An Actual Alchemist Analyzes Fullmetal Alchemist - What Truth REALLY Is

in case you're new to my channel hi my name is max i am an alchemist well i'm about as much an alchemist that one can reasonably be in the modern era like i've never crafted an alchemical recipe outside of a video game that is that's because i like most people know that there's no scientific basis to alchemical concepts like transmuting lesser metals into gold or creating the philosopher's stone that said i've studied a lot of alchemy mainly because i just find the old alchemical texts to be so poetic they're like odes to the fabric of the universe and the structure of the human mind it's very deep on a psychological level even if it isn't scientifically sound on this youtube channel i've applied that knowledge to works of fiction that reference alchemy namely video games such as silent hill the soulsborne games like dark souls bloodborne and elden ring and the xeno series over the last couple of years that i've done those videos i've had people recommend me other works of fiction that reference the alchemical tradition and of course the number one recommendation has always been full metal alchemist i finished watching full metal alchemist brotherhood for the first time about a week ago much like the berserk manga and anime there are times where fullmetal alchemists will use alchemical imagery and concepts for the sake of aesthetic where they simply look cool and don't actually mean anything but then there are times where the series demonstrates such a sophisticated knowledge of the alchemical doctrine that it even blows me away do you know that the character known as father probably has an actual alchemical name one that is pervasive throughout alchemical doctrine and i'm not talking about homunculus by the way did you know that the mural of the lion eating the sun in episode 26 references a very important alchemical idea while i'm sad to say that i won't have time to get to those and other concepts in this video i am happy to say that i will be addressing all of them as a part of a new series on this channel i cannot wait to present all the discoveries i have been making about this series and i hope that by doing so i can add a deeper level to the collective appreciation we have for this series so what will i be addressing with this first video mainly i will be focusing on two characters obviously given the title of this video one of them will be the character known as truth with truth i will be demonstrating his relation to a very complex alchemical idea one which might give greater insight into who truth is and what its function is yes truth is basically god but he's so much more than that but before i get to that i will start with the second character of note hohenheim now anybody who has a cursory knowledge of fma lore knows that this character and his name are based off of the real life alchemist known as paracelsus the great from the 16th century however the name paracelsus just like hohenheim were self-given paracelsus's real name is philippus areolus theophrastus bombastis one hohenheim which loki is probably the coolest full name anybody has ever had except for maybe maximus decimus meridius as we know from episode 40 of the anime hohenheim gets his name from father aka the dwarf in the flask aka homunculus fma's hohenheim was simply known as slave 23 before he took on the name hohenheim and even before he settled on that the dwarf suggested he named himself theophrastus bombastis but as far as relations between paracelsus and the anime barely anybody has made any connection beyond their names just like with real life alchemy the alchemy in fma is largely based around the concepts invented by paracelsus i will start off with a few of the basic ones if any of you watched my videos on the soulsborne games you might be familiar with the paracelsian concept of the trio prima or three primes to him every aspect of the universe could be boiled down to three compounds sulfur salt and mercury these three primes were the product of the four classical elements which are also found in every aspect of nature in regards to human beings these three primes correspond to the human soul body and mind spirit regarding brotherhood the three primes are referenced in the aforementioned episode 26 when edward ling and envy were in the infinite bowels of gluttony when interpreting the remains of a destroyed mural from the land of xerxes edward points out that the sun represents the soul the moon represents the mind and the tablet itself represents the body but here's where things get tricky see alchemy isn't a consistent doctrine you have to find patterns across various alchemical texts in order to develop a canonical interpretation in regards to the sun and the moon while they can symbolize the human soul sulfur and mind slash mercury they are more often associated with gold and silver does this mean one is right and one is wrong or are both right the simplest answer i can provide to these questions is as follows the values and meaning that we project onto chemical compounds is subjective this is the primary reason why alchemy isn't a feasible form of science instead alchemy is a subjective philosophy and the viability of an alchemic interpretation varies depending on consensus in regards to the sun the consensus is more that it represents gold but it can also represent sulfur soul and as edward points out in episode 26 the philosopher's stone itself before we move on to truth i will point out two other minor contributions made by paracelsus on the back of colonel mustang's glove we see a symbol with two distinguishing features one is the flame which obviously parallels mustang's status as the flame alchemist and the other is the salamander for millennia preceding paracelsus salamanders have had an association with fire while there is no definitive explanation for this there is a widely accepted interpretation salamanders tend to hibernate inside or under wooden logs when those logs were led on fire by humans for warmth obviously salamanders would come flying out of them thus the association while this association was not made by paracelsus he did incorporate it into the burgeoning alchemical doctrine in his mind the four elements had four representative beings four elementals water had nymphs air had sylphs earth had pygmies and fire had salamanders in short having a salamander on mustang's glove makes sense and pays tribute to paracelsus the final minor contribution is the integration of the microcosm macrocosm theory for those who do not know the microcosm macrocosm theory posits two structural similarities one between the human body and the universe and the other between the human soul and god as above so below for example what edward said about the correspondence of the human soul mind and body to the sun moon and space reflects that same theory this concept is also referenced by the character izumi when she asks young edward and alphonse to contemplate the meaning of the phrase one is all and all is one replacing the word one with microcosm and all with macrocosm would not change anything about the meaning of the initial statement same if you were to change