this is probably going to get a lot of hate because roy is such a popular character, but i will always be of the firm opinion that he never should’ve regained his eyesight as punishment for what he did in ishval. for a show about balance, the consequences of too much power, and learning to make sacrifices to better oneself and humanity, this part of brotherhood’s ending will always leave a bitter taste in my mouth because roy ultimately got far more than he deserved relative to the person he was/is, even following the logic of the in-canon universe.
aside from the absolute bitter fucking irony of using a philosopher’s stone—which need i remind you was created from the souls of countless ISHVALANS—to restore the eyesight of a man who aided in slaughtering and destroying their civilization, roy really hasn’t had to pay any consequences for his actions up to the point in which his eyesight is taken. i suppose you could argue that he HAS experienced immense suffering and loss, such as the death of maes hughes or the fact that he forever has to live with the knowledge that he’s the reason riza hawkeye’s back now has a massive burn scar on it, but both of those things first and foremost came at the expense of others rather than roy himself. sure, those people are important to him and he felt the pain of what they went through, but in the end, those who were hurt the most by these things were the hughes family and riza—not roy.
ed wasn’t wrong when he said that it wasn’t a fair trade between the human transmutation roy was forced into performing and the loss of his eyesight, but if you examine the larger picture of roy’s character and all the horrible things he’s done in his lifetime, it’s a small price to pay at most. loss of eyesight isn’t a death sentence, and he seemed perfectly content to live out the rest of his life as a blind man, fully prepared to possibly sacrifice his goals if necessary, but to not give them up without one hell of a fight. he still had people to look after him and assist him in everything he wanted to achieve. hell, possibly even more than al and ed did…..
…..which brings me to my next point: if ed had to give up his alchemy alongside any possible chance at returning his left leg from the portal of truth, why was roy allowed to give up nothing and gain everything? if ed’s alchemy was what led him down the dark path of playing god, and his entire character arc was built around giving up that power in exchange for dignity, humility, and the lives of his loved ones, then why didn’t roy—someone who’s committed FAR worse atrocities in his lifetime—have to undergo a similarly painful lesson in sacrifice? not to mention that there aren’t too many moments where roy expresses any form of genuine remorse over his actions, and most of them stem from seeing riza in pain because of him rather than, oh, i dunno, having a kill count in the hundreds if not thousands. his “plan” to rebuild ishval has always been deeply intertwined with corrupt motivations for personal gain of power, and, unlike ed (whose motivations may have been considered selfish by some but were never intrinsically corrupt), he really hasn’t learned a damn thing about sacrifice by the end of brotherhood.
i know arakawa probably just wanted a happy ending for every character who wasn’t completely pure evil, but i can’t get past the fact that we were THIS close to having roy learn a lesson and maybe gain some humility for once, only to have him walk away with everything intact and his whole final arc dealing with loss having been for nothing. this stings even more because it was explicitly shown that roy couldn’t use his flame alchemy without riza guiding him, which if he had stayed blind would essentially force him out of ever using it again (or at least not without the complete and total assistance of the one person who had vowed to shoot him in the back if he ever strayed from his path toward redemption). and considering how much pain and destruction roy’s flame alchemy has caused throughout the entire time he’s had it, that would be a natural ending in his reign of power/beginning in his path to rebuilding himself. i know this isn’t the same as what ed went through in giving up his alchemy entirely to save al’s life, but it’s better than nothing. it’s better than roy living on with fully restored eyesight and flame alchemy powers he could use at his own discretion any time he sees fit, which, as he’s proven time and time again, he ultimately can’t be trusted with, nor does he deserve. but if he’d learned something—anything at all—through this form of loss, it could’ve been a solid start toward the natural conclusion found in a total rebalance of power. both for roy’s character and the rest of the world.
