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| “ | When you notice an insect on the ground, do you stop to consider it a fool? The life of an insect is so beneath you that it would be a waste of your time to even consider judging it. That would be an accurate summation on my feelings towards you humans. | „ |
| ~ Father's famous speech. |
| “ | Oh hear me, God! I demand you answer the cry of my soul! Come to me! [another Gate opens to reveal the Eye of God] Join me! Yes! I will no longer be bound to you and your consequences! I'll force you down to this Earth and into my bowels! You have no choice but to be absorbed! | „ |
| ~ Father absorbing God. |
| “ | I can always create another stone. I'm not through, there are more! A billion humans I can draw energy from! | „ |
| ~ Father underestimating Van Hohenheim. |
The Dwarf in the Flask, Homunculus (フラスコの中の小人、ホムンクルス), better known as Father (父親), is the main antagonist of the Fullmetal Alchemist franchise.
He is the original homunculus who would later became a living Philosopher's Stone, created from Van Hohenheim's blood. Desiring to escape his flask, he hijacked the King of Xerxes' ritual and absorbed the souls of half of Xerxes' population to gain an immortal body for himself, with the other half went to Hohenheim, and the two then parted ways. He would later decide to become a God by absorbing Truth so he would be completely free from the universe's laws.
Father would later found the nation of Amestris, taught its people alchemy and had them annex the surrounding nations, while hiding the fact that he planned to use its strongholds to sacrifice its population while prying open the Gate of Truth and become the new God. He is also the arch-nemesis of the Elric brothers, Van Hohenheim and his son Greed, and the creator and leader of the Seven Homunculi.
He was voiced by the late Iemasa Kayumi in Japanese and by Kent Williams in English, the latter of whom is best known for voicing Mr. Compress. He was portrayed by June Yoon, and voiced by Edward Hong in the English dub of the live-action films.
Quick Answers
How did Father become a living Philosopher's Stone?
What is the origin of Father in Fullmetal Alchemist?
What was Father's original form in Fullmetal Alchemist?
Why does Father look like Hohenheim in FMAB?
Appearance[]
| “ | It's all right. The Philosopher's Stone may be fused to my soul, but ultimately, at my core, I'm still the person that I am. However, that guy in Central... He's like a guy in a leather bag, patterned after me. | „ |
| ~ Hohenheim to Alphonse about Father. |
At the very beginning when he was only named "Homunculus", Father looked like an orb of dark gaseous matter, likely pure physical knowledge, who could form an eye, a grinning mouth, and 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 blood he received from Hohenheim to create a duplicate of the latter's body to inhabit as well as escape his flask. Immediately after the transmutation of Xerxes, Father was fully identical to the physical form of Hohenheim.
At the present, after expending his own supply of souls to create the homunculi, Father looks like a tall, elderly man with long, platinum blond hair (unlike Hohenheim's golden blond hair) and a beard, golden eyes, and a wrinkled face with a third eye that can open on his forehead. Father is dressed in white royal garments which he took from the King of Xerxes' corpse.
This aspect is in fact a synthetic shell, in which Father’s basic form evolved, now able to survive outside a container. It is a semi-liquid, semi-solid, tall, man-shaped, black blob, covered with eyes, with a grinning mouth on his face, but he can shift and reshape himelf.
After absorbing the Truth, Father undergoes a final transformation. Being born from Van Hohenheim's blood, he once again becomes a humanoid identical to Hohenheim, this time resembling his teenage self. He has long, blond hair, golden eyes and a slender, muscular body. He wears casual Xerxes-style clothing and goes shirtless.
Oddly enough, this form retains his old man's voice in the anime.
Personality[]
| “ | I only wanted to obtain perfection. I wanted this world's knowledge for my own! Why should I be punished for that? What's wrong with craving knowledge? What's wrong with seeking perfection? | „ |
| ~ Father's pitiful justifications only highlight his extreme selfishness |
Back when in the flask, Homunculus was observant, witty and sharp-tongued. Even under his friendly façade, he voiced his opinion out-loud, rarely showing respect that was not sarcastic and frequently poking fun at Hohenheim and humanity in general, demonstrating that even in this helpless form, he considered himself superior while faking sympathy for Hohenheim over him being a slave. 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 comforted him in his belief that he was superior to any life form.
