Bridge to Peace
Post Author: ssj sousuke
Hollows have always been considered the Yin to the Shinigami’s Yang. The evil path that a soul can take after death. And as such, the Arrancar are also considered evil. Well this connotation has proven to be true for the most part, but every once in a while, we will see one with a little more promise.
For example, Nel is somebody who, even though she followed Aizen at one time, can never side with Aizen and his Arrancar army ever again. You can’t really blame her for following Aizen in the past, when she was the 3rd Espada. She was a lonely Hollow, with nowhere else to turn. Not to mention how manipulative he can be with his subordinates, telling them whatever they want to hear to get them to do as he wishes. But since she has left the Arrancar army and joined forces with Ichigo, there isn’t much question as to where her allegiance lies. (To Ichigo) The same goes for her fraccion, who seem to be almost as caring and harmonic as she.
From the very start Grimmjow has shown disobedience toward Aizen. His motives for joining his army are most likely for personal gain. After being defeated by Ichigo, he was shown mercy for the first time in his life, right before Nnoitra tries to off him, where he is then protected again by Ichigo. To me it seems like their rivalry has created some sort of a bond between the two. A brotherhood, that even if they don’t like each other, they at least understand each other. If he survives through the giant conflict going on right now, it is questionable if he will return to the Arrancar army, or if he will have a change in direction.
Stark; the Primera Espada, whose aspect of death is loneliness. My theory is that he is lonely because he is the only Espada who doesn’t hate, or even wish to kill the Shinigami. It has been illustrated in his fight with Shunsui, that he didn’t wish to harm him at all, and only wanted to “play fight.” I don’t know if he will survive after his ongoing “battle” with the Gotei 13, but if he does, and if Aizen is defeated, I think it is believable that he wouldn’t have any qualms with the Shinigami taking over.
Other Arrancar have shown disloyalty toward Aizen, like the Dordonii. At first he aided him when fighting Ichigo, but due to his encounter, matched with his grudge for being kicked out of the Espada, he turned on the Exequias when they went after Ichigo. Ultimately him and the other Privaron Espada were implied to be finished off, but I think it is safe to say that out of the many Arrancar in Aizen’s army, there are probably others who share this disloyalty.
What I am trying to get at with all of this is that when Aizen is ultimately defeated (because that is inevitable) there are still going to be Arrancar left alive. Through certain key encounters, I have noticed that Tite has been trying to shed some light to both sides of the story, and how not all Arrancar are evil. Well, hypothetically, if some of the remaining Arrancar like Nel, or Stark (if he lives), didn’t mind it, wouldn’t some sort of treaty between them and the shinigami help bring peace and balance throughout the universe?
Think about it, the Gotei 13 exists to help bring peace and balance, and with allies on the other side, this would aid them substantially. One of the reasons Tite introduced the Vaizards was to show that just because somebody is linked to Hollows, doesn’t mean they are evil. And that the ruling system, and the ancient laws of the Soul Society need to be adjusted, because not everything is so black and white.
Tags: Theories
theories / opinion | ssj | 
May 24, 2009 2:42 pm
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By Byakushi, May 25, 2009 @ 12:14 am
Interesting post, SSJ. I agree that not all arrancar have evil intentions, which is probably due to the fact that they no longer need to eat human souls to survive.
Also, I think you forgot to mention Ulquiorra, who had an epiphany just before his death. Since he had no feelings, he was just loyal to Aizen. But after gaining a “heart”, I think his worldly views have changed. Too bad he’s dead, though.
Oh, and about Stark, it’s not that he does care, it’s just that he’s to lazy to have an opinion. That’s why he wanted to wait to see who won all the other battles – so that he’d just join the winning side and not have to fight.
By Pretend3r, May 25, 2009 @ 5:30 am
Great article indeed. I agree on Stark He probably joined Aizen for a supposed easy life. Going by some dialog he had been acting like this before in earlier battles indeed. And again in this battle with shunsui. Neither Stark or Shunsui has released there swords where the others two espada are going all-out for a while now.
Seeing his behavior makes me somewhat wonder why he was assigned the nr. 1. The (we know now) second strongest espada.
On the flipside the Shinigami also have two (semi)mad-men. Being Kenpachi and Kurotsuchi could be considerd as strange seeing the Gotei is a ‘noble institution’.
Seeing humane like hollow just shows it as a ‘normal war’ between two countries. Where Aizen is an intelligent man, but seeing his motives can also be considerd a mad-men.
By ssj sousuke, May 25, 2009 @ 9:28 am
Yeah I know about Ulquiorra J, but since this blog was theorizing about who might cooperate with the Gotei in the future, i figured he was kind of out of the picture. (Unless my little reincarnation wish happens.)
