Allegorical Bleach

Character: Nnoitra Gilga
Spoilers: through ch 395
A/n: Except for the few pre-Arrancar Arc panels (from Project Soul Society), all panels quoted are from Ju-Ni scanlations due to their overall excellent translations. Comments are welcome and appreciated!

Nnoitra’s battles ended without him conclusively displaying a unique ability or attack. Each of the other Espada demonstrated something during their battles that was uniquely theirs; Nnoitra didn’t. His Hierro may be the strongest but as most of the Arrancars possess Hierro, it’s not a special ability. However, by examining Nnoitra’s battles we can theorize what his ability may be and why it was not discussed during his battles.

Let us begin by considering what most people know about the praying mantis: the female cannibalizes her mate. Nnoita’s zanpakuto is “Santa Teresa”, which is a folk-name for the praying mantis. The last two kanji for “Santa Teresa” are read as “kamakiri” (lit. “scythe-cut” but used as a name for the praying mantis). Santa Teresa is a scythe, as we know. Scythes are used for harvest, and the name Teresa is derived from the Greek “therizein” (“to harvest”). His aspect of death is Despair, which swallows all who are touched by it. The placement of Nnoitra’s mask and Hollow hole reveals Nnoitra’s instinct: to consume. This is shown even more clearly on his name-page, in which his expression is distinctly hungry.

This theme is repeated in the sole image of Nnoitra’s original Hollow form, the same image used later with Starrk and Lilynette as they destroy those Hollows who venture too close. It is also notable that his original Hollow form lacks the Hollow-like attributes of his release. From this angle, with no scale reference, he looks human.

The first time we see Nnoitra in canon is 229 (“Howling Tempest”). This is the chapter in which Wonderweiss is born from his modifications. Several Espada are present in this scene; the one standing nearest to Wonderweiss is Nnoitra.

This is an interesting choice of characters, all of whose releases have the common theme of consumption: Luppi’s Trepadora (“ivy girl”), Starrk’s Los Lobos (“wolf pack”), Aaroniero’s Glotonería (“gluttony”), Grimmjow’s Pantera (“panther king”), Harribel’s Tiburón (“shark empress”), and of course Nnoitra’s Santa Teresa (“sacred keening mantis”).

We know the mechanics of Hollow evolution from Grimmjow’s flashback in 284: those whose “thirst” is the strongest will evolve and grow stronger yet.

The Espada-level characters we see in the panel of Wonderweiss’ birth, therefore, should be quite strong as Hollows go.

As we learn in 393, Wonderweiss lost all his other abilities to enhance a single ability in his Resurrecion: he was modified to counter Ryuujin Jakka. He too is focused on the idea of consumption, the extinguishing of Ryuujin Jakka’s flames.

When he touches Yamamoto’s zanpakuto, a tendril of reiatsu appears from it.

This explains the chapter title of 229: a tempest is a storm, and what better to extinguish flames than a heavy rain? Unfortunately, by accident or Aizen’s design, Wonderweiss was too fragile to contain the flame; he died in the completion of his task.

The tempest theme is reiterated in 294 (“If You Call Me Beast, Kill You Like Tempest”) which contains the flashback in which Nnoitra attacks Neliel. As he is walking toward the edge of the dome to throw her over, a tendril of reiatsu with the “オオ” sound for reiatsu increase appears.

After Nnoitra has thrown her from the dome in 295, his leave-taking is interrupted by an explosion from the desert floor below. Neliel’s body has contracted into the form of a child, and she is noticeably streaming reiatsu. You’ll notice that the top panel has the same sound that we see when Wonderweiss extinguishes Ryuujin Jakka.

Nnoitra is initially alarmed by this change, but Szayelaporro is most interested in this new development. This is an ability he has not seen before, so surely it was included in a report to Aizen-sama. The initial guess that the change of form resulted from the crack itself is not the correct one. However, Nnoitra cuts off the theorizing before Szayelaporro can state his second (and mostly likely correct) guess.

As Nnoitra turns to leave, we can see Neliel’s reiatsu drifting upwards to the top of the dome where Nnoitra is.

Knowing what we do about the praying mantis, I would venture to guess that Nnoitra’s ability is to drain reiatsu. Any character touched by his zanpakuto would get drained. This is suggested by the panel presented at the moment of Nnoitra’s release in 309: something is being drawn into the center of the upper crescent.

This is the same ability possessed by both Wonderweiss (as shown above) and Metastacia.

Both Wonderweiss and Metastacia were created by Aizen, Metastacia as an experiment and Wonderweiss to counter Yamamoto. If they were designed to have this particular ability and the only time Szayelaporro has seen this ability in use is when Nnoitra has hit Neliel over the head, it means Aizen is modifying Hollows in an attempt to mimic Nnoitra’s unique ability.

This is in essence the same ability as Yumichika’s zanpakuto as we see in 321. Yumichika can drain the reiatsu of those he fights, which causes the death of his opponents. Yumichika customarily hides his ability so no one knows his true powers.

This is also how Quincies fight, by combining the reiatsu around them with their powers to forge weapons. In a reiatsu-rich environment, their weaponry improves.

While Uryuu is fighting Circucci in ch 258, he uses Seele Schneider to steal her reiatsu away. Notice the tell-tale wisp of reiatsu leaking — the same sort of wisp we see leaking from Neliel’s cracked mask.

In addition, Uryuu’s bow increased in size after touching Ichigo’s zanpakuto way back in ch 49. Something like this would explain how Nnoitra’s zanpakuto changed from a single crescent to a double crescent. By some means he gained access to a greater amount of reiatsu than was usual, and that source has been available since that time.

