Fullmetal Alchemist (manga)/Characters/Main

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This is a short summary page for characters from the Fullmetal Alchemist manga series and its anime adaptation Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. Note: For the page about the characters from the first anime, see Fullmetal Alchemist (anime)/Characters.

This page deals with the Main Characters of the series.

Edward "Ed" Elric

Affiliation: Amestris Military
Rank: Major
Speciality: Martial-Arts/Weapon Alchemy/Alchemy Without an Array

The protagonist of the series. Seeks the secret of the Philosopher's Stone so he can undo the mistakes of his past of trying to bring back his mother to life. The truth behind the Philosopher's Stone, and the connection to the secrets behind the country he lives in drives the story.

Voiced by: Romi Park (JP), Vic Mignogna (EN)

Edward: Get up, you miserable fuck. It's time you learned why you're not in our league!

"Die?! You just don't know anything about Edward Elric!"

  • Took a Level In Badass: As if he already wasn't badass enough, Ed getting his right arm back leads to Father getting a complete No-Holds-Barred Beatdown.
  • Troubled but Cute
  • Unstoppable Rage: Against Father, after Al's Heroic Sacrifice.
  • Vitriolic Best Buds: With Mustang, Ling, and Scar, after the latter's Heel Face Turn. Let's just say anyone Ed befriends are likely to develop this type of relationship with him. Even his relationship with Winry is like this sometimes, though to a much lesser extent than the others listed.
  • Wacky Marriage Proposal: To Winry. Still a Crowning Moment of Heartwarming though.
  • Walking the Earth at the end, he goes west for more research and create a replacement rule for alchemy
  • Wise Beyond His Years: While not as often as Alphonse, Ed does have tendency to display a high level of wisdom for someone his age.
  • The Worf Barrage: He has on several occasions conjured an elaborate-looking spear from the ground. Until the fight with the Cyclops Army it would always be cut apart in moments. He's a much better fighter barehanded or with a blade transmuted from his automail's casing.
  • Your Approval Fills Me with Shame: To Scar regarding a relatively minor matter "Hearing you agree with me makes me mad for some reason..."
  • You're Not My Father: Typically refers to his father as "Hohenheim," until the last chapter, when he tells Hohenheim "You're useless, Dad!" in response to his offering to sacrifice himself to bring Al back.


Alphonse "Al" Elric

Affiliation: None
Rank: None
Speciality: Martial-Arts/Balanced Alchemy/Trap Alchemy/Alchemy without an Array

Edward's little brother, he lost his body during an experiment that went horribly wrong and survives in the form of a suit of armour, his soul joined to it through the use of a blood seal.

Voiced by: Rie Kugimiya (JP), Aaron Dismuke (EN - 2003 Anime), Maxey Whitehead (EN - 2009 Anime)

  • Achilles' Heel: His blood seal is his one real weakness.
  • Animated Armor
  • Badass: Almost as much as his brother.
    • At the end of the story, with Hohenheim and Father gone and Ed's powers gone, Al is one of the most potentially powerful alchemists on the planet, alongside his teacher Izumi and Mustang, who added circleless alchemy to his already impressive alchemy skills.
  • Badass Adorable: A sweet boy with a soft spot for kittens who is a living armor alchemist.
  • Beware the Nice Ones
  • Big Little Brother: He may be the youngest of the two protagonists, but his armour body makes him taller and more impressive than his older brother.
    • Despite getting a growth spurt, Ed is still shorter than him, even after Al gets his body back.
  • Bishonen: He becomes a big-time Bishonen after he gets his body back and heals up.
  • Blessed with Suck: He can't feel pain, he can't feel anything. He also doesn't need to eat, breathe, or sleep (which induces feelings of loneliness at night).
  • Child Mage
  • Child Prodigy: Might be even better then his brother at alchemy.
  • Chronic Hero Syndrome: After blaming himself for the deaths of Nina, Hughes and Martel, he seems unable to let anyone die, even if they're possible enemies and/or Al doesn't even know them.
  • Corner of Woe: In contrast to his brother, making fun of Al's size or armor results in this.
  • Cross-Dressing Voices: Averted in the dub of the first anime, where he was played by the then 12-year-old Aaron Dismuke. Played straight with Rie Kugimiya and Maxey Whitehead.
  • Curtains Match the Window: In his human body.
  • Cuteness Proximity: He's a Kindhearted Cat Lover, and wanted to keep Shao May when he found her alone.
  • Eye Lights Out: whenever Alphonse's soul is unconscious, or being pulled over to the Gate, his eye-lights go out.
    • This seems to be for the audience only, since none of the characters including Ed seem to be able to tell the difference.
  • Eyes of Gold: His human body has them, though they're less gold and more olive-colored compared to Ed and Hohenheim.
  • Extra Ore Dinary: His and Ed's alchemy specialty.
  • Gentle Giant: He looks intimidating but he's much nicer than his brother.
  • Genius Bruiser: His metal body grants him greater than average strength which he uses in combo with his impressive alchemy.
  • Glowing Mechanical Eyes
  • Hair of Gold: His human body has it, though it's much darker than Ed's and borders on light brown.
  • Heroic Bastard: like his brother.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: Seeing as his blood seal was cracked, Ed had lost his right arm and Ed was pinned against a rock and about to have his life force drained by the Big Bad, he gives back his soul so that Ed could have his original right arm back.
    • Thankfully he gets better when Ed comes back to claim him.
    • Anyone who refused to get his body back, since he can't properly use it for combat, despite the fact that he desperately wanted that proper flesh and blood body for years, without getting too upset about it, deserves to be poster boy for this trope.
  • Heroic Resolve

