Shamshel
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"IT WASU WIDIN TI LEALM OF POSSIBIRITY" |
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They say a picture is worth a thousand words... |
| Shamshel | |
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| シャムシェル | |
| Number | 4th |
|---|---|
| Symbol | Day |
| Appearance(s) | Episode 03 |
| Defeated by | Eva-01 |
| Design | Yoshitoh Asari & Hideaki Anno[1] |
Shamshel (Hebrew: ספר החנוך ,שמשאל viii:ii) is the Fourth Angel, the second to attack Tokyo-3, a mere 3 weeks after Sachiel's attack marked the return of the Angels.
Biology
Shamshel is a roughly Evangelion-sized insect-like Angel capable of transforming between a horizontally oriented "flight form" and a vertically oriented "combat mode". Its offensive weapons are two long, glowing, pink energy-tentacles. The tentacles, which are strong enough to lift an Evangelion off the ground and throw it a large distance also have power can pierce an Evangelion's torso with little effort. Its skin is mostly purple, with some pink sections underneath its "head". Shamshel appears to have two false eye spots on the top of its head composed of an inner black circle and outer yellow ring.
Shamshel has two main arms, from which its long energy-tentacles extend. The Angel's core is located on its torso just underneath its head. It also has eight small, insect-like legs situated underneath its "head", situated just below its core. The energy whips are actually physically structures; they're not just made of energy, though they are charged with energy, as can be seen when they power-down after Shamshel dies but are still physically present.
When Shamshel switches from its flight-form to its battle-form, its large front arms (which the energy-tentacles come out of) change form as well. They don't just separate and change position (when in flight-form they are touching each other), but actually change shape somewhat.
Shamshel appears more aggressive than the preceding Angel, Sachiel. While Sachiel took largely to a defensive standpoint after the damaged Eva-01 went berserk and attacked it, Shamshel was much more aggressive in attacking Eva-01, severing the umbilical cable and flinging the Eva all the way onto a mountainside before moving to attack it again.
Battle
Shamshel appears over the ocean and makes landfall at Odawara before heading for Tokyo-3, easily passing through all defensive emplacements.
Using Eva-01, Shinji tries to shoot Shamshel with his palette rifle, but fails to neutralize its A.T. Field and only ends up obscuring the target with smoke. Shamshel then strikes out of the smoke, lashing out with its energized whips, destroying the palette rifle and driving Shinji into a panic. The Angel proceeds to drive back the Eva, ripping apart buildings with its energy whips in the process. Eva-01's umbilical cable is also severed with the destruction of one of the buildings(It might have been the electrical building the Eva was connected to), before an energy whip grabs her leg and throws her high into the air, into on a nearby mountainside.
Eva-01 grabs Shamshel's energy tentacles in her bare hands, sustaining severe burns before finally flinging the Angel away. With Eva-01 running out of power, and ignoring orders to retreat, Shinji charged the Eva down the mountainside at the Angel and stabbed its core with his progressive knife, while Shamshel impaled Eva-01 on its energy tentacles. Ultimately Shamshel's core cracked and it died, almost the same time the Eva ran out of power. Shamshel's body was left behind as an almost fully intact specimen of an Angel.
In Other Media
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"Making something... Nurturing something is really great. You can see and learn so many things from the process." |
Rebuild of Evangelion
Shamshel appears in the first Rebuild film, Evangelion 1.0: You Are (Not) Alone, as the "5th Angel". The battle against Shamshel remains very much the same as in the original series.
The Angel has received a heavily revised design, prepared by Hideaki Anno and Yoshitoh Asari and developed into the 3D CG model used in the film. The design, while still closely resembling the one from the TV show, reincorporates several elements from previously-unused concept sketches by Asari, such as more intricately segmented arms, mouth with mandibles and "fangs", and an exposed spine in the thoracic cavity to which ten legs attach.[2] Other changes include the redder color (with a glittering purple abdomen), a hollowed-out abdominal segment, and a Sachiel-like "face" near the head's attachment point. During the film, the legs are in constant motion.
When Shamshel dies, the core puffs up and the whole Angel explodes in a rain of blood-like fluid, leaving behind only the whips impaled in Eva-01.
Notes
- Shamshel was designed by Yoshitoh Asari, who also designed Sachiel and Zeruel.
- The recovery of Shamshel's almost fully intact corpse would allow Nerv to study its damaged Core and S² Engine, leading to the project to try to develop S2 Organs for use in the Eva series.
- The actual transformation between Shamshel's "flight form" and "combat form" is not seen onscreen in the anime, but is depicted in the manga.
- The official Japanese termed for Shamshel's energy-whips/energy-tentacles is just "hikari no muchi" which means "whips of light".
- Sort of a running joke amongst fans is that Shamshel's design bears a passing resemblance to a phallus-shape.
References
| Angels |
| Angels (general) |
| First and Second Angels (Seeds of Life): Adam | Lilith |
| Third to Seventeenth Angels (Adam's Children): |
| Sachiel | Shamshel | Ramiel | Gaghiel | Israfel | Sandalphon | Matarael | Sahaquiel |
| Ireul | Leliel | Bardiel | Zeruel | Arael | Armisael | Tabris |
| Eighteenth Angel: Lilin |
| Rebuild of Evangelion: ?Adams? | Lilith | 3rd Angel | 4th Angel | 5th Angel | 6th Angel | 7th Angel | 8th Angel | 9th Angel | 10th Angel | 11th Angel | 12th Angel | 1st/13th Angel |
| Other: Extracanonical Angels |
