Envy

"You have no idea how good that felt! I ravaged their entire country with a single bullet! I mean talk about invigorating! Oh, and the best part? The officer I pretended to be, he was always a moderate who would always publicly oppose the military's occupation of Ishval. And listen to this! The poor fool couldn't come up with a plausible defense at the court-martial! You know, I don't think I'll ever get over with how easy to manipulate humans are!"

- Envy

Envy (エンヴィー) is the embodiment of some of Father's envy. Envy has the ability to shape-shift. This ability can be used to assume the form of any existing person (or original personas that Envy himself creates). He can even modify his own voice to directly copy others. Being a homunculus, Envy technically has no sex. Although he is capable of taking the form of both male and female people, he himself is referred as a male.

Envy, who exists only to make humans suffer, bears more bitter resentment for humans than any other homunculus, and negatively treats with humans in the most personal and heartfelt manner. His hatred for humans has an immense emotional and personal foundation greater than any of their siblings'. Envy can easily be set off by insults due to their large and delicate ego, thus causing them to make mistakes.

Envy is one of the two Homunculi who possesses "true forms"—physical incarnations of his traits and personality that take shape when his Stones are almost completely depleted. The other homunculus with a true form is Pride.

Appearance
Envy usually appears as a pale-skinned androgynous teenage young man with a lean, muscular build. Envy has long, wispy hair, violet eyes with slit-like pupils, and wears a black crop top and skort, along with a matching headband with an alchemical, triangular symbol on it.

Although already formidable in his human form, Envy can assume a much larger, chimeric shape with a serpentine body, multiple pairs of legs, long human-like hair, a dog-like head and six pupils in its left eye. The most disturbing feature of Envy's unleashed form are the human faces and limbs protruding all over its body like drowning people momentarily attempting to surface before being pulled down by others. These are physical representations of the dozens of souls of Xerxians that Father absorbed and used to create the Philosopher's Stone that is Envy's core.

In his true form, after most of the stone that is his core is destroyed, Envy is a small, caterpillar-like serpent with multiple legs (which is directly underneath him like those of mammals and birds) and a jaw-less, sucker-like mouth resembling those of lampreys and parasitic flatworms. He is virtually helpless save for attaching to another living thing to take control, but once able to reach a Philosopher's Stone, Envy can regain his full ability.

Personality
After their brother Pride, Envy is by far the cruelest Homunculus, joking around and delighting in human misery. Envy will kill without hesitation, usually playing on their target's emotions to have a psychological advantage, with no remorse for what he has done. He even takes pride in the suffering he inflicts, going so far as to boast about starting the Ishvalan War and ruining the reputations, lives, and souls of thousands with only a single, effortless move. Envy's only personal intention is to make humans fight each other and suffer.

Beneath this cruel and aggressive exterior, however, Envy is secretly jealous of humans' inner strength and the mutually beneficial friendships that they share, as most of Envy's kind show little real concern or emotional support for one another. This jealousy motivates Envy to hate and mistreat humans very personally; more personally, in fact, than any other homunculus.

Envy seems to resent being confronted about his inner envy. This eventually causes Envy to commit suicide. Notably, before this revelation, Envy disguised his inner motives so well that not even a slip of their true reasons occurred.

Despite his callous, ruthless, and sinister persona, Envy occasionally shows a more silly, rambunctious, and even comical personality around his fellow homunculi, and even some humans. When referring to its human appearance as being "cute and youthful," Lust reminded him that he was, ironically, the most ruthless homunculus, a reply which mildly angered Envy. Another example was during Envy's second confrontation with Edward and Ling Yao, where Envy constantly asked Ed to stop trying to beat them up, but Ed was in a fit of rage after being called short and would not back down.

Envy, at times, demonstrates a vanity streak over their appearance. He is irritated when Lust says his personality is 'vile' and nearly attacked Greed when he called Envy ugly. Upon his introduction, Envy refers to his preferred form as young and cute and very obviously enjoys looking attractive. However, he seems to greatly dislike his true appearance, and he yells at Ed and Ling to not to look at him while he was in said form.

Envy does not have particularly good relationships with his fellow homunculi. He acts more as a handler for Gluttony than an equal and is unsympathetic to his grief over Lust's demise, acting annoyed and frustrated more than anything. He shows Wrath little respect, and does not interact much with Pride or Sloth. The only one he has shown concern for is Lust, going so far as to demand that Wrath execute Mustang for killing her. Most interactions he has had with her were relatively positive compared to the rest of the homunculi. Envy's relationship with Greed is overtly antagonistic, as like the other homunculi, Envy perceives Greed as a traitor and it takes very little time for the two to throw insults at each other.

