Heathcliff Erbe

Heathcliff says little, but the hard, searching look on his face carries enough weight to unsettle nearly everyone at the academy. His Ishvalan heritage sets him apart among the cadets, and by the time the extermination campaign is underway he has traded the uniform for traditional Ishvalan garb.

Reserved and unshakably idealistic, he puts the defense of his homeland and its culture above himself. Fellow soldiers hound him without pause over his race, sneering that he leaves an Ishvalan stench on them, yet he swallows the abuse and stays silent rather than answer it. His aim, much like Major Miles, is to climb the ranks and dismantle that discrimination from the inside.

Around 1903 Roy Mustang stumbles onto one of these harassment scenes and, sickened by his comrades, steps in to help. He later brawls with the same four tormentors, and with Maes Hughes at his side finally shuts them down. The three cadets become friends through their early academy years, a bond that holds until the Ishval Civil War.

By 1908 Heathcliff has apparently left the service, likely swept out by the purge of Ishvalan-born soldiers, and he crosses paths with Mustang again when the Flame Alchemist is ordered to wipe out a group of Ishvalans. The meeting devastates both men: Mustang freezes at the sight of his old friend, while Heathcliff, horrified that his former defender now butchers his people, opens fire with a handgun and drops him. In that same instant Hughes lunges out and shoots Heathcliff through the temple, killing him. Mustang lives only because his State Alchemist watch stops the bullet, left in despair over what the military and he himself have become.