Erza Deserved Better | Fairy Tail

Intro:

Erza is one of my favorite characters in Fairy Tail, and one of my favorite characters in media in general. As I often say, she is the Beyoncé of anime: a strong, highly skilled woman who constantly seeks to outdo herself; who strives for excellence as she pushes herself and those around her beyond their limits; and one whose legacy demonstrates the icon she’d become.

Fairy Tail in general has a lot of great female characters, and honestly, they carry both the show and the guild. Without these ladies, Fairy Tail just wouldn’t be as fun or engaging, and both Lucy and Erza are prime examples of that. I’ve already discussed my love of Lucy, and how I wish the story treated her better, but now it’s Erza’s time. Except now instead of talking about how she deserved better from the show, we’re gonna talk about how she deserves better… from the viewers.

There’s always been a lot of debate around whether or not Erza is an overpowered Mary Sue, which to me is strange because… well, we’ll get there when we get there, but there’s another character far worthier of that Sue title, and it ain’t Erza—and it ain’t even a gal. I’ve loved Erza since I was introduced to her, and today, I’m gonna yell at you about why. Naturally, spoilers are ahead for all of Fairy Tail thus far, not including Hundred Year Quest. No, I haven’t read it, I am waiting for the anime, do not @ me.

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Now without further ado, let’s talk about the best ginger in all of anime.

Erza’s Story:

Now, we’re going to mostly be focusing on the highlights of Erza’s story across the series, specifically the first season of the anime: from her introduction, to the Battle of Fairy Tail, along with some iconic moments during the Oracion Seis, Edolas, Grand Magic Games, and Alvarez Arcs. We’re also gonna be talking about… some weird shit they do to her in the Tartaros Arc, which… we’ll get there when we get there.

When we first hear about Erza, it’s through Natsu, Happy, and Gray. Lucy has yet to meet her, but from what she’s heard, Erza, also known as Titania, Queen of the Fairies, is built up to be this scary monster that everyone is scared of. She’s not only one of Fairy Tail’s strongest members, but also one that’s deeply intimidating even to powerhouses like Natsu and Gray. It’s not entirely inaccurate. When she arrives at the guild hall, she’s immediately talking about how everyone else’s behavior is dragging the guild’s name through the mud. She lectures everyone on their vices and bad habits, which seems to make them either fearful or annoyed from getting dragged by their whole ass.

It’s here we can see she’s incredibly invested in Fairy Tail’s reputation as a guild. She demands nothing less than excellence from her guildmates, and isn’t afraid to call them out when they stray from that standard. She’s all about tough love, though admittedly, this does also show that her people skills could use some work. She doesn’t even seem to realize how the others are interpreting what she says; totally oblivious to how feared she is by her own guildmates.

However, her softer side does come out a bit when she meets Lucy, a newcomer to the guild. Though Lucy’s nervous about letting Erza down, and terrified by how scared she makes Natsu and Gray, Erza’s still eager to work with Lucy, not even minding when Lucy tags along on their supposedly dangerous mission. And honestly, Natsu and Gray kinda deserve the fear Erza strikes into their hearts. They really needed to have a third party tell them to get over their petty rivalry to focus on getting the job done.

Once we confront Eisenwald, Erza gets to show off her swordsmanship, as well as her magical ability: the Knight. She can transform into different suits of magical armor which grant her unique abilities. The most impressive of the bunch, and the most memorable, is the Heaven’s Wheel, resembling an angel as she decimates most of the Eisenwald goons with a rain of swords. As show-offy as this feels, it’s also showing her not wasting a moment to stop her enemies, as this attack is usually great for crowd control.

Before this, Erza had already exhausted herself by using nearly all her magic power on the magic mobile, racing after Eisenwald once the group discovered they had the deadly Lullaby flute, which kills anyone who hears its melody. She’s appalled by the cruelty and maliciousness of Eisenwald, especially its leader: Erigor the Reaper.

We see here that Erza’s desire to get the job done comes from a place of apprehending those she deems as wrongdoers harming the innocent. She’s focused on protecting the people of Onibus, even if it means exhausting herself by busting out Heaven’s Wheel after she’d already sapped nearly all her magic getting here. Oh, and more scaring the people around the station without meaning to. Gotta love the lack of people skills.

