History Headscratchers / FullMetalAlchemist

* Why the hell did Father bothered or allowed Amestris to have a Parliament ? Since there is one, even fi it's hollow, as Riza mentions it. The track of events would be weird. Has Amestris always been a Republic ? How Father could have ever been aware of this concept ? And given his contempt of humanity, using monatchy or autocracy would have seem more accurate. Furthermore, why did he bothered to conceal himself while he could have ruled as a living God (like a Goa'uld) and thus maybe achieving his goal faster ? So the point is, why Amestris is a ''dictatorship'' to begin with ?

* Wait I'm confused about Envy. [[spoiler: He's jealous of humans for their ability to move on from the past and work together. ... Wait, what? So homunculi can't do that for some reason? I mean, they all seem to work together pretty fine except for Greed going rogue. And they certainly managed to pull some fast ones on the good side even without Lust around, when Gluttony was being reborn, and when Envy was in a jar for a few months. How is he jealous of that facet of humanity again?]]

** Original poster here, and that still doesn't really jive with me. Gluttony and Lust seemed to have a friendship, and Wrath and Pride seem to have a good thing going [[spoiler: as King and Selim]], as Pride decided ''not'' to tell Father something Wrath said that could've been harmful to Father. Plus, though this might only be in Brotherhood, Envy got along fine with Lust and Gluttony during Envy's first appearance after posing as Cornello in episode five. If you ask me, he should be more jealous of his brethren.

** We can also take a cue from Sloth ''the fastest homunculous''. Big guy was capable but his name and character keeps him from making it big. Same with envy, he CAN make friends, but his character just keeps him from doing just that.

** Who said he didn't? [[spoiler:He spent the entire time of the series and before wandering around Amestris planting the souls in his philosopher stone in the country to create [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome a counter transmutation circle in order to send the souls of Amestris back to their rightful owners. He used the moon's shadow in the eclipse as the circle and his souls as points.]] It was the whole reason he left his wife and [[DaddyHadAGoodReasonForAbandoningYou his boys when they were young.]] He was already working to stop Father's plan even before the Elric brothers came of age.]]

* Does [[spoiler:Hohenheim]] use up some of his Philosopher's Stone in order to stop ageing?

[[folder:Was Wrath Suicidal?]]
* Why is it that when wrath goes to fight scar, around episode 57 I think that he does not use some of the philosphers stone the gold doctor was planning on using to possibly heal riza I mean they certainly dont need all of it to push mustang through the gate, as a homunculus wouldnt he be able to absorb some of those souls and heal? For that matter why doesn t he ask for extra souls like a week before the promised day?

* Why is it that when wrath goes to fight scar, around episode 57 I think that he does not use some of the philosphers stone the gold doctor was planning on using to possibly heal riza I mean they certainly dont need all of it to push mustang through the gate, as a homunculus wouldnt he be able to absorb some of those souls and heal? For that matter why doesn t he ask for extra souls like a week before the promised day?[[/folder]]

* Note that Pride was [[spoiler:begging for his life when Ed destroyed his Philosopher's Stone, and Kimblee had to correct him, saying Ed wasn't that kind of person.]] The homunculi's fatal flaw is that they underestimate humans, which is what leads to them being outsmarted several times, so they probably thought Ed would cave as easily as Marcoh did if given proper incentive. They pulled the same stunt with Mustang to attempt to get him to do human trasmutation by [[spoiler:putting Hawkeye in danger.]] Even if Ed decided to go through with it, he would probably have backup from Central to , who had taken control of Briggs on Bradley's orders, and maybe even the homunculi because there is no reason for them to hide in the shadows anymore. That would probably be enough to ensure he survived the battle.

** Also, the ClarkKenting is kinda justified in that they're specifically looking for a kid "with a red coat and braid," with no other description of Ed's ''actual'' features (you'd think the [[BerserkButton height]] and gold eyes would stand out more, instance). It looks a bit silly to the audience, yeah, but it makes sense when you take that into account. (I think Ed even starts actively wearing a regular ponytail to take advantage of this for a little while.)

** I think they refer to this, in chapter 44: "Mom is 'dead'. -- It's impossible to pull out something nonexistent from that gate..." (Translation borrowed from a scanlation because I don't own the books in English. In Japanese: "????????? -- ????????????????????????") The quotation marks are confusing. Interpret that how you like, I suppose. My dictionary translates ?? as "casualty" or "deceased".

