Adam’s Children refers to the Angels originated from the Seed of Life Adam. In the Neon Genesis Evangelion TV series, Adam's children encompass the Third through Seventeenth Angels (manga: Third through Twelfth). The first thirteen are Adam’s natural offspring (upon whom this article will focus). Adam’s last child, Tabris, is the result of an experiment in which Lilin genes fused into Adam. Adam's children began appearing around Tokyo-3 fifteen years after Second Impact, starting with the 3rd Angel, Sachiel. It is assumed that the Angels' intention is to cause Third Impact and reclaim Earth from Lilith's children (Homo sapiens). The Evangelions' task is to protect mankind by defeating Adam's children, in accordance with both Gendo Ikari's and Seele's plans.
Nature
Despite being segregated into separate “Angels” (Third, Fourth, etc.), Adam’s children essentially comprise a single race of humanity – one possible variation upon a theme. (The Lilin are another.) They are described as “humans who cast aside human form”. Accordingly, they appear to begin life as humanoid entities, developing embryologically in perhaps the same way as Adam or an Eva would. Going by Sandalphon, the Angels develop inside oblong objects resembling eggs, compared in the show to a chrysalis. After developing to an indeterminate point[8], the Angel's human form is “rejected”. Immediately prior to hatching (again, going by Sandalphon's precedent), the Angel undergoes a spontaneous metamorphosis into its "adult form", then emerges from its "chrysalis".[9] How the form is selected and its structure determined is entirely unknown. The A.T. Field appears to play some role in Angel metamorphoses. Taken together with what is said about the role of the A.T. Field elsewhere in the show, this implies that perhaps each Angel’s form is a tangible manifestation of its self-image. That is, where Lilin are more or less constrained to a common form, and must express their individuality in subtler ways, Adam’s children can simply be whatever they imagine themselves to be. The genetic pattern of Shamshel is reported to possess a 99.89% similarity to that of humans (Homo sapiens). While no comment is made on Shamshel’s brethren, this similarity can be deduced to apply universally to the group. In Sadamoto’s manga, the same percentage is applied to the Evas, implying, at least in Sadamoto’s view, the same genetic origins, which would be Adam. Of note here is that metamorphosis has no apparent effect on the Angels’ biological blueprints, indicating that it must operate on a more metaphysical level.
Origins
How Adam generated its offspring is completely unknown. Explanations can be as disparate as "pieces of Adam blown off at Second Impact grew into the various Angels" to "Adam laid the Angels' eggs billions of years ago, but didn't give them souls until the day of Second Impact, when they were scattered by the explosion". The proposed theories have varied pros and cons. Whether the Angels existed in some form prior to September 13, 2001, or only came into being on that very day, it doesn't seem to be any coincidence that Adam opened its Doors of Guf on Second Impact (implying the release of souls), and its children began to "appear" fifteen years later.
Motivations & Psychology
The cues in the show itself regarding the Angels intentions are varied and ambiguous. Some of them lend the common impression that the Angels are trying to return to Adam, in automaton-like manner, although the Angels' behavior is hardly consistent enough to support this. One explanation of their motivations, found in the Classified Information states, "Some of them were trying to access Lilith and reset all life, some of them had nothing in mind, and some were trying to recover their progenitor Adam."Adam's children are generally uncommunicative, and the forms they take tend to be inexpressive, with the result that we have little insight into their thoughts. However, some is provided by Leliel, Arael, and Armisael, who engage the Eva pilots in forms of communication. Some of the Angels also provide some insight into their psychology through their behavior, such as Sachiel and Zeruel.
Common Traits
While each of Adam’s children has a form unique to itself, there are many traits common to or prevalent among the group. (Some of these, in turn, can be found in other so-called "Angelic" lifeforms, such as the Seeds and Evas.)
An A.T. Field (short for "Absolute Terror Field")is a nearly impenetrable force-field barrier which Angels and Evangelions can generate. Conventional weapons such as those used by the combined military forces of the United Nations are effectively useless in penetrating an A.T. Field. Essentially, the only thing that can penetrate an A.T. Field is another A.T. Field, such as those created by the Evangelions. Typically, A.T. Fields are invisible. A.T. Fields can interact with objects to cause them to move and is hypothesized that it is the source of some of the Angel's ability to levitate (most notably, Kaworu). Sometimes when an A.T. Field creates a slight blur. For example in Episode 03, when Evangelion Unit-01 raises it's A.T. Field, a slight blur can be seen momentarily. When the Spear of Longinus is pulled from the moon in Episode 26', the same blur can be seen momentarily. During the fight between Evangelion Unit-01 and the Kaworu-Controlled Unit-02, a momentary blur can be seen followed by the Nerv staff detecting an A.T. Field. Although they are invisible, A.T. Fields can often be seen when they violently collide with something else, forming concentric octagonal yellow lines[2]. This can be seen in Episode 02 when Evangelion Unit-01 collides with Sachiel's A.T. Field, in Episode 22, Arael's A.T. Field can be seen when it deflects a blast from a positron rifle. The blur caused by its physical manifestation and the visible yellow lines can also be seen in many other places throughout the series. Although A.T. Fields were originally seen to be a purely defensive ability, during the course of the series it is demonstrated that A.T. Fields can be used offensively. The first instance of this was when the Angel Sahaquiel used its A.T. Field in Episode 12 to crush several nearby satellites attempting to observe it in Earth orbit[3]. Leliel's bizarre multi-dimensional pocket-dimension is apparently created by inverting its A.T. Field in some way. Arael's mind-probe attack is based on a special projection of its A.T. Field. Eva-01 itself shockingly wielded its A.T. Field as a weapon in Episode 19 at the climax of her battle against the Angel Zeruel when, with a wave of her hand like an symphony conductor, she tore Zeruel's body to bloody shreds and crippled it. By Eva 02's final battle in The End of Evangelion, Asuka's piloting abilities had increased to the point that she wielded Eva-02's A.T. Field against advancing JSSDF hoverjet squadrons and tank battalions, crushing them with a wave of her hand. Later in the series, Kaworu Nagisa reveals that every living thing possesses an A.T. Field: Angels and Evangelions just have A.T. Fields so strong that they are easily detectable and can stop even physical attacks. "A.T. Fields" which regular humans generate are what literally holds individual beings' egos together, separating individuals. Ultimately this is the cause of loneliness and pain in the world, keeping individual people apart. Another secret revealed later in the series is that each Evangelion has a human soul bonded to it: A.T. Fields are actually generated by the human soul contained within the Eva (seemingly amplified beyond the level of a "normal" human A.T. Field by the Eva's body). The A.T. Field of an Angel is also generated specifically by the Angel's soul. This is why Kaworu's A.T. Field is the strongest ever measured: his physical body is a vessel for the soul of Adam, the powerful First Angel. This is also why Rei Ayanami can generate an A.T. Field: Rei's physical body is a vessel for the soul of Lilith, the Second Angel. Both Adam and Lilith are Seeds of Life, thus Lilith is actually a co-equal being to Adam, and this is why the A.T. Field which Rei can generate is of equal strength to the incredibly powerful A.T. Field that Kaworu can generate. It must be remembered, though, that within the storyline the "soul" is not so much an ethereal/theological concept but essentially an energy/thought pattern which has been defined and can actually be manipulated by "Metaphysical biology", an advanced field of science which exists by the future date of 2015. In the climax of The End of Evangelion, the Rei/Adam/Lilith hyper-being generates, along with the Mass Production Evangelions and Evangelion Unit-01, a massive "Anti A.T. Field" which neutralizes all A.T. Fields across the world, causing all of humanity to revert into the primordial soup of LCL, merging into a single super-organism in the climax of the Human Instrumentality Project. The easiest way to destroy an A.T. Field is to essentially counter it with another A.T. Field, as demonstrated by the Evas on several occasions. An example of this is seen in Episode 1, when the berserk Unit-01 corrodes[4] Sahaquiel's A.T. Field in battle. Besides Evangelions, only two human-made weapons are capable of effect against Angels. The first is the N² Mine, the most powerful non-nuclear weapons ever created. N² mines have succeeded at stunning or even seriously injuring some of the weaker Angels (albeit temporarily because wounded Angels have always regenerated), but against some of the more powerful Angels, even multiple N² mines have failed to do any damage whatsoever. There was one other instance where an A.T. Field was breached without the use of the Evas, the fight against Ramiel, where a prototype positron rifle using the electricity of the entire power grid of Japan penetrated Ramiel's A.T. Field and killed the Angel. However, such a weapon is subject to power and range limitations, as witnessed in the battle against Arael where a positron rifle (of a different model from that used against Ramiel) failed to harm the orbiting Angel. The one weapon practically capable of piercing any A.T. Field is the Spear of Longinus: an extraterrestrial artifact of incredible power, shaped like an Eva-sized javelin. Artificial replicas of the Spear of Longinus are also capable of piercing an A.T. Field.
