Gajeel Redfox

Gajeel Redfox (ガジル・レッドフォックス Gajiru Reddofokkusu) is an Iron Dragon Slayer, a member of the Fairy Tail guild, and a former S-Class Mage from the Phantom Lord guild.

Appearance
Gajeel is a tall and muscular man with long, spiky black hair, which is usually kept slicked back, revealing his forehead. He has red eyes (initially portrayed as green) with slitted dark pupils, and no visible eyebrows. Most of his exposed body is covered in sets of simple, round studs. The most visible studs are on his face, with three of them above each of his eyes (acting as "eyebrows" of a sort), three on each side of his nose, and two on his chin, just below his mouth. His ears are adorned by two sets of five earrings each.

He also sports four studs on each of his forearms, with his right one being covered in scars. As a member of the former Phantom Lord guild, he bears his Phantom Lord stamp at the top of his right shoulder. After joining Fairy Tail, his black Fairy Tail stamp is located on his left arm, just below his shoulder. Being a Dragon Slayer, his canine teeth are distinctively sharper than normal.

Gajeel's usual outfit consists of a shabby, black, sleeveless tunic with studded edges, with a studded belt around his waist, loose whitish pants tucked inside studded black boots, and a pair of studded brown gloves paired with similarly studded wristbands. He also sports a distinctive wing-like ornament, seemingly made of feathers jutting upwards, over his right shoulder, attached to his tunic by a large stud.

Personality
As a Phantom Lord Mage, Gajeel didn't care about Fairy Tail at all, and seemed to think that Phantom Lord was a stronger and more worthwhile guild. When he was first introduced, he was depicted as cold and apathetic, and didn't hesitate to injure his own allies if he was irritated, as seen when he iron-clubbed a fellow Phantom Lord Mage who was praising his abilities, all because the latter was disturbing his meal at the time.

However, he is completely and genuinely dedicated to whatever guild he is affiliated with. In fact, he ignited the Fairy Tail/Phantom Lord Guild War mainly because, as long time-rivals, he believed that the Fairy Tail Mages were enemies. Upon his recruitment to Fairy Tail, his sense of comradeship seemed to increase. He even went as far as reprimanding Laxus Dreyar, whom he admits to be a more powerful Mage than he is, for attempting to kill Natsu with his lightning, when they were supposed to be allies.

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 did not fight back when attacked by Shadow Gear or Laxus. He even protected Levy McGarden after Laxus 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.

He is short-tempered, as seen when he and Natsu bicker constantly over childish things. Like Natsu, Gajeel lives for the thrill of combat, and is visibly frustrated when faced with circumstances where he is denied the opportunity of fighting a skilled adversary, as seen during the S-Class Trials.

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 Freed Justine's Magic enchantment.

After the conflict with Oración Seis, 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. Later on in Edolas, Gajeel finds the partner he is looking for in Pantherlily and, upon arriving back in Earth Land, cries tears of joy when he discovers Pantherlily made it to Earth Land, despite his reduced size.

Gajeel is apparently more perceptive than his demeanor suggests, and has demonstrated his ability to relay indiscernible pieces of information, baring meaning that most people would have trouble understanding otherwise, to his comrades. He also has a unique way of laughter. It goes as "Gi Hi Hi Hi".

Like all Dragon Slayers, Gajeel also suffers from severe motion sickness, although his case does not develop until the second day of the Grand Magic Tournament in X791.

History
Similar to how Natsu learned his Fire Dragon Slayer magic from the dragon Igneel, Gajeel learned his Iron Dragon Slayer Magic from the dragon Metalicana. Both Igneel and Metalicana disappeared seven years prior to the beginning of the series on July 7 in the year X777.

Phantom Lord arc
Gajeel leads the attack on Fairy Tail by wrecking the Fairy Tail guildhall with large iron rods. He then attacks Fairy Tail's Shadow Gear team and pins them to a tree (crucifixion style), putting the Phantom Lord symbol into their waists. This act ultimately provokes Makarov into declaring war on Phantom Lord.

Gajeel surveys the battle between Fairy Tail and Phantom Lord before entering the fray to fight Elfman. Their battle is interrupted by Natsu, making Gajeel interested in the idea of battling another Dragon Slayer. Though they exchange a few blows, Natsu and the rest of the guild is forced to retreat when Makarov has his magic stolen by Aria after being lead into a trap by Jose Porla.

Gajeel uses his superior sense of smell to track down Lucy Heartfilia, who he captures and brings back to his guild after the Element 4 are defeated. He is ordered by Jose to watch Lucy, but Gajeel cruelly tortures her out of boredom. As Lucy insults Gajeel, he smells Natsu coming and moves to kill Lucy, provoking Natsu into fighting him again.

