Shamshel

Shamshel
シャムシェル
Number	4th
Symbol	Day
Appearance(s)	Episode 03
Defeated by	Eva-01

Shamshel (Hebrew: ספר החנוך ,שמשאל viii:ii) is the Fourth Angel, the second to attack Tokyo-3, a mere 3 weeks after Sachiel's attack marked the return of the Angels.

Biology

Shamshel is a roughly Evangelion-sized insect-like Angel capable of transforming between a horizontally oriented "flight form" and a vertically oriented "combat mode". It's offensive weapons are two long energy-tentacles which it can use to slice through objects as thick as buildings, which can pierce an Evangelion's torso and are strong enough to lift an Evangelion off the ground and throw it a large distance. Its skin is mostly purple, with some pink sections underneath its "head", and its energy-tentacles glow pink. Shamshel appears to have two false eye spots on the top of its head, composed of an inner black circle and outer yellow ring, used as camouflage (real insects are known to do this).

Shamshel has two main arms, from which its long energy-tentacles extend. The Angel's core is located on its torso just underneath its head. It also has eight small, insect-like legs situated underneath its "head", situated just below its core. The energy whips are actually physically structures; they're not just made of energy, though they are charged with energy, as can be seen when they power-down after Shamshel dies but are still physically present.

When Shamshel switches from its flight-form to its battle-form, its large front arms (which the energy-tentacles come out of) change form as well. They don't just separate and change position (when in flight-form they are touching each other), but actually change shape somewhat.

Like the preceding Angel, Sachiel, Shamshel shows little personality, acting purely on instinct. By this measure, Shamshel appears more aggressive than its predecessor. While Sachiel took largely to a defensive standpoint after the damaged Eva-01 went berserk and attacked it, Shamshel was much more aggressive in attacking Eva-01, severing the umbilical cable and flinging the Eva all the way onto a mountainside before moving to attack it again.

Battle

Shamshel appears over the ocean and makes landfall at Odawara before heading for Tokyo-3, easily passing through all defensive emplacements.

Using Eva-01, Shinji tries to shoot Shamshel with his palette rifle, but fails to neutralize its A.T. Field and only ends up obscuring the target with smoke. Shamshel then strikes out of the smoke, lashing out with its energized whips, destroying the palette rifle and driving Shinji into a panic. The Angel proceeds to drive back the Eva, ripping apart buildings with its energy whips in the process. Eva-01's umbilical cable is also severed with the destruction of one of the buildings(It might have been the electrical building the Eva was connected to), before an energy whip grabs her leg and throws her high into the air, into on a nearby mountainside.

Eva-01 grabs Shamshel's energy tentacles in her bare hands, sustaining severe burns before finally flinging the Angel away. With Eva-01 running out of power, and ignoring orders to retreat, Shinji charged the Eva down the mountainside at the Angel and stabbed its core with his progressive knife, while Shamshel impaled Eva-01 on its energy tentacles. Ultimately Shamshel's core cracked and it died, almost the same time the Eva ran out of power. Shamshel's body was left behind as an almost fully intact specimen of an Angel.

In Other Media

Rebuild of Evangelion

Shamshel in Rebuild

Shamshel appears in Evangelion 1.0: You Are (Not) Alone, the first film in the Rebuild of Evangelion re-imagining of the original series, and there have been numerous changes to its design. While its new design in Rebuild does not drastically depart from its original design, there have been extensive tweaks to many aspects of its design. Notably, instead of having 8 small insect-like legs below its core, it has 10 legs which are much longer and constantly twitch convulsively. In addition, it has a Sachiel-like "face" on the back of its "neck". When Shamshel dies, the core puffs up and the whole Angel explodes in a rain of blood, leaving behind only the whips impaled in Eva-01.

Notes

• Shamshel was designed by Yoshitoh Asari, who also designed Sachiel and Zeruel.
• The recovery of Shamshel's almost fully intact corpse would allow Nerv to study its damaged Core and S² Engine, leading to the project to try to develop S² Organs for use in the Eva series.
• The actual transformation between Shamshel's "flight form" and "combat form" is not seen onscreen in the anime, but is depicted in the manga.
• The official Japanese termed for Shamshel's energy-whips/energy-tentacles is just "hikari no muchi" which means "whips of light".
• Sort of a running joke amongst fans is that Shamshel's design bears a passing resemblance to a phallus-shape.

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