King Bradley

King Bradley (キング・ブラッドレイ, Kingu Buraddorei), also known as Pride (プライド, Puraido), is the fictional character and one of the primary antagonists of the Dante's Alchemist series. He was the first of one of the seven Homunculi, created by both Father, and the ancient alchemist Dante. Bradley was also the original Führer (大総統, Daisōtō) leader of Amestris and the respected Commander-in-Chief of the State Military. However, he was created to reached the top of the State Military in order to pull the strings of society, even though his political standpoints are often questioned in certain instances such as the Ishval Civil War, which was only one of many insurrections focused for the sole purpose of creating a massive Philosopher's Stone for exacting Father and Dante's plans to become the ultimate being and immortality.

By possessing the title of "Führer" as King Bradley, enabling him to carry out his reign with little opposition, as well as possessing the heightened abilities of a Homunculus and almost inhuman swordsmanship, Pride's position makes him the most powerful entity in the world.

"One can be sure, in this world, humans are foolish, all of them, even of little consequence."
 * —Pride.

Appearance & Biography

 * Voice Actor: Nor Known (English), Hidekatsu Shibata (Japanese), Not Known (French), Not Known (Italian), Not Known (German), Not Known (Hungarian), Not Known (Finnish), Not Known (Korean), Not Known (Polish), Not Known (Romanian), Not Known (Russian), Not Known (Poland), Not Known (Serbian), Not Known (Swedish), Not Known (European Spanish), Not Known (Latin American Spanish), Not Known (Brazilian Portuguese), Not Known (European Portuguese)
 * Voice Actor (young): Christopher Bevins (English), Hidenobu Kiuchi (Japanese), Not Known (French), Not Known (Italian), Not Known (German), Not Known (Hungarian), Not Known (Finnish), Not Known (Korean), Not Known (Polish), Not Known (Romanian), Not Known (Russian), Not Known (Poland), Not Known (Serbian), Not Known (Swedish), Not Known (European Spanish), Not Known (Latin American Spanish), Not Known (Brazilian Portuguese), Not Known (European Portuguese)

Appearance
Bradley appears as an older man near sixty with an incredible physique for his age. He has a full head of black hair, and a thick black mustache, and a blue tint to his right eye as he is seen to wear an eye patch over his left. Underneath his eye patch is "The Ultimate Eye", or his regular eye with the Ouroboros mark in place of the pupil and cornea.

Bradley is usually seen to wear a blue, full length military issue coat and slacks with black dress shoes. His uniform has a grey sash around it which he uses to carry his swords. Bradley is almost always seen with at least one sword on him, but has also been known to carry up to five and can wield all of them simultaneously. On occasions, he has been seen without his coat in battle, wearing his military issue slacks with suspenders and boots, along with a short-sleeve black undershirt. Other times, he is seen wearing a black vest with a white dress-shirt, dress pants, and formal shoes. At the time of the promised day, Bradley wore a white shirt with blue pants and a beige belt to hold his hand grenade.


 * Hair Color: Black
 * Skin Color: Not Known
 * Eye Color: Not Known
 * Age: 350+ years old (Deceased)
 * Birthday: Not Known
 * Height: Not Known
 * Weight: Not Known

Personality
Several differences are apparent in Bradley when compared to the other Homunculi, such as the ability to sympathize with humans and even show compassion despite his identity as Pride. He is a gifted actor, playing an ongoing charade perhaps as the most misleading of the homunculi, appearing generally calm, surprisingly pleasant, benevolent, and charming family man in public, even with a frequent sense of humor when compared to the others.

Instances of his misleading demeanor include giving full credit to Colonel Roy Mustang for killing Isaac McDougal the Freezing Alchemist, despite Bradley himself being the one fully responsible for the criminal's defeat. Another instance of this unexpected behavior was giving a melon to Edward Elric as a gift when he and his younger brother Alphonse were in the hospital, and afterwards mischievously sneaking out a window in the Elric brothers' hospital room to escape his assistant who was looking for him.

