Lust

Lust (Japanese:ラスト, Rasuto) is a Homunculus and one of the first antagonists in the Fullmetal Alchemist series. Lust is the first Homunculus to appear in the series and plays a significant part in the plots of both the manga and 2003 anime series, usually partnered with Gluttony to whom she appears to have a particular, almost motherly closeness. Her Ouroboros mark is located on her collarbone, just above her breasts.

Powers and Abilities
Though named for the vice of lust, Lust does not appear to be lascivious herself, but rather an object of lust for others. Due to her enticing looks and high intelligence, Lust easily and effectively plays the role of manipulator within the Homunculus ranks, moving covertly around the country to lure weak-minded people (usually alchemists) into the clutches of Father to be used and disposed of when no longer needed.

Aside from her skills as a infiltrator and puppet-master, Lust has the usual Homunculus abilities of incredible longevity, astonishing regenerative capabilities and a great resistance to death that borders on immortality. Her own unique ability is to extend her fingertips into long, thin blades sharp enough to cut through just about anything with ease. The length to which her fingers are able to stretch has not been shown to have any particular limit as well, earning her the nickname "Ultimate Spear" among her Homunculus peers.

In the manga
In the manga, Lust is the only female Homunculus and the second to be created by Father, apparently made from his lustful emotions and souls from the dead nation of Xerxes. Due to her high intelligence and devotion to Father's plan, Lust appears to have a great deal of free reign and authority within the organization, seeming to have a position second only to Pride and on par with Wrath. Lust also has a great disdain for humans, thinking them frail, predictable and generally stupid. Moreover, she appears to take pleasure in using and throwing them away. Lust is the first to introduce the idea of Homunculi as superhuman, the next wave of evolution of humanity, and takes pride in her nature.

Lust first appears in Chapter 2 of the manga, revealing herself to have been behind Father Cornello's attempted uprising in Reole, having given him an incomplete Philosopher's Stone and false promises of ruling Amestris with the Church of Leto. After Cornello fails his mission due to Edward Elric's intervention, Lust reveals to the false prophet that she had only been using him in order to cause trouble in the region and kills him without a second thought, impaling him through the skull with one of her bladed fingernails. Though remorseless over the death of a human, she is concerned that Cornello's work in the town is unfinished and requests that Envy come to help her. But Envy brings along news from Central City regarding the movement of "the scarred man" in East City. Though incensed that the Fullmetal Alchemist had managed to throw a wrench into the goings-on in Reole, Lust worries that he may be killed before his role in Father's plan and heads to East City in order to keep an eye on the young State Alchemist.

Though Lust is not given a chance to intervene when Edward and Scar meet, she keeps tabs on his movements afterward, tailing him and Major Alex Louis Armstrong on the train to Resembool. When the alchemists' train makes a stop on the way to Resembool, Lust is inadvertently alerted to the presence of former State Alchemist Dr.Tim Marcoh, who had deserted the military and escaped her control several years before. She gets off the train with Strong Arm and Fullmetal, following them to Marcoh's residence. After the three alchemists discuss the Philosopher's Stone and Marcoh gives Edward a clue to where his research notes are hidden, Lust lies in wait for the good doctor in his home. She assures him that she no longer needs his services, but warns that the data he stole when he left could alert an alchemist as skilled as Edward to what the Homunculi are trying to do and demands that Marcoh reveal its location to her as well, reminding him that the Homunculi were the ones who taught him how to make Philosopher's Stones. Marcoh resists, using alchemy to impale the monstrous woman through the stomach, but Lust merely laughs the injury off, remarking that it was very mean of Marcoh to waste one of her lives. After she takes a small village child hostage, Marcoh has no choice but to tell her that his notes are hidden in the First Branch of the National Central Library, to which Lust heads in order to destroy the evidence before Fullmetal can see it, but not before warning Marcoh that if he gets in their way again, she would not hesitate to wipe his peaceful village of hiding off the map.

Unable to root through the millions of books in the library for Marcoh's notes, Lust merely burns down the First Branch and heads back to East City to rendezvous with Gluttony and continue the search for Scar, since Pride and Wrath can keep an eye on Fullmetal while he is in Central. When Gluttony smells Scar's presence, the two Homunculi go on the attack, ambushing the Ishvalan assassin in the sewers of East City. Though they manage to wound Scar, he escapes before they can confirm a kill and before Gluttony can dispose of the body by eating it. Lust returns to Central City in order to report the incident to Father, but is alerted to the Elric brothers' infiltration of Central Alchemical Laboratory #5 and heads there with Envy to keep them from learning too much about their Father's plan. Lust intervenes just as Laboratory Guard Number 48 is about to reveal what he knows about the Homunculi to Edward Elric and destroys the blood rune binding the elder Slicer Brother to the mortal plane with her blades. Lust informs Fullmetal that the Homunculi are allowing him to live for their own purposes and, after Envy knocks Edward unconscious and delivers him safely outside, triggers the explosive charges inside Lab 5, causing the building to crumble to the ground, hiding away its worst secrets. In Chapter 15, Lust reappears, confronting Lt. Colonel Maes Hughes in the records room of Central Headquarters. As it has been determined that Hughes' investigation into the information given to him by Edward Elric has led him to the secret truth behind Father's plan, Lust attempts to assassinate him, but underestimates his combat abilities and is struck in the head by one of Hughes thrown push knives, causing her to lose one of her lives as the Lt. Colonel escapes her, only to be killed soon afterward by Envy.

