Simon

Simon (シモン Shimon) was a childhood friend of Erza Scarlet and was part of Team Jellal, a group of former slave children who attempted to rebuild the Tower of Heaven, also known as the R-System. He died protecting Erza from Jellal Fernandes.

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

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

Personality
As a member of Team Jellal, Simon always retained a cool, detached demeanor, hardly showing any emotion, and being seemingly willing to help Jellal to realize his plan, at the cost of Erza Scarlet's life. This, however, was revealed to be false: Simon pretended to follow Jellal's orders, while in fact was the only one among his teammates to have seen through their old friend's deception. He had proven to be logical and cautious, carefully examining situations before taking further steps and choosing retreat or escape if pitted against an insurmountable opponent, as well as being willing to wait for a long time before carrying out his plans for the sake of his friends and allies.

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

Tower of Heaven arc
After eight years pass, he, along with Shô, Wally, and Millianna, appear at a casino where Team Natsu is vacationing at. He begins by attacking Gray Fullbuster and Juvia Lockser, demanding to know where Erza Scarlet is. When the two refuse to reveal he whereabouts, Simon uses Dark Moment, making the room pitch black, and seemingly defeats the two. Simon then meets up with the rest of his friends, who found Erza, and take her back to the Tower of Heaven.

After Natsu Dragneel and co. invade the tower, and Erza reveals to the group about her past, and how Jellal framed her to look like she betrayed her friends and left them, but in actuality she was banished, as Jellal wanted to finish to tower to bring Zeref back. Shô appears shocked by the truth that Jellal lied about Erza betraying them. As he falls into a state of confusion, Simon appears telling Shô what Erza just said is true, and he knew all along Jellal lied about Erza's betrayal. Everyone then agrees to work together to stop Jellal's plans.

As the team runs through the tower to stop Jellal, Simon tries to contact Wally and Millianna, but is blocked. Gray questions Simon's trust as they travel. Simon tells him he knew skilled Mages like him and Juvia wouldn't die so easily, and he had faith Natsu wouldn't be defeated by Wally so easily. Simon then praises Natsu, telling his friends they have yet to realize Natsu's full potential as a Dragon Slayer.

Everybody stops when Jellal uses Magic to tell everyone in the tower about his "Paradise Game". Jellal challenges everyone in the tower to find him, but warns them of Trinity Raven, who will be there to stop them. He lastly points out that the Magic Council will be planning to use the Etherion on the tower which will destroy everyone, though he doesn't say when. With this information, Shô then traps Erza in one of his cards, claiming he needs to protect her, and then runs off. Simon then splits off on his own.

He comes across Natsu's fight against Fukuro. He tries to help by using his Darkness Magic, but Fukuro, being an owl, is able to see in the dark and attacks him, leaving him wounded and forced to watch the rest of the fight from the sidelines. When Natsu is defeated by Fukuro though, Gray arrives and is able to defeat him, leaving Simon very surprised.

After Fukuro's defeat, Simon carries Natsu on his back as they travel up the tower. He informs Natsu how his battle went and how Gray saved him. After calming Natsu down, Simon begs Natsu to rescue Erza, warning him that Jellal would take advantage of her feelings to defeat her. Natsu declines at first, feeling he would get involved in something that is between Jellal and Erza. Simon then, angry, yells at Natsu telling him Erza has no hate for Jellal, and she may use the Etherion to take her life along with Jellal's. Hearing this is enough to get Natsu involved in the battle between the two.

When the Etherion hits the Tower of Heaven, Simon is shocked that he is still alive. In the middle of the fight against Jellal, Simon throws his body in front of Jellal's Altairis spell, sacrificing himself so that Erza would not be hit. Erza comes to his side as he confesses his love to her in his mind, and then dies.

Magic and Abilities
Darkness Magic (闇の魔法 Yami no Mahō): A form of Magic which Simon employed in an exclusive, peculiar way, taking advantage of the physical element of the Magic itself, of real darkness, instead of the more common, ghostly apparitions wielded by most users of Darkness Magic.
 * Dark Moment (闇刹那 Yami Setsuna): Simon's only known spell, which allowed him to remove all of the light within a wide range, enough to cover an entire casino hall, turning everything pitch black, and preventing opponents from seeing, distracting them and putting them at a disadvantage. Simon and his allies, on the other hand, were apparently capable of perfectly maneuvering in the darkness, being seemingly unaffected by the spell. However, opponents who can see in the darkness will be unaffected by such spell. To cast Dark Moment, Simon was shown performing hand gestures with both of his arms, moving his hands with the index and middle fingers outstretched, and the others bent.

Telepathy (念話 Terepashī): Simon could communicate with other people away from him through their thoughts, being capable of remaining in contact with his teammates from afar. To converse with them, he placed his left hand's outstretched index and middle fingers on his head's side, something which allowed the words he pronounced to reach others.

Enhanced Durability: Simon was shown to be quite resilient: during his time as a slave, he survived being struck on the face by a Magical blast which left him disfigured; later on, he endured Fukuro's Judgement Hou piercing clean through his chest. Lastly, he was shown taking on himself the brunt of Jellal Fernandes's Altairis spell, an attack whose power is said to rival that of a meteor, and talk afterwards, with his body still in one piece. However, the latter feat brought, shortly after, to Simon's death.

Enhanced Strength: As evident of his muscular and massive build, Simon possessed a high amount of physical strength: he was shown sending Juvia Lockser crashing through a bar counter several meters away from him, breaking the bar counter she was sitting at in the process, with only a careless slap of his left hand. The fact that he managed to physically hurt her is also worth noting, due to the woman's body being composed of intangible water.

Keen Intellect: Despite his grunt appearance, Simon was clever and hard to fool: he was capable of seeing through both Jellal's deception, which had all of his fellow slaves deceived without a suspect, and through Gray Fullbuster's ice dummy with ease; the latter was even used by Simon to his own advantage, in order to feign Gray's death and gather some powerful Mages at the Tower of Heaven, which would have helped him to stop Jellal's crazy plan.

Erza Scarlet
Simon and Erza have a very close relationship. Both being slaves and together a lot, Simon developed deep feelings for her. Simon was at first very upfront about his feelings. When Erza started the slave revolt at the tower, Simon was so confused about how Erza truly felt about him, that he asked her if she liked Jellal in the middle of the battle. Right after this, he was about to confess his feelings until he got attacked.

Even though Jellal framed Erza as a traitor when she was forced to leave her friends behind, Simon was able to see through his lies, as he knew Erza too well to think she would betray them. This trust was shown when Simon revealed the truth to Shô. Simon also knew how weak Erza was when it came to Jellal, and was willing to sacrifice his life in final battle at the tower. As he died, he finally tried to tell Erza he loved her, but passed away before. His death devastated her.

Natsu Dragneel
During the battle against Fukuro, Simon tried to help Natsu. In addition, during the battle against Jellal when Simon sacrificed himself, his death enraged Natsu who lashed out at Jellal.

Battles & Events

 * Tower of Heaven Slave Revolt
 * Tower of Heaven Slaves vs. Tower of Heaven's Guards & Magic Troops
 * Team Natsu vs. Team Jellal
 * Natsu Dragneel & Simon vs. Fukuro

Trivia

 * In the manga Simon slaps Juvia away when he first appears. In the anime he blows her up, using Magic.