 Greed may not be good, but it's not so bad either. Greed for me is the most interesting of all the homunculi in full metal alchemist. Since the homunculi are all human vices, the sins of man that father had purged out of himself, greed exists as the sole rebellious child. It makes sense, right? Greed as the most selfish, his desire outweighs even the one who created him. So when he is first introduced in contrast with the other homunculi up to this point, greed has a sense of individuality that sets him apart from the rest of his siblings. Whereas all the other homunculi see themselves as superior to humans, some are utterly disgusted by humanity. Greed doesn't carry these feelings, while he is proud to be homunculus, the very people that greed surrounds himself with, his possessions, are all human. And what is even more interesting, is that particularly in the first iteration of greed, they're all chimeras, those who cannot live in the quote normal world. Those who are not accepted anymore by their families, by their friends, those who have been abandoned by society. Greed has given them a purpose and a sense of family. Greed is a fascinating character morally. He is the embodiment of human avarice and his desires are not tempered by human morality. Money, sex, power, fame, eternal life, greed wants it all. But he also goes on to say that it is pointless to apply hierarchy to greed. Pointless to find nobility in desire, nothing we desire should be taboo, he says. There should be no moderation on what it is that we desire. But in that chapter he says that greed is no different from hope. That greed is just a part of our it. Coming from Freud's study on psychoanalysis, greed in this case is referencing the unconscious mind of Freud's iceberg model. The id is the quote impulsive and unconscious part of our psyche that responds directly and immediately to basic urges, needs, and desires. The desire for wealth, sex, the desire to protect the world, to protect one's friends, the desire to have companions, to be loved, these are all greed, to a point, the homunculus argues. Greed's unique perspective is posed against Bradley's, and as a proud servant of father whose very existence opposes choice, Rath mocks his brother for having human adjacent desires and for considering the pawns that he had just slaughtered as something more than vermin. And here, greed refers to them as his henchmen, his possessions. Interestingly enough, he creates that barrier between humans and homunculi in front of his siblings, placing himself above them in this scenario. Bradley returns the half dead homunculus back to father, and we learn that greed had deserted his siblings a century ago, and hadn't returned since. Greed says that the reason he betrays his quote loving father is because father made him that way, that he gave him a piece of his soul, and for that he can never change. Greed then grinds his avarice back into his soul, and he offers a toast to his loyal children. The one who comes to inhabit greed is one of the most selfless characters in the show in Lingyao, and he enters this story with his motivations masked by selfishness. In pursuit of immortality, he immediately tries to recruit Ed and Al into becoming his servant, tantalizing them with the idea that they will rule a country together. But only a few episodes later, it is revealed that this happy-go-lucky prince carries a heavy burden. The reason he searches for immortality is so that he can one day become emperor of Xing, and bring good fortune to the Yao clan. He says that the fate of 50,000 Yao people are in his soul hands. That makes Lingyao desperate for immortality. He has to answer to 50,000, and even with this desperation, Ling still had no doubt that he would one day become emperor, and so he'd put in plenty of thought about the type of leader he would one day become. The philosophies behind kings, emperors, and leaders of any sort comes up quite a bit in this series, and Ling as a prince aiming to become leader parallels King Bradley in many ways, as their fights and their conversations show off their different attitudes towards what it means to be king. Both Ling and Greed end up sharing parallels with the Fuhrer. King Bradley is a selfish leader, he is a leader who sees himself above his people, firmly holding on to the belief that people cannot exist without their king. It would be easy for Bradley to sacrifice others to survive, wrath assures Ling. Bradley wouldn't hesitate to do it, because for him, the king is more important than the people. Lingyao on the other hand is of the belief that a king exists for his people, without his people there would be no king, and he demonstrates that by not leaving Lanfang behind when she is hurt, Ling goes on to tell Bradley that he is not a true king. Bradley answered that nowhere on this earth does a true king exist, that it's naive to believe that a king who hasn't stepped on the backs of his own people exists. A king must be willing to sacrifice everything, but Ling vows to never be a king who sacrifices his own people. After being trapped by Bradley, Lanfang decides to sacrifice her own arm to save the two