How do Transmutation Circles work in Fullmetal Alchemist?
The Transmutation Circles in Fullmetal Alchemist are essential to the story's plot, but what are they and how do they work?
The popular shonen manga series by author Hiromu Arakawa, Fullmetal Alchemist, inspired a 2009 anime of the same name, both telling the incredible story of redemption, hope, and the power of the human spirit. The story of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood also features a memorable combat system based on alchemy, but not the type of "transforming lead into gold" found in real historical tradition. In Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, alchemy is the art of understanding, deconstructing, and reshaping matter, which uses tools such as transmutation circles.
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The story of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is rich with all kinds of symbolism, including transmutation circles and their significant arcane runes. These circles are not merely a visual touchpoint for a shonen action anime; they convey something about the alchemy being used and the alchemy that performs the act. Some characters have even found ways to bypass the transmutation circles entirely and achieve even better results. Other characters have creatively designed transmutation circles, surprising everyone.
How are transmutation circles designed and used in Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood?
The combat system based on alchemy in Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, like many other supernatural combat systems in shonen anime, requires a method to channel and redirect energy to produce the desired result. In the universe, this explains how a flexible and open system like alchemy can achieve such precise outcomes. On a meta level, anime fans typically expect incantations or runes of some kind to function as "magic." This is similar to the hand signs used for ninjutsu in Naruto or the vocal incantations for kido spells in Bleach, except that the transmutation circles in Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood are more complex in design than any hand sign or kido name.
Transmutations are always performed using circles because a circle is a shape that represents the elegance of infinity. Such shapes have no distinct points or lines; everything is equal within a circle, and these forms also lack a clearly defined beginning or end. This reflects how the reshaping of matter and the transfer of energy is an eternal cycle with no clear start or finish. It could even be compared to the cycle of life, the water cycle, or a "chicken and egg" situation—a never-ending loop. However, while every transmutation requires a circle, other forms or words can vary significantly depending on the intended purpose of the transmutation circle. Some circles may appear fairly generic, while others have unique shapes for specific purposes. This also means that transmutation circles are tied to the law of equivalent exchange in FMAB, where energy and matter can be circulated in various forms, but they cannot be created from nothing nor completely eliminated from existence. Conventional alchemy performed with transmutation circles can reshape existing matter at the molecular level neither more nor less.
Transmutation circles can include squares, additional circles, triangles, or even specific symbols like a salamander, flames, a crescent moon, the sun, and much more. Such symbols serve as literary references to real-world alchemical traditions. Others are simpler, like the salamander on Colonel Roy Mustang’s transmutation circle, as salamanders symbolize fire. As for where transmutation circles can be marked or drawn, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood suggests they can be used anywhere where the marks of a circle can be clearly defined and retain their shape. Characters like Roy Mustang, Alex Louis Armstrong, and Solf J. Kimblee keep their circles on their hands, while alchemists can also use chalk to draw a transmutation circle or even create one with a stick in the ground. If the design of a transmutation circle is disrupted, such as a broken line or a smudged symbol, the circle will immediately cease to function.
Generally, the effects of a transmutation circle will occur inside that circle, meaning long-range alchemy is usually not possible. That’s why Alphonse Elric was so surprised when May Chang used a related but distinct style called alkaestry to modify materials at short distances, which also caught the Ishvalan monk Scar off guard. Conventional transmutation circles allow the user to reshape matter within their limits, with a basic example being a young Edward Elric forming a model bird inside a generic transmutation circle. If alchemists use their transmutation circles to launch objects or perform attacks at a distance, the effect of their technique starts with the circle and can then be launched anywhere. Armstrong, for example, can reshape matter to form pointed arrows that fly at the enemy, but he must create them near his hands, where his transmutation circles are located.
How do the characters in Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood circumvent or disrupt transmutation circles?
Many characters in Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood use conventional transmutation circles in a straightforward way, like the silver alchemist Giolio Comanche using complex transmutation circles on his palms to transform metal into silver-colored weapons, earning him the nickname of the State Alchemist. When ordinary people in Amestris think of alchemists, they imagine someone reshaping materials within a circle, but there are a few notable cases where alchemy can either be performed without circles or where a character can deny someone else the use of their own circles. This proves that while transmutation circles are very effective for trained alchemists, they have weaknesses that many know how to exploit.