The two are initially equal in strength, but Gajeel gains the upper hand by covering his body with metal scales and eating scraps of metal to replenish his strength. However, Natsu is able to retaliate after Lucy summons Sagittarius to start a fire (which he does by destroying nearby machinery and causing and explosion), allowing Natsu to feed and giving him enough strength to defeat Gajeel through the Phantom Lord building, demolishing it and defeating him.

After the battle ends, Natsu questions Gajeel about where he learned his Dragon Slayer magic. Gajeel reveals his relationship with Metalicana, and is shocked to learn that Natsu's guardian dragon, Igneel, disappeared on the same day as his own. The two bicker over this, and stop after Gajeel yells at Natsu to get out of what is left of his guild, declaring that he will one day take revenge.

Sometime later, Phantom Lord is disbanded, and Gajeel remains at the ruins of his former guild. He is eventually approached by Makarov, who tells him that Juvia Lockser, another former member of Phantom Lord, has joined their guild, much to Gajeel's displeasure. Although still enraged that Gajeel had destroyed his guild and injured Shadow Gear, making it clear that he would never forgive Gajeel for it, Makarov offers Gajeel membership to Fairy Tail to help guide Gajeel down the right path. Moved by Makarov's statement, Gajeel accepts his offer.

Fighting Festival arc
Despite not being a fully trusted member of Fairy Tail, Gajeel is given a mission by Makarov to find Iwan Dreyar, Makarov's son and master of the dark guild Raven Tail, and infiltrate his dark guild to act as a double agent and spy on him. Gajeel somehow manages to make contact with Iwan and feigns allegiance with him, claiming to be spying on Fairy Tail so that he may take revenge against Natsu.

Gajeel's inclusion in the newly renovated guild is not well-received by the other guild members, particularly Team Natsu, who discover that he has joined after their return from the Tower of Heaven. While shocked and angry, they reluctantly accept his membership as part of Makarov's decision, though Erza states that he should be watched closely. Gajeel similarly acts distant and hostile towards Natsu and his other new guildmates, saying that he doesn't intend to get along with any of them and has only come to find work. With encouragement from Juvia, Gajeel, however, begins making attempts to fit in with the others, and though his methods of doing so are questionable (such as chaining up Mirajane so he could put on a stage performance for the others in her place), he gradually earns a grudging respect from the guild.

One of the other groups that refuse to accept Gajeel is the Shadow Gear team. Jet and Droy hold a grudge against him for attacking them, while Levy frequently cowers in fear of his presence. Jet and Droy pick a fight with him while he tries to go on a mission, though he does not fight back. Laxus soon arrives and blames him for ruining Fairy Tail's reputation by destroying and then joining the guild. Laxus begins attacking him in a manner that is much more brutal than Jet and Droy that they even become concerned that Laxus is overdoing it. Even still, Gajeel does not fight back, leading Shadow Gear to reason that he is trying to earn their acceptance. Jet and Droy try to make Laxus stop by attacking him, but Laxus fires a bolt of lightning at Levy out of frustration. To Shadow Gear's shock, Gajeel takes the hit himself and defends Levy. With no one willing to fight anymore, Gajeel staggers off to continue his mission.

As Laxus tries to take over the Guild, Gajeel eats some metal and prepares to go after him, but as with Natsu, he is stopped by Freed's enchantment that blocks people over the age of 80 as well for some unknown reason. He then helps Natsu try to release Erza from being stone, but as she comes back to normal, she promptly beats them for touching her. Shortly after, Levy manages to dispel the enchantment, enabling Natsu and Gajeel to enter Laxus' tournament. Later, Gajeel is seen speaking to Iwan Dreyar through a form of Magic resembling a shikigami, falsely reassuring him that he still intends to get revenge on Fairy Tail.

Gajeel later appears in the church where Natsu was fighting Laxus and saves Natsu from Laxus' Raging Bolt spell. He then suggests that he and Natsu work together to take down Laxus and protect the guild, surprising Natsu.

They put forth a valiant effort, but Laxus surprises them by revealing that he, too, is a Dragon Slayer. Using this power, Laxus nearly defeats them both. His powerful attacks weaken Gajeel greatly for him to continue the fight. For a short while, Natsu is forced to fight Laxus alone. However, in the final moments, Gajeel uses his Iron Dragon Slayer powers to turn himself into a living lightning rod. This causes Laxus' attack to change course and miss Natsu, hitting Gajeel instead. Taking advantage of this, Natsu then defeats Laxus.

