#lost magic

To start, let's talk about why magic is considered "lost" in the first place. The reason canon gives for the classification of magic is that they were forgotten because of the terrifying side effects that come along with it. For a bit of perspective, we all thought the terrible side effect for being a dragon slayer was just maybe not being able to go on vehicles. Turns out, you can turn into a real dragon. 

Thanks to the discussion of the history of magic, we now have two other reasons for the distinction of Lost Magic. First, it was a category of magic formed before Magic became legal on the continent of Ishgar. Of course, this isn't the only reason as there were other forms of magic developed before magic was formed on the continent and, to be honest, I highly doubt that Lost Magic would stay on the continent of Fiore.  

The second is that much of it was created by the Zeref cultists. Obviously, not all of it was Zeref's doing as Dragon Slaying is considered to be Lost Magic and that was Irene's doing. However, much of Lost Magic was likely to be made by people who followed Zeref. As an aside, though, where else do you think Ivan could have gotten the Lightning Dragon lacrima for Laxus?  

As I said previously, the governments of Ishgar definitely wouldn’t want these abilities widely available, especially after magic becomes legal. However, there are still obviously Lost Magic users running around their continent. What gives? We know two things that can help in this regard. 

First, Zeref worshippers seem to enjoy stealing kids in order to help in their bidding, evidenced by the circumstances surrounding the Tower of Heaven and Ultear's backstory in the anime. So, if they want extra help doing things, they might give special to certain promising children. Heck, Ultear learns Arc of Time as a child under Hades. 

Second, despite laws against it, guilds will often take out dark guilds. In chapter 131, there's a brief discussion about how various branch guilds in the Balam Alliance have been taken out by the Thunder God Tribe and Phantom Lord. Fairy Tail themselves are responsible for taking out the big members of the Balam Alliance, Oracion Seis, Grimoire Heart, and Tartarus. 

With these facts in mind, it's fair to assume a lot of Lost Magic users were kids who came from darker backgrounds and ended up in legal guilds. As it stands, this isn't too much of a stretch. Like, is it that hard to believe the fact that Sherry was a part of Lyon's attempt to revive Deliora and her sister knows God Slaying magic is connected in some way? Or that Orga and Rufus (whose magic borders being Lost Magic) became members of Sabertooth around the same time Grimoire Heart lost both its master and the Seven Kin of Purgatory? Have a bit of imagination. 

Not to mention that, outside of dragon slayers, most people who use Lost Magic are villains. Cobra's part of Grimoire Heart and uses Second Generation Dragon Slaying Magic. All the members of the Seven Kin of Purgatory use some form of Lost Magic. Silver used Ice Devil Slaying Magic before joining Tartarus, but he was specifically looking for ways to beat E.N.D.  

As for why the magic council does nothing about them, it's a matter of appearance. They should have a good idea of the connection between Lost Magic and Zeref. However, they've established the rule against attacks on any guilds. Making the exception for dark guilds may be a gateway for later excepting full-on wars between guilds. And, as long as Lost Magic users are in legal guilds, the amount of harm they do on society can be much less than if they were in a dark guild. ("Can" because you sometimes get an Eisenwald or Raven Tail to mess with the plan.) 

It also doesn't do a lot of good to kill off people with Lost Magic, even secretly. Eventually, someone is going to connect the dots between having newly freed mages being killed and the type of magic they use that the council doesn't want to. (Supposedly, because they're FMA fans or know about what happens to Second Generation Dragon Slayers.) Instead, they see the existence of mages with Lost Magic as a necessary evil. 

I don't want to break down the science of every single version of lost magic. I barely intended to do so when it came to Dragon Slaying in the last part and didn't spend too much time on individual magic forms in talking about magic in general. After a certain point, I feel as though it's important to remember that this discussion is surrounding magic: something that is beyond the bounds of reason but is born of reason itself. That being said, some time should be spent on two particular types of Lost Magic: Devil Slaying and God Slaying magic. 

Essentially, they both are forms of magic which originate from the same principles behind Dragon Slaying magic. To take a bit of a peek behind the curtain, I put the discussion of the Dragon King Festival and Dragon Slaying magic before that of Lost Magic for this very reason. We already have a good understanding of what Dragon Slaying magic is and can do. Now that the history behind it is squared away, we can better understand these forms of Slaying magic. Considering they aren't exactly the same as Dragon Slaying magic, it also makes sense not to lump them in as the same. 

With this in mind, it might be a good idea to think of the difference between Devil Slayers and God Slayers as similar to the difference between First Generation Dragon Slayers and Second Generation Dragon Slayers, for the rewrite. We absolutely know that there are such things as demons from which people are able to create abilities to copy. We aren't entirely sure about the connection between gods and God Slaying Magic. (Also, I haven't decided how to treat gods in Fairy Tail just yet.) 

Both branches of Slaying magic came from the attempts by Zeref worshippers to recreate the power of Dragon Slaying magic in a way that doesn't get the Slayers in trouble with Acnologia. One branch decided to combine the study of Zeref's demons with that of the dragon slayers of the past. Another tried to synthesize the effects and abilities of dragon slayers without having to enchant abilities from another being. 

Therefore, Demon Slaying magic is gained from enchanting a person with the abilities of an elemental demon. God Slaying magic is gained by enchanting a person with elemental abilities similar to dragon slayers, though they don't come from specific creatures. The name "God Slayer" comes from the notion that, if they don't come from creatures, they are the powers of gods. This might dip a bit into personal opinion, but I think that this makes sense of why the weaknesses of God Slaying magic are downplayed, if not, ignored, and why Devil Slaying magic can potentially result in loss of a sound mental state. 

One quick thing before we end this post. I remember one critic of Fairy Tail saying that simply having Lost Magic makes you overpowered. That's not necessarily the case. There are a number of instances where mages with "normal" magic beat mages with Lost Magic. There aren't a whole lot of examples as the main cast mostly consists of people who use Lost Magic, Still, Erza beats Azuma with her magic. Gray beats three different Lost Magic users in Ultear, Rufus, and Silver, by using Ice Make Magic. They both barely scrape by, but the simple ownership of strong magic is not what makes a character better. As always, it's the power of the person using the magic that matters more than the type of magic being used.