Gajeel Redfox

Gajeel Redfox (ガジル・レッドフォックス Gajiru Reddofokkusu) is an Iron Dragon Slayer, a member of the Fairy Tail guild and a former S-Class Mage of Phantom Lord.

Appearance
Gajeel is tall and muscular young man with long, spiky black hair, which is usually kept slicked back, revealing his forehead. He has red eyes (initially portrayed as green) with slitted dark pupils and no visible eyebrows. Most of his exposed body is covered in sets of simple, round studs. The most visible studs are on his face, with three of them above each of his eyes (acting as "eyebrows" of a sort), three on each side of his nose, and two on his chin, just below his mouth. His ears are adorned by two sets of five earrings each.

He also sports four studs on each of his forearms, with his right one being covered in scars. As a member of the former Phantom Lord guild, he bears his Phantom Lord stamp at the top of his right shoulder. After joining Fairy Tail, his black Fairy Tail stamp is located on his left arm, just below his shoulder. Being a Dragon Slayer, his canine teeth are distinctively sharper than normal.

Gajeel's usual outfit consists of a shabby, black, sleeveless tunic with studded edges, with a studded belt around his waist, loose whitish pants tucked inside studded black boots, and a pair of studded brown gloves paired with similarly studded wristbands. He also sports a distinctive wing-like ornament, seemingly made of feathers jutting upwards, over his right shoulder, attached to his tunic by a large stud.

Personality
When he was first introduced, he was depicted as cold and apathetic, and didn't hesitate to injure his own allies if he was irritated. This is seen when he iron-clubbed a fellow Phantom Lord Mage who was praising his abilities all because the latter was disturbing him while he was eating. However, Gajeel is completely and genuinely dedicated to whatever guild he is affiliated with. In fact, he ignited the Fairy Tail/Phantom Lord Guild War mainly because, as long time-rivals, he believed that the Fairy Tail Mages were enemies. Upon his recruitment to Fairy Tail, his sense of comradeship seemed to increase. He even went as far as reprimanding Laxus Dreyar, whom he admits to be a more powerful Mage than he is, for attempting to kill Natsu with his Lightning Magic, when they were supposed to be allies.

Despite saying that he doesn't wish to make friends, he ironically forms them through his tenacious personality. He believes himself to be a great musician, regardless of what others think of him, and enjoys showing off his metal grinding, glass cracking, and ear destroying voice, like when he chains Mirajane Strauss to a wall to steal her spot as the performing artist for the night. He's also displayed somewhat of an honor code, despite his actions while a part of Phantom Lord, when Shadow Gear confronts Gajeel for the heinous act he committed upon them, he makes himself an open target, acknowledging the terrible act he had done to them, and giving them the opportunity for vengeance. He even protected Levy McGarden after Laxus shot a blast of lightning at her, showing both his compassion for his guildmates, as well as some initial hidden hatred for Laxus.

Gajeel is short-tempered, as seen when he and Natsu bicker unyieldingly over callow things. Like Natsu, Gajeel lives for the thrill of combat, and is visibly frustrated when faced with circumstances where he is denied the opportunity of fighting a skilled adversary, as seen during the S-Class Trials. Despite his cold personality, he has shown a humorous side of himself when he was shocked to see Mirajane transform her face to look like him.

He has also shown that he's just as vulnerable as everyone else, as shown by how upset he was upon realizing that he's the only Dragon Slayer that doesn't have a cat as a partner after seeing Natsu and Wendy have Happy and Carla. He then desperately tries to find a cat in the alleys, but ends up starving and becoming heavily exhausted. Later on in Edolas, Gajeel finds the partner he is looking for in Pantherlily. Upon arriving back in Earth Land, he cries tears of joy when he discovers Pantherlily also made it, despite his reduced size.

Gajeel has a unique way of laughter:"Gi Hi Hi Hi". And, like quite a few other Dragon Slayers, Gajeel suffers from severe motion sickness, although his case does not develop until the second day of the Grand Magic Games in X791 in the Chariot event.

History
Gajeel learned his Iron Dragon Slayer Magic from the Iron Dragon Metalicana, who raised Gajeel like he was his own son. However, Metalicana disappeared on July 7 in the year X777, leaving him to fend for himself. At some point in time, Gajeel joined Phantom Lord. During his time in Phantom Lord, a young Rogue Cheney, then known as Reyos, was Gajeel's disciple.

Phantom Lord arc
Gajeel lead the initial strike against Fairy Tail, using guerrilla tactics, by compromising the Fairy Tail guildhall with large iron pillars that protruded throughout the building, destroying the guildhall's foundation. As a mark of strength, he makes an example of Fairy Tail's Shadow Gear team and pins them to a tree (in a crucifixion style) and scribing the Phantom Lord symbol onto their torsos, signifying who the perpetrating guild was. This act ultimately provokes Makarov into declaring war on Phantom Lord.

Gajeel surveys the battle between Fairy Tail and Phantom Lord before entering the fray to fight Elfman. Their battle is interrupted by Natsu, making Gajeel interested in the idea of battling another Dragon Slayer. Though they exchange a few blows, Natsu and the rest of the guild are forced to retreat when Makarov has his Magic dissociated by Aria after being lead into a trap by Jose Porla.

Gajeel uses his superior sense of smell to track down Lucy Heartfilia, whom he captures and brings back to his guild after the Element 4 are defeated. He is ordered by Jose to watch Lucy, but Gajeel cruelly tortures her out of boredom, and misplaced hatred. As Lucy insults Gajeel, he smells Natsu coming and moves to kill Lucy, provoking Natsu into fighting him again.

The two are initially equal in strength, but Gajeel gains the upper hand by covering his body with metal scales and eating scraps of metal to replenish his strength. However, Natsu is able to retaliate after Lucy summons Sagittarius to start a fire (which he does by destroying nearby machinery and causing an explosion) allowing Natsu to feed. This gives him enough strength to defeat Gajeel by blasting him through the Phantom Lord building, demolishing it in the process.

After the battle ends, Natsu questions Gajeel about where he learned his Dragon Slayer Magic. Gajeel reveals his relationship with Metalicana, and is shocked to learn that Natsu's guardian dragon, Igneel, disappeared on the same day as his own. The two then bicker over this, and stop after Gajeel yells at Natsu to get out of what is left of his guild, declaring that he will one day take revenge.

