Pride

Pride (Japanese:プライド, Puraido) was the first Homunculus created. Much like Sloth and Wrath, the role of Pride is two different characters in the 2003 anime and the manga.

In the manga
In the manga, Pride is the first Homunculus that Father created. Ironically though he is the youngest looking. He has the identity of Selim Bradley, King Bradley's adopted son. He is the most powerful of the Seven Homunculi and seemingly the highest ranked, as he is seen giving orders to Sloth and Envy. Thus, he is generally respected by the others. He is extremely cruel, ruthless and devoted to Father's cause. He refers to his enemies as "mister (plus a nickname)" in mocking respect and often makes big smiles and casual talks before attacking. He has also proven himself to be very clever and resourceful.

It appears he visits the Homunculi lair very rarely since the Lin Yao that was Greed said he saw two rare things happening in one chapter: Pride coming to visit and Father sleeping, dreaming about his creation.

At first Pride remains hidden, and only his voice is heard when he talks to (or rather scolds) other Homunculi. "Selim Bradley" reveals his identity to Riza Hawkeye in chapter 70. Shortly after, he orders Solf J. Kimblee to carve a blood crest on Briggs, before having a short fight against Hohenheim in the tunnel for the country-wide transmutation. During later chapters, he personally enters the fray helped by a newly reborn Gluttony. He captures Alphonse Elric and takes control of his armor with his shadows, using him to lure Edward Elric. He and Gluttony then engage a fight against Ed, Greed, Darius and Heinkel, and soon joined by Lan Fan and her grandfather Fu, during which he devours Gluttony gaining his appetite and his sense of smell. He soon overpowers all his foes, but he is ultimately trapped alongside Al in a huge domed jail of earth by Hohenheim.

Now unable to use his powers because of the absolute darkness in this jail, he and Al had a discussion about being human where he admits to be truly fond of his adoptive human mother. This, and his apparent closeness with Wrath seems to show that he is not entirely devoid of human feelings. Yet he may only be pretending or biased, as he shows no compassion towards Gluttony, cynically referring to him as a "part of a system" instead of a sibling. However, by banging continuously on Alphonse's helmet with a stick, Pride sent a message in Morse code to Father who summoned Kimblee to his location. There, Kimblee's alchemy set Pride free, severely wounding Heinkel in the process. This engaged another struggle with Pride and Kimblee against Alphonse (with a Philosopher's Stone), Tim Marcoh and a healed Heinkel. When his opponents managed to flee, Pride was left with a dying Kimblee whom he devoured, further enhancing his power to a yet unknown extent and gaining a third Philosophers stone.

In chapter 101, Pride reappears in Father's subterranean lair, confronting Roy Mustang's group alongside Wrath. He rescues the Alchemist doctor from Jerso's grasp only to stab him with his shadows shortly after. He then activates the transmutation circle, where Wrath has trapped Mustang, making the Flame Alchemist the final Sacrifice needed.

He is now facing Edward and Alphonse, in battle although seemingly at a disadvantage. It appears that when he forced Mustang to perform human transmutation, he paid a price as well, appearing to be weakened in using his shadows in combat. This is noted by the Elrics when he jumps to dodge an attack, rather than use his shadows to counterattack. His face also seems to be disintegrating.

Edward and Pride proceed to have a battle, in which Pride moves in to fight close combat. However, Pride is not able to block attacks with his shadow, and seems to only be able to make medium-powered attacks with his shadows. However, when Pride underestimates Edward, and Edward headbutts Pride's face, a large chunk of Pride's head seems to disintegrate, much like how the other Homunculi disintegrated when they died. This may suggest that when Pride went through the Gate with Mustang, Pride paid his toll by giving up all his spare lives there, which would considerably weaken him and also cause him to start disintegrating. However, this is just a theory.

Powers and Abilities
Aside from the Homunculi standard powers, Pride's abilities lie within his shadow, which resembles the original flask-contained form of Father although much larger and more formidable with multiple slitted eyes and sharp toothed mouths. The shadow can take on a variety of shapes, from sharp spikes to tendril-like hands (similar to those seen within the Gate of Truth).



Pride can manipulate, slice through or devour anything that comes in contact with his shadow and it appears invulnerble to conventional physical harm, although it can be deflected by sufficiently hard objects (Carbon-hardened objects appear particularly resistent). He can also see and talk through his shadowy eyes and mouths wherever his shadow can extend, an ability he uses to watch over the country-wide transmutation tunnel, slaughtering anyone who enters it. It is imipled by Greed that Prides shadow is in fact his actual form, with the child-like body being a simple container for him to move around in, similar to Fathers flask contained form. This is supported by the shadows limited mobility, only being able to appear in the immediate surroundings of his human body (Selim) and in the circular transmutation tunnel around Amestris. It also cannot appear without a light source and can be harmed when light becomes too bright.

