Hiro Mashima's Fairy Tail is loved by its fans for many reasons, such as the character development for its massive cast and a willingness to feature romance in a battle shonen. It's also well-known for reforming the majority of its villains. The series begins with plenty of Dark Guilds around, many of those same members go on to become heroes working on their own or for Crime Sorciere.
However, there are a few characters sprinkled throughout the series who don't get the chance to change. While fans would've liked nothing more than to see them work alongside the heroes, some villains who never got a chance to turn to the side of good.
7 Larcade Dragneel Was Zeref's Neglected Creation
Mashima had to have been in a strange space when he created the third member of the Dragneel family. One of the most powerful of the Spriggan 12, Larcade has the power to make everything "white," but also has the ability to make people succumb to their baser instincts. An example is his abilitiy to force people to become so hungry they attack their own comrades.
Still, while Larcade had weird powers, he turned out to be a pitiable character who believed Zeref was his family only to learn Zeref saw him merely as an experiment. A happy ending for Larcade might have been Zeref and Natsu both accepting him as their family.
6 Ivan Dreyar Denied The Love Of His Family For Power
Ivan Dreyar was reprehensible through and through. The leader of Raven Tail, Ivan broke off from Fairy Tail to seek his own power. Though Makarov kept an eye on him through Gajeel, Ivan surfaced on his own during the Grand Magic Games. His plan was to bring Laxus over to his side to take down Fairy Tail, but it didn't work.
Instead, Laxus refused to accept his father's offer and beat the entire Raven Tail team single-handed. For a series so frequently stuck on family, Ivan never learning to love his son and only ever seeing him as an asset was heart-breaking.
5 Azuma Was The Most Honorable Of Grimoire Heart
Azuma was one of the few members of Grimoire Heart who wasn't a terrible person. Unfortunately, Grimoire Heart's fierce battles with Fairy Tail ended badly for most of them. Azuma was a warrior who wanted a challenge from Fairy Tail, but Grimoire Heart's leader forced him to behave against his wishes.
Azuma is a character that would've been forgiven and reformed in another arc, but Fairy Tail's battles against Grimoire Heart were too serious. He battled against Erza until his overuse of Lost Magic caused him to transform into a tree, and afterwards he was destroyed when Acnologia attacked Tenrou Island.
4 Zeref Was Punished For Trying To Save His Brother
Zeref's incredible power comes with a much worse cost than anyone could've imagined. Thanks to the Curse of Contradictions, anything he cares for is turned into nothing by the power of his magic. Zeref spent years learning not to care about anything to avoid activating his magic.
From this, a legend sprang that he was instead a monster of evil magic. Dark guilds began their search for Zeref, but he only wanted peace. Though Zeref lost his way, his original goal of reviving his little brother wasn't a malicious wish.
3 August Never Told Zeref He Was His Son
August went through life with a simple question: Why did the Emperor never love his son? August was by far the master of magic in the Spriggan 12, and he was even one of the more reasonable members. Before Mest convinced Brandish to attack him, August was willing to be talked down from their war with Fairy Tail.
He seemed to be a kindly old man, but he was destroyed by one simple, sad fact. He was the son of Emperor Zeref, and he was never recognized or loved for it, which warped his own view of family. August deserved a chance to either be loved by the Emperor, by his mother Mavis, or to understand that he didn't need Zeref to be happy.
2 Silver Fullbuster Only Wanted His Son To Have A Good Life
Silver has the second most tragic story as a villain in Fairy Tail. He was originally a normal human who was revived by Keyes and forced into the Tartaros guild to do their bidding. But even so, he spent years killing demons unknown to everyone else to try and destroy Tartaros' plans.
However, Silver couldn't live with what he'd done while carrying out their missions. Once he knew Gray was alive, he left his mission to Gray and allowed his son to kill him. In doing so, he was able to pass his powers onto Gray, making him into an Ice Devil Slayer. It would have been amazing to have Silver teaming up with Gray as a father-son team.
1 Irene Belserion Has The Most Tragic Origin Of Fairy Tail
Irene's backstory is uncharacteristically dark for Fairy Tail. Irene was a human who lived among dragons in peace. As the dragon war got further out of hand, they were forced to resort to drastic measures. Irene helped create Dragon Slayer magic to give humans a fighting chance, but the magic gradually transformed her into a dragon. Eventually, she was thrown in jail by her own betrothed. Pregnant with her daughter Erza, Irene endured years of captivity while refusing to birth her child.
One day, Irene's own husband attempted to kill Erza. Enranged, Irene unlocked her powers to slay those threatening Erza and abandoned the country. Irene joined Zeref after he gave her the ability to appear human, but she was killed by Acnologia during the battle against Fairy Tail. Though it might've been a little forced, it would've been great to see her break away from Zeref for the sake of her beloved daughter.