Roy/Hughes (Fullmetal Alchemist)
Jan. 4th, 2005 06:23 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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ship_manifestoTitle: It's Raining
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
thedeadparrot
Spoilers: Through Chapter 34 of the manga and Episode 25 of the anime
E-mail: thedeadparrot[at]gmail[dot]com
Personal Website: Nightvision
Notes: Graphic alert. Any comments, corrections, or criticisms would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Fullmetal Alchemist Background
Fullmetal Alchemist takes place in Amestris, an invented country loosely based on Britain in the early 20th century. The world is different from ours in one key way: alchemy. Alchemy is almost a "power", alchemists can build, create, fix anything as long as the base materials are the same. This concept is called Equivalent Trade.
Amestris is a military based nation, with most of the power concentrated in the "Fuhrer", the leader of the military. Though alchemists generally consider believe that they must use their abilities to the benefit of the people, the military also employs alchemists as officers. They're known as State Alchemists, and in order to become one, an alchemist must go through rigorous testing.
The State Alchemists are powerful, but they also must obey their commanding officers. Asmestris is constantly at war, and they are deployed as weapons. The first such case was the Ishbal Civil War, in which the State Alchemists basically razed the area to the ground.
There is both a manga and anime canon, and I'll do my best to address both.
Roy Mustang
When we first meet Roy Mustang, he's an ambitious, manipulative officer who convinces Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist of the title, to join the State Alchemists. He's a lieutenant colonel and known as the Flame Alchemist, as he is capable of creating sparks with a glove and then manipulating gas concentrations to create flames and explosions.
Roy's also something of a notorious ladies' man. He goes out on dates all the time, frequently stealing other people's girlfriends and/or crushes.
More details come to light about him, though. He wants to become Fuhrer, which is incredibly ambitious for such a young officer. He served in the Ishbal Civil War and was forced to kill innocents. He believes in reform from the inside and will do anything in his power to get to the top, and as he explains it, "get to the point where I won't have to follow stupid orders."
I love Roy because he's such a stoic. I tend to be drawn to stoics, since I admire their control. Roy isn't quite as stoic as some of the other stoics out there, but he's wonderfully complex and interesting. There's all this angst he tries to hide under this charming womanizer, and it frequently works on the people around him. There's also this ruthless drive to him. He will get to the top as quickly as he possibly can. Roy's also got something of a martyr complex. He wants to make it to the top because he believes it's his own personal responsibility to fix Asmestris.
He has allies in his quest, of course. Among them is Maes Hughes.
Maes Hughes
While Roy is secretive and manipulating, Hughes is open and friendly. He works in Intelligence, and is generally a good source of information. He isn't an alchemist, just an officer.
In the manga, we meet him first as part of the military tribunal, who has come to visit Roy and arrest a State Alchemist who has just recently committed a crime. He's fairly serious, but there's a lightness to him that will show up later.
In the anime, we see him doing what he's most noted for: gushing over his wife and soon-to-be child. To Roy, nonetheless. He's chipper and warm, and almost completely different from Roy. He's kind, gentle, and caring. But he can kick ass, too.
Hughes has an unfortunate obsession with baby pictures of his daughter, Alicia. Give him half the chance, and he'll talk your ear off about how great she is. Throughout most of the series and manga, this is his defining trait. Of course, it is cute and sweet and it makes many a fangirl go "Awww.", but this also thoroughly irritates any character within five feet of him, including Roy.
I think Hughes can be a complete enigma himself. He's such an outwardly bright character that it seems as if he's using his cheerfulness and obnoxious behavior as a shield. He may be that simple and direct, but it doesn't seem likely considering his intelligence. He knows that people find him annoying, since they make their irritation pretty obvious. There's no doubt that his behavior is genuine. He does love showing off his daughter. It's just that he also uses it to keep people from realizing just how much he knows and just how intelligent he really is.
Unfortunately, he does die in both canons. It's a complicated situation, involving a few other subplots that I'd rather not get into. His death does have many repercussions over the rest of the series, at the very least causing Roy to go out and look for revenge. And angst a lot.
Reasons to Love This Pairing
First and foremost, they are friends.
