#i love how fma #sets up equivalent exchange as this whole giant thing that cannot be broken #this universal law of truth #and then uses the whole series as a way of deconstructing it #and it acknowledges that yes in life there will be pain and loss and sacrifice #but its like al said #you cant just sacrifice something and call it even #no you must continue living and learning and overcoming and maybe someday #you finally gain something irreplacable #ed and al set out to gain their bodies back #in the end they not only gained that but a whole network of support and friends and family #they beat the law of equivalent exchange by acknowledging that nothing is as important as the meaningful connections between people #ed gave up his alchemy in exchange for a world filled with people he is meaningfully connected to #and truth itself knows that is not even close to a fair trade because #you can never replace or exchange people that mean something to you #but all truth says is well done #you have beat the truth #you have beaten equivalent exchange #well done
alchemy is like horses