A colonel in the military, stationed in East City at the start of the story. Known as the Flame Alchemist he seeks to become the Fuhrer so he can fix the country, and spread his ideals to the people.

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• The Atoner: His main motive for becoming Fuhrer is to ensure that nothing like Ishval ever happens again. According to Riza, his ultimate goal would most likely lead to him getting tried and quite possibly put in jail for what he did in Ishval - and he's just fine with that.
• Authority Equals Asskicking: By far the most badass member of his unit, as well as the resistance he organized.
• Back-to-Back Badasses: With Ed and Ling when Envy and Gluttony destroy their safehouse.
• Badass: Probably the most powerful of all the State Alchemists. Incinerated Lust and curbstomped Envy with no effort, and he actually had to be injured twice and blinded in the final battle against Father to preserve the drama.
  • Badass Boast: To Lust: You said it takes more than that to kill you, right? Then I'll just keep killing you until you die!
  • Badass Bookworm: On the same vein with Ed.
  • Badass Fingersnap: His main attack.
  • Badass in a Nice Suit: Less obviously than Kimblee, but he always wears either a uniform with a dress shirt underneath or a suit. The only exception is when he's in the hospital.
  • Badass Longcoat
  • Colonel Badass
  • Four Star Badass: At the very end of the manga.
  • Handicapped Badass: Temporarily. He gets his sight back.
• Battle Couple: With Riza.
• Beard of Sorrow: While grieving Hughes' death.
• Berserk Button: He doesn't take kindly to being reminded that he's useless when wet.
  • And unless you want to literally die in a fire, don't threaten or hurt his subordinates. Especially not Riza. It's also not a good idea to hit on her (Barry the Chopper) or accuse her of enjoying killing (Kimblee)...on the whole, it's just not wise to mess with his Living Emotional Crutch in any way.
  • Also, absolutely, never ever, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, do not admit that you are the one who killed his best friend, and ESPECIALLY, do not brag about it! Because you will get your ass handed to you charcoaled.
    • Don't forget the flash-broiled eyes.
• Big Damn Heroes: Pulls one on Ed and his team, while the latter are engaging a horde of immortal mooks and are slowly but surely losing. Mustang pops in, asks if they're in need of help, and proceeds to set every single one of the mooks ablaze.
• Byronic Hero
• The Casanova: Subverted, as the women he is seen with are part of his hidden information system. Still, one of the novels implies that he thoroughly enjoys the company of the fairer sex even outside his information system. It's not as if he can be blamed, either, with working long hours in an environment that's 10% female at best.
• The Chains of Commanding: They weigh him down. A lot.
• Chekhov's Gunman: While not quite obvious from the get-go, Father's been eyeing him as a "sacrifice" for some time required to absorb God. Almost failed, too. But alas, Father is Father.
• The Chessmaster: Sometimes successfully (the Maria Ross incident), sometimes not so much ("Scar feeding cats, King Bradley is a homunculus...")
• Chess Motif: Refers to his five closest subordinates using the names of chess pieces; he himself is the king.
• Code Name: The Flame Alchemist.
• Combat Pragmatist: Envy found out very painfully that talking ISN'T a free action, pretending to be allies doesn't work (although Envy should have picked someone who was alive), and Mustang goes for the EYES.
  • Subversion: the one thing he lets Envy get away with is Transformation Is a Free Action. Doubly subverted when he boils its eyes immediately afterwards, remarking how stupid it was to make his target bigger for him.
  • Another subversion: Mustang declares that he's going to let him regenerate each time before he resumes the torching, instead of getting it over with as fast possible. He does this explicitly to make it suffer over and over again for Hughes' death.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Completely crushes Envy in what is unquestionably the single most one-sided battle against a homunculus in the entire series. It's so bad that Mustang's own allies have to jump in to stop him from crossing the Moral Event Horizon.
• Determinator/I Can Still Fight: He needs Hawkeye to help him aim after he loses his eyesight, but his flames are as hot as ever.
• Discard and Draw: Loses his eyesight as a result of being forced through the Gate, but gains the ability to perform "clapping" alchemy on more than just flame.
• Everyone Can See It: When Edward "Oblivious to Love" Elric picks up on how much two people care about each other, it's pretty obvious.
  Ed: And don't go worrying the Lieutenant.
• Eye Scream: Inflicts this on Envy during his Roaring Rampage of Revenge, by flash-boiling the water in Envy's eyeballs.
• A Father to His Men: Part of the reason Team Mustang is recognized in the fandom as True Companions.
• The Fettered: He refuses to back down even after his plan is temporarily foiled by Wrath, and his goal involves getting himself tried for the war crimes he committed in Ishval. He won't sacrifice a life if he can help it, including enemies' lives, and refuses to do Human Transmutation even when Hawkeye gets her throat slit.
• Genre Savvy: Tells Hughes not to talk about his loved ones in Ishval because "those characters always get shot in the next battle." He's referring to novels.
• "Get Out of Jail Free" Card: Subverted when it is revealed that he feels immensely guilty for his actions in Ishval; being considered a war hero for committing mass murder sickens him and he actually wishes he was in jail for it.
• Good Eyes, Evil Eyes: If it wasn't apparent that Envy had just pressed Mustang's Berserk Button big time, then his eyes narrowing to a slit makes it terrifyingly so. He's stopped right before he really goes off the deep end, though, then returns to normal.
• Good Scars, Evil Scars: He has a scar on the back of his hand from when he had to cut a transmutation circle into it to kill Lust.
  • Presumably he also gained one on his right side from the same battle, although it's never confirmed because we never see him with his shirt open again.
• Green-Eyed Monster: Implied once in the manga. When he first sees Barry the Chopper put his hands on Riza (who clearly doesn't like it), Roy responds by pulling on his ignition gloves and telling her to stand aside because "there's going to be a fire tonight." It's noteworthy that the font of his speech bubbles changes for this scene, and he's shown to be literally growling.
• Guile Hero
• Heal It With Fire: He's skilled enough to cauterize severe wounds with his alchemy, and puts it to good use saving himself and Havoc
• He Who Fights Monsters: He's aware of this possibility happening on his quest to reform the military, namely that he may become as bad as the current regime, so he makes Hawkeye promise to shoot him if he ever goes off the deep end.
  • Good thing he does, too, because he comes alarmingly close to becoming this when he is taking revenge on Envy and begins to lose himself in his hatred. The aforementioned promise is a big part of what snaps him out of it.
• Heroic BSOD: He has a brief one in the Brotherhood anime when Bradley plays the Love Is A Weakness card and announces that he's making Riza his own personal assistant, essentially holding her hostage for Roy's good behavior. The poor guy's face turns gray.
• Hero Killer: Inverted. He's the only character whose mere presence is enough to constitute a deadly threat to the Homunculi, making him a Hero Killer Killer.
• Hero with Bad Publicity: Especially after the Maria Ross incident.
• How Dare You Die on Me!: He says something like this to Hughes's grave after his funeral, and then later says it almost word-for-word to Riza when her throat is cut. It's even closer to an exact quote in the Brotherhood anime.
  Roy: Don't you dare die! Stay with me, Lieutenant!
• Hurting Hero
• I Am a Monster: Invokes this trope to explain why he's somehow eager to fight Homunculi: he only feels completely human when fighting true monsters.
• If I Do Not Return: Played with in one scene, when he says this to Riza and she refuses to leave if he doesn't come back. To his amusement, he can only get her to agree as long as he promises to return.
• Improbable Aiming Skills: With a snap of his fingers, he makes Envy's eyeballs explode, leaving the rest of the face relatively intact.
• Intergenerational Friendship: With Grumman. They play chess on their time off.
• Internal Reformist: Of the "working the system" variety.
• Jerkass Façade: Master of it. So much that he deserves to be the page's picture.
• Large Ham: When distracting some officers over the radio in episode 18.
• The Leader: he's charismatic enough to get everyone underneath his commander to conspire on what is essentially a military coup
• Living Emotional Crutch: For Riza.
• Manly Tears: Once. Almost twice, although the second time he covered it with a lot of shouting.
• Maybe Ever After: Although he and Riza have an incredibly close relationship based on their shared history and future goals, and are strongly implied on many occasions to have more than platonic feelings for each other underneath their professional masks, we are given no indication of whether or not They Do after the series ends. The Chronicles book further confirms that they remain together for the rest of their lives, but are unable to marry because of military regulations.
• Meaningful Name: Roy is old French for "King", creating an interesting parallel to Bradley, whose first name actually is "King".
  • The P-51 Mustang was considered the best fighter plane in WWII.
    • Carried further back, as the Colonel, like the fighter plane, was most likely named for the "wild, untamed horse" who bucks the master's (in this case, Bradley's) commands.
    • Perhaps just a coincidence, but "Mustang" is also a slang term in the US military for commissioned officers who began their careers as enlisted soldiers.
• The Men First: Insists on Havoc being treated before him despite his own intense injuries.
• Milky White Eyes: As a visual effect when he goes blind.
  • Gray Eyes in anime, no pupils either.
• Mr. Fanservice: So very, very much. About the only way his fan service factor could be increased would be if he got as many shirtless scenes as Ed.
• No Badass to His Valet: Yes, he's the powerful Flame Alchemist and even some of his allies are afraid of him. But his "precious subordinate" Riza has no qualms about sassing or even bullying him if the need arises, and he wouldn't dream of retaliating; the only time he's ever seen acting even remotely annoyed with her, it's because she almost died.
• Noble Male Roguish Male: Noble Male to Ed's Roguish Male.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Delivers this to Envy after admitting that he killed Maes Hughes.
• Not so Above It All / Not So Stoic: Normally he's very strategic, professional, and pretty guarded, playing Straight Man to semi-comedic subordinates like Hughes. However, there are also a good few instances of him goofing around. He seems to enjoy acting like an obnoxious bro over the phone just a little too much. He even admits to this when he's screwing with the military radio to throw them off Scar's trail in Episode 21

  Mustang: Attention! This is Sector 3 Patrol! We're under attack from Scar! Request immediate backup. What? No! No! NOOOOO! AUUUGH! *disconnects the radio* Alright. On to Sector 17. Ohohoho! This is pretty fun!

