Postby Jornophelanthas » Wed Mar 18, 2015 12:08 pm
What is interesting in this comparison, is that the number 1 / Unit-01 is a special case both in the Fibonacci sequence and in Evangelion.
In the Fibonacci sequence, the number 1 occurs twice.
In Rebuild of Evangelion, Unit-01 is piloted not just by the human pilot Shinji:
- In Rebuild 1.0, during the Fourth Angel ("Sachiel") battle, it is ambiguous whether Shinji is the one berserking, or if it could be a different intelligence (Yui?).
- In Rebuild 2.0, during the Ninth Angel ("Bardiel") battle, the (non-human) dummy plug is used successsfully by Gendo.
- In Rebuild 2.0, during Near-Third Impact, it is ambiguous whether Shinji is actually piloting (alone), or if it could be a different (Yui's?) intelligence at work.
- During the 14-year time gap, it is unclear whether Shinji, Rei, or Yui had any part in controlling the events of Third Impact. We only know that Shinji has no memory of it.
- In Rebuild Q, during the outer space battle, it is unclear whether Unit-01's actions are controlled by Shinji, Rei, Yui or the Evangelion itself. We only know that Shinji has no memory of it.
- In Rebuild Q, the WILLE bridge crew plug Unit-01 into the AAA Wunder, which allows them to pilot the AAA Wunder. This arguably may not involve any piloting of Unit-01, though.
My main point is this:
Since the number 1 appears twice in the Fibonacci sequence, a full parallel with the human pilots of Rebuild Evangelions could require Unit-01 to be piloted by two separate people, possibly on separate occasions. We know that Shinji is one of them, but who could be the other?
One possibility is that this would be Yui. In Rebuild Q, it was revealed that Yui entered Unit-01's core without an entry plug, and was absorbed as a result. Unit-01's erratic behaviour could be explained by Yui's soul attempting (and at time succeeding) to take control of the Evangelion. It could even be the case that starting with Near-Third Impact - when Unit-01 reactivates on its own without a power source - Yui is in permanent full conscious control of the Evangelion for every moment that the Evangelion is active. And yes, this would include the off-screen happenings of Actual Third Impact and the brief moment of activation in outer space.
A possible counterargument is that this Yui does not actualy pilot the Evangelion in this scenario. This is more like possession or melding/merging with the Evangelion's core than actually consciously it as an external instrument.
Another candidate could be Rei, since her soul was absorbed into Unit-01's core during Near-Third Impact. A supporting argument could be found in the disembodied Rei voice Shinji (and only Shinji) hears shortly after his extraction from Unit-01, and right before the Mark-09 appears to take him away from WILLE. The fact that Rei Q in Mark-09 uses a megaphone to call out to him after she breaks open the hull still does not explain why nobody but Shinji could hear the previous calls. I claim that this was not Rei Q, but the soul of Rei that was still stuck inside Unit-01's core. His departure could be a good thing, since his continued presence (and emotional turmoil) there could agitate Unit-01 into activating eventually.
(Alternatively, Rei could not reside in Unit-01's core any more, but inside the music player, which was extracted along with Shinji. Supporting arguments for that: Shinji hears Rei's voice only moments after he received the broken music player, and Rei Q taking possession of the music player at the end of Rebuild 3.0. This theory is a counter-argument against Rei being Unit-01's second pilot.)
A third candidate - and my own favourite - would be Rei Q, in a future movie. The main argument for this is based on the Rebuild's conception of synchronization in Unit-01. I argue first that Shinji's synchronization rate with Unit-01 is acceptable because of his compatibility with Yui's soul. Secondly, his synchronization rate drops to 0.000% after he is extracted. This could be explained either by the addition of the Tenth Angel's ("Zeruel") essence to the core, or to the addition of Rei's soul to the core, or both.
However, since Unit-01 absorbed Rei 2.0 into its core and she was never extracted (if we discount the music player theory), this could make it possible for Rei Q to be acceptably compatible with Unit-01. After all, she would be both a genetic copy of Yui (unconfirmed in Rebuild, but still likely) and a genetic copy of Rei 2.0 (unconfirmed but very heavily implied). In addition, if she were to bring the music player, this could raise her synchronization compatibility even further - given that the music player was already part of Unit-01's core once before. The fact that the music player is already in her possession, and the fact that Rei 2.0 previously brought it with her while piloting Unit-00, could even be foreshadowing of this.
I hope this theorizing did not wander too far off from the main topic, but I hope it enlightens/entertains.
