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Bleach/Characters/Three


Characters that appeared in Tite Kubo's Bleach. There are so many that they occupy eight pages. This page deals with the Arrancars.

  • For the main characters, go to Bleach.
  • For Gotei 13 characters, go to Bleach.
    • For Aizen and his Co-Dragons, go to Bleach.
    • For Non-Gotei 13 Soul Reapers, Visoreds, and Fullbringers, go to Bleach.
  • For the denizens of Karakura Town and the Soul Society, go to Bleach.
  • For the Vandenreich, go to Bleach.
  • For the anime-only characters, go to Bleach.

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NOTE: To avoid confusion to English-language readers, who may be more familiar with the English anime than the manga, all names are in Western order.

Contains spoilers

Tropes Associated With Espada As A Whole

  • Alas, Poor Villain: Invoked. A lot of them get last-minute send-offs before ultimately biting the dust.
  • Alternate Character Interpretation: Particularly evident in Ulquiorra, Nnoitra and Grimmjow.
  • Exclusively Evil: Justified and subverted.
  • Authority Equals Asskicking: The lower the number (ex:5 - 0), the tougher the Espada.
  • Animal Motif: Their Resurreccion forms are almost always modeled after animals.
  • Become Your Weapon: They're the Trope Maker.
  • By the Power of Grayskull: Like all Arrancar, each Espada has a resurrección form activated by a release command and the name of their Zanpakutō; roughly 1/3 of the Espada have non-animal names, but all the commands are related to either the animal or some trait the Arrancar has; some bats may block their prey's path with their wings(Inclose), Baraggan can rot life around him(Rot), and so on. Very rarely is this broken.
  • Complete Monster: Szayelaporro and Aaroniero were so depraved that they were actually sent to Hell. The others, like Nnoitra and Yammy, are deconstructions (Nnoitra has well-executed Alternate Character Interpretation; Yammy is treated like Dumb Muscle more than anything else). Grimmjow and Ulquiorra definitely creep along the lines, but are ultimately subverted.
  • Decapitated Army: Without Aizen or Harribel, they can't really function as cohesively.
  • Fangs Are Evil: If Grimmjow and Starrk's sets of teeth are anything to go by, the Arrancar all have either noticeably sharp canines or ...this.
    • Subverted with Ulquiorra, who has a normal set of teeth.
  • Evil Counterpart: Many of them are darker reflections of certain Shinigami officers, particularly shown with the Espada.
  • Henchmen Race
  • I'm a Humanitarian: Fans normally stick to this with most Fan Fiction due to their former lives as Hollows. Subverted, currently, in that they're never seen eating Hollows, but instead drink tea and have a diet akin to humans. Doesn't stop people from being curious.
    • Except Szayel; he definitely plays it straight.
  • Jerkass: At best, this is how the typical Arrancar will act like.
    • Subverted with Harribel, a stoic, honorable warrior, and Starrk - who's really too lazy to even bother being a Jerkass at his worst, and a generally nice guy at his best.
  • Kick the Dog: They have a habit of performing this, with Grimmjow, Ulquiorra, Yammy, Nnoitra and Szayelaporro as the most frequent culprits.
  • Killed Off for Real: It's easier to name the ones that aren't dead by now. After the timeskip, the only Arrancar confirmed to have survived are Nelliel, Harribel, Pesche, Dondochakka, Apacci, Menoly, Loly, Grimmjow, Gantenbainne, Sung-Sun and Mila Rose.
  • Letter Motif: Each one has two of the same letters in their name. For example Starrk or Yammy.
  • Meaningful Name: "Arrancar" is derived from the Spanish verb that means "to rip". Arrancars are Hollows that rip off their masks.
  • One-Winged Angel: Half of them release their Zanpakuto just as they're about to lose otherwise. The rest do so to finish up a fight before their opponents get serious.
  • Seven Deadly Sins: The Espada have a variant, known as the Aspects of Death. But some follow this.
  • Sliding Scale of Villain Effectiveness: From Rank 1 to Rank 10: H; then I to C. They're a threat at the beginning, but as we go backwards up the ranks, that seems to fade. 7, 8, and 9 were just plain creepy and 10, as we saw, posed little threat. 6 and 5 were Inadvertent, and the top four slowly devolve from High to Inadvertent save for Ulquiorra, who kept his high level due to a number of things[1]
  • Static Character: Subverted here and there. Surprisingly, despite limited time to do anything with the Espada, most of them had some sort character development. While it's important in Ulquiorra, most of the Espada's reasons and beliefs were shown. Starrk wanted friends, Barragan wanted his kingdom back, Harribel needed protection over her teammates, and Nnoitra's hate over Nel was shown.


(#1) Primera Espada - Coyote Starrk

<sidebarmenu>

Species: Arrancar
Affiliation: Las Noches
Zanpakutou: Los Lobos

</sidebarmenu>
Bringing a gun to a sword fight.
Coyote Starrk

Voiced by: Rikiya Koyama (JP), Keith Silverstein (EN)

The First Espada, a lazy bum of an Arrancar who prefers not to fight when he can. His Fraccion is Lilynette and his Zanpakuto is Los Lobos. Defined with the aspect of 'Loneliness', Starrk is a Hollow who grew too powerful and envied the weak since they can pack together. Followed Aizen for the sole purpose of having friends. Cut down by Shunsui, the Soul Reaper most like him.

  • Abnormal Ammo: Aside from Ceros, he can also release exploding wolves made out of pieces of his soul.
  • Adaptation Dye Job: His hair is jet black in the manga, brown in the anime.
  • Affably Evil: Easily the least evil hollow in the series after Nel and her brothers.
  • Alas, Poor Villain: Actually given by Kyoraku, based on his expression here.
  • Animal Motifs: His resurrección is related to wolves. More specifically the "lone wolf", reflecting on his aspect.
  • Anti-Villain: "Couldn't we just pretend to fight?". So much that you expected a Defeat Equals Friendship after fighting Kyoraku. It doesn't happen, not at all.
    • After beating the snot out of Rose and Love, he says that if they run away he doesn't plan on chasing them.
    • In fact, looking at how his fight with Kyoraku is portrayed - the monologues, flashbacks, just how clear it's made he has good intentions if not methods - one could argue that he is being portrayed as the 'good guy' in that specific battle. Not helped by Kyoraku's manner; he says little, and what he does say is either suspect (can you really trust that tone and hat-Hidden Eyes?) or contradicted by his actions.
  • Apologetic Attacker: Apologizes several times before doing something to oppose the protagonists.
  • Awesome McCoolname: He sounds like he should be a villain in some western.
  • Awesomeness By Analysis: Figured out how Shunsui's and Ukitake's Shikai abilities work after only a few attacks.
  • Badass: Comes with the territory of the being the top Espada.
  • Badass Longcoat: In his released state.
    • Badass Bandolier: Has a pair at the back of it, to complement his lone-wolf-gunslinger-theme. They don't hold bullets however - they let him summon a badass spirit wolf army, and a pair of energy swords if he needs them.
  • Battle Aura: As a hollow, it was powerful enough to kill all the other Hollows who he was around.
  • Beam Spam
  • Big Badass Wolf: Can summon an army of them.
  • Brilliant but Lazy: He's Espada # 1.
  • By the Power of Greyskull: "Kick About - Los Lobos!"
  • Calling Your Attacks: "Cero Metralleta."
  • Combat Pragmatist: Once he starts taking a fight seriously, do not turn your back on him.
    • Makes no difference, really. If you aren't Yamamoto or Kyoraku, he will kick your ass.
  • Curb Stomp Battle: Proving what it takes to be Primera Espada, he easily defeats Rose and Love, two Captain-level opponents with the added power of Hollow masks, at the same time.
  • Empathic Weapon: Most of the time an arrancar's zanpakuto is just his/her power sealed into a sword. Starrk's zanpakuto is actually Lilynette. His sword is just a normal sword.
    • Oddly enough, this makes him more like a bankai-level Soul Reaper than an Arrancar with how the sword is released.
  • Even Evil Has Standards: "Forgive me, but I abhor such tactics."
  • Evil Counterpart: To Kyoraku; both are Brilliant but Lazy warriors capable of incredible feats but reluctant to do much and have MUCH younger assistants that freely whack them despite being nowhere near as powerful as they are, and even have similar application of speed and fighting style. They differ largely in that Kyoraku is more carefree and easygoing while Starrk is more lazy and apathetic. Though in the end, it's inverted, since Kyoraku is far more likely to fight dirty.
  • The Evil Genius: A rare version of this trope, see Awesomeness By Analysis.
  • Eyepatch of Power: His release.
  • Flunky Boss: Sorta. He can split his soul into at least a hundred exploding wolf-like creatures.
  • Fusion Dance: Merges with Lilynette, his zanpakuto, to go into resurrección.
  • Gangsta Style: Does this at one point in the anime.
  • The Gunslinger: His released form use a gun.
  • Guns Akimbo: Two guns, even.
  • Gun Fu
  • I Am Not Left-Handed: A gambit he pulls in the anime where He fires a powerful cero from his right pistol and then holsters it, creating the illusion that while the right gun is more powerful, it requires recharge between firing. When Kyoraku tries to take advantage of this apparent weakness, Starrk just flips the gun forward and shoots him in the face.
  • I Just Want to Be Normal: Does not care about his power at all, since it caused his loneliness in the first place.
  • I Just Want to Have Friends
  • Intergenerational Friendship: With Lilynette, though Lilynette makes a point that Arrancar don't age.
  • Let's Get Dangerous: Get ready, Kyoraku.
  • Lonely at the Top: More or less the basis of his character.

