Shrine to the Angels

This is my shrine to those "evil" villains in Neon Genesis Evangelion: The Angels!!

**WARNING: Contains spoilers, read at your own risk**

The Angels

Angels, pronounced as "Shito" in Japanese, ("Disciple" in English), are mysterious entities that first came up 15 years ago just before the "Second Impact". The Third Angel suddenly strikes Tokyo-3 after 15 years. They can create a "Absolute Terror Field" which makes it impossible for normal weapons to destroy them.

They come in different forms and always attack solitarily. Their real aim of coming is still unknown. Angels are possibly the evolved forms of mankind. Human's can be considered as the 18th Angel . Their names were given according to the Angels' names from the "Dead Sea Scrolls". They were sleeping underground until 15 years ago when the first Angel (the glowing giant in "Second Impact") named "Adam" was discovered and awakened by scientists in Antarctica. To reduce damage, they attempted reducing Adam to its egg form, and this caused the "Second Impact". Their real aim is to prevent mankind from being evolved to a higher state of existence (the ultimate aim of the "Human Completion Project"), something totally forbidden! Mysterious, powerful, and ruthless, the Angels' origin and true purpose is unknown. Rendered near indestructible through the wielding of an A.T. (Absolute Terror) Field, the only obstacles that stand in their way are the Evangelion.

The angels are as follow:

1st Angel - Lillith

2nd Angel - Adam

3rd Angel - Sachiel - Angel of Water

4th Angel - Shamsel - Angel of Day

5th Angel - Ramiel - Angel of Thunder

6th Angel - Gaghiel - Angel of Fish

7th Angel - Israfel - Angel of Music

8th Angel - Sandalphon - Angel of Embryos

9th Angel - Matarael - Angel of Rain

10th Angel - Sahouiel - Angel of the Sky

11th Angel - Ireul - Angel of Fear

12th Angel - Leliel - Angel of Night

13th Angel - Bardiel

14th Angel - Zeruel - Angel of Might

15th Angel - Arael - Angel of Birds

16th Angel - Armisael - Angel of the Womb

17th Angel - Tabris - Angel of Free Will

Lillith

The fabled first wife of Adam, and therefore not the first Angel created, Lillith is none - the - less the first Angel the mankind encounters. She has been around since before the Second Impact and she is the reason that SEELE came to be. Lillith was made from the same earth that created Adam, but she was not composed of any part of him (like Eve), so she was not very loyal to her mate.

Lillith left her husband, Adam, after they had a quarrel and now he has come to retrieve her. She is known as "the Specter" and "the Enemy of Newborns", but she is also the one from which mankind has come, and to which he must return (in the form of the Third Impact). The Seven Eyes of Lillith is the SEELE logo, and her being is what makes the Third Impact possible. Her "blood" is the LCL that is used in the Eva Plugs that allows the pilots to better communicate with the Evangelions (it is like amniotic fluid, which protects babies in the womb and allows them to breathe). She patiently awaits for one of her kind to set her free and start the Third Impact which will allow humanity to evolve beyond its normal means into one being with her. When and where she came from, and how she was captured and lost her legs remains a mystery.

Fate: She merged with and was freed by the third Rei clone and became one with mankind.

Adam

Created in God's image and the being that all Angels are from and must return to, Adam was a harbinger of doom for mankind.

He came as "The Giant of Light" to warn us of the danger we would be in if we continued in our cloning sciences. Mankind was attempting to play God, and God was not happy. It is assumed that Adam also came to retrieve his wife in Lillith, whom which other experiments were being performed on. But we captured Adam too, and shrunk him to embryo size so that from him we could create our own Eve, or Eva and lessen the damage that would occur when the rest of the Angels came and "returned" to him (as was prophesied in the Dead Sea Scrolls). When we did so, the energy released from Adam was enormous, and the Second Impact occurred. Antarctica was melted, the Earth flooded, and billions of people died, but we managed to obtain Adam in embryonic form. A great price to pay for a little bit of heaven.

Fate: Adam was freed and finally able to return to Heaven after the Third Impact.

Sachiel

The first Angel to be seen in the series, Sachiel was one of the most humanoid in appearance. He easily made his way to Tokyo-3 with little resistance from the UN Forces due to his impenetrable AT Field.

Eva-01 was provided with its initial substantive battle scenario with Sachiel, and was only able to win when its first time pilot (Shinji Ikari) allowed his mind to go savage therefore allowing the Eva Unit to turn into a "Berserker", thereby eliminating the Third Angel in a desperate hand to hand brawl. Sachiel's weapons were some sort of particle beam, a hammer-punch forearm device, and the ability to amass muscle strength in its limbs.

Fate: Sachiel self-destructed to try and destroy Eva-01 when it was clear that it had lost the First Battle of Tokyo-3. It failed.

Shamshel

The Second Angel to attack Tokyo-3 was the Insectoid Shamshel. It attacked with energy whips that could be used to slice any object in two.

