Children of an Elder God / Characters

Here is a list of characters from Children of an Elder God. Be warned - you might Go Mad from the Revelation.

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The Children

Tropes in general

Ace Pilot: Shinji, Rei, and Asuka are more skillful and more competent than their canon selves. In their first engagement, Shinji and Rei managed to kill a humongous, spider-like Angel that had turned the whole city into a giant cobweb infested with billions of spiders. In her first engagement, Asuka tore a Sea Monster to bloodied pieces when it got her angry. And every time they killed a new cosmic horror, they became more powerful.
The Ageless: The Children acquired so much power from killing and absorbing Angels that by the final chapter, they became immortal beings forever stuck in teenage bodies.
Adaptational Badass: Shinji, Rei, and Asuka are much more competent and psychologically adjusted than their canon selves, and they even absorb the powers of dead Angels. Once Touji and Hikari become EVA Pilots, they get in on the fun, too.
All Your Powers Combined: By the end of the story, the Children have all the powers of the Angels and Outer Gods.
And Then John Was a Zombie: Shinji, Asuka, Rei, Touji, Anna, and Hikari fight Angels and steal their powers after killing them. However, the stolen power transforms them gradually until they become human-looking cosmic horrors. They never become evil (although their power tries to corrupt them), but they stop being human altogether.
Barrier Warrior: As they grew more powerful from each Angel they kill and absorb, all of the Children are able to produce AT Fields even when outside their EVAs.
Broken Hero: All of the Children didn't start out broken, but over time the War with the Angels, the deaths of everyone they cared about, and their gradual transformations into humanoid abominations wore away at them and left them all heavily traumatized. But in spite of everything they endured, the Children tried to remain upbeat and positive during and after the War.
Child Soldiers: Played for horror, and justified. All of the Children are 14-year-olds capable of piloting EVAs and killing Angels when no one else could but that's because they were all born during Second Impact, which gave them certain mutations that left them with enough psychic power to allow them to synchronize with their EVA successfully without going mad, mutating, or dying instantly. Misato, the Children's Team Mom and Parental Substitute, spends much of the story lamenting how the teens learned how to fight and kill instead of worrying over mundane stuff like school and dating.
Conveniently an Orphan: Just like their canon selves, Shinji, Rei, and Asuka are motherless. So are Touji, Anna, and Hikari. They are also EVA pilots who fight Angels on a daily basis.
Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Shinji, Rei, and Asuka (and later Touji, Anna, and Hikari) spend much of the story slaying cosmic horrors and absorbing them, powers and all, for breakfast. In the final chapter, they actually DO punch out Cthulhu, killing him and absorbing his power.
Fire-Forged Friends: At the beginning of the story, the Children were just acquaintances who happened to attend the same school and were made to participate in the War against the Angels. However, the battles forged their bonds into True Companions, and after the Final Battle they began to see each other as family.
A God I Am Not: In later chapters, all of the Children start being worshipped for possessing god-like power. Asuka's reaction is the strongest because she was raised Christian - she believes there's only one true god.
He Who Fights Monsters: In defeating the Angels and other cosmic horrors such as Nyarlthotep and taking their power, all of the Children have become cosmic horrors themselves, albeit in a human-like form. In their case, it's subverted in that despite their transformations, they're still the characters we know and love, but due to the corrupting nature of the Angels' power, they're fighting to keep their identities intact.
Humanoid Abomination: All of the Children gradually become these with each Angel they kill and absorb. They appear human-like, but they have weird, creepy powers (insect and reptile control, fire manipulation, space-bending, etc.), their bodies regenerate damage instantly and don't age, their body fluids create new lifeforms when spilled, and their mere presence creeps other people out. It's gotten to the point where Shinji and Asuka don't see themselves as human anymore, so they decide to leave human civilization forever.
It's All My Fault: All of the Children felt this way about Kensuke's possession and death by the Angel Baraquiel, and the feeling never really went away. Touji in particular takes it harder than the rest because Kensuke was his best friend.
Lovecraftian Superpower: What the Children gain after killing and absorbing each Angel they fight. For starters, all of them have Combat Tentacles, completely slowed aging, the ability to heal and create new lifeforms from their own fluids, and can achieve Flight by sprouting wings from their backs.
- Shinji has the power to control spiders and snakes, and produce spider silk from his body to entrap enemies.
- Rei can possess sentient creatures, and while possessing someone she can project aspects of her appearance onto them such as red eyes, pale blue hair, etc.
- Touji can bend and manipulate space-time, making it rather easy to appear anywhere he wants.
Orphan's Ordeal:
- Asuka is affected by the death of her parents, even though she was raised by Dr. Himmelfarb who was a good foster mother, but she doesn't remember the details very well. Then she learned how her parents truly died and that their deaths were covered up by NERV, leaving her incredibly broken and furious with Gendo.
- Shinji's mother Yui died when he was very young due to Yui failing to synchronize with EVA Unit 01 and barely remembers her face. His father Gendo abandoned him for ten years until the War started and like Asuka, he was put into foster care. But unlike Asuka's foster mother who treated her well, Shinji's foster parents mostly saw him as a burden that was in their way and only took care of him because it was their duty. Then Gendo is killed in chapter 22 by Anna while she was possessed by Nyarlthotep, and while Shinji and Gendo weren't very close, he is traumatized by his father's death. Then in the final chapter Shinji is forced to kill both Gendo and Yui for good to save Earth from being recreated as a False Utopia. All in all, not a good day for Shinji.
- Hikari lost her parents during the Children's battle with Zuriel when Zuriel's telepathy caused her father to go mad and commit a murder-suicide with her mother. The news (and seeing their mutilated bodies) sends her into a Heroic BSoD.
Person of Mass Destruction: Shinji, Asuka and Rei (and to a lesser extent, Touji, Anna, and Hikari) pilot Humongous Mecha and wield the powers of dead Angels. “Mass Destruction” doesn’t even come close to describe the kind of devastation that the Children can make.
Power Gives You Wings: During the War, the Children all gain the power to grow or form wings. Shinji has bat wings, Asuka has long wings made entirely of flame and Touji has bright red wings.
Psychic Powers: Both Asuka and Touji are pyrokinetics. Touji also has Psychic Teleportation for himself and other people]] over great distances. Rei has cryokinesis.
Really 700 Years Old: Thanks to their eldritch powers turning them into human-like cosmic horrors and making them immortal, the Children by the final chapter are way, way older than their 14-year-old human bodies would suggest.
Recruit Teenagers with Attitude: All of the Children are teenagers who can pilot EVAs. Asuka is thirteen, while her teammates are fourteen. A few of them (mostly Asuka or Touji) are quite hardheaded, too.
Resist the Beast: Because their stolen power is inherently foul and corrupting, all of the Children face dark urges and desires that are brought on by the Angels in order to make the Children become like them, and they struggle to ignore the call.
Shell-Shocked Veteran: After fighting and killing a bunch of cosmic horrors from the Cthulhu Mythos, the Children are so traumatized that they no longer fit into human society. Shinji and Asuka in particular choose to leave human society forever in the final chapter because their battles cost them their humanity.
True Companions: As much as they argue and fight at times, all of the Children are great friends who stick together throughout the entire War, even coming to see each other as family. They are deeply heartbroken when Rei sacrifices herself to seal the Outer Gods away forever, and doubly so when Shinji and Asuka decide to leave human civilization forever.
Unwitting Pawn: All of the Children were pawns to the Outer Gods, since killing the Angels only benefitted them. And ultimately, all of the Children were used by Yui and Gendo to create a human paradise (until they start seeing that world as a False Utopia and destroy it).
Who Wants to Live Forever?: As the result of absorbing the power of Angels and Outer Gods, the Children have effectively become The Ageless and immortal in every aspect, unable to die. But after the war is won and the Children resume being civilians, their immortality begins to affect them, with the kids being forced to relive their school days over and over again. Eventually Shinji and Asuka become convinced they're not human anymore and depart from human civilization forever, though Touji, Hikari, and Misato later join them.
Victor Gains Loser's Powers: A pretty dark example. Whenever the Children defeat an Angel, they steal its power... except their enemies are based on (and taken from) the Cthulhu Mythos. That being said, their powers allowed them easily obliterate a planet... and corrupted everything around them, making people frightened. Shinji and Asuka get so fed up with people freaking out whenever they passed by that they choose to leave human civilization forever because they did not fit in anymore.
Winged Humanoid: All of the Children have the ability to become this by sprouting wings from their backs.

