full metal alchemist (spoilers?)

[gungrave515]

ok i just got done with the series and i followed it very good until i say about episode 40 then i got confuised just a little..so alchemy is really a form of withc craft or something? because when ed and als father were doing it and it was a flash back 2 400 years ago they said something about witch craft..and ...well basically can somebody just explain stuff a little for me from episode 45 to 51 ;(

[Sapphirefly]

I don't know if what I have to say will be extraordinarily helpful, but let's give it a whirl.

First off - watch the rest of the series. You really need to see it for yourself, but as I enjoy spoilers as well I'll answer a little bit around where I think you got confused.

So, Ed's father and his woman (Dante) used everyone living in a villiage to create the philosopher's stone, but after they'd done it, Ed's father was about to die, so Dante used the stone to transfix his soul onto someone else's body.

Does that answer your question?

[generalhs]

Alchemy was a real art practised in the middle ages, though not really the same as the alchemy shown in the show. Alchemy was the act of mixing potions. Most alchemists were looking to turn lead into gold (which the Philosopher's Stone supposedly could do) or find a secret to eternal life.

In fact, there was a real Hohenheim. He was one of the first and greatest alchemists.

[whatismyname51]

Indeed, generalhs is absolutely right. The black plague scenes they showed were a pretty cool tie-in, IMO...

Now, let's see...there's a gateway between two worlds. One world obviously seems symbolic of our plain of reality, which has developed highly from a mechanical/technological standpoint. The other side of the gate has developed strong alchemicly...

Alchemy isn't a form of witchcraft, I don't know WHAT you'd call it, but to perform alchemic reactions, it required human lives. From what I understand, souls stay trapped inside the gateway between the two worlds, and can be used as energy to create an alchemic reaction (?)

Dante believed that she had become a sort of god, someone who must monitor the world, and make sure that it didn't get out of control. She desired a new Philosopher's Stone in order to continue to body jump, to do this she used the homunculus to create wars and heartache and blah blah, it was all explained pretty clearly...

In the end, Al used his body, the Philosopher's Stone, to revive his Brother. Doing so destroyed him. So, Ed went to the gate to find his brother's soul, and equivalently sacrificed himself for Al's life. Al's soul was stuck in his 6 year old state, hence his voice hadn't changed since the flashbacks ...and so he came out in his 6 year old body, and Ed went into the gate...

...but made it all the way through to the other side, where he is now stuck.

-->Things I don't understand<--

In episode 3, Ed kicks Al into the pond during their mock battle. Re-watch it to see....why did Al's blood seal not wash away ????

If alchemy was supposed to develop instead of mechanics/technology ... how come they have such advanced automail? trains? phones? electricity?

[Solaria735]

Al actually gets his ten-year-old body back - he was ten when he lost his body trying to revive his mother.

As for the advanced automail and stuff in the FMA world- I don't think it was so much a "one world gets alchemy, and the other gets technology" sort of thing as much as the two worlds just developed differently. Of course, it's just a SHOW, and the automail and stuff was cool, so they included it. Trains and phones were useful, so they stayed. Just because there was alchemy doesn't mean it was a primitive or more advanced world- just a different one.

[whatismyname51]

heh...seemed they made it sound that way to me.

And that doesn't explain why Al's blood seal doesn't get washed away in Ep. 3 >_<

He SHOULD have died then...

[generalhs]

If alchemy was supposed to develop instead of mechanics/technology ... how come they have such advanced automail? trains? phones? electricity?

Alchemy didn't develop in place of technology. Hohenheim describes it more like, in the abscense of alchemy, our world developed better technology.

[TetsusiagaSlayer14]

So wat ur saying is that Alchemy is something that was actually practiced in the real world? Not just stuff from FMA and rpg games?

[Solaria735]

Do you mean the real world that we actually live in, or the "real world" that

Spoiler wrote:

was the other side of the gate that Ed ends up on?

Well, if you mean our real world, alchemy was a "science" that was practiced for hundreds of years, although it wasn't the same as alchemy in FMA. And there was an actual guy named Hohenheim who was, I believe, one of the first to write about the subject. However, the goal of alchemy was to change other substances into gold- not just change anything into anything else.

Of course, in fantasy (like FMA and RPGs), alchemy often took on the meaning of merely changing substances (although there were still rules to govern these transmutations).

[in4cu2bus0]

Yeah, im new here and just seen this posting. No i dont have any spoilers or answers to questions but just wanted to say that FMA is a hella good show and i cant wait to see more episodes. Oh and to the subject that yall are on i wish alchemic methods were used this day in time cuss that would be pretty cool to have gold stuff. oh and the whole having some technology wise, I mean come on just cuss their doing alchemy doesnt mean everyone else doesnt want the advancement in technology. As far as that goes FMA is just going the same direction that the real world would go if instead of the bible and things like that, it was alchemy and that sorta thing....we still have trains,planes and automobiles. lol aight later yall