The NERV logo, what does it all mean?

[Invincible Kaji]

Well, I might have missed this explained in all the times I've watched through the series and read through the manga, but I'm attempting to figure out all the elements of the logo.

There are three components:

1. The half leaf.

2. NERV: The manga explains that the nerve is the path by which the soul reaches out, but does the way it's positioned in the logo mean anything?

3. What do they really mean by the motto "God's in His heaven, all's right with the world."?

[Hexon.Arq]

1. The leaf is a fig leaf. I'm no expert on it (maybe someone else knows), but I think that has something to do with the "Tree of Wisdom" or the "Tree of Life" (I don't know which) according to some esoteric... thing. I guess it's supposed o tie-in with the Fall of Adam.

2. I don't think so.

3. That is a line from a poem by Robert Browning:

The year's at the spring
And day's at the morn;
Morning's at seven;
The hillside's dew-pearled;
The lark's on the wing;
The snail's on the thorn:
God's in His heaven—
All's right with the world!

This is an excerpt from the middle of Part I of the play Pippa Passes.

[Invincible Kaji]

Alright, there really isn't anything there at all with #2.

So, why were those two lines chosen to be included in the logo?

Seems like it's a question answered better by Gainax than anything we could infer from the series. The manga might still reveal something.

[Hexon.Arq]

To me, the Browning lines just seem to illustrate a sick irony, what with the business NERV is involved in. I love this dynamic, and I'm not certain there's even another layer beneath it. It's another way of saying that everything is under control... which it's not.

[Phaze]

Adam and Eve, after eating from the tree of life (they ate the fruit of wisdom) covered there nudeness with fig leaves.

[Hexon.Arq]

Ah yes! That's what the fig leaf means! I was like, "I'm pretty sure they didn't eat a fig..."

[Olin of Xephon]

Yes, the Fig leaf ties into the fall of man at the hands of Eve and of course, Adam.

As far as the motto goes, I think you can take it a step farther.

God IS in HIS heave, All's right with the world.
In other words, God is in heaven, seperated from humanity, man is free to do as he pleases...All is right with the world.

Also, kiel quotes this as he melts into LCL at the End of Evangelion.
"...all is right with the world" or so he belives, as humanity ceases to exist.

[kosure]

i pretty much agree with everyone so far. When ever I read the logo I get a feeling of sick irony. Beacuse everything is most definetally not right in the eva world.

I also think it mirrors how Nerv doesn't tell people the whole truth about things. Like the blacked out manual for Shinji in ep. 1. And the whole

"When you go underground, we're just doing drills."

It'd be like a murdering company being called, Happy Fun-Time Inc.

[Invincible Kaji]

Let's assume that the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil was a fig. (This is working off of the poster above saying the leaf is a fig leaf.) So, the logo could also be representative of man using the knowledge he never should have had to rebel against God and His messangers. That is, the rebelion against God is man being so bold as to dictate the next step in man's evolution.

[MongolSquad]

Adam and Eve, after eating from the tree of life (they ate the fruit of wisdom) covered there nudeness with fig leaves.

Thats the only reason for the fig leaf. We don't really know what kind of tree the Tree of Knowledge had. So we don't know what the leaves look like.

[Invincible Kaji]

Alright, but the use of the leaves is still a manifestation of knowledge. So, just ignore my lines about the Tree.

[The Eva Monkey]

The half fig leaf is an iconic and inseperable piece of Christian lore. The fig leaf goes back to Genesis, the first humans, and the first sin. It also ties into the fruit of knowledge and wisdom which are important later on.

Nerv is German for "nerve", and nerves are rather important, paticularly the A10 nerve that is used to synch the pilots to their Evas.

"God's in his heaven, all's right with the world" comes from Robert Browning, a rather religious poet. The poem Pippa Passes is about a very specific scene in nature, and its beautiful simplicity as implicit of God's greatness and perfection. The line was taken, and used in an ironic way, as in Evangelion, mankind chooses to evolve on its own accord, rather than by the will of God. In essence, the line is used to say "God is there, we are here, and thats how it ought to be". Saying that God is not neccessary in our lives, and that we can control our own world.

[Timesplitter 01]

True, trust evamonkey to know the answers :roll:

[The Eva Monkey]

The only way to turn obsessive fandom into a good thing is to be an enthusiast.

[Invincible Kaji]

Does anyone suppose there is anything to the color that we most commonly see the Nerv logo in: Red?

[MongolSquad]

IT JUSTS LOOKS COOL! Thank you and goodnight

[The Eva Monkey]

Yeah.... sometimes its just a matter of aesthetics. The only time it ever has any significance is Kaji's ID card. His ID is red and white, with the leaf inverted and white. He comments on the card being the color of blood. This is the only siginicance of color remotely linked to the fig leaf.

Also, here's a scan of the Newtype 100% collection featuring some of the concepts for the Nerv logo. You may notice that the car train door has a German phrase below it.

http://www.evamonkey.com/randomimages/nerv.jpg

Looks like...

Neo
Eath of
Retarn
Vererasion ???

Perhaps Nerv was also supposed to have a German acronym?

[ShoKenju]

apparently EM can manage a forum and website but is unable to spell


earth and return correctly....i have no idea what the last one was

[Reichu]

apparently EM can manage a forum and website but is unable to spell

I think the spelling problem lies with whoever drafted up that version of Nerv's logo. I can say, Aaron, that it is DEFINITELY not German in the slightest (I know German when I see/hear it). One might call it Engrish. ;)

Over at ANF, we came up with some interesting theories on what Nerv's logo might signify, which I'll have to dig up sometime. In Jewish lore (the Haggadah, I believe?), the Tree of Knowledge actually IS a fig tree. One idea was that having half a fig leaf was indicative of how humans had only one of two fruits, the Fruit of Knowledge, and were incomplete in that sense... Again, if anyone's interested I'll locate the original posts. Some interesting stuff.

[MongolSquad]

Good guess! But Jewish lore is cale Kabbalah. What would you guys do without me?