The SOUL KING'S Secret, EXPLORED - Everything We Know About THE PIECES OF REIO, So Far!

[@MrTommo2304]

Which of The Soul King's scattered pieces is the most interesting? The most powerful? Is Gremmy a piece of Reio too? Let me know your thoughts!

[@gremmysbrain]

I like to think I’m a piece of the Soul King. I have nothing else going on in my life.

[@Manusia.satu1]

Zaraki > Shunsui

[@RediJedi702]

You should type the name yhwach into Google translate into Hebrew and see how its pronounced

[@WanderTheNomad]

I can understand the 5 noble house ignoring the cut off limbs, and maybe even the heart, but why would they ignore the brain? This makes me doubt if Gremmy is actually the Soul King's brain.

[@liberalistbat6352]

Could you go into speculation on the full bringers and Ron giku's

[@derekrichardson7853]

Imagine getting a “Turn Back the Pendulum” style arc showing Reio’s life in the primordial world and him becoming the soul king, and even Juha’s birth and early life.

[@Snzn_7]

I don't know, probably a more concise explanation is enough. Turning their backstory in a full fledged manga chapters would be definitely good, but overall will just be a depressing story. It's like yay "Soul King" then how they butchered him up to pieces. Yay baby Ywach, then watch h said baby be exploited throughout years as he constantly reverts back to a "Dororo Hyakimaru baby with a lot of missing body parts" Grow back to normal the rinse and repeat.

[@derekrichardson7853]

@@Snzn_7 true. It would be a bummer of a story for sure.

[@mra3076]

I think it being explained is enough but we really need a full 1,000 year flashback imo.

[@WorldArcana]

Call it "Everything Before the Pendulum" or something heh

[@dnhyp3rx]

@@WorldArcana how about "spirits can't fear everything but the pendulum"?

[@justinpachi3707]

A slight correction. The reason why Yhwach can’t see the Mimihagi is because it has no future. Through the power of stagnation, things can’t progress forward, thus it has no future to see.

[@Timjer92]

That's actually an interesting theory on why Mimihagi is immune. But I do think the Soul King himself is also immune to the precognition.

[@justinpachi3707]

@@Timjer92 Yeah but by that point the limbs of the Soul King have their own independent consciousness and identity.

[@strawberry3500]

No lol

[@qwallace4832]

@@Timjer92 It seems like cause and effect and predestination. Like, you can’t ever evolve, create, alter any future where you’re not bound by prior circumstances out of your control. Yhwach attempting to alter any future involving not just any entity, but the source and sole progenitor of literal “histories” is paradoxical since Reio is beyond his time scale. The question whether Reio can express “The Miracle” et al powers is a very good topic to read for. Reio has to have literally, and knowingly, sacrificed himself for the worlds. To scale, Ichiebe had power to neg Yhwach hax with old ass Shinigami hax. Reio’s hax are foundations for everything from Ichigo et al to the Hogyoku. All fragments of some temporal will to hold everything together. I wonder about Ichigo and his defeat of Yhwach since, again, Reio has to have seen all this coming and wanted (maybe in a good way?) Ichigo to be the next SK? Kazui absorbing the last of Yhwach might be relevant with Hell, maybe. I don’t know, what actually happened to Yhwach’s soul?

[@felipesantos-er4kk]

​@@strawberry3500 Yes

[@jaredmn8580]

When you're so powerful, your body parts are their own characters.

[@AJ-kt5zo]

❤

[@snarkback]

Exodia called and wants his lore back lol

[@manuelacosta9463]

The ancestors sure went above and beyond to ensure the King's 'compliance'. Ironic yet unsurprising then that some of the scattered body parts would side with their mortal enemy upon becoming sentient. Still, regarding the original sin the Shiba opposing it and volunteering to endure that nightmare shows where the humble and self sacrificial essence of the family likely originated. No wonder the others scorned and saw them as outsiders.

[@jrgenvellesen7800]

The Shiba Founder actually being a decent person: The other Founders: "NO! That is NOT how you are supposed to act! You will make us look like WE are the BAD GUYS!"

[@akumaking1]

Don’t ask Kubo about where other body parts went; he’ll go weird

[@conormurphy4328]

You don’t wanna know what part Chad got 😏

[@dnhyp3rx]

@@conormurphy4328 I assume Chad got the soul king body hair

[@AJ-kt5zo]

​@@dnhyp3rx Wow wouldn't be ironic as to why reason he's so durable 😮😂 and strong . Hope gets some major dubs and shine A.K.A with redemption in the Hell Arc .

[@JackedUpEntertainment]

The soul kings Cock and Balls became Ywach

[@reggiemillerisunderrated8396]

fr what happened to his legs

[@jrgenvellesen7800]

I think it is interesting that there is a recurring theme of the "Strongest of their kind" in the story, end up feeling alone and depressed. Kenpachi, Starrk and Gremmy all fit this theme. It would make sense that the Soul King, who was like a God without anyone to call his equal, would have no-one to truly connect with. It could be for this reason he did not stop the Ancestors. Ironically, this would have most likely been the fate that would have befallen Aizen as well, if he succeeded in his goal of claiming the throne of Heaven. It is lonely at the top, indeed.

[@manuelacosta9463]

Truth. With great power comes shallow emptiness and loneliness. It's also ironic that said power may condemn some of our favorite Shinigami to the fires of hell, to be fair quite a few would probably end up there anyway due to the atrocities they committed to keep the system going.

[@jrgenvellesen7800]

@@manuelacosta9463 Indeed. Great power usally comes at a cost, and the fact that the Soul Reapers end up sending their strongest warriors to Hell in order to maintain the flawed world that they created, is just another showcase of how twisted a world founded upon a sin truly is. The fact that a sadistic monster like Tokinada actually makes a good point when he claims that there is nothing wrong with committing Sin, in a world that was founded upon Sin, is a sobering reminder of the darkness that is hidden at the core of the Soul Society.

