The idea Full metal alchemist based on.

[WierdIsraeli]

The sin of man, did you notice that there is an obvious inclination toward to issue of man being god, of man attmepting to create, to destroy there?
And what about the the names of the bad guys? the 7 deadly sins.
So I thought about it, if there are the 7 deadly sins, and it is about the sins of man, then why wouldn't be the 4 heavenly virtues?
And what was more amazing, I found that there are four main characters which are perfect (I'm not sure about the fourth)

Scar - Justice
Ed - Courage
Al - Tempermance
Roy - Prudence

They fit the discription, wouldn't you agree?
feel free to add more to this serious discussion concerning FMA

[Nairohe]

I'm just going to compare them to the existing humonogous members we've seen so far. Obviously these people were copies of people who did exist but act on their own.

Lust - scar's brother's wife
Envy - forgot his true form
Sloth - Al and Ed's mother. Isn't that odd? Why sloth?
Gluttony - that big fat guy who eats everything and anyone.
Anger -
Greed - I think he's already showed up as that guy who escaped from the prison /lab.
Pride - wasn't he that supposed alchemist who was with Greed from above?

interesting isnt it? Who's Anger or which form does "Anger" take?

[WierdIsraeli]

Well, the 7 humoculus (the artifical humans) lack something to be perfect humans, and that is human soul.
Which makes you think, in a world of transmutation which you can create a matter from the meterials that create it, how do you create a soul.
I mean, it is folly to mess with life as we see it in the anime, but one wonder how big is the transaction when the alchemist tries to create a soul...
What one will lose in order to gain that?
But more important, a soul is the sum of a human's memory and experiance it is an essence that cannot be replaces, a unique one, so we got a catch here.

[Nagha's revenge]

Personally I feel saying FMA is about the sin of man is as true as saying it's about the suffering of man, or the righteousness of man, or the love man is capable of. It's all in there.

Also I'm not seeing Alphonse as temperance. He doesn't seem the personification of self-restraint or moderating.It closer to compassion or sumsuch. Scar however has a lot of traits that you'd find in Wrath (or Anger). Edward has a lot of pride in his abilities, he and Al were both Glutonous in their Lust for Knowledge when they were young. Based on just that you can draw a parabel between Risembul and Eden >.> You could. . . .
Mustang (Roy) is too passionate to be considered prudent or wise, if anything Hughes was more prudent or his (Mustang's) cute little blonde assistant (Oh, sorry - subordinate) ^_^.

Odds are that the seven deadly sins were just chosen because they sound cool, there are seven of them, and the names tell you something about their abilities. Though it seems it's most apparant in Glutony.
And what if Lust doesn't just look like Scar's brother's wife, what if she was Scar's brother's wife (ack! Say that ten times fast!)?
Homunculus can not perform Alchemy and have to rely people to do it for them, Scar's brother is other people. Also the series throws hits around about them being created by (spoiler though if you already read this far. . .) Ed and Al's father. Also I wouldn't be surprised if Wrath resembled Ed and Al's father.

Something else does strike me though. Perhaps the homunculus are simply incomplete and the seven deadly sins are the only virtuous they respectively posses. Perhaps they're missing a soul or they just have too much ying and no yang to compensate. That would certainly fit with the definition of homunculus. Incomplete humans created around only one virtue (or sin) and in order to be complete, to experience more then they currently can, they need the philosopher's stone. The really intersting question here is: who named them? Did they name themselves or did others? It's intersting because if their creator named them he'd (sexist I know) know what they're made of, if they named themselves it's how they perceive themselves in respect to mankind, if other people named them it'd be a testament of how mankind perceives them and their influence on people.

To me the entire series hinges on the fact that things are more than the sum of their parts, and the understanding of that single equation. By doing that you'd understand something else as well: why? Why don't the seperate parts add up to a whole? The fact that mankind has sinned numerous times in the pusuit of such answers and that in our quest for knowledge we created the seven deadly sins (nifty!). Everyone chases the philosopher's stone for their own reasons but they all want to know how it works and why, perhaps the creator is trying to tell us that some things are beyond our control? Or perhaps this is just a great plot mechanic doohickie.

The soul probably isn't your memory and experiences, because if that were true the homunculus' would have no memory. Of course that'd only hold if they really don't have a 'soul'. If the soul is the source of all Alchemy then it is a great powersource that allows you to live, transmute object ,and even living beings. In accordance with equal trade you must trade something with equal value, does that imply that all human souls are the same? Or are we all different and will transmutation of a soul always fail because of it?
Perhaps it does have something to do with death and God? Since Ed and his teacher can both use alchemy without a transmutation circle they must have had similar experiences. The absence of a drawn transmutation circle could point towards a certain form of enlightenment, an understanding of the universe that must be experienced to understand. Perhaps it's in that enlightenment that the missing variable for the equation lies.

I could go on but there's nothing in FMA that leads me to believe it's quite that profound, it was fun musing though.

[Darklightz]

But what is a soul anyway?The homonculus can already do everything humans can do,so why do they really need something like a soul?Unless the series is more religious oriented than I thought I think they are pursuing it for other reasons.

I believe that the main lesson of the series is the acceptance of death,that even with all the power we gain there are still some boundaries we cannot cross.It was shown in episode 27,when she tried to make the little girl understand that her cat was dead

[Super_cyp]

Spoiler

I believe its Wrath not anger in the seven deadly sins, because Izumi's boy became a homunculi because Izumi tried to revive her dead son.

It is a farely valid theory, the seven deadly sins being the homunculus well thats what they are. Envy,Greed,Pride,Lust,Sloth,Wrath and Gluttony and the 4 most important characters in the show as those heaven things works in fairly well. Nice thoughts you have there.


A/N: And I do know my post is reviving this thread. There are know new threads though :(