Precht

"Hades" Precht

Precht (プレヒト, Purehito), also known as Hades (ハデス, Hadesu), was Fairy Tail's second Guild Master, and the one who passed on the title to Makarov Dreyar. After leaving Fairy Tail, Hades later became the leader of the Dark Guild, Grimoire Heart, until he was killed at the hands of Zeref.

Appearance

Voice Actor: John Swasey (English), Masashi Hirose (Japanese)

Hades is a tall, elderly man with long, slicked back, silvery white hair, revealing his forehead. He also has a mustache, and a similarly long yet mildly thin and curly beard, reaching down to his lower chest. He has some wrinkles on his face, as evident of his extremely advanced age; nonetheless, despite this age, his figure is muscular and well defined. His right eye is usually seen covered by a simple eye-patch, hiding away his Demon's Eye.

His regular attire consists of a dark shirt paired with armored shoulder pads and shiny gauntlets, as well as chain-mail covering the parts of his arms remaining exposed, simple light pants with flames near the edges - held up by what looks like a light belt composed of two straps with the relative buttons, possibly part of the pants themselves, and dark, simple shoes/boots. Over this outfit he wears a large, dark cape, bearing Grimoire Heart’s symbol on the back and sporting a mantle with a high collar, lighter-colored borders and jagged lower edges. Sometimes he’s also seen wearing a helmet matching his armor, with a prominent metal plate protecting his forehead, with two lines of studs on the front, siding his face and jutting out in a protrusion on each side, and a darker rear part, adorned by a crest reminiscent of those seen on Greek helmets.

After this first outfit was mostly destroyed and torn as a result of his fight with Team Natsu, Wendy Marvell, the Straw Hats, and Laxus Dreyar, Hades requipped an unbroken, second one, highly reminiscent of the first, but with subtle differences: his shirt, gauntlets and cape remain the same, but his pants are now tucked inside a pair of dark greaves reaching up to his thighs and their belt holds up a wide, dark waist-guard.

As Precht, his physical features were almost the same, with only his mustache missing. However, it’s worth noting that the iris of his left eye was dark, while as Hades it’s light gray in color. He sported a light cape bearing Fairy Tail’s mark on the back, complete with a dark fur-lined mantle, and what looked like a loose robe below it. He also carried around a long staff, with its top shaped yet again like Fairy Tail’s symbol.

When using Demon's Eye, his ears seem to get pointed, and his mustache and eyebrows jut out prominently upwards.

Personality

He seems to be calm and confident man who shows no signs of fear to his enemies, especially Makarov. He was described by Makarov as a "great Master who taught harmony and led the Guild to the proper path". He also called Makarov a "boy" despite his relatively advanced age, possibly implying a playful nature.

He reappears as Hades, Master of Grimoire Heart, and is now much darker of a person. When Makarov questioned him about his belonging to a Dark Guild he answered that "this world is full of things that cannot be measured as merely good or evil", implying an enlightened or a philosophical frame-of-mind, or perhaps, even a corrupted heart. He is shown to be very confident in his abilities, stating that he "dances with Magic freely", and has the will to destroy those who would hinder his path, as seen when he crushed Makarov with very little remorse.

Although he believes his strongest team, the Seven Kin of Purgatory, to be invincible, due to their Lost Magic abilities, he seems to be happy knowing someone can defeat them, possibly appreciating talent and apparently not caring very much about the ones he raised himself. He was especially happy when he learned that "Makarov's kids" had already taken out three of the Seven Kin, laughing out loudly.

Despite being the driving force behind Grimoire Heart, Hades is not entirely cruel. He admitted that fighting his former Guild Fairy Tail made him sad, but that he could live with it. He also wanted Makarov to just surrender to him in order to avoid a fight between the two, and he silently apologized to him when Bluenote Stinger got out onto the battlefield, as he didn't want things to escalate that far between them.

However, as the rest of Grimoire Heart is defeated and the only one left standing to take on Team Natsu is him, he displays a more wicked and cruel side of himself, and shows that he has very little care for his former Guild, complaining that Marakov changed Fairy Tail too much since his own tenure as Guild Master. He also insults his predecessor Mavis Vermilion, and reacts with subdued anger when Natsu calls him out for abandoning Fairy Tail's ideals in order to find the "Essence of Magic", unnecessarily shooting him repeatedly with Magic shots when Natsu was already past the point of fighting back.

