In Episode 36 of FMA 2003, upon Winry finding out from Rick and Leo that her parents were killed by Roy,
Winry runs off, trying to process it all, as she knows exactly who they’re talking about.
But later, there is this speech Edward gives right in front of her about not jumping to conclusions about others and how we should find the answers for ourselves rather than relying on hearsay, which is very relevant to not only Rick and Leo’s hate towards Scar, but also Winry’s hatred towards Roy(in the fact that she had spent her whole life up until then despising the yet unknown person who had killed her parents.)
And Winry is clearly pondering what he’s saying.
Afterwards, Winry decides to go to the Hughes’ place, most likely wanting to talk to Maes for guidance and advice about what to do about the whole situation.
Winry, of course doesn’t know about Hughes dying yet, and Riza probably assumes that it will be better if Gracia tells her about it instead.
Alphonse and Edward seem surprised by this, seeming to know that it’s not in the norm for Winry to just jump and decide to visit Hughes without planning it.
However, when asked, Winry just gives a forced and pain-filled smile.
More than anything, she 1. doesn’t want to cause them any worry, and 2. She, just like Edward had suggested to Rick and Leo, has most likely decided that she needs to find out the answers for herself before anything else.
Later, on the train, Winry confronts Riza on the matter:
Riza pretty much tells Winry that Roy was following orders,
and that sometimes soilders have to take lives, no matter how ridiculous the orders may be, so Winry now understood that Roy was ordered to kill them.
She questions why Riza is even a solider if she doesn’t like them very much, Riza answers that it’s because she has somebody to protect, and I’m pretty sure that Winry knows that she’s referring to Roy, so she asks:
And Riza responds:
Afterwards, Winry has a really conflicted look on her face.
She’s made to realize there has to be a reason that Riza is willing to protect Roy, a reason why she has committed herself to such a gruesome duty. She will put herself through whatever torment she has to to make sure he completes his goal. And I think there’s more to this than meets the eye. She also knows that Roy has helped Ed and Al through some of their worst times. I think that Winry is realizing that while she’s not condoning Roy, her outright hatred of him just doesn’t feel right.
And later on, she sees the pictures with Hughes
upon finding out that Hughes is dead.
And then Gracia tells Winry of the bond Hughes had with Roy.
Hughes is somebody Winry has talked to in times that she was dealing with hardship. Hughes was most certainly somebody she cared deeply for, and somebody who introduced her to Gracia and Elicia and helped give her a family she could look to for support. Surely there must be a reason Hughes wanted to help Roy get to the top.
Additionally,
This is where Winry first learns of Roy’s goal to become fuhrer.
While sure, she’s also sad that Hughes died, I highly doubt that that is all she’s thinking about at this moment. She’s spent years hating the person who killed her parents, and this person, who has helped Ed and Al; whom she has always respected in some way, turns out to be just the very person that killed her parents. But upon realizing that Hughes was friends with this person, she doesn’t know what to feel anymore.
This is further backed up by how the camera actually goes to the picture with Roy and Hughes afterward. (though some could interpret this as her blaming Roy for Hughes death too, which nay be probably partially true as some sort of projection.)
And leaves off there.
In the next episode, we see Roy go to Gracia’s house, she offers tea, but upon seeing Winry(who doesn’t really look happy at all) up in the window,
Winry and Roy make eye contact when Winry leans out the window, and the look she gives him is accusing(albeit pained and still conflicted). I saw it as “you took my parents from me, and now you took my surrogate father, don’t even think about stepping in this house”. Winry at this point, still needs some time to sort through her feelings. He decides to leave, because seeing Winry is a source of guilt for him. He’s not afraid to admit what he did, but he can’t bring himself to face Winry, or talk to her. And then upon getting back in the car, he says something to that exact effect.
Later, in episode 43, Winry tells Hohenheim of her feelings, which showed that she’s not over it.
But here she acknowledges that she knows the person who killed her parents isn’t bad (not that they are a good person, but just that they aren’t some heartless psychopath. She never actually claims that she respects him for killing her parents. (that would be impossible to do that or even forgive him, which is something that Winry never does. However, she does have to learn to live with what he had done.)
