Rei Falling Apart, why?

[Mordicaii]

In EoE, Rei is in Terminal Dogma with Gendou. Rei's left arm falls off. Why does it do this? Gendou explains that Rei's AT field can no longer hold it's form. Why is this? Has Rei not gotten her many prescriptions filled? Is Lilith chomping at the bit to get out of Rei? Why does her body begin to deteriorate? What indication is there that Third Impact is about to begin? Maybe the proximity of Adam and Lilith? There has to be some reason, arms don't just fall off.

Arm falling off  SPOILER: Show

[child of Lilith]

I’ve always thought it was because Rei doesn’t want to be there anymore. She has no desire to remain so her AT field is failing. Or it could just be a sign Third Impact is about to begin.

[KnightmareX13]

not enough vitamins?

[NemZ]

Possibilities that have been offered in other threads the past:

• ATF duel with Kaworu broke her somehow.
  
• ritsuko destroying the dummies in 23 has caused a sympathetic reaction in her for some reason.
  
• She hasn't been taking her required meds, either by choice or because without Rits nobody bothered to refill her perscription.
  
• It's a side effect of lowering her ATF to such a degree that she's no longer really solid.
  
• Rei's self image has changed to that of Lilith, thus she can no longer maintain her human form because it doesn't match.
  
• Her self-destructive urge has grown so powerful that it manifests physically.
  
• It's an intentional act to make room for the arm she's planning to steal.
  
• Because Anno, LOL

[TehDonutKing]

^The penultimate one. Also, because it's funny as SHAYX.

[Sailor Star Dust]

I'd say it's a combination of ALL the reasons NemZ listed, personally.

[rhfxz1s]

It's a side effect of lowering her ATF to such a degree that she's no longer really solid.

This is basically what I figured. I thought that Rei had made a change in her AT field where it was strong enough for her to maintain her shape, but weak enough for Gendo to enter. She couldn't hold it like that for long because her physical shape would then start to fall apart.

[The Abhorrent]

The reason for Rei's arm falling off is fairly obvious, her AT field is destablized and/or weakened. Why that happened is the real question.... and I'm probably stating the obvious with that. NemZ has provided many good possible explanations, but many of them are doubtful (namely, Ritsuko destroying the clones and the battle with Kaworu). However, there's still one detail which wasn't mentioned....

What about the analysis of Rei's psyche in episode 25?

I've viewed that scene as the fragments of Rei's soul (Rei II and whichever fragment was in Eva-00) effectively becoming a single entity (Rei III). Assuming EoTV and EoE are concurrent, the analysis of Rei in episode 25 likely took place within her own thoughts while she was immersed in the LCL during EoE. So how convinient is it that Gendo appears at the end of Rei's portion in episode 25 to (essentially) say "It's time."? In EoE, this is also the point where Rei's arm falls off.

Towards the end of her analysis, Rei comes just short saying she hates Gendo for what he's done to her but is still dependent on him for her "release". In that context, Rei deliberating letting her arm fall off so she could acquire the Adam embryo from Gendo's hand does seem rather likely.

Still, some of the other possibilities could be important factors; Rei's suicidal tendencies for example. Or it could simply be Gendo breaking her train of thought by addressing her, and considering the delicate nature of what is happening during Rei's analysis.... oops?

[gatotsu911]

Dropped somethin'.

Hey Rei, give me a hand!!

Personally, I had always assumed it to have something to do with the destruction of the Dummy System, possibly indicating that with the System gone, the last remaining Rei had a ticking clock. Gendo keeps talking about "time", after all. Or maybe it had something to do with being in close proximity to Lilith and/or Adam. Or maybe - and here's the shocker - it doesn't really matter all that much in the end. Just a possibility.

[Ornette]

Gendo says:

There's no time... Your AT Field can no longer hold your shape.
Let's begin, Rei.
Release your AT Field, the barrier of your heart.
Complement your imperfect heart, leave your useless body...
Merge all souls into one.
And then, take me to Yui's side.

Gendo telling Rei to release her AT Field makes it seem Rei can at least somewhat control it. Somewhat meaning that "there is no time" would seem to imply Rei's AT Field can no longer hold her shape.

These 2 things seem to point to 1) Rei having the ability to lower her own AT Field, 2) Her AT Field is diminishing yet Rei cannot sustain it.

The other possibility is 1) Rei having the ability to lower her own AT Field, 2) Rei has the ability to sustain her own AT Field but chooses not to. But this doesn't quite jive with the first thing that Gendo says, which seems to imply that he is strapped for time because of Rei's diminishing AT Field. Otherwise, couldn't he just ask her to stick together for a little longer?