Blood
Blood is observed for many of Adam’s children, including: Sachiel, Ramiel, Leliel, Bardiel, Zeruel, Arael, and Armisael. It is red in all instances save for Sachiel, whose is blue (albeit changed in Rebuild to adhere to the norm). It is unclear why, or how, Angels whose forms seem to preclude the possession of circulatory systems possess blood. On one level, it might be considered a visceral reminder of their intrinsically human nature. In the Rebuild continuity, the Angels dissolve into a red fluid resembling blood when their cores are destroyed, attributed to the collapse of their A.T. Fields.[10] This is possibly an analogue to LCL. Most register “Blood Type Blue”. “Orange” is seen on some rare occasions (Leliel's spherical shadow and Eva-03 parasitized by Bardiel; Armisael cycles between orange and blue when it first appears). What “Blood Type” actually refers to is unclear.
A core (コア) is a red, spherical organ possessed by all Angels and Evangelions, serving as the primary power organ. In Angels and some Evas, the core contain an S² Engine, as well. The core is (typically) the only vital point of Angels and Evas; unless it is sufficiently damaged, these entities can receive inordinate amounts of damage without truly dying. In those Evas that do not possess an S² Engine, the core still serves as the primary power organ, but it is only capable of supplying limited power without an S² Engine. A core is very hard and somewhat resistant to damage, though a solid strike from a Progressive Knife is enough to destroy one. Physically, cores are actually fairly brittle, and when damaged shards chip off and the core fractures, visually behaving like crystalline material. The core appears to uniformly serve as a container for the soul of the Angel or Eva. In humanoids such as Adam, the Evas, and Sachiel -- and even Zeruel and Israfel -- the core lays exposed in the solar plexus region. (Lilith, alternatively, has no exposed core. Being outside of Adam's "family", she may not possess one at all.) The organ is positioned variously in other Angels.
Several Angels demonstrate an ability to harness energy to trigger explosions or generate focused energy beams / energy-based projectiles. Angels possessing eyes -- Sachiel, Israfel, and Zeruel -- involve them in the energy projection process, although it's not entirely clear how this works. (I.e., if the eyes actually emit the energy, or if they simply act as a "focal point" of some sort.) Both Sachiel and Zeruel are capable of projecting the infamous cross-shaped explosions. Eva-01 and Eva-02 appear to have the same ability, suggesting that it perhaps "runs in the family". Most Angels are capable of enduring vast amounts of physical damage. As long as an Angel's core and S² Engine is intact, it can theoretically regenerate the damaged tissue, given enough time.
List of Angels
This is a breakdown of all numbered Angels according to the three main Evangelion continuities. Seele is thought to obtain the Angel names and ordinals from the Secret Dead Sea Scrolls. It is unclear why entities such as the Evangelions (copies of the Seeds) and Rei Ayanami (Lilith's "answer to" Tabris) are not included, since they would seem to possess all of the required qualifications, under the more expansive definition of "Angel". According to a statement made by Gendo in Evangelion 1.0, seven Angels remain to be defeated after the Sixth (Ramiel).
Adam is the designation of the First Angel, the first of Earth's two Seeds of Life and the progenitor of the Third through Seventeenth Angels. Adam is also the genetic basis of the Evangelions (with the possible exception of Eva-01). Adam's distinct physical features are never clearly shown, since, in the available glimpses of Adam's adult form, it is either partially covered by ice or in the form of a glowing silhouette, the "Giant of Light". However, it is visibly a giant humanoid with a morphology strikingly similar to that of an Evangelion, which is appropriate considering the genetic relationship between Adam and the Evas. The Giant of Light is observed with shoulder pylons, although a still-shot of the Katsuragi Expedition excavating Adam[1] confirms that the pylons were not initially present, implying that--similarly to what would be done with the Evas later--they were added as restraint mechanisms by the research team. Adam possesses the ability to manifest translucent "wings" ("Wings of Light"), which it begins to spread before reaching the surface of the research base. These greatly enlarge and split into four upon Adam's explosion. Second Impact reduced Adam's body into an embryonic state resembling a tetrapod embryo (complete with four defined limbs) in early development. Adam was created by the First Ancestral Race billions of years ago and sent to Earth within the White Moon to fill the Earth with its progeny, the Angels. However, before Adam could accomplish its mission, the "Black Moon" transport containing a second Seed of Life, Lilith, accidentally crash landed onto Earth. Two Seeds are not meant to exist on the same planet, and in the event that this accidentally occurs a Spear of Longinus which all Seeds are accompanied with should inactivate one Seed. However, the Spear accompanying Lilith was destroyed in the crash, leaving Adam's Spear as the only functional one on Earth. Thus, Adam was placed into suspended animation by its own Spear of Longinus, and the progeny of Lilith populated the planet instead of Angels. The inert Adam, and the Spear upon which it was impaled, were later discovered by the Katsuragi Expedition Team. Adam — especially its "S² Engine" — became the subject of intense scientific inquiry. This culminated in the so-called Contact Experiment, of which little is known beyond the involvement of a human "donor", DNA "diving" into Adam and "physically fusing", and Second Impact being ushered in as a result. It is heavily implied that the experiment produced the being that became known as Kaworu Nagisa. In the Contact Experiment's aftermath, Adam manifested an Anti A.T. Field (which produced the "thorough extermination of all life, including microorganisms"), altered the local "atmospheric elements", and opened its Doors of Guf — all actions implying the reawakened Adam was attempting to reclaim the Earth. [3] The Katsuragi Team's attempt to subdue Adam with the Spear of Longinus ultimately failed or was only partially successful. Adam killed the research team before it lost control of its S² Engine transforming it into the "Giant of Light" and ultimately triggering its own self-destruction. As Adam exploded, four massive wings (likened to those of a "devil", "akuma", in the script) manifested and extended as high as the stratosphere. This loss of control was possibly due the the Katsuragi Team's use of the Spear. The worldwide annihilation of Lilith-based life was averted, but not without cost: a global calamity known as Second Impact. The actual effect brought on by the earlier utilization of the Spear caused Adam's reversion into an embryonic or egg state, rather than being destroyed completely[4]. (How it could explode and revert at the same time is never explained.) Adam's soul was separated from its body, presumably when its core was destroyed in the explosion. Seele retrieved both Adam's soul and what remained of its body from the "Dead Sea" that has once been Antarctica. While the former was salvaged into Tabris, the embryo became the subject of the Adam Project and the basis for the "Adam Revival Project", better known as Project E, which aimed to create Adam copies, or Evangelions. In 2015, the embryonic Adam is clandestinely obtained by Ryoji Kaji, smuggled into Japan via the United Nations Pacific Fleet, and delivered to Gendo Ikari[7] at Nerv Headquarters. Adam is a crucial element in Gendo's own scenario for Third Impact, wherein he intends to use the "forbidden fusion of Adam and Lilith" as a means to achieve reunion with Yui. At an undisclosed point, Gendo has Adam fused into his right palm, and, in the moments before Third Impact, he inserts his hand into Rei. However, rather than carry out his wishes, Rei severs and absorbs Gendo's arm — fusing with Adam, but rejecting Gendo. The "forbidden fusion" is complete when Rei returns to Lilith. The resultant "Gestalt entity" is Lilith-dominant, only momentarily splitting into "Adam" and "Lilith" parts (shortly before Eva-01 transforms into the Tree of Life). Adam manifests in the form of a giant, ghostly white Kaworu Nagisa, which, together with subsequent appearances of the Kaworu avatar, implies that Gendo had salvaged Adam's soul back into its body shortly after Kaworu's death. The conglomerate being of which Adam became part dies when Shinji rejects Instrumentality. In spite of this, Lilith seems to continue existing in some form afterwards. Adam's own fate, however, is unknown.
