[Character Application] Edward Elric

[truthget]

Character:

Name: Edward Elric
Fandom: Fullmetal Alchemist
Gender: Male
Age: 16-ish
Time Period: Chapter 85/Episode 47, after transmuting his coat [Manga/Brotherhood]
Wing Color: BADASS TOUGH GUY RED
History: Wikia

Further reference to his rank/position here.

Personality:

Crikey, how does one describe Edward Elric. He's a ridiculous fellow on many, many levels, driven by emotions and a hidden goal he tries to always remain focused on. He's someone who has fallen from grace at a young age and has learned, time and time again, to pick himself back up again. Edward is strong in just about every way that matters.

Being strong comes hand in hand with plenty of faults, though. It doesn't make him particularly generous or polite; on the contrary, he's pretty damn rude and abrasive. It's not that he's looking to be outright cruel, but he doesn't like to mince words, either- and he definitely doesn't pull any punches. If you're being an asshole and making others suffer for it, he will beat you down from your pedestal and rub your face in the dirt until you realize you're doomed. He won't kill people, but he will wound, both physically and mentally, and he will happily humiliate. If someone is in the way between himself and his goal, and he can trick them to get there? You can probably bet it'll involve a few "mwa ha ha" faces along the way. Ed can be pretty egotistical in that sense, and while he's not necessarily always malicious about it, he does love a good battle of wits. When he has more wits than the other person, anyway.

Going back to his abrasiveness, he has one heck of a temper. He gets particularly twitchy about comments on his height, his reactions just as exaggerated as the insult he perceives. ("You're short." "WHO ARE YOU CALLING A TINY GRAIN OF RICE UNDER YOUR FOOT.") This is less of an issue lately, since he's not as much of a midget as he used to be, but he's still under five-and-a-half feet, so. Still short. Height comments aside, he'll also bitch, complain, yell, and flail over ridiculous or irritating situations, depending on his mood at the time. He can be dismissive or quiet if it's serious business, but if it's something tame or unimportant, he's much more likely to get huffy about it.

He's also very awkward. Edward has difficulty explaining himself when it comes to his own emotions, even though he could rail off an explanation of human composition with no trouble. He'll try to explain himself, but he's more likely to go "ah forget it!" than struggle with it overmuch. If he has something that has to be said but he has difficulty with, you better believe he'll take his sweet time getting it out in the open. And if he does, it'll probably come out either wrong or on his own terms, which... can be a little backwards or science-y, because that's the best way he relates to things. (RE: his confession to Winry using equivalent exchange. What a dork.) He gets ridiculously embarrassed and flustered when it comes to getting teased about girls, too. ...Or one girl, anyway. This can range from sullen dismissal, to frantic blushing, to... explosive flails. Again, depends on his mood, depends on the situation, depends on how mature he's feeling at the time. Hawkeye's quoted as saying "he's weak to direct hits."

Now that I'm done razzing on his faults...

Edward is very loyal to the people he views as worthy of said loyalty. He knows he's a dog of the military as a State Alchemist, but that doesn't mean he's forgotten the people who have supported him throughout his life. His brother (Alphonse), Winry, Granny Pinako, and the allies he found over the course of his journey are all people he would fight to protect even at great risk to his life. The entire purpose of his journey - and the sacrifices he's made since becoming State Alchemist - is to restore Alphonse to his real body since losing it in the attempt to bring back their dead mother, a mistake Edward blames himself for.

That protectiveness comes hand in hand with resolve: he's determined to keep trying and keep searching for a way to fix their bodies no matter what it costs him. He and Al have agreed to do it themselves, rather than involving other people, and that means having the strength to carry one another. It also means he's stubborn. Extremely. Stubborn. When he decides he's going to do something, he's fully committed to making it a reality. There are things he's given up on due to thinking it through and relying on logic- for example, after their failed human transmutation, Edward shifted his goal from reviving his mother to restoring Al's body. On the other hand, if he's certain that his goal can be realized? There's no stopping him. Discouragement is merely a temporary setback; it takes a lot to derail Edward from his goal, and if it does happen, it doesn't take much to set him back on track.

He can be very kind, when he wants to be- and even then, it's in his own way, just like how he expresses his feelings/thoughts and whatnot. He encourages people to work towards their goals using their own strength, or (as he says to Rose at the start of the series when she felt she'd lost everything) to "Get up and take a step. Walk forward. You've got two fine legs on you." Rose admits later in the series to Winry that this is how Edward shows his kindness; even if it sounds harsh and expects too much of someone when they're in pain, it can also drive them to carry on living if they have the strength to do so. It might not be considered encouraging, but it's his own little way of helping people.

