Roy Mustang

Roy Mustang (ロイ・マスタング), also known as the Flame Alchemist (炎の錬金術師), is the tritagonist of the Fullmetal Alchemist series. He is a State Alchemist and officer in the Amestrian State Military. A hero of the Ishval Civil War and Edward Elric's superior officer, Colonel Mustang is a remarkably capable commander who plans to become the next Führer of Amestris.

Appearance
Roy Mustang is a clean-shaven man with dark eyes. Roy's dark hair - perhaps in keeping with his persona - is worn casually unkempt, falling over his eyes; in more formal or somber situations, however, he is known to wear it neatly slicked back.

A great fan of classy attire, Mustang is rarely seen out of uniform (and even while in uniform will often don other accouterments, such as a long, black overcoat and white formal-wear gloves), but when dressed in civilian clothes, he appears rather partial to the three-piece suit and black tie (frequently coupled with classic scarves, polished dress shoes and the aforementioned overcoat and gloves). It may be interesting to note that Roy tends toward dark or neutral colors in his dress, such as dark blue, brown and black tempered with minimal white.

After the events of his fight with Lust in Chapter 39: Complications at Central/Episode 19: Death of the Undying (2009 series), Roy carries a faint scar on the back of his right hand in the shape of the Flame Alchemy Transmutation Circle. He also carries a large burn wound on his left side, lower back and abdomen from the same event.

Personality
On the surface, Roy seems to be shallow, self-absorbed, and an incorrigible womanizer, infamous among many of his colleagues and subordinates alike for the selfish and narcissistic aura he gives off. Easily as arrogant as his young protégé Edward, Colonel Mustang is one to act in an ostentatious manner and appears to act mostly out of self-interest rather than any sort of philanthropy.

He comes off to most as a sort of cocky layabout, shirking most of his duties and delegating his paperwork to subordinates while sitting idly at his desk with an amused smile on his face as he procrastinates, but quick to take action when it appears that there is glory and military notoriety to be gained. Roy is expertly manipulative and prone to think several steps ahead of those around him, giving him a remarkable talent for making subordinates act exactly as he wishes despite appearing not to have had a hand in their decisions - all traits which make the fact that he has managed to attain the lofty rank of colonel at such a young age a matter of public gossip.

Roy's also has a reputation of being a shameless flirt, and it's rumored that he spends much of his time cavorting about town with various women and wooing several of the servicewomen with his abundant charm, good looks and charisma. This adds another facet to his unpopularity among the enlisted men, many of whom fear having sweethearts and crushes romanced away from them by his hand. He has, however, never actually been shown to be on a serious date with any woman in the manga or 2009 anime; and any flirtatious interactions he had with women seemed to be nothing more than a cover to discretely pass along information.

However, while these traits do have a place in his real personality, much of his outward persona can perhaps be considered an intentional façade perfectly designed to cause those unfamiliar with him to underestimate his remarkable intelligence and ability. Mustang is an exceptional tactician, well-versed in various strains of combat theory and particularly talented in the realms of surreptitious information-gathering, covert operations and enemy ensnarement.

At the core, he is a remarkably devoted commander whose primary focus and personal duty is to his friends and subordinates. Though he hides it well behind a veil of cynicism and self-importance,  Mustang is a man who cares deeply about the people who trust and support him and goes to great lengths to ensure their safety and well-being, even at the risk of his own. As a man with considerable power, Mustang considers himself a protector to those without and acts accordingly, earning the staunch loyalty of his most trusted compatriots.

Unfortunately, his self-imposed position as protector has caused him to display a penchant toward stubbornness in regards to his pride on the field and a fiery temper, both of which have been shown to cloud his judgment in certain situations.

Riza Hawkeye
Easily the most significant of Roy's personal relationships, his connection with Lt. Hawkeye goes deeper and further back than any other. The daughter of Berthold Hawkeye, the man who taught Roy to use alchemy, Riza has known Roy throughout his youth and military career and has a personal stake in how he chooses to live his life. In turn, Roy has entrusted Hawkeye with his life as his personal assistant and bodyguard and has deemed her as both his conscience and executioner by giving her the express authority to shoot him in the back should he ever step off the righteous path.

They repeatedly demonstrate a deep, genuine sense of concern and devotion to each other as equals. Roy has stated many times that Riza is "truly kind" and "sweeter than she seems", although he's often seen complaining about Hawkeye being demanding and too stern with him. He enjoys teasing her at any given opportunity, especially at the times she shows her affections openly. He also has a tendency to act on impulse whenever Riza is in danger.

Though their relationship has not shown any explicit signs of crossing into traditional amatory during the series, there have been many scenes where such a romantic nature is implied.

Maes Hughes
Mustang's best friend from their shared days at the military academy, Maes Hughes is Roy's closest friend inside and outside of the military. Almost constantly calling Roy on the phone or dropping into his office to say hello, Maes' uplifting persona is an active deterrent to Colonel Mustang's often gloomy disposition. Maes is also the strongest secret supporter of Roy's bid for Führer, often giving him inside information from his position in the investigations office at Central Command as well as slipping him pointers on how to achieve his dream. Though Roy often receives Hughes with disdain and annoyance, when Maes is mysteriously murdered, Roy is overcome with grief and rage to the point that he becomes almost obsessed with finding his friend's killer.