Lilith is designated as the Second Angel. Like Adam, Lilith is a Seed of Life, created by the First Ancestral Race billions of years ago. Thus, Lilith is actually a co-equal being to Adam. The other Angels are the progeny of Adam, but Lilith is the progenitor of the "Lilim": humans. Thus is is actually somewhat misleading that Lilith has been designated as the "Second Angel", and indeed strictly speaking, it would be proper to say that Lilith is not an "Angel". Billions of years ago, Lilith's "Black Moon" transport vessel collided violently with Earth, purely by accident, in the event known as "First Impact", creating Earth's Moon. Lilith's own Spear of Longinus is presumed to be destroyed in the crash (CI). Earth already had a Seed of Life present on it, Adam, but no two Seeds are meant to land on the same planet. However, because Lilith's Spear of Longinus was destroyed, the only remaining Spear on the planet - Adam's - activated to try to fix the situation, and reduced Adam to a state of dormancy. Lilith then spread the primordial ooze from which "normal" terrestrial life on Earth evolved over the course of billions of years (bacteria, dolphins, monkeys, etc.), which culminated in the human race. Thus Lilith's progeny, humanity, usurped the place of Adam's progeny, the Angels, as the dominant race on Earth. For ages, the Black Moon containing Lilith was embedded deep within the Earth, and due to shifting tectonic plates the subterranean Black Moon eventually moved to a position underneath what would become Hakone, Japan, forming the massive underground cavern termed the "GeoFront". At some undetermined point in the recent past (possibly even before Second Impact) the Black Moon and Lilith were discovered by Seele. Gehirn (later, Nerv) headquarters and Tokyo-3 were built around its position. Lilith was kept crucified to a giant cross in the deepest and most secret level of Nerv HQ, Terminal Dogma, and used as a renewable source of LCL for the Evangelion Units (LCL in fact being Lilith's blood). Seele and Nerv used Lilith for various experiments, then intentionally let Lilith grow to a point just before it could be used to initiate Instrumentality (for convenience), but then halted its growth by impaling it on the recovered Spear of Longinus which had been paired with Adam. Thus Lilith would be ready to use in initiating Third Impact as soon as the other components needed for the process were in place. The Evangelion Units were created by making clones of Adam, with the exception of Evangelion Unit-01. Eva-01 is the only clone of Lilith (hence it is the "Test-Type"). Still images in Episode 23 suggest that instead of merely taking genetic samples from Lilith, Evangelion Unit-01 was created by physically tearing away from the lower half of Lilith, forming itself from the body mass of Lilith's legs (explaining its legs' conspicuous absence) and tearing away from Lilith trailing tattered ropes of flesh, in a mockery of the natural birth process. Lilith appears to be a vaguely-formed roughly Evangelion-sized humanoid upper torso with blubbery white flesh, of non-distinct gender. Lilith has no legs or hips when it is seen in the year 2015, its torso terminating in blobby masses with dozens of humanoid-sized pairs of legs growing out of it. Lilith is kept restrained in Terminal Dogma, crucified onto a giant red cross: large nails are driven through its palms into the cross from which it hangs. Lilith has five fingers on each hand (just like a human). Lilith remains totally immobile and unreactive, simply hanging limp on the cross it's nailed to and unresponsive to events around it. The Spear of Longinus was impaled through Lilith's chest while it was restrained on the cross in Terminal Dogma, but after Eva Unit 00 removed the Lance in Episode 23, Lilith's lower-legs grew back (though its new legs still had dozens of pairs of humanoid legs growing out of them, from the region of its thighs). LCL is actually Lilith's blood, a steady stream of it pouring down the cross, and it is the true source of the LCL used in Evangelion Entry Plugs. Indeed, the "LCL Production Plant" is really just a large artificial lake of LCL formed by it pooling on the level beneath Lilith's red cross. The LCL apparently flows out of the exit wound formed by the Spear of Longinus in Lilith's back (as there is no LCL flowing out of the front of its torso) though Nerv has been collecting LCL from Lilith since long before the Spear was recovered in 2015 (in Episode 12). Several production sketches reveal that there are actually tubes coming out of the back of Lilith's head, labeled "LCL tube A" etc., which may be another means of extracting it. Perhaps Lilith's most distinctive feature is the purple mask which covers its face. Lilith has seven eyes arranged in two vertical rows on its face, three on the right and four on the left, and the mask contains holes for each of the eyes. Etched onto the mask is a pointed-downwards triangle which intersects all of the eyes (except for the lowest eye on the left). It is not entirely clear if the mask is a natural part of Lilith (some form of bone-plate), or if it is another artificial restraint placed onto it. The symbol of the mysterious Seele organization is the face of Lilith: a pointed down triangle intersecting seven eyes arranged unevenly into two rows of three and four. Whether the mask is a restraint which Seele put its emblem on, or if the mask is part of Lilith's naturally occurring face and Seele copied it as their symbol, is unknown. The purple mask is roughly oval shaped, and is somewhat dinged and dented. Lilith's marshmallowy white flesh forms several blubbery folds around its head (leading to the appearance of almost having two double chins). Lilith also has two ill-defined lumpy and uneven blobs on the sides of its head which are apparently its ears. Lilith's back, visible only when it descends from its cross moments before it physically begins to manifest as Rei (which it had merged with), appears to be very bumpy where vertebrae form large blubbery lumps in a line running down its back.
Sachiel is the Third Angel, and the first to appear in the 15 years since Second Impact. Sachiel is a spindly, amphibious humanoid Angel slightly larger than an Evangelion. The Angel has an unusually lanky physique and exaggerated proportions, arms reaching below the knees, and elongated shins and feet, with the impression of leg length furthered by the absence of a head and neck. Like other humanoid Angels, Sachiel possesses a core located in the solar plexus region. Both of Sachiel's faces- the initial long-beaked one and the short-beaked one that grows after the N² mine attack, are made of ossified material and shaped like a bird skull, the long beaked face being capable of limited mobility. Sachiel has eyes with red irises deep within the eye sockets, which, in the long-beaked face, are capable of blinking. Unusual among Angels, Sachiel possesses a respiration system based in the thighs and crotch, breathing in through gills in the thighs and exhaling through a nostril in the crotch. The gills also serve as underwater propulsion. Sachiel possesses blood of a bluish-purple color, making it unique among Angels for whom blood has been observed. While Sachiel is not a flight-capable Angel, it demonstrates an ability to make A.T. Field enhanced jumps while escaping attacking VTOL craft. The Angel's natural weaponry are two red "lances" that extend from its forearms and can be energized to increase their destructive capacity. These are physical structures that serve as (or presumably fit within) the Angel's ulna or outer arm bone. Following the N2 land mine explosion, Sachiel developed a new face with the ability to set off cross-shaped explosions through its eye sockets. The explosions can be used against aerial targets such as reconnaissance aircraft and, against fixed structures or even be horizontally oriented (the horizontal version of this attack was utterly ineffective against Eva-01). Sachiel is also capable of altering its body shape and muscle mass, increasing its muscle mass when under strain. As a last resort, it can wrap itself into a ball around its opponent and self-destruct. Sachiel first appeared out of the ocean, coming ashore just east of Tokyo-3. The JSSDF tried to stop Sachiel's advance, sending in a force of tanks and Heavy Fighter Jet-VTOL craft, but they fail miserably. After advancing past the tank battalion stationed on the shore, Sachiel was knocked back by a missile barrage from VTOL craft- possibly simply in surprise. The Angel soon got used to the attacks and didn't even flinch. Instead of behaving like a stereotypical "rampaging giant monster", it shot down a VTOL that had attacked it with the attitude of swatting a fly, before avoiding the attackers with a huge A.T. Field assisted leap similar to limited flight. The JSSDF eventually used their "last resort" by luring Sachiel to the region of Mt. Takanosu, and then detonating a planted N² Mine underneath its feet. This results in considerable damage to Sachiel, melting some 18% of its mass, but it is only a matter of hours before it regenerates the damage. In the process of regenerating from the N² Mine attack, Sachiel's original bony "face" structure is pushed towards the upper right of its torso as a new slightly more rounded bony "face" grows from the center of its chest. While this fails to stop Sachiel, it does slow down the Angel long enough for Nerv to prepare Evangelion Unit-01 to be sent into combat against Sachiel. Sachiel appears to be capable of learning from its environment and upgrading its physical capabilities in response to external threats. After the Angel regenerates from the N² Mine attack, it develops a new ability: a long-range energy blast (which results in crucifix-shaped spikes of energy) which it fires from its eyes (on its new, more rounded face). Sachiel does begin to attack surrounding buildings when it gets to Tokyo-3 itself (possibly because it was trying to get to Nerv HQ below). Finally, Eva-01 was launched against Sachiel, but the Eva promptly fell flat on its face. Sachiel then grabbed Eva by the head, and broke its left arm. During this, Sachiel again displayed its ability to adapt, by instantly increasing the muscle mass of its own arm to increase its physical strength. While holding Eva-01 by the head, Sachiel then shot out its energy lance from its palm, impaling Eva-01's head and flinging it against a building. However, Eva-01 then went into "berserker" mode, making a somersaulting drop-kick against Sachiel ending in Eva-01 ripping off half of Sachiel's ossified face. Eva-01 made a second rampage at the Angel, only to be stopped by its A.T. Field. The Eva regenerated its broken arm and eroded the A.T. Field with its own. Sachiel used its cross-blast weapon against the Evangelion, to no effect. The Eva proceeded to grab both the Angel's arms with its left hand and broke them with a sharp snap, then kicked it into a building, and followed up by charging into it. The Eva then broke off pieces of bone from Sachiel's exterior ribs and repeatedly drove them into the Angel's core, slowly cracking it. Realizing it was on the verge of defeat, Sachiel once more adapted itself to give its body a whip-like consistently then jumped onto Eva-01, wrapped itself around the Eva, and self-destructed. However, even this self-sacrificial attack failed to destroy Eva-01, which emerged from the destruction with only moderate damage.
