List of religious and philosophical terms in Evangelion

This is a list of religious and philosophical terms used in the Evangelion franchise.

Cross[]

The cross (十字架, juujika) is a symbolic religious reference frequently used in Neon Genesis Evangelion, though often particularly loosely. Many of the uses of crosses in the series don't actually have a particularly higher meaning or correlation to narrative events, beyond simply that someone is "sacrificed", etc. Also, many times things such as cross-shaped energy explosions are used, but these instances in particular don't really seem to have a higher meaning.

The creators themselves admitted using the emblems of Christianity simply because they "looked cool," according to Evangelion Assistant Director Kazuya Tsurumaki, who at the Otakon 2001 anime convention said:

"There are a lot of giant robot shows in Japan, and we did want our story to have a religious theme to help distinguish us. Because Christianity is an uncommon religion in Japan we thought it would be mysterious. None of the staff who worked on Eva are Christians. There is no actual Christian meaning to the show, we just thought the visual symbols of Christianity looked cool. If we had known the show would get distributed in the US and Europe we might have rethought that choice."

There are 5 types of crosses used in Evangelion. They are the crux immissa (Latin cross), inverted crux immissa, Greek cross, Cross of Tau, and Cross of Lorraine.

Examples of appearances[]

Destrudo[]

Destrudo describes a psychic energy that arises from the Death Drive (Thanatos). It is basically the mechanism that is involved in the destruction of a living being, essentially returning that living being back to "nothing" in extreme cases. It is implied that the effects of destrudo manifest in a living being's A.T. Field. The term is loosely taken from Freudian Psychology and is an opposing energy to Libido as seen in the Psychographs of Episode 20.

Fruit of Knowledge[]

During Episode 12 Gendo Ikari states that "science is the power of man," possibly suggesting that the Fruit of Knowledge is man's ability to cogitate, using his knowledge of the universe to build the Evangelions, which Kozo Fuyutsuki says mankind was destined to build during The End of Evangelion. This may mean that the Fruit of Knowledge is in truth, the Lilin's brain.

God[]

God (神, kami) is a term in the NGE universe, used excessively broadly and often to mean more than one thing. It's hard to define, as well, since kami is both a concept unique to Shintoism and the Japanese translation of the Western term "G/god", which is something wildly different.

"Are humans something created by a god (kami-sama)? Are humans something created by humans?" - Rei, Episode 14
"Unit-01's the living embodiment of a god now, that's no good! We have no intention of reifying a god!" - SEELE, Episode 21
"The Path to God, which no one has ever achieved..." - Gendo, Episode 21
"Humans found a god (kami-sama), and, in their joy, tried to make it theirs." - Ritsuko, Episode 23
"Gendo Ikari wants to attain the power of a god" - SEELE, Episode 24'
"...join humans, G/god(s), and all living things in 'death'" - SEELE, Episode 25'
"Unit-01 has become something kinda like a god" - Fuyutsuki, Episode 26'

It also shows up in the Classified Information a number of times. Its usages can be noted here, as well.

Glyphs[]

Glyphs also known as Angel-sealing Hex Glyphs (使徒封印用呪詛文様, shito fuuin'you juso mon'yoo^?) in the Evangelion 2.0 Complete Records Collection, are mysterious symbols which appear in various scenes of the later films of Rebuild of Evangelion. The meaning of them is unknown. These symbols are the same as the ones in the red Noah, from the anime Fushigi no Umi no Nadia^WP.

Glyphs by films :

In Evangelion 1.0: You Are (Not) Alone :

- none

In Evangelion 2.0: You Can (Not) Advance :

- On the floor of Bethany Base Control Room

- On Rei Ayanami's LCL tank in the Underground Facility

In Evangelion 3.0: You Can (Not) Redo :

- On the Tesseract

- On the DSS Choker itself and on the graphic explaining its functioning

- In Asuka Langley Shikinami's eyepatch whenever her eye glows

- In the new logo of NERV

- In Evangelion 13's interface graphics when the seal of the central dogma is broken.

- On the collar of Kaworu's plugsuit as the Fourth Impact begins.

In Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon A Time :

Libido[]

Libido describes a psychic energy that arises from the Life Drive (Eros). It is basically the mechanism that is involved in the creation of a living being, essentially forming a living being out of "nothing" in extreme cases. It is implied that the effects of libido manifest in a living being's A.T. Field. The term is loosely taken from Freudian Psychology and is an opposing energy to Destrudo as seen in the Psychographs of Episode 20.

Rainbow[]

Fourth Angel Explosion — Rainbow above the cross of the Fourth Angel's death

A Rainbow (虹, niji), is an optical and meteorological phenomenon that appears in the Rebuild film series, briefly after the death of an Angel.

Religious belief[]

According to Genesis, after Noah's flood God put the rainbow in the sky as the sign of His promise that He would never again destroy the earth with flood (Genesis 9:13–17) (Holy Bible: (King James Version.) (2004). Intellectual Reserve, inc.)

I do set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between Me and the earth. And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud: And I will remember my covenant, which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints founder and prophet Joseph Smith stated that the second coming of the Christ would not occur in any year in which a rainbow is seen ("I have asked of the Lord concerning His coming; and while asking the Lord, He gave a sign and said, "In the days of Noah I set a bow in the heavens as a sign and token that in any year that the bow should be seen the Lord would not come; but there should be seed time and harvest during that year: but whenever you see the bow withdrawn, it shall be a token that there shall be famine, pestilence, and great distress among the nations, and that the coming of the Messiah is not far distant." Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, Section Six 1843-44, p.340)

Appearances in Rebuild films[]

Rainbows also appeared in some scenes in the TV anime.