Fairy Tail – Crime Sorcière / Characters

Spoilers for all works set before the end of Fairy Tail are unmarked. Examples pertaining to 100 Years Quest can be spoiler tagged if deemed necessary.

Crime Sorcière

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/6cd13fa840e65cafdcc0e64066555472.jpg

Crime Sorcière is an independent wizard guild dedicated to the eradication of dark guilds and wizards, and hopefully Zeref himself. Founded by Jellal Fernandes in X785, one year after the disappearance of Sirius Island, it starts out with only himself and two ex-members of Grimoire Heart, Ultear Milkovich and Merudy, as its sole three members. Ultear later leaves the group, but she's eventually replaced by the freed members of the Oración Seis (sans Brain).

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In General

Anti-Hero: They're all reformed criminals attempting to right the wrongs they've done and wiping out evil wherever they find it, and being former criminals means a somewhat more flexible set of morals.
The Atoner: The members of the guild, who are former villains, have to let go of their past and feel the need to become better wizards.
Badass Cape: All members wear hooded blue cloaks as a uniform.
Badass Crew: Every last one of them. Their leader is a former Wizard Saint who got the title while being at only half power at the time, and the others members consist of two members (later only one) of Grimoire Heart's Seven Kin of Purgatory, and five of the Oración Seis (sans Brain).
Child Prodigy: All the members of this guild have learned or obtained their enormous magical powers in childhood and as adults, although only one of them has been officially recognized as such by the community, they have carved out a place among the most powerful wizards of all Ishgal.
The Coats Are Off: When the guild is seen arriving fashionably late in the Alvarez Empire arc, they are no longer seen wearing their trademark blue cloaks. According to Jellal, this is because the only thing that matters at this point is stopping Emperor Spriggan, a.k.a. the Black Wizard, Zeref.
Gratuitous French: This guild's name literally means "Witch's Crime". Grammatically, though, it should be "Crime de la Sorcière".
Highly-Conspicuous Uniform: For a guild that tries to hide from the law, that doesn't stop them from wearing flashy blue Badass Capes.
Karmic Jackpot: At the end of the series, everyone in the guild receives a royal pardon from Queen Hisui after their multiple nation-saving heroics come to her attention.
Out of Focus: During the Alvarez War, they contribute very little outside of Jellal & Merudy helping liberating Hargeon.
Recruiting the Criminal: The guild was formed when Ultear and Merudy broke Jellal out of jail. Later on in the Tartaros arc, Jellal recruits Brain's followers after kicking their asses. In the anime, he leaves the door open for Grimoire Heart's Rustyrose to join as well.
Reformed Criminal: Virtually all of its members are former members of the most infamous dark guilds in Fiore, while their leader was part of a separate yet no less dangerous cult. Joining this guild is a sign of their commitment to make up for it all.
Superpower Lottery: Almost all of its members use vast forms of magic that are so powerful and dangerous that they become threatening regardless of the fact that, at present, they are only seven members.
Two Girls and a Guy: The guild starts out as this, with Ultear and Merudy as the two girls and Jellal as the guy. It later becomes Two Girls to a Team, with Ultear being replaced by Sorano (Angel) as the second girl.
Vigilante Man: Being an independent guild that's neither light nor dark makes them perfect for taking down dark guilds under the Magic Council's radar. Unfortunately, their criminal background also means spending their lives on the run.
The Worf Effect: The group minus Merudy and Sorano lose spectacularly to August, putting most of them out of the fight for good excepting Jellal and Erik.

Membership

Founders

Jellal Fernandes

Jellal Fernandes, a.k.a. Siegrain

Voiced by: Daisuke Namikawa (Japanese); Robert McCollum, Terri Doty [child] (English) ^note
Portrayed by: Hirofumi Araki (stage)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jellal.png

^{Click here to see his pre-Time Skip appearance}

Jellal is one of Erza's oldest friends and, for a time, her mortal enemy. As children, the two were enslaved at the Tower of Heaven to help a cult of Zeref's worshipers resurrect the Black Wizard. Jellal was soon brainwashed into becoming Zeref's servant and turned against Erza, taking over the tower and hatching a scheme to bring about his own utopia with Zeref on top. After Natsu and Erza stop his plan and free him from his brainwashing, Jellal dedicates his life to atoning for his past sins, leading him to form Crime Sorcière.

His Heavenly Body Magic allows him to move at incredible speeds and perform devastating attacks with the force of a meteor, giving him power akin to that of the Ten Wizard Saints.

