Evangelion Second Angel Lilith

Lilith is a being that is designated as the Second Angel. Like Adam, Lilith is another creator of life, however, it carries a “Fruit of Knowledge” instead of a “Fruit of Life”. Although Adam’s appearance is largely unknown, Lilith is first shown briefly in Episode 15, where Misato forces Ryoji Kaji to show her what NERV is hiding. Ryoji mistakenly refers to it as Adam, however, Kaworu Nagisa reveals that it is indeed Lilith. Lilith is shown as a massive, genderless humanoid giant that is crucified on a similarly large red cross. It is missing much of its legs and what remains appears as a multitude of smaller human bodies that are all fused together and eventually meld into the rest of Lilith’s body. In the original anime series, Lilith has a large, dark mask with the SEELE logo on it, although this mask is different in the Rebuild movies.

Lilith and Adam

Lilith crash-landed into Earth while travelling in a vessel referred to as the “Black Moon” shortly after Adam arrived, which resulted in Lilith’s Spear of Longinus either being lost or destroyed. In the Evangelion universe, this event is referred to as the First Impact and resulted in the formation of the Earth’s moon. This crash landing led to Adam’s spear activating and forcing it into a state of suspension, as the Spears are a preventative measure to stop two creators of life from inhabiting the same planet at once. As Adam was unable to use its Fruit of Life to create life in the form of Angels, Lilith used her Fruit of Knowledge and started the cycle of life, death, and evolution that eventually resulted in humans. As is it referred to as the “Fruit of Knowledge”, it is inferred by Gendo Ikari that humanity’s ability to learn originates from Lilith’s Fruit of Knowledge.

Lilith and NERV

At an unknown point in time, Lilith’s Black Moon was discovered underground and was repurposed. It came to be known as the GeoFront that houses the NERV headquarters and its many secrets. The structure of the Black Moon is unbelievably sturdy, as shown when the beginning of the Third Impact in the End of Evangelion movie, where a massive explosion vaporizes an incredible amount of land, but the Black Moon, and therefore NERV HQ, was left relatively intact. It is not impenetrable, however, as Angels like Ramiel could drill all the way through the GeoFront (although it still takes a considerable amount of time). Lilith is also stored at the bottom of NERV and is kept a secret from nearly everyone, save for a handful of top-ranking individuals like Commander Gendo Ikari and Sub-Commander Kozo Fuyutsuki, as well as a few exceptions like Rei Ayanami and Ryoji Kaji, although Ryoji mistakes Lilith for Adam. For most of the series, Lilith is kept at the very bottom of NERV in a state of suspension with the Spear of Longinus, much like Adam was until the events leading up to the Second Impact. Orange-colored blood can be seen flowing down the cross it is crucified on. This blood is what NERV calls “LCL”, which is used to flood an Evangelion pilot’s entry plug. Lilith is the sole, and seemingly infinite, source of LCL. After the Spear of Longinus is removed from Lilith to defeat the Angel Arael, Lilith begins to regenerate its piercing wound and its feet, which were destroyed by unknown means.

Lilith and Rei Ayanami

Toward the end of Neon Genesis Evangelion and through the entirety of End of Evangelion, it is revealed that Rei houses the soul of Lilith within her, much like how Kaworu Nagisa has the soul of Adam. Gendo Ikari’s main goal is to have Rei, who contains Lilith’s soul, fuse with the embryo of Adam that he received in secret from Ryoji Kaji. While the fusion between Rei and the body of Adam is successful, Rei rebels against Gendo and merges with the body of Lilith, creating the being that causes the Third Impact.

Lilith in Other Media

In addition to the TV anime series and the End of Evangelion movie, Lilith is portrayed differently in other media in the Evangelion franchise.

In the Evangelion Rebuild movies, the timeline and circumstances are different to the original anime, but also the introduction of Lilith is different.

In Evangelion 1.0, Lilith isn’t revealed to Misato by Kaji, but instead Misato herself is the one that reveals the existence of Lilith to Shinji in order to express urgency, when fighting the sixth Angel. In addition, Lilith has gone over some design changes, losing the 7-eyed mask with SEELE logo, with a plain white mask with two eyes and a small beak similar to the Angel Sachiel.

In Evangelion 2.0, after the abortion of Third Impact, Lilith can be seen with a faint glow and small white sparks floating off the body.

In Evangelion 3.0, Lilith's body is not impaled on a cross, instead is in a crawling position in a pit full of skulls.

In the official manga created by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, Lilith’s role in the story is the same as the anime series. Gendo Ikari attempts to control instrumentality by using Adam and Lilith.