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What is the reason for which the ( _Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood_ 's)
homunculi look the way they do? I know they mean to represent the sins from
which they were created, but is there a common image in Japanese folklore for
them?

Lust is represented as a beautiful, desirable (take Havoc's opionions on this)
woman. (And that's the only directly-represented sin I can find amongst the
homunculi.)

Gluttony is represented as a fat, all-eating beast. ( _?_ )

Greed... ? I mean, the first Greed was an apparently normal human with
abilities to cover his skin with diamond-hard layers. (Apart from the
"diamond", I can't see how he is "greedy" at all. Not as his appearance, at
least.)

Sloth is

> a giant, enormously huge and _fast(??)_ creature.

Wrath is justifiable enough.

> He had a normal human body taken for experiments and had a philosopher's
> stone inserted. All the souls within him then fought for control, leaving
> only the one who actually controlled him.

Pride

> is a child????

Envy

> is a huge monster who has the ability to freely change his form around.

Is there a pattern I'm losing here?


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fullmetal-alchemist-series fullmetal-alchemist-brotherhood
Why do the Homunculi look the way they do?


Envy's form is understandable because he's actually really small and weak so
he has the desire to be as good as other individuals


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Pride and Greed were always the hardest to explain to me.

Sloth

> Sloth _has_ the ability to move at extreme speeds and has incredible
> strength, but never wants to do it because it's "such a bother." Being
> slothful doesn't mean you're slow or useless by nature, it means you choose
> to do as little as possible.

Envy

> Envy's true form is both hideous and weak. He wants the use of more
> beautiful peoples' appearances, and their strength. His large form is more
> of a mystery in regards to beauty, it might just be that his true form
> becomes that monstrosity when properly fueled with souls

My theories for the other two:

Greed

> Greed 's ability is more indicative of his personality rather than the sin.
> He has his visage of being a powerful being who wants and wants and wants,
> but he's the most human of the homunculi in that he actually cares for his
> 'underlings.'

Pride I'm not sure which theory I like better:

> 1: Pride is the first homunculus, and where the whole 'father' shenanigans
> started. That's the reason he's a child and he's pride because of the
> arrogance of creating near-humans. Or 2: Irony. He's the embodiment of the
> father'a pride but he takes the form of a child, usually associated with
> relying on others.


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This is my understanding of what defines the homunculus physical attributes.

### Lust

Beautiful, desirable and a b****. The kind of woman that every man wants to
get, but when they are in there, they soon realize that they don't want to be
with her.

### Gluttony

Fat, lazy, always hungry and quite stupid. Wants the girl but most likely
won't get her because of his appearance, which is also why he always hangs
around Lust and goes crazy when she is killed by Mustang.

### Envy

Her actual form is very ugly. She envies everyone because they look better
than her. This is the reason why she can change her appearance at will, as she
wants to look better than others.

### Greed

Wants everything, has possessions not friends. His ultimate shield is a
variation of carbon (diamond). Teeth are jagged like that of a demon.

### Wrath

Another word for anger. Uses his rage to fuel his determination and fighting
ability, thus making him the ultimate warrior and leader.

### Sloth

Large, strong, slow. However, easily bored and would rather not do anything
physically taxing. He is also easily agitated hence the battle at the wall.

### Pride

Feels he is superior in everything, appearance, abilities. Has a huge ego and
will most likely try to kill anybody that makes him feel small. Hence why he
is bound to a vessel of a 7-9 year old. Children of about that age are
extremely prideful in personality, causing him to be slightly immature and
think he is the best.

This is however my own interpretation of why they are like they are physically
and personality wise.


