Levy McGarden

Levy McGarden (レビィ・マクガーデン Rebī Makugāden) is a 17 year old Mage of the Fairy Tail Guild. She is the leader of Team Shadow Gear.

Appearance
Levy is a young, teenage girl with a slender build and stands at a height below average for her age. She sports blue hair, with the top cut short and the bottom longer, normally tied up with a colorful bandana around her head. While her hair is initially rather straight in the beginning of the series, over time her hair has grown more wavy and wild, with more locks hanging down the sides of her face. Her outfit varies throughout the series, but she has typically been seen wearing either dresses or a tank top with shorts. In the beginning of the series, her breasts were rather small compared to most characters, but as she grows older her bust size gradually grows larger. Her member stamp is located on her left shoulder blade. When performing tasks such as researching, she wears a pair of Gale-Force Reading Glasses and tends to tie up her hair to keep it out of her face.

Personality
Levy has a cheerful and upbeat personality, being able to get along with many other guild members. Her kind spirit is shown by her reluctance to get involved in the many brawls the guild has together, as she is too nice to fight "just for fun." She is also a very forgiving person, as she reconciled with Gajeel Redfox for torturing her and her teammates during the Phantom Lord arc. Their friendship has also grown to the point where he has become her partner for the S-Class Promotion Trial (albeit Gajeel more or less declared himself her partner), and it is hinted that she may carry romantic feelings for him. Levy is characterized by her love for reading, which is how she and Lucy Heartfilia quickly became friends through their mutual love of books. Levy has also been the only person to read Lucy's novel with her consent, showing their level of trust in each other. At times, Levy can be manipulative – she rewrote Freed Justine's runes seemingly for the whole boat in the Tenrou Island arc, but she actually only did it for Gajeel and herself. This surprises Lucy, but Levy shyly and sarcastically says she's sorry to her as she advances. Levy is also one of the more mature members of the guild, as she was the first to abandon the S-Class Promotion Trial in favor of unifying the guild members, whereas some did not want to stop the trial at all.

History
Not much is known about Levy's past, but it is known that her fellow Shadow Gear members, Jet and Droy, have asked her out. However, both were rejected by her in a matter of seconds.

In the omake Fairy Hills, it also shows a younger Levy residing there, so it is clear that she has been in the guild since she was at least 11 years old.

Daybreak arc
Levy was first introduced as wanting to accept the mission to retrieve the book Daybreak from the Duke of Everlue's mansion, though Makarov told her that Natsu and Lucy had already taken it and advised her not to bother with it because the quest was likely to become complicated.

Lullaby arc
Levy and Shadow Gear can be seen amongst the crowd when Natsu and Erza are fighting each other; Levy agrees about Erza being the Strongest Female Wizard in the Fairy Tail Guild; Jet points out that the Strongest Males in Fairy Tail are Laxus, Mystogan and "That Old Geezer". Levy and Team Shadow Gear are later shocked that a Messenger from the Magic Council has come to arrest Erza Scarlet.

Phantom Lord arc
Levy, along with Jet and Droy, were attacked by the Phantom Lord Guild's Gajeel Redfox, and after being badly beaten, were chained to a tree in the style of a crucifix. Out of the three, Levy was the only one branded with the Phantom Lord symbol on her stomach. This event is the trigger that starts the war between Fairy Tail and Phantom Lord. During the rest of the arc, Levy, Jet, and Droy were in the hospital recovering. After recovering, she celebrated with the guild over the defeat of Phantom Lord.

Fighting Festival arc
Levy is seen together with Jet and Droy swimming in the guild's new indoor swimming pool. After Makarov introduces Gajeel as a new Fairy Tail member, Levy is seen saying to Lucy that Gajeel's presence is not bothering her, although her shaking says otherwise. Levy, together with Jet and Droy, is then seen admiring Lucy's bravery to insult Gajeel as he acted arrogant towards her. As Jet and Droy went to beat up Gajeel for what he did during the Fairy Tail-Phantom Lord war, Levy tries to stop them. However, Laxus Dreyar arrives and also starts to injure him. Levy then realizes that Gajeel was not fighting back on purpose, since he wants them to recognize him as their nakama. As Levy tries to stop Laxus, he shoots at her with a lightning bolt, but is surprised when Gajeel takes the blow for her. The two then leave. Later on, it appears that she is the one who told Mirajane that Laxus had returned to Magnolia. She is next seen participating in the Miss Fairy Tail contest where she uses her Magic to make fancy text appear in midair, impressing Jet and Droy. After her turn, she (along with the other contestants) was turned into stone by Evergreen and used as a hostage.

