Quote from Crenshinibon
...I'm going to have to firmly disagree with that. Don't get me wrong, it would be awesome (seeing as anything that gives Eva a larger role is awesome), but think about the difficulties and logistics of that, not to mention the extreme improbabilities.
It's actually the logistics that convince me Eva is behind it all. More on that in moment.
Quote from Crenshinibon
-Eva is restricted to the school which is not only actively monitored by mages, but also has Albireo lurking around. So there's not a convenient way for information to be transmitted.
Oh, come on. Do I even have to bother with this one? :-) It's Eva, after all. You're telling me in 15 years on site, with nothing better to do and believing her only chance to be freed from the curse gone with Nagi, that she wouldn't have riddled the security of that campus like a Swiss cheese? She's actually slipped the bonds of the school's magic barrier outright at least twice in the past sex months alone.
Quote from Crenshinibon
-Eva would have to accept working with other people.
What other people? There's only Fate, and he's a construct, or a doll, as she so revealingly called him, back during the school trip. *Her* doll, if my theory is correct. She's the "Dollmaster" after all. Besides, she doesn't mind associating with other people, as long as she doesn't get entangled in the backlash (remember her loaning Chachamaru to Chao?)
Quote from Crenshinibon
-What purpose would taking on an apprentice who wants to eliminate your entire organization possibly serve?
Well for Eva that would just be fun. And remember, Eva really didn't want to take on Negi as an apprentice, at first. I believe she had her hand forced by Negi's persistence, so she adapted herself and her plans to the new situation.
Quote from Crenshinibon
Two potential flaws that I'm certain will come up in the future:
-Eva had no idea who Asuna was prior to Albireo's appearance.
-Eva doesn't know what actually happened to the thousand master.
Irrelevant. I think you're jumping to conclusions here. There is no indication at this point that Fate's activities have anything to do with either Asuna or Nagi.
***
My reasons for believing Evangeline is behind Fate rests on three major points:
1) Eva called Fate a doll back in chapter 52. Also, in chapter 53 when Eishun is discussing Fate with Negi, look at Eva's expression. She was also the one who told Negi about there being a clue to the 1000 Master in Kyoto (ch26). In the same chapter, note that the trip to Kyoto had already been decided and announced, before it was suddenly cancelled because of tension with the Kansai magic association. That indicates to me that relations had suddenly worsened, about 24 hours after Eva found out from Asuna that a trip there had been planned. Perhaps just enough time for her to activate a sleeper agent.
2) Eva was almost certainly behind the Baron Von Hermann demon that attacked negi & co. in volume 8. How else could they know so much about who was helping Negi and who wasn't? I don't buy that they could have gathered that much information under the noses of Mahora's mages. If the people behind the attack had encountered Negi in Kyoto, why didn't they go after Haruna, Kaede and Mana too? If they had observed Negi during his apprentice test for Eva, why weren't Makie and her crowd get taken? On the other hand, the hostages were the same group as the one that broke into Eva's resort in chapter 63. And I buy the idea that some external group could have that kind of surveillance on Eva even less than general surveillance on Mahora.
3) Fate and Baron Von Hermann are at the very least connected (some of the magic teachers were discussing this at one point, Donnette McDouglas and Yuuna's dad, in chapter 174). Those two may even be the same, we know after all that the Baron at least can shapeshift, and from the security footage that got Negi framed in the land of magic, Fate may have the same ability. The resemblance between the two's powers doesn't stop there: if you reread volume 8, you'll see that both their powers are extremely potent martial arts+teleport via water+petrification. So I'm guessing the link between them is strong, even if they're not one and the same.
From reading the entire series up to this point in one go, it appears to me that: Eva intended to use Negi to track down the Thousand Master. My theory is that she cozied up to the Kansai rebels in order to set herself up as an ally of Negi's.
She may even have supplied the spell that unbound the demon god, and it may have done so in a way that made the demon extra vulnerable to Eva's powers. Not sure about this though. In one of Asuna's dreams Nagi called an army of things like that demon god "small fry", and Eva's powers should be on a par with his, so I'm not sure Eva would have needed the extra edge.
Anyway, after that, we come to Negi begging to be taught by Eva, and she reluctantly agreeing. One of the factors in her decision was Asuna breaking her magic barrier twice in a row, so next she sicced the Baron on them, and if I'm right, the entire purpose of that expedition was to test Asuna's magic cancel ability, with a full scale test of Negi's combat ability thrown in gratis.
She kept a pretty low profile all throughout the festival and the fight with Chao, but the next incident is in chapter 176: remember that big panel with her smiling gently and saying "For now just think of it as a sightseeing tour..."? When has Eva ever said something like that? Considering her personality, it would be much more like her to scream and beat up Negi if he relaxed his guard on some sort of wishy washy assumption. I think she was plotting to put him through another test, and/or make sure he didn't come back until he'd found a clue to his father's whereabouts.
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"Reach for the stars. You may still fall short of your goal, but at least you won't shoot yourself in the foot."
--"Komarr" by Lois McMaster Bujold
