Fairy Tail Igneel Death Episode

[Gail Elfert]

Last week's Episode 264 of "Fairy Tale" was one of the most devastating of the manga series, with the brutal death of Igneel. The death itself was traumatising enough for fans, but the fact that flashbacks of how Igneel raised his adoptive son made the episode a touching one.

"Drops of Fire" also marked the end of the tyrant that was Mard Geer, and the villain considered all-powerful was reduced to nothing with the snap of Zeref's fingers. In fact Zeref's presence in the arc itself has been epic, in that he is shown as the most nonchalant and powerful of fighters, who just came in to settle the fight once and for all, and left without making a huge deal about it.

However, his departure leaves Igneel alone in his fight against Acnologia, leaving the former with no choice but to seal himself within the dragon slayers along with the other dragons so they do not become dragons like Acnologia. He informs his son telepathically of his decision and gets charred by Acologia's roar after he tears off the dragon's arm.

In the last scene, we see Natsu scream out in agony, and in the upcoming episode, too, he is reeling from the loss. Igneel's death was also traumatising for the fans, which is evident from their reactions:

KaiserTheDemon: I started to shed tears of blood for Igneel. The second I saw it happen I just started to fucking cry my ass off...and I'm still crying. May Natsu Avenge his fath...AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Marcel Wilson-Lynch: but he's not dead right? people don't die in fairy tail.... he's coming back right?! igneel can't die! as an anime only watcher the worst part for me was when mange readers spoiled things on IG and I was hoping there would have been some of the spoiled scenes this week but noooooo guess I just have to wait til next week. also igneel can't die; this is fairy tail. no one dies.

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To answer that question we can take a look at what happens before and after that chapter. I could use the anime adaptation as a source of information, but I couldn't find a confirmation of Mashima working on that episode so I cannot use it as part of this analysis

What were the circumstances before Natsu's encounter with Gildartz? The Fairy Tail guild with some help of Sabretooth members managed to pull off a victory against a really powerful dark guild composed of Etherias created by Zeref

Some moments after meeting Zeref himself, who left a cryptic message to Natsu, nearly the entire guild gets trapped by Tartaros' Alegria. After Lucy saved the guild, Natsu/Lucy and co. almost get drowned/killed by an enemy's ability. And then we have anti-magic bombs nearly depowering everyone in the continent, which thankfully didn't happen thanks to another unexpected intervension.

But, the thing that affected Natsu the most during that battle was seeing his "father," the person he sought for so long, getting mutilated by Acnologia as he bid his farewell to his son Natsu. Losing a parent is already a pretty painful experience, and seeing a father die while being powerless to help him is quite a traumatic experience

After the whole ordeal, Natsu decides to go to a 1-year training trip only accompanied by Happy. He doesn't say goodbye to any of his guildmates before going, but he felt the need to leave a letter to Lucy telling her about this trip.

We already know how that went from Lucy's side, who tried and failed to reach Natsu, and even though she said she felt alone, she didn't leave with any other guildmate or friends after Fairy Tail got temporarily disbanded. We could talk about how the one person she wanted to be with the most was Natsu, but that's not the point of this analysis/theory (I'd wish it was lol).

Would it have something to do with the death of his father? Maybe, people deal with loss and grief in different manners. Even the smallest of detailes reminding them of their dead loved ones is enough to make a man (or a woman) crumble

More often than not, Natsu drags Lucy to his crazy adventures, a trend that occurs so often that Lucy eventually felt bount to Natsu. They even earned the title of the most compatible team from Fairy Tail.

They repelled attacks from enemy guilds. Prevailed against the likes of Oracin Seis. Team Natsu survived Edolas. They bested Grimoire Heart, a guild led by a former master of Fairy Tail. They dominated several parts of GMGs until getting their rep back after 7-years of absence. And even survived a multiple dragon attacks.

They managed to win and/or survive most of these encounters with minimal loses along the way. But, the conflict against Tartaros pushed some Fairy Tail members to the edge magically, physically, and emotionally. And as explained earlier had several close calls

The ambiguity of the moment makes it hard offering a clear-cut answer about it, but the context at least reduces the matter to two choices that are not mutually exclusive, and one of them implies NaLu.