• Obfuscating Stupidity: Though more like obfuscating perversion.
• One-Man Army: With his flame alchemy he can wipe out entire cities with a snap. Think what he can do to soldiers in formation.
• Out-of-Character Alert: His completely out of place remark about the chicks in the East to Armstrong when he's pretending he charred Maria Ross.
• Overranked Soldier: In the eyes of several of his contemporaries. Until Edward Elric, Roy was the youngest State Alchemist in the country's history, which made him a Major in the military at the ripe old age of twenty. The result is that by the time he turned thirty, he had already become a Colonel Badass. Many of the other, older commanding officers resent and/or dislike Roy for a number of reasons, this being one of them.
  • He's then a full general before the age of 40.
• Parental Abandonment: One of the guidebooks reveals that both of his parents died when he was young, leaving his father's sister to care for him.
• Person of Mass Destruction: Destroys city blocks by snapping his fingers.
• Pietà Plagiarism: With the dying Riza.
• Playing with Fire: His alchemy.
• Post Victory Collapse: After defeating Lust.
• Rank Up: In the epilogue. The stars on his epaulets indicate he's made General.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The blue to Edward's red. (One of two)
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: After finding out Envy was the one who killed Hughes, he goes on one of these. Man, does he ever. It's pretty furious in the manga, but the anime takes it Up to Eleven: at one point, he loses it completely and just keeps on firing ceaselessly until Envy turns to dust. And even then, the only thing keeping him from crushing its true form under his foot is the thought of harming Riza.
• Sand in My Eyes: "It's raining."
• Smart People Play Chess
• Son of a Whore: His foster mother and biological aunt is the 'madam' of a whore house, and he gets the bulk of his information from the girls that work for her.
• Supporting Leader: He's not the hero but he is the heroes' superior and directing the resistance against the Big Bad. This is why he can be seen as a Big Good.
• Stuff Blowing Up: Again, part and parcel of being the Flame Alchemist.
• Superpower Lottery: See Badass above.
• Tall, Dark and Handsome: Amusingly enough, Arakawa mentions in the third guidebook that she never intended him to be this way, despite the widespread fandom reaction. She states that he really isn't all that tall and although he's not bad looking, he isn't ravishingly handsome either. Most fandom estimates using Ed (the only canonical height ever given) as a baseline put him around or just under six feet.
• There Is No Kill Like Overkill: After Envy confesses to be Hughes' killer, Mustang slips into this mindset, intent on sending Envy straight to hell with a death as painful as possible. He succeeds in completely obliderating the homunculus' vessel, preparing to go through with a merciless finish on his now helpless opponent. Riza and Scar stop him, noting that such a brutal finish would latch onto his leadership capacity as well.
• Took a Level in Badass: Not that he actually needed to take one, but, while he temporarily loses his eyesight, he also gains the ability to transmute without a circle. It can be assumed that, although he's recovered his sight, he retained this skill.
• Tricked Out Gloves: They help him with his alchemy.
• Troubled, but Cute
• Unresolved Sexual Tension: With Riza. Arakawa's comments verify that the only reason they aren't married by the end of the series is the anti-fraternization law.
• Urban Legend Love Life: As a part of his facade.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: With Ed. They drive each other nuts, but it becomes pretty apparent that they also always have each other's backs.
  • It's alluded to this being because they're so alike at heart, but very different outwardly.
• Weaksauce Weakness: Repeatedly said to be totally ineffective if under rain or if wet. Not entirely accurate; he just can't use his alchemy if his gloves get wet, as they're made of a special ignition cloth to create the necessary spark. However, if he has another source of fire available, pray for deliverance. We're looking at you, Lust.
• You Can Barely Stand: His final confrontation with Lust.
  "I almost passed out a few times."
• You Killed My Best Friend: What he asks of several people suspected of killing Hughes, though when he finally finds the real person (Envy) he skips straight to the incinerating.

Roy's oldest friend, trusted aide, and devoted bodyguard, Lt. Hawkeye's calm, collected demeanor and remarkable sharpshooting skills earn her the respect of her fellow officers.

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• Action Girl: 1st Lieuntenant sniper.
• Awesome McCoolname: With a name like Riza Hawkeye, how can you not be in the military?
  • Well, her dad hated the military...
• The Atoner: For the same reason as Roy.
• Badass Normal: No alchemy, but her guns still leave their mark.
• Battle Couple: With Roy.
• Berserk Button: Only pressed if she thinks Roy is in danger or dead.
• Berserker Tears: After she is led to believe that Lust killed Mustang.
• Bodyguard Crush: To Roy, of course. Reciprocated.
  • Bodyguarding A Badass: It's a hard job but someone's got to do it.
• Break the Cutie: Short version of her backstory.
• Chess Motif: She is the queen in Mustang's chess-themed unit. The queen is the most powerful piece, the one who stands closest to the king, and the one who can do the most damage. (It's also noted that Mustang, when playing chess, will never sacrifice his queen if he can help it.)
• The Chick: Played with. She's the only female in Roy's unit, and the men all care for her a great deal, but she outranks all of them except Roy and is exceptionally competent and badass.
• Clark Kenting: When she helps the Elrics in their fight against Scar, she wears glasses and lets her hair down to avoid being recognized. It doesn't work. Granted, it does take Ed and Al a moment to recognize her, and she didn't plan on letting anyone else see her face long enough to be able to put two and two together. Wrath, on the other hand, instantly sees through it thanks to his Ultimate Eye.
• Code Name: Elizabeth. Only shown being used once in a work setting (when she's watching over Falman and Barry the Chopper), but referenced in the manga after Bradley removes her from Roy's unit. Roy visits his mother, who asks about "Elizabeth," and he laments that "Another man took Elizabeth away from me." The ensuing commentary from the women in the bar indicate that they all believe "Elizabeth" is his girlfriend; his mother's expression indicates that despite his playful demeanor, she knows just how very serious this is.
• Cold Sniper: Subverted. The Stoic, yes, but while not overly affectionate, she's far from cold. Mustang refers to her as being "sweeter than she seems" and having "a gentle heart."
• The Conscience / The Consigliere: To Roy. Part of her explicitly-stated job description is to make sure he achieves his goals only through upright means - and to shoot him in the back if he goes down the Moral Event Horizon.
• Corner of Woe: Kimblee put her in one in the flashback to Ishval (and pressed Roy's Berserk Button at the same time) by suggesting that she actually really enjoys killing.
• Death by Origin Story: Her father.
• Embarrassing Tattoo: Spiced up with some burn scarring.
• Establishing Character Moment: The side story in which Fuery finds a puppy out in the rain in East City. Riza tells him he has to find the dog an owner by the end of the day. When Fuery is unable to find anyone to take the pup, Riza adopts him herself. The story shows that she's strict, fair, and has a bit of a Hidden Heart of Gold.
  • Doubly so because the side-story was released long before she had become more than a fleeting side-character in the main story. It's also worth nothing that she never directly said that she'd put the dog back out in the rain; it's just what everyone assumed because of her strict nature.
• Friend to All Children
• The General's Daughter: Granddaughter, though this is only revealed in one of the guidebooks.
• Green-Eyed Monster: She usually takes Roy's womanizing very much in stride, presumably because she's aware of its real purpose, but this is hinted at in one of the novels. When the men of the unit are observing the preparations Roy is making for his date, Fuery notices that Riza seems very peevish and goes off to the practice range to do a lot of shooting.
• The Gunslinger: When she's not using a rifle she switches to this. Also goes Guns Akimbo in the first opening for Brotherhood, not to mention whenever emptying shot after shot after useless shot into a homunculus.
• Heroic BSOD/Despair Event Horizon: After her brief Roaring Rampage of Revenge against Lust for seemingly killing Mustang, she completely breaks down and loses her will to live.
• Hostage Situation/I Have Your Lieutenant: Twice, both times used against Roy, once played straight and once subverted. First Bradley makes her his own personal assistant, so Roy can't (visibly) work against him without putting her in danger. Later, in the subversion, her throat is slashed to provide Roy with sufficient motivation to perform human transmutation, but she persuades him not to through eye signals.
• Human Notepad: Her father's research is tattooed all over her back.
• Hypercompetent Sidekick: Played with: while she is an extremely capable adjutant and keeps the unit running like clockwork, she mostly has this reputation because Roy is Obfuscating Stupidity (or at least, obfuscating being a womanising slacker).
• I Gave My Word: "I am proud of my pigheadedness, sir."
• Improbable Aiming Skills: Hawkeye. While she is certainly the best in canon, she's not perfect, is shown practicing hard, and stays within the bounds of reality with her skill.
• Living Emotional Crutch: For Roy. He admits as much: "I can't afford to lose you."
• Mad Alchemist's Beautiful Daughter
• Maybe Ever After: See Roy's entry above.
• Meaningful Name: See Improbable Aiming Skills. Also, Hawkeye gets additional meaning when Roy is blinded and she literally has to be his eyes.
• Meganekko: When she does the above-mentioned Clark Kenting.
• Missing Mom: She was raised by her widowed father; she tells Roy in a flashback that her mother died when she was very young.
• Morality Pet: To Roy. She, Scar, and Ed all talk him down from his Roaring Rampage of Revenge against Envy, but it's the realization that he's causing her pain (and she plans to commit suicide over it) that really snaps him out of it.
• Number Two: Mustang's second in command, both officially and otherwise.
• Parental Neglect: Berthold's treatment of her could also be seen as abusive; she does mention to Roy in a flashback that her father was "a terrifying man."
• Pet the Dog: Being Black Hayate's owner. She also shows a good deal of kindness toward Winry and the Elric brothers, as well as to the men of her unit. Oh, yeah, and she's kind of fond of her boss.
• Precious Puppies: Black Hayate.
• The Reliable One: She keeps Roy on track at the office and in the field.
• Servile Snarker:
  "I thought you hated water. It makes your abilities useless."
  "What do you make of this, Lieutenant?" "It seems to be a case of incorrect information, sir."
• Shipper on Deck: For Edward and Winry, although she doesn't encourage it so much as she says it flat out, so it leans more towards Everyone Can See It.
• Shrinking Violet: It appears she was like this in her teens, and during the war flashback, to an extent.
• Spell My Name with an S: Riza, Liza, Lisa...you name it. It wasn't until the Perfect Guidebook 2 came out that it was confirmed as Riza, and people still seem to be confused.
• The Stoic: Normally, her voice is flat. Even in battle it's flat.
  • Not So Stoic: "YOU BIIIIIIIITCH!!"
• Subordinate Excuse: With Roy. There's a rule against fraternization, as revealed in the third art book.
• Sugar and Ice Personality: Her relationship with Roy works like this; cold, stoic, subtle moment of affectionate, cold, stoic.
• Unresolved Sexual Tension: With Roy and it's used to her advantage. Arakawa's comments verify that the only reason they aren't married by the end of the series is the anti-fraternization law.
• Violently Protective Girlfriend: The whole reason she's in the military, as she explains to young Winry in a flashback, is because "there is someone [Roy] I need to protect," and she has no qualms about delivering a royal asskicking to do it. She's not technically his girlfriend, but...
• You Are Worth Hell: She vows to follow Roy wherever he leads, even "into hell itself if you so desire." She does.

The ruler of Amestris. Fuhrer is his military title, and he is also the President of the Nation. King is just his name, though, it isn't a title. He came to rule Amestris after leading his nation out of a bloody civil war and setting up a military dictatorship. He is also the Homunculus Wrath.