By mart1, May 25, 2009 @ 10:33 am
When I say the Espada could become good, everyone disagrees, a few chapters later, the theory seems reasonable
… nah, good job SSJ, I liked it and I agree
By ssj sousuke, May 25, 2009 @ 12:51 pm
When did you say esapada could become good, theres no way i would have disagreed with that?
By mart1, May 25, 2009 @ 5:45 pm
the first week I was here wrote a blog on “The paradox of bleach” it focused on the three main groups, you didn’t comment SSJ… here’s the link… http://www.bleachedichigo.com/2009/01/the-paradox-of-bleach/#comments
By seth, May 26, 2009 @ 5:41 am
I think that the main reason for the Arrancar rebelling against Aizen and forming an uneasy alliance with the Shinigami (or at least working to topple Sousuke separately) is that the former 5th Captain seems to have set out to destroy them from the beginning. Aizen seems utterly invested in the destruction of Hueco Mundo.
At the very beginning of the Karakura gang’s invasion he makes sure that all the Espada know Ichigo, Ishida, Chad, Rukia and Renji’s histories in the Soul Society rescue and asks them not to underestimate the threat that they represent… before effectively confining all of them to their respective quarters and asking them not to seek out their enemy and to only engage if the intruders come to them.
And what do we get subsequently? We see Gin playing with the pathways, presumably manipulating the encounters. We see Espada after Espada flout their orders in order to seek out the enemy, indeed every one of them that dies does this in some manner. Aaroniero Arruruerie and Zommi go to find Rukia; Szayel allows Renji and Ishida to come to him but overstretches his mandate by deploying the Exequias; Nnoitra first locates Chad and then Ichigo; and Grimmjow, while not being killed, is defeated after using Orihime to play out his own game. Ulquiorra also defies his orders when he seeks out Ichigo, and interestingly he is left behind in an alarmingly prone and outnumbered position to guard the fort while Aizen takes his three loyal Espada to what he believes (or doesn’t… he may have predicted the switcheroo) to be Karakura Town.
Aizen doesn’t lift a finger to help any of them in their battles. We can be fairly sure that he can save any of them at any time he likes, either by sending reinforcements (Hueco Mundo is home turf and teeming with powerful Hollows, Menos and Arrancar) or by intervening himself.
It would seem to me highly likely that he has used Ichigo’s invading force (and subsequent Soul Society reinforcements) to do his housekeeping for him. By giving an apparently unreasonable and inexplicable order he has whittled down his forces to the ones he can truly rely on to do exactly as he says, while making it appear as though the dead bought it on themselves by stepping out of line. Aizen perpetually seeks absolute devotion, people who will follow him to the letter, so it’s notable that he sidelined Renji at the earliest opportunity because he was too much of a wildcard whereas Kira and Hinamori were allowed to remain in key positions. Aizen’s game could be seen in this light, as adhering to traits he possesses that are already well established.
Another frequently used strategy of his is to divide and conquer. We’ve already noted that he’s been doing this with Soul Society all along, firstly by securing the defection of Tousen and Gin, then by setting Shinigami against Shinigami in the Rukia execution scenario, then by dividing the remaining manpower between Hueco Mundo, Soul Society and the real world. But it would seem that he is also doing it to his Hollow followers, firstly by demoting the original Espada to humiliatingly low numbers (making them jealous of their replacements), then by giving his new ruling ten Arrancar an order to stay intheir quarters that he can fairly guess over half of them will prove unwilling to follow. By giving them orders that they must defy in order to stay true to their own basic nature he ensures that their fear of him and distrust of each other isolates them from pairing up or working as a team, because such a status hungry bunch would surely report each other’s disobedience in order to climb the ladder rather than accept an offer of mutual support. He splits them again when he only takes three Espada with him to attack Karakura Town with Aizen and Gin.
Gin was seen manipulating the corridors. Did he pair the invaders up with opponents they could either defeat or who would keep them alive long enough to be rescued? Chad emerged into the Espada Pavillion close to Nnoitra, who refused to deliver the death blow because it would demonstrate that he thought Sado might be a threat to him in future (thereby making him look weak in front of Tesla). Aaroniero’s possession of Kaien’s spirit form gave him an horrific psychological lever over Rukia. But he wasted that advantage in his arrogant belief that he knew what she was capable of, using it as an opportunity to psychologically torture her and ultimately giving her the opening to deliver a death blow with an unexpected new technique he hadn’t seen yet. Again, Szayel toyed with Renji and Ishida for absolutely bloody ages (seriously, that fight lasted about a year before Mayuri topped him). Ichigo was further toyed with by Nnoitra and Tesla so that the former could inflict upon him his peculiarly violent brand of despair.
