Lunar Month

Homunculi are the main antagonists in Fullmetal Alchemist. They are a group of artificially created humans who seek to fulfill their leader's goals of creating a Philosopher's Stone. In both the anime and the manga each homunculus is named after one of the seven deadly sins, and are marked with an Ouroboros tattoo on their bodies. Aside from this, the concept of the homunculi varies drastically between mediums. In the anime, homunculi are created when someone performs a human transmutation to revive a dead person. They will fail to revive the intended person, and will instead create a homunculus that looks exactly like the deceased target. These homunculi are led by Dante. The only way to kill a homunculus in the anime is by finding a remnant of their original body (a bone, hair, etc.) and having it near them, weakening them and making them susceptible to death.

In the manga, homunculi have a Philosopher's Stone somewhere in their body. Most of the homunculi that have been introduced were created at the same time as their respective Philosopher's Stone. Others, such as Wrath, were humans that accepted a Philosopher's Stone into their body, gaining the abilities of a homunculi while aging like a human. All homunculi are created by or at the discretion of Father, being a manifestation of one of his traits; his greed, his lust, and so on. The only way to kill a homunculus in the manga is by expending all of the power in their Philosopher's Stone, leaving them unable to revive themselves once they have been killed.

Father is a character exclusive to the manga. He was the first homunculus and is the creator of all subsequent homunculi.

Lust, the "Ultimate Spear", is the first homunculus to be introduced in the series. She is a big-busted woman, who primarily works in the shadows, acting as an envoy for her leader in both mediums and encouraging alchemists down her desired path. She is able to extend her fingers to great lengths and can use them to cut through any substance. In the manga, after leading an effort to capture Barry the Chopper, her plans backfire when Roy Mustang infiltrates into the homunculi's secret lair. Though she is able to severely wound him, he sears his wounds shut and kills her by repeatedly setting her on fire.

In the anime, Lust was created when Scar's brother tried to revive his dead lover. Though originally largely the same as her manga counterpart, Lust begins to crave becoming a human as the series progresses. This leads her to defecting from the homunculi and joining sides with Edward Elric under the condition that they help make her human. She is ultimately tracked down by Wrath who, after paralyzing her with a locket that contains strands of hair from her original body, kills her.

Gluttony is one of the first homunculi to appear in the series, typically being in the company of Lust. He is a large, simple-minded homunculus whose thoughts rarely stray far from eating. He has powerful jaws, acidic saliva, and can and will eat almost anything. He particularly likes eating people, and the only way he can find enjoyment in a battle is if he can eat his opponent afterwards.

In the manga, Gluttony is the failed product of Father's attempts to create a Gate of Truth. When activating this gate Gluttony's stomach opens up, revealing a large eye at its center. His ribs spread out to act as a border for the gate, and then double as large extendable teeth. With these teeth Gluttony can consume everything in his eye's field of vision in an instant, which is then transported to a realm within himself. Artifacts from centuries before the start of the series can be found there, indicating Gluttony's age. Gluttony tries to use this form to kill Roy Mustang, Lust's killer, though he makes the mistake of eating Edward Elric and Envy instead. Hoping to make it up to Father, Gluttony takes Alphonse Elric to see him, where Ed and Envy are able to escape to. In the ensuing battle Gluttony runs out of energy and he is no longer able to revive himself. Father takes what remains of his Philosopher's Stone and restores him with all his memories intact. Though he is fully restored when he appears again, he is "killed" several times during a fight with Lin Yao and Lan Fan. He is eventually killed for good when Pride eats him in order to take Gluttony's abilities for his own.

In the anime, after Lust's death, Dante transforms Gluttony into a mindless eating machine, an act that ultimately backfires when he eats her. He appears again in Conqueror of Shamballa, having transformed into a large, multi-limbed monster since his appearance in the anime. He exclusively attacks Wrath during the movie, giving Alphonse Elric an easy opportunity to use Gluttony to create a gate to the other world.