[@manuelacosta9463]

@@jrgenvellesen7800 Truth. Tokinada embraced that evil and ran with it. It's interesting he pointed this out to Yoruichi and Soifon during their meeting, stating that all of the houses are corrupt and prone to violence for their benefit. Soifon was confused as to what he meant by this while Yoruichi acknowledged this but stated that she was personally not the other nobles.

[@jrgenvellesen7800]

@@manuelacosta9463 It is somewhat amusing that Soifon was confused by the idea of the nobles being prone to violence, given her own tendency towards lashing out in anger. Still, it is quite interesting that Tokinada wanted to bring someone as genuinely kind as Kakyo, down to his level of evil. The fact that even after killing her and claiming that she was just a plaything to him, he seemingly still considered her his wife and refused to sleep with Aura when she offered it, might hint that he did love her in his own twisted way... While he seems like a purely evil madman, there does seem to be some faint embers of humanity in him, though he seems to purposely stomp them down.

[@TheEphemeralEternity]

I would agree with this excluding the fact that his limbs are driven to take revenge on the shinigami alomgside Yhwach. If he let them dismember him, the limbs should not be harboring animosity towards the shinigami.

[@professionallycurious7372]

The soul king was a mix of human, fullbring, soul reaper and quincy and he was the greatest of all time. With that said, Ichigo is a mix of human, soul reaper, HOLLOW, fullbring, and quincy which means Ichigo's potential is truly great.

[@MrJamaigar]

The Soul King is definitely the series' own nucleus. More and more of the lore revealed is connected to him: Even the Fullbringers' spiritual powers developed from "fragments"* of the Soul King they'd unknowingly absorbed. (*The fragments can be called nails/paws, depending on the translation) Aizen's famous "Hogyoku" device could actually turn people it bonded with into potential Soul King replacements; which is why Aizen went to extremes to keep it safe. Besides, the Soul King had also quincy genes, so it was the first quincy technically. The true "father of all quincies". One reason why Juha Bach is considered a quincy messiah is because he inherited "The Allmighty" from the Soul King.

[@stankolo1788]

Regarding the size of the soul king , I always considered it the same as a zanpukto for a person with high spiritual pressure having the potential to be massive ie ichigo in the early days having a big sword because he can’t control his spiritual pressure. So the limbs are massive because they have no vessel such as the soul king to be condensed into normal size

[@BaalFridge]

the reveal of what had been done to the soul king to ''create'' the universe as we know it was probably the saddest thing to me in the whole series. They abused his power and body to secure their dominion and he just... let them. That moment gave me huge ''forgive them father, for they do not know what they have done'' vibes, and really fit with the whole theme of the soul king being akin to god walking the world in human form, like christ is in some christian theology.

[@ubaidmohamed3956]

Honestly very much biblical. God and man lived in heaven then he created the worlds, and disappears from the picture and then his son come alongs who is also him but gets nailed anyway. And god intervenes one way or another and pick side in wars.

[@ailuosi7241]

imagine reading bleach all the way up to the point where you find out that you have been rooting for the evil faction the entire time. just goes to show you that even if evil wins if given enough time passing it will eventually be deemed good by those who didn't need to witness it and given enough time the story can be weived to paint the good as accepted evil. think about it. the soul king was benevolent. had no interest in conquering or being a god. only sought peace. then the nobles conspired evil, murdered him, mutilated him, then seal his power to use for their very own purpose to make themselves gods over the people. then after making themselves gods deemed the people to be so beneath them, they used the soul kings power to separate the worlds so as to divide themselves from whom they deemed lower than themselves. these are the ancestors of the shinigami and the quincy are the ancestors of the soul king who want retribution and justice for the crimes of the 5 noble houses. like bro! if they didn't rush kubo and stress him out to finish so early this story would have had the most spectacular plot twist and wtf moment in all of manga. all the problems of the world all of that are a result of the five noble families and the shinigami. ywahb mission to bring the worlds back to a singularity would have ultimately removed all the problems that plagued the world and brought about paradise. damn!

[@TsukiSamaX]

really gives me a foreboding feeling about the Hell arc

[@Apt23-v8u]

Nah everyone is evil and apathetic and weak, only the less of these things are the close thing to good guys

[@MrJamaigar]

​@@ailuosi7241 And there's Ichigo in the middle of it all, who's in the dark about everything. He didn't know about Aizen's, Ginjo's or Juha Bach's goals, let alone their history with the shinigami. Like a dog who bites people on command, Ichigo will go after anyone who he thinks is the bad guy, not caring about the bigger picture. If Ichigo had met Tokinada, he'd have jumped him as soon as anyone told him he was "the bad guy." What's Ichigo's problem? He's traumatized by his mom's death, who got killed protecting him from a hollow; (this was right after she had her quincy powers absorbed by Juha Bach. So, she would've died anyway, like Uryu's mom) Ichigo blamed himself for being unable to do anything (he was just a kid...so, what could he do?🙄) and became obsessed with protecting anyone he cares about.

[@tdon6975]

I always assumed that when they dismembered the soul king, they cut off the parts of him that contained abilities that would help him break out. Back then they couldn't have predicted that a bunch of severed body parts would get up, form their own identity, and start fighting in wars

[@MrJamaigar]

It was every part's own nature that dictated their actions: Mimihagi's own powers of preservation came from the Soul King's shinigami genes, (as the Shinigami have always fought to preserve the status quo, and keep people like Aizen and Yhwach from altering it.) The quincies are the opposite: they work for progress and reject stagnation. This is reflected by the Soul King's left hand and heart: Pernida ,with his nerves, absorbes information from all around him to further grow and develop, while Gerard comes back stronger everytime he's killed.

[@theshapetv9203]

@@MrJamaigarshut yo goofy ass head canon up

[@AFEEF93]

Maybe Gerard's lack of irises is an allusion to the phrase "love is blind". In this case, "love" is also devotion, valor and passion, as displayed in Gerard's character.

