Main characters of Fullmetal Alchemist
This page lists the main characters from the anime series and manga Fullmetal Alchemist, covering the characters who are widely considered to be "primary" to the plot of the story; while the Elric Brothers are the heroes of the story, there are also those who are greatly affected by their adventures and vice versa. All characters are mostly listed by their debut in the storyline (anime, manga, video games). Other characters from the series can be found on the their respective group pages. Due to irregularities in translations some names may have multiple spellings.
Edward Elric
Known as the Fullmetal Alchemist, Edward is the youngest State Alchemist ever selected by the Amestris State Military. His "second name" was given to him by King Bradley upon passing the State Alchemist certification, and it refers to his automail, his artificial arm and leg. A joke lost in most translations is the irony of the name "Full Metal", or the Japanese word "Hagane". "Hagane" means "Full (complete) Metal", "Steel", and also "Stubborn"; the latter reflecting the disposition and attitudes of Edward Elric.
Born in 1898, in 1910 Ed and his brother Alphonse attempted to revive their mother using alchemy, during which Edward lost his left leg, and Alphonse lost his body. Edward subsequently sacrifices his right arm to gain the knowledge to attach Alphonse's soul to a suit of armor. While Edward is the older brother, he is short for his age, and very self conscious about his height, frequently throwing fits when his size is compared to those around him or to those older than him.
Edward is a very powerful alchemist, even more so than he realizes. Unlike most alchemists, he can perform alchemy without the use of a transmutation circle, by clapping his hands together forming a circle with between his hands. He gained that ability, along with the knowledge of how to perform a soul attachment, when he traded his leg at the Gate of Knowledge. While Edward knew that alchemy without circles was possible from observing his teacher Izumi Curtis, he didn't realize he had this ability until he unknowingly boils a tub full of lukewarm water while attending Gracia Hughes as she was giving birth. In the manga, his first transmutation without the circle is the binding of Alphonse's soul to a suit of armour. (Edward's unawareness of his ability to perform alchemy without circles creates an inconsistency to some people in that the gate is supposed to give knowledge of alchemy rather than unexplained special abilities.)
At the end of the series, Edward is fatally wounded by Envy, but is revived by Alphonse through the power of the Philosopher's Stone. The revival uses up the Philosopher's Stone (which was at this point the material of the armor) and sends Alphonse's soul to the gate. Edward decides to bring back Alphonse by pulling Alphonse's body out of the gate and reattaching his soul to it. Alphonse was brought back to Amestris in his original body. His original body may or may not still be in the gate. But his body in the other world is the body of that world's Edward which he entered on his previous trip through the gate. Edward's Amestris body was made whole by Alphonse, but the body from the other world is missing at least the arm probably lost in bombing of London. The anime is not clear on this issue but many strongly believe that Edward's body, mind, and soul were taken to the 'other side' of the gate, which is supposed to be our world and that Edward's counterpart was killed in an explosion during Edward's first trip to the other world, with Edward escaping to Amestris. Edward lived in post WWI Germany with his father at first. Soon after, he became involved in rocketry research in Romania. His intention being to use the technology of the Other World to get home.
After he became caught up in the plots of the Thule Society surrounding the Beer Hall Putsch of 1923, he was able to make his way back to Amestris to help defeat the society's invasion. At the end of the invasion, Edward and Alphonse return to the Other World to make sure both ends of the physical gateway between worlds was closed. After, Edward and Alphonse decide to go on a quest to recover a nuclear bomb created in Amestris which had been sent over into the Other World.
In the Manga
Ed goes home to Rizembol to find Hohenheim, his father, standing at his mother's grave. After a brief argument, Hohenheim and Ed walk to Pinako's with Ed being hostile and belligerent towards his father. As Ed pretends to be asleep, he overhears his father questioning Pinako on whether the body Ed and Al created by transmutation was Trisha revived. This question spurs Ed's curiosity, and after Hohenheim leaves the next day, Ed asks Pinako to go with him to the graveyard to dig up the body he and Al created so many years ago. He starts throwing up and has to take several breaks while digging, but eventually pulls up a lock of hair; black hair instead of brown. Pinako also points out that the bones aren't the same length as Trisha's were. So Ed learns that they didn't even bring back their mother, but brought back something entirely different.