Deep down, Envy is the saddest homunculus, having never known any true content or satisfaction.

Powers and Abilities

 * Immortality: Envy does not age, though the physical age of his true form is up for debate.


 * Rapid Regeneration: Envy can regenerate incredibly quickly from otherwise fatal injuries. One of the best examples (though not shown on-screen) is when he regenerates from half of his body after being swallowed by Gluttony. However, what is unique to Envy is the fact that after being killed enough, instead of remaining in humanoid form, he will expel a small, lizard or worm-like parasitic form that is easily killed.


 * Contamination Immunity: Envy is immune to all poisons, toxins, venoms, viruses, bacteria, allergen, diseases, etc.


 * Self Sustenance: Envy does not need to eat, drink or breathe to stay alive.


 * Enhanced Physiology: Even in his much smaller, preferred form, Envy possesses strength, speed, reflexes, stamina, durability, senses, agility, and coordination superior to any human, chimera, or animal. However, his lack of combat prowess has proven to be a liability.


 * Shapeshifting: Envy has the ability to shape-shift into anything or anyone, whether it be real people, animals, or human aspects that they made up. He can transform into anything that doesn't exceed the size and weight of his true form, which, seeing how massively large it is, does not create much of an issue. This power comes in handy to go anywhere unnoticed or to travel fast, allowing Envy to shape-shift into an average citizen to blend into a crowd for stealth, or a fast-moving animal such as a horse or dog. Additionally, Envy can transform individual parts of his body, often using this ability in battle to transform his limbs into weapons. Even in his preferred human form, Envy's appearance bares his actual weight, something Ling Yao realized as he fought Envy. Envy's true form's weight grants him enormous strength and durability. In spite of his immense weight, Envy is very fast in all forms he assumes. It is also noted that even in his human form, Envy can make his arms extendable (to an unknown length, however), and apparently sharp (as proved by the injuries they inflicted upon Riza Hawkeye), tentacle-like appendages.
 * True Form: Under his monstrous form, Envy can use his strength to its maximum and become all the more dangerous, with him being easily able to crush rocks under his limbs or in his jaws. Envy is also able to manipulate the human remains that cover his body, make them appear and disappear, and elongate his tongue to use it like a harpoon or binding rope, a continuation of his transformation ability.
 * Envy can transform individual limbs into those of his true form, enabling him to gain massive arms and hands while otherwise remaining in his preferred body. He does not become unbalanced while doing this, despite being extremely disproportionate.
 * Impersonation: Envy is proficient at imitating the personality and traits of other people. This, paired with his shapeshifting, allows him to disguise himself as different individuals without arousing suspicion. The best example of this ability is when he fooled the people of Liore into believing he was Father Cornello, and Envy is even able to goad them into violence. However, his imitations are not perfect and Envy is prone to becoming overconfident in his disguises. People who are close to the one Envy is impersonating are also able to pick up on Envy's inconsistencies, such as when Hawkeye deduces Envy was not the real Mustang.




 * Possession: Under his true, parasitic, original form, Envy's only remaining ability is to take control of the body of a human or Homunculus host. The host then becomes an extension of Envy's parasitic body, being able to take control of additional host bodies, using the host's soul or Philosopher's Stone to resupply Envy's strength. Envy seems to only be able activate this ability by biting his victims while in his weakened form. However, Envy has noted he cannot control someone by biting into automail, as seen when he failed to possess Edward. This ability is similar to Pride's ability to gain the traits of whomever he eats. With the body of a Mannequin Soldier Envy initially only possessed the abilities of a Mannequin Soldier - along with the ability to absorb other Mannequin Soldiers. Upon absorbing enough of them, Envy regained his former abilities, morphing the Mannequin Soldier bodies back to Envy's human appearance.

History
Envy was the fourth Homunculus created by Father, used for the purpose of causing mass slaughter with his shape-shifting powers to induce distrust and bloodshed. One such event was in Ishval, posing as an Amestrian militant to kill an Ishvalan child in the open, causing a massive revolt that led to the Ishval Civil War while the soldier he impersonated was the fall man. Overall, Envy gloated about having enjoyed committing the deed with great zest. Envy was later sent to pose as Father Cornello to oversee the events of Reole after the false prophet was exposed by Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist, and killed off by Lust.