[@gig7932]

I think when Askin was talking about those who didn't get their powers from Yhwach I think that he was definitely just talking about just the Schutzstaffel because we know that Loyd and Royd got their special powers in the womb.

[@MrJamaigar]

Yeah, both Lloyd and Royd are unique for being the only quincy (besides Pernida and Gerard) to have always had their powers.

[@nathangardner6423]

I've always though Ywach isnt the soul kings actual son but a manifestation of a portion of his Almighty powers and rage against what was done to him as the soul king is described as allowing his mutilation, possibly because he'd aready cast that part away.

[@oghaze9318]

Ywach was originally not a human in appearance, he was covered in darkness that lacked the 5 senses. It's likely that he was a fragment of the Soul King's pieces that was not noticed by the Shinigami ancestors until Ichibei found out about him and attempted to seal him with his black ink. But due to the nature of his powers he made himself an identity through the memories of his followers souls.

[@Dave102693]

@@oghaze9318 so Ichibe made things worse? Unsurprising. What if he lived as a normal soul? The Quincy wouldn’t of existed at all.

[@jeepamir508]

​@@oghaze9318 interesting detail. That might actually explain why Yhwach was in the state he was. Can't hear, can't speak, can't move, can't feel. But the Almighty kept him alive and let him bestow the part of his soul to others. And I wonder if it was actually a soul at all. Or rather it was just that black creature fragment of Soul King's power. And considering how deadly those black creatures might be that could also explain why people, who touched Yhwach, were not able to live for long enough. That's because thosr parts of Yhwach's soul were actually killing those people.

[@TheCrazyCapMaster]

The Will of the Soul King perhaps? 😅

[@OriginalDonutposse]

The soul king’s foreskin

[@years-ti7xl]

What about the "balls" of the Soul King? Ohh right, it's Kon.

[@mra3076]

Just a theory but I think Yhwach is the last child to be born from the primordial world before it was split. That infant then absorbed a lot of the SK’s Reiatsu and remained in a lucid comatose state as we see in the manga. But eventually after accumulating enough power he starts growing. Yhwach states that he’s been alive for 200 years in the 1,000-year “Friends” flashback because he actually started aging at that point.

[@AJ-kt5zo]

💙

[@thegosthofvilgax]

I've always subscribed to the idea that Gremmy was the brain of the Soul King. It's always lined up with my theory that he was originally meant to be a member of the Schutzstaffel. It would make a bit of sense to me; three parts of the Soul King (Gremmy, Pernida & Gerad) being led by the favored and first Quincy to receive a Schrift (Lillie). It would also explain why Askin was randomly promoted in the heat of battle after Gremmy's demise to his position in the Schutzstaffel, seemingly as a last min decision as they had inadvertently lost a member.

[@gammafrost]

That’s a credible point 🤔🤔🤔. Gremmy was too overpowered not to be part of Ywach’s elite but he did lack the imagination to use the ability to its fullest

[@stop7556]

​@@gammafrostlore wise that can easily be explained though by how Ywhach treated him and then how the clans treated the original body. It's clear the body parts can change with time. So it's easy to think the brain lost its own intelligence/creativity.

[@requiemforameme1]

Yuji Itadori: (picking up the SK’s hand) “First time, eh?”

[@macandcheeseofficial]

I think the “Heart” refers to the Soul King’s willpower/spirit/honor and not a literal heart. This might explain why he behaves as a proud knight, merciful, unwavering, and noble. It may also explain his ability to never die because of his unending resolve and devotion toward “God.”

[@FanisBartzis]

In the anime,they gave pernida a really good backstory, pernida was sealed inside ichibe until it was traded through a sealing tecknique that ichibe used, making Yhwach lose his almighty,yet have pernida sealed inside yhwach.When Yhwhach fell in his slumber, pernida was released.

[@ZzigZaG00NIN]

Body parts of the soul king being major bleach plot points will always be so crazy to me I wonder if we will ever get to see Reio in action in like a flashback or something

[@AJ-kt5zo]

Eternal mysterious makes ya wonder what is like even before the primordial period to add to your point.

[@mallyy1251]

If Ukitake didn’t have immense reiatsu, would Mimihagi still be able to consume his lungs and stay inside him? I guess you gotta be extremely strong to hold a part of the soul king

[@mugetsu8580]

Let’s go we finally get a Soul King discussion video!!!!!

[@rexex345]

Actually for Gerard's outfit, its probably closer to ancient germanic than say, norse. That would safely put him in the roman/greek era. That would also fit with the quincy german aspect as nordic and early germanic cultures were the proto-cultures for germany and the HRE.

[@micah459]

I love that Kubo doesn't make the morality of the Quincy and soul society black and white but a morally grey area because neither side is actually good but have good people in their organization

[@MrGksarathy]

I feel Kubo kinda failed at this because while he made Soul Society appropriately morally ambiguous, he failed in that regard with the Wandenreich. Look, I love how incredibly fascist they are, but Kubo trying to paint them as an organization for progress, or not villains, or even as morally ambiguous felt very hollow and unaware of the nature of fascism.

[@Dave102693]

@@MrGksarathy basically what happened in AoT

[@MrGksarathy]

@@Dave102693 The difference is that Ishiyama is actually a Japanese fascist, so he probably did that intentionally. Honestly, he surprised me because he is a Japanese ultranationalist who nonetheless wrote a story that is mostly anti-fascist, anti-war, and anti-nationalist.

[@kevintanza6968]

​@@MrGksarathyI'm not an AOT fan but calling someone a fascist for what he wrote in a story is a very dangerous accusation.

[@MrGksarathy]

@@kevintanza6968 No, I'm calling him one for his IRL opinions, including his public denials of the Rape of Nanking.

