Jura Neekis

Jura Neekis (ジュラ・ネェキスJura Nēkisu) is a Mage of the Lamia Scale Guild, where he is widely considered the Ace member, and one of the Ten Wizard Saints. Jura is known for his accomplished use of Earth Magic, which made him known as Iron Rock Jura (岩鉄のジュラ Gan Tetsu no Jura).

Appearance
Jura is a tall and massive man with a heavily muscular figure, distinguished by his bald head, by a pair of large black marks just above his black eyes, and by his seeming lack of eyebrows. Seven years after the momentary disappearance of Tenrou Island, Jura's physical appearance seems to have remained the same, with the only notable difference being a long, thin dark beard growing from his chin, which reaches down below his upper chest in a wavy motif. Such beard is paired by a little, similarly colored mustache split in two parts, each placed diagonally below Jura's nose.

His clothes initially mirrored those that were commonly seen worn by ancient civilizations such as Mayans or Egyptians, although his thick boots resembled Inuit garb: his chest was bare, being only covered by a series of dark belts crossing it diagonally, and around his neck he donned a short mantle, covered in horizontal blue and white stripes, and sporting edges decorated by numerous short, yellow strings hanging from it. On his arms were tight-fitting green armbands almost reaching up to his shoulders, seemingly made from the skin of some reptile. Around is waist there was a long loincloth, held up by a simple belt and sporting a motif composed of several arcs, with a single spot in each of their concave part, and simple decorations reminiscent of Fleur-de-lis above them. The loincloth was fur-lined, something which matched his boots, almost completely composed of fur. In his first appearance in the manga, he also sported a dark green headgear shaped like a reptilian, crocodile-like head, complete with sharp teeth pointing downwards, beady yellowish eyes and elongated, jagged ear-like protrusions, which matched his armbands, with what appeared to be a black Egyptian-like wig reaching down to his shoulder under it, giving the impression that he actually had hair; an object which, paired with the the staff Jura initially wielded, granted him an Egyptian priest-like appearance. In the anime, however, this headgear wasn’t portrayed.

After the 7-year time skip, Jura's outfit received major changes, with the Wizard Saint now donning traditional Japanese clothes: he wears a light kimono, with the collar and the sleeves adorned by a dark motif consisting of many squares placed in succession, linked together by a dark line and similarly flanked by two more lines, striped, traditional hakama and geta sandals paired with light tabi. He also sports a dark mantle draped over his shoulders. There have been some inconsistencies with Jura's current outfit, with him being initially shown wearing a plain one, then sporting the geometrical motifs on the sleeves which he didn't initially have; in addition, his mantle lost the strips which adorned its edges during its first appearances. Jura is sometimes shown resting his arms in the loose sleeves of his kimono.

Personality
Down-to-earth and with great humility, Jura usually refers to others with the highly honorific suffix "-dono", even to subordinates, enemies, and those inferior to him. He's shown to be very modest about the immense power he wields, claiming, in spite of his reputation, to be the weakest member out of the Ten Wizard Saints. He strongly believes that on the battlefield, those with great conviction are the ones who obtain victory, regardless of the quality or power of the Magic that either opposing side has at their disposal. He's also an extremely upright, honor-bound individual, believing that arresting a good man is unjust, and being ready to fight against the law and exposing himself to consequences to protect such belief, as seen when he fought the Rune Knights alongside the rest of Light Team to prevent Jellal Fernandes from being arrested. He's also very dedicated and loyal to his allies, going as far as to shield them with his Earth Magic while leaving himself open and taking all the brunt of a massive explosion on himself. Despite being usually portrayed as serious and stern, he has shown a comedic side, displaying expressions of comical surprise, especially when speaking to Hoteye.

His fellow guildmates seem to have great respect from him, and, during their mission, Lyon Vastia and Sherry Blendy looked up to him as a leader of sort, something which allowed him to easily keep them at bay despite their temperament, together with his good-natured personality and his being prone to praise their work.

Galuna Island arc
Jura is first mentioned by Toby before his and Yuka Suzuki's fight with Natsu Dragneel. Yuka says they were part of the Lamia Scale Guild, with Toby letting Natsu know that it is the same one Jura belongs to, implying him to be very famous.

