Van Hohenheim

Van Hohenheim, also known as Hohenheim of Light, is Ed and Al's mysterious father, who disappears a few years after they are born.

In the 2003 anime
Approximately four centuries old in soul, forty years old in his current body, 'Hoenheim of Light' remains behind the scenes throughout most of the series. Most of his past is kept under wraps, save for a few key points, revealed quite late in the series. Hohenheim is a tall, rather well-built man, standing in at at least six feet tall at first glance. He's rather gentle and weary, and soft-spoken as well, which is most likely due to the extensive amount of time spent alive, under his assorted burdens. This disposition is clearly demonstrated when Edward actually punches him in the face and kicks him in the stomach, with very little reaction. He is shown to be an extremely powerful alchemist, possibly the strongest in the series, showcasing his talents in transmuting light (hence his nickname) in episode 45, "A Rotted Heart".

In the anime, Hohenheim's official debut is in episode 43, "The Stray Dog". Here, he meets Winry Rockbell, confusing her for a woman named Sara. Winry promptly flees, but soon realizes that since Sara was her mother's name she may have been taken for her mother. Hohenheim then appears at the Rockbell residence, where Pinako introduces him as Ed and Al's father.

Background
His past is fairly murky, save for a few key moments shown in the series. Approximately four hundred years prior to the series, Hohenheim created the Philosopher's Stone, using people captured in a witch hunt and those dying of the plague. The resulting reaction nearly caused Hohenheim's death, but out of love and concern for her lover, Dante used the stone to attach his soul to another man's body. It's from here on out that the two jump from body to body, living on, and obtaining a so-called eternal life, although Hohenheim had only intended to live as long as the stone lasted, alongside Dante. It's not known if Dante and Hohenheim were actually ever married, but their relationship produced one son who died at the age of 18 of mercury poisoning. Hohenheim performed a human transmutation on his son, which, in turn, failed, producing the first-ever Homunculus, Envy. Regretting what he had done to his son, Hohenheim fled (although he left Dante some of the Stone). Later, Hoenheim renounces ever truly loving Dante, stating Trisha Elric as the only woman he ever truly loved.

Where Hohenheim was in the ten-year gap between his leaving the Elrics and turning up again isn't exactly clear. He had explained to Trisha shortly before his departure that he was leaving to do research of some kind, but never came back. In episode 50, "Death", it is revealed that Hohenheim's stolen bodies rot more quickly every time he takes a new one. Also knowing that Dante was out there, somewhere, he assumed that staying in hiding would, perhaps, make her vanish for good. But once he found out that Dante had her eyes set on his sons, he emerged to face her, only to be immobilized by the Homunculus Sloth, who bore a striking resemblance to his late wife Trisha, and was consequently sent into the Gate, where his mind, body, and soul were separated. He was able to reassemble himself, however, and emerge on the other side, in London, and eventually becomes an advisor to Winston Churchill. When Edward's soul was sent there by Dante, he learns about Hoenhiem's past. When he offers to find a way to bring Hohenheim back to their home world, he declines, revealing that the act is impossible due to his entire being on this side. At the end of the series, he is living in Germany, siding himself with the Thule Society, secretly finding a way to send his son back to Amestris, caring for him until Edward left for Romania to find the means of world travel.

Conqueror of Shamballa
In the movie which concludes the 2003 anime, Hohenheim doesn't appear much, save for a couple of pivotal scenes. Hohenheim is used as a sacrifice on Germany's side of the Gate, fixed in the mouth of Envy, who was captured by the Thule Society when he arrived on Earth, trapped in a serpentine form. He tells Edward that he is a sinner, from creating Envy to the making of the Philosopher's Stone, destroying thousands of lives in the process indirectly. Despite Edward's pleas not to, Hohenheim tells him to give Alphonse his regards as he uses Envy to create a gate to Amestris. He gets Envy to bite down on him, killing him and using his own blood and Envy to activate the gate.

In the manga and 2009 anime
The manga version of Hohenheim is a different creature from that of the 2003 anime, although the elements 'several centuries old' and 'intimate associate of the villain' remain. His character is mild, soft-spoken, vaguely guilt-ridden, prone to making an idiot of himself, and immune to embarrassment. He tends to make cryptic statements and occasionally test other people's character. He has an instantly self-regenerating body and describes himself as 'the Philosopher's stone given the form of a man'. He is an extremely powerful alchemist, second to none, having access to the unlimited power of the Stone, and, having been studying for several hundred years, is probably an exceedingly learned one, too. Only his "son", the enigmatic "Father", is capable of rivaling his power. He is also more muscular in the manga than his anime counterpart.

In his youth he bore a strong resemblance to Ed, although with different bangs, taller, thinner and a more defined jaw, and was of similar character as well, with a hair-trigger temper and considerable pride. However, Hohenheim always completely lacked the obsessive drive which characterizes Edward Elric. Hohenheim was a slave in his youth called "Number 23". Father was created with his blood. He is a person completely without ambition, who would, if allowed, have been content to go to his grave without ever doing anything more empowering than sweeping floors.

