As we've learnt from Kaworu, humans have AT Fields as well, so why is it only in an Eva unit that they can be augmented? In Angels, it doesn't seem to be a matter of size (compare Matariel's AT Field with that of Tabris/Kaworu's), so presumably it's not a matter of size in humans, who are revealed at the end to be Angels as well.
An often-quoted argument is that Eva units are cloned from Adam and Lilith. Unfortunately the "humans are Angels" fact seems to kill this point too, unless there's something special about Adam and Lilith that I've overlooked.
So...do humans simply lack the willpower to develop strong AT Fields (a belief-esque theme reminiscent of The Matrix)? Or is it that our AT Fields just so happen to be metaphorical (Hedgehog's Dilemma) while the Angels are lucky enough to have physical ones? Personally, I'd quite like to be able to bulletproof myself.

Well, don't you have the AT fields of the pilots working together with the AT fields of their mothers? I'm sure it goes a bit deeper than that (the child and his mother as people couldn't defeat angels); maybe the core is some sort of amplifier? Maybe Evas are more "pure" angels than humans? After all, they're made directly from Adam and Lilith, whereas humans are merely descendants. I'd suggest that AT field strength is proportional to size, but we have Kaworu as a clear exception.

I'm pretty sure angel and human AT Fields are completely different. One is a physical barrier, while the other is a more mental, egotistic barrier. Except in the human's case, as shown in EoE, if an AATF is utilized, then their body ceases to exist. So it seems to keep the human body incarnate as well. I'm sure someone else can explain it better than I.

I suppose its one of the main points of the show itself, that people keep around themselves an impenetrable AT Field because they do not want to be hurt by others, but doing this increases their lonliness and suffering.

A human's A.T. Field is not metaphorical, as if it was (as Ironfoot says) they wouldn't be able to hold their body's shape, and would revert to LCL. The human A.T. Field is there, but is not powerful enough to 'bulletproof' us.

As Gamer_2k4 says, Tabris puts paid to the theory that it is proportionate to size.

I was going to suggest that it was linked to the S2 engine, but Evas don't inherently have S2 engines, so

Ultimately, everyone who has a strong A.T. Field is either Angel, Seed of Life or 'clone' thereof, so the key must be there somewhere, although it'll have to be worked out by someone other than me, 'cos I'm

It's both literal and metaphorical

Isn't this thing just very simple? After all small dynamo on your bicycle can't generate as much energy as nuclear reactor... I think that's all there is to it

Because the script says so.

Xard wrote:It's both literal and metaphorical

Isn't this thing just very simple? After all small dynamo on your bicycle can't generate as much energy as nuclear reactor... I think that's all there is to it

That's exactly why I put forward the example of Kaworu and Matariel. Kaworu is much smaller, but has an immensely stronger AT Field.

On a similar note, compare the AT Fields of Matariel and Zeruel. They are both approximately the same size, but Matariel was killed in a pathetically easy manner using the previously-ineffective palette rifle; Zeruel, on the other hand, withstood the spear, the rifle, the rocket launcher and even the N2 bomb at nearly point-blank range (with only a thin membrane covering its core). Where's the proportionality in that?!

AyrYntake wrote:

Xard wrote:It's both literal and metaphorical

Isn't this thing just very simple? After all small dynamo on your bicycle can't generate as much energy as nuclear reactor... I think that's all there is to it

That's exactly why I put forward the example of Kaworu and Matariel. Kaworu is much smaller, but has an immensely stronger AT Field.

Kaworu also happens to be Adam

And there's differences of strenghts between angels - and I always figured out Matariel got caught by surprise

I suspect there may be something almost akin to conservation of ninjitsu here. I mean, you've got two Seeds, right? Adam's got fifteen kids, whereas Lilith...even if you only count the human population, that's still two or three billion individuals.

The S2 organ may come into it as well, but the Evas don't need it to generate their macro-scale AT fields. Not even Unit 01, which is Lilith-based. Then again, they still have a buttload of electrical power...when they're not berserking...

Shay Guy wrote:I suspect there may be something almost akin to conservation of ninjitsu here.

