Sloth is one of the seven Homunculi created by Father in the Fullmetal Alchemist manga and 2009 anime series. He is a key component in his creator's grand plan, using his immense strength to dig a series of tunnels beneath Amestris in order to form a nation-wide transmutation circle. True to his name, Sloth is lazy and hates to do any sort of work, despite being the most physically capable of performing the task that Father has demanded of him.
Appearance[]
Sloth appears as an overly large, muscular human male with pale skin and long black hair. His attire consists of black trousers, boots, and leather straps bound around his torso. He has a single blank eye on the left side of his face with a red circular node in place of a right eye, a jagged red line running down from it all down the length of his right arm. Sloth also wears manacles on his forearms with long chains attached that he will use as weapons in combat.
Biography[]
Introduced mid-way through the series, Sloth is first discovered by the Elric brothers when they and the soldiers of Briggs discover him digging a tunnel beneath the Briggs mountain range. The tremors caused by Sloth's digging create an opening leading up into Fort Briggs, leading to a confrontation. General Olivier Mira Armstrong and her men attempt to bring Sloth down, but the hulking homunculus seems impervious to conventional attacks. The Briggs troops are only able to stop him by pouring a specialized fuel onto him and luring him outside into the harsh winter environment where he freezes solid.
As Armstrong and the Elric brothers ponder on what to do with Sloth, Fort Briggs is visited by General Raven. As one of the military commanders in on Father's plans, Raven orders that Sloth to be put back underground to continue his work. Over the next few months, Sloth continues digging until the nation-wide transmutation array is finished. With his task complete, Sloth rejoins Father in Central.
After Fuhrer Bradley goes missing, Father orders the Central Command staff to repel any attack on Military HQ, leaving Sloth behind to assist with the defence. On the Promised Day, Mustang's separatist forces launch an attack and as the fighting intensifies, Sloth enters the fray and battles against General Olivier Armstrong and her brother, Major Alex Louis Armstrong.
The battle between Sloth and the Armstrong siblings is a long and arduous one which is drawn out over several episodes. At first, Sloth fights sluggishly, but after being thoroughly beaten and even impaled, he decides to put his all into the fight and moves at incredible speeds, bulldozing his way through several soldiers. Major Alex uses his alchemy to generate several stone spikes to impale and incapacitate Sloth, but the homunculus keeps freeing himself and regenerating. Izumi Curtis and her husband Sig later enter the fray and Izumi alchemically forms a spike to impale Sloth through the back and out of his chest. After suffering so many fatal blows over the course of the battle, Sloth finally exhausts the supply of souls within his Philosopher's Stone core and begins to disintegrate, apparently happy at the prospect of dying as he found living to be an annoyance.
Abilities[]
- Superhuman Strength - Sloth boasts the greatest physical strength of all the Homunculi. He spent years digging underground tunnels beneath Amestris with his bare hands and can easily barrel through obstacles and swathes of enemies.
- Superhuman Speed - Sloth is also the fastest of the Homunculi, capable of sudden bursts of incredible speed. While moving at this unnatural speed, Sloth cannot be seen and will simply demolish anything in his path. However, it seems he can only move straight forward at this speed and cannot change direction without stopping and turning.
- Regeneration - Sloth and the other Homunculi are capable of quickly regenerating, healing in seconds injuries that would normally be fatal to humans.
- Immortality - Homunculi do not age the way that humans do and can live indefinitely as long as their Philosopher's Stone cores maintain their supply of human souls.