Fullmetal Alchemist (manga)/Characters/Four

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.

This Page is for characters from Xing and other general characters.

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Ling Yao

Affiliation: Kingdom of Xing/Clan Yao
Rank: 12th Prince of Xing
Speciality: Swordsmanship/Martial-Arts

Ling Yao is a member of the Xing Royal Family, and has the powers that come with it. His appearance marks the start of the large differences between the first anime and manga/Brotherhood anime.

Voiced by: Mamoru Miyano (JP), Todd Haberkorn (EN)

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• All Chinese People Know Kung Fu: Well Xingese anyway, and he and the other Xingese characters all fit this trope's stereotype of Chinese people as martial arts masters, though its justified in the fact that every Xingese character so far has been either a noble or a noble's bodyguard, and thus would have been trained in martial arts from a young age.
• Badass Normal
  • Badass Abnormal: After accepting Greed
• Benevolent Boss: Ling might run off on them a lot, but he really does care a great deal about his bodyguards and is very protective over them. See also A Father to His Men and Reasonable Authority Figure.
• Berserk Button: He doesn't explode in the manner of, say, Ed, but just try to convince Ling that subjects to authority are expendable and it will ensure that he will have a serious bone to pick with you.
• Berserker Tears: In a terrifying manner when Wrath/King Bradley kills Fu.
• Big Eater
• Big Screwed-Up Family
• Brought Down to Normal: Though, it seems it was Greed's decision to do so.
• Charles Atlas Superpower: Ling is a gifted martial artist who is able to hold his own when fighting against Homunculi, despite having no superpowers. Notable accomplishments: fending off Wrath one-handed while carrying a wounded Lan Fan with his other arm, and being able to lift up Gluttony, one of the heavier Homunculi.
• Cool Sword
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Sure didn't see that one coming
• Curtains Match the Window: Like all other less-than-elderly Xingese. Until he gets possessed by Greed, after which they become the characteristic purple-red of most of the other Homunculi.
• Deal with the Devil: Or in this case, deal with Father.
  • Who, well, practically is. The Devil, I mean.
• Detect Evil: All the Xingese characters are trained to sense "the flow of chi"...which comes in pretty useful when dealing with homunculi.
• Enemy Within: Greed... sort of.
• Eyes Always Shut: He does this deliberately, because he's aware his eyes are "shifty".
• Face of a Thug: Ties in with Good Eyes, Evil Eyes and his aforementioned Eyes Always Shut habit.
• Fainting: Has a habit of doing this. Mostly it's from genuine hunger and exhaustion, but on other occasions, it seems to be part of his Obfuscating Stupidity.
• A Father to His Men/Papa Wolf: Strongly believes "a King is no King without his people" and will do anything to save his comrades, even if it means risking his life. His bodyguards, Fu and Lan Fan, certainly hold him in extreme high regard in part because of this.
• Funny Foreigner: Well, he's funny and he's a foreigner.

"So Sori! I no understand much language of this countwi!"

• Good Counterpart: to King Bradley. Their philosophies on what it means to be a leader are the complete reverse of each others. The parallel's become even stronger when Ling becomes the only other human-based homunculus, but unlike Bradley who in the process of becoming Wrath burned out most of the souls in his philosopher's stone, possibly including his original soul, Ling maintains his individuality in Greed. Also interesting to note is Bradley's former status as 12th Fuhrer candidate and Ling being the 12th son of the Emperor.
• Good Eyes, Evil Eyes
• Greed: He's a pretty greedy fellow, given that he a seeks immortality and the power to rule over his country. It perhaps makes a bit too much sense that he becomes the second Greed. To his credit though the reason he even wants those things is so that he may provide for his people in return.
• Heroic Willpower: Cunningly inverted, he willingly gives up his body to Greed without a fight (which incidentally helps in the long run, as his lack of struggle prevented the philosopher's stone he received from burning out most of its power), but he has enough willpower to maintain his consciousness. From thereon Ling uses a combination of patience and willpower to occasionally wrestle back control of his body from Greed, at least until they start acting more in tandem.
• Heel Face Revolving Door: Kinda.... given his tendency of latching onto anyone he thinks might be able to help him achieve his goals, he winds up allied with a plethora of different people at different points of the story whether it's intentional or not. He's definitely at heart a "good guy", however.
• The Illegal
• Immortality Seeker: Ling's reason for coming to Amestris is to find the secret to eternal life (or at least, seems like it, so that his clan can win the Emperor's favor before he dies). He gets his wish, but it comes with a price...
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Not as much of an outright "jerk" as most other examples, but he does come off as being smug and callous at times, especially when dealing with his personal desires. Nonetheless he genuinely cares about his country and the people close to him.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: Extremely convincing when pretending to be a complete moron - even while displaying window-crossing stealth bordering on Offscreen Teleportation.
• Prince Incognito
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Wants to be one. His belief that a King exists to serve his people certainly reflects this, and he already does take into account the feelings and suggestions of his bodyguards.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something
• Say My Name: LAN FAAAAAAAN!!!
• Shadow Archetype: His character parallels Greed in a number of ways. And then he becomes Greed.
• Ship Tease: With Lan Fan. More subtle than most of the other Ship Tease's in the series but it's definitely there.
• Spell My Name with an "S": Ling/Lin/Rin, and some offbeat examples like Lynn. Ling seems to be the correct spelling, as his name tag bracelet when he gets put in jail has it written this way.
• Succession Crisis: The Emperor's twelfth son, but he could inherit the throne if he successfully wins his favor. Which he apparently does.
• Symbiotic Possession: Despite being basically forced to receive Greed into himself, they eventually become friends. Greed even pulls a Heroic Sacrifice for him, and Ling appears to grieve his loss.
• Tame His Anger: From The time Lan Fan lost her arm to the time he seperated from Greed.
• This Is Your Brain on Evil
• Walking Shirtless Scene: Has a tendency of leaving his shirts always open...
• Warrior Prince
• What Were You Thinking?: After his Deal with the Devil, of course.
• Younger Than They Look: Is apparently 15 years old when introduced to the story (a bit younger than Ed), and thus technically a Kid Hero, although he looks like a fully grown adult and is mature beyond his age.
  • Lampshaded a bit when he gets arrested for being an illegal immigrant. The guard questions Ling's age and subsequently refuses to believe he's actually a minor.

