Riza Hawkeye

In her mid to late twenties, Riza carries herself with a soldier's poise and a fair complexion. Her blonde hair reaches the middle of her back and is usually gathered into an updo held by a dark barrette, arranged so that the gathered length suggests a bird's tail and her left-parted fringe echoes a hawk's wing. Her irises read light brown in the manga and earlier anime and shade darker in the 2009 series, while a small round silver stud sits in each pierced ear. Years of training have left her build toned and broad in the shoulders beneath a curvier frame.

Under her uniform she favors a short-sleeved black turtleneck, and off duty she tends to appear in long skirts and boots with her hair loose, having remarked that skirts hamper movement in an office; disguises sometimes add a pair of plain glasses. She wore her hair cropped short during her youth and her Ishval deployment, grew it out from 1910 after befriending Winry Rockbell, and returns to a short cut by the series' close. Spanning most of her back is an elaborate tattoo, partly hidden under burn scars, that once held the whole of her father's flame alchemy research.

Composed and soft-spoken, Riza conducts herself with a grave courtesy that her peers regard as the very picture of a model soldier. Rigid discipline and cool reasoning define her working manner, and she is routinely the one keeping her unit on task. That severity is only the surface, though; those who know her recognize a compassionate person who understands what it means to shoulder a heavy burden. Her warmth surfaces around younger figures such as the Elric brothers and Winry, and in private moments with her Shiba Inu, Black Hayate, while banter with her friend Rebecca Catalina reveals a dry, acerbic wit.

She seldom drops her formal bearing even among intimates and rarely voices affection aloud, communicating instead through sharp glances and rare, subtle smiles, a stern hand tempered by genuine devotion. She was not always so guarded: as a sheltered, idealistic girl she believed in a kinder world until Ishval stripped that away and forged the near-stoic lieutenant. She emerged determined to carry her own guilt rather than pass it to anyone else, resolving to keep supporting Mustang so that future generations might be spared such horrors. To Riza a firearm is a tool of protection rather than destruction, and she admits she is willing to deceive herself and keep dirtying her hands if doing so secures the safety of others.

Beyond her sharp administrative talents, keeping subordinates in line, managing paperwork, and preparing tea and coffee with practiced ease, Riza is a marksman of exceptional caliber. Whether she is handling a bolt-action rifle, a sniper weapon, a single pistol, or two handguns at once, she is renowned for never missing, a reputation that earned her the fearsome nickname Hawk's Eye during the Ishval conflict. A consummate professional, she can strip, clean, and reassemble a standard sidearm in record time and rarely enters a fight carrying fewer than two loaded weapons. Her skill extends into combat tactics and covert operations, and battle-honed instinct lets her sense that the Homunculi pose a far greater danger than any ordinary opponent.