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qwerty-socks · 4 years

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Ending finalisation linked to Alfons dying?

Something interesting I found at the very end of Sinnesspiel’s translations of the script notes was this:

(directly copy pasted from):

"I talked with Director Mizushima about this ending. "I didn't write any part where Ed acknowledges Alfons's death after he returned, so I wantto have Noah's dancing included because it has the nuance of sending off that Alfons" In the end we made so many minute adjustmentsand fixes. I really wanted the movie to be something that could stick with you. So, the final cut is still not quite final. The moment I put Alfons's death into the script, it was the same as deciding absolutely that Ed and Al would be returning to the real world, I suppose."

What I find interesting about this quote was that whether the Elric brothers would stay on Earth or not was still undecided, and that for some reason, it was linked to Alfons being dead.

I’ve thought of four possible options for how the movie could have played out. (not including the options where Edward successfully ditches Alphonse in Amestris because I don’t think there’s anything mentioning that people thought about keeping the bros separated. Alfons will always die because of his lung cancer, but there’s the death by gun too):

- Alfons lives a bit longer before dying from lung cancer + Elric brothers in Amestris

- Alfons dies by gun + Elric brothers in Amestris

- Alfons lives a little while longer before he dies of lung cancer + Elric brothers on Earth

- Alfons dies by gun + Elric brothers on Earth

I’m curious about the link between Alfons dying and the Elric brothers moving to Earth though, because they seem to be rather unrelated events. Edward doesn’t see that Alfons has died until he comes back to Earth, so whether Alfons lives or dies doesn’t really affect Edward’s motivations while messing about in Amestris, because as far as Edward knows, he last saw Alfons as alive.

So if Alfons dying doesn’t affect any of the character motivations or actions in-universe, the reason why Alfons dying leads to the Elric brothers coming to Earth must be an out-of-universe reason, like, I don’t know, maybe it fits with the theme of the story. I wonder how the story changes with each of the four options...

Option 1: Alfons lives a bit longer, Brothers in Amestris

Alfons says “we’re not just dreams, don’t forget me”, lauches Edward to Amestris, Edward reunites with people, they defeat Eckhart, they live in Amestris (do they close the gate?) Everything is fine and dandy until Alphonse reports in dreams of how everyone is doing on Earth. Alfons is dying, Noah has whatever fate awaits her, Edward feels super bad about ditching everyone, which breaks the theme of the other world not being a dream.

Option 2: Alfons dies by gun, Brothers in Amestris.

Same deal as above, but because Alfons is dead, Alphonse doesn’t report any dreams. Edward maybe feels bad again for ditching everyone. or perhaps he starts to try to forget about the existence of Earth to cope with those bad feelings? (or maybe he never took it seriously and Alphonse not having any dreams confirms it. Or maybe Edward tries to deny it, but not knowing what happened to the Earth-people eats away at the back of his mind, because he spent two years there, and now on Amestris, he keeps thinking about Earth?) It just doesn’t seem like a happy ending in my opinion, like Edward would be stuck between two worlds, or at least physically stuck in Amestris, and having thoughts about what the heck Earth was enroaching on him mentally a lot.

Option 3: Alfons lives a bit longer, Brothers in Earth

Edward returns and Alfons is surprised about that, awkard doppelganger meeting when Alphonse comes out. And then they watch Alfons gradually die from lung cancer, ruining the upbeat mood of the end of the movie. Or who knows, maybe Alfons would be happy about meeting Alphonse before he dies, and surrounded by friends? Lung cancer sounds painful though, especially if you’re in COS’s time period.

Option 4: What we saw on the movie

Seems like a happy-ish ending.

I wonder if Edward ever feels guilty that Alfons died for him to go to Amestris, but he’s on Earth anyway.

I also wonder if Alphonse is going to run into a billion language barriers and rely on Ed to translate stuff for him until he learns languages

#this was sitting in my drafts from ages ago so i'm not sure if link still works #fma 2003 #fullmetal alchemist 2003 #Conqueror of Shamballa

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