Mari is not afflicted with the “Curse of Eva”

[C.T.1290]

I've seen a fic with that premise: that Asuka can actually eat and even sleep if she wants to, but doesn't need to do it, and her not doing it for so long, combined by her depression, atrophied her sense of taste and ability to sleep to the point that she's incapable of tasting anything or take a nap even if she wants to.

SPOILER: Show

Her character arc in said fic has her recuperating her sense of taste little by little with her time in the village alongside Shinji (whom prepares what she preferred in order to help her) as she gets out of her depression and starts to hope again that there's a future for her and that she's not a monster, culminating by her once relaxing to the point of actually falling asleep and dreaming for the first time in 14 years. It's one of my favorite Thrice fanfics.

What’s the name of the fic, may I ask?

[ElMariachi]

What’s the name of the fic, may I ask?

It's Redemption Song by deathbringer374. For context, the first chapter was written back in 2014 and was resurrected seven years later, in which the author started doing his own version Thrice.
The thing that I really love in this fic is that it greatly expand the role of the village cast, and make it feel actually alive with real people living in it.

The beginning is very dark, but it gets better very fast, which is a little weird when you know that the author is also the one behind the (in)famous Scar Tissue and Relapse.

[dzzthink]

Interesting. This concept does hark back to the concept that non-lillin beings like Rei and Kaworu have little interest in food. The Eva curse almost coverts them from human to non-human, which is quite strange considering it is not an infectious pathogen. Perhaps breathing in too much LCL fluid can do that to a person.

[ElMariachi]

Interesting. This concept does hark back to the concept that non-lillin beings like Rei and Kaworu have little interest in food. The Eva curse almost coverts them from human to non-human, which is quite strange considering it is not an infectious pathogen. Perhaps breathing in too much LCL fluid can do that to a person.

Interestingly, Rebuild makes a big deal of Rei (both II and Q) discovering food as a metaphor them growing outside of their sterile and inhuman environment. In fact the link between food and humanity is a recurring theme of Rebuild: with their entire background revealed, Asuka and Rei discovering Shinji's cooking is one of the signs of them also discovering the joys of being human and having a normal(ish) life (before everything goes to hell), the "cooking war" could also be seen under that light, neo-NERV serves nondescript food paste to show how inhumane the place has become, then in the Village we are back to normal food, and even WILLE, where they also have to serve nutrient paste, still has some lettuce and apple slices accompanying their rations to show that they still hold onto their humanity.

As for the curse's origin, the most common belief is that it happened in 2.0 when each pilot reached a sync ratio where they were at risk of "losing their humanity": Asuka when Bardiel absorbed her, Mari when she activated Beast Mode, and Shinji when he pseudo-awoke EVA-01.
What muddles the water is that Thrice reveals that Mari was apparently already cursed in 2.0 and actually from around Yui's generation, yet makes it clear in 2.0 that her piloting Unit 05 was the first time she piloted and Eva, which led to several theories: that her "cursing" in 2.0 was a "red herring", that she's a clone of the original Mari/Mary/Maria from Gendo's flashbacks with all her memories and was indeed cursed in 2.0, or that it was initially planned to have her being cursed in 2.0 and that Thrice retconned it.
And muddling even more the water is the fact that Shinji still needs to sleep and eat in Thrice, although Asuka's words when she force fed her implies that the effects come gradually.

[Zoop]

Yah, Asuka says something along the line of "you are still a mock lillin, you still have to eat".
Also, the plugsuit seems to protect from the effects of the L-barrier, something Asuka and Rei dont seem to need protection for (likely a perk of the curse).
Shinji's battery or time limit just runs out when Kensuke comes to pick them up.

This signifies that even though they are all cursed, it apparantly comes in gradations, and Shinji aint got it that bad yet, though, I would think Shinji should have had it the worst, since what he did is argueably more extreme (for starters, he was actually able to beat Zeruel in this advanced state, Mari didnt even come close with her beastmode, thats tells me Shinji "tapped" a whole lot further into godly powers). Perhaps it just takes time to get "fully cursed".

As for Mari, my headcannon says she underwent some kind of contact or dive experiment, similar to what vanished Yui.
That way it makes sense for her to be cursed, but still for eva-05 to be the first eva she pilots.

[ElMariachi]

Yah, Asuka says something along the line of "you are still a mock lillin, you still have to eat".
Also, the plugsuit seems to protect from the effects of the L-barrier, something Asuka and Rei dont seem to need protection for (likely a perk of the curse).
Shinji's battery or time limit just runs out when Kensuke comes to pick them up.

