I'm going to be honest, I'm a little embarrassed posting this -o_o-. But it needs to be posted because it's about time I stopped throwing this character into my gallery impulsively and explain who the heck he is.

Anyone who knows me knows that I'm a sucker for alternate universe fanfiction. Why? Pssh, no idea. I guess I just love taking some characters, putting them in a new situation, and seeing how they will adapt. I don't revolve around it as tightly as I used to, but I do still dabble in it. Well, my beloved brainchild that you see here -- Edward Elric of Dark -- is a result of that dabbling in alternate universe fanfiction. He's a main character in the Fullmetal Alchemist fanfic I have been writing for a while now called "The Dark." Now I must explain. *Is still embarrassed.*

Imagine that every action one carries out releases consequential energy. If someone does something that he perceives as good, then his action will generate positive energy. If he does something that he perceives as bad, it will generate negative energy. This energy shapes who someone is as a person, just like in real people in everyday life. That's the basic idea, but it runs a little deeper than that. The negative energy is called sinful energy, since it comes as a result of doing things that are considered morally bad by the doer. A regular person's body is not made to handle this rather "heavy" type of energy. Sinful energy is too much for them to handle; if it builds up, it will destroy their personality. This is where Darks come in.

Just like in the Fullmetal Alchemist anime, the Portal of Truth (or Gate) has two sides to it, but unlike the anime, the other side is not Earth. There is Ed's world, which is called the Light world, and the other side, which is the Dark world. Likewise, people on the Light side are called "Lights," and people on the Dark side are called "Darks." These titles are attached to the end of a person's name -- which is why this OC is called Edward of Dark. Just the same, the regular Ed we all know is called Edward of Light. These two worlds have a very important connection with each other.

Every Light has a Dark on the other side of the Portal that is spiritually connected to them. The Dark gets all the information for who he is through this connection; the Dark is in almost every way exactly like the Light, both in personality and looks. There are only a few key differences, which I will explain later. The purpose of this connection, and the Dark for that matter, is to handle the sinful energy that the Light cannot. A Light and his Dark follow a sort of set diagram: There is the Light, who is the "true" person. He is granted the will to shape his own life with his own thoughts an actions; but with this gift, there is a sacrifice. His body is not strong enough to handle sinful energy; it will break apart his body and personality. So, through their spiritual connection, all of the sinful energy is transferred to the Dark, who has a body that is strong enough to handle it. The Dark's situation is in reverse from the Light's; he has a body that is strong enough to handle sinful energy without being damaged, but with this strength, he is unable to shape his own life with his own will. So, he gets his personality and body from his Light. Because the connection works like this, it's a common belief in this universe that Darks have no more purpose in life than to act as a servant to their Light, and some go as far as to believe that Darks don't even have a soul, but only borrow the soul of their Light. (I have to note that Darks do have their own soul.)

I really hope you guys are getting this so far, because I'm having a lot of trouble putting it all down in a form that makes sense ^^". Now, I'll go more into the Dark. Like I said, he is in almost every way just like his Light; there are only a few differences. The first and most obvious difference are colors. The natural hair and eye colors for a Dark are purple, blue, green, pink, and red. After that are differences that have more to do with their connection to their Light. The way a Dark is able to handle sinful energy is by storing it inside the body and converting it into a useful form. The more a Light sins, the more sinful energy a Dark has stored inside his body. And the more sinful energy he has stored, the stronger, faster, and more alchemically skilled the Dark is. A Dark can gain these things naturally through hard work, but the sinful energy he has can further it beyond the limits of a Light and give the Dark extraordinary, almost superhuman ability. This is only if they have quite an amount of sins, though; most everyday people, who do not do an excessive amount of bad, do not generate enough sinful energy to make their Dark so skilled.

A third and important difference between their bodies is that a Dark cannot exist without his Light, whereas a Light can exist without his Dark. A Dark has a special part of his brain that is responsible for interpreting information from his Light and releasing hormones that correspond with it. When a Light dies, his death triggers the production of a hormone in the Dark's body that enables him to continue living despite the absence of his Light. However, if something were to happen that caused the Dark's connection to the Light to be lost even though the Light was still alive, he would be unable to function and would eventually die because he did not have this vital hormone. On the flip side of the coin, none if this matters to the Light; whether the Dark is dead or alive, the Light will go unaffected and continue to live without issue. (Excepting that, if he were to sin too much without his Dark there to cushion him, he would obtain numerous mental health issues that would lead to tragedy.)

