Roy Mustang: A Man of Love and Hate (Character Analysis) 

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My favourite version of fma has to be the manga. His introduction felt stronger than 03 and especially brotherhood. The first frame we see of him is a low shot of him and Riza bursting into their office while discussing the terrorists on the train. The low shot establishes his power and dominance from the moment we look at him which is a great first impression of him. Another thing I love about his character development early on is how, up until ca chapter 20-ish, everything we know about him is bad. We know he holds high power in the morally corrupt military, his first reaction when he saw 12-year-old Ed was to yell at him, he had no problem recruiting a LITERAL CHILD into the military because he believes that it will benefit himself, he is rumored to be a lazy womanizer who doesn't care about anyone, and he is terrifyingly powerful. Due to the way he was introduced I was sure that he would turn out to be one of the bad guys in the end and I think that was exactly what Arakawa wanted. But after a while most of the things we believe about him start to get contradicted and we start doubting everything we know about him. We learn that the reason he wanted to gain a higher rank by enlisting Ed into the military wasn't for personal pride but so that he could eventually deconstruct the oppressive military dictatorship and bring justice to the Ishvalan genocide. His womanizer facade falls away when we discover that all his "dates" are just meetings where exchanges information with his "sisters". The notion that he is self-centered and lazy is crushed when we see Roy risk his life to save Al, Riza and Havoc even if they were all as good as dead. We also know that Roy is fully aware of these rumours about him, likely because he himself was the one who made them in the first place. Roy is extremely powerful but most of his plan to become Führer relies on people underestimating him. He is extremely young comapred to most other people hold the position of a colonel and if the people in power notice how big of a threat he is to them he would likely never be able to reach the position of Führer because he would just be sent away to some remote base like General Armstrong. So he builds a wall of lies and rumours around himself to ensure that they will never see him as anything other than a pathetic brown-noser until it's too late. He is always five steps ahead of everyone by pretending to be five steps behind them. I really enjoyed your analysis of him and I feel like you captured him really well (which is hard because he's such a complex character full of contradictions)!

I love that you keep changing Envy's pronouns each time.

[...] an almost sexy pose ALMOST? Hey you gotta be honest here, Mustang during the Lust fight was ABSOLUTELY sexy. But seriously though I thought the animation was more fluid at that moment, and the absolute awesomeness of his pose contributed a lot to that feeling.

At 20:44 I'd like to think that 2 people made up Roy Mustang's support system, Maes Hughes and Riza Hawkeye. Both of them went through the Ishvalan war together, have sins they cannot atone for, and are well acquainted with one another. Yes, Maes Hughes dies which is why the thought of Riza dying in both her encounter with Gluttony and during their battle against Bradley pushes Roy emotionally. He lost Maes, he can't lose Riza: he can't lose his last lifeline. This is supported by the scene wherein Riza has to pause in order to deal with gluttony. As Roy screams frantically at the phone, we see a flashback to Maes Hughes' death. This suggests that Roy holds Riza in the same light, or at least as valuable and important as Hughes. One can argue that this is simply a portrayal for PTSD, but throughout the series we don't see him having similar flashbacks of hughes when someone else is put in a position where they are likely to die. I really enjoyed your character analysis, hope to see more for other characters in the series.

In fairness to his defeat portion, he didnt just give up. He was still working to gather information the best he could. While he was working in the shadows, he was still working and he led a coup that showed his superiority over all of Central's forces.

I really like your analysis. My only criticism is that for the "Support Network" part, you didn't include Riza. Riza and Maes are the only two people Roy is close to and comfortable enough with to share his grief and confide in them. Riza stood by Roy when they visited Maes grave, she even asked Roy if he was ok when he expressed understanding why the Elrics performed Human Transmutation. Roy no doubt felt terribly alone in the aftermath of Hughes' death, but he wasn't- Riza was always there, with him and for him. It was Riza, and ONLY Riza, who got Roy to spare Envy, by putting her life in his hands. For all of Roy's justified anger and rage, there was only one person he valued more than his revenge- the woman he loves.

to be fair, Riza said she would end her life after the promised day, IF she had to kill Roy. The way you presented it makes it sound like she planned to commit suicide regardless of the outcome.

