Fullmetal Alchemist's Core Message Can Be Summed Up in This 1 Character (It's Not Ed!)

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Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood draws a lot of thematic and emotional depth from its cast of characters, making it a serious case of quality over quantity in this shonen anime series. Practically no one is a mere background extra, nor are the villains just bodies for the heroes to beat up. Case in point, the seven homunculi are far more than generic minions serving the supervillain Father, with Pride being the single best example. This character is oozing with visual and thematic weight to make him a worthy villain in every way.

Everything about Pride's design make him a memorable, meaningful, and terrifying villain in Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood . He's powerful to the point no conventional usage of alchemy can stop him, and he can see everything and everyone across the nation of Amestris . Yet for all his power, Pride also represents one of the weakest and most foolish aspects of humanity, one he tried to deny for centuries until Edward Elric shoved it into his face on the Promised Day, making Pride's downfall that much more satisfying for anime viewers.

Pride Is Quite Different From the Other Homunculi in Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood?

Pride Is a Giant, All-Seeing Creature in the Shadows

Pride has some basic similarities with his homunculus brothers and sister as a creation of Father, but otherwise, Pride is a whole different animal than the rest of them, and he is also closer to Father's identity and nature than they are. While Sloth, Envy, Lust, Wrath, Greed, and Gluttony are all humanoid beings who can pass themselves off as human in some cases, Pride is more like a thing . Pride's natural form is unlike anything else in all of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood , a mass of shadows covered in eyes and mouths. He lives in the shadows, the border between light and darkness, which has some implications about his themes and powers.

Pride can only materialize his body in shadows, which is a glaring tactical weakness. Pride's limitations are a prime example of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood 's trend toward resourceful combat rather than sheer power vs. power. Pride cannot always form his body, relying on the border of light and dark, which means he can usually form his body just fine, but certain circumstances or countermeasures can hold him back. That is one of the few methods by which the underdog heroes can resist Pride in a fight, and for the sake of the heroes' survival against an invincible foe, that's important. An example was when the heroes use flash-bang grenades to nullify Pride's body with intense light, wiping out all shadows. Pride cannot directly assume a form and attack anyone in his dark tunnel unless someone brings a lantern or similar light source.

Pride's body as a pitch-black being with eyes and mouths is a larger form of what Father himself used to look like. As seen in the Xerxes-era flashback sequences , the "Dwarf in the Flask" was a small, dark being with one red eye and a mouth until it gave itself Van Hohenheim's form. Later on, when Father created his homunculi minions to purge himself of all sins, Pride was the first to be created. Pride also assumed Father's own form, an arrogant reflection of how Father sees himself. The actual Dwarf in the Flask was the size of a baseball, but Pride was huge and powerful, showing how Father saw himself. The emotion of pride is about self-image, and Pride the homunculus is indeed an arrogant mirror that Father held up to his own face.

Pride is also the only homunculus to have two distinct bodies, with his true body being the mass of shadows and his other body being the "Selim Bradley" form. On a practical level, the Selim Bradley body allows Pride to walk around outside of the giant tunnel, since Pride always needs a container, and that body also allows Pride to reinforce the idea that King Bradley/Wrath is a normal human with a normal family. On a thematic level, Pride's Selim body ties into this homunculus' reliance on shadows. While shadows are the border between light and dark, the Selim Bradley form stands on the border between the darkness of the homunculus world and the light of the normal, comparatively innocent human world. In both ways, Pride is a creature straddling two different worlds, and he can see everything in both worlds with his shadow eyes.

Pride Represents the Unity of the Homunculi

Pride Is Based on Izumi's Words About One & All

The homunculi claim to be a sort of family, with the members being siblings with a father figure to hold them together. Father's leadership indeed holds these beings together, with Greed being something of an exception, but Pride also does his part to keep them together. Pride has the authority to boss around the other homunculi, but it goes beyond that. The unity of the homunculi is a physical one, and Pride explained that while fighting protagonist Edward Elric and other heroes on the eve of the Promised Day. Pride showcased his most drastic and resourceful move, using his many mouths to devour his brother Gluttony and gain the latter's strong sense of smell. Pride did that so he could find his enemies in the dark, but it's his words that were most interesting.

When accused of betraying an ally, Pride said that he, Gluttony, and the other homunculi siblings are actually one and the same. They are seven extensions of the same being, and for that reason, Pride saw no problem with "betraying" Gluttony like that. Oddly enough, Gluttony didn't seem to realize that, panicking as Pride turned on him and ate him. On a more thematic level, this also means Pride knows the homunculus family echoes the words of Izumi Curtis, who taught Ed and Al the most fundamental rule of using alchemy . Izumi told her young students that "One is all, all is one," and challenged the brothers to figure out what it means. Everything in the world is part of the same single whole, meaning separation is an illusion.

Pride knows that, too, being able to re-absorb the other homunculi and merely consolidate their powers and forms. By all rights, the seven homunculi are one being in seven bodies, a being that houses all of Father's deadly sins. Even if the homunculi cannot use alchemy themselves, they were born of it, and they embody its themes. For that matter, "One is all, all is one" also describes the cycle of life and death, suggesting that the death of living things should not be mourned, since it's just part of an endless and important loop. That was how Pride saw Gluttony's fate, even if no one else did.

Pride Revealed His Arrogance to Be a Weakness

Pride Underestimated Humanity, Like His Brothers & Sister

True to his name, Pride the homunculus is an arrogant, conceited creature who sees himself as superior to the "mere" humans whom he must deal with, an attitude shared by Father. Even if Father shed his sins in the form of those homunculi, Father couldn't help but see humans as tiny insects who are beneath his notice, and Pride felt that way too, and even more strongly. In fact, all of the homunculi saw themselves that way to some extent, with them being superhuman beings powered by the incredible Philosopher's Stone and having abilities no human ever could. Still, even if Pride was a deadly being far removed from humanity, Pride failed to see how humanity could leverage its strengths and exploit the homunculi's weaknesses.

Pride's own arrogance led to his downfall, continuing the trend of the homunculi having ironic deaths, including Sloth's overexertion and Greed's self-sacrifice. Pride didn't expect Edward Elric to rally like that and courageously attack him by turning himself into a Philosopher's Stone, and Pride was humbled when his soul was no match for Edward's. Pride was defeated and reduced to his tiny true form, a vulnerable creature who couldn't look down on anyone. Thus, Pride revealed the flaw of his own arrogance, sabotaging himself by thinking he was better than everyone and in so doing, create the opposite reality. The sentiment of pride is not a strength, but a weakness, and Ed took full advantage of that on the Promised Day once he found a way around Pride's unbeatable shadow body.