Sloth

Sloth (スロウス, Surōsu) is a Homunculus in the manga and the 2009 anime. He is not to be confused with Sloth from the 2003 anime, who is a very different character.

Role in the Story
In the manga, Sloth is not introduced until midway through the series, where he is revealed to be a muscular, but dim-witted giant standing almost twice the height of a normal man. Sloth's Ouroboros tattoo is located on his right shoulder blade and he is listed in Perfect Guide Book 2 to be the fifth Homunculus created by Father.

Sloth 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, making Sloth the 4th Homunculus to die.

Last Words: "I'm gonna die? Gonna die...what is dying? Thinking about it is bothersome. Living on....is also bothersome..."



Powers and Abilities
In combat, Sloth uses his fists and the chains on his wrists coupled with his astonishing physical strength. He is more than capable of crushing and tearing through solid rock and steel with his bare hands, and can easily crush a human body with accidental ease. Sloth's hide is also extremely tough, rivaling Greed's carbon skin in durability, although it is much more flexible and seems to be a permanent feature of his body. Nothing short of tank or artillery fire could pierce it from a distance. In his most devastating attack, he hurls himself towards his foes at incredible speed. In fact, his speed is so formidable, he appears to have no means of controlling his momentum, and is thus incapable of stopping himself without crashing into something. He claims to be the fastest homunculus, which is ironic as the definition of sloth is being slow or sluggish. However, he is extremely clumsy and not very bright as he is easily fooled. He is also not very accurate in attacking. He is very slow-witted, resulting in opponents getting the better of him simply by outpacing him. His sluggish nature may explain his low intelligence, as in his last moments he claims that thinking "takes too much effort".

His regenerative abilities are notably slower than those of the other homunculi though the reason for this is unknown. It is in line with his sluggish character, and may be an effect of his large frame. He is able to use this to his advantage however, by stretching out the tendons in his muscles, increasing the range of his attacks. It should be noted that Sloth did not need to be killed as many times as his brethren, because when Alex Armstrong impales Sloth through the mouth with an earth spike as Sloth charges, his philosopher's stone lost a lot of energy to keep Sloth alive while Sloth tried to get rid of the spike. This must have done a lot of damage because the Armstrongs only had to kill Sloth a few more times before he disintegrated. Some of the Stone's energy may also have been lost keeping Sloth alive while he was frozen in a snowdrift outside Fort Briggs, as it was a fairly long time before he was thawed out.

Trivia

 * He is the 2nd largest Homunculus (The first being Envy in its true form).
 * He has the same hairstyle as Envy's preferred, androgynous form. He also shares the same type of eye(s) as Gluttony.
 * Since he was working in the tunnel for so long, Sloth was the last Homunculus to become aware of the Elric Brothers' existence.
 * Sloth's pattern of never-ending activity is a reference to Dante Alighieri's "Purgatorio", in which the indolent are told to engage in constant activity to cleanse them of their slothful ways.
 * Sloth is either missing an eye, or it is covered by a red node that runs through the right side of his body. His Homunculus comrades have the same wire like attachments on their bodies as well, but he is the only Homunculus with one on his face.
 * Despite his extremely lazy personality, he can become determined to accomplish something if pushed far enough. When given the task of killing Olivier Armstrong, Sloth eventually becomes so frustrated to finish his task, he resorts to using his full might, even exclaiming, "I'm killing the female general!"

In the 2003 Anime
Main Article: Sloth (2003 anime)