Sometime later, Phantom Lord is disbanded, and Gajeel remains at the ruins of his former guild. He is eventually approached by Makarov, who tells him that Juvia Lockser, another former member of Phantom Lord, has joined their guild, much to Gajeel's displeasure. Makarov forgives Gajeel for damaging his guild, but he is still clearly enraged that Gajeel had injured Shadow Gear, making it clear that he would never forgive Gajeel for it, Makarov offers Gajeel membership to Fairy Tail to help guide Gajeel down the right path. Moved by Makarov's mercy and compassion, Gajeel accepts his offer.

Fighting Festival arc
Despite not being a fully trusted member of Fairy Tail, Gajeel is given a mission by Makarov to find Ivan Dreyar, Makarov's son and master of the dark guild Raven Tail, and infiltrate his dark guild to act as a double agent and spy on him. Gajeel somehow manages to make contact with Ivan and feigns allegiance with him, claiming to be spying on Fairy Tail so that he may take revenge against Natsu.

Gajeel's inclusion in the newly renovated guild is not well-received by the other guild members, particularly Team Natsu, who discover that he has joined after their return from the Tower of Heaven. While shocked and angry, they reluctantly accept his membership as part of Makarov's decision, though Erza states that he should be watched closely. Gajeel similarly acts distant and hostile towards Natsu and his other new guildmates, saying that he doesn't intend to get along with any of them and has only come to find work. With encouragement from Juvia, Gajeel, however, begins making attempts to fit in with the others, and though his methods of doing so are questionable (such as chaining up Mirajane so he could put on a stage performance for the others in her place), he gradually earns a grudging respect from the guild.

One of the other groups that refuse to accept Gajeel is the Shadow Gear team. Jet and Droy hold a grudge against him for attacking them, while Levy frequently cowers in fear of his presence. Jet and Droy pick a fight with him while he tries to go on a mission, though he does not fight back. Laxus soon arrives and blames him for ruining Fairy Tail's reputation by destroying and then joining the guild. Laxus begins attacking him in a manner that is much more brutal than Jet and Droy that they even become concerned that Laxus is overdoing it. Even still, Gajeel does not fight back, leading Shadow Gear to reason that he is trying to earn their acceptance. Jet and Droy try to make Laxus stop by attacking him, but Laxus fires a bolt of lightning at Levy out of frustration. To Shadow Gear's shock, Gajeel takes the hit himself and defends Levy. With no one willing to fight anymore, Gajeel staggers off to continue his mission.

As Laxus tries to take over the Guild, Gajeel eats some metal and prepares to go after him, but as with Natsu, he is stopped by Freed's enchantment that blocks people over the age of 80 as well for some unknown reason. He then helps Natsu try to release Erza from being stone, but as she comes back to normal, she promptly beats them up for touching her. Shortly after, Levy manages to dispel the enchantment, enabling Natsu and Gajeel to enter Laxus' tournament. Later, Gajeel is seen speaking to Ivan Dreyar through a form of Magic resembling a shikigami, falsely reassuring him that he still intends to get revenge on Fairy Tail.

Gajeel later appears in the church where Natsu was fighting Laxus and saves Natsu from Laxus' Raging Bolt spell. He then suggests that he and Natsu work together to take down Laxus and protect the guild, surprising Natsu.

They put forth a valiant effort, but Laxus surprises them by revealing that he, too, is a Dragon Slayer. Using this power, Laxus nearly defeats them both. His powerful attacks weaken Gajeel greatly for him to continue the fight. For a short while, Natsu is forced to fight Laxus alone. However, in the final moments, Gajeel uses his Iron Dragon Slayer powers to turn himself into a living lightning rod. This causes Laxus' attack to change course and miss Natsu, hitting Gajeel instead. Taking advantage of this, Natsu then defeats Laxus.

In the Guild Hall, after Laxus's defeat, Gajeel and Natsu sit alongside one another covered from head to toe in bandages. When Natsu springs up from his seat to talk to Laxus, his every word is completely muffled by his bandages. Surprisingly, Gajeel is somehow able to understand him and relays what Natsu says to Laxus. He soon confronts Ivan about Laxus being a Dragon Slayer. Ivan reveals to Gajeel that Laxus is a "fake" Dragon Slayer, and because he pitied Laxus for being so weak, he implanted lacrima into Laxus' body so he could gain Dragon Slayer powers. Gajeel assures Ivan once more that he won't be caught as a "spy" before leaving. He returns to the guildhall during Fairy Tail's Fantasia parade, meeting Makarov in private and giving him a note containing a report on Ivan's location and dealings.

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

Edolas arc
Gajeel later appears again after Wendy Marvell has become the newest member of Fairy Tail. He's shown to be upset and perplexed at the observation that both Natsu and Wendy have cats with them. Being a Dragon Slayer like them, he ponders and questions the fact that he doesn't have a cat himself and is seemingly troubled by this fact. He later begins looking for a cat to own in an alleyway but after numerous tries, he becomes exhausted. He then trips and lands face-first in front of a silhouetted cat. However, the cat apparently clawed his face, as he runs into Happy afterward, who asks why Gajeel's face has multiple scratches.

As Anima sucks everyone from Magnolia into Edolas, Gajeel is not shown to be at the guild. However, Carla says that Dragon Slayers should be safe. It was later revealed by Gray that Mystogan transported Gajeel to Edolas, along with the medicine, X-balls, a medicine that allows Earth Land Mages to use their Magic in Edolas. Gajeel later frees Gray Fullbuster and Erza Scarlet from the Lacrima stationed at the grounds of the Royal Capital, and gives them the medicine to use Magic. While rampaging at the Royal Capital, Happy carries him to the Lacrima where the rest of the Fairy Tail members were trapped. He reveals that he can revert Anima's effects on the Lacrima by destroying it with Dragon Slayer Magic. As he is about to do so, he is interrupted by a flying Pantherlily who attacks him with a gigantic blade.

Their fight starts to get intense, when Gajeel's Iron scales allow him to withstand an attack from Pantherlily's sword, but in the middle of the fight when Pantherlily mentions about being an outcast, Gajeel immediately takes a liking to him and tries to make him his cat companion. However, before deciding to make him his companion, Gajeel decides to show him who's stronger and manages to smash his sword. Their fight now is between hand to hand combat. As the Lacrima is about to smash into Extalia, Gajeel decides to postpone their fight and help prevent the collision of the Lacrima with the help of Team Natsu and the Exceeds.

