Father (Fullmetal Alchemist)

The primary antagonist in the Full Metal Alchemist manga and second anime series, Father is both the first homunculus created and a living Philosopher's Stone, created from Van Hohenheim, the father of the series' primary protagonists Edward and Alphonse Elric. Father remains unseen during the first part of the story, misleading the readers to think that he is Van Hohenheim. He spent the last four centuries building and controlling the country of Amestris from the shadows, with the ultimate goal of sacrifying every citizen in order to pry open the Gate of Truth and absorb all the alchemic power it contains, to become the new God of the world.

Creation
Father was the first homunculus ever created, or at least the first that history remembers. He was created around four hundred years before the start of the story, during the fifteenth or sixteenth century of the Full Metal Alchemist world. He was born directly from the Truth, the source of all the alchemic power and knowledge of the universe and was created in the highly developped kingdom of Xerxes, mostly from the blood of one of his creator's slaves, a young man called "number 23." This makes him the young slave's "son" of some sort. (Or offspring at the very least.)

Some times later, the Homunculus recognised "Slave number 23" as the one from whom he was born, and attempted to talk to him. (Believing at first that the young slave was not very smart, given his lack of interest for anything else than his work.) The Homunculus offered to name the slave Van Hohenheim, (he initially offered Theophrastus Bombastus Van Hohenheim, but the slave refused as it would be too long to remember) and taught him reading, writing and mathematics, as well as basic Alchemy. With his newfound knowledge, Hohenheim caught his master's attention and was appointed as his personal assistant. Over the years, Hohenheim perfected his mastery of Alchemy, still under the tutelage of the Homunculus, with whom he had long conversations about their respective goals and ideals.

The Fall of Xerxes
The elderly king of Xerxes eventually heard of the Homunculus' vast knowledge, and had it brought before him to learn the secret of immortality. Upon the Homunculus' advices, the King ordered his soldiers to dig a gigantic alchemic transmutation circle all around the country, and later sent them disguised as bandits to slaughter the population of several villages located at certains points of the circle (followong the circle's pentagram-like pattern) needed to activate the alchemic ritual to create a gigantic Philosopher's Stone, which would make the King immortal. Or so he thought...

Actually, the Homunculus had no intention of making the King immortal and the friendliness and helpfulness he had displayed until now was just a facade to enact his own agenda. When the King activated the ritual, little did he know that it was in fact Hohenheim, carrying the Homunculus' flask, who was located at the centre of the transmutation circle. The ritual killed the more than 1 000 000 inhabitants of the country, whose souls were absorbed into Hohenheim's and the Homunculus' bodies, turning them into living Philosopher's Stones and granting them immense alchemic powers. (In the Fullmetal Alchemist universe creating a Philosopher's Stone requires to sacrifice human souls. The more souls are sacrified, the bigger and more powerful the stone will be.) Horrified by what he had helped to do, Hohenheim fled in the desert and was brought by travellers to the empire of Xing. There, he taught Alchemy to the population and led to the creation of Alkahestry, the Xinese form of Alchemy which uses the flow of ki running all over the world. This earned him an important place in the Xinese legends as the "Philosopher of the West."

The Founding of Amestris
After the destruction of Xerxes, Father headed towards a small settlement that would become under his impulse the powerful nation of Amestris, and began to teach Alchemy to its population. This earned him a messiah-like status in the Amestrian legends as the "Philosopher of the East." (The same as what Hohenheim did in Xing but with more selfish purposes.) However, Father taught a form of Alchemy of which he is the source of power, in order to control it. At some point, before even coming to Amestris according the Characters Guide Books, Father gave birth to Pride the first-born of the Seven Homunculi.

He quickly gained control of the entire nation and at some point, he stepped back to secretly manipulate the events, in order to enact his real goal. He made the nation attack its neighbour countries and expand its borders in a huge politic of expansion, creating the powerful country of Amestris.

