Kaworu Nagisa

Kaworu Nagisa (Japanese: 渚 カヲル, Hepburn: Nagisa Kaworu), real name Tabris (タブリス, Taburisu), is a fictional character from the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise created by Gainax. In the series, he is the pilot of a giant mecha named Evangelion Unit 02 for the special agency Nerv. Kaworu is the seventeenth and final member of the Angels which threaten humanity. When he arrives at Nerv, he meets Eva-01 pilot Shinji Ikari, showing great affection towards him. After revealing his nature as an Angel to Shinji, he asks him to kill him to allow humanity to survive. Kaworu appears in the franchise's animated feature films and related media, video games, the original net animation Petit Eva: Evangelion@School, the Rebuild of Evangelion films, and the manga adaptation by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto. He also has a prominent role in Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo, the third film of the Rebuild saga.

The character, originally conceived by Gainax as a cat controlling a boy, was supposed to appear in the series' twenty-second episode. After several changes, director Hideaki Anno and screenwriter Akio Satsukawa decided on him being the last Angel, and he was included in the twenty-fourth episode.

Although Kaworu only appeared in one episode, he was popular with audiences and animation enthusiasts and topped popularity polls. Some critics disliked his ambiguity and the undertones of his relationship with Shinji; others praised his personality, finding him to be open, affectionate and sociable. His role in the film Evangelion 3.0 also attracted the attention of critics, with reviewers generally appreciating his relationship with Shinji. Merchandise, particularly action figures, based on Kaworu have been released.

## Conception

Akio Satsukawa, a screenwriter who contributed to writing for the series' twenty-fourth episode, "The Beginning and the End, or 'Knockin' on Heaven's Door'", chose Kaworu's name. He opted for the surname Nagisa (Japanese for "shore") as a homage to Japanese director Nagisa Ōshima. The choice of a term related to the sea allowed him to connect to the names of other series' characters inspired by Imperial Japanese Navy ships and nami (波, lit. "wave") in the surname of Rei Ayanami. The name Kaworu was not written with the contemporary spelling カオル (Kaoru) with the katakana オ (o), but with the archaic character ヲ (wo). The kanji nagisa (渚) was chosen for its connection with the katakana shi (シ) and the kanji sha (者), a detail referring to the Japanese title of the episode: "The Final Messenger" (最後のシ者, Saigo no shisha). Satsukawa then created a pun with the phoneme shisha, which can mean "messenger" (使者) or "dead" (死者).

Two years before the series began broadcasting, Gainax published a presentation about the series entitled Kikakusho (企画書, lit. "Proposal"). Kaworu was originally going to appear in the twenty-second episode of the series as a "bishōnen constantly accompanied by a cat". Nerv would have allowed the boy to enter its laboratories and, after a clash in which his fellow pilot Shinji Ikari found himself "in the dilemma of having to fight against an anthropomorphic enemy", "the greatest secret of the organization" would be revealed.

In the first drafts, the Angel would have been a cat controlling a boy; however, this idea was abandoned, and elements of it were merged into Kaworu. In preliminary proposals, he had an organ characteristic of Angels called a Core and the ability to modify his appearance through metamorphosis, ideas which were set aside during the series' production. Anno conceived him as an "ideal male"; and according to him, "The plan was that the 'unconscious Shinji' would be Ayanami Rei, the Shinji who appears on the surface would be Ikari Shinji, and the 'ideal Shinji' would be Nagisa Kaworu". Character designer Yoshiyuki Sadamoto conceived him as "more elegant and more refined" than Shinji, and compared to him he would be "taller, thinner and with a smaller face". For the somatic features of his face, he decided to combine those of Rei, Shinji, and Asuka Langley Soryu. Following a personal request from the director, colorist Harumi Takaboshi made his eyes red to be analogous with Rei's and give him "a distinct impression". In one of the drafts of the twenty-fourth episode, he is described as a blond-haired boy. Although he was conceived to appear only in the final episodes, during the making of the opening theme the main staff decided to depict him with a sketch by Sadamoto; in the editing phase, the sketch was inserted before a frame depicting Rei Ayanami and the caption "Angels". While designing him, Sadamoto envisioned him with a "younger" voice than in the final version.

In the early stages of production, scriptwriter Akio Satsukawa wrote some drafts of the twenty-fourth episode's script, in which Kaworu's relationship with Shinji would have been expanded upon and presented with less ambiguity. Some of his ideas included Kaworu and Shinji swimming naked in a river at night, Kaworu proposing to Shinji to play piano and cello together and a kiss scene between them. Anno originally gave him an outline that Satsukawa greatly expanded upon, something that struck Sadamoto. Though Anno did not dissuade Satsukawa and the homoerotic tone of his draft, at one point he considered it "above my tolerance level". The Evangelion staff and producers also rejected these proposals. Episode director and animator Masayuki refused to work on them and threatened to resign. The drafts underwent several modifications before being accepted as the definitive script. However, they did not change or alter the essence of Kaworu's character; Anno said the draft's "atmosphere" was preserved in the script. Anno explained he wanted to hold on to the idea of an Angel "conversing in human language", mentioning it as a progression from Shinji's conversation with the Angel Leliel in the sixteenth episode. He also considered expanding Kaworu's role in the expanded director's cut version of the episode, but decided to prioritize clarifying Kaworu's connection to Seele instead.

Staff indicated they did not expect Kaworu to provoke a strong sexual impression, nor how popular he would become. They attributed their unawareness of this to the short time they had to produce the later episodes, and mentioned that Kaworu was not supposed to hold Shinji's hand in the bath scene. This was an animation error; he was supposed to touch it instead. Like other characters in the series, Anno conceived Kaworu based on his own personality. He described Rei and Kaworu as part of his unconscious, and Kaworu specifically as his shadow—the dark and unconscious side of the psyche. According to some fans, he may have used Kunihiko Ikuhara, the director of the animated series Sailor Moon and his friend, as a model. In an interview, Ikuhara denied the rumors, comparing Kaworu's cynical personality to Anno himself, while stating he was not involved in the creation of the character. He also said he had close correspondence with Anno, with whom he was on good terms since the early design stages of Neon Genesis Evangelion. During the production of Sailor Moon, the staff went on a trip to the spa, and Ikuhara chatted all night with Anno, who also worked as an animator for some of the series' episodes. When watching the episode, Ikuhara noticed how the situation with the bath was the same as the conversation he had with Anno.

### Voice

Akira Ishida voices Kaworu Nagisa in his appearance in the original series, as well as the later films, spin-offs, video games, and the Rebuild of Evangelion saga. In 1997, when The End of Evangelion was released, Ishida said he found the role "very difficult", and felt "a lot of pressure" during the dubbing of the film version. His emotional tension grew exponentially when he learned that there would be two feature movies, but he was satisfied with his performance. During the recording of Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone (2007), the first chapter of the Rebuild of Evangelion cinematic tetralogy, Anno explained in detail the role played by Kaworu in the new theatrical version and his relationship with Shinji. During the dubbing sessions for Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo (2012) he felt tense, but with the director's support, he overcame his performance anxiety and reprised the role. For the final installment, Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time, Ishida noted he had trouble saying the character's "complex" lines.

In English, he is voiced by Kyle Sturdivant in the original series; Greg Ayres in the director's cut version, Aaron Krohn in the 1997 film duology, Clifford Chapin in the Netflix' dub, Jerry Jewell in the first dub of Rebuild of Evangelion and Daman Mills in the Amazon Prime Video's dub.

In the Netflix dub, one of Kaworu's lines to Shinji was changed from ADV DVD's "I love you" to "I like you". This was a controversial choice among some fans, who felt it altered their relationship and contributed to queer erasure. Dan Kanemitsu, studio Khara's in-house translator responsible for the updated Evangelion subtitles, production assistance, and other official Gainax and Khara translations, including the Rebuild of Evangelion films, explained in an interview that he consults the original creator when the meaning is unclear or ambiguous. He defended the importance of ambiguity, citing Anno's commentaries on Evangelion's ambiguity and open-endedness, his commitment to accuracy, and conveying the text's intended nuances across a cultural gap. Shinji's voice actress, Megumi Ogata, also agreed with the translation for the Netflix/Khara release, saying she originally interpreted Kaworu's lines as "like", and that she is glad the new version is closer to the original Japanese version.

## Appearances

### Neon Genesis Evangelion

Kaworu appears in the twenty-fourth episode of Neon Genesis Evangelion. A secret sect called Seele and a group called Commission for the Instrumentality of Mankind sent him to the headquarters of the special agency Nerv to carry out a mission as the Fifth Child and the replacement for Asuka Langley Soryu, who became unable to pilot Eva-02 following her breakdown. Soon after arriving in Tokyo-3, he meets with Shinji Ikari, who is the Third Child and Eva-01's pilot. He befriends him, showing unconditional and sincere sympathy towards him. His position as a pilot allows him to enter Nerv, but Misato Katsuragi, a major in the organization's operations department, becomes suspicious of him. He is subjected to a synchronicity test with Eva-02, and his high results astound the organization's staff, since he can arbitrarily vary his rate of synchronization with the mecha. All data about his past is erased to conceal his true identity, but Misato discovers that he was born on September 13, 2000: the day the first of the Angels caused a calamity called the Second Impact to occur at the South Pole. He is revealed to be Tabris, the seventeenth Angel and the "last sacrificial messenger", who has the soul of the first Angel, Adam, implanted in him. Seele, who captured Tabris when he was still in an embryonic state, "recovered" it. Unlike the other Angels, he can develop human-like feelings and communicate with them. Once in the headquarters, he comes into contact with Rei Ayanami, the pilot of Eva-00, in which the soul of another Angel is implanted, and confesses to her he is also a hybrid.

