Mest Gryder

Doranbolt (ドランバルト Doranbaruto) is a member of the Magic Council and Head of a Division of the Rune Knights. In X784, he used his Memory Control to deceive the members of the Fairy Tail into believing that he was a fellow guildmate named Mest Gryder (メスト・グライダー Mesuto Guraidā) for their S-Class Promotion Trial.

Appearance
Doranbolt is a lean-built man of average height with short, almost shaved black hair, with a slightly outlined widow's peak, and complete with mildly long sideburns. He has a large, bright emerald green eyes, and thin eyebrows. The left side of his face is covered by three distinctive scars: the shortest one that points diagonally upwards in his left eye's direction, and "connected" by the longest scar, diagonally in the other way, to the similarly oriented one which goes up to his forehead. Such scars harmlessly cover Doranbolt's left eyebrow and part of his hair, passing over them. Hanging from Doranbolt's left ear is a simple earring, with an elongated pendant attached to it.

Seven years after Tenrou Island's seeming disappearance, Doranbolt appears to have gained sharper, more defined facial features, has grown a small goatee below his mouth and slightly longer hair, with some messy strands covering his forehead and others jutting upwards from the top of his head. His left ear still bears the earring.

When acting like a spy within Fairy Tail, Doranbolt's attire is consisted of a pinstriped jacket with a high and wide upright collar, alternating red stripes to different series of orange ones, with distinctive loose brown arm warmers covering the sleeves from the cuffs to below the shoulders, each bearing a simple, undulated motif right below the upper edge, simple black pants and white shoes.

Doranbolt has also been shown in his Council uniform. This consists of a dark jacket, with light-colored edges and a pair of buttoned bands on each sleeve, worn over a lighter shirt bearing the dark ankh-like symbol typical of the Rune Knights, mildly loose, light pants held up by a simple belt, similarly colored gloves and shoes, and a light cape held in place by a rhomboidal buckle adorned by a gem. During his first appearance after the 7-year time skip, he dons this very same attire.

Personality
Doranbolt is willing to do anything to attain a promotion from the Magic Council. He was even willing to infiltrate Fairy Tail. In order to keep up the facade of being a Fairy Tail member, he acted intelligently and used silly quirks to fit in, such as devouring snow to see what it tastes like and entering a river to know what it feels like.

Despite of his self-interest, he still cares for others; he befriends Wendy Marvell and later saves her from a deadly attack, even after his position as a non-Fairy Tail member was exposed. He also openly admitted that the Fairy Tail Guild was not the same as Zeref or Grimoire Heart, he doesn't support the Council's idea of firing Etherion on Tenrou Island and erasing all the three groups from existence. Doranbolt made an attempt to teleport the members of Fairy Tail outside the island, but they refused to leave. After this, Doranbolt was seen fretting over the well-being of the guild and its members.

During the year X791, when the news of the returning Team Tenrou reached the Magic Council, he said he was not interested, although he was visibly conflicted. During the Grand Magic Games, Doranbolt shed tears of joy over Erza's victory in Pandemonium, proving that his care for Fairy Tail runs deep, even in spite of the fact that he was never actually a member.

History
At some point Doranbolt joined the Magic Council, and infiltrated the Fairy Tail Guild using the name Mest Gryder in order to find dirt on them and gain a promotion. His reason for this was he knows that Gran Doma hates Fairy Tail along with the other council members and he knew of Fairy Tail's S-Class Mage Promotion Trial was coming up and he wanted to get to their private property to find anything slightly shady to bring to the council.

Tenrou Island arc
"Mest" first appeared when he is selected to compete in the S-Class Promotion Trial along with Natsu Dragneel, Gray Fullbuster, Juvia Lockser, Elfman, Cana Alberona, Freed Justine, and Levy McGarden.

After learning that he needs a partner, he later met with Wendy Marvell and told her that he was Mystogan's disciple. He then asked her to lend him her power, which drives out a rude remark from Carla. He acted oddly as he tried to eat snow and floated in an icy river while explaining to the pair his wishes to join the world of S-Class Mages.