Hughes is obviously a source of encouragement and support for Roy, especially after the Ishbal War and Roy's confusion over it. In the manga, there's a flashback to the Ishbal War where Hughes and Roy have a conversation about the horrors of war and what it does to soldiers. It probably takes place before they become really good friends, as Hughes addresses Roy formally, but there's an understanding between them about how much they dislike war. They feel the same way about it and that paves the way to their future work and friendship together.
In the anime, Hughes was not actually at the battlefield, as he requested a desk position. There's another flashback to a post-war Roy and how confused he is about everything. He even develops a theory on dangerous and illegal alchemy before Hughes talks some sense into him. Roy doesn't exactly open up that much of himself to just anyone, and it speaks a great deal about just how close they are.
They also talk on the phone all the time, as Roy is stationed in East City and Hughes is stationed in Central. Roy likes to know what's going on in headquarters, and that makes Hughes the one who usually passes along the news. Man, all those calls and no phone sex?
Hughes does managed to visit East City on occasion and brings the funny with him. He and Roy talk shop about the goings-on in Central and there's this easy friendship between them that Roy doesn't seem to have anywhere else. He can be honest with Hughes about how miserable he is, how happy, how successful.
After Hughes death, we see Roy vulnerable for the first time. He cries at Hughes' grave, the only time he does in canon. In the manga, he also hears his friend die over the phone, which just ups the angst. Roy even admits to wanting to perform human transmutation, a dangerous, highly illegal, and generally harmful form of alchemy, in order to bring Hughes back. On top of it all, he even swears revenge on the people who killed Hughes, something that seems a little extreme, even for Roy.
At the very core of the relationship is Roy and Hughes' friendship, and I love that. It's not just about physical attraction between the two of them, they genuinely like each other and enjoy each other's company, even if Hughes can get a little annoying.
They play off each other so well. It's the classic "straight man"/"goofball" dynamic, though with more serious undertones. Roy has a habit of becoming too serious, and it's Hughes' job to cheer him up, give him something to do besides angst. They work together and there's this feeling that they're each other's moral support. Roy has this desire to reach the top, and that puts him at a lot of risk, physically and emotionally, and Hughes is part of that support structure that enables him to reach his goals without him losing his goals.
There's obviously a long and deep relationship between the two of them, and I love that it's so subtle. Neither of them make a big deal out of their friendship. It's just there. No one really calls attention to it. It's never explained. For some reason, I love that. It's just so understood that no one feels the need to justify, quantify, or explain it.
I don't think that Gracia, Hughes' wife, is definitive proof that Hughes is straight or that he can't love Roy because he loves his wife. Hughes is one of those people that just loves everyone so much, that I can't see him picking one over the other. It's possible for him to love them both in different ways, and I don't think his love for one diminishes his love for the other.
It doesn't hurt that they're both hot, either. Or that they angst a lot. I'm such an angst whore.
Fandom Experience
It's allcrazythorn's fault, really. She mailed me a copy of the first chapter of the manga, and asked me what I thought. It was good and interesting, so I asked her where I could find more. She told me, and I read through most of it in one day.
One of our conversations over AIM went like this:
There was definitely some good stuff out there then, and there's still a lot of good stuff coming in now, what with the anime now showing on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim. The fandom is growing and expanding and changing due to the influx of fans, and the new directions things should take looks incredibly exciting.
Since there was so little of it then, I thought, Hmmm, maybe I should write some myself. So I did.
And that was that.
Links and recs
General Fullmetal Alchemist sites:
Fullmetal-Alchemist - episode guides, images, and scanlations.
FullmetalAlchemist.com - The official Cartoon Network site.
General Fanfic:
fma_ficiton
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
fma_fanfic
Scimitar Smile
Yaoi Fanfic:
fma_yaoi
Touka Koukan - a Fullmetal Alchemist yaoi archive. Pretty big and full of fic of lots of different pairings.
Hughes and Roy specific:
hughesxroy
Ame Da Yo - Hughes and Roy fanlisting.
Recs:
Momentary Bliss bysockren - This will always have a place in my heart for being one of the first Hughes/Roy fics I ever read, but it's still brilliant all the same. I never liked crossdressing in fics, but this handles the why so well I could help but have my heart break for Roy.
