Sandbox / Fullmetal Alchemist: Greed

Greed

Greed the Avaricious

Voiced by: Yūichi Nakamura (JP), Chris Patton (EN), Salvador Pérez (Latin America), Alexandre Marconatto (BR), Gabriele Calindri (IT)

^{Click here to see his Ultimate Shield form} 

Affiliation: Homunculi (formerly)/Devil's Nest
Speciality: Ultimate Shield

"You humans think greed is only about money and power. But don't forget: everybody wants something they don't have. So I want money, women, status, fame, and everything else in this world! And I want eternal life!"

A homunculus so greedy he won't play second fiddle to anyone, not even his creator — so he defected from the other Homunculi a long time before the story began. He commands a group of chimeras that he freed himself, to which he refers as his possessions. He seeks true immortality, so he catches Al to learn about how to apply it to himself. His hideout is the Devil's Nest. Differently to other Homunculi, he doesn't despise or consider himself superior to humans, and while he's still selfish and ruthless, he's by far the most decent of his kind. His alias is Greed the Avaricious.

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• Adaptation Dye-Job: Of sorts. In the Brotherhood anime and any media that draws from it, Greed's shirt is a reddish black and isn't part of his ultimate shield. But in the manga it's clear that his 'shirt' is not only the same color as his shield, it literally is a part of it, which he keeps active at all times.
• Affably Evil: In a series filled with many types of horrible villains, Greed stands out as the only villain who really is a nice guy. He is undeniably the most polite, classy, and the least violent Homunculus of all. Also, unlike other villains, Greed technically isn't evil, just willing to do whatever he thinks is necessary to get what he wants. In the manga, he might actually subvert this, since it shows more of the backstory supporting how he cares about his subordinates. He also tries to make a deal with Ed — he teaches him how to bind his soul to an inanimate object and he'll teach Ed how to create an homunculus.
  Greed (to a captured Alphonse): The name's Greed, and I want to be your friend.
• Ambition Is Evil: Inverted, his ambition was what drove him to separate from Father and become an Anti-Villain and later an Anti-Hero.
• Anti-Anti-Christ: His Father is an Eldritch Abomination Satanic Archetype, and Greed has fallen out with the old man long ago. Because he is "greedy", Greed isn't interested in his Father's plans, and because of his massive ego, wants to accumulate a large number of followers, unlike Father, who views humans as insects that serve only to create philosopher's stones. For bonus points, Greed even gets a Crucified Hero Shot before dying.
• Anti-Villain: Greed may be a selfish bastard, but he values and cares deeply for his followers. He's also the only Homunculus who doesn't resent humans nor is a cold-blooded mass murderer^note Gluttony and Sloth count as well, as one is hungry all the time and the other is too apathetic to care about anything and both are simply following orders, actually being a nice guy to some extent (unless you attack him upfront like). Anyone would be forgiven for wanting to work under him. It's no surprise that he later becomes an Anti-Hero after being resurrected by Father.
• Bad Guy Bar: The Devil's Nest, his hideout.
• Benevolent Boss: To his minions — or, as he calls them, "possessions". He treats them well and shows concern for them (he is far better than Father in this regard).
• Black Eyes of Crazy: In his Game Face Ultimate Shield form.
• Book Ends: Is both the first and last of the "sin" Homunculi to die in the series.
• Brass Balls: Defying Father took guts. Doing so while chained up and about to be melted down? Even more so. He continues to do this as he's Boiling Alive
