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In the opening of Fullmetal Alchemist, it says...

> Human kind cannot obtain anything without first giving something in return
> To obtain, something of equal value must be lost That is alchemy's first law
> of equivalent exchange. In those days, we really believed that to be that
> world's one and only truth.

But why did the Elric brothers believe this to be the one and only law of
alchemy? If this was explained in one of the episodes of Fullmetal Alchemist
or Brotherhood, please list it too, thanks.


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question
fullmetal-alchemist-series
Why did the Elric brothers only believe in one rule of alchemy?


Alchemy in the real world is recognized as a protoscience that contributed to
the development of modern chemistry and medicine.

Both Ed and Al say that Alchemy is a science and that the input must be equal
to their output, equivalent exchange is this because for what you give up
(your input) you will recive something of equal value (your equal output)

There are 2 parts to Equivalent Exchange which can be read up on the [Wikia
page](http://fma.wikia.com/wiki/Alchemy#Equivalent_Exchange), The Law of
Conservation of Mass and The Law of Natural Providence. I should point out
that Scar is still following The Law of Conservation of Mass as what is he
doing is breaking objects apart but not reforming, when Ed goes to repair Al
after getting his arm back he checks that they did pick up every tiny fragment
hinting at this.

Now one can say that the Red Stones or Incomplete Philosopher's Stone can
bypass however in a sense they don't, the Red Stones are created by combining
materials and get used up over time thus they don't have a Rebound. the
Incomplete Philosopher's Stones have the rebound because they are used to
bypass Equivalent Exchange however it's unpredictable when the alchemical
forces begin stabilize themselves, Marcoh and the State Alchemists during
Ishval War were just lucky it never occurred during the war and after it
Marcoh seemed to reduce it's usage.

The Philosopher's Stone on the other hand may be the only exception, using it
one can bypass Equivalent Exchange however one needs to follow Equivalent
Exchange to make one in the first place by sacrificing lives. In Brotherhood,
because the first known Philosopher's Stone came from knowledge from
[Dwarf](http://fma.wikia.com/wiki/Dwarf) the Philosopher's Stone may be
keeping the alchemical process balanced by doing something that is beyond the
realm of human understanding which only
[Truth](http://fma.wikia.com/wiki/Truth) understands


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answer


Okay, so, there's a couple things in play here you need to be aware of. Keep
in mind that some of this is slightly speculative.

First, it is _only in the dub_ that Alphonse states it to be the "one and
only" truth. The original commentary states,

> その頃【ころ】、ぼくらは、それが世界【せかい】の真実【しんじつ】だと信じて【しんじて】いた。
>
> "When we were young, we believed that to be the truth of the world."

Second, though, I think there is an important reason that Alphonse brings this
up. Starting at episode 43, the pre-OP commentary changes to the following:

> He who obtains [the Philosopher's Stone] is exempt from the rule of
> Equivalent Exchange and does not have to sacrifice anything to obtain
> something.

_(Note: This statement is somewhat wrong: During this unusual exchange, there
is still something lost, but it's not apparent to whomever it is doing the
transmutation.)_

In their adventure, Ed and Al basically learned that human lives are given an
alchemical value; since they both believe human life to be invaluable, this
shakes the foundation of the principle of Equivalent Exchange that they grew
up learning.

This seems to be the only reason that Alphonse used the past tense with
"believed"; the Philosopher's Stone shattered what they believed Equivalent
Exchange truly meant. To him, Equivalent Exchange can no longer be the "one
and only" truth.

This idea also holds true in _Brotherhood_. The Philosopher's Stone is
essentially identical, and the brothers learn the same terrible details of it.


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answer