As such he regards mankind as insignificant and treats people with extreme indifference. He states that his level of conscience is too different (and much higher) for humans to grasp, demonstrating huge levels of egomania. He caused countless gory slaughters, killed hundreds of thousands, trapping their souls in endless agony, and would have killed millions without so much as a qualm, but cannot bear the idea of not being in control of the situation.
Ironically, Father who craved for freedom, chose to willingly confine himself underground for all his life. It must be noted that when confronted with Truth (a higher being he could not subjugate in any manner) after his death, Father lost composure, yelling frantic pleas for mercy and self-serving justifications for his awful crimes, highlighting the petty, disgusting selfishness hidden behind his high and mighty facade.
Father is very serious, driven and merciless, but horribly selfish and overconfident, looking almost always bored. Due to cutting himself from major emotions (the seven Deadly Sins) to spawn his "children" he became cold and nearly emotionless. However, when close to accomplish his goals or especially pleased, Father loses his calm and demonstrates a gleeful, wicked excitation.
Given his immense knowledge, he is rarely taken aback. As such he often acts as if he was always right and lectures people, even when they disagree or can prove him wrong. Yet, he knows that he is unfamiliar with the way people think and relies on his subordinate's advice to deal with it (though said advice never really surprises him), ironically demonstrating his willful ignorance regarding the values and motives of others.
Father is also highly intelligent, noted by the author as one of the most intelligent characters of the series. He is able to orchestrate the entire story to the last event, by planting his agents where he needs and deceiving unsuspecting parties into doing his bidding; though he left most of it to his homunculi. He is no less adept in gaining the trust of people he needs, mostly by promises and inspiring declarations, playing on their desires and telling them what they want to hear. The high regards in which the corrupt leaders of Amestris hold him are sufficient proof of it, though their devotion may stem from his "promise" to make them immortals.
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 does not deny. Father also cares for Hohenheim to a certain extent, 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 an almost comical side for a brief instant.
Yet, he only cares about Hohenheim and the Elrics because they are useful for his goals. Even his "children" are nothing but tools to his eyes, as evidenced when he did not pay 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. This proves he is willing to cast aside his "love" for his children if it means attaining the knowledge he desires.
Powers and Abilities[]
| “ | You would destroy a source of knowledge to which you are ignorant? | „ |
| ~ The Dwarf in the Flask to Hohenheim's Master. |
Father's primary power is his seemingly limitless knowledge. He came to the world knowing already every existing concept. When he was first confronted with something, he demonstrated said knowledge by giving a dictionary-like definition of it. Since he comes from the Gate of Truth itself and was created through Alchemy, he knows everything about it and can put into practice Alchemic rituals of which mankind has never heard of.
However, despite knowing almost everything he needs to experience something in order to recognize it, or at least he needed it when he was discovering the world from within his flask.
As a living Philosopher's Stone[]
| “ | How can he transmute without making any motion at all? | „ |
| ~ Edward upon seeing Father transmute without making motions. |
Father is an extremely powerful being, whose mastery of alchemy dwarfs that of the best practitioners to a huge extent (with the exception of the equally powerful Van Hohenheim). He does not need to bother with alchemic rules and limitations and he can transmute matter without even having to move.
He can perform virtually any brand of alchemy and his transmutation power toys with the laws of physics. Indeed, he is able to transmute anything to anything else, to heal broken bones and ribs with a touch, to transmute back projectiles, to increase the size of any object thousand-fold, to create matter from nothing and objects out of nowhere. He is also able to change the atomic structure of matter to the point of turning a stone floor 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 into himself. He can absorbs back a homunculus to slowly restore them. During this process, said homunculus is seen developing within him.
Father is also able to control alchemic energy, as seen when he attacks with electrical discharges. 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 this energy flow, which renders alchemy useless all around Amestris for as long as he wants.
Father's evolved form 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, additional arms or even objects (like a gun and its bullets) and to elongate his limbs.