• Byronic Hero: Has elements of this. A greedy but rebellious being, Greed listens to no one but himself. Not even Father can make Greed truly obey him. To this end, Greed only acts on his whims without much regard to others. He also shows some charisma as he is able to attract followers, not least thanks to his socializing nature.
• Catchphrase:
  • "I'm called Greed because I'm greedy. I want money, I want power, I want women, I WANT EVERYTHING!"
  • "There's no such thing as 'no such thing.'"
• The Charmer: Is probably more this than a flat-out Casanova, given his affable nature and reluctance to fight women.
• Code Name: The Ultimate Shield.
• Combat Sadomasochist: Implied, to some extent. He gets a huge kick out of demonstrating that he can come back from getting his head knocked clean off, and when Izumi alchemically kicks his face in so his shield crumbles, he looks way too thrilled about it. There is also an official illustration where he appears to be trying to make a pass at Riza, undeterred at all that she's got her gun pointed at his face.
• Cool Shades: Wears a pair of circle-lensed shades. Well-fitting for his archetype as an unscrupulous slick-talker.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: Is melted down in a vat of molten metal while Laughing Mad.
• Cultured Badass: We reiterate, he's the most polite, and classy of the Homunculi. And is incredibly durable in a fight, too.
• The Dandy: He's fashionable, charming, vain and prefers not to get his hands dirty.
• Dark Is Not Evil: When he defects from the other Homunculi and eventually sides with the good guys.
• Death by Irony: Ends up feeding another's greed by being boiled down for his most valuable part.
• Deathless and Debauched: Downplayed. He's the only one of the homunculi no longer in Father's service, instead being driven by his own insatiable greed. In Greed's debut, he's seen lounging around with women on either side and is also rather vain, refusing to use his Ultimate Shield to protect his face because he finds it unattractive.
• Defector from Decadence
• Defiant to the End: He mocks Father and his siblings and laughs like a madman as Father kills him.
• The Dog Bites Back: The only Homunculus to openly rebel against Father.
• Drama-Preserving Handicap: Of the psychological variety — his vanity keeps him from covering his good-looking face with the Ultimate Shield if he can possibly avoid it, even when fighting Wrath.
• Evil Laugh: Greed isn't as evil as the rest of his family but hoo boy does he love pulling that maniacal laughter.
• Evil Sounds Deep: His voice is very deep in the original Japanese version, though not in the dub. This is also inverted, as the 2nd Greed has an even deeper voice but gets increasingly more heroic.
• Evil Virtues:
  • His greed translates into intense protectiveness towards his minions/friends because he considers them to be possessions. Thus, threats against them are seen by him as "stealing".
  • He's also oddly modest. He makes it a point to show off his Ultimate Shield and healing powers to prove that there's no way an ordinary person can take him down, but he also says that those are really the only things that make his body special compared to regular humans.
• Fangs Are Evil: Has shark-like teeth and when he activates his Ultimate Shield over his face, he gets two long razor sharp tusks. Subverted in that he's more of a Wild Card.
• Fan of the Underdog: That is to say, humans and the occasional chimerae.
• The Fighting Narcissist: He prefers not to extend his Ultimate Shield over his head since it tarnishes his appearance.
• Game Face: He looks very different when he extends the Ultimate Shield over his head.
• Greed: Obviously. He wants everything.
• The Hedonist: His innate nature is to compulsively desire all things of value. It just so happens that most of these things are luxuries.