Lan Fan

Affiliation: Kingdom of Xing/Clan Yao
Rank: Bodyguard
Speciality: Martial-Arts/Weapons Expert/Stealth

Ling's female bodyguard.

Voiced by: Nana Mizuki (JP), Trina Nishimura (EN)

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• Action Girl
• Anime Chinese Girl
• Artificial Limbs
• Badass Normal
• Badass Adorable: Without her mask, she's rather cute.
• Berserk Button: Ling getting insulted or put in harms way.
• Big Damn Heroes: During The second fight with Gluttony.
• Blade Below the Shoulder: Has a blade on her automail.
• Bodyguard Crush: On Ling. Ed appears to ship them.
• Curtains Match the Window
• Detect Evil
• Determinator - Plucky Girl: She cut off her own arm just so Wrath would lose track of her and Ling, and then later managed to recover from the painful and grueling automail surgery and rehabilitation that normally takes 2-3 years to recover from in 6 months.
• Disabled Love Interest: For Ling.
• Heroic BSOD: Becomes completely depressed and angst-ridden during her healing and treatment with living without an arm, but eventually adjusts to it before her automail is finally installed.
• Heroic RROD: Comes dangerously close to this several times since she hasn't properly recuperated from the installation of her automail arm.
• I Will Only Slow You Down: Tries to pull this when injured and slung over Ling's shoulder while actively being pursued by Bradley. When her attempts to convince Ling that she is not worth saving if it means the loss of his life fail, she cuts her arm off instead to throw Bradley off their trail.
• Knife Nut: Kunai are her Weapon of Choice before getting automail anyway.
• Legacy of Service: She comes from a long line of people serving the Royal Family.
• Life or Limb Decision: Cut off her severed left arm in order to distract Wrath, so that she and Ling could escape.
• Mask Power: And she actually feels kinda insecure when she loses it.
• Ninja
• Put on a Bus/The Bus Came Back: After she and her grandfather Fu set off to find an automail mechanic for her lost arm, they aren't seen again until they both make a grand re-entrance near the end where she goes Cuisinart with her new automail on a surprised Gluttony, complete with music fanfare.
• Samus Is a Girl: Is introduced masked and remains silent throughout her first fight with Ed, until he shatters the mask revealing her face and consequently, gender.
• Spell My Name with an "S": Another rampant case. Ranfan/Ran Fan, Lanfan/Lan Fan, Lang Fan, Lan fun, Ranfun, Ran Fen...
  • The official sketch book names her "Ranfun", but shouldn't be considered the definitive spelling, since this same volume lists Al's last name as "Elrick".
• Take My Hand: Refuses to let go of Greed/Ling's hand when he and Wrath were dangling over the side of a bridge, despite his warning that her automail couldn't take the strain. It actually started to tear away from her shoulder but she still wouldn't let go.
• Tsundere: Ling is the recipient of her dere; those who dare so much as look at him the wrong way suffer her tsun, thus making her Type A.
• Unstoppable Rage: Subverted, as getting into a rage over protecting Ling actually makes her weaker and prone to mistakes. Ed takes advantage of this and insults Ling during their first fight to make her easier to fight.
• Wild Goose Chase: Lan Fan cuts off her own injured arm and tying it to a stray dog so that the Fuhrer, who is following the blood trail, is thrown off.

May Chang

Affiliation: Kingdom of Xing/Clan Chang
Rank: 17th Princess of Xing
Speciality: Medical Alkahestry/Martial-Arts

A Xingese princess from a very minor clan, her goals are similar to Ling's, who is technically her half-brother. She's always accompanied by her tiny panda, Shao May.

Voiced by: Mai Goto (JP), Monica Rial (EN) Shao May is voiced by: Rie Kugimiya (JP), Tia Ballard (EN)

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• Action Girl
• Anime Chinese Girl
• Badass Adorable: She's quite the martial artist, and she's undoubtedly cute.
  • Badass Princess
  • Little Miss Badass: See Plucky Girl below.
• Bottomless Knife Brace: You may be wondering where she gets all those throwing knives. This trope is averted by Fridge Brilliance in that she simply transmutes more from available material.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Has quite the overactive imagination.
• Child Prodigy: Expert at alkahestry and martial arts, and she is still not a teenager yet.
• Curtains Match the Window: Like most other people of Xing.
• Detect Evil
• Empathy Pet: One of the more literal examples. Her panda not only shares her feelings, but also mimics most of her movements.
• Everything's Better with Princesses
• Head Pet: See below.
• Horrible Judge of Character: Thinks Scar and Yoki are great guys before either has really reformed and distrusts Ed and Al initially.
• Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Once she gets over Ed, she's on Al like Elvis on a pound of bacon.
• Implied Love Interest: For Alphonse.
• Knife Nut
  • Flechette Storm
  • Improbable Aiming Skills: She can effortlessly throw five knives at once to land in a circle.
• Kung Fu Kid
• Loving a Shadow: She gets a crush on Ed, coming to believe he's a Knight in Shining Armor. Then she finds out what Ed's really like, she drops him for Al for similar, but less exaggerated reasons.
• The Medic: Knows some healing alchemy. Oddly enough, she uses as part of her team more than her teammate Marcoh, who is an actual doctor.
• Morality Pet: For Scar
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Envy tricks her into restoring him/her to his full strength on the Promised Day.
• Odango: With Braids of Action to boot.
• Pandaing to the Audience: Shao May
• Perky Female Minion: She fits this to the extent that while she is rather cheerful, the character she follows Scar is very much The Stoic. Granted, Scar is well on his way to being an Anti-Hero by the time she meets him.
• Plucky Girl: Crosses a Sahara Desert expy and into an unfriendly militaristic nation ALONE, picks a fight while still recovering from a concussion, and attacks the Big Bad even while knowing that she is totally outclassed by him. Even after being badly wounded, she continues to help out in the final battle. May Chang does not give up.
• Princesses Prefer Pink
• Rapunzel Hair
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: Shao May.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something
• She Is All Grown Up: In the epilogue she appears to have grown at least two feet taller.
• Spell My Name with an "S": Where do I begin? May Chan, May Chen, Meichan, May Chang, Mei Chang... it just never ends.
  • And Shao May's name can also be spelled Xiao May/Mei...
• Succession Crisis: As means to save her lesser clan.
• Tagalong Kid: Kind of, she ends up joining Scar's group, and while she is the youngest member of the team, she's far from useless or a burden.
• Thinks Like a Romance Novel: She has indulgent romantic fantasies towards both Elrics.
• Victorious Childhood Friend: May or may have not become this towards Alphonse in the epilogue. You can take it either way.