Edward has quite the thirst for learning. He says it himself (to Major Miles): he hates being ignorant. Not to mention that when he's after some information, he will sit and read for hours, sometimes days on end trying to find and analyze the information. He's devoured entire libraries in his search for the truth behind the Philosopher's Stone, as well as broken another alchemist's complicated research code in a matter of days. He doesn't really go out of his way to find out information on things that don't interest him- he'll ignore Winry's advice about automail maintenance, for example. If it's related to alchemy, or information about the world that he's unaware of, he'll drink it up. Like all alchemists, he also has a code of his own; Alphonse states that Edward writes his research as travel logs, and that even he can't understand what they mean.

Ed doesn't really understand how it feels to hate someone enough to kill them. For all his bravado and rage when something happens that goes completely against his ideals, he's committed to his no-kill policy, and even humans who have been turned into what can be considered monsters are still very off-limits. Pinako is quoted as saying, "His definition of a human is too wide"- anything that has even a shred of humanity is something he cannot kill. He stands by his morality as much as humanly possible, and if it ever comes into question, he will defend it vehemently. While it may seem that said morals are questionable sometimes, he never loses sight of the fact that life is sacred, and he has no right to take the life of another person or use it for his own personal gain. After learning the truth about the Philosopher's Stone, any time one was offered to him, he denied it (often angrily, particularly when the offer came from people who knew how it was made), even though it would give him back his missing limbs and, more importantly, return Alphonse's body. He would never sacrifice the lives of others for his own happiness. This isn't to say he's self-sacrificial, either; he has a powerful will to live, and even when he's risking his life by getting involved in dangerous battles, he's always focused on how to survive, and how to protect anyone else involved. He has also used the Philosopher's Stone before, in an emergency situation, but it required a lot of justification and thought to decide it was in his best interest to do it. He didn't want to, but in the end it was the only alternative to death at the time.

Edward has family issues. Like. A lot of family issues. He has a lot of resentment for his father, who left their home when he was still young, and because his mother always seemed to be waiting for him, that resentment hasn't faded that much over time. Since his father wasn't able to return during his mother's failing health or even her funeral, Edward decided very early that Hohenheim was ureliable, and refuses to seek the man out or ask for help. In their most recent encounter in Kanama, he looked for Hohenheim in order to get answers, rather than to just visit or see how he's doing. Hearing Hohenheim's story has changed very little of Edward's opinion of him, but his resentment is more of a disgruntled lack of affection by now. He's not as forgiving as Alphonse, however, and he refuses to call Hohenheim his father directly.

Speaking of Alphonse... Edward's little brother is everything to him. He sacrificed his arm (though he said the price could be anything as long as it gave him back his brother) in order to transmute Al's soul into a suit of armor, despite the fact that he'd already lost his leg. Since that day, they've traveled together almost constantly, and Edward's main concern has always been to find a way to fix Alphonse's body. Al is someone Ed can share with and say anything to. Thoughts, confessions, worries, fears- they've shared them all over the course of their lives, and there's no one that Edward trusts more. For a while the exception was the fact that he felt guilt about what had happened to Alphonse, since it was his idea to transmute their mother, and this is something he kept secret from Alphonse for a long time until Winry told him because of a misunderstanding. Edward would also do anything to protect Al, regardless of the price. With that issue behind them, however, and due to the experiences they've shared ever since, their bond is even stronger. When pushed to his limit, he's offered to die for Alphonse, and this protectiveness is a fact that distance has no effect on.

Winry is also part of Edward's little makeshift family, and she completes the Resembool trio by keeping Edward motivated and in good working condition. He might tease and mock her whenever the opportunity arises (assuming the situation they're in isn't serious) but Ed is not only protective of her as well, but he has complete faith in her abilities as a mechanic. He relies on her and trusts her completely with his automail, and when he pushes himself in a fight, he doesn't hesitate to defend the power and worth of the automail she's given him. Winry is one of the few that Edward is able to be honest with, though because of his affections for her, he's never really able to clearly express himself, either. This often leaves him in the awkward position of wanting to reassure her but unable to find the words to do it.

