It might seem redundant to some to create a Hawkeye discussion thread since the Royai discussion thread tends to double as both a discussion of Roy and Riza’s characters as well their relationship. However, as a gen fan, that thread tends to get way too shippy for my tastes, and I hope that there are others who share my feelings and want to talk about Hawkeye as her own character. She is, after all, one of the most popular characters in the series, right? We must like her for more than just her relationship with Roy…

No doubt, Roy and Riza play a big role in each other’s lives. Still, I feel like the fans sometimes fail to see Roy and Riza, but particularly Riza, outside of their supposed “romantic” interactions with each other. How rare is it to come across Hawkeye fan fiction that doesn’t involve romance with Roy? Roy gets off a little better, but not by much. There’s so much more to their relationship than possible romantic feelings. Here is a place to consider and discuss their love, their respect, their understanding for each other in a more platonic way. How did they interact when he was her father’s student, if they interacted at all? What feelings did they have when they discovered the other in Ishbal? How responsible do they feel for the other’s actions there and after? I think we should discuss questions like that without shipper goggles on, without all the squee, if we want to truly understand the characters. Not everything is about romance!

Riza also has interesting interactions with other characters. So here’s a thread for discussing the role she plays in her team and her relationships with them. What does she think of them? Does she deal with each of them differently? What do they think of her? Or talk about how she interacts with the Elric brothers or Winry. How does she handle her dealings with Ed in comparison to Al? Consider her life outside of work. Does she have many friends? What are her hobbies? What does her apartment say about her? Speculate on her past and her family. What was her relationship with her father like? Or her mother? How did the tattoo get put on her back? What the heck happened to make Old Man Hawkeye so crazy? Does she even know that she’s related to Grumman, and what kind of relationship do they have if she is aware?

So, this thread is dedicated to considering Hawkeye’s character without all the mushy, gooey romance mucking it up, to give her the respect she deserves by seeing her as more than just a love interest. Roy deserves one of these threads too, I think, but I’ll leave that to someone else. So let the discussion, speculation, adoration, and more begin!

I suppose I should start with some kind of discussion question to get the ball rolling. The best place to start seems to be the beginning. What do you think Riza’s early life was like? What part of Amestris was she born in and when? What was her mother like? How and when did she die? Was her father always as creepy as he seemed in the flashbacks? Did he change after the death of his wife (heck, was she even his wife)? From what was seen and discussed in the manga, do you think he loved his daughter and was just a little distracted by alchemy? Or do you think he was a neglectful and abusive father?

I’ll add my own thoughts after a little discussion from others, as this post is getting pretty long as is. Also, you know, to see if anyone is even interested in a thread like this. In conclusion, Hawkeye is awesome!

@Kokoro - Yes, Hawkeye is awesome!! ^^ And, yes, this will be considered as a redundant thread since we do have Hawkeye X Roy: The Royai Thread, For Roy, Riza, and Royai fans, and more!! as the designated thread for Roy, Riza, and RoyxRiza related discussions on our board. Sorry... And, here is why/how...

Over the years on our board, we did get many Riza Hawkeye discussion threads opened, and some of them, time to time, had allowed chances to develop into own discussion threads, yet they all ended up having too much redundant contents.. not only having same discussions about Riza on both "Riza" thread and "Royai" thread, but also soon or later Riza thread got inevitably filled with discussions on Riza's interactions with Roy for certain scenes, certain chapters, certain episode, certain magazine pics, etc., etc. (because of the special close tie/bond/connection on these two characters in FMA, especially in FMA manga storyline) and eventually these threads got ended up getting closed/deleted or merged to the current Roy, Riza, & Royai thread as the redundant threads because of that.

Hence, from our experiences on our board, we came to the current set up of having Hawkeye X Roy: The Royai Thread, For Roy, Riza, and Royai fans, and more!! as the designated discussion thread for Roy , Riza, and RoyxRiza related topics.

And, indeed, we have had many MANY interesting and sometimes very serious and very deep discussions on Riza on that thread that are NOT "Royai," and "without all the mushy, gooey romance stuff mucking it up" these discussions, such as Riza's relationship with her father, about Riza's tattoo, Riza cosplay, about Riza's name, Riza's gun, Riza's dog (Black Hayate) etc., etc., etc. I am personally amazed and very impressed on the depth of discussions they have on that particular thread, and many of these happen to be not about "mushy, gooey and mucked-up romance stuff." Similarly, you are perfectly welcome to start discussions on Riza that are not Royai related but about Riza, such as Riza's interactions with other people, or Riza's early life, Riza's hobby, etc., etc. on that thread also, and that would be very much appreciated.