  Greed: "See, I'm Greed; I want everything you can think of! Money and women! Power and sex! Status, glory! I demand the finer things. And, of course, I crave eternal life."
• Heel–Face Turn: Had his in the backstory. What we see is more of a Heel-Tweener Reveal.
• Helmets Are Hardly Heroic: A variant, since the Ultimate Shield is less armor than it is a part of him, but he never extends it to cover his head, and rarely even his neck, unless he absolutely has no other choice. He says it's because it obscures his pretty face (and to be fair, it does), so this also makes his vanity a Drama-Preserving Handicap.
• Hide Your Otherness: Downplayed. Greed is actually pretty upfront about being a homunculus, but compared to the other homunculi, he also seems to make more of an effort in his everyday life to look like a mostly normal human. Greed strongly dislikes getting fully armored up by his shield, which makes his head take on a demonic skeletal appearance. He also wears a vest that hides the node-like red markings that are very visible on the other natural homunculi, and wears sunglasses that obscure his wine red eyes and Hellish Pupils. Given that he actually wants to get along with humans, this makes sense.
• Immortality Seeker: Greed kidnaps Alphonse to find a way to potentially achieve this for himself, as his ability to heal any injury and live exponentially longer than a normal human isn't good enough for him.
• Inconspicuous Immortal: Greed is the only homunculus to not partake in his family's scheme for Amestris, having cut ties and ran away long ago. He lives in Dublith with a gang of chimeras posing as humans, and while he wants to own the whole world, has a far more normal life than any of the other homunculi.
• Innocently Insensitive: In the manga, Greed interrogates Alphonse about how he attained his immortal body. Al responds by mentioning he's unsure how it happened and that Ed would need to be asked, but "he's... not here now". Greed misunderstands the comment to mean that Ed is dead and, rather than get upset about losing his avenue to immortality, he promptly tries to apologize to Al for bringing up a sensitive topic. Probably the defining example of how Affably Evil he is.
• In-Series Nickname: "Mr. Ultimate Shield", by Lust.
• Insistent Terminology: Those in his gang are his "possessions".
• Instant Armor: He can rearrange the carbon in his skin to turn it hard as diamonds. He calls this his Ultimate Shield, and normally it makes him durable even by Homunculi standards, but Ed initially beats him by transmuting it into a graphite matrix instead, so that it turns super-fragile.
• It's All About Me: While a more positive spin could be placed on his actions than the one on that page (see trope below), he is, by the nature of the sin he represents, undeniably a massive egomaniac.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's a greedy bastard for sure (it is his name) but he's also shown to genuinely care for his subordinates and have a sense of honor, even if he tries hard to deny it by saying the "possessions" must be in top condition. Also worth noting is that by having the chimeras work for him, he was accepting those who would've very likely otherwise been shunned from society. In fact, Dolcetto and Martel's conversation with Alphonse in the manga implies that he was the one who busted them out of the lab, to begin with.
• A Lady on Each Arm: How he's introduced.
• Made of Diamond: His special ability, the Ultimate Shield, is made of carbon arranged in its toughest molecular form: diamond.
• Major Injury Underreaction: When he gets his arm cut off? A mildly interested glance and a small 'oh'.
• Morality Pet: His possessions. This later extends to Edward and Ling.
• More Teeth than the Osmond Family: Has sharp, shark-like teeth and shows them off in a wide grin.
• Mr. Fanservice: Tall, muscular, handsome (in a devillish way), vain, flirtatious, promiscuous and charming.