Shinji Ikari

The Third Child.

Abusive Parents: His uncle and aunt are the emotional kind. While they weren't physically abusive, Shinji states they never really care about his wellbeing and generally ignored him.
Adaptational Wimp: Mixed with Adaptational Badass. Due to Unit 01's berserker rage not being as deadly here, he scores far less individual kills here than canon... but here he does gain the Angels' powers and eventual immortality.
Apologetic Attacker: In the final chapter, Shinji tearfully apologizes to Gendo and Yui before he and his friends kill them for good to end their False Utopia.
The Beastmaster: Gains the power to control spiders and snakes after killing two Angels who can do those things.
Berserk Button: Hurting anyone that he cares about is never a good idea. When Hayyell mentally attacked Asuka, he went berserk.
Chick Magnet: Shinji is meek, quiet, self-effacing... and girls are obsessed with him. He already had Rei's attention since they first met, while mere minutes after meeting him Asuka was already clinging to him. Touji comments that Shinji had all girls behind him despite being a bit of a dweeb.
Clueless Chick-Magnet: Despite having all the girls swooning over him, Shinji has completely no idea why. In one chapter Shinji is watching Rei trying to talk Asuka into sharing him... and he thinks that they can’t possibly want a threesome with him.
Asuka: And I'm not sharing my boyfriend with you!
Touji: Damn, Shinji, a lot of guys would kill for a deal like that.
Shinji: I'm sure they weren't actually talking about sharing me.
Rei: We were.
Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: While Shinji is generally happy to blend into the background, he's deadly when he needs to be as Asuka found out.
Daddy Had a Good Reason for Abandoning You: Shinji attempts to justify Gendo's abandonment with a legitimate reason. Subverted in that Asuka thinks Gendo was just being an abusive asshole.
"I guess he just lost interest after your Mom died. The bastard."
"Don't call him that," Shinji said. "He's doing his best to save the world. I guess that has to take priority."
"That is NO excuse for how he treats you. I'd beat him down if he was my father and treated me like that. He wouldn't even let you live with him!"
"Maybe he knew I'd be better off here," Shinji said faintly.
Asuka started to reply, then wondered for a moment if Shinji was right. "You are better off here," she said. "With people who actually care if you live or die."
Disappeared Dad: Gendo left Shinji in foster care after Yui's death and didn't bother contacting his son for ten years until the War with the Angels started. Shinji tried to justify it with a good reason, but Asuka is not as forgiving and thinks Gendo was just being an asshole.
- In the final chapter Gendo becomes a Disappeared Dad for real after Shinji and his friends kill him to save the Earth from becoming a corrupted False Utopia.
Establishing Character Moment: The first thing Shinji does when a spider lands on his face in chapter 1 is to gently pry it off and let the spider loose on the ground.
Eternal Love: After gaining immortality, he and Asuka leave civilization together.
Falling into the Cockpit: When the Angel Matriel and its spawn came along and invaded Tokyo-3, Shinji was dragged along to the Evangelion Unit 01 and ordered to pilot it. Later, he describes the experience to Asuka and she is both flabbergasted (since he piloted an Eva without prior training unlike her) and understandably horrified since nobody informed him of the risks of piloting an EVA (most people die, mutate, or go mad when they try to pilot one).
First Kiss: With Asuka in chapter 16.
"Have you ever been on a date before?"
"No."
"Well, you do know how a date ends, right?"
He blinked. "Umm...no."
A second later, she was right in front of him.
"It's supposed to end with a kiss." Before he knew what hit him, her lips met his. He nearly fell down from surprise. Then she was back at a more normal distance.
First-Person Smartass: The series shows that Shinji is actually quite witty in his head only.
Foreshadowing: In chapter 1, Shinji gets rid of a spider that lands on his face by gently plucking it off and setting it loose on the ground. Later, after killing and absorbing the Angel Matriel in the same chapter, he gains the ability to control and talk to spiders.
Friend to All Living Things: Misato assumes this of him in chapter 1 after Shinji gets a spider off his face without killing it.
Misato: Kind to animals?
Friend to Bugs: To spiders. In chapter 1, he gets a spider off his face without killing it. Later, after killing and absorbing the Angel Matriel, he gains the ability to control and speak to spiders, who are willing to do anything he asked.
Friend Versus Lover: He's stuck between Touji and Asuka whenever they have their arguments. Of course it's less them fighting for Shinji's time and more they just fight and look to Shinji for support.
Good Wings, Evil Wings: Shinji has the power to fly by sprouting bat wings from his back, but he is still a good guy.
Grew a Spine: Shinji in Children of an Elder God is still shy, quiet, and non-confrontational like his canon self, but here he resolved to learn to face his troubles, and he charged headlong into combat against whatever was threatening him and everyone.
Happily Adopted: Subverted. It's revealed in Chapter 7 that Gendo left him in foster care after Yui's death for ten years, but while Shinji's foster family made sure he was fed, they didn't treat him very well either, only seeing him as a burden who got in their way. The only thing they liked about him, and encouraged, was his talent and love for music.
Hates Being Alone: At the being of the series Shinji is perfectly fine being alone but when Misato leaves for a mission he realizes to his shock, he missed her. He later admits he can't stand being alone and wonders how he used to live like that.
The Heart: As the series goes on, Shinji starts taking on this role as the only pilot on good terms with the other pilots, he attempts to smooth over the various relationship issues like Asuka's murderous rage towards Rei.
Heterosexual Life-Partner: He develops this relationship with Touji as the only boys eva pilots.
House Husband: Shinji takes care of all household chores while living in Misato's apartment because Misato is a slob (like canon, unfortunately) and Asuka, while a very competent cook, was banned from the kitchen after an ill-fated attempt to make a pizza.
Jumped at the Call: Downplayed. He didn't want to pilot an EVA at all and was reluctant to take command of EVA Unit 01 because it creeped him out. But he did it anyway because of fear of Gendo's disappointment, and because he believed NERV had no one else who can do it.
Matricide: Kills his mother Yui in the final chapter after she uses the Children's powers to ascend to godhood and rewrite Earth as a human paradise, only for it to become a False Utopia due to its power source's corrupting nature. When Yui begs for mercy, Shinji tearfully apologizes to her before he and his friends land the final blow.
Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: The Feminine Boy to Asuka's Masculine Girl.
Masturbation Means Sexual Frustration: As his power begins to corrupt him and fill him with dark urges (mainly involving Asuka), Shinji has resorted to masturbation as an alternative way of release, but has been trying to clamp down on that.
Nice Guy: Shinji is too nice and kind for his own good. He tries to be nice to and understanding with everyone, and he even tries to give Gendo the benefit of the doubt and think that maybe his father had a good reason for abandoning him.
Parental Abandonment: His mother Yui died when he was very young after she failed to synchronize with EVA Unit 01 and now her soul lives inside it. Gendo left him in foster care for ten years and didn't bother contacting him until the War with the Angels. Both parents are gone for good in the final chapter, after he and the other Children kill them to protect Earth from being corrupted by the imprisoned Great Old Ones' influence.
Rage Breaking Point: In chapter 11 after Asuka was under the influence of Hayyell, Shinji is hell bent on killing the angel. It doesn't help that Kensuke was just possessed which makes the entire thing especially sore for Shinji.
Self-Made Orphan: Kills his parents Gendo and Yui in the final chapter to end their False Utopia and restore Earth to how it was before they used the Children's powers to rewrite everything, even though he clearly didn't want to do it.
Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: The Sensitive Guy to Touji's Manly Man.
She Is Not My Girlfriend: Misato assumes he developed an attraction to Rei when he sees her in-person outside of her EVA for the first time, and teases him for it.
Shinji: (blushing) I-it's not like that!
Someone Has to Do It: Part of his rationale for choosing to pilot his EVA is if he refuses, Gendo and NERV will have no one else qualified for the job.
Think Unsexy Thoughts: Tried thinking of his father to suppress his raging hormones in one chapter. It didn't work.

Rei Ayanami

The First Child.