Colors and Hughes byfemmelethale - Little glimpses into their relationship. It's sad and painful. I love the associations between the colors and the moments. The description is gorgeous too.
By The Book byrabbitprint - Luc is a fantastic writer, and I would rec any of his stuff, but this is the Hughes/Roy one. Roy is so vividly drawn from a second-person POV that just hurts
Snap-Shots bybranchfic - I am such a sucker for fic that takes place during and at the Ishbal Civil War, and this was just a wonderful look at life there and the happy moments, sad moments, and, er, the sex-filled moments.
Author:
thedeadparrotSpoilers: Through Chapter 34 of the manga and Episode 25 of the anime
E-mail: thedeadparrot[at]gmail[dot]com
Personal Website: Nightvision
Notes: Graphic alert. Any comments, corrections, or criticisms would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Fullmetal Alchemist Background
Fullmetal Alchemist takes place in Amestris, an invented country loosely based on Britain in the early 20th century. The world is different from ours in one key way: alchemy. Alchemy is almost a "power", alchemists can build, create, fix anything as long as the base materials are the same. This concept is called Equivalent Trade.
Amestris is a military based nation, with most of the power concentrated in the "Fuhrer", the leader of the military. Though alchemists generally consider believe that they must use their abilities to the benefit of the people, the military also employs alchemists as officers. They're known as State Alchemists, and in order to become one, an alchemist must go through rigorous testing.
The State Alchemists are powerful, but they also must obey their commanding officers. Asmestris is constantly at war, and they are deployed as weapons. The first such case was the Ishbal Civil War, in which the State Alchemists basically razed the area to the ground.
There is both a manga and anime canon, and I'll do my best to address both.
Roy Mustang
When we first meet Roy Mustang, he's an ambitious, manipulative officer who convinces Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist of the title, to join the State Alchemists. He's a lieutenant colonel and known as the Flame Alchemist, as he is capable of creating sparks with a glove and then manipulating gas concentrations to create flames and explosions.
Roy's also something of a notorious ladies' man. He goes out on dates all the time, frequently stealing other people's girlfriends and/or crushes.
More details come to light about him, though. He wants to become Fuhrer, which is incredibly ambitious for such a young officer. He served in the Ishbal Civil War and was forced to kill innocents. He believes in reform from the inside and will do anything in his power to get to the top, and as he explains it, "get to the point where I won't have to follow stupid orders."
I love Roy because he's such a stoic. I tend to be drawn to stoics, since I admire their control. Roy isn't quite as stoic as some of the other stoics out there, but he's wonderfully complex and interesting. There's all this angst he tries to hide under this charming womanizer, and it frequently works on the people around him. There's also this ruthless drive to him. He will get to the top as quickly as he possibly can. Roy's also got something of a martyr complex. He wants to make it to the top because he believes it's his own personal responsibility to fix Asmestris.
He has allies in his quest, of course. Among them is Maes Hughes.
Maes Hughes
While Roy is secretive and manipulating, Hughes is open and friendly. He works in Intelligence, and is generally a good source of information. He isn't an alchemist, just an officer.
In the manga, we meet him first as part of the military tribunal, who has come to visit Roy and arrest a State Alchemist who has just recently committed a crime. He's fairly serious, but there's a lightness to him that will show up later.
In the anime, we see him doing what he's most noted for: gushing over his wife and soon-to-be child. To Roy, nonetheless. He's chipper and warm, and almost completely different from Roy. He's kind, gentle, and caring. But he can kick ass, too.
Hughes has an unfortunate obsession with baby pictures of his daughter, Alicia. Give him half the chance, and he'll talk your ear off about how great she is. Throughout most of the series and manga, this is his defining trait. Of course, it is cute and sweet and it makes many a fangirl go "Awww.", but this also thoroughly irritates any character within five feet of him, including Roy.
I think Hughes can be a complete enigma himself. He's such an outwardly bright character that it seems as if he's using his cheerfulness and obnoxious behavior as a shield. He may be that simple and direct, but it doesn't seem likely considering his intelligence. He knows that people find him annoying, since they make their irritation pretty obvious. There's no doubt that his behavior is genuine. He does love showing off his daughter. It's just that he also uses it to keep people from realizing just how much he knows and just how intelligent he really is.
