Gajeel Redfox

For Gajeel's Edolas counterpart, see Gajeel (Edolas).

Gajeel Redfox is an Iron Dragon Slayer Mage, a member of the Fairy Tail guild and a former S-Class Mage from the Phantom Lord guild.

Appearance
Gajeel is a tall and muscular man with long, spiky black hair, red eyes (initially portrayed as green) with slitted dark pupils and no visible eyebrows. He has a black Fairy Tail tattoo that is located on his left arm, just below his shoulder: before, Gajeel beared his Phantom Lord symbol marked on the top of his right shoulder. He usually wears a wing-like sleeve on his right shoulder (right above the spot where his Phantom Lord tattoo used to be) and various piercings throughout his whole body, usually in sets of three or five, with the most visible ones being those on his face. His usual outfit consists of a shabby black sleeveless tunic with studded edges and a studded belt around his waist, loose white pants tucked inside studded black boots, and a pair of studded brown gloves paired with similarly studded wristbands.

Personality
As a Phantom Lord Mage, Gajeel didn't care at all about Fairy Tail, and seemed to think that Phantom Lord was a stronger and more worthwhile guild. When he was first introduced, he was depicted as cold and apathetic, and not at all above injuring his allies if they irritated, as seen when he iron-clubbed a fellow Phantom Lord Mage who was praising his abilities, all because the latter was disturbing his meal at the time.

However, he is completely and geniunely dedicated to whatever guild he is affiliated with. In fact, he ignited the Fairy Tail-Phantom Lord Guild War mainly because, as long time-rivals, he believed that the Fairy Tail Mages were enemies, and as a Phantom Lord Mage, Gajeel sees it as an obligation to "protect" his own guild, even if it meant starting an unprovoked attack against Fairy Tail. Upon his recruitment to Fairy Tail, this sense of comradeship did not change in the slightest; he even went as far as reprimanding Laxus (whom he admits to be a more powerful Mage than he is) for attempting to kill Natsu with his lightning, when they (Laxus and Natsu) are supposed to be allies.

Despite saying that he doesn't want to make friends, he tries in his own way to do so. So far he has sung an off-key solo (after chaining Mirajane to a wall) and not fought back when attacked by Shadow Gear or Laxus. He even protected Levy McGarden after Laxus Dreyar shot a blast of Lightning at her, showing that Jet and Droy were wrong about him, and he does want to make friends with the other members of Fairy Tail.

He has a short temper, seen when he and Natsu bicker constantly over childish things. Like Natsu, Gajeel lives for the thrill of combat, and is visibly frustrated when faced with circumstances where he is denied the opportunity of fighting a skilled adversary as seen during the S-Class Trails.

Despite his cold personality, he has shown a humorous side of himself when he was shocked to see Mirajane transform her face to look like him, and when he failed to break Freed Justine's Magic enchantment. After the conflict with Oracion Seis, he is shown to be upset when he realized that he's the only Dragon Slayer that doesn't have a cat as a partner. He then desperately tries to find a cat in the alleys but ended up starving and becoming heavily exhausted. Later on in Edolas, Gajeel finds the partner he is looking for in Pantherlily, and on arriving back in Earth Land, begins crying when he discovers Pantherlily made it to Earth Land, despite his reduced size.

Gajeel is apparently more perceptive than his demeanor suggests, and has demonstrated being able to relay indiscernible pieces of information, baring meaning that most people would have trouble understanding otherwise, to his comrades. He also has a unique way of laughter. It goes as "Gi Hi Hi Hi".

History
Similar to how Natsu learned his "Fire Dragon Slayer" from the dragon Igneel, Gajeel learned his "Iron Dragon Slayer" from the dragon Metalicana. Both Igneel and Metalicana disappeared seven years prior to the beginning of the series on July 7 in the year of X777.

Phantom Lord arc
Gajeel led the attack on Fairy Tail and the large iron rods protruding through the walls of the building seem to be his handiwork. He then attacks Fairy Tail's Shadow Gear team and pins them to a tree, crucifixion style, and burns the Phantom Lord symbol into their waists.

