Heinkel

Heinkel is a soldier in the Amestrian State Military and one of the four Human Chimera commissioned to bodyguard and report to Solf J. Kimblee during the State Alchemist's mission to the northern area of Amestris. Through a series of occurrences, however, Heinkel ends up in the company of Edward Elric and his allies along with his partner Darius.

Appearance
Heinkel is a tall, muscular man with a mustache, short hair and glasses. In his chimera form, he is essentially a humanoid lion.

Part in the story
Heinkel is first seen in Briggs when Kimblee arrives. Later, when the Briggs soldiers, along with the Elric brothers, Kimblee, and the chimera try to capture Scar, Heinkel and Darius accompany the Elrics in the search. The Elrics lose them by transmuting a wall between them, leaving the chimera to find their own way around. When Briggs soldiers try to assassinate Kimblee, Heinkel and Darius engage Ed in a brief fight but the Fullmetal Alchemist defeats them by releasing ammonium from inside the old dynamite tubes into the air, stunning the chimera. When Kimblee blows the mine shaft to pieces, the chimera save the wounded Ed and head to North City where Fullmetal's injuries are treated. Unfortunately, the act of drawing money from Ed's account draws the attention of the military and the three are forced to flee as soon as Fullmetal's recovery is complete. Following Ed's advice, they head toward Central City to rendezvous with the rest of Fullmetal's party.

They come to Colonel Roy Mustang's old safe house near Central and find Ling Yao there. Ling soon transforms back to Greed and leaves, but Ed convinces the homunculus that he and the chimeras can serve him. Greed agrees and travels to a nearby forest.

Following the timeskip, on the day before The Promised Day, their group travels from Resembool to the slums of Kanama where they encounter Fullmetal's father, Van Hohenheim, and learn about his story of being a human Philosopher's Stone and his connection to the Homunculi, Father. The group then heads to a nearby forest where they encounter Pride who has taken Al as a shield for his shadows. Ed shuts the electricity in Kanama, causing zero visibility in darkness. As Pride can't use his shadows, Heinkel attacks him. At the same time, Gluttony attacks Darius, Ed and Greed. Although neither can see each other in the dark, Gluttony's sense of smell gives him an advantage over the others. Lan Fan arrives and kills Gluttony a few times, and Greed turns control of his body to Ling, evening the odds. Heinkel pins Pride down but some people from Kanama arrive with a lantern, providing Pride a chance to attack and badly injure Heinkel.

Ed comes to save him and uses flash-bangs to destroy Pride's shadows. Understanding that they are losing, Pride absorbs Gluttony, gaining his sense of smell and remaining lives in Gluttony's Philosopher's Stone.



The battle continues and Heinkel is forced to retreat because of his wounds, apologizing for failing to kill "the little bastard." Hohenheim arrives and captures Pride inside a dome of earth with Al and Heinkel agrees to guard the dome. Unaware of the fact that Pride is using Al's helmet to send Morse code to Father, the others leave. While later returning from a walk, Heinkel hears the sound made by Pride and quickly recognizes the Morse code. Rushing to stop him, Heinkel gets ambushed by Kimblee who wounds him fatally. The earth mound broken, Pride comes out and tries to kill Heinkel. Al gets in the way, blowing his own legs off in the process. He then tries to save Heinkel but, understanding his own situation, Heinkel gives the armor alchemist the first Philosopher's Stone from Kimblee and falls down. Al restores his legs and fights Pride and Kimblee with the Philosopher's Stone, managing to fend them of for some time, but then Kimblee uses his Philosopher's Stone and blows Al away. Al creates a dust cloud to disorient Pride's sense of smell and gives his Philosopher's Stone to Dr. Tim Marcoh, who heals Heinkel. Al attacks Pride to buy time for Marcoh and Heinkel. Heinkel attacks from downwind, biting Kimblee in the neck, incapacitating him. When Al and the others make their escape, Heinkel uses Kimblee's body as a shield against Pride's attack and then throws it at the Homunculus to buy time to get away.



He is then mostly on the sidelines for the rest of the Promised Day, and was the only chimera to have his soul absorbed by Father and resurrected by Hohenheim's counterattack. His last appearance is in a photo next to Darius and Yoki in the epilogue, apparently working in a circus.

Abilities
Heinkel is a human-based chimera and can transform into a lion-man in battle. While in this form he gains enhanced senses and the abilities of a lion (claws, fangs, night vision, etc.). This form also provides him with superhuman strength, allowing him to destroy rocks with a single punch, as well as enabling him to hold his own against Pride.

Trivia

 * Heinkel's name may have come from the German aircraft manufacturing company Heinkel Flugzeugwerke.
 * In the manga, while in his chimera form, Heinkel has cat-like slit pupils; however, real-life lions have round pupils and he was given such in the 2009 series.
 * Unlike Jerso and Zampano, Darius and Heinkel make no comments about having families or wanting to get their old bodies back.