Follow

    Edward Elric

    Character » Edward Elric appears in 110 issues.

    He is the youngest State Alchemist in the Amestrian Military, which he joined at 12 years old. His right arm and left leg are automail, which are metal prosthetics. During Fullmetal Alchemist, he and his brother Alphonse Elric search for the legendary Philosopher's Stone in order to recover their bodies.

    Short summary describing this character.

    No recent wiki edits to this page.

    History

    At the age of nine, Edward and his brother Alphonse attempted to bring their deceased mother, Trisha Elric, back to life with a forbidden Alchemy ritual that they found in their father, Hohenheim's, Library.

    Trisha was amazed when the boys showed her that they knew how to use alchemy, and told them that they were "Just like their father", who had left them when they were little for reasons unknown.

    For years they had been taken care of by their mother and Pinako, their neighbor in the small country of Resembool, far off from the capital. He and Alphonse liked to play with Pinako's granddaughter, Winry Rockbell. Edward was always ready to try new things, even if it happened to be something he was better off not knowing, like alchemy.

    After his mother died, he went into a state of extreme studying of an alchemical ritual to bring people back to life...considered the ultimate sin, and stepping on "God's Domain". Regardless of Alphonse being nervous, he waited for a rainy day to try out what he'd learned.

    Al questioned Ed for what he was doing, and asked him if he needed something along the lines of a soul to help out with the transmutation. Ed told him that in essence all a human body was flesh and blood, and proceeded to nit his thumb, letting the blood drip onto his transmutation circle.

    Needless to say, the ritual didn't work. But what Ed didn't see at all was that his brother's soul and his left leg would be taken from both of them, and given as "payment" for seeing what the strange being called "the gate".

    Ed put markings to signify that he would sacrifice himself to get his brother back from The Gate. The strange being took away Ed's right arm, for the price of allowing Ed to transmute his brother into a suit of armor by tying his soul to it with an alchemical device called a Blood Rune.

    Alphonse woke up and didn't know what was going on, only that his brother's blood was everywhere, and he needed some serious help. He did the only thing he knew to do: take him to Granny Pinako and Winry, who were automail specialists (automail is a type of armor that is used to make up for lost limbs i.e. arms and legs).

    Pinako didn't even bother to ask the kids what on earth had happened. She asked Ed if he was willing to replace his arm and leg with automail. Of course he said he would, fully knowing that he was about to go through more pain than most adults could bear.

    He went through a few nights of screaming until he was finally able to get back on his feet (or foot, depending on how you see it). It was then that he realized that he could transmute things without a transmutation circle. Everyone that didn't know was amazed. Ed told Alphonse that he was so sorry, and that he would do anything to get his original body back for him. And so, he decided to search for the legendary Philosopher's Stone, said to be able to do anything, even bring back the dead. But the two boys had little interest in that anymore.

    The Search for the Stone

    Edward and Al spent the majority of our lives searching for the philosopher's stone, a legenday item said to be capable of enhancing transmutation from alchemy to a near god like state. Though it may seem for a short while that we wanted the stone to try again at bringing mom back to life, in reality, I just want to get Al's body back for him, and if it's still possible to maybe get my original limbs. But, Ed has stated multiple times before that he would easily let himself die to save Al.

    Lior

    This section entails Ed and Al's first revealed journey of the series, in the desert city of Lior.

    Years later, Ed and Alphonse have found their way into Lior, a desert city bent on worshipping the Sun God, Leto, lead by a man named Cornello. The two boys stopped for a drink, and went on there way, only to have Alphonse knock over the radio that the crowd was listening to and shatter it into pieces, and the crowd proclaiming that Alphonse was stupid for wearing such a big, unnecessary piece of armor.

    "B-But I can fix it!" Alphonse proclaimed, seeing that Ed didn't like the idea of staying here.

    Upon fixing the box all of the people ran straight up to Alphonse, proclaiming that he was truly an alchemist, and saying that they'd heard of them. Pridefully, Ed began to say that he was the Fullmetal Alchemist, but as he did they all ran over to Alphonse, thinking it was him because of his armor. They shouted many praises, as Alphonse tried to tell them that he wasn't the Fullmetal Alchemist, his brother Edward was.

    "You mean the little guy?" one of them said, triggering a reaction from Ed. if there was one thing that made him snap, it was being called short. He hated it, and he knew it was because his bones grew at an irregular rate because of his automail limbs.

    Alphonse then showed off his prowess with Alchemy by transmuting the radio back to its original form, much to the dismay of the crowd. That's what Alchemy does, though not everyone likes it. As one of the State Alchemists, Ed knew he would live a life as a military dog, and honestly, he never really cared so long as it got him one step closer to what he really wanted: The Philosopher's Stone. He had been searching for it ever since the incident as a kid, and decided he would keep going. He wasn't the slightest bit patriotic for Amestris and never really cared about what would happen to them if they were in a war. Ed knew that he and Alphonse could fend for themselves. Right after this incident, a young girl by the name of Rose ran straight up to the counter of the man, asking for "the usual". She then promptly left after being told what a good girl she was by all the people there. She seemed to be a county favorite. Ed was then told of how she had lost her parents in the war, and her family wanted nothing to do with her. If that wasn't bad enough, her boyfriend had recently been killed in an accident. ed seemed pretty apathetic as the man behind the counter told him this, and continued on his way.

    Upon leaving, Ed asked the man at the counter who it was speaking on that old piece of junk everyone was listening to. Awed that Ed didn't know who he was he began to explain who Father Cornello was, a priest, who taught the people of Lior about the Sun God Leto, convincing them that he was an emissary from the lord. This made Ed just turn off, he wasn't very religious at all.

    Later Ed and Alphonse would meet Rose in a church while she was laying down flowers at a grave.

    Ed proceeded to ask her what she got out of religion, curious to understand what she thought was so great about it. She told him that it was amazing, and that prayer made her happy. That it gave her at least a small amount of hope to begin the day and keep on going. Alphonse stood in the back of the room as Ed proceeded to read out the elements that made up the human body from a small book he pulled out from his jacket.

    Upon finishing, Rose's face was in a state of humorous shock that he had just read all of those things. It didn't make much sense to her at the time why he'd done that. He then told her that all of the things that made up the human body could be bought with a child's allowance at a convenience store. See, humans aren't so special when you break them down.

    She asked Ed why he would tell her that, and why he didn't believe in god, and he simply answered her by telling her how science can fix anything. It's supposed to solve everything, and that there are certain things that just can't be proved. he then made an analogy comparing scientists to God, something that Rose didn't approve of in the slightest. Alphonse stood in the background, scared of what would happen if she and Ed got into a discussion (argument) about religion and science. Alphonse knew that Ed didn't lose arguments. Rose looked on at him as Ed told the story of Icarus, the boy that made wax wings and got too close to the Sun, God, and then his wings melted. Rose had heard the story many times, but still convinced Ed to listen to her stories about Cornello's "miracles". Ed decided that these miracles sounded a bit too much like Alchemy for him, as did Alphonse, so they decided to see the man's next performance by pretending that they were interested in the religion. And they were, just not in following it.

    The next day, Ed and Alphonse went to the place where Father Cornello was performing more "miracles" and they saw that he was pretty good at scamming people. Ed couldn't believe that there were people who fell for a hoax like this so easily and did not even make a slight connection with it being Alchemy. The one thing that did confuse Ed and Alphonse was how this old man seemed to bypass the laws of Alchemy. Rose continued to tell them that it wasn't Alchemy, and then Ed had Alphonse tell her exactly what Alchemy was. he explained the complex laws and how it worked, changing elements into something of the same base atoms, and she didn't get it. Regardless, Ed still told Rose that the "miracles" that Cornello was doing were simply Alchemy, and she didn't believe him.

    After a while, Ed and Alphonse decided that if they were to get close to this man, more like fraud, Cornello , and prove that he was just using Alchemy, that they would have to go see him on one of the days of his preaching. After telling Rose that he would love to meet Cornello and here his preachings, and that he was interested in this newfound religion, she decided that she would take them. Actually, she was more than happy to take them, and that Sunday she took them to the chapel so they could learn of the sun god Leto's prophecies.

    As Ed, Rose , and Alphonse walked in, they were met by a man in black who said that he would lead them to Father Cornello. the man lead them in, and, after Ed had asked him to make the trip quick, he was answered by seeing Alphonse's head being blown off by a handgun the man had pulled from underneath his shirt, telling Ed that he'd like it if it was quick, too. Ed went overboard, losing his cool over Alphonse's "dead" body, and ran towards the helmet that had rolled right off of it, to be answered by more guards, both holding spears that looked like flags out in front of him as a warning sign to what had happened to Alphonse .

