Father

The central antagonist of the manga and 2009 anime series, Father (お父様, Otō-sama) is an extremely powerful Homunculus identical in appearance to Van Hohenheim, excluding hairstyle, clothing, lack of glasses, and a few additional wrinkles. He is also the creator and leader of the Homunculi.

Personality
Father's original personality when he was known as the Dwarf in the Flask is more human-like than when compared to his later self. His later self is stated by Hohenheim to be much more stoic and lifeless, the reason being that he'd purged himself of the humanly vices in an attempt to become the ultimate being.

He is dark, foreboding, and has great confidence in all of his plans. During his first meeting with Hohenheim's son Edward Elric, his brother Alphonse and their friend Ling Yao, Father shows a somewhat comical, lighter side to his personality, similar to that of Hohenheim, but almost immediately after switches back to his very serious demeanor.

Father is also cold, pitiless and believes that everyone around him are nothing but tools to be used as part of his plans. The only exceptions to this may be his seven Homunculi "children", as Hohenheim had stated during their battle that one of the reasons he had created them was because he wanted a family of his own, hence his title of Father. Father is seen with a surprised and sad look immediately after Hohenheim states this. His thirst for power seems to be the only thing more important to him than his Homunculi, noted when he does not hesitate to abandon Pride in exchange for resupplying his Philosopher's Stone or to absorb Greed into his body to resupply it. Also, though he considers the Homunculi to be his children, he never expressed grief for any of their demises. Unlike Lust or Envy, Father has also stated that he feels no hatred or condescending feelings towards humans. He confesses to Edward that he merely sees humans as nothing more than stepping stones for himself, explaining his outright indifference towards them.

Despite his normally calm, brooding, calculating personality, he is shown to be extremely excited when his plans finally come together, showing a wicked, gleefully evil side to his personality. When outside of his human container and revealing his true form, he is often seen with a wicked grin.

Back when he had his original, mortal form in the flask, he had a much more charismatic and arrogant personality to him. "Full of human emotions", as Hohenheim notes, before he purged out his cardinal sins. When confronted by Hohenheim about this, Father reveals that the seven Homunculi were only created so he would become a perfect being. Ultimately, in his final moments, Father's motivation is revealed to be freedom from the laws of the universe itself.

First Form
Due to his imitation of Hohenheim's body in Xerxes, Father's first form looks identical in appearance to Hohenheim, excluding hairstyle, clothing, and lack of glasses. Hohenheim has referred to this form as nothing more than a human-like husk that Father uses to hide his true appearance. He is normally seen in the cavity beneath Central in which he and the Homunculi reside, sitting on a stone or cement throne with numerous pipes leading to it. The throne itself also has a physical connection to him, which can be unattached from him via pipes directly protruding from his spine. He uses the pipes to spread the Philosopher's Stone beneath the nation of Amestris. The purpose behind this is to act as a barrier between the tectonic energy of the earth's crust, where Amestrian Alchemy gets its energy from, so that he can stop others from using Alchemy at any time. Doing this, however, has aged his body slightly more than Van Hohenheim, who still looks identical from the time of Xerxes. This process, however, is later countered by the "Reverse Transmutation Circle" that Scar's brother had figured out by combining Xingese Alkahestry and Alchemy practices. Alkahestry was unaffected by this barrier because Alkahestry uses energy from the Earth's chi instead, which allows Scar and May Chang to continue using their alchemy even when Father blocks Amestrian Alchemy.

Father's body is composed of many Philosopher's Stones which came from half of the souls of the human population of Xerxes (however, he later gave up a large amount of them to his "children"). Due to this, he is able to perform alchemy without drawing a transmutation circle, clapping his hands together, or even moving at all. He can also bypass Equivalent Exchange.

Second Form
During his battle with Hohenheim, Father and Hohenheim are shown to be equally matched in terms of alchemical prowess and Hohenheim even manages to gain the upper hand in the battle. However, after Father casts aside his "first form" husk and reveals his true form, an unseen battle takes place between him and Hohenheim resulting in Father's easy victory. In this form Father is shown to have a strange, almost liquid-like body structure somewhat resembling his ancient flask form. He is able to avoid all attacks by shifting his body into a fluid shape, making him invulnerable to all physical attacks. He also seems to be able to absorb things into himself, such as Hohenheim's whole body and a dagger thrown by May. He can also transform things he has absorbed, as seen when he absorbed May's dagger and then reshaped it into a massive version of itself, launching it from his body at her. His new body seems to be quite durable, as when Hohenheim used alchemy to set off an explosion on him, he could block it with his hand. Moreover, he seems to have acquired superhuman strength, as he was able to drag the Human Sacrifices and restrain them all at the same time with ease.