Ed goes to central to find Al is missing his lower "jaw" and his right arm of his suit of armor. After Ed repairs Al, he finds out Al had a run in with Barry the Chopper and the homonculi, but also finds out that Al learned that the soul, when not placed in its original body, can reject the substitute body, just as the human body can reject organ transplants. This rejection may occur within seconds of the soul being placed on a new body, or may not occur for hundreds of years, but rejection is inevitable.
Then, he proceeds to, in a very teenagerish fashion, attempt to ask Winry about the incident involving both brothers asking Winry to marry them when they were around five. She confirms and he asks her why she rejected the both of them. "Because I don't like guys shorter than me" is what she says, causing Ed to go into a fiercer rant of calling her a "demon" and "Don't judge a man's worth by his height."
Then, he tells them, after Winry asks why he's even asking about the incident when they were five, that he is confirming the memories Ed has that Al doesn't have. Al and Winry allude to a moment when Ed was unconscious and fighting a fever after surgery when Winry walked in on Al, who was "resting," and they talk. Only, when Al and Winry allude to the conversation, it sounds almost like they did something other than talk, causing Ed to look incredibly depressed and plead for them to stop talking.
When they get back to the conversation at hand, Ed theorizes that Al's body is with Truth inside the gate and that it's still alive and possibly connected through Ed and Al's blood to Ed. (That he is sleeping, eating, etc. for the both of them.) Al's brain is still alive inside a body that's still alive and it is collecting the memories since Ed transferred Al's soul to the suit of armor. At this point, Al also remembers when he opened the Gate of Truth, he found himself in there, rather than his mother, as he expected. He also realized that his soul was placed on the body that he and Ed had transmuted, and even saw Ed from the body's eyes. However, rejection took place almost immediately after his soul was placed onto the body.
Ed and Al eventually figure the only way they're going to catch a Homunculus (and the philosopher's stone within them) is to let Scar attack them, and tries to attract Scar's attention. Ed does a series of do-gooding around town (while showing off as much and as loudly as possible to get Scar to notice him) and eventually succeeds. A fight between Scar, Ed and Al ensues, with Mustang and Hawkeye diverting attention from them by redirecting the military vehicles to different places away from where the real fight is happening. Winry goes looking for them and ends up overhearing Ed accusing Scar of killing Winry's parents. She picks up the gun an officer dropped and points it at Scar, only to have Ed jump in front of her and tell her to drop the gun while Scar descends on him from the front. When Scar sees this, he hesitates, remembering his own brother protecting him from Kimblee's attack during the Eastern War. Seeing his hesitation, Al attacks Scar, driving him away from the two. Ed then gently pries Winry's hands from the gun while telling her that her hands "are not hands that kill people. They're hands that let people live."
After that, when Ling ties up Gluttony and Winry is going to Rush Valley once more, Ed yells a promise to her that when she sees them next he will "make her cry tears of joy." Gluttony escapes his bonds and tries to suck up Roy and everyone else into his "gate" for a stomach. He ends up sucking up Envy, Ling and Ed, instead, and Al's left hand. Ling and Ed find Envy eventually and Envy actually tries to be nice to Ed, however, it all backfires and Envy turns into his true form.
The tortured souls in Envy's natural form cause Ed to have a semi-nervous breakdown (he cannot bear to hurt them and flashes back to Nina for an instant). Envy then swallows him. However, after seeing the red stone that is Envy's center, he kicks out one of Envy's teeth and tells Envy and Ling that he knows a way that they can escape from Gluttony's stomach.
In the most recent chapter, Ed realized that while human revival is impossible, since equivalent exchange requires the existence of the soul in question, it is possible to open the Gate of Truth by transmuting existing humans using themselves as the starting materials. This does not violate the rule of equivalent exchange, but still is a form of human transmutation, and so is a way of opening the Gate of Truth. Using the souls inside Envy as the "Toll," Ed successfully transmuted himself, Envy, and Ling, and opened the Gate once more. This time, he sees a second Gate, as well as an emaciated Alphonse sitting in front of the second gate. Ed yells for Al's body to come with him. However, Al's body told Ed that he could not go with Ed back to the real world because Ed had a different soul (as in Al's soul must be there for the body to return from the gate). Ed is then swallowed by the hands reaching out from the Gate of Truth, and he, Envy, and Ling fall out of Gluttony's stomach, and in front of the Homunculi's "Father," who bears a startling resemblance to their own.
