Secrets of the Eclipse - An Actual Alchemist Analyzes Fullmetal Alchemist
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 ก.ย. 2024
- The sun and the moon represent so much not just in Fullmetal Alchemist, but real-life alchemy.
Explanation for Hermaphroditism:
First of all, introducing hermaphroditism in both Truth and Father might have been a little bit too “inside baseball” for casual viewers of the series, and it would have distracted from the series’ more important themes of friendship and humility. Second, even if they did focus on that, they would have risked having the ratings agencies deem them inappropriate for broadcast television… depending on how they reference the biological make-up of hermaphrodites… if you catch my drift. Then you would have to get into why Father in his Hohenheim form looked male, while Father in his dwarf form probably wasn’t just male… and that would have made things just too confusing (If you’re feeling skeptical, just remember what Edward and Alphonse said about unifying the genders). I would have welcomed the inclusion of that alchemical detail, but I understand why it wasn’t included.
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can't wait for a Saiyan reacts to DBZ
Ill start a channel next week....... now to find saiyans... 🤔
LMFAO That would be peak TH-cam.
Tarzan reacts to DBZ
Frieza reacts to DBZ
It would be martial artist reacts to DBZ
I've always appreciated how that scene with Ed and Al reading the alchemical text as kids also pretty much reveals that Ed represents the Sun (active visible expressive principle) and Al the Moon (subtle, bodily, sensitive, receptive principle). Ed is very loud and aggressive and forthright, Al is very sweet and kind and sensitive - and literally can't be seen as he doesn't have a body. He's just his Mind in a borrowed vessel. No one truly "knows" Al except for Ed and Winry (and perhaps the kitten he keeps inside his armor). But EVERYONE knows Ed, as he's easily recognized by his flashy red coat and valiant feats, as well as plans and designs.
Also, after looking at the seal on the gauntlet, the spiritual volatile meeting the dark material to become fixed and produce "The Philosophers' Stone", seems to sort of explain how his gauntlet works - the "stone" or "alchemical child" is the manifestation of the gauntlet's power. So, one could surmise, within the cosmology of Full Metal Alchemist, that pretty much all of the show's alchemical feats are like ever so slightly tapping into the infinite potential of "The Philosopher's Stone" by reaching out for it with methods and formulae that essentially mimic the process of creating the actual "Stone"; like reaching for Divinity and just using whatever you can muster for some (hopefully chosen via design of said methods) "lesser" yet still impressive, manifestation. So "Father", (whom I've always just referred to as "the Homonculus" or the "Dwarf in the Flask", since it was clear to me he never truly grew up or changed since those glass-days), was aiming for the ultimate alchemical feat, which the entire tradition has aimed for and mimicked since it was conceived. Meanwhile people are hiring alchemists to fix their porches and whatnot lol
In some mythologies, like the Mayans, Sun and Moon are semidivine brothers.
E.g. the Mayans Hunapuh and Ixbalanque, who defeated the Lords of Death and Underworld and then become Sun and Moon. Even both brothers are supposed to be male, the "ix" in the "Ixbalanque" name is a suffix indicative of feminity.
I think Truth is represented as hermaphroditic in the show because he takes the form of whoever meets him. I remember Ed and Al’s teacher visited Truth on screen and he took her form. This can also be seen in one of the title card openings but I don’t remember which season
I always thought Truth merely reflected the person in contact, as if to say "the truth is within you".
It would make more sense to call truth non-binary.
@@aaronlaluzerne6639 i dont think that aplies to the truth, it does not work with human concepts, the truth is and isnt at the same time, kinda like scrodinger cat
@@lordgrimm2905 i mean that'd make it non-binary by default
like, you can only _not_ be non-binary if the concept of a binary gender exists to you in the first place. if you're above that kind of human form of self-identification, then, well ... you ain't binary, so you're non-binary
I think it’s an eye of the the beholder thing. Supposedly Truth represents the most a person can be when they achieve their highest potential, then the question would have to be asked if truth is individual or universal?
*everything beyond this is my own speculation.*
The answer is both. The individual is needed to be purified to be the most representative of one gender, and then it’s opposite and equal are made and met. From there once both potentials are fulfilled and meet, only then can new life(truth) be made. It’s something philosophical but can also be applied to fulfill and appreciate one’s life.
The problem is that truth is universally unstable compared to individually stable. So it’s probably best to work on oneself to meet that chaos when it meets you, if it meets you.
** on a even more personal note, people should focus on being the best person they could be without suppressing either gendered aspect of themselves or embracing only one aspect of oneself while suppressing the opposite. In this matter Gender stereotypes are damnable, keeping a person from reaching their own potential. Trans being just as damnable, suppressing one aspect of oneself while embracing the other is denying what you’re natural birthright is as the winning sperm. With non-binary being the worst of both worlds. suppressing both and denying what you naturally are supposed to be, keeping oneself from reaching their own potential.
i have been running a dnd game for the past few years where a major theme is alchemy and completing the magnum opus, and i swear, these videos have leveled up my symbolism game like fucking crazy.