Using his Angel abilities, Kaworu manipulates the movements of Eva-02 to enter the Terminal Dogma of Nerv's headquarters and contact the angel Adam, who is supposedly being guarded within the structure. Despite his anthropomorphic features, he possesses several anomalous abilities, including levitation and an AT Field, a powerful forcefield that is characteristic of Angels and Evangelions. Upon arriving at his destination, he discovers that the second Angel Lilith is being kept inside the base rather than Adam. Upon seeing Lilith, he interrupts his attempt at contact and decides to preserve her lineage, which humankind is descended from, rather than cause their extinction. He allows himself to be killed by Eva-01 and Shinji to allow humanity to survive.

In the ending film of the series, Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion (1997), the souls of humanity unite into a collective consciousness, and during a process called Human Instrumentality, Shinji argues symbolically with Kaworu and Rei Ayanami. Akira Ishida said that the Kaworu who appears in The End of Evangelion is not real or concretely present; in the film, he and Rei say they represent the "hope that people will one day be able to understand each other". He also appears when Gendo Ikari dies, along with Rei and Shinji's mother Yui Ikari.

### Rebuild of Evangelion

In the Rebuild of Evangelion saga, Kaworu has a prominent role and he is aware of details of Shinji's life even before meeting him. He is introduced in the final sequence of the first film, Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone (2007), in which he awakens on the surface of the Moon to converse with a member of Seele. During the scene, he rises from a coffin placed on a lunar sea, with eight coffins next to him: four already open and four still closed. Behind him, a white giant is framed, similar to the Angel Lilith. He is completely naked, and somehow can breathe on the Moon. He addresses commander Gendo Ikari, who is visiting a place named Tabgha Base, as "father". In Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance (2009), the second installment of the saga, when Shinji tries to save Rei and unwittingly starts Third Impact, he descends aboard an Evangelion unit known as Mark.06. He stops the Third Impact, addressing Shinji with the phrase: "At least this time I will be able to make you happy." Originally, Kaworu would have said the line with the light-hearted smile of the original series; however, during production it was decided to give him a troubled expression. Kazuya Tsurumaki, the assistant director of the original series and its movies, described him as a man who takes his wife back by force. He also said: "[We thought it would be] more interesting if Kaworu looked like [he was thinking]: 'You've been with a woman while I've been away? How dare you...!'". Staff initially wanted to give him a "showier entrance", and originally give him a scene talking to Asuka when Eva 03 is possessed the ninth Angel.

In the third movie, Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo (2012), set fourteen years after the previous film, he works for Nerv and is designated to pilot Eva-13 with Shinji on behalf of Gendo, who he calls "king of Lillith". He shows Shinji, who is alone and scared of the new world, the consequences of his actions on planet Earth. Shinji is initially reluctant, but Kaworu offers him an opportunity to revert the damage done by Third Impact. To train, the two boys practice piano on the same a quatre mains musical base. Having reached good harmony, the two board Eva-13 and head to the Terminal Dogma of the Nerv base. Asuka and Mari Makinami confront them, but Kaworu falls for a trap set by Gendo and accidentally causes Shinji to start the Fourth Impact. He reveals he is the first Angel, but was demoted to thirteenth, and dies telling Shinji that "We will meet again." Akira Ishida, Kaworu's voice actor, was asked if the sequence of the two boys united in the same Evangelion could be interpreted as a "love scene"; Ishida replied he "could not make that interpretation", and left it up to what the director said or the fans' speculation, saying: "But, at the very least, them getting in the same unit is different, as they both pursue the same goal together. It seems representative of the depth of their connection.".

### Manga

In the Neon Genesis Evangelion manga, written by the series' character designer Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, Kaworu is introduced in advance in a narrative arc roughly corresponding to the nineteenth episode of the series. In the 57th chapter of the comic, he meets Shinji in the ruins of a church during a piano solo. In his first appearance, he kills a stray cat in front of Shinji, arguing this would spare the cat further pain. He is later brought into Nerv to replace the Fourth Child, Toji Suzuhara, who died while fighting alongside Rei Ayanami against the Angel Armisael. His role as an Angel also changes, being presented as the twelfth instead of the seventeenth. In this version of events, Shinji has strong suspicions of the Fifth Child, and he accuses Kaworu of violating his personal space. Following Rei's death, Shinji temporarily moves to his apartment, heartbroken by the loss he has just suffered. Shinji has a nightmare and starts to hyperventilate, and Kaworu uses this opportunity to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation by kissing Shinji, which angers him. Over time, their relationship becomes increasingly cold and tormented, until they take two different paths.

Unlike the original series, in which their relationship is ambiguous and up to speculation, for the manga Sadamoto changed Kaworu's characterization, leaving less margin for interpretation. According to him, Kaworu feels "a reflection of Rei's feelings" for Shinji, but he fails to understand them. Irritated by his behavior, after killing Kaworu, Shinji admits he felt "drawn to him", but in the end rejects him "because he is not Rei". Before his death, the Third Child imagines himself strangling Kaworu at the same time and place he met him. For this scene, the author took inspiration from the film Betty Blue, directed by Jean-Jacques Beineix, which is tormented story of two young lovers in which he ultimately strangles her out of love. Sadamoto created Kaworu to represent "a situation in which Shinji has to confront liking someone"; according to him, he is the person who understands Shinji the most. In an interview, Sadamoto compared his death to a "contradictory fumi-e", an ancient Japanese ritual consisting of the trampling of Christian icons, in which Tabris would ask Shinji to prove he liked him by killing him. According to Sadamoto, in this particular moment of his life Shinji "does not want the affection of a girl, but the approval of another boy". Unlike Hideaki Anno, who wanted to give Kaworu the image of an "ideal man", Sadamoto, who believes that human beings are the last evolutionary stage of Angels, tried to represent him as a "pre-human", who is innocent and naive. He was inspired by his own experiences, particularly by a classmate in elementary school who was a charming transfer student from Tokyo, and which he felt great admiration for. "I secretly thought it was very cool. It was not romance ... It is a delicate feeling in a delicate age".

### In other media

After the conclusion of Neon Genesis Evangelion's first airing, a self-parody audio track written by Anno called After the End was released. On it the series' characters, played by their original voice actors, jokingly discuss and prepare a new ending just before the production schedule deadline, breaking the fourth wall. Kaworu appears; when Asuka calls him "homoboy", he tells her, "I wish you wouldn't make statements when you lack evidence for them." Nagisa, along with Eva's other pilots, joins a super sentai-style superhero group named Shin sentai Evangelion. In the movie Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death and Rebirth (1997) there are sequences in which four children from the third middle school of the city of Tokyo-2, with their respective instruments, practice a string quartet in the school's auditorium. Among them is a violinist who looks like Kaworu; according to what is indicated by the superimposed writings, however, the event would take place eighteen months before his appearance in Tokyo-3. From the script, it is clear that, despite the similarity with the protagonists of the series, the four children should still be interpreted as actors in an imaginary sequence.

He appears in video games dedicated to Neon Genesis Evangelion and is available as a romantic option in Neon Genesis Evangelion: Girlfriend of Steel 2nd, Neon Genesis Evangelion 2, and Neon Genesis Evangelion: Shinji Ikari Raising Project. He's also present in Raising Project manga adaptation as an agent sent by Seele at Ritsuko's behest. In the manga Neon Genesis Evangelion: Angelic Days he knows Shinji's father, Gendo, years before the main events without having changed his appearance. In the chibi parody series Petit Eva: Evangelion@School Kaworu is president of the school student council particularly popular among the students at his school who tends to protect Shinji, whom he loves. In the manga Evangelion - Detective Shinji Ikari, written by Takumi Yoshimura, Ryōji Kaji and Kaworu are portrayed as two private investigators to whom Shinji is forced to turn. In Neon Genesis Evangelion: Campus Apocalypse, his personality is similar to that of the original series. At the beginning of the manga, Kaworu is seen by Shinji near a vending machine running away from the scene of an explosion with Rei Ayanami, with whom he has an unspecified bond. Like the original series, he immediately shows great interest in Shinji, making him uncomfortable. He is also present in Neon Genesis Evangelion: Legend of the Piko Piko Middle School Students. Kaworu is one of the main characters of a pachinko entitled CR Shinseiki Evangelion: Saigo no shisha (CR新世紀エヴァンゲリオン ~最後のシ者~, "CR Neon Genesis Evangelion: The Last Messenger"), released in Japan in April 2009. During the game, Nagisa intervenes during Operation Yashima against Ramiel with his Eva-04.

In addition to video games based on the original animated series, Kaworu has also appeared in media not related to the Evangelion franchise, such as Million Arthur, Hortensia Saga, Keri hime sweets, Summons Board, Divine Gate, Monster Strike, Final Gear, Puzzle & Dragons, Puyopuyo!! Quest., and The Battle Cats. Kaworu briefly assists Shinji in Neon Genesis Evangelion: Anima, which also features a "Dark Kaworu" who hates humans and music; he is also present in the crossover franchise Super Robot Wars.