• No Indoor Voice: Speaks near exclusively in a booming baritone in the Japanese version. In the manga, his speech doubles tend to be similarly bolded.
• Not So Invincible After All: Learns this the hard way when Ed realizes his Ultimate Shield can be alchemically converted to brittle graphite, and again moments later when Ed discerns that Greed can't shield himself and regenerate simultaneously. The latter weakness is exploited by Bradley, who methodically whittles away at his flesh too quickly for him to heal himself.
• Oddly Small Organization: Despite his often-stated interest in world domination, he's never had more than a handful of followers.
• Perpetual Smiler: He has a much larger range of expressions than most examples but thanks to his Affably Evil nature, he's often smiling, even while engaged in combat and royally pissed off.
• Really Gets Around: Mentions women and sex as part of his hedonistic desires and indulgences. Notably this also makes him the only Homunculus (including Lust!) with a clear interest in sexuality.
• Regret Eating Me: Has this rant once it becomes apparent what Father is going to do to him.
  Greed: If that's what you want, Dad! Just don't blame me if you get a stomachache! You did it to yourself!
• Slasher Smile: He has unusually pointy teeth which very much resemble those of a shark, which combined with his sharp eyes makes his typical friendly/ambitious smile veer into this territory. It really shows whenever he gets into a fight, though, as he has a tendency to pull an almost manic grin. Said grin is also a permanent feature of his full Ultimate Shield form; it has no lips, so his teeth are always on display.
• The Starscream: Greed was this to Father in a way, being the only homunculus to rebel against him by running away, and was Defiant to the End when recaptured.
• Stone Wall: The Ultimate Shield easily makes him the most durable character in the series. However, he is nowhere near as fast and as strong as Wrath/Bradley.
• Take Over the World: His ultimate goal in life.
• Token Good Teammate: For the Homunculi. Greed is the only one among them who is affable, possessing standards, and not a mass murderer or a sadist. Also, unlike the other Homunculi who resent humans and treat them like expendable pawns, Greed welcomes followers of any kind and greatly cares for them (something he won't admit).
• Token Heroic Orc: Rather than blindly obeying his creator, his greedy nature got the better of him, and he'll do whatever it takes to get what he wants. He's Affably Evil and treats his gang of human followers well, rather than as pawns to be sacrificed. He's also the only homunculi to not regard humans as inferior beings; at worst he only boasts that a human's raw power can't compare to his ultimate shield.
• Too Kinky to Torture: He says Lust can penetrate him with her Ultimate Spear whenever she wants.
• Tranquil Fury: Even in his most enraged state, Greed never quite fully drops his veil of indifference.
• True Companions: What he, no matter how he denies it, had with his chimeric "possessions" before their deaths.
• Unskilled, but Strong: Greed's Ultimate Shield is an incredibly powerful ability. However, while not a poor fighter, Greed's combat skills are very inferior to Wrath's.
• Villainous Widow's Peak: This is the kind of hairline he has.
• Villains Never Lie: "It's my policy to always tell the truth."
• White Sheep: The only homunculus who isn't either a casual murderer or psychopath nor does he particularly see humans as beneath him.
• Wild Card: As befits a creature devoted solely to his own desires.
• Will Not Tell a Lie: Part of his personal creed.
• Wolverine Claws: Not nearly as impressive as Lust's of course, but he gains some razor sharp claws in his Ultimate Shield.
• Wouldn't Hit a Girl: Too classy for it. Though in all honesty, he probably would've fought Izumi if pushed enough, making this a downplayed case.

