Short Answer: There is no information on how humanity managed crucify Lilith but the most reasonable explanation is that humanity used normal tools such as cranes, helicopters, etc. We don’t know for sure how humanity mananged to defeat or place Lilith in submission but what we do know is that Lilith being impaled with the Lance of Longinus keeps her from breaking free.
Who is Lilith?
In the show, Lilith appears as a mysterious giant creature, kept by the NERV and SEELE at the GeoFronts. Lilith is one of the seven Seeds of life that was sent by the First Ancestral Race to populate planets. Lilith’s origin is from the First Ancestral Race (FAR,) in which Lilith and the other Seeds of life were created to prevent FAR from extinction. Every seed of life has its own surplus, Lilith happens to be the fruit of knowledge, which makes Lilith’s species can learn, think, and evolve. Basically, the fruit of knowledge will be affected by Lilith’s descendants. Lilith’s descendants aren’t only humans, they also can be insects, bacteria, etc.
Lilith’s appearance looks like a giant humanoid creature that had a white skin color. Lilith always remains crucified and doesn’t move at all. Lilith only has an upper-half body with multiply humans leg on her waist. However, Lilith’s lower body grew back after the Longinus lance was removed. Lilith has a purple face and 7 eyes. Lilith’s appearance changes after Rei fused with Lilith, Lilith has the appearance of naked Rei Ayanami, and Lilith’s size grew so much bigger than before. And it seems like Lilith grows the wing of light on its back.
Was Lilith sent just like the other angels?
Almost similar to Angels, Lilith was sent by the First Ancestral Race (FAR). However, the concept of Lilith’s presence was more like Adam (Lilith’s co-equal being) and not like the Angels that humans fought against. Lilith and Adam are special Angels as they are both seeds of life who have the sole task of inhabiting one planet each. On the other hand, the Angels that humans fought against only came from Adam, but they weren’t purposely created by Adam for the purpose of eradicating Humanity. The true goal of these Angels is to find Adam and unite with Adam itself.
A little further on why Lilith was sent by FAR is because Lilith is the seed of life. The First Ancestral race created Lilith (the seed of life) enable to prevent their lineage from extinction. Therefore, Lilith was sent by First Ancestral Race, not as an attacking threat but only to populate Earth, and give life on that planet. The same is also true for Adam.
How did Lilith get captured?
Lilith is held captive using giant nails and a giant cross, causing Lilith in a crucified position. However, there isn’t information on how humans managed to capture Lilith in the first place. Although there is no explanation of whether Lilith is hostile to humans or not, it seems that Lilith is not hostile because even after the Longinus lance is unimpaled from Lilith’s chest, Lilith still remains calm and does nothing harmful to humans. Hence, humans managed to capture Lilith inside the black moon with no risk at all.
“The starting point of everything, this is Adam.”
–Kaji to Misato
When Lilith is handed to NERV, most of NERV’s employees didn’t know that the seed of life that is held captive is Lilith. All of them thought that the captured Angel was Adam because they noticed that all of the Angels were trying to make their way towards the captured Angel. Only a few people that work at NERV knew that it was actually Lilith. Gendo Ikari, the commander of NERV, hides the information because it will affect his personal goals.
Why is Lilith held captive by NERV?
SEELE was the first to keep Lilith because it was needed for a few researches such as the Human Instrumentality Project and Humans origin. However, SEELE later handed Lilith over to NERV which takes advantage of Lilith to create Eva unit 01 as well as a resource of LCL. Furthermore, Gendo Ikari (Nerv’s commander) also uses Lilith to initiate the Human Intrumentality Project to achieve his personal goal of reuniting with his dead wife.
It is really dangerous though for humans to mess with a Seed of life because it will have a certain impact. For example, when humans made contact with Adam, it resulted in the Second Impact that almost made Humans go extinct. SEELE however, feels that the the need to use the seeds of life out weigh the risks of another impact. They’re also confident with what they do because they have guidance through the Dead Sea Scrolls in their possession.
Did Rei Ayanami always have the power of Lilith?
Rei Ayanami is the seed of life (Lilith) in a human body. However, Rei Ayanami only uses a little bit of Lilith’s power when she is in the human form and she only shows it in only one scene. So, to know further about the power of a seed of life in a human body we need to look at someone who is the same as Rei Ayanami and that is Kaworu. Kaworu is the same as Rei Ayanami because he also has a soul of a seed of life inside him just like Rei Ayanami. Unlike Rei Ayanami though, Kaworu seems to use his power easily. He uses powers such as levitation as well as generating an A.T. Field of his own.
Kaworu obtained his power because he has the soul of the seed of life, and not because he is the fruit of life ancestry. Because if it has something to do with the fruit of life, it will contradict Rei Ayanami generating her own A.T. Fields. However, Kaworu has the self-awareness that he has the Adam soul, unlike Rei Ayanami who only gains self-awareness at the end of the anime series. Therefore, if one has the body of a human with the soul of the seed of life, he needs to have self-awareness first to be able to use the power.
“After all, humans are not gods.”
Kaworu Nagisa
Keep in mind that the power of the seeds of life in its original form (body) cannot be measured. We only see the power of a Seed of life when it’s only in a human form, not in its original form. However, there’s a clue when the power of a seed of life with its original form at the end of the show where Lilith started the Third Impact. Lilith’s power can even break all of the humans A.T. Fields, but it’s the result of fusing Adam and Lilith together, and not the power of a single seed of life.
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Our Final Thoughts:
In conclusion, Even though there isn’t information on how humans managed to get Lilith in the crucified position, there are reasonable explanations for that. Humans probably managed to get Lilith in that position with only normal tools such as cranes and helicopters, etc. They used normal tools because Lilith probably wasn’t hostile towards them. As such, humans easily captured Lilith and secured it in place with the lance of longinus.
Thank you for reading!
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