So that is the basic structure of this world that I have created. I would prefer not to give a summary of the plot of my fic; just the structure is fine for you to understand who this guy is =]. This is Edward's Dark (who I hope you can all understand much better now). He has gone through many, many design changes since I first thought up of him in 2007, and I am extremely happy to say that I have finally settled on a design that I will keep. And this is that design.

As a postscript, I'd like to clear up something I've been approached about a couple of times. Some people have made a point to me that it's a little ridiculous I make all of this complicated out-of-the-world stuff into a fanfic when it would make such an excellent original story. Frankly, I agree. But I have reasons. Just wait a sec.

1. This entire thing started with Dark Ed. That was it. Just that idea, that just-for-fun thing that any fangirl would do. The original story, the evening it popped in my head, was just "If Ed had a dark side, what would he be like?" It made so much sense to be a fanfic back then. But I wanted it to make sense. As he grew on me, Dark Ed changed. The story grew and developed over two years until it turned into something that maybe shouldn't be a fanfic anymore, but an original story. The reason it's still a fanfic is because of Ed of Dark. It's the character, who I have played with for so long, who can't be tied to anything but FMA simply because of who he is. So you could say that this whole thing is less of a fanfic and more of a background story for this little fun FMA OC I have. However you want to see it, it's all about my Dark Ed.

2. I have many friends who have, for all the time I have had this character, waited and waited for this fanfic to come to life. I have an audience who wants to read this fic just as badly, if not more, as I want to write it. I can't just call it quits on this thing if I have all you guys who I love that are waiting to see it. <3

3. Just me. I have fun with this whole thing. It's just my crazy creative mind at work and I'd like to get it out. If you don't want to be poisoned with my weirdo mind, don't read XD.

So yes, that's why. I would love to one day turn this thing into an original story, a state it belongs in, and in fact I plan on it. But for now, I'm just concentrating on finishing this project I've pushed upon myself so that I can rest my pen and go back to just having fun with Dark Ed as a boredom character. Because as weird as he is, I luff my Dark Ed <33.

Thank you for reading this far, BTW. Feel free to ask questions, praise me, or bash me. (Don't be afraid to bash, I deserve it XD). I really thank you if you have the interest to read this whole thing. It means a lot <3. If you are interested in reading "The Dark," I am currently in the process of writing it. I'll be giving updates on its status through journals. If you want to really, really know who Edward of Dark is, I deeply recommend that you read the fic. It's kind of a must. (Because Dark Ed has a lot of angst, love and pure coolness that I haven't really touched on in this *freakin'* long artist's note. Also, he and regular Ed are best friends =/. Just saying.)

Okay, aaagh, I'm trying to wrap this up but I just realized that I haven't even really talked about the picture yet!! GRRR okay okay.

YES! Like I said, these are the finalized character sketches for my beloved brainchild, Edward of Dark. There's not that much to say that isn't already said through looking at the art, but I just want to point out some of the points I'm making in the sketches. There's Dark Ed with his coat on and with it off, yada yada. In the second row, on the left, I'm showing that Dark Ed's body is complete and does not have automail (this is something that will take another long explanation that I would rather not give. READTHEFIC!) In the third row is just a demonstration of Dark Ed's gun, which was given to him by Riza of Dark when he went to the Light side of the Gate, and a diagram of where he keeps it (left). The ridiculous belt-sash is explained! WOOT! XDDD And then of course, at the very bottom, is a colored sketch of what Dark Ed looks like, because color is sooo important for this character and this fic.

You guys are just waiting for me to shut up, aren't you? So am I. I would love to take a shower now. And I'm thirsty, GEEZ. Please enjoy the privilege of understanding who this guy is and why I draw him so much. (And no longer having to eyeroll when he appears in your inbox >>.) I luff yous! ;_; <3

Edward Elric of Dark is my brainchild and I luffs him even though he's unoriginal <3.
Fullmetal Alchemist belongs to Hiromu Arakawa.

[EDIT]: Holy crap, I just realized that there are inconsistencies between the first and last images in this thing. In the concepts of Dark Ed with his coat on (first row) I forgot to draw the velcro flap on his coat, and in the colored sketch at the bottom, I forgot to draw the buttons on the coat. GRRR. Well, just know that yes, he is supposed to have BOTH on his coat - the button and the velcro flap. I'm really sorry about that, fail on my part.