    Rose stared at Ed as he was held back by the men’s spears, and was horrified. When she asked why the Father would do such a thing, she was answered with the words of a crazed follower:

    "His highness' words are those of God. This is god's will.""I guess there are some pretty mean gods out there, then." Alphonse said, in response to this, grabbing the man's handgun and, in the moment of surprise, punched him in the face, knocking him out cold.Ed replied to the other flag men's strange, yet annoying actions by grabbing one from behind him and throwing him over his shoulder, knocking him clean out on the red carpeted floor in front of them, right in the middle of the pews. Rose looked on at the two boys, horrified at what had just taken place, and that the young sounding Alphonse that she had spoken with moments earlier was just a suit of armor, as he was hollow inside. When she asked what was going on, Ed simply replied to her by telling her it was exactly what it looked like, banging Alphonse's metal, hollow torso in front of her with a blank look on his face. They would have stopped to converse, but then Ed and Alphonse knew what was coming next after that poorly planned ambush. Ed asked Rose if she had the courage to face the truth, and she hopped in Alphonse's stomach as they went into the grand hall of a room.

    After arriving in the room, Ed and Alphonse waited for the old fraud, Cornello. Ed walked into the room, seeing that it was just a blatant dark area that had nothing in it. The room was dimly lit by one lamp in the center of the pedestal that Cornello must have "preached" out of in the mornings. This was where the third rate fraud would reveal his plan, and were he would eventually foolishly fall. Ed and Alphonse had just walked in when the huge doors shut behind them, obviously a way of saying come in, Ed commented. Cornello, as expected, was waiting for them, but even so he was surprisingly amazed that the boys had made it this far into his church, which, the more Ed saw of it, felt that he was in a dungeon instead of a religious area. Cornello bade them come in, though it was pointless in his eyes, they could not leave. the doors had shut right behind them, and they couldn't do anything about it, he thought. Ed questioned Cornello on his doings and continuously stared at his ring, his ultimate goal in this situation. It was this ring that Ed suspected was a Philosopher's Stone. And, even after the man had continuously told he was wrong and that it was just a simple ring, and that he was not using any form of Alchemy to use his miracles. But in the end, ed hit him right on the mark. But, the man was so convinced that his plan would work, spilled the whole thing. About how all of his miracles were Alchemy , of course, and how he was just using these people so that they would one day become his mindless followers, and he could attack Central, and take down all of the State Alchemists, and no one would be able to stop him since he had the ultimate amplifier for Alchemy, and that alone seemed to make people invincible. Ed commented on how that, since he seemed to have told them everything, that he must not have planned on letting them leave Lior alive. Ed was right, and then, with all of his nerve, Cornello said that even if the two boys made it out of the place they were in, the people of Lior would never believe that they were telling the truth about the fraud preacher.

    This however, was where Cornello was wrong, as Ed showed him that his young follower, Rose , was in Alphonse's chest cavity, and Cornello was even more shocked. However, he knew that Rose would come back to him anyways, as she still needed him to bring back her dead boyfriend, Kain, who had died with her family weeks before Ed and Alphonse had arrived in Lior , making her very sad for the next few weeks. Beckoning her to come, Cornello used his strategy to match Rose' sympathies. She came to him, even after Ed had told her that if she went, she could never come back to the real side of life. Even so, the poor girl came to him, and was greeted by the old fat fraud kindly. Ed was sick of his charades, and commenced to verbally assault him.

    Cornello then told him that he'd had enough fun with them and that he would just let his chimera just kill them now. Cornello expected a huge reaction from ed, but he didn't get anything at all. Ed had faced these many times before. The lion headed reptile walked up to him, circling around him like a beast that had caught its prey. The darkness made the light dim, but Ed just transmuted a spear from the ground, and used it as a weapon. Cornello, surprised, looked on in amazement as the boy did something supposedly impossible effortlessly.

    Ed stood at the animal and waited for it to strike, and when it did, he took his newly transmuted spear and put it in front of his body, blocking it in a barbarian like stance, and, to his disbelief, and his spear was ripped in to shreds near the top of the blade. This was bad. Ed stared at his shredded spear head in dismay, and waited for the beasts next attack, as Cornello stared onward, hoping that he would be ripped to pieces by the beasts fangs and claws one by one. Sadly, he wasn't for a while, and combated the tiger with the pole he had left to fight with, proving that he was worthy of being one of the State Alchemists, even at his young age. The beast then struck once more, and the pole at the bottom Ed had been using to defend his shins was ripped to shreds, too, tearing into his pants legs as he stared down in dismay...or what Cornello would have hoped was dismay. Ed looked at the beasts broken claws, amused, as Cornello stared down in awe, still holding back the crying and sickeningly astonished Rose with him on the balcony.Ed stared at the cat for a long while before Cornello told it to bite into him if the claws didn't work.

    The truth about his body is...
    The truth about his body is...

    The beast did, and as it leapt up for the kill, Ed willingly lifted up his right arm in defense. Cornello wondered how in the world the boy could withstand such pain, and why Alphonse would stand in the back of the room just staring as his seemingly younger brother fought off a dangerous creature on his own...until seeing why. The cat looked on in dismay as Ed stared it meanly in the eye, asking it if it liked the taste in a sarcastic tone. The Automail shattered the cats teeth, and Ed grabbed it by the neck with his left arm, kicking it in the jaw with his left foot, the one that had been cut open, seemingly, just minutes before, and the beast was dead.Ed began tearing off his jacket and part of his pants leg as Rose stared on, in horror and awe. Most people reacted that way when Ed showed them his automail body.

    "You see this Rose ?!" he asked her, explaining to her that this was what happened when you trespassed on god's domain, the unforgivable sin. Cornello commented on this too, seeing that the two boys must have tried a human transmutation, the greatest sin and crime in Alchemy. Cornello's empty attempts to make Rose hate them didn't work at all, only want to be around them more. This...this was why they called him the Fullmetal Alchemist. Cornello commented on this multiple times, and then made sure that Rose understood what a crime these boys had committed. But Rose didn't care, she just wanted to know what they'd done. She screamed at Alphonse, asking him why he would do such a thing, and what in the world happened. Alphonse told her the sad, sad story of how he and Ed had tried bringing back their mother at the age of nine, and how something had gone terribly wrong and they'd been punished. Ed lost his leg, he lost his whole body. Rose thought that surely since they had had so much sacrifice that "Equivalent Exchange" would have given them back their mother, but Alphonse didn't spare any words, it was the fact that they had messed up and he didn't want Rose in the same predicament as them, as she was set up for it already by now.

    He told her that the thing that they brought back to life wasn't even human, and that they had had granny Pinako bury it for them in the back yard. Upon leaving their home country of Resembool, Ed set fire to his house. They would never look back.

    After Rose stared on in the distance for the short time she did, she had a nervous breakdown. This didn't bode well with Ed, seeing that Cornello had basically caused all of the trouble she was going through now, and that if he hadn't summoned that chimera he would not have had to let here see that. But, when he thought about it, maybe she did. She wouldn't ever learn of he let her see life as such a peaceful thing that it's not. Cornello stared at Ed and Alphonse , wondering what to do. Ed looked up at the man, and told him to come down, telling him that he was just a cheap third rate fraud, and that he would show him that truly there was no comparison between them. There wasn't, but Cornello decided that he wouldn't listen to Ed's words or Roses tears and fire away at Ed with a gatling gun, transmuted from his staff. Another thing the Philosopher's Stone could do. But that wasn't why Ed wanted the Philosopher's Stone at all, and not many people knew that at the time. Cornello shot at him, screaming at him in a triumphant manner, telling him to go back to god. Ed replied to this by saying that God didn't seem to like him very much, and that he'd probably be chased away if he died now, transmuting a wall of rock up, blocking the bullets, and Alphonse, thinking quickly, grabbed Rose and ran, holding her in front of him while the bullets went into his steel back. Cornello notified multiple guards, and the chase was on. Ed and Al ran through the room, and at the wall, Cornello stated that there was no way out, other than the key that he had on him right now. He started shooting at Ed once more, only to have it blocked, and for Ed to transmute a door right behind his stone slab of a shield.

