User blog comment:IamJakuhoRaikoben/Chapter 487: The Third Seal, Review./@comment-130.105.215.179-20160531081845/@comment-3987368-20160601164340

Not that I agree with Zeref being a good villain, but far as I can tell, the whole invasion (and his declaration to Mavis in Chapter 340) was all for the same goal. He does bad stuff like starting war in the hopes that someone (i.e. Natsu/E.N.D) will rise up to stop him, thus fulfilling his wish to die. Of course, this being Mashima's story, is not done with nearly as much finesse as it could/should be. Zeref himself being so sparsely shown (mostly appearing out of plot convenience or pure coincidence) and underwritten is a big part to this.