Hollow (Bleach)
In the manga and anime series Bleach, hollows are soul-devouring evil ghosts. They are the principal antagonists during the first part of the manga and remain a primary threat in most of the series. Hollows reside in the Hueco Mundo (Spanish, lit. hollow world; grammatically, the phrase would be Mundo Hueco, meaning 'a world that is hollow'), but can cross over to the human world and Soul Society.
Tite Kubo has used a Spanish motif for hollows and arrancar throughout the series. The kanji used by Tite Kubo to write hollow is 虚, which means emptiness (or 虚ろ, utsuro — hollow). However, it is pronounced hollow (ホロウ, horō) instead of using its native pronunciation.
Overview
Hollows are former pluses (deceased human souls) that lose their hearts to despair or remain in the real world for too long. Any spirit that is not guided to Soul Society by a shinigami may eventually descend into a hollow. The process by which a soul becomes a hollow usually takes months (if not longer), reflected by the length of the soul's Chain of Destiny (因果の鎖, inga no kusari), which resides in the same location as their heart would be. The Chain of Destiny slowly corrodes over time, reflecting the degradation of the soul's ties to the living world. The process can be accelerated under certain conditions, such as being attacked by another hollow or through the use of certain spiritual powers. When the chain completely decays, the soul is warped into a unique and monstrous form with a vaguely skeletal mask and a large hole where their chain was once connected.
In Bleach, the majority of ghosts peacefully move on to Soul Society after their deaths. Some, however, stay in the living world to fulfill certain goals, such as looking after a loved one, protecting a particular location, or pursuing a grudge from beyond the grave. However, with only limited abilities to interact with the living, and by definition tied to their goals, many ghosts find they are unable to cope when their loved ones move on or old enemies forget them. At this point, some will become dangerously obsessed with fulfilling those goals, even if the means to fulfill them renders the soul empty: for example, killing anyone who comes near a loved one, in order to keep them from hurting that person. In doing so, the ghost warps into a hollow and, ironically, often makes the focus of their obsession into their first victim (Rukia gives an example of this to Ichigo by explaining the superstition that if one person from an elderly couple dies, the remaining spouse will die soon after and 'follow' their partner to the grave.)
Once a soul becomes a hollow, it is driven to devour other souls, living or dead, to fill the void caused by its descent. While their former obsession often becomes their first target, most hollows will eventually become mindless creatures concerned only with finding the most potent souls to devour. Stronger and more evil hollows are often able to retain some of their intelligence in hollow form, making them more dangerous than the average hollow. While most hollows are evil, or at the very least mindless, at least a few are not, as is the case with Nell Tu and her hollow companions.
The most distinctive feature of a hollow, their mask, is formed to protect the naked instinct that is left in a being after the loss of its heart, and in some ways is the tangible form of the hollow's madness. The masks of different hollows can differ greatly in shape and form, but they are always white and skull-like. The masks also obscure the original identity of the hollows, but if shattered, the hollow may be able to temporarily resume its original form and personality.
Hollows have widely varying physical characteristics and powers, and few hollows ever appear the same (the few that do are often clones). In terms of appearance, hollows can range from furry (like mammals) or lizard-like in appearance to outright demonic. A hollow's abilities are often determined by their power. Weaker (and by definition less intelligent) hollows usually only attack in a melee style, whereas stronger hollows have a wide array of abilities with which to kill their quarry. Hollows also vary in size, though it tends to be fairly consistent amongst the various classifications of hollows. In Hueco Mundo, some hollows are no larger than common pets. Most common hollows are about twice the size of an adult human, though it can vary to a degree. Huge hollows, aptly named for their size, are as large as two-story buildings. Finally, gillian-class menos are even larger than the huge hollows, standing as tall as a common skyscraper.
Hollows are usually killed by splitting their mask and head in two, but any sufficiently damaging wound will effectively dispatch them. When this is done by a shinigami's zanpakutō, the hollow is not truly killed; its spirit is purified of the sins it committed as a hollow. This allows the spirit within to enter the Soul Society as a plus. In cases where a hollow committed great sins as a mortal, its purification will summon the gates of hell, which drag the soul to its punishment. When a hollow is killed by a Quincy, however, it is destroyed, soul and all, which has potentially disastrous effects on the spiritual balance of the worlds. The series doesn't address the effects of other spiritual powers on hollows, such as those of Orihime Inoue or Chad, but such occurrences are rare.