    Ed ran through the door, Al and Rose close behind him. The fat man didn't dare to run after them, he had grunts and guards for that. Easy to waste time in a situation, or maybe not. As to be expected, some of Cornello's guards appeared before the trio, only to be stopped by Ed, going insane on them after saying he was a kid.

    Ed goes crazy on the guards
    Ed goes crazy on the guards

    The men passed out on the floor, dropping their weapons on the spot, as they lay sleeping on the floor with their foam filled mouths. Ed and Al, with Rose still, continued to run, until Ed noticed a room down the hall that looked very...interesting. Ed asked Rose what that room was, and she explained that it was the speaker room, the same one that Father Cornello used to give his sermons every morning, the same room that he must have been talking from when Al had accidentally broken the radio the other day. Ed put his hand to his chin, and his eyes began to gleam. He told Al, who knew that his gleaming eyes was never a good sign at all, to go get the huge bell that they rang on Sunday mornings to signify that the church sermon had begun.

    Ed told Al and Rose to go get the bell that they rang, after his eyes began gleaming with pleasure at the thought of his next ingenious plan. He walked into the room with the speakers, and unplugged them, doing something with them, that still remains unclear to the old fraud to this day. Cornello entered the room, panting and sweating like a dog. That was all Ed could see in the disgusting, vile human though, so it was no wonder. Al and Rose snuck the bell out of its position quite easily, and they were able to complete Ed's process and plan flawlessly.

    Ed was able to get Cornello to tell him what his plan was, again, because he was so cocky and assured of his "flawless" idea to take over Lior, he told Ed all about it again. He was brutally astonished to see that Ed had actually transmuted the wires of the radio into the huge bell, which had projected the sound of the fraud's plans all across the city they were in. Alphonse and Rose were proud, while Ed was just plain out prideful about it. Cornello flipped off on him, realizing that he had just ruined his plans altogether, and then decided to just kill Ed on the spot. He transmuted his staff into a gun and commenced firing on him again. It sickedned ed as he ran down the hallway that, without the Philosopher's Stone, he could not do anything alchemically that was beyond a mere novice level of an alchemist could do. It made him want to punch the fraud even more than before, but he waited until they got outside.

    Cornello, of course, in hot blood, chased him down outside of his cathedral and started shooting again. He stopped for a moment to monologue towards ed for being such a fool to allow them in an open space, but when he attempted to reload Ed proved that he was much faster than your average kid, slicing off Cornello's gun end with extraordinary speed.

    The man was utterly amazed, and stood there like an idiot, as Ed turned back around to look at him, telling him that there really was no comparison between the two of them, and, he was right. Ed then commenced to force him to give him the Philosopher's Stone, but then, the man threw him off, and attempted another transmutation, only to have it make a rebound and brutally mess up his arm.

    Screaming in pain, Cornello grasped his, strange, deformed arm, part gun and part hand, basically unrecognizable by normal standards except to someone like Ed, a person who had found what happened when you messed up on Alchemy, a painful price that could take your life. He screamed and screamed, and Edward did nothing but look on as he started to cry. The fat, old, grown man crying was too much for Ed, and he jumped down on top of him, ready to beat him into the ground. The man asked for help, and Ed just yelled at him, telling him to calm down and shut up as it was simply a rebound, and to live with it. he grabbed him by the neck and began asking questions, but was shortly interrupted by the Stone shattering in the man's hand. Ed's face looked over, sweat dripping down it, and the old man confused and scared.

    Ed then demanded to know what the old man had done to the Stone, and he just nervously responded, telling him that he had gotten the stone from a group of people, but he didn't know who or where they were at the time. Ed commenced to make a big deal out of it, standing in the center of the big arena like place they'd gotten to, and an opera light floated down as he cried over his lost and almost obtained stone.

    Ed sat over in the light, crying like a child, when an "ingenius" plan hit Cornello. He would kill Ed if it was the last thing he ever did, and he looked down at his mutilated hand, and noticed a very jagged edge to it. Ed sat over, still being melodramatic, as the old man slowly crawled over to him, and attempted to stab him. Ed stopped, stood up, and behind him the enormous statue of the God Leto began walking. he screamed at Cornello, telling him what he had just forced him to go through, including all the problems with the skirmish, and Rose, and then, to top it all off the followers and the Stone. Ed told him that this had better been a joke, and put his hand up against the huge replica.

    Cornello stared at him, and Ed started to proclaim himself a "Real Messenger of God", and told him to prepare himself for judgement. Cornello looked up as the fist of the huge statue flung down at him with insane speeds. Yeah, another laughing moment that may sound pretty gruesome right here, heheh.

    The fist slammed into the ground, apparently squashing Cornello into it with it, only to have missed purposely, slamming the floor and crushing it next to him. That was what he had been really doing it for, he just wanted the old man to be scared. And he was, as a pool of urine could be shown under where he was sitting, eyes white and mouth foaming as he sat there, passed out. Ed left the place with a sad weight pushing down on him, he had yet again failed to save his brother from the terrible situation that he had put him in, ever since that fateful day. It was a wonder that the two of them didn't cringe at the simple site of Alchemy anymore, as it had both caused terrible destruction their, Winry, Pinako's lives. After that day, Ed and Al vowed that they would never return home, and thus, they burned it, as a reminder that after this they could never turn back, a painful, yet true, reminder of how they would live their lives. Upon leaving, he was asked by Rose, with tears in her eyes, what she should, or could, even do, as her life had just been turned upside down in a matter of days. Ed told her that she could only go forward, and telling her that at least she had two strong legs to take her there. The two boys left Lior in haste, ready to head on for their next mission in the military, the town on the eastern border.

    Youswell Coal Mines

    Ed and Al next took a train to the town the way on the Eastern side of Amestris. They had been sent to do a basic overview of the place, somewhat like health inspectors, to make sure that they weren't slacking off on their jobs for anything, as they had been getting extremely low quantities of coal lately. Upon arrival, Ed said that everything there seemed dead, and that they had hit a ghost town. He began walking, and saw a few people, but they all stopped talking when they got near them, and just sat and stared at them. Al was very uncomfortable around these people, but they continued anyways, they needed to get this one more mission on their set quota for the year, and then they could get more serious about finding the stone.

    Ed started to talk to someone when he was suddenly hit in the head by a huge pole, being carried by a kid working in the mines. He asked what in the world he was doing and told him to be more careful, when suddenly, the kid went on a flurry of questions, asking him where he'd come from, what his name was, if he needed a place to stay, if he had any money, all in one sentence.Ed told the kid that he had no money, but was quickly asked by the boy's nearby father if he would come and stay anyways. ed went on ahead, as they had nowhere else to go, and were scared to go and see the locals about anything, as they were all very tired and fearsome looking. he went to the place with Al, and hoped to stay for a while, possibly get a bed, and a good meal, as they were both extremely exhausted by the entire incident with Lior. They sat, eating, when they asked how much the cost of the food was. The man replied that it was 200,000 , and Ed flipped off on him. They made a "deal" to make it 100,000, but this was still to much, and the two brothers continued to talk about what they should do about the problem with the Philosopher's Stone, when they were overheard by the miners once again. What they heard, however, was that Ed was a State Alchemist, getting them kicked out immediately.

    It would seem that the people of Youswell did not like State Alchemists, and that they, in fact, utterly hated the government as an organization. Al convinced them that he wasn't a State Alchemist and went back in the store, while Ed sat outside, grumbling at how he had been able to get back in the place with no trouble. Al came back outside shortly afterwards to ed's delight, and gave him some food that he'd snuck out. That was always one good thing about Al's body...but also one thing that Ed resented himself for.Al mentioned possibly becoming a State Alchemist too, so Ed wouldn;t be envious, but he told him that becoming a "Dog of the Military" wasn't worth it. Al commenced to tell him about what he'd learned of Youswell's governing system, which was more of an extremely poorly dictated monarchy when you looked at it from their point of view. Al told him of Yoki, a government official who was full of avarice and greed, and all that he wanted was money and rank. Ed commented on how their were dogs crawling all around these days, and they continued to talk about what they would do next. Meanwhile, they saw the very man they had been talking about walk into the pub they;d just been in, and heard him shouting orders.

