User blog comment:Miskos3/Fairy Tail Episode 252: Tartaros arc: Gray vs. Silver, Review/@comment-4449950-20150926115915/@comment-4449950-20150926124204

I cannot believe that Mashima would write something like that. I really don't. Like you said, foreshadowing is something he handles well/loves to do, and if we look at the foreshadowing what we got was: Kyouka saying (and believing, from the context) that Silver had a Demon form, Silver cursing Gray after freezing Natsu (and when nobody was around to hear) and all the father-ish hints that helped us all work out he was likely Gray's father before the reveal. These foreshadow-y moments do not, imo, connect with what ended up happening.

Second, I remember reading a note somewhere where Mashima commented that he doesn't like writing about people coming back to life if they are dead, and that if he does write it, he doesn't show the process specifically (someone find this reference for me and I'll kiss you). So the fact that he brought in necromancy to revive Silver again strikes me as odd, when the other option was the never-dead Deliora taking the body.

Say what you like, and I know people will, but I'll say this again: I honestly believe Deliora was meant to be the original idea.

As for the afterword, Silver v Gray could have been planned from the get-go, as Deliora (as Silver) v Gray.