It is the only form that does not receive damage. It would later be revealed to actually be an aspect of a giant cyclopean being that reveals himself once obtaining the souls of Amestris and begins absorbing the entity beyond the gate, though Father cryptically revealed it to discourage his sacrifices from escaping. This form is much thinner, showing what looks like a rib cage, a more muscular body, the multitude of eyes and wide grins that were on his previous form are gone, and he now has one large, bulging eye on his forehead.

Third Form
Father's third and final form looks much like a younger version of Hohenheim. Also, despite looking so young, he keeps the voice of his first form. Due to the sacrifices, Father managed to absorb the entity beyond the gate and now has the power of God within him with the Amestrian souls he absorbed keeping it in check. His old transmutation and alchemy-canceling powers are vastly increased to the point of defying natural order by resurrecting those whose souls he absorbed, fire tremendous energy blasts in front of him or from above, to control the weather, as evidenced when he creates and manipulates a tornado, and even to create nuclear fusion, or in his own words, "A sun in the palm of my hand".

He retains his third form and the powers that goes with it even after having lost the Amestrians' souls, but as he lacks the strength to keep "God" inside his new body, the new power is too much of a strain on him, and as of chapter 107, it renders him vulnerable to counterattack. Reflecting this, Father's appearance slowly deteriorates as the fight goes on: his skin and hair losing their color, pronounced veins appearing across his body, and eventually his face losing almost all human semblance.

Chapter 106 also revealed that Father now has the ability to create actual human beings. However, these beings are not well-made and start to fall apart moments after they were created. Father used this ability to distract the Sacrifices and buy himself time until Edward appeared. At that point, Father unleashed a torrent of energy waves that was far more powerful than those used before. These waves have immense destructive power, as they effortlessly destroyed the beings Father created earlier and also destroyed nearly the whole Central HQ main building. He also seems to have acquired the ability to forcefully suck the souls out of others to replenish his own life and powers, as seen when he tries to do so to the Briggs soldiers. Another one of Father's new abilities includes creating a shield of energy which can defend him from any attack including the soldiers' guns and missiles, Mustang's flame alchemy and all manner of alchemical attacks.

When Mustang entered the battle in chapter 107, Father displayed the ability to not only stop Mustang's flames but also to reshape them into a sphere and direct it back.

Father's third form also displays heightened physical strength, as he was able to easily toss a weakened Van Hohenheim several feet by hand and block a strong kick from Edward's automail leg with his arm.

Pre-Amestris
While it is never fully explored, the being that would later call itself Father was originally a part of the existence within the Gate. Using the blood of his slave Number 23, the Alchemist to the King of Xerxes managed to contain a small portion of the knowledge and life of the Gate within a flask, capable of existing in the physical realm. Named simply "Dwarf in the Flask" or "Homunculus" by the people of Xerxes, this sentient creature contained a vast amount of knowledge, the most important and influential being the skills that would become standard alchemy.

Being a homunculus with no form, the Dwarf in the Flask was unable to perform any alchemy of his own. Furthermore, though the flask was the only thing that keeps him alive, Homunculus desired to exist outside it. To that end, he befriended Slave 23 out of similar circumstances as slaves to their respective plights, in turn naming the lad Van Hohenheim and educating him to win his freedom as act of thanks for his hand in creating him.

Years later, the King of Xerxes finally revealed the use for Homunculus; he wanted to call upon him to give the secrets of immortality. Homunculus used this opportunity and instructed the king to construct a giant transmutation circle out of the kingdom, creating bloodshed at specific nodes of the circle. He then manipulated the event so he and Hohenheim were standing at the true center of the circle, so once it was activated, every soul in Xerxes besides himself and Hohenheim were sacrificed to make what was possibly the first Philosopher's Stone that was ever created.

Homunculus used this power to open the Gate of Truth and created himself and Hohenheim new immortal bodies, living embodiments of the Philosopher's Stone with the hundreds of thousands of souls of Xerxes split between them as their power. Horrified at his role as an unwilling pawn in this horrific act, Hohenheim parted ways with Homunculus.

The Eastern Sage and the Founding of Amestris
After the destruction of Xerxes, Homunculus made his way west to find a place closest to the center of the world. Finding such a patch of land, he took the small group of people thriving there and taught them alchemy, becoming known as the "Philosopher of the East". However, to ensure his teachings would not be used against him, he placed himself under what would become Central Command and used himself as a buffer against tectonic energy so alchemists would actually use energy derived from the souls of Xerxes contained in himself. At some point he began using those same souls to create his Homunculi offspring and accordingly started going by the name "Father".

