Minerva Orland

“	These villains dared to make our master cry. For that, they shall have no mercy.	„
	~ Minerva Orland

Minerva Orland (ミネルバ・オーランド Mineruba Ōrando) is a major recurring heroine of manga/anime, Fairy Tail, and the secondary antagonist of the Grand Magic Games arc.

She is a female Mage reckoned as the strongest member of Sabertooth and the daughter of Jiemma. Following the X791 Grand Magic Games, she leaves Sabertooth and becomes a Dark Mage of Succubus Eye. She later becomes a new recruit to the Dark Guild Tartaros, where she refers to herself as Neo Minerva (ネオミネルバ Neo Mineruba). After being rescued by Sting Eucliffe and Rogue Cheney she rejoins Sabertooth.

She is voiced by Kikuko Inue in the Japanese version of the anime, and by Anastasia Munoz in the English version of the anime.

Appearance

Minerva is a slim young woman of average height distinguished by her Eastern look: she has long black hair, reaching down to her lower back, while mostly left loose, being parted in the middle of her forehead and sporting two bangs framing her face and going down below her shoulders, her hair is also tied into a pair of bun-shaped Dango loops at both sides of her head, and a braid is present some inches below each of such loops. Her facial make up is reminiscent of that worn by a Japanese "Geisha", with her lips being covered in glossy dark lipstick, and her slanted dark eyes, possessing long eyelashes, being topped by a pair of elongated, diagonal dark spots, seemingly acting as or covering her eyebrows. Her pale figure is considerably curvaceous.

Minerva's attire is yet again Eastern-looking, with the woman wearing a strapless dress highly reminiscent of a "Cheongsam". This is shown to possess a large slit in correspondence to Minerva's left leg, exposing it all up to her thigh, and comes secured to her body by a number of dark laces on the back and to her right side, exposing a part of her right breast's back side, and by a line of metal fasteners taking the shape of two horizontally-placed triangles with their bases linked together on her front left side. Such garment is dark in its back part where the laces are, and light-colored on the front, where a large decorative motif representing a "Saber-toothed cat" menacingly lurking in the grass is present, in reference to Minerva's guild. Her outfit is completed by a pair of shoulder-length ornamental gloves again bearing dual colors, dark on the arm and hand's lower part and light on the upper one, and dark boots reaching up to her middle calves.

The Grand Magic Games' fifth day had Minerva change her outfit considerably, making it more regal in appearance: her dress is replaced by a slightly more revealing one, exposing a fair share of her cleavage, the sides of her torso and her left leg; this is dark in color, sporting thin light edges, laces securing the dress in correspondence to the woman's hips, thick fur lining her cleavage and several light motifs adorning her torso's front, those being a large "V" and what looks like an "U" with a dot in its concave part. Minerva has forsaken her gloves, and instead sports several accessories composed of fur: aside from her dress, fur is also present in the form of a collar adorning her neck and of a "Feather boa", passing above her shoulders and ending in bifurcated edges.

After joining Succubus Eye, Minerva's new attire consists of a band around her upper chest, with her lower chest partially exposed and two straps connecting the band to a collar round her neck. Over it, she wears a brown fur-lined coat. Her lower dress is slit near her left leg, and she wears with high heeled boots with thigh high socks.

When joining Tartaros, Minerva undergoes a transformation into a Demon. She now has two curled horns on her head, a black patch covering her right eye that continues to her left leg. She wears a long black cloak and bandages which cover most of her torso and a pair of underwear underneath, on her arms she wears light colored arm bands and black gloves covering her hands and her guild mark is located on her left waist. She also wears knee guards and black high-top boots.

Personality

Minerva is an outwardly calm and confident woman. She speaks in an archaic, old form of Japanese. Befitting her speech, she is very mature and wishes that the people around her act accordingly. However, the brutal training from her father, Jiemma, gave her arrogant and even sadistic tendencies which whenever bested in a fight, crumbled and left her in panic and resulted in holding grudges against Erza for her defeat in the Grand Magic games until their confrontation after she became a demon for Tartaros. During that fight, however, she developed remorse for her cruelty and became suicidal for considering herself too weak to maintain her moral high ground while still gaining power like Erza does. But after being reassured by Erza, Sting, and Rogue, she gains more confidence in herself and more faith in her fellow guild mates.