When Erza Scarlet defeats Evergreen, she and the rest of the girls are turned back to normal. While Makarov is briefing them about Laxus and the Thunder God Tribe's actions, Laxus activates the Hall of Thunder and takes the whole town hostage. She then notices that Freed's restrictions are a form of script-based Magic, and says she'll get rid of the barrier since she believes that Natsu and Gajeel can defeat Laxus. Gajeel is shown watching Levy undoing Freed's enchantments, and is amazed by her skill. Levy temporarily looks at him and tells him to defeat Laxus.

After Lucy defeats Bickslow, Levy states that's to be expected by Lucy and she'll do her best as well. She manages to figure out the code and overwrite Freed's enchantments-thus getting rid of the barrier around the guild and allowing Natsu and Gajeel to leave. She tells them to stay away from each other, since Freed's enchantments are still set up around the area and if they were both caught in one, it would be over.

With ten minutes left until the Hall of Thunder is activated, Porlyusica arrives to help Makarov, who had a heart attack over Laxus' actions. Levy escorts her to Makarov. After examining Makarov, Porlyusica tells Levy to look for Laxus and bring him there, as she believes Makarov doesn't have much time left. Levy finds Laxus preparing to cast Fairy Law in Caldia Cathedral, she informs him that the master is dying and begs him to stop and visit him. Laxus, however, sees this as an opportunity to be master and still casts Fairy Law. However, it fails, much to Laxus' confusion. Suddenly, Freed arrives and informs them that everyone is safe. He also explains that the reason Fairy Law failed is because Laxus' heart still considers the members of Fairy Tail as his guildmates. After Laxus was defeated, Levy participated in the Fantasia parade together with the other Miss Fairy Tail contestants. She is later seen raising her hand, along the rest of the guilds, and signals to Laxus that they will be always watching over him.

Daphne arc
Note: Events in this arc occur only in the anime and do not constitute canon material.

Edolas arc
Levy happily welcomes back Lucy together with Jet and Droy. She is later seen at Wendy and Carla's Welcome Party, and is shown visibly surprised when Gildarts says he failed the 100-year mission.

She was sucked through the Anima and turned into lacrima along with the rest of the guild and the town of Magnolia. However, they were set free thanks to Mystogan, who returned everyone back to Earthland (excluding Gray, Natsu, Lucy, Wendy, Erza, Gajeel, Carla, and Happy), through the Reverse Anima Process. She, like all the rest of the guild (and Magnolia's citizens) is unaware of the events of Edolas.

Tenrou Island arc
Levy was named as a candidate for the S-Class Wizard Promotion Trial. She is surprised at first and wonders if Makarov actually called her name. Jet and Droy are delighted to hear her nomination. Jet and Droy start arguing about who's going to be her partner, while Levy begins to lose heart at the idea due to her lack of strength. Gajeel then comes up to her and proclaims if she wants to be an S-class, he'll be her trial partner. Though she still remained pessimistic about her chances of even lasting long, Gajeel gave her words of encouragement, saying he'd make her strong, causing her to blush.

As the participants head towards the island on a boat, Levy gets dizzy due to the heat. Shortly after, the master arrives to explain the rules of the first trial. When the first trial started, Freed used a rune on the boat, which prevented everyone from leaving the boat for 5 minutes. However, Levy managed to rewrite the rune in an instant, though she only lets herself and Gajeel leave the ship. Lucy was irritated that Levy didn't help her, but Levy apologizes in a joking tone and says that they were heading out. It is unknown which path she and Gajeel had chosen, but they managed to pick the quiet path so they didn't have to fight against anyone to clear the first trial.

In the second exam, Levy and Gajeel start a search for the first guild master's grave. Gajeel starts complaining about the trial, saying how he wished to go up against Natsu and Erza. Levy gets mad that he doesn't "Look at (her)" and runs away from Gajeel, only to be surrounded by two Grimore Heart members. Giving her no hint, they make quick work of her. Before they manage to kill her, Gajeel intervenes and saves her, causing her to blush.

