How is Alphonse Elric able to see?


How is Alphonse Elric ( And all the other souls affixed to objects ) able to
see ? **_Contains Spoilers_**

Alphonse soul got affixed to a armor but his real body still remains in the
void. So how is he able to see through the piece of armor? And does this not
collide with his real body's vision. All his other sense's such as feeling,
taste are removed. And he also has the inability to sleep. So why does his
vision remain?




There's a bit of speculation here, since there is no blatant in-universe
explanation nor [Word of
God](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WordOfGod) to fully
demonstrate the reason for this.

You may want to take a look at the answer to [why a soul bonded to a suit of
armor can move](https://anime.stackexchange.com/a/3865/274), because the
explanation here is pretty similar. Essentially, keeping in line with the
series' representation of [eyes being windows to the
soul](https://anime.stackexchange.com/a/3939/274) (a [common
trope](https://anime.stackexchange.com/q/3547/274)), basically: Sight is not
necessarily handled biologically.

Here's basically how this works: If an average person loses his sight (as does
happen in the series), he cannot see, because there is no channel of vision
connected to his soul (for either eye). However, Alphonse, Barry, and the
other soul-bound armors do have this channel of vision, just as there is the
ability for them to move their steel fingers (with, of course, the channel
being in opposite direction).

The reason what he sees does not collide with what his body sees is because
his body is not transmitting its sight to a soul. It has no conscious mind to
connect to its sight. As for his sleep, because he has no biological
mechanisms, they do not need to rest, but his conscious mind still remains
active because it is affixed to his soul (imagine the way we dream).

You're probably thinking, "Oh, hurr hurr, mister clever, there's still no
physical organ to transmit the vision data!" And you'd be absolutely right!
There is _nothing which suggests that there is a physical entity able to
transmit visual data from the real world to the armor seal_ , whereas there is
a physical entity able to move his limbs. It's not even known that only armor
with helmets can see; in fact, when Barry is reduced to a single plate of
armor, he appears to be able to see his body standing over him.

So to put it simply, your answer is: **Alphonse and other soul-bound armors
see because it's necessary for the story.** We can loosely explain it, as I
did above, but there still is no legitimate, solid reason why this should be
possible.




There's a bit of speculation here, since there is no blatant in-universe
explanation nor [Word of
God](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WordOfGod) to fully
demonstrate the reason for this.

You may want to take a look at the answer to [why a soul bonded to a suit of
armor can move](https://anime.stackexchange.com/a/3865/274), because the
explanation here is pretty similar. Essentially, keeping in line with the
series' representation of [eyes being windows to the
soul](https://anime.stackexchange.com/a/3939/274) (a [common
trope](https://anime.stackexchange.com/q/3547/274)), basically: Sight is not
necessarily handled biologically.

Here's basically how this works: If an average person loses his sight (as does
happen in the series), he cannot see, because there is no channel of vision
connected to his soul (for either eye). However, Alphonse, Barry, and the
other soul-bound armors do have this channel of vision, just as there is the
ability for them to move their steel fingers (with, of course, the channel
being in opposite direction).

The reason what he sees does not collide with what his body sees is because
his body is not transmitting its sight to a soul. It has no conscious mind to
connect to its sight. As for his sleep, because he has no biological
mechanisms, they do not need to rest, but his conscious mind still remains
active because it is affixed to his soul (imagine the way we dream).

You're probably thinking, "Oh, hurr hurr, mister clever, there's still no
physical organ to transmit the vision data!" And you'd be absolutely right!
There is _nothing which suggests that there is a physical entity able to
transmit visual data from the real world to the armor seal_ , whereas there is
a physical entity able to move his limbs. It's not even known that only armor
with helmets can see; in fact, when Barry is reduced to a single plate of
armor, he appears to be able to see his body standing over him.

So to put it simply, your answer is: **Alphonse and other soul-bound armors
see because it's necessary for the story.** We can loosely explain it, as I
did above, but there still is no legitimate, solid reason why this should be
possible.