## Characterization and themes

Kaworu is an erudite boy with an easy-going, straightforward and honest personality, particularly with Shinji Ikari. From the beginning, he shows great interest in Shinji, who is the first person he meets after arriving in Tokyo-3. Following the death, departure, or alienation of all his peers, Shinji is isolated until he meets Kaworu. However, Kaworu's esoteric way of communicating confounds Shinji. Kaworu also shows great interest in humanity, describing their music, particularly the "Ode to Joy", as the highest achievement of their culture, and often reflects on their fragility and nature. He is very direct in his interactions and seemingly does not know of or is interested in social conventions. He shows sympathy for Rei, who shares his hybrid nature. Kaworu seeks active contact with Shinji as a friend. Talking with Shinji, Kaworu says he thinks was "born to meet him". Although Shinji emotionally distances himself from others, Kaworu helps him to open up and express his feelings. Kaworu shows he feels spontaneous sympathy and affection towards Shinji despite his goals as the seventeenth Angel. After they meet, Shinji accepts the friendly and unreserved nature of his actions and lets him approach. He captivates Shinji with his charm. Despite the short time they spend together, Kaworu and Shinji became interested in each other and build a relationship based upon mutual appreciation. Kaworu is the first person to tell Shinji he likes him and the first person that Shinji opens his heart to. When Kaworu takes over Eva-02, Shinji expresses disbelief in him not revealing his nature as an Angel before and says that Kaworu has betrayed him, "just like my father". Shortly before dying, Kaworu maintains his feelings of affection for Shinji, saying that meeting him made him happy. After being forced to kill Kaworu, Shinji falls back into a state of profound affliction. As he is grieving, Misato fails to console Shinji.

Over time, controversies have arisen over the nature of Shinji and Kaworu's relationship, as has the nature of Kaworu's character. Their relationship is depicted in an ambiguously worded manner, as Kaworu uses the phrase to express his feelings for Shinji; it can be used to denote various types of intimacy or friendship to love. He also states that Shinji deserves . In his book Anime Explosion!, writer Patrick Drazen expresses the view that Kaworu's offer of apparent love for Shinji is a tactic that he uses as the last Angel to disarm Shinji. Drazen reports that some believe that whether Kaworu as an Angel has any concept of sexuality is unclear because of the way he is presented in the series.

Lynzee Loveridge of Anime News Network interpreted Kaworu as a negative figure, saying that "Kaworu's kindness has a nefarious side", seeing him as an Angel who deceives and uses Shinji for his own purposes. For Mike Crandol he "is representative of blind, total and unconditional love and acceptance, but like those things Kaoru turns out to not be real at all". Their colleague Zac Bertschy has a mixed opinion in his review of Rebuild 3.0. While not interpreting him as an antagonist or a negative figure, according to Bertschy, his presence demonstrates Shinji's emotional fragility and the difficulty of his long path to self-acceptance. He describes Kaworu as a loving, considerate partner who cares deeply for Shinji's happiness, refuses to leave him behind, and even takes Shinji's terrible burden as his own; he notes: "Shinji has misinterpreted Kaworu's love not as evidence that he himself is worth loving and thus his motivation can be entirely his own, but that Kaworu's love itself makes him worthwhile [...] But he's still just fooling himself. He's still making catastrophic decisions motivated by self-hatred – Kaworu's love doesn't make him a complete person."

Kentaro Takekuma, the editor of a book of interviews with Evangelion staff named Parano Evangelion, believes that for Shinji, Kaworu turns out to be the first friend he can trust and a homosexual romantic interest. Japanese scholar and writer Yūya Satō compared his role to that of the male characters of the yaoi, as well as that of the characters of the shōjo genre; for Sato, the appearance of Kaworu is more important on a thematic than narrative level, and would have the purpose of deepening the psychological aspects of Shinji. She compares his role to shōjo manga, where the process and the relational dynamics of the protagonists have more weight than the conclusion or the fights. Japanator writer Elliot Gay described Kaworu as a positive figure, as for Shinji he "represents hope; the hope that maybe he can redo things". For Kunihiko Ikuhara, director of Sailor Moon and a friend of Hideaki Anno: "Shinji is bullied by his father, slapped by Ayanami, called stupid by Asuka and Misato yells at him to behave like a man; he doesn't receive much compassion from others, and I believe that in this situation the only one to tell him that it's okay as it is, is Kaworu." Kotono Mitsuishi and Megumi Hayashibara, Japanese voice actresses of Misato Katsuragi and Rei Ayanami, compared the two to Orihime and Hikoboshi, two legendary lovers of the Japanese tanabata myth. Megumi Ogata, Shinji's voice actress, rejected the notion of Kaworu as his lover, or that he is someone he can depend on, but instead sees him as a friend that is his equal. She pointed out that Shinji is more clingy in the original series, while in the Rebuild saga he has a more active role and his relationship with Kaworu is consequently different: "I feel like, this time, it's more than his attraction to Kaworu or what he learns from him – they're depicted more as friends gradually closing the distance between each other."

In Apollonius of Tyana's Nuctemeron, Tabris is the Angel of free will and freedom. In Neon Genesis Evangelion, connecting to the Judeo-Christian tradition, Tabris chooses to be killed by Shinji, finding absolute freedom in death. Apollonius' Nuctemeron also mentions a demon named Cahor, spelled in Japanese as Kahoru (カホル), referred to as the Angel of lies and deceit, a detail that guidebook Evangelion Chronicle relates to his deceptive anthropomorphic features. Writer Aaron Ploof compared Kaworu to Jesus Christ for his compassionate character and his sacrifice. Conversely, Carl Horn, editor of the Evangelion manga in English, compared Kaworu to the character Satan in Mark Twain's novella The Mysterious Stranger, for acting with indifference to human morality, while French website Du9 likened the image of Kaworu killed by Eva-01 to Francisco Goya's Saturn Devouring His Son. Wired also speculated that Kaworu is inspired by Satan, also known as Ryo Asuka, the main antagonist of Gō Nagai's Devilman. According to Yūichirō Oguro, who curated contents of the home video editions of Neon Genesis Evangelion, he presents affinities with Lalah Sune, a female character from the Mobile Suit Gundam franchise. For Oguro, their relationship with the story's male protagonist traces an analogy between the characters: both appear in the last episodes of the series and seem to be able to understand the feelings of the male main character, dying by his own hand.

Reviewer Toji Aida compared Kaworu to a ghost of the Noh theatre who disrupt the events of the story in the tripartite Jo-ha-kyū structure of the Rebuild series. Los Angeles Times's Inkoo Kang also saw in his dialogues with Shinji, in which he tells him that all sins can be expiated, a reference to Christianity. Furthermore, in the Rebuild saga, Kaworu claims that his name is written on the Book of Life (生命の書, seimei no sho), which would allow him to die and be reborn forever; he subsequently added to his name the name of Shinji, thus managing to meet him several times. According to critic Mario Pasqualini, the Book of Life cited by Kaworu is a reference to a concept of the same name in Christianity, according to which it is a text in which God would have listed in his hand the people destined to go to Heaven on the Last Judgment. The reviewer also compared the Rebuild to the science fiction movie Summer Vacation 1999 (1988). The film introduces a character named Kaoru, a new student at a boys' boarding school who has a love affair with fellow student Kazuhiko. Kaoru turns out to be the reincarnation of Yū, a boy who died by suicide shortly before, who was resurrected to try to win Kazuhiko over, change the story, and give him a new ending.

## Cultural impact

### Popularity

Despite his one-episode appearance, Kaworu became popular among the series' fans, and is just as popular as the female protagonists of Neon Genesis Evangelion, Rei Ayanami and Asuka Langley Soryu. He ranked high in popularity polls about the best anime male characters, the strongest anime pilots, most memorable anime deaths and best Angels in Evangelion. In 1997 and 1998, Kaworu took second and sixth place among the most popular male characters of the moment in two polls conducted by Animage magazine. He also appeared in the monthly surveys of the magazine, remaining in the top twenty in 1997 polls. In 1998 Animage ranked him twenty-third among the most popular anime characters of the moment, and 43rd in 1999.

In August and September 2009, after the release of the Evangelion 2.0 movie, he emerged in sixth and third place among the most popular characters of Newtype magazine; in October he ranked fourth. In March of the following year, Newtype included him among the most popular male characters of the 1990s, giving him second place after Shinji. In February 2015, nearly twenty years after the series first aired, he emerged seventh on Newtype charts. He also ranked in Evangelion popularity polls, usually in the top three. In June 2021, after the 3.0+1.01 re-release of the final Rebuild film, he finished second most popular male character in another Newtype poll.

### Critical reception

Criticism of Kaworu's character and his relationship with Shinji in the original series has been positive. According to the website Otaquest, detractors have labeled him as a "yaoi fuel", "while others see him as a vital piece of the Evangelion puzzle". For Caleb Bailey of Comic Book Resources the hot spring scene "blazed the trail" on homosexual relationships in Japanese animation, being "ahead of its time". Anthony Gramuglia cited Shinji and Kaworu among the best queer representations in Japanese animation, but criticized Kaworu's degrading role in some spin-offs.

LGBT-oriented portal Pride.com praised Kaworu and his relationship with Shinji, "especially during a time where LGBTQ representation was almost nonexistent in many forms of media". Lyznee Loveridge of Anime News Network praised its development, finding it "refreshing". Her colleague Kenneth Lee criticized Kaworu as "an enigmatic figure that further adds fuel to the fire of confusion, but he just manages to raise even more questions that remain unanswered". Lee considers their relationship to be "disturbing, gratuitous, and unnecessary". According to Lee, the openness Shinji shows towards Kaworu is implausible and "irrational": "Ultimately, the homosexuality issue seems nothing more than cheap shock value tactics to stun Generation X".

