The Evangelions
combat units piloted by the “Childs”
Rei Ayanami, Asuka Langley,
Shinji Ikari,
Toji Suzuhara
and Kaworu Nagisa.
What are Evangelions?
Are they really Mechas or something more?
Why do they exist in this world?
What is their ultimate purpose?
What they suppose to be?
Are they on our side?
In this episode I will not only go over the basics
of the EVA units
but also
I will go deeper into the history behind the Evangelion
units and unveil their hidden meaning
behind their original design.
These
are the Four Barons
from Hell
The first time you see and EVA you must think
that is a giant robot,
a Mecha,
as those that are so common throughout
anime history.
Even if an Evangelion Unit looks like a robot,
it is nothing like that.
An Evangelion Unit is a semi cybernetic organism
with a special armor.
The EVA units are clones from Adam
the first Angel
that is the reason of their name,
all of them, except one: Unit 01.
which come from Lilith.
If Adam was created first,
then Eve or Eva
comes from Adam.
The difference between Lilith and Eve
is that Lilith was created on the same way that Adam was
being his equal.
According to Jewish mythology,
Lilith refused to be a subservient of Adam,
and left the garden of Eden for never to return,
her fate is linked with Archangel Samael
The fallen angel
Who is better known as Satan.
The public reason of EVAs existence is simple:
Fight the Angels
But SEELE and Ghendo Ikari had other plans
for them
The Human Instrumentality Program.
The special armor that they wear has different levels
of efficiency.
Throughout the series it is shown that the armor is not
that strong against direct attacks from the Angels,
sometimes it gets destroyed.
However, the purpose of the armor is not only protective,
but also a cage for the units.
A way for NERV and humankind to control and repress
the humanoid that lives within.
This is how an Eva unit looks without an armor.
It shows that has nasal cavities,
which allows them to breath,
as most living organism
they need oxygen to function and live.
Their helmets also show very subtle
nasal holes,
confirming this theory.
the Units
have eyes
as it was unveiled in chapter two of the original run.
Another major characteristic of the EVAs unit is that
they bleed
All of them have red blood.
Except for Unit 02, whose blood is purple blue.
This is not the only distinction that Unit 02 has,
it is also the only EVA unit that has grey skin,
and not brown.
That can be explained by the fact that Unit 02
is the first finished Evangelion Unit specially design
for Combat,
as Asuka explained in Chapter 8.
Because EVA units are trapped and asleep within their cages,
they need a power supply.
At the early chapters of the original run,
they need to be attached to an umbilical cable
that supplies them with the power they need.
They also have internal batteries
that allows them autonomy in case the cable is detached
or destroyed.
These batteries have different charges
depending on the mode. In the main series
there are different scenarios in which
we are presented that in case of combat
the batteries last for one minute
for Standby the last five minutes
and up to 16 hours for minimal consumption,
just enough to keep the pilot alive.
That until we are introduce to the S2 engine,
which is an organic battery,
the sources of these engines are the angels.
Only Mass Production EVAs are known
to have this engine made by man, Unit 04
was supposed to be the first one to carry the engine,
but during experiment while trying the engine in the second
branch on NERV in the US
resulted in a major explosion destroying the facilities and the Unit 04 itself
Nevertheless, we have seen EVA Unit 01
acquire an S2 engine by eating Zeruel,
the 14th angel.
Even with the restriction of armor and power life,
an EVA unit can go Berserk.
A period in which the unit moves at will,
without any control from humans, including the pilot.
This notably happened when Unit 00
went Berserk rejecting Rei Ayanami
as a pilot during the first activation test,
shown in episode five and resulted
in severe physical injuries for the pilot.
Unit 01 goes also Berserk in different occasions
throughout the series, although different than
Unit 00, in this case
is more sentient,
embracing the pilot soul and reacting to protect it.
This difference can be explained by the known theory that Rei
has no soul
thus Unit 00 rejects her while Unit 01
accepts Shinji's
Unit 02 also goes Berserk
later on in the movie the End of Evangelion,
which I will not get on this video.
