VAN HOHENHEIM SPOILER!
VH
The brothers' father. Left Resembool when they were small. Appears in photographs that should not exist given when they were taken. Brotherhood's version of Hohenheim is entirely different from the 2003 anime and considerably more developed. He is connected to the ancient civilization of Xerxes, to the original Homunculus, and to a history that predates everything the series puts on the table. What he carries and what he has been trying to do with it for centuries is the spine the Promised Day arc is built on. The absence makes sense once the show explains it. The explanation takes a while and earns every episode it needs.
VAN THROUGH THE ARCHIVE //
THE PHILOSOPHER'S STONE //
Open page →Episode 40 · the original national transmutation
The Dwarf in the Flask manipulates the king of Xerxes into activating a nationwide transmutation that sacrifices the population.
Hohenheim and the Dwarf survive carrying enormous reservoirs of those souls.
Hohenheim and the Dwarf survive carrying enormous reservoirs of those souls.
Why it matters
The Promised Day is repetition. Father has already proven that a country can be converted into alchemical power once before.
Centuries of preparation
Father treats the souls inside a Philosopher's Stone as a power supply. Hohenheim spends centuries recognizing the individuals inside himself and speaking with them.
That relationship is what makes his national countermeasure possible: the souls cooperate rather than being spent anonymously.
That relationship is what makes his national countermeasure possible: the souls cooperate rather than being spent anonymously.
Why it matters
Brotherhood's argument about souls is not only that human life has value. It is that reducing many people into one resource does not actually make them stop being people.