YAY-YUH. That's the sort of thing I like to hear.
I've been doing something similar. My current homebrew universe I've been running for the last few months actually has Prima Materia as a rare material that can be found, and I'm waiting for the players to put together that the magic system changes I made are all just a big mix of Alchemical ideas.
These youtube videos have simply been Sublime for filling in the gaps of my own research of Alchemical history and philosophy.
I also have something very similar in mind. For the past several years I’ve had a book series idea knocking around in my head for an set of trilogies that are heavily influenced by alchemy and the ouroboros. All three trilogies feed into each other… you know, like a snake/dragon eating its own tail.
Thing is, I’m not much of a writer, but I’ve been thinking the past year about how I can adapt into a dnd campaign so that the story can be expressed in some form.
One argument you can make as to Father's lack of androgyny, is that he fails as a perfect being, that's his whole thing he fails to represent all of humanity (as the primordial Adam) because he specific detests and reviles humanity to the point of purposely stripping the humanity out of himself in the form of the homunculi, but consider the homunculi (other than wrath for obvious reasons): A woman, a child (often considered genderless or androgynous, especially in Japanese culture), an androgynous being that can take any form, an almost genderless little muffin. And while Sloth and Greed are pretty clearly masculine in body type, they are interesting in their mannerisms and style of dress from a gender perspective. The only fully masculine homunculus is Wrath, and he was specifically selected to embody the role of the patriarch of Amestris and is the embodiment of Wrath which is typically the most masculine of the emotions the Homunculi represent (in the same way that Lust is the most feminine). When you consider this, Father is arguably very much an androgynous being as he's meant to, but one that hates his own androgyny (as a symbol of the human unity he embodies) and removes that aspect from himself on purpose, and does so in a way that the text explicitly implies is the reason why his unification with Truth/God ultimately fails. both directly (by externalizing his Greed, he creates an enemy that is his ultimate downfall) and philosophically (as exemplified in the scene where he returns to his own gate and screams at truth only to be drawn in and destroyed)
tldr; I don't think FMA ignores the Androgyny of figures such as Father, but rather does something deeper with the concepts.
Father was also derived, in more ways than one, from Hohenheim, so his that probably effects his lack of "androgyny"
Its also intersting how after shedding his human skin he got more emotional. Despite removing these parts of himself on that state he clearly was full of greed,list,wrath,envy and do on. In human skin he was colder,emotioneless.
The Truth is a reflection of whoever is viewing it at the time. It's a part of everyone and everyone is a part of it. It looks similar to Edward and has his missing limbs when talking to him. It looks similar to The Dwarf when talking to it.
Father is a portion of Hohenheim's inner 'Truth' that was alchemically extracted to make an artificial lifeform.
Father is thus a reflection of Hohenheim. Easy answers boyz.
I'm no expert at alchemical processes, but I do appreciate how it contributes to the writing and worldbuilding in the series. For the sun and moon in particular, I've made 2 cool insights over the years (feel free to correct me if these interpretations are incorrect). The first is Kimblee's alchemical circles. Its implied that the circle drawn corresponds to the type of alchemy you produce. For Kimblee, he's the crimson alchemist and thus specializes in explosions. On one hand, he keeps the sun and water, and on the other, the moon and fire. By combining the contradictions with the clap of his hands, left-right, sun-moon, and fire-water, he is able to create a kind of chaotic catalyst, and when raw material is applied, is how he gets his explosions.
The other revolves around the eclipse itself. During the Ishvalan War of Extermination, Wrath condescends the high priest, saying that if God is so important, he should strike him down right there. Well he doesn't then, but later in his final battle against Scar, the reason he loses is because the eclipse flashes in his good eye, giving Scar the opportunity he needs. Quite literally Ishvalan and God working together to bring down Wrath. Just a bit of cool writing
Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck that last one kinda blow me off
These FMA videos are great. They really teach us a lot about how great the story is.
Gotta love it when an author does their research for the sake of their story.
Yes just a story, nothing is real
@@ErcoleBellucci nobody said it was. But real alchemy, that is the early investigation of chemistry, influenced it, as explained here. Therefore your statement is redundant and irrelevant.
Nobody is expecting to boil cinnabar into the philosophers stone. Just because back then they didn't understand alchemy to the fullest doesn't mean their work is entirely worthless.
Arakawa put an incredible amount of research and attention to detail into the series. Super cool to see these videos explain them!
Or she was alreay someone near to that ideas, maybe she's part of some esoteric lodge or cult. That's why she's so shy about who her life.
