Though Hohenheim's devotion to the martial arts and the mysterious circumstances under which he was witnessed abandoning his young wife and sons gave the man the impression of being cold, he is an unexpectedly softhearted, kindly individual who is quick to give compliments but loath to accept them. Hohenheim appears to care very little for his own well-being, much less his dignity, and is therefore often put in situations that give him the impression of being goofy or eccentric. Slow to anger and apparently a bit of a pacifist, Van Hohenheim would much rather talk out disputes than fight, frequently doing so even while he himself is under vicious attack. Chief among his personality traits appears to be his hopeless romanticism, given his propensity for spouting sappy lines about his love for his wife, his readiness to weep openly over her and his charming treatment of women in general. Van Hohenheim lacks the ambition of others, clearly content to take his time dealing with things that do not demand urgency, but in his youth had a hair-trigger temper much like that of his son, and became irrationally angry when taunted for his ignorance.