Father (Fullmetal Alchemist)

Infobox animanga character
name = Father
series = Fullmetal Alchemist


caption = Father by Hiromu Arakawa
first =
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age = Undisclosed
born =
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The character referred to as Father by the Homunculi is the central antagonist of the "Fullmetal Alchemist" manga, and, as his title suggests, is responsible for the creation of the seven Homunculi (and ultimately the cause for most of the atrocities throughout the story), whom he refers to as his 'children'.

Origins and History

The character who would become known as Father was originally a sentient shadowy substance with eyes and a grin, calling itself Homunculus, which was created in a flask in the ancient empire of Xerxes. The purposes and technique involved his creation are never addressed beyond that it involved blood and that he needed to be always in his flask or he would perish, although a scene in which he is brought before the king of Xerxes and interrogated about the secret of immortality suggests that he was expected to provide insights into the secrets of reality. (Given his smile and the fact that he appears to in fact be congenitally acquainted with the secrets of the Universe, he may be a fragment, excrescence, or other relation of the toll-taker at the Gates of Truth, which describes itself as being known as 'One, All, 'The World,' God, you,' and which Edward sums up as 'that Truth guy.' These resemblances are not apparent in his character as 'Father' in the time-span of the series.)

Homunculus formed an attachment to the slave whose blood had been used in his creation (presumably to endow the element 'life,' which blood is often regarded as the bearer of), and gave him a name in place of his identification number, and knowledge and the desire for it, because knowledge was in his estimation freedom. The boy was Van Hohenheim, later to be the father of the series' main character, Edward Elric, and with Homunculus' teaching rose from slave to associate alchemist. Hohenheim and Homunculus had a friendly relationship and seem to have been together a good deal; Homunculus identified Hohenheim as being 'like his father,' since it was from Hohenheim's blood that he took life. (Incidentally, this makes all the Homunculi Ed and Al's niece and nephews. They have got terribly many nephews.)

Homunculus, in order to obtain his freedom (for, remember, he was a grinning blob in a flask), told the King of Xerxes the demanded secret to immortality, with key facts omitted--the fact that everyone within the empire-encircling array he caused to be constructed would be killed by its activation, except the person-to-be-immortalized at the center, and the fact that the true center was not where the king stood but several feet away, where the now fully-grown Hohenheim stood holding Homunculus. The souls of all of Xerxes (horses et al included) were ripped out and converted to Philosopher's Stone, and using that energy and the apparently unbounded resource of the Gate of Truth, Homunculus created a body for himself to inhabit, patterned after the information taken from Hohenheim's blood, effectively turning himself and Hohenheim into Philosopher's Stones. (Well, identical indestructible persons full to the brim with Philosopher's Stone, at any rate. The adult Hohenheim has a tendency to take a gloomy view of things.) Homunculus in his new body is very smug and not at all sympathetic to the miserable, screaming Hohenheim.

Amestrian legend holds that their alchemy was taught by the 'Sage of the East,' who hailed from the fallen civilization of Xerxes. Due to the fact that he seems to be in control of the underpinnings of Amestrian alchemy, since he could 'turn it off' to neutralize Edward Elric during a confrontation in his lair, and claims to have directed Amestris since it was founded as a nation, it is heavily implied he is this legendary figure. This especially since Xing, the country on the far side of the desert where Xerxes once stood, attributes its alchemy to a 'Sage of the West,' with golden hair and eyes, who was said to be immortal. Amestrian alchemy is specialized for war, Xingese for healing, and Hohenheim knows Xingese medicine. Apparently Hohenheim and Homunculus left the ruin in opposite directions.

Character Outline

Father is a cold and pitiless person who makes use of people not only without remorse but without ever feeling that he could possibly be in the wrong, although he can display a manner pleasant and even affectionate, in a paternalistic way, toward anyone he esteems as useful. His own view of his personality includes the fact that all his sinful passions are supposed to have been removed from his soul and put into his children, the lesser homunculi with the names of the Seven Deadly Sins. He takes himself very seriously and is given to grandiose turns of phrase and symbolic, operatic flourishes, and seems to have built up an image of himself as an ultimately wise fatherly figure in robe and beard, terrible when necessary, any act against whom is a sin. To put it shortly, he has a god complex. (The sequence where he lowers the rebellious and unrepentant Greed, pinned and shackled to a great crucifix cut out of the floor in the outline of his transfixed body, into a great vat of acid to be destroyed, and then drinks the purified essence of Greed down again should come up for mention here.)

