Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood: Ending Explained

The last stand against Father

The finale leaves Edward and Alphonse Elric fighting alongside their allies in the underground beneath Central, where Father has absorbed a near godlike power. Father strips the alchemy from the human sacrifices and traps the country in his design, leaving the heroes outmatched. The brothers, Hohenheim, Greed, Scar, Izumi and the surviving military rebels keep chipping at him, but his Philosopher's Stone holds an enormous reserve of souls. The turn comes when the captured souls of Xerxes, the dead nation inside both Father and Hohenheim, start draining away, weakening the being that has driven the entire series.

Greed, the souls, and the killing blow

Greed, the homunculus who joined the brothers, sacrifices himself by hardening Father's body into brittle carbon so it can be cracked. With Father's stone of souls finally spent, Edward lands the decisive strike, punching a hole in his chest and letting the last trapped Xerxesian souls escape. Stripped of his stolen power and his stolen god, Father is dragged before the Gate of Truth, the cosmic force he tried to consume. There the Truth condemns him, and Father is unmade, erased back into the nothingness he came from. The threat over Amestris collapses with him.

Edward trades his alchemy for his brother

Alphonse, whose soul has been bound to a suit of armor for years, sacrifices himself during the battle to restore Edward's lost arm, leaving his real body still waiting beyond the Gate. Edward refuses to leave him there. He performs one last human transmutation, but instead of offering a life he offers his own Gate of Truth, surrendering his ability to do alchemy entirely. The Truth, impressed that Edward solves the equation without alchemy at all, accepts the trade. Alphonse returns in his true, frail human body, and the brothers embrace as themselves again.

The freed brothers and the family photo

The thematic payoff lands in the epilogue. Equivalent exchange, the law that ruled their lives, finally gives the brothers back a future rather than taking from them. Edward, now an ordinary man with no alchemy, confesses to Winry Rockbell using the language of equivalent exchange, offering half his life for half of hers. Two years on, Edward and Alphonse part to study alchemy in opposite directions, west and east, planning to combine what they learn. The series closes on a family photograph: Edward and Winry married with two children, surrounded by Alphonse and the friends who survived.

The Final Image

A still family photograph fills the screen, showing a grown Edward and Winry with their two children, Alphonse and the rest of the survivors gathered around them, the war and the alchemy finally behind them.

Lingering Questions

Does Edward get his alchemy back at the end of Brotherhood?

No. Edward permanently gives up his Gate of Truth, and therefore his ability to perform alchemy, as the price for restoring Alphonse's body. He chooses to live the rest of his life as an ordinary person rather than reclaim that power.

Does Alphonse get his real body back?

Yes. Alphonse, who spent the series as a soul bound to armor, is returned to his original human body when Edward trades away his own alchemy at the Gate of Truth. He is weak and thin at first but alive and whole.

Sources

• The Ending Of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood Explained - Looper
• Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood - Wikipedia

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