However, Erza at this point has a tendency to fixate on following the rules. She’s very much lawful good, emphasis on “lawful.” She believes in doing things by the book, following the rules set by the guild and those in power, and never straying no matter what. This is established when the Magic Council arrests her for the destruction wrought while apprehending Eisenwald and dispatching the Lullaby demon. It’s largely due to the Magic Council’s disdain for Fairy Tail, seeking to discourage them by making an example of one of its strongest members.

They arrest her, and despite the others’ protests, she goes along with it, willingly being put on trial. It’s during this we meet Siegrain, a member of the Magic Council who seems to know Erza quite well, and is incredibly creepy. He’s arguably the most defensive of Fairy Tail on the council, white knighting for them at every turn, though this exchange hints there’s a nefarious ulterior motive… perhaps to do with Miss Ultear? Seriously, it’s right there, guys.

Anyhow, Natsu tries busting Erza out in the dumbest way possible, making an absolute mockery out of Titania’s iconography. As a result, both Erza and Natsu wind up in jail for the night. It’s only temporary, again more focused on making an example out of Erza than anything else. However, despite knowing the council’s ulterior motives (hehe), Erza still goes along with it because of her need to abide by the law. To her, lawfulness and morality are equivalent, despite the fact that it’s a fallacy.

She learns this in the Galuna Arc. Lucy and Natsu decide to take an S-Class Request: a special job meant only for S-Class wizards, the strongest members of the Fairy Tail Guild. To specify, of the Fire Fairies, only Erza is an S-Class. To take an S-Class Request when you yourself are not S-Class is strictly against guild rules, and also a good way to get yourself killed. Still, this doesn’t stop Lucy and Natsu from taking it, and even kidnapping Gray when he tries to stop them. Erza is then sent after them, befriending a weird group of pirates along the way. They don’t matter, but I find this strangely cut, so I’m gonna mention it anyway.

However, when Gray decides to see the mission through to save the villagers’ lives, and to stop Lyon from freeing the demon Deliora, both of whom he shares a dark past with, Erza still emphasizes that they be brought back to the guild. They’ve broken guild rules. As such, they’ve disgraced the guild and must be brought to justice. To her, it doesn’t matter what’s happening on the island, rationalizing her priorities by saying the villagers will be better off waiting for a properly qualified wizard to take the job—but they can’t wait.

Gray stands up to her, literally standing before Erza’s drawn sword and challenging her resolve. His resolve causes Erza’s to waver. The emphasis on saving the villagers in time makes Erza question herself, and question her priorities, to where she decides to help the others defeat Lyon’s cult and vanquish Deliora. She’s made to question herself and her actions, and the narrative shows she’s in fact in the wrong for her fixation on following rules over helping people. And likely, this idea of her being seen as heartless because of this fixation is a sore spot for her given her past.

From here, we get to see Erza’s true colors, especially during the Phantom Lord Arc. She’s not that big of a pivotal player here outside of her fight with José, Phantom’s guildmaster, but Makarov being incapacitated for most of the arc forces Erza to step up as their de facto leader. She calls for Fairy Tail to retreat from their attack on Phantom’s base when Makarov is cursed, and when Phantom attacks the Fairy Tail guild hall directly, Erza steps up to defend it, then leads the others in refusing to hand Lucy over to José.

I absolutely love Erza’s fight against José, where she calls out his pettiness and willingness to destroy so many lives just for the sake of his ego. That said, and content warning, we’re going to be discussing self-sacrifice here briefly, Erza tries to sacrifice herself here when José prepares to kill her, making an example out of her to discourage the rest of her guild before slaughtering them all. Erza has a tendency to try to sacrifice herself for others. She views her life as unimportant, and worthy of being thrown away for her hope for the wellbeing of others.

However, the story doesn’t glorify her doing this. In fact, she’s stopped both times by other characters, this time by Makarov when he returns to face José himself. We see here that the narrative is saying, “Actually no, self sacrifice isn’t necessary, and actually harmful to both yourself and the people you love.” It’s a lesson Erza hasn’t quite grasped yet, but I do think this was foreshadowing her struggle with valuing herself and her life for later.

