Mage of the Beginning

"One day you will come to realize that the "Eternity" of which I speak is the only compromise capable of saving all souls!"

- the Mage of the Beginning to Nagi Springfield

The Mage of the Beginning, also known as the Life-Maker, is an unfathomably powerful archmage said to be of divine nature. He is the supreme leader of the secret society Cosmo Entelecheia and the responsible of the Great Mage War, being as such the direct cause of the troubles faced in the manga ''Negima! Magister Negi Magi''. He was defeated by Nagi Springfield, the legendary "Thousand Master", and sealed away, but he is now on the verge of awakening.

Appearance
The Mage of the Beginning appears as a threatening figure standing over two (if not three) meters, clad in black robes and cloaks whose hood conceals his face. His cloak is torn to shreds and floats constantly around him, enlarging his silhouette like an array of dark wings. Underneath his hood, he hides a youthful, very androgynous face with long, white hair worn in plaits that frame the back of his head, and dark eyes without irises nor pupils.

After his original body was destroyed, the Life-Maker started using the ones who defeated him as his vessels, hence gaining the aspect and the physical characteristics of his hosts.

About the Mage of the Beginning
Nothing is known about the Life-Maker's origins, his true nature and even his real name. He seems to be a divine being and/or an embodiment of Magic of some sort. What is sure is that he is clearly not human, that he existed for more than two millenia and that he created the Mundus Magicus (Magical World - an alternate world full of magic and legendary creatures based on the planet Mars) hence his nicknames.

The Mage of the Beginning shares many similarities with the equally mysterious Filius Zect, a child-like mage who was part of the Ala Rubra, Nagi Springfield's team, and even Nagi's master. Both are 2600-year-old non-humans, with white hair and a similar face, both are extremely powerful and both told Nagi that all his efforts won't solve anything in the long run. They seem to be like two different aspects of the same thing, one malevolent and the other benevolent. However, the flashbacks have yet to display any sign showing that they know each other.

The Mage of the Beginning is the ancestor of the royal family of Vespertatia, the kingdom said to be the origin of the Mundus Magicus. As such, he is a distant ancestor of both Negi Springfield, the 10-year-old primary protagonist and the son of Nagi Springfield and the last queen of Vespertatia, and Asuna Kagurazaka, the primary female protagonist, revealed to be in fact the Vespertatian "Imperial Princess of Twilight". The royal family and their descendants inherited from him of the "Ancient Magic" a yet-unexplained godly power, which is among other things the source of Asuna's ability to cancel Magic.

Personality
"That is what a human being is. In the end, one can only continue moving forward."

- the Mage of the Beginning

The Life-Maker's personality remains a mystery for the most part. However, the flashbacks show him to be ruthless and bent to fulfill his goals no matter the cost, causing the death of thousands and disposing of his servants for whom he has no further use, without second thought. He also appears to be sarcastic and condescending, as evidenced during his battle with Nagi, in which he taunts him even when struck by spells and tells him that he is fighting in vain. However, he also demonstrates a melancholic side, as he is seen contemplating over his long existence and described by Asuna as a "terrible and sorrowful person", as well as a surprising fondness for mankind.

Interestingly enough, the Life-Maker does not seem to mind his own defeat, likely because he knows that should he fall, he will rise again in some way or another. Also, he is particularly gentle with his servants, telling Fate Averruncus that he would be free to do whatever he wants after he fulfills his duties, and that he is fine the way he is, even without pre-defined personality.

The Life-Maker forbids his servants to kill humans or people unable to fight, and Cosmo Entelecheia's primary purpose is to save the denizens of the Mundus Magicus from their homeworld's upcomming collapse. But considering all the deaths and destruction he caused, and his willingness to eradicate everything that stands in his way, one cannot label him as an Anti-Villain. Furthermore, it can be guessed that he doesn't really care about the magical population, which he seems to view as a collateral damage in a grander scheme.

Powers and Abilities
The Mage of the Beginning is by far the most powerful character introduced in the story, being even mightier that Nagi Springfield and Jack Rakan, the two most powerful members among the already incredibly powerful Ala Rubra.

The Mage of the Beginning was able to create an entire world, with fauna, flora and civilisation, where the most skilled mages can only create restricted pocket dimensions. Not to mention the many human-like construct mages whom he gave birth to or resurrected, or the alternate reality he created, the "Cosmo Entelecheia" (or "the Eternal Garden") in which everyone lives the happiest possible scenario of his/her life. He is also able to create magical techniques beyond human-level, such as the mandala-esque multi-barrier which he granted/taught to all his followers. Moreover, he likely masters all the Elements (the source of all attack spells) as well as any type of Magic, and seems to have a limitless knowledge about magical spells, artifacts and people, given the powers/knowledge he granted to his construct mages. He also seems able to foresee the future, given that he was apparently aware of his upcoming defeat against Nagi.

The Mage of the Beginning is able to warp reality, likely because of the "Ancient Magic. He channeled this ability into several key-shaped staffs called the Codes of the Life-Maker, which he gave to his highest-ranked followers. These reality-warping powers allow their bearer to make attacks disappear, to relocate anyone to a defined place, to create a different dimensional plane, to cast people into the "Cosmo Entelecheia" and to summon them back under his command, and apparently to bend time and space themselves. Whether or not he can warp reality in both worlds or only in the world he created has yet to be explained though. Besides, he reached the level beyond immortality called "ceaselesness" which means that not only he can live forever, but that he is to return whenever he gets destroyed.