In the manga, he is introduced as Van Hohenheim when he returns to Resembool. There he discovers that his house has been burned down, encounters a very hostile Edward in front of Trisha's grave, and plants the suggestion that the creature Ed and Al created when attempting to resurrect Trisha might not have even been a bad copy of her, but something quite unrelated. Before leaving, he warns Pinako Rockbell to leave the country for her safety. After he leaves Resembool with a family portrait of himself, his sons, and his wife tucked into his jacket, his carriage is held up by bandits, who promptly retreat after shooting Hohenheim multiple times, to no effect apart from damaging his clothes. In Chapter 67 it is revealed that he has or is the philosopher's stone. Therefore he has a body similar to the body of "Father", the creator of the seven Homunculi. Notably, they look almost alike, except that "Father" seems to have aged a great deal more. Interestingly, Hohenheim addresses the souls in the Stone he takes from his body by name. However, Hiromu Arakawa, the creator of Fullmetal Alchemist, was for a long time very ambiguous about whether Hohenheim somehow was "Father." In chapter 54, it was established that "Father" is not Hohenheim - the manga shows Hohenheim in a completely different place during Ed and Al's encounter with "Father." However, the two are clearly connected, considering how "Father" enthusiastically asks Edward about what had become of Hohenheim, and then utters the cryptic statement "Of course he wouldn't have died." In Chapter 73, Father lists Hohenheim as one of his potential sacrifices.

In chapter 68, Hohenheim states that he has lived for a long time and that he thought it wasn't too bad to "accept this body and live on... Until I met you, Trisha and had children." He says that Trisha knew that he had the body of "a monster" yet still cared for him. His departure from Resembool was part of his search for a means to become mortal, so that he could age and die with Trisha, Edward, and Alphonse (meaning, of course, that he missed the end of her life and their childhoods), although he also left when he did largely because he realized at last just what 'Father' was planning to do with the country. He does not seem to have accomplished much during the ten plus year period of his absence. However, in recent chapters it has been revealed that he has been secretly constructing a giant transmutation circle of his own, using small parts of his Stone at vital points, in order to free the souls of Amestris from Father's body.

Hohenheim's furthest past is at last revealed in chapter 74. He is shown as an adolescent boy who looks and acts very much like Edward, although he is not short. At this time, he is an illiterate slave in ancient Xerxes, known as Number 23. Very little is shown of his country, but the people's manner of dressing is reminiscent both of the Ishbalans (though they physically resemble Amestrians but Xerxesians are characterized by golden hair and eyes ) and of Father's way of dressing in the present. As Number 23 mops the floor in his master's laboratory, a homunculus in a flask addresses him. Hohenheim's blood had been used in the creation of the creature, the first homunculus. As a sign of gratitude, the homunculus gives him a name (the name was originally "Theophratus Bombastus Van Hohenheim", but was shortened to Hohenheim so it could be easily remembered, mostly because the homunculus believed Hohenheim to be far too stupid to remember the whole thing). It should be noted that while Paracelsus, who was Swiss, had the surname "Von Hohenheim", the Fullmetal Alchemist character is named "Van Hohenheim", "Van" being the Dutch cognate of the German "Von". Lastly, the homunculus tells Hohenheim that it can give him knowledge. Homunculus teaches Hohenheim reading, writing and basic alchemy. As a result of this knowledge, Hohenheim becomes his master's assistant and his life greatly improves.

The Homunculus presents the King of Xerxes with what he says is the secret to immortality. After the King creates a massive transmutation circle around Xerxes, the circle is activated, with Hohenheim and the homunculus secretly in its center. As the country and people, including the King, are consumed by the array, Hohenheim is brought before the Doors of Truth. When he is returned to the dead land of Xerxes, he re encounters Homunculus, who has crafted a copy of Hohenheim's body to inhabit for itself. As a 'gift' for helping him and being the source of his life, Homunculus also rebuilt Hohenheim's body into an immortal one like those the other Homunculi would one day have. The souls Hohenheim addresses hundreds of years later are doubtless people he once knew in his youth in Xerxes, who died for his and Homunculus's bodies. Some of the names of the souls he addresses in Chapter 67 include the people he called out to after returning from the Doors. Hohenheim, once human, is immortal, and as he later tells to Izumi Curtis, is a "Philosopher's Stone in human form". He has considerable healing ability, being able to reorder Izumi Curtis' ravaged internal organs to the most favorable arrangement possible merely by sticking his flat hand into her abdomen.

He is also the philosopher of the west and perfect being who taught the Xingese alkahestry.