"I was jealous of the weak ones. The weak are allowed to congregate. I want to be weak. If that's impossible...at least give me comrades as strong as I am."


(#2) Segunda Espada - Baraggan Louisenbairn

<sidebarmenu>

Species: Arrancar
Affiliation: Las Noches
Zanpakutou: Arrogante

</sidebarmenu>
Booooooneeee Stoooooorm!
Baraggan Louisenbairn

Voiced by: Shozo Iizuka (JP), Steve Kramer (EN, Hueco Mundo Arc), Michael McConnohie (EN, Fake Karakura Arc onward)

The Second Espada, the self-proclaimed God of Hueco Mundo. Defines the death aspect of 'Aging'. Baraggan, by all rights, lived up to his namesake, until Aizen came and screwed him over, forcing him to his servitude, which he grudgingly accepted. Throughout his life, he has one wish: to exact vengeance and kill Aizen. As his Zanpakuto's name (Arrogante) implies, he's really arrogant, which causes his downfall at the hands of Hachi.

  • A God Am I: Refers to himself as the "God of Hueco Mundo"..
  • Alas, Poor Villain: Given by Starrk, who was rather depressed that he was the only one affected by Baraggan's death.

Starrk: Lord Aizen, you couldn't even spare a word for Number Two?

  • An Axe to Grind: Speculation about his sword ran wild, but now has been revealed to be a frikin' BIG axe.
    • He has another massive axe called Gran Caida in his released form too.
  • Badass Boast: "I am king. I am God. I will never die." Becomes a Madness Mantra during his Villainous Breakdown.
  • Badass Long Robe: In his release state.
  • Badass Grandpa: He's old, and even his powers revolve around Old Age, but he's still the single most Badass member of Aizen's Badass Army. Not to mention he's just as muscular as Captain Genocide.
  • Battle Aura: Anyone that comes close to him gets... considerably aged up.
  • Breath Weapon: "Respira", the "Breath of Death." He means it.
  • By the Power of Greyskull: "Rot - Arrogante."
  • Catch Phrase: "How Comical". Baraggan seems to have a fairly morbid sense of humor, although he never exactly cracks jokes.
  • Deader Than Dead: This is his final fate, with special emphasis on final.
  • Death by Irony: He aged to death.
  • Dem Bones: His released form is a skeleton wearing a crown and robes.
  • Evil Counterpart: To Yamamoto, arguably, mainly in that both are the effective bosses of their respective realms, until Aizen comes along that is (Yama had the same fate, technically, but in that case Aizen was a lot more subtle), and both are elderly warrior types. The story doesn't really addresses it since they never fight, and it was subverted- perhaps deliberately- when it turned out he was second to Starrk (though Shunsui incorrectly assumed that Barragan was No. 1).
  • Evil Gloating: For the most part, it's completely justified, but it's also just about all that stops him from managing to do a lot more horrific damage before he went down. See Villain Ball below.
  • The Fatalist: As the Espada of Age, also directly connected to his Battle Aura, Baraggan brags that death by aging is something that the mind can't fathom, except that it's inevitable even for Soul Reaper, lecturing that nothing can exist forever; even the word "forever" is meaningless, since it was born from the fear of death.
  • Hidden Depths: An Omake reveals that playing chess is his favorite hobby.
  • Hoist by His Own Petard: After all the trouble Sui-Feng and Hachi went through, after surviving two bankai nukes and proving immune to kido, after taking arms off of both his opponents, he is finally taken down when Hachi, in the entire comic's greatest display of badassery, teleports his own decaying arm into Baraggan's stomach, disintegrating Baraggan into nothing.
  • Humiliation Conga: As King of Las Noches, Baraggan was minding his own business, when Aizen and his Co-Dragons came out of nowhere, saying bluntly that he wasn't good enough for what he was best at, wiped out Baraggan's entire army, forced him to serve the ones that defeated, gets thrown with the rank of "2nd" to further spite him, and has his palace turned into Aizen's own headquarters.
  • Ignorant of His Own Ignorance: Before Aizen, Gin, and Tosen arrived and usurped his throne, he believed that he had already conquered everything, and was incredulous when Aizen told him there are other worlds besides Hueco Mundo.
  • Implacable Man: Sui-Feng is aghast at the level of punishment this guy shrugs off, even wondering during the third or fourth time he's taken the party's best shot and come back for more if he's immortal. Even in his death throes, Baraggan decides to use his final moments to take a parting shot at his hated nemesis, Aizen.
  • Ironic Echo: "Farewell, God-King of Hueco-Mundo."
  • Instant Death Radius/Touch of Death: Baraggan's power over time doesn't care what you are or how powerful you are. If it or he touches you, you're dead.
  • Large Ham: Especially during his Villainous Breakdown.
  • Made of Iron: Sui-Feng hits him in the face with her nuke-like Bankai at extremely close range while he cannot dodge or reduce the damage in any way, destroying the four barriers he was trapped in. Cosmetic damage to his skull aside, it appears this just made him angry.
  • Meaningful Name: "Baraggan" looks very close to "bragging".
  • Nightmare Fuel: In-Universe: Omaeda and Soifon certainly feel this way about his abilities. His unreleased form can slow your muscles and make your bones brittle. His released form can decay the flesh right off your skeleton, and then decay your skeleton until it turns to dust.
  • Person of Mass Destruction: Holy shit!
  • Red Herring: The way he takes charge, and the fact that he's the oldest (after all, Yamamoto is the oldest and strongest Captain) led some people to believe he was Espada # 1.
  • Seven Deadly Sins: Kubo revealed in the Masked interview that some of the Espada were modeled after the Seven Deadly Sins. Since Baraggan's resurreccion is called "Arrogante", it's safe to assume that he is meant to represent the sin of Pride.
  • The Starscream: He was the king of Hueco Mundo by virtue of being the most powerful person around... until Aizen showed up.
  • Superpower Lottery: His basic power is more broken than every other Hollow's secret abilities combined.
    • And, if used right, could possibly be more broken than Aizen.
  • Time Master: His abilities stem around manipulating the flow of time to slow down his enemies and make them age and crumble into dust.
  • Torso with a View
  • Victory Is Boring: In his backstory, Baraggan was extremely bored with his complete rule over Hueco Mundo because he had nothing to conquer with his vast powers and army.
  • Villain Ball: Partially averted, in that he still required the above Hoist by His Own Petard to actually defeat him, but probably could have easily ended the battle quickly if he spent less time toying with Omaeda or did a little less Evil Gloating while Hachi was setting up all those barriers. There's a reason his zanpakto is named "Arrogante".
  • Villainous Breakdown: When Sui-Feng and Hachi manage to injure him, he completely loses his shit.