The Ace: He's one of the strongest human characters in the series who wipes the floor with anyone if he goes all out. He's also one of the few wizards who is able to use multiple forms of magic. He even manages to learn Mystogan's magic in just three days while using his identity as a cover. One of the greatest testaments to his strength as one of the Wizard Saints is that he is one of a scarce few people able to contend with the likes of Acnologia solo and come out alive while the Saints ranked from 1st to 5th were effortlessly defeated by a mere Spriggan. The only other people to share this accolade are Gildarts Clive and Irene Belserion.
Amnesiac Resonance: When he awakens without most of his memories, one of the few things he does remember is Nirvana due to overhearing the villains and the threat it poses, and his first reaction is to attempt to destroy it himself. This shows the heroism he held as a young boy before he was rendered a Brainwashed and Crazy Card-Carrying Villain is still intact. He also retains his knowledge of his various magic spells, albeit without some level of context (i.e. he remembers how to cast the Self-Destruction Magic Circle, but not that the man who taught him the spell is the very Arc Villain who he's trying to stop).
Anchored Ship: While it becomes clear over the first Time Skip that he and Erza share feelings for each other, the fact that he is a wanted criminal and she an official guild wizard prevents them from getting together. This issue is resolved when Jellal is acquitted at the end of the series, but their ambiguous relationship continues.
Arc Villain: He serves as the main antagonist of the "Tower of Heaven arc", where he kidnaps Erza and manipulates the Magic Council into assisting in a ritual to resurrect Zeref while Brainwashed and Crazy.
Astral Projection: His "Thought Projection" spell allowed him to project a seemingly real copy of himself throughout great distances, which is how he operated in the Magic Council as Siegran while his real body was in the Tower of Heaven.
The Atoner: Becomes this during the Nirvana arc when Erza calls him out for manipulating and killing his own friends and more or less trying to end the world. He eventually forms the anti-dark guild Crime Sorcière over the Time Skip to carry out his atonement, and takes in other villains who wish to do the same.
Bad Liar:
- According to Erza, he has always been a terrible liar. As a child, he tries to pass himself off as the mastermind of an escape attempt in the Tower of Heaven when Erza attempts to cover for their friend Shô, but Erza is blamed anyway. Later, he lies to Erza that he has a fiancée to give them a reason to remain apart, but Erza doesn't buy it any more than his guildmates do.
- Averted when he's Brainwashed and Crazy, turning out to be a Manipulative Bastard who toys with Erza's feelings for him by pretending to have been freed from Zeref's control long enough to prevent her from killing him.
Badass Longcoat: His general attire, though it differs among each story arc he appears in.
Badass Normal: Back before he was Brainwashed and Crazy, he launched a one-man Roaring Rampage of Rescue for Erza when she was hauled off for torture with nothing but a stolen sword. Keep in mind, he was just a scrawny child slave with no magic, and he actually succeeded in fighting his way to her.
Barrier Maiden: He and two other random members of the Magic Council are connected to the Anti-Magic superweapon Face via body link magic, which prevents it from activating. By the time this is revealed, Tartaros has already removed the other two seals by killing their owners. Luckily for Jellal, former chairman Crawford takes the final seal for himself through his Super Archive magic, taking Jellal off of Tartaros's hit list.
Being Tortured Makes You Evil: Downplayed. Getting tortured isn't what triggers his transformation into a raving Zeref zealot, but it does bring him down to his lowest point and makes him susceptible to Ultear's mind control.
Benevolent Boss: Invoked in the "Tower of Heaven arc" on behalf of his Evil Plan, and cementing his status as a Manipulative Bastard; he treats his underlings far better than their former superiors by giving them food, clothes, and rest, but only to ensure they won't have a reason to revolt or doubt his lies.
Big Bad Wannabe: He is the first recurring villain introduced in the series, and his goal is to resurrect Zeref, who was a Greater-Scope Villain at the time. Then it turns out he is being manipulated by his own subordinate, and that Zeref was never dead in the first place.
Blue Is Heroic: Has blue hair and was among the nicest of his friends as a child. Zigzagged a bit given his Heel–Face Revolving Door over the course of his life, but ultimately played straight after the timeskip.
Body Double: Jellal has mastered "Thought Projection" magic to the point that not only can he create a copy of himself, he can impart it with enough power to act independent of himself, interact with the world, and even fight.
Brainwashed and Crazy: For eight years, Ultear keeps him under a spell that turns him from a bright and noble young boy into a psychotic, raving zealot obsessed with resurrecting an ancient evil. He recovers when Natsu beats it out of him.
Broken Ace: He is one of the series' most brilliant and powerful wizards, and is respected by many of a similar caliber. However, he also spent much of his life Brainwashed and Crazy, enslaving and killing several innocents, including his own friends, and is forced to spend the rest of his life living with the guilt of it all.
Casting a Shadow: Capable of using darkness magic while Brainwashed and Crazy.
The Chessmaster: During the "Tower of Heaven arc", he tricks Erza and the Magic Council with a Fake Twin Gambit, turned all of Erza's pre-Fairy Tail friends against her, convinces the Magic Council to fire Etherion to activate the tower, and fakes regaining control of himself to keep Erza from killing him. He even has a chess board to represent the characters.
Chick Magnet: He, or rather his alter ego Siegrain, is listed among the wizards most desirable as a boyfriend in Weekly Sorcerer magazine.
Child Prodigy: After being corrupted by Ultear's dark magic, he instantly learns to use powerful, dark forms of magic that allow him to subdue and violently kill his jailers. By his teens, his magical powerful has proved to be so great that only his Astral Projection (endowed with only half of his magical abilities) is elected as one of the Ten Wizard Saints. The anime takes things a step further by showing how he's capable of destroying a mountain with a flick of the wrist when still under Brain's tutelage.
Childhood Friend Romance: Implied. He was friends with Erza during their time as child slaves, even giving Erza the surname "Scarlet" based on her hair color, but things changed when Jellal was brainwashed and became evil. When Jellal is freed from control, it becomes clear he and Erza still have feelings for each other. However, Jellal refuses to pursue a relationship with her because he feels he must atone for his crimes first. After receiving a royal pardon at the end, Jellal is free to reconsider allowing himself to be with Erza.
The Coats Are Off: When he and Natsu throw down in the Tower of Heaven, Jellal tears off his coat while it's on fire to show that Natsu's assault barely scratched him.
Comedic Underwear Exposure: Erza ends up tying him down and blindfolding him while he is in his boxers in 100 Years Quest but he does not remember any of it.
Cosmic Motifs: His magic is strongly associated astronomical bodies such as meteors, constellations, and even black holes.
Dark and Troubled Past: He was an idealistic boy who was Made a Slave, tortured, and brainwashed into trying to resurrect the spirit of an ancient evil who, as it turns out, was never dead to begin with.
Dark Is Evil: He uses darkness magic while under Ultear's control, which manifests as a swarm of ghostly apparitions. This is mostly due to him giving his heavenly body magic given to his psychic double, Siegrain. Then there's his deadly Altairis spell, which is a black hole that bends all shadows towards it.
Dark Messiah: This is the reason he tries to revive Zeref while under Ultear's influence. Jellal believes it would create a world where everyone could be free (i.e., having total control and taking away everyone else's free will).
Death from Above: A few of his attacks, namely Grand Chariot and Sema, drop energy beams and a meteor on his opponents from above, respectively.
Death Seeker: He becomes one upon being told of his villainous deeds by Erza when he suffers from amnesia, with him believing Erza would be better off with him dead. Despite Erza's efforts to snap him out of it, Jellal continues to harbor these feelings long into the Time Skip, which fuel his attempt at numerous failed Heroic Sacrifices. It culminates in the Alvarez Empire arc when he goes on an all-but-certain suicide attack on Acnologia himself to lure him into the space between time, knowing full well that he would likely be trapped with the dragon. It's only after Ichiya and Anna take his place, and later when he's pardoned by Queen Hisui, that he finally devotes himself to living for the future.
Disappeared Dad: His dad died when he was very young, which prompted him to want to grow up as a strong mage so he could protect his mother. He never got the chance as his mother was killed by the cult of Zeref not long after.
Elemental Powers: He's shown using fire, darkness, and light magic throughout the series. While he hasn't shown other elemental magics directly, he is capable of using Abyss Break, which requires the user to know fire, earth, water, and air magic.
Evil Former Friend: He starts out as one of Erza's closest childhood friends who helps her face the horrors of the Tower of Heaven, before he's Brainwashed and Crazy and becomes one of her mortal enemies. The two mend fences after he gets amnesia and is determined to right all of the terrible things he's done.
Expy: Hiro Mashima has described Jellal/Siegrain as a "self-parody" of Sieg Hart from Rave Master, giving him a nearly identical design and abilities.
Eye Scream: Inflicts this on himself in the Tartaros arc when Midnight traps him in a Lotus-Eater Machine, damaging his own eyes to break the illusion. However, they eventually heal thanks to Merudy and Richard's treatment.
Facial Markings: Has a distinctive red tattoo around his right eye.
Fake Twin Gambit: He pulls this off early in the series by using Siegrain, a magical projection of himself who serves on the Magic Council to manipulate them into helping activate the Tower of Heaven. When he met someone who recognized him (such as Erza), he just convinced them that Jellal was his Evil Twin.
Fallen Hero: His childhood personality is one of the most hero-like of any character. Unfortunately for everyone, Ultear brainwashed him into becoming one of the most despicable criminals in the series. After his Heel–Face Turn, however, he becomes a purely heroic character once more.
From Nobody to Nightmare: He started out as a slave working under the oppression of a Religion of Evil. Watching his best friend and love interest be brutally tortured and being even more brutally tortured himself, along with subtle brainwashing by a false god, turned him into one of the most powerful and feared terrorists in the kingdom. He also managed to pull off a perfect Evil Plan, and it was only by devouring Etherion that Natsu was able to summon the power to defeat him. He is later healed by Wendy and becomes a good guy, although he is still one of the most powerful characters in the series.
Gambit Roulette: His plan to revive Zeref includes putting a thought projection of himself on the Magic Council to manipulate the other councilors into firing their ultimate weapon on the R-System, which then absorbs the enormous magical energy and provides enough power to commence the ritual.
Gold-Colored Superiority: His magic typically emits a golden aura, and even with half he proved capable of becoming a Wizard Saint.
Heel–Face Turn: While he Used to Be a Sweet Kid, he was brainwashed into becoming a servant of Zeref and a traitor to his friends. Once Natsu defeats him, Jellal develops amnesia and becomes Fairy Tail's ally to avoid becoming the evil man he used to be. Once his memories return, he remains firmly on Fairy Tail's side.
