Age: 15-16 (series), 18 (movie, end of the series)
Birthday: 1899
Birthplace: Resembool, Amestris
Family: Alphonse Elric (brother)
Trisha Elric (mother, deceased)
Van Hohenheim (father)
Affiliations: State Military
Pinako Rockbell
Izumi Curtis (teacher)
Roy Mustang (Commander)
Species: Human
Occupation: State Alchemist
Abilities: Alchemy, Martial Arts
Weapon: Alchemy, Automail arm and leg
Edward "Fullmetal Alchemist" Elric is a young alchemical prodigy. He is
the youngest State Alchemist ever to be recognized by the Amestris State
Military, having received the title at the age of 12. Ed's primary
motivation throughout the series is to return his younger brother,
Alphonse, to his original body, which was lost in a failed human
transmutation. Edward, despite his occasional bouts of immaturity, is a
selfless boy who gains a reputation as a "hero of the people" throughout
his youth. Notably, he doesn't seem concerned about returning his own
arm and leg, instead focusing entirely on Al's suffering.
Edward is small for his age, standing at only 149 cm (4'11"), however
his body is that of an experienced martial artist, with noticeable
muscles and a wealth of agility. Although he lacks both his right arm
and left leg, Ed's ability to fight is not impaired, and is in fact
improved, as he will often use alchemy to cause his metal arm to partly
transform into a blade or shield. His heavy automail limbs are
considered by him to be the very best in Amestris. They were made by his
childhood friend, Winry Rockbell, and she is constantly working on
them. He is able to think quickly, even in desperate situations, though
can still be frightened into paralysis. These qualities, combined with
his alchemical powers and physical strength, make him a formidable
fighter.
Born to Trisha Elric and Van Hohenheim of Resembool in the winter of
1899, Edward's first few years were relatively happy; but after the
sudden departure of his father during the lad's formative years, Ed was
left with his mother and younger brother Alphonse as his only family.
The three Elrics lived in peace in the rural village and the boys began
displaying a remarkable talent for alchemy at a young age, much to the
joyful astonishment of his mother. However, early in the year 1904,
Trisha contracted an illness that had been spreading in the area and
died, leaving her two sons orphaned. Even while mourning, mired in
grief, Edward vowed to his brother that the two of them would find a way
to bring their dear mother back to life with the power of alchemy.
Edward and Alphonse spent the next few years living on their own in the
Elric family home, supported by their close childhood friend Winry
Rockbell and her grandmother Pinako, and pursuing the alchemical
knowledge necessary for their planned resurrection. Although they had
gained a great deal of information and comprehension regarding the
extended basics of the craft, before long it became apparent to the
young prodigies that there was only so far they could go while being
self-taught. In a stroke of good fortune, Resembool was visited by an
exceptionally skilled alchemist named Izumi Curtis who, after some
persuasion, agreed to take the Elric brothers on as her apprentices
provided they pass a preliminary test. After they do, the Elric brothers
were subjected to Izumi's intensive alchemy and martial arts training,
growing significantly in both mind and body and gaining a great deal of
alchemical knowledge before returning to Resembool.
Though instructed specifically by Izumi to understand that death is an
irreversible part of the flow of the world and that acceptance of such
is important to the "One is All, All is One" concept, the boys dove
headlong into their plan to resurrect their mother upon their
homecoming, having advanced their knowledge while abroad and discovered
the basics to a forbidden practice called Human Transmutation.
Devising a Human Transmutation Circle, amassing the elemental
ingredients for an adult human body and offering their own blood as soul
and biological data, the boys secretly initiated the Human
Transmutation in their home. Unfortunately, the Human Transmutation
resulted in a Rebound.
Alphonse and Edward were pulled into The Gate. Encountering the
mysterious being called Truth, Edward was stripped of his left leg in
exchange for crossing into God's domain and peeking at the Gate's vast
wealth of alchemical knowledge. Maimed and bleeding, Edward was returned
to the human dimension to find that Alphonse had not yet returned from
his disappearance into the Gate, that the mother they had attempted to
revive was a grotesque mass of organs only capable of sustaining life
for a few moments and that his own sojourn into the Gate had granted him
the curious ability to perform transmutations merely by clapping his
hands together, without the aid of a Transmutation Circle - in the same
style used by Izumi. Desperate to at least have his brother by his side,
Edward willfully performed another Human Transmutation to call him
back, this time sacrificing his right arm in exchange for Al's soul,
which he bound alchemically to an antique suit of armor with a Blood
Rune before passing out from severe blood loss. Alphonse carried Ed to
the Rockbell house, where a shocked Pinako and Winry performed emergency
surgery to save the young boy's life.
On the night of the failed transmutation. Lt. Colonel Flame alchemist
Roy mustang came to the Rockbell's in response to a letter that Edward
and Alphonse had sent him in the mail asking about their Father. He was
shocked at the fact that the two boys had tried human alchemy and
survived, and informed them that they could become state alchemist and
maybe one day find a way to return their bodies to the way they were.
Desperate to get His younger brother's body back, Edward asked the
Rockbells to give him prosthetic limbs called automail. Though they
warned him the surgery would be painful, he said the pain was nothing
compared to what his brother had given up. He only took a year to adapt
to the automail at age 11 when it took most adults 3 years.