Lance of Longinus

Appears in Episode: 12, 14, 15, 22

The Lance of Longinus is a giant spiral spear with two piercing tips. It is believed to have been found at the South Pole, and is used inside Terminal Dogma to impale the crucified form of Lilith, the Second Angel.

The Lance of Longinus has many mysterious properties, including the ability to change shape as needed (such as converging into a single-tipped spear when thrust at a target). It also has the unique ability to penetrate AT Fields, making it particularly effective against the Angels (and the Evangelion Units for that matter). However due to it's invaluable importance to SEELE's version of the Human Instrumentality Project, it is not used as a weapon until no other options are available.

It is not until the desperate battle with Arael, the Fifteenth Angel, that NERV Commander Gendo Ikari authorizes it's use. As a result the lance is lost in lunar orbit and becomes irretrievable. It returns during the Third Impact as seen in The End of Evangelion, merging with Evangelion Unit-01 to form the Tree of Life.

SEELE's Evangelion Units 05-13 carry grey replicas of the Lance of Longinus. Although these replicas are exceptionally powerful as weapons (have the same polymorphic and AT Field piercing properties), they can not be used to substitute the original for the purposes of the Human Instrumentality Project.

Based on Neon Genesis Evangelion Platinum: 06 DVD Booklet

Analysis

• Mythology of the Lance of Longinus
  The Lance of Longinus (also referred to as the Spear of Longinus, Spear of Destiny, Holy Lance, or Holy Spear) was named after Gaius Cassius Longinus, the Roman soldier who impaled the crucified Jesus Christ with his spear in the New Testament of the Bible (John 19:31-37). This was typically done following crucifixion to confirm the victim's death. For centuries legends about the spear have circulated, giving it a mythological status. Most such legends state that the spear's contact with the blood of Jesus Christ had turned it into a weapon capable of slaying any opponent. Other legends also claim the spear to bestow long life and super-natural powers on the wielder. Over the centuries many objects at locations around the world that have been claimed to be the original remains of the Lance of Longinus. Currently there is no consensus on which, if any, of those objects are genuine.

• Function of the Lance of Longinus
  The function of the Lance of Longinus remains among the show's greatest mysteries. While of critical importance to SEELE and their version of the Human Instrumentality Project, it's actual function is not addressed. Most theories portray the lance as part of the Seed of Life system created by the First Ancestor Civilization (each seed would inevitably contain such a lance). The 2003 PlayStation 2 video game Neon Genesis Evangelion 2 describes the lance as a fail-safe device, and possibly the reason why Shinji Ikari is able to reject the Instrumentality process as seen in The End of Evangelion.