Heroic Sacrifice: Erza secretly believes that after being freed from "Zeref's ghost", he fused with Etherion in her stead to prevent it from exploding, seemingly at the cost of his own life. The Nirvana arc reveals he survived, albeit without his memories.
Inconsistent Spelling: Many early translations call him by the Germanic name "Gerard". There's also been some debate over how to spell his last name; some, including the Funimation version, call it "Fernandes", but the Kodansha translation settled on "Fernandez", at least until the final chapter reverted to "Fernandes" for consistency with the fan translation.
Insecure Love Interest: After his reunion with Erza post-Time Skip, he makes up a story about a fiancée so she'll give up on him, because he believes he has no right to fall in love with someone who "walks in the light", and he only wishes for Erza to be happy. Erza doesn't buy his story, but respects his wishes nonetheless.
Kissing Discretion Shot: He and Erza share an obscured kiss after their post-Time Skip reunion, which Mashima left up to the reader's imagination whether they did it or not. The anime, however, depicts the event as an Almost Kiss.
Knight of Cerebus: While the preceding arcs might have been the first to shift the series to Darker and Edgier overtones, Jellal was the first villain to conclusively kill a heroic character outside of a flashback. He also has an incredibly Dark and Troubled Past, and is one of the most powerful characters in the series, such that Natsu before activating Dragon Force had to attack the Tower of Heaven itself in an attempt to destroy it and deny Jellal his victory that way since his normal attacks could barely make him flinch.
Light 'em Up: His heavenly body magic is a Star Power variation, which includes Frickin' Laser Beams and Laser Blades.
Light Is Good: He uses various light-based attacks, and is ordinarily a kind and heroic individual. While Brainwashed and Crazy, however, it's a case of Light Is Not Good as he tries using those attacks to kill Natsu.
Lightning Bruiser: While not the most physically powerful fighter, Jellal is still strong enough to incapacitate Natsu with a few punches and kicks, fast enough to keep up with him when not using his Super-Speed spell, and can take incredible amounts of damage from his Dragon Force attacks and keep going. Shown best when Natsu's final blow punches him from the tip of the Tower of Heaven to seemingly the base judging from the damage shown outside the tower, and all it did was just knock him unconscious temporarily before he woke up and sacrificed himself to redirect the Etherion energy.
Made a Slave: He spent his entire childhood as a slave in the Tower of Heaven, and is partially motivated by this hellish experience to create a world where people can be "truly" free (the other half being that he was made a Brainwashed and Crazy Dark Messiah).
Magical Gesture: His heavenly body magic spells each have a different hand gesture when he casts them. His Grand Chariot involves putting his hands together, one with all five fingers outstretched, and just his index and middle fingers in the other; with Pleiades, he points skyward with his index finger and an open hand on his side; and Jiu Leixing^noteNine Lightning Stars uses all but one pinky finger.
That Man Is Dead: Prior to his imprisonment in the Tower of Heaven, his given name was "Siegrain", and after his father died, he promised he would protect his mother. Sadly, the Cult of Zeref raided his hometown and she was murdered right in front of him; when he was asked his name by the other orphaned children imprisoned with him, he began referring to himself as "Jellal", since he had failed to do what was promised. "Siegrain" would've become an accomplished wizard who studied at a top magical academy and then set his sights on joining the Magic Council; Jellal later embellished an alter-ego using his birth name to actually do just that, pretending to have a twin who embodied his ideal life.
Maybe Ever After: At the end of Fairy Tail, Jellal and the rest of Crime Sorcière have been pardoned for their crimes, granting them a second chance at freedom. Lucy notes that Erza, after it's been known that Jellal is free, has been brushing her hair everyday with a smile on her face. While this leaves them short of becoming official, it is a sign that they can be together one day. 100 Years Quest has many moments of further Ship Tease between them, ranging from comedic to affectionate.
Meteor-Summoning Attack: His ultimate attack, Sema, drops a huge meteor from the sky to obliterate his opponents.
Mistaken Identity: Wendy remembers being saved by Jellal after Grandeeney disappeared, but it was actually Mystogan, his Edolas counterpart. What makes it particularly sad is that Jellal was happy to have learned he supposedly did some good in his life in spite of all the pain he caused.
Missing Mom: As a child, his mother was killed in front of him when the cult of Zeref attacked his village, leaving him an orphan.
Mr. Fanservice: Acknowledged both In-Universe and out as one of the more attractive male characters.
My God, What Have I Done?: Despite suffering from amnesia in the Nirvana arc, he is properly aghast to learn from Erza the crimes he'd committed at the Tower of Heaven, most of all being the murder of his own friend Simon, and breaks down in tears. It drives him to attempt a Heroic Sacrifice to deactivate Nirvana in the hopes of atoning, but Erza interrupts him.
Nice Guy: He was once this in his childhood before Ultear brainwashed him but even after he's freed thanks to Natsu, he's able to retain his moral compass and kindness, genuinely affable to everyone, and created his own guild over the past seven years so he could help everyone in dire needs and bring justice to those who really deserves it.
Orcus on His Throne: He spends much of the Tower of Heaven arc sitting in his throne room and just observing events. Justified since he's concentrating on his projection, Siegrain, actively persuades the Magic Council to fire Etherion on the tower. Once that's done he recalls Siegrain and becomes active.
The Paralyzer: His Bind Snake spell has this effect, using it on Erza to keep her from struggling while sacrificing her for Zeref.
Person of Mass Destruction: Has quite a few spells that are incredibly destructive, such as Abyss Break, which can wipe out an entire city; a self-destruction spell that can crush whole mountains; and his "True Heavenly Body Magic", Sema, which drops a meteor on his opponents.
Playing with Fire: Capable of using fire magic strong enough that Natsu compares eating it to eating Etherion, and the effects are also the same, as Natsu enters Dragon Force by consuming it.
Put on a Prison Bus: Towards the end of the Oración Seis arc, Jellal lets himself be arrested by the Rune Knights. Eventually, by the time of the Grand Magic Games arc, Ulter and Melty break him out of jail so they can form Crime Sorcière.
Reused Character Design: Hiro Mashima used the same design for Jellal as Sieg Hart from Rave Master, which he included as a bit of Fanservice. The similarities were even more apparent back when Jellal was disguised as a Council member named Siegrain.
Secret Art: His Sema spell is titled "True Heavenly Body Magic".
Ship Tease: He gets so much with Erza that even after personally trying to sink the ship, they're still a strongly hinted couple.
Signature Attack: His most frequently used attack spell is Grand Chariot, which fires seven beams of light at his opponents in the arrangement of the Big Dipper.
Single-Target Sexuality: Jellal has never shown the slightest interest in any other girl than Erza. And he spent several years traveling with two very hot female guildmates, which is saying something.
Star-Crossed Lovers: He is a wanted criminal who comes to fight from the shadows in an unregistered guild, unable to be with Erza, a legal guild wizard. Mashima even drew a picture of them for Tanabata, a festival linked to the most famous star-crossed lovers' story in Japan. Getting pardoned for his crimes by Hisui, however, gives them both hope to be together.
Star Power: His signature Heavenly Body Magic draws power from astronomical objects such as stars, meteors and constellations, and has numerous attack names based on them.
Super-Speed: His Meteor spell, which makes him fast enough to let him completely outspeed Natsu and Racer. It's even earned praise from Jet, Fairy Tail's resident Super-Speed expert.
Trauma Conga Line: His whole life is a long, painful sequence of horrible misfortune. First, he was captured and enslaved as a child to resurrect an ancient evil, and was subsequently tortured and brainwashed into the very type of person he was fighting against. Then, after being beaten back to his senses and going into a coma, he awakens with amnesia. Right when he becomes an ally to the heroes, he is arrested for crimes he can't even remember committing, and is tortured every day as he waits for his death sentence. Once he breaks out of jail, however, his life takes a turn for the better.
Trauma-Induced Amnesia: Due to the effects of merging with the R-System, which rendered him comatose and his body noticeably damaged, he awakens with very few memories upon his revival in the Nirvana arc, with Erza's name being the only thing he truly remembers at first along with some tidbits due to memory-jogging from overhearing various characters, such as the location of Nirvana and its threat along with Natsu. Over the first Time Skip, however, he gradually regains his memories.
Twin Switch: A variation occurs during the Grand Magic Games where Jellal impersonates Mystogan, his Edolas counterpart who left the guild. He even uses Mystogan's magic staves and runic magic to make things more convincing.
Unexplained Recovery: The "Tower of Heaven arc" ends with him submerged in Etherion, which has enough power to atomize a nation, but he shows up two arcs later simply comatose. It also isn't explained how his body was salvaged.
Unresolved Sexual Tension: He and Erza both admit that they love each other, but Jellal is too haunted by his dark past and preoccupied with his atonement to believe he could ever truly be with her. The ending heavily implies that they are finally in a relationship.
Unwitting Pawn: Everything he did in his plan to reawaken Zeref at the Tower of Heaven was allowed to happen by Ultear.
Used to Be a Sweet Kid: He kept his friends sane in a hell of slavery through pure optimism, until he was turned into the same sort of monster they'd been resisting his whole childhood. He eventually returns to his original, kindhearted self, but never forgives himself.
Utopia Justifies the Means: His main motivation as a villain is to create a world where people will be free, no matter how many lives he has to take by doing so.
Villainous Breakdown: In the "Tower of Heaven arc", he maintains a calm demeanor until Natsu starts destroying the tower, sending him into a fury. As their fight goes on, Jellal's mental state just keeps deteriorating until he decides he has no trouble killing Erza (whom he needs alive for his plans), and later even trying to destroy the tower (which is what pissed him off in the first place), convincing himself that he can rebuild it despite already having thrown away all his willing followers.
Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: He tries to bring back the greatest evil the world has ever known, and is willing to kill just about anyone who tries to stop him with power that got him counted as one of the Ten Wizard Saints, all because he spent his entire childhood as a slave and someone came up to him and said, "Hey, want to make sure that you never go through this again?"
Worf Had the Flu: Despite being touted as a Wizard Saint-caliber fighter at only half power, he gets curb-stomped by Midnight in the Nirvana arc, but only after having wasted a massive amount of magic power with his earlier self-destruction spells, not having fully recovered from his awakening, and having no knowledge of how Midnight's magic works. He wipes the floor with Midnight (and Cobra, Racer, and Angel) when they return in the Tartaros arc, with the only injury Jellal sustains being self-inflicted.