Strengths:

Physical: Edward has a number of pretty decent advantages on his side, most of them arising from the fact that he has two automail limbs. They act as both shield and weapon for him, adding extra weight, strength, and impact to the punches and kicks that come from his right arm and left leg. Using his alchemy, he can transmute his arm into a blade, ensuring that (assuming the arm is not destroyed and his alchemy is working) he's always armed and ready for a fight.

Speaking of alchemy, he's a professional, and a powerful one at that. Due to the circumstances of his life, he's able to transmute inorganic objects into whatever he wants, assuming he's able to follow the basic law of Equivalent Exchange. With a simple clap of his hands, he can reform the ground into a rising fist, or draw a spear out of the wall, or a sword out of a pool of blood. If he knows the ingredients of whatever he's transmuting, there's very little limit to what he can change. With his new automail, he can also transmute the carbon composition to give it a surface coat as hard as diamonds, making it an effective shield against strong weapons that would normally break his arm easily (such as Pride's shadows). Alchemy is described in detail here, minus all references to the 2003 anime.

Additionally he's also been trained in martial arts by his master, Izumi, and is pretty flexible and acrobatic in battle. He has a high pain tolerance, considering what he's able to do while injured; even if one were to ignore the fact that he was able to crawl around and transmute a soul after losing a leg at the age of 11, and endure the pain of automail surgery not too long after, he's been stabbed, slammed around, beaten to a bloody pulp, and even impaled, and still has been able to do alchemy and keep himself alive. He seems to do his best when pushed into a corner after a good beating from a stronger opponent, like a typical shounen hero- the adrenaline rush of being injured is the best way to win a fight. (Stupid manga boys.)

Mental: Edward is quite the prodigy when it comes to intellect. He's something of a child genius, researching and learning all he could about alchemy with Alphonse at a very young age and even performing transmutations before the age of ten. With the help of his brother and his master (albeit unknowningly on Izumi's part), he was able to develop a theory for and attempt human transmutation in order to revive his dead mother. Considering human transmutation was forbidden taboo and no one actually taught them how to do it, this is an impressive accomplishment for an 11-year-old kid.

Ed's pretty mentally sound, considering all the unpleasant business he's gone through. His mother's death, his difficult training with Izumi Curtis, and then the failed transmutation all conspired to make the first half of his life pretty craptactular. When the transmutation fails, he's left without a leg and without a little brother, and with a mangled corpse of what is only remotely human. And then he proceeds to give up his arm to get his brother's soul back. And then goes through rather hellish surgery to get automail for both limbs rather than just surrender- all for the sake of his desire to find a way to get Alphonse his body back. To say that he's tough as nails is putting it really lightly. He can also think clearly and analyze alchemic tactics in mid-battle (such as determining the weakness of Greed's Ultimate Shield while getting the snot kicked out of him), and he's able to pick himself back up and move on after numerous events that would likely traumatize or even simply upset a kid or a teenager, such as losing his limbs, fighting for his life, cleaning up blood, watching people die... the list could go on and on.

Emotional: Admittedly, there's not a lot of these to speak of. Edward is really emotionally awkward and underdeveloped, and what is developed is still rather unpolished. His emotions are pretty much on overdrive most of the time. Because he feels so intensely, he draws strength from them- using his abrasive and disagreeable nature to push him forward, which makes him seem more determined and assertive to those around him. He has a ton of self-confidence, and when push comes to shove, that determination really shines through. He's also pretty creative, for what it's worth, although... considering what he actually uses that creativity for, it's not worth much.

Weaknesses:

Physical: Despite all his protesting and the fact that he's grown over the course of the series, Edward really is still pretty small. He's short, and he's hardly a mass of muscle like Armstrong. Not to mention he's still young and lacks the strength and skills of a fully-developed adult. Besides his automail limbs, he's just as breakable as any human- if you cut him, he'll bleed, if you throw him around, he'll break bones, if you punch him, he'll bruise. All the normal human weaknesses.

His automail, since getting the upgrade at Briggs, is weaker than it used to be; it packs a much softer punch and is presumably easier to break, though there's not much evidence of that in canon, admittedly. It is stated, however, that the new limbs are significantly weaker. Since his alchemy requires both of his hands to work, taking either of his arms out (either by wrecking the automail or just breaking his organic arm) would force him to rely completely on martial arts, and it's not easy to pull that off with one arm. Automail can also be a problem in extreme weather; it's okay in the cold weather now thanks to his upgrades, but he finds heat to be very uncomfortable.