[@justinedwards5047]

About the question of size, given that the main body and the heart were both shown (at least initially) to be roughly normal human sized that the soul king was probably roughly human sized at the time he was sealed. Given both hands and the heart show the capacity to grow to gigantic proportions, I imagine the soul king could probably freely alter his size, similar to how Ishin mentions to Grand Fisher that soul reapers can modulate the size of their zanpakto so that captains aren't swinging around swords the size of skyscrapers

[@matthasch847]

Yes, and this relates to the giants swords appearing from the hell gate. Even Ukitake's sword become much bigger in the latest chapter

[@Raphael25ify]

The atire worn by Mimihagi in its wooden statue like form, specially the ribbon floating around its hand, which is called a Tenne, reminds me of the Tennin, or heavenly beings that are able to fly thanks to their feathered cloaks, or Hagoromo. Maybe this was the way Mimihagi was depicted because as a being that fell from heaven Mimihagi would've resembled the Tennin in a similar fashion given that they, specially the Tenyo, or heavenly maidens, would fly towards the earth and take off their Hagoromo in order to stay with humankind.

[@riicky83]

Gerrard feels like a combination of the two arms. Think about it a little. He has the right arm's ability of stillness to prevent his death and the left arm's ability of progression to rapidly heal and evolve his body.

[@madhatter3971]

He is the heart of the soul king that is why.

[@MrGksarathy]

He is more or less stated to be the Heart.

[@ThermiteKitty]

Gerard also feels like he's got a bit of The Visionary, which lends some credence to the Soul King's Brain theory: what are his powers if not his vision of the hero people want? A hero who wins against the odds, reflects all harm and only gets stronger to match his opponents? I wouldn't be surprised if, as other Soul King parts are eventually introduced, they can be linked to aspects of The Miracle. The heart fuels every other part of the body, after all.

[@riicky83]

@@ThermiteKitty Sounds more like Mask de Musculine ability minus needing James to do the cheering

[@CaptainKotetsu]

Ukitake was done so dirty lol.

[@carlli4000]

No he wasnt he sacrificed to save everyone

[@Snzn_7]

My theory as to why they cut out parts of Reiou and leave out the rest to be put as Statis is a countermeasure that whatever is left of the Reiou in the statis crystal can't break out of said crystal in his own. So basically they preserved just the right amount of body parts that can separate the realm while not being strong enough to enable the Reiou escape stasis. Ywach is tevhnically the progenitor of yhe quincies since he is "the one" who has the ability to share quincy powers to other people. Wven if we say Pernida or even the Soul King is the first being to be a quincy, people who "wrote" history barely knows their existence and they technically did not gain quincy powers from them. About the saketsu, all the Noble ancestors and even Ichibei is older than Reio had Saketsu. It makes sense Reio is also has one since he is basically "the same being as them", but Reio is mostly had been born gifted with special powers exclusive only to him.

[@Snzn_7]

As per the size of the Reio, he probably is just normally sized. But as we see with Gerard as an example, his body parts can definitely "change/grew to ginormous sizes". If Gremmy is in fact the "Brain", physically enlarging in size is probably just a second option to it since it can just imagine it and mentally make a larger form.

[@samthomas1945]

Bit late here but can somebody explain this to me. So when Ichigo goes with the Zero Division, they all say that the soul king has told them to bring him back. Then Tenjiro says he can see why the Soul King is so interested in Ichigo. So are they all just lying about the soul kings will? Because from my understanding he is trapped and has no autonomy whatsoever. So is it just Ichibei running everything and saying it's the soul kings will?

[@nodatastored684]

*The Soul King, is our Ichigo lost in time from a wild seinkaimon, it's why when Ichigo cries or is upset it rains* he's not a descendent but the actual Soul King we saw in TYBW.... Bleach is the story of the Soul King

[@traineryvar7123]

Kazui is Yhwach?

[@food2103]

This is cap we all know the soul king is Kons lost button

[@germangarcia3818]

Wait so ichigo is both ywach’s father and son haha 😂

[@felipesantos-er4kk]

Great Fanfic Kid

[@kriscubero6778]

@@traineryvar7123 Creepily enough, I'm kinda getting the vibe that Ichigo and Kazui mirror both the God Father and Son (The Soul King and Yhwach)

[@damrod]

Could be interesting if we also ever get to see what the effects of the reio's nail was on rangiku. She was bonded to one of his nails before Aizen forcibly extracted it from her, so could be interesting to see how it effected her strength and personality before and after the removal. If we go with the parts that we already saw in the manga, having a part of him in her would have made rangiku also stronger but it is hard to figure out the amount.

[@maymay5600]

i guess the power is still manifesting way more and it'll be interesting if reio himself would try and get rangiku to either marry her or just get her pregnant

[@babaG819]

Imo, Reio definitely ALLOWED the nobles to desecrate his body and seal him. Unless they somehow overpowered/ caught him (similar to Urahara Vs Aizen). Overpowering being very unlikely. So to me it makes sense that Mimihagi would side with the soul reapers, even if his other parts did not. The whole or majority of his being agreed with that decision, at least in the moment that he allowed it to happen. If he didn't and was sealed against his will, that makes sense too but I get the feeling that's not the case. He should have the same precognition as Ywach. Maybe even then he can see the right path and still detest it.

[@Shuyin128MK4]

For the reason why the arms are able to reach such sizes (and I guess the Heart for Gerard), I'd like to reference Ichigo's father. When Isshin was talking to Grand Fisher about Zanpakuto sizes, Grand Fisher talks about how ones Spiritual Pressure equates to the side of the Zanpakuto. Then Isshin retorts that Soul Reapers can control the size of their Zanpakuto, otherwise they would be swinging around swords the size of buildings. My line of thought is, what if the size of the body parts is by choice? Choosing to be small, but growing if they felt the need to. Reio could be their natural size, but the parts can use their power to increase their mass accordingly to situations.

[@sladew9788]

Yhwach is probably nearly millions of years old. He probably was born as a result of reio splitting the world's and tsunayashiro dismembering his body. Maybe the spilled out reishi took a form of it's own (since souls also take form in similar manner). And he was probably in the child like state for a really long time. And later gains his physical body sonewhere around 2000 or so years ago.