Ultear Milkovich

Voiced by: Miyuki Sawashiro (Japanese); Lydia Mackay, Kara Edwards [child] (English) ^note

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ultear_x791_2.png

^{Click here to see her pre-Time Skip appearance}

^{Click here to see her post-Last Ages appearance}

Ultear is the daughter of the legendary ice wizard Ur. As a child, she underwent torturous experiments at the hands of scientists; when she escaped and saw Ur with Gray and Lyon, she perceived it as abandonment and became resentful to the point of plotting her revenge against her mother. Under the mentorship of Grimoire Heart's Master Hades, Ultear became the leader of the dark guild's powerful Seven Kin of Purgatory, manipulating many wizards to further her own schemes, including Jellal. When she finally realizes the truth of her past, however, Ultear leaves Grimoire Heart to help form Crime Sorcière.

Ultear's magic, the Arc of Time, gives her complete control over any inanimate object's flow of time. She also inherited Ur's proficiency for Ice Make, though she rarely uses it because she resented her mother for many years.

For info on Zalty, her alter ego on Galuna Island, see his entry on the Criminals page.

Action Mom: Due to her relationship with Merudy, she was essentially a single-mother while she was working for Grimoire Heart.
The Ace: Of all the members of the Seven Kin of Purgatory, Ultear is the only one who knows how to perfectly master various forms of magic and, as their leader, is the only one considered strong, skilled, and trustworthy enough to be able to manipulate the Council and Jellal for years.
Adaptation Dye-Job: Her eye color changes from brown to red in the 2014 anime adaptation. Her eyes start to be depicted as red in the anime during the Grand Magic Games arc.
Adaptational Modesty: While she has the same hourglass figure in both the anime and manga, the anime cut some of the Male Gaze focus on her and some of her gratuitous fanservice moments were changed, such as her first Cryptic Conversation in the manga with Hades taking place while she was lounging in a bathtub, with plenty of Male Gaze and having a Sexy Surfacing Shot to show off her Grimoire Heart tattoo with a Toplessness from the Back shot. In the anime, the conversation takes place later on a rocky summit while she's fully dressed, and instead of a tattoo reveal she name drops Hades.
Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: She is tall, beautiful, raven-haired, pale-skinned, aloof, and graceful.
Amusing Injuries: Natsu punches her in the face while she is disguised as Zalty on Galuna Island. It isn't until she's in the middle of a serious conversation with Siegrain that her cheek swells like a balloon.
Ascended to a Higher Plane of Existence: Downplayed. Ultear's Last Ages spell left her an old woman, but it also left behind a fully conscious thought projection of her old herself in her prime that only manifests during distortions of time, such as when DiMaria freezes time to fight Wendy and Sherria. Though she can't physically fight, she proves powerful enough to unfreeze and refreeze her allies to their advantage.
Astral Projection: She projects her image to rescue Wendy and Sherria after DiMaria freezes time. She does so again in 100 Years Quest to save Jellal from Gears' Mind Rape, though there it's more of a You Are Better Than You Think You Are speech that gives him the resolve and idea needed to overcome it.
Bastard Understudy: She became an apprentice to Hades when she was a child, having learned how to perfect her Time Arc magic and how to be an effective dark mage from him. While she goes on to become one of his most powerful and reliable lieutenants, it doesn't endear her any loyalty to him and she uses the tricks he taught her against him with no remorse.
Being Tortured Makes You Evil: When Ur leaves her in the care of the scientists, Ultear is subjected to torturous experiments. She managed to escape, but upon seeing her mother happy with Gray and Lyon, she assumed she had abandoned her to the scientists without a care, and actually went back with the purpose of becoming stronger so that one day she could have her revenge.
Big Damn Heroes:
- She helps Fairy Tail defeat Hades after she pulls a Heel–Face Turn towards the end of the Sirius Island arc.
- Ultear pulls another one on Natsu to save him from Future Rogue at the conclusion of the Grand Magic Games.
- An astral projection of herself appears in the Alvarez Empire arc when DiMaria freezes time, rescuing Wendy and Sherria. Another astral projection shows up in 100 Years Quest to help Jellal break through the God Seed Gears' magic.
Big Sister Instinct: During the Sirus Island arc, she tells Gray that being the apprentice of her mother sort-of makes them siblings. Later events show her actually meaning this, with her showing concern for him and including him among "my loved ones" after her supernatural aging. He is, in fact, the only person she reveals herself to, and so the only person who knows she's still alive.
Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: She tries to manipulate Gray into going after Hades by posing as his ally and giving him a fake sob story about her infiltrating Grimoire Heart and following her mother's will to get revenge on Hades. He doesn't buy it but plays along until she tries to kill Juvia.
Broken Ace: She's a beautiful, intelligent, and very powerful wizard with several magical disciplines under her belt. She's also got serious familial issues with her mother, and later develops a huge Guilt Complex about it and her past misdeeds.
Broken Bird: She was a sweet girl who became cynical and cold due to her piercing her mother betrayed her and left her to suffer as a guinea pig for the government. This caused her so much trauma her Goal in Life became to get strong enough as a Time Master so that she could Time Travel to the past and kill her mother.
Bungled Suicide: At the conclusion of the Sirius Island arc, she stabs herself and tries drowning in the ocean to avoid having Merudy stain her hands by killing her in revenge for destroying her town. However, Merudy rescues her at the last second and convinces her to keep living and atoning for her sins.
The Bus Came Back:
- To some extent, a fully conscious thought projection of herself shows up while DiMaria freezes time in the Alvarez Empire arc and helps Wendy & Sherry defeat her.
- In Fairy Tail: 100 Years Quest, she briefly shows up via the same thought projection to give Jellal a pep talk during his fight with Gears.
Buxom Beauty Standard: She's considered to be a great beauty who has an ample bosom that is often under the focus of Male Gaze. Amusingly, Natsu starts to become convinced she's a woman (which he doubts due to the Zalty incident) when he ends up pressing his face against her sizable chest.
Cast from Lifespan: Her Last Ages spell doesn't kill her immediately like she thought it would, but instead rapidly ages her into an elderly woman.
Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: First she poses as Zalty to manipulate Lyon, appearing to provide a distraction for Jellal. Then she pretends to be a blind devotee of Jellal, only to leave him for dead after his plans for the Tower of Heaven fall apart. Then she plots to betray Grimoire Heart, hoping to find Zeref and keep him all to herself, and attempts to dupe Gray into doing the work for her. She gets better.
Create Your Own Villain: Ur took Ultear to a laboratory after the latter had too much magic power inside of her. Had Ultear not realized that Ur was lied to by the scientists about her perceived abandonment, she would've reunited with her mother. Unfortunately, this traumatic experience sent her down the path of villainy. Hades was also responsible for her in another way. He took the young Ultear under his wing to study Lost Magic, giving her all the skills needed to concoct her Evil Plan.
Crystal Ball: Ultear always carries a teal Lacrima crystal in the shape of a sphere with her, which she also uses as her weapon, using her Arc of Time and Telekinesis to manipulate it. She can also use it as a magical communication or surveillance device.
Dark Action Girl: Although she often prefers to manipulate others, Ultear still has no problem getting her hands dirty, and she even has no problem getting into combat with powerful fighters like Natsu and Gray.
Dangerous Forbidden Technique: Last Ages, which is a Reset Button that sends the world back a certain amount of time in exchange for the user's time, leaving them to the edge of their lifespan. She also knows a technique that is dangerous to the one she uses it on, giving them all the power they could ever hope to gain in the future, while permanently depleting their magic afterward.
Death Glare: She shoots a brief one to Merudy when she inadvertently presses her Trauma Button.
Despair Event Horizon: She crosses it when she escapes from the laboratory only to discover that Ur is with Gray and Lyon. This causes her to join Grimoire Heart and concoct an Evil Plan to exact revenge on Ur.
Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: A subverted example. When she casually came across Zeref (one of the two Big Bads in the whole series as well as one of the most powerful magical beings that ever existed), while she was looking for him on Sirius Island, and the latter, after calling out Grimoire Heart for their reprehensible actions and ambitions, he tried to kill her. While the manga neglects the whole course of the fight, the anime instead dedicates it a few minutes of episode. In both versions, however, they ended surprisingly with her as a winner. In the last chapters of the saga of Sirius it is explained that Ultear won against him simply because he couldn't bring out his true power against her since he hadn't shaken off his empathy yet.