Then we get into Erza’s arc: Tower of Heaven. The first season generally gives each of the Fire Fairies their own arcs—Galuna for Gray, Phantom for Lucy (theoretically), Tower of Heaven for Erza, and… lowkey everything for Natsu, more on that later. During this arc, Erza is forced to confront her past, and we delve deeper into her history. Erza was an orphan, growing up in the quaint Rosemary Village before it was attacked by cultists who worshipped the Dark Lord Zeref.

These cultists would attack several villagers, kidnapping all sorts of people and bringing them to the Tower of Heaven: a ritual site believed to have been constructed by Zeref himself. Apparently there are several towers across the world. The tower is also known as the R-System, as it’s actually meant to use forbidden magic to resurrect a person by sacrificing many more in exchange. These people were then made into slaves, forced to construct the tower in terrible living conditions, often brutalized and tortured when they tried to escape or didn’t work quickly enough.

It’s here the young Erza met her small group of friends: Sho, Simon, Milliana, Wally, and Jellal. She also met Old Man Rob, a former member of Fairy Tail and old friend of Makarov’s, who’d also been imprisoned here. This little group looked out for each other. Their friendship gave them something to cling to in this horrible place, and Rob’s stories of the Fairy Tail wizards also gave Erza hope for a better life outside the tower. Jellal even gave Erza her last name of Scarlet for her red hair.

This treatment reached a fever pitch as Erza was tortured by the cultists, even losing an eye in the process. Trying to save her, Jellal took her place, which drove Erza over the edge. Taking a weapon, she fought back against the cultists, telling the other prisoners to do the same. She posits that their captors will never free them willingly. They will never be given their freedom, and so they must take it, or die trying. Erza literally starts a whole-ass revolution at the age of… I think 8? What an icon.

During the revolt, Rob sacrifices himself. The trauma pushes Erza past her limits. Her magic is revealed as a result, unleashing a barrage of swords, and turning the tides against the cultists. However, before they can all escape on the boats, Jellal reveals he’s been approached by the supposed spirit of Zeref, who wants him to finish construction on the Tower of Heaven. Jellal has been completely broken by his time here in the tower. He’s given into darkness and despair, believing the world is a dark, cruel place, and now believes he must meet that with darkness and cruelty of his own, becoming the new dictator of the tower. He perpetuates this horrible cycle.

When Erza stands against him and wants to leave, Jellal scorns her desire to leave. He sees her as a traitor, exiling her, but saying that if she ever reveals what actually happened between them, he would slaughter Erza’s friends. Erza was then forced to burn the boats and take the blame for stranding everyone at the Tower of Heaven, leaving them to idolize Jellal as their hero so they would willingly finish constructing the tower for him.

Erza, meanwhile, would wash ashore, battered, betrayed, and alone. The person she started that uprising for turned against her, turning her loved ones against her. With nowhere to go, Erxza found her way to the guild Old Man Rob was once part of: Fairy Tail. It’s here she was also introduced to Porlyusica, another old friend of Makarov and reclusive healer. Erza would receive a prosthetic eye here. Though this eye couldn’t produce tears when she cried, she was still grateful for it, deciding to focus on the bright side and thank Porlyusica for her help, despite her cold demeanor.

Erza would then grow up in the Fairy Tail guild as a sort of big sister, especially to the constantly feuding Natsu and Gray. Finding a new life here, Erza flourished, becoming the revered S-Class wizard she is today. She’d left the darkness of her past behind. Unfortunately, her past wasn’t quite done with her, as Jellal relied on Erza for a crucial part of his scheme for the R-System.

During a vacation with the Fire Fairies, where Erza, against her usual nature, let herself relax and enjoy some downtime, had her peace shattered by the return of her old friends. Still believing Erza betrayed and abandoned them, Sho, Simon, Milliana, and Wally—who all now possess magic—quickly dispatch the Fire Fairies and kidnap Erza, taking her back to the now completed Tower of Heaven.

Once the other Fire Fairies, and Juvia, arrive to help, Erza reveals the full truth to her friends, both old and new, which is difficult for her old friends to hear. That they were manipulated by their hero and friend into turning against another.

