Theory and Analysis:The Spear Thrower

The Spear-Thrower (Theory and Analysis)

There are three possibilities for the origin of the Spear that took down Eva-02 in End of Evangelion at the end of its battery power.

1.The original screenplay for the episode suggests that a Giant Transport Aircraft launched the spear that took down Eva-02. In the absence of any evidence and no clue as to the location of the transport aircraft following the release of the Evas, this discarded suggestion can not be taken as a definitive answer, although not altogether impossible.

2.The original Spear of Longinus is capable of self-propulsion. Although the Spear that struck down Eva-02 was a replica Spear, it could have retained the original's "situational awareness" and self-propulsive abilities and reacted to the loss of all MP Evas by launching itself at Eva-02, leaving the question of which Eva carried the Spear, or whether a transport aircraft launched it, moot.

3.However, if one is to assume that an MP Eva threw the Spear, the possibilities listed are as follows-

• Eva-05 and Eva-13 could obviously not have thrown it, because they are in the same frame as Eva 02 (impaled on its arm after the super-punch).
• Eva-10 is clearly shown getting up and reactivating, only after Eva-02 is impaled through the head. Eva-11 is clearly shown to begin reactivating while it is still partially submerged in the lake, having not moved between when it was stabbed and went it reactivated). Eva-09 is also shown to be reactivating after Eva-02 the Spear is thrown, albeit in a closeup showing only its head.
• That leaves Evas-06, 07, 08, and 12. Eva-12 was severely damaged by Eva-02 (it was cut in half) so it is doubtful it was still functioning by the end of the battle. Eva-06 and Eva-07 apparently stopped moving after Eva-02 attacked them.
• However, out of all of the MP Evas, we never actually see Asuka defeat Eva-08; she simply cut its left leg off at the knee, it fell down, and she switched to fighting a different Eva. In that state, it was still almost entirely functional (that wouldn't have been a fight-ending injury even for Eva-02). Thus, unless Eva-02 attacked it more off-screen (unlikely, as production drawings show no additional injuries to Eva-08 apart from those seen on-screen), it was probably Eva-08 that threw the Spear which took out Eva-02.