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In the start when Natsu was looking for Igneel he said that Igneel was with him 7 years ago. After the Tenroujima incident they all disappeared for 7 years. Evil Rogue came from 7 years in the future. There were seven dragons that came out of eclipse gate after it was opened.

What's the importance of the number 7 in Fairy Tail? Is there some type of special meaning behind it or is it just a simple number with no significance?

Maroon
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Syed Anas
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  • Welcome to the Anime/Manga SE site. I edited your post for grammar; if I've changed the meaning of something, free free to edit it back in. – Maroon Sep 03 '14 at 05:18
  • @Maroon thanks ... you did better, i will make my question better once i get used to this site – Syed Anas Sep 03 '14 at 05:19
  • You might want to clarify what you meant by "the dragon that came out of eclipse" - it's not clear to the casual reader if you mean that there were seven dragons or something else. – Maroon Sep 03 '14 at 05:21
  • @Maroon is it better? – Syed Anas Sep 03 '14 at 05:24
  • I believe the importance of number 7 was because Igneel, Grandenee and all the other dragon slayers dragons disappeared at exactly the same time (excluding Sting and Rogue who killed their own dragons). – Izumi-reiLuLu Sep 03 '14 at 06:03
  • @アズーサ but then why only 7? even in the later they only had 7 years difference..... why not 8 or 9 to make it more random – Syed Anas Sep 03 '14 at 06:16
  • @anas: It's still not very clear for me, when you say `The dragons that came out of eclipse gate after it was opened were 7.` Does this mean that there were seven dragons, or is this supposed to mean something else? (Note: I don't follow Fairy Tail so it's also a little hard for me to judge or correct details like this, which is probably part of the reason I'm asking.) – Maroon Sep 03 '14 at 15:09
  • @anas: On another thought, the most logical interpretation from that to me would be that they were seven-years-old (although it's still somewhat ambiguous and might benefit from an edit in that respect), so ignore me if what I'm saying isn't useful at all. – Maroon Sep 03 '14 at 15:20
  • @Maroon No they werent 7 years old.... in the plot they said that 10 thousand dragons would come out of a gate called eclipse so the heroes tried to prevent it and out of 10 thousand only 7 came out after that the heroes closed the gate. so this number 7 is repeating itself in many situations but i dont know whats the reason behind it – Syed Anas Sep 04 '14 at 04:55
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    @anas: I edited that in to make it clearer what you were trying to say. Is this alright? – Maroon Sep 04 '14 at 05:21
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    [related?](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/777_%28number%29), sure there's more than 3 instances of 7 so maybe we can discount the use of the antithesis of the Number of the Beast (666) but Judaism does consider it a perfect number. its link to Genesis might be that these events link to a possible arc about some sort of creation that linked to the dragons since all the events you have mentioned in the question seemed to have something to do with the dragons – Memor-X Sep 04 '14 at 05:29
  • @Memor-X seems like it i just wanna know if the author made it random or there is some kind of plot behind it .... – Syed Anas Sep 04 '14 at 05:32
  • @anas, I think it might be similar to the way 7 is used in Harry Potter (basically almost anywhere where it made sense). The author is using it to create a mysterious air around the number. The proof that it is working is that this question/thread exists. Anyway, in the story, the significance of 7 has not yet been revealed. –  Dec 04 '15 at 15:47
  • I'd like to point out there are 7 dragon slayers too. Natsu, Gajeel, Wendy, Sting, Rogue, Laxus, and Cobra. –  Dec 04 '15 at 11:19

1 Answers1

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In Japanese, the number 4 and, to a lesser extent, 7, is generally associated with death and considered unlucky because of the pronunciation of the word. 4 is 「四」 which can be pronounced 「し」 "shi", and 7 is 「七」 which can be pronounced 「しち」 "shichi". Death is 「死」 which is pronounced "shi". 9 is 「九」 which can be pronounced 「く」 "ku", meaning suffering or hardship　「苦」. For this reason, it is impolite to give any gift in an increment of 4 or 9 (for example, a set of cups should be given and bought in sets of 5, not 4), and my Japanese grandmother told me not to give in the increment of 7 either since it has the sound of "shi" inside the word.

On the other hand, various things considered positive in Japanese religion and mythology are in a set of 7, such as the Seven Lucky Gods 「七福神」（しちふくじん, "shichifukujin"） and the Seven-Branched Sword 「七支刀」（しちしとう, ななつさやのたち、pronounced as either "shichitou" or "nanatsusayanotachi"）.

nhahtdh
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seijitsu
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  • Isn't 9 (Kyu) 九? – Memor-X Sep 05 '14 at 02:57
  • this actually makes sense... +1 brother – Syed Anas Sep 05 '14 at 05:49
  • @Memor-X: It can also be pronounced as `ku`, e.g. Kujou 九条　（a name) – nhahtdh Sep 05 '14 at 15:59
  • Well, although this answer beautifully explains how number 7 is interpreted by Japanese, it doesn't explain anything about how it is related to the series. – nhahtdh Sep 05 '14 at 16:01
  • ＠Memor-X, thanks, I've fixed that (I'd put the suffering kanji in the wrong spot in my post). @nhahtdt, the main question was "What is the importance of the number 7?" so I took that to be a question regarding 7's significance in anime/Japanese culture in general, since if there is a special meaning that the readers/viewers are supposed to pick up on in Fairy Tail, it would be something in Japanese culture beyond the confines of the series alone. Unless the mangaka stated a singular reason in an interview or author's notes, to limit the answer to Fairy Tail's world would become speculation. – seijitsu Sep 06 '14 at 03:10
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    `The main question was "What is the importance of the number 7?" so I took that to be a question regarding 7's significance in anime/Japanese culture in general.` The title is not always the actual question that the poster wants to ask. If you read the question body, this is the question: `What's the importance of the number 7 in Fairy Tail? Is there some type of special meaning behind it or is it just a simple number with no significance?` Your answer does cite various interpretation of 7, but I can't see how it links to the events in Fairy Tail. – nhahtdh Sep 06 '14 at 14:23
  • @nhahtdh u are right and that is solely why i have not accepted the answer, since i did find the information helpful i gave a +1 :) – Syed Anas Sep 09 '14 at 04:49