Hohenheim then moves on to Liore, where he meets Rose. She and the Old Shopkeeper lead him to an underground reservoir, where he walks across the poisoned water, forming a stone pathway under his feet as he walks, and has a short battle with Pride. He tells Pride to tell Father that "Number 23" is coming to see him and then heads back to Liore. Hohenheim encounters Al for the first time in twelve years in Chapter 80, and exclaims, "My vintage armor!" Hohenheim, who considers himself fairly accurately a failure of a father, allows himself to be removed from the situation as quickly as possible, but Al goes after him, and they have a wonderful heart-to-heart talk in which many things are explained. In chapter 85, Hohenheim meets Edward again. After Edward gets one good punch at his father, Hohenheim tells Ed the story of his early life. He dryly asks whether Ed wants to use him to regain their lost bodies, but Ed declines vociferously, having gone off the Philosopher's Stone ever since he learned its key ingredients. In chapter 88, Hohenheim seals Alphonse Elric and Pride (Selim Bradley) in an earthen prison with no light, so that Pride will no longer be able to harm anyone. This enrages Edward, but Hohenheim explains that this was Alphonse's plan.

After the fight against Pride, Hohenheim becomes the de facto leader of the expedition to take Father down. He mentions a plan ready to counter Father's nation-wide transmutation circle if it was to be activated but say's he'd rather prevent its activation in the first place. Upon entering Father's subterranean lair, he organizes the group in two teams and goes alongside Lan Fan, whom he later allows to go on her own looking for Ling Yao/Greed while he reaches Father. He greets his "friend from the flask" stating that "there is no need for a big group to punish one misbehaving child". The living Philosopher's Stones start to fight each other.

After having dodged few attacks, he is stabbed by Father who claims his Stone, but the 536 329 restless souls that composed it (with whom Hohenheim managed to come to an understanding with) destroyed Father's human-like container from the inside. However Father's Homunculus form, shaped like when he was in the flask emerged, leaves Hohenheim in a bad situation. Father later appears to Edward, Izumi and Al, having absorbed Hohenheim to his body. Father then tells Edward, Izumi, and Al that Father had initially tried to absorb all of Van Hohenheim's philosopher's stones, which would kill him. However, because Hohenheim had managed to communicate to and understand the stone's souls (which was something Father couldn't do), Hohenheim survived the incident, and instead had his head and legs sticking out of Fathers homunculus body (the rest of his body are inside but are not separated). Father can then push Hohenheim inside his body, but Hohenheim can also resist and come back out with his head protruding, which is what he did to warn May about Father's powers. When Greed slashes Father but fails to kill him, Hohenheim is then released from his body but still in Father's grasp. As Father assembles Hohenheim and the others as sacrifices to open "The World's Gate", Hohenheim and the others then have large eyes surrounded by a mock of shadows on their torsos, which starts to fight back against the other gates. As Father succeeds in opening the gate, Hohenheim, Izumi, Roy, May, Greed/Ling, Pride, Al, and Ed are the only ones left alive while all the citizens of Amestris are dead. Father is then seen in a fog of smoke as he explains that in order to contain God within himself required an enormous amount of energy, which the people of Amestris provided. Now both they and God reside within him. As the smoke clears, Father has now gained a new body that resembles Edward as he says "And I have you to thank for that my friends."

Hohenheim fends off Father's attacks, draining many lives from his Philosopher's Stone. After Father retreats above ground to try and replenish his Stone, Hohenheim follows, along with Ed, Al, May, and Izumi. He chastises Father for berating humans, telling him that it was humans that created the Philosopher's Stone in the first place, which in turn gave birth to Homunculi. He then watches as Father creates humans out of the souls of the long-dead Xersisians, and is caught in the blast that follows.

It is reveled that Hohenheim had survived the blast, shielding Izumi from the bulk of it. His Philosopher's Stone almost gone, he can do little more than watch the battle as it progresses.

Trivia

 * The character of Hohenheim is seemingly inspired by Phillip von Hohenheim, a Renaissance Swiss alchemist and early scientist who later adopted the name Philippus Theophrastus Aureolus Bombastus von Hohenheim and the sobriquet Paracelsus. Paracelsus credited himself with creating a homunculus out of various human bodily fluids. This is further proven by the fact that the original homunculus was going to give him the same name as mentioned, but Hohenheim thought it was too long and was shortened to just Van Hohenheim.
 * In the anime-exclusive recap episode (Episode 27: Interlude Party (2009 series)), it is shown that Hohenheim knew Trisha since she was a child.
 * It's said that Hohenheim has come to an understanding with every single one of the souls that comprise his Philosopher's Stone, and that they willingly participate with him to make Father atone for his actions. However, before this is known, Hohenheim is seen using all kinds of (stone-powered) alchemy that is unrelated to bringing down Father, such as rearranging Izumi Curtis' ravaged insides. It is unknown if Hohenheim has burned off any of the souls by doing this kind of alchemy, or perhaps he only uses bits and pieces of each soul, to not use a full one.
 * Also, due to his ability to communicate with the souls of his stone, his alchemy is much more powerful than an individual simply utilizing the energy of a stone. This is evidently due to the souls of his stone actively aiding him in his endeavors. It also allows for his stone to essentially use itself, as can be seen when the souls of the stone independently activated the nationwide transmutation circle created by the umbra.