Adaptational Badass: While this is true for all the characters, Rei is the biggest example. In the show, she lagged behind Shinji and Asuka in terms of piloting ability, here she is undeniably the most skilled and dangerous pilot of the three.
All Love Is Unrequited: She fell in love with Shinji who defrosted her, but Shinji chose Asuka and treats Rei like a close friend.
The Atoner: Ever since Asuka's rape, Rei has been trying to make amends, which culminates in her Heroic Sacrifice in the Final Battle.
Big Damn Heroes: Rei does this in chapter 1 to save Shinji from being trapped and killed by the Angel Matriel.
Clingy Jealous Girl: Rei is usually calm, but she could get very jealous where Shinji was concerned. When she saw Asuka clinging to Shinji's arm in chapter 5, she actually growled. While she glared silently at Asuka, her clenched fists shook, her eyes seemed to glow for a second and her friends got very, very scared.
"For such a dweeb, that Ikari's got chicks all around him, huh?" asked Touji.
Kensuke nodded, still videotaping.
Suddenly, his camera died.
They heard a growl.
It wasn't just your ordinary growl, from a dog or a wolf. This was a deep growl, the sort of growl that suggested monstrous origins, dark and shadowy nights, and the promise of endless hours of pain. It was accompanied by a blast of cold running down their spines. The two turned around, slowly.
Rei was staring at Asuka, intensely, her face twisted in anger. Her fists were clenched, shaking slightly. It was hard to tell in the sunlight, but they thought they saw her blood red eyes glow brightly for a moment.
"Ohshit," whispered Touji. "She's mad."
The Comically Serious: Rei's lack of emotion and rather flat responses to everything has created humorous situations on occasion.
Creepy Child: Due to her upbringing by NERV as a Tyke Bomb, Rei's lack of emotion and strange mannerisms can make her very unsettling at times.
Defrosting the Ice Queen: Rei was a cold, completely stoic, Creepy Child with No Social Skills to speak of before she met Shinji. Even though Shinji and friends weren't as successful in defrosting her, she slowly became more social and open with her feelings over the course of the story. Touji almost brings up the trope verbatim when talking about Rei to Shinji.
"So tell me, buddy," asked Touji. "Exactly how far didja... y'know... melt the ice queen, if ya know what I mean?"
Defusing the Tyke-Bomb: Because she wasn't as fortunate as Asuka, Rei ended up becoming an emotionless, Creepy Child with No Social Skills thanks to NERV. She slowly defrosted thanks to Shinji and friends, but it wasn't as successful as with Asuka's case.
Detect Evil: More specifically, she can tell when something is influenced by an Angel.
Designer Babies: She's the only surviving artificial human created by NERV's DAGON project, which was supposed to create humans capable of piloting EVAs and survive touching LCL.
Emotionless Girl: Played for horror, as it was in the original show. Thanks to Shinji and friends, however, she's becoming more emotional, albeit slowly.
He had looked into the girl's eye. It was red, a bright, vibrant red, but otherwise seemed guileless, straightforward, and void of any particular emotion.
Enemy to All Living Things: Her mere presence inspires fear in any animal within the vicinity - not even mosquitoes would touch her. It's later subverted in one chapter when a cat approaches and accepts her without fear.
Grand Theft Me: She gains the ability to possess people after killing and absorbing an Angel with that power - whomever she possesses will gain her traits such as pale skin and blue hair because she's psychically projecting her appearance onto them. She uses it on Hikari to escape solitary confinement and aid her fellow Children against the Angel Zuriel, and does it again when Misato invokes Speak of the Devil after being kidnapped by Neo-Nazi terrorists, causing her to possess one of them.
Heroic Sacrifice: In the final chapter, Rei sacrifices herself to keep the Angels and Outer Gods sealed away forever to protect Earth, and her friends, from their influence. When Shinji and co. plead with her not to go through with it, she refuses to comply until they give in.
Hospital Gurney Scene: In chapter 1, following the battle with Matriel, Shinji meets her in-person for the first time this way, spotting her being wheeled away on a hospital stretcher by Ritsuko while covered in banadages from injuries sustained in a previous fight with Matriel.
Hidden Depths: Despite her cold and emotionless exterior, Rei really wants to be loved by Shinji. And in chapter 22 if Nyarlthotep is to be believed, Rei also really wants to be a normal girl who is not a puppet of NERV and is loved and accepted by all, including her fellow EVA pilots.
An Ice Person: After killing and absorbing an Angel who had power over snow, Rei gained the ability to control ice.
Karma Houdini: Asuka starts seeing Rei as this after Rei rapes her since the other Children are sympathetic instead of angry about it, even though Rei was under the influence of the Violator when it happened and felt very sorry about it afterwards.
Love at First Sight: She was smitten with Shinji since the first day they met each other. Unfortunately, Shinji chose Asuka, and Asuka's rape at her hands in chapter 18 basically shot down all chances of sharing Shinji, leaving her no choice but to settle down with unrequited love.
Lovely Angels: With Asuka. Both are complete opposites in color and personality (Asuka wears red and is a Fiery Redhead while Rei wears mostly blue and is an Emotionless Girl) but they fight against the Angels pretty well together.
Must Make Amends: Rei wanted to make amends with Asuka after an Eldritch Abomination forced her to rape her friend. She felt so guilty that she was willing to let Asuka kill her if it'll give her forgiveness.
My God, What Have I Done?: Her reaction to raping Asuka in chapter 18. Even though the Violator forced her to do it by possessing her shortly after she absorbed the Angel, Rei felt very guilty about it and wanted to be punished for it.
No-Sell: Due to her abnormal nature, Rei is able to unable to be influenced by Angels and Outer Gods, and see through their illusions, which saves the other Children more than once. When Nyarlthotep tries to get her into servitude by showing her the possibility of being loved and having friends if she accepted him, she refuses, despite his offer making her consider. And in the final chapter, she's the first to recognize that Yui and Gendo's paradise is a False Utopia fueled by the Children's eldritch powers even though she wants to deny it.
Parental Abandonment: Misato speculates in one chapter that Rei's parents died from the anarchy produced by Second Impact. She actually doesn't have any parents, and in truth is an artificial human created by the DAGON project.
Red Eyes, Take Warning: She has red eyes. While she's one of the Children and one of the good guys, it's definitely not a good idea to make her mad.
Red Oni, Blue Oni: The cold and emotionless Blue Oni (though she slowly gets better) to Asuka's fiery and passionate Red Oni.
Tears of Remorse: She sheds these after realizing she raped Asuka while under the Violator's influence, against her will.

Asuka Langley Soryu

The Second Child.

