Board Thread:Questions and Answers/@comment-25148221-20140707021425/@comment-1268838-20140709031636

Regardless of how ridiculous it sounds, given what Aizen is capable of, there really isn't any reason to doubt what he said. Ichigo has always been a variable that Aizen found fascinating, but never really planned around. EBtR even foreshadows the fact that Aizen undoubtedly monitored Isshin and Masaki; the fact that he even knew that Ichigo was the son of a Shinigami meant that he had to have.