When I watched the series I rolled my eyes to the idea of Father eating Truth, I was like "Seriously? This is what he is after?". But after watching this video it actually makes perfect sense now and made me appreciate more of how much work and thought was put into FMA. Great video.
yes a little confusing, but that just means two things, 1. i get to watch the video a bunch more 2. i get to research the stuff that is confusing to try and understand it better. honestly some of the best content on the platform, i'm so glad i found your channel.
Thank you for the video! At 7:41 it appears "The bird of Hermes is my name, eating my wings to make me tame", which also appears in Hellsing Ultimate (an anime series I suggest you could give it a try)
Oh really? :O My artist, the lady who does the thumbnail art for my channel, LOVES that series.
@@maxderrat It's a good series. It's just more religious than philosophical. There's some good dark humor in it, too.
Also, ironically, for me this was the most clear because it has the least amount of "restating the same thing" compared to the other two videos. It made so much more sense when you just said everything once without repeating yourself 30 times
It's so strange... I've gotten a version of your comment multiple times on this video. That makes me terribly happy, knowing that I was able to explain things clearly enough.
I agree. This felt clear and didn't drone on anything too long.
This makes me super curious about Armstrong's alchemy now. He never clarifies what's going on with it exactly. Given the way to focuses on "body", I wonder if what it's doing is using the energy created by his raw physical strength as part of the transmutation. Basically like burning off tiny bits of his muscle to create the explosion regardless of whatever he hits is made of. So he's super super ripped because he's building up /rebuilding fuel for his alchemy. That'd also be why he gets super physically exhausted after a long fight.
Having primarily studied older mystical traditions, and only recently gotten interested in Alchemy and Tao, I find these videos endlessly fascinating. I love that you take the time to include some of your sources.
So many of these symbols were also used in Elden Ring, There's so much that fandom has yet to sort out, with the rivalries between the Clay Men, the Silver Moon Knights, The Golden order (with it's androgynous goddess), The Children of Rot, the Unalloyed Gold, the forbidden Nox Order of Mercury Blades and Silver Tears, The Bloody Fingers of the Mother of Wounds, the Primordial Star Sorcerers and the mysterious exiles of the Eclipse Order.
I wonder if your experience and insight could be used to shed some light on things. I feel like I'm just finally understanding why an Empyrean requires a Lord spouse to ascend to godhood, and write the Order of a new Age, thanks to you, and that's like the most basic thing we need to understand. If Marika/Raddagon are a Rebus (with Marika being very Tin, and Raddgon being sternly Yang and a great example of why "Order" is not "Good"), why do they love Gold and the Sun, but hate the Moon and the Eclipse? Clearly the three butterfly demigods have a lot of symbolic meaning, but nobody seems to know what it is beyond the obvious. What are the significance of Marika/Raddagon having triplet children associated with rotting alive, being burnt to vapor and not quite existing yet? Do Runebears and Magma Wyrms connect back to the Dragon eating the toad, with the way that eating dragon hearts causes their own eyes and hearts to become like those of dragons? Why do older model Albinaurics' legs fade from existence unless they transform and become snake people? Clearly all the Nox experiments with creating artificial life, Divine Lords, or immortality treatments from Mercury and Silver is symbolically tied to their connection to the Moon, and the Alchemical pursuit of Truth, but I bet you could unravel that thread so much further than anyone currently working on it.
Damn, I wish I thought of examining the three empyreans/butterflies under the alchemical ideas. It's a referense to the magnum opus. A four stage prosses for making the philosofers stone:
* Nigredo: Blackening or putrification. Gold or the pure can't rust, rot or decay so all possible decay of the ingreadients must happen now so that they can be turned into something incorruptible. Based on the real procces of fermenting, composting and letting things rot.
* Albedo: Whitening or purifying. The rotten rusted sludge made through Nigredo is purified by burning it to ash. Now all possible corruption has happened and been removed now we should have the pure ingredients to make the philosophers stone. Based on burnig things to ash.
* Citrinitas: Yellowing. Turning the metal ash salts from Albedo into gold or a pre stadium to gold. Note that gold and the philosophers stone is used interchangably. Based on real world procceses of making pyrite crystals and fools gold out of certain ores in an atempt at extracting gold from ores that don't contain it.
* Rubedo: Redening. The final stage or the end product now we have created gold/the philosophers stone. This is supposedly a spiritual step not so much a physical or maybe a refinement that takes long time.
I can be a bit wrong on the details but this is a recepie for a philosophers stone and making gold. Of course it was never possible to make a perfect foolsgold that became gold out of other elements in the periodic table but alchemists didn't know that. And yes the overlord npcs are named after these four steps of the Magnum Opus.
We can clearly see that Malenia "the goddes of rot" is a associated with Nigredo, Melina "the kindling maiden" is associated with Albedo and Mikola with Citirinas with his search of unalloyed gold. Finally Marika/Radagon is associated with Rubedo she is the finished product that the other three are trying to replace. You could have a different take on this what Mikola should be associated with and if Marika bellong in this or not. Also I find it likely that Melina and Ranni have a connection but I'm not entirely sure what it is.
