Spear of Longinus
The Spear of Longinus ("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.
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, Adam and Lilith (the Spear paired with Lilith was lost in ancient times). 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.
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, finding Adam impaled on the Spear 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 actually happened, the Spear of Longinus was apparently reinserted into Adam by the research team as part of a "Contact Experiment"; however the Spear was unable to control the "Contact Experiment" as planned, resulting in Second Impact.
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".
