Unit 01 Contains Both the Fruit of Knowledge and the Fruit of Life?

[BujewQ]

Let me preface this by saying that I am new to the lore of Evangelion. I just finished watching it and EoE for the second time and after reading all sorts of stuff about the lore I had a few questions.

On the Wiki, it says that Unit 01 contained both the fruit of life and the fruit of knowledge after being impaled by the Lance of Longinus, but I'm confused about how and when it got the two seeds that would put it on par of the First Ancestral Race. Does being pierced by the LoL somehow do this? Is it because Unit 01 is made from Lilith and the Lance is Adam's and somehow being stabbed by it transferred the fruit to 02? I am also confused about how instrumentality gets put in Shinji's hands even though Rei/Lilith has the power of the FAR after melding the body of adam with the body of Lilith. What makes it so that Shinji is the one to decide everything? One final question; how did Seele plan to bring about the Third Impact. I understand that they needed Unit 01 to make their plan happen but I don't understand what they were planning to do with it once they captured it. Gendo's plan made sense and I know why it failed, but I don't understand how Seele was planning to use Unit 01 to bring about instrumentality.

Sorry if this is a question dump and if those aren't allowed. Also sorry if these have been answered somewhere else, I wasn't able to find anything.

Thanks in advance!

[Reichu]

First of all, "the FAR had both Fruits" is not known with any certainty. Many people believe they did, and if you want to go that direction that's your prerogative of course, but just know that this is neither stated nor implied anywhere, to my knowledge. (If this is still written on the wiki somewhere, let me know where so I can fix it.)

>I'm confused about how and when it got the two seeds

"Seeds" is short for "Seed of Life", which is what Adam and Lilith are. It doesn't mean the same thing as "Fruit".

As for your questions...

Does the Wiki imply that being impaled has something to do with Eva-01 having both Fruits? If you remember where it says this, let me know -- it's a flawed assertion and it should also be fixed.

Eva-01 received the Fruit of Life from devouring Zeruel's S2 Engine. How she got the Fruit of Knowledge is unclear. You'd think she simply received it from Yui's soul, since all Lilin possess the FoK; and yet the MP Evas -- which generate A.T. Fields and therefore must have souls, with Lilin souls readily available for sacrifice into Evas -- are never said to be on Eva-01's level. Sometimes it's suggested that Eva-01 has the FoK because she's made from Lilith's body, but Lilin aren't made directly from Lilith's body yet they have the Fruit of Knowledge; and this still leaves questions like where the hell Yui's FoK went, and also why the FoL isn't similarly transferred "via flesh". It's all a pretty big mess.

Instrumentality was placed into Shinji's hands because Rei, Kaworu, and Yui all wanted him to make the choice. On the more technical side of things, there is some possibility that a Seed of Life is unable to annihilate an already-established biosphere on their own. Not because they lack the power, but because there is a failsafe in place. One thing to notice about Second Impact, Third Impact, and the hypothetical Angel Impact is that, ALWAYS, events are set off by a successor (Lilin or child of Adam) coming in contact with a Seed (or Eva-01, effectively the same thing). Second Impact has the donor contacting Adam. Third Impact has Gendo contacting Rei/Lilith and Shinji contacting Eva-01. The "Angel Impact" (a hypothetical in the show, which is allowed to play out in Eva 2) has a child of Adam contacting Lilith. The implication is that the Seeds or Evas cannot simply decide on a whim to reformat a planet; the process need to be "triggered" by a consenting soul from a successor race. This might sound like a pretty lame failsafe on the surface, but it would certainly have enough uses to make it worth programming in. (For example, a usurper Seed could not simply show up on an already-colonized planet and wipe it out for the lulz. They would have to forge an actual connection with one of the denizens to do so.)

Far as Impact procedure goes, my general understanding is that Eva-01 was going to be used as the vessel for the complemented souls of humanity -- the yorishiro, as Fuyutsuki says, the means through which the new god will be embodied. The reason Eva-01 is "crucified" and given stigmata can be explained as the forceful opening of her Gates of Guf; she becomes the "Jesus" whose sacrifice on the symbolic cross (or cross-shaped energy wings, rather) will unite the mortal with the divine by guiding the liberated souls of humanity into the Chamber of Guf. Notice how, after the "crucifixion", the MP Evas form the Sephirotic Tree of Life around the cross-shaped Eva-01, merging two symbols that represent a path to spiritual unification with God.

SPOILER: Show

Had Lilith never intervened, the Anti-A.T. Field created by the ten Evas would have probably done the trick on its own, and the MP Evas would have directed all of the souls into Eva-01 and the Black Moon.

Gendo's plan did not necessarily fail, depending on how his intentions are interpreted.

[IgRAzm]

The way I see it Eva-01 having the Fruit of Knowledge simply means having the free will and usable brains of a human. The Angels appear to be driven by desire to reunite with Progenitor entirely, with little choice in the matter. Yui, I believe, had the full control of Unit 01 all along. But it's convenient for her to hide her cards, to appear like it's a normal Eva under all circumstances except when it's really necessary.

I don't know about empathy to people, I think she is psychopatic in the medical sense. But she had to have quite a brain. Based on what's presented and how well everything turned out for her plans, she seems like the most competent schemer in the show. I want to think she's Littlefinger-esque planner, capable of creating chaos everywhere, as people assume different intentions of her. Most likely SEELE thought she was pro-instrumentality all along. Not even talking about Gendo.

I also have a theory about Fruits. I think they could mean two things respectively, depending on context. FoL = Angelic soul's unique abilities / the S2 engine. FoK = Lilin Human's soul with their abilities to adapt in real time and modify the surrounding world / literally brain.

Evangelions by default allow Lilin humans to use Angelic powers, but that's not quite FoL. I don't think Evas have FoK other than Unit 01, because the souls there are incomplete, stripped to fundamental impulses one could say. I'm not sure how much awareness characters in the series really have about that fact, but it seems SEELE know about Unit 01.

Here's what I could come up with. Dunno if my reasoning might help somehow.

[something123]

How could the FAR not be in possession of both seeds? The FAR created both Adam and Lilith. Adam has the Fruit of Life as does its offspring. Lilith has the Fruit of Knowledge as does its offspring. Did both come from somewhere else and the FAR harnessed them and implanted them in Adam and Lilith before jettisoning them into space?

[Kendrix]

My headcanon was always that the FAR did not give their offspring both fruits because their own civilization destroyed itself somehow, and they thought their offspring would follow in their footsteps if they got both fruits...


As for EVA 01, it had the fruit of knowledge to begin with since it's made from Lillith, and got the fruit of life from eating Zeruel. (the angel with the paper arms)