Erza wants to face and eliminate Jellal herself, believing she’ll die as a result. She knows Jellal is a threat, but she believes this is her fight, and doesn’t want to involve her friends even if they volunteer their help. This is also in line with her struggle with vulnerability during this arc. Her armor is both literal and metaphorical: a defensive wall around her heart; one which was likely constructed after experiencing Jellal’s horrific betrayal as a child.

And honestly, I don’t blame her. Having someone you love do such horrible things to you, abusing you, it’s no wonder it’s hard for her to trust and wear her heart on her sleeve. Erza is a kind, caring, compassionate person, but struggles letting that show, believing she has to be strong at all times. Otherwise, disaster will follow. Just look at what happened at the resort. What was supposed to be a fun, pleasant, laid-back vacation with her friends ended in them nearly dying as Erza’s past came back to literally drag her back to the source of her trauma.

Erza’s fixation on protecting herself is directly challenged in her fight with Ikaruga, an assassin contracted by Jellal. None of Erza’s armors are able to stand up to Ikaruga. Each one, despite its strength, is quickly torn apart by her blade. This forces Erza to use an ability that she’s rarely called upon: the Clear Heart Clothing. Aside from Heaven’s Wheel, it’s arguably her most iconic armor, though armor is a liberal use of the word. It sacrifices all defense for increased strength and agility. It’s with this acceptance of vulnerability she’s able to defeat Ikaruga, then move onto her real enemy: Jellal.

She does a great job at first to kick his ass, ready to kill him for all the horrible things he’s done, and to prevent him from activating the R-System. Unfortunately, Jellal is a sneaky snake, manipulating Erza and convincing her that he’s just been manipulated by Zeref. In reality, he played her like a damn fiddle, and to explain, we need to go back to that weirdo on the Magic Council Siegrain.

See, Siegrain claimed that he and Jellal were… twins. Yes, it’s as stupid as it sounds, but he used this cover to gain political power within the Kingdom of Fiore, and to keep an eye on Erza once she’d left the tower. In reality, Siegrain was Jellal’s astral projection, and he, with Ultear’s help, had been trying to coax the Magic Council into firing their Etherion Cannon (basically a magical nuke) at the Tower of Heaven, inadvertently activating it for his plan.

See, once again, Erza was planning on sacrificing herself by keeping Jellal busy, hoping the cannon would destroy the tower, even if it killed her along with Jellal. In reality, Jellal was hoping to use this to activate the tower, and use Erza as a sacrifice to resurrect Zeref. He even places a binding spell on Erza when they hug, because right now he’s a fucking snake. Literally, I think the binding spell even hisses when it’s in use.

It’s here Natsu comes to her rescue. Now, I do wish it was all the Fire Fairies to emphasize them working well as a team, especially cuz Natsu in particular has a habit of being a spotlight stealer, taking over arcs that have nothing to do with him. But here, it gets a baby bit of a pass because Natsu calls out Erza’s need to sacrifice herself. When she tries to do so to deactivate the tower, she sees a vision of her funeral, where her guildmates are sobbing messes over her death. Her loss didn’t lead to a better life for her friends.

This really drives home that sacrificing yourself for the sake of those you love isn’t the way. You’d be missed, it would transfer your pain to the people you love, and you deserve to enjoy a long, happy life with your loved ones. Once she chooses to live, she and Natsu defeat Jellal, and Erza is finally free. She says goodbye to her old friends as they decide to see the world for themselves, using her iconic Farewell Armor to see them off. Erza has conquered her past, and now can embrace the love she is surrounded by in the present.

From here, Erza continues to be a bad bitch. When Jellal returns in the Oracion Seis arc with amnesia (just go with it), she reminds him thoroughly of his crimes and is prepared to slay him. When Jellal decides he needs to die for his crimes, Erza instead tells him he has to live, and atone for his crimes. Dying would be too easy. It would be an escape from having to live with what he’s done, and so, Jellal decides to live to help make up for his past. Through it all, the message is clear: you must live, to enjoy your life, and to make this world better.

This continues in the Edolas Arc, where the eponymous world of Edolas contains doubles of the characters we know, but who have lived incredibly different lives and boast different personalities (and running gags). Here, Erza Nightwalker is known as the Fairy Hunter, working directly under the King of Edolas to oppress its people and hunt criminals, including the only remaining magical guild: Fairy Tail.