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• Authority Equals Asskicking: Justified by the fact that he's actually the homunculus Wrath.
  • Asskicking Equals Authority: Also justified by the whole "military dictatorship" thing. A non-badass could never have become Fuhrer.
• Awesome McCoolname: King Bradley. Add his titles and he becomes His Excellency, President Fuhrer King Bradley.
• Badass: One of the biggest in the series, if not the biggest. He took down a tank with a sword. Seriously, he takes on Fu, 2nd Greed and Buccaneer at the same time with paper-cutters and wins until they stab through Fu to even land a hit.
  • Badass Boast: Asking "Why must a King enter his castle through the back door?" while calmly walking to the front gate of Central H.Q, which as taken over by the Briggs army. He proceeds to do just that, slaughtering the Briggs army guards and their tank stationed in the front gate of Central HQ.
  • Badass Grandpa: See the wrinkles? See the epic asskicking?
  • Badass Mustache
  • Badass Normal: Unlike the Homunculi, Bradley can't regenerate. The only power that his Philosopher's Stone gives him is his Evil Eye and delayed aging. However, in addition to not being able to heal, Bradley even rarely used his Eye for most of his fights. It seems that Bradley mostly relied on his Charles Atlas Superpower.
  • Four Star Badass: In the backstory and still as Commander-in-Chief of the Amestrian military.
• Bait the Dog: Even when there are a lot of hints to his sinister reputation, his seemingly quirky personality (i.e. giving people melons, dressing as a Hawaiian Shirted Tourist, etc.) makes him seem like a nice guy at first.
• Beware the Nice Ones: He's probably one of the nicest characters in the series, but is easily capable of curbstomping Greed and he's actually Wrath, the youngest of the Homunculus and the closest one to being human.
• The Berserker: During his fight with Scar. Bradley knows he doesn't have to long to live, so he decides to go out with a bang.
• Big Little Brother: The youngest of the Homunculi, yet the oldest looking.
• Blood Knight: After Father summons his five sacrifices, Wrath (by now grievously injured by Ling Yao) is no longer needed, so he throws himself into one final battle against Scar.
• Charles Atlas Superpower:
• Cool Old Guy: Even when it turns out he´s on the evil team.
• Combat Clairvoyance: By way of his Ultimate Eye, though he only uses it when really challenged.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: ANY fight he participates in turns into this, with him doing the curb stomping. There is a reason why most characters fear him. In fact, for him to be defeated, he had to be half dead.
• Death by Irony: After saying several times that there is no such thing as God, the solar eclipse, the symbol of God in alchemy, plays an instrumental role in his defeat. Who defeats him makes it even better. During the Ishval Genocide, an Ishvalan priest had proclaimed that God's wrath would befall him for what he'd done, but he'd laughed it off. In the end, he was killed by an Ishvalan who'd repeatedly proclaimed to be the messenger of God.
• Deep Cover Agent: Set up and molded by Father's conspiracy into the seeming savior of Amestris.
• Dirty Old Man: An omake in one of the manga volumes has him proudly proclaiming to like women with "junk in the trunk!", and having a face off with Mustang over the importance of which female anatomy is better.
• Drama-Preserving Handicap: Bradley can still kick serious ass despite being out of his prime by a good degree. None of the other characters could beat him at his best. In order for Scar to even be on equal footing, Bradley had to be half dead.
  • If you think disabling his Ultimate Eye will mean he's no longer a threat, think again.
  • Not exactly a "handicap", but unlike the other homunculi, he doesn't have a Healing Factor.
• The Dreaded: Probably best shown late in the manga/Brotherhood. The Briggs men have won, while Bradley had his train blown up in the middle of a bridge several episodes earlier, presumably killing him, and in any case leaving him missing in action. Then his voice, perfectly calm and even pleasant, is heard over the radio, telling them that now he's back, and he's rather displeased with what's been happening in his absence. Everybody who hears the broadcast looks to have just soiled themselves.
• Dual Wielding: He often dual-wields and has been seen carrying up to four spare swords.
  • Cutlass Between The Teeth: Does this when both his arms are cut off before being defeated by Scar.
• Enhanced Reflexes: His Ouroboros eye gives him this power, along with limited Spider-Sense.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: He really, sincerely loves his wife.
• Evil Eye: Under the eyepatch. It shows his Ouroboros tattoo and grants him super reflexes.
• Eyepatch of Power: Just one of the many signs of his badassness is the eyepatch.
  • Evil Eye: What it hides.
• Eyes Always Shut: Part of his kooky, more comical image, but it disappears quickly when he's being completely serious.
• General Ripper: There's a scene in the flashback to the Ishval war in which an Ishvalan leader offered his life in exchange for ending the Amestrian genocide. Bradley mocks him for thinking he can set his life equal to those of everyone in his country, and orders that the genocide resume. It's not for nothing that he's Wrath.
• A Good Way To Die: Ironic isn't it? The embodiment of Wrath is at peace with himself when he dies.
• Happily Married: To Mrs. Bradley.
• Hero Killer: He kills Isaac McDougal, Buccaneer, and Fu among others.
• Historical Hero Upgrade: After his death, the heroes can't risk exposing his crimes or true nature, as doing so could cause a war due to Bradley's good reputation. They're forced to do this to him.
• Hollywood Atheist: He's rants about how the Ishvalan genocide should have shown Scar that "there is no God in this world!"
• Hope Bringer: A villainous example. The briggs army has successfully taken over Central headquarters and has started celebrating. Then he arrives, eliciting an Oh Crap moment from ALL the people in Central and a massive morale boost for the Amestris Military. He then proceeds to slaughter anybody who dared stand in his way.
• Iaijutsu Practitioner
• I Am Not Left-Handed: The Evil Eye under that Eyepatch of Power gives him Combat Clairvoyance. He rarely needs it.
• Implacable Man: Trying to stop him is a very good way to get killed. When Scar blasts his arms off, he attacks him with a sword held in his teeth. At one point, he's outnumbered 5 to 1, and the group of five warriors feel they have no chance to win.
• Implausible Fencing Powers: Although it does help to be a Homunculus with superhuman abilities. He takes out a tank (!) armed only with his saber and later defuses a grenade.
• I Was Quite a Looker
• Karmic Death: He is killed by Scar, one of Ishvalans who survived Bradley's genocide.
• Kick the Dog: Telling Roy the actual reason he was shaking in Hughes' funeral: not because he was saddened by Maes' death, but because he thought Elicia's crying was annoying. Ouch.
  • He has a moment like this with Riza, too, after she learns that he's actually Wrath. She asks about his wife, and he tells her that while everything else in his life was decided for him by Father's plans, "my wife I have chosen myself." In the course of their conversation he essentially throws in her face the fact that whatever else he endures, he gets to spend his nights with the person he actually loves - the one thing that Riza can't have.
• The Last Dance: Prior to his fight with Scar, he had already been fatally wounded by Buccaneer and Ling Yao. Add to that that he already realized that he had already served his purpose for Father, Wrath knew full and well that his battle with Scar would probably be his last.
• Lightning Bruiser: Is VERY powerful and extremely fast enough to even dodge near-point blank gunfire, and despite lacking regeneration, is still extremely hard to take down. Case in point: Is the only Homunculus to suffer a REAL Rasputinian Death.
  • Fragile Speedster: ONLY in relation to the other Homunculi, as despite being insanely fast and strong, he's the only one without regenerative abilities. He can still take more abuse than any human in the series, it's just that you only need to kill him once. As he himself explains to Mustang, he only has one soul inside of him, unlike the others.
  • Glass Cannon: Comparatively, since he can't regenerate like his Homunculi brethren - he's a (somewhat) normal human defensively, so he only needs to be killed once. But...good luck even coming close to hitting him, let alone killing him.
• Logical Weakness: As the only Homunculus incapable of regeneration, he only has one life, thus only has to be killed once. He is also subject to age, albeit very slowly. Most importantly, his Evil Eye is still hindered by physical obstructions to sight; this plays a very important part in his demise.
  Buccaneer: You may have the eyes of a god, but even you cannot evade attacks you cannot see!
• Love at First Punch: He met his wife when she slapped him! Rather than kill her, Bradley apparently started courting her instead. Maybe he appreciated her capacity for wrath?
• The Magnificent: Wrath the Furious.
• Meaningful Name: More than justified by his Back Story.
  • Ironic Name: For all his talents, King Bradley is nothing more than a puppet to the Father and is fully aware of it. That's why his wife means so much to him - marrying her was one of the few choices that he got to make on his own. Later, he chooses to fight the one last battle against Scar after he is no longer needed. This may also explain why he dislikes the notion of God.
• Morality Pet: His wife, but not Selim. He even specifically tells Mustang that he can't use Selim as a point of emotional blackmail.
  • Though that's because Selim is actually a heartless homunculus who would kill and eat him without giving a damn.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: First appears as a rather outlandish old kook who acts very loosely and informal, especially toward the Elric brothers. But he's also one of the most sharp-minded characters and can come off as very cold-blooded. This is without even taking into account his true identity.
• Obviously Evil
• Older Than He Looks: He's sixty years old, but looks twenty years younger due to the Philosopher's Stone in his body delaying his physical age rate, which only catches up to him once he dies. Being a Homunculus, however, he is the youngest among his purebred homunculi brethren, who are no younger than one hundred years old.
  • Unless you count the second Greed
• One-Man Army: Takes out a tank and a few soldiers armed with just a saber and a pipe bomb.
• Our Presidents Are Different: A mix of Action President and President Evil, though he at first appears to be President Personable.
• Person of Mass Destruction: One-Man Army variant. He can't blow you up the way most State Alchemists can, but that won't stop him from slaughtering all of you individually.
• Pet the Dog: Often shows up to save his subordinates or visit them in the hospital and despite being one of the Homunculi, who generally hate all humans, he genuinely loves his wife.
• Putting on the Reich
• Rasputinian Death: He got stabbed in the gut, lost his eye, shot, and lost a lot of blood while trying to escape, yet he still managed to scare five people, all of whom were competent fighters. Even Scar barely managed to defeat him.
• Shadow Archetype: To no less than three characters: Ling (authority figures), Greed (humans who were turned into homunculi), and Scar (warriors without names).
• Single Stroke Battle: He can effortlessly kill people with one swipe of his sword.
• The Stoic
• Tempting Fate: In the final moments of his battle with Scar, he rants how there is no god. Just as he's about to get the final blow in, the eclipse breaks and a bit of the sun shines into his eyes and provides the distraction needed for Scar to finish him off.
  • That Makes Me Feel Angry: The only non-violent way for him to express why he's called "Wrath".
• Super Soldier: Essentially what he was raised to become.
• This Was His True Form: A fairly minor version as while dying, he suddenly ages to the point that he looks like a sixty-year-old would be expected to.
• Training from Hell
• Tranquil Fury: He looks so damn calm when annihilating his opponent. There's a reason he's called Wrath, not Rage.
• Tyke Bomb: He was raised from birth as a candidate for the Fuhrership.
  • King Bradley may or may not be the same person as the boy who was raised for that candidacy. He doesn't know whether his soul was the original or if it came from the philosopher's stone.
• Villainous Breakdown: His rant against Scar sounds almost like desperation in that Wrath can't understand why someone won't act out the role he planned for them. In this case, an Isvalan whose willing to use alchemy just to beat him.
• Villainous Valour
• Villain with Good Publicity
• Weak, but Skilled: Compared to the other homunculi.

Major General Armstrong is Alex Armstrong's sister. She guards the northern frontier with Drachma in the Briggs base.