Both Quincies and Hollows benefit from a reiatsu-rich environment because of how their powers function, and Nnoitra is in many ways a “typical” Hollow. I don’t think it’s out of the question for the Quinto Espada to have similar powers to that of a Quincy. Kubo-sensei is nothing if not consistent about these things.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at what has happened to those who have been in contact with Nnoitra’s zanpakuto:

• Chad lost his “enhancements” immediately and collapsed. He was able to revive enough for a second volley but was blocked by Tesla’s shield. Chad was healed later, but it also wasn’t much of a slash. We don’t know what effect this had on his reiatsu. His normal reiatsu level is sufficient to take out one Privaron Espada.
  

  When we see Chad later in ch 340, neither arm is in its true form. This is odd in light of him telling his Privaron Espada opponent that he always fights at full power. He seems to have lost a level of power somewhere after encountering Nnoitra.

  
• Nnoitra’s response to being protected by Tesla in 263 was to throw his zanpakuto to Tesra’s throat. Tesra walks away unharmed, the only character to do so. Since he hangs around with Nnoitra, he should possess a comparable reiatsu level (much like the situation with Zaraki and Yachiru). He would otherwise be useless to Nnoitra if Nnoitra needed to use his release around Tesra.
  

  We also see in the 294 flashback that after Nnoitra throws his zanpakuto at Tesra, there is a wisp of reiatsu from Tesra to Nnoitra’s finger.

  
  

  Tesra is unaffected by this. I’m not sure if this is supposed to be a reiatsu drain or Nnoitra’s peculiar form of Pesquisa since it looks very similar to the panels when Nnoitra is checking Tesra’s reiatsu level against Zaraki’s.

  
• Grimmjow is down from a strike by Nnoitra and we haven’t seen him since (100+ chapters later).
  

  The two panels of him after he was hit show something that resembles wisps of reiatsu leaking from his shoulder wound.

  

  He was badly injured from his battle with Ichigo but still alive during his last panel. I rather wonder if there’s a big reveal coming up (something akin to what happened in the flashback with Neliel, perhaps) since it’s odd that it is taking so long to return him to the storyline. For his level of injuries, it wouldn’t take much to utterly drain his reiatsu.

• There are several panels in which Ichigo is in contact with Nnoitra or his zanpakuto (generally to block an attack), some of which show a stream of reiatsu leaking.
  
  

  We all know what Ichigo’s reiatsu levels are like, so a reiatsu drain would have no noticeable effect on him for some time. He does comment at one point that Nnoitra’s strength or possibly weapon is “heavy” (i.e. too much to deal with), implying that Nnoitra may be stronger than Ichigo. This would be consistent with Ichigo and Grimmjow fighting as equals, but Nnoitra saying that he is stronger than Grimmjow.

  
• We have already examined Neliel’s initial foray into child form above. When she manages to return to adult form, there are several panels in which she is noticeably streaming reiatsu after contact with Nnoitra’s zanpakuto.
  
  
  

  She finally decides to use her release in 296, thrusting her lance at Nnoitra. It fails to pierce his body. A second attempt is foiled by her return to child form. This time it’s permanent; since that time she has been in her child form for her appearances in between-chapter sketches. She is clearly too weak to be near Nnoitra.

  
• There are quite a few panels of Nnoitra cutting up Zaraki. When he initially manages to cut Zaraki down, the “オオ” sound of reiatsu accompanies wisps of reiatsu toward Nnoitra.
  
  

  However, Zaraki’s delight in battle and his reiatsu levels are such that it takes a lot of effort to wear him down. Finally, even he realizes that he will die from being cut, which seems an odd thing to say since he’s not that badly injured by current Bleach standards.

  
  

  When we see Zaraki again 60+ chapters later, the damage Nnoitra inflicted on him has been closed and scarred badly. The only fully repaired injury is the hole Nnoitra punched through him. Whoever healed him was unable to repair the other damage.

  
• Finally, we see two flashbacks of Nnoitra early in his Espada career. The first is him destroying a Hollow village under the pretext that those destroyed couldn’t possibly be the Vasto Lordes he was searching for. Perhaps I am reading too much into it, but the implication also seems to exist that only a Vasto Lorde would be strong enough to withstand Nnoitra’s attack. Of particular note is something that looks suspiciously like wisps of reiatsu wafting up from the village.
  
  

  The second of these is Nnoitra cutting down another Arrancar with whom he had been fighting.

  

  In neither instance do we see the aftermath of the attack, however.

That’s all we’ve officially seen of Nnoitra’s abilities through the current chapter (396 at time of writing). We don’t conclusively know what his special ability is since other characters with a similar ability were given panels of explanation as to how their powers work. Thus far no explanation has been given for Nnoitra. Two of the characters Nnoitra has dealt with are known for the size of their reiatsu and thus would be relatively unaffected by a reiatsu drain. A third (Chad) tends to be used to show how strong an opponent is. We do see what has happened to Neliel but not explicitly why this change of form has occurred.

The determiner would be what happened to Grimmjow and why haven’t we seen him yet. If he’s in child form when he reappears, for example, that would settle the issue. Kubo would need to explain what Nnoitra’s ability is at the time of Grimmjow’s reappearance, which he may do soon since Wonderweiss has shown his ability. Since we have seen other characters with a similar ability during this arc, introducing it now would not be problematic.

Additionally, we know that the means for Hollows to evolve and get stronger is to consume. The strongest and most evolved are those whose hunger is the greatest. Since we still have not seen the fabled Vasto Lordes, Nnoitra’s ability might tie in with that as well. His original Hollow form looked remarkably human for an Adjuchas-level Menos.