So about the homunculi.
We always see them as beings who pity humans for being weak. We hear them say “humans are such sad and weak foolish creatures”, and it’s always during the times that humans show intense emotions.
It’s easy to say that the homunculi are devoid of emotion or lack thereof. But I think it’s also important to consider that they are personifications of human ills that drive emotion itself. In short, they are beings possessed by one primary emotion driven by the sin they are based from. As what Bradley once mentioned, Wrath consumed him the moment he became a homunculus
One possibility of what makes them problematic is their excess of one emotion.
It’s the same thing as diagnosing mental illnesses, where one aspect is higher than others. However, that may not mean they are incapable of feeling any other emotion. In a world run by equivalent exchange, any excess in one aspect meant deprivation to the other. In fact, we see the homunculi experience other emotions too. Gluttony wasn’t his usual perky self after Lust died, and even felt anger for Mustang. Pride admitted he did have ‘fun’ being with Mrs. Bradley. Wrath shared he was able to choose the woman he’d spend the rest of his life with, and he doesn’t need to say any last words to his wife because ‘she already knows it’. And so, they may lack the capacity to feel certain emotions, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have any emotion.
As beings driven by one intense emotion, we could now see why they find humans so weak. Homunculi spends the rest of their lives dealing with one intense emotion, and seeing humans crumble the moment they release it must have made them proud of their abilities. And so, seeing humans rise after they fall must have felt like mockery, a massive threat to their ego. They might see it as unfair, seeing weak humans live normal and fulfilling lives despite being mortal.
With all this, I think the homunculi show us the other end of equivalent exchange— that having too much of anything creates imbalance the same way as having too little.
for more of my analyses, I also reblog them here: @fullmetalanalyst