one to below and all to above once again this was not paracelsus's theory it's a hermetic concept that goes all the way back to the ancient greeks but alchemists thank paracelsus for making it a mainstream aspect of the alchemical doctrine there is one other spot where the microcosm macrocosm theory shows up in the series that's with the character of truth to repeat what i said before anybody could insinuate for themselves that truth is basically god in the series but nobody seems to have noticed the way the series makes use of the alchemical conceptions of god of which the microcosm macrocosm dichotomy is only one version by looking into paracelsus's works and his conceptions of god i found some striking parallels to not only the character of truth but a couple of other things that almost made me fall out of my chair before i explain these things just know that the alchemical conception of god is very complicated though i will explain it slowly step by step just be warned that you might want to increase your attention just a little bit so one thing that we know for certain about truth comes from the creator of the original manga hiromu arawaka she said that truth was somewhat a hollow version of oneself as a sort of internal god or conscience if you have ever heard the religious idea that humans are made in the image of god arakawa's statement reflects that idea it also reflects the microcosm macrocosm idea in that all or god is one or you but it's not just you it's everything which is why the dwarf in the flask has a god version of himself just as edward does and just as colonel mustang does it is all forms but it is also one form again though the macrocosm microcosm idea is not really paracelsus's he does have an idea that is unique to him that stands alongside the other idea with equal applicability that is the light of nature in every aspect of nature in every body there exists an inner light paracelsus referred to this light by many names astrum ileaster protoplast and most importantly the filius philosopherum which translated from latin means philosopher's son throughout one's life one interacts with this inner light in the same way one consults their own mind or conscience in the hopes that we might achieve an intuitive apprehension of the facts or a spiritual illumination that light enlightens man as to the workings of nature and gives him an understanding of natural things this inner light resides in every human but it bears a special relation to the alchemist within the astrum is the quote-unquote medicine when paracelsus says that the medicine is found in the astrum we read in the same treatise that a man who is made in the image of god can be found the cause and the medicine this medicine as dr marco refers to it in episode six is the sage's stone the grand elixir the celestial stone the red tincture and the fifth element quickly i would like to give special note to the title the fifth element and not because of the movie the fifth element references one of the other titles for the inner light that i mentioned before the ileaster the philosopher's stone and the philosopher's son are perfect unions of the four elements and what holds those four elements together is the fifth element that is produced from their union the ileaster the balsam the quinta which translated to english means fifth essence what this all demonstrates is that the iliaster the astrum the philosopher's sun the philosopher's stone and the light of nature are all synonymous with the character truth they are all the same thing it was edward's relationship to his astrum to truth that produced the illumination the wisdom he achieved at the end of the series that he does not need alchemy when he has his family and friends and it was through truth that he was able to produce the medicine he craved the recovery of his and his brother's bodies if this is not enough to convince you allow me to introduce one last title that paracelsus used to describe at the filius philosophorum this is the part where i'm going to blow all of your minds so pay attention that final title is the primordial man now the reason why paracelsus gives this name to the light of nature is because he saw a connection between the concept he came up with and the doctrine of the primordial man from jewish kabbalah if you're a regular viewer of my channel you will have no doubt heard me reference the name of the kabbalah's primordial man his name is adam cadman quote just as the wisdom of the kabbalah coincided with the sapiencia the wisdom of alchemy so the figure of adam kadman was identified with the filius philosopherum for paracelsus the primordial man was identical with the ass drum this is relevant to fma in two ways first the structure of adam kadman's body mirrors the sephiroth in kabbalah the sephiroth was produced when god's light shone out into the void at the beginning of time the light gathered into ten vessels and those ten vessels made up the body of adam cadman seven of those vessels shattered because they could not contain the light the shattered vessels and the light that contained them were what created our universe the light from those vessels is the paracelsian inner light the one that exists in all of us it is what connects us to the primordial man to adam kadmon if you recall the sephiroth is depicted on edward's gate of truth albeit in a different form by the way this illustration was made by another alchemist of note named robert flood oh and who was robert flood a student of yeah paracelsus but that's not the most mind-blowing part here's a little extra tidbit for all you neon genesis evangelion fans recall episodes 60 and 61 from brotherhood remember when all the souls of a mistress united within the body of the father and then he tried to assimilate god did that remind you at any point of the union of all the souls of the world in the end of evangelion movie in case you forgot the sepharotic tree shows up at about 50 minutes into that movie oh and the giant man and woman joined at the hip that was adam cadmon if you want to see definitive proof of that definitive watch my video on neon genesis evangelion i will link to that in the description box below this has been just a taste of the things i've noticed regarding full metal alchemists connections to real life alchemy there will be so much more to come so make sure to hit that subscribe button so you don't miss out on those future videos also hit that like button by the way if in fact you do believe in the law of equivalent exchange you know i give you entertainment you give me a like pretty please finally if you like this kind of in-depth analysis and want to help ensure it's continued production please consider supporting me on patreon i will leave a link to patreon in the description box below thanks for watching and until next time just remember as always to stay yellow bye-bye

Channel: Max Derrat

Views: 906,822

Keywords: max derrat, max derrat fullmetal alchemist, max derrat fma, fma, fullmetal alchemist, fullmetal alchemist brotherhood, fma brotherhood, fma truth, fullmetal alchemist truth, anime

Id: lVdlJH6Q3eE

Length: 16min 46sec (1006 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 22 2022