Al: "I won't leave you! I'm sick of watching people die, and I can't just sit back and take it anymore! I won't let anyone else get killed! Not when I can protect them!!"


Van Hohenheim

Affiliation: None
Rank: None
Speciality: Perfect Alchemy/Trap Alchemy/Immortality

The Elrics' father, a renowned alchemist who left them and their mother when they were little.

Voiced by: Masashi Ebara (JP - 2003 Anime), Unsho Ishizuka (JP - 2009 Anime), Scott McNeil (EN - 2003 Anime), John Swasey (EN - 2009 Anime), Daisuke Namikawa (JP - Young), Aaron Dismuke (EN - Young)


Winry Rockbell

Affiliation: None
Rank: None
Speciality: Mechanic

The Elrics' childhood friend and Ed's personal automail mechanic, who happens to have a crush on him.

Voiced by: Megumi Toyoguchi (JP - 2003 Anime), Megumi Takamoto (JP - 2009 Anime), Caitlin Glass (EN)

  • Abuse Is Okay When It Is Female On Male: Subverted. Everyone horribly abuses Ed, even the men. Especially Major Armstrong (except that he doesn't know he's abusing him). And she only does so when she’s enraged at him. It’s averted when she accidentally breaks something that belongs to Ed, even if it’s hard to stay mad at someone who dresses like she does.
  • Armor-Piercing Slap: Frequently given to Ed, usually in response to his automail being damaged. Justified in that she uses a wrench.
  • Babies Ever After: With Edward.
  • Badass Pacifist: She's pretty much the only major character without combat skills, but she manages to stand out as one of the braver characters through her sheer kindness and willingness to help others. Though having said that, she does have strong muscles.
  • Bare Your Midriff: At times.
  • Belligerent Sexual Tension: With Ed. She does try to be nice to him though, and one could say that’s what counts.
  • Berserk Button: Do not damage the automail she makes. Retribution will be swift.
    • Also, if you're Edward, do not refrain from drinking your milk.
  • Birds of a Feather: It’s surprising how alike she and Edward are when you think about it.
  • Blue Eyes
  • Break the Cutie: Totally loses it when she found out who murdered her parents.
  • Child Prodigy: She made Ed's first automail limbs when she was 11. Ed also says she was able to comprehend and read medical journals from a young age like he and Al did with alchemy books, which comes in handy when she has to deliver a child when no doctor is available.
  • Chronic Hero Syndrome
  • Fan Service Pack: Her figure becomes appreciably more curvaceous and feminine throughout the time in which Brotherhood takes place. Justified in that she goes from 11 to 15-16.
  • Girl Next Door: Was this to Ed and Al growing up.
  • Hair of Gold
  • Heartwarming Orphan: Downplayed as she still had her grandmother and the Elrics have more sympathetic trauma.
  • He Is Not My Boyfriend: Thought not quite as, ah, vehement as Ed is about it, she is quick to tell Rose that Ed is her childhood friend when Rose looks as if she's about to assume something else.
  • He Will Not Cry, So I Cry for Him: Winry does this for Ed and Al at first, until Ed asks her to stop as it only makes things harder for him. They agree the next time she cries for them they'll be tears of joy. D'aww...
  • Hostage Situation: The brothers specifically admit she is their weak point, as the villains of the story have, unfortunately for her, figured out.
  • Hot Mom: She becomes one in the Grand Finale.
  • If You Kill Him You Will Be Just Like Him: Ed tells her something like this when she points a gun at Scar.
  • Love Epiphany: When she gets on the train back to Rush Valley after the Scar incident, she gives the matter a lot of thought and comes to the realization that she's been falling for Ed for a long time.
  • Ms. Fanservice: The bath scene in Lior. Dear Lord, the bath scene... Her normal working attire top appears to be just a tube top bra as well.
  • Ms. Fixit Usually automail but other machines too.
  • Plucky Girl: She's a lot more cheerful than the brothers, and just as brave.
  • Replacement Goldfish: Being an orphan, she admitted to feeling this way toward Lt. Colonel Hughes for her dad, which made it all the sadder when he was killed.
  • Shipper on Deck: Makes cracks at Al, regarding Mei.
  • Shorttank
  • Squee: When she gets to Rush Valley, oh boy does she go into fangirl mode!
  • Super Strength: She more or less has this. How else could she wipe the floor with Edward?
  • Tsundere: Type B; the more deredere variety. The only person she gets mad at is Ed.
  • Vapor Wear: At least in the chapter where Ed almost watches her undress.
  • Victorious Childhood Friend
  • Wrench Wench: Page image! Never seen without a wrench and is the most skilled main character when it comes to machines.
  • Wrench Whack: Her preferred method of punishing Ed (and on one occasion, Al) when he does something out of line, specifically breaking the arm that she made for him.

