Also, I do NOT believe that the names were randomly picked. Otherwise, a character with an ambition to become the successor of King Bradley would NOT have a first name similar to the French word for king: roi.
I err on the side of "absolutely nothing is random with Arakawa", in support of which I present the evidence that Xerxes was a king of Persia, and Amestris was his wife who sacrificed fourteen children to the underworld (per the FMA Wiki, under Trivia). And given that every member of Roy's team is named after a WWII vehicle; and given that all of Greed's buddies are named after varieties of wine; and given that "elrich" is an alternate spelling of "eldritch", meaning, like, mysterious and magical; and…
Basically I don't believe in Arakawa accidents. XD Your point is totally awesome, by the way; I really like the idea that Elysia and Gracia match up mythologically! :D And I'm frankly a bit embarrassed I never made the Elysium connection! Super cool. :D
Aru is a verb in Japanese and Al is called "aru" (well, it's how they pronounce "Al" ) and Aru is a form of "to have" or "to exist" for a non-living object. ;D
More fun tidbits!
edit: Xerxes and Amestris, one of my favorite historical pairs. Amestris was a cooooolddd woman. Not that Xerxes was any better. (they often fought with Greece) I.e the The Battle of Thermopylae. :)
Seconding the post on how awesome the fandom is! Considering that I was doing a rewatch of FMA:B today, this is fantastic timing.
One thing I noticed but haven't looked into is the number 12. King Bradley was the twelfth person to undergo the test of the Philosopher's Stone. Ling is the twelfth son of the emperor, and unless I've messed up my facts somewhere, Ed was 12 when he joined the military.
Maybe it's something, maybe it's not, but someone else also said that nothing is an accident when it comes to Arakawa-sensei.
This is awesome! (Now that I've mentioned it, my fiancee is now hunting all things twelve.)
I know the 12! 12 is one of the numbers in sacred geometry with 3 and 7 there were 12 tribes of Jews in the bible (and 7 of Gentiles) the point being that 12 is a blessed number and is usually used as a hint in alchemy that sacred geometry is at work, ie something is hidden if you know how to form the alchemical symbols or arrays
the symbol on Ed's coat is a Flamel after the famous alchemist Nicholas Flamel, and the symbol is important too but I can't remember why, but Elric is old English for King which makes sense too and when considered by numerology means philosopher, I know that because of Elric of Melnibone which I wonder if that was a reference too.
I actually did a little bit of digging to try and figure out more of the flamel for a fic that I was writing at the time. It was a little difficult to find the direct meaning, and I think I had it saved on a previous computer whose hard drive died. But I remember finding something that said said "overcoming your base self", which I later went on to use in the fic.
The FMA wiki says this: "In Alchemy, the Flamel represents the "fixing of the volatile", a vital step in the alchemical opus' process, related to the making of the mercury's elixir and of curative processes."
Looking at the two, I think that they both apply. As far as Ed and Izumi go, both have quick tempers and come off as volatile. Mastering alchemy as they have and bearing that symbol, might be significant to them trying to fix what's volatile, or overcoming their base selves.
Edit: Aha! Here it is! "a common alchemical drawing representing the “fixing of the volatile,” or, making the elixir of mercury, a legendary curative, by removing the
( ... )
Yeah; I just rewatched it as well. as seraphim said below it's sacred geometry; it is also a Biblical number as well. and in the original manga Greed was tacked to a cross which is really interesting. It was taken out in other versions though.
I love FMA for all this stuff.
(also, sadly *I'm very very sorry* I'm going to have to extend the FMA S Challenge another week. )
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Also, I do NOT believe that the names were randomly picked. Otherwise, a character with an ambition to become the successor of King Bradley would NOT have a first name similar to the French word for king: roi.
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Basically I don't believe in Arakawa accidents. XD Your point is totally awesome, by the way; I really like the idea that Elysia and Gracia match up mythologically! :D And I'm frankly a bit embarrassed I never made the Elysium connection! Super cool. :D
Oops HTML is hard .__.
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Aru is a verb in Japanese and Al is called "aru" (well, it's how they pronounce "Al" ) and Aru is a form of "to have" or "to exist" for a non-living object. ;D
More fun tidbits!
edit: Xerxes and Amestris, one of my favorite historical pairs. Amestris was a cooooolddd woman. Not that Xerxes was any better. (they often fought with Greece) I.e the The Battle of Thermopylae. :)
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Ahaha, yes, as immortalized in "300", which I… have not seen, lol. Such epic stuff! \o/
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One thing I noticed but haven't looked into is the number 12. King Bradley was the twelfth person to undergo the test of the Philosopher's Stone. Ling is the twelfth son of the emperor, and unless I've messed up my facts somewhere, Ed was 12 when he joined the military.
Maybe it's something, maybe it's not, but someone else also said that nothing is an accident when it comes to Arakawa-sensei.
This is awesome! (Now that I've mentioned it, my fiancee is now hunting all things twelve.)
Reply
12 is one of the numbers in sacred geometry with 3 and 7
there were 12 tribes of Jews in the bible (and 7 of Gentiles) the point being that 12 is a blessed number and is usually used as a hint in alchemy that sacred geometry is at work, ie something is hidden if you know how to form the alchemical symbols or arrays
the symbol on Ed's coat is a Flamel after the famous alchemist Nicholas Flamel, and the symbol is important too but I can't remember why, but Elric is old English for King which makes sense too and when considered by numerology means philosopher, I know that because of Elric of Melnibone which I wonder if that was a reference too.
Reply
I actually did a little bit of digging to try and figure out more of the flamel for a fic that I was writing at the time. It was a little difficult to find the direct meaning, and I think I had it saved on a previous computer whose hard drive died. But I remember finding something that said said "overcoming your base self", which I later went on to use in the fic.
The FMA wiki says this: "In Alchemy, the Flamel represents the "fixing of the volatile", a vital step in the alchemical opus' process, related to the making of the mercury's elixir and of curative processes."
Looking at the two, I think that they both apply. As far as Ed and Izumi go, both have quick tempers and come off as volatile. Mastering alchemy as they have and bearing that symbol, might be significant to them trying to fix what's volatile, or overcoming their base selves.
Edit: Aha! Here it is! "a common alchemical drawing representing the “fixing of the volatile,” or, making the elixir of mercury, a legendary curative, by removing the ( ... )
Reply
I love FMA for all this stuff.
(also, sadly *I'm very very sorry* I'm going to have to extend the FMA S Challenge another week. )
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