#anyway tldr is i think dantes scheme re the stone allows for the stone to be thematically important in a lot of diff ways

[gayleviticus]

i think dantes plan for gaining the philosophers stone in fma 03 feels kindve awkward on a plot level, because yu'd expect the logical synthesis of 'philosophers stone is made of people' and 'causing wars to make the stone' would be 'amestris is genociding people in order to directly churn them into a Stone'

so the fact 03 instead goes for the more convoluted 'war and disaster makes people desperate for the Stone which means they will massacre others to make it' seems a really weird and unnecessary bump in the road plotwise against the straightforward elegance of 'cause war to make the stone yourself'. and yes, there is a plot reason given for it (or at least implied?): making the Stone requires both great skill and is very dangerous, so Dante doesn't want to do it herself. but I get the feeling that surely after 500 years and with a military dictatorship full of state alchemists at her disposal she could have found a more reliable method for having others make the Stone than 'cause trouble and hope someone is both smart and reckless enough to make it'

BUT I think it's another one of those 03 writing decisions that is messy plotwise but extremely interesting theme wise, because I think it helps tie together a lot of the big threads to do with war and equivalent exchange. the philosophers stone is a fabled treasure that lets you bypass equivalent exchange; except that's not true at all because making it requires the tremendous cost of thousands of human lives.

im having a bit of a hard time piecing my thoughts together here but i think eds line towards the finale about how there's no war we aren't involved is really important. the elrics began their journey believing in the fairy tale philosophers stone and joined the genocidal military because it was convenient to them. they believed that equivalent exchange would mean all their hard work would pay off eventually, but I think in another sense they didn't really understand that equivalent exchange means actions have consequences. just as the prosperity of powerful nations and its citizens comes from imperialism, so too does the magic of the philosophers stone stem directly from violence and bloodshed of war.

but the thing is, if dantes plan was just to have the military make the stone directly from war and massacre... it would be s typical evil bad guy plot and nasty and evil but nothing to do with our heroes. but the fact her plan relies on individuals seeking the stone changes things up I think - if ed and al were just a bit more ruthless that could very much have been them. The War for the philosophers stone very much has something to do with them. it's not an evil scheme they're helplessly embroiled in as victims.

and the fact this then means scar turns the tables on the military to make them into a Stone is also v interesting because it manages to be such a nuanced depiction. the elrics are clearly against it. but 03 often depicts the elrics as wrong and naive in their ideals, and it's undeniable the amestrian soldiers have done terrible terrible things in liore. scar is no longer even really an anti villain, but an anti hero, and his final act is to bequeath the stone as a gift to alphonse. but at the same time, even if we find scars motives here deeply sympathetic - the fact is it's still exactly what Dante wanted, all the same.

and so I think the Liore arc manages to have this really nuanced and open to interpretation depiction of violence and vengeance and killing that doesn't feel preachy but also doesn't flinch from being very upfront about the stakes. if we want to celebrate scar killing 7000 soldiers as an unambiguously good thing there's the awkward fact that Dante doesn't care who dies to make the Stone as long as it gets made. But it's hard to disapprovingly tut tut about how killing is bad and revenge is bad when characters like scar and Rose are so sympathetic and understandable.

not to mention of course the fact that Dante herself fully rejects the concept of equivalent exchange and hence of taking responsibility for her actions, even as she fancies herself as humanity's guardian. she wants other people to do the work for her and then swoop in just so she can live a little bit longer. she herself never comes even close to paying the price for the Stone.