Ivan Dreyar

"True beauty lies in fleeting lives."

- Ivan Dreyar

Ivan Dreyar (イワン・ドレアー Ivan Doreā) is the father of Laxus Dreyar and the son of Makarov Dreyar. He is a former Mage of the Fairy Tail Guild, and the former Guild Master of the self-founded Raven Tail Guild. He is the tertiary antagonist of the Grand Magic Games arc.

He is voiced by Masaharu Satou in the Japanese version of the anime and Bruce Carey in the English version.

Appearance
Despite being the son of Makarov and the father of Laxus, Ivan bears little resemblance to either of them. Ivan is rather tall and has a more muscular body. He also has black hair and tanned skin. Ivan sports a unique-looking beard; a chin curtain, with several lines of facial hair around his mouth shooting upwards in an odd pattern. He wears an ornate cloak along with a dress shirt and an ascot tied in a full Windsor knot. Seven years later, his appearance is virtually the same as before, except that he has balded on the top of his head.

As Alexei, he resembles a medieval Knight, with a mask instead of a helmet. His tall body is completely covered by armor (except for his big orange hair) with a long cape bearing Raven Tail's Crest behind.

He keeps his face hidden behind a golden mask. It's slightly triangular, with a square part in the chin's region and two pointed parts in the sides, in the region of the ears. As characteristic feature, the mask has a trident-like plate in the forehead's region, forming a "W" pattern. It also has two opens next to the plate that allows Ivan to see, as well two white strips in each side of the mask

The rest of the armor is composed by a metallic pectoral, separated to the waist's cingulum by a piece of dark cloth. The cingulum also has two pointed plates in each side of Ivan's body. For the legs, that are also separated from the cingulum by cloth, Ivan uses the traditional cuisse, with round poleyns and stylized greaves. Ivan's arms are also covered by the dark cloth, and end into metallic bracelets attached to gauntlets, that have sharp pointed fingers.

Ivan's dark cape is attached to its side in the region of his neck, apparently by a circular fivel. The cape resembles Laxus' initial tunic, with a blue dense fur delimiting it.

Personality
Ivan shows many signs of being psychotic. He is obsessed with the Fairy Tail Guild, enough to give his own guild a similar name. He also enjoys killing things, as he turns ravens into shikigami and then bites their heads off. Ivan addresses everyone with a -chan suffix, as he calls Gajeel "Gajeel-chan" and Laxus "Laxus-chan", and even speaks about "money-chan". Ivan cares little for the well being of his family, be it his father or son. He even referred to Laxus as money, stating that he wanted the Dragon Lacrima that was inserted into Laxus back, despite knowing that it would kill his son.

As "Alexei", Ivan showed himself to be a very cruel person. When entering the Domus Flau, he saw Team Fairy Tail A angry because of what Obra did with Wendy Marvell, but despite that, he stated that what they did was just "a way to say welcome", showing that Raven Tail won't play a fair game. This was later confirmed during Lucy's fight against Flare Corona, when Obra, likely under Ivan's orders, erased Lucy's Magic Power to make Flare win. He doesn't have any respect even towards his Guildmates, and seems to follow a perspective that only the strong deserve respect, as he beat Flare for almost losing in her battle, leaving her harsh wounds, and even humiliating and threatening her after that.

As Guild Master, Ivan is respected by other Raven Tail members, due to his spirit of leadership. He seems to be the one who chooses which members will participate in the events, and thus they obey. Nullpudding even refers to him as "Alexei-sama", despite that name being false, indicating a great respect. Ivan has shown to act cowardly when pitted against stronger foes, such as when Laxus defeated the elites of Raven Tail, he began to tremble and begged his son to not attack him stating it because he's his father and believing Laxus wouldn't attack his family. However, Laxus denounced him as his family and defeated him with his lightning.

Pre-Fairy Tail
According to Laxus, Ivan had once been a member of the Fairy Tail Guild. Makarov also explains that Ivan implanted a Dragon Lacrima into his son which allowed him to use Dragon Slayer Magic, but only so he may harvest it later once he becomes older. Sometime after this, Ivan was banished from the guild by Makarov for reasons unknown. Laxus was left distraught about his father's excommunication and began to loathe Makarov for his actions. It was also revealed by Makarov that Ivan carried sensitive information about Fairy Tail which could bring danger to their guild.