Well Radagon didn’t hate the moon. He married the Queen of the Full Moon Renala.
This is good shit, hits consistently. I just wonder why Arakawa would put in so much work fleshing all of these references out and then explain barely any of them. I mean, this goes beyond even Dark Souls level of burying your lore...
arakawa is deserving of a nobel prize for literature
There should be a prize of fantastic literature at least. Giants like Borges and Tolkien never won a Nobel.
Super glad I found your channel. 🙏 As a teenager, I read all of FMA as one of my favorite stories of all time. As an adult, I’m studying occult and religions. Tyty for taking time to make these. These videos are so fascinating.
Wow… so it makes alchemical sense that Mr. Salt and Mrs. Pepper would produce a baby Paprika. Blues Clues had it right all along… 😮
These have been some of my favorite videos as I have always had an unexplained love for FMA:B. Thank you for all your hard work and I've been enjoying going through all your other videos as well!
Thanks brother! Stay tuned for more coming soon. :D
Absolutely looking forward to all of them!
I am a huge fan of FMA not just because the anime and manga are top tier, it is becasue the way that the little details caught my attention to the point that I my self would research the internet to learn more about the symbolism within the show.
up to the point that I now found your videos and I've learned even more, way more than I expected.
can't wait to see your next FMA upload, great work fam keep it up!
I hope that you produce a 4th video and center it around the alchemical lesson Ed learned at the end of the show when he gives up his alchemy (his power to manipulate the world like God and get whatever he could want), and embraced his mortality and all that truth wanted to give him in this life.
This series definetly makes me wanna run a alchemist/sorcerer in a D&D game just to have fun with the symbolism between everything alchemical as well as the dragons blood involved with that branch of sorcery. Maybe with the end goal becoming a perfect being by combining those alchemical concepts and elements, but that would be on the gm/surviving the gm
"definetly"
You do amazing work. FMA is one of my favorite series because of how deep it is. Arakawa truely is a genius to have found a way to make a series based off this material. I picked up on a lot of it just from watching but it was fascinating seeing the real world inspiration behind the series.
tbh at this point I would just welcome a commentary track for every episode in the series so I can rewatch the show together with hearing/reading your explanations
Really glad I've studied some alchemical concepts in the past, it's a lot easier to understand some of this
The REBIS was also a key story element in the last season of Castlevania on Netflix. While the animation didn't dive too deeply into the ins and outs of the REBIS, I still got a kick at seeing the concept mentioned and explained in your video. Great video, as always!
It's amazing how much actual research went in to the series and I'm so happy you're here to explain it all and now I have a deeper understanding of a series I hold dear...i cant wait for episode 4...and all episodes to come in the future..i sure hope there is more
I was expecting you to talk about the concepts of verdigris, rubido, negrido, and albedo when you brought up the white, black and red stones rather than the concept of the prima materia. I can see where you were going.
In addition, Antimony (anti - never and Mono - alone) was the eighth of the “seven heavenly metals” and is assigned to earth/Gaia/terra. This would explain Armstrong’s attunement/alignment to the earth element.
It's amazing to me that Western alchemy had an equivalent to the Eastern system of Yin and Yang. I always wondered on why Jordan Peterson was so focused on Order and Chaos with the architype of the Hero as the unifying force, but now I know that as a scholar of Carl Jung, who was very interested in how intepretation of Alchemy could be used to further our understanding of Psychology, it makes more sense for Peterson to speak of a Hero who unifies Order and Chaos by conquering them, rather then just making peace with Order and Chaos as forces of nature, which is the way I would have understood it, being more familiar with those Eastern notions of Yin and Yang.
because chinese culture is descended from ancient babylon just as western cultures are
Alchemy really is confusing, but you do put it into understandable and relatable terms and descriptions, so all these videos were fairly easy to digest. Something that I'd like to see covered in the future is what the different transmutation circles mean and other stuff like the Flamel on Ed's jacket and Scar's tattoo sleeves. The nationwide transmutation circles and the human transmutation ones would also be interesting to have decoded and explained.
Well Ed's jacket is actually another reference to the stone
I can explain more if you like
There's a line in a song titled Fine one of the verses mentions the sun marrying the Moon now have the conspiracy theory that Neil cicierega is a Alchemist
These anime like FMA are one of the reason I love anime. They teach more than any movie I've seen in the past decade. Deep, thoughtful and with a hidden message.
Sadly, it's becoming more and more mainstream nowadays but there are still some who stand out even after 10+ years.
Max, thank you for the detail breakthrough. Those who were some 5 head takes, explanations. 🙏
I have been learning Alchemy and studying the texts for years now. I am even drawing a comic about alchemy like fma and these videos have been helping me a ton! I would love if you have more videos diving into alchemy and your knowledge on it. These videos are very insightful and give so much information that a lot of people don't understand how valuable this all is. Keep it up!