Finally, the Mage of the Beginning masters the power of Darkness, a power which feeds on its user's negative emotions and threatens to turn its normal wielders into half-demons. This power is the base of the "Magia Erebea" (Black Magic): a technique devised by the dreaded vampire sorceress Evangeline McDowell stated to be similar to the Mage's power, which allows its user to absorb his/her own spells, and sometimes the enemy's spells to boost himself/herself. The Life-Maker mostly uses Darkness-themed attacks: a piercing dark beam able to strike several targets at once; a devastating giant wave of dark energy; an immense array of pentagrams that hurls a tremendous onslaught of black beams at his foes. He is also able to move his cloak, like actual wings or tentacles, and to use it in battle for both defensive and offensive purposes.

In spite of his nearly absolute power, the Mage of the Beginning is not entirely all-powerful, given that he still had to follow the rules of magic to create the Mundus Magicus and that he needed to perform a ritual involving Asuna's magic-cancelling power to erase it, implying that he himself cannot use the magic-cancellation or more likely that he cannot use it on a worldwide-scale. However, the Mage's power seems to increase when there is a lot of magical energy concentrated at his disposal.

Background
Th﻿e exact date of the creation of the Mundus Magicus is not known, nor what the Mage of the Beginning did before or since this world's creation.

What is sure is that 600 years before the start of the story, the Life-Maker turned a noble, european little girl named Evangeline McDowell into a vampire, in a yet-unexplained experiment to reach "ceaselessness". Decades later, having become an extremely powerful, day-walking, vampire sorceress feared in the entire world, Evangeline caught up with the Mage and seemingly killed him; only for him to reapper later, having succeeded in his experiments.

At some point, the Life-Maker gave birth to Primum Averruncus, and later built the secret society Cosmo Entelecheia, knowing that the Mundus Magicus would soon collapse. Cosmo Entelecheia ignited the Great Mage War and attempted to use Asuna's power to erase the Mundus Magicus, only to be nearly wiped out by the Ala Rubra. As everything seemed won after Nagi's victory over Primum Averruncus, the Life-Maker personally entered the fray, piercing Nagi and Primum with a dark beam and nearly wiping out the entire Ala Rubra with a dark energy blast. Against all odds, he was defeated by Nagi Springfield and Filius Zect. (Though Zect vanished into dust shortly after the battle.)

Everyone believed the Life-Maker to be dead, but that wasn't the case. He reappeared few years later under the shape of none other than Filius Zect. (He very likely used Zect's body as a vessel, since even under his aspect, he still dresses like the Mage, acts like the Mage, and speaks about the Mage's actions in the first person.) He gave birth to Secundum Averruncus, Septendecim Adad and Nii Atur, and later to Tertium Averruncus (the soon to be called Fate) to rebuild his forces. He then ordered his team to walk the Mundus Magicus and to send as many souls as possible to the "Cosmo Entelecheia", this time town after town, using the conflicts that plagued the Mundus Magicus after the war to go undetected.

Ten years before the start of the story, the Ala Rubra confronted Cosmo Entelecheia once more in the city of Istambul. This time, the Mage of the Beginning was put in a slumber and sealed under the roots of the magical World Tree in the campus of Mahora, thanks to Nagi's sacrifice.

Role in the Story
The Mage of the Beginning is first seen during flashbacks of the Great Mage War displaying the final battle during which he was seemingly destroyed. Later as Fate Averruncus and the remnants of Cosmo Entelecheia try to repeat what happened twenty years ago, they are thwarted by Negi Springfield and his team, the Ala Alba.

As Fate and Negi are fighting, Fate starts to experience flashbacks of his birth and his first years of duties, back when the Mage of the Beginning used Filius Zect's aspect. After Fate admits defeat and agrees to help Negi in his alternate plan to save the Mundus Magicus, they are both pierced by a dark beam, just like Primum and Nagi before them, and the Life-Maker's ominous figure appears. Apparently, having both worlds merging and Cosmo Entelecheia's hideout (with Asuna's captive) appearing over his prison enabled the Mage to awake, and he created a projection of himself onto the battlefield.

The Life-Maker restores every fallen members of Fate's (former) team and resurrects all his deceased followers, who then prepare to finish off the Ala Alba, starting with Negi and Fate. As everything seems doomed, Evangeline McDowell (who has become Negi's teacher) uses the connection between Mahora Academy and the Mundus Magicus to save her disciple, soon followed by the Dean of Mahora and every surviving member of the Ala Rubra. Evangeline encase them all in ice with a powerful spell she especially made for such enemies, but this doesn't affect the Life-Maker who enters the fray. He paralyzes Evangeline and Rakan, makes short work of the rescue team and grabs Negi by the neck. Then the newly-freed Asuna jumps to the rescue and slices the Mage's avatar nearly in half with her Pactio artifact, a huge, demon-banishing Claymore sword. Negi and Asuna then combine their power into the Claymore and manage to dispel the villain's onslaught of dark beams and to destroy his projection. As the projection disintegrates, the Life-Maker's hood falls, revealing that the he is now using none other than Nagi Springfield as his vessel.

Aftermath
The final chapter of the story mentions a tremendous battle which involved everyone in Negi's class, during which the Life-Maker's force besieged Mahora Academy. It is also said that Negi managed to defeat the fearsome archmage apparently for good and freed Nagi from his grasp. However, none of this is seen in the manga.