In Chapter 31, Lust (along with Gluttony and Envy) greets Greed after Wrath returns him to Father's underground lair. She reveals to him that Wrath is King Bradley's true identity and that Sloth is at work digging the Nationwide Transmutation Circle before Father destroys his body.

Aware that Mustang is getting closer to the truth of the Homunculi's actions through his subordinates, Lust uses her contacts in the military to have the Flame Alchemist transferred to Central City and attempts to keep tabs on him by posing as a human and dating 2nd Lt. Jean Havoc (under the alias "Solaris") in order to glean information regarding the Colonel's activities. Of course, despite Lust's best efforts, Jean avoids telling her anything vital or confidential about his work. When Envy reports to Lust that Mustang has begun personally investigating the murder of Maes Hughes and the mystery of Laboratory 5 in secret, the two Homunculi collaborate on a plan to keep the Flame Alchemist out of trouble. They leak falsified information to the military implicating 2nd Lt. Maria Ross as Hughes' killer. However, Roy catches wind of this information and counters with his own plan, orchestrating Ross's escape from prison and simulated death with the help of Number 66 - the other of Laboratory 5's former guards who, unknown to the Homunculi, had been discovered by and agreed to cooperate with Mustang's group.

After Envy recognizes 66 from the penitentiary attack, Lust sends the former guard's reanimated body out to track down its soul and orders Envy and Gluttony to take care of the traitor when found, inadvertently falling right into the second part of Colonel Mustang's plot. Mustang's unit manages to draw both Gluttony and Envy out of hiding and tail 66's fleeing body back to its home base - the lower levels of Central Alchemical Laboratory #3 and the entrance to the Homunculi's underground lair. Noticing the intruders, Lust goes after the first group of Mustang and Havoc, who have penetrated into the basement level human experimentation chambers of Lab 3. When Roy notices Lust's Ouroboros and asks if she was involved with Hughes' death, Lust responds that she was involved and wishes she could have finished off Hughes herself, prompting Roy to shoot her in the leg and command that she kneel. Lust heals the wound effortlessly and responds that such a meager attack could never bring her to her knees and when several more shots to the head, chest and abdomen also fail to subdue her, Jean and Roy realize the truth - that the woman before them is an actual Homunculus. Lust commends the officers for their cognizance and peels back the wound in her chest to reveal her Philosopher's Stone heart, stating that it is the secret behind her apparent immortality.

Before Roy and Havoc can act, Lust goes on the offensive, rupturing a large water pipe in the ceiling and dousing them - rendering Roy's ignition gloves incapable of drawing a spark and thus removing his Flame Alchemy from the fray. Jean and Roy flee the room, desperately dodging the Ultimate Spear's dangerous fingernails as they escape, and Roy uses the transmutation circle on his gloves to transmute the water in the room into combustible hydrogen and flammable oxygen, which build up quickly in the underground chamber. With the addition of Havoc's cigarette lighter, Roy creates an explosion that incinerates Lust's body. But when Mustang and Havoc enter the destroyed room to investigate, Lust quickly regenerates, impaling Jean through the abdomen with her fingernails and severing his spine. As Jean collapses to the floor, paralyzed, Roy rips the Philosopher's Stone from Lust's body in the hopes of using it to heal his friend's wounds. Without the stone, Lust's body disintegrates, but reforms around its supernatural core as the Flame Alchemist raises it over his head. Lust stabs Roy through the abdomen and shreds his glove, lamenting that such a perfect Human Sacrifice had to go to waste, but stating that once he had stuck his neck in this far, he could not be allowed to live. Lust leaves Roy and Havoc to bleed to death on the floor and heads off to intercept the other group, consisting of Alphonse Elric, Riza Hawkeye and Number 66.