Such an Interesting side of FMA to understand. Fma makes such a fascinating vehicle to learn about Alchemy through. Spectacular video 👌
The end part where you said that Truth has no body but Father does makes so much sense. I’ve always wondered why in the English dub Father says “I’ve incorporated God,” instead of saying “I’ve become God”
Thank you for your videos. As a neophyte alchemist myself I find you actually explain these concepts in a very concise and understandable way. Big fan.
Hey Max, thanks for your effort of bringing your knowledge and insights into these topics and alchemy, they are really wonderful. To me, it makes it all more and more clear that alchemy as described in the ancient scripts is an overall process that is seen in different aspects of life, from which one I can mention as an example is the process of self-development. I think Jung captured this idea amazingly in his concept of integration of the shadow, which is to bring to the light of your conscious mind (what you are aware of/White Stone) the aspects of your being that due to events of life and traumas you have disconnected from (Black Stone) to bring about expansion of the individual. This is proven to be of help in therapeutic services for the healing of trauma itself, and its succesfull operation brings about higher levels of wisdom that can be used to relate with the world (Philosopher Stone?). Now, that is all at psychological level, the next step is to integrate/embody the acquired changes and wisdom in your personality, which means to express newly acquired Soul/Mind contents to the Body, to finally bring lasting transformation into the individual; which perhaps goes along the definition of the Rebis (? not sure). What I find intuitively and experientially is that this is a never ending process of integration (as the contents of the subconscious mind seem to never end) and therefore the potential for growth is infinite. What are your thoughts on this? Is there any complementary insight or critique you can provide?. From fellow alchemist to another ;)
Didn't find it that confusing, though I am someone who listens intently to create an image I can understand in my mind, your explanation was thoughtful and thorough, always going back to connect the dots with as much room for people to catch up as possible. (From one lesson to another but always reminding people of the previous lesson when it comes back up again)
I have a question: do you think we can actually see the seven steps of alchemy in Ed and Al's journey? After I discovered that concept, I often thought about rewatching the anime in order to connect different moments to the 7 steps, but I didn't have the time.
Also: what do you think about Edward's last transmutation? Considering what you already said about Truth, what are the implications of Ed's action in the ending?
I would like to second this question. I remember even at the time, when I wasn't really that familiar with the alchemical concepts, thinking that it had some pretty wild implications.
I didn't think about Ed and his troupe following a tiered process, but maybe I should pay attention to that when I go through the series again. In regards to his last transmutation, do you mean when he breaks his gate? If so, I think it means that Ed completed the philosophical aspect of the magnum opus. Any alchemist will tell you that the journey to the Philosopher's Stone is as much internal as it is external. Unlike Hohenheim, though, who's bodily chemistry was that of a stone and not necessarily his soul and spirit, I'd say Ed's soul and spirit fulfilled some sort of alchemical procedure while his body did not.
Totally new here and loving this but doesn’t that mean that in the end Ed made the philosopher’s stone by truly completing the process and freeing himself from the binding of the mortal and immortal? I always felt that the philosopher’s stone was an idea to temper the seeker and Ed realized that the seeking was taking away from what he was truly after. So by deciding to stop seeking he in turn actually achieved the true meaning of the philosopher’s stone because he was no longer pursuing the idea of power. He learned to accept the self that he was and this created the union that he wanted. I don’t know anything other than what I’ve picked up from some scattered books on alchemy so my view is probably very off and hard to explain but that’s kinda what I feel happened.
This is by far one of the best series of informational videos I've seen. Honestly not very confusing, but I've always loved alchemy. One of my favourite alchemical phrases is "Solve et Coagula" which is something I've even taken literally at times.
I've been studying alchemical texts lately and this makes realise how beautiful the art is
The black and white stones combining to make the red stone also kind of explains why in the Final Fantasy seried the caster who can cast both while and black magic is called the Red Mage.
i just found this chanel! and something that i noticed, is that the colors that are represented also coincide with the 3 primary colors all languages develop a word for, those 3 are always the first and is believed to represent light, dark and blood
I oove how you brought up how we have socially stigmatized concepts like chaos or righteousness as good or evil everything is neutral until the intent is added to direct the concept into a physicality
I'm unsure why, perhaps I am learning by wathcing your videos, but I found this video very straight forward and understandable. I think it sheds a lot of light on the creators ideas for the ending.
Your descriptions gave me epiphanies so they must be good XD.
