Grey, Lyon and Ur are the three ice wizards known in the first part of Fairy tale. In addition to the fact that the two boys were Hours as children, the three mages are linked by their knowledge of incredibly dangerous magic. Each of these mages knows the Iced Shell spell. A form of their Ice Make magic that allows them to shut down powerful enemies permanently, with dire consequences. Each of the three started the spell, but only one of them was able to complete it. Since the cost of Iced Shell is as high as it is, why are the watering cans willing to take the risk?
Fairy tale follows Lucy, Natsu, Erza, and Gray as they complete missions for the Fairy Tail Guild. The overarching plot is that Natsu is looking for his foster father, a dragon named Igneel. However, in a multi-episode arc, viewers were treated to an in-depth look at Gray’s history and what made him the magician he is today.
What is Ice Shell?
Iced Shell is a powerful spell that can be cast by ice mages. It turns the caster’s body and mind into a thick layer of ice that completely envelops and seals the target. The size of the shell seems to be all it takes to enclose the target. There are many reasons to believe that the magician is still alive, but simply exists as the ice itself. First, this is what tells Ur that Gray will happen before she casts the spell herself. But this is a teacher and mother figure talking to a child, so she might be covering up the truth to make it easier for him.
The far more compelling reason to believe the mage lives on is the fact that the lost magical art of time control is incapable of turning back time. It is explained that this magic only works on inanimate objects, it has absolutely no effect on the living. This does imply that Ur may still be alive in the form of ice, but it doesn’t explain whether that magic can be used on things that were previously alive, i.e. appear.
There is another form of iced shell, Lost Iced Shell. This one is said to be even worse for the magician who casts it, as it will erase the memory of their existence from everyone who has ever known them. Although, with this higher cost presumably more power and effectiveness is in the spell itself.
The implications
Ur casts the spell to lift Gray’s darkness, but more directly to shut down the demon Deliora. She urges Gray to tell Lyon she’s dead so he doesn’t waste his life trying to undo the spell. Ironically, he spends his entire life trying to undo the spell anyway, but for different reasons. Instead of trying to save Ur so he can outdo her, he wants to undo her last act so he can defeat Deliora and outdo her.
It is not clear to what extent she is still alive. But once the spell is lifted, someone notices that Ur can watch over her students more effectively like a liquid. This implies that Ur may be aware of what is happening around her. Sadly, this also means she knows that her sacrifice still led Lyon to give up the rest of his life to pursue her legacy. Further, her lie to spare him just meant that instead of trying to undo the spell to save her, he actively killed her in an attempt to outdo her. And worst of all, she had to watch helplessly as he did it.
This also meant she had to watch as Gray was willing to cast the exact same spell she did, but to imprison Lyon so he couldn’t undo her spell. She sacrificed herself to allow her two students to live a full life. Not only did Lyon not, but she had to watch as Gray nearly threw his own life away to stop Lyon.
Iced Shell is an incredibly powerful spell that only a small subset of mages can use. However, the cost of this spell is far worse than the magical drain most spells cause. The user gives up his bodily body and an unknown amount of his mind to create the ice that envelops his target. They persist in this state indefinitely or until someone kills them with the MoonDrip spell. Their target is alive in this shell for a while, trapped in eternity with them, but eventually their life force is sucked away, leaving the original magician in ice form, enveloping only a corpse. They may still be aware of the passing of time and of the people around them, if not, are they really alive?
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