FMA Brotherhood Plot Hole: Why Doesn't Father Reactivate the Nationwide Transmutation Circle?

The largest genuine plot hole in Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood concerns Father's actions during the final battle. After his initial plan partially fails, he has an easy reset available that he never uses. **What happened**: Father activated the nationwide transmutation circle and successfully absorbed all souls of Amestris plus God/Truth. Hohenheim's counter-circle (souls planted at strategic points) then fired and pulled the Amestrian souls back to their bodies. **The critical detail**: Hohenheim's counter-circle was powered by the eclipse — the same eclipse Father needed to absorb God. Once the eclipse ended, Hohenheim's counter-measure could never activate again. **Father's situation after the reversal**: - The nationwide transmutation circle was still intact (it's carved into the geography of Amestris) - The five human sacrifices were still present - Father still had remains of his own Philosopher's Stone for power - Hohenheim's counter-circle was now permanently spent (eclipse over) - The soul-harvesting function of the circle had already worked perfectly once **The plot hole**: Father's optimal move would have been to simply re-drain the country's 50 million souls. The soul-harvesting was a separate function from absorbing God — there's no stated reason it required the eclipse. With Hohenheim's countermeasure permanently disabled, nothing would stop it from working again. He could rebuild his Stone, stabilize, and wait for the next eclipse. **Instead**: Father fights everyone hand-to-hand while destabilizing. The show masks this by depicting him as emotionally unraveling — losing composure, raging about why humans won't stay down. Narratively it feels like he's cornered, but logically he had a reset button he never pressed. This is probably the biggest genuine plot hole in Brotherhood — hidden by excellent pacing and emotional stakes that carry the viewer past the logical question.