** In-universe RealityIsUnrealistic? There's tons of sightings everywhere, and the legendary Fullmetal Alchemist is either a rather short DudeLooksLikeALady (it's true, especially from behind...)or a giant suit of AnimatedArmor. Say you're entirely unfamiliar with the show. Just who looks more '[[{{Pun}} full metal]]'?

[[folder:Armour walking around]]

* The one thing that bugs me the most about FMA is Al's armour. People are usually surprised to find out that there's no one in Al's suit of armour, but no one is surprised to see a suit or armour walking around among civilians. I mean; is it normal to wear armour outside of battle? And why would Hohenheim require a suit of armour? (we know it's his because he refers to it as his vintage armour). He was immortal post Xerxes' destruction and pre; he was a slave who was most likely not also a soldier. Rule of Funny? MST3KMantra? Better explanation?

** Wasn't that just in the first anime though? I kept looking for coins in the manga, but I just can't see them. I suppose it is possible that Arakawa made a mistake (I'd generally say that the entire chapter reeks of EarlyInstallmentWeirdness) and that she asked the team responsible for the anime to add the coins. But if that's not the case, then, as a poster above said, it's probably easy enough, which is why there's a rule against transmutation of gold. And presumably, the Silver Alchemist also manages to transmute materials that are similar enough to silver. It's probably just that in Amestris silver isn't regarded as valuable enough to make a law against it (but it's still special enough that Comanche got the title "Silver Alchemist" for being able to transmute it.)

* In the manga, why does father waste his time trying to absorb Amestris? he clearly has a good thing going and could simply focus on accumulating more souls through the country's constant wars.

[[folder:Fully armouring body]]

* In the Manga fight between Greed and Pride, why didn't Greed just fully armoured his entire body? He can't win against Pride but he can at least act as a shield for the rest of the characters involved in the fight. His nickname is the "Ultimate Shield", after all.

** Ah, that's exactly what Bugs Me. Greed cut off his ties with Father and the others, which meant that his stone can't be renewed anymore. Why doesn't he just go full-armoured the moment he encountered Pride, instead of just standing there, letting Pride getting free hits at the expense of his stone?

* Envy's seeming JokerImmunity. I was a bit bugged when he/she/it is able to trick May into taking him to be "healed" after he/she/it is destroyed to the point of being in the "evil fetus" looking true form. [[spoiler: Roy]] does this again, and the presentation seems to be IfYouKillHImYouWillBeJustLikeHim, [[spoiler: especially in having Scar talk about Roy's desire for revenge as consuming like his own]]. It just bugs me because there isn't any benefit for the heroes to keep Envy alive.

** Good point. I had forgotten about that scene a while back. Still, the IfYouKillHimYouWillBeJustLikeHim falls flat because it's simply not true.

** Think of it: [[spoiler: when you envy someone and hang out with people who consider said someone as much as a bug, you are likely to be the one to show more hatred for them. If you see, none of the other Homunculi treat humans as badly as Envy did]].

** Just a thought, but it might have something to do with Envy's shapeshifting abilities. Just like Gluttony was [[spoiler: a failed attempt to make a portal of truth]], and this had some effect on his physical form [[spoiler: i.e., his GiantEyeOfDoom]], the fact that Envy's innate ability was to shapeshift might cause their natural form to take on that of what we see. Father may not have had full control of what any of the homunculi looked like, each physical form depends on the part of Father that they were created from, except [[spoiler: Wrath and]] arguably [[spoiler: the first]] Greed, though the Ultimate Shield be this. Lust takes the form of a conventionally attractive woman, Pride takes [[spoiler: Father's original form]], Gluttony takes the form of an incredibly obese person, Sloth takes the form of an incredibly muscular person who is incredibly lazy, it may be that Envy naturally took the form of a parasite, because in some way that's what envy is. Also, Ling [[spoiler: was wrong about the homunculi being almost human. Just look at Father-the only reason Father takes Hohenheim's form is because Father already had that DNA and that form inside him. Otherwise, he'd just be a big ball of shadow.]]

* Why (in all the versions) did Shou Tucker experiment on [[spoiler:his daughter: with his wife]]? You could say that he was desperate to obtain results like the MadScientist he is, but later he was a State Alchemist. He could certainly have pulled enough strings to have homeless people, prisoners, or Ishvalians as guinea pigs. That would not have made him a nicer character, but experimenting on [[spoiler:his own daughter]] always seemed to be a very big IdiotBall.

