#Jude Heartfilia

[floertoer]

[zai-doodles]

I wished Lucy looked more like her dad and Erza as well. Layla is a carbon copy of Lucy and Irene as well

ok so-

ive been wanting to make this official for a while and this ask finally gave me an excuse to draw it lol

so here r first drafts of jude and layla!

in this lucy has no memories of layla bc she died while giving birth, jude resented lucy and was so lost in his grief he never told lucy anything about her mom and essentially erased her

for political reasons that im not gonna get into now, both of them kept their last names after getting married

lucy doesnt learn about layla until right before the canon story starts (a few days before her 18th)

when lucy starts throwing around the name heartfilia there r def ppl who recognize the name but since its been so long a lot of them don't make the connection until she starts interacting with other wizards/ celestial mages

next big reveal:

here is lucy maden!! lucy is a natural brunette in my rewrite, yes I'm aware shes basically my little oc at this point but shhh this is all for fun

anyway she uses magic to dye her hair both to look more like her mother and to look less like her father

ik that canon likes to play on lucy looking exactly like her mom to justify kinda jude not being able to look at her but like,,, what if she looks more like her abusive father can u imagine the angst guys-

all of this is subject to change and tweaks (especially layla since I want to flesh out her younger years before jude more)

[bumblebeehug]

so sick of mashima writing that 7 year gap. twisted to make lucy want to see her father right before they learn that acnologia's around. bloodcurling to kill off jude during the 7 year gap.

[cecenyss]

The real reason Gray and Natsu didn’t get along is because Gray has mommy issues (Ur’s death) and Natsu has daddy issues (Igneel’s disappearance).

Lucy has both mommy and daddy issues and Erza was an orphan, so the team stayed balanced.

Erza discovering she actually has major mommy issues (Irene) is what really killed Natsu, because it ruined the balance. Lucy’s keeping him alive through the power of her own daddy issues, which happen to be strong enough to sustain him.

[bubblez-bubble]

Jude Heartfilia is a good father!

Lemme explain.

Now let me just start this off by saying nothing will ever excuse his actions or the way he treated Lucy. But we also have to consider what he's dealing with as a single father.

Jude Heartfilia, a non-wizard, married a wizard, Layla Heartfilia, and together, they had a very powerful and canonically gifted wizard child.

Jude was also involved with a secret organization to keep the clock pieces (key of the starry heavens arc) safe and away from those who might try to bring the pieces together. A task that would normally be left to a wizard considering the risks.

Then, his wife died after using all of her power and remaining life force to open a magical time gate so that their daughter wouldn't have to.

On top of trying to just keep their fortune afloat to ensure their daughter would have a safe and comfortable life.

And he sheltered Lucy from ALL of it until she was at an appropriate age to be able to handle it.

Jude dedicated his life to his daughters comfort and safety after losing his wife.

He just went about it in all the wrong ways.

Being a non-wizard and not quite understanding magic as a whole, on top of being a widower, working with a secret organization to protect the world from a dark magic he probably didn't even understand, and raising a naturally gifted magical child by himself.

If you think about it, since Lucy's magic is so rare and she comes from money, Jude probably had a lot to deal with when it came to keeping her safe. He was probably constantly exhausted, worrying about his daughter and her growing power and worrying about what kind of people would take notice of the fact.

He worked tirelessly to keep his family afloat.

Raising a child gifted with something he didn't understand, alone.

And even when Lucy comes back to tell him off, as she's leaving, there's no anger or resentment in his expression as he watches her leave with her new friends. I dare say he almost looked relieved.

Relieved his daughter finally found people who understand her, people who are strong enough to protect her, people who care about her just as much as he and his wife had.

The look on his face was affectionate at the very least.

It was in the moment Lucy declared her independence he realized she didn't need him to protect her anymore. Because she had people that would do that and still make time for her.

Jude, on the other hand, must have had a very hard time making time for her because he didn't have the magic to make things easier on himself.

Imagine, if you will, you're a single widowed father raising an only child possessing the same abilities that brought about your wife's very demise.

He must have been terrified Lucy would have had to endure the same pain and hardship as Layla as a celestial wizard.

He wasn't trying to push her away or choose money over her.

He loved his his daughter and only wanted what was best for her. He just didn't know what that was until she told him herself.

He must've been so happy and relieved when he arrived at Love and Lucky and was told that his TEENAGE DAUGHTER FOUGHT AN ENTIRE DARK GUILD BY HERSELF WITH LITTLE TO NO EFFORT AND WON. (Lucy is canonically 17 at the start of the series up to Tenrou Island btw.)

Lucy single handedly saved an entire merchant guild from an entire dark guild completely by herself.

He must have been so proud of how much she had grown.

And once again I'm not excusing his behavior, actions, or neglect of Lucy.

But this father had it rough.