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• Action Girl: One of the most action-packed ladies in the whole series.
• Aloof Big Sister/Cool Big Sis: She acts like she can't stand him, and apparently beat him up a lot when they were kids, but her little brother Alex nevertheless seems to adore her. And when the chips are down, the siblings stand together.
• A Mother to Her Men:
  • Shoves Raven into wet cement for letting her men die in Sloth's tunnel.
  • Her Mama Bear status to her men even gets a lampshade.◊
• Anti-Hero: Type III/IV, with shades of Type V. She's ready and willing to go to more drastic measures than the other heroes, and her intention isn't as noble as that of her rival, Mustang.
• Authority Equals Asskicking: She offers to personally fight new recruits (such as Miles) one-on-one. They're all too scared of her asskicking to take her up on it. Her Establishing Character Moment consists of becoming the only person apart from Ed's teacher to be able to scare him instead of pissing him off when calling him short.
• Badass: She is the only person able to get away with calling Ed short because he is too busy being afraid of her.
  • Badass Longhair: The Northern Wall has gorgeous long flowing blonde hair.
  • Badass Normal: When pitted against her younger brother, she wipes the floor with him despite not having any alchemic or superhuman powers herself.
  • Four Star Badass: Brigadier General.
• Bishie Sparkle: Apparently the Bishie Sparkle has been passed down the Armstrong line for generations.
• Boobs of Steel: Word Of God says that the only thing she and Alex have in common is that their chests are both too big to button their uniforms properly.
• The Brigadier:
• Charles Atlas Superpower: The Super Strength has been passed down the Armstrong family line for generations!!
• The Chessmaster: Like Roy, she's a lot sneakier than she looks.
• The Chick: As with Hawkeye, played with - yes, she's the only female soldier in the entire Briggs fortress (or at least, the only one shown), and yes, her men adore her. She's also the biggest badass in the entire outfit, if not the entire military.
• Christmas Cake : Implied. Her brother is worried she'll never find a husband.
• Combat Pragmatist: Despite her skill with a sword, her first response against Sloth is to sack him with an anti-tank recoilless rifle. And when that failed, with Ed's information, she opts to freeze him.
• Cool Sword: Her Cool Sword has been passed down the Armstrong family line for... well, you know the drill.
• Even Jerks Have Standards: She is ambitious and wants to be Fuhrer just as much as Mustang does, but she's not willing to go to the extremes that the corrupt higher-ups are willing to go. She makes this clear when she kills General Raven when he offers her immortality in exchange for the lives of every citizen of Amestris, and more importantly, her soldiers.
• Even the Girls Want Her: For many female fans of the series and her English actress certainly approves of her.
• Everything's Better with Princesses: In the manga, the men of Briggs sometimes refer to her as "the Princess." It's a sign of their respect and adoration, not sarcasm, although it may also be a nod to the fact that the Armstrongs used to be part of the nobility of the country.
• Fake Defector: She pretends to join the corrupt higher ups in order to learn more about their Evil Plan.
• Fragile Speedster/Lightning Bruiser: For a person she's very fast and very strong, and can even take blows from her brother. Against Sloth however, she's more of a fragile speedster, dodging his attacks with ease, but ending up in a lot of trouble if he so much as touches her.
• Frenemy: With Roy Mustang. They drive each other nuts, but also (mostly) respect each other.
• General Ripper: Having Drachma as your neighbor causes this.
• Good Is Not Nice: Since being nice won't do much for a soldier. Usually.
• Gun And Sword: She can use both.
• Ham-to-Ham Combat: With her brother.
• Honor Before Reason: Definitely has shades of this, given her mentality that states that one (including her self) should not be assisted when in a pinch since by getting in said pinch he/she does not deserve his/her position. In actual warfare it never is that simple.
• Hot Blooded: Instead of the wild boiling of her brother, her's is more of a slow simmer.
• It Runs in the Family: The fringe, the sparkles, the immense strength, and the hamminess has been passed down the Armstrong line for generations!
• Iron Lady: Strong, aggressive, harsh; when she says 'jump' her subordinates ask 'how high'?
• It Amused Me: Decides to let Scar go free just to scare Roy.
• Jerk Ass: Rude, abrasive, and not much for manners.
  • Hidden Heart of Gold: Has high standards about soldier morale and responsibility, and doesn't mind sacrificing herself if she thinks it would be worth it.
• Klingon Promotion: Kills Lt. General Raven and takes his place.
• Lady of War: Her fighting style is speed and grace.
• Large Ham: Despite the apparent differences with her brother Alex, deep down, she still has the hereditary hammish qualities passed down the Armstrong line for generations.
• Light Feminine and Dark Feminine: The dark to her little sister Katherine's light.
• Machiavelli Was Wrong: Played with. Her troops are scared of her but its a more "reverent fear" than a "You Have Failed Me fear".
• Made of Iron: There is no reason why Olivier should even be standing, let alone fighting after taking that first hit from Sloth.
• Mama Bear: In her own very twisted way. It's one of the reasons she killed General Raven.
• Master Swordsman: She prefers a sword for close combat because she is that good with one.
• Military Brat: Born into the military.
• Peek-A-Bangs
• Pin-Pulling Teeth: Does this when fighting Sloth.
• Power Hair: Averted; instead of being a having short hair, the manga's most exemplary Iron Lady has long, flowing blonde locks.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Quickly decides to let Ed and Al help her troops after they save her soldiers from death from falling debris.
• Red Baron: The Northern Wall of Briggs.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The blue to Alex's red.
• Sibling Team: Against Sloth she and Alex make a damn effective combo.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: The slim, collected, wily Social Darwinist Lady of War contrasts quite a bit with her Boisterous Bruiser Large Ham brother.
• Spell My Name with an S: To a hilarious extent. It could be either Olivia, Olivie or Olivier, Mira, Mila or Milla, and the nine possible combinations of the two. (The third guidebook and Brotherhood have confirmed Olivier Mira◊ as the official spelling.)
• Social Darwinist: The official Briggs policy. She even considers herself expendable if she can't fulfill her own expectation.
• Tomboyish Name:
  • Her first name, Olivier, is the French version of Oliver. If there wasn't an "r," it'd be the completely obsolete French for Olivia.
  • Ironically, the French translation of the manga uses Olivia, probably because a woman named Olivier sounds really weird to French readers.
• The Ugly Guy's Hot Daughter: Luckily for her, since two of her sisters are real eyesores, averting the trope.
• Winter Royal Lady: Of a sort. It's always winter in Briggs, and in addition to the 'Princess' nickname mentioned above, Buccaneer in the manga occasionally refers to her as "our Queen."
  • Also comes with a small trace of She Is the King, as they address her militarily as "sir."

A rather quirky officer working in the records department and best friends with Roy Mustang. Assists both Mustang and the Elric brothers in their respective missions. Contrary to his appearance, he is not a man to trifle with.

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• Action Dad
• Badass Normal: Able to defeat both Envy and Lust with his knives; too bad they're immortal.
  • Mustang is outright skeptical when Envy claims to have bested him.
• The Confidant: Hughes was the first character in the series that Edward openly relied on for help. Ed would end up suffering some major Survivor Guilt over Hughes dying.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: So, who expected the comically Overprotective Dad and Plucky Comic Relief character to take on Lust and Envy with paper cutters?
• Disconnected By Death
• Doting Parent: Trope Codifier
• Fatal Family Photo: Roy advises him not to show pictures of his then-girlfriend around the battlefield in Ishval, as this usually leads to tragedy. Years later, a family photo plays an important part in his murder.
• Genius Bruiser: What you get when you combine Obfuscating Stupidity, Badass Normal, and He Knows Too Much. Based on his resources in the military's intelligence department and the Elric's knowledge of alchemy, he puts two and two together about Big Bad's plan much faster than everyone else in the series.
• Genre Savvy: To some extent. When Mustang and company first confront Scar in Central, Hughes disappears. After the conflict ends, he reappears, and when Armstrong asks where he went, he replies that he was hiding so that someone would be alive afterward to report what happened.
  • From the English dub of Brotherhood:
  Hughes: Oh! Is it over?
  Armstrong: Lt. Col. Hughes where have you been this whole time?
  Hughes: I thought it best to lay low.
  Mustang: (annoyed) You didn't think of maybe backing us up a little!?
  Hughes: Of course not! A person like me shouldn't get dragged into a freak-show with you pack of pseudo-humans! It's bad for my health!
• Good Is Not Nice: With the way he acts you'd forget that he participated in the Ishvalan Genocide.
• Hair Antennae: Just a little.
• Happily Married
• He Knows Too Much: To put it mildly/simply, this is the guy that practically had the whole damned plot nearly figured out...at not even a quarter of the way into the series.
• Heterosexual Life Partners: He and Mustang are best friends. To the point where he's Mustang's Berserk Button as he tries to track down Hughes' killer.
• Hot Dad
• Innocent Innuendo:
  Hughes: I heard there's a hot blonde girl in your room servicing you.
  Ed: It's just my mechanic!
  Hughes: Oh! Seduced your mechanic, did you?
• Killed Off for Real
• Knife Nut: A heroic example!
• Lieutenant Colonel Badass
• Megane
• Obfuscating Stupidity or Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Whichever he is, it's up to you!
  • Though it has been suggested that his goofy behavior is just his way of coping with the grim and sometimes depressing elements of his job.
• Overprotective Dad: The posterboy. His daughter (who is barely out of her toddler years mind you) is being fought over by boys just as young, and he pulls out a gun.
• Perma Stubble
• Replacement Goldfish: To Winry.
• Scary Shiny Glasses: When confronting the three-year-old boys who are fighting over who will get to play with his daughter.
• Shipper on Deck: For Edward and Winry, to great effect.
  • Also non-specifically for Mustang, whom he tells to "Get yourself a wife!" The exact manga panel where Hughes says that to Mustang features Hawkeye prominently in the foreground telling him to be quieter on the phone in a rather wife-like way.
• Sickeningly Sweethearts: With his wife.

The Strongarm Alchemist, and a close ally of both Roy Mustang and the Elric brothers. He's a big lovable guy of many artistic talents, and is prone to, well, overacting on a regular basis.