Gajeel along with the Fairy Tail members and the Exceeds manage to stop the Lacrima. Mystogan then arrives and is successful in sending the Lacrima back to Earth Land and states that once the Lacrima returns through the Anima, the Fairy Tail members will change back to normal. Erza Knightwalker shows up and shoots Pantherlily through the chest calling him a traitor. Gajeel is outraged by this. The King then makes an appearance in a giant metal dragon called the Dorma Anim, and says that the metal dragon repels all Magic attacks. Gajeel, Natsu and Wendy engage the Dorma Anim in battle as only their Dragon Slayer Magic can stand up against the Dorma Anim.

Wendy casts two spells on Natsu and Gajeel while they fight the Dorma Anim, making them both faster and stronger respectively. The king then fires some tracking missiles after Wendy but Natsu intercepts and destroys them. When the king is about to shoot again, Gajeel hits the missiles before they launch, but gets hit by the tail of the Dorma. A group of missiles is fired again, but these explode before Natsu can hit them. The king becomes surprised when Natsu eats the fire of the explosions while Gajeel starts eating the tail of the Dorma. Suddenly, the Dorma changes color as the king states that he is going to drain all their fighting spirits.

The new form of the Dorma Anim grants it a huge increase in power and a change of color as well, turning the tide in the king's favor. Gajeel decides to try some different tactics, revealing that they hadn't been using full power because they didn't know what could happen. The three of them attack at once with their respective roars but it has almost no effect. The king proclaims victory, saying that although they have infinite Magic, once it runs out it takes a while to recharge. Natsu gets up saying that he'll use tomorrow's Magic. Gajeel gets up and pins the Dorma Anim's leg down to the ground, telling Natsu to attack and that he was the only one who could do it. Natsu tells Wendy to aim a roar at him to boost his speed by the rotation of her roar and succeeds in tearing through the Dorma Anim.

When Nadi told them about Mystogan and Pantherlily's conversation, the three Dragon Slayers decided to put up a show, with them as the antagonist side of Mystogan's initial plan. Showing up along with the Great Demon-Lord Dragneel, Gajeel wrecks the streets of Royal Capital and helps Wendy to scare off some civilians, and at the same time, grudgingly puts up with Natsu's degenerative rants as he referred to Gajeel and Wendy as his "minions". Gajeel and Wendy then looked on Natsu's destructive demonstration in front of the crowd, with Wendy asking whether Natsu was going overboard or not. Gajeel, however, said that the salamander was merely setting up the perfect scene for the people to trust Mystogan. With Natsu's "defeat", their bodies began to glow, and Gajeel tells Wendy to prepare a flashy defeat appearance. As Anima removes them from Edolas, the three Dragon Slayers faked a suffering gesture before smiling on Mystogan, signaling that everything will be alright.

Returning from Edolas, Gajeel, along with the rest of the gang, is surprised by the appearance of the Exceeds. After listening to the Exceed Elders' explanation and the Exceeds departure, Gajeel searches for Pantherlily. Showing up in a much smaller size, everyone is surprised by Pantherlily's new form. Pantherlily then requests to join the guild that the Prince once stayed in order to keep a promise to Gajeel, which Gajeel couldn't help but to agree with, crying tears of joy in the process. As he pulls a person out, everyone was left speechless by the fact that the person is Lisanna. She asks Pantherlily if he is an Exceed, to which he replies by stating his name, and Gajeel angrily asks her if she is picking a fight with his cat. When Lisanna reveals that she is actually from Earth Land and was sent to Edolas 2 years ago, Gajeel, alongside Natsu and the others, help Lisanna to return to her siblings.

Tenrou Island arc
Back at Fairy Tail, everybody celebrates Lisanna's return, and Gajeel is seen to have become more cheerful by proposing a fight between "his Lily" and Natsu's and Wendy's Exceeds, but ends up as a fight between himself and Natsu and everyone in the Guild. At one scene, everyone finishes fighting and sleeps from exhaustion. Gajeel is seen sleeping while hugging Pantherlily with one arm.

A few days later, he watches Pantherlily and Erza doing a spar with swords. After the battle, he brags about Lily and his abilities. Gajeel, like the rest of the guild, witnesses the master announcing the S-Class Wizard Promotion Trial, but is greatly shocked that he wasn't chosen as a candidate and surprised that Juvia was chosen over him. He also is greatly upset since he would have stood out as much as the other candidates if his secret mission to infiltrate Raven Tail was revealed, and shows that his trust with the guild is not as strained as they believe it to be. It is seen that it was actually Erza who prevented him from being a candidate, feeling it was too early for him.

When Jet and Droy are arguing over who will be Levy's partner, Gajeel steps up saying that he will help her. Levy feels she has no chance since she doesn't consider herself strong, which prompts Gajeel to yell at her to be more positive, and that he would help to make her stronger causing her to blush.

As the participants head towards the island, Gajeel gets drowsy from the heat. When the first trial started, Freed uses a rune on the boat, which prevents everyone from leaving the boat for 5 minutes. However, Levy manages to rewrite the rune in an instant, though she only lets herself and Gajeel leave. They then swim to the island and arrive before everyone else, except Freed's team. It is unknown which path he and Levy have chosen, but they managed to choose the quiet path. Gajeel was clearly not pleased by this since he couldn't fight against anyone.

During the second part of the test, Gajeel grumbles about the test and him not being able to fight Natsu or Erza. Levy becomes frustrated with Gajeel for ignoring her and teasing her about her strength, before running away from him. Later, she regrets running away but is ambushed by two Grimoire Heart members. Gajeel saves her just in time and tells her not to leave his side again, to which she agrees. With Gajeel and Levy back-to-back, he then asks for the identities of their ambushers, and though the perpetrators choose not to answer, the Guild crests on their body reveal to Gajeel that they are affiliated with the Grimoire Heart Guild.

With Grimoire Heart Mages present during the S-Class Trials, Gajeel wonders if the Master recruited Mages from a Dark Guild to pose as obstacles, being part of the trials without telling anyone else, to which Levy dismissed as negative and replies that it is more likely that they have sneaked into the island unauthorized.

