Spears (Lances) of Longinus & Cassius

[Chroma]

I have two theories:

1) It's a shape-changed LoL. They are known to shape-shift, and perhaps it's all based on the user. Kawuro is fabulous, and thus his lance is just a little more flashy. Or, as another poster theorized, the LoL changes shape based on what it's supposed to be doing/its task at the moment.

2) It's a broken spear from the first impact that, at first, was lodged in the moon. SEELE found it when they were building 06 and augmented it - the green jewel in the center being a core and/or some sort of limiting device (to make it not as powerful (which would help explain why 01 didn't explode into blood like other angels had when their cores were breached)). The whole "05's lance was a pseudo-restoration" thing proves that SEELE (05 was made by SEELE and sabotaged by Mari, correct?) had at least tried creating a lance before.

Or it could be Lilith's spear, but I kinda doubt it.

[Tribblepoo]

(05 was made by SEELE and sabotaged by Mari, correct?)

It always struck me as Kaji sabotaged Unit 05, but Mari knew. Of course, it could be the other way around.

[Chroma]

It always struck me as Kaji sabotaged Unit 05, but Mari knew. Of course, it could be the other way around.

But Kaji and Mari are working together as far as we know. Also, Mari piloted the thing. I'd assume that she knew what was gonna happen with 05.

[Tribblepoo]

But Kaji and Mari are working together as far as we know. Also, Mari piloted the thing. I'd assume that she knew what was gonna happen with 05.

That's what I was implying, they both knew (not as clear with Mari, but why would she eject when she did?) and Kaji clearly knew it was sabotaged. I suppose it is a moot point who sabotaged it and whatnot. In the end, it was sabotaged.

However, I wonder if Mari's job as an "operative" will come into play in a significant way. I certainly hope so. That seems to be kind of a major plot point to leave by the wayside. I certainly hope it isn't a deus ex machina to just get her to wherever it is convenient for the plot (they have strayed into that territory already).

[Warren Peace]

I wonder if we're being presumptuous in assuming that Kaworu threw the lance. In EoE, Third Impact draws the original lance back to Earth, where it stops just short of Unit-01. Could something similar be happening in 2.0 (the difference being, of course, that the lance is a pick and Unit-01 is the cheese)? Rebuild's lance is traveling at tremendous speed. If Kaworu did throw it, he did so hidden from the "camera". Maybe he's just a tailgater.

[Chroma]

I wonder if we're being presumptuous in assuming that Kaworu threw the lance. In EoE, Third Impact draws the original lance back to Earth, where it stops just short of Unit-01. Could something similar be happening in 2.0 (the difference being, of course, that the lance is a pick and Unit-01 is the cheese)? Rebuild's lance is traveling at tremendous speed. If Kaworu did throw it, he did so hidden from the "camera". Maybe he's just a tailgater.

That's possible, now that you mention it.

However, I'm pretty sure Kawuro threw it. To say the least, he's in an EVA and an especially strong one at that, which would account for the speed. And if this was the original series, I'd be more inclined to believe this theory, as we'd seen that the lance is semi-sentient. On the other hand, I don't think we have any evidence of this for Rebuild.

[Reichu]

Rebuild's lance is traveling at tremendous speed.

If it's anything like the one from NGE, it can self-propel at incredible speeds once set on its trajectory.

I really don't think they need to have shown us Eva-06 chucking the Spear for audiences to put two and two together.

[JoeD80]

I wonder if we're being presumptuous in assuming that Kaworu threw the lance.

There was an ad for a new videogame (I think? or Pachinko) where they show Eva 06 throw it.

[Warren Peace]

I'm not sure how canonical Pachinko games are. I'm neutral on the theory myself, just putting it out there. Since we have seen a spear travel from the moon to Unit-01 during Third Impact before, it's not such a wild idea...

[Reichu]

Since we have seen a spear travel from the moon to Unit-01 during Third Impact before, it's not such a wild idea...

Yeah... in a different continuity, when there wasn't an Eva heading toward Earth from the Moon in a perfectly well-implied position to throw the Spear from off-screen moments before descending to the ground. :p Unnecessary speculation is totally unnecessary.

