Elric's Inferno

"These are either the gates to glory or the entranceway to Hell." ◇ FMAB Analysis Blog ◇ Jo ◇ 16 ◇ Riza Hawkeye Stan ◇ useless when it's raining and pretty much all the time

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Welcome to Elric’s Inferno!

This blog is for analyzing the influences that make up the world and story of Fullmetal Alchemist by Hiromu Arakawa, although it won’t be by the gram. I don’t have access to the manga, so all analyses will be done on Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood.

This blog will cover influences including:

Dante’s Inferno

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

WWII and Holocaust History

Biblical Influences/References

Alchemical Tradition

Persian and Greco-Roman History

And other miscellaneous posts (and just random trash I feel like spewing)!

This blog is purely for my own educational purposes and out of my love for the series, so please be kind. I am always open to constructive criticism, learning new things, and having discussions, but I won’t tolerate or interact with hate. Everything here is simply my own opinion and interpretation of the series. I will always cite my sources.

As for me: Hi, I’m Jo (she/her)! I’m a ~huge~ Riza stan, and my favorite FMAB ship is Royai. I’m a huge fan of Western animated series like Tales of Arcadia and BBC shows. I’m a reader, and I love creative writing! Talk to me about pretty much anything.

Thank you for being here! I hope you at least stay for grandma’s stew.

[arcadialedger]

Me: *shows @elrics-inferno a picture of Keefe, without telling her his name*

Her: I’m getting Brett or Garrett vibes.

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BAHAHAHAHA! I had such a blast.

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Selim Bradley's name has always struck me as out of place, and I just realized why. It's foreshadowing, and it's absolutely brilliant.

I consider Amestris to be mostly based on Germany (although I do see influence from other Western European nations) with the exception that its lore and alchemy are connected to ancient Persia. The main characters largely have Western European/German-sounding names, such as Edward, Alphonse, Hohenheim, Roy, and so forth, which makes sense considering the setting.

Except for Selim.

Selim Bradley is the only major character whose name is Arab-coded. As an Arabic speaker, I noticed this difference immediately, but I didn't think much of it. In Arabic, the word "selim" translates to intact, safe, undamaged. It's a common name, which is why it eluded my scrutiny.

When we meet Selim, he is all those things. Before we realize he is a homunculus, he is just a normal boy. A harmless, happy, normal boy, whose innocence appears whole and unblemished.

However, when Pride reveals himself, we see that the monster that lives inside Selim, that is Selim, is fragmented. Any innocence we thought he had as a child is completely shattered, along with whatever knowledge of his character we thought we had. As pride, Selim is literally made of dark, glass-shard-like shadows. In other words, he is the opposite of selim. Anything but intact, undamaged, and safe.

This serves three purposes in the narrative.

1. It sets Selim apart from the other homunculi. Because he is Arab-coded, it automatically gives him a stronger connection to the Persia-inspired lore of Amestris, and therefore a stronger connection to Father and Hohenheim's origin story. Pride was the first homunculus, the first one separated from the Dwarf in the Flask because it recognized its pride as the biggest threat to its plan to become "god." As Father's fatal flaw, he has the strongest bond to Father/the Dwarf in the Flask. It makes perfect sense that his human identity would bear that cultural connection in name and in design.

2. Selim, both in name and character, is foreign. Even if the viewer doesn't catch on to the Arabic meaning, any English speaker (or anyone familiar with English or Western European languages) can catch on to the fact that "Selim" does not sound like a European name. Even before we learn that he was "adopted" or that he is a homunculus, we feel like he doesn't belong there. The name alone has us questioning things before we know we should even be asking questions. This leads me into

3. Foreshadowing, but mostly in hindsight (unless your critical eye is sharper than Pride's knife tentacles). Apart from the uneasiness that his foreignness sparks, the subtle but brilliant irony of his name being Selim when he is concealing the broken, deadly mess that is Pride in the adorable, innocent body of a child becomes dramatic irony when we rewatch the show. And it's not just because we obviously know Selim is Pride while the characters don't yet, but because we are aware of a completely new layer of deception with the aforementioned details in mind. The meaning of his name is never brought up in the show, meaning that it's not just Selim/Pride who is deceiving us and the characters, it's Hiromu Arakawa. With just his name, Arakawa is telling us to trust this character. It's ok, it's safe. The same way Selim so easily deceives Ed, Al, and Roy--a disarming facade. All of this contributes to the horror of realizing that Selim Bradley, this cute little boy, is not cute, or little, or a boy. And if your critical eye really is as sharp as Pride's tentacles, then it is absolutely possible to put together the oddity of his name and the visual, more obvious hints dropped throughout the show, to figure out that Selim Bradley is not what he seems, and that he might even be connected to the homunculi.

To conclude, I am once again in awe of the storytelling master who is Hiromu Arakawa, but what's new? I have a feeling I'm going to be discovering ways in which I was fooled and didn't even notice for years to come.

[elrics-inferno]

@aphel1on I hope you don't mind me adding this on as a reblog, because it's a fantastic point! Selim absolutely does fulfill his name's meaning by the end of the series. In that aspect, we can consider that to be foreshadowing his eventual state of being: an actual normal, safe child whose innocence is intact. Thank you so much for leaving this comment!

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@hrrraandm This is an excellent and extremely important point. I hope you don't mind me adding it on as a reblog. It deserves more than the tags. As a middle easterner, the negative connotation that comes with being in Arab in media has just become normal. And that is so, so wrong and so, so sad. If cultural connection to Persia really was Arakawa's intention (this is all just theory, though), a Persian name would have done the job well. The homogenization of Arab cultures is a topic for another post. There really isn't an excuse. Thank you so much for bringing this up.

[snowstories]

actually I put this in the tags but I think it deserves its own post. The potential relationship between Xerxes and Ishval FASCINATES me. 

Xerxes is located close to Ishval; they’re neighbouring countries. So I think it’s logical to assume that they probably had a lot of interaction and traded with each other frequently. Personally, I headcanon that Ishval used to be quite the trading hub, in part because of its connections to Xerxes and location right at the edge of the great desert. If we follow this headcanon, it makes sense that Ishvalan traders would likely be the first to discover Xerxes’ demise. 

