Genocide and Survivor's Guilt (2)

 

    In the climax of the action in the fight with the main villain, it is revealed that Father, the creature running the government of Amestris from the shadows, has activated the nationwide transmutation circle. The purpose of this is to gather the energy of every one of their souls to turn Father into, essentially, a god. While Arakawa does not show her characters' existential thoughts on the matter, one can only imagine how lost those who knew the government's plot would feel. The entire nation of Amestris was founded solely for the purpose of this nationwide transmutation circle, raised like cattle for the benefit of one creature. 

   However, this was not the first nationwide transmutation circle seen. Father, formerly known as Homunculus when he was created by ancient alchemists in the country of Xerxes, told the king of the nation he knew how the king could attain immortality. To this aim, the king ordered men to dig a complex "irrigation ditch" around the country, which was actually to serve as the transmutation circle to sacrifice the entirety of the nation.

    But, Homunculus, or Father, lied. He instead betrayed the king, opting instead to use the souls to grant himself immortality, as well as the man whose body he cloned to use as his own vessel. This genocide is, of course, extremely driven by the fantasy plot device. However, although extremely directly, it shows how often the powers at be in a nation orchestrate terrible genocides and wars for the gain of few, telling the people of the nation it is for their benefit. While in the case of the nations of Amestris and Xerxes it is direct corruption from one person, it still at the very least symbolizes government corruption as a whole. While no real nations have sacrificed the entirety of their population for any goal, it still drives home the point that genocide is brutal, devastating, mindless destruction. 

    The man whom Father cloned, Hohenheim, (who does in fact happen to be the father of the Elric brothers) is eternally racked with survivor's guilt. Hohenheim's character represents the survivor's guilt of those who escaped genocide, all concentrated into the anguish of one man. In his case, he is literally carrying the souls of his lost loved ones inside of him. His failure to be present and supportive of his sons represents the generational trauma that these survivors of genocide pass onto their children. Additionally, by the end, Ed and Al must fight Homunculus, directly facing the symbol of their father's trauma head-on, both in the sense of Homunculus looking exactly like their father, whom they resent, and in the sense that he is also the one who traumatized countless lives and took even more lives through genocide.

    Another example of genocide is the Ishvalan Civil War, or as most of the characters call it, the Ishvalan War of Extermination. The nation of Ishval is a fairly generic representation of middle-eastern countries, which Arakawa uses as a plot device to explore the topic of genocide and war crimes. Ishvalans are characterized by their dark skin, red eyes, and white hair--as well as their devout religious practice of worshipping their "One true god" called Ishval. Ishval was a territory annexed by Amestris, which stands as a representation of generic european countries, most closely mirroring early 20th century Germany. The annexation was land needed for the purpose of the previously shown nationwide transmutation circle. However, the greatly differing cultures of the two nations caused civil unrest, until one day an Amestrian soldier shot an Ishvalan child point blank. This sparked outrage, leading to the war. However, the shooting was orchestrated by the shadow government since they wanted to use the ensuing battleground to test the powers of the state alchemists and experiment with new weaponry, much like Germany did with their concentration camps in WWII.

    

    Arakawa's choice of nation parallels is no mistake. The manga for Fullmetal Alchemist ran from July 2001 - June 2010, during the height of the war on terror. While she likely had most of the plot figured out before the events of September 11th in the United States, she still decided not to alter her own story. The first chapter that shows the war in-depth is chapter 61, released in July 12, 2006 in Japan and December 18, 2007 in America. In this chapter, a state alchemist is shown opening fire of an amplified alchemical spell onto Ishvalan civilians. The immense power and abuse of such power is reminiscent of western militant involvement in the middle east. The Ishvalan people very closely represent followers of Islam, so showing this fictional representation of such violence surely brings to light concerns of what may be happening in the real world.

    The spell that state alchemist Solf J. Kimblee uses is amplified by a philosopher's stone, the energy source of the stone being from the deaths of the genocide. Using the genocide to create a power source, only to commit more genocide, seems like a parallel to fossil fuel natural resource interests. In our world, a large pull for nations to become involved in war with middle eastern nations is fossil fuels, and if not the main draw, it is an enticing bonus for them. Oil is a deadly venture, and countless wars have been fought for rights to oil in the real world, for example Iraq invading Kuwait under the pretense of oil. As crude oil can be seen by many as the blood of the world fueling industry and the economy, literal blood is needed for the creation of philosopher's stones, bringing the metaphor to life.

    Another key example of survivor's guilt is the character Scar, seen in the leftmost page above. His brother jumping to defend him ends up costing his life, and Scar's life is saved because of his brother's sacrifice. His brother's tattoos provide a sigil for alchemical power, one for construction and one for destruction. Scar, who had lost an arm, was given a replacement by his dying brother giving up his own arm. This provided Scar with his brother's destruction power. 

    Scar's life was saved by his brother's sacrifice, putting immeasurable guilt and responsibility onto him. Scar sees this as a calling to avenge his brother and his people. Thus, a few years after the end of the war, Scar entered the capitol city and started hunting state alchemists to make them atone for their crimes. He makes them take responsibility for the genocide they committed, regardless of whether or not they were "just following orders."