Alphonse Elric
Born in 1900, Alphonse is the younger brother, but is often thought to be older than Ed because he is trapped in a suit of armor twice as large as he is. Also because of the armor, most people who meet Alphonse automatically assume that he is the Fullmetal Alchemist. When Ed and Al tried to revive their mother, Al's body was taken to the gate and Ed had to save him by giving up his arm as the equivalent exchange to bind his brother's soul to a nearby suit of armor. Because of this, Al is unable to feel, smell, or taste anything anymore (he actually doesn't even eat or sleep), but he can apparently see, hear, and speak. Al, like his brother, is an alchemist. Before burning down their home, Ed painted the symbol of a winged snake on a cross on Al's armor. The symbol, which resembles the Caduceus, was inherited from their teacher Izumi Curtis and from Izumi's teacher Dante.
Al's calm personality usually acts as a foil for Ed's. But during his fight with Barry, Al was troubled by the fact that he could possibly be a fabrication of Ed's and may not have truly ever existed, as he was unable to remember some things from when he was human, and he thought Edward was keeping something from him. As a result, Al left to find the truth for himself. But by helping Scar deal with mercenaries and Barry, Al comes to realize that he did in fact exist, and rejoined his brother in their search for the Philosopher's Stone.
After Zolf J. Kimblee uses alchemy to transform Al's armor into explosive material, Scar transferred all of his incomplete Philosopher's Stone into Al to save his life. As a result, Al became, in effect, the Philosopher's Stone. Shortly after, he gained the ability to perform alchemy without circle but becomes the primary target of Dante, the Homunculi, and Shou Tucker. In the end Al used the stone's power to restore Edward's body (including his missing limbs) and re-bind his soul after Envy killed him. But it destroyed his body in the process as he used up the whole of the Philosopher's Stone in the transmutations.
Ed, who could not accept his little brother sacrificing himself for him, resurrected Al by using himself as the equivalent exchange in a transmutation. Al came back in his original 10 year-old body with no memory of his life since the night they tried to revive their mother. He became Izumi's student again to study alchemy so that he may bring Ed back someday. After this, he wears an attire similar to Ed, equipped with gloves that have transmutation circles on both of them so he can merely clap his hands together to perform alchemy. After stopping an attack by the Thule Society on Liore, he meets Wrath and together they open a physical gateway between worlds through which the army of the Thule Society attacks Central. After helping to defeat the invasion, he follows Edward back to the Other World to help him close the physical gate. He then sets out with Edward to recover a nuclear bomb brought into the Other World. Alphonse, after going through the physical gateway, appears to have recovered all of his lost memories. Those memories may or may not include the ability to perform alchemy without circles.
In the Manga, Al develops the ability to perform alchemy without a transmutation circle, the same as Ed can. When King Bradley impaled Martel while she was inside Al's armored body, her blood spilled onto his blood seal. This gave him a near-death experience, recalling to his mind his experience at the Gate of Alchemy. He realized that he could transmute without a transmutation circle shortly thereafter. It is also believed that his body is lying somewhere, as in the example of Barry the Chopper. Also in the manga, Alphonse is afraid that his armor will eventually reject his soul, which would mean his death.
A recent chapter solidified the theory that Al's body was still in existence, as Ed finds it on a return trip to the gate, malnourished and unkempt, but very much alive. Unfortunately, Ed could not bring it back because Al's body said that Al's soul needed to be at the gate for the body to come back.
Winry Rockbell
Ed and Al's childhood friend. They performed their first alchemic transmutation to create her a doll, but she becomes terrified by the transmutation process, which foreshadows both the amazing and horrible aspects of alchemy. She's a self-professed "gearhead" who helped her grandmother Pinako build Ed's "automail" machine limbs. She sometimes travels with the Elric Brothers to maintain Ed's artificial leg and arm. Her parents were doctors who were killed during the Ishbal War by Roy Mustang under Basque Grand's orders because they treated the enemy as well as Amestris soldiers. (In the manga version, Scar was the man that killed Winry's parents, not Mustang.) Winry helped out when the Thules attacked. But in the end, she begins doing her own Automail research, no longer worrying about the Elrics like she usually does, as she is sure they're all right.
In the manga, in which the plot diverges from the anime considerably, she goes with Ed and Al to Rush Valley where she becomes an apprentice to a mechanic named Garfield. She spends most of her time there until Ed goes through Rush Valley once more. Wanting to visit the Hughes family again (she met them during her first trip to Central after Ed's 5th Laboratory adventure), she tags along with the Elrics and the Xingese. Traumatized when she discovers that Hughes was dead, Winry became very worried that the Elrics may meet the same fate as her parents and Hughes. The fact that Ling can't comprehend why Al would want his human body back only adds to the strain. Her distress leads to her foolishly rushing into a battle between the Elrics and Scar when she hears people on the street talking about a big fight involving the Elrics. Not knowing that Winry is present, Ed accuses Scar of killing Winry's parents in Ishbal, which Scar admits to. When Winry hears this, she has a mental breakdown and tries to shoot scar with a handgun which was on the ground. Unwilling to let Winry become a killer, Ed strafes over Scar and shields Winry (and also gives up a golden opportunity to disable Scar's destroyer-arm). Al then leads Scar away from her while Ed tells Winry that "your hands are not those that kill people. They're hands that help people live." Winry then breaks down completely as Ed has to leave to help Al. Upon returning to her hotel in chapter 48, she gets a phone call from Garfield, who informs her that many customers are waiting for her to return to Rush Valley. Winry finally realizes that she should not live in the past and that she needs to move forward, because there are people waiting for her as well. As Ed and Al send her off at the train station, Winry wonders whether her feelings for Ed have gone beyond just friendship.
Rosé Thomas
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Rosé is from the city of Liore in a remote region of the East. She was one of devout followers of Cornello's teachings because she felt that he would use his powers to bring her boyfriend, Kain, back to life. However, she is shocked when all Cornello is able to produce is a talking parrot chimera, which was going to eat her before Al intervened. With her hope shattered, Rosé was forced to start over and persevere through hard times when the military intervened in Liore. Rose was imprisoned by the military. Though not said directly, it is assumed by many that Rosé was raped repeatedly and that the trauma of her ordeal left her mute. When she is next shown, she is free and has a child. Scar uses her as the symbol of hope for the people of Liore, referred as the Holy Mother. Later, seeing Edward paralyzed at the sight of Sloth, Rosé gets her voice back and uses what he told her before to snap him out of it. She became targeted as Dante's next vessel with the new Philosopher's Stone and her baby is used by Dante to open the Gate.
Early material had written her name with no French accent, but the BONES staffer who helped develop the Roman character spellings of the major characters has stated it should have. (Many fonts in Japan that were developed before Unicode was widely adopted do not include Roman accented characters.) Also, in the Japanese version her name is pronounced Ro-zay. The English anime pronounces it like the flower.
Due to the different story arc of the manga, Rosé has not made another appearance after what happened with Cornello so far except where she yells at an officer that they can stand on their own feet and walk forward.
In an omake (short bonus comic) by Hiromu Arakawa, Rosé decides to use her own two feet by becoming the leader of a bandit horde. Whether this was just made for comedic value or if it actually will manifest itself in the manga remains to be seen.
Scar
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One of the surviving Ishbalans, a people who reject alchemy as an offense to their god. His real name is unrevealed. He is called Scar by many due to the X-Shaped scar on his forehead given to him by the State Alchemist Kimblee. His right arm is tattooed with a transmutation circle that allows him to destroy objects at will, by performing only the first two steps of a transmutation (Understanding and Decomposing). Scar was first introduced while trying to gain access to the State Library, which held books only a State Alchemist would be privy to. There he had hoped to learn the nature of the strange markings on his arm - a "gift" from his older brother - but is instead driven off when his arm is inadvertantly revealed by Edward Elric. He later learns of the power in his arm after killing Nina Tucker, and he begins a killing spree of retribution, passing judgement on all State Alchemists for the crimes of their organization against the Ishbalan people.
Because of Scar's vendetta against State Alchemists, Edward found himself one of the Ishbalan's targets. But Scar's relationship with the Elric brothers, particularly Alphonse, changes as the story progresses. Touched by their brotherly love, Scar promises Edward to not kill Alphonse. Later, in the 5th Laboratory, Scar again refrains from trying to kill Edward when Edward chooses not to sacrifice prisoners to create the Philosopher's Stone. After working together to save the Ishbalan boy Rick from the Amestris military, Edward and Scar reach an uneasy détente.
Scar later learned that his arm is actually an incomplete Philosopher's Stone itself, created from the transmutation of countless Ishbalans who died in the war; it causes Scar pain every time it absorbs another incomplete Philosopher's Stone. Scar's brother gave him the arm to save his life after he had been gravely wounded by Kimblee. And though his brother sacrificed himself Scar still habored for him a deep hatred. His practicing of the alchemic arts - even if it was to find a way to bring back the woman both had loved - was forbidden, a sin never to be forgiven.
Scar concluded that he needed the Philosopher's Stone to stop the actions of the state military, and decided to finish what his brother started; creating a complete Philosopher's Stone. To that end, he learned the necessary alchemy from the Ishbalan exile who had taught his brother and became an exile himself. Then Scar lured several thousand Amestris soldiers into a transmutation circle he drew over the city of Liore. He intended to use their lives as material to create the stone. Scar later transferred his incomplete Stone into Al to save him from Kimblee's alchemy, losing his right arm in the process (he had earlier ripped off his own left arm after Kimblee transmuted it into a bomb). As he explained, Scar did it because of the Elrics helped him reconciled with the feelings for his own brother. Scar then suffered injuries from bullet wounds incurred from shielding Lust from the miltary out of reflex. Just before he left to activate the transmutation circle in Lior Lust asked Scar what his real name was. Scar replied that he once had a name, but felt he no longer fit to use it because of his sins including both his killings and his use of alchemy. Shortly thereafter, Scar used the last of his strength activating the giant transmutation circle covering the city of Liore, leading to Al become the Philosopher's Stone.
In the anime, his arm glowed when he touched the chimera that was once Nina Tucker and became suddenly aware of her situation. He was also able to transmute the words in Marcoh's notes into an orb of energy and was able to decode and understand in a matter of seconds.
In the manga, he shares many attributes with the anime version, except that he was one who killed Winry's parents without regret. He is portrayed as more relentless and ruthless in his vengeance, while the anime had him as a good man who was consumed by revenge for his people. Scar was almost caught by the military after fighting the Elrics in Central (Riza shot him in the leg), but Mei Chang, a girl from the country of Xing, saved him and uses alchemy to heal his wound. In Chapter 51, Scar agreed to help Mei find her pet panda out of pity (yep, pity) because Mei's clan was also under threat of extinction as the Ishbalans were. While searching for the panda, Scar and Mei stumble upon Gluttony showing Al the secret passageway to the "Father" of the homonculi. They dispatch the Chimeras that guard the entrance, and we can assume they will soon catch up to the Elrics, Gluttony, Envy, and "Father." Scar is also considered a major threat by the Homunculi, as his relentless quest threatens to destroy all of their precious alchemist human sacrifices. As such, they have made many attempts to kill him, albeit unsuccessfully. The fact that Envy sparked the Ishbal Rebellion has not been revealed to him, though doubtless it will give the Homunculi one more reason to kill him as soon as possible.
Scar's religion, homeland and culture is possibly linked to a Hindu concept known as Ishvara. In addition, Scar's religion, homeland and culture may well be an allusion to Islam and/or Judaism. (The series often mixes religious concepts quite freely.)
The Latin words on Scar's arm are:
- dopo la terra sic ca a ndan, colia
The exact ordering of the words can be disputed. Some animation and even some books incorrectly show the second word as "aa" rather than "la". Of the words, "colia" is probably the greek "Kolia" latinized and means "voice of god" which may be a religious allusion to the Philosopher's Stone. The word "ndan" may or may not be the biblical Adam. The word "ca" is a Latin abbreviation of "Circa" The phrase may not seem correct when translated into English because it was translated into Latin from Japanese.
Izumi Curtis
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She is the powerful alchemist who took the eager Elric brothers on as students shortly after their mother's passing. The red tattoo on her chest is the same insignia that appears on Edward's coat and the left shoulder of Alphonse's armor. The insignia is passed on from teacher to student as Dante, Izumi's Alchemy teacher, also displayed the symbol. The symbol, a winged snake fixed on a cross (resembling the Caduceus), is literally the opposite of the Ouroboros worn by the Homunculi. It represents a fixation of the volatile principal in alchemy as opposed to the endless cycle represented by Ouroboros. The insignia is sometimes referred to as a flamel with reference to a historical alchemist and the alchemical symbols placed on his tomb.
Izumi is an extremely strong woman, both emotionally and physically: along with her talent for alchemy, Izumi is also an accomplished martial artist. The Elric brothers are taught with her own unique form of sparring combined with philosophy to gain a fuller understanding of alchemy. Unfortunately, she will snap at anyone at any given time, making her downright scary. She is married to Sieg Curtis, a husky and well-built butcher of few words. Like many others in the series, she despises the military and particularly State Alchemists, so when she encounters Edward "Fullmetal Alchemist" Elric again, she scolds (beats) him for his becoming a "dog of the military." Alphonse is scolded as well for helping. Like Edward, Izumi is capable of alchemy without a transmutation circle. Izumi gained this ability from seeing the inside of the mysterious "Gate" while attempting to revive her newborn son with alchemy. This attempt not only created the Homunculus, Wrath, but cost Izumi her reproductive system and other internal organs, which causes her to cough up blood at inopportune moments. She passes away between the series' end and Conqueror of Shamballa, only making a cameo as a spirit to receive Wrath at the gate when he sacrifices himself to open a physical gateway to the Other World. How exactly her spirit lingered in the gateway after death for so long is left unexplained.
In the manga, Izumi takes Edward and Alphonse Elric as her apprentices in alchemy, and has a personality just like her counterpart in the anime. However, she suffered tremendous guilt believing that she had killed her son twice, once at birth, and once on the transmutation circle. Later, Edward learned that revival of the dead was impossible, and informed Izumi that what she created on the trasmutation circle could not have been her son. Izumi, after verifying this fact, was very grateful to Edward for relieving her of the guilt of the second murder of her son.
Ling Yao
Exclusive to the manga, he is 12th son of the Xingese Emperor. He is 15 years old, although he looks older because he is very tall for his age (much to the dismay of Edward). He is the Yao clan's heir to the throne. Due to the fatal illness of his father, he left his country to avoid the wars that are breaking out between the other heirs to find the Philosopher's Stone so it could be used to stablize Xing, as well as getting the key to Immortality. Although at first Ling was regarded as an annoyance by Edward (due to his habit of always making Ed pay for his menu tabs and following him around), he shows his worth as a very skilled fighter. Despite his seeming indifference and even annoyance towards his servants, he actually does care about them, or at least Ran Fan (he sent Fu back to Xing with Maria Ross). As seen when he threw his sword into Envy's torso when Envy had grabbed her belt and when he refused to leave her behind after she was injured by Wrath (Bradley).
Afterward, Ling devises a plan with the Elrics where Ed and Al would lure Scar out to a battle, thus drawing out the Homonculi, who also wish to destroy Scar. Then Ling and Ran Fan were to capture one and dissect it, as Ling assumes the regenerative powers of the Homocunli is pretty close to immortality. They manage to capture Gluttony, but Ran Fan loses her arm in a losing fight against Bradley. They bring Gluttony to a house on the outskirts of town, but when Gluttony sees Mustang (who killed Lust), he assumes his true form and destroys everything in his path to get Roy. Ling and the Elrics stay behind to fight Gluttony while Envy also finds his way into the fray. In the ensuing battle, Gluttony swallows Ling. However he also swallows Ed and Envy by accident and the three are forced to have a ceasefire in order to escape the bowels of Gluttony's stomach.
In chapter 54, the Homunculi's father, learning that Yao is a prince, infuses the same incomplete Philosopher's Stone he drank from Greed's remains into Ling's body, causing Ling to become the 2nd Greed. Interestingly, although Wrath still remembers parts of his life before he became a homunculus when Ed asks, "Ling, are you okay?" "Greed" doesn't seem to know who Ling was. However, it is apparent that Ling's soul is still present in his body, as Greed faltered when Ed mentioned Ran Fan.
Dante
Dante was Izumi Curtis' alchemy instructor. Several hundred years ago, Dante was Hohenheim's original lover. She had cheated death for centuries by transferring her soul into other bodies by using the Philosopher's Stone. However, the transfer was imperfect, as Dante's soul eroded with each transfer causing each new body to decay more quickly than the last. She can perform alchemy without a transmutation circle, an ability she gained at an unknown time in the past. She uses the symbol of a winged snake fixed on a cross (resembling the Caduceus) which is passed on to Izumi, and then to the Elric brothers. It is meaningful that the symbol is the opposite of the Ouroboros worn by the Homunculi. It represents a fixation of the volatile principal in alchemy as opposed to the endless cycle represented by Ouroboros. In Dante's case, the symbol likely represents her belief that she is immortal and has conquered the cycle of birth and death as represented by the Ouroboros.
Dante is the leader of the Homunculi and used them to spark wars, so that many people will die and be used to create a new Philosopher's Stone. However, she has never actually created a Philosopher's Stone on her own: she either lacked the full knowledge to create a Stone or believed that anyone who created a Philosopher's Stone would die. This is due to the tranmutation also requires the Alchemist who invoked it as material for the stone itself.
With a new Philosopher's Stone, Dante was planning on transferring her soul into Rose's body. It is unknown what becomes of Dante, but it is assumed that she is dead: she was last seen fighting off Gluttony while attempting to return to the surface where she expected to find Pride still in control of the country. And since her body was rapidly decaying at the time, even if she managed to fight off Gluttony, her remaining life would be limited.
The name Dante is suggested to have come from Dante Alighieri. Dante does not exist in the manga, as the creator of the homunculi has already been shown as a male.
Hohenheim of Light
The father of Edward and Alphonse Elric. He could perform alchemy without a transmutation circle and was a legend of his time, but Ed holds a grudge against him for abandoning his mother. By the time he resurfaced to face Dante, he was over 400 years old. At some point in the past, Dante and Hohenheim had a relationship, which resulted in one child. This child died due to mercury poisoning, but was resurrected as a Homunculus: Envy. However, Hohenheim eventually left Dante, and stated that Trisha Elric was the only woman he ever loved.
He created a Philosopher's Stone and, like Dante, used it to transfer his soul into a new body to live perpetually. But as with Dante, Hohenheim's vessels decay over time, which is the true reason why he left his family in the first place. Upon failing to stop Dante, Hohenheim's entire being was transported by her to the 'other side' of the gate, and ended up in London during WWI. He later saw Edward off on the boy's trip to Romania. Hohenheim then allied himself with the Thule Society planning with their help to open a gate for Edward to return to his world. As an act of redemption for many things, he committed suicide by pulling Envy's jaws through his body thus providing a means to open a stable physical gate on the side of the Other World.
In the manga, he is introduced as "Van Hohenheim" when he returns to Resembool for a short while. Before leaving, he warned Pinako Rockbell to leave the country as something terrible was going to happen in Amestris. After leaving Resembool, the carriage he is on is held up by bandits, who promptly retreat after shooting Hohenheim multiple times, but with no effect. This may mean Hoheheim is immortal, or has an incomplete Philosopher's Stone. From what had been shown, Hohenheim and the "Father" (the creator of the seven Homunculi), looked very much alike. However, Arakawa was very ambiguous about whether Hohenheim is the "Father." Recently, in chapter 54, it has been revealed that "Father" is not Hohenheim - the manga showed Hohenheim in a completely different place during Ed and Al's encounter with "Father." However, it seems as though the two are at least connected somehow, as evidenced by how "Father" frantically asked Edward about what had become of Hohenheim.
Hohenheim was named after Paracelsus, a famous historical alchemist who had the same last name.
"Father"
An enigmatic man with no known name, "Father" is the central antagonist of the manga, and responsible for the creation of the seven homunculi, his children with which he "shares his soul" (thus explaining his title). "Father" is seemingly rather old in appearance, but it is suggested that he is even older still, at least two or three centuries, if not more. He is a cold and pragmatic person who loathes treachery of his plans, and it would seem he may be responsible for the very creation of Amestris itself, as well as every war relating to it. He also has a strange connection with Hohenheim, albeit refering to him as an "it."
"Father" has the extremely useful power to nullify all alchemic processes within a specific radius of himself, rendering any and all alchemic attacks - no matter how lethal, powerful, or proficient - to be completely null and void against him. It would also seem that he can perform alchemy purely through thought, with no movement whatsoever, and that he can transmute with any part of his body. He has a third eye, which he hides in his forehead, which dispatches Greed's stone (which he drank after Greed was punished for his digressions).
Due to his appearance, name, and numerous other assets of his personality and work, it is quite obvious that he is dominated by a self-induced god-complex.
Alfons Heiderich
A 17-year-old boy who bears a resemblance to Alphonse Elric and befriends Edward in the movie. When Ed talks to him about his and his brother's travels arround his original world, he feels a bit annoyed because although he finds his stories interesting, he can´t simply believe in the fact that Ed came from another world where alchemy is real, and is utilized more often than engineering. When they befriend Noah, he becomes a bit happy because he thinks Ed is starting to socialize more with other people besides him. He's studying under the father of modern rocketry, and wants to prove the scientific worth of his fellow Germans by achieving a rocket that can actually be ridden, thus leaving his mark in the world. He suffers from a disease that makes him cough blood (possibly Tuberculosis), and he knows he doesn't have much time left to live, and to accomplish his ideal before it's too late, he joins the Thule Society in their plan, but is killed by Rudolf Hess when he used one of his rockets to sneak Edward into the portal to his homeworld.
Noah
A Roma girl whom Ed befriends in the Conqueror of Shamballa movie. Edward helped her escape after she was sold to the Thule Society by her relations. They were actually after her power to "extricate" memories from people she touches. After living for a while with Ed and Heiderich, she is found by the Thules and convinced to work for them, thinking that maybe in Shambala she would finally find a place to call home. Thus she used her gift to obtain from Edward knowledge of alchemy and his world, but it wasn't enough to help them open a stable portal to Ed's world. When the Thules finally succeeded in their objective, Dieltinde tried to dispose of Edward, despite Noah's plead to spare him, and she realized the wrongs of her doings.
Dietlinde Eckart
The villain of the film Conqueror of Shambala, she occupies an important position as an occultist in the Thule Society. After obtaining information regarding alchemy and the other world from Hohenheim and Envy, Dietlinde, with the help of other colaborators, intended to open a Gate to that world. While she worked with the Nazis presumably to help them overthrow the government during the Beer Hall Putsch of November 9 1923, her real motive was to reach a place where her occult powers would become real. Using Envy and Hohenheim, she first sent an army of armored warrior through a gate to Liore. The warriors were defeated by Alphonse and then were summoned back through the gate by Edward's actions on the other side. The round trip through the gate killed all of the armored warriors. Her second attempt at opening the gate was assisted unintentionally by Alphonse opening a similar gate on the other side at the same time. This persistent gateway below Central was opened in part by the deaths of Hohenheim, Wrath and Gluttony. Her army was defeated by the Elric Brothers, the State Alchemists and the army in Central. On returning through the gate, she underwent a physical transformation probably related to contact with the creatures residing inside. Wishing to return to "Shambala" she advances threateningly on Noah, and is summarily shot by our world's Hughes. Upon her death she reverted back to her human form. She apparently was related to Dietrich Eckart, who was a key member of the Thule Society.