of them. With this act, Ling realizes that he wasn't truly ready for his journey, he didn't have enough conviction, he wasn't prepared to truly sacrifice everything for his goal, but being forced to take on Greed by father and actually surviving the process demonstrates Ling's sheer resolve. In the parallels with Bradley are made apparent here, Bradley's wrathful soul was the only one to accept the philosopher's stone in the same way that Ling's body had to accept Greed to gain what he wanted. The difference is that Ling never lost himself, and I like to believe that it's because of who Ling is as a person. Ling feels incredibly indebted to the people around him, particularly Fu and Lanfang, those who would sacrifice their lives for the king. During notes, one of the reasons he accepts Greed is that he wouldn't be able to face Lanfang if he went back empty handed. That is the type of king he is. Ling is not only loyal to his own countrymen, but his heightened sense of duty seems to extend on to even Alphonse and Edward. To those who he finds worthy of protection, and this is where Ed and Ling find a lot of their common ground. They completely understand each other, acknowledging that they both have people waiting for them, people who are relying on them, and so they help each other in order to reach their common goal. The two of them will stop at absolutely nothing to see the people they love safe, and that is what makes them great allies and great friends. And that is where he and Greed's commonalities lie. The one aspect of life that they truly understand each other is in the protection of others. In the desire, the hunger to protect others. They are suitable partners because their avarice bonds them. But it didn't start out that way. Greed was a loyal servant to father for some time before killing Bido and getting a glimpse of his past life. And when he does this, Ling is disgusted at the fact that Greed was able to kill Bido in cold blood while mocking him, and I think Ling was repulsed at the fact that Greed was using his own body to commit such dirty deeds he calls them. Ling is angry that Greed can't hear his own friends' souls crying out for him, and that the homunculus has allowed his friendships to be quote, purified and erased. Ling is furious because this goes against everything he believes about friendship and relationships in general. Again, it's that heightened sense of duty and accountability to those relying on him that is on display here. Ling could never turn his back on his friends, and nothing, not even his memory being erased, could turn Ling against his own. For him, a bond between souls goes even beyond human capabilities. Ling is so stubborn, so greedy, that even when the homunculus takes over his body, he's able to send Lanfang a message, letting her know that he's okay. Those are the lengths that one should go in order to maintain relationships. Greed had a family, and they all died right before his eyes. Ling admonishes the homunculus, telling him that he isn't even worthy to be called Greed, because he didn't fight hard enough and he didn't have the conviction to protect them. He wasn't selfish enough. Greed is supposed to stop at nothing for his possessions, for any of his desires, and he let Bradley slaughter his friends, barely having left a scratch on his sibling. Greed let the only things in his life that he was able to choose go. Greed's memories were blocked out not only because father had erased them, but also because of the immense guilt that he carried. He didn't fight hard enough for his friends, and when they died, he couldn't even call them friends. Possessions he was able to call them though. Greed responds to this by immediately attacking Bradley in his home, and frankly, he's distraught by the whole thing, feeling emptier than ever he says, and none of the souls inside him made him feel less lonely. The father who created him with a piece of his soul, like all the other homunculi, created a soldier made only to obey him and nothing more. When Greed decides to rebel because father made him that way, he sends Greed's very own sibling to kill not only him, but his chosen family. Father then kills him rather gruesomely, and then resurrects him without his memories, and asks his son to kill his final family member, in cold blood, and Greed questions what he feels more alone than ever before. He has no one. Father was once the dwarf in the flask, who desired the friendship and camaraderie that humans had. When he turned on humanity, he purged this desire, this greed out of his soul. But greed is desire. The dwarf in the flask was incredibly lonely. Greed inherited the part of him that didn't want to be lonely anymore. Greed when searching for Bradley for the final time, waits for him at his home, and he watches and is impressed by Buccaneers courage and his passion, who faces Bradley head on after getting his auto-mail arm destroyed. Greed says that he just can't bring himself to abandon these kinds of people. Up to this point, this only further confirms Greed's fascination with humans. He admires them so much that he wants to be around them all the time, especially