Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood - Scar's Weakness That Saved His Life

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is a story of people with different backgrounds struggling to deal with their tragic past to live a more fulfilling life in the future. The deuteragonists, Edward and Alphonse, lose their body parts after a failed attempt at human transmutation to revive their dead mother. They were motivated to bring her back because their life seemed meaningless without her, and they were unable to accept reality. They were also a bit arrogant about their alchemy knowledge and forgot that human transmutation was a sin that came with its repercussions. Their failure humbled the brothers, and they learned to make peace with their past.

Edward and Alphonse dealt with their trauma and grief to create a better future, just like Scar, the Ishvalan monk who lost his loved ones in the civil war. Scar’s big brother was the most important person in his life. He always stood by him, but the civil war was too brutal and unforgiving. When Scar lost his brother, his small world came crashing down. He decided to avenge the death of everyone who was killed indiscriminately. Scar learned alchemy from his brother’s research, whose extensive work became turned out to be very important later in the series. Interestingly, Scar only used the destructive half of his brother’s alchemy and avoided using the creative half.

Scar’s Alchemy

Edward Elric tactically fused martial arts with constructive alchemy to his advantage. But Scar only used half power of his alchemy. He rejected constructive alchemy and only made use of the destructive half of his powers. It might seem that he made a huge tactical error, but his decision had deep religious reasons. Since he was an Ishvalan monk, he could not bring himself to reshaping the matter created by the gods. He, therefore, limited himself to breaking down matter at will.

It also gave him a chance to wreak symbolic vengeance on Amestris while at the same time respecting his gods. However, his stance changed later in the series when he spent time with the Elric brothers and listened to their perspectives. On the Promised Day, he fought for the greater good and used creative alchemy, hoping the Ishvalan gods will be able to forgive him for his transgression. He acted like a hero and did not hesitate in even angering the gods he revered to save the world from monsters and Father’s twisted plans. His rebellion signified his change of heart and allegiance to the Elric brothers. At one point in the story, he was standing against them, but once he got to know them, he realized that there were flaws in his ideology, and he needed to make changes.

Scar’s Alchemy

Scar's stubborn attitude proved to be a disadvantage for him as he was determined not to use the creative side. Scar was so powerful that even though he used half of his powers, he was able to take down state alchemists. But his refusal to use the other half of his powers prove to be a grave tactical error as he struggled to fight his adversaries. While the Elric brothers chased him, he could have easily escaped, but he refused to use constructive alchemy and ensured that he respected his traditions.

Scar's determination was a double-edged sword. It worked in his favor and sometimes put him in danger. His stubbornness helped him in his fight against the homunculi. When he faced Wrath, he needed to win the fight. Wrath was taking calculated risks and knew that Scar never used constructive half of his alchemy, which was an important piece of information. Wrath's entire fight strategy was based on this assumption that Scar will never use the constructive half but surprisingly, he had a change of heart. Scar impaled Wrath on spikes using the constructive half of alchemy.

Scar probably surprised himself when he landed the crucial blow to Wrath, which eventually turned out to be the fight’s turning point. Once he had helped the Elric brothers defeat Father and his forces, Scar finally had the time to rethink his worldview and accept his flaws. He had a lot of experience that can be used to improve Ishval-Amestris relationships in the future. So, even though his stubborn attitude turned out to be a grave tactical error on several occasions, this weakness eventually saved his life and helped him defeat Wrath.