Father Cornello in Fullmetal Alchemist

In the first two episodes of Fullmetal Alchemist, the series’ protagonists Edward and Alphonse Elric come across the desert town of Lior. The people there are deeply religious and insular. Their leader, Father Cornello, performs “miracles” that have allowed them to survive the harsh desert conditions. When the brothers visit Father Cornello, however, they discover he is using alchemy, but breaking its fundamental law, the Law of Equivalent Exchange (for a real-world analogy, think Enron’s mark-to-market accounting scheme). The people of Lior, however, are not keen to hear the brothers criticize their leader.

Ed and Al eventually discover Father Cornello’s motives, which identify him as a very toxic leader. The people of Lior are archetypal benign followers – both types A and P that were discussed in The Allure of Toxic Leaders– and depend on Father Cornello for everything. Father Cornello recognizes this, remarking to Edward, “as long as I’m bringing them happiness what do they care where it comes from?” He also, as evidenced by his referral to them as his “mindless pawns,” does not care one way or another about what happens to his followers, they are only a means to an end. That end, as it turns out, is world domination. Promising the people that he can resurrect them and their loved ones if they die (which is impossible and forbidden to attempt in alchemy), Cornello seeks to raise an “army . . . with a holy call” to conquer the surrounding areas and eventually the world. Of course, since he cannot really resurrect them, this will lead to the deaths and suffering of his followers, but Cornello does not seem concerned by this. Moreover, when his most faithful follower, a girl who has lost her family and fiancée, befriends the brothers and disobeys Cornello, he attempts to have her killed, demonstrating further his lack of regard for his followers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRNRNma9pXs&feature=fvsr