The Fullmetal Alchemist manga and anime series feature an extensive cast of fictional characters created by Hiromu Arakawa. The story is set in a fictional universe within the 20th century in which alchemy is one of the most advanced scientific techniques. Although they essentially start off the same, the 2003 anime series begins to differ greatly from the manga midway through its run; to the point where by its final act it is narratively a completely different story from the original manga series. However, the second anime, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, faithfully follows the entirety of events from the manga.^[1]

The story follows the adventure of the titular character, Edward Elric, also known as the "Fullmetal Alchemist", who is frequently accompanied by his brother Alphonse. While trying to revive their mother, the brothers lost parts of their bodies, with Alphonse's soul being contained in a suit of armor, and Edward replacing his right arm and left leg with two sets of automail, a type of advanced prosthetic limb. Advised by Roy Mustang, an alchemist from the State Military, Edward becomes a State Alchemist, and starts traveling with Alphonse through the country of Amestris in order to find a way to recover their bodies. In their search, they hear of the Philosopher's Stone, a powerful alchemy artifact that the brothers can use to recover their bodies.

When creating the series, Arakawa took her inspiration from several experiences in her childhood, including her parents' jobs and the manga she used to read. She also interviewed real war veterans for inspiration of her characters. Several types of merchandising have also been released based on the characters from the series. Reviewers from manga, anime, and other media have also commented on the characters. Most of them have praised their development in the story as well as Arakawa's artwork.

Creation and conception

The author Hiromu Arakawa integrated several social problems into the story after talking to people who had suffered and lived through them, such as refugees, war veterans and former yakuza, or simply by watching news concerning those issues. Several plot elements expand on these themes, such as Pinako Rockbell caring for the Elric brothers after the death of their mother, and the brothers helping people all over the country to gain an understanding of the meaning of family. Many characters of the series differ from the manga to the first anime, the homunculi being the most notable, which was because Arakawa wanted the first anime to have a different ending from the manga, to avoid repeating the same events in both series.^[2]

Arakawa said that she became attracted by the idea of using alchemy in the manga after reading about the philosopher's stone. She liked it so much that she started reading books of alchemy, which she found very complicated because some books contradicted others.^[2]

In the making of the characters' designs, Arakawa has commented that the manga authors Suihō Tagawa and Hiroyuki Eto are her main inspirations, and she also mentions her artwork is a mix of both of them. When drawing the series' characters, Alex Louis Armstrong and the little animals are the easiest for her to draw. Due to the fact she likes dogs, Arakawa added several of them in the story.^[3] She also adds various muscles to most of the characters fearing that otherwise they may look much too thin to the point they could look unhealthy. Despite being requested several times by fans to show the characters' birthdates, Arakawa has claimed that she never thought of them.

In the two animated adaptations of the Fullmetal Alchemist manga, the characters have been voiced by famous voice actors such as Romi Park and Rie Kugimiya who portray Edward and Alphonse, respectively, in Japanese. In the second adaptation, most of the Japanese voice actors were replaced with the exception of a few, including Park and Kugimiya who reprised their roles.^[4] On the other hand, most of the English voice actors from the first anime reprised their roles for Brotherhood with the exception of a few such as Aaron Dismuke (Alphonse) and Dameon Clarke (Scar) who are replaced by Maxey Whitehead and J. Michael Tatum, respectively.^[5]

Main characters

Edward Elric

Edward "Ed" Elric (エドワード・エルリック, Edowādo Erurikku), the "Fullmetal Alchemist" (鋼の錬金術師, Hagane no Renkinjutsushi), is the youngest State Alchemist in history, joining the program at the age of 12. He and his younger brother, Alphonse, scour the world in search of the Philosopher's Stone (賢者の石, Kenja no Ishi), in the hopes of restoring their bodies. Edward lost his left leg in a futile attempt to revive his mother, Trisha using an illegal method of human transmutation, and lost his right arm in exchange for attaching Alphonse's soul to a suit of armor. Edward now employs the use of metal prosthetics, known as automail (機械鎧（オートメイル）, Ōtomeiru), as replacement limbs. However, as attempting to resurrect a human opens a portal called the Gate of Truth (真理の扉, Shinri no Tobira) to allow the committer/s to see the Truth (真理, Shinri), Edward gained great knowledge of the universe as well as the powerful ability to perform transmutations without transmutation circles. Edward is smart, brave and even bold, but also has a prideful tendency to be harsh and arrogant. He harbors a sharp sensitivity to his short height; a recurring gag in both manga and the anime series is for Edward to overly react to people who call him short. Romi Park and Vic Mignogna voice him in the Japanese and English versions, respectively.^{ep. 1 ep. 1} In the live-action film adaptation, he is portrayed by Ryosuke Yamada.