Moreover, his body expands 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 possible that this was due to him absorbing the all of the souls in Amestris instead of his regular abilities.
As the new God[]
| “ | Now that I have obtained God, it is even possible for me to create suns in the palm of my hand. | „ |
| ~ Father as he creates a small sun in his hand. |
After successfully becoming God by devouring the Truth, Father becomes virtually all-powerful. His already incredible alchemical prowess skyrockets to absolute levels, rendering him able to perform several high-scale transmutations at once and to do whatever he pleases with any type of matter, being able to ascend by manipulating molten metal, create tornadoes indoors, and most notably, fashion a sun in the palm of his hand and extinguish it with a gesture.
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 already immense magnitude tenfold, and to absorb human souls without rituals. In his divine form, he is constantly surrounded by a barrier of electricity-like energy that cancels every type of attack, be it normal punches, flame alchemy, rocket barrages, or grenades.
However, Father only has flawless control over these abilities thanks to the souls of the 50 million people Amestrians he'd consumed and when Hohenheim counteracts this with his own country-wide transmutation circle, Father is left only with the souls of the initial Xerxesians he'd consumed centuries prior leaving his body unstable and eventually leading to his defeat at the hands of Greed and Edward.
Relationships[]
Family[]
- Truth (creator)
- Hohenheim's Master † (creator)
- Van Hohenheim † (genetic template/"older brother")
- Trisha Elric † ("sister-in-law")
- Edward Elric (younger half-brother/"nephew")
- Alphonse Elric (younger half-brother/"nephew")
- Winry Rockbell (younger sister-in-law/"niece-in-law")
- Unnamed niece/"grandniece"
- Unnamed nephew/"grandnephew"
- Urey Rockbell (brother-in-law)
- Sara Rockbell (sister-in-law)
- Homunculi (creations/children)
Allies (All Formerly/Betrayed)[]
- Homunculi
- Pride
- Lust †
- Envy †
- Greed †
- Sloth †
- Gluttony †
- Wrath †
- Mannequin Soldiers
- Gold Toothed Doctor †
- State Military
- Lieutenant General Raven †
- Olivier Mira Armstrong
- State Alchemists
- Xerxes
- King of Xerxes †
- Hohenheim's Master †
- The King's Court
- Van Hohenheim †
Enemies[]
- Edward Elric (arch-nemesis, killer)
- Alphonse Elric (arch-nemesis, temporary victim)
- Van Hohenheim † (arch-nemesis, indirect victim)
- Roy Mustang
- Riza Hawkeye
- Izumi Curtis
- Ling Yao
- Lan Fan
- Fu †
- May Chang
- Scar
- Tim Marcoh
- Greed † (arch-nemesis, indirect killer)
- Olivier Mira Armstrong (temporary victim)
- State Military (temporary victims)
- Everyone else in Amestris (temporary victims)
- Truth
Victims[]
- King of Xerxes - Soul absorbed, before destroying him with Alchemical energy.
- Hohenheim's Master - Soul absorbed, before destroying him with Alchemical energy.
- The King's Court - Souls absorbed, before destroying them with Alchemical energy.
- Half of Xerxes' population - Souls absorbed, before destroying them with Alchemical energy.
- Numerous people from Amestris' neighbor countries - Souls absorbed.
- Everyone in Amestris (later resurrected) - Souls absorbed.
- Alphonse Elric (later resurrected) - Body destroyed.
- Greed - Essence ripped out.
- Van Hohenheim - Indirectly; died after using all the souls he had to perform his own ritual to send all the Amestrian souls that Father absorbed back into their unscathed bodies.
