Races and Spirtual Beings

[Endorph]

Races and Spiritual Beings

Human: The humans of Bleach are much like the residents of modern Japan, and most cannot see or sense disembodied spirits in any way. Spirits can, however, inhabit artificial human bodies called Gigai which are visible to ordinary humans. One in 50,000 humans is a medium with some awareness of nearby ghosts, but only a third of these are able to see them clearly, and only the strongest of mediums are able to speak with or touch ghosts. Certain unique humans naturally have both the power to sense and the strength to fight with spirits. Ordinary humans can gain the ability to interact with spirits by spending time around a large source of spirit energy.

Plus: Benign ghosts in Bleach are known as pluses (wholes in the official English editions). A plus is the spirit of a person who has died. A chain, known as the Chain of Fate, protrudes from the chest and binds the plus to a location, object or person that they felt close to in life. The soul can move about freely if the chain is broken, but this also causes the chain to corrode. Normally, pluses are sent to Soul Society by Shinigami in a ritual called soul burial (Konso) before this corrosion becomes significant. If the Chain of Fate is corroded entirely before a soul burial can be performed, a hole will form in the chest of the soul where the chain was once anchored. Such souls are driven mad and become evil ghosts known as Hollows. If the Chain of Fate is torn out deliberately, this also leads to spiritual degradation.

Shinigami: Shinigami (Soul Reapers in the official English editions, Death Gods in most subtitled versions) are the psychopomps of Bleach. They are souls with inner spiritual power, recruited from the ranks of the residents and nobility of Soul Society. Like all spirits, they cannot be detected by normal humans. Shinigami use their Zanpakutō, supernatural swords that are the manifestation of their owners' power, to perform soul burials on pluses. Shinigami also use Zanpakutō and magic known as Kidō to fight their archrivals, the Hollows. A group of Shinigami known as the Vizard have also obtained Hollow powers through illegal means, gaining removable masks and access to certain Hollow abilities.

Vizard:The Vizards are the antithesis to the Arrancar, Shinigami who have obtained Hollow powers.[1] Having begun as Shinigami, the Vizards appear entirely human, and barring those times where they are using their powers are indistinguishable from ordinary Shinigami. To gain access to their Hollow powers, a Vizard dons a Hollow mask. This allows them to augment their Shinigami abilities with Hollow powers, as well as giving them access to some of the generic Hollow abilities. Their spiritual pressure likewise changes into a mix of Hollow and Shinigami. This process of donning one's Hollow mask is referred to as "Hollowification".

Hollow: The Hollows are the major antagonists of Bleach. They are evil ghosts who reside in Hueco Mundo but travel to the living world to feed on the souls of the living and dead alike. Like Shinigami, Hollows are made of spiritual matter and cannot be detected by ordinary humans. While the majority of Hollows can be overcome by the average Shinigami, there are some which surpass even the most elite Shinigami in strength. All normal Hollows wear white masks, but a small group of Hollows have broken them, becoming Arrancar. By shattering their masks, these Hollows regain the ability to reason, sometimes obtain a humanoid form, and gain access to Shinigami powers.

Quincy: The Quincy are a clan of spiritually aware humans who once fought against the Hollows, using weapons composed of spiritual energy to slay them. As opposed to Shinigami, Quincy absorb and channel energy from their surroundings to fight. Unlike the Shinigami method of killing Hollows which allows the Hollow to enter Soul Society, the Quincy technique simply destroys the Hollow's soul entirely. This method has the propensity to shatter the balance of the universe, because when souls are destroyed, the number of souls entering and leaving Soul Society cannot remain equal. This issue prompted the Shinigami to conduct a campaign to exterminate the Quincy about 200 years before the main storyline. At least two Quincy still remain.

Artificial soul: Artificial souls are a type of soul mass-produced by the Shinigami. Issued in pill form, they are used to force Shinigami out of their Gigai during protracted stays in the living world, and also to evict pluses that refuse to leave their bodies after death. They come with a pre-programmed personality that animates the host body until the owner returns. In addition to the mundane versions, a series of experimental souls authorized and created by Shinigami researchers exists. Known as Modified Souls, these were meant to hunt Hollows by possessing soulless human bodies and supercharging a particular aspect of them (for example, strength or speed). The Shinigami decided to scrap the project due to the inhumanity of forcing dead bodies to fight, and ordered the destruction of all modified souls. Only one modified soul exists in the manga, but there are three more such characters in the anime.

