HOMUNCULI
The characters that have the heaviest indication of Christian symbolism in Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood are the homunculi. Aptly named Envy, Gluttony, Greed, Lust, Pride, Sloth and Wrath they were created from the character Father who in the previous section, tied his symbolism to that of Lucifer or Satan. They are the primary adversaries to stopping Edward and Alphonse Elric’s goal and serve Father loyally with one exception. In this section, I will be analyzing these seven deadly sins characters and how they each relate to the specific Christian sin that they are named after.
Father and the Homunculi
PRIDE
The homunculus Pride the Arrogant, was the first to be created from Father as Pride was his largest avarice. Looking at Christian mythology and using Father as a symbol of Lucifer, this makes sense, since it was Lucifer’s pride and arrogance which got him cast down from heaven. In the series FMAB, Pride is hubristic and boastful. He bears disdain for the human race, enjoys shaming and mocking others, and acts in a guiltless, abhorrent, and self-seeking way towards virtually everyone, including most of his fellow Homunculi. These traits are identical to those identified by Christian theologians on what the sin of pride is. Pride is also shown judging the prideful in the series. This is shown through the antagonist Solf Kimblee who delights himself by slaying others for his own enjoyment. Kimblee's pride in himself could not be higher and yet it is the manifestation of Pride that brings his downfall. Contradictory it is the arrogant character Edward Elric, that ends up defeating Pride after Pride boasted that no lowley human could defeat him. Prides destruction, can be seen as a relation to the verse in the Book of Proverbs in the Bible that pride goeth before the fall. In the end, it was Pride's own baleful traits that cost him his life.
Pride
Solf Kimblee
Edward defeats Pride
LUST
The next homunculus created from Father was the avarice of his lust. In FMAB, Lust the Lascivious appears as a woman and her role is that of an assassin to those who come too close to discovering Fathers ultimate plan. Lust also punishes people who exhibit her named sin while also encourages humans down her desired path. This can be seen with her killing the murderer Barry the Chopper, who tormented and killed women as he deemed them weak and inferior to men, but also using the lustful advances of the pro Elric brother character Jean Havoc into revealing classified information about their quest. How Lust acts in the FMAB series is very symbolic to the deadly sin seen in Christian mythology. It is then fitting that Lust is also destroyed by the lustful character Roy Mustang, who uses his fire alchemy to burn her to death.
Lust
Roy Mustang defeats Lust
GREED
The third homunculi that Father created was Greed the Avaricious. Greed, like his namesake, wants everything, and he’ll do whatever it takes to amass the objects of his desire. This is not just limited to the accumulation of wealth, but any and every material thing above all else no matter the cost. During the events of FMAB, Greed is a rogue homunculi and fights both the protagonists and his homunculi brethren. During a skirmish, his subordinates are killed by the homunculi Wrath, in which he is enraged due to his view that Wrath “stole his possessions”. Even when he joins the side of Edward and Alphonse, he still sees them as pawns to achieve his goal of Father’s powers and ruling the world. Thus we can see just how much the character Greed reflects his deadly sin; using others only as tools to achieve goals and never being satisfied with results only wanting more.
Greed
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Greed and Wrath fight
ENVY
Father’s next homunculus that he created was his sin of Envy the Jealous. Though being the fourth eldest, Envy is the second strongest homunculi besides Pride. This is because of Father’s previous envy towards the humans when he was but the only Homunculus. Envy’s true form is that of an hideous leviathan, which design wise reflects most notably with their Christian sin as Envy is often seen as an ugly sin. As well, Envy has the ability to transform into any living organism he desires. This not only has been used by Father to start many of the conflicts in order for the borders of Amestris to grow into the transmutation circle he requires but also shows symbolism of the fictitious nature of the sin envy. Envy is also a sadist during the events of FMAB, and enjoys inflicting physical and mental anguish on humans. He is also the homunculi who despises humans the most, yet playing again off of his namesake, is the most envious of them. This leads to his demise, when Edward realizes that Envy is jealous of humans being able to persevere through tragedy. Envy then took his own life, not wanting to live with the knowledge that the lowly pipsqueak understood his plight and core flaw of his sin.
Envy
Envy's true form
Envy take its own life
SLOTH
The manifestation of sloth would be Father’s next homunculus. Sloth the indolent, like his deadly sin, was portrayed in the series as lazy, dim witted who believed everything to be pointless and tiresome. He typically choses, despite having immense strength and speed, to be indifferent and reluctant to care about anything or anyone. Thus his only task, as shown in the FMAB series, was to dig the giant transmutation circle underneath Amestris in order for Father’s goal to succeed on the Promise Day. However, his failure to take interest in others is what costs him his life. During the battle to stop Father during the Promise Day, he is killed by the Armstrong siblings, characters who symbolize the opposite of slothfulness during the series. As he dies, Sloth comments that even living was too much, further solidifying his likeness to that of the deadly sin of sloth.
Sloth
Armstrong defeats Sloth
GLUTTONY
The second last of the homunculi to be created by Father, is Gluttony the Voracious an obese, simple-minded homunculus whose thoughts rarely stray far from eating anything. Though he can devour any inordinate amount of food, he is never satisfied with his meals and specifically, enjoys eating humans the most. Unlike his other brethren, Gluttony does not share the same disdain for humans as he simply just sees them as food to eat. A notable example of further tying Gluttony to his deadly sin, is the dimension that everything he consumes gets sent to. It is a stagnant, hellish dimension, which is filled with an endless repugnant sea of blood. This can be seen as a tie in to Christian mythology where in the circle of gluttony; victims lie in dirty, slimy, mucky water while starving as they are clawed by Cerberus. Gluttony meets his end ironically being consumed by his elder brother Pride in order to sustain his form.
Gluttony
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Pride consumes Gluttony
WRATH
The last of the homunculi created by Father is Wrath the Furious and is also the most unique of his brethren. He was once a human male with nothing to his name and was trained in a secret process with other nameless humans to see who could bear the host of Father’s ‘wrath’. After surviving the process, Wrath became the de facto leader of Amestris and was named King Bradley. From an outwardly appearance, nothing about ‘King Bradely’ seems wrathful, as at first in the series he is seen as a kind ruler and even shows compassion towards humans. However it is simply a disguise as Wrath is ultimately a hateful cynic and despises his limitations on being the only homunculi part human. Wrath commits a number of vicious acts against people who exhibit rage or vengeful tendencies. The most noteworthy example of this comes when he fights Scar, who has been slaying Amestrian soldiers to exact revenge on the military organization that wiped out his people, the Ishvalans. Wrath’s furry ends up being his end as he is mortally wounded in combat after a duel with Scar who beats him by letting go of his anger and forgiving those who wronged him.
King Bradley (Wrath)
Wrath kills, mercilessly
Wrath's death at the hands of Scar