Wow, this is by far the best character analysis I have ever listened to. Roy Mustang is one of my favourite characters ever and I just LOVE how you plunged into all that deepness of his mind and soul. This video deserves more views!

mustang vs lust is a cold, focused, controlled rage. mustang vs envy is a hot, explosive, angry rage. the cold and focused rage is a trope used by many anime, leading to some of the best fights we ever see. This can be seen (albeit not nearly as masterfully) in bleach, for example, in Ichigo vs Aizen, or Byakuya vs Tsukishima. This contrasts the angry fight scenes where the protagonist lets out all their hate and rage to a point where it nearly (or in some cases does) consumes them. These two things make some of my favorite moments in anime

Amazing breakdown of an amazing character. I absolutely love Mustang, he's just brilliant. I laughed and cried so much about this character when I first read/watched the story. I wish we knew more about his childhood too, except that he grew up with a foster mother in a bar/brothel. That was a stroke of genius XD

his hate was not irrational dude his best friend was literally murdered and then the killer just gloats about it his hate was totally legitimate

I’d like to compliment you for AMAZING storytelling. You put the emotions of those scenes in words amazingly, in a way that made me feel the same things I felt when I first watched the series, at the same strength and even more, even though I’ve watched it dozens of times. So thank you.

I'm glad RU-vid's recommendations didn't fail me for once. I totally agree with the points you made, and I really like the depth you put into the video. Looking forward to more like this.

You are a great storyteller and Roy Mustang is my most favorite character in FMA series. Thank you for a video. I hope you can do a video about Roy and Riza relationship.

6:45 Nonono, it goes to... "MY BABY BOI, WHAT HAVE THEY DONE TO YOU????"

This is a really impressive analysis. I can see you put a lot of work and a lot of research into it. The only two things that kind of bugged me about it was the fact that you stated you felt that it was the death of Maes Hughes which convinced Mustang to climb the ranks, make it to Fuhrer and change the country and Ishval. That was a decision he made back when he and Hughes were in Ishval. In one of the flashback episodes he's standing with Hughes and staring at Bradley, saying how good it must feel from up in that position, Hughes tells him that he has his support and that he would remain in the ranks below him to push Mustang to the top. The death of Hughes might fuel the fire under Mustang's ass(if you pardon the pun) to make it to the top and hurry on his goal, but I don't think it's what caused that goal. The other instance is that you stated that you felt Hawkeye always intended on committing suicide. I really don't believe that to be the case, I think she really only came to that decision when she saw Mustang losing himself. The vicious nature that came out reminded her of her father going mad creating Flame alchemy, she even said in regards to taking her own life that she would take her secrets of flame alchemy with her, an alchemy that has led good men to madness. I think she retained hope in Mustang as a powerful person because he seemed to keep that madness in check until that very point. That's just what I have to add on the matter though, aside from that this was a pretty spot on analysis. Very well put together.

This is just one of the best character analysis I’ve seen in my life. Just the way you catch on most details and meaning behind a character and scenes is amazing. Looking forward for future videos!

thank you soo much for for this i flipping love roy and im glad you made this

Omg I wish this had more views! It’s so detailed and doesn’t miss any of the points of his character. Thank you for making such a great video!

Damn, this is soooo well written and I'm really happy that someone has done an analysis of Mustang. "And in this dangerous alone, Mustang wonders if his life is even worth living." REALLY? Gawd, what a powerful image, no real need for the outtakes at all (no need, but I appreciate them)! Thank you for sharing this!

You perfectly contextualised the subconscious bias I had for Mustang as favourite character after finishing up with Amine, Great Video.

If I’m honest this is amazing in my opinion it actually helped me understand Mustang more. The only thing I would change and I see others say this as well is the support network you forgot Riza but other then that it’s an amazing video.

In my opinion, the only downfall of mustang’s character writing was the cure all ending where he got his sight back. I think it really could’ve made for a huge character development- also hella thematic and stuff.

Really cool ! You should've more views ! Even tho I agree with all yours points, I think you should've talked about Maria Ross ! Either ways, bravo :D

Well if Envy was only just little bit less of an unlikeable brick, maybe not transforming into the wife of his best friend while hammering home how easy it was to kill said friend while looking like that. Well, then i would have thought reeaaaaaaallly bad about Mustang. But int this perspective i understood: he was just pushed far beyond his breaking point. Yep, what he did was not at all even within the scope of okay. But in this context it was possible to accept it under: "he is just human".

Thanks for going into such detail about his character, I love this!

revisiting this after finding it about 4-5 years ago when I was super into fmab. I was like 12 back then and this was my favourite video ever - I used to listen to it on repeat like a podcast and I really do think my interest in writing now has been impacted by this analysis. So thank you! Great video :D

Okay so time for my yearly rewatch of this video and holy shit it still gets me every time. Both Mustang’s story and the way you deliver it. 20/10.

Honestly great video, and I don't say that often, how do you not at least have 100k subs

I remember sobbing and crying for mustang to stop when I was around 12 watching him torture envy.

