My "Fullmetal Alchemist" Fanon.

(Originally posted on 2-24-2011)

Fanon. It's a funny thing. But aside from the widely accepted fanon, there is also more personal fanons.

I talked about fanon a while ago in an entry about fanon theories in "Harry Potter" and how they ended up relating to canon.

For a lot of mediums that I like, I don't actually have too many personal fanon theories. Usually I don't because of sufficient back stories (like with "Death Note" where anything that could have been confusing was pretty much summed up in Volume 13) or because there's nothing really there to spark theories (like with "Battle Royale" where everything is pretty straight forward).

I think three mediums where I have a lot of fanon theories are
"Batman" (specifically as it pertains to villain back stories because all the villains have many different back stories depending on the source),
"Dollhouse" (specifically with Topher, Whiskey, and Ivy because they never got back stories and the show was canceled before they could), and
"Fullmetal Alchemist" (where the large amount of characters means that every little odd detail doesn't have time to be explained unless it really relates to the plot).

Since I'm bored. Here are some of my "FMA" fanon theories:

Roy's mother is Xingese.
This is a widely accepted one except among people who don't know that Chris Mustang is Roy's paternal aunt (those people think he's a Xingese orphan and sometimes even believe that the hostesses in the bar are foster sisters). But since she is, his father would have to be Amestrian. However, having a Xingese mom would really explain his coloring and eyes.
I even wrote a short story about how his parents met. [/Kay is lame]

LanFan has at least one older sister.
Think about it. The role of a bodyguard would probably traditionally be a boy so it would make since if LanFan was one of a bunch of girls. It would also make sense that even though the mask she wears could have a traditional origin, it solves the problem of hiding the fact that she's a girl.
Personally, I like to believe she has two older sisters: one who is the brain and one who is the marriage bait, and that she is the youngest and most apparently tomboyish in youth.

Part of Ling "equalizing the clans of Xing" involves getting rid of the 50 wives rule.
Part of what seems to cause such competition among the clans in the first place seems to be the idea of all the emperor's children trying to gain the throne to honor their clan. By doing away with all the wives, it would create a direct line of power from Ling's offspring (if he has any) which would actually technically keep the Yao clan in charge indefinitely but if the clans are gone than it won't technically matter.
I think a real way to emphasize this change would be for Ling to either A.) not reproduce or B.) reproduce with someone from another clan than his own to prove his claim. However, being that I ship Ling/LanFan marrying someone out of his social class would certainly be another good way to show change even if it wouldn't say much for the clan thing.

Roy and Riza have a marriage pact.
In that they intend to get married once he becomes Fuhrer. Then Riza will officially retire from the military but still be Roy's bodyguard and be extremely active in politics. Wife with guns!

They have also had sex before.
On the last night they were in Ishval before going home in the morning, when everyone else was getting drunk, Roy burned Riza's back, they had sex after a big confession moment, he asked her to follow him and they decided to end any potential relationship before it starts for that reason, and then they had sex again and pretended nothing had happened the next day.

Mei is either 12 or 13.
She is rather small but there is no way she could have such skill in medical alchemy and be less than 12.5. While it's true that all alchemists are extremely intelligent and Ed and Al performed human transmutation at 10 and 11, they were studying that specific art for a long time and usually work in metal. Medical stuff is way more complicated.

Denny has a crush on Maria and she has no idea.
If you ignore firstanime!stuff where it's pretty much outright stated, his overall feelings of her being accused of murder and then being alive spell out quite a bit of love. Maria probably thinks they're just partners and friends.

Also Denny and Maria are 22 years old.
Denny definitely lives with his parents and it is kind of implied by the close relationship Maria has with hers that she probably also lives with her parents. This means they probably aren't as old as Riza or Jean (who I have pegged in the 26-28 range). Also, Knox calls Maria a "pretty, young girl" although he is a grizzled war veteran but still.
Rank wise this also works. They both have this kind of fumbling nature of noobs and get crap jobs like babysitting the Elric brothers. Maria probably just got out of the military academy at 21 and Denny has probably been enlisted since he was 18. Four years to make sergeant is a pretty normal pace for a fairly competent, hardworking enlisted man.

Breda is married.
As I said before the rate of single people in the Amestrian army is literally unbelievable especially in a time period where people getting married in their late teens is totally common. Breda is the only one of Mustang's men who's martial status never seems to come up either way (Roy, Riza, and Havoc are all stated to be single; Fuery and Falman live in dorms so they must be single).
It's not just a lack of information though. Being that he and Havoc are besties, it would seem very in character if the two of them trolled for women together if they are both single. Or simply if Breda's status as a single guy came up in any fashion since it does for the others.
Hence, he has a wife. Civilian, of course. Probably no kids (yet) though.
In my mind she's a pretty, plump, redheaded girl named Margaret who he has known since he was in school.