The whole Sun(incorporeal)+moon(material) analogy clicked to me cause even dispensing with any supernatural mojo the sun still represents forces like light, warmth, or gravity that are essential to "organizing" and compelling form, and movement from what would otherwise be a big homogenous soup of stagnant matter. Combine that again with the space for everything to play out (void, prima-materia, whathaveyou) and you have "life" the seeming miracle that we exist, observe, and comprehend at all. I like the idea that this may be approached as pre-scientific man bootstrapping making rational sense of the world through observations everyone can grasp, unlike the religion I grew up in this makes "spirit"(because they would have no better word for it) a rational force of literal momentum to my mind which then starts drawing connections to the anime with the dwarf in the flask being a literal bottle of vacuum. and Edward concluding that a human is functionally a philosophers stone, and AAAAAAAAAAA... you make good stuff dude a lot is hitting my brain at once making it hard to form a coherent sentence that covers everything so needless to say I am entertained, mission accomplished XD
This is a very valuable analysis to me, as it's a great jumping board for my own research into alchemy, as well as just a great way for me to appreciate the details of one of my favorite series. One of my personal projects involves many different beliefs and mythologies being combined into a coherent world, so content like this is among my favorites
OMG... The Souls Reaver music at the beginning! 😅
Sorry, but I loved it!
I actually have a tattoo that says, "Without order nothing exists; without chaos nothing evolves," on two ribbons. The chaos side is held aloft by doves (normally symbolizing peace and tranquility) and the order side is held aloft be ravens (normally symbolizing death and despair). All together, it symbolizes the union of opposites.
I'm loving the notions of duality demonstrated in alchemy as I learn more about it through these videos. I can't get enough. From a philosophical standpoint these videos and Arakawa's work both are good food for thought and I'm here to digest it all.
I was waiting for this video sir, thanks and keep up the good work, greetings from Colombia
I think your analysis is important and the work you’ve outlined from the master work arakawa created will be studied for time yet to be conceived of. There is more here than even we both have fully grasped and I hope that everyone that comes here is working hard on themselves and the world around them.
Came here from one of your elden ring videos, hoping to better understand the eclipse significance in that game. I’m not sure I’m putting much together yet, but I definitely feel like it’s there… (something something Godwyn is the body, the eclipse is the soul (his? Or just as a general concept?), … The Night of the Black Knives *created* opposites, and thus wreaked havoc in the lands between? Unsure. Anyway. Perhaps this is covered in another one of your videos. Whoops)
Thank you for these videos! The little I looked into alchemy before this, I found it very dense and abstract (which I gather was the intention at the time, to preserve secrets) I hope to watch all the rest of your alchemy videos-they seem to shed a lot of light in things!
these videos are amazing and very informative! I'm using it for my writing as we speak ^__^
This one about the perfect androgynous is something that a learn a few years ago, when you started to mention Sol and Luna instantly ciicked into my mind, since i watched FMA so many years ago i didn't actually had this figured out
Is it weird that this video was easier to understand than the other two and that this one actually kinda helped me understand some of the stuff from the others?
This series is very interesting. Thank you!
Love this series and content, man. Keep it going!
Have you considered taking a look at Dishonored? I'd be interested in watching some deep dives into the alchemical influences on The Void, The Outsider, The Whales, The Abbey of The Everyman, and Natural Philosophers.
the rebis and great work are also a huge plot point in castlevanias last season on netflix - super awesome to see the actual origin and real life basis of these concepts
You’ve opened my eyes like no other to the world hidden right in front of our eyes. Stories encrypted with the truth all share patterns. So on that note, please continue this series. As an idiot, I never watched the films because I assumed they were OVAs and did not watch them. However, I have just learned of inner earth last year, and under its many names and cultural references, Shamballah appears in one of the FMA films. I’d love to hear your take on it. I’m yet to watch it, but I really think you should tackle the direct comparison of inner earth/consciousness and alchemical/gnostic texts. Thank you!
Fma has inspired me so much, and I want to incorporate alchemy into my work of fiction as well, there are lots of things I don't understand still but, thank you for making these videos, cause my own research wasn't getting me far. I look forward to more, and hopefully I can make compelling stories and warp alchemy to be unique and interesting in my story.
This channel deserves way more views. Keep up the great videos.🙏🙏
I watched both your episodes asa a discovered your channel 2 days ago. And this is a treat 😅
Ever since you've came back Max, you've made good strides in improving your writing voice and your ability to clearly articulate your statements and arguments and facts and observation and not re-state as much (though admittedly, it helped me sometimes) as this is really heavy, dense and esoteric topics being used and evoked here. So from one slow-minded and curious viewer to someone who is more knowledgeable and infinitely interesting and perceptive than I, your stuff has been a kind of blessing or miracle the likes of which I don't think yt's ever seen. I've been trying to catch up on some of your recent MAXimum News episodes over on Triple S Podcast and some bits of your recent race and revenge video about MGSV. I thought you adding that the union of opposites with the gender thing not being at all a moral judgement for gender or is indicative of such was a really helpful and good heads-up for all of us so kudos on that. As an analytical and unique youtuber you've gifted us a whole new host of knowledge and quandaries and for some new areas and subjects to explore and look at academically and intellectually and honestly, if this thing I'm writing here even means anything to you because I'm really not well-adjusted at this kind of thing of writing and posting thoughts. Regardless, thank you for your work, and stay swell and stay yellow, my virtual simskin friend!
