Gluttony is a major supporting character in the anime/manga series Fullmetal Alchemist. Appearing in both the 2003 and 2009 series, he is one of the seven Homunculi that antagonise the Elric brothers throughout the franchise.
Gluttony appears as a bald, obese humanoid with muscular arms and tiny blank eyes. True to his name, he is the embodiment of hunger and will eat literally anything, though he prefers to eat humans. He has powerful jaws and acidic saliva, enabling him to bite and chew through any material. Among the Homunculi, Gluttony has the most childish personality and is interested in little else other than his next meal. In the 2003 series, however, Gluttony is shown to be much more emotional, especially towards fellow homunculus Lust. Later in the series, he is angered after Scar paralyses Lust after exposing her to the remains of the human she was made to replace, and near the end of the series he becomes morose and depressed following Lust's death.
Japanese Voice (2003): Yasuhiro Takato
Japanese Voice (2009): Tetsu Shiratori
English Voice: Chris Cason
History[]
2003 series[]
Gluttony was one of the seven homunculi created by the master alchemist Dante. When and how he was created are unknown, but like the other homunculi he was likely created as the result of a failed attempt at human transmutation. Throughout most of the series he is seen accompanying Lust on various missions, most notably spying on the Elric brothers, coercing other alchemists into developing Philosopher's Stones, or eliminating any witnesses to their activities. Gluttony's endless appetite and ability to eat anything proves extremely useful when destroying any evidence of the homunculi's activities.
Dante had originally created Gluttony for the purpose of manufacturing Red Stones, as the souls of the people he eats will be condensed into such. However, after Lust is destroyed by Wrath following her betrayal, Gluttony becomes extremely depressed, moping over Lust's absence to the point where he doesn't respond to Dante's orders and becomes less concerned with eating. Dante becomes annoyed with this and erases the Ouroboros tattoo on Gluttony's tongue, which in turn reduces the obese homunculus into a savage, mindless eating machine.
In his feral state, Gluttony began devouring the captive Alphonse Elric who, by then, had been turned into a living Philosopher's Stone. However, after Al witnessed Ed's death at the hands of Envy, he fought back and freed himself from his bonds before using the stone's power to resurrect Ed. Dante escaped via the elevator between the underground city and Central, but the savage Gluttony followed her, chewing through the elevator floor. Dante tried to calm Gluttony by promising him food once she was safe, but Gluttony would not listen and lunged at her. When the lift came to a stop, the doors opened to reveal nobody inside, indicating that Gluttony had devoured Dante and returned to the underground city.
Conqueror of Shamballa[]
During the two years between the series' final episode and the film Conqueror of Shamballa, Gluttony had remained in the underground city. In the subterranean depths, he had only dirt and old abandoned buildings to eat, and over time his endless consumption of inert matter caused him to grow and mutate into a massive, monstrous creature with a bloated body and several tentacles ending in additional heads.
After finding out that Edward was still alive on the other side of the Gate, Alphonse ventured into the city underneath Central, accompanied by Wrath. There, Wrath pointed out that a massive alchemical array had been carved through the city which Al could use to open the Gate between the alchemical world and Earth. Al and Wrath were then attacked by the monstrous Gluttony who attempted to devour them. While Al worked on completing his transmutation circle, Wrath fought against Gluttony, who had singled Wrath out due to recognising him as Lust's killer, despite Dante having erased his memories.
Gluttony appeared to have Wrath outmatched, but the mutant homunculus would bleed Red Stone periodically which solidified upon contact with open air. During the battle, Wrath grabbed some of the Red Stones and ate them to make himself stronger, then counterattacked by leaping at Gluttony and ripping off two of his tentacles with sheer brute strength. Gluttony would not be incapacitated for long and bit down on Wrath's torso. However, this was Wrath's intention all along as he had lured Gluttony into the transmutation circle and kept him in place by anchoring himself to the ground. He told Alphonse to transmute both homunculi in order to open the Gate, stating that he knew Al was planning on sacrificing himself to do it and didn't want to see anything like that happen again. He said he wanted to "go home" to the Gate where his "Mommy" was waiting for him. Reluctantly, Alphonse completed the transmutation, destroying Wrath and Gluttony to open the portal between the worlds.
2009 series[]
Gluttony is the sixth homunculus created by Father and the failed product of Father's attempts to create a Gate of Truth. Gluttony first appears in the series in the second chapter of the manga, being confronted by Father Cornello alongside Lust. As usual, Gluttony asks if he can eat him now that Cornello is useless to the Homunculi. Lust refuses, but he ignores her, possibly thinking it made little difference. He participates in the battle with Scar, having being able to detect "an Ishvalan cloaked in the stench of blood"- another of his own unique abilities. Sadly for him, Scar escapes, so Gluttony cannot eat him. Later, Gluttony is present in Father's lair when Greed is captured, who snidely remarks to Gluttony that he has not lost any weight, though Gluttony doesn't seem to mind, and is later honoured as one of Father's loyal children.
When Envy recognizes Number 66 from the penitentiary attack, he and Gluttony are sent by Lust along with Barry the Chopper's reanimated body to kill the traitor, inadvertently falling into the trap set up by Colonel Roy Mustang, and Gluttony is forced to engage in a fairly unsuccessful battle, being reprimanded by Pride towards the end, and told to leave the scene. While this is going on, Lust is killed by Mustang, something an unhappy Gluttony doesn't find out until later.
After another battle with the Elrics, Gluttony is captured by them with the help of Ling Yao and taken away with Lt. Riza Hawkeye's help to a small building outside Central. In the ensuing battle, Gluttony runs out of energy and he is no longer able to revive himself. Father takes and reabsorbs what remains of Gluttony's Philosopher's Stone, promising to restore him with his memories intact. Some time later, Father recreates Gluttony by allowing him to grow off of his own body.
After returning to life, he assists Pride in kidnapping Al by tracking his scent. After doing battle with Greed/Ling Yao and Lan Fan, Gluttony becomes severely weakened once again, "dying" several times. Pride, also injured and fearing eradication, realizes that Gluttony became more of a hindrance long ago, and callously kills him, ironically by devouring him with one of his "shadows".