In any case, the core of the debate was exactly why Seele created Kaworu, and exactly what they sent him out to do. At first I always thought that it was pretty obvious, they'd sent him to try to set off third impact, but of course, after being around here for awhile, there are no certainties left.
But anyways, here are a few points about him that I thought it might be enlightening to hear thoughts on from you guys...for one thing, I wonder whether he was sent by Seele simply as a response to the defeat of the 16th Angel, or rather as a response to their discovery of the nature of Rei Ayanami.To address the first possibility, Seele, of course, bases their plans off of the Dead Sea Scrolls, which predict the coming of 17 "Angels," which mankind must overcome to avoid being wiped out: thus, Seele could have simply sent Kaworu to Nerv on a veritable suicide mission to cpmplete the equation. However, there are possible problems with this...first of all, of course, if an Angel making contact with Lilith is all that's needed to set 3I off, Kaworu could have easily done it...if Seele had only sent him there to die, it was very lucky that he decided not to go through with pulling the "trigger." To throw even more of a monkey wrench into the gears, according to the New Production Cuts, Seele explained to Kaworu exactly where Adam was, and as such he should not have been especially surprised when the being that he was (apparently) drawn to was not Adam, but Lilith instead. In any case, if Seele didn't actually intend for Kaworu to set 3I off, then they must have been banking on his emotional makeup, or lack thereof, to cause him to hold back in the end, much as Gendo hopes that Rei has been conditioned enough to follow his orders to the finish. Of course, Rei has a nasty little surprise for him in the end, which leads me into the second possibility...
The other possibility is that Kaworu was created as a foil for Rei, whom Gendo planned to use as his "trump card" to give him at least some control over how 3I would progress, the same type of ability, perhaps, that Shinji ends up getting in the end. As such, Kaworu would not have been sent by Seele to die, but rather to, indeed, initiate 3I right then and there, in whatever manner Seele might have wished. Of course, this would have to mean that Kaworu setting off 3I via Lilith would have a different effect than that of another Angel doing it, seeing as Seele has been supporting Nerv's fight against the Angels up until that point. This calls into question what Kaworu means when he tells Shinji "erase me, or you will all be erased": does he mean "erased" simply by losing his individuality, as 3I does to humanity in EoE, or something completely different? For the idea of Seele sending Kaworu with the intention of setting off 3I to work, methinks it'd have to be the former...and if that's the case, then in the end Kaworu chose to betray Seele for Shinji's sake, in much the same manner as Rei ended up doing to Gendo. However, either way Seele still "wins," since the defeat of the final "Angel" gives them the go-ahead to invade Nerv and initiate 3I via the Eva series instead.
I would suppose that the basic questions here are, in light of the above, 1) Was Kaworu created as a response to Armisael's defeat, or Rei's resurrection? 2) Did Seele intend for him to go through with starting Third Impact? and 3) Depending on the answer to the previous question, did Kaworu betray Seele in the end, or play right into their hands? Other details present themselves, of course, but methink that those are the main things that I've been wondering about...any insight from anyone else would be interesting to hear, methinks.
Also, to go WAY the heck out on a limb, I've also had a nagging thought in the back of my head about Kaworu's origins...if, as he claims, he's "just like" Rei, insofar as he is an artificial body with the soul of another being implanted in him, the series, as far as I know, is silent on whose body, if any, he's based on (as Rei is based on Yui). I had a wacky idea about that though...has anyone ever had the idea that his physical body could be based off of Kaji? There really isn't any evidence to support such a notion, but I figured that it could be a possibility, that Seele decided to utilize Kaji's remains for their own ends after he was disposed of...I just sort of drew a parallel with the easygoing manner that both Kaji and Kaworu carry, the same lazy, amiable look that they usually have in their faces, not to mention their affinity with Shinji. It's probably a silly idea, but I figured that one of you might as well tell me so officially.
In any case, that's about all I have to spew forth at this point in time, if anyone has anything to add, by all means toss it on up here.
Originally posted on: 16-Mar-2004, 23:26 GMT
" or two from Sharp-Kun whenever he comes back here. 
You actually like that theory of mine? Will wonders never cease!