    One of Yoki's men was about to hit (and possibly kill) the young child that had invited Ed and Al to stay with them with a rapier, and Ed swiftly moved his arm in the way in a Deux Machina moment. The man was about to cut Ed down after seeing the boy move in his way, only to see his rapier break in half before his very eyes. They asked where in the world Ed had come from, to have him answer that he was a State Alchemist just passing through, showing them his official watch to prove it. Yoki's mouth dropped wide open, and he began to treat the boy like a prince. His ruse was pathetic at best, but he wanted rank badly, and State Alchemists worked directly under Fuhrer President Bradley . After seeing this, the man went on to treat Ed like a god and hosted him at his house for several weeks. Ed continued to look around Youswell, and continued to act humble towards Yoki, knowing that the avarice filled man only wanted money and a possible promotion, something Ed could get him in quite a short amount of time. Even it was obvious to Alphonse, who could hear the old man grumblig and muttering about his terrible life in these lowlands when Ed was too distracted by the fancy things Yoki offered him. Ed, however,was only pretending to be such a dope, as he didn't want Yoki in on his next "plan". He was going to offer him tons of gold to get the deed to the Coal Mines, something that he had been given and abused. Any one of the Youswell Coal miners would have taken it and happily governed them into the democracy they deserved to be, but the government seemes to have forgotten about the mines. Understandable, as they were located extremely far away from the rest of normal civilization, all the way on the eastern boder was quite a ways away, and Central had it's own problems to deal with, as did the rest of the State Alchemists.

    Ed was walking out of the estate on his own one night, when he happened across the young boy who had originally offered him th eplace to stay, albeit being extremely expensive and outrageous. He would not have noticed him were it not for the fact that he was crying, and on the ground, dusted and dirty from a long day at work. Ed stopped and looked at him for a minute, his eyes glazing over with an extremely pensive look and he began to walk away, but the kid called him out, asking him what it was like being the way he was. Ed wasn't entirely sure what the boy meant at this statement, and stopped in his tracks with Al. The conversation eventually lead to him seeing the miners talk about what their lives would be like if Yoki were gone, and the kid asking him an illegal favor, and that was to turn the coal into gold so they could buy back the deed that was stolen from them a long time ago. It was obvious the moral decision one would have made, but Ed didn't tell him that he would do it. He simply told them the law and that it must be obeyed, to which they replied that they were Youswell Miners, and would send themselves to the grave here, just as they were born. Ed let them leave, and jumped up into the coal truck, clapping his hands together like he always did when he was about to perform a transmutation. Al asked him what he was doing, but he just began the alchemy and started doing what he did best.

    Another one of my ingenius plans....don't try this at home kids. When he was told that transmuting gold, like he said, was illegal, he told Al that if they didn't get caught, they didn't get caught. Later that night he would return to Yoki's home, and begin telling him about the things that he could do with his new promotion, like usual...until he brought up a rather peculiar subject, one in which he would get the deed from him. Yoki's eyes glowed up when he thought about the chance to get money, as Ed knew they would. He gave him a paper to sign, saying that he could have all of this gold he had in the room, (several hundred pounds at least) if only he would sign the document saying that the deeds were given free of charge, to avoid any illegal consequences they would have to face in the future.

    The man took the money happily, and Ed took the deed happily, transmuting the gold back into bricks as he left, without anyone noticing.

    Upon leaving the area, he would have the deed to the coal mines on him, ready to give back to the miners what they deserved for all of their trials and hardwork during their lifetimes...the problem being that they still hated him for being a dog of the military, something they showed obvious disliking towards. He arrived in the miner's bar, the one he had previously been kicked out of, telling them about the deed he had just acquired, and that the mines were now officially his. The older man with the unnecessary high prices came towards him, asking quite aggressively what he would do with this doctrine they had lived by for so long, as he was only a kid, to which he replied:

    As I said, we're the wondering sort to go from journey to journey. Something like this would just be a nuisance...

    He was broken by the man asking him what he wanted for it, seeing that he was on the trail to selling the deed, to have him tell him

    It's expensive! If you want to get something, you gotta pay the price. This is vellom embossed in gold. And it's storage box has a wonderful design, finely carved in jade. Yeees, the work of a craftsman. Oh, and the key is silver. Well, to the untrained eye...all this lumped together....equals the price of one night and two meal's for two at the boss'. Is this reasonable?

    The men grabbed their faces in relief, sweat coming down off the sides of them, looking in disbelief at the young State Alchemist, about to sell them the deed for overpriced food. They went back and partied for a few days, but Ed only stayed for one, as he and Al were off.

    Yoki was taken out of office for having no money, and the problems in Youswell were fixed. Al had no idea his brother could be this kind to people, and left the place with a warm feeling inside of his heart.

    Battle on the Train

    Upon leaving, Ed and Al took their normal form of transportation to report mission success back at Central, the train station. However, this time, something didn't go as planned, the train was hijacked by a group of terrorists, but, Ed didn't realize this until bashing a man in the face and taking out three other men subconsciously for being called "short". At first, the passengers had assumed that he was trying to prevent any injuries of children, but quickly realized this was not so as he held the unconscious man by the neck asking who he was. Al sighed at the sad realization, wondering why he ever thought that Ed was capable of valiant acts, and they proceeded to find out what was going on. They continued through the train, Ed going on top, and Al fortifying their place, where all the hostages had been brought by the terrorists prior to the actual attack they had sent on the train, as Al was too heavy to get on top of the train, and, like it or not...Ed was small. Ed went across each of the cars with ease, taking out several goons in the process, by fooling them with several alchemical tricks. They were down, and eventually he reached the front of the train, and was shot at by the goons below. He hopped across nimbly, but the bullets weren't a joke, if they had hit him he would have been down and out, luckily he was able to take the shots in his left automail foot, albeit having to step down off of his place to make sure he was okay, and not damaging anything.

    He ambushed the guards in the control room for the train, with the help of the conductor's shovel, and continued on his way on the roof of the near hijacked train, telling the conductor to drive safely so he wouldnt fall. As he hopped from car to car, realizing that he had missed the car he was looking for, a man with a gun came up from the hatch, one of the ones Ed had climbed from, and began unloading bullets towards the young alchemist. Luckily for Ed, the man was a terrible shot and he missed each time, though this still did not go well with Ed, and, screaming that shooting a gun at this angle could be dangerous, he transmutated a cannon to shoot the man with. Yet again, one of my star attributes is my overreaction to things like this, and pulling off a hot headed maneuver in a comedic way. Not funny on text, but hilarious in the comic. Ed continued on top of the roof and captured yet another car, while Al did his job with keeping any and all terrorists under "control" if they were to invade the train while Ed was trying to get this done more effectively. The one who had shot at him from below was actually none other than the terrorist leader Bald, who also had an automail arm for himself. However, rather than one that was "normal" like Ed's, his was used as a projectile weapon, rather than just for practical uses. Ed thought up another one of his genius ideas and connected the water car to the next car ahead of him with alchemy, and, with a small device that he used to give off the impression it was him speaking (a small dummy that resembled him, to be exact, that he often uses to speak from far away, or through walls), he warned all of the passengers to duck and cover, or hide behind something. The terrorists holding the car had no idea what was going on at all, as they were to scared of the recent messages that there was a giant suit of armor in other cars, knocking out all of their men.

    Ed let the water loose, and the men were all but drowning when they were able to regain their composure. Bald was infuriated that a "brat" like this could do something like that to all of his men, and none o fthem be fast enough to catch him in the act, or at least try to stop him before they were completely out of energy to fight back, much less before their guns were ruined. Bald went into a back room, where he was ambushed by Ed, as he was all alone, and he had been carefully stalking him after the water incident, effectively making it impossible for any of his men to reach him at all. Ed saw that he also had an automail arm, and proceeded to form his trademark blade to fight. The man told him that this was an offense he would be killed for, but soon realized that he had not chosen well when it came to the quality of his automail.

    Seeing his arm being sawed through by the kids' arm, he started ooking for a way out. However, a kind arm on his shoulder (Alphonses) made him turn his head, and the blow that followed knocked him down and out of commission. The train was effectively saved. He stepped outside, and got off at the station, which they had just arrived at a few moments prior, but the engineer refused to open up any of the doors while there was still a chance of anyone getting hurt, so he waited for Ed to finish off the rest of the goons. Apparently they had had a reason for doing something like that, some type of political indecency, but when Ed was having it all explained to him, he didn't listen slightly. As he walked out, however, he saw the last person he wanted to see.... Colonel Roy Mustang. Roy was sort of like an older brother to Ed, however they had a much more tension filled relationship with eachother..as from what Ed has shown, he absolutely abhors him as a person. Saying hello to Ed and showing that he had the situation under control with all of his men, he set them to work with recapturing the train. He asked Ed what he was doing, and why he would bother to come here, in a slightly sarcastic, kind tone. He always made it seem like he really hated Ed's guts whenever he talked to him, but he really did wonder why Ed and Al were like the way they were. Few people knew of their human transmutation attempts, and that was a good thing, as they'd likely be banned from their military offices. Human transmutation, religion or not, was something that they considered an indelible sin, something that under no circumstaces must be done. He told him that he didn't reserve the right to know, and continued on his way, until he turned around to see Bald, injured and near unconscious, crawling out of the train, and knifing one man off of the train in the back, standing up, yelling at them, saying that he was going to have what he wanted and deserved.

