Fairy Tail / Tropes Q to S

Tropes A to E | Tropes F to I | Tropes J to P | Tropes Q to S | Tropes T to Z

---

Fairy Tail provides examples of the following tropes:

Q

• Quirky Miniboss Squad: One for each major arc. Some of them even have names (Element Four, Seven Kin of Purgatory, Raijinshuu, Trinity Raven, the Nine Demon Gates, and the Spriggan 12).

R

• Raised by Wolves: Natsu seems capable of intelligence. He probably could stand next to Lucy as a rare island of sanity in Fairy Tail if he'd had human parents instead of a dragon dad.
• Random Power Ranking: The S-Class rank is certified individually by each guild and each may have their own standards. In Fairy Tail S-rank is granted by a test and involves more than just fighting ability. While Gadjeel and Juvia are S-Class Wizards in Phantom Lord, they needed to earn the rank back in Fairy Tail because Makarov did not place more emphasis on power like Jose Porla did.
• Rank Scales with Asskicking:
  • The Guild Masters and the Magic Council. Though not so much for certain council members.
  • Subverted by the Oración Seis. The leader, Brain, actually goes down pretty easy; the actual strongest member is Midnight. Or not. As of Chapter 156, the strongest member is Brain's Superpowered Evil Side Master Zero.
• Rapid Hair Growth: Fried and Juvia both cut their hair before and after the fighting festival Arc. After the Edolas Arc, it returns to its original length for reasons unknown.
• Redemption Demotion: Gajeel and Juvia were both S-Class wizards in their introduction. Possibly justified in that Makarov's standards for S-Class wizards are much higher than other guild masters'.
• Red Shirt Army: Whenever the military of Fiore tries to dispose of villains, they're often utterly curb stomped, or forced to retreat.
• Really Dead Montage:
  • Jellal gets one, coupled with Never Found the Body.
  • Chapter 499 gives one for Juvia, after she kills herself thanks to a combination of Invel's Ice Chain and a blood transfusion spell to save Gray's life.
• Real Life Writes the Plot: The fight between Juvia and Merudy was originally intended to be a straight martial victory for Juvia. However, at the time Mashima was drawing the fight out, a tsunami devastated Japan and he decided a fight won by pounding the opponent with water just wasn't appropriate. So instead, he had the fight end with a message about The Power of Love, leading Merudy to Heel–Face Turn and form Crime Sorciere with Ultear and Jellal.
• Really Gets Around: Gildarts names twelve women off the top of his head that he's slept with, then two more when trying to guess which one he fathered Cana with.
• Red Baron: Erza the "Titania/Queen of the Fairies", "Demon" Mirajane, "Beast Arm" Elfman, "Salamander" Natsu, "Sky Sorceress" Wendy, "Black Steel" Gajeel, Juvia of the Deep, and "Darkness" Fried. And these examples are only from Fairy Tail itself.
• Redemption Equals Death: Done for Jellal... twice.
  • Also done for Lucy's father. Despite being abusive to her, when she disappeared, he continued to send her birthday gifts every year, believing that she would one day come back. In his final letter, he enclosed all of the money she would have owed, an apology, and told her that he always loved her. For extra points, he died ONE MONTH before she came back.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: The anime gives these to Dragon Slayers Natsu and Gajeel when their faces are shadowed.
  • It's also a case of Glowing Eyes of Doom for Zeref, and a really, really bad sign. If his eyes turn red with small, black circles around his pupils, run.
• Ridiculously Long-lived Family Name: The name Heartfilia goes back at least four hundred years, as shown with Anna Heartfilia, and has continued on since into the present day of the series, as shown with Anna's present-day descedents, Layla and Lucy Heartfilia.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni:
  • Natsu and Gray. Natsu is Hot-Blooded and frequently uses Unstoppable Rage, and while Gray isn't exactly The Stoic, most of his anger is expressed in Tranquil Fury.
  • Laxus with Fried, his dragon. Also with Mystogan, his rival.
• Reformed, but Rejected:
  • Hoteye and Jellal. Sure, they had a change of heart, but the law still holds them responsible for their past actions — even though Jellal was Brainwashed and Crazy.
  • Same goes for Zeref. Though, in fairness, given his reputation, it's hard to blame others for still shitting bricks just when his name is mentioned. However, unlike the aforementioned examples, he eventually decides that Humans Are Bastards because of it, and that if they won't accept him, so be it.
• Relationship Upgrade: Alzack and Bisca after the timeskip.
• Remember the New Guy?:
  • The Raijin Tribe are absent during Laxus's earlier appearances despite being his personal guard.
  • In the anime, Gildarts isn't mentioned when the guild's S-class wizards are originally specified.
• Replacement Goldfish: Subverted in Grey and Leon's backstory. Leon assumed that Ur had taken him and Grey as students in order to fill the void left by her not actually dead daughter. After the Galuna Island arc Siegrain also suggests to Ultear, who actually is Ur's daughter, that he thinks the same thing. Subverted in that Ur herself never treated either of them this way.
  Ur: Leon, let's get one thing straight. I've never once thought of you as a replacement for my daughter. You are who you are. You're my adorable student.
• Retcon:
  • Destroy the Lacrima in each of Nirvana's six legs to stop it? OK, but it had eight legs the first time we saw it. In the manga, at least it had seven legs at first not eight. In then repeatedly changes between eight and seven. Chalk it up to lazy author/assistant not counting right. In the anime, Nirvana has six legs from the start.
  • So Lisanna is alive. She was in Edolas the whole time? It was implied that she was killed by Elfman's Demon Form. Apparently, when Lisanna was attacked by Elfman, her badly injured body was switched with the deceased one from Edolas via a sudden Anima.
  • When Gajeel and Juvia joined Fairy Tail it was said that they were instantly promoted to S-Rank wizards. As of Chapter 201 they apparently aren't, but that one can actually be explained: They were considered S-Class before joining, but have to retake the test to be S-Class in Fairy Tail.
  • Natsu's motion sickness is extended to be a universal trait of Dragon Slayers. Even acknowledged as a retcon; Gajeel was actually surprised when this one kicked in.
  • Irene's backstory given in the Alvarez arc really only matches up with Zirconis' account of the Dragon King Festival from the Grand Magic Games in Broad Strokes. Aparently the Dragons of Ishgar coexisted with humans peacefully and it was the Dragons of the western continant Alakitasia who were the main anti-human faction. Likewise despite Zirconis implying that Igneel started the war to protect humanity, he's never mentioned at all.
• The Reveal: The hooded person that appeared through the Tournament Arc and had a magic similar to Zeref's is revealed to be Lucy from the future. She bears the taint of Zeref because Zeref had a hand in the construction of the Eclipse Gate.
• Revealing Hug: Jellal does one after Erza "defeats" him and "removes Zeref's influence". Obviously he wasn't in control, and used the hug to place a binding spell on her
• Rigged Spectacle Fight: During the grand magic games, Laxus is set to fight Raven Tail's Alexi in a one-on-one match. While the audience watches an epic fight between the two, in reality, the fight is nothing more than an illusion rigged to give either one the victory while Alexi reveals himself to be Ivan (who is the guild master and not allowed to partake in the games) and the entire Raven Guild prepares to either get Laxus to give them Fairy Tail's secrets or gang up on him and have Ivan win the fight as Alexi. However, Laxus manages to overpower the entire guild on his own, break the illusion, and expose them of their cheating, resulting in Raven Tail being disqualified.
