Lucy Heartfilia is a 17-year-old celestial wizard who runs away from home to join Fairy Tail, a rambunctious wizards' guild whose members are famous for their overly destructive antics. Along the way, she meets Natsu Dragneel, a boy who is traveling the land of Fiore together with his partner Happy, a flying cat, in search of his foster parent, a dragon named Igneel who had disappeared seven years earlier. Lucy is soon abducted by a renegade wizard posing as the famous Salamander of Fairy Tail. Natsu rescues Lucy, revealing himself to be the real Salamander and a Dragon Slayer, a wizard with the abilities of a dragon. After defeating the imposter, Natsu allows Lucy to join Fairy Tail.
Lucy forms a team with Natsu and Happy, along with Gray Fullbuster, an ice wizard with a habit of stripping, and Erza Scarlet, an armored female wizard. They are tasked with completing missions requested by people and collect money for rewards, such as hunting monsters and fighting illegal guilds called dark guilds. Soon after, the rival guild Phantom Lord attacks Fairy Tail, resulting in a guild war. Fairy Tail defeats the rival guild, and Phantom Lord members Gajeel Redfox, a Dragon Slayer raised by the dragon Metalicana, and Juvia Lockser, a water wizard, join Fairy Tail. The guild also crosses paths with Jellal Fernandes, Erza's childhood friend who is being manipulated by Ultear Milkovich to revive the ancient wizard Zeref using the Tower of Heaven. Natsu defeats Jellal and the Tower of Heaven is destroyed. Later, Laxus Dreyar, the renegade grandson of the guild's masterMakarov Dreyar, stages a battle royal in Fairy Tail and is expelled as a result.
Forming an alliance with the wizard guilds Blue Pegasus, Lamia Scale and Cait Shelter, Fairy Tail fights and defeats the dark guild Oración Seis with the help of a reformed Jellal, who is arrested for his previous crimes. Wendy Marvell, a Dragon Slayer raised by Grandine and the sole member of Cait Shelter, joins Fairy Tail along with her flying cat Carla. Lucy, Natsu and the others enter the alternate universe of Edolas when their guild vanishes due to Edolas' powers. The group encounters Faust, the universe's king who intends to bestow a limitless supply of magic for the universe. Happy also discovers his and Carla's heritage as Exceeds sent to Earthland as infants on the orders of their queen Chagot. Allying with the Exceeds and Faust's son Mystogan, Fairy Tail defeats Faust and restores their guild at the cost of Edolas' magical power being drained. The group returns to Earthland together with the Exceeds, one of which, Pantherlily, forms a partnership with Gajeel.
Later, several members of Fairy Tail, including Natsu, Lucy, and their allies, participate in an exam on their guild's sacred ground of Tenrou Island in which wizards can advance to a higher rank and thus take part in more dangerous missions. During the exam, the dark guild Grimoire Heart appears and seeks Zeref, who has been living on the island. Aided by a reformed Laxus, Fairy Tail defeats Grimoire Heart, and Zeref kills the guild's leaderHades. However, the incident summons the black dragon Acnologia, which attacks the island. The spirit of Fairy Tail's founding master, Mavis Vermilion, protects everyone on the island from Acnologia's assault with a defensive spell, freezing them in time.
Seven years later, the spell lifts and the returning members of Fairy Tail discover their guild to be the weakest in Fiore. The group participates in an annual tournament to decide the country's strongest guild called the Grand Magic Games. Also participating in the tournament are Sabertooth, the current strongest guild containing Dragon Slayers Sting Eucliffe and Rogue Cheney, and Raven Tail, a guild led by Makarov's resentful son Ivan. Meanwhile, Arcadios, a royal army captain, plans to open a magic gateway for Zeref by stealing the 12 Zodiac gatekeys.
