Izumi Curtis—born Izumi Harnet—became the Elric brothers' alchemy teacher after their mother died, taking Ed and Al under her wing to develop their skills beyond the basics. But her training went way beyond transmutation circles and theory. She pushed them through philosophy, martial arts, and survival skills, drawing from her own brutal education: she'd been forced to fend for herself in the frozen wilderness around Briggs Fortress for a month (though it's later revealed she managed by sneaking supplies from the fortress itself). Her methods shaped how she taught—tough, practical, and uncompromising.
The Elrics genuinely feared her. She didn't hesitate to get violent during sparring or punishment, and that terror seemed to fuel her lessons. Fans still love the moment she faced off against Greed while casually insisting, "I'm a housewife!"—apparently one of Arakawa's favorite scenes to draw. Despite officially cutting ties with Ed and Al after learning about their human transmutation attempt and Ed's military enlistment, she never really abandoned them. She kept finding ways to help, because she'd come to see them as her own sons.
Years before the series started, Izumi and her husband Sig Curtis lost their unborn child to stillbirth. Desperate to bring him back, she attempted human transmutation herself—a failure that cost her internal organs and left her infertile, leading to chronic blood loss. The trauma also awakened something in her: after glimpsing the "truth," she gained the ability to perform alchemy without a transmutation circle.
In the manga, the military caught wind of her failed transmutation attempt and came looking for her. As she and Sig traveled across Amestris trying to stay under the radar, they crossed paths with Hohenheim, Ed and Al's father. He reorganized her insides to stop the bleeding and convinced her to help him take down the State Military.
Content compiled by AnimeList.moe from publicly available sources.