Alphonse Elric

Alphonse "Al" Elric (アルフォンス・エルリック, Arufonsu Erurikku) is Edward's younger brother. Together, both of them scour the country in search of the Philosopher's Stone in the hopes of restoring their bodies. Unlike Ed, who lost one of his legs in the failed attempt to revive the brothers' mother, Al lost his entire body. At the last moment, and at the cost of one of his arms, Ed sealed Al's soul in a large suit of armor, making Al almost invulnerable. Follow the incident, he and Edward together join the journey in order to recover the body back. Rie Kugimiya voices him in the Japanese series, Aaron Dismuke in the first English series,^{ep. 1 ep. 1} and Maxey Whitehead in the second English series.^[6]

Roy Mustang

Colonel/Major Roy Mustang (ロイ・マスタング, Roi Masutangu), the "Flame Alchemist" (焔の錬金術師, Honō no Renkinjutsushi), is a State Alchemist and Edward's direct superior. He is promoted to Brigadier General at the end of the series and is a General in the epilogue. He aims towards becoming the next Führer of Amestris, heavily relying on the support of his loyal subordinates to propel him along that path. Mustang finds this path interrupted by the murder of his best friend and confidant, Maes Hughes; afterward, he begins an almost behind-the-scenes investigation into finding the true culprit. Tōru Ōkawa and Travis Willingham voice Mustang in the Japanese and English versions, respectively.^{ep. 3 ep. 3} In the second anime series, he is voiced by Shin-ichiro Miki ^{ep. 1} with Travis Willingham reprising the role in the dub. In the live-action film adaptation, he is portrayed by Dean Fujioka.

Winry Rockbell

Winry Rockbell (ウィンリィ・ロックベル, Winri Rokkuberu), a childhood friend of Edward and Alphonse Elric, lives in Resembool with her grandmother, Pinako Rockbell, who raised her after the death of her parents during the Ishbal War. Her parents were killed by Scar in a blind rage. Winry is a practicing and gifted automail mechanic; a prodigy following in her grandmother's footsteps, continually designing and maintaining Edward Elric's automail prosthetics. She is well known for working in Rush Valley as a promising engineer with many loyal customers. Winry is often used as an unwitting hostage by the homunculi to ensure the Elrics' subservience to the State. Winry is known for helping the Elrics' emotionally and physically, behaving understandingly and compassionately towards them. She and Edward get married in the concluding moments of the manga, as their relationship is built upon communication and reliance. In the first anime, her parents were executed by a younger Roy Mustang under Military order. She is voiced by Megumi Toyoguchi and Caitlin Glass in the Japanese and English versions, respectively.^{ep. 3 ep. 3} In the second series, she is voiced by Megumi Takamoto in Japanese,^{ep. 2} and Glass reprises her in the English version. In the live-action film adaptation, she is portrayed by Tsubasa Honda.

Scar

Scar (傷の男（スカー）, Sukā, literally "the scarred man") is one of the survivors of the Ishbalan Extermination Campaign, and named for the scar across his face. Depicted as an Ishbalan warrior priest, Scar was a capable fighter who desperately tried to save whomever he could from the onslaught. However, Kimblee's enhanced alchemical attacks were too much. Scar's brother, who had been researching Amestrian alchemy and Xingese alkahestry (considered heresy by Ishbalans) in an attempt to gain power against the State, gives Scar his right arm in order to save his life. Scar initially targeted State Alchemists for their role in his people's slaughter, even becoming an enemy of the Elrics after he killed Nina Tucker as an act of mercy after she was turned into a chimera, but ultimately sided with them upon learning that the Homunculi are his actual enemies.