Later, when Fairy Tail attacks them, Gajeel first fights Elfman and easily starts to over power him. He then is interrupted when Natsu gets in the way and Gajeel becomes interested in having a battle with another Dragon Slayer. Though they exchange a few blows, Natsu is forced to retreat when Makarov was lead into a trap by Jose Porla and injured by Aria.

After the Element 4 are defeated, Gajeel reappears with a captured Lucy Heartfilia, stating that a Dragon Slayer's nose should never be doubted. He then is ordered by Jose to watch Lucy, but he pins her to the wall and starts to throw daggers at her to pass the time. In the anime, he hits her multiple times with his iron fists instead of throwing daggers. As Lucy insults him, telling him that if she dies, no one in Fairy Tail would forgive him. He then decides to test the theory and moves to kill her but Natsu comes (apparently Gajeel smelled him coming so he wanted to test if Natsu could save her).

Both Natsu and Gajeel begin their next fight right away. At first they are equal in strength, but Gajeel uses his Iron Dragon Scales (or Dragon Slayer mode) and gains an upper hand; he then eats some metal to heal himself and thrashes Natsu a bit. However after seeing the Fairy Tail building crumble, and with a little help from Lucy's Celestial Spirit, Sagittarius, Natsu turns the tables and knocks Gajeel right through the Phantom Lord's building, demolishing it and defeating him.

After the battle was over, Natsu found Gajeel and question him about where he learned his Metal Dragon Slayer Magic. He told Natsu about the Dragon Metalicana, and how he disappeared on the same day that Igneel did. He then yelled at Natsu to get out of what was left of his guild.

Sometime after,Makarov found Gajeel. Gajeel was eating iron on top of what was left of his former guild, when Makarov comes and tells him Juvia had joined Fairy Tail, much to Gajeel's displeasure. Makarov then tells him to join as well. Gajeel hesitates, telling Makarov that he was responsible for the destruction of Fairy Tail as well as the wounds of some of the members. Makarov agrees that Gajeel was indeed guilty, and that he won't forgive him easily (causing Gajeel to shiver under the presumption that Makarov came to exact vengeance upon him), but says that it would be harder to forgive himself if he were to leave a young man in the darkness. He stretches out his hand, to which Gajeel takes.

Fighting Festival arc
Gajeel is seen next at the Fairy Tail guild as a new member along with Juvia. He seems to have no remorse for destroying Fairy Tail's old building, only joining for work, saying "One Guild is as good as the next", telling Natsu he has no intention of being friends with him. When asked why Gajeel joined, Juvia stated "Gajeel always seems so lonely, Juvia couldn't bear to just leave him", but also added quickly that she doesn't like him (only because Gray was right next to her). Master Makarov wants to use this opportunity to guide Gajeel onto a more proper path in both life and Magic, but he agrees when Erza suggests he be watched.

Later, Gajeel locks Mirajane up with his metal cuffs seemingly betraying Fairy Tail, but in actuality, Gajeel just wanted her out of the way so that he could, surprisingly, sing his own song. He then takes a mission to teach little children how to use Magic. As he leaves, Shadow Gear attacks him, minus Levy who's protesting for them to stop. As they attack him, they are joined by Laxus who shoots a lightning bolt at Levy but Gajeel takes the blow and limps away to his job. As he leaves, it dawns on them that he intentionally didn't fight back.

As Laxus tries to take over the Guild, Gajeel eats some metal and prepares to go after him but, as with Natsu, he is stopped by Freed's enchantment implying that he might be over 80 years of age or made of stone, but more likely could not pass due to dragon slayer Magic being considered ancient Magic, thus the barrier reacted to the Magic. He then helps Natsu try to release Erza but as she awakes, she promptly beats them for touching her. Shortly after, Levy managed to dispel the enchantment, enabling Natsu and Gajeel to enter Laxus' tournament. Later, Gajeel is seen speaking to Ivan Dreyar through a form of Magic resembling a shikigami and apparently intends to get revenge on Fairy Tail.

Gajeel later appears in the church where Natsu was fighting Laxus and saved Natsu from his Raging Bolt spell. He then suggests that he and Natsu work together to take down Laxus and protect the guild, which surprises Natsu.