Shamshel is the Fourth Angel, the second to attack Tokyo-3, a mere 3 weeks after Sachiel's attack marked the return of the Angels. Shamshel is a roughly Evangelion-sized insect-like Angel capable of transforming between a horizontally oriented "flight form" and a vertically oriented "combat mode". Its offensive weapons are two long, glowing, pink energy-tentacles. The tentacles, which are strong enough to lift an Evangelion off the ground and throw it a large distance, also have power to pierce an Evangelion's torso with little effort. Its skin is mostly purple, with some pink sections underneath its "head". Shamshel appears to have two false eye spots on the top of its head composed of an inner black circle and outer yellow ring. Shamshel has two main arms, from which its long energy-tentacles extend. The Angel's core is located on its torso just underneath its head. It also has eight small, insect-like legs situated underneath its "head", situated just below its core. The energy whips are actually physically structures; they're not just made of energy, though they are charged with energy, as can be seen when they power-down after Shamshel dies but are still physically present. When Shamshel switches from its flight-form to its battle-form, its large front arms (which the energy-tentacles come out of) change form as well. They don't just separate and change position (when in flight-form they are touching each other), but actually change shape somewhat. Shamshel appears more aggressive than the preceding Angel, Sachiel. While Sachiel took largely to a defensive standpoint after the damaged Eva-01 went berserk and attacked it, Shamshel was much more aggressive in attacking Eva-01, severing the umbilical cable and flinging the Eva all the way onto a mountainside before moving to attack it again. Shamshel appears over the ocean and makes landfall at Odawara before heading for Tokyo-3, easily passing through all defensive emplacements. Using Eva-01, Shinji tries to shoot Shamshel with his palette rifle, but fails to neutralize its A.T. Field and only ends up obscuring the target with smoke. Shamshel then strikes out of the smoke, lashing out with its energized whips, destroying the palette rifle and driving Shinji into a panic. The Angel proceeds to drive back the Eva, ripping apart buildings with its energy whips in the process. Eva-01's umbilical cable is also severed with the destruction of one of the buildings(It might have been the electrical building the Eva was connected to), before an energy whip grabs her leg and throws her high into the air, into on a nearby mountainside. Eva-01 grabs Shamshel's energy tentacles in her bare hands, sustaining severe burns before finally flinging the Angel away. With Eva-01 running out of power, and ignoring orders to retreat, Shinji charged the Eva down the mountainside at the Angel and stabbed its core with his progressive knife, while Shamshel impaled Eva-01 on its energy tentacles. Ultimately Shamshel's core cracked and it died, almost the same time the Eva ran out of power. Shamshel's body was left behind as an almost fully intact specimen of an Angel.
Ramiel is the Fifth Angel, one of the largest and most powerful. Ramiel becomes the first Angel to physically penetrate the Geofront when its drill bit breaks through the armor. Compared to the Angels which preceded it, Ramiel has a drastically different form and does not appear to be "alive" in a conventional sense, it appears to be a gigantic[2] floating crystalline octahedron (two pyramids attached at the base, one on top and one on bottom). The surface of Ramiel is blue and highly reflective. The Angel has a deadly directed beam attack capable of melting through an Evangelion's armor in seconds, and it can sustain the blast for a very long period of time, perhaps indefinitely. While most other Angel attacks remain inexplicable, Ramiel is shown activating an "Inner Torus Reactor", a type of nuclear fusion reactor, to power the beam. The beam is capable of hitting any target within the Angel's firing radius with perfect accuracy, and the Angel itself is capable of detecting threats coming up from underground as well as beyond its normal firing range. The potency of its attack makes Ramiel too dangerous to engage in direct combat with an Evangelion. In addition, Ramiel has one of the strongest A.T. Fields of all the Angels, so strong that the naked eye can see it refracting light when it attacked. The A.T. Field is quoted as needing a massive 180 million kilowatts (1.8 X 1011 watts) to penetrate. Combined, these potent defensive and offensive abilities make Ramiel a veritable flying fortress. Ramiel also possesses a drilling appendage which it can extend out of its main body, which it uses to drill straight down into the GeoFront itself. However, the Angel is indeed biological. In the shots of the Angel being demolished in the following episode, bloody red squares are seen where the Angel's armor/surface structure is being taken off, indicating that it does have blood. Ramiel approaches Tokyo-3 by flying in from over the ocean. Eva-01 was sortied to attack the Angel on the surface, without any prior intelligence on the Angel's abilities. Ramiel detected the Eva even before it reached the surface and powered up a deadly particle beam that shot straight through a building and nearly melted through the Eva's chest armor. The pilot, Shinji Ikari, was almost killed inside his entry plug. Ramiel proceeded to use a large drill-appendage to begin drilling through the armor plating of Tokyo-3 to reach Nerv HQ below in the GeoFront. Subsequent experiments, including the use of an inflatable dummy Eva-01 and an attack with a Type-12 mortar, determined that Ramiel's particle beam targeted any threat within a particular radius, with perfect accuracy. Ramiel's AT field was also the most powerful ever observed when it was encountered, strong enough to visibly warp light when fully deployed. Realizing they could not get an Eva close enough to Ramiel to neutralize its AT Field, Misato came up with a plan to channel the entire electrical output of Japan into an experimental new positron rifle, which Eva-01 would fire while Eva-00 provided support. While Eva-01 sniped Ramiel, Eva 00 protected their position with a specially converted "shield" made from the heat shield on the underside of an SSTO spacecraft. Ramiel reacted to the Evas by firing its energy beam at the same time that Eva-01 fired its first shot; the two energy beams warped each other as they passed by and caused both to miss. Ramiel's second shot was blocked by Eva-00 with its shield, but its shield could only hold for so long and it was badly damaged. However, Eva-01's second shot pierced Ramiel, destroying it.
Gaghiel is the Sixth Angel, resembling a giant prehistoric fish-like creature or possibly a strange variety of mosasaur, and the only aquatic Angel. Gaghiel is the only angel truly adapted for aquatic environments alone, as opposed to Sachiel, who was amphibious. Unlike most Angels, it has a massive mouth with multiple rows of teeth, like a shark. The Angel's core is located in the back of its throat, behind its tongue. Gaghiel also has a small bony "face" plate similar to that of Sachiel located on its dorsal surface. Gaghiel's touth-filled mouth; note the core in the back Gaghiel's "body core" alone, from the tip of its jaws to the base of its tail, appears to be slightly larger than a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, which is itself 317 meters long (well over 1,040 feet). Gaghiel attacked the UN Pacific Fleet's naval convoy transporting Evangelion Unit-02 and its pilot, Asuka Langley Soryu, to Japan. Gaghiel severely damaged the fleet, but appeared to be searching for something (actually, Adam, secretly being transported with the convoy by Kaji. Thinking fast, Asuka launched Eva-02 manually, with Shinji Ikari along for the ride in the Entry Plug. With limited battery power, Asuka then played "hopscotch" with the UN fleet by jumping from one ship's deck to another to avoid Gaghiel and reach the nuclear aircraft carrier Over the Rainbow, so Eva-02 could switch to external power from the carrier's reactor. Gaghiel then bore down on the carrier, and while Asuka tried to stab it with Eva-02's progressive knife. However, Gaghiel was so massive that it ended up knocking the Eva into the ocean. Eva-02 was unable to move underwater with B-type standard equipment, and Gaghiel bit down on it and swarm around the ocean floor (ruins of a flooded coastal city) with the helpless Eva in its jaws, as the Eva's umbilical power cable reached its maximum length. Misato Katsuragi then came up with the idea of intentionally sinking two battleships on a course for Gaghiel, then having Eva-02 force open the Angel's mouth to allow the battleships inside. The battleships were then remote activated to fire all of their guns and then self-destruct, killing Gaghiel.