Can you imagine that? Traders come back with the news that your neighbouring country has died overnight. Corpses litter the street, most of them without a logical cause of death, and the only hint you have to go on are the trenches dug around the country, some straight through villages, one side of which is dead, and the other alive. And you follow the trench and eventually figure out that it’s a circle, and then you remember Xerxes’ obsession with their alchemy. So yeah, I think Xerxes’ demise was in no small part responsible for Ishval’s distaste of alchemy. 

But more than that, I think they’ve probably intermingled a lot. Survivors of Xerxes’ massacre (who survived due to living on the fringes and just outside the transmutation circle) probably emigrated to Ishval and proceeded to live their lives there. Even before that, due to frequent trading, Ishval and Xerxes probably exchanged a bunch of customs and traditions, maybe even aspects of their religions. Perhaps Ishval was even introduced to alchemy long before either Amestris or Xing, and had developed their own type that has since been lost to time, due to their own reluctance to practice it after Xerxes’ demise, or because of outright targeted destruction after it.

And maybe this is looking to deep into it, but. As much as I understand blood was needed for Father’s transmutation circle, it’s worth noting that all other massacres we’ve seen were on much smaller scale. Liore was only one city, and didn’t even get fully wiped out; at Briggs only part of an army was needed to fulfill a blood quota. So why did Ishval need to be systematically slaughtered? Even if there was a higher blood quota needed at that specific spot, was THAT much really needed?

I think Father saw Ishval’s ties to Xerxes, frayed and lost as they were due to time, and got nervous. If Ishval indeed knew alchemy before Amestris did, they were the only ones who could point out that Father’s system of alchemy was flawed. They were also the ones most likely to figure out what Father’s plans for Amestris were; even though I doubt a coherent history of Xerxes survived, it’s likely tales of its fall lived on in folktales. And everyone knows myth frequently contains a grain of truth. And on a more personal note, if some customs and traditions from Xerxes carried over to Ishval, Father might have also simply gotten uneasy with that reminder of his past.

I think Ishval was targeted by Father not just because of its place on the transmutation circle, but as a dedicated effort to wipe out their knowledge of Xerxes, and their culture, which might have carried ghosts of it. 

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Op this is an incredible analysis!!

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i just found your blog through tumblrs reccomendation system and man, it looks so cool! I love the concept, i can't wait to read all the posts. I'll be reblogging to @alchahestry

Oh thank you so much! I'm so happy to hear you're interested. Feel free to leave comments and criticism and I hope you enjoy what little I've got here! You just made my day :D

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Selim Bradley's name has always struck me as out of place, and I just realized why. It's foreshadowing, and it's absolutely brilliant.

I consider Amestris to be mostly based on Germany (although I do see influence from other Western European nations) with the exception that its lore and alchemy are connected to ancient Persia. The main characters largely have Western European/German-sounding names, such as Edward, Alphonse, Hohenheim, Roy, and so forth, which makes sense considering the setting.

Except for Selim.

Selim Bradley is the only major character whose name is Arab-coded. As an Arabic speaker, I noticed this difference immediately, but I didn't think much of it. In Arabic, the word "selim" translates to intact, safe, undamaged. It's a common name, which is why it eluded my scrutiny.

When we meet Selim, he is all those things. Before we realize he is a homunculus, he is just a normal boy. A harmless, happy, normal boy, whose innocence appears whole and unblemished.

However, when Pride reveals himself, we see that the monster that lives inside Selim, that is Selim, is fragmented. Any innocence we thought he had as a child is completely shattered, along with whatever knowledge of his character we thought we had. As pride, Selim is literally made of dark, glass-shard-like shadows. In other words, he is the opposite of selim. Anything but intact, undamaged, and safe.

This serves three purposes in the narrative.

1. It sets Selim apart from the other homunculi. Because he is Arab-coded, it automatically gives him a stronger connection to the Persia-inspired lore of Amestris, and therefore a stronger connection to Father and Hohenheim's origin story. Pride was the first homunculus, the first one separated from the Dwarf in the Flask because it recognized its pride as the biggest threat to its plan to become "god." As Father's fatal flaw, he has the strongest bond to Father/the Dwarf in the Flask. It makes perfect sense that his human identity would bear that cultural connection in name and in design.

2. Selim, both in name and character, is foreign. Even if the viewer doesn't catch on to the Arabic meaning, any English speaker (or anyone familiar with English or Western European languages) can catch on to the fact that "Selim" does not sound like a European name. Even before we learn that he was "adopted" or that he is a homunculus, we feel like he doesn't belong there. The name alone has us questioning things before we know we should even be asking questions. This leads me into

3. Foreshadowing, but mostly in hindsight (unless your critical eye is sharper than Pride's knife tentacles). Apart from the uneasiness that his foreignness sparks, the subtle but brilliant irony of his name being Selim when he is concealing the broken, deadly mess that is Pride in the adorable, innocent body of a child becomes dramatic irony when we rewatch the show. And it's not just because we obviously know Selim is Pride while the characters don't yet, but because we are aware of a completely new layer of deception with the aforementioned details in mind. The meaning of his name is never brought up in the show, meaning that it's not just Selim/Pride who is deceiving us and the characters, it's Hiromu Arakawa. With just his name, Arakawa is telling us to trust this character. It's ok, it's safe. The same way Selim so easily deceives Ed, Al, and Roy--a disarming facade. All of this contributes to the horror of realizing that Selim Bradley, this cute little boy, is not cute, or little, or a boy. And if your critical eye really is as sharp as Pride's tentacles, then it is absolutely possible to put together the oddity of his name and the visual, more obvious hints dropped throughout the show, to figure out that Selim Bradley is not what he seems, and that he might even be connected to the homunculi.

To conclude, I am once again in awe of the storytelling master who is Hiromu Arakawa, but what's new? I have a feeling I'm going to be discovering ways in which I was fooled and didn't even notice for years to come.

[elrics-inferno]

@aphel1on I hope you don't mind me adding this on as a reblog, because it's a fantastic point! Selim absolutely does fulfill his name's meaning by the end of the series. In that aspect, we can consider that to be foreshadowing his eventual state of being: an actual normal, safe child whose innocence is intact. Thank you so much for leaving this comment!

[elrics-inferno]

Selim Bradley's name has always struck me as out of place, and I just realized why. It's foreshadowing, and it's absolutely brilliant.

I consider Amestris to be mostly based on Germany (although I do see influence from other Western European nations) with the exception that its lore and alchemy are connected to ancient Persia. The main characters largely have Western European/German-sounding names, such as Edward, Alphonse, Hohenheim, Roy, and so forth, which makes sense considering the setting.

