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 //
STORY & ARC GUIDE //
Open page →Episodes 36–40
Hohenheim is revealed as the surviving human counterpart to Father's origin, carrying souls from Xerxes inside himself.
Unlike Father, he has spent centuries recognizing those souls as people and preparing a countermeasure for the day Father repeats Xerxes on a national scale.
Unlike Father, he has spent centuries recognizing those souls as people and preparing a countermeasure for the day Father repeats Xerxes on a national scale.
Why it matters
The absent father Ed resents turns out to have left his family because the catastrophe that created him was finally approaching them again.
Episodes 58–59
Father needs five people who have opened the Gate. Edward, Alphonse, Izumi and Hohenheim are already part of the plan; Mustang is forced through human transmutation so the required fifth sacrifice exists on schedule.
What changed
The taboo the heroes chose to break in the past becomes a qualification Father can exploit in the present. Even refusing human transmutation is not enough when Pride and Wrath can force the doorway open.
