Roy Mustang

Roy Mustang (ロイ・マスタング Roi Masutangu) is a character from the Fullmetal Alchemist anime and manga series. Holding the title of the Flame Alchemist, he is a skilled State Alchemist who ambitiously strives to become the next leader of Amestris.

Character Outline
Outwardly arrogant and playfully manipulative, Mustang is intelligent and adaptable. These traits usually ensure that he is always one step ahead of his opponents. He also likes to feel in control of the situation. He is one of the superiors of Edward Elric. At the beginning of the series, he appears to be nothing more than a ruthless careerist and a shameless womanizer. However, he is eventually shown to be a rather paternal commander who greatly cares for the emotional and physical well-being of his men. He's even endangering his life-long goal to become Führer of Amestris, to avenge his best friend's Maes's untimely death. This earns him the fierce loyalty of his friends (Hughes, Hawkeye, Armstrong) and subordinates (Jean Havoc, Vato Falman, Kain Fuery, Heymans Breda). He also feels obligated to look out for the Elric Brothers after they become fellow "dogs of the military". This stems from his experience in the Ishbal War (referred to as the Ishbal Massacre) where he was forced to kill with his flame alchemy and an incomplete philosopher's stone despite learning it to help people. After the war ended, however, his fellow soldiers thanked him for saving their lives. Mustang resolves to protect his subordinates and feels personally responsible for their well being, placing their safety above his own. Though a hero of the Ishbal War, he remains haunted by the horrors of war and suffers great remorse for the lives of civilians he took.

History
Roy learned elementary alchemy from Riza Hawkeye's father. When he was a teenager he met his best friend Maes Hughes in a military training school facility. It is during this time that Roy decides to become a State Alchemist so that he may help the common people, despite the protests of his mentor. Upon the realization of Roy's intentions, his mentor states that he will pass on his greatest and most powerful alchemy to Roy, but only if he uses it in the course of doing good. Before he can explain further, Mr. Hawkeye begins to choke from coughing up blood and can only tell Roy that he has passed his knowledge on to his daughter, he also makes Roy promise to look after his daughter. (The strange markings on Hawkeye's back is the method chosen by her father to pass these secrets on).

When Roy was 23 he was already a State Alchemist working for the Military. He like others at the time where sent to completely raze a region Amestris was unable to subdue. He runs into Maes Hughes and they reminisce briefly about the past and discuss the State's involvement in the War before they are ambushed by an injured Ishbalan. They were saved by a sniper, later revealed to be none other than Riza Hawkeye. Mustang continues through the war with a pessimistic view and considers himself to be a killer, unable to help people as he had previously hoped.

However, Mustang discovers that while he thought he was alone in the war, simply murdering people, he was saving the lives of the men in his unit. This new idea appears to spur him into making an attempt to become the Führer, which he explains to Hughes at the end of the war. He then surrounds himself with people he knows he can trust; Hughes, Fuery, Falman, Havoc, Breda, and lastly Hawkeye. He orders Hawkeye to watch his back, and that if he ever strayed from the path of wanting to help people, of wanting to change the government, it was her role to shoot him.

Anime
Mustang makes his first appearance in the series in To Challenge the Sun (episode 1), when the Elric Brothers attempt to resurrect their mother. Subsequently, Mustang is formally introduced in Mother after Alphonse brought Edward to the Rockbells' home. As a lieutenant colonel in the State Military, he came to the Elrics' hometown of Risembool in search of their father, Hohenheim. It is also implied that Roy was seeking out Winry Rockbell, the girl he had orphaned during the Ishbal Rebellion, in order to see how she was doing That Which is Lost. Recognizing Edward and Alphonse's talent for alchemy, he offered them a chance to become State Alchemists and to seek him out at Central City, where he was currently stationed.

The Elrics take up his offer and Edward reluctantly becomes his direct subordinate when he becomes a State Alchemist. Mustang is transferred to the Eastern Territories to clean up Lieutenant Yoki's mess (Episode 9) and is promoted to colonel. He remains at Eastern Headquarters for the early portions of the series until he is transferred back to Central after Hughes' death.

