#I'm only on like episode 10 of brotherhood pls don't spoil me by saying 'well actually they turn evil later'

[aethersea]

One thing I quite like about FMA is that the Elrics are, without a shadow of a doubt, seeking out the Philosopher’s Stone for selfish reasons. Yes, it’s tragic what happened to them, but they brought it on themselves, and they never pretend otherwise. They never act like they have any sort of right to the Stone – they just want it, for the simple and selfish purpose of getting their bodies back.

Sure, this is a way more sympathetic reason than the lust for power that you find in so many of the villains, especially the plot-of-the-week villains in the beginning. But the difference between the Elrics and the villains isn’t the reason they want the Stone – it’s how far they’re willing to go in pursuit of it.

And yeah, that’s pretty obvious, they’re the good guys because they’re not willing to step all over other people to attain their goal. But it would have been so, so easy for their goal itself to have been framed as pure and worthy. All you’d have to do is declare that they’re doing this for each other, not themselves. They even are, to an extent – I doubt Ed would become a dog of the military if his brother wasn’t an empty suit of armor. It’d be so easy for them to be the good guys because their cause is good.

But they aren’t. It’s not enough to want things for the right reasons. You have to go about getting them in the right way, too.