Oración Seis arc
He begins working in an alliance between his guild and the Fairy Tail Guild, Blue Pegasus Guild, and Cait Shelter Guild to overcome Oración Seis, a member of an alliance of Dark Guilds called The Balam Alliance. As they left to start to attack the Oración Seis, he was wounded by Angel and her small familiars that disguised themselves as Ichiya Vandalay Kotobuki. However, he recovers thanks to the real Ichiya and just barely manages to save the alliance in time from a lethal attack by Brain. Along with Sherry Blendy and Lyon Vastia he pursued the Oración Seis members into a forest but was ambushed by their lackeys but they easily defeated them.

Jura later gets into a fight with Hoteye of the Heavenly Eyes. Hoteye points out that while Jura can make the ground hard, he can make it soft. Hoteye then asks which is stronger. Jura says that doesn't matter, because the one with the stronger conviction will always prevail. Hoteye disagrees with that statement, and says the battle outcome depends on if you are rich. However, as Nirvana affected Hoteye's positive emotions, Hoteye turns good and precedes to hug Jura causing to be completely confused and freaked. It is then that Jura learns that Nirvana "cured" Hoteye and the two agree to work together to stop the other Oración Seis. However, Jura becomes a little aggravated when he hears that his bald head reminds Hoteye of potatoes. They are both later seen climbing up one of Nirvana's legs when its second stage is activated.

Inside, Jura and Hoteye run into Gray Fullbuster and Lucy Heartfilia and there Hoteye explains all about Nirvana. However, Midnight appears and battles the team. Hoteye agrees to stay behind as he instructs them to find Natsu and stop Brain. Before leaving, Hoteye reveals to them that his real name is Richard As they find him and save Natsu, Jura hears Brain's plot to destroy Cait Shelter and he easily tosses Brain aside demanding answers. As Brain is easily defeated by Jura, Brain prays that Midnight won't disappear either. Wendy and Carla arrives and heals Natsu and Happy. The group is in disbelief as they realize that defeating Brain didn't stop the Nirvana from moving forward to Cait Shelter. Wendy begins to lose hope, but Natsu swears to her that he will protect her guild from the Nirvana as a repayment for helping him. Seeing Natsu, she remembers Jellal Fernandes and decides to go off with Carla to find Jellal, leaving just Natsu, Gray, Lucy and Jura. But they don't realize that Brain still has one trick up his sleeve, and he sends them a message while impersonating as Hoteye. As a trap, he claims that Midnight is right below the King's room in order to finish them off. Unfortunately for Natsu and everyone, they realize the trap a little too late and they are caught up in the explosion. They later get up to find that during the explosion, Jura had protected them from the explosion, and falls unconscious himself.

As Nirvana is collapsing he saves both Wendy and Carla from being crushed by falling debris and they all get out safely. As Hoteye arrives with both Natsu and Jellal, Carla asks why is an Oración Seis member helping them, Jura explains that Hoteye is on their side now. Shortly after the newly reformed Magic Council have come in to take Hoteye. Just as Jura was about to protest against this, Hoteye says it's alright and that he can start a new life. He respects his decision and states that he will look for his brother and asks for his name. Hoteye tells them that his name is Wally Buchanen. Erza Scarlet states that she is friends with him (which shocked them both) and that he is safe. He smiles towards Hoteye for the wonderful news as Lahar takes him. However, as Lahar tries to take Jellal, Jura assists Natsu and the others with trying to help him but Erza stops them and he respects her wishes like Hoteye's. As the group then learn Cait Shelter's secret and takes his leave, he restrains Lyon from attacking Ren Akatsuki.

X791 arc
After hearing about the missing Fairy Tail members' return, Jura visits Fairy Tail with Sherry, Toby, Yuka, and Lyon. Later on, Jura approaches Makarov and the two talk about a certain guild.

Five days before the beginning of the Grand Magic Games, Jura, hanging out in his guild, is told by the guild master, Ooba Babasaama, that he will be participating in the games with Lyon. Hearing this, the other members of the guild cheer, all sure that they will win the year's games.

