Originally posted September 2018

If you haven't already read my previous post about rewriting Fairy Tail, I mentioned the missed opportunities in Lucy's character, discussing mainly that her abilities and progression should have been focused on her leadership abilities, potentially painting her as a leader of the guild (which would be a pretty cool ending).

If you haven't read that, I suggest you go find it on my blog, as it'll make this post make more sense, and what I just said make more sense (as it's explained in much more detail). So, now that I've talked about Lucy, I wanna go into Natsu. (and still about Lucy, because a lot about her character dev will be in here too).

The Problem (or the Ego of E.N.D.)

So, if you haven't noticed, Natsu is pretty vain. It's honestly hilarious, as he's not only vain in his abilities as a fighter (always having to be the one who defeats the big baddie), but just plain vain. Remember when he first encountered Zeref on tenrou island and his scarf turned black, so he turned his vest inside out to it wasn't black on black. In his own, weird, way, he has a very heightened fashion sense. And that's hilarious.

https://youtu.be/i8KomMRWSi0

He's vain! It's just apart of his personality and it's not really a bad thing! I'm not here to say that it should be removed from his character, but played up. Like, A LOT! Like, this fun bit with him panicking about his fashion being off, I'd love to see more of this in him. How he thinks he's dressed well and looks cool, and has a very established sense of fashion that he just low key obsesses over (I mean, he uses the fire magic equivalent of hair gel).

Moving on, I always felt a bit annoyed because as much as Natsu goes on and on about friendship and the importance of his guild, he really isn't much a team player when it gets down to it.

I mean, he literally kicked Gajeel out of a fight with Rogue and Sting so he could be the big man and get revenge for Lucy (or whatever his motivations for that was exactly, maybe it was just his ego in the end). It bothered me because Mashima never really played this like it was a problem. I mean, the characters around him would get annoyed, sure, but he would never learn that it was wrong to do this. Even when teamwork was applied, it was always like, "Here, have our power or something, so I can help you win this fight without directly participating in it! Teamwork!"

Thus, Natsu doesn't really learn to work alongside his team, at least not in the big bad fights. Most of them (not all of them, but most of them) end one on one with Natsu and the antagonist of the week.

In my rewrite, I would want the vanity of Natsu to be a problem. Something that commonly frustrates his teammates to no end. Of course, Natsu's success rate wouldn't change for that matter. He would keep winning, and that would keep stroking his ego again and again.

Of course, the bigger they are, the harder they fall.

I found the moments Natsu lost in some way or another to be some of his most powerful moments as a character. Like that time he lost to Gildarts, but he let him go through anyway. Then Natsu just starts bawling, snot running from his nose like a little kid. It's a really endearing moment because he's put in a vulnerable position having lost, but Gildarts lets him through anyway, rooting for him to fulfill his dream of being S-Class.

It's so friggin' sweet. Which carries on to my significant plot change revolving around Natsu's character.

The Changes (or the fall of a man's pride)

The big change is all around the Tartarus Arc. It feels weird to focus so late into the story when Natsu's character makes its biggest development. But given the fact that his development is around his vanity, I think a longer buildup will have a greater payoff.

The Tartarus Arc is also a huge mood change for Fairy Tail, in some sense. A lot happens in it, and it's the last arc before the second time skip, so it'll do good for Natsu's huge fall as a character.

Like I said, a lot happened in this arc, and forgive me for not brushing up on the whole synopsis, but since this a rewrite, I'm gonna dodge and shift a few of the details anyway (though I feel I'm due a reread of Fairy Tail, just to get back into grips with the whole plot, especially if I intend to do any more of these "rewrite posts"). There are a lot of big moments for each of the characters. Gray meeting his dad, Lucy losing Aquarius, and Wendy finally using her Dragon Force.

However, one of the biggest moments, by far, was Igneel's arrival. It was just like "Boom, yup, been here the whole time," and what not. It was quite a shocker, you know. Though this idea isn't set in stone (I mean, none of this is, it's a collection of awkward thoughts collected together into an opinion no one cares about) I think that the biggest change I'd make to crush Natsu's vanity would be a loss. Not just losing Igneel, no, I mean, losing a battle, and perhaps even losing Igneel because of it.