Fu

Affiliation: Kingdom of Xing/Clan Yao
Rank: Bodyguard
Speciality: Martial-Arts/Weapons Expert/Stealth

Ling's other bodyguard and grandfather to Lan Fan.

Voiced by: Katsunosuke Hori (JP), Kenny Green (EN)

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• Badass Grandpa
• Cool Old Guy
• Detect Evil
• Go Out with a Smile
• Heroic BSOD: He slaps Lan Fan when he sees that she has lost her arm, but it's less about him being angry and more about in denial and shock. Then he falls to his knees and cries.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Subverted when he tries to kill both Wrath and himself with explosives, but Wrath just destroys the wicks on the thing. Played straight when he lets Buccaneer run his sword through his body to finally injure Bradley.
• Legacy of Service: His family's served Ling's for a while.
• Mask Power
• Miniature Senior Citizens: Not played for laughs, but Fu is still only about as tall as Ed.
• Ninja
• Older Sidekick
• Only One Name
• Old Retainer
• Papa Wolf: Goes into this mode on King Bradley when he learns what he did to Lan Fan.
• Spell My Name with an "S": Alternately "Fuu", "Huu", "Who".
• Taking You with Me: Tries this against King Bradley. Completely fails at it.
  • Though it does enable Buccaneer to finally inflict a wound on Bradley. Which in turn allowed Scar to kill him later own.
• Weak but Skilled: Once he intruded on the fight between Wrath and Greed, Bradley started to take the fight much more seriously. Despite Fu being unable to lay a single blow on Bradley, Bradley actually complimented the older warrior for his skills, even expressing disappointment at having to kill him

Tim Marcoh

Affiliation: Amestris Military (formerly)
Rank: Major (formerly)
Speciality: Medical Alchemy/Biological Alchemy

A state alchemist who served in Ishval, and creator of some Philosopher's stones. Due to his experience in the war he deserts the military, living a quiet life as a country doctor, until trouble comes knocking on his door.

Voiced by: Kouji Totani (JP - 2003 Anime), Masayuki Omoro (JP - 2009 Anime), Brice Armstrong (EN - 2003 Anime) Jerry Russell (EN - 2009 Anime)

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• The Atoner
• Back-Alley Doctor: In a small country town, and very competent.
• Badass Bookworm
• Batman Gambit: He basically knew that Envy would track him down, knowing from experience how much the homunculi like to wreck his life.
• Beware the Nice Ones
• Cool Old Guy
• Death Seeker: On first meeting Scar, he begs the assassin to kill him.
• Defector From Decadence
• The Dog Bites Back: One of the most spectacular examples of this trope. See Crowning Moment of Awesome.
• The Grotesque: Instead of killing him as requested, Scar disfigures him horribly, so they can travel without Marcoh being recognized.
• Let's Get Dangerous: You thought taking out poor helpless old Marcoh would be a piece of cake, didn't you Envy? Maybe you shouldn't have taught the guy everything you knew about Philosopher's Stones, particularly the bits about homunculi being made out of them, and how to destroy them.
• Suicide By Serial Killer: He wants to die without his beloved village being destroyed by the Homunculi. So when Scar shows up in their compound, he tries to punch Scar's Berserk Button and make his death look like an accident. Scar doesn't kill him, instead he kidnaps him and uses him to get information. Sorry, Marcoh. You were a few days worth of Character Development too late for that.

Yoki

Affiliation: Amestris Military (formerly)
Rank: 1st Lieutenant (formerly)
Speciality: Not a Damn Thing

Once an insufferable and deeply corrupt bureaucrat that ran the mines in the town of Youswell, Yoki was discharged from the military when the Fullmetal Alchemist showed up for an inspection and lost all his money thanks to his own carelessness. In time, he was found by Scar, who not-entirely-willingly took Yoki on as his sidekick.

Voiced by: Kazuki Yao (JP), Barry Yandell (EN)

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• Belated Backstory: In the anime, the story of how he got kicked out of the military and his history with the Brothers Elric isn't fully related until episode 38, twenty-five episodes after his first appearance.
• Butt Monkey: Ends up becoming a professional butt monkey in the end — a circus clown.
• Break the Haughty
• Car Fu: Ramming a car against Pride
• Chekhov's Gunman: Even more in Brotherhood, where he's reduced to a brief mention in episode 4 before showing up again in episode 13.
• Chekhov's Skill: Say what you want about him being a crappy mine proprietor, but the man knows his stuff about coal mines.
• The Chew Toy
• Cowardly Sidekick: To Scar.
• Dirty Coward
• Hidden Heart of Gold: Very well hidden, in fact more a heart of fool's gold.
• Hostage Situation: Happens, but everyone convinces the hostage-taker they don't care (at least some of them actually did).
• Kick Them While They Are Down: Does this to Envy after its defeat to Marcoh, verbally at least. Not to mention running Pride down with a car and gloating about it.
  • In Pride's case, it's more like "I can't believe I'm doing this shit!" than "Look who's laughing now, sucker!".
• Lovable Coward: Becomes one thanks to character development.
• Servile Snarker: But never to Scar's face.
• Small Name, Big Ego
• Spared by the Adaptation: Inverted. He's killed rather uncerimoniously in the original anime, but survives in the manga and Brotherhood.