It was able to sever Eva-01's power cord thereby severely limiting the Test Type's time to defend itself and attack. It was able to destroy many Armament Buildings and cause some damage to Eva-01's armour and body, but it was not an equal match for the Evangelion and its human pilot.

Fate: Shamshel was killed, but remained intact and was carefully studied by NERV scientists.

Ramiel

One of the best designed Angels in terms of defence is Ramiel. Described as a "Floating Fortress", the Fifth Angel glided to a spot directly over Geofront with hardly any resistance from the EVAs and NERV.

When there, it began drilling straight down to NERV HQ. It would attack any object that came within several miles of it that might cause the slightest threat. It attacked Unit 01 and caused major damage to the Eva and its pilot when it appeared up from the ground.

Fate: Only the first co-operative Eva operation was able to destroy Ramiel, and only by using the combined electrical power of all of Japan to power a giant sniper canon fired by Shinji in Eva-01. Its body remained intact for the NERV scientists to study.

Gaghiel

The first and only aquatic Angel, Gaghiel attacked the UN Pacific fleet in search of the Adam embryo that Ryoji Kaji was carrying with him from Germany to NERV HQ in Tokyo-3. It was able to destroy more than half of the fleet before the Production Model Eva-02 helped the UN Navy penetrate its AT Field and destroy it.

In the first under-water sortie between an Eva and an Angel it was proven that EVAs have little defence when submersed in a large body of water. Only with the combined synchro rates of its two pilots (Shinji Ikari and Soryu Asuka Langley) was the Eva-02 able to overcome its situation and help defeat the Angel.

Fate: Blown up when Eva-02 dissolved its AT Field and opened it's mouth enough for two explosive laden UN ships to enter and self-destruct.

Israfel

The Seventh Angel turned out to be a double threat. When openly attacked, it would split itself into two separate Angels proving very difficult to kill. When it first appeared off of Japan's coast, it made short work of Eva-02 and Eva-01, causing great shame to NERV and the pilots. Only after a synchronized combined attack performed by the two EVAs was Israfel able to be destroyed.

The Seventh Angel's defence and attack demonstrated how man had to start thinking in new modes of strategy and assault if he hoped to survive God's harbingers.

Fate: Israfel was defeated when the "dance" of the two EVAs split it and forcibly re-combined it with a powerful set of kicks. It exploded in a cross-shaped pillar of fire.

Sandalphon

What was almost NERV's biggest break in the battle against the Angels turned into one of its worst (almost) catastrophes. Sandalphon was originally found in a live volcano still in its pupa form.

It was at this point that NERV ordered its acquisition in order to capture/kill an Angel and study it before it became active and dangerous. It awoke and grew to its adult size in the middle of Eva-02's capture operation. It almost destroyed Unit 02 but was destroyed itself. Eva-02 was only saved when a brave Shinji (in Eva-01) jumped into the lava and pulled it out.

Fate: The Eighth Angel was disintegrated by Eva-02's coolant system being force-fed into it in the middle of the lava lake. It was only an adult for 2.5 minutes.

Matarael

Matarael attacked at a lucky time. NERV was being taught a lesson by SEELE by having all of its power shut down when the spider-like Angel appeared and began burning an acid hole directly through to Geofront from the surface.

With only five minutes of energy a piece, the EVAs 00, 01, and 02 attacked the Angel from below and killed it with little effort.

Fate: The Ninth Angel was easily subdued with only a large machine gun (which proved useless on previous Angels). It died without exploding and was therefore another perfect specimen for the scientists at NERV.

Sahaquiel

The Tenth Angel was a very unique aggressor. In its high Earth orbit, it would actually drop pieces of itself to bombard the surface with. When it got used to its aim, it dropped its entire body on top of Tokyo-3.

Fate: Sahaquiel was stopped by the combined AT Fields of the three Eva Units and blew up in a large cross-shaped explosion when Eva-01 drove its progressive knife into its core.

Ireul

In an attempt to avoid Eva combat, the Eleventh Angel (in the form of billions of microscopic entities) attacked NERV in a soft spot - the Three Magi Computers. After taking over the body of a Dummy Plug Test Eva, Ireul quickly adapted to any attack that NERV threw at it. It soon began infiltrating the Three Magi, starting with Melchior, in an attempt to override them, rewrite them, and self-destruct them. With its AT Field in place to deflect any physical attack, Ireul's only weakness was the Super Computers themselves.

Fate: With Ritsuko Akagi's quick thinking and typing skills, NERV was able to stop the attack and purge the Magi of Ireul completely by simply erasing the virus.

Leliel

The Twelfth Angel appeared without any warning over Tokyo-3 in what appeared to be a giant "shadow ball". It silently hovered in place until the EVAs attacked it.

It seemed that it could disappear and reappear at will to easily avoid the firepower thrown at it. It was only when the Eva-01 pilot got too cocky and stepped on to its actual form (its supposed real shadow on the ground that was less than a tenth of a centimetre thick) and was sucked into a Dirac Sea that the real threat became obvious. With no known or obvious weakness and Shinji Ikari still trapped inside the Angel's self, NERV was ready to drop all the world's remaining Non-Nuclear (N2) bombs into its center in a desperate attempt to free the children and destroy the threat.