Shortly after Makarov arrived to explain the rules of the first trial, he explained to Wendy that the S-Class promotion consisted of numerous exams each year. When the first trial begins, "Mest" and Wendy are forced to wait due to Freed using a rune on the boat, which prevents everyone from leaving for 5 minutes. As soon as the rune releases, "Mest" is implied to have used his Teleportation Magic to teleport him and Wendy onto Tenrou Island.

"Mest" and Wendy end up stumbling on the battle path that contained Gray and Loke. The battle ends with "Mest" being knocked out easily much to their surprise. Mest is then seen when he awakens to find the battle already over and tries to comfort Wendy on the sudden loss of the battle.

At the same time, en route to the island, Carla and Pantherlily question whether "Mest" is really a member of Fairy Tail due to the fact that Mystogan rarely let anyone see him and was unlikely take on a student. Gray and Loke also question their memory of him when the duo try to recall his partner for the last competition. Later "Mest" mentions to Wendy that the island holds a secret of Fairy Tail and suggests they explore. While Wendy looked in awe at the beauty, "Mest" looks on with a mysterious smile. He then becomes ecstatic when he realizes that Zeref is on the island.

"Mest" becomes somewhat anxious when he sees the warning flare that Erza fires above Tenrou Island. Carla and Pantherlily later confront him and Wendy, with the latter pushing him back against a boulder to interrogate him, claiming that Mystogan would never take a disciple and that "Mest" had used Memory Magic to infiltrate the exam.

"Mest" then teleports to Wendy and pulls her away from a spot that a split second later would be filled with explosions. He then shouts for the perpetrator to come out; the perpetrator is revealed to be one of Grimoire Heart's Seven Kin of Purgatory, Azuma, who had been merged into a tree. "Mest" then explains that he is a Magic Council member looking to find dirt on the guild to put it out of business so that he can earn a promotion. But with Grimoire Heart now on the island, he changes his objective into eliminating the Dark Guild, claiming that he brought along a fleet of battleships with Magic Council's police force; the battleships is then seen in the far background. Unfazed, Azuma mysteriously blows up a group of battleships and then completely detaches from the tree, sarcastically asking "Mest" if he can begin his own job now.

As Pantherlily and Azuma battle, Wendy requests his help in defeating Azuma, and, though he is reluctant at first, he complies. While Azuma is distracted by Pantherlily, "Mest" teleports himself and Wendy right behind Azuma to launch a point-blank range attack with her Sky Dragon's Roar. However, Azuma instantly recognizes their attempt and defeats them all with a giant column of flame. Laying on the ground and shivering, "Mest" recognizes the extreme power of the Seven Kin.

Later, after Azuma walks off, Natsu arrives and since "Mest's" Memory Magic wore off, Natsu confronts "Mest", though he was quickly informed of the true enemy. The Grimoire Heart members are then launched from the sky, and the group finds itself surrounded by numerous members. However, he mysteriously disappears.

Some time later, he teleports to the heavily damaged ship that Azuma almost blew up and talks to Lahar. He explains to him that a three-way battle between Fairy Tail, Grimoire Heart, and Zeref is occurring. He decides to contact the HQ with a Communication Lacrima but when he is told that Gran Doma is a strict man who does not hesitate to use Etherion, he shows reluctance in doing so.

He is then seen speaking with Lahar about Bluenote Stinger, and about how fearsome he is. Lahar then remarks that is why they must contact HQ, but Doranbolt grabs Lahar and tells him to give him some time. He then teleports away with the communication Lacrima, much to the shock of his comrades.

He then arrives at the site where Makarov is resting, and Natsu asks where he went, and Lucy says that it is Mest of the Council. He then tells Lucy that his name is really Doranbolt. Wendy begins to ask him something but he tells her not to worry because he came there to help them, which surprises Happy and Carla. He then says that with his powers, everyone can leave the island, but Natsu and the others refuse. Despite Doranbolt's attempts to convince them otherwise, they all decide to stay on the island and fight.

When Natsu, Lucy, and Wendy try to convince him to stall the council from destroying the island while they defeat Grimoire Heart, he reluctantly agrees. He is then shocked when the Great Tenrou Tree is destroyed by Azuma.

