Winry Rockbell (ウィンリィ・ロックベル, Uinrī Rokkuberu) is a main supporting character in the Fullmetal Alchemist series. A close childhood friend of Edward and Alphonse Elric since their young life in Resembool, she is almost like a sister to the two and essentially their only family. An amateur surgeon and mechanical repair specialist/enthusiast, Winry acts as Edward's rear line support as his personal automailengineer and mechanic, making sure his prosthetic right arm and left leg are always in good working order. Additionally, she provides a great deal of emotional support for the pair and plays the role of Edward's love interest in the story.
Relatives
- Pinako Rockbe (grandmother)
- Edward Elric (husband)
- Alphonse Elric (brother-in-law)
- Unnamed Son and Daughter
- Trisha Elric (mother-in-law)
- Van Hohenheim (father-in-law)
Appearance
Winry is an attractive young woman with a slender yet healthily curvaceous build, blue eyes and long, light blonde hair. She is slightly taller than Edward for the entirety of the 2003 anime series and most of the manga and, though Edward spends much of their early life taunting her for having "no sex appeal", Winry's figure becomes progressively more womanly and shapely over the course of the story. She usually wears her hair in a long ponytail tied high in back, while leaving a loose curtain on either side of her face and her bangs falling casually from right to left across her forehead. Winry wears her ears pierced in an avant-garde style, with two identical pairs of hoop earrings on each earlobe and an additional two cuff studs worn vertically on her right ear, above the others. Though multiple characters have commented on her ladylike beauty in public, Winry is an unabashed tomboy and spends much of her time dressed in her mechanic's garb, donning a beige worker's jumpsuit with the top half open and tied around her waist to reveal her usual black tube top and her bare midriff. After her move to Rush Valley, Winry swaps out her tube top for a black and white halter with a large zipper down the front, but the remainder of her work outfit remains the same. Additionally, she ties her hair back with a characteristic bandanna, wears house slippers and protects her hands with light brown suede craftsman's gloves while working. When going out for a jaunt, however, Winry is quite partial to light-colored tank tops and short skirts and occasionally wears her hair down.
Personality
Winry is a very emotional, strong-willed and emphatic person who puts all her heart and effort into the things she does. Enthusiastic about machinery, Winry is most at home near cranking gears, whirring bearings and the smell of oil and becomes absolutely giddy when given the opportunity to interact with and learn about such things, causing Edward to mock her as an "engineering otaku" or a "crazy gearhead". She is stubborn and straightforward, often calling others out for their weaknesses and delusions. Though she shares this trait with Edward, Winry is a bit more tactful with her honesty and usually only displays this side of herself to her closest relations. Winry's stout heart allows her to make difficult and dangerous choices very easily so long as they coincide with her strong sense of duty and morality. Contributed to by both of these characteristics is her willingness to work with almost excessive devotion on the various automails whose maintenance she undertakes for the sake of the people who depend on her, going so far as to take multiple consecutive overnight workshop sessions and travel long distances without hesitation in order to ensure their prompt and proper completion. Kindhearted and empathetic, Winry is the type of person who consistently tries her best to aid and support the people around her. She is very sensitive to the pain of others and has been known to cry frequently on behalf of people who won't cry for themselves, earning her the distinction of being a bit of a "crybaby" in Edward's eyes. As one who values family (immediate and extended) above most other things, Winry is a bit of a worrier and concerns herself with the welfare of people she cares about. It is likely this care that makes her so popular with her clients in Rush Valley, all of whom are greatly moved by the attention to personal detail that she willingly gives to each of them.
However, on the other side of her sensitive and emotional nature is a temper that easily rivals - if not overshadowing - even that of Edward Elric. When insulted, hurt or embarrassed, Winry is prone to lash out violently - though typically the victims of such tantrums are Ed and Al, in which case she has been known to use her own wrench as her main weapon.