Father's goal appears to be to create the perfect Philosopher's Stone and to 'open the gate' (i.e. to an uberdimension that is the seat of all true knowledge), by using all of the citizens of Amestris. This plan entails the use of 'human sacrifices' to open the gate, alchemists of notable skill, with those who have 'opened the gate' before (Elric Brothers, Van Hohenheim and Izumi Curtis) as 'confirmed sacrifices.' Because 'opening the gate' requires a sacrifice or 'transferral fee,' it is implied that Father intends to sacrifice the physical bodies of those who have 'opened the gate' as the transferral fee, possibly to acquire all knowledge from it as the more that is sacrificed gives more knowledge. How he intends to force them to do this for him, when he has allowed them all to find out the gist of this plan, in unclear; perhaps all he has to do is force them into the right place at the necessary time. There is apparently a particular day on which this plan must be executed, probably, based on some remarks of Hohenheim's, a day of astrological significance. There is very likely more to the plan than merely creating a new stone, as Envy has let on several times to characters who have attempted to figure it out ("Are you planning to create a philosopher stone using this country?!" "HA! That's close!"). It is revealed that Father created the country of Amestris solely for the sake of his master plan, and is directly responsible for all of the deliberately bloody and chaotic wars of expansion that it has waged, to bring it into the form of a perfect circle with sites of bloody carnage at all the cardinal points--the necessary configuration for the transmutation of a Philosopher's Stone.

Powers

Father has the power to nullify all alchemic processes within a large radius of himself, rendering any alchemic reaction to be impossible. However, this ability does not affect Xingese alchemy. The reason for this is that the two types of alchemy use different power sources. Xingese alchemy uses the power that "flows from mountain into underground, nourishing land as it passes by", whereas Amestrian alchemy relies on tectonic energy from the Earth's crust. (Or supposedly does, but since the 'equation' for using this was worked out around the time Father came to the land that was to become Amestris, and Mei, the only Xingese alchemist so far appearing in the series, reports that the ground of the country feels as though it is full of people squirming around, it is very possible that Father has trapped the souls of all the Amestrian dead for hundreds of years in the earth, and that is what is used to perform Amestrian alchemy, or some similarly horrible arrangement. At any rate, Father taught an alchemy to man that was under his control).He can perform alchemy purely through thought, with no movement whatsoever, and he can transmute with any part of his body, not merely his hands as with most other alchemists. A third eye can appear in his forehead, which secreted the Philosopher's Stone that was the Homunculus Greed's nucleus (This suggests that Wrath, who like the second Greed is a human-based Homunculus, was produced in a similar way). Because he is essentially a Philosopher's Stone, Father is capable of 'violating' the law of Equivalent Exchange, as demonstrated when he replaces Al's missing hand without having to rely on the material already present.

(Of course, all that would be necessary to transmute anything you liked, outside a vacuum, would be to be able to manipulate subatomic particles, deftly enough not to wind up surrounding yourself with radiation, but alchemy only makes sense if you only remember chemistry some of the time. And since the impetus and shape of alchemy is all thought anyway, there is no logical reason, given that Edward, for example, can create baroque monstrosities from his imagination by touch alone, that anyone who knew enough and had a focused enough will should not transmute without motion, figure, or the laying on of hands.)

Plot Summary

In chapter 73, it's revealed that Father needs five human sacrifices to 'open the gate,' all of whom have 'opened' it before. He is shown placing four pieces, representing Edward and Alphonse Elric, Van Hohenheim, and Izumi Curtis (all people who have seen the Doors) at four corners of a transmutation circle. He has yet to find one to fill up this fifth slot, however, it is implied that he intends to use a different alchemist to open the gate beforehand (such as Marcoh or Mustang).

In chapters 74-75, during one of Father's rare sleeping periods, he dreams of his past. It is revealed that he met Van Hohenheim when Van was a boy slave in a laboratory. Father appeared as a small ball of shadows (resembling the ones Pride controls and those inside the Doors of Truth) inside a round flask. The conversation revealed that Van's blood had been extracted by his owner and used to create the being who would later become Father. When Van asks the ball what its name is, he tells him to call him "Homunculus". Over time Homunculus educates Van in reading, writing and basic alchemy. Some time later, the king of Xerxes summons Father and his Master to the palace and wants immortality. Homunculus convinces the king to dig trenches around the country in the shape of a transmutation circle. When the circle is activated, the country and people are consumed and Homunculus uses Hohenheim's body as the 'transferance fee' to 'open the gate'. He also uses the 'information' from the blood that came from Hohenheim body to create a new 'container' for himself that resembled Hoheheim. He refers to Van as his 'blood kin'. As a gift for helping him, Homunculus made Hohenheim immortal by rebuilding his body with half the souls of the population of Xerxes. The other half Homunculus used to create his own body. In addition, Father is most probably the legendary sage of the east that taught Amestrians Alchemy. This is because he was created in Xerxes, west of Xing and east of Amestris, as well as what would seem to be the birthplace of all Alchemy. Evidence shows that Amestrian Alchemy is the creation of father so it makes sense that he is the sage of the east. By contrast Hohenheim is likely the Sage of the west from Xing legend. He has been shown to be a master of Xing alchemy and was also from Xerxes and in chapter 76 May-chan said that the sage of the west had gold hair and gold eyes just like Hohenheim and the Elric brothers just as Winry pointed out.

Father's plans are very near to fruition, because in chapter 78 Sloth eventually finishes to build the tunnel underneath Amestris. Hohenheim declared war on him by way of Pride in the caves beneath Lior, and since Hohenheim is one of his intended pawns for the opening of the Gate Father does not seem too concerned to hear that "slave number twenty-three is coming to see him."

References