The Law of Equivalent Exchange in the Alchemy world is a rule followed by any Alchemist, and it’s not just for morality’s sake. Having come so close to death and to live with the guilt and horror of disassembling their bodies, Edward and Alphonse Elric enforced the law in their own every day lives, and were able to sniff out any use of the Philosopher’s Stone with ease just by watching. Here is a list of the moments in Fullmetal Alchemist where an Alchemist committed the next-to-impossible taboo: transmutation without following the Law of Equivalent Exchange.

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10 Father Cornelo

A prime example of a violation of the law of equivalent exchange, Father Cornelo used a mock Philosopher’s Stone in the desert city of Lyor as a means of manipulating his way to rulership. Though his resurrection transmutations exploded only moments after performing them, the people of Lyor believed Cornelo to be a miracle worker.

When Edward arrives in the city and calls his bluff, Cornelo, ignorant of the laws of alchemy, suffers a rebound and turns his arm into a disgusting heap of weapons and flesh — but not too disgusting for Gluttony!

9 Ed and Al’s Experiment

 

One of the complexes of Alchemy is that human transmutation is not really even possible at all, since a human soul cannot be compensated for. So in the case of the Elric brothers, the attempt to bring their mother back from the dead resulted in what Edward called a rebound, which is the reason why he lost his leg and Alphonse lost his body. Although they had collected the materials that are present in a human body, it wasn’t enough to equally exchange for a life. The transmutation instead took Al’s body and Ed’s leg to, in a sense, balance the equation.

8 Revenge Kills

Scar’s alchemy could be considered a loophole in the equivalent exchange law since the arm he received from his brother is essentially a Philosopher’s Stone. The tattooed right arm makes Scar a machine set only to destroy, and the function suited his intentions perfectly.

Before teaming up with Edward and Alphonse, Scar wanted only to execute the army responsible for the destruction of his home country, Ishval. His tattoo, a transmutation array drawn by his brother, focuses heavily on the alchemical concept of deconstruction — the second of three stages in the theory.

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7 The Medical Alchemy Genius: Dr. Marcoh

The Crystal Alchemist Dr. Tim Marcoh had been an asset to Amestris in the war in Ishval, but for him, his success wasn’t all good news. His expertise meant that the military would lean on him to lead the way in the forbidden human transmutation experiments, lacing the good doctor with guilt.

Hoping to find freedom from the horrors of his life in the military, Dr. Marcoh settled into a nameless town as its resident doctor. He used an incomplete Philosopher’s Stone, applying it to medical alchemy and healing anyone he chose.

6 Scar’s Understanding

As a warrior-monk from Ishval, Scar makes no claim at being an Alchemist, though he wields and uses his brother’s transmutation array to do his deeds. Even so, Scar is able to understand the concepts written in the notebooks trusted to him, and recreates the reconstruction array for his left arm, which allows him to do more than just break everything apart. With the use of his brother’s combination of Alchemy and Alkahestry, Scar also could see a way out of the cycle of hatred he had thrown himself into.

5 The Princess’ Power

Xingese princess Mei Chang’s appearance in Amestris was a total game changer for Ed and Al’s alchemy research. Because of the use of the ‘Dragon’s Pulse’, or chi energy, Mei was still able to perform transmutations even when The Father had put a stop to the alchemy used in Amestris.

Using the Earth’s chi rather than tectonic as the source for energy, Mei demonstrated a method called Alkahestry that went beyond Alchemy’s reach, especially in the medical category.

4 The Hollow Boy

Living as a hollow suit of armor makes Alphonse an interesting addition to any battlefield, and as he gained more knowledge about Alchemy, he made sure to take advantage of it.

In an attempt to fool Pride and Kimblee long enough to make a getaway with the injured chimera, Heinkel, Al tore the legs from the armor and tried to make a getaway. Heinkel encourages Alphonse to take the piece of Philosopher’s Stone in his pocket to save the world. Al eventually uses it to grow his armored feet back, and jump into action. Due to Pride’s pitilessness, Alphonse also has to regrow an arm during the fight, but with the seemingly unlimited energy from the Philosopher’s Stone, it wasn’t at all a strain.

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3 400 Years An Alchemist

As the blood donor for the Dwarf In The Flask Homunculus, Hohenheim is the man inherently responsible for many of the troubles faced in Fullmetal Alchemist —not that there are any humans left of Xerxes, his land of origin, to share the blame.

Hohenheim is a living, walking Philosopher’s Stone. He needed only to decide it, and was able to perform insanely powerful Alchemy. During a clash with Pride, the first of The Father’s team of homunculi, Hohenheim cut the earth and surrounded Pride and Alphonse in an inescapable dome, closing the creature off to any way of casting his shadow.

2 The Immortal Body-Double: Hohenheim vs. The Father

 

The one who Lust, Greed, and the other homunculi call Father is another immortal being capable of incredibly powerful Alchemy. Beginning as a shadowy substance confined to a flask, Dwarf In The Flask had vast knowledge, but wanted for freedom. Hohenheim unwittingly gave life and a body to the creature, as well as the means to go chasing after his goals — all at the sacrifice of the entire civilization of Xerxes.

Knowing the weight of his plans, Hohenheim struts right into The Father’s underground lair and gives him a run for his money. The two Alchemical juggernauts were to be able to transmute by simply thinking about it, but Hohenheim, having been taught Alchemy by the DITF, more than had his hands full.

1 Army Brats

With everyone from country boys to co-inheritors of ancient dynasties in an uproar over the Philosopher’s Stone, plenty of room for an underground plan existed, and that pesky Dwarf In The Flask took full advantage. The Immortal Legion, an army of low-level homunculi attached to the human souls of the Philosopher’s Stones used to create them, lived tormented by their past lives and unable to do much more than quench their appetite for human flesh. Their whole existence is rooted in forbidden Alchemy, and brought to new heights by Amestrian researchers committed to an apocalyptic plan.

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