Entry tags:
PERMISSIONS, INFO & OPT-OUT;
GENERAL:
★ In Character☆ PHYSICAL AFFECTION/HUGGING/KISSING ETC: Ed is a very stand-offish character when it comes to physical affection, so do not expect this to be well received. Friends have gotten away with hugs and a kiss on the cheek, obviously some development is bound to happen in a sex game that will make him gradually more open to this depending on CR.
☆ FLIRTING: He's going to get very awkward, so if your character enjoys blushing, I guess have at it.☆ PHYSICAL VIOLENCE: Fighting is the norm in canon and he's been in a horror game before, but please discuss it with me if your character plans to attack him.
☆ INJURY: I'm all for injury in a fight, having artificial limbs means Ed can come out of some more severe "injuries" mostly unharmed as long as a mechanic can fix him up. Again, this would require discussion.
☆ KILLING THIS CHARACTER: I've done it before, but I would prefer to avoid it unless there's a specific plot related reason.
In games where revival from death is not an option I will not be killing him permanently.
☆ RELATIONSHIPS: Ed is not an easy ship! I always say if it develops naturally, it'll happen.
In summary: ed's like, "my heart forever belongs to al. and that doesn't sound weird at all." - quote courtesy of
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hardedgedIn all seriousness though, Ed's still vaguely preoccupied with someone from another game so he might be hard to get into a committed relationship. He's also more experienced which means more comfortable with things like flirting and physical affection than might be expected, but just barely so.
☆ PSYCHIC/PSIONIC/MINDREADING/TELEPATHY: He's a normal human being with normal human limits. He can't use or block these abilities, please discuss with me first if you intend to do this.
☆ MAGICAL INFORMATION: Ed's an alchemist, what he considers science your character may consider magic.
☆ MEDICAL INFORMATION: For anyone that doesn't know, Ed has two metal prosthetic limbs. He wears full length sleeves and gloves to cover them, but he's not so secretive to go out of his way to conceal them. If your character is perceptive enough to pick up on this or has a super human ability that would detect it, feel free to notice! Just let me know so it doesn't come out of left field. He's also covered in scars, but that's not unusual.
☆ CHARACTERS THAT CAN DETECT DEATH: Ed was shot in a previous game
☆ OFFENSIVE SUBJECTS & TRIGGERS: Ed has some pretty weird triggers thanks to previous game history. Sometimes I still find myself surprised by new things I hadn't expected. He pretty much refuses to drink tea and won't even discuss eating crab (long story), he's had time to get over some of his major canon triggers - like talking animals - most topics are things he can generally handle.
☆ ANYTHING ELSE? His personality info, if you want the TL;DR version.
Feel free to overreact to his alchemy or automail. He's used to it.
☆ Important Appearance Info
☆ 2003 VS MANGA INFO For those of you manga/Brotherhood familiar, (especially those canon blind to 2003):
- '03 Ed does not have the same gaudy gothic tastes as his manga counterpart.
- In fact, many of their personality traits are vastly different (willingness to kill, denial factor, lack of a "react first, think later" mentality etc.)
- Ed has a scar on his abdomen similar to manga Ed's due to an in-game event that resulted in another character attacking him
- I borrow some manga canon stuff that isn't explicitly stated/explored in the '03 series as "head canon" as long as it makes sense/isn't contradicted in '03 canon. (for instance, Ed's nightmares and pain in the rain etc.)
- If you're curious about anything there or something seems contradictory in that it only applies to manga Ed in canon, that may be why.
- I am always happy to discuss/explain any of these topics!
If you have any questions about what your character is looking at or should experience, please feel free to contact me before tagging.
★ Out of Character
☆ BACKTAGGING: Yes, I suffer migraines and can go a few days between tags so I am SUPER back tag friendly! I can prioritize specific threads if the outcome is time sensitive. Please let me know if this will be an issue for you and you'd rather discuss/drop a thread!☆ THREADHOPPING: Please discuss first.
☆ FOURTHWALLING: No thanks.
☆ ANYTHING ELSE? Apparently not, since the previous notes in this section don't apply to his current game.
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CRAU PERMISSIONS!