    People ran and scattered at the sight of the dead military policeman's body, but, Roy, however, simply put on his glove, with a transmutation circle on it, and, with a snap of his finger, the man was down and out for the count. Roy used fire in his transmutations, getting it from the oxygen in the air and fusing it with the friction made from the substance on his gloves. It looked cool, to Ed, but, he still hated him as a person for being such a jerk about some things, such as what assignments he got, like Lior. Bald was barely even a recognizable being, but was still alive. Roy told him that the next time he tried something like that he'd blow him to smithereens, and he was taken away in handcuffs. Ed was then invited to Roy's place for some coffee, along with his subordinate Lieutenant Hawkeye, a silent woman in most respects, who followed Roy and helped him in missions. She had no alchemical powers, but Ed knew that with a gun she was someone to fear. He refused the offer to go with Roy, but in the end was forced to anyway. They went to Roy's office in Central, and Ed explained how the mission in Lior had been a success...though Roy knew that for Ed it had actually been a failure, as he still had no philosopher's stone. Ed told him that Roy owed him one, to be replied with a nervous Roy telling him that he could see a bad look in his eyes, like he normally had when he was doing something like that. The sole reason that Roy ever sent Ed to do things like this was to get him one step closer to fixing his body, which was explained to the rest of the military that it had been a result of the war in the east, still slightly popping up once and again. Ed told him about his plan to look into some bio alchemy, in order to get his arm back or maybe get somewhere close to it. Roy asked him why, and Ed told him that "My arms aren't gonna come back on their own, right?". This was true, but he still had no idea that Roy knew that he wanted the philosopher's stone. Since his mission had been a success, and the original plan to simply find out what was going on with the Lior economy, which resulted in Ed sending the place back to it's original, more harmonious state , he decided he would give Ed a break. Al was relieved that he could finally relax. Roy told Ed of an alchemist that specialized in bio alchemy, and had even made a talking chimera. This interested Ed very much, so he decided to go see this person, a man named Shou Tucker...who lived in Central, no less. Like Ed's "Fullmetal Alchemist" title, Shou had been dubbed the "Sewing-Life Alchemist", due to his being able to put two creatures together more effectively than anyone else in the world as of yet. Roy then explained that he had never said anything to it, nor had he seen it, as he wasn't in charge at the time it was created. He also wondered what had happened to it, and, Roy explained that after it spoke, it refused to eat anything and starved to death. The only thing that bothered Ed, though, was the one thing that Roy told him the chimera ever said :I want to die.

    A New Breed of Alchemy

    This section entails the events which occurred with fellow State Alchemist Shou Tucker, when Ed decided he should learn a little on bio Alchemy. It didn't turn out too well....

    Ed went to see the man known as Shou Tucker, an alchemist that specialized in alchemy dealing with the human body, to see about what it would take to maybe recover a limb, just to see if he would even need the stone for that. He was escorted there by Lieutenant Jean Havoc, an official who was kind, but also a heavy smoker and ladies man.

    Upon opening the door, he was greeted by an enormous dog, pouncing on him and licking him. He met the man, and made good friends with him, his daughter Nina, and his dog, Alexander, who was bigger than he was. Shou greeted them nicely, and shared much of what he could with the young alchemist. Nina, his daughter, immediately took a liking to Al, who enjoyed having her ride on his shoulders. While Al and Nina went off to play with each other and Alexander, Ed went hard to work by reading up on all of the things that Shou let him get to in his library, which was basically everything.

    Havoc, as he was leaving, commented on what an extremely hard worker Ed was, as he lay on the desk with a book in his arms asleep, and reminded Shou that he had his yearly assessment coming up soon, and that he would need to show more progress than he had been in the past year, and that he should get his talking chimera to pop up again, before it died. Shou looked at him, his bright smile dying down, telling him that he knew about the assessment, and he'd have something. Nina and Alexander played with Al all day long, and through the night, until they had to go to bed. Ed and Shou, still awake, shared some stories with one another, and Shou seemed to be very accepting of the Elric's indelible sins. All he wanted to do was learn how to do what he could to save his body, so he didn't want any painful memories resurfacing in the process, as it would seem that Tucker had a lot of those to be reminded of. Waking up the next morning, it was the same thing, except this time the Tucker's had a wonderful breakfast prepared for the Elric Brothers.

    Jean Havoc
    Jean Havoc

    Ed went hard to work, and Shou went to his basement to experiment with more animals, possibly creating more chimera, hoping that one of them would be able to use human speech. Ed also had to think about his yearly assessment, but then again the very fact that he was a State Alchemist at all was quite reassuring that he could perform just as well as anyone else in the military. While Al and Nina played with each other, riding on his shoulders and such, Alexander continued to try and get Ed to stop being such a work freak and to come play with him, or just to get up and go to do something that didn't involve work and boredom, to no avail. As time grew on Nina began to grow very close to the boys and continued to call them both "big brother". Al was the little big brother, while Ed was the big little brother to her. Ed just read away, and continued to read up on everything that he could. A few days later, Al would finally get his bigger brother to stop reading and just play with Nina and Alexander and him, as to relieve the stress he was obviously getting from this. Ed decided that he would finally let the dog get his way and play with him , albeit him being far bigger than he was.

    Nina laughed at the sight of Ed doing something so out of character, and Al was glad to see his brother with some emotion again. He ran and ran, until he was completely tired out, and then after they finally stopped to eat lunch, he listened in on Nina and Al's conversation about her family situation. Al asked her what happened to her mom, and Nina told him that her dad had said that she had simply gone back to her family out in the country side. She also explained how her father never talked to her unless she asked him a question, and how he always seemed so sad. Ed had already known that they man had broken up with his wife around two years ago, and that this was a simple way to tell someone, especially a little child like Nina, what was going on. Al asked if she was ever lonely, and she told him that she never was, as she had Alexander to play with when she was lonely and her father was alone in his lab, holed up as he was when he did research. Al wondered what made him holed up like that all the time, but Ed knew that he hadn't been very productive since his talking chimera...and it would be a little difficult if your wife left you around that time, too, as they didn't seem to be in a very good financial situation. Ed felt sorry for Nina, having to be put through this kind of thing and all, it was always difficult, he could tell, as she was never truly happy.

    Ed and Al returned the next day after a long, hard workout the day prior, ready to actually get something seriously done with alchemy, as it would be the last day he would be able to research this in Tucker's lab until after Shou had completed his yearly assessment for the President. It had been a very rainy day so far, forcing Ed and Al to hurry to reach the house, before they began rusting, Al more worried for Ed's arm than his own metal body. Upon arrival, they noticed that no one was home, and the door was unlocked. They traveled through the large mansion for a while before finally hearing Shou calling the two of them down to the basement, to see what was going on, the little girl and the dog nowhere to be found. Shou showed Ed his new creation, and Ed looked on in interest. "Look! It's a chimera that can duplicate human speech! I've done it again!". Shou said, his arms in the air presenting the beast. Tucker proceeded to tell the strange long haired dog that this person was "Edward" and the chimera said it, albeit some difficulty at first. Ed was amazed, and simply dumbfounded that Shou had managed to do it again, until he heard the next words the beast managed to mutter, calling him big brother. His eyes turned and he was hit in a state of shock, while Al stood in the back. Ed stood up, solemn and grim, and asked him when he made the last talking chimera. Two years ago. After that he asked him when his wife had "left" him. Also two years ago. He made eye contact the other state alchemist in the room, and asked him where Nina and Alexander were, to be replied "I hate perceptive brats like you" by the man with a disturbing expression.

