Sloth

Sloth (Japanese:スロウス, Surōsu) is the name given to two very different homunculi due to the sheer differences between the anime and manga.

In the manga
In the manga, Sloth is not introduced until midway through the series, where he is revealed to be a large, muscular, dim-witted man. He is tasked with digging a gigantic transmutation circle beneath Amestris to be used in turning the country into a Philosopher's Stone. Though he is briefly impeded in this job when he runs into the Elric brothers at Briggs Fortress, he is allowed to continue his work, finishing the circle in chapter seventy-eight. Just as his name, Sloth is always wanting to rest and finish his job so he can stop working. When Greed is captured by Wrath, he asks about Sloth and Lust answers saying he is still working, meaning he was already making the tunnel before Greed left the group one hundred years before. After finishing the transmutation tunnel, he acted as Father's personal bodyguard, following him when he took direct control of the army and sleeping near Father's throne when he has nothing else to do. In Chapter 91, he was sent to deal with Major General Olivier Armstrong when she took one of the corrupted generals of Central as hostage, killing the hostage in a surprise attack. After a lengthy battle with the two Armstrong siblings, in which Sloth gets impaled several times, Izumi and her husband, Sig, come to help aid the Armstrongs. Sig and Alex Armstrong then proceed to attack Sloth, and finally they throw Sloth onto an earth spike, impaling him. As he attempts to recover, his arms begin to quickly disintegrate. Realizing his death forthcoming, he embraces his end with a smile, stating that merely living was too much effort for him. Sloth is the 4th Homunculus to die. It should be noted that Sloth didn't need to be killed as many times, because when Armstrong (male) impales Sloth through the mouth with an earth spike as Sloth charges, the philosopher's stone lost a lot of energy to keep Sloth alive while Sloth tried to get rid of the spike (he crushed it). This must have done a lot of damage because the Armstrongs only had to kill Sloth a few more times before Sloth disintegrated. Some of the Stone's energy may also have been lost keeping Sloth alive while he was frozen in a snowdrift outside Briggs HQ, as it was a fairly long time before he was thawed out. Sloth's tattoo is located on his right shoulder blade and is listed in Perfect Guide Book 2 to be the fifth Homunculus created by Father.

Powers and Abilities
In combat, he uses his fists and the chains on his wrists coupled with his astonishing physical strength. Sloth's hide is so impenetrable, it rivals Greed's carbon skin; nothing short of heavily-shelled ammunition could pierce it from a distance. In his most devastating attack, he hurls himself towards his foes at incredible speed, like a living missile. In fact, his speed is so formidable, he appears to have no means of controlling his trajectory, and thus incapable of stopping himself without crashing against something or someone. He claims to be the fastest homunculus. This being ironic as the definition of sloth means being slow or sluggish.

His regenerative abilities are notably slower than those of the other homunculi. He is able to use this to his advantage, however, by stretching out the tendons in his muscles, increasing the range of his attacks.

Trivia

 * He is the 2nd largest Homunculus (The first being Envy in its 2nd form)
 * Since he was working in the tunnel for so long, Sloth was the last Homunculus to become aware of the Elric Brother's existence.

In the 2003 Anime
Main Article: Sloth (anime)