[[WMG:[[center: [- '''Tropes for the ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'' Manga and ''Brotherhood'''''\\
'''Tropes A to F''' ([[BerserkButton/FullmetalAlchemist Berserk Button]], [[FamousLastWords/FullmetalAlchemist Famous Last Words]]) | FullmetalAlchemist/TropesGToP | FullmetalAlchemist/TropesQToZ ([[ShipTease/FullmetalAlchemist Ship Tease]])]]]]-]

!!Entries A-F

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:#]]
* TwoDVisualsThreeDEffects:
** Used liberally in [[spoiler:Envy]]'s true form. It is remarkably noticeable for its first appearances thanks to stiff movements, though it does get better as the series progresses. Administrivia/TropesAreNotBad, as it helps said form look otherworldly compared to everyone else.
** The fan at the start of Episode 21 is CGI-animated.
** An interesting example from a pivot shot from outside of a window in Episode 40 that is halfway towards averting the trope — the shot has the window and wall in front of the rest of the scene as a 3D model, but it's not only textured like any other piece of background art and done well enough to blend it almost perfectly in stills (it's very visually consistent in style with the 2D art), but it also rotates too smoothly during the pivot, and inconsistently with the other elements in the shot, which don't have any rotation frames.
*** A similar example is in the credits animation as well, with the shot of Winry walking down a corridor, which is entirely 3D-modelled. You wouldn't even think it's CG in sills due to how it's textured, but a close enough look at how it's animated ''barely'' gives it away.
** See also the car chase in Episode 44.
** [[spoiler: In Episode 61, where all the souls are returned to their bodies.]]
** The [[spoiler:Mannequin Soldiers]] in the foreground are animated in 2D like regular characters, but ones in the background use 3D CG animation during the many large crowd scenes. It's usually done fairly effectively, with the point in the crowd where they switch from 2D to 3D CG being hard to discern unless you're looking for it.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:A]]
* AbsurdlySharpBlade: Wrath's swords, shown to slice through a tank, bullets, artillery shells, and [[ArsonMurderandJaywalking glass bottles]]. Also Lust's absurdly [[WolverineClaws sharp nails]], which have given her the nickname The Ultimate Spear among her peers. Barry's giant meat cleaver can be considered, too.
* AccidentalDeclarationOfLove: Winry comments offhandedly she doesn't know why she's in love with Ed. He stops flailing around to ask her what she has just said, and she just brushes him off.
* AccidentalPervert:
** In a chapter in the manga and the corresponding episode in ''Brotherhood'', Winry walks into her room without noticing Edward already in there and starts undressing. By the time she realizes she's not alone, she's already uncovered some {{underboobs}}. She almost goes ballistic on him (and everyone else who comes in hearing her scream).
** At one point in ''Brotherhood'' Envy walks in on Edward, who's still naked after a shower. Neither of them is particularly happy about it.
* AchillesHeel:
** Alphonse's blood seal.
** [[spoiler: The Slicer Brothers and Barry the Chopper]] have this vulnerability as well. [[spoiler: Lust and Envy destroy the Slicers' seals, while Barry's seal is destroyed by his mindless former body.]]
** For Roy, being a fire alchemist, it's water, but only because it disables his spark glove. Since Roy's actual alchemy deals in flammable gases (like hydrogen), if you do drench him, you'd better pray he doesn't have a backup flame source, 'cause you just gave him a WHOLE lotta fuel for his alchemy.
* ActionGirl: Hawkeye, [[LadyOfWar Olivier]], Izumi, Lan Fan, [[LittleMissBadass May Chang]].
* ActionPrologue: The first episode of ''Brotherhood'' exists to introduce the primary cast all at once (versus gradually like the manga) in a concise, action-packed package. However, the episode's events are effectively woven into the narrative and used to foreshadow to-come events.
* ActuallyThatsMyAssistant: Al is not the Fullmetal Alchemist, [[ExpectingSomeoneTaller despite what people may think upon meeting him and Ed]].
* AdaptationExpansion: ''Brotherhood'' includes more scenes about Kimblee's hunt for Scar and a couple episodes of build-up to their fight on the train, whereas in the manga the only build-up is one scene of Kimblee being informed about a sighting of Scar.
* AdaptationDistillation:
** The first episode of ''Brotherhood'' has an extremely condensed callback to a bunch of story beats from the first anime, and brings back [[ParentalSubstitute Hughes' parental nature]] toward Ed and Al, which isn't looked into in the same way in the manga. Many chapters in the first few volumes of the manga (up to 4 or 6) are also either skipped or distilled due to the first anime detailing them at length (sometimes with animation that exactly matched the manga, and altered in Brotherhood possibly due to that) in its first 25 episodes, after which it pursues an original storyline, aside from some character cameos.
** The Ishval War arc flashback takes up a full volume (4 chapters) in the manga, but is streamlined into [[Recap/FullmetalAlchemistBrotherhoodE30TheIshvalanWarOfExtermination a single episode]] in ''Brotherhood'', with some key beats omitted [[note]] among them Scar and his brother's conversation about alchemy, Aurego providing arms to the Ishvalans but refusing to accept their fleeing refugees once the genocide began, Basque Grand [[UnfriendlyFire killing his superior]] for refusing the Ishvalans' surrender request, and Kimblee being assigned to kill Winry's parents only to discover Scar beat him to it [[/note]]. Some panels from the arc [[note]] such as Marcoh's head buried in his hands out of guilt or a hidden Envy looking gleefully at Kimblee's carnage [[/note]] were only animated as part of the third opening sequence, ''Golden Time Lover''.
* AdaptationPersonalityChange: Since the anime was more concise, a number of scenes from the manga were left out which led to certain sides of several characters being completely omitted.
** While being a SinkOrSwimMentor in both the manga and ''Brotherhood'' anime, Izumi never provides any help for Ed and Al's introductory TrainingFromHell in the anime. In the manga and 2003 anime, she sends her husband's assistant Mason to scare but ultimately watch out for the two.
** Hohenheim still hits the major plot points of his character arc, but many of the scenes portraying his CloudCuckooLander personality were cut out from the anime, which caused the atmosphere of his character in the anime to come across as much more somber and serious than in the manga.
* AdaptationTitleChange: The second anime is called ''Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood'', likely to differentiate it from the first anime despite following the plot from the manga.
* AdaptationalSympathy: Father's final fate is [[AlasPoorVillain more tragic]] in ''Brotherhood'' than it is in the manga. [[spoiler:In ''Brotherhood'', as Ed and co. watch him be absorbed by the Truth from within, he futilely declares he was only seeking freedom and knowledge. Then, before he's sealed away, he begs the Truth to tell him what he did wrong, still unable to see or in denial of his mistakes. In the manga, he simply screams at these moments. ''Brotherhood'' also includes a reaction shot of Hohenheim looking at his defeated former friend in pity as the Truth claims him.]]
* AdaptedOut: ''Brotherhood'' removes a couple scenes from the epilogue, such as [[spoiler: Hohenheim meeting Trisha in the afterlife or Al choosing to have his old armored body melted down into new automail parts.]] It also removes the train hijacking episode from the start of the series, which was a standalone adventure completely irrelevant to the overall story arc apart from introducing Roy Mustang and his team (which ''Brotherhood'' had already done in its original pilot episode).
* AerithAndBob:
** In Amestris, you can find people with usual English-sounding names like Edward, Roy, or Alex, more ''exotic'' ones like Izumi (Japanese), Olivier (French), Selim (Arabic), Winry (Welsh), Maes (Dutch), and Paninya (probably based on the Hebrew Pnina), and fantasy ones like Solf. Then there's plain wacky stuff, like Bido. Amestris is shown to have a number of different ethnicities living within its borders, and many of the "stranger" names are at least German-esque. And you also have Führer King Bradley; "Führer" is his title, "King" is his first name (not a title) and "Bradley" is his last name (not first name).
** There's also Hohenheim's birthplace Xerxes, which seems to be an ancient Persian FantasyCounterpartCulture though it may read as ancient Greek. Hohenheim knew a guy there named Collins; he also knew a guy named [[Film/{{Ghostbusters 1984}} Zuul]]. Though these people were slaves, and thus it's plausible they, or their parents, originated from a different nation and were captured and enslaved by the Xerxians(?).
** The author herself says that for most of the characters, she simply picked up a big book on names, opened it up, and selected a random name.
* AffablyEvil: Greed, Kimblee, and Wrath are all well-spoken and well-mannered to the end.
* AGodAmI: One of the main themes of the story, [[spoiler:not to mention Father's plan]].
* AlasPoorVillain:
** Hohenheim invokes this regarding [[spoiler:Father]] in the ''Brotherhood'' adaptation, standing solemnly at the site of the battle and reflecting on [[spoiler:how Father always used to talk about how he just wanted to be free from his flask.]]
** [[spoiler:Envy]] is DrivenToSuicide after the humans they always despised took pity on them and successfully guessed [[spoiler:their envy over the connections humans are able to form.]]
* AlchemyIsMagic: When alchemy is shown dealing with purely physical matter it behaves like SufficientlyAnalyzedMagic. Once it veers into the metaphysical realms of souls, Philosopher's Stones and immortality it becomes very much fantastical.
* AllAccessibleMagic: {{Alchemy|IsMagic}} is the discipline of transmuting matter into other sorts of matter without changing its mass. It normally requires [[GeometricMagic inscribing a ritual circle]] which serves to confine that specific alchemical transmutation to itself. Its application is considered to be essentially an advanced type of science, and alchemists act as a combination of wizards, scientists, researchers, spec-ops and military officers.
* AllDeathsFinal: Verified by Edward extrapolating from an offhand remark Hohenheim makes. Bringing back the dead via alchemy isn't just taboo, it's [[spoiler:completely and utterly impossible]], and any attempt to do so will result in [[spoiler:a completely unrelated soul in a completely unrelated body. Things that Truth takes don't qualify as ''dead,'' however, which is how Ed can successfully get Alphonse's body back at the end.]]
* AlliterativeName: Edward Elric and Alex Armstrong.
* AllThereInTheManual: The omake comics have revealed a few things, such as how flame alchemy really works — by changing oxygen concentration in the air so the spark from the finger-snap explodes exactly where it's needed. Of course, the technique's MundaneUtility is also revealed — making women swoon due to oxygen poisoning so Mustang can [[FallingIntoHisArms catch them]] and easily woo them.
* AllThereInTheStinger: There's a few, the most notable being Greedling attacking King Bradley in his home. This sets up the start of the following episode, which, if you missed TheStinger, comes completely out of nowhere.
* AlternateCharacterReading:
** The reading "Homunculus" (ホムンクルス) has been written as both "{{artificial human}}" (人造人間) and "the little one in the flask" (フラスコの中の小人). Fun fact: [[spoiler:BOTH ARE TRUE.]]
** The "Milos" in TheMovie's title is written as "hill of grief" (嘆きの丘).
** Kimblee's State Alchemist title has caused translation problems, given that the word ''guren'' means "crimson", but the kanji its spelled with (紅蓮) means "red lotus". This is accurate within the Japanese language as well, ''guren'' meaning "crimson" and "red lotus" simultaneously. He's alternately called the "Crimson Lotus Alchemist" by some translations and sources for that exact reason; since crimson refers to a darker red, it doesn't change the meaning at all.
* AmbiguousSyntax: Al tells Greed and his men they can't ask Ed about how his soul was bound to the armor because Ed is no longer here. He means that Ed has left Dublith, to take care of some State Alchemist business, and is surprised when Greed offers his condolences.
* AnachronismStew: The series is set in a fantasy world roughly equivalent to the early 20th century in terms of technology, but features technology from much later periods. Of course, everything that's anachronically advanced in this world [[AWizardDidIt can be ascribed to alchemy]].
** Automail is ''far'' more advanced than even the mechanical prosthetics we have now in the 21st century. An arm like Edward's is likely within the realm of possibility, but a ''LegCannon''?
** Inexplicably, [[TankGoodness tanks]] are decades more advanced then their real-world counterparts during the supposed time period, assuming this is an alternate pre-WWI Europe; they possess traits (i.e. medium models possessing turrets) seen in models that would only be churned out later in the 30s. Not that it helps them against Wrath's blades.
** Some of the fashions are decidedly ''un''-early-20th-century-esque, such as hoodies on various background characters, the prevalence of t-shirts as casual wear, and Winry's sneakers, crop/tube tops, and ''extremely'' short skirts.
** Though no one is ever shown watching one, the characters make a few offhand references to movies. Color photography also exists, indicating the movies would likely be more modernistic than the ones created in the real world's 1910s.
* AncientConspiracy: Turns out that [[spoiler:even the very creation of Amestris and modern alchemy were all part of Father's 450-year plan]].
* AndIMustScream:
** The fate of [[spoiler:the human souls used to make the Philosopher's Stone. Using the Stone up and consuming the energy of individual souls]] is very heavily implied throughout to be MercyKill. [[spoiler: Winry describes it as "being in a swirling mass of pain."]]
** Also the final fate of [[spoiler:the dwarf in the flask]] after the Truth gives him his own special brand of punishment: despair for the conceited.
* AndSomeOtherStuff: InUniverse. In Episode 2 of ''Brotherhood'', Ed exactingly lists the chemical composition of a human body (down to "silicon, 3 grams") just before his and Al's disastrous attempt at human transmutation. In the next episode, Ed rattles off the same list to Rose, but with everything less than 100 grams elided under "various other things".
* AnimalsHateHim:
** Once Father starts carrying out his EvilPlan, dogs in Amestris start barking like crazy.
** Hohenheim is also a target of this, as seen with the Rockbells' dog.
** It's also implied with Greed, when [[spoiler:the second Greed causes Den to go crazy barking]].
* AnimatedArmor: Al, of course. Also, Barry the Chopper and the Slicer Brothers from the Fifth Laboratory.
* AnimationBump:
** The scene of people fighting after Father Cornello is defrauded in Liore and its subsequent use as StockFootage is animated at a notably higher frame rate than other scenes.
** A dream Ed has early in the series, in addition to [[CatapultNightmare the first few seconds after he wakes up]], has slightly smoother animation than usual.
** Practically any action sequence similarly has a higher frame rate and budget — ''especially'' when Wrath is involved.
** When Ling [[spoiler: leaps down from above and shoves a bomb down Gluttony's throat]]. Possibly to highlight Ling's BadassNormal qualities in a fight largely between supernatural creatures and alchemists.
** When Ed [[spoiler: transmutes himself, Ling, and Envy to get the three of them out of Gluttony's stomach and meets Al's body at his gate, the sequence where he bursts back through the door he's being dragged through to promise his brother he'll come back for him is noticeably smoother and more realistic than normal to heighten the drama of the scene.]]
* AnthropomorphicPersonification: The homunculi supposedly each personify one of the Seven Deadly Sins. It's eventually revealed that [[spoiler:Father created them by giving them a portion of his personality, and that they are named after the "sin" they are created from]]. While Envy (in the end), Pride, Sloth, Wrath, and ''especially'' Gluttony and Greed all show their namesake sin in their personality, Lust never really acts lustful. This can be justified by her instead being an object of lust or exhibiting a type of lust most people don't think of: bloodlust.
* AntiVillain:
** Isaac [=McDougal=], The Freezing Alchemist in the first episode of ''Brotherhood'', is an unhinged ShellshockedVeteran who kills multiple soldiers. He's motivated by disgust over the genocide in Ishval. Anyone who's read the manga can easily see where he's coming from. He also appears to have figured out why Amestris invaded Ishval in the first place and pleads with Ed that the Amestrian government is planning something dangerous that should be stopped.
--> '''Isaac:''' [[spoiler:Have you seen the [[ExactWords shape this country's in]]?]]
** Greed, who has headed in the direction of AntiHero as well, doubling as a LovableTraitor and NobleDemon. He's going to treat his henchmen well because when word gets out that he's good to them, more people will want to work for him.
** Scar, to the people who don't see him as an AntiHero.
* AnyoneCanDie:
** Played with. [[spoiler: While the benefit of hindsight on a story/anime that ended many years ago reveals that most of the good guys make it alive to the series finale]], the death of [[spoiler:Maes Hughes]] and [[spoiler:Nina Tucker]] set an expectation to the audience at the time the story was ongoing that there were no guarantees on anyone's survival and even [[spoiler:an innocent child]] can die.
** This is actually PlayedForLaughs in the volume collections; at the end of each volume, the characters who died (and there's always at least one) are shown going up to heaven. Usually.
* ApocalypseWow: Chapter 104. [[spoiler:Father eats the souls of everyone in the country, turns into a giant, and then eats Truth. And then it all comes crashing down when it turns out that [[OutGambitted Hohenheim had prepared his own transmutation circle,]] ''using the moon's shadow,'' to restore the souls of the people of Amestris. It's not enough to thwart Father completely, but it's enough to prevent his apotheosis.]]