Baraggan: "HAHAHAHAHA! Tiny, tiny! Tinytinytinytiny! Soul Reapers and humans and hollows and arrancars all have their own differences and quarrels! They have will and freedom and animals and plants and the moon and the stars and the sun and every little thing! But only my power is absolute! Everything else is tiny and insignificant! Your proper place is under my supreme rule! Equality is not born from rivalry! Look into my eyes, for you are no different than insects to me!(...) I AM THE GREAT EMPEROR! THE GOD OF HUECO MUNDO! BARAGGAN LUISENBAIRN!!!"

  • Walking Wasteland: With all caps.
  • We Have Reserves: Partially subverted. He sent his Fraccion into battle fully expecting them to win, and he was noticably enraged when they were killed... but he also didn't lift a finger to help them when they started losing, and gave the impression that he was only angry because his servants being defeated made him look bad.
    • Played straight in his backstory, as he was planning to have his loyal army fight each other to the death before Aizen dropped in. Mainly because he was bored.


(#3) Tercera Espada - Tier Harribel

<sidebarmenu>

Species: Arrancar
Affiliation: Las Noches
Zanpakutou: Tiburon

</sidebarmenu>
Smile.
Tier Harribel

Voiced by: Megumi Ogata (JP), Laura Bailey (EN)

The Third Espada, a Dark Action Girl who led an all-female Fraccion squad. Harribel shows actually more compassion compared to the rest of the Arrancars towards her own Fraccion, but she still fulfills her Dark Action Girl credentials. She defines the death aspect of 'Sacrifice'. Her Zanpakuto is Tiburon, her number-tattoo is located on the left side of her right breast, and her hollow hole is in her womb. She was gravely injured by Aizen after he realized he didn't need the Espada.

Following Barragan's and Starrk's deaths, she became the de facto "Queen" of Hueco Mundo. That is, right up until the Vandereich invaded it. Currently, she is a prisoner to the Vandenreich.

  • A Father to His Men
  • Amazon Brigade: Heads up one of these with her all-female fraccion.
  • Animal Motifs: Her resurreccion is related to sharks.
  • Antagonistic Counterpart: Possibly to Unohana, the most powerful woman on her side, is ranked within the top four out of her respective force, and is very protective and motherly toward her underlings.
  • Anti-Villain: Conducts herself in a much more restrained and honorable manner than her compatriots, although you're in trouble if you mess with her friends. The only time she displays anything beyond Tranquil Fury and quiet dignity was when she was enraged by Aizen trying to dispose of her.
  • Badass
    • Badass in Distress: Has been captured by the Vandenreich. That's offically the reason any of the Arrancars would get involved.
  • But Not Too Black: What happened to her in the anime adaptation.
  • Boobs of Steel: Easily has the largest breasts of all the female Arrancars and is also the most powerful.
    • Absolute Cleavage: When her top is unzipped, and in her Resurreccion form.
    • Sideboob: However, is that true?
    • Underboobs: Had her outfit specifically designed to reveal the lower part of her boobs; censored in the anime. Suspiciously enough, however, during a flashback to Wonderweiss' creation at episode 294, her underboobs are rendered fully, without any censorship whatsoever.
  • By the Power of Greyskull: "Destroy - Tiburón."
  • Dangerously-Short Skirt: How dangerous she is as a fighter is a matter of some contention, but she still fights in a bone-like micro skirt.
  • Dark Action Girl: More reserved than Cirucci, but three times as deadly.
  • Dark-Skinned Blond: Lighter-skinned (read: tan-ish) in the anime, for some reason.
  • Death by Adaptation: The anime was cancelled before she was revealed as alive in the manga.
  • Does Not Like Men: Or, at the very least, she believes that male Hollows will invariably prey upon females.
    • She works and lives in a complex with Baraggan, Nnoitra, Grimmjow, Szayelaporro, Aaroniero, and Yammy. It's not a belief, it's a fact.
      • OTOH, Unmasked reveals that she gets along fine with Starrk. While she doesn't hate men, she hates masculinity. Case in point, Starrk is androgynous enough in personality that when he split into two, one half was female.
      • This may or may not mean she gets along with Ulquiorra, though. Knowing safety, she possibly tries.
  • Early-Bird Cameo: Harribel was first seen in the Arrancar meeting [dead link] when Ulquiorra and Yammy reported to Aizen after they confronted Ichigo. Also, before you ask, those other three Arrancars never appeared again following Harribels' cameo.
  • Everything's Even Worse with Sharks: Her sword's name is the Spanish word for shark, and her release adds a shark motif to her appearance. She even refers to herself as the shark when one-shotting Hitsugaya.
  • Evil Virtues: Most notably, honor, loyalty, responsibility and selflessness.
  • Going Commando: Looks like it.
  • I Will Protect Them: In the wild, Harribel lived as close as she could to a life of non-violence and starvation to defy the Social Darwinist laws of Hueco Mundo. Since then, she has been motivated to fight by a desire to keep her few friends from dying.
  • Lady of War: Quiet, dignified and usually calm... and Hitsugaya was lucky to escape her wrath.
  • Let's Get Dangerous: With the extra fleshing out the anime gave to her character, she's practically a Martial Pacifist most of the time. If you want her to stay nonviolent, do not fuck with her friends.
  • Making a Splash: Her released form uses water-based attacks.
  • Mama Bear: Harribel's "Aspect of Death" is sacrifice, and the meaning behind this lays within her relationship with her three Fraccion. Harribel has no desire to kill, but she knows that she lives in a Crapsack World where the strong prey upon the weak. She joined up with Aizen because she did not want her own weakness to lead to the deaths of her True Companions. Nevertheless, each of them would gladly sacrifice their own lives for her sake (and, unfortunately, do just that).
  • Martial Pacifist: Like Starrk, Harribel hates fighting, but will use her considerable power if it means protecting her True Companions.
  • Martyr Without a Cause: Implied in the anime.
  • Meaningful Name: "Tier" is German for animal.
  • Messy Hair: Messy blonde hair to be exact.
  • Ms. Fanservice: She's the alpha female of fanservice for the Arrancar girls.
  • Not So Different: Both sides appear to be completely oblivious to it, but Harribel's reasons for fighting (duty and friendship) are identical to the reasons 98% of the good guys fight.
  • Non-Malicious Monster: Even as a hollow, Harribel disliked killing.
  • Won't Work On Me: Unfortunately, due to the Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors at work, her fight with Hitsugaya consists almost entirely of them No Selling each other's attacks.
  • Power of Friendship: "I don't want to become stronger through the power I gain by killing and sacrificing another. If I can't win alone, then I'll win as a group."
  • The Smurfette Principle: The only Female Espada outside Cirucci and Nelliel.
  • Spell My Name with an "S": Even after the official romanization of her name came out, the English dubbers continue with their original pronounciation of "Halibel". All of the Espada are named after famous architects. She's named after Harry Bell Measures.
  • Statuesque Stunner: Fourth among the ladies of Bleach at 175 cm/5'9".
  • Stripperiffic: Pretty much the first female in Bleach to have this on purpose. No Clothing Damage; that's an accomplishment.
  • Sword Beam: Her "Ola Azul" ability.
  • Tall, Blond and Bishoujo: Shows off a lot more skin than the usual example, though.
  • Thou Shalt Not Kill: Appears to have rejected the Social Darwinist law of Hueco Mundo despite being the third or fourth most powerful Hollow in existence, refusing to eat other hollows to gain power.
  • Torso with a View: Subverted. It's where her womb is supposed to be, but it's apparently entirely internal (not visible from the outside) and it's suggested she's sterile as a result.
  • Tranquil Fury: Doesn't show any more emotion than she did before, but becomes much more dangerous and goes to town on Hitsugaya after her Fraccion are defeated.
  • True Companions: She is very close to her Fracción.
  • What Could Have Been: Being the 3rd Espada was a last minute decision, as Kubo was very indecisive and switched her and Zommari's ranks.
  • Willfully Weak: Refusing to eat other Hollows means that she didn't continue to gain power the way less moral hollow like Barragan did. This combined with her steadfast refusal to kill and her belief in fighting as a group explains quite well why she didn't seem as powerful as the other Vasto Lorde Arrancar. Of course, when she actually puts some effort into fighting, she's a total Badass.
  • The Worf Effect: One could argue her entire contribution to the Fake Karakura Town Arc was a.) To try and redeem Hitsugaya's credibility as a fighter since he was able to basically fight her to a draw after jobbing to much weaker enemies and b.) To show how absurdly powerful Aizen is when he defeated her in a few seconds... although he did seem irritated that she remains one of the only people he's had to hit twice to defeat.
  • You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Only Arrancar that didn't get to go down swinging, just getting taken out by Aizen For the Evulz. She subverts it by getting healed through Orihime and her Shun Shun Rikka, as revealed in the novel "Nestle to Night", and has now shown up again in one piece.


