nerdy-nonbinary:

I recently realized some parallels between Winry and Roy. Both of them lost someone very close to them due to their involvement with the military, even though they were in non-combative situations. Hughes was stabbed while doing research then shot in a phone booth, and Winry’s parents were killed despite being doctors, not soldiers. Both of them find out who kills them, and immediately wants to take action. But how they do that is very different. 

Winry wants her parents back, she tells Scar that clearly, but can’t pull the trigger on the gun. Mustang understands that Hughes is gone, but desperately wants Envy to face the consequences of their actions. The biggest difference, however, is their strength.

Winry has the strength to understand that shooting Scar will ultimately do nothing, except get blood on her hands. What she needs help with is coming to terms with why she can’t shoot him, seeing her hesitance as weakness.

Roy is not strong enough to realize that. He doesn’t just want Envy to die, he wants Envy to die by his hands. Roy is only able to realize why killing Envy would not only not satisfy his desire for vengeance the way he thinks it will, but push him past the point of no return, after being talked to by Ed, someone below him in rank and age who calls him out on his almost childish thinking, Scar, a man who almost brought someone else to the point he is about to reach, and Hawkeye, the person he trusts the most. Without all three of them, Roy would have killed Envy, and not have been able to face his country and lead it to a better future. No vengeful man could do that.

Winry needed help to understand that her resistance to murder was strength, not weakness, and Roy needed help to understand that his eagerness to kill Envy was a weakness that would lead to his downfall, not a show of power.