• Ron the Death Eater: invoked Played for Laughs in some of the early next episode summaries in the anime. With Natsu and Happy narrating they blame getting in way over their heads all on Lucy and talk about how she forced them with her black heart made of pure evil.
• Rousseau Was Right: Almost every antagonist only became that way through personal trauma, manipulation by others, who in turn were also traumatised or manipulated, and most of them eventually find redemption and forgiveness, becoming friends and allies. Nobody is truly without hope of fresh start. To name a few:
  • Lyon was originally a pupil of Ur like Gray, and only went down a dark path after her death in an effort to fulfill his childhood dream of surpassing her. After being defeated, he and his compatriots realize the futility of the path they're on and join Lamia Scale, and he and Gray reconcile.
  • Erza's old friends and fellow child slaves from the Tower of Heaven were never bad people, and only did bad things at the behest of Jellal, who had manipulated them. Once this betrayal comes to light, they are deeply sorry, and aid Erza and her guildmates from then on. Afterwards, two of them set out on their own while the third (Millianna) becomes a legitimate wizard and joins Mermaid Heel.
  • Jellal in turn had been manipulated and possessed by Ultear. All of his despicable actions were done under her influence. After his memory is erased, his actions suggest his purest instincts are to act nobly. After he regains his memory, all he wants to do is atone, even though it could be argued he was never responsible.
  • Ultear in turn had come to believe her mother, Ur, had abandoned her to be tortured; after escaping the hell she endured, she found her mother smiling with two random boys, and was filled with a jealous rage. Once she learns the truth, that her mother was told she was dead and that her anger throughout the years was based on a lie, she abandons it and works to atone. She and Jellal together create Crime Sorciere for that purpose.
  • Five of the six Oracion Seis were originally child slaves for the Tower of Heaven project, just like Erza, Jellal and others on this list. They unfortunately didn't have the luxury of an opportunity to make better choices in life, and were recruited at a young age to be part of the Seis, with a personal childhood trauma each of them suffered as slaves being the reason they were recruited in the first place.
    • Of the five, Hoteye is flipped by Nirvana, because he was never truly evil to begin with and his "prayer" is a truly selfless one; he wants to know that his brother (who is Wally, who was also a Tower of Heaven slave and one of Erza's old friends) is ok.
  • Juvia is introduced with a cold-hearted, dead-inside affect. In reality, this is due to having grown up constantly being called "gloomy" because the rain followed her everywhere. Her actions on behalf of Phantom Lord stemmed from a deep sense of unhappiness than any sense of malice. After joining Fairy Tail, she becomes a kind and joyful person.
  • Gajeel is shown to take some convincing to join Fairy Tail after the disbandment of Phantom Lord. It's clear that he is remorseful for the pain he personally put Fairy Tail through, but although Makarov admits he will never fully forgive him for it, he is adamant that leaving Gajeel to go down that path when he has the chance to save him is not something he could forgive himself for.
  • Flare, a dead-eyed Slasher Smile wearing maniacally laughing psycho who was a member of Raven Tail, a guild that was created for the sole purpose of destroying Fairy Tail, and who once threatened to murder a child is beyond redemption, right? Well, no. She too was manipulated into believing Fairy Tail was the enemy, because Raven Tail took her in when she had nowhere else to go. After Raven Tail is disbanded, she comes to regret her actions and works to atone.
  • Even Big Bad Zeref was nothing more than a man with a horrific curse which caused any living thing around him to die. He had no control over this and went to great lengths to avoid contact with living things, because despite his reputation, he had no desire to kill. At least... at first.
• Running Gag:
  • Lucy's inability to seduce anyone, despite having large breasts and being stuck in very fanservicey clothing much of the time. The flipside is that whenever Erza tries to seduce someone in something other than her armour, she always succeeds.
  • Juvia's Imagine Spots about her and Gray.
  • A visual gag: Erza and her luggage.
  • Gray unconsciously stripping.
  • Happy's shipping habits in the anime.
    Happy: "He lllikes her!"
    Gray: "What kind of running gag is that?!"
  • Natsu's inability to to be carried by anything that's not Happy.
    Natsu: "HAPPY'S NOT A VEHICLE!"
  • Whenever Lucy comes home, she is greeted by one (or more) of her comrades nonchalantly sitting on her couch having broken into her home. Every time. Without fail. Usually Natsu, with Gray and/or Erza accompanying him from time to time.^note It's revealed in an omake that Mirajane gives them the spare key.
  "Watashi no heya!!!!"^note Literally, "(This is) my room!!!!", but translated by Funimation as "My place!!!!".
  • Every time Team Natsu comes back to Fairy Tail, eventually it will end up in a Bar Brawl. Always.
  • Max ending up with his pants down and with a broom up his butt.
  • Erza taking everything way too seriously.
  • Natsu scaring the crap out of a monster and is called one.
    Natsu: "I'm not a monster."
  • Lucy walking home from the guild on top of the canal levee, while someone on a boat in the canal warns her about falling in.
  • Natsu getting Lucy's name wrong.
  • Gray making Mirajane cry.
  • Virgo asking for a punishment for no reason.
  • Wendy and her intense dislike of Umeboshi (pickled plums).
  • After the one-year Time Skip: Everybody asking Wendy if she has grown taller, only for her to awkwardly reveal that she hasn't.
  • After Wendy's Troia spell was revealed, everyone thought that Natsu's motion sickness problems would be over... only for this gag to settle in, keeping Wendy from ever using the spell on-screen again. (In the anime, it's chalked up to him having developed an immunity to the spell due to it being used on him so many times.) Worse still, after the one-year Time Skip Wendy has the same problem too!

S

• Sadistic Choice: Laxus imposes one on the Fairy Tail members: To get out of his magic traps and rescue their True Companions whom he had taken hostage, they must fight each other.
  • It happens again when Jackal of Tartarus forces Lucy to choose between a pregnant woman and the ex-council member that Fairy Tail was trying to protect. Fortunately Natsu arrives with a Take the Third Option and attacks Jackal instead.
• Sarashi: Worn by Erza in the style of a tube top as part of her Clear Heart outfit.
• Say My Name: Erza Scarlet and Erza Knightwalker do this to each other a lot.
  "SCARLET!"
  "KNIGHTWALKER!"
• Scarf of Asskicking: Natsu's signature scarf was given to him by Igneel. He never takes it off.
• Scenery Censor: Never shall anyone glimpse the private parts of the characters.
• Schizo Tech: The world is largely a medieval to Renaissance era equivalent, with the most sophisticated conventional piece of machinery being the steam train. Anything more advanced utilizes magic as a power source (temporarily draining the magic energy from an user via a special plug) and is both rare and powerful. The gamut of magical devices ranges from firearms and automobiles, to airships and computers, to Humongous Mecha and a Kill Sat. Rock Beats Laser is very much in effect, though, as magical devices harness a fraction of one's true magical potential and thus can be surpassed by those who wield magic directly.