Battle of Fairy Tail arc
It's revealed Ivan has been using Gajeel Redfox as an inside informant to gain info about Fairy Tail. Ivan contacts Gajeel via shikigami and is informed about his and Natsu's search for Laxus. Ivan then orders Gajeel to remain patient in his quest for vengeance against Natsu Dragneel until they've defeated Laxus first and praises him for successfully spying on Fairy Tail. However, unbeknownst to Ivan, Gajeel is actually working for Makarov as a double-agent for Fairy Tail and is spying on Raven Tail.

Grand Magic Games arc
Hearing about the members of Fairy Tail returning after seven years, Ivan declares the time has finally come to destroy them in the Grand Magic Games, with his elite Mages accompanying him to the contest. During the end of the preliminaries, "Ivan" is seen watching with the crowd as Team Raven Tail is announced as the third team to make it to the main events of the Grand Magic Games; stating he has been waiting for the chance to be able to face his father and becoming amused when Laxus is announced as one of the members of Team Fairy Tail B. Ivan, disguised as Alexei, approaches Team Fairy Tail A and informs them that Obra's attack on Wendy was "a way to say hello".

"Alexei" first chooses Nullpudding to compete in the first event and has him deliberately focus on attacking only Gray Fullbuster instead of trying to win. He later has Obra intervene in Flare Corona's match with Lucy Heartfilia, erasing her Magic Power and allowing Flare to win their battle. However, on the second day, Flare is shown to be badly wounded after being punished by "Alexei" for her "pathetic display" during her match.

On the third day of the Grand Magic Games, "Alexei" has Obra compete in the Pandemonium event, though he orders him not to show his true power since an official of the Magic Council is observing the events today. Nullpudding later gives "Alexei" a list of all the Mages battling today. He states that the administration is being creative and decides that it's time he and his guildmates focus on their true goal.

During "Alexei's" matchup with Laxus, he creates an illusion where they appear to fight and Laxus seems to be losing. "Alexei" informs Laxus of his illusory power and explains he wishes to talk with him while the audience are unable to see. "Alexei" then removes his mask and reveals himself to be the real Ivan Dreyar, while the one in the crowd is just another illusion. Ivan requests that Laxus tell him the secret of Lumen Histoire in exchange for manipulating the illusion to have Laxus win the match, though Laxus denies knowing anything about it. When Laxus refuses his offer, Ivan has the rest of Team Raven Tail reveal themselves to fight against Laxus.

Ivan reveals that Raven Tail is an anti-Fairy Tail guild with members who have specialized techniques to match Fairy Tail's weaknesses. However, he is shocked to learn from Laxus that Fairy Tail has already known about his guild and it's members for a long time due to Makarov investigating him, realizing that Gajeel was actually a double agent. Enraged, he attacks Laxus in a fury and demands he tell him about Lumen Histoire. He then orders his guildmates to attack him, only to watch in dismay as Laxus defeats them all one by one. He then tries to beg Laxus not to hurt him, reminding him that they are family. But Laxus tells him that Fairy Tail is his new family and he'll offer no mercy to those who threaten them. He then defeats Ivan in one powerful punch, knocking him out and destroying his illusion in the process. Before he is taken away by the Custody Enforcement Unit, Ivan tells Laxus that Lumen Histoire is Fairy Tail's dark secret.

Powers and Abilities
Shikigami Magic: Ivan has the ability to transform objects into shikigami (paper dolls). The full extent of this ability is unknown, but he can use it to transform even living objects, as seen when he turned a raven into a paper doll. These shikigami can then be used for communication over great distances and, with enough of them, for offense. Illusion Magic: During the third day of the Grand Magic Games, Ivan reveals his ability to use illusions, being able to deceive even respectable Mages such as Wizard Saints and Magic Council members for a very long period of time. He was able to trick the whole audience of the Grand Magic Games into seeing a false fight between him and Laxus, as well as hide him and other Raven Tail Mages. According to him, other people cannot see nor hear them.
 * Shikigami Torrent: After creating a massive amount of shikigami dolls, Ivan sends them towards his opponent in the form of a violent torrent. The torrent, upon impact with the target, multiplies into several smaller torrents that surround them from all sides.
 * Shikigami Dark Bomb: Ivan release a massive amount of shikigami dolls that once near their opponents assemble creating a spherical cluster that after few seconds explode releasing a powerful wave of Dark Magic.

Thought Projection: In the Grand Magic Games, Ivan creates a Thought Projection of himself, which acts as the guild master, allowing his real body to disguise as Alexei and compete in the games. During the third day he also creates the Thought Projections of the other four members from Team Raven Tail.