Featured Image from: Comics Beat
When you think of some of the best Japanese manga series ever published, Fairy Tailmay come to mind for those who followed it in its various forms. Written and illustrated by Hiro Mashima and serialized in Weekly Shōnen Magazine, the manga went onto have 60 million copies in circulation by 2017 as well as an anime series, feature films, a spin-off, video games, and four original soundtracks.
Plenty of fans and people just discovering Fairy Tailstill have a lot of questions about the series. Today, we give a quick recap of the show and what the Fairy Tail guild symbol meant in the series.
What Is Fairy Tail About?
Fairy Tail is a manga series set in a fantasy world called Earth Land where humans, dragons, giants, demons, and other races such as Exceeds (talking, flying magical cats) live. The main protagonists are Natsu Dragneel, a dragon slayer Mage in search of his foster parent, the Dragon Igneel. Along with his Exceed, Happy, they meet Lucy Heartfilia, another traveling mage.
A lot of the manga deals with the fantasy world’s guilds, the wars that occur, and how guild members perform missions offered by their own guild. Lucy is abducted by someone pretending to be Salamander of the Fairy Tail guild, but Natsu rescues her and reveals that he is the real Salamander of Fairy Tail. He then goes on adventures with her and the rest of his friends.
Fairy Tail Guilds
In their world, three types of guilds exist: Legal Guilds which are approved and registered by the Magic Council; Dark Guilds that aren’t approved and do criminal activity; and Independent Guilds which, though unapproved by the Magic Council, aren’t doing anything illegal or criminal and are left to their own devices. The Magic Council consists of Mages who have the authority to legalize or disband guilds, working under the King and his governing body.
The purpose of guilds were to obtain and disseminate jobs to all the guild members. Apart from Magic Guilds, there were also guilds for merchants, mercenaries, workmen, and the different types of work that needed to be done within the Fairy Tail universe.
Originally, Legal Guilds could perform Guild Wars to fight for commercial rights and power. However, after the Magic Council passed the Interguild Dispute Interdiction Treaty following the Second Trade War, Legal Guilds were not allowed to go to war with other Legal Guilds. Legal Guilds could still declare war with Dark Guilds in an attempt to lower the number of Dark Guilds in Earth Land.
What Is the Fairy Tail Guild?
Fairy Tail is the strongest guild in the series. Based in the Kingdom of Fiore, it has several locations, including the First and Second Fairy Tail Buildings in Magnolia Town, Fairy Hills (the dormitory for female guild members),and Tenrou Island, the resting place of the guild’s first Guild Master.
Fairy Tail has around 100 members. Despite its reputation as the strongest guild, Fairy Tail isn’t exclusive about the members it admits. One would simply have to get the approval of a Guild Master, regardless of whether or not they can perform magic, what their past was, or whether or not the other members approved of their membership.
Most of its members are still active, while others have died, left, or were excommunicated from the guild. Members are free to leave when they want, but they are expected to uphold second rules. They cannot reveal the guild’s secrets to others, they must not use former contacts from their guild for their personal gain, and members must not forget their friends or consider their own life insignificant simply because they are no longer a part of the guild.
Those who can perform magic in the Fairy Tail Guild can perform four powerful Magic spells: Fairy Law, Fairy Glitter, Fairy Sphere, and Fairy Heart.
What Does the Fairy Tail Symbol Mean?
Each member is given a tattoo bearing the logo of the Fairy Tail Guild. Its symbol is actually part of the lore, something someone outside of the Fairy Tail fandom may not understand. The Fairy Tail Guild was created by a Female Human named Mavis Vermillion, who became the guild’s first Guild Master.
Because of using an incomplete version of Grand Magic, Mavis’ body was frozen at the age of 13, thus unable to look older than her 13-year old self. Biologically, she was 24 years old when she was put into a coma. However, while she was awake (and even as she uses Thought Projection to interact with her guild members), Mavis was said to be a kind, protective, and caring person. Although she was playful and childish, she could be serious when she wanted to be and believed in the importance of mystery and adventure.
In a flashback of his initiation into the Fairy Tail Guild, Makarov Dreyar mentions that the guild is called “Fairy Tail” as it is a place of “eternal mystery” and is ”a never-ending adventure.” While many magical races exist in Earth Land, no one has seen a fairy. Therefore, no one has proven if fairies do exist or if they really have tails.
This mystery of fairies is what Mavis wanted to instill into her Guild. Mavis claimed that no one knew for sure that fairies existed, let alone if they did have tails. This was why her guild became a symbol for eternal mystery and adventure.
To someone who has never watched the show, the logo looks more like an orange weirdly-shaped bird. But if you look closely, it’s actually a fairy with a tail. The top part is their spiky pixie-cut hair, the spikes on the right are its wings and tail, and the ones on the lower left are its legs.
This was meant to symbolize the mystery and adventure each of the guild members were looking for. There is no exact job or adventure that specifically brings mystery and adventure. And that’s what makes Fairy Taila great manga to read, a series to watch, and even watch the film adaptations of it.
