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Sloth (Japanese:スロウス, Surōsu) is one of the primary antagonists and a character exclusive to the Fullmetal Alchemist 2003 anime series, a vastly different character from the original manga version of Sloth.

In the 2003 anime, she is a homunculus unintentionally created by the protagonists, brothers Edward and Alphonse, in their failed attempt at reviving their mother Trisha using alchemy. Sloth was eventually found by the ancient alchemist Dante, who took Sloth in and soon placed her under Führer King Bradley (Pride) as his secretary with the second alias of "Juliet Douglas".

Appearance, abilities and persona[]

The organic mass that was formed from the failed debacle was fed red stones by Dante, thus giving Sloth the appearance of the late Trisha. Sloth's unique ability as a homunculus is to alter her body into pure water, which she uses as a means of transportation, espionage, and also killing by drowning her victims. She is also seemingly able to convert her full-length purple dress into water, but no other clothing, as her secretary's uniform tears when she encounters Edward underground. Her ouroboros tattoo is located above the area where her heart would be, similar to Lust. She is named for the sin of sloth, and, though not lazy like her manga/2009 series counterpart, she is emotionless and apathetic, another reading of the sin. Since sloth may also indicate apathy, Sloth's name may refer to her seeming indifference to the lives of others, and though this is not exclusive to her, Sloth is noticeably the "calmest" homunculus, She once nonchalantly drowned someone while continuing to drink from her cup with the other, without even turning her gaze. A third reading of the sin, coinciding historically with the "apathy" interpretation, means sorrow or despair. This fits considering her motive for killing the Elric brothers, as she becomes visibly grief-stricken explaining to Ed how much of a toll her familial memories take on her, despite not being their mother or even human like her. And though this despair over not being human is not exclusive to her, the same feeling of slothful despair represents Ed's sin at various points in the story, with her being "the form his sins have taken". Her name could also be due to the fact that water flows with the path of least resistance. Either way, she rarely displays any intense emotion. Although she is the youngest homunculus, before Wrath, Sloth is also seemingly one of the highest-ranked and is shown giving orders to Envy, the oldest homunculus.

Relationships[]

To be added.

Role in the 2003 anime's storyline[]

Soon after her creation, Sloth took on a second alias "Juliet Douglas," and played the role of secretary to Führer King Bradley, who is, in reality, the Homunculus Pride. "Juliet Douglas" was allegedly the name of a soldier who sparked the war in Ishval by accidentally shooting an Ishvalan child. She was listed as being deceased, but her name still appears on the list of those in active duty of the military. This is noticed by Lt. Colonel Maes Hughes, who, hoping to uncover the Homunculi, asks Sloth, in her disguise, to get into contact with Dr. Tim Marcoh. Sloth later accompanies Hughes to a hotel, where she says Doctor Marcoh is waiting for him. Hughes begins to grill her, asking whether she really is Douglas or whether she just took her place. Sloth dismisses the accusations, but leads him to a room where she has arranged a rendezvous with Lust and Envy. After Lust is impaled in the forehead by a thrown knife, she and Sloth go after Hughes, but Envy, disguised as 2nd Lt. Maria Ross and then as Hughes' wife, has already killed him. Sloth later assisted Envy in recruiting Wrath to their side before Greed could and helps him escape pursuit from the Elric brothers by hiding Wrath in her watery body.

Later while investigating Hughes' murder, Sheska comes across the name "Juliet Douglas" many times, and reveals to the Elrics' friend Winry Rockbell a series of conflicting reports, including the fact that Douglas only looks about thirty years old, but should be in her fifties. The two young women break into the Central Military HQ telephone network hub, and connect to the Führer's office, hoping to listen in on Douglas' phone calls. They are in luck; Envy calls Sloth from an insecure line to complain that he is getting bored of waiting for the Elrics to make a move. Without giving too much away, Sloth reprimands him, but quickly ends the call, having heard the interference. She makes her way to Winry and Sheska, intending to either kill or capture them. Winry recognizes her as bearing the same appearance as the Elrics' mother Trisha, before being saved in the nick of time by Ross.

Sloth later reveals herself to the Elric brothers, and Ed is horrified by her. She is shown to take full advantage

Sloth

Sloth immobilizing Hohenheim.

of her resemblance to their mother, trying to manipulate the Elrics into compliance by acting like Trisha. Although stealing Al is her only objective at this time, as Dante wants Ed alive, Sloth ends up feeling the need to kill Ed too. She reveals later in the series that in fact, she had been suffering memories of Trisha and her life with her sons. Sloth does not wish to feel any relation to Trisha, and thinks that, if she kills the Elrics, these feelings of unfounded love will disappear. She also remembers Hohenheim, whom she immobilizes with her liquid body, giving Dante the opportunity to banish Hohenheim to the other side of The Gate. Sloth's motivations also lie in the hope that her master, Dante, will eventually make her human, which will allow her to know what real family is. She tells Lust that this is her one and only goal and to this end, she follows Dante without complaint. Despite Dante telling her she needs to become human first, she has been shown not to be completely devoid of human feelings, and replaces Edward and Alphonse with Wrath, as her child, This is later frowned upon by Dante, who claims homunculi cannot have mothers or sons to Wrath and Sloth respectively. Wrath begged for Dante to bring her back to life through Alphonse, who became a living Philosopher's Stone.