* {{Arcadia}}: The town of Resembool and the surrounding countryside.
* ArchnemesisDad: Played with thematically — the BigBad is called "Father" (and looks exactly like Ed's father), Ed has a very prickly relationship with his actual father, and the first villain in the story is [[SinisterMinister Father Cornello]], plus [[spoiler:Greed ends up on the side of the humans against Father, who is essentially his father.]]
* ArmchairMilitary: The few Generals that manage to receive a promotion that are sent to Central Command that are a part of Führer King Bradley's cabinet. [[spoiler:Many of which are a part of Fathers' Inner Circle as part of his plan to help him orchestrate future conflicts to complete the Nationwide Transmutation Circle by sending Central Forces to the locations in order to cause great bloodshed. With Father telling them that he'll grant these Generals with Immortality should they succeed in completing the Circle; [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness fully intending on disposing of them on "The Promised Day".]]]]
* ArmsAndArmorThemeNaming: All the military characters are named after actual planes, tanks, weapons, and other technology from World War I onward.
* ArtEvolution: Ed in the very first chapter looks rougher than he did in, say, Chapter 104, though this is at least in part due to him getting older.
* ArtificialAnimalPeople: Human-like Chimeras are made by taking a human being and fusing them with an animal using alchemy. Chimeras need a human base to be capable of speech, though this fact is a state secret.
* ArtificialHuman: The Homunculi.
* ArtificialLimbs: Automail (mechanical prosthetics) are common. Ed, of course. Also Paninya (and roughly half the residents of Rush Valley, which is renowned for automail production), [[ChainsawGood Buccaneer]], Bald, Den (a ''dog''), and later, [[spoiler:Lan Fan]].
* ArtisticLicenseChildLaborLaws: As the depicted era is around the time IRL when the movement to restrict child labor got started, there are some children shown working in jobs that would be prohibited from using child labor today, such as the Youswell mines. The lack of State Alchemists under the age of 20 before Ed came along wasn't due to any explicit regulations, but rather the fact that being good enough at alchemy to pass the trials required a level of education that most kids wouldn't have (essentially the equivalent of a post-graduate STEM degree).
* AscendedMeme:
** Fans started using the number 503 to represent the Ed/Winry pairing, based on a brand of jeans of the same number produced by a company called Edwin. In a later chapter of the manga, the creator gives a nod to this, as Ed is shown to be staying in hotel room 503 (though this is more of a ShoutOut).
** From the manga, people started calling [[spoiler:the second Greed "Greeling"/"Greedling"]] to tell him apart from [[spoiler:the original Greed in conversation, and because the human used to create him was called Ling]]. When Ed meets him again, he decides he's going to call him this.
* AsideGlance: Riza does one of these in Chapter 45 [[http://www.mangareader.net/full-metal-alchemist/45/37 in response to]] Roy [[LargeHam over-acting]] in response to Ed and Ling's plan.
* AssimilationBackfire:
** After [[spoiler:Pride absorbs Kimblee]], he is finally defeated [[spoiler:by Ed due to Kimblee weakening him from the inside]].
** The first time we see [[spoiler:Hohenheim and Father meet, Father tries to take Hohenheim's Philosopher's Stone. The souls in his stone, however, try to destroy Father from the inside out after being absorbed.]]
** Towards the end of ''Brotherhood'', [[spoiler:Father re-absorbs Greed and his Ultimate Shield power with it. Having been previously defeated by Edward Elric, who figured out his extreme defensive abilities are merely carbon-based, Greed decides to turn his powers in the other direction and turn Father's body into easily-broken graphite, allowing the heroes to K.O. Father for good]].
* AssimilationPlot: What the higher-ups at Central take Father's scheme to be.
* TheAtoner: Dr. Marcoh, Mustang, Hawkeye... in fact, many of the characters who were part of the Ishval war and regret what happened. Also Ed and Al, after their attempt of the taboo. And Scar. Redemption is a major theme of the story.
* AuthorAppeal:
** Hiromu Arakawa thinks men should be muscular and big, and women should be bosomy and curvy. That probably won't surprise anyone. Alex (an extremely buff man) and Olivier Armstrong (his curvy older sister) exemplify this principle. Specifically, in one of the omake in volume 12, she writes, "Men should be buffed and women should be vavoom!" This is apparently because of her rural Hokkaido upbringing--growing up among farmers who do tough physical labor every day shaped her view of what a good-looking body is.
** Even Edward isn't immune; despite his height problems, the guy's ''massively'' ripped, though not quite at the level of Armstrong. But still enough to make him smoking.
* AuthorAvatar:
** Hiromu Arakawa draws herself as a talking bipedal cow in omake strips. She also has a cameo appearance in this form in the original anime series.
** In the ''[[VideoGame/FullmetalAlchemistAndTheBrokenAngel Broken Angel]]'' and ''Curse of the Crimson Elixir'' games, the cow is a rare but powerful alchemic item. She runs around and bops enemies with an oversized pen.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:B]]
* BabiesEverAfter: Shown in the final picture montage of Chapter 108. [[spoiler:Ed and Winry have kids, while Falman is shown with children of his own]]. Even Black Hayate has puppies!
* BackForTheFinale: [[spoiler:Maria Ross]] and later on, Denny Brosh, though his appearance in the final arc amounts to nothing more than a cameo at the end of the day.
* BackFromTheDead: Repeatedly [[DefiedTrope defied]]. It's made very clear that resurrecting a person is impossible — even physically reconstructing a body won't work, because [[spoiler: that's not what human transmutation does. All you'll get is a totally separate entity that in no way resembles the dead loved one. You're creating a new life, not resurrecting an old one.]] The only case shown of this actually working was when [[spoiler: Hohenheim does this to ''the entirety of Amestris'' by out-gambitting Father's countrywide transmutation circle]], and even then it only works because his plan essentially [[spoiler:reverses the transmutation circle and returns the original soul back to its original body.]]
* BackToBackBadasses: Roy and Riza in Episode 57 of the anime.
* BadassAdorable:
** May Chang. Long range alkahestry is awesome! See also her miniature dwarf panda, Shao May. She mimics May's kung fu moves rather well, and she can swallow your fist whole in the blink of an eye.
** Catherine Armstrong. Sweet, quiet, demure, and throws pianos.
* BadassArmy: The Briggs army, who defend Amestris's northern border. Olivier boasts that every one of her men can fight a bear. [[spoiler:They get to show it in their near-painless takeover of Central, though they get downgraded to RedshirtArmy once Wrath arrives on the scene]].
* BadassBoast:
** Right at the beginning.
-->'''Cornello''': This time I will have to send you to God myself!
-->'''Ed''': Nope. God hates us. Even if we go, He'll just ''send us back''!
** '''[[CharacterCatchphrase THE ART OF BADASS BOASTING HAS BEEN PASSED DOWN THE ARMSTRONG LINE FOR GENERATIONS!]]'''
* BadassBookworm: The whole concept of being a State Alchemist. You're subject to the military's demands and can be sent to the front at any time, but your alchemy research is taken into consideration at every reevaluation.
* BadassBystander: When Ed reaches the engine of the hijacked train, he takes down one of the hostage takers but the other pulls a gun on him. At which point the coal shovelers, no longer being held at gunpoint, beat him into submission with their shovels. They even offer to help Ed retake the rest of the train, though he has them keep driving the train instead.
* BadassCrew: The gang Greed and Edward form later in the series. So badass in fact, that they're quite capable of taking on an empowered Pride.
* BadassFamily:
** Ed and his brother and his father are all talented alchemists.
** The homunculi and Father are related to them by blood so one can say that all of Hohenheim's family is Badass.
** The Armstrong family is also comprised entirely of badasses. Alexander Louis Armstrong is positively ripped, and can even hold his own against Sloth for a good while. Olivier Mira Armstrong is a no-nonsense general who shows no sympathy for physical or emotional weakness in others, and will straight-up murder your ass if you threaten her underlings. And little innocent Catherine can [[KillerRabbit lift a piano with]] ''[[KillerRabbit one hand]]''. This leads to the hilarious scene of Mr. and Mrs. Armstrong, Catherine, and their servants calmly leaving for a trip while Alex and Olivier are tearing the house apart over the question of succession.
* BadassInANiceSuit: Mustang tends to clean up nicely in a snazzy period suit when not in uniform, but the prize goes to Kimblee, easily being the symbolic VillainInAWhiteSuit in manga and anime with his pristine all-white suit, BadassLongcoat, FedoraOfAsskicking and [[RealMenWearPink pink]] ScarfOfAsskicking.
* BadassNormal:
** Hughes, Olivier, Riza, Havoc, Fu, Ling [[spoiler:before he becomes possessed by Greed]], and Lan Fan.
** If warrior monks count as normal, then Scar used to be one before he was given his RedRightHand.
** Sig Curtis, Izumi's husband. He's strong enough to toss Sloth, who's at least twice his size, high into the air despite being an ordinary human.
** '''BUCCANEER.''' [[spoiler:Cut down not once but ''twice'' by Wrath/Bradley, he lands the first hit on Wrath in the whole series by taking the sword [[MadeOfIron that he was impaled with]] and using Fu's almost-corpse as cover to stab Wrath in the stomach.]]
* BadassPacifist: Winry, the Rockbells, and Scar's brother.
* BadBadActing: Envy chastises Zampano for his bad acting [[spoiler:when Dr. Marcoh's group asks where Zampano found an Ishvalan boy (Envy in disguise), but Zampano turns out to be stringing Envy into their trap.]]
* BadGuyBar: The Devils' Nest, where Greed and co. hang out.
* BatmanGambit:
** Doctor Marcoh's plan to lure [[spoiler:[[AxCrazy Envy]] into a trap hinged on the latter being SO sadistic that they would most certainly come to Marcoh personally.]]
** Mustang's plan to [[spoiler:kidnap Bradley's wife. The High Command knew she was worthless as a hostage, and was willing to kill her to take down Mustang. Which gave Mustang the political capital to claim that ''the High Command'' were the ones launching the coup, not him.]]
* BattleCouple:
** Izumi and Sig Curtis.
** Roy Mustang and Riza Hawkeye have the "battle" part down, at least. [[MaybeEverAfter The "couple" bit is in the works.]] [[spoiler: It's now been outright confirmed by WordOfGod in the third art book.]]
** Ling fights alongside [[BodyguardCrush Lan Fan]] with spectacular results, but similar to the aforementioned Roy and Riza, the "couple" part is complicated.
* BeamOWar: Happens in ''The Sacred Star of Milos'' between [[spoiler:the Crichton siblings]].
* BeautifulTears: Roy lampshades the trope, telling Riza he'd like to see her cry again, as she had such "pure tears." This is kind of funny, considering she was pretty much a [[UnstoppableRage total]] [[BerserkerTears wreck]] at the time.
* BelligerentSexualTension:
** Ed and Winry.
** Averted with Roy and Riza, who are nearly always respectful, professional and conscientious towards one another, with the occasional very small, very subtle nod to their past.
* BemoaningTheNewBody:
** The Elric Brothers' goal is to find a way to restore their old bodies because of the consequence of their failed human transmutation. Edward lost his left leg, while Alphonse lost his whole body, and his brother had to sacrifice his right arm to bind Al's soul in a full set of armor. Al in particular suffers from his new body; while it's immortal to some degree and he doesn't have to suffer from human needs, it isolates him from others, since he can't eat alongside them and he can't sleep and thus spends the nights all alone while awake. In the end, [[spoiler:Al sacrifices his armor body to get Ed's arm right arm back, and Ed sacrifices his ability to use alchemy to get Al's body back, with Ed's lost left leg being a reminder of his sin]].
** In the manga and ''Brotherhood'': Zampano and Jerso hate the fact that they have been turned into chimeras. While they can shapeshift back between human and animal forms, they don't feel like real humans and want to find a way to get their old bodies back, which is why they agree to join Alphonse, Edward and their allies. By contrast, Heinkel and Darius actually like their chimera bodies due to practical reasons, and while they also join Edward and co., they don't have any interest to become fully humans again.
* BerserkerTears: Hawkeye combines this with a RoaringRampageOfRevenge when [[spoiler:Lust says she killed Mustang.]]
* BetaCouple: Roy/Riza, sort of. They're thick as thieves and don’t have any problem speaking their mind to each other (in contrast to Ed and Winry), though their relationship is not [[WordOfGod confirmed]] to be [[ShipTease romantic in nature]] until after the series’ end.
* BewareTheNiceOnes: After [[spoiler:Shou Tucker transmutes his dog and daughter into a talking chimera]], Ed beats the ever-living crap out of him and Al has to stop his brother from killing him with his bare hands. [[spoiler:Tucker]] takes this chance to gloat about having to dirty your hands to get things done. [[http://www.mangapanda.com/116-5191-33/full-metal-alchemist/chapter-5.html Al doesn't take to this very lightly.]] Considering his status as a GentleGiant GeniusBruiser, this isn't exactly the smart thing to do.
* BewareTheSillyOnes: After being the resident ButtMonkey for countless episodes, Yoki finally manages to do something important: [[spoiler:[[RammingAlwaysWorks ramming]] Pride [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu with a car]], saving Al, Marcoh and Heinkel in the process]].
* BeyondTheImpossible:
** Subverted. Despite what the Elric brothers thought before attempting human transmutation, you '''cannot''' [[spoiler: beat EquivalentExchange]], no matter what you do. [[spoiler:Not that will stop Ed and Al from WalkingTheEarth to do research into finding a new law at the end of the series, of course]].
** Played straight with Kimblee near the end. [[spoiler:He's capable of maintaining his consciousness after assimilation by Pride, and then holds him back from fleeing his body. The former alone is stated to be impossible and demonstrated as such by Father.]]
* BicepPolishingGesture: Armstrong, constantly. Sig Curtis joins in occasionally. In fact, that's how the two of them forged their friendship.
* BigDamnHeroes: Multiple times, especially in later chapters. Hohenheim even lampshades it.
* BigEater:
** Ling Yao and possibly Lan Fan. However, Gluttony [[ExtremeOmnivore tops them.]]
** By her own admission, Olivier may be one. When Mustang offered to take her to dinner, she replied, "Please. I'd eat you out of house and home." In ''Brotherhood,'' she claims that she would "eat [him] into bankruptcy," instead.
** Jerso and Zampano are shown eating a really large meal when Al meets with them during the last episode of the series.
** Ed himself; it's implied that [[spoiler:he has to eat both for himself and for Al, to keep his body alive]].
* BigFriendlyDog: Winry's dog Den and Nina Tucker's dog Alexander.
* BigGuyLittleGuy: Al and Ed. Translation from a 2006 interview: ''[[EnforcedTrope The reason Al is in a huge suit of armor is to make him a large-sized character, contrasting to the short-sized main protagonist]].''[[note]][[RunningGag WHO ARE YOU CALLING TOO SHORT TO BE A PROTAGONIST??]][[/note]]
* BigNo:
** Greed, [[spoiler:after killing Bido and getting his memories back]].
** Major Armstrong gets a few during his fight with Olivier in Episode 45 of ''Brotherhood''. They only add to the humor of the scene.
** Ed in Chapter 107, when [[spoiler:Al sacrifices his soul in exchange for Ed's right arm]].
* BigFancyHouse: The Armstrongs are a military family that used to be nobility, and their lavish mansion and estate reflects this. Mustang even jokes that Olivier can hide a whole battalion in there. [[spoiler:She eventually does]].
* BigScrewedUpFamily:
** The Xingese Royal Family is split up into fifty clans, all fighting for favor to become the next emperor of Xing.
** For that matter, [[spoiler:the homunculi]]. The eldest son tends to be a tad [[AloofBigBrother aloof]] and distanced from his siblings, and has [[ImAHumanitarian a fairly impactful of a way of showing it]]. The second daughter is somewhat [[CombatSadomasochist sensation-oriented]] and often [[LivingEmotionalCrutch forms unhealthy attachments]] to her siblings. The third child is a [[DefectorFromDecadence runaway]] and [[DefiantToTheEnd doesn't quite respect his father the way he ought to]]. The fourth child is [[AxCrazy a tad]] [[InferioritySuperiorityComplex unstable]], and deals with it [[DrivenToSuicide rather poorly]]. The fifth is [[LazyBum not really what one could call a hard worker]]. The sixth is somewhat [[PsychopathicManchild immature]] and [[DumbMuscle less-than-intelligent]], and [[ExtremeOmnivore has a quite an appetite]]. The seventh [[BloodKnight enjoys fighting]] [[TheBerserker perhaps a bit more than is]] [[GeneralRipper strictly healthy]], and [[HeroKiller doesn't really leave much of a positive impact on the plot]]. The father has a bit of a [[AGodAmI superiority]] complex, and his [[CruelAndUnusualDeath punishments]] [[OffingTheOffspring to his disobedient children]] may be considered [[OmnicidalManiac an overreaction at times]]. As a whole (with the possible exception of [[NobleDemon the]] [[AntiVillain third]] [[AntiHero son]]), they all tend to [[LackOfEmpathy shut off]] [[TheSociopath their emotions]], [[EvilerThanThou even for each other]]. [[{{Understatement}} Yeah]].