In the Guild Hall, after Laxus's defeat, Gajeel and Natsu sit alongside one another covered from head to toe in bandages. When Natsu springs up from his seat to talk to Laxus, his every word is completely muffled by his bandages. Surprisingly, Gajeel is somehow able to understand him and relays what Natsu says to Laxus. He soon confronts Iwan about Laxus being a Dragon Slayer. Iwan reveals to Gajeel that Laxus is a "fake" Dragon Slayer, and because he pitied Laxus for being so weak, he implanted lacrima into Laxus' body so he could gain Dragon Slayer powers. Gajeel assures Iwan once more that he won't be caught as a "spy" before leaving. He returns to the guildhall during Fairy Tail's Fantasia parade, meeting Makarov in private and giving him a note containing a report on Iwan's location and dealings.

Daphne arc
Note: Events in this arc occur only in the anime and do not constitute canon material. Gajeel overhears Gray telling Natsu about a dragon being spotted. When Natsu gets ready to go with Wendy, Gajeel is asked to come. He refuses, assuming it is a scam, just like most of the other rumors are. He also includes the fact that Metalicana abandoned him, so he doesn’t even care if he is okay.

Gajeel later appears to help stop the Dragonoid. He uses one of his secret techniques, effectively ending the Dragonoid. Gajeel then calls up to his guildmates to send up as much fire as possible so Natsu can defeat Daphne. After doing so, he celebrates the victory with the rest of the guild.

Edolas arc
Gajeel later appears again after Wendy Marvell has become the newest member of Fairy Tail. 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 becomes 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 everyone from Magnolia into Edolas, Gajeel is not shown to be at the guild. However, Carla says that Dragon Slayers should be safe. It was later revealed by Gray that Mystogan transported Gajeel to Edolas, along with the medicine, X-balls, a medicine that allows Earth Land Mages to use their Magic in Edolas. Gajeel later frees Gray Fullbuster and Erza Scarlet from the Lacrima 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.

Their fight starts to get intense, when Gajeel's Iron scales allow him to withstand an attack from Pantherlily's sword, but in the middle of the fight when Pantherlily mentions about being an outcast, Gajeel immediately takes a liking to him and tries to make him his cat companion. However, before deciding to make him his companion, Gajeel decides to show him who's stronger and manages to smash his sword. Their fight now is between hand to hand combat. As the Lacrima is about to smash into Extalia, Gajeel decides to postpone their fight and help prevent the collision of the Lacrima with the help of Team Natsu and the Exceeds.

Gajeel along with the Fairy Tail members and the Exceeds manage to stop the Lacrima. Mystogan then arrives and is successful in sending the Lacrima back to Earth Land and states that once the Lacrima returns through the Anima, the Fairy Tail members will change back to normal. Erza Knightwalker shows up and shoots Pantherlily through the chest calling him a traitor. Gajeel is outraged by this. The King then makes an appearance in a giant metal dragon called the Dorma Anim, and says that the metal dragon repels all Magic attacks. Gajeel, Natsu and Wendy engage the Dorma Anim in battle as only their Dragon Slayer Magic can stand up against the Dorma Anim.

Wendy casts a spell on Natsu and Gajeel while they fight the Dorma Anim, making them faster and another one to make them stronger, the king then fires some tracking missiles after Wendy but Natsu intercepts and destroys them. When the king is about to shoot again, Gajeel hits the missiles before it launch, but gets hit by the tail of the Dorma. A group of missiles is fired again, but these explode before Natsu can hit them. The king gets surprised when Natsu eats the fire of the explosions while Gajeel starts eating the tail of the Dorma. Suddenly the Dorma changes color as the king states that he is going to drain all their fighting spirits.

The new form of the Dorma Anim grants it a huge increase in power and a change of color as well, turning the tide in the king's favor. Gajeel decides to try some different tactics, revealing that they hadn't been using full power because they didn't know what could happen. The three of them attack at once with their respective roars but it has almost no effect. The king proclaims victory, saying that although they have infinite Magic, once it runs out it takes a while to recharge. Natsu gets up saying that he'll use tomorrow's Magic. Gajeel gets up and pins the Dorma Anim's leg down to the ground, telling Natsu to attack and that he was the only one who could do it. Natsu tells Wendy to aim a roar at him to boost his speed by the rotation of her roar and succeeds in tearing through the Dorma Anim.

When Nadi told them about Mystogan and Pantherlily's conversation, the three Dragon Slayers decided to put up a show, with them as the antagonist side of Mystogan's initial plan. Showing up along with the Great Demon-Lord Dragneel, Gajeel wrecks the streets of Royal Capital and helps Wendy to scare off some civilians, and at the same time, grudgingly putting up with Natsu's degenerative rants as he referred to Gajeel and Wendy as his "minions". Gajeel and Wendy then looked on Natsu's destructive demonstration in front of the crowd, with Wendy asking whether Natsu was going overboard. Gajeel, however, said that the salamander was merely setting up the perfect scene for the people to trust Mystogan. With Natsu's "defeat", their bodies began to glow, and Gajeel tells Wendy to prepare a flashy defeat appearance. As Anima removes them from Edolas, the three Dragon Slayers faked a suffering gesture before smiling on Mystogan, signaling that everything will be alright.