In Edolas, magic seems to come from nature rather than the people themselves. Because of this, magic among wizards is a finite resource, and Edolas hopes to create more for themselves by kidnapping Earthland’s Fairy Tail and turning them into power. Nightwalker defends this, saying that Scarlet has never felt powerless, having plenty of magic of her own. In truth, we know our Erza has faced incredibly harsh realities despite her magic. In the face of despair, she always chose justice and helping others. She believes in the goodness of people, as opposed to Nightwalker’s cynicism.

During Grand Magic Games, it’s after a 7-year timeskip where most of the characters have been absent through… plot things. As a result, the Fairy Tail guild has fallen from grace, now considered weak and old news because it lost its strongest, most respected members. The guild hopes to restore their reputation through the Grand Magic Games in the capital city, where they take on other guilds throughout Fiore, including their replacement: Sabertooth.

Sabertooth is incredibly ruthless, basically writing off friendship and compassion as stupid and gay, whereas Fairy Tail knows friendship is indeed stupid and gay, and that’s why it’s great. One of Saberooth’s most ruthless members is Minerva, daughter of its Master Jiemma and a powerful sorceress in her own right. During the tournament, Minerva brutalizes Lucy when she refuses to give up on behalf of her friends, scorning Lucy’s love of her guild and courage to stand her ground.

Given Erza’s strength, she stands as a pillar of all that Fairy Tail stands for, and Minerva wants to tear that down. Unfortunately, she makes the mistake of hurting people Erza loves. We’ll get to how Erza decks Minerva later, but it lives rent-free in my head, as does the line, “NOTHING CAN SAVE YOU!” It’s a prime example of compassion and love as strength. Erza may be loving, but she’s also fierce and unrelenting if you cross her or those she loves. You do not insult Fairy Tail and walk away with all your limbs intact.

Now Tartaros is generally hailed as the best, darkest arc in the show… and honestly, I get why people say that. It’s the one time the show feels like it’s embracing a darker, more somber, serious tone, where the stakes are genuinely high. Arguably at their highest throughout the whole show. But… there are certain parts I’m not as fond of, including Erza’s torture at the hands of Kyoka.

See, Tartaros is one of the Baram Alliance: the three most powerful dark guilds on the continent of Ishgar. By this point, two of them—the Oracion Seis and Grimoire Heart—have already been defeated, leaving Tartaros as the last one standing… and they’re also the scariest. They’re made up of the Nine Demon Gates, some of the strongest demons created by Zeref. Early on, Erza and Mirajane are captured by Tartaros, likely knowing they needed to quickly remove two of Fairy Tail’s strongest from the board to secure their victory.

That much is fine, but as a result, Erza is tortured by Kyoka, Goddess of the Slave Planet, a.k.a. Chicken Foot. Considering the title, you’d think this would tie into Erza’s own past, especially given the cult that enslaved her also worshiped Zeref. However, there is no real connection. Not a big deal, but I do wish they did something there with that connection. But that’s not my real issue. Nah, the real issue is the weird sexualization shit going on here.

We’ll talk more in depth about the sexualization problem later, but Erza gets tortured by Kyoka, all the while the camera ogles her body… and we also include a stereotypical hentai octopus which electrocutes Erza. Apparently Kyoka is into some freaky shit. It’s much worse in the manga, where Erza is just flat-out naked, but it still feels gross in the anime, and needlessly sexualized for no other reason than to appeal to the men watching. Honestly, I like to pretend this part of the arc doesn’t exist, but I felt like I needed to just mention how gross it was so I know I didn’t hallucinate all of this bullshit.

At the very least, it does make it more cathartic when Erza beats the living shit out of Kyoka later on. Kyoka’s power enhances the pain experienced by others, making every attack excruciating, breaking many of Erza’s armors and leaving her in crippling agony. It even takes away her sight, which to me, echoes back to her losing one of her eyes at the hands of the cult. Still, Erza continues to fight back, defeating Kyoka and restoring her senses, but still clearly scarred from her experiences.