From this point, the people formed the powerful military state of Amestris, a puppet government secretly run by Father. Amestris begins to rise in power and annexes all nearby land, eventually branching out to form yet another giant transmutation circle, with all skirmishes and bloodshed involving the Amestrian military taking place at the important nodes of the circle. While Father's scheme was to repeat his actions at Xerxes to create another Philosopher's Stone, his true plan revolves in the eclipse that would occur on the Promised Day and required five alchemists that had opened the Gate as human sacrifices. As the story begins, only four sacrifices were present in Amestris: Edward and Alphonse Elric (Hohenheim's sons), Izumi Curtis, and Hohenheim himself. Thus Father's forces search for an ideal alchemist to become the fifth and final one, eventually selecting Roy Mustang.

Throughout the first half of the story, Father's face is never shown, but he is mostly seen sitting on a stone throne with many pipes leading into it. He is first seen when Wrath captures Greed and brings him to Father's underground lair. After his offer to the Homunculus was turned down, Father has Greed lowered into a tub of liquid which decomposes his body into his core Philosopher's Stone. The Stone, now in a liquid state and containing Greed's soul, is then consumed by Father.

Father's full identity is soon revealed when Gluttony brings Alphonse into the Homunculi's lair, prior to Gluttony's body tearing apart as Envy emerges with Edward and Ling Yao. When the Elrics see 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 says that Ling is their friend, but Father makes it clear that he does not care and that anyone not part of his plans needs to be destroyed. 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 disable all alchemic processes in Central.

However, entering Father's lair at the same moment, Scar and May Chang astonish Father with their own counterattacks, seemingly unaffected by his alchemic lock-out with their own unique forms of alchemy. However, even pointblank, Scar's destruction alchemy is unable to harm Father. Scar and May are overwhelmed while Envy captures Ed and Al. Meanwhile, Father too easily defeats Ling and then takes the liquefied 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 Ed and Al taken to the surface before tending to the injured Gluttony. From there on, Father is mostly seen sitting on his throne, musing over his plan and conversing with the military high command.

The Promised Day
Eventually, when the Promised Day begins, Edward Elric, Van Hohenheim, Scar, Lan Fan and the Chimera invaded his lair with plans to kill him for good by destroying his shell. However, only Hohenheim manages to reach him as the two do battle. But when it seemed Father won when he manages to stab Hohenheim, he learned too late that Hohenheim managed to work with the souls within his Philosopher's Stone, some of which destroy his shell from the inside. Unfortunately, Father revealed to Hohenheim how far he evolved since they parted ways, emerging from his shell and eating it with the Philosopher's Stones it still contained and restarts the fight. He defeated Hohenheim, restraining him with his body and later greeted Izumi Curtis and the Elric brothers, who did not recognize him at first. Soon after, Pride arrives with a blinded Roy Mustang, giving Father his fifth and final human sacrifice.



Despite the alchemists' refusal to aid him, and Greed's attempt on his life, Father defeats his attackers and proceeds to finally activate the Nationwide Transmutation Circle around Amestris, using the restrained sacrifices' gates to access the Earth's gate while absorbing all of the Amestrians' souls. From there, in his full form, Father tears open The Gate of Truth with his bare hands; absorbing the higher power he calls "God". Once the transmutation process is completed, in a new youthful body, Father states to the alchemists how he "imprisoned God" within his body and possesses all the knowledge and power of "God". No longer needing sacrifices, Father cancels Alchemy once more and prepares to dispose of the five sacrifices, as well as Greed and May Chang, at his whim.

However, Hohenheim reveals his own plan: all the Xersesians souls that Hohenheim separated from his body and merged with the earth itself force Father to release the Amestrian souls and guide them back to their own bodies. Without the Amestrian souls, Father begins to lose control of "God" as he attacks the group with formidable blasts of pure energy, that Hohenheim manages to block. Luckily, Scar activates the Alkahestric reverse-Nationwide Transmutation Circle, which nullifies Father's "buffer" and grants true alchemy to Amestrians. Knowing that fighting the alchemists would only hasten his inability to contain "God" within him, Father takes to the surface of Central Command to claim the souls of the nearby Briggs soldiers to replenish his stone, but an attack from Hohenheim makes him lose concentration. Now surrounded by Hohenheim, Izumi, Alphonse, and May, Father is asked by Hohenheim the reason why he hates humans by pointing out his origins. But intrigued by Hohenheim telling him all he does is destroy, Father proves him wrong by resurrecting the Xeresians with his body.

This horrific act would be used by Father as a distraction to catch everyone off guard so he can release a devastating attack. However, Ed arrives and snaps everyone out of this while Father fires a blast of pure energy, wiping out both the recreated Xerxesians and most of Central Command. However, Al and Hohenheim managed to shield everyone at great expanse to their physical beings before the military joins the fray with the blind Mustang, along with Riza Hawkeye supporting him, and Alex Louis Armstrong spearheading the attack. Eventually, though attempting to absorb Greed to replenish his stone, the fight begins to take it's toll on Father after he destroys Ed's automail arm with relative ease.