Double Reverse Quadruple Agent: She's a member of the magic council who is using her influence to manipulate things for Jellal, but is secretly using and manipulating him to assist her true Dark Guild: Grimoire Heart.
The Dragon: Posed as this for Lyon (as Zalty) and Jellal. She's really Co-Dragons for Hades with Blue Note, being the leader of the Seven Kin of Purgatory and being entrusted with various covert missions, since Blue Note may be powerful but he's far too destructive to be a reliable covert agent like her.
Dragon with an Agenda: She is frequently seen working for some new Arc Villain trying to bring back Zeref or one of his creations, and she always has some goal other than that. Not even Hades himself, her true boss and the one who trained her, is immune, as she attempts to set up Gray to kill him in a suicide move to keep Zeref to herself (and Merudy).
Driven to Suicide: Once Ultear realizes her wrongdoings towards the end of Fairy Tail's battle with Grimoire Heart, she's already wracked with guilt, but upon discovering Merudy learned that she was the one who destroyed her village, she decides to end her life herself to ensure Merudy doesn't have to sully her hands in revenge. But Merudy surprises her by rescuing her and forgiving her, giving Ultear the drive to live again.
Driven to Villainy: After Ur left her in the care of the scientists, Ultear was subjected to torturous experiments. After escaping from the laboratory, Ultear saw her mother training Gray and Lyon, came to the obvious conclusion, and that was that.
Dub Name Change: An interesting variant; while her name in all official translations is still "Ultear", the Kodansha and Funimation translations state that she was born as "Urtear", as she is "Ur's tear", and that she changed her name to "Ultear", given her resentment of Ur.
Easily Forgiven:
- Downplayed regarding how she destroyed Merudy's hometown. Merudy resents Ultear for it, but comes to forgive her thanks to their emotional connection through her Sensory Link, letting her know just how ashamed Ultear was of her own actions, and the honest love she had for her. The fact that Ultear tries to kill herself before letting Merudy "stain her hands" also probably had a hand in it.
- It's played straight with her other guildmate Jellal, who doesn't show the slightest bit of hostility to her despite knowing that she has royally screwed up his life. It is worth noting, however, that by the time we see the two of them together in Crime Sorcière, seven years have passed, so they could have just worked through their issues over time.
Enigmatic Minion: She is presented as a mysterious antagonist working for a hidden master for the first half of the story. She's one of the very first characters introduced and spends most of her time manipulating events from the background while having Cryptic Conversations with her superiors, first Siegrain/Jellal (who she was only pretending to work with) and later Hades. It's not until the "Sirius Island arc" that she takes center stage and her motives become clear.
Et Tu, Brute?: Her reaction when she sees Ur training with Gray and Lyon after she escapes from the laboratory is outrage.
Evil Counterpart:
- She and Erza were both imprisoned, tortured, and exploited by cruel people until they finally rebelled and then trained in guilds. The two are closely related to Gray; While Erza is a sort of elder sister figure to the ice wizard, Ultear is the daughter of Ur, who has taken care of and taught Gray everything he knows about the Ice Make magic. Erza's mother Irene abandoned her when she was born after she gave up wanting to possess her daughter's body so as to return fully human, but Ultear felt abandoned by her mother Ur and intended to kill her mother when given the opportunity.
- She and Juvia have met Gray as an opponent to fight and kill; Juvia was going through an emotional turmoil due to her sudden feelings of attraction towards the Fairy Tail's ice wizard while Ultear, until the end of the fight, deeply resented him. Finally, after their Heel–Face Turn, Ultear, unlike Juvia, had assumed an almost sisterly attitude towards Gray. It is interesting to note also how both girls are defeated in the same way (ie locked up in a block of ice shot in the air against them).
- She can also be considered one to Gray himself due to their shared history with Ur. However, Ultear wrongly assumed her mother had abandoned her for Gray and Lyon, becoming jealous of the former and also causing Ultear to hate her. It took Gray defeating Ultear to make her finally realize her mother's true feelings for her.
Evil Costume Switch: Ultear goes from the Miko-like costume she wears as a member of the Magic Council to a more Stripperific outfit when she is revealed to be the one who manipulated Jellal.
Evil Gloating: She boasts being the leader and most powerful of the Seven Kin to Gray while fighting on Sirius Island. Unfortunately for her, Gray gives her a Talk to the Fist.
Faking the Dead: After Ultear casts Last Ages, Jellal and Merudy receive a letter from an old lady telling them that Ultear had died. Neither of them realize that Ultear is the old lady, aged by her spell.
Fan Disservice: Her Last Ages destroys a large portion of her clothing, as well as her skin and ultimately ages her body into a shriveled old woman.
Femme Fatale: She turns up her feminine charm when she's trying to manipulate others to do her bidding. She drops this attitude after her Heel–Face Turn when she becomes a more honest person.
Form-Fitting Wardrobe: Her clothes cling to her body rather well, and in just the right ways.
Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: Ur leaves Ultear at the whims of morally depraved scientists due to her potent magical powers. One day, after she escapes from the laboratory, Ultear sees her mother with Gray and Lyon, causing her to see it as a Parental Abandonment. She goes off the deep end and spends years seeking a way to Time Travel to the past and kill Ur. As Gray notes, however, it doesn't absolve Ultear of the despicable things she did.
Furo Scene: In the manga, after Jellal is defeated, readers are treated to a scene of Ultear taking a bath and talking to Hades.
Ghost Memory: This is one of the reasons for her Heel–Face Turn. After she falls into the ocean while fighting Gray, Ultear experiences Ur's memories since Ur's body was turned into water and drifted out to sea. This allows Ultear to discover Ur loved her so much.
Girlish Pigtails: Flashbacks show her wearing these as a teenager. She was still doing Hades' dirty work back then, but it is a cute look that reflects a more innocent time, when she was searching for magic to "restore happiness".
Good Costume Switch: More subtle, but she stops wearing makeup and her clothes are generally less revealing after she leaves Grimore Heart.
Good Scars, Evil Scars: She gets one in the shape of an X on her back post-Time Skip.
Hates Their Parent: Ultear becomes deeply resentful towards Ur once she sees the latter with Gray and Lyon and misunderstands it as Parental Abandonment.
The Heavy: She was the most recurring antagonist in the first half of the story, and the one representing the Dark Guild's goal of finding Zeref. She's usually manipulating events behind the scenes for Jellal and Hades while part of the magic council, having Cryptic Conversations that hinted at the series Myth Arc surrounding Zeref, and being involved in the events of the "Galuna Island arc" and "Tower of Heaven arc" without ever taking center stage. Her actual confrontation on "Sirius Island arc" is one the climaxes of the arc, with her being the one to defeat and capture Zeref and almost usurping Hades' plan.
Heel–Face Turn: After finally understanding that her mother loved her all along, Ultear decides to restore the destroyed Sirius Tree help Fairy Tail defeat Hades, and leave Grimoire Heart for good. She then created Crime Sorcière so she could dedicate her life to hunting down evil mages in order to atone for her past misdeeds.
Heel Realization:
- After falling into the ocean and experiencing Ur's memories, Ultear realizes that her actions were in the wrong and bursts into tears.
- Ultear has another one after her Heel–Face Turn, when she backs out of killing Rogue before he has a chance to turn into his evil future self, which makes her realize just how far she is from being redeemed.
Heroic RRoD: When she uses Last Ages, it takes everything she has to undo the deaths in Fiore; once she finishes the spell, Ultear keels over before she rapidly ages into an older woman.
Heroic Sacrifice: A non-fatal example. She uses her Last Ages spell to send the world back in time for one minute at the cost of her own time, leaving her a frail, elderly woman. Her spell causes everyone in the world to see into the future for that one minute, which provides invaluable Combat Clairvoyance to the wizards fighting for their lives against the dragons.
High-Heel–Face Turn: Alongside Merudy, they are the only member of Grimoire Heart to pull a Heel–Face Turn in the end, both being attractive girls with much less Obviously Evil designs than the rest of the guild.
High-Heel Power: All of her footwear is accompanied by heels, even her battle outfits, fitting with her being a feminine Dark Action Girl.
Hime Cut: Wears this hairstyle as a Magic Council member to go with her high-class Miko appearance.
An Ice Person: Like her mother, Ultear is capable of performing Ice Make, which she uses against Gray after he trumps her Arc of Time in the "Sirius Island arc". Notably, this was one of the only times she was ever shown using it, heavily implied to be related to her issues regarding her relationship with her mother.