This page contains unmarked spoilers. You Have Been Warned! There was one last thing I forgot to tell you...You didn't need to apologize to Makarov...because he's already dead. I hope you meet him in heaven.

• The earliest Tear Jerker of Fairy Tail is Natsu's reaction when he discovers Igneel had vanished. Made even worse by the fact that Natsu was still a young boy...
• More Fridge Sadness: Why is Natsu so quick to go find and rescue Macao? Sure, because he's his friend and Natsu cares about everyone in his guild, but also because he doesn't want Romeo to be without a father, the same way he was after Igneel vanished. He remembered how heartbroken he was when that happened, and he didn't want anyone else to feel that way.
• Ur's death. Doubles as a heartwarming moment.
• The anime amps it up with one track. It makes it worse.
• Every time there is a flashback involving Lisanna, you can prepare yourself to wipe some tears from your eyes, because it is either this or a slightly less depressing heartwarming moment. The anime expands her role and only makes it worse.
• Then her return and her explanation. Especially the reunion between her and her real siblings.
• Natsu and Happy's emotional reactions to seeing her in Edolas... especially in the anime with all the interspersed flashbacks.
• In particular, both versions of Elfman drive this home. The way Edolas!Elfman just holds Lisanna's neck and rests his head on hers with a little smile when she's about to leave combined with how Earthland!Elfman can do absolutely nothing but sob uncontrollably and stare in awe as his little sister returns is both heartwarming and heartbreaking.
• The fact that Edolas!Mirajane and Elfman really did lose their little sister. When the time comes for Earthland!Lisanna to return home, they end up losing her again (but this time, with a proper goodbye).
• Lucy's Well-Intentioned Extremist father Jude Heartfilia hires Phantom Lord to take her home after she runs away to help his family business. Unfortunately, it goes From Bad to Worse as his attempts inadvertently cause a guild war between Phantom Lord and Fairy Tail. During their reunion, Lucy flat-out states that she's going to consider him her enemy if he tries that stunt again, as well as leaving her home and not coming back. Ouch. You have to feel sorry for Jude at this point; his face after seeing what he's done and broken Lucy's heart is just awful. It becomes Harsher in Hindsight when it's revealed that Jude always loved her. At least we can take solace in the fact that he atones for being a bad father by sending her gifts before his death.
• Erza's funeral. It's All Just a Dream, but that doesn't make it any better. Just seeing everyone's reactions, especially Natsu being mad with rage while screaming that she can't die, with Lucy and Gray trying to hold him back, really drives the point home.
• Even worse, that scene most likely serves as a Deconstruction of how the people left behind would really feel after someone's Heroic Sacrifice. There's no true "honor celebration" or "his/her heart will live on"; just endless grief and sadness over the loss of a friend. Erza's quote near the end of the arc definitely rams the point home Erza: "You don't die for your friends; you live for them!"
• The Tower of Heaven arc was essentially just one big Tear Jerker with some heartwarming moments thrown in between.
• A particular tear jerker, though, was Rob's death.
• Also from the Tower of Heaven arc, Simon's death is arguably one of the biggest tear jerkers in the series.
• From the Battle of Fairy Tail, Mirajane having to watch as Fried brutalizes her little brother Elfman, unable to do anything but beg him to stop. Add in traumatic flashbacks to Lisanna's death and its little wonder she snaps when Fried tries to kill Elfman, reawakening her magic so she can go after Fried.
• Laxus' big sendoff during the Fantasia Parade. Especially in the anime, thanks to the Awesome Music.
• Hell, the moments just before that when after fighting the Fairy Tail guild for the position of leader, Laxus visits Makarov in the infirmary, and has his first heartfelt talk with his grandfather in years. Makarov expels him from Fairy Tail, and yet the old man turns his back while Laxus leaves after calling him "Grandfather". Makarov is in tears.
• Makarov's royal thrashing. Yes, he's old and we shouldn't be too surprised, but he's always been there, to the point that something of that magnitude happening to him just seems impossible. And that's not even counting how it happened.
