King Bradley/History

The following page is the history of King Bradley as it pertains to the manga and 2009 anime series.

Background
Wrath is an exception among the Seven Homunculi as he was created from a human instead of being born directly from a Philosopher's Stone. Sixty years before the start of the story, Wrath was an orphan without known family or even a name, who was raised as "Prospective Führer Number 12" amongst hundreds of other abandoned children in a secret program created by Father and the Amestrian military to find the perfect ruler of Amestris. The process involved gathering male infants from their birth and secretly raising them up. In makeshift classrooms, they were all taught to master the arts of politics, military strategy and swordplay.

When their training was complete and after they came of age, the doctors would then inject the Philosopher's Stone bearing Father's wrath into the candidates, so that Amestris' future ruler would be part of the Seven Homunculi. Number 12 was the only one to survive the process, with all others dying as their bodies were destroyed by the stone. But when the stone was infused into Number 12, his soul fought against the numerous souls in the Philosopher's Stone, draining it to only one soul. He ended up as the survivor of the process, becoming the first Homunculus with the ability to age and was given the name King Bradley.

Bradley was enrolled into the Amestris military and quickly ascends to the position of Führer (around the year 1894) through his combat prowess and apparent dedication to the military ideals of Amestris. During his tenure as Führer, Bradley started a policy of extreme expansionism, and instigated more violent conflicts against neighboring nations, all to create crests of blood in various locations for Father's ultimate plan. At one point, he met a woman who met all the qualities he was looking for in a wife and married her; as Wrath would note, this was the only real decision he made his entire life: marrying Mrs. Bradley. Some years later, Pride was assigned to protect him under the guise of his adopted son Selim Bradley.

As King Bradley
Fuhrer King Bradley makes few appearances in the first chapters of the story and episodes of the 2009 anime. First when he visits the primary protagonists Edward and Alphonse Elric in a hospital, after they have met Lust and Envy in the Fifth Laboratory, and discovered that hidden researches on the Philosopher's Stone had been led there. Here, Bradley subtly implies he suspects there may be traitors among the military's high echelons and orders the Elrics, Lt. Colonel Maes Hughes, and Major Alex Louis Armstrong to watch their backs and to avoid the secret organization behind all these experiments.

Later, he is then seen in the military funeral of Maes Hughes, after the Lt. Colonel was murdered. During the funeral, he is seen trembling by onlookers, but such trembling was due to anger at Hughes' daughter for interrupting the funeral ceremony with her crying.

Bradley is later seen renewing Edward's license as a State Alchemist without any examination nor test, then accompanying him back to Dublith, hoping to meet the Elrics' master Izumi Curtis and appoint her as a State Alchemist. There, they learn that Alphonse got abducted by a homunculus named Greed, prompting Bradley to personally lead the attack on Greed's bar, the Devil's Nest, alongside a military squad to rescue the young armor-bound alchemist. He mercilessly slaughters almost all of Greed's chimera underlings and swiftly beats Greed himself into submission, revealing an Ouroboros mark on his left eye.

Real Identity revealed
Bradley then brings Greed to Father, revealing that he is Wrath, the last born of the Seven Homunculi. Before Father re-absorbs Greed, Wrath reveals that Edward, Alphonse and Izumi have been through the Gate of Truth and are candidates for the sacrifice that Father needs for his ultimate plan.

Wrath later witnesses Lust's death at the hand of Colonel Roy Mustang, but instead of finishing him off he retreats unnoticed and calls an ambulance, seeing that Mustang could make a good candidate for the sacrifice if he were to open the Gate of Truth.

When the Elrics, the Xingese prince Ling Yao and his bodyguard Lan Fan team up to capture a homunculus, Wrath and Gluttony are commanded to intervene and stumble upon them and Wrath severely wounds Lan Fan. However they manage to escape through the sewers, after Lan Fan severs her left arm and binds it to a stray dog to serve as a distraction.

