Nagi Springfield

, aka The Thousand Master, is a fictional character from the manga series Negima!: Magister Negi Magi, created by Ken Akamatsu. He is the father of the main character Negi Springfield as well as being the centerpoint of the main plot of the story.

Background & Personality
Nagi is Negi's father and a legendary wizard. The origin of his title is ambiguous; some bill him as the master of a thousand spells (which is patently untrue since he admits to being a dropout who only knows a handful of spells and needs to read out of pocket notes to cast other, albeit very powerful, spells). However, this was stated in a dream that Evangeline had, and because she "hates" him, may not be true, but it seems to have been verified by Asuna having Nagi say something to the same effect during her most detailed flashback dream. There is also a rumor that he made probationary contracts with a thousand different girls, though this is almost certainly just a lie of Albert Chamomile's, meant to inspire Negi to make many contracts and earn Chamo a huge brokerage fee with the Ermine Society. However, if you look closely at Albireo Imma's Pactio card, in the top left hand corner, are the roman numerals MI, that translate to 1001. Nagi is so strong, in both magical and physical combat, that he does not even need any Ministra Magi to help him. His fighting style was that of a magic swordsman, using both speedy magic casting and hand-to-hand combat in tandem.

Despite what many people think, he never did graduate from a wizard school, even admitting that he is a dropout. When he was ten years old, he became the winner of essentially the last Legendary Mahora Martial Arts Tournament, twenty-five years before the current one. Later, Nagi and his friends fought in a magic war that ended years ago, when he was fifteen years of age. After the war, he became famous for his heroic deeds and received the title of Thousand Master. He disappeared ten years ago in 1994, the same year Negi was born. No one knows precisely what happened to him, but most people assume he is in fact dead. In a recording made by Albireo shortly before Negi's birth, Nagi himself assumed that he would be dead by the time Negi saw it. However, Nagi managed to survive, and he showed up just in time to save Negi from a horde of demons attacking his home village. He seemed to still be in trouble however, as he could only stay long enough to give Negi his staff. Since Albireo has a pactio with Nagi and it remains active, it is proof that, despite his disappearance, Nagi is still alive.

Unlike his son, Nagi is lazy, immature, casual, and verbally disrespectful to most people besides his master Filius Zect. He dislikes being addressed by his titles (e.g., Nagi-san), preferring people to simply call him Nagi. He is rumored to be a "ladies man", exhibiting much cunning and shrewdness. However, like Negi, he is a kind and caring man who usually displays a smile. The illusionary Nagi created by Albireo was much the same, albeit with a noticeable ego.

The last known information about Nagi's whereabouts was obtained by Ayaka upon Asuna's request to launch an investigation on him; according to Ayaka's findings, he disappeared in Istanbul (as was revealed in Chapter 176, complete with a map of Turkey). The Thousand Master is a mage whose elemental magic affinity is lightning.

Role in Story
Although he has only appeared in flash backs (save his end appearance at the end of Negima!? see below), he plays a major role in the story as trying to find him is what drives Negi so hard. Although most of the world thinks he dead, most of his close friends knew better, saying that "Nagi is way too strong to let himself get killed off that easy". The fact that Albireo Imma and Rakan of the Thousand Blades have living, active Pactio contracts with Nagi also serve as proof that he is indeed still alive.

When Negi and his group are looking for him in the Magic World. In order to avoid bounty hunters, Negi uses Age-Deceiving Pills to make himself look older and is going by the alias of 'Nagi Springfield,' which causes a media sensation in the fighting tournament he is now involved in. It is also shown that Nagi has a huge fan club in which many members believe that the disguised Negi is actually Nagi reincarnated.

After Negi and Asuna defeated the Lifemaker, his hood falls back to reveal Nagi's face. Before the Lifemaker disintegrates, Nagi seemingly takes control of the body and tells Negi to find his real body and put an end to everything by killing him.

In the events of the final chapter of the manga, set seven years in the future, Negi has reunited with Nagi and the two teams, Ala Rubra and Ala Alba, meet for a friendly gathering. Once he had a look at his son's "comrades", he automatically teased Negi for the fact they were all girls. But Nagi later admits that he has great friends and would love to meet the rest of Class 3-A in the future.