Envy later meets with Fullmetal when he and Lust both enter the Fifth Laboratory and kill off the younger Slicer brother with his own katana for nearly jeopardizing their plans. Ending up making an enemy out of Edward, Envy takes advantage of the boy's automail arm malfunctioning to knock him out with a knee to the gut while telling him to feel lucky that they and Lust were not going serious on him. Envy later murders Lt. Colonel Maes Hughes when he stumbles in on the planned Day of Reckoning, assuming the form of his wife Gracia to kill him when his guard is down by her. When Greed is captured by King Bradley, which is the alias for the homunculus Wrath, Envy winds up in a "brotherly quarrel" with the rogue Homunculus that almost causes Envy to lose their cool before Father stops the argument.

After Lust's death by Colonel Roy Mustang, Envy takes over as the Homunculi representative and Dr. Tim Marcoh's jailer. Later, when Gluttony is captured, Envy attempts to retrieve the Homunculus, but ends up fighting Ling Yao before both they and Edward are sucked into Gluttony's subspace. There, once finding Ling and Edward, Envy states that there is no escape as they admit to the war they caused in Ishval, which provokes Edward to right hook the monster. However, seeing no more need to hold back, Envy assumes his unleashed state to kill the two humans.



During the fight, Envy takes advantage of their captive souls to mess with Edward's mind before knocking him out and swallowing him alive. However, seeing Envy's Philosopher's Stone at their core, Edward placates the monstrous Envy, allowing him to use their Philosopher's Stone to open Gluttony's fake Gate of Truth and pass through the true doors back to the real world. This drains many of the souls from Envy in the process, but it was evidently not enough to kill them. Though Envy promises to tell Edward what they know, they took back their words while restraining him and his younger brother Alphonse so Father could make Ling the new Greed. When Scar arrives with May Chang, Ed reveals Envy's role in the Ishvalan War to the scarred man, causing a ruckus that almost enables the Elric brothers to escape. Soon after, Envy takes the Elrics to Bradley so that they can be forced to keep their mouths shut regarding what they have learned.

Envy later releases Solf J. Kimblee from jail to have him work for the Homunculi in tracking down Scar to recapture Marcoh. While in Briggs, Envy is lured into a trap by Zampano pretending to sell out Marcoh. During the resulting fight, Envy enters their unleashed state in a fit of rage, grabbing Marcoh and revealing that his men were sacrificed to create the Philosopher's Stone they gave to Kimblee. This proves to be their undoing, as Marcoh succeeds in destroying most of the souls in Envy's Philosopher's Stone, reducing the Homunculus into a small, weakened version of their true form. After an unsuccessful attempt to hold Yoki hostage, Envy is placed in a jar and given to May to take back to Xing. However, Envy plays on May's guilt of leaving her new friends to fend for themselves in order to have her bring them back to Central to obtain a new Philosopher's Stone.

As the Day of Reckoning commences, Envy manages to take control of one of the activated Mannequin Soldiers attacking May, using it to assimilate the others nearby to regain their full form. From there, Envy chases down May before crashing through the entrance of the Third Laboratory. There, seeing former enemies working together, Envy reveals themselves as Hughes' murderer by transforming once again into Gracia when Mustang refused to believe that his friend's life was taken by a "moron." Unfortunately, due to the Mannequin Soldiers in Envy making them flammable and with Mustang now in a fiery rage, the Homunculus has to escape into the sewers. Finding Lt. Riza Hawkeye, Envy assumes Mustang's form and tries to kill her, but is quickly found out and shot repeatedly with her many weapons. Although Envy does manage to catch hold of her, Mustang arrives and continues the destruction of Envy's new body until they are reduced back to their parasitic form once again.

Envy is saved from execution by Mustang's hands through the combined intervention from Riza, Scar, and Edward in order to cease Mustang's quest for vengeance. After unsuccessfully trying to tempt the group into fighting each other with every horrible thing they have done to the other, Envy is mortified by how former enemies can put aside their hatred and work together. At that moment, Edward reveals to Envy that the homunculus is, in fact, jealous of human friendships and their ability to support each other. Realizing this truth, and feeling utterly disgraced by it and the fact that Edward sympathized with them, a tearful Envy pulls out their Philosopher's Stone and crushes it. As their decaying body begins to disintegrate, Envy laments not seeing where this ceasefire among former enemies would lead while they whisper, "Goodbye, Edward Elric," with tears in their eyes. Envy is the third Homunculus to die permanently (though by their own hand) in the manga and the 2009 anime.

