What is "Tabris"?

For serious and at times in-depth discussions only, covering the original TV series, the movies End of Evangelion and Death & Rebirth.

Moderator: Board Staff

Forum rules
By visiting this forum, you agree to read the rules for discussion and abide by them.
fukuda
Embryo
User avatar
Posts: 41
Joined: Dec 23, 2017
Contact:

What is "Tabris"?

  •      
  •      
  • Quote

Postby fukuda » Sun Feb 04, 2018 4:26 pm

So, Tabris is the name of Kaworu, and is in Arabic.
In Arabic, "Tabris" means "The Revealed/Arisen".
From various sources, "Tabris" apparently is an "Angel of Free Will".
"Tabris", does not exist, as far as I am concerned, in Islam or standard Judaism/Christianity. I find this to be odd because Tabris is an Arabic name, but there is no mention of it at all in Islam or any Muslim Texts.

There is, however, a "Tabriz", in Iran.
And according to Judaism and Christianity, Satan was a "Fallen Angel", contrary to Islamic Belief, who believe him to be of the Jinn species.
And again, according to Islam, the "Dajjal", or "Anti-Christ", shall arise out of Esfahan, Iran
Is it possible that any outside of Evangelion, Tabris may simply be another name for Anti-Christ?
I love you todoite kono omoi
kitto itsuka wa kanau yo ne
konna kimochi setsuna sugiru no

onegai tomete…
koi no yokushiryoku

Berserkelion
Embryo
User avatar
Age: 32
Posts: 16
Joined: Feb 01, 2015
Gender: Female

Re: What is "Tabris"?

  •      
  •      
  • Quote

Postby Berserkelion » Sun Feb 11, 2018 4:56 pm

Quite interesting, but I honestly don't know. Wikipedia and Google Books doesn't have a lot of information regarding Nuctemeron or NGE Kabballistic Angels, sigh.

Do you have some source for your interesting statements? Also: do you know the correct Arabic for Tabris? The name of the "homonimous" Iranian city (you know, Tabriz) seems to differ in some way, but I didn't find anything.
"In order to make myself recognized by the Other, I must risk my own life. To risk one's life, in fact, is to reveal oneself as not-bound to the objective form or to any determined existence — as not-bound to life" (Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness)
"Despair is a Sickness in the Spirit, in the Self, and So It May Assume a Triple Form: in Despair at Not Being Conscious of Having a Self (Despair Improperly So Called); in Despair at Not Willing to Be Oneself; in Despair at Willing to Be Oneself" (Kierkegaard, The Sickness Unto Death)
"As one's ignorance disappears when he gains knowledge, and as darkness disappears when light appears, so also incompleteness is eliminated by completeness" (The Gospel of Truth)

fukuda
Embryo
User avatar
Posts: 41
Joined: Dec 23, 2017
Contact:

Re: What is "Tabris"?

  •      
  •      
  • Quote

Postby fukuda » Sun Feb 18, 2018 2:23 pm

View Original PostBerserkelion wrote:Quite interesting, but I honestly don't know. Wikipedia and Google Books doesn't have a lot of information regarding Nuctemeron or NGE Kabballistic Angels, sigh.

Do you have some source for your interesting statements? Also: do you know the correct Arabic for Tabris? The name of the "homonimous" Iranian city (you know, Tabriz) seems to differ in some way, but I didn't find anything.


I do not have a single fact to back this up except for for the word "Ba-ra-za" [Birz/برز] which means "He emerged", according to Google Translate and my own knowledge of Arabic.

"Tabris", is a sort-of "derivative" from this word "Baraza", and considering the context of the name, it would make sense to assume that Tabris means "The Emerged".
I love you todoite kono omoi
kitto itsuka wa kanau yo ne
konna kimochi setsuna sugiru no

onegai tomete…
koi no yokushiryoku

Reichu
Admin Emeritus
Admin Emeritus
Posts: 24046
Joined: Aug 21, 2004
Location: Sailing for the white shores
Gender: Female
Contact:

Re: What is "Tabris"?

  •      
  •      
  • Quote

Postby Reichu » Sun Feb 18, 2018 4:59 pm

View Original Postfukuda wrote:"Tabris", does not exist, as far as I am concerned, in Islam or standard Judaism/Christianity. I find this to be odd because Tabris is an Arabic name, but there is no mention of it at all in Islam or any Muslim Texts.

Berserkelion mentioned The Nuctemeron, the Greek occult text where the name "Tabris" comes from. This blog post has what looks like an English translation of the relevant part (if not the entirety of the book's text).

Genii of the Sixth Hour:
TABRIS, genius of free will. SUSABO, genius of voyages. EIRNILUS, genius of fruits. NITIKA, genius of precious stones. HAATAN, genius who conceals treasures. HATIPHAS, genius of attire. ZAREN, avenging genius.

On the subject of how "Tabris" was etymologically derived, you could look at the other names in The Nuctemeron and get an overall feel for what the author was using as reference and inspiration.
さらば、全てのEvaGeeks。
「滅びの運命は新生の喜びでもある」
Departure Message | The Arqa Apocrypha: An Evangelion Analysis Blog

fukuda
Embryo
User avatar
Posts: 41
Joined: Dec 23, 2017
Contact:

Re: What is "Tabris"?