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  * Lust's body inspires lust. She penetrates victims to kill them. Stabbing killing for pleasure is often cited as having a sexy motivation.
  * Gluttony's body is fat from overeating and has a giant mouth (actually a portal) when opened. 
  * Wrath's body is just a man because he as much man as homunculi. Wrath doesn't just mean anger. He here doles out judgements, vengeance, and punishments which is more what it means. I suspect we may never have seen his true form.
  * Greed frankly looks mostly human because it is what he needs to have to do his job and be independent. I suspect we may never have seen his true form. Idk for ultimate shield. Before he died, all homunculi just looked humanoid.
  * Sloth is strong and fast for the irony.
  * Envy's true form is a pathetic worm. Of course it wants to be big and strong which is its first hidden form. Of course it wants to be human and be able to steal other's lives. It's powers gives it what it wants. 
  * Pride is the most complicated because it has three less obvious forms. First, the child is for convenience; it is a disguise but looks like true form as it takes pride in it's own creation. Second, the arms and defenses are meant to look like the dwarf in the flask as father takes pride in his himself. Finally, his true form is a true small human. Pride is oldest the homunculus and that is exactly what Father was attempting to create. He is truly playing god by making a human and that is very prideful.


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Some of the designs of the homunculi seem fairly obvious and others not so
much. I'll try to weigh in with some of my own thoughts and I'll also
reference the trivia sections from the wiki pages for each homunculus when
there is something relevant there.

**Envy**  
Envy's appearance as a giant green monster seems to be a reference to the
idioms "green with envy" and "green-eyed monster" (I've also heard this as
just "green monster" or "little green monster", which are more appropriate for
Envy). Envy's ability to transform into other people seems fitting since an
envious person would want to be the person they are envious of.

**Lust**  
This one seems fairly obvious. Her appearance is that of a voluptuous woman
with wide hips and slender waist, usually immodestly garbed. She's an
embodiment of lust.

**Gluttony**  
This is another obvious one. Gluttony's obesity is a result of engaging in
gluttony. His large mouths facilitate his gluttonous eating habits.

**Pride**  
Since he's very proud to be the first of Father's homunculus, it makes sense
that he takes a form similar to Father's first form. His wiki page also
suggests that the many eyes on his shadow may be reminiscent of a peacock's
tail and a peacock is a symbol of pride. The wiki page also notes that his
humanoid container being a child may be a reference to the word homunculus
literally meaning "little human". In this sense, he is sort of the closest to
being a true homunculus (looking separately at the Fullmetal Alchemist
definition for his shadow form and the real world definition for his humanoid
container) and he's proud of it.

**Wrath**  
Wrath's appearance is that of a middle-aged man with an eye-patch. It's a
little difficult to determine the connection to wrath. Wrath does often have a
fierce scowl and perhaps his role as dictator and military attire help him
personify wrath.

**Sloth**  
Sloth's appearance is perhaps the most difficult to explain. He's large and
muscular, which seems to be at odds with his slothful nature. I don't have an
explanation for it. His big nose does remind me a little of the animal sloth.

**Greed**  
His appearance is that of a typical human both in his first and second bodies.
According to his wiki page, Greed sharing a human body with Ling could be a
reference to Dante's Inferno, where the greedy are always having their bodies
stolen from them by lizards and they have to steal a human form from another
sinner (Interestingly, all the homunculi have some connection to Dante's
Inferno. None of the other points are relevant here, but you can look through
the trivia sections on their wiki pages if interested). This also accounts for
why Greed just has a normal human form. I have no explanation for his
appearance when using his ultimate shield.

In your question, you ask whether there might be common image for these
characters in Japanese folklore. I don't know much about Japanese folklore
other than what little information I've gleamed from anime and manga, but I
think it is probably unlikely. This is because the seven deadly sins come from
Christian theology (see Wikipedia for details).

**References**  
Wiki pages for [Wrath](http://fma.wikia.com/wiki/Wrath),
[Lust](http://fma.wikia.com/wiki/Lust),
[Gluttony](http://fma.wikia.com/wiki/Gluttony),
[Greed](http://fma.wikia.com/wiki/Greed),
[Sloth](http://fma.wikia.com/wiki/Sloth),
[Envy](http://fma.wikia.com/wiki/Envy), and
[Pride](http://fma.wikia.com/wiki/Pride) on <http://fma.wikia.com/>  
[Seven Deadly Sins](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_deadly_sins) on
wikipedia.org


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