2nd Greed (SPOILERS)

"Greedling"

Voiced by: Yūichi Nakamura (JP), Troy Baker (EN), Savador Pérez (Latin America), Alexandre Marconatto (BR), Maurizio Merluzzo (IT)

Affiliation: Homunculi (formerly)/His Own Crew
Speciality: Ultimate Shield/Martial Arts

"The way I see it, greed is no different than hope… The problem is, you humans are always trying to apply a hierarchy to greed – what’s noble to desire, what’s taboo.

A reincarnated Greed inhabiting the body of Ling Yao. He was originally meant to act as Father's bodyguard and watchdog, but, following an incident involving Bido, all of the original Greed's memories flooded back into his head. Like the first Greed, he too went rogue, and he eventually formed his own crew with Darius, Heinkel and Edward.

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• Affably Evil: At first, until his Heel–Face Turn where he's generally a decent guy.
• Anti-Hero: He becomes this, after defecting from the Homunculi for a second time. By the end, he's debriefing a hodgepodge crew of fighters, many whom he barely knows if at all, about what to expect in the final battle with Father, and makes it a point to lecture against the injured or incapacitated from trying to go out to the battlefield. He gets irritated by the amount of people who still insist on risking their necks, and even gets into an argument with Olivier Mira Armstrong about the fact she's no longer in fighting condition. His tone is acerbic and flippant, but he definitely comes off as being concerned about their well-beings.
• Back from the Dead: An unusual variant as Father "absorbed" him and then later injected him into Ling. At first you could think of him as a different person from the original, with Greed himself trying to assert that, but he eventually regains the first one's memories.
• Badass Long Coat: Starts wearing one after he gets Ling's body.
• Bash Brothers: A most weird variation with Ling, as they share the same body. That said, later on the two "tag switch" to exploit each other's strengths. A more normal version of the trope is him with Edward.
• Benevolent Boss: Technically, as he still calls his friends "possessions", but whether they're truly henchmen in more than name only is debatable.
• Big Damn Heroes: Gets a big moment in episode 54 when Bradley returns, slaughters most of the Briggs men and is about to do the same to Buccaneer and Falman, until Greed makes his entrance with a couple Pre-Asskicking one liners to boot, and proceeds to give Bradley the fight of his life
• Big "NO!": After killing Bido triggers him to regain the memories of the rest of his fallen comrades, it leads him into an Anti-Heroic BSOD.
• Book Ends:
  • Greed is both the first and last of the 'sin' homunculi to die over the course of the story.
  • Greed's possession of Ling begins with Ling telling him that he's letting it happen because he wouldn't be able to face Lan Fan without a philosopher's stone after she cut off her arm for him. In the end, Greed vacates Ling's body by entering Father's arm which had impaled Ling, and ordering Lan Fan to chop it off. In other words, the resurrected Greed lives and dies by Lan Fan's hand.
• Byronic Hero: He starts off like this — Charismatic, rebellious, and mainly acts on his own whims. His conversations with Ling also resemble internal conflict. However, he loses the villainous aspects of it post-Character Development.
• Came Back Strong: The original Greed was hopelessly outmatched by Wrath/Bradley. After returning in Ling's body, he's a much better fighter. In fact, he even goes as far as to engage Wrath/Bradley extending his Ultimate Shield only over his arms and still gives him the brawl of his life. Unlike the original Greed and his men, Ling and Lan Fan were both able to escape Bradley's pursuit at one point. Most Homunculi, including the original Greed, tend to be Unskilled, but Strong; skill and ingenuity obviously go further than strength when taking on King Bradley. So really it's more "Came Back Skilled," having assimilated some of Ling Yao's conditioning, training, reflexes, etc. by taking his body.
• Cradling Your Kill: Does this to Bido after killing him. Justified in context.
• Cultured Badass: Like his predecessor, he's a fairly diplomatic and generally mannered individual. Until you piss him off, that is.
• Dark Is Not Evil: He dresses in all black and talks like an upstart mafia boss, but he's really a Jerk with a Heart of Gold.
• Deadpan Snarker: Even more sarcastic than before, due to his quicker temper.
• Death by Irony: Greed, a living embodiment of selfish desire, died performing the ultimate act of selflessness, sacrificing himself to make Father weak enough to kill him. And in his last words, he stated that he had gotten all that he could ever want.
• Defector from Decadence: As soon as he recovers his genetic memories he promptly resumes his previous life's rebellion against Father and Bradley.
