Spear of Cassius

Early materials for Evangelion: 2.0, including the script and the film's Complete Records Collection, label the artifact simply as a spear; the Cassius name attaches later. It counts among six spears that reached Earth alongside the Adams and Lilith during the first two Impacts. Its double-helical shaft and deep red coloring mirror the Spear of Longinus, but a shaped spearhead housing a slim green gem sets it apart.

The name traces to Gaius Cassius Longinus, the Roman senator and general remembered for his part in the plot against Julius Caesar, a figure whose name also echoes Longinus, the soldier of Christian tradition said to have pierced Christ. Promotional art for Evangelion: 3.0 and a Mark.06 action figure render the spear black or dark gray rather than its onscreen red, a discrepancy with no official explanation.

The spear's defining act is termination. During Near Third Impact, Evangelion Mark.06 drives it into Evangelion Unit-01, cutting off the cataclysm and freezing the Eva's transformation into an energy being. In Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 its recreated form carries the title spear of hope, standing opposite the Spear of Longinus, the spear of despair. Kaworu holds that the two spears working in unison could rebuild a destroyed world, and their eventual fusion with Evangelion Imaginary clears the way for Additional Impact.

A related weapon exists in the ANIMA continuity: the Spear of Lucretius, which can pull an Evangelion out of an energy state or bisect energy beings, wielded by Shinji rather than used against him.

The spear first appears shrouded at the lunar Tabgha Base before Mark.06 employs it to end Near Third Impact in Evangelion: 2.0. In Evangelion: 3.0, Kaworu leads Shinji down into Terminal Dogma expecting to recover both Cassius and Longinus from Lilith's corpse, only to find, to his confusion, two identical Spears of Longinus waiting.

In the final film Shinji, aboard Unit-01 within Minus Space, wrests one of the Longinus spears away from Evangelion 13 and remakes it into a new Spear of Cassius. He and Gendo duel with their respective spears until Shinji chooses to give his up and end the fight, after which both weapons merge into Evangelion Imaginary.