(#4) Cuarta Espada - Ulquiorra Cifer

<sidebarmenu>

Species: Arrancar
Affiliation: Las Noches
Zanpakutou: Murcielago

</sidebarmenu>
The face of a hundred reactions.
Ulquiorra Cifer

Voiced by: Daisuke Namikawa (JP), Tony Oliver (EN)

The Fourth Espada, Ulquiorra is cold, rational, reserved, and absolutely loyal to Aizen—all traits which put him in direct conflict with Grimmjow, to the point where though he is now Ichigo's main rival, Ulquiorra has far more enmity for the Sixth Espada. He considers Ichigo, and all others either weaker than him or human, little more than "trash". He defines the death aspect of 'Emptiness' and his zanpakuto is Murcielago. Disintegrated after being heavily wounded in a fight with (Hollow)Ichigo, not because he was slayed with a Zanpakuto, but because he could no longer regenerate his wounds.

Recently received a short comic made by Tite Kubo about his back story in the third data book, Unmasked, which shows his past and a little more of his relationship with Orihime. It does a wonderful job of adding fire to a good portion of these tropes AND give a nice definition to his and Orihime's bonds. Thank you, Tite, you Magnificent Bastard.

Much like Kokuto, Ulquiorra's second form appeared in one of the games before the English adaptations ever were made. See the Bleach Movies page for full complaints on this, but with a different villain.

Tropes associated with Ulquiorra:

  • Adult Fear: Being unable to hear, speak, feel, or smell for a large portion of his life, and it's all he first remembers.
  • Alas, Poor Villain: Orihime seems to think so.
    • Unmasked pushes this farther by making his backstory in a Crapsack World.
  • Almighty Janitor: Though ranked Fourth in terms of strength in the Espada, he is the seemingly the only one of them to have achieved a second released state, similar to bankai. This ability alone may be enough to push his rank up a few levels, if he didn't keep it a secret.
  • All the Other Reindeer: In his backstory in Unmasked.
  • Animal Motifs: "Murcielago", the name of his zanpakuto, means "bat" in Spanish. When he releases the sword, he gains giant bat wings.
  • Art Evolution: Compare his first appearences to his later ones. Over the time, his features became more human-like and more delicate, his hair became longer and his mask became shorter. It's more noticeable in the manga, however.
  • Attack Backfire, Threat Backfire, Irony: His plan to break Orihime's spirit? Out the window once he dies. The two times Ichigo died? Ichigo was revived after seven minutes; the second time caused his death. Threaten friends? Got him something, but it ultimately helped the heroes. Overpowering reishi? Only Ishida makes a note of it. Say Ichigo could never beat you as long as he's copying a Hollow? As an Arrancar, you're copying the Shinigami!
  • Badass: Justified, seeing how everyone here is, but let's put it this way; he got Grimmjow to back down from fighting without arguments, orders the giant Yammy to do just about whatever, is a person Aizen tips his hat to, and so on.
  • Bad Guys Do the Dirty Work / The Cavalry: Saves Uryu, and to a degree Orihime, spontaneously and in the nick of time when Hollowfied Ichigo was going to blast the Quincy away. It is, of course, never mentioned again, but then again he's been doing doing a good job with denying all the cliche tropes Tite has him as.
  • Barehanded Blade Block: He spams this move shamelessly, and for extra cool points often begins it with his hand in his pocket. Ulquiorra exhibits one of his few moments of Dull Surprise when Ichigo manages to put an attack past both of his hands.
  • Beautiful Dreamer: Played with in the present segment of his Unmasked backstory, though Orihime says that she watched him because she was surprised that he was capable of sleep at all.
  • Berserk Button: Severely dislikes losing opponents pressing on (due to being unable to understand their resolve) and in such cases will only become even more merciless, as Ichigo can testify. Even more so, the thought of being surpassed by a human enrages him to the point where he quickly stepped up his game and was about to decapitate Ichigo, weren't it for Orihime's well timed save.
  • Beta Baddie: Hinted. When he goes for the kill, Ulquiorra tends to stab the victim's chest in the same area where his hollow hole is located.
  • Big Ol' Eyebrows: No, that isn't manliner above his eyes; they're his eyebrows.
  • Bishonen: Not as feminine as Szayel Aporro, but he is slender and quite youthful-looking. And, needless to say, he has lots of fangirls.
  • By the Power of Greyskull: "Enclose - Murcilago!", "Resureccion - Segunda Etapa."
  • Calling Your Attacks: Databooks reveal this. How so? His lances have individual names; Luz de la Luna for his first and Lanza del Relámpago for his second. His black cero is named, and his tail is called Latigo.
    • Then again, the last is possibly a joke since the Bleach Wiki only cites manga pages.
  • Character Tics: No matter what he's doing, one or both of his hands are in his pocket at all times. If he takes a hand out, then something bad's going to happen.
  • Climax Boss: The final fight between Ichigo and Ulquiorra signifies the end of the quest to rescue Orihime from Hueco Mundo. Ichigo is then free to rescue the rest of his friends, and leave Hueco Mundo to the captains while he heads back to Karakura Town. It also sets up the despair that weakens him for the rest of his fights until his final battle with Aizen.
  • The Comically Serious: Kubo once stated in an interview that, if given the chance and Ulquiorra was still alive, this would happen. Yes, we do mean "was still alive".
  • Curb Stomp Battle: His first display of offense in the series consists of him blasting some holes in Orihime's escort guards before they can do a thing. Gave Ichigo a lesson of dominance during their first encounter, resulting in the former's death. Completely thrashes Ichigo again after releasing his zanpakuto during their final battle and while the former is down, takes the opportunity to effortlessly mutilate an offending Ishida... Only to have Ichigo resurrect in Hollow form and returning the favor to him.
  • The Dragon: Seemed to have been Aizen's right-hand man, as well as being given missions that one would've expected to be given to Espadas with higher ranks.
  • Even Evil Has Standards: Calls Nnoitra "disgusting" for implying that he should take advantage of his prisoner Orihime by raping/sexually harrassing her.
  • Evil Counterpart: In the Gotei 13, he probably most resembles Byakuya, and they both serve pretty much the same role in their respective story arcs. Both "abducted" one of Ichigo's close female friends and love interests, which brought him to Soul Society or Hueco Mundo; both served as recurring antagonists who repeatedly beat the crap out of Ichigo in all but their final battle, where Ichigo got the upper hand by surrendering to his inner Hollow...and so on. Both are also The Stoic, but where Byakuya is secretly Not So Stoic, Ulquiorra is actually so stoic as to be inhuman. Both also had a reaccuring problem within their arcs; where Byakuya struggled with a Pillars of Moral Character issue, Ulquiorra struggled to understand that which he was incapable of seeing. And while Byakuya goes out in a winged angel form, Ulquiorra's Release resembles a winged bat-demon.
  • Evil Sounds Deep: Japanese/Sub only. The English Dub gives Ulquiorra a much lighter voice. ...Then again, they were possibly giving Tony Oliver a well-needed break.
  • Eye Scream: His eyes can be removed and crushed to display his memories. The eye restores itself later, and is apparently not painful.
  • Four Is Death: Well, alongside the obvious, Ulquiorra has chalk-white skin, limp black hair, and generally screams of death. His transformations also look symbolic: a fallen angel for his first form and a demon for the second.
  • Genre Savvy: Sits back in his first appearance to judge Ichigo's ability, kidnaps Orihime when everyone is busy, plays the right strings to scar Orihime, and chose to first handicap Uryu before continuing to beat him into the rooftop of Las Noches.
  • Go Out with a Smile: Eh, at least he died happy?
  • Green Eyed Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette
  • Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: The defining theme of his Character Development is his lack of ability to understand why ANY of the heroes continue fighting for Orihime when they shouldn't be able to win, and their allies keep falling. When she explains that this is due to the connections their hearts share he is even more confused. It's a point which he questions over and over again, to Orihime and at one instance, even Ichigo.