Screen Rant and Comic Book Resources listed him among the best characters in the series. The twenty-fourth episode is considered one of the best of the series, and his fight with Shinji was also received positively by critics. For Comic Book Resources' Reuben Baron, in particular, his defeat is "the most dramatic example" of the narrative seriousness of Neon Genesis Evangelion later episodes. Screen Rant's Jack Cameron feels his confrontation with Shinji is, "Perhaps the most heartbreaking of fights in the whole series". Kaworu's last scenes were also appreciated by anime critics. According to the Asiascape site, his last scene, in which he's trapped in the hands of Shinji's Eva-01 and marked by a long sixty-second freeze-frame, represents one of the more prominent uses of creative visual motifs in the series.

Carlo Santos of Anime News Network appreciated the character of Kaworu and the role he played in Sadamoto's manga; he wrote, "the tension between the two boys soon becomes one of the most intriguing subplots". Zac Bertschy, reviewing Evangelion 3.0, praised the development of their relationship, describing it as the film's highlight. Anime Reign magazine expressed a similar opinion, considering it one of the few merits of characterization in the movie. Nicoletta Christina Browne of THEM Anime Reviews found Kaworu's personality and relationship with Shinji in 3.0 effective, but wordy and rushed, while Los Angeles Times's Inkoo Kang considered Kaworu's interactions with Shinji melodramatic.

### Legacy

Kaworu Nagisa has been used for advertising campaigns and a wide range of merchandise, including action figures, nendoroids, backpacks, perfumes, sweets, cosmetics, clothing, toys, key rings, watches and jewelry.

On 22 May 1997, Kadokawa Shoten published a book dedicated to him entitled Kaworu - Evangelion Photograph (KAWORU-カヲル- 新世紀エヴァンゲリオン文庫写真集). In August of the same year, Japanese yaoi magazine June published a volume entitled Zankoku na tenshi no yō ni (残酷な天使のように, lit. "Like a cruel angel"), dedicated to Shinji and Kaworu. The book, whose title is taken from the first verse of the show's theme song, contains two long interviews with Hideaki Anno, the discarded drafts for the twenty-fourth episode, and dojinshi by mangaka from the shonen ai scene, such as Reku Fuyanagi (Gundam Wing: Ground Zero) and Takamure Tamotsu (Umi ni nita sora no iro). In 2005, to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the series release, mangaka Mine Yoshizaki designed an action figure of a female version of Angel Tabris named Tabris-XX. As a promotion for its 10th Anniversary Special Edition of Evangelion, ADV Films published a humorous bumper sticker which reads "Kaworu died for your sins". Kaworu's popularity is also parodied in a spin-off manga entitled It's A Miraculous Win (奇跡の勝ちは, Kiseki no kachi wa), released in fourteen volumes from 2006 to 2015, in which a parody of him works in a pachinko parkour and dates an obsessive Evangelion female fan named Sakura Mogami.

In 2008 Kadokawa published a fanbook entitled All About Nagisa Kaworu: A Child of the Evangelion, a collection of fan letters, poems, reprinted manga pages, erotic dōjinshi, and interviews with gravure idols. In 2015 Kadokawa published a third book dedicated to him, entitled Kaworu 2015: Nagisa Kaworu shashin-shū (KAWORU 2015 -渚カヲル写真集-), containing unpublished illustrations, information and interviews with staff. In the same year the 7-Eleven chain put on the market a 166 centimetres (65 in) life-size statue of the character, auctioned and sold for over 1,728,000 Japanese yen. In 2017 the official Evangelion Store inaugurated a summer festival dedicated to Kaworu, offering unreleased merchandising. In 2018 it was used for features of the 500 Type Eva, a high-speed train dedicated to Evangelion. In 2019 Bandai announced a card game dedicated to Evangelion titled Evangelion Card Game; one of the two sets of the game, called Ev02, is dedicated to the characters of Kaworu and Asuka.

Tony Takezaki paid homage to him in his comic Tony Takezaki's Evangelion, in which he is parodied by Keroro, the protagonist of Keroro Gunso. References and homages to the character of Kaworu are present in Spider-Verse, in the dorama The Full-Time Wife Escapist, and Keroro Gunso, in which he is parodied by Saburō, another character played by Ishida. Japanese singer and voice actress Chiaki Kuriyama stated that she developed interest in dubbing after Kaworu and Rei Ayanami. Comic Book Resources's Kristen Lopez also compared Albedo from Genshin Impact to Kaworu, speculating that the latter character may have been an influence for the former.

Fictional character from Neon Genesis Evangelion

Child characters in animated television series

Fictional Japanese people in anime and manga

Television characters introduced in 1996


Tom Wilson (ice hockey)

Thomas Wilson (born March 29, 1994) is a Canadian professional ice hockey right winger for the Washington Capitals of the National Hockey League (NHL). The Capitals selected him in the first round, 16th overall, of the 2012 NHL Entry Draft.

Born and raised in Toronto, Canada, Wilson began playing hockey at the age of two. He spent one year of minor ice hockey as a defenceman before switching to forward, where he could be more involved in the game. After spending time in the Greater Toronto Hockey League, the Plymouth Whalers of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) selected Wilson in the second round of the 2010 OHL Draft. The following year, he helped Canada to capture gold medals at both the World U-17 Hockey Challenge and the Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament. His first two seasons of junior ice hockey were limited by injuries to his wrist, knee, and knuckle, but he attracted attention during the 2012 J. Ross Robertson Cup playoffs, scoring seven goals and six assists in 13 playoff games. After the Whalers' 2012–13 season concluded, Wilson joined the Capitals for the 2013 Stanley Cup playoffs, playing in two games against the New York Rangers.

Wilson made the Capitals' roster for the 2013–14 NHL season, serving on the fourth line as an enforcer. He missed the first part of his sophomore season with a broken fibula, but continued his aggressive, physical style of play into the remainder of the season, racking up a high level of penalty minutes. As Wilson's career progressed, he began to receive criticism from other teams for hits and checks to his opponents' heads. Wilson was first fined for checking in 2016, and received his first suspension during the 2017 preseason. His and the Capitals' Stanley Cup championship in 2018 was similarly overshadowed by a number of controversial hits during the playoffs, including one to Zach Aston-Reese that resulted in a three-game suspension. The NHL elected to suspend Wilson for 20 games that October, following an illegal hit to the head of Oskar Sundqvist during a preseason game against the St. Louis Blues. It was his fourth suspension in 105 games.

After serving the suspension, which was appealed and reduced to 14 games, Wilson began to retool his approach to the game, limiting his hits on his opponents and focusing instead on generating goals. During the 2018–19 NHL season, he set career highs in goals and points. In 2021, however, Wilson's performance as a power forward and enforcer came under fire from opposing coaches again after causing two serious injuries to other skaters: first Brandon Carlo of the Boston Bruins, followed by Artemi Panarin of the New York Rangers.

## Early life

Wilson was born on March 29, 1994, in Toronto, Ontario, the largest city in Canada. He began playing ice hockey at the age of two, when his father built an ice rink in their backyard for Wilson and his older brother Peter. Wilson grew up playing alongside the sons of National Hockey League (NHL) players such as Tom Fitzgerald, Shayne Corson, and Steve Thomas, all of whom lived in Toronto and had children around Wilson's age. Both of his parents were minor ice hockey coaches at North Toronto Memorial Arena: his father Keven coached competitive "rep" teams, while his mother Neville coached the more recreational house league.

When he began playing minor hockey, Wilson was a defenceman, but he switched to playing forward after one year so that he could be involved in more plays. After three seasons playing AA minor hockey with North Toronto, Wilson joined the Toronto Jr. Canadiens of the Greater Toronto Hockey League (GTHL), where he scored 44 goals and 105 points in his final minor season. He also played in the GTHL for the Beresford Bisons, and split time between GTHL and his school team at Greenwood College School.

## Playing career

### Junior

The Plymouth Whalers of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) selected Wilson in the second round, 27th overall, of the 2010 OHL Priority Selection. The team was interested in Wilson's size – at the time, he stood 6 feet 3 inches (1.91 m) and weighted 190 pounds (86 kg) –  and in his physical style of play. Drafted at the age of 16, Wilson continued his education at Plymouth High School in Michigan while playing with the Whalers. Wilson took a physical, energetic approach to his junior ice hockey career at once, fighting to compete with his older teammates. His rookie 2010–11 season was limited to only 28 games after Wilson suffered a wrist injury during an international exhibition game, keeping him out of play for the second half of the season. In those 28 games, he scored three goals and three assists while racking up 71 penalty minutes.

Injuries continued to follow Wilson in the 2011–12 OHL season, including a sprained medial collateral ligament in his knee and a fractured knuckle. The latter injury occurred during the CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game, forcing Wilson to miss three weeks of games in February. In 49 regular-season games for Plymouth, Wilson recorded 27 points and 141 penalty minutes. During the J. Ross Robertson Cup playoffs, however, he established himself as a strong forward for the team, stepping in for an injured Stefan Noesen. In 13 playoff games, Wilson scored an additional seven goals and six assists before the Kitchener Rangers defeated Plymouth.

Going into the 2012 NHL Entry Draft, the NHL Central Scouting Bureau ranked Wilson the 15th-highest prospect among all available North American skaters. That year, the Washington Capitals selected him in the first round, 16th overall, of the draft. On July 18, 2012, Wilson signed a three-year, entry-level contract with the Capitals, with the expectation that he would continue to play with Plymouth for the following season.

