Edward Elric (エドワード・エルリック)
Age: 15-16 (series), 18 (movie, end
of the series)
Birthday: 1899
Birthplace: Resembool, Amestris
Family: Alphonse Elric (brother)
Trisha Elric (mother, deceased)
Van Hohenheim (father)
Affiliations: State Military
Pinako Rockbell
Izumi Curtis (teacher)
Roy Mustang (Commander)
Species: Human
Occupation: State Alchemist
Abilities: Alchemy, Martial Arts
Weapon: Alchemy, Automail arm and leg
Edward "Fullmetal Alchemist" Elric is a young alchemical prodigy. He
is the youngest State Alchemist ever to be recognized by the Amestris State
Military, having received the title at the age of 12. Ed's primary motivation
throughout the series is to return his younger brother, Alphonse, to his
original body, which was lost in a failed human transmutation. Edward, despite
his occasional bouts of immaturity, is a selfless boy who gains a reputation as
a "hero of the people" throughout his youth. Notably, he doesn't seem
concerned about returning his own arm and leg, instead focusing entirely on
Al's suffering.
Edward is small for his age, standing at only 149 cm (4'11"), however his
body is that of an experienced martial artist, with noticeable muscles and a
wealth of agility. Although he lacks both his right arm and left leg, Ed's
ability to fight is not impaired, and is in fact improved, as he will often use
alchemy to cause his metal arm to partly transform into a blade or shield. His
heavy automail limbs are considered by him to be the very best in Amestris.
They were made by his childhood friend, Winry Rockbell, and she is constantly
working on them. He is able to think quickly, even in desperate situations,
though can still be frightened into paralysis. These qualities, combined with
his alchemical powers and physical strength, make him a formidable fighter.
Born to Trisha Elric and Van Hohenheim of Resembool in the winter of 1899,
Edward's first few years were relatively happy; but after the sudden departure
of his father during the lad's formative years, Ed was left with his mother and
younger brother Alphonse as his only family. The three Elrics lived in peace in
the rural village and the boys began displaying a remarkable talent for alchemy
at a young age, much to the joyful astonishment of his mother. However, early
in the year 1904, Trisha contracted an illness that had been spreading in the
area and died, leaving her two sons orphaned. Even while mourning, mired in
grief, Edward vowed to his brother that the two of them would find a way to
bring their dear mother back to life with the power of alchemy.
Edward and Alphonse spent the next few years living on their own in the Elric
family home, supported by their close childhood friend Winry Rockbell and her
grandmother Pinako, and pursuing the alchemical knowledge necessary for their
planned resurrection. Although they had gained a great deal of information and
comprehension regarding the extended basics of the craft, before long it became
apparent to the young prodigies that there was only so far they could go while
being self-taught. In a stroke of good fortune, Resembool was visited by an
exceptionally skilled alchemist named Izumi Curtis who, after some persuasion,
agreed to take the Elric brothers on as her apprentices provided they pass a
preliminary test. After they do, the Elric brothers were subjected to Izumi's
intensive alchemy and martial arts training, growing significantly in both mind
and body and gaining a great deal of alchemical knowledge before returning to
Resembool.
Though instructed specifically by Izumi to understand that death is an
irreversible part of the flow of the world and that acceptance of such is
important to the "One is All, All is One" concept, the boys dove
headlong into their plan to resurrect their mother upon their homecoming,
having advanced their knowledge while abroad and discovered the basics to a
forbidden practice called Human Transmutation.
Devising a Human Transmutation Circle, amassing the elemental ingredients for
an adult human body and offering their own blood as soul and biological data,
the boys secretly initiated the Human Transmutation in their home.
Unfortunately, the Human Transmutation resulted in a Rebound.
Alphonse and Edward were pulled into The Gate. Encountering the mysterious
being called Truth, Edward was stripped of his left leg in exchange for
crossing into God's domain and peeking at the Gate's vast wealth of alchemical
knowledge. Maimed and bleeding, Edward was returned to the human dimension to
find that Alphonse had not yet returned from his disappearance into the Gate,
that the mother they had attempted to revive was a grotesque mass of organs
only capable of sustaining life for a few moments and that his own sojourn into
the Gate had granted him the curious ability to perform transmutations merely
by clapping his hands together, without the aid of a Transmutation Circle - in
the same style used by Izumi. Desperate to at least have his brother by his
side, Edward willfully performed another Human Transmutation to call him back,
this time sacrificing his right arm in exchange for Al's soul, which he bound
alchemically to an antique suit of armor with a Blood Rune before passing out
from severe blood loss. Alphonse carried Ed to the Rockbell house, where a
shocked Pinako and Winry performed emergency surgery to save the young boy's
life.
On the night of the failed transmutation. Lt. Colonel Flame alchemist Roy
mustang came to the Rockbell's in response to a letter that Edward and Alphonse
had sent him in the mail asking about their Father. He was shocked at the fact
that the two boys had tried human alchemy and survived, and informed them that
they could become state alchemist and maybe one day find a way to return their bodies
to the way they were. Desperate to get His younger brother's body back, Edward
asked the Rockbells to give him prosthetic limbs called automail. Though they
warned him the surgery would be painful, he said the pain was nothing compared
to what his brother had given up. He only took a year to adapt to the automail
at age 11 when it took most adults 3 years.