Stolen and modded from
aeturnus , with permission.All comments are screened for the comfort and privacy of players and their preferences.
☆☆ PERSONALITY
He doesn't cater to the authority for the sake of it and appears disinclined to follow orders unless they align with his own morals. Ed openly resents those who appear to and also wastes no time on respect solely because of another person's age or rank. He's shown to be a realist who can be incredibly cynical with little patience for concepts he doesn’t believe in. He lives by the code of always moving forward, imposing this belief upon others during trying times in their lives as shown with Rose when he tells her to figure it out after the fall of the Church of Leto, and similarly in Youswell when he tells the miners to simply pack up and leave if things are so bad in town. Just as it had been imposed on him during his own time of struggle Ed pushes people to work with what they have and take control of their own lives.
Edward is aware of who he is and strong in his convictions even at a young age, and this is an unwavering truth no matter what he goes through in his life. He doesn’t shy away from bending rules if it may help others who are struggling and has no means to advocate for themselves, but not if it will go to waste or risk keeping him from his own goals (i.e. fixing Al in canon.)
He remains an advocate of taking control of one’s own life and holds people responsible for their beliefs and actions, but that doesn’t make him heartless. On the contrary his critical nature is born of a no-nonsense desire to see people succeed and not rely on others or “miracles” for help. Unfortunately, this also means he can take the concept of 'moving forward' to such an extreme as to be harmful to himself in his refusal to back down.
Despite being rather self-absorbed in a number of ways, Edward Elric is not a selfish person. His goal and desires tend to come first, regardless of the warnings given to him about their danger, however doing what's right is a big motivation of his. His own goals are his first priority before others only in the interest of making things right by someone besides himself (most notably his brother.) The whole reason he is driven to put his own interests first is that it’s in the name of restoring his brother back to his own original body.
Not that any of this stops him from being a caring, both sensitive to other's feelings and even sweet to those he develops any level of concern for, given the appropriate circumstances. He’s a compassionate individual, always intending to guide others to a better outcome (even if his methods may not be the best.) There’s a level of empathy within the older Elric that may go completely unnoticed by most due to his harsh nature, but he hates to see others suffer in any way and will go so far as to reveal the secrets of his and Al’s mistakes if it might prevent another from straying down a similar path.
At the start of the series Edward is painted as a selfish character only out for his own gains, demanding Cornello hand over the stone he has so that the Elrics can use it to regain their bodies. The truth is later revealed that Ed's strong moral code is reflected even in his use of alchemy, quoting that "alchemists be thou for the people" and it is their duty to help others, especially those who can not help themselves. Although Ed's primary view of alchemy is using it for the betterment of people, he's been made familiar with the ways this concept can become warped by others. Despite the selfish goal of getting their bodies back, the Elrics put helping others in high regard and believe that alchemy exists for the purpose of doing so. He refuses to back down from doing what's right, joining the military didn't equate to selling his soul for the sake of power. Ed took on that role fully aware of how it could go against his own moral standards, accepting the reputation of "dog of the military" without backing down. The brothers help several people over the course of the years, many times with no intention of getting anything in return, and sometimes Ed's giving nature is enough to surprise even his own brother.
Edward is realistic about being no more than any other human and has no qualms telling others the same about both himself and them, should they seem to have lost sight of the bigger picture. Even when things are All About Him or he's indicated to be special, Ed is quick to dismiss the notion, either disbelieving the situation or refusing to see the scope of how much something is actually about him. While he is also shown basking in the adoration of his fame from time to time, Ed’s boastful attitude is not a consistent reflection of his true self, if anything he's rather insecure and trying to goad praise is a front of confidence that only works as a temporary and practically artificial boost to his ego. His focus always comes off as more about hearing that his reputation is solid as an alchemist of the people who prioritizes helping others. The older he gets the less inclined he is to puff up at praise and gossip around his title and outside of that frequently dismisses his talent with alchemy as a side-effect of having witnessed the Gate, ignoring that he could have only survived seeing it in the first place if he was already a gifted alchemist.
In contrast to the arrogant boastful nature that most equate with Ed, when he offers to pay someone for a job he makes no mention of his power or wealth, simply writing a total on a piece of paper to be deducted from his account and leaving with thanks before the recipient has time to react.
