| “ | It's my solemn vow... the suffering I've caused will not repeat in the current era. I will be neutral and isolated, a friend or foe to no one. That said... if the current era should give way to a new one... there's a chance I will take on a far more active role. I had hoped you would destroy me before then... Natsu. | „ |
| ~ Zeref Dragneel to himself about his allegiance. |
Zeref Dragneel, commonly known as The Black Wizard, later referred to as Emperor Spriggan, is the main antagonist of the Fairy Tail franchise. He is considered the strongest mage in the series, as he possesses incredibly deadly, powerful, and destructive magic.
He first appeared as a self-hating youthful recluse who could not control his Powers and was later revealed to be the estranged older brother of Natsu Dragneel, illegitimate father of August and creator of the Etherious originally created to kill him. He is also the love interest of Mavis Vermillion, who is the co-founder and first Guild Master of the titular organization Fairy Tail. He is also revealed to be the Emperor of the Alvarez Empire, known to the citizens there as Emperor Spriggan, being the master of his personal guardians, the Springgan 12.
He is voiced by Akira Ishida in the Japanese version of the anime, and by Joel McDonald in the English version.
Appearance[]
Though Zeref appeared to be a young man he was actually just over 400 years old but due to his Cursed immortality he retained a youthful appearance throughout his life. In addition he kept the characteristics he had back then noticeably his short black hair, clean pale skin, big dark eyes and abnormally-sharp canines.
In terms of clothing Zeref wore a high-collared red (black in the anime) and tan robe with gold trimmings and black pants nearly identical to the one initially worn by Rogue Cheney with a white toga draped over his left shoulder and black lace boots on his feet. He also had a pendant around his neck where he kept a childhood picture of him with Natsu. As Emperor Spriggan (in Japanese: 皇帝スプリガン, Kōtei Supurigan), first leader and founder of the Alvarez Empire he donned a regal and formal version of his usual attire consisting of a white toga lined with golden strings and markings at the edges; underneath this he had a black long-sleeve coat with metal cuffs reminiscent of those sported by Gajeel Redfox.
In his years before becoming immortal he normally wore a version of his usual outfit consisting of a white robe, blue toga and wooden sandals.
When emotionally unbalanced, Zeref's irises become dark red (sometimes purple) with concentric black rings around their pupils, giving him a frightening appearance.
After undergoing the Transformation following his use of the Lumen Histoire, or Fairy Heart his hair and clothing turned white with intrinsic designs on his robe and radiant silver wings sprouting from his back. In the manga, his eyes are also white, but in the anime, they're black.
Origin[]
Pre-Zero[]
More than 400 years ago, Zeref lived with his parents and his little brother, and from what was shown, he loved his family dearly and always loved spending time with Natsu. Eventually though, a dragon attack killed his family, with only Natsu's body remaining. After narrowly surviving the attack, Zeref went to an academy to learn magic, and the professors know that he was motivated by Natsu's death, but reminds Zeref that there is a God named Ankhseram, and toying with life and death could potentially lead to consequences. Zeref spent many years in the academy studying diligently in magic, and became a prodigy. Plus, his view towards life and death deepened after the death of his family, wondering its deep meaning in the magic world.
Since his childhood, Zeref has always been a thoughtful soul and had a healthy relationship with people, considering how nice he was towards others, and while he did spend many years finding ways to bring back Natsu, Zeref's motivation wasn't for selfish purposes as he knows Ankhseram and never wanted to be a problem to anyone; all he wanted was to see if there was a bigger picture that no one knows yet, since in his childhood, he became passionate and curious about the complex meaning of life and death, wondering if there may be things he and other people don't know yet. His first method was the R-System (only making a concept and blueprint), where a human life can be resurrected at the cost of another human life, but he eventually abandoned this idea after seeing that it's not the safest way due to the risk of falling into the wrong hands (which would sacrifice innocent lives, and he subverted his innocent belief as a child that life has intentionality to it, including the deaths, and life after that). His final method after more research was the Eclipse Gate, where he will go back in time to prevent Natsu's fate of death. Unfortunately though, Zeref (as a teenager near the age of an adult), eventually cursed himself after his many years of trying to bring back Natsu to life. The moment he got cursed, everyone in the academy died and Zeref was immediately horrified what he has unintentionally done. The way the curse works if that if he values life, the curse will easily kill the things around him, but if he doesn't value the lives of others, he can control the curse, but can purposely use his dark magic on others (particularly in conflicting situations). He even isolated himself as much as possible to avoid killing anyone who comes to him. Even if was just an honest mistake and he tried his best, Zeref could never forgive himself for what he caused, and became deeply troubled and emotionally fragile. He attempted every method of killing his now immortal body that can't age (one of which was creating demons with the sole task to kill him, like Deliora, Lullaby, Nemesis, and Tartaros), but all failed miserably, and Zeref became afraid of what further harm he can do if he can't die.
After he dealt with his demons and archived the books with the text that houses their very lives (even likely erasing the evidence of the R-System), more problems happened (never shown on-screen but heavily implied); when all kind of sinners found Zeref and learned of his cursed body (ranging from evil mages to cult groups), they used this to their advantage and victimized Zeref, torturing him and reawakening some of the demons he archived (even bringing back the R-System), scattering them across the world, and without Zeref able to stop them; the demons attacked innocent people and the sinners framed Zeref for the attacks (lying that Zeref is the most evil mage who ever lived and that he created the demons to murder innocent people), and this started the history of more sinners committing horrible actions under Zeref's name, even abusing magic and making false stories in books to corrupt the balance in the world. Zeref felt even more heartbroken and devastated, as he never wanted to be a threat to anyone, only for sinners to make things worse for him.
