Gajeel Redfox


 * The title of this article is sometimes called Gazille Reitfox.

Gajeel Redfox was formerly the most formidable member of the Phantom Lord Guild, but after the events of the Tower of Paradise arc he is revealed to be a new member of the Fairy Tail Guild. He uses the same 'lost magic' as Natsu Dragneel, the Dragon Slayer. He deals with iron.

History
Similar to how Natsu learned his "Fire Dragon Slayer" from the dragon Igneel, Gajeel learned his "Iron Dragon Slayer" from the dragon Metalicana. Both Igneel and Metalicana disappeared seven years prior to the beginning of the series on July 7th in the year of 777.

Appearance
Gajeel is an intimidating-looking young man around the age of Natsu Dragneel. He has a wing-like sleeve on his right arm (right above his Phantom Lord tattoo) and various body piercings, usually in sets of three or five. His usual outfit consists of a ragged-looking black tunic with studded edges, studded wristbands, and studded boots (somewhat resembling Punk style). His hair style is a heavy metal, long, black hair.

Personality
He doesn't seem to care at all about Fairy Tail, and seems to think that Phantom Lord is a stronger and more worthwhile guild. Gajeel bears his Phantom Lord symbol marked at the top off his right shoulder (note the same place were Natsu has his Fairy Tail emblem). Gajeel and Natsu seem to be opposites as Gajeel has more of dark personality and appearance unlike Natsu who is a larger affinity to light. However, he seems to have a short temper, seen when Natsu Dragneel constantly makes him angry.

Despite saying that he doesn't want to make friends, he tries in his own way to do so. So far he has sung an off-key solo (after chaining Mirajane to a wall) and not fought back when attacked by Shadow Gear or Laxus. He even protected Levy McGarden after Laxus Dreyar shot a blast of Lightning at her, showing that Jet and Droy were wrong about him, and he does want to make friends with the other members of Fairy Tail.

Despite his cold personality, he has shown a humorous side of himself when he was shocked to see Mirajane transform her face to look like him, and when he failed to break Fried's magic enchantment. At the end of the Oracion Seis arc, he is shown to be upset when he realized that he's the only Dragon Slayer that doesn't have a cat as a partner. He then desperately tries to find a cat in the alleys but ended up starving and becoming heavily exhausted.

Phantom Lord arc
Gajeel led the attack on Fairy Tail and the large iron rods protruding through the walls of the building seem to be his handiwork. He then attacks Fairy Tail's Shadow Gear team and pins them to a tree, crucifixion style, and burns the Phantom Lord symbol into their waists.

Later, when Fairy Tail attacks them, Gajeel first fights Elfman and easily starts to over power him. He then is interrupted when Natsu gets in the way and Gajeel becomes interested in having a battle with another Dragon Slayer. Though they exchange a few blows, Natsu is forced to retreat when Makarov was lead into a trap by Jose Porla and injured by Aria.

After the Element 4 are defeated, Gajeel reappears with a captured Lucy Heartfilia, stating that a Dragon Slayer's nose should never be doubted. He then is ordered by Jose to watch Lucy, but he pins her to the wall and starts to throw daggers at her to pass the time. In the anime, he hits her multiple times with his iron fists instead of throwing daggers. As Lucy insults him, telling him that if she dies, no one in Fairy Tail would forgive him. He then decides to test the theory and moves to kill her but Natsu comes (apparently Gazille smelled him coming so he wanted to test if Natsu could save her).

Both Natsu and Gajeel begin their next fight right away. At first they are equal in strength, but Gajeel uses his Iron Dragon Scales (or Dragon Slayer mode) and gains an upper hand; he then eats some metal to heal himself and thrashes Natsu a bit. However after seeing the Fairy Tail building crumble, and with a little help from Lucy's Celestial Spirit, Sagittarius, Natsu turns the tables and knocks Gajeel right through the Phantom Lord's building, demolishing it in half and defeating him.