Powers and Abilities

 * Master Spellcaster: Like his son, Nagi was an exceptionally powerful magic user with almost no magician being anywhere near his level of power. Despite this he has shown that he is dependent on notes to remember his more complex spells as he was apparently a magic school dropout.
 * Master Hand-to-Hand Combatant: It is shown that Nagi is very skilled in hand-to-hand combat as he was able to match Jack Rakan, who is considered unrivaled at hand-to-hand combat.
 * Immense Physical Strength: Nagi is so powerful that he can easily blast his opponent away with a single punch. He is so powerful that even a demon questioned if which of them is a demon.
 * Immense Physical Speed: He can move at speeds that make it very hard for others to detect, so fast that it was shown that he was able to hit Secundum by surprise.

Relationships
Negi Springfield: His only child, who like him, is a skilled mage, but personality wise are complete opposites. He left Negi before he was born and never met him until the night he saved Negi when his village was in danger and gave him his staff. Nagi had his friend Takamichi T. Takahata look after his son to make sure he was okay.

Arika Anarchia Entheofushia: The mother of Negi and Queen of Ostia. It's revealed she was tried in the national courts and "executed" 18 years ago for being suspected in being in league with Cosmo Entelecheia, but in reality she was rescued by Nagi who took her to the Old World so that they could be together.

Nekane Springfield: His only known niece, she is a relative by blood to Nagi. He had met Nekane before Negi was born.

Evangeline A.K. McDowell: A centuries-old vampire cursed to remain at the school by Nagi. After Nagi saved her life, she fell in love with him, and pursued him relentlessly until he managed to shake her off. Feeling rejected, she finally tracked him down in Japan, but was tricked into walking into an "anti-vampire soup" composed of garlic and leeks. Employing the powerful Infernus Scholasticus (School Hell) curse, he confined her to the grounds of Mahora Academy and put in place a barrier to restrict most of her abilities. He then told Eva that she should try to "live in the light for a change" and promised her that he would free her from the curse when she graduated. However, he never returned to free her from the spell, which caused her to hate him afterwards.

Asuna Vesperina Theotanasia Entheofushia: While circumstances surrounding the situation varies from series to series, it is shown that Asuna had once traveled with Nagi and Ala Rubra.

Other Ala Rubra members: It is shown that Nagi had a connection with all of the Ala Rubra members, including Takahata-Sensei who is a teacher at Mahora Academy, rival Jack Rakan who recently met Negi, Eishun, Godel, Albireo, and Gateau.

Negima!
Similar to the manga, Nagi met Asuna when she was a child and traveled with her for a while, just before he disappeared. In the anime, Nagi accompanies Asuna so they can find a way to stop a contract between a demon and Asuna, wherein she will die in 10 years. One day, Asuna accidentally nullifies Nagi's magic shield, and he is pierced through the chest by a demon's sword. He quickly casts a spell that causes both him and the demon to disappear in some sort of black hole. When he does this he says "Negi, take good care of Asuna" even though Negi never introduced himself to his father and Asuna when he was found, and by that it means that Nagi already knew Negi when he found him.

Negima!?
Although he is initially seen through flashbacks and dream sequences, Nagi is explicitly shown to be alive in this series, even saving his son and Anya from the Star Crystal after the final battle between the latter two. Nagi however remains as elusive as ever, leaving his son behind even before a reunion can take place. But he is not a bad father by any means as he is the one who sent the Magical Academy agents Motsu and Shichimi to watch over Negi. Eventually, Nagi tells the two to switch their alliances with Negi, seeing his son mature in just a short time.

ANIME FINAL
Nagi make a cameo appearance in beginning and near the end of the movie.

UQ Holder!
Nagi make a first appearance in chapter 65 of UQ Holder!, after Evangeline touches Negi's signature in the mail, they are transported to a desert wasteland and confronted by Nagi and Negi themselves. But as they begin to talk to Evangeline and Fate, the communication is intercepted by the Mage of the Beginning. According to Negi's line in chapter 132, Nagi is still controlled by the Mage of the Beginning.

It's revealed that Nagi and Evangeline married sometimes after fight against the Mage of the Beginning in the alternate world (The timeline after Asuna returned from the future).

Trivia

 * Nagi is the only character that keep his voice actress changes in anime and video games series, though it's changed back to Takehito Koyasu since 2008 onward.
 * Nagi was also a member of the Austro-africus Aeternalis (Everlasting Wind) Non-governmental, non-profit, Organization (NGO). The group is a semi-public volunteer group funded by the United Nations to assist in crisis areas around the world.
 * Despite Nagi was disappeared after year 1994 (Due to being controlled by the Mage of the Beginning and sealed in Mahora Academy), somehow he was appeared at year 1998 and save Negi from a horde of demons attacking his home village. It's unknown exactly how did Nagi able to go there and give Negi his staff.