Falman has a long-term girlfriend and gets married sometime after leaving East City. ("Brotherhood" specific)
"Brotherhood" shows us that he has two kids by the picture collage time. Falman looks and seems a lot older than Mustang's other man who all seem to be in their mid to late 20s. Also, the lack of married characters on this show is rather surprising when compared with the real life military. Although you can come up with excuses for a lot of them (Maria and Denny are still young, Jean has bad luck with women, Fuery is shy, Roy and Riza are in love with each other but can't be together, Alex is gay, Olivier is . . . of indeterminate sexuality and married to her job, etc.) it is still odd.
Also, in the dog side story he says that he lives in the military dorms which would mean that at that point he isn't married so it would have to be after.
In mangaverse it always seemed more likely to me that Falman is terminally single. Perhaps he has a girlfriend but I don't imagine he would be having kids.
I also have theories on the education of Mustang's team. In this theory, Falman is the most formally educated and has a doctorate. He worked in some other job after obtaining it before deciding to enlist and use his brain to work in the military. Being that he is so educated, he was able to start as a sergeant and worked his way from there.

Mustang's men Education Theory.
I may as well expand on this.
Based on stuff I have gathered it seems like mandatory formal education doesn't really exist in the country and I have theorized that 13 is the minimum age in cities. From this I have concluded the educations of Mustang's men.
Roy: Went to formal school until he was 14 while trying to find an alchemy teacher (obviously taught himself alchemy when not in school). Then studied under Berthold Hawkeye from 15-18 when he left to go to the military academy.
Riza: Went to formal school until she was 13. She wanted to continue but she dropped out to get a job but kept up studying a range of subjects on her own until she was 17. Not knowing what to do with her life she joined the military academy from 18-21.
Jean: Went to formal school until he was 11. Dropped out because he wasn't doing well and decided to work in the family business. Deciding that life wasn't for him, he studied hard to get into the military academy and struggled a lot. Heymans helped him pass.
Heymans: Formal education until 17 before he went to the military academy and graduated top in his class.
Kain: Formal education until 13 then started apprenticing in technology. Enlisted at 18.
Vato: See above theory on marriage.

Fuery and Sheszka will end up together.
Because that would be cute. They're both shy nerds with glasses! A techie and a bookworm; it's true love man.

Alex and Garfiel will eventually hook up.
More like a hope than a theory. They're the only gay guys!

Miles and Olivier are secretly married. [/Defunct]
Taken from the WMG page on TVTropes. Miles has an Amestrian wife (Actually confirmed to be an incorrect translation; never mind). Olivier is pure-blooded Amestrian. Speculations! It would also make a lot of sense for them to keep a relationship entirely secret and to not have kids.
Only snag in this is that Olivier has the most indeterminable sexuality ever. She would be straight as likely as she could be bi, lesbian, or asexual.

Berthold Hawkeye died as a result of complications due to a failed human transmutation attempt.
Another one from WMG. While he could be dying from something like consumption (which seemed to be a common killer in those times) it's hard not to think that his conclusions about believing he has learned everything means he has seen Truth. Also, flame alchemy even with clapping transmutation would still require a source (if not a circle) so it would make sense if even after he did it, he would still have to research that. On top of that, he has a motive. Dead wife anyone? Fatherly incompetence anyone? Also, I wouldn't be surprised if A.) a lot of people died from failed human transmutation and that the Elric brothers, Izumi (who seems close to death sometimes), and Roy are all just exceptional cases and B.) as pointed out on the WMG page, the homunculi had him under their watch as a candidate for a while, a search that could have initially lead them to Roy.

Al lost his virginity before Ed did.
Because Al is a gentleman and Ed is awkward with women. Also, I can imagine Winry being a much bigger prude than Mei (of course, I bet Ed is probably a major moment killer half the time anyway).

Barry would have become Olivier's hopeless slave had they met.
Because he loves strong women. He'll do anything Riza tells him to do and gets a little crush on Maria too. Olivier would probably be an overwhelming dream for him.

Kimblee is a depraved bisexual.
He just never has the chance to show it. He gets his thrills from mental and physical torture more than anything so sex is not really a factor. See: the scene when he is fucking with Riza about her kills.