Except for Selim.

Selim Bradley is the only major character whose name is Arab-coded. As an Arabic speaker, I noticed this difference immediately, but I didn't think much of it. In Arabic, the word "selim" translates to intact, safe, undamaged. It's a common name, which is why it eluded my scrutiny.

When we meet Selim, he is all those things. Before we realize he is a homunculus, he is just a normal boy. A harmless, happy, normal boy, whose innocence appears whole and unblemished.

However, when Pride reveals himself, we see that the monster that lives inside Selim, that is Selim, is fragmented. Any innocence we thought he had as a child is completely shattered, along with whatever knowledge of his character we thought we had. As pride, Selim is literally made of dark, glass-shard-like shadows. In other words, he is the opposite of selim. Anything but intact, undamaged, and safe.

This serves three purposes in the narrative.

1. It sets Selim apart from the other homunculi. Because he is Arab-coded, it automatically gives him a stronger connection to the Persia-inspired lore of Amestris, and therefore a stronger connection to Father and Hohenheim's origin story. Pride was the first homunculus, the first one separated from the Dwarf in the Flask because it recognized its pride as the biggest threat to its plan to become "god." As Father's fatal flaw, he has the strongest bond to Father/the Dwarf in the Flask. It makes perfect sense that his human identity would bear that cultural connection in name and in design.

2. Selim, both in name and character, is foreign. Even if the viewer doesn't catch on to the Arabic meaning, any English speaker (or anyone familiar with English or Western European languages) can catch on to the fact that "Selim" does not sound like a European name. Even before we learn that he was "adopted" or that he is a homunculus, we feel like he doesn't belong there. The name alone has us questioning things before we know we should even be asking questions. This leads me into

3. Foreshadowing, but mostly in hindsight (unless your critical eye is sharper than Pride's knife tentacles). Apart from the uneasiness that his foreignness sparks, the subtle but brilliant irony of his name being Selim when he is concealing the broken, deadly mess that is Pride in the adorable, innocent body of a child becomes dramatic irony when we rewatch the show. And it's not just because we obviously know Selim is Pride while the characters don't yet, but because we are aware of a completely new layer of deception with the aforementioned details in mind. The meaning of his name is never brought up in the show, meaning that it's not just Selim/Pride who is deceiving us and the characters, it's Hiromu Arakawa. With just his name, Arakawa is telling us to trust this character. It's ok, it's safe. The same way Selim so easily deceives Ed, Al, and Roy--a disarming facade. All of this contributes to the horror of realizing that Selim Bradley, this cute little boy, is not cute, or little, or a boy. And if your critical eye really is as sharp as Pride's tentacles, then it is absolutely possible to put together the oddity of his name and the visual, more obvious hints dropped throughout the show, to figure out that Selim Bradley is not what he seems, and that he might even be connected to the homunculi.

To conclude, I am once again in awe of the storytelling master who is Hiromu Arakawa, but what's new? I have a feeling I'm going to be discovering ways in which I was fooled and didn't even notice for years to come.

[elrics-inferno]

@aphel1on I hope you don't mind me adding this on as a reblog, because it's a fantastic point! Selim absolutely does fulfill his name's meaning by the end of the series. In that aspect, we can consider that to be foreshadowing his eventual state of being: an actual normal, safe child whose innocence is intact. Thank you so much for leaving this comment!

[elrics-inferno]

Selim Bradley's name has always struck me as out of place, and I just realized why. It's foreshadowing, and it's absolutely brilliant.

I consider Amestris to be mostly based on Germany (although I do see influence from other Western European nations) with the exception that its lore and alchemy are connected to ancient Persia. The main characters largely have Western European/German-sounding names, such as Edward, Alphonse, Hohenheim, Roy, and so forth, which makes sense considering the setting.

Except for Selim.

Selim Bradley is the only major character whose name is Arab-coded. As an Arabic speaker, I noticed this difference immediately, but I didn't think much of it. In Arabic, the word "selim" translates to intact, safe, undamaged. It's a common name, which is why it eluded my scrutiny.

When we meet Selim, he is all those things. Before we realize he is a homunculus, he is just a normal boy. A harmless, happy, normal boy, whose innocence appears whole and unblemished.

However, when Pride reveals himself, we see that the monster that lives inside Selim, that is Selim, is fragmented. Any innocence we thought he had as a child is completely shattered, along with whatever knowledge of his character we thought we had. As pride, Selim is literally made of dark, glass-shard-like shadows. In other words, he is the opposite of selim. Anything but intact, undamaged, and safe.

This serves three purposes in the narrative.

1. It sets Selim apart from the other homunculi. Because he is Arab-coded, it automatically gives him a stronger connection to the Persia-inspired lore of Amestris, and therefore a stronger connection to Father and Hohenheim's origin story. Pride was the first homunculus, the first one separated from the Dwarf in the Flask because it recognized its pride as the biggest threat to its plan to become "god." As Father's fatal flaw, he has the strongest bond to Father/the Dwarf in the Flask. It makes perfect sense that his human identity would bear that cultural connection in name and in design.

2. Selim, both in name and character, is foreign. Even if the viewer doesn't catch on to the Arabic meaning, any English speaker (or anyone familiar with English or Western European languages) can catch on to the fact that "Selim" does not sound like a European name. Even before we learn that he was "adopted" or that he is a homunculus, we feel like he doesn't belong there. The name alone has us questioning things before we know we should even be asking questions. This leads me into

3. Foreshadowing, but mostly in hindsight (unless your critical eye is sharper than Pride's knife tentacles). Apart from the uneasiness that his foreignness sparks, the subtle but brilliant irony of his name being Selim when he is concealing the broken, deadly mess that is Pride in the adorable, innocent body of a child becomes dramatic irony when we rewatch the show. And it's not just because we obviously know Selim is Pride while the characters don't yet, but because we are aware of a completely new layer of deception with the aforementioned details in mind. The meaning of his name is never brought up in the show, meaning that it's not just Selim/Pride who is deceiving us and the characters, it's Hiromu Arakawa. With just his name, Arakawa is telling us to trust this character. It's ok, it's safe. The same way Selim so easily deceives Ed, Al, and Roy--a disarming facade. All of this contributes to the horror of realizing that Selim Bradley, this cute little boy, is not cute, or little, or a boy. And if your critical eye really is as sharp as Pride's tentacles, then it is absolutely possible to put together the oddity of his name and the visual, more obvious hints dropped throughout the show, to figure out that Selim Bradley is not what he seems, and that he might even be connected to the homunculi.