Shay Guy wrote:I suspect there may be something almost akin to conservation of ninjitsu here. I mean, you've got two Seeds, right? Adam's got fifteen kids, whereas Lilith...even if you only count the human population, that's still two or three billion individuals.

I'm slightly doubtful about that. By that logic, EVA-01's AT Field should be pretty much non-existent.

And, to continue my devil's-advocate style reign of terror, I'll pick a hole in this argument:

Shay Guy wrote:Then again, they still have a buttload of electrical power...when they're not berserking...

Sounds great! That means I can plug myself in to my mains socket, and then try and bulletproof myself.

humans do not have the "Fruit of Life"; inherently their AT Fields are weaker than those of the Angels, just as their physical strength is less.

As Evas have no inherent souls, it appears that the Eva-body "Amplifies" the human soul embedded inside (i.e. Yui Ikari) in order to project an Angel-level AT Field

AyrYntake wrote:

Shay Guy wrote:Then again, they still have a buttload of electrical power...when they're not berserking...

Sounds great! That means I can plug myself in to my mains socket, and then try and bulletproof myself.

Sure, if you were made to run off of electricity.

AyrYntake wrote:On a similar note, compare the AT Fields of Matariel and Zeruel. They are both approximately the same size, but Matariel was killed in a pathetically easy manner using the previously-ineffective palette rifle; Zeruel, on the other hand, withstood the spear, the rifle, the rocket launcher and even the N2 bomb at nearly point-blank range (with only a thin membrane covering its core). Where's the proportionality in that?!

I was under the impression that Asuka neutralized Matariel's AT field (like she said she would), meaning that it would have no protection against the rifle. Compare that to the episode where they're fighting Sahaquiel. You see Rei physically tearing the AT field open so that Asuka can stab it. I'd guess the reason that guns tend to not work is that the bullets themselves are too weak to penetrate the AT field and the Evas are too far away to disrupt it. Another possibility is that Matariel had to lower its AT field in order to drip the acid down, and was consequently wide open to attack.

Does a berserk Eva run off electricity stored up earlier then?
As far as I know, EVA-01 just before it raped Zeruel had neither electricity, an S2 engine OR the Fruit of Life (which, if I'm not mistaken, is the S2 engine itself). Where did its immense AT Field, all but slicing Zeruel in half, come from then?
Yui-sama works in mysterious ways...

"Soul Juice"

All of these details have been discussed at length, unfortunately, we only have the google search function and the discussion is scattered. Here are a few threads that you may find useful:

A.T Fields
AT Field Orders Of Magnitude
Berserker's power source?
The Absolute Terror Field

The AT Field seems to define one's shape, so the Angels, given their bizarre forms, aren't genetic mutants, but beings who are consciously able to manipulate their AT Fields so that their bodies can be any shape they want. If they can do that, using their AT Field as a physical barrier should be easy.

And since the AT Field is the light of the soul, then personality is probably the culprit. Could it have something to do with Angels being solitary existences, and humans being communal creatures? That's probably the only distinction here.

AuraTwilight wrote:The AT Field seems to define one's shape, so the Angels, given their bizarre forms, aren't genetic mutants, but beings who are consciously able to manipulate their AT Fields so that their bodies can be any shape they want. If they can do that, using their AT Field as a physical barrier should be easy.

I don't think an AT field defines your shape at all. Any time in the series that you see an AT field, it's a flat force field that bears none of the characteristics of the Angel or Eva projecting it. Besides, several times in NGE people talk about "neutralizing an AT field" or are seen manipulating an AT field, and neither case supports your theory. In the crudest interpretation of your post, the act of generating a cushioning AT field against Sahaquiel should have sent Unit 1 all over the place (the boundaries of its AT field are no longer Eva-shaped).

I don't believe that an AT field is a physical thing. It's just "more real" than the world we're used to. Consider a hologram. It looks every bit like the real thing, but you can pass your hand right through it. You're more real than it is. In the same way, an AT field is to us what we are to a hologram. That's why AT fields can be used offensively, and that's why conventional weapons can't penetrate them. It would be like someone trying to kill you with holographic bullets.

Really? Suddenly I feel a deep yearning to be an Angel
(oh wait, I am one.)

I thought it was partly because the AT field was spread out to form a barrier for all of the three billion odd humans, while its concentrated around a single Angel.