"You're a fool, Kurosaki Ichigo. You fear my power, yet you still fight as if you think you can win. I don't understand you. If this is because of what you humans call a heart, then it is because of your hearts that humans feel pain. It's because of your hearts that you die."

  • Half the Man He Used To Be: towards the end of his last fight with Ichigo. He does regenerate, but it only extends his life for a little bit.
  • Healing Factor: He sacrificed attack strength for the ability to regenerate everything but major organs. Theoretically, you could break this guy's neck and he'd get up in a few minutes.
  • Deadly Change-of-Heart: His final speech indicates that he finally understands humans, but he dissolves before he can do anything about it.
  • Humanoid Abomination: While all Arrancars are amalgamations of Hollows with one form and mind being dominant, Ulquiorra's the most unsettling, however subtle. Apart from his release forms, his white skin, his weight, and his general lack of blood loss make you wonder if this guy's actually healthy enough to be kicking people into walls. He's unnaturally thinner and shorter than most of the cast. His green eyes certainly have an uneasy vibe compared to the more modest eye colors. With that, his design is nonstandard, but the complete opposite to the 5th's issue: where Nnoitra has skinny eyes, Ulquiorra has large, D-shaped eyes with too large irises compared to his pupils.
  • I Am Not Left-Handed: He is the only Arrancar known to have a two-stage release, similar to a zanpakuto's bankai. He hasn't shown this to anyone but Ichigo, and claims that no-one else knows about it.
  • Identity Amnesia: He has no memory of being anything but a Vasto Lorde, which shows how much he knew about humans to begin with.
  • Idiot Ball / Villain Ball: Juggles these:
    • He lets Ichigo survive their first encounter because Ichigo's a weak foe who he expects to become stronger? Thanks for allowing your own death!
    • He continues to let Ichigo survive, even straight up telling him that, if he was still alive after a stab through the chest, to "leave Las Noches" if he could still move. You coulda finished him off!
    • Chose not to flee the zombie-Shinigami/Hollow hybrid that only lets out a roar and is faster than him despite being able to fly.
    • Calls out Grimmjow for taking Orihime, and yet in that time he could've launched an attack instead of, you know, talking to the Ax Crazy Blood Knight.
  • Jerkass: If he's not being ordered to do a task by Aizen or is killing someone, Ulquiorra's favorite pass time seems to be goading on people who aren't goading him on. Take how he rubbed Rukia's half-death in Ichigo's face, or threatened to force-feed Orihime if she didn't eat.
  • Lima Syndrome: Sutbly develops this toward Orihime, starting with mentally acknowledging her courage when she stands up to him, to being fascinated with her personality. This has become a fan favorite for Fan Fiction.
  • Manipulative Bastard
  • Mr. Fanservice: While not as much as Grimmjow, he does have a pretty nice body, with his voice (Japanese only) being very deep.
  • Names to Run Away From Really Fast: His sword either stands for two things; "bat" in Spanish, or, and points for Foreshadowing, black-winged great demon in Japanese.
  • Nietzsche Wannabe: Has this as his life, blood, and Aspect of Death. You can blame the fact that he was pretty much deaf and mute as a Hollow.
  • Nigh Invulnerability: Barely scratched from his fight with Ichigo, not damaged at all from his fight with Grimmjow, and Up to Eleven in his transformations due to wings.
  • No Flow in Anime: Averted in a very weird way; during his first transformation, everything flows, especially his hair, fur, and clothing. Which is odd, considering there isn't any wind in Hueco Mundo and his dress seems to be part of his skin, considering he has nothing defining sleeves, but he has a collar. Given how little his mouth moves and how he rarely blinks, this can be distracting.
  • Normally I Would Be Dead Now: An arm, his legs, and his digestive track, kidneys, bladder, and whatever was at his waist, plus a wing and his horns(leaving a little bit left of his right). If we count the panels onward from when he "woke up", he survived 17 pages until he started turning into ash, and fully died five pages afterwards. This translates into roughly 77 panels until he died, or just until he started turning into ash. This bastard is an Implacable Man among Implacable Men.
  • Not So Different: Throughout their various confrontations there's a running theme between Ulquiorra and Ichigo as to whether Ulquiorra's becoming more human or Ichigo's becoming more hollow. It's a little of both.
  • Perpetual Frowner: Without saying.
  • Person of Mass Destruction: His "Lanza del Relampago" produces a truly enormous explosion.
  • Power Gives You Wings: His release gives him gigantic bat wings.
    • Power Floats: Notice how he's now taller than Orihime and about as tall as Ichigo in the anime? He didn't grow several inches; you can catch him cheating occasionally.
    • Power Makes Your Hair Grow: His hair remains short in the front, but turned around, his hair can be seen nearly to his hips!
  • Red Herring: He seemed to act as Aizen's hands, and had a very calm demeanor about him, as well as being one of the few people Grimmjow was afraid of. All of this led Ichigo to believe he was Espada #1.
  • Shorter Means Smarter: Played with if we include the Idiot or Villain Ball tropes above.
  • Spell My Name with an "S": Until the official romanization of "Cifer" became canon, the commonly accepted way to spell Ulquiorra's name was "Schiffer". Noteably, The Other Wiki still has his old name listed.
    • Ulquiorra's name is itself a misspelling of Patricia Urquiola, a Spanish architect.
  • Single-Episode Handicap: From his Unmasked backstory.
  • The Other Darrin: Was originally voiced by Steven Jay Blum for a videogame. Most fans were, strangely, angered about it, even though Steven was hitting the range the Japanese Ulquiorra went for, dispite claims much later that Ulquiorra's voice was too high or sounded off.
  • The Rival: Ended up as one to Ichigo.
  • The Spock: He's so analytical, his regenerative powers are even used to aid in his ability to exactly report on something he's witnessed exactly as it happened (via crushing his eye). As he says, he doesn't believe in what he can't see and therefore his method of understanding the world is to analyse it as clinically as possible. That makes him both...
    • The Stoic: As he is most of the time.
    • Not So Stoic: When he's finally rattled, he's as capable of emotional outbursts as any other character.
  • Tall, Dark and Snarky: He's only average height (given how tall the other espada are this makes him looker shorter than he really is) but he's a foil to the passion and idealism of Ichigo and his contrast character is, of course, Orihime.
  • Torso with a View: A strange example in that it migrates. It starts out in his neck but ends up in his lower chest by the time he dies.
  • What Is This Thing You Call Love?: Struggles with this.