• Sealed Evil in a Can
  • Subverted with Deliora, as being covered it special ice seems to just be sealing him, but turns out to have killed him.
  • Black Wizard Zeref plays this role. Subverted too, since he was never actually sealed. He just went into self-imposed exile after he got tired of killing people.
• Searching for the Lost Relative: Natsu is introduced in the series looking for his missing adopted dragon father Igneel, with his goal throughout the majority of the series is trying to find him. They do meet up again during the Tartaros arc with The Reveal that Igneel was literally inside of Natsu all along, unfortunately for Natsu their reunion is short-lived as Acnologia kills Igneel not long after reuniting with each other.
• Self-Made Orphan: Sting and Rogue killed the dragons that raised them. Ultimately revealed to be not the case, as the memories of killing the dragons were artificial.
• Senseless Sacrifice: Subverted when Ultear sacrifices herself to rewind time. She only manages to get back one minute and, after rapidly aging into an old woman as a result, thinks it was all in vain, but it was just enough to prevent the death of at least half a dozen characters.
• Sexy Mentor: Gray's mentor, Ur. She was the one to give him his habit of stripping after all.
• Shameful Strip:
  • Yukino's master forces her to remove her clothes and guild tattoo in front of the entire Sabertooth Guild after she loses one fight. Then he kicks her out.
  • Everyone captured by Tartaros suffers this.
  • Dimaria's favorite tactic.
  • Attempted by Jacob Lessio. It not only doesn't work because his victim is Lucy, it actually backfires on him because he doesn't like seeing women naked so he has to squeeze his eyes shut and look away.
• Shapeshifting Excludes Clothing: At one point during Team Natsu's fight with Hades, the latter used a technique named "Katsu" on Wendy, causing her to disappear instantly, only leaving her clothes behind. Fortunately, it turns out she was saved at the last minute by Horologium, and that Hades' attack actually didn't hit her.
• Sheathe Your Sword: Natsu's battle with Gildarts. He applauds his bravery but was trying to teach him that sometimes its better to stay your fist than to keep fighting. Natsu eventually gets the hint and stops...and Gildarts praises him for understanding.
• Shipper on Deck:
  • Gildarts ships Natsu×Lisanna.
  • Happy is a major offender here, but his favorite couple seems to be Lucy×Loke. It's a bit of a stretch to say that Happy actually ships them though. Its more like he's making fun and teasing Lucy because Loke couldn't have made it more obvious that he wants Lucy. Some argue that Loke wants all girls.
    • Chapter 281 has him pretty big on Jellal/Erza too. He clearly saw their private moment at the beginning of the arc.
  • In the Nirvana arc, Virgo comments about Natsu having a crush on Lucy, but she could just be imitating Happy.
  • Mirajane ships Natsu×Lucy once. Cut to Natsu dancing on a table making a funny face.
    Lucy: "Even if it was true, I wouldn't go for it."
• Ship Tease: Used so much that a case can be made for practically any character falling for any other one. To try to figure out who is supposed to be an Official Couple is to submit yourself to madness. But Jellal×Erza is heavily implied.
  • This seriously needs its own page. Any takers?
  • Lucy falling to her death yet having absolute faith in Natsu, and Natsu appearing right on time catch her, and Lucy was very, VERY happy to see him. Natsu×Lucy teasing check.
  • The special Chapter/Episode 50 "Watch Out For That Guy" is full of Natsu×Lucy ship tease.
  • Heavily injured Natsu carrying Erza on his arms, with him walking like a badass and her crying on his chest and add a Headbutt of Love. Natsu×Erza teasing check.
  • A bit of Lucy×Gray teasing during the Oración Seis arc, where Gemini transforms into Gray and reveals that he finds Lucy attractive.
  • Any arc closure event with Erza and Jellal next to each other. Jellal×Erza teasing check.
  • The very fact that Lisanna came back; Natsu×Lisanna teasing check.
  • Chapters 207-210 provide a case for both Elfman×Evergreen and Levy×Gajeel. In all honesty, though, that last one was kind of expected.
  • When Levy leaves "Iron" for Gajeel to eat... the "o" has a heart in the middle. Just saying, not subtle.
    • Guess which letter Gajeel eats first?
  • Any time Juvia and Gray are together has Gray×Juvia teasing, if only on Juvia's part. Though he didn't seem unhappy about dressing up as a king to her queen for the Fantasia parade. And Gray gets pissed when Lyon tries to ask her out.
    • Chapter 366 has Gray finally showing some affection towards her, by covering her hand with his own. But considering what has been going on during that arc, it can very easily be considered justified.
  • There's also some Gray×Lucy teasing every now and then, from Lucy being impressed by his scar to her crying to him during Erza's dream funeral. During the Nirvana arc, Gemini (copying Gray's appearance, thoughts, and abilities) reveals what Gray thinks of Lucy: "Newcomer to the guild, looks are pretty much to his liking, somewhat interested in her, more naive than she appears, and a Celestial Spirit Wizard."
  • Macao and Cana had a bit of Ship Tease in the Phantom Lord arc, which is helped by Cana having been stated to have once had a crush on Macao. This was expanded on in the anime's depiction of the arc, featuring among other things Macao Taking the Bullet for Cana and Cana crying to him when the guild is destroyed.
  • A lot of the time when Lucy and Loke are together. Especially when they are saving each other. He even says "I love Lucy" at one point.
  • Lucy×Loke teasing are strongest when they first meet, where she actually blushes and stammers to his advances. Afterwards though, its mostly one-sided on Loke's part. May have to do with the fact that she is used to his playboy attitude and may not be taking his confessions and advances seriously anymore, especially after he's revealed to be a Celestial Spirit and eventually contracted to her.
  • Erza and Jellal gets this the most by far. Their relationship is so close though, that many would argue that those moments are far beyond just simply teasing.
  • Natsu and Lucy come in 2nd place, though it is mostly on the part of Lucy since Natsu is an Idiot Hero who seems to be Oblivious to Love. Lucy does seem to be the girl Natsu is most affectionate towards, especially as shown in the extras. Their teasings are everywhere, just not anywhere as blatant as Erza×Jellal. Juvia and Gray would be 2nd except for the fact that it is made blatantly obvious that Juvia is into Gray, which may not make her actions count as teasing.
  • Gray used to follow Erza everywhere when they were little, and he eventually promised that he would make sure she never cried again. Gray×Erza teasing check.
  • Over the course of the chapter 264, Erza fiercely tells Jellal not to give up on living in order to atone for his crimes, and the two of them share a Kissing Discretion Shot (which may or may not have just been an Almost Kiss) that extends over three pages, which is stopped when Jellal claims that he's gained a fiancée over the seven-year Time Skip. But then, at the end of the chapter, it is revealed that he was lying because he didn't think he was worthy of her, and she was completely aware of this... Within a single chapter, the two of them come within inches of becoming both an Official Couple and a sunken ship, without becoming either.
  • Ultear implies that Jellal's willingness to risk exposing himself in public has less to do with wanting to help Fairy Tail win the tournament and more to do with showing off in front of Erza.
  • Freed x Laxus. Freed has recently been confirmed at least as bi (if not gay) in the extra chapter of Volume 33, in which he is shown reading the 3D Sorcerer magazine featuring nude Blue Pegasus members. Unlike Macao and Wakaba, he's particularly interested in seeing the Blue Pegasus Trimens posing nude. Guess whose picture is hanging on the wall? Laxus.