They put forth a valiant effort, but Laxus surprises them by revealing that he, too, is a Dragon Slayer. Using this power, Laxus nearly defeats them both. His powerful attacks weaken Gajeel too greatly for him to continue the fight. For a short while, Natsu is forced to fight Laxus alone. However, in the final moments, Gajeel uses his Iron Dragon Slayer powers to make himself a living lightning rod. This causes Laxus's attack to change course and miss Natsu, hitting Gajeel instead. Taking advantage of this, Natsu then finishes Laxus off.

In the Guild Hall, after Laxus's defeat, Gajeel and Natsu sit alongside one another covered from head to toe in bandages. When Natsu springs up from his seat to talk to Laxus, his every word is completely muffled by his bandages. Surprisingly, Gajeel is somehow able to understand him and relays what Natsu says to Laxus. He soon confronts Ivan about Laxus being a Dragon Slayer. Ivan reveals to Gajeel that Laxus was a "fake" Dragon Slayer, and because he pitied Laxus for being so 'weak', he used implanted lacrima into Laxus's body to let him gain Dragon Slayer powers. Gajeel is seen listening all the while, saying he won't screw up the fact that he was a spy, seemingly betraying Fairy Tail. However, shortly after during the Fantasia Parade, he meets Makarov behind the float (on the guild's balcony in the manga), revealing that he is in fact, a double agent, Makarov apologizes for giving him such a dangerous task, and says he won't allow Ivan to do whatever he wants. Gajeel is not shown watching the parade.

Edolas arc
He later appears again after Wendy Marvell has become a new member of Fairy Tail guild. He's shown to be upset and perplexed at the observation that both Natsu and Wendy have cats with them. Being a Dragon Slayer like them, he ponders and questions the fact that he doesn't have a cat himself and is seemingly troubled by this fact. He later begins looking for a cat to own in an alleyway but after numerous tries, he grows exhausted. He then trips and lands face-first in front of a silhouetted cat. However, the cat apparently clawed his face, as he runs into Happy afterward, who asks why Gajeel's face has multiple scratches.

As Anima sucks all Magnolia into Edolas, Gajeel is not shown to be at the guild. However, Charle says that Dragon Slayers should be safe. It was later revealed by Gray that Mystogan transported Gajeel to Edolas, along with the medicine, X-balls, that can allow Earth Land Mages to use their Magic in Edolas. Gajeel later freed Gray Fullbuster and Erza Scarlet from the Lacrima stationed at the grounds of the Royal Capital, and gives them the medicine to use Magic. While rampaging at the Royal Capital, Happy carries him to the Lacrima where the rest of the Fairy Tail members were trapped. He reveals that he can revert Anima's effects on the Lacrima by destroying it with Dragon Slayer Magic. As he is about to do so, he is interrupted by a flying Pantherlily who attacks him with a gigantic blade.

Their fight starts to get intense, when Gajeel's Iron scales allow him to withstand an attack from Pantherlily's sword, but in the middle of the fight when Pantherlily mentions about being an outcast, Gajeel immediately takes a liking to him and tries to make him his cat companion. However before deciding to make him his companion, Gajeel decides to show him who's stronger and manages to smash his sword. Their fight now is between hand to hand combat. As the Lacrima is about to smash into Extalia, Gajeel decides to postpone their fight and help prevent the collision of the Lacrima with the help of Team Natsu and the Exceed.

Gajeel along with the Fairy Tail members and the Exceed manage to stop the Lacrima destroying Extalia. Mystogan then arrives and is successful in sending the Lacrima back to Earthland and states that once the Lacrima returns through the Anima the fairy tail members will change back to normal. Erza Knightwalker shows up and shoots Pantherlily through the chest calling him a traitor. Gajeel is outraged by this saying "How dare you shoot my cat!". The King then makes an appearance in a giant metal dragon called the Dorma Anim as saying the metal dragon repels all Magic attacks. Gajeel, Natsu and Wendy engage the Dorma Anim in battle as only their Dragon Slayer Magic can stand up against the Dorma Anim.

