Hi.I had an idea. What if Makarov partly sees his son, Ivan, in Gajil?And one of the reasons why Makarov took Gajil to himself is that he could not save Ivan at the time.Thus Makarov is trying to redeem(?) his guilt
Hi! Thanks for the ask! <3
You are having an interesting thought there! It has been some time, so I am not 100% certain anymore on the various details around Gajil's and Ivan's motivations, but from the top of my head I would say it's similar! Imagine Ivan doing things like Gajil did to Fairy Tail members (Levy and her two friends, for example), and that while he was actually a member of a legal guild! No wonder Ivan was expelled eventually. I don't think Makarov expelled him immediately, but tried for ages to lead him onto the right path. He just failed.
So yeah, when he saw Gajil, he was reminded of his own son and thus tried to approach the young man. He probably has learned a lot since Ivan left, though, so he won't be doing the same things he did when he tried to help Ivan. The offer for Gajil to be accepted is very different then the offers he made to Ivan.
Or Gajil is simply a different kind of caliber after all. The kind Makarov wished his son was.