Before joining Tartaros, Minerva had been someone willing to manipulate her teammates and would consider them stepping stones for her ascension into power, but even then, she wasn't completely devoid of compassion for them as she was both disgusted and horrified at Kyouka's callous slaughtering of her fellow members of Succubus Eye simply for being "weak".

One year after returning to her guild, however, her arrogance has subsided and she becomes apologetic for her previous actions. In addition, she opens herself more to her guild's events, as she participated in the annual eating contest and won.

Even after reforming, her sadistic tendencies haven't completely gone away. In "The Twin Dragons of Sabertooth," she showed a willingness to torture a member of a dark guild called Abyss Horn for information on where Yukino is being held, and said she would love to burn Toparge alive in revenge for his mistreatment of his little sister, Dia. Though, when he became kinder to Dia, Minerva decided against it.

Because of her father's abuse, Minerva developed contempt for abusive family members in general, especially ones that seek to turn their children or siblings into killing machines, as she was incredibly vindictive towards Toparge for abusing Dia, yet she forgave him after seeing him clean up his act and treat Dia kindly.

History

At some point, Minerva's mother died, during her childhood, she had to endure a hellish training for her father, Jiemma, who both verbally and physically abused his daughter whenever she displayed any sign of weakness. After a sparring match with Fingers which she arose victorious, Jiemma ordered Minerva to finish him off. Minerva, though, refused to do so as he was her guildmate. This angered her father, who despised her weak-mindedness and subsequently ended up killing the Mage himself. Some time after, Minerva was left alone in a forest to fend for herself against ferocious creatures, with her father forbidding her to come back home until she became stronger.

Synopsis

Tartaros arc

At Tartaros' headquarters, Minerva, described as having the qualities that the Netherworld requires, is shown to be suspended in a strange liquid, unconscious, where she undergoes a process that will turn her into a Demon. When Tempester and Kyôka mention Fairy Tail, Minerva's body begins to violently convulse, amusing the latter Demon.

Some time later, Minerva's transformation is completed. Exiting her stasis, Minerva revels in her new appearance in front of her new guildmates Jackal, Tempester and Lamy, noting that she has the power of a Demon which is currently overflowing within. Minerva later makes her way to the location of Kyôka's battle with Erza, where she tells Kyôka, who is fleeing the scene, that she planned on taking care of the Fairies even if she hadn't told her to do so. Greeting Erza, Minerva makes note of how appropriate their new place of battle is; reintroducing herself as Neo Minerva, Minerva tells Erza that she's been reincarnated as a Demon and that she'll give her a sample of her new power.

The two women begin to exchange blows before Erza is contacted by Warren Rocko of her guild, who tries to get her to retreat now that Mirajane and the other prisoners of Tartaros have been recovered. However, Mard Geer high-jacks the telepathy and casts Alegria, a Curse that deforms Cube and begins to suck Erza away. Seeing the redhead trapped, Minerva tries to strike a harsh blow, though becomes flustered when she realizes that Mard's Curse will completely consume Erza. Screaming for Mard to stop stealing her prey, Minerva curses Tartaros as she watches Erza freeze into the guild building, the Fairy Tail Mage now immobile and completely removed from her fight.

When the Celestial Spirit King activates Galaxia Blade, Minerva is left in shock wondering what that bright light is. To her excitement and pleasure, Erza is revived as a result and proceeds to attack her, and the two continue their long awaited showdown. When Erza tries to reason with her while sparring, Minerva reminds the other woman that she has been reborn as Neo Minerva, the "Ultimate Mage". Although she has the advantage at first, Erza pushes her back in a counterattack and enrages Minerva. As Erza punches her to the ground, Minerva reminisces the years of training she underwent under her father. Erza then punches Minerva and tells her to get a hold of herself and to stop this senseless fight.