Envy is one of the first homunculi to appear in the series. He is able to assume any appearance he wishes, be it an animal or another person. He prefers the form of an "adorable" androgynous boy. Because of his ability, Envy is usually used as a spy by the other homunculi, sending him to steal someone's identity so that he can infiltrate an organization. This leads to him being assigned to kill Maes Hughes; before completing the job he assumes the form of Hughes' wife and Maria Ross, the latter identity allowing Envy to frame her for his death in the manga. Also in the manga, Envy assumes the form of a disgruntled soldier of the State Military and shoots an Ishbalan child, sparking the resulting civil war. He is very proud of this achievement, as he enjoys violence between humans.

In the manga, Envy was created when the country of Xerxes was sacrificed to create a Philosopher's Stone. His natural form is an enormous, demonic creature composed of all the citizens of Xerxes. The mass of his natural form transfers over to whatever other form he assumes, causing him to influence the environment more than might be expected given his comparatively smaller size. After the death of Lust, Envy replaces her as the messenger of the homunculi. He issues orders to Zolf J. Kimblee to capture Tim Marcoh, and displays somewhat of an admiration for Kimblee's violent tendencies. Envy later goes to personally capture Marcoh, though in the ensuing battle all of the souls of the Xerxes citizens are destroyed and he is reduced to a parasitic form. He is given to May Chang to take home with her, but Envy instead convinces her to go back to Central where he will be able to get another Philosopher's Stone.

In the anime, Envy was created when Dante and Hohenheim tried to revive their dead son. His natural form looks like a much younger Hohenheim. When his father left him and started another family, Envy obtained a hate for his father and his two half brothers (Edward and Alphonse Elric). When he learns that Dante has killed Hohenheim towards the end of the series, Envy becomes enraged as he had wanted to kill him himself. Upon learning that his father is still alive on the opposite side of the Gate of Truth, he crosses it in search of Hohenheim . In Conqueror of Shamballa, Envy has taken the form of a giant serpent and is captured by the Thule Society. He is fed Hohenheim as a human chew toy, an act that allows Ed to pass back through the gate to Amestris.

Greed, the "Ultimate Shield", craves money, women, and other worldly possessions above all else. Because of this he betrays the homunculi in both the anime and the manga, as working for them would deprive him of his greedy desires, though he does show some loyalty for his subordinates. He is able to rearrange the carbon molecules in his body to create a shield that coats his body and is as hard as diamond. Greed is introduced when he sends some of his chimera subordinates to capture Alphonse Elric. The State Military soon raids their location to rescue Al, and Greed's fate from that point further differs between adaptions.

In the manga, Greed is repeatedly killed by Wrath, tiring him out and allowing him to be taken back to Father. Unwilling to rejoin them, Greed is melted down and Father consumes his Philosopher's Stone. Later, Lin Yao offers to become a new Greed in his search for immortality. Greed is given complete control of Lin's body, though Lin constantly fights him to regain control. Though this Greed initially has no recollections of his actions as the former Greed, his killing of Bido brings back memories of all his loyal subordinates. Angry with Wrath for killing his "possessions" and further provoked by Lin, the new Greed defects from the homunculi, eventually joining sides with Edward Elric.

In the anime he escapes the raid and flees to Dante's mansion. Dante, having created Greed when she tried to revive her dead lover, is as a result in the possession of the skull from his original body. This leaves him severely weakened and he is killed by Edward Elric. His last action is telling Edward that the secret to kill homunculi and dies with a smile on his face. Although he was one of Edwards enemies, his death nonetheless has an effect on Edward.

Sloth differs greatly between the anime and the manga. In the manga Sloth is not introduced until midway through the series, where he is revealed to be a large, muscular, dim-witted man. He is tasked with digging a gigantic transmutation circle beneath Amestris to be used in turning the country into a Philosopher's Stone. Though he is briefly impeded in this job when he runs into the Elric brothers at Briggs' Fortress, he is allowed to continue his work, finishing the circle in chapter seventy-eight. Just as his name, Sloth is always wanting to rest and finish his job so he can stop working. When Greed is captured by Wrath, he asks about Sloth and Lust answers saying he is still working, meaning he was already making the tunnel before Greed left the group one hundred years before.