Solf J. Kimblee is an example of this, as he must join his hands to combine the marks on his palms to form a complete transmutation circle. However, after being captured following the genocidal Ishval Civil War, Kimblee was imprisoned and restrained with special wooden handcuffs. Normal handcuffs would be useless since Kimblee could still join his hands and fight through alchemy, so Kimblee’s wrists were held with large wooden handcuffs that were essentially just a plank with two holes. Kimblee’s hands were always spread apart, making his alchemy impossible to perform. Later, when Edward Elric fought Kimblee in a mining town, Ed cut off one of Kimblee’s palms, thereby ruining his circle. Similarly, the villainous homunculus Lust rips Roy Mustang’s special glove, destroying his circle and stealing his flame alchemy. In desperation, when given the chance, Roy inscribes an identical transmutation circle on the back of his own hand.
Alchemists can also perform alchemy without using transmutation circles, but only if they have opened the Gate of Truth, an act that very few characters in Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood have ever done. After seeing the truth of the world at a great cost, a character will have enough knowledge implanted in their mind to no longer need transmutation circles to reshape the world around them, which tends to surprise others. The main example is Edward Elric himself, who saw the Truth after the failure of his and Alphonse’s human transmutation attempt. Since then, Ed uses alchemy with his bare hands, freeing himself from one of alchemy’s few weaknesses. For similar reasons, Ed’s mentor, Izumi Curtis, can perform alchemy with her own hands, and after being forced to open the Gate of Truth on the Promised Day, Roy Mustang was able to do the same.
Remarkable transmutation circles, what they accomplished, and who used them
|
Alchemist |
Japanese Voice Actor |
English Voice Actor |
|---|---|---|
|
Solf J. Kimblee |
Hiroyuki Hoshino |
Éric Valé |
|
Edward Elric |
Park Romi |
Vince Mignogna |
|
Roy Mustang |
Shinichiro Miki |
Travis Willingham |
|
Isaac McDougal |
Kouichi Yamadera |
Bryan Massey |
|
Father |
Iemasa Kayumi |
Kent Williams |
Some transmutation circles stand out in Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood due to their design, use, or even rarity, making them excellent examples of the diversity within this combat system. Solf J. Kimblee, for example, is the only known character who deliberately keeps his circle incomplete, only joining its two halves when intending to perform alchemy. Kimblee’s transmutation circle, once complete, can trigger powerful explosions, making him a key player in the deadly Ishval Civil War. He could level entire buildings with his alchemy, but as fans have seen when Kimblee was released from prison, he could also use conventional alchemy.
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The protagonist Edward Elric performed a remarkable transmutation alongside his brother Alphonse in a dramatic flashback at the beginning of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. Both dived into forbidden research on human transmutation, using what they learned to draw a large, complex transmutation circle in the basement of their house. There, the brothers attempted to revive their deceased mother, Trisha, only for the transmutation circle to backfire and open the Gate of Truth. This was the only time a transmutation circle intended for human transmutation was shown in such detailed complexity, unless fans count the brief flashback of Izumi Curtis attempting something similar to revive her baby.
Colonel Roy Mustang is the only known user of flame alchemy, a unique combat style invented by Berthold, the father of Riza Hawkeye. Berthold Hawkeye marked the formula for flame alchemy on the back of his daughter, and after this information was used to create Roy’s transmutation circle, Riza intentionally burned the notes off her back so that no one else could ever use this style of alchemy. This means that Roy Mustang’s transmutation circle is as unique as the alchemy it creates. With this circle, Roy can use flame alchemy in two ways: brute-force attacks with his right hand and smaller, more precise strikes with his left.
An exclusive character from the 2009 Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood anime, Isaac McDougal, showed his own unique transmutation circles in episode 1. He is the only known alchemist who reshapes ice and water with his alchemy, using a distinctive transmutation circle to do so. Isaac was seen placing these circles all over Central, the capital of Amestris, to create large quantities of ice to attack the government. Isaac knew about his father’s infamous plans and those of the military, but he ultimately tried and failed to stop them. However, Isaac was outmaneuvered and then killed.
The super-villain father created two of the largest and most consequential transmutation circles in Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. The first was dug all around the city-state of Xerxès, disguised as an irrigation system, and then the alchemical ritual transformed everyone in Xerxès into a Philosopher’s Stone. This granted the “homunculus in a flask” a humanoid body modeled after Van Hohenheim, the first major phase of the homunculus’ plan. After taking on the identity of Father, the character had a second, even larger transmutation circle, which the homunculus Sloth dug under the circular nation of Amestris.
This circle also served as a containment for Pride, whose dark body could only exist within it and within the body of “Selim Bradley.” On the Promised Day, this enormous transmutation circle was activated, but fortunately, Van Hohenheim had countermeasures in place to limit its effects. Edward Elric also discovered this tunnel-circle at Fort Briggs, where he reconstructed the existence and form of Father’s giant transmutation circle based on the bloody events in Amestris’ history.
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Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood dedicates a great deal of effort to its imaginative alchemy system. With enough knowledge and creativity, countless types of alchemy and transmutation circles can be put into practice.
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