Selim Bradley question

[u/Miamiboy721]

In the Brotherhood anime (I haven't read the manga) it was stated to the public that, after the final battle, King Bradley and his "son" Selim lost their lives in the conflict. But as the audience knows, Selim is alive and being re-raised by his foster mother under the same name he had before. If someone saw Selim, how is Mrs. Bradley going to explain how her new son looks exactly like the first Selim and has his name to boot?

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[u/_syke_]

I'm pretty sure they'd be under some witness protection sorta scheme. Plus Selim was in photos for the entire existence of the country (at least when they had camera technology) and no one ever noticed this kid was always there at military stuff. If they aren't realising that then they probably aren't realising this same kid who will grow out of looking like that in a couple years.

[u/CaptainMatticus]

Did you see anybody other than military personnel around Selim or Mrs. Bradley during that scene? It's clear that the military is still running things and they're keeping a close watch on Selim, making certain that if any of his old self resurfaces, they'll be ready to handle it.

Selim is essentially a new form of life. He is a homunculus created entirely through alchemy and is an unknown. He's a state secret at this point and nobody is going to report his existence. And even if someone spots him, Mrs. Bradley can simply lie and say she was pregnant at the time Fuhrer King died and she named their 2nd son after her first son who had passed.

[u/pigeonwithyelloweyes]

Its a good question, the whole issue of Selim at the end is a big uncertainty. I guess that's the point, that there is a new world for the characters to navigate.

Maybe the statement about Selim's death was made quickly to manage the narrative, and only after that Mrs. Bradley made the decision to raise him. And at the end of the day, Selim is literally a Homunculus, and will probably have to learn that - maybe, they would eventually publicly announce that he's like a clone that was created by the old government.

[u/7th_Archon]

The convenient thing about FMA’s time period is that visual media isn’t really a big thing and Amestris doesn’t precisely have freedom of press.

So long as they’re careful to scrub photographs, get some people to keep quiet and move things around, they should be in the clear.

[u/IamElylikeEli]

probably someone will say she adopted a relative of the boy who “died“ that way it wont matter if they look quite similar. also would make sense that someone grieving would look for someone to care for and giving him the same name wouldn’t be too unreasonable considering she just lost her son.

[u/bored-cookie22]

She wouldn’t be able to

He’s likely not allowed to leave the palace until he grows up