* BilingualBonus: If you listen to "Lapis Philosophorum" and manage to translate the somewhat-broken lyrics, you'll hear a few references to "sacrifice", "infinity of corpses", and "arm and leg". This refers to all the misery caused by the pursuit of human transmutation and the Philosopher's Stone (including Edward losing his own arm and leg)... [[spoiler:but it's also meant literally. Creating a Philosopher's Stone requires killing a large amount of people]].
* BishieSparkle:
** The entire Armstrong family.
*** "'''[[LargeHam These sparkles have been passed down the Armstrong line for GENERATIONS!]]'''"
** Ed gets in on it when he's being flashy in Chapter 45. He also gets it in May Chang's fantasies about him before she actually meets him the first time.
** In the manga, most characters seem to acquire the sparkles when they're either pleased with themselves or suppressing laughter.
** Sig Curtis gets in on the sparkling when [[spoiler:he and Armstrong defeat Sloth]].
* {{Bishonen}}: Parodied when May Chang imagines what the Elrics must look like.
* BishonenLine: [[spoiler:Father]] crosses this with a vengeance. He goes from bearded old man to [[spoiler:[[OneWingedAngel vaguely humanoid blob of shadows]]]] to [[spoiler: giant black version of one of the cyclops soldiers]] to [[spoiler:[[{{Bishonen}} teenage Hohenheim.]]]]
* BladeBelowTheShoulder: Ed can transmute his automail arm into one, and [[spoiler: Lan Fan's]] automail also includes one; Lust's Ultimate Lance is a variation, and similarly, Greed sometimes does this with his arm, using the razor-sharp claws he has in his Ultimate Shield form.
* TheBlank: [[spoiler:The Truth/the World/God (what Ed meets behind the Doors)]] is pretty literally a blank. [[spoiler:Except that creepy [[CheshireCatGrin Gluttony-esque grin,]] and occasionally some stolen limbs.]] If you look closely, you realize that it [[spoiler:takes on the shape (outline) of whoever it's talking to. This is spelled out when it finally confronts Father's original form.]]
* BlankWhiteVoid: any alchemist who opens the Gate of Truth is transported to a white void.
* BlatantLies: Olivier does it hilariously in Chapter 67, while speaking one-on-one with Raven.
* BlessedWithSuck:
** Sure, she's easily one of the most powerful alchemists ever, but in gaining the ability to transmute without a circle, and by extension kick the bad guy's ass with alchemy in a heartbeat, Izumi lost some internal organs and the ability to have children.
** In a way, even though it is portrayed as mostly a helpful and necessary power, alchemy in the long term is shown to be very detrimental to both those who practice it and those who don't, as alchemy is ultimately the main source of strife within the series. Alchemists by definition are blessed with suck. [[spoiler: May Chang reveals that this is only true in Amestris, where the Philosopher's Stone Father made is blocking the natural energy of the earth. Otherwise it would be powered by the natural energy released from things like volcanoes and earthquakes. This is why Father was able to stop Ed and Al from using alchemy while Scar and May Chang can still use their alkahestry.]]
** Being a State Alchemist is a pretty sweet deal... if you don't mind being a slave in all but name to a corrupt, ''ridiculously'' trigger-happy military dictatorship, and being viewed as a freak, sellout, or worse by citizens.
* BloodyHorror:
** Scar is a SerialKiller bent on revenge against alchemists. He can tear apart the alchemical makeup of his victims with an array tattoo on his arm, often leaving a bloody mess in his wake. The only real reason for him to kill the alchemists in such a bloody way, instead of disintegrating them completely and leaving no evidence behind, is the fear factor.
** It's pretty commonplace whenever Führer Bradley fights for him to PaintTheTownRed, as well. People are clearly terrified of him when he does.
** Ed and Al's teacher Izumi [[BloodFromTheMouth coughing up blood]] is played for fear for her condition. It turns out the reason is because she's [[spoiler:missing some of her organs after an attempted human transmutation.]]
* BloodIron: Edward makes a sword for Ling from the iron in the massive amounts of blood in [[spoiler:Gluttony's stomach.]]
* BloodKnight:
** Kimblee LovesTheSoundOfScreaming and took great enthusiasm in killing Ishvalans in the Ishvalan Civil War.
** Wrath, [[TranquilFury though he doesn't really look it]].
** [[AxCrazy Envy]] loves boasting about how pathetic humans are and how they were able to spread the seed of discord that started the Ishvalan Civil War.
* BoardToDeath: An event during the Ishval war described in flashback by both Barry the Chopper and Dr. Marcoh. A group of members working for the [[ArmiesAreEvil Army]] were involved in the operation to make a miniature Philosopher's Stone for combat use. When they went to the meeting to set this plan into operation, they provided [[MetaphysicalFuel the ingredients]] for [[PoweredByAForsakenChild the stone]]. [[spoiler:Dr. Marcoh was the one who carried this out.]]
* BodyDouble: [[spoiler:Father and Hohenheim. Quite literally.]]
* BodyguardCrush: Pretty much outright stated with Lan Fan and Ling. Strongly hinted at with Roy and Riza.
* BodyguardLegacy: Lan Fan and her grandfather, Fu, come from a family of royal bodyguards that serve Ling Yao's.
* BodyHorror:
** Virtually any biological alchemy has at least a ''bit'' of it, as well as the effects of the "rebounds".
** [[spoiler:Envy]] takes the prize. [[spoiler:Envy's ultimate form consists primarily of masses upon masses of human bodies otherwise compressed within themself, which explains their ludicrous density and weight. Envy's remarkably sloppy with them, too; if they bite down on their "tongue" a little too quickly, pieces will go flying off.]]
** Chimerae. They aren't born, they're ''made''.
** The horde of zombies splitting off from [[spoiler:Father]]'s body.
** [[spoiler:Father]], with [[spoiler:Greed's arm stuck mid-way in his face]]. And even then he takes on the heroes, while [[spoiler:Greed]] just tries to stay out of the way.
* BodyMotifs:
** Hands. There's a great deal of focus on Edward and Al's hands when they clap to perform alchemy, and if they're transmuting a platform or a shield they frequently make it hand-shaped. Most other State Alchemists have their transmutation arrays on gloves, gauntlets, or hand tattoos, and ordinary chalk arrays are activated by slapping one's hands down.
** There's a lot of imagery around backs when it comes to Roy and Riza, from their relationship (they frequently refer to Riza guarding Roy's back, metaphorically and literally, and him leaving his back ''vulnerable'' to her so that she can shoot him there if he abandons his principles) to the flame alchemy tattooed and then burned off of Riza's actual back. They also pull a BackToBackBadasses in Episode 57 of ''Brotherhood''. There's also a chapter cover where Roy is facing away with his squad arrayed behind him -- fans gushed over the symbolism of Roy silently asking them to follow or entrusting them with his back, but [[FauxSymbolism Arakawa admitted in a later note that she was just too lazy to draw his front]].
** When a person's mouth has the teeth drawn in detail, it is always bad news. First there is Truth's overly wide smile that exposes all the teeth in his mouth before taking the "toll." Gluttony's detailed teeth are shown whenever he's about to indulge his HorrorHunger, and the mannequin soldiers don't even seem to have lips -- their weapon ''is'' their big, flat teeth. The gold-toothed doctor also has a perpetual grin not unlike Truth's.
* BoisterousBruiser:
** Barry is the dark side of this in the manga, along with AxCrazy and a dose of HeroicComedicSociopath.
** Major Armstrong! '''[[RunningGag His boisterousness and musculature]] [[CharacterCatchphrase have been passed down the Armstrong line for generations!]]'''
* BookEnds:
** The story begins and ends with Edward fighting against men who are known as "Father", although in the first case he's fighting Father Cornello's chimera. Edward also crafts a spear in both battles. The first [[TheWorfBarrage misses]], but the second meets its mark. Finally, take a look at [[http://www.mangareader.net/116-5187-52/full-metal-alchemist/chapter-1.html Ed at the end of Chapter 1.]] Now, take a look at him at [[http://www.mangareader.net/116-51515-68/full-metal-alchemist/chapter-107.html end of the penultimate chapter.]] He even says [[MeaningfulEcho practically the same line]]:
-->'''Ed''': [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome "Come down/get up, you third-rate fraud. I'll show you there's no comparison between us!]]
** Look at the first and last pages of the manga. They are practically the same, and it is implied that they take place at train stations. There's only two key differences: in the first, we see Ed and Al arriving; in the last, we see Ed leaving. Also, we get to see how much Ed has progressed ([[CharacterDevelopment both physically and mentally]]) from the beginning to the end of the series, with bonus points for making sense both in-story and in a meta kind of way.
** [[spoiler:Father's punishment by Truth]] mirrors the first time Ed opened the Gate. Truth even uses the same words that it said to Edward.
** When Ed and Al fight Scar for the first time, [[spoiler:Al's armor and Ed's arm are broken. The same thing happens in their final fight against Father. They end up in a similar situation as well: Al is unable to move and is screaming to his brother, who is helpless.]] Bonus points for having this show how much Ed's developed. [[spoiler:The first time, he gave up in an attempt to save his brother's life. The second time [[{{Pun}} he just keeps kicking.]] ]]
** Scar's quest for revenge begins when [[spoiler: he wakes up and suffers a FreakOut that leads to him killing the Rockbells, followed by him discovering that Ishval has been destroyed. It ends when he he wakes up, doesn't suffer a FreakOut, doesn't kill the similarly blonde haired and blue eyed Olivier, and is instead offered a chance to rebuild his people.]]
** The poses of the family members in the portraits of Hohenheim, Trisha, Ed, and Al are largely identical to the one shown [[spoiler:at the end of the series with Ed, Winry, and their kids. They differ significantly in the expressions of the father and elder child in each. Hohenheim is crying while holding young Ed by the armpits, while Ed cradles his unnamed son while wearing a shit-eating grin that his son imitates.]].
* BrainsAndBrawn: Subverted with Ed and Al. Superficially they appear to embody this trope, but as it turns out, Ed is a BadassBookworm and Al is a GeniusBruiser.
* BrattyHalfPint: "WHO DID YOU CALL A SUPER MINI SHRIMP YOU'D NEED A MICROSCOPE TO SEE!??!!?!?" [[RunningGag "THAT'S NOT WHAT I SAID!"]]
* BravingTheBlizzard: [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] when Alphonse is tasked with braving the blizzard during [[spoiler:Winry's rescue mision]] as he is the only one capable of doing it due to his metal body.
* BreadEggsMilkSquick:
-->''"More like a joke than gossip... [[CuteKitten Scar feeding cats]], undying humans, [[spoiler:King Bradley is a homunculus]]..."''
** Watch closely, in both the manga and the anime, the episodes during and possibly just before The Devil's Nest. If you read the sign outside (and also the board on the wall inside) you will see a list of meats available:
--->Chicken\\
Beef\\
Pork\\
'''Mammoth'''
* BreakingTheFourthWall:
** Throughout the manga, there are extra comics about the characters reactions and hopes about a popularity poll. This includes discussions about how much 'screen time' they've had in recent chapters and at one point Scar using alchemy to blow up the author when he reads that he has tied with her way low on the poll.
** And the side story where Ed and Mustang have a fight. (This is omitted in ''Brotherhood,'' presumably due to being covered in the 2003 anime.)
---> '''Hughes:''' We don't have many pages left, so let's get it going!
** In ''Brotherhood'', after ending a call with [[spoiler:Zampano]], Envy laughs evilly and proceed to look ''directly at the viewer'' while announcing their enthusiasm. In the manga, while Ed desperately attempts to cover up after Envy walks in on him in the showers, they express their annoyance by telling him that they aren't in a manga.
---> '''Envy:''' Stop acting like you're in a manga.
* BreakTheCutie:
** The Elric brothers most prominently, with Winry trailing not far behind.
** Riza's in there somewhere too, if you take the time to think about her [[BackStory Back]] [[{{Pun}} Story]].
** Rose hopes and prays that Father Cornello could bring her boyfriend back, and the Elric brothers prove her wrong. Good thing it happens that soon and not later...
* BreakThemByTalking:
** The Homunculi positively love doing this, especially Envy, Lust, and Wrath.
** Kimblee, being a [[TheSociopath sociopathic]], [[MadBomber mad bomber]] of a [[ThePhilosopher philosopher]], gives out a fair share of his own to various characters. More than anyone in this series. Kimblee always, ALWAYS has the last word in any philosophcal/moral debate, shutting up even the main protagonists. The only way anyone manages to quiet him down is to [[spoiler:''rip his throat out'']]. But wait! [[spoiler: even when [[DyingMomentOfAwesome DEAD]] he manages to deliver one last [[TalkingTheMonsterToDeath brain-breaking statement to Pride that leads to his utter defeat.]] Take that!]]
** [[spoiler:Envy [[TalkingTheMonsterToDeath had a taste of]] [[DeathByIrony their own medicine in the end]]]].
** There was one (plus KneelBeforeZod) even on ''an episode preview'':
---> ''"Poor, confused humans: feel this suffering, for it is proof that you are alive. Then, with both hands on the ground, kneel before me."''
* BreathlessNonSequitur: While Winry is working on Ed's arm, she asks herself why she had to fall for such an idiot.
-->'''Ed:''' What?\\
'''Winry:''' Nothing.
* BroughtDownToNormal:
** [[spoiler:Ed is stripped of all of his alchemical abilities in exchange for retrieving Alphonse from Truth.]]
** [[spoiler:Ling. After [[NobleDemon Greed's]] HeroicSacrifice, the homonculous is now gone from Ling's mind and so Ling no longer has his powers.]]
** [[spoiler:Pride counts as well, having been reduced to the form of a powerless toddler after his "container" was destroyed. His memories were presumably erased in the process and Mrs. Bradley is now raising him as a human child. It's unclear if the power loss is permanent, though. An omake, however, jokes that he both retains his memories and his powers, but seems to have had a change of heart.]]
* BunnyEarsLawyer: Maes Hughes is either this or ObfuscatingStupidity. Major Armstrong is arguably a more extreme case being a LargeHam and an utter badass.
* TheBusCameBack: In this case as an [[spoiler:ice cream truck. Full of weapons.]]
* ButForMeItWasTuesday:
** Yoki is furious when he catches up to the Elrics and they can't remember the time they ousted him from his position controling a mining town.
** Defied by Kimblee, who remembers everyone he kills. It's actually a matter of both pride and principle with him, and is probably his only redeeming character trait. He feels that if he is going to do terrible things to people, he has the responsibility of taking his opponents/victims seriously and showing them respect by never averting his eyes or forgetting what he does to them, so as not to devalue their existences. A perfect example of this is when he instantly recognized Scar, where he saw him last, and recounted specific details of their encounter and Scar's accompanying family members, all this despite only taking, at most, 10 seconds to target them all and perform the necessary transmutation to blow them all to hell.
* ButtBiter: Den chomps down on Heinkel (Darius in ''Brotherhood'') when it appears that the two are intruders trying to hurt Winry.
* ButtMonkey: Yoki. Almost every scene after his intro is comic abuse.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:C]]
* CallBack:
** In the final chapter, Ed and Al relate their reasons for [[spoiler:searching for another rule to replace Equivalent Exchange and going wandering again]], and there's only two: to repay all their friends' kindness, and because neither of them ''ever'' forgot about how [[spoiler:not being able to save Nina]] felt.
** In Episode 33 Scar stabs Kimblee in the stomach with a pole. Kimblee gives an inspiring rant about how being close to death is exhilarating for killers. Less than a dozen episodes later, [[spoiler: Kimblee blows up the building he and Ed are fighting, and Ed winds up getting stabbed in the same place with a girder. He uses his soul as a Philosophers' Stone to heal it, saying that if he's going to show mercy he'd better get used to paying the price.]]
** The first chapter ends with Ed unsheathing his automail and challenging Cornello with a BadassBoast: "Face me you third-rate fraud! I'll show you there's no comparison between us!" The penultimate chapter ends with Ed paraphrasing these words during his battle with [[spoiler: [[BigBad Father:]]]] "Get up, you novice! I'm about to show you how outclassed you really are!
** In the final chapter of the manga, [[spoiler: before tackling the Elric brothers to the ground, Winry retorts that she keeps asking them to call before heading over,]] a comment she yells at Ed when we first see him go get repairs.
* CallingTheOldManOut: Ed doesn't let Hohenheim forget that he abandoned their family for seemingly no reason.
* CameBackStrong: Ed and Al both nearly die when they try to resurrect their mother. They barely survive and gain the ability to use alchemy without circles, and Al is literally {{made of iron}}, though that does have its own drawbacks.