A God I Am Not: When met by a crowd of people who worship the Children as their gods and saviors, Asuka insists she's not a god and that there's only one true god.
Bedmate Reveal: In chapter 15, Asuka hears someone snore next to her. She is about to tell him to be quiet... and sees Touji in her bed.
Someone snored very close to her, so she rolled over and said, "Quit sno..." Having opened her eyes, she could see who it was. Touji was naked next to her except for his blue boxer shorts and white socks, which needed to be washed. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING IN BED WITH ME?"
"Mmm, Misa..." Touji mumbled, then snapped the rest of the way awake. "AAAA!!!!! WHAT IN HELL ARE YOU DOING IN MY BED?"
"I'm not in YOUR bed! You're in mine! How the hell did you get into my apartment?" Asuka shouted.
"You're smoking crack! I wouldn't try to crawl into your bed if you were the last woman on Earth!"
Attention Whore: Subverted. Asuka's foster mother helped her with her temper and self-esteem issues, but the German girl still liked and needed to being the centre of attention. However, she develops strange powers and abilities during the War with the Angels, which bring the wrong sort of attention and freak other people out. After the Final Battle Asuka just wants to be unnoticed and remain anonymous.
Because You Were Nice to Me: Why she fell for Shinji. He was there for her and would cheer her up when she was heartbroken whenever Kaji didn't pay attention to her.
Berserk Button: Go ahead, try make a meal out of her EVA. Amaliel learned the consequences the hard way.
Big "NO!": Utters this after she was forced to kill her friend Anna, who was possessed by Nyarlthotep.
Bilingual Bonus: Asuka, being a native of Germany, speaks her mother tongue quite often. Astute readers who know how to speak German will catch on pretty quickly.
Blood Knight: Deconstructed. Due to her upbringing Asuka is very aggressive, battle-hungry and eager to engage the enemy. However her first fight was against an alien horror that was so repulsive-looking she does not even want to go near it. When it bites her robot's hand off, though, she goes berserk and bludgeons it until it is a bloody pulp... which earns her a reprimand for being too aggressive.
Bring My Red Jacket: Asuka, as the Second Child, is associated with red, and wears a red plugsuit. She also gets into the most violent fights, and suffers the most physical/mental trauma including rape.
Child Prodigy: She was able to get a college degree at a very young age and is very intelligent than most people.
Childhood Friend: With Anna, they grew up together. Asuka is heart broken when she's forced to kill Anna.
Cry into Chest: After Asuka sees her crush Kaji with Misato, Asuka broke down sobbing onto Shinji's chest when he tried to comfort her. She does this again with Rei in a later chapter after finally realizing that Kaji truly does not see her the way he sees Misato.
Death by Childbirth: Of a sort - Asuka's mother died when the fetus (Asuka's baby brother) she was carrying tried eating its way out of her womb.
Deceased Parents Are the Best: Asuka's parents died in a lab fire when she was a little child. She remembers them fondly and misses them both, as opposed to her canon self who loathes her father after he abandoned her.
Defiled Forever: Asuka felt this way in chapter 19 after getting raped by a Violator-possessed Rei.
Defusing the Tyke-Bomb: Dr. Himmelfarb defused Asuka by adopting her and treating her like a person instead of a weapon like NERV did when after the death of Asuka's parents. The result was a relatively normal but still impulsive and passionate girl who is MUCH more emotionally adjusted than her canon self.
Despair Event Horizon: She nearly crossed this thanks to Nyalrthotep showing her that everything she knew was a lie, making her want to burn everything down.
It was too much for her. She'd never wanted any of this. The flame washed out of her like a torrent; she heard the people behind her burst into flames and die, but she didn't care. If this was the world, she wanted to destroy it. Better that nothing exist, if the Outer Gods were all there was. Humanity would be better off dead.
Nylarathotep tried to speak, but her flames rushed through him, charring him to ash in an instant. But he wasn't dead. He would rise again, she knew, and that knowing infuriated her more.
She gathered her strength. This world would burn. Burn, burn, burn. If it burned hot enough, maybe she would die herself, and not have to live in it.
Driven to Suicide: She attempted to do this after Nyarlthotep provoked her Despair Event Horizon mentioned above. Thankfully, a third party (implied to be the spirits of Asuka's deceased parents) stopped her.
Fiery Redhead: She has red hair, but it's downplayed because while most of the negative aspects associated with this trope that her canon self had were toned down by her foster mother, Asuka can be still quite impulsive and passionate at times.
Fire Purifies: Asuka's intended use for her pyrokinetic abilities, seeing them as a purifying tool as opposed to a weapon to destroy.
“The flames of hell are the fires which burn away impurities.”
First Kiss: With Shinji in chapter 16.
"Have you ever been on a date before?"
"No."
"Well, you do know how a date ends, right?"
He blinked. "Umm...no."
A second later, she was right in front of him.
"It's supposed to end with a kiss." Before he knew what hit him, her lips met his. He nearly fell down from surprise. Then she was back at a more normal distance.
Forceful Kiss: In chapter 16, after their first date, Asuka walked up to Shinji and she kissed him all of the sudden.
Foreign Cuss Word: Asuka resorts to swear in her native tongue when she gets angry. Her response to the Angel Amaliel slicing her EVA's hand off is "ICH WILL DIESEN KLEINEN SCHEISSKOPF TOTEN!!!"
- In an omake, an Asuka action figure made by NERV says "Gott in Himmel!" ("God in Heaven!") if you squeeze her chest.
Foreign-Language Tirade: During Asuka's fight with Amaliel, the Angel slices her EVA's hand off. Her first words after that were "ICH WILL DIESEN KLEINEN SCHEISSKOPF TOTEN!!!" and proceeds to go into a very angry and colorful rant as she beat Amaliel into a puddle of mush.
Giving Someone the Pointer Finger: She does this a lot. She also does this to Nyarlthotep when she accuses him of lying to her.
Gratuitous German: Asuka uses her mother tongue extensively. Chapter 4, her debut, is chockfull of examples:
- When she is ordered to trap an Angel alive: "Scheiss egal."
- When Amaliel rips her robot's hand off: "ICH WILL DIESEN KLEINEN SCHEISSKOPF TOTEN!!!" ("I WANT THIS LITTLE SHITHEAD DEAD!!!")
- When she emerges from her robot after battle: "Hat jemand ein Handtuch?" ("Does anyone have a towel?")
  - Played for laughs in an omake where NERV makes figurines of the pilots (including Asuka) as part of a money-making scheme. If you squeeze one of the Asuka action figures she says: "Gott in Himmel!", "Halten Sie!", "Schnell!" or "Sieg Heil!"
Hate at First Sight: With Touji.
Head-Turning Beauty: She has this effect on Shinji's male classmates ever since she transferred to their school.
Kensuke and Touji were over by them in an instant, followed a few seconds later by a tide of humanity. A rather small tide, but it was disconcerting nonetheless. Asuka smiled and waved and said hello to three dozen people, quickly learning their names. The only really hard part of it was trying to sort out who was shouting what.
Heterosexual Life-Partners: With both Anna and Hikari to a lessen extent.
Hopeless Suitor: Was one to Kaji in the early chapters when she still had a crush on him. Meanwhile Kaji (who was after Misato) ignored her or treated her like a little girl. She stopped pursuing him after realizing Kaji truly loved Misato.
Hot-Blooded: She's not as bad as her canon self thanks to being raised by a good foster parent, but she still has that fire in her. It's deconstructed when the Angel Amaliel provokes her into a rage that causes her to disobey orders, leading her to get chewed out by Gendo.
I'm a Humanitarian: One of the things Nyarlthotep tries tempting her into doing is eating human flesh. Asuka is completely disgusted.
Japanese Christian: Asuka is of Japanese descent and Christian. When she finds out that some people worships her and her fellow pilots she states that there's only one true God, and she isn't Him.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She can be impulsive and rude, but her heart's in the right place. Unlike her canon self, the "Heart of Gold" part is more prominent thanks to a good foster mother who defused most of her negative traits that came from her Tyke-Bomb upbringing.
Knight in Shining Armor: Her dream self in the mental world is that of a female, red-clad knight who goes around doing heroic deeds.
Lovely Angels: With Rei. Both are complete opposites in color and personality (Asuka wears red and is a Fiery Redhead while Rei wears mostly blue and is an Emotionless Girl) but they fight against the Angels pretty well together.
Knight in Shining Armor: Her dream world self is that of a heroic, red-clad knight who travels across the land doing good deeds.
No Sense of Personal Space: Asuka is not familiarized with the concept of "personal space". In her first appearance in chapter 4 she quickly latched on to Kaji. And later she stayed close to Shinji and wrapped an arm around his, despite of barely knowing Shinji at that point.
Asuka quickly stepped up to Shinji's side, taking his arm in hers, and strolled along with Kaji and Misato.
Once Done, Never Forgotten: The Amaliel incident has become this for Asuka, much to her never-ending frustration. It's brought up at least a few times in almost every chapter.
Operation: Jealousy: In chapter 4 Asuka sees her crush Kaji flirting with Misato and clung to Shinji to make Kaji jealous. Kaji did not even notice her antics, goading her to try harder. Her ploy failed anyway and she eventually fell for Shinji for real.
Parental Abandonment: Her parents died in a lab fire that resulted from a failed experiment of NERV's to create artificial EVA-compatible humans. Her mother, Kyoko, was killed by the fetus (Asuka's baby brother) she was carrying when it tried eating its way out of the womb. Her father died from heavy exposure to toxic chemicals while trying to evacuate people safely.
Playing with Fire: She gains the ability of pyrokinesis after killing and absorbing the Angel Uriel.
Precocious Crush: She had one for Kaji, who's twice her age, but that stopped after realizing he'll never look at her the way she does him. At the same time, her friend Anna's little brother Oscar has a HUGE crush on her, but Asuka thinks he's a dweeb.
Red Oni, Blue Oni: The fiery and passionate Red Oni to Rei's cold and emotionless Blue Oni.
The Rival: For Touji.
Secular Hero: She's implied to be religious as she believes in one true god (and doesn't like being called a god herself), but doesn't talk about it much really.
- Averted later into the story. Her faith becomes an increasing part of her character, to the point were one of the defining conflicts for Asuka is reconciling her newfound godlike powers (and how humans and other beings in the story constantly refer to her as a god), with her belief in Christianity. It culminates in Nyarlthotep trying to break her by telling her that her faith is a lie invented by him, which he nearly succeeds at, only for Asuka to (apparently) have a chat with God himself, who reveals that she is Gabriel, the biblical archangel and she, and the other Children (who are also angels), were sent by him to save humanity. This renews her spirit enough that all of her former doubts about her faith vanish and she takes to the final fight with renewed vigor.
Troubled Fetal Position: In chapter 19, Asuka curls up into a ball and cries after being raped by Rei.
Tyke-Bomb: Asuka was raised by NERV to become an EVA pilot and weapon after her parents' deaths, which left her like her canon self. But fortunately she had a good foster mother who defused her to the point where she grew up into a still fiery and passionate but relatively normal teenager.
What Have I Become?: Asuka is both frightened and disgusted by the possibility of becoming a monster with each Angel she kills and absorbs, and wants to cling to whatever humanity she has left.
What the Hell, Hero?: Gendo in chapter 4 chastises Asuka for losing her temper and disobeying orders to capture the Angel Amaliel alive for research after she is provoked into beating it into a puddle of mush. She returns the favor in a later chapter for having a hand in her parents' deaths when a botched NERV experiment killed Asuka's mother and resulted in a lab fire that killed her father.
"How could you do something like that? That's horrible, going around altering the genetics of babies! How could you do that to my parents?"
Vitriolic Best Buds: With Touji, with whom she argues and picks on quite frequently. The feeling is mutual. Kensuke and later Ritsuko both comment that they were "made to hate each other".