That said, not much is really done with her recovery afterwards. There’s setup of how this battle was incredibly different for her psychologically, but there’s no follow-through going into the Avatar or Alvarez Arcs, with Erza just… going back to her normal kickass self. Still, Erza does get a nice storyline in the Alvarez Arc where she confronts Irene, the first Dragon Slayer, and her mother.

See, Irene has her own tragic story, in which her becoming a Dragon Slayer resulted in her losing her humanity, succumbing to a process called dragonification. Through this, she would become a dragon, losing the ability to sleep, taste, and generally enjoy a normal life. She’d hoped to escape this curse by using Erza, whom Irene was still pregnant with, as a new body for her to inhabit. But she couldn’t go through with it. Ultimately, Irene left Erza in Rosemary Village, which would eventually lead to Erza finding her true family at Fairy Tail.

When the two confront one another, Erza doesn’t care about their blood connection. Her family is Fairy Tail, and right now, she believes she’s lost her father, Master Makarov. Her home is being invaded. The lives of her friends are in danger. She doesn’t give a shit who her birth mother is, especially if she’s one of the people invading her home and attacking her family. Yes, even when she destroys the meteor inbound for the planet, I’m here for it. Even with all of her bones broken, Erza channels all her remaining magic into her finger to yeet herself into the sky, then destroy the meteor in the atmosphere before impact. What a fucking legend.

Despite all the pain she’s been through, no matter what she endures, Erza continues to push herself back up off the ground and do the right thing. She fights for her friends. She fights for her home. She fights for herself. She is always striving to do her very best, and encourage others to do the same. She believes in the goodness of people, and that people do whatever they can to protect each other, and protect those most in need. Her ability to both hold onto hope and inspire hope in others rivals even Katara, the Southern Water Tribe’s only known Hopebending Master.

And moreover, I absolutely love how outside of working hours, Erza loves cute things. She’s actually quite feminine, enjoying dressing up and looking fabulous. She’s also got a real obsession for cute things. This would include baking, a hobby she would literally go to the ends of the earth for, all to make the ultimate cake. Oh, and let’s not forget her most important dream: to enjoy the ideal picnic with her guildmates. End of the world be damned, if Erza doesn’t get to lay down a blanket on a grassy field and enjoy sweets and treats beneath a clear sky, bitches will die.

Honestly, she reminds me a lot of Sailor Jupiter. Strong, feared, and often perceived as masculine by others, but actually quite soft and feminine at her core. She’s still a bad bitch, but she doesn’t have to sacrifice her femininity to do so. Strength and femininity are not mutually exclusive. Really, she’s basically the Wonder Woman of Fairy Tail. That was my first thought of her when I was introduced to her, and I still feel this.

Erza’s Magic:

As mentioned before, Erza’s magic is called the Knight. Different armors grant her different powers. I will say, I do wish her magic was explained a bit more, mostly because I think it’d be cool to see her be a weapons buff and forger. Maybe she discovers some armors on quests and modifies them for herself, and others she designs and forges herself. I don’t know, I think that’d be really cool to see, and may or may not be a thing in a hypothetical Fairy Tail rewrite.

Now again, we’re gonna have to talk about some issues with the show, though this is less a Fairy Tail thing and more an anime/general media thing. And I preface this by saying I love Fairy Tail, okay? I say these things out of love, because love is criticizing something because you want what you love to become its best self. Fairy Tail has a sexualization problem. It relies a LOT of sexualizing its female characters in moments where it isn’t necessary, and even detracts from the overall story.

Now some would argue that the show also sexualizes men, and you’re not wrong. However, when we’re talking about sexualization, we have to discuss who that sexualization is designed to appeal to. And the answer… is straight men. The creators know their audience is made up largely of younger, straight men, and as such, they use sexualized female characters to garner their attention. The men in Fairy Tail aren’t given their abs and muscles to be attractive necessarily, but rather as an ideal male body for the straight men watching. They may appeal to the gays—and sometimes they do, speaking as a gay myself—but it’s all meant for straight guys. And that my darlings is what we called the male gaze… that’s gaze with a Z and no Y, by the bi.