* CameBackWrong: Regarding Ed and Al's mother, Trisha, and [[spoiler: Izumi's child.]] All three alchemists invoked the human transmutation ritual to discover they had paid a "toll" from their bodies and that there was a grotesque mass of flesh, bones and organs left in the circle. All three were burdened with extreme guilt at the feeling that they somehow got ritual wrong and caused their loved one to suffer and die twice. [[spoiler: As the story progresses this trope is subverted as they learn it's not possible to resurrect the dead because the soul is beyond equivalent exchange, the hideous form left in the circle was a mockery transmutation of the raw ingredients used for the ritual and that their loved ones were spared the trauma of a failed transmutation.]]
* TheCameo:
** Dante from the first anime appears as an elderly woman in Episode 58 of ''Brotherhood''.
** Izumi and Sig Curtis appear at the train station in Episode 9 of ''Brotherhood'', which takes place several episodes before Ed and Al actually visit them.
** At the start of the series, when Ed and Al run through a train station in order to catch a train, the camera pans over wanted posters of Scar, Yoki and Greed, with the only one of the three who had been properly introduced at that point being Scar.
* CampfireCharacterExploration: ''Interlude Party'' is a subversion. The episode is a RecapEpisode from Hohenheim's point of view, and the viewers get insights into his past and his philosophy on humanity. He's not actually sitting around a campfire with Pinako, though. It's AllJustADream. Possibly has shades of PinkElephants, given some of the stranger elements of the episode and the empty bottle of whiskey next to Hohenheim when he wakes up at the end of the episode.
* CannibalismSuperpower: Pride devours [[spoiler:Gluttony to replenish his own Philosopher's Stone and gains Gluttony's sense of smell and unending hunger.]]
* CantKillYouStillNeedYou: The Elrics are a severe thorn in the side of the Homunculus, but they can't kill them because [[spoiler:the Elrics have both seen the Gate, they need five such alchemists in order to perform the nation-wide transmutation, and they don't have any extras.]]
* CarFu: ''[[DirtyCoward Yoki]]'' uses a car to [[spoiler:ram Pride]], saving several people in the process.
* CastFromHitpoints: The Philosopher's Stone is a variation, [[spoiler:allowing transmutations to be powered by nothing more than the human souls stored within. Ed later uses what he's learned to [[CastFromLifespan sap at his own lifespan]] to heal mortal wounds.]]
* CastingAShadow: Pride's ability.
* CastOfSnowflakes: Arakawa is practically the manga queen of this trope, with every character having a distinct design, even in crowds.
* CentralTheme: The series had eight major themes overall:
** EquivalentExchange.
** ThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow.
** [[AGodAmI Human beings (or human-like entities) reaching for godhood and the price of power.]]
** [[ThePowerOfFriendship The power of one person vs the support his friends provide him]].
** Accepting loss.
** WarIsHell.
** [[TheAtoner Atoning for one's actions]].
** Growing from your mistakes, summarized by Ed's "there's no such thing as a painless lesson" closing speech.
* CerebusRetcon: Ed's short stature gets used for comic characterization for most of the manga. Then [[spoiler:it turns out he hasn't grown since the disastrous ritual because Al's body on the other side of the Gate is drawing nourishment from his to survive.]]
* CerebusSyndrome: The show has a severe drop in lightheartedness about 1/4 in when [[spoiler:Hughes is murdered]], with jokes becoming even rarer leading up to the conclusion.
* ChainsawGood: Buccaneer, a captain in the Briggs brigade, has several different automail arms he goes through, one of which is the "Crocodile", basically a chainsaw with a serrated clamp over it.
* CharacterCatchphrase:
** "This [object/ability] has been passed down the Armstrong line for generations." It's not even exclusive to the Major -- Olivier also uses it, after Sloth kills the officer she'd been keeping hostage:
---> '''Olivier:''' Hmpf... I suppose I should be grateful to you, homunculus. You spared me from having to stain, with the blood of that coward, this cherished blade that has been passed down the Armstrong line for generations!
** Also, whenever Ed is insulted (or when he thinks he is being insulted): Who are you calling a ___ smaller than a ___!
** Izumi's "Just a housewife" replies could count.
** Gluttony's perpetual question [[ExtremeOmnivore "Can I eat him?"]]
** Sloth's: "What a bother..."/"Such a pain..." in ''Brotherhood.''
** Al's "Nii-san!/Brother!". Just count how many times he says it per episode.
* CasualDangerDialogue: Happens on occasion.
** One especially entertaining example occurs between Ling and Greed, during the battle with Gluttony in the woods.
---> '''Greed''': HAHAHAHAHAHAHAA! Oh, ''man!'' You're really kicking ass! And where did you get that girl? You been hiding her all this time?
---> '''Ling''': Oh, you know me. I'm full of surprises. *slams Gluttony into the ground*
* CharacterDevelopment: The Elric brothers mature a lot over the course of the story. Ed even looks older and tougher as the story goes on. Winry, Scar, Hohenheim, Roy, Ling and a few others also get a lot of development.
* CharlesAtlasSuperpower: The animation in ''Brotherhood'' really helps drives these examples home.
** In a series where the actual weapon-to-weapon, fist-to-fist fighting is done very realistically, there's Giolio Comanche the Silver Alchemist. Just before Scar gets his hands on him, he pullls off a strange, non-alchemic attack that lets him spin around like a top and defy gravity. He has full control over this move as shown when he hovers in place for several seconds.
** All you have to do to give a rotting human body the ability to dodge hails of bullets is jam an animal mind into it. Barry the Chopper's body is the example here.
** Armstrong is able to take hits from Sloth, a homunculus who is strong enough to lift tanks and can charge in straight lines faster than the eye can follow. In another instance, a human/bull hybrid scrapes him along a wall for twenty feet with enough force to crack stone, but only manages to give him a minor cut above his eye. There also seems to be no limit to the weight he can lift. It's worth noting that his whole family is like this to a greater or lesser extent, which may make this an example of extremely good genetics. Puts a whole new spin on the whole "This method of ______ has been passed down the Armstrong line for generations!" thing...
* CheerfulChild: Nina Tucker and Elicia Hughes. [[spoiler:Really too bad it resulted in BreakTheCutie for both of them: Nina ended up being fused with her dog, Alexander, resulting in Scar's MercyKill; as for Elicia, we have her father's [[DisconnectedByDeath murder in a phone booth]].]]
* ChekhovsBoomerang: Kimblee's Philosopher's Stone. He gets it during Ishval, uses it as a bribe for Edward to attack Briggs (he refuses), and loses it while fighting Ed. Heinkel picks it up after the fight and, about 15 chapters and a few in-story months later, gives it to Alphonse to help him fight Kimblee and Pride Toward the end of that fight, Al gives the Stone to Dr. Marcoh, who heals the wounded Heinkel, who proceeds to [[spoiler:finish Kimblee.]] It seems like a well-used ChekhovsGun, but the stone has a return in the final chapter: [[spoiler:being used by Dr. Marcoh to get Mustang's sight back and fix Havoc's paralysis.]]
* ChekhovsGun:
** In ''Brotherhood'', just after losing [[spoiler:the 50 million Amestrian souls]], Father launches an orb of energy that Hohenheim deflects into the roof. It's briefly shown shooting up past Wrath and Scar, opening another hole in the roof of the room they're fighting in. [[spoiler:Later in their fight, Wrath is blinded by the reflection of the sun shining through that hole, giving Scar a chance to kill him and give the rest of the heroes the chance they needed to fight Father.]]
** Remember when Hohenheim [[spoiler:put some of his Philosopher's Stones in the earth]]? Well, they finally found their use.
** After Olivier wins over the inheritance of the Armstrong family, Roy visits their estate, and jokingly remarks to her that she could [[spoiler:hide an entire battalion]] inside the mansion. [[spoiler:Guess what they do with the Briggs soldiers for the uprising in Central?]]
** Remember that lighter in Episode 19? Neither did [[spoiler:Lust.]]
** In the final chapter, the [[spoiler:Gate of Truth]]!
** Subverted by Ed during the WhamEpisode in [[spoiler: Father's lair.]] Hawkeye had given him a gun to use a few chapters earlier, but his ThouShaltNotKill policy prevents him from using it. Even when he pulls it on [[spoiler: Envy, who has a HealingFactor, he sees the [[BodyHorror Xerxians on Envy's body]] and can't bring himself to shoot.]]
** Ed picturing his soul as a Philosopher's Stone to heal his mortal wound in Episode 41? [[spoiler:Guess how he manages to take down Pride?]]
** Scar's brother's research on reconstruction? [[spoiler:Guess how Scar takes down Wrath?]]
** Al's ''transmutation circle blood seal?'' [[spoiler: Yeah, guess where that comes in handy…]]
* ChekhovsGunman:
** In ''Brotherhood'', the events of Chapter 3 are only given a very brief mention in Episode 4.
** At the ruins of Xerxes, Ed recounts the "folk tale" about the SoleSurvivor of Xerxes traveling to the recently-established Amestris to teach their citizens the art of alchemy (heavily implied to be [[spoiler: Father]]), and Fu responds that, in Xing, they have a similar legend about this man as a sage from the west who taught them the alchemy that evolved into modern-day alkahestry. Later, we find out that said man is [[spoiler:Hohenheim]].
** An unnamed alchemist with a gold tooth [[spoiler:is the one who oversaw the creation of King Bradley, and in fact was the very person injecting the Philosopher's Stone into the young man, back in Chapter 53]]. Later, [[spoiler:due to being skilled at using Philosopher's Stones to heal, he's employed by Central to patch up Kimblee]] halfway through the story. Then he's found [[spoiler:sitting right at the center of the labyrinth at HQ, about to "get this show on the road" in Chapter 98,]] roughly two real-life ''years'' later.
** Remember the candidates who [[spoiler:didn't get a chance to be injected with the Philosopher's Stone in the effort to create Wrath? You didn't think they'd disappeared, did you?]]
** In another of the final chapters [[spoiler:Kimblee is revealed to still be distinct within Pride's stone. What's more, he manages to return and make an unexpected HeelFaceTurn of sorts and help Edward finally defeat Pride.]]
* ChekhovsSkill:
** Ed noticing that Greed's shield is made of carbon, and transmuting it into graphite to bring Greed down. [[spoiler: He uses the exact same technique to beat up Father, after Father consumes Greed.]]
** [[ButtMonkey Yoki]], [[TheLoad of all people]], displays this. When on the run from Kimblee through an abandoned mine (Chapter 70), his experience as the former head of a mining town (from Chapter 3) allows him to read tunnel maps to allow his group to reach safety without getting horribly lost. In this manga, that's a LONG time for a callback.
** Rabbit snare traps also are an example of this trope. [[spoiler:Ed and Al develop the skill during their month-long isolation that starts their training with Izumi. Ed uses his damaged and detached automail arm as bait to catch Lan Fan in a snare trap. Likewise, this inspires her to use her severed arm as a diversion against a pursuing Wrath.]]
** In Episode 41 Ed gets [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice stabbed with a girder]]. However, instead of dying, he learns that he can [[CastFromLifespan use his soul as a Philosopher's Stone to heal himself.]] [[spoiler:During the final battle, uses the technique again to invade Pride's soul and tear him apart.]]
* CheshireCatGrin:
** The Truth.
** Greed, Envy, Gluttony, and Kimblee also fit this trope a lot of the time.
** [[spoiler:Pride]]. ''Multiple'' grins simultaneously, even.
** [[spoiler:Father]] also had this, back when [[spoiler:he was a dwarf in a flask, pre-countrywide transmutation on Xerxes]].
* ChessMotif: "''My pawn, my knight, my rook, my bishop and my queen...''" Mustang uses one of these terms as a codename/nickname for each of his five loyal subordinates, with himself as the king. Fuery is the pawn, Havoc is the knight, Breda is the rook, Falman is the bishop, and Riza is the queen. When [[spoiler:Bradley breaks up the group, sending the men to distant outposts and making Riza his own assistant in order to hold her hostage for Mustang's good behavior, Mustang pulls the pieces out of the chess box slowly and laments their loss.]]
* ChewingTheScenery: Everybody does it at least once.
** "KIMBLEEEEEEEEEEE!!"
** "DON'T CALL ME SMALL!"
** [="…HohenHEIIIIIIIIIIIM!"=]
** "THIS [[LargeHam HAMMYNESS]] HAS BEEN [[CharacterCatchphrase PASSED DOWN THE ARMSTRONG LINE FOR GENERATIONS]]!!
* ChildhoodFriendRomance: Ed and Winry; the latter was the GirlNextDoor growing up.
* ChildhoodMarriagePromise: Somewhat. At one point as kids, Ed and Al fought over who would have the right to marry Winry, Al would generally win but Winry turned them both down because she "couldn't possibly marry someone shorter than [her]", and she was taller than both at the time. [[spoiler: It ends up being true, because even though Ed is short for most of the series, he grows taller than her by the end.]]
* ChildishOlderSibling: Edward Elric is hot headed, rude, and mischevious while his younger brother Alphonse is calm and polite.
* ChildSoldiers:
** Ed became a "dog of the military" at age 12 and could be sent to the front any time. Later on, [[spoiler:he's called out to "do his duty" by Kimblee. He doesn't take it well, partly because Kimblee's using Winry as a hostage to force his cooperation]].
** Al isn't a strict example, since he's not enlisted in the military, but he's usually dragged along with his brother on whatever adventures they're in, putting them in the same sort of dangers and experiencing the same traumas.
** Riza was already a young adult, but the narrative tells that she was specially pulled from the Military Academy early and drafted into the Ishvallan war as a sniper because her aiming skills were ''just that good''. It's lamented that she had to face that kind of brutality before she was ready.
* ChurchMilitant: The Ishvalans have warrior-priests, followers of Ishvala who are also martial arts experts. It was stated that during the Ishval rebellion, an unarmed Ishvalan warrior-priest could take down 10 fully armed Amestrian soldiers. Scar was a particularly strong one.
* TheClan: The Xingese Royal Family, which apparently has 43 heirs, Ling and May included, who seem to all be willing to tear each other to shreds over who will inherit the empire.
* ClarkKenting: Riza lets her hair down and wears glasses when she has to go incognito. It's surprisingly effective, actually. [[spoiler:Except against Wrath's Ultimate Eye.]]
* ClipShow: Episode 27 of ''Brotherhood'' reuses clips from [[RecapEpisode previous episodes]], but it doesn't skimp on the new animation featuring Hohenheim.
* ClothingDamage:
** Armstrong goes bare-chested half the time because he's [[LargeHam weird]]. (Or, he flexes his muscles and his clothes are RIPPED TO SHREDS and/or disintegrate.) The same applies to Sig Curtis when the two of them meet, although Sig keeps his clothes on most of the time.
** Ed seems to project an aura that causes his shirts to dissolve. His right sleeve is often the victim of conveniently placed attacks to dramatically remind the audience that yes, his arm is [[HandicappedBadass still metal]] and yes, it [[MadeOfExplodium hasn't exploded]] again. (His response to this easily reversible damage is usually to [[WalkingShirtlessScene tear off the right half of his shirt]].)
** Ling right before [[spoiler:his defense of the front gate]] in Episode 58. Right sleeve partially ripped? Just rip off the rest and the other sleeve to boot.
* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Hohenheim is not like us; neither is [[spoiler:his mirror image, {{foil}}, Pygmalion figure, metaphorical son and brother, caricature, and ShadowArchetype all in one, Father]].
* CodeName: Every State Alchemist gets one. It's where the series gets its title — Fullmetal is Ed's code name.
* LesCollaborateurs: [[spoiler:Central Command ''think'' they're this by cooperating with and enforcing Father's plan, as they were promised eternal life and an undying army.]] [[UnwittingPawn Suckers.]]
* CommonTongue: Amestrian (or rather, English) appears to be the universal language considering that everyone, even characters from other countries, are able to speak it fluently. To an extent it could simply be a case of TranslationConvention, however it's clear that there are other languages in other countries considering that Ling writes a message to Lan Fan in Xingese (Chinese) so that it would be harder for anyone else to read it.
* CompanyTown: Yoki ran one in his introductory chapter.
* ComplimentBackfire: It's more like gentle teasing, but you'd think [[UrbanLegendLoveLife a suave guy like Mustang]] could pull it off...
--> '''Roy:''' But wow, this place brings back memories, Lieutenant. It reminds me of your crying face. I'd like to see honest tears like that from you again someday.\\
'''Riza:''' I thought you despised liquids. Since they make you useless.\\
''(Mustang [[SweatDrop sweatdrops]])''.
* ConductingTheCarnage: Solf J. Kimblee joyfully declares explosions in the Ishval Extermination to be akin to a glorious symphony.
* ConspiracyRedemption: Ultimately becomes the story's premise less than halfway in.
* ContinuityNod:
** Long after he dies, [[spoiler:the remains of Barry the Chopper are still there under research lab #3 when the coup d'état and the attack on Father begin. Darius even fights with his trademark cleaver.]]
