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 the addition of a few wrinkles. He is the creator and leader of the Homunculi.

Personality
Father is usually seen as a very calm and somewhat serious individual. He rarely shows any signs of surprise and also has a somewhat bored look on his face in many of his appearances. He is dark, foreboding, and has great confidence in all of his plans. During his first meeting with Edward Elric he 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 is 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. 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.

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 Amestris. The purpose of spreading the Philosopher's Stone under the nation is to act as a barrier between the tectonic energy of earth's crust, where Amestrian Alchemy gets its energy from, so that he can stop others from using Alchemy at any time. This is later countered by the "Reverse Transmutation Circle" that Scar's elder 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. 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 ignore 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.

Third Form
Father's third and final form looks much like Hohenheim's son Edward Elric, with a slightly more muscular build. However, his height and hairstyle is more like Hohenheim's when he was a child. Also, despite looking so young, he keeps his old-man voice. Father successfully sacrificed the souls of everyone in the country, stating that they have become a part of him. Also due to the sacrifices, he has the strength of God within him. His old transmutation and alchemy-canceling powers are vastly increased and he gained the abilities to 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 appearence slowly deteriorates as the battle goes on: his skin and hair losing their color, pronounced viens 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 showed off another new ability: the power to unleash enormous waves of pure energy. 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 missles, 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 it into a sphere of pure flames and direct it back.

Father's third form also allows his some 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, Father was originally a part of the existence that exists 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 "Homunculus" by the people of Xerxes, this sentient creature would eventually name itself Father. Due to his past as a part of the Gate, Father contained a vast amount of knowledge, the most important and influential being the skills that would become Alchemy.

Being a homunculus with no form, Father was unable to perform any alchemy of his own, so he befriended Slave 23, taught him to read, write and perform alchemy and named him Van Hohenheim. The king called on Father to give him the secrets to become immortal. Father 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 Van Hohenheim were standing at the true center of the circle, so once it was activated, every soul in Xerxes besides Father and Hohenheim were sacrificed to make what was possibly the first Philosopher's Stone that was ever created.

Father used this power to open the Doors of Truth and created himself and Van 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 what he aided in doing, Van Hohenheim parted ways with Father.

The Eastern Sage and the Founding of Amestris
After the destruction of Xerxes, Father made his way west where a small group of people were attempting to thrive. Father took these people under his wing and taught them alchemy, however he did not teach them true alchemy, but an alchemy that took its energy directly from the souls of Xerxes contained in Father himself.

From this point the people formed into a powerful military state called 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.

Father planned to use Amestris just as he did Xerxes, to create a huge Philosopher's Stone; however, to do so, he required alchemists that had opened the Gate as human sacrifices. In Chapter 73, he was seen moving five pieces around a transmutation circle; two being Edward and Alphonse Elric (Hohenheim's sons), another being Izumi Curtis (the Elrics' childhood alchemy teacher), and the fourth being Hohenheim. Roy Mustang (Edward's commander) would go on to become the fifth and final human sacrifice when Pride and Wrath push him into opening The Gate by force. 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. 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. He is later seen when Gluttony brings Alphonse into the Homunculi's lair. Father, surprised by this, asks who Alphonse is before Gluttony's body begins to tear apart. Father watches on as Envy in his second, monstrous form emerges from Gluttony along with Edward and Ling Yao. Father's full face is then seen for the first time in the series: he is then seen looking exactly like Hohenheim, except without glasses and with very menacing eyes. He is surprised to learn that Edward and Alphonse are Hohenheim's children and then he heals Edwards wounds and restores Alphonse's missing arm. Father, having no use for Ling, 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 try and attack Father but to no avail; Father is completely unharmed by their attacks. Father, annoyed by the attacks, taps his foot on the ground and disables all alchemic processes in Central. Then, Scar and May Chang enter Father's lair, and Father is shocked to see that they can still use their unique form of alchemy. However, even Scar's destruction alchemy is unable to defeat Father. Scar and May are overwhelmed and Envy captures Ed and Al. Father easily defeats Ling and then takes the liquefied stone in which Greed is contained and merges it with Ling. Ling then becomes the new Greed and Father has Ed and Al taken to the surface. From there, Father is mostly seen sitting on his throne, musing over his plan and conversing with the military high command.

The Final Battle
In chapter 90, Edward Elric, Van Hohenheim, Scar, Lan Fan and the Chimeras invaded his lair with plans to kill him for good. In chapter 91, only Hohenheim manages to reach him, Father told Hohenheim, that he is about to become a part of him. After a short battle, he manages to stab Hohenheim and claim his Philosopher's Stone but the souls composing it manage to destroy his humanoid body from the inside.

Unfortunately, this isn't enough to kill Father as his original Homunculus form, now fully evolved (looking like a big human shaped version of his former self with a grinning mouth and multiple eyes), emerges from his container, absorbs it with the Philosopher's Stones it still contained and restarts the fight. He defeated Hohenheim, absorbing him into his body and later greeted Izumi Curtis and the Elric brothers, who did not recognize him at first.



In chapter 102, Pride joins him, bringing along a blind Roy Mustang, giving Father his fifth and final human sacrifice. In chapter 104, Father defeats his attackers and proceeds to finally activate the Nationwide Transmutation Circle around Amestris using his human sacrifices. Father does this by capturing all of the sacrifices and holding them with his body. He then activates the true transmutation circle, which is on the small table with all five pieces on it. As all the people of Amestris slowly die, he begins to tear open The Gates of Truth with his bare hands; "linking" himself with a higher power he calls "God". Once the transmutation process is completed, Father states that he now has "imprisoned God" within his body and possesses all the knowledge and power of "God". He is now also shown to posses a new human body for himself, one in the same appearance of Ed.