Israfel is the Seventh Angel, capable of splitting itself into two identical copies for simultaneous attacks. Israfel is a vaguely humanoid Angel with the capacity to split into two "twins"[2], which are morphologically nearly identical to the single-body form apart from size and coloration: the twin designated Alpha (甲, Kou) is gold, and Beta (乙, Otsu) is silver. The twins are roughly the same size as an Evangelion, while the single body is noticeably larger. Even when completely independent of each other, both twins act in synchronization. The face on Israfel's single-body form is shaped like a blue and red Yin-Yang symbol, with two eyes that are capable of blinking. Both twins have a gray plate with three eyes in a triangular configuration, which are capable of firing energy blasts. The single-body form has only one core, while each of the twins has its own core. Both the bodies can rejoin spontaneously, although the two cores take longer to fuse. When Asuka cleaves Israfel completely in half it does not bleed at all, or appear to possess internal organs of any kind other than the core. Its insides are composed of a uniform pink fleshy material. Of all Angels to use energy attacks, Israfel's attack is the weakest, setting off somewhat small explosions and leaving nothing more than a large crater in an ordinary armor plate. In comparison, Sachiel and Zeruel can breach the Geofront with their cruciform explosions, Ramiel can melt down an Eva's frontal armor in mere seconds and sustain the beam indefinitely, and Zeruel's beam attack blasted off Eva-01's chest armor in one shot. Israfel is similarly weak on the defensive side as well, taking severe damage from an N2 depth charge and taking days to regenerate, when Sachiel regenerated within a few hours and grew a second face almost immediately after being hit. Also, Zeruel took no damage at all from an N2 weapon explosion in direct contact, and over a dozen N2 weapons were used against Sahaquiel to no effect. Israfel first appeared off the Kii peninsula of Japan, which is fairly far away from Tokyo-3, being located a bit south of Osaka. However, after Israfel's first battle in which it defeats Eva 01 and Eva 02, Eva 01 is described as being sunk two kilometers from Suruga Bay, which is thus where the battle must have taken place. Suruga Bay is south of Tokyo-3, thus instead of approaching Tokyo-3 from the east like Sachiel, Shamshel, and Ramiel did, Israfel advanced from the coast to the south. However, on its final approach to the city, Israfel is said to pass through the Gora defense line. Israfel was confronted by Eva-01 and Eva-02 immediately upon making landfall. Eva-01 provided covering rifle fire while Eva-02 charged at the Angel with a Sonic Glaive. The Angel did not display any offensive or defensive action and was cleaved in half by Eva-02. However, the two halves converted into twins, which acted in concert to defeat the two Evangelions (off-screen). The JSSDF reacted to the defeat of the Evangelions by dropping an N2 depth charge on the Angel, causing severe tissue damage and forcing the Angel to regenerate for several days. In the meantime, both pilots were rescued and their Evas were recovered, while Nerv came up with a plan to destroy the Angel. Once regenerated, the Angel approached Tokyo-3 and breached the final line at Goura[3], at which point both Evangelions and supporting UN units attacked it in a synchronized attack choreographed to music, forcing the Angel to repeatedly combine and recombine before forcing it into an appropriate position to strike. Both Evas drove into the cores of the two twins, which had yet to fuse together in the larger body, and forced the Angel into a hillside, where it self-destructed.
'Sandalphon is the 8th Angel, discovered in an embryonic state, and annihilated, within the magma of Mount Asama. Sandalphon's "adult" form is flattened, finned, and overall fish-like. The Cambrian Era (540-490 million years ago) aquatic predator Anomalocaris has been cited as conceptual inspiration, and a couple of features carry over directly: the ring-shaped, ventrally-positioned mouth and the large eyes situated atop stalks. Sandalphon has long, sinuous arms that terminate in human-like hands, each with four fingers and a thumb; the spines on the digits mimic those of Anomalocaris feeding appendages. When it moves the arms are extended outward perpendicular to its body, like wings or fins. What appear to be a pair of mock eyes lie on the left side of the head, evoking the unusual optical arrangement of a flatfish. The Angel's core potentially lies beneath the left-hand "eye" (in battle, it is the target of two separate attacks by Asuka). Sandalphon's physical constitution is specialized for the intense conditions within the volcano, to the point that even internal structures are uncompromised (indicated when it opens its mouth without adverse effect). As a result, a weapon such as the Progressive Knife is, normally, incapable of afflicting damage. Sandalphon is somewhat larger than an Evangelion, but still of close enough size to an Eva that they can engage in a fairly even melee combat. The Angel is initially discovered in a embryonic state, vaguely resembling a human embryo and encased within a dark, elliptical cocoon-like object. When Sandalphon prepares to hatch, it vocalizes in the same manner as a human baby (however distorted) and proceeds to rearrange its mass into a new form. (The transformation is obscured by a blurry distortion, a convention in the show typically used to indicate the employment of an A.T. Field.) According to Ritsuko, Sandalphon's emergence occurs "much earlier than ... predicted", although no further elaboration is provided. To deepen the mystery, even in a subadult state, the Angel exceeds its own mother in size (in being larger than Eva-02). Ritsuko also comments on the ovular object, "It's something like a chrysalis prior to reaching the adult stage". A chrysalis, or pupa, is a stage in the developmental cycle of some insects, which proceeds from egg to larva, to pupa, to adult. For the comparison to be meaningful, Sandalphon would have needed to be in a free-roaming "larval" state (independent of the "chrysalis") at some point before it was first encountered. However, what is known about Adam's offspring (however sparse) makes this concept difficult to justify and leaves no evidence that they follow an insect's life cycle like this. Accordingly, the casing is should probably be equated more with an egg than with a chrysalis. After the Mt. Asama Earthquake Research Laboratory discovers the embryonic Sandalphon, Nerv undertakes an operation with the intention of capturing a live Angel. Eva-02 is deployed in D-Type Equipment -- specialized for protection against extreme heat, pressure, and radiation -- with a "catcher" capable of generating an electromagnetic cage. Eva-01 remains at the surface of the volcano as backup. Although Eva-02 needs to be lowered further than the predicted depth to find the Angel, and loses her utility belt (together with the Progressive Knife) along the way, Sandalphon is successfully intercepted and captured. However, it soon rouses, transforms, and breaks free of the cage. With Sandalphon designated a target for annihilation, Shinji throws Eva-01's knife down to Asuka to replace the one she had lost. After briefly breaking away, the Angel engages Eva-02. Sandalphon plants its mouth over Eva-02's helmet, blocks her knife with its right hand, and clutches her left leg with the other, eventually damaging the suit and causing the leg to be detached below the knee. Due to the Angel's heavily reinforced physical constitution, the Progressive Knife is completely ineffective. At length, Asuka -- recalling an earlier interchange with Shinji about thermal expansion -- severs one of the suit's coolant tubes and forces it into Sandalphon's mouth. This, together with a renewed knife assault, eventually kills Sandalphon. No more than a couple of minutes after hatching, it dissolves into the magma without a trace.
Matarael is the Ninth Angel, which attacks when Tokyo-3 is in the middle of a power blackout. Matarael is a gigantic opilinoid-like entity, with four immensely large legs (which are taller than most skyscrapers) and a relatively small body core. The many "eyes" on Matarael's central body are not actual eyes, but a camouflage pattern using mimicry to confuse its enemies, although the central eye appears to be real and functional. The Angel secretes orange-colored corrosive acid from its central "eye", which can burn through anything. Matarael does not have a visible core; it appears to be hidden internally, as per Ramiel and Sandalphon. With Tokyo-3's electrical power sabotaged by an unknown human party, Nerv was incapable of detecting Matarael's landfall or receiving any information about it, thus giving it no opposition from Evangelions or surface defenses. Matarael moved into a position above the Geofront and began to secrete corrosive acid from its central eye to breach the armor below. Nerv eventually learnt of the Angel's presence and launched the Evangelions manually, fitted with extra battery backs. The Evangelions climbed through access shafts, reaching an access shaft directly under the Angel's position. Splashed with corrosive acid, the Evas dropped their weapons and fell down the shaft. Asuka Langley Soryu took charge and devised a battle plan in which Eva-02 would neutralize the Angel's A.T. Field and protect the Evas below from the acid, while Eva-00 would jump to the bottom of the shaft, retrieve a weapon, and pass it on to Eva-01. Eva-02 would move out of the way while Eva-01 fired directly upwards at the Angel. The plan was executed perfectly, and Matarael was killed in a prolonged burst of rifle fire.