** Similarly, the aftermath of Ed's fight with Cornello is still in Liore when the town is revisited late in the series.
** There is a brief shot of Cornello's [[spoiler:decomposed corpse]] when Ed, Ling and Envy end up [[spoiler:inside Gluttony's stomach]].
** Even though he only appeared in the very first episode (and [[CanonForeigner does not exist in the manga]]), [=Isaac McDougal=] gets some brief [[ShoutOut shout-outs]] here and there throughout the series.
** Basque Grande and Giolio Comanche can be spotted in a brief shot of the State Alchemists during the Ishval Civil War during the third opening of ''Brotherhood,'' even though they are relatively minor and irrelevant characters, simply because they were, indeed, present and active during the War.
* ContrivedCoincidence:
** Sloth, [[spoiler:while digging a circle around the entire country]], accidentally burrows into the lowest level of the Briggs fortress, right when Ed and Al have just arrived at Briggs and are being given a tour of its lowest level.
** Roy just so happens to be visiting the Elrics' home in an attempt to recruit Ed on the day of the human transmutation attempt purely because Ed's age was reported incorrectly.
* CoolOldGuy:
** Fu, who is Lan Fan's grandfather, and is Ling's competent bodyguard. He's badass enough to [[spoiler:have ''Wrath'' consider him a WorthyOpponent!]]
** Bradley definitely fits this too, even if he’s not an actual grandfather, as he's sixty years old and can [[spoiler:go 1-0 with a tank]], among other incredible feats, [[spoiler:Until it turns out [[EvilOldFolks he's on the evil team]], specifically he is Wrath]].
* ConvenientPhotograph: Colonel Mustang's mother Madame Christmas manages dig up a picture of 8 year old Selim Bradley attending a rather important government event... that took place some hundred years previous. This serves as proof that the Führer's beloved son is [[spoiler: in fact a homunculus, specifically the evil Pride.]]
* CornerOfWoe: Al visits it occasionally. So does Yoki, but since he's characterized as a pathetic loser, it's more played for laughs.
* CouldntFindAPen: Used as a gag in an {{omake}}.
* {{Counterspell}}: It's possible to use alchemy to counter another transmutation, preventing the latter from taking effect. Doing so causes an explosion, because the energies employed by both transmutations have to go ''somewhere''.
* CraniumChase: Played with. While [[AnimatedArmor Al]] does lose his head every now and then, his soul is bound to the chest piece of the armor. As a result, he can control his body and even see without his helmet.
* [[CrazyCatLady Crazy Cat Boy]]: Al's a borderline male example (and a more extreme example in the omake strips), hoarding cats inside his armour.
%%* CreditsRunningSequence
* CreepyCrows: In Brotherhood a crow flies by the Elric's house when they are about to try and revive their mother.
* CrossdressingVoices: Played straight with Ed and Al in the original Japanese. Averted with Ed in the English version, but unlike the first anime, Al plays it straight in ''Brotherhood's'' dub.
* CrossPoppingVeins: A ''lot''. Ed sometimes seems to have them [[HairTriggerTemper permanently]]. Envy is another frequent offender.
* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass:
** Hohenheim can be a {{Cloudcuckoolander}} at times, but he is very skilled at alchemy and strategizing.
** Havoc plays [[StraightManAndWiseGuy Wise Guy]] to Mustang's StraightMan, but he turns out to be invaluable for Mustang's plans toward the end of the series.
** [[spoiler:Fuery in the warfront]].
** Ling usually is just tying to weasel a free meal out of anyone he can and generally making Ed look silly, but if you threaten Lan Fan or anyone else that he cares about, he can fight well enough to keep up with Wrath.
** Sloth sort of qualifies. Although he is gigantic, imposing, and incredibly strong, you don't find out until almost the end that [[spoiler: he is the FASTEST homunculus, and he normally moves slowly just because moving at lightning speed to beat the living crap out of people is "such a bother."]]
** Hughes is totally in love with his family (and he's not shy about making sure you know that). He actually would've killed Lust AND Envy had they been normal people and not Homunculi because of his skill with push knives.
** Armstrong is an overemotional goofball with a [[RunningGag tendency to rip off his shirt]], but when he puts on his game face, he can go toe to toe with SLOTH in a BOXING FIGHT.
** Mustang is a slightly less extreme version of this, as the name Flame Alchemist does tend to put his enemies in more than a cold sweat, but the first episode consists of us handily letting us know of a very damp Mustang's biggest weakness, and ends with him catching a cold and being told off by Hughes. He's also a known womaniser and doesn't exactly live up to his reputation in public.
* CrucifiedHeroShot:
** [[spoiler:Greed]] -- censored in the English version of the manga and in ''Brotherhood''.
** And, in Chapter 101, [[spoiler:Roy gets this when Bradley pins both his hands to the ground. With two ''swords'']]. Ow.
* CruelToBeKind: Hohenheim raises the possiblity that Ed and Al didn't actually transmute Trisha, but rather some''thing'' else entirely. Confirming this proves rather painful for Ed and when he tells [[spoiler: Izumi]] about this in relation to her attempt to transmute [[spoiler: her child]] he makes it clear he understands if she gets angry with him over it. Having to face their trauma like this is difficult, but the revelation that they ''didn't'' kill their loved ones again eases a huge amount of guilt they were feeling.
* CrystalDragonJesus: Father Cornello's cult has their clothing based off of Catholic priests, but with a Greek god and a secret army plan added.
* CulturalTranslation: Renkinjutsu became Alchemy, Rentanjutsu became Alkahestry (after a "universal solvent" sought by Western alchemists).
* CurbStompBattle:
** The first fight between Scar and the Elric Brothers is this. They eventually catch up with him, though.
** Any battle Wrath takes part in is one of these, [[spoiler:right up until he underestimated Fu and Buccaneer. It's all downhill for him from there.]]
** The soldiers of Fort Briggs deliver one to [[spoiler:the Drachman army, who had been tricked by Kimblee into attempting an assault on the fort. The entire Drachman brigade, including its general, is killed in the battle, with Briggs apparently suffering no casualties.]]
--->'''Buccaneer:''' [[LampshadeHanging That was too easy.]]
--->'''Miles:''' Yeah. But why?
** The fight with [[spoiler:Gluttony, Ling (with Greed in the back seat) and Lan Fan]] is hopelessly and almost hilariously one-sided against the [[spoiler:Homunculus, due to Ling and Lan Fan being able to operate in the dark, while Gluttony is hopelessly stumbling around despite his sense of smell and unable to figure out their position.]] It's even lampshaded in the mid-episode cards in Episode 48, with [[spoiler:Lan Fan with her fancy new automail arm with the arm blade, followed by Gluttony crying and desperately reaching out towards the camera.]]
** The fight between [[spoiler:Mustang and Envy]] in Chapter 94 is basically just 20 solid pages of this, with [[spoiler:Envy getting set on fire, interspersed with brief intervals during which Envy tries to think up ways to not get set on fire. None of them work, and some of them lead to Envy getting shot.]]
** The final beatdown of [[spoiler:Father in 108.]] And there was much rejoicing.
** PlayedForLaughs in Chapter 17 of the manga, when Ed gets into an automail arm-wrestling match in Rush Valley, and wins without breaking a sweat.
** When Olivier takes over as the head of the Armstrong family household, she wins the title by dueling her brother Alex. Keep in mind, said brother is an absolute mountain of a man composed of almost entirely muscle. And he's also a very accomplished state alchemist who up until this point was shown to be unbelievably capable in a fight even against the likes of other alchemists and homunculi. He puts on a brave face at first, but after about twenty seconds of constant pummeling and being thrown around like a rag doll (including being hurled through multiple walls) Alex begins begging his sister for mercy and attempts to tap out. She refuses to accept it however and continues right on beating the shit out of him for the next few minutes as the rest of their family calmly leaves on a vacation to celebrate their father's sudden retirement.
* CursedWithAwesome:
** Brought up in one chapter. Two chimera wanted to use the Philosopher's Stone to make themselves human again, but after their cool powers help save their lives, they start to rethink their situation.
** Right before a major fight, Al has an opportunity [[spoiler:to get his real body back. As he looks at his emaciated body that is naked and barely able to stand he lampshades this trope by acknowledging that only his]] armored form is going to be of any value in the fight.
* CutTheFuse: Bradley stops Fuu's TakingYouWithMe attempt with bombs strapped to his stomach by doing this, in addition to slicing Fuu's stomach.
* CuteKitten: A RunningGag in the omakes.
* CutenessProximity: Al loves small animals. ''Scar'' loves small animals.
* CycleOfRevenge: Examined through Scar's character.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:D]]
* DaddysGirl: Elysia Hughes.
* DaddyHadAGoodReasonForAbandoningYou: [[spoiler:Saving the world and [[WhoWantsToLiveForever reclaiming your mortality]] is a pretty good reason, though not saying goodbye doesn't seem to have had any justification except Hohenheim's own avoidance issues.]]
* DamageSpongeBoss: The Homonculi (except [[spoiler:Wrath]]) as a whole are a non-videogame example of this, as they regenerate even fatal wounds from a deep (but finite) reserve of energy. Killing one through combat usually entails people spending one or more entire volume/episode killing it over and over with their best attacks until it sticks. [[spoiler:Father]] turns out to be an even bigger one in the end, bringing in half the cast to whittle him down.
* DarkActionGirl: Lust -- she nearly one-shots [[spoiler:Colonel Mustang's team, and if Roy didn't live, things would be bad.]]
* TheDarkArts: Human transmutation is forbidden because it violates [[RuleNumberOne Rule #1]] of Alchemy, EquivalentExchange. "For what can equal the value of a human soul?". Because of this practioners always lose body parts and resurrections always ComeBackWrong.
* DarkIsEvil: Most of the homunculi, being {{eerie pale skinned brunette}}s who dress in all black, but especially [[spoiler:Father, Envy, and Pride's horrifying true forms]].
* DarkIsNotEvil:
** Greed post-HeelFaceTurn (and [[spoiler:"Greeling"]]). His Ultimate Shield might be all dark and he likes dressing in black, he's an AntiHero.
** The {{animated armor}}s look quite intimidating, what with the SpikesOfVillainy and the glowing red eyes, but only one (Barry the Chopper) is evil (and {{Affably|Evil}} so), while Alphonse is one of the two main characters.
** [[TheHero Ed]] typically wears a black outfit.
** In an unusual variant, Pride can [[CastingAShadow unleash devastating attacks by turning shadows]] into CombatTentacles, but total darkness prevents him from using this power, essentially rendering him harmless.
* DarkerAndEdgier: ''Brotherhood'' is more violent than the first anime, and the UsefulNotes/MediaClassifications reflect it; at least two episodes are rated TV-MA by Creator/AdultSwim, and some of the DVD boxes are rated [=MA15+=] in Australia. (The original anime was never rated higher than TV-14 in America and M in Australia.)
* TheDeadHaveNames: Van Hohenheim has quite a list of them. [[spoiler:They're all the souls trapped inside him, and [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld over the centuries]] he's talked to all of them, convincing them to stand with him in his fight against Father.]]
* DeathAmnesia: Nearly. Al is unable to remember what happened to him beyond the Gate until years later, after another traumatic incident makes him lose consciousness.
* DeathbedPromotion: Maes Hughes is promoted two ranks after [[spoiler:his death at Envy's hands]], becoming a Brigadier General [[spoiler:posthumously]].
* DeathByIrony: ''Every'' Homunculus who has died has gone out in a manner thematically appropriate to the associated Deadly Sin:
** Greed (original model) [[spoiler:was boiled down for his most valuable part]].
** Lust [[spoiler:was burned to death by a man well known as a serial dater. There's another layer of irony here when you consider that Roy uses his "datebook" as code for his alchemy research, and is actually in a non-sexual committed relationship with Riza. Lust's real sin is ''bloodlust'', meaning she likes to make people suffer as much as possible, opting to let Roy bleed out while watching Havoc do the same rather than quickly dispatch them before going after Riza and Al. [[HoistByHisOwnPetard This proves to be her undoing]], as she leaves Roy unsupervised long enough for him to cauterize his wound.]]
** Gluttony [[spoiler:was eaten]].
** Envy [[spoiler:committed suicide out of sheer self-loathing after receiving pity from the humans they secretly envied]].
** Sloth [[spoiler:was worn out by a long fight]].
** Wrath [[spoiler:is subdued out of necessity rather than vengeance, then allowed to have an ObiWanMoment, all by people who could be justified in directing their own wrath at him, but choose not to.]] To drive the point home, [[spoiler:one of these men is Scar, whose country and people were all but destroyed on Wrath's orders.]] Also, [[spoiler:during the civil war, an Ishvalan threatens that Wrath will be struck down by the wrath of God, a threat he dismisses. Years later, his death is delivered by an Ishvalan that claims to be a messenger of God. Scar himself only gets an opening to attack when [[CueTheSun the sun peeks out from the eclipse]], blinding his Ultimate Eye - The manga earlier having established a symbolic connection between god and the sun. Wrath himself acknowledges that his death may be some kind of divine justice or providence. In other words: Wrath is struck down by the wrath of God.]]
** Pride [[spoiler:was [[BreakTheHaughty thoroughly broken, psychologically and physically, by some of the humans he so despised.]] While he doesn't die, his prideful personality vanishes and he is humbled by living as a human. Pride's defeat came because he ditched his pride as a homunculus out of desperation when he tried take Ed's body after his own started falling apart. This act caused the absorbed Kimblee to betray him, allowing Ed to defeat him]].
** [[spoiler:Greed (second model) pulls a TakingYouWithMe on Father, and, while acknowledging that he hasn't gotten "everything in the world", is willing to sacrifice himself for his friends who have "given him enough", finally feeling content with what he has. Father then finishes off Greed, the Homunculus with the potentially most durable body, by biting him in half.]]
** Father [[spoiler:is destroyed from the inside by Greed after trying to re-power himself with his Stone, and then is taken out by Ed with a punch. He ends up at the Gate and encounters Truth, which then sentences him to an AndIMustScream within the Gate from whence he came.]]
** Furthermore, [[spoiler:each Homunculus who was defeated by a human fell to a character who was associated with that specific sin. Lust fell to the womanizing Mustang, who was protecting the woman he loves. Sloth was killed by Alex Louis Armstrong, who had been frequently reprimanded by his sister (also present for the fight) for running from the Ishvalan war instead of committing to it ''or'' trying to stop it. Wrath was defeated by Scar, who is defined by his anger and whose arc is about letting go of his quest for vengeance. Pride is defeated Edward Elric, whose character arc began when he was proud enough to meddle with forces beyond his control and culminates in him learning humility.]]
* DeathByOriginStory: Trisha Elric, [[spoiler:Mr. Hawkeye, the Rockbells, Scar's family, most Ishvalans, and all but one of the Xerxians]] are important to the backstory but are all very dead.
* DeathInTheLimelight: While not a straight example, the episode of and the one prior to [[spoiler:Hughes' death]] included [[spoiler:heartwarming moments with his family, acting as a mentor and father figure for Winry, keeping Ed's spirits up in the hospital, his past with and loyalty to Mustang, and [[HeKnowsTooMuch figuring out the conspiracy ages before anyone else]].]]
* DeathIsASadThing:
** When the Elric brothers visit their mentor Izumi, it's shown that she sometimes fixes broken toys for the neighborhood kids. Later, a little girl asks Izumi to "fix" her dead kitten, but Izumi explains as gently as possible that she can't because death is irreversible. This is especially poignant since Izumi [[spoiler:actually ''has'' tried to bring the dead back to life through alchemy (since her baby had died), and she knows full well that there are major consequences for doing so.]]
** During [[spoiler:Hughes']] funeral, [[spoiler:his three-year-old daughter Elicia is confused as to why her father is in a box in the ground. When the pallbearers start to bury him, she freaks out and screams at them to "stop putting dirt on Daddy" because he has to go back to work, not understanding that he's not getting back up. Her screaming causes the hardened military men who were managing a brave face up until this point to start to break down]].
* DefeatEqualsExplosion: When Ed punches [[spoiler:Father]] through the chest, he implodes and [[spoiler:releases all the souls he had absorbed]].
* DefeatMeansMenialLabor: One of the more corrupt military officials, Yoki, goes from a governor of a mine town he was overtaxing [[spoiler:to working as a commoner after Ed defeats him. Though his fate depends on which version you're watching.]]
*** In ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist2003'', he ends up homeless and taken in by Isvahlans until he sees Scar and reports him in the hope he'll regain his position [[spoiler: and [[DeathByAdaptation shot dead]] by the Homunculi to spark discord for the BigBad's plans]].
*** In the manga and [[Anime/FullMetalAlchemistBrotherhood Brotherhood anime]], he becomes a reluctant ally to the protagonists despite his wrong doings. [[spoiler: And in the end, ends up working at a circus as a clown.]]
