The Fullmetal Fan Club!

Why I love Ed and Roy's Relationship (no not like that you sicko)

I talk a LOT in this book, and on my blog in general, about my love for Roy and Riza's relationship, but something I haven't really gone into a lot of depth about is how subtly brilliant I think Roy and Ed's character dynamic is.

First of all, let me just stay that anyone who ships Roy and Ed is stupid. Not just because of the age difference, but because there isn't anything remotely romantic about their relationship. Roy and Ed don't have anywhere CLOSE to the same intimacy with each other that they have with Riza and Winry, and at least on the surface, it seems like their feelings towards each other amount to little more than disdain. However, when it comes to the actual nature of their interactions, I find that Roy and Ed's relationship actually isn't recognized enough by fans.

     Though they have several fundamental differences, Ed and Roy have a lot in common. They're both stubborn, sarcastic, extremely intelligent young men whose brilliance has allowed them to obtain levels of power uncommon for others their age. Though they can appear prickly and arrogant to those who don't know them, this conceals strong morals and intense protective instinct towards those they love. They also both carry the burden of past regrets, and their primary focus is on working towards a way to make amends for their mistakes. Ed has a crippling distrust for male authority figures due to his resentment towards Hohenheim, and his childlike naïveté can often be exhausting to the more hardened Roy, so their personalities tend to clash. But this surface abrasiveness conceals a genuine mutual respect and understanding for each other that becomes apparent if you look at closely at a few scenes.

Roy understands Edward because he sees himself in him, which is perhaps why he's so hard on him at times. When Ed first meets Roy, he's at his lowest point, having failed to bring his mother back to life, costing himself an arm and a leg and his brother his entire body. Roy, having been ordered to take hundreds, possibly thousands of lives in the Ishvalan War, understands how it feels to have to keep on living after making a seemingly irrevocable mistake that will likely haunt you for the rest of your life. As we later find out, Roy is determined to get as close as possible to making amends for his mistake by reforming Amestris as its leader. So when he sees dead-eyed twelve year old Edward in his wheelchair, he encourages him to do the same thing: to take action towards amending his mistake rather than let it destroy him. Perhaps, on some subconscious level, the idea that Ed and Al may be able to get their bodies back gives Roy hope that he will one day be able to make his dream a reality too.

     Edward, though he's loathe to show it, begins to respect Roy a lot more after episode 30, when Riza tells Edward about Ishval and Roy's dream, as well as the knowledge that they may be tried as war criminals once they succeed in turning Amestris into a democracy. While he still probably doesn't LIKE him, Edward now understands that Roy is a lot more than just his arrogant, obnoxious boss: underneath his facade he's a genuinely principled and altruistic person with whom Amestris is likely in good hands. Their shared interest in rooting out corruption in the military and taking down the Furher gives them something in common, and the next time Ed sees Roy, he tells him he won't pay back his debt until Roy becomes Furher, which is basically his own begrudging way of affirming his support.

     There are two incredibly underrated scenes in Part Five where we get to see how much Edward genuinely respects Roy. In Beyond the Inferno, before Riza is able to talk Roy out of his rage-fueled downward spiral, Ed asks Roy an armor-piercing question: "Is that the face you plan to wear when you're leading this country?!" I adore this interaction for how it shows Edward's wisdom and maturity. Roy is nearly twice Edward's age, but in this moment... Ed has to step up and be the adult. When Roy is too blinded by his emotions to realize he is nearing the point of no return, Ed is able to see that in the long term, getting momentary vengeance will only hurt him. Then in Lost Light, after Roy loses his eyesight and Father delivers his whole Hannibal Lecture about how "humans who dare to play God must pay the price... that is TRUTH", the first person to stick up for Roy is... Edward. Vic Mignogna's voice performance adds so much to this scene. His voice is shaking, and he sounds like he's just barely repressing his fury. And it's so moving, because after so many of their interactions involving Ed being angry at Roy, this time, he's angry FOR him. Edward is essentially the audience surrogate in this scene. He's just as affected as we are by seeing someone as strong and determined as Roy be made so completely vulnerable, and deep down, he wants Roy to achieve his goal just as much as we do, so after everything they've been through, seeing him immediately jump to defend his honor was just so satisfying. We also get to see Roy's protective instincts towards Edward during part five, which is also helped a lot by Travis's voice acting: he really sells the anger and horror at not being able to protective him when Ed is taken into the portal, and hearing him cheer "FULLMETAL!" during Ed's final fight with Father never fails to make me grin like an idiot.

     Ed and Roy may drive each other up the wall 90% of the time, but in the end, they genuinely have each other's backs and root for each other to succeed. I have no clue how to end this other than that I hope this semi-essay was able to do justice to their weird uncle/chaotic gremlin nephew dynamic. This has been in my drafts for like 8 months and I'm glad I finally got around to finishing it!