Sahaquiel is the Tenth Angel, which attacks from orbit. Sahaquiel is one of two Angels that appear in Earth's orbit (the other being Arael). This Angel is truly enormous, even when compared to the other Angels: the radius of the "pupil" of its central eye alone is roughly equal to the height of an Evangelion. Sahaquiel's body is characterized by its vaguely amoeba-like shape, and the giant eye marking in its middle. Sahaquiel is capable of using its body as a massive bomb, or of dropping pieces of itself from orbit, causing massive explosions on the ground as a reference to home in on its target. It has a very strong A.T. Field, strong enough and expansive enough to withstand over a dozen N² aerial bomb detonations almost without effect, and which can be put to offensive use as well. The A.T. Field works in conjunction with kinetic energy to enhance Sahaquiel's explosive power. In addition, the Angel can jam satellite communications and tracking systems. After appearing in high earth orbit, the Angel is initially attacked by over a dozen N² mines, but to absolutely no effect. Two reconnaissance satellites are sent to scan it, but are crushed by the angel's offensive AT field deployment. Sahaquiel proceeds by detaching parts of itself and dropping them onto the earth. Each subsequent part lands closer to the Geofront's location as it refines its aim. Nerv believes its ultimate goal is to finally descend with its entire mass in order penetrate the Geofront and recover Adam.Misato's plan to stop the Angel has a very slim chance of success, so all the civilian population of Tokyo-3 evacuates along with the Geofront's non-essential personnel. The three Evangelions are deployed at different points to cover as much as possible of the area in which Sahaquiel may land, with orders to "catch" the Angel with their A.T. Fields before destroying it. Eva-01 intercepts the Angel on the top of a mountain, Although its A.T. Field is able to stall the Angel's descent, the Eva is increasingly unable to handle Sahaquiel on its own as it is pushed into the turf and its arms burst open, Eva-00 and Eva-02 arrive shortly afterward, helping to push Sahaquiel back with their own A.T. Fields, and then wielding their prog knives to cut through the Angel's field and penetrate its core, respectively. Upon death, the Angel collapses over the Evas and spontaneously explodes. The mountain is evaporated into a crater, but the Evas and their pilots are unharmed by the explosion.
Ireul is the Eleventh Angel. Ireul is actually a collection of microscopic-sized organisms which act in concert to form a living biological computer circuit. Ireul is capable of spreading as a physical infestation, essentially a single ever-expanding colony formed of the microscopic organisms. It can take over and control systems which it has infected, such as the simulation Eva bodies. The Angel's A.T. Field isn't a single polygonal barrier, but a moving, pulsating grid of hexagons. The Angel is capable of rapidly adapting in response to any external threat. While the ability to alter or enhance abilities to meet with new challenges had previously been seen to a limited degree with Angels such as Sachiel, this is Ireul's primary skill: it will "evolve" to meet literally any challenge. For example, originally Ireul was harmed by Ozone (O3), so Nerv HQ's command team tried to defeat it by pumping large amounts of Ozone into the region of Nerv HQ which it had infected. While this momentarily harmed Ireul, within a matter of seconds it responded by evolving itself to adapt to these conditions, to the point that it actually thrived on Ozone. Ireul seems to be incredibly intelligent; upon forming itself into a biological computer circuit connected to Nerv's computer network through the infected systems in the Pribnow box control room, it was capable of hacking and reprogramming two out of three Magi supercomputers within only a few minutes. It it not clear if this should be taken to mean that Ireul was truly "sentient", but it certainly seemed to know exactly what it was doing and to be capable of performing extremely complex goal-oriented tasks. Ireul appeared in a newly-installed piece of equipment in Nerv HQ itself, in the "87th protein barrier", from which it spread by infecting surrounding material including the simulation Evangelion Unit bodies. The infected simulation Eva body closest to the command box reached up its hand to attack the personnel inside, but at the last moment Ritsuko remotely blew the arm off using implanted emergency detonators. Nerv personnel tried to attack the infection using several Polysome robot drones armed with lasers, but the attack was shown to be useless when Ireul easily blocked it with its A.T. Field. Realizing that the infection was an Angel, all personnel abandoned the Pribnow box, just as the glass windows shattered and flooded with water. The entire Sigma Unit was quarantined, and Nerv's command staff had to decide how to defeat the Angel: the Evangelions were evacuated from the base by launching them without pilots on Gendo Ikari's orders, as if the Angel were to succeed in infecting the Evas it would be the end of everything. Thus, they had to somehow defeat the Angel without using the Evas. From the main Command Center, the Nerv command staff noticed that Ireul did not spread to areas of the Pribnow box that contained heavy water with Ozone in it. Realizing that Ireul was harmed by ozone, they remotely flooded the chamber with Ozone. The attempt briefly worked, but within a few moments Ireul rapidly adapted its own biology so that it now thrived on Ozone, and began to spread even faster. Although the Sigma Unit of the base was evacuated, Ireul spread to infect the computers in the Pribnow box, and formed a living computer circuit. Ireul then began infiltrating Nerv HQ's Magi supercomputer system, hacking into and reprogramming them, trying to initiate the base's self-destruct mechanism. However, a simultaneous vote by all three Magi supercomputers was needed to self-destruct, and Ritsuko was briefly able to halt its advance after it compromises 2 out of 3 Magi. Ritsuko then developed a plan to defeat Ireul: the Angel constantly evolved to overcome any threat to itself, but as a result it could be tricked into "evolving" into a dead-end, effectively programming it to kill itself. In a race to see if Ritsuko's program would work faster than Ireul's infiltration of the final Magi supercomputer, Ritsuko's kill-program prevailed and the Angel was defeated.
Leliel is the Twelfth Angel. Leliel is an extremely bizarre entity that exists in a pocket-dimension explained only by higher-order Physics theories. Initially, Leliel appears to be a floating sphere with a warped black and white color pattern that suddenly appears over Tokyo-3. However, Leliel's real body is actually what appears to be a shadow on the ground. The manifestation of Leliel's body in our dimension is 680 meters wide but only 3 nanometers thick; the floating sphere is just the "shadow" it casts in our dimension. Because it possess an inverted A.T. Field, it can absorb any material from our dimension inside of its body, within which is a "Dirac Sea". A Dirac Sea is a vacuum-like pocket dimension, from which there is no escape. All three Evangelion Units are deployed against Leliel when it first appears over Tokyo-3. Eva-01 charged ahead and fired at the floating sphere, thinking it was the Angel's real body, onto be be sucked down into Leliel's real shadow-body and communication was lost. Eva-02 barely escaped being sucked into Leliel as well, but avoided it by climbing onto a building. Eva-00 fired several shots at it the floating sphere with its large sniper rifle, but this only succeeded in damaging nearby buildings. Nerv pulled back its forces, and Ritsuko explained the bizarre nature of the Angel. Ritsuko proposed a plan whereby Eva-00 and Eva-02 would neutralize Leliel's AT Field with their own, and then the JSSDF would drop the remaining 992 N² bombs into its body. This would hopefully kill the Angel as well as recover Eva-01, regardless of whether in the process the plan would end up killing Shinji or not. Against Misato's protests, Ritsuko's plan was given the go-ahead. Just as Eva-01's maximum life-support power time limit was reached, 16 hours later, the plan was about to be put into effect. However, just then the Eva went into "berserker mode" and despite having its battery power totally drained, savagely tore its way out of Leliel's body, tearing its way out of Leliel's floating sphere in a shower of blood, also shattering its real shadow-body on the ground.