Curtis Butcher Shop

Affiliation: None
Rank: A housewife!
Speciality: Martial-Arts/Alchemy without an Array

Izumi Curtis

Mentor to the Elric brothers, she taught them both alchemy and martial arts, both of which she is a master. Despises State Alchemists. Easily the most Badass character in the series, which is saying a lot.

Voiced by: Shoko Tsuda (JP), Christine Auten (EN)

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• Action Mom: Or more accurately, Action Teacher.
• Badass
  • Badass Bookworm: Of course.
  • Badass Teacher
  • Handicapped Badass: She's missing several of her internal organs and randomly coughs up Blood From the Mouth. She is also one of the most frakkin' epic characters in the entire series.
• Blood From the Mouth: Tends to happen at random, completely freaking out everyone around her. Which, in a very rare form of this trope, is usually Played for Laughs.
• Catch Phrase: "I'm a housewife!"
  • Near the end of the series she deliberately changes it to "I'm an ALCHEMIST!" indicating her intention of giving a good asskicking for the final battle.
• Charles Atlas Superpower: Quite possibly one of the strongest characters in the FMA universe.
  • Comparatively Weak, but Skilled: She can aikido you in the air with little effort even if you're stronger than her. Just ask Sloth.
• Dreadlock Rasta
• Happily Married
• Housewife: And don't you DARE look down on her for it.
• Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Her husband is easily twice her size and can match muscles with Major Armstrong. Nice Guy for the most part, runs a butcher shop, but don't make him angry.
• Incurable Cough of Death: Due to her failed attempt at human transmutation (fixed later, thanks to an alchemical punch to the gut from Hohenheim, who cannot give her organs back but nullify the effects).
• Killer Rabbit: At least when compared to her Gentle Giant Face of a Thug husband.
• Mama Bear: Not to her children, but her students.
• Parental Substitute: She acts very much as a mother figure to the Elric brothers. She's a fan of Tough Love.
• Sexy Mentor
• Shoe Slap
• Sickeningly Sweethearts
• Sink or Swim Mentor
• Training From Hell: She subjects the Elric brothers to this, to the extent that the very mention of her name makes them tremble with fear. Which is nothing next to the training she endured. It involved Mt. Briggs and fighting bears. Which we get to see more of in the 3rd OVA.

Affiliation: None
Rank: None
Speciality: Super-Strength

Sig Curtis

Izumi's husband. A meat butcher who is very protective of his wife, often accompanying her on her travels around Amestris.

Voiced by: Seiji Sasaki (JP), Bob Carter (EN)

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• Badass Beard
• Badass Normal
• Berserk Button: Other men hitting on his wife is just about the only thing that can drive him to violence.
• Big Beautiful Man: Some female fans think his size and chub make him utterly huggable.
• The Big Guy
• Face of a Thug: Ironic, given his wife's violent tendencies. He even looked like a crime boss when he was younger.
• Genius Bruiser: The man runs a butcher shop; his knowledge of an animal's biology is probably better than some alchemists. And he can carry the entire corpse on his shoulders.
• Gentle Giant
• Ham-to-Ham Combat: Engages in an epic muscle-flexing pose-off duel with fellow manly-man Alex Louis Armstrong.
  • In Brotherhood, they become Ham to Ham Bash Brothers. And they kill Sloth immediately afterwards.
• Happily Married
• Huge Guy, Tiny Girl
• Satellite Character
• Sickeningly Sweethearts: Flowers and butterflies literally pelt anyone nearby whenever he and Izumi have a moment. Which is every time they're on screen together.
• Stout Strength: Sig is noticeably portly, but still freakishly strong. He's kind of got that "retired football player" look going for him.

Pinako Rockbell

Affiliation: None
Rank: None
Speciality: Mechanic

Winry's aged — but still very spry — grandmother. Pinako is a master automail engineer who taught Winry everything she knows; it was she who first applied Ed's prosthetic limbs. Also Hohenheim's old drinking buddy.

Voiced by: Miyoko Aso (JP), Juli Erickson (EN), Mami Koyama (JP - Young), Shelley Calene-Black (EN - Young)

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• Cool Old Lady
• I Was Quite a Looker: And about three feet taller.
• Miniature Senior Citizens: Seriously, she must have lost about half her height during menopause.
• Parental Substitute: To her granddaughter, then later to her buddie's two sons as well.
• Screw Politeness, I'm a Senior!: She ridicules Ed's lack of height with impunity (though only when he has it coming).
• Smoking Is Cool: Her wooden pipe is a permanent fixture on her person.
• Women Are Wiser: Her straightforward attitude helps keep other characters stay grounded.

Trisha Elric

Affiliation: None
Rank: None
Speciality: None

The common-law wife of Van Hohenheim and the mother of Edward and Alphonse Elric. She was a sweet, gentle woman who was loved dearly by her entire family, even by Hohenheim, who despite having left them, was reluctant to do so. Trisha tries to last until his return, though she ultimately dies of an illness. Ed and Al attempt to revive her with human transmutation set the events of the series in motion.