[Warren Peace]

I am thoroughly chastened. The Rebuild forum is NOT a place to think creatively about a filmmaker famous for misdirection and sleight of hand. Gotcha.

[Son of Lilin]

I am thoroughly chastened. The Rebuild forum is NOT a place to think creatively about a filmmaker famous for misdirection and sleight of hand. Gotcha.

This is all well and good, but it seems obvious that Kaworu threw the spear at Unit 01. I doubt Anno would needlessly complicate something like that.

[Warren Peace]

Exactly! He doesn't do stuff like that. Every shot directly corresponds to what's going on in that scene, without false impressions. He wouldn't tie together shots in a deceptive way.

SPOILER: Show

Sleight of hand indeed! Anyway, my last word on the subject.

[Nonoriri]

I'm not sure what there is to talk about here, I mean even if Kaworu didn't throw the lance do you think it moving on its own wasn't planned? Like it just happened to hit Unit 01 at the same time he finally finished descending to earth knowing exactly where Unit 01 was and speaking directly of Shinji? You think Kaworu was just going to watch the world end?

[Joe]

he finally finished descending to earth knowing exactly where Unit 01 was and speaking directly of Shinji?

There are giant red rings in the sky and a bright light in the place where Eva-01 is, so Kaworu can find Shinji easily from the sky.

But...

SPOILER: Show

Eva-06 definitely throw it.

[shinshiki]

It's highly doubtful that Kaworu didn't throw the spear. You can see it in the construction scene of Mark 06 in 2.0.

i don't think it's a Lance of Longinus either. It's probably just a spear tailor made to Mark 06's specifications. If anything, it's probably like the Lance of Longinus Replicas that the Mass Produced Evas use in The End Of Evangelion to help initiate Third Impact.

[driftking18594]

^ Well that means all 4 of those Lances shown at Misato's Second Impact flashback are still unaccounted for, unless one of them is currently embedded in Lilith's chest.

[Sailor Star Dust]

Minna No Eva Fan blog has an index of the latest news about Q. Pretty handy to have, and I noticed an entry from August 6th:

http://neweva.blog103.fc2.com/blog-entry-1435.html

The Spear Evangelion Mark.06 threw is the Spear of Cassius?

which is a note from this Eva PS3 Pachinko game. (There are so many of them!) I think this one's a crossover game of some kind with another Eva Pachinko game.

I noticed above the purple highlighted "Spear of Cassius", it mentions "Shinji and core flash". My Japanese isn't the best (damn Kanji) so I can't make out what the rest of the terms on that page says.

Consulting the Googles, entering "Cassius" lead me to the name Cassius Longinus. One source (a Bible site) mentioned Gaius Cassius Longinus.
Wikipedia's page on Cassius Longinus mentioned this: Longinus, also called Cassius in some traditions, a name in Christian tradition for the Roman soldier who pierced the side of Jesus Christ on the cross; see Saint Longinus.

I guess the tl;dr of all this is that the Spear of Longinus (IIRC, a version of the spear was Eva-05's drill and one of the SoL's stuck in Lilith?) and Spear of Cassius are two different spears.

EDIT: This entry mentions something about the name being Cassius as well.

There's some mini interview with Anno towards the end, seems to be about the last scene in 2.0 from what I skimmed.

And the blog post also mentions the pattern of different NME names being revealed in the various games, like Mari's first name was revealed in that Puchi Eva DS game.

[riffraff11235]

Good find. Since the Spear that is restraining Lilith hasn't been given a name in Rebuild, maybe all of them are called "Spear of Cassius"? Or maybe it's just Mark.06's Spear that's called that. Since "Longinus" and "Cassius" are two names for the same historical figure, maybe the different names will be used to denote two different designs for the Spear.

[1731298478]

There's some mini interview with Anno towards the end, seems to be about the last scene in 2.0 from what I skimmed.

That's an excerpt from the CRC interview (it actually occurs in the next section to be posted). In earlier versions of the script, Kaworu had more to say when he appeared at the end, and one of the things he would have revealed was the name of the spear he used. Anno doesn't say what the name was in the interview, but he does establish that the spear Kaworu used had a unique name (i.e., not Longinus).