#anyway I’m not saying that fmab said ‘vengeance is the Lord’s’ but also fmab kinda said ‘vengeance is the Lord’s’

[sailforvalinor]

I’m always fascinated by vengeance arcs in fiction because of their potential to create conflict within the audience—it’s an extremely natural, human thing to desire justice, and seeing someone get their comeuppance is extremely satisfying, and fulfills almost a spiritual need within everyone, I think. But there’s a fine line between justice and vengeance—where is it? How far is too far? I’m not here to answer these questions here other than to say that there is a line, but how a piece of fiction decides to indicate that line and where it’s been crossed is utterly fascinating to me. It’s the ability to have your audience response go from “YES! YEEESSSS!! WOOHOOOOO” to “…wait…no, this isn’t…oh no” on a dime.

The Time Lord Victorious in Doctor Who is still my favorite example of this (the shift is just so subtle!), but FMAB is getting some MAJOR points from me for how it handled Roy’s pursuit of vengeance over Hughes’ death. It isn’t subtle by any means—the dude is terrifying, Ed and Scar are actively commenting on how far he’ll go, Riza is obviously terrified for him—but it’s still extremely effective. I think part of what makes it so good is how well it parallels his encounter with Lust—she was also a homunculus, he also torched her to death protecting Riza, it even happened in the same exact place—but while that situation felt karmically satisfying and necessary to defend someone else (though, admittedly, it was still a bit disturbing), his encounter with Envy, while it starts out hyping you up for what promises to be a long-awaited delivery of justice, quickly begins to feel utterly wrong. Roy’s face is contorted, he doesn’t possess his usual control of his emotions, and he’s cruel. Envy is actively fleeing from him, and Roy isn’t even running to keep up with him, he’s just walking, and it’s terrifying. But where any pretense of justice completely vanishes is where Envy reverts to his tiny, weak, reptilian form, and Roy is still just as willing to murder him. And of course, the final nail in the coffin is Riza pointing her gun at his head—fulfilling the promise set up in earlier episodes that she would kill him if he ever deviated from his path. It’s just *chef’s kiss* perfection.