Scar's weak spot? (Spoilers for 103)

[mfelizandy]

So Scar's in a big fight with Wrath, and he's using alchemy via his arm. Wrath is attacking with bladed weapons.

We've seen Wrath impale Scar's forearm and bicep, and Scar pull out that blade, then use his left arm to defend himself. Which raises the question--what if Wrath slices instead of stabs? Scar evidently relies on the arrays tattooed

Comments

[shmobeline]

Agreed on all count except the execution part. Even if he can't use alchemy anymore, he'd still have killed all those State Alchemists in the past, and that is why they'd execute him, not just because they want to make sure he can't do it in the future.

[mfelizandy]

To quote the movie "True Lies": "Yeah, but they were all bad."

I think certain people might "look the other way" while Scar made for the border--and then they'd be SO busy getting things back under control, y'see, that the whole matter of that guy who was running around killing off State Alchemists...well, it fell through the cracks--but we've got an agreement to run a rail line through Ishbal to Xing, isn't that wonderful?

No, I don't want Scar to die, and I will push the bounds of plausibility to arrange his survival! :P

[dreamer1789]

Good questions raised here. The only thing I find myself disagreeing on is the following: If he is, and he survives the fight, he might actually escape execution because the scarring of his tattoos has rendered his most fearsome power unusable. The wouldn't excuse him on *those* grounds, I think. If he is pardoned - or exiled - it'll be because he freed the country of a tyrant (yeah, I know, small chance that they'll believe him, right?)

But what you're saying is like letting a murderer - let's say his weapon was a pistol - go free after chopping of his dominant hand. Sure, you've minimized the risk, but he could still potentially strangle you with his remaining hand, you know what I mean? But metaphorically, not literally (at least, not necessarily.) ^^; Anyway, the point was: I don't think they'd just let him off the hook if his scars were scarred compromised. ;)

[mfelizandy]

*Points to reply to shmobeline's comment.* I'm trying to avoid letting Scar die. I don't like character death.

[dreamer1789]

Well, I'm not saying he has to die. Sure, like I said, there's a big chance the army will want to execute him, but they'd have to catch him first and you know how good his escape record is. ;)

Besides with how much (at least subtly his character has evolved it would be a shame to have him die now.)

Maybe Arakawa's setting up to save Scar after all...

[mfelizandy]

Scar is good at escaping, yes (surprising considering his easily-identifiable characteristics)--and he has those Ishbalans up above who are helping him.

With this chapter, I'm recalculating the odds of Scar's survival--I think he's now at least at 50/50. His new reconstruction trick would seem rather superfluous if he were to gain it, kill Bradley with it, then collapse to bleed to death. (Bleeding to death doesn't seem to be an option in this world anyway--otherwise Ed would have died within about thirty seconds of having his femoral artery torn apart.) It would make more sense, storywise, if Scar gained his wonderful reconstruction power, and went on to help reconstruct his country.

[kashicat]

History is full of people who committed crimes like that and had them "forgiven" because they had a change of heart or, just as often, they became powerful leaders in their own right and it was expedient.

Remember that the definitions of "freedom fighter" and "terrorist" depend entirely on which side of the oppression/oppressor equation you sit on. (Even Menachim Begin was once considered a "terrorist" even by the West -- until Israel was re-established as a state, and he became a "freedom fighter," and the leader of the country.)

I find no problem with Scar being "rehabilitated" if he has a change of heart and helps save the entire country. At worst, I could see him exiled after that, in fact, I think he should be. But it's entirely plausible, given realpolitik, that he could survive and even not be executed.

[mfelizandy]

I smell another ficlet prompt! How would you plausibly "rehabilitate" Scar so that he wouldn't have to live on the run?

[live4him4eva]

If Scar's arrays were slashed, his alchemy would be rendered useless. We've seen Kimblee's hand tattoo slashed, and rendered unusable in the past.