• "I won't let you die again."
• Episode 68: From Jellal's arrest (and Erza's breakdown) to the revelation that Cait Shelter was nothing but an illusion.
• "Bury your pain in the arms of your friends..."
• The title of that chapter in the manga is one: "A Guild For The Sake of a Single Person."
• Cana's backstory.
• Simon's Heroic Sacrifice and death.
• Almost all of Chapter 241.
• During the very end of Episode 89 (Edolas arc), where the Dragon Chain is launched into the island with Magnolia's lacrima, we have a shot at Happy's reaction: trembling, bursting into tears, and his voice breaking. Rie Kugimiya conveys his distress really well.
• Chapter 251: When Cana finally tells Gildarts that she's his daughter. Gildarts has a flashback of all the times he saw Cana while she was growing up (coincidentally, she always looked sad), and he has an absolutely heartbroken expression on his face when he realizes that this whole time, she was suffering because of him. Then, he cries with happiness.
• Chapter 252 has Makarov fighting off Acnologia and giving the others his final orders as their master to run to the ship for safety. The tearful looks on everyone's faces tells it all.
• The fact that Laxus is the first one to understand his grandfather's action and take action to save the others really hits home. He really is a changed man. Even more heartbreaking is when Natsu looks at Laxus and he can see the older man's grief clear as day.
• Chapter 253: The entire thing.
• Episode 122 makes it worse.
• Makarov's English voice actor did a superb job when monologuing about his choice
• The next chapter shows us what happened to the Fairy Tail guild after the seven year timeskip.
• You know how after Lucy saw the reunion between father and daughter at Sirius Island she began to think that she'd like to go see her own dad? Well, she's finally able to in Chapter 256, only to find out he died one month earlier. Anyone who has lost a parent will know her sorrow.
• The entirety of Chapter 257. Also doubles as a heartwarming moment.
• To my beloved daughter, Happy Birthday, From Dad.
• "Lucy, I've always loved you."
• Lucy's defeat against Flare Corona during Chapter 272: Flare cheats, threatening the life of Asuka Connell in order to persuade Lucy to give up. Lucy lets herself be harmed and wants to surrender. Except that Flare won't let her surrender; she gags Lucy with her hair, and is ready to tattoo her guild's sigil onto Lucy's, all the while enjoying herself. Fortunately, Natsu overheard her threat, discovers Flare's hair, and severed it, allowing Lucy to counterattack. She then summons Gemini, and casts her most powerful spell along with her double: Urano Metria. But the spell is cancelled, obviously absorbed by a member of Raven Tail. Lucy, exhausted, fall onto the ground. Flare is declared the winner, and rejoices. The public mocks Fairy Tail. Lucy bursts into tears. After all of this, Fairy Tail members and the readers share the same feeling: They want to see Raven Tail lose hard and burn in hell!
• In Chapter 281, Yukino is expelled from her guild for losing one match in the Grand Magic Games.
• Made worse by how she is berated, forced to undress, and is mentally abused right in front of everyone. Even Rogue, The Stoic, had a very uneasy look and later questioned if Sabertooth is really a true guild.
• To hammer it in, Sabertooth is portrayed as a guild of Smug Supers and Jerkasses. When this event occurred just about every single one looked pretty unhappy. Even Sting seemed displeased and described Ziemma as "extreme".
• To make it even worse, we latter learn that Yukino is an orphan, who had long admired and sought to join Sabertooth, and only recently joined them. She's basically Lucy, who sought a place to belong in her guild, and then she was cruelly ejected from it.
• Thought Lucy's defeat against Flare early on was bad? Chapter 291 makes it worse by having Minerva mercilessly beat Lucy up in the next match clearly enjoying her suffering while Orga and Sting smugly laugh at the other Fairy Tail members clearly amused watching the horrific beatdown. If there was any doubt they were complete assholes before...
• Made worse given they did it within the rules and maximized the cruelty potential in those five minutes compared to the cheating Raven Tail did. It makes a lot of sense Makarov doesn't consider his son a enemy given they were being covert and petty in their callousness in comparison to Minerva who was disarming Lucy and pounding her mercilessly right in front of the crowd. This is a rare case of a Tear Jerker involving tears of sadness and rage.
