Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood 30 The Ishvalan War of Extermination Early Reaction!
Added 2020-02-12 11:27:35 +0000 UTCCommentary begins at 13:37
Comments
Thanks for the approximate timeline and your context about Roy. It's fascinating to explore this idea that governments deceive so many people into committing horrible acts for their own self-interest.
Eric Reacts
2020-02-12 23:35:04 +0000 UTCThe timeline isn't really clear, but the annexation happened before the civil war broke out, possibly as much as a decade before Envy kicked off the war. During that time there was still some resentment and conflict between the Ishvalans and Amestris mainly by a smaller fringe group of Ishvalans, but the bulk of the Ishvalans lived in peace as Amestrian citizens. The biggest source of conflict seemed to have been over Amestris' use of alchemy, which the Ishvalans see as blasphemy since it allows alchemists to create things, and the Ishvalans believe their god is the One Creator. After Envy shot that child, it basically caused all those lingering resentments to boil over and a civil war broke out that lasted for 7 years. Even though Amestis had the Ishvalans outnumbered, the Ishvalans were able to hold their own ground and fight back because they were getting weapons and supplies smuggled in by the neighboring country of Aeurgo. It was only when the war entered the 8th year that it became a war of extermination, and once it got to that point, with the State Alchemists being called in, that it took about a year to come to a conclusion. I think Roy was one of the ones who really did believe that the Ishvalans were a threat to Amestris, at first. He's about 30 at this point in the series, and it's been about 13 years since the civil war broke out (8 years of the war itself, and 5 years since the war ended), so he was at the somewhat-impressionable age of 17 when the war first started, and by the time he graduated the military academy at 20, the war had spread far enough that most of the eastern sector of Amestris was involved, and the Ishvalans were starting to be a real threat to Central and other areas of the country. For him, joining the military as an alchemist would have looked like the way to protect his countrymen and their homes. Even after he joined the military, it was another 3 years before he, Riza, Hughes, Armstrong, Kimblee, etc. were all deployed to fight. I think he did get a major wake-up call during the war, but after the war ended, and he realized that atrocities would keep happening as long as a corrupt government was in charge, he stayed in the military to try to change things from the inside. That was the whole point of what he said to Riza "If I stray from this path, I want you to shoot me". He's relying on her to keep him honest and incorruptible while he tries to overthrow Bradley and bring some sanity back to the country.
Megan Saunders
2020-02-12 16:47:50 +0000 UTC
