Why doesn't Zeruel...[Continue on to Central Dogma]

[Sachi]

We've already seen that Zeruel is a cocky bastard. Before Unit-01 showed up, it was ready to blow up the people in Central Dogma, people that obviously stood no threat to it without an Eva. With Unit-01, I say, "killing for the sake of killing." And also revenge.

[Dark doom]

Because big Z felt the need to turn bully and shoot the shit out of the bridge bunny's.

[sephirotic]

Asuka and Rei didn't really do much damage, so when Shinji almost ripped out his head, I think Zeruel was a bit startled.

Definetely, This.

[The Fourth Evangelion]

angels aren't exactly the smartest creatures around either.

Maybe yes, but maybe no. Truth is that Sachiel didn't begin to play it mean with beams and such before he got hit by a certain mine.

If you make them angry, they turn out to become cocky...

[Reichu]

They're probably trying to tell you something about the Monster of the Week when it makes a detour to the Command Center to incinerate the pesky little humans at point blank range.

Zeruel isn't indiscriminately sadistic, though. He's perfectly content with disabling the first two Evas as efficiently as possible and then moving on. Clearly something about the encounter with Eva-01 pushed the wrong buttons.

Zeruel is one of my favorite Angels, not just because he's a "badass" or whatever, but because he's allowed to showcase much of what we could interpret as personality. Most of the Angels are pretty incomprehensible, but Zeruel, despite how weird he looks, is ultimately all too human. (And, since Zeruel IS human, it ain't anthropomorphizing!)

He's cool, contained, and systematic. He's both forgiving (first two Evas) and vengeful (bridge staff, Eva-01). He's cocky and puts faith in his strength... lets his guard down and gets pummeled as a result. His reaction to this implies that he is incredibly proud and must make the Eva pay for making him feel so foolish and weak. Of course, he gets his ass handed to him, and dies helpless and terrified. So much for recovering his ego.

One interpretation, anyway.

On an aside, I wondered for the longest side why Zeruel stabbed Eva-01 before exposing her core with the explosion. Then it occurred to me that it was a way of confirming whether she was alive or dead, and quite possibly a not-outrageously-blatant reference to crucified Jesus getting poked for the same reason. (Of course, this doesn't explain why an Eva with her functions suspended would be spraying blood all over the place...)

[Seele00TextOnly]

...

[Reichu]

I suppose the Eva'a blood supply and heart (?) continue to work without external power, a necessary standalone biological component. The mere presence of blood within the Eva's is proof enough that the tissues require it, therefore they would require it at all times.

The body of evidence seems to suggest that the Evas don't rely on traditional biological principle anywhere near as much as we do, but there are other threads for that. What I found most peculiar is that they had blood spew out of Eva-01's chest as if her heart were still going full-throttle, but the "da-dumps" that start right before she reactivates suggest that the heart hadn't been pumping beforehand. Sheesh, artistic license, make up your mind...

Okay, I'm getting completely off-topic now.

Zeruel's point blank attack on the command center may have had more to do with being drawn to the body of Adam in Gendo's hand perhaps? He was nearby in the cages. I doubt s/he knew where the command center was or its significance, operating instead on hir spidey sense of the locations of the SoL's.

That's another possibility, of course... but IMO there's something incredibly deliberate and precise about the way Zeruel crawls forward and brings his face right in front of the Command Tower. If Gendo were his intended target, one might expect similar deliberateness/precision.

We don't know much about Angel senses, but it's possible that Zeruel was able to detect, based on various comings and goings in the electromagnetic spectrum, that the Command Center had some kind of importance for the little humans, and he intuitively felt that the people there were responsible for leading the assault against him.

So they naturally get to fry on the way to Terminal Dogma. But not from a distance. They get treated to a close encounter and absolute terror before they die.

[Sun Stealer]

Zeruel did it for the lulz.

[The Abhorrent]

The simplest explanation is that Zeruel (aka: Big-Z) is very thorough. If there's anything with poses a risk to him or his objective, he puts it down and makes sure it stays down.


Here's a quick run down:

Unit 00 -- Arm missing, N2'd itself, incapable of combat. Taken even further in Rebuild (2.0) where he eats it and Rei.

Unit 02 -- Arms and head removed in the original series, incapable of combat. In Rebuild, it's a little different (arm and a leg?) but Big-Z still renders it incapable of combat.

Central Dogma -- Both the NERV staff and the MAGI were instrumental in the defeat of Iruel (11th? angel, the computer virus one), and they do relay all the tactical data to the Evas as well. We have no idea how or even if Big-Z knows this... but he makes a point of taking a detour (presumably) to put an end to their meddling. If he managed to do so, but was still killed, would've the pilots been able to stop the last three angels? Something we may never know. While Gendo does have Adam in his possession by that point of the series, whether or not it's been grafted onto his hand yet isn't established (I think). Assuming he does, Big-Z could've known that and could be attempting to absorb Adam before making a bee-line to Lilith.