Improbable Weapon User: Her weapon of choice is a Crystal Ball, which she maneuvers with her Arc of Time.
Inconsistent Spelling: Because of her name's connection to her mother's, some argue her name should be "Urtear". Funimation's dub even calls her "Urtear" in one episode since they translate her mother's name as "Ur", but switches to using the official "Ultear" spelling later. The Kodansha translation eventually sets things straight by having "Urtear" be her "actual" name, and "Ultear" as a name she fashioned for herself out of resentment.
It's All About Me: Played With. As a villain, she had purely selfish goals and no loyalty towards anyone but herself. In her mind this is justified since her plan involves traveling back in time, so none of her bonds or her misdeeds would carry over with her.
It's Personal: Because of her perceived Parental Abandonment, Ultear plots to travel back in time and exact revenge on her mother Ur. She also has a personal enmity with Gray due to him being the one she thinks her mother replaced her with. Once she learns the truth, she loses her grudge against both.
Kick Chick: While she doesn't specialize in physical combat, whenever she does attack someone with her body, she favors using kicks.
Kinslaying Is a Special Kind of Evil: She plans to commit matricide out of her perceived Parental Abandonment.
Lack of Empathy: She doesn't feel empathy for the innocents who get hurt while pursuing Zeref, partially because she assumes all of her misdeeds will get "undone" via Time Travel once her goal is accomplished. After she pulls a Heel–Face Turn and comes to terms that her plan is impossible, she becomes properly horrified by her past actions and becomes The Atoner.
Lady of Black Magic: She's a graceful woman who tends to be very calm and composed in fights, and is a very adept in using her Arc of Time and Ice Make.
Lamarck Was Right: She inherited the ability to use Ice Make from her mother, but rarely uses it out of resentment. Well, until the aftermath of her duel with Gray, at least...
Leotard of Power: Her official guild attire after the Time Skip is a skintight leotard, befitting her role as a vigilante mage.
Logical Weakness: As powerful and versatile as her Arc of Time is, it can't be used directly on living things. She couldn't accelerate or reverse the Iced Shell to destroy it because it was technically "living" ice from being made from Ur's body and spirit. Gray weaponizes this by freezing his own blood and turning it into blades she couldn't negate.
Long Hair Is Feminine: She has waist-long dark hair, and a graceful, feminine personality.
Love Redeems: Both her genuine love for her mother and Merudy change her for the better once she learns to embrace it.
Magic Enhancement: With the Second Origin spell, Ultear can unlock a container of secret magic power in the body of every living being. Using the Third Origin spell, she is able to temporarily grow, both magical and physical, the wizard on which she casting it to the point where he would naturally reach that level of power.
Makeup Is Evil: She noticeably stops wearing lipstick after her Heel–Face Turn.
The Man in Front of the Man: She seems at first to be one of Jellal's blind followers while he's Brainwashed and Crazy, but after his defeat, she's revealed to be the one who brainwashed him in the first place.
Manipulative Bitch: During her time as a villain, she manipulated the Magic Council, Lyon, Jellal, and even her own guild Grimoire Hearts all in the hopes of getting her hands on the dark wizard Zeref. On Sirius Island, she even tries manipulating Gray and Fairy Tail into taking out Hades for by giving him a fake sob story, but it doesn't work.
Master of Disguise: She's sneaky enough at infiltration to magically disguise herself as a male wizard named "Zalty" and create a whole new personality for him. The only thing that makes anyone suspect something's up is Natsu's enhanced sense smell being able to pick up the female perfume that's still on her skin.
Matricide: Defied. Ultear attempts to travel back in time to kill Ur to exact revenge for her perceived abandonment. However, it turns out that Ur did love her after all.
Meaningful Name: A In-Universe example. Ur named her "Ultear" (or "Urtear" by Kodansha and Funimation) after the Tears of Joy she felt holding her newborn daughter for the first time.
Mind over Matter: She has limited telekinesis magic that she uses on her Crystal Ball weapon, using it to barrage her opponents with it.
Miniature Senior Citizens: She becomes considerably shorter after she aged herself into an 80-year-old woman.
The Mole: Twofold. She is a member of the Magic Council, and works alongside Jellal to manipulate the council for their own agenda. But she's secretly a high-ranking member of Grimoire Heart, so in reality she's spying on the council for them and also spying on Jellal and his organization.
Morality Pet: Merudy was the only person she truly cared about in her life before her Heel–Face Turn, and most of her Pet the Dog moments involve her.
Ms. Fanservice: She has an hourglass figure, often wears tight or revealing clothing, her large chest and butt tend to be under Male Gaze shots often, has a few gratuitous fanservice scenes, and was even featured nude (with Scenery Censor) in one of the manga covers. This is Downplayed in the anime, where many of her fanservice scenes were toned down or cut.
My God, What Have I Done?: When she finally realizes how much Ur loved her, Ultear is genuinely shaken by what she's been doing all this time.
Navel-Deep Neckline: Ultear's Grimoire Heart Sexy Backless Outfit dress has a slit in her chest that just barely reaches her midsection.
Never Got to Say Goodbye: The last time Ultear saw her beloved mother Ur alive, she had just wrongfully assumed that Ur abandoned her for Gray and Lyon. Years later, Ultear is still haunted by Ur's death to the point that she decides to exact revenge on her mother. She deeply regrets her actions at the conclusion of her battle with Gray on Sirius Island.
Number Two: Ultear serves as Hades's next-in-command as the leader of Grimoire Heart's Seven Kin of Purgatory and is at his side in most of their scenes on Sirius Island.
Omniscient Morality License: Her Goal in Life as a villain is to capture Zeref so she can use him to perfect her Time Arc magic to a point she's able to Time Travel to the past so she can personally kill her mother for having wronged her. This is why she doesn't care how many innocents die or suffer from her actions, as she believes all her misdeeds will be left behind when she travels to the past and has a "second chance". This makes her even lie to Merudy, the only person that she cares about because she believes Merudy would have been better off if they never met, since that means Merudy's village wouldn't have gotten destroyed by Ultear. After her Heel–Face Turn and giving up on the Time Travel plan, she's so consumed by the guilt that she becomes suicidal, but is talked out of it by Merudy and becomes The Atoner instead.
Onee-sama: Merudy sees her more as a mother figure than a sister, but given that she is around Gray's age (in her late teens), the age fits at least.
Parental Abandonment: Played With. Ultear was born with huge magical potential, forcing her mother Ur to leave her with the Bureau of Magical Development. But they wanted Ultear as a guinea pig, so they faked her death so Ur would never look for her again. Not knowing this, Ultear one day managed to escape the facility, but upon reaching home she found her mother with Gray and Lyon and perceived it as her abandoning her and replacing her with other children. As for her father, he reportedly left her at a young age, if not before her birth.
Parental Substitute: She served as one to Merudy, effectively giving her the happy childhood she herself was denied, raising her with kindness even at Grimoite Heart, making the only ones there who truly cared for each other.
Pet the Dog: She committed a few sympathetic acts even during her time as a villain:
- She randomly restores the destroyed village on Galuna Island, and writes it off as a "kind gesture".
- She spared Merudy as a child after destroying her hometown and became her Parental Substitute while raising her with kindness in Grimoire Heart.
- When she decides to betray Hades and Grimoire Heart, she goes out of her way to make sure Merudy would come with her while trying to make a getaway with Zeref.
Pimped-Out Dress: Her non-battle Grimoire Heart attire is pretty fancy, and is even animal print in the manga.
Poor Communication Kills: Her whole dilemma of thinking she was abandoned and replaced by her mother could've been solved if she had bothered to actually reveal herself to Ur instead of jumping to conclusions.
Psychopathic Womanchild: Implied in the anime, where she is depicted in her mind as a little girl creepily droning about how much she hates her mother, suggesting the trauma of being abandoned as a child left her mentally stunted. Further adding to the implication is that when Ultear learns what really happened in the past, she is shown as a child one last time, crying Tears of Remorse over how wrong she was.
Put on a Bus: By the end of the Grand Magic Games, she turns into an old woman after sacrificing her own "time" to save everyone from the dragons and is forced to retire due to her frail condition. However, it's revealed that she left behind a thought projection of herself that actively yet briefly aids Wendy and Sherria against DiMaria during the Alvarez Empire arc.
Rank Scales with Asskicking: She's the leader of Grimoire Heart's Seven Kin of Purgatory and their most powerful member, being quite capable of wiping the floor with wizards such as Natsu, Gray, or Juvia.
