Fairy

Relevant topics on**Magic**

A **Fairy** (妖精, *Yōsei*?, lit. "Bewitching spirit") is a legendary creature in European folklore. In the world of *Toaru Majutsu no Index*, legends surrounding different kinds of fairies are used as a basis for magic spells.

## Principles

According to Ollerus, fairies were pagan gods of old that were changed when Christianity became much more prevalent. Simply put, they shrank down the pagan gods (though without being aware of it). The king of the forest transformed into a dwarf. The queen of the sea was remade into a female monster that sank ships. One theory said the gods of the many old religions that conflicted with Christianity were reclassified as evil gods who fell under the category of demons. Those became clear enemies, but there were others that had been remade into beings that lived alongside mankind.

Fairies are apparently seen as diminutive beings, being referred to as "small neighbors". They are also seen as either malicious or enigmatic, kidnapping people and ate their insides, or helped with one’s job or housework if certain conditions were met. Despite the spread and power of major religions in forbidding belief in them, fairies have remained in people's hearts. These beings had not been completely remade as enemies or completely eliminated. Unlike the evil gods whose great power was recognized but were seen as merciless enemies, most of these had managed to remain unchanged in people’s hearts on the condition that they were made powerless or shrank down.

In the modern age, the word "fairy" has become commonplace. Religions did not treat it as taboo. Children’s **fairy tales** (童話, *Dōwa*?, alt. "おとぎ話, *Otogibanashi*") (sometimes referred to by the term **Märchen** (メルヘン, *Meruhen*?)) and **picture books** (絵本, *Ehon*?), such as Peter Pan, The Golden Axe, and Snow White are well known. However, very few people had accurately extracted their true form and original role from the flood of information. It was similar to how the great mixture of information on the modern internet diluted the trustworthiness and credibility of the information found there.

### Turn into a fairy

Ollerus, a magician who failed to become a Magic God, researched fairies and fairy tales and the weaknesses of a magic god in order to stop Othinus and her nefarious plot. He made a spell based out of the historical fact on how pagan gods were turned into fairies during the rise of Christianity.

Called **Turn into a fairy** (妖精化, *Yōsei-ka*?), the spell is specifically created to counter Othinus the Magic God and bring her down into a field where she can be defeated. Fiamma of the Right was also taught of this spell as a back up when Ollerus' attack fails on Othinus. The spell appears as a glowing stake that comes out of the user's open palms, and is supposedly used by piercing the target's chest. The spell, if working properly, is able to thoroughly destroy the interior of the target's body.

After Ollerus fails to defeat Othinus with the spell, she immediately knows how to use and uses the spell on Ollerus. As Ollerus too has stepped into the territory of a magic god, he too is vulnerable to his own spell. However, after she is forcibly turned into a fairy by Fiamma of the Right, she still became a complete magic god, for her becoming a fairy, though meant that she could no longer become a magic god, it also freed her from the 50/50 restraint of her power as she only needed to either gain 100% success or failure. Thus her being utterly thrown down into a fairy showed that she failed to become a magic god, it inadvertently turned her back into a magic god but now a complete one.

Later on, after the destruction of Gungnir, Othinus is forced to use this spell, representing her negative possibilities, to attack Touma. This later causes her to start losing her powers as a Magic God, as originally intended.

Fiamma later devised his own variant of the fairy spell, with the spell being rapidly reapplied 2,070,000 times in a row on contact to destroy the target, and attempted to use it against the High Priest, but was ultimately unsuccessful.

## Background

According to some historians, such as Barthélemy d'Herbelot, fairies were adopted from and influenced by the *peris* of Persian mythology. Peris were angelic beings that were mentioned in antiquity in pre-Islamic Persia as early as the Achaemenid Empire. Peris were later described in various Persian works in great detail such as the Shahnameh by Ferdowsi. A peri was illustrated to be fair, beautiful, and extravagant nature spirits that were supported by wings. This may have influenced migratory Germanic and Eurasian settlers into Europe, or been transmitted during early exchanges. The similarities could also be attributed to a shared Proto-Indo-European mythology.

## Chronology

### Shinyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index

#### Hawaii Invasion Arc

*Main article: Hawaii Invasion Arc*
Two key members of GREMLIN involved in the incident in Hawaii used magic derived from a fairy or fairy tale; Cendrillon, whose name, dress and magic were based on the fairy tale Cinderella, and Saronia A. Irivika, whose magic was based on the Leshy.

### Toaru Kagaku no Railgun SS3

*Main article: Toaru Kagaku no Railgun SS3*
Many of the names of Stativari violins mentioned or featured in the Blue Blood incident, such as Ainsel and Tam Lin, were derived from figures connected to fairies.

## Uses of Fairies and Fairy Tales in the story

* Ollerus (Turn into a fairy)
* Fiamma of the Right (Turn into a fairy, and unnamed modified fairy spell)
* Othinus (Turn into a fairy)

## External Links

* Fairy (Wikipedia article)
* Fairy tale (Wikipedia article)