Menos
Though most hollows are simply transformed human souls, a sub-group of hollows known as menos (Spanish for "minus") exist. Menos are created by numerous hollows piling up on top of one another and merging,[1] forming composite entities of far greater strength than any normal hollow. Menos-class hollows are considered so dangerous that Soul Society sends only highly trained shinigami teams to handle menos incursions.[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. Three types of menos-class hollows exist: gillian, adjuchas, and vasto lorde.
Gillian-class menos grande (girian) are the weakest class of menos. 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. According to Tōshirō Hitsugaya, they are comparable to "foot-soldiers," reflected in their uniform appearance. In Soul Society, gillians are known as menos grande and are shown in textbooks discussing menos. Menos grande literally means "big minus" in Spanish ("less big" is also a possible translation). Similarly, the kanji for menos grande is 大虚 (lit. big emptiness).
Adjuchas-class menos (ajūkasu) are the medium class of menos in terms of power. They look humanoid, but are still distinctly inhuman — the silhouette shown of one appears very wide and bulky with ridges on its head (similar to the ones on Yammy's head). They are also much smarter than the gillians and have the power to match. It is likely they could fight evenly with at least a shinigami lieutenant. They watch over the many gillian-class menos. This type of menos is much smaller in population compared to the gillian class.
Vasto lorde-class menos (vastorōde) are the most powerful class of menos. They appear almost completely humanoid, and each one is stronger than an average shinigami captain; Tōshirō claims that ten of them under Sōsuke Aizen's control would be enough to defeat all of Soul Society. They are the least common form of menos, but the exact population is unknown. They are believed to reside within the very depths of Hueco Mundo. It seems that Aizen has important plans with them, but the details haven't been revealed. The remnants of Ulquiorra's mask resemble that of the example vasto lorde.
Arrancar
An arrancar (sometimes written allankar or 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. In the manga, it is written as arankaru (破面, lit. rip mask) but has no native Japanese pronunciation, instead using the katakana for arankaru.
Few hollows have the potential to remove their masks normally, and even if they manage it the change is not significant. Sōsuke Aizen is able to artificially create arrancar with the Orb of Distortion, which also unlocks much more of their potential than a natural transformation would. The process of turning a hollow into an arrancar is called shinigamification (死神化, shinigami-ka).[2]
Arrancar and ordinary hollows differ in two ways: the location of their holes and the near-total disappearance of their masks. When hollows become arrancar, the chances of them retaining a humanoid form increase with their intelligence; only vasto lorde-class arrancar will definitely assume a humanoid form. If powerful enough, an arrancar can seal his or her excess power into the form of a zanpakutō. Unlike with shinigami, this zanpakutō is by no means sentient. It is simply the hollow's true form sealed into a sword. Therefore, an arrancar's release of their zanpakutō is merely a temporary restoration of their former selves. An arrancar release is called resurrección (Spanish for "resurrection"). Arrancar do not have a known second release.
Those arrancar under Aizen's command also have a standard theme for their clothing. Their uniforms consist of a white jacket, black sash, white hakama, and black socks with white sandals; in essence, the uniforms are basically inverted shinigami uniforms.
Arrancar ranks
Top row: Noitora, (unnamed), Grimmjow, Aaroniero, Halibel.
Bottom row: Yammy, Stark, Ulquiorra, Szayel Aporro, (unnamed).
The arrancar under Aizen's command are arranged into various ranks based on their strength. Not all of the existing arrancar are under Aizen's command, mostly through lack of interest on Aizen's part.
The Espada (十刃, lit. ten swords; sword in Spanish) are the top-ranked arrancar in Aizen's army. Each Espada member is chosen for their superior combat ability and then assigned a number from 1 to 10 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. Espada are the most powerful fighters of the arrancar and their strength far surpasses the average Número, similar to the power gap between the captains and lieutenants in Gotei 13. As stated by Aaroniero Arleri, he is the only Espada to have been a gillian before becoming an arrancar. The Espada consist of nine males and one female.[3]
The Números (Spanish: numbers) 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). The Fracción (Spanish: fraction) are a subsection of the Números that directly serve a specific Espada. The number of Fracción for any given Espada varies: Stark would seem to have just one, while Szayel Aporro has at least a dozen.