Scar

Affiliation: Ishval (formerly)
Rank: Monk (formerly)
Speciality: Destructive Alchemy/Alkahestry

A mysterious Ishvalan in a Roaring Rampage of Revenge against the State Alchemists that annihilated his people.

Voiced by: Ryotaro Okiayu (JP - 2003 Anime), Kenta Miyake (JP - 2009 Anime), Dameon Clarke (EN - 2003 Anime), J Michael Tatum (EN - 2009 Anime)

  • Anti-Villain/Anti-Hero (type V) ---> Anti-Hero (Type III)
  • Badass
  • Break Them by Talking: "Just don't forget, it was you Amestrians that started the Ishvalan War!"
  • Character Development
  • Church Militant/Warrior Monk: He was a warrior-priest of Ishval during the war, and tried to do penance afterward through becoming a death-seeking avenger of God.
  • Cool Shades
  • Cuteness Proximity: He loves kittens and had an urge to pet Shao May.
  • Dark and Troubled Past: The extermination of his people, his brother dying to save him, the scar on his face etc.
  • Dark-Skinned Blond: It's an ethnic trait.
  • Dead Older Brother
  • Death Seeker: Implied, at least for a time. His goals seemed to be suicide by State Alchemist.
  • Despair Event Horizon: Hovered on the edge for a long time. He could only justify living with vengenace.
  • Easily Forgiven: Averted. Winry is willing to help Scar by treating his life-threatening injuries because it's what her parents would have done, but that doesn't mean she's forgiven him.
  • Everybody's Dead, Dave: his refugee party is wiped out by Kimblee.
  • Face Palm of Doom: His signature attack.
  • Fan Nickname: Sexyhobo (popularized by a scanlation team).
  • Freak-Out: He's usually quite cool and collected, but when he wakes up to find his brother has sacrificed himself to save him he loses it completely and undeservedly kills Winry's parents.
  • "Get Out of Jail Free" Card: Despite the fact that his anger was justified and that he did kill many of the more unlikeable characters, and that he was never a bad guy to begin with, the fact still remains that Scar killed people who didn't have anything to do with the massacre and were simply trying to help everyone (the Rockbells, who admittedly were the one kill he truly regretted) or just because they were State Alchemists (although this did usually means they were either involved in that catastrophe or likely to be used for another one in the future). While he does get called out for his actions, at the end he's still a murderer who never had to pay for his crimes. Instead, see Redemption Earns Life for his fate.
    • Justified by the fact that Winry's not a killer, the Elrics at least understood the pain that drove him to this road, and the other military good guys felt their souls were blackened by what they did to his people and thus were in no position to judge him for his crimes. And that's before everyone realizes they were all manipulated by The Illuminati.
  • Heel Face Turn: He wasn't evil to begin with, but he grew less violent and radical over time. Even Envy pointed out to him that he was teaming with a State Alchemist; Scar basically told Envy he knew and just didn't care anymore.
  • Heel Realization: To be fair, he knew he wasn't exactly a good person for a while. But it wasn't until Winry agreed to heal his wounds despite her hatred for him (crystallizing a point his elders made about their decision to pursue nonviolence) that he comes to realize just where- and how grievously- he went wrong.
  • Hero-Killer: His first encounter with Ed and Al ends with Ed's automail being shattered, and Al unable to move. Ed was saved only by Riza Hawkeye and Alex Armstrong's Big Damn Heroes.
  • His Story Repeats Itself
  • Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: When May decides to start hanging around.
  • I Am Not Right-Handed: Hey Fuhrer, guess what. I can RE-FUCKING-CONSTRUCT now too!!
