User blog comment:IamJakuhoRaikoben/Chapter 450: Alone in all the World, Review./@comment-24277053-20150831113321

Well I look at Makarov and Precht relationship differently now. We know now by the age of 4 both parents are dead, and raised in a guild, and Precht was not just a mentor figure, but he was probably was like a father to Makarov and that is why he didn't kill him when had a chance after Grimore Heart's defeat and Zeref had to do it for him.

Also explains why everyone in Fairy Tail is not just guild mates but family, Makarov had no blood relatives most of his life, thus his guild was a family, and still lives that to this day even when he has blood relatives like Iwan and Laxus. They are much his children as Laxus is.