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Why are Angels attacking the earth? What's with "Adam" in the basement? And
why are the three computers named after the Three Wise Men?

I love the story for the characters and the mecha-battles, but all the
symbolism goes over my head. What's it all about?


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2013-02-10T07:29:20.527
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2021-09-03T02:05:18.227
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question
neon-genesis-evangelion
In Neon Genesis Evangelion, why are Angels attacking?


> Why are Angels attacking the earth?

It may be a cover story that they're attacking Earth, but in reality, they
were "born" on Earth from Adam. Both
[Adam](http://wiki.evageeks.org/Classified_Information#Adam) and
[Lilith](http://wiki.evageeks.org/Classified_Information#The_Second_Angel)
were "Progenitors of life" that ended up on the same planet (Earth). The
original race that created them had intended that they all land on different
planets but Lilith landing on Earth was a mistake (the Classified Information
document says that Lilith "crashed", and thus created the Moon). Adam spawned
the Angels, while Lilith spawned all the life that exists on Earth, including
humanity. The reason the Angels didn't inhabit the planet was because the
[Lance of
Longinus](http://wiki.evageeks.org/Classified_Information#The_Spear_of_Longinus),
some type of failsafe device, disabled Adam, and that's how Adam was found in
Antarctica:

![From the Full-OP, and from the episode 23
overlays](https://i.stack.imgur.com/89mOj.jpg)

The exact reason that they are attacking Tokyo-3, or in the case of Gaghiel
the Pacific Fleet and Unit-02 (or possibly the embryonic Adam), seems to be
for a number of different reasons.

One of the theories thrown around within the show itself is that they're
trying to reunite with Adam, but Adam doesn't arrive in Tokyo-3 until episode
8 in an embryonic form, so the first few attacking Angels were apparently
either mistaken that Adam was there or mistook Lilith for Adam (as Kaworu
later did in episode 24). There aren't any official explanations on what the
Angels were after, and the closest thing is from the [Classified Information's
_Angel_ section](http://wiki.evageeks.org/Classified_Information#Angel) which
says: " _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._ "

> What's with "Adam" in the basement?

We are originally told that "Adam" is in Terminal Dogma, deep underneath Nerv
HQ. This is what Kaji told Misato in episode 15, along with the tidbit that
any Adam derived life that came in contact with the white giant would cause
the third impact. Later, we find out that the white giant on the cross is
actually Lilith.

It's possible that "Lilith" was actually written into the series well after
the series was in production, and that it could really have originally have
been Adam (like what the [original Proposal for the series would
suggest](http://wiki.evageeks.org/Proposal)). But regardless, if that was the
case or not, it's revealed that Adam was discovered in Antarctica, frozen, and
when the Katsuragi Expedition started to mess with it, the experiment went out
of control causing a second impact. During all of this, Adam is seen as a
"Giant of Light" in episode 21:

![enter image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/7Zx2M.jpg)

Which looks very much like an Evangelion, which is derived (or cloned, for
lack of a better word) from Adam.

So retroactively, it's possible that Kaji was either lying to Misato to
protect her from the truth, or he himself had been misinformed of what the
white giant on the cross was.

As far as Kaworu goes, in the "Director's Cut" episode of 24, he was told by
Seele where Adam's body was (in Gendo's hand) yet Kaworu still went down to
Terminal Dogma, and was somehow expecting to see Adam down there, then was
surprised to find Lilith. Not sure why, it doesn't make any sense.

By the time of the End of Evangelion movie, it's revealed that Rei Ayanami had
the soul of Lilith, and during the movie, her and Lilith's bodies reunited.

Not sure if all of this really answers your question though.

> And why are the three computers named after the Three Wise Men?

This is simply pedantic by the creators. From an interview with [Kazuya
Tsurumaki](http://wiki.evageeks.org/Statements_by_Evangelion_Staff#Kazuya_Tsurumaki:_Q.26A_from_.22Amusing_Himself_to_Death.22)
he says, about the Judeo-Christian themes: " _There are a lot of giant robot
shows in Japan, and we did want our story to have a religious theme to help
distinguish us. Because Christianity is an uncommon religion in Japan we
thought it would be mysterious. None of the staff who worked on Eva are
Christians. There is no actual Christian meaning to the show, we just thought
the visual symbols of Christianity look cool._ "

So the reason is probably that it looked/sounded cool, and that it would fit
with the general theme of the rest of the show.


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2013-02-10T08:40:37.237
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2021-09-03T02:05:18.227
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answer


The Kabbalistic tree of life is basically measuring you and your position from
God. Gendo of course painted a Kabbalistic tree of life in his office where he
sits at the top of the tree as if he was God. In EOE, Shinji was raised into
the Kabbalistic tree and the mass-produced angels stick their cores (Jesus?)
and was prepped to become God?

I have no idea. Whatever. Just my 2 cents.


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2013-10-17T08:08:47.880
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