  • Irony: Scar's quest for vengeance started because Amestrians slaughtered Scar's people. That quest ended with his working with Amestrians to save both peoples.
  • Kick the Son of a Bitch: His victims include Sho Tucker and Giolo Comanche (an unrepentant State Alchemist who served in Ishbal). He also goes up agains Kimblee, who would have killed the Rockbells if he had not.
  • Life or Limb Decision: When Scar lost his arm in a bomb attack, his brother replaced it with his own arm, and apparently bled to death in his place.
  • Lightning Bruiser: His Weapon of Choice are his fists (well, his fist o' destruction) so in order to do much damage he has to get close enough to touch his opponent. Pair that with fighting mostly long-range opponents, and you either get really quick or really dead. He's probably the fastest human in the series, although Ed rivaled him when he had his Briggs automail.
  • Mr. Fanservice: One word. GAR.
  • Morality Pet: His kindness to May helps make him more likeable.
    • According to the Omakes, he also likes kitty cats. Awww.
  • My God, What Have I Done?: Among his murders, Winry's parents are the only ones he feels genuine guilt and remorse over.
  • No Name Given: More like he forsook his own name.
  • Normally I Would Be Dead Now: Survives killing Wrath (no easy task) and even gives us some exposition in 106. While dripping blood out of... pretty much everything.
  • Not So Different: While he and Ed have several differences, signs point to them being incredibly similar. Also, in the first anime, Ed notes that several people try to tell him that people say they're not so different, but, Scar never said it, and yet, Scar and Edward are still similar characters, even if they aren't aware of it.
    • Ed's not the only Elric brother that Scar has similarities to: A younger brother had his life saved by his older brother, who gave up his right arm to do so. Are we talking about Scar, or Alphonse Elric?
      • And if you add the fact the younger brother is the better fighter and more physically imposing than the older in both cases, well I have no idea...
    • Scar actually lampshades this about himself and Edward. The fact that he did so to encourage Mustang not to become as bitter as them did not amuse Ed.
  • Only Known by Their Nickname / That Man Is Dead: He refuses to tell anyone what his real name is because he doesn't feel he deserves it anymore.
  • Overdrawn At the Blood Bank: After his Crowning Moment of Awesome.
  • Power Tattoo: The source of his alchemy.
  • Red Eyes, Take Warning: Subverted; in this case his eye color indicates his belonging to an ethnic group that was nearly wiped out in a civil war.
  • Redemption Earns Life: He becomes a priest in the reforming Ishval, teaching the new generation about their people's culture alongside Miles.
  • Roaring Rampage of Revenge: How he's introduced.
  • Say My Name: "KIIIIIIIIMBLEEEEEE!!!"
  • Scary Black Man: Good, God. This guy becomes the State Alchemist's bogeyman!
  • Serial Killer: Until his Heel Face Turn.
  • The Stoic: Not big on talking.
  • Survivor Guilt: He deals with it by killing state alchemists.
  • Talking to Himself: In the 2009 Festival special, there was a skit where Kenta Miyake acted for both Scar and Garfiel. Hilarity Ensues.
  • The Un-Reveal: We never learned his real name!
  • Tame His Anger: Probably the most noticeable one in the series.
  • Trauma Conga Line: It all started when Kimblee attacks and Scar's brother gave up his arm to save his life. When he woke up and thought his brother is with him only to find out about his arm and the fate of his brother he freaks out and out of despair kills the Rockbells and went outside only to find Ishval destroyed.
  • Vitriolic Best Buds: With pretty much everyone after his Heel Face Turn, especially Ed.
  • X Marks The Anti-Hero
  1. ↑ (Start running)
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