Reichu wrote:The crosses don't represent souls. The little red dots do, and those expressly fell back to Earth.
What the crosses represent is the Way to God, the desire for human transcendence, as voiced by Gendo in episode 21 while a shadow cross appeared ominously behind him. In EoE, the formation of these crosses from Lilith's AATF launches humanity's souls skyward, into the flow that carries them to Lilith and, accordingly, to reunion with God. Shinji denied Instrumentality to humanity's souls, and the souls flocked back down to earth accordingly.
But who is heading for the heavens as the crosses ascend? Eva-01. While Lilith died in the aftermath of HIP, Eva-01 only became more powerful. She is the only human of Earth who achieved a permanent state of transcendence.
I never really thought about it before, but that climactic image of Eva-01 floating amidst a sea of rising crosses to a triumphant score is really kinda perfect.
I love how well that plays with the interpretation of Yui becoming a new Seed of Life in total contrast to basically everything else about that scene. Unless we've been understanding her "proof of humanity's existence" speech wrong the whole time.