In appearance, Amestris has a proper government, formed mostly by the head of the miltary and his highest-ranking subordonates, but in fact Father pulls the strings from the shadows and all the countries' rulers are nothing but puppet-kings obeying his every command. Father had a subteranean lair constructed under Central City, the capital of Amestris, with a throne room built at the exact center of the country, below the Central Military Headquarters.

Father's goal is to expand the country of Amestris and make it flourish, so that he would one day be able to sacrifice its entire population in the exact same fashion as he did in Xerxes but in a much higher scale. He is no longer interested in turning himself into a Philosopher's Stone, now aiming to use the souls of the entire population as a power source to absorb the Truth itself, so that he would become the new God of the Fullmetal Alchemist world.

Preparation of Father's goal
Over the centuries, Father created his six other "children." After Pride came Lust, Greed, Envy, Sloth, Gluttony and Wrath. Sloth was created in order to dig an underground transmutation circle that followed the border of Amestris. Father needed to cause a huge bloodshed at several points of the border (and the circle) in the exact same fashion as it was done back in Xerxes but in a higher scale. To do so, he ordered the Amestrian army to orchestrate violent wars or slaughters with neighbour countries, making sure that Amestris would remain in a state of permanent war against at least one nation, both to cover things up and to have the bloodsheds spilled where he needs them.

The most infamous of the slaughter caused by the Amestrian army was the Genocide of Ishval, which began around twelve years before the start of the story, when Envy impersonated a pacifist soldier to shoot an Isnvalan child and cause a war. Then, Wrath sent the State Alchemists on the battlefield and ordered them to wipe out the entire ethny. One of the survivors would later use the alchemic powers inherited from his late brother to kill many State Alchemists and would earn a gloomy reputation under the nickname of Scar.

Sixty years before the start of the series, Father gathered many nameless orphans in a secret center and had them raised in swordsmanship, politic and military arts, with the intent of fusing one of them with a Philosopher's Stone to create a homunculus born from a human. Several of them died in the process but one survived the metamorphosis and became the homunculus Wrath. Father then gave him the alias "King Bradley" and made sure that he rose in rank to become the ruler of Amestris. Contrary to the sacrifice of Xerxes, Father also needs five alchemists who had seen the Truth, (which happen when performing or being involved in a human transmutation) so few years before the start of the story, he had Wrath create the function of State Alchemist, so that they would be able to spot the most talented ones and ensure that they would see the Truth. He also needed to perform the ritual during a solar eclipse, to use the crown of light around the sun as a second transmutation circle that would enable him to absorb the Truth itself.

Appearances

 * At the very beginning when he was only named "Homunculus," Father looked like an orb of dark matter, (which is apparently pure, physical knowledge) who could form an eye, a grinning mouth or some small tendrils. He had to remain in the flask in which he had been created, otherwise he would have died.
 * When he became a living Philosopher's Stone, he used the DNA he recieved from Van Hohenheim to create a body with which he could interact with the world, a body which looked exactly like Hohenheim, like a clone or a twin brother of some sort. This body however physically aged much more than Hohenheim over the centuries and by the time the story takes place, Father looks like a tall, elderly man with long, white blond hair (contrary to Hohenheim's golden blond hair colour) and a beard, golden eyes that are rarely seen fully open, a wrinkled face with a third eye that opens from time to time on his forehead. Under this aspect, Father is dressed in white royal garnments and robes, which he picked up on the King of Xerxes' corpse.


 * Father's_true_form.jpg the end of the story, it is revealed that the Hohenheim-like body is in fact an organic shell, inside which Father's original body spent four hundred years developping and evolving. Under this new form, Father is able to survive outside a container and assumes the shape of a tall humanoid entirely black and covered with eyes, with a grinning mouth on his head.


 * Father_(apparence_divine).jpg succesfully absorbing the Truth, Father undergoes a final transformation. Since he was created from Van Hohenheim's blood and DNA, he once again obtains a humanoid body exactly similar to that of Hoheneim, but this time ressembling his teenage self. Under this form, he has long, blond hair and golden eyes and a muscular body. He wears casual Xerxes-like clothing and goes shirtless. (In spite of his youthfull aspect, he retains his old man's voice in the second anime.)