As pleasant as he may seem, Bradley embodies the true image of prideful arrogance: calm, collected and extremely intelligent, Pride is considered by Dante as being "her masterpiece". This is just a facade, as he secretly harbors a deep contempt for humanity (much like his master). He is a largely composed figure much of the time and appears to be indebted to his master for giving him and his brethren life. However, unlike most of his Homunculi partners, Pride's motives and personal goals are largely kept a mystery. It's well established he's very secretive (something he reveals innocously to his son), highly manipulative and is utterly driven in accomplishing key desires; in his case, producing a Philosopher's Stone for Dante to utilize.

He's shown to lack any sense of respect for humankind in general. True to his name, Pride is secretly very narcissistic, considering most other beings beneath him with the exception of Dante and possibly the Homunculi who remain loyal to her. He also appears to possess a cruel streak not shared by his Wrath counterpart, playing a sadistic game of cat-and-mouse with Mustang before attempting to kill him.

He is rarely seen to associate with the other homunculi, aside from times when it is necessary to do so. He is also more lenient towards humans than his siblings, due to spending the most time among them. He also appears to secretly enjoy the complications that the Elrics and their friends have brought to Father's plans since he has lived a life where everything has been planned, controlled, or predicted. However, he still does express some annoyance towards humans, sometimes referring to their constant meddling as bothersome.

Pride believes that his enhanced abilities will always bring him victory. This has largely been in the case during his existence, both when masquerading as leader and with Dante secretly pulling the strings of humanity. He was hugely confidence in his own judgement when handing the key to the safe containing his weakness over to Selim-believing his son wouldn't do anything to betray him in any way. Similarly, Pride takes subtle pleasure in mocking other people's insecurities, such as snidely remarking about Envy's issues with Hohenheim (provoking a violent outburst from the latter), as well as Mustang's sacrificing of his dreams in the almost-botched assassination attempt.

Bradley also seems to have respect for those he deems worthy warriors. During his first battle with Ling Yao, he comments that Ling knows a thing or two about fighting and swordplay. Additionally, during his fight with Fu, Bradley states that Fu is an exceptional fighter, considering that he is even older than Bradley himself. He is also scornful of the idea of fealty or sacrificing one's life for others, believing only that the strong should survive and that the loss of one life can only be balanced by the loss of another.

Pride has no problem in starting wars; in the English dub proclaims himself as God's guardian angel because he believes that he is controlling humanity's hubris by depriving them of the Philosopher's Stone (leading him to develop some sort of a messiah-complex). He's shown to be aware of Roy's desire to become Fuhrer, which he finds more amusing than threatening. This may be due to his aforementioned contempt for humanity, as well as truly believing in his own facade. Further this point is the theory that Pride's motives for aiding Father and Dante may have more to do with receiving components that fulfil any desire to become human, such as being touted as a benevolent leader popular with the masses, as well as being a loving husband and father. This is a distortion of reality however, as Pride's true nature is revealed to arguably be more 'inhuman' than even the other Homunculi.

Family

 * Dante (creator; deceased)
 * Van Lucifer (creator; deceased)
 * Treachery ("brother"; deceased)
 * Heresy ("sister"; deceased)
 * Lust ("sister"; deceased)
 * Anger ("sister"; deceased)
 * Greed ("brother"; deceased)
 * Juliet Douglas/Sloth ("sister"; deceased)
 * Violence ("brother"; deceased)
 * Fraud ("brother"; deceased)
 * Envy ("brother"; deceased)
 * Wrath ("brother"; deceased)
 * Gluttony ("brother"; deceased)
 * Limbo ("brother"; deceased)
 * Mrs. Bradley (wife)
 * Selim Bradley (son)

Neutral

 * Izumi Curtis
 * Edward Elric
 * Alphonse Elric

Rivals

 * Wrath

Powers and Abilities
As opposed to the rest of the Homunculi brethren, Bradley was originally a human whose body was infused with a Philosopher's Stone that was made from prideful souls. These souls fought and eventually dwindled to a single soul, which was the most prideful of all. After his transformation into Pride, Bradley possesses enhanced strength, speed, reflexes, stamina, durability, senses, agility, coordination, willpower, intelligence, and instincts superior to any human.