Wilson began the 2012–13 season with Plymouth, scoring 36 points and recording 59 penalty minutes in his first 31 games with the team. When the NHL returned to play in January 2013 after the lockout, Wilson was invited to the Capitals' training camp, where he practiced alongside veterans like Alexander Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom before he was returned to Plymouth. After being drafted, Wilson's behaviour on the ice began to change: he focused on point production by emulating Tomas Holmstrom of the Detroit Red Wings, and Whalers coach Mike Vellucci discouraged Wilson from fighting, with the implication that he was too important of a prospect to suffer injury or suspension. Wilson finished his junior ice hockey career with 17 points and 41 penalty minutes in 12 playoff games.

### Professional

#### 2013–16

After the Plymouth season ended, Wilson joined the Hershey Bears, the Capitals' American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate. He spent three games in Hershey before being called up to the Capitals for Game 5 of the 2013 Eastern Conference quarterfinals against the New York Rangers. He debuted on May 10, 2013, playing on the Capitals' fourth line. In only his second NHL game, Wilson broke the blade on his left skate while attempting to forecheck a member of the Rangers, and had to be assisted back to the bench by forward Jason Chimera. The Rangers ultimately took the series in seven games.

Going into the 2013–14 NHL season, the Capitals, who were struck by the NHL salary cap, appointed Wilson and fellow 19-year-old Connor Carrick to their roster in order to save money. Although he did not score a goal in his first 10 games, the Capitals chose to retain Wilson on their roster in order to fill the enforcer role that had been left vacant when Matt Hendricks chose to sign with the Nashville Predators. Wilson took part in his first NHL fight on October 3, 2013, battling Lance Bouma of the Calgary Flames and receiving a five-minute major penalty. His first goal came on November 6, scoring the last point in a 6–2 rout of the New York Islanders. Wilson's first serious hit as an enforcer came the following month, when he charged Brayden Schenn of the Philadelphia Flyers. Wilson was ejected from the game and received a call from the NHL Department of Player Safety for the incident, but did not receive any supplemental discipline. Wilson was one of only three NHL rookies that season to appear in all 82 regular-season games, scoring 10 points while participating in 14 fights and recording 151 penalty minutes.

Over the summer, while preparing to return to the Capitals, Wilson suffered a broken left fibula. He underwent surgery on July 8, 2014, with no expected time frame for his return to the NHL. When he joined the team at the start of the season, it was only for non-contact practice, and he was briefly assigned to Hershey for a three-game rehab stint at the end of October. When he returned to the team in November, it was on the top offensive line with Ovechkin and Backstrom, where he engaged in five fights through his first 13 games of the season. On March 27, 2015, Wilson received his first fine from the Department of Player Safety. After being warned for diving and embellishment on March 1 in a game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, Wilson was ordered to pay a \$2,000 fine for the same penalty against Zach Parise of the Minnesota Wild. Wilson admitted, at the end of the season, that his leg injury had affected his stamina throughout the season; in 67 regular-season games, he scored only 17 points while posting 172 penalty minutes, and he registered only one point in 13 playoff games. Wilson also drew controversy during the playoffs for a hit on Lubomir Visnovsky of the Islanders, who had to be removed from the game. Wilson did not receive any punishment besides a two-minute minor penalty, while Islanders captain John Tavares referred to the hit as "a complete target of a defenseless player".

Wilson found his place on the Capitals during the 2015–16 season, logging more minutes than in the past two seasons while being called upon for penalty kill situations. His aggressive style of play, meanwhile, continued to generate more controversy. On December 10, 2015, Wilson received a five-minute major penalty and a game misconduct for boarding Brian Campbell of the Florida Panthers, a hit that led to calls for additional punishment. The following week, Wilson was given a match penalty for an illegal check to the head of Curtis Lazar of the Ottawa Senators. The penalty was rescinded upon further review after the league found that Wilson had initially made contact with Lazar's hip, and the apparent head injury was the result of whiplash. On April 29, 2016, during the 2016 Stanley Cup playoffs, Wilson was fined \$2,403.67, the maximum amount allowable under the NHLPA Collective Bargaining Agreement, for a knee-on-knee collision with Conor Sheary of the Pittsburgh Penguins. The following day, he explained to reporters that the hit was an accidental result of a "bluff check" on Sheary. Playing on the third line for the better part of the season, Wilson scored seven goals and 16 assists in all 82 regular-season games. He dropped to the fourth line for the playoffs, scoring one assist in 12 games.

#### 2016–18

On June 30, 2016, the Capitals signed Wilson as a restricted free agent to a two-year, \$4 million contract. He told reporters that his goal for the 2016-17 NHL season was to shed his reputation as a physical player and focus more on improving his scoring. On December 31, 2016, Wilson collided with New Jersey Devils defenceman John Moore, who was carried off the ice on a stretcher and was later hospitalized with a concussion. An NHL spokesman told reporters the next day that Wilson would not be fined or suspended for the hit. Wilson's point production dropped during the 2016–17 regular season, with only 19 points in 82 games. However, his performance at the 2017 Stanley Cup playoffs surpassed previous playoff appearances, with three goals in four games against the Toronto Maple Leafs. After scoring the overtime-winning goal in Game 1, Wilson scored two goals in Game 4. The Capitals ultimately lost in the second round of the playoffs to the Penguins.

Wilson received his first two suspensions during the 2017–18 preseason. First, on September 23, 2017, he received a two-game preseason suspension for interference against Robert Thomas of the St. Louis Blues. Then, on October 1, in the Capitals' preseason finale, Wilson received a four-game suspension as a repeat offender for a hit on Blues forward Sammy Blais. When he returned to the line-up, Wilson found an offensive rhythm on the top line with Ovechkin and Backstrom: in his first 13 games, he put up eight points and averaged nearly two minutes more of ice time per game than the season prior. By the end of the regular season, he had set a career-high 14 goals and 21 assists, but was also second to Micheal Haley with 187 penalty minutes. Wilson avoided a third suspension during the 2018 Stanley Cup playoffs, when he charged Alexander Wennberg of the Columbus Blue Jackets. Department of Player Safety decided not to pursue further disciplinary action as they could not determine, based on the available cameras, whether Wilson's main point of contact was Wennberg's head.

As the Stanley Cup playoffs progressed, Wilson's hits on his opponents continued to draw scrutiny. On April 29, 2018, in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference semifinals, Wilson made contact with the head of Penguins defenceman Brian Dumoulin, forcing the latter to leave the game. Wilson's history of suspension, combined with a growing controversy over headshots during the NHL postseason, further heated the incident, which was eventually ruled an "unfortunate hockey play". In the next game, Wilson's shoulder collided with the head of Zach Aston-Reese, giving the latter a concussion and a broken jaw that would require surgery. Wilson was labelled a "headhunter" and dirty player on social media, and received a three-game postseason suspension from the NHL. Wilson delivered a final controversial hit of the season in Game 1 of the 2018 Stanley Cup Finals, on Jonathan Marchessault of the Vegas Golden Knights. Wilson received a minor penalty for what he declared "a good clean hit", while Marchessault argued that the hit should be reviewed. Wilson ultimately helped take the Capitals to their first Stanley Cup victory, recording 15 total points, with at least one point in 11 of the 21 playoff games in which he appeared. This included two goals and one assist in the Cup finals, which Washington took from Las Vegas in five games. Wilson was one of several players asked to deliver a short speech during the Stanley Cup parade at the National Mall following the Capitals' victory, saying, "They say what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, but we brought the cup home." Wilson and the Capitals' successful postseason run was somewhat overshadowed by his second-round suspension, and Wilson thanked his teammates for supporting him through the "tough situation" and continuing in his absence.

#### 2018–21

Following his Stanley Cup performance, the Capitals re-signed Wilson to a six-year contract on July 27, 2018, with an average annual value of \$5.17 million. On October 3, 2018, Wilson received a 20-game suspension for a preseason hit on Oskar Sundqvist of the St. Louis Blues. The impact of the hit, which left Sundqvist on the injured list, as well as the frequency of Wilson's suspensions, resulted in the long suspension length. The NHL referred to the incident, which was Wilson's fourth suspension in 105 games, as "unprecedented". Wilson attempted to appeal the league's decision, arguing that the head contact he made with Sundqvist was unavoidable, but the decision was upheld by NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman on October 25. Following Bettman's decision, Wilson filed an additional appeal from a neutral arbitrator, and had his suspension reduced to 14 games. Wilson was allowed to play with the Capitals on November 13 for the Capitals' match against the Minnesota Wild. In the first game after his suspension, Wilson scored a goal, drew a minor penalty for goaltender interference, and engaged in a fight with Wild skater Marcus Foligno.

On November 30, only nine games after returning from his suspension, Wilson was ejected from a game against the New Jersey Devils for a late hit against Brett Seney. The match penalty received an automatic review, but Wilson faced no additional discipline from the Department of Player Safety. At the time of the hit, Wilson had scored seven goals in nine games and had extended his goal streak to five games. Wilson used his history of suspensions to change his approach to the ice, putting less emphasis on the physical aspect of his game and setting career highs with 22 goals and 40 points in 63 regular-season games. As the Capitals entered the 2019 Stanley Cup playoffs, however, Wilson's teammates and coaches worried that his restrained approach could not continue among the heightened tensions of postseason hockey. One of the strongest hits that he delivered, elbowing Greg McKegg of the Carolina Hurricanes during the Eastern Conference semifinals, went without penalty. The Hurricanes took the series with a double-overtime Game 7.