Rapid Aging: The result of using Last Ages, even if it turned back time for a minute. She doesn't reveal this to anyone, including her fellow guildmates, and only Gray manages to learn of her sacrifice.
Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: She's a beautiful woman with long dark hair and contrasting pale, white skin.
Relative Button: Mentioning her mother in her presence positively sends her flying into a rage. Whether it would be what happened between them years ago or when Merudy calls her "Ur" (or "Urtear" in certain translations).
The Resenter: After escaping from the laboratory and seeing Ur, Gray, and Lyon together as a happy family, Ultear immediately drew her own conclusions, which led to hate and resentment towards Ur and her own transformation into a villain.
Revenge by Proxy: She attempts to kill Juvia for the sake of making Gray suffer, with Gray himself only being a proxy for her hatred against her mother for the perceived Parental Abandonment.
Roaring Rampage of Revenge: She concocts a plan to exact revenge on Ur by traveling back in time and killing her for her perceived Parental Abandonment.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Ultear decides to bail from Grimoire Heart along with Merudy just before Hades' death.
Senseless Sacrifice: {{Subverted|Trope]}. She thinks she has made this when her Heroic Sacrifice after the Grand Magic Games turns back time for a single minute, not realizing until afterwards that Gray and countless others were killed in that meager time frame, and were given the Combat Clairvoyance to avoid meeting their grizzly fates and turn the tide in their favor.
Set Right What Once Went Wrong: Her primary goal as a Grimoire Heart member is to turn back time to a period where she could live happily with her mother again. This gets her into trouble later when she decides that since she's going to fix the past anyway, she has carte blanche to do whatever evil acts necessary to get there since those actions would also be set right via Time Travel. In the end, it doesn't work out.
Sexy Backless Outfit: Many of her outfits leave her back exposed, not only for the fanservice appeal, but because her guild symbol is on her back as well for extra fetish points. Her post-Time Skip scar doesn't make it any less appealing.
Shipper on Deck: Rather blatantly ships Jellal with Erza.
Shout-Out: Her Last Ages spell is one of many shout outs to Rave Master; in this case, it's based on a very similar spell used by Niebel, which is used to different effect but shares the aging side-effects.
Slave Collar: She wears what looks like a belt around her neck both before and after her costume change.
Spanner in the Works:
- She greatly contributed to the defeat of Hades by Team Natsu by restoring the Great Sirius Island Tree and consequently also the full magic power of all members of Fairy Tail.
- If it were not for Ultear's decision to sacrifice herself to stop the attack of dragons and Future Rogue bringing back the time to stop the invasion, all of Fiore's population would die and many of the protagonists and most important characters (for example Lucy, Gray and Laxus) would not survive. Her Last Ages spell not only brought the time back by a minute to the exact moment these characters died but also gave them mental Foreshadowing that allowed them to counterattack promptly overturning the whole situation in their favor.
The Starscream: She has no loyalty towards Hades or Grimoire Heart, and is only a member so she can get her hands on Zeref and become strong enough Time Master to travel back in time and hit the Reset Button. When she captures Zeref on Sirius Island, she tries to manipulate Gray into using Iced Shell on Hades, which would essentially kill them both. She doesn't actually believe Gray could pull it off, but figures he and Fairy Tail would keep Hades busy for her while she made her escape with Zeref. She didn't count on Gray playing along, though.
Start of Darkness: She turned to the dark side after Ur seemingly abandoned and replaced her with Gray and Lyon.
Strong Family Resemblance: She looks almost exactly like her mother, save for her longer hair. This causes Gray to briefly mistake her for Ur when he first meets her, much to her anger.
Superpowerful Genetics: She inherits not only her mother's Ice Make magic, but also her huge amounts of magic power, which almost fatally compromises her physical health when she is very young, but ended up making her into a formidable mage as an adult.
Sweet Polly Oliver: Using shapeshifting magic, she disguises herself as an old masked man named Zalty on Galuna Island, since she can't act freely in her true identity since she's part of the magic council. Natsu picks up on her scent of women's perfume while she's disguised and concludes that Ultear is actually a transsexual.
Tears of Remorse: She sheds them upon realizing that her mother loved her after all, and later when she is unable to go through with killing the innocent Rogue to stop his evil future counterpart.
This Is Unforgivable!: Since she was a child, Ultear is unwilling to forgive her mother Ur for her perceived Parental Abandonment. The matter does get solved when she discovers her mother never abandoned her in the first place and there was nothing to forgive.
Time Master: Her Arc of Time, lets her rewind, slow down, fast forward, or completely stop the "time" of any object or non-creature. It also has other nifty Awesome, but Impractical effects:
- After the first Time Skip, she learns to unlock a wizard's Second Origin, hastening his or her magical development so they can tap into an extra container of magic energy that effectively doubles their power. The downside is that the process is unfathomably painful. She can even go to the next level and unlock a wizard's Third Origin, which gives them access to their highest magical potential they may reach in the future. The cost is far more severe, though, as the wizard will permanently lose their current magic once it wears off, although they are capable of relearning from the ground up.
- She also knows a Dangerous Forbidden Technique that can reverse time itself and give everyone foresight of what would happen in that time, but at the cost of the caster's "time". It also leaves behind a fully conscious after-image of herself that, while lacking a physical presence and only seen appearing in frozen time, has full access to her powers and can override whatever other time wizard is causing the distortion.
Took a Level in Jerkass: After being subjected to unethical experiments in her past, she comes to believe that Ur abandoned her. She decides to concoct a sinister plan to exact revenge on her.
Took a Level in Kindness: She becomes much more playful and mischievous after her Heel–Face Turn, a stark contrast to her downright psychotic and over-the-top villainy.
Tragic Mistake: Ultear begins to resent her mother by perceiving her being with Gray and Lyon as abandonment.
Tragic Villain: Ultear had some issues growing up — having been experimented on since you were a child, your mother apparently abandoning you for Gray and Lyon, and being raised by Hades would do that to you — and that they had a hand in her fall to villainy. She attempts to travel back in time to kill her own mother to cement herself as evil.
Tyke-Bomb: She was born with an excess of magic, causing her mother to have to leave her in a government facility for treatment. But they secretly abducted her and faked her death so that they could raise Ultear as a weapon. She was the first of her group to be recruited by Hades since she was a child, after escaping from the center of magical experimentation for years she has been trained in the knowledge and use not only of her Lost Magic but also to other forms of complex magic, as preparation for her future infiltration into the Council of the Magic.
Undying Loyalty: In direct contrast to the woman she was before Sirius, the Grand Magic Games show her to be utterly devoted to her guild and the Family of Choice she has left, willing to risk alienating Jellal to protect him, Shoot the Dog (until Natsu talks her down), and ultimately make a Heroic Sacrifice to save everyone.
Unreliable Expositor: Towards Gray when she first tells him about what happened to Ur during their battle on Sirius Island. She leaves out the key detail that her mother loved her so much in even after she took Gray and Lyon in as her students. Ultear fully understands what happened when she sees Ur's side of the story.
Villainous Breakdown: Ultear breaks her usual composure and goes absolutely berserk when Gray fights her on Sirius Island and tries to tell her about why her mother always loved her. Merudy's startled reactions show that she's never seen Ultear have such reactions before. She only gets better once she realizes the truth about Ur.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: Even after her Heel–Face Turn, she seriously contemplates killing Rogue so he won't turn into the evil Future Rogue. It's quickly subverted when she realizes she can't go through with it.
Willfully Weak: While disguised as Zalty, she fought and got beaten by Natsu while on Galuna Island, but later says she was only fighting with less than half of her strength.
Woman Of Wealth And Taste: She was shown to indulge in lavish things during her time as a villain and member of the magic council, such as wearing more make-up and a lot of perfume, dressing in opulent outfits, and taking luxurious bubble baths.
Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: The experiments she went through as a child and her perceived Parental Abandonment by Ur made her perfectly willing to travel back in time to a point where she can kill her mother.
You Remind Me of X: The reason she developed a soft spot for Merudy was because she reminded her of her younger self.

