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Throughout all of Fullmetal Alchemist Manga, King Bradley chopped his way
through everything, from stone to arms to automail.

How did it get to be so sharp? What did the King use to sharpen his sword?

An aside: the sharpness of his sword seemed to transfer to any bladed weapon
he used. Was it a side effect of his homunculus-ness?


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2015-04-10T01:58:42.270
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2016-01-18T09:29:45.993
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fullmetal-alchemist-series fullmetal-alchemist-manga
How is King Bradley's sword so sharp?


They're so sharp because he takes care of them. The true power behind his
swords are his swordsmanship, superhuman strength and incredible speed.
Everything King Bradley uses to fight with is really just ordinary weapons.
There is a scene in the brotherhood series (I'm aware you mentioned the manga
but your overall question is generic) where he even picks up two dagger and
starts to fight the old man with no problem.

With the right amount of precision and strength it is possible to slice
through some really dense materials (Including metals) with a really well made
sharp sword. Keep in mind that it is still just an Anime/Manga.


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2015-06-11T02:00:05.700
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Adding to TonyBilby's answer: In the manga you get a short flashback into
Wrath's "creation" or "selection". There are quite a lot of candidates to
become wrath, training day and night and only the best one is chosen to become
King Bradley. At the said point in the story he is 60 years old, in which he
summed up a little bit of experience, compared to Ed's ~5(?) years of
training.

So my conclusion is the same: Superhuman strength, incredible speed and
possibly the best swordsmanship in the country.


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2015-07-14T12:53:45.530
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A lot of it boils down to superhuman strength **and** speed, so he's going to
hit his target with a lot of force behind each strike. There are a few other
things to consider:

  * Weapon: the sword he uses, [a spadroon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spadroon), isn't that strong a sword in terms of durability. However, he likely goes through these things like popcorn and is routinely replacing older/damaged swords with new, sharpened blades (he breaks them several times in the series).
  * Training: knowing all about body mechanics, timing, etc.; is something any competent martial artist possesses. There are plenty of articles and YouTube videos just on the topic of how a boxer generates so much more force than an "average Joe" when throwing a punch (chambering, stance, multi-joint-acceleration, muscle memory, etc.). The same applies to swordsmanship.
  * "Ultimate eye": he possesses a magical ability to hone in on his opponent's weak spot. Whether this is the opponent's vital points/organs, or if it also includes instantaneous weaknesses (weak points in armor, a bad stance or being off-balance, etc.) it could explain certain feats of skill/strength (i.e. chopping off Captain Buccaneer's automail arm so easily, or even damaging the treads on a tank, or the blades not breaking when striking Greed's/Ling's armored arms, or chopping through thousands of pounds of rock pillars): he just hits with absurd strength and accuracy (though, IRL, a spadroon isn't doing that kind of damage to caterpillar treads without snapping in half).

# Summary

Superhuman abilities provide a reasonable-enough explanation, but it takes an
aweful lot of
[handwavium/unobtainium](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/handwavium) to explain
how those fragile swords can withstand even 1% of the force thrown at them
without dulling and/or shattering with each strike.

# TL;DR

He's a superhuman with mithril blades.


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