#also im hazy on the details of fmab ive watched it once and i dont remember everything

[zetalial]

All this.

I feel like Xerxes exists basically to give Hohenheim this really tragic backstory too. He acts all haunted and guilty for the destruction of Xerxes hundreds of years ago but it also refuses to show him actually doing anything bad. Rather than being a morally dubious scientist who creates a homunculus. He's an unwilling subject and innocent slave who nonetheless is treated as important purely because the homunculus was created with his blood. And then the homunculus goes on to destroy Xerxes without Hohenheim's input at all.

Then I believe the story implies afterwards this golden eyed figure became the western/eastern sage who spread alchemy and alkahestry to Xing and Amestris. So I think we're supposed to be in awe of hohenheim specifically as the one who spread the mystical art of alchemy, sharing the world this wonder of Xerxes civilisation.

By the end of the show, I think Ed's been kinda pushed to the side in the narrative despite nominally being the main character in favour of hohenheim. The narrative seems to love Hohenheim and a lot of the ending is about him. He's literally the one who saves the day. (Ed letting go of his 'childish anger' at being abandoned and calling him dad is one of the key poignant moments!).

He's like a really tragic character because he was just an innocent soul and then a literal monster was created and killed his whole civilisation so he's the only one left to feel guilty and connect to all the souls inside him who are still alive in a sense and he came to know every of them.

And it's in the same series as a genocide having happened very recently this time conducted by people. (The soldiers weren't really to blame of course, it's really the monster controlling the military who made it all happen.) Though the Ishvalans were also turned into stones, their stone is used by Marcoh to absolve himself of his guilt, helping heal people (including Mustang). We don't get a scene where we see the dead Ishvalans still living in the stone at any point. (Ed and Al make a big deal of refusing to use a stone to get their bodies back but this isn't the case for any other character.) The ishvalans in the finale work together with the military to help defeat the evil monster. If I recall right, Scar's brother mastered alchemy and alkahestry and combined the two to create a new circle which undid Father's circle which prevented alchemy from working.

So the culture that was suspicious of alchemy in contrast to the Xerxes people who created it, they are treated as heroes when they use alchemy to help the military who previous massacred them in order to defeat the real culprit (a monster). Good thing they learned to get over their hatred of alchemy and the massacre! Anyway here's an end credit sequence showing the wonderful Xerxes people.

can i be an fma (manga by hiromu arakawa) hater on main rn. more than usual i mean