Fullmetal Linchpin

After noticing the increase of visits from the United States and Japan, I’ve decided to write this post in English. I hope it’s easier to understand this way. 

In every narrative, there’s one scene that exposes its soul, grabs the audience, and makes us go “I need to know more”. These moments make us feel close to the characters in a way that would be impossible if we just read chapter one, or watched the first episode.

It’s often these revelatory scenes – rather than the 3-episode rule – that make us marathon entire shows.

Since I’ve reviewed Fullmetal Alchemist, I thought I should touch upon my favorite scene.

This is a very subtle moment that unfolds in a very subtle chapter, and it’s a perfect display of the author’s ingenuity. I speak of a scene in chapter 9 (volume three). While waiting for the repairs to his automail, Edward goes to the cemetery to visit his mother’s grave, followed by Den, the faithful Rockbell family dog.

You can see the remnants of the Elric house, as well as the large charcoaled tree where the swing was set up. Ed stays there for a while, in quiet contemplation.

This is a rare, understated moment, unrivalled in the manga. In a story filled to the brim with action, drama and humor, there aren’t many moments of quiet character introspection.


It’s fascinating to see the usually relentless and high-strung Edward in this moment in the story. As a person, Ed spent many years repressing his anguish, denying himself the luxury of crying and venting his anger at his fate (perhaps because his brother is in a body unable to cry).

Despite the tragedy that has affected the brothers, and for which he feels terribly responsible, Ed accepts his punishment, but tries incredibly hard to return his brother’s soul to its original body. The remorse they both feel puts their relationship under an oppressive tension throughout much of the narrative. 

Ed’s relationship with Pinako and Winry is also fraught with anxiety; on one hand, they saved him, but on the other, he’s completely dependent on them for the maintenance of his automail. It can’t be easy for someone as proud and independent as Ed to see himself so helpless and heavily reliant on their assistance.

The day the Elric brothers set their house on fire was the lowest point of their young lives. It’s not far-fetched to think Ed would’ve given up his life, had it not been for his tenacious nature to drag him halfway around the country in search of a solution to return his brother to his original body. That tenacity forces him to maintain a brave facade to the world (although his brother and Winry know the truth).

It’s rather difficult to reconcile the image that Hiromu Arakawa so carefully built of Edward Elric, the young prodigy, State Alchemist extraordinaire, and hero of the people, with Ed, the mutilated orphan from Resembool.

Ed ends up in his hometown for repairs after Scar destroys his arm, and Al suggests he pay a visit to their mother’s grave. With a spare leg to help him around the village and his flaming red jacket exposing a flowing right sleeve, the boy takes Den and limps towards the cemetery. He lingers in front of the grave, quietly mourning the loss of his mother, until a familiar hill gets his attention. 

Meanwhile, Pinako Rockbell recounts the events of the brothers’ tragic past to Major Armstrong. We next see Ed before the remains of the home where the Elric family had once lived happily. The only thing left standing is the old tree where the swing was set. 

After a moment of silent contemplation, Edward and Den exchange a knowing look, and the two return home. 

So why is this scene so important and so unique in the structure of the story? Because the audience has privileged insight on the protagonist, without him saying a word in his defense. At once, we are shown Ed's past, present, and future, which makes us root for him on a personal level like never before. If this moment existed in a Broadway musical, we’d be hearing Edward’s ‘I want song’ at this point. 

This scene is made a little more significant due to Den’s presence. His relationship with Den differs from all others. The dog is a very supportive presence for him. Ed doesn’t have to put up his brave front. At this point in the story, the author gives us a brief glimpse of her protagonist in his ‘purest state’. Edward can mourn his losses openly, with Den as his only witness.

According to an art book, Den saved Edward from getting hit by a train when he was younger. She lost her left foreleg in that brave act of rescue. This piece of back story is depicted in a video game, entitled “Fullmetal Alchemist: To the Promised Day”. 

So, when Pinako tells major Armstrong that Ed has Resembool’s best bodyguard with him, she wasn’t exaggerating! In a sequence of pages, Hiromu Arakawa slowly peels away the layers she wraped around her young protagonist, exposing him to the audience in a way that’s never replicated. Who is Edward Elric when no one’s around, when he’s not possessed by the remorse for what he did to his younger brother, when he’s free from the shame of depending on people like the Rockbells, without the weight of the anger for those who abandoned him? A tenderhearted kid.

The mangaka draws him with a warm expression, a rare one for Ed... She had no benefit of movement, sound or voice acting to help her; she had to sell it with just pen and paper. And, boy, did she sell it! The readers of Fullmetal Alchemist got used to a fairly exciting narrative by this time, which makes this quiet moment go right over their heads, because they’re waiting for the next exciting moment. I think the author was very smart to write this scene in such a low-key chapter.        

Transitioning from paper to screen, this scene was left untouched, to my joy and amazement. The animators were zealous and kept Edward’s expressions when visiting his mother’s grave and looking at Den. 

What strikes me most about this scene? Being such a low-key moment, it was to be expected that the director decided it was a waste of time to animate… After all, that happened to so many good moments! But this scene was entirely kept in. The cinematography is excellent, and the song used throughout the scene is the famous track titled “Trisha’s Lullaby”. 

There is one final element that the manga doesn’t have: voice. I have watched the original Japanese audio, the English dub, and the Brazilian dub. Romi Park, Vic Mignogna, and Marcelo Campos all make this moment great: what the mangaka did visually, they did with their voices. There is a sharp difference in the tone Ed uses to speak to Den, contrasting with his tone for the rest of the series. 

This simple moment doesn't feature in any list of favorite FMA moments. As far as I know, I’m the only person to give it attention, but that doesn't bother me. The reason I think it's ingenious is because it’s like watching a lunar eclipse at four in the morning… The majority of people would rather sleep. The FMA audience is already thinking about the Philosopher Stone in Central, they’re not paying close attention to this down time in the story. Of course, Hiromu Arakawa takes full advantage of that, and opens a tiny window to her protagonist’s soul, letting us see him for a second without all his defence mechanisms. 

It is indeed a unique moment!