Wilson's shift towards point production over hits continued into the 2019–20 season, when, by the holiday break, he had reached a career high 0.68 points per game, alongside a career low 1.61 penalty minutes per game. By the time that the regular NHL season was suspended in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Wilson was one goal shy of his career high, with 21 goals in 68 games. When the NHL returned to play for the 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs in Toronto, Wilson was one of 31 Capitals invited to play in the "bubble". For the second year in a row, Washington failed to advance past the first round of playoffs, falling in five games to the Islanders.

The 2020–21 NHL season brought more controversy for Wilson's playing style, beginning with a "very big, and very late" hit on Mark Jankowski of the Penguins at the end of February. This was followed by a hit on Brandon Carlo of the Boston Bruins on March 5, which resulted in Carlo being transported to the hospital in an ambulance. Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy referred to the incident as a "predatory hit from a player who's done that before", while Carlo's teammate Brad Marchand referred to it as a "bullshit hit". Although referees did not call an on-ice penalty for the hit, the Department of Player Safety later suspended Wilson for seven games, requiring him to forfeit over \$300,000 of his salary to the NHL Players' Emergency Assistance Fund. On May 4, the NHL and Department of Player Safety came under fire when they chose not to suspend Wilson for a fight against New York Rangers skaters Pavel Buchnevich and Artemi Panarin. Wilson first hit Buchnevich before removing Panarin's helmet and throwing him into the ice. Panarin was forced to miss the remainder of the season, while the Rangers released a statement declaring George Parros, the head of the Department of Player Safety, "unfit to continue in his current role". The controversy was amplified when, the following day, Shayne Gostisbehere of the Flyers was suspended two games for a hit against Mark Friedman of the Penguins. Unlike Wilson, Gostisbehere had never before received an NHL suspension. On May 7, 2021, Wilson told reporters that he had reached out to Panarin and that he wished to move on from the incident. After scoring 13 goals and 20 assists during the regular season, Wilson opened the scoring for the 2021 Stanley Cup playoffs with a shot against Tuukka Rask of the Bruins. That goal would be the only even-strength point drawn from one of the Capitals' top-six forwards as they fell to the Bruins in five games.

When Alexander Ovechkin was placed on COVID-19 protocols, Wilson, who had 13 goals and 18 assists by the midway point of the season, was named as his replacement for the 2022 NHL All-Star Game. On August 4, 2023, Wilson signed a 7-year, \$45.5-million contract extension with the Capitals.

## International play

Wilson first represented Canada internationally at the 2011 World U-17 Hockey Challenge. Playing on the gold medal-winning Canada Ontario team, Wilson injured his wrist on a breakaway, leaving Mathew Campagna to take a penalty shot in the 5–3 win over the United States. In four games at the U-17 tournament, Wilson scored one assist and recorded six penalty minutes. That same year, Wilson represented Canada at the 2011 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament, capturing another gold medal with three goals in five games.

## Playing style and criticism

Wilson, standing 6 feet 4 inches (1.93 m) and weighing 218 pounds (99 kg), has been described as a power forward, with a strong scoring record and a highly physical approach to the ice. Wilson's teammate on the Capitals, forward Brendan Leipsic, has said that Wilson's size gives the hits that he makes on opponents a distinctive "crunch", telling reporters that Wilson's particular danger lies not just in his size but the pace with which he attacks. He has also been described as an enforcer and a "goon", particularly in response to his May 2021 hit on Artemi Panarin. Wilson's physically-intensive style of play has been criticized by opponents and sports journalists as an artifact of an older era of NHL play. Stu Grimson, a former NHL enforcer, said, "If you put Tom Wilson back in the '90s, the early '80s, he's just one tough son of a bitch and no one thinks twice. But the game has evolved." A 2021 poll found that Wilson was the most hated NHL player on social media, with 47.9 percent of his impressions trending negative and 15.3 percent categorized as neutral.

Within the Capitals, Wilson has found a role as a defensive-minded forward to clear the way for linemates like Alexander Ovechkin and Evgeny Kuznetsov. As a rookie playing on the fourth line, Wilson was primarily tasked with defending his teammates by initiating fights with opponents, but as his offensive skill progressed and fighting became less frequent in the NHL, Wilson became more selective about his fights, believing that he was more valuable on the ice than serving a penalty. Wilson's disciplinary history has traditionally come in streaks: between the 2017 and 2018 preseasons, he served four suspensions in 105 games, and then avoided suspension again until March 2021.

## Personal life

Wilson has been active in charity work across the mid-Atlantic, including the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Teammates for Kids Foundation, Homeward Trails Animal Rescue, and Hockey Fights Cancer. During the 2018–19 NHL season, Wilson launched a partner program with Make-A-Wish called Forty Three's Friends, which offers Capitals game tickets to Make-A-Wish children and involves a personal meet-and-greet with Wilson after the game. The following year, he expanded the program to include veterans from the United Heroes League. In 2019, the Capitals nominated Wilson for the King Clancy Memorial Trophy, given to a significant humanitarian contributor in the NHL.

Wilson is married to professional beach volleyball player Taylor Pischke. The couple began dating in 2015 after meeting at one of Pischke's volleyball tournaments, and became engaged on July 23, 2021. They were married on August 27, 2022. In 2020, shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic forced the suspension of the NHL season, the couple adopted a Labrador retriever puppy named Halle.

## Career statistics

### Regular season and playoffs

Bold indicates led league

Source:

### International

## Awards

Canadian ice hockey player

National Hockey League first-round draft picks


Georgian scripts

The Georgian scripts are the three writing systems used to write the Georgian language: Asomtavruli, Nuskhuri and Mkhedruli. Although the systems differ in appearance, their letters share the same names and alphabetical order and are written horizontally from left to right. Of the three scripts, Mkhedruli, once the civilian royal script of the Kingdom of Georgia and mostly used for the royal charters, is now the standard script for modern Georgian and its related Kartvelian languages, whereas Asomtavruli and Nuskhuri are used only by the Georgian Orthodox Church, in ceremonial religious texts and iconography.

Georgian scripts are unique in their appearance and their exact origin has never been established; however, in strictly structural terms, their alphabetical order largely corresponds to the Greek alphabet, with the exception of letters denoting uniquely Georgian sounds, which are grouped at the end. Originally consisting of 38 letters, Georgian is presently written in a 33-letter alphabet, as five letters are obsolete. The number of Georgian letters used in other Kartvelian languages varies. Mingrelian uses 36: thirty-three that are current Georgian letters, one obsolete Georgian letter, and two additional letters specific to Mingrelian and Svan. Laz uses the same 33 current Georgian letters as Mingrelian plus that same obsolete letter and a letter borrowed from Greek for a total of 35. The fourth Kartvelian language, Svan, is not commonly written, but when it is, it uses Georgian letters as utilized in Mingrelian, with an additional obsolete Georgian letter and sometimes supplemented by diacritics for its many vowels.

The "living culture of three writing systems of the Georgian alphabet" was granted the national status of intangible cultural heritage in Georgia in 2015 and inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2016.

## Preview

## Origins

The origin of the Georgian script is poorly known, and no full agreement exists among Georgian and foreign scholars as to its date of creation, who designed the script, and the main influences on that process.

The first attested version of the script is Asomtavruli, which dates back to the 5th century; the other scripts were formed in the following centuries. Most scholars link the creation of the Georgian script to the process of Christianization of Iberia (not to be confused with the Iberian Peninsula), a core Georgian kingdom of Kartli. The alphabet was therefore most probably created between the conversion of Iberia under King Mirian III (326 or 337) and the Bir el Qutt inscriptions of 430,. It was first used for translation of the Bible and other Christian literature into Georgian, by monks in Georgia and Palestine. Professor Levan Chilashvili's dating of fragmented Asomtavruli inscriptions, discovered by him at the ruined town of Nekresi, in Georgia's easternmost province of Kakheti, in the 1980s, to the 1st or 2nd century has not been accepted.

A Georgian tradition first attested in the medieval chronicle Lives of the Kings of Kartli (ca. 800), assigns a much earlier, pre-Christian origin to the Georgian alphabet, and names King Pharnavaz I (3rd century BC) as its inventor. This account is now considered legendary, and is rejected by scholarly consensus, as no archaeological confirmation has been found. Rapp considers the tradition to be an attempt by the Georgian Church to rebut the earlier tradition that the alphabet was invented by the Armenian scholar Mesrop Mashtots, and is a Georgian application of an Iranian model in which primordial kings are credited with the creation of basic social institutions. Georgian linguist Tamaz Gamkrelidze offers an alternative interpretation of the tradition, in the pre-Christian use of foreign scripts (alloglottography in the Aramaic alphabet) to write down Georgian texts.

Another point of contention among scholars is the role played by Armenian clerics in that process. According to medieval Armenian sources and a number of scholars, Mesrop Mashtots, generally acknowledged as the creator of the Armenian alphabet, also created the Georgian and Caucasian Albanian alphabets. This tradition originates in the works of Koryun, a fifth-century historian and biographer of Mashtots, and has been quoted by Donald Rayfield and James R. Russell, but has been rejected by Georgian scholarship and some Western scholars who judge the passage in Koryun unreliable or even a later interpolation. In his study on the history of the invention of the Armenian alphabet and the life of Mashtots, the Armenian linguist Hrachia Acharian strongly defended Koryun as a reliable source and rejected criticisms of his accounts on the invention of the Georgian script by Mashtots. Acharian dated the invention to 408, four years after Mashtots created the Armenian alphabet (he dated the latter event to 404). Some Western scholars quote Koryun's claims without taking a stance on its validity or concede that Armenian clerics, if not Mashtots himself, must have played a role in the creation of the Georgian script.