Unit 01 -- Soundly thrashed Zeruel before running out of power, but I doubt Big-Z's punctured pride (should he have such an emotion) was the primary motivator for him making a point of trying to destroy the Eva's core. Quite simply, Unit 01 has a history of going berserk and utterly obliterating whichever angel pissed it off. This hasn't happened with Units 00 and 02, so he wasn't concerned once they stopped moving. It is both capable of regeneration (against Sachiel) and running without power (breaking out of the Dirac Sea and destroying Liliel). Just because Unit 01 ran out of power doesn't mean it's going to stay down, and Big-Z knows this somehow. Seeing as Angels are permanently destroyed by destroying their core, and the Evas are derived from the angels.... Big-Z was making a point of permanently shutting down Unit 01. Unfortunately, the Theory of Narrative Causality decided to make him Yui's bedtime snack.


In any event, Zeruel seems to be surprisingly knowledgable and intelligent despite being the "Angel of Might". He lacks subtly, but that doesn't mean he's being stupid by still attacking Unit 01 after it runs out of power (quite the opposite, arguably). Would've it been wiser to get a headstart and start making his way to Terminal Dogma? Maybe, but Unit 01 would've almost certainly reactivated by then and the results wouldn't of changed at all. His best chance was to destroy Unit 01's core before it went berserk, which was risky but literally nothing could stop him if he managed to do so.

So, in summation:
- Big-Z gambled and lost.
- Yui let out a Eva-sized belch.

[Zoop]

I always was under the impression that EVA-01 went berserk and reactivated BECAUSE Zer was bashing it's core. So, would EVA-01 still have ripped Zer to pieces if Zer left EVA-01 alone like that?

My impression was, if Zer would have continued after EVA-01 shutdown, he might actually have gotten away with it, but by being cocky and bashing on EVA-01's Core he actually caused her to go berserk and find his demise.

That's just how I interpreted it though ...

[Eva Yojimbo]

if Zer would have continued after EVA-01 shutdown, he might actually have gotten away with it...

Zeruel: "I might have gotten away with it too! If it wasn't for that kid and his pesky Eva!"

Sorry, couldn't resist.

[EvangelionFan]

I guess Zeruel suffers from short term memory loss. I mean, one minute he seemed intent on face-beaming Misato and co. in the angriest and meanest way possible (i.e. the 'in your face, literally!' tactic), the next he's having his face grinded against the launch chute by Unit 01 and not appearing at all bothered by it.

[Sachi]

I guess Zeruel suffers from short term memory loss. I mean, one minute he seemed intent on face-beaming Misato and co. in the angriest and meanest way possible (i.e. the 'in your face, literally!' tactic), the next he's having his face grinded against the launch chute by Unit 01 and not appearing at all bothered by it.

It wasn't exactly his choice to have his face against the launch chute, and it's hard to tell if he was bothered; however, based on the fact that he desperately shot off Unit-01's arm in an attempt to free himself, I'd say he was quite alarmed.

[UrsusArctos]

No doubt Zeruel noticed all the wires and cables heading off to the Command Center. That place, with the Magi and those huge display screens, would have drawn an enormous amount of power. Easily to find, easy to wreck.

I had the impression that Zeruel was merciful with the first two Evas because they were pretty similar to him in makeup. After all, they came from his "mother", abominations though they may have been. The stupid little Lilin in the Command Center could have been toasted for evulz before heading further down below.

Eva-01 bashed Zer and nearly ripped Zer's face out with only one arm, so he's unmerciful. No surprise.

[AyrYntake]

Chances are Zeruel felt really threatened by her. Note how he lost his cool and carried on bashing at the core when it didn't even seem to achieve much.
I'm not sure if the Angels have a "personality" as such; however, I will say that they're (mostly) highly aware of what they should do to survive. Most of the time.

[Hawq]

Central Dogma -- Both the NERV staff and the MAGI were instrumental in the defeat of Iruel (11th? angel, the computer virus one), and they do relay all the tactical data to the Evas as well. We have no idea how or even if Big-Z knows this... but he makes a point of taking a detour (presumably) to put an end to their meddling. If he managed to do so, but was still killed, would've the pilots been able to stop the last three angels? Something we may never know.

probably, pretty sure there's a backup command center somewhere, new bridge crew & back in action, minor detour there kept short to not derail anything

[SenorSquiid]

It's not like Big Z would have known that, though. Leliel didn't seem aware of that either.

Indeed.

[Octahedron]

Zerual trashed units 00 and 02 pretty good, and they were clearly unable to continue to fight after he was done with them, but unit 01 was mostly undamaged when the power ran out. Since we know Evas can move without power in some circumstances we can assume they don't go completely inert after power is cut. And since I doubt the Angels know that Evas need extension cords to function longer than 5 minutes, Zeruel probably wasn't aware that unit 01 was disbaled. From his point of view, the enemy had suddenly stopped moving but was still alive. Maybe it is trying to feign death? It's a pretty sensible move to make sure that it doesn't rise again before moving on, especially since unit 01 actually managed to do some damage to Zeruel, unlike the other Evas.