Gluttony eventually gets captured and Wrath reports it to Pride, before sending Envy to free their "sibling". A short while later, when Roy Mustang tries to leak among the military High Command that King Bradley is a homunculus; he discovers that they are already fully aware of both Bradley's true nature and of Father's plan. King Bradley holds Mustang at the Central Command for the night, stating that he will not kill the Colonel, but will not allow him to wander either. To ensure Mustang's cooperation, Bradley reassigns his loyal crew of subordinates; Falman is sent to the north, Fuery to the south, and Breda to the east. Jean Havoc is already gone, as he had to retire due to the injuries he sustained from Lust and returned to his family's home. Having deduced that Riza Hawkeye, is the closest and most deeply trusted of Mustang's subordinates, as well as possessing superlative skills, Bradley has decided to make her his own personal assistant. In simplest terms, she is being held as a hostage for Mustang's good behavior, meaning that the Colonel cannot make a move to defy Bradley or defeat the Homunculi without placing his "queen" in grave danger.

Wrath then informs the Elric brothers that their childhood friend Winry Rockbell is constantly watched over as an unsuspecting hostage, threatening to kill her personally if they leave the military or step out of line. Despite this, he allows them to continue their alchemic researches.

Assassination and Apparent Death
Throughout the story, Bradley maintains control over the constant strife in the military and manipulating the various players of Father's plans into their appropriate positions. However, the Elrics and their various allies slip out of his grasp or play their own games in secret, plotting variously to either top Father's schemes, overthrow Bradley, or seize control of the country back from the Homunculi who created it.

When he learns that the Elric brothers are now in the Fortress of Briggs, the next target for the homunculi's actions, he orders Solf J. Kimblee to go to Briggs with Winry Rockbell to keep an eye on them and remind them that the young girl is held hostage. However, the Elrics manage to help Winry escape and they go into hiding.

Later in the story, Wrath supervises a military display in the West of the country, until an alert about a terrorist attack in Central City prompts him to come back to Central. It soon appears that the alert was a trap orchestrated by General Grumman, and the bridge on which his train was passing is then blown up. From then on Wrath would not be seen again for some time, his apparent death throwing all the top brass into chaos.

The Promised Day
Wrath reappears in the midst of the final battle, when the troops of General Olivier Armstrong, have successfully taken over the Military Headquarters of Central. It is revealed that he predicted the explosion thanks to his Ultimate Eye and could rush out of the train to escape the bridge as it was blown up.

He swiftly slaughters all the soldiers who attempt to shoot him, going as far as destroying a tank, and attempts to enter the headquarters, grievously wounding Armstrong's subordinate Captain Buccaneer in the process. However, Buccaneer manages to take away his saber, forcing him to fight with two daggers. He is about to kill Vato Falman when he is confronted by the renegade Greed, who earlier had himself inside the body of Ling Yao.

Without his saber, Wrath can no longer harm Greed, but he is still capable of defending himself perfectly. They start fighting, and Wrath is unfazed by Greed's attacks and sustains no injuries whatsoever. Greed uses tips that Ling gives him, but still cannot seem to truly damage him. Greed on the other hand sustains several small injuries, each of which heal. Some of the Brigg's soldiers watch from nearby and decide to help, shooting at Wrath. However, this is not only pointless but leads to their immediate slaughter.

Wrath quickly reveals his Ultimate Eye and gains the upper-hand, but Ling Yao's elderly bodyguard Fu enters the fray. Wrath easily holds off his two enemies and wounds Fu, who then attempts to blow himself up in a desperate attempt to kill his enemy, but not to avail. Indeed, Wrath cuts all the fuses of Fu's grenades in a single strike, mortally wounding him in the process.

However, Buccaneer intervenes and hiding behind Fu's body, he manages to go unnoticed even by the Ultimate Eye and impales Wrath with his own saber through Fu's corpse. Infuriated, Greed strikes Wrath on the face before he can recover and destroys his Ultimate Eye. Wrath eventually falls into the moat around the headquarters, as Fu and Buccaneer pass away with a smile. Wrath is injured and falls into the waterways surrounding the Headquarters.