Eventually though, Zeref managed to resurrect Natsu and made him partially a demon. Zeref also had Natsu learn Fire Dragon Slayer Magic by Igneel (one of the few dragons who are benevolent towards humans). However, since the era Zeref was in had very little magic power and the dragons have grown weak from the lack of magic, Zeref got help from Anna and Layla Heartfilia (the ancestors of Lucy Heartfilia) and they used Zeref's Eclipse Gate, even leaving the gate in their hands. What Anna and Layla planned to use the gate for was to teleport a number of Dragon Slayers 400 years to the future (a more magic-rich era) to kill Acnologia (the final antagonist of the series; a former man who had a tragic past of a dragon attack taking away those he cared about, but subverted almost all his tragedy by choosing to be even worse than the dragons who victimized him, becoming a Dragon hybrid who plans to wipe out not only dragons but all life in the world). Anna and Layla Heartfilia know about Zeref's plan to have Natsu kill him, and had the full teleportation plan altered slightly, where the Dragon Slayers kill Acnologia and then Zeref would wait for his death by Natsu. Before Natsu and the others were teleported to the future, Zeref erased Natsu's memory of their sibling bond, so that Natsu would be less resistant to kill him, since Zeref chose to prioritize the safety of humanity over his wish of Natsu remembering him. After Natsu was taken to the future, Zeref continued to isolate himself, hoping Natsu would be strong enough to kill him.
Zero Arc[]
300+ years after all that, Zeref eventually met a girl named Mavis, and Zeref immediately tried leaving to avoid accidentally harming her, and in the process, he accidentally killed a number of trees. However, Zeref is surprised when Mavis knows already what kind of power Zeref is suffering from and this really surprised him, as no one ever acknowledged his curse before. When Mavis learned about Zeref's high knowledge in magic, she requested to be trained by him, and Zeref did so while keeping his distance. After Mavis and her friends mastered magic, Zeref left Mavis and her friends, as he felt like his job is done and he doesn't want to risk causing any problems for her and her friends. After Mavis and her friends saved Magnolia with their new abilities, the magic motivated them to starting a guild of their own, Fairy Tail. Unfortunately, during the fight that saved Magnolia, Mavis used an unfinished spell (Fairy Law, which is a spell made intentionally to determine one's fate and needs 10 years of training) and that resulted in her obtaining the same curse as Zeref, but no one (not even her) found out about this, despite knowing Mavis can't age anymore, because during the 10 years that have passed after this arc, Mavis had experience with war, and war dulls one's concern for life and her thoughts would be at flux (affecting the curse's power), but once it's over, she will see the curse.
Post-Zero[]
After the Zero Arc, Mavis tried finding Zeref by herself, as she missed him a lot. Zeref ended up surprised that Mavis didn't die when she literally hugged him excitedly while thanking him for being a reason Magnolia was saved. Mavis and Zeref did have a long talk with each other (implied on-screen) and Zeref ultimately felt like he can finally reveal his name to her. When Mavis found out that he's the Black Wizard Zeref that people around the world viewed as the most evil, Mavis happily says he's nothing like what the rumors say, though Zeref's self-loathing made him think he deserves to be viewed that way, but Mavis says she doesn't believe in the rumors. Zeref notices Mavis didn't age at all even after the last time they saw each other (10 years ago) and Mavis eventually opened up what she did, and Zeref was concerned, telling her everything. Mavis didn't want to believe it at first and left Zeref out of distraught feelings.
Eventually though, Mavis accidentally kills Rita (Yuri Dreyar's wife) and was horrified by the fact that she really did get cursed. Mavis ran away from everyone and isolated herself too, even unintentionally killing plants and animals in the process. 1 year has passed and another side effect of Zeref's curse happens, likely from 300+ years of traumatic experiences; it can take control of Zeref's mind at random occasions with indefinite time periods (wherein Zeref would act in an unstable manner and commit actions his true self would never do); Zeref unwillingly created the Alvarez Empire in a different continent to start wars and conflicts, even unwillingly conquering more than 700 guilds in the process. Zeref is also the first emperor of the empire and thankfully, he doesn't kill anyone there (likely due to the complicated reason for the empire's creation). In addition, the Alvarez Empire eventually spawned Zeref's elite group of powerful mages known as the "Springgan 12" (in which it ended up having 12 after this arc). Zeref finds Mavis looking depressed, and opened up more about his life, including how he created the empire to threaten innocent people and even kill his own brother, only for Zeref to question himself why he just said that even though his true self never wanted to hurt anyone and he wanted Natsu to kill him, not the other way around; he even feels horror when he discovers the curse now gave him a split personality and what he unwillingly created while being in an unstable form, and became fearful of what could potentially happen in the future.
Mavis notices Zeref's eyes turning purple and sees that Zeref's thoughts are contradicting themselves from the curse controlling his mind. Feeling empathy for him, Mavis embraced Zeref while telling him that she sees him for who he truly is and won't reject him like others did. Touched, Zeref has never seen someone this kind to him, and he never loved someone this much before. Zeref and Mavis share a kiss, but Mavis immediately died from it because of Zeref's strong feelings of love, and he felt even more heartbroken and self-loathing than he already is. However, Mavis didn't kill Zeref with her curse, making Zeref realize she doesn't love him completely. After calming down, Zeref brought Mavis back to her friends, and one of them (Precht) learns that Zeref is the one who trained them. Zeref's mind begins to feel troubled further, but that being said, it was implied that despite Zeref having this Empire for more than 100 years, he didn't start any wars at all, possibly meaning Zeref may have found a way to avoid it or something mysterious happened to him that resulted in him managing to keeр the world at peace.
