Rufus Lore

Rufus Lohr (ルーファス・ロア Rūfasu Roa) is a Mage of the currently strongest Guild in Fiore, Sabertooth.

Appearance
Rufus is a slim young man of average height with very long, straight blond hair, reaching down below his back, which is gathered near the end and tied in a small ponytail by a large, dark band. Framing his face are two bangs, which reach down to his shoulders and then flow backwards with the rest of his hair. Rufus possesses deep, slanted black eyes, delicate facial features and a mildly prominent nose. Most of his upper face, aside from his eyes and forehead, is hidden by a crimson mask with golden edges, similar to those found in traditional Italian Commedia dell'arte and Carnival, circling both of his eyes and covering the upper part of his nose, which adds to his theatrical appearance. Rufus is often shown retaining a laid-back stance, resting either one or both of his arms behind his back.

Rufus' outfit matches his flamboyant personality and demeanor: he's shown wearing a very long, crimson vest with golden edges, reaching down to his knees and closed few inches above his waist on the front, something which leaves his legs free, over a cream-colored shirt, with a prominent collar, whose corners are held in place by buttons, and mildly loose sleeves, ending in cuffs decorated by intricate motifs. Standing out on Rufus' chest is an extremely large, flimsy cravat tie, matching his shirt in color, which consists of three layers of cloth, each growing larger than the one above it, and is secured to his neck by its thinner part, passing below his shirt's collar. Covering his legs are a pair of mildly baggy, light-colored pleated pants, tucked inside light boots with large cuffs. Rufus' attire is completed by a large crimson hat, with a prominent brim curving upwards on the sides and golden edges, matching his vest and mask, which on its upper left side bears an extremely long, massive and spiky pink plumage, falling down from the rear part of the hat and almost reaching down below Rufus' back.

Personality
Rufus seems to be very theatrical, being almost always shown retaining a flamboyant demeanor, assuming dramatic poses and sometimes going on to make poetic statements in reference to things happening around him. He can also be sly at times, such as when, regarding the presence of Gray Fullbuster and Juvia Lockser, two Mages from Fairy Tail, in the Grand Magic Games' Hidden Event, he maliciously pointed out the possible ways an enemy might use someone's comrades against him. Due to his Memory-Make Magic, Rufus tends to often mention things related to memory in his dialogues, such as expressing things he recalls or advising others to remember given facts. His control over this very same Magic grants him the utmost confidence in his abilities, and as a result makes him extremely laid-back even during battle, with Rufus leaving his afterimages casually exposed to enemy attacks.

Grand Magic Games arc
After successfully claiming first place in the preliminary round of the X791 Grand Magic Games, Rufus enters the arena with the rest of his team to enormous applause. He later decides to participate in the first event, causing the crowd to go wild for the singing poet who sings to the crimson moon. Before the Hidden event begins, he replies to Nullpuding's complaints about Fairy Tail's advantage, saying that having two teams will become Fairy Tail's weakness, since allies can be taken hostage or be interrogated in order to find out the allies' strengths and weaknesses.

The game turns out to be like "hide-and-seek" only there are various clones of all competitors and they must attack the real ones. During the course of the game, Rufus simply watches and analyzes everyone's movements. He finally reveals his location to the other participants, while also insulting the game organizers for making such an easy game. He then uses his Memory-Make Magic to cast A Night of Falling Stars, which attacks everyone one the field, except for Nullpuding, but he eventually hits him by hiding behind a "memory" of himself. After the game ends, Rufus scores ten points for Sabertooth, putting them in the lead.

As Orga's fight starts, Rufus states that he'll memorize War Cry's Magic. Just as War Cry is about to cast his Tear Magic, Sting asks Rufus whether Orga will be able to dodge it, to which Rufus calmly says that he doesn't know. Rufus is present the night Natsu Dragneel attacks their lodging and is just as shocked at the sight of Natsu's rampage as the rest of his guildmates.

Rufus is seen beside Minerva during the third day of the Grand Magic Games, where he watches Orga head out to compete in the event portion of the day, and is shocked by Erza Scarlet's reckless choice to battle all 100 monsters in the Pandemonium event. When the battle portion of the third day begins, Rufus is chosen to battle with Eve Tearm, thus reuniting once them again after the first day. Eve makes the first move by attacking with White Fang, but the attack proves futile. After memorizing his opponent's magic, Rufus attacks Eve using his Memory-Make: Karma of the Burning Land spell, defeating him.

On the fourth day of the Grand Magic Games, during the Naval Battle, Rufus is seen agreeing with Sting as he comments that Minerva is a devil. He then quietly smiles as Minerva is declared the winner. After the end of the Event, the Fairy Tail Mages run towards Minerva in anger, prompting Rufus, Sting and Orga to appear in front of her, intimidating the Mages. However, Erza prevents a fight between the teams, but warns Sabertooth that they've made enemies of the worst possible Guild to anger. Later, along with the rest of Team Sabertooth, he is seen having a stare off with the new team of Fairy Tail where Rufus glances at Gray slyly.

