Izumi Curtis

Izumi Curtis (イズミ・カーティス, Izumi Kātisu), (née Harnet) is a master alchemist and skilled martial artist living in the southern Amestrian town of Dublith where - with her husband Sig Curtis - she runs a butcher shop. Though she doesn't usually take on students, Izumi accepted Edward and Alphonse Elric's plea to take them on as her apprentices and instructed them in alchemical theory and practice for six months. In that time, she grew to love them as deeply as she would her own children, becoming a long-term source of guidance and support for the Elrics' future endeavors.

Appearance & Personality
Izumi is a rather attractive and deceptively young-looking middle-aged woman with a curvaceous yet well-toned figure, fair skin, long black hair worn in microbraid dreadlocks, dark eyes and a Flamel tattoo on the left side of her collarbone, the design of which appears to be her personal crest. Edward and Alphonse would later use this design to some degree, as their personal crests as well.

Although Izumi takes apparent pride in being a simple housewife and introduces herself as such to anyone who asks, her attractive and humble exterior belies a fearsome disposition such that Ed and Al become terrified at the mere thought of aggravating her. She is prone to swift acts of violence and is often seen doling out physical harm, but despite her frequently aggressive nature, Izumi is a remarkably a caring, wise and perceptive person always willing to help those in need, especially children. That being said, she is also a great advocate of helping people to make their own way and will usually only intervene on behalf of those with the will - but not the means - to help themselves. Though she has a great deal of alchemical skill and faith in her alchemical power, Izumi frequently values the idea of working hard and only using alchemy for things that cannot be done by hand, stressing to others that alchemists are still only human and have human limits. Additionally, Izumi appears to greatly enjoy travel (a trait she may have passed on to Edward), as many of her appearances in the series find her journeying outside her hometown.

Abilities
Izumi is among the strongest women (and indeed characters) in the series. An extremely powerful martial artist, both in terms of armed and hand-to-hand combat, she boasts shocking physical strength and proves herself capable of easily subduing multiple enemies in a flash and overpowering larger opponents (up to and including such mammoth creatures as mountain grizzly bears, and even the Homunculus Sloth).

Though Izumi appears as an unbeatable paragon of fearsome power, most acts of overexertion on her part are followed by a crippling regurgitation of blood linked to an internal injury from a failed Human Transmutation several years before. As a result of this, she is one of the few characters able to perform alchemy without the aid of a Transmutation Circle. By merely touching her palms together, she creates an energy circulation with her arms and transmutes by using her own will as a substitute for the necessary runes. This remarkable talent makes Izumi's transmutations both instantaneous and incredibly versatile, allowing her to use alchemy to its fullest potential in direct combat.

Her specific alchemy-style seems to focus more on her immediate surroundings and how best to use them to her advantage. She also shares with Edward the same preference for creating spears to wield with deadly proficiency.

History
In the year 1897, when Izumi Harnet was 18 years old, she ventured from her home in the west to the northern region of Briggs in order to learn alchemy as an apprentice to the famed alchemist Silver Steiner. She was told that she would not be accepted as Steiner's apprentice unless she survived for one month alone on the fearsome Briggs mountain range with nothing but a machete. She braved the elements, nearly dying several times from the extreme cold, wild animal attacks and assaults from Briggs Mountain Patrol (who assumed that she was a Drachman Spy). In her time there, Izumi would eventually come to forge her own belief in "All is One, One is All", an alchemical concept of life she would follow as well as pass on to her two students. Though she was never captured, the rumor of a mysterious "mountain woman" raiding Fort Briggs for supplies would continue to circulate in the region for nearly twenty years. After the month was up, she ventured back into town and declared to Steiner that she was now fit to be his alchemy apprentice. It was at this point that the man told her that he was, in fact, Gold Steiner - the older brother of the alchemist Silver Steiner (who had died several years before) - and that he was known for hand-to-hand combat techniques, knowing nothing of alchemy. Izumi, in fury, assaulted him and knocked him unconscious, setting out to continue her alchemy training on her own. It may be inferred from this that Izumi is a self-taught alchemist. After meeting a young Sig Curtis (whom she immediately fell in love with after bumping into him and dropping a bear she was carrying, which he picked up), the two married and moved to the southern town of Dublith.

Once settled into her new life there, Izumi became pregnant. The child, however, died soon after birth and Izumi fell into a deep depression. In a desperate attempt, she tried and failed to revive it through Human Transmutation. Although the failed attempt took some of her internal organs, such that she could never again give birth and coughs up blood when she gets too worked up, Izumi could thereafter perform alchemy without a transmutation circle.