Magic and Abilities

Chain Magic (連鎖魔法, Rensa Mahō): This Magic allows Hades to shoot long chains from his hands, complete with grappling hooks at each end. These are capable of piercing through foes without actually hurting them, allowing him to grasp opponents and smash them around against surrounding objects.

Amaterasu (天照, Amaterasu): By creating Magic formulas in the air, the targeted area is engulfed by a massive spherical shockwave. The damage of such Magic increases with the formula's number: the higher the number is, the higher the consequent of damage is delt.

• Bomb Formula: User moves his hands in a strange pattern and three Amaterasu seals appear around the target. Then the caster puts his palm facing the target and an explosion occurs inside the seals. (Unnamed)
• Formula 28 (天照二十八式, Amaterasu Nijūhachi Shiki): This seal engulfs an area in a massive spherical shockwave. It was first used against Makarov, though Makarov was able to protect himself with a seal of his own.
• Formula 100 (天照百式, Amaterasu Hyaku Shiki): This seal was able to completely break Makarov's Three Pillar Gods spell and create a rippling shockwave that damaged several sections of Tenrou Island, and that could be felt and heard by most (if not all) people on the island.

Bullet Magic: A type of Magic which allows Hades to produce various types of Magical ballistic projectiles out of his hands to attack opponents. In the most common attack, Hades positions his hand to mimic the appearance of a gun, something which allows him to fire Magical bullets from his stretched out index and middle finger in rapid succession. These are powerful enough to pierce through flesh. He's capable of performing the attack with both hands simultaneously, as if he were "dual-wielding".

• Piercing Bullet: User mimics with his hands the appearance of a gun and then bends slightly his index and middle fingers, creating a Magic sphere in the air from where a powerful piercing bullet is fired towards the target. (Unnamed)
• Explosion Bullet: User puts his arm forward engulfing his hand is a Magical sphere from where a beam-like bullet is fired towards the target. Upon contact it creates a large explosion. (Unnamed)

Grimoire Law (グリモアロウ Gurimoa Rō): It appears to be a malefic form of Fairy Law, with its color being a darker variation of Fairy Law's own color. It is said that if used against Fairy Law it would bring horrible destruction.

Requip (換装 Kansō): Hades has been shown capable of using this Magic, summoning forth a second attire after the first one was mostly torn and destroyed during his battle with Team Natsu.

Magic Alteration: Hades can absorb his opponents Magic and transform it into darkness Magic.

Katsu (喝 Katsu): A spell whose effects are unknown, as Horologium protected the intended target before the Magic could fully connect. Nonetheless, Horologium described this attack as the most dangerous he had ever come across, which prompted him to appear.

Demon's Eye (悪魔の眼 Akuma no Me): Seemingly based around the use of Hades' right eye, which is usually covered by an eyepatch, this Magic has to be "awakened" in order to activate its yet unknown effects. Its use prompts Hades' hair, beard, mustache and eyebrows to jut out, and releases a vast amount of Magical power around him. He claims that, through the use of it, he can show his opponents the "Abyss of Magic".

• Black Arts (黒い芸術 Kuroi Geijutsu): Through the use of his Demon's Eye, Hades is able to perform one of Zeref's infamous Black Arts. It is unknown if he is capable of using Death Magic, but just before his heart was destroyed, he was shown performing the same hand sign that was used by Zeref to cast the unnamed spell that ironically killed Hades on the Grimoire Heart airship.

• Living Magic (生活魔法 Seikatsu Mahō): Through the activation of Demon's Eye, Hades is capable of using Living Magic: a form of Magic that brings things to life under the master's control.

• Nemesis (裏魔法・天罰 (ネメシス), Ura Mahō : Tenbatsu (Nemeshisu)): He was shown creating numerous powerful demons from the debris of his wrecked airship. These can perform damaging long-ranged attacks through the use of dark, tendril-like protrusions and similar, elongated dark globes.