Thing is that we have very scarce information on how the L-barrier works and who is more resistant to it and why: Asuka, Rei Q and Shinji could breath without protection in the red earth, while everyone else needs a fully sealed suit to survive in contaminated land, but there are no indication that Rei Q has the curse too (she too needs to eat and sleep, and Asuka never mentions that she's cursed like her and Mari), also Shinji was the only one whose plugsuit battery ran out, so maybe he has less natural resistance than Asuka and Rei Q, or maybe his plugsuit simply had less battery than the others (I don't think Gendo expected him to survive after Fourth Impact) and Asuka and Rei Q too would had been in trouble once their suit's power ran out.

[Archer]

Rei Q doesn’t need a curse to grant her resistance, it’s presumably a in-built function of her non-human physiology. Kaworu doesn’t need a suit either in 3.0.

[Konja7]

(I don't think Gendo expected him to survive after Fourth Impact)

Considering Rei Q's death was planned to emotionally destroy Shinji, it's pretty likely Gendo expected Shinji to survive after the Fourth Impact in Q.

In Gendo's Instrumentality, Gendo wonders if Shinji was really needed for his plans. This seems to imply that Gendo had subconsciously sought and expected to involve Shinji in his plans.

[ElMariachi]

Rei Q doesn’t need a curse to grant her resistance, it’s presumably a in-built function of her non-human physiology. Kaworu doesn’t need a suit either in 3.0.

Kaworu is a full blown Angel, he doesn't count. (hell, he doesn't even need protection against the vacuum of space!)
Rei Q's half Lilith genetic (if it's a trait that carried on from NGE) could explain her resistance indeed.

Considering Rei Q's death was planned to emotionally destroy Shinji, it's pretty likely Gendo expected Shinji to survive after the Fourth Impact in Q.

In Gendo's Instrumentality, Gendo wonders if Shinji was really needed for his plans. This seems to imply that Gendo had subconsciously sought and expected to involve Shinji in his plans.

The thing is that by the point of after Fourth Impact, Shinji wasn't needed at all in Gendo's plans anymore, so personally I interpreted it as Gendo simply not bothering to retrieve Rei Q since she wasn't useful to him anymore, and also out of spite because he couldn't support that Shinji found happiness.

[Konja7]

Kaworu is a full blown Angel, he doesn't count. (hell, he doesn't even need protection against the vacuum of space!)
Rei Q's half Lilith genetic (if it's a trait that carried on from NGE) could explain her resistance indeed.

To be fair, in NGE, it was implied Kaworu has DNA human like Rei. So, it's always possible Kaworu carried that trait to NTE.

Rei's body seems to be pretty inhumam in NTE, since Rei Q becomes LCL when she dies. We even see a rainbow with her death.

That said, Kaworu and Rei bodies seem to be different on some aspects.

[DantesInferno]

Rei's body seems to be pretty inhumam in NTE, since Rei Q becomes LCL when she dies. We even see a rainbow with her death.

Fuyutsuki (fully human) also turns into LCL, as must have done everyone else affected by the strong L-field during any of the impact events.

He earlier in the film tells Gendo that "Ayanami no. 6 de-stabilized due to lack of adjustment (translation mine)", so it's possible that the clones are imperfect in a way that (unless "adjusted") eventually makes them suffer naturally the same consequences as an actual lilim under the L-field.

I don't know about the rainbow, but the cross that appears definitely symbolizes "she finally got her soul back and became human" (perhaps the soul and rainbow "come together as a set").

[ElMariachi]

^
But Rei Q wasn't in a place with L-field when she tanged, unlike Fuyutsuki. I think that the most likely is that like in NGE, all the Reis have part of Lilith DNA (hence the blue hair and red eyes), which gives them unstable bodies that needs to periodically be "recalibrated" in the LCL chamber, there's a scene in Thrice where Rei Q's plugsuit has an alarm message that her body is critically unstable and need urgent recalibration.

Following that, it's unknown if Kaworu also needs regular recalibration (after all, his white hair and red eyes strongly imply that he too is a hybrid). Now that I think about it, if WILLE is completely unable to do the recalibration, that would explain why he stayed with NERV and SEELE: only they had the facilities that could maintain him alive long enough to see Shinji again.

[Konja7]

Following that, it's unknown if Kaworu also needs regular recalibration (after all, his white hair and red eyes strongly imply that he too is a hybrid). Now that I think about it, if WILLE is completely unable to do the recalibration, that would explain why he stayed with NERV and SEELE: only they had the facilities that could maintain him alive long enough to see Shinji again.