In chapter 105, God-Father congratulates his sacrifices and tells them that they, as well as Alchemy itself, have outlived their usefulness. He cancels Alchemy once more and prepares to dispose of the five sacrifices, as well as Greed and May Chang, with a formidable blast of pure energy from above, that Hohenheim manages to block. He launches another attack that May stops as well and Hohenheim activates his own plan: all the Xersesians souls that Hohenheim separated from his body and merged with the earth itself manage to lead back all the Amestrian souls which Father absorbed to their own bodies, by using the link of the spirit.

Later, Scar activates the Alkahestric reverse-Nationwide Transmutation Circle, which nullifies the Philosopher's Stone "buffer" and grants true alchemy to Amestrians. With the barrier eliminated, transmutation energy is now drawn from the tectonic disturbances within the Earth's crust. Now that Father lacks the energy to keep "God" within himself and that they recovered their own alchemic power, the Elric Brothers and Izumi are ready to deal with Father once and for all.

In chapter 106, Father is seen facing off against Izumi and the Elric brothers, but none of their attacks do him any harm. However, Hohenheim notes that since Father lacks the energy to contain "God" within him, it's only a matter of time before he runs out of energy completely. After a failed attempt to nullify Alchemy, he escapes from the lair and is confronted by Briggs soldiers. In an attempt to replenish his power, Father tries to claim the souls of the soldiers, 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. Hohenheim states that humans created the Philosopher Stones and, in turn, Father. Hohenheim wonders if Homunculi can truly create anything, or if all that God-Father can do is destroy and kill. Intrigued by what Hohenheim says, Father responds to him, "What if I were to birth humans?" Immediately, using the souls of Xerxes, Father creates an army of human beings. When he notices that the Human Sacrifices are thoroughly horrified, he creates more humans. Hohenheim is outraged, but before anyone can do anything, Father notices that Edward has rejoined the fray, grins, and unleashes a blast of pure energy, destroying the recreated Xerxesians and engulfing everyone else present.

After hitting the alchemists with his attack, he stands before a mortally-wounded Hohenheim, who defended Ed and Izumi from Father's energy blast, and throws him into some rubble a distance away. He then turns his attention to Ed and Izumi, hoping to take their souls to replenish his stone supply. As he is doing this, he is attacked by the Briggs and Military forces. Their attacks are unable to reach him due to an alchemical shield that he has summoned. The soldiers keep on attacking in an effort to diminish his Philosopher's Stone. Minutes later, the blind Mustang, along with Hawkeye supporting him, enters the battle and begins to attack Father with his flames and later uses clapping transmutation to defend himself when Father counter-attacks. Izumi uses her alchemy to aid Mustang in his attack, but Father says that all of their attacks are insignificant and useless. The Briggs and Military soldiers begin to run out of ammo and still have not managed to penetrate Father's defenses, even with the aid of the alchemists. Greed then enters the battle as well and attacks Father. Father takes this opportunity to let Greed strike him in order to take his Philosopher's Stone, which would help to replenish his own dwindling supply. Greed then grins and states that he tricked him as Ed attempts an ambush. Father defends with his alchemy shield and he and Ed reach a stalemate. Father's shield holds firmly and destroys Ed's automail arm with relative ease. Father is then surprised by a sudden feeling within his body and blocks a kick from Ed with his arm instead of his shield. 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. 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.

In Chapter 108, Father is seen on the verge of dying and wonders how a mere human is defeating him. As he struggles to keep in God, he rushes toward Greed-Ling and claims the Philosopher's Stone. Although Ling endeavors to keep Greed, he fails and Greed is absorbed by Father. Greed takes this opportunity to start destroying Father's body by using his power of carbonization to make Father's skin as weak as charcoal. Enraged that his own son would rebel against him to the end, Father destroys Greed's soul. But due to Greed's efforts, his skin is still weaker than charcoal, and Edward uses this opportunity to punch a hole though Father's chest. No longer able to contain God, Father collapses in on himself and is sent to the Gate of Truth.

Father, now in his original form, appears before the Gate and asks God why he didn't become one with him, and gets a reply: "It's because you did not believe in me." When Father searches for the origin of the voice, he is surprised to see Truth appear before him. Taking on the appearance of Father's own personal form (a white ball with a faint shadow around it), Truth 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 saying what was wrong with wanting, wishing and chasing your desires, showing his humanity. Truth mocks him, saying that taking the power of God didn't make him God, but rather a cunning thief. It remarks that Father never grew up and reminds him about what he said about Truth to his opponents: it gives us suffering so that we don't become boastful and proud. Truth tells Father that he'll know that fact first hand as the Gates open up and hands appear to grab Father. Father begins crying as he desperately asks what he can do to make amends as he is dragged in. Ultimately, Father is sucked into the Gate and once again becomes part of the endless abyss within. He is the last Homunculus to die.

Last Words: "I don't want to go back in there…No...Stop! I don't want to be shackled forever anymore!...No! No! No!...What can I do to make amends?! What can I do to make amends?! AHHHH!!!!"

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.
 * 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 shows complete disregard and manipulation of human beings (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.
 * 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 Majihal 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, unlike in the manga where he only loses one.
 * Father is the character with the most amount of changes in terms of increasing his own capacities, due to his numerous transformations.
 * In 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 red 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 wholy on the manga, the 2009 anime does not include any of these scenes.