Touji Suzuhara

The Fourth Child.

Batter Up!: He was able to shape his AT field into a baseball bat during the battle with the Angel Zuriel.
Bedmate Reveal: In chapter 15, he's sleeping in what he thought was Misato's bed... until a scream wakes him up and he finds Asuka next to him.
Someone snored very close to her, so she rolled over and said, "Quit sno..." Having opened her eyes, she could see who it was. Touji was naked next to her except for his blue boxer shorts and white socks, which needed to be washed. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING IN BED WITH ME?"
"Mmm, Misa..." Touji mumbled, then snapped the rest of the way awake. "AAAA!!!!! WHAT IN HELL ARE YOU DOING IN MY BED?"
"I'm not in YOUR bed! You're in mine! How the hell did you get into my apartment?" Asuka shouted.
"You're smoking crack! I wouldn't try to crawl into your bed if you were the last woman on Earth!"
Beta Couple: With Hikari. They developed as the same time Shinji and Asuka started out their relationship. At the end of the story, they chose to remain among normal human beings unlike Shinji and Asuka, who could not fit in human society anymore.
Big Brother Instinct: Towards his younger sister Miki, who was put in a coma due to injuries from the fallout of Shinji and Rei's battle with Matriel. He would've beaten the stuffing out of Shinji in the first chapter if Rei hadn't interfered. Later, when Miki asks Touji to save her, Touji promises to protect her no matter what.
Blue Is Heroic: He becomes associated with blue after becoming an EVA pilot and the Fourth Child. He is also one of the main protagonists who helps fight the Angels.
Chivalrous Pervert: As much as he talks about women and getting into Misato's pants, he loves Hikari and is truly devoted to her.
Cluster F-Bomb: He's fond of dropping these as well as other variants.
Hate at First Sight: With Asuka.
Heroic BSoD: After the fight with the Angel Uriel goes wrong and ends with millions of people dead and Peru's city Lima being destroyed by a tidal wave (which the Children created as a last-ditch effort to stop Uriel), Touji spent the aftermath crying in Hikari's arms.
Heterosexual Life-Partners: With both of his friends Kensuke and Shinji.
Hidden Depths: He doesn't appear to be all that bright, and Asuka thinks he's a thug and a moron. But he's really good with geometry, capable of solving problems that give even Asuka pause.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's a perverted and very foul-mouthed boy, but he's as heroic as the other Children.
My Greatest Failure: All of the Children blame themselves for allowing Kensuke's possession by the Angel Baraquiel and death to happen, but Touji, who had been Kensuke's friend longer, takes it particularly hard.
Oh, Crap!: In the first chapter, Touji was going to beat the crap out of Shinji for putting his little sister in a coma... until Rei appeared behind him. It happens again when both Touji and Kensuke see Rei glaring at Asuka for hanging out with Shinji.
"Ohshit," whispered Touji. "She's mad."
Playing with Fire: After killing and absorbing the Angel Uriel, Touji gained the same power over fire as Asuka's.
Psychic Teleportation: Touji gained the ability to teleport himself and other people after absorbing an Angel who can do that. But due to his lack of control over it, he sometimes literally ends up in other people's beds - namely Asuka's.
The Rival: To Asuka.
Running Gag: Due to lack of control over his budding teleportation powers, he always somehow manages to find himself in other people's beds by accident.
Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: The Manly Man to Shinji's Sensitive Guy.
Sir Swears-a-Lot: Has the perpetual mouth of a sailor. Asuka probably comes second.
Those Two Guys: With Kensuke, his classmate and best friend, in early chapters. Then Kensuke is possessed and killed by the Angel Baraquiel.
Vitriolic Best Buds: With Asuka, with whom he argues and picks on quite frequently. The feeling is mutual. Kensuke and later Ritsuko both comment that they were "made to hate each other".

Hikari Horaki

Beta Couple: With Touji. They developed as the same time Shinji and Asuka started out their relationship. At the end of the story, they chose to remain among normal human beings unlike Shinji and Asuka, who could not fit in human society anymore.
I Need to Go Iron My Dog: When a couple of classmates joke about Touji's inability to be romantic, Hikari jumps to his defense. When they prod her for answers, she gives pause and says she's late for dinner before running off.
Power Dyes Your Hair: Absorbing the power of Angels turns her hair blonde in one chapter.

Anna Unruh

Death by Falling Over: She is killed when Asuka is forced to use her paralyzing stare to stop Anna from reaching her EVA while under Nyarlthotep's influence, causing Anna to fall and break her neck.
Demonic Possession: She is possessed by Nyarlthotep, who uses her as his mouthpiece to sway the rest of the Children to his side.
Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: She has blonde hair, and is one of the Children.
Power Dyes Your Hair: Her hair turns green after absorbing a bit of Asuka's eldritch blood during a blood brother oath.
Sailor Earth: Anna, Asuka's friend and the Fifth Child in place of Kaworu Nagisa.

NERV

Tropes in general

Bio-Augmentation: They tried to use this in the DAGON project, which mass-produced artificial humans capable of piloting EVAs without them going mad, dying, or mutating. It went... horrifically.
Designer Babies: Deconstructed. Since most people went mad or mutated horribly when they tried to control an Evangelion, NERV created genetically mutated fetuses and implanted them in volunteers. One of them killed Asuka’s mother, Kyoko by eating its way out of the womb. Rei, on the other hand, was the only successful human to grow and survive past fetal development. Asuka later calls out Gendo, the mastermind behind it all, for causing her parents' deaths with his meddling with genetics.
Asuka: "How could you do something like that? That's horrible, going around altering the genetics of babies! How could you do that to my parents?"
Tyke-Bomb: They tried raising and molding Asuka and Rei into acting as their weapons. While Asuka was lucky to have a good foster mother who was able to defuse her, Rei was not as fortunate and became an Emotionless Girl with No Social Skills.
Unwitting Pawn: All of them to Gendo and Yui, who used them as resources in their plan to use the Angels' power and remake the world into a paradise.