  • Episode 45 gives a very small bit of Ship Tease for Freed X Mirajane, from the heartfelt speech reminding Freed that he has friends to Mirajane saying "How about next year, we can just enjoy the Harvest Festival together?" while blushing.
  • There has been some tease regarding Evergreen×Elfman since the S-Class Trial. In Chapter 290, it turns out that Evergreen was by Elfman's side the entire time he was recovering from his battle with Bacchus. This leads to Elfman referring to Evergreen as a real WOMAN. Not OTOKO, he said ONNA (for those who get the Japanese). Hiro-sensei, we all know what's gonna happen, so make it happen already!
  • There's also some Leo×Aries, since Leo pretty much defied his owner, indirectly got her killed and spent 3 years in Earthland because he didn't want Aries to be abused by her owner in such way. Also, Eternal Love for extra cuteness.
  • The Tartarus Arc gives some for Mirajane×Laxus, as she sits by his hospital beside, just like Elfman does for Evergreen.
  • There's a subtle bit of Natsu×Lucy teasing in the 21st opening, which has Natsu and Gray walking grimly with various characters shown above their shoulders. For Gray, it's Silver (his father), Keyes (his most personal enemy, being the Necromancer who resurrected Silver to serve Tartaros), and Juvia (his Love Interest). For Natsu, it's Zeref (his most personal enemy), Igneel (his adoptive father), and Lucy. If the pattern is the same as Gray's (which it is for at least two out of the three), this would make Lucy Natsu's Love Interest.
  • Erza×Lucy gets a bit of tease too, particularly blatant is their scenes in the early Eisenwald arc and the hotsprings around the time of Leo's arc. In the anime filler, an episode has the two cast as romantic leads in a play, and in the Fairy Hills OVA.
  • Omakes lately seem to be even shipper, if that is even possible
  • The omake "413" was mainly Gray×Juvia, but it had scenes just meant to excite the fanbase for Natsu×Lucy and Gajeel×Levy. One scene was Natsu and Lucy sitting next very close to another, with Natsu's arm around her. Lucy saying not in public. They even had a scene of Gajeel and Levi kissing. Of course both of these scenes were Juvia imagining it.
  • The Natsu and Asuka omake had Alzack and Bisca's kid Asuka try to make Natsu and Lucy kiss. Natsu was happy to oblige, Lucy was blushing like crazy. They didn't though. Later in the story, Lucy realizes that Natsu let Asuka win their target-shooting contest(going by his accuracy in helping Asuka shoot down the flying bandits)...she gives him an adoring look while thinking "He definitely has a good side, huh..."
  • Chapter 396 is aptly titled Air, and features Levy kissing Gajeel. To give him a breath of air as they both drown.
  • The Key of the Starry Sky arc had a bit of Gildarts×Laki tease as they work together. He even flirts with her a bit.
  • Chapter 416. Now where do we start? Lucy running after Natsu and Happy, declaring she'd be lonely without them; Gray thanking and hugging Juvia, while saying how warm she is...
  • Chapter 424. Its getting pretty blatant now. Gray & Juvia lived together for six months after the guild disbanded. They ate together, trained together. They were practically married. The only thing preventing the two from being an item is the fact he never slept with her. And then he disappears and joins a Zeref worshiping cult...
  • The second Christmas Special is one giant Ship Tease from which not even the Exceeds are safe: the girls get drunk again and Erza stars a truth-or-dare-type game leading to excessive flirting between Lucy and Natsu, Juvia and Gray, and Levy and Gajeel, much to her dismay. But who else would happen to be passing by as she's leaving but Jellal?
  • The final chapter/episode has Lucy list off the various shippings that pop up and emphasizes the most likely ones: Gajeel×Levy^note Pretty much official when it's hinted, and later confirmed in 100-Year Quest, that Levy is pregnant with Gajeel's child, Gray×Juvia, Elfman×Evergreen, Laxus×Cana, and Erza×Jellal. The final tease, of course, is Natsu×Lucy as he invites her along on a new adventure.
• Shirtless Scene:
  • Excluding the walking ones, in Episode 27, during their fight, Natsu and Gajeel rip their shirts off, for no real reason other than to please the Estrogen Brigade.
    Lucy: Wow, they're amazing...and they're both practically half-naked, too!
  • During the Nirvana arc, Gray and Lyon rip off their shirts as they try to hit Racer with their ice attacks:
    Racer: "Why are they stripping? And wow that was fast."
• Shoot the Dog: In Chapter 333 Ultear seems prepared to kill present day Rogue to undo his evil future self's actions.
• Shoot the Mage First: Averted. Due to the increasing trend of combining martial arts with age-old magic, empowering the user's body based on the level of their magic and how they use it, the mage is the LAST guy you want to take potshots at. Two Mage Killer assassins figured this out the hard way. Eight in-universe years after Natsu meets Lucy, magic-martial arts has grown so popular there's now a martial arts grand tournament focused on magic. Subverted multiple times when enemy mages try to pick off the younger but powerful mages, only for them to pull out a secret weapon and pummel the enemy with it, or their comrades to get enraged and hit the enemy even harder.
• Shout-Out:
  • During the episode where all citizens of Magnolia are overcome by a virus that turns them all into mindless Ichiya clones, Wendy is desperately looking for anyone still normal. In the English dub, she comes across Romeo and almost calls him "Romero" - a reference to George A. Romero.
  • In the first episode of the anime, the fake Salamander calls Lucy "Lucy-Chwan". Stealthy, but not that much.
  • On the request board in Episode 2 of the anime, there is a request on the board that says Legend of the Holy Sword. As we all know, his His legend began in the twelfth century!
  • When donning her disguise in Edolas, Wendy looks suspiciously like Lenalee Lee from D.Gray-Man.
  • When a mushroom grows out of Natsu's hair in Episode 9, it makes a very familiar sound.
  • Vidaldus from the Tower of Heaven arc pretty much looks like a member of KISS.
  • A fish that strongly resembles the Pokémon Magikarp appears flailing on the ice in Episode 15 of the anime.
  • Lucy's summoning incantation (and the animation in the anime) is awfully similar to Kuromi's in Onegai My Melody.
  • Erza's intimidation tactic towards Evergreen in Chapter 112 ought to look very, very familiar to most tropers, as should Evergreen's power setup.
  • This gets a sort of call-back in the Grand Magic Games. Gray unleashes his ultimate Ice Make technique. It's called Ice Make: Unlimited.
  • This one is anime-exclusive. When infiltrating the duke's manor during their very first job, Natsu dresses up as a ninja, degozaru.
  • In the preview of Episode 59 Happy says to stop squiddling around and Natsu says that it's the wrong show. In actuality, Natsu just says something akin to "That was a good one, Happy!" in reference to Happy's unintentional pun, and so this comes down to Crunchyroll referencing a show they did as well.
  • To Metallica of all things: Phantom Lord is the name of one of their songs, and the dragon who raised Gajeel is the band's name with two letters tacked on afterwords.
  • During Natsu's fight with Gajeel, the latter shouts out "Who the hell do you think I am!" before launching an attack. It doesn't work as well in the Fairy Tail universe.
