#this man knows his audience a lil too well 😅

[murderofcrow]

DO YOU LIKE THAT? (source)

[phoenix-before-the-flame]

Hey! Just wanted to ask if you have any headcanons abt ignia, zeref, and natsu being brothers👀

With Ignia that is a big ol no because I just don't like him lol. I don't care for anything introduced in the sequel and he's included in that🤣.

With regards to Zeref and Natsu however, weeeeellllll. I have mixed feelings on that plot point.

Like i was never big on Zeref and Natsu being brothers, I personally think it should've just been Natsu being Zeref's creation alone. That would be a spicy enough plot twist by itseld and neatly answer the zeref and natsu connection. Them being brothers kinda felt like too much on the pile y'know?

But, I don't completely hate it. It does add an interesting layer to connect the protag and our main villain plus interesting backstory and lore because for us the audience Natsu before Igneel was a mystery and this was an excellent opportunity to look into that as well as zeref's history as well. However i think the brother plot point in canon wasn't used to its full potential.

Like i said above it missed the moment to show history. What was ancient fiore like when they were kids? What killed baby Natsu? Did Zeref have to recreate a new body for Natsu from his dna or use the old one? Exactly how long was he at it to make Natsu? To make END?

The brother plot point is a huge source of some delicious conflict which couldve been dug a lil bit deeper from both parties.

On Zeref's side you have this guy who clearly loved his family. He went to all this trouble to bring back his brother after all. But! He only brought back his brother, his younger brother. Not even his parents. Why not bring back all of them? Why stop at one?

Questions my dear anon. Why only bring back your younger sibling? For control? The one member he had authority over. Why bind him to a book that you can easily manipulate?

And then after bringing back Natsu he tied his life to his own so if one goes they both go. And then he gave him to Igneel. There's just so much to unpack there. Zeref's love was twisted and dark and it rotted him.

Can you imagine seeing it from his side, working tirelessly through grief to try and bring back his family- maybe he intended to bring them all back- for who knows how long and his grief and determination morphs to obsession where instead of all he just brings back one. One that he's going to make sure sticks with him to the very end so when Zeref finally falls he won't fall and be alone like when he lost his family the first time.

And then on Natsu's side. Oh on Natsu's side. There is so much there that went unused. Learning that his life is tied to a fragile book, that Igneel knew. To know that you died and was brought back, that the guy who's pretty much responsible for almost all your friends' grief is not only your maker but the only living relative you have left.

How do you process that? How do you forgive if, you can forgive at all? It would've been a moment for Natsu to really question his ideals and think. For Natsu who was always so sure of his identity as Natsu Dragneel, Fairy Tail wizard and Son of Igneel to question himself at the core and for the main theme of friendship and found family to really shine through as chosen family comes face to face with blood family.

I know you asked for hcs and I went off track but there was a lot that could've been done with the brother plot line that could've really deepened a lot of stuff but instead only skimmed surface level and went the easy route of forgiveness after a fist fight which felt really hollow and underwhelming.

I dunno man I just have a lot of thoughts with regards to this 😅😅😅