relationships » winry & the elrics

The Elric Brothers, Edward and Alphonse, are our main characters in the story. The closest person to them is their childhood friend Winry Rockbell. Neighbours since their birth, they've gone through some pretty tough times together.

Hawkeye and Winry have only seen each other twice during the course of the story, but it appears they had an instantaneous connection and share a rather peculiar relationship.

When Hawkeye and Roy arrived to Resembool, Winry was scared of them. Scared of them taking away her best friends in the world, her family really. It's only after she has a nice sincere talk with Hawkeye that she realises her friends are not being stolen, but rather given a chance to recover their lives. And the decision is ultimately entirely up to them.

Finally, they exchange names as they say goodbye. Somehow, during that short time they made quite an impact in the other's life. Curiously enough, Winry's subsequent decision to pierce her ears and Hawkeye's to grow her hair long — they both originate in the other person's look.

Winry: Ah, you're the lady from that time!
Hawkeye: If I remember correctly, you're that Resembool's...
Winry: Yes! I'm Winry.
Hawkeye: You've become so pretty!
Winry: Miss Riza has grown her hair long. [v09 ch035]

When they meet again in Central City years later, they remember each other. It comes as a surprise to Ed and Al to see them in such good terms, almost as if they were best friends. And I'm sure they would be given a different situation. Perhaps there'll be time for that in the future.

Alphonse and Hawkeye have always had a very cordial and respectful relationship. He is the calm one between the brothers, quiet and patient, the voice of reason if you may. It's not surprising, then, that he would get along nicely with Hawkeye. When they happened to meet again in Central, they shared quite a pivotal moment in their lives when they had to face Lust on their own.

Hawkeye: Run! At least you should live!!
Alphonse: Never! I can't take it! Because of me... People have died because of me being powerless! I just can't take that anymore! I can't stand watching someone I could have protected die before my eyes! [v10 ch039]

Alphonse made his duty to protect Hawkeye when she wasn't in any shape to do it herself. He was tired to see people die around him, powerless to avoid it. The fact is Hawkeye could have been killed at that moment, and it was thanks to Alphonse she wasn't. Roy would be even more grateful about that than Hawkeye herself.

Edward is our title character, the one and only Fullmetal Alchemist. He can be hot-blooded and a bit self-centered, but has his heart in the right place all along. Ever since he was recruited as a National Alchemist after his failed human transmutation, his relationship with Hawkeye has been amiable, despite Ed's insistence on finding Roy irritating.

The truth is it's always been hard to find the balance between treating Ed as a soldier and treating him as a kid. Hawkeye feels protective of both brothers, even caring, but she's also Ed's subordinate, weirdly enough. As he's grown older the line between soldier and boy has been disappearing, and it's turned into adult. Roy's reticence to speak about Ishval drove Edward to ask Hawkeye directly, he needed to fully know about his comrades' reasons.

Edward: ... Lieutenant.
Hawkeye: What is it?
Edward: Thank you for telling me about Ishval. [v16 ch062]

Her exposition helped Edward understand lots of things about the world and about his friends, but most of all he was thankful for her sincerity