On the topic of deaths in FMA (so, major spoiler tag right now for the FMA:B anime/manga) there’s one that’s just so well-constructed, so well-executed, and I’ve never seen anyone bring this up:
The Death of Wrath, Fuhrer King Bradley
It was Bradley who ordered and signed the extermination campaign in Ishval. And he did so unflinchingly. Partway through the war, the High Priest of Ishval offers himself up to Bradley in an attempt to end the war–one leader turning himself over to the other.
And Bradley, Bradley scoffs. He laughs at the notion that any one human life can be worth more than any other. He states that this priest’s life does not equal the tens of thousands of Ishvalans.
They curse him out. They tell him God will punish him. And Bradley invites it
He dares God to strike him down! He dares God’s Wrath to find him, and end him. But of course, nothing happens. The war continues. The Ishvalans die.
Then, we have Scar, who’s seeking vengeance for his murdered people. He does it in God’s name. He targets State Alchemists, because they are blasphemers. They distort things from the form God gave
them. They create, when creation is
the domain of God alone.
Al attempts to call Scar out on this hypocrisy later when
they battle in Central. Scar claims he’s working a loophole though. His arm
only destroys. He’s not encroaching
on God’s domain. He does not create.
Fast forward many many chapters. Scar is the final person to battle Bradley. And he finds
himself losing at first, even with Bradley as injured as he is. Then Scar pulls
out his trump card, gains the upperhand on Bradley, gains the advantage.
He’s tattooed his brother’s other design on his left arm. He’s
embraced the creation arm. Against
his beliefs, against his morals, against his creed, Scar has become one of the
blasphemers. He’s encroached on God’s
domain, because the magnitude of failure outweighed the sin of creating.
Bradley mocks him for this. He claims Scar must have finally
realized God is fake. That He’s a construction of humans, and the war has
finally broken Scar of his faith. If Bradley were right, Arakawa would probably
have him win this fight. He doesn’t, though. Scar beats him.
Scar, finally,
kills him. And he does it by embracing creation.
After countless attempts, after the train explosion, after Buccaneer’s death, after Fu’s death, Bradley remained alive. It was Scar, in the end, who got to kill him, and he succeeds in the face of Bradley claiming he’s surrendered his faith. So no, it’s not that Scar’s given up his faith.
Far from it.
By embracing creation, Scar has, symbolically, BECOME the
God of Ishval.
He creates. He destroys. He is nameless, yet acts in the name of Ishvala. He is Wrath. And it’s not just that “Wrath was killed by a wrathful man.”
Scar is the Wrath of Ishvala.
Bradley is killed by
the God of Ishval.
Bradley invoked the Wrath
of Ishvala, and he dies by it.
God did find Bradley, in the end. He was late on the invite, but He answered. Oh god, did He answer.
Even though this is one of the shortest scenes, I think, of the entire show, it’s one of my favorites.
On the surface, you think it’s just about Bradley: that his life is truly sad because he’s had absolutely no control over it from the second he was selected to be a potential Fuhrer candidate.
But if you read more deeply into the dialogue, Bradley mainly serves as a foil to Hawkeye’s character in this scene.
Riza joined the military academy of her own volition. She has her own goals to accomplish, her own motives, and her own reasons to keep moving forwards. The position she now holds is entirely based on her own decisions and actions, and on merit. Bradley, I’m sure, is somewhat envious of that. Because he’s really only a puppet. Father’s the one pulling all the strings. He hasn’t earned his rank or status or even his power, and he knows it. Hawkeye, in this regard, leads a life far superior to his.
But look at the way she reacts when he tells her that he was able to marry the woman of his own choosing. She freezes — stops what she’s doing entirely. Because no matter how pathetic or sad Bradley’s life is, he still has something that Riza doesn’t: the right to be with the person he loves.
That’s what this scene is really about. Bradley is telling her, “Pity me all you want, but I have the one thing you don’t — the one thing you want but can’t have”.
She and Roy don’t have the right to share “I love you”s at the end of the day. And he’s having fun reminding her that she can’t have him. He likes to drive the stake in her chest even deeper than it already is. (I mean, look at the way the bastard smiles in that last gif).
And honestly, he probably fucks with her feelings like this constantly once he appoints her to be his aide.
bullshit central 