• Chapter 292 also had some tearjerking moments. Lucy wakes up after having passed out; the first thing she does is attempt to apologize to everyone for losing. They are all quick to assure her that she did great and actually got second place. With tears in her eyes she asks for her Spirit Keys, which were taken from her during the fight against Minerva. Happy gives them to her and she smiles and thanks him before falling asleep, still smiling and cuddling her keys to her chest. Poor girl.
• Chapter 300: If Yukino being expelled the Sabertooth guild for losing a match wasn't bad enough, Sting and Rogue had it worse, especially Sting when Lector, after the latter tried to stand up for Sting, got blasted into oblivion by Ziemma right in front of Sting. Sting responds in kind with a full blast of a White Dragon's Punch right through Ziemma.
• Episode 150: Cobra finally is reunited with Cuberos/Kinana only to for Doranbolt and Lahar to come and arrest him.
• Cobra actually let himself to be caught because Doranbolt and Lahar was going to arrest Cuberos/Kinana as they thought she was associated with Cobra. Cobra let himself to be arrested so that his best friend can roam freely, shows that he really cared for his friend.
• Chapter 304: The cover page of this chapter shows Frosch holding two ice cream cones with a sad expression on his face as he feels lonely for the very first time since Lector's death.
• Chapter 305: When Sting gets the drop on Bacchus and drops him out of the fight in a single attack, there is a single image showing his facial expression: He isn't sporting a Slasher Smile or any enjoyment of the fight at all, and he enjoys a fight. It's safe to say he was mentally focused on the loss of Lector more than the event taking place, which makes the depressed feeling Sting is displaying much more saddening.
• Chapter 312: Future Lucy's crying as she meets with her old Guild for the first time in God knows how long. We're already aware the future she comes from is quite possibly a Crapsack World, or the End of the World as We Know It, given Levy's Apocalyptic Log, it is really difficult not to feel saddened by the tears she's shedding, knowing the shit she has most likely been through.
• Chapter 322: Sting and Lector's heartfelt reunion after Fairy Tail wins the Grand Magic Games. Also doubles as a gigantic heartwarming moment.
• Guard Captain Arcadias, the supposed "Big Bad" controlling the Grand Magic Games, is betrayed by the princess he was deeply loyal to when he realizes what's really going on. In attempting to escape the underground dungeon and a special Execution Squad that seeks to take their heads, Arcadias, Future Lucy, and Yukino cross a huge moat of boiling lava. As Yukino is about to fall from the weak ledge she grabbed, Arcadias jumps into the lava to push her higher onto the ledge (with Future Lucy trying to pull her up) so that she can climb up. After Yukino is saved, Arcadias "supposed" last words before he's consumed by the lava...talk about a badass!!!
• Chapter 324: Future Lucy's Heroic Sacrifice.
• It was particularly jarring because this was the first time we've seen Lucy completely lose it. She didn't just cry, she screamed at Future Rogue and used profanity for the first time ever.
• Special mention goes to Happy, who goes into a Heroic BSoD after that. He and Lucy were shown to have more of a Vitriolic Best Buds relationship than anything, with the two of them constantly getting on each other's nerves. But when Future Lucy tells him not to cry over her as she lay dying (as she is not technically "their" Lucy) Happy refuses and says that she is Lucy no matter what and there's no way they could not be sad over her death. He then holds Future Lucy's hand against his cheek with tears streaming down his face.
• Natsu bursting into Berserker Tears after the group realizes that Future!Lucy lost her right arm, which was not helped with his flashback of Lucy showing off her new Fairy Tail mark to him. Natsu: "You stole something precious to me, in front of my eyes."
• Chapter 333: In a flashback (after Lucy & Co. have left the scene), we see Natsu crying over Future!Lucy's body. When asked if Future!Rogue is an enemy, Natsu simply replies: Natsu: "Lucy was... He's my enemy."
• To make it worse, Ultear may or may not kill Present!Rogue in order to remove the future one. It's heart-wrenching to see someone like Rogue get killed all because his of his future self's actions.