Voiced by: Yoshino Takamori (JP), Yuuki Mitsugi (JP - Young), Lydia Mackay (EN)

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• Death By Origin Story
• Good Parents
• Housewife
• I Will Wait for You
• May-December Romance: With Hohenheim.
• Mayfly-December Romance: Again, with Hohenheim.
• Missing Mom
• Posthumous Character
• Together in Death

Barry the Chopper

Affiliation: Amestris Military/Homunculi
Rank: Prisoner #66
Speciality: Knives/Swordsmanship

A serial killer that guards the hidden laboratory used to create the red stones. After being used as a subject in transmutation experiments, his soul was placed into a suit of armor not unlike Al's. While he works for both Roy and the Homunculi over the course of the story, he doesn't really care as long as he gets to chop stuff up.

Voiced by: Kentaro Ito (JP - 2003 Anime), Hideyuki Umezu (JP - 2009 Anime), Jerry Jewell (EN), Jason Grundy (EN - Human body)

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• Abhorrent Admirer: For Riza.
• Animated Armor
• Ax Crazy
• Break Them by Talking: Gives one mighty lecture to Al, leaving the poor boy questioning his own existence. Note that he was just making crap up to stall and not basing it on any flaws he saw in Al.
• The Butcher: One of his nicknames, and he actually worked as a butcher in the past.
• Death by Irony: Killed by his own body.
• Dual-Wielding
• Heel Face Turn: Though not much of one. Even when working for Roy, he's still a psychotic killer. Probably the only reason he doesn't cut up his allies is because Riza tells him not to.
• Heroic Comedic Sociopath: At his most heroic he is still a sociopath but his love of cutting things up is played for laughs.
• Ignored Enemy
• I Have Many Names: Not that anyone cares.
• Interplay of Sex and Violence: He measures the attractiveness of women on how much he wants to "chop" them — voluptuous characters like Lust and Riza are to his taste, but Envy was far too stringy.
• Laughably Evil: Let's face it, he's more or less devoid of redeeming qualities, but damned if he isn't funny. He becomes more Affably Evil later on.
• Love At First Gunshot: Rare male example, as his Heel Face Turn was prompted by Riza curbstomping him.
• Murder Before Reason: His original body, now a mindless zombie, constantly chases him on orders from the Homunculi. Being close to him affects his blood seal and threatens to destroy both of them. But rather then stay the heck away from it, Barry gleefully chases it because he finds to the idea of murdering his own flesh to be really cool. Too bad he got killed in the process. This is later made extra-ironic in that given the eventual relationship Al is shown to have with his body (which is in the gate), killing his own body would have likely caused his soul to be destroyed anyway!
• Psycho for Hire
• Serial Killer
• Token Evil Teammate: Roy keeps him on a proverbial leash and points him at his own enemies. Since all Barry cares about is chopping things up he charges in that direction.
• What Measure Is a Mook?: His main reason for leaving the Homunculi is because they regarded him as such.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: The Homunculi tried to do this to him. It took a while, but they ultimately succeeded.

The Truth

Affiliation: Truth
Speciality: Everything

Mysterious guardian of the Gates, claims to be "Reality", "the World", and "God". Not having a form of his own, he takes on the outline of whoever approaches him. Whenever someone attempts human transmutation, (except those who have the Philosopher's Stone) he forces them to pay a toll for trepassing in God's domain. However, he always gives them alchemical skill and knowledge proportional to their sacrifice. Despite his apparent neutrality, he seems to take sadistic pleasure in his tolls, often giving out ironic punishments. Because of him, Ed and Al have lost their limbs and body, Izumi has lost several internal organs, and Roy has lost his eyesight.

Voiced by: Various (JP), Luci Christian (EN)

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• Eldritch Abomination
• Fan Nickname: Truth-kun
• God Is Evil Or at Least a Grade A Jerkass
  • • Confirmed! He's more of a Trickster Mentor.
  • Light Is Not Good: Regardless of his moral alignment, he is still a sadist white form contrasting the unfortunate alchemist that ended up in the gate.
• Ironic Hell: Ironic punishment anyway, inflicted on those who attempt to raise the dead.

* To Father Homunculus* "Despair to the conceited."

• Karma Houdini: Stole Izumi's organs, Al's body, two of Ed's limbs, and Roy's eyes even though he was completely innocent. His punishment? Nothing!
  • Well, really, who's going to punish the FMA equivalent of God?
    • Dude, he IS Karma.
    • Plus, not Roy's eyes. Merely their ability to see things, and that was just until Dr. Marcoh's Philosopher's Stone was used to clear that up. Something that a keeper of a gate with all knowledge inside referring to itself as things like "reality", "the world", "all", "one", "you", and "God", would probably know.
    • Not to mention Roy himself would likely be the first to challenge you on that "completely innnocent" part.
• Kick the Dog: Taking Roy's eyes. This would normally be par for the course for his sadistic sense of justice, except Roy was forced into trying human transmutation, something that Truth must know.
  • Although it would have known about some of the other things Roy did, such as the Ishvalan massacre. And that he felt really guilty about it.
  • Consider that Roy was seen as the only alchemist who passed through the gate to actually recover from the injuries Truth inflicted on him, Truth may not have kicked the dog as hard as it seems.
    • He didn't. Saying he took Roy's eyes is a misnomer. He merely took his eyesight, something that Truth, being God, probably knew could easily be rectified in good time.
  • To be fair with Roy's eyes, the Truth did give him to ability to do transmutation without a circle. It's a exchange not really the Truth's fault even if it wasn't Roy's fault.
    • Kick the Son of a Bitch: What he does to Father in the end.
• King of All Cosmos
• Pet the Dog: May genuinely respect Al, after Al gives up getting back his body to help save Amestris.
  • Gets an even bigger one with Ed, after he surrenders his alchemy:

That was the correct answer, Alchemist. You have defeated Truth. Take your prize. All of it.

• • The moment is arguably even better in the English Brotherhood dub because of the call back to the Japanese version's "Voice of the Legion of the subject" thing which only exists with this one line in episode 63.