Gajeel then says that if he cannot take care of a mess this small, he wouldn't have what it takes to be an S-Class Mage. After Yomazu states that they are sent to poach all Fairy Tail mages on the island, he releases Gou, an attack which makes the surroundings so loud so that Gajeel, along with Levy, cannot hear their surroundings. Gajeel cannot hear Levy's warning, so she pulls Gajeel away from Kawazu, who drops Egg Busters. When Levy uses her Solid Script: Silent to stop Gou, Gajeel, who is now able to hear, punches Yomazu. Despite gaining this advantage, Yomazu is able to cut through Gajeel's iron dragon scales with Zan. He then uses Kan to pierce right through Gajeel.

Yomazu uses Narukami to hit him again. With Gajeel down on the ground, and Levy watching nearby in horror, Yomazu and Kawazu converge, musing to themselves that if the other guild members of Fairy Tail are just as weak as both Gajeel and Levy, then the two of them would be enough to take down the rest of the guild before their reinforcements arrive. Hearing this, Gajeel inquires about the "reinforcements" that they were talking about, to which Yomazu replies that he was referring to the entire Grimoire Heart wizards who were also deployed to their location, and would be arriving on Tenrou Island shortly, much to Gajeel's shock. Realizing that the gravity of the situation is worse than he initially anticipated, Gajeel tells Levy that from that point on, things will escalate beyond her imagination, and so he instructs her to run. When Levy shows her hesitation to leave Gajeel behind, he shouts that informing everyone else about Grimoire Heart's arrival is more important right now, and urges her to go, saying that he can take care of these two on his own. Yomazu runs after Levy, but Gajeel stops him by using an iron-club arm. Before she leaves, Levy leaves a Solid Script: Iron for Gajeel to devour and replenish his energy with. Levy then runs off without looking back but with tears in her eyes, begging him not to get killed.

With his strength replenished, Gajeel manages to get back on his feet, much to the shock of Yomazu and Kawazu. He remembers the time he fought Natsu and how he defended the name and honor of Fairy Tail. Gajeel currently feels the same as Natsu did, and vows to defeat his enemies. As he starts fighting, he starts off using his roar, but they still hang. They use numerous spells against him and attack. Although he manages to defeat Kawazu with Iron Dragon Sword, this leaves Gajeel open, allowing Yomazu to stab Gajeel through the length of his steel arm with Tsuranuki, but he continues to latch on the sword, ignoring the cracks that are beginning to form on the surface of his arm due to Yomazu's sword penetrating him there, astounding Yomazu with his strength. Gajeel then remembers the day he joined Fairy Tail.

Gajeel, recalling the times of comradeship that he experienced while side-by-side with the other Fairy Tail mages, snaps back to the present and yells that he is a Fairy Tail mage, right before forcibly destroying the sword with his damaged arm, leaving Yomazu flabbergasted at Gajeel's power. He uses his ultimate technique, Dragon Slayer Secret Technique: Karma Demon Iron Sword, to defeat Yomazu. He collapses right after that from his wounds and exhaustion. Levy, Erza, and Juvia find him and his opponents on the ground. Levy runs to his side, telling him to hang in there, while Erza announces to the rest of the guild that the exam is paused for now, and that everyone has to get ready for battle. Levy, with Gajeel on her back, then says that she will carry him to the camp and departs. When the Grimoire Heart members arrive from the bubbles, Levy hides, with Gajeel still unconscious on her shoulder.

He is later seen unconscious at the rest spot next to Mirajane, being tended to by Levy and Lisanna. After Hades was defeated by Team Natsu, Wendy, Carla and Pantherlily, he, with the rest of the injured members confront the remaining members of Grimorie Heart, demanding that they leave the island immediately.

After Grimoire Heart's defeat, Natsu wishes to continue with the exam, Gajeel, however, berates him, telling him that he can't win in his condition. Natsu disagrees, but before they can fight, Natsu passes out, which annoys Gajeel.

Everything is interrupted when Acnologia, the infamous Black Dragon, lands on Tenrou Island and starts attacking everyone. 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 others. Everyone wishes to help Makarov, but he shouts not to disobey his final order. When Makarov is overwhelmed by Acnologia, all of them return back 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 prepares to fire a breath attack against Tenrou Island, the guild members join their hands in a circle. While promising that they will return home to Fairy Tail, they are struck by Acnologia's blast, which completely annihilates Tenrou Island, leaving nothing behind.

X791 arc
Gajeel, along with the rest of the Tenrou Team, is rescued by Bisca, Alzack, Jet, Droy, Max, Warren and the Trimens from Blue Pegasus. He watches as Mavis Vermilion reveals that she was the one who saved them and then disappears. He returns to the Fairy Tail Guild and, along with Natsu, Erza, and Gray, defeats the members of Twilight Ogre who were threatening Romeo. They are later 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
Gajeel wasn't shown for some time after they came back from Tenrou Island, as Levy said he and Lily are having a hard training and didn't want to bring her with them. After training to the point of exhaustion for the Grand Magic Games, Gajeel and Pantherlily lay on the ground and look up at the stars, smiling.

Sometime between the training and the tournament, Makarov decides to create a second Fairy Tail team, which Gajeel was completely adverse to, but accepts after Makarov told him that the losing team would have to follow the winning team's orders for a day, something which prompted him to imagine Lucy Heartfilia, wearing a bunny suit, dancing for him while he is playing the guitar, the same thing that happened during Gajeel's first days in Fairy Tail. Marakov states that Gajeel is nowhere to be found at the Games' start. However, as the teams who passed the preliminary phase of the competition are announced, Gajeel is revealed to be a member of Fairy Tail's Team B, the only other squad belonging to the same guild making it into the real tournament, alongside Laxus, Mirajane, Juvia and, surprisingly, someone who looks exactly like Mystogan, which is later revealed to be a disguised Jellal Fernandes. Their group achieved the 2nd place, greatly surpassing the guild's Fairy Tail A, and being bested just by Sabertooth's team.