• And speaking of heart-wrenching, it was pretty sad to see Present Rogue's reaction and breakdown to the news about his future self and what he has done.
• Which only makes the fact that someone is about to come after him for it that much worse.
• The fifth ova is full of Fanservice and Crowning Moments of Funny, but there is a brief moment where Future Lucy is seen outside about to cry. She clearly remembers what's about to happen which reminders her of the death of all her friends from her timeline.
• Hisui watching in shock and horror as she watches the dragons that just came through the Eclipse begin to destroy Fiore.
• Chapter 334: Assuming that it's not a fake out like other teased main character deaths shown so far, it looks like Gray will be our first main character to die.
• Juvia's reaction, whether or not the above scene was a fake out, is still heartbreaking to look at.
• Chapter 335: Ultear, thinking she is beyond redemption, casts "Last Ages". It only turns back time by one minute at the cost of her life, making her believe that her Heroic Sacrifice was a Senseless Sacrifice while dying. To be fair, she doesn't realize that she saved the lives of countless people doing it and will never know.
• However, this has been subverted as of Chapter 339.
• Before that, Juvia's Heroic BSoD as she blankly stared at Gray's body with tears in her eyes...who knows what would have happened if Ultear hadn't hit the magic Reset Button.
• Also Lyon's frantic screaming for Chelia to come and heal Gray, trailing off when he talks about the last blow to hit, which he knows has to be fatal. You can see practically hear the desperation in the calls only to see the devastation in Lyon's face as he says Gray is...They hit his head.
• Chapter 337: Before leaving due to the destruction of the Eclipse Gate, Future!Rogue gives Natsu some parting words and a warning for his present self: Protect Frosch because she will be killed in a year's time. Not died, but killed. Worse is that Rogue never was able to specify the culprit.
• Oh no, he specified it. It was revealed later on that it was Gray who killed him. Natsu's actively working to prevent that.
• Have you forgotten what's shown after that: Future!Lucy reuniting with her other friends in heaven.
• Chapter 339: As it turns out, Ultear didn't die from the spell, but instead aged rapidly, leaving her with literally only a short time to live. Meaning that while her actions saved countless lives and she knows it, she can't go back to her friends since her magic is useless now. With this in mind, she bids Jellal and Meredy a final farewell.
• Gray recognizes the elderly Ultear and realizes the sacrifice that she made for him.
• Chapter 341: Directly following the Grand Magic Games, when Lucy and the girls are in full furo scene at the newly-restored Fairy Tail hall, a repentant Flare Corona appears and tells Lucy how sorry she was for what she did to her during their match. Flare mentions that she left Raven Tail and has nowhere to go, but wanted to make amends before she leaves town. Cue a heartwarming scene of Lucy, Wendy, Lisanna, Mirajane, and Levy (who are all naked, btw) all hugging Flare and telling her that she's forgiven and is welcome at Fairy Tail.
• The Sun Village Arc expands on Flare's background, showing how she grew up in the village of giants who treated her as one of their own. When Flare returns to the village to find it and all the giants completely frozen, she tearfully begs Lucy for her help because everything and everyone she knew is encased in near-unmeltable ice. During the arc's resolution, the giants explain that although the orphaned Flare was human and tiny compared to them, they accepted her and when she came of age, wanted her to travel the world and meet other people like her. Unfortunately, she met with Ivan and Raven Tail and was taught that only strength matters, which drove her to be twisted and sadistic. Cue another big heartwarming hug from Lucy and Wendy at the end!
• Chapter 356: Tartaros attacks the council and massacres everybody except Doranbolt. The tearjerker comes when you remember that Doranbolt's dream was to see Lahar make it to the top of the council someday. All of the hope he had for that dream goes down crashing in one fell swoop when Lahar makes it into the list of casualties.