"YOU'VE DONE IT! THAT'S THE RIGHT ANSWER! GOOD JOB! YOU BEAT ME! GO AHEAD! TAKE HIM HOME! THE BACK DOOR IS RIGHT OVER THERE! GOODBYE, EDWARD ELRIC!"

• Phrase Catcher: When unfortunate alchemist asks who/what he is, Truth always gives the same answer. Yet it's more like Speech than simple catcher. Either way, it's his standard response.

I am "the world". Or perhaps "the universe". I am "God". I am "Truth". I am "all". I am "one". And...I am you.

• Shadow Archetype: Though in an odd way. It is the approximate size of anyone attempting to converse with it. And in chapter 108 when Homunculus talks to it, Truth takes the shape of a small sphere, just like Homunculus.
  • Word of God is that every alchemist has their own Truth-kun - (s)he is the part of the One that connects to the All that is the world. The last chapter confirms this.
• Slasher Smile: Its only genuine facial feature.
  • It gives a genuine, non-slasher one as part of his hearty congratulation when Ed achieves the "truth behind the truth" and gives his own gate as toll for his Al.
• Trickster Mentor: It was this to Ed all along.
• The Blank: It's a mere silhouette, unless it's grinning creepily or wearing someone else's stolen face.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Gives one to Father/Homunculus right before having its own gate swallow it.
• Voice of the Legion: Especially in the Japanese version, this even takes on the quality of being a legion variant of the voice of whoever he's talking to.
  • When congratulating Ed for the "truth behind the truth", his voice changes into a legion crossover between Ed and Al's.

Greed's Chimeras

A group of chimeras who were experimented on by the military. They were presumably busted out by Greed, and now follow him.

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• Nakama
• Undying Loyalty: They all ended up sacrificing their lives for Greed.
• Punch Clock Villain
• Petting Zoo People

Affiliation: Amestris Military (formerly)/Devil's Nest
Rank: Black-Ops (formerly)
Speciality: Super-Strength/Hammer

Roa

The big guy, and part cow. He faces off against Armstrong during Bradley's raid.

Voiced by: Yuji Ueda (JP - 2003 Anime), Tetsu Inada (JP - 2009 Anime), John Gremellion (EN)

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• A Load of Bull
• Drop the Hammer
• Mighty Glacier
• Voluntary Shapeshifting

Affiliation: Amestris Military (formerly)/Devil's Nest
Rank: Black-Ops (formerly)
Speciality: Knives/Flexibility

Martel

Part Snake. She goes forces herself inside Al's armor to slow him down, during Greed's bid for immortality.

Voiced by: Rumi Kasahara (JP - 2003 Anime), Takako Honda (JP - 2009 Anime), Tiffany Grant (EN)

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• Cute Monster Girl: Martel/Marta is a good-looking young woman with great flexibility, a contrast to the more overt mutations of other chimera characters. In particular, the other reptilian chimera, Bido, is fairly ugly.
• Fragile Speedster
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice
• Spared by the Adaptation: Subverted, in the first anime, she becomes a supporting character for a few episodes, and even travels with the Elrics, before getting stabbed to death by Bradley...while she was hiding inside Al's armor.

Affiliation: Amestris Military (formerly)/Devil's Nest
Rank: Black-Ops (formerly)
Speciality: Swordsmanship

Dolcetto

Part dog. Greed's most loyal subordinate.

Voiced by: Yasunori Matsumoto (JP - 2003 Anime), Anri Katsu (JP - 2009 Anime), John Burgmeier (EN)

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• Cool Sword
• Fragile Speedster
• Katanas Are Just Better
• The Nose Knows
• Undying Loyalty

Affiliation: Devil's Nest(formerly)
Rank: None
Speciality: Agility

Bido

Part lizard. Greed's messenger, and the only survivor of Bradley's raid. Is unfortunate to run into the second Greed, mistaking him for his old boss and gets killed by him.

Voiced by: Tohru Ookawa (JP - 2003 Anime), Yuji Ueda (JP - 2009 Anime), Greg Ayres (EN)

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• Character Development: His death ultimately drives the second Greed to betray Father.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice
• Lizard Folk

Kimblee's Chimeras

A group of chimes that Kimblee brought with him to Briggs - knowing that he can't trust Armstrong's men. Eventually, all four are left for dead by Kimblee, and all end up betraying him in the end. Zampano and Jerso join up with Marcoh and Scar, while Darius and Heinkel save Edward after he was nearly killed by Kimblee, and later join Edward and the second Greed.

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• Badass Crew: Chimeras are much stronger than the usual soldier, but these four are clear standouts. They can easily go toe-to-toe with Homunculi, or even Scar!
  • Hell, Zampano and Darius even help out taking down Father.
• Heel Face Turn
• Voluntary Shapeshifting: Jerso, Zampano, Darius, and Heinkel can shift between human and half-animal forms at will.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: This must be the reason why Kimblee doesn't bother to help Darius and Heinkel from the mineshaft collapse, which leads to their Heel Face Turn.

Affiliation: Amestris Military
Rank: Operative
Speciality: Super-Strength/Quills

Zampano

One of Kimblee's original chimeras, a warthog. After defecting, he and Jerso join Marcoh and Scar to unravel the secrets of the country-wide transmutation circle.

Voiced by: Takashi Hikida (JP), Chris Rager (EN)

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• Badass: He's a black eyed boar with white skin and intimidating, that's badass.
• Pig Man: In his chimera form.
• Heterosexual Life Partners: With Jerso.
• Reverse Mole: After joining the heroes, he seems to be revealed as The Mole and calls Envy to alert him of their location. Actually he never turned on the heroes, and the call was a trick to lead Envy into a trap.
• Scary Shiny Glasses
• Walking the Earth: Jerso and Zampano become Al's bodyguards and accompany him in his travels while searching for a way to return to being normal human beings.

Affiliation: Amestris Military
Rank: Operative
Speciality: Agility/Adhesive Saliva

Jerso

A chimera who takes the form of a toad. After defects with Zampano, he joins Scar and Marcoh in an effort to stop Father.