Returning from Edolas, Gajeel, along with the rest of the gangs, are surprised by the appearance of the Exceeds. After listening to the Exceed Elders' explanation and the Exceeds departure, Gajeel searches for Pantherlily. Showing up in a much smaller size, everyone are surprised by Pantherlily's new form. Pantherlily then requests to join the guild that the Prince once stayed in order to keep a promise to Gajeel, which Gajeel couldn't help but to agree with laughter and tears. As he pulls a person out, everyone was left speechless by the fact that the person is Lisanna. She asks Pantherlily if he is an Exceed, to which he replies by stating his name, and Gajeel angrily asks her if she is picking a fight with his cat. When Lisanna reveals that she is actually from Earth Land and was sent to Edolas 2 years ago, Gajeel alongside Natsu and the others help Lisanna to return to her siblings.

Tenrou Island arc
Back at Fairy Tail, everybody celebrates Lisanna's return, and Gajeel is seen to have become more cheerful by proposing a fight between "his Lily" and Natsu's and Wendy's Exceeds, but ends up as a fight between himself and Natsu and everyone in the Guild. At one scene, everyone finishes fighting and sleeps from exhaustion. Gajeel is seen sleeping while hugging Pantherlily with one arm.

A few days later, he watches Pantherlily and Erza doing a spar with swords. After the battle, he brags about Lily and his abilities. Gajeel, like the rest of the guild, witnesses the master announcing the S-Class Wizard Promotion Trial, but is greatly shocked that he wasn't chosen as a candidate and surprised that Juvia was chosen over him. He also is greatly upset since he would have stood out as much as the other candidates if his secret mission to infiltrate Raven Tail was revealed, and shows that his trust with the guild is not as strained as they believe it to be. It is seen that it was actually Erza who prevented him from being a candidate, feeling it was too early for him.

When Jet and Droy are arguing over who will be Levy's partner, Gajeel steps up saying that he will help her. Levy feels she has no chance since she doesn't consider herself strong, which prompts Gajeel to yell at her to be more positive, and that he would help to make her stronger causing her to blush.

As the participants head towards the island, Gajeel gets drowsy from the heat. When the first trial started, Freed uses a rune on the boat, which prevents everyone from leaving the boat for 5 minutes. However, Levy manages to rewrite the rune in an instant, though she only lets herself and Gajeel leave. They then swim to the island and arrive before everyone else, except Freed's team. It is unknown which path he and Levy have chosen, but they managed to choose the quiet path. Gajeel was clearly not pleased by this since he couldn't fight against anyone.

During the second part of the test, Gajeel grumbles about the test and him not being able to fight Natsu or Erza. Levy becomes frustrated with Gajeel for ignoring her and teasing her about her strength, before running away from him. Later, she regrets running away but is ambushed by two Grimoire Heart members. Gajeel saves her just in time and tells her not to leave his side again, to which she agrees. With Gajeel and Levy back-to-back, he then asks for the identities of their ambushers, and though the perpetrators choose not to answer, the Guild crests on their body reveal to Gajeel that they are affiliated with the Grimoire Heart Guild.

With Grimoire Heart Mages present during the S-Class Trials, Gajeel wonders if the Master recruited Mages from a Dark Guild to pose as obstacles, being part of the trials without telling anyone else, to which Levy dismissed as negative and replies that it is more likely that they have sneaked into the island unauthorized.

Gajeel then says that if he cannot take care of a mess this small, he wouldn't have what it takes to be an S-Class Mage. After Yomazu states that they are sent to poach all Fairy Tail mages on the island, he releases Gou, an attack which makes the surroundings so loud so that Gajeel, along with Levy, cannot hear their surroundings. Gajeel cannot hear Levy's warning, so she pulls Gajeel away from Kawazu, who drops Egg Busters. When Levy uses her Solid Script: Silent to stop Gou, Gajeel, who is now able to hear, punches Yomazu. Despite gaining this advantage, Yomazu is able to cut through Gajeel's iron dragon scales with Zan. He then uses Kan to pierce right through Gajeel.