    Ed ran up to Shou, pinned him to the wall, and proceeded to punch him in the face with his automail arm as hard as he could, screaming at him, asking him how he could do such a thing to his own daughter and dog. Shou started monologuing about how the two were no different, that they only did these forbidden things because they were forbidden, and Ed asked him how he could just play with human lives like this. Shou then went on a rant about playing with human lives, mocking Edward for saying something like that when he himself had done the same thing with his brother and his mother, and that their lives had been "played with", too, to have Ed continue to smash his face in, blood spattering all over him. He was about to kill him for what he had said regarding his mother, when Al grabbed his arm and stopped him, telling him that he would kill him if he went on any longer. Shou stopped speaking and making any big deal of Ed's emotional state, and they went outside after the military showed up to escort him outside, and they sat on the steps of the Central Police station in the rain, the day dark and gloomy for the two brothers, but neither of them were worried about rusting, it just didn't feel like they should waste any time worrying about themselves at the moment, they had too much to think about. Al apologized to Nina and told her over and over how sorry he was that she had been forced to go through with something like that at all, and left solemnly and sorrowfully. Ed commented on how if there was ever any "work of the devil", then Al and him had just seen it firsthand. Roy, as he was walking out with Riza, replied to Ed's statement, telling him that in the end all State Alchemists were simply military weapons, and did the things that normal people wouldn't or couldn't do on their own. Riza whispered to Roy that though Ed was always seemingly older or more mature than other people his age, he was still just a kid, and that Roy was treating him with an adult's logic. As the two government officials left, Al began to recite what he remembered from their teacher's one statement that she had engraved upon their heads ever since they had began learning the ways of Alchemy, with Ed finishing off the statement:

    "Alchemy is the reconstruction of matter in new forms based on the knowledge of natural laws. This world flows by obeying these laws. Death, too, is part of that flow. Accept the flow of the world."

    As they sat in the rain, Ed proclaimed how it seemed like after all this time, everything he's learned from her had simply taken him back to square one, and that he was still just a fool after all, nothing had ever really taught him how to deal with things like this, especially when people he cared about needed help. He went to the military hospital that Roy had set up for him, and had a hard time sleeping. While attempting to rest, he had a terrifying dream of his mother, and him showing that he could fix a small broken toy as a child. She looked at him, complimented him for being able to do it, but then slowly began to bleed and looked as though she was going to die and said to him "It's a shame you couldn't fix me, too....", making him wake up frightened and alone in his room, the rain still dropping from the gray skies in the night.

    He woke up and looked at the ceiling, sweating heavily and eyes wide, and suddenly an emotional pain took him over, and he reached toward his automail leg, proclaiming silently that it hurt, despite the fact that it was made of a substance incapable of the sensation of touch, proving that he was simply undergoing an emotional metamorphosis because of his dreams. The next morning he woke up and prepared himself for another painstaking day to dealing with Shou and Nina in a court case, and as he was walking out, was stopped by Riza Hawkeye, Roy's partner. She said that he didn't need to go anywhere, and that in all actuality, he was being highly recommended to stay indoors under supervision. She told him that Nina and Tucker were supposed to be brought in for a statement, but had died. To put it more bluntly, as she said herself, they had been killed overnight by some mysterious figure they were suspected of being the elusive State Alchemist serial killer, Scar. The dangerous man had been seen in Central lately, and needed to be apprehended immediately, and, as long as there were State Alchemists he could possibly reach in the district, they were to be guarded and put under as heavy protective situations as they could get them. This, of course, only infuriated Ed, and he went off on his own without heeding any of Riza's warnings about Scar. He left in a hurry to the Tucker mansion with Alphonse, and before he got in, he was stopped by an anonymous military policeman, who asked him if he was the Fullmetal Alchemist. Of course he was, and told him so, and then the man told him that he needed to get into the car that he had waiting for them quickly, as there was a State Alchemist assassin out on the loose in Central, and he was suspected of killing Shou Tucker. Ed realized that he was in danger because of this, but before he could reply or agree with the man and get away, there was a large man standing behind the person he was talking to. Dark skin and a white "X" shaped scar across his forehead, he knew that this man was the one they had been talking about, and, the policeman turned around to face him swiftly, attempting to draw his gun, but the man simply walked past him and, putting his hand on his forehead, and the man suddenly exploded.

    Seeing this, Ed was sent into a satte of shock, staring at the man above him. Paralyzed out of fear, he was only awoken by the large clock above them striking nine, and thus began ringing, causing Ed to come back to his senses, and he began sprinting away. Alphonse followed, glad that he hadn't had to lift Ed up to get him to run or anything of the sort, and, veered off path into an alleyway. Ed wondered what he was doing, and when Al beckoned he came, thinking that they would just be trapped and for dead, but at the same time trusting his brother's judgement. Before he could question his logic Alphonse had already transmuted a huge wall in front of them, so that they were covered and closed in the narrow passageway. Al, in excitement, clarified that he couldn't ever get them in there, only to be astonished and see that the man had simply blown straight through the wall with his strange ability, by just touching it with his hand. Ed said that now it would be useless to run if someone had a power like this, so he decided to go ahead and fight him. Putting his hands together and then on a loose pipe on the wall, a dagger transmuted into his hands, and, holding the blade reverse-style (as opposed to holding it like a traditional sword, he had it so that he was holding it upside down) the two brothers charged Scar with all their might, only to have him run past them, too, blowing Al's to pieces when he touched the left side of where his stomach should have been. The assassin was very confused to see something like this, and Ed turned around, glaring at him in anger, seeing what had happened to Al. Deciding that that was the last straw, he threw himself towards the confused assassin, and tried at stabbing him once more, only to have him dodge again and redirect the attack and tell him that he was quite slow for being as strong as he was for a little kid. Putting his hand on Ed's arm, he attempted to destroy it, only to have a shocking realization that this was not what he thought it was. What Ed didn't realize was that what Scar was using was actually just alchemy like he did, and that he needed to know what the elemental composition of the object he was trying to destroy was. Due to Ed having his coat over his arm, he assumed that he was just normal human skin. He did not know about the automail arm at all, giving Ed the temporary advantage. Scar threw him to the ground and, in anger, Ed made the mistake of throwing his jacket and gloves off, telling him that "The gloves were off" and making a blade on his arm to fight the serial killer. The man saw that it was indeed automail and the two charged each other again, Ed sent his bladed fist straight towards the man, only to be told that, once again, he was too slow to be able to fight him, and the man simply dodged it with a step to the right. He grabbed his arm and a flash of light occurred as it exploded, right before his very eyes.

    Looking down at the now scrapped pieces lying on the ground that used to be one of his limbs, he felt hopeless. This enemy was a man that he simply could not destroy with his own power, and fell to his knees, the rain dripping all around them. The man then told Ed to say his final prayers, and that he would give them time to do so, only to have Ed reply with "Sorry, I don't believe in any Gods to pray towards. Just make me one promise....no matter what you do to me, please just don't hurt my brother...". Ed sat there in the rain with tears dripping down his face, and thought about anything he could do to escape this predicament. Nothing came to mind, and he wondered if his entire life had been just a waste, and that maybe he could have done many other things, rather than chase after a stone that may have just been a myth. His fear paralyzed as he waited for a reply, and he didn't know what he would do. The man said that he promised that he wouldn't hurt his brother, and Al, halfway blown through in the background screamed to the top of his lungs, telling his older brother who seemed to have lost all hope for himself, until several gunshots were fired into the air around them. Scar hesitated for a minute, and then saw the people that had caused the disruption around them : Roy Mustang and several other military officials, including Major Armstrong and Riza Hawkeye. The gunshots had been fired by the latter, a very well known military sharpshooter and guns specialist. Roy yelled out that he had suspicions of Scar being in Central for the past few days and said that seeing Ed's state, these suspicions were correct. Putting his glove on, he proceeded to attempt to kill him, only to have Scar replied that today was indeed a glorious day sent from Ishbala, and that he was very thankful he would be able to kill so many State Alchemists in one day. As he walked forward in a menacing fashion Roy placed his glove onto his right hand, telling him that he was indeed a fool for thinking that he could defeat him, and for challenging him when he knew he was the Flame Alchemist. He started to flick his fingers, and Scar reached for his head, grabbed it, but was quickly stopped from destroying Roy by Riza tripping him up. She told him he was useless on rainy days, sending him into a state of shock after she had fired several rounds off in Scar's direction, missing him by inches with her two pistols. .Arakawa wrote a lot of extra's dealing with this scene after each volume, making fun of one of Roy's most personality weak moments. She clarified that Scar was indeed an extremely dangerous character and that she would need someone else to distract him for her to connect any bullets at this range. State Alchemist Alex Louis Armstrong decided that, being the excellent close and long range fighter he was, he would distract him from up close. He ran forward and threw several blows in Scar's direction, missing each. Scar showed off some of his fancy footwork, only to be answered by an attack from the General himself coming from below him, spikes shooting up from the ground towards him ripping threw part of his jacket. A near connection, inches more and he would have been dead. Ed still was on his knees in a dazed state, still wondering if he was going to live or not. The angered man known as Scar attempted to kill Armstrong with even more aggression now, but could not defeat him due to the fact that Alex never let up his onslaught. He had Scar cornered, and it looked like he was going to win the fight once and for all, when all of a sudden he leapt back again, and threw his shirt off, showing what he considered his glorious body. He was filled with muscles, but no one understood what the purpose of his shirt being thrown off was.

