Envy/Manga

History[]

Envy Kills A Child — Envy causing the Ishval Civil War.

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 Edward 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 how lucky he is that they and Lust were not going serious on him. Envy later murders Lt. Colonel Maes Hughes when he stumbles upon 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 his 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 he and Edward are sucked into Gluttony's subspace. There, once finding Ling and Edward, Envy states that there is no escape as he admits to the war, they caused in Ishval, which provokes Edward to right hook the monster. However, seeing no longer need to hold back, Envy assumes his unleashed state to kill the two humans.

During the fight, Envy takes advantage of his captive souls to mess with Edward's mind before knocking him out and swallowing him alive. However, seeing Envy's Philosopher's Stone at his core, Edward placates the monstrous Envy, allowing him to use his 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 him. Though Envy promises to tell Edward what he knows, he took back his 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 his unleashed state in a fit of rage, grabbing Marcoh and revealing that his men were sacrificed to create the Philosopher's Stone he gave to Kimblee. This proves to be his 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 his 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 him 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 his 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 himself 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 him 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 he is reduced back to his 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 him, a tearful Envy pulls out his Philosopher's Stone and crushes it. As his 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 his eyes. Envy is the third Homunculus to die permanently (though by his own hand) in the manga and the 2009 anime.