[@Lyra_nm]

Theres a saying in spanish that goes "ojos que no ven corazon que no siente" literally "eyes that dont see, heart that doesnt feel" maybe that has something to do with gerald's ability, he has no irises so technically he wouldn't be able to see (even tho he clearly sees but metaforicly speaking) so he wouldn't feel, or in this case, die

[@Heyitdave]

I love your breakdowns. It’s informative, it’s detailed, and it adds more depth to this last ark than what kubo provided for us 😂

[@Almighty_cornholio]

Let’s be real…the heart of the soul king …Gerard ….is my single biggest annoyance with bleach

[@strykervalkyrion]

What's kind of weird to me is that supposedly with high enough spiritual pressure, you can survive organ damage in battle and heal but Ukitake couldn't heal from his lung damage despite having enough spiritual pressure as an adult

[@holow3038]

Didn't he mentioned that basically Ukitake lose his lungs and Mimihagi was living as them and using Ukitake as host. You can't heal something that you don't have, is like that parasite that eat the fish's tongue and then lives as its tongue

[@deansheets]

I think the reason mimi dont want eyes, is so that he can see thru their eyes. That would be my guess

[@jonbilgutay2]

I wonder what the big bad of the hell arc will be like to rival soul-king-Yhwach. I can only imagine that it would be the Soul kings mother; the literal mother of god, along with the slain captains turned into an anti gotie 13.

[@theapriltapes]

Can't wait to see the left arm fight. From start to finish it's so fun.

[@Plasfoxxx]

It all makes sense to be honest… Aizen says repeatedly that the Hogyoku creates miracles, Uruhara and Aizen is trying to recreate the Heart of the Soul King for their own reasons, maybe uruhara wants to be in the 0 division and that’s his selfish way of doing it as stated in Cfyow and Aizen created it for access to the palace which would mean he would be able to be on level and replace the soul king his ultimate goal …. The hogyoku IS a recreation of Gerard Valkyrie and the heart of the soul king of which he is

[@burberries5844]

I knew my life came to an end when I started watching 2 hour breakdowns on bleach

[@bryantbeach8105]

Mimihagi beginning to feel for the shinigami is a nice parallel to "zangetsu" within ichigo beginning to care for him

[@SmoothBlk]

Gerard didnt have any Eyes Mimihagi had 1 Eye Pernida had 2 Eyes Yhwach had 3 Eyes And Reio had 4 Eyes Wonder if there's a Correlation

[@AJ-kt5zo]

💛

[@Dave102693]

And Grimmy didn’t have a body

[@gameheaded]

I'd like to believe that the soul king allowed for his own death. He represents the Alpha and the Omega. Omega in this regard meaning all encompassing. His death doesn't necessarily mean his disappearance. It could simply initiate a rebirth cycle

[@DevoFett]

Would have been awesome to get two bastard twins of the soul king, one looking like a soul reaper and the other a Quincy

[@themiddleman3060]

Man i cant wait to see more of the upper ecshelons of soul society. To me this is the best part of bleach. The rules put in place, the physics... all the correlations, Hueco mundo being some mysterious seemingly ancient and ruinous black and white purgatory, Soul society being some mysterious colored and quiet form of heaven, etc. From the gargantua to the life cycle of hollows, it's all so bizarra. Can u travel to heaven and purgatory on a space ship or is outer space not a traversable void in bleach? What magnificent civilization built the ruins of Hueco Mundo now in disrepair? Best parts of bleach, the astrophysics and outer realm lore and all the questions unanswered.

[@AJ-kt5zo]

Hope that grows deeper.

[@kitano8025]

Man I really hope we get to find out at some point why the Soul King let himself get butchered. I also wonder what the 4 irises mean. Initially I thought that it was representative of him being able to look at the past, present, future and outside of time (if that's even a thing) but since Yhwach only seems to be able to see the future despite having 3 then maybe not.

[@manuelacosta9463]

In CFYOW Ichibei implied that the King let them do it, likely seeing his eventual freedom in death. He stated that his lack of resistance and seeming total cooperation raised the suspicions of the ancestors, leading them to double down and totally gouge him. But again this is Ichibei talking so he's hardly an objective source.

[@AJ-kt5zo]

​@@manuelacosta9463 Your both probably right .

[@SinHurr]

@@manuelacosta9463 Hardly objective, but probably the only still living entity with firsthand knowledge of the event. Hard tossup.

[@unknownbyself]

Maybe each iris represents each dimension that Soul King is watching over/keeping aloft: Seireitei, human world, Hueco Mundo, and even Hell or maybe the Palace.

[@daveacv2956]

Ive always seen that the soul king center of the eyes is the same as the 1st division sign!

[@AstronoMETV]

What fraking disease did Ukitake have that even the right arm of the soul king cant fully heal him.

[@alfiexnakama4678]

Tbh im pissed how short Ukitake moment in tybw . Hopefully he get the right justice in Hell Arc 😢

[@kylehearnden4562]

I just wanna say what a great, non-click-baity title this is with it saying "explored" instead of "explained" like so many others would do.

[@freshjnew]

Also pernida claiming he is a quincy isn't odd at all. Ywach says(in a panel you show in the video) that his almighty eyes are the sign of a true quincy. Clearly the quincy were a thing before ywach. Unless his assertion is that he is the only true quincy(possible). I think the quincy might have been something or some group that the soul king could've used to destroy some of the bad things in the primordial chaos before he split the world into 3. Maybe he was advised by the nobles that destroying them was creating an imbalance and shelved the quincy when ywach was born and ywach going through whatever odd shit he went through became quite angry when he began regaining his abilities and reformed the quincy as their king and had it out for soul reapers and soul society since daddy liked them more than him. Very lucifer. Much fallen angel.

[@Vinn_Tree]

I like to think Gremmy just quit. He was locked up like an animal who is to say he ever wanted to be like the boys but merely to see it. And i dont think he liked it. Not as much like Kenpachi. Seems that life wasnt for him.

[@Dave102693]

And his brain was used to power up another Soul King candidate.

