The Ishvalan War of Extermination

In 1905, a young Roy Mustang, freshly uniformed, is told by his alchemy mentor that he is unfit to learn flame alchemy and that teaching a future Dog of the Military was wasted effort. Roy argues that alchemy should serve the people and that the State Military is best placed to do so, but the ailing master rejects the excuse. The old man reveals he long ago finished his research into alchemy's most destructive form and, mourning that his life as an alchemist ended with it, collapses. His surname proves to be Hawkeye, and he begs Roy to look after his daughter Riza, the sole keeper of his completed work.

After the funeral, Roy leaves Riza his contact details and his hope of becoming a pillar of the country that protects its people. In the present, Lt. Hawkeye showers, the ornate tattoo on her back half-hidden by burn scars, and finds Edward at her door returning her gun. He recounts the recent events with Scar and Winry and his loathing of firearms, and she urges him to survive for those who care for him. When she calls the many lives she took her own responsibility, Ed asks to hear about the Ishval war.

The account opens in 1901, when Amestris annexes Ishval and a soldier accidentally shoots an Ishvalan child, igniting riots that swell into a seven-year war. In 1908, King Bradley signs Executive Order 3066, sending State Alchemists to the front. Basque Grand, Armstrong, Isaac McDougal, Giolio Comanche, Kimblee, and Mustang lay waste to Ishval, some doubting their cause. Maes Hughes reunites with Roy in the camp, and the two friends, their eyes already dulled by killing, lament how their ideals have curdled. Cadet Hawkeye, now also bearing a killer's gaze, joins them.

Hawkeye asks why soldiers slaughter citizens and why alchemy meant to help is used to kill; Kimblee coolly replies that weaponized alchemy is simply a State Alchemist's duty. Marcoh reveals to Scar that Ishvalan prisoners were taken to Laboratory 5, their souls drawn out to forge a Philosopher's Stone that was handed to Kimblee, the man who killed Scar's brother. Kimblee single-handedly devastates Ishval, and Grand Cleric Logue Lowe offers his life for his people, but Bradley refuses, declaring God a human invention. As the war ends, Mustang keeps hope of reforming the system, and Hawkeye later asks to serve under him, authorizing him to shoot her should he stray, entrusting her father's flame research on her back to his cause.

The episode adapts six chapters, from Scars of Ishval through Beyond the Dream. The title card array is the flame alchemy circle tattooed on Hawkeye's back, and the episode names her father Berthold Hawkeye, a detail absent from the manga. In the present-day frame, Ed argues the nation will not change while it remains a military state, and Hawkeye explains Mustang means to empower the assembly and face prosecution as a war criminal.

This installment is the most heavily condensed in the series, compressing over a volume of manga into a single episode; the Fessler subplot, Hawkeye's sniper kill near Hughes and Mustang, and Kimblee's orders to assassinate the Rockbells are all cut. Alphonse also parts warmly from May at Dr. Knox's, boasting his human body outshines Ed's, which shifts her affection to the younger brother. Beneath Central, Envy discovers Marcoh's fake corpses and the word Vengeance painted in blood, a scene trimmed from the Adult Swim airing.