    • It's also an Actor Allusion since both Simon and Natsu are voiced by Tetsuya Kakihara.
  • During Episode 59, Lyon says "The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated."
  • Fried's latest glyph encases him in metallic armor with an expressionless faceplate, and it's called Zetsui.
  • The third and final set of dolls that Bickslow uses in his fight against Lucy are identical to the Black Airs from Mashima's 2006 manga Monster Soul.
  • Happy's parents are voiced by Tomokazu Seki and Ayako Kawasumi, the same people who voiced Haru and Elie. This is most likely a shout out to Rave Master but it could also just be a coincidence since those two often voiced characters who are romantically linked.
  • Not a Rave Master reference, but bizarrely, if you look closely at the floating letters in Chapter 9, when Daybreak is being rearranged, you can see the line '''I SEE DEAD PEOPLE'''. See here: to the top right of Lucy, in the second panel.
  • The "Hidden" game in Chapter 269 is identical to Assassin's Creed: Revelations multiplayer.
  • In the English Dub, the narration for Episode 19 begins with "Submitted for your approval."
  • Also in Episode 19, the oddly familiar beeping sound heard whenever Plue or Macao shows the countdown to undo the Changeling spell.
  • Lucy's scissor-armed haircut-obsessed lobster summon might as well be named Kuno (after the crazy principal, not his son).
  • One of Grey's spells is called "Freeze Lancer". It's identical in every way to a recurring arte from the Tales Series.
  • In Episode 90, the heroes are trying to stop what amounts to a Colony Drop by pushing it back. The green light that shrouds the island when the Exceeds show up, as well as a shot of Exceeds getting thrown away (and being caught by their comrades) make the whole thing look like the Axis drop from the end of Char's Counterattack.
  • In one of Loke's attempts to woo Lucy he shines a bit of light on the wall spelling out I love Lucy
  • During the S-Class Trial arc, this exchange occurs in the dub.
  Cana: It's raining masked men!
  Lucy: I'd say "Halleujah", but they don't look friendly!
  • Happy declares that if he had Laxus's magic, he'd be a thunder cat.
  • Loke's design in episode 31 bears a strong resemble to Guy Shishiou.
  • "Acnologia" is not that far from Ancalagon the Black, in addition to considering that Acnologia is a massive black dragon with ties to the dark master.
  • In the dub at least, in the previews for episode 70 at the end of episode 69, Natsu insists that his pink hair is "lightish-red".
  • In Chapter 441, When Erza tells him they need to use stealth, Natsu remarks that he knows all about that "ninja crap", pulls his scarf up to act as a face mask and headband, and attacks the enemy soldiers while shouting "Kickass-no-jutsu!" He also makes hand signs in Chapter 442.
  • The filler episode "Changeling" is a reference to The Twilight Zone. Not only is the "Freaky Friday" Flip plot the sort of thing The Twilight Zone would do, but the narration to the episode is pulled straight from that series too. The narrator even copies Serling's Catchphrase, "submitted for your approval."
• Shower Scene:
  • Erza Scarlet has a Shower of Angst after retreating from the battle with Phantom Lord.
  • Lucy has one just before the beginning of her Bathtub Bonding Scene with Cana.
  • Lucy has a Shower of Angst after losing her fight against Flare Corona in the Grand Magic Games. Somehow it feels worse since Lucy lost due to Flare's team cheating.
• Side Characters Reoccurring Foe: Minerva to Erza. Minerva is something of an Arc Villain specifically for Erza who persists through a couple Story Arcs; there are other villains she considers to be a bigger and more personal threat throughout the story, but they're matched up more than once and understand each other on a deeper level than some of Erza's other foes without being Arch-Enemies.
• Significant Anagram: "Daybreak", a schlock novel written by Kemu Zaleon, is actually "Dear Kaby", and is a novel-length letter to his son.
• Sin Eater: An allegedly amnesiac Jellal uses his Flame of Rebuke to feed his magic power to Natsu so the latter can fight against Zero. Zero comments that Natsu eating the Flame of Rebuke essentially means he's accepting Jellal's sins.
• Single-Target Sexuality: A series-wide phenomenon. Most of the romantic couples only ever show interest in each other, particularly the ones whose feelings are confirmed beyond mere Ship Tease. Examples include Erza and Jellal, Juvia and Gray, and Gajeel and Levy. Mavis and Zeref likely count too, although it may be averted on Mavis's side, given her suspiciously close relationship with Zera.
• Sit on the Camera: in "The Truly Evil Jiggle Butt Gang" the gang does this a number of times.
• Sleep Cute: When Elfman is recovering after his winning battle with Bacchus in the Grand Magic Games, Evergreen, who has been watching over him in the infirmary, falls asleep on his chest at one point. He blushes and makes no attempt to rouse her.
• Sleep-Mode Size: Pantherlily, Gajeel's Exceed cat partner from Edolas.
• Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: Fairy Tail is very much on the "idealistic" side.
• Social Darwinist: Laxus, Sabertooth under Jiemma
• Sorting Algorithm of Evil: Subverted. The threat levels of the Big Bads of each arc are all over the place:
  • The first major Big Bad was a soul-devouring Artifact of Doom.
  • The next one turned out to be Gray's Rival Turned Evil who wasn't really any stronger than him.
  • Then he was followed by a foe of Master Makarov himself that was hellbent on destroying Fairy Tail.
  • After that came Jellal, a member of the same organization Makarov belonged to and arguably the strongest Big Bad so far, whose goal was nothing less than the resurrection of the Black Wizard Zeref and only lost because of the setting's equivalent of Super Saiyan, a conveniently-timed injury acting up, and the fact that Zeref was never dead, and therefore could never have been resurrected in the first place.
  • The one that followed (Laxus), was pretty powerful but wasn't a serious threat due to him actually caring for Fairy Tail.
  • The Algorithm may have returned in the Oración Seis arc with the Big Bad Zero, Brain's Ax-Crazy Omnicidal Maniac Superpowered Evil Side, wanting to use Nirvana's power to destroy everything and who managed to one-shot Jellal, though it could be argued that Jellal is still the stronger considering that he had amnesia at the time and had taken a rather severe beating beforehand.
  • The Edolas arc originally had the Exceed Queen, who is described as being a god, but it turns out she was never a threat and the real Big Bad is King Faust, who's only power is operating a Humongous Mecha.
  • The S-Class Trial arc has many things coming together at once, since recurring villains are finally putting their master plans into motion (like reviving Zeref, the Big Bad of the entire series). Even the Quirky Miniboss Squad has members quite a lot stronger than previous arcs' Big Bads, and Elite Mooks nearly defeated Gajeel and Levy.
  • The arc's Big Bad, Hades, destroyed Makarov without even trying.
  • The Grand Magic Games arc has Arcadios. While he has yet to be shown to have any magic powers, he's in charge of a Rune Knight squadron and has the King of Fiore's ear, making him one of the most powerful enemies yet in an entirely different sense.
    • Subverted. The arc's big bad is really an evil Rogue from the future.
  • It's played straight with the Balam Alliance, though. You first have Oracion Seis, the weakest, then Grimoire Heart, which is even stronger than them, and finally Tartarus, a guild comprised entirely of demons from Zeref's Book of Demons.
