Roy Mustang (ロイ・マスタング Roi Masutangu), also known as the Flame Alchemist (焔の錬金術師 Honō no Renkinjutsushi), is the tritagonist of the Fullmetal Alchemist series. He is a State Alchemist and officer in the Amestrian State Military. A hero of the Ishval Civil War and Edward Elric’s superior officer, Colonel Mustang is a remarkably capable commander who plans to become the next Führer of Amestris.
Appearance
Roy Mustang
Roy is a clean-shaven young man with dark eyes. Roy's dark hair - perhaps in keeping with his persona - is worn casually unkempt, falling over his eyes; in more formal or somber situations, however, he is known to wear it neatly slicked back.
A great fan of classy attire, Mustang is rarely seen out of uniform (and even while in uniform will often don other accouterments, such as a long, black overcoat and white formal-wear gloves), but when dressed in civilian clothes, he appears rather partial to the three-piece suit and black tie (frequently coupled with classic scarves, polished dress shoes and the aforementioned overcoat and gloves). It may be interesting to note that Roy tends toward dark or neutral colors in his dress, such as dark blue, brown and black tempered with minimal white.
After the events of his fight with Lust in Chapter 39: Complications at Central/Episode 19: Death of the Undying (2009 series), Roy carries a faint scar on the back of his right hand in the shape of the Flame Alchemy Transmutation Circle. He also carries a large burn wound on his left side, lower back and abdomen from the same event.
Personality
Roy is perceived as a shallow, self-absorbed, and a womanizer among many of his colleagues and subordinates. The latter has effectively increased his unpopularity among the enlisted men, many of whom fear having sweethearts and crushes romanced away from them by his hand. Easily as arrogant as his young protégé, Edward, Colonel Mustang is one to act in an ostentatious manner and appears to act mostly out of self-interest rather than any sort of philanthropy. He often slacks on paperwork and other menial tasks, but is quick to take action when it appears that there is glory and military notoriety to be gained.
Roy Mustang, as pictured in Brotherhood's second opening, Hologram.
However, while these traits do have a place in his real personality, much of his outward persona is a façade intended to mask his ambition, and have those unfamiliar with him underestimate his remarkable intelligence and prowess. Mustang is an exceptional tactician, well-versed in various strains of combat theory and particularly talented in the realms of surreptitious information-gathering, covert operations and enemy ensnarement. Roy is expertly manipulative and prone to think several steps ahead of those around him, giving him a remarkable talent for making subordinates act exactly as he wishes despite appearing not to have had a hand in their decisions - all traits which make the fact that he has managed to attain the lofty rank of colonel at such a young age. He is even shown to use his reputation as a shameless flirt to his advantage, with the manga and 2009 anime showing him use his flirtations as a method of discreetly passing on information, as well as a cover for secret operations.
Inwardly, Mustang harbors a deep ambition to lead the country, allowing no obstacle to hinder him on his path to the top. His own actions in the Ishvalan Civil War have left him with haunting regret and a desire to bring to justice those who committed war crimes, even if this includes himself. Recognizing the corruption and futility stemmed from the war, Mustang seeks to lead the country himself to a better cause.
At the core, he is a remarkably devoted commander with a strong sense of justice. Though he hides it well behind a veil of cynicism and self-importance, Mustang is a man who cares deeply about the people who trust and support him and goes to great lengths to ensure their safety and well-being, even at the risk of his own. As a man with considerable power, Mustang considers himself a protector to those without and acts accordingly, earning the staunch loyalty of his most trusted compatriots.
Unfortunately, his self-imposed position as protector has caused him to display a penchant toward stubbornness in regards to his pride on the field and a fiery temper, both of which have been shown to cloud his judgment in certain situations.
Relationships
Riza Hawkeye
Roy with Riza from the second movie.