You can see this reflected in a lot of Erza’s armors, where sexualization takes priority over design in most of her looks. Heaven’s Wheel is iconic, but goes out of its way to emphasize Erza’s breasts and waist. Sea Empress is… just fucking hideous to look at. Ugly colors aside, it’s actually comical how overtly sexualized this outfit is, to the point it doesn’t even feel like it’s meant to look appealing outside of intended sexiness. Because it doesn’t. It’s fucking hideous.

All of that nonsense aside, I do still love most of her armors and their powers. Again, Heaven’s Wheel is fucking iconic. I’m obsessed with these metallic angel wings, the wing motif throughout the look, and the sword array attacks it gives Erza. Also a fan of the Elemental Empress Armors… by which I mean Flame and Thunder. I like the variety this gives Erza, allowing her to be a sort of jack of all trades with her different looks.

The pigtails in her Flame Empress Armor are absolutely adorable, and she looks great in this combo of red, yellow, and black. Thunder Empress is criminally underrated. She looks like a goddamn valkyrie, with one of the cutest braided ponytails I’ve ever seen, and wielding a lightning spear.

Morning Star is also underrated, and underutilized. Not a fan of the base outfit, but I do like these little orange-and-yellow capelets, and this hairstyle with the buns. Not to mention, the idea of Erza wielding the power of light is awesome, and it also showed us how Erza is also able to wield her swords with her feet. Legend.

Armadura Fairy doesn’t get used very often, which is a shame. I’d love to see how it embodies the qualities of Fairy Tail Erza loves most. The pink look is cute, but… those swords look like they’re toys. I’m sorry, they do. Nakagami is a bit cooler. I love this deep-green with the bits of red and gold, especially the lion pauldrons and the piece of floating fabric framing Erza. It really communicates the power behind this armor.

However… I’m not sure how the fuck she got it. This goes into the explanation of her armors, where somehow, this armor in particular has apparently existed long before Erza got her hands on it. Levy reads about it in one of her books. Which… okay? But how did Erza get it? She’s never mentioned it before, and we didn’t see her getting it.

That said, I don’t mind her using it to defeat Minerva, as it gives her a burst of ultimate magic, at the cost of Erza being incredibly weakened and fatigued for a long time afterwards. It leaves her limping and exhausted when the other Fairy Tail girlies confront Sting, and leaves her helpless, unable to fight back at even half-strength when the city is besieged by dragons. So my only real issue is where the fuck this armor came from.

And again, Clear Heart Clothing. I adore the symbolism behind this look, and the aesthetic is everything. The bandages for a top, the red pants with flame designs, and the ponytail? It’s everything, your honor.

Is Erza A Mary Sue?:

Now, Erza is often called a Mary Sue: overpowered, too perfect, and needing to be put in her place. To dissect this, we need to establish what exactly a Mary Sue is. The term originates from fan fiction, referring to a female character—oftentimes the self-insert of a female author (or in the words of Maya Wilkes, an authoress)—who is deemed far too idealized. She is loved by all, even her enemies. She’s perfect in every way, not a flaw to be seen, and even the flaws she’s purported to have make her quirky or fun rather than actual hindrances or vices. And most of all, the universe itself bends to her whims. She’ll break magic systems, character motivations, and even reality itself just to make everything about her. She is the center of all. The singularity.

Unfortunately, the term has been overused in recent years, often used whenever an audience dislikes any female character. The actual analysis into her Sueness isn’t discussed. Rather, she’s just assumed to be a Sue because she’s strong, or because she’s just, even if she doesn’t meet the requirements of a Mary Sue. Even when a female character is poorly written, she’ll be called a Mary Sue, even when she doesn’t meet the requirements. Whereas male characters are allowed to suck without being Gary Stues (the male equivalent), female characters do not get this luxury—they get twice the suspicion, and twice the ire.

I believe Erza falls victim to this tendency to rush to call a female character a Mary Sue, even when she isn’t. Because she’s a powerful, S-Class wizard, who often accomplishes heroic and miraculous feats, those actions are viewed as examples of her Sueness. However, this feels like a very superficial reading of her character. Her strive for excellence is often written off as her being portrayed as perfect and flawless, and deeply overpowered.