At the Grand Magic Games Jura is part of Team Lamia Scale, along with Lyon, Yuka, Toby, and Sherry's cousin, Chelia. During Lucy's fight against Flare, the Lamia Scale members were impressed with the fact that Flare can manipulate her hair, which annoys Jura because he's bald. In the first day, Jura is chosen by fans to battle against Fairy Tail's Mystogan, who is Jellal Fernandes in disguise. When they meet, Jura says that he won't hold back because he's a Fairy Tail's member, which "Mystogan" replies that he won't hold back either.

The two begin their battle, with Jura using his Earth Magic. Jellal fights back using Mystogan's previous techniques, to go with his guise. Eventually though, Jellal starts using his Heavenly Body Magic after he realizes he can't win without it. As they fight, Jura takes a notice to the use of the Magic and figures out Makarov's trick, though he simply smiles. Just when Jellal is about the use Star Destruction, he suddenly drops to the ground, due to outside interference. Though surprised, Jura accepts his victory.

Magic and Abilities
Earth Magic (土魔法 Tsuchi Mahō): Jura possesses powerful Earth Magic which allows him to turn the ground hard (as opposed to Hoteye, who can make the ground soft), and to manipulate it as he wishes. This has been described as being capable of "making even the tinniest sand as tough as iron", and is thus the reason behind his epithet Iron Rock Jura. His Magic usually manifests itself in the form of large, cylindrical pillar of rocks, which can be shaped from the ground, greatly elongated and even twisted, allowing Jura to use them for both attack and defense. Jura has also proven himself capable of controlling all of the rock in the surrounding area, splitting it into boulders and sending it all flying at the enemy in a powerful avalanche. Aside from such uses, his Earth Magic can also be given more elaborated and intricate forms, mirroring humanoid figures and even architectural elements. Jura seems to cast most of his spells through the use of hand signs he performs, with the most common and used one being moving one of his hands with the index and middle finger stretched, and the others bent. Revolving around this versatile form of Magic, Jura's fighting style seems to be a stationary one, with him assaulting foes by modeling and changing the terrain around them, and protecting himself through the extremely effective defenses Earth Magic provides him with. Through the use of this Magic of him, he was able to defeat Brain, the leader of the Dark Guild Oración Seis, with little effort.
 * Iron Rock Wall (岩鉄壁 Gan Tetsu Heki): Jura's signature technique, in which he moves one of his hands with the index and middle fingers outstretched, creating large rock formations from the ground that form a wall, blocking incoming attacks. The barriers created by such spell can take the shape of both Jura's usual, cylindrical pillars, and that of larger rectangular slabs, thus reducing the number of elements required for a complete defense. In addition, Jura is also shown able to erect walls composed of massive bricks, as if they were built by humans. He has shown himself capable of manipulating such defensive barriers at his will, bending and twisting them to better guard himself or his allies from enemy attacks; in addition, he can split them into their constitutive elements, which he can freely move in midair and employ for offensive purposes, such as his Supreme King Rock Crush spell. These pillars are strong enough to block Brain's Darkness Magic without fail.
 * Continuous Formation (連鎖 Rensa): Jura creates pillars from the ground that form multiple walls in a straight line, blocking incoming attacks. (Anime Only)


