Armisael
| Armisael | |
| |
| アルミサエル | |
| Number | 16th |
|---|---|
| Symbol | Womb |
| Appearance(s) | Episode 23 |
| Defeated by | Eva-00 |
Armisael is the Sixteenth Angel, and the last of Adam's natural offspring.
Biology
Armisael initially appears as a rapidly revolving ring of light, double-helical in form. Its pattern cycles between blue and orange, from which Ritsuko Akagi concludes that the Angel does not have a fixed form. The two helices eventually fuse together, and the ring severs at a single point to take on a thread-like form, several times longer than an Eva is tall.
The Angel's second form is capable of moving extremely quickly, and it effortlessly penetrates the A.T. Field of Eva-00. Point-blank fire from the Eva's sniper rifle is completely ineffective. A Progressive Knife attack makes Armisael bleed (red, as per nearly all Angels), and causes it visible pain, although it doesn't seem to have any lasting effect.
Upon contacting another being, Armisael begins to undertake "biofusion", that is, physically invading the foreign body with its own biomass. The invasion is exteriorly visible as venous protrusions that spread and thicken as fusion continues. Eventually, psychological contact becomes possible. Whether or not this methodology technically constitutes an "attack" from Armisael's perspective is ambiguous (see Psychology, below).
Armisael possesses advanced metamorphic properties.
The Angel Tower
After Armisael achieves psychological contact with Rei, a massive growth amalgamating the forms of the dead Angels manifests from Eva-00's back. The nature of this "Angel Tower" (as it is sometimes unofficially called) is steeped in mystery. The Renewal Vol. 6 DVD Booklet says this much:
In the process of eroding Unit-00, a heteromorphous object grows out of the unit's back. It enlarges and expands into a form that is a confused combination of the Angels that have previously appeared, from the Third Angel to the Fifteenth Angel. It can be deduced that the genetic information of all the Angels from the Third onwards is included in either this Angel or Unit-00, and that this object was reconstructed and deployed based on that material.
However, this assessment seems somewhat dubious, as all evidence in the show indicates that the Angels' individualized forms are not determined genetically, but by their A.T. Fields. An alternative theory suggests that Armisael had collected the souls of its dead siblings and is attempting to use Eva-00 to resurrect them. See: Theory & Analysis: Angel Rebirth.
Psychology
Unlike previous Angels, whose behavior was on the whole erratic or instinctive (it is debatable how intelligent Leliel and Arael were), Armisael is truly sentient and was capable of communicating with Rei through her mind after merging with Eva 00, by appearing to her as an avatar of Rei herself.
Rei pointed out to Armisael that it felt the pain of loneliness, and Armisael seemed to imply that merging with other creatures was how it sought to end its loneliness: ultimately this may have been the reason behind its desire, indeed that of all Angels, to initiate Third Impact.
Battle
Armisael suddenly appeared hovering in the air on the outskirts of Tokyo-3. Eva 00 was launched to investigate it, but the Angel appeared dormant. Just as Eva 00 was about to withdraw so the Angel could be observed more, it transformed from its ring-shape into its thread-shaped combat form, pierced Eva 00's core with one of its thread's "ends", and began merging with Eva 00. Eva 00 shot the body of Armisael several times, but this did not stop it.
The mind of Armisael itself then contacted the mind of Rei, and engaged in a brief conversation remarking on their mutual loneliness. Eva 02 was launched, but failed to even start because Asuka's synchronization level had fallen below critical lows. In desperation, the order freezing the use of Eva 01 was suspended, but as soon as Eva 01 was launched Armisael tried to merge with it as well, with Eva 01 narrowly avoiding it.
Eva 01 grabbed Armisael's other end in its hands, and stabbed it with its prog knife, causing it to howl in pain like Rei.
Fearful for Shinji's survival, Rei set her AT Field to maximum to draw Armisael to herself and try to contain it temporarily, and then activated Eva 00's self-destruct. This resulted in a massive explosion that destroyed Armisael, but also destroyed a large portion of Tokyo-3 as well, resulting in the creating of a new artificial lake.
Notes
- In the "Director's Cut" version, the fight against Armisael is expanded:
- Armisael tries to merge with Eva 01 and Shinji is able to catch its "end" in his hands before it can reach Eva 01's core, but it then begins to merge with his hands, resulting in images of Rei popping up out of them.
- Eva 01 stabs Armisael with its progressive knife, creating a shower of blood, but it then howls in pain like Rei because she is now bonded to it.
- When the "end" of Armisael attacks Eva 01, it forms into a glowing white version of Rei which caresses Eva 01's face, and Rei realizes that her innermost desire is to be with Shinji.
- In the instant before Eva 00 self-destructs, Eva 00 transforms into a glowing-white giant nude Eva-sized image of Rei, but explodes before anything else can happen.
- Armisael is named for the angel governing the womb, and its encounter with Eva-00 contains reproductively-charged imagery.
- When Armisael initially penetrates Eva-00 in the abdomen, it resembles an umbilical cord.
- Later, Eva-00 absorbs Armisael into her core, expanding and distending the organ such that it evokes a pregnant belly.
- "Armisael" literally means "Mountain of Judgment of God"[Source needed], which the monstrous growth that contains the forms of all the dead Angels may be referencing.
- Armisael's initial form may be a reference to the angels called ophanim, which are sometimes depicted as wheels of fire[Source needed].
| 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 |