• Defiant to the End: Again. He just laughs at Father while he transmutes his body's carbon composition into that of charcoal, making him so fragile he is easy to kill.
• Demonic Possession: Of Ling.
• The Dog Bites Back: Again. As always.
• Drama-Preserving Handicap: He still is reluctant to just instantly go full Ultimate shield in fights out of vanity, even though this is precisely what got the original Greed killed. He only gets serious enough to break out the full shield onscreen once.
• Dying Moment of Awesome: Even more so than the original.
• Dying Smirk: Mocks Father while also contently realizing that he already had what he always wanted — friends.
• Evil Laugh: Even when fighting on the heroes side, Greed can't help but laugh like a crazed madman.
• Eyes Are Mental: When Ling is in control, the eyes are black (or closed.) When Greed is in control, the eyes are red.
• Fan of the Underdog: He basically outright admits that he feels this way about humans.
• Fights Like a Normal: Aside from his diamond-hard skin, his only combat abilities are Ling's fighting skills. This is why the first Greed got his ass kicked by Wrath despite the iron hard skin, and why he does much better.
• Foil:
  • To both Ling and Wrath.
  • Edward too—they share arrogance and an Oedipus Complex.
• Game Face: Very rarely, because of his vanity.
• Genetic Memory: Recovers the original Greed's memories through the shock of killing the original Greed's buddy Bido.
• Ghost Memory: Greed and Ling can see each other's memories to some degree.
  • When Greed starts to see flashes of his previous life, Ling is able to comment upon the memories and give Greed a What the Hell, Hero? speech to accelerate the remembering process and reorient Greed's priorities.
  • When a slightly disoriented, and raging Greed attempts to kill Wrath out of revenge for what happened to his previous lifes' comrades, he experiences memory flashbacks. In a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment, you see that it's not just his old memories he's seeing, but also Ling's. It's implied that it's Ling's memories of fighting Wrath that allow Greed to hold his own against Wrath, when previously Greed was completely outclassed by him.
• Greed: Unlike many of his siblings, he channels his vice into positive ends instead of letting it consume him, but he is still a creature of appetite and ambition.
• Happiness Realized Too Late: Greed has spent his life trying to own everything in an attempt to fill what he likens to a feeling of emptiness inside him ever since he was born. However, as Father kills him, Greed belatedly realizes he's happy with the relationships he has formed, satisfying the feeling of emptiness and allowing him to ultimately be at peace in his final moments.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: If there's one personality trait about him that's different than the first Greed, it's this. He maintains a level of professionalism, but, where the first Greed came off as being relatively unruffled even in a state of fury, this Greed has a noticeably more volatile temper and is more inclined to show displeasure or start shouting.
• Heel–Face Turn: A very quick one — he was in Father's employ no more than a month. And it simply took him killing Bido to do so, as doing it caused him to recover his memories.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Gets himself sucked into Father despite Ling's best efforts to stop him in order to pull off his Defiant to the End Made of Plasticine ploy.
• Hunter of His Own Kind: Upon regaining his memories and turning on his "family."
• I Just Want to Have Friends: What turns out to be his truest desire.
• Insistent Terminology: Still calls his friends and henchmen "possessions". Well, until the end, anyway.
• Instant Armor: His ultimate shield. After all, he shares the same powers as the original.
• Irony: The living embodiment of greed itself, yet what he wants most is True Companions. The value of the human soul indeed. He also dies after saving someone's life (Ling's), sacrificing himself to help take down his creator and dies satisfied after having found and obtained what he really wanted (friends) while thanking them. Another big thing to note from the same example is that the literal embodiment of avarice and greed, meant to perpetually want more and never be satisfied, ultimately dies completely satisfied and content with what he has
• It's All About Me: Downplayed. Greed can be genuinely nice, but he's still a complete egomaniac.In theory.
• I Will Only Slow You Down: Variation. Greed careens over the side of a wall with Wrath clinging to his hand and Lan Fan catches him with her newly installed automail arm. The weight is so heavy it basically starts tearing Lan Fan's arm out of its socket and Greed actually insists her to let him go because of it. Not unlike how Ling refused to leave her behind over 6 months ago, Lan Fan refuses to let the Homunculus inhabiting Ling's body fall.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: More obvious than the original incarnation, as he was very quick to accept Darius, Heinkel and Edward into his crew and continued to be very protective of them. Still tries to act like a Jerkass, with mixed results.