Voiced by: Tomoyuki Shimura (JP), Andrew Love (EN)

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• Acrofatic: Befitting a man who's half-toad, Jerso can leap great distances despite his girth.
• Badass: A badass frog...guy.
• Breath Weapon: Jerso can spit or drool large globs of sticky, adhesive saliva that hamper his opponents' movement.
• Heterosexual Life Partners: With Zampano.
• Scary Black Man: Averted. Jerso is actually a pretty cool guy.
• Walking the Earth: Jerso and Zampano become Al's bodyguards and accompany him in his travels while searching for a way to return to being normal human beings.

Affiliation: Amestris Military/Greed-2
Rank: Operative
Speciality: Super-Strength

Darius

Kimblee's former henchman who takes the form of a Gorilla. After he and Heinkel are left for dead by Kimblee, they're both saved by a dying Edward. They in turn, save him and become his Nakama. Afterwards, all three then proceed to join Greed to stop Father.

Voiced by: Madsuo Amada (JP), George Manley (EN)

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• Badass: Not as much as his lion partner, but a gorilla is....kinda cool.
• Badass Driver: He drove Ed in friggin' car designed to look like a Gothic regret, done by Ed of course without laughing, just annoyed.
• The Big Guy: He and Heinkel fulfill this trope.
• Everything's Better with Monkeys: Darius the Gorilla.
• Mighty Glacier: Not as fast as the other chimeras, relies on brute strength.
• My Name Is Not Gorilla

Affiliation: Amestris Military/Greed-2
Rank: Operative
Speciality: Marksmanship/Agility/Super-Strength

Heinkel

Kimblee's chimera who betrayed him along with Darius after they were both left for dead. After saving Edward, they all proceeded to join Greed's gang. He's half lion.

Voiced by: Shinpachi Tsuji (JP), Bradley Campbell (EN)

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• Badass: You have to be a badass to take on Pride solo!
• Badass Mustache: When he's not in lion mode, it's blonde. BUT NOT AS MANLY AS ARMSTRONG'S!
• Big Damn Heroes: An injured and battered Heinkel ends up being the one who saves Alphonse and Marcoh from Pride and Kimblee.
• The Big Guy: fulfills this trope with Darius.
• The Dog Bites Back: He literally bites Kimblee's neck, gashing his windpipe and fatally injuring him.
• Guns Akimbo: When he's into in lion mode.
• Lightning Bruiser: Helps being a lion.
• Panthera Awesome: He can turn into a lion hybrid.

Minor Characters

Affiliation: Homunculi
Speciality: Weapon Alchemy

Father Cornello

The first villain the Elrics go up against, Cornello was the leader of the Church of Leto, a cult that controlled the town of Liore. In reality, he was a power-hungry alchemist whose "miracles" were actually performed with a Philosopher's Stone. What Cornello didn't know was that he was an Unwitting Pawn for Father, and as soon as he outlived his usefulness, Lust and Gluttony killed him.

Voiced by: Kinryu Arimoto (JP - 2003 Anime), Seizou Katou (JP - 2009 Anime), Andy Mullins (EN)

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• Bald of Evil: Compared to the Bishonen villains, he's pretty normal.
• Card-Carrying Villain: An aging bald man who wants to take over the world? Generic? Not at all! Lampshaded brilliantly by Ed.
• Engineered Public Confession: How the Elrics take him down.
• Hulking Out: Pulls this in Brotherhood.
• Light Is Not Good: A catholicish looking priest spreading a religion based on a sun god that looks like Father? Must be Lawful Good!
• Path of Inspiration: The Leto cult.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Brotherhood only.
• Starter Villain: Normally, he would last a single chapter, but it was to introduce how Badass Ed is.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Killed by Lust and Gluttony after his defeat, which was engineered to further their plans).

Affiliation: Amestris Military
Rank: Major
Speciality: Biological Alchemy

Shou Tucker

The "Sewing-Life" alchemist, who specializes in creating Chimeras. He allows Edward and Alphonse to look into his research as he tries to prepare for the annual reviews. Two years ago, he turned his wife into a chimera which later starved to death. He later transforms his daughter Nina and dog Alexander into a chimera, to the Elric brothers' horror. He is killed by Scar.

Voiced by: Makoto Nagai (JP) Chuck Huber (EN)

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• Asshole Victim: The first State Alchemist Scar kills. The Elric brothers don't seem to care about his death, as opposed to that of Nina and Alexander. See the below for clarification.
• Complete Monster: In-universe, given the "In Memorium" omakes depict him being Dragged Off to Hell.
• Cute and Psycho
• Evilutionary Biologist
• Guinea Pig Family: Uses his own wife and daughter as experiments in order to keep his job.
• Lack of Empathy: He has no regrets turning his OWN daughter, a sweet little girl, into a disturbing abomination by fusing her to his own lovable dog.
• Mad Doctor
• Mad Scientist: He doesn't fit the traditional profile of this trope, since he's rather calm and polite at first.
• Not So Different: Tries to pull this on Ed. He doesn't really make the best case, however.
• Scary Shiny Glasses
• Soft Spoken Sadist
• Stepford Smiler

Affiliation: None
Rank: None
Speciality: None

Nina Tucker and Alexander

Shou Tucker's daughter and dog. The two get along greatly with Edward and Alphonse during their visit, since Shou Tucker hardly ever plays with them. That is, until they're both transformed into a horrific chimera, and later killed by Scar.

