In Fullmetal Alchemist Edward was born in a small town named Resembool in the nation of Amestris, living with his younger brother
Alphonse and their parents
Trisha Elric and
Van Hohenheim. After Hohenheim left the family on a journey early in their lives, Edward developed a loathing for their father as he and Alphonse learned to use
alchemy before Trisha died of an illness years later. The two brothers concentrated on studying alchemy in the hopes of bringing their mother back to life, and trained with a skilled alchemist named
Izumi Curtis. When they make the attempt to revive their mother, it failed and the brothers paid a bigger price via the Law of Equivalent Exchange: which states that every outcome requires an equal payment. Edward lost his left leg while meeting the metaphysical being known as , gaining great knowledge as well as the prodigious ability to perform transmutations just by clapping his hands together without the need of a Transmutation Circle. As Alphonse's entire being was taken by Truth, Edward uses his newly gained knowledge in sacrificing his own right arm to retrieve Alphonse's soul and bind it to a nearby suit of armor. Edward joins the State Military due to Roy Mustang's guide. He becomes the youngest State Alchemist, receiving the title of "Fullmetal Alchemist" shortly thereafter from the military head,
Führer King Bradley. For the next few years, the Elric Brothers begin an extensive search for the legendary Philosopher's Stone in order to restore their bodies. Besides his abilities as an alchemist, Edward is a formidable fighter as a result of his training with Izumi, who had extensively trained both brothers in
martial arts. During their search for the Stone, Edward and Alphonse had a near-death experience when attacked by
Scar, a vengeful Ishvalan targeting State Alchemists for the mass murder of his people during the Ishvalan Civil War. They also meet a former State Alchemist Tim Marcoh who gives them the method of creating a Philosopher's Stone. The brothers later get revelations in the form of immortal beings known as the
homunculi. When Edward and Alphonse discover that the homunculi and the Philosopher's Stone are related, they work together with Mustang and the Xingese prince Lin Yao to find them. But the Elric brothers meet the homunculus whom the homunculi call "
Father," who is the true leader of Amestris with Bradley being a human-based homunculus. The brothers are forced to keep working with the military as Bradley uses Winry as a hostage. Forced to comply, the Elrics travel to the northern area of the country in order where they eventually reveal what they know to General
Olivier Mira Armstrong while dealing with the homunculus Sloth. Shortly after their arrival, the State Alchemist
Solf J. Kimblee bring Winry to the north as a hostage, unbeknownst to Winry, to force Edward's help in hunting Scar. But the brothers and Scar made their peace as they end up using his help so Alphonse can take Winry to safety. Upon their success, joined by Lin after he willingly became a host for Greed, Edward learns the Father's full plan of making a massive human transmutation circle out of the country of Amestris to create a Philosopher's Stone. Edward later reunites with Alphonse and their father as they and their allies formulate an attack on Central City from all sides. The group make their way into the underground complex while dispatching many of the homunculi, but the Elric Brothers, Izumi, Honenhiem, and Mustang are captured by Father who uses them to absorb the souls of Amestrians to absorb the being beyond the Gate of Truth. But Honenheim and Scar act out their backup plans to return the recently stolen souls to their bodies and enable every alchemist to fighting the severely weakened Father. Joining the fray after defeating Pride, Edward loses his automail while battling Father. Alphonse transmutes his soul in order to restore Edward's original flesh-and-blood arm. After defeating Father, Edward manages to bring Alphonse back by sacrificing his own ability to use alchemy. The brothers return to their hometown to live normal lives, but are motivated by the memories of Nina and others they failed to save to learn new methods of alchemy to prevent such tragedies from being repeated. Two years later, Edward decides to head westward for their research with Winry accompanying him as they progressively developed a romantic relationship over the course of their adventure and eventually confessed their feelings to each other. In the epilogue, Edward and Winry are revealed to have married and have a son and daughter together.
In the first anime Although following the series storyline to an extent, the first anime's storyline diverts with Edward learning the secret to destroying a
homunculus during his encounter with Greed, whom he kills in an effort to save Alphonse. When he learns of Scar's creation of a Philosopher's Stone within Alphonse, Edward saves the people of Lior from being sacrificed for its creation. During his battle against the homunculi, Edward is killed by
Envy, who is revealed to be Edward and Alphose's half-brother, but Alphonse trades himself for his brother's revival. In doing so, however, Alphonse's armor with the philosopher's stone within it is used up and he disappears. After being revived, Edward sacrifices his own life to bring back his brother in exchange. As a result, Edward finds himself on the other side of the Gate, a
parallel world which greatly resembles the real world during
World War II, while Alphonse recovers his original body. Determined to return to Alphonse, Edward becomes involved in rocketry research in
Germany, with the intention of using that technology to return to his home world. In the feature film,
Fullmetal Alchemist the Movie: Conqueror of Shamballa, set two years after the end of the anime, Edward has been living in Germany and looks for a way to return to his world. At the film's end, he decides to stay in the parallel world along with Alphonse so that they may try to protect both worlds.
In other media Edward also appears in almost all the
Fullmetal Alchemist original video animations (OVAs). In the first OVA he appears as a
super deformed version of himself at the movie's wrap-up party; in the second, he appears shortly as an old man living in modern-day Tokyo; and in the third OVA, he plays a part in the battle against the first anime's
homunculi. As the series' titular character, Edward is playable in all
Fullmetal Alchemist video games. The three games for the
PlayStation 2 –
Fullmetal Alchemist and the Broken Angel,
Curse of the Crimson Elixir and
Kami o Tsugu Shōjo – feature exclusive stories in which the Elrics keep searching for the Philosopher's Stone. In the
Nintendo DS game,
Fullmetal Alchemist Dual Sympathy, he and Alphonse replay the first anime series. He is also featured in the
Fullmetal Alchemist Trading Card Game. There are two
character CDs featuring tracks based on Edward's character. The first is named and the second
Theme of Edward Elric. Both albums were performed by Ed's Japanese voice actress,
Romi Park. He also appears in each
light novel written by Makoto Inoue which continue Edward and Alphonse's search for the Philosopher's Stone and at the same time feature different stories from the ones appearing the manga and the anime. ==Reception==