→ [Personality, History, Abilities; ]
CHARACTER INFO
CHARACTER NAME: Edward Elric
SERIES: Full Metal Alchemist
TIMELINE: Post-Movie [Conqueror of Shamballa]
PERSONALITY:
You can't say Edward Elric is just your average teenager (or young adult, whatever suits your fancy). You just can't. Ed has practically gone to the end of the world and back. He has seen things grown men could never dream of, and they are constantly shaping Ed to be what he is. Even at a young age, Ed was incredibly intelligent to the point where people would go as far to call him a genius, and an Alchemical Prodigy.
Despite being intelligent beyond his age, Ed also has a bad habit of reacting to things in a rather immature manner. For example, Edward does not appreciate (read: detests) being called short in any way or form. The words 'Shrimp' and 'Small,' for example, in a sentence spoken to Edward provokes a rather comical flailing and exaggerative reaction from the boy. And of course, the cherry on top of being immature, is that Ed is reckless (with most things -- yes, this includes rules) and possesses a complete disrespect for authority in the sense that he just doesn't listen, and does whatever he thinks is best.
One of the biggest things about Ed is his love for his brother, Alphonse. After the Human Transmutation failure as children that resulted in Alphonse losing his body, Ed takes up the job of getting Al's body back himself, because it's his fault, and he seems to strongly think that no one can do the job but him. Because of this, Ed generally comes off as very independent and selfless (concerning his brother, mostly).
Another point to mention is Ed's philosophy (which he practically swears by): Equivalent Exchange, which means that to create something, you must give something of Equal value.
BACKGROUND:
Born in the small town of Resembool, Edward Elric lived with his family for a good portion of his childhood. He had his brother, Alphonse Elric; his mother, Trisha Elric; and for a short while, his father: Hohenheim. When Edward was a small child, and Alphonse even younger, Hohenheim left on some sort of 'journey'. This strikes up anger in Edward, who began to blame everything on him. Edward even goes as far to blame his mother’s sickness on his father, because Ed and Al both knew that their father's presence would make Trisha feel better, and subsequently cure her illness. They try their hardest to contact anyone who could tell Hohenheim to come back, but they fail. Trisha Elric dies, and Ed and Al became orphans looked after by their neighbor.
When in Pinako Rockbells care, the boys begin studying Alchemy (more than they had already known) to learn all they could, so that, just maybe, they can figure out how to bring their mother back to life. The boys soon find themselves in the training of Izumi Curtis, a skilled alchemist, who agrees to teach them as her students. However, as soon as they return home from their long training with their sensei, the boys instantly dive into human transmutation: a taboo alchemy.
The boys both fail. The cost of their act was Alphonse’s entire body, and Ed’s left leg. Ed is quick to act in binding his brother's soul to a suit of armor, which costs Ed his right arm. Ed is soon rushed to Pinako Rockbell’s home by Al. Not long after his arrival there, a man from the military arrives, Lieutenant Colonel Roy Mustang; who had merely been responding to a letter the boys had sent him in their search for Hohenheim months before. He sees the state the boys are in, and hears what happened. Right away, he shows an interest in Ed for being able to survive a human transmutation. Ed overhears this, and Roy’s words create a determination inside him to become a state alchemist; because of the amount of resources he will have. The need for these resources stems from the fact that he could find a way to return his brother back to his body. He takes it as his responsibility alone to 'fix' Alphonse. He asks the Rockbells to fix him with Automail; metal prosthetics.
When Ed and Al leave on their journey for Ed to become a State Alchemist, they both burn down their family home before they leave, so they will have nothing to return to and thus forced to move onward.
Ed excels on the State Alchemist exam. He amazes everyone with his ability to use alchemy with no transmutation circles, and just his sheer skill. It is because of this that Ed becomes the youngest State Alchemist ever. Because of his metal limbs, he acquires the name Full-Metal Alchemist.
While Ed is now a dog for the military - having to do what the military tells him to - he still keeps his reason for being there in mind. The guilt never lets him forget that it is his responsibility to right what he and Al did wrong. So while he does the assignments he is given, Edward is constantly researching and finding leads on a legendary Philosophers Stone, a stone said to allow the user to bypass the laws of Alchemy; a law Ed firmly believes in: Equivalent Exchange.
Ed and Al continue to follow every lead they come across, however, it often turns out to be false information, or it turns out to be a dead end and they have found out as much as they could on the lead they were given. At one point, the boys almost give up their quest for the stone when they see Dr.Marcoh’s notes; they figure out the genuine truth behind truths: that the secret ingredient in creating the Philosophers stone is human lives. To see if this information is true, the boys go to the Fifth Laboratory - a place they think was used to try to create philosophers stones before it was shut down.
Ed soon gets tricked into creating a stone by the Homunculi (the not-human results of human transmutation), who want to become human again, and believe the stone will do this. They force Ed to use hundreds of prisoners for the stone, and the FullMetal Alchemist gives in (under the pressure they put on him by threatening his brothers life). He prepares for it, and he almost actually succeeds - but in the end, Edward couldn’t do it. He couldn’t sacrifice the human lives, even if they were prisoners. He is rescued from the lab by Scar, a man who believes State Alchemists are sins of god, and goes about murdering them.