Personality
Back when he was the Homunculus in the flask, Father was observant, witty and with a sharp-tongue. Even under his friendly facade, he never hesitated to voice his opinion out-loud, rarely showing respect that wasn't sarcastic and frequently poking fun at both Hohenheim and at the general human way of life, showing that even in this hapless form, he considered himself superior.

This superiority complex increased into a god complex when Father became a living Philosopher's Stone. His immortality, his immense powers and his control over Amestris conforted him in his belief that he was superior to any lifeform. As such he regards mankind and every other specy as unsignificant and treats them with extreme indifference. He even states that their level of conscience are too different from his own and that mere mortals cannot grasp it, demonstrating huge levels of megalomania. As a result of separating himself from seven major emotions (the seven Deadly Sins) to create the homunculi, he became cold and nearly emotionless.

Father is serious, merciless, deeply selfish and extremely overconfident, looking bored nearly everytime he is seen. Given his immense knowledge about almost everything in existence, he is rarely taken aback. As such he often acts as if he knew everything and gives lectures to people, even when they disagree with him or can prove him wrong. Yet, he knows that he is unfamiliar with the way people think and act and relies on his subordonate's advices to deal with it. (Though said advices never really surprise him.) When close to accomplish his goals or especially pleased, Father loses his calm and demonstrates a gleeful, wicked excitation.

The only beings for whom Father seem to really care are his seven "children." Hohenheim even states that he has his homunculi call him "Father" because he desires a family like everyone else, something that irks him but which he doesn't argue. Father also cares for Hohenheim to a certain extand, as he was very pleased to learn that he was still alive and that the Elric brothers were his children. Upon meeting the Elrics for the first time, he demonstrated a light-hearted enthusiasm and a almost comical side for a brief instant. Yet, he mostly cares about Hohenheim and the Elric because they are useful for his goals. Even his progeny means less to his eyes than his thirst for power, as evidenced when he didn't paid the slightest bit of attention to Pride's highly weakened state, which he could have fixed in a matter of seconds, at the time of the final battle.

Powers and Abilities
Father's primary power is his seemingly limitless knowledge. He came to the world knowing already every existing concept. When he was first confronted to something, he demonstrated said knowledge by giving a dictionary-like definition of it. Since he comes from the Truth itself and was created through Alchemy, he knows everything about it and can put in practice alchemic rituals of which mankind has never heard of. However, despite knowing about almost everything, he needs to experience something in order to recognise it, or at least he needed it when he was discovering the world from within his flask.

Father also knows how to gain the trust of people he needs, mostly by promises and inspiring declarations. He knows how to adapt his speeches to the ones he is adressing and to tell them what they want to hear. The very high regards in which the corrupt leaders of Amestris hold him are suffficient proof of it. (Though their devotion may stem from his "promise" to make them immortals.)

As a living Philosopher's Stone
Father is an extremely powerful being, whose mastery of Alchemy dwarves that of the best practicioners to a huge extent. (With the exception of the equally powerful Van Hohenheim.) He doesn't need to bother with alchemic rules and limitations and he can transmute matter without even having to move. He can perform virtually any kind of Alchemy and his transmutation power verges on reality-warping. Indeed, he is able to transform anything to anything else, to increase the size of any object thousandfold, to create matter from nothing and objects out of nowhere. He is also able to change the atomic structure of matter to make it more (or less) solid or to turn solid into liquid, among other things.

Father can create Philosopher's Stones by gathering several of the souls contained within him, producing them from the third eye that sporadically opens on his forehead. He created the Seven Homunculi by concentrating a defined emotion into a Philosopher's Stone, which he used as the homunculus' core. He can also absorb Philosopher's Stones and alchemic energy into himself. He uses it to absorb back a homunculus, which he can then restore or recreate after a certain period of time. (During which said homunculus is seen developping within him.)

