Hiromu Arakawa's fantasy action series Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood features a tightly-plotted story about ambition, revenge, humanity, sacrifice, and a whole lot more. There are plenty of clever action sequences and tons of heartbreaking drama, tempered by slapstick comedy, to make this a fully-rounded and sophisticated narrative.
The series also has monsters, forbidden magic, and villains all over the place, and some scenes in Fullmetal Alchemist are truly terrifying. Some scenes will chill the blood, and others are like a horror flick, when a monster looms out of the darkness. Are you ready to check out the scariest scenes in Fullmetal Alchemist? They'll make you afraid of the dark for sure!
10 Suffering on Yock Island
What makes this flashback sequence so scary is not a monster or cheap jump scare, but simple human suffering. We watch the young Elric brothers struggle to survive on a small island, and they are helpless at first.
They've barely got shelter, and no food or means of escape. They languish in hunger and despair, and they're slowly wasting away. It's frightening to watch these poor boys go through this, until they finally gather their resolve and find a way to survive after all.
9 The Xerxes mass transmutation
Here is another flashback, and this time, we are seeing the personal history of Hohenheim, the human Philosopher's Stone. We learn that Van Hohenheim was a nameless slave in the Xerxes desert nation, and he learned alchemy at the hands of the Dwarf in the Flask.
That little homunculus had big plans, and through Hohenheim, it fooled the entire nation into carving a massive transmutation circle that sacrificed every last person at once. It's chilling to see over one million people wiped out, and the massive "eye of truth" and slender arms are all the more frightening. It's alchemy like the world has never seen before!
8 Greed's first death
Greed the homunculus is one of the more dynamic villains in Fullmetal Alchemist, and ultimately he's more like a rogue than a stone-cold bad guy. When Wrath corners him in the sewers of Dublith, he's dragged back to Father's lair in chains.
There, he refused to rejoin the group, and Father raised an apparatus that dissolved Greed in a vat of hot liquid. It's always agonizing to wath someone get slowly dissolved, even if it's a monster like Greed, and he's helpless as he's lowered into the vat. All that remains is his Philosopher's Stone, which Father promptly drinks.
7 Pride intimidates Lieutenant Hawkeye
The shadowy (literally) homunculus Pride is a terrifying villain, and he gets several truly chilling scenes to himself. The first is when Pride watches Riza Hawkeye get too close to the truth about the seven homunculi, and as Hawkeye is leaving the Bradley estate, Pride ambushes her.
Rather than kill her, Pride warns her to keep her nose out of the truth, and Pride's eyes glow red to show his true nature on that boyish face. Pride also wraps his slender arms around Hawkeye's throat and gives her a little cut as a warning. Even the battle-hardened Hawkeye is shaken, and the viewer is bound to be, too.
6 Pride devours Kimblee
This is Pride's second scary scene, and this time, he really is taking someone out of the picture for good. On the day before the Promised Day, Pride and Kimblee do battle against Alphonse and Heinkel, a lion-based chimera. Kimblee is badly injured in battle, but Pride sees an opportunity.
This homunculus mocks Kimblee's blood-soaked white outfit, then picks him up and prepares to eat him whole. We see Pride's perspective as Kimblee is brought up to the mouth like a tasty morsel, and the once-mighty Kimblee is helpless. The eerie chorus makes this scene even more blood-curdling.
5 Hohenheim in the tunnel
Now for Pride's final scary moment in the Fullmetal Alchemist anime. For the most part, Pride is limited to two containers: Selim Bradley's hollow body, and the massive, circular tunnel that Sloth dug around the borders of Amestris. In these two containers, Pride can see and hear almost everything, and Hohenheim runs afoul of him.
In the same town where Ed and Al vanquished Father Cornello, Hohenheim explores the creepy sewers and tunnels where no one else dares tread. He then finds himself pursued by a shadowy mass, and he only barely escapes by getting into a side tunnel that Pride cannot enter. They then have a terse conversation, and Hoheneim only barely makes it back alive. He then gives Rose a stern warning to not let anyone else in that area. They'd be killed for sure!
4 Belly of the beast
The old phrase "in the belly of the beast" is taken literally at one point in Fullmetal Alchemist. Envy and Gluttony do battle against Ed, Ling, and the others, and Gluttony shows the full extent of his powers at last. He can suck up and absorb anything, and Gluttony catches Ed, Ling, and Envy this way.
In a dim and grimy area, Ed wakes up in a shallow pool of blood, and he can't tell where on earth he is. Ed wails in despair, and he and Ling are hard-pressed to escape Gluttony's infinite stomach dimension. Centuries of absorbed items are here, and Envy informs them that there is no escape from this nightmarish place.
3 The soldier mannequins awake
The narrative of Fullmetal Alchemist makes it clear that the Amestris military has more than one dirty secret to hide, most of all the constant development and use of Philosopher's Stones. Not only was Bradly crafted into Wrath, but many more Stones are used to make an army of one-eyed doll soldiers, each with a soul forced into them.
With a few lever pulls on the Promised Day, an Amestris officer awakens these horrors, and they all shout in agony. Their wails are heard all over Central, and these mindless monsters soom swarm the place, posing a deadly threat to anyone in their way.
2 Nina the dog
This is a scene that horrified the entire anime world, and it's still talked about even years later. Early in the series, Ed and Al find a lead to restoring their bodies: meeting the "sewing life" alchemist, Shou Tucker. He's a family man with a dog (Alexander) and a young daughter (Nina), and all seems well until, in a moment of frustration, Shou combines his dog and daughter into a bizarre chimera.
It doesn't help that Ed and Al meet this creature during a thunderstorm, and Shou shows his vicious side as he fights to justify his chilling creation.
1 Transmuting Trisha Elric
This could be considered the most terrifying scene in all of Fullmetal Alchemist, and for more than one reason. Viewers can probably guess that using alchemy to resurrect a deceased person is an idea bound to go wrong, and they watch in helpless fascination as the Elric brothers attempt this anyway.
The transmutation effort goes wrong, and Ed and Al's bodies are dissolved as a price to pay for prying into the Truth of the world. The failed attempt to create Trisha is a monstrous one, a mass of wheezing flesh that barely even seems human. The brothers are left with damaged bodies, feelings of guilt and horror, and the failure to bring back their beloved mom. It's the moment that launched Fullmetal Alchemist, and it's a terror to behold.