Alphonse Elric
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Alphonse Elric (アルフォンス・エルリック, Arufonsu Erurikku) is the name of a character from Fullmetal Alchemist. He is the younger brother of Edward.
Contents |
[edit] History
Born in 1900 to Hohenheim and Trisha Elric, Alphonse is often thought to be older than Ed because his soul is bound to a suit of armor much bigger than his brother (7-foot according to the novels). Also, because of the armor, most people who meet Alphonse automatically assume that he is the Fullmetal Alchemist. When Ed and Al tried to revive their mother, Al's body was taken to the Gate and Ed had to save him by giving up his arm as the equivalent exchange to bind his brother's soul to a nearby suit of armor. Because of this, Al is unable to feel, smell, or taste anything anymore (he cannot eat or sleep, but can go into a 'hibernation' state where his eyes fade out), but he can apparently see, hear, and speak. Al, like his brother, is an alchemist. Before burning down their home, Ed painted the symbol of a Flamel cross, which is a winged snake on a cross, on Al's armor. The symbol was inherited from their teacher Izumi Curtis and from Izumi's teacher Dante. Al, with his calm and optimistic personality, usually acts as a foil for the fiery, excitable, easily discouraged Ed. But during his fight with Barry the Chopper at Laboratory 5, Al was troubled by the suggestion that he could possibly be a fabrication of Ed's and may not have truly ever existed, since he was unable to remember some things from when he was human and thought Edward was keeping something from him. As a result, Al left to find the truth for himself. But by helping Scar deal with mercenaries and Barry, Al comes to realize that he did in fact exist, and rejoined his brother in their search for the Philosopher's Stone.
After Kimblee uses alchemy to transform Al's armor into explosive material, Scar transferred all of his incomplete Philosopher's Stone into Al to save his life. As a result, Al became the Philosopher's Stone. Shortly after, Alphonse learns his body became lighter and his blood-seal could endure contact with water. He also gained the ability to perform alchemy without a circle. He only uses alchemy once after he becomes the stone because any alchemy he or anyone near him uses activates the stone and destroys a part of Al's body. Because he houses the Stone in his body, he becomes the primary target of Dante's attempt to cheat death, but not before he becomes a pawn in Shou Tucker's plot to resurrect Nina. Once captured by the homunculi for Dante, Al was to be devoured by Gluttony to complete the Stone inside Gluttony's body. But when he saw his brother killed by Envy, Al uses the stone's power to restore Edward's body (including his missing limbs) and re-bind his soul to it. This destroys his own body as he used up the whole of the Philosopher's Stone in the transmutations.
Ed, who could not accept his little brother sacrificing himself for him, resurrected Al by using himself as the equivalent exchange in a transmutation and fully expecting to die. Al came back in his original 11 year-old body with no memory of his life since the night they tried to revive their mother. He became Izumi's student again to study alchemy so that he could be reunited with Ed again someday. During that time, Al came to resemble his brother, donning attire similar to Ed's, equipped with gloves that have transmutation circles on both of them so he can merely clap his hands together to perform alchemy (though he could perform alchemy without a transmutation circle near the end of the series -- prior to returning to his body -- that ability was among the memories that he lost). However, Alphonse's alchemy is unique as he can now transmute a piece of his soul into inanimate objects, thus controlling them. This ability to transfer his soul is likely due in part to his soul's extended absence from his body (as Al puts it, his soul detaches from his body easily). Ironically, the first time he shown this, he transfers it to the same armor he was sealed in throughout the series. After stopping an attack by the Thule Society on Liore, Al meets Wrath and together they open a physical gateway between worlds. Al's intention is to bring Ed back through the gate, but the army of the Thule Society uses it to attack Central. After helping to defeat the invasion, Al, wanting to remain with Ed, follows him back to the Other World to help him close the physical gate. When Al passes through the gate he regains the memories of his life with Ed after attempting to transmute their mother, and also returns to his proper age. He then sets out with Edward to recover a nuclear bomb brought into our world.