Minerva, realizing her mistakes as well as her own weakness for succumbing to darkness, asks from Erza to kill her. Erza then reminds her that there are still people out there waiting for her to come home despite her fall into darkness. Their discussion is interrupted by Mard Geer, who is angry with the Celestial Spirit King for thwarting his plans, and so decides to end the lives of both Minerva and Erza himself. As Minerva is assaulted by Mard's attack, she mumbles for Erza to run while a huge explosion occurs. However, Minerva is rescued in the nick of time by Sting and Rogue who, accompanied by Lector and Frosch, tell her that they've come to save her. With Erza's words echoing in her mind, Minerva starts crying as she finally realizes that she belongs with Sabertooth.

After Sting places Minerva on the ground to rest, he tells her that they'll return to the guild together before going to fight, which greatly moves her. When Mard Geer reveals that there are now 3,000 Faces about to be activated in less than an hour and erase all Magic from the world, Minerva mockingly laughs and explains that he is probably bluffing because Face has to be manually controlled, and no one can simultaneously activate all of them. The Underworld King replies that the chairman, Crawford Seam can remotely control all of them, but Minerva insists that he's dead, with Mard explaining that he can be revived by the necromancer of Tartaros. As Erza learns that, she takes Minerva with her, as well as the Exceeds, to find a way and stop Face, but Minerva is hesitant to leave the Twin Dragons behind, as she is worried about them. Minerva, while being held up and supported by Erza, is then led away with Lector and Frosch taking point. Minerva comments that it will be difficult to find the control room as everything has been destroyed, only for the group to come across Panther Lily and Happy. After a short reunion between the Exceeds, Minerva recognizes Franmalth on Happy's head despite the Demon appearing like a strange mushroom. She then plucks him out, much to Happy's horror, and explains that the "mushroom" is one of the Nine Demon Gates, and that he will probably know where the control room is.

While walking towards the control room, Minerva expresses her worry about Sting and Rogue's well being, and when Erza tells her that they can only believe in them, Minerva agrees. Under Franmalth's guidance, Minerva and the others find the former chairman's corpse operating Face. When Erza attempts to stop him, Seilah binds her, along with Minerva and the Exceeds, using her Macro Curse. Minerva angrily calls out to Seilah and Kyôka, and the latter mockingly asks her whether she's still alive. The two explain that all 3,000 Faces are about to be activated, shortly before Mirajane interferes and frees Minerva and the others. Minerva then prompts Erza to fight Kyôka, as she has all the information they need to stop Face.

Minerva watches Erza's fight against Kyôka, and congratulates her when she manages to slash her. When she hears an eerie sound in the distance, Minerva wonders what is going on; not knowing, she looks to the sky to see what is approaching. However, despite the appearance of both Acnologia and Igneel, Minerva's attention stays locked on Kyôka, as the Demon merges herself with the Face device via an Organic Link in order to speed up the firing of the pulse bomb. As the timer ticks down even faster, Minerva tries to draw Erza's attention to it, though the redhead stays locked in battle against Kyôka, needing to kill her in order to stop Face. During their battle, Kyôka zaps everyone in the room with her Curse, and Minerva and her friends fall to the floor, writhing in pain as Erza too is crippled by the attack, and then has her senses taken. Seeing the redhead fall, Minerva admits their incoming defeat, though is then shocked when Erza stands despite her injuries and punches Kyôka blindly.

Despite Erza then gaining the upper hand in the fight, Minerva continues to worry about Face's countdown. Erza then incapacitates Kyôka, though fails to fully kill her, falling to the ground exhausted as Face still gets closer to activating. Seeing the Fairy Tail Mage's sword flying through the air, Minerva swaps positions with Erza, and, spurring herself from the ground, grabs the blade and thrusts it down into Kyôka's chest, killing her. However, her actions prove to be for naught, as Face's timer hits zero, and the device sets to fire. Minerva watches as the many Faces across the continent start up and begin to drain Earth Land of its Magic, declaring their defeat. Shortly enough, however, she notices as the active Faces are taken down one by one by the Dragons. After all the Face devices are destroyed, Minerva looks on, considerably more relieved.