On the alchemy side, Edward is mostly limited in his ability to transmute organic matter. Both from a physical limitation and his own internal, ethical issues about it, he hasn't tried full human transmutation since his attempt to revive his dead mother. He's used his own life to seal a wound on his own body once, but it's very much a last resort for him, and true medicinal alchemy is beyond him at this point.

Mental: Edward may be an alchemy genius, but he's unfortunately a bit of a social moron. He has no tact, and while he's still learning where to stick his nose in and when to keep out of trouble, he's not very good at thinking things through right from the get-go. Ed kind of charges right in and wings it as much as he can, planning out split-second decisions rather than start-to-finish operations like a real strategist might do.

He's also not completely unbreakable; as much as he tries to put up a brave front, he's still just a teen, and most definitely human. He's susceptible to the same weaknesses, fears, and uncertainty as anyone else. His confidence has limits, and when faced with a frightening situation (eg. losing the people important to him) he can't say for sure that victory in a tough battle is assured. For example, that "just in case we fail" hovers over him as the "Promised Day" approaches, just prior to his canon point, and his nerves get the better of him. He tells Winry to flee the country because he isn't positive that he'll win and save Amestris, which means they could die. That fear drives him, but it also makes his confidence falter.

Emotional: As a teenager, even a genius prodigy alchemist, Edward is still very emotionally immature. He's irritable, antagonistic, and often hostile whether people deserve it or not. As stated above, his emotions tend to run pretty wild; while that can be a good thing, it also pushes him into some bad situations which might have been easily avoided if he'd just held his temper in check. (He'd also get a lot less wrenches to the head if he behaved and kept his stupid mouth shut.) In a nutshell, Ed is emotionally unstable- not to the extent that he's crazy or anything, but he's so all over the map it's hard to tell how he'll react to situations he ends up in until he actually does it. And by then it's usually too late, derp.

Edward is also easily manipulated if you use certain people against him, namely his friends and family. Place them in danger (and in a position where he can't beat the snot out of the person threatening them) and he'll follow the directions he's given, however reluctantly, until he figures out a way to get the aforementioned hostage free.

Samples

First Person:

Ow... dammit, what the hell is going on...? Weren't we just in Kanama? How did we-

...O-oi! Donkey Kong, Lion King, Ling- Greed, whatever! Where are you!?

....Hohenheim?

...Tch. Did those idiots leave me behind or something? Or were we attacked? The homunculus wouldn't just leave me unguarded if they caught me, would they? The "Promised Day" is...

[....Wait. Waaaaaait a minute. What are those-]

AAHHH, what the hell!? What's with these freaky-looking wings!? ...Am I... a chimera...? Did they change me!? Those bastards...!!

Third Person:

One, two, one, two, one, two. Edward counted off silently in his head as he punched the air, alternating between right and left fists. The motions were practiced and smooth, his only point of focus as he tested out his abilities one by one. Kick, turn, crouch, roll... and then he stood, tapping his left heel against the ground and stretching his right arm until he felt satisfied by the status of his automail limbs.

Glancing over his shoulder, he eyed the red-feathered wings attached to his back, crossing his arms over his chest. They'd been bothering him since his arrival - and not in the way that most people might have assumed. The pain was bearable and easily enough ignored, and paled in comparison to the issues he had with the logic of them. The combination of human and animal traits was human transmutation; the result of this blend is a chimera. Yet besides the wings, no one in Luceti could really be defined as avian chimeras at all, since the wings were the only traits that fit the bill. And they were linked to their lives... so what did it make them? Were they like homunculus, bound by the wings like an otherworldly sort of Philosopher's Stone?

Weaker, though- most people couldn't regenerate that way, and they could still die as easily as any normal human. And yet death wasn't permanent, either. Revival with consequences - "Death Penalties", they called them - was apparently a common occurrence. Was there a limit to these revivals, or were the penalties a trade-off for infinite revivals rather than perfect ones, like the seven homunculus he knew? It seemed fair enough, but dying too often... that would mean losing too much of yourself. He'd have to look into this more. If the theory behind all of this could be linked to alchemy - assuming it wasn't already - maybe it could be used to help Al. At the same time, Al wasn't even really dead, and besides that, he wasn't here...

...Haa, it was making his head hurt. There was little point in stressing about how it worked with alchemy until he understood the nature of their altered bodies, so he pushed it from his mind as best as he could. At least he could take comfort in the fact that his were a pretty fitting (and badass) colour. He'd seen some guys with pink wings already. Ugh.


/permissions post incoming