Scar (Fullmetal Alchemist character)
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[edit] Character profile
Scar [スカー (傷の男) "Sukā" (Kizu no Otoko; Scarred Man)] is one of the surviving Ishbalans, a people who reject alchemy as an offense to their god Ishbala and whose appearance and culture seem to be partially based on 19th century Arabs and Indians of the Middle East. His real name is unrevealed and he is so called due to the X-shaped scar on his forehead given to him by the State Alchemist Kimblee. His right arm was given to him by his brother and is tatooed with a series of arrays and symbol centered around the 6 point array that absorbs souls of the nearby deceased, and that allows him to destroy objects at will, by (according to Scar) skipping the first step of a transmutation (Understanding) and performing only the second (Decomposing) stopping just before the third (Reconstruction). However, Edward later explains that Scar does perform the first step, as he wouldn't be able to change his arm's alchemy otherwise. This is shown later on when Edward prevents Scar from decomposing his arm by including other metals in to it, without Scar's knowledge. Scar, not able to complete the first step of transmutation (Understanding) and is stopped from destroying Edward's arm. Scar is first introduced while trying to gain access to the State Library, which held books only a State Alchemist would be privy to. There he had hoped to learn the nature of the strange markings on his arm - a "gift" from his older brother - but is instead driven off when his arm is inadvertently revealed by Edward Elric. He later learns of the power in his arm after killing Nina Tucker (out of sympathy for her chimeric condition) and he begins a killing spree of retribution, passing judgment on all State Alchemists for their crimes committed against the Ishbalan people in the name of the state. Scar is quite strong (He kills a soldier in Central, holding him several inches off the ground with his right arm alone) and couples the destructive power of his right arm with surprising quickness - In Episode 14, he encounters Brigadier General Basque Grand and closes the distance between the two with such speed that the military's most feared hand-to-hand combat fighter had no chance to defend himself and was brutally killed in a matter of seconds. In Episode 41, Scar is able to swiftly dodge Kimblee's enhanced alchemy as they battle through the streets of Lior.
Scar has a grave personality and although he is not heartless, (he gives his victims time to pray, and at one point promises Ed that he has no intention of harming Al, since Al is not a State Alchemist), he is quite ruthless and determined to carry out his revenge on State Alchemists. Even though he acknowledges that he is on the wrong path, and that what he is doing is an affront to his own god, he does not waver from it.
Due to Scar's vendetta against State Alchemists, Edward found himself a target of silver pocket watch - the trademark item of the State Alchemist. Edward mentioned that he had given up being a State Alchemist. Scar told Edward that he was better off and they parted ways. When he later encountered Edward with his watch again, he put the Full Metal Alchemist back on his target list. When Edward learned of Scar's part in Nina's death, it made their relationship a very personal grudge. Scar nearly killed Edward on a couple of occasions, most notably in Episodes 14 and 15. In 14, he battled the two Elric brothers briefly, until Major Armstrong interfered and gave the Elrics time to escape. Despite the fact that the battle did not conclude, Scar obviously had the advantage. When they met again in Episode 15, Scar easily beat both the Elrics, and would have killed Ed if not for the arrival of a number of military personnel.
But Scar's relationship with the Elric brothers, particularly Alphonse, changes as the story progresses. Touched by their brotherly love, Scar promises Edward that he would not kill Alphonse. Later, in the 5th Laboratory, Scar again refrains from trying to kill Edward when Edward chooses not to sacrifice prisoners to create the Philosopher's Stone. After working together to save the young Ishbalan refugee Rick from mercenaries posing as the state military, Edward and Scar reach an uneasy détente until they met again in Liore.
Scar later learned what Dr. Marcoh realized earlier - that his arm is actually an incomplete Philosopher's Stone itself, created from the transmutation of countless Ishbalans who died in the war; it causes Scar intense pain when it absorbs another incomplete Philosopher's Stone. Scar's brother gave him the arm to save his life after he had been gravely wounded by Kimblee. Although his brother sacrificed himself, Scar still harbored for him a deep hatred. His brother's practicing of the alchemic arts - even if it was to find a way to bring back the woman both he and Scar had loved - was forbidden, a sin never to be forgiven.
Scar concluded that he needed the Philosopher's Stone to stop the actions of the state military, and decided to finish what Mattias started: creating a complete Philosopher's Stone. To that end, he learned the necessary alchemy from the Ishbalan exile who had taught his brother and became an exile himself. He goes to Lior, and he is briefly seen in several episodes dragging a rock around the city, though at the time it is not known why. The military eventually gets word that he is in Lior, and goes there in force. The Elrics were also headed to Lior and meet up with Mustang at the military's camp.
