Edward Elric

About Edward Elric

Edward Elric is a young and talented alchemist known as the Fullmetal Alchemist. He travels with his younger brother Alphonse, searching for a way to fix the mistakes of their past. Edward is smart and brave, but he hates being called short, which often leads to funny moments.

Appearance

Edward is short for his age, a fact he is extremely sensitive about, with a compact, well-trained build from years of martial arts practice. He has long golden-blond hair usually worn in a braid, golden eyes and a single strand of hair that sticks up at the front. His right arm and left leg are automail, polished steel prosthetic limbs built by Winry Rockbell. He usually wears a black outfit under a long red coat with a black serpent-cross emblem on the back, white gloves and heavy boots, with his silver State Alchemist pocket watch in his pocket.

Personality

Edward is hot-tempered, sharp-tongued and famously explosive whenever anyone calls him short, but underneath the shouting is a brilliant, deeply moral mind. He hates being treated like a child yet rushes to help strangers without thinking twice. Guilt over what happened to Alphonse drives nearly everything he does, and he refuses to take a life or use people as tools, even when it would make his search easier. He is stubborn to a fault, loyal to the people he trusts, and far more thoughtful than his temper suggests, a boy carrying an adult's burden and refusing to put it down.

Background & Story

Edward grew up in the village of Resembool with his younger brother Alphonse and their mother Trisha, after their father Van Hohenheim walked out when the boys were small. Both brothers showed a gift for alchemy, the science of reshaping matter, and after Trisha died the boys trained under teacher Izumi Curtis and attempted alchemy's greatest taboo: human transmutation, to bring her back. It failed. Edward lost a leg, Alphonse lost his whole body, and Edward gave up his right arm to bind Alphonse's soul to a suit of armour. Fitted with steel automail limbs by the Rockbell family, Edward passed the State Alchemist exam at just twelve years old, the youngest ever, taking the title Fullmetal Alchemist. His rank gives the brothers access to military records and travel across Amestris as they search for the legendary Philosopher's Stone, the one thing that might restore their bodies without breaking the law of equivalent exchange again.

Powers & Abilities

• Alchemy Without a Circle: Because he has seen the Truth, Edward can perform transmutation simply by clapping his hands together, no drawn circle needed, reshaping earth, metal and other matter in an instant.
• Automail Arm: Edward's right arm and left leg are steel automail prosthetics, and with a touch of alchemy he transmutes the arm into a sharp blade in combat, turning his own limb into a weapon.

  

• Battlefield Transmutation: In a fight he raises stone walls and pillars, forms spears and cannons from the ground, and rebuilds broken structures on the spot.
• Hand-to-Hand Combat: Trained since childhood by Izumi Curtis, Edward is a fast, acrobatic martial artist whose automail limbs add real weight to his strikes.

Key Relationships

• Alphonse Elric: His younger brother and constant travelling partner, Edward blames himself for Alphonse's lost body and has sworn to restore it, whatever it costs him.
• Winry Rockbell: His childhood friend and automail mechanic, who builds and repairs the steel limbs his life depends on and worries over both brothers constantly.
• Roy Mustang: His commanding officer, who recruited Edward into the State Alchemist programme and quietly shields the brothers while pursuing his own ambitions.
• Scar: The Ishvalan killer hunting State Alchemists, one of the first deadly enemies the brothers face on their journey.

Quick Answers