Father is also able to control Alchemic energy, as seen when he attacks with electric-like discharges﻿ or energy blasts of variable size. More importantly, Father can infuse his alchemic energy into the ground by connecting himself to pipes, which he does to provide Amestris with the energy that the local alchemists need to transmute. Father can disrupt and cancel this energy flow as well, which renders Alchemy useless all around Amestris for a determined amount of time.


 * When Father assumes his evolved form, it is revealed that his body has no defined shape, enabling him to manipulate his size and his figure at will. He can absorb objects and even people into himself, (which renders him fatter when he absorbs big objects or well-built people.) He can also shift his body like a fluid, phase through physical attacks, reshape his body to form tendrils or additional arms and to elongate his limbs. Moreover, his body extands outside his humanoid shape, as the whole throne room gets plunged into a black void with a gigantic eye, which he describes as "inside his belly" and which appears as a huge dark cloud from the outside. He was also seen growing to gigantic proportions, but it is fair to assume that this was due to the transmutation during which he absorbed the Truth instead of his regular abilities.

As the new God
After succesfully becoming a God, Father gains the entire power of the Truth and becomes nothing short of all-powerful. His already incredible power over Alchemy skyrockets to absolute levels, rendering him able to perform several high-scale transmutations at once. His control over alchemic energy skyrockets as well, and he becomes able to fire tremendous energy blasts from every direction, to make them last as long as he wants and even to increase their, alredy huge, magnitude tenfold. Under his divine form, he is constantly surrounded by a barrier of electric-like energy that cancels every type of attack.

Father's newfound powers doesn't stop to Alchemy and grant him total control over creation. He is seen controlling elements when he conjures lava out of nowhere, or when he creates and manipulates a tornado. He is even able to control nuclear fusion and solar energy, as seen when he creates a miniature sun in the palm of his hand. Should he obliterate a place, he would be able to fully recreate everything he destroyed from nothing. Furthermore, he was seen giving "life" when he extracted the souls of many of his Xerxesian victims from within himself, into newly created, fully human bodies.

Having absorbed the souls of the more than sixty million people in Amestris, Father gains limitless energy supplies that enables him to fully control his divine power without restriction, rendering him invincible. Fortunately this doesn't last long, as Hohenheim performs an alchemic ritual that sends all the Amestrian souls back into their unscathed bodies. After that, Father's unlimited power becomes too much for him to handle, preventing him from using it to its full extand and puts a considerable strain on his body, making him vulnerable again.

Faceless leader of the homunculi
Father remains unseen for most of the first part of the story. Whenever he interacts with his "chidren" he remains hidden in the shadows and his face is only partially seen. Yet, what is seen of is face looks strikingly similar to what is seen of Van Hohenheim's face in old pictures, leading the reader to believe that the father of the homunculi and the father of the brothers Edward and Alphonse Elric, the series' primary protagonists, are one and the same. An assumption rendered even more plausible knowing thart Hohenheim left his family ten years before the start of the story, never to be seen again.

Father first appears when King Bradley is revealed to be the homunculus Wrath, as Wrath has captured the renegade homunculus Greed and brought him to Father. Father asks Greed if he wants to work for him once again, and upon his refusal he plunges his offspring in a pool of acid to dissolve his body and absorbs back his Philosopher's Stone.

Father is next seen talking with Lust, shortly before the latter's death by the hand of Colonel Roy Mustang, one of the main protagonists. After Lust's death, Father asks Wrath why he spared Mustang who was at his mercy and is told that Mustang would be a suitable candidate for the sacrifice, should he see the Truth. Pleased with this answers, Father smiles and walks away, ordering his "children" to let Wrath handle Mustang.

At the same time, Van Hohenheim returns to his village and meets both his old friend Pinako Rockbell, who took care of the Elric brothers in his absence, and Edward himself. Hohenheim appears as someone gentle and somehow clumsy but he warns Pinako to flee the country, ominously anouncing an impending disaster. He later describes himself as a "monster" after having been shot several times by mountain bandits without flinching. All this furhter leads to believe that he is the villain of the story.