After Levy and Gajeel find out that their plan was to "poach all the fairies on Tenrou Island", Yomazu uses Gou; which creates a painful sound. Kawazu goes in for the next strike and Levy pulls Gajeel out the way so they wouldn't get hurt, only for Kawazu to follow and then bombard them with his Egg Busters, raining a barrage of punches at the Fairy Tail Mages. Gajeel managed to dodge most of them, but Levy ends up taking the ones that didn't hit Gajeel. Levy uses her Solid Script: Silent to cancel out Yomazu's Gou and Solid Script: Fire to boil the eggs that Kawazu produces. However, Kawazu spits more eggs, causing her fire to break apart. When Gajeel is hit by Dark Sword: Narukami which slices right through his body; Levy burst into tears. Gajeel tells her to escape and let everyone know what is happening on the island. She uses Solid Script: Iron to create iron for Gajeel; telling him "Please, don't die!" as she escapes and runs off.

As she looks for the other members of Fairy Tail, she frantically ponders what could be the reason for Grimoire Heart's impending invasion of Tenrou Island, and remembers that she must warn every Fairy Tail Mage present on the island before something catastrophic happens. Not watching where she was going, Levy accidentally trips and knocks herself out. When she comes to, she finds herself in front of Erza and Juvia. They asks her what happened and how she got all those injuries. Levy then presumably tells them about Grimoire Heart, as they are next seen running to Gajeel as he falls after just defeating Yomazu and Komazu. Levy runs to him, telling him to "hang in there." She is then seen shivering in anxiety while leaning over Gajeel's battered body.

As Erza begins to interrogate Yamazu, Levy announces that she'll take Gajeel to the camp. She is later seen being surrounded with the Mages deployed by Grimoire Heart with Gajeel still unconscious hanging from her shoulder. She presumably either defeated or ran away from the Mages, as she is seen crying over Gajeel and Mirajane at the camp.

Suddenly, Elfman arrives at the camp carrying the unconscious Evergreen. He unwillingly admits that the enemy is strong and that they just can't win. Although Levy was also troubled by the truth, she stood up and stated that it is true about the enemy being strong. However, that just means that Fairy Tail should unite and become a group just as strong. She states that the exam made everyone go their separate ways, but the situation now calls for everyone to unite and she yells out loud to everyone and telling them to unite their feelings and fight back.

Levy is then seen watching over Gajeel, Mirajane, Elfman, and Lisanna when Pantherlily arrives and tells her that Natsu and the others are on their way. Soon after, Rustyrose shows up and challenges her along with Pantherlily and Lisanna to battle. She is later seen when she notices Bluenote's Magic. When Freed and Bickslow arrive, she is both shocked and happy to see them and marvels at the true power of the Thunder God Tribe.

Levy, along with Pantherlily and Lisanna, warn Freed and Bickslow to be careful when Rustyrose attacks them with his spell, Ghost of the Britear. She is later collapsing when Azuma uproots the tree on Tenrou Island that protects and gives power to Fairy Tail members.

After Rustyrose was defeated, Natsu and the others arrive at the camp. When Pantherlily mentions splitting into two teams, Levy agrees, wanting to divide into attack and defense teams. When Natsu gets up to go battle Hades, Levy says she will stay with Bickslow and Freed and help with the defense. Before the attack group goes, Levy wishes Lucy good luck.

Note: The following events occur only in the anime and do not constitute canon material.

After the war with Grimoire Heart ends, Levy goes to rest at Tenrou Island's base. While in the camp, Levy tells Wendy to take a rest because she was using too much Magic Power, to which she replies that she's fine.

Everything is interrupted when Acnologia, the infamous Black Dragon, lands on Tenrou Island and starts attacking everyone. All of the Fairy Tail members start moving towards the ship as the dragon goes on its rampage. Makarov then enters full Titan mode and grabs Acnologia, holding it off from attacking the guild members. Everyone wishes to help Makarov, but he tells them not to disobey his final order. When Makarov is overwhelmed by Acnologia, all of them return and go all out against the dragon. As Acnologia, having shrugged off all the combined attacks from its assailants, flies high up into the sky and readies to fire a breath attack against Tenrou Island, the guild members join their hands in a circle. While promising they will return home to Fairy Tail, they are struck by Acnologia's blast, which completely annihilates Tenrou Island, leaving nothing behind.