• Chapter 358: Even after Laxus performs an awesome act that nearly kills him to save everyone over a hundred people are still killed by Tempesta's poisonous mist and the village was rendered completely uninhabitable. When Fried feebly asks Makarov if everyone was saved, Makarov says yes. Fried's tears afterwards are the icing on the already upsetting cake.
• And at the end of the chapter, Natsu declares war. Everyone else in the guild is emotionally drained/broken by the attack, and Natsu is the only one currently willing to do anything. It's oddly heartbreaking to see characters like Gajeel so utterly apathetic.
• Chapter 362: A minor one occurs when Natsu, Lucy, Wendy and Carla believe Happy performed a Heroic Sacrifice to stop Jackal's Taking You with Me. Carla in particular is starting to cry. Though Mood Whiplash sets in when Happy is shown to have survived with only his fur messed up into an afro.
• Chapter 363: Elfman is Forced to Watch as his body is manipulated into strangling Lisanna. The poor man already had to shoulder the guilt of thinking that he killed Lisanna for years and now he may have to do so for real this time.
• Good news and bad news: Good news is, Lisanna is alive. Bad news is, to save her life, Elfman had to make a Deal with the Devil with Seilah. His Big Brother Instinct and Lisanna's previous 'death' caused him to literally sell his soul to save her life. He loved his little sister enough to undergo Demonic Possession and is rampaging through Fairy Tail now because of it.
• It's worse than that. Elfman is being forced to implant a lacrima bomb 500 times more powerful than Jupiter Cannon to instantly vaporize Fairy Tail. The kicker? He's kept fully aware of what he is doing, but because of Seliah's magic he is unable to stop it.
• Chapter 368-369: Though it turned out to be an illusion, Meredy's reaction to Zero killing Jellal. She'd already lost her other guildmate/foster mother with no word of her actual fate; seeing her remaining comrade blown to bits visibly traumatized her.
• Episode 244: After having fought a desperate battle to beat Ezel and destroy Face, Wendy and Carla realise the only way to stop the detonation is to force it to overload. The kicker? It has to be done manually. Carla tells Wendy to get as far away as possible, but Wendy refuses to leave her best friend, reminding her that they each made a promise to be together forever. We get a few flashbacks of their earlier years together, including said promise being made, as each breaks down into tears. It is abundantly clear to them both and the audience that they will not be walking away from this. It should be noted, these girls are twelve and six years old, and they're about to die in order to save countless lives. They even discuss the possibility of just walking away, figuring that they could probably live in a world without magic, but their friends who are fighting for the lives right now would die if they did so. The fact that Mest teleported them away at the last second doesn't detract from their bravery at all.
• Chapter 381: The Strauss siblings' backstory. Not only were they orphaned, they were banished from their village given the other townsfolk's fear of Mirajane's Demon Take-Over powers. Mirajane was even viewed as a monster. Young Mirajane resented her Take-Over so much after that, a while after she'd joined Fairy Tail, she actually tried to leave, thinking she'd only bring them misfortune. No wonder Mirajane and Elfman are so protective over their family.
• Chapter 384: Lucy breaking the Key of Aquarius to summon the Spirit King. Twisting the knife even further, the fact that it works proves that deep down Aquarius and Lucy really loved each other. And now, barring another miracle, they will never see each other again.
• Somehow the utter badassness that is the Celestial Spirit King actually makes it all worse. When he's finally summoned, Lucy is so consumed by her grief she doesn't even notice, and the Spirit King himself is clearly in the grip of a Berserker Rage at the ones who forced her to break Aquarius' key.
• What hurts is the flashback. Little Lucy sees Aquarius for the first time screaming, "A mermaid! A mermaid!" and looking so excited to have a partner in the Celestial Spirit.
• The Reveal in Chapter 390 has a bit of Fridge Horror in it that doubles as what can arguably be called one of the biggest tearjerkers yet in Fairy Tail. Silver of Tartarus is none other than Deliora, the massive Eldritch Abomination of a demon that carved a path of destruction through the north, killing Gray's parents and causing Ur to use Iced Shell to seal it.