Another controversy regards the main influences at play in the Georgian alphabet, as scholars have debated whether it was inspired more by the Greek alphabet, or by Semitic alphabets such as Aramaic. Recent historiography focuses on greater similarities with the Greek alphabet than in the other Caucasian writing systems, most notably the order and numeric value of letters. Some scholars have also suggested certain pre-Christian Georgian cultural symbols or clan markers as a possible inspiration for particular letters.

## Asomtavruli

Asomtavruli (Georgian: ასომთავრული; ) is the oldest Georgian script. The name Asomtavruli means "capital letters", from aso (ასო) "letter" and mtavari (მთავარი) "principal/head". It is also known as Mrgvlovani (Georgian: მრგვლოვანი) "rounded", from mrgvali (მრგვალი) "round", so named because of its round letter shapes. Despite its name, this "capital" script is unicameral.

The oldest Asomtavruli inscriptions found so far date from the 5th century and are Bir el Qutt and the Bolnisi inscriptions.

From the 9th century, Nuskhuri script started becoming dominant, and the role of Asomtavruli was reduced. However, epigraphic monuments of the 10th to 18th centuries continued to be written in Asomtavruli script. Asomtavruli in this later period became more decorative. In the majority of 9th-century Georgian manuscripts which were written in Nuskhuri script, Asomtavruli was used for titles and the first letters of chapters. However, some manuscripts written completely in Asomtavruli can be found until the 11th century.

### Form of Asomtavruli letters

In early Asomtavruli, the letters are of equal height. Georgian historian and philologist Pavle Ingorokva believes that the direction of Asomtavruli, like that of Greek, was initially boustrophedon, though the direction of the earliest surviving texts is from left to the right.

In most Asomtavruli letters, straight lines are horizontal or vertical and meet at right angles. The only letter with acute angles is (jani). There have been various attempts to explain this exception. Georgian linguist and art historian Helen Machavariani believes jani derives from a monogram of Christ, composed of (ini) and (kani). According to Georgian scholar Ramaz Pataridze, the cross-like shape of letter jani indicates the end of the alphabet, and has the same function as the similarly shaped Phoenician letter taw (), Greek chi (Χ), and Latin X, though these letters do not have that function in Phoenician, Greek, or Latin.

From the 7th century, the forms of some letters began to change. The equal height of the letters was abandoned, with letters acquiring ascenders and descenders.

### Asomtavruli illumination

In Nuskhuri manuscripts, Asomtavruli are used for titles and illuminated capitals. The latter were used at the beginnings of paragraphs which started new sections of text. In the early stages of the development of Nuskhuri texts, Asomtavruli letters were not elaborate and were distinguished principally by size and sometimes by being written in cinnabar ink. Later, from the 10th century, the letters were illuminated. The style of Asomtavruli capitals can be used to identify the era of a text. For example, in the Georgian manuscripts of the Byzantine era, when the styles of the Byzantine Empire influenced Kingdom of Georgia, capitals were illuminated with images of birds and other animals.

From the 11th-century "limb-flowery", "limb-arrowy" and "limb-spotty" decorative forms of Asomtavruli are developed. The first two are found in 11th- and 12th-century monuments, whereas the third one is used until the 18th century.

Importance was attached also to the colour of the ink itself.

Asomtavruli letter Ⴃ (doni) is often written with decoration effects of fish and birds.

The "Curly" decorative form of Asomtavruli is also used where the letters are wattled or intermingled on each other, or the smaller letters are written inside other letters. It was mostly used for the headlines of the manuscripts or the books, although there are complete inscriptions which were written in the Asomtavruli "Curly" form only.

### Handwriting of Asomtavruli

The following table shows the stroke order and direction of each Asomtavruli letter:

## Nuskhuri

Nuskhuri (Georgian: ნუსხური; ) is the second Georgian script. The name nuskhuri comes from nuskha (ნუსხა), meaning "inventory" or "schedule". Nuskhuri was soon augmented with Asomtavruli illuminated capitals in religious manuscripts. The combination is called Khutsuri (Georgian: ხუცური, "clerical", from khutsesi (ხუცესი "cleric"), and it was principally used in hagiography.

Nuskhuri first appeared in the 9th century as a graphic variant of Asomtavruli. The oldest inscription is found in the Ateni Sioni Church and dates to 835 AD. The oldest surviving Nuskhuri manuscripts date to 864 AD. Nuskhuri becomes dominant over Asomtavruli from the 10th century.

### Form of Nuskhuri letters

Nuskhuri letters vary in height, with ascenders and descenders, and are slanted to the right. Letters have an angular shape, with a noticeable tendency to simplify the shapes they had in Asomtavruli. This enabled faster writing of manuscripts.

Note: Without proper font support, you may see question marks, boxes or other symbols instead of Nuskhuri letters.

### Handwriting of Nuskhuri

The following table shows the stroke order and direction of each Nuskhuri letter:

## Use of Asomtavruli and Nuskhuri today

Asomtavruli is used intensively in iconography, murals, and exterior design, especially in stone engravings. Georgian linguist Akaki Shanidze made an attempt in the 1950s to introduce Asomtavruli into the Mkhedruli script as capital letters to begin sentences, as in the Latin script, but it did not catch on. Asomtavruli and Nuskhuri are officially used by the Georgian Orthodox Church alongside Mkhedruli. Patriarch Ilia II of Georgia called on people to use all three Georgian scripts.

## Mkhedruli

Mkhedruli (Georgian: მხედრული; ) is the third and current Georgian script. Mkhedruli, literally meaning "cavalry" or "military", derives from mkhedari (მხედარი) meaning "horseman", "knight", "warrior" and "cavalier".

Mkhedruli is bicameral, with capital letters that are called Mkhedruli Mtavruli (მხედრული მთავრული) or simply Mtavruli (მთავრული; ). Nowadays, Mkhedruli Mtavruli is only used in all-caps text in titles or to emphasize a word, though in the late 19th and early 20th centuries it was occasionally used, as in Latin and Cyrillic scripts, to capitalize proper nouns or the first word of a sentence. Contemporary Georgian script does not recognize capital letters and their usage has become decorative.

Mkhedruli first appears in the 10th century. The oldest Mkhedruli inscription is found in Ateni Sioni Church dating back to 982 AD. The second oldest Mkhedruli-written text is found in the 11th-century royal charters of King Bagrat IV of Georgia. Mkhedruli was mostly used then in the Kingdom of Georgia for the royal charters, historical documents, manuscripts and inscriptions. Mkhedruli was used for non-religious purposes only and represented the "civil", "royal" and "secular" script.

Mkhedruli became more and more dominant over the two other scripts, though Khutsuri (Nuskhuri with Asomtavruli) was used until the 19th century. Mkhedruli became the universal writing Georgian system outside of the Church in the 19th century with the establishment and development of printed Georgian fonts.

### Form of Mkhedruli letters

Mkhedruli inscriptions of the 10th and 11th centuries are characterized in rounding of angular shapes of Nuskhuri letters and making the complete outlines in all of its letters. Mkhedruli letters are written in the four-linear system, similar to Nuskhuri. Mkhedruli becomes more round and free in writing. It breaks the strict frame of the previous two alphabets, Asomtavruli and Nuskhuri. Mkhedruli letters begin to get coupled and more free calligraphy develops.

### Modern Georgian alphabet

The modern Georgian alphabet consists of 33 letters:

### Letters removed from the Georgian alphabet

The Society for the Spreading of Literacy among Georgians, founded by Prince Ilia Chavchavadze in 1879, discarded five letters from the Georgian alphabet that had become redundant:

- ჱ (he) /eɪ/, Svan /eː/, sometimes called "ei" or "e-merve" ("eighth e"), was equivalent to ეჲ ey, as in ქრისტჱ \~ ქრისტეჲ kristʼey 'Christ'.
- ჲ (hie) /je/, also called yota, appeared instead of ი (ini) after a vowel, but came to have the same pronunciation as ი (ini) and was replaced by it. Thus, ქრისტჱ \~ ქრისტეჲ kristʼey "Christ" is now written ქრისტე kristʼe.
- ჳ (vie) /uɪ/, Svan /w/ came to be pronounced the same as ვი vi and was replaced by that sequence, as in სხჳსი \> სხვისი skhvisi "others'".
- ჴ (qari, hari) came to be pronounced the same as ხ (khani), and was replaced by it. e.g. ჴელმწიფე qelmtsʼipe became ხელმწიფე khelmtsʼipe "sovereign".
- ჵ (hoe) /oː/ was used for the interjection hoi! and is now spelled ჰოი. Also used in Bats for the or sound.

All but ჵ (hoe) continue to be used in the Svan alphabet; ჲ (hie) is used in the Mingrelian and Laz alphabets as well, for the y-sound . Several others were used for Abkhaz and Ossetian in the short time they were written in Mkhedruli script.

### Letters added to other alphabets

Mkhedruli has been adapted to languages besides Georgian. Some of these alphabets retained letters obsolete in Georgian, while others required additional letters:

- ჶ (fi "phi") is used in Laz and Svan, and formerly in Ossetian and Abkhazian. It derives from the Greek letter Φ (phi).
- ჷ (shva "schwa"), also called yn, is used for the schwa sound in Svan and Mingrelian, and formerly in Ossetian and Abkhazian.
- ჸ (elifi "alif") is used in for the glottal stop in Svan and Mingrelian. It is a reversed (q'ari).
- ჹ (turned gani) was once used for in evangelical literature in Dagestanian languages.
- ნ (modifier nar) is used in Bats. It nasalizes the preceding vowel.
- ჺ (aini "ain") is occasionally used for in Bats. It derives from the Arabic letter (ʿayn)
- ჽ (aen) was used in the Ossetian language when it was written in the Georgian script. It was pronounced .
- ჾ (hard sign) was used in Abkhaz for velarization of the preceding consonant.
- ჿ (labial sign) was used in Abkhaz for labialization of the preceding consonant.