Later, Doranbolt spies on Zeref from a distance when the Black Wizard kills Zancrow and seems shocked when he hears Zeref say "Acnologia".

Doranbolt returns to Lahar on a Magic Council boat. He tells Lahar that Zeref used Acnologia. Doranbolt apologizes for not being able to do anything. Lahar doesn't care, and questions what Zeref will do with Acnologia. Lahar tells all Magic Council ships to leave. As they set off, Doranbolt looks at the island and declares it is over, then apologizes for not being able to help Fairy Tail. While being in the Magic Council's ship, Doranbolt, along with Lahar, looks on at the destruction of Tenrou Island by the Black Dragon of the Apocalypse.

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
Doranbolt and Lahar run into Org, who tells them about the return of the Fairy Tail members from seven years ago. Though Lahar says Doranbolt can now take that burden off of him, Doranbolt admits to himself he hadn't thought about them in a long time. After Org explains how nothing much has happened in the seven years, Doranbolt asks if he is insinuating Fairy Tail was the reason behind it. Org just laughs and walks away, saying he must've gotten older if he expected that much out of Fairy Tail.

On the third day of Grand Magic Games, Doranbolt is invited by Lahar to watch said event, knowing that he wants to see the returning members of Fairy Tail after their seven years of absence. During Pandemonium, the day's event, Doranbolt is stunned by Erza Scarlet declaring that her challenge right would be one hundred and tears quickly cascade down his face when Erza emerges victorious.

As the final battle of the third day is about to commence, Doranbolt looks at Wendy when her name is called by the announcers. As Wendy and Chelia Blendy meet in the middle of the arena, Doranbolt quietly asks Wendy to do her best, but is shocked upon seeing that both Chelia and Wendy possess very similar forms of Magic, especially Chelia's, a form of Magic meant for slaying Gods. As he watches Wendy with concern, he is suddenly bumped by Team Fairy Tail B's Mystogan, who is pushing his way through the crowd, and seems confused at the Mages presence. Suspicious, Doranbolt stalks Jellal.

While Jellal is watching the battle between Wendy and Chelia, Doranbolt recalls the intelligence that he retrieved from Fairy Tail, in his infiltration 7 years ago, and concludes that Mystogan is no longer in Earth Land, and infers that the "Mystogan" that he is stalking is not the real one.

He then continues to stalk Jellal after the match is over, but an astute Jellal notices his presence and escapes swiftly. As Jellal goes forth to trace the strange energy signature related to Zeref's Magic, Doranbolt suddenly makes an entrance, materializing in front of Jellal, and startling him. Doranbolt exclaims that Jellal is not the real Mystogan, while an army of Rune Knights escorting Lahar coincidentally appear. Doranbolt interrogates Jellal in front of Lahar, coercing him to reveal his true identity.

When Jellal goes to move around Doranbolt by claiming to be in a hurry, the Council Mage stops him once more, again asking him for his identity. After Jellal states that he is the true Mystogan, Doranbolt lashes out and rips off Jellal's cap and mask, revealing his face and shocking everyone. Before Doranbolt can move to seize Jellal though, Yajima appears and tells the Rune Knights about Edolas and "Mystogan's" unfortunate fate of having the same face as Jellal. Having heard of Edolas, Doranbolt stands down and allows the Mage to be on his way. However, he is then shocked when Lahar whispers to him that Yajima was lying and that the criminal Jellal is right in front of them.

After the 4th day's event, Naval Battle, is concluded, Doranbolt watches from the crowd as the battle portions of the day are set to start.

Later after the Grand Magic Games are concluded and as the Mage Guilds of Fiore gather to hear the King's request, Doranblot and Lahar watch in awe of the scene. As Lahar questions the use of the Eclipse, Jellal appears behind the two Council Mages. Shocked by this encounter they ask what he is trying to pull here as Jellal ask them both for a favor.