Though I don't have it worked out in my head, since the battles were separated between Natsu and Igneel (who was fighting Acknologia), I think that Natsu's vanity leading him into a battle on his own, and losing it, and losing Igneel because of it, would be the change that he needs to pull him out of his own head.

I knew he had to lose when the tension was really high, and then he'd realize he really wasn't all he thought himself to be. All his expectations sort of crash, and he's left to not only live with his failure but to also now live with the true loss of his father Igneel (oh my gosh, this is physically hurting me as I keep picturing Natsu crying in my head and it breaks my heart). 

(Here, so you can suffer with me)

I imagine this would lead him into a bit of a downward spiral. While he went and trained with Happy for the time skip, and I imagine this might be the case, I feel like Natsu would also spend some of his time just mourning and feeling sorry for himself. He'd spend the year training to no extent, trying to get to a point where he could again feel strong enough to protect the people he loved, but no matter how much he tried, he couldn't become the confident individual he was before.

He's traumatized.

Thus, Lucy arrives.

The Rewrite (or how the Princess saves the Dragon)

Of course, the reunion wouldn't be the same with this rewrite. Natsu wouldn't ambush the Grand Magic Games, nor would he be as cheeky as he was with his whole set goal on reviving the guild right away. Things would move a bit more slowly. I'll move it along in this fashion, I imagine:

Natsu and Happy would encounter Lucy at the capital, but in a less grand gesture. In fact, it's a little awkward. Maybe they meet when Natsu ends up getting in a gith with some thugs (one he loses). Or maybe they just meet at a bar. Natsu, yet to be convinced that he's strong enough, finds himself unready to meet his friend once again, embarassed even. He quickly dodges her, grabbing Happy and sprinting as far as he could to escape her sight. She pursues, but to no avail.

Lucy has been doing well for herself. She works as an editor for Sorcerer Weekly, but works under Jason and a bunch of other annoying jerks who never listen to her ideas. While she lives comfortably, makes decent money, and (for the most part) likes her job, she continuously has an intching feeling that something is wrong.

Encountering Natsu again, Lucy is inspired to find him, searching the city far and wide for him. She realizes he isn't the type to dwell in the city, and goes to the outskurts of town (sure enough) finding him and Happy parked near the edge of the wooded area. Finding him in the midst of a meal, he doesn't get the chance to run and hide like before.

Lucy and Natsu rekindle their relationship, Lucy explainging what she's been up to and complaining about work for a bit, while also filling Natsu in on what happened to Fairy Tail.

Natsu reveals why he's been distant and doging Lucy, claiming that he's realized he wasn't as strong as he thought he was. Anything left of his vanity is completely gone, and it's like he's a different person. Lucy isn't having any of it, telling him to get off his butt and stop feeling sorry for himself. From then on, Lucy begins to regularly train Natsu, helping him regain his confidence. Lucy would spend time with Natsu at almost all hours, helping him physically train his body with Happy in the woods, or dragging him to libraries and archives to research Dragon Slaying and other fighting methods to master, all while motivating him to regain his former confidence.

Natsu does begin to act like himself again, acting a bit vain here and there (just for being proud of how strong he's gotten) and Lucy would tease him, telling him to not get ahead of himself in a joking fashion. It's here when Natsu begins to develop a crush on Lucy, a "Hot for Teacher" type deal. (I'll ellaborate on this detail later).

Lucy begins falling behind at work thanks to her time with Natsu, but realizes that she loves helping Natsu, and not just because he's Natsu, but because she's a leader, and helping people find their full potentional is what she needs to do. She quits her job, and decides to head out with Happy and Natsu to find the rest of the guild and restart Fairy Tail.

Okay, so that would be the beginning of the time skip in my revised version, setting up Natsu's character development as well as following through with the character arc Lucy was already building up to, finally realizing her potential as a leader.