Precht tried resurrecting Mavis by injecting all forms of magic in her body, but all were unsuccessful. Furthermore, Mavis eventually gave birth to an immortal baby in the process, and Precht ultimately left it abandoned after being unsure what to do with him. The baby grew into a toddler and despite his age, had the mind of a grown-up and was completely aware of his parents, including their mutual curse. He met his father, but never revealed anything, and Zeref wasn't aware his kiss with Mavis gave birth to the child. Thinking the abandoned child needed a home, Zeref let him stay in the Alvarez Empire and named him August (the month he met Mavis). When Zeref found out that Mavis' dead body (infused with all the magic power injected into her) became a source of immense magic power that can control space and time (called Fairy Heart), he finally found a purpose for the Alvarez Empire, but only if his plan to have Natsu kill him failed. He still waited for his death by Natsu, as he wants to try every method of dying first before doing the only other solution. When Mavis seemingly cannot be resurrected, Precht and her friends kept her lifeless body in the crystal, because the amount of power in her body has to be hidden, or it could fall into the wrong hands (because of how destructive the power levels are). That being said, the members of Fairy Tail did make her a grave and put it in Tenrou Island, the place she was born in. Meanwhile, Zeref eventually isolated himself there and watched over Mavis' grave, alone and waiting for his death by Natsu after Acnologia's death by all the ones taken to the future with Dragon Slayer Magic.
Tenrou Island Arc[]
Almost a century later, Natsu and his friends in the current generation of Fairy Tail go to Tenrou Island to do the S-Class Mage Promotion Trial, a competition that decides who will be the next S-Class mage in Fairy Tail. When Zeref eventually saw Elfman and Evergreen (two of Fairy Tail's members) in Tenrou Island, Zeref was shocked and confused to see people on the island, as he didn't know anything about the trial. With this realization being too sudden for him to think straight, Zeref tried telling them to keep away from him, but the curse got triggered from Zeref's feelings after all these sudden things happening to him, and the curse nearly killed them by accident, with Natsu suddenly arriving and barely managing to save the two from the wave of dark magic. Upon seeing Natsu after so long, Zeref shed tears, as he missed Natsu so much. Natsu, on the other hand, doesn't recognize him and instead tried to recklessly and angrily attack him after asserting he tried to kill his friends, even though he saw Zeref showing feelings of fear and unhappiness. When Natsu brutally punched Zeref on the head, Zeref was saddened when he immediately noticed Natsu isn't strong enough to kill him, and Zeref only expressed sadness by the fact that he waited for so long, only for Natsu to also be a failed experiment. Immediately after that, the curse got triggered again just from Zeref's feelings of love towards his brother (as the curse gets triggered by one's love as well); Natsu is nearly killed and Zeref escapes, traumatized by the fact that he nearly killed his little brother and depressed by the fact that he still won't die.
Not long after that, a dark guild called Grimoire Heart invades Tenrou Island and attacks Natsu and all the other Fairy Tail members residing there, with their plan being to use Zeref as a weapon to destroy those they find weak. The leader is revealed to be Precht (one of Mavis' close friend) who eventually became evil. When one of Precht's allies (Ultear Milkovich) tries to track down the Zeref, the situation ends up with Zeref finding her instead. Enraged by her horrid actions, Zeref's eyes glow blood red (which happens when he's angry) and he attempts to use his curse intentionally to kill her, as Zeref wants to protect Natsu and his friends (the first time he ever tried using his curse intentionally to try saving those he cared about), but Zeref couldn't easily kill her with his full potential, as he's trying to keep his curse from getting triggered again, as his action of killing Ultear is out of his care for Natsu and his friends. Unfortunately, Zeref's curse still got triggered despite him trying to suppress his power levels, and he only got frustrated and scared that he really cannot do anything to help anyone in need. Ultear absorbs the curse wave using a time weapon (which breaks itself after absorbing Zeref's unintentional blast), and then she brutally renders Zeref unconscious using her power.
Zeref stays unconscious for a while, but while he's inactive, his mind sensor detects that Acnologia is still alive, meaning the plan where the Dragon Slayers will kill him didn't come true and failed (because of complications in the time travel he didn't know). Eventually, Zeref awakens and kills one of Grimoire Hearts allies (Zancrow) automatically, when a partially unstable form of his curse wave came out of his body. Zeref is glad none of Natsu's friends were harmed from his curse, and tells them while they're asleep that he had no intention of doing anything in this era, but if an age is about to end, he will spring into action once more.
Through the rest of the arc, Zeref did nothing during the fight, after seeing that his curse won't let him save Fairy Tail. Fortunately, Natsu and his friends defeat Grimoire Heart and Precht retreats with his remaining allies, weakened. However, Zeref secretly went in their aircraft and while they were flying away from the island, Zeref revealed himself to Precht and expressed how disgusted he is by what he has done. Zeref even learns that Grimoire Heart murdered innocent lives based on a flase story just to "awaken" Zeref when he was never asleep. Zeref also learns that Grimoire Heart were the ones who awakened Acnologia and essentially risked the existence of all of humanity. Enraged, Zeref's eyes glowed red and he used his curse intentionally to kill Precht for his horrible actions, disbanding Grimoire Heart. Zeref sees Acnologia beginning to attack Natsu and his friends, feeling saddened that he couldn't save his little brother and the people there with him. Fortunately, Mavis' ghost awakens and uses Fairy Sphere to temporarily postpone Acnologia's attack, though this led to everyone on the island not aging for 6 years.
Ultimately, after everything that has happened (including the fact that his plan to commit suicide via Natsu failed), Zeref feels like he has to do something about this, and he will be neither an ally nor an enemy to anyone. He will now resort to his complex plan of obtaining Fairy Heart, though he had to keep his true plan a secret from others, for now.