Easily the most significant of Roy's personal relationships is his connection with Lt. Hawkeye. The relationship between Roy and Riza is glossed over in 03, as is Riza's motivation to follow Roy, as neither is pertinent to the divergent plot. Hence, the following information is synthesized primarily from the manga and Brotherhood adaptation.
As the daughter of Berthold Hawkeye, the man who taught Roy to use alchemy, Riza has known Roy throughout his youth and military career and has a personal stake in how he chooses to live his life. In turn, Roy has entrusted Hawkeye with his life as his personal assistant and bodyguard and has entrusted her to act as his conscience, giving her the express authority to shoot him in the back should he ever step off the righteous path.
Roy and Riza repeatedly demonstrate a deep, genuine sense of concern and devotion to each other as equals. Roy has stated many times that Riza is "truly kind" and "sweeter than she seems", although he's often seen complaining about Hawkeye being demanding and too stern with him. He enjoys teasing her at any given opportunity, especially at the times she shows her affections openly. He also has a tendency to act on impulse whenever Riza is in danger.
Though their relationship has not shown any explicit signs of crossing into traditional amatory during the series, the romantic nature of this relationship is often implied. Hiromu Arakawa goes as far as to confirm that if not for fraternization laws in the military, the pair would've been married.
Maes Hughes
Mustang's best friend from their shared days at the military academy, Maes Hughes is Roy's closest friend inside and outside of the military. Almost constantly calling Roy on the phone or dropping into his office to say hello, Maes' uplifting persona is an active deterrent to Colonel Mustang's often gloomy disposition. Maes is also the strongest secret supporter of Roy's bid for Führer, often giving him inside information from his position in the investigations office at Central Command as well as slipping him pointers on how to achieve his dream. Though Roy often receives Hughes with disdain and annoyance, when Maes is mysteriously murdered, Roy is overcome with grief and rage to the point that he becomes almost obsessed with finding his friend's killer.
In the 2003 anime, Mustang instead targets the corruption and institution that got Hughes killed in the first place.
Edward Elric
Officially, Mustang is Edward's superior officer, but their relationship is far from the typical professional connection. There exists between them a sort of amicable animosity, as Roy takes a great deal of personal pleasure in teasing Fullmetal and watching him squirm under his orders and, at the same time, Ed takes pleasure in getting around his orders and showing Mustang up whenever he manages to find an opportunity. Though their meetings are fraught with a great deal of apparent, mutual dislike, Flame and Fullmetal hold a great deal of respect for one another and are compatriots as well as co-conspirators in the secret battle against the Homunculi. Having originally scouted the young boy for the State Alchemist program and formed a bond with him, Roy genuinely wishes to see Edward fulfill his goal and Edward also subtly supports Mustang's secret bid to become the Führer and improve the country and was genuinely worried when Roy was consumed in hatred while battling Envy. Their personalities are quite similar, both being quite fond of boasting of their own abilities, but willing to do anything to protect their loved ones.
In 03, the relationship between Edward and Roy is much less lighthearted, and more transactional in nature- but not without mutual respect.
Lt. General Grumman
Roy's superior officer from his days at East Area Headquarters, General Grumman has played a sort of grandfatherly role in Roy's development as a soldier and officer. Having taught the young Flame Alchemist everything he knows about covert operations, subordinate coordination and womanizing, Grumman feels rather fondly for his protégé and is partly responsible for the young man's speedy rise through the ranks. Roy trusts him enough to seek the old man's help in dire situations.
Madame Christmas
Roy's foster mother and paternal aunt, Madame Christmas (real name Chris Mustang) raised Roy after his parents died in his early childhood. Madame Christmas treats Roy in a gruff, casual way, with a slight ironic tease, calling him "Roy-boy" even though her foster son is about 30 years old. Mustang seems to trust and rely on Madame Christmas quite a lot, letting her in on his plans inside the military and conveying dangerous secrets to her. She acts as his information source, promoting fake dates of her employees with Mustang, where the girls usually get a payment for information they acquire from the Military Officers who seek their services. She's also Mustang's connection to General Grumman.