As Rufus watches the Sabertooth vs. Fairy Tail match of the battle portion, he shows surprise when Natsu is able to block Sting's Holy Nova attack. Despite Sting and Rogue fighting with all their might, Rufus watches disbelievingly as Natsu calmly deflects all of their attacks. When both groups then unleash their most powerful attacks simultaneously on each other, Rufus stands tensed, waiting to see who will emerge victorious.

Upon Orga commenting on Sting and Rogue's surprising loss, Rufus states he felt the fight was interesting, saying that he memorized it all. Like the rest of his Guild, Rufus gathers in the Sabertooth lodgings to witness Jiemma's punishment for Sting and Rogue. He remains silent throughout the procedure, remaining so even after Jiemma causes Lector to disappear, before his subsequent fall at the hands of Sting. Rufus' only expressed feeling is shock.

As the fifth and final day of the games begins, the emcees announce the entry of the teams who are scheduled to participate. When his 2 nd place team is called out, Rufus proceeds to the arena with his teammates, ready to compete.

Magic and Abilities
Memory-Make (メモリメイク Memori Meiku): A type of Molding Magic that grants him control over the peculiar "element" of memory, Memory-Make endows Rufus with greatly enhanced mnemonic capabilities, allowing him to memorize vast amounts of data, which are subsequently employed against his target through Magical attacks, as well as to manipulate his opponents' memories of him to his advantage. While not yet properly explained, this Magic also appears to grant him the ability to memorize other forms of Magic he has beheld and subsequently use them at his whim. Much like most other known types of Molding Magic, a peculiar stance is required for some spells associated with Memory-Make to be employed, with Rufus having to place his hands at his head's sides with the outstretched index and middle fingers pointing towards his temples; something which prompts an horizontal column of ethereal spiralling glyphs to appear in correspondence to his head, allowing him to make use of the desired technique. This has been acknowledged as a powerful and fearsome Magic by other Molding Mages the likes of Gray Fullbuster and Lyon Vastia.


 * Memory-Make: A Night of Falling Stars (星降ル夜ニ Hoshi Furu Yoru ni): After pinpointing his foes' location through memories of data related to them, Rufus assumes his Memory-Make stance and then extends his arms outwards, releasing light from his body, which is subsequently shaped in a series of large beams, reminiscent of shooting stars, which scatter and change their trajectory to target different opponents no matter their position, striking them with great force, and were shown capable of bypassing the intangibility granted to Juvia Lockser by her water body, hitting her. This spell seems to cause the area it is cast into to momentarily become dark; something which, together with the bright beams Rufus generates, really gives the impression of a night of falling stars, hence the name.
 * Memory-Make: Afterimage: By manipulating the memories his opponents have of him during a certain situation, Rufus can create intangible copies of himself, capable of talking but impervious to damage, which, if attacked, will simply waver like a Thought Projection, not being affected whatsoever. These ethereal bodies are shown to be extremely realistic, enough to fool Nullpuding, a Mage noted for his perceptive abilities during the Grand Magic Games' Hidden event, into attacking one of them. Rufus made claim that, even if his foes were to find him, they wouldn't be able to hit him, given that the only thing left of him in a given place would just be a memory. It's currently unknown whether there are any limits to this tricky technique, and whether Rufus' body itself can become intangible as a result of his use of past memories. (Unnamed)
 * Memory-Make: Karma of the Burning Land (燃ユル大地ノ業 Moyuru Daichi no Gō): An offensive move replicating the effects of Fire Magic which Rufus memorized in the past, Karma of the Burning Land allows him, after he has assumed his usual stance, to set on fire the very ground he touches with one of his hands, causing large and fierce blazes, growing larger and larger as they get farther from him, to be directed at his targets from below. This spell was shown to be damaging enough to defeat Blue Pegasus' Eve Tearm in a single shot during his match with Rufus in the Grand Magic Games, and Mavis Vermilion, the first Master of the Fairy Tail guild and a decades-old spirit, described it as an ancient technique, hinting it to be somewhat renowned.

Enhanced Perception: Rufus is a highly perceptive and attentive individual, who, during the Grand Magic Games' Hidden event, was shown to be capable of identifying his foes among the multitude of their clones simply through keen hearing and observation, having made claim that he distinguished both the "nuances" of their movements and their footsteps.

Master Sensor: Rufus has proven himself skilled in sensing others' Magic Power and discerning their presence and location through it, something which he did during the first event of the Grand Magic Games, using such ability in conjunction with his keen senses in order to identify his enemies and distinguish them from the crowds of their clones; a noteworthy feat which even Erza Scarlet, one of Fairy Tail's S-Class Mages, considered no easy task.

Battles & Events

 * Sky Labyrinth
 * X791 Grand Magic Games Inauguration
 * Hidden (Event)
 * Eve Tearm vs. Rufus Lohr

Trivia

 * In Volume 32's extra content, Mashima provided the battle statistics for 31 of the 40 X791 contestants in the Grand Magic Games. The stats, however, were provided not from Mashima's point-of-view as the author but from the view point of Sorcerer Magazine reporter Jason. Which explains why some stats are missing and why others may be inaccurate. According to Jason from the Sorcerer Magazine, during his participation in the Grand Magic Games of X791, Rufus's stats are: