Edward Elric, commonly nicknamed Ed, is a fictional character and the
protagonist of the Fullmetal Alchemist manga series and its adaptations created
by Hiromu Arakawa. Edward, titled "Fullmetal Alchemist", is the youngest
State Alchemist in the history of the fictional country of Amestris. His left
leg was mystically severed in a failed attempt to resurrect his dead mother,
and then his right arm was taken in exchange for his brother's soul. His
missing limbs have been replaced with sophisticated prosthetics called
automail, ōtomeiru). He and his younger brother, Alphonse, scour the world in
search of the Philosopher's Stone in the hopes of restoring their bodies. Ed has
appeared in other media from the series, including video games, original video
animations and light novels. Numerous publications in various media
have been written on the subject of Edward's character. Reviewers praised
Edward as a balance between the typical clever kid and the stubborn kid persona.
Additionally, his comedic moments have been celebrated as some of the best
moments in the series. His Japanese and English voice actors, Romi Park and Vic
Mignogna, have both been praised for their performances as Edward Elric and
have won several awards for their work. Numerous pieces of merchandise have been
released bearing Edward's likeness, including key chains and action figures.
Appearances Edward Elric is the youngest State
Alchemist to be selected by the State Military of the country, receiving the
title of "Fullmetal Alchemist" shortly thereafter from the military head, King
Bradley. He and his younger brother, Alphonse, seek to obtain the legendary
Philosopher's Stone in order to restore their bodies after a disastrous failed
attempt to bring their mother back to life through alchemy. Edward was born in
a small town named Resembool, where he lived with Alphonse and his parents,
Trisha Elric and Van Hohenheim. After Hohenheim left the family on a journey
early in his sons' lives, and Trisha died of an illness years later, the two
young boys concentrated on studying alchemy in the hopes of bringing their
mother back to life, and trained with a skilled alchemist named Izumi Curtis.
They attempt to revive their mother and failed, costing Edward his left leg, and
Alphonse his entire body. Edward then performed a second transmutation,
sacrificing his own right arm to bind Alphonse's soul to a nearby suit of
armor. In order to move with his lost limbs, Edward has had prosthetic
"automail" limbs designed and implemented by his childhood friend,
Winry Rockbell. Winry is often kept busy repairing Edward's automail, as he
regularly breaks and damages the machines during heavy bouts. As the
series continues, the two progressively develop a romantic relationship,
eventually confessing their feelings to each other by the series' end.
Edward's motivation stems from a love for his brother, Alphonse, whom he is
desperately seeking to restore to human form after their mistake. He is
extremely idealistic, and strongly believes in the alchemical concept of
"Equivalent Exchange," which states that every outcome requires an equal payment.
Edward also behaves in a childish manner when confronted about his short height,
tending to overreact to any negative comment regarding the subject, usually
attacking people in a fit of rage. Unlike regular alchemists who use
transmutation circles, Edward has the ability to create alchemical currents in
his body simply by connecting his hands as a result of his failed human
transmutation which gave him such trait. In addition to this, Edward is a
formidable fighter as a result of his training with Izumi, who had extensively
trained both brothers in martial arts. During their search for the Stone, they
become targets of Scar, a vengeful Ishbalan, and the immortal creatures
known as the homunculi. When Edward and Alphonse discover that the homunculi and
the Philosopher's Stone are related, they work together with their comrades
in order to find them. However, after the Elric brothers meet the homunculi's
creator, "Father," they are forced to keep working with the military by
high-ranking officials who are secretly using their friends from Resembool as
hostages. Unable to protect their friends, the Elrics travel to the
northern area of the country in order to request help from General Olivier Mira
Armstrong. Shortly after their arrival, the State Alchemist Solf J. Kimblee
takes Winry to the north as a hostage, unknown to Winry, in order to force
Edward to continue his work. When the brothers are ordered to capture Scar,
they end up using his help to move Winry to a safe place. Upon their success,
Edward learns when Father plans to make a human transmutation circle out of the
entire country. Edward, Alphonse, and their allies thus unite in an effort to
bring down Father. They make their way into the underground complex where
Edward is to be used as a sacrifice for Father's transmutation. While battling
Father, Edward loses his automail arm, rendering him unable to perform alchemy.
Alphonse transmutes his soul in order to restore Edward's original
flesh-and-blood arm. After defeating Father, Edward manages to restore
Alphonse to his original body by sacrificing his own ability to use
alchemy. Giving up on alchemy forever, they return to their hometown to live
normal lives. Two years later, Edward decides to research alchemy by heading
out west. In the epilogue he and Winry get married and have a son and daughter
together. = First anime series=
Although Edward has the same background and characteristics in the manga and
anime, Edward meets different people and fights against variable enemies. In the
first anime, Edward learns the secret to destroying a homunculus during his
encounter with Greed, whom he kills in an effort to save Alphonse. When he
learns of Scar's creation of a Philosopher's Stone within Alphonse,
Edward saves the people of Lior from being sacrificed for its creation.
During his battle against the homunculi, Edward is killed by Envy, but Alphonse
trades himself for his brothers' revival. In doing so, however,
Alphonse's armor with the philosopher's stone within it is used up and he
disappears. After being revived, Edward sacrifices his own life to bring back
his brother in exchange. As a result, Edward finds himself on the other side
of the Gate, a parallel world, while Alphonse recovers his original body.
Determined to return to Alphonse, Edward becomes involved in rocketry research in
Germany, with the intention of using that technology to return to his home
world. In the feature film, Fullmetal Alchemist the Movie: Conqueror of
Shamballa, set two years after the end of the anime, Edward has been living in
Germany and looks for a way to return to his world. At the film's end, he decides
to stay in the parallel world along with Alphonse so that they may try to protect
both worlds. = In other media=
Edward also appears in almost all the Fullmetal Alchemist original video
animations. In the first OVA he appears as a super deformed version of himself
at the movie's wrap-up party; in the second, he appears shortly as an old man
living in modern-day Tokyo; and in the third OVA, he plays a part in the battle
against the first anime's homunculi. As the series' titular character, Edward is
playable in all Fullmetal Alchemist video games. The three games for the
PlayStation 2 – Fullmetal Alchemist and the Broken Angel, Curse of the Crimson
Elixir and Kami o Tsugu Shōjo – feature exclusive stories in which the Elrics
keep searching for the Philosopher's Stone. In the Nintendo DS game,
Fullmetal Alchemist Dual Sympathy, he and Alphonse replay the first anime
series. He is also featured in the Fullmetal Alchemist Trading Card Game.
There are two character CDs featuring tracks based on Edward's character. The
first is named Hagaren Song File – Edward Elric and the second Theme of
Edward Elric. Both albums were performed by Ed's Japanese voice actress, Romi
Park. He also appears in each light novel written by Makoto Inoue which
continue Ed and Al's search for the Philosopher's Stone and at the same time
feature different stories from the ones appearing the manga and the anime.
Creation and conception Author Hiromu Arakawa integrated several
social problems into the plot, such as the way Edward and Alphonse live as
brothers after the death of their mother, Trisha. She also looks at how
the brothers help people all over the country to gain an understanding of the
meaning of family. When describing the character's personality, Arakawa
comments that after his father's departure from home and his mother's
death, Edward tried to replace the role of the man for the Elric family. As a
result, Van Hohenheim's reappearance caused a shocking and terrified reaction
in the character. Arakawa has noted that Edward is one of her favorite characters
from the series, although she denied having the same personality as him when
one of her assistants mentioned it. When comparing the two brothers during
the time Alphonse obtained the ability to use alchemy without a circle like
Edward, Arakawa stated nobody was better at alchemy as the two had different
preferences in the same way as other alchemist appearing in the series.
Although she claims she has not thought of the characters' birthdates, Arakawa
noted that she decided Edward's birthdate during the series'
serialization. During a chapter in which it was mentioned that Edward was about
to be 16, winter was about to begin in Hokkaido, Arakawa's birthplace, so it
was decided Edward's birthdate would be in winter. In a common slapstick gag
from the series, Edward is often struck by Winry Rockbell's wrench. While
commenting that Edward has an ability easily dodge her, Arakawa comments that
he gets hit on purpose as a result of his personality. The director of the
first anime series, Seiji Mizushima, says that in the development of the
story Edward "evolves and devolves"; Mizushima comments that Edward is
continuously overcoming inner struggles in order to determine how to grow up.