The Privaron (Spanish: deprived) are former Espada who have lost their rank and are assigned a three-digit number. Being former Espada, they are far stronger than the normal Números. They reside in 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.[4]
The Exequias (Spanish: funeral) are arrancar that are part of the execution division, apparently charged with termination of intruders and rebels.[5]
Powers and abilities
Like shinigami, hollows have a multitude of combat skills and abilities, most of which are usually unique to specific hollows. The more powerful hollows, however, have access to a range similar techniques of greater power or use than their own unique skills. Hollows usually acquire energy to power their abilities by devouring souls, but can also ingest energy from the air when in spiritual realms such as Hueco Mundo.[6]
- Cero (虚閃, lit. "hollow flash"; the pronunciation is Spanish for zero) are high-powered energy blasts that can be fired from the mouth or hand. Only menos, arrancar, and vizard have so far been shown to use cero attacks, and it appears that higher classes of hollow can use it more efficiently. It is unknown whether sufficiently strong regular hollows are capable of it, but Ichigo Kurosaki's inner hollow was able to use the attack when it fully took control of him during his training with the vizard.[7] A more powerful version of cero exists called gran rey cero (王虚の閃光, lit. "royal hollow flash"; the pronunciation is Spanish for great king zero). Only Espada are capable of using this version of the technique, which is accomplished by mixing blood into a regular cero.[8]
- Negación (反膜, lit. "counter membrane;" the pronunciation is Spanish for negation) fields are used to rescue fellow hollows. Only the gillian-class menos have shown the ability to use it. Negación fields surround a target in a square beam of light that isolates the target from the dimension they are currently in, making it impossible to harm them. The field then pulls the target towards the menos that created the field.[9] Espada have a special cube-shaped device called Caja Negación (Spanish for Negation Box) meant to simulate negación fields, which are used to punish their subordinates if necessary. The cube, when used on a subject, traps them in an alternate dimension from which there is no escape; however, it is only fully effective when used on those it was designed for. More powerful arrancar can escape given enough time.[10]
- Gonzui (魂吸, lit. "soul suck") is a technique used by Yammy to absorb the souls from a large number of living people. It is only effective on people with low spiritual power.[11]
- Pesquisa (探査回路, lit. "inquiry circuit;" the pronunciation is Spanish for inquiry) is the arrancar equivalent of the shinigami ability to sense spiritual pressure. It functions similar to sonar.[12]
- Hierro (鋼皮, lit. "steel skin;" the pronunciation is Spanish for iron) refers to the ultratough skin of the arrancar, which is a result of their compressed spiritual power.[13] While their skin is strong enough to block even released zanpakutō bare-handed, it is by no means impenetrable. Stronger arrancar have proportionally stronger skin.
- Sonido (響転, lit. "resounding revolution;" the pronunciation is Spanish for sound) is the arrancar equivalent of the shinigami flash steps; it allows the user to travel at incredibly high speeds for short distances.[14] Use of sonido is punctuated by a brief static sound, in contrast to the "swish" sound used for flash steps.
- Bala (虚弾, lit. "hollow bullet;" the pronunciation is Spanish for bullet) is a weaker but quicker alternative to the regular cero attack. The technique hardens the user's spiritual pressure and fires it at around twenty times the speed of a cero blast.[15]
- Garganta (黒腔, lit. "black cavity;" the pronunciation is Spanish for throat) is how arrancar move to and from Hueco Mundo. Kaname Tōsen has also demonstrated the ability to use the technique. It literally tears open the dimensional fabric separating the worlds, revealing a tunnel of whirling, torrential energy that must be focused and solidified to create a discernible pathway. When used, the technique opens the dimensional fabric like a door.[16]
References
- ^ a b Bleach manga volume 6, chapter 48, page 9
- ^ Bleach manga; chapter 175, page 11.
- ^ Bleach manga; chapter 244, pages 16-17.
- ^ Bleach manga; chapter 254, page 1.
- ^ Bleach manga; chapter 254, pages 12-15.
- ^ Bleach manga; chapter 245, page 16.
- ^ Bleach manga; chapter 222, page 4-5, 8.
- ^ Bleach manga; chapter 280, page 16.
- ^ Bleach manga; chapter 178, page 10.
- ^ Bleach manga; chapter 278, page 16.
- ^ Bleach manga; chapter 191, page 9.
- ^ Bleach manga; chapter 199, page 16.
- ^ Bleach manga; chapter 203, page 01.
- ^ Bleach manga; chapter 210, page 11.
- ^ Bleach manga; chapter 234, page 12
- ^ Bleach manga; chapter 240, page 03.
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