I've watched several FMA analysis videos while working on a Flash Fiction loosely inspired by FMA. And y'all make me want to rewatch the 2003 adaptation and Brotherhood, because y'all have pointed out several things I missed. From themes and characterization in the 2003 adaptation, omitted plotlines from Brotherhood, etc. And honestly I think that's entirely on me because I love both versions so much that I'm giving myself an excuse to binge both adaptations.

Not even a thousand subscribes? This is one damn good analysis

Great analysis, love Mustang, he was the best character for me. Really glad to see a great video on my recommendations for once.

What an incredible character analysis. I hope to make my videos with the level of depth you provided in this video. Thank you sir! You've earned a fan 😁

this is a great view of actions ,keep it up brother.

Wowie! Great video! Roy is indeed such a great character. You did an awesome job explaining this!

Great video my guy. Definitely subbing. Looking forward to more quality videos like this one!

Well I already noticed and felt that about Roy Mustang... But I do appreciate to see someone being as passionate talking about him as I would... And amazing structured work though. Keep up the great work. Strangely enough, the first thing I felt from Roy was his deep down dark side

You only have 187 subscribers!? This beauty of a video proves your channel is brilliant.

Imma need another hour of this

Incredible video!! So happy I found you!! Love you name too! Liked n subbed ((: Only 400 SUBS WTF keep working man your passion shows and you very intriguing

A small detail: Envy has an ambiguous gender in this series, But he tends to be referred as MALE, not female

this is a beautiful analysis

This is the video I was waiting for

Love mustang, your breakdown is well thought you represent him well

Damn. I love the vid!

I enjoyed the video. Thanks

Amazing video!

This was amazing

You could totally look more into doing character analysis. I know it's time-consuming and exhausting, but man, your skills are so polished that it drove me back to my old story and helped me see what I was doing wrong. Trust me; that's saying MUCH about me lol Keep it up, man. :)

this entire video is me on a first date

You sir deserve a sub

Brilliant. Made me realize Roy's complexity.

I love how you reference FMA's filler episode about the militaries; I didn't watch that whole series twice, but I always came back to that episode (among a few others).

got recommended this for once you tube does not try to shove fortnight vids at me cool vid new sub

6:44 Riza voice: Ooohh~ Mustang! ♥

My Boy Mustang

Was a lil sus by your low open shirt, but very good analysis

Great vid though I was hopinh you were gonna get into his arc in FMA:03 as well. Good stuff tho. :)

For a second i thought this was wendigoon.

i love Roy

Mustang best boy

I Love the Analysis. But that white dot in the left side makes me crazy. Oh, and I ship Riza and Roy to hell. But because of Military rules they can't be together. I still think that when Mustang reaches his goal, he marries her. (Sorry for my bad Englisch, I am german XD)

it is cuz he 🔥

I love him even though he is a war criminal

“A dog, huh?”

AN ARGUMENT. we supported his coping mechanism like the cast. had he succeeded and changed things (which i believe he would have) without that humiliation, it would be righteous to the end. if anything, i believe that power is made because mustang's world IS his very influence on the world. "support network" therefore his intensity/extremes is because his leadership, he goes too far because if he gives up... if he shows weakness *his failed belief will slaughter not just Hughes; but everyone who followed his FAILED AMBITION.* i love this analysis. i never realized how much i relate with mustang.

For a second i thought u were lanipator lol but great video.

Hehe he said “duty” lol

"Boil out her eyes and sear out his tongue" Can I love this detail for a bit Also, this was so amazing

Mustang makes me feel things. Uncomfortable things

Mustang's miniskirt army

Has he always enjoyed hurting people? Well shit.

This had 777 likes and 7 dislikes and I didn't wabmnt to ruin it. But this was too good.

i really liked this video and agreed with a lot of its points, i just have some tips because you should have more subs for your analysis'. Put some footage of him (Roy) but without any audio from the show. It doesn't have to be footage of the show, if you're making a reference for an example, put in footage to show what you mean, and try and add some comical value into the video. If you think you're not funny, just do it. Some RU-vidrs aren't funny at all but still are successful. If you want to be on camera, try to not change positions so much. It's kinda bothersome (at least to me) how the audio level changes and how much your hand makes the same movement. For my last point, just get a new mic dude. Some stuff was kinda unclear. You do really hit the mark so I would recommend following these tips. I hope this helped, have a nice day.

I heard he was adopted but how is his adopted family?😕

Roy is hot

your pacing at the start sucks, not gonna lie, the rest is mediocre(pacing obviously), facts are ok?, if you put this in a format, kind of like gigguk and mothers basement, with stuff distracting the kids, you would have a hit channel, also make it feel like your pacing it really fast, enjoy the creative criticism but for your sub count this is pretty good.