Through a series of events, the Elric brothers are lead to Ishbal, where Scar and a woman named Rose, whom they met in Liore, are instructing the citizens to draw the military into the city - but to force Amestris's military into making the first attack. This is where Al is attacked by Kimblee, a State Alchemist, and slowly begins turning into an explosive. A Military Colonel uses a State Alchemists death to invade Lior - right into Scars plan. The man uses the people still in the city - military personnel - to make the Philosophers stone. This also saves Alphonse; by making him the stone. It isn't very long before the boys are soon the victims of a hunt from the military - the Fuher has put out an order to capture the Elric brothers. They flee to Risembool.
While one brother, Al, finds himself captured by the homunculi named Envy and taken to an underground city, the other follows in hot pursuit to rescue him. Ed discovers the city, and finds himself in confrontation with the Homonculi’s leader - Dante. Through battle, Edward discovers Envy’s true identity - Hohenheim and Dante’s son from centuries ago, who had died of mercury poisoning and was a result of human transmutation when Dante and Hohenheim tried to resurrect him. Promptly after sharing this information, Envy kills Edward.
But Edward only ends up resurrected when Alphonse uses the stone inside him to bring Ed back to life. When Ed awakes to find Al gone, he uses Human Transmutation to bring him back - sacrificing his entire being to the gate that took his arm, leg and Alphonse’s whole body when they first preformed Human Transmutation as children. While Alphonse is found as a ten year old boy not long later, Edward is transported through the gate, to Germany, where Alchemy does not apply - but the rules of Physics do.
In Germany, Two years passed and Ed has spent all his time researching rocketry with a young man named Alfons Heiderich, who looks a lot like Ed’s younger brother Alphonse. He no longer has Automail (however, still has the automail joints - just not the limbs), but rather he has prosthetics created with Earth material by his father, Hohenheim. Ed rescues a gypsy named Noa from the Thule Society, who wanted to use her for her ability to 'see' things. Ed and Alfons allow her to stay with them in the small apartment they rent.
Edward meets a man who, like Alfons, strikes a resemblance to someone he knew in Amestris: A homunculi named Pride. After a small altercation, Edward goes with the man (named Mabuse) to a castle where they are on the search for a 'dragon'. It turns out to be Envy -- who made it to the other side of the gate stuck in the form of a large serpent-like dragon. Envy and Ed fight, as usual, until the Thule Society shows up, captures Envy, and uses some sort of gas to knock Edward out.
The Thule Society uses Envy for the circle on what closely resembles a Transmutation circle, where Envy also apparently has Ed's father -- Hohenheim -- trapped in his jaws. The Society uses the 'transmutation circle' to send a bunch of men in armored suits to the other side of the gate. When they all return, everybody inside is dead. From these suits of armor, Ed discovers his brother's soul temporarily bound to it -- something Alphonse did when the group of armor was on the other side of the gate, in Liore. Ed and Alphonse finally get to talk, at least until the piece of Soul bound to the armor fades away.
But of course, Ed can't stay out of trouble. He eventually sneaks back into the Thule Society's lair, and discovers the transmutation circle and actually observes it. Being the geeky Alchemist he can be: Edward completes the circle. When he touches it with his bloody gloves, it actually lights up and Ed instantly jumps back. The Society discovers him, edges him to continue, even as Ed notices Envy with his father stuffed in his jaws, somehow still alive. But he wants Ed to return to his own world, so he forces Envy to crush him, practically showering blood down onto the transmutation circle.
Ed is eventually shot by Dietline -- she only hits his mechanical arm, but Ed does pass out for dramatic effect. When he comes to, he's been strapped into a plane by Alfons, who just wants him to go back to his own world and be happy. The aircraft starts, and Ed is fired off through the gate to 'Shamballa.' Unfortunately, as this happens, Alfons is shot and killed. Ed isn't the only one going through the gate -- the Thule Society is quick to follow.
On the other side of the gate, Ed winds up in the underground city that he fought Dante and Envy in. His mechanic limbs are mangled, but luckily when he gets out of the plane, Winry and Al are there to find him -- and Winry has new automail for him! Above the underground city, in Central, a huge fight has broken out. Ed rushes off to find Al, who ran off when Ed came out of the plane. Al is quickly found, and they set about ending the war that they caused themselves.
Mustang finds them, and the three of them set about to fighting off the evil that is the Thule Society. They are easily defeated, and Ed has to go back to the other world to close the gate, and Alphonse has to close the Amestris side. But surprise, surprise! Ed gets to the other world and it turns out that Alphonse hid in one of the suits of armor and left the job of closing up the portal to Mustang. The gate is closed up, and Ed and Al remain in that world, together.
ABILITIES:
Ed has two main abilities: Kicking ass, and Alchemy.
When taught by Izumi Curtis, Ed (and Al, naturally) was taught how to fight. Nothing small and petty, either. Ed is actually a very skilled fighter, even if he could never defeat his brother (who, to be fair, was a giant suit of armor for 90% of the series).
Alchemy is something Ed was always a prodigy with. It is the science of breaking down the structure of matter, and recreating something completely different. In Alchemy, the laws of Equivalent Exchange apply to everything. Normally, to use alchemy, there must be a transmutation circle of sorts. However, because Edward has seen 'The Gate,' he is able to perform it with a simple clap of his hands, no transmutation circle needed. Some examples of Edward's alchemy is transmuting a metal plate on his automail arm into a dagger, creating a large spear, and creating large walls/spikes that erupt from the ground.