Arzen

Major Arzen echoes two figures from the finished series at once. Like Father Cornello he leans on a flawed Philosopher's Stone to chase his ambition, in his case the dream of an undying body, yet where the townsfolk revere Cornello, everyone brands Arzen a greedy wretch. His position more closely mirrors Yoki, since he rules an impoverished town with absolute power, but unlike the bumbling lieutenant he stays coldly cruel and never plays for laughs.

Arzen surfaces only in the Prototype, where he keeps a cube-shaped Philosopher's Stone. He hands it to alchemist after alchemist in the hope that one will craft him an immortal form, but each attempt rebounds and kills the one who tries. When the Elric brothers reach the desert town of Krowatol, word of their skill reaches Arzen, who presses Edward into service. Edward refuses until the major seizes Alphonse and Rose Thomas as leverage, then agrees on two conditions: the captives walk free, and he keeps the Stone once the work is done. Amused, Arzen accepts, and Edward swallows the Stone and shapes a new, seemingly invincible body for him.

The bargain sours at once, as the delighted major betrays his terms and orders his men to strike, while others move on Alphonse and Rose, who survive thanks to Al's bound soul and Edward's automail. Edward, however, had read the treachery from the start and slipped a single screw into the transmutation. With it he freezes Arzen's body solid, warping it into a statue of steel said to be ageless and unbreakable forever. In a bitter twist, the major does finally receive the immortality he craved.