As Natsu angrily claims that if they are to be pitted against one another, he wouldn't go easy on Team B just because they are his guild-mates. Gajeel states that's legitimate, subsequently teasing Natsu's team for only being in 8th, and thus, last place. As the first event, Hidden, is announced, Juvia chooses to participate in it due to Gray being the competitor for the Team A, and a comically angered Gajeel tells her that if she were to lose on purpose, he'd beat her up. After the contest starts, when Juvia hugs one of Gray's clones generated for the event and thus loses a point, Gajeel angrily calls her an idiot. He later yells at an embarrassed Jellal when Jellal loses his battle against Jura Neekis of Team Lamia Scale.

Gajeel later participates in the second day's event, Chariot. However, the task proves to be difficult for him as he experiences motion sickness, alongside Natsu and Sting of Sabertooth. The three are left behind while the rest of the participants race towards the goal. As the others finish, Natsu, Gajeel and Sting are ridiculed by the audience. Sting decides to give up but Natsu and Gajeel are determined to finish the race. Gajeel then finishes the race in seventh place behind Natsu, earning his team one point. He is later seen in his own team's corner, shocked at Mirajane's sudden display of power. Gajeel congratulates Mirajane as she returns to her corner after her victory against Jenny Realight. He also commends Jellal for staying in character.

During the third day's battle portion, Gajeel is surprised to see what appears to be Laxus getting beaten around by "Alexei". In reality, said fight was a mere illusion cast by "Alexei" who was revealed to be Ivan Dreyar. After Laxus states that Makarov knew all about Raven Tail's details, Flare blames Gajeel for Laxus' knowledge and Ivan realizes that Gajeel must have been leaking the information from their guild to Fairy Tail and how he was a double agent. After Laxus defeats all the members of Team Raven Tail and is declared the winner, Gajeel is shown to be happy at the victory. During the next battle between Chelia Blendy and Wendy Marvell, Gajeel watches Chelia use a similar form magic as Wendy's Sky Dragon Slayer Magic.

After the third day's events and battles, the Fairy Tail Mages celebrate their victories by throwing a party and having fun. Later that day, Gajeel, alongside a big portion of the Fairy Tail members, heads to Ryuzetsu Land, Fiore's most well known rage spot. Once there Gajeel and Levy walk with the three Exceed, Happy, Carla and Lily, who decide to go to a nearby aquarium. Gajeel is asked by Levy if he would like to join them, but Gajeel quickly denies the offer, stating that there is no way he would go to a place like that.

As the day progresses, Gajeel is seen sticking his head through a cutout appearing as a fish with hairy legs. A little while later, Gray and Lyon fight and freeze the pool, with Natsu deciding to get rid of the ice by using his own Magic. Gajeel is sent flying when Natsu utilizes more fire power than necessary, and ends up on top of the rubble with the cutout on top of his body.

The next day, during the Naval Battle event, Gajeel scolds Juvia when she unknowingly pushes herself out of the water sphere. Later, as Lucy fights Minerva, Gajeel expresses anger at the fact that Minerva is continuing to torture Lucy even though it's actually over for her.

After Lucy is put in the infirmary, he and the rest of his team come to visit her. While there, Makarov Dreyar informs him and everyone else present that Team Fairy Tail A and Team Fairy Tail B must merge, which surprises him. Gajeel, along with Erza, Laxus, Gray, and Natsu, is chosen for the new Fairy Tail Team. After they reach the battle field, he and Natsu glare at the Twin Dragons of Sabertooth.

As the tag battle between Ichiya and The Rabbit from Blue Pegasus versus Bacchus and Rocker from Quatro Cerberus starts, everyone is eager to know the real identity of the Rabbit. Later, the Rabbit is revealed to be Nichiya. Gajeel is seen holding an unconscious Erza who could not bear this revelation. Ichiya surprisingly wins the battle, and Gajeel is seen impressed as it was a battle of two against one.

After a tag battle between Team Mermaid Heel and Team Lamia Scale resulting in a draw, Fairy Tail and Sabertooth's battles begin. A determined Natsu and Gajeel march into the arena to face the Twin Dragons of Sabertooth.

Natsu and Gajeel start the fight quickly getting into Sting and Rogue's faces and attacking them simultaneously. The twin dragons are knocked back, surprising the audience. Sting attacks Natsu with the White Dragon's Roar and Rogue uses the Shadow Dragon's Slash against Gajeel; he easily deflects the attack with his Iron Dragon's Sword technique and sends Rogue flying. Natsu grabs Rogue and runs to Sting and hits both of them with the Fire Dragon's Wing Attack. Sting reminds them that they killed their dragon parents and he and Rogue use White Drive and Shadow Drive to power themselves up.

The twin dragons quickly attack and Natsu and Gajeel are put on the defensive. Gajeel elbows Rogue in the jaw, saying they should not look down on Fairy Tail. Rogue and Sting are beaten up more as Lector and Frosh watch in disbelief. Seconds before Team Fairy Tail can be named winner, Gajeel is left speechless when he sees that both Sting and Rogue have entered Dragon Force mode.

Gajeel stands and awaits the newly powered-up Dragon Slayer's attacks, however, before the two can advance, Sting states that he is enough to defeat his opponents, and moves to take the two alone. He comments that Sting is underestimating them, but Natsu replies that he is unsure about this, stating that he can sense Sting's strength. Sting advances and viciously attacks, and Gajeel and Natsu try to combine their attacks to respond; Sting proves to still have the upper hand. Eventually, unleashing a huge attack, Sting crushes the ground of the arena and sends the three of them down into the catacombs below. Gajeel continues to try and land a hit, though Sting lets out a mighty attack, sending the two of them flying and seemingly defeating them.

Before the judges can declare the fight over though, both he and Natsu stand up, commenting on Sting's power but also saying that they have been watching and memorizing all of his habits in battle; getting into a fight over the position of Sting's foot when he moves to make an attack. Being unable to come to a united decision, Natsu becomes annoyed with Gajeel and pushes him into a nearby mining cart, causing him to become motion sick with the movement and roll down a hill away from the fight. Coming to a stop completely phased, Gajeel weakly states that he is going to kill Natsu when he next sees him.

Gajeel travels within the mine cart deep underground Crocus. He manages to free himself but coughs from his motion sickness, saying he'll kill Natsu. Gajeel walks around wondering where he is and, much to his shock, discovers that he's in an area cluttered with the skeletal remains of various Dragons.