Gendo Ikari

Adaptational Heroism: ...Sort of. While he's still a Manipulative Bastard and he still abandoned Shinji for several years, this Gendo is less dickish than Canon!Gendo and his goals are more altrustic with his ultimate plan being turning Earth into a paradise where everyone is left wanting for nothing and no one has to suffer from anything.
Archnemesis Dad: To Shinji. Once Shinji figures out that both Gendo and Yui used the Children's powers to create a False Utopia, he rallies his friends against them and kills them both.
Batman Gambit: He was counting on the Children, including Shinji, to kill all the Angels and absorb all their power because he and Yui made a plan to seize the power of the Elder Gods and use it to create a paradise for humankind. When the Children succeed in fulfilling that objective, Gendo and Yui seize their power and ascend into godhood so they can remake the world.
Big Bad Duumvirate: With his wife, Yui, as part of the Big Bad Ensemble with SEELE and the Angels.
Calling the Old Man Out: Asuka calls him out for being the sole reason why her parents died and she's an orphan (though she had a good foster mother).
False Utopia: Using the Children's eldritch powers, Gendo and Yui create a pocket utopia where everyone is alive and well, no Angels attacking everything, Shinji has a loving family, Asuka and Hikari have their parents back, Touji's sister is not in a coma, and Rei is a happy, normal girl who is accepted and loved. Unfortunately, because the Angels' power is inherently foul and corrupting, it doesn't take long until the dead Angels absorbed by the Children start corrupting and messing up their "perfect" world.
Finger-Tenting: Gendo does this so often that Shinji sees him doing it in a dream he has in chapter 5.
Hidden Depths: Despite Gendo being... well, Gendo, he is actually more human and softhearted than most people would assume of him.
Jerkass Has a Point: As much as Gendo is Gendo, his chastising Asuka for disobeying direct orders to capture the Angel Amaliel alive and how her recklessness could be a potential danger does have merit.
Parental Abandonment: Did this to Shinji, leaving him in foster care and didn't call him until ten years later at the start of the story. Shinji tries to justify it, but Asuka is horrified and thinks Gendo was just being an abusive asshole.
So Proud of You: In chapter 7, Shinji tells Asuka that Gendo once caught him when he was leafing through a dangerous-looking book and his father spanked him... but intriguingly, Gendo looked mad and proud at the same time.
Terse Talker: In chapter 1, Shinji remembers his conversations with his father before being sent to live in foster care as... minimal at best:
"Shinji stared at his father, who hadn't changed a bit except for the beard, from his cold stare to his brief and inadequate explanations. 'Why is grass green?' 'Because it's not blue.' 'What's for dinner?' 'Food.' 'Why do Ihave to live away from you, father?' 'It's for your own good.' He didn't even get a hello. He wanted to say hello, but as he looked at Gendo, his resolve melted."
Visionary Villain: Like his wife Yui, Gendo wanted to create a paradise on Earth where dead loved ones are alive, everyone is happy, and no cosmic horrors to worry about. Most importantly, a world where Shinji can have a loving family and a normal life with his friends.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: He has been collaborating with Yui in a plan to create a perfect paradise on Earth where dead loved ones are alive and well, everyone has a chance to live a normal life, and there's no Angels attacking them. To achieve this plan, Gendo has been using dubious methods such as manipulating/killing people, covering up sensitive information, and using the Children to absorb the Angels' powers so he and Yui can seize them and remake the world as they envision it.

Misato Katsuragi

Ain't Too Proud to Beg: In the final chapter, Misato begs Shinji and Asuka not to go when they decide to leave human civilization forever due to being unable to live among humans anymore. They refuse to comply.
The Alcoholic: She spends most of the story drinking beer. After Makoto and Ritsuko call her out on this and throw away her beer, Misato resolves to stop drinking for the Children's sake until the War is over.
Badass in Distress: Misato is a good tactician and capable fighter. She is later kidnapped by a group of Neo-Nazi terrorists looking to use the Children as weapons in their plans to create a Fifth Reich and had to be rescued by the Children themselves.
Chekhov's Gun: The necklace she wears in memory of her father protects her from Angel influence and glows whenever there's an Eldritch Abomination nearby.
Disappeared Dad: Her father died during Second Impact caused by Adam's awakening.
Drives Like Crazy: Does this in chapter 1, though it was understandable in that case since Matriel's offspring were out for blood. However, in chapter 5...
Misato roared through the streets of Tokyo-3 in her car as if all the Angels were chasing her. Asuka laughed with delight while Shinji clung to his seatbelt, shaking. "Faster, faster!" Asuka shouted, while Shinji prayed for engine failure.
"I'm gonna have to slow down soon, or I'll drive right through our apartment building. I don't think the Andersons would like that." Misato took the corner at about fifty miles an hour without any trouble, thanks to the absence of any traffic. Shinji, on the other hand, was glad he hadn't eaten dinner yet.
Drowning My Sorrows: It's increasingly clear that Misato's drinking habits are her way of coping with all the pain and tragedies she suffered in her life. She attempts to drink herself silly after the battle with Uriel results in millions of deaths in Peru and the destruction of the city Lima. Makoto and Ritsuko call her out on this, saying she's using alcohol as a crutch and it won't be good for her judgment as the Children all rely on her for guidance.
Get Out!: In Chapter 1, she yells at Shinji to get out of the car, then pulls him with her so they hide in a ditch to protect themselves when NERV deploys an N-2 bomb against Matriel.
Hard-Drinking Party Girl: Was this in her college years. She doesn't really party anymore due to her NERV duties, but she does the drinking part still until she resolves to stay sober for the Children's sake during the War.
Mama Bear: Under no circumstance should you threaten or harm any or all of the Children under her watch, because she'll fill you with bullets if you do.
The Name Is Bond, James Bond: She introduces herself to Shinji in chapter 1 by saying, "Captain Katsuragi. Captain Misato Katsuragi" before they shake hands.
Old Flame: Kaji is this for her and the War brought them together again. Then Kaji was killed by the Violator later on, leaving her heartbroken.
Parental Substitute: To Shinji and Asuka at first. Then she adopts all of the Children (save for Rei who sacrificed herself) into her care after the Final Battle.
Shipper on Deck: She ships Shinji and Asuka. She spends much of the early chapters trying to catch them making out or doing something similar.
Spit Take: In chapter 12, Misato spat her beer out when Rei suddenly appeared right in front of her.
She turned to the keg, filled her mug, began guzzling it as she turned once more to the sunset, then spat out her beer as she suddenly found herself locking eyes with Rei.
Team Mom: For the Children.
Tragic Keepsake: Her necklace is all she has left of her father.
Vitriolic Best Buds: With Ritsuko, whom she enjoys picking on/teasing frequently. The feeling is mutual.
What the Hell, Hero?: Makoto and Ritsuko call Misato out for using beer as a crutch after the fight with Uriel ended disastrously, saying that both the Children and all the people under her command rely on her judgment and it wouldn't be good for someone like Misato to be completely incompetent on the job. This forces Misato to shape up and stay sober for the Children's sake until the War is finished.

Ritsuko Akagi

Adaptational Heroism: This version of Ritsuko is a much more sympathetic character in general, displaying more care towards the Children and committing none of her more villainous actions from the canon.
Adaptational Sexuality: Her canon self had an affair with Gendo and only ever displayed interest in men. In this story, she gets together with Maya.
The Ageless: All Deep Ones are immune to physical aging (well, except for violence, disease, etc.), and Ritsuko is no exception.
Deadpan Snarker: Ritsuko is a very sarcastic person and is armed with a very dry sense of humor.
Ritsuko: Hmm. I see you're busy. When you two are done, I need to see Misato.
Misato: I was just trying to find out who his girlfriend is!
Ritsuko: I suppose he had it written on the inside of his underwear or something?
Establishing Character Moment: The first time Shinji meets her, she's wearing a blue one-piece bathing suit underneath her lab coat. Not only is this quite different from her canon outfit, it also establishes her as a much more sympathetic and motherly character. It also serves as Foreshadowing that she's part-Deep One through her mother, Naoko, since generally bathing suits are associated with beaches and oceans.
Fish People: Ritsuko is part Deep One, the genes inherited from her mother, whose father was a Deep One. Thanks to Nyarlthotep (who was possessing Anna at the time), Ritsuko's heritage takes over and she transforms, resembling a humanoid fish with lanky, scrawny, human-like limbs, gills, fins and tail, and she loses the capability to breathe air.
Half-Human Hybrid: Chapter 16 reveals that her mother Naoko was the child of a relationship between a human and a Deep One.
Like Father, Unlike Son: She shares this dynamic with her mother. Naoko was half-Deep One through her father who accepted her heritage and transformed. Ritsuko on the other hand is frightened and disgusted by her heritage, as well as the thought of becoming a monster like her mother, and has been delaying her inevitable transformation with temporary solutions supplied by NERV.
Locked into Strangeness: Gains green hair after ingesting the Children's blood in attempt to reverse her Deep One transformation, which also gives back her more human traits and essentially turning her into a pretty mermaid.
Matricide: Ritsuko and Maya kill Naoko by stabbing her through the eyes.
Motherly Scientist: In contrast to her canon self, Ritsuko is a bit warmer and cares about the Children. When some of them tell that they fear that they’ll become monsters, she states that she will not let it happen.
"Not So Different" Remark: From the Children. When some of them start expressing concerns about turning into monsters after they start developing strange powers from killing and absorbing the Angels, Ritsuko states she will not let it happen, because she also fears becoming a monster by transforming into a Deep One like her mother did.