To conclude, I am once again in awe of the storytelling master who is Hiromu Arakawa, but what's new? I have a feeling I'm going to be discovering ways in which I was fooled and didn't even notice for years to come.

[elrics-inferno]

Why is one of the first things that we ever learn about Roy Mustang the fact that he is useless in the rain?

So at this point, I think we’ve all heard or realized that Roy Mustang’s rain/water motif is not just a physical limitation for his alchemy but also a symbol for his regret and “uselessness.” It’s a brilliant metaphor that elementally balances him out. 

And it’s introduced the moment we meet him. 

While it does serve as a bit of comic relief during the extremely intense first episode, the significance of it being in that episode is still important to Roy’s development and how the audience develops their understanding of him throughout the series. 

First, we need to contextualize it. The first episode is centered around Isaac McDougal, the freezing alchemist (as in an alchemist who freezes, not a really really cold alchemist, although “Isaac the Really Really Cold Alchemist” would be a fantastic name. Anyways). Isaac’s goal is to freeze over Central Command via a city-wide transmutation circle using a philosopher’s stone. 

The plot of the first episode is a parallel to the plot of the entire series, and it is full of foreshadowing. In terms of exposition, it isn’t very subtle. The basic exposition of characters like Ed, Al, and Roy is pretty much told to us through dialogue. However, that choice is justified. For people who are completely new to the FMA world, as I was when I watched this two years ago, the first episode has a lot going on. New members are not only meeting all the characters, but they are also trying to put together what alchemy is, where and when this is taking place, and who they should be rooting for. And THAT is where the brilliance (in my opinion) comes in. Watching the first episode through for the first time, the audience is rooting for Ed and Al (because they are the protagonists), and the military (because our protagonists trust them and are part of it). When our protagonists are told to capture Isaac and to view him as a traitor, we do, too. It’s only when Isaac confronts Ed about his beliefs about the military that we start to question our own. But even then, we aren’t given enough information to understand why we should question the military. However, watching the episode in hindsight, our loyalties are switched. Isaac becomes the hero trying to take down the evil military, and Ed, Al, and Mustang become the villains. 

So, back to Roy. During the first episode, aside from getting the basics of who he is and what he does, we don’t learn much more about him. Just these two things: 

1. He is a veteran of something called the Ishvalan War (and the Ishvalan War is apparently controversial based on conversations between Isaac and Roy and Isaac and Kimblee).

2. He can’t make things go sparky sparky when he gets wet. 

And those two things are arguably the most important parts of who Mustang is and what he has been through. 

First, let’s talk about Roy, Isaac, and Ishval. As the first episode unfolds, the audience knows nothing about what happened in Ishval. But Roy and Isaac do. In hindsight, knowing how Roy feels about the Ishvalan War and what he did there, why on Earth would he be calling Isaac a traitor? Roy knows that the military is corrupt (although not to the extent that he will). Roy’s biggest regret is blindly following orders in Ishval. Roy has his eyes set on becoming the Fuhrer and changing things. Roy is literally a genocidal war criminal who stages a coup from an ice cream truck and overthrows the military. And somehow Isaac is the traitor?

Roy is following orders because he has to in order to achieve his goal. He is putting on a loyal-to-the-military act and biding his time until he can admit to the world that Isaac was right. 

Er, that his ideals were.

See, Isaac is Roy’s elemental opposite. Isaac is water, Roy is fire. He is also Roy’s narrative foil. While Isaac’s plan lacked patience and was too rash to ever succeed, Roy’s plan has taken him and will take him years, and he has been extremely careful curating it. It’s ironic to me that the character associated with water would act more rashly and have less patience than the character associated with fire. That’s not to say that Roy doesn’t act rashly. Roy’s impulsiveness and vengeance-driven actions are some of his greatest setbacks as a character. 

But Roy is also intelligent and strategic in achieving his greater goals. His dependence is on his closest allies, while Isaac’s dependence is on a philosopher’s stone. And while the characters do not yet know the ingredients for stones in the first episode, Isaac’s use of one to accomplish his ultimate goal is what sets him apart from Roy and the Elrics. And yes, Roy does use a stone to regain his eyesight, but he does not depend on one during his coup. I would even argue that Isaac’s use of a philosopher’s stone could also be foreshadowing Roy’s eventual use of one in addition to foreshadowing the overall plot. It’s also important for us to see Isaac defeated in the first episode because it shows us that although philosopher’s stones remove the law of equivalent exchange, they do not make the user all-powerful. At the end of the day, the user can still be defeated.

Another difference between the two is how their limitations are presented in this episode. Isaac’s alchemy is unlimited because of the philosopher’s stone, but the first thing we learn about Roy Mustang’s alchemy is that he is limited by water. This leads me to the second point. 

Establishing Roy’s limitations in the first episode does a few things for us: 

First, it establishes that he is dependent on Riza and trusts her in his most vulnerable moments. That even though Riza knows how easily Roy can be overpowered, she still chooses to stay by his side, protect him, and help him accomplish whatever he sets out to do. 

Second, we get a peek at Mustang’s creativity and perseverance. His determination and intelligence is displayed in how he overcomes the limitations presented, and it makes us want to root for him. 

Third, it gives us some information as to how alchemy works. We see a few types of alchemy in this episode: Ed’s without a circle, Isaacs’s with a circle and elemental, Roy’s with his transmutation circle gloves and unique flame alchemy, and Major Armstrong’s forceful style. This helps us get an idea of the varying styles of alchemy, varying ways of how it can be used and manipulated, and the different forces that use it for their benefit or the benefit of others.

Lastly, it begins the “uselessness” theme. It tells us that even though Mustang is an extremely powerful alchemist, there are still things that he can’t control. That there are forces that can overpower him, and the best thing he can do is to get back up and try again until he accomplishes his goal. We also see Roy’s anger at those forces, the ones that render him unable to do anything. And we see him use that anger to fuel his alchemy and overpower them.

“The power of one man does not amount to much, but however little strength I am capable of… I’ll do everything humanly possible to protect the people I love, and in turn they’ll protect the ones they love. It seems like the least we tiny humans can do for each other.”

Roy Mustang, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

[elrics-inferno]

Male vs. Female sexualization in FMAB is not equal, so let's discuss it!