Personality[]
Zeref was said to have been the darkest, most evil wizard in the magic world as he mastered the Black Arts of Magic Power and created Demons and other monstrous creatures which continued to wreak havoc well into the present. However, the truth was far from what had been previously described: In reality Zeref was a calm-minded, gentle, sincere, kind, selfless, humble, sweet, trustworthy, straightforward, and optimistic person though over the years he found himself in a state of self-loathing where he wished to isolate himself from others and have his own life be taken away. He regretted the sins he committed and thus wanted to die before he found himself committing more horrid crimes.
After killing so many innocent lives unintentionally through his good nature triggering the Curse of Contradiction, Zeref felt painfully traumatized and broken, losing so much happiness in his life. He attempted every method to end his own life, but to no avail. What's worse, many sinners (ranging from evil mages and cult groups) even started committing many crimes under his name, which led to Zeref becoming the most hated man in the world when all he ever wanted was to protect people from his curse. Zeref expressed horror and extreme disgust by those false stories sinners and cult groups use to abuse magic, including the fact that they tried presenting this as authentic in the books of Zeref (such as the keys to unlock Zeref's "seal" and the R-System being used to "revive" Zeref while killing and enslaving innocent people), implying he was also disgusted by the fact that they used and abused his creations for their own twisted purposes while framing him when he only tried to kill himself (including the dozens of demons Zeref created just to kill himself and no longer harm any innocent lives). It was also implied the sinners were the reasons Zeref was unable to help anyone from the demon attacks and other conflicts in time, possibly through complex methods; this subplot was left a mystery (as only the base details were shown), but there were heavy implications of the horror and torture Zeref went through, both from his curse and the sinners victimizing him while affecting his image badly.
What's worse is that Zeref couldn't save the people during the attacks of the demons and the sinners, because it would mean valuing their lives and that will trigger his curse into creating even worse problems; this made Zeref feel so much pain and misery, feeling like he has taken away all meaning in his life. Naturally, Zeref felt troubled and wanted his suffering to end. Despite his painfully large amount depression however, Zeref still tried to find a solution to end his own life and eventually found a way to bring back Natsu, getting help from Anna and Layla Heartfilia to take him to a magic-rich era, hoping that Natsu would become strong enough to kill him.
11 years after the Zero Arc, when Mavis tried isolating herself (after realizing Zeref was right about her obtaining the same curse as him), another side effect of Zeref's curse begins to happen, possibly from 300+ years of trauma; it can take control of Zeref's mind at random occasions with indefinite time periods (wherein Zeref would act unstable and commit actions his true self wouldn't do); Zeref unwillingly created the Alvarez Empire in a different continent with the purpose of starting wars and conflicts, even unwillingly subjugating more than 700 guilds in the process; when Zeref finds Mavis (immediately knowing what she's going through), he opened up more about his life, including how he created the empire to threaten innocent people and even kill his own brother, only for Zeref to immediately question himself why he just said that even though his true self never wanted to hurt anyone and he wanted Natsu to kill him, not the other way around; he even feels horror when he discovers the curse now gave him a split personality and what he unwillingly created while being in an unstable form, and became fearful of what could potentially happen in the future. Mavis even sees Zeref's eyes turn purple with spiral irises and sees that Zeref's thoughts are contradicting themselves from the curse controlling his mind.
Eventually however, Zeref's true self found a purpose for the empire after learning about the existence of Fairy Heart (which is inside Mavis' dead body filled with all the magic injected into her). It is unknown when exactly did he discover the existence of this power, though given how he mentioned in the Tenrou Island Arc that he originally had not intention of doing anything other than wait for his death by Natsu, it is possible that he only learned about it during this time (possibly when his mind sensor detected visions while he was unconscious after Ultear's attack).
Zeref showed concern for others when he warned them not to come near him knowing they would most likely perish if they did; he once told Mavis he never chose to stay in one place or enter extended contact with living creatures. He was also emotionally fragile and vulnerable when he believed Mavis somehow died after they showed love for each other and realized his younger brother was not ready to eliminate him yet becoming hysterical and/or breaking down in tears on both occasions. Despite Zeref's capability for evil, he was a more tragic character once others knew him personally; this extended to the point that Mavis tried to cheer him up with her illusions.
Zeref cared deeply for his family and friends (even innocent lives who were unintentionally harmed by him or were victimized by sinners), wishing that he could be himself around them without triggering his curse. He loved Natsu very much as a brother (even if the latter can be rather hard to reason with a lot of times) and despite wanting to be ended by him, deep down, he wanted Natsu to know how much he truly cared about him and that he never wanted them to be enemies. He kept a pendant containing them in their childhood to remember him. In the Tenrou Island Arc, after seeing Natsu again after so many years, Zeref was happy to see his little brother, but he's naturally sad that Natsu doesn't remember him (aside from the fact he's sad that Natsu wasn't strong enough to destroy him at the time). In his brief appearance during the middle act of the Tartaros Arc, Zeref aided Natsu in winning the battle against the members of Tartaros through a holographic image (despite the latter being distrustful towards him). After Tartaros was defeated, Zeref appeared in person and verbally threatened Natsu and his friends, but deep down, he didn't mean any of that and only wanted to keep his curse from automatically killing them. When he believed he would die by Natsu's hand, he told him the truth of their relationship and revealed how he waited for him. He was touched deep inside when Natsu (who regained his memory of their childhood) finally acknowledged him as a brother in their final battle, despite Natsu using his acknowledgement to disown him. Lastly, on his deathbed he had regretted not reconciling with him and left behind his pendant of them together as a memento.
