Evangelion First Angel Adam

Adam is a being referred to as the First Angel and, long before human history, was the first living being to arrive on Earth. He is one of the many beings who bear a "Fruit of Life", which is another name for an Angel's S2 engine according to information in the PS2 (and later PSP) game Neon Genesis Evangelion 2. While Adam's true appearance is not known, a glimpse of his profile is shown in Episode 12. It showed a giant, glowing humanoid figure with four massive wings (later dubbed the "Giant of Light"). Strikingly similar to an Evangelion Unit , the giant had shoulder pylons, but his true nature is unknown.

Adam and the Angels

The race of beings to which Adam belongs possesses either a "Fruit of Life" or a "Fruit of Knowledge" and a Spear of Longinus, which is the only weapon known to be effective against these beings. Two creators of life are not meant to exist on the same planet at the same time, and the Spears act as a countermeasure to prevent two entities from coming into contact with each other and creating an opportunity for a single being to wield both a Fruit of Life and a Fruit of Knowledge.

Before Adam has the chance to use his Fruit of Life, the second angel Lilith crashes to Earth, causing Lilith's spear to disappear. In response, Adam's spear activates and forces her into a suspended state. Adam remains in this state until she is discovered by Dr. Katsuragi's expedition, which culminates in experiments being conducted on Adam's body. The team of scientists tested Adam's S2 Engine and performed a "contact experiment" with his body, which brought Adam out of his suspended state. This combination caused the S2 Engine to accidentally malfunction, resulting in a large-scale destructive event that was called Second Impact. "First Impact" is the name given to an event in which a meteor crashed into Earth and created the Moon. What most people don't know is that this "meteor" was Lilith's Black Moon.

All other Angels , aside from Lilith, originate from Adam (although the seventeenth Angel Tabris is a somewhat unique case). Most Angels are "Children of Adam" and all share the characteristic of having an S2 engine. The mechanisms Adam used to create the Angels are not known, however. It is possible that each Angel begins as a large embryo, as seen with Sandalphon . It is unknown exactly when, but at some point, Adam's soul is extracted and implanted into a human's body, creating the seventeenth and final Angel. This Angel is none other than Kaworu Nagisa . Kaworu exhibits several qualities shared by all Angels, such as the ability to produce an incredibly powerful AT field. However, since he has a human body, it is unknown if Kaworu has a core.

Adam after the second impact

Although reduced to nothing more than an embryo, Adam's body is still alive and is secretly delivered to Gendo Ikari by Ryoji Kaji . Gendo mentions that the embryo will play a vital role in his plan for the Human Instrumentation Project, but the details of this plan are kept hidden until the End of Evangelion film. Gendo's ultimate goal is to reunite with his wife Yui , and to do so, he must fuse Adam's embryo with Roi , a human with the soul of Lilith . This fusion gives rise to the beginning of Third Impact.

Adam and Evangelion Units

Adam is also significant in that he is the basis upon which Evangelion Units are derived. Although Evangelion Units are often considered robots, they are shown to have organic properties several times in the Evangelion series. When Evangelion Units are injured, they sometimes bleed, and, such as when Evangelion Unit 01 goes berserk, teeth and skin are clearly visible. Comparing the photograph of Adam shown in Episode 12, it is quite easy to see the similarities between the two. Evangelion Units also have a core and are capable of producing AT fields, creating an even closer connection to The Angels , and therefore Adam.

Meaning of the name Adam

Numerous allusions to Christianity and the Bible are made throughout much of the Evangelion series. The name "Adam" is shared with the first human on Earth, who was created by God. Similarly, the angel Adam was the first being to arrive on Earth in the Evangelion universe. Eve, the second human being to ever exist, was created with the body of the biblical Adam. Since the Evangelion units are also derived from the angel Adam, the decision to refer to these creations as "Evangelion units" is likely more than just a coincidence.

Adam in other media

Compared to the Evangelion television anime series , in the Evangelion manga created by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto Gendo Ikari is explicitly shown devouring Adam's embryo which later sprouts as an eye on his palm. In return, Gendo is granted the ability to create an AT field.

In the Rebuild of Evangelion film series, fans are still waiting to see if there are any clues of an entity identical to Adam.