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• Adorkable
• Ambiguously Gay: Though his sexuality hasn't been mentioned in any way he certainly looks like some Manly Gay characters. (There's also his somewhat homoerotic full-body Something Else Also Rises moment when Sig turns up to fight Sloth with him.)
  • Notably, he looks like a character from a Bara Genre story, but with the sparkles that would normally go with a more Bishōnen character appearing in a Yaoi comic, combining two different sorts of Ho Yay into one character
• The Atoner
• Author Appeal: Arakawa refers to him in a Gaiden as "the easiest one to draw." Since she has a liking for muscular men, it's likely that he's more the one she enjoys drawing the most.
  • It would also explain why his shirt tends to vanish without any particular reason.
  "...Did he have to strip?"
• Badass Adorable: The childish sincerity of this big teddy-bear really makes you wanna give him a big hug. Unless you're Ed, in which case you're getting glomped and begging him to "Stop rubbing your chest on me!"
• Badass Moustache
• Bald of Awesome: If you discount that one fringe, then yeah.
  • Idiot Hair: That one fringe.
• Battle Strip: The first this he loses when he fights is his shirt so that he can show the opponent his impressive physique.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Do not mess with the man's friends or family.
• Bicep Polishing Gesture
• The Big Guy: For Mustang's group. He's head and shoulders above everyone else in the military.
• Big Little Brother: While he is her younger brother, Armstrong is still a good head taller than Olivier. Of course, that doesn't make her any less intimidating.
• Bishie Sparkle: Inverted (and possibly Played for Laughs) in that he's not a Bishōnen. He certainly is pretty, but not a pretty boy.
• Boisterous Bruiser
• Bruiser with a Soft Center
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: This is not a man who showcases his awesome physique at every opportunity to get people to underestimate him. This is a man who showcases his awesome physique at every opportunity because he really is that kind of guy. That doesn't mean he's not one of the most dangerous people you will ever face if you deserve it.
• Catchphrase/Running Gag /Mad Libs Catch Phrase: This (insert noun or adjective) has been passed down the Armstrong line for generations!
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: It's very clear when Armstrong goes from being "wacky, shirtless Ham Alex" to "badass, shirtless Ham Alex." The key difference between the two is the presence of someone or something that needs a righteous beatdown.
• Cuddle Bug: The Major loves to hug people so much that he would give Chewbacca a run for his money.
• Destructive Saviour:
  " Destruction and creation are TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN!"
• Dishing Out Dirt: Seems to specialise in manipulating the earth's crust.
• Emotional Bruiser
• Expy: Of famous heavyweight prizefighter John L. Sullivan
• Full Contact Alchemy: Since he prefers using rocks and the ground in general in alchemy, whenever he wants to attack from a distance, he tosses his medium in the air and punches them, throwing the rocks into spikes or cannonballs.
• Genius Bruiser: A state alchemist is a genius by definition, and his alchemy happens to be more physical than most. You can even tell through his alchemy how much of a genius he is: all alchemical creations have slight cracks/lines on them that reveal their crafted nature. Major Armstrong's creations are ALWAYS blemish-free and expertly crafted, seemingly sculpted rather than created. The man could sculpt Michelangelo's David with his fists of he wanted to.
  • Then there are his spikes, which before transmuting into spikes they very briefly resemble his face. The man be an artist.
• Gentle Giant
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Parodied in a dream sequence from one anime episode, where he is clad in a blue dress and a long blonde wig.
• Ham-to-Ham Combat: Whenever he and his sister are in a room together it becomes an escalating war of Feed Me lines. His battle with Isaac McDougal is another example.
• Heroic Build: And FLAUNTING IT!!
• Heroic BSOD: During the Ishval war. Oliver considers him a spineless coward because of it.
• Hot Blooded
• Incoming Ham:
  • "Stand BACK and prepare for a display of ARMSTRONG ALCHEMY!!"
  • "Impressive! You managed to dodge my alchemy so easily!"
• It Runs in the Family: The fringe, the sparkles, the immense strength, and the hamminess has been passed down the Armstrong line for generations!
• Large Ham:
• Lightning Bruiser: Scar is surprised that someone so large can move so fast and be so coordinated. It's what made him the first State Alchemist to walk away from a fight with Scar only a little worse for wear.
  • Let's not forget he outsped Sloth, the fastest homunculus at one point.
• Love You and Everybody: He's extremely affectionate and friendly, and loves to hug people regardless of whether they want him to or not.
• Made of Iron: He should be dead many times over considering the amount of punishment his body takes, especially against Sloth.
• Majorly Awesome
• Man Child: When in Large Ham/Manly Tears mode.
• Manly Tears: All the time.
• Military Brat
• My Greatest Failure: He got discharged after breaking down during the Ishvalan War. After that, he's sworn to himself to never back down from another fight.
• Nice Guy
• Obfuscating Stupidity: Armstrong will at times hide behind a persona of being a quiet meat head. Bishie, pec-flexing, ham, but nonetheless awesome Armstrong? No, that's just his normal personality.
• Officer and a Gentleman
• Pec Flex: Will pose without any provocation.
• Person of Mass Destruction: Par for the course with State Alchemists. Armstrong can essentially rearrange the ground under your feet.
• Pietà Plagiarism: In Ishval.
• Plucky Comic Relief
• Power Fist: His hands in battle are encased in metal gauntlets, which have his transmutation circles etched into them. To transmute things, he punches them.
• Rated M for Manly: On one hand, he's military officier, a badass fist fighter, and every inch of his body is rippling with muscles. On the other hand, he's silly, cuddly, and has bishie sparkles.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The red to Olivier's blue.
• Shirtless Scene: So much so that it seems strange to see him fully dressed.
• Sibling Team: He and Olivier make a pretty effective team against Sloth.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: With his General Ripper Chessmaster of a sister Olivier.
• Tender Tears: Body of iron, heart of a kitten.
• Tired of Running/Right Makes Might/Characterization Marches On: When he took part in the Ishval Massacre years before the start of the story, the meaningless genocide didn't sit right with his conscience. He was gradually overwhelmed to the point that he got himself dropped out before it was complete by showing mercy to two innocent women who survived his death trap. This became his greatest failure over the years, feeling he should've stood and fought and turned against the injustice (like the many disgusted soldiers who up and killed their CO's), and earned much constant scolding as a "coward" from his more stalwart sister. When Mustang lays out the truth for him about The Illuminati within Amestris and suggests he get out while he can, he vows not to back out of combating Father's conspiracy, then later refuses a chance to escape when he and his sister are given a clearing during their battle with Sloth, which leads to the Crowning Moment of Awesome that is Alex and Sig Curtis killing the large homunculus. This is the main source of fairly impressive character development in a character mainly there for the laughs.

A Colonel Badass who served as Mustang's commander towards the end of the Ishval War.

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• Awesome Mc Cool Name
• Badass
  • Badass Boast: See Incoming Ham below.
  • Badass Moustache: And how!!
  • Colonel Badass: Clearly the man Roy and Hughes learned it from. Grand leads his troops from the front, and believes in setting an example for the men to follow.
  • Four Star Badass: He's a Brigadier-General at the time of his death, and judging from his attempt at taking on Scar in Brotherhood (a fight he lost due to a lack of information more than anything else) he's still got it.
• Bald Black Leader Guy
• Bald of Awesome
• The Brigadier: Was a Brigadier-General at the time of his death.
• Chewing the Scenery: His introduction in the manga is almost Armstrong worthy.
• Extra Ore Dinary: His preferred attack is to transmute a ton of metal weapons out of the ground or walls, including chains, flails, and metal spikes. It's even in his title: he's the Iron Blood Alchemist.
• A Father to His Men: If the clips of him that we see in the Ishbal flashbacks are indicative, than absolutely. How much his men like him isn't really demonstrated, by he has their respect and they his. Years later Hughes and Mustang still refer to him as "Old Man Grand".
• Genius Bruiser: In typical State Alchemist fashion. Emphasis on bruiser — the man's around seven-feet tall, and is a master of hand-to-hand combat as well as his trademark alchemy.
• Incoming Ham: "I am the Ironblood Alchemist, Basque Grand! Iron & blood, might & manpower! If I do not lead the charge, who will?!"
• Klingon Promotion: Kills Brigadier Fessler and takes his position. Unlike with most examples of the trope, your sympathies are entirely with Grand.
• Large and in Charge: Holy crap this guy is like twice as tall as a normal person!
• Lightning Bruiser: From what little we see of his combat style in Ishbal, yes.
• More Dakka: His signature attack generates chains, spikes, flails, and primitive cannons which he fires en masse at his targets.
• Names to Run Away From Really Fast: Overlaps with Awesome Mc Cool Name.
• Person of Mass Destruction: Turns entire buildings into weapons.
• Posthumous Character: In the manga only, where he is said to have been a victim of Scar's by the time we first hear of him. In Brotherhood, his final battle and death against Scar is shown.
• Power Fist: His massive, steel-wrapped gauntlets, which extend all the way up his forarms and help him produce his weapons.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: In a major contrast to the first anime adaptation, in which he's a quite villainous character. Grand in the manga protects his men at a significant risk to himself, and accepts the surrender of Ishbal's high cleric despite the protestations of Brigadier Fiessler.
• Spell My Name with an S: The "d" in "Grand" is often overlooked.
• Unfriendly Fire: Non-evil, sympathetic variant. When Brigadier Fiessler orders them to continue fighting long after it's necessary, Grand gutshoots him and takes command of the unit, staving off further bloodshed.
• Walking Armoury: See More Dakka above for how.
• The Worf Effect: Scar kills him off-screen with seeming ease, showing us how dangerous Scar is.
  • The Brotherhood anime does this on-screen, but still pretty quickly. It can be justified by the fact that Basque Grand wouldn't expect an Ishvalan to use alchemy, so Scar merely baited him in for the kill.
  • According to Word Of God in the manga, Grand was drunk when Scar ambushed him. It's probably not meant to be taken seriously, but...
• Worf Had The Flu: If he really was inebriated during his fight with Scar.

One of Mustang's closest subordinates; he's third-in-command of the unit after Mustang and Hawkeye. Before joining the army he was just your typical country boy.

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• Badass Beard: Grows one after his hospitalization.
• Badass Normal
• Chess Motif: He is the knight in Mustang's chess-themed unit. The knight has the most unique moves and can do things that other pieces can't.
• Chivalrous Pervert: Certainly not Master Roshi, but Havoc admits that he's a sucker for large breasts.
• Code Name: During the only mission shown where he uses one, he's called Jacqueline. It Makes Sense in Context.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: He self-describes himself as being none too bright, but he's as loyal as they come and a very good marksman; even Olivier Armstrong notes his value and says it would be a shame for the military to lose him. Later in the story, he uses his family's business to smuggle in foreign arms for his pals in the revolution - even Mustang, who knows his true worth, was shocked by that one!
• Handicapped Badass: When Lust paralyzes him, he gets discharged and sent home, where he uses his family's business to import supplies for the coup in Central. He runs the whole smuggling operation from his wheelchair.
  • At the end, however, he is shown to be in physical therapy, slowly regaining use of his legs after being healed with a philosopher stone.
• Scars Are Forever
  • Averted at the end of the anime when a Philosopher's Stone is used to restore his legs.
• Smoking Is Cool
• Unlucky Every Dude

A trio of officers that fill out various functions. Their loyalty to Mustang is unquestionable.

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• Badass Crew: When shit gets real, they get shit done.
• Chess Motif: They are the bishop, the pawn, and the rook in Mustang's chess-themed unit.
  • Fuery is the pawn. Pawns are relatively weak pieces but are capable of doing considerable damage if given the chance.
  • Falman is the bishop. Bishops move diagonally on squares of a single color, and are frequently key to early checkmates.
  • Breda is the rook. The rook is the "heavy hitter" of the board, the most powerful piece after the queen, and able to perform a particularly effective move with the king.
• Code Name: Like Havoc, Falman and Fuery are given women's names during the only mission shown in the canon, and described in Mustang and Hawkeye's encrypted conversation as though they're shop girls in a store. Falman is Vanessa and Fuery is Kate (their codenames all share the same first letter as their respective first names). An omake indicates that Breda is codenamed "Braidykins" for the operation, although if this is canon, it's clearly an in-group joke; Breda is out of the country for most of the sting.
• Greek Chorus: On occasion.
• Took a Level in Badass: All three — Falman when he's transferred to Briggs, Fuery when he's thrown into combat in the South, and Breda when he starts organizing illegal border crossings. All three are ready to go when the revolution kicks off, of course.
• Mauve Shirt: Not quite. They serve a greater role to the story than most shirts, but they're hardly players in the game.
• Ragtag Bunch of Misfits

Vato Falman

The oldest member of the group, and resident Butt Monkey at times.

---

• Babies Ever After: In the Brotherhood anime, as pictured above; he's shown at the end of the series with two kids, whom the animators confirm are supposed to be his. (Their mother is not identified.)
• Butt Monkey: He's this for a while (Havoc in particular considers him an amateur), but improves as he gets more field experience.
• Eyes Always Shut
• Kicked Upstairs: After the Fuhrer splits up the group, Falman is promoted to Second Lieutenant, but transferred to Fort Briggs in the middle of nowhere and put to work scraping icicles off the plumbing pipes.
• Manly Tears/Tears of Fear: A vanishingly rare example of both at once: he weeps when facing down Wrath, but refuses to surrender.
• Non-Action Guy: At the beginning.
• Rank Up: By the end of the series, he's made Captain, according to the insignia on his uniform.
• Reassigned to Antarctica: It doesn't work.
• Spock Speak: He reads the dictionary for fun.