Quotes[]
| “ | Father: Greed. You are both my son and a piece of my soul... So why would you betray your loving father? Greed: I mean, you know the answer to that better than anyone, Dad... I'm Greed the Avaricious... You were the one that made me this way, after all. I'm just being myself. I simply had larger ambitions than spending my life working for you. Father: And if I were to ask you to return and work for me again? Greed: Never! Father: As you wish. |
„ |
| ~ Father offers Greed a chance to return to his side. |
| “ | Now return from whence you were born... Return to my depths and rejoin my soul.. Return, Greed. | „ |
| ~ Father re-absorbs Greed. |
| “ | I shall drink to the Promised Day, and to your undying loyalty. | „ |
| ~ Father drinks Greed's essence. |
| “ | Something is making a lot of noise. Someone is coming. | „ |
| ~ Father senses someone's arrival. |
| “ | Father: Hohen... The name you said! By any chance do you mean Van Hohenheim? And how is it the two of you are acquainted with him? Alphonse: Well... He's our father. Father: ... He's your father?! I had no idea he had children! Haha! ... If you are indeed his progeny, then why is it your family name is Elric? Edward: Elric is our mother's last name! |
„ |
| ~ Father meets Edward and Alphonse for the first time. |
| “ | I know that he can't be dead... | „ |
| ~ Father finds out Hohenheim is still alive. |
| “ | It would appear that you're injured. And you're missing your left hand, aren't you? There and how's that for you? Your arm is broken... | „ |
| ~ Father discovers that Ed's left hand is broken. |
| “ | I would ask who you are, but I honestly don't care. | „ |
| ~ Father to Ling. |
| “ | This is a waste of time. | „ |
| ~ Father |
| “ | You may prove to be rather useful to me after all. | „ |
| ~ Father is going to insert second Greed into Ling. |
| “ | Yes, I am waiting for you. | „ |
| ~ Father promises to wait for Hohenheim's arrival. |
| “ | Don't you even want freedom? Are you going to live out the rest of your life as a slave without the rights of a real man? In that case you no different from me, trapped inside this stuffy flask. | „ |
| ~ The Dwarf in the Flask asking Slave #23 a life-altering question. |
| “ | Blood Brother of mine, Van Hohenheim, right now you and I are at the Center of Everything! | „ |
| ~ Father to Hohenheim, as he opens the portal of Truth in Xerxes. |
| “ | It's remarkable how weak they are. They have an innate fear of the dark. And how do they handle this fear? They simply pretend that it doesn't exist. They run away from it. How could anyone say humans aren't weak? It's an inherent trait. How about we take advantage of their weakness? They certainly do make a good natural resource. Right? It's all they're good for. | „ |
| ~ Father to Hohenheim about the weakness of human beings. |
| “ | Humans who dare to play God must pay a steep price for their arrogance. | „ |
| ~ Father hypocritically mocking the human sacrifices. |
| “ | You can't change reality, just your perception! | „ |
| ~ Father |
| “ | But why?! I just wanted to understand this world's knowledge. I wanted to experience it, free. I just wanted to be free! FREE TO KNOW! | „ |
| ~ Father before being sent back to the Gate. |
| “ | Who are you anyway? Do you even have a name? WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? | „ |
| ~ Father to the Truth. |
| “ | Don't do this to me. I can't... I can't go back. Please stop! I can't bear to be bound any longer! WAHHH! AHHHHHHH! No! No no no no! | „ |
| ~ Father's pathetic pleas as he is being absorbed into the Gate. |
| “ | What did I do wrong? What should I have done!? | „ |
| ~ Father's last words. |
Trivia[]
- Father's image bears a striking resemblance with the image concept of God as an old man with robes in multiple religions. Ironically, the nature and symbolism of his origin, methods, and goals actually make him the closest analog the Fullmetal Alchemist franchise has to the Devil. This is especially implied when Dr. Tim Marcoh refers to the Philosopher's Stones as "the Devil's research" as it ultimately turns out Father is responsible for their creation.
- Before meeting the Elric brothers for the first time, Father and Hohenheim's actions are coordinated very specifically to match up in the manga, leaving it ambiguous if he and Hohenheim are indeed the same person. Despite basing itself wholly on the manga, the 2009 anime does not include the scenes of him talking with Lust prior to her death and when he decided to leave Wrath in charge of Mustang.
- The punishment Truth gives Father is quite poetic: By letting the Gate of Truth drag the Homunculus into it, Truth technically lets him be God, but at the same time also strips him of the very freedom he cherishes.