Bount: Exclusive to the anime, the Bounts are a clan of human beings with high spiritual energy and special powers. They were accidentally created by Shinigami scientists looking for a way to create eternal life. Bounts consume the souls of human beings to survive; theoretically, a Bount could live forever by doing so. Although the Bounts have a strict rule to consume only the souls of the dead, the final group of Bounts chose to drain souls from living humans in order to become more powerful. Each Bount uses a "Doll" in combat, a type of familiar spirit possessing its own special abilities. Every doll is unique and is a manifestation of the user's power. If the doll is destroyed, its owner is destroyed as well.

Blank: All souls migrate between the world of the living and the Soul Society. From time to time however, there are souls who for some reason become detached in the cycle of transmigration while in the Dangai Precipice World. These souls wander aimlessly from the Dangai, and are slowly drawn together over a period of time. As the souls come together it causes a new dimension to open, hence The Valley of Screams. In the Valley of Screams the souls separate into memory and energy, then return to the cycle of transmigration. The memories left from blanks fuse together and return to the living world in the form of "The Memory Rosary." The Blanks appear to be large, white ghosts with pink pin-shaped heads. Their appearance changes only when they are attacking, changing their heads color red, and revealing red arms and hands. They also change back to their former appearance as a Plus while in the presence of the Memory Rosary, but only demonstrated this once.

Togabito: Togabito are a powerful race of spiritual beings who have lost their lives. They are then imprisoned in Hell for their sins committed when alive. Beings that lived lives full of sin at after death are sent into the depths of Hell, where they are bound by indestructible chains and condemned for the rest of eternity. Under ordinary circumstances, these Togabito are incapable of leaving their prison, for they are constantly watched over by Kushanāda, the guardian of Hell. However, some Togabito are capable of leaving Hell and entering the Human World as well as Soul Society. Some Togabito possess immense amounts of power, which can surpass that of even an Espada.

 

[Endorph]

Hollow

Demi-Hollow

A Demi-Hollow (半虚, デミ・ホロウ, demi-horō) is an earthbound spirit who is evolving into a Hollow. It usually takes a while for the earthbound spirit to fully transform into a Hollow, but this process can be sped up by forcing the hole in their chest to open. The Demi-Hollows are held down by chains, usually to somewhere they consider to be their territory. They are usually only seen when a human steps on their territory and cannot be easily sensed by Shinigami.

Though most Hollows are simply transformed human souls, a sub-group of Hollows known as Menos (メノス, menosu; Spanish for "minus" or "less"), exist. Menos are conglomerations of hundreds of normal Hollows, resulting in a single composite entity of far greater strength than any normal Hollow.[1] Menos-class Hollows are considered so dangerous that Soul Society sends only highly trained Shinigami teams to handle them.[1] These incursions seem to be rare, however, as Menos rarely leave Hueco Mundo unless attracted by large sources of spiritual power or encouraged to by other forces.

Menos

Menos are created when the void within an ordinary Hollow's heart becomes so substantial that human souls are incapable of sustaining it, at which point it begins devouring fellow Hollows. These cannibal Hollows are attracted to one another, and a mass inter-devouring follows, resulting in a Gillian. Following this transformation, the Gillian can evolve twice more, first into an Adjuchas and finally into a Vasto Lorde, provided certain conditions are met. Menos evolution is not only contingent upon the Menos eating other Hollows, but also upon the Menos' ability to avoid being eaten. If another Hollow succeeds in devouring even a part of their body, evolution becomes impossible for the one which was wounded this way.

Gillian

Gillian (ギリアン, 最下大虚, girian; Spanish for "countless creatures", Japanese for "lowest great hollow"), also called Menos Grande (メノスグランデ, 大虚, menosu gurande; Spanish for "less big" or "big minus", Japanese for "great hollow) are the weakest class of Menos and the first stage of menos evolution. They are giant in comparison to other Hollows, dwarfing even the largest standard Hollows by at least the size of a two-story building, but lack agility and intelligence. While a Gillian-class Menos is quite powerful, they are still much weaker than a Shinigami lieutenant.

Though Gillians usually have no personality to speak of, which makes them dangerous since they have no mind of their own, one of the many Hollows that comprise it might gain control over the new entity, reflected in the unique mask it wears in comparison to a normal gillian. Only these Gillian variants have the potential to evolve into adjuchas-class Menos. The evolution is facilitated by the continued cannibalization of fellow Hollows, even other gillians.

