(Shiraz x Bandits Collab) Natsu Dragneel Quiz + Blog :fire:

Hey, hey!! It’s Daily Fairy, who has created an amazing blog on Natsu that is definitely worth checking out! I have really enjoyed doing this collab and I hope you enjoy the quiz AND blog we’ve waited so long to show you. To read the blog, just keep scrolling down<3.

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Hello Hello Hello FTA! Tis I, Shiraz Phantoms. Each of us have a partner who will be tackling four characters with a quiz and a blog on each side. I will be tackling my character on the blog side. Today's blog will be revolving around everyone's favorite fire dragon slayer, Natsu Dragneel! This is actually a blog that I have had in my drafts for the longest time, but never ended up getting around to it. Well? Now is the time to finally bring it into the world for everyone to see. Now to make things clear about what this blog is really about. I've noticed a lot, not only in just this community, but also in just the Fairy Tail fandom in general, that Natsu is always put down as either basic or not well written. That he's just the basic mold for a shonen character. I say NAY! I would even go beyond that! I say that Natsu Dragneel is a very well written character that many people tend to overlook due to the stereotype or from the other characters in general. Prove it? Challenge accepted! I do have something to say beforehand though

Don't forget to go and play my partner, Lexie's, quiz (above) on Natsu! Twas a very good one indeed and i’m curious to see how far some of you will get in it.

Lexie

Now without further Ado, let's begin!

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Who is Natsu Dragneel?

Natsu Dragneel is a Mage of the Fairy Tail Guild, wherein he is a member of Team Natsu. He is the younger brother of Zeref Dragneel, having originally died 400 years ago, being subsequently revived as his brother’s most powerful Etherious: E.N.D. Natsu is also among the five Dragon Slayers sent to the future from four hundred years past, having an additional purpose in the assistance of the defeat of Acnologia. Natsu is carefree and reckless in nature, and, despite his consistent brawls with the other of Fairy Tail, he is a fiercely loyal and protective friend. He is willing to go down fighting for his friends, regardless of how futile it might seem. Natsu has a straightforward mind, and often tackles issues with a “hands on” approach. His solution to problems often involve violence. Even when disrespected or faced with obvious hostility, Natsu rarely ever reciprocates the feelings, and often forgoes grudge-holding. Natsu is adept with his Dragon Slayer Magic and makes use of it in many different ways in combat. As with all Dragon Slayers, he can consume his respective element, with the exception of that which he has created, to replenish his energy reserves. The heat of his fire can increase in temperature, which is proportional to Natsu’s emotional state. Natsu subconsciously used this against Erigor; his flame’s heat significantly rose as he got more enraged. This is also called the Flame of Emotion. He incorporates the flames he ignites into his fighting style, greatly increasing the damage of his blows. As such, Natsu’s Magic revolves around the usage of fire that can spout from any part of his body.

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Igneel: The Father Gone Too Soon

As I’m sure you all know, Natsu was raised by the Fire Dragon Igneel where he learned dragon slayer magic. During those years Natsu began to grow close to the large reptile as Igneel would go above and beyond what he was originally tasked to do. He taught Natsu to read, write, hunt, and is the reason he is the way he is. It was because of this that Natsu began to see Igneel as his own father, even referring to him as dad. It wasn’t only Natsu who gained a new companion though. Igneel began to see Natsu as his own child, and subsequently learned about the power that came from truly loving someone else. Their relationship is one of the most overlooked in the entire series, and that is mostly due to when we really start to see the two begin to interact with each other. Due to the unfortunate backside that dragon slayer magic possessed (Overuse of the magic = Becoming a dragon), Igneel and the other dragons needed to go inside of their respective dragon slayers to produce antibodies to counteract the effect. This forced Igneel to leave Natsu without a word. All those years that Natsu believed that he was alone, those times that he would doubt whether Igneel truly cared about him, he was right inside of him the whole time. Igneel watched him grow up and grow stronger, and knowing that the time they spent together made him happy was what drove him to try and protect Natsu. His death was something that tore away at Natsu’s soul as well. Knowing that the one person who he wanted to see more than anything was now dead trying to protect him, and right in front of his eyes, was too much for him to handle, with only Igneel’s final words being able to bring him back. This actually leads us into our next topic of discussion involving Igneel.

