Edward Elric

Edward Elric is the principle character of the Fullmetal Alchemist franchise of manga, anime and games, and is introduced as a principal character in The Interference II. The youngest State Alchemist in history, Edward is the Fullmetal Alchemist of the title, a label inspired by his steely will and his automail prosthetics. He and his brother Alphonse Elric are on a quest to gain their original bodies back.

History
Edward and Alphonse were born to Hohenheim and Trisha Elric. They were only very small when Hohenheim left home, leaving Trisha as their sole carer. To help her along, they began studying the alchemy books in their father's room, becoming very skilled and surprising their mother with their innate talents at such a young age.

During their youth, however, Trisha contracted a fatal illness that had been spreading in the East, and collapsed in her home. At her funeral, Edward vowed to find a way to bring his mother back to life using alchemy. They stayed at their friend Winry's house for a few years, continuing to glean information from their books, before meeting up with an alchemist under the name of Izumi Curtis. After a test of their understanding, she trained them, and the boys returned to Resembool with a newfound determination.

The boys created a complex transmutation circle and gathered the ingredients found in a human body, while also offering their own blood, and began the transmutation privately in their homes. Unfortunately, this broke a vital law of alchemy, and the incident left Edward without half of his left leg, and Alphonse with no body. In addition, the creature revived was a mass of organs and not much else. Desperate to at least have one family member back, Edward fused Alphonse's soul to a suit of armour, offering up his right arm. Alphonse then took his crippled brother to the Rockbells.

The military, however, had caught some wind of the incident, and sent Roy Mustang, then a Lieutenant Colonel, to the home to investigate. While horrified at what had happened, Mustang offered Edward a place in the military, with full financial backing that would allow him to find a way to return his and Alphonse's bodies to their original state. Inspired by the offer (and feeling much guilt as to the fate of his brother), Edward insisted on receiving full automail to treat his amputations instead of regular prosthetics, and made a full recovery in a single year, a third of the time for an adult.

Once he was on his feet and able to defend himself, he and Alphonse set off for Central City. Edward passed the State Alchemist examination and was awarded the title of 'Fullmetal Alchemist' one week later. The boys returned home, and burned down their house as a symbol of their inability to turn back.

The Interference II
One morning, Edward and Alphonse are headed out to the desert following reports about the cult of Letoism in Lior. After complaining about the hunger and drought, they end up coming into contact with Erica Karsath, who has simply appeared. Erica immediately tries to hug Edward, much to his terror, but they cannot leave her alone in the desert, so she tags along with them to Lior. They find themselves sitting at a bar when a religious broadcast turns on, giving them the chance to ask questions without arousing much suspicion.

After an accident causes them to demonstrate alchemy to the locals, they are intercepted by a group of youths who know Erica, proving to be her brother Alex and his friends Sora, Riku and Kairi. Those four claim to be looking for Erica but also want to meet up with Cornello as well so, on Sora's suggestion, they group up in investigating the temple and the cult, taking local resident Rose as a guide. However, during their investigation, in which the cult opposes them, he begins to notice that his new friends seem to be pulling a massive array of mysterious powers out of their asses. They also encounter strange monsters - some, Erica calls Golems, while others, Alex refers to as Heartless and Nobodies, and Sora, Riku and Kairi seem to be personally familiar with them both.

Upon meeting Cornello and letting him expose his plans for Lior, Edward is shocked to find Rose stands with the villain, and that the reason for this is her want to bring her boyfriend back to life. Using Cornello's chimera, Edward reveals his automail arm and the reason why he and his brother are, respectively, mutilated and disembodied.

Personality
Edward is known as a child prodigy, being the State Alchemist with the youngest qualification age on record. While some of his knowledge was awarded to him from opening the gate, Edward had already proven to be apt at alchemy, capable of decoding the texts owned by his father, and producing an (incomplete) formula for reconstructing a human being at age eleven. This, combined with his natural cockiness, allows him to be very confident, although maybe too much, as his pride makes him infamously angry at jokes about his stature.

Though appearing standoffish, Edward is actually quite caring, though it is mostly limited to people he considers family. His love for his mother was so strong that he attempted to bring her back to life, and his need to recover Alphonse both cost him his leg and drove him to join the military to fund research of the Philosopher's Stone in order to restore Alphonse to normal.

Appearance
At four-foot-eleven in height, Edward is extremely short for his age, but also somewhat muscular. He has long blond hair tied in a low braid at the back with long bangs, and golden eyes. Edward's costume consists of a large red trenchcoat with a Flamel (Izumi Curtis's symbol) on the back in black, with a sleeveless black shirt and black jacket underneath. His trousers are made of black leather, and he wears elevator boots. On his waist is a belt where he keeps his State Alchemist watch (a special form of ID unique to the Amestris State Military). Edward's right arm and left leg are both automail prosthetics made of steel and resembling armour.

Powers and Weapons
Edward is a powerful State Alchemist, notable for his young age. As the Fullmetal Alchemist, he receives government wages, making him fairly wealthy, and has a high position, allowing him to enter some restricted areas and pursue his goals on military business. In turn, he uses these things to research the Philosopher's Stone.

Unlike many (if not all) State Alchemists, Edward's incredible alchemical prowess stems partly from the human transmutation attempt he and Alphonse made as children. While he was already very competent and well-learned, opening the Gate to recover his brother resulted in him absorbing a large amount of knowledge about the science. Edward was then gifted with the power to produce alchemical reactions by simply clapping his hands to produce a circle momentarily. Edward uses this to create very quick, small alchemy, such as spikes from the ground or moving bombs, during battle.

Edward's fighting skills are also augmented by his automail. Although automail is simply intended as a prosthetic replacement for real limbs, and is limiting in some aspects, Ed utilises its steel components many times as a shield or to produce blades with which to fight, and can punch and kick very painfully regardless.

In Guardia, Edward learns Fire magic, allowing him to attack from a distance using magic instead of alchemy. His Fire techs are the same as Lucca's.

Source games

 * Fullmetal Alchemist 2: Curse of the Crimson Elixir, 2004