Fairy Tailoffers a wide range of distinctive antagonists with compelling backstories, even more so as the motives of almost every adversary are linked to the same cause, giving the plot some much-needed depth. Most ofFairy Tail’sadversaries belong to the Balam Alliance, a union of dark guilds that follow similar objectives and believe in one ideology –the dark wizard Zeref.
Even within the alliance, however, the dark guilds had their own goals and differences, yet the pact stood strong and in unison despite these dissimilarities, a feat that can be attributed to the three most powerful dark guilds that led the alliance. The three dark guilds; Oración Seis, Grimoire Heart, and Tartaros, had complete control over the Balam Alliance, primarily due to their unmatched magical prowess. All three guilds appear in separate arcs in the series, and are defeated by the Fairy Tail guild eventually, yet their impact on the storyline is quite profound.
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The Balam Alliance: A Pact of Non-Aggression
On the surface, the Balam Alliance may seem like a treaty for mutual benefits between the dark guilds, yet the reality is far from it as the alliance simply acted as a non-aggression pact. The pact was primarily between Oración Seis, Grimoire Heart, and Tartaros, ensuring that none of the three main dark guilds interact with each other and stay out of each other’s paths. The same rules were applied to their subordinate guilds as well, barring them from interacting with other dark guilds.
For the most part, the Balam Alliance had been a success as none of the dark guilds interfered in each other’s business. However, the drawback of this pact was that they could never extend their help to other dark guilds, which explains why none of the other dark guilds came to the aid of Oración Seis and Grimoire Heart during their respective wars with the Fairy Tail guild. This very rule ultimately led to the Balam Alliance’s demise as each of thethree main guilds were defeated by Fairy Tailone by one, leaving the subordinate dark guild’s to fend for themselves and the alliance to dissolve.
Oración Seis
Consisting a third of the Balam Alliance, the Oración Seis was a fiercedark guild that comprised six immensely powerful mages, with each rumored to be powerful enough to take down an entire guild. The primary motive of the guild was to retrieve a dark magic known as ‘Nirvana’, a magic that has the potential to turn light into dark, or in other words, turn good into evil.
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The six members of the guild remained undefeated for quite a while, as they were able to fight off all the members of the allied forces with ease, including Jura Neekis, who held the title of being one of the Ten Wizard Saints. Despite their defeatat the hands of Natsu Dragneel, the guild made several appearances throughout the series in the form of Oración Seis reborn.
Grimoire Heart
Referred to as thestrongest dark guild among the Balam Alliance, Grimoire Heart was led by Hades, who was originally Prechet, Fairy Tail’s second guild master. After making Makarov the next guild master, Prechet went off on an adventure, during which he traced the origin of magic itself to the dark wizard Zeref. It is believed that this very power corrupted him, which led to him forming the Grimoire Heart. To extend the guild’s power, he recruited mages with impeccable magic capabilities, and gave them the title of the Seven Kin of Purgatory.
Despite boasting such immense power, the dark guild was defeated during their war against Fairy Tail during the Tenrou Island arc. The motive behind the attack was to defeat Fairy Tail – the only force barring them from bringing the ‘Ultimate Magic World’ into existence. After their defeat, most of the dark guild’s members were killed, with only a few remnants left that later cut ties with the guild as well.
Tartaros
The last remnant of the Balam Alliance, Tartaros held immense magic power, as it rivaled Grimoire Heart in terms of sheer strength alone. The guild’s power was further exacerbated by the fact thateach member of Tartaros was an Etherious Demon, meaning they were created out of the Book of Zeref. The guild was responsible for ensuing chaos throughout the Kingdom of Fiore, as they were able to kill every single member of the Magic Council.
Tartaros’ main motive was to get their hands on the Magic Council’s ultimate weapon – Face, a device capable of erasing magic from the whole continent. Through Face, Tartaros had hoped to erase magic and gather curse power to revive Zeref, and then kill him. However, the guild members were only aware of the former part of the plan, as the latter was not revealed to them by the guild’s master, Mard Geer. Eventually, the guild was defeated by Fairy Tail, and the Etherious Demons were absorbed byMirajane to enhance her Takeover magic.