** In '03 anime, this also extend to the anime-only character Lyra, who acts as Yoki's enforcer. After Ed defeats her, she's seen again working as a maid under Dante, though legitimately turned over a new leaf. [[spoiler: Unfortunately Dante manipulates and steals her body later on.]]
* DeityOfMortalCreation: Father, who is introduced as a powerful god-like alchemist [[spoiler:is revealed to be created from the blood of Hohenheim, a once-mortal human from Xerxes]].
* DemotedToExtra:
** Brigadier General Basque Grand goes from a recurring minor antagonist in the first anime adaptation to a one-off character who is killed shortly after his introduction. Even though he does reappear during the flashbacks to the Ishval Civil War, his role is also diminished in said appearance, as most of his plot was cut from ''Brotherhood'' altogether.
** Major General Hakuro suffers the same fate, as ''Brotherhood'' chooses not only to remove his parts that were original to the first anime but also his first introduction with the incident where the Blue Squad (which are absent from Brotherhood altogether) attack the train he and the Elric brothers are in. His only appearance in Brotherhood is during the final arc as a one-off tertiary character informing Bradley of [[spoiler:Mustang's and Grumman's alleged plan to overthrow him]].
* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment:
** The Führer (meaning "leader" in German) of Amestris, effectively both President and Prime Minister, is named ''King'' Bradley. [[spoiler:He was given this name ''after'' a massive government conspiracy chose him for the position.]]
** The bank which Darius withdraws money from Ed's research funds in Episode 44 of ''Brotherhood'' is named "Banks Bank".
* DespairEventHorizon:
** When the Elric brothers lose their mother, making them functionally orphans, and causing them to subsequently try to resurrect her. Most people who lose a loved one and attempt human transformation experience this.
** Scar experiences this after [[spoiler:Kimblee destroys his village, slaughtering everyone he knows. His brother sacrifices himself by grafting his right arm onto Scar's body, which freaks him the hell out when he later wakes up in a field hospital, causing him to FreakOut and murder the Rockbells. When he makes his way to a hill overlooking the ruins of his village, he drops to his knees and lets out a howl of incomprehensible pain.]]
* DestructiveSavior: Most alchemists are capable of being this, Edward being the poster child of this trope with Alex Armstrong following close behind, but they can just as easily repair the buildings and streets.
* DetectEvil: All the Xingnese cast members can do this by sensing the earth's chi, negative chi included. It's used to track homunculi on several different occasions and [[spoiler: is how they noticed something was ''very'' off with Amestris.]]
* {{Determinator}}:
** Edward to the extreme. Eleven years old, bleeding out from where he used to have a leg, improvising a blood seal to save Al's soul and giving up his arm in the process.
** Izumi: even though [[spoiler:she's lost some of her internal organs after failing to revive her child through human transmutation, she's still able to get up and kick serious ass through sheer bloody-minded toughness.]]
** Lan Fan, who [[spoiler:cuts off her own injured arm to throw an in-pursuit Bradley off her and Ling's trail, and later manages to recover and rehabilitate from the grueling automail surgery in 6 months, outdoing Ed's already miraculous one-year recovery.]]
*** It's actually even better than that. [[spoiler:She wasn't totally recovered from her surgery. She still ''kept fighting''.]]
** Führer President King Bradley is a peerless warrior who won't let any amount of opposition prevent him from advancing. [[spoiler:In his final fight against Scar, even after Scar has alchemically [[ThatsGottaHurt torn off his arms at the elbows]], as Bradley falls, he catches his falling sword [[CutlassBetweenTheTeeth in his teeth]] and slashes Scar one last time.]]
** The author herself. Hiromu Arakawa was committed to having the anime follow the manga's ending. When the anime came dangerously close to overtaking the yet-unfinished manga, she put in the effort to produce several ''100 page chapters'' to finish the story and make sure this didn't happen.
* DeusExMachina: [[spoiler:Wrath]]'s defeat comes off as this somewhat; just as he's about to deal the finishing blow to his enemy [[spoiler:the eclipse ends, and the first rays of sunlight happens to hit his sword -- which he's conveniently holding at eye level, with such brightness he's immediately blinded long enough for Scar to land a lethal blow. And considering the sun symbolizes God in alchemy, this may even be literally the case.]]
* DevourTheDragon: [[spoiler:Pride devours Gluttony to replenish his Philosopher's Stone and gains Gluttony's ability to follow others by smell, though that may have been simply an added bonus.]]
* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: [[spoiler:Father eats [[{{God}} the Truth.]] And then Ed punches him in the face. Repeatedly.]]
* DieselPunk: Set in the 1910's—albeit in an alternate universe—complete with the types of telephones, automobiles, and other devices common in that era in the real world. But somehow people have developed cybernetic limbs. No explanation is given about how the necessary neurological knowledge came so early.
* DisappearedDad:
** Hohenheim for Ed and Al.
** Ling and Mei's father, the Emperor of Xing, in a sense. In the manga, Ling flatly admits that he has never once had a conversation with his father, implying that he is entirely absent from most, if not all, of his children's lives.
* DisappointedByTheMotive: Edward attacks Shou Tucker [[spoiler:upon realizing that he has used his wife and daughter as subjects for his talking Chimera experiments, destroying their humanity in the process.]] Edward is aghast to learn that Shou's primary motivation was so he would keep his state alchemist certification. What's more is that he believes that because he was advancing science, it makes what he did to be acceptable.
* DisconnectedByDeath: [[spoiler:Hughes]] is killed trying to make a crucial phone call about the villains' plan.
* DiscontinuityNod:
** A possible one in Chapter 108 against the ending of the first anime series, when Hawkeye wonders if Ed will sacrifice himself to get Al's body back.
---> '''Hawkeye:''' You don't think Edward will sacrifice himself, do you...?
---> '''Roy:''' No. He knows the fear and despair of being left alone... He wouldn't put Alphonse through that.
** These are all over the place if you look. For example, the fact that Selim, Bradley's [[spoiler:possible MoralityPet]] in the first anime [[spoiler:turns out to be the one pulling BRADLEY'S strings]]. Or how the manga deliberately goes back to show that dead people can't be brought back to life.
* DiscretionShot: Many of Ed and Winry's reunions after some sort of skirmish feature a form of these, such as the two prancing happily through a field, filled with giggling and "Oh, ''you'''s"... except Winry is holding a very large wrench or a ''chainsaw''. Usually immediately followed by a pixelated GoryDiscretionShot.
* DisneyDeath: Father, during his ascension, [[spoiler:absorbs the souls of virtually everyone in Amestris. Fortunately, everyone's body is left intact and Hohenheim is able to reverse the process and resurrect everyone with no ill effects beyond some mild trauma.]]
* DispelMagic: Near the end, [[spoiler:[[BigBad Father]] activates the giant transmutation circle he's spent centuries constructing to transmute the souls of all the people in Amestris into a Philosopher's Stone that will allow him to [[AGodAmI consume God and achieve absolute power.]] However, [[BigGood Hohenheim]] turns out to have prepared a countermeasure at the absolute last minute: a ''second'' transmutation circle which deconstructs Father's Philosopher's Stone and restores the souls of the people of Amestris, [[MortalityEnsues destabilizing his apotheosis to the point where he can be defeated.]]]]
* DistressedDude: For a hypercompetent hero with scientific/magical powers and two artificial limbs, Ed sure gets helplessly pinned an awful lot.
* TheDogBitesBack:
** [[spoiler:(Almost) literally, as Kimblee gets his throat ripped out by one of the Chimeras who was previously forced to work for him (he's actually a ''lion'', not a dog).]]
** And then [[spoiler:Kimblee pulls one of these on Pride in a DyingMomentOfAwesome]].
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything:
** [[WordOfGod The author]] has commented that the whole Ishval situation was inspired by the plight of the Ainu people, which is unsurprising given that she's from Hokkaido.
** Most Western fans have little to no clue of who the Ainu people are, or their relation to Ishvalans. Ironically, though, they notice a strong (but likely accidental) resemblance to the Jewish people (monotheistic, desert-originating and sometimes desert-dwelling, very traditional yet culturally advanced, and at least three millennia of being the scapegoats of other peoples); most notably in 19th and 20th century central and eastern Europe, they were almost always second-class citizens and often subject to the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pogrom mass-rape-and-massacres known as pogroms]], and not in frequently with the tacit permission of the governments involved (the best example being Tsar Nicholas II, who actively ''encouraged'' them to distract his citizenry from the poor state of the Russian Empire at the time). Given that Amestris [[ANaziByAnyOtherName seems pretty well based on a certain European power]] and the time period of the show [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarI (self-proclaimed to be in the 19-teens)]], it's very easy to see why anyone west of the Ganges would come to that conclusion.[[note]] Meanwhile the less historically knowledgable often find another group ultimately from the Middle East to be the reference, namely Muslims (also monotheistic, but primarily desert-dwelling, and having a very strong belief to not mess with "God's creations"), despite their not having been a ''major'' target of European discrimination after the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reconquista Reconquista]], let alone during the early 20th century. Accordingly, a comparison with the Muslims in Europe inevitably falls short and is less clear/likely to most Western eyes.[[/note]] This may have been acknowledged by the ''Brotherhood'' team, as track #20 of the second ''Brotherhood'' OST, ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-nCtkY-43E Land of Ishvala]]'', has a decidedly Middle-Eastern tone.
** She has also said she gets ideas from befriending people in complicated personal situations, like disabled people, war refugees, and (wait for it) a former {{Yakuza}}. The similarity between [[spoiler:Riza's concern for hiding her tattoo]] and the social stigma a bearer of Yakuza tattoos has to endure in Japan is actually made fun of in a [[{{omake}} yonkoma]].
** If you look at the gravestone of [[spoiler:Maes Hughes]], the date of his death is 1914. The situation of the country goes downhill from there really fast. Soon Amestris (or at least the parts Ed and Al visit) seems to have collapsed into war. Sound like UsefulNotes/WorldWarI to anyone else? And would that make [[spoiler:Hughes]] Archduke Franz Ferdinand?
** The adult protagonists are ''contrite war criminals'' fighting for a society that could condemn them for their actions. Now, consider [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII Japan's own recent history]]...
** [[GloriousMotherRussia Glorious Mother Drachma?]]
** The scene in ''[[TheMovie The Sacred Star of Milos]]'' where [[spoiler: Atlas]] tries to take Julia's blood has some very rape-y overtones.
* TheDogWasTheMastermind: The Homunculus Pride is revealed to be [[spoiler: [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld little Selim Bradley]]]].
* DontLookBack: Ed and Al burn down their house as a reminder to never turn back until they can get back to normal. Ed even keeps the date etched into his pocket watch.
* DontYouDarePityMe: [[spoiler:Envy's reaction to being pitied by humans is a total freakout followed by suicide, though he was already dying. However, he does not deny that Edward was right and gives him a surprisingly calm farewell.]]
* DoubleEntendre:
** The homunculus named Lust is also referred to as the Ultimate Lance. (She's a woman, but I mean ''come on!'') Greed is quick to point it out in Episode 14.
** Also see Chapter 106, page 25. Poor Roy.
* DoubleStandardAbuseFemaleOnMale: Nobody sees a problem with Winry beating Ed with a wrench whenever he pisses her off.
* DragonsUpTheYinYang: Lightly featured in the Xingese characters, who hail from a FantasyCounterpartCulture of East Asia. May describes Xingese alkahestry as being able to sense energy flow like a dragon's veins, while Lan Fan and Fu's masks feature halves of a taijutsu.
* DramaticIrony: The ''very next scene'' after [[spoiler:Hughes]] dies is a lighthearted scene with Ed, Al, and Winry, talking about what they're going to talk about the next time they meet him and his family. [[spoiler:Cue ''Requiem of the Brigadier General'' and his MeaningfulFuneral]].
* DramaticWind: What every opening and closing credit sequence is filmed in.
* DrivenToSuicide:
** Tucker's first chimera killed itself by starvation [[spoiler:to escape its FateWorseThanDeath.]]
** After being part of a genocidal slaughter, Roy Mustang felt so guilty over the horrors he participated in that he tried to commit suicide by eating his gun right on the spot, but was stopped from pulling the trigger by his best friend Maes Hughes.
** In the manga, Riza threatens to kill Roy when it looks like he's going off the deep end. He asks what she will do when he's dead, and she admits she plans to kill herself, since there will be nothing left for her to live for. [[AlwaysSaveTheGirl That's enough to convince Roy to step down]].
** Moments after the above, [[spoiler:Envy]] ends [[spoiler:their own life by destroying their own Philosopher's Stone]] to avoid what they perceive as the ultimate humiliation: [[spoiler:being beaten and actually ''pitied'' by lowly humans.]]
* DubInducedPlotHole: There's a small one in Episode 44, when Bido recognizes Greed from his voice. In the original Japanese, both Greeds are voiced by Creator/YuuichiNakamura, but in the English dub they use two different voice actors who sound nothing like each other.[[note]] The English translation of the manga has a line where Bido notices the similarities between their laughs, and it is there, so at least they HandWaved it. [[/note]]
* DVDBonusContent: Each one comes with a short series of animations adapted from the manga's bonus ''{{yonkoma}}''. Four of the [=DVDs=] also come with adaptations of more dramatic short stories from the series.
* DyingCurse: [[spoiler:Lust]] gets a good one off at Roy. [[spoiler:Envy's]], meanwhile, probably sounded hollow even to themself, considering the remainder of the scene.
* DyingSmirk:
** [[spoiler:Lust]] is burned repeatedly by Mustang until all her souls are used up, and thus her regeneration as well. She dies with a smile on her face, stating she looks forward to the day Mustang will be in agony.
** [[spoiler:The second Greed]] dies with a self-satisfied smirk. After being pulled back into Father, he uses his powers to weaken him and in anger, Father throws [[spoiler:Greed]] out. Without a body, [[spoiler:Greed]] dies, thinking that Ling is an annoying idiot, but is ultimately satisfied in the end.
* DysfunctionJunction: The series seems to have psychological trauma as one of the qualifying factors for a commission in the Amestrian military. Almost every single major character (and definitely every single major character who already had past issues) gets badly traumatized at least once by the end of the series. Those that survive will surely have issues for years to come. [[spoiler:EarnYourHappyEnding indeed]]. TruthInTelevision for an army that just finished committing genocide. Under the circumstances, anyone without severe Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is almost certainly a sociopath -- like Kimblee. Also not aided by ThereAreNoTherapists, because the series is set in an alternate 1914.
** The Elric brothers were [[ParentalAbandonment abandoned by their father]], and sparked the plot by trying to use forbidden alchemy to resurrect their dead mother.
** Roy Mustang, Riza Hawkeye, Alex Louis Armstrong, Tim Marcoh, and Doctor Knox participated in the Ishvalan genocide and feel extremely guilty about it.
** Winry's parents were murdered by [[spoiler:an Ishvalan warrior-priest [[TheFarmerAndTheViper they saved]]]] on the battlefield.
** Van Hohenheim [[spoiler:unknowingly helped kill off the population of his entire country]].
** Izumi Curtis' own child was stillborn and [[spoiler: her alchemical attempts to bring them back robbed her of her organs to where she could never give birth again.]]
** Scar lost his family and the most of his people to a brutal genocide. He also happens to be [[spoiler:the aforementioned Ishvalan warrior-priest who accidentally murdered Winry's parents even though they saved his life, and he regretted that once he found out]].
** King Bradley [[spoiler:grew up as a test subject, was injected with the Philosopher's Stone, and does not know whether his present personality is the one he had prior to the injection]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:E]]
* EarlyBirdCameo:
** [[spoiler:Father]], Solf J. Kimblee, Hughes and Armstrong all pop up in the first episode of ''Brotherhood''.
** [[spoiler:Slave Hohenheim]] is in ''the first shot'' of the opening, although they could easily be mistaken for their more immediately prominent family member.
** Izumi and Sig can be seen in the background fairly early in the manga. In Episode 9 of ''Brotherhood'' they walk across just behind Winry when she first arrives in Central.
** Inverted hilariously for Yoki in ''Brotherhood''; despite the writers knowing that he'll join [[spoiler:Scar's]] team later on, ''Brotherhood'' chooses to skip the seemingly-filler episode in which the Elrics first defeat him beyond a brief reference in Episode 4[[note]]Yoki was on a case file they were reading, summarizing how Ed took care of the incident. He wasn't ''officially'' revealed until Episode 13[[/note]]. Instead he retells the entire thing in flashback when they meet later and is enraged to find that they neither remember nor care.
** Yoki and Greed show up on wanted posters before they're officially revealed.
** A variation occurs later on in the series: when we see the Briggs soldiers arriving in Central, a mysterious figure wearing sandals and with glowing red eyes can be seen at the back. This is later revealed to be [[spoiler: Izumi Curtis]].