    Ed wondered what he was doing, until his focus shifted to what the muscle filled man was saying, as he was calling Scar an Alchemist. Ed wondered what he meant, as it didn't seem that way at all from what Ed had experienced. But as he went on, it did make sense. From what Ed heard and made out of what he said, it sounded like he had actually referred to Alchemy as a three stage process, which it was: Understanding, Deconstruction, and Reconstruction. He then stated that Scar stopped at the second stage of the process, destroying something. Itw as true that in order for you to rebuild something's alchemical structure you had to destroy it completely, but that usually only happened for about a fraction of a second or so when a transmutation was involved. This would mean that, suffice it to say, Scar was actually quite a good fighter and alchemist. The fight began again, after the brief explanation, and the others in the background with their firearms held their ground. The man closed in on Scar once more, and the intensity of his blows increased, however, Scar had realized that the man had in all actuality been letting himself get open to get Scar off guard. Once he had cornered him into the back alley wall, he took a step backwards, confusing the serial killer very much. He then understood what was going on, hearing the gunshot being fired off at him. It would have killed him were it not for his amazing speed, and instead on grazed his head. However, it did break the sunglasses that he had, revealing the eyes beneath them, they were red. Roy pointed out that this man was of Ishbalan descent, but Ed didn't know what this meant.

    The face under the glass
    The face under the glass

    The fact that he used alchemy actually meant that he was breaking his teachings, and for a man so obsessed with Ishbala, their god, he certainly didn't seem like the kind of person that would do that in an extent. But Ed was still sitting in the alleyway, wondering what to do, just letting the military officials do what they needed to do in order to save the two young boys from being killed, along with any other State Alchemists. However, the fight came to an end quite quickly when the back up group arrived, and they said that they now had captured him. Seeing that he was captured, he put his arm down to the ground below him and blew it to smithereens, making it impossible for them to track him down and simple for him to retreat via sewer waterway. The mission that they had originally been sent for was now over, and was completely irrelevant now, so they needed to regroup and make some sort of statement or assessment on what had taken place here. As they began to regroup and head back home, Maes Hughes, one of the lieutenants under Roy's jurisdiction, who just so happened to be his best friend, popped up from near nowhere. When asked where he had been, he told them that he was hiding because if all of them died, someone had to live to tell the tale, because, after all, he wasn't an Alchemist. Ed and Al sat in the alleyway while people prepared rides for them, and began talking. Al said that Ed was truly an idiot for doing something like that, and attempting to ruin his life. He told Ed that he should have simply just ran away and left him there, that his life wasn't relevant right now. Ed looked at him with sorrow filled in his eyes and wondered why he would say such a thing right now. But then, at the moment, he was feeling too depressed to really answer that question, and just continued to mope while sitting down next to his annihalated automail arm. Al was infuriated that he didn't answer the question and threw a punch towards him, and it would have connected had his arm not fallen off. Scar had blown so much of his side off that his right arm no longer had any support for it, and snapped like that, falling and hitting the ground in a slightly embarrassing way for the both of them. They laughed and laughed, and Al asked Ed what he would have done if he'd died, and then Ed told him that at least they still had eachother.

    Returning Home

    Winry
    Winry

    This section entails the first time the brothers go back to Resembool, their home, in the manga to get Ed's arm fixed after Scar broke it.

    The next thing that Ed could think of to do with himself was simply go back to Resembool, their home, even though they had decided they would never return again a long time ago. Ed and Al were forced to have a body guard for this instance though, and unfortunately that very bodyguard turned out to be Alex Louis Armstrong, someone who, while he cared about the Elrics very much, he was also quite frightening and slightly annoying. Whenever he saw Ed he wanted to give him a hug, and every time nearly killed him in the process. They decided to leave for their home by train as soon as they could, as Ed's automail mechanic, Winry, was still there and often wanted to keep up with them, though, because he didn't want to hurt her and Granny Pinako by seeing what they'd thrown themselves into over the years.

    Al was happy that he would get to see them, but not happy that he would have to ride in the cargo hold of the train while with a bunch of sheep when Ed could ride first class.General Armstrong had no idea what Ed had been through for all of his life, much less anything that he had had to do in order to stay alive. All he knew was that he liked the kid, and that he was not a bad person. Only two or so people knew about what Ed had done in the military base, not even the president knew of this. If anyone but Roy knew of it, Ed would likely have lost his job very quickly.

    On the train, he was nearly squished by the Major, and he could do near nothing about it either. Before they departed for the train station, Colonel Hughes walked up to Ed and told him his commands received from the major, and Ed wasn't the slightest happy to hear what they were, and he told the Colonel to tell the major to "Go @#$@ himself" something that Hughes found as humorous, and commented that if bad manners were a sign of how long you lived that those two would never die. As they were preparing to board, they all saluted eachother, Ed was forced to do it with his left arm, though, and apologized for it. When they finally arrived in Resembool, Ed and Al were extremely excited, and went straight to Pinako and Winry's home, the Rockbell Automail shop, a place that they had called home since the incident with the transmutation.

    After reaching the Rockbell home they began discussing what the problem with the auto mail was, and much to Winry and Pinako's dismay, the arm they needed to fix was, rather than simply broken, completely destroyed. They questioned what it was that had happened, but this event with Scar had been considered classified by the government for many reasons, and was not to reach Resembool. Ed was given spare replacements for his arm and leg, as Pinako decided that they should both be worked on now rather than giving them both the chance to break. Winry pushed Ed for saying something slightly rude, which was something he did often, only to see him fly and fall into a corner, due to not being able to balance very well on these new limbs. He asked her how long it should take him to get his arm fixed, and he was expecting to hear the usual "one week" deal, but Pinako simply smiled and told him she'd have it done within three days.

    During his stay, he went on to see his mother's grave, along with Den, the dog granny Pinako and Winry's dog. Den was also somewhat like Ed, tenacious and fun, and even had an auto mail arm. Pinako explained to Armstrong, when he was worried that Ed shouldnt be alone, that Den was one of the best guardians he could have. After finally getting his arm back, he transmuted Al's body back into it's original components and form, he also explained that the only thing that kept other alchemists from trying to put Al back together was the way his body was formed, if someone transmuted Al the wrong way by an inch, he'd be no more. The blood rune within Al's armor was all that tied his soul to that metal body, so if it was even slightly marred he would be gone in an instance. After fixing Al's body, the general prompted them to a training match, the two were scared and worried that they'd be injured, but they agreed to it anyways, with Pinako Rockbell still under the impression that the man was perfect and a wonderful guy in every way. The very next morning they decided they would be off, and bid Winry and Pinako a farewell. Winry forgot to install one screw in Ed's auto mail though.

    Central

    This section entails the revealing of how alchemists can make the Philosopher's Stone.

    Both Ed and Al were excited to finally get to Central City, when out of nowhere came two military executives named Second Lieutenant Maria Ross and Sergeant Denny Brosh. They said they had come to Central to escort Ed, Al, and Armstrong. They, as most people do, thought Al to be the Fullmetal Alchemist, and were complimenting him and saying his nickname was very dignified. When Al pointed to Ed and said he was the Fullmetal Alchemist, they responded "That little guy over there?" Major Armstrong held Edward back from maiming them. Armstrong told them he had to go over to Central Headquarters to file a report, and almost killed Ed with a super strong hug.

    Ed and Al obviously didn't want more bodyguards, and both Ross and Brosh didn't want to guard them. Ed was talking to Al and Al was referring to him as "Big Brother," which made Ross and Brosh ask why he wore armor. To which Ed responded: "It's a hobby." Then they arrived at the National Central Library, or what was left of it. It turned out the day before the entire collection of the First Branch had been incinerated by a fire, which appeared to be arson. That meant that Ed and Al couldn't access the information they needed. Meanwhile, on top of Central City Headquarters, Lust and Gluttony were talking about Scar, and soon Gluttony went to find him. Gluttony badly wounded Scar, but he survived.