One week after Tartaros' defeat, Minerva, now restored to her original form with the treatments from Porlyusica, is brought back to Sabertooth by Sting, Rogue and the Exceeds, where she is happily greeted by everyone. Crying tears of joy, Minerva exclaims that she has returned to where she belongs.

Avatar Arc

A year after those events, as Minerva, Rogue and Frosch prepare to go on a mission to eradicate a cult known as Avatar, Natsu suddenly arrives and drags Rogue somewhere private, much to Minerva's confusion. Soon, she sees Lucy and Happy, and the two women express concern over the men's odd behavior. As the two greet each other, Lucy asks Minerva what happened to Sting that got him so plump, and Minerva explains that they had an eating contest as part of a festival, and one she won, despite Sting's obvious change in appearance. When Lucy wonders why she didn't see Sabertooth in the Grand Magic Games, Minerva mentions that Sting thought the tournament wouldn't be worth it without Fairy Tail in it. Triggering her to remember her abuse towards Lucy during the previous Grand Magic Games, Minerva insists on apologizing despite Lucy brushing it off as a feud between guilds. She then says that it is a pity Fairy Tail disbanded as it was a marvelous guild, but Lucy shows her guild mark and says it will always remain in their hearts, which causes Minerva to smile. Suddenly, Natsu grabs Lucy and Happy and leaves in a hurry, but not before leaving Minerva with the task of looking after Rogue and Frosch and not letting them leave the city, which leaves the Sabertooth Mages in utter confusion.

Alverez Empire Arc

After the Alverez Empire invades Magnolia, Minerva stands with her guild mates, prepared to enter battle after hearing Ichiya's call to arms. She then later begins traveling to the north, alongside her guild mates and Blue Pegasus, to deal with the incoming fleet of three hundred. The group soon engages the enemy and Minerva fights alongside Jenny, the two calmly and easily disposing of any solders they encounter. But the guilds are unable to stand against Bloodman and are forced to withdraw. After they pitch camp, Minerva sits in the conference held to discuss their situation.

Some time later, however, Minerva and her allies are severely defeated and ultimate tied up to crosses for the sake of mockery by their enemy. Although later freed by Fairy Tail, they are unable to muster the courage to join the fight until Yukino manages to knock some sense into Sting, shocking the other Sabertooth mages and their Guild Master as well as forcing them to face reality. Heartened, they resume their battle, Minerva mercilessly employing her magic to blast her enemies. As she continues to battle, she notices Yukino getting distracted for a moment and questions after her condition, only to get a non-committal response, after which she continues to aid her Guild in battle.

Separated from their guildmates due to Universe One, Minerva and Rogue accompany Kinana to the battlefield in front of the Fairy Tail Guild, whereupon Minerva immediately challenges Wall's Historia. However, in due time, Minerva is pushed to her limits by Wall. After Wall and Bloodman are defeated, Minerva and Rogue wonder whether it was they who defeated the Historias or if they fell due to the defeat of their conjurer. Wen Rogue asks Minerva what the blinding light on the battlefield was, she tells them it was Fairy Law and explains how the spell works. Shortly thereafter, Minerva is subjected to the effects of Larcade Dragneel's Magic, but the Shield of Spriggan is forced to half his assault due to the harm it is inflicting upon his own allies. Soon afterwards, Minerva manages to use her Territory to have Yukino swap positions with Rogue so that the latter may help Sting in his struggle against Larcade, the two women then hurrying to their comrades' side only to find them standing victorious over the formidable foe. When she notices Kagura's presence, Minerva immediately apologizes for her actions during the Grand Magic Games and is, in turn, immediately forgiven. Considering their role in the battle to be over, the group optimistically decided to let their final hopes rest on Fairy Tail.

After Zeref's defeat, Minerva assisted Fairy Tail in luring Acnologia into Lucy's trap and joined in helping the Fairy Sphere that trapped him. After Acnologia's death, she joined in the celebration of Fairy Tail's victory and one year later, won the next Sabertooth eating competition.

