Key of Nebuchadnezzer Speculation

[Monk Ed]

Chuckman's ending  SPOILER: Show

Gendo wins, but the experience of viewing the universe in five dimensions is so shattering that he willingly surrenders his power and fixes the world. Shinji almost screws it up in an attempt to resurrect Rei, but Gendo convinces him to let her go.

Shinji wakes up beside Asuka on a beach as sparkling blue waters lap at the sand. Asuka straddles him and begins choking him, but he caresses her cheek and she stops.

This has got to be the first ending someone has proposed that I actually like.

Sadly, if we can guess it, it probably won't happen.

[Chuckman]

The biggest roadblock to an ending like that is that it would rip the focus away from Shinji at the last minute and I don't really see Anno doing that.

I could however see

SPOILER: Show

Shinji being the one to hold absolute power. Gendo's plan all along to was to shove it into Shinji's hands, knowing he'd try to bring back "his" Rei serve his own purposes as well. Rei convinces Shinji to give her up for the world's sake, yadda yadda.

What confuses me if how Rei and Shinji's relationship can be central to the plotline and be resolved with a clone of Rei hanging around. This is where Eva always seems to trip up and go into alien space whale land.

Okay, sure, sometimes you lost people and you have to let them go. They usually don't have an identical clone bopping around.

Unless someone was dating a twin and they died... I'd probably kill myself. Jesus.

I'm sure the ending will some kind of counterpoint or answer to the ending of EoE, I just can't figure what that could possibly be.

[ElMariachi]

SPOILER: Show

Shinji being the one to hold absolute power. Gendo's plan all along to was to shove it into Shinji's hands, knowing he'd try to bring back "his" Rei serve his own purposes as well. Rei convinces Shinji to give her up for the world's sake, yadda yadda.

What confuses me if how Rei and Shinji's relationship can be central to the plotline and be resolved with a clone of Rei hanging around. This is where Eva always seems to trip up and go into alien space whale land.

Okay, sure, sometimes you lost people and you have to let them go. They usually don't have an identical clone bopping around.

Unless someone was dating a twin and they died... I'd probably kill myself. Jesus.

I'm sure the ending will some kind of counterpoint or answer to the ending of EoE, I just can't figure what that could possibly be.

SPOILER: Show

Personally I would prefer that Shinji learns the lesson before ending in the position of absolute power with the opportunity to save Rei but with an extremely heavy price to pay. Having someone else having to tell him how to behave and prevent him to make a massive screw-up (again) would mean that in the end Shinji is still a child who didn't learned anything and still let his emotions dictate his actions, and thus should be constantly monitored.
Besides that would be a really awesome scene if for once Shinji see through Gendo's machinations thanks to all the excruciating experiences he put him through for his plans and his his newfound experience to completely screw over Gendo's plan while giving him good lecture on why he sucks so much and how he never grew-up past Yui's disappearance. Yui appearing out of nowhere to agree and bite Gendo in half optional but would be really appreciated!

As for how "Rei and Shinji's relationship can be central to the plotline and be resolved with a clone of Rei hanging around", it's very simple, and Q already showed us how : Rei Q, despite being a clone of Rei Ayanami, is not Rei Ayanami, but her own individual who needs to forge her own identity out of the shadow of "Rei Ayanami". That was the meaning behind Shinji saying that she's not "Ayanami", Asuka telling her that she don't know what would Rei Ayanami do but instead that Rei Q should think of what she want to do (leading to Rei Q's very first act of individuality by ejecting from Mark.09), her following Shinji and Asuka toward where the Lilin could pick them up instead of trying to go back to neo-NERV (signaling the beginning of her own journey of self-discovery, for her own benefit), and even the fact that her official name is "Tentative Name : Rei Ayanami".

You were jokingly talking about dating a twin, and I think that you spot on, that's how Rei Q should be considered : a twin sister of Rei Ayanami, someone with the same face, but a different personality and identity. And finding said identity will probably be one of the focus of FINAL. Maybe helping her in this quest will also help Shinji to make his mourning of Rei Ayanami and show him that he can do something good in his life and that it doesn't even require him to pilot.

