Jude Heartfilia

Jude Heartfilia (ジュード・ハートフィリア Jūdo Hātofiria) was the father of Lucy Heartfilia and formerly one of the wealthiest company owners known in the country of Fiore. After the death of his wife Layla Heartfilia, he began neglecting his daughter and put all his time and effort into his company. Because of this, Lucy felt rejected and held a grudge against her father, and eventually ran away.

Appearance
Jude was a relatively tall, middle aged man with black eyes and blonde hair. He used to keep his hair trimmed, and wore expensive suits, but when he later lost all of his money he sported longer hair, ragged clothes and an unruly beard.

Personality
Jude used to be a cold hearted man. He neglected his daughter and put all his time and effort into his company, which resulted in Lucy running away from home. According to Lucy, her dad never cared for her. However his attitude towards his daughter seemed to change once he lost his fortune, and he appeared to become more kind to his daughter. On an unrelated note, Jude's sense for money was extremely bad, as he believed he needed 100,000 to get from Magnolia Town to Acalypha when it was possible to get there on foot.

History
Over twenty-four years ago Jude met Layla Heartfilia at the Love and Lucky Merchant's Guild. The letter "K" had fallen off of the sign and that is how they got Lucy's name. Once Lucy was born Jude and Layla left the guild and he established his own business, The Heartfilia Konzern. When Lucy was in her younger years Layla died, and Jude became cold and neglectful towards Lucy, so much that Lucy had to run away. A year after Lucy ran away he sent Phantom Lord a job requesting that they find Lucy and bring her home, which sparked the war between the Fairy Tail Guild and the Phantom Lord Guild.

Phantom Lord arc
He was included in the Phantom Lord arc as the one who was responsible of requesting a job to find his missing daughter, Lucy. Jose Porla, Phantom Lord's guild master, planned to use Jude's job request to bring Fairy Tail's increasing power down, by kidnapping Lucy Heartfilia. After the defeat of the Phantom Lord Guild, he is visited by Lucy. He then tell Lucy that he wants her to marry Prince Sawarr of the Julenelle, to merge the Heartfilia's wealth with that of the Julenelles, although Lucy only met Sawarr as a child. But Lucy rejects his command and states that she can make her own decisions, and live her own life, and she will not forgive him if he attacked Fairy Tail again.She then rips off her fancy clothes to prove that she has cut all ties with him. When Lucy runs off with her friends, Jude looks out the window at his smiling daughter.

Fighting Festival arc
His next appearance is as a spectator of Fantasia Parade, as he watches Lucy.

Oración Seis arc
Lucy later finds her father as a long bearded man with a tattered sheet of cloth to conceal himself. He states that he lost all his money and the company of Heartfilia is no more. He then says that he's going to start all over again and work in a merchant's guild in Acalypha and tries to beg Lucy for 100,000. Lucy expresses she doesn't have that kind of money. Jude feels rejected and throws a tantrum. Lucy yells for him to go away, which he grits his teeth over and walks away.

The next day, Lucy tries to rescue her father after hearing that the guild her father was trying to get into was taken over by Naked Mummy. After defeating the bandits, she finds out that her father hadn't even arrived at the guild because he walked all the way from Magnolia to Acalypha.

Jude then realizes that Lucy came because she was worried for him. He thanks her but then she walks away, stating that she still hasn't forgiven him. He stops her by saying that that guild was where he first met her mother. He reveals that the name "Lucy" came from the guild's name, Love and Lucky, which at that time, the letter "k" from "Lucky" was missing, so it looked like it was "Lucy". After, the rest of Team Natsu finds Lucy and takes her with them, leaving him alone, thinking to Layla that he was a fool all this time.

X791 arc
Jude is revealed to have died one month prior to Lucy's return, by a woman at the Love & Lucky guild. Later, it is also revealed that Jude sent birthday presents to Lucy every year, even after she disappeared and also wrote letters, hoping that she'd read them one day. He expressed his desire to see her again and called her his pride, finishing off the last letter by telling her that he had always loved her.

Key to the Starry Skies arc (Anime Only)
It is revealed that Jude had sent a part of a clock (a clock hand) to his daughter, which was delivered by Lucy's childhood friend Michelle Lobster.As Lucy, Natsu, Happy, Michelle and Romeo are sailing, Jude turns out alive after he and his exploration group fall into the sea while trying to save Natsu.Embora not know much, a man calls his name supposed Jude (Jude), and says: -However, this way your daughter will be arriving.

Lucy Heartfilia
Jude and his daughter, Lucy, had a complicated history. After his wife's death, Jude buried himself in his work out of grief, neglecting his daughter. This neglect led to Lucy running away from home at the age of 16. After a year, Jude, wishing to have her marry in order to expand his business, requested the Phantom Lord Guild to retrieve her, sparking a war between the said guild and Fairy Tail. This ultimately led to Lucy cutting ties with him due to the pain and suffering inflicted upon the members of her guild.

After some time, the Heartfilia Konzern suffered a bankruptcy, causing Jude to lose his fortune. He traveled to Magnolia and asked Lucy for money. Their reunion, however, didn't go smoothly as Jude was enraged when her daughter didn't give him the money he was asking for. However, this didn't stop Lucy from rushing to his aid when she thought that the merchant guild he was headed for was taken over by the Dark Guild, Naked Mummy. Lucy managed to defeat the Dark Guild but realized that her father hadn't arrived at the guild yet. She then met her father who, touched by her action, opened up to her, telling her the origin of her name. The two then parted on relatively good terms.

After being inside Fairy Sphere for seven years, Lucy decided to visit her father, thinking that he may be worried about her. However, she learned that he had passed away during her absence. Lucy was devastated by the news and later admitted that he had forgiven her father and had loved him after reading a letter that he had sent to her.

Layla Heartfilia
Jude first met Layla at the Love & Lucky Merchant's Guild and the two eventually fell in love. After some time, Layla became pregnant and they decided to become independent. They eventually established the Heartfilia Konzern, a company that became bigger and more powerful over the years. After some time, Layla became ill which ultimately caused her death at the age of 29 in the year X777. After her death, Jude, out of grief, buried himself in his work to the point that he neglected their daughter that subsequently led to her running away at the age of 16.

Michelle Lobster
Michelle was Jude's niece and the two had developed a close relationship during their time working together in the Love & Lucky guild. Michelle was at his side during his dying moments and had promised to fulfill his dying wish, which was to deliver a memento to his missing daughter. One month after Jude's passing, Michelle fulfilled the promise, demonstrating a great amount of loyalty to her departed uncle, when she delivered the memento to Lucy, having heard her returning from her seven years of absence with the rest of Fairy Tail's core members.