Edward Elric
Officially, Mustang is Edward's superior officer, but their relationship is far from the typical professional connection. There exists between them a sort of amicable animosity, as Roy takes a great deal of personal pleasure in teasing Fullmetal and watching him squirm under his orders and, at the same time, Ed takes pleasure in getting around his orders and showing Mustang up whenever he manages to find an opportunity. Though their meetings are fraught with a great deal of apparent, mutual dislike, Flame and Fullmetal hold a great deal of respect for one another and are compatriots as well as co-conspirators in the secret battle against the Homunculi. Having originally scouted the young boy for the State Alchemist program and formed a bond with him, Roy genuinely wishes to see Edward fulfill his goal and Edward also subtly supports Mustang's secret bid to become the Führer and improve the country. Their personalities are quite similar, both being quite fond of boasting of their own abilities, but willing to do anything to protect their loved ones.

Lt. General Grumman
Roy's superior officer from his days at East Area Headquarters, General Grumman has played a sort of grandfatherly role in Roy's development as a soldier and officer. Having taught the young Flame Alchemist everything he knows about covert operations, subordinate coordination and womanizing, Grumman feels rather fondly for his protégé and is partly responsible for the young man's speedy rise through the ranks. Roy owes Grumman a great deal and trusts him enough to seek the old man's help and advice when he finds himself in a pinch.

Madame Christmas
Roy's foster mother and paternal aunt, Madame Christmas (real name Chris Mustang) raised Roy after his parents died in his early childhood. Madame Christmas treats Roy in a gruff, casual way, with a slight ironic tease, calling him "Roy-boy" even though her foster son is about 30 years old. Mustang seems to rely on Madame Christmas quite a lot, letting her in on his plans inside the military and conveying dangerous secrets to her. She acts as his information source, promoting fake dates of her employees with Mustang, where the girls usually get a payment for information they acquire from the Military Officers who seek their services. She's also Mustang's connection to General Grumman.

They tend to treat each other with sarcasm and a bit of bitterness, even though their conversations let in a sort of comfortable and old intimacy. As in almost every intimate relationship Mustang shares with other characters, his relationship with Madame Mustang has a good dose of mutual mocking and teasing.

Flame Alchemy
Even among the elite State Alchemists, Colonel Mustang is a particularly skilled alchemist adequately versed in standard physical transmutation, experimental theory and biological alchemy. However, the brilliant skill that has earned him his state license, national notoriety and the status of "hero" during the Ishval Civil War is his remarkably powerful fire-based combat style. Mustang's unique style of combat alchemy is made possible by his custom made gloves. Made of "pyrotex/ignition cloth," these gloves create a spark when Roy rubs his fingers together, and embroidered with unique flame alchemy Transmutation Circles, they allow him to manipulate the concentration of oxygen in the air. When attacking, Mustang raises the density of the oxygen surrounding his target to a level at which it becomes volatile and creates narrow pathways of oxygen between himself and his target through which he can direct the ensuing flash fire that blossoms from the spark of his gloves. As a result, he can incinerate any number of enemies in the field while deftly avoiding any adjacent allies. The 'snap' sound heard at the start of these transmutations is caused by the instantaneous speed at which the highly concentrated gases and sparks react together and pop (and not Mustang's fingers actually 'snapping', to common belief.)

It has also been revealed that Roy is able to delegate each hand to a different flame effect, possibly due to a difference in hand dexterity. The right hand appears to allow for large explosive attacks, while the left allows for smaller, but strong and very accurate pinpoint flame attacks.

While Mustang's Flame Alchemy cannot be used on rainy days because the humidity makes it impossible for his gloves to produce sparks, it becomes clear that water itself does not make the Colonel entirely as "useless" as his subordinates assume. Using the transmutation circles on his gloves, Roy is able to separate hydrogen atoms from the oxygen atoms in water molecules, isolating them into a highly combustible fuel and powerfully volatile oxidizer, respectively. Though this method can only be used when a large quantity of water is present in a relatively closed-off space (and not in the rain where the air is open and separating hydrogen and oxygen for the purpose of combustion would pose far too much danger to anyone in the vicinity), with an outside source of ignition such as a cigarette lighter or a match, Roy can produce extremely powerful, localized explosions.

Flame Alchemy is the brainchild of the master alchemist Berthold Hawkeye, who had spent several years perfecting it before his death from illness in 1905. Believing it to be the greatest and most powerful form of alchemy possible, Hawkeye refused to pass on the knowledge to Roy, who was his apprentice at the time, and instead entrusted the secrets of his search for knowledge to his young daughter Riza - tattooing the perfected array onto her back as the only physical record of its existence. The full array appears to consist of a circle corralling an inverted hexagram made up of a large air triangle and a large earth triangle, both splitting into identical pairs as they intersect, with a fire triangle at the center, pointing upward toward a flame. Below the hexagram is an image of a salamander. Outside the circle is a pair of entwined basilisks and the text of the "Libera Me" responsory repeated multiple times. After Roy gains Riza's trust and takes the Flame Alchemy knowledge for himself, he modifies the symbol somewhat for his gloves (removing the text and the basilisks in favor of a simplified circle). At Riza's insistence, he reluctantly uses his new knowledge to burn parts of the image off of her back, erasing the important aspects of it from existence, and freeing her from the heavy responsibility of carrying it.

When he is forced to perform human transmutation and see the Truth, Roy gains the ability to transmute without a circle, clapping his hands to compensate for the sigils on his gloves being shredded. While at first he is apprehensive of this mode of alchemy, he quickly realizes that because of the absence of the need for transmutation circles he is no longer limited to flame-based alchemy on the battlefield, as seen when he transmutes a stone wall to protect himself, Riza, and Major Alex Louis Armstrong from Father's attacks.

In the Book in Figure Red omake strip, Roy reveals that he sometimes uses alchemy for the purpose of scoring a date. In his "Oxygen de Gentleman Strategy", he uses his gloves to raise the oxygen density around a specific woman to the point that she becomes dizzy. He then, rushes to her side to prevent her from falling, asks her if she is all right and follows up with other sweet words and an invitation for tea.