"Hearts? You humans are always talking about hearts. It's as if you have them in your hands. But my eye sees everything. Nothing can escape it. What is a heart? If I rip open your chest will I see it? If I crack open your skull will I find it in there?"

    • Finally, he understands it in the moment of his death, while Orihime keeps reaching for his disintegrating form.
  • Willfully Weak: There's possibly a good reason he's hiding his second transformation, but for now, it's unexplained.
  • Yellow Eyes Take Warning: Which is surprising, considering the eye color of normal Hollows. All you have to do is make his sclera black instead of dark green.


(#5) Quinta Espada - Nnoitra Gilga

<sidebarmenu>

Species: Arrancar
Affiliation: Las Noches
Zanpakutou: Santa Teresa

</sidebarmenu>
hide your children."

]

Nnoitra Gilga

Voiced by: Nobutoshi Canna (JP), Michael Sinterniklaas (EN)

The Fifth Espada, a Death Seeker. Once, he was the Eighth Espada, but was promoted sometime after a sneak attack to Nel, the 3rd Espada of the time, whom he hates because she pitied and disrespected him. He defines the death aspect of 'Despair'. His Zanpakuto is Santa Teresa, and he is noted to have the greatest Hierro (armor) amongst the Espada. Bit the dust thanks to Kenpachi.

Tropes associated with Nnoitra:

  • Alas, Poor Villain: Clearly what the anime (with a very sad music theme) aimed at, showing him as a Nietzsche Wannabe living behind the Despair Event Horizon, with an absurdly huge overcompensated inferiority complex.
  • Alternate Character Interpretation: He clearly has an inferiority complex, but there's enough ambiguity in its execution that this crops up as a result. Some would say his sexism is just a ruse to cover up his insecurities. Nelliel was the only one he displayed sexism towards, but he wouldn't even admit it to her face, not even when she asked him why he wanted to fight her.
    • There's also a camp that believes Nnoitra was such a rat bastard to Nel because he was attracted to her and wasn't able to handle that well.
    • Given that he's past the Despair Event Horizon in some form, his Don't You Dare Pity Me! attitude might have resulted in equating that to someone looking down on him.
    • Another reason for his utter hatred of her could be that, during many of their fights, Nelliel would never finish him off, which Nnoitra, as a Death Seeker, took as the ultimate insult and kept trying to provoke her into killing him off. That, and she was rather condescending towards him, going so far as to belittle his entire mindset as primitive and unworthy of a warrior.
  • Animal Motifs: His resurreccion is related to the praying mantis.
  • Ax Crazy: Subverted. In fact, he's actually disturbed that Kenpachi's more Ax Crazy than him.
  • Blood Knight: The Espada equivalent to Kenpachi in this.
  • The Brute: Among the Espada, Nnoitra shares this with Yammy and Zommari.
  • By the Power of Greyskull: "Pray - Santa Teresa!"
  • Combat Sadomasochist
  • Combat Pragmatist/Trying to Catch Me Fighting Dirty
  • Complete Monster: A remarkable Deconstruction. If you get in his way, he'll kill you out of annoyance. If you're not in his way, he will pick a fight with you for fun. If you don't fight back, he'll physicaly torture you to death. If you are wounded and weak, he'll keep up the torture until he gets bored and finishes you off. While you're fighting him, he'll cheat his way into winning at every chance he sees. He wants to die in battle and highly enjoys beating the shit out of people that can't fight back in the meantime. And God help you if you're a woman not named Harribel. He lacks any redeeming quality, but his psychology makes him pitiable, rather than utterly detestable, and well-executed Alternate Character Interpretation gives more depth to him than most monsters.
  • Death Seeker: Basically, Nnoitra's life goal is to kill every single person he meets, until he is either the strongest person in existence, or finally runs into someone strong enough to kill him. He has no problem with either option and the second one is what actually occurs.
  • Despair Event Horizon: Hit it at somepoint in the past and kept right on going. "None of us is getting redemption."
  • Does This Remind You of Anything?: Pretty much everything about him.
  • Don't You Dare Pity Me!: To a pathological degree. And that brings about his downfall.
  • Dude, Not Funny: Early on the arc, Ulquiorra calls him "disgusting" for toying with the idea of sexually assaulting Orihime.
  • Evil Counterpart: Similar in many ways to Kenpachi as a bloodthirsty, fight-loving psycho with the desire to fight strong enemies, but Nnoitra is strongly distinguished by his lecherous, petty, and arrogant characterization. The core of their axcraziness is also different: Kenpachi fights for fun, Nnoitra is a Death Seeker; Nnoitra is obsessed with proving he is the strongest, Kenpachi loves finding out the opponent might be stronger than him. A visual parallel is also drawn with Nnoitra's eyepatch, which is later replaced with a scar identical to Kenpachi's after taking a strong slash to the face and chest. And Nnoitra, while not neccesarily cowardly, is completely OK with attacking an enemy when they are exhausted or their guard is down (and actually thinks not doing so is the height of stupidity), whereas Zaraki always gives his opponents a fighting chance, to the point of handicapping himself so he doesn't curb stomp every enemy.
  • Eyepatch of Power: Inverted. It conceals his Hollow hole.
  • High Collar of Doom: His "spoon".
  • I Am Not Left-Handed: His Resurrecion looks like it has four arms, but it really has six. He also has a very powerful Healing Factor, just in case anyone actually manages to damage him.
  • Improbable Weapon User: Um, what is that thing? A reversed scythe maybe? He does gain four of them in Resurrecion anyway.
  • Jerkass: His abrasive personality, intense vulgarity, and misogyny mean that he's basically the Cartman of the Espada.
  • Kick the Dog: Everything he does, really.
  • Kick Them While They Are Down: Grimmjow and Ichigo certainly felt it.
  • The Law of Diminishing Defensive Effort: Likes to just stand there and point out that his opponent's attacks can't harm him at all. Nelliel and Kenpachi's swords are among the only things sharp enough to cut him.
  • Lean and Mean: So very mean.
  • Made of Diamond
  • Non-Standard Character Design: His eyes are thinner than every single major character so far, and the large upper teeth.
  • Pet the Dog: He does seem to care enough for Tesra (his Fraccion) to warn him to get away from Kenpachi after sensing the latter's power.
  • Playing Against Type: His English VA, Michael Sinterniklaas is known for voicing Butt Monkey types who often serve as the Comic Relief and the occasional Bishonen or two.
  • Psychotic Smirk <-> Slasher Smile
  • Seven Deadly Sins: Considering how much he compensates, he may represent Envy.
  • Spell My Name with an "S": Even after it's been confirmed that his name is "Nnoitra", a lot of people still call him "Noitora." Viz Media calls him "Nnoitora".
    • He's actually named after Richard Neutra, a famous architect.
    • In the English dub, at least, his name sounds like Noitora, despite the canon spelling of his name not accommodating the last O.
  • Stay in the Kitchen: His general attitude towards female Espada.
  • Took a Level in Badass: He was previously the 8th Espada at some point in the past, but managed to claw his way up to 5th, and given the tough-ass time he gave Kenpachi he seems to have earned it. Neliel was once so strong she could beat him down, without taking in a scratch, as Nnoitra is bloodied up. When they meet in the current timeline, Nnoitra has surpassed Neliel, as none of her attacks did any sugnificant damage to him, and he goes on to battle Zaraki showing no signs of lingering pain from battling Neliel not an hour earlier. Tite Kubo also sates, through Nnoitra, that the Espada have improved greatly since Neliel's exspultion. So, to people who argue Neliel was rusty, according to Kubo, even if she wasn't, it makes no difference being Nnoitra has improved, and she hasn't. Her old 3 in the new 6 or lower of the current Espada.
    • To elaborate: Kenpachi, Bleach's resident Blood Knight, himself acknowledged that he had to finish his fight soon, or else he would have bled to death from all of the injuries Nnoitra gave him.
  • Torso with a View: It's in his head!
  • Variable-Length Chain: Attaches his weapon to his hip.
  • Villainous Breakdown: Kenpachi's clear enjoyment of what appears to Nnoitra to be a losing battle starts to strongly unnerve Nnoitra. As Kenpachi continues to laugh and enjoy himself, Nnoitra descends into raving and swearing at him. Eventually, this psychological edge causes Nnoitra to be too shaken to think to defend himself when Kenpachi finally goes for a killing strike, crippling him in one blow.
  • Would Hit a Girl and Would Hurt a Child: Explicitly a part of his life philosophy.