Bardiel is the Thirteenth Angel, which infects and takes over Evangelion Unit-03. The form that Bardiel originally took, when it was hiding in a thundercloud, is not seen, but is assumed to be similar to the fungus-like growth on Eva-03. Somewhat similar to Ireul's control over the Simulation Bodies, the fungus-like Bardiel-infection spread into the Evangelion's systems, revealing itself when Eva-03 was activated at the secondary Nerv testing facility at Matsushiro. The infected Eva set off an explosion, partially destroying the base, and then proceeded towards Tokyo-3. Bardiel is capable of spreading its infection beyond the Eva under its control, such as when it tried to spread to Eva-00 by seeping infected ooze out of Eva-03's arm. The presence of the Entry Plug and/or the Pilot seems to be necessary for the Angel to effectively control an Evangelion, since Bardiel physically prevented the Entry Plug from being ejected. That the Dummy System-controlled Eva-01 went specifically for the Entry Plug (which bled after being crushed) implies that a substantial portion of the Angel, presumably the portion of the Angel in control of the Eva, was located within the Entry Plug. Whether or not Bardiel had direct contact with Toji Suzuhara is not directly stated, although probable. Bardiel is shown to be capable of mutating its host Eva, shown both with Eva-03's ability to leak infectious ooze and extend its arms to amazing lengths, instantaneously increasing them to nearly twice as long as an Evangelion is tall. Eva-00, Eva-01 and Eva-02 were all deployed against the infected Eva-03, which was now re-classified as the 13th Angel. Bardiel succeeded in attacking and incapacitating Eva-02 when Asuka was distracted. Eva-00 succeeded in gaining a position from which it could attack from behind, but Rei hesitated to fire and possibly kill Toji, who was still trapped inside the infected Eva's entry plug. Her hesitation allowed the Angel to react to Eva-00's presence by making the infected Eva back flip and pin Eva-00 to the ground. The Bardiel-infection then began oozing out of Eva-03's arm and onto Eva-00's left arm, in an attempt to spread the infection. However, Nerv acted quickly and remotely severed its left arm with internal explosive charges, leaving the still-synchronized Rei writhing in pain. Bardiel did not press its attack on the downed Eva-00, and continued to advance. Bardiel then encountered Eva-01. With Shinji totally unwilling to fight and risk killing the human pilot trapped inside Eva-03, the infected Eva attacked Eva-01, knocking it down on its back before extending its mutated arms to strangle Eva-01. Pinned against a mountain, with Shinji refusing to fight despite being in danger of being killed himself, Gendo Ikari ordered that pilot control over Eva-01 be cut and the Dummy System be activated. Under the Dummy System's control, Eva-01 reached berserk-like power levels and strangled the Angel-infected Eva in turn, breaking Eva-03's neck in little time. With Bardiel's host body crippled, the Angel was no longer capable of physical attack. The crippled Eva was thrown to the ground, its skull smashed in and its body ripped apart, until the infected Eva's entry plug was crushed, and along with it, the last of Bardiel.
Zeruel is the Fourteenth Angel, and one of the most powerful: the deadliest of the Angels that focus on direct, conventional combat. It is among the three to penetrate Nerv Headquarters, and the only one to do so through a direct assault. Zeruel bears the unique distinction of providing (however unwillingly) the S² Engine that elevates Eva-01 to "god" status. Zeruel is a vaguely humanoid Angel slightly larger than an Evangelion, with a large, bulky body and prominent core. Zeruel's distinctive arms hang from its large, bony "shoulders", folding up when not used and reaching lengths at least three times the Angel's height when deployed, serving as deadly cutting weapons. Zeruel is shown to be capable of forming fists in production drawings, although the only time separate digits are seen in-show is when Zeruel lifts Eva-01 by the head. The face is made capable of changing its consistency, from being hard enough to cast sparks on impact to rubbery enough to be lifted like a mask. It is attached to a sinewy "neck" normally kept inside the body and is capable of a limited degree of movement. Two eyes hidden inside the deep "sockets" are, as with Zeruel's kin Sachiel and Israfel, employed for both vision and energy projection. Zeruel demonstrates an enhanced ability for firing the familiar cross-shaped energy blasts fired by Sachiel: a single shot breaches eighteen of the GeoFront's twenty-two protective armor layers and being capable of setting off four in rapid succession. It can also fire focused energy beams directly from its eyes, taking a few seconds to charge before releasing a powerful burst of energy. Zeruel moves by A.T. Field-assisted levitation, although it is capable of quadrupedal locomotion as well. Its legs, although stubby and without feet, are not vestigial, and in combination with the folded arms allow the Angel to walk on all fours. Zeruel's blood is colored red. The core is rather large relative to Zeruel's body, and the S² Engine within may be, accordingly, "oversized", perhaps accounting in part for the discrepancy in power between Zeruel and other, similarly sized Angels. Zeruel possesses a protective lid-membrane capable of shielding the core when threatened, and it serves as a testament to Zeruel's incredibly tough constitution: even when an N² bomb is detonated in direct contact with the (protected) core, not only is the red sphere left completely unscathed, but the rest of the body is, as well. Appearing soon after the fight against the 13th Angel, Bardiel, Zeruel attacked Nerv before it had time to fully recover from the previous Angel's attack. Zeruel breached the armor layers above the GeoFront at great speed, giving Nerv no time to try to engage it on the surface. Eva-02 was deployed inside of the GeoFront to engage it, but its pallet rifle and rocket fire proved ineffective. Zeruel used its arms to cut off Eva-02's arms, and soon after, its head, taking it out of battle. Soon after, Eva-00 emerged from underground, still missing an arm from the previous battle, and charged Zeruel with an N² bomb in its remaining arm. Despite shoving through the Angel's A.T. Field and the bomb making physical contact with the Angel, Zeruel emerged unharmed while Eva-00, having lost its other arm to the resultant explosion, was also incapacitated. Zeruel breached Nerv headquarters and descended to Central Dogma, breaking through the wall into the command center's central display area. The Angel attempted to kill the personnel inside but was stopped by Eva-01, which fought it out of the room. Zeruel blasted off Eva-01's left arm but the Eva succeeded in forcing it onto an Evangelion launching catapult, taking the fight to the surface. Eva-01 battered Zeruel and was on the verge of ripping off the Angel's face before it ran out of power. Zeruel destroyed the immobilized Eva's chest plate and struck repeatedly at the Eva's now-exposed core, the shocks threatening to crush the Entry Plug inside the Eva. However, Eva-01 then entered berserk mode, blocked the Angel's attacks, ripped off the Angel's arm to regenerate its own arm and then proceeded to inflict crippling gashes on Zeruel's body using an offensive A.T. Field attack. Zeruel's face was crushed as it attempted a last-ditch attack on Eva-01. The Eva proceeded to consume the Angel's body, absorbing Zeruel's S² Engine in the process.
Arael is the Fifteenth Angel. Arael is a luminescent Angel with multiple sets of wings, some of them completely dwarfing the central body, in addition to a pointed "head" (Visible in production drawings). The core -- difficult to see due to Arael's brightness -- is held outside of the body between two smaller, "brachial" wings. It seems to be several times larger than an Evangelion, based on its size relative to the Spear of Longinus, though Arael and an Eva never physically meet directly. Arael utilizes what seems to be a specialized projection of its A.T. Field as a means of psychologically probing other beings. Due to the fact that the Angel appears in orbit and is fully stationary upon reaching its "vantage point", little more is known about its features or capabilities. After Arael is pierced by the Spear of Longinus, its body breaks down and swirls into a vortex, finally vanishing in a pinpoint of light. An outburst of red blood is briefly visible upon the Spear's exit. Arael first appeared suddenly in Earth orbit. Unlike the previous Angel Sahaquiel, which had previously appeared in orbit, Arael remained stationary in space, outside of the range of most terrestrial weaponry, and showed no signs of moving closer. With an order forbidding the use of Eva-01 after it absorbed the S² Engine from Zeruel, Eva-00 and Eva-02 were launched to the surface of Tokyo-3. Eva-02 took point position and tried to fire on Arael using a positron weapon, but the Angel was too far away for the weapon to target it. Arael then targeted Asuka in Eva-02 with a special beam of light, based on a projection of its A.T. Field. which had the effect of replaying traumatic childhood memories in her mind to the point of incapacitating her. Eva-00 targeted Arael with a positron rifle similar to the kind used against Ramiel, but Arael was so far in orbit that the beam had insufficient strength to penetrate its A.T. Field. With the Eva's weapons useless against the Angel while it was in orbit, and unwilling to use Eva-01 against the Angel, Gendo Ikari ordered Rei to use Eva-00 to retrieve the Spear of Longinus from Terminal Dogma where it was pinned into Lilith. Eva-00 then returned to the surface, and hurled the Spear of Longinus into the sky. The Spear broke escape velocity, pierced Arael's A.T. Field and destroyed the Angel. However, the Spear also escaped Earth's gravitational pull and entered lunar orbit, ultimately landing on the Moon.