[Reichu]

@Ornette: The A.T. Field is fundamentally the barrier separating one mind from another; holding a body together is just one function it can have. So even if, for reasons undetermined, Rei's ATF fails to keep her body together, it would still presumably keep her mind/heart/whatever partitioned off. And I guess Gendo can't do his 3I magicks unless Rei "opens up" to him.

Or maybe - and here's the shocker - it doesn't really matter all that much in the end. Just a possibility.

Now we're getting philosophical.

[Eva Yojimbo]

I always wondered if it had something to do with those LCL baths she took... Here ATF not being able to sustain her doesn't really tell us much since it doesn't tell us WHY.

Now we're getting philosophical.

*Waits for Xard and/or Allemann to tell us we're only being pseudo-philosophical*

[Azathoth]

I always wondered if it had something to do with those LCL baths she took... Here ATF not being able to sustain her doesn't really tell us much since it doesn't tell us WHY.

It's made obvious in EoTV (and pretty clear throughout the series) that Rei's most driving emotion is the will to death. As Rei II, she wouldn't have known why she wanted the Rei Ayanami form to end, because she isn't fully aware that she is Lilith and therefore driven to return to Lilith's form. As Rei III, she is conscious of that fact (or made conscious by Kaworu, or whatever) and so she stops repressing her desire to abandon the Rei form. Splat.

As to why she's being driven to return to Lilith's form...hell if I know. It probably just fits her better. She certainly seems a lot more at ease as god than she ever did pretending she was a normal person.

[Allemann]

Here ATF not being able to sustain her doesn't really tell us much since it doesn't tell us WHY.

When you put the soul of an organism into a body it doesn't naturally inhabit, instability is a likely option.

*Waits for Xard and/or Allemann to tell us we're only being pseudo-philosophical*

You're only being pseudophilosophical.

[Eva Yojimbo]

When you put the soul of an organism into a body it doesn't naturally inhabit, instability is a likely option.

But Lilith DID naturally inhabit a chunk of PWM. I don't know what makes the Rei bodies any different than Lilith save for the size. Maybe Rei's ATF was too powerful for such a small amount of the material.

You're only being pseudophilosophical.

[Monk Ed]

A better question is why even after Gendo's soul was extracted, half his body remained untanged. The answer to that would explain quite easily why Rei starts falling apart -- because it implies that AT fields (at least when constructed in the form of flesh) are something which must be broken down, not merely ceased to be maintained.

[NemZ]

NemZ has provided many good possible explanations, but many of them are doubtful (namely, Ritsuko destroying the clones and the battle with Kaworu). However, there's still one detail which wasn't mentioned...

It wasn't my idea, but it isn't impossible. If I recall correctly, the theory was developed based on Ritsuko in 24 telling Gendo "I didn't destroy the Dummy System, I destroyed Rei." or something to that effect, implying this was going to somehow affect her... somehow. I don't entirely get it, but then none of the rest of these make perfect sense to me either.

[Kodaemon]

I'd say she was making her intentions clear: it's not that she wanted to sabotage the Dummy system, she destroyed the Rei bodies, the image of Rei, out of spite. Also, with the bodies now gone, there are no "spare parts" for Rei any more. I doubt it had any direct effect on Rei III though.

[Jessemon]

My memory could be a little fuzzy, but I don't think Gendo's time comment (it was something like, "there isn't much time left," right?) had anything to do with Rei's ability to hold her current form. I've always thought that Gendo was just referring to the fact that 3I was about to take place above his head, and he wanted to make sure he got to Rei before everything went down.

[Apjak]

I'd say you can take this one all the way back to the "I am I" poem/speech/mantra. Rei was who she was because of the links she formed with others, and back to Ramiel, because she was bonded to the eva. If we're to believe Kaworu that the ATF is really the "light of the soul", than because Rei III has none of the links to people, or to Eva 00 (Thanks Armisael), then she may indeed be falling apart at the soul. This would also make sence of the "Ikari-kun" when she took Gendo's hand and was no longer falling apart. She then had a link with someone again. She had a soul.

This theory also could explain why Rei II had to be in the brain machine thing at the Reiquarium, and why when Ritsuko destroyed them they fell apart. Rei II was giving them a proxy soul, and Ritsuko had to do nothing more than "turn off the feed".

I also think insidiously, that if Ritsuko had something to do with Rei's creation, then Ritsuko's "Why Hello Rei" to Rei I infront of Naoko might have been an attempt to imprint upon her a soul, and it might have been immediately after her successful creation. But that's just conjecture.