First off, looking through the tags of my Olivier post was extremely encouraging. Thank you for all your support! I did catch a few points that I want to expand on, though. Particularly:

@cloudheaded you are absolutely right and I 100% agree with you. And thank you for being so kind about this!

Female sexualization in the shounen genre is extremely common and overdone, and one of my favorite things about FMA is the fact that the women are almost never sexualized.

There are still shots like Winry's bathtub shot, Winry boob shots, and Izumi boob shots that are typical for the shounen genre but are absolutely not okay and unnecessary. They are sadly still included because of the genre's standards.

When it comes to male sexualization (which is mostly still ab shots. Ed was entirely naked at one point but nudity and sexualization are definitely not the same thing), it's almost always used as comedic relief. To be honest, the only exception I can think of is that shot of Roy where-- oh here it is. Thanks, Tumblr.

That is absolutely not okay either!

The standard of female sexualization is perverted. It's done as fanservice, whereas anytime we see a man remotely sexualized it's, as op in the tags put it, goofy.

I would honestly prefer it if no one were sexualized. In most cases, it's really just unnecessary and unfair. There are two cases in the series where sexualization serves to progress the plot, though. First, in the case of Lust (who, as @anakin-s-padawan pointed out is not even overly sexualized even though she is literally the incarnation of LUST) who uses her sexuality to get information from Jean Havoc. Second, when Olivier does the same to General Raven.

This really just shows that we still have a long way to go when it comes to not sexualizing and objectifying women in storytelling, even in an incredible story like FMA that has extremely well-written women. When I think of the best women in media, FMA is at the top of my list. It's by no means perfect, but thanks to Hiromu Arakawa, we're getting there.

[elrics-inferno]

Why is one of the first things that we ever learn about Roy Mustang the fact that he is useless in the rain?

So at this point, I think we’ve all heard or realized that Roy Mustang’s rain/water motif is not just a physical limitation for his alchemy but also a symbol for his regret and “uselessness.” It’s a brilliant metaphor that elementally balances him out. 

And it’s introduced the moment we meet him. 

While it does serve as a bit of comic relief during the extremely intense first episode, the significance of it being in that episode is still important to Roy’s development and how the audience develops their understanding of him throughout the series. 

First, we need to contextualize it. The first episode is centered around Isaac McDougal, the freezing alchemist (as in an alchemist who freezes, not a really really cold alchemist, although “Isaac the Really Really Cold Alchemist” would be a fantastic name. Anyways). Isaac’s goal is to freeze over Central Command via a city-wide transmutation circle using a philosopher’s stone. 

The plot of the first episode is a parallel to the plot of the entire series, and it is full of foreshadowing. In terms of exposition, it isn’t very subtle. The basic exposition of characters like Ed, Al, and Roy is pretty much told to us through dialogue. However, that choice is justified. For people who are completely new to the FMA world, as I was when I watched this two years ago, the first episode has a lot going on. New members are not only meeting all the characters, but they are also trying to put together what alchemy is, where and when this is taking place, and who they should be rooting for. And THAT is where the brilliance (in my opinion) comes in. Watching the first episode through for the first time, the audience is rooting for Ed and Al (because they are the protagonists), and the military (because our protagonists trust them and are part of it). When our protagonists are told to capture Isaac and to view him as a traitor, we do, too. It’s only when Isaac confronts Ed about his beliefs about the military that we start to question our own. But even then, we aren’t given enough information to understand why we should question the military. However, watching the episode in hindsight, our loyalties are switched. Isaac becomes the hero trying to take down the evil military, and Ed, Al, and Mustang become the villains. 

So, back to Roy. During the first episode, aside from getting the basics of who he is and what he does, we don’t learn much more about him. Just these two things: 

1. He is a veteran of something called the Ishvalan War (and the Ishvalan War is apparently controversial based on conversations between Isaac and Roy and Isaac and Kimblee).

2. He can’t make things go sparky sparky when he gets wet. 

And those two things are arguably the most important parts of who Mustang is and what he has been through. 

First, let’s talk about Roy, Isaac, and Ishval. As the first episode unfolds, the audience knows nothing about what happened in Ishval. But Roy and Isaac do. In hindsight, knowing how Roy feels about the Ishvalan War and what he did there, why on Earth would he be calling Isaac a traitor? Roy knows that the military is corrupt (although not to the extent that he will). Roy’s biggest regret is blindly following orders in Ishval. Roy has his eyes set on becoming the Fuhrer and changing things. Roy is literally a genocidal war criminal who stages a coup from an ice cream truck and overthrows the military. And somehow Isaac is the traitor?

Roy is following orders because he has to in order to achieve his goal. He is putting on a loyal-to-the-military act and biding his time until he can admit to the world that Isaac was right. 

Er, that his ideals were.

See, Isaac is Roy’s elemental opposite. Isaac is water, Roy is fire. He is also Roy’s narrative foil. While Isaac’s plan lacked patience and was too rash to ever succeed, Roy’s plan has taken him and will take him years, and he has been extremely careful curating it. It’s ironic to me that the character associated with water would act more rashly and have less patience than the character associated with fire. That’s not to say that Roy doesn’t act rashly. Roy’s impulsiveness and vengeance-driven actions are some of his greatest setbacks as a character. 

But Roy is also intelligent and strategic in achieving his greater goals. His dependence is on his closest allies, while Isaac’s dependence is on a philosopher’s stone. And while the characters do not yet know the ingredients for stones in the first episode, Isaac’s use of one to accomplish his ultimate goal is what sets him apart from Roy and the Elrics. And yes, Roy does use a stone to regain his eyesight, but he does not depend on one during his coup. I would even argue that Isaac’s use of a philosopher’s stone could also be foreshadowing Roy’s eventual use of one in addition to foreshadowing the overall plot. It’s also important for us to see Isaac defeated in the first episode because it shows us that although philosopher’s stones remove the law of equivalent exchange, they do not make the user all-powerful. At the end of the day, the user can still be defeated.

Another difference between the two is how their limitations are presented in this episode. Isaac’s alchemy is unlimited because of the philosopher’s stone, but the first thing we learn about Roy Mustang’s alchemy is that he is limited by water. This leads me to the second point. 

Establishing Roy’s limitations in the first episode does a few things for us: 

First, it establishes that he is dependent on Riza and trusts her in his most vulnerable moments. That even though Riza knows how easily Roy can be overpowered, she still chooses to stay by his side, protect him, and help him accomplish whatever he sets out to do. 

