Spear of Longinus
The Spear of Longinus (ロンギヌスの槍, "Longinus no Yari") is an extraterrestrial artifact with the power to effortlessly penetrate any A.T. Field.
Properties
The Spear of Longinus is an artifact of incredible power, the only non-Evangelion object truly capable of penetrating an A.T. Field. Evangelions can use weapons against Angels, but only because the Evas' own A.T. Fields have extended around them and nullified the Angel's A.T. Field. N2 Mines are capable of slightly penetrating some of the weaker Angel's A.T. Fields to cause minor damage, but cannot truly penetrate them. The Spear of Longinus, however, can completely penetrate the active, unneutralized A.T. Field of an Angel.
Physically, the Spear of Longinus resembles a long red Evangelion-sized spear, that forks near the middle, the two shafts first twisting around themselves to form a helix and then becoming straight. Just as the Spear enters a target, the two forks at the end wrap back together into a drill-like shape.
The exact origin of the Spear is shrouded in mystery, but ultimately it is not of Earth origin, instead having been created by the First Ancestral Race and sent along with the Seeds of Life, such as Adam and Lilith, to act as a security device should the First Ancestral Race's plans be compromised. Thus, the Spear is an extraterrestrial weapon of god-like power. The First Ancestral Race sent along Spears with Seeds of Life like Adam and Lilith, so that if ever a Seed went out of control and threatened their projects, they would have a means of controlling them.
Spears of Longinus are believed to have a will of their own, and could in a sense even be considered "alive". The Spear featured in Evangelion belonged to Adam, whereas Lilith's is believed to be lost or destroyed.
Pre-2015
First Impact
Adam (and her Spear), contained within the White Moon, was the first Seed to land on Earth, at least 4 billion years ago. Before Adam-based life could be established, Lilith crash-landed on Earth within the Black Moon, her Spear apparently being destroyed in the process, and caused the event now known as the First Impact. Due to an unspecified law in the First Ancestral Race's plan, two Seeds are not meant to co-exist on the same planet, and, resultantly, Adam's Spear, as the only one remaining on Earth, took the initiative to subdue its own counterpart Seed. Adam remained in suspended animation for billions of years while Lilith-based life was allowed to develop and prosper.
Second Impact
In the year 2000, the Katsuragi Expedition unearthed Adam and the Spear in the Antarctic. The Spear was removed, briefly relocated to the Dead Sea region, and then shipped back to the South Pole in preparation for the Contact Experiment. After the experiment led to unforeseen consequences, the team attempted to wield the Spear against Adam to "reseal" her, but they failed. In classified video footage of the incident Episode 21, scientists can be heard shouting off-screen that the Spear needs to be "pulled back", and that it's "sinking in". Second Impact could not be averted, and, ultimately, the Spear appears to be responsible for causing Adam's retroversion to an embryonic state (Chronicle).
During the Series
The Spear first appears in the series in Episode 12 under wraps as it is transported from the Antarctic to Nerv on the flight deck of an aircraft carrier. 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 Arael, which was floating in outer space high above Earth's atmosphere. Rei used Evangelion Unit-00 to hurl the Spear of Longinus like a javelin into Earth orbit, and kill the 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.
Replica Spears of Longinus
Seele was able to create nine copies of the Spear of Longinus. These replicas were used as weapons by the Mass Production model Evangelions. These replica Spears have many of the same properties of the original, such as the same size and dimensions, and the ability to pierce A.T. Fields. However, apparently only the original Spear can be used to initiate Third Impact and Instrumentality, as when the original Spear was trapped on the Moon, Seele considered it to be an irreplaceable loss. The replica Spears are capable of changing their shape and appearance: originally they appear to be long double-edged blades, the same size as the spear, known as "Heavy Spears". However, they are capable of transforming into the form of a physical copy of the Spear of Longinus, even in mid-throw, revealing their true nature.
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".