Honestly, if you think about it, Jude trying to marry Lucy off to a wealthier family right before his company went under was his way of further trying to ensure Lucy's future. Trying to make sure she lived a comfortable life. He was so fixated on making sure Lucy lived comfortably enough she'd never have to worry about money like he and her mother had in the past, he completely forgot to consider what SHE wanted.

He must have lived his life everyday with the fear of whether or not he was doing everything he could to ensure her safety and comfort that he hadn't even considered that Lucy wanted something different for herself.

It wasn't until Lucy was finally able to allow her voice to be heard that he finally understood where he went wrong.

And when he stopped in Magnolia asking her for so much money, it was because he didn't know how much fare would be because he hadn't left his home in years so he could be nearby to keep an eye on his daughter. He wasn't being greedy, he was just out of touch with the world around him. Which was confirmed by the way when Lucy asked him if he really thought train fare was that expensive and he replied with confusion.

Magic killed his wife. His only child was naturally gifted with the same magic that did so. He was also in charge of keeping the world from falling into chaos by keeping the clock hand hidden and safe as well as the map to the clock pieces. (The key of the starry heavens book.)

This man had the weight of the world on his shoulders, taking on a world he had no business being a part of so that he could protect his daughter.

Again, no, the way he treated Lucy in the process was not okay and was 100% neglect and a form of abuse. And no, everything he did good does not excuse his previous actions. But he was working with what he had in a world he wasn't ever meant to be a part of but became part of it to better understand how to keep his daughter safe.

This man did everything he could to protect his daughter until his dying breath. And I personally think that that above all else deserves recognition.

He went about it in all the wrong ways, but Lucy was all he had.

It's not like theirs a manual for parenting a normal child, let alone one with exceptionally rare and pretty powerful (when used and trained well) magic.

She was EVERYTHING to him.

He must have been so relieved like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders when he saw how empowered she was after being with Fairy Tail for such a short time. When he realized she was with people who understood her. When he realized she wasn't the same little girl he had to protect from the big scary outside world anymore. When he realized she had grown and learned to protect herself and the others she cared for on her own merits. He must have been so proud of her when he finally realized he needed to let her go so she could keep growing.

He adored his daughter. He loved her more than anything in the whole world and wanted nothing more than for her to be happy and safe.

And when you really think about everything he's done to shelter her from the truth of the harsh reality he had been keeping from her, it really shows.

He didn't want to at first because he was scared for his daughter, but eventually he made the right call to let his daughter go so she could continue to grow and make him proud, setting his mind at ease about whether or not she'd be safe and loved without him.

Even though he didn't get to say goodbye, his final letter to her conveyed all of this and so much more.

He might not have been good at showing Lucy herself, but he showed countless others in the shadows and behind the scenes and secrets how much he loved and cared for his daughter.

[moltensmusings]

I mentioned it in a post but I want to make a side one:

I wish Mashima would've actually given flashback episodes with specifically Layla and Jude before they got married and had Lucy. As well as us being able to see how much Jude changed following Layla's death.

I wish we could've seen him got from someone who was work driven but loving, into someone who had a strained relationship with Lucy due to her leaning so heavily into loving magic after her mother died, while he hated and blamed it for killing Layla. It wouldn't be able to be super stretched out, but give the Heartfilia family 2 episodes of backstory and allow us to see Jude as a complicated person who ultimately did horrible things in the wake of his grief.

Don't have Jude randomly become poor, instead have him stay wealthy and keep his distance from Lucy as he acknowledged his own faults and worked on bettering himself before reaching out to her again. By the time this happens she van already be gone on tenrou Island, leading to Jude pouring all his finances into keeping fairy tail up and running so that Lucy could have a family to return to when she got back. Not intending to coerce her into speaking to him, but because he knows fairy tail cares about her and she loves that guild and it's members.

It would make his death so much more tragic and allow for a better redemption to his character than what we got and make the emotions around his death feel less weird.

[risingmoonyue]

I was re-watching ep. 52 of Fairy Tail, and something interesting caught my eye.

When Lucy and her dad are talking, he specifically says (in the subtitles anyways) that “Heartfilia Railways was confiscated”. Which got me thinking, what can get a company confiscated? I’m operating with American laws, but I’m going to go ahead and assume that Japanese laws work more or less the same way from what I skimmed through.

I attached a screenshot of the definition via Cornell, but basically the gist that I understand is that the government can confiscate property or possessions for reasons like criminal justifications [aka drug paraphernalia, etc] or to satisfy a person’s debt. Based off this, is it too much to assume he was faced with consequences for hiring Phantom Lord to basically kidnap Lucy, and subsequently kicking off a guild war?

This is me admittedly just speculating with literally a google search’s understanding of basic confiscation law and I’m probably using the term incorrectly, but the thought that Jude actually faces consequences for his part in the whole thing is actually pretty interesting to me.