They tend to treat each other with sarcasm and a bit of bitterness, even though their conversations let in a sort of comfortable and old intimacy. As in almost every intimate relationship Mustang shares with other characters, his relationship with Madame Mustang has a good dose of mutual mocking and teasing.
Abilities
An example of the power of Roy's flame alchemy. (2003 Anime)
Even among the elite State Alchemists, Colonel Mustang is a particularly skilled alchemist adequately versed in standard physical transmutation, experimental theory, and biological alchemy. He is competent enough in medicinal alchemy that he can perform life-saving surgeries when aided by a Philosopher's Stone, and is regarded as a skilled enough alchemist to be a candidate for Human Sacrifice by the Homunculi.
Flame Alchemy
The skill which earned Roy his state license, national notoriety and the status of "hero" during the Ishval Civil War is his remarkably powerful fire-based combat style. When attacking, Mustang raises the density of the oxygen surrounding his target to a level at which it becomes volatile and creates narrow pathways of oxygen between himself and his target through which he can direct the ensuing flash fire that blossoms from the spark of his gloves. As a result, he can incinerate any number of enemies in the field while deftly avoiding any adjacent allies. The 'snap' sound heard at the start of these transmutations is caused by the instantaneous speed at which the highly concentrated gases and sparks react together and pop (and not Mustang's fingers actually 'snapping', to common belief.)
As one may expect, Flame Alchemy is explosive, deadly, and nearly indefensible, stated by its creator to be "the most powerful type of alchemy" and acknowledged by the Homunculi as the most troublesome ability out of all State Alchemists. What makes Mustang so dangerous, apart from the sheer destructive potential of fire itself, is the speed of his transmutation. Unlike other fire-users in fictional media, Mustang does not "throw" or "launch" fire from his person, but rather explosive flames simply appear wherever he wishes them to at instantaneous speed. Only a single moment is needed for him to incinerate a target, the size or location mattering little in the face of his techniques. As a result, often the only way to combat him is to interrupt his alchemy before it starts, either by disrupting his transmutation circles or introducing the element of water. It has also been revealed that Roy is able to delegate each hand to a different flame effect, possibly due to a difference in hand dexterity. The right hand appears to allow for large explosive attacks, while the left allows for smaller, but strong and very accurate pinpoint flame attacks.
Flame Alchemy is the brainchild of the master alchemist Berthold Hawkeye, who had spent several years perfecting it before his death from illness in 1905. Believing it to be the greatest and most powerful form of alchemy possible, Hawkeye refused to pass on the knowledge to Roy, who was his apprentice at the time, and instead entrusted the secrets of his search for knowledge to his young daughter Riza - tattooing the perfected array onto her back as the only physical record of its existence. The full array appears to consist of a circle corralling an inverted hexagram made up of a large air triangle and a large earth triangle, both splitting into identical pairs as they intersect, with a fire triangle at the center, pointing upward toward a flame. Below the hexagram is an image of a salamander. Outside the circle is a pair of entwined basilisks and the text of the "Libera Me" responsory repeated multiple times. After Roy gains Riza's trust and takes the Flame Alchemy knowledge for himself, he modifies the symbol somewhat for his gloves (removing the text and the basilisks in favor of a simplified circle). At Riza's insistence, he reluctantly uses his new knowledge to burn parts of the image off of her back, erasing the important aspects of it from existence, and freeing her from the heavy responsibility of carrying it.
Equipment and Weaknesses
Mustang's unique style of combat alchemy is made possible by his custom-made gloves. Made of "pyrotex/ignition cloth," these gloves create a spark when Roy rubs his fingers together and embroidered with unique flame alchemy Transmutation Circles, which enables his powerful attacks. Mustang does not typically draw his Transmutation Circles, but as a result, if his gloves are removed or damaged he cannot perform his standard flame alchemy. Even so, he has shown levels of countermeasures against this weakness, having multiple backup gloves or he is even shown to carve a transmutation circle into his own hand and use other forms of ignition such as a lighter.