Lust angrily encounters them on the threshold of Father's lair and realizes that 66 was used as bait to draw the Homunculi out of hiding, additionally lamenting that Alphonse - yet another Human Sacrifice - had to involve himself in this. Lust effortlessly cuts Number 66's armor body to pieces and then turns her malice on Al and Hawkeye, who realize that Lust has already encountered Mustang. Anguished at the thought of Roy's death, Hawkeye unloads all of her firearms into Lust's body, but to no avail. Lust observes Riza's breakdown with a sort of pity and comments on how sad and pathetic humans are before moving in for the kill. As Alphonse defends the Lieutenant, allowing parts of his armor body to be damaged, Lust does not realize that Mustang has re-emerged behind her. Having cut a transmutation circle into the back of his right hand and seared his abdominal wounds shut with fire, Roy begins his attack anew, using Havoc's lighter to create the sparks. Lust attempts to retaliate, but is held at bay by a rapid succession of huge explosions as the Flame Alchemist asserts that he will continue killing her until she stays dead. Lust's Philosopher's Stone runs out of energy and her powers cease. As her body begins to disintegrate, Lust smiles at Roy's face, saying that she is glad to die at the hands of a man with such clear, focused eyes, but adding that the day will soon come when those same eyes become clouded by suffering. Her body and Philosopher's Stone are reduced to dust. Lust is the first Homunculus to die (Greed, though melted down before Lust's death, was merely reabsorbed into Father's soul and returns later on in a new body).

Last Words: You win. I hate to admit it, but it isn't too bad to be killed by a man like you. I like those determined eyes of yours. I can't wait. The day... your eyes will be filled with torment... is right... there.

2003 anime
In the anime, Lust is the first Homunculus formally introduced in the series (although technically not the first witnessed by the Elrics, chronologically). She is largely the same as her manga counterpart, however, she begins to crave becoming a human as the series progresses.

Her main purpose amongst the Homunculi is gathering information and traveling abroad, manipulating alchemists into creating Philosopher's Stones (her work can be seen for what it truly is in her dealings with Cornello, Mugear, Lujon, and others). Gaining true humanity is the focal point of her ambition, arguably much more so than the rest of the Homunculi.

Lust claims to have first observed the Elrics while she was evaluating the potential of the alchemist Majhal to create a Philosopher's Stone. While she was always in the background, using those like Cornello or Mugear, Lust only revealed herself to the Elrics years later during the events of the 5th Laboratory, where she attempted to convince Ed into creating a true Philosopher's Stone. Lust doesn't introduce herself or Gluttony by name to Edward until they met face to face again in Lior. Even then, she only introduces herself intending to kill Edward immediately after.

She is often directly involved in encouraging humans to seek out the Philosopher's Stone, using their desire for the stone to her advantage. Once baited, the alchemists are molded into following whatever path that best suits Lust and the other Homunculi's designs. She also tends to be more involved with the intrigue side of various conspiracies. Lust was created by Scar's brother, when he attempted to use alchemy to bring his lover back from the dead. After he was cast out from Ishbalan society as a heretic, Envy visited the wretched creature and fed it red stones, giving her human shape, and her new name. She was not the first Homunculus to bear the name of Lust, and is the third youngest Homunculus, with only Wrath and Sloth being younger.

While ruthless throughout most of the series, she changes near the end during the Lior incident as she begins to recover some memories of her life as a human, and she softens particularly towards Scar and the Elrics. But her involvement was reckless, and allowing the Elrics' escape–a locket containing strands of hair from the woman she "was" prevented her from action–raised doubts about her loyalty. Lust was taken to Dante, who gave her a chance to redeem herself by helping Wrath take out Edward while Sloth abducted Al. Finally realizing Dante's true intentions were never to make the Homunculi human, This leads her to defecting from the homunculi. After first trying to kill Ed, Lust betrays Wrath and forms an alliance with Edward Elric under the condition that he help make her human, In return, she would reveal to the Elrics the identity of her master. However, as she battled Wrath when he arrived to save Sloth from the ambush Edward and Lust set up for her. Using the locket and the transmutation circle that Lust made for Edward to use on Sloth, Wrath first immobilizes, then kills her by transmuting his arm temporarily into a blade (making her the second Homunculus to die). Before her death, Lust wonders: where will she go when she dies? As if the whole reason she wanted to become human so badly was so she could die and Ironically her question is answered. She is the second Homunculus to die in the anime.

Last Words: Maybe you are right. Where did I come from and where will I go when I die? Maybe all this time that is what I wanted: the freedom to find out.

Trivia

 * Lust's death at the hands of Mustang could be a direct reference to Dante Alighieri's famous "Inferno". In it, the lustful are tormented in Hell by being "blown about" in constant violent winds of pure fire.


 * Lust greatly resembles "Miss Nynetales", a main character from Arakawa Hiromu's discontinued early manga series Shanghai Youma Kikai.