Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (Episode 20) - Father Before the Grave

Edward returns home and finds his father, Hohenheim standing over his mother’s grave. He asks why they burnt down his house. Were they running away? However, there’s one more question that needs answering!

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (Episode 20) – Father Before the Grave

What happened?

Hohenheim didn’t exactly seem bothered to see Edward or that they burnt his house down. He seemed more interested in asking questions and issuing warnings. He believed that Edward and Alphonse burnt down the house so that they could pretend it never happened. Edward refused to believe it, but there must have been some doubt in there.

As Edward slept, Hohenheim spoke with Pinako about what happened at his old house. He wanted to know if they were sure that the person they created was actually their mother. What colour was her hair, her eyes? Did anyone check before they disposed of the body? Of course, Edward overhead all of this. It played on his mind until he couldn’t take it anymore.

Edward and Pinako went to the site of his old house and started to dig. They kept going until they had recovered most of the body. It was undoubtedly not their mother. If anything it was more likely a male body with black hair. Surprisingly, that seemed to relieve some of the pressure on Edward. He even phoned Izumi and asked her about her child that she tried to revive.

When he got back to central, he told Alphonse about what happened and then said that he believed Alphonse’s body was still in the void with the Truth. Maybe he could still save him. Edward then received a follow-up call from Izumi. She told him that the thing she created could not have been their baby. She thanked Edward before hanging up.

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood Episode 20 Izumi and Sig

What did you think?

Not a lot happened, but there’s a lot to process. The fact that Hohenheim warned Pinako and told her to flee this country tells me that he knows that a disaster of epic proportions is coming. Quite possibly some sort of huge sacrifice in order to create a new philosopher’s stone. I do wonder exactly what he’s up to. This act seems to be counter to that of someone that is intending to kill the entire population of a country. Could Hohenheim be working against King Bradley?

The person that consumed Greed certainly looked like Hohenheim. Maybe there’s much more to this than we’ve seen so far. I’d also question why he gave Edward the information that pushed him forward. There are lots of moving pieces and slowly they are coming together. I can’t wait until I can see the complete picture. I do love a good epic story like this.

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood Episode 20 Hohenheim returns

What have you learnt?

So the body they created was not their mother. Then who was it? Alphonse confirmed that when he returned from the void, he could see Edward from within the body. We know that the law of equivalent exchange means that you can’t create something from nothing. Surely, that means that when they created the body, it needed a soul, and Alphonse was where that came from. Presumably, you can’t create one from the ingredients they had gathered.

If that’s the case, what happened with Izumi? Where did the soul for the child come from? I’ve got some darker ideas and I don’t really want to bring them into the world so I’ll let you think about it for a while, but in order to create something, you must first destroy something else. This really is a fascinating world with an intricate and well-thought-out story. Sure, we have more questions than answers, but that’s great. It’ll keep us watching.