Cornello is a low-level alchemist and a fraud. He uses what he believes to be the Philosopher's Stone to deceive the people of Lior into thinking he has been sent by the Sun God Leto, possessing miraculous powers like resurrecting the dead. Although he employs alchemy to bring prosperity to the desert city, his real goal is to transform the citizens into a fanatical army. The Elric brothers expose him as a fraud, and soon after, the incomplete Philosopher's Stone becomes unstable and shatters, tearing his arm into a mass of flesh and metal.
After the Elrics thwart his plans and Cornello is no longer useful to the Homunculi, he is consumed by Gluttony. Envy, disguised as Cornello, continues the deception until Lior is subdued by the State Military. In the manga, Lust tells Gluttony that he should not have eaten such a low-grade fraud like Cornello and kills him herself. Gluttony then eats Cornello’s dead body, with Lust responding rather annoyed, "I thought I told you not to eat that."