The appearance of his automail in the anime is used to symbolize the
intangibles of his character, making viewers note that Edward lost something
important. In a prototype from the series, Edward
was an eighteen-year-old teenager travelling alongside his father whose
soul sealed in a flying squirrel. Edward's prototype had an average
height, but retained his automail. In order to fit with the readers from the
manga magazine Monthly Shonen Gangan, Edward's traits were further modified,
leaving his current one. His height was reduced in order to contrast with
Alphonse' huge armor. In the design of the character, Arakawa is often worried
about not making his automail too bulky to avoid balancing it by increasing
Edward's muscles, making his appearance unsuitable for his age. She has also
often drawn the character in full body length, but at one point noticed she
made it too tall. As the manga continued serialization, Arakawa found that she
drew Edward half naked several times even more than Alex Louis Armstrong who
tends to show his torso. While stating that this was because she wanted to draw
Edward's automail, she commented that it was common for men to walk in underwear
at their homes. In the Japanese version of Fullmetal
Alchemist‍ '​s anime adaptations, Edward has been voiced by Romi Park. In the
English version, the role has been played by Vic Mignogna. Mignogna has
stated that performing Edward may be his biggest voice acting achievement since
fans do not compare him with Park, noting that their voices are not similar
and that he did not plan to sound like her.
Reception Edward's character is well received by
manga readers; in each of the popularity polls made by Monthly Shōnen Gangan he
has ranked first. Edward also won the Twenty-sixth Annual Animage Readers'
Poll, Anime Grand Prix, in the "Favorite Male Character"; Romi Park, who voices
Edward in Japanese, won in the "Favorite Seiyu" category. Edward maintained a
high place in the next year's poll in the same category. In the July 2009
issue of Newtype, Edward ranked at the top of the survey Male Character
Rankings. In the August 2009 issue his rank changed to fourth. In a Newtype
poll from March 2010, Edward was voted as the fourth most popular male anime
character from the 2000s. In the Anime Awards 2006 from About.com, Edward won
in the category "Best Lead Character – Male". He was also seventh in IGN's 2009
Top 25 Anime Characters of All Time with writer Chris Mackenzie saying, "[Edward]
and his kid brother Al make one of the best action-comedy teams in recent
memory". In 2014, IGN ranked him as the eighth greatest anime character of all
time, saying that "In Edward we had a character who was truly
multidimensional. He could be comedic and pull off wild takes and sight gags.
He could be placed in the most tragic circumstances and portray the deepest
kind of sadness. He could be a complete badass, but he could also be the nicest
guy on the planet." Several pieces of merchandise have been released in
Edward's likeness, including plush toys, action figures, and key-chains. Vic
Mignogna, who performs the voice of Edward in the English dub, was the
winner in American Anime Awards in the category "Best Actor" for voicing
Edward. Several publications for manga, anime,
and other pop culture media have provided both praise and criticism on
Edward's character. IGN writer Hilary Goldstein praises Edward as the perfect
balance between the typical clever kid and the stubborn kid persona, explaining
that this allows the character to "float between comical moments and underlying
drama without seeming false." Additionally, Melissa Harper from Anime
News Network praises Edward's facial expressions as some of the most humorous
highlights of the series, including also the moments in which he reacts quite
violently to comments about his small stature. They also praise him for not
being a stereotypical shōnen character as it is noted that he has "very real
skills, relationships, and personality". Samuel Arbogast from T.H.E.M. Anime
Reviews also comments that the interaction between the Elric brothers
as they travel is interesting, and praises their humor scenes as they help
to balance the dark parts of the series. Similarly, Mania Entertainment's Jarred
Pine liked the dynamic between the Elrics brothers as while Edward is often
faced with following "dark paths" in the same way as villains with the series, he
is always supported by Alphonse who makes sure he is okay. Judge Joel Pearce
from DVD Verdict commented on Edward's journey, considering it very complex
morally because he is trying to do good within a morally questionable
organization. Lydia Hojnacki listed Ed as one of the reasons she likes
Fullmetal Alchemist, noting the progression of the character's
personality throughout the series, from simple maturity to a deeper sensitivity.
The character was noted to go through a notable development in the manga after
meeting his father by Holly Ellingwood from Active Anime as it made him decide
to see the investigate from the human he and Alphonse created as children which
led him to find a clue about how to recover his brother's body. On the other
hand, Maria Lin from Animefringe criticized Edward's development in the
first animated adaptation of Fullmetal Alchemist, as in the series' finale he
once again attempted to resurrect a human.
References