Frank Archer

Frank Archer (フランク・アーチャー, Furanku Āchā?) is a character exclusive to the 2003 anime, introduced as the replacement of Maes Hughes. He is cool, calm, and collected, with a love for violence and war. He dreams of becoming a hero on the battlefield, viewing it as a way to rise up the ranks of the military. To this end he does whatever is necessary to please his superiors and always ensures that his actions earn him some publicity. As the series progresses, Archer develops an interest in the military's various projects, such as the homunculi, the chimera, and the Philosopher's Stone. His ambitions of gaining the latter cause the left half of his body to be used in its creation, forcing him to undergo automail modification to regain his mobility. The operations leave him mentally unstable, after which he rages through Central while carrying out Führer King Bradley's ordered executions, only to be killed by Riza Hawkeye.



Colonel Archer is one of the few military figures that know of the Fuhrer's secret. He doesn't mind that his country's leader is a homunculus, however, and merely takes orders as if he were taking them from a human. Colonel Archer is all for war, and dedicates himself to starting another. After meeting the sadistic Solf Kimblee at the Southern Military Headquarters, he gives him an offer to have Kimblee exonerated for his past crimes and being reinstated back into the military. Ultimately, Kimblee accepted the offer when he leaks info on Greed's hideout, and Colonel Archer sends his troops. Archer then makes Kimblee his assistant, and Pride sends the Crimson Alchemist after Ed. Archer was the one who led the military assault on Reole, which caused the deaths of thousands when the city itself turned out to be a giant transmutation circle. He also lost 7,000 troops, as well as half of his body. Frank Archer does anything he can to rise up through the military ranks. Even as a automail monster raging through central he still holds the dream of being a high ranked member of the military.

Trivia

 * Despite having the same canon for Automail as the manga (in which it says it takes at least 2-3 years for mere limb rehabilitation, half a year at the absolute least), Archer is somehow able to replace more than half of his entire body in a very short amount of time. It could possibly be the reason as to why he became so unstable, but technically he shouldn't even be able to move his new body.
 * It is possible that the Philosopher's Stone was used to speed up Archer's recovery.