Sloth's water

Sloth utilizing her water powers.

Sloth's final appearance in the anime is during a battle with the Elrics at an abandoned warehouse, after she, along with Lust and Wrath, is sent to capture them. Encountering Shou Tucker, Sloth coldly informs him that she no longer wishes to allow him to continue with his experiments, having witnessed the "useless chimera doll" that Tucker created. She almost succeeds in her task, having charmed Alphonse into taking her side. However, she is severely weakened by a bone of Trisha (the remains of the human on whom she is based) and is ultimately betrayed by Lust. Lust recounts how she has already been through similar emotions to the ones that Sloth goes through, and soon after takes the initiative to attack her while the brothers argue. She repeatedly attacks her to prevent her from reforming her liquid body. Sloth escapes Lust when Wrath shows up to attack the latter, and Sloth hides in Alphonse's armor and controls his movements, intending to return him to Dante. Edward confronts her, and she takes time to explain why she must kill both him and his brother. She reveals that she indeed has the memories and feelings of Trisha Elric, which explains her seemingly maternal affection towards Wrath. She is shown having nightmarish flashbacks of a loving family that she feels cannot belong to her, since their mother is dead and she is not human. The only way in her mind to cease the torment her memories give her, is to remove the Elrics from the world entirely. She goes on to inform Ed that she should hate him for creating her. At this point, she has the Elrics completely at her mercy, but unfortunately, Wrath, having killed Lust and absorbed Trisha's remains moments earlier, embraces Sloth and the remains cause her to become immobile. It is then that Sloth recognizes the moment of her defeat. Edward uses alchemy to transform her body into ethanol, and she slowly evaporates into the atmosphere. Her last words turn out to be motherly advice to her sons as she evaporates. She was the third Homunculus to die. Sloth later appears as a cameo in the penultimate episode of the series as another form Envy takes to torment Edward in battle.

Trivia[]

  • All of Sloth's "clothes" appear to be nothing more than an extent of her watery powers, as she is able to transform outfits along with her body at will.
  • Similarly to Pride, who Dante figured out how to make age like a human, Sloth was able to alter her appearance over time into her Juliet Douglas disguise, changing her hair color, eye color, and skin color. This capability is mentioned by Hohenheim.
    Sloth Designe

    Official artwork of Sloth.

    Tumblr fc438e1c7f1a72ea770ad99aad9b4470 7c1fdac7 500

    Sloth as Juliet Douglas

  • Given that Sloth's body seems to be completely made of water, she may have surpassed Greed in terms of resilience. This is shown in her final battle with the Elrics, where after having the red stones removed from her body, she was capable of recovering from an explosion by simply turning into liquid and reforming. Compare to Greed, who was killed by a stab wound while his Ultimate Shield was active.
  • She is paired with Wrath and the two of them receive entirely opposite approaches from the alchemists who created them: Izumi ultimately embraces Wrath as the child she bore that died. However, Edward refuses to consider Sloth as his mother to the point of saying Homunculi don't have souls, despite declaring Al, the Slicer Brothers, and the life contained in the red water all still count as "real" forms of life. This plot point was explored in a deleted scene for the finale, Conqueror of Shamballa, in which Wrath contrasts his "fake" life made with alchemy with human life made by mothers.
  • Sloth's Ouroboros tattoo is located in the same spot as Izumi's flamel tattoo; above her left breast. This may symbolize how Sloth and Izumi are similar, both being Wrath's "mother".
  • In the English dub, Sloth's resolve to kill the Elric Brothers is a representation of her sin, as she sees killing Trisha's sons as the lowest energy way to deal with Trisha Elric's conflicting memories; on a similar note, she uses her powers in a sluggish manner, often using one arm to battle while the rest of her stands in a distance.
  • Although vastly different in origin and personality, both Sloths have many things in common: They are very powerful among the Homunculi (the 2003 version is the most resilient and is twice shown affecting numerous people with tidal waves, the Sloth in the manga is the strongest and fastest and required multiple persons to stop him); they serve similar roles, as assistants to their master; and both need to be motivated in order to use their powers to their true potential.
  • This version of Sloth was one of the first Homunculi ever shown to not have black hair (Envy did have green hair in the 2003 series, but it was originally black in the manga); this was a result of her being based on Trisha, who had auburn colored hair. While Sloth's hair does become noticeably darker in her full Homunculus form than in her "Juliet Douglas" disguise, it still retains more of a brownish hue.
  • Sloth's background as a human seems to be more expanded on than any other homunculus (because her human form was the mother of the series main protagonists.) Also, she is the only homunculus whose name was known in her life as a human, the other homunculi original names were never revealed.
  • Ed and Dante proclaim homunculi to be born of sin, reflecting the sin of their creator. At several points in the story, Ed falls into despair and begins giving up. Following Nina's death, Winry's capture by Barry the Chopper, his discovery of the ingredient for the Philosopher's Stone, his discovery of Hughes' death and Mustang's concealment of the truth, his depressed, indifferent attitude while he's "living his whole life in a dream". Most importantly, his leg being taken by the Truth represents his inability to move forward after Trisha's death (as stated in the manga)
Homunculus
Father
Lust | Gluttony | Greed | Sloth | Wrath | Envy | Pride
2003 Anime Exclusive
Wrath | Sloth | Pride
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