[magnum12]

Originally Posted by Golden Bug-Hunter

Spoiler:

Eva hid the diary so that Ange would not know that Battler was really dead and never coming back? That seems a little unlikely as motives go. Battler was presumed dead by everyone, had a funeral, etc. I'm not sure what Eva gains or accomplishes in terms of Ange's mental health or their relationship to eachother by hiding another nail in the coffin from Ange, especially in the context of trying to raise her as the last heir of the Ushiromiyas. This motive seems weak compared to 'hide evidence that Eva is the culprit' or 'hide evidence that Ange's parents are the cultprits'.

Spoiler:

Well, the end state of Prime probably lines up well with the end state of Banquet, but I think looking at the 4 game boards and deciding 'yeah, prime was probably like that one' is probably not the way to line things up. For example, I can't see Battler forgiving a Beatrice that actually went through with it and murdered his family so easily, and I can't see him playing amnesia games if he was completely certain that a murderous Eva had gotten away with butchering his friends and family. Neither of those actions seems true to Battler's character. Especially not knowingly leaving Ange in the custody of said murderer.

Not exactly what I meant. I'll reword my thoughts regarding that top one.

Spoiler for spoiler for 8th novel:

Eva's Journal contains both red and gold truths. The red truth is the identity of the true culprits. The gold truth is Battler's fate. Eva was hiding the gold truth from Ange to give her hope that he would return to her one day. Regardless of motive, it was a pretty stupid way to handle it, one that backfired horribly on Eva. The reason why its a gold truth is because both Eva and the world believed Battler died. In truth, the gold truth was actually wrong.

Regarding the second one.

Spoiler for theory on 3rd novel:

Eva has a body count (most likely 3 people), but she isn't a culprit. The reason is her motive. Eva was trying to stop the massacre, but due to a nasty combination of her signature hair trigger temper and her rapidly deteriorating mental/emotional state (especially after the 6th twilight), her attempt at stopping the mass murder back fired in the worst way possible. Note that when I mean that the closest of the novels to "Prime" is the 3rd novel, I don't mean a perfect clone. I mean similarities but an overall divergent mutated tale.

Come to think of it, I suspect that

Spoiler for spoiler for the 7th novel:

the truth that there were actually two culprits

was actually foreshadowed as early as the 3rd novel.

Spoiler for theory for 3rd novel:

In addition to her other symbolism, Eva-Beatrice is also symbolic of there being multiple culprits in the mass murders.

And now some theories regarding Bernkastel. Note that I use the mangas as my evidence.

Spoiler for theories about Bernkastel:

Fredrica Bernksatel and "Trollkastel" are NOT the same person. In creating the "sinless world", Fredrica accidentally created "Trollkastel". Based on depictions in the manga, "Trollkastel" appears to look like Rika age (biologically, not chronologically) 14-16. Fredrica appears to look older than "Trollkastel", especially in the anime, where she looks about 18-21. Fredrica and "Trollkastel's" eyes also look different. Fredrica's eyes appear more mysterious rather than evil. "Trollkastel's" eyes give a corpse like appearance, which was the first indication to me regarding "Trollkastel's" true colors (I wasn't fooled for a second regarding her being evil).