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Evangelion
Near Third Impact

The Near Third Impact event

Near Third Impact (ニアサードインパクト, Nia Sado Impacto?) is a near cataclysmic event which occurred at the end of Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance resulting from a failed attempt to cause Third Impact in the Rebuild of Evangelion film series. The aftermath of the Near Third Impact is explored in Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo. It is also referred to in the movies as "N3I".

Profile[]

In Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance, Shinji inadvertently initiates Third Impact during his fight with the 10th Angel. Having learned that Rei had been assimilated by the Angel, Shinji became determined to rescue her, no matter the cost. His overwhelming desire caused Unit-01 to begin transcending its boundaries, allowing it to reactivate (despite being completely out of power) and display strange new abilities that quickly incapacitated the Tenth Angel. As Shinji attempted to draw Rei out of the Angel's Core, Unit-01's transformation accelerated, exposing its own Core and manifesting a Halo.

When Shinji successfully pulled Rei from the Angel's remains, the latter manifests as a giant version of herself made of the Angel's blood and fuses with Unit-01. At this point, the Evangelion unit was at the center of a massive vortex and a cross-shaped energy wave, with a third eye on its head and several Wings of Light protruding from its body. However, Third Impact was averted when Kaworu Nagisa arrived in Evangelion Mark.06 and impaled Unit-01 with a massive spear, immobilizing and seemingly stopping Third Impact. Nevertheless, Kaworu in 3.0 tells Shinji that this event was the trigger to eventually cause Third Impact.

Aftermath[]

In Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo Kaworu shows Shinji the results of the Third Impact. Kaworu says to Shinji that "Unit-01 awakened and opened the Doors of Guf, acting as the trigger for The Third Impact". This leads to Shinji attempting to fix the damage caused by Third Impact, but ending up falling into a trap set by Gendo Ikari to cause Fourth Impact.

In EVANGELION 3.0: (-46h), Asuka and Midori mentioned that the effects of the Third Impact like the world being coreized (which made most of humanity vanish) and the creation of the Failures of the Infinity are responsibility of Shinji and the Near Third Impact.

In Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon A Time, it is shown that Mark.06 and Lilith fused together in Central Dogma, which Kaworu refers to as the epicenter of Third Impact. It's role in the Third Impact isn't totally clear. It's also mentioned Ryoji Kaji sacrificed himself to stop Third Impact from ultimately completing. The whole Third Impact is not depicted in the movies, but there is a brief scene showing Kaji heading off to stop it. His broken WILLE captured VTOL is shown on the floor of Central Dogma when Shinji arrives with Kaworu in Evangelion: 3.333 You Can (Not) Redo.

Relation to the Human Instrumentality Project[]

SEELE did not want an uncontrollable Third Impact to happen as it would not go according to their plan. SEELE seems to need to take control of Third Impact for the Human Instrumentality Project. This is the probable reason why they turn Evangelion Mark.06 into an autonomous model. The plan seems to have failed when the Third Impact was stopped by Ryoji Kaji's sacrifice, but most of humanity was still transformed in Failures of the Infinity. So it would seem the Fourth Impact was the last plan of SEELE to "purify" the souls and complete its Human Instrumentality Project.

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