Kaworu Nagisa

About Kaworu Nagisa

Kaworu Nagisa is a key character of Neon Genesis Evangelion who appears in a single television episode and never leaves the story. Sent to NERV as the Fifth Child, he is secretly Tabris, the final Angel, in human form. In one day he gives Shinji the unconditional affection he has begged the whole series for, then asks Shinji to kill him so humanity can live. Kaworu's one episode, and his larger role in the Rebuild films, made him one of the franchise's most loved figures.

Appearance

Kaworu is a slender teenage boy with pale skin, silver grey hair and red eyes like Rei's, which is the first clue about him the series gives you. He wears the standard school uniform or a simple shirt and trousers, moves gracefully and smiles almost constantly, a soft, unguarded smile nobody else in the cast owns. He hums Beethoven while he works. Everything about his presentation is gentle and slightly out of place, as if he were visiting the world rather than living in it, which, in the most literal sense, he is.

Personality

Kaworu is kind the way weather is kind: without effort, agenda or embarrassment. He says what he feels, calls Shinji by his name with warmth, plays piano, and treats his own death as a reasonable price for people he has known for a day. Underneath is something older and sadder. As an Angel in human form he is genuinely curious about humans, their music, their fragility, their refusal to stop, and his fascination is real even though his mission was not. He is the only character who gives Shinji love freely, and the series makes sure you notice what that costs Shinji afterwards.

Background & Story

Kaworu Nagisa is introduced in episode 24 as the Fifth Child, sent by SEELE to replace Asuka as Unit-02's pilot after her collapse. He is, in truth, the seventeenth and final Angel, Tabris, born from Adam's soul in a human body on the day of Second Impact. SEELE sends him to NERV expecting him to begin Instrumentality on their terms. Instead Kaworu befriends Shinji, openly, warmly and without conditions, the first person ever to simply say he likes him. When Kaworu reaches Terminal Dogma and understands the giant crucified there is Lilith, not Adam, he makes his choice: he asks Shinji to kill him, so that humanity, and Shinji, can have the future instead of him.

Powers & Abilities

• AT Field: As Tabris, Kaworu generates the strongest AT Field ever recorded by NERV, able to block all light, magnetism and particle interference, a wall between himself and the world.
• Evangelion Control: Born of Adam, Kaworu can synchronise with and remotely control Evangelion units made from Adam's flesh, including Unit-02, without even sitting in the entry plug.
• Levitation: Kaworu descends into Terminal Dogma by floating down the shaft under his own power, the one plainly supernatural thing he does on screen, saved for the moment the mask comes off.

Key Relationships

• Shinji Ikari: The human he chose. Kaworu gives Shinji a day of uncomplicated love and then asks him for death, a combination that shapes Shinji's choices in every ending and across the Rebuild films.
• SEELE: His senders, who raised him as their instrument for Instrumentality. Kaworu obeys their letter and betrays their purpose, choosing humanity's future over the Angels' return.
• Rei Ayanami: His counterpart: Adam's soul and Lilith's soul, both in teenage bodies at NERV. Their one conversation, about being the same, is the quietest and strangest scene in the series.

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