Yomazu uses Narukami to hit him again. With Gajeel down on the ground, and Levy watching nearby in horror, Yomazu and Kawazu converge, musing to themselves that if the other guild members of Fairy Tail are just as weak as both Gajeel and Levy, then the two of them would be enough to take down the rest of the guild before their reinforcements arrive. Hearing this, Gajeel inquires about the "reinforcements" that they were talking about, to which Yomazu replies that he was referring to the entire Grimoire Heart wizards who were also deployed to their location, and would be arriving on Tenrou Island shortly, much to Gajeel's shock. Realizing that the gravity of the situation is worse than he initially anticipated, Gajeel tells Levy that from that point on, things will escalate beyond her imagination, and so he instructs her to run. When Levy shows her hesitation to leave Gajeel behind, he shouts that informing everyone else about Grimoire Heart's arrival is more important right now, and urges her to go, saying that he can take care of these two on his own. Yomazu runs after Levy, but Gajeel stops him by using an iron-club arm. Before she leaves, Levy leaves a Solid Script: Iron for Gajeel to devour and replenish his energy with. Levy then runs off without looking back but with tears in her eyes, begging him not to get killed.

With his strength replenished, Gajeel manages to get back on his feet, much to the shock of Yomazu and Kawazu. He remembers the time he fought Natsu and how he defended the name and honor of Fairy Tail. Gajeel currently feels the same as Natsu did, and vows to defeat his enemies. As he starts fighting, he starts off using his roar, but they still hang. They use numerous spells against him and attack. Although he manages to defeat Kawazu with Iron Dragon Sword, this leaves Gajeel open, allowing Yomazu to stab Gajeel through the length of his steel arm with Tsuranuki, but he continues to latch on the sword, ignoring the cracks that are beginning to form on the surface of his arm due to Yomazu's sword penetrating him there, astounding Yomazu with his strength. Gajeel then remembers the day he joined Fairy Tail.

Gajeel, recalling the times of comradeship that he experienced while side-by-side with the other Fairy Tail mages, snaps back to the present and yells that he is a Fairy Tail mage, right before forcibly destroying the sword with his damaged arm, leaving Yomazu flabbergasted at Gajeel's power. He uses his ultimate technique, Dragon Slayer Secret Technique: Karma Demon Iron Sword, to defeat Yomazu. He collapses right after that from his wounds and exhaustion. Levy, Erza, and Juvia find him and his opponents on the ground. Levy runs to his side, telling him to hang in there, while Erza announces to the rest of the guild that the exam is paused for now, and that everyone has to get ready for battle. Levy, with Gajeel on her back, then says that she will carry him to the camp and departs. When the Grimoire Heart members arrive from the bubbles, Levy hides, with Gajeel still unconscious on her shoulder.

He is later seen unconscious at the rest spot next to Mirajane, being tended to by Levy and Lisanna. After Hades was defeated by Team Natsu, Wendy, Carla and Pantherlily, he, with the rest of the injured members confront the remaining members of Grimorie Heart, demanding that they leave the island immediately.

After Grimoire Heart's defeat, Natsu wishes to continue with the exam, Gajeel, however, berates him, telling him that he can't win in his condition. Natsu disagrees, but before they can fight, Natsu passes out, which annoys Gajeel.

Everything is interrupted when Acnologia, the infamous Black Dragon, lands on Tenrou Island and starts attacking everyone. The Fairy Tail members start moving towards the ship as the dragon goes on its rampage. Makarov then enters full Titan mode and grabs Acnologia, holding it off from attacking the others. Everyone wishes to help Makarov, but he shouts not to disobey his final order. When Makarov is overwhelmed by Acnologia, all of them return back and go all out against the dragon. As Acnologia, having shrugged off all the combined attacks from its assailants, flies high up into the sky and prepares to fire a breath attack against Tenrou Island, the guild members join their hands in a circle. While promising that they will return home to Fairy Tail, they are struck by Acnologia's blast, which completely annihilates Tenrou Island, leaving nothing behind.

X791 arc
Gajeel, along with the rest of the Tenrou Team, is rescued by Bisca, Alzack, Jet, Droy, Max, Warren and the Trimens from Blue Pegasus. He watches as Mavis Vermilion reveals that she was the one who saved them and then disappears. He returns to the Fairy Tail Guild and, along with Natsu, Erza, and Gray, defeats the members of Twilight Ogre who were threatening Romeo. They are later welcomed back by Romeo.

Key of the Starry Sky arc
Note: Events in this arc occur only in the anime and do not constitute canon material. When the members of Fairy Tail begin to practice their dancing skills in preparation for a dance ball, Gajeel notices Levy looking in his direction and tells her outright that he is by no means going to ask her to dance, with Levy replying that she was never going to ask him to. However, when both Jet and Droy appear and ask Levy to dance, Gajeel quickly grabs her and proceeds to waltz with her.