May Chang

May Chang (メイ・チャン, Mei Chan) is the seventeenth princess of Xing who represents the Chang clan. Unlike Lin Yao, she comes to Amestris without any bodyguards due to her clan's poor status, only having her small pet panda, Xiao Mei that had gotten a disease to keep her from growing, keeping her small, to keep her company. May is particularly skilled in alkahestry by using throwing knives (鏢, hyō) to create two transmutation circles, one at her intended target and one near herself, allowing her to manipulate matter at a distance. She is somewhat imaginative in nature; having imagined Edward Elric as a tall and handsome young man before actually meeting him and proclaiming that he intentionally misled her. May later falls in love with Alphonse Elric, also picturing his real form as a handsome man. Soon after arriving in Amestris on her search for immortality, May teams up with Scar, assisting him on his travels. For a time, she also unknowingly fights the Elric brothers before eventually teaming up with Alphonse, who she developed feelings for, to capture Envy and bring the weakened homunculus to Xing. However, her guilt manipulated by Envy, May resolves to help her friends in Central City. After Father's defeat, relieved upon hearing of her half brother's intentions as emperor, May returns to Xing alongside Lin and Lan Fan. In the epilogue, May is seen in a family photo together with Alphonse, Winry, Edward, and the couple's son and daughter. Her Japanese voice actress is Mai Goto and her English voice actress is Monica Rial.^{ep. 15} In the live-action film trilogy adaptation, May Chang is portrayed by Ron Monroe.

Lin Yao

Lin Yao (リン・ヤオ, Rin Yao, "Ling Yao" in the first Viz's volumes and the second anime) is the twelfth prince of Xing, and represents the Yao Clan. He meets Edward Elric soon after arriving in Amestris, whom he aggravates by being both younger and taller than him. He also tends to leave Edward with pricey dinner bills before quietly slipping away. Despite his laid-back, goofy, and undignified personality, Lin is a skilled swordsman who keeps a cool head in hostile situations. His major ambition is to replace his father as Xing's new emperor, and as such operates under the belief that power cannot be obtained without the people's support. He is very close to his bodyguards, Lan Fan and Fu, often showing greater concern for their safety than finding immortality and becoming emperor. Throughout the series, Lin's ongoing search for immortality in Amestris results in numerous encounters with the homunculi, whom he can sense like other Xingese characters. He eventually becomes a homunculus himself so as to become immortal, relinquishing his body to Greed without any resistance.^ch. 54 However, they eventually come to an agreement to the point where Lin can take control when he feels it is necessary.^ch. 86 During the final battle, Lin becomes a normal human again when Greed transfers himself back into Father's body to weaken him. Following Father's defeat, having gained a philosopher's stone, Lin returns to Xing and, with the experience he and Lan Fan learned from the people of Amestris, becomes the new emperor with the intent of uniting all the nation's segregated clans under his rule.^ch. 108 He is voiced by Mamoru Miyano^{ep. 15} in the Japanese version and Todd Haberkorn in English. In the live-action film trilogy adaptation, he is portrayed by Keisuke Watanabe.

Antagonistsedit

Homunculiedit

Homunculi (ホムンクルス, Homunkurusu) are a race of artificial humanoids that serve as the primary antagonistic force in Fullmetal Alchemist who were created by the Homunculus Father by extracting what he believed to be his natural flaws into fragments of his Philosopher's Stone.^{ch. 97ch. 53} Being personifications of Father's darkest aspects, each named after one of the seven deadly sins and identified through an Ouroboros tattoo located somewhere on their bodies, Homunculi possess physical prowess with the long life and nigh indestructibility provided by their stones playing in their arrogance while seeing themselves as superior to humans. The only means of permanently killing a Homunculus is dwindling their stone until they are unable to revive themselves once killed.^ch. 39 While the majority of Homunculi are placed into artificial bodies created from his flesh, Father has also implanted two of his "children" into human bodies as were the case with King Bradley and the second Greed.^[2]

