TV-Series
Description
Basque Grand is a high-ranking officer in the Amestrian State Military, holding the position of Brigadier General. He is also a prominent State Alchemist who bears the title Iron Blood Alchemist. Grand is a large, muscular man with a bald head and a distinguishing large, black pointed handlebar mustache. His appearance also includes facial scars, with one located across his nose and another on his chin in the original manga and the 2009 anime adaptation, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. In the 2003 anime series, his design is notably different, as he sports a smaller mustache and a full head of dark hair.
Grand was a legendary figure of the Ishval Civil War, similar to Colonel Roy Mustang, and he earned significant notoriety for his actions on the Eastern front lines. His personality is best described as that of a seasoned and fearless veteran. He possessed immense confidence in his own strength and combat abilities, a trait that ultimately contributed to his downfall. During the war, he displayed great honor, charisma, and conviction. Despite his high rank, he insisted on fighting in the vanguard alongside his men, which earned him their deep respect. He was not a man who reveled in senseless violence. When the Ishvalan religious leader, Logue Lowe, offered himself to negotiate an end to the conflict, Grand took him under his protection. When his superior officer, Brigadier General Fessler, refused to halt the massacre to allow the meeting, Grand shot and killed him to assume command and pursue a peaceful resolution. This act was witnessed by several soldiers, including a then-Captain Maes Hughes, all of whom supported Grand by reporting Fessler`s death as the result of a stray bullet.
Grands primary role in the overall story is as an early victim of Scar, the Ishvalan avenger. His death serves to establish Scar as a major threat to State Alchemists. Circumstances surrounding his death differ between adaptations. As revealed in a bonus comic by manga author Hiromu Arakawa, Scar was able to defeat the powerful Grand because he encountered him late at night as he was leaving a pub, intoxicated and unsteady. In the 2009 anime, however, Grand is shown confronting Scar in an alley, where he overestimates his alchemys ability to contain his opponent and is caught off guard. In the 2003 anime, Grand plays a much larger role as an early antagonist. In this version, he bullies Shou Tucker over his chimera research and attempts to take Tuckers daughter, Nina, to Laboratory 5 for study. He also pursues Dr. Tim Marcoh to confiscate his Red Stones and authorizes the use of Marcohs research to amplify State Alchemists powers during the Ishval War, showing no concern for civilian lives. It is also in this adaptation that he orders Roy Mustang to execute Winry Rockbells parents.
In terms of key relationships, his actions during the Ishval War connect him to many characters. He directly clashed with the pacifist wishes of Tim Marcoh and showed disdain for Marcoh`s later desertion. His high-handed actions in the 2003 anime put him in opposition to Edward and Alphonse Elric, and his order to execute the Rockbells ties him to the personal tragedy of Winry Rockbell. His role as a commanding officer created a relationship with the soldiers under his command, including the young Maes Hughes, who witnessed his mutiny against General Fessler.
Basque Grand is a master of hand-to-hand combat in addition to his alchemical abilities. His alchemy is combat-oriented and varies between adaptations. In the manga and 2009 anime, he wears a set of elaborate gauntlets with alchemical markings. He performs transmutations by slamming his fists together to create a circle with his arms, allowing him to transform large objects by touch. In a notable display, he transmutes an Ishvalan building into a massive array of weapons, including cannons and gatling guns. In the 2003 anime, his alchemy is shown to specialize in the transmutation of firearms, at one point encasing himself in an iron shell bristling with cannons to fire upon the desert. The characters development in the primary source material (the manga) is revealed retroactively through flashbacks. He is portrayed as a legitimate war hero and a complex figure of honor who took a stand to try and end the horrors of Ishval, rather than a simple villain. This heroic flashback provides a stark contrast to his ignoble death at Scars hands, happening while he was drunk. In the alternate continuity of the 2003 anime, he serves as a more sustained and purely antagonistic force, whose death marks a turning point for other characters.
Grand was a legendary figure of the Ishval Civil War, similar to Colonel Roy Mustang, and he earned significant notoriety for his actions on the Eastern front lines. His personality is best described as that of a seasoned and fearless veteran. He possessed immense confidence in his own strength and combat abilities, a trait that ultimately contributed to his downfall. During the war, he displayed great honor, charisma, and conviction. Despite his high rank, he insisted on fighting in the vanguard alongside his men, which earned him their deep respect. He was not a man who reveled in senseless violence. When the Ishvalan religious leader, Logue Lowe, offered himself to negotiate an end to the conflict, Grand took him under his protection. When his superior officer, Brigadier General Fessler, refused to halt the massacre to allow the meeting, Grand shot and killed him to assume command and pursue a peaceful resolution. This act was witnessed by several soldiers, including a then-Captain Maes Hughes, all of whom supported Grand by reporting Fessler`s death as the result of a stray bullet.
Grands primary role in the overall story is as an early victim of Scar, the Ishvalan avenger. His death serves to establish Scar as a major threat to State Alchemists. Circumstances surrounding his death differ between adaptations. As revealed in a bonus comic by manga author Hiromu Arakawa, Scar was able to defeat the powerful Grand because he encountered him late at night as he was leaving a pub, intoxicated and unsteady. In the 2009 anime, however, Grand is shown confronting Scar in an alley, where he overestimates his alchemys ability to contain his opponent and is caught off guard. In the 2003 anime, Grand plays a much larger role as an early antagonist. In this version, he bullies Shou Tucker over his chimera research and attempts to take Tuckers daughter, Nina, to Laboratory 5 for study. He also pursues Dr. Tim Marcoh to confiscate his Red Stones and authorizes the use of Marcohs research to amplify State Alchemists powers during the Ishval War, showing no concern for civilian lives. It is also in this adaptation that he orders Roy Mustang to execute Winry Rockbells parents.
In terms of key relationships, his actions during the Ishval War connect him to many characters. He directly clashed with the pacifist wishes of Tim Marcoh and showed disdain for Marcoh`s later desertion. His high-handed actions in the 2003 anime put him in opposition to Edward and Alphonse Elric, and his order to execute the Rockbells ties him to the personal tragedy of Winry Rockbell. His role as a commanding officer created a relationship with the soldiers under his command, including the young Maes Hughes, who witnessed his mutiny against General Fessler.
Basque Grand is a master of hand-to-hand combat in addition to his alchemical abilities. His alchemy is combat-oriented and varies between adaptations. In the manga and 2009 anime, he wears a set of elaborate gauntlets with alchemical markings. He performs transmutations by slamming his fists together to create a circle with his arms, allowing him to transform large objects by touch. In a notable display, he transmutes an Ishvalan building into a massive array of weapons, including cannons and gatling guns. In the 2003 anime, his alchemy is shown to specialize in the transmutation of firearms, at one point encasing himself in an iron shell bristling with cannons to fire upon the desert. The characters development in the primary source material (the manga) is revealed retroactively through flashbacks. He is portrayed as a legitimate war hero and a complex figure of honor who took a stand to try and end the horrors of Ishval, rather than a simple villain. This heroic flashback provides a stark contrast to his ignoble death at Scars hands, happening while he was drunk. In the alternate continuity of the 2003 anime, he serves as a more sustained and purely antagonistic force, whose death marks a turning point for other characters.