In episode 15 (Ishbal Massacre) it is revealed that Roy had executed Winry Rockbell's parents in place of Scar in the manga. He was devastated by his cold-blooded actions and tried to kill himself, but to Hughes, Edward, and his subordinates, Roy explains his failure to do so by saying that he "was too much of a coward" to pull the trigger Words of Farewell, The Stray Dog. Instead, Roy decides that he is going to work to reach a position where he would not have to obey orders like that: becoming the Fuhrer.

When Hughes dies, Mustang is devastated. When pursuing the Elrics after the Stone's creation in Liore, Mustang learns that the Führer is a Homunculus, and tries to expose him to the top brass of the military by revealing the truth about the Führer's secretary, Juliet Douglas (Episode 45).

Although Bradley intends for him to die in combat during the Northern Campaign, Mustang instead stays in Central, making his move to avenge Hughes's death. He explains his actions to Edward in the end of Goodbye, saying that he has given up his goal of becoming Fuhrer to avenge Hughes because Hughes' life is more important to him, much like Edward has given up restoring Al with the Stone, because to Ed the lives of the people who went into the Stone's creation are more important. He points out his and Ed's similarities in the scene, and Edward finally comes to respect and understand him. Roy then moves on to the Fuhrer's mansion and stages his fight. Mustang is only able to defeat King Bradley when Bradley's son, Selim, unwittingly brings the skull of the man from which the Führer was created and weakens Bradley. As Mustang escapes the Führer's burning mansion, he is confronted by a maniacal Frank Archer, who shoots him. Hawkeye arrives in time to save him and kills Archer.

Roy loses an eye from the battle with Bradley but keeps an optimistic attitude. When Hawkeye despairs at him that she should have been there to stop Archer, Roy says that "the world's not perfect" and that's what makes it so damn beautiful." He seems to not be unhappy with what transpired in the Fuhrer's mansion, and that the loss of his eye only showed that "nothing is ever perfect."

Fullmetal Alchemist: The Conqueror of Shamballa
In Conqueror of Shamballa, Mustang resigns from both alchemy and his rank to become an ordinary enlisted man in a remote outpost. The events of the series are shown to have taken a heavy toll on Roy, since he says he has not used his alchemy since killing Fuhrer Bradley; Roy says that he can still see the people he had killed in Ishbal with his blinded eye. However, when Central is under attack by armies and airships, Mustang steps up and takes command, using his alchemy to defend Central. Mustang and Armstrong are able to find a hot-air balloon to reach the airships, where he is reunited with the Elric brothers, and helps them gain entry into the airship. Roy is glad to see Edward alive and well, and it is implied that it is Roy seeing Edward again that galvanizes Roy into taking charge and giving orders and using his alchemy again. When Edward leaves, he is the one to hold Alphonse back but he lets Al go in order for the younger Elric to follow his older brother. At the end of the movie, Al says that Mustang and his team are now responsible for destroying the Amestris side of the Gate.

Manga
Following Hughes's death, Mustang investigates the incident in secret despite the military closing the case after convicting Maria Ross. Trusting in Ross's innocence, and with the help of Barry the Chopper, Mustang uses his alchemy skills to fake Ross's death and engineer her escape from Amestris. While breaking into a military laboratory with Barry's help (Chapter 39: Complications at Central), Lust confronts Mustang and Havoc. In the ensuing fight, Havoc is stabbed in the spine; while Lust sets off to find the rest of the intruders, she leaves Mustang and Havoc to bleed to death. After she slices Barry to pieces and is setting on Hawkeye (with Alphonse trying to stop her), she is almost blown off her feet by an explosion. Mustang had cut a transmutation circle into his skin and seared his wounds closed with fire, using a lighter in place of his ruined gloves. He then proceeds to mercilessly shoot flames at Lust, to the point where her Philosopher's Stone is unable to fuel her regenerative powers, killing her. Mustang later helps in transporting Ed, Al, Hawkeye, Dr. Knox, Lin, an injured Ran Fan, and a tied-up Gluttony to a deserted house in the woods. However, Gluttony does not hold long, and breaks free. Mustang manages to escape by car, leaving Ed, Al, and Lin to battle Gluttony.

