Edward Elric

**Edward Elric** is the main protagonist of the *Fullmetal Alchemist* series. He fought Josuke Higashikata from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure in episode 3 of Mini Rumble Season 2.

## Description

At a young age, Edward and his younger brother Alphonse studied the art of Alchemy from the notes of their father Hohenheim. However, after their mother died after of illness, the two brothers swore they would bring her back, even if it meant looking into the most taboo of all Alchemy: Human Transmutation. When the two did the transmutation, it horribly backfired as Edward lost his left leg, and Alphonse lost his entire body. Refusing to see his brother gone, Edward sacrificed his right arm to transmute Alphonse's soul into a suit of armor.

Time after this event, Edward was visited by Lt. Colonel Roy Mustang who offered him the chance to join the military and become a State Alchemist as it could help him find a way to return him and his brother to their original forms. Determined to regain what he and his brother lost, Edward received automail prosthetics from Winry and Pinako to replace his missing limbs, and after passing the State Alchemist evaluation, he was given the title of Fullmetal Alchemist. Edward and Alphonse then traveled the state of Amestris to find a way to return themselves into their original bodies, while also uncovering the dark secrets of the state and the military.

## Trivia

* Edward's name means "rich guard", derived from the Old English elements ead "wealth, fortune" and weard "guard".
* As a State Alchemist, Edward technically held the rank of "Major".
* Though Edward is ambidextrous in combat, he writes with his left hand, likely due to the fact that his right is artificial.
* Edward greatly dislikes milk, either for its taste, the fact that it is "an opaque, white liquid secreted by a cow" or both. He does, however, greatly enjoy stew and marvels that something comprised mainly of milk can taste so good. It is often joked about in both the manga and the anime the reason he is so short is because he refuses to drink milk. Incidentally, Hiromu Arakawa grew up on a dairy farm as a child.
* Incidentally, Romi Paku is the seiyuu for Switzerland in *Axis Powers - Hetalia*. Switzerland is the brother of Liechtenstein, who is voiced by Rie Kugumiya, the seiyuu for Alphonse.
	+ She is also the seiyuu for *Bleach*'s Tōshirō Hitsugaya and *Shaman King*'s Tao Ren—both characters who, similar to Edward, are short for their ages and lose their temper whenever someone mentions it. She also voices Ken Ichijouji from Digimon Adventure 02, like Ken is Edward a acknowledged young genius with a close relationship with his brother, and has a soft spot for kids which inspires Edward to overstep his duties as a state alchemist and made Ichijouji become a detective specializing in finding missing children.
* Ed and Roy were referenced in episode 19 of *Lucky Star* along with two characters from *Phoenix Wright*.
* In all versions of the storyline (manga, 2009 and 2003 anime), Ed loses his ability to perform alchemy at the end of the series (albeit in different ways).
	+ All versions also end with Ed on a train, still having some kind of automail and being in peace with what happened.
* Ed keeps at least one automail limb at the end of each continuity.
* In both adaptations of the anime, Edward's atheism (which is commonly seen through dialogue in the manga both in English and Japanese) is removed from the English dubs of both anime adaptations. Edward's atheism still remains the same in the Japanese versions of both shows.

### MANGA AND 2009 SERIES

* In the volume 2 extras of the manga, Ed is asked how tall he really was. He replied that he was 165 cm (about 5'5") tall. However, this height also included his elevator shoes and hair antenna - his true height at the time was 141 cm (about 4'8"). By Chapter 84, he is shown to be taller than Winry, implying that he has at least attained his 165 cm stature.
* Though automail has its advantages, Ed is fully aware of its disadvantages as well. When there is a severe change in the barometric pressure, the joints of his left leg and right arm begin to ache. Additionally, it is speculated by Dominic LeCoulte that the weight of his earlier automail limbs was taxing his slight frame and contributing to his stunted growth; while this theory is unproven, Edward did not undergo any major growth spurts after his prostheses were swapped for lighter models, although he is seen with substantial growth after he regains his original (organic) arm and leg in the epilogue of the 2009 anime.
* As an avid traveler, Edward codes his own alchemy research notes in the guise of a travelogue. They are so well coded that not even his brother Alphonse can decipher them.
* Edward wears plain, unpatterned boxers, which are depicted as being light blue in the 2009 anime series.
* Edward is - as a direct descendant of Van Hohenheim - close blood kin to Father and all the seven Homunculi (though King Bradley can be a slight exception, as he is a human-based Homunculus but nevertheless still shares the close blood kin to Edward like the others). Additionally, Arakawa has jokingly confirmed that, in the manga, Edward (along with Alphonse) is technically uncle to the seven Homunculi, as he relates to them by blood.
* Due to his popularity, Edward won "Favorite Male Character" in the Twenty-sixth Annual Animage Readers' Poll.
* Edward has consistently been voted the series' most popular character in fan polls.
* The new Elric family photo bears a resemblance to the old Elric family photo taken with Van Hohenheim, Ed, Al, and Trisha, with Ed replacing Hohenheim (with a smile this time) and Winry replacing Trisha. Alphonse and May Chang are add-ins in the photo, as are and Garfiel and Paninya at least in the anime.
* Edward is one of only three people to have single-handedly dealt a killing blow to a Homunculus (the other two being Roy Mustang and Scar), coincidentally defeating the Homunculus Pride when he himself has been so prideful throughout the series.
* His father, Hohenheim, is the only person who was able to make Edward cry in the whole of the series, disregarding his childhood (wherein he felt grief over losing his brother after Human Transmutation).
* Edward has several character theme songs from *Brotherhood* albums, including: "Yume no Genseki", which means 'dream of a permanent home', sung by his seiyu Romi Park; "Determination", also sung by Park; and "Kurenai Tsuki" which means 'red moon', sung by Park and the seiyu of Alphonse Elric, Rie Kugimiya.
* Edward is the only known non-chimera character to ever be a member of Greed's gang (at least without sharing a body with Greed).
* In multiple episodes that show Edward eating a sandwich, the sandwiches have no crust. Implying he might not like crusts on sandwiches.
* Ed's original arm returning brings up some questions.
	+ Despite his nerves, blood vessels and tendons to it having long-since beem sealed off, when he gets it back, it functions without a problem.
	+ His automail shoulder was fused together with it, something illogical even for alchemy.
	+ Besides the atrophying of the muscles, the blood in that arm would have coagulated after all this time, unless Truth kept it in stasis so it was still fresh.