Final Battle
Wrath survives once again and swims underwater towards Father's subterranean lair, where an Alchemist is attempting to force Roy Mustang to perform a human transmutation so that he would see the Truth and become the fifth sacrifice that Father needs. Pride and Wrath then intervene and Wrath pins Mustang onto the transmutation circle on the ground with two newfound sabers, before Pride activates the ritual and takes Mustang with him in Father's throne room.

Dying and having fulfilled his role in Father's plan, Wrath then asks who among everyone present wants to go down in history as the person who finally manages to topple his regime. Wrath then engages his last battle against Scar, a survivor of the Ishval genocide Wrath instigated which was started fifteen year before the start of the story, who wants revenge against Amestris and sided with the Elric brothers after learning that the homunculi were behind the genocide. As the battle commences, Wrath, piqued by Scar in every way, asks his name, to which Scar replies he doesn't have one, having long discarded it. Wrath is heavily amused at it mirrors his own life and lack of a formal name; finally he can enjoy a final battle, to the fullest of his abilities with another nameless warrior, basically mirror images of one another.

As he fights Scar, Wrath progressively becomes weaker due to his injuries, but is still able to fight evenly against the latter. As he pins Scar to the floor and readies to deliver the fatal blow, he is suddenly caught off guard when short pillars of spikes incapacitate his right arm, much to his surprise and confusion. Scar then reveals to him that he can now use the power of reconstruction on his left arm, thanks to his brother's research. After knowing that Scar can now use the power of reconstruction, Wrath is both amused and annoyed as he asks Scar if he and the other humans will ever give up in their pointless struggles. When Father activates the Nationwide Transmutation Circle, Scar and Wrath are then consumed in a massive black sphere, though they are unharmed.

Wrath then wounds Scar and questions if he has turned his back on Ishvala and their teachings by embracing alchemu to which he replies that in Wrath's mind and soul, there is only one answer: "There is no God!" Despite gaining an upper hand in the fight, Wrath is momentarily blinded by the sudden re-emergence of the sun, allowing Scar to use his Arm of Deconstruction to destroy Wrath's arms. Before he can fall, Wrath grabs the blade of his sword with his teeth and stabs Scar in the midsection.

Severely wounded and on the brink of death, Wrath says that even though he never believed in God, he wonders if this is what it is to be "forsaken by God". When Lan Fan arrives, Wrath correctly presumes that she plans to avenge her grandfather. She asks Wrath if he has any last words, to which he says no. Lan Fan means to injure him further before he can die, stating that his life was truly sad and asks if he has ever truly loved anyone. Wrath tells Lan Fan not to utter such words when she knows so little. He tells her that his wife was chosen by him, and as such, he truly cared for her. When asked if he wanted to say something to her, Wrath states that she doesn't need to know about him because "that is how it is between a king and his partner" and dies at peace with his life and thankful for the humans who made it worthwhile, making him the fifth Homunculus to die.

Contrary to the other homunculi, Wrath's corpse does not crumble into dust, but merely ages about ten years, while his hair become white and his face gets covered with wrinkles and alchemy marks. Most likely, the Philosopher's Stone inside him disintegrates while his corpse becomes human again.

When Greed/Ling tries to follow Father, he sees Lan Fan and Scar along with Wrath's corpse lying on the floor, to which Greed replies that he really "pisses him off" for looking so satisfied. When Olivier's group rejoins the three to fight Father, Olivier stays with Wrath's body. Scar tells her that he was wounded by someone earlier, citing this as the only reason why he survives. With this, Olivier correctly deduces that Buccaneer had been the one who wounded him.

After the death of Father, the resistance group spreads the word of Bradley's death. According to them, the members of Military Central Command had been plotting to overthrow Bradley and turn all the citizens of Amestris into a gigantic Philosopher's Stone. Though they are reluctant to lie, they decided that they must ensure the people's trust in the government and the military by preserving Bradley's honorable image as a hero. Brigadier Generals Klemin and Edison are framed for the alleged coup, and Bradley is portrayed as a martyr defending his country.