Greed is a Homunculus and a villain from the anime/manga franchise Fullmetal Alchemist. He is one of the seven Homunculi created by Father, though unlike the others he is not subservient to his maker. True to his name, Greed is governed by selfishness and avarice; he wants to own the world and everything in it. Whether it be money, power or dominance over others, Greed wants it all.
Appearance[]
Greed appears as a lean, muscular male human with spiky brown hair and sharpened teeth. His attire consists of a black, sleeveless jacket with a white-fur trim and dark leather trousers and boots. He is also known to occasionally wear pince-nez sunglasses. While he appears to wear a skin-tight black shirt beneath his jacket, that is actually a part of his body; his skin can be morphed into an indestructible material at will. Four red circular nodes, common traits of the Homunculi, can be seen on his torso. He also bears an Ouroboros tattoo on the back of his left hand.
When Greed fully utilizes his Ultimate Shield, his entire body becomes covered in impenetrable black carbon. Most notably, his face becomes more monstrous, sporting a set of tusks on either side of his mouth and slanted red eyes. His fingers also grow a set of sharp claws.
Later in the series, Greed's body is destroyed by Father and his Philosopher's Stone is implanted into Ling Yao.
History[]
Manga and Brotherhood anime[]
Sometime after his creation, Greed defied Father and fled in order to satisfy his own desires. Greed is introduced in the manga and the 2009 Brotherhood series shortly after the primary protagonists Edward and Alphonse Elric come to the town of Dublith to visit their teacher Izumi Curtis; having learned of their arrival from his lizard Chimera underling Bido who had revealed Alphonse's condition.
After the Chimeras Martel, Dolcetto, and Roa lure Alphonse into a factory and capture him, Greed introduces himself to the youth when he is brought to the Devil's Nest bar. As Alphonse recognizes his Ouroboros mark, Greed reveals that he was told by his informants that Alphonse's soul was bound to a suit of armour. Wanting to gain true immortality, Greed demands to know how Alphonse's soul was bound to the armour. However, Edward and Izumi show up and rescue Al before the Homunculus can learn anything.
Edward later confronts Greed, but the Homunculus turns into his Ultimate Shield form, easily overpowering him. Just as Edward figures how to transmute Greed's carbonized body to undo the Ultimate Shield and harm his enemy, several soldiers led by King Bradley, the Fuhrer of Amestris who is also the Homunculus Wrath, storm into Greed's hideout, forcing the Homunculus to flee.
Bradley and his soldiers kill most of Greed's underlings as he and Martel escape with Alphonse through the sewer. Upon seeing Bradley murder Dolcetto and Roa, Greed attacks the Fuhrer, who easily beats him into submission by striking his weak points and captures him. In Father's lair, Greed is informed by his siblings that the preparations for the Day of Reckoning are nearly complete. When Father offers him another chance to serve him again, Greed refuses and is lowered into a boiling vat. Defiant to the very end, Greed laughs maniacally as he is broken down and the Philosopher's Stone that makes up his essence is liquefied and drunk by Father.
Sometime later, Edward, Alphonse and the Xingese prince Ling Yao enter Father's lair. Ed and Al are subdued by Envy and Gluttony, but Father is impressed by Ling's remarkable energy. Instead of killing Ling, Father injects a refined version of Greed's Philosopher's Stone into his bloodstream, making Ling a new host body for his wayward "son".
Normally, Ling's and Greed's souls were to fight for dominance until only one would prevail, but Ling willingly relinquished his body to let Greed possess him, hoping to gain enough power to become the next emperor of Xing (much to Greed's astonishment). Thus, Greed and Ling co-opted a single body, with one persona maintaining control while the other merely observed their actions. Initially, Greed would maintain control, but over time would allow Ling to resume control when he needed to.
To the Elrics' horror, Greed was reborn with no memories of his life before Father had "recycled" him. He attacked Edward and defeated him, allowing Envy to take the Elric brothers to Wrath. Greed was later appointed as Father's bodyguard, acting as a sentinel and killing any intruder who ventured into his subterranean lair.
However, Bido eventually managed to sneak into Father's lair and was spotted by Greed. Bido recognised Greed's laughter and mannerisms and managed to catch his attention by reciting his greedy motto by heart. Greed showed no recognition towards Bido and callously murdered him. However, spilling his former friend's blood causes Greed's mind to be flooded by blurry memories of his previous life. He tried to deny them saying that he was not the Greed he used to be, but Ling berated him, saying that if that was the case he would remember nothing.
In a semi-conscious state, Greed stormed into the presidential palace, attacking Wrath in a rage and demanding to know why he remembered him slaughtering his team. The two Homunculi fought, but Greed found himself once again outmatched. Worse, Pride would join in to support Bradley, forcing Greed to flee for his life.