In the first anime, homunculi are the result of an alchemist's failed attempt to resurrecting a person via human transmutation. The resulting misshaped creatures are later exposed to incomplete Philosopher's Stones that enable them to closely resemble the deceased humans they were intended to be. These homunculi are led by Dante, and feed on incomplete Philosopher's Stones to fuel their powers; they are susceptible to death once enough of the stones are regurgitated. The homunculi of the first anime possess an additional weakness: a remnant of their original bodies (a bone, hair, etc.), which weaken and immobilize them when they come in contact with them.^{ep. 34}

Fatheredit

"Father" (お父様, Otō-sama) is the creator of other homunculi and the series' main antagonist a cruel greedy homunculus with no regard for human life, likening them to insects.^ch. 31 He was originally known as "The Dwarf in the Flask" (フラスコの中の小人, Furasuko no Naka no Kobito) or "Homunculus" (ホムンクルス, Homunkurusu), a shapeshifter cyclops-like creature created eight centuries ago in the country of Cselkcess (クセルクセス, Kuserukusesu, "Xerxes" in the English anime) under the commission of its king to obtain infinite knowledge.^ch. 74 Unable to survive outside his flask, Homunculus formed an attachment to the young slave boy whose blood had been used in his creation, naming the lad Van Hohenheim while helping him rise in Cselkcesian society by teaching him to read, write and alchemy. But Homunculus grew envious of the human race over their mutual emotional support for each other while being the only one of his kind, losing sight of his own gifts and talents while playing on the desperate King's desire for immortality. He tricks the king into creating a country-wide transmutation circle for the creation of a Philosopher's Stone, whose necessary ingredient is the souls of several living human beings. Once activated, Homunculus ensured that he and the unaware Hohenheim were in the center to absorb the souls of the Cselkcesian population between them. During the process, Homunculus used Hohenheim's blood within him to create a humanoid husk body to serve as his mobile vessel before parting ways.^ch. 75

After searching for the nearest area closest to the "center of the world", the now prideful and greedy Homunculus established Amestris under the title of "The Eastern Sage" and taught alchemy to its people for the sake of his master plan: engineering every war in the country's history to bring it into the form of a perfect circle with sites of bloody carnage at all the cardinal points—the necessary configuration for the transmutation of another Philosopher's Stone and repeat his actions in Cselkcess on a higher scale to open the Gate and become a "perfect being" with absolute freedom and all the knowledge by absorbing God. Father then attempted to purge out his cardinal sins as a means to elevate himself, creating his homunculi offspring to gain a family. Father then uses his homunculi to gather "sacrifices", alchemists of notable skill who attempted human transmutation and survived and gained knowledge of the "Truth"; these "sacrifices" are necessary for Father's plan to work.^ch. 100 As an additional precaution against alchemists, Father stationed himself underground above the tectonic plates so that he can negate any form of alchemy that derives its power from tectonic energy.^ch. 54 Having left the eyes of the Amestrian public, referred to as the "Good Gentleman" by his human subordinates, Father keeps in touch with the country's highest-ranking human officials to maintain the country's growth under his absolute authority and control.

Eventually, Father's plans come to fruition on the "Promised Day" (約束の日, Yakusoku no Hi) as the Nation-Wide Transmutation Circle can only be activated during a solar eclipse (the sun symbolizes a man, and the moon symbolizes a woman, with an eclipse representing a perfect being). Father manages to restrain his sacrifices and so he can gather enough souls into his body from Amestris's people to absorb the trans-dimensional entity beyond the Gate which he called "God" (神, Kami). From there, Father creates a new youthful body with his powers increased to the point of defying natural order and tries to get rid of the human sacrifices. But Hohenheim's transmutation circle restored the Amestrians' souls to their bodies with Father starting to lose control over the entity within him and limiting his strength.^{ch. 104, 107} Furthermore, with Scar removing his ability to block the Amestrians' alchemy, Father is weakened when attacked by all sides. After Edward manages to pierce Father's chest to free the remaining trapped souls that consisted of his dwindled Philosopher's Stone, "God" proceeds to turn Father inside out and drags him before the gate. As he is taken away, Father laments the harshness of reality, crying out that he does not understand why reality denies him getting his greatest desires and true freedom being so impossible to achieve. At his personal Gate of Truth and reduced to his original form, Father is confronted by Truth. There he complains about why God has rejected him and that he only wanted perfection, all the worlds knowledge for himself. Truth then poetically punishes Father by letting the gate drag him back into it (where he was presumably created from), thus letting Father stand in God's place in some senses whilst stripping Father completely of the freedom he cherished, but not before admonishing the homunculus for having learnt nothing and having never grown from his days in the flask.^ch. 108 He is voiced by Iemasa Kayumi in Japanese and by Kent Williams in English. In the mobile game adaptation, he is voiced by Akio Otsuka after Kayumi's passing. In the live-action film trilogy adaptation, he is portrayed by Seiyō Uchino.

