Just WHO was Rei III talking to?

[SawItAtAge10]

Just WHO was Rei III talking to?
This question pertains to the scene in EoE where Rei III flies up to Lilith's body and says "I'm home". And then we see a caption that says "Welcome home". Now this phrase is clearly a bookend that reflects the scene from the second episode when Shinji first goes to Misato's apartment (more on that later).

However, I would like to suggest (and this might seem totally crazy) that maybe it was Kaworu who was speaking to Rei III just prior to her infusion to create GNR.

First on Rei's "inexplicable" ability to fly:

We know that Kaworu could fly. At no point through the show (the first 24 episodes) did Rei I, Rei II, or Rei III display this ability.Rei III didn't until she absorbed the Adam sample (which is just another "version" of Kaworu) from Gendo along with his arm. Thus, she absorbed that Angel and gained his abilities. Strangely, her flight up to Lilith looks strikingly similar to Kaworu's flight prior to his realization that it wasn't Adam...

About Kaworu being "inside" Lilith:

I think that his soul was absorbed into Lilith after Shinji destroyed his physical body. At that point, just like Unit 02, Lilith had no "dominant soul", so Kaworu got in there and just "hung around" until Rei III was ready (I don't think this caused 3rd Impact because it would seem that the impacts require flesh (genetic/DNA?) contact/infusion, therefore doesn't seem to contradict any of the major events of EoE)

The parallels to "Welcome Home"

We know that they way this line is presented in EoE is an obvious throw back to the scene in episode 02, however, with Kaworu actually being there to say it to Rei, the meaning changes. In that sense with Misato saying it Shinji it was female to male, in EoE it's a gender reversal. It's a male (Kaworu) sating it to a female (Rei III). In the original version it was a mother figure (Misato) saying it to a child (Shinji) and in EoE it's Kaworu in the guise of a mother (Lilith) saying it to Rei III (the child).

This Kaworu taking a "mother shape" emphasizes Reichu's suggestion of Kaworu having certain maternal connections to Rei, Lilith, and Yui. In fact, given that Yui was in Lilith's other half (Unit 01), that would make her and Kaworu pretty similar at that point...

This also places further emphasis (and even explains) GNK's appearance in Pre-Instrumenatlity with GNR split with GNK as one body.

Then, with GNR not really just being Lilith revived with her soul (which was in Rei III) but in fact, a new creation based on the the two FAR's fusing together, this mirrors what Unit 01 was like by then end when she left Earth (except with only one soul inside) as she possessed both "fruits" and became "God".

[BrikHaus]

Rei III being a small removed piece, which has finally been reunited with the whole. She's talking to "herself" I suppose.

[SawItAtAge10]

Yes, but what about Kaworu being inside of Lilith before Rei III got there?

[ThanatosII]

There's definitely a recurring message about "Welcome Home" but whether or not it ties together to make sense of another event is questionable.

However, I do not quite see the implication of Kaworu taking on a maternal role. Misato never really became Shinji's new mother, in fact, she sorta failed. If this relationship was successful, then maybe it would make a neat parallel to Kaworu/Rei III.
I simply saw it as Rei III, with the soul of Lilith, returning back to her true body. Her soul has been disturbingly placed in human bodies, and separated from her true self. Her soul's home is Lilith, and thus the on screen title card says, "Welcome Home"

Further on, Kaworu and Rei seemed pretty equal in standing, neither tried to be a superior over the other. They both gave Shinji wisdom with equal ground. In other words, I do not see much of a dynamic that indicates Kaworu is a father/parental figure to Rei.

[Ornette]

It's brought up in a lot of threads: can search for "Rei welcome home" in the search function or just bypass it and use google.

[Kendrix]

What if she can simply naturally fly just like Kaworu, but, like her AT field, doesn't use it more often for obvious reasons? (Coverup)

She's not really 'talking' to anyone as much as describng her experience; What answers might as well just be the "dark Lillith presence" that has been floating away in her subconcious all along and now has the correct hardware available once more.

I really like howa Telop is used instead of a human voice, perhaps to convey some sort of "thoughtspeak" or someting more immediate/inhuman/godly than that.

