Introduction to the Story and Characters

HELLO!!

I've been a fan of Fullmetal Alchemist for years now. I loved the characters, good traits, flaws, and all. The story itself is exciting, deep, and will make you want to melt with happiness as often as it will make you flood your eyes with desperately held back tears. For my BIC 3358 class, we are reading religious texts, texts on religious interpretations, and exploring the morals, history, and meaning of it all and how it has affected us as a society. Therefore, for my class project, I decided to blog about FMA Brotherhood, since it closely follows the manga storyline. I intend to summarize FMA and its characters, explore the difficult ethical situations brought up in FMA, and make comparisons between FMA and what we learn about in BIC 3358.

I'm also going to apologize beforehand on the mistakes in the text and structure of this blog post. It's my first blog post, so I'm still working out some kinks and figuring it all out.

About the FMA World

The story is set in a completely fictional world, with much of the story taking place in the country of Amestris (the author claims she was inspired by several European countries between the 17th and 19th centuries, particularly during the Industrial Revolution). Amestris is a country that in the past seems to have been somewhat diverse in culture and religion, and today is broken up into five administrative divisions: North Area, South Area, East Area, West Area, and Central Area, with Central City as its capital where Central Command resides. It is a Unitary State, and the Head of State is the Commander-in-Chief of the military, given the title of Fuhrer.

"Alchemy: the science of understanding, deconstructing, and reconstructing matter. However, it is not an all-powerful art; it is impossible to create something out of nothing. If one wishes to obtain something, something of equal value must be given. This is the Law of Equivalent Exchange, the basis of all alchemy. In accordance with this law, there is a taboo among alchemists: human transmutation is strictly forbidden - for what could equal the value of a human soul...?" - FMA Introduction.

Alchemy exists as a very ancient, scientific and mystical art. People use alchemy to manipulate and alter matter, the act itself being called Transmutation. In order for Transmutation to be performed, one has to have the right Transmutation circle, a symbol with alchemical runes that serves as a conduit to the specific Transmutation. It can either be drawn on the spot (by pencil, chalk, blood, etc.), or permanently etched into something beforehand, such as a glove (The alchemist would then be able to use that specific transmutation any time they wear the glove with the Transmutation circle on it - Roy Mustang, one of the characters, is known as the Flame Alchemist and uses gloves with the transmutation circle for fire etched onto the fabric).

The energy behind alchemy is provided by mysterious and mystical forces behind the doors of what is known in FMA as The Gate. Every alchemist appears to have their own "Gate", and behind this Gate is the energy that fuels their alchemy as well as an insurmountable wealth of knowledge that someone can only attain if they are forced past the doors of their Gate by the Gate's guardian, Truth.

Truth is a mysterious and intangible being that goes by many names, who reveals itself when alchemists open their Gate and try to "play God" by performing Human Transmutation, the one illegal transmutation in FMA because it breaks the Law of Equivalent Exchange by trying to bring back a dead person (trying to create something out of nothing, life out of death). Truth will see Human Transmutation as an unfair exchange and will forcibly bring the alchemist into their Gate so they pay the toll of trying to create human life by losing something that Truth considers of equal value to the person the alchemist is trying to create or resurrect. The thing they lose often possesses some cruel irony for them, and then they do not even succeed in creating or resurrecting the person they were trying to, for reasons I will get into in a later blog. Once they have payed their "toll", they have then already been through the Gate and "seen the truth", or at least part of it. Being forced past the doors of his Gate and shown some of the "truth" is what grants Edward the knowledge to be able to perform Transmutation without a Transmutation circle.
This will all be better explained in my next three blog posts as the Elric brothers discover more about alchemy and the Gate.

Now, Onto Introducing the Story and the Elric Brothers!

Edward Elric and his younger brother by a year, Alphonse, were raised by their mother in the rural village of Risembool for most of their lives after their father, Hohenheim, suddenly left them and never returned. They both prove to be exceptionally smart and talented with alchemy for their age.

Their lives were changed forever when their mother eventually collapsed from sickness and exhaustion, later passing away and leaving them alone and in the care of Pinako, an old family friend and grandmother of the Elric brothers' childhood friend Winry. Hoping to get their beloved mother back, Edward decides to perform Human Transmutation with the help of Alphonse, unaware of the cruel consequences they would have to suffer as a result.

After figuring out the Transmutation, Edward and his brother perform it in the hopes of bringing their mother back to life. However, the Law of Equivalent Exchange rears its head and punishes them by taking them through the Gate. Truth takes Alphonse's life and Edward's leg as compensation for the unfair exchange they were trying to perform, right before Ed's very eyes. When he regains consciousness, he looks for his mother, but the thing they brought back wasn't his mother. (In a later blog, I will explain the true reasons behind this result)

Almost immediately after Ed catches a glimpse of the horrible creature that was supposed to be his mother, it dies and withers away. Knowing he failed in bringing his mother back like he had wanted, and that Alphonse, the only family he had left, was dead, he desperately finds a way to bring him back however he can. He gives up his right arm, uses his blood to write a Blood Rune on a suit of armor, and binds Al's soul to the suit of armor before passing out from blood loss.

The video link below is Edward and Alphonse performing the Transmutation and the consequences, if you wanted to see rather than have it explained.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvpJjbphJWQ

Now, Alphonse's soul is bound to a suit of armor, unable to sleep, eat, or feel sensations but still able to move, fight, talk, and feel emotions. Ed lost his arm and leg, but their friend Winry replaces them with an automail arm and leg (Ed even uses his automail arm and Metal Transmutation to transform the arm into a weapon when necessary). Automail limbs are sophisticated robotic prostheses (bio-robotics) for the technology of the time that are compatible with the biological body. This could possibly be due to the existence and popularity of science and alchemy in this world that resulted in advancements in things like bio-technology. It isn't made completely clear in FMA.

Ed and Al hear of the Philosopher's Stone, a stone said to hold the power to override the Law of Equivalent Exchange. It gives the stone's possessor enough alchemical power to be able to perform Transmutations such as Human Transmutation without having to lose anything in return. It is called many things and comes in different forms, such as solid and liquid.

Determined to find the Philosopher's Stone and get both of their bodies back to normal, Ed becomes a State Alchemist under the military at age 12 (the youngest person to have ever become a State Alchemist) with his brother fighting at his side. State Alchemists are considered "dogs of the military" that do the military's bidding and uphold peace and order in return for special privileges. Every State Alchemist is given a code name, and Ed's name is chosen to be the "Fullmetal Alchemist".

Their reason behind joining the military is to access any possible information on the stone, and traveling on missions will give them the chance to search.

Of course, finding the Philosopher's Stone is easier said than done, and working for the military will force them to confront many of the darker aspects of humanity.

But they won't stop until they've finally found the stone and returned their bodies to normal, so they can finally lay their guilt to rest.

Fullmetal Alchemist Brother is 64 episodes long, so the next three blog posts will go into detail about the story as it unfolds in three separate parts, from beginning to end.