This series is perfect inspiration for my upcoming campaign of Mage The Ascension!
Sir you have described the goal of Taoism as well, I am astonished how both the east and west came to the same conclusion although the journey differed. I'll abbreviate what I mean, in Taoism it is the goal to combine Heaven (Yang, Spirit/Soul), Earth (Yin, physical world/nature), and Man (you as the vessel) through meditation and 'eastern alchemy.' Thus achieving 'enlightenment' or taken out of the cycle of death/rebirth or 'divinity.'
Hello man! Hope you doing great.
The amazing thing about your videos is: I need to watch them 3 times in order to understand.
By saying that I would like you help me out with two things:
1. Recommend me your videos to watch and learn more about what you're saying.
2. Recommend me some books.
I hope that with your help I can understand better the analyzes you do.
this make so much sense!! I have found these themes also in studying how language works! this is great stuff man!!
Thanks so much for saying that!
Rewatching the series because of these videos.
I might not grasp the finer points, but I am not left confused by these concepts.
I would like to add that in the Theodic* Heathen weltanschaung, that is to say common cultural worldview, chaos and order are in fact moral principles, but we do not believe that Chaos is feminine, we believe that both man and woman are a part of order, order being synonymous with existence, reality. Any further questions are, as always, welcome.
*this term is synonymous with Germanic.
These videos have been a blast to watch and listen to as a complete noob to alchemy having someone explain it relative to this show has made me understand it a little and appreciate the show more in doing so
Thank you
A lot of the symbolism found in FMA isn't found solely in Alchemy....I noticed a lot of symbolism in FMA that is also found in older Pagan relgions and occult traditions. I myself am Pagan, so that might be why I picked up on a lot of the symbolism used in FMA. I have been Pagan since I was 18 and I have studied many religions and occult traditions since I was 13. I love anything and everything that has to deal with the occult and older religions/traditions. And even now at 31 years old I still learn something new or my understanding of a particular occult subject expands. FMA is also WHY I began to look into real life alchemy and it fascinates me just how much the occult (in general) and Alchemy mix and overlap eachother so often. FMAs use of occult themes and symbols is why it's in my top 5 favorite anime of all time. 😅 Finding and watching your videos has made me want to dive back into Alchemy again! 😊 Also, I always thought that the "star of david" or the two overlapping triangles (one right side up and the other turned upside down) represented all 4 of the Elements...not only fire and water....? Because the triangles that also reresent the air and earth are also made by overlapping the two triangles...would explain why that symbol is in the center of the ouraboras "birthmark" on the homunculii.
Finding this just in time for the total eclipse *chefs kiss*
These videos have been real eye-openers! I had no idea that FMA incorporated so many intricacte details of real-world alchemy.
I have no clue how I found your videos but I love them and how cool and informative , different to my usual thinking and understanding that so easy to briefly understands and makes me want to learn more about the concepts you are talking about.
this was my favorite FMA video so far, and the most easily understood. perhaps it is because i watched your old videos as well.
Hey SNW! Thanks so much for saying that. I'm legitimately surprised that so many people say they find it easy to understand. Couldn't be happier.
Hope you're having a good week. :D
I didn't see when it was released. I think I need to watch all three parts again as they are all so good.
Hey there, love the videos. Another thing I have noted in the series that is very interesting is how the hermetic concepts of right and left hand play a great role in the world's morality and Edward's journey.
(As well as Tarot, and specifically the Fool, does beautifully explain a lot of the story beats, and specifically the cyclical nature of one's journey. You're only born twice.)
Back when I studied alchemy someone said these are things we form within ourselves and we purification of our self.
It mirrors my walk to becoming chirst like born again believer
I love these videos. Full Metal Alchemist is an amazing anime full stop. A person can start on the first episode and enjoy it on it's merits alone. The story and the art are top notch And the cast of characters is amazing.
What you have done and are doing is pointing out the subtext that is drawn from and written in to add an kind of realness. I'm not so worried about being able to understand all this on the first time through. You're giving us an info dump that is hard to digest in one go.
3:13 missed opportunity for a "when a mommy and a daddy love eachother very much..." joke XD
Wow, this series is awesome. The plot of FMA makes much more sense. My interest in Alchemy grew significantly. I had no idea that Jung studied it!
Post laborem scientiam.
Great video! you may want to do a little series of videos explaining the Opus I think that "the salt" for example could make for an excellent one as it's been quite polemic part throughout the years.
Anyway Keep it going dude, great work 🤙
Probably not related, but the idea of the immaterial and the material uniting to create the perfect being makes me think of the different forms the philosopher's stone took in the show. While the liquid form of the stone wasn't a perfect material, it still held the shape of the stone, and functioned as one. In fact it was possibly the stone that lasted the longest throughout the series disregarding Hoenheim and Father. Then again it wasn't used for what people would consider grand feats in the show, more small miracles. It was used more for what people would probably consider to be the intended purpose of the stone in the first place, which was longevity and health.