(#6) Sexta Espada - Grimmjow Jeagerjaquez

<sidebarmenu>

Species: Arrancar
Affiliation: Las Noches
Zanpakutou: Pantera

</sidebarmenu>
This is his normal expression... No really, it is.
Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez

Voiced by: Junichi Suwabe (JP), David Vincent (EN)

The 6th of the Espada numbers. He used to be the closest thing Ichigo could call a rival, until he was defeated by him, at which point it shifted to Ulquiorra before his death. He's a bit mentally unstable but he's always eager to get into a good fight, not disappointing ones; that's why he saves Orihime from torture, so she can heal Ichigo and they can have their good fight. He is very rebellious and thus garnered a distaste from Tousen, who likened him to Kenpachi, and vice versa. He defines the death aspect of 'Destruction'. His Zanpakuto is Pantera. He's currently knocked out cold after being beaten by Ichigo and then getting seriously injured by Nnoitra.

Confirmed by Kubo to be alive and slated to return for the final arc.

Tropes associated with Grimmjow:

  • Arch Enemy: To Ichigo, until after their third fight.
  • Ax Crazy: Evidently his aspect of death is Destruction.
  • Animal Motifs: That of a panther.
  • Badass: He took Ichigo to town.
  • Blood Knight: Where Ichigo says he's not and Nnoitra says "no rules", Grimmjow's the opposite of the two. He'll fully admit that he loves to battle, seeing it more as something Hollows have to do. However, he'll only attack opponents who CAN battle, and saved Orihime while also mauling the two Arrancars attacking her.
  • Boisterous Bruiser: Remove the "fun" part of it, and we're a little close. He'll have a blast fighting, but he's not good and is fast at swapping between having fun and being comepletely serious.
  • By the Power of Greyskull: "Grind - Pantera!"
  • Cats Are Mean: Was originally a panther-like adjuchas.
  • Combat Pragmatist: He calls Ulquiorra out for letting Ichigo live just because he isn't strong enough to be a threat yet, and invades Karakura Town behind Aizen's back to kill him to prove that point. Although, at the time, Ichigo and friends were healing from their "battles" with Yammy and Ulquiorra from five days before.
  • Come with Me If You Want to Live: Basicly what he did with Orihime. Then again, he just killed the threat of death, so it's more like "Come With Me If You Don't Want To Die".
  • Curtains Match the Window Pretty blue eyes to match light blue hair.
  • Disproportionate Retribution: Develops a major vendetta against Ichigo. Why? Ichigo wounded him bad enough to leave a scar while fighting back after Grimmjow had just spent about ten minutes beating the holy living hell out of Ichigo. Oh, and Ichigo's self-confidence irritates him.
    • Don't forget Luppi, who merely mocks him a bit for having lost his rank. When Grimmjow regains his arm, the first thing he does is BLOW AWAY LUPPI'S HEAD. It's true that he took away Grimmjow's rank, but defeating him without killing him would have probably been sufficent to get it back.
  • Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Not as intense as Nnoitra, but sees Ichigo's confidence as condescending.
  • Even Evil Has Standards: While he'd gladly kill his own allies in order to recover a lost rank, if Grimmjow feels he is in debt, he will go out of his way to repay it—displayed when he rescues Orihime, who had healed his arm, from two Arrancar girls who had been torturing her.
  • Evil Counterpart: To Ichigo. Both of them are disrespectful, reckless, and stubborn Blood Knights that have no scruples over how to win a fight, but whereas Ichigo is a Jerk with a Heart of Gold who has a hero complex, Grimmjow is a sadistic murderer who cares only about getting stronger and/or payback. Furthermore, Ichigo fights to protect his allies, while Grimmjow kills his allies if they steal his rank. In addition, a major moment of symbolism occurs when you compare their species - Ichigo is a Shinigami with an inner Hollow; Grimmjow is a Hollow with a Zanpakuto.
    • Also, to Renji, filling out much the same plot role as the latter did in the Soul Society arc. Both are hot-headed recurring antagonists who are far more evenly matched to Ichigo than they like to admit, and contrast with The Stoic of their team (Ulquiorra/Byakuya), who serves as the more powerful opponent. Both have a one-sided rivalry with that same character, but whereas Renji respects and admires Byakuya, Grimmjow has very little (overt) respect for Ulquiorra and likes to imagine that Cifer is afraid of him. Both also save the life of the resident Damsel in Distress, but for very different reasons: as where Renji considers Rukia a close personal friend, Grimmjow just wanted Orihime to heal Ichigo so they could fight.
  • Evil Laugh: Grimmjow's laugh is crazy.
  • Expy: Of Kubo's old protagonists in Zombie Powder.
  • Facial Markings: Has light blue lines below his eyes, similar to the eye markings on the Panthera genus of cats. Gee, I wonder why...
  • Deadly Change-of-Heart: Rejected; Ichigo did give him an offer to fight at any given time. Grimmjow rejects this right before Nnoitra stabs him and puts him on a bus.
  • Junichi Suwabe: His Japanese actor.
  • Kick the Dog: Namely, stabbing Rukia with his arm, beating the shit out of Ichigo's face, choking Orihime, trying to blast Rukia's head away, and wanting to revive Ichigo just to kill him again.
    • Kick the Son of a Bitch: Loly and Luppi totally had it coming, though. As did Ulquiorra, arguably, whom he briefly trapped inside Caja de Negacion.
  • Klingon Promotion: He quickly regains his lost rank by killing Luppi.
  • Lack of Empathy: A lot of the time.
  • Left for Dead: Although, Ichigo was preoccupied with Nnoitra, Nelliel, Kenpachi, Aizen unveiling his plan before leaving to Karakura, and Starrk taking Orihime to notice much else.
  • Long Bus Trip: One thing's clear—he hasn't been confirmed dead, though it almost seems like Kubo's forgotten about him.
  • Mr. Fanservice: Believe it or not, he's got an even nicer body than Ichigo. Add that to his Badassitude, Walking Shirtless Scene and voila!
  • No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: His first fight with Ichigo is too one-sided to be anything else.
    • Amazingly not lowered when Grimmjow loses an arm in the second battle. Grimmjow only loses because Ichigo had help, and only retreats because Ulquiorra forces him to.
    • And done so again, but intentionally, in the third fight.
  • Panthera Awesome: His form during his Adjhucas days was that of a white panther (inverting the black panther sub-motif of the trope). Also, his zanpakuto is named Pantera, Spanish for "Panther"; it doesn't take a genius to guess what his released form looks like. Speaking of that...
    • Petting Zoo People: His released form gives him cat ears, a tail, long hair, changes his feet into panther's paws and his hands get covered with black fur and the finger nails turn into claws. Somewhat subverted in that when he is in his released form you definitely don't want to pet this kitty!
  • Pet the Dog: Back in their second fight, right after beating him to a pulp again, Grimmjow actually waited for Ichigo to (try to) bring out his mask before resuming the fight. He could've just attacked him again, after all.
  • Power Makes Your Hair Grow: Just look at his damn released form.
  • Pragmatic Villainy: Needed Orihime to revive Ichigo for another fight.
  • Psycho for Hire: Almost makes you hope for an AU Episode where he is this.
  • Put on a Bus: For over four years, we still have NO idea over what happened to him! All we've got is a subnote in a Data Book, and even then it's said that everything but Ulquiorra's backstory wasn't made by Tite himself.
  • Slasher Smile: Constantly flashes one out when excited.
  • Smarter Than He Looks: His character song hints that there's more going on in his head than he lets on. It's better if we, who were born to destroy / don't know the reason behind that destruction / Anyway, a reason born for the sake of destruction / is better off not known at all
  • Spell My Name with an "S": His personal name is written "Grimmjaw" by fans before the official spelling came out.
    • A spelling that would make more sense given the jawbone he wears all the time. It's actually derived from Nicholas Grimshaw.
  • Stupid Sexy Flanders: Common reaction to him.
  • The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: To Ichigo.
  • There Was a Door: This is pretty much Grimmjow's signature style when it comes to entering a room. Was once lampshaded, too.
  • Third Time's the Charm: The first two times he tried to release his Zanpakuto, he was interrupted before he could do so (a fact that Gin made fun of in the omake).
  • Torso with a View: Trope Codifier AND in the image!
  • Unusual Ears: His released form gives him elf-ears with fur tips!
  • Walking Shirtless Scene: No one seems to be complaining though.
  • What Happened To The Cat: Big time! It was confirmed in an interview that Grimmjow was one of the few Arrancar who survived the final battle, but is nowhere to be seen since the Vandenreich's occupation.
  • Worthy Opponent: His dynamic with Ichigo subverts this. Grimmjow is obsessed with fighting him, not because he admires him, but because the fact that Ichigo can challenge him really pisses him off. It's made pretty clear that he doesn't just want to win against Ichigo, he wants to utterly stomp him into the dirt, leaving no doubt that he's better than him. He arguably developes a more personal hatred of Ichigo than any other villain in the series.
  • X Meets Y / Recycled In DEATH: David plays Grimmjow pretty much the same as Jin, if only with less Yandere and more Revenge on an octave lower.
  • You Gotta Have Blue Hair