A large surge of energy explodes from Father, sending everyone around him flying. Father begins to lose control of his God as a result of using up too much of his stone energy to defend himself. Father then turns to a pinned Edward, and desperately moves to take Ed's soul to replenish his stone supply. Ed, however, has his right arm restored by Alphonse, who uses May's help to sacrifice himself and give Ed back his original arm. A distraught Edward calls Alphonse an idiot before releasing himself from his pinned state and beginning a furious barrage of attacks against Father, which depletes his stone supply greatly.

On the verge of defeat, while in shock on how a mere human is defeating him, Father dashes at Greed to claim his Philosopher's Stone from Ling's body. However, Greed takes this opportunity to start destroying Father's body by using his power of carbonization to make Father's skin as weak as graphite. Enraged that his own son would rebel against him to the end, Father destroys Greed's soul. However, ensuring Greed's death was not in vain, Edward uses this opportunity to punch a hole though Father's chest, through which the remaining Xerxesian Souls of his Philosopher's Stone escape. With no power left to contain "God" or to sustain his physical existence, Father is horrified as "God" emerges from his body and grabs him. Father screams to everyone around that all he wanted was freedom before imploding.

Father, now in his original form, appears before the Gate and asks God why he was not accepted as its vessel, and gets a reply: "It's because you did not believe in yourself." When Father searches for the origin of the voice, encountering the Truth, yet unaware of its identity as it berates Father for trying to take the power of someone greater than him. Father claims that he wanted all the knowledge in the world and that he wanted to know what God knew. He then goes on to ask what was wrong with wanting, wishing and chasing your desires, showing the humanity he tried to purge himself of. Truth mocks him, saying that taking the power of God didn't make him God, but rather a cunning thief. Demanding to know who he is speaking to, Father is horrified when Truth formally introduces itself and states itself as the Truth as he defines it: giving despair to discourage one from becoming boastful and proud. Truth tells Father that he'll receive his most fitting despair as the Gates open up and hands appear to grab Father. Father begins crying as he desperately asks what he did wrong to deserve this and where he went wrong. Ultimately, stripped of the freedom he cherished, Father is sucked into the Gate and once again becomes part of the endless abyss within.

Trivia

 * Father's original 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 second form and its giant incarnation could be a play on the "Homunculus argument" fallacy.
 * Though it's stated numerous times that Father has expelled all of his sins, it's interesting to note he acts in a way similar to that of the sins: He seeks power at all costs (Greed); views humans as "ants" (Pride); devours souls with no self-control (Gluttony); has a desire for a family like humans (Envy); prefers to let others do his bidding for him (Sloth); feels anger towards any opposition, principally Hohenheim (Wrath); and lusts after being the perfect being (Lust).
 * When Father succeeded in opening the Gate, he emerged from the ground in a much larger form of himself. This massive form of Father is exactly the same as his previous form yet his body is slightly altered. He is much thinner, showing what looks like a rib cage, a more muscular body, the multitude of eyes and wide grins that were on his previous form are gone, and he now has one large, bulging eye on his forehead.
 * 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 makes him the closest analogue the Fullmetal Alchemist franchise has to Satan. Dr. Tim Marcoh referring to the Philosopher's Stone as "the Devil's research" is found to hint at this when it turns out that Father is responsible for the first stones ever created and seeks to achieve godhood by further powering his own stone with souls.
 * Father's voice actor in both the Japanese and English version also narrates the 2009 anime. They can be heard previewing the next episode and at the beginning of the first few episodes where they briefly explain the concept of alchemy to the viewers.
 * Father's English voice actor also voiced Majhal from the 2003 anime.
 * In the 2009 anime, before Father gets sucked back to the Gate (while in his God form), he loses both of his arms (the other arm was lost when he destroyed Greed), unlike in the manga where he only loses one arm and one leg.
 * Father is the character with the most amount of changes in terms of increasing his own capacities, due to his numerous transformations.
 * In the original Japanese version of Brotherhood, when Father is in his "old man" form, he sounds like he's struggling to pronounce certain words, and talks at a very slow pace, when he's in his original form, he speaks much more fluently.
 * In the manga, Father's eyes in his third form are dark purple and, like those of Envy, Lust and Greed, have slit pupils. In the 2009 anime, they are golden with round pupils like Edward's, possibly to illustrate that he is now the "perfect being". Also, Father's third form wears sandals in the manga whereas in the anime he appears barefoot.
 * 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 any of these scenes.
 * Since each of the Homunculi he created were partially made of his "soul" in an attempt to cleanse himself of his sins, a part of him is still alive due to Pride never being fully destroyed.
 * The Gate that Father appears in front of is completely blank.
 * This could possibly signify that a Homunculus can't use alchemy normally or that his inside is empty.