My theory is that it works like this:
-Eva 01 is a clone of Adam and Eva 00 is a clone of Lilith.
-When the 10th angel ate Eva 00 it acquired both the flesh and the soul(Rei's) of Lilith.
-Shinji awakens and so does his unit(it might be a reference to yoga and he might've fused with his unit).
-It gains a halo.
-The plug gets deeper and closer to the core.
-When he reaches a certain depth he enters the anti-universe, becomes imaginary like a concept and is ageless(this is probably what the curse is).
-He travels with the power of the anti-universe to Rei opening the Gates of Guf in the process(Maya mentions the unit's physical limiters disappearing).
-Because of the fusion the Eva has also become imaginary as a result(Ritsuko mentions the unit transforming into a condensed energy form).
-The angel's core is destroyed and loses its shape.
-The flesh takes Rei's form and is absorbed by Eva 01.
-Because of the combination of Lilith's flesh + soul + core, overwriting Adam's flesh, Eva 01 has become a perfect copy of Lilith and triggered the impact.
-The spears activate when a seed awakens on the wrong planet otherwise the seeds impale themselves after being done populating a planet.
-The spear of Cassius detected that Lilith awakened and impaled Eva 01.

AlphaZero wrote:-The spears activate when a seed awakens on the wrong planet otherwise the seeds impale themselves after being done populating a planet.
-The spear of Cassius detected that Lilith awakened and impaled Eva 01.

The Spear of Cassius doesn't automatically activate in 2.0. It's Kaworu inside Mark-06 who throws the Spear of Cassius to impal Eva-01 (and stop the Third Impact).

I know the Holy Spears automatically impaling a Seed was mentioned in NGE 2 videogame as an explanation for Lilith creating life on Earth instead of Adam (who was impaled), but this has never been shown in the anime. It's important to mention that this explanation was for NGE, but it wouldn't work for NTE (where the lore includes four Adams and six Holy Spears).

Also, it's never mentioned the Seeds impale themselves after being done populating a planet. The condition for the Spears to automatically impal a Seed was that two Seeds are awakened at the same time (that's why Adam was impaled when Lilth came to Earth and awakened). It's said a Seed is awakening in the wrong planet because there is already another awakened Seed.

Konja7 wrote:The Spear of Cassius doesn't automatically activate in 2.0. It's Kaworu inside Mark-06 who throws the Spear of Cassius to impal Eva-01 (and stop the Third Impact).

I don't think we're actually shown Mark-06 throwing Cassius though, so it's technically possible that its motion in 2.0 is at least partially autonomous.

nerv bae wrote:I don't think we're actually shown Mark-06 throwing Cassius though, so it's technically possible that its motion in 2.0 is at least partially autonomous.

I mean, the scene is created to be clear that the Spear of Cassius was thrown by Mark-06. In 3.0+1.0, there is even a flashback of the Spear of Cassius impaling Eva-01 in Kaworu's Instrumentality.

Games have Mark-06 using this Spear of Cassius too.

Generally, things that in their framing imply that x entity did y thing are not always to be taken at face value in Eva, especially in regards to NTE, but in this case I'd say it's a fairly safe call to make that 06 did, in fact, throw Cassius

Konja7 wrote:In 3.0+1.0, there is even a flashback of the Spear of Cassius impaling Eva-01 in Kaworu's Instrumentality.

There is no new footage of the event in 3+1, right? The flashback is merely color-adjusted footage otherwise the same as the 2.0 footage of the Spear of Cassius impaling Eva-01? If correct, I don't think 3+1 offers any more evidence than 2.0 that Mark-06 threw Cassius.

But yeah:

Blockio wrote:Generally, things that in their framing imply that x entity did y thing are not always to be taken at face value in Eva, especially in regards to NTE, but in this case I'd say it's a fairly safe call to make that 06 did, in fact, throw Cassius

This is the spirit in which I offered my comment; I actually think Mark-06 threw the spear too. It's just worthwhile to spend time examining exactly what Eva does and does not show us, to help make room for theories like AlphaZero's.

Mh yeah, gotcha. It's a good call, in any case.

nerv bae wrote:There is no new footage of the event in 3+1, right? The flashback is merely color-adjusted footage otherwise the same as the 2.0 footage of the Spear of Cassius impaling Eva-01? If correct, I don't think 3+1 offers any more evidence than 2.0 that Mark-06 threw Cassius.

Just to clarify this point.

There are no new footage in 3.0+1.0. However, the fact that the scene of Eva-01 being impaled by the Spear of Cassius is shown during Kaworu's Instrumentality would reinforce the idea that Mark-06 threw the spear of Cassius. That's why I mentioned it.