  •      
  •      
  • Quote

Postby fukuda » Mon Feb 19, 2018 10:13 am

View Original PostReichu wrote:Berserkelion mentioned The Nuctemeron, the Greek occult text where the name "Tabris" comes from. This blog post has what looks like an English translation of the relevant part (if not the entirety of the book's text).


On the subject of how "Tabris" was etymologically derived, you could look at the other names in The Nuctemeron and get an overall feel for what the author was using as reference and inspiration.


Tough. This text is very interesting. Also interesting to note that Genii in Arabic is Jinn, the "other species" which is similar to man but made from fire.
I love you todoite kono omoi
kitto itsuka wa kanau yo ne
konna kimochi setsuna sugiru no

onegai tomete…
koi no yokushiryoku

ErgoProxy
Shamshel
Shamshel
User avatar
Age: 45
Posts: 273
Joined: Jul 09, 2016
Location: Kraków, Poland
Gender: Male

Re: What is "Tabris"?

  •      
  •      
  • Quote

Postby ErgoProxy » Mon Feb 19, 2018 12:08 pm

I'm by no measure English native speaker, but haven't you just mistook genii for genies? Singular from genii is genius; it was definitely Roman concept, not Arabic, and similar to Christian concept of guardian angel.

Also, be very careful with Tabriz, as on the other side of Zagros Mountains there was the ancient city of Mari. :devil:
JUSTICE & MERCY

fukuda
Embryo
User avatar
Posts: 41
Joined: Dec 23, 2017
Contact:

Re: What is "Tabris"?

  •      
  •      
  • Quote

Postby fukuda » Mon Feb 19, 2018 3:49 pm

View Original PostErgoProxy wrote:I'm by no measure English native speaker, but haven't you just mistook genii for genies? Singular from genii is genius; it was definitely Roman concept, not Arabic, and similar to Christian concept of guardian angel.

Also, be very careful with Tabriz, as on the other side of Zagros Mountains there was the ancient city of Mari. :devil:


In Arabic, "Genii" is "Jinn". [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jinn]
I don't know, considering the outreach of the Roman Empire and the entanglement of Abrahamic Religion, of course "Jinn" would be adapted into other languages with different meanings.
I love you todoite kono omoi
kitto itsuka wa kanau yo ne
konna kimochi setsuna sugiru no

onegai tomete…
koi no yokushiryoku

Lavinius
Pilot
Pilot
User avatar
Age: 26
Posts: 2175
Joined: Apr 13, 2012

Re: What is "Tabris"?

  •      
  •      
  • Quote

Postby Lavinius » Sun Mar 04, 2018 4:11 am

View Original PostReichu wrote:Berserkelion mentioned The Nuctemeron, the Greek occult text where the name "Tabris" comes from. This blog post has what looks like an English translation of the relevant part (if not the entirety of the book's text).

On the subject of how "Tabris" was etymologically derived, you could look at the other names in The Nuctemeron and get an overall feel for what the author was using as reference and inspiration.

The reference to Eliphas Levi set me off in suspicion, but apparently the book is the English or French product of spiritualist channeling in 1929 and was introduced by Arthur Conan Doyle. Or, the New Nuctemeron is, but given the sparsity of references and the inherent shadiness of the attribution to Apollonius, it's not clear that they're not the same thing. Certainly no Nuctemeron was attributed to Apollonius in the 10th century. I also found a Portuguese(!) book on the Nuctemeron by a Dutch(!) author, which is apparently a commentary rather than an original text, and seems affiliated with some Rosicrucian larpers.

EDIT: Wait, no, apparently an older Nyctemeron of Apollonius had been contrived in the 19th century by said Levi.

Anyway, looking at the names, they look like they were made up willy-nilly, and given the circumstances of their invention, they probably were. They alternate between looking Greek, Latin, Hebrew, and in few cases German, and some (SCHACHLJL) are clearly just gibberish. Note also that spelling alternates between C and K in a manner that suggests that the inventor doesn't understand that Latin c is always Greek kappa, and vice versâ.

What's more interesting is that somehow somehow this name came down to the Eva creators. I really do wonder which book or books they used.

View Original Postfukuda wrote:In Arabic, "Genii" is "Jinn". [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jinn]
I don't know, considering the outreach of the Roman Empire and the entanglement of Abrahamic Religion, of course "Jinn" would be adapted into other languages with different meanings.

I'm afraid that genius is a classical word, used long before any Arabic held any prominence (being itself of the same family as generate and genus). The use of "génie", the French borrowing, to translate the Arabic word is just due to similiarity of sound & meaning.
~ibi cubávit Lamia, et invénit sibi reiquiem~

StrokeMeGoat
Tunniel
Tunniel
User avatar
Age: 32
Posts: 162
Joined: Jan 30, 2016
Location: Indiana
Gender: Male

Re: What is "Tabris"?

