Lust (ラスト, Rasuto) is the embodiment of Father's lust. She was usually partnered with Gluttony, to whom she appears to have a particular (almost motherly) closeness, or with Envy.

Appearance

Lust is a fairly tall, pale-skinned woman with wavy black hair that falls down to her lower back. Her eyes are mauve, although they appear red as well in some lightings. Her build is slender yet voluptuous, with a thin waist and large breasts. Her Ouroboros mark is located on her sternum. Her fingernails can extend to become sharp and claw-like; Lust uses this as her primary weapon.

She is usually seen wearing a form-fitting, strapless black dress with a low-cut bodice. The dress reveals much of her upper body and is quite long, falling down to approximately ankle-length. She wears black, heeled boots and long black gloves accentuated with red. Her standard outfit is a part of her body, shown when her clothes regenerate along with her flesh each time she sustains damage. When in close proximity to humans, she is sometimes depicted wearing a fur coat to better conceal her true identity.

Lust is also seen in her "Solaris" persona, in which she seduces Jean Havoc in hopes of gathering information on Colonel Mustang's plans. As Solaris, Lust wears a dark purple dress, more modest than her usual outfit. The dress has a high neckline and a mandarin collar, and appears to have diagonal front openings as well, both characteristics reminiscent of the real world cheongsam, a garment worn by women in the late 20th century in various parts of East and Southeast Asia. It is long sleeved as well, in place of or hiding her usual black gloves.

Personality

Lust is the embodiment of bloodlust more so than the commonly accepted definition of lust involving sexual desire. Notably more sadistic than her siblings, Lust displays distinct pleasure in torturing her opponents and making them suffer, such as during her fight with Roy Mustang and Jean Havoc in Research Laboratory 3.^[3] Her death was fitting violent as well; Lust is eventually burnt to death by Mustang in the Third Laboratory,

She was rather intelligent, heading plots with the other homunculi in Father's absence. Lust appears to be patient as well, seen when she reprimanded Envy for causing the Maria Ross incident. She is well aware of her charm and uses it often to manipulate people to her advantage. She is calm, calculating, and shows disregard for human life—a trait she shares with many of her homunculus siblings.

She was seemingly the most personable of the Homunculi, holding positive relationships with those she was seen interacting with. Loyal to Father, motherly towards Gluttony, seemed to have a good relationship with Envy, being someone he actually chooses to spend time around, disliked Greed but was implied to have had a friendlier relation prior to his rebellion, and Wrath seemed ready to fight potential candidates to aid her. It's unknown how she was with Pride and Sloth, though it's shown the Homunculi had a significantly harder time working together after her death.

Lust also had a great disdain for humans, thinking them frail, predictable, and generally foolish. Moreover, she would often comment on the ridiculousness of human nature. As such she felt no remorse over manipulating or killing, gleefully watching the village of Liore fall into chaos and civil war.^[4] While she makes her disdain for humans known, Lust spends her last moments stating her appreciation for being killed by Mustang, praising him for his craftiness, determination, and thirst for violence. At the same time, she wishes for his eyes to be "clouded with agony" in the future, almost prophetically, as her final act of vengeance, demonstrating her cruel streak to the end.^[3]

Abilities

As a Homunculus, Lust had no need for sustenance or sleep, was incapable of aging, and possessed physical attributes superior to any human. Due to her status as an artificial human, any injuries she sustained could be rapidly healed, from bullet wounds to her entire body being blown to pieces. As her Philosopher's Stone was her "core" even its removal from her body would not be enough to kill her, as her body would simply reform around it. However, like the other Homunculi, she was incapable of regenerating indefinitely and repeated deaths would eventually exhaust the energy within her stone.^[3]

Lust was shown to be quite intelligent, serving as a master manipulator and was shown to be skilled in information gathering. Amongst the Homunculus, she possessed a leadership role, being paired with Gluttony and oftentimes Envy would defer decisions to her.

Ultimate Spear

Lust's unique ability and title was the Ultimate Spear (最強の矛, Saikyō no Hoko). She was able to extend her fingertips into long, flexible, and thin claws sharp enough to cut through practically any substance with ease. The length of these blades is also undetermined and seemingly infinite in their range, leading to Lust being able to kill her opponents at incredible distances. Also adding to their lethality is the speed at which she can extend and retract them, such as when she of pierced Father Cornello's skull, the extension, and retraction occurring without their movement being seen.^[5] However, they are not completely unstoppable, such as Alphonse being quick enough to intercept them and the thickness of his armor slowing their extension to a near halt (despite still piercing his armor completely).^[3]

Enhanced Beauty

While not necessarily a power unique to Homunculus, Lust possessed a level of physical attractiveness above that of most women. Using her enticing looks, she plays the role of a manipulator within the Homunculi ranks, moving covertly around the country to lure weak-willed people (usually vain people who are also associated with the State alchemists) into the clutches of their own lust, to be used and disposed of when no longer needed.

Trivia

• Lust's death at the hands of Roy Mustang could be a direct reference to Dante Alighieri's epic poem "The Divine Comedy" wherein the lustful are tossed about by fiery winds while in Hell and purified by passing through walls of intense flame while on the seventh terrace of Purgatory.
• Coincidentally, Laura Bailey, the voice actress for Lust, is the wife of Travis Willingham, the voice actor for Mustang, who kills Lust in the 2009 anime.
• In a four-panel omake chapter in the manga, Lust is shown to have a somewhat erotic talent for crushing walnuts with her massive cleavage.
• Outside of the 2003 anime series, Lust is the only female antagonist in the Fullmetal Alchemist story.
• As Lust died, she seemed to have accurately predicted Mustang's fate of becoming blind after seeing the Gate of Truth near the end of the series, saying that "I look forward to the day when those eyes will be wide with agony."
• In a shot of Volume 22, Hiromu Arakawa states, while holding an FMA volume with no visible number, that she didn't get to draw Lust (or Maes Hughes) on the back spine of that printed volume, meaning Arakawa was planning to have her somewhere on one of the back spine volumes along with the other main characters but apparently didn't have the chance or the time to do so. This makes Lust and the original Greed the only Homunculi who are not in a back spine volume shot.
• Lust was ranked 23rd most popular character in a recent fan poll, a spot she shares with Black Hayate. This makes her the fourth most popular Homunculus.
• In one of the omakes mocking Pride devouring Gluttony, Lust is merged with Gluttony instead, giving her Gluttony's face.
• There are two series of Fullmetal Alchemist Funko Pop figurines. One has the "Fullmetal Alchemist" logo and is based off the 2003 anime, while the other has "Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood" branding and is based off the 2009 anime. Lust's Funko Pop has the Fullmetal Alchemist/2003 branding, however her dress and gloves are coloured red like in the 2009 version, instead of green like in the 2003 version. This is not the case with other characters like Winry and Alphonse, who correctly use their 2003 colour schemes, so this seems to be a mistake.

References

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