** A similar variation happens later in the same battle. As Al's group is trying to get their car out of a ditch, a man in a military uniform with a drawn sword is seen walking down the street in the background, only shown from the waist down. It's [[spoiler:Bradley, who had survived the train bombing and had just returned to Central.]]
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness:
** Ed was quite a Jerkass in the earliest chapters.
** Edward makes a reference to the tale of Icarus from Greek Mythology as an in-universe myth, despite taking place in a fictional world. This is the only time real life mythology directly gets referenced like that.
** In Chapter 3 of the manga, Yoki proclaims that Ed's pocket watch is made of gold. The watch changes to silver by Chapter 10, when Ed has it used as identification to give money to Sheska.
** Episode 3 of the anime has one scene with several split screen shots, an effect that is very rarely used throughout the rest of the series.
** The first time we see Ed use alchemy on his automail arm he turns it into a huge, ornate blade. Thereafter he only ever turns one of the armored plates into a small, katar-like blade and it's established that not only is the arm far too complex for him to alter more than that without needing Winry and Pinako's specialized knowledge to put back together, he can't even use his alchemy without both hands.
* EarnYourHappyEnding:
** Ed and Al [[spoiler:restore their bodies, Ed marries Winry and they have two children together.]]
** Ling manages to [[spoiler:save his clan and becomes emperor, and promises to uplift May's clan as well.]]
** Mustang eventually gains the power to help the Ishvalans, [[spoiler:and gets his sight back.]]
** Hohenheim visits Trisha's grave to thank her for making his life fulfilling [[spoiler:and dies peacefully at the gravesite. Pinako makes sure he is laid to rest in a grave next to Trisha.]]
** [[spoiler:Scar]] is offered the chance to help rebuild his people.
** Jean Havoc [[spoiler:gets the use of his legs back.]]
** All four of Kimblee's chimeras. [[spoiler:Jerso and Zampano walk the earth with Al to try and get back to normal, while Darius and Heinkel seem to have found their calling at a circus alongside Yoki.]]
** Dr. Marcoh [[spoiler:redeems himself for his past misdeeds and resumes life as a country doctor peacefully]].
** Mrs. Bradley [[spoiler:adopts the reborn Selim, vowing to raise him properly this time.]]
* EasterEgg: A character keeps popping in the manga and the anime by the name of Mobuo Mobuta.
* EatingShoes: Ed and Ling resort to doing this when they are trapped in Gluttony's stomach. Ling comments: "When I become the Emperor of Xing, I will have you recorded in the history books as the man who fed a shoe to the Emperor."
* EatingTheEnemy: Gluttony [[ExtremeOmnivore will eat anything and can never be satisfied]]. Needless to say, he has no qualms about making a [[ToServeMan snack out of people]] and devouring enemies is his method of choice for eliminating them. [[spoiler:He even has a OneWingedAngel form where he turns into a horrifying BellyMouth.]]
* EccentricMentor: Hohenheim, maybe. Bradley acts similarly [[spoiler:until the Greed arc, at which point he changes completely.]]
* EeriePaleSkinnedBrunette:
** Lust, Envy, Sloth, and Pride, who are villainous artificial humans.
** Ling, who has the Xingese pale skin and dark hair, gets this after [[spoiler:becoming the second Greed]].
** Justified with Izumi. She's [[spoiler:deathly ill from losing some internal organs]].
* EldritchAbomination: [[spoiler:Father]], perhaps most explicitly portrayed during the events of Chapter 104.
* EldritchLocation: The location where the GateOfTruth resides. A featureless white expanse where the only features are the Gate and its guardian, ready to take its due from you. But even more eldritch is the false Gate location, i.e. the inside of Gluttony's stomach. Envy calls it a place "between reality and Truth," and once you're in there, there's no natural way to escape. The only known way to escape is to perform human transmutation to reach the real Truth, and get out from there instead.
* ElementalBaggage: Due to the law of equivalent exchange, Alchemists without Philosopher's Stones have to have their element around, or at least something that can be converted to their element, in order to use their alchemic abilities, and are limited by the amount of raw material available.
* EliteMook: [[spoiler:The spare Führer candidates combine this with EmptyShell]]. They're much better fighters than [[spoiler:the zombie-like artificial humans mass-produced by the military]].
* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: [[spoiler:Father opens the gate and rips the souls of nearly every living thing on Amestris, with only a select few humans and homunculi remaining.]]
* EmpathyDollShot: In the Ishval backstory, the child whose death started the war is shown as a hand clutching their favorite toy.
* TheEmpire: Amestris is one. The nation as a whole is very aggressive, to the point of annexing neighboring nations immediately after Amestris have just been founded. They are also not averse to massacres and genocides on anyone who resists. [[spoiler:And it's all because Amestris is a giant human transmutation project, with the places of bloodshed as alchemical sigils for the process.]]
* EmptyPilesOfClothing: Happens to Al after the failed human transmutation.
* EmptyShell: [[spoiler:The 'spare' Führer candidates revealed near the end. They were given first-class education, training, and care, but when one of them succeeded in becoming the Führer, the rest were discarded. The have a longing, empty look in their faces as if something died in them, and would not hesitate to die to protect their 'father.' On the other hand, they've spent their lives doing nothing but train and train in combat, and they are ''[[EliteMook terrifyingly]]'' effective in combat.]]
* EngineeredPublicConfession: Used to take down Cornello.
* EnlightenmentSuperpower: Alchemists who have seen the GateOfTruth are able to perform circleless alchemy by 'having their body act as the circle'. This makes them highly regarded as such alchemy is very flexible and highly advanced. That said, most would not want it had they known of [[DealWithTheDevil the price demanded for such enlightenment in the first place.]]
* EpisodeTitleCard: Present in the anime.
* EquivalentExchange: This series is the TropeNamer: this rule is the foundation of alchemy.
* EsotericMotifs:
** {{Ouroboros}}: All the homunculi have Ouroboros tattoos. However, Pride's is never shown.
** Ed, Al and Izumi sport the Flamel.
** The symbol for Amestris (as seen in its flag, other banners and military badges) is a white dragon, a figure often associated with Arthurian legend and some mythical tales in Asia. The dragon is also engraved on all State Alchemists' pocket watches, circumscribed by a hexagram, which is also a well-known religious symbol.
* EvenEvilHasStandards:
** One of [[spoiler:Hohenheim's many souls, named Zuul,]] was mentioned to be a terrible criminal seemingly beyond rehabilitation, but agreed that [[spoiler:Father needed to be destroyed for what he had done]].
** Many characters react with horror to Pride's cruelty and callousness toward his allies, [[spoiler:particularly when he ate Gluttony. In Chapter 106, this leads Kimblee, also devoured by Pride, to rebel against Pride's hypocrisy and creates a distraction long enough for Ed to destroy him.]]
* EverybodysDeadDave: [[spoiler:When Father absorbs the souls of nearly everyone in Amestris.]]
* EveryoneCanSeeIt:
** Everyone can pick up on Ed and Winry's BelligerentSexualTension, with both of them getting teased about it.
** Similarly, everyone knows that Roy and Riza's feelings for each other likely run deeper than the anti-fraternization law would allow.
** Lan Fan's crush on Ling is very obvious to the characters.
* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: The humans who are involved in Father's conspiracy refer to him as "the good gentleman."
* EveryonesInTheLoop: The heroes make every attempt to inform each other despite being spread out. There is only one aversion, when [[spoiler: the death of Hughes is kept from the Elrics.]]
* EveryoneKnowsMorse: When [[spoiler:Pride and Alphonse are both trapped in a huge stone prison made by alchemy, Pride, helpless to escape, grabs a stick and starts banging on Alphonse's helmet. It isn't until it's too late that the heroes realize that he's been banging out the equivalent of a morse-code message, transmitted through the underground tunnels, telling Father their position.]]
* EvilCounterpart:
** King Bradley serves as this to several characters, but Ling is the most obvious example. They are both figures with authoritative positions, but while Bradley sees the people of his nation as little more than [[WeHaveReserves cannon fodder]], Ling strongly believes in the idea that people with power exist to serve those who don't. The parallels become even stronger when [[spoiler:Ling becomes a human-based homunculus like Bradley, but unlike Bradley who lost his original soul (in addition to all the other souls in his Philosopher's stone rendering him unable to regenerate like other homunculi) in the process of becoming Wrath, Ling manages to assert and maintain his consciousness within Greed. It is also interesting to note that Bradley was the 12th candidate for Führer and Ling is the 12th crown prince of Xing]].
** Greed himself serves as a counterpart to Bradley, as he too values the existence of his underlings [[spoiler:and, as stated before, becomes the only other human-based homunculus.]]
** Scar is a counterpart to Bradley, being a devoutly religious ex-monk who was a victim in the civil war that atheistic Bradley led and, like Bradley, a warrior [[spoiler:without a true name]].
* EvilDetectingDog:
** Den growls at Hohenheim, although that is a subversion since he isn't evil. Possibly he senses that Hohenheim [[spoiler:isn't altogether human]].
** Animals reacting badly on the Promised Day.
** Black Hayate is given the honorary rank of Second Lieutenant because of his ability to detect the presence of Homunculi, and in fact ''attacks Gluttony'' to protect Riza. He's also shown alerting Riza to the presence of Barry the Chopper (only in ''Brotherhood'').
* EvilOldFolks: [[spoiler:All of the senior staff in Central Command support Father's plan to wipe Amestris off the face of the earth in exchange for immortality.]]
* EvilTwin:
** [[spoiler:Hohenheim and Father]] play with this trope, though not quite literally.
** [[spoiler:Father also resembles Ed in some of the later chapters. He resembles him so much that the captain of the soldiers orders his men to shoot "the blonde guy who looks like Fullmetal (Edward) without his automail". Look [[http://www.mangareader.net/116-51515-40/full-metal-alchemist/chapter-107.html here]] for an example (first panel on the right and third on the left).]]
* EvilCostumeSwitch: After [[spoiler:Ling becomes Greed, he drops his Xingese-styled clothes in favor of an all-black suit and a BadassLongcoat. Subverted in that it didn't stay an "''Evil'' Costume Switch" [[HeelFaceTurn for long]]]].
* ExactEavesdropping: Invoked. Hohenheim would like to talk to Ed about his human transmutation attempt, but Ed hates him at that point. So he starts discussing it with Pinako, well aware that Ed will be listening in.
* ExactWords:
** As part of his fake bribery deal with Yoki, Ed says he'll be sure to mention Yoki to his superiors. After his trickery is revealed, he clarifies he'll be telling them about Yoki's incompetence.
** Used by Armstrong to pass along information to Roy. He tells Roy that the murderers of [[spoiler: Maes Hughes]] are being tracked, but refuses to say more even when Roy orders him. He then mentions the Elric brothers were in town but had no luck finding the legendary artifact they seek. Roy correctly deduces that means [[spoiler: Hughes]] was killed by some sort of group, that the brass are involved and ordering silence, and that it has something to do with the Philosopher's Stone.
** When a slum dweller taking care of him comments on Scar's right arm and its tattoo, Scar says he got it from his family. [[spoiler: Meaning, he got the arm itself from his brother, who transplanted it onto him in life-saving surgery at the cost of [[HeroicSacrifice his own life]].]]
** When the Elrics, Alex, and Bradley are discussing a conspiracy within the military, Bradley warns that they should assume anyone in the military might be an enemy and that when the time comes, he expects the others to assist him. Later on, the Homunculus Wrath brings up the conversation [[spoiler:and points out that he didn't lie. Anyone could be an enemy, including himself, and now that the time has come that they know the entire military brass is part of the conspiracy, he expects them to obey his orders regardless.]]
** [[spoiler: Homunculus promised the king of Xerxes immortality, and he did technically give it to him. He just failed to mention that it would be as a tortured soul, spiraling in a sea of other tortured souls in a Philosopher's Stone comprised of half the population of Xerxes.]]
* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: PlayedForLaughs. Most people meeting Ed and Al for the first time assume that Al is the Fullmetal Alchemist because he's wearing a giant metal suit.
* ExponentialPlotDelay: ''Brotherhood'' rushes through the introduction of the manga, covering what appears to be weeks per episode during the beginning, while the last few episodes all take place during the same day.
* ExpressiveMask: Played with a bit. Al's face doesn't move, of course (outside of humorous moments), but things like rain, light, and shadow are often used to give emotion to his face. Also, when drawn in [[SuperDeformed "chibi"]] style, his face can be more flexible. Barry the Chopper is similarly expressive.
* {{Expy}}:
** Jean Havoc's characterization and design originates from an earlier Arakawa manga, ''Manga/ShanghaiYoumaKikai'', along with those of Lust.
** Dorchet/Dolcetto/[[SpellMyNameWithAnS what have you]] is a human/dog hybrid, with a ring around his pupil, and he's loyal to his master to a fault. These traits come from the Military Dogs (sound familiar?) from Arakawa's first professional manga, ''Manga/StrayDog''.
** Lan Fan's design is nearly identical to the main heroine of Raiden-18, yet another one/two-shot from Arakawa.
* ExtremelyShortTimespan: The series as a whole takes place over a fairly long period of time, but the last fourth of the story,[[labelnote:note]]Sixteen-plus episodes of the sixty-four episode anime[[/labelnote]] except for the epilogue, takes place over the course of a day and change.
* EyesAlwaysShut: Falman, Dr. Marcoh, and Ling. Later, when Ling is [[spoiler:possessed by Greed, it's more shown on how his eyes are open or closed as to who has control]]. A related convention is used with King Bradley: when his one eye [[EyepatchOfPower shown]] is open, he's getting serious. When [[spoiler:BOTH eyes are open, he's about to freakin' kill you]].
* EyeScream:
** Mustang boils Envy's eyes ''multiple times''.
** Chapter 104 presents us with [[spoiler:Pride having his right eye removed.]]
** The process of [[spoiler:Bradley becoming a homunculus]] caused his eye to ''melt''.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:F]]
* TheFaceless: Near the middle of ''The Sacred Star of Milos'', we get a glimpse of another BigBad, using a WhiteMaskOfDoom.
* FacelessEye: In a chilling scene in Chapter 104, the eye which is in the center of the Gate replaces the sun.
* FaceStealer: In''[[TheMovie The Sacred Star of Milos]]'': it's revealed that [[spoiler: Atlas]] did this to [[spoiler: Julia's brother]].
* FakeMemories: Barry the Chopper suggests to Al that his memories aren't real, that Ed created him himself, and that the human boy Al never existed. [[spoiler:He's just screwing with him for giggles, but Al believes him until Ed and Winry set him straight]].
* FailedASpotCheck: While imprisoned together, Pride taps in the dark non-stop for hours and it never occurs to Alphonse that he might be trying to send a message with his unrelenting action. Made worse by the fact that Pride was using Alphonse's own head to tap on.
* FaithInTheFoe: Ed, Ling, and Envy are trapped within Gluttony's stomach with no way out. Ed theorizes he could get everyone out by opening the Portal of Truth to bring them back to reality, but makes it clear that it's highly risky and there's no way to know if it will work. Nonetheless, Envy has enough confidence in Ed's skill as an alchemist to willingly allow him to use their Philosopher's Stone to pay the toll to open the portal. However, they go back to [[UngratefulBastard fighting right after they're free]].
** [[spoiler:While trapped together in Hohenheim's dome]], Al taunts Pride over the fact that Father's plans hinge on the sacrifices doing exactly what he wants, and how everything would fall apart if they just decided to abandon Amestris. Pride replies that some people would risk their lives to save others, and the Elric brothers' heroism is beyond even that, so the homunculi's faith that Ed and Al would never turn their back on their country to save themselves was not misplaced.
* FalseProphet: Father Cornello, the prophet of the religion worshipping the Sun God Leto in the village of Liore at the start of the manga and BOTH anime series, turns out to be nothing more than a con-man. His "miracles" are all the result of the power of an incomplete Philospoher's stone he has, and his sole reason for founding his religion is to establish a powerbase of religious fanatics he can use as foot soldiers.
* FamilyPortraitOfCharacterization: Although the Elric brothers and their beloved mother look happy in their family portrait, their father Hohenheim's face is [[PlotBasedPhotographObfuscation initially obscured]] by the light when the photo is seen. When his face in the portrait is shown, it's revealed that he [[spoiler:was crying because he knew he had to leave to stop Father's plan]]. At the end of the manga, this is contrasted with [[spoiler:Ed and Winry's family photos -- although they are posed similarly, they and their two children are all smiles]].
* FamilyUnfriendlyDeath: In the ''Brotherhood'' anime, after having his throat ripped out by chimera Heinkel, [[spoiler:Kimblee's]] dying gasps for breath is a horrifying mix of oxygen-deprivation and drowning in his own blood. The sound is presented with ''disturbing'' realism by by his voice actor Creator/HiroyukiYoshino.
