User blog comment:ZerefMidnight/Gray Theory/@comment-31.132.65.54-20150408010158

I noticed this as well. The end on the GMG mess that left many unanswered questions and plot holes that I tried to find explanations.

First, how come destroying the gate caused everything to return to their time? So if someone repairs the gate or builds a new one then what? The dragons will appear again? That makes no sense. Besides that, why didn't they destroyed the gate in F. Rogue timeline when it was closed. They had to know about the dragons, because F. Rogue arrived in that point of time for that apparent reason. If they knew how dangerous it was why didn't they disassemble the gate or hack it to pieces. Also wouldn't destroying the gate solve the problem in F. Lucy timeline? Heck, even one of those 10000 dragons could wreck it by accident.

The moment when Gray had his near dead experience is now ever more fishy. Shouldn't his death also fixed the problem? No Gray means Fro is still alive, Rogue won't go rogue, he wouldn't try to take over the world and Lucy will be able to close the gate in time without his interference. And why didn't Ultear thought about destroying the gate instead of that radical plan to murder Rogue?

There is also the matter that F. Rogue spoiled the future to Natsu and that FT current time line is heading straight to Acnologia doomsday. I don't see how can they avoid what's about to happen if they already failed to do so in one timeline. The only difference between the current timeline and the F. Rogue one is that Ultear is no longer arround and that Natsu knows who will kill Fro. Did Gray by killing Fro really caused all that mess, or Ultear for just being around caused something that allowed Acnologia to wreck everything?

Since most of those plot holes revolve around Gray and Ultear I FIND ONLY TWO POSSIBLE EXPLANATIONS:

ONE It wasn't the destruction of the gate that send back everyone to their time, at least not solely. Ultear sacrifice caused it. I always belived the Rogue must had some help and that he wouldn't be able to do all that time travel alone. Ultear had been learning about time magic and Zeref magic since childhood. The Eclipse was a magic that came from the books of Zeref, so she must known much about it. The gate was destroyed in F. Rogue timeline, the kingdom knew of how dangerous it was and they couldn't allow it to stand. Ultear using her time arc put the gate together and activated it when Fiore fell, it was a last resort to prevent the disaster brought by Acnologia. But why did she help Rogue and not used it herself? Maybe it was because of what happened to Fro. Mashima said somewhere is the volume extras that there is a secret behind Fro. I think it is something involving END or The Shadow. The Shadow is a demon from Zeref books that needs a host and both Gray and Rogue fell victim to a skilled manipulation. Gray in his dumb revenge must have mistaken Fro for an etherious and killed him, which allowed The Shadow to jump on to Rogue. No one realized that The Shadow was still alive and began corrupting Rogue. This is what could cause Ultear and Rogue to cross paths, she was sorry for what Gray had to do to his friend.

TWO There is no explanation and we're all over analyzing things. Mashima doesn't care for the plot holes he makes and it all will be left unexplained like many other things in this manga. :P