Secrets of the Eclipse - An Actual Alchemist Analyzes Fullmetal Alchemist
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- Опубликовано: 9 фев 2025
- 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 RUclips.
Tarzan reacts to DBZ
Frieza reacts to DBZ
It would be martial artist reacts to DBZ
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.
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.
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'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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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… 😮
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.
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.
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!
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.
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
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...
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.
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!
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.
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 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.
Really glad I've studied some alchemical concepts in the past, it's a lot easier to understand some of this
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!
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.
I was waiting for this video sir, thanks and keep up the good work, greetings from Colombia
I'm watching this on the day of the 2024 total solar eclipse.
About 6 hours before it's slated to go over my area
OMG... The Souls Reaver music at the beginning! 😅
Sorry, but I loved it!
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
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"
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
Also sun = soul moon = emotion
In unity creating a perfect being, a present being
Such an Interesting side of FMA to understand. Fma makes such a fascinating vehicle to learn about Alchemy through. Spectacular video 👌
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!
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. 🙏
Finding this just in time for the total eclipse *chefs kiss*
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!
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.
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.
This channel deserves way more views. Keep up the great videos.🙏🙏
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.
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
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.
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
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.
I watched both your episodes asa a discovered your channel 2 days ago. And this is a treat 😅
This series is very interesting. Thank you!
Love this series and content, man. Keep it going!
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 ;)
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.
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.
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”
these videos are amazing and very informative! I'm using it for my writing as we speak ^__^
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
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)
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?
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!
Oh wow, pls make more of these you're really good at explaining these things 🤯 still mind exponentially blown 🤯
These videos have been real eye-openers! I had no idea that FMA incorporated so many intricacte details of real-world alchemy.
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.)
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!
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
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
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!
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.
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.
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
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
I didn't see when it was released. I think I need to watch all three parts again as they are all so good.
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.
The old chaos magic was inspired by alchemy, and rightfully so.
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.
This series is perfect inspiration for my upcoming campaign of Mage The Ascension!
i love this! i want more videos on alchemy specifically their figures like adam kadmon ect
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!
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!
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 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.
Rewatching the series because of these videos.
I might not grasp the finer points, but I am not left confused by these concepts.
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 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
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.
amazing video :0
would love to see you analyze some of the meaning behind scar's tattoos sometime🖤
Turning lead to gold is going from saturday to sunday, which seems to me that every week you are alive, that is the true treasure.
Also, Sophia.
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 🤙
3:13 missed opportunity for a "when a mommy and a daddy love eachother very much..." joke XD
I found your videos like a few days ago but as a huge fan of FMA and really the crazy yet satisfying world of Alchemy. A long time ago I had a gameboy advance and found a strange game that just captured my attention from a glance. That game was Golden Sun. I absolutely loved that game and watching your video reminded me of it because now I realize just how much of the Alchemy text played a part of that game, I mean the final boss is literately a Man and a woman fusing together to create an absurdly powerful Multiheaded dragon. Please, if you ever get the time after FMA, please go check out Golden Sun.
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.
I want to talk about the odd parallels between CERN and early alchemy but not sure it's appropriate for this channel.
Circular particle accelerator can transmute metals.
Looking for anti-mater or the prima matiria...
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.
best video on alchemy ive seen online
Watched all three episodes and understand so few, but I'll come back here one day to understand more.
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 😎
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.'
Yo that's crazy, I had the urge to rewatch all of FMA last night. I'm back at ep3 (the backstory episode) from the 2004 release and your video comes up. I'm a pretty new sub as well to ur channel, a little over a week I guess? The planets have aligned, I must now commit to my decision. I'm a few secs into ur vid, I'm sure it's going to pretty awesome just like the rest of your content! Cheers!
Awesome video my dude!
Love this series so much. I used to try to breakdown certain symbols meanings in order to understand the circles the creator were using and or whats she was trying to create since a blend of elements or essence was sometimes liberal and blended based on the science and facts... Inspiring
Edit: again loving your series helps understand the deconstruction and reconstructing well
Also I will add that considering our physical bodies take up “space”, the mural representing the “body” & the “void” makes a lot of sense & is still consistent with the idea, however all of the transmutation circles used by characters in the show are completed mutation, that doesn’t mean it’s anything close to the philosopher stone cuz they still need their perspective element in order to get a reaction outta their transmutation
Armstrong’s transmutation being represented with a symbol for Antimony make sense only cuz in the case of this mutation that would be a symbol to represent a inanimate object occupying the Void, Antimony=Object the Darkness=Void
Hence why he is capable of reorganizing & momentum charging carbon matter with mearly his first, with out the gauntlet or carbon, no reaction
On a nether note thou, anyone take in that the transmutation circle Issac used in Season1 Episode1 depicted a transmutation specifically for fresh/salt water thou the hydrogen & Oxygen was reversed😁H2O is 2 hydrogens to 1 Oxygen, the alchemical symbol for hydrogen is also Sol, so the mutation should be represented by 2 Suns connecting the outer ring & Luna in centre😎
& the Dwarf in the flask was obviously hermaphroditic however he was far form a perfect being all knowing? Yes, thou not perfect cuz he lacked a body, hence the flask, when he choose to give that up he took on the masculine form of Van.H due to it not only using Van as a vessel but he shared DNA or “soul data” with Van
Less not be forgotten that even God it’s self has had Body, in the form of Christ
Everything is connected😁😎
So glad you had looked into it👌🏽👍🏽
Love this series, please keep it up! Also do you have a preferred reading list video or something for people interested in getting into alchemy?