While Mustang's Flame Alchemy cannot be used on rainy days because the humidity makes it impossible for his gloves to produce sparks, it becomes clear that water itself does not make the Colonel entirely as "useless" as his subordinates assume. Using the transmutation circles on his gloves, Roy is able to separate hydrogen atoms from the oxygen atoms in water molecules, isolating them into a highly combustible fuel and powerfully volatile oxidizer, respectively. Though this method can only be used when a large quantity of water is present in a relatively closed-off space (and not in the rain where the air is open and separating hydrogen and oxygen for the purpose of combustion would pose far too much danger to anyone in the vicinity), with an outside source of ignition such as a cigarette lighter or a match, Roy can produce extremely powerful, localized explosions.
Other Skills
Roy is also shown to be a skilled leader, both as an inspiring figure and as a field tactician. He has shown levels of skill in hand-to-hand combat, firearms, infiltration, deception, and espionage.
When he is forced to perform human transmutation and see the Truth, Roy gains the ability to transmute without a circle, clapping his hands to compensate for the sigils on his gloves being shredded. While at first he is apprehensive of this mode of alchemy, he quickly realizes that because of the absence of the need for transmutation circles he is no longer limited to flame-based alchemy on the battlefield, as seen when he transmutes a stone wall to protect himself, Riza, and Major Alex Louis Armstrong from Father's attacks.
Trivia
- Like nearly all military personnel in the Fullmetal Alchemist series Mustang's name has a military origin, in his case, the North American P-51 Mustang, WWII's most famous - also considered the best - American fighter aircraft.
- Roy's English voice actor, Travis Willingham, also voices Yu Kanda from D. Gray Man. Kanda and Mustang are well known for teasing the pipsqueak of their organizations, Allen and Edward respectively. He has also voiced many other famous characters from various Video Game franchises including Knuckles from the Sonic The Hedgehog Franchise and Guile from the Street Fighter Series. In addition to Mustang as a fire-related character, Willingham also plays Portgas D. Ace in the Funimation dub of One Piece, the user of the Flame-Flame Fruit, as well as Johnny Storm, the Human Torch in "Marvel Super Hero Squad".
- Willingham is also married to fellow voice actress Laura Bailey, the voice of Lust. Ironically, Travis' character kills Laura's in Episode 19 of Brotherhood.
- In the 13th episode of the 2003 anime, Fullmetal VS Flame, Roy comically announces to Havoc that his motivation to become Führer is to change the uniform for female officers to include "tiny mini-skirts". It is for this reason that Travis Willingham's fan club is known as "the Mini-Skirt Army".
- The scene itself is based off a Four-Panel Comic.
- In compliance with his womanizing fame (or perhaps in exploitation of it), Roy codes his research notes with names of women, making them look like a mere record of his romantic adventures.
- The relationship between Riza and Roy is a heavily implied one, and fans refer to their relationship as "Royai", The first part of "Royai" Roy is his name, and the end "ai" is likely from the "eye" in "Hawkeye", making the word a portmanteau. However, "ai" also means "love" in Japanese.
- The name Roy is Old French for "king".
- Roy Mustang bears a facial resemblance to other Arakawa's characters, namely Ryuukou, from Hero Tales (Juushin Embu), and to Kondo, from Silver Spoon (Gin no Saji).
Roy and Ed, as seen in Lucky Star.
- Roy, Ed, and Al were referenced in the anime Lucky Star along with Apollo Justice and Klavier Gavin from the Ace Attorney series.