Adjuchas

Adjuchas (アジューカス, 中級大虚, ajūkasu; Spanish for "stone demon", Japanese for "intermediate great hollow") are the middle class of Menos in terms of power, and the second stage in the Menos evolution. Adjuchas can vary radically in appearance, anywhere from bulky humanoids to the jaguar-like form of Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez. Unlike the Gillians, they are roughly human-sized though a few like Po could be much bigger. They are also much smarter than the Gillian class, and have the power to match and/or even exceed a captain. It is also likely they could fight evenly with at least a Shinigami lieutenant. They watch over the many Gillian-class Menos and in the anime are also capable of controlling them, or at the least those put in charge by Sōsuke Aizen.

Adjuchas-class Menos are much smaller in population compared to the Gillian class, due to the rarity of any one Hollow being capable of overwhelming the many other Hollows that comprise the body of a Gillian. Furthermore, the Adjuchas must continue to devour Hollows, or its mind will be absorbed by the other Hollows comprising its form and it will revert back into a Gillian. The subsequent lack of an individual will also preclude the reverted Gillian from becoming an Adjuchas again.


Vasta Lorde

Vasto Lorde (ヴァストローデ, 最上大虚, vasuto rōde; Spanish for "vast/enormous king/lord", Japanese for "Great/Grand king of the Hollows") are the very most powerful class of Menos, and the final stage in the Menos evolutionary line. They appear almost completely humanoid, and surpass Captain-Class Shinigami in power, skill, and speed.

Vasto Lorde are the least common form of Menos, but the exact population is unknown. Tōshirō stated that only a few are known to exist, and are believed to reside within the very deepest parts of Hueco Mundo. Apart from the need to cannibalize even more Hollows, any special requirements for the creation of a Vasto Lorde are unknown.

Tōshirō claims that ten of them under Sōsuke Aizen's control would be enough to defeat all of Soul Society. This is no small coincidence, as Aizen himself states to Gin Ichimaru that he needs to gather enough Vasto Lordes to complete his ten-member Espada. It seems that Aizen has important plans with them, but the only details revealed about those plans are the mere wish to gather all of them together.

While there is no Arrancar in Aizen's army confirmed to have been a Vasto Lorde-class hollow before Shinigamification, Ulquiorra Cifer's mask fragments resemble the silhouette of a Vasto Lorde. The four top Espada are heavily implied to be of Vasto Lorde level, as Aizen does not allow Espada's 4 and above to release their Zanpakutō's within Las Noches. The reason being their Resurreccions release enough power to damage or destroy the dome itself.




Arrancar

An Arrancar (アランカル, arankaru) is a Hollow that has removed its mask and gained Shinigami powers. The name "Arrancar" is a Spanish verb meaning "to remove" or "to rip off," a reference to an Arrancar's removal of its Hollow mask. Following the retrieval of the Hogyoku and Aizen's emergence into Hueco Mundo, the Arrancar have become the main antagonists of the series, especially the Espada.

The Espada are the top-ranked Arrancar in Aizen's army, and the primary antagonists of the series. The Espada at the time of the group's introduction consists of nine males and one female. Each Espada member is chosen for their superior combat ability and then assigned a number from 1 to 10 (with 1 being the strongest, while 10 being the weakest) that indicates their rank and relative power level, which is tattooed somewhere on their body (Grimmjow's is on his lower back, for instance). The Espada are given control over the Números and are regarded as the strongest Arrancar in existence. Similar to the power gap between captains and lieutenants in the Gotei 13, the strength, speed, intelligence, and power of the Espada far surpasses that of the average Número. As Aaroniero Arruruerie notes, all of the Espada except him were at least Adjuchas-class Menos before becoming Arrancar. One of the former Espada that is 3rd rank is Neliel Tu Oderschvank, being very powerful.

Privaron Espada

The Privaron Espada are former Espada who have officially lost their rank and are assigned a three-digit number. Being former Espada, they are far stronger than the normal Números. They reside in the part of Las Noches called Tres Cifras, which translates literally from Spanish as "three digits". As mentioned by Dordonii, these former "naturally created" Espada were rendered obsolete after Aizen began artificially creating Arrancar to meet his own standards. It is also noted that Aaroniero Arruruerie was one of the original Espada, but his original number was not mentioned since it is possible he was demoted to a lower number in accordance to the arrival of more powerful Espada.
Números

Numeros

These Arrancar are the combat specialists. They are assigned a two digit number at birth from 11 to 99 to indicate their age (Número 11 is the oldest, Número 99 is the youngest). The basic Número uniform consists of a white-collared jacket and robes held with a black sash. However, the uniform is customizable, giving each Número a sense of individuality. The fighting ability of Números is thought to be superior to all other Arrancar, except for the Espada (current and former).