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Loneliness: Natsu’s Sorrow

Natsu at his core is someone full of love, life and energy. He makes you smile. He connects with you on a deep psychological level that most characters and people tend to overlook. But, what happens when he can’t do that? What happens when you realize that the lovable Natsu Dragneel was hiding his true feelings all along? I’ll reiterate this point once again, Igneel taught Natsu everything he knew, and all of that time being so close for it just to be stripped away in an instant is a lot for a child to undergo. This one simple act was what set down the roots for Natsu’s deep seeded abandonment issues. It’s why Natsu was so angry and quick to action when Romeo told Makarov that Macao wasn’t back from his mission yet. It also goes into why he reacted the way he did when Gildarts tells Natsu about encountering a black dragon. His own front that he puts on everyday is used to mask this sadness and overwhelming insecurity that he harbors deep in his heart. He always wonders in his head about where his father is and how he’s doing. It’s deeply upsetting that it had stayed with him for so many years. Episode 76 even shows a good example of how Natsu felt as a child when Igneel just up and vanished and even after all the searching that he did, he just couldn’t find him. He walked around with this darkness in his heart for a very long time until he found a guiding light that helped the clouds that overshadowed his heart disappear.

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Lisanna: Reparation and Fragmentation

Lisanna Strauss, younger sister of Mirajane and Elfman Strauss. Lisanna Strauss, wielder of take over magic. Lisanna Strauss, the first ever friend of Natsu Dragneel. Like I stated above, as a child, Natsu would always conceal his inner feelings with a smile on his face and a happy and boisterous attitude. Any and all mentions of Igneel would be met with a scoff due to the age of dragons seeming long gone at that point in time. Even as tough and thickheaded as Natsu was, he was still a child at the end of the day, and he would spend many days alone, wallowing in his own sadness until he met Lisanna. The first time Natsu met Lisanna, he was alone in the rain away from the guild, a frown etched upon his face, not even worried about being completely soaked. It was at that point Lisanna revealed herself, telling Natsu to come inside because he could get a cold, with the former seeming hesitant to do so. She introduces herself and she tells him that she heard he was raised by a dragon, claiming it to be amazing to Natsu’s surprise and joy. In his excitement, Natsu talks about how big and strong Igneel is and about dragon slayer magic now that someone would give him the time. The anime actually visualizes this scene in a way that directly correlates to Natsu’s emotional state. The screen is gray and devoid of any bright colors, but when he meets Lisanna and they begin to talk, the screen begins to regain its color. There are also many other moments that show the bond that these two shared. From raising Happy together and fighting off a Gorian, to talking about the future and the inevitably of death, and the idea of always finding each other if they ever got lost. This connection that they shared was a powerful one and the day that Natsu found out she died took a toll on him. He knew about how Lisanna loved the sunset from where they were raising Happy, so he even planted a second grave there so that she could see it every day. Losing a love one is always a difficult thing to overcome, and for Natsu it still laid heavily in his heart, leaving the clouds to overshadow his heart once more.