Food for thought I guess.

[dailygraylu]

[lucanayuri]

i like to imagine gildarts and jude arguing with each other over their daughters meanwhile said daughters are making out

[lisannastraussisanangel]

Hi I was wondering have you got any hcs on the heartfilia clan ? If not just Layla side of the family please

Lemme see what I can do for you! There's not a whole lot of existing content of them in the series to work off of so its a bit short

Layla's side of the family has always had money. They weren't like wealthy but it had always been comfortable for them.

The whole side of the family considered themselves to be incredibly lucky. They never struggled to find work, good housing, etc

A condition Layla's side of the family had was that the person they married had to take their last name because of the job that had been passed down

They had a pretty good rep so it was never a problem for anyone marrying into the family. Having the Heartfilia name was enough to earn you respect

Both Jude and Layla were pretty cunning. Jude's was more well known but Layla was pretty slick with it

Layla had an incredibly high IQ

Jude was really smart too, but Layla could run circles around him

A lot of the Heartfilia's were school teachers. Layla broke the cycle

Almost every kid born in the Heartfilia family is a girl. All the men married in

Anna and Zeref went to school together, but did not talk until much later

Anna is incredibly stubborn.

[tingyyytingsss]

What was Jude heartfelia's bachelor name? Lmao

[fairytail-backgrounds]

The Heartfilia Estate

Fairy Tail, Chs. 67-68

[soulless-angel25]

Whumpril 2024, Day 18 Prompt- Broken Glass @whumpril

Her father was good. He was. He just... got really angry sometimes. But this time he was really angry and it was Lucy's fault. She had accidentally knocked over a vase that was on the table in front of her dad's office.

It had tipped and fell over onto the floor. She'd tried to catch it but couldn't and her dad had heard the crash. He'd opened the door and saw the mess. He hadn't even bothered to ask if she was okay or what had happened.

He'd just gone to reprimanding her. He was yelling and she couldn't cover her ears because it'd be 'disrespectful'. Why wouldn't he listen to her?

[bumblebeehug]

What do you think is the contents of Jude's gifts to Lucy? Any headcanons?

i'm a firm believer that he gifted her his only belongings from the Heartfilia-estate, and that the only things he brought were items from when Layla was alive. Jude was harsh, unfair, neglectant etc, but even though he wasn't a good father, i'd like to think he was a really great husband. after all, he was the one who was married into the Heartfilia name, not Layla. so when the company went down, he allowed for the entire estate, everything he owned, to be confiscated - everything but some keepsakings he kept from Layla: i'm thinking diaries, her favourite books, some family heirlooms, and other small but meaningfull trinkets.

(Longgggg analysis of their relationship below the cut)

I also think that Jude always meant to go through these things with Lucy. I think he had a flighty dream to reconcile with her, even if he only came to talk to her after he needed to loan money from her, even after sending Phantom Lord after her so he could marry her off to a wealthy business partner. Because despite all of the terrible things he had done, he wanted her to know all about the amazing mother she had. He wanted to show Lucy the exact shade of pink that was Layla's favourite (i'm bringing Nalu in here though bc coincidentally Layla's favourite shade of pink is the exact shade of Natsu's hair), he wanted to go to the market and point out the flowers she liked the most, he wanted to tell Lucy about all of their anecdotes, because after many years of lonliness, and after some time being unemployed, he had realised that he wanted Layla's image to be strong in Lucy's memories.

Then Jude would hear about the Tenrou accident, and though he wanted to believe that Lucy would pull through, he understood that it was unlikely. His daughter was dead, and he had been the worst father imaginable. His guilt was chewing through his sanity, but this time he decided to do something about it. He knew he might never get the actual chance to repair the relationship between him and Lucy, but the only way for him to keep going, was to repair it despite her not being there. So he, an old business man, created a new business, just so he could fund both his and his dead daughter's life. I don't think he ever made any extreme sums with the new company - he could pay for his own life, the monthly rent of Lucy's flat, and a bi-monthly cleaning of it, in case she came back. The cleaning was mainly for Jude's sake, since that was the way he could keep hope that she would come back, any time he visited.

He never earned enough money to live completely comfortable again - he often ended up grabbing free meals whenever he could, and if the rent at one place got too high, he didn't shy away from living on the streets until something reasonable came up again. He found ways to wash up and keep clean, and he kept his income, but he had it tough economically. he never lived in Lucy's flat either though, and he never even considered selling it.

When Lucy's birthday came around, he started writing letters. They contained all of the information about Layla that he could remember, which ended up being way more than he had anticipated. But he wrote the letters, and now, whenever he wasn't working, he was writing. As he wrote, he noticed that the letters started having matching items - in one he would mention a heirloom that had bothered Layla because of how hideous it was (and then he'd write about the stories of the people who had owned this heirloom and why it was important for the Heartfilia women to have), and another would be about him praising his wife's clothing style, and then there would be a package with some of her dresses in it.

