Though significantly endowed with military power, he is below Lt. General Grumman in the echelon and, therefore, cannot take action in regards to his open disapproval of Roy Mustang's speedy rise through the ranks under Grumman's command. Frustrated and threatened by Colonel Mustang's notoriety, Halcrow is known to make multiple attempts to bully or belittle the Flame Alchemist, all of which end up fruitless.
He first appears in Chapter 4, when the train on which he and his family ride to a vacation spot is hijacked by Bald and several members of the Blue Squad, seeking to hold the Major General ransom in exchange for their incarcerated leader. While attempting to discourage the terrorists, the general is lightly wounded as Bald shoots a small hole in his left ear. Before any more harm can come to the Halcrow family, however, the hijackers are defeated by Edward and Alphonse Elric, who also happened to be passengers aboard the train.
Halcrow reappears after the initial battle with Scar, coming down to East City from New Optain to berate Mustang for taking so long to find the alchemist murderer, and again in Chapter 85 to inform Führer Bradley of Mustang's attempted coup d'état in Central City. However, it becomes apparent that Halcrow's report was included in Mustang and Grumman's plans without his knowledge, as they used him as bait to draw Bradley into an assassination trap.
His fate still remains unknown, but it's possible that he was arrested as a conspirator working with the Senior Staff.
2003 adaptation[]
Halcrow during Liore's revolt.
In the 2003 anime series, Halcrow's rescue by the Elric brothers was partly orchestrated by Mustang in order to manipulate the Major General into exempting the boys from the age restriction for the State Alchemy exam. After the Elrics' mission in Reole, Halcrow is assigned to liberate it from Cornello's followers and his actions create political unrest due to the manipulative actions of the Homunculi and he also ignores Rosé's advice about allowing the citizens to fix the town themselves and leaves her to be tortured and eventually raped and impregnated with a child. Halcrow later attempts to seize the presidency for himself while King Bradley is temporarily indisposed.
Near the end of the series, Halcrow is assigned to the mission of hunting down the Elric Brothers - who have gone away without leave - and is determined to do it as he is embarrassed due to the Elrics using him to get into the military. Halcrow is later sent to deal with Brigadier General Mustang and his uprising against the Führer in Drachma, unaware that this is a diversion to lure the bulk of the military forces away from Central Command.
Fullmetal Alchemist (movie)[]
In the 2017 film, Halcrow is portrayed as far more sinister and demented, and is working with the Homunculi to create Mannequin Soldiers for them. He is implied to have hired Shou Tucker to create them with Alphonse's Transmutation Circle after he finishes his second human chimera, but in order to do so he separates the Elric brothers and later stages the death of Maes Hughes and Tucker's arrest, so that he can create the Mannequin Soldiers with the Homunculi. In the final showdown, he foolishly awakens the Mannequin Soldiers and later declares he is their "daddy" but they turn on him and later eat him alive. His death is akin to the general who dies in Chapter 90: Army of Immortals.
Trivia[]
Halcrow's ear wound in the manga.
Although Halcrow was shot in the ear during the train incident in the fifth episode of the 2003 anime, the ear wound is not seen in all of Halcrow's subsequent appearances.
Halcrow's role in the 2009 anime is greatly diminished to that of a one-time background character.
Due to a likely mis-transliteration on the part of the author, Halcrow's given name has been credited as the romanization "Hakuro" by many sources.
Halcrow's name likely comes from Sir William Halcrow, a 20th century English civil engineer known best for his expertise in the design of tunnels, and his contribution to several projects during World War 2.
Robert McCollum, mainly known for playing Scar's brother in Brotherhood, substitutes as Halcrow in the 2003 anime during his interrogation of Rosé in "Destruction’s Right Hand". Strangely, Halcrow's primary actor Phil Parsons is still credited as his character in that episode, implying that this substitution may have been a last-minute recourse.