The Devil's Heart: Is a special generator-like device found within Hades' ship, which actually contains his own heart. This device is responsible for the massive amount of power both his physical and Magical abilities have, not to mention his augmented longevity in spite of his advanced age. As long as it is functional, Hades is nearly invincible, but as soon as it is destroyed his power greatly diminishes; all in all, it is Hades' greatest asset and his greatest weakness.

Abilities and Powers

• Immense Magic Power: The Demon's Eye further enhances Hades' presumably already great Magical Power, creating a dark aura around him which keeps gradually increasing in might, and which terrified Team Natsu.

• Enhanced Reflexes: Hades was able to easily counter an attempted attack by Makarov despite him having his back turned walking away.

• Immense Strength: Despite his age, one that is presumably decades older than Makarov, Hades has immense physical strength, first demonstrated in all of its greatness when Hades launched his chains into Makarov's Titan form and easily swung him crashing onto one side of Tenrou Island. Afterward, his massive physical strength was again displayed when he walked up to Makarov and smashed him into the ground with a simple fist. He's also shown commonly lifting opponents with his Chain Magic and smashing them around, breaking down solid objects like trees and the ground effortlessly.

• Immense Durability: Despite his old age, Hades has shown a tremendous amount of durability: he was capable of emerging unscathed from a combined group attack performed against him by Natsu, Lucy, Gray, Erza and Wendy, with only his cape having been torn. He received no considerable damage from his fight with Laxus Dreyar either, despite having been struck multiple times, and yet again remained unharmed despite the barrage of damaging attacks he received from Natsu after the latter was empowered by Laxus' lightning.

History

Past

Hades, known as Precht back then, was one of Fairy Tail's founding members and later the second Master of Fairy Tail after Mavis Vermilion. Some time later, in the Year X736, Precht appointed Makarov (40 years old at that time) as the third Master and his successor, much to the man's dismay. Ignoring Makarov's claims that he wasn't fit for it, he praised Makarov's love for his allies and his capability to believe, claiming that he would have made Fairy Tail into a good Guild. He then left on a journey.

On such journey, he traced the roots of Magic back to Zeref, where he saw what can be called "the Essence of Magic". It is presumably around this point that he reformed his ways and became a Dark Mage, and then founded Grimoire Heart, raised and trained the Seven Kin of Purgatory, teaching them different forms of Lost Magic, in order to acquire this "Essence of Magic". It's known that he personally recruited Ultear Milkovich, nearing her while she was a child and promising her that, in the Ultimate Magic World, the Arc of Time Magic which he would have taught her would have allowed her to travel through time and change the sad events of her childhood into happy ones.

Several years later, he witnessed a teenage Ultear studying the Arc of Time Magic. He praised her for collecting so many books about the said Magic, after which Ultear revealed that she finally found what she was looking for, the Magic that could bring back her lost happiness. After finding out that she was talking about Last Ages, he told her that such Magic shouldn't be used as it takes away the user's time. He then questioned her whether she wanted such future, to which a saddened Ultear replied that it wasn't what she was looking for.

Synopsis

Tower of Heaven Arc

Hades makes his first appearance after the destruction of the Tower of Heaven, although his name isn't specifically mentioned at the time. He's heard talking with a bathing Ultear Milkovich through the use of a communication Lacrima, being informed of the latest events regarding the Magic Council and congratulating his underling on her good job. He asks what happened to Jellal, and is told that she doesn’t know; Ultear then proceeds to explain the deception which led Jellal to build the Tower of Heaven, believing that it would have allowed him to resurrect Zeref, a deception she was the author of. Hades goes on to list all of the events which took place as planned, such as the firing of Etherion, and states that, due to them, they managed to obtain one of the keys to Zeref's seal, something which prompts Ultear to congratulate him.

Oración Seis Arc

Hades reappears onboard Grimoire Heart's airship, sitting on his throne and discussing about Oración Seis' plan with Ultear, who asks him what should be done, to which Hades responds they should be ignored. A shadowy figure comments that, if Oración Seis were to start something, the legal Guilds would hardly ignore it, and another one states that they should take the opportunity to keep searching for the keys to Zeref's seal. Hades responds that they should hope Oración Seis does manage to eliminate some of the legal Guilds standing in their way, and Ultear naughtily asks if he's talking about Fairy Tail, to which he sneers.