After the battle was over, Natsu found Gajeel and question him about where he learned his Metal Dragon Slayer magic. He told Natsu about the Dragon Metalicana, and how he disappeared on the same day that Igneel did. He then yelled at Natsu to get out of what was left of his guild.

Fighting Festival arc
Upon returning from saving Erza and destroying the Tower of Paradise, Gajeel is seen at the Fairy Tail guild as a new member along with Juvia Loxar. He seems to have no remorse for destroying Fairy Tail's old building, only joining for work, saying "One Guild is as good as the next", telling Natsu he has no intention of being friends with him. When asked why Gajeel joined, Juvia stated "Gajeel always seems so lonely, Juvia couldn't bear to just leave him", but also added quickly that she doesn't like him (only because Gray was right next to her). Master Makarov wants to use this opportunity to guide Gajeel onto a more proper path in both life and magic, but he agrees when Erza suggests he be watched.

Later, Gajeel locks Mirajane up with his metal cuffs seemingly betraying Fairy Tail, but in actuality, Gajeel just wanted her out of the way so that he could, surprisingly, sing his own song. He then takes a mission to teach little children how to use magic. As he leaves, Shadow Gear attacks him, minus Levy who's protesting for them to stop. As they attack him, they are joined by Laxus who shoots a lightning bolt at Levy but Gajeel takes the blow and limps away to his job. They soon realize that he didn't fight back at all.

As Laxus tries to take over the Guild, Gajeel eats some metal and prepares to go after him but he is stopped by Fried Justine's enchantment showing that he might be over 80 years of age. He then helps Natsu try to release Erza but as she awakes, she promptly beats them for touching her. Shortly after, Levy managed to dispel the enchantment, enabling Natsu and Gajeel to enter Laxus' tournament. Later, Gajeel is seen speaking to Ivan Dreyar through a form of magic resembling a shikigami and apparently intends to get revenge on Fairy Tail.

Gajeel later appears in the church where Natsu was fighting Laxus and saved Natsu from his Raging Bolt spell. He then suggests that both he and Natsu work together to protect the guild, which surprises Natsu. They put a valiant effort, but Laxus surprises them by revealing a Dragon Slayer power of his own. With it, Gajeel and Natsu are nearly defeated. He remains paralyzed for the rest of the fight up until the final moment in the clash between a worn out Natsu and Laxus where he uses himself as a lightning rod to protect Natsu from a deadly spell cast by Laxus.

After Laxus's defeat, Gajeel sits beside Natsu both of them covered in bandages. He then surprises the Guild by showing he is fluent in "mumble" as he could understand Natsu while his mouth was covered. He then goes to Ivan and learns more about Laxus's fake dragon power. Shortly after, Gajeel passes this information on to Makarov, revealing himself as a double agent and a loyal member of Fairy Tail.

Edoras arc
He later appears again after Wendy Marvell has become a new member of Fairy Tail guild. He's shown to be upset and perplexed at the observation that both Natsu and Wendy have cats with them. Being a Dragon Slayer like them, he ponders and questions the fact that he doesn't have a cat himself and is seemingly troubled by this fact. He later begins looking for a cat to own in an alleyway but after numerous tries, he grows exhausted. He then trips and lands face-first in front of a silhouetted cat. However, the cat apparently clawed his face, as he runs into Happy afterward, who asks why Gajeel's face has multiple scratches. As Anima sucks all Magnolia into Edoras, Gajeel is not shown to be at the guild. However, Charle says that Dragon Slayers should be safe. It was later revealed by Gray that Mystogan transported Gajeel to Edoras, along with the medicine, Exballs, that can allow Earth Land mages to use their magic in Edoras. Gajeel later freed Gray and Erza from the Lachryma stationed at the grounds of the Royal Capital, and gives them the medicine to use magic. While rampaging at the Royal Capital, Happy carries him to the Lacrima where the rest of the Fairy Tail members were trapped. He reveals that he can revert Anima's effects on the Lacrima by destroying it with Dragon Slayer magic. As he is about to do so, he is interrupted by a flying Pantherlily who attacks him with a gigantic blade.

