What was Rei III thinking about Gendo's glasses?

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whisperwind777
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What was Rei III thinking about Gendo's glasses?

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Postby whisperwind777 » Tue Oct 31, 2017 11:47 am

In NGE episode 23, when Rei III got back to her appartment, she took off the bandage, stood in front of the mirror for a while and then grasped Gendo's glasses with both her hands, was she trying to break the glasses? What was on her mind? Rei III must have realized something, or she wouldn't do such a thing since Rei II had been keeping the glasses better than she had been keeping herself. And then her tears fell and surprised herself, suggesting she didn't have all of Rei II's memories. But why she tried to destory the glasses? We know she finally broke them in EOE.

Sorry if this has been discussed before, but the more I think about it, the more it scares me.

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Re: What was Rei III thinking about Gendo's glasses?

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Postby shadmere » Sun Dec 24, 2017 2:04 am

She was upset because she could tell that the glasses meant something to her, but she couldn't remember what.

She had an emotional connection to the glasses for, apparently, no reason. Her soul "remembered" the glasses as important, but her actual memories did not.

The glasses proved that her existence was broken into pieces. That she didn't have control of her own life, or even over her own feelings. That she was alive, but only because she was a tool. She had no life of her own. To everyone else, she was "Rei." Even to the people who knew she was a clone, she was "Rei" brought back to life.

But to her, she was a new person. Except she had a stranger's emotions inside her, and she couldn't do anything about them.

That's why she hated the glasses. Because she cared about them for "no reason" and couldn't stop herself from it.

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Re: What was Rei III thinking about Gendo's glasses?

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Postby TheCarkolum » Sat Jan 06, 2018 11:22 am

I always thought it was anger. She remembered (with her feelings) how being dependent on Gendo led her to death. That's why she cries. She feels useless, used and out of love for Gendo.
“The tragedy of growing old is not that one is old but that one is young.” - Oscar Wilde



"Remember kids, a smart man knows when it's time to RUN LIKE A LITTLE BITCH!!"

whisperwind777
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Re: What was Rei III thinking about Gendo's glasses?

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Postby whisperwind777 » Sun Jan 14, 2018 7:28 am

View Original Postshadmere wrote:She was upset because she could tell that the glasses meant something to her, but she couldn't remember what.

She had an emotional connection to the glasses for, apparently, no reason. Her soul "remembered" the glasses as important, but her actual memories did not.

The glasses proved that her existence was broken into pieces. That she didn't have control of her own life, or even over her own feelings. That she was alive, but only because she was a tool. She had no life of her own. To everyone else, she was "Rei." Even to the people who knew she was a clone, she was "Rei" brought back to life.

But to her, she was a new person. Except she had a stranger's emotions inside her, and she couldn't do anything about them.

That's why she hated the glasses. Because she cared about them for "no reason" and couldn't stop herself from it.


That's what confuses me. What events she remembered exactly?

The glasses were the relics when she had actually formed deep trust on Gendo. If she did not remember the glasses, she did not need to destory them.

Apparently she remembered lots of things including Shenji whom she knew after the glasses event. She remembered where she lived, and all the nerv headquarter structures too.

It seems she must have found something she did not know, which triggered her anger, because Rei II would never do such a thing. Losing memories was not enough to make a quiet girl like Rei so furious that she had to destroy something her 'last life' cherishes more than herself.

whisperwind777
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Re: What was Rei III thinking about Gendo's glasses?

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Postby whisperwind777 » Sun Jan 14, 2018 8:24 am

View Original PostTheCarkolum wrote:I always thought it was anger. She remembered (with her feelings) how being dependent on Gendo led her to death. That's why she cries. She feels useless, used and out of love for Gendo.


I agree with you that it was anger, but not that it was because of her death. Rei was never afraid of death. And Shiji told her that Rei II sacrifices herself to save her.

I have a terrifying guess. Later in Ep.23 Ritsuko revealed that the core of dummy system was actually Rei clone. No doubt Rei III was one of the clones. In Ep. 17 there was a scene in which Rei II was inside the liquid tank, surrounded by these clones. It's very likely that Rei II was exchanging memories with the clones in the process. Therefore in Ep.23 when Shinji called 'Rei', all the clones responded by looking at him. So the clones might not be souless vessels as Ritsuko believed, by sharing memories with Rei II, they had self awareness too. Of course we cannot know if there were any personality differences among them as Rei III was the only survivor. She was possibly the dummy used in Ep.18 to destroy Unit 3?

But if Rei III actually had most of Rei II's memories, her bond with Gendo could not be so easily lost just because she died once and that time she chose to die not by following Gendo's commands. There's nothing to blame Gendo for her death.

More likely she was ordered by Gendo to fool Shiji that she was Rei II who survived the self-destruction. And she hated cheating Shinji and she felt she was cheated too.

Also very interesting thing is that Rei III said she did not have dreams, but Rei II did have that close-to-dream experience when she tried to sychronize with Unit 1 in Ep.14. The terrifying thing is that the Rei appeared in Rei II's 'dream' in Ep 14, whom Rei II describe as 'you' but not Rei II herself, was exactly Rei III.
Rei II could have confronted Rei III in her appartment before that dream, thus she asked ' Who are you' instead of 'Who am I.'

So when Rei III realized this by looking at the mirror, she was aware she was the mysterious Rei appeared in front of Rei II, and she felt cheated again because Gendo lied about her origins. And she stopped using the meds from then on.
Last edited by whisperwind777 on Sun Jan 14, 2018 10:46 am, edited 2 times in total.

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Re: What was Rei III thinking about Gendo's glasses?

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Postby TheCarkolum » Sun Jan 14, 2018 9:53 am

View Original Postwhisperwind777 wrote:I agree with you that it was anger, but not that it was because of her death. Rei was never afraid of death. And Shiji told her that Rei II sacrifices herself to save her.


I am not saying she was afraid of death. She accepts death, but the thing is, Gendo didn't let her to die. Even when she did, she really didn't. So she can't die, but she can't really live either because she doesn't remember a thing, but her feelings do.That's why she cries. She was emotional betrayed by Gendo, as to say.
“The tragedy of growing old is not that one is old but that one is young.” - Oscar Wilde



"Remember kids, a smart man knows when it's time to RUN LIKE A LITTLE BITCH!!"


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