There’s recently been some shipping stuff going down in the FMA that I choose not to engage with. Regardless of my opinion on what constitutes a “problematic” ship, I’d like to talk about Wrath’s age as there is (understandably) some confusion on this. I’d like to put in my two cents as I’ve thought a lot about it and done some calculations in the past.

The “Memory-Loss” Trope

In 2003, Wrath first appears as a childish character with no memory. This innocent behavior accompanying memory loss is a trope commonly used in anime. Here, he behaves like a young kid.

Once given the red stones by Envy, he regains his memory. The anger he has towards Izumi and the Elrics is also accompanied by becoming noticeably more articulate and purposeful in his actions, in opposition to the child-like behavior he displayed before.

This change may not be as dramatic in the dub, but in the Japanese version Nana Mizuki’s pitch and style of speaking changes completely when this shift takes place. This makes a clear separation between his two mental states.

Regressive Behavior

Throughout the series, Wrath goes between the extremes of his more mature and his child-like sides. The script and voice acting clearly distinguish the two (at least in the subtitled version–I’m not as familiar with the dub).

Regressive behavior–reverting to child-like ways of behaving, including mannerisms, speech, tantrums, ect–is a common trait in those who have experienced trauma (living your whole life in the gate, anyone?). It is commonly associated with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD.) 

Because most of Wrath’s trauma come from his abandonment as a child, anything involving babies, mothers, or being left alone tends to send him to this state. He also had little-no socialization before the series, so he often has trouble balancing his reason/knowledge (he grew up in the gate–exposed to all the knowledge of alchemy–and is able to perform it easily) with his unstable emotions.

(Wrath contemplating the deep stuff  v ) 

Determining Wrath’s Age by Appearance

While I wouldn’t typically judge a character’s age by their appearance, it is of note that Izumi states that: if her child had survived, he would be about age now. That assumes that he is at least (semi) average height for his age.

He is shown to be only slightly shorter or roughly the same height as Ed, who is listed as  4'11 (~150 cm for the 2003 series. Ed’s short for his age, so its better to base this off of other characters relation to Ed’s height. 

(lol theres probably a better screenshot but theyre always wrestling eachother and barely ever standing)

Ed’s height at this point in the series is taller than the 10-year-old Alphonse Elric was when attempting human transmutation. He’s also taller than many of the younger children we meet throughout the show, such as Elica in Red Water episodes and Manny fron episode 27.

Other characters we see with a similar height to Ed include Claus (undeterminable age I think?) and Fletcher. Fletcher was posing as the 14-year-old Alphonse Elric, so we can assume we probably Fletcher wasn’t below 10 years old.

Average height charts I look up place 4′11 to be average for a 12-year-old boy. 

Its same to assume that if Wrath goes appear to be the “correct” age to Izumi, then he likely isn’t under 10 years old at his first appearance in the series. I place him somewhere in the 10-12.5 range in literal years, despite his often childish behavior. 

Within the Narrative

I partially place his age here, because in the narrative, he serves as a kind of “reflection” to Edward. He has his arm and leg, and Sloth/Trisha as his mother. His original character designs, and his earliest appearance features Wrath wearing Ed’s clothes.

Wrath sees Edward as living a life that was unfairly taken from him, including having a close bond with Izumi. At the end of the series, Wrath is given the automail that was originally made for Ed.

Ed mentions that when Wrath cried for Sloth, it felt like he was crying in his place.

Having too extreme of an age gap between the two would make this mirroring device less apparent, wheras I’ve always perceived it very clearly.

During Shamballa

If one traces the timegap between the end of 2003 and Conqueror of Shamballa, they’ll notice that 2.5 years pass in-between. 2003 ends in the Spring/Summer and Conqueror of Shamballa takes place in early November. When Al comes back at the end of 2003, he’s 10, but by the movie he is 13. 

It’s debatable if Wrath has aged between the series and film. It is shown that he could age in the gate, and (to me) he looks much older in the movie. But he hasn’t grown much height-wise. Nonetheless, its clear that he’s matured a lot emotionally. 

(Wrath looking cool in CoS v )

 If Wrath is somewhere in the range of 10-12.5 years old at his first appearance in 2003, that would make him 12.5-15 by the time Shamballa begins (whether its physical aging or simply the amount of time he’s been alive for.

Of course, most of this is from my own observation and any counterpoints are welcome. This is all I’ve been able to figure out from the limited context and info I’ve gathered from the series.