After discovering that King Bradley is a Homunculus, he tries to expose him to the top echelons of the military. This move costs Mustang and deprives him of his subordinates - King Bradley places Riza Hawkeye under his command and authorizes the transfer of Mustang’s remaining personnel to the far reaches of Amestris.

In chapter 69, he is contacted by Major General Olivier Armstrong through an old flower-seller, who made Mustang buy all her flowers for the information. The old flower seller, said to have served the Armstrong family for generations, revealed that Olivier is intending for the "sword" of East Area troops under Mustang's command to join with the "shield" of the Briggs mountain range troops in order to protect Briggs, and wants Mustang's cooperation. He finally manages to meet Hawkeye in person, who manages to tell him that Selim Bradley is a homuculus. He later passes that message to Olivier Armstrong, as she takes over the residence of the Armstrong family to herself. He then meets up with his subordinates and the four attack Central's military(wounding but not killing anyone) while Fuhrer Bradley is "gone."

In chapter 93-4 Mustang's gang arrives at Central. While Mustang and Hawkeye meet up with Edward, the other subordinates send out a radio transmission of how the upper brass of the military is corrupted, although they say it in believable terms and do not mention the Homunculi or their real intentions. Mustang encounters Envy, who after being questioned, reveals he was Hughes' killer. Edward, Scar, Mei, and the chimera all move on to get to Father, leaving Hawkeye and Mustang to fight Envy. Envy, realizing that Mustang could easily kill him, attempts to escape. Mustang orders Hawkeye not to come with and goes off after Envy, but she comes anyway. Envy makes another dash for it when Mustang mercilessly continues to burn him, and discovers Hawkeye searching for him. He shifts into Mustang and deceives her (most likely planning to do so for just long enough to kill her) momentarily, but for unknown reasons Hawkeye sees through him and tricks him into thinking she and Mustang were 'together' so he would break his act. She is able to take him on with her arms for a little while even with injury, however, Envy eventually is able to get the upper hand and insares her in his elongated arm. Just as he is about to kill her, Mustang blasts him from a side entry and burns him continuously until his has returned to his fetus form. He is one spark away from killing him when Hawkeye, although injured to an unknown extent, gets up and puts her gun to his head. She refuses to put her gun down and tries to persuade Mustang to stop, and he explodes at her, going into a fit of rage and refusing to give up his vengeance. Ed and Scar arrive, and Ed uses his alchemy to grab Envy, in which Mustang responds to by demanding Ed to give him back, who is now completely berserk. Envy's fate, Mustang's sanity, and the well-being of Ed, Scar, and Hawkeye are to be detirmined in chapter 95.

Powers & Abilities
Fire Alchemy: A powerful alchemist in his own right, Mustang wears gloves with transmutation circles on them that are made of a material called "pyrotex/ignition cloth" that create sparks or 'flames' when he rubs his fingers together. By adjusting the oxygen densities in the surrounding atmosphere through alchemy, he can create flames anywhere in the surrounding area at will and manipulate them as he desires. While oxygen, by itself, cannot combust, it is assumed that he makes use of the more flammable gases found in the atmosphere such as hydrogen. This assumption is verified in the manga, where it is revealed that it is indeed hydrogen that is burned. The 'snap' sound is because of how quickly the hydrogen and oxygen react together and pop (not his fingers actually 'snapping', to common belief.)

However, the manga goes into further depth regarding the relationship between Mustang's alchemy and water. His alchemy is actually achieved by using the transmutation circle on his gloves to split water molecules in the air.

He also is loyal to his subordinates in the sense that he will protect them, so they will protect their subordinates, and so on.

Weakness
Mustang is often considered "useless" on rainy days because when his ignition cloth gloves are wet they cannot create sparks. Although he can overcome this flaw as he has demonstrated, by using other methods to create a transmutation, such as when Ed used alchemy to get his gloves wet so he used matches instead. This weakness also makes him annoyed when people call him "wet Match"

A more significant weakness of his is his good heart and ideals, as described by Wrath. This was noticed by the Homunculi after he killed Lust in order to protect his subordinate, Riza Hawkeye. As said by Wrath in Chapter 39:

"Roy Mustang...he has a kind heart. While that is his strength, it is also his weakness. He will open the portal."

This has yet to play out in the story, but it will certainly be fulfilled in upcoming chapters.