Giolio Comanche

Giolio Comanche, the Silver Alchemist, is an elderly, diminutive man whose thirst for battle belied by his grandfatherly countenance. He first appears in Chapter 43, being accosted by Scar during the night on the streets of Central City and again briefly in Chapters 58-59, during the flashback regarding the Ishval Civil War.

The Silver Alchemist is one of the State Alchemists sent into Ishval as part of Order 3066. Notably, Comanche is the only one among them shown smiling when the Order goes into effect. During the fighting, Comanche is seen cursing vehemently while being borne to the medical tent on a stretcher after being grievously wounded in the left leg, presumably by gunfire - to which then Captain Maes Hughes comments that the old man is lucky because he gets to be sent home early.

It is assumed that Comanche's injury necessitated the amputation of his leg, because he is without it when Scar confronts him, donning a peg leg in its place. Rather than shrink from the murderer's presence, Comanche prepares to combat him with a rather large grin on his face, complimenting Scar's bravery at attacking the famed Silver Alchemist head on. During their short skirmish, Comanche attempts to cut off Scar's left leg, calling it revenge for the leg that Ishval took from him, but is unable to inflict the murderer with any more than a graze. Comanche's own peg leg, however, is broken by Scar's destruction alchemy, causing the Silver Alchemist to fall into a river. Without any solid materials within reach, Comanche becomes easy prey for Scar underwater and is killed.

During their fight, Comanche comments that Scar, knowing only how to destroy with alchemy, is no match for those with the ability to create - a statement that Scar quotes back at Edward Elric a few chapters later.

Combat Alchemy
Like the Red Lotus Alchemist, the Silver Alchemist has transmutation circles tattooed to the palms of his hands, though in a far more elaborate and intricate manner. Comanche has differing circles on each palm and smaller circles on the tip of each finger and various alchemical texts and markings tattooed on each finger in between the circles. Because of this, the Silver Alchemist does not need to touch his hands together to form a circle, but does need to remove his gloves in order to fight with alchemy.

Comanche appears to have a penchant for blades, creating a large number of swords, shuriken and chained blades, and appears to be skilled in the use of all of them. The Silver Alchemist also seems to have grown quite accustomed to his prosthetic leg, as he maneuvers impressively upon it, dashing at great speeds, stopping sharply and performing a series of spinning attacks with it. In the manga, the tattoo on Comanche's left palm is a hexagram, but in the 2009 anime series, it was changed to a tattoo of scales, presumably to avoid any reference to Judaism.

Trivia

 * Giolio Comanche, like most military characters in Fullmetal Alchemist, is named after a military vehicle - the RAH-66 Comanche, an American armed reconnaissance helicopter. It is likely that Giolio's spinning attacks are meant as a reference to his namesake.


 * The character Giolio Comanche resembles and is possibly influenced by American Civil War veteran Daniel Sickles, Union General. Sickles, like Comanche, loses his leg in the war and is pulled from the battlefield in the same style Giolio was - screaming and cursing. They also share certain traits, such as notable moustache.