There, the Elrics figure out what Scar was shown doing with the rock he was dragging; he was making a transmutation circle through out all of Lior. Ed figures out that its purpose is to create the Philosopher's Stone by sacrificing thousands of people, such as the population of Lior. Ed goes into Lior and confronts Scar, where he demonstrates that he can counter Scar's alchemy by continually changing the composition of his automail so Scar can't decompose it. The fight is decidedly one sided until Ed lets his guard down and Scar grabs his real arm. With Scar threatening to destroy Ed's real arm, Ed appears ready to kill him when Lust intervenes. Scar recognizes her as his brother’s fiancé and brandishes a locket at her that makes her collapse.
After Gluttony rescues her, Scar and Ed reach another truce when Lyra(Dante), and Rose come upon them. Scar recounts his history to Ed and explains how he knew the woman that became Lust, and Ed reveals that the locket had a strand of hair from Lust's human form. "Lyra" then reveals that Scar does not intend to destroy the city's inhabitants, but instead is using Lior as bait so that the military will send in his "ingredients" while the townspeople escape. Ed sends a warning letter to Mustang detailing Scar's entire plan, and King Bradley decides to wait to invade.
However, Kimblee had already been ordered in and told to preemptively kill in order to stir up the rebels. In addition, Colonel Archer decides that he doesn't want to wait, and sends 7,000 troops to the boundaries of Liore. Scar learns that Kimblee is in Lior, and with the evacuation nearly finished, goes to confront him. While Scar recognizes Kimblee instantly, Kimblee can't remember who Scar is until he sees the scar in Scar's forehead, which he recognizes as his handiwork. He also rather nonchalantly notes that he remembered blowing Scar's arm off, but that Scar seemed to have gotten another one. Kimblee and Scar engage in combat, but as Kimblee reveals his Red Stone amplifier, it is absorbed into Scars arm, and Kimblee realizes that the new arm had come from Scar's brother.
Al talks for a few seconds to Scar before Kimblee shoves Al at Scar. In an unfortunate turn of events, Ed's pocket watch, which is in Al's possession at the time, had been packed with Red Stones without Ed's knowledge. Scar inadvertently absorbs them upon contact with Al, and the pain of absorbing them distracts him enough that Kimblee is able to grab Scar's left arm and turn it into a bomb. Scar however, decomposes his arm to keep it from exploding, and decomposes a large portion of Kimblee's chest all in short order. Kimblee however, manages to hold onto life long enough to transmute Al into a time bomb. Lust ends up arriving a few moments after Kimblee's death to see if being with Scar can cause some of the memories of her previous life to resurface.
She sees Al, and tells Scar that he should leave Al and go make the stone. However, Scar then transfers his incomplete Stone into Al in order to save him from Kimblee's alchemy. Scar explains to Lust that he would do this because the Elrics had helped him to reconcile his feelings for his own brother. A while later from his position outside Lior, Archer sees Scar dumping Kimblee's body over a wall. This gives him an excuse to attack, and he sends his troops in. Ed, who had evacuated Lior after confronting Wrath and Sloth, circles back around and joins the last group of soldiers going into Liore. He tells them to stop, explaining what Scar has done and furious because he thinks that the military ignored his warning. The soldiers don't understand, and they argue with him that they were ordered to go in.
Scar then suffered injuries from bullet wounds incurred from shielding Lust from soldiers who fired on her (out of reflex, he says), even though the bullets could not harm her. Just before he left to activate the transmutation circle in Liore, Lust asked Scar what his real name was. Scar replied that he once had a name, but felt that, because his sins had transformed him from the man he once was, the name no longer held meaning for him. Shortly thereafter, Scar used the last of his strength to activate the giant transmutation circle covering the city of Liore, resulting in Al becoming the Philosopher's Stone. Scar perished from his wounds just before his transmutation took him, mentally reconciling with his brother. The reaction kills everyone in Liore, save Archer, (severely maimed) and the troops that Ed managed to stall.
In the anime, his arm glowed when he touched the chimera that was once Nina Tucker and became suddenly aware of her situation. He was also able to transmute the words in Marcoh's notes into an orb of energy and was able to decode and understand in a matter of seconds. In Conqueror of Shamballa, an alternate version of Scar is seen near the end driving a truck with gypsies next to an alternate version of Lust.
Last Words: A man who inflicts suffering can't rest; his guilty mind won't allow it. But today I can finally close my eyes to the living nightmare and lay down knowing that I won't wake again. Brother...