[@yannischupin7787]

Theory... About the irises the strongest being : the soul king have four. How-ever when we look at the 0 division's amblem there are 5 symbols, there are 5 cities, 5 captains. What if it was implying that someone is somewhere having 5 irises therefore being stronger than Ywach or the soulKing... That would be insane.

[@matthasch847]

Wow, interesting. Maybe the final villain in Hell arc might be the one with 5 iris. Or Kazui will eventually grow up to be the strongest being with 5 iris.

[@SatoshiSosuke]

When I read your comment, I took it another way. I thought of it as the shinigami mocking the soul king.

[@kitano8025]

I theorize that the cities belonged to the ancestors of the 5 Great Noble families in the past. However, I do feel like there might be someone stronger than the SK.

[@dnhyp3rx]

@@SatoshiSosuke I had the same thought, as if they trying to signify that they're one already.

[@AJ-kt5zo]

​@@matthasch847 Think aside from fallen or banished shinigami , kenpachis who demonized or turned into demons which I hope exist in the Hellverse . Also ghouls or hollows that evolved into ghouls there demon samurai or ino Ronin.

[@pikeyMcBarkin]

Thanks for the speculation video. Much appreciated.

[@bensinex7725]

I like to imagine that the ancients that fought and defeated the Soul King did so Attack on Titan style, just going around and around this colossal sized creature.

[@kingofhuecomundo8505]

Always a good day when you get a Tommo video😎👍🏻

[@theapriltapes]

I almost think it would have been better if all of the final fights were with quincy's that embodied a piece of the soul king

[@spennshell]

What would happen if somehow they put back the soul kings original parts back together

[@christiancsq]

The heart/miracle is essentially the same as the hogyoku

[@Musictube...]

Hōgyoku on steroids*

[@TTC20007]

How the fuck kisuke got the idea of making godlike item?

[@christiancsq]

@Test Tros that is never explained. However, in the novel CYTOW, it was mentioned the tsuy royal family was researching how to use the SK nail to empower their members.

[@kazemizu]

All things considered, couldn't Ukitake be gotten his body healed once he became a captain?? I'm pretty sure that mad scientist might have been able to give him some new lungs...

[@hikariizuki1693]

For the size stuff, i think we can go back to how a zanpakutou will change size depending on the user's reiatsu and their ability to control it. The main body and the brain of the soul king is something that can control their reiatsu better than any other parts. The heart pump reatsu and the more excited it get the more it let's out, hence why gerald get bigger and bigger the harder the challenge is. Pernida and mimihagi normally in the size of a human. More likely because they wanted to be a part of them (one the quincy, the other for the souls) and as they let out their power, their size change though i think theirs are more for advantage for what they're diong more than anything. And pernida probably for the added intimidation too

[@tnuhenaj3752]

Interesting minor detail. I can't remember whether gerard holds his sword in his right or left arm but mimihagi has the eye on the back of his hand and pernida has the eye on the front of his hand. If pernida held a sword its eye would be completely obscured since the eye is on the front. but if it had a shield on the back of the hand, its eye would be visible since its on the front. Meanwhile if mimihagi had the shield on the back of its hand its eye would be obscured by the shield since its eye is on the back just like the shield. But mimihagi can hold a sword in its grasp and still have its eye visible since the eye is on the opposite side. Gerard is just the heart of the soul king. It doesn't necessarily mean the soul king wields the same sword and shield gerard does. But if he did and pernida and mimihagi were literally his right and left arms it would work and the eyes on the hands would be visible even while wielding the weapons due to the differing placements of their eyes. I don't think its confirmed but from naming it seems the shinken hakkyouken would've split the soul king into 8. He's clearly missing his legs and CFYOW tells us his brain was missing. Adding up all the parts we know including the husk left in the crystal thats 7 by my count. Which means theres one left. Which maybe could be yhwach but which part would he correspond to. If he isn't one then theres one unaccounted for. Ignoring that we don't know where the legs are. I still maintain that after zaraki bifurcated gerard the quincy cross that appears signifies vollstandig. It was the same with as nodt. When he activated vollstandig he rolled his eye back revealing the quincy cross hidden there. Same for every other we've seen. For gerard the cross was inside his body and getting split open revealed it and activated vollstandig. I think the statues that chad and ganju fight fit this better but gerard could be based on nephilim. Theres a lot of assorted biblical inspiration in TYBW. Lille could be a cherubim or a seraphim given his number of wings.

[@michael_vizcaya]

this feels good to watch after watching episode 24, 25, and 26 of the anime. so many questions answered, bleach is peak anime!!

[@Captain_Ligma]

Ukitake deserves a Bankai reveal in hell arc

[@night.mp4]

He is dead I'm petty sure

[@User5hdbh]

this is an interesting point, it is said that the human who received the fragment of soul king is called fullbringer and in the fullbringer arc we all know that ichigo's fullbring was taken by ginjo but why then when ichigo got his shinigami load back it was all categorized with fullbring like fullbring shikai and fullbring bankai?

[@Silverguise]

Gremmy being the brain of the Soul King not only makes sense, but it makes Zaraki even more impressive. I like it.

[@JaymesMedia]

I want them to show how exactly Yuwach is the son of the soul king

[@nunelazos5638]

The fact that you’re close to 200k subscribers brings me so much joy I’ve been here since 30k and I’m so happy this channels has grown so much

[@alihajilou4551]

It all makes so much sense, but i have questions, Where are Rayo's legs? As we saw him last, he's just a body with a head. We know where his hands and heart (and brain) are, But his legs are also chopped off, What happened to his legs?

[@jaykay6222]

They're just kicking it somewhere on earth. The legs are the most laid back pieces of the Soul King, retaining in one the desire to travel, and for the other, the desire of inertness. So one is living as a neet, and the other has wanderlust and never stops in one place for all that long.

