Interface Headset
An interface headset is an device that's integral to the pilot making a neural connection to the Evangelion. The interface headset is worn on the head by the pilot.
During the course of the show pilots have been set into the Eva without a plug suit, but an interface headset has in most cases been worn by the pilot implying that's it's a nessacary piece of equipment, the simulation body tests in Episode 13 and Shinji during End of Evangelion being two exceptions (see Notes).
It doesn't seem to matter what part of the head the interface headset is worn over. Rei and Shinji's are worn near the front of their head, but Asuka apparently wears the interface headset backwards, so that the two cat ear-like objects are towards the back of her head.
The interface headset is composed of two cat-ear shaped pieces of material which each have a zig-zag design on them similar to the design on their plug suits that goes over their shoulders, they also have two small indentations at the tip. A thin wire links the two larger pieces atop the head, similar to a tiara. The wire section is nestled beneath the pilot's hair and thus always obscured from view, making it appear as if the headset is comprised of two separate devices placed on top of the head.
Notes
- Exactly what Interface Headsets are and how they function is never explicitly elaborated upon on-screen, but is from Gainax-released background material, such as the Red Cross Book.
- Asuka Langley Soryu near-constantly wears her Interface Headset, at home and while at school, because she is proud of her status as an Eva pilot.
- Shinji Ikari doesn't wear an interface headset in End of Evangelion, but it would probably have been useless since the Eva was in control, with Shinji effectively as a passenger in the entry plug.
- As these objects were never formally named on-screen, fans frequently refer to them as "A-10 nerve clips", due to the Red Cross Book's description of them being involved with the A10 cranial nerves. Mentions of the A-10 nerve also appear in one of the Platnium pamphlets[1] as well as the first volume of Sadamoto's manga. The script production notes, released with the Renewal of Evangelion DVDs, however clearly and repeatedly refer to them as an interface headset.
- Some Qabalists note a connection between the human nervous system and the 32 paths of wisdom, the 31 nerves that stem from the spinal cord are alloted unto the first 31 paths with the 32nd and thus highest path alloted unto the entire complex of cranial nerves, which total 12.[2] Assuming the interface headset does make the neural connection through the cranial nerve we may have a Qabalistic model for synchronisation and thus why the Tree of Life appears during End of Evangelion when all minds become one.
This is further elaborated on by Sadamoto in an interview:
| “ | On the floor of the midbrain is the ventral tegmental system, that neurobiologists call region A10. Cells soaked in dopamine, certain emotions are processed here: such as the thoughts of two lovers - or a parent and a child. And it is the synchronization of the threads and bundles of A10 that splice pilot and Eva together; to become one entity, to fight. In other words, the power of love drives this weapon of mass destruction.[3] | „ |