Magic and Abilities
As the strongest member of Phantom Guild under Master Jose, Gajeel's strength is immense. With his strength alone, Gajeel single-handedly defeats "Shadow Gear", the "back-bone" team of Fairy Tail, cripples the Fairy Tail guild building, leading to its eventual destruction, and nearly defeats "Salamander" Natsu Dragneel in melee combat. Like Natsu, Gajeel was taught by the dragon Metalicana in how incorporate the metal he produces into his fighting style. His skill in hand-to-hand combat rivals Natsu, and with the support of his iron scales, he easily shifted the tide of battle into his favor for the majority of the fight. Gajeel also seems to know how to use his magic to revert those who have been turned into lachryma back to normal.

Iron Dragon Slayer: Like Natsu, Gajeel knows "Dragon Slayer" magic, which he also learned from the dragon, Metalicana. However, his Dragon Slayer magic deals with metal instead of fire. Like Natsu, he can eat metal to regain his strength. Gajeel's magic seems to deal with producing multi-sized iron rods as well as changing parts of his body into steel. Most of his attacks involve transforming his arm/s into hard-as-steel weapons, which he can do at will.

Techniques:


 * Iron Dragon Scales: Gajeel covers part of his body with steel scales to dramatically increase his offense and defense. These scales are strong enough to shatter bone, and resilient against regular flames.


 * Tetsuryū no Hōkō (鉄竜の咆哮 Iron Dragon Roar): A metal-based variation of Natsu's Salamander's Roar attack. It releases shards of metal to shred his opponents body


 * Tetsuryūkon (鉄竜棍 Iron Dragon Club): He transforms his arm or leg into a large steel club, increasing punching and kicking power. He can also create multiple smaller clubs from the end of the original, hitting many enemies at once.


 * Tetsuryūken (鉄竜剣 Iron Dragon Blade): Similar to Iron Dragon's Club, he transforms his arm or leg into a large steel blade.


 * Tetsuryūsō: Kishin (鉄竜槍 鬼 薪 Iron Dragon Spear: Demon Firewood): He transforms his arm into a long steel spear, and rapidly stabs at the enemy multiple times.


 * Iron Dragon Hard Fist: It's a simple punch, but used when he is covered by Iron Dragon Scales (Anime only)

Trivia

 * Gajeel may be over the age of 80 years old, despite how he looks, as demonstrated when he was unable to leave Fried's enchantment (although it could be a side-effect of the Dragon Slayer magic, as Natsu was unable to leave as well).
 * Gajeel is one of two Phantom Lord guild members who have appeared after the Phantom Lord Arc.
 * According to Gray Fullbuster, Gajeel is a very good song writer, however, his singing skills and ability to play musical instruments are poor.
 * Gajeel somehow can understand mumble.
 * Gajeel is the only Old Style Dragon Slayer in Fairy Tail that doesn't have a cat.
 * From the Volume 16 Limited Edition: Sorceror Interview, Gajeel said that Fairy Tail has no good quality, he has no desire that he wishes to accomplish in the future, and then angrily commented that he does not have a good relationship with anyone. The most difficult job, as quoted by Gajeel, is the "exhausting request made by the Master personally, damn it!"
 * Interestingly enough, his eye color was originally green (cover vol. 8). It is unknown why it was changed to red later (cover vol. 13).
 * When he appeared first time as a member of Fairy Tail (in chapter 103), his guild symbol wasn’t on his left arm, but later we can see it there. It's probably because the author originally wanted to replace Phantom Lord mark with Fairy Tail’s mark.
 * In the manga, Natsu shows up to fight Gajeel when he is trying to pin shards on Lucy. In the anime he is about to kick her with his leg metalized.