Unfortunately, he does die in both canons. It's a complicated situation, involving a few other subplots that I'd rather not get into. His death does have many repercussions over the rest of the series, at the very least causing Roy to go out and look for revenge. And angst a lot.
Reasons to Love This Pairing
First and foremost, they are friends.
Hughes is obviously a source of encouragement and support for Roy, especially after the Ishbal War and Roy's confusion over it. In the manga, there's a flashback to the Ishbal War where Hughes and Roy have a conversation about the horrors of war and what it does to soldiers. It probably takes place before they become really good friends, as Hughes addresses Roy formally, but there's an understanding between them about how much they dislike war. They feel the same way about it and that paves the way to their future work and friendship together.
In the anime, Hughes was not actually at the battlefield, as he requested a desk position. There's another flashback to a post-war Roy and how confused he is about everything. He even develops a theory on dangerous and illegal alchemy before Hughes talks some sense into him. Roy doesn't exactly open up that much of himself to just anyone, and it speaks a great deal about just how close they are.
They also talk on the phone all the time, as Roy is stationed in East City and Hughes is stationed in Central. Roy likes to know what's going on in headquarters, and that makes Hughes the one who usually passes along the news. Man, all those calls and no phone sex?
Hughes does managed to visit East City on occasion and brings the funny with him. He and Roy talk shop about the goings-on in Central and there's this easy friendship between them that Roy doesn't seem to have anywhere else. He can be honest with Hughes about how miserable he is, how happy, how successful.
After Hughes death, we see Roy vulnerable for the first time. He cries at Hughes' grave, the only time he does in canon. In the manga, he also hears his friend die over the phone, which just ups the angst. Roy even admits to wanting to perform human transmutation, a dangerous, highly illegal, and generally harmful form of alchemy, in order to bring Hughes back. On top of it all, he even swears revenge on the people who killed Hughes, something that seems a little extreme, even for Roy.
At the very core of the relationship is Roy and Hughes' friendship, and I love that. It's not just about physical attraction between the two of them, they genuinely like each other and enjoy each other's company, even if Hughes can get a little annoying.
They play off each other so well. It's the classic "straight man"/"goofball" dynamic, though with more serious undertones. Roy has a habit of becoming too serious, and it's Hughes' job to cheer him up, give him something to do besides angst. They work together and there's this feeling that they're each other's moral support. Roy has this desire to reach the top, and that puts him at a lot of risk, physically and emotionally, and Hughes is part of that support structure that enables him to reach his goals without him losing his goals.
There's obviously a long and deep relationship between the two of them, and I love that it's so subtle. Neither of them make a big deal out of their friendship. It's just there. No one really calls attention to it. It's never explained. For some reason, I love that. It's just so understood that no one feels the need to justify, quantify, or explain it.
I don't think that Gracia, Hughes' wife, is definitive proof that Hughes is straight or that he can't love Roy because he loves his wife. Hughes is one of those people that just loves everyone so much, that I can't see him picking one over the other. It's possible for him to love them both in different ways, and I don't think his love for one diminishes his love for the other.
It doesn't hurt that they're both hot, either. Or that they angst a lot. I'm such an angst whore.
Fandom Experience
It's all
crazythorn's fault, really. She mailed me a copy of the first chapter of the manga, and asked me what I thought. It was good and interesting, so I asked her where I could find more. She told me, and I read through most of it in one day. One of our conversations over AIM went like this:
crazythorn: So, what do you think is the most popular pairing in FMA?Once I actually started getting into fandom, I looked high and low for fic. Not necessarily decent fic, just fic. It wasn't that easy to find, and I probably shouldn't be complaining, because there are tons of rarer pairings in Fullmetal Alchemist out there.
me: Err... that Colonel dude and the guy who talks about his family all the time?
crazythorn: No, but there's some of them, too.
There was definitely some good stuff out there then, and there's still a lot of good stuff coming in now, what with the anime now showing on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim. The fandom is growing and expanding and changing due to the influx of fans, and the new directions things should take looks incredibly exciting.
