Gildarts Clive

Gildarts Clive is one of the Fairy Tail Guild's S-Class mages. Gildarts is widely accepted by all the members as the strongest member in the guild under Makarov. Whether or not he is as powerful as Makarov is widely debated. He is frequently absent in the guild due to the nature of the requests he receives. He is widely referred by members of the Fairy Tail Guilds as "That Old Guy". His back shows a man with spiky hair, wearing a tattered cloak. His infamy as a mage was also commented upon by the Guild Master of the Phantom Lord Guild, Jose Porla: "... Erza and Laxus, Mystogan and Gildarts... Their names spread as far as my own hometown..."

History
Gildarts went out of the guild 3 years ago to carry out his job, and recently has returned to the guild. He is rumored to have taken both a 10-year-job as well as a 100-year-job, which is classified above the SS rank jobs as the difficulty is ranked on how long it would take for completion. His long-term periodic absences may be the reason for Makarov's decision for dropping Gildarts out of equation as his successor, and why no attempt of communication was made during the Phantom-Fairy Tail War since he already had his hands full.

He also seems to be an incredibly popular and important, or at least, infamous, mage throughout Magnolia Town as well. His impending arrival is subject to a large bell being rung in a "special manner" to notify people of his coming, and the town is rearranged to protect itself from Gildarts destructive magic.. Also the Fairy Tail mages seem to burst into celebration as a reaction to his arrival, indicating that unlike Mystogan who is virtually unknown and Laxus Dreyar who was generally disliked due to his attitude, he is extremely well liked by the town and everyone at Fairy Tail. He himself loves his guild according to his profile but he dislikes Makarov's son Ivan Dreyar indicating the two have some form of history.

Personality
Gildarts is an easy-going and laid-back person. He is well respected by the whole town and guild. He also appears to be a bit dense, as he apparently doesn't pay attention to what he's doing such as not recognizing the guild or Mirajane, thus causing him to use his magic by accident. However, he is respected enough that the town does everything to prepare and prevent as much accidental damage as possible, going as far to re-organizing the whole town for the mage. As a mage he is well respected, and as Happy said is known for obliterating his opponents.

Galuna Island arc
Gildarts is first mentioned by Jet, being declared as one of Erza's rivals for the title of "Strongest man in Fairy Tail" alongside Mystogan and Laxus, though his name is not mentioned at that point yet, being called "that geezer".

Fighting Festival arc
After the Tower of Paradise, where Natsu was resting in Lucy Heartfilia's apartment (healing from the side-effects of eating Aetherion) Lucy asked whether Laxus was "really strong" Happy replied by saying he was probably the strongest person in the guild, except for Gildarts.

When Laxus tried to take over the guild, at the Caldia Cathedral Mystogan confronted him. When asked, by Laxus, about the rumors circulating as to who was the strongest member of Fairy Tail, Mystogan (without hesitation) replied "I would propose Gildarts". Laxus says, "eh, he's no use... he ain't coming back" ,

Edolas Arc
Gildarts finally returns to the guild after being away for three years. Everyone seems happy to see him as bells chime in warning and celebration of his return. Mirajane also states that Gildarts has also been on a one hundred year mission, a mission only the most powerful mages dare attempt, an indication of his power. He returns from his mission telling the whole guild that he failed the mission, much to everyone's shock. He later leaves and tells Natsu Dragneel to meet him as he has something to tell him.

As Natsu arrives at his house, he instantly asks his relationship with Lisanna seemingly still unaware that she supposedly died two years ago, which bothers Natsu. As Natsu attempts to leave, he tells Natsu that he met a Black Dragon which captures Natsu's attention. In his mission, Gildarts explains that the Black Dragon attacked him which resulted in him losing his left arm, a leg and an organ, which was also the cause of him failing the mission. Gildarts warns Natsu how a human cannot stand up to that dragon but Natsu says that's what Dragon Slayers are there for and that he may have a chance. Natsu rushes off in hope that the Black Dragon will help him find Igneel, and Gildarts encourages Happy to support him all the way. Gildarts was most likely sucked into the Anima along with the rest of the town, though his Edolas counter-part was not seen.

S-Class Trial arc
As everyone celebrates Lisanna's return, Gildarts (with a prosthetic arm) talks to Makarov about Mystogan's sad departure. Gildarts was present at the announcement for who would be competing in the trials. Days later, he is seen alongside Makarov to announce the S-Class Wizard Promotion Trial.

After the rules were explained, it was revealed that he alongside Mirajane and Erza will be participating in the Promotion Trial as well. Their goal is to block the participating teams from advancing. Natsu and Happy encounter Gildarts on path E (Natsu selected the path, under the assumption that Erza was the one whom he will encounter later on along the way). After a small bit of playful banter, where Gildarts states that he hates holding back but is seen to lack the mental preparedness to actually fight yet, Natsu eagerly engages Gildarts but is quickly overwhelmed by the S-class mage through use of hand-to-hand combat and his Crash magic to soften and deflect Natsu's attacks. Natsu then tries his Dragon's Roar, but Gildart uses his disassembling spell on Natsu and accidentally reduces Natsu into numerous chibi versions of himself. Gildarts originally believed it to be over and that Natsu had failed. Natsu, however, did not give up, all the mini-Natsu's intending to continue fighting, holding the belief that they now had the numerical advantage. This impresses Gildarts since Natsu is the first opponent to challenge him in that state.

Magic and Abilities
Crash (クラッシュ Kurasshu): An Ultra-High Level Magic that smashes everything he touches into pieces. It seems that this ability is so terrifying that the town restructured themselves to give Gildarts an unobstructed path to the guild, as he has a tendency of absentmindedly using his magic and walking into things without noticing. He can also use this to cushion impacts by softening the ground beneath him.

Other
Disassembly Magic: Gildarts make a net-like pattern which runs straight through whatever it touches, be it humans or fire. However, instead of being destroyed, the things that get touched break apart and form numerous smaller versions of the original. Apparently, if used on a living thing, the recepient gets reduced into small, doll-like versions of themselves, complete with deadpan expressions. And according to Gildarts, Natsu was the first person to retain his determination after falling victim to this spell. This spell doesn't cause permanent damage since the object will return back to normal after a little while.

Enchanced Hand-to-hand Combat: Although Gildarts is unable to control his Crash and doesn't know how to hold back, he can still be a fearsome opponent when fighting. During the S-class Wizard Trials, he easily overwhelms a determined Natsu.

Enchanced strength: Gildarts is also shown to be quite strong, as when Natsu attempted to attack him, he simply threw Natsu into the ceiling with one hand.

Trivia

 * Gildarts' design appears similar to Gale Glory and Gale Raregroove (aka: King) from Hiro's previous work Rave Master. He also possesses the same ability as Cookie Crusher, a minor character from that series.
 * In the manga, Gildarts is mentioned a couple of times by random people as being the strongest mage within Fairy Tail, but so far in the anime there has been no indications or mentions related to him. This is most likely because the anime was originally planned to span only its first season, in which case Gildarts wouldn't have had an appearance.
 * Gildarts' house is shown to be run down and old due to him being gone for several years.
 * The organ he lost was most likely his kidney.
 * According to Happy he is known to completely obliterate his opponents.