[edit] In the Manga
In the manga, he shares many attributes with the anime version, except that he was the person who killed Winry's parents in cold blood, not Roy Mustang. The incident occurred as a result of his brother giving up his life and arm to save Scar's after he had been gravely wounded by Kimblee. Enraged by his brother's death at the hands of Amestrians, he goes on a rampage and kills the Rockbells, who were treating his injuries, and nearly everyone around him. He is portrayed as more relentless and ruthless in his vengeance, while the anime had him as a good man who was consumed by revenge for his people. He is also a highly skilled Warrior Priest.
Scar is both a threat to the military and the Homunculi. While he targets primarily State Alchemists in the State military, his relentless quest threatens to destroy all of the Homunculi's precious alchemist human sacrifices. As such, they have made many attempts to kill him, albeit unsuccessfully.
Scar was almost caught by the military after fighting the Elrics (Riza Hawkeye shoot him in the leg), but he escapes and eventually encounters Mei Chang, a girl from the country of Xing. She saves him and uses alchemy to heal his wound. He agrees to help Mei find her pet panda out of pity because Mei's clan was also under threat of extinction as the Ishbalans were. Scar's group also acquires the disgraced former Lieutenant Yoki, who ends up getting kicked out of the slums where he has been living. Scar, for saving Yoki's life, forces the pitiful dismissed soldier to become his servant. When Yoki inquires about Scar's real name (in hopes of using it to exploit Scar), Scar replies that in Ishbal, names are sacred because they are blessings from god and goes on to say that he has discarded it like many other things in his life.
Scar and Mei Chang end up stumbling upon the Elric Brothers and Ling/Greed in the Homunculi lair, where Ed revealed to him the fact that Envy sparked the Ishbal rebellion. Scar demands an explanation for the act, vowing to send the Homunculi to Ishbala before declaring they deserve even less. Unlike the Elrics, Scar and Mei Chang are able to use their alchemy when in the lair, and Scar makes use of this to create a dustbomb to cover his handing over of Mei to Alphonse while he escapes on his own. As he escapes, he hears Dr. Marcoh's voice in Father's hideout. He finds the doctor, who asks Scar that kill him. Scar agrees to fulfill Marcoh's wish in return for the true story behind the Ishbal Massacre.
In chapter 60, the flashback of the Ishbalan extermination campaign finally revealed a secret to Scar's arm. His brother, who had been doing research on Rentanjutsu (alchemy from Xing) and Renkinjutsu (alchemy from Amestris) in order to help Ishbalans win against the Amestris army, showed Scar and other men the products of his work: two tattooed arms. He explained to Scar the three parts of alchemy (understanding, deconstruction, and reconstruction), and that the tattoos on the right arm cause deconstruction while the left arm causes reconstruction. The significance of this innovation was that Scar's brother could bypass the need for a transmutation circle. Even if Scar wanted to finally break Ishbalan teaching and perform transmutation alchemy, he cannot because the right arm (which is assumed to originally belong to his brother) is only designed for destroying.
After learning the truth behind his brother's research, Scar decides to spare Marcoh's life to help him learn more. As of this moment, Scar and his group make their way to the North where the secrets of the research Scar's brother are hidden. Recently, Scar is shown fighting a newly released Kimblee.
[edit] Trivia
- His usual trademark are the victims of his murders. In the manga he uses his arm to destroy a person from the inside out to the point where blood explodes out from of the person's body.In the anime he always decompose and explodes the victim's brains, subsequently blowing up their skulls and sending out a stream of blood from all directions.
- He knows all the titles and names of every State Alchemist, even retired ones.
- Scar's religion, homeland and culture is possibly linked to a Hindu concept known as Ishvara. In addition, Scar's religion, homeland, and culture may well be an allusion to Islam. (The series often mixes religious concepts quite freely)
- The words on Scar's arm are:
dopo la terra sic ca a ndan, colia
The exact ordering of the words can be disputed. Some animation and even some books incorrectly show the second word as "aa" rather than "la". Terra is another, lesser known name for the Earth. Of the words, "colia" is probably from the Greek "Kolia" and means "voice of god" which may be a religious allusion to the Philosopher's Stone. The word "ndan" may or may not be the biblical Adam. The word "ca" is a Latin abbreviation of "Circa" The phrase may not seem correct when translated into English because it was translated into Latin from Japanese. A potential translation is "after the land around the time of Adam, the voice of God". "Dopo la terra" is Italian for "After Earth".
[edit] Voice Actors
| Japanese Cast [1] | English Cast [2] | Brazilian Cast [3] | French Cast | Spanish Cast [4] | Filipino Cast [5] | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ryotaro Okiayu | Dameon Clarke | Afonso Amajones | Antoine Tome | Adolfo Nittoli | Vincent Gutierrez |
| 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 |