[@niklauspanda8124]

If you think about the two arms of the SK both represented the ideals of each race with Shinigami trying uphold the status quo which matches the SK stillness and the Quincy wanting to change matching SK advancement. Which maybe could go to show either A. The arms actually played way bigger roles I.e. manipulating the respective races to follow the innate nature of each arm. Or B. The allies in the first place with each race once they saw that they held commonalities. For the army the quincies were allied with perhaps that arm also took over a Quincy much in the same the stillness arm was embedded into Ukitake however the Quincy who had been taken instead of having the arm be to the Quincy’s benefit instead was forcibly taken and that is why the arm says it’s a Quincy while also being the father of all quincies.

[@CaptainKotetsu]

He’s not really the king of anything tbh, just a mutilated slave and the lynchpin that preserves someone else’s balance.

[@Rizingfz08]

But before he was, and so he became known even incapacitated.

[@metroplextitan8816]

He came from a primordial world (alongside Ichibei and other ancient hollows) that was overrun by hollows. He destroyed most of the hollows in the new world but realized that continuing it will lead to destruction of this new world due to imbalance of souls. So him being this Godlike figure (having perfected allmighty amongs other abilities) he had to accept what noble houses did to him in order to preserve balance and safety of his creation. So yeah while it's technically true that he doesn't rule over anything, the universe of bleach cannot exist without someone who will take the role of the Soul king even after his death. He is the closest thing to God in the bleach and his love for inhabitants of the new world made him almost completely exterminate all hollows and accept mutilation so yeah it's not someone else's balance when it's his world and people he considers his own (shinigami or quincy)

[@Snzn_7]

Calling him a "king" is blatantly a mask. So common folk who don't know the truth, will be gaslighted believing a rainbows and butterflies version on how the Soul King separated the realms. If the Noble families called him just a Lyncpin like he actually is then people will have to caught on at some point

[@williamklemp3764]

I like to imagine that Reio was NEVER upset or angry at those who killed him. If he was really as all powerful as described, then it's really just one of two options: 1: He allows his death, and desecration of his corpse, to enable his betrayers to create a quadratic universe; The World of the Living, Heuco Mundo, Soul Society, and Hell. 2: he saves himself, which may or may not have been worse, we will never know. Either way, mimihagi and purnida are less nature and more nurture, at least that's the way I've interpreted things, if I'm wrong please lmk. Mimihagi was "raised" by rukongai citizens, so it grew to love them. Purnida was "raised" by the Quincy, and thusly grew to hate them like most Quincy. Idk, I haven't read the light novels so all I really have to go on is the manga, but that's the gist of what I understand about them. Either way I really like them both, and I feel like neither were used to their full potential, although Mimihagi definitely got the shorter end of the stick.

[@jach6393]

When it comes to Gremmy. I still feel like it's the brain of a child or something similar. The idea of a childs rampant imagination brought to reality with the Visionary just makes sense. And we've seen non sensical powers like with mask d masculine and James. Only other thought is it's never illuded to in some way like with Gerard. All thay being said it could very well be the case but it does raise a lot of questions.

[@samoanjoseph1457]

What I don't get is why one of Squad Zero's duties wasn't tracking down Soul King pieces. OEN knows where every zanpakuto is, you really think they couldn't come up with a way to do that with Soul King pieces (I notice the "bad" guys could!), when the Soul King himself is right there? Not to mention it would have told them where the Quincies were hiding all this time. It's so irresponsible that Ichibe knows how powerful the Soul King is and doesn't bother to do anything about this. And sure enough it comes back to bite him in the butt personally. All I know is the second people found out that kryptonite was Superman's weakness, the one thing you stopped coming across was random pieces of it on the ground, every bad guy with two nickels snatched it up and had a personal stockpile. You had to go out of your way to find some. Squad Zero was too busy for that? Doing what? Surely not killing the same Hollows that any Captain should be able to. What better role for a Kenpachi than destroying all these Soul King pieces that nobody wants to think about? Instead Unohana is in Hell, and the pieces still are being collected by anyone reputable. By which I mean the only people we ever see looking are those meaning to misuse them. Although it's a stretch to call the people who "created" the Soul King reputable.

[@ThermiteKitty]

It's extremely funny to remember that Squad Zero's main active duty is to fight Gillians/other Menos, when there's so much else they really should be doing.

[@yakuzamoons]

right it really seems like Squad Zero just does nothing until Yhwach’s plan is already in action lmfao

[@bold810]

Fresh Tommo for our Friday! 😊😊😊

[@Yourlocalcorvid]

Maybe pernida has always been a Quincy because, maybe that was the arm that had Quincy abilities. Like ichigos smaller sword?

[@gabrielgomes242]

it seem that reio's legs are cut in the knees, i wonder ehat happened to those parts of his body

[@aaronvt9980]

This reminds me of the manga Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan. A human transformed himself into a kind of pseudo deity and shed his human flesh. Each piece took on a separate identity and will, to the point that one of them betrayed him and kept him from resurrecting in the modern era(he'd been killed in the Edo period).

[@walkerspectre]

Love the premise of the video

[@SinHurr]

Calling it now: Ywach was the "Balls of the Soul King." That's why he was a baby.

[@AJ-kt5zo]

❤

[@TheGreatHohenheim]

That the heart of the Soul King in Gerard is a five-pointed star that the Quincy take as their symbol is really interesting. The five-pointed star itself conveys the idea of a body (the head, two arms, two legs). The heart's form recalls the Soul King's wholeness. This could clarify the five parts of Reio hacked away (the head/brain, left & right arms, and perhaps left & right legs). Its interesting, then, that the Quincy would take the heart as their most recognizable symbol. That said, it's interesting that Gremmy & Gerard have seemingly blonde/light hair while the Soul King had this distinctly short cropped black hair. It seems worth considering Kubo's choice to endow an aesthetic akin to the Nazi party to the Quincy. Kubo might have been using the kind of idolizing of a "superior" Aryan race to further clarify the kind of world view the Soul King might've had that compelled the founding five great family heads to turn against him in the first place. Idk it seems quite important to me that Kubo decided to introduce this aesthetic of fascist militarized invaders, especially for understanding the kind of thematic traditions that the series has grappled with.