Aizen has a vested interest in keeping Ichigo and his friends alive. They were useful to him throughout their invasion of Soul Society (creating chaos so he could move unnoticed) and they’re useful to him now (for defeating the disloyal Arrancar). They’re wildcards, not fully allied to anyone. Aizen was watching Ichigo throughout the whole Soul Society arc. The really telling moment came at the end, when he realised that Ichigo didn’t have a clue about Urahara’s history or the Hougyoku. At that point he realised that all he had to do to manipulate the Ginger Wonder into going nuts and invading another dimension was kidnap one of his mates. He wanted Ichigo to invade.
One of the striking things about the Hueco Mundo invasion is that it’s a narrtive mirror for the Soul Society arc. What interests me at the moment is how this may have caused key differences between the two worlds and stories to be ignored and the suggestion that Kubo may be using the audience’ intelligence and analytical abilities to make them more susceptible to his narrative sleight of hand rather than less. I wonder whether he’s deliberately trying to make us complacent by giving us a story that we think we know.
For example, one key difference between Hueco Mundo and Soul Society is that the Arrancar already ruled the roost in the former whereas the Vaizard have never (to the best of my knowledge) had an equivalent position in the latter. For all its horror HM is actually far closer to the natural world than SS. It’s a world in which we’re told that the inhabitants act purely on instinct and the fittest survive, with no kind of civilising influence whatsoever. We are being taught to see it not so much as a culture or society but as an eco-system, and the implication is that the Arrancar are just those who naturally fall at the top of the pecking order. There is no parallel for this in SS, and this may be because as soon as you impose societal rules you naturally have a culture in fear of punishment, capable of being lied to by leaders and controlled by taboos. It’s perfectly possible that the Vaizard should naturally occupy a similar place to their underworld counterparts, but that they have been ostracised through the kind of good/evil binary law making that cannot easily be generated in HM, which actually seems to be a perversely *innocent* place by comparison.
Kubo has always resisted killing his Shinigami characters. It could be because Aizen himself has paired them off against opponents he knows they have a good chance of beating. In the Fake Karakura Town fight he’s chosen not to help his Arrancar yet again, choosing to remain behind Yamamoto’s flames. Does anyone really believe that he’s actually trapped and couldn’t escape any time he wants?
Meanwhile the Arrancar are getting slaughtered, while they’ve only really inflicted nasty injuries on the Shinigami at best. It’s almost sad. We’re seeing the once great kingdom of Hueco Mundo being utterly destroyed in a conflict that may never have happened at this level had Aizen not intervened. Hueco Mundo is a world as rich in detail and interesting characters as Soul Society, and it’s being obliterated almost before we’ve had a chance to get to know it. First Aizen builds Las Noches; then he paints a mockery of Soul Society’s blue sky on its roof as a symbol of his crushing of the indigenous population; he deliberately demotes the former Espada to humiliatingly low numbers to make an example of them; and then starts setting the Espada against their own essentially animalistic, social Darwinist natures by treating them like the Gotei 13 and setting rules for them that they cannot obey
Is this what Tousen means by the road of least bloodshed? That one horribly bloody confrontation is better than allowing the Hueco Mundo / Soul Society antagonism to persist for centuries?
If Aizen’s stated plan to become a Vaizard and take on the King is true then his biggest enemies will be both the existing Vaizard and the Arrancar. The former are in exile, their allegiance with Soul Society extremely questionable. Whether there were ever *natural* Vaizard in a similar sense to the Privaron Espada remains to be seen, but it wouldn’t be a stretch to imagine a culture like Soul Society hounding them into extinction after declaring them to be an abomination even prior to Aizen’s manipulation. That leaves the Arrancar as the first major threat to wipe out, and he’s doing a rather good job of it.
Aizen’s tactics frequently operate to achieve more than one goal at a time. I’m starting to think that kidnapping Orihime and allowing her friends to attempt a rescue has had the sixfold effect of stalling for time; assessing Ichigo and Orihime; dividing up the Soul Society forces; allowing him to eliminate potential opposition in Hueco Mundo; cultivating unquestioning devotion from whichever Espada are left and whatever unresolved ploy lies behind showing Orihime the location of the Hougyoku and implanting the idea in her head that she could unmake it.