Maya Ibuki

Really 700 Years Old: In the final chapter when Ritsuko wakes up from a coma and sees Maya, she thinks that she's in her forties. Maya informs her that she's nearly six hundred years old thanks to advanced aging-slowing technology.
Unbroken Vigil: After her transformation into a Deep One, Ritsuko fell unconscious and was in a coma for five hundred and twenty-eight years. Maya kept watch over her, leading a mostly normal life and even occasionally dating, but remaining as long as possible by her bedside, patiently hoping for Ritsuko waking up. When she finally and suddenly woke up, Maya was overjoyed.
Undying Loyalty: To Ritsuko. When Ritsuko was put into a Convenient Coma after transforming into a Deep One, Maya stayed by her side for 528 years until she woke up.
Japanese Honorifics: Addresses Ritsuko, her superior, as "sempai". Later it becomes a term of endearment after they become lovers.

Ryoji Kaji

Came Back Wrong: He is resurrected in the final chapter by Yui and Gendo using the Children's power when they created a False Utopia, but he has no shadow and he's merely a puppet that only moves when people are looking at him.
Chivalrous Pervert: He's mentioned several times to be somewhat of a playboy. Despite this, his true love is Misato. He is robbed of the chance of resuming their old relationship when he is killed by the Violator.
The Lost Lenore: Becomes this for Misato after he is killed by the Violator.
Precocious Crush: Is the subject of Asuka's crush on him. Unfortunately, the age gap between them is several years apart. Kaji knows this and either ignores Asuka's advances or treats her like a little kid.
Old Flame: Misato was this for him, and after several chapters of UST, they nearly get back together again. Too bad he was killed by the Violator before they can completely patch things up.

Angels

Tropes in general

Body Horror: All Angels are grotesque beings with extra parts on their body that shouldn't be there.
The Corrupter: Through the Children's stolen power, the Angels try to make the Children accept their darker nature and become like them by filling their heads with dark urges and desires. Fortunately, the Children are more strong-willed than the Angels realize. That and they have Rei to help them fight off the influence.
Eldritch Abomination: Just like the Angels in canon, except these guys are based off of the Great Old Ones from the Cthulhu Mythos.
Meaningful Name: Like their canon counterparts, most of them are named after archangels from the Christian bible.
- Averted in that those aren't their real names, just the code names that NERV gives them, probably to hide what they truly are. Their actual names, which also play the trope straight, are those of the Great Old Ones of the Cthulhu Mythos, their actual identities. Baraquiel, for example, is actually Hastur, the infamous King in Yellow of August Derleth's creation, while Rahab is actually Ghatanathoa, the Medusa like sea beast most well known for being part of the Xothic legend cycle of Lin Carter, which famously also featured Cthulhu. Matriel is actually Atlach-Nacha, Amaliel is Rhan-Tegoth, Salgiel is Ithaqua, Uriel is Cthugha, and Zuriel is Shudde M'ell. The final "angel" is none other than Cthulhu himself.

Matriel

The first Angel Shinji encounters and kills. It is a spider-looking Angel with command over spiders.

Adaptational Superpower Change: In Neon Genesis Evangelion, Matarael oozes a powerful acid from the eye in the bottom of its body. Here, it's able to control spiders, which Shinji and Rei inherit after they kill it.
Adaptation Name Change: In canon, its name is Matarael. Here, it's Matriel. Its real name is Atlach-Nacha, the spider like Great Old One. It is also referred to at one point as Ungoliant, the malevolent spider spirit of J.R.R. Tolkien's legendarium.
Animalistic Abomination: Like in canon, it's a multi-eyed, spider-looking Angel that resembles an opilione (i.e. a species of arachnids that, among other names, is called "Daddy Longlegs"). Both Shinji and Dr. Smith, the scientist who found it in the prologue, note how its body is much too big too be supported by its skinny, limber legs, with Shinji being particularly revulsed by how angular it looked despite being an organic creature.
An Arm and a Leg: Shinji cuts off several of its legs before moving on to stab its head.
Dark Is Evil: The prologue, where it encounters and massacres the Long-Smith expedition team, took place inside a cave. In chapter 1, it proceeds to swarm the town Shinji's in with spiders, and shortly after it becomes the first Angel Shinji fights and kills.
Establishing Series Moment: The Long-Smith expedition team's grisly encounter with it quickly establishes Children of an Elder God as a Cosmic Horror Story, if the title wasn't enough to indicate it.
Eye Scream: Rei takes out its eyes on Misato's orders in the first chapter.
Giant Spider: It's a giant, spider-like Angel capable of creating and controlling spiders, and producing webs.
Sealed Evil in a Can: In response to its attack on the doomed Long-Smith expedition team, NERV orders the cave shut, preventing it from escaping but also trapping any survivors with it. It didn't take; by Chapter 1, it somehow managed to escape the cave and wreaked havoc on the town Shinji was in, kicking off the events of the story.
Spiders Are Scary: Matriel, Shinji and Rei's first enemy, is a giant Angel that looks like a spider. It was able to cover most of Tokyo-3 with its spawn, causing one man to set himself on fire to get rid of said spawn when they are crawling over him. It is also capable of stopping an EVA in its tracks by spitting out webs
Square-Cube Law: Both Shinji and the scientist who finds it in the prologue chapter note that Matriel's body is much too big to be supported by its legs, which are skinny and limber by comparison.

Amaliel

Animalistic Abomination: It's an Angel that happens to look like a crab.
Body Horror: It was a dark, green blob with crab-like claws, tentacles and something vaguely resembling a head.
"... an almost globular torso, with six long sinuous limbs terminating in crab-like claws. From the upper end a subsidiary globe bulged forward bubble-like; its triangle of three staring, fishy eyes, its foot-long and evidently flexible proboscis, and a distended lateral system analogous to gills, suggested that it was a head."
Curbstomp Battle: Amaliel was subjected to a very brutal one after provoking Asuka into an Unstoppable Rage by slicing off her EVA's hand. By the time Asuka was done, it was nothing but mush all over the floor.
Green and Mean: Amaliel, Asuka's first adversary she fought and killed, was a lime-green, gelatinous Sea Monster packed with claws, pincers and tentacles.
Meaningful Name: Its real name, as opposed to the angelic codename given by NERV, is Rhan-Tegoth, the Great Old One known as the Terror of the Hominids and He of the Ivory Throne.
Nightmare Retardant: It's an Eldritch Abomination, but it's softened by the fact that it looks like a giant koosh ball with pincers, crab legs, and eye stalks.
Sea Monster: Amaliel is an acuatic, sea-dwelling monster resembling a viscous blob with tentacles and pincers.

Uriel

Knight of Cerebus: The story gets a lot darker with its arrival. It wipes out most of Lima during its battle, with the pilots having to wipe out the rest to finally defeat him, resulting in the deaths of 2 million people. It hands the pilots the closest thing to their first real loss in the story, and things just go downhill for them from there.
Meaningful Name: Its real name is Cthugha aka The Living Flame or The Burning One.
Playing with Fire: Has this ability, which the Children absorb after killing it.

Salgiel

An Ice Person: Has power over snow and is able to create blizzards with it. Rei inherits this ability after absorbing it.
Meaningful Name: Its real name is Ithaqua, the Great Old One known as the "God of the Cold White Silence". In the story, it is also referred to by its other nicknames in the Cthulhu Mythos, The Wendigo and The Wind Walker.