Wendy casts a spell on Natsu and Gajeel while they fight with the Dorma Anim, making them faster and another one to make them stronger, the king then fires some tracking missiles after Wendy but Natsu intercepts and destroys them. When the king is about to shoot again, Gajeel hits the missiles before launch, but gets hit by the tail of the Dorma. A group of missiles is fired again, but these ones explode before Natsu can hit them.The king gets surprised when Natsu eats the fire of the explosions while Gajeel starts eating the tail of the Dorma. Suddenly the Dorma changes color as the king states that he is going to "Drain all the fighting spirits".

The new form of the Dorma Anim grants it a huge increase in power and a change of color as well, turning the tide in the king's favor. Gajeel decides to try some different tactics, revealing they hadn't been using full power because they didn't know what could happen. All three of them attacked at once with their respective roars but it had almost no effect. The king proclaims victory, saying that although they have infinite Magic, once it runs out it takes awhile to recharge. Natsu gets up saying that he'll use tomorrow's Magic. Gajeel gets up and pins the Dorma Anim leg down to the ground, telling Natsu to attack and that he was the only one who could do it. Natsu tells Wendy to aim a roar at him to boost his speed by the rotation of her roar and succeeds in tearing through the Dorma Anim.

When Nadi told them about Mystogan and Pantherlily's conversation, the three Dragon Slayers decided to put up a show, with them as the antagonist side of Mystogan's initial plan. Showing up along with the Great Demon-Lord Dragneel, he wrecked the streets of Royal Capital and helped Wendy to scare off some civilians; and at the same time, grudgingly putting up with Natsu's degenerative rants as he referred to Gajeel and Wendy as his "minions". Gajeel and Wendy then looked on Natsu's destructive demonstration in front of the crowd, with Wendy asking whether Natsu was going overboard. Gajeel, however, said that the salamander was merely setting up the perfect scene for the people to trust Mystogan. With Natsu's 'defeat', their bodies began to glow, and Gajeel tells Wendy to prepare a flashy defeat appearance. As Anima removes them from Edolas, the three Dragon Slayers faked a suffering gesture before smiling on Mystogan, signaling that everything will be alright.

Returning from Edolas, Gajeel, along with the rest of the gangs, were surprised by the appearance of the Exceeds. After listening to the Exceed Elders' explanation and the Exceeds departure, Gajeel searched frantically for Pantherlily. Showing up in a much smaller size, everyone were surprised by Pantherlily's new form. Pantherlily then requested to join the guild that the Prince once stayed in order to keep a promise to Gajeel, which Gajeel couldn't help but agreeing with laughter and tears. As he pulled the person out, everyone was left speechless by the fact that person is Lisanna. She asks Pantherlily if he is an Exceed, to which he replies by stating his name, and Gajeel angrily asks her if she is picking a fight with his cat. When Lisanna revealed that she is actually from Earth Land and was sent to Edolas 2 years ago, Gajeel alongside Natsu and the others help Lisanna to return to her siblings.

S-Class Trial arc
Back at Fairy Tail, everybody is celebrating Lisanna's return and Gajeel is shown to have become more cheerful by proposing a fight between "his Lily" and Natsu's and Wendy's Exceeds, but ends up as a fight between himself and Natsu and everyone in the Guild. At one scene, everyone finishes fighting and is sleeping from exhaustion. Gajeel is seen sleeping, while hugging Pantherlily with one arm.

A few days later he watches Pantherlily and Erza doing a spar with swords, after the battle he brags about Lily and his abilities. Gajeel like the rest of the guild, witnesses the master announcing the S-Class Wizard Promotion Trial, but is greatly shocked that he wasn't chosen as a candidate and surprised that Juvia was chosen over him. He also is greatly upset since he would have stood out as much as the other candidates, if his secret mission to infiltrate Raven Tail was revealed, and shows that his trust with the guild is not as strained as they believe it to be. It is shown that it was actually Erza who prevented him to be promoted, feeling it was too early for him.

When Jet and Droy are arguing over who will be Levy's partner, Gajeel steps up saying that he will help her. Levy feels she has no chance since she doesn't consider herself strong, which prompts Gajeel to yell at her to be more positive, and he'd help make her stronger causing her to blush.

