Thanks for pointing this out. With the series about to be done and dusted with, I might as well address, aka rant about, the incorrigible character of Erza.
We should have thought nothing about her would even surprise the readers anymore. But no, because Erza Scarlet is a terrible character. Now, I'm just not out here to bash this chick for no good reason. I'm going to try to explain how she is bad, and how she could be made good.
To show how Erza is bad, let me use a character that is written well.
This is Wendy. She is faced with the challenge of preventing Face from happening before the diminishing time.
A good choice is when you have got a goal, you put an obstacle in their way, and a character has a decision to make between two valid options of getting around that problem. Depending on their prominence to the plot, these choices only happen a few times to each character. But when they do happen, they make the characters feel something. They also make the readers feel something as well. And that is what the readers want.
During the Tartaros arc. Wendy has to make choices which,
- reveal her character
- move the plot forward
- defy the readers' expectations
Here, Wendy has an inner monologue which reveals her character.
By observing her surroundings, she is able to connect the dots from the air nearby, to the Ethernano near Face. This shows a keen awareness, and critical thinking when under pressure. She contemplates mixing the two and utilizing it inside her body in a manner which Natsu theoretically does. And the readers are able to feel she has always been observing how Natsu fights, and that she has always been playing catch up. The readers are living through her, as they experience all these feelings.
On the subject of environment, such a power up does not feel random or forced, as it has been brought up in foreshadowing by other characters before.
Such monoglue within her shows the internal path she has to take before arriving to a decision. It's not a handout, where you receive gifts on a silver freaking platter.
Erza? She does not do anything like that at all. She makes choices that are forced on her. What we call plot reactions.
Beat Kyouka and stop Face? Or don't beat Kyouka and don't stop Face?
Beat Azuma and restore Tenrou Tree? Or don't beat Azuma and don't restore Tenrou Tree?
Yes, I'm positive those are very hard choices to make.
Plot reactions. Erza was put in a position where she has to do something. Or stay exactly where she is. And staying exactly where you are is never a choice. Because the plot is going to move without you. So she has to react. And just do the thing the plot is telling her to do. Therefore, these choices are hardly valid because they are no longer choices which reveal your character, but rather no-brainer.
Wendy, however, was unable to stop Face despite defeating Ezel. But due to Charle's prophecy and future sight, she was able to find a way of deactivating Face. This, comes at the expense of their lives. So again, Wendy has to make a choice here. A choice between sacrificing herself together with Charle, or for the sake of preserving the magic world.
These are two real options. We need to remember now that even without magic in the world, it is not fatal to magicians and they won't die directly from a result of that. But they will be weaken and as such, become susceptible to enemies' attacks. In other words, Wendy chose to prioritize the safety of her comrades over her own life.
As she flashes back to her past, the readers are able to go on an emotional journey, and feel the impact of Wendy and Charle's sacrifices.
Then Erza successfully defeated Kyouka. Of course, she did. But the timer still doesn't stop unless you kill her. She ran out of energy, so Minerva dealt the lethal blow.
But oh no, it has counted down to zero. So all magic is going to disppear from the continent? Well, guess we will find out in the next chapter of Fair . . .
Except the story instantly shifted back to Mard's altercation with the dragon slayers! And it was eventually revealed the parent dragons were already on standby, then show up right after that, and swiftly destroyed all Faces. So Erza's fight which was supposed to be the last one standing prior to Mard, the battle that supposedly determine the fate of the magic world, does not, in the grand scheme of things, actually matter one bit. It had no connection to any other element in the story. It did not move the plot forward.
It was like the fight was just there. It served no real purpose.
Wendy's fight with Ezel showed not only the threat of Face. It also showed us the gravity of the threat multiplied by a thousand fold.
And this moved the plot forward by reinforcing the threat of Tartaros.
Then we move on to the actual fight itself. The fight where despite being wounded and exhausted from her earlier fight with Minerva, and Kyouka had seemingly absorbed Seilah to boost her strength, Erza was utterly wrecked by Kyouka's abilities.
But something happened. Something that would make Shakespeare turn in his grave. Erza broke the rules of the logical confines of a story being told. She got up, despite losing all her senses, and proceeded to beat the tar out of the Kyouka. With the explanation being 'Because she's Erza'. The atrocity was unreal.
Here was Kyouka, or rather Mashima, letting us know what Erza is.
She does not feel any pain or fear. These character traits are what makes a human, a human. Not possessing these does not make Erza unique. No, they don't. They make her unrelatable. The readers are not able to register with Erza because she is an object. A terminator completely devoid of any relatable traits. And the sorry thing is, Erza has never changed one bit. Since the beginning, that is her in a nutshell. There is no growth to her character, no logic behind her, no emotional feedback between her and the readers.
On the other hand, Wendy grew. She went from someone who was scared stiff by bugs.
To deepening her resolve of fighting on her own two feet.
Because of the events she went through, and choices she had to make, she has transformed. She is still Wendy, but no longer the Wendy we knew. Same, but different. She reversed all expectations the readers had of her initially. And that, my friends, is storytelling.