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Gildarts: A Lesson In Fear

Strong. Dependable. An Amazing Role Model. All of these words have been used to describe me once in life. Nah I’m just kidding. Unless-? But seriously, all of those things I just said describe Gildarts best. His name is mentioned a few times before his introduction, and it just goes to show how powerful he truly is during his debut. I mean come on now. The entirety of Magnolia had to be rearranged just so that Gildarts could walk in a straight line and not destroy anything in his path by accident. What a badass this one. We learn very early on that him and Natsu share a very endearing bond. One of father and son some might say. Natsu first met Gildarts when Lisanna ended up getting kidnapped by a Gorian, with Gildarts swooping in to save the day. After that the two became close rather quick with Natsu always infatuated with Gildarts’ strength. Now let’s move forward in time a bit to the S-Class trials. The first test of the trials involved our pyro to choose a tunnel to go down where he would either be met with an S-Class wizard, another team, or nothing at all. Of course this being Fairy Tail, Natsu ended up getting a fight, but not just against anyone, he had to go up against the strongest member of Fairy Tail, Gildarts Clive. During this battle Natsu is very clearly outclassed as Gildarts plays around with him, with one of Natsu’s strongest attacks just barely getting him to move from his spot. Keep in mind, Gildarts kept trying to tell Natsu something, and wasn’t really fighting back much. After a certain point Gildarts decided to teach Natsu the lesson that he needed to know. A lesson in fear. Gildarts begins to show off some of his power and Natsu is bewildered and shocked by the aura that Gildarts releases. It was enough to have other characters think it was an earthquake on the island. Natsu even tried to continue the fight but stopped prematurely, before falling to his knees, for the first time in his life feeling true fear, and itting defeat. This is definitely one of the best moments for Natsu’s character as he learns about how fear isn’t a bad thing. That it is all about knowing your weaknesses and how they can make you stronger, something that is a necessary component for becoming an S-Class wizard. This lesson actually sticks with Natsu after this arc and I got the perfect example for it.

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Intellect: Stopping and Thinking

Now an example of Natsu running into certain battle guns blazing is shown best during the Lullaby arc in his battle against Erigor. We see that he has trouble getting past Erigor’s Storm mail and due to that begins to show signs of frustration. He gets angrier and angrier to the point where he’s almost in a full blown temper tantrum with his flames only getting hotter. Now let’s take a different that happens before the beginning of the series. In episode 76, Natsu and Lisanna are going through a forest in search of footsteps that could possibly be Igneel, but instead of finding the fire dragon, the two run into a Gorian that kidnaps Lisanna as revenge for Natsu defeating it previously in a different episode. The Gorian tells Natsu to kneel down and apologize to it for beating it up. Natsu actually ends up complying to the demands, but the Gorian lied and was about to kill Natsu before Gildarts came and intervened. Now let’s go wayyyyy into the future for this one. During the Eclipse arc, Natsu and Future Rogue are dueling for the second time until they get interrupted and the whole Natsu and Lucy bell situation happens. After that whole debacle is done with, Happy asks Natsu if Future Rogue was too much for him with seemingly about to retaliate, but then takes a moment of silence and its that his opponent was strong and that he was fighting at a bit of a disadvantage. He accepted his weakness in this moment and took the time to think about a plan of action to defeat his opponent. Natsu was thinking just like an S-Class wizard and was putting Gildarts lesson to the test. Many think that Natsu never gets any smarter throughout the series and this right here just shows that isn’t true in the slightest.

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Beta Heaven: How Natsu Handles Death

Before anything else, yes people die in Fairy Tail. This is not a statement that can be argued. Death is imminent for a lot of characters and if you still try and deny that point then go and rewatch/reread the story again with your eyes open. Thank you. Now then, beta heaven is an image of heaven in your unconscious mind, and because of this residing in each person’s mind, they all differ from each other. So what exactly is Natsu’s vision of heaven? Well for starters characters like Zeref, Larcade, August and Zirconis are there meaning that to him even previous enemies of his deserve some sort of happiness in his eyes. Other characters in his beta heaven include Lucy’s parents and Simon, characters that he wasn’t even particularly close with, but he still felt that they deserved their own happy ending in death. Why is this so? It’s because of Natsu’s kindness. He has always been shown to be very considerate and respectful of other people’s feelings (Even if he sometimes has no off button) and it shows with other characters how he can either react very violently or very calm and controlling. More violently in the cases of Simon and Future Lucy, and more calm and controlling in the cases of Lucy’s father. The one similarity trait shared between all of them though is that Natsu believes all of them deserved their own place in heaven. Other such examples of his dealing with death are during Lisanna’s “death” and building her a new grave, and Zeref when he used his power to defeat Aldoron, being upset at using it and apologizing to his dead brother.

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Outro

And with that lets stop here for now. I hope you guys all enjoyed this blog here and hopefully you either learned something new about Natsu or at least have a new appreciation for him now. I had a lot of fun writing about my favorite character so I’ll gladly do more if any of you ask. to go play the quiz that my partner made cause it was amazing! Until next time everyone!

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#featureme