What's the difference between Father, Van Hohenheim, and the main Homunculi?


After rewatching most of FMA: Brotherhood, I'm a bit confused.

In Episode 40, Van Hohenheim explained that he's a humanoid form of the
Philosopher's Stone. What difference does it make from the main Homunculi
(Pride, Wrath, Envy, Gluttony, Lust, and the others) who use it only as an
energy source?

For example, Wrath was a regular human being before he got the Stone, compared
to Hohenheim who is the Stone itself. What are they different in?

Also, is Father the same? Since he was a Homunculus too (or whatever, I'm not
even sure...), but he got the same "reward" in Xerxes as Hohenheim.

So, what's the difference between Father, Van Hohenheim, and the Homunculi?




_**Warning:** Unmarked spoilers follow._

It seems there are four different components you're addressing here, so I'll
make the differences for each one clear.

# Van Hohenheim

[![Van
Hohenheim](https://i.stack.imgur.com/uuR3Bm.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/uuR3B.jpg)  
**Van Hohenheim** , also known as **slave #23** , was a citizen of Xerxes and
a regular human being who was employed by King Xerxes' alchemist. This
alchemist was an experimenter, and managed to create a being, the Dwarf in the
Flask, as a result of alchemy.

The Dwarf gave the slave a name, Van Hohenheim, before allying with him in
order to turn the citizens of Xerxes into a philosopher's stone. Once this was
successful, Hohenheim, as a human, had over 500,000 souls within his blood,
giving him great power. So, while he is a real human being, he is also a
philosopher's stone.

# Homunculus (in the Flask)

[![The Dwarf in the
Flask](https://i.stack.imgur.com/sUyGgm.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/sUyGg.jpg)  
**Homunculus** , better known as **Dwarf in the Flask** , was created by the
King's alchemist (as briefly mentioned above). This alchemist (who is not
named) was experimenting with [the
Gate](https://anime.stackexchange.com/a/4942/274), and [brought forth some of
the essence of "God"](https://anime.stackexchange.com/a/5186/274) to create
the _Dwarf in the Flask_ , the first true homunculus. He has no physical form,
and [can only reside within the glass
flask](https://anime.stackexchange.com/a/812/274) he was created in.

# Father

[![Father with
Edward](https://i.stack.imgur.com/I3OMrm.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/I3OMr.jpg)  
**Father** is the result of mixing the Dwarf with the Xerxes transmutation
circle: The Dwarf in the Flask used some of the power from the resulting
Xerxes transmutation to give himself a false human body (based on
Hohenheim's). As Hohenheim states, Father started out as nothing more than the
same Dwarf, contained inside a human "flask" (rather than a glass one).

As you see in the series, he later evolves quite substantially; he is the one
who swallows God, and becomes the ultimate being. However, he _is not a real
human_ ; he remains a homunculus (a _manufactured_ human).

# The Homunculi

[![All seven
homunculi](https://i.stack.imgur.com/SDD5em.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/SDD5e.jpg)  
**The homunculi** are beings (false humans) created from Father's blood, which
is essentially a philosopher's stone in liquid form. Gluttony, Envy, Lust,
Sloth, and Pride are all created by manufacturing the human bodies in which
they reside, and fueling their bodies with souls from Father's philosopher's
stone.

Greed (at least, the second one) and Wrath are both already human, and have
souls put into them. In fact, Hohenheim and Greed-Ling do not differ in their
abilities, essentially. They both have life extended by their philosopher's
stones, and both have true, human bodies. Wrath is no different, except that
he [only has one soul within his
stone](https://anime.stackexchange.com/a/4397/274), and so cannot regenerate,
and also gets older with time.

# Summary

Van Hohenheim, a human, unknowingly assisted Homunculus (the Dwarf in the
Flask), in using the population of Xerxes to fill his own body with thousands
of souls, while giving The Dwarf the false human body we see as Father. Father
later uses his stone's powers to create the homunculi, the seven sins that we
see. Greed-Ling and Wrath are just like Hohenheim, just having their own
weaknesses.




_**Warning:** Unmarked spoilers follow._

It seems there are four different components you're addressing here, so I'll
make the differences for each one clear.

# Van Hohenheim

[![Van
Hohenheim](https://i.stack.imgur.com/uuR3Bm.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/uuR3B.jpg)  
**Van Hohenheim** , also known as **slave #23** , was a citizen of Xerxes and
a regular human being who was employed by King Xerxes' alchemist. This
alchemist was an experimenter, and managed to create a being, the Dwarf in the
Flask, as a result of alchemy.

The Dwarf gave the slave a name, Van Hohenheim, before allying with him in
order to turn the citizens of Xerxes into a philosopher's stone. Once this was
successful, Hohenheim, as a human, had over 500,000 souls within his blood,
giving him great power. So, while he is a real human being, he is also a
philosopher's stone.

# Homunculus (in the Flask)

[![The Dwarf in the
Flask](https://i.stack.imgur.com/sUyGgm.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/sUyGg.jpg)  
**Homunculus** , better known as **Dwarf in the Flask** , was created by the
King's alchemist (as briefly mentioned above). This alchemist (who is not
named) was experimenting with [the
Gate](https://anime.stackexchange.com/a/4942/274), and [brought forth some of
the essence of "God"](https://anime.stackexchange.com/a/5186/274) to create
the _Dwarf in the Flask_ , the first true homunculus. He has no physical form,
and [can only reside within the glass
flask](https://anime.stackexchange.com/a/812/274) he was created in.

# Father

[![Father with
Edward](https://i.stack.imgur.com/I3OMrm.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/I3OMr.jpg)  
**Father** is the result of mixing the Dwarf with the Xerxes transmutation
circle: The Dwarf in the Flask used some of the power from the resulting
Xerxes transmutation to give himself a false human body (based on
Hohenheim's). As Hohenheim states, Father started out as nothing more than the
same Dwarf, contained inside a human "flask" (rather than a glass one).

As you see in the series, he later evolves quite substantially; he is the one
who swallows God, and becomes the ultimate being. However, he _is not a real
human_ ; he remains a homunculus (a _manufactured_ human).

# The Homunculi

[![All seven
homunculi](https://i.stack.imgur.com/SDD5em.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/SDD5e.jpg)  
**The homunculi** are beings (false humans) created from Father's blood, which
is essentially a philosopher's stone in liquid form. Gluttony, Envy, Lust,
Sloth, and Pride are all created by manufacturing the human bodies in which
they reside, and fueling their bodies with souls from Father's philosopher's
stone.

Greed (at least, the second one) and Wrath are both already human, and have
souls put into them. In fact, Hohenheim and Greed-Ling do not differ in their
abilities, essentially. They both have life extended by their philosopher's
stones, and both have true, human bodies. Wrath is no different, except that
he [only has one soul within his
stone](https://anime.stackexchange.com/a/4397/274), and so cannot regenerate,
and also gets older with time.

# Summary

Van Hohenheim, a human, unknowingly assisted Homunculus (the Dwarf in the
Flask), in using the population of Xerxes to fill his own body with thousands
of souls, while giving The Dwarf the false human body we see as Father. Father
later uses his stone's powers to create the homunculi, the seven sins that we
see. Greed-Ling and Wrath are just like Hohenheim, just having their own
weaknesses.