Gajeel brings Natsu, Wendy and their Exceed partners (as well as Gray and Lucy, who tag along) to the underground lair of Dragon skeletons. He tells them that the Dragons present come from ancient times and are not the same as his, Natsu's and Wendy's foster parents. The group discuss briefly and decide that they must find a way to learn more about what happened. Gajeel is surprised when learning that Wendy's new technique, Milky Way, is capable of doing so.

Gajeel watches in amazement as Wendy activates her newly learned spell Milky Way. As he is watching, the dragon bones begin to shake and a dragon materializes in front of the group. He shows fright at the sight of the newly materialized dragon, but soon realizes the dragon is not as frightening as he first had thought. He then listens as the dragon, Zirconis explains to the group why the dragon bones are located here, and about a war between the dragons which happened 400 years earlier. While materialized, Zirconis also explains when dragons first began to teach humans Dragon Slayer Magic, which led to some dragons to partner with the humans. Also he explains to the group about the dragon festival and a powerful human dragon slayer, who became a dragon due to his countless number of dragons he murdered and revealed the human to be the dragon Acnologia. Gajeel is shocked by what he hears and at the same time due to Wendy's fatigue the dragon disappears. He then stands alongside the other group members as they discuss what they just learned and in the distance Arcadios appears accompanied by Yukino.

Gajeel shows little surprise at Arcadios' appearance and remains silent throughout his presence. However, he, as well as his Guildmates, follows Arcadios into Mercurius. Inside, Gajeel learns that Arcadios was the one responsible for the attempted kidnapping of Lucy. In addition, he is then elaborated on the details regarding the Eclipse Plan. Such news surprises Gajeel and he even wonders whether the connection with July 7, which happens to be the same day that the Dragons disappeared, is really just coincidental. Before anyone can speak further, they are approached by the members of the Fiore Guard, led by Datong. Datong proceeds to kick the Fairy Tail Mages out of the building before arresting Arcadios, Yukino, and even Lucy.

Gajeel and the rest later meet with other members of the guild and discuss Lucy's arrest by the Fiore Army. Gajeel wonders why the kingdom only arrested Lucy and not all of them, given that they had discovered some top secret information, to which Mirajane replies that it'd be suspicious if they, as participants in the games, were arrested and didn't appear. As Makarov gives his take on the situation, Gajeel listens in. The next day, Gajeel heads out with the rest of Team Fairy Tail for the final day of the games. As the rules for the final day are explained to the Mages, Gajeel and the rest of the team listen in. After listening to the rules the team listens to what Erza has to say about what is at stake. Juvia adds that if Natsu and the others could save her, that'd be best, with Gajeel stating obliviousness of her statement. The game officially begins, as the team joins in a group cheer. When the games start and the members of the other teams scatter, Gajeel and the rest of the team remain in place, much to everyone's surprise while their opponents battle one another. Soon after the battles commence and continue, Mavis explains that she presented the team with a strategy based on her observations to assure victory and gives them the command to go, at which point Gajeel and the rest rush into battle.

As Gajeel goes with the rest of the team, he is soon targeted by Rufus' Falling Stars technique. However, thanks to Mavis' strategy, Gajeel is able to dodge the attack and proceed. Gajeel soon encounters Ren Akatsuki and Eve Tearm of Team Blue Pegasus and uses his Iron Dragon's Roar to defeat the two of them, but winds up letting Hibiki escape. Later, Gajeel walks around Crocus looking for opponents to defeat.

Meanwhile, Erza Scarlet, Kagura Mikazuchi and Minerva meet each other and begin a three-sided battle. After an intense confrontation, Minerva spells Yagdo Rigora, summoning a giant statue that bursts the match's local. Even far away from it, Gajeel witnesses the attack and wonders what was it. As the others fight, Gajeel wanders around Crocus, declaring angrily that Mavis' strategy has all gone to hell. Whilst contemplating where and how everything fell apart, Gajeel rounds a corner and comes face to face with Sabertooth's Rogue. Commenting on Rogue's persistence, Gajeel warns that he will show the Shadow Dragon Slayer no mercy.

Gajeel is later seen delivering a powerful Iron Dragon's Club to Rogue. While Rogue recovers from the brutal frontal assault, Gajeel states that there is no possible way for Rogue to have surpassed him in a day. Gajeel goes on to further state that if Rogue couldn't defeat Natsu when he was teamed up with Sting, then it would be impossible for he, himself, to be defeated. Rogue quickly retorts that Gajeel's strength is nowhere near Natsu's level, which very quickly, and visibly, angers the Iron Dragon Slayer.

Soon after, Gajeel, after having beaten down Rogue more, asks him to repeat his statement. As Rogue says he knows now he can't win, Gajeel listens as he explains his history of admiring Gajeel and how, because he fights for his friends in Fairy Tail, he will win because Sabertooth has no such concepts. In response, Gajeel tells Rogue he doesn't know anything and asks him if Frosch isn't his friend. As they argue over Frosch's species, Rogue admits that he has a friend in Frosch before he is approached by a strange entity, as Gajeel stands there.

As he begins getting upset, Gajeel tells a distressed Rogue to calm down, but he is hit with a powerful Shadow Dragon's Crushing Fang, which sends him flying. Noticing that the person who attacked him wasn't Rogue, Gajeel questions who the entity is, to which he is met by a reply of "Shadow". Gajeel states that he doesn't understand, but is met by a brutal kick from "Shadow". Gajeel states that he finds this situation interesting and attacks "Shadow" with Iron Dragon's Sword, but the being dodges the attack by turning into shadows. Before Gajeel can respond, he is hit by Shadow Dragon's Waxwing Flash. After losing sight of "Shadow", the being emerges from Gajeel's shadow and hits him with Shadow Dragon's Slash. Gajeel attempts to fight back, being countered at every turn, and is told once more that, as Rogue thought, he is not as strong as Natsu.

A short while later, Gajeel is seen being strangled by "Shadow" and is thrown onto the ground, told that the shadows around him will erode him. As he is being told to sleep in the darkness, Gajeel proceeds to eat "Shadow's" shadows. As he steadies himself from the ground, Gajeel tells the being to exit Rogue's body, revealing that the Shadow Dragon Slayer, whose name is actually Reyos, was his sworn brother. Gajeel then states that he wasn't the type to be admired, but rather, feared. Gajeel enters Iron Shadow Dragon Mode, stating that he'll make "Shadow" remember that fear.