    Ed and Al were frantically talking to the Woman at the information booth about Tim Marcoh, who told her to talk to Sheska, who was said to be a real bookworm. They went to her house, which was filled with books. They looked for a long time and them heard a small "Help..." They found her under the mountain of books, and she explained that she lost her job at the Library because she loved books so much and always got lost in the books while she was on the job. She then told Ed and Al that she had a photographic memory and that she had read Marcoh's book. After five days she finished and gave Ed the research notes, which were coded in 1,000 food recipes. Ed and Al tried to decipher it for almost a week, and when they did

    they discovered the tragic truth: the main ingredient for a Philosopher's Stone is human souls!

    Laboratory Number 5

    This section entails the revealing of Laboratory Number 5's secret and the possibility that Alphonse Elric isn't real.

    After discovering the secret of the Philosopher's Stone, Edward and revealed their secret of having metal limbs and Alphonse's of being armor. They didn't tell 2nd Lieutenant Ross and Sergeant Brosch that they tried to perform human transmutation though. Then they investigated the plan of the city, and found out that there was a jail right next to the fifth laboratory, or Lab. No. 5. Ed hypothesized that the laboratory was where the military created Philosopher's Stones because they would need human beings, namely from the jail. They told this secret to Major Armstrong, who hugged Edward and told him he wouldn't be allowed to go check Lab. No. 5 since it would be so dangerous. Ed and Al said they would never do such a thing, and that night they snuck out.

    They snuck past a guard posted at Lab. No. 5 and found an entrance, which was small enough for Ed to get into but too small for Al. Ed crawled through the air vent they had selected and finally got down into a passage way. He was almost killed by a random boulder that came out of nowhere but survived by laying down in a corner. He then said "I'm glad I'm so small since I..." then held his head and wept since he called himself small. Meanwhile, another soul in a suit of armor named Barry the Chopper attacked but couldn't beat him since he was such a great fighter. Ed finally got into the main room in Lab. No. 5 and saw the transmutation circle used to create a Philosopher's Stone. Another soul in a suit of armor named the Slicer started fighting Ed. He was no match for Ed though and his "head" was knocked off. His "body" got up to fight even though the blood rune that was holding his soul was on his "head." He told Ed that they were brothers who faked being one person but were really two.

    Meanwhile, Barry still couldn't win against Al. As a tactic to weaken him, Barry asked Al if he was sure his "big brother" didn't just create data and place it in the armor. He told him that Ed could have just fabricated him. This greatly discouraged him, and just when Barry was about to have inflict the final blow, 2nd Lieutenant Ross shot him two times in the hand, which caused him to drop his weapon. Ed had finally beat the brothers, and just when he was about to leave, Lust and Envy showed up. Lust stabbed both the brothers with her fingers, and Envy started talking to Ed. He was about to fight the homunculus when his arm failed him and Envy kneed him in the stomach. He carried the unconscious Ed out and gave him to Ross, who carried him to the hospital. Al was still discouraged though, and he would soon show it.

    Characteristics

    • Human
    • Age: Throughout the Fullmetal Alchemist manga, he was fifteen to sixteen years old, as of yet. When he attempted the human transmutation, he was only eleven.
    • Hair Color: Blonde
    • Eye Color: Gold, Hazel
    • Height: 165 cm (w/ elevator shoes and antenna)
    • Weight:110 Ibs, but including the automail (which can be quite heavy depending on the metals it's composed of) it's usually around 150.

    Personality

    Ed is an all around good guy, being the older brother figure forces him to be that way, though it may seem that the more mature of the two brothers is Alphonse at first glance. He's used trickery more than once to get his way with things, like having Roy give him leads on where to go in the search for bio alchemy, and often turns violent quickly, especially when called short or someone even makes a comment (positive or not) on his height. He shows that on the inside he is also very unstable when dealing with human life, and that he truly does care about it, unlike most alchemists show throughout the series, using humans as experiments when they could just as easily done it with animals, or another medium. Ed is also extremely talented, being the son of Hohenheim, and is very intelligent for his age, albeit a bit unstable.

    Other Media

    Edward Elric has also appeared in numerous other forms aside from his manga, spawning an anime series for Fullmetal Alchemist as well as three novels, several video games, and a movie (Fullmetal Alchemist: Conqueror of Shamballa). The anime series and the manga differ quite much, however, as after the events of Maes Hughes death, the events are almost completely different, and the story goes in a different direction. We can't call these episodes "filler" as they were basically a series of their own, though still bearing the name of the comic. These events are not canon to the comic for the most part however, and there were several "filler episodes", despite being very different in its own right from the manga series.

    Obviously, there is a bit of change in the drawing and art style there, mainly due to the fact that Hiromu Arakawa didn't have much to do with where the anime art went, and even less to the story line after handing the rights to the series over, at least. Then, of course, there were the other alternative of the alternatives for where the series went with art style, the novels and the video games, a very different outset than the former, which are generally assumed to be a common occurrence with each other.

    Anime Differentiation

    The Fullmetal Alchemist anime and manga, however, contrasted quite greatly as most fans can speculate now, as the manga is still running, and the anime stopped a few years after it was released, lasting in America for about two years or so, while the manga is still running on a completely different story than the anime was. The most major of the changes in the anime occurred after the events of volume 4 of where the manga and anime collide, with Maes Hughes death. After this event, the story basically went a completely different direction, even offering our world as an alternative universe fir the FMA cast, making Ed German. The main villain became a character that didn't even exist in the manga, an entity named "Dante", who had clung to life by taking other peoples bodies for over four hundred years, and was also Hohenheim, Ed's father's, first lover, until she refused to die, causing him to stay alive until she gave up on trying to get the Philosopher's Stone, something that he had to explain to Ed. Another major difference is that "Father" a prominent character in the manga as the leader of the Homunculi, was actually Pride.

    The Homunculi

    Pride: Pride was actually Fuhrer King Bradley as known in the anime, but he was also referred to as "Father" by the rest of the homunculi.

    Lust: She was basically the same character, except that she was (in her past life) Scar's older brother's lover, whom he had fallen in love with. Scar died saving her in the anime, and in the end she received her own redemption by attempting to fight Wrath off for Ed and Al.

    Wrath: Here's a severe difference in character. As opposed to being the older figure and human-like in the manga, he was actually a child. More importantly, the child that Izumi Curtis, Ed and Al's master, had transmuted when she made an attempt at human transmutation. Because of his strange ties to truth, his left leg and right arm were actually Ed's, a shocking realization for everyone who saw it.

    Envy: Envy was basically the same type of character, except for his ties with Ed. In the next to last episode, Envy reveals his true form to Ed while fighting him, and he was in fact Ed's brother that Hohenheim and Dante had had, that had died at birth from mercury poisoning, he was one of the first homunculi. This threw Ed into a state of shock, and Envy killed him.

    Sloth: Sloth, as opposed to being an enormous man in the manga, is actually the result of Ed and Al's human transmutation in the anime, bearing the appearance of their mother. The two characters were entirely different, as Sloth had not appeared in the manga at the time for the anime directors to have a basis.

    Gluttony: Gluttony was all around the same character model basically, except for the plot of the anime, where he did multiple different things from what he's done in the manga. His true form is also quite different from what he has shown in the manga, being an enormous beast rather than a representation of the Gates of Truth that were failed by Father in the manga.

    Greed: Greed was the same kind of character for the most part, but he was killed by Ed when they fought, and he never turned into Ling Yao, a character that didn't exist in the anime. He was the most similar to his character in the manga out of all the homunculi.

    Father: Of all of the anime characters being represented as homunculi, he was the most off when it came to model, as technically Pride and Father were the same entity in the anime, and the Father that we know of in the manga (the one represented as looking very much like Hohenheim) isn't even a fabric of a person in the anime, the character represented as Father is known as Pride, and is actually the character (in the anime) known as Wrath in the manga.

    sizepositionchange
    sizepositionchange
    positionchange
    positionchange
    positionchange
    bordersheaderpositiontable
    positionchange

    This edit will also create new pages on Comic Vine for:

    Beware, you are proposing to add brand new pages to the wiki along with your edits. Make sure this is what you intended. This will likely increase the time it takes for your changes to go live.

    Comment and Save

    Until you earn 1000 points all your submissions need to be vetted by other Comic Vine users. This process takes no more than a few hours and we'll send you an email once approved.