X791 arc
Levy along with the rest of the others return to the Fairy Tail Guild after being found by Bisca, Alzack, Jet, Droy, Max, Warren and the Trimens from Blue Pegasus. She watches as Mavis Vermilion reveals that she was the one who saved them and then disappears. She, along with the other returning members, is welcomed back by Romeo.

Key of the Starry Sky arc
Note: Events in this arc occur only in the anime and do not constitute canon material.

Grand Magic Games arc
Levy rejoins Shadow Gear with Jet and Droy. After Fairy Tail decides to enter the Grand Magic Games, she goes to the beach alongside others from the guild shortly afterwards, in order to train and build up her strength in time for the Grand Magic Games in 3 months time. When Erza senses and attacks an unknown presence at the hot spring, she is the one that points out that it might be Natsu and the others trying to peep on them while guarding herself. She, alongside everyone (excluding Jet and Droy), is taken to the Celestial Spirit World by Virgo for Lucy's welcome back party. Three months pass in the real world during their one day excursion there, and they completely lose their training time. However, she, along with the others that went on the trip, are summoned by Jellal, Ultear, and Meredy and after a brief meeting, Ultear agrees to raise their Magic Power using her Arc of Time.

Levy watches in horror as Natsu writhes around on the floor in pain, as Ultear begins the process. Later that evening, she too, writhes around on the floor in pain as the process happens to her. Later, Levy meets the members of Team Natsu as well as Wendy and Carla, in Crocus before the start of the Grand Magic Games. While everyone is discussing the competition, she remarks that the competition is never the same, and when Makarov tells Erza that she has to read the rule book, Levy explains the three main points of the book.

When the day of the games comes, Levy, along with the rest of the guild members, cheer for Team Fairy Tail A in the stands. They are all surprisingly greeted by Mavis Vermilion, who has also come to watch the games and cheer for her guild. When Fairy Tail's second team, Team Fairy Tail B, enters Fairy Tail cheers again. Mavis notices the man disguised as Mystogan is Jellal Fernandes, but accepts Makarov's decision to let him participate.

During Lucy's fight against Flare Corona, she, alongside her Guild mates, cheers for Lucy and doesn't notice Flare taking Asuka hostage to make Lucy useless and punish her. Alongside the others, she is very surprised when Natsu figures out Flare's plan. When Gemini is summoned by Lucy, Jet states that if Gemini transforms into Erza or Laxus, Lucy would be unbeatable, however Levy explains that Gemini can only copy Magic Power that is near to them.

Later, after Lucy's loss, as well as Jellal's, Levy, along with the rest of the Fairy Tail Guild heads to a local bar to celebrate Fairy Tail's terrible loss.

Eyeing the awesome fight, involving Laxus defeating all of the Team Raven Tail participants solely, Levy alongside with other Fairy Tail members, applauds Laxus's victory over Raven Tail.

After Fairy Tail's good performance on the third day of the Grand Magic Games, the guild once again heads out to celebrate at a bar. Whilst there, Levy congratulates Wendy on her performance in the final battle, and watches with Lucy as some of the guild members begin barrel surfing. After encouraging Lucy to give it a shot and receiving Lucy's excuse of not wanting to due to her wearing of a skirt, Levy quickly points out that Erza has been barrel surfing in a skirt the whole time. As the guild parties on, Levy mentally comments that when she closes her eyes, she can remember all of these times together, seemingly directing this thought at Lucy.

As the party continues, Levy finds Erza, Wendy and Lucy, telling them about a popular leisure center in Crocus that she has heard about. When the rest of Fairy Tail decide to go, Levy tags along too, and tries to get Gajeel to accompany her and the Exceed to the aquarium. Though begrudgingly, Gajeel goes with her, and Levy laughs at him when he sticks his head behind a board, poking it through a hole so that his face appears on a fish. As they have fun, Lyon and Gray get into a fight and freeze the pool, with Natsu utilizing his own Magic to try and melt the ice. He puts in far too much power though, and ends up blowing the center sky high, Levy being flung in the explosion and landing completely confused at the events that have taken place.