In the forest, Gajeel sees a huge lightning bolt and goes to find its source. While running, Gajeel sees Natsu running too, and asks him where he is going. The two start to argue until Happy stops them and reminds them that the main idea is to check where the lightning came from. Natsu states that if it is Laxus, he will have a showdown with him which reminds Gajeel that Natsu can't defeat Laxus alone. The two start arguing again but are stopped by Laxus. Gajeel then tells Laxus to come back to the guild but Laxus answers that he should just mind his own business. Gajeel and Natsu challenges Laxus to a battle which he denies at first, but later accepts. Laxus says he will start with Natsu first, and then Gajeel after, but before they fight, Wendy comes and stops them, telling them to continue their fight tomorrow, to which they agree. Later in the festival, Gajeel sings in the stage, disappointing everyone. In the battle, Gajeel watches as Natsu and Laxus prepare to fight each other, but later runs away after seeing Natsu's defeat.

Grand Magic Games arc
Gajeel wasn't shown for some time, almost after they came back from Tenrou Island, as Levy said he and Lily are having a hard training and didn't want to bring her with them. After training to the point of exhaustion for the Grand Magic Games, Gajeel and Pantherlily lays on the ground and looks up at the stars, smiling.

Sometime between the training and the tournament, Makarov decides to create a second Fairy Tail team, which Gajeel was completely adverse to, but accepts after Makarov told him that the losing team would have to follow the winning team's orders for a day, something which prompted him to imagine Lucy Heartfilia, wearing a bunny suit, dancing for him while he is playing the guitar, the same thing that happened during Gajeel's first days in Fairy Tail. Marakov states that Gajeel is nowhere to be found at the Games' start. However, as the teams who passed the preliminary phase of the competition are announced, Gajeel is revealed to be a member of Fairy Tail's Team B, the only other squad belonging to the same guild making it into the real tournament, alongside Laxus, Mirajane, Juvia and, surprisingly, someone who looks exactly like Mystogan, which is later revealed to be a disguised Jellal Fernandes. Their group achieved the 2nd place, greatly surpassing the guild's Fairy Tail A, and being bested just by Sabertooth's team. As Natsu angrily claims that if they are to be pitted against one another, he wouldn't go easy on Team B just because they are his guildmates. Gajeel states that's legitimate, subsequently teasing Natsu's team for only being in 8th, and thus, last place. As the first event, Hidden, is announced, Juvia chooses to participate in it due to Gray being the competitor for the Team A, and a comically angered Gajeel tells her that if she were to lose on purpose, he'd beat her up. After the contest starts, when Juvia hugs one of Gray's clones generated for the event and thus loses a point, Gajeel angrily calls her an idiot. He later yells at an embarrassed Jellal when Jellal loses his battle against Jura Neekis of Team Lamia Scale.

Gajeel later participates in the second day's event, Chariot. However, the task proves to be difficult for him as he experiences motion sickness, alongside Natsu and Sting of Sabertooth. The three are left behind while the rest of the participants race towards the goal. As the others finish, Natsu, Gajeel and Sting are ridiculed by the audience. Sting decides to give up but Natsu and Gajeel are determined to finish the race. Gajeel then finishes the race in seventh place behind Natsu, earning his team one point. He is later seen in his own team's corner, shocked at Mirajane's sudden display of power. Gajeel congratulates Mirajane as she returns to her corner after her victory against Jenny Realight. He also commends Jellal for staying in character.

Magic and Abilities
Iron Dragon Slayer Magic (鉄の滅竜魔法 Tetsu no Metsuryū Mahō): Like Natsu, Gajeel was taught by a dragon to manipulate a particular element into his fighting style. In Gajeel's case, the dragon Metalicana taught him how to use Iron Dragon Slayer Magic. However, as the name implies, his Dragon Slayer Magic deals with iron instead of fire. Just as Natsu eats fire to regain his strength, Gajeel eats iron to regain his own. His teeth and jaw muscles are apparently powerful enough to gnaw through solid metal with ease, and he can devour even the Magic-canceling metal of the Dorma Anim. Gajeel's Magic deals 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.


 * Iron Dragon's Scales (鉄龍の鱗 Tetsuryū no Uroko): Gajeel covers part of his body (or the entirety of it) with steel scales to dramatically increase his offense and defense. When punching while covered by these scales, Gajeel was capable of creating powerful gusts of wind through mere kinetic force. When confronted with Natsu Dragneel's flames, the resulting clash generated a powerful shock wave, which heavily damaged the area surrounding the two of them. These scales are strong enough to shatter bone and rock alike, resilient against regular flames, and much harder than normal iron (just like Natsu's flames) as shown when Pantherlily's gigantic sword wasn't able to cut through them.


 * Iron Dragon's Roar (鉄竜の咆哮 Tetsuryū no Hōkō): Gajeel's exclusive, metal-based variation, the Dragon's Roar. After gathering Magic Power into his mouth, Gajeel shapes it into a powerful tornado which he subsequently emits and sends towards his foes. Such tornado possesses immense force, being capable of generating powerful explosions and inflicting heavy blunt damage, but also releases sharp shards of metal in the process, to shred the opponents' body.


 * Iron Dragon's Club (鉄竜棍 Tetsuryūkon): Gajeel transforms his arm or leg into a large steel club, increasing his punching and kicking power. He can also create multiple smaller clubs from the end of the original, hitting many enemies at once. The clubs can be elongated at Gajeel's will, making it powerful ranged weapons. He is also apparently capable of increasing their size dramatically and to detach them from his body: several of these clubs, enlarged to gargantuan size, were the main cause of Fairy Tail's building destruction. Also, for added maneuverability and to take opponents off-guard, the club can be rapidly turned into the similar Iron Dragon's Sword.


 * Iron Dragon's Sword (鉄竜剣 Tetsuryūken): Similar to Iron Dragon's Club, but possessing cutting instead of blunt power and thus being possibly deadlier, Gajeel transforms his arm or leg into a large, jagged steel blade. The spikes along the blade's edge make its slashes more painful and dangerous, and the weapon's length can be increased to reach enemies away from him. In the anime, the sword can also function like a chainsaw, effectively increasing its damage. It is used, among other instances, to defeat Kawazu.


 * Iron Dragon's Lance: Demon Logs (鉄竜槍 鬼薪 Tetsuryūsō: Kishin): Gajeel turns his arm into a large spearhead, from which a large number of steel spears is fired towards his enemy multiple times in rapid succession. In the anime, the attack is sometimes portrayed with Gajeel instead extending one arm towards his target's direction, with the fingers outstretched, and then summoning his Dragon Slayer's Magic Seal in front of him, from which the spears are fired.


 * Iron Dragon's Foot Blade: Gajeel sprouts a sharp, harpoon-like blade from the sole of each of his feet. By planting these blades in the ceiling, he's capable of remaining suspended and to move around as if he were walking normally. (Unnamed)


 * Iron Dragon's Throwing Knife: Gajeel is capable of creating throwing knives in his hands, which appear from almost nowhere due to his Iron Dragon Slayer's powers. These are rather short and sport a ring at the end of the hilt, bearing resemblance to a kunai. They can be thrown with pinpoint accuracy. (Unnamed)


 * Iron Dragon's Restraint: Gajeel is capable of creating iron restraints to immobilize his opponents by attaching them to surfaces. These restraints consist of a flat part with a hole, meant to immobilize the victim's limb, and come with some bolts, which secure the flat parts, and thus the victim, to the chosen surface. Both the restraints and the bolts come in different sizes. (Unnamed)


 * Iron Dragon's Hard Fist (鉄竜の鋼拳 Tetsuryū no Gō Ken): Gajeel punches the target while covered in Iron Dragon's Scales, greatly enhancing his punching power. His Dragon Slayer's Magic Seal is created before his fist while he does so. (Anime Only)


 * Iron Dragon's Blinds: Iron blinds extend from Gajeel's eyelids and cover his eyes.


 * Dragon Slayer's Secret Art (滅竜奥義 Metsu Ryū Ōgi):
 * Karma Demon: Iron God Sword (業魔・鉄神剣 Gōma Tetsu Jin Ken): Seemingly one of his most, if not the most powerful attack in his possession, being acknowledged as one of the Secret Arts attainable by the Iron Dragon Slayer. Gajeel claps his hands together above his head, and, in a moment, swipes down on the ground a gigantic sword generated between them, which destroys a huge area in front of him. This attack was first used to defeat Yomazu.


 * Karma Demon: Iron Spiral (業魔・鉄螺線形 Gōma Tetsu Rasen): Seemingly his second ultimate move, Gajeel transforms his legs into a giant drill, which rotates at high speed, heavily damaging whatever it strikes and possessing great piercing power. He used this move to attack the red center spot of the Dragonoid to free Natsu from his prison. Although it did what it was intended to do, Gajeel acted cool and tough, saying that he still had a long way to go, since he "planned" to destroy the whole Dragonoid, along with Natsu. (Anime Only)

Enhanced Smell: Gajeel has an incredible sense of smell, which he shares with other Dragon Slayers. He uses this for tracking purposes as apparently, nothing can escape his nose. This is best shown when he tracked down Lucy in Fairy Tail's secret hideout. It is also inferred that he used this skill when he was tracking down Levy, who ran away from him during the S-Class Trials out of frustration.

Enhanced Durability: Even without his Dragon Slayer's abilities, Gajeel has consistently proven himself to be one of the more resilient characters in the series: when he was confronted by team Shadow Gear after joining Fairy Tail, he was able to shrug off the combined attacks from Jet and Droy without retaliation and, in the the anime, only resorted to finally summoning his metal scales to increase his defense when Laxus tried to attack Levy. Also later during his battle with Laxus, he took an attack which would have killed Natsu, yet he remained conscious. During his time in Edolas, Gajeel used his metal scales to fight Faust's mechanical Dragon, where he absorbed extremely powerful blows with little trouble.