  •      
  •      
  • Quote

Postby StrokeMeGoat » Wed Mar 07, 2018 11:25 am

Satan is really the only close analog of Tabris in Judeo-Christian scripture, seemingly possessing free will (especially considering he fell) despite the fact that angels in both Judaism and Christianity are merely messengers from God that, at least in the Kabbalah, are a series of more and less conscious and aware manifestations of God that result from God's self-imposed restriction on the endless and unyielding infinitude of... himself. The lower the divine emanation in the Kabbalistic Tree of Life a certain type of angel belongs, iirc, the more conscious awareness it has and the more free will-like their behavior is capable of becoming. Well, I suppose the group of angels referred to as "The Watchers" in the Book of Enoch, found in the Dead Sea Scrolls (though not considered Biblical or Torah canon), could be said to have free will considering they disobeyed God's wishes and impregnated several female human beings and led to the creation of the Nephilim (disgusting God, leading him to purge almost all of humanity and animal kind just to exterminate them). But, the Book of Enoch takes a rather serious departure from the recounting of certain events and the concept of angels and whatnot, so I understand why it isn't canon.

Anway, man is physically and spiritually located in the lowest "world" or emanation of the divine will in the Tree of Life, and our creation in the image of the Heavenly Man (Adam Kadmon), God's chosen representation of a physical form, and our place in the lowest world imposing the highest level of restriction on God's blinding radiance and fiery annihilation are what allow for the possibility of our own free will. Since human beings are the only beings considered to be divinely inspired and even divine in nature (nothing compared to God or other forms of God closer to himself as a being of infinite light, like angels, but it's why we are said in Genesis to be the ruler of the animals that populate the Earth) that have free will, the fact that Kaworu, an angel/messenger from God who should lack any will of his own separate from God's makes him uniquely the most human-like/equivalent angel that we know of... which, of course, his physical appearance and his soul being bound within an actual clone of a Lilin body reflect.

Rei is just the same as Kaworu, with him even stating as much to her at NERV. It makes sense that both progenitor angels would wind up with forms allowing them the experience of free will and even the human condition as well. I think Kaworu's designation as Tabris is what symbolically makes him as human as any Lilin, despite the nature of his existence in fact being that of an angel instead; he is both simultaneously. This makes Kaworu both distinctly an "other" (talking about the psychological concept of otherness) beyond simply being a unique individual person, while at the same time connecting him on a more fundamental level to the Lilin and Shinji in most particular. I think this dual nature of his existence is what made it so natural for him to speak freely and even very intimately with Shinji without any sense of reservation. He possesses a human mind and individual human personality, so he experiences life as a human being for all intents and purposes, yet he cannot separate himself from his true nature as the angel Adam, so it's like he feels a natural dissociation from his human experience (at least in experiencing it in normal social human terms) and observes humankind from a more distant perspective, and without judgment and instead understanding.

Kisses4Katie
Embryo
Posts: 15
Joined: Jan 14, 2018
Gender: Female

Re: What is "Tabris"?

  •      
  •      
  • Quote

Postby Kisses4Katie » Sat Mar 17, 2018 2:42 am

I have an old Animerica from 1998 that says Tabris is "quite simply, the Angel of Free Will." I'll try to post a pic soon!

ACGT-Samael
Tunniel
Tunniel
User avatar
Age: 31
Posts: 192
Joined: Mar 16, 2018
Location: Canada
Gender: Male

Re: What is "Tabris"?

  •      
  •      
  • Quote

Postby ACGT-Samael » Wed Mar 28, 2018 10:00 am

Most of the time, the Angel of Self Determination's name is actually spelt as "Tabbris", with 2 B's. Searching that on Google generates plenty of hits. (Tabris is a valid spelling because the names are derived from a writing system that works off phonetics, so trying for write it in English produces multiple valid spellings.)

ShonenTrash
Embryo
Posts: 1
Joined: Feb 04, 2024
Gender: Male

Re: What is "Tabris"?

  •      
  •      
  • Quote

Postby ShonenTrash » Sun Feb 04, 2024 7:02 am

From my my own research, I've found the name "Tabris" in the book, Angels: An Endangered Species by Godwin Malcolm, listed as the angel of free will.

Image

Asunji_Yuko
Adam
Posts: 97
Joined: May 11, 2023
Gender: Male

Re: What is "Tabris"?

  •      
  •      
  • Quote

Postby Asunji_Yuko » Mon Feb 12, 2024 7:58 pm

View Original PostShonenTrash wrote:From my my own research, I've found the name "Tabris" in the book, Angels: An Endangered Species by Godwin Malcolm, listed as the angel of free will.

Image


Interesting, makes sense because Kaworu indeed had and exercised free will. An angel with free will connecting to an angel who chose to fall from grace i.e. Satan/the Antichrist makes sense.

As an aside, I always thought the natural next step of Evangelion would be Islamic iconography/references and even introducing the Jinn as a new enemy. They're less powerful than angels in Islam but Evangelion isn't known for its strict usage of religious references.


Return to “Evangelion TV Series + EoE Discussion”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 6 guests