Fairy Tail has most of it's better fights happen because of the Power of Friendship. This is when a character is losing to a superior opponent, but the desire to protect their friends helps them unlock a new level of strength or a transformation they didn't know they had to help them win the fight.
But while most characters have relied on the Power of Friendship at some point or another in the storyline, it's not true of all the characters in the series. There were plenty of important characters who were either too strong to rely on a Power of Friendship bonus or didn't have friends and thus had no power-up waiting for them if they were losing.
11 Acnologia Was Filled With Hatred For All Dragons
Acnologia is one of the most powerful characters in the Fairy Tail universe. He doesn’t need the Power of Friendship, and more importantly he hasn’t had a friend in ages. When he was younger, his entire village was wiped out thanks to dragons, which led to him becoming a Dragon Slayer himself. He spent years killing dragons before becoming one himself, and his power makes him untouchable even by other Dragon Slayers.
10 Irene Belserion Lost All Of Her Friends And Family After Becoming A Dragon
Irene Belserion was once a beloved woman who was considered to be the Queen of Dragons because she lived in a country where the two races got along. Irene would later be one of the people to help create Dragon Slayer magic in the first place, but after it transformed her into a Dragon, it sent her down a lonely path.
Irene's own husband turned on her, and though she eventually freed herself from being his captive, she continued to live on her own. In the end, she was never shown trying to gain power from convenient means like plot.
9 Gildarts Was So Powerful He Didn't Need The Power Of Friendship
Gildarts is probably the strongest member of Fairy Tail whenever the Power of Friendship isn’t being relied on. He wields the power of Crush Magic, which can utterly destroy anything it comes in contact with. Crush Magic can be used to crush objects, and even other magic.
Gildarts' power is so great that he can’t quite control it, and thus the city will often move around him to avoid having him destroy it by accident. Gildarts doesn’t rely on the Power of Friendship because most of the time he’s so easily punching his way through any threat that comes his way.
8 Porlyusica Is Kept Away From Fights In The Series
Porlyusica is a mage who lives just outside of Magnolia Town. She’s actually from Edolas, and happens to be their Sky Dragon, becoming a member of Fairy Tail when she was much younger. In her later years, she grows tired of humans and tries to avoid them when possible. But that doesn’t mean she doesn’t come through for Fairy Tail, and often acts as the doctor for the team when they get especially injured. Porlyusica rarely actually goes into battle in the main series, and as such doesn’t have to strain herself fighting an opponent at all.
7 Evergreen Has Loyalty To Laxus But It's Never Helped Her Win A Fight
Evergreen fights as a member of the Thunder God Tribe, but surprisingly she doesn't need the Power of Friendship. In her first appearance she's actually more of an antagonist, following Laxus who wanted to take over the guild. Later on though, she develops a love for fellow Fairy Tail member Elfman, even though neither of them can quite admit it.
Evergreen's different eye powers make her a versatile mage, but the Thunder God Tribe are much like Laxus in that they often don't need power-ups due to friendship, they just win with their own strength. That doesn't mean they don't care about the guild though, as they all re-joined the moment Laxus went back.
6 Jiemma Orland Places His Belief In Strength Above Everything Else
Jiemma Orland became the guild leader of Sabertooth, the guild which would become the most powerful guild in Fiore with Fairy Tail missing all it’s most powerful members. Jiemma can’t rely on the Power of Friendship because he doesn’t believe in friendship as a power to begin with.
Jiemma places importance on strength above everything else, and actually removes members of Sabertooth when they can’t win. This proves to be his weakness though, as when he took out Sting’s partner Lector, he earned Sting’s ire and was left with a hole in his chest for his cruelty.
5 Ivan Dreyar Treated His Guild As Stepping Stones To Get Where He Wanted
It’s strange that someone who loves Fairy Tail as much as Makarov had a son so despicable. Ivan Dreyar was actually removed from Fairy Tail by his dad, and he instead created his own guild known as Raven Tail. Ivan doesn’t even understand the concept of friendship, thinking more about what power he can get from the people he’s using. He originally meant to take Laxus’ Dragon Lacrima from him and use it for his own benefit. He was easily defeated during the Grand Magic Games and turned into an irrelevant footnote.
4 Ultear Milkovich Is More There To Help Others Than Needing Help Herself
Ultear is a strange one in that she doesn’t rely on the Power of Friendship, but she instead lends it to other people. Ultear’s control of Time Magic is the reason why Fairy Tail can compete in the Grand Magic Games. She uses a spell of hers to help them unlock their hidden potential, raising their magic enough to keep up with the people who had been training for seven years. Later, she makes appearances to rewind time or boost people’s powers. She doesn’t need anyone else’s help though, as she is a master of time herself.
3 Jura Neekis' Loyalty To Lamia Scale Never Required Him To Rely On The Power Of Friendship
Jura Neekis is one of Fiore’s Ten Great Wizard Saints. His power led to him being one of the strongest members of the team Lamia Scale. That said, he acknowledges the limits to his strength, and it’s shown multiple times.
During the battle against the Oracion Seis, Jura is helpful but not overpowered. Then later, during the three-way match between Laxus and Orga, he proves capable of defeating Orga...but reaches his limits against Laxus. He doesn’t dig deeper from the Power of Friendship, he just finds himself outmatched. His connection to Lamia Scale doesn't aid him in the slightest.
2 Dimaria Yesta Only Relied On The Power Of The Time God Helping Her Out
One of the more dangerous members of the Spriggan 12, no one could figure out exactly how Dimaria was capable of dropping so many foes. She not only defeated Fiore's army, but she embarrassed Kagura Mikazuchi by undressing her in the middle of a fight. It wasn't until she faced Wendy and Sherria that the story explained how she was so powerful: she was empowered by a god of time.
This power led Dimaria to lead a lonely life, and she had only one friend in the series--her longtime friend Brandish. But in the end, her friendship with Brandish didn't even come up during her defeat, and she would later turn on Brandish when she believed she wasn't loyal to the Alvarez Empire anymore.
1 August Never Believed In Love Or Friendship's Power
August was known as the god of magic and possessed more raw power than any member of the Spriggan 12. He was so strong that he was even able to defeat the entire Crime Sorciere guild all on his own. His defeat came at the hands of Gildarts, who figured out the weakness to August's ability to counter all magic he deals with.
Ultimately, August's story is a sad one as he joined the Alvarez Empire in the hopes of being able to explain to Zeref that he was his son. Even in defeat, August was never able to understand why Zeref had never loved him, which made him unable to believe in the power of love between family or friends.