If all of this is the case then the HM Arc could be amongst the most beautifully elegant strategies ever pulled off by a villain in popular fiction. He’s already bought HM to its knees and sealed it away, in order for the story to progress he has to be victorious against the Shinigami in the battle over decoy Karakura Town, and that leaves him with only Urahara and the Vaizard left to face… although what with the remnants of the Shiba Clan, Royal Guard, Isshin, Ryuken and the possible identity of the Unknown King in the mix there are still quite a few wildcards…
If the remaining Espada realise the game Aizen’s playing with them it could tip the scales in favour of Strawberry winning some more unusual allies. Just don’t call them nakama, eh?
It all leaves you wondering just how he intends to manipulate Ichigo into fighting the Royal Guard for him. If all this speculation is accurate then Tite Kubo is in the process of pulling off the masterstroke of turning the genre upside down, in that the standard hero’s quest in all Shonen anime is being used to further the principle antagonist’s plan rather than foil it.
By seth, May 26, 2009 @ 5:52 am
I also have the nagging suspicion that the Hollow are essential to the cosmology of Bleach in a way we haven’t been told yet, and that by deliberately destroying them Aizen is unbalancing all three worlds (the Human World, Hueco Mundo and Soul Society). It would be a narrative masterstroke to destroy all the most powerful Hollow as “villains” and then reveal that they were essential in some manner, that the universe cannot function without them. I’d like that kind of unexpected reveal very much.
Possibly it’s in an attempt to lure the Royal Guard out of the Kings Realm, to make them come to him… possibly because they could be less powerful outside of the Kings Realm.
By Pretend3r, May 26, 2009 @ 2:38 pm
The royal could be an intresting group. I’d say they are shinigami who have stood out over the other captains and earned a place among the best of the best. The only exeption would be the Captain Commander who leads the current 12 squad captains.
The Royal Guard members are stonger than the established gotei 13 captains(Yamato excluded). I think Ishin was once part of that group, since i dont really feel he ever had a place in the captains we know of today. If they knew him, they know his last name aswell..
So either he was part of the royal guard or, in a sort of naruto way: they know, but no one is talking.
Makes you wonder how he met Urahara. THe obvious guess in this case would be that the Royal guard would have gotten word of the events happening at SS. It would have surely made Urahara (in)famous.
And for Aizen… Gotta love him as the ‘bad guy’ he is.
By mart1, May 26, 2009 @ 3:14 pm
I think seth set a record for post length (where is G and his crazy merit badges when you need him) J, as acting lazy-ass director-thingy of Shannaro inc. you should make him a contributor so that he can add in pretty pic.s in between the giant blocks of text…
By ssj sousuke, May 26, 2009 @ 8:26 pm
Seth have you ever considered writing blogs? I don’t think you’ve written many comments, but I have thoroughly enjoyed all of them. I would love for these incredible theories to be processed into blog form, but that decision is of course yours.
By seth, May 26, 2009 @ 8:54 pm
You mean a blog on here or elsewhere?
I’m happy to contribute to a good Bleach discussion anywhere. I suppose I was a bit cheeky here… a lot of the material is cross-posted from discussions we had here:
http://www.barbelith.com/topic/28272
and here:
http://www.barbelith.com/topic/25692
I’ve enjoyed reading your thoughts and thought some of the stuff from those old threads was relevant. Hope you guys don’t mind cross-posting, I know some places frown on it.
Bleach fans should stick together and evangelise new converts!
By Tsukushi, May 26, 2009 @ 10:49 pm
Interesting, both SSj’s and Seth’s analysis
I think Aizen is provoking a different kind of revolution in ach world (SS, HM and Human W)
In SS Shinigamies have left behind the time of the oblivious obedience to the chamber… Many have learn to raise their voices and zampactuos to protect what they believe is the right thing to do. Also they have learn to see beyond the mere appearances. When someone is betrayed he/she learn to do a further analysis and ask more frequently what for? How will this end? …..
SS now is on the way to be able to negotiate peace, understand the enemy or build a democracy and to build a better life to soulds outside senritei (the end on a process of mind revolution)
To HM Aizen bring evolutions. The develop of the espadas and the changes on the environment, are the beginning of a HM society. They are struggling to develop their own proposes, and I guess in the end HM will have their oun leaders. If this in Nell or Stark, truly peace can be made with SS
Finally, in the Human World, Rukia awakened Ichigo’s power, and Ichigo have been changing ppl, awakening other their ability to see creatures from SS and HM.
This can be the beginning of a different relation and understanding from shinigamies and hollows toward humans, or even between the 3 worlds
I Wonder if Aizen and Gin are good guys trying to destroy a de monarchy to gave SS, HM and the HW a chance of true peace and a better way of life
By Tsukushi, May 26, 2009 @ 11:07 pm
btw Why I can’t change avatar?