In contrast to Natsu's reckless, impulsive, and airheaded nature, Zeref is more mature, serious, insightful, intelligent, and principled as an individual. Furthermore, he's a diligent student at school who amazed so many people for how much of a prodigy he has become. Additionally, he developed strong feelings for Mavis Vermillion, as she's the only one who has been so kind and understanding towards him. When he first met Mavis, Zeref never told her his name because he knew it would scare her away, and he wanted to keep her safe from his curse. After Zeref unwillingly killed many trees in front of Mavis, the latter immediately recognized the kind of magic, which surprised Zeref as she's the first one who knew about his curse. However, Zeref still chose not to tell her his name because it's not easy. When Mavis requested Zeref to teach magic to her and her friends in order to save Magnolia, he accepted and used his high knowledge of magic to guide them, but when he finished teaching them, he chose to leave because he felt like his job was done and that he doesn't want to cause any problems for Mavis and her friends. Years later, Zeref got to see Mavis again and after feeling like they have known each other enough, he eventually told her his name and Mavis was surprised that Zeref wasn't anything like what the rumors depicted him to be, even saying he has gentle eyes.
After the traumatic death of his family, Zeref's view towards life has deepened, and he became curious and passionate about the complex meaning of life and death, wondering if there was a bigger picture that no one knows about even after the professors warned him about Ankhseram and how toying with life and death could lead to some bad outcomes, especially after knowing about how much Zeref was afraid of losing his brother completely. Ultimately, Zeref cursing himself was an honest mistake because it was shown that he tried his best and did a lot of researching for years, never wanting to be a problem for anyone.
Zeref had a clear-cut disdain for the "cultists who longed for [his] resurrection" viewing them as "a group of desperate fanatics" with unamusement and spite likely due to seeing those followers (in the loosest sense) as a majority of the negative histories and legacies he left behind before deciding to return and held similar regards, if not lower for the tales about him apparently having kept tabs on the Magic World while inactive as he was visibly appalled with former student and Fairy Tail's second Guild Master Precht Gaebolg and his new Guild Grimoire Heart for taking the stories about how he had already died and the "Keys" to reawaken him by unlocking his "Seal" very seriously to the point of considering it a holy script deeming said legends antiquated fiction and calling it all "a lie that an old fool put stock in".
Zeref, who's normally a very easygoing individual, can be threatening towards people who are actually evil, as he would punish those he believed or already knew beforehand to be evil (to the point where they cannot be redeemed). This was shown when he ruthlessly slaughtered Precht who had become known as Hades and he correctly thought to have willingly performed or authorized a number of unforgivable and horrific atrocities. As a result of the immortality and agelessness enabling his extended lifespan, Zeref developed some misanthropy for humankind and its idiosyncrasies of hatred, evil and conflict.
When personally confronted by Mavis' Thought Projection after the Grand Magic Games, he talked about his plans for the world and how he would bring everything crashing down, though he never revealed or fully explained to her his true plan, (possibly due to the fact that he had to keep his true plan a secret from the Springgan 12 to avoid betrayal in case Mavis and her allies potentially tell them Zeref's true plan during the Alvarez Empire Arc). While nearly everyone believed that Zeref was a threat to mankind (despite still having an extremist goal to end Acnologia), in reality, what he actually wanted was to reset the timeline to stop Acnologia from becoming too powerful to the point where there's a high chance all of humanity will be destroyed by him, with Zeref and Natsu killing him in the past to prevent him from beginning his rampage once more. Additionally, Zeref wants to undo every sin humanity committed under his name and prevent them from making more in the future (Zeref also partially blamed himself for all the innocent lives who suffered by sinners who committed crimes under his name, since him cursing himself indirectly led to that, despite the sinners being fully responsible for their actions). In addition, after Zeref resets the timeline, he can finally relive his life before he got cursed and finally live a normal life with his family, and he wouldn't make the same mistake of cursing himself again (which of course would lead to him and everyone in the world go through tons of misery for centuries, even a potential fate where humanity has no future). Plus, Zeref can finally be his true self without automatically killing anyone and being able to show Natsu how much he truly loved him as a brother. He never told any of the Springgan 12 his true plan, most likely because they might go against it and it can cause more conflicts and complications, with Zeref only talking about Acnologia's demise. Zeref, in reality, just wanted to set things right and wanted humanity to have a better future, where he will no longer cause any more problems for anyone. However, resetting the timeline would mean that Zeref wouldn't be able to meet Mavis again, but his self-loathing made him believe that Mavis' life would have been better without him, thinking that although they may have gotten along really well, he felt like he left a negative impact on her life because of all the bad things he indirectly caused.
His reputations on the continents of Alakitasia and Ishgar differed as Ishgarians thought of him as an aggressively single-minded tyrannical dictator bent on conquest while Alakitasians spoke of him as a benevolently noble and caring leader. Yajeel stated Zeref would show either or both sides depending on situations (though it's implied that this is another case of Zeref's personality and true self contradicting from the curse's effect and how he never wanted to build the empire in the first place); in the scene where Zeref and Makarov were alone, the Black Wizard told him that even though his personas were one and the same he preferred to be what Ishgar believed in. One of his more defining traits was an uncanny knack for (un)consciously seducing others into accepting his ways of thinking in the examples of organizations purely dedicated to serving what they saw as his will.
Zeref's plan to invade Ishgar and obtain Fairy Heart only happened because Natsu couldn't kill Zeref during the Tenrou Island arc, which made Zeref feel more depressed by the fact that despite all his efforts, he still can't die. He's also afraid of what could happen if he keeps isolating himself (even during the time the Alvarez Empire Arc took place), as even if Acnologia managed to be killed by the heroes, anything involving Zeref's cursed body could potentially lead to the extinction of mankind, like maybe losing his sanity, and considering how his curse is connected to his feelings and mental state, Zeref is afraid of how his power could reach unstable levels and how many people he'd end up killing.