Well, we don't know if Rei being a hybrid is the reason why she needs recalibration (technically, Asuka has become a hybrid but she doesn't need it). It's possible Rei needing recalibration could be intentional from Gendo to control her.

I don't think recalibration will be the reason why Kaworu stays in NERV. In itself, Kaworu couldn't really live outside NERV, since SEELE and Gendo need him for the Fourth Impact. So, they will chase Kaworu if he tries to escape (and they will use violence against those who interfere). We've already seen NERV goes for Shinji in 3.0.

[DantesInferno]

^
But Rei Q wasn't in a place with L-field when she tanged, unlike Fuyutsuki. I think that the most likely is that like in NGE, all the Reis have part of Lilith DNA (hence the blue hair and red eyes), which gives them unstable bodies that needs to periodically be "recalibrated" in the LCL chamber, there's a scene in Thrice where Rei Q's plugsuit has an alarm message that her body is critically unstable and need urgent recalibration.

Following that, it's unknown if Kaworu also needs regular recalibration (after all, his white hair and red eyes strongly imply that he too is a hybrid). Now that I think about it, if WILLE is completely unable to do the recalibration, that would explain why he stayed with NERV and SEELE: only they had the facilities that could maintain him alive long enough to see Shinji again.

Yes, what I meant is that the Reis will destabilize regardless of whther there is an L-field nearby. The L-field destabilizes the otherwise stable lilim, and the Reis destabilize spontaneously when not calibrated. Does that make sense?

I think Kaworu, as an angel, is completely different from Rei. Unless Seele "clone" him in the coffins like Nerv clones the Reis, and his angelic nature comes from elsewhere (his soul perhaps?).

He turned to red LCL (not orange), much like the other angels when they image-collapse. And it happened when he wa skilled by the DSS choker, not spontaneously or due to an L-field.

[Konja7]

He turned to red LCL (not orange), much like the other angels when they image-collapse. And it happened when he wa skilled by the DSS choker, not spontaneously or due to an L-field.

Are we sure is red LCL? I was sure it's just his blood.

We don't see his corpse, but that may be because they did not want to be so explicit.

In early drafts for 3.0 (which were in Blu-ray for 3.333), they show Kaworu's corpse. In this version, the DSS Choker explosion also killed him, but didn't blow up his entire head.

[Blockio]

It could be either tbh. Although the blood angle might be interesting from the perspective of his having fallen to become the 13th angel line

[AsukaShikinami10]

Konja7 wrote:
In early drafts for 3.0 (which were in Blu-ray for 3.333), they show Kaworu's corpse. In this version, the DSS Choker explosion also killed him, but didn't blow up his entire head

That's pretty interesting. Do you have any images of these drafts you can share here?

I'm really intriged with that imagery.

[Konja7]

That's pretty interesting. Do you have any images of these drafts you can share here?

I'm really intriged with that imagery.

I would send you the link for PM, since I didn't know if I could put in this thread.

You could also find the link to the video with the imageboards in this thread: thread/20888/Evangelion-3333-Bluray-coming-out-on-8-25/40/

[DantesInferno]

Veering off topic already, but I was thinking that if Kaworu being killed by the DSS choker wasn't enough to stop N4I (and Shinji had to be ejected by Mari), maybe it's because his dead body plus his disembodied soul (still trapped in the entry plug?) still somehow "contribute" towards activating the double-seat Eva-13.

Perhaps that's why Asuka was surprised when it "activated" in 3.0+1.0; when she said:

Wasn't it single entry...?

She wasn't asking whether tjhe Eva-13 requires two pilots or not (that much should be known by then), but rather shocked that it's supposed to have only one "pilot" inside (dead Kaworu), and thus unable to activate...?

Of course, it is later revealed that Original Ayanami was inside too, something that apparently no one in Wille knew up until that point (they likely thought NERV was only in possession of first-batch Ayanami-series pilots, with their soul "elsewhere", and thus unqualified to pilot Eva-13 just as Rei-Q).

[Zoop]

Wait, now im getting confused, original Ayanami was in 01, not 13, right?

Gendo seems to be able to control eva13 like kaworu did to 02 in NGE, from a distance. If there's any confusion about pilots and or activation with eva13, i'd say its because of this.
And yeah, sure, kaworu is still inside, that much has been confirmed, so the two pilots at that point would be gendo and (dead) kaworu.