Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood: Father and the Homonculi

what is a human life I believe that is the question at the center of Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood narrative at the core of every story is a question sometimes those questions are very blatant The Tortoise and the hare poses the question which succeeds talent or persistence our narrative questions are more subtle like the baboo duck in his questioning of depression in mourning but no matter the question the narrative that surrounds it is of exploration into finding an answer more often than not the protagonist has their own idea to the question and embodies it in their actions conversely the antagonist has their own answer usually the opposite of the protagonist the two characters each representing aside faceoff until one of them prevails in by extension their beliefs on the question prevails and is validated by the narrative this method of finding answers through storytelling by gaining clarity on a question by putting it through detailed scenarios is the basis of philosophy repeatable science finds answers to most things in existence and continues to find new answers to things every day but for those things that are not repeatable consistent measurable and generalizable we must turn to philosophy for answers there is no formula for me to prove that killing is wrong there is no series of ingredients or steps that will qualify my sadness or happiness the physical world provides no hard answers for these things which makes philosophy and therefore storytelling necessary they are our best tools for answering things for which science cannot explain but that certainly doesn't mean that attempts haven't been made to create hard answers to these philosophical questions when you combine Sciences need for hard answers in philosophies need for hypothetical explanations you get a product that surprises most people religion I may not be able to say whether killing is right or wrong but God can why argue about morality with my equals when I can set my boundaries with guidance from a higher being religion is the intersection between science and philosophy because it seeks to create hard answers to hypothetical subjects what is my purpose who created me what is a life these types of questions are what creator Hiromu Arakawa chose to tackle in Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood and in a decision I consider to be genius she used all three philosophy and religion to make an argument for the answer she felt and in an equally genius decision she did it through use of her antagonists father and the homunculus but to properly understand her decision and the complexity in which she designed the antagonist we must first understand the protagonist Edward Elric by the third episode Arakawa has firmly established Ed's ideas on the questions centering the show in by extension his and the audience's perspective ed states that he is an alchemist and therefore does not believe in unprovable concepts like creators or gods or religions he observes the physical laws that govern the world to try to learn the truth he even says that with science alchemists or the godlike beings these are his ideals the values and beliefs that he carries at the core of his character the basis to answer the questions of the narrative scientifically and like any good writer Arakawa creates a situation where the protagonists ideas are allowed to transform from a hypothetical to the literal to action and conflict mirroring Ed's beliefs about alchemy being superior to religion and philosophy ed takes on an actual Church in the third episode the leader of the church father cornello a priest who was believed by his followers to be a miracle worker and a scion of the Sun God Leto is shown by Ed and Al to be nothing more than a liar and a fraud his son God gave him no abilities and held no answers for him in fact it was the very alchemy that Eadie praised that allowed cornello to do his miracles his followers realized that their religion is based on lies in denounce cornello validating Ed's beliefs concerning science and religion this moment serves to show how firmly ed embodies the idea that science not religion or philosophy has the answers to even the most ambiguous questions it gains even more weight when you realize that unlike cornello ed has been through what can only be considered an actual religious experience years ago when trying to bring back his mother ed talked with God passed through the gate in more personal witness to the infinite truth of existence yet even after that he holds firm that science alchemy and the world around him are consistent in ultimately knowable the misfortune that befell him and his brother when attempting human transmutation was not because of any enigmatic characteristic of existence or philosophy it was because he himself had complete knowledge in preparation considering the concepts of alchemy and when looking at the world from his perspective one might be able to see just why he holds these beliefs to Ed it would be much more palatable to believe that he is flawed rather than science and alchemy being inconsistent everything ed knows everything he wants is wrapped up in alchemy it is his greatest skill and the only thing that he has hope of bringing his and Alphonsus body back alchemy and scientific reasoning or the bedrock of how ed functions in the world and he would much rather see himself as broken than it understanding this perspective also contextualizes why ed is so enamored with the object he was fighting cornello for the Philosopher's Stone on the surface one would of course be correct in thinking that ed wants the stone to bring back the bodies he and his brother lost but when speaking to Ed's character we can go much deeper if Edie acts as the embodiment of finding scientific answers to pressing questions the Philosopher's Stone would then be the embodiment of using philosophy to get answers the Philosopher's Stone ignores every rule of alchemy in science its existence composition and processes appear to be completely unexplainable the only way that anyone in the show can come to understand the stone would be to philosophize about it because of this ambiguity the idea of the Philosopher's Stone is irresistible to Ed as a character one might think that a person so oriented on scientific determination would shun an object that defies reasoning but that is not how science works in that isn't how ed works science strives to pull answers from the hypothetical into the concrete a scientific understanding expands the realm of philosophy diminishes likewise ed in the beginning does not see the Philosopher's Stone as proof that alchemy can be contradicted he sees it as the opportunity to discover how the stones existence fits into the laws of alchemy it believes that the Philosopher's Stone can be turned into the scientist stone and with all that said we can go back to create a hero Metallica was brilliant use