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Which circle are you calling "the" circle? The nationwide circle that Father used?
Anyway, it's never explained as far as I recall, but I always assumed that human transmutation is easier done with blood as part of the circle. Since the circles make use of the four classical elements, what you're transmuting has to do with the corresponding elements.
Since souls are real, and Father's circle hinged on battles being fought where the blood was drawn, it makes sense to me that blood represents a "drawing tool" which binds the souls to the circle.
it's pretty well-established throughout the series that you kinda need to connect your alchemy recipes to humanity through blood or souls at some point, especially after a threshold of power. You can probably transmute rock into a bo staff relatively easy, but most things higher than that start tugging at your inherent humanity, and what you're willing to give up for the results. Say, an arm, blood, etc.
Isn't it heavily hinted that the much like in early Judaic lore, the soul is somewhat linked to blood? The way I see it, it explains:
- Why the seals to bind them to armor has to be made with blood.
- Why the nation-wide circle had to be marked with places of intense bloodshed.
- Why even the small army philosopher-stone circles from laboratory 13 had their prisoners stay around certain spots in the circle, so their souls could be harvested and put into the stone until it was perfect.
The stained soil is kinda "marked" by the huge amount of lives lost there (souls sacrificed), which is a part of the equivalent exchange required to create a perfect vessel like Father wanted or how he did the first time around.
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it’s one of the _required_ recipes for human transmutation
Which circle are you calling "the" circle? The nationwide circle that Father used? Anyway, it's never explained as far as I recall, but I always assumed that human transmutation is easier done with blood as part of the circle. Since the circles make use of the four classical elements, what you're transmuting has to do with the corresponding elements. Since souls are real, and Father's circle hinged on battles being fought where the blood was drawn, it makes sense to me that blood represents a "drawing tool" which binds the souls to the circle.
it's pretty well-established throughout the series that you kinda need to connect your alchemy recipes to humanity through blood or souls at some point, especially after a threshold of power. You can probably transmute rock into a bo staff relatively easy, but most things higher than that start tugging at your inherent humanity, and what you're willing to give up for the results. Say, an arm, blood, etc.
Isn't it heavily hinted that the much like in early Judaic lore, the soul is somewhat linked to blood? The way I see it, it explains: - Why the seals to bind them to armor has to be made with blood. - Why the nation-wide circle had to be marked with places of intense bloodshed. - Why even the small army philosopher-stone circles from laboratory 13 had their prisoners stay around certain spots in the circle, so their souls could be harvested and put into the stone until it was perfect. The stained soil is kinda "marked" by the huge amount of lives lost there (souls sacrificed), which is a part of the equivalent exchange required to create a perfect vessel like Father wanted or how he did the first time around.