Then the company started pulling its own weight and more, and he started putting away money for Lucy's landlady. First he just wanted to give the lady some cash so she could store the gifts until Lucy came back (he was aware that it was an if, and not when, but this was his way of healing, he argued), but then, as the company grew, he realised that he could pay Lucy's rent beforehand. Before he knew it, he was paying almost double of the cost of Lucy's rent, just so that the landlady could keep the apartment empty.

I don't think Jude ever felt like he had redeemed himself. I'm pretty sure he spent his last years deep in regret, and that he struggled with guilt and depression from both Layla's and Lucy's deaths - after all, he died not knowing that Lucy survived Tenrou. I've never loved Jude either - I think there's a limit to how much you should be allowed to put your child through, and Jude crossed that line not long after Layla died. He made insanely bad choices again and again regarding Lucy, and I don't think Lucy ever needed to forgive him.

But I think she did forgive him. I believe she sometimes finds resentment lingering in her memories that contain him, but that she reminds herself that his life wasn't a pretty one either. I think she's aware of the fact that he struggled on so many planes (mentally, socially) and that she's decided to let his image rest - she'll never go out of her way to defend him if his name is getting thrown around, but she'll never start a conversation just to bash on her late father. I think that she'll let him seem nice when her children hears about him, and she'll let the kids learn the full truth once they're old enough.

And lastly, I think she'll always be thankful of the gifts he gave her, and that she's greatful that he never stopped believeing that she was alive, and that he gave her such wonderful stories about her mother.

[maguro13-2]

Layla : Lucy. I have some terrible and tragic news. Your father is...your father is...is dead.

Lucy : Oh no, he's dead? How did that happened?

Jude's ghost : I'm not dead. I'm right here!

Lucy : Ahhh! Dad! You're a ghost!

Jude's ghost : I am the ghost of deceased Jude Heartfilia, and I have comeback to meet you on the lands of earth.

Lucy : Wait, how on earth did you die like that?

Jude's Ghost : Well...

*flashback*

Jude Heartfilia : I can't believe that I lost my wife and daughter, and my own job. Now that I have nothing left for my life, I might as well give up and that I am going to end this all.

Layla : Honey, don't do it! Our daughter left because she wanted to have your life! This is your fault that I made you a bad husband and a bad father! I got you into this!

Jude Heartfilia : You mean it, hon? Does this mean that I get to keep my reputation as a good father and a husband? I'm going to live, hon! I'm going to-(about to fall off the build) Layla, what are you doing!? Help me! Help me!

Layla : Oh, I would love to help you out, but I was only gonna make you fall, cause I really wanted a divorce! Peace, sucker! (Pushes Jude off the building)

Jude Heartfilia : You killed me, Laylaaaaaaaaa!!!

*CRASH!*

Layla : I'd love being single!

*flashback end*

Jude Heartfilia : died from malnutrition or died from heart failures.

Lucy Heartfilia : Oh. I see. Sorry dad, but you're on your own. Mom's gonna find a new newlywed.

Layla : I'm into ladies now, hope I don't marrying a women like other people do.

Jude's ghost : But that's not the point! Why did I even bother?

[bubblez-bubble]

Yall.

All of the Heartfilia women were either total girl bosses or kept it in the family.

SPOILER WARNING!

We all know Lucy and Layla (with the little screen time she got) Heartfilia. In the Alvarez Arc we meet their ancestor Anna Heartfilia who started everything with the dragon slayers.

So here's the thing.

Now one more small warning, it may just be that things like marriage and last names work differently in the world of Fairy Tail, but let's assume for a moment that it works the same way it does in our world.

So typically in marriage, the woman will take the mans last name. But somehow in 400 years, the Heartfilia name the WOMEN carried remained despite at least 2 of the women being married.

This can mean 2, possibly 3 things.

1. Every man that married into the Heartfilia family took on the Heartfilia family name because it was important for their family's lineage.

2. They married men that were already members of the family, distant cousins, immediate cousins, siblings, etc.

Or, the least likely option

3. Each of the married Heartfilia women magically (no pun intended) found a man with the same last name that is in no way related to them.

There is the 4th option that things are just different in their world where it's common to take the woman's last name, however, that does not change the fact that this was a pretty serious plot hole that was never explained.

Now you could argue that we don't know for sure if Anna or any of the other Heartfilias were ever actually married to keep the last name, we do, however, know for a fact Layla was married to Jude as he does have her last name and Jude at least once mentions marrying Layla being one of his happiest memories aside from finding out Layla was pregnant and when Lucy was born among other things.

This is just something I have thought about for years and it honestly keeps me up at night. 😅