• Lightning Bruiser: His Ultimate Shield already makes him the toughest character in the series. He also destroys a truck with one arm and easily defeats a squad of Central's soldiers. Oh and this time, he's strong enough to fight on almost equal terms with Wrath. As for speed, he manages to keep up with and dodge most of Pride's and Wrath's incredibly fast attacks, even at one point showcasing the easy-to-miss speed that Sloth possesses.
• Made of Diamond: The Ultimate Shield is basically diamond.
• Made of Plasticine: If he were to take his abilities in the opposite direction. Which he used to weaken Father, who was in the middle of absorbing him, quite a bit.
• The Mind Is a Plaything of the Body: Greed takes on a few of Ling's quirks, most prominently a propensity for hopping buildings to get around, and resting in high places.
• Morality Pet: His "possessions", even more so with Ling and Edward.
• Morphic Resonance: Whenever Greed's in control, it seems like Ling's body starts to evoke the look of the original Greed, such as the eyes having heavier outlines and larger irises, and sometimes even the jawline appears broader. In Brotherhood, they actually have different voice actors, which implies a change of vocal cords. Probably. Mostly, this seems to be a stylistic choice to help differentiate the two.
• Motive Decay: He starts out, just like the first incarnation, claiming he doesn't care about anything except obtaining everything in the world for himself. Then after getting his original incarnation's memories back his personality shifts and he starts showing genuine displays of concern for other characters, even actively making decisions to keep people he barely knows out of harm's way. Nonetheless he still intermittently whiplashes back to his original 'It's All About Me' attitude and running off with his own agenda all the way into the final battle. It ends up making him look either like he's only putting on an act or he's got a terrible case of not realizing his behavior isn't matching up with his motives. In truth, as time wore on, Greed became confused about what he truly wanted in life.
• My God, What Have I Done?: When Greed kills Bido, whom he is unaware is the last of his former minions, the incident, combined with Ling's reprimanding, affects him so much it triggers his memories to come back.
• Noble Demon: At first as Father's lackey, where he still held no grudges towards the people he was assigned to kill. After a What the Hell, Hero? moment from Ling, he gets better.
• Nominal Hero: Subverted. While he does say he's fighting for his own reasons post-Heel–Face Turn, it becomes clear that he has a surprising regard for human life (which is only improved with Ling's presence).
• "Not So Different" Remark:
  • Just before their final assault on Central, Greed lectures Ed on their similarities — Ed is motivated by hope and Greed by avarice, and what are hope and greed but different words for desire? Now, if we take into account what Greed truly desires and what Ed is willing to do without alchemy for, this takes on a new meaning.
  • The original Greed once mocked Ed for being the type of person who can handle taking a beating himself but goes nuts when people he cares about get hurt. Guess what happens when this Greed remembers what happened to his subordinates?
  • From another angle, in a recent chapter, Father commented on how much Greed reflects his own motivations, indicating ironically that the same qualities that made Greed fight alongside the "good", make Father truly evil.
• Odd Friendship: Probably the strongest hint of his true desire. His closest friends are the last people you'd expect to be hanging out with a Homunculus, especially Edward.
• Oddly Small Organization: The group he and Ed put together is even smaller than the original's. A definite, blatant foreshadow of his truest desire.
• One-Man Army: Together with Ling, he utterly demolishes Bradley's entire platoon; soldiers, weapons, vehicles and all.
• Redemption Equals Death: His final death can be seen as this for taking over Ling's body for so long. When Father absorbs Greed into his arm, Greed has Lan Fan chop it off so a) Father can't possibly absorb Ling as well anymore and b) so he can wreak havoc in Father's body.
• Regret Eating Me: Makes good on his first form's threat after being reabsorbed, when he turns Father into charcoal to allow Ed to deal the finishing blow.
• Relationship Upgrade: Non-romantic variety with Ling. (See Vitriolic Best Buds below.) After the Time Skip, Greed uses Ling's first name and calls him "partner", or "brat" when in Jerkass mode. That's a huge change compared to the times when Ling was callously referred to as "that guy" or "the owner of this body".
• The Scream: After killing Bido triggers his old memories to return.
