The Dwarf in the Flask: Homunculus is the primary antagonist of the manga series Fullmetal Alchemist and its 2009 anime adaptation. He is the creator of the seven Homunculi - Pride, Envy, Lust, Sloth, Wrath, Greed and Gluttony - that hound Edward and Alphonse Elric throughout the series. The Homunculi refer to him as Father.
Biography[]
Early existence[]
The creature that would become known as Father was created 400 years before the events of the series, beginning life as a small, amorphous, black mass with a single large eye and a toothy mouth. Created by the King of Xerxes, this "dwarf" contained within a flask was born from the darkness of the Gate of Truth and gained physical being from a drop of blood from Slave Number 23, one of the King's servants. This sentient creature contained a vast amount of knowledge, the most important and influential being the skills that would become standard alchemy.
The Homunculus sympathized with Number 23 as both of them were bound to others in servitude. With its vast knowledge, the Homunculus taught Number 23 about alchemy and even gave him a name: Van Hohenheim. With the education that the Homunculus provided, Hohenheim won his freedom. However, the Homunculus itself also desired freedom, not just the freedom to experience the world for itself but freedom from God Himself.
Over several years, the Homunculus manipulated and deceived the King of Xerxes, telling him how to achieve immortality. Under the dwarf's advice, the King had his subjects dig numerous trenches around the kingdom in order to create a giant transmutation circle. After years of labour, the circle was completed, but required several "blood crests" to function, calling for the slaughter of five surrounding villages. According to the Homunculus, those who stood within the centre of the circle would become immortal as the transmutation imbued them with the souls of the population. However, the Homunculus had lied to the King: only Hohenheim, carrying the dwarf's flask, stood in the centre. When the transmutation array was activated, the King and the entire population of Xerxes died as their souls were forged into a Philosopher's Stone. The Stone was split between Hohenheim and the Homunculus; this not only made Hohenheim immortal but gave the Homunculus a body, freeing it from the flask. When Hohenheim awoke following the transmutation, he found the city littered with corpses and the Homunculus inhabiting a body that resembled his own. No longer a formless dwarf imprisoned in glass, the Homunculus left Xerxes in pursuit of his ultimate goal: to surpass God.
Rise of Amestris[]
After the fall of Xerxes, the Homunculus traveled west, crossing the desert until he came upon another human habitation. He would come to teach the natives of this land about alchemy, the locals coming to know him as the "Philosopher of the East". Under his guidance, the people thrived and would found the nation of Amestris which would expand considerably over the decades as its people formed a powerful military state that invaded and conquered surrounding territories using the very alchemic arts that the Homunculus had taught them. In order to prevent the people from using his teachings against him, the Homunculus hid himself away in an underground lair beneath what would become Central City.
Driven both by a desire for family and to advance his goal of becoming "perfect", the Homunculus separated several of the souls he had absorbed to create Philosopher's Stones. These stones would become the cores of his "children", the seven Homunculi he would create that each represented a negative aspect of his being: avarice, jealousy, arrogance, rage, indolence, indulgence and wantonness. As his offspring, these Homunculi would refer to him as "Father".
A map of Amestris
Under the secret guidance of Father, Amestris grew with each surrounding community that was annexed. In accordance to Father's machinations, the country's borders would come to be defined as a circle, specifically a giant transmutation circle. In order to achieve a "perfect" state of being, he intended to repeat what he had done in Xerxes, but on a larger scale. The plan required not only the formation of a Philosopher's Stone but also a solar eclipse and five alchemists that had seen the Gate of Truth.
As the centuries passed, Father's children would manipulate the citizens and government of Amestris, assuring that everything needed for the plan was in place. By the 1810's, one of his Homunculi - Greed - had abandoned him in pursuit of his own wants and ambitions. By 1914, the nation-wide transmutation circle was nearly complete and Father had found four of the five necessary sacrifices needed to complete the transmutation. One of the sacrifices, as it turned out, would be Van Hohenheim, whose blood had brought Father into being. The others were the master alchemist Izumi Curtis and Hohenheim's own children, Edward and Alphonse Elric. Izumi had seen the Truth when she had attempted to bring her stillborn child back to life via human transmutation and the Elrics had seen it when they tried to resurrect their departed mother.
