Allegorical Bleach

Characters: Arrancars (all)
Spoilers: through ch 383
A/n: Most panels quoted are from Ju-Ni scanlations due to their overall excellent translations. Comments are welcome and appreciated!

In a typical shounen, it’s expected that villains die. It happens, no one gets overly upset about it. However, Sensei has been painting the Hollows in an unexpectedly sympathetic manner. Fans are actually upset when their favourite villain falls over, and even expect to see them again, how shocking. So, let’s take a look at the explained conditions for character death in Bleach to see if there’s reasonable cause to see any surviving Arrancars in the near future.

It’s explained way back in ch 25 that the only way to kill a Shinigami is to decapitate them. I’m sure we all recognize D-Roy in his pre-Hogyoku form, by the way.

This is reiterated by Zommari almost three hundred chapters later: Rukia is still alive despite all appearances because she has not been decapitated.

We know from Uryuu’s battle with Cirucci in ch 259 that an Arrancar is a Hollow whose soul structure has been brought closer to that of a Shinigami.

We’re also told that slicing the head is the way to defeat a Hollow.

As Zommari confirms for us, decapitation will kill an Arrancar: Aaroniero is dead because Rukia decapitated him.

Therefore, any Arrancar suffering such a fate is definitely dead:

• Aaroniero (shown above)
• Avirama
  

Of the two known methods that will put an end to a Hollow, purification was explained by Rukia in ch 6. The touch of a Shinigami’s zanpakuto (presumably by means of the Shinigami’s power) will cleanse a Hollow. This is supposed to send them to Soul Society, which remains unverified through the current chapter ….

Zommari’s death confirms that this holds true for Arrancars as well.

Any Arrancar meeting this fate is confirmed as dead:

• Zommari (above)
• D-Roy died when Rukia froze him.
  
• Ggio died to Soifon’s two-hit certain death.
  
• Wonderweiss, whose attempt to contain Ryuujin Jakka’s flames caused his death. His body disintegrated from Yamamoto-taicho’s fist, but his head remained intact until the flames could no longer be contained.
  
  

The third and final known method of destroying a Hollow is the Quincy method. In Soul Society’s view, Quincies are those who kill Hollows. Their technique has yet to be explained in detail, however.

We have not yet seen an Arrancar killed by this method.

As of the time of writing (ch 411), these are the only three confirmed methods for a Shinigami or human to kill or otherwise destroy a Hollow, two of which are confirmed to also work on Arrancars. The critical thing in each of these deaths seems to be the removal or disintegration of the head. Basically, Arrancars who still possess their heads should still be alive.

There’s also the issue of Hollow-on-Hollow violence.

We know that Hollows do manage to kill each other, usually to become the winner’s food source:

• One confirmed fatality by cannibalism: Lumina.
  
• Luppi has the dubious distinction of being the only character in Bleach to die of a cero.
  
• Barragan died to his own powers, so it would fall into this category.
  

Again, the removal of the head seems to be the determining factor in whether the character is dead.

There are quite a few Arrancars who may not quite be dead yet. They are presently presumed dead until we readers are told otherwise due to circumstances at the time of “death”:

• Iceringer and Demora were buried when the room they were guarding collapsed. They are presumed dead.
  
• Dordonii was willing to fight the Exequias to buy time for Ichigo to escape. He is reported as dead. However, Ichigo did not kill him as the report states, so there is some question here as to what happened.
  
• The Exequias were sent after Cirucci once she had been defeated. The tone and manner suggests she would not long survive, and we have not seen her since.
  
• Apache, Sunsun, and Mila-Rose are streaming reiatsu as they fall. We don’t see their bodies hit the ground, so their fates are uncertain.
  
• Findor is still alive in his last panel, but Hisagi’s scythe is coming straight at him. We don’t see him again after that.
  
• Ulquiorra disintegrated. However, given his regenerative abilities it’s not clear if the damage is repairable.
  
• Harribel was cut down by Aizen-sama himself. She did not (as far as we know) make it to the ground below. Her fate is unknown.
  

There are also those who simply have not met any criteria for character death, yet the fandom assumes they must be dead due to simply being villains who have been defeated:

• Edrad was still talking in his last panel. He falls after that and does hit the ground.
  
  
• Shawlong, Nakeem, and Yylfordt were defeated by their Shinigami opponents. Shawlong may have been frozen to death (but it’s not entirely clear). Nakeem may or may not have taken fatal damage; we don’t even see him fall. Yylfordt does fall and hit the ground.
  
  

  There are, however, a couple of tantalizing panels for them. Tousen does say that Grimmjow led his Fraccion to their deaths.

  

  This is reworded by Gin back in Hueco Mundo as “losing five Arrancar”.

  

  This is however at odds with Szayelaporro’s statement about healing his brother Yylfordt to gain information on Renji’s bankai. He can only have done this after their battle, and only if Yyfordt survived to return to Hueco Mundo.

  
• Pow is defeated. From the panel provided it’s not clear if he is being purified or not.
  
• Nirgge is knocked down during his battle. He has not been seen since.
  
• Yammy struck Menoli hard enough to send her through the tower wall. She has not been seen since.
  
• Yammy struck Rudobon hard enough crack his mask and send him flying off-panel. He has not been seen since.
  
• Starrk and Lilynette were cut down by Kyouraku-taicho’s shikai. They definitely hit the ground and therefore did not disintegrate.
  
  

Definitely alive (at last check) Arrancars:

• Gantenbainne was being healed by Unohana-taicho. His current whereabouts are unknown.
  
• Grimmjow is still conscious during his last panel.
  
• Szayelaporro is still standing during his last panel. Mayuri’s drug is not a poison, so he should be fine once it wears off unless Mayuri has in fact bottled him up.
  
• Pesche and Dondochakka were alive despite all attempts. They were last seen being thrown to parts unknown by Nemu.
  
• Neliel was propped against a rock at last check. She has also appeared in some between-chapter sketches that indicate she does not recall her brief return to adulthood.
  
• Both Tesra and Nnoitra have been cut down by Zaraki. His blade neither decapitated nor purified either of them. Tesra is blinking and crying during his last few panels; obviously he’s not dead.
  

  It’s a more subtle distinction with Nnoitra, but careful observation shows he’s still moving. Not only did he manage to turn his head as he fell instead of simply pitching forward into the sand, but he’s shifted position between his last two panels. His head is at a different angle, additional bloodstains have appeared in the sand, his hair has moved, and the sand has moved as well. If he’s moving, he’s still alive.

  
  
• Charlotte is still talking during his last panel.
  
• Yammy threw Loli from the tower. However, the ch 349 end of chapter sketch confirms she’s pinned to the tower by a Quincy arrow.
  
• Yammy was still in battle the last time we saw him.
  

What have we seen in this essay? While there are certain Arrancars who have met established criteria for character death, quite a few other “deaths” are questionable. Several Arrancars are even unquestionably still alive despite the arc having ended. It would be poor writing to find that they all suddenly died off-panel. If Sensei wished to ensure the deaths of all Arrancar, it’s a very simple matter to decapitate them in battle or have them be purified. Since he didn’t, there are certain ones he wishes to keep alive.

If a character is still alive, we can reasonably expect to see them again in the future. There are in fact storylines to resolve and questions to answer which concern the Arrancars. Yammy needs to finish his much-stalled battle. We have been promised information on what Szayelaporro was researching. Since he is still alive the last we saw, it seems likely that he will be the one telling us directly. And of course there’s still the question of the Vasto Lordes which requires an answer.