of antagonists it is a general rule in writing that the best person to oppose your main character is someone who holds ideas opposite to theirs it would have been easy and smart for Brotherhood's creator to write an antagonist that believed alchemy and science had none of the answers that nothing was knowable and to have this antagonists racing against the Elric brothers to find the philosopher's stone a physical object that epitomized a contradiction against the hard rules of alchemy and science but her amo Arakawa chose to go much further than that instead of creating an antagonist that was motivated by ideas that were opposites Ed's she created antagonists whose very existence themselves opposed Ed's ideas antagonists that embodied religious outlooks on the narratives questions and answers everything about father and the homunculus are based on religion father himself is depicted as a stoic elderly European man with the beard in white robes evolving imagery of the classic Christian God who is also known as God the Father the names of the homunculus are based on the seven deadly sins another religious aspect but what makes the antagonist so great in relation to Ed is that they truly embody religions purpose of providing hard answers to philosophical questions the homunculus specifically are examples of humans that live in a religiously certain world they don't have to ask who made them father made them they don't need to wonder what their purpose is their purpose is to serve father and whatever endeavor he chooses they don't need to ask what a life is father made them immortal tools this extends out past the homunculus to father gives a concrete purpose and a Worth to near everything in the show in its history he controls the military the rising and falling of whole societies even alchemy itself as tools for his goal of becoming a more perfect being and the questions being answered are not just general either some directly affect edie shaking him to his core none more so than the revelation about the Philosopher's Stone the ambiguity that drew Eadie toward the stone was destroyed when he finally gained the answer to what the stone was a mass of human life energy condensed down into a small crystal created by father why does this don't have the power to circumvent ELCA me because father created it to be that way father and the homunculus change the narrative conversation from simply asking questions of life and worth to answering them outright father defines the worth of a life because he can create life he uses alchemy to become more like God exactly what ed said Alchemist would do but most importantly father forces a shift from anything in the show that is philosophically mysterious to being totally religiously certain by defining and giving reason to everything that exists in am estrus and beyond father Rob's IDI of his innermost motivation finding answers through science in the same way he provided answers to the philosopher's stone father demystified any of the philosophical ambiguity that science needs to exist in a narrative sense there are just no more answers to discover and it is because of the stance and achievement by the antagonist that edie our protagonist has to change so much instead of trying to use science to argue with the conclusions and explanations that father has laid out and switches his beliefs to the conclusion that father is just plain wrong father might be able to create life in shape existence but his use and appraisal of such things as mere tools is misguided edy casts off his obsession with scientific reasoning to adopt a much more philosophical argument what is a human life and what is it worth gives way to how have you used your life and what connections have you made a question that can only have a philosophical answer not a religious or scientific one because it varies from person to person and means different things to different people when talking to God at the end of the series standing in front of his own gate and says this portal contains every secret that alchemy has to offer but it's also led me astray I saw inside and was convinced I could solve everything with alchemy I couldn't have possibly been more wrong that was just arrogance edn realizes he doesn't need alchemy when he has all the people that he has become close to likewise God then smiles and says that is the right answer you finally done it you beat me the final episodes of the show also push hard to impress the importance of life choices and connections greed realizes that all he ever wanted was friends and then gives up his life to help linge and the humans he grew to care for Hohenheim used his life to befriend every human soul inside of him al sacrifices his own life in order to bring back Eadie Mustang spends his life trying to become fewer so he may protect those close to him father is defeated by the connected effort of all the humans he thought were so beneath him and in the end ed gives up his alchemy to give al his body back a symbolic gesture of him moving from his purely scientific mindset to a philosophical one a mind that realizes that some questions do not hard answers this change of theme ahead and really the entire show is only possible because of her Omo Auto collars choice in use of antagonists instead of a traditional foil to EDD father and the homunculus more like a cracked mirror providing all the answers that EDD ever wanted only to make him realise how meaningless and distorted those answers might be the relationship between the antagonist and the protagonist is set up so that both are dogmatic in their beliefs scientific certainty on one side and religious certainty on the other and it forced the protagonists to change if he wanted to succeed because Full Metal Alchemist itself is a story with the message and therefore lies in the realm of philosophy it denounces the non-negotiable views of strict science and religion to argue in favor of itself philosophy with a question whose answer is personal and completely up to the audience that Ponder's it in the end father and his homunculus al spawn from the same blood and body yet so disconnected were meant to make edie and we the audience think my life is not defined by Worth or purpose my life is defined by me if you liked what you heard and want to support the channel check out my book on Amazon thank you for watching and I will talk to you all again next week

Channel: Savage Books

Views: 235,198

Rating: 4.9213133 out of 5

Keywords: fullmetal alchemist, fullmetal alchemist brotherhood, fullmetal alchemist: brotherhood, edward elric, alphonse elric, fma vs fmab, top 5, hunter x hunter, top 10, roy mustang, philosophers stone, fullmetal alchemist review, fullmetal alchemist brotherhood opening, fullmetal alchemist opening 4, fullmetal alchemist opening 2, fullmetal alchemist opening 3, writing, antagonists, fullmetal alchemist brotherhood ost

Id: LXApH6F5-uo

Length: 12min 23sec (743 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 18 2019