Since the Elric brothers' failed attempt at human transmutation, they had set out on a journey to find a way to restore their bodies. As a stepping stone on this journey, Edward had joined the Amestrian Military as a State Alchemist. This allowed Father's children and the military that they secretly controlled to keep tabs on the Elrics and ensure that they could not disrupt the plan. However, during a battle with the Homunculus Gluttony, Edward was swallowed by Gluttony's false Gate of Truth. Concerned that Edward might have died, Gluttony returned to Father's lair, bringing Alphonse in tow. There, Father forced Gluttony to regurgitate Edward, Ling Yao and Envy. When the Elrics recognize his face, Father admits his amazement that Edward and Alphonse are Hohenheim's children, before healing Edward's wounds and restoring Alphonse's missing arm. Having no use for Ling, however, Father orders Gluttony and Envy to kill him. Edward pleads for him to spare Ling, but Father makes it clear that he does not care for anyone not a part of his plan. Edward and Alphonse use their alchemy to attack Father, with no avail; Father is entirely unharmed by their attacks before he merely stomps his foot to seal off all alchemy in Central.
However, entering Father's lair at the same moment, Scar and Mei Chang astonish Father with their own counterattacks, unaffected by his alchemic lock-out with their own unique forms of alchemy. However, even point-blank, Scar's alchemy is unable to harm Father. Scar and Mei are overwhelmed while Envy captures the Elrics. Meanwhile, Father all too easily defeats Ling and then takes the liquefied Philosopher's Stone, in which Greed is contained, and merges it with Ling, stating that he could have use for another pawn after all. Ling then becomes the new Greed and Father has the Elrics taken to the surface before tending to the injured Gluttony.
The Promised Day[]
As the time of the solar eclipse draws closer, the Elrics and their allies begin moving towards putting a stop to Father's plan. Rallying whatever support he can, Colonel Roy Mustang initiates a coup d'etat to overthrow Fuhrer Bradley and the Military High Command. As battle erupts across Central, Mustang, the Elrics, Hohenheim, Izumi and Scar make their way underground to Father's lair, battling against hordes of grotesque mannequin soldiers and the likes of Envy and Pride.
After a confrontation with a sinister gold-toothed doctor, Ed, Al, Izumi and Hohenheim fall into a trap and find themselves being teleported into Father's sanctum. Following after is Mustang, who is forced by Pride and Wrath into participating in a human transmutation, thereby causing him to witness the Gate of Truth. The toll that Mustang pays is his eyesight, although the equivalent exchange is unfair due to Mustang being forced to transmute against his will. Regardless, this makes Mustang a viable sacrifice for Father's scheme and he finds himself in the Homunculus' lair along with the others.
Father's evolved state
Following a brief confrontation with Hohenheim, Father's humanoid form is damaged, but the Homunculus has since evolved beyond the need for it. Casting off his human skin, Father reveals his true form: a human-shaped black mass covered in large eyes. Father absorbs Hohenheim into his body while Edward, Alphonse, Scar and Mei Chang attack him. Even Greed, in possession of Ling Yao's body, appears at the last moment to fight Father and hijack his ritual for his own purposes. However, Father is unperturbed by the assault.
When the solar eclipse occurs, the nation-wide transmutation array is activated. The entire population of Amestris - 50 million souls - are torn from their bodies, with the exception of those within Father's chamber. Absorbing the souls into himself, Father gains incalculable power, enough to open the Gate of Truth for the planet itself. Breaching the World Gate, Father is able to consume Truth itself, gaining the power of God. Upon swallowing God, Father takes on a new form resembling a teenage Hohenheim.
Final Battle[]
Father in his Perfect form
Father nullifies the Amestrian Alchemy for good before sending a gigantic energy blast from the roof to dispose of the sacrifices, but Hohenheim manages to block it. Father then destroys the ground below them but Mei, who can still use Alkahestry, manages to use Father's own energy to cancel his attack.
As Father is preparing to obliterate the entire room, Hohenheim activates his backup plan and by using the umbra (the moon's shadow) and the Xerxesian souls that he spread into the ground at several points of the border, he performs his own ritual to send all the Amestrian souls that Father absorbed back into their unscathed bodies. By doing so, he deprives Father of the energy he needs to keep the Truth within him. Shortly after, Scar activates the Alkahestry ritual that the protagonists prepared, which restores Amestrian alchemy and makes it work from the energy of the world instead of Father's, making it much more powerful than before. With their power back, the protagonists start a counterattack.
In spite of the strain caused by the Truth he can no longer contain, Father is still able to cancel all the protagonists' attacks. Knowing that his energy supplies won't last long, the villain heads towards the surface to absorb more souls, tailed by the protagonists. There, Father toys with Hohenheim by spawning several of the Xerxesian souls within him into new bodies, before unleashing a titanic energy blast that obliterates the Central Military Headquarters and the reborn Xerxesians, cripples Hohenheim and nearly destroys Alphonse's armour when he tries to protect Ed and the others.
As Father is about to absorb them all, he is attacked by all the soldiers around, upon Major General Olivia Armstrong's and Major Alex Louis Armstrong's orders. All the remaining protagonists then enter the fray and unleash an endless onslaught of attacks on Father, so that he would waste all his energy by shielding himself. They drive the villain into a corner but he lets Greed stab him, intending to absorb his Philosopher's Stone to replenish his own strength.