In 1908, on a trip through the Eastern region of Amestris, Izumi and Sig stopped in the small town of Resembool where torrential rains had caused the river to overflow and threaten to flood the village. Izumi intervened on behalf of the frantic villagers, transmuting a large earthen dam to corral the overflow. The people of Resembool, grateful for her help, offered Izumi a place to rest when her illness began acting up and while there, she was approached by two small boys named Edward and Alphonse Elric, who asked to be taken on as her alchemy apprentices. At first, Izumi refused, but upon learning that the two boys were orphaned, she acquiesced a bit, offering them a trial period in which to prove their worth as apprentices before making her final decision. With the boys in tow, Izumi and Sig returned to Dublith and made arrangements for their test. Izumi took the Elric brothers to Yock Island, where she gave them a large knife and informed them that they were to survive on the island alone for one month without the use of alchemy, all the while trying to decipher the meaning to her creed "All is One, One is All" before the month was up. Then, secretly leaving Sig's assistant Mason on the island to both watch over the boys and make sure they honed their physical combat skills, she departed for Dublith without them. When she returned in a month, Izumi was pleasantly surprised to find the boys not only in great shape, but having properly understood the riddle. Fulfilling her promise, she accepted them into her tutelage and instructed them in both alchemy and martial arts for six months before deeming them knowledgeable enough to return home and continue practicing on their own.

Meeting the Master
Izumi is introduced to the story in Chapter 14 when Edward and Alphonse make a long overdue visit to her home in Dublith to ask her what she knows of the Philosopher's Stone. After reprimanding the boys for becoming lapdogs of the State Military and letting their training slacken, she explains that the Stone never interested her and therefore did not become a focus of her study, but also states that she had met an alchemist in Central City recently who had known a great deal about it - an alchemist by the name of Van Hohenheim. When Alphonse reveals that Hohenheim is the boys' long-lost father, Izumi perceives it as a great chance for them in more ways than one, but Edward angrily refuses to accept help from Hohenheim, the subject is dropped save for Izumi's addition that Hohenheim had mentioned something about his lifelong dream soon coming true.

The boys stay for supper and regale Izumi, Sig and Mason with tales of their travels - including their experience in Rush Valley helping to deliver a baby, which Izumi says softly is a good experience to have. But when Ed and Al show off their improved transmutation skills, Izumi is shocked to see Edward perform alchemy without a circle. She demands immediately to know by what means Edward saw the Gate of Truth, revealing to the boys her own experience with Human Transmutation and that she had known all along merely by observing them that their bodies had been mysteriously maimed.

After they explain how they used her instruction in an attempt to resurrect their dead mother which rebounded, taking Ed's left leg and right arm as well as Alphonse's body as toll, and then joined forces with the State Military so as to receive access to restricted alchemical documents which may someday lead to their own restoration. After comforting them and lamenting that they made the same mistake that she did, Izumi expels them both from her tutelage for directly disobeying her prohibition of Human Transmutation. Of course, the expulsion renders the Elric brothers her colleagues rather than students, opening a new relationship for the three alchemists. Realizing this, the boys consult Izumi openly about ways to restore their bodies and she posits that Alphonse may have learned a great deal more from his sojurn into the Gate than either Edward or herself because Al gave his entire physical form as a toll rather than just a body part. But when Alphonse reveals that he has absolutely no recollection of seeing the Gate or the Truth, Izumi suggests that trauma-induced amnesia may be to blame and consults a doctor acquaintance while the boys make themselves at home in the Curtis household.

Soon afterward, Edward departs suddenly and temporarily to renew his State Alchemist license while Alphonse remains in Dublith to help around the shop. But when Al mysteriously vanishes, Izumi, Sig and Mason investigate around town to find the armor boy's whereabouts, only to learn that he has been kidnapped and taken to a shady nearby bar called the Devil's Nest, where a new local gang has been holding court. Izumi storms the gang's basement stronghold, deftly trouncing just about all of the members (and scolding Al for letting his guard own so easily) before coming across the gang's boss - a stylish man by the name of Greed. However, when she attacks Greed, she discovers - at the cost of her finger bones - that his body is rather strange, covering itself with a thin coating of nigh unbreakable armor when attacked. Alphonse explains that Greed is a Homunculus - much to Izumi's incredulity - and that the man wants to make a deal with the Elrics to help them fashion a body in exchange for information about Al's Soul Binding. He urges Izumi to forgo her urge to fight and bring Ed to the Devil's Nest for negotiations upon his return. Izumi leave reluctantly, threatening to personally annihilate Greed and his men if Alphonse is harmed in any way. Ed arrives soon afterward and Izumi delivers Al and Greed's message, staying behind while Ed goes alone to "negotiate". (In the 2009 anime, the scenes are moved around and Izumi arrives to back Edward up, her initial encounter with Greed having been removed.)

That night, when the Elrics return from battling Greed and his men with the help of a Southern military platoon led by Major Armstrong and the Führer, King Bradley himself, Bradley compliments Izumi's skills as an alchemist and teacher and offers her a place in the State Alchemist program, which she politely refuses. He departs, leaving the offer on the table and causing Izumi to wonder concernedly why the Commander-in Chief would come to personally deal with such a trivial matter.

