Failures of Infinity
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"I've heard this story countless times already." |
Failures of Infinity (インフィニティのなり損ないたち, Infiniti no Narisokonaitachi) are inert, headless red copies of Eva-01 introduced in Evangelion 3.0: You Can (Not) Redo. They are found in massive quantities in the outskirts of Tokyo-3, the ruins of the Command Center, and the Main Shaft of Central Dogma.
These beings are specifically referred to as "Evas" in the script. Kaworu refers to the ones in the Main Shaft by the phrase "failures of infinity," and this has been adopted by the fandom as an umbrella term, frequently abbreviated to "FOIs" or "Failures."
All of the failures are a glistening red color, and appear to be composed out of core material. The cross section cut through the failures in the Main Shaft reveals no internal structure, only a uniform red color. However, the failures, when moving through the air during Fourth Impact, are clearly more than just statues, and are anatomically articulated.
Whether they are alive, dead, or somewhere in between is unclear. The script refers to the Tokyo-3 failures with the term 活動停止 (katsudou teishi), which literally means "suspension of activity", and in a biological sense can refer to torpidity. This seems to leave open the possibility that the failures could "return to life" at some point.
The failures in Tokyo-3 seem to be all or mostly deformed and of inconsistent size, and have an unusual crystallized appearance. Alternatively, the ones in Nerv HQ and Central Dogma are perfectly formed, save for the missing heads. The reason for this discrepancy is unknown. The well-formed failures are physically identical to Eva-01 with the exception of the color (and the missing heads) -- possessing 01's characteristic pectoral plates, pylon configuration, and second upper arm stripe -- suggesting that Eva-01 has something to do with their creation.
Speculation
Kaworu's speech to Shinji about Third Impact seems to imply, via the juxtaposition between his words and the images of headless red Evas, that the inert entities represent a failed attempt to subject humans to Instrumentality. Here, Instrumentality appears to involve elevating humans, through death and rebirth, into the state of being a physical god with the Fruit of Life. Eva-01, being the "god" directing the proceedings, recreated people in its own image. The malformed Evas of Tokyo-3 might suggest that the transformation process began at Third Impact's epicenter -- stated to be Central Dogma -- and spread outward. Hence, the failures within Nerv HQ are the most complete, while those further away are "unfinished". The creation process presumably did not finish, and may have been traumatically aborted (hence the missing heads). As a result, it is likely that none of them received the Fruit of Life, explaining the phrase "failures of infinity" -- i.e., the Fruit of Life represents infinite energy and eternal life, and these Evas failed to grasp it.
However, with so little information to go by, this is by no means the only possibility.
| 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 |