[Ray]

Hopefully the guys at Wille won't say. . "Ah! An Ayanami Type! Shoot it!" and give Shinji an additional thing to angst over.

But back on Topic. Gendo and his key of Nebuchanezzar. In retrospect, maybe Gendo piloting an Eva is a dumb idea. I mean only children can pilot Eva's right? Maybe he's planning on using the curse of Eva to de-age himself?

Dumb idea I know.

[ElMariachi]

^
It was never stated anywhere that the pilot had to necessarily be a child.

As for Rei Q, the fact she's accompanying Asuka without restraints should be enough to make the rescue team not shoot her on sight.

[Chuckman]

NTE never gives a valid explanation for why only kids can pilot. In NGE the pilot is paired with the mother's soul in the Eva (most of them, anyway, if you subscribe to my theory) and we never get a firm answer on what Nerv's official rationale for teenage pilots is; people have suggested radiation and the plasticity of the adolescent mind as possible cover stories but those are fanon.

In NTE there's clearly another mechanism behind the evas and souls (if there isn't, then Mari's mom's soul blew up and she can synch with Kyoko, and then who the hell is in the Unit 08?) but no explanation is given. Probably 'cause the movies are Shinji focused and too fast paced to dwell on such details.

There's nothing saying an adult can't pilot.

[Ray]

There was this one review of rebuild. . . that pointed that out. . . it really ticked me off. . . The guy still has an Evageek account, so I won't say his name or leave a link here. . .but it really ticked me off. . .

But if that was the case, why wasn't Misato a pilot? Or Gendo? Or Fuyu?

Ah it doesn't matter I suppose, someone will come up with some technobabble explanation in an obscure spinoff somewhere. Lets just assume the KON alters Gendo's genetics or something to allow him to pilot and/or remove the limitations of his age.

[Chuckman]

The key's purpose or what the hell it even is or where it came from is all up in the air except that it's so far filled a macguffin role originally taken by the adam embryo. There's no reason it can't do that.

[Gob Hobblin]

We are wildly speculating about it's purpose and origin...and thus...the Key has served it's purpose.

All according to plan....

[Chuckman]

There were only two people in the room.

Oh God. He can see us.

[Craftee]

tl;dr
my 2 cents

SPOILER: Show

looks like glyphs

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[ElMariachi]

Good catch, it would support the theory that the Key is one of the ADAMs that got reduced to this form for easy storage, the Rebuild version of ADAM's embryo from NGE in short.

Meaning that this ADAM really got the short end of the stick. Blown to the Moon, forcefully grafted a second pair of arms, reduced to a cluster of nerves, cut in half and impaled on a cross, being SoL is suffering!

[ChaddyManPrime]

I think the Key of Neb is the original Unit 01.

[airman4]

So unit 01 is made of Adam ?

So who is the eva made of Lilith ?

[ChaddyManPrime]

^
Maybe Unit 00 if that's how 3rd Impact happened at the end 2.0. Or they maybe it merged with Rei/Lilith in 2.0.

[ElMariachi]

^
Except that the Key appeared before Near Third Impact at the end of 2.0, that's the object Kaji stole from Bethany Base at the beginning of the movie and gave to Gendo.

[ChaddyManPrime]

^
Broham I'm kinda confused so please forgive me, what was that in reply to? I kinda wrote a lot of things

[ElMariachi]

^
I though you talked about the Key of N, sorry.

Now for your answer, I doubt that the mere prototype was the one who benefited from being born from Lilith's flesh, after all it was the prototype for all the followings "normal" Evas.

[ChaddyManPrime]

^
Oh no bro that's not what I'm thinking, it's a little more complicated than that, you should look at the Adams and speculation thread that I wrote in, you'll understand what I'm thinking. It's on the last page, the post that has spoiler tags.

[kuribo-04]

This has got to be the first ending someone has proposed that I actually like.

Sadly, if we can guess it, it probably won't happen.

I liked that too! Loved the parallel with EoE.
Maybe Anno stalks Evageeks and steals ideas. You can sue Chuckman.