Since there was so little of it then, I thought, Hmmm, maybe I should write some myself. So I did.
And that was that.
Links and recs
General Fullmetal Alchemist sites:
Fullmetal-Alchemist - episode guides, images, and scanlations.
FullmetalAlchemist.com - The official Cartoon Network site.
General Fanfic:
fma_ficitonfma_fanficScimitar Smile
Yaoi Fanfic:
fma_yaoiTouka Koukan - a Fullmetal Alchemist yaoi archive. Pretty big and full of fic of lots of different pairings.
Hughes and Roy specific:
hughesxroyAme Da Yo - Hughes and Roy fanlisting.
Recs:
Momentary Bliss by
sockren - This will always have a place in my heart for being one of the first Hughes/Roy fics I ever read, but it's still brilliant all the same. I never liked crossdressing in fics, but this handles the why so well I could help but have my heart break for Roy.Colors and Hughes by
femmelethale - Little glimpses into their relationship. It's sad and painful. I love the associations between the colors and the moments. The description is gorgeous too.By The Book by
rabbitprint - Luc is a fantastic writer, and I would rec any of his stuff, but this is the Hughes/Roy one. Roy is so vividly drawn from a second-person POV that just hurtsSnap-Shots by
branchfic - I am such a sucker for fic that takes place during and at the Ishbal Civil War, and this was just a wonderful look at life there and the happy moments, sad moments, and, er, the sex-filled moments.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2005-01-04 11:41 pm (UTC)*giggles*
Sorry I don't actually have something constructive to say.
I never do, really. :P
no subject
Date: 2005-01-05 06:22 am (UTC)Alright, I have to know ^^
I've seen that picture - of Hughes and Armstrong in skirts - on several websites, and it looks like a screenshot but... where is it from?
If it's just fanart, then kudos to them, cause it's damn believable.
no subject
Date: 2005-01-05 06:32 am (UTC)Apparently it's an SSBM style fighter.
no subject
Date: 2005-01-05 06:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-01-04 11:53 pm (UTC)FullmetalAlchemist.com - The official Comedy Central site.
As much fun as having Jon Stewart on the same network as Fullmetal Angstamist would be... er, don't you mean Cartoon Network? :P
no subject
Date: 2005-01-05 12:05 am (UTC)And, yes, you're at fault. For everything.
no subject
Date: 2005-01-05 01:57 am (UTC)You also forgot to mention all of the terribly suggestive anime artwork XD Like the cover of the 6th DVD
But yes, outlines both of them and their relationship very well. I like ^^
Yaaaay, Hughes/Roy ^^
no subject
Date: 2005-01-05 03:18 am (UTC)(In a Perfect Guidebook interview)
no subject
Date: 2005-01-05 03:23 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-01-05 03:51 pm (UTC)there are??which chapter??
no subject
Date: 2005-01-05 11:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-01-06 02:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-03-24 11:16 pm (UTC)Nice essay!
no subject
Date: 2005-05-28 10:51 am (UTC)And the part with the phone sex made me laugh. ^^
no subject
Date: 2007-01-09 12:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-08-20 01:22 am (UTC)Barry the Chopper is giddily declaring, date by date, his many many murders with Falman, and yet for his cooperation, Roy is willing to let him keep on living and even be protected by his men (and Roy/Riza fans may sulk at this, as Barry is hilariously hot for Hawkeye), and only has one reservation: "Did you kill Maes Hughes?"
When Barry is clearly clueless about the whole thing ('Eh? Was he chopped up? If not, it wasn't me'), and clearly admits to and remembers everything else, Roy goes along with the plan.
Also, when the Fuhrer is basically lording his position over Roy and Ed who've just discovered what he is, Ed has Winry threatened, and Roy's entire group of subordinates are pretty much put on the potential chopping block. He agrees, with one reservation: 'Did you kill Hughes?'
When the Fuhrer said it wasn't him, Roy goes along. Alas, Roy tries to press for if he knows who, but, for the moment, he's willing to unfortunately, for his remaaning subordinates, continue to oblige the Fuhrer, as he wasn't Hughes's killer.
Needs new links...
Date: 2007-10-06 03:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-04-16 05:33 am (UTC)