[Nuclear Lunchbox]

In some way or another, she is addressing Lilith. Whether or not she expected a response is a different thing entirely. When I walk into my house, I often announce my presence, regardless of whether I know if somebody's home or now.

[SawItAtAge10]

However, I do not quite see the implication of Kaworu taking on a maternal role. Misato never really became Shinji's new mother, in fact, she sorta failed. If this relationship was successful, then maybe it would make a neat parallel to Kaworu/Rei III.

Well, that's why I said "the shape of mother". I just thought that, like Misato, he was kind of acting in a "mother" position. Plus, I was pointing out how it was reflexive of the scene from episode 2 with a gender flip (if Kaworu was in fact addressing Rei III).

Further on, Kaworu and Rei seemed pretty equal in standing, neither tried to be a superior over the other. They both gave Shinji wisdom with equal ground. In other words, I do not see much of a dynamic that indicates Kaworu is a father/parental figure to Rei.

The guidance of Shinji further emphasizes what I was saying about the two being fused together (in body body and soul). I thought that Kaworu's presence within was a symbolic way to welcome Rei back into Lilith, not an actual parental figure.

[Monk Ed]

For those who take paratext into account, in Rei's scenario in the NGE2 game Lilith keeps telling her to bring it the Fruit of Life. The implication being that Lilith let out Rei in the first place to retrieve the Fruit of Life. Rei is described in numerous places as having Lilith's soul; if what remains in Lilith to tell Rei to bring back the FoL (in Rei's NGE2 scenario) and welcome her home (in EoE) isn't some remaining piece of that same soul that was left behind (a possibility given that Asuka's mother's soul was split), or else perhaps just Lilith's physical consciousness if such a thing can remain, I don't know what else it could be.

[Kendrix]

Well, Lillith doesn't have to be outside of Rei's head to ask her to do things - She does describe that "dark intagible presence".


I'd assume it's kind of like running two OS on the same computer/harddisk, via partitions.

[K40s]

can't we just look at the show scripts and see something like:

Rei III: <dialog>
Kaworu: <dialog>
Shinji: <dialog>

and resolve the mistery of who was supposed to say this or that?

[NemZ]

Unfortunately the script I've seen just labels it as

(Screen text: Welcome back.)

[Reichu]

Unfortunately the script I've seen just labels it as (snip)

That's more or less what the Japanese script says, as well.

[FreakyFilmFan4ever]

I’ve always played around with the notion that any on-screen text with the quotation marks around it (they kinda look like brackets in the Japanese text) were instances of Lilith herself speaking. This makes watching EoTV interesting to keep track of since we see on-screen texts that alternate between having or missing quotations, indicating that there might be more than one person speaking. (As to whether or not the quotation free texts from EoTV is Adam, “the film itself,” or even Anno, I’m not sure. But they don’t appear at all in dialogue settings in EoE.)

[Nuclear Lunchbox]

Could be, and that was how I interpreted it on first watch.

[Ultrahuntr]

If Rei (at least Rei III, possibly all of them) didn't have the ability to fly, how is this scene (ep24 NGE) possible?

[url]http://i.imgur.com/eQ2lpni.png?1[/url] (tried to make it an image but it wouldn't post)

I understand that what she's standing on might be some sort of walkway, but if that's the case she would have had to come down there hours (maybe days) ago just to get all the way down to Terminal Dogma.

I understand that this doesn't really answer the question the thread is asking, but I think it's something to be noted about what you said.

[Nuclear Lunchbox]

AT field wizardry.

[Ultrahuntr]

AT field wizardry.

That's how Kaworu flies so...my point still stands haha.

[Nuclear Lunchbox]

I'm not entirely sure what your point is.

[Ultrahuntr]

At no point through the show (the first 24 episodes) did Rei I, Rei II, or Rei III display this ability.Rei III didn't until she absorbed the Adam sample (which is just another "version" of Kaworu) from Gendo along with his arm. Thus, she absorbed that Angel and gained his abilities. Strangely, her flight up to Lilith looks strikingly similar to Kaworu's flight prior to his realization that it wasn't Adam...

I was just disagreeing with this bit of what they had said. I acknowledged that it didn't really pertain to the post as a whole, I was just giving my two cents of something in her statement that I found disagreeable.