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The white kitten and an aliens thoughts on death (Aka, why tf did he do that)

So. We all know Karl (Despite being the most catboy ever) obliterated a kitten in one of arguably the most memed on manga scenes in eva, but why did Sadamoto decide to write and include such a scene anyway??

Warning for animal death yall be careful!!!

So we first see the white kitten lost and alone in the rubble of Tokyo-3. With Shinji picking it up and carrying the animal around for a bit, acting as a brief emotional respite for both within the crumbling concrete and exposed rebar. However, after meeting Kaworu, the latter picks up the animal. After he briefly observes it, he crushes it in his hands. Now, this obviously terrifies Shinji, but Kaworu retorts with the reasoning that "it would be better to end its suffering" as the kitten can not survive without its mother and will die regardless of what Shinji does.

With that information out of the way, heres my interpretation of this very out of left field scene!

So the first thing we notice is that the kitten is.. white, unlike the black cat Kaworu was originally planned to have in the series draft. In the rebuilds, Mari calls shinji 「ワンコくん」, very literally "Puppy" or "Puppy-boy". Now, as Shinji and Kaworu are intended to be cinematic foils, this (along with the kittens coloration and fate) leads me to conclude that the kitten represents who else other than kaworu himself.

Looking at it from this point of view adds an absurd amount of layers to both this action and mangaworu as a whole. We know that this is one of the, if not the first, attempts Kaworu has made to befriend and seduce Shinji. Along with this, we also know that before the armaiseal fight, he was doing this for himself alone. As he had no understanding of Lilin emotional connection or reasoning to continue their existence and betray his kin/children. This comes to a head upon encountering the kitten.

The kitten mirrors kaworus life. It is picked up by a kind human, shown affection for the first time in its life, but separated from its kind it will be doomed regardless. So in a shot mirrored from his own death, kaworu, a figure who should be nurturing the confused animal inflicts the "mercy" he is desperate for himself. Without shinji, kaworu would have not destroyed humanity out of a love for its people, but for the sake of defying seele. In both the drafts and the series itself, we are shown frequently that kaworu has self-destructive and suicidal tendencies, putting himself behind the mask of a hopeful martyr. At the same time, however, we see that in the event of the smallest failure, kaworu will simply.. give up. While he could have feasibly saved himself at the end of episode 24 (by like, talking), he chooses not to instead succumbing to his death at Shinji's hands. A death that he not only accepts, but in the manga actually begs for with the line, "if you've ever felt anything for me at all, you'll grant me this". To put it simply, Kaworu wants to die.

As the angel of free will, Kaworu believes the single act he can perform by his own volition IS his own death. He can forfeit the cycle even if just for a moment by pretending it's at its end, seele loses and shinji lives, even if he himself doesn't. So the not yet well-adjusted Kaworu perceives himself (at this particular point in time) as a merciful God to this weak animal, this animal he sees himself in, giving it the same merciful freedom he wants in the end. Because if he wants to die and be free, doesn't everything else want to as well?

He doesn't hold malice for the animal, and in a twisted case of an angels justice, he believes he has in fact saved it from a far grimmer fate, failure.