Evangelion Unit-03

Evangelion Unit-03
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Model Type	Production
Pilot(s)	Toji Suzuhara
Soul(s)	Probably Toji Suzuhara's mother (name unknown)
First Sortie	Episode 18

Creation

Evangelion Unit-03 (エヴァンゲリオン３号機, Evangerion Sangouki) is the fourth Evangelion completed　and the second "Production Model" Evangelion. Eva-03 was constructed at Nerv's First Branch in Massachusetts.

Following the incident resulting in the sudden disappearance of the Second Branch (Nevada) and Eva-03's sister unit, Eva-04, the U.S. government panicked and demanded that Eva-03 be transported off of its soil to Japan. Toji Suzuhara was selected to serve as the Eva's pilot, and sent to Nerv's secondary testing facility at Matsushiro to conduct Eva-03's first activation test, supervised by Ritsuko Akagi and Misato Katsuragi.

While suspended from a transport plane during her flight to Japan, Eva-03 entered a series of cumulonimbus clouds, suspected to be the point at which she was infected by the 13th Angel, Bardiel. During the activation experiment at the Matsushiro facility, Eva-03 went berserk under, ostensibly, Bardiel's control, the parasitism manifest beneath the armor as fungal-like growths. After briefly struggling to break from her restraints, she destroyed the base in an explosion.

Upon discovering what had happened, Nerv HQ officially changed Eva-03's designation to the 13th Angel. No attempt is made to recover the Eva; she is ultimately destroyed by Eva-01. As Eva-03 was parasitized by an Angel and "possessed" almost immediately upon activation, any new features she may have been designed with (such as weapons) remain unknown.

Physical Features

Eva-03 is described as a "Production Model" Evangelion, although in terms of obvious physical similarities, she has more in common with the early Evas than the preceding "Production Model", Eva-02. The head possesses two eyes (white with red irises), with four nostrils situated on the forehead (evidenced by the holes in the prominent nose piece). The Eva possesses red blood, and apparently dark brown skin. The armor arrangement is completely identical to that of sister unit Eva-04, and the same with the exception of the helmet design to Eva-02 and the upgraded Eva-00.

Soul

It is never directly stated whose soul resides in Eva-03, although it can be inferred that its identity is that of Toji's mother. The soul of Shinji Ikari's mother, Yui Ikari, resides in Evangelion Unit-01, and the soul of Asuka Langley Soryu's mother, Kyoko Zeppelin Soryu, resides in Eva-02. It is stated that Shinji's school class is actually a secret pool of potential Eva pilots, all grouped into one place. Also, it is gradually revealed or implied over the course of the series the mothers of all of Shinji's classmates are dead; (Kensuke Aida directly states this, and Hikari Horaki and Toji also heavily imply this). Thus it seems to be implied that there is some connection between all of the potential pilots having "dead" mothers.

Then, consider this, from the Classified Information:

A unit called a core is used to eliminate the discrepancies in Eva, a human being with the body of a god and a soul. The soul of the pilot's mother, which is placed within the core, acts as a medium and makes piloting possible.

Due to difficulties encountered in the development of Eva-00, the core's system is poorly constructed, and she falls behind in performance capacity as a result. Another reason for her inferiority is that Eva-00's pilot, Rei, does not have a mother."

This makes it plain that with the exception of Rei, the pilot's mother is always chosen as the Evangelion's soul.

Following this chain of evidence, the inescapable conclusion is that Evangelion Unit-03 contains the soul of Toji's mother.

Eva-03 in Rebuild

Eva-03 will appear in Evangelion 2.0: You Can (Not) Advance. It appears that, much as in the original series, it will be infected by Bardiel and destroyed by Eva-01. Her visual appearance seems largely unchanged, save for the addition of a white "waistband" to fit in with Rebuild's Eva design motif.

Notes

• Toji's usual attire has a striking resemblance to Eva-03's color scheme, perhaps foreshadowing (along with just about every other hint) that he was the pilot.

References

Evangelions

Evangelions (general)

Failed Evangelion Prototypes | Simulation Bodies

Eva-00 | Eva-01 | Eva-02 | Eva-03 | Eva-04 | Mass Production Evangelions (Evas 05~13)

Rebuild of Evangelion: Mark.04 | Eva-05 | Mark.06 | Eva-08 | Mark.09 | Eva-13

Eva 8+2 | Mass Production Evangelions | Failures of Infinity

Other: Extracanonical Evas