TV-Series
Description
Dante is the primary antagonist of the 2003 anime adaptation of Fullmetal Alchemist, a character created specifically for that version of the story and not present in the original manga. She is a powerful and ancient alchemist, having lived for over four hundred years by the time the narrative begins. Her ultimate goal is the preservation of her own life at any cost, a pursuit that has stripped away much of her humanity and left her a deeply manipulative and misanthropic figure.
In her distant past, Dante was the lover and partner of Hohenheim of Light, the father of the Elric brothers. Together, they performed the forbidden transmutation that created the first Philosopher's Stone, sacrificing countless lives in the process. Using the power of that stone, they both began the practice of transferring their souls into new, younger bodies to achieve a form of immortality. However, over the centuries, Hohenheim grew disillusioned with Dante's increasing cruelty and disregard for life, eventually leaving her. This abandonment fueled much of Dante's subsequent bitterness and her obsessive need to maintain her eternal existence without him.
As a personality, Dante is the epitome of cold, calculating manipulation. She cares nothing for the lives of others, viewing humanity as selfish, ignorant creatures unworthy of the knowledge of alchemy. She has no moral qualms about starting wars, orchestrating massacres, or sacrificing entire populations, as she believes such actions are necessary for her survival and that she is, in effect, protecting humanity from itself. Beneath her composed and often charming exterior lies a profoundly arrogant and narcissistic individual who considers herself a god above the masses. Despite her egotism, she is also a hypocrite; while she claims superiority over flawed humans, her entire existence is driven by the most human of fears: the fear of death.
Dante's role in the story is that of the hidden puppet master. She is the true leader of the Homunculi, the artificial beings born from failed human transmutations. She uses them as her agents, promising to use a Philosopher's Stone to make them human in exchange for their service. Through her homunculus Pride, who serves as the Führer King Bradley, she controls the nation of Amestris from the shadows, manipulating military and political events to create the chaos and suffering necessary to drive some desperate alchemist into creating a new Philosopher's Stone for her to use. Her key relationships are all transactional. Her former student, Izumi Curtis, is one of the few people she treats with a degree of genuine, if tainted, affection, though she ultimately sees her as a tool. Her homunculi, including her own "son" Envy, are merely pawns to be discarded when they outlive their usefulness. Her reunion with Hohenheim reveals her enduring, twisted obsession with him, but when he rejects her, she does not hesitate to banish his soul to the other side of the Gate.
Over the course of her centuries of life, Dante undergoes a distinct negative development. The initial love and desperation that drove her to save Hohenheim from death has long since curdled into a purely self-serving will to survive. By the time of the series, she is no longer capable of meaningful emotional connection. Her soul, having been transferred so many times, has become eroded. This is made manifest in her late-story body, the young woman Lyra, which begins to rapidly decay and rot despite her alchemical power. Hohenheim reveals to her that this decay is the unavoidable consequence of her actions: her soul has worn out and can no longer sustain a living body. This revelation, rather than prompting self-reflection, only drives her to more desperate and frantic measures to acquire a new Philosopher's Stone to facilitate another transfer.
Dante is an exceptionally skilled alchemist, even by the elevated standards of the series. Like the Elric brothers and her former student Izumi, she can perform transmutations without a traditional circle, simply by clapping her hands. Beyond standard alchemy, she possesses unique abilities tied to her long study of the Gate. She can summon the ethereal "Gate Children" using an infant as a sacrifice, transform the homunculus Gluttony into a mindless, voracious monster, and perform alchemy that can separate a person's mind, body, and soul. While she has never created a Philosopher's Stone herself, it is implied this is not due to a lack of skill but from a fear of the direct consequences. Her power ultimately has a critical weakness: the more she uses her soul-transfer technique, the less stable her new bodies become, leading to accelerating decay and, finally, her demise.
In her distant past, Dante was the lover and partner of Hohenheim of Light, the father of the Elric brothers. Together, they performed the forbidden transmutation that created the first Philosopher's Stone, sacrificing countless lives in the process. Using the power of that stone, they both began the practice of transferring their souls into new, younger bodies to achieve a form of immortality. However, over the centuries, Hohenheim grew disillusioned with Dante's increasing cruelty and disregard for life, eventually leaving her. This abandonment fueled much of Dante's subsequent bitterness and her obsessive need to maintain her eternal existence without him.
As a personality, Dante is the epitome of cold, calculating manipulation. She cares nothing for the lives of others, viewing humanity as selfish, ignorant creatures unworthy of the knowledge of alchemy. She has no moral qualms about starting wars, orchestrating massacres, or sacrificing entire populations, as she believes such actions are necessary for her survival and that she is, in effect, protecting humanity from itself. Beneath her composed and often charming exterior lies a profoundly arrogant and narcissistic individual who considers herself a god above the masses. Despite her egotism, she is also a hypocrite; while she claims superiority over flawed humans, her entire existence is driven by the most human of fears: the fear of death.
Dante's role in the story is that of the hidden puppet master. She is the true leader of the Homunculi, the artificial beings born from failed human transmutations. She uses them as her agents, promising to use a Philosopher's Stone to make them human in exchange for their service. Through her homunculus Pride, who serves as the Führer King Bradley, she controls the nation of Amestris from the shadows, manipulating military and political events to create the chaos and suffering necessary to drive some desperate alchemist into creating a new Philosopher's Stone for her to use. Her key relationships are all transactional. Her former student, Izumi Curtis, is one of the few people she treats with a degree of genuine, if tainted, affection, though she ultimately sees her as a tool. Her homunculi, including her own "son" Envy, are merely pawns to be discarded when they outlive their usefulness. Her reunion with Hohenheim reveals her enduring, twisted obsession with him, but when he rejects her, she does not hesitate to banish his soul to the other side of the Gate.
Over the course of her centuries of life, Dante undergoes a distinct negative development. The initial love and desperation that drove her to save Hohenheim from death has long since curdled into a purely self-serving will to survive. By the time of the series, she is no longer capable of meaningful emotional connection. Her soul, having been transferred so many times, has become eroded. This is made manifest in her late-story body, the young woman Lyra, which begins to rapidly decay and rot despite her alchemical power. Hohenheim reveals to her that this decay is the unavoidable consequence of her actions: her soul has worn out and can no longer sustain a living body. This revelation, rather than prompting self-reflection, only drives her to more desperate and frantic measures to acquire a new Philosopher's Stone to facilitate another transfer.
Dante is an exceptionally skilled alchemist, even by the elevated standards of the series. Like the Elric brothers and her former student Izumi, she can perform transmutations without a traditional circle, simply by clapping her hands. Beyond standard alchemy, she possesses unique abilities tied to her long study of the Gate. She can summon the ethereal "Gate Children" using an infant as a sacrifice, transform the homunculus Gluttony into a mindless, voracious monster, and perform alchemy that can separate a person's mind, body, and soul. While she has never created a Philosopher's Stone herself, it is implied this is not due to a lack of skill but from a fear of the direct consequences. Her power ultimately has a critical weakness: the more she uses her soul-transfer technique, the less stable her new bodies become, leading to accelerating decay and, finally, her demise.