[@iReiGNxx]

Your question about the size of the soul king’s parts made me think…what if it’s similar to Captains controlling the size of their zanpakuto? According to Isshin, their swords would become massive according to their large spiritual pressure if they didn’t control it. Maybe the same concept applies here. Without Reio in control of his dismembered parts, their size can become blown out of proportion with the power they hold.

[@Aizen2245]

but what about them legs he don't have legs right he just has half of them there should have been like a feet of soul king😂

[@raphaelceni]

I'm starting to think that Kubo only ended Bleach for health reasons. He surely had a lot more to explore and maybe he always had plans for all that. So, instead of changing things to end it all with different answers than his original thoughts, he just left things there so eventually Bleach would return. If you think about it, it all makes sense. It was always stated that Reio is the linchpin for the 3 worlds. Hell was never linked to that. So that's where the story should naturally goes. Also, strong people can't die and continue to be a part of those 3 worlds as particles, being sent to hell. There's no parallel like heaven and hell for soul society and hell, or soul society and hueco mundo. Its more like different dimensions. I'm having a feeling the mother of Yhwach in the anime will have something to do with that. Also, where did Ichigo's mom soul go? Can't remember that one.

[@Jacaerys1]

I thought in the bleach Hellverse chapter, they showed Mayuri having a small piece of Pernida left?

[@DirtMcGirt-bt1cl]

Soul kings ween trumps all

[@GelgoogJ]

The more I think about it the more I question Ukitake being a captain. He is half dead the entire story.

[@loki884]

Correct me if i’m wrong but didn’t Rangiku had the nail or at least a shard of the Soul King?

[@sagittario42]

i always thought the miracles eyes were like American comic superhero and villains masks. once the mask is on, the iris is gone, but once you take it off, they come back. now you can say Gerard never took off the... goggles or wtf is on his face, but like you said, is that the hole on the back of his skull, or is that an eye socket. idk. It's weird. till we get actual answers, imma say it's some eye wear.

[@mastertucker]

I like to think the clothes the arm has appeared on it. It is seemingly designed for an arm with it's front having an opening. Since it's whole deal (I think in novel unless this was in the series?) was that in being called or NAMED a god (as names can do in Bleach), when it was worshipped as a god it became such. In fact the fact that this arm is not Soul King size but giant also adds to the idea - Maybe this panel is even the first time it was called upon and summoned to people as a god? Perhaps Pernida is the same in the matter of their size being a result of post awareness declarations, that clearly didn't apply to Gerard (who could have been called a hero first and so became that before a Quincy). Possibly even the same with Gremmy. The 'nails' could be possibly the whittled down fragments of his legs scattered - including the toenails lol. But yeah I kinda thought this out while typing but I like that idea. So, Gremmy, when he 'died' the brain was an actual Brain and not moving. It was the most literal body part of all of them. Gerard didn't leave a heart behind and the arms WERE the arms but warped themselves. The brain could have been the first to form or even just being the most self aware - this would explain Gremmy not having Pernida's "I was the first Quincy" complex. Gerard, who either formed a body and became a warrior or possessed a warrior was called a warrior/hero first and became that as that was his name/title. Mimihagi was named a god and became one. Pernida however somehow became aware of Quincy before Quincy were Quincy lol, either retaining those memories as was suggested or somehow predating the name, but somehow in the same vein as Mimihagi became the most literal embodiment of it's title. So maybe Yhwach found Pernida before it was called anything else, 'named' him a Quincy, and you know, "I am the prime Quincy" about it because of it?

[@dweller132]

I think you have a point there, names are everything in Bleach. Knowing the name of something affects how powerful or influential it is, so it fits with the concept as a whole. And as for the clothes, that fits too. Clothes, especially Soul Reaper and Hollow clothes, have weird properties. Unlike normal shinigami, Ichigo never really has to put on or replace his shihakusho at all, and the Espada aren't really shown to replace theirs either. Mimihagi probably has the same time of clothing form that Ichigo has, where it's essentially part of his overall power.

[@mastertucker]

@@dweller132 yeah exactly! Like it would just make so much sense if it was the name of being called and worshipped as a god so it just BECAME like one whereas before it would have been shaped like the normal Reio arm.

[@BrokenWingman]

21:50 (ish), They probably couldn't sense what Pernida was because of the binding. Which is probably why she was bound in the first place: to cloak her aura.

[@hackclaces]

Good luck on 200k subs, happy to help :)

[@freshjnew]

And in reference to the size of the soul kings body parts it is stated pretty early on in the series by isshin that captain level shinigami have to moderate the size of their zanpakuto(which i think is a somewhat natural habit as ichigo had proportionally ridiculous spiritual pressure to mach the large size of zangetsu) so probably the pieces of the soul king simply couldnt regulate their size anymore effective as pernida grew massive when the chains were broken and once he got on a roll gerard became a towering mass of reitsu.

[@freshjnew]

Also, menos are severely lacking in sentience and are absolutely massive. Once they progress through the stages of hollows they begin to shrink back and grow in intelligence and self awareness. Dumb arrancar Yami was absolutely massive in his released state and even grew as his base spiritual pressure increased from rest and eating. Grand fisher who was an absolute imbecile apparently bragged about being big because he couldn't regulate his spiritual pressure and body size well. It's all pretty self explanatory.

[@axeliance7298]

Ive been wanting to watch your videos for years now but i dont want to get spoiled and am waiting for the 1000 year blood war anime to be finished but after that i promise ill binge your entire channel

[@Dartkitten]

What i dont get is how many times the right hand helped people or how long it stayed in someones body? I suppose that regulare souls in Rukongai would live shorter lives then a shinigami but im still curious. Like if ukitake died at the academy and say he lived 300 years. That 300 years that other people dont get their prayers answered. Would the right hand go back to the shrine and wait for someone else to ask for help?