One of the most striking thing about their designs is that they are distinctly designed to compliment each other, if one pays attention to the details.

They both share a preference for tucking their hakama into the tops of their boots, which isn’t the norm for Arrancars. There’s also one other curious feature they share, which we don’t see for any other pair or group of Arrancars. We see that Nnoitra’s jacket has an incomplete heart on the front; the top of the heart is missing at the collar. And what do we see on Tesra’s jacket? The detailing on the collar looks suspiciously like the top of a heart. That little connection makes it obvious just what their relationship is to each other.

In his human form, Nnoitra’s Arrancar uniform is yin in design — it’s all curved seams and hems, including his curved-toe boots. His jacket collar is extended to mimic a round halo. The ends of his sleeves are curved down over his hands. He wears three round golden bangle bracelets on each wrist.

Instead of the typical katana or sword most characters have, what Nnoitra has is a modified labrys. It’s associated with the Minoan culture and is usually used to denote women of rank.

The real “Santa Teresa” is Saint Teresa of Avila, who was a 16th century Spanish mystic best known for her erotic visions of the Divine. In her time, she also founded a number of convents and friaries. She’s primarily a patron saint of healing and of love who is best known for her erotic visions of the divine. There’s at least one piece of period statuary of St Teresa caught in the act, so to speak, with an angel. One of her write-ups of these visions involves her speaking of being penetrated with the angel’s golden spear. (Nice image, that.) She wrote quite a bit in her time, and one of her sayings is about how love gives worth to all things.

“Santa Teresa” is also a folk name for the praying mantis. The one thing everyone seems to think of about the praying mantis is that the female cannibalizes her mate. Again, there’s the idea of receptivity and consumption. Given what we readers have been told about the hunger of a Hollow, the fact that Nnoitra’s mask fragment is around his Hollow hole gets rather suggestive. And with that in mind, I won’t comment on Zaraki sticking his zanpakuto through Nnoitra’s Hollow hole.

Given the location of his Hollow hole (through his left eye socket), he most likely became a Hollow because he was starved for love. He has a strong defense to keep people away, and regeneration to keep from being hurt by anyone. His attack is ranged so everyone keeps their distance. He wants love, but is afraid to let anyone get close to him. He’s fragile and more than a little insecure. He’s so used to not being loved that the personality we normally see is just a defense mechanism. He tries to drive people away so he doesn’t have to deal with even the possibility of rejection.

There isn’t that much of a difference between Nnoitra’s human form and his Resurrección. He looks rather fragile and spindly in both cases. Even Chad (usually the first of Ichigo’s nakama to get taken out) thought he would be able to damage Nnoitra easily. We can also see Nnoitra’s estigma when he releases: sort of a crescent/curved shape. What we can see of it reminds me of a shooting star. His golden reiatsu and crescent-shaped horns are part of the traditional attributes of the Queen of Heaven.

Tesra, while in his human form, has a very yang military-type uniform and rapier-style zanpakuto. He is currently missing his right eye, with the actual scar present on his release. Except for the shield inset, the design of his uniform is all straight lines.

The question is, though, if an Arrancar’s zanpakuto is just supposed to contain his Hollow powers, isn’t it odd for Tesra’s to have this shield inset on it? It’s a round shield — at odds with the rest of Tesra’s equipment — and the only time we ever see him use it is to protect Nnoitra. His Hollow form doesn’t have any special reiatsu-based abilities, and the only non-arrancar-standard one we see him use in his human form is to create that shield. I’d have to check, but I think the only other vaguely kido-ish ability like this we see in canon is the shield component of Orihime’s Shun Shun Rikka, which she obviously uses to protect herself and others she cares about. Based on that shield, it’s obviously a basic aspect of Tesra’s character to protect Nnoitra.

All of Tesra’s reiatsu goes into strength. He has that shield fueled by his own reiatsu, but he’ll only use it to protect Nnoitra, never for himself. He has no Hierro to speak of, no regeneration, and he fights hand to hand. He needs contact, but he’s also completely vulnerable. We never see him stop attacks with his hands as many of the other Arrancars do.

With the shield and equipment and all, our Tesra obviously has a lot of martial symbolism. The “mar-” root is the same one in “Mars”. Mars is the Roman War-God. His symbols just happen to include a boar and a shield. All Roman citizens regarded themselves as descendants of Mars.

“Verruga” means “wart”, referencing the fact that his form is loosely based on a warthog (or a boar, since there’s no real difference in Japanese). Both are aggressive creatures associated with warriors.

In the Chinese zodiac, the Boar is a lunar creature, and it is considered a sign of luck and good fortune. Boars are defined by loyalty, honesty, and innocence. They’re hard-working and chivalrous, and will do anything for the people they love. What do we fans comment on about Tesra? How “sweet” he is, how politely he addresses Orihime while restraining her, and everyone mentions how devoted he is to his master. His devotion even extends to ignoring orders if he feels Nnoitra is in danger.

The Western equivalent of the Boar is the sign Scorpio, the Scorpion. The Scorpion on the 18th Key of the Tarot (The Moon) is the guardian of the waters of the subconscious. I’ve been reading Tarot for a lot of years now, and half my decks have a scorpion as the crab-like creature at the bottom of this Key. The Moon is, of course, one of Nnoitra’s symbols.

We can see that there’s a big difference between Tesra’s human form and his Resurrección. His Resurrección is much, much taller and more muscular than Nnoitra’s. Whereas Nnoitra has his saintly attributes, Tesra’s form is a larger version of Ulquiorra’s demonic form. And of course, Tesra’s estigma is that tusk-shaped mark we normally see on his face, suitable for his aggressive personality.

As a final note, I find it amusing that the base creatures for both of their releases are South African. They seem to be the only two Bleach characters referencing that body of folklore.

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