In the Alvarez Empire Arc, Zeref chose to suppress his good nature towards others to control his curse and go on with his plan without struggling as much on what to do in situations, even if it meant looking like the kind of man he was depicted in the rumors. When confronted by Fairy Tail's third, sixth, eighth and incumbent Guild Master Makarov Dreyar, Zeref purposely assaulted him as a chance of getting a rise out of Natsu (and knowing that if he tried sparing his life, it would still kill him either way). During his plan of invading Ishgar with the Springgan 12 to obtain Fairy Heart, when Natsu attempted to track Zeref down and try to kill him, Zeref chose to deal with Natsu by himself, but after seeing Natsu's secret weapon (that being the last of Igneel's power), Zeref sees that this power could actually kill him and he allowed himself to finally die to atone for everything and rest in peace, viewing his death by Natsu as an alternate solution to end his suffering in case his invasion plan might fail. Even if it meant that Zeref would die looking like the evil mage he was depicted in the rumors (even to Mavis), he wouldn't really feel bad about it because of how much he blamed himself for all the devastating things he indirectly caused throughout his life. Additionally, while Zeref would die leaving some damage on Ishgar (including its people), at least he can keep the current timeline existent, meaning Zeref was willing to do whatever it takes to maintain the current timeline unless he has no other choice.
After Natsu failed to destroy him using Igneel's power in their first fight, Zeref said to himself that he can't stop his plan to obtain Fairy Heart now, and said to Invel and to some of his other allies that there are no more distractions and that they can continue on with their plan. Despite never telling any of the Springgan 12 his true plan, he still felt like he needed their help as he couldn't find Fairy Heart alone even if he tried, given that deep inside, Zeref was still the same kindhearted soul he once was and he could never use his power at its full potential unless he abandoned his morals, but he didn't. Plus, even after seeing all the sinners who committed atrocities under his name, he never subverted who he once was and wanted to take responsibility for this. Despite displaying a serious expression for much of the arc however, underneath, he is going through an immense amount of trauma from all the lives suffering in the war, since he never wanted to do this but had no other option to obtain the very thing he needs in case he really can't die; this is indicated from his eyes turning purple in certain parts of the arc, which makes the curse control his mind at times.
During a scene where Gray was alone and confronted Zeref (right before Natsu and Zeref's second fight in the arc), Zeref (despite beginning to reach his unstable state, shown from his eyes turning purple) threatened to kill Gray after seeing that it could actually trigger Natsu's E.N.D. form through grief and rage, as another chance of trying to end his own life and then no longer being a problem to everyone in the world. During Zeref's second fight with Natsu (despite the former not being in his normal state for much of the fight), the black wizard struggled to keep his thoughts from contradicting themselves, and it's implied that even if he didn't lose control, he still would have reluctantly killed Natsu out of his struggle due to Natsu being blatantly ruthless and blindly making things harder for him without thinking (shown from how he did that in his God form and he was in control of himself). Had Natsu not begun the fight so recklessly while being blatantly relentless in killing Zeref without trying to know anything about the mysterious aspect of him, there wouldn't have been a fight and it's likely that had Natsu just simply comforted his older brother like how he was there for Future Lucy in the Grand Magic Games Arc (when she tried resetting the timeline too), it very likely would have calmed Zeref down to his normal state, similar to what Mavis did shortly before her first death. However, due to Natsu blindly refusing to acknowledge the curse at the time while treating his brother as someone with no suffering, things ended up this way.
One of Zeref's most notable traits was how sacrificial he was, and made the most out of every character in the series. Even after everything he went through, he never stopped making sacrifices for the greater good, up until the end; he sacrificed Natsu's memories of him to commit suicide (putting others above himself); he broke his bond with Mavis because he loved her deep inside but had to fracture their relationship in order to initiate his complicated plan in the Alvarez Empire Arc; he tried sacrificing his true personality and reputation when he initiated the war on Ishgar, due to him having to struggle with his curse; above all, he tried sacrificing the current timeline to start a new one, only to ensure humanity has a future when he thought deeply on the possible fate that could happen if he does nothing.
After he was defeated for the first (and only) time by Natsu, he looked solemn as Mavis hit him for his actions, expressing that he deserved her hatred for him. Despite what she just said however, Mavis immediately apologized to Zeref for not having enough faith in him. Even after Mavis learned about his full story and difficult life, she initially had some doubt towards Zeref after learning that he's the wizard who has been considered by many as the most evil mage in history, and she even developed conflicting feelings after their encounter that took place after the Grand Magic Games (being unsure of what Zeref's true goals are and if he actually wants to threaten humanity or not, especially since Mavis has seen his kindness as well), leading to Mavis finding it hard to think straight and calculate everything, even when she fought against him for much of the arc and tried protecting everyone in Ishgar from the invasion, and Mavis' plan of expressing her love for him (which she came up with during the middle act of the arc) was something she's not sure will work due to how unsure she was about what is the truth about Zeref. However, Zeref doesn't blame her and instead understood her as it's not easy to fully understand someone in his situation. Ultimately however, Mavis eventually developed full faith in Zeref after fully realizing everything, including his true plan, leading to Mavis realizing how selfless and sacrificial Zeref was and that he was never in the wrong, only trying his best in his circumstances (with her seeing that he truly is nothing like what the rumors say and he never subverted who he once was). However, when Mavis finally realized what she had to do to end his suffering, she started breaking down sobbing because expressing her love for Zeref would mean that they wouldn't be together. Zeref, on the other hand, felt touched by the fact that Mavis loved him and thanked her for everything, even apologizing to her because he would have to leave her if she expressed her true feelings towards him. However, Mavis eventually accepted the outcome and chose to show her true feelings for Zeref, kissing him. After being loved by Mavis, Zeref felt truly happy, but Mavis requested to die with him. After Zeref accidentally expressed his