* FanDisservice
** Creator/HiromuArakawa used this for comedy in an omake -- it showed us Winry's ''grandmother'' Pinako in a bikini, calling her the 'heroine of ''Fullmetal Alchemist''', with the words 'anti-fanservice' underneath.
** It's also played for [[MoodDissonance drama]] many times, like Roy's ShirtlessScene showing his bloody and wrecked side after he used his fire powers to cauterize his own wounds, Riza toweling herself after a shower revealing an alchemy-related tattoo and the scars on her back, Ling taking off his shirt to bandage Lan Fan's arm after she mutilates herself to save both of their lives and the moment when Ed sees [[spoiler:Al's]] fully naked but '''terribly emaciated''' body on the other side of the Gate.
** When [[spoiler:Father absorbs the power of God]], he turns into a incredibly hot, muscular young man, but in the ''Brotherhood'' anime adaptation he [[VocalDissonance keeps his old man voice]] ruining the image everytime he opens his mouth.
** While fighting Mustang, Lust looks like she's about to pull down her dress only for her to rip open her chest cavity to expose her Philosopher's Stone.
** The ''Brotherhood'' [[EyeCatch eyecatches]] occasionally dip into this too, by showing some half-nude characters in ''very'' vulnerable moments creating an unpleasant emotional dissonance. One has a short-haired young Riza with her bare back exposed [[spoiler:and her alchemy tattoo on full display]], a second has an older and long-haired Riza also with her [[spoiler:tattooed]] back uncovered and [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall looking at the viewer]] as if silently begging "DontLookAtMe", and a third one has Lan Fan only wearing her {{sarashi}} and [[spoiler:lacking an arm.]]
** The ArtificialHuman Mannequin Soldiers fight completely nude. They're also [[NightOfTheLivingMooks horribly creepy.]]
** [[spoiler:The first]] Greed is seen [[BoundAndGagged bound in chains]] while [[HellBentForLeather wearing leather]]... Bad thing, his shoulders are pierced by metal bars and he's about to [[spoiler:[[CruelAndUnusualDeath die very painfully by being]] ''[[CruelAndUnusualDeath boiled down to his Philosopher's Stone]]'' and be reabsorbed into [[BigBad Father]]]]...
* {{Fanservice}}:
** Lust and Winry's [[{{Stripperiffic}} skimpy outfits]].
** Ed, Ling, and Armstrong's constant [[ShirtlessScene shirtlessness]].
** Several gratuitous bath/shower scenes, for Riza, Winry, and Ed.
** The opening to season five, in which a very clearly maturing Ed is asleep and looking downright ''beautiful'', may also count.
** Winry's {{underboobs}} shot probably counts for this.
** Winry's bath scene as well. More than enough cleavage.
** Roy's ShirtlessScene [[spoiler: when he kills Lust]]. [[MrFanservice As if he needed any]].
** In the scene at the end of Episode 46 of ''Brotherhood,'' we're treated to a good three to four seconds of observing Riza put on a holster and jacket. Except the view goes from just below her nose into some very impressive cleavage, considering that she's fully covered wearing what seems to be a fairly thick-fabric turtleneck (and there is still plenty of *ahem* ''movement'' on display).
* FantasyCounterpartCulture:
** Xing is basically China, down to sharing borders with the world's counterpart for Russia. There are also a few clear Japanese elements to its culture, and May's clothing resembles that of Tibet, which implies it may be an amalgamation of many Asian countries and subcultures among the 50 clans.
** Amestris is early 20th century Europe, England and Germany in particular.
** Drachma's soldiers look like that of a Tsarist Russian Army.
** Briggs troopers' attitude and their snow uniforms resemble that of the Red Army [[http://www.lonesentry.com/articles/geronimo/geronimo_red_army_paratroopers.jpg Siberian units]] during UsefulNotes/{{WW2}}.
** The ancient nation of Xerxes seems to be a cross of Greece and Persia.
** The Japanese-exclusive Mangaverse/''Brotherhood'' games suggest that Aerugo is FMA's version of Italy.
* FantasyCounterpartReligion: The Ishvalan religion seems to resemble a cross of Judaism and Islam. The Ishvalans have a vaguely Middle Eastern feel and they are monotheists who worship a deity called Ishvalah. Additionally, their religion has prohibitions alien to the cultures around them, they have a strong focus on tradition, and they lack any tendency to evangelize.
* FantasyWorldMap: Also becomes a plot point later. [[spoiler:The reason Amestris is a circle, specifically.]]
* FarEast: Xing, a large isolationist country separated from the East Amestris by a large desert, is clearly intended to be this.
* FatalFamilyPhoto:
** Explicitly discussed by Roy, who uses it to warn Hughes against talking about his girlfriend on the battlefield. However, [[spoiler:a photo of Hughes' family actually plays a direct role in his death]].
** Also [[PlayingWithATrope played with]] with [[spoiler:Hohenheim]], who gets shot repeatedly just after showing his family picture to a young mother but [[spoiler:is near-invincible and technically immortal]].
* FateWorseThanDeath:
** The people of Xerxes who [[spoiler:became disembodied, dehumanised souls]] that power Father and his seven Homunculi. [[spoiler:Envy constantly broadcasts this by allowing the agonized souls of their Philosopher's stone to ripple across their true form]].
** When Father is returned to [[spoiler:his true "dwarf in the flask" form and cast back into despair by Truth in Chapter 108]].
** All the poor people that were [[spoiler:ritually murdered and turned into Philosopher's Stones so that their souls were trapped in constant agony until the stone was used up]].
* AFatherToHisMen:
** Roy Mustang is a prime example. For instance, when he and Havoc take on Lust, [[spoiler:which results in her stabbing him in the side and Havoc through the spine, his first concern is for Havoc's life -- at least, after he personally roasts Lust alive]]. He takes it personally when he learns that [[spoiler:the wound from Lust's attack has rendered Havoc paralyzed from the waist down]].
** Although Olivier intentionally trains her army to stand on their own so they never have to rely on her, when they ''really'' need her assistance, Olivier can be a ''terrifying'' MamaBear to her men.
** Ling qualifies, though he's royalty rather than military personnel. He's got a really protective streak when it comes to his bodyguards.
* FearInducedIdiocy: An unnamed member of the corrupt Military Senior Staff unleashes the Mannequin Soldiers despite a similarly unnamed scientist's warnings that the tests aren't done yet. The arrogant and smug general gets killed when he tries to command the Mannequin Soldiers, while the scientist pulls out a gun that only briefly slows them down. The scientist is too paralyzed with fear to even try fleeing for his life, becoming the next victim.
* FedoraOfAsskicking: Kimblee sports a very, very fine hat.
* FemmeFatalons: Lust; her fingernails are [[WolverineClaws an actual weapon]].
* FictionalFlag: Since many of the characters are part of the Amestrian military, the country's flag is frequently seen. It depicts a white dragon-ish creature on a blue background.
* FieryStoic: Roy Mustang is a usually calm and collected GuileHero (except when his BerserkButton is pressed), whose alchemy involves [[FingerSnapLighter flame production]]. A villainous character in the series Solf J. Kimblee is a MadBomber with explosive powers, who is [[FauxAffablyEvil always calm and polite]]. ''Brotherhood'' has a CanonForeigner character who has [[AnIcePerson ice powers]] and behaves like the typical fire/MadBomber type.
* FightingFromTheInside:
** [[spoiler:Ling]] once he's possessed by Greed.
** When Prides attempts to take over [[spoiler: Ed's body, Kimblee, who had been previously absorbed, resurfaces]] and rails against Pride's hypocrisy.
** [[spoiler: Greed]] pulls this on Father as he's being reabsorbed for good, using his [[spoiler:carbonization ability to turn Father's body into fragile graphite.]]
* FigureItOutYourself: Izumi gives one month for Ed and Al to figure out the meaning of "All is One, One is All" before they begin their official training.
* FirstEpisodeTwist: Al is an empty suit of armor and Ed has two artificial limbs.
* FiveSecondForeshadowing: During his battle with Greed in Dublith during Chapter 29/episode 14 of ''Brotherhood'', King Bradley [[spoiler: name-drops Greed's Ultimate Shield and Lust's Ultimate Spear. How does he have such familiarity with the Homunculi and their abilities? The scene ends with him revealing his Ultimate Eye and, by extension, that he's a Homunculus too.]]
* FiveStagesOfGrief: The Elric brothers are shown to have gone through these after their mother's death.
--> Denial: Implied by how the Elric brothers are convinced their mother will not be dead for long.
--> Anger: Edward has this reaction at her funeral, but is not angry at his mother -- he's angry at his father (who he blames for his mother's death).
--> Bargaining: The attempt to bring their mother BackFromTheDead.
--> Despair: After their effort [[CameBackWrong fails with horrible results]], the Elric brothers become very depressed.
--> Acceptance: They accept the fact that dead people cannot come back to life, and focus their efforts on restoring their bodies.
* {{Flanderization}}: [[InvokedTrope Invoked]] by [[ManipulativeBastard Roy]] and [[LadyOfWar Olivier]] to subtly destroy evidence of communication.
* FlashedBadgeHijack: In Chapter 45, Hawkeye confiscates a rich couple's car at gunpoint, under the authority of Central Military Command (much later in Chapter 82, [[HeroStoleMyBike Ed steals]] [[RunningGag the same couple's car]] to make a getaway. The couple were first seen in Rush Valley).
* FlatEarthAtheist:
** Ed is an outspoken atheist, even though he has met God in person. He once went so far as to say that [[SelectiveObliviousness if he and Al ever went to see God]] that [[YouAreWorthHell they would probably just be sent back]]. They did, and they were. Ed is also prone to using religious language like "God must really hate humans that commit taboo." (To be more precise, Ed knows for a fact that God doesn't grant favors, which would make him a "dystheist." A person who hates the gods is also a "misotheist.")
** Although no one besides Father (and maybe Hohenheim) seemed to think of the Truth as God [[spoiler:until Father's plan to absorb Him was revealed]].
* {{Foreshadowing}}: As the various openings to the anime series often contain glimpses of scenes to come, this trope is unavoidable even if such instances are not technically part of the narrative.
** In the first chapter, Ed rattles off the list of component elements that make up a human body and dismissively states that such elements are so common, a child could buy them with his pocket money. As we later see, he and Al did exactly that for their ill-fated human transmutation attempt.
** The first episode of ''Brotherhood''. Despite not being in the manga, the relevance of its events become shockingly clear to the audience and the characters later on.
--->'''[=McDougal=]''': Do you have any idea what ''shape'' this country's in?
** A particularly emotional one is depicted in the second opening sequence of Brotherhood, when [[spoiler:Mustang battles Lust]]. In the manga, [[spoiler:Mustang brutalizes Lust by constantly scorching her with the aid of a transmutation circle carved ''on the back of his own freakin' hand'', until he finally [[DeaderThanDead kills her off for real]]]]. These events take place in Episode 19 of ''Brotherhood''.
** During the second opening of ''Brotherhood'', Ling, Fu, and Lan Fan are shown fighting Führer Bradley [[spoiler:a.k.a. Wrath]]; Fu is the only one of the three to score a hit on Bradley. [[spoiler:Flash-forward to the siege on Central. Whose HeroicSacrifice is the first hit landed on Wrath, and ultimately allows Scar to finish him off? Old Man Fu's.]]
** Alex Armstrong to Scar (whilst [[WalkingShirtlessScene stripping,]] of course): "Destruction and creation are two sides of the same coin! You must destroy to create! That is the law of the universe! Non-alchemists may fail to see the inherent truth of that statement. But we understand, don't we, Scar?"
** Maes Hughes to Colonel Mustang: "I don't envy you." [[spoiler:Considering who ends up killing Maes and then impersonating him to Mustang…]]
** Colonel Mustang to Maes Hughes: "Next time you come here, I expect you to have made Brigadier-General, you got that?" ...to which Mustang replies, "Easy for you to say." [[spoiler:Hughes was promoted to Brigadier-General after his death.]]
** An especially chilling example appears in Episode 9's PostEpisodeTrailer, featuring a 3-second shot of a certain [[DisconnectedByDeath phone booth]]...
** During his fight with Lan Fan, Ed defeats her by leaving his automail arm as a decoy/booby trap. He explains that he got the idea from a common trick in hunting. [[spoiler:Later on, Lan Fan eludes Wrath who's trying to kill her by [[LifeOrLimbDecision chopping off her own (REAL!) arm as a decoy]]]].
** When callously rejecting the Ishvalan leader's offer to take his own life and spare those of his people, King Bradley is told by one of the leader's envoys that he shall suffer the hammer of God. [[spoiler:[[DarkAndTroubledPast Guess]] [[ChurchMilitant who]] [[IAmNotLeftHanded kills him]]. And he got killed after distracted by the peeking sun. Sun is the symbol of God in some civilizations, and also alchemy.]]
** The third and fourth openings both have brief images which later come to pass: [[spoiler: Kimblee calmly striding into the massive vortex of souls]] and [[spoiler: the Gate of Truth exploding.]]
** Mrs. Bradley calls Selim the pride of her life, although she doesn't know [[spoiler:Selim is actually the homunculus Pride.]] Goes into rather literal FiveSecondForeshadowing when [[spoiler:the shadow that murdered some of the Briggs soldiers in the tunnels appears creeps up behind Hawkeye and it turns out to be Selim]].
** [[spoiler:Roy's loss of sight when he's forced to open the Gate is foreshadowed in the fifth opening, when there's a shot of him with blank grey eyes spiralling down a tunnel.]] When he [[spoiler: kills Lust, she muses on how she loves how cold and direct his eyes are, and says she looks forward to the day they're clouded with suffering (in the English dub she says "wide with agony"). Later on, Roy's eyes are certainly wide, clouded and suffering agony.]]
** When Greed is first being melted down for parts, he tells Father "don't blame me if I give you a stomach ache." [[spoiler: In the final battle, the last blow against father is Greed attacking him from within after being forcibly absorbed.]]
** An extremely subtle one from the last opening. It's difficult to tell from the camera angle and the blindingly bright light, but in the overhead shot of Ed sleeping in bed, [[spoiler: Winry is sitting on the edge of the bed, foreshadowing them getting married.]]
** Also, Greed introduces himself to Al by saying, "My name's Greed, and I want to be your friend." Then we find out at the very end of the series [[spoiler:[[IJustWantToHaveFriends what Greed's truest desire was all along....]]]]
** Selim, when we first see him, says that when he grows up, he wants to do everything he can to help father. At the time, everyone thinks he's talking about Führer King Bradley, but...
* {{Forgiveness}}: One of the main [[AnAesop aesops]] of the series. To be exact, the importance of constructively channeling hatred and anger rather than letting it fester and fueling the CycleOfRevenge.
* ForgottenFallenFriend: Very notably averted in Chapter 108, when Al reveals that he and Ed ''never'' forgot about their inability to save Nina, referring to an incident that occurred 102 chapters ago and ''three years ago'' in-story. When one of the chimeras asks his motivation for his journey of [[WalkTheEarth roaming the land]] seeking to right the wrongs done by alchemy. His simple reply is, "...There was a little girl that we weren't able to save."
* ForgotToGagHim: Inverted when the heroes have Pride captured, but unwittingly allow him to tap out his exact coordinates in Morse Code using Al's head.
* FourPhilosophyEnsemble: Roy as Cynic, Ed as Optimist, Riza as Realist, Al and Winry as Conflicted.
* FourStarBadass: Olivier, Bradley.
* FreakOut: A massive one in Scar's {{backstory}}. [[spoiler:He wakes up with [[BodyHorror his brother's arm]] and (understandably) completely loses it, killing [[InnocentBystander Winry's parents in the process]]. The priest who was a wise, humanist and MartialPacifist man becomes [[HeWhoFightsMonsters a serial killer driven by revenge]]]].
* FreudianTrio:
** Id: Edward -- Reckless, impulsive, hot-tempered, [[{{Determinator}} extremely driven]].
** Ego: Alphonse -- [[GentleGiant Gentle]], thoughtful, idealistic, self-sacrificing.
** Superego: Winry -- Sensible, diplomatic, motherly, can be stern.
* FromBadToWorse: The Elric brothers' backstory can easily be summed up this way. They start with their two parents. Then Papa leaves. Then Mommy gets ill. Then she dies, making them functional orphans. And it gets worse from there.
* FullConversionCyborg: Not seen in-series, but alluded to when people mistake Alphonse for someone with a full body [[ArtificialLimbs automail prosthetic]].
* FunnyBackgroundEvent:
** When the forces of good prepare to [[spoiler: attack Central Headquarters]] you can spot the presence of [[spoiler: Izumi Curtis]] as a pair of scary red eyes in the background.
** As the retiring head of the Armstrong family backs up his household and goes on a long vacation out of the country, you can see Alex and Olivia Armstrong dueling over who will be the next family head. Alex is a good foot taller than his sister and much more heavily built. Olivia is kicking his ass.
[[/folder]]