---

Kain Fuery

The youngest, and their communications expert. Has a friendly relationship with the Elrics.

---

• Adorkable
• Awesome McCoolname: Kain Fuery. Played with in that Fuery is a shy communications specialist.
  • Names to Run Away From Really Fast: Subverted (see above).
  • Name of Cain: Also subverted (see above).
• Communications Officer
• Cowardly Lion
• Expy: Fuery is strikingly similar to Corporal "Radar" O'Reilly of M*A*S*H in almost every way: meek, quiet, loves animals, low on the totem pole rank-wise, and he's even the communications officer. He also takes a huge level in badass by the end of the series!
• Friend to All Living Things
• Pet the Dog: Rather literally. As shown in a side story, he was the one to find Riza's beloved Canine Companion, Black Hayate, as a puppy and bring him in out of the rain; he couldn't keep the dog himself because he lived in the barracks at the time, but he remains very attached to Hayate even after Riza adopts him.
• The Short Guy with Glasses/Megane
• The Smart Guy: Fuery would be this, if it weren't for the fact that both Breda and Falman are easily his equal in intelligence, if not smarter. Still, he is the resident communications expert.

---

Heymans Breda

The big guy in Mustang's crew. Mustang drafts him for his tactical abilities.

---

• Big Eater
• Brilliant, but Lazy: Hinted at, considering his skill at strategy games, and the fact that he graduated top of his class at the academy. He's the strategist of Mustang's unit.
• Code Name: Played for laughs in an omake of volume 10, where Riza gives the codenames. She is "Elizabeth", Fuery is "Kate", Havoc is "Jacqueline", Falman is "Vanessa", and Breda is… "Braidykins".
• Face of a Thug: Because of his looks, mannerisms, and big eating, people tends to think that Breda is a brawny idiot. Breda proves them wrong with shogi.
• Genius Bruiser
• Insistent Terminology: He only ever refers to Edward Elric as "big guy."
• Red-Headed Hero
• Smarter Than You Look
• Smart People Play Chess
• Stout Strength: Is possibly the strongest physically of Mustang's men. Is also as big around as he is tall.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Breda is afraid of dogs.

A coroner who served as a medic in Ishval. After the war he went through a major BSOD, drove off his family, and ended up working the morgue in Central Hospital.

---

• The Alcoholic
• Anti-Hero
  • Knight In Sour Armour
• The Atoner
• Deadpan Snarker
• Deadly Doctor: Invoked this trope to stop May Chang and Lan Fan from killing each other.
  "Ho, there could be an unknown pathogen in the doctor's house that could get out, and kill everyone in it."
• Dr. Jerk: "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!?! PATIENTS SHOULD STAY IN BED!!!!"
• Good Is Not Nice
• Grumpy Old Man
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Come on, don't deny it. ... But he's still a jerk.
• Meaningful Name: His name might be a reference to the French play Knock and the Triumph of Medicine, where the titular doctor Knock prescribes treatments to his (perfectly healthy) patients to squeeze money out of them. As Knox puts it, in Ishval "Roy burned people, and [he] examined their corpses".
• Perma Stubble
• Shell Shocked Senior
  • "We're not war buddies. We're accomplices."
• Spell My Name with an S: His name is alternately spelled "Knocs," "Knochs," or "Nocks".

Armstrong's subordinate. Serves as one of Edward and Alphonse's bodyguards during their investigations in Central.

---

• Beauty Mark
• Bifauxnen: In the manga, at least.
• Big Damn Heroes: Twice
• Faking the Dead: After she's accused of murdering a fellow soldier.
• Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: To Ed. She apologizes in advance.
• Mauve Shirt
• Put on a Bus
  • Back for the Finale
• Those Two Guys
• Wrongly Accused

Ed and Al's other bodyguard, his carefree nature combines unexpectedly well with his serious partner Maria.

---

• Big Brother Instinct: Literally, as he lives with his younger brothers and sisters (and may be raising them, since no parents are shown). When things start going down on the Promised Day, he makes them swear they won't leave the house so he knows they're safe.
• Idiot Hair
• Locked Out of the Loop: He's not let in on the fact that Maria is alive and has been smuggled out of the country to avoid execution until almost the very end.
• Mauve Shirt
• Massive Numbered Siblings: Appears to be the oldest out of six.
• Ocular Gushers: When he finds out his partner's alive.
• Spell My Name with an S: His last name can be alternatively be spelled Brosch. In the first anime it was "Bloch," but that also requires a different pronunciation.
• Those Two Guys

The Crimson Alchemist, a former State Alchemist who participated in the Ishval war. Kimblee is a sociopath and a sadist. His alchemical specialty is transmuting things into explosives.