Natsu "Salamander"[n 1] Dragneel (ナツ・ドラグニル Natsu Doraguniru?) is the main male protagonist of Fairy Tail. He is raised from infancy by a dragon named Igneel, who disappears seven years before the series' present.[ch. 2] Natsu joins Fairy Tail and partners with Happy during his quest to search for Igneel.[ch. 1,66] He is known as a Dragon Slayer (滅竜魔導士(ドラゴンスレイヤー)Doragon Sureiyā), a wizard who can perform an ancient form of magic, or "Lost Magic", that grants him the physical properties of a dragon. Using Fire Dragon Slayer magic (火の滅竜魔法 Ka no Metsuryū mahō), Natsu is able to breathe fire, emit flames from any part of his body to attack his opponent, become physically immune to fire, and ingest any flame for nourishment.[ch. 1,5] When he consumes magical substances containing a large amount of magical energy, such as residual energy from the Magic Council's Etherion attack, Natsu is able to achieve a more powerful form of Dragon Slayer magic called Dragon Force (ドラゴンフォース Doragon Fōsu), which turns his skin around his eyes and on his forearms scaly, and increases both his physical and magical power.[ch. 97,98,160] With Dragon Force, Natsu can temporarily eat other forms of magic and combine that with his own; however, Natsu becomes sick for several days after his transformation wears off.[ch. 106,245]
Natsu has a rivalry with Gray Fullbuster due to their conflicting natures and elements.Natsu is generally carefree and reckless in nature, and causes most of the collateral damage Fairy Tail is blamed for.[ch. 2] However, he is extremely loyal to his guildmates and attacks anyone who tries to harm or insult them. Although he comes across as thick-headed to several other characters, he is a perceptive tactician in battle and can quickly deduce his opponents' strengths and weaknesses.[ch. 41] He suffers from motion sickness when riding on vehicles of any sort, as well as when carried by others. The exception to this rule is Happy, who Natsu says is his friend and not a "moving object".[ch. 4][6] He is prone to challenging his guild's S-Class wizards to petty fights to test his strength, in which he is often defeated with little effort from his opponents.[ch. 24] When properly motivated to fight, he is recognized as one of the most powerful wizards in the guild.[ch. 64] In the Japanese version of the series, Natsu is voiced by Tetsuya Kakihara.[7] In the English dub, he is voiced by Todd Haberkorn.[8]
Gray Fullbuster (グレイ・フルバスター Gurei Furubasutā?) is one of the main male protagonists. He is an 18-year-old wizard who specializes in performing Ice Make magic (氷の造形魔法 Koi no Zōhei mahō),[n 6] which allows him to instantaneously conjure various kinds of weapons, shields, and other inanimate objects made from ice.[ch. 21] He is more level-headed and competent in performing jobs than most of his guildmates, but has a habit of removing his shirt or stripping down to his underwear, often without realizing it,[ch. 2] which Mashima based on a personal habit of his own.[vol. 2:afterword] Gray has a fierce rivalry with Natsu Dragneel due to their opposing personalities and magical elements, which constantly leads the two to bicker and insult each other.[ch. 10] Years before the series' present, Gray is taken in by Ur as an orphan after his hometown is destroyed by the demon Deliora. He learns magic from her with the intention of taking revenge against Deliora, and develops his stripping habit as a result of his training to withstand the freezing temperatures of Ur's hometown. He later moves on to join Fairy Tail after Ur sacrifices herself to defeat Deliora instead.[ch. 36-38,43] Gray clashes with his fellow student Lyon Vastia and Ur's daughter Ultear Milkovich, and eventually helps both come to terms with their pasts as Ur did for him.[ch. 29,31,241,242] In the Japanese version of the series, Gray is voiced by Yuichi Nakamura.[7] In the English dub, he is voiced by Newton Pittman.[8]
"Titania"[n 7] Erza Scarlet (エルザ・スカーレット Eruza Sukāretto?), one of the primary female protagonists of Fairy Tail, is a 19-year-old wizard who is usually tasked with performing extremely dangerous missions, and is considered to be the most powerful female member of the guild.[ch. 10] Her name was based on Eru, a character from the one-shot manga created by Mashima that served as a pilot for Fairy Tail.[vol. 2:afterword] Having specialized in "The Knight" (騎士(ザ・ナイト) Za Naito) magic, Erza can quickly "re-equip" different weapons and change armor and clothes using a hammerspace. She usually hauls along a large number of suitcases while traveling.[ch. 11,46,76] As an S-Class Wizard, Erza usually chastises slackers and serves as a punisher; Natsu Dragneel and Gray Fullbuster act like close friends in her presence to avoid her wrath.[ch. 10] Eventually, she becomes friendlier with her guildmates.[ch. 92]