Relationships
Edward Elric
Undoubtedly the most significant of her relationships; as such, however, Edward argues with Winry even more than he does with Al, their similarly stubborn personalities keeping them at odds with one another despite their powerful bond. After the terrible accident that claimed Ed's arm and leg, Winry took on the role of his personal automail mechanic, building him sophisticated new limbs at the tender age of eleven. Since then, Winry has served as Ed's constant well of support, both mechanically and emotionally, though they still find themselves arguing frequently. However, this affectionate hostility appears to be masking a deeper relationship. Though Edward has not outwardly admitted any romantic feelings toward Winry, he is rather overprotective of her and becomes unnaturally flustered at the mere suggestion of an amatory relationship between them. Winry, for her part, has admitted to herself that she had been falling for him all along. They finally confess to each other at the end of the series (although they use The Law of Equivalent Exchange to do so). According to the Fullmetal Alchemist Chronicle (Official Guide), they get married in 1917 and have many children.
Alphonse Elric
Born to the kind family that lived next door to the Elrics, Winry grew up alongside Ed and Al and means as much to them both as would a sister; she and Al are more than childhood friends, they are a family. However, Alphonse had displayed some sort of romantic affections for Winry in his youth, as revealed by his mention of how he and Ed had fought over her hand in marriage, but were both turned down. Nonetheless, Al expresses jealousy in one of the omake pieces over Edward's nearly seeing her naked in Chapter 84. For the most part, Al appears to have put those feelings behind him and takes pleasure in teasing Winry for her apparent feelings for his older brother.
Abilities
Winry is an exceptionally gifted and passionate mechanic, excelling in the repair of machines of widely varying complexity. Of course, her truest passion and most extensive expertise is in the crafting and overhauling of automail prostheses. Brought up under the tutelage of her grandmother, master automail engineer Pinako Rockbell, Winry has been working with automail for most of her youth and can be considered somewhat of a machinist prodigy, having built Edward a complex pair of limbs at the tender age of eleven. Since that time, her skills have improved to the point that she has surpassed even her grandmother (once hailed far and wide as the "Pantheress of Resembool") and gained a fair bit of notoriety in her position at Atelier Garfiel in Rush Valley.
In addition, Winry appears to have a remarkable wealth of surgical knowledge for her age (despite a lack of formal training), gleaned from having grown up in a family of surgeons. Edward remarks that Winry's early comprehension of advanced medical literature is on par with the familiarity with alchemical texts shared by the young Elric brothers themselves. She has also displayed a significantly strong throwing arm, able to pitch heavy wrenches long distance with deadly accuracy.
Though displaying relatively few particularly feminine traits in the beginning of the series, Winry learns to bake from Gracia Hughes during her first trip to Central City and develops her ability to bake pies - specifically apple pies - as the series progresses.
Trivia
- It has been posited that Winry's given name began as a mis-transliteration on the part of the author, who intended to name her "Wendy".
- Winry is a very loved character. For example Mania Entertainment's Jarred Pine liked how Winry's character is further developed in the manga than in the first anime, remarking her first meeting with Riza Hawkeye which he claims "It is such a simple scene, but it really speaks volumes about the characters."
- In the most recent fan poll, Winry was ranked 5th most popular Fullmetal Alchemist character, making her the second most popular female character after Riza Hawkeye (who was ranked 3rd overall).
- Ed and Winry's romantic relationship is heavily implied in the FMA series. The relationship is confirmed during end of the manga, as the two end up together with children. This is one of the most popular FMA pairings. It's also known as "Edwin". Apparently, the number "503" was also previously used as a name for this pairing, based on a brand of jeans of the same number by a company called Edwin.
- In the OVA "Kids," one of the children looks almost identical to Winry and is Edward's great granddaughter. No one knows if Winry somehow got to our world and had children with Edward or Ed simply found our universe's version of Winry, whether either of them are relevant is never explained. Evidently, Ed is revealed to be wearing Automail in the OVA, which implies that Winry may have gotten to our world, and fitted new types of automail for Ed.
- Winry's trademark bandanna is colored green in the manga and 2009 anime, while in the 2003 anime, it's red, however, in the end of episode 51 she switches to a green one.
- In the Brotherhood character theme album, Winry's theme song is called "Look Up at the Sky," sung by her seiyu, Megumi Takamoto.
- On the cover page of Chapter 107, Winry is included putting her hand in the circle with the rest of the protagonists.