- Roy's last name, Mustang, is actually a military slang term for a soldier (original definition) who had earned a battlefield and/or (later definition) a soldier with continuity in military service from an enlisted man to an officer without any breaks. Generally, they can also be defined as a soldier who has earned a Good Conduct Medal or has completed 4 years of enlisted service prior to earning their commission. It refers to the Mustang horse for being a wild (though more appropriately feral) animal. After being saddle broken, it still has a wild streak and it can periodically revert to its old ways unexpectedly and therefore the owner needs to keep an eye on it at all times. They're known to be smarter and have a better survival instinct than other thoroughbreds, so therefore, Roy Mustang, in many senses, is a Mustang in the military.
- Mustang claims that dogs would make the perfect soldier due to their unwavering loyalty and never griping about not getting paid.
- Lust's comment about Roy's eyes; "clear, focused eyes will become clouded by suffering" became partially true when Roy was forced to open the Gate and his eyesight was taken.
- Roy is 173 cm.
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood / Manga
- A salamander can be found in the Flame Alchemy emblem and transmutation circle. In ancient Greek mythology, the salamander was considered the elemental of fire. The mythological salamander was completely fireproof and lived within the fire itself.
Roy in the 2009 epilogue.
- In the 2009 anime's epilogue, he was shown to have grown a moustache, contrary to the manga.
- This may refer to a joke made by the omakes of the manga, where, first, Roy is shown to be upset for turning 30 and "start to become old". Later, he's shown to be upset because, even though "he's reached a mature age", he's not respected by others and it is suggested that this may be due to his "baby-like features" and he decided that "facial hair" would make him look more respectable. A series of jokes ensue about what this facial hair might be, including Lt. Hawkeye drawing a kitten moustache on his face.
- Mustang's record for playing chess with Grumman is 1 win, 97 losses and 15 draws.
- While all original art for the manga and both anime series depicts Roy Mustang with black eyes, a few late manga color pages show Roy with gray eyes, presumably to better portray him in moments of emotional and/or physical duress, especially during his moment of blindness.
- There are several jokes and remarks on the nature of the relationship between Mustang and Hawkeye in the manga and 2009 series. These include:
- Roy willing to burn and kill Barry the Chopper, upon seeing he has a crush on Hawkeye.
- Hawkeye tricking Envy by implying she and the Colonel were romantically involved.
- Roy being devastated because "Elizabeth has been taken by another man" when King Bradley first started to take her hostage, and Edward's remark as Riza being "the perfect hostage" in that same occasion.
- Rebecca implying Riza might have done immoral things to keep such good positions in the military.
- Madame Christmas asking Roy to "Go play with Elizabeth".
- King Bradley saying that he could "Get to Mustang through 'her' (Hawkeye)", among others.
- The earliest instance of the joke would be when Grumman suggests Mustang should "marry [his] granddaughter", so that she could become "the future First Lady of Amestris", with the granddaughter in question presumably referring to Hawkeye. Manga readers and anime watchers wouldn't be aware of this punchline, though, unless they read supplementary guidebooks, which is the only place where Hawkeye and Grumman's relationship was revealed.
- Notably, the fact that Hawkeye is Grumman's granddaughter, or even that Grumman is related to the Hawkeye family at all, is never revealed within the original manga or even the 2009 anime, with it only being revealed in guidebooks released after the manga's conclusion. As a result, this may be seen as a 'retroactive' joke of sorts, with it unclear if Arakawa had decided Hawkeye was Grumman's granddaughter when she wrote the original joke. A possible indicator of their relationship not being decided on when the joke was written is the fact that Mustang's reaction to Grumman's suggestion is much more calm and mundane compared to his usual reactions when his relationship with Hawkeye is mentioned.
- The author of the series, Hiromu Arakawa, has revealed several facts about Roy in various interviews:
- In the Q&A section in Character Guidebook, she said that the car Roy drives in the series is actually his (and not a military car) and that he lives in a narrow rent house in Central. She also says he owns little more than a couch in his living room.
