SCAR
SC
Ishvalan survivor. Right arm tattooed with his brother's research, arrays that deconstruct anything he makes contact with. Hunts State Alchemists. Brotherhood extends Scar's arc considerably beyond the 2003 anime, integrates him more deeply into the endgame, and asks more of him than the earlier version did. His movement from pure vengeance toward something more complicated is handled with real care and the series earns every step of it. His partnership with May Chang is one of Brotherhood's better unexpected dynamics. He is the show's most complete argument about what Ishval cost and what surviving it requires.
SCAR THROUGH THE ARCHIVE //
BROTHERHOOD COMBAT LEDGER //
Open page →Central Command Courtyard · Scar Decisive Victory
A brutal duel between a critically wounded King Bradley (having survived a train bombing and tank assault) and the Ishvalan avenger Scar. Bradley's Ultimate Eye allowed him to slice through Scar's destruction alchemy with ease.
The Breakdown
Scar revealed he had tattooed his brother's Reconstruction alchemy array onto his left arm in addition to Destruction on his right. Mid-strike, sunlight blinded Bradley's wounded eye, allowing Scar to activate Reconstruction to transmute spike pillars directly through Bradley's arms, fatally disarming him.
Northern Rail Train · Decisive Scar Victory
The Ishvalan avenger Scar confronted the Crimson Alchemist Kimblee atop a speeding train bound for Briggs. Kimblee attempted to use his palm-drawn transmutation circles to detonate the train cars, but Scar's high-speed close-quarters combat closed the distance before Kimblee could weave his hands.
The Breakdown
Scar used his right arm's Destruction alchemy to shatter Kimblee's transmutation alchemy array and impale Kimblee through the side with a steel pipe, leaving Kimblee mortally wounded on the snowy tracks until the Homunculi retrieved him.
STORY & ARC GUIDE //
Open page →Episodes 5–6 · Ishval enters the present
Scar targets State Alchemists because Amestris used them as weapons during the Ishvalan war.
Edward took the silver watch because State certification gives him access. Scar forces him to confront what that same credential means to people who met State Alchemists from the other side of a military campaign.
Edward took the silver watch because State certification gives him access. Scar forces him to confront what that same credential means to people who met State Alchemists from the other side of a military campaign.
What changed
The brothers' research is no longer politically neutral just because their goal is personal.
Episode 30 and the history surrounding it
Brotherhood spends time inside the Ishvalan extermination because too many present-day choices depend on it: Scar's revenge, Mustang and Hawkeye's guilt, Marcoh's research, Kimblee's record and Winry's parents.
The later conspiracy adds another horror. Large-scale bloodshed also serves Father's nationwide design.
The later conspiracy adds another horror. Large-scale bloodshed also serves Father's nationwide design.
Why it matters
A political atrocity does not become less political because a supernatural conspiracy exploited it. Father benefits from human institutions already willing to carry out the violence.
Briggs investigation → countermeasure
Scar's brother studied both Amestrian alchemy and Xingese alkahestry and realized that the country's alchemical system had been altered.
His research becomes the basis for a reverse transmutation array capable of undoing Father's interference with Amestrian alchemy.
His research becomes the basis for a reverse transmutation array capable of undoing Father's interference with Amestrian alchemy.
Why it matters
Scar begins the story using only destruction. His brother's complete research eventually gives him a role in restoring something instead.
THE PROMISED DAY //
Open page →Amestrian alchemy is released from Father's interference
Scar's brother designed a nationwide reverse array from his combined study of alchemy and alkahestry.
Scar completes and activates that work during the Promised Day, removing Father's artificial interference from the alchemical power available to Amestrian alchemists.
Scar completes and activates that work during the Promised Day, removing Father's artificial interference from the alchemical power available to Amestrian alchemists.
What changed
The same Scar who entered the story using only the destructive half of alchemy becomes the person who restores everybody else's ability to create and reconstruct.
ISHVAL & THE WAR OF EXTERMINATION //
Open page →Scar's brother researches Amestrian alchemy and Xingese alkahestry, eventually recognizing that Amestris has an artificial distortion built into its alchemical system.
His work produces two complementary arrays: one associated with destruction and another with reconstruction, plus the larger reverse array that can counter Father's interference.
His work produces two complementary arrays: one associated with destruction and another with reconstruction, plus the larger reverse array that can counter Father's interference.
Why it matters
Scar begins Brotherhood carrying only part of his brother's work. His character arc is literally incomplete until he accepts that destruction cannot be the only half he uses.
Kimblee's attack leaves Scar gravely wounded. Scar's brother gives up his own arm to save him, leaving Scar with the tattooed destruction array that becomes his signature weapon.
For much of the series Scar uses that inherited power as if its meaning were obvious: Amestrian alchemy destroyed Ishval, so he will use alchemy to destroy the people responsible.
For much of the series Scar uses that inherited power as if its meaning were obvious: Amestrian alchemy destroyed Ishval, so he will use alchemy to destroy the people responsible.
What changed
Learning the rest of his brother's research eventually turns the arm from an instrument of revenge into one part of a larger act of restoration.
Winry's parents treat wounded Ishvalans despite being Amestrian civilians. Scar, delirious after losing his brother, kills them after awakening in their care.
The revelation does not erase what Amestris did to Ishval, and Brotherhood does not use the Rockbells to flatten the war into 'both sides were equally wrong.' It makes Scar confront something narrower and harder: being a victim of state violence does not make every act of revenge just.
The revelation does not erase what Amestris did to Ishval, and Brotherhood does not use the Rockbells to flatten the war into 'both sides were equally wrong.' It makes Scar confront something narrower and harder: being a victim of state violence does not make every act of revenge just.
Why it matters
Winry and Scar force the story to separate justice from repetition.
By the Promised Day, Scar has added his brother's reconstruction array to his other arm and accepted cooperation with people he once would have treated only as enemies.
He activates his brother's reverse transmutation circle, removing Father's suppression of Amestrian alchemy and giving the country's alchemists access to the power they thought they had always been using.
He activates his brother's reverse transmutation circle, removing Father's suppression of Amestrian alchemy and giving the country's alchemists access to the power they thought they had always been using.
What changed
Scar does not abandon Ishval or forgive the state. He stops letting the state decide that destruction is the only language available to him.