At the end of the Fourth Day's Event, Naval Battle, Lucy Heartfilia and Sabertooth's Minerva stand as the final two competitors, but Minerva aims more to torture Lucy than winning the Event. Levy notices this by watching her purposely bringing Lucy back to the arena with her kind of Teleporting Magic. When the event is over, Levy stands and smiles alongside the rest of Fairy Tail as she watches the new Team Fairy Tail step out to fight.

During the starting battle of the fourth day, Levy, along the rest of the guild members, is shocked as it is revealed that the rabbit from Blue Pegasus is Nichiya. Levy thinks about Gajeel before the battle of the Dragon Slayers begins. Levy calls on Gajeel worriedly as he and Natsu fall through a hole made by Sting. Later with the other Fairy Tail members she watches Natsu's battle, anxiously waiting to see who will emerge the victor.

Upon Natsu's victory, Levy cheers loudly with her teammates. Afterwards, she goes to visit Lucy in the infirmary where she says happily that they may win the Grand Magic Games with the new pace they're at. She then asks about Gajeel but is told he's not there. Sometime later, Levy is seen writing the letter to Lucy, with her arms bandaged and face scarred. While writing, she starts crying hysterically in despair, begging for someone to help them.

When the final day of the games gets under way, Team Fairy Tail enters the arena while Levy stands in the crowd with the rest of Fairy Tail, cheering for the team representing their guild. As the games begin, Team Fairy Tail does not move and simply stands in place while the other teams begin battling. While Mavis explains what she's done to cause them to do so, as well as to secure their victory, Levy listens in along with Romeo and Makarov. As the team moves out and Mavis begins giving orders, Levy looks on with a surprised expression. After Gray manages to defeat Rufus, Levy, along with the other guild members, cheers on the Ice Mage for his victory.

After that, Levy and the others are shocked when they see that Kagura is the one Erza encounters before Minerva, contradicting Mavis' strategy. She tries to ask Mavis about this, but then the first master starts crying over her failed strategy. Later, while Erza battles Kagura Mikazuchi, the latter draws her sword and causes blood to spill, which causes Levy to look away from the battle. Soon after, during Gajeel's battle against Rogue, Levy shouts out in shock as Rogue obtains a strange power and injures Gajeel. As the battle continues, Levy watches as Gajeel is continuously beaten upon. Levy then watches in fear as Gajeel is being strangled, screaming for "Shadow" to stop, lest the Iron Dragon Slayer die. However, Gajeel's eating of Rogue's shadows warrants Levy's full curiosity as she wonders what is happening. Her worries are lifted after Gajeel deals an impressive attack on Rogue, which subsequently causes him to return to his normal state. A tearful Levy smiles in light of this.

With Laxus now battling both Jura and Orga, Levy watches as Jura defeats with just one attack.

Magic and Abilities
Solid Script (固体文字 (リッドスクリプト) Soriddo Sukuriputo): True to her boundless interest in books, Levy's Magic is also focused around writing and words: Solid Script, a form of Letter Magic, allows her to generate words in the air and make them solid, subsequently throwing them at the enemies with different effects. To create such words, Levy is shown performing gestures with one or both of her hands, depending on the spell.
 * Solid Script: Silent (固体文字 靜寂 Soriddo Sukuriputo Sairento): By moving her right arm with her index and middle fingers outstretched in a certain pattern and then extending her left hand, Levy can generate the word "Silent" some meters away from her. This can be used to stop an outer source of high-pitched noise, canceling sound-based attacks, as shown with Yomazu's Gō spell.
 * Solid Script: Fire (固体文字 炎 Soriddo Sukuriputo Faia): Levy extends her right arm, with her index and middle fingers outstretched, to the right, describing an arc before her. This prompts the word "Fire" to appear in the air, this being composed of flames. This word can be employed both defensively, as shown when Levy used a variation of this spell as a burning shield to protect herself from Kawazu's Egg Buster, and as a basic form of offense, with Levy sending the word at her target in an arc.
 * Heat Spell: By first crossing her outstretched arms before her and then spinning around, Levy can generate the word "Fire" composed of blue flames, which is subsequently sent flying at the target.