Second, we get a peek at Mustang’s creativity and perseverance. His determination and intelligence is displayed in how he overcomes the limitations presented, and it makes us want to root for him. 

Third, it gives us some information as to how alchemy works. We see a few types of alchemy in this episode: Ed’s without a circle, Isaacs’s with a circle and elemental, Roy’s with his transmutation circle gloves and unique flame alchemy, and Major Armstrong’s forceful style. This helps us get an idea of the varying styles of alchemy, varying ways of how it can be used and manipulated, and the different forces that use it for their benefit or the benefit of others.

Lastly, it begins the “uselessness” theme. It tells us that even though Mustang is an extremely powerful alchemist, there are still things that he can’t control. That there are forces that can overpower him, and the best thing he can do is to get back up and try again until he accomplishes his goal. We also see Roy’s anger at those forces, the ones that render him unable to do anything. And we see him use that anger to fuel his alchemy and overpower them.

“The power of one man does not amount to much, but however little strength I am capable of... I’ll do everything humanly possible to protect the people I love, and in turn they’ll protect the ones they love. It seems like the least we tiny humans can do for each other.”

Roy Mustang, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

[wind-on-the-panes-deactivated20]

I discovered something today and if you already knew shh I’m excited

The countries surrounding Amestris except for Xing are all alchemically relevant: Creta = Chalk (Latin, modern Catalan and Galician); Aerugo = Copper rust (verdigris); Drachma = variation of “dram”, ʒ , an old unit of volume. Also, Amestris was the wife of real life Persian king Xerxes I, and considered by Greek historians a bad woman because:

I am informed that Amestris, the wife of Xerxes, when she had grown old, made return for her own life to the god who is said to be beneath the earth by burying twice seven children of Persians who were men of renown.

— Herodotus, Histories 7.114

Yes - that’s human sacrifice they’re talking about.

I’m puzzled about the number 7 - there were 5 Sacrifices. We could say it refers to the Homunculi but they weren’t sacrificed. Perhaps Arakawa wanted 7 sacrifices in total but cut two from the final count, or we could be counting, you know, Hughes and Ross (who didn’t actually die but p much died).

OR Buccaneer and Fuu, who actually died during the setup to the big thing.

What do you think?

[elrics-inferno]

OMG I was just doing research on this exact thing yesterday! The name Xerxes struck a chord with me and I googled it and found the whole Xerxes I and Amestris thing. I think it’s also significant that Xerxes I and Amestris are theorized to be Queen Esther and King Achashverosh of the Bible. And Queen Esther is known for preventing the genocide of the Hebrews living in Persia.

[elrics-inferno]

OH ALSO in this analysis by @royriza, they talk about a theory that Berthold Hawkeye committed human transmutation.

This could fit into your theory that there were originally supposed to be 7 sacrifices. Berthold might have originally been one of them but died earlier than they had planned. We would just be missing one more person who committed human transmutation and saw the Truth.

[royriza]

oh yes thank you for considering my analysis! @elrics-inferno in FMAB, Berthold talked about the pursuit of Truth and that if alchemists stopped pursuing it, they die. Interestingly, he added, “Trust me, I’ve been dead for a long time.”

(this was from my fic, I incorporated this theory in it)

What‘s weird is that they were talking about Flame Alchemy that time. Roy suggested that he should enlist as a State Alchemist to get funds for his research. Roy didn’t know that Berthold already accomplished it until Berthold told him otherwise.

This means Berthold completed Flame Alchemy after Roy left the Hawkeye Residence (from his apprenticeship). Berthold even told him he “completed it a long time ago.” Which either meant he kept it from Roy this entire time or that Roy left the residence years before he joined the military.

I think the reason why Berthold hates the military so much is because he knows about what the military was planning the entire time (just like how the Ice Alchemist in FMAB attempted to attack Central HQ in the first episode because he knew what they were planning). And the only link I could think of is his wife and Grumman (the FMA guidebook stated Grumman was Riza’s maternal grandfather). We also know that Grumman was demoted from Central and transferred to East HQ because he declined the immortality offer of the upper echelon.

Berthold also said he doesn’t want Flame Alchemy to “fall into the wrong hands.” I think it’s also the reason why he doesn’t practice flame alchemy and why he wanted someone else to do it (Roy), it’s because the military’s eyes were on him. Perhaps they live in squalor and in a secluded area to hide from the military. I mean, we saw the military use an Ice Alchemist and an Iron Alchemist in the Ishval War, and so perhaps Bertold doesn’t want that to happen with Flame Alchemy. But thanks to Roy, it eventually did (that bastard).

This may sound like a stretch, but the homunculi may have been involved in the death of Berthold’s wife. It was a lure to cause him to commit human transmutation and be part of the sacrifice. And he did. But just like your theory, he died early.

And so they plan on using Roy Mustang, the wielder of Flame Alchemy, instead. This may also explain why the homunculi was obssessed with choosing him as a sacrifice even though he was the only sacrifice who had not committed human transmutation yet.

[elrics-inferno]

Olivier Armstrong has full lips, big blue eyes, a small nose, long luscious blonde hair, and she isn’t sexualized once in the entire series.

One of my favorite things about FMAB is how it presents women. The women of FMAB are diverse and independent heroes and villains, and wow do they get their time to shine. FMAB refuses to adhere to sexual tropes often found in anime/manga, and aside from a few shots typical for the shounen genre, the women of FMAB are not sexualized. From Lan Fan and Maria Ross to Riza Hawkeye and Winry Rockbell, every FMAB woman is a complex, dynamic character with a  significant role in the plot. 

And for every woman that is sexualized, a man gets sexualized, too. FMAB has plenty of ab shots, and most of them come from Major Armstrong and are a big part of his comedic role. Major Armstrong, while he is a character used mostly for comic relief, is also a fantastic example of how FMAB handles physical and spiritual androgyny. Alex has the full pink lips, bright baby blue eyes, and long eyelashes of the Armstrong family. Additionally, he is almost completely hairless, a trait expected of modern women. He is also a huge absolutely ripped war criminal who all but defeated one of the most dangerous homunculi on his own. He’s terrifying. And yet none of us have ever once thought that while watching the series. Why? Because he also has a hair loop, is entirely silly, and has traditionally feminine features.