Armisael is the Sixteenth Angel, and the last of Adam's natural offspring, a luminous entity capable of physically and psychologically corroding into other beings. Armisael initially appears as a rapidly revolving, double-helical ring of light. Its pattern cycles between blue and orange, from which Ritsuko Akagi concludes that the Angel does not have a fixed form. The two helices eventually fuse together, and the ring cleaves at a single point to take on a thread-like form, several times longer than an Eva is tall. The Angel's second form is capable of moving extremely quickly, and it effortlessly penetrates the A.T. Field of Eva-00. Point-blank fire from the Eva's sniper rifle is completely ineffective. A progressive knife attack makes Armisael bleed (red, as per nearly all Angels) and causes it visible pain, although it doesn't seem to have any lasting effect. Upon contacting another being, Armisael begins to undertake biofusion, that is, physically invading the foreign body with its own biomass. The invasion is externally visible as venous protrusions that spread and thicken as fusion continues. Eventually, psychological contact becomes possible. Whether or not this methodology technically constitutes an "attack" from Armisael's perspective is ambiguous. Armisael's brief interchange with Rei establishes it as possessing a child-like naivete and unable to describe its loneliness as anything other than "pain". Immediately upon the mutual epiphanies of Armisael and Rei that they are both lonely, a giant growth combining the forms of the dead Angels emerges from Eva-00's back. (See more below.) Armisael generates a Rei (from the waist up) on its "free" end and attempts to fuse with Eva-01, as well. After Armisael achieves psychological contact with Rei, a massive growth amalgamating the forms of the dead Angels manifests from Eva-00's back. The nature of this "Angel Tower" (as it is sometimes unofficially called) is steeped in mystery.
Kaworu is both the 17th Angel and the Fifth Children. Although classified as an Angel, Kaworu is similar to Rei Ayanami in being a Seed of Life inhabiting a human body. Despite his human form, Kaworu does not consider himself to be human, since he refers to humans as "the Lilin".Kaworu appears humming the fourth movement of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, the same music that plays during his descent into Terminal Dogma and so serves as a leitmotif for his character. The Ninth Symphony itself incorporates an adaptation Friedrich Schiller's Ode to Joy (An dem Freude, to Joy), a poem dedicated to the unity of all men under God. Kaworu's body appears to have been created as a result of the Contact Experiment with Adam, wherein DNA from an unknown human donor dove into and fused with Adam's flesh, explaining Hyuga's discovery that Kaworu was "born" on the day of Second Impact. Seele salvaged Adam's disembodied soul into Kaworu, whom they may have recovered in embryonic form in Antarctica. Kaworu's origin from Adam, only intimated in the anime, is flatly stated in Sadamoto's manga. Since Kaworu was delivered to Nerv by Seele, it is believed that Kaworu has been living under Seele's surveillance prior to his appearance in the series. As the vessel for Adam's soul, Kaworu's designation is "Tabris", the 17th and final Angel. He is considered the Angel of free will, which is considered a gift of God. Although Kowaru was sent by Seele for a specific purpose, he also has his own agenda. Unlike the Angels who came before him, but like Rei, Kaworu has a Lilin body, with no visible physical difference from a regular human except for very pale skin, light grey hair and red irises. Although his body is presumably composed of the same "particle-wave matter" as Rei and the Angels, it is impossible to say if he possesses a core and S² Engine. Tabris is the only Angel to infiltrate Terminal Dogma. Kaworu's human body is a vessel for the salvaged soul of Adam itself, and wields all of the power that comes with it. He is in effect Adam reborn as a human. His A.T. Field is described by the Magi as the strongest yet encountered (until it is surpassed by Rei's). Kaworu is observed using it for levitation, to control Eva-02, as a massive barrier that prevents the Command Center from receiving wave transmissions, and, (evidently) to bypass the LCL Plant's locking mechanism. By being both the First Angel (Adam, whose body and soul were separated in Second Impact) and the Seventeenth and final Angel, he is in effect both the first and the last of his kind. Kaworu is "born from Adam", and describes Adam as being the "Mother of us all". As Kaworu is the vessel for Adam's soul, that paradoxically makes him his own mother. During the battle while descending to Terminal Dogma, Kaworu is manipulating Eva-02, but the manipulated Eva doesn't seem to put up as much of a fight as it possibly could under his control. While Shinji aimed for Eva-02's head and neck to incapacitate it, both of Eva-02's knife strikes were in the pectoral region where damage was limited. Kaworu might simply have wanted to delay Eva-01 as far as possible, so that he could use the Eva to realize his own death if necessary. Indeed, Kaworu decides to willingly let Shinji kill him to let Lilin live and Angels remain dead shows. As the human incarnate of Adam, a fact disclosed by the Seele monoliths, the sheer strangeness of the sacrifice is that Kaworu allowed Adam's (and by extension, his own) children to remain dead while letting the children of Lilith live on.
Tunniel is an addition to the Angel pantheon introduced in Evangelion 2.0, a skeletal, vaguely dragon-like creature ultimately destroyed by Eva-05. The Angel was excavated from permafrost (how it got there is not divulged) and captured by Nerv. Subsequently, it was contained in deep freeze in Bethany Base's Cocytus facility, where it was subjected to thorough experimentation and analysis, eventually reduced to nothing more than "some bones", its core, and mechanical additions. Most curious among the latter is the "pseudo entry plug"[1] dangling from the Angel's neck section. The Third Angel's range of powers include eye-facilitated explosions and concentrated energy beams, levitation, and using its halo as a cutting device. Its original physical appearance is unknown. What remains of the skeleton are skull, spine, and insectoid limbs. The Angel has very long neck and tail sections, with a deeply curved, bulbous vertebral mid-section, held in alignment by a gold-plated brace, to which the limbs (four arms and four legs) attach. The skull possesses three mandibles and houses the core. At the beginning of Eva 2.0, the Angel escapes from Cocytus, probably released by Kaji as a distraction to facilitate his escape with Nebuchadnezzar's Key. Completely untouched by the lineup of tanks waiting for it outside, it promptly enters the Styx Shaft and begins its ascent to the top of the base. The provisional Eva-05, piloted by Mari Makinami Illustrious, is deployed and quickly intercepts the Angel. The Eva's initial lance strike is dodged by the Angel, and it proceeds to the Styx Shaft's outer perimeter unfettered while Mari struggles to turn the Eva's "dead weight" around. Using its halo, the 3rd Angel slices through the Limbo Area's outer hull and levitates to Bethany Base's rooftop, Acheron. While the Angel is scaling an Angel-sealing hex pillar, Eva-05 catches up and impales it through the mock entry plug. This disables the Angel for only a moment, and it swiftly retaliates with an optical beam to one of the Eva's legs, and soon follows up by excising the legs altogether. Mari, struggling against depleting battery power that makes her unable to synchronize with the Eva's prosthetic limbs properly, is forced to yield control of one arm to the Eva itself, and together they crush the core. Eva-05's self-destruct activates right as the 3rd Angel dies, and both they and the top of Bethany Base go up in two giant blazing crosses.
Clockiel is an addition to the Angel pantheon introduced in Evangelion 2.0, a gigantic bipedal being that resembles a stylized clock. The Angel's tall body is comprised of many sharply four-pronged, geometrically similar pieces. The head, atop a long "neck", possesses two Sachiel-like faces placed back-to-back, one longer than the other, resembling hands of a clock moving in opposite directions (each is moving to its left). A mock core is housed directly below the head; destroying this also destroys the head and causes the Angel to briefly disaggregate. The true core is located within a large red, four-eyed "pendulum" at the end of the Angel's "tail", an appendage that swings to replace the head, followed by swift reassembly. Two halo-like rings are situated on the Angel's "hips". The Angel's main weapons are cross-shaped explosions and dart-like projectiles that leave inky trails, both emitted from the head after it briefly morphs into a dark cross. The Angel also walks on water by using its A.T. Field to freeze the fluid underfoot. Due to the Angel's massive scale, Eva-02 must be sortied with flight capabilities (via S-Type Equipment) in order to pose a threat. With the assistance of a magnetic crossbow, pilot Asuka Shikinami Langley is able to quickly destroy the true core.