Following Lahar's instructions, Doranbolt teleports and brings with him a prisoner who was locked away for his crimes. Doranbolt tells the man, who is in fact Cobra, that they are forced to ask for his help in order to deal with the crisis following the Dragon invasion in Crocus. Watching as Cobra instantly runs off into battle, Doranbolt suddenly states that he is slightly shocked that they listened to Jellal and released the man, predicting that both he and Lahar will only be expelled from their jobs on the Council if they are lucky. Lahar, however, replies that they should focus on saving the future so that they even have jobs to try and save, and urges them all to move out and help those fighting. Doranbolt, seeing the wisdom in his words, gets pumped to fight alongside a group of Rune Knights they brought with them.

As Jellal and Meredy try to find Ultear Milkovich, Doranbolt appears and informs them that he erased the memories of the Dragon invasion events to everyone involved in it. When asked why he did it, Doranbolt replies that the whole system may have collapsed if it leaked that the royal family had a connection with Zeref's Magic. Then he says that he had to do the same to Lahar. After Doranbolt asks the group about Ultear's well being, he tells Jellal that this time only, he did a favor to them and is about to leave, but Jellal asks him what happened to Cobra. Doranbolt says that he came back to him and mentioned hearing something from the Dark Guild Tartarus. Then, Doranbolt proceeds to leave.

Tartarus arc
At the location of Era inside the Magic Council Headquarters, Doranbolt and Lahar listen to the councilors' discussion about Tartarus' recent movements. However, the meeting is soon interrupted and before the messeneger can relay a warning about intruders, the entire building is caught in a huge explosion. An injured Doranbolt comes to just to witness the destruction and now dead bodies of Lahar and other councilors. Desperately looking for someone alive, he hears Org's voice. Suddenly, Org is approached by Jackal, who reveals this to be a plan to assassinate the council members. Even though Doranbolt hesitates to leave the old man to his death, the latter tells him to carry out his own sense of justice just as Jackal targets the councilor with yet another explosion, much to Doranbolt's horror.

Later, a wounded Doranbolt is seen walking downstairs to an underground prison. He approaches Cobra, who seemingly anticipated the former's arrival. Doranbolt questions whether he knows everything thanks to his Magic, but Cobra laughs it off, stating that it's impossible to use Magic in this cell. Wasting no time, Doranbolt orders the Dragon Slayer to reveal everything he knows about Tartarus, but Cobra demands the release of Oración Seis in exchange for that information. Doranbolt states that he has no authority to do so and surprises Cobra by revealing that everyone with such power is already dead. Immediately teleporting himself to the Poison Dragon Slayer's cell and brandished a dagger, Doranbolt then continues threatening Cobra, with the latter still insisting on his condition. He, however, decides to reveal one thing and a shocked Doranbolt learns that all members of Tartarus are the Demons from the Books of Zeref, with their master, E.N.D. being the strongest one.

Learning that Tartarus is after Face, a forbidden weapon of the Council's with the ability to annihilate all the Magic on the continent, Doranbolt is forced to adhere to Cobra's demand and release the Oración Seis from jail. Upset over this, he affirms that he will destroy Tartarus. Soon after by the graves of those killed, Doranbolt states that the dealings with Oración Seis will now be left to Jellal.

Later, Doranbolt discovers that Wendy and Carla went to Face's location in order to stop the device from activating. Arriving at the cave that houses Face, Doranbolt sees the duo prepared to sacrifice themselves to destroy the weapon by using its own energy to make it explode with an auto-destruction Magic circle. Swooping in at the last second before the destruction spell goes off, Doranbolt manages to save the two Fairy Tail members' lives, teleporting them out of the blast range and to a nearby hill. Impressed with their courage and resolve, he muses that he never would have thought such two "little heroes" could destroy Face.

Doranbolt has moved Wendy and Carla to a safe haven by the time they wake up, and he informs them that thanks to them the activation of Face was halted, although he was only able to save them in the nick of time. When the two Fairy Tail Mages begin to celebrate on their victory, he tells them that it is all far from over. Wendy and Carla then fly up and witness that more artifacts like Face have risen from the ground, and an anxious Doranbolt reveals that they have so far confirmed around 2,000 Faces over the continent. Doranbolt can only ogle Wendy when the young warrior utilizes her Magic to cut her hair, all whilst claiming that she will fight alongside her comrades and will no longer shed a single tear.

