Lyra

Lyra (ライラ, Raira), is a young woman who appears only in the 2003 anime and is first introduced as the highest ranking subordinate of Yoki. Yoki holds her in high esteem for her powerful alchemic abilities, and as such makes her his personal bodyguard and enforcer. She also served as his and Edward Elric's maid when dining in Yoki's mansion. An ambitious but somewhat misguided woman, Lyra aspires to one day become a State Alchemist and serve her country. She uses a necklace that bears a small transmutation circle to condense air into a liquid state and vaporize it again, forcing it at high velocity toward her opponents. The shockwave created has the power to destroy buildings. When she is defeated in battle by Edward, she learns her mistake in following Yoki and becomes the apprentice of Dante three years later in an effort to improve her already strong abilities. Edward and his brother Alphonse meet her in Dante's mansion and are surprised to see her.



She apologizes to Edward and Alphonse for her actions when they last met and tells them that they were the reason for her kinder change of heart and outlook on life. Edward comments that she has done a 180 when she expresses her admiration of them. She is knocked unconscious by one of the chimeras led by the Homunculus Greed when they are kidnapping Al. She is later shown using alchemy to fix the dishes that the kidnappers broke. The aging Dante however, selfishly performs a body switch with the innocent Lyra by using the Philosopher's Stone soon afterwards, then proceeds to kill her so that her secret would remain hidden.

Throughout the latter half of the series, Lyra's appearance (albeit possessed by Dante) becomes the face of the main antagonist.



A parallel version of her serves tea to Edward and Fritz Lang in the film that concluded the story of the 2003 anime, Fullmetal Alchemist the Movie: Conqueror of Shamballa. She dismissively turns away when she catches Edward staring in shock at her.

Trivia

 * In the English dub, her name is pronounced with an 'ee' sound instead of 'ai' in Japanese (which suggests that it should sound as Lie-ra).
 * Lyra's alchemic attack is similar to a force known as Cavitation inertial cavitation.
 * Lyra is a constellation and is Latin for the lyre, a stringed musical instrument.
 * Lyra and Isaac the Freezer (a character exclusive to the 2009 anime) both share a similar Transmutation Circle. Due to their similar style, they might have the same ability of freezing, due to Isaac freezing water and Lyra chilling the air around her.