** Actually it makes perfect sense if you step back a bit. Chimerae aren't unknown to alchemists generally, as proved by Greed's Pals. But they all were humans that were "improved" by splicing them with some animals. Tucker was made famous for making an intelligent chimerae ''without'' using a human for it. [[spoiler: [[FakeUltimateHero Which he didn't.]] He had to drag Nina because he couldn't go to the higher ups and say "Hey, I want to make another non-human-based chimera. Also, can I take some war prisioners? No, these aren't related". Though now that I wrote that I have to say, using [[MoralEventHorizon Nina]] for that was pretty stupid of him. He should've grabbed some homeless guy off the street or something.]]

** I believe Ling explained that he would simply bring the ''possibility'' of immortality to the Emperor and to get himself in his favor, then the Emperor would likely pass shortly thereafter while waiting for supposed further research into the matter. However just stating "i has an idea fur immortality" wouldn't be enough and he needed to have something like the Philosopher's stone which was a solid lead(Or May taking back the remains of a homunculus). Alternatively, Ling returning as an immortal himself would also make him a fitting candidate for emperor.
** Also, i can't remember the exact moment, but i'm pretty sure that at one point Ling says that his goal isn't to become emperor, but to gain favor for his clan, and ''maybe'' become emperor. I could be wrong though.
** He calls himself "future Emperor of Xing" plenty of times.

** I thought it was stated, at least in Brotherhood, that the Emperor of Xing was dying and they had already chosen a heir - presumably the eldest son, though given May's involvement possibly just the eldest child - but that whoever it was wasn't particularly well-liked. I think they believed that if they were to return with the secret of immortality then they'd curry favour with the rest of Xing and be elevated to heir. May or Ling, I can't remember which, does state later that the current Emperor of Xing wouldn't hesitate to use the Stone despite knowing what was in it, though, so maybe it's just discontinuity. Or maybe the whole of Xing is searching for it and they want to be the first or something. Or maybe if they got back before the death of the Emperor then perhaps they'd have had to give it to them but were searching for it for themselves.
** I've always assumed that the ''official'' mission was 'Find a source of immortality for the dying Emperor.' while the ''unofficial'' mission had 'that lasts just long enough to have you named heir.' tacked on the end. That's why Ling was still interested when Al told him about how his soul might leave the armour at any moment - if he could transfer the Emperor's soul into a suit of armour, it'd last long enough for Ling to become 'heir' and then wear out allowing him to inherit.

** Actually actually, he had ''several'' armors. The scene of Trish's failed ressurrection shows at least 3 different ones, as far as I recall. Also, the part when they meet again in the manga has Hohhenheim saying something like "isn't that armor part of my collection?". I always assumed he had them for purely aesthetical reasons, though.

* Why is the Roy Mustang/Riza Hawkeye ship known as RoyAi? It gets confusing, because Ai isn't in either Hawkeye's first or last name. Although it sounds like the last syllable in Hawkeye, but that would be RoyEye. I think RoyHawk sounds really cool.
** The word RoyAi comes from the Japanese characters of 'Roy' and 'Hawkeye' being combined, and the resulting sound is 'royai'. The correct spelling of this sound would normally be roiai, which is why occasionally you will see RoyAi refered to as RoiAi; however, most fans agree that RoyAi is a pun of Roy+Ai (the Japanese word for love).

[[folder: Were the high ranking officers [[spoiler: Indoctrinated from birth?]]]]

** No, it's perfectly possible and quite probable that her uterus was taken. She had a miscarriage or stillbirth (forget which) and ''then'' tried to resurrect the kid, making Wrath (in the anime). She had her uterus taken for seeing Truth, supported by her saying she could no longer have children. She probably also had some other organs mostly takne or mostly damaged, but if the liver, it's grown back by now, cuz livers do that.

** I always felt the implication was that the proper 'afterlife' was on the other side of the Gate. [[spoiler:The souls that are trapped in Philosopher's Stones are essentially in a sort of 'limbo' until their energy gets burned out on this side, before the soul is allowed to 'transmute' to the other side (which would still fall under equivalent exchange, but that's WMG).]] Still, considering the omake of [[spoiler:Hohenheim's death]], there is a strong implication that souls go SOMEWHERE after death, and being burned out and destroyed would violate the principals of equivalent exchange: the energy doesn't 'cease' so much as transition from one form into something else.

** Al's body is still alive and well, and there is a somewhat synchronized effect between the flesh-and-blood body that Truth is holding and the armor. Alphonse does feel pain because his real body experiences it whenever Al is getting pummeled. Unlike a JoJo stand, however, extreme damage doesn't harm the actual body. As for Al going out of his way to defend himself, just because he doesn't have to doesn't mean he likes the idea of being punched around.