*BEWARE OF SPOILERS!
"A true hero doesn't need people's praises and admiration or the luxury of broadcasting the deed done."
"The kind of person who believes that even her life is no exemption of the price she has to pay for her crimes."
"A wizard has pride to what they believe in. Magic they hold to protect their comrades. A guild they belong in."
Introduction
I just want to start with a long rant about how my feelings were played with because of what happened to Ultear. I just recently finished until episode 40 of Fairy Tail (2014) but even if I'm waaaay passed the previous arc, I still can't get over the fact of what happened with Ultear. And I'm not going to discuss everything about her because I'd like to do that in a different blog. In this blog I just want to talk about one arc and that's Opening the Eclipse Arc.
So the arc is where the future going back to the present to make changes. Future Lucy goes back in time to stop the bad things from happening and future Rogue goes back to make sure the future goes on to what it should be. And our Crime Sorciere team is kicking butt here as they do their investigation until we finally get our answers.
The story continued with the gate opening and the dragons entering (which I anticipated, and I'm glad to have been able to guess that dragons where coming out of that gate because usually my predictions were off) and the fight starting. I'm not gonna rant how despite whatever power they have they were no match and only dragon slayers (who also did not do any major damage to them) can hurt them dragons (as Natsu discovered). And this is where I want to start because Ultear makes her move.
There are three things that is memorable here that Ultear did in this arc. I'll just special mention others.
Natsu's Back Up
When Natsu was on a bind with his battle against future Rogue, Ultear arrived just in time to save him. Yeah, yeah, big characters like Natsu doesn't need help but in this case, it's given that Natsu cannot beat the future Rogue so backup was needed.
It's nothing major if you look at it, since she just 'shooed' the guy away. But that's enough save for Natsu to recover a bit from the battle and get fired up again for a fight. And in this particular scene is where Ultear made a promise, in which, she kept until the end... and the reason why it led to what she did (that I'll discuss later on).
Not like keeping a promise is new but this is Ultear we're talking about. In the past, we see her trick a lot of people, Jellal include, and to trick them, there are false promises being fed to them. So it's a relief to know that she kept her word this time.
Taking the Blame
Another one is when Jellal and Erza were working together fighting off the mini dragons, (because Erza was wounded from the GMG incident) and it just so happened that of all people to see Erza take Jellal's hand to help her up, was no other than Milliana. One of those people that hates Jellal. Yeah. It had to be her.
Ultear arrived yet again in time to take the blame.
So Milliana was there and she may be about to throw her hate speech to Erza and make the two feel guilty and ruin the very few Jerza moments I see, Ultear walked there shouting "I object!". Nah she didn't. She arrived saying Milliana was wrong and that if there was anyone to blame for anything; blame her. HER. Because she was the one who ordered Jellal to do what he did— the Tower of Heaven— the cause of Simon's death. She's pinning it all on herself to keep the hate from being on Jellal (and so Jerza can happen lol).
She picked her words well too. Saying only those words that will trigger Milliana and at the end of her little speech, she tells Milliana that if she wants revenge, then she better survive the ongoing war between them and the dragons. Then Ultear will give her a chance later. Wow she's being generous!
She didn't have to do that. They were telling her to stop but she wouldn't so when she left, Erza explained she was a victim as well. Still though...
Saying those things to yourself when you're trying to change... acting like a villain. (For the record, I like how easily she can change her mood from good guy art to bad guy art).
Her Final Move
This final move only happened because she's literally drowning in guilt with the fact that she was thinking of killing Rogue when he was being tempted by the dragons and the shadow thingy but in the end Rogue did not change sides and as long as Sting was with him, he didn't have to worry about anything. Kinda like Sting is the light and he is the dark kinda thing.
But anyway, this is just a hunch of mine. I'm not an expert in theories but that's really what I think pushed her to do what she did.
And the thing was, she didn't know what was happening on different areas. How Gajeel made the wrong choice to hit the dragon left or right, Wakaba and Romeo had to watch Macao about to get killed, Jet and Droy in a pinch, Gray dying, Lucy getting surrounded with no way out and how Laxus was about to be a tasty snack. She didn't know that. (And I was actually trying to guess who will save these guys when I was watching that time lol)
There was even this twist that after all that pain and suffering...
...she realized that everything she's done and her life was shortened for only ONE MINUTE and there was this feeling of defeat as she fell facedown and flat on the cold ground alone.
But there was narration that 'the one minute' she got, was enough to turn the tables around and it was a win for them all who were in a pinch earlier before she did what she did.
I was already spoiled that she will grow old when she uses this super power of hers so when I saw that it involves turning back time, then I anticipated the fact that this arc was IT. She'd be done for. And what's sad is that she just had to suffer alone and be alone when that happens. She had to be alone when she fell with the feeling of defeat as she thought about how her life cost only a minute.
Not even Meldy or Jellal knew her whereabouts. We just see them later trying to find her. So here are some painful truths about her and her little deed. N O O N E K N E W she's the one who did it but herself. Maybe Jellal and Meldy got the idea and a few others I don't know about, but no one knew. They just lived there rewinded one minute wondering what the carrots just happened because it was like they predicted the future. (Funny how the three major Exceeds talked about it. Lily said it wasn't him, Carla said it wasn't her and Happy said it wasn't him and they both say 'we know it wasn't you' lmao)
Second, N O O N E T H A N K E D H E R for what she's done. Yeah what she did wasn't broadcasted to the whole Fiore so they didn't know and so no one took the liberty of saying 'thank you for sacrificing the rest of your life to buy us a minute'.
NO ONE GAVE HER ANYTHING and SHE DID NOT demand anything in return. Ultear Malkovich is 20-21 years old (wiki based) and the average life of a person is like what... 82 years old? (according to Google at least). So she approximately paid 60 years of her life and don't get me started with "anime age", I don't think it only applies to just 80. Makarov is 88 and he's still very hyper as if he were a teenager.
So yeah I think Ultear literally paid more than the 20 years of her life (wherein not all those years she was a bad guy). Third, she had to go through this whole decision making that led to the major transition in her life, ALONE. No Meldy or Jellal or a mother or not even Gray. She just had to be alone and emotional that time
And she just had to SAY GOODBYE without having to tell anyone WHAT SHE DID, WHO SHE WAS, WHERE SHE'S GOING. Gray just realized it was her but she shook her head with a smile to prevent him from stopping the carriage he was on.
She gave Meldy and Jellal a letter she made and disappears.
I believe that in Fairy Tail no character is killed. But in this moment, after I watched it, I realized... no, she wasn't killed literally but she was 'killed' in a different way that now I know I won't see her again (except the fact that I got so sad and spoiled myself online again). But anyway, feels struck me so bad that I'm thinking of a hundred fanfictions for her right now.
Ultear is a great person. She has her moments with Meldy and her moments with Gray. Overall I don't blame her for growing up full of hate and rage, she didn't stay the same because she wasn't a bad guy to begin with. All she wanted was to have her sins forgiven. I've long forgiven her (I know not counted) but all that's left is to actually for her to forgive herself.... (and join Fairy Tail!).
I don't care what others say about her or if they disagree with me, but this is my thoughts and I'd like to tribute this blog to Ultear Malkovich.
*Sad Fairy Tail theme starts to play *
You saved the world from destruction, the world doesn't know it but Ur does. Gray does. And your close friends does.
Following your mother's footsteps, you will forever be a legacy.
Goodbye, Ultear.
Thank you for reading!
*sad Fairy Tail soundtrack continues*
Comments