Father
| Father | |
|---|---|
| Fullmetal Alchemist character | |
| First appearance | Fullmetal Alchemist manga chapter 31 Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood episode 1 |
| Voiced by | Iemasa Kayumi (Japanese) Kent Williams (English) |
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"Father" (お父様, Otō-sama), who was named Homunculus (ホムンクルス Homunkurusu), or The Dwarf in the Flask (フラスコの中の小人 Furasuku no Naka no Kobito), is the antagonist of the Fullmetal Alchemist series. Titled the "Eastern Sage", he founded and propagated the fictional country of Amestris, which serves as his massive farm of human souls, which are intended to serve as his lance for his quest to "strike down God to Earth and become a perfect being". Father has appeared in other media from the series, including video games, original video animations (OVAs) and light novels.
Plot overview[edit]
The character Father was originally a "Homunculus" whose creation was commissioned by the king of Xerxes to obtain knowledge from beyond the Gate of Truth, in order to find a means to cheat death.[1] Confined within a flask, Homunculus formed an attachment to the young slave boy whose blood had been used in his creation, naming him Hohenheim and teaching him alchemy, the knowledge of which was viewed by the boy as freedom. With the former rising in Xerxes' social hierarchy, Hohenheim and Homunculus had a friendly relationship and were together for awhile; Homunculus identified Hohenheim as being 'like his father,' since it was from Hohenheim's blood that he gained life.[1]
But things changed when the Homunculus told the King of Xerxes the secret to immortality would cost the lives of everyone within the empire and gained his blessing to create a Nationwide Transmutation Circle with an inner circle to keep whoever's in it safe while allowing them to absorb the countless lives made into a philosopher's stone. After the alchemical process occurred, it was revealed that Homunculus had deceived the king as he intended himself to receive the stone while sacrificing Hohenheim's body to the gate. Soon after, the Homunculus uses the stone within him to create a "husk" body for himself and a new body for Hohenheim, each holding half a million souls.[2] Parting ways to find the center of the world while creating his Homunculi children, Father became the legendary Eastern Sage who taught the country of Amestris alchemy in for the sake of his master plan: Engineering every war in the country's history to bring it into the form of a perfect circle with sites of bloody carnage at all the cardinal points—the necessary configuration for the transmutation of another Philosopher's Stone and repeat his actions in Xerxes on a higher scale to open the Gate.
However, Father's "goal" depends on the use of 'human sacrifices', alchemists of notable skill who committed human transmutation and thus 'opened the Gate' within themselves after being forced to pay the toll with their flesh. By the start of the series, Hohenheim, the Elric Brothers and Izumi Curtis already were the four intended sacrifices with the likes of Roy Mustang being "potential sacrifices." Eventually, Father's plans are very near to fruition once Sloth eventually finishes building the tunnel underneath Amestris as the "Promised Day," an astronomical alignment that is important to Father's plan, is weeks away. Once the day come, as his forces deal with insurgents under Mustang and Oliver, Father battles Hohenheim who attempts to destroy his husk body so the homunculus would die. However, it would turn out that Father's body had expanded over the underground of Central city and the being within his shell was a shadowy humanoid extension covered in eyes. Father then uses his body to restrain Hohenheim from further interference he then activates the Amestris transmutation circle once the other pawns are brought together. Despite May and Greed joining the fray, Father succeeds in forcing the Gate to appear into order to absorb the Truth. Having apparently succeeded, Father gains a new, more youthful husk body with godly power as he attempts to kill everyone off. However, as Hohenheim reveals the transmutation circle he made around the country in secret that restores the sacrificed souls back into their bodies, Scar's activation of the Alkahestry circle secretly made around Central restores the alchemists' alchemy abilities to give them an edge. Barely able to hold the Truth and forced to deal with the alchemists, Father makes his way to the surface to take more lives to restore his power. Father effectively defeats Hohenheim, Izumi, Mustang, May, Al and Ed, but the intervention of the rest of their friends allowed them to recover before Father destroys Ed's Automail arm as he begins to lose control. This causes Al to sacrifice himself in order to give Ed's arm back, and Ed furiously attacks Father with a staggering amount of blows before he manages to absorb Greed's stone. However, Greed uses his carbonization ability to cripple Father from the inside and enable Edward to literally punch a hole in Father's chest. In so doing, the trapped souls from Xerxes reach out and turn Father inside out, dragging him before the gate. There Father, now reduced back to his original form, confronts the force that calls itself 'the Truth'. Berating Father for selfishly stealing the power of others instead of trying to evolve using his own strength, the force 'rewards' the horrified Father by having the gate reabsorb him.
Reception[edit]
Car Liminger notes that while the entirety of FMA:B could be called epic, "Father's plan [to consume God] is of such scale and its result so mind-bogglingly spectacular that it can't be called anything else".[3]
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Arakawa, Hiromu (21 July 2007). "Chapter 74: The Dwarf in the Flask". Fullmetal Alchemist. 19. Viz Media. pp. 32–36. ISBN 978-1-4215-2568-6. Search this book on
- ↑ Arakawa, Hiromu (January 2011). "Chapter 97: The Two Philosophers". Fullmetal Alchemist. 24. Viz Media. p. 7. ISBN 978-1-4215-3812-9. Search this book on
- ↑ "Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood DVD Part 5". Anime News Network. Retrieved 2016-04-12.
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