he was on the cross. Not much else is really known about Keel.

Age: mid to late 50s (I think I saw somewhere that it was 58) 

Deputy Commander of NERV. One of the only people in NERV with knowledge of the true ultimate objective. Prior to his appointment, he was a professor of Meta-Biology at the University of Kyoto, where he first met both Yui, his research assistant, and Gendo, who he first met when bailing him out of jail. He cared deeply for Yui, though they were never romantically involved.

Age: 30 

Daughter of the infamous Naoko Akagi, and NERV’s head technician. Master of computers, she is responsible for the upkeep of the MAGI, many of the programs run by the MAGI, and for tests performed on the Evas. She was the one who managed to stop the Angel Ireul from taking over all three MAGI and employing NERV’s self-destruct system. She is also one of the very few who know about NERV’s true objectives and methods.

 Deceased

GEHIRN’s head technician. She was responsible for the creation of the MAGI, and her personality is the one implanted into them. She was more than likely responsible for the loss of Yui Ikari, and strangled the first Rei to death. She committed suicide following the murder of Rei by throwing herself off of the balcony overlooking the MAGI.

 Age: 29

NERV operations director. She is the daughter of Dr. Katsuragi, the man who came up with the S2 theory and who led the expedition to the South Pole. She, like Shinji, thought she hated her father, but she fights the Angels because they were responsible for her father’s death. She herself doesn’t completely understand why this is. She was involved with Kaji in college, but ran away from him because he reminded her of her father. She eventually wound up with him again.

 Age: 14

The First Child and pilot of Evangelion Unit 00, the prototype. She is a hybrid clone of Yui Ikari and Lilith. At least three of her surface throughout the series, but the second Rei seems to be the one to develop the most (which makes sense, since she had the longest lifespan). She seems to have a close relationship with Commander Ikari (at least, closer than Shinji does), probably because part of her is made up of Yui. More information on Rei can be obtained in the FAQ.

Pilot of Evangelion Unit-02, the first production model unit, and the “Second Child”. She lived in Germany before coming to Tokyo-3. Because of her mother’s insanity and her father’s abandonment, she became very independent and driven, which allowed her to graduate college at 14 but also caused the aggressive, competitive relationship with Shinji that eventually contributed to her downfall. She never really came to terms with her mother’s suicide, and was actually the one to discover her hanging dead from the ceiling.

 Age: 31

 Age: 24

 Age: 20-something?

 Age: 20-something?

Age: 14 

 Age: 14

 Age: 14

 Age: 2

Arguably the only sane, normal one in the series (and the most stable by far), Pen Pen, or Pen² as his nameplate reads, is a warm-water penguin and Misato’s ‘other roommate’. He likes hot springs, beer, and baths, but isn‘t a huge fan of Misato‘s cooking. He lives in the extra refrigerator in Misato’s apartment.

 Also known as the last angel, Tabris. He posed as the Fifth Child in order to infiltrate NERV HQ. He developed a close relationship with Shinji Ikari after first arriving, and was assigned to be Asuka’s replacement as pilot of Evangelion Unit 02. He took Eva 02 and infiltrated Terminal Dogma, and got all the way to Adam...only to discover that it was really Lilith. At this point, he decided that rather than killing off humanity by causing Third Impact, he’d let Shinji kill him (which he did via decapitation). Just as the dummy plugs for Eva Units 00 and 01 are made up of Rei, the dummy plugs for the mass-produced Eva series are made up of Kaoru.

Or 'Absolute-Terror Field'. This is also referred to by Kaworu/Tabris as the 'barrier of the heart'. Gendo also refers to it when Rei's arm falls off in the End of Eva. Basically, this is what keeps humans in human form.

Bakelite is just this plastic goopy substance that hardens really fast.

This is where all the souls that are not in use are stored. (Geez, that makes it sound like some sort of garage or something…) Anyway, the chamber with all the Rei clones is NOT the Chamber of Guf. If anything, it's more of an Anti-Chamber of Guf, since that is where the empty vessels for souls are stored.

German for 'Brain'. This is the organization that preceded NERV. Almost all of GEHIRN staff transferred over to NERV with two obvious exceptions: Ikari Yui and Akagi Naoko.

No, that's just their cores. The S2 engine is something else.

In Ikari Gendo's hand. Although I'm not really sure when exactly he merged with it, I do know that by Rebirth, Adam was happily residing in Gendo's palm. (Okay, maybe not happily…)

Not quite. Rei is a cloned chimera of Lilith and Shinji's mother, Ikari Yui. Her sole purpose was to initiate Third Impact and bring all souls into one.

No, Gendo did not kill Yui. If anyone would be to blame, it would be Akagi Naoko. Yui was absorbed by Eva 01 during the transplant of part of her soul into the Evangelion. There is no indication that Gendo intended for Yui to be completely absorbed.

Nope. The only ones with souls are Evas 00-02. The others supposedly never had the souls transplanted into them, which would probably explain all the problems with all the models from 03 up to (but not necessarily including) the production models.

"What do I have to do? Put a scar on my face, tax the poor and kick puppies? I'm EVIL!" ~MiSTing of 'Second Chance' Okay, so maybe it wasn't just because they were evil bastards. However, it does seem like they each had their own agenda, didn't it? Gendo wanted to be with Yui. Initiating Third Impact would reunite him with Yui. Therefore, Gendo wanted to initiate Third Impact. Oh, yeah, and he had a God complex, but that's not important. (I'm kidding, of course.) Keel's intentions seemed to be basically the same, regardless of which theory concerning his background you prefer to use. Keel got sick of living forever, so he had to come up with "an incredibly cunning plan" to get himself into heaven. Hence getting all souls crammed into one so that they would all complement each other and thus negate each other's flaws. It seemed like a foolproof plan, too, but apparently Shinji's fragile psychological state was never added into the equation. And that's why you never rely on children to end the world. ("And I would have gotten away with it, too, if it weren't for those meddling kids!")