However, it appears that Greed let himself get caught to lower Father's guard, allowing Edward to strike him. Father is still able to counter it, destroying Ed's prosthetic arm, but this finally makes him reach his limit. Exhausted by all these attacks, Father uses his diminishing strength to blast all his foes away with a tremendous surge of energy. Alphonse then sacrifices his soul to restore Edward's arm, as he is the only one still able to stand, and a livid Ed pummels Father with a barrage of alchemic attacks and punches that he can no longer block.
Desperate to survive, Father strikes Greed and absorbs him back from Ling Yao's body, but Greed uses his carbon power to turn Father's body into the weakest form of charcoal. Infuriated, Father destroys Greed's soul, only for Edward to punch a hole through his chest and finish him off. With his body destroyed for good and all the power and souls he stole back where they belong, Father's soul - reduced back to his original form - is sent back to the Gate of Truth. Finding himself before the Truth, he tries to justify his actions stating that he was chasing his desire for knowledge. Despite his desperate and pathetic pleas, Truth states that stealing God's power doesn't make him a god rather than a cunning thief. Father is then dragged inside the Gate of Truth, disappearing into the black void for eternity.
Personality[]
Shortly after his "birth", Father, ironically, seemed far more human than he would later become. As a miniscule creature trapped in a flask, he seemed to be cheerful and charismatic, enjoying the time he spent conversing with Hohenheim. However, he was also conniving and manipulative, lying to the King of Xerxes about the exact details behind the transmutation ritual that would result in the kingdom's destruction and the formation of his own body.
Since gaining a human body, Father's personality has shifted from being vibrant to dispassionate. Throughout most of the series, he seems to be perpetually bored and comes across as stoic and uninterested. This could be due to how he attempted to "purge" himself of his vices, extracting them in order to form the seven Homunculi that serve as his children. Most likely, Father considered these sins as distractions that would divert his attention away from his plan to gaining the power of God, and so creating his progeny based on these sins served a two-fold purpose: to keep himself focused on his plan and to gain a group of pawns to carry out his wishes.
Despite supposedly ridding himself of sin, Father's behaviour and actions would indicate that he is still very much sinful. He considers himself to be superior to humans (Pride) and longs to surpass God (Envy and Lust). He sees human beings as nothing but a resource and will use and discard as many lives as it takes to achieve his goal (Gluttony) of obtaining absolute knowledge and power (Greed). With all of the Amestrian Military's command staff under his control, Father has plenty of pawns to do his bidding (Sloth), which often involves killing anyone who could potentially interfere with his plans (Wrath).
Forms and Abilities[]
Dwarf[]
In his original form, Father appeared to be little more than a shapeless black mass sealed inside a flask. His only outstanding features were a large eye and a wide mouth filled with many teeth. In this state, Father had very little real power as he was incapable of surviving outside of his flask. Therefore, his only abilities were his charisma and power of manipulation, using lies and misinformation to influence people into doing what he wanted.
Human[]
After transmuting the entire population of Xerxes into a Philosopher's Stone, Father was freed from his flask and gained a new mobile container in the form of a human body. His human form is a mirror image of Van Hohenheim's, with a tall, muscular physique, long blonde hair and a distinguished beard. This is due to the fact that Hohenheim's blood was used to bring Father into the world to begin with. Unable to grow old, the appearance of this body does not change at all from the time it was created to the point when Father discarded it.
Father is a master alchemist and is capable of performing many seemingly impossible transmutations without the need for a transmutation circle. Such abilities include healing others' injuries, creating structures out of existing matter, spawning new Homunculi and even deactivating all alchemy across Central, preventing anyone from transmuting.
Evolved[]
By the time the Day of Reckoning has arrived, Father has evolved beyond the need of a human skin. When confronted by Hohenheim, he discards his skin to reveal his true form: a humanoid-shaped black mass covered in multiple eyes. In this state, Father is shown to be capable of engulfing objects and people with his body, as proven when he absorbs Hohenheim and holds him captive inside him. He is also capable of altering the shape and composition of parts of his body, forming weapons such as blades and even guns to attack his foes.
Perfect[]
In his final form, Father has consumed the Truth itself and gained the powers of a god. He resembles a teenage Hohenheim, retaining a tall and muscular physique and sporting long blonde hair, though he appears younger and has no facial hair. Having consumed Truth, Father can do virtually anything, such as conjure up a miniature sun out of nothing or even create human life. However, since the nation-wide transmutation that made this possible was reversed, Father did not have limitless energy to draw on and could only use these powers so long as he still had a supply of souls within his Philosopher's Stone core.