Heymans Breda

Breda is a solidly built man with a shaggy crew cut and, in the manga, blue eyes. His stocky frame and lazy, meat-headed look lead strangers to write him off, which suits him fine given how sharp he actually is. One quirk cuts against the tough exterior: an unreasoning dread of dogs, from Black Hayate on up, though he gradually shakes it off as the story goes on.

Behind the sleepy demeanor sits a first-rate strategist who graduated at the head of his class. Breda proves it through his command of chess and shogi and his knack for reading a shifting situation on the fly, equally at home with combat tactics and political maneuvering. He warms to Edward, ribbing him with names like chief and big guy, and stays close to Jean Havoc, an old academy friend. Mustang, who likens his people to chessmen, calls Breda his rook: a blunt, powerful piece that anchors both attack and defense.

The 2003 anime keeps him to a supporting, comic role beside Havoc, Falman and Fuery, remembered for panicking at Black Hayate and for impersonating Alex Louis Armstrong to distract Central's forces during Mustang's coup.

The manga and 2009 series give him far more to do, starting with the mission around Maria Ross. When Central stages her very public arrest to pin Hughes's murder on her, Breda alone reads the theatrics for the frame-up they are, a ploy even Hawkeye misses. He gathers materials for Mustang to transmute a rough dummy corpse, then coordinates Ross's handoff to Xing through Mr. Han and Ling Yao. Traveling to the Xerxes ruins with Armstrong, Edward and Fu, he trades intelligence on the Philosopher's Stone and the Homunculi, relieved to confirm Ross's innocence, since Mustang had ordered him to kill her outright had she been guilty.

Back in Central he learns of Havoc's paralysis and pushes Mustang to seek out Tim Marcoh, hoping the doctor's alchemy can mend Havoc's spine, but Envy, disguised as Breda himself, abducts Marcoh first. A civilian's mention of an earlier visit tips Breda off that something is wrong, and he finds the ransacked, empty house. When Bradley dissolves Mustang's unit, Breda is shipped to West Area Headquarters, where he keeps watch and swaps information with Falman on the Creta border war over Pendleton. He goes AWOL for the Promised Day, plays a reluctant thug in abducting Mrs. Bradley, and seizes Radio Capital to broadcast that Bradley's train was attacked and that Central is hiding his disappearance, casting Mustang as the loyal hero. To protect Mustang, he later brands Olivier Armstrong a lead conspirator. His soul is torn out when the nationwide circle fires and returned by Hohenheim's countermeasure; the epilogue shows him watching Havoc in physical therapy.