And then later in the same episode, Winry does, again, express some hostility towards Roy over her parents, after finding out that the brothers are being targeted by the military(which she also tries to argue against) and says:
Riza gets in between them and Roy doesn’t respond, but later, when Roy is fighting with Edward and Alphonse,
it’s Winry who stops Mustang. Her life has already been destroyed enough by the military. She doesn’t want to see it anymore. She’s tired of it, after her parents, after Hughes, she doesn’t want to see the same thing happen with Ed and Al, but she knows that she just a civilian will be gunned down or shot if she protests too much if she were to try to attack Roy, so she does all she can do. Plead for him to just stop.
And then Roy finally brings himself to confront her, albeit not facing only her, but Ed and Al too, on what he had done.
Here Roy is confronting her,
not asking for her sympathy, but being honest about what he did, after he goes on to explain the kind of people they were.
(Also in the sub, he doesn’t outright tell her that he tried to kill himself or consider it, it just shows as a brief flash back/reflection that he’s thinking about)
Roy telling how Winry’s parents death is what he is using as a motivator to become fuhrer has made her realize that her parents death might not be in vain. It’s giving her hope that something might change. This isn’t to say she’s forgiving him, no, but she’s going to hold him to his word, to believe that he will do something to change things.
And in episode 44, after Ed and Al find out about Hughes’ death, Sheska says
Winry, who has known about it for quite some time and is moving on at her own pace, tells Edward what Gracia told her about Roy’s goal.
before Alphonse adds:
This really shows just how much maturity Winry has underwent and this was where she first seemed to be starting to move on from it all, if I’m not mistaken.
(I can’t be sure about this, but it may have been indirectly Bradley who passed the order to kill the Rockbells, though I know Basque Gran had a huge hand in it. So if that’s the case, then Roy did get revenge for her parents in a sense.)
But there’s something else many of you probably aren’t aware of. There’s is a scene with Winry and Roy from the script for Conqueror of Shamballa. When Roy considers quitting the military, considers giving up everything he’s worked for, Winry is the one who motivates him to stay. She refuses to let her parents’ death be in vain and absolutely refuses to let Hughes’ effort go to waste as well:
—–
Winry: To stand at the top of the military, and to change the nation, to make sure another war doesn’t break out. Wasn’t that your dream?
Roy: For that dream, there were many casualties. Hughes was one. ….Edward Elric was another. I have no right to even talk about dreams.
Winry: Ed… isn’t dead.
Mustang looks up in surprise.
Winry: Al… has always believed that, and even now he’s looking for a way to see him.
Mustang: …. That… must be hard on you.
(She doesn’t take sympathy from him, considering what he’s done. Instead,)
Winry glares sharply at Mustang.
Winry: It is hard, but even so we’re moving forward one step at a time. What else can we do besides that? We’re still alive.
—–
Right there, it was like she was telling him, “It’s hard for all of us. We’ve all experienced tragedy and problems in our lives, but we have to move forward, no matter how hard it may be. You made a promise to me, to Hughes, and to all of your men that you would help this country and strive to make it better. So get your butt back out there, and don’t let my parents’ deaths be for nothing.”
That promise about reaching a higher position is something that, I think, is keeping Winry going.
Roy seems to get the message.
—–
Mustang gives a short laugh and walks off. Winry continues to glare at his back.
—–
This shows that, again, while Winry is not forgiving him or over the death of her parents, she is, however, moving forward and doing all she can do, but most certainly wasn’t about to just sit by while the person who killed them in the first place just runs off to avoid facing anything.She wasn’t about to just let him run away from his goals or promise.
I hate that this script was left out of the movie, because it would have been fantastic, and shows exactly why Roy came back to help everybody. This is an incredibly fascinating subplot that I think isn’t really given enough credit. Sure, it’s really subtle, but it doesn’t mean her feelings were any less there. The way she came to terms with it all on her own and put the pieces together, was incredibly respectable of her. Also, kudos to 03 for having Winry research into the death of Hughes, and letting us see her in the moments after finding out her parents were dead.
(Also, most of this is the same as the last version of this, but I reposted this because the changes weren’t saving on the other one for some reason. Curse tumblr. I apologize to make a new post specifically for an update.)