  • Thoroughly defied with the Avatar arc. It's a breezy six episodes long and introduces a bunch of unique wizard villains, a 2,000-strong cultist army, and a twenty-story rampaging war god. Fairy Tail pretty much one-shots all of them. Like the fight with Erigor during the Oracion Seis arc, all the stuff Fairy Tail have been through has left them completely outclassing ordinary wizards.
• Soundtrack Dissonance: Every episode ends with the credits music starting up a bit before the the ending credits actually start rolling. Considering that episodes tend to end on cliffhangers, this results in some...interesting scenes (read: really dark) running to cheerful music.
  • And with the third ending we have scenes like an incensed Natsu ready to fight Gajeel running to a maddeningly calm piano piece.
  • Most of the second opening is sickeningly sweet and is just general shots of guild members doing things that looks cool... until you get near the end where it shows the aftermath of Gajeel's attack, then Gajeel himself standing in front of shadow outlines of Element 4, and then Gajeel fighting Natsu, and the music is still sickeningly sweet.
• Spell My Name With An S: Oh hell yeah. Though now that there's an official English translation with names supplied by the author, the number of characters with such names decreases more and more... until the next big arc anyways.
  • Things like this◊ don't help matters much.
  • Some fan-translations still insist on using "Loki" (Norse trickster god) over "Loke" (a somewhat muddled anagram of "Leo").
    • Note that Loke is the original spelling in Old Norse.
  • Jellal, Jeral, Gerard...
    • At least no one tried to spell Siegrain as "Jaker".
    • Official French translation spells it Jycrain.
  • Some people insist Laxus is Luxus, "Lux" being Latin for light, lightning; not "Lax," as in easygoing.
  • It's understandable though. Even if the official name translations from Mashima say that their names are Juvia, or Gajeel, or Erza, a check of the background shows that he himself seems to flip-flop on how their names are spelled. Erza's appears several different ways in handwritten form over the course of the story.
  • Freed/Fried and Bickslow/Bixlow. In the case of Fried/Freed, this might be due to the official translators deciding that Viewers Are Morons and thinking that people might mistake his name as being pronounced with the long "i" sound instead of the long "e". "Fried" is an actual name, as well as a common suffix for both surnames and first names.
  • Other notable instances include Meredy/Merudy/Meldy and Eileen/Irene.
• Spin-Off: There are several: Fairy Tail Zero, an Origin Story starring Mavis Vermillion about the founding of Fairy Tail, Tale of Faily Tail: Ice Trail, another Origin Story about Gray Fullbuster, Fairy Tail Blue Mistral, which follows the adventures of Wendy and Carla, Fairy Tail Gaiden: Rhodonite, a kind-of Origin Story about Gajeel which also stars Levy, Gray, and Juvia, Fairy Tail Gaiden: The Twin Dragons of Sabertooth, starring Sting and Rogue, Fairy Tail - Flash of Great Lightning, starring Laxus and his team, and Fairy Girls, which showcases the shenanigans of the female Fairy Tail members.
• Spoiler Opening
  • Juvia is shown fighting alongside Gray (and others) before the conclusion of her battle with him during the Phantom Lord arc. This may not matter as much as other examples, since said fight makes it obvious she's vulnerable to a Heel–Face Turn.
  • Really the near-entirety of the third opening is spoilers, although aside from the above mentioned example you wouldn't figure them out yet.
  • You'd notice that the guy under the hood has the same tattoo and hair color as Siegrain.
  • Also, the second opening showed the destruction of the Guild Hall long before it happens.
  • The fourth opening is basically a montage of important scenes of the arc following the current one.
  • The fifth and sixth openings have Wendy standing in group shots that are otherwise only members of Fairy Tail. The fact that no one from Blue Pegasus or Lamia Scale is in any of these is a dead giveaway that she joins Fairy Tail later.
  • Subversion from the sixth opening: You see a young(er) Wendy walking around with a young Jellal, and she insists that he saved her life at one point, although he can't remember it due to his amnesia. It's actually Mystogan, who doesn't appear anywhere in the entire arc except for in Wendy's memory.
  • The eighth opening and ending spoils a lot of things about Edolas arc if you watch closely, such as the face of Queen Shagotte way before she actually appears onscreen, hints of the final boss of the arc, and the return of Mystogan. But the worst of all is the new ending heavily focused on Lisanna, who we barely see during the Edolas arc, and the friggin end of said arc, in which Lisanna runs into her brother and sister at Magnolia's cemetery. Really? Spoiling the very last scene of Edolas arc? Really?! What the heck?!.
  • The tenth opening has a few spoilers of varying severity. Laxus is back, a brief shot of Romeo (who hasn't had an important role since Episode 2), A big dragon, Hades' "Demon" Eye, and a mysterious woman near the end. She's really Mavis, the 1st master of the Fairy Tail guild. And even more, her fading in and out next to and in front of Zeref implies the two of them have a connection. This doesn't happen until Chapter 340 in the manga, and it hadn't even gotten to that point when the aforementioned opening came out. Talk about foreshadowing.
    • A couple of the more minor ones include Gildarts fighting Bluenote (which wasn't really a surprise, because who else had the power to take Bluenote on?) and Natsu having an aura of lightning and fire in the opening shot (which doesn't really stand out unless you know to look for it).
  • The 13th opening shows you all of the guilds that got into the Grand Magic Games, including Raven Tail and Fairy Tail's B team. It also spoils some of the fights, including Elfman vs. Bacchus, which is supposed to be both an error and a surprise.
    • Even worse is that it has a scene for the battle between Jura and what appears to be Mystogan who has no business being there. 'Mystogan' is also using Jellal's magic.
  • The second opening for the Final Season spoils and alludes to many plot points, including Lucy and Brandish's connected history, Anna Heartfilia, Ultear's reappearance, Neinhart's ability to bring back past enemies, Gajeel's Disney Death against Bloodman, and Eileen's Universe One. Strangely, the opening goes out of its way to hide Larcade's appearance, as he only appears silhouetted in the Spriggan Twelve lineup.
• Spoony Bard: Vijeeter Ecor, whose primary magic is dancing, though not Dance Battling, it's more of a Buff/Debuff magic.
• Spot the Impostor: Heroic version. Earthland Erza manages to trick Faust and his soldiers before the Edolas!Erza shows up. Edolas!Erza cuts her hair later to keep it from happening again.
• Squishy Wizard: Lampshaded and mostly averted.
  • Played straight with Levy, who is a Glass Cannon, and Bickslow, who fights using his dolls. Lucy is a summoner like Bickslow, but she's a subversion of this trope.
• Stable Time Loop: What happens in end of the Memory Days OVA.
  • At the end of the Grand Magic Games arc, Princess Hisui apologizes to Zirconis for dragging him to the present. As she does so, she mentions that she is named after jade, the color of Zirconis' body. He notes that "Jade Dragon" has a nice ring to it...
• Stalker with a Crush: Juvia
• Standard Snippet: "Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1"(a.k.a.: the Graduation music) usually plays at the end of every arc in the anime.
  • The "Infernal Gallop" (a.k.a: The Cancan Song) often plays during humorous moments.