But that’s the thing– Olivier has those same traits. She has a hair loop and the Armstrong facial features that ARE JUST GENETICS, but she’s not big. She doesn’t need to be big to be respected by her men. The difference between them is how she demands respect. I’ll write a post later on that. She is confident and skilled, and the men she trains respect her not as a woman, but as a General. She makes it clear from the moment we meet her that her gender is not a box for her, and FMAB as a series sends out a very clear message on its views on toxic feminine and masculine gender roles.

In one scene, she embraces her sexuality and traditional femininity in order to get information from General Raven, and what happens? He sexually harasses her. 

It’s possible that she learned to reject traditional femininity in order to demand respect early on as she climbed the ranks of an extremely patriarchal military hierarchy for that exact reason, but we also see in her interactions with her family that she most likely has always been extremely tough, strong, and confident. And her rejection of traditional femininity is not a rejection of her own femininity or humanity (as embracing masculinity is so often portrayed as rejecting basic human functions like emotions). Olivier Armstrong is beautiful, and she knows it. Have you seen her flipping that long gorgeous hair around? 

She is also emotional and caring, displayed in how she looks after her men and grieves the loss of her good friend and soldier Captain Buccaneer.

As a woman, Olivier Mira Armstrong’s confidence and her take-no-crap attitude demands respect from every single person who crosses her path. As a General, her confidence and stability in who she is as a woman and person allow her to command armies in much greater battles.

[wind-on-the-panes-deactivated20]

A detailed breakdown on Berthold Hawkeye’s Flame Alchemy Array, Roy Mustang, and royai.

OKAY SO LIKE hi I’m Nug. I was obsessed with FMA between 2006 and 2010. Then I shut it all away for 10 years. Now I’m rereading the manga and writing a (probably) infinite livereading thread with my interpretations and impressions and stupid jokes too but also with a lot of content from the past 10 years, you know, learning shit.

So okay. I’m ready to show you my extensive research in deciphering the flame alchemy array.

First we ned to understand that Arakawa is a goddamn monster. She’s a fucking beast. While it’s obvious that she didn’t just make stuff from thin air like a random magic hocus pocus and slapped the name of alchemy in it, the lengths she went to understand intrinsically how alchemic knowledge irl works in order to make it make some sense as a magic system in Fullmetal Alchemist is brutal.

Therefore, any analysis of FMA that includes alchemical concepts must take that into consideration. Because those have been thought over, even correct assumptions may sound shallow if you take them without digging a bit deeper to find more roots.

And I’m positive I can show you evidence that will prove Roy Mustang and his relationship with Flame Alchemy and to the Hawkeyes (particularly Riza) is amazingly deep.

 Let’s go:

Keep reading

[wind-on-the-panes-deactivated20]

Okay welcome to part 2 on the breakdown. Please read part 1 to know wth I’m talking about here.

So, to make that tattoo breakdown, I went through all sources I possibly could. This is the internet, though, so sometimes sources need sources; I couldn’t just collect everything and slap it on if I wanted to make this as accurate as possible.

Therefore I had Adam McLean’s Alchemy Website as my “gold standard” for 85% of research: everything I found around the web I’d go and bring back to double check with it, especially if it was directly connected to alchemy. I probably missed a lot of stuff because there’s so much content available there, and a lot of it is scattered, so if you look around and find something I missed please feel free to add/tell me! However, if you ask “why didn’t you add X someone else talked about”, there’s a good chance that I couldn’t find it on The Alchemy Website or outside links it provided.

Importantly, I’ll remind you what I mentioned earlier: Alchemy is a collection of disciplines that have existed in all of the Ancient World (Eurasia and Africa) for millenia. The material that is more accessible to us in the West have been created between the 15th and 19th centuries, but Alchemy has been around for at least 2.000 years and never stopped evolving, even today. As you can imagine, alchemists developed different signs, symbols, and formulas throughout the centuries and around the world, often borrowing from each other but sometimes making things as they found fitting. There’s a lot of mix and matching of those in FMA, which might cause doubts on Arakawa’s intent depending on which code/tradition/emblem/etc she was being inspired by, but I tried to be as mindful as possible with considering all most likely meanings to construct a coherent narrative about the Flame Alchemy Scheme.

Also this is as good a time as any to point out there’s been a lot of cultural/religious appropriation from Eastern cultures and peoples by white European alchemists and occultists with utter disregard to the weight of what they were doing, particularly (but not exclusively) in the 19th century onwards. While I don’t have enough knowledge to dissect this here, nor is it the scope of this series, let it be known that antisemitism, anti-Islam, anti-Roma and other kinds of racism/xenophobia/etc are still present in the discourses of disciplines that form and are related to Alchemy today.

I am going to mention and describe things that have been appropriated, even if I’m very lay on the subject, because they matter for my FMA analysys, but I don’t condone bigotry and I’m making this clear here. If you’re interested in that kind of stuff either in research or practice be sure to take that into consideration and act ethically. Please don’t @ me to complain about this matter unless you’d like to respectfully add or correct information (including educating me on presenting things more respectfully, if I fck up).

OKAY SO LET’S START, IT’S UNDER THE CUT. I’m gonna go point by point on my interpretation of the array as seen on part one right now:

Keep reading

[wind-on-the-panes-deactivated20]

Hello and welcome back to the breakdown, after a long pause where I’ve been working and going “I dun wanna” at all the research pages. That’s because this is part 3 of 5 or 6- and things begin to get more complex and abstract from now on.

While parts 1 and 2 are quite well-established and I would risk to say they can be considered at least kind of accurate either/or in canon and irl alchemical lore, they may be more speculative now. That’s not to say they’re unfonded: I did what I possibly could to elaborate cohesive theories about the scheme and I still give it a lot of thought, so I’m trying to be as accurate and coherent as my research and insight allows me to. But in the end of the day, I’m no specialist, and I have as much access to canon information as anyone. Also while I don’t think I’m stupid I’m also not ridiculously clever, especially in an area I had no previous experience nor interest in and spent so little time immersed into.

What I mean it: if you want to cite or fight me, I won’t get involved. However, as I said before, I’m totally open to suggestions, additions, opinions, and corrections, if delivered respectfully and mindfully.

I’d also like to make a small correction to part 2: where it says “combustion”, read “calcination”, the actual name of the alchemical process. As a curiosity, know that alchemical processes are represented by zodiac signs, and calcination, being the most fundamental one, is the first: Aries  (♈︎)

Ready? Steady? Can’t hold m- oh, that’s right, most of you never watched FMA’03 #sad.

