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.
IF SHE HAD WANTED TO SHOOT SHE WOULD HAVE DONE IT RIGHT AWAY. If she’d seriously not had any second thoughts, Scar would not have had time to make a dramatic speech, the fight wouldn’t have restarted, SHE WOULD NOT HAVE HESITATED.
but she was. She couldn’t bring herself to do it.
And Ed was worried about Winry. Not morals. Not Scar. Not his feelings. He says it right out to Riza “It was scary to see Winry in that much rage and pain. Suddenly the gun seemed like a horrible thing to me”.
If Winry had shot Scar, Ed wouldn’t have like *freaked out from the trauma of seeing the girl he had thought was innocent do what he could not* as I’ve seen suggested- for fuck’s sake, no. He would have pretty much jumped over Scar’s body to rush to Winry’s side to see if SHE was okay SHE WOULD HAVE DONE SOMETHING THAT KINDA GOES AGAINST WHO SHE IS OUT OF PAIN GRIEF AND HATRED and that would have been extremely traumatic- and Winry’s feelings are seriously all Ed cares about in this situation. All he is concerned about is Winry’s well being. because he fucking loves her and knows who she is better than anyone else on the planet (well maybe NOT her grandmother but WHATEVER I’M!!!)
This is not Ed making the decision that killing is wrong FOR Winry. He’s reassuring her that she is RIGHT. That she couldn’t kill and that is okay because she is this amazing wonderful person who has these skills that save people and bring life into the world, and THAT’S WHO SHE IS and he knows that because he is the greatest beneficiary of that, because he’s been by her side his entire life and he watches her and appreciates and marvels and thinks about her all the time even if he can’t show it as much as he should because he is a dumb goober.
This is a situation where a girl was put in the position where she wanted to do something that wasn’t in her, something she wouldn’t have been able to face and this is her love interest knowing that, wanting to be by her side, wanting to help her realize she is amazing and it’s okay that she didn’t do that and here’s why you’re amazing.
Scar wasn’t going after Winry. Ed was just trying to sheild Winry from further pain, pain he had inadvertantly caused- stupidly (as Al pointed out) but he was only thinking of Winry, the fact that seeing her like this scared him because HE KNOWS AND LOVES HER.
Winry has been an emotional crutch for Ed so many times- she’s taken on his pain, she’s literally gotten him back on his feet- now it’s his turn to be her emotional support, to assure her of who she is, to support her, to let her cry on his shoulder FOR HERSELF and not him- to feel pain on her account for once instead of the other way around. And Ed does this for her. He is her emotional support, he is the one to talk about what she means to him as a hero- the roles are reversed, and they should be, because a relationship requires both people supporting each other emotionally.
I mean seriously, why the fuck do you think Ed respects life so much? These principals didn’t pop out of nowhere. He respects it because he grew up entirely surrounded by women who nurture lives and save lives and honor life- WINRY WAS ONE OF THEM, there’s also his mom and Pinako! The Rockbells! They TAUGHT him these things! And so when he sees one of the women who taught him the value of life holding a gun, he knows it’s a sign she’s seriously in pain and shit is wrong and he needs to be by her side.
Winry Rockbell is a rockstar and it’s okay that she can’t cap a dude in the head and walk away feeling nothing because what she does and who she is is so much more valuable and stronger than that, and Ed knows this and supports this and he wants to be there for her
hat’s it that’s the scene if u don’t get it i have no time.
bullshit central 