• Sharing a Body: Greed and Ling's relationship starts out as standard Demonic Possession, but after a lot of Fighting from the Inside, willingly trading the body back and forth, and gaining a healthy respect for each other, it evolves into this.
• Shipper on Deck:
  • While Ling and Lan Fan lay the hurt on Gluttony in the dark, Greed sits back inside Ling and watches, commenting on how Ling's "quite the stud, having a fine woman like her hidden away."
  • He compliments Ed on his choice of "possessions" after meeting Winry.
• Sixth Ranger Traitor: To the Homunculi. Joins them late, betrays them early.
• Slasher Smile: Shows this off when he's particularly gung-ho about an opportunity.
• Spanner in the Works: To Father, who certainly wasn't expecting the Second Greed to regain his old memories and betray him a second time. Not only does Greed betray Father but he also joins the heroes to fight against him. Greed managed to weaken Wrath (greatly helping Scar) and helped the Briggs soldiers hold the Central fort. He was also crucial in the final battle as he managed to absorb some of Father's souls and distracted him long enough for the heroes to make him use up his Philosopher's Stone shield. Most importantly, after being absorbed by Father (who at this point, still couldn't die due to his regeneration abilities), Greed greatly damages him by using his carbonization powers to turn Father's shell into charcoal, thereby rendering Father unable to regenerate. All that was needed left to destroy Father afterward was a single punch from Edward.
• Super-Toughness: Has the same Instant Armor powers as the original.
• Take Over the World: His ultimate goal in life. ... Supposedly.
• Token Evil Teammate: For the protagonists after his Heel–Face Turn. This is played straight before quickly being subverted. Initially, Greed only had ulterior motives for joining them. However, in spite of this, he kept doing good and noble deeds like protecting his chimera men and defending the Briggs soldiers from Wrath. In the end, Greed sacrifices himself to save Ling while at the same time greatly damaging Father from the inside.
• Token Heroic Orc: After Father kills him and uses his essence to turn Ling into a new Greed, the combination of getting his old memories back and Ling continually Fighting from the Inside eventually leads him to join the heroes.
• True Companions: What he, no matter how he denies it, had with his chimeric "possessions" before their deaths. And ultimately, the one thing he desired the most.
• Tsundere: His devil-may-care charisma masks it, but honestly, what else can you call the fact he'll bend over backward to save his comrades but insist it's only because they're his "possessions"?
• Unscrupulous Hero: As the series progresses, in spite of his own words, he actually starts to perform heroic deeds of his own free will. He rescues his chimera men from Pride, fights Wrath on behalf of the Briggs soldiers, and even takes leadership in the final fight against Father. Later, he makes the ultimate sacrifice when he gives his own life to ensure Ling's protection and help defeat Father.
• Villains Never Lie: Not really a villain, but he still never lies and is quite proud of that fact. Subverted for the only time to spare Ling from being dragged along in his Heroic Sacrifice.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: With Ling. Their friendship forms off-screen during the Time Skip, but we see bits and pieces of it when they argue and banter while working together against Pride and Gluttony. And later Greed lies to save Ling's life, and Ling has a heartbroken expression when Greed dies. It's an Odd Friendship considering their peculiar state of body, but personality wise, they are quite compatible.
• Voices Are Mental: He and Ling have different voice actors, and whoever's in control gets to talk. Since the process of becoming Greed did have some physical effects on his body and might alter his vocal cords, this is much more forgivable than most examples, but it's still rather obvious.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Gets this harshly from Ling after killing Bido, which pushes him into his My God, What Have I Done? moment.
  • On a less dire scale, Ling gives these kinds of comments to Greed just about every time Greed starts falling back into his megalomaniac rants in spite of any recent heroic behavior.
• Wild Card: Even more so than the first, as he outright joins the good guys after defecting from Father. Kind of. He thinks he isn't but his actions say otherwise.
• Wolverine Claws: Gains these in his Ultimate Shield just like the first one; poor Bido gets impaled by them.
• Wouldn't Hit a Girl: "I don't fight women; I'm not that kind of guy." Granted, he has never fought a woman before, so it's only implied.
• Your Soul Is Mine!: Father tries this on Greed after he loses control of God. It backfires as Greed ends up weakening him by turning most of his body into graphite, forcing Father to kill him to try to stay alive.