Al is taller than his brother even in his human form, much to Ed's chagrin. Al has short golden-blond hair (long in Conquerer of Shamballa, but was cut short in the end of the movie) and gold eyes like his brother and father in the manga, but caramel-blond hair and eyes that are an unusual sort of gray-gold-olive green color in the anime. It is believed that he is the more skilled martial artist of the brothers, as Ed states during his battle with Number 48 in the anime that "I've got nothing to worry about then. My 'companion' as you put it, I've fought him plenty of times and I've never beat him once." Ed and Al also mention something about them fighting over lots of stupid things and that Ed has never won before in anime episode 24.
[edit] In the manga
In the manga Al eventually develops the ability to perform alchemy without a transmutation circle, the same as Ed can. In the manga, when King Bradley impales Martel while she is inside Al's armored body, her blood spills onto his blood seal. This gives him a near-death experience, recalling to his mind his experience at the Gate of Alchemy. He realizes that he can transmute without a transmutation circle shortly thereafter. It is also believed by some that he is able to perform alchemy better than his brother after having seen more of the gate than Ed, albeit at the cost of his body. Also, in the manga, Alphonse is afraid that his armor will eventually reject his soul, which would mean his death.
A recent chapter proved the theory that Al's body was still in existence, as Ed finds it on a return trip to the Gate, malnourished and unkempt, but very much alive. Ed could not bring it back because Al's body said that Al's soul needed to be at the gate for the body to come back.
An omake shown in the first volume of the manga depicts a "baby Al" as a suit of armor wearing a diaper; this is not canon as the comic is a humorous omake created by Hiromu Arakawa, the series' author.
[edit] Alchemy
Alchemy Technique
- Pillar Spin: Al summons a pillar from the ground and grabs it then begins to spin, hitting the enemy with the pillar.
- Tornado: In Conqueror of Shambala, Al is able to summon massive tornado.
- Soul Transfer: In Conqueror of Shambala, Al is able to transfer a portion of his soul in a suit of armor.
- Missile Rain: Al summons a series of missiles to shower from the sky.
[edit] Trivia
- According to Japanese fan polls, he is constantly one of the top five most popular characters.
- His name is spelled as "Alfonse Elric" in the Game Boy Advance game "Fullmetal Alchemist: Sonata of Memory".
- Al's blood seal lies just below the base of the neck at the back of the suit, on the inside. It is drawn with Ed's blood. According to Edward, he needs to be careful whenever he reconstructs Alphonse's body because he must keep the blood seal intact during the transmutation.
- Al is 13 years old in the movie and given more alchemy powers (such as controlling machines, creating tornadoes, etc.)
| Japanese Cast [1] | English Cast [2] | Brazilian Cast [3] | French Cast [4] | Spanish Cast [5] | Filipino Cast [6] | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rie Kugimiya | Aaron Dismuke | Rodrigo Andreatto | Audrey Pic | Johnny Torres | Michiko Azarcon |
[edit] Notes
- ^ Original Japanese cast for the TV series/movie.
- ^ Funimation's dub cast for English speaking nations, originally broadcasted in Cartoon Network's Adult Swim block in the United States of America, also broadcasted in Canada, United Kingdom and Australia.
- ^ Álamo's dub cast in Portuguese for broadcasting in Brazil, at Animax channel and Rede TV!.
- ^ Studio Chinkel's dub cast for broadcasting in France, at Canal +.
- ^ Estudios Lain's dub cast for broadcasting in Spanish speaking Latin American countries, at Animax channel.
- ^
[edit] External links
| Fullmetal Alchemist | |
|---|---|
| Common characters: | Edward Elric | Alphonse Elric | Winry Rockbell | Scar | Izumi Curtis | Hohenheim | Minor |
| Anime-only characters: | Dante | State Military | Homunculi | Minor |
| Manga-only characters: | Main | State Military | Homunculi | Minor |
| Media: | Anime (Episode list | Voice casts) | Manga | OVAs | Conqueror of Shamballa | Video games (characters) | Trading cards |
| Items/Concepts: | Alchemy | Automail | Chimera | Equivalent Exchange | Gate of Alchemy | Philosopher's Stone | State Alchemist | Transmutation circle |
| Locations: | Amestris | Ishbal | Lab 5 | Lior |