Nina is voiced by: Satomi Koorogi (JP - 2003 Anime), Sumire Morohoshi (JP - 2009 Anime), Brina Palencia (EN)

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• Big Friendly Dog: Alexander
• Body Horror: Her own father fuses them both into a sick parody of a humanoid dog, that's literally in constant pain due to the man's incompetence.
• Cheerful Child: Nina
• Idiot Hair: In the first anime series.
• Kill the Cutie
• Missing Mom: Nina's mother left the family two years ago. It later turns out that the chimera that starved to death was her mother.
• Mercy Kill
• Sacrificial Lamb: Most definitely, though unlike some examples Nina is never forgotten - Edward mentions her in the very last chapter, even!
• Too Good for This Sinful Earth

Affiliation: None
Rank: None
Speciality: Super-Strength

Catherine Ella Armstrong

Alex and Olivier's youngest sister.

Voiced by: Rie Kugimiya (JP), Kate Oxley (EN)

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• Cute Bruiser
• The Cutie
• Different As Night and Day: Nope, we (initially) don't believe that someone so cute can be an Armstrong either...
• Idiot Hair: Just check out her hair.
• Kawaiiko
• Killer Rabbit: Looks sweet and harmless, but thinks it's cute to see her brother and sister beating the crap out of each other and destroying the family home; oh, and she throws pianos.
• Proper Lady: Looks the part and acts the part... when she's not lifting pianos.
• Shrinking Violet: Fairly shy around Havoc in the bonus chapter, and according to Alex, doesn't have many men interested in her because of that.
• Spell My Name with an "S": Relatively minor compared to the other characters. It's either "Katherine" or "Catherine."
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: Compared to Olivia.
• Ugly Guy's Other Hot Daughter
• Waif Fu

Affiliation: None
Rank: None
Speciality: None

Gracia Hughes and Elicia Hughes

Beloved wife and daughter of Maes Hughes. Hughes knows to especially shoves Elicia pictures to everyone he worked with.

Gracia is voiced by: Kotono Mitsuishi (JP - 2003 Anime), Tomoe Hanba (JP - 2009 Anime), Lauren Goode (EN - 2003 Anime), Anastasia Munoz (EN - 2009 Anime) Elicia is voiced by: Mayumi Yoshida (JP - 2003 Anime), Misato Fukuen (JP - 2009 Anime), Tierney Titus (EN - 2003 Anime), Cherami Leigh (EN - 2009 Anime)

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• Break the Cutie: Poor Elicia!
• Cheerful Child: Maes has every right to be showing off his daughter.
• Daddy's Girl: Elicia.
• Happily Married: until Envy kills Maes.
• Heroic BSOD: Poor, poor Elincia at her dad's funeral. And later poor Gracia, after speaking to Ed and Al.
• Housewife: Gracia.
• Hot Mom: There's a reason why Hughes is so damn obsessed with his family.
• Sickeningly Sweethearts
• Spell My Name with an "S": Elicia/Elysia, Gracia/Glacier

Affiliation: Ishval
Rank: Scholar
Speciality: Destructive Alchemy/Medical Alchemy/Alkahestry

Scar's Brother

Scar's older brother who was killed during the Ishval Civil War.

Voiced by: Yuu Mizushima (JP - 2003 Anime), Takehito Koyasu (JP - 2009 Anime), Bill Townsley (EN - 2003 Anime), Robert McCollum (EN - 2009 Anime)

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• Chekhov's Gun: His research notes are vital in overriding Father's anti-alchemy buffer, and in teaching Scar how to use reconstruction alchemy.
  • The latter is also foreshadowed by the left arm of reconstruction he sports in the flashbacks.
• Cowardly Lion: Can't keep his legs from shaking when the Amestrian army draws near, and considers himself a poor excuse for an older brother, but is willing to make the ultimate sacrifice when Scar's life is threatened.
• Dead Older Brother: To Scar.
• Fan Nickname: Scarbro.
• Good Is Dumb: Despite his idealism, this is completely subverted. Not only is he a self-taught alchemist from a society that looks down upon it, but he's the first non-Xerxian character to notice the nation-wide Human Transmutation Circle, and figures out how to counter Father's anti-alchemy powers before the series even began.
  • Not telling his brother that his research notes contained information on potential mass genocide was kind of stupid, though.
• Heroic Sacrifice: See Life or Limb Decision.
• Life or Limb Decision: More like sacrificing his life in order to give his right arm to Scar so that he doesn't bleed out after being injured by Kimblee.
• Megane
• Non-Action Guy: Was too busy studying alchemy and alkahestry to fight during the war.
• No Name Given
• Posthumous Character: He may be dead, but he plays an incredibly important role in both Scar's Character Development, and the endgame.
• The Short Guy with Glasses: Older than Scar, and not so much shorter as much as merely less brawny, but this trope fits well enough.
• Smart People Wear Glasses
• Wide-Eyed Idealist: Believes people are capable of working together to bring out the good in each other, and this is a large part of his motivation for studying alchemy.

Affiliation: Amestris
Rank: Civilian medics
Speciality: None aside from their medical skills.

Urey and Sara Rockbell

Winry's parents, two doctors who perished in the Ishbalan war. A traumatised, recently-awakened-to-his-powers Scar is the one who killed them, though if he didn't do so they would've died anyway since Kimblee was tasked with their deaths.

Voiced by: Urey: Masaki Terasoma (JP - 2009 anime), Joel McDonald (EN - 2009 anime) Sara: Yuri Amano (JP - 2009 anime), Caitlin Glass (EN - 2009 anime)

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• Death By Origin Story
• Deceased Parents Are the Best
• Hot Parents
• Make It Look Like an Accident: What Kimblee was supposed to do to them, so that the military would not be forced to waste resources ensuring their protection as humanitarians of their nation.
• The Medic: Both of them.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: They saved Scar's life. He kills them in a Freak-Out.
• Plucky Girl: Sara could've left and gone home easily but refused to do so, saying that Winry and Pinaco wouldn't forgive her if she did.
• Together in Death: We see their lifeless bodies in an embrace.
• Wide-Eyed Idealist: Well, they did attend people of any origins while in the war. And that backfired fatally on them, considering not only what the military thought of them both, but also Scar's rampage.