[EPISODE 2]
Riza tells Winry she can call her by her first name instead of her rank. Despite her friendly approach, Winry seems to judge Riza for being a soldier.
Winry condemns the military for attempting to take Ed and Al away from her, just like what it did to her parents. Riza, however, tells her the choice is still theirs.
And here comes my favorite part. Roy and Riza lectures Ed and Winry about choice and moving forwards into life-- on separate but simultaneous occasions.
How is it that they have similar ideals about it? It’s because they speak from experience. In fact, when Winry asks Riza why she joined the military, Riza tells her it’s because she has someone she wants to protect.
Just look at Riza’s small smile. And Roy? He came in as if it was all on cue.
[FMAB SPECIAL EPISODE 02]
In a similar scenario, Riza tells Winry she was not forced to make that choice. It was her own.
However, she told a different reason to the person she wanted to protect.
(yeah it’s lengthy again please click keep reading if you want to read more!)
[EPISODE 30 & 54]
It was evident in her actions that Riza entrusts Roy the secrets of Flame Alchemy. She’s letting him guard her back, and even joins the military to support his goal.
Interestingly, Roy still calls her by her last name in this scene. In the Japanese dub, he calls her “Hawkeye” as a formal pronoun that means ‘You’.
However, she never tells Roy directly that he’s the reason why she joined the military. She only told Roy that it was for the well-being of the people, which was his goal as well.
Scarred by the aftermath of the war, she asks Roy a favor: to burn the secrets of Flame Alchemy. She once again told him that she trusts him to protect her back from people who would become another Flame Alchemist.
Another interesting fact: this was the last time Riza calls him by his last name.
Riza puts the blame on herself for allowing so many lives to perish just by choosing to trust Roy. She must have felt worthless* that she caused him so much pain. Roy, on the other hand, feels the same. He was the one who led her to this path with his idealistic goal. To make matters worse, she wanted him to burn her back.
[Heavily implied off-screen scene]
Roy burnt her back. Riza felt free from the burden her Father placed upon her. She must have felt like she came back from the dead*. But they probably both felt they are indebted to each other. They feel unworthy to even speak of each other’s names.
As many people left the military after Ishvalan war (I think this was mentioned in FMA 2003), Roy must have told Riza he’s not forcing her to continue working in the military. It’s still her own free choice. Whether or not she stands up on her own two feet or not. Hence, the root of their simultaneous speech in [EPISODE 2].
Once they return to Eastern HQ, Riza approaches Roy and informs him of her decision.
It’s that same “muddy path” metaphor from [EPISODE 2]
[EPISODE 3 - onwards]
Just as Riza and Roy got each other’s backs, Ed and Winry help each other stand up with their feet. Ed was given automail arm and legs by Winry (and Pinako). Just like Riza, it was the most that Winry can do to support Ed’s goal: to bring back their bodies. (We know how important Winry’s automail are).
He even tells Rose to stand up and move forward [E3]
When Rose met Winry, she thanks her for giving Ed his arm and leg. [E44]
Even in the end, Ed decides to keep his leg. A symbolism of how much he relies on Winry for him to stand up and run to reach his ambitions. (there’s a separate post I found that shows how big of an influence Winry was to Ed in his decision to choose humanity over alchemy right here)
[EPISODE 11]
Ed also helped Winry stand up in several occasions. When Winry got tired from helping Dominique’s niece from giving birth, she asks Ed to help her stand up.
[EPISODE 23-24]
Most importantly, when Winry found out it was Scar who killed her parents, she was tempted to take on revenge. Ed saved her from taking the path of vengeance**. Winry cried after attempting to take revenge on Scar. Ed was there to help her stand up. He even promised that the next time Winry cries, it will be tears of joy. He tells her she doesn’t have the hands to kill. Her hands are meant to help people (just as how much she helped him).
[EPISODE 24]
Ed thought of what he told to Winry when Riza lends her gun to him. Al reacts by saying it’s a tool to kill. Riza corrects him and says it’s for protection.
[EPISODE 30]
When Ed told Riza he felt worthless for not understanding Winry’s feelings (on how much she wanted revenge), Riza tells him quite an answer.
It was based from experience yet again. “You can only worry about [being worthless for someone] because *you came back alive” (similar to [Heavily implied off-screen scene])
Riza sees protection (her reason for joining the military) as love.
[EPISODE 54]
Riza saved Roy from taking the path of vengeance, just like how Ed saved Winry.
BONUS:
Hayate leaps over Edward.
“It’s fine it happens A LOT” but it only happened twice.
Riza comes into the picture. Riza, a daughter who became her father’s research experiment.
Sounds familiar?
I hope you all enjoyed it! Please do tell me what you think it’ll really mean a lot to me!
Other FMA Blogs:
Royai blog: @royriza
FMA sh*tposts: @hawkeyebullets
Main blog: @meridianheroine