feelings for Mavis again by saying she has to continue living, he felt a bit guilty killing her a second time, but he's also happy that he gets to spend more time with her after so long. As the both of them finally died in peace, Zeref once again showed remorse for his past and wished he could have made amends with his younger brother and everyone else. Before he ascended to the afterlife, he left his pendant in the living world and wanted Natsu to find it. Although Zeref failed in his attempt to reset the timeline and make a better future for humanity, he hoped that he could at least let Natsu know how much he truly cared about him as his brother. Natsu, on the other hand, was rather stubborn and ignorant towards Zeref's suffering and feelings (even after Mavis revealed to him about the curse and that he cannot show kindness without hurting or killing people) and kept trying to find the worst in his brother, taking every cold thing he does at face value and blindly treating it as though he wanted to be like that. Even after Natsu learned about their past and that Zeref is his brother, he was not the least bit reluctant to have him killed and never once tried understanding why Zeref did all the things he did in the Alverez Empire Arc (and Natsu has seen Zeref expressing his love for him more than once and how much he wanted to sacrifice his own life for humanity's safety, which should have made Natsu wonder about the mystery of his brother), even treating Zeref as though he didn't care about his family when Natsu himself was foolishly disregarding what he's going through, even seeing the curse taking control of Zeref's mind and temporarily rendering him unstable and partially out of control (and Natsu even used his acknowledgement of their relation to callously disown him when Zeref unwillingly killed Larcade under the curse's control, even unwillingly saying he has no family). He also angrily blamed Zeref for not finding any happiness in life and treated him as someone who doesn't understand happiness at all, even though it's painfully obvious that everything that makes him happy dies, yet Natsu kept throwing it in his face even after seeing Zeref visibly suffering in front of him (with the curse still taking over Zeref's mind during this time while he was expressing this, only for him to slowly regain complete control during the part where he finally obtains Fairy Heart from Mavis while honestly expressing his true plan to her while tearing up). Even after learning his true plan and good intentions, Natsu kept forcing himself into thinking that Zeref is pure evil, isn't going through any suffering at all, and that he only cares about himself (even though he really cannot value the lives of others because of his curse). This made Zeref angry at Natsu for accusing him of selfishness, getting the last word by declaring Natsu himself hasn't ever experienced what it's like for those who suffered rejection everyday & that his little brother knew nothing. It isn't until after Zeref's death when Natsu realized how complicated his older brother was, even feeling he was absolutely wrong for blindly misunderstanding the only blood-related family member he had left (who suffered way more than anyone else Natsu knew) and being blatantly relentless wanting to have him dead and the fact that Natsu was largely involved in his death (including the fact that Natsu treated Zeref's death as nothing that mattered to him while viewing Happy, Lucy, Gray, Erza, Wendy, and the others as the only ones who matter to him), eventually wishing that he was there for him when he was still alive.
From Fairy Tail: 100 Years Quest, after Wolfen copied Zeref, inadvertently using the same curse that nearly destroyed Aldoron Natsu declared the Ankhseram Black Magic is what solely made his brother do many horrible things (which he never wanted) & fall into despair before apologizing to him with affection. Natsu also eventually promised to view Zeref as family as well, even viewing him as his only true brother, since Ignia (Igneel's son and Natsu's adoptive brother) was nothing like him, and the fact that he's basically the exact opposite of Zeref.
In the afterlife during Natsu’s near-death experience against the Ghost Dragon Wraith, Zeref is now a loving father and a family man. Furthermore, he can finally be himself around others without killing them.
Magic and Abilites[]
Black Arts: Zeref was able to master Black Magic and brought countless Demons to life. His Magic Power is enormous; so enormous, in fact, that he cannot consciously control his own Magic, though whether this was always the case is unknown. Zeref's lack of control over his Black Arts seems to come from his emotional state. He, himself, has stated that when he cares of the lives of others, his Magic becomes uncontrollable and randomly bursts outward, killing all those around him, but, when he no longer cares about others, he gains complete control over his Magic, and becomes the ruthless, cold-hearted Zeref spoken of in legend.
- Ankhseram Black Magic: It is a Black Art that allows Zeref to kill any living thing he desires. This Magic seems to be uncontrollable at times, causing it to burst out randomly, killing anything within a certain radius around him. However, when Zeref forgets the value of, and no longer cares about, a human life, he can fully control this Magic. Certain Magic Items can protect people from Ankhseram Black Magic, such as Natsu Dragneel's scarf. This Magic also appears, contrary to the nature of the Black Arts, unable to be learned, as Zeref only gained this curse-like Magic by upsetting the ancient God Ankhseram, who apparently bestowed this upon Zeref due to his making light of the connections between life, death and people in his race to bring his brother back to life. The side effect of this Magic is immortality and the inability to age.
- Death Predation: This usage of this spell creates a dark wave that kills everything in the user's immediate vicinity.
- Death Orb: A spell that, when used, destroys everything in its path.
- Repent: Zeref swipes both of his arms in a circular motion until the bottom of his hands meet. The hand on top has the index and middle fingers pointing upwards, while the other hand has the little and index fingers pointing downwards. While doing this, he is surrounded by a dark aura. This spell creates a huge vertical explosion, and it's blast radius is seemingly controllable. It was used to kill Hades.
- Dark Blast Inferno: Zeref gathers flame-like dark matter in his palm and strikes his target with the powerful attack.
- One Ultimate: Zeref cloaks his hands in flame-like dark matter and engages in hand-to-hand combat or uses it as a piercing attack.
- Living Magic: A very ancient, long-forgotten form of Magic that breathes life into an object. Some of Zeref's creations are sentient, and seek to further Zeref's former, as-of-yet unknown, evil desires. Most of the beings that Zeref created were Demons.
- Deliora: One of Zeref's many creations, Deliora was a monstrous Demon that attacked the icy villages in the North. Deliora was imprisoned in a block of ice by Ur. Lyon Vastia tried to unfreeze it so he could kill the Demon, however, after years of being imprisoned in Ur's ice, the Demon's life force was greatly reduced, so much, in fact, that simply upon being released from the ice, it died.
