| “ | A nymph, born of the earth, forged by machine, will lead a way through hate, through fear, through war. | „ |
| ~ Arius |
Eva Nine is the main protagonist from The Search for WondLa book series, as well as the Apple TV+ animated series, WondLa.
She is a girl raised in a technological sanctuary who is forced out of her home and must restore peace to her planet when it is at war.
In the WondLa series, she is voiced by Jeanine Mason.
The Search of WondLa
Eva spends all twelve years of her life living in an underground Sanctuary, raised by a robot caretaker named Muthr (Multi-Utility Task Help Robot zero-six). She only knows about the outside world through the holograms projected in her home and a small piece of cardboard inscribed with the fragmented words "WOND" and "LA." Because of that, Eva longs to explore the outside world and find out if she is the last of her kind. Everything changes when a ruthless huntsman, Besteel, invades her home. Eva is forced to leave her caretaker behind and escape. As soon as she sees the outside world for the first time, Eva realizes that it's not like the holographic simulations she was exposed to, since her Omnipod fails to identify the extraterrestrial species and plants she encounters.
Eva is caught and nearly consumed by a dangerous plant but is rescued by a wandering alien named Rovender Kitt. However, Besteel captures her and takes her to his camp to be eaten. Luckily, Eva manages to free herself and a huge water bear named Otto. All three of them escape and arrive at Eva's underground home, where she reunites with a now-demolished Muthr and convinces the Sanctuary computer to allow her to bring her to the next Sanctuary. As soon as they discover that it's abandoned, they convince Rovender to take them to Solas, the royal city.
The group is taken in by a fishing village and Eva comes across a wise soothsayer, Arius, who reveals that one day a "nymph" will put an end to a war. Unfortunately, Eva is once again abducted by Besteel and taken to the royal palace, where she is nearly embalmed for display at a museum. She escapes from the museum and its curator, Zin, but not before learning that the life forms on her planet, which is called Orbona by the natives, arrived on a lifeless world that they "reawakened." Eva also discovers human artifacts and learns of a ruined human civilization at the end of a massive desert.
Eva, Muthr, Rovender, and Otto cross the desert and discover the remains of an ancient human city buried in the sand. Besteel launches an attack, injures Muthr, and takes Rovender hostage. Eva manages to defeat the huntsman by using her Omnipod to summon sand-snipers, which kill Besteel and drag him under the sand.
Unable to be fixed, Muthr succumbs to her wounds. Later, Eva and her friends tunnel into one of the buried buildings, which they discover was the New York Public Library, which means Orbona was once Earth. The still-functioning library computer identifies the "WondLa" as the cover for The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum, which leads Eva to understand that Earth died and was reawakened as Orbona.
In the epilogue, a human boy named Hailey Turner arrives in an airship, the Bijou, and makes it clear to Eva that he is there to bring her home.
A Hero for WondLa
Eva is brought to the city of New Attica by Hailey. Believing this will be the perfect start of a new life with her friend Rovender, she learns that life in the city is not what she believes it to be. Eva encounters new people, including her long-lost sister Eva Eight, and uncovers the secrets of her planet's past, including the Sanctuaries. She saves planet from the powerful ruler Cadmus Pryde when the spirit of life on Orbona is threatened again.
The Battle for WondLa
Eva Nine has attempted to stop Cadmus from waging war against the people she loves dearly, but the planet is still under threat from Cadmus's evil Prime Advisor Loroc. Eva eventually defeats Loroc and saves Orbona from destruction.
Personality
Eva Nine is a passionate girl who dreams of life outside her sanctuary. She starts off being temperamental and self-centered due to her upbringing, as well as naive, but Eva grows into a strong, brave and empathetic heroine who will do anything to protect the ones she loves, as well as the world.
Gallery
Book Series
Animated Series
Trivia
- Eva Nine is Tony DiTerlizzi's first leading female protagonist.
- She is inspired by Wendy Darling, Alice Liddell, and Dorothy Gale.
- Eva's name is pronounced EV-ah.
- Eva's design in the Apple TV+ series is different than in the original books. In the book series, she is depicted as having braided blonde hair which turns white when she is mutated by the Vitae Virus. She is also depicted as being 12-13 in the books and in her late teens in the epilogue of the third book. In the animated series, Eva is sixteen and depicted as having dark hair put in a bun.