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The Elric brothers are able to decipher the plan of Father only due to them
not being killed. Thus, all Father had to do was to capture and sedate them
and leave them imprisoned. This way, both brothers would not cause trouble
until Promised Day.

I think this was the simplest solution, isn't it?


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2018-05-20T12:03:13.893
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fullmetal-alchemist-series fullmetal-alchemist-brotherhood
Why didn't Father simply capture and imprison the Elric Brothers?


Father simply didn't consider them a threat. Like all the homunculi, he looked
down on humans, saw them as, at most, resources and overall useless. We get
this exchange the first time Ed and Al meet Father with Ling after Father
healed the Elrics:

> **Ling** : I don't like him. I can tell he looks down on humans and calls us
> fools.
>
> **Father** : When you notice an insect on the ground do you stop to consider
> it a fool? The life of an insect is so beneath you that it would be a waste
> of your time to even consider judging it. That would be an accurate
> summation on my feelings towards you humans.

Why bother going through the effort of chaining up something that can't
possibly hurt you? Why even consider such effort? You have a number of
incredibly powerful homunculi who could subdue the Elrics at any time, not to
mention the power to shut off their alchemy and reduce them to nothing. As far
as Father is concerned, why bother?

On top of that, it's probably harder to keep them alive in captivity than to
let them run free and hold their friends hostage. The brothers could decide to
kill themselves if they felt they had no reason to live. They might be
motivated to do so if they thought it might save the people of Amestris.

So if you believe that the Elrics are incapable of thwarting your plans and
keeping them captive and alive might be more trouble than it is worth, why
bother?


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2018-05-21T12:53:46.047
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