Dragon

Dragons (ドラゴン Doragon) are extremely powerful and intelligent creatures that live in Earth Land.

History
More than 400 years ago, Dragons were the rulers of the land and human were considered to be merely a food source for them. One day, a Dragon proposed a truce between them, believing both species could live in harmony. This soon led to a civil war between both factions: the pro-humans and their opposite. Eventually, some humans were taught Magic by the Dragons and were requested to join the war. Before long, the tide of the war shifted into the favor of pro-coexistence faction. However, both sides overlooked a potential threat: the humans who were taught Magic by the Dragons. Many a Dragon were slain, and thus, the humans became known as Dragon Slayers. In one case, a Dragon Slayer killed many Dragons, both friend and foe alike, and bathed in their blood, and, with the aid of the Black Wizard Zeref, this Dragon Slayer turned into a Dragon himself: the reputed Black Dragon and self-proclaimed Dragon King, Acnologia. All other facts and stories about Dragons were collected in one book: Dragon Historia. One story in said book recounts the tale of Acnologia, and his single-handed destruction of an entire country.

July 7, X777
On July 7, X777, all the Dragons, except Acnologia, seemingly vanished, most notably, Igneel, Metalicana, and Grandeeney, who each abandoned their young foster children, leaving the species to be remembered as little more than a myth.

Strength and Intelligence
Dragons are extremely powerful creatures, so powerful that a form of Magic had to be created to combat them. Even Gildarts, who was considered to be the most powerful Mage in Fairy Tail under Makarov and later the candidate for Fairy Tail's next master, was defeated by Acnologia, claiming that no human could defeat Acnologia. This was further emphasized when all the Mages participating in the S-Class Wizard Promotion Trial on Tenrou Island fought it, but were soundly defeated, with Gildarts claiming that it was just playing with them.

According to Wendy, Dragons are extremely intelligent. They are able to speak the language of humans and can thus impart their knowledge and communicate with them. Some, however, do not seem to be happy with making contact with humans, who they consider to be inferior, and ignore altogether. Some Dragons even consider humans to being merely one of their food sources.

Dragons and Humans
To the events of the year X784, society does not believe in the existence of Dragons. However, the destruction of Tenrou Island caused by one of them, called Acnologia, changed society's view on this issue.

Despite their destructive nature, some Dragons, such as Igneel, Grandeeney, and Metalicana have been said to care for humans to the point where they raise orphaned human children as their own. While raising the human, they teach them Dragon Slayer Magic to make the human more like them.

The situation is somewhat different for other Dragons such as Acnologia, who views humans as nothing more than mere insects, and Zirconis, who hates humans and views the races merely as a food source. Acnologia has been described as, most notably by Gildarts Clive, "the enemy of humanity", as confirmed by his subsequent behavior, when without warning and any particular reason, he appeared on Tenrou Island and tried to destroy it.