Applying Bokononist Ideas to Fullmetal Alchemist
Originally this was in the entry below but I wanted to move it to its own place for cleanliness sake.
Applying Bokononist Ideas to Fullmetal Alchemist
Ever since I made that duprass comment in the previous entry I have been itching to write this so I may as well.
Allow me to link you to the Wikipedia page for Bokononism again.
So I mostly want to talk about why Roy and Riza are the Most Triumphant Example of a duprass that I have found so far in media with a little bit on the Elric Brother's karass as well.
The main terms here:
* A karass is a group of people working together for some destine cause.
* A duprass is a karass of two people who's lives are interconnected and will die within a week of each other. No one can penetrate a duprass.
* A wampeter is the theme or purpose of the karass.
* A granfalloon is a false karass (for example: "OMG, we went to the same high school! It's totally fate that we meet!")
The Elric brothers may, in some way, appear to be a part of a duprass and actually probably are in the first anime but in the manga, that is extremely far from the truth. This may seem obviously when you look at how many people they meet on their journey but truly, not many of these people actually are part of the karass. Some people who definitely are actually include Mei, Dr. Marcoh, and possibly Winry because without them, they would not have reached their ultimate goal.
Roy is actually not part of their karass and it is not just because he is in a duprass with Riza. Roy is actually more like a kan-kan, the thing that brings someone into their karass. Actually the kan-kan is Truth although Roy fulfills this in a way as well. Roy is the one that encourages them to join the military which he wouldn't have done if they hadn't already been drawn into their karass by Truth. Also, while them joining the military does lead them to meeting members of their karass and ultimately helping the country, the way they ultimately get their bodies back has NOTHING TO DO with the military, Roy, Father, the Evil Plan, the homunculi, or the Philosopher's Stone.
Supposedly there are two wampeters: one the karass is moving away from, and one that it is moving towards. In the Elric Brothers case I think the one it is moving away from is finding the Philosopher's Stone which connects directly with Mei's own quest and Marcoh's research. Even after finding out what the stone is made of, seeing it, being offered it, and even being forced to have it used on them, the Stone is not actually what they need. The wampeter it is moving towards is well, Truth again really.
In case you were wondering, defeating Father is not the Elric Brothers wampeter. In fact, it's Hohenheim's (whose two wampeters are "destroying Father" and "becoming a father"). And somewhat Greed's. And Scar's. While everyone participates in trying to bring him, the soulless army, the remaining homunculi (well, kinda; both brothers fought Pride just cause and Roy fought Envy because he was pissed), and the Top Brass down, it's really the efforts of Hohenheim, Greed, and Scar that make the difference. Think about it.
So back to the Roy and Riza duprass.
It is a lot easier to tell they are a duprass when you look back on the series after you have finished it because a lot of sure-fire signs that they are a duprass are not clear until the story is over.
The first and possibly most important thing that happens to prove they are a duprass is actually Hughes' death. When Hughes dies it is sad and you understand that he was Roy's BFF and it's generally mentioned by Roy that Hughes had vowed to help him become fuhrer but it is not until the war flashback that you actually see this unfold. In the flashback Roy tells Hughes about his ambitions to redeem himself by becoming fuhrer which Hughes agrees to support seemingly making Hughes a part of a karass. It's only later that Riza is shown in Roy's office when he makes her his assistant. However, for Riza to have ended up in his office clearly already aware of his goals he would have had to tell her at some point before or after he told Hughes. He or she would also have to recommend being placed under his command. The fact that Roy is surprised she stayed in the military has nothing to do with this. He could have just as easily sent out a letter that said, "Hey, if Riza Hawkeye ends up becoming a CO, send her my way."
Either way, if Hughes was part of Roy's karass, he would not have died at that point. Simple as that. He especially wouldn't have died in the process of helping the Elric Brothers instead of Roy.
After that it would seem Roy's karass is his team but this is in fact a granfalloon. First of all, Roy hand picked his team. That's a sign that it is not a karass which is fate-determined. Next comes when Havoc ("Oh, Havoc.") gets crippled and disappears until act 5. He is still a badass and still supporting Roy in spite of his injury but his actual status as a karass member is clearly nonexistent since he can so easily disappear. The same could be said of Falman who doesn't even seem to go back under Mustang's command when everything is over and stays in the North instead (although I have no clue why).
On the contrary, during the great stripping-Roy-of-his-subordinates bit, Riza, while placed in the most dangerous, watchful position is also in the position that keeps her closest to Roy. As if keeping on eye on her would really deter her goals. Her position actually puts her at an advantage of finding out who Pride is and being able to arrange Mrs. Bradley's kidnapping, both things that assist in the goal she and Roy are working towards.
Obviously, one of the most important bits of their duprass is their shared backstory. Roy learned alchemy from her father, specifically learned flame alchemy from her (by seeing her topless; unrelated but always amusing) which is what lead to him becoming a State Alchemist, killing a bunch of people, and then wanting to redeem himself, his idealistic vision of the future was the reason she joined the military herself and then later why she stayed in to follow him, and hell, it's no coincidence that they re-met each other in Ishval when they were both at their lowest BECAUSE of each other. The whole thing reeks of fate.
Then there are about 1000 other ways they are a duprass:
* Roy's mentor is General Grumman, her grandfather (who she doesn't even seem to know is her grandfather since she said at her dad's funeral that she doesn't know her relatives).
* They have an elaborate secret code of signals and codes.
* Even without the code, Roy knew something bad had happened to her without any sign while on the phone with her.
* The fact that they openly say to each other that they don't want to live without each other and that if one of them dies, the other will off themselves.
* The fact that they are literally present at every awful thing that happens in each other's lives (or their collective life), like how Roy happened to be at her father's deathbed and happened to call her after she met Pride.
* They spent the final battle in each other arms literally working as one unit.
* Then there is the final picture of them. It's just of them. No other team members.
In fact, I think one of the best things that "Brotherhood" did with the manga (since there weren't many things it improved; it mostly took away) was actually the way it wrapped up Roy and Riza's story because in all honesty, the way it was wrapped up in the manga felt wrong.
In the manga, Riza is in the hospital talking to Rebecca about the cover up and the last thing she says is "The Colonel. His eyes." Meanwhile, Roy is sitting emo-y in a medical tent wondering what to do now that he has to retire when Marcoh is like, "Stone for better Ishval policies?" and Roy's like, "Deal."
"Brotherhood" seemed to acknowledge that this was kind of an odd way to end both their individual and collective stories. Roy being so inanimate just didn't suit him and why is Riza in an actual hospital when Roy is in a medical tent? Them being separated after everything that just happened seems really wrong (even with the epilogue photo that reiterates that they are still side by side years later).
In "Brotherhood" their ending is collective with them both in the hospital in the same room (is that allowed?; also good Riza wasn't in her sports bra like in the manga) with Roy actively working in spite of his blindness, particularly with Ishval policies before Marcoh even gets there. This came off as a lot more in character to me than the manga ending but I will attribute the manga ending to a lack of space to fully flesh things out or an excuse to include Rebecca one more time.
In conclusion, Roy and Riza = Most Triumphant Example of a Bokononist duprass.