I love hohenheim in the manga/brohood because he is such an interesting subversion. Like at first the reader only knows him from Ed's pov: as a cold and distant man who abandoned his family for no reason.
Even when we finally meet him in canon, he is still distant and Ed is very hostile towards him. He is vague and seems to be hiding something.
It all seems to be leading to the reveal that he is the Father that the homunculi speak of, who we havent seen much of but who Hohenheim resembles. It makes sense! He has been shown to be a bad dad, cold, and mysterious. It just makes sense he is the big bad.
Except then... It turns out he isnt. Father is someone else. And we find out more about him which then explains his behaviour: he comes off as cold and distant because of his own trauma and self loathing, because he is afraid of his children being hurt because of him.
He is still not absolved of his choices that lead him to still not be a good dad, but there's a much more sympathetic understanding of him by both the reader and Edward himself by the end of the story.
Idkkk i just think its a fun way to play with reader expectations
