Roy Mustang

Mustang cuts the figure of a sharp-dressed young man with dark eyes and dark hair, the latter usually left tousled and hanging across his brow, though he slicks it back neatly for formal or somber occasions. He is seldom seen out of his military uniform, which he tends to accent with a long black overcoat and white dress gloves, and in civilian settings he leans toward three-piece suits, black ties, scarves, and polished shoes, favoring dark and neutral tones throughout.

His clash with Lust leaves lasting marks: a faint scar in the shape of his flame transmutation circle across the back of his right hand and a heavy burn along his left side, lower back, and abdomen. The 2009 anime's epilogue notably adds a moustache absent from the manga.

On the surface Roy strikes many colleagues as vain, self-serving, and an incorrigible flirt, a reputation that makes him unpopular with rank-and-file soldiers who fear losing sweethearts to his charm. He can seem every bit as arrogant as his protégé Edward, prone to grandstanding, dodging paperwork, and springing into action mainly when glory or military standing is on offer. Much of that image, however, is a deliberate mask over his true ambition, meant to lead others to underestimate a formidable mind.

Mustang is a gifted strategist, especially skilled at gathering intelligence quietly, running covert operations, and luring enemies into traps, and he routinely thinks several moves ahead, steering subordinates toward his aims without appearing to. He even weaponizes his flirtatious reputation, using it as cover to slip information and mask secret work. Beneath it lies a fierce drive to rule Amestris and set it on a better course, fueled by his haunting regret over the Ishval war and a wish to hold its perpetrators, himself included, to account. At heart he is a devoted commander with a firm sense of justice who guards those loyal to him at great personal risk, though his pride and hot temper can cloud his judgment on the field.

Even among elite State Alchemists, Mustang is a standout, competent in ordinary physical transmutation, experimental theory, and biological alchemy, and skilled enough in medical applications to perform life-saving surgery when a Philosopher's Stone assists him, which helps mark him as a candidate for Human Sacrifice. His signature art, though, is Flame Alchemy. He raises the oxygen density around a chosen point until it turns volatile, carves narrow channels of it between himself and the target, and ignites the whole with a spark from his gloves, unleashing a burst of fire that can consume enemies while sparing nearby allies. The familiar snapping sound comes not from his fingers but from the concentrated gases and sparks reacting at once.

The technique is explosive and nearly impossible to defend against, its greatest edge being sheer speed, since the flames simply appear wherever he wills them rather than being thrown, and he can even assign each hand a different effect, broad blasts from the right and precise pinpoint bursts from the left. His power depends on custom gloves of ignition cloth stitched with flame transmutation circles; strip or soak them and his standard attacks fail, which is why he keeps spares, can etch a circle into his own hand, and carries alternate igniters such as a lighter. Rain normally grounds him, yet even then he can split water into hydrogen and oxygen and touch off devastating localized explosions with an outside flame.

Beyond alchemy he is an inspiring leader and field tactician versed in hand-to-hand combat, firearms, infiltration, and espionage, and after being forced through a human transmutation and glimpsing the Truth, he gains the ability to transmute by clapping his hands, no longer bound to fire alone.