Fracción

The Fracción are a subsection of the Números that directly serve a specific Espada. The number of Fracción for any given Espada varies: Stark and Nnoitra Jiruga would seem to have just one, while Szayel Aporro Granz has at least a dozen. There are a few Espada that apparently prefer to fight alone, such as Yammy, Zommari Leroux, Ulquiorra Cifer and Aaroniero,seem to have chose not to have any Fracción under their command.


Exequias

The Exequias are Arrancar that are part of the execution division, apparently charged with termination of intruders and rebels. They are the equivalent of Soul Society's Onmitsukidō.  

[Endorph]

Shinigami

As with any army, the Gotei 13 has ranks. There are 20 ranks for officers but no ranks for non-officers. The lower the number is, the higher the rank. The ranks and their descriptions are below, from highest to lowest in terms of strength.

Commander-General

The Commander-general (総隊長, sōtaichō; Commander-General) is the leader of the Gotei 13 and the Captain of the 1st Division; the implication is that this is an ex officio or a primus inter pares position. The current holder of this title is Yatamaru (A.K.A Old Man Yata)


Captain

A Captain (隊長, Taichō; lit. Unit Commander) is the leader of one of the thirteen divisions (with the special case of the Commander-General). A single Gotei 13 "unit" (隊) is estimated at about 200-500 troops.

Captains are generally the most respected shinigami within the Soul Society, with the Kidō Corps, and Onmitsukidō leaders possibly being on equal status. With one exception, all captains are able to utilize the final stage of their zanpakutō, and are more powerful than even their lieutenants. Knowing bankai gives captains an average of five-to-ten times the strength of shinigami who are unable to perform it. They have also extensively-trained, if not mastered, their bankai, allowing them to actually use the enormous power effectively in battle. Most captains are also skilled in the use of Flash Steps, Kidō, and generally have impressive knowledge of shinigami history and battle tactics. All of these factors create a huge power-gap between captains and lower-ranked officers.

It is not commonly stated but in truth the power of Soul Society lies in the Captains of the Gotei 13, as they are the leaders of its military arm. With them at full strength Soul Society is safe and near unbeatable, if they are broken their strength dwindles making them highly vulnerable.

There are three different ways to become a Gotei 13 captain:[3]

1. captain proficiency test (隊首, taishu): A test which requires the ability to perform Bankai. Presumably, most shinigami become captains using this method. At least three existing captains, including the Commander-General, have to witness the test.
2. Personal Recommendation: To have personal recommendations from at least six captains and approval from at least three of the remaining seven.
3. Trial by Combat: To defeat a captain one-on-one with at least 200 witnesses from the captain's division. Kenpachi Zaraki is the only known current captain to have achieved his rank using this method. This method is seen as being the exceedingly rarer of the three as well as the least refined. The method is commonly looked down upon by some captains as barbaric compared to the other refined methods. This method also allows one to bypass having the mastery of bankai or other possible abilities that a captain would otherwise be required to have knowledge of, as it allows no judgement from captains who would require those skills as a prerequisite to join their ranks.


Lieutenant

A Lieutenant (副隊長, fukutaichō; Vice-unit Commander, often translated as Vice-Captain) is the 2nd seated officer in each division.

Lieutenants function as executive officers for their division, taking care of or supervising day-to-day operations. They (along with their captains) are not assigned to one specific squad. They generally only know the shikai of their Zanpakutō, but are still the second strongest in their division. In the case of a division captain's death, departure, or other circumstances making him unable to perform their duties, the lieutenant acts as the "substitute captain" until another can be assigned.


Seated Officers

Seated officers are the remainder of the officers in the Gotei 13 that hold ranks at or below 3rd Seat. Captains and lieutenants have the ranks of 1st and 2nd Seats, respectfully. Next to that, there are 18 more seats (3rd-to-20th). These ranks are somewhat analogous to junior officers or non-commissioned officers in modern military. There seems to be a distinction between senior and junior seated officers, just like in real-life armies. In the Gotei 13, only one person can hold a senior officer rank (such as 3rd or 5th seat), but there are several holders of junior officer ranks (e.g. 20th seat). This may vary from division to division however, as there are two 3rd Seats in the 13th Division. Seated officers often lead subunits within each division (for example, Hanatarō Yamada is leader of 4th Division's 14th Advanced Relief Team).