Greed-Ling
Ling then assumed control and fled to a deserted hideout in which he stumbled upon Edward Elric and his two chimera associates Darius and Heinkel. After Ling told Edward of what he knew, Greed reasserted control and took his leave, before Edward convinced him to take him, Darius, and Heinkel as his "underlings". Accepting the proposal, Greed assisted the Elrics and their allies in attempting to make a nation-wide transmutation circle able to counter the one that Father was preparing.
Greed, Edward, Darius and Heinkel later come across Alphonse whose armour was manipulated by Pride. Greed recognised his elder sibling who attacked them alongside Gluttony. Lan Fan and Fu, Ling Yao's bodyguards, then came to their rescue and killed Gluttony several times, while Edward caused a blackout to make Pride's shadow disappear. Pride devoured Gluttony to gain his powers and soon overwhelmed them all, until Alphonse restrained him, enabling Hohenheim to trap them both in a gigantic dome of earth. Following this, Greed escaped and headed for Central City, revealing to Ling that he had ulterior motives in stopping Father and wanted to be the one in the centre of the nation-wide transmutation circle.
On his way to Father's lair, Greed fought against Wrath once again. With Ling providing battle tactics, Greed attempted to overwhelm the other human-based Homunculus. Yet, Wrath eventually revealed his Ultimate Eye and gained the upper-hand. The Briggs soldier Buccaneer then aided Greed by letting himself be stabbed with Wrath's sabre and taking it from him, forcing him to fight with a pair of daggers to which he was less familiar with. Greed was then helped by Ling’s bodyguard Fu, who sensed his evil aura.
Wrath killed Fu but was wounded in the process by Buccaneer, who sacrificed his life to stab Wrath with his own sabre through Fu's body. An angry Ling then took over and struck him, destroying the Ultimate Eye and pushing his foe into a moat. Honouring the promise Ling made to Buccaneer, Greed turned to his Ultimate Shield form and eliminated Bradley's soldiers.
Greed reappeared in Father's throne room as the latter was about to activate the nation-wide transmutation circle by using the Elrics, Hohenheim, Izumi Curtis and Roy Mustang (five alchemists who have seen the Truth, the source of all alchemic power and knowledge of the universe, which Father planned to absorb to become the new God of the World). Greed attacked Father to kill him and claim the godhood that Father coveted for himself, but Father easily subdued him and successfully transformed into "God".
Fortunately, Hohenheim was able to activate a counter-ritual he devised, and Father was unable to contain the Truth within himself, prompting him to flee towards the surface with everyone tailing him. As Greed could not master alchemy, he reached the surface on his own, finding the majority of their allies near Bradley's corpse. He cursed the man for having died with a smile and informed them all about the current crisis unfolding before reaching the surface.
While the Elrics and co. were busy battling against Father, Greed marveled on the villain's incredible power, but he finally admitted to Ling that his only actual desire was to have a friend. Greed then attacked Father, who let himself be struck to absorb his offspring back once again. However, this was Greed's plan all along: by letting Father grab and reabsorb him, Greed was able to transmute Father's body during the reabsorption, turning into brittle charcoal that Edward could easily shatter.
Enraged by his child's continued defiance, Father rips Greed's soulless essence out and flings it into the air. In his final moment, seeing Edward and Ling while reflecting on the good they did for him, Greed thanked the two before disintegrating into nothingness.
2003 anime[]
In the 2003 anime series, Greed is the second oldest Homunculus, who was created when Dante, the main villain of the series' radically different storyline, tried to revive one of her former lovers. Once again, Greed betrayed his master to live for himself and quench his greed, and established his headquarters in the Devil's Nest bar, surrounding himself with many chimeras.
He first tries to get Wrath to join his side but not to avail. He later captures Alphonse Elric to learn how he bound his soul to his armour, as he does in the manga. Once again, his lair his invaded and his chimeras are killed, but this time by Lust and Gluttony. Greed is then manipulated by Dante, so that he would be perceived as her murderer, before getting weakened enough for Edward to kill him. With his dying breath, Greed reveals to Edward how to kill a Homunculus: by exposing them to the remains of the humans they were based on.
Abilities[]
- Superhuman Strength - Like the other Homunculi, Greed boasts physical strength and endurance well beyond that of humans.
- Superhuman Speed - Greed's speed and agility are significantly greater than that of humans.
- Regeneration - Greed and the other Homunculi are capable of quickly regenerating, healing in seconds injuries that would normally be fatal to humans.
- Immortality - Homunculi do not age the way that humans do and can live indefinitely.
- Ultimate Shield - Greed can transform his entire body into ultra-dense carbon, rendering himself impervious to just about any physical attack.