As the participants head towards the island, Gajeel gets drowsy from the heat. When the first trial started Freed used a rune on the boat, which prevents everyone from leaving the boat for 5 min. However Levy managed to rewrite the rune in an instant, though she only lets herself and Gajeel leave. They then swim to the island and arrive before everyone else, except Freed's team. It is unknown which path he and Levi have chosen, but they managed to choose the quiet path. Gajeel was clearly not pleased by this since he couldn't fight against anyone.

During the second part of the test, Gajeel is seen grumbling about the test and him not being able to fight Natsu or Erza. Levy is seen to be frustrated with Gajeel for ignoring her and teasing her about her strength, before running away from him. Later, she regrets running away but is captured by two Grimoire Heart members. Gajeel saves her just in time and tells her not to leave his side again to which she agrees. With Gajeel and Levy back-to-back, he then asks for the identities of their ambushers, and though the perpetrators chose not to answer, the Guild crests on their person reveal to Gajeel that they were affiliated to the Grimoire Heart Guild.

With Grimoire Heart Mages present during the S-Class Trials, Gajeel wonders if the Master recruited Mages from a Dark Guild to pose as obstacles being part of the Trials without telling anyone else, to which Levy dismissed as negative and replies that it is more likely they have sneaked into the Island unauthorized.

Gajeel then says that if he cannot take care of a mess this small, he wouldn't have what it takes to be an S-Class Mage. Then, after Yomazu states that they are sent to poach all the Fairies on this island, he releases his attack, Gou, which makes the surroundings so loud so that Gajeel, along with Levy, cannot hear their surroundings. Gajeel cannot hear Levy's warning, so she pulls Gajeel away from Kawazu, who drops Egg Busters. When Levy uses her Solid Script: Silent to silence Gou, Gajeel, who is now able to hear, punches Yomazu. Despite gaining this advantage, Yomazu is able to cut through Gajeel's iron dragon scales with Zan. He then uses Kan to pierce right through Gajeel. Yomazu then uses Narukami to hit him again. With Gajeel down on the ground, and Levy watching nearby in horror, Yomazu and Kawazu converged, musing to themselves that if the other guild-members of Fairy Tail were just a weak as both Gajeel and Levy, then the two of them would be enough to take down the rest of the guild long before their reinforcements arrive; hearing this, Gajeel inquired about the "reinforcements" that they were talking about, to which Yomazu replied that he was referring to the entire Grimoire Heart wizards who were also deployed to their location, and would be arriving on Tenrou Island shortly, much to Gajeel's shock. Realizing that the gravity of the situation is worse than he initially anticipated, Gajeel tells Levy that from that point on, things will escalate beyond her imagination, and so he instructs her to run. When Levy showed her hesitation to leave Gajeel behind, he shouted that informing everyone else about Grimore Heart's arrival is more important right now, and urged her to go, saying he can take care of these two on his own. Yomazu opted to go after Levy, only to have Gajeel thwart his attempt using an iron-club arm that stopped dark guild Mage in his tracks. Before she leaves, Levy leaves a Solid Script Iron for Gajeel to devour and replenish his energy with, and then ran off, without looking back with tears in her eyes, begging him not to get killed.

With his strength replenished, Gajeel manages to get back on his feet, much to the shock of Yomazu and Kawazu; he remembers the time he fought with Natsu and how he defended the name and honor of Fairy Tail. Gajeel currently feels the same as Natsu did and vows to defeat his enemies. As he starts fighting, he starts off using his Roar, but they still hang. They use against him numerous spells and attacks, although he manages to defeat Kawazu with Iron Dragon Sword. This leaves Gajeel open, allowing Yomazu to stab Gajeel through the length of his steel arm with Tsuranuki, but he continues to latch on the sword, ignoring the cracks that were beginning to form on the surface of his arm due to Yomazu's sword penetrating him there, astounding Yomazu with his strength. Gajeel then remembers the day he join Fairy Tail.