 * Rock Avalanche: While standing near to a rocky surface, Jura rapidly extends one hand towards the target, his fingers placed in his most recurring hand gesture. This prompts the nearby surface to be split into boulders of various size, which are lifted in the air and sent flying at the target with great force, striking them and then falling to the ground. This spell is fast and effective enough to catch someone as powerful as Oración Seis' leader Brain off-guard, leaving him surprised. (Unnamed)
 * Supreme King Rock Crush (覇王岩砕 Haō Gan Sai): Jura rapidly moves one of his hands in the target's direction, with the palm open. This prompts many stones from the area in front of him to rapidly fly towards the opponent, encasing them in a rocky formation. Jura then joins his palms, and the rocky formation explodes in its basic components, causing high damage to the previously encased target. This spell was powerful enough to defeat Oración Seis' leader, Brain. In the anime, Jura uses this spell with two phrases: first phrase, surrounds enemy with stones and encases them in a mass of rock; second phrase, crushes all the stones which surround the enemy.
 * Iron Rock Fist: Jura extends one of his hands, the index and middle fingers outstretched, towards the target. This prompts a very large arm made of rock, whose appearance is reminiscent of an intricate gauntlet, to emerge from the ground not far from him, and to move towards the foe with its fist clenched. This stone limb can be elongated for great lengths, with its "forearm" taking the form of an extremely long succession of segments; something which also makes it free to twist, allowing Jura to move it around as he wishes and change its trajectory, if the enemy does somehow manage to send the fist back at him. (Unnamed)
 * Rock Mountain (巌山 Ganzan): An extremely powerful defensive technique which Jura performs by joining his palms together. Such gesture prompts a large rock formation to emerge from the ground behind him, this taking the shape of a human clad in an Eastern-looking armor, complete with an helmet and with stone protrusions jutting out, with a frowning look, and bright lights visible in the holes acting as its eyes. The presence of such formation is shown to repel enemy attacks, being strong enough to completely negate the effects of Jellal Fernandes's Grand Chariot spell, with the clash between the two moves sending a gale all over the surrounding area.
 * Iron Rock Spikes (岩鉄トゲ Gan Tetsu Toge): Jura creates earth spikes that immobilize his opponent. (Anime Only)
 * Iron Rock Powder Explosion (岩鉄起爆塵 Gan Tetsu Bakuchiri): Jura summons earth spikes that pierce his opponent. (Anime Only)

Immense Durability: Jura has proven himself to be extremely resilient, surviving Angel's attempt to assassinate him, which had a knife stabbed in his chest, and subsequently fighting as if nothing had happened through the entirety of the battle against Oración Seis (though Ichiya's Healing Perfume did help him with this), even managing to take on himself all the brunt of an extremely massive explosion in order to protect Team Natsu, yet again surviving to fight later. He was also shown emerging unscathed from the large beam generated by Jellal Fernandes's Sacred Song spell.

Master Sensor: Jura possesses good skills in sensing others through their Magic Power, as shown when he could find out that Hoteye wasn't hiding far from him seconds before being attacked by the latter's Liquid Ground Magic, with even Hoteye going on to praise Jura's sensing skills, acknowledging him as one of the Ten Wizard Saints.

Expert Hand to Hand Combatant: Jura has shown to possess good hand-to-hand combat skills, fighting unarmed alongside the rest of his team the Rune Knights who were trying to arrest Jellal Fernandes, knocking some of them out simply through the use of strong punches, with no need for him to employ his Earth Magic.

Equipment
Staff: During his first appearance, Jura was shown carrying around a long, thin staff with the upper edge ending in a globe of a crystal-like material, wielding it with his left hand (possibly implying left-handedness, together with most of his spells being performed with his left hand). However, when he came to the rest of Light Team's rescue, he wasn't shown wielding it anymore.

Khakkhara: After the 7-years time skip, when greeting the Fairy Tail members who returned from Tenrou Island, Jura was briefly shown wielding a khakkhara, a traditional staff commonly associated with Buddhist monks, distinguished by the large rings hanging from its top part. The khakkara Jura wields is massive, fitting its owner's size, seems to be entirely composed of metal, and is very simple in shape, with its top part consisting of a plain, large ring, which has another, single ring hanging from it. Right below the upper ring some bandages are wrapped around the staff itself. The khakkara is known as an effective weapon for real monks; however, it's as of yet unknown whether Jura can employ his in actual combat, or if it's just something ornamental.

Fairy Tail Gekitotsu! Kardia Daiseidou
In the video-game Fairy Tail Gekitotsu! Kardia Daiseidou, Jura Neekis is a playable character. In this game, Jura Neekis possess the following moves:
 * Main: Supreme King Rock Crush
 * Sub 1: Crushing Rock Bullet
 * Sub 2: Iron Rock Dwell
 * Sub 3: Dwelling Rock Rotation
 * Super: Iron Rock Wall

Major Battles

 * Jura Neekis, Lyon Vastia, Sherry Blendy vs. Red Hood
 * Jura Neekis vs. Hoteye
 * Jura Neekis vs. Brain
 * Jellal Fernandes vs. Jura Neekis

Trivia

 * Jura dislikes peas because while eating some, a worm got in his mouth.
 * According to Hoteye, his head resembles a potato, which he used to eat with his brother Wally.