- Although Roy hasn't become Führer as of the end of the series, she states he'll eventually become the leader of Amestris and that if she were to make any extra chapter about Fullmetal Alchemist in the future, it would be about that event. She also stated she has decided Roy would not yet become Führer because "he's still too young".
- In the Manga Artbook 3, answering to fan questioning about why hasn't Mustang married Hawkeye at the end of the series, Arakawa stated "[I] can't get them to marry because of Military Regulations. If they got married, they could no longer stay as superior officer and subordinate".
- Mustang refers to all of his subordinates as chess pieces, with connotation of battle ability, usefulness and personal links they might have to him. Fuery is the "Pawn"; Falman, the "Bishop"; Havoc, the "Knight"; Breda, the "Rook"; and Hawkeye, the "Queen", thus making Roy the "King".
- Roy is the second most popular character in the series, as shown in the latest fan poll as well as the previous ones. However, this angers him to the point of wanting to burn Edward for being the most popular.
- In the Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood CD, Roy has one theme song, performed by his seiyu Shinichirou Miki, called "Inochi ~MEI~" which means 'mortal life' (inochi) and 'destiny' (mei).
- In the Book in Figure Red omake strip, Roy reveals that he sometimes uses alchemy for the purpose of scoring a date. In his "Oxygen de Gentleman Strategy", he uses his gloves to raise the oxygen density around a specific woman to the point that she becomes dizzy. He then rushes to her side to prevent her from falling, asks her if she is all right and follows up with other sweet words and an invitation for tea.
Fullmetal Alchemist (2003 anime)
- In the 2003 anime, Mustang's commitment to a coup d'état against the Führer, and the symbolic loss of his left eye, are similar to the exploits of a World War II German Resistance member, Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, who attempted to kill Hitler in a Resistance operation called Valkyrie. Colonel Stauffenberg lost his left eye at an ambush in Tunisia. He was later killed by firing squad for treason, becoming a German Resistance's martyr.
- In the 2003 anime, the eye Mustang lost after his battle with King Bradley/Pride was his left eye, coincidentally the one Bradley wore an eyepatch over and the one that Archer had replaced with "automail", with both people having been enemies Mustang confronted in the same episode.
- In the OVA Kids, the young lookalikes of Edward, Alphonse, and Winry pass by a group of kids playing cards on a sidewalk. The kids resemble some of Mustang's men from the series, and one of them looks notably like a child version of Mustang.
- Roy has two theme songs from the first anime's soundtrack, both sung by his seiyu Toru Okawa. The first is called "Tsuki no Uragawa," which means "the other side of the moon," and the second is called "Shounen yo Sinjiru nakama yo."
- A major difference between the original manga and the 2003 anime when regarding Mustang and his choice to become the Führer is that he was ordered by Basque Grand to kill the Amestrian Doctors Sara Rockbell and Urey Rockbell, branding them traitors for treating both sides in the Ishval Civil War. This act was a major turning point for Mustang that set him on his plan to become the Führer so he would never have to obey unreasonable orders like that again.
- Roy was supposed to have a cane in Conqueror of Shamballa, which can be seen in Episode 51, but this aspect was ultimately scrapped for the film.
| Fullmetal Alchemist | |
|---|---|
| Manga | Fullmetal Alchemist: The Prototype | Fullmetal Alchemist | Chapters |
| Anime | Fullmetal Alchemist | Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood |Episodes | OVAs |
| Movies | Conqueror of Shamballa | The Sacred Star of Milos | Fullmetal Alchemist (2017) |
| Games (2003 timeline) | Broken Angel | Stray Rondo | Sonata of Memories | Dream Carnival | Curse of the Crimson Elixir | The Girl Who Surpasses God | Dual Sympathy | Trading Card Game (Nintendo DS) | |
| Games (2009 timeline) | Prince of the Dawn | Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (game) | Daughter of Dusk | To the Promised Day | Fullmetal Alchemist Mobile |