Fairy Tail: The Twin Dragons of Sabertooth

At the start of the manga, Sabertooth’s elite combat fighters, Minerva included, confront a bunch of bandits robbing a jewelry store. When the battle was over, she, along with her teammates, were interviewed by Jason of Sorcerer Weekly, with the exception of Sting, much to his chagrin. He jealously started yelling at them, and then they immediately wonder what was up with him. Minerva even called him a “pathetic master” behind his back. She was pleasantly amused with how quickly he was cheered up after eating some of Yukino’s float cookies and pointed out that they are seldom baked because of how scarce the ingredients are. But she thought of it as a children’s snack.

The next morning, Minerva was the first to ask why Yukino hasn’t come back yet, and Orga just tells her that he didn’t know. Minerva picks up a flyer and said she recalled inviting Yukino to come with her on a job. Orga was excited to hear about it, and Rufus and Lector recall that a cooking class sent the request and Yukino has been fond of Minerva’s cooking. Later, Yukino does show up, but was uncharacteristically late. Sting suspected that something was up. Then it turned out that the real Yukino has been kidnapped by a Dark Guild called Abyss Horn and the one that just showed up at the Sabertooth guild hall was in fact an imposter and a member of said dark guild. Sting defeated the imposter with just one punch to the face and then ran off to save Yukino, leaving him at the mercy of the rest of the Sabertooth guild. Orga and Rufus demanded info on where Yukino is being held and what Abyss Horn wants with her, but the Abyss Horn guildmate dared them to torture him for the info they need. This apparently caught Minerva’s attention, much to his downfall. After she treated him with brutal force, which frightened even the rest of Sabertooth, the Abyss Horn member said that Yukino was taken to an airship hidden at the eastern outskirts of town, which were outside Minerva’s magic range, irritating her. After Sting and Yukino confront Cranch, the leader of Abyss Horn, Rogue and the rest of Sabertooth, Minerva included, and assist them in their battle. After Jason shows up to congratulate Sting for taking down Abyss Horn and ran off to write an article about it, Minerva felt baffled by the fact that Jason suddenly appeared and disappeared out of the blue.

Some time later, Minerva returns to the guild from a job and finds Rogue completely by himself because he was mad at Sting for eating a white flower that Frosch picked for him. When she asked where Sting was, her guildmates told her that he and Yukino went out on a job. One of them handed her the paper with the request, saying it was from Obstone, the town of gems. Minerva recapped that she’s been there for past missions and sightseeing, calling it “a nice and beautiful town.” However, she noticed something odd about the request, and became suspicious of it.

Later, after one of the culprits behind the surprise attack at Obstone, a little girl named Dia, uses a magic hammer to hijack control of one of Yukino’s celestial spirits, Pisces, Minerva shows up and blocks Pisces’ attack with her magic barriers. She shows Yukino the flyer sent to her, and explains to her that the real town of Obstone is to the south of their current location, and the one they are currently in is a fake one, and the mines made it easier for Dia and her “big brother,” Toparge to trick people into going to the fake Obstone instead. The townsfolk were brought over from neighboring towns as well, and Minerva suspected that Dia and Toparge used a barrier that would seal up magic. Yukino immediately suspected that the request for the Twin Dragons was a set-up, and Dia threw a hissy-fit and sent Pisces after Minerva, or “dumpling-head” as she liked to call her. However, Minerva uses her teleportation magic to send Pisces away enough for Yukino to send them back to the Celestial Spirit Realm. Enraged, Dia raises her hammer in the air and sends the townsfolk after the two Sabertooth sorceresses. Minerva counters that attack by teleporting the possessed townsfolk away with her magic. She comments that Dia’s hammer places a seal on whomever she strikes with it, allowing her to control them while also increasing their power. She outright said that it makes her a competent mage despite being a little girl, but she went up against someone who could easily counter it. Enraged, Dia, out of fear that Toparge would abandon her, strikes herself with the hammer to gain power from its seal and charges at Minerva. Minerva keeps deflecting Dia’s blows, but notices that her seal was taking a physical toll on Dia, and she would die unless she aborts her magic. Dia doesn’t listen to reason, so Minerva shatters her hammer, breaking the seals she put and taking her power away. Dia picks up a rock and charges at Minerva again, but she hugs her, telling her that she’s already done enough and there’s more to life than power. Dia drops the rock afterwards, but Minerva expresses a desire to burn Toparge alive in revenge for mistreating and trying to weaponize his little sister, due to how much it reminded her of the treatment she herself got from her own father. Yukino wonders where Sting was, and they notice an explosion coming from the mountains sometime later. Yukino asks Minerva if she’s going to help Sting out, but she replies that Sting won’t go down easily because he’s the master of Sabertooth, not to mention Rogue is with him.