the unique ones. The ones like Ling, Ed and Al, Buccaneer, the ones who are ready to do anything to protect those around them. It's why even the earliest iteration of Greed enjoyed being around the Chimeras. Greed carries this big and boisterous persona, he puffs out his chest, and he seems so confident in who he is. Deep down, he is just like everyone else. Much like Ling, he is desperate. He just wants to have friends, to be loved, and he comes to realize that this is what he admired most about humanity, that sense of community. Greed and Ling help each other by supplying the other with the things they desire most. Power for Ling, and an abundance of friends for Greed. The more the series progresses, and the more Greed and Ling continue to coexist, the very idea of greed becomes more and more human. Because of the way these two navigate their insatiable desire, the idea of avarice begins to carry its own duality, its own complexity, much like human nature. We now understand Greed's perspective on the vice, how it stumbles from our id. Bradley notes that Ling wanted power so badly that he accepted a monster into his own flesh. He says that the avarice of humans knows no bounds, but what's so interesting is that, to me, when he says that, wrath is absolutely correct. Ling is so hungry, so desperate, he is so avaricious, but he's desperate to protect his people, his loved ones, and he will do whatever it takes to achieve that goal. It's ultimately a form of love, no? Love is humanity at its most avaricious. The only thing that can satiate that desire is peace and protection. Ling and Greed co-existing allows Greed to begin to embrace his actual desires. Greed tries to uphold this facade by having a goal to become king of the world in order to fill his emptiness and pretending to not care about anyone else, but this facade breaks all the time. When they are fighting pride, Greed shows concern for Heinkel, Fu, and Lanfa, ensuring that they're all healthy. Same goes for Edward and Afans. After battling Bradley, Greed gives all the opposing soldiers a chance to retreat before wiping them out to guard the gate. Greed just isn't in the business of mindlessly slaughtering those against him. When Buck and Nier and Fu are killed, Greed specifically is furious, and there are tears streaming down his face. You can always tell by the way they speak, by the way they are drawn or animated, which one is in control between Greed or Ling, and at this point, these are Greed's tears. This is Greed's anger. He's lost another friend. And Ling follows that with his own outburst, saying what good is immortality if he can't save a single life. Ling removing the ultimate shield, cursing his immortality, made me think about Greed's ability. Father had designed all of these homunculi in his own image, and these abilities suited their vices. Gluttony in his infinite stomach, envy in their ability to shapeshift, Greed's shield made sense. He is selfish, and he desires eternal life, so his shield protects him from virtually anything. But in this case, it becomes just another tragic aspect of Greed and Ling's life. All they both want is to protect those around them. But the ultimate shield can only extend to his own limbs. For all the protecting that Greed did during the promise day, the homunculus would finally admit to and receive the one thing he desired most. Greed finally says that all along he yearned for friends like the ones he has. The homunculus has always been an individual of actions over words, and he sacrifices himself to save Ling by lying to him for the first and final time. He might not have an ultimate shield to defend others, but a sacrifice for a friend, for friends of the soul, is something that Greed would do a thousand times over in a thousand lifetimes, I think. It's the only thing he ever wanted. Greed upon his return couldn't find peace, and he couldn't find anything to satiate that incredible loneliness he felt, that incredible emptiness he felt. Around you, eternal life was once Greed's grandest desire. It was why he kidnapped Alphonse in the first place. But deep down, he knew that was a lie. Greed's greatest desire was to have friends, and once he realized that he did indeed have a new family, one that encouraged him and loved him and accepted him, he wanted nothing more than to protect them. Greed, avarice incarnate, his desire is supposed to be endless, selfish and insatiable, yet in his final moments, he was completely full, satisfied. I don't want anything else, he says. Companionship, friendship, and selflessness were the only things able to satiate Greed's ravenous appetite. He died to save the one true and honest king in this world. Ling in the same vein as his old comrade, continues on the path to become a righteous king, loyal to his people. While his mission was to initially protect the Yao clan, he vows to Mei that not only will he take full responsibility for the safety of her clan, but he will accept the Chang family and all other families too. Ling Yao, just like Greed, has a ravenous appetite, one that won't be satisfied until all the families in Xing are accepted and protected. Greed is hope.