Car Liminger notes that while the entirety of FMA:B could be called epic, "Father's plan to consume God is of such scale and its result so mind-bogglingly spectacular that it can't be called anything else".^[7] IGN ranked him as the 10th best anime villain of all time, saying that he makes "for a kind of weird analogy with the Greek god Uranus where he's the father of the lesser powers who generally try to control humanity for their own goals and pleasures." They also praise "the sheer scale of his villainy. Over the course of centuries, he regularly annihilates cities and even countries to gain more power. He's got the blood of millions on his hands, and this doesn't bother him in the slightest. He is the quintessential villain who seeks power just for the sake of having power, and his complete indifference to humanity makes him a true monster."^[8] Rob Bricken, in his list of Top 11 most evil anime villains of all time, he ranks Father as #2, saying that his deed of sacrificing a whole country to simply absorb the power of God is "a feat as arrogant as it is evil," and that "he's more than willing to kill his own children, the Homunculi, in order to achieve his ends."^[9]

Prideedit

Pride (プライド, Puraido) the Arrogant is the first of Father's homunculi to be created, resembling Father's true form as he appears as an amorphous shadow with multiple eyes.^ch. 78 He orders his younger "siblings" to perform their respective tasks. Pride can destroy or manipulate anything that his shadow comes into contact with, see anything through his shadow, possess the bodies of others by repressing their connections to their respective souls, and gain the physical traits of whomever he eats, such as Gluttony's appetite and sense of smell.^ch. 87 The presence of his unleashed form gives off an intense, dreadful pressure. His identity is a mystery until the latter half of the series when he is revealed to be no other than Selim Bradley (セリム・ブラッドレイ, Serimu Buraddorei), the adoptive son of King Bradley.^ch. 70 Pride can only exist within a given area: the area surrounding his host body and the underground transmutation circle running throughout Amestris, which he is tasked to guard. He needs a light source in order to be able to cast, and subsequently use, his shadow, and it can similarly be "killed" if the light becomes too bright.^ch. 88 Hubristic and boastful, he bears disdain for the human race (and Homunculi that do not share his views on humans), enjoys shaming and mocking others, and acts in a guiltless, abhorrent, and self-seeking way towards virtually everyone, including most of his fellow Homunculi. He gets angered by any defiance coming from his younger "siblings". He thinks in a very biased manner, using excuses to provide justifications for his cruelty. Despite these baleful traits, he has some attachment to his adoptive human mother.

The Elric brothers and their allies battle Pride several times, beginning on the eve of the Promised Day. After a weakened Pride tries to hijack Ed's body in a ditch attempt to survive that fails because of Kimblee's soul stopping him, Edward destroys Pride's body in battle, reducing him to his true form: a minuscule, fetus-like creature.^ch. 106 After the battle with Father ends, the now powerless Pride is brought to his adoptive mother and raised all over again. Two years later, Selim is shown to have grown into a much more compassionate young child.^ch. 108

In the first anime adaptation, Pride represents the true identity of King Bradley, while Selim is a normal human child who briefly appears at the end of the series, arriving at the fight between Bradley and Roy Mustang with the homunculus' original human skull. Bradley is weakened by its presence, spitefully strangling Selim to death before he subsequently dies at the hands of Mustang's flames. It is this incarnation of both Bradley and Pride that is darker and more tyrannical, without any sympathetic qualities that their manga counterparts possess.

In the first anime, Makoto Tsumura voices Selim in the Japanese version, and Zarah Little in the English dub.^{ep. 51} His voice in the second series is provided by Yūko Sanpei in Japanese, and by Brittney Karbowski in English. In the live-action film trilogy adaptation, he is portrayed by Kokoro Terada.

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