Simon

Simon (シモン Shimon) was a childhood friend of Erza and was part of the group who were attempting to rebuild the Tower of Heaven and create the R-System. He died protecting Erza from Jellal's attack.

Appearance
Simon was a very massive, tall and muscular young man, with his overly large arms and hands appearing even larger when compared to his extremely thin legs; during his time in the Tower of Heaven, while not as large or muscular as he'd grow in later years, he was more well-proportioned. His mildly long dark hair possessed two prominent bangs curving outwards on the front, framing and partially covering the upper part of his face; Simon had dark eyes and a wide, rectangular face, with a flat nose and a noticeably prominent jaw. During the revolt in the Tower of Heaven, when he was a child, Simon got struck in the face by a Magical blast, something which seemingly left him partially disfigured: Simon's left eye was covered in a simple, dark eyepatch, held up by an extremely slim rope, with a thin scar emerging from under it and going down diagonally on his cheek. His massive jaw was obscured by an armored metal plate, bearing lines of studs on its upper edges and two side protrusions jutting upwards, plus a set of teeth-like ornaments, making it somehow similar to a skeletal jaw. The top of his head was covered in a light cloth wrapped around it, with two bands being left hanging down on his neck and back, which bore e great resemblance to a turban.

As a child, Simon's attire was that of a slave in the Tower of Paradise, this consisting of a sleeveless shirt loose and a pair of pants reaching down below his knees, held up by a simple, rudimentary rope belt. As a member of Team Jellal, a grown up Simon switched to a different, distinctive outfit: most of his muscular upper body was left exposed, being only covered by a large, light cloth passing over his left shoulder and going down below his waist, where it was tied by a light sash, plus a single, dark sleeve on the very same arm, bearing two light stripes vertically going down it, from the shoulder to the cuff. The cloth crossing his chest diagonally had its edges adorned by a series of dark pyramids, and bore in its middle several dark, larger motifs, highly reminiscent of double-edged axes. Simon also wore a pair of extremely loose dark pants, almost reaching down to his ankles, which made his thin legs look larger, and a simple pair of light, ankle boots.

History
Simon was one of the kids that was taken from his home and forced to build the R-System or Tower of Heaven. It was there he made friends with Erza, Jellal, Wally, Millianna, and Sho who together weathered the cruel methods of the their captors. One day, Erza decided it was time to fight back and inspired the other slaves to stage a revolt. Despite some sacrifices, the slaves were successful and set to leave the island for good. But Jellal, now being controlled by Zeref, destroyed the ship leading off the island and claimed it was Erza's doing to convince Simon and his friends to stay and finish the Tower. However, Simon didn't believe in a that story, because he was already in love with Erza. After eight years, the tower was completed.

Tower of Heaven
After eight years pass, he, along with Shou, Wally, and Millianna, appeared at a casino where Team Natsu was vacationing at. He began by attacking Gray Fullbuster and Juvia Lockser and appeared to kill the former before kidnapping Erza and taking her back to the Tower of Heaven.

After Natsu Dragneel invaded the tower and Erza told the group her past, he appeared non-hostile and hugged his childhood friend and revealed he knew Gray escaped him. He then went on to explain that he realized something was amiss with Jellal long ago but kept silent as not to endanger his friends, but felt the time was right to confront him, offering his services to the group.

He was forced to split from the others after Shou turned Erza into a card and ran off, coming across Natsu's fight against Fukurou. He tried to help by using his darkness Magic but Fukurou, being an owl, could see in the dark and attacked him, leaving him wounded and forced to watch the rest of the fight from the sidelines. After Fukurou's defeat, Simon begged Natsu to rescue Erza warning him that Jellal would take advantage of her feelings to defeat her, which was enough to get Natsu involved in the battle between the two.

In the middle of the fight against Jellal, he sacrificed himself so that Erza would not be hit by Jellal's attack; he reveals just before he dies that he loved Erza all along.

Magic and Abilities
Darkness Magic: Simon's Magic allowed him to control the darkness and shadows in the area to turn everything pitch black. This came in useful for distracting his opponents or putting them at a disadvantage, while he could apparently manoeuvre perfectly in the darkness.

Telepathy: Simon was also able to talk to other people through their thoughts and converse over long distances.

Major Battles

 * Team Natsu vs. Team Jellal
 * Natsu Dragneel & Simon vs. Fukuro

Trivia

 * In Japanese, the name Simon can mean 'under'.
 * In the manga Simon slaps Juvia away when he first appeared. In the anime he blows her up, using Magic.
 * Simon has shown a liking for Erza Scarlet.
 * Simon looks a little different in the anime than in the manga, this difference is more appreciable when he was a kid in manga and anime (in the anime he is visibly thiner and less bulkier than in the manga).