It would also develop a more solid romance between Natsu and Lucy, except one that sort of bends the tropes a bit. Rather than Lucy develop feelings for Natsu, it's the other way around. This isn't to say that any thoughts of Natsu in a romantic light hadn't bubbled in all the time they'd known each other prior to this, this is Natsu just blatantly having a crush on her, and acting how any teenage boy would act around their crush. Like a complete idiot. You might say this is out of character, and yeah, it is. That's the point. I'm rewriting his character, so it's going to be different from how it is currently (so yeah).

Since the majority of his arc is about him overcoming his vanity, as he begins to regain his confidence, one of the things that keep his ego under wraps is Lucy. Developing feelings for her (and being aware of it), he begins to act nervously around her. This element manages to keep him from falling back into that vain persona he had before. Lucy is ignorant of his feelings, mostly, and is more focused on her own growing ambition, so it's sort of funny how they're reversed. 

While prior to this time skip, Lucy will remain the way she was originally, always getting frantic or nervous in situations that put Natsu and herself in any kind of romantic light. However, following the time skip she'll become more confident in herself, thus, her relationship with Natsu, and not get so worked up about it.

However, having his ego deeply wounded, and beginning to actually develop feelings for Lucy, he'll be the one who gets nervous when Lucy is so close to him or something awkward or sexy happens. Of course, his ignorance of romance will have to be maintained, which will make things a bit more difficult.

Note that the reason Lucy always freaks out when something "romantic" happens with Natsu is because Lucy is knowledgeable in romance as a subject, so when something happens, like her and Natsu getting super close physically, or Natsu saying something that could be taken as "romantic", she'll instantly link it to something she read or how she thinks romance is supposed to be due to her fictionalized version of love.

Natsu, however, doesn't have this. He's working completely off instincts so to say he acts like Lucy wouldn't be completely accurate. Perhaps when the guild is brought back together, he'll talk to Levy about getting his hands on a few books and receive some hugely inappropriate ideas on how romance should work.

However, more than anything, I think this crush coming from Lucy teaching him and helping him will mean Natsu has a greater respect for her. Sure, he's always loved her as his friend and would do anything to protect her, but now he's developed a love that comes solely from his respect for her.

Natsu would earnestly listen and seek out her opinion and guidance after the time skip, something he doesn't really do now. It would make the relationship seem much more like a partnership, where they're both reliant on each other. Of course, that's going into their relationship, which I'll discuss in greater detail another time.

Another moment ending the second chapter post-time skip was Natsu dragging Lucy away to restart Fairy Tail. I always liked the moment, as it was a great rehash of the first chapter when Natsu dragged Lucy off to Fairy Tail. I adored both moments, as they captured the relationship between the two characters perfectly. I'm not sure if I'd change it, but if I did, the only change I'd make would be reversing the roles. I think it would work well with Lucy being the one dragging Natsu away as she's been building so much traction since their reunion. She's been training Natsu, she's just quit her job. She's riding the high of her own confidence, so the role reversal might just feel natural

Returning to Natsu, I feel this change would bring greater focus to his character development, which I felt was lacking throughout the series. The way Fairy Tail was set up prevented Natsu from growing, really. For the majority of the story, he never really suffered any loss. Whenever he did (i.e. Lisanna) they pulled a fast one on us and brought her back. So yay, now he doesn't haven't to deal with the pain of that loss anymore! Cuz it's just fixed like that!

Overall, there are a lot of flaws in his character development, and I'll go into it in later posts. This is primarily about his vanity, so it goes off a bit into changes in the plot rather than just his character. I hope this whole thing wasn't too long-winded, or just plain long. So if you've made it here, congratulations!

If you agree and have any other ideas about what changes would make Fairy Tail a greater story? Please comment and share! If you completely disagree with me and my ideas and think I'm a hack, a fraud, or just suck generally as a person! Also share! I really don't care. These essays are just fun to write because it helps me think critically as a writer.

Anyway, thanks for reading, and see you next time.