User blog comment:Penguin97/Mavis Vermilion & Genocide/@comment-25395791-20160802152051

That is quite thoughtful of you, and I think I got the main point. However, I didn't really understand some other parts of it, probably because this is just an excerpt of the entire work of yours.

While on that, I'd like to add some bits and pieces to that claim. Like you said, lack of empathy is what makes a genocide, something which is exhibited by Zeref himself (and, coincidentally, which attitude he has to keep in order not to cause death around him). Through him we just might see how genocide goes. If one wants to commit such an act, he has to simply be ruthless and merciless, twisted even, as that'd be the only logical explanation. So we could say that Zeref simply lives to kill others, as much as harsh it could sound. If he doesn't care about life, he commits things like genocide (and thus we have this entire current arc), and if he does care, everyone will die. He has no other choice

On the other hand, Mavis is the complete opposite of him, as obvious as it is, as she is the one that shows empathy and cares about people around her. As such, her pursue in love with Zeref came to be (and/or could just be the philosophy that "opposites attract each other"), but then she received Zeref's curse and started isolating herself for the sake of everyone around her, even though unsuccessful. Then that kiss scene happened, and the rest of it

Speaking of that, according to my brief research, Zeref partially displays signs of grief throughout the series. In short, there are 5 of them (denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance), but from what I've seen, Zeref only shows first 3. First, he's in denial and isolates himself from the society. Second, he's angry and wants to see destruction. Third, he's bargaining, i.e. wants Fairy Heart. Last two weren't displayed because he either found out Mavis is alive eventually....ooor this was just a coincidence to begin with :P

Anyhow, those'd be my thoughts on those things in the series