A transcendence of his original sin: the desire to be more than a weak human, unable to stop the inevitable fact of death. That is what Ed's abandonment of alchemy meant. To teach them to transcend their sin and to grow stronger. They are meant to turn men away from their errors. They are chastisements, like those given by the God of the Old Testament. He was wrong in failing to see that these punishments were not meant to be retributive, but restorative. He was wrong in failing to realize that perfection does not come from striving to be something other, but rather from striving to become more perfectly one's self. Father was not entirely wrong in his assessment of Truth's punishments for hubris. In giving up his portal Ed sheds the vanity that kept him from fully accepting his place in the universe: the vanity which came from his identity as an alchemist.
To be a human being, living in community with others, is enough. Men are not Gods, and to play God is to desecrate the human life one is given. His lesson is that anything that causes one to turn away from what they really are is an evil. The lesson of Truth is not that Alchemy is inherently evil (as Scar preached). Panentheism seems the more consistent interpretation) it follows that this world's God has an interest in seeing His creations discover and conform to their God given roles in the universe. Understanding that this world is a theistic one (one might argue for a pantheistic interpretation, but this seems somewhat problematic given the seemingly autonomous existence of Truth. The tolls that Truth exacts are unique to the individuals who face Him. The entire point that Truth seeks to convey is that men cannot play God. The abandonment of alchemy is not the right answer. Who's to say that would work with anyone else? But for all we know it only worked because they were brothers. You have to perform the taboo with another alchemist to even have a chance of it, mixing your blood, or "soul data". So you basically have to fall as far as the Elrics, before you can ascend to their heights. So how is this "The right answer"? Giving up alchemy basically means giving up your life when it's just you. This was brought up in the Manga, as Mustang says he would just go back and offer his alchemy in exchange for his sight back, but that there would be no Portal to then return through. Other alchemists only have one Portal, so if they destroy it, there is no coming back, it's simply their last transmutation, and you never see them again. If somebody wanted to give up their alchemy, it's not as easy as performing Human Transmutation, because that's not all Ed had with him.Įd only survived because of the tangling of souls with Al, leaving a second Portal in the void so they could return home.
So, in the series, we see Ed and Al lose their bodies to the Truth, but by the end of the series, Al is able to return his brother's arm, and then Ed is able to defeat Truth by giving up his alchemy, able to take his entire brother back from him, with Truth stating that giving up his alchemy was "The right answer."Įxcept, no other alchemist can do what they did right off the bat.
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