Merudy

Voiced by: Saori Goto (Japanese), Bryn Apprill (English) ^note

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/meredy.png

^{Click here to see her pre-Time Skip appearance}

Another former member of Grimoire Heart's Seven Kin, Merudy has the power to control and connect people's physical and emotional senses with her Magilty Sense. Beginning as a quiet, seemingly emotionless girl, Merudy only ever opened up around Ultear, her mother figure, and is willing to throw her own life away for Ultear's happiness. After heartfelt confrontation with Juvia changes her perspective, she matures into a cheery young woman who is capable of sharing her compassion with everyone.

Absurdly Sharp Blade: Her Magilty Sodom spell don't so much cut opponents so much as they force the pain receptors in their brains to make them feel as though they've been cut. This proves useful against Juvia's Nigh-Invulnerable water body.
Adaptation Dye-Job: Her eye color changes from green to red a few episodes into the 2014 anime.
All Your Powers Combined: After the second Time Skip, Merudy learns to combine her Magilty Sense with other wizards' magic, dramatically boosting their power. According to her, this is how her magic was intended to be used. Thanks to this ability, she and Juvia have literally swept away the Zancrow and Keyes Historia's with a very powerful Combination Attack.
Anguished Declaration of Love: She declares her familial love for Ultear after she tries to commit suicide to atone for all the things she had done, which include destroying Merudy's hometown.
Badass Cape: She's rarely seen without a cape enveloping her body, both as a child and as an adult.
The Cavalry: During the Alvarez arch, Merudy is one of the characters who mysteriously disappears after Irene Belserion uses her Universe One spell, only to reappear unexpectedly during the final battle between the Dragon Slayers and Acnologia to offer Lucy her vital support by connecting her with the entire continent, so as to provide the celestial mage with monstrous amounts of magic power used to keep the Fairy Sphere spell active.
Chekhov's Skill: Her Magilty Sense, particularly its magic-enhancing feature, proves to be critical to defeating Acnologia, as she links Lucy with all the wizards she has ever met across her adventures, reinforcing Fairy Sphere before the Dragon King can break out of it.
Child Mage: She is just a little girl when she's introduced, yet she can use very powerful magic that gives her equal footing with Fairy Tail's strongest wizards.
Child Prodigy: By the time she was still just a young teen/preteen in Grimoire Heart, she learned to master one of the most powerful forms of Lost Magic, and she entered its top seven members behind Blue Note.
Clothing Damage: She does this to Juvia when they collide during the start of her battle against her and Erza. Juvia then proceeds to repay her in the same way. Even during the war against the Alvaraz Empire, her new clothing is moderately damaged.
Commonality Connection: She and Juvia develop a bond mid-fight due to the sheer devotion they have over their loved ones (Juvia to Gray, Merudy to Ultear).
Dark Magical Girl: Before the first Time Skip she was this as an orphan kid of a village reduced to rubble. Raised in a guild of evil wizards with the aim of being forced to become a living human weapon, she seemed to have little social interaction and almost no confidence with all of her teammates except Ultear, her mother figure. After bonding with Juvia and having a heart-to-heart with Ultear, she is noted to be more cheerful after the time-skip.
Death Glare: She gives one to Ultear in secret when the latter restores the Sirius Tree to help Fairy Tail defeat Hades.
Doomed Hometown: Merudy cooperates with Ultear's schemes because Ultear saved her when her town was destroyed and told her that awakening Zeref would allow her to restore it. When Zancrow informs her that Ultear destroyed her town in the first place, she does not take it well.
Driven to Suicide: Once Merudy connects her senses with Juvia and Gray's own senses after her Curb-Stomp Battle, she decides to kill herself to take Gray with her. Juvia stops her from doing so, however.
Emotionless Girl: She is introduced as such, right up until she starts raving about her obsession with Ultear.
The Empath: Initially, she only uses her magic to inflict pain on others. After coming into contact with Juvia, a woman driven by The Power of Love, Merudy finds she is able to share others' emotions as well.
Expository Hairstyle Change: By X791, Merudy grows her hair out longer.
Evil Counterpart: To Juvia, at first. Both are introduced as Emotionless Girls and members of enemy guilds, but while Juvia abandoned her guild's ideals upon falling madly in love with Gray and declaring her hatred of anyone who could potentially steal him away, Merudy snaps at the thought of Gray, whom she blames for harming Ultear, her mother figure. In the end, however, Juvia helps Merudy find a better way to express her love, telling her in the English dub that they're not so different.
The Gift: One of the reasons Ultear recruited her into Grimoire Heart was because she could perceive a great magical potential inside her (the other reason being she felt a particular kinship with her). Come to the final battle against Acnologia where is shown that Ultear always had right as Merudy uses her magic to help Lucy and the Dragon Slayers on all wizards who are on the continent of Ishgar.
Happily Adopted: Ultear found her as a child and took her in. Merudy loves Ultear very much and even refers to Ultear as her mother in a flashback. This is nearly ruined after she finds out Ultear was the one who destroyed her hometown, but Merudy manages to put this behind her.
Heart Is an Awesome Power: Her basic magic allows her to synchronize the physical senses of two or more people, but what makes this magic incredible is its ability to share the pain of a broken leg, even if only one of the linked individuals is injured, yet its is perfectly capable of sharing death. Not to mention, its offensive capabilities allow her to injure even intangible beings.
High-Heel–Face Turn: Alongside Ultear, they are the only member of Grimoire Heart to pull a Heel–Face Turn in the end, both being attractive girls with much less Obviously Evil designs than the rest of the guild.
Inconsistent Spelling: She is referred to as "Meredy" by fans who saw her name as a Shout-Out to a Tales of Eternia character, which Mashima said was unintentional. In the end, Kodansha wound up going with "Merudy", while Funimation calls her "Meldy".
Leotard of Power: She wears one underneath her Badass Cape before joining
Little Miss Badass: Erza, the epitome of badassery in the series, is able to sense just how powerful she is and hesitant to fight her in when they first meet, despite appearing to be no older than a young teen.
Magic Enhancement: By the time of the Alvarez Empire arc, her Magilty Sense has evolved to the point that it is able to share the magic power between a seemingly limitless number of wizards, strengthening them accordingly.
Mercury's Wings: Wears some sort of gold wing-like headgear around her ears in her introduction.
Morality Pet: Her relationship with Ultear goes a long way at humanizing and ultimately redeeming the latter, who had been seen as nothing but a cruel, manipulative woman before Merudy's past with her is explored.
Oh, Crap!: Merudy has a moment of slack-jawed horror when she realizes that threatening Gray in front of Juvia was a very bad idea.
Psychic Link: As she discovers after joining the connection of Juvia and Gray, Merudy's magic possesses powerful empathic abilities that allow connected individuals to share the same emotions on top of physical sensations. This proves to be extremely useful for Juvia in convincing Merudy to cease her suicide attempt, and later helping Merudy find the strength to forgive Ultear after discovering the truth about the destruction of her native village.
Rei Ayanami Expy: A young girl with short pink hair and special magical abilities who shows little to no emotion and is extremely devoted to her parental figure. By the Time Skip, she has defrosted into a very outgoing and emotional person.
Relative Button: She was raised by Ultear after she lost her real parents in her hometown's destruction and came to view her as a mother figure, so attempting to threaten Ultear is the one thing that sets her off.
Robo Speak: When she's introduced, she pauses between words and refers to her mission to "exterminate" and "annihilate" her enemies as the "prime directive", and she even gave the members of Fairy Tail numbers for the order in which she would kill them.
Rose-Haired Sweetie: She starts out as an Emotionless Girl, but becomes a perfect example of the cheerful subtype after the Time Skip.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: She leaves Grimoire Heart along with Ultear just before Sirius Island's disappearance.
She Is All Grown Up: She grows into a stunning, sunny, beauty and young woman over the seven-year Time Skip, one whom Juvia can hardly recognize from the moody child she was on Sirius Island.
Shout-Out: Subverted; Mashima came up with her name out of the blue, but regretted it when he learned that it was identical to the character Meredy^notePronunced Merudy in Japanese from Tales of Eternia.
Spontaneous Weapon Creation: She's able to use spatial magic to manifest a clock-themed sword to her hand.
Storm of Blades: One of her spells, Magilty Sodom, produces a stream of energy swords.
Story-Breaker Power: Her Lost Magic Magilty Sense ends up being this in the last narrative arc of the manga and is probably the reason why at some point she disappears from the story due to Irene's Universe One spell to being fished only in the penultimate chapter of the entire series.
Sugar-and-Ice Personality: When she's introduced, she's a stoic and cold girl who only shows her warm and somewhat childlike side to Ultear. Over the Time Skip, her warmer personality takes over.
Sympathy for the Devil: In an anime-exclusive scene, she shows concern for her former guildmate Rustyrose when he returns after seven years. When he threatens to kill her for refusing to rebuild Grimoire Heart with him, and asks why she wouldn't fight back, she claims that she doesn't need her magic to know how miserable and lonely he really is.
Synchronization: Her magic allows her to connect two or more people's physical and emotional senses to one another, including her own.
Taking You with Me: She adds herself to the Gray-Juvia Synchronization link when Juvia begins overwhelming her so that Gray will die no matter which girl dies. She even decides to kill herself just so Gray will die, but Juvia convinces her not to do so by telling her is better to live on for the person you love (Ultear) than to die for them.
Took a Level in Cheerfulness: After the Time Skip, she's grown from a very serious, angry kid into a very relaxed, cheerful young woman.
Tyke-Bomb: Ultear found her as a child and took her in to learn the ways of Lost Magic, turning her into one of Grimoire Heart's deadliest warriors, though Ultear treated her with far more kindness than usual examples, basically becoming Merudy's Parental Substitute.
Underestimating Badassery: She ranks Juvia low on her hit list due to seeing her as a weakling. It isn't until she taunts Juvia that Gray is at the top of her list that she realizes what a mistake she's made.
Undying Loyalty: To Ultear, due to being raised by her since she was a child. Even after finding out that Ultear was the one who took everything away from her in the first place, Merudy loves her and wants to stay by her side no matter what.
Villainous Breakdown: Merudy loses it when Juvia overpowers her during their battle on Sirius Island, going so far as trying to kill herself in an attempt to kill the linked Gray.
Yandere: A platonic example. Shown to be willing to kill in cold blood for Ultear at first, stating that she would kill Gray for hurting "her" Ultear, and would even throw away her own life if it meant taking Gray with her. Thanks to Juvia, however, she manages to find a healthier way to express her love.
Weak, but Skilled: During the "Sirius Island arc", Mashima claimed that she was originally supposed to be the weakest of the 7 Kin of Purgatory. Although the difference of pure magic power of each of them remains very doubtful, in case Merudy was still one of the weakest members her ability not only to keep up with Erza and Juvia at the same time but even to overcome them acquires only more value.

Recruits

Macbeth

Macbeth, a.k.a. Midnight

See his entry on the Oración Seis page.

Erik

Erik, a.k.a. Cobra

See his entry on the Oración Seis page.

Sorano Agria

Sorano Agria (Angel)

See her entry on the Oración Seis page.

Sawyer

Sawyer (Racer)

See his entry on the Oración Seis page.

Richard Buchanan

Richard Buchanan, a.k.a. Hoteye

See Fairy Tail – Oración Seis

Characters / Fairy Tail – Crime Sorcière

Spoilers for all works set before the end of Fairy Tail are unmarked. Examples pertaining to 100 Years Quest can be spoiler tagged if deemed necessary.

Membership

Founders

Jellal Fernandes, a.k.a. Siegrain

Voiced by: Daisuke Namikawa (Japanese); Robert McCollum, Terri Doty [child] (English) ^note
Portrayed by: Hirofumi Araki (stage)

Ultear Milkovich

Voiced by: Miyuki Sawashiro (Japanese); Lydia Mackay, Kara Edwards [child] (English) ^note

Merudy

Voiced by: Saori Goto (Japanese), Bryn Apprill (English) ^note

Recruits

Macbeth, a.k.a. Midnight

Erik, a.k.a. Cobra

Sorano Agria (Angel)

Sawyer (Racer)

Richard Buchanan, a.k.a. Hoteye

Alternative Title(s): Fairy Tail Jellal

Previous

Index

Next

Characters / Fairy Tail – Crime Sorcière

Edit Locked

Spoilers for all works set before the end of Fairy Tail are unmarked. Examples pertaining to 100 Years Quest can be spoiler tagged if deemed necessary.

Membership

Founders

Jellal Fernandes, a.k.a. Siegrain

Voiced by: Daisuke Namikawa (Japanese); Robert McCollum, Terri Doty [child] (English) note Other languages: Rafael Escalante (Latin American Spanish); Thierry Bourdon (French)Portrayed by: Hirofumi Araki (stage)

Ultear Milkovich

Voiced by: Miyuki Sawashiro (Japanese); Lydia Mackay, Kara Edwards [child] (English) note Other languages: Alejandra Delint [Season 1], Pamela Cruz [Season 2](Latin American Spanish); Jessica Barrier (French)

Merudy

Voiced by: Saori Goto (Japanese), Bryn Apprill (English) note Other languages: Lucille Boudonnat (French)

Recruits

Macbeth, a.k.a. Midnight

Erik, a.k.a. Cobra

Sorano Agria (Angel)

Sawyer (Racer)

Richard Buchanan, a.k.a. Hoteye

Alternative Title(s): Fairy Tail Jellal

Previous

Index

Next

Voiced by: Daisuke Namikawa (Japanese); Robert McCollum, Terri Doty [child] (English) ^note
Portrayed by: Hirofumi Araki (stage)

Voiced by: Miyuki Sawashiro (Japanese); Lydia Mackay, Kara Edwards [child] (English) ^note

Voiced by: Saori Goto (Japanese), Bryn Apprill (English) ^note