Fritz Lang

Fritz Lang is a Jewish filmmaker and character in Conqueror of Shamballa. He is the parallel world counterpart of the human being that the 2003 anime's Pride was born of. After meeting with Edward, the two go into a large castle to find a dragon, which turns out to be Envy. He is captured along with Ed when the Thule Society raids the castle, but once Karl Haushofer, a friend of Lang's and member of the Thule Society, discovers that they have captured Edward Elric, they knock Edward out and leave him there and presumably do the same with Lang.

A little while later, Lang calls up Edward to meet him in Berlin at UFA (Universum Film Aktiengesellschaft), the main film studio in Germany. There, Lang shows Edward a photograph of the uranium bomb, which Edward recognizes. (It had made it through the Gate after the physicist failed a human transmutation.) He also tells Edward about the Nazi party and their plans, so Edward will stay out of trouble and not try to stop them. Lang says he chooses to avoid reality, (by not trying to stop the Nazis from starting a war). Edward yells at Lang, accusing him of acting like he's too good for the world, and then walks out of the studio.

When Edward is at the beer hall finding himself surrounded by Nazi party members, including the parallel world counterpart of Maes Hughes, Lang crashes his car into the pub and tells Edward to get in.

Lang also flies Edward above the factory where the Thule Society is planning to open the portal to Edward's world, so Edward can jump from the plane and crash-land into the factory.

It is unknown what happened to him after that, but it is possible he was killed in the Nazi genocide campaign. It is also possible that he left for America, and if the film version of Lang is supposed to be from "our" world, he would have left Germany before getting killed.

Quotes:

"Reality is a knotted mess I choose to avoid."

"Motion pictures and weapons of war. Science has created them both. So while others point their guns, I'll have my camera. Offering fantastic dreams of other worlds just beyond our reach."

Trivia

 * He is based on an Austrian-American filmmaker of the same name.
 * He uses the alias "Mabuse" before Edward eventually finds out his real name from a newspaper. Mabuse is the master criminal of three of Lang's films: Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler (1922) [Dr. Mabuse the Gambler], Das Testament des Dr. Mabuse (1933) [The Testament of Dr. Mabuse], and Die Tausend Augen des Dr. Mabuse (1960) [The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse]. This clever reference by the film may be a nod to the 2003 anime's Pride in that though his human equivalent is not dangerous or antagonistic (to Edward, at least), he still engages in deception and mind games.


 * The choice for Bradley's parallel world counterpart to be Fritz Lang probably was not arbitrary, as Fritz Lang was known as a ruthless director who did outrageous things to his actors in the pursuit of a perfect artistic product.