• Star-Crossed Lovers:
  • Mavis Vermilion and Zeref Dragneel. The very nature of the curse they share ensures they can never be together, as the bearers can never be happy. Ankhseram established this by "killing" Mavis with Zeref's curse after their first kiss (although later events suggests that when she was telling this story to her guild she wasn't being 100% open about when exactly the curse kicked in and it may have involved more than a kiss), breaking Zeref and causing his Start of Darkness. She remains alive as Fairy Heart, with an Astral Projection to communicate with the living, but she can only be seen by members of Fairy Tail. Zeref was aware of this to an extent, and it's implied that part of what drove him to villainy was the fact that the woman he loved and the only person that had ever brought him happiness was still among the living (so to speak), but could not be a part of his life. Mavis, for her part, was just as heartbroken and stayed close to Zeref whenever she could, but has long since resolved herself to stand against him when he declared war on humanity.
  • Erza Scarlet and Jellal Fernandez. Just when it seems they're close to making a breakthrough in their relationship, something manages to separate them and prevent their happiness.
• The Starscream
  • Faust is this to Queen Shagotte.
  • Ultear to both Jellal and Hades.
• Staring Kid: Erza gets a crowd of them after accidentally breaking into a public bath.
• Stock Footage: More powerful magics from recurring characters are given this treatment. Natsu suffers from this with every single move he intends to use more than once: Even his most basic attack, which is just a glorified punch.
• Stopped Dead in Their Tracks: During his fight with Rogue, Gajeel concludes that he's too weak and decides to leave him be. He stops walking away when Rogue goads him by stating he's not as strong as Natsu (who defeated Rogue and Sting on his own and at the same time), after which Gajeel changes his mind and beats him up offscreen.
• "Stop the Hero" Twist: Zig-Zagged during the Grand Magic Games arc. Natsu's group find out that Princess Hisui Fiore plans to open the Eclipse door to stop a horrible calamity, and they tell her that they have her back. However, Future Rogue appears in front of them to kill Lucy on account of her closing the door. Lucy says that she wouldn't do such a thing. After helping Hisui in opening the door though, Lucy gets info about what's behind the door from her celestial spirit, Crux, and she tells everybody that they need to close the door due to it being a gateway to the past where dragons roamed rather than a cannon like Hisui thought it was.
• Storm of Blades: Erza can do this by summoning lots of swords with her Requip magic. If she has enough time to set it up, she can even launch 200 swords at once, each set to hit a target across an entire town.
• The Stormbringer: Juvia always brings rain with her whenever she goes, without any control over it. She has not seen the sun in years. It turns out the perpetual rain was the result of her feeling lonely and depressed this whole time, and once she becomes friends with the guild it ceases. It starts again after the Time Skip after Grey — who she is in love with — becomes withdrawn himself.
• Story Arc
• Story-Breaker Power:
  • Rusty Rose's Arc of Embodiment magic. Being able to pull off anything through sheer imagination. The obvious limitation being the character's own imagination. And Rusty Rose isn't particularly imaginative.
  • Similar to Rusty Rose's magic, Rufus Lore gives us his Memory-Make magic which allows for him to copy anyones magic to use as his own as long as he sees it. He can even keep these copied spells stored for later use, allowing for Rufus to then bring them back to create unique combinations with said copied spells. This doesn't even include the fact that Memory-Make can memorize spells from text-books to use in the present. The only downside? If someone overloads on individual spells against him, the Memory-Make would fail to keep up to create counters for each of the attacks.
  • Also during the Tournament we have Obra, who can empty a target's magic completely. The fact that it would work on someone like Laxus, shows just how Gamebreaking he is when used right.
  • Lucy's Silver Key, Horologium, which has the implied ability to be able to bend time and space to its will. The fact the Celestial Spirit is Nigh-Invulnerable doesn't help either. Considering the point at which Horologium's power to safeguard people is used, it makes sense because as Lucy's power grows stronger the power of her spirits improves and broadens in its usage and implications. So this is Horologium's basic power extended and exaggerated.
  • Many of the Alvarez villains have powers like this. Mashima specifically described their powers as "cheating."
• Strictly Formula: The anime endings before the Time Skip fell into this. All of them have: The appearance of a clock-like object somewhere in the ending, chibi versions of the characters and a single character (usually the main focus of the current arc) running into either the background or foreground^note  The only exceptions are Mirajane and Gray, who both walk, and the former doesn't go away or towards the camera at all.
• Stripperiffic: Around 98% of the characters use only a few garments of clothes at best in battle. After 100 chapters, if you find it weird (or impractical) to see people beating each other in only a scarf and pants, boxers, cocktail dresses, schoolgirl outfits or technically naked, you are watching it wrong.
  • Some of Erza's armors. And how.
  • Edolas!Erza even more.
  • Most of Lucy's outfits might be acceptable (if skimpy) in town, but not for roughing out in the wild.
  • It's canon: The more naked Gray is (and Lyon and Natsu by default), the stronger they become.
  • Kyouka's second outfit during the Tartarus arc takes the gold in this. Navel-Deep Neckline? Check. Vapor Wear? Check. Zettai Ryouiki? Check. Thong of Shielding? She really might as well be stark naked.
• Strong Family Resemblance
  • Hoteye/Richard and Wally, who turn out to be long-lost brothers, both have impossibly polygonal faces. Wally's is presumed to be the result of his magic, since his entire body is polygonal, but who knows about Richard.
  • Ultear looks enough like her mother that Gray thinks he's seeing Ur when he first sees her.
  • Also Lucy,Happy, and Carla look like their mothers.
• Strong Flesh, Weak Steel: Attacks that blow up buildings, leave huge craters in the ground or even rearrange the geography can have a mage survive standing in the centre of it with nothing more than bruises if the mage is tough enough or a complete No-Sell for the truly powerful ones.
• Stumbling in the New Form:
  • In the filler episode "Changeling"^note  episode 19 of the anime Gray and Lucy end up switching bodies with each other. Unfortunately for Gray, he can't handle Lucy's big assets to the point he has to use a table to act as support as otherwise he'll comically fall over thanks to the added weight up front.
  • Doriath of Succubus Eye has the "Way of Devolution" ability that makes his opponents younger. When the Fairy Tail wizards are turned back into children by this, they end up slipping and tumbling quite a bit, which Erza attributes to a disconnect between their personal self-image and what their bodies are actually like at the moment. It doesn't help that Doriath's ability also reduces their magic power, which means that they can't use their various gravity-defying abilities like they normally would.
• Stupid Evil: Cobra basically won his battle with Natsu. And yet Brain still pulled a You Have Failed Me on him, even though he didn't fail, apparently just because he didn't succeed well enough. You know, just in case we haven't hammered home that he's a bad person yet.
• Stupid Neutral: The creators of Nirvana were a neutral country of peace who wanted to see the Balance Between Good and Evil preserved, so they invented a spell to turn dark to light and light to dark. Naturally, this falls into the hands of villains who think it'd be a great tool for tearing apart unity in the light guilds. Nirvana's creator explains that the "light to dark" feature was an unfortunate unforeseen side effect that made his own people turn on each other. Nirvana was only supposed to remove evil.
