I guess this is where I try to explain where my love for Roy comes from and what possessed me to make this website and all. Well, this is hard.

My first contact with Fullmetal Alchemist took place during the last months of 2003, a little while after the anime premiered. I was caught by its original premise and unusual characters, although I didn't have a favorite charater by then (to be completely honest, I liked Edward -- I guess since he was an intelligent main character, he somehow caught my attention). Soon after, I started reading the manga, since most of the time I like original works better anyway and FMA kept growing more and more on me. There was very little translated at that time, but enough to keep me begging for more.

And also enough to go all "WTF" at the anime and fall in love with a certain Roy Mustang. Because, honestly, I can't understand people who say there're little changes in the anime. Not only plot-wise (which at least was needed to give the anime a conclusion), but characterization-wise it's all very different (or wrong). Roy is not really the one most affected by this (that'd be Edward, Alphonse, Winry or Izumi, probably), but it still makes a whole lot of difference. That's how I see it.

Anyway, once people took an interest in the manga (after the anime's popularity) and resumed translating it, I kept reading and falling in love with the series, its characters and, of course, Roy. Still, nothing prepared me to become totally obsessed and the final realization that this series had become my favorite ever, and Roy my favorite character. The only obsession of mine capable to match up with this is The X-Files -- almost 10 years and still going strong. How scary.

Having been in the website business for a long time, the urge to make some kind of online dedication came quickly to me. And of course, the main attraction had to be Roy, it couldn't be any other way. I decided to try my best to make an extensive shrine for him and with that in mind I ended up buying my FMA related domain, roy-mustang.net, which is my baby and joy. Starting up as a container for fanlistings, I hoped that one day it'd hold the shrine I've always wanted to build.

     

What is it that makes me love Roy so? That's somehow difficult to answer. I can't exactly point up just one quality, peculiarity or detail anymore. Roy is a full-grown adult in a manga where the main characters are all 15-year-old kids but still he manages to have his own storyline, his own importance, which is something unusual in shounen manga. Then again, as Arakawa herself has said, Fullmetal Alchemist is not your usual shounen.

Roy is a character with many layers. What makes him so interesting is you're never sure what side of him you're seeing -- is it a mask over his true self, or perhaps a mask over another mask? It's rather easy to get confused when dealing with Roy Mustang. Still, if you observe hard enough, his passion, his good intentions and his selflessness become obvious to the people around him.

Ever since the starting point of the series, he's got his noble objective settled... he's not really a character that dramatically changes over the course of the chapters (like Ed or Al, who are still growing into the men they'll become). Roy has a past which is partially at fault of who he's become, he's his own individual already -- but he gets to evolve anyway, as the story progresses, new events take place and he keeps interacting with other characters. His thoughts and actions are always coherent with who he is, but seeing him work his way out of troubles and respond in front of events is what really marks his evolution.

But anyway, this is way too long already and although I could keep going, I'd recommend reading the rest of the shrine if you still haven't done so. It should reflect what I'm trying to say here.