Board Thread:Speculation House/@comment-1323841-20140829235316/@comment-24106129-20140831000639

Bansho wrote: It has literally been described as being projected by the soul itself; it's why the EVAs needed human souls in order to fight the angels. Partially correct.

A soul(if that can be defined) is required for an EVA to work but then why are there varying degress of strength in AT fields? Are not all souls equal? How can a soul be strengthened in an EVA? Does the AT field grow in strength is it because their soul also grew with them?

Huge Spoilers do not read if you are not familiar with Evangelion.

That is because the strength of an AT field is determined by the affirmation of one's individuality, with the AT field weakening(as mindbroken Asuka and Rei's climbing performance record shows) when a person loses their individuality. In contrast, when Shinji recognized his desire to protect those important to him, his AT-Field reached a state of godlike power to save Rei because the EVA accepted his steadfast belief to protect his important ones. Ritsuko described AT-fields as a manifestion of the seperations between individuals and individuality is what drives people to conflict/disagree, the EVAs manifest that conflict between individuals/desires as an AT field. It's superb symbolism showing how striving to prove one's individuality further isolate/hurt that people.