#graytear week

One of my favorite Graytear moments in the series is one that long-time followers fans of me might recognize me talking about: Gray using Iced Shell against Silver. If you don't know, I made a joke theory about how Gray used Iced Shell to avoid being with Juvia for my 100th Opinion I'll Probably get Stoned For. Yeah, that went over well with people. (This was really the only one. Also, they deleted in on their blog.)

As funny as that theory is, the reason I could make that theory is because Gray was able to think about the people that mattered to him and still come to the conclusion that it was still worth it to do Iced Shell. He was reminded of the most important person in his life, the first person to stop him from using Iced Shell and the person who would probably be most devastated by losing Gray. And that wasn't enough to stop Gray.

I think the thing that should have stopped Gray was remembering Natsu. Remembering that he was already in a situation where he was going to use Iced Shell and was stopped from doing it, should have made him realize that this was something he should have stopped doing. Remembering everyone else was just reminding him that more people mattered. But he was still able to use Iced Shell. Of course, he regretted having to do it, but he was totally going to do it.

And then he remembers Ultear. And that means something to me.

I mean, there's obvious stuff. The Grand Magic Games arc ended with Gray realizing that Ultear sacrificed herself. She appears to him again in the Sun Village arc when he was turned younger in his fight against Doriate.

But there's this almost throwaway conversation in the Tenrou arc. Ultear tells Gray that the only way that he can beat Hades is to use Iced Shell. Of course, we now know that wasn't necessarily true and she really only said that to get rid of Gray. However, I've always found it kind of funny that one of the last people he spoke about Iced Shell with was also the last person he thought of when he was using it, even as I'm not sure if that was purposely done.

At any rate, I feel this is an important in showing what Ultear means to Gray, even throwing personal thoughts about romantic feelings aside. She represents someone who sacrificed herself to save the people she cared about and caused those people pain. While that may sound similar to what Ur did, this moment shows that Gray is able to make a distinction between the two. Especially considering that they show up at different times in the manga flashbacks. Not to mention that the difference between the two is that Ultear gets to live after her sacrifice.

In this moment, Gray remembered how much losing Ultear hurt him and, only then, is able to realize that he ought not to throw his life away just yet. Of course, this only means more the deeper you think that loss is.