Fate: In the final seconds before the drop, the Eva-01 went Berserker again (this time with no power) and burst free of its intended tomb in a bloody explosion of rage and fear that killed Leliel.

Bardiel

Originally the Eva-03, Bardiel infected the Unit on its voyage to the synchro test site in Japan. The Angel "Virus" became active during the test and in the process of destroying the NERV base escaped and headed for Tokyo-3.

A very dangerous enemy, the Thirteenth Angel was quick, agile, and carried a human hostage in its entry plug (the Fourth Children, Toji Suzuhara). Bardiel made short work of Eva-00 and Eva-02 and attacked Eva-01 as a Berserker. With elongated arms as weapons, it started to crush Eva-01's and Shinji Ikari's throat. The Third Children refused to defend himself in fear of hurting the 14 year old pilot in the Thirteenth Angel.

Fate: Ikari Gendou ordered his son to be taken off line and have the Dummy Plug initiated to attack the Angel. Eva-01 killed Bardiel in a heart beat and proceeded to rip its corpse apart severely damaging the trapped pilot in the process.

Zeruel

Zeruel was a walking wrecking ball. He marched right through EVAs 00 and 02 and right to Central Dogma's front door (Eva-01 stopped him before he could reach Terminal Dogma). For weapons, the fourteenth Angel had ultra sharp, whip-like blades for arms and a photon discharge from its "mouth". With its whip-blades, it was able to slice up Asuka's Eva-02, and take off its head and arms. Eva-00 pushes the N2 mine through the angels AT field, but a metal plate closes over the S2 unit.

It had even mutilated and defeated Eva-01, but it did not finish it off before it went Berserker (again with no power).

Fate: Zeruel was ripped apart by Shinji and Eva-01. In its Berserker mode, Unit-01 finished the fourteenth Angel off by eating it and its S2 Drive (which made the Eva fully operational without any outside electrical energy source and it allowed the Unit to grow to its fullest potential as a weapon and part Angel). One of Zeruel's whip blades was ripped off and attached as Eva-01's left arm.

Arael

The fifteenth Angel to appear was a being of pure light. It remained high above Earth's orbit and only attacked when Asuka and Unit-02 showed up and looked like they were going to attack it.

It retaliated by mind raping Soryu Asuka Langley and forcing her to relive her most painful memories that she chose to lock away years ago. It was unrelenting. The pilot of Eva-02 couldn't stop the flow of emotions that Arael was forcing her to feel and she cracked. The Angel's attack could only be focussed on one mind at a time, and Asuka was only saved when Eva-00 and its pilot showed up. After a failed attempt to shoot the target down, Ayanami Rei was given orders to retrieve the Lance of Longinus from Terminal Dogma, with which she launched at the Angel.

Fate: The Lance of Longinus cut through Arael's ATField and destroyed the Angel of Light. The Lance landed in the moon and remained there until the Third Impact was about to begin.

Armisael

Armisael was a shape-shifting Angel that originally had the form of a double helix (like the Lance of Longinus) closed up in a circle.

Its main means of attack was to merge with the EVAs and attack the minds of the pilots. It only managed to get into Ayanami Rei's head, though. When Armisael first attacked Eva-00 and its pilot, it made Rei to experience true emotions for the first time in her life. It made her realize that she was truly lonely in her existence and had never opened herself to anybody, not even those closest to her. Then Shinji appeared in Eva-01. The sixteenth Angel tried to attack him too, but the First Children held it back and self-destructed herself and her Eva in an attempt to destroy the Angel before it could hurt Shinji.

Fate: Armisael was vaporized in the blast (as was most of Tokyo-3) caused by Eva-00's self destruction.

Tabris (Kaoru Nagisa)

The seventeenth Angel was the least expected. Keel Lorenz was the only one to know that Kaoru Nagisa (born on the very day of the Second Impact and the Fifth Children) was indeed the final messenger of man's fate. Lorenz sent Tabris to NERV headquarters in order to hurry the prophecy of the Dead Sea Scrolls along. When Kaoru arrived at Geofront, he quickly became Shinji Ikari's best friend and the best synchro-rated pilot of the children.

Soon after his coming, however, he began his attack. Because his synchro-rate with the EVAs was so high, he could pilot them without even getting into the entry plug. With Eva-02 as his body guard he slowly made his way to Heaven's Door and Terminal Dogma in the heart of NERV HQ. While an enraged Shinji and Eva-01 attacked Eva-02, Tabris realized that he had been duped by SEELE when he finally saw the white giant pinned to the cross above the lake of LCL.

Fate: When Kaoru realized that the Angel that he was face to face with was Lillith and not Adam (the one whom all Angels must return) he allowed Shinji to grab him with Eva-01. He explained that he would allow himself to die so that mankind could decide for itself the path that must be chosen. After 60 seconds of pause, Shinji squeezed and Tabris/Kaoru died.