The World's Gone Crazy

What ship had the best proposal?

“I’ll give you half my life, so give me half of yours!”

“You can have all my life!”

Doesn’t get much better than that, my friends.

God, I am so predictable right now.

A pairing you’ve rooted for since the beginning.

I started reading FMA several years ago, around the time the manga was just coming to a close.  Winry doesn’t appear in the first few chapters, and so before that, one might make the mistake of believing that Rose will become a prominent character and a possible love interest for Ed.  Then she vanishes for about twenty volumes and in comes Winry (for the record, I am not referring to the 2003 anime, but the manga and Brotherhood).  

I don’t know if it was exactly at the beginning that I started shipping them, but pretty close.  One day I just read a scene of theirs and thought to myself, ‘there’s a good chance that these two are going to hook up, and I’m okay with that.’  This was kind of a big deal for me because up until then, everything I ever shipped seriously was completely and epically sunk (hey there, Harry/Hermione and Zutara).  You’d better believe that proposal at the end was a happy, happy moment for me.

As for why I ship them?  Well it should be partially obvious because Ed and Winry’s relationship has been analyzed and discussed from here to the moon for years now.  We all know why Ed needs her, because she is his support and gives him a (figurative and literal) leg to stand on.  On the other hand, there’s Winry.  When she and Ed get together in the last chapter, Winry gets what she’s likely always wanted: a tight knit family that won’t abandon her.

If you pay attention, she has pretty clear issues over the deaths of her parents. What’s worse is the fact that it happened in a far away country and that the last time she ever saw them, they were promising her that they would return soon.  That sort of thing is traumatic, especially for young children.  This is why she gets so worried about Ed and Al joining the military.  Not only are they also leaving her with only a promise that they will return soon, but they are going to the military, the indirect cause of her parent’s deaths.  Confronting Scar and getting to see firsthand the kind of chaos Ed and Al have to deal with during the Briggs arc is what helps her to get through all of this.  She can’t forgive Scar, but she bites back her anger and helps him when he needs it.  She wants Ed and Al to come home to her, but knows they have a job to do first.  

And when it’s over, they come back, and it’s for real this time.  Sure, Ed goes off to travel again, but this time Winry knows he isn’t gone forever and that when he returns, he’ll be healthy and in one piece.  She doesn’t have to be afraid anymore.  She’s been there for Ed so many times, and now he can finally return the favor.  

They are each other’s support system and that’s what makes them a beautiful couple.