During Erza's early childhood, Erza is forced to build the Tower of Heaven as a slave and befriends several slave children, including Jellal Fernandes,[ch. 80] who gives her the surname "Scarlet" after her "beautiful scarlet hair".[ch. 163] After Jellal is taken away for rebelling against their captors, Erza rallies the other slaves to rescue him, using her re-equip abilities for the first time after witnessing the death of Rob[n 8], a Fairy Tail member and her grandfather figure.[ch. 81] However, Jellal turns on her after being brainwashed into serving Zeref and continues the tower's construction, forcing her to leave the tower on her own.[ch. 83] Joining Fairy Tail, Erza has her damaged eye fitted with an artificial right eye,[ch. 89,100] granting her immunity to illusions and eye-based magic, and halves their effects if used on both of her eyes.[ch. 111,155] Erza initially sheds tears from her real eye due to a defect with her artificial eye, but Mashima eventually abandoned this aspect after accidentally drawing some scenes where Erza has tears flowing from both eyes.[ch. 100,102][vol. 12:afterword] Harboring feelings for Jellal even after his betrayal,[ch. 93] Erza helps him atone for his misdeeds and eventually professes her mutual love for him.[ch. 145,146,264] In the Japanese version of the series, Erza is voiced by Sayaka Ohara.[10] In the English dub, she is voiced by Colleen Clinkenbeard.[8]
Happy (ハッピー Happī?) is a 6-year-old talking cat with blue fur who serves as Natsu Dragneel's best friend and sole traveling companion before Lucy Heartfilia's inclusion in the Fairy Tail guild. Mashima originally intended to name him "Freyr", the Norse god, but found the name did not fit his character.[vol. 2:afterword] He possesses a magical ability called Aera (翼(エーラ) Ēra), which allows him to temporarily grow white feathered wings on his back and fly. He is only able to carry up to one person at a time in this form. He is generally cheerful as per his name, and often utters the catchphrase "Aye!" (あい! Ai!) or "Aye, sir!" (あいさ! Aisa!).[9] He is found as an egg six years before the series' present by Natsu, who cares for him together with Lisanna until he hatches. His birth cheers up everyone in the guild while they are in the middle of an argument, for which Natsu names him "Happy".[vol. 15:make] Happy eventually discovers that he, along with his friend Carla, are two of 100 Exceeds originally sent from Edolas to Earthland as eggs for protection after the Exceeds' queen, Chagot, has a premonition of their realm's destruction.[ch. 198] While in Edolas, Happy befriends an exiled Exceed farmer named Lucky[n 4] and his wife Merl[n 5], but is unaware that the farmers are his parents.[ch. 177,198] In the Japanese version of the series, Happy is voiced by Rie Kugimiya.[7] In the English dub, he is voiced by Tia Ballard.[8]
Wendy Marvell (ウェンディ・マーベル Wendi Māberu?), also known as the "Priestess of the Sky"[n 9], is a 12-year-old[ch. 144] Dragon Slayer introduced as a member of the Cait Shelter[n 10] guild together with her cat partner Carla.[ch. 132] Having mastered in the Sky Dragon Slayer magic (天の滅竜魔法 Ten no Metsuryū mahō), she can heal others' injuries and ailments such as poison, and temporarily relieve Natsu's motion sickness.[ch. 135,152] She later learns how to perform combat-based spells such as breathing powerful gusts of wind, and augmenting her friends' or her own speed, strength, and defensive power.[ch. 161,191,243] Wendy can replenish her magical power by "eating" unpolluted air.[ch. 136,159]
Wendy is raised from infancy by the dragon Grandine, who disappears when she is five years old.[ch. 136] She is rescued by Jellal's Edolas counterpart Mystogan,[ch. 167] whom she travels alongside for months during his exploration of Earthland.[ch. 145] He eventually leaves Wendy in the care of Cait Shelter's guild master Robaul[n 11] who, unbeknown to her, is a spirit who uses illusion magic to create the guild and care for her.[ch. 164] Seven years later, she and Carla represent their guild in an alliance with Fairy Tail, Lamia Scale, and Blue Pegasus to stop the dark guildOración Seis from acquiring Nirvana,[ch. 132] a destructive spell developed by Robaul's tribe.[ch. 164] In the ensuing battle, Wendy is kidnapped by Oración Seis and forced to resurrect Jellal Fernandes, mistaking him for her former traveling partner.[ch. 135] After her guild disappears with Robaul's appeased spirit following Nirvana's destruction, Wendy joins Fairy Tail.[ch. 164,165] In the anime series, Wendy's voice actress is Satomi Satō.[11]
Carla (シャルル Sharuru?) is a white-furred Exceed and Wendy Marvell's partner. She is capable of using Aera magic as with Happy.[ch. 135] Having the ability of precognition, Carla is capable of seeing visions of future locations and events. Though Carla is unaware that she is the daughter of the Exceeds' queen Chagot, she inherits her precognitive powers from the queen. She is evacuated from Edolas to Earthland as an egg following Chagot's premonition of their realm's destruction, which is covered up as a mission to kill Dragon Slayers. Upon being hatched and taken under the care of the six-year-old Wendy, Carla has a premonition of future events. Despite misinterpreting the queen's fake orders as real, Carla decides to protect Wendy.[ch. 176,198] As a representative of Cait Shelter, she joins Wendy to defeat Oracion Seis, and when Carla meets Happy, she initially shuns him. Only after discovering Happy's resolution to defy their mission does she become friendlier with him.[ch. 135,167,175] Carla eventually forgives Chagot for her ruse after the queen admits her deeds.[ch. 198] In the anime series, her voice actress is Yui Horie.[11]