Y'Golonac

Grand Theft Me: It can possess any living creature it targets. Rei inherits this ability after killing and absorbing the Angel.
Red Baron: Also known as "The Violator". It uses Rei as a conduit to attack and rape Asuka in chapter 18.
Speak of the Devil: Speaking its true name will make it appear and possess someone. Rei inherited this ability after killing and absorbing the Angel.

Baraquiel

Canon Character All Along: Is actually Hastur, the King in Yellow.
Demonic Possession: He possesses Kensuke while the latter is playing as him when the Children decide to enact the The King in Yellow story for a school play.
Villainous Breakdown: After the Children defeat him and seal him within Kensuke's body (with much reluctance on their part), Baraquiel is reduced to a raving lunatic shouting death threats at them.

Outer Gods

Tropes in general

Eldritch Abomination: They're characters from the Cthulhu Mythos. 'Nuff said.
Jerkass Gods: It's been stated several times that the Outer Gods are completely cold and uncaring even to the people who worship them. If they do something, it's for their own benefit.

Nyarlthotep

Chest Burster: Shortly after Anna is killed by Asuka, Nyarlthotep bursts out of her body through her chest.
Deal with the Devil: He gives really convincing offers to the Children and most of the NERV staff, such as bringing back dead loved ones and erasing all of the problems they're currently having, in exchange for their servitude. All of them refuse.
Demonic Possession: Possesses Anna and uses her as a mouthpiece to blow the whistle on NERV in order to get the Children onto his side.
Despair Event Horizon: Deliberately invokes this in Asuka by showing her that everything she knew, including God and her religion, was a lie, in an attempt to sway her to his side. He was almost successful.
Face Palm: Does this when Touji sees through his lies.
Hoist by His Own Petard: Nyarlthotep provoked Asuka into a Despair Event Horizon, but forgot that she had fire powers, so when she had her breakdown, she tried burning up everything around her, including him. Oops.
I Have Many Names: He's known as "The Crawling Chaos", among other things.
An Offer You Can't Refuse: Says this verbatim to Touji while attempting to sway him to his side.

Spoiler Character

Adam/Ubbo-Sathla

Abusive Dad: It is technically the progenitor of all life on Earth, calls out to the Children as a father would in their minds (even using their respective dad's voices), and Rei even calls it "Father". But it has no real regard for humanity, and when the pilots oppose it, it decides to wipe mankind out and replace it with something else.
The Corrupter: Its awakening and very presence causes it to drive much of Tokyo-3's population mad, cause the DAGON clones of Rei to become crazed and start murdering most of NERV's staff, and it nearly caused Shinji and Asuka to join it in insanity.
Physical God: Is technically an Outer God, making it equal to Nyarlthotep, if not more powerful, and making it one of the strongest threats the children face outside of Nyarlthotep itself, and one of the last, slain only after one of the hardest fought fights in the series.
Small Role, Big Impact: Discovering it and accidentally (or intentionally) waking it up is what caused Second Impact, and it was used to create the Evangelions, LCL, and Rei, along with her DAGON clones. The entire story was effectively set in motion by this creature, or the actions of those who studied it. However, it is registered as just an angel and slain just as quickly as the others.

Others

Kensuke Aida

Came Back Wrong: He is resurrected in the final chapter by Yui and Gendo using the Children's power when they created a False Utopia, but he has no shadow and he's merely a puppet that only moves when people are looking at him.
Demonic Possession: He is possessed by the Angel Baraquiel when the school performs the play "The King in Yellow", while acting as the titular character.
Heroic Sacrifice: The first thing Kensuke does after being resurrected in the final chapter is to help the Children and Misato learn the truth behind Yui and Gendo's False Utopia, knowing that his own existence will be erased and he'll go back to being dead.
Killed Off for Real: He is killed after Baraquiel possesses him, which forced his soul out of his body. Although Touji and Asuka manage to rescue his soul from Nyarlthotep's clutches in the dream world, without a body Kensuke is gone forever.
Those Two Guys: With Touji, his best friend. At least, until his possession and death by Baraquiel.

Spoiler Character

Yui Ikari

Shinji's mother. Long-believed to be dead after the botched experiment with EVA Unit 01, her spirit still lived.

Adaptational Villainy: While her 'goodness' was up to debate in canon, in this story she's a well-meaning yet antagonistic force who played her own son and his friends like a fiddle, used their powers to create a a paradise that gradually became corrupted, and attempted to attack the heroes into submission when they refuse to side with her.
Antagonistic Offspring: Shinji, at least from her point of view, once he and his friends realize the paradise she created is a False Utopia and rebel against her.
Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: After seizing the power of the Angels absorbed by her son Shinji and the Children, Yui transformed into a goddess capable of warping reality.
Big Bad Duumvirate: With her husband, Gendo, as part of the Big Bad Ensemble with the Angels and SEELE.
False Utopia: Using the Children's eldritch powers, Yui creates a pocket utopia where everyone is alive and well, no Angels attacking everything, Shinji has a loving family, Asuka and Hikari have their parents back, Touji's sister is not in a coma, and Rei is a happy, normal girl who is accepted and loved. Unfortunately, because the Angels' power is inherently foul and corrupting, it doesn't take long until the dead Angels absorbed by the Children start corrupting and messing up everything Yui had created.
Godhood Seeker: She uses the Children's power stolen from the Angels to ascend to godhood and rewrite Earth into a paradise for humans according to her will.
Killed Off for Real: Killed by Shinji and his friends to save the world from becoming a corrupted False Utopia, by reciting the Dragon's Tail ritual, ending her existence for good.
Missing Mom: Was this to Shinji due to dying from her failure to synchronize with EVA Unit 01, like in canon... except it's subverted as she was Not Quite Dead, and came back to life by using the Children's powers to ascend to godhood. Later she becomes this for real after Shinji kills her to save Earth from becoming a False Utopia.
Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: By rewriting Earth as a human paradise, Yui allowed the Children (who had just finished fighting the MP-EVAs and Cthulhu) to rest and recover. When the Children start recognizing Yui's paradise as a False Utopia and rebel, they are at their full strength which allows them to defeat Yui and kill her.
Villains Out Shopping: After using the Children's collective eldritch powers to transform the world into a utopia, Yui takes the chance to dine with Gendo atop the Tokyo Tower as husband and wife. But as the utopia gradually falls apart thanks to the corruptive nature of the slumbering Great Old Ones, almost every Yui-centric scene onward has her eating with Gendo and Fuyutsuki at some kind of restaurant, which are used to plan out how the three of them will stop the Great Old Ones from corrupting their utopia. The last scene of Yui, Gendo, and Fuyutsuki together takes place at a ramen shop before they try using the MAGI computer system to contain the Great Old Ones.
Villains Want Mercy: After she is defeated by the Children and forced to recite the Dragon's Tail ritual when Rei possesses her, Yui begs Shinji to let her live. Shinji apologizes before he and his friends kill her for good by making her speak the final word of the ritual, upon which she disintegrates.
Visionary Villain: Yui wants a world where dead loved ones are alive, and all people are happy and able to live out their lives in freedom without problems, and no Angel attacks to worry about.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: Yui has been planning everything with Gendo from the start, because she wants to create a paradise on Earth where there's no Angel attacks, dead loved ones are alive, and everyone is happy. Touji's sister is not in a coma, Asuka and Hikari have their parents back, Rei is normal and accepted by all, and Shinji has a family who loves him. Unfortunately, she achieves this by stealing the Children's powers (which turns her paradise into a False Utopia because said powers come from dead cosmic horrors), and when Shinji and his friends find out about her plans and rebel to put an end to her envisioned world, Yui threatens to crush and force the Children into obedience.
Walking Spoiler: It's impossible to talk about Yui without revealing everything she was involved in, as well as the story's climax where her attempt to create a paradise turns the Children against her.

Characters / Children of an Elder God

The Children

NERV

Angels

Outer Gods

Adam/Ubbo-Sathla

Others

Yui Ikari

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Characters / Children of an Elder God

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The Children

NERV

Angels

Outer Gods

Adam/Ubbo-Sathla

Others

Yui Ikari

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Index

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