Pride has retained the ability to regenerate any wound. This regenerative ability was demonstrated to its fullest degree when allowing "his entire body to explode" whilst battling Roy Mustang. He was shown (to an extent) to have a tremendous amount of agility/speed, such as his fight with Martel and Roy Mustang, and can use it to close in on his enemies in the blink of an eye.

A formidable combatant, Pride strongly favors using swords, which he wields with deadly proficiency thanks to his unique gifts and lifetime of training, to the point where he can wield five blades simultaneously. Already a supreme swordsman and extraordinary martial artist, he is made even more dangerous by his Ultimate Eye, which he conceals with his distinctive eye patch. Additionally, he has pointed out on multiple occasions that, while his eye is capable of reading any situation, his own body's unique ability to age is often unable to keep up with the projected courses of action that his sight ability proposes to him.

Pride apparently has the highest level of skill when it comes to the art of swordsmanship among all the characters; capable of easily fighting against both the second Greed and Fu simultaneously using only two daggers as well as being able to defeat the first Greed with ease. And even after being severely injured by Buccaneer, Greed and Wrath, he proves himself to be more than capable of fighting evenly and even overpowering Scar, almost killing him twice, with Scar himself admitting if he had fought Pride uninjured, he would have stood no chance. He has also demonstrated himself to be extremely intelligent and skilled in military weapons, as he was able to destroy a Briggs Tank with only a sword and a hand grenade.

Abilities

 * Enhanced Physiology: Being a human-based Homunculus, Pride has the ability to physically age, which enabled him to pass off as an average human, allowing him to assimilate into the general population without suspicion. Despite being a Homunculus, Pride's unique creation has resulted in the fact that the Philosopher's Stone which makes him inhuman is comprised of only one soul - his augmented physical abilities such as his remarkably high strength, speed, and agility are all his own, rather than being a product of the stone. However, due to the fact that his Philosopher's stone contains only one soul, he does not have the immortality and regenerative abilities of his monstrous brethren.
 * Superhuman Agility: Pride has flawless coordination, equilibrium, and dexterity. He can jump and run along falling debris. He can manipulate all his bodily rotations, including spinning, turning, rolling, etc., allowing him to move his body in any way or direction, allowing to him escape any hold and evade any attack from any direction. He can perform any physical activity without difficulty.
 * Superhuman Reflexes: Pride reaction time is lightning-fast. It allows him to react to danger and events far faster than others. When shot at by multiple machine guns and a tank's artillery shell at point-blank, Pride dodged, deflected, and sliced through them all with incredible ease, all while continuously charging forward.
 * Superhuman Momentum: Pride can control the acceleration of his own body, allowing him to attack or dodge anything without warning and at peak perfection. Pride can generate great amounts of physical force through kinetic energy, even in a stationary position. His speed lets him channel the force into powerful strikes, Pride can swing a blade with enough force to slice a wall and still cut clean through a person.
 * Ultimate Eye: While it grants him an extra-sensory vision of his general surroundings, the Eye's true ability is precognition; allowing Wrath to perfectly and efficiently anticipate all variables and his opponent's attacks and take action with absolute efficiency without any effort. He can adapt perfectly to all factors achieving maximum efficiency in offensive and defensive strategy, ensuring optimal results as long as there is the slightest chance and depending on the means at his disposal. A simple glance will detect his opponent's or obstacle's nature, strengths, weaknesses, etc. making Wrath a perfect military field strategist.