Spear of Longinus

The Spear of Longinus

The Spear of Longinus (ロンギヌスの槍, "Longinus no Yari") is an extraterrestrial artifact with the power to penetrate any A.T. Field and immobilize beings of god-like power.

Properties

Physically, the Spear of Longinus resembles a long, red bident on an Evangelion scale. Its structure is inherently double-helical (in its normal configuration), with the majority of its length being straight and composed of two strands which are tightly interwoven. At one end, the two strands unwind and form two massive tines.

While the bident is the Spear's default shape, it also has metamorphic capabilities. When thrown at the Angel Arael (22), the tines wrap together to form a seamless piercing object. Upon encountering Arael's A.T. Field, the "flaps" of the Spear open up, revealing white, gill-like structures that seem to aid the Spear with self-propulsion under conditions of extreme resistance. Finally, the Spear's bident shape is perpetually altered by Eva-01 in Episode 26’ when she separates the two helices, and the Spear takes on a form reminiscent of a horizontally elongated infinity symbol, ∞.

The Spear may be considered to be a weapon of "god-like" power. N² weapons have enough destructive potential to bring minor to moderate amounts of damage upon some of the weaker Angels; and Evas can use armaments against Angels after nullifying the Angels' A.T. Fields with their own. However, the Spear of Longinus is capable of piercing the active, unneutralized A.T. Field of any Angel or Evangelion, entirely by itself.

The Spear is not of Terran origin, having been created by the First Ancestral Race, an ancient extraterrestrial humanoid species. It is also not the only Spear of Longinus created: Every Seed of Life, including both Adam and Lilith, was sent with a counterpart Spear, meaning seven in all. At least one established function of the Spears is that of a "security device" capable of safeguarding the First Ancestral Race's plans should they somehow be compromised.

Spears of Longinus are technically alive and are even said to have wills of their own. The Spear featured in Evangelion belonged to Adam, whereas Lilith's is believed to have been lost or destroyed during First Impact.

Pre-2015

First Impact

The Spear of Longinus impaled in Adam's back, as found by the Katsuragi Expedition

Adam, contained within the White Moon, was the first Seed to land on Earth, at least 4 billion years ago. Before Adam-based life could be established, Lilith crash-landed on Earth within the Black Moon, her Spear apparently being destroyed in the process, and caused the event now known as the First Impact. Due to an unspecified law in the First Ancestral Race's plan, two Seeds are not meant to co-exist on the same planet, and, resultantly, Adam's Spear -- as the only one remaining on Earth -- took the initiative to subdue its own counterpart Seed. Adam remained in suspended animation for billions of years while Lilith-based life was allowed to develop and prosper.

Second Impact

In the year 2000, the Katsuragi Expedition unearthed Adam and the Spear in the Antarctic. The Spear was removed, briefly relocated to the Dead Sea region, and then shipped back to the South Pole in preparation for the Contact Experiment. After the experiment led to unforeseen consequences, the team attempted to wield the Spear against Adam to "reseal" her, but they failed. In classified video footage of the incident (21’), scientists can be heard shouting off-screen that the Spear needs to be 'pulled back', and that it's "sinking in". Second Impact could not be averted, and, ultimately, the Spear appears to be responsible for causing Adam's retroversion to an embryonic state (Chronicle).

2015

The Spear flying toward Arael in orbit (click for animation)

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 uses 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, becoming trapped in Lunar orbit, and eventually landing on the Moon. After being thrown at Arael by Eva-00, the Spear of Longinus issues a sound very similar to an Evangelion's roar.

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

The Heavy Spear reveals its true nature (click for animation)

Seele is able to create nine copies of the Spear of Longinus for use by their Mass Production Model Evangelions. The copies have most of the original's properties, such as its size and dimensions, along with its ability to pierce A.T. Fields, although they are bluish grey in color rather than red. Also unlike the original, they cannot be used to initiate Instrumentality with Lilith herself. Even after the original Spear was lost, Seele felt they still had a chance, albeit more difficult, of initiating Third Impact, by using the replica Spears and Eva-01 (itself created from Lilith), though it is possible that even Seele wasn't entirely sure if this would be sufficient (this remains unknown as the original Spear then returned to Earth).

The metamorphic capabilities observed in the replicas exceed that of the original: When the Eva Series are first sortied in 25’, their Spears are initially disguised as massive, double-edged blades that bear no resemblance to their native forms. The weapons' true nature is revealed when one comes in contact with Eva-02's A.T. Field and, within seconds, responds by morphing instantaneously into its Spear shape. When the Spear copies are destroyed, they initially bubble up into LCL-colored masses with little lower bodies projecting out of them (as per Lilith on the cross). According to the storyboards, this substance actually is LCL.

Officially, the "double-edged blade" variation of the Spear copies goes by two different names. The script refers to them as 重い槍 (omoi yari), or "Heavy Spear". However, this term is rarely observed elsewhere, and 大剣 (ooken), or "Giant Sword", is seen in its stead.

In Other Continuities

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CR Neon Genesis Evangelion

In the pachinko games Shito, Futatabi and Saigo no Shisha, the Spear of Longinus can be used by Kaworu in Eva-04 to dispatch of Angels under certain conditions.

Rebuild of Evangelion

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Spears at Second Impact.

Illustration showing "business end" of Mark.06's Spear.

While not yet confirmed to be officially called "Spear of Longinus", both identical- and similar-looking weapons appear in the Rebuild continuity.

In Eva 1.0, Lilith is impaled on an object identical in appearance to NGE's Spear of Longinus. In Eva 2.0, four Spears of Longinus-like objects are present at Second Impact. The one impaling Lilith may be one of these.

A new weapon, known only as a "spear" (槍, yari), possessing a double-helical shaft and a defined spearhead implanted with a green "gem", is first seen at the lunar Tabgha Base in a shroud. During Near Third Impact, it is used by Evangelion Mark.06 to terminate the event and Eva-01's evolution into an energy being. Any connection it may have to the other Spears is currently unknown, although its ability to neutralize god-like entities is similar to NGE's Spear of Longinus.