Enhanced Speed: Gajeel's overall speed and reflexes are impressive, enough for him to intercept attacks like Laxus' Magical bolts and reach Levy in time to save her from a double-team ambush of two Grimoire Heart Mages.

Enhanced Strength: Gajeel has shown on different occasions to be incredibly strong: during his time under Jose Porla, while he was tormenting the captured Lucy Heartfilia, Gajeel could casually headbutt a fellow Phantom Lord member who was asking him to stop with enough force to shatter the stone floor he had the man crash on. His physical might is enough for him to clash with Natsu on even terms, to block and shatter Pantherlily's gargantuan Bustermarm Sword, and to pin down and hold still the gigantic Dorma Anim all by himself, allowing Natsu to finish it off.

Master Hand to Hand Combatant: In battle, aside from his Iron Dragon Slayer Magic, Gajeel is known for extensively employing unarmed combat, and to possess great proficiency in doing so: his style is a brutal one, consisting of powerful, direct moves such as devastating punches and headbutts, complemented by his high physical ability, with his strength making his blows highly damaging, and his speed allowing him to land them in extremely fast succession. When employed alongside his Iron Dragon's Scales, his unarmed blows become far deadlier.

Relationships
Gajeel, initially, due to his tough demeanor and rough exterior, had very few friends. However this changed when he joined Fairy Tail.

Fairy Tail Portable Guild
Gajeel appears as a playable character in the first Fairy Tail Video Game, Fairy Tail Portable Guild, and is playable from the beginning of the game. He has no element and he possesses the following Spells in the game:
 * Iron Dragon's Sword: Cost 1 MP, Default Technique
 * Iron Dragon's Roar: Cost 2 MP, Gajeel must be at lv40 to purchase it in the shop.
 * Iron Dragon's Lance: Demon Logs: Cost 3 MP, Gajeel must be at lv45 to purchase it in the shop.
 * Iron Dragon's Shinshou: Cost 4 MP, Gajeel must be at lv55 to purchase it in the shop.

Fairy Tail Portable Guild 2
Gajeel Redfox is a playable character in the sequel to Fairy Tail Portable Guild, Fairy Tail Portable Guild 2. He is unlocked through quests.

Fairy Tail Gekitotsu! Kardia Daiseidou
In the video-game Fairy Tail Gekitotsu! Kardia Daiseidou, Gajeel Redfox is a playable character. In this game, Gajeel Redfox possess the following moves:
 * Main: Iron Dragon's Roar
 * Sub 1: Iron Dragon's Sword
 * Sub 2: Iron Dragon's Harpoon
 * Sub 3: Iron Dragon's Club
 * Super: Iron Dragon's Lance: Demon Logs

Trivia

 * On the cover of Volume 8, Gajeel's eye color was green, but was later changed to red on the cover of Volume 13.
 * When he first appeared 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.
 * According to Gray, Gajeel is a very good song writer, however, his singing skills and ability to play musical instruments are poor.
 * 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.
 * Gajeel's Iron Dragon Roar looks different in the anime. In the manga it is a whirl with metal scraps in it. In the anime it looks almost like Natsu's Roar only in a gray-blue tone. Later in the anime, Gajeel's Iron Dragon Roar followed the manga as the wind is gray-blue in color.
 * From the Volume 16 Limited Edition: Sorcerer Interview, Fairy Tail had no good qualities according to Gajeel. He has no dreams for the future. He doesn't have a good relationship with anyone in the guild. The most difficult job he ever took was a personal request by Makarov.
 * Gajeel's name is derived from the Japanese word かじる (Kajiru), which means to bite, to gnaw, or to nibble. The "Ka" sound is changed to "Ga" sound because "ガジガジ" (Gaji Gaji) sounds like a person eating in Japanese standard.
 * According to Jason from the Sorcerer Magazine, during his participation in the Grand Magic Games of X791, Gajeel's stats are:

Quotes

 * (To Jose Porla)"Well, if they got beaten by a trash, that just make them trash as well."
 * (To Natsu Dragneel)"There ain’t room for two dragons in the sky."
 * (To Happy)"What a troublesome guild. When we get back you better buy me all the metal I can eat."
 * (To Pantherlily)I will make this guy my cat!"
 * (To Levy McGarden)"I will make you big."
 * (To Levy McGarden after saving her Yomazu and Kawazu)"It's hard looking for someone so small. So don't leave my side."
 * (To Levy McGarden)"This isn't some mundane war. This is going to escalate beyond your wildest imagination. You need to let everyone know! I can take care of these guys easily by myself!"
 * (To Kawazu and Yomazu) "You want war... with Fairy Tail? I'm not the same... as before... I'll make you feel the same."