Gajeel, recalling the times of comradeship that he experienced while side-by-side with the other Fairy Tail Mages, snaps back to the present and screams that he is a Fairy Tail Mage, right before forcibly destroying the sword with his daMaged arm, leaving Yomazu flabbergasted at Gajeel's power. He uses his ultimate technique, Dragon Slayer Secret Technique: Karma Demon Iron Sword, to defeat Yomazu. He collapses right after that from his wounds and exhaustion. Levy, Erza, and Juvia find him and his opponents on the ground. Levy runs to his side, telling him to hang in there, while Erza announces to the rest of the guild that the exam was paused for now, and that everyone had to get ready for battle. Levy, with Gajeel on her back, then says that she will carry him to camp and departs. When the Grimoire Heart members arrive from the bubbles, Levy hides, with Gajeel still unconscious on her shoulder.

He is later seen unconscious at the rest spot next to Mirajane, being tended to by Levy and Lisanna.

Magic and Abilities
Caster Magic User: As the former strongest member of Phantom Lord under Master Jose, Gajeel's power is incredible, enough to almost completely destroy the first Fairy Tail guild building, to single-handedly defeat the Shadow Gear team with no trouble and to nearly get the better of one of Fairy Tail's top fighters and an S-Class level Mage (albeit not recognized as such at the time), "Salamander" Natsu, in combat.


 * Iron Dragon Slayer: Like Natsu, Gajeel was taught by a dragon to manipulate a particular element into his fighting style: in Gajeel's case, the dragon Metalicana taught him how to use Iron Dragon Slayer Magic. However, as the name implies, his Dragon Slayer Magic deals with metal instead of fire. Just as Natsu eats fire to regain his strength, so can Gajeel eat metal to regain his own. His teeth and jaw muscles are apparently powerful enough to gnaw through solid metal with ease, and can devour even the Magic-canceling metal of the Dorma Anim. Gajeel's Magic seems to deal with producing multi-sized iron rods as well as changing parts of his body into steel. Most of his attacks involve transforming his arm's into hard-as-steel weapons, which he can do at will.


 * Iron Dragon's Scales (鉄龍の鱗 Tetsuryū no Uroko): Gajeel covers part of his body (or the entirety of it) with steel scales to dramatically increase his offense and defense. These scales are strong enough to shatter bone, and resilient against regular flames. This scale is much more harder than normal iron (just like Natsu's flames) as shown when Pantherlily's sword wasn't able to cut this iron.


 * Iron Dragon's Roar (鉄竜の咆哮 Tetsuryū no Hōkō): A metal-based variation of Natsu's Salamander's Roar and Wendy's Sky Dragon Roar attack. It releases shards of metal to shred his opponents body.


 * Iron Dragon's Club (鉄竜棍 Tetsuryūkon): He transforms his arm or leg into a large steel club, increasing punching and kicking power. He can also create multiple smaller clubs from the end of the original, hitting many enemies at once. The clubs can be elongated at Gajeel's will, making for powerful ranged weapons. He is also apparently capable of increasing their size dramatically and to detach them from his body: several of these clubs, enlarged to gargantuan size, were the main cause of Fairy Tail's building destruction.


 * Iron Dragon's Sword (鉄竜剣 Tetsuryūken): Similar to Iron Dragon's Club, he transforms his arm or leg into a large jagged steel blade. In the anime, the sword can also function like a chainsaw, effectively increasing its damage. Used, among other instances, to defeat Kawazu.


 * Iron Dragon's Lance: Demon Logs (鉄竜槍 鬼薪 Tetsuryūsō: Kishin): Gajeel extends one arm towards his target's direction, with the fingers outstretched, and then summons his Dragon Slayer Magical seal in front of himself, from which he rapidly fires several iron spears at the enemy multiple times.


 * Iron Dragon's Hard Fist (鉄竜の鋼拳 Tetsuryū no Gō Ken): It's a simple punch, but used when he is covered by Iron Dragon Scales, drastically increasing its striking power. (Anime only)


 * Dragon Slayer's Secret Art (滅竜奥義 Metsu Ryū Ōgi):


 * Karma Demon: Iron God Sword (業魔・鉄神剣 Gōma Tetsu Jin Ken): Iron Dragon Slayer's most powerful attack, where Gajeel claps his hands together above his head then swipes down a gigantic sword which destroys a huge area; even if the sword does not hit, the resulting wide-spread tremor affecting the general area is enough to incapacitate all else nearby. Used to defeat Yomazu and (indirectly) Kawazu.