---

• Arch-Enemy: To Scar. Ironically, he is severely wounded by the chimera Heinkel and absorbed by Pride, instead of Scar getting to contribute to his demise.
• Badass: Given the nature of the setting, Kimblee, much like Wrath, exists to remind us that villains too, can be awesomely Bad Ass.
  • Badass Baritone
  • Badass Bookworm: He's a State Alchemist. It comes with the territory. According to Word Of God, he's the third smartest character in the series, after Father and Hohenheim.
  • Badass in a Nice Suit
  • Badass Longcoat
  • Badass Longhair
• Bad Powers, Bad People: He blows people up and turns harmless objects into time bombs. It's hard to be heroic with that.
• Berserk Button: He's got two big ones: Being looked down upon, and people betraying their own beliefs. For the former, he maintains a facade of good-natured politeness, even when killing people by the hundreds, but during his hunt for Scar, this facade melts for the first time when Scar, standing atop a building, comments on how he and Kimblee (looking up at him from the ground) were now in the exact opposite positions of when they first met. An enraged Kimblee warns him to watch his mouth, and prepares to use his alchemy, ignoring the fact that Scar had Winry as a "hostage." The second shows through when Kimblee looks visibly pissed off when Pride tries to consume Edward, essentially ditching his ego and pride as a homunculus by taking a "lesser being". Amused, Kimblee was not.
• Birds of a Feather: He's the only human who Pride and (to a greater extent) Envy have taken to, which says a lot about his (lack of) morality.
• Blood Knight
• Blue and Orange Morality: Try wrapping your head around Kimblee's obscure moral code. He's definitely got one, but beyond a few specific details, such as his respect for commitment, and more importantly, a massive distaste for hypocrisy, we have no idea how it works. He manages to be more alien than Father or The Truth.
• Break the Haughty: Not as large-scale as what happens to Father or Pride, but still a rather disturbing fate.
• Breaking Speech: He gives three of them during the Ishval campaign, the biggest being the one to Hawkeye and Mustang, explaining how they knew the odds of killing someone when they put on the uniform, and that the only way they could honor those they killed was to remember them, since their victims would never forget what they did. He also gives one to Ed during their battle, Alphonse during their battle, and attempts to deliver them to Scar and Major Miles.
• But for Me, It Was Tuesday: An inversion. Kimblee's policy in life is to never forget the faces of those he kills, and he proves that he means this literally. When Scar asks if Kimblee remembers him, not only does Kimblee say he does, he also perfectly recites the district in the city where he encountered him, notes that one of the Ishvalans bore a family resemblance to Scar, and remembers the exact placement and severity of the wound that took the life of Scar's brother.
• Chekhov's Gunman: In the manga, he is alluded to, mentioned offhand, and shown in blurry panels for a couple years worth of chapters before he finally begins to play an important role in the story.
  • In Brotherhood he makes a handful of appearances in early episodes, including the first episode, and appears in some flashbacks.
• Colonel Kilgore: Kimblee got a real kick out of his time at the front, and was dissapointed when the war came to a close. Given his Social Darwinist beliefs, this isn't surprising.
• The Dead Have Names: While learning the names of his victims would be implausible, Kimblee makes a point of remembering all of their faces in his professional capacity as a soldier. He refuses to reduce them to simple statistics.
• Deal with the Devil: Heavily implied during the scene in which he asks Ed to help him find Scar and Dr. Marcoh and create another Philosopher's Stone where they are. He tells Ed that he "staked the very essence of [his] being" to see how the homunculi's games would play out.
• Dissonant Laughter
• The Dog Bites Back: Not only is he a victim of this trope via Heinkel, but he also pulls this on Pride in his Dying Moment of Awesome
• Dying Moment of Awesome: Helps Ed defeat Pride, despite the fact that he's been absorbed by the latter. The reason he could keep his sense of self inside Pride? Because the screams of the other tormented souls are like lullabies to him. Yep. Victory by being fucked up.
• Even Evil Has Standards:
  • "You try to take a lesser being you despised as your container, just to escape your own predicament. You....are hideous."
  • He's offended when Ed mistook him for a pedophile after he complimented Winry.
  • He never forgets the face of absolutely anyone he's killed, refusing to view his victims as numbers rather than people.
• Evil Counterpart/Foil/Shadow Archetype: Possibly towards Scar. In the sense that both of them specialize in alchemy based around destruction, both were involved in the Ishval Civil War (Kimblee as one of the soldiers who took part in the genocide, Scar as one of it's victims), and both invoke Light Is Not Good. This was perhaps shown at its best when Scar pointed out how their situations were reversed from what happened with Ishval, with Scar having abandoned his path of vengeance while Kimblee's obsession with Scar never waned.
  • You can throw Roy in that mix too and make it a three way thing: same kind of alchemy, same war, etc, with Scar as a victim, Roy as a victimiser with regrets and Kimblee as a victimiser who thoroughly enjoyed himself.
    • Same goes for McDougal, as they both use alchemy to transmute the opponent's body.
• Evil Genius: Absolutely. Father has him sprung from jail because, unlike the remaining Homunculi he's both capable of interacting with normal people, and very smart.
• Expy: The author has stated he was based off of Alex from Anthony Burgess' A Clockwork Orange. To a reader who's familiar with both works, once can definitely see the resemblance...
• False Reassurance: Towards Winry on the subject of her parents' deaths. He might be a crazed and sadistic mad bomber, but he isn't a flat-out dishonest person.
• Faux Affably Evil: He's an Axe Crazy sociopath who nevertheless manages to keep up a facade of being a polite gentleman for the sake of getting by in life. As long as you aren't in his way you're probably safe. Probably. After his release from prison, he transmutes a guard's watch into a toy bomb.
  • Affably Evil: Regardless of his behavior, when Kimblee respects someone for remaining true to their convictions, it is genuine.
• Fedora Of Asskicking
• For the Evulz: Significantly toned down from the first anime, but still there.
• Go Out with a Smile: A strange variation of it. Technically, he was already dead to begin with, but the moment Pride displays his hypocrisy in his beliefs, Kimblee becomes convinced that it's humans who are ultimately more deserving than the homunculi, and at that point weakens Pride enough for Ed to finish him off. Last we see of Kimblee is a nice big grin as he covers his eyes with his hat, and walks away in the torrent of souls to oblivion. It was badass.
• Hair Antennae: A very rare villainous example.
• Having A Blast: Causes anything — from buildings to the air around him — to become unstable, resulting in truly impressive explosions.
• He Cleans Up Nicely: The first appearance of Kimblee in the series presents him as an unkempt prisoner. Fast forward, and he dresses up in a stylish suit.
• Hero Killer: Came reeeeeally close to making this literal with Ed, and is feared by everyone who knows his reputation from Ishbal. He lives up to it.
• Hidden Depths: He is, without question, a crazed Blood Knight Mad Bomber. He is also intelligent, truly admires and respects the Rockbells for their tenacity even when assigned to kill some of them, protects Armstrong from military court martial, and generally demonstrates a certain Pet the Dog quality... often before, or even combined with, an even bigger Kick the Dog moment. Noble Demon he ain't.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: The Philosopher's Stone he drops during his battle with Edward is picked up by one of the chimeras he abandoned for dead and delivered to Alphonse Elric, who uses it in their final battle with Kimblee, and with it eventually defeats him.
• Humiliation Conga: Upon arriving in Briggs, Kimblee recieves near-fatal injuries from battling Scar and ends up needing to escape the fight. While helpless in the hospital, he gets menaced by the Ishvallan Major Miles. Later, he encounters Scar yet again and fails to kill or even capture him, even though Kimblee is ordered by the Homunculi to kill Scar. While he is destroying the surroundings in an ineffective attempt to attack Scar, Scar remarks how this meeting is opposite from their first meeting, when it was Kimblee looking down upon Scar. Later, Heinkel fatally wounds Kimblee and Pride looks on, remarking how weak humanity is while Kimblee is immobile and unable to even speak, let alone resist Pride's consuming of his body. For a rather haughty person, this series of events is more than harsh.
• I Die Free: An unusual example in that he was absorbed by Pride but retained his sense of self inside the sea of souls.
• Jerkass Has a Point: Jerkass has a lot of points. See his breaking speeches above.
• Just Following Orders: He follows the orders to commit the Ishvalan genocide without a second thought and he is disappointed when he sees others fail to do the same. Kimblee sees it as a soldier's job to follow orders, no matter what they may be.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: Just as Scar was about to kill him, Kimblee breaks the rail between them so the train would continue without Scar riding. He voiced his obvious displeasure before doing so.
• Lack of Empathy: A rather chilling example of sociopathy.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Scar assaults Kimblee with a pipe, wounding him near-fatally in the same place where Scar's brother was wounded because of Kimblee's attack.
• Light Is Not Good: Kimblee mostly wears a white suit, and the alchemical circles tattooed into his hands involve the sun and moon, both symbols of light. To say nothing of how he gives the impression of being a friendly and charismatic man. This probably makes the moment he is eaten by Pride, a shadow based homunculus, quite significant.
  • And in turn, Kimblee interfering with Pride long enough for Ed to defeat the latter could be considered as the light pushing back the darkness long enough to ensure its defeat.
• Loves the Sound of Screaming: Expresses this sentiment in an Ishval flashback. He seems to take it as the sign of a job well-done. It's also why he didn't get subsumed by the screaming souls in Pride's Philosopher's Stone.
• Mad Artist: Likes to make things explode in a manner he considers "beautiful".
• Mad Bomber: A minor character even refers to him as a mad bomber at one point.
• Majorly Awesome
• Man in White: He takes to wearing a classy white suit after his release from prison. One of the signature men in white in anime and manga.
• Man of Wealth and Taste
• Mask Of Sanity: Heavily implied to have feigned sanity to enter the military, and he manages to fool some characters like Winry, into believing he's kind and sane.
• Moral Sociopathy: For all his sadism and disregard for human lives, he does have a code of honour - largely based on honesty and duty — and abides seriously by it and respects whoever fills these values; indeed, by the end, his own existence is expendable, and he preffers to distract Pride and subsequently have his own soul vanish than having to "live" inside of a hypocritical homunculus.
• Mysterious Middle Initial
• Nice Hat: OK, he's an evil, genocidal maniac but that is still a damn fine hat.
• Person of Mass Destruction: He ends the whole Ishvalan War by himself with a Philosopher's Stone. Much later, he does this to the whole Drachman Army WITHOUT alchemy but through political deception alone!
• Pet the Dog:
  • His aforementioned admiration of the Rockbell family for their devotion to duty is genuine and he appears to have a legitimate soft spot in his heart for Winry. This particular dog petting doesn't earn him many points, though, since he ignores Winry's danger once Scar triggers his rage.
  • Taken to sadistic extremes with his interaction with Alex Louis Armstrong. He commends Armstrong for sticking to his beliefs and because of it chooses to save him from court martial... by blowing up Ishavalan survivors that Alex had saved in front of his eyes (the policy is to kill all Ishvalans). He can Kick the Dog and Pet the Dog all at once.
• The Philosopher: A particularly homicidal example.
• Photographic Memory: As Scar points out after meeting him for the second time, Kimblee's memory is frighteningly accurate.
• Power Tattoo: Has the circles needed for his trademark explosions tattooed on his palms.
• Shadow Archetype: Towards Ed. Ed sees himself as the champion of the people while Kimblee is an unapologetic Social Darwinist.
• Sharp Dressed Man
• Slasher Smile: Very frequently.
• Social Darwinist
• The Sociopath: A high-functioning and very self-aware psychopath.
• Sociopathic Soldier: Type II, with flashes of Type I.
• Spanner in the Works: Managed to screw over Pride, even in the afterlife.
• Spell My Name with an S: Solf/Zolf, J./Jay, Kimblee/Kimbley/Kimbly/Kimberly/Kimberley
  • Also, while it doesn't have to do with actual spelling, the translation of his State Alchemist title is a subject of debate. The word guren in Japanese means "crimson", but the kanji used to make up the word in his title means "red lotus". It can be inferred that "red lotus" is his truest title, however, due to the flower being a symbol of firey explosions much like the ones he specializes in creating.
• Stepford Smiler: Type C.
• Trickster: No one modifies plans on the fly quite the way that Kimblee does. It's why Father, a former Trickster himself, keeps him around.
• Troll: Once pranked a Mook by transforming his watch into a time bomb...that turned out to be a cuckoo clock.
• Villainous Breakdown: Kimblee does not take kindly to Scar's observation of the tables having turned.
• Villainous Demotivator: Knowing that the Briggs soldiers all wish him dead, he brings four chimeras with him as Elite Mooks. All four change sides on him almost as soon as it becomes a viable option; one eventually causing his death.
• Villainous Fashion Sense: Admit it, the all white suit he wears for most of his first major appearances is awesome.
• Villains Never Lie: Kimblee has an odd sense of honor and follows it to a T. Unlike every other villain in the series, he's honest about his motivations and doesn't sugarcoat anything. It may explain why his breaking speeches work so well.
• Villainous Rescue: Kimblee, of all people, is the one who saves Edward's ass from Pride.
• Warrior Poet: A rather bloodthirsty, psychotic poet.
• White Shirt of Death: When Heinkel chomps down on Kimblee's throat and his suit is promptly stained with his own blood, Pride proceeds to point out how the suit's new color fits Kimblee.
• Wicked Cultured: Look at him. Then look at his suit. Then listen to his voice. *insert Old Spice reference here*
• Wisdom from the Gutter: Offers it up a few times.
• Worthy Opponent: Edward Elric, who can also be interpreted as his Good Counterpart. The two have completely opposite moral codes, but despite this, Kimblee develops a respect for Ed's conviction of standing by his. In his final fight with Pride, Kimblee ends up siding with Ed over Pride, because the latter abandons his ideals out of his desperation.
• Yin Yang Bomb: His favoured attack method as the symbols mentioned above stand for the opposite forces of the Sun-fire-gold and Moon-water-silver.

Head of the East Army and military mentor to Colonel Mustang, he is a major ally to Mustang. Sort of.

---

• The Chessmaster: Figuratively, but also literally. In well over one hundred games, Roy has beaten him once.
• Cool Old Guy
• Dirty Old Man: Whereas Mustang decided to go for an elaborate Urban Legend Love Life, Grumman prefers simply sexually harassing female subordinates.
• Intergenerational Friendship: With Roy.
• Manipulative Bastard
• Master of Disguise
  • Wholesome Crossdresser
• Obfuscating Stupidity: Taught some of his tricks to Mustang.
• Opaque Lenses
• Reasonable Authority Figure: At the end of the series, he seems to be an effective Fuhrer who fully supports the efforts of his subordinates to make Amestris a better place.
• Scary Shiny Glasses
• Shipper on Deck: He tells Roy (in the manga only) that "what would really make this old man happy would be if you took my granddaughter as your First Lady." Said granddaughter is revealed in the second guidebook to be Hawkeye.
• Smart People Play Chess
• Spell My Name with an S: His name is alternately transliterated as "Graman".
• Trickster Mentor
• You Are in Command Now/Unexpected Successor With Bradley dead, the senior military staff arrested, and Mustang and General Armstrong busy with other affairs, Grumman finally gets to become the Fuhrer.

All right, this guy isn't actually in the military, but his status means he's pretty well-connected with them.

The adopted son of King Bradley, he studies hard in order to help his father rule the country. He's also a big fan of the Elric Brothers, especially Edward.

In reality, this is all an act. He's Pride, the first and deadliest of the Homunculi. Alive since the creation of Amestris, he looks down on all humans and most of his allies.

---

• Cheerful Child: Or not.
• Happily Adopted
• Hero Worshipper: He's an Ed fanboy, much to the latter's discomfort.
• Keet: Double Subverted.
• Morality Pet: To King Bradley. It's subverted much later however.
• More than Meets the Eye: For more on Selim, just take a gander at Pride's entry.
• Tareme Eyes
• Theme Naming: He shares his name with an Ottoman sultan famed for his conquests. Makes sense for the führer's son.

Border guard forces under Olivier M. Armstrong, stationed in Briggs fortress, in Briggs mountain range that divides Drachma and Amestris. They include Captain Buccaneer, a hulk of a man with a variety of deadly automail prostheses; Major Miles, a biracial half-Ishvalan who wants to change the perception of his people; and Lieutenant Henschel, General Armstrong's steadfast assistant. Lieutenant Vato Falman is later assigned to Briggs as well.

---

• Badass Army: The whole damn army is Badass. Even the cleaning officers.
  • Badass Longcoat: Their standard outfit. Justified since they work on snowy mountain range.
• Band of Brothers: It's explained that being Reassigned to Antarctica has given all the soldiers plenty of time to get to know one another. Olivier's leadership is also a big help.
• Bears Are Bad News: Aptly named "Briggs Bears". Bears are also parts of indigenous fauna.
  • Olivier brags that every one of her men can defeat a grizzly bear in combat.
• Grim Up North: Border patrol with Drachma. This is implied to be the reason why General Armstrong is such a General Ripper; she can't afford less.
• No Guy Wants an Amazon: "The Major General is not a woman!!"
  • Though part of this is how she herself explicitly refuses to hear her name mentioned in any context of femininity/beauty.
• Proud Warrior Race Guy: These guys are really proud of their abilities.
  • Blood Knight: And when given a chance to battle, some of them show that they really enjoy it. To give them credit though, none of them attack civilians or ignore innocents in danger.
• Reassigned to Antarctica: General Armstrong implies that most of the soldiers here had skeletons in their closets.
  • That makes them a Ragtag Bunch of Misfits; the main reason why they work so well is because General Armstrong made them.
• Tank Goodness: Never, NEVER wonder if this army can only fight on foot.
• Undying Loyalty: Towards Armstrong, these guys are the hurricane of loyalty.

