Beth Vanderwood

Beth Vanderwood (ベス・バンダーウッド Besu Bandāuddo) is a Mage of the Mermaid Heel Guild.

Appearance[]

Beth is a petite young girl with orange-brown hair, which is tied in two braided pigtails on either side of her head. She has a childlike and innocent look to her, possessing very large, almost round greyish blue eyes and freckled cheeks. She has a remarkably small nose that cannot be seen when viewed from the front. In contrast with the rest of her childlike appearance, she possesses distinctively large hips and thighs, mirroring a marked pear shape.^[3]

Beth is shown wearing a black T-shirt with a white collar line under a pair of calf length greyish blue overalls, covering her torso and reaching up below her armpits, held up by shoulder straps. The overalls are plain except for a series of simple, small round motifs going down the side. Beth's outfit is completed by a pair of red sandals for her feet.^[3]

Personality[]

Beth appears to be a cheerful, carefree and playful girl, smiling in almost every occasion.^[3] She's also a very polite girl, as shown when she asks permission to compete the first event and saying that there's no problem having two teams competing at once.^[4] She is also a bit clumsy, as she failed to hit Gray, who was very near to her, inadvertently revealing her position, which made her an easy target for other competitors.^[5]

Beth loves vegetables and grows them for her guild mates as their resident nutritionist and working as a part-time agriculturist, she also believes that vegetables are truly things that should be grown with one’s own soul and spirit.^[2]

History[]

Originally from the western continent, Beth immigrated to Fiore some time before joining the Mermaid Heel Guild.^[2]

Synopsis[]

Grand Magic Games arc[]

Beth, alongside Team Mermaid Heel, passed the Grand Magic Games' preliminary event, Sky Labyrinth, in 6th place. She later appears at the Domus Flau Stadium as one of the participants for her all-female guild.^[3] She then asks to compete in the first round of the games, Hidden, which one of her team members allows.^[4] After all the contenders gather around Mato, the first event begins with a magical city appearing. Beth is confused where to hide at first. The rules of the game are then explained as essentially being a game of "hide and seek", but various clones of all the participants are scattered around the city, giving the contestants the task of finding the real ones to gain points.^[6]

Beth runs into Gray, and tries to attack him, but misses. Caught off guard, she is then attacked by Jäger.^[5] When Eve Tearm makes it snow throughout the city, he is easily able to find Beth, and attack her, making Team Mermaid Heel lose another point. Soon after, she is attacked by Rufus Lore, who easily wins the game by using his Memory-Make Magic.^[7] At the end of the game Beth scores three points, putting her guild in fifth place.^[8]

At the end of the Third Day's events, Beth is seen exiting the stadium alongside her team, when suddenly her team-mate Kagura Mikazuchi starts to cough and feel sick, falling to the ground. Kagura, however, stands up and tells the girls not to worry, leaving them confused about what was going on.^[9]

During the last day of the Grand Magic Games, Beth enters with the rest of her team as they are announced as the 3rd placing team.^[10] As the guilds scatter around Crocus, Beth smiles as she listens to the rules of the last event of the Games, along with her teammates.^[11] At some point, she and Araña, who have paired up, engage in combat against The Trimens and are defeated, eliminating them from the event and giving Team Blue Pegasus two extra points.^[12]

With the battle between the three strongest female Mages of the competition about to begin, from the side lines Beth asks her friends if Kagura would be okay in this battle.^[13] Risley tells her not to underestimate their friend but Beth still worries to the extent of sweating before the battle begins.^[14] While the battle rages on, Beth is shocked to see Minerva bring in Millianna into the battle, who is suffering because of Minerva's Magic.^[15] As Erza and Kagura start fighting, it is revealed that Erza's weakness was the cause of Simon's death, Kagura's brother. As Kagura grips her sword, Beth worriedly watches on.^[16]

