Jude Heartfilia

Jude Heartfilia (ジュード・ハートフィリア Jūdo Hātofiria) was the father of Lucy Heartfilia and formerly one of the wealthiest company owners known in the country of Fiore. After the death of his wife Layla Heartfilia, he began neglecting his daughter and put all his time and effort into his company. Because of this, Lucy felt rejected and held a grudge against her father, and eventually ran away.

Appearance
Jude was a relatively tall, middle aged man with black eyes and blonde hair. He used to keep his hair trimmed, and wore expensive suits, but when he later lost all of his money he sported longer hair and an unruly beard.

Personality
At his introduction, Jude was be a cold hearted man. He neglected his daughter and put all his time and effort into his company, which resulted in Lucy running away from home. According to Lucy, her dad never cared for her. However his attitude towards his daughter seemed to change once he lost his fortune, and he appeared to become more kind to his daughter.

History
Over 24 years ago Jude met Layla Heartfilia at the Love and Lucky Merchant's Guild. The letter "K" had fallen off of the sign and that is how they got Lucy's name. Once Lucy was born Jude and Layla left the Guild and he established his own business The Heartfilia Konzern. When Lucy was in her younger years Layla died, and Jude became cold and neglectful towards Lucy, so much that Lucy had to run away. A year after Lucy ran away he sent Phantom Lord a job requesting that they find Lucy and bring her home, which sparked the war between the Fairy Tail Guild and the Phantom Lord Guild.

Phantom Lord arc
He was included in the Phantom Lord arc as the one who was responsible of requesting a job to find his missing daughter, Lucy. Jose Porla, Phantom Lord's guild master, planned to use Jude's job request to bring Fairy Tail's increasing power down, by kidnapping Lucy Heartfilia. After the defeat of the Phantom Lord Guild, he was visited by Lucy. He then told Lucy that he wants her to marry Prince Sawarr of the Julenelle, to merge the Heartfilia's wealth with that of the Julenelles, although Lucy only met Sawarr as a child. But Lucy rejects his command and states that she can make her own decisions, and live her own life, and she would not forgive him if he attacked Fairy Tail again, and rips off her fancy clothes to prove that she has cut all ties with him.

Oración Seis arc
His next appearance is as a spectator of Fantasia Parade, and he watches Lucy. Lucy later finds her father as a long bearded man with a tattered sheet of cloth to conceal himself. He states that he lost all his money and the company of Heartfilia is no more. He then said that he's going to start all over again and work in a merchant's guild in Acalypha and tried to beg Lucy for a hundred thousand jewels. Lucy expresses she doesn't have that kind of money, and he feels rejected and throws a tantrum. Lucy yells for him to go away, which he grits his teeth over and walks away. The next day, Lucy tried to rescue her father after hearing that the guild her father was trying to get into was taken over by some Guerilla group. After defeating the bandits, she finds out that her father hadn't even arrived at the guild because he walked all the way from Magnolia to Acalypha. Jude then realizes that Lucy came because she was worried for him. He thanks her but then she walks away, stating that she still hasn't forgiven him. He stops her by saying that that guild was where he first met her mother. He reveals that the name "Lucy" came from the guild's name, Love and Lucky, which at that time, the letter "k" from "Lucky" was missing, so it looked like it was "Lucy". After, the rest of Team Natsu finds Lucy and takes her with them, leaving him alone, thinking to Layla that he was a fool all this time.

X791 arc
Jude is revealed to have died one month prior to Lucy's return, by a woman at the Love & Lucky guild. Later, it is also revealed that Jude sent birthday presents to Lucy every year, even after she disappeared and also wrote letters, hoping that she'd read them one day. He expressed his desire to see her again and called her his pride, finishing off the last letter by telling her that he had always loved her.

Layla Heartfilia
Layla is his deceased wife, who he loved and still does. He often compares Lucy to Layla, not only in looks, sometimes in characteristics.

Lucy Heartfilia
Lucy and Jude had a very complicated relationship due to him caring more about his business than paying attention to his daughter or his family, which resulted in Lucy running away from home. According to Lucy, her dad never cared for her. After a year, her father put in a request at the Phantom Lord Guild for them to find Lucy and bring her back. This sparked a war between Fairy Tail and Phantom Lord.After the war ended, Lucy visited her father to supposedly apologize to him for running away. In reality, she wanted to cut ties with him for the pain and suffering he caused to Fairy Tail and tells him that if he ever comes near Fairy Tail again, she and the guild would consider him an enemy.

After her father loses his fortune, she reunites with him again when he asks her for money. She told him she doesn't have enough to support his need for 100,000 jewels, which made him throw tantrum, claiming that she should at least be able to muster that much money since she was his daughter. Lucy in turn yells at him and tell him to go away, storming off. Later, when Lucy returns to Fairy Tail, she overhears a conversation that the merchant guild her father was heading off to work for recently got taken over by a dark guild, Naked Mummy. Concerned for her father's welfare, despite their tense relation, she immediately departs from Fairy Tail; abandoning the mission that Team Natsu was about to take. Lucy defeats the dark guild with help from her Celestial Spirits Taurus, Cancer, Sagitarrius and Virgo, and quickly scans the crowd for her father. She soon realizes that her father hadn't arrived at the guild yet, as he had to walk from Magnolia Town to Acalypha. When they encountered each other for the last time, she feels a great sense of relief. Her father realizes that she was worried about him, but she quickly says that she still hadn't forgiven him. Her father tells Lucy how he had met her mother in the same merchant guild that she had saved, Love and Lucky, and reveals that they gave Lucy her name from the guild's sign, which at the time was missing the letter "K". Afterwards, Lucy and her father leave on relatively good terms.

When Lucy returns with the rest of fairy tail 7 years later, it is revealed that Jude died one month prior to her return. Lucy mourns the loss of her father, and is upset that she could not see him once more. She is dragged home by her landlady while moping, who tells her that a birthday present was sent on the same day every year for her, even after she disappeared. Additionally, he sent her enough money to cover the rent for the last 7 years. Jude continued to hope that they would meet again one day and wrote in his last letter that she was his pride and that he had always loved her.

Trivia

 * Apparently, Jude's sense for money was extremely bad, as he believed he needed 100,000 Jewels to get from Magnolia to Acalypha when it was possible to get there on foot.