Ed is not the most traditional example of codependency, there’s no addiction involved and much of his personality actually reflects on the other side of the roles involved in codependent relationships. Where Ed is often the rescuer, the one that puts his entire life on hold to do by others he’s not the enabler, he’s the enabled in his relationships. His life started with him neglecting all other pursuits to follow after alchemy as a topic when his mother showed pride and interest in the brothers’ discovery of it, his life revolved around making her happy until the moment of her death - and then switching abruptly to bringing her back, without hesitation. When Al was lost to the human transmutation attempt at reviving her, Edward offered up his arm, his heart, literally anything to get his brother back because in his eyes that was all he had left. Ed has literally attempted suicide more than once to save his brother’s life without hesitation, he’s the rescuer, the one that has no purpose outside of whoever his eyes are set on regardless of the influence that has on his own life. He joined the military to fix his brother’s body, he learned rocket science to get back to him and when all else failed? He went into a depression and stopped caring about anything to the point of not even keeping a job. In this relationship it’s Alphonse who is the enabler, encouraging - and then allowing, despite protests - Ed to do as he pleases. Al is by no means a pushover, but when Ed digs his heels in about doing something he doesn’t tend to stop him throughout most of their lives. In fact, most people that Ed meets similiarly let him go on instead of calling him out on his behavior until they reach a breaking point.
Although he does learn to rely on others and focus on the rest of the world rather than just him and his personal interest it takes some growth on his part to adjust his “we’re all we’ve got” mentality to encompass everyone. Despite being far from a selfish person Edward maintains a level of consistency in being self-absorbed, those he cares about - and thus his interests - come first, whether that’s a single person, a whole city or an entire country. Edward spends a good deal of his time in the military with the mentality that it's "us against the world", trying to shoulder the burden of getting their bodies back and proceed without outside help. He grows out of this in canon, both mentioned in an episode and then again later in the movie, however he had to learn those lessons all again across the multiverse before even reaching those canon points. He has to a degree matured past being solely focused on one person, needing to learn about being part of a team in order to survive Purg for all of the years he was there, however Purgatorium also isolated him significantly at the end, leaving him with only one person to rely on and again develop that level of obsessive devotion in relation to her the same way he had with his brother previously.
From childhood, Ed has had a habit of avoiding whatever he didn't want to deal with. As early as when his brother first asked about when their father was coming home he'd change the subject, walk away, or outright brawl with the younger Elric to not have to face the problem. This theme continues throughout the series, from the first moment he catches sight of the Fuhrer's secretary until his brother later tries to force him to realize the truth about her identity. Several times throughout the series when Edward doesn't want to deal with something he simply doesn't until he has no choice. It isn't until Sloth gives him no option that he prepares himself for what he has to do in order to face off against her. Even after accepting what she was, as Lust and Sloth explain the truth about homunculi to him Ed continues to deny their claims, refusing to believe what he doesn't want to accept.
This behavior continued in Riverview when dealing with his brother on certain topics, shutting out the truth and refusing to acknowledge it as if that would make it go away. Even when Alphonse tried to talk to him about it, Ed brushed it aside for as long as possible.
Ed, for all of his cynicism, can be naive and surprisingly trusting of others at times. He’s quick to take people at face value, believing the word of others, even those who are his enemy and at the cost of his own life. He accepts Envy’s word for truth, most notably when the homunculus reveals his true identity and believes what Dante tells him without question, including that the use of alchemy would cause a reaction with the Stone activated in the room. When he meets his father after having been abandoned for over a decade, he believes everything he says despite all of it contradicting Ed's own views that he's stood behind his entire life, regarding the guy.
He goes into the military believing he can follow his own code and gets away with it for a number of years, probably primarily due to his age. Edward expects that he can get away with being in the military without killing anyone, despite the fact that he does before even joining the military at 11-years-old. He has a moral code that he lives by and his life is constantly challenging and making him question those morals and his view of the world. First, having to accept that equivalent exchange may not be a reality, and later confessing that although he hadn't intended to, Majhal did die due to his actions.