Beth, along with her teammates, watches as Erza knocks Kagura down with one attack, wondering if Kagura really lost.^[17] Beth is soon shocked to see Minerva stab Kagura from behind, claiming five points for defeating the Mermaid Heel leader.^[18] While Minerva explains her Magic, Beth watches on with an uneasy expression.^[19] Standing next to her guildmates, Beth happily looks on as Fairy Tail wins the tournament.^[20]

After the Grand Magic Games have come to a close, the King of Fiore accumulates all of the Mages from all Guilds to acknowledge them of the impending disaster and what the Kingdom plans to do to combat against the calamity. The King continues on to request for their assistance against the remaining Dragons who survive from the Eclipse Plan, to which Beth and the rest of the Mages all agree in unison.^[21] Beth is later seen with the rest of Mermaid Heel and Quatro Cerberus, awaiting the potential battle.^[22] As the Guilds continue to fight the Dragons to no avail, Natsu Dragneel bellows out and is heard throughout the vicinity, receiving Beth and the rest of her guildmates' attention, stating that Dragon Slayer Magic is what is required to defeat the Dragons.^[23]

Following the Mages' victory against Future Rogue Cheney and his Dragons, Beth and all the Mages who helped protect Crocus are invited to a banquet hosted by the King. She and her guildmates then arrive, complimenting a very self-conscious Kagura on her appearance.^[24] Beth then gleefully observes Kagura and Erza's conversation, smiling and clapping her hands together when the Fairy Tail Mage hugs her guildmate.^[25] Beth later follows a drunk Kagura as she walks over to where Sting Eucliffe and Yukino Agria are conversing and demands that Yukino join Mermaid Heel.^[26]

Tartaros arc[]

Note: The following events in this section are only shown in the anime.

Beth is seen with her teammates as they find Face.^[27] She is seen standing, as Grandeeney arrives at the their city, destroying the bombs in her way.^[28]

Alvarez arc[]

When the Alvarez Empire attacks Fiore, Beth travels south to Hargeon to reclaim the Alvarez-occupied port, alongside her guildmates and those of Lamia Scale.^[29] As she gazes on the enemy's troops, she estimates their numbers to exceed 300,000, but is determined to attack nonetheless.^[30] She steadfastly helps her comrades fight against the enemy troops, but is one of the first casualties as she is targeted by Wall's missiles,^[31] prompting Risely to come to her aid. The two are then caught in the immense pressure of Magic Power due to Dimaria Yesta's arrival, stunned at how large it is.^[32]

Magic and Abilities[]

Vegetable Magic (野菜魔法 Yasai Mahō): Beth's Magic allows her to sprout vegetables and fruits from the ground and fight with them. These creations are edible, but they lack the nutritional benefits and taste awful.^[2]

• Carrot Missile (ニンジンミサイル Ninjin Misairu): Beth summons a barrage of oversized carrots from the ground, breaking it in the process, and sends them flying at the target. The carrots are sent flying with their pointed edges towards foes, thus becoming mildly reminiscent of fired, unconventional missiles, and thus the spell's name. This attack can be employed on a spot moderately away from Beth herself, and the carrots target a mildly large area in front of their spawning point; however, their offensive power is unknown, as Beth's accuracy in using this technique wasn't enough for her to hit Gray Fullbuster, who casually avoided the vegetable assault.^[5]

Trivia[]

• Beth's likes include vegetables. Her dislikes include garden pests.^[2]

• Beth is unaware of the fact that Millianna is actually older than her.^[2]
• In Volume 32's extra content, Mashima provided the battle statistics for 31 of the 40 X791 contestants in the Grand Magic Games. The stats, however, were provided not from Mashima's point-of-view as the author but from the view point of Sorcerer Magazine reporter Jason. Which explains why some stats are missing and why others may be inaccurate. According to Jason from the Sorcerer Magazine, during her participation in the Grand Magic Games of X791, Beth's stats are:^[33]

Battles & Events[]

References[]

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