Keep reading

[wind-on-the-panes-deactivated20]

Hello and welcome to part 4 to the Flame Alchemy tattoo breakdown, are y'all tired yet? Because we’re going to analyze the geomancy figures today.

THIS PART IS GOOD. LORE. ANGST AND DRAMA.

No warnings, let’s get to it. This part will be long af:

EDIT: CAN I GET THE IMAGES TO WORK, TUMBLR? PLEASE?

EDIT 2: Fixed

Keep reading

[elrics-inferno]

I am absolutely losing my mind over this analysis. OP you are a deity among men.

[wind-on-the-panes-deactivated20]

I discovered something today and if you already knew shh I’m excited

The countries surrounding Amestris except for Xing are all alchemically relevant: Creta = Chalk (Latin, modern Catalan and Galician); Aerugo = Copper rust (verdigris); Drachma = variation of “dram”, ʒ , an old unit of volume. Also, Amestris was the wife of real life Persian king Xerxes I, and considered by Greek historians a bad woman because:

I am informed that Amestris, the wife of Xerxes, when she had grown old, made return for her own life to the god who is said to be beneath the earth by burying twice seven children of Persians who were men of renown.

— Herodotus, Histories 7.114

Yes - that’s human sacrifice they’re talking about.

I’m puzzled about the number 7 - there were 5 Sacrifices. We could say it refers to the Homunculi but they weren’t sacrificed. Perhaps Arakawa wanted 7 sacrifices in total but cut two from the final count, or we could be counting, you know, Hughes and Ross (who didn’t actually die but p much died).

OR Buccaneer and Fuu, who actually died during the setup to the big thing.

What do you think?

[elrics-inferno]

OMG I was just doing research on this exact thing yesterday! The name Xerxes struck a chord with me and I googled it and found the whole Xerxes I and Amestris thing. I think it’s also significant that Xerxes I and Amestris are theorized to be Queen Esther and King Achashverosh of the Bible. And Queen Esther is known for preventing the genocide of the Hebrews living in Persia.

[elrics-inferno]

OH ALSO in this analysis by @royriza, they talk about a theory that Berthold Hawkeye committed human transmutation.

This could fit into your theory that there were originally supposed to be 7 sacrifices. Berthold might have originally been one of them but died earlier than they had planned. We would just be missing one more person who committed human transmutation and saw the Truth.

[wind-on-the-panes-deactivated20]

I discovered something today and if you already knew shh I’m excited

The countries surrounding Amestris except for Xing are all alchemically relevant: Creta = Chalk (Latin, modern Catalan and Galician); Aerugo = Copper rust (verdigris); Drachma = variation of “dram”, ʒ , an old unit of volume. Also, Amestris was the wife of real life Persian king Xerxes I, and considered by Greek historians a bad woman because:

I am informed that Amestris, the wife of Xerxes, when she had grown old, made return for her own life to the god who is said to be beneath the earth by burying twice seven children of Persians who were men of renown.

— Herodotus, Histories 7.114

Yes - that’s human sacrifice they’re talking about.

I’m puzzled about the number 7 - there were 5 Sacrifices. We could say it refers to the Homunculi but they weren’t sacrificed. Perhaps Arakawa wanted 7 sacrifices in total but cut two from the final count, or we could be counting, you know, Hughes and Ross (who didn’t actually die but p much died).

OR Buccaneer and Fuu, who actually died during the setup to the big thing.

What do you think?

[elrics-inferno]

OMG I was just doing research on this exact thing yesterday! The name Xerxes struck a chord with me and I googled it and found the whole Xerxes I and Amestris thing. I think it's also significant that Xerxes I and Amestris are theorized to be Queen Esther and King Achashverosh of the Bible. And Queen Esther is known for preventing the genocide of the Hebrews living in Persia.

[elrics-inferno]

Olivier Armstrong has full lips, big blue eyes, a small nose, long luscious blonde hair, and she isn’t sexualized once in the entire series.

One of my favorite things about FMAB is how it presents women. The women of FMAB are diverse and independent heroes and villains, and wow do they get their time to shine. FMAB refuses to adhere to sexual tropes often found in anime/manga, and aside from a few shots typical for the shounen genre, the women of FMAB are not sexualized. From Lan Fan and Maria Ross to Riza Hawkeye and Winry Rockbell, every FMAB woman is a complex, dynamic character with a  significant role in the plot. 

And for every woman that is sexualized, a man gets sexualized, too. FMAB has plenty of ab shots, and most of them come from Major Armstrong and are a big part of his comedic role. Major Armstrong, while he is a character used mostly for comic relief, is also a fantastic example of how FMAB handles physical and spiritual androgyny. Alex has the full pink lips, bright baby blue eyes, and long eyelashes of the Armstrong family. Additionally, he is almost completely hairless, a trait expected of modern women. He is also a huge absolutely ripped war criminal who all but defeated one of the most dangerous homunculi on his own. He’s terrifying. And yet none of us have ever once thought that while watching the series. Why? Because he also has a hair loop, is entirely silly, and has traditionally feminine features.

But that’s the thing-- Olivier has those same traits. She has a hair loop and the Armstrong facial features that ARE JUST GENETICS, but she’s not big. She doesn’t need to be big to be respected by her men. The difference between them is how she demands respect. I’ll write a post later on that. She is confident and skilled, and the men she trains respect her not as a woman, but as a General. She makes it clear from the moment we meet her that her gender is not a box for her, and FMAB as a series sends out a very clear message on its views on toxic feminine and masculine gender roles.

In one scene, she embraces her sexuality and traditional femininity in order to get information from General Raven, and what happens? He sexually harasses her. 

It’s possible that she learned to reject traditional femininity in order to demand respect early on as she climbed the ranks of an extremely patriarchal military hierarchy for that exact reason, but we also see in her interactions with her family that she most likely has always been extremely tough, strong, and confident. And her rejection of traditional femininity is not a rejection of her own femininity or humanity (as embracing masculinity is so often portrayed as rejecting basic human functions like emotions). Olivier Armstrong is beautiful, and she knows it. Have you seen her flipping that long gorgeous hair around? 

She is also emotional and caring, displayed in how she looks after her men and grieves the loss of her good friend and soldier Captain Buccaneer.

As a woman, Olivier Mira Armstrong’s confidence and her take-no-crap attitude demands respect from every single person who crosses her path. As a General, her confidence and stability in who she is as a woman and person allow her to command armies in much greater battles.