 * Karma Demon: Iron Spiral (業魔・鉄螺線形 Gōma Tetsu Rasen): The second ultimate Iron Dragon Slayer move. Gajeel uses his Magic to transform his legs into a giant drill. He used this move to attack the red center spot of the Dragonoid to free Natsu from his prison. Although it did what it was intended to do, Gajeel acted cool and tough, saying that he still had a long way to go, since he "planned" to destroy the whole Dragonoid, along with Natsu. (Anime only)

Enhanced Smell: Gajeel has an incredible sense of smell that he shares with other Dragon Slayers. He uses this for tracking purposes as apparently, nothing can escape his nose. This is best shown when he could track Lucy to Fairy Tail's secret hideout. It is also inferred that he used this skill when he was tracking down Levy, who ran away from him in the S-Class Trials out of frustration.

Enhanced Strength: Gajeel has shown on different occasions to be incredibly strong, enough for him to clash with Natsu on even terms, to block and shatter Pantherlily's enormous sword and to pin down and hold still the gigantic Dorma Anim all by himself, allowing Natsu to finish it off.

Enhanced Durability: Even without his Dragon Slayer abilities, Gajeel has consistently proven himself to be one of the more resilient characters in the series: when he was confronted by team Shadow Gear after joining Fairy Tail, he was able to shrug off the combined attacks from Jet and Droy without retaliation and, in the the anime, only resorted to finally summoning his metal scales to increase his defense when Laxus tried to attack Levy. During his time in Edolas, Gajeel used his metal scales to fight Faust's mechanical Dragon, where he absorbed extremely powerful blows with little trouble.

Expert Hand to Hand Combatant: His skill in hand-to-hand combat rivals Natsu's, and with the support of his iron scales, he easily shifted the tide of battle into his favor for the majority of their fight. His overall speed and reflexes are impressive, being able to intercept attacks like Laxus' magical bolts and reaching Levy in time to save her from a double-team ambush of two Grimoire Heart Mages. He also possesses great proficiency in handling the weapons he shapes his body into with his Dragon Slayer magic.

Levy McGarden
The first time Gajeel and Levy met, Gajeel attacked Levy and her teammates, defeated them in battle, nailed them to a tree, and branded the Phantom Guild's symbol on Levy's stomach. After the war between the two guilds and Gajeel's subsequent conversion over to Fairy Tail, Levy was still among those who had their doubts about Gajeel's entrance to the Guild as one of their newest members. However, after Laxus attacked Levy, Gajeel blocked the blow for her, which lowered Levy's doubts about Gajeel. During the S-Class Trials, Levy was among the eight candidates who were selected to take part in the test; Levy showed her lack of confidence, but in the end, was encouraged by Gajeel, who even volunteered to become her partner, which made her blush. During the "Intelligence" part of the S-Class Trial, he constantly annoyed Levy and told her that if she wants attention from him, she should get stronger and seriously fight him every once in a while, not regarding Levy's disappointed feelings at his demeaning words. However, when Levy runs away, Gajeel runs after her and saves her life from two members of Grimore Heart. He tells her that "it was really hard looking for someone so small," but follows his remark by saying, "so don't leave my side."

Makarov
Makarov found Gajeel in what remains of the Phantom Lord Guild, and invited him to join the guild. Gajeel initially refused, since he was the one who destroyed it and injured its members. Makarov said that even though he would never forgive him for that, he wouldn't forgive himself for letting a young man fall into darkness and Gajeel finally accepted his offer. Later, Makarov apparently delegated Gajeel the task of acting as a double-agent for Fairy Tail on his son's Dark Guild, Raven Tail, something that not even the other members of Fairy Tail are aware of.