Magic and Abilities
Memory Control (記憶操作 Kioku Sōsa): A type of Magic which allows Doranbolt to add his existence to others' memories, making it seem like they have known him for a long time, allowing him to pass unnoticed and easily infiltrate even large groups of people. It seems to be very powerful, as he was able to fool even Makarov, one of the Ten Wizard Saints, and S-Class Mages such as Erza and Mirajane. He also has the ability to erase memories and replace them with fake ones. His skill in doing so is powerful, even a Former Wizard Saint, Jellal, complimented it when he had learn Doranbolt had used it on the Magic Council so they were unaware of the Dragon Attack and the Royal Family using Dark Magic.

Teleportation Magic (瞬身の魔法 Shunshin no Mahō): Doranbolt has shown skill with this versatile type of Magic, which allows him to cover very large distances in the blink of an eye. It makes for an extremely fast and effective means of transportation, and can also be used in combat, when the situation requires for fast actions: through this Magic's use, Doranbolt was able to push Wendy away from a spot that a split second later would have been filled with explosions.


 * Direct Line (瞬間移動 ダイレクトライン Dairekuto Rain): Doranbolt teleports to any location in a direct line. It was used to teleport in front of Wendy and save her from Azuma's attack. His teleportation is not only limited to himself as he is able to carry others with him while teleporting.

Master Sensor: Doranbolt was able to detect Zeref's presence on Tenrou Island without even being near him. He could also detect Azuma’s presence, even though the man had concealed himself by merging with a tree.

Expert Hand to Hand Combatant: Doranbolt has proven himself to be skilled in the use of hand-to-hand combat. He employs it in conjunction with his Teleportation Magic to catch his opponents off guard; this combination was effective enough for him to keep up with two melee specialists, the caliber of Gray and Loke at close range.

Lahar
Lahar and Doranbolt have developed a friendly relationship over the years as they are both members of the Custody Enforcement Unit. Lahar was aware of Doranbolt's guilt with the supposed death of Fairy Tail's core members and the destruction of Tenrou Island. When he was asked to be a guest announcer for the X791 Grand Magic Games, he asked Doranbolt to accompany him, knowing that he wanted to see the members of Fairy Tail alive and well.

Wendy Marvell
When he infiltrated Fairy Tail and participated in the S-Class Mage Promotion Trial disguised as "Mest Gryder", Doranbolt chose Wendy to be his partner, knowing that it would be risky for him to partner with an older member. He told her that he was Mystogan's apprentice and Wendy, wanting to repay her debt to Mystogan, readily accepted his invitation, despite Carla's objections. After losing at the first part of the trial, Wendy was visibly upset despite Doranbolt's attempts at cheering her up. She then willingly accepted his offer of touring around the island, demonstrating her trust on him.

During the second part of the trial, members of Grimoire Heart infiltrated the island and Doranbolt's real identity and mission were revealed. Despite this, he didn't hesitate to save Wendy when he noticed that she was in danger and Wendy was still willing to trust him and asked him for help in defeating Grimoire Heart. However, they lost and Doranbolt teleported out of the island to regroup with his squad. He later learned from Lahar that the Magic Council may use Etherion to stop the war and, to prevent him from contacting them, took the Communication Lacrima and returned to the island. He then offered to save the Fairy Tail members by teleporting them out of the island but they refused.

Seven years after Tenrou Island's supposed destruction, the core members of Fairy Tail returned and later on participated in the Grand Magic Games. During the third day, Lahar is invited to be a guest announcer and he convinces Doranbolt to come with him, knowing that he wanted to see the members of Fairy Tail alive and well.

Fairy Tail: Zeref's Awakening
Doranbolt appears as a playable character in the PSP game, Fairy Tail: Zeref's Awakening, upon being unlocked.

Trivia

 * Before Mashima settled on him being a member of the Magic Council, he was also considered as a member of either Grimoire Heart, Tartarus, or Fairy Tail.

Quotes

 * (To Wendy Marvell) "I want to know what a winter river truly is."
 * (To Lahar) "W-Wait! It's true that the council isn't exactly fond of Fairy Tail, but they shouldn't be compared with Zeref and Grimoire!"
 * (To Lahar) "Don't give up. As long as we do everything we can..."