Armisael

Armisael (アルミサエル) (Hebrew: ערמיסאל) is the 16th Angel, and the last of Adam's natural offspring.

Profile
Armisael initially appears as a rapidly revolving ring of light; double-helical in form, which may represent a. 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 Unit-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 "bio-fusion", that is, physically invading the foreign body with its own biomass. The invasion is externally 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.

Armisael possesses advanced metamorphic properties.

History
Armisael suddenly appeared hovering in the air on the outskirts of Tokyo-3. Unit-00 was launched to investigate it, but the Angel appeared dormant. Just as Unit-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 Unit-00's Core with one of its thread's "ends", and began merging with Unit-00. Unit-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. Unit-02 was launched, but failed to even start because Asuka's synchronization level had fallen to critical lows. In desperation, the order freezing the use of Unit-01 was suspended, but as soon as Unit-01 was launched Armisael tried to merge with it as well, with Unit-01 narrowly avoiding it.

Unit-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 A.T. Field to maximum to draw Armisael to herself and try to contain it temporarily, and then activated Unit-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 creation of a new artificial lake.

The Angel Tower
After Armisael achieves psychological contact with Rei, a massive growth amalgamating the forms of the dead Angels manifests from Unit-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 Unit-00 to resurrect them.

Trivia

 * In the Director's Cut version, the fight against Armisael is expanded:
 * Armisael tries to merge with Unit-01 and Shinji is able to catch its "end" in his hands before it can reach Unit-01's core, but it then begins to merge with his hands, resulting in images of Rei popping up out of them.
 * Unit-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 Unit-01, it forms into a glowing white version of Rei which caresses Unit-01's face, and Rei realizes that her innermost desire is to be with Shinji.
 * In the instant before Unit-00 self-destructs, Unit-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 Unit-00 contains reproductively-charged imagery.
 * When Armisael initially penetrates Unit-00 in the abdomen, it resembles an umbilical cord.
 * Later, Unit-00 absorbs Armisael into her core, expanding and distending the organ such that it evokes a pregnant belly.
 * "Armisael" supposedly means "Mountain of Judgment of God", which, if true, might be referenced by the monstrous growth that contains the forms of all the dead Angels.
 * If looked carefully, it's noticeable that Armisael took no action when Unit-02 appeared, but immediately attacked Unit-01 when it activated its A.T. Field. It's possible that Armisael is blind and can only strike when it senses an A.T. Field nearby.

Armisael Armisael Армисаил