 * Solid Script: Iron: Levy can generate the word "Iron" in the air, some meters away from her. This, predictably, is composed of iron. When she created it for Gajeel Redfox, in order for him to eat it and replenish his strength, the hollow part in the letter "o" was given a stylized heart's shape. (Unnamed)
 * Solid Script: Guard: Levy writes a word "Guard" in the air, which creates a barrier and protects her from her opponent's attacks.
 * Solid Script: Hole: Levy writes a word "Hole" on the ground, which changes it into a trap.
 * Solid Script: Storm: Levy writes a word "Storm" which creates a strong gust of wind. When used in conjunction with Cana's Explosion, it is powerful enough to send Kain Hikaru flying midair.
 * Solid Script: Oil: Levy uses her right hand to write the word "Oil" in the air. Extensive amounts of black oil gushes out of the word. This can be used to immobilize the enemy.

Polyglot: Levy is noted for her knowledge in the field of languages, and can even translate several ancient scripts. Through accurate, grammatical examination, plus the use of her Gale-Force Reading Glasses, she was capable of nullifying one of the barriers created by Freed Justine's Jutsu Shiki by overwriting the runes composing it. Given this first experience, later on she was shown able to bypass another one of Freed's enchantments, this time in a minute, and even managing to make it so that only she and Gajeel could have exited it.

Equipment
Gale-Force Reading Glasses (風詠みの眼鏡 Kazeyomi no Megane): Levy, being an avid reader, possesses a pair of enchanted reading glasses that allows her to read at an extremely accelerated rate: specifically, her Gale-Force Reading Glasses are model 18x, something which lets her read books eighteen times faster.

Light Pen (光筆 Hikari Pen): Levy, possesses this pen which allows her to write and rewrite runes.

Welcome to Fairy Hills
Levy appears in the first OVA, where she is seen as a resident of the Fairy Hills dormitory. When Erza show Lucy Levy's room, her room is shown have many bookshelves filled with books. According to her, she had already thrown half of her books out, after which Erza says that she sometimes takes the ones Levy doesn't want anymore. Levy then tells Lucy about Erza's interest in naughty books, which causes Erza to slam Levy's head into the wall. Later, she and the rest of the girls are at the beach for Wendy's welcome party.

Memory Days
Levy appears in the third OVA, Memory Days. During the OVA, Natsu, Lucy, Gray, Erza and Happy are sent to the year X778 by the Magic book, Memory Days. During Lucy's visit at the guild, she sees Levy losing to a game with Cana and subsequently invited by Jet and Droy to join a team.

Fairy Tail Portable Guild
Levy appears as a playable character in the first Fairy Tail Video Game, Fairy Tail Portable Guild, and is playable only if you unlock her through quests. She has no element, and she possesses the following Spells in the game:
 * Heat Spell: Cost 1 MP, Default Technique
 * Blizzard Spell: Cost 2 MP, Levy must be at lv15 to purchase it in the shop.
 * Stoning Spell: Cost 3 MP, Levy must be at lv25 to purchase it in the shop.
 * Tempest Spell: Cost 4 MP, Levy must be at lv35 to purchase it in the shop.

Fairy Tail Portable Guild 2
Levy McGarden is a playable character in the sequel to Fairy Tail Portable Guild, Fairy Tail Portable Guild 2. She is unlocked through quests.

Fairy Tail Gekitotsu! Kardia Daiseidou
In the video-game Fairy Tail Gekitotsu! Kardia Daiseidou, Levy McGarden is a playable character. In this game, Levy McGarden possess the following moves:
 * Main: Solid Script: Fire
 * Sub 1: Droy, Help! (Knuckle Plant)
 * Sub 2: Solid Script: Heal
 * Sub 3: Help, Jet! (Falcon Heavenward)
 * Super: Solid Script: Ice

Trivia

 * From the Volume 16 Limited Edition: Sorcerer Interview, the best quality of Fairy Tail according to Levy is that the guild has collected multiple varieties of books. She wishes to be the editor of an infamous magazine group in the future. Has a good relationship with the members of Team Shadow Gear and Lu-Chan. The most difficult mission she has ever taken, in her own words, is "infiltrating the home of an evil mage as a child... I...I'm NOT a child anymore!"