In the anime, Sloth was created when the Elric brothers tried to revive their mother, Trisha Elric. Sloth is able to assume a watery composition, which she can use to drown others by grabbing hold of them. Sloth constantly suffers from memories of raising the Elric brothers. Determined to prove to herself that those are Trisha's memories, not her own, she longs to be able to kill them, as a mother could never kill her own sons. She develops a mother-son relationship with Wrath, and the two stick together during the second half of the anime. During a battle with the Elric brothers Wrath, having unknowingly merged with Trisha's remains earlier, merges with Sloth's body to help her in combat. This leaves Sloth paralyzed, allowing Edward Elric an easy opportunity to convert the water in her body into ethanol, which then evaporates into the atmosphere. Before disappearing, she tells the two Elrics to "take care of each other."

Wrath differs greatly between the anime and the manga. In the manga, Wrath is the true identity of King Bradley, the "Ultimate Eye". His eye, usually covered by an eyepatch, gives him the foresight to see all possible outcomes of a given situation, allowing him to predict the moves of any opponent before they happen. His favored mode of attack is with his sword, which he wields with great proficiency. Before becoming a homunculus Bradley was trained with a group of others to become the leader of the country. Once they were old enough, a Philosopher's Stone was inserted into their blood system, a process only Bradley was able to survive. Having once been a human, Wrath ages with time, a trait that irritates him since his body can't keep up with his eye's predictions. Because homunculi cannot reproduce he was given a family to keep up appearances: his "son", Pride, and a wife he chose himself.

In the anime, Wrath was created when Izumi Curtis tried to revive her infant child. Her attempt failed, and the infant's body was taken beyond the Gate of Truth. There the child, Wrath, grew up. When Edward Elric later lost his arm and leg while trying to revive his mother, Wrath took both for himself, allowing him to use alchemy and escape to Amestris. In addition to performing alchemy Wrath can merge with any object. Because he is the remains of his former body, he cannot be weakened like the other homunculi, though the cries of a child have a similar effect. After joining the homunculi, Wrath develops a mother-son relationship with Sloth. When he unknowingly helps to kill her (having merged with the remains of her original body) he became distraught and tried to revive her with human transmutation. He lost the limbs gained from Edward Elric, and is given automail replacements by Winry Rockbell. He appears again in Conqueror of Shamballa, doing constant battle with Gluttony. With Gluttony distracted, Wrath tells Alphonse Elric to use them both as sacrifices to open the Gate of Truth. Al does so and is able to reunite with Ed, while Wrath is able to reunite with the spirit of Izumi.

Pride differs greatly between the anime and the manga. In the manga, Pride is the true identity of Selim Bradley, the son of King Bradley (Wrath), something discovered in the latter half of the series by Riza Hawkeye. He is very dedicated to the homunculi's cause, and doesn't allow anyone to get in its way; he promises to kill Riza if she tells anyone else that Selim is a homunculus. He was created in Father's original image, and thus his true form is a shadowy blob with many eyes. He can destroy or manipulate anything that this shadow comes into contact with. Pride and his shadow can only exist within a given area: Central City and the underground transmutation circle running throughout Amestris. He overcomes this shortcoming later in the series by taking control of Alphonse Elric's armor body, allowing him to freely move around the country. He also demonstrates the ability to take on the traits of people his shadow absorbs; when he does so with Gluttony, for example, he gains the latter's appetite and enhanced sense of smell.

In the anime, Pride is the true identity of King Bradley, the "Ultimate Eye". His eye, usually covered by an eyepatch, allows him to see everything, even the air in a room . His favored mode of attack is with his sword, which he wields with great proficiency. Because he ages like a regular human, Dante considers him her greatest creation, a title he is very proud of. Because homunculi cannot reproduce he was given a family to keep up appearances: his son, Selim Bradley, and a wife. When Roy Mustang discovers what Bradley is, Pride gives Selim the skull of his original body to be kept safe. When Selim unknowingly brings the skull back to him during his battle with Mustang, he is severely weakened by its presence. Out of anger he kills Selim, but this weakened state allows Mustang to kill him by repeatedly setting him on fire.