Unit 03 however, does not go Berserk
exactly like the other units even if appears
that it does in episode 18,
his actions are motivated by Bardiel,
the 13th angel.
All EVAs, including the Mass Production ones,
have an Entry Plug cabin, in which pilots
are introduced and allows them to synchronize
with the unit in order to control them.
The interior of the cabin is filled with LCL
which is the catalyst between pilot
and unit.
NERV has been testing with Dummy Plugs which
are an automatic pilot mode
used to trick the unit to believe that the pilot is commanding
the EVA
while he is not,
is actually a computer.
Now that we have a basic understanding of what
an Evangelion unit is and how it works,
lets dig deeper and understand their design and symbolism.
In early medieval times, Jews and Christians
redefined and renamed all angels and demons.
They were four in particular that stand out
for the Evangelion saga:
The Barons from Hell
And no, they are not the same as those more popular
Barons from the Doom franchise.
The legend says
that they were four Barons:
A Baron without facial features and only
one giant Eye
A baron with a giant horn
and threatening teeth
A red blood baron with four eyes and two mouths
A black baron
with long arms
If we go to the facts,
we know that the Evangelion series takes a lot from the Judeo-Christian
symbolism for their story.
We have seen that symbolism countless times,
with Adam, Lilith,
the Tree of Life, the Longinus Spear.
But are Evangelions designed after the Four Barons from Hell?
If we go to the source material
that is the Bible
we don’t find anything related to the Four Barons of Hell
However, in the book of Revelations
there is a description on the four conditions
that affect mankind.
These four conditions were popularized
as the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
But are the EVA units designed after the four
horsemen of the apocalypse?
According to the book of Revelations they are going
to be four horses,
a White Horse the bringer of Justice,
a Red Horse bringer of war
a Black Horse will bring famine
and a Pale Horse the bringer of death.
Even if the story of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
is interesting to say the least,
they don’t fit into de description, other than being four
there is nothing else.
Not even the colors, two of them being white and pale,
even thought the legend says that the original color
for Unit 01 was white before
being purple.
Another theory says that the Barons from Hell
comes from Dante’s classic novel: Inferno
Inferno is the first part of the Divine Comedy,
Dante’s 14th century poem which is
considered as the pre-eminent work on
Italian literature.
In Inferno, Dante tells his experience
through hell,
in which he famously described it
as there being nine rings within the Earth
Overall, Dante’s masterpiece
is the journey of the soul towards God
recognizing and rejecting sin.
However, there is no mentioning or depiction
of the Barons of Hell in his piece.
Another myth,
another dead end.
Our final theory comes from the Sumerian Gods.
According to the theory, the Barons of Hell are based on
the four Elder Gods of Babylon:
Anu, the God of Heaven
Enlil, the God of Air
Ki or Nintu
the Goddess of Earth
Enki, the God of Water
It is fair to mention that there is no depiction
of the Elder Gods of Babylon of being Cyclops
or having horns, four eyes or long arms,
therefore the design of the EVAs cannot be
based on any of those features.
Also, from this list only three of them
are considered to be part of the “Triad of Heaven”
being Ki a Primordial Being
a different group of deities.
Therefore, they are not four.
We can safely discard this theory.
But then
where the EVA units got their design from?
Hideaki Anno himself explained that
as follows:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Anno explained that all EVAs are based on Oni,
a gigantic ogre-like creature with horns,
sharp claws and wild hair,
part of the Japanese folklore,
a very popular evil character that appears in works
of art,
literature and theater.
But what about the theory of the Four Barons from Hell?
The internet gave life to this theory in the late 90s
and even if is way more interesting for Evangelion fans
to fantasize with these theories
the fact is that Anno based their design
and symbolism after a Japanese Demon.
and that my friends
is the history of the Four Barons from Hell
Hey guys, Mike here. I hope you enjoyed the video,
which is the third installment of my Evangelion series
If you haven’t watched the previous video, you can find it here
If you did like the video and want to support the channel
smash that like bottom and subscribe
so you won’t miss out on the next installment.
Thank you all for watching and expect a new
pretty soon.