Trivia

 * How Envy changes forms is slightly different in the two anime versions. In the first anime adaptation, Envy takes a new form by having a line of light go over their body at a rather quick pace. However, in the second anime adaptation, the color of the morphing process is red, discharges some electricity, and is slower, looking very similar to a transmutation (red sparks are common for transmutations with the Philosopher's Stone).
 * In the English Dub of the 2003 series, Envy initially had a low and calm voice. During the last few episodes, it changes to the louder and snarky tone that is used in the 2009 series.
 * In Brotherhood there is an instance of Envy breaking the fourth wall. After finishing a call with Zampano, the camera zooms in on Envy's face while they stare directly at the viewer, telling them 'things are getting interesting'.
 * Envy does not explicitly act in accordance with his sin in contrast to other homunculi such as Gluttony; who is a literal glutton, Greed; who openly admits to being greedy, and Sloth; who only uses the minimum amount of effort for anything. However, Envy displays schadenfreude (gaining satisfaction or pleasure from someone else's misfortune, i.e. laughing over Hughes' death and the Ishvalan Genocide) on numerous occasions, which is considered to be related to envy.
 * Snakes and dogs are both symbols associated with envy. Envy has been shown transforming into a dog in the manga and in the 2009 anime. In the 2003 anime, Envy's final form is that of a large, serpentine dragon.
 * Envy's clothing appears to be a part of his body. When they shapeshift, his clothes change with him and are even known to disappear when Envy becomes an animal. At one point, they are seen wearing, what appears to be, a normal coat overtop their usual attire that did not change and even flew off when they became a dog.
 * Envy appears to have retained a jacket as a souvenir from Ishval. They are seen wearing the same type of jacket as the soldiers while they participated in the war, and also wear it while fighting Lan-Fan. Furthermore, it seemed to not have been a part of them, as Envy was seen retrieving it at the end of the fight.
 * Envy shares some similarities with Diane from Seven Deadly Sins. Both are representative of envy, have extremely large true forms, purple eyes and a serpentine brand on their left thigh.

Manga/2009 Anime

 * Envy is an incredibly popular character, coming higher on the fan poll than any other homunculus, making them the most popular.
 * In the second popularity poll, Envy achieved fifth place. Arakawa expressed bewilderment over how Envy was able to get such a high ranking.
 * Discounting Pride (who can grow larger than Envy, but whose size is too dependent on light), Envy is the largest Homunculus, with their true form being about the size of a building.
 * During their final fight with Roy Mustang, Envy's eyes are repeatedly boiled away by Roy's flames. This bears some similarity to the second terrace of Dante Alighieri’s "Purgatorio," in which the envious are cleansed by having their eyelids sewn shut.
 * In many scenes during the second anime, Envy's hair has a greenish tint to it, albeit much darker. This is most likely referencing the first anime, where Envy's hair is green instead of black like in the manga. It, and the green skin color of their monstrous form could also be a subtle nod to the phrase "green with envy."
 * Both the Japanese and English (2009 anime) voice actors for Envy voice a character in Claymore called Ilena ("Irene" in English).
 * Envy seems to share a close bond with Lust, as she is one of the few Homunculi they regularly converse with in a friendly manner. After Lust is killed by Colonel Mustang, Envy protests Wrath's decision to let Mustang and his subordinates live, saying that they killed her and made fools out of them (suggesting that they are genuinely upset by Lust's death).
 * Although they seemed to bicker, Envy and Greed shared two preferences: both of them would rather avoid fighting if possible and both enjoyed their respective human form's good looks.
 * Envy's closeness to Lust and similarities to Greed make sense, as the concepts of envy and lust are similar sins, and envy goes hand-in-hand with greed.
 * In Envy's playable appearance in Monster Strike, they are categorized as Male.
 * Envy's go-to appearance for military-related missions seems to be that of a second lieutenant with blond hair and blue eyes. Whether this is a real person or someone Envy made up is unknown.
 * Envy is the only non human-based homunculus besides Father to make an appearance in every season.
 * While Pride remembers nothing of his life after reverting to his true form, Envy has all their memories intact. It is unknown if Envy is capable of aging while in this form, as Pride does.

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