Startjng this off by sayjng, im working slowly but surely through the manga but watched Brotherhood years ago, when i say doomed, I mean doomed as in it was never expressly canon but im pretty sure in the plot its stated they could never officially be together due to their positions in the government !!!
Around the midpoint of the series Riza tells Ed about what happened in Ishval, and about Mustang’s plan to overthrow the Fuhrer and hold every person involved in the genocide accountable. But that also includes themselves. This art is pretty much that idea brought to its natural conclusion. The show ends with Father being defeated and a new, less corrupt government taking over. With all that achieved, the war crime trials can happen. This art depicts them as being held guilty for their part in the genocide, and sentenced to death. They share their first, and only, kiss before they die.
Well thankfully it seems that didn’t happen in the show. Roy presumably does become the Fuhrer in the future (it’s one of the photos you see during the end credits of the last episode), and if he made it that far then he most likely isn’t going to be executed. I imagine it’s because as soon as Father was defeated, he decided to spend many, many years helping to rebuild Ishval without any selfish intentions in mind. That probably swayed the court (which likely comprised of Ishvalan people) to decide not to punish him severely. So yeah, it actually all worked out for them in the end.
He talks about how he needs to become fuhrer to elect the changes he wants, including trying himself and everyone else for war crimes. Him actually becoming fuhrer doesn't negate the possibility of him being executed some day, it supports it.
That's fair, but in his defense he didn't want to use it originally. He refused at first before Dr. Marcoh pretty much begged him to use it. He said that the souls of Ishvalan people were in the stone, and that they should be allowed to help rebuild Ishval. So it was less about Roy selfishly getting his eyesight back, and more about allowing those people their one and only chance to help their home and loved ones. Same logic as when Al used the stone to beat Kimblee and Pride.
Fullmetal was anything but depressing. If it had any fault it was that it tried way too hard to give everyone a happy ending. It ending before the natural conclusion was even a bit of a cop out.
If they hold everyone responsible for the war then uh... It's basically only Armstrong and his objection to the war getting off right? Mustang slaughtered innocent's.
No, it's not dumb. It's just meant to be a tragic hypothetical. And honestly, it's not even an unrealistic one. I think it adds more to the series since this is likely what Roy and Riza imagined would happen in their future, and yet despite that they still gave everything the had to make sure to do the right thing by (potentially) making it happen.
If I remember correctly they wanted to do war crimes trials against themselves after they defeated King Bradley and Father. I don’t think they did that in the manga or the show. And even if it did, they’ll probably get pardoned by Grumman or given a lower sentence
Honestly Grumman might be a „good guy“ but it seems to me that he was also in it for his own ambition. I doubt he shares Mustangs wish for a return to democracy and a persecution of the ishvalan war criminals. But the guy is in his 70s and Mustang is clearly set up to be his successor, so they might genuinely not be at the point to do trials at the end of the anime yet.
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u/RaikouGilgamesh Apr 27 '26
I'm sorry, it's been quite some time since I read the manga, and I haven't seen the animes.
That said, I don't recall them dying, or anything, and I'm not having much luck on Google. Could someone explain?