Along that same line of thought, the idea that energy is not infinite and must have its own limits reflected when the stones burnt out and disolved.
Idk if I'm going to word this next part how I would like to, but, whenever the imagery of the philosopher's stone, whether it be outside the show or not, is displayed, it brings to mind the thought of how blood is seen as the source of life. Am I correct in infering that the stone was alchemy's intention of creating blood based on the idea of balancing the humors? If not, at best I'm just trying to wrap my head around the theoretics of alchemy.
This series so far has been very informative and interesting. Thank you for all your hard work.
I came to the union of opposites through the occult and spirituality.
It's such a powerful concept. I'm a writer myself, and so I made it cannon in my novels that the most powerful magics come from the union of opposites.
If you want to get really technical, you could say that Truth and Father are both given hermaphroditic aspects. Truth, because it is the one, but also the all, meaning it is literally every person ever. The clearest way to demonstrate this is with Izumi, who saw Truth as a mirror of herself, appearing physically as a woman. Meanwhile in Father's case, I like to look at the homunculi, who are extensions, or perhaps more accurately, extractions, of/from himself. Lust appears as a woman, and Envy really leans into the whole hermaphroditic thing as much as Arakawa-sensei could for the reasons stated in the video description. I mean Envy literally physically changes from male to female to their preferred form which androgynous.
And something that's interesting to note is that both Lust and Envy were 'made from scratch' if you will. When the gold-toothed doctor was performing experiments on the potential candidates to become Fuhrer, he was unsure whether it was possible to turn a human into a homunculus. This is why Greed is shocked when he meets Fuhrer Bradley, saying that it's impossible to make a homunculus that grows older, and why the doctors who made Wrath were so amazed at their success, saying "we've created a new type of human!" The only two homunculi who are made from humans are Wrath and the second Greed (who shared his body with Ling). All the others were made from scratch. Who knows, maybe Father made Lust and Envy using the horse dung method. The process used to create the first six homunculi is unclear.
Watched all three episodes and understand so few, but I'll come back here one day to understand more.
This was an absolute delight! I subscribed after seeing the first video show up in my feed, but I must have missed the second video, so I'll have to go watch that one now!
I especially loved the brief touch on Taoism as someone who has studied it a bit in the past.
9:41 truth is a hermaphrodite! Of sorts anyways
The truth that we see the most of is Ed’s truth, but anyone who passes through the gate sees truth reflecting them in form, which is why it looked like the Homunculus in the Flask when they went through, and why it looked like Isumi Curtis in her flashback. Truths voice is also made up of more than one as well.
best video on alchemy ive seen online
Have you looked in to the original FMA anime? there where some concepts covered it it not in Brotherhood because the production group didn't have the time and it was thought they would clash or confuse the new canon.
I think its also really interesting that the concept of the "white stone" and "black stone" are VISUALLY implied through Truth and Father as well, since Truth is shown as a pure white being, and Father is a ball of black matter in his dwarf form. Arakawa really did such an amazing job
I wonder if you ever heard about a game called Noita. It is a game rooted in alchemy, with a big community trying to figure out its left secrets. I am pretty sure your knowledge would come in handy.
Oh wow, pls make more of these you're really good at explaining these things 🤯 still mind exponentially blown 🤯
Houseki no Kuni has always struck out to me also as an anime with Alchemical/Esoteric influences.
Its very heavy handed with the True Land Buddhism symbolism, with the presence of straight up Bodhisattvas as the first “antagonist” , but they later break down the creation of their in series species as Humanity achieving some sort of split or undergoing an apocalypse of sorts to split into Mind/Body/Spirit seperately, or Bones/Flesh/Soul as the show calls it. The main protagonists are the Minds/Bones so just beings of pure psyche experiencing the new seperated world.
Idk im only somewhat into the Alchemical history and symbolisms so there could be lots im missing to! lol Nice vid as always 👍
Hi man,
Thank you for the videos I really enjoy all of them and always look forward to seening a new one. Look after yourself
Emmet
Thanks for your kind words, brother!
I lowkey want you to analyze Akira, the manga specifically, even tho it’ll probably be 1 video type analysis but it’ll still be cool, the story I feel has a couple of concepts of the book of Aion or maybe I’m reaching, but anyway another great vid and I’m not even done watching lol. As you would say man, stay yellow 😎
"secrets no-one else seems to have noticed"
*Turns down circus music*
*Removes jester's cap*
The council shall determine the validity of this claim Ser.
This is extremely interesting. Great video. I want to dive further into alchemy but don’t know where to start. I’d be super interested if you made a video introduction to alchemy along with where to go afterwards in terms of self study. Either way I’m looking forward to your next video in this series!
its magick
to do alchemy you need to play god