### Handwriting of Mkhedruli

The following table shows the stroke order and direction of each Mkhedruli letter:

ზ, ო, and ხ (zeni, oni, khani) are almost always written without the small tick at the end, while the handwritten form of ჯ (jani) often uses a vertical line, (sometimes with a taller ascender, or with a diagonal cross bar); even when it is written at a diagonal, the cross-bar is generally shorter than in print.

- Only four letters are x-height, with neither ascenders nor descenders: ა, თ, ი, ო.
- Thirteen have ascenders, like b or d in English: ბ, ზ, მ, ნ, პ, რ, ს, შ, ჩ, ძ, წ, ხ, ჰ
- An equal number have descenders, like p or q in English: გ, დ, ე, ვ, კ, ლ, ჟ, ტ, უ, ფ, ღ, ყ, ც
- Three letters have both ascenders and descenders, like þ in Old English: ქ, ჭ, and (in handwriting) ჯ. წ sometimes has both ascender and descender in handwriting.

#### Variation

There is individual and stylistic variation in many of the letters. For example, the top circle of ზ (zeni) and the top stroke of რ (rae) may go in the other direction than shown in the chart (that is, counter-clockwise starting at 3 o'clock, and upwards – see the external-link section for videos of people writing).

Other common variants:

- გ (gani) may be written like ვ (vini) with a closed loop at the bottom.
- დ (doni) is frequently written with a simple loop at top, .
- კ, ც, and ძ (k'ani, tsani, dzili) are generally written with straight, vertical lines at the top, so that for example ც (tsani) resembles a U with a dimple in the right side.
- ლ (lasi) is frequently written with a single arc, . Even when all three are written, they're generally not all the same size, as they are in print, but rather riding on one wide arc like two dimples in it.
- Rarely, ო (oni) is written as a right angle, .
- რ (rae) is frequently written with one arc, , like a Latin .
- ტ (t'ari) often has a small circle with a tail hanging into the bowl, rather than two small circles as in print, or as an O with a straight vertical line intersecting the top. It may also be rotated a bit clockwise, with the small circles further to the right and not as close to the top.
- წ (ts'ili) is generally written with a round bowl at the bottom, . Another variation features a triangular bowl.
- ჭ (ch'ari) may be written without the hook at the top, and often with a completely straight vertical line.
- ჱ (he) may be written without the loop, like a conflation of ს and ჰ.
- ჯ (jani) is sometimes written so that it looks like a hooked version of the Latin "X"

#### Similar letters

Several letters are similar and may be confused at first, especially in handwriting.

- For ვ (vini) and კ (k'ani), the critical difference is whether the top is a full arc or a (more-or-less) vertical line.
- For ვ (vini) and გ (gani), it is whether the bottom is an open curve or closed (a loop). The same is true of უ (uni) and შ (shini); in handwriting, the tops may look the same. Similarly ს (sani) and ხ (khani).
- For კ (k'ani) and პ (p'ari), the crucial difference is whether the letter is written below or above x-height, and whether it's written top-down or bottom-up.
- ძ (dzili) is written with a vertical top.

## Ligatures, abbreviations and calligraphy

Asomtavruli is often highly stylized and writers readily formed ligatures, intertwined letters, and placed letters within letters or other such monograms.

Nuskhuri, like Asomtavruli, is also often highly stylized. Writers readily formed ligatures and abbreviations for nomina sacra, including diacritics called karagma, which resemble titla. Because writing materials such as vellum were scarce and therefore precious, abbreviating was a practical measure widespread in manuscripts and hagiography by the 11th century.

Mkhedruli, in the 11th to 17th centuries also came to employ digraphs to the point that they were obligatory, requiring adherence to a complex system.

## Typefaces

Georgian scripts come in only a single typeface, though word processors can apply automatic ("fake") oblique and bold formatting to Georgian text. Traditionally, Asomtavruli was used for chapter or section titles, where Latin script might use bold or italic type.

## Punctuation

In Asomtavruli and Nuskhuri punctuation, various combinations of dots were used as word dividers and to separate phrases, clauses, and paragraphs. In monumental inscriptions and manuscripts of 5th to 10th centuries, these were written as dashes, like −, = and =−. In the 10th century, clusters of one (·), two (:), three (჻) and six (჻჻) dots (later sometimes small circles) were introduced by Ephrem Mtsire to indicate increasing breaks in the text. One dot indicated a "minor stop" (presumably a simple word break), two dots marked or separated "special words", three dots for a "bigger stop" (such as the appositive name and title "the sovereign Alexander", below, or the title of the Gospel of Matthew, above), and six dots were to indicate the end of the sentence. Starting in the 11th century, marks resembling the apostrophe and comma came into use. An apostrophe was used to mark an interrogative word, and a comma appeared at the end of an interrogative sentence. From the 12th century on, these were replaced with the semicolon (the Greek question mark). In the 18th century, Patriarch Anton I of Georgia reformed the system again, with commas, single dots, and double dots used to mark "complete", "incomplete", and "final" sentences, respectively. For the most part, Georgian today uses the punctuation as in international usage of the Latin script.

## Summary

This table lists the three scripts in parallel columns, including the letters that are now obsolete in all alphabets (shown with a blue background), obsolete in Georgian but still used in other alphabets (green background), or additional letters in languages other than Georgian (pink background). The "national" transliteration is the system used by the Georgian government, whereas "Laz" is the Latin Laz alphabet used in Turkey. The table also shows the traditional numeric values of the letters.

## Use for other non-Kartvelian languages

- Ossetian language until the 1940s.
- Abkhaz language until the 1940s.
- Ingush language (historically), later replaced in the 17th century by Arabic and by the Cyrillic script in modern times.
- Chechen language (historically), later replaced in the 17th century by Arabic and by the Cyrillic script in modern times.
- Avar language (historically), later replaced in the 17th century by Arabic and by the Cyrillic script in modern times.
- Turkish language and Azerbaijani language. A Turkish Gospel, dictionary, poems, medical book dating from the 18th century.
- Persian language. The 18th-century Persian translation of the Arabic Gospel is kept at the National Center of Manuscripts in Tbilisi.
- Armenian language. In the Armenian community in Tbilisi, the Georgian script was occasionally used for writing Armenian in the 18th and 19th centuries, and some samples of this kind of texts are kept at the Georgian National Center of Manuscripts in Tbilisi.
- Russian language. In the collections of the National Center of Manuscripts in Tbilisi there are also a few short poems in the Russian language written in Georgian script dating from the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
- Azerbaijani language. Used by Azeris in Georgia.
- Other Northeast Caucasian languages. The Georgian script was used for writing North Caucasian and Dagestani languages in connection with Georgian missionary activities in the areas starting in the 18th century.

## Computing

### Unicode

The first Georgian script was included in Unicode Standard in October 1991 with the release of version 1.0. In creating the Georgian Unicode block, important roles were played by German Jost Gippert, a linguist of Kartvelian studies, and American-Irish linguist and script-encoder Michael Everson, who created the Georgian Unicode for the Macintosh systems. Significant contributions were also made by Anton Dumbadze and Irakli Garibashvili (not to be mistaken with the Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Garibashvili).

Georgian Mkhedruli script received an official status for being Georgia's internationalized domain name script for (.გე).

Mtavruli letters were added in Unicode version 11.0 in June 2018. They are capital letters with similar letterforms to Mkhedruli, but with descenders shifted above the baseline, with a wider central oval, and with the top slightly higher than the ascender height. Before this addition, font creators included Mtavruli in various ways. Some fonts came in pairs, of which one had lowercase letters and the other uppercase; some Unicode fonts placed Mtavruli letterforms in the Asomtavruli range (U+10A0-U+10CF) or in the Private Use Area, and some ASCII-based ones mapped them to the ASCII capital letters.

#### Blocks

Georgian characters are found in three Unicode blocks. The first block (U+10A0–U+10FF) is simply called Georgian. Mkhedruli (modern Georgian) occupies the U+10D0–U+10FF range (shown in the bottom half of the first table below) and Asomtavruli occupies the U+10A0–U+10CF range (shown in the top half of the same table). The second block is the Georgian Supplement (U+2D00–U+2D2F), and it contains Nuskhuri. Mtavruli capitals are included in the Georgian Extended block (U+1C90–U+1CBF).

Mtavruli is defined as the upper case, but not title case, of Mkhedruli, and Asomtavruli as the upper case and title case of Nuskhuri.

### Non-Unicode encodings

Mac OS Georgian is an unofficial character encoding created by Michael Everson for Georgian on classic Mac OS. It is an extended ASCII encoding, using the 128 code points from 0x80 through 0xFF to represent the characters of the Asomtavruli and Mkhedruli scripts plus a number of widely-used symbols not included in 7-bit ASCII.

### Keyboard layouts

Below is the standard Georgian-language keyboard layout, the traditional layout of manual typewriters.

## Gallery

Gallery of Asomtavruli, Nuskhuri and Mkhedruli scripts.

### Gallery of Asomtavruli

### Gallery of Nuskhuri

### Gallery of Mkhedruli

Three related alphabets used to write Georgian