Prides most powerful ability however is that his shadow can consume living things and assimilate the abilities and strengths of that particular victim, along with their corresponding weaknesses (i.e. after devouring Gluttony, Pride gained an enhanced sense of smell along with Gluttony's ravenous hunger). From this, it is fair to assume that Pride can now open his own version of Gluttony's fake Gate of Truth. As Pride activated a transmutation circle with his shadows at the end of chapter 101, it is also fair to assume that having absorbed Kimblee enables him to perform Alchemy. However he hasn't yet used the deranged alchemist's signature explosive attacks.

However, when Pride had forced Roy Mustang to perform human transmutation and teleport to Father's den, Pride is assumed to have weakened his ability to use shadow because instead of counter attacking the Elrics' attacks, he dodges them and later he only uses them to fight in close combat. This may cause a great decrease in Pride's power. However, in exchange for Pride's loss in power, Roy Mustang had lost his sight.

In Chapter 104, Pride attempts to use his small size and speed to exploit Edward's weaknesses in hand-to-hand combat, but has his fighting style read easily by his opponent and is bested, before Father steps in and easily subdues an unsuspecting Edward.

In the 2003 anime
In the anime, Pride is the true identity of King Bradley, the "Ultimate Eye". His eye, usually covered by an eyepatch, allows him to see everything, even the air in a room. This allows him to have amazing reflexes and speed, as he is able to see what his opponent is planning and where they will move. His weapon of choice is the sword, which he wields with great proficiency. Because he ages like a regular human, Dante considers him her greatest creation, a title he is very proud of. Because homunculi cannot reproduce he was given a family to keep up appearances: his son, Selim Bradley, and a wife. When Roy Mustang discovers that Bradley is a homunculus, Pride gives Selim the skull of his original body to be kept safe. When Selim unknowingly brings the skull back to him during his battle with Mustang, he is severely weakened by its presence. Out of anger he strangles Selim to death, but this weakened state allows Mustang to kill him by repeatedly setting him on fire, similar to how Roy killed Lust in the Manga. The Bradley that was Pride was the fourth of the Homunculi to die. It may be considered ironic that Pride in the anime killed his son, the manga's Pride, albeit a son who is innocent and fully human in the anime.

Trivia

 * According to the second official Fullmetal Alchemist guide book, Pride is the first Homunculus to be created by Father, he was created before History was even recorded.
 * In a sense Pride's shadow powers are an amalgamation of all the other Homonculi's abilities. His shadow can pierce or cut through almost anything (Lust), is invulnerable to conventional physical harm (Greed), can assume many forms or even possess the bodies of others (Envy), has great strength over physical objects (Sloth), can consume or devour anything apparently integrating them into Pride himself (Gluttony), and can see things far beyond the range of his main body's human eyes (Wrath).
 * Pride has two different voices for each of his identities. When acting as Pride, he has a metallic sound to his voice, and when he is Selim, he has a normal child's voice.
 * Pride is, as of yet, the only Homunculus whose Ouroboros has never been revealed.
 * Apparently, the name of Pride is given to the strongest of the Homunculus. This would make sense considering that of all the Seven Deadly Sins on which the Homunculi are based, Pride is considered the worst and most unforgivable, the father and origin of all other sins; the reason being because the angel Lucifer was cast down from Heaven due to being too prideful toward God and became the ultimate evil, Satan.
 * The name Pride reflects both his status as the most powerful of the homunculi and that his "true" body was made in the image of Father's original form, speculated by Van Hoenheim as a act of vanity.
 * Ironically, Pride is technically the oldest Homunculus at over 3 centuries old, yet he retains the youngest appearance, while Wrath is the youngest Homunculus (less than a century old) but is the oldest-looking.
 * Interestingly, the youngest and oldest Homunculi are the only Homunculi to share a close, yet fake, father-son relationship with one another.
 * As of Episode 37 of the 2009 series, all seven Homunculi have been revealed, Pride being the last to be so.
 * The chapter where Pride and Alphonse are buried under a pile of rock may be a refrence to Dante's Purgatory, where the proud and vain are forced to carry boulders so as to learn humility.
 * When Pride's eyes and mouths covered an area, it means Pride has completly dominated and can attack from it.