Major Miles

General Armstrong's second-in-command. He is a quarter-Ishvalan from his grandfather's side, and is striving to change Amestris from the inside, so they will acknowledge the massacre they committed.

---

• All of the Other Reindeer: Miles often feels like this, thanks to his Ishvalan blood, but Armstrong gets rid of it quickly.
• Bad Ass: Comes with the territory of being a Briggs man.
• Cool Shades: Miles wears these to hide his Ishvalan ethnicity.
• Death Glare: Commenced with The Glasses Come Off, he gives a pretty epic one to an injured Kimblee - made to him even scarier given his Ishvalan eyes.
• Implied Death Threat
  "Here in the north, the law is the survival of the fittest. You get careless, and you get dead, understand? You tell me what to do again, and you'll never leave this hospital."
• Majorly Awesome
• Meaningful Name: Miles means "soldier."
• Scary Black Man: Yes, but not that scary. He's actually a pretty swell guy. More like intimidating black man.
• The Stoic
  • Not So Stoic: Even Miles has his limits when having to hear Kimblee's boasting from the war.
• Wise Beyond His Years: About the only person to see through Grumman's cunning. Or at least, he thinks he sees through it; we never find out whether he's right or not. They're still pretty Genre Savvy suspicions, though.

Buccaneer

General Armstrong's third-in-command and field commander. A big guy with a pretty hot temper, he is regardless extremely devoted and will fight for his comrades.

---

• Artificial Limbs: The artificial limbs! Even Winry falls in love with them at first sight.
• Bad Ass: Holy shit he can be! Consider this: He is the first person to actually injure Bradley. Let that sink in.
  • Badass Fu-Manchu
• Berserk Button: He's got a few of them, but one of them definitely appears to be jealousy that Edward has such a cute automail mechanic.
• Big Damn Heroes
• Chainsaw Good: Buccaneer's "Crocodile" automail arm.
• Go Out with a Smile: Olivier comments that means mourning isn't needed.
• Twinkle Smile: He's probably got the biggest smile in the series, shown after Olivier extends their time limit in the tunnel to save who they can.
• Shipper on Deck: More of the beat-up-Ed-when-he-says-Winry's-his-mechanic-instead-of-his-girlfriend variation than the standard type.
• Spell My Name with an S: Buccaneer/Baccania.
• Undying Loyalty: To Olivier, even more so than the rest of the Briggs' troops. After the fight with Bradley, Buccaneer—who has a sword sticking out of his gut—is solely concerned with making sure that her orders to hold the capitol are carried out.

As with Selim, not exactly in the military, but in that category nonetheless. The wife of Fuhrer President King Bradley and adopted mother to Selim. Serves as a Morality Pet to Bradley and Selim, who is actually Pride. Her abduction by Mustang's crew serves to kick off the final arc of the story.

---

• Happily Married: To King Bradley.
• Hostage Situation: Subverted; Mustang's group technically kidnaps her, but it's to show her that the military high command couldn't care less about her well-being. Mustang vows to protect her at any cost, thus gaining her trust and, through her, the public's.
• Locked Out of the Loop: Is completely unaware of King Bradley's and Selim's true identities, until the post-climactic wrap-up at least.
• Morality Pet: To both Bradley and Selim.
• No Name Given
• What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Inverted. Continues to love Selim, despite knowing now he's a Homunculus. It's not entirely clear, but the same seems to hold true for her attitude towards her husband.

A mousy haired bookworm with a photographic memory, who is mostly used for comic relief. She's something of a coward and cries a lot. Most of the other characters refer to her as "bookworm." She gets a job at the military working under Hughes copying down the books that burned in the military library in a fire and proves instrumental in the Elrics' search for the Philosopher's Stone.

---

• Adorkable
• Brainy Brunette
• Butt Monkey: She's first shown in a library, from which she's promptly fired. Then next she's shown buried under a ton of books which she apparently collects. After copying down the book she's rehired (read: dragged off by Hughes) into the military copying all the files that got burned up in the fire at central library. And that's just for starters...
  • Not everything goes against her, though; Ed's payment for her work allowed her to give her mother the best medical care money can buy and then some, and as much as Hughes overworks her, he also sees to it that she receives a ridiculous salary for her skills.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: She seems to have disappeared from the story after chapter 34.
• Cute Bookworm: It's in her nickname!
• Expy: Of Yomiko Readman.
• Green Eyes
• Meaningful Name: Polish for path.
• Meganekko
• Photographic Memory: She can reproduce exactly anything she's ever read.
• Plucky Comic Relief
• Spell My Name with an S: Alternately Schieska, Scheska, Ścieżka.
• Trash of the Titans: She is not a slob, but her room is absolutely full of unsorted books. So much that's she introduced needing rescue from being buried under a pile of them that fell over.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: After being drafted by Hughes to help restore the lost library books, she's never seen again.

A retired State Alchemist known as the Silver Alchemist of Battle. He retired after having his leg chopped off in the Ishvalan Civil War. He is killed by Scar in his only appearance.

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• Artificial Limbs: Has a peg-leg.
• Badass Grandpa
• Badass Moustache
• Blood Knight: When order 3066 was given before the War Of Ishbal, Comanche is the only one among them shown smiling in anticipation. Even after he retired he has some level of this, rather than shrink from the Scarred Man's presence, Comanche prepares to combat him with a rather large grin on his face.
• Charles Atlas Superpower: His spin attack, which has nothing to do with his alchemy.
• Colonel Kilgore: Like Kimblee, Comanche thoroughly enjoyed the Ishbalan Civil War, grinning in anticipation before battles, and reminiscing throughout his fight with Scar.
• Handicapped Badass: Lost his leg in the Ishvalan Civil War.
• Nice Hat
• Power Tattoo: His hands and palms are covered in the tatts that allow him to essentially create weapons out of thin air.
• Retired Badass
• Retired Monster: Comanche hasn't been a state alchemist in years, but he's never said sorry either—because at the end of the day, he isn't.
• Slasher Smile: Cracks one after being sent into Ishval and again at the thought of facing Scar.
• Sociopathic Soldier: Type II, going off the little we know.
• We Hardly Knew Ye

Better known as the Freezing Alchemist. A former State Alchemist who participated in the Ishval Massacre, McDougal went AWOL after the war and, years later, resurfaced as a madman trying to destroy Central City. It turned out he learned about the military's vast conspiracy. His plan was foiled by the Elric Brothers and he was murdered by Fuhrer Bradley.

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• An Ice Person/Kill It With Ice/Making a Splash: The Freezing Alchemist specializes in transmuting water—mainly to turn it into ice, which he uses as a weapon, but he can also create scalding steam.
  • Bloody Murder: With his own blood to boot.
  • Human Popsicle
    • Literally Shattered Lives
• Anti-Villain
• The Atoner: And The Revolution Will Not Be Civilized.
• Axe Crazy: Really pushes it at times.
• Canon Foreigner: McDougal was created specifically for the first episode of the new anime, but was neatly tied into the overarching plot.
• Cassandra Truth: You probably thought he was just some rambling nutcase when he was asking Ed if he knows the ones he serves or what shape the country's in, and telling him "I'm just trying to save this country", right? 30 episodes later he doesn't seem so nuts anymore does he?
• Faux Affably Evil: Well-intentioned he may be, but he seems to be having a pretty good time wreaking havoc. Particularly noticeable in the English dub where he's voiced by the same actor who does Ladd Russo and displays a similar glee in this role.
  • Of course, there is the matter of him being justifiably nuts.
• Foil: To both Mustang, Kimblee, and Hughes.
  • To Mustang: Fire vs. Ice, both are mentally scarred by the Ishval War into defying the Government/High Command, both want to overthrow the HC — Isaac from the outside, Roy from the inside.
  • To Kimblee: Both use alchemy to transmute the opponent's body, same war, etc., with Ishval as victim, Isaac as a victimiser with regrets, and Kimblee as a victimiser who thoroughly enjoyed himself. In fact, he tries to spring Kimblee and have the man join him, not quite realizing that Kimblee enjoyed it far more than he did.
  • To Hughes: Both men figured out the evil conspiracy long before anyone else and ended up getting killed for it. However, while Hughes actually provided the first shot in the low key subversion of the conspiracy even though he died before being able to say anything, McDougal's approach was to quit the military, bide his time, and then go straight for the bombastic route of bringing the house down, and while he did pass along his thoughts to the Elric brothers, they were summarily dismissed right until Ed figured out exactly what he meant.
• Foreshadowing: He creates one big transmutation circle in Central. Later, we find out that the entire country is an even bigger transmutation circle. And one of his statements to Ed has an entirely different meaning than he (and the audience) initially believe. It seems that he's simply referring to corruption in the government, but he actually means it quite literally.
  McDougal: Do you know what shape this country is in?
• He Knows Too Much
• Large Ham: Dear God, especially in the dub.
  • You're surprised?
  • Ham-to-Ham Combat: With Armstrong.
• Majorly Awesome: Pre-breakdown.
• Person of Mass Destruction: Nearly buried Central in ice.
• Power Tattoo: One of his palms has his freezing alchemy tattooed on it.
• Shell-Shocked Veteran
• Sociopathic Soldier: Type IV, after the war. He's totally cracked.
• Still Wearing The Old Colors
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: If he had went about his methods more subtlely and actually went to Mustang right off the bat with the information he found and y'know, not tried to kill everyone, he could've been a valuable asset in fighting Father.
• The Worf Effect: Bradley killing him is a pretty good indicator as to just what the Fuhrer is capable of.

A high-ranking member of Central Command, Lt. General Raven was once an honourable and capable soldier. In his old age however, he has become obsessed with the fear of death, and obtaining immortality for himself. He is a willing and enthusiastic participant in The Illuminati's plotting, and acts as Central Command's face.

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• Ambiguously Brown
• Beard of Evil
• Broken Pedestal: To Mustang, who once viewed him as a superior worth looking up to.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: Stabbed through the arm and then buried alive in concrete.
• Deal with the Devil: Makes one with Father and offers one to Olivier.
• Dirty Old Man: Creepily so, what with his hitting on Olivier.
• Evil Old Folks
• Faux Affably Evil: Appears to be a jovial older man, but is really a petty, selfish letch.
• General Failure: Has become one by the time of his appearance.
• Immortality Immorality: Willing to do anything to escape death.
• Insane Admiral: Raven is selfish, egotistical, lecherous, megalomaniacal, and more than a little stupid—and that's without getting into his involvement in an Ancient Conspiracy aimed at the destruction of Amestris. This is typical for members of Central Command who are given their positions based on their willingness to betray their country.
• It's All About Me: Motivated entirely by his own self-interest.
• Killed Off for Real/Karmic Death: By Olivier.
• Lust: Seems to be his big sin, both in sexual terms, and in terms of lusting after more life.
• Meaningful Name: Ravens in folklore are often portrayed as sly, crafty, and duplicitous.
• Smug Snake
• Unwitting Pawn: He, along with the rest of Central Command, are these to Father.
• We Can Rule Together: Tries it on Major-General Armstrong. It doesn't work out very well for him.
• We Hardly Knew Ye