N² Weapon

An N² weapon (N² 兵器, N² heiki) is a clean "Non-Nuclear weapon", the strongest "conventional" (non-Evangelion) weapon ever created by humankind. N² weapons are as strong as nuclear bombs and generate an electro-magnetic pulse, but produce no radioactive fallout, allowing them to be used more readily than their predecessors. They are capable of moderately damaging some of the weaker Angels, although even several detonations of N² weapons have no effect on others.

N² weapons come in five basic forms.

• N² bomb (N²爆弾, bakudan)
  • Episode 19: Used on Zeruel by Eva-00. It destroys Eva-00's right arm, which was in contact with the bomb, but Zeruel is not visibly damaged at all.
  • Episode 25': Dropped onto the extension of Ashinoko where Tokyo-3 had been to open up the Geofront.

• N² depth charge (N²爆雷, N² bakurai)
  • Episode 09: Used on Israfel Alpha and Beta to temporarily incapacitate them.

• N² land mine (N²地雷, N² jirai)
  • Episode 01: Set in Sachiel's path to temporarily halt its advance.
  • Evangelion 1.0: Used in the same manner on Sachiel.

• N² aerial weapon (N²航空兵器, N² koukuu heiki)
  • Episode 12: Used on Sahaquiel multiple times, to no effect.
  • Evangelion 2.0: Used in the same manner on Sahaquiel.

• N² missile
  • Evangelion 2.0: Used on Zeruel by Eva-00. It destroys Eva-00's arms and chars Eva-00, but Zeruel is not visibly damaged at all.

N²
N² mine detonation during episode 01.	Unit-00 carrying a N² bomb.	Unit-00 carrying a N² missile in Evangelion 2.0.	N² aerial weapon in Evangelion 2.0

The Special Edition Evangelion: Death and Rebirth theatrical program has a glossary entry for N² Weapon: The weapon with the greatest destructive power of any possessed by the UN military, the JSSDF or other forces. Variations of this weapon include: N² mines, N² depth charges, N² air charges, N² bombs, etc. Although these weapons had some affect on the 3rd Angel Sachiel and the 7th Angel Israfel, serving to stop them for a time, the N² bomb used on the 14th Angel Zeruel had absolutely no effect, despite being detonated at point blank range.

The End of Evangelion theatrical program also has a glossary entry: A weapon of enormous destructive power possessed by the UN military and the JSSDF. Variations of this weapon include: N² mines, N² depth charges, N² air charges, N² bombs, etc. In episode 25', when Shigeru Aoba worried about the possible use of BC weapons, Makoto Hyuga replied that N² weapons were to be equally feared.

Aoba was referring to "Biological and Chemical" weapons. Hyuuga's reply could indicate that unlike BC weapons, N² was more conventional and didn't pose a biological or chemical threat.

Note

• Although "N²" is always written with a superscript "2", it is not pronounced "N-squared", but simply "N-two".