Requiring automail repairs in Rush Valley and further information in Central City, Ed and Al leave Dublith the next morning.

The Human Philosopher's Stone
Izumi isn't again seen until mid-way through the story, when she and Sig are on a train and once again encounter her students' father, Van Hohenheim. After leaving the train, they talk about Hohenheim's sons and what they have been doing when Izumi's internal injuries cause her to cough up blood. Concerned, Hohenheim then proceeds to reach inside Izumi's body, rearranging her organs. Thinking that he stabbed Izumi, Sig Curtis furiously punches Hohenheim, knocking him a few meters. Asking her wife if she is alright, Izumi maintains that she is fine, and that she can actually breathe better. Finding out that the wound where Hohenheim stabbed her is gone, he states that he cannot bring back her organs, but simply rearranged her damaged internal cavity in the most favorable arrangement possible. Izumi then fearfully asks Hohenheim what is he, to which he replies he's just a person named Van Hohenheim -- the Human Philosopher's Stone. After this, Hohenheim presumably informs them both of everything that has been happening in the country, including the Promised Day as well as the Nationwide Transmutation Circle, and the Curtises head north. Once there, Izumi intentionally lets herself be captured by northern troops to inform a "trusted Ishvalan man" and a "large man with a Mohawk" of the Promised Day. This message runs through a trusted network of informants all across the country to reach Roy Mustang himself.

The Promised Day
Trusting the Briggs Troops for the coming events, Izumi and Sig are taken by them to the Armstrong mansion, where they are to hide under orders of Olivier Milla Armstrong until Mustang's uprising in Central City. When the Promised Day arrives, and the battle begins, Izumi along with Briggs' forces storm through the city wreaking havoc. Arriving at Central Command, she encounters the Armstrong siblings, who have been struggling in their battle against Sloth. Along with Sig, Alex and Olivier, the four face off against the Homunculus, who is eventually impaled and killed. Soon after this, Izumi is spontaneously teleported away from her husband and allies to an underground lair -- a move on Father's part to gather the five Human Sacrifices (humans who have opened The Gate) for his final task. Reunited with Edward, Alphonse, Hohenheim and a newly-captured Mustang, the five humans are forced into once again opening The Gate of Truth under Father's behest. After the massive transmutation, the Homunculus returns in a body which "harnesses the power of God", and Izumi (along with the remaining rest) unleash their combined efforts in taking him down. She is seen transmuting alchemic spikes to shoot and even collapsing a full column on him, both to little avail. Eventually, Father is forced into a hasty retreat, and Izumi is quick to follow. She watches in horror as Father creates humans from the souls of the long dead Xersisians, becoming sick at the sight of a baby crawling towards her. She is caught in the blast unleashed afterwards.

In Chapter 107, she is shown to have survived the blast thanks to Hohenheim shielding her and Edward from the bulk of it. She then helps depleate Father's Philosopher's Stone with an onslaught of attacks, and watches as Edward finishes him at the end in Chapter 108. She and Sig greet Alphonse after he gets his body back from The Gate soon afterwards. She is last seen in a photo during the epilouge with Sig and Mason.

2003 Anime
In the first anime series, Izumi's past is considerably different. At a young age, she became the apprentice of the illusive master alchemist Dante. Their distinctive views of alchemy and life lead them into an estranged relationship, with Izumi leaving her old teacher behind as soon as she could. In her attempt to bring back her still-born son, Izumi inadvertently created the Homunculus known as Wrath. Because of this, Izumi is constantly haunted by regret and spends the entire series trying to gain the Homunculus' forgiveness and love. She sees nothing short of her own death at his hands a fitting punishment for her foolish act to bring back the dead. In Fullmetal Alchemist the Movie: Conqueror of Shamballa, it is revealed that in the two-year-gap, Izumi has finally succumbed to her illness and died. Wrath can be seen sleeping by her grave. When Alphonse sacrifices a willing Wrath to once again open The Gate of Alchemy, Izumi is seen hugging her son, the two reunited in peace at last.

Trivia

 * She and Olivier Mira Armstrong are the only people Ed and Al fear to the point of not wanting to anger them.
 * Both Olivier and Izumi share many personality traits including being hostile, violent, and possessing strong life philosophies.
 * Similar for Ed, who hates being called short or Olivier being called feminine, Izumi hates being called old.
 * While Izumi's Flamel tattoo is red in both the manga and the 2003 anime, in the 2009 series it is changed to a deep shade of blue.
 * Arakawa has stated that, while Izumi's hair appears to be in dreadlocks, each dread is actually a micro-braid.
 * The name Izumi means "spring" or "fountain" in Japanese.