Magic and Abilities
Iron Dragon Slayer Magic (鉄の滅竜魔法 Tetsu no Metsuryū Mahō): Gajeel was taught by Metalicana to use Iron Dragon Slayer Magic. As the name implies, his Dragon Slayer Magic deals with the manipulation of iron. Gajeel eats iron to regain his own strength and his teeth and jaw muscles are apparently powerful enough to gnaw through solid metal with ease, and he can devour even the Magic-canceling metal of the Dorma Anim. Gajeel's Magic deals with producing multi-sized iron rods as well as changing parts of his body into steel. Most of his attacks involve transforming his arm's into hard-as-steel weapons, which he can do at will.


 * Iron Dragon's Roar (鉄竜の咆哮 Tetsuryū no Hōkō): Gajeel's exclusive, metal-based variation of the Dragon's Roar. After gathering Magic Power into his mouth, Gajeel shapes it into a powerful tornado which he subsequently emits and sends towards his foes. Such tornado possesses immense force, being capable of generating powerful explosions and inflicting heavy blunt damage, but also releases sharp shards of metal in the process, to shred the opponents' body.


 * Iron Dragon's Lance: Demon Logs (鉄竜槍 鬼薪 Tetsuryūsō: Kishin): Gajeel turns his arm into a large spearhead, from which a large number of steel spears is fired towards his enemy multiple times in rapid succession. In the anime, the attack is sometimes portrayed with Gajeel instead extending one arm towards his target's direction, with the fingers outstretched, and then summoning his Dragon Slayer's Magic Seal in front of him, from which the spears are fired.


 * Iron Dragon's Scales (鉄龍の鱗 Tetsuryū no Uroko): Gajeel covers part of his body (or the entirety of it) with steel scales to dramatically increase his offense and defense. When punching and kicking while covered by these scales, Gajeel was capable of creating powerful gusts of wind through mere kinetic force. When confronted with Natsu Dragneel's flames, the resulting clash generated a powerful shock wave, which heavily damaged the area surrounding the two of them. These scales are strong enough to shatter bone and rock alike, resilient against regular flames, and much harder than normal iron (just like Natsu's flames) as shown when Pantherlily's gigantic sword wasn't able to cut through them.


 * Iron Dragon's Club (鉄竜棍 Tetsuryūkon): Gajeel transforms his arm or leg into a large steel club, increasing his punching and kicking power. He can also create multiple smaller clubs from the end of the original, hitting many enemies at once. The clubs can be elongated at Gajeel's will, making them powerful ranged weapons. He is also apparently capable of increasing their size dramatically and to detach them from his body: several of these clubs, enlarged to gargantuan size, were the main cause of Fairy Tail's building destruction. Also, for added maneuverability and to take opponents off-guard, the club can be rapidly turned into the similar Iron Dragon's Sword.


 * Iron Dragon's Blinds: Iron blinds extend from Gajeel's eyelids and cover his eyes. (Unnamed)


 * Iron Dragon's Sword (鉄竜剣 Tetsuryūken): Similar to Iron Dragon's Club, but possessing cutting instead of blunt power and thus being possibly deadlier, Gajeel transforms his arm or leg into a large, jagged steel blade. The spikes along the blade's edge make its slashes more painful and dangerous, and the weapon's length can be increased to reach enemies away from him. In the anime, the sword can also function like a chainsaw, effectively increasing its damage. It is used, among other instances, to defeat Kawazu.


 * Iron Dragon's Throwing Knife: Gajeel is capable of creating throwing knives in his hands, which appear from almost nowhere due to his Iron Dragon Slayer's powers. These are rather short and sport a ring at the end of the hilt, bearing resemblance to a kunai. They can be thrown with pinpoint accuracy. (Unnamed)


 * Iron Dragon's Restraint: Gajeel is capable of creating iron restraints to immobilize his opponents by attaching them to surfaces. These restraints consist of a flat part with a hole, meant to immobilize the victim's limb, and come with some bolts, which secure the flat parts, and thus the victim, to the chosen surface. Both the restraints and the bolts come in different sizes. (Unnamed)


 * Iron Dragon's Foot Blade: Gajeel sprouts a sharp, harpoon-like blade from the sole of each of his feet. By planting these blades in the ceiling, he's capable of remaining suspended and to move around as if he were walking normally. (Unnamed)


 * Iron Dragon's Hard Fist (鉄竜の鋼拳 Tetsuryū no Gō Ken): Gajeel punches the target while covered in Iron Dragon's Scales, greatly enhancing his punching power. His Dragon Slayer's Magic Seal is created before his fist while he does so.


 * Dragon Slayer's Secret Art (滅竜奥義 Metsu Ryū Ōgi):
 * Karma Demon: Iron God Sword (業魔・鉄神剣 Gōma Tetsu Jin Ken): Seemingly one of his most, if not the most powerful attack in his possession, being acknowledged as one of the Secret Arts attainable by the Iron Dragon Slayer. Gajeel claps his hands together above his head, and, in a moment, swipes down on the ground a gigantic sword generated between them, which destroys a huge area in front of him. This attack was first used to defeat Yomazu.


 * Karma Demon: Iron Spiral (業魔鉄螺線形 Gōma Tetsu Rasen): Seemingly his second ultimate move, Gajeel transforms his legs into a giant drill, which rotates at high speed, heavily damaging whatever it strikes and possessing great piercing power. He used this move to attack the red center spot of the Dragonoid to free Natsu from his prison. Although it did what it was intended to do, Gajeel acted cool and tough, saying that he still had a long way to go, since he "planned" to destroy the whole Dragonoid, along with Natsu.

Iron Shadow Dragon Mode (モード鉄影竜 Mōdo Tetsueiryū): After eating Rogue Cheney's shadows, Gajeel gained the ability to use his Iron Dragon Slayer Magic enhanced with shadows.

Master Hand to Hand Combatant: In battle, aside from his Iron Dragon Slayer Magic, Gajeel is known for extensively employing unarmed combat, and to possess great proficiency in doing so. His style is a brutal one; consisting of powerful, direct moves such as devastating punches and headbutts, complemented by his high physical ability, with his strength making his blows highly damaging, and his speed allowing him to land them in extremely fast succession. When employed alongside his Iron Dragon's Scales, his unarmed blows become far deadlier. During his battle with Pantherlily, he was shown able to engage in midair confrontations, reaching the flying Exceed with a leap and then bombarding him with a barrage of punches, and his clash with Rogue Cheney during the Grand Magic Games proved him able to block and even counter-attack assaults from behind without the need to turn his back.