• Sugar-and-Ice Personality:
  • Rogue, who usually falls somewhere between Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy and The Stoic, acts very warm and comforting towards Frosch.
  • Zeref borders on having a multiple personality disorder. One side of him is very mellow, if not melancholic, and always concerned for the well being of strangers and creatures that just tried to kill him. The other side has no qualms with calling those who piss him off absolute rubbish, rubbing their failure in their face, and flat out murdering them. And of course it's the latter that has full control over his powers.
• Summon Binding: Celestial Spirits are contractually bound to serve celestial mages who have their keys, setting up times where summoning isn't doable. The spirits demonstrably have free will to an extent, such as when Loki forcibly summons himself to keep Karen Lilica (his master at the time) from abusing her other Spirits. Of course, through Loophole Abuse, anybody who has Gemini can have them shapeshift into an opposing celestial wizard to summon and use their own Spirits against them.
• Summon Magic: One can use keys to summon Celestial Spirits. This is Lucy's trademark ability. Also, the magic Angel picks up in her second appearance.
  • Inverted by Caprico, a.k.a the possessed Celestial Spirit Capricorn, who can summon human beings.
• Super-Deformed: Pops up every now and then, especially in the endings.
• Super Mode: "Dragon Force", the Dragon Slayer equivalent of a Super Saiyan transformation. Apparently much easier to induce if you're not an "old style" Dragon Slayer, but not as powerful as the real deal.
• Super-Scream: How Natsu defeats Cobra. After "not thinking" to confuse Cobra goes south when Cobra starts fighting back with poison, Natsu turns Cobra's sensitive hearing into his weakness, by performing a Dragon's Roar, stunning Cobra deaf. In fact the roar is so loud it can be heard for miles away, making Lucy think it's made by an Eldritch Abomination or something. And considering Happy could barely stand it with just normal hearing, the effect is absolutely devastating on Cobra's ultra-sensitive hearing.
• Super-Senses: Dragon Slayers have enhanced vision, smell, and hearing.
• Superpowered Evil Side: Brain is revealed to have a Superpowered More Evil Side that only shows up when all six members of Oración Seis have been defeated, taking him from Mad Scientist to Omnicidal Maniac.
  • Subverted with Mirajane's Satan Soul.
• Superpower Lottery
  • Midnight of the Oración Seis has the ability to reflect and distort things, including magic and light. So he can render himself untouchable, reflect attack magic back at the caster, apparently use Razor Wind, and even project illusions (by bending the light that reaches a person's eyes). Too bad he can't use it directly on living things.
  • Although it's hard to set up, Fried's power is basically "make an area where anything I want to happen does". Lampshaded when someone says that's like a kid playing a game and making up rules as he goes along.
  • Wendy. Think about it. Dragon Slayers power up from eating their element, and Wendy's element is Air, which pretty much gives her a limitless supply of power in most situations. She hasn't learned most of her offensive magic yet, but the one spell she does know is shown to be very powerful. And if that isn't enough, she can heal. That kid is gonna be scary someday.
    • Remember Natsu going all Dragon-like, complete with scaled arms and face, during his final fight with Jellal? This super-mode is eventually named as "Dragon Force"... and hundreds of chapters after Wendy's introduction as the ultimate woobie-healbot, she obtains Dragon Force for herself, and proceeds to kick the shit out of Ezel, a really nasty demon!
  • And now we have Chelia, the Sky God Slayer who has the same kind of lottery-winning powers as Wendy, only much more powerful.
  • Rustyrose can create anything he wants from his imagination. Elfman and Evergreen stood no chance against him.
  • Basically, the point being hammered home in the S-Class Trial arc is that to join Grimoire Heart at all, you are basically required to have won the lottery. Luckily Fairy Tail isn't a series where the only answer to Story-Breaker Power level magic is more Story-Breaker Power level magic!
  • Many characters like Ultear have extremely powerful abilities under the catch that they can't affect living things (although Ultear can still affect plant life). This is done so it won't be *too* blatantly broken, as completely freezing time around her along with Ultear's fighting ability, ice, and transform magic would make her pretty much unstoppable. She is still pretty close through the intelligent application of her power (nullifying spells and weapons to make the enemies defenseless). She was shown to reset time later, but at a cost.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
  • During the Edolas Arc. Team Natsu tries to fight against the Edolas Knights but are easily captured due to being outnumbered and at a heavy disadvantage without their magic.
  • Natsu tries his best to defeat Gildarts during the S Class Exams but comes up short. Naturally Gildarts as a much older and much more experienced fighter easily beats Natsu during their fight
  • Despite Natsu and Cana’s best efforts they are unable to even scratch Bluenote Stinger. Due to his superior raw power and strength.
  • Cana is unable to use Fairy Glitter properly on her first try due to her inexperience.
  • During the Seven Years that Fairy Tail’s S Class Candidates went missing. The rest of Guild is left without their strongest members. So Fairy Tail’s reputation is ruined as they are unable to complete higher class jobs anymore.
  • Lucy is kicked out of her hotel room. Due to having overdue debt while she was trapped in Fairy Sphere. Due to lack of money after the incident she can’t really afford to pay off her debts.
  • Natsu and the other S Class Candidates are shown to have suffered from lack of training and being frozen from those seven years. As both Zentopia and their formerly weaker Guild members note that Fairy Tail’s members aren’t as powerful as they used to be.
• Swiss-Army Superpower: Enchantment magic, or rather, the Enchanters who use it, are capable of a wide variety of impressive feats. From your standard Status Buffs, to imbuing inanimate objects with life and personalities, to altering the shape and terrain of an entire continent, Enchanters seem limited only by their imaginative ability and skill.
• Switching P.O.V.: Levy replaces Lucy as the narrator in Chapter 274. That's not a good sign.
  • This is actually because Future Lucy ends up returning to the past.
• Sword and Sorcerer: Gajeel and Levy, despite both of them being wizards.
• Symbolic Weapon Discarding: During the Tartaros arc, in order to summon the Celestial Spirit King^note Part of the requirement for summoning him is that a celestial spirit mage must break the golden Zodiac key of the Celestial Spirit that they have a strong bond with, at the price that the spirit can not be summoned with said key again, making it a last resort, Lucy is forced to break the key of her summoned spirit Aquarius, thus saying goodbye to her oldest friend who she has known since childhood. She does this so that he can free her friends who have all been trapped inside Plutogrim. Lucy at first breaks down over this decision, but resolves to keep going.
• Sympathy for the Devil: The conversation in Chapter 340 between Mavis Vermillion and Zeref implies that at one point, the two were close enough to know rather uncommon knowledge about one another; for example, Mavis knowing that Zeref is a Death Seeker, and Zeref referring to humans as if Mavis isn't one of them. She also apparently willingly let him stay on Sirius Island with her, indicating that despite Zeref's very well earned reputation, she seemed to genuinely feel bad for the guy... up until his rather unnerving threat about wiping out humanity, anyway. Fairy Tail Zero revealed that Zeref was the magic teacher for the four founders of Fairy Tail, and Chapters 449-451 revealed that, after acquiring the same curse he had, Mavis (for an all too brief moment) became his lover. It's revealed that it was Mavis's death that eventually caused Zeref to "become the devil", so to speak, in the first place, hence why Mavis feels sympathy for him.