Spear of Longinus
The Spear of Longinus ("Longinus no Yari") is an extraterrestrial artifact with the power to effortlessly penetrate any A.T. Field. They were created by the First Ancestral Race and paired with Seeds of Life to act as a security device should the First Ancestral Race's plans be compromised. Spears of Longinus are believed to have a will of their own. The Spear featured in Evangelion belonged to Adam, whereas Liliths is believed to be lost or destroyed.
Before the series
First Impact
Adam (and his Spear), contained within the White Moon, was the first Seed to land on Earth, at least 4 billion years ago. Before Angelic life could begin, Lilith violently crash landed on Earth within the Black Moon (apparently destroying her Spear) and caused the event now known as the First Impact. Due to an unspecified law in the First Ancestral Race's plan, two Seeds cannot co-exist on the same planet. Because of this, the only active Spear remaining on the planet took the initiative to permanantly subdue one of the Seeds: Adam. Lilith was then able to spread the primordial ooze from which terrestrial life evolved over the course of billions of years, while Adam remained in suspended animation.
Second Impact
In the year 2000, the Katsuragi Expedition unearthed Adam and the Spear in the Antarctic. The research team spoke of the Spear being transported to the Dead Sea, then back to Antarctica. Though there is little indication as to what really happened, it is known that the Spear was removed and then reinserted after the Contact Experiment in an attempt to reduce the damage of the incoming Second Impact.
Series
It first appears in the series in Episode 12 under wraps as it is transported from the Antarctic to Nerv on a huge barge. It reappears at the end of Episode 14 as Rei is ordered by Gendo Ikari to go into Terminal Dogma to insert it into Lilith, the result of which is seen in Episode 15. It remains there until Episode 22 during the battle with Arael, upon which Rei once again descends to collect it from Lilith in order to destroy the orbiting Angel. The Spear exceeds escape velocity, and is lost from Earth's orbit.
Third Impact
It finally returns in Episode 26' after reacting to the awakened and freed Evangelion Unit-01. It proceeds to become an important tool for the Human Instrumentality Project and merges with the Eva, creating the Tree of Life. However, after Shinji Ikari rejects the process, the Spear is regurgitated, destroys the copies used by the Mass Production Evangelions and leaves Earth accompanied by Unit-01.
Notes
- The English dub translates "Longinus no Yari" as the "Lance of Longinus", but "Yari" is synonymous with both "Lance" and Spear". A visual display of the object during The End of Evangelion refers to it as the "Spear of Longinus". Therefore, the NGE Fan-Geeks Project officially refers to this object as the "Spear of Longinus". The copies of this weapon used by the Mass Production Evas will also be referred to as "Heavy Spears" instead of "Heavy Lances".