Enhanced Durability: Even without his Dragon Slayer's abilities, Gajeel has consistently proven himself to be one of the more resilient characters in the series: when he was confronted by team Shadow Gear after joining Fairy Tail, he was able to shrug off the combined attacks from Jet and Droy without retaliation and, in the the anime, only resorted to finally summoning his metal scales to increase his defense when Laxus tried to attack Levy. Also later during his battle with Laxus, he took an attack which would have killed Natsu, yet he remained conscious. During his time in Edolas, Gajeel used his metal scales to fight Faust's mechanical Dragon, where he absorbed extremely powerful blows with little trouble.

Enhanced Strength: Gajeel has shown on different occasions to be very strong: during his time under Jose Porla, while he was tormenting the captured Lucy Heartfilia, Gajeel could casually headbutt a fellow Phantom Lord member who was asking him to stop with enough force to crack the stone floor he had the man crash on. His physical might is enough for him to clash with Natsu on even terms, to block and shatter Pantherlily's gargantuan Bustermarm Sword (with the help of his metal scales), and to pin down and hold still the gigantic Dorma Anim all by himself, allowing Natsu to finish it off. He's also capable of performing very high leaps, as shown from him reaching Pantherlily, who was standing in midair due to his Aera Magic, from the ground located several meters below him.

Enhanced Smell: Gajeel has an incredible sense of smell, which he shares with other Dragon Slayers. He uses this for tracking purposes as apparently, nothing can escape his nose. This is best shown when he tracked down Lucy in Fairy Tail's secret hideout. It is also inferred that he used this skill when he was tracking down Levy, who ran away from him during the S-Class Trials out of frustration.

Enhanced Speed: Gajeel's overall speed and reflexes are impressive, enough for him to intercept attacks like Laxus' Magical bolts and reach Levy in time to save her from a double-team ambush of two Grimoire Heart Mages.

Fairy Tail Portable Guild
Gajeel appears as a playable character in the first Fairy Tail Video Game, Fairy Tail Portable Guild, and is playable from the beginning of the game. He has no element and he possesses the following Spells in the game:
 * Iron Dragon's Sword: Cost 1 MP, Default Technique
 * Iron Dragon's Roar: Cost 2 MP, Gajeel must be at lv40 to purchase it in the shop.
 * Iron Dragon's Lance: Demon Logs: Cost 3 MP, Gajeel must be at lv45 to purchase it in the shop.
 * Iron Dragon's Shinshou: Cost 4 MP, Gajeel must be at lv55 to purchase it in the shop.

Fairy Tail Portable Guild 2
Gajeel Redfox is a playable character in the sequel to Fairy Tail Portable Guild, Fairy Tail Portable Guild 2. He is unlocked through quests.

Fairy Tail Gekitou! Madoushi Kessen
Gajeel is a playable character in the game Fairy Tail Gekitou! Madoushi Kessen upon being unlocked.

Fairy Tail Gekitotsu! Kardia Daiseidou
In the video-game Fairy Tail Gekitotsu! Kardia Daiseidou, Gajeel Redfox is a playable character. In this game, Gajeel Redfox possess the following moves:
 * Main: Iron Dragon's Roar
 * Sub 1: Iron Dragon's Sword
 * Sub 2: Iron Dragon's Harpoon
 * Sub 3: Iron Dragon's Club
 * Super: Iron Dragon's Lance: Demon Logs

Trivia

 * On the cover of Volume 8, Gajeel's eye color was green, but was later changed to red on the cover of Volume 13.
 * When he first appeared as a member of Fairy Tail (in Chapter 103), his guild symbol wasn’t on his left arm, but can be seen there later.
 * According to Gray, Gajeel is a very good song writer, however, his singing skills and ability to play musical instruments are poor.
 * In the manga, Natsu shows up to fight Gajeel when he is trying to pin shards on Lucy. In the anime he is about to kick her with his leg metalized.
 * Gajeel's Iron Dragon Roar looks different in the anime. In the manga it is a whirl with metal scraps in it. In the anime it looks almost like Natsu's Roar only in a gray-blue tone. Later in the anime, Gajeel's Iron Dragon Roar followed the manga as the wind is gray-blue in color.
 * From the Volume 16 Limited Edition: Sorcerer Interview, Fairy Tail had no good qualities according to Gajeel. He has no dreams for the future. He doesn't have a good relationship with anyone in the guild. The most difficult job he ever took was a personal request by Makarov.
 * Gajeel's name is derived from the Japanese word かじる (Kajiru), which means to bite, to gnaw, or to nibble. The "Ka" sound is changed to "Ga" sound because "ガジガジ" (Gaji Gaji) sounds like a person eating in Japanese standard.


 * 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, Gajeel's stats are:

Quotes

 * (To Jose Porla)"Well, if they got beaten by trash, that just makes them trash as well."
 * (To Natsu Dragneel)"There ain’t room for two dragons in the sky."
 * (To Happy)"What a troublesome guild. When we get back you better buy me all the metal I can eat."
 * (To Natsu Dragneel)"But with all the annoying lightning in the sky, you can't fly."
 * (To Pantherlily)"I will make this guy my cat!"
 * (To Levy McGarden)"I will make you big."
 * (To Levy McGarden after saving her Yomazu and Kawazu)"It's hard looking for someone so small. So don't leave my side."
 * (To Levy McGarden)"This isn't some mundane war. This is going to escalate beyond your wildest imagination. You need to let everyone know! I can take care of these guys easily by myself!"
 * (To Kawazu and Yomazu) "You want war... with Fairy Tail? I'm not the same... as before... I'll make you feel the same."
 * (To Guttman Kubrick)"In my Phantom Lord days, maybe I would've given up already, but unfortunately, I'm a Fairy Tail wizard now. Even if you beat me up now, my heart won't break that easily!"
 * (To "Shadow") "You never looked up to me. I know better than anyone else that I'm not the type to be admired. You feared me. Let me help you remember...that fear!"