User blog comment:Sargenttacos115/Natsu and Gajeel age Theory/@comment-76.23.189.173-20140815034915

Igneel didn't die. Neither did he vanish. He's very much alive. Igneel is Natsu. Igneel couldn't survive Acnologia and the only way he could protect himself is by being a human. Just like Acnologia was a dragon slayer who turned into a dragon, Igneel was a dragon who turned into a human to save himself from being found and killed by Acnologia. He implanted fake memories into himself to think he was trained by a dragon. This is also why he knows dragon slayer magic. I believe this could be true with the rest of the dragon slayers, other than the lacrima ones.