Juvia Lockser
Being formerly affiliated with Phantom Lord as he is, Juvia is the only member of Fairy Tail who also happens to be Gajeel's ally since his days in Phantom Lord. Because of this, Juvia can relate to Gajeel better than the other Fairy Tail Mages. He even took up Juvia's suggestion to try to open up with Fairy Tail, and went to the extremes of performing an on-stage solo "song" of friendship for the entire guild to hear. Juvia also seems to care for him as a close friend, since she calls him "Gajeel-kun" and was the one who recommended him to the guild, being worried because of his loneliness. Because she asked, Makarov went up to Gajeel and asked him to join.

Wendy Marvell
He seems to view her as a younger sibling, having aided her at scaring off an unfazed child denizen of Edoras (whom Wendy had trouble intimidating due to her cute appearance) by casting the child a menacing glare. After returning from Edolas, Gajeel also included Wendy "among the greatest" (according to Lucy) to have a competition between their cat companions.

Natsu Dragneel
Gajeel would often get into unnecessary fights or arguments with Natsu over needless issues. But deep down, Gajeel seems to respect Natsu as a rival, having been defeated by him in the past and will aid him in any way he can in the battlefield, working well together. He also seems to be familiar with how Natsu's mindset works, having assured Wendy of Natsu's actions during the latter's "fight" against Mystogan in Edoras.

Pantherlily
Gajeel first encountered Pantherlily when he was on the verge of returning the Mages of Earthland Fairy Tail back to normal by smashing the giant Lacrima in Edolas, only to be halted by the Exceed; after a lengthy battle, Gajeel came to respect Lily to the point where he openly declared to make Lily "his cat". Upon his return to Earthland, Lily followed him and agreed to be his companion, much to the Iron Dragon Slayer's delight. Gajeel seems very fond of Lily and often brags about his abilities.

Mystogan
In the anime only he remarks atleast on one occasion that he finds Mystogan to be "fishy" but decides to trust him due to the circumstances in the Edolas Arc.

Appearances in Other Media
Gajeel appears as a playable character in the first Fairy Tail Video Game, Fairy Tail Portable Guild, and its sequel, Fairy Tail Portable Guild 2. In both games, he is unlocked through quests.

Trivia

 * On the cover of Volume 8 Gajeel's eye color was green, but was later changed to red on the cover Volulume 13.
 * When he appeared first time as a member of Fairy Tail (in chapter 103), his guild symbol wasn’t on his left arm, but later we can see it there.
 * According to Gray, Gajeel is a very good song writer, however, his singing skills and ability to play musical instruments are poor.
 * In the manga, Natsu shows up to fight Gajeel when he is trying to pin shards on Lucy. In the anime he is about to kick her with his leg metalized.
 * Gajeel's Iron Dragon Roar looks different in the anime. In the manga it is a whirl with metal scraps in it. In the anime it looks almost like Natsu's Roar only in a gray-blue tone. Later in the anime, Gajeel's Iron Dragon Roar followed the manga as the wind is gray-blue in colour.
 * From the Volume 16 Limited Edition: Sorcerer Interview, Fairy Tail had no good qualities according to Gajeel. He has no dreams for the future. He doesn't have a good relationship with anyone in the guild. The most difficult job he ever took was a personal request by Makarov.
 * In the anime, Gajeel is shown to have an Edolas counterpart. The counterpart is a freelance writer who frequently criticises the Kingdom of Edolas. Upon hearing this piece of news from some gangsters in Edolas, Gajeel smirks to himself and expresses interest in meeting his counterpart.

Quotes

 * (To Jose Porla)"Well, if they got beaten by a trash, that just make them trash as well."
 * (To Natsu Dragneel)"There ain’t room for two dragons in the sky."
 * "I don’t even know the meaning of going easy on someone."
 * "What a troublesome guild. When we get back you better buy me all the metal I can eat."
 * (To Pantherlily) I will make this guy my cat!"
 * (To Levy McGarden)"I'll blow away any guy you don't like during the exam."
 * "I will make you big."
 * (To Levy McGarden after saving her Yomazu and Kawazu)"It's hard looking for someone so small. So don't leave my side."
 * (To Levy McGarden)"This isn't some mundane war. This is going to escalate beyond your wildest imagination. You need to let everyone know! I can take care of these guys easily by myself!"