After Sting and Rogue defeat Toparge, Minerva and Yukino arrive to see if they were okay. Upon seeing Toparge reconcile with Dia and treating her kindly, Minerva decides against burning him alive like she originally intended. The group leaves the fake Obstone and Minerva decides to take them to the real one. She uses her teleportation magic to bring in a bunch of a bunch of valuable gemstones, saying that she got them from the golems’ tracks, and decided to have them be her team’s reward for completing their task at the fake Obstone, even though it wasn’t an official request. The team relaxes at the hot springs, where Sting and Rogue quarrel over etiquette and “disband” again. Minerva chuckles at their childish behavior as she and Yukino bath in their side of the hot spring.

Magic and Abilities

Territory: Her Magic revolves around the manipulation of space, which allows her to manipulate any spatial region within her line of sight. This has been used to block one of Natsu Dragneel's powerful Lightning Fire Dragon techniques with little to no effort. It also allows her to teleport things instantly out of thin air, such as when she had Happy, who was nowhere near her present location, materialize in her arms via her Magic, not to mention moving Lucy from the edge of the water orb towards her direct line of attack during Naval Battle. She can also switch positions with her chosen target, by simultaneously teleporting her target and herself to each other's location. It can also be used offensively: the waves can harm a human heavily, having effects similar to lead, being directly sent at a target or surrounding the target and causing several attacks at once. She can also change the properties of a space such as changing the temperature and as a result producing heat underwater or creating explosions.

Yagdo Rigora: A secondary Magic, Minerva casts this by chanting the incantation "Niel Wielg Mion Terse Elcantaeus: Yagdo Rigora" while waving her hands in a circular motion, which conjures a large statue with intricate designs and patterns over its body that creates a powerful blast. This Magic is one of eighteen referred to as the Yakuma Eighteen War Gods Magic.

Enhanced Strength: Minerva possesses an above average physical strength as she could easily lift Lucy Heartfilia with a single hand after defeating her at Naval Battle.

Immense Magic Power: Minerva has been shown to possess a tremendous amount of Magic Power. She was able to produce a spell that completely blocked Natsu Dragneel's powerful Lightning Fire Dragon techniques without breaking a sweat; she brutalized Lucy for a near non-stop ten minutes with her Magic; even after confronting Erza Scarlet and Kagura Mikazuchi, despite having unleashed her ominously devastating Yagdo Rigora, she did not look tired in the least. When used, her Magic Power could be felt throughout the entirety of Crocus, all the way to the stadium, as noted by Chapati Lola and Yajima. When exerted, her Magic Power is purple in color.

Acrobatic Skills: Minerva has been shown to possess flexibility that allows her to do acrobatic moves. She has demonstrated the ability to, with the use of her Magic, appear from thin air and, while twisting in the air, throw both Erza Scarlet and Kagura Mikazuchi and still be able to land perfectly on both feet.

Expert Hand-to-Hand Combatant: Minerva possesses considerable skill in bare-handed fighting, kneeing Lucy in the ribs right after teleporting her. Furthermore, she was able to parry the slashes of both Erza Scarlet and Kagura Mikazuchi intercepting them with her hands, albeit shielded by her Magic. After using her Magic to swap places with Erza, she was able to deal a powerful kick to her, sending her crashing into a remnant of Cube.