- Lullaby: A flute that can transform into a giant Demon. Whoever hears Lullaby's song (aside from the caster) will die. Erigor hoped to use this to kill the Guild Masters at their meeting. As Kageyama failed to carry out the mission, Lullaby transformed into its Demon form to feast upon souls. However, Natsu Dragneel, Gray Fullbuster, and Erza Scarlet were able to defeat the Demon flute. It currently is in the Magic Council's possession.
- E.N.D. (Etherious Natsu Dragneel): The strongest of his Demons, thought to be able to kill the immortal Zeref. It was a fire demon created from the dead body of his younger brother. E.N.D. has the power to move while time is frozen, surpassing the god Chronos.
- Nemesis: This spell creates Demons from rubble. It can create an entire army of Demons with just a few rocks. This spell was used by Hades while battling Fairy Tail. Hades learned this spell from Volume 4 Verse 20 of one of the Books of Zeref.
- Tartaros: Zeref stated that all of Tartaros' members are Demons he created.
- Mard Geer Tartaros: One of his strongest Demons and the founder of Tartaros.
- Bloodman: Apart of the Alvarez Empire's Spriggan 12, he was at some point created by Zeref and he wields the supreme collection of all of the Curses possessed by the Nine Demon Gates and their leader Mard Geer.
- Larcade Dragneel: Apart of the Alvarez Empire's Spriggan 12, he was deemed the strongest failed Etherious creation from the multiple attempts at remaking Natsu Dragneel, donning the last name of Zeref as proof of his strength.
- Immobilization Magic: A Black Art of Zeref's that allows him to freeze time for all except those he specifically chooses to remain mobile. After casting this Magic, the surrounding area and all those affected by the Magic appear inverted in color, whilst those unaffected remain as they are.
- Teleportation Magic: Zeref was shown to be able to teleport easily by conjuring a Death Orb in thin air at his desired location and easily emerging from it.
Law: Although he was never shown to use it, Zeref was the one who taught this supreme type of Black Magic to Mavis, in order for her to fight for her friends.
Fire Magic: Zeref is shown to be capable of using this type of Magic, such as when he used it to burn Mard Geer's tome.
Telepathy: Zeref has shown to be capable of using this Magic, contacting Larcade through the use of this Magic in order to cease his Magic.
Bullet Magic: A Magic that Zeref uses to produce ballistic projectile of Magical energy out of his finger.
- Piercing Bullet: Zeref releases magical energy from his finger to pierce the Book of E.N.D.
Enchant Magic: Zeref has been shown to be a master Enchanter. He was capable of morphing Irene's dragonized form into the physique of a human, something which she, a very skilled Enchanter herself, was not able to do.
Fairy Heart-Induced Form: Zeref, after activating the Magic of Fairy Heart, accesses a mode that he himself calls "surpassing a God of time and space". In this form, he becomes fully white overall, with an intricate clothing design as well as wings. Due to Fairy Heart's infinite Magic Power combined with the power of time from the Space Between Time, he is able to control time and space, as when Natsu blew him back with a powerful attack he reformed his being as well as the area that was destroyed with ease. However, this form lasted until Natsu was able to burn his time power with his Fire Dragon King Mode.
- Time Magic: After accessing Fairy Heart's power, Zeref was said to have the control of time, shown by reversing the debris of the destroyed part of the guild when attacked by Natsu.
- Neo Eclipse: With the power of Fairy Heart and the Space Between Time, Zeref is able to merge both Magics into one, to create this Magic. With it he can relive life again, destroying the current world while the new one replaces it. Neo Eclipse was in the form a door (by walking through it will induce the magic) as Zeref merged it with Fairy Tail's guild door.
Enhanced Durability: Zeref is quite physically durable, as he was able to take a punch from Natsu Dragneel (no visible marks were left), and return to his feet, completely unfazed.
Expert Sensor: Zeref was able to sense Acnologia approaching Tenrou Island from quite a fair distance, as well as talk to Mavis Vermilion despite not being able to see or hear her.
Master Hand to Hand Combatant: Owing to his miliena long existence, Zeref has proven to be an extremely proficient unarmed fighter. Such skill is paired with amazing physical prowess: aside from his strength, he has displayed high degrees of speed, agility and reflexes. The greatest display of his skill is when he faced off against his younger brother, who was a very skilled Mage and even knocked him away with a kick.
Immortality: Approximately 400 years ago, Zeref successfully attained immortality, which is revealed to be a byproduct of him being cursed by the God Ankhseram with Ankhseram Black Magic. In addition, he is also unaging.
- High-Speed Regeneration: Owing to his status as an immortal, if Zeref has gone at least a short amount of time with receiving damage occurring in successive intervals, his wounds heal without a trace.
Gallery[]
Manga[]
.jpeg "Zeref (Tartaros Arc).jpeg (116 KB)")
.jpeg "Zeref (Emperor Outfit).jpeg (61 KB)")
.jpeg "Zeref (100 Year Quest - Chapter 142).jpeg (124 KB)")
Anime[]
.jpeg "Alvarez Empire (Zeref and Springgan 12).jpeg (70 KB)")
.jpeg "The Power of Fairy Heart (Zeref).jpeg (105 KB)")
.jpeg "Zeref and Mavis (Beta Heaven).jpeg (56 KB)")
.gif "Zeref (2014-2016).gif (7.84 MB)")
.gif "Zeref (2018-2019).gif (4 MB)")
External Links[]
- Zeref Dragneel on the Villains Wiki
- Zeref Dragneel on the Fairy Tail Wiki
- Zeref Dragneel on the Inconsistently Heinous Wiki
- Zeref Dragneel on the Inconsistently Admirable Wiki
[]
 Heroes
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