This ignores the hard work Erza puts into her craft. She does struggle, but she continually gets back up. The clearest example that comes to mind is her fight against Midnight in the Oracion Seis Arc. Midnight’s magic is mysterious, easily taking down Jellal and anyone else who tries to defeat them. However, Erza uses her understanding of magic and observational skills to try and gauge the qualities of Midnight’s magic, discovering it’s actually Reflector magic.

By observing how Midnight is only able to manipulate Erza’s armor rather than her body, and how Midnight is only able to manipulate one space at a time, she discovers the weaknesses in their magic that will allow her to vanquish them, on top of busting out another favorite of mine: the Infinity Armor. What can I say? Purple is her color.

To say that Erza’s skills and talent make her OP feels like it’s only because she is a woman who has excelled. As if there’s no way she could be this accomplished on her own accord, needing the writing to break the rules for her to make her way there. But the male wizards, though? Nah, they’re fine. Natsu can blindly punch things harder ‘til the cows come home, and he’ll never experience a fraction of the suspicion that Erza does through her hard work.

Is the Nakagami Armor a deus ex machina? Yes, in the way it shows up. But again, it comes with an actual cost, so all it really needed was a reason for it to show up. But that isn’t evidence of Erza being a Mary Sue. If we were gonna call every character who gets a deus ex machina a Mary Sue… gurl, the whole cast would be Sues, and most of them would be the men. One pink-haired one in particular. More on that later.

Beyond this, Erza isn’t perfect—as mentioned before, she’s very flawed. She lacks people skills, she’s lawfully good to a fault, and struggles to be vulnerable with others. All of these pose actual problems that the narrative emphasizes that she needs to grow from. They’re not these romanticized, quirky faults. They’re actual hindrances. And especially that tendency to try and sacrifice herself over and over. Erza has to learn to value herself and her life, and that sometimes, you have to bend the rules a little to do the right thing.

Now, if you want an actual example of a Mary Sue for reference, I give you Bloom from the most recent seasons of Winx Club, specifically from season 4 onward. Before then, Bloom was a flawed character who was hotheaded, impulsive, ignorant of the magical world, and frighteningly socially awkward at times. She possessed the Dragon Flame, which was considered the strongest magic in the universe, but that didn’t make her invincible in every fight. Actually, she often struggled because she was the least experienced with magic having grown up on Earth.

But by season 4, once her storyline of saving her homeworld has been completed, the story still feels a desperate need to focus on her. She’s depicted as the perfect role model, with every character idolizing her, even her enemies who have a strange interest in her despite having nothing to do with her story. It gets worse with every new season, where Bloom literally warps the reality of the story around herself to keep the camera focused on herself. No flaws or impulsiveness to be seen. Instead, she’s perfect.

Now, having suffered through all of that for years on end, watching the Winx Club franchise systemically disembowel itself, I can confidently say Erza is not a Mary Sue. But you wanna know who is? Natsu. Again, he’s a spotlight stealer. He often takes over arcs that have nothing to do with him or his motivation of finding his dragon dad. Whenever it comes time for Natsu to save the day, he never has to overcome his flaws of… well, being a fucking dumbass.

His impulsiveness and tendency to solve problems by punching them until they die is rewarded time and time again. He doesn’t grow from these, instead punching things harder to save the day. The one time it feels like they’re about to follow through, when Gildarts scares the living shit out of Natsu in the Tenrou Arc, they don’t commit to this in the rest of the season. He does his usual routine of punching Zancrow harder, and goes about business as usual.

So TLDR, Erza is a great, flawed character who excels at magic. She’s not a Mary Sue. And if you feel the need to call her that, maybe ask why you’re not holding Natsu to that standard.

Conclusion & Outro:

I am an Erza Scarlet stan through and through. She’s a pillar of strength and an utter icon in every sense of the word. She inspires hope in others, but only because she learns to protect that hope within herself, choosing to get back up time and time again. She is indeed the baddest bitch in the room, and she deserves better—from you.

Anyhow, if you enjoyed this video, be sure to like, subscribe, and ring that bell for notifications because YouTube hates creators. If you’d like to support myself and the channel, please consider pledging your support over on Patreon. And of course, consider picking up my book, De Cineribus: From the Ashes, and following me over on Instagram and Threads.

I’m the Unicorn of War, and Erza will not stand for your shit show.