- Father serves as a foil to the following characters:
- Edward Elric: Both are prideful of their own alchemy and rely solely on it. Edward begins his journey to recover something he lost (his mother, limbs and Alphonse's body) and eventually understands humility and the need to rely on others, renouncing alchemy to live as a simple human among his friends. Father, on the other hand, desires something he never has a right to, uses others to get it and always sees himself as above humans. In the end, while Edward is congratulated by Truth and freed from it, Father is berated by Truth and returns to it. If Edward never learned to overcome his pride and reliance on alchemy and didn't love Alphonse so much, he would've ended up just like Father.
- Van Hohenheim: Both were once slaves in Xerxes who sought freedom and family (though it was subconsciously on Father's part), eventually achieved it during the King of Xerxes' ritual and gained immortal bodies as a result, before going in separate ways to teach different kingdoms alchemy. However, Hohenheim learned to be humble about his goals and successfully settled with a happy family, whereas Father only wanted more, created his own family as tools and abused them to no end. In the end, while Hohenheim dies happily and with a fulfilling life, Father dies in disgrace and has all his plans ruined. Overall, Father serves as an example of what Hohenheim would have become had he not learned to be satisfied with what he had and let the Xerxesian indoctrination that knowledge is power get the better of him.
- Greed: Both are homunculi who were born to serve an authority figure's (Father and the King of Xerxes) selfish needs which involve attaining immortality, but successfully rebelled and ran off to gain allies for themselves. However, Greed genuinely cares for his men and in the end gains the companions he has always sought, while Father uses his underlings as pawns and dies alone and forgotten.
- King of Xerxes: Both were once better people who ended up letting pride and paranoia consume them and sought to sacrifice the populations of nations they ruled to open the Gate of Truth and gain immortality, which ultimately backfired on them in different ways. This is even symbolized by how Father took the King's garments for himself after gaining a human body and still wears it centuries later while ruling Amestris from behind the scenes. However, the King wants to live forever to protect his country despite his horrific method and is ultimately a pawn of Father's schemes, while Father only wants to attain godhood for selfish reasons and is his own master. Despite despising the King, Father proves that he himself is no better and merely follows in the King's footsteps to an even worse level.
- The creation of his children were all for different reasons:
- Pride was his first child, so he made Pride as a more powerful copy of his original form; though gave him a moble container as well.
- Lust came next. Father had no real use for this aspect, so he created his daughter in the form of a voluptuous woman; intending to use her beauty to manipulate men into assisting his schemes.
- Greed was expelled so Father didn't have to feel a longing for companionship or loneliness anymore. Father later expelled his avarice again, after he absorbed Greed for disobedience, and used Ling Yao as his vessel; needing a new pawn to replace Lust after she died.
- Envy was created to serve as an infiltrator and instigator for various conflicts to carve crests of blood around the nation transmutation circle. Otherwise Envy would be a last resort brute the kill enemies, thanks to his large true form.
- Gluttony was created in a failed attempt to bypass the need of a Gate of Truth to reach the unlimited knowledge of Truth. Father relegated Gluttony to being a cleaner to hide evidence of his plans.
- Sloth was created to dig a secret underground tunnel for the national transmutation circle. Plus, to serve as Father's dumb muscle when he completed the task; Sloth doesn't think for himself.
- Wrath was created from a human test subject in order to have a perfect puppet ruling Amestris for Father. Plus, this provides excellent cover-ups for all the slaughters Envy perpetuates.
- Father's first flask bound form was most likely inspired by real-life concepts of Homunculi. Supposedly, if an alchemist was successful in creating such a being, he was to keep it inside of a glass flask for a certain period of time, as it would die in its "infancy" stage outside of it.
- Father's Gate is completely blank, which indicates that he never learns anything, just as Truth proclaims to him.
- Father is not present in the 2003 anime series, in which a completely different character is the main villain instead.
- In the manga, it's stated Father rarely sleeps. Greed notes this when Pride visits and wakes him.
See Also[]
- Dante, Father's counterpart in terms of role in the 2003 anime series.
External Links[]
- Father on the Pure Evil Wiki
- Father on the Fullmetal Alchemist Wiki
[]
 Villains
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Manga & Brotherhood 2003 Anime 2017 Movie | ||
