On the topic of deaths in FMA (so, major spoiler tag right now for the FMA:B anime/manga) there’s one that’s just so well-constructed, so well-executed, and I’ve never seen anyone bring this up:
The Death of Wrath, Fuhrer King Bradley
It was Bradley who ordered and signed the extermination campaign in Ishval. And he did so unflinchingly. Partway through the war, the High Priest of Ishval offers himself up to Bradley in an attempt to end the war–one leader turning himself over to the other.
And Bradley, Bradley scoffs. He laughs at the notion that any one human life can be worth more than any other. He states that this priest’s life does not equal the tens of thousands of Ishvalans.
They curse him out. They tell him God will punish him. And Bradley invites it
He dares God to strike him down! He dares God’s Wrath to find him, and end him. But of course, nothing happens. The war continues. The Ishvalans die.
Then, we have Scar, who’s seeking vengeance for his murdered people. He does it in God’s name. He targets State Alchemists, because they are blasphemers. They distort things from the form God gave
them. They create, when creation is
the domain of God alone.
Al attempts to call Scar out on this hypocrisy later when
they battle in Central. Scar claims he’s working a loophole though. His arm
only destroys. He’s not encroaching
on God’s domain. He does not create.
Fast forward many many chapters. Scar is the final person to battle Bradley. And he finds
himself losing at first, even with Bradley as injured as he is. Then Scar pulls
out his trump card, gains the upperhand on Bradley, gains the advantage.
He’s tattooed his brother’s other design on his left arm. He’s
embraced the creation arm. Against
his beliefs, against his morals, against his creed, Scar has become one of the
blasphemers. He’s encroached on God’s
domain, because the magnitude of failure outweighed the sin of creating.
Bradley mocks him for this. He claims Scar must have finally
realized God is fake. That He’s a construction of humans, and the war has
finally broken Scar of his faith. If Bradley were right, Arakawa would probably
have him win this fight. He doesn’t, though. Scar beats him.
Scar, finally,
kills him. And he does it by embracing creation.
After countless attempts, after the train explosion, after Buccaneer’s death, after Fu’s death, Bradley remained alive. It was Scar, in the end, who got to kill him, and he succeeds in the face of Bradley claiming he’s surrendered his faith. So no, it’s not that Scar’s given up his faith.
Far from it.
By embracing creation, Scar has, symbolically, BECOME the
God of Ishval.
He creates. He destroys. He is nameless, yet acts in the name of Ishvala. He is Wrath. And it’s not just that “Wrath was killed by a wrathful man.”
Scar is the Wrath of Ishvala.
Bradley is killed by
the God of Ishval.
Bradley invoked the Wrath
of Ishvala, and he dies by it.
God did find Bradley, in the end. He was late on the invite, but He answered. Oh god, did He answer.
I feel the need to sit down and stare into space becuase holy shitting hell
I’d line of add that it was more than just ishvala. The eclipse is when truth closest to the earth and why homunculus needed it to attempt absorbing truth who is essentially a god. The eclipse ending just enough to blind Bradley is in itself an act of God so Bradley was killed by two gods, working in unison through scar to avenge not only those who were slaughtered but to punish the hubris of homunculus.
older lotr illustrations sometimes depict éowyn wearing ridiculously small armour. apart from the problem general sexualisation of the only female character (who really does anything), there’s another hilarious thought:
éowyn pretended to be dernhelm, a man. to fit in, she must have worn men’s armor. so the armor in the illustrations is normal for rohirrim.
therefore, all the rohirrim rode to war just like that:
there’s a thundering sound in the distance as the rohirrim ride into war but rather than hoofbeats it’s the collective sound of all their cheeks clapping
the artist for this particular piece is Frank Frazetta and to be fair to him this is how he drew the orcs armor
so the rohirrim comment is probably not that far off
Okay, but this is more historically accurate than 300.
In my Classics class we watched both 300 and Meet the Spartans and had to point out inaccuracies in both and where each film got it right. Surprisingly Meet the Spartans got more right than 300. The fact that they go off to war singing?? ACCURATE. The fact that they braid each others hair??? ACCURATE. The men of Spartan always oiled their hair and braided it back because if they were to die in battle they wanted to look their best.
Isn’t also true that Male spartans got with guys more than women. Or is that misinformation?
I am Silver Tongue, I am an artist. I have many characters and you can check out my art in the art tag. I occasionally practice witchcraft though I don't do anything too complicated. I am girl 2 and don't know what else to put here.