(#7) Septima Espada - Zommari Rureaux

<sidebarmenu>

Species: Arrancar
Affiliation: Las Noches
Zanpakutou: Brujeria

</sidebarmenu>
He's so fast, he lets you beat up two of him!
Zommari Rureaux

Voiced by: Taiten Kusunoki (JP), Neil Kaplan (EN)

The 7th of the Espada members. He is the fastest of the Espada, fast enough to temporarily create clones of himself to confuse and trap the enemy. He's usually very calm and contemplative, but he harbors a deep hatred for Soul Reapers for killing hollows. He defines the death aspect of 'Intoxication'. His Zanpakuto is Brujeria. He has been killed by Byakuya.

  • Animal Motifs: His resurreccion vaguely resembles a sea urchin.
  • Bald of Evil: Becomes a "Bald of Too Dumb to Live" when he released.
  • Break the Haughty: Tried to perform one on Byakuya. Epicly fails at it and even sees it kinda backfiring on him.
  • By the Power of Greyskull: "Suppress - Brujeria!"
  • Doppelganger Spin: Has the ability to move so quickly he can create clones of himself. These clones are capable of attacking but only last a short time.
  • Drunk with Power: May be this, since his aspect of death is "intoxication". Although it's not very obvious, it would explain a lot of his behaviour. Especially the way he snapped when he understood his ability simply won't be enough to take down his opponent.
  • Evil Counterpart: To Byakuya, sort of. They are both stoic yet Not So Stoic underneath, both of their special abilities involve speed and kidou-based abilities. The difference lies in the 'passion' part of their natures. Zommari represented intoxication and therefore had never learned to reign in excess. Byakuya, however, had learned a long time ago to discipline the excesses within his own personality.
  • Explaining Your Power to the Enemy: It's what got him killed.
  • Extra Eyes: He has 48 eyes on his release form's body in addition to his two normal eyes, and eight open up on his forehead in the last part of the fight.
  • Gratuitous Japanese: His BANZAI! AIZEN-SAMA!!! was more or less left untranslated in the English dub, apart from replacing "Aizen-sama" with "Lord Aizen".
  • I Am Not Left-Handed: His reveal of eight more eyes in his forehead.
  • Idiot Ball: At the beginning of the fight, he Flash Steps behind Byakuya and surprises him, but instead of cutting him down, he stops and explains that he is very fast. Then, he told Byakuya too much about how his Amour worked. Byakuya even lampshaded this trope by telling him that he was stupid to have revealed so much.
  • Large Ham: "BANZAI! AIZEN-SAMA!" "Why won't you take my love!?"
  • Lightning Bruiser: Self-proclaimed fastest Espada and strong enough to fight evenly with a Captain for an extended period.
  • Made of Iron: Tanked Byakuya's bankai.
  • Marionette Master: His release ability Amor allows him to control anything he looks at.
  • Pride: Inevitable as he serves as an Evil Counterpart for Byakuya (well, his opponent, anyway). Seriously, almost all the talk during their fight is about "Which one of us is the most prideful, therefore the most despicable?".
  • Scary Black Man
  • Small Name, Big Ego: Byakuya easily proved Zommari was this. The self-proclaimed fastest espada was no match for a shinigami who was functioning with only one arm and one leg (self-inflicted injuries) and for all his strength, in the end he was defeated through kidou and a sealed zanpakutou. As Byakuya said, "You make the title 'fastest Espada' weep".
  • Taiten Kusunoki: His Seiyuu.
  • This Cannot Be!: When Byakuya showed he could easily counteract his ability (twice!). He didn't actually say it out loud, but his facial expression left no doubt about it. Much more blatant in the anime though.
  • The Renfield: BANZAI AIZEN-SAMA!
  • Torso with a View: Allegedly a very teeny one
  • Villainous Breakdown: The biggest and most noticeable in the Espadas.
  • What Could Have Been: Being the 7th Espada was a last minute decision, as Kubo was very indecisive and alternating his and Harribel's ranks. Who knows how things would have turned out if Zommari ended up as the 3rd while Harribel ended up as the 7th.
  • What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Complains about this to Byakuya—he even made a few good points. Unfortunately, he made them while trying to murder Byakuya's beloved younger sister. When she was unconscious and defenseless. This, of course, made it personal, so Zommari got killed anyway.
  • Worthy Opponent: Sees Byakuya Kuchiki like this at the beginning, and logically wants the same from him. Let's just say they disagree.


(#8) Octava Espada - Szayelaporro Granz

<sidebarmenu>

Species: Arrancar
Affiliation: Las Noches
Zanpakutou: Fornicaras

</sidebarmenu>
He's only pretty on the outside...
Szayelaporro Granz

Voiced by: Kosuke Toriumi (JP), Benjamin Diskin (EN)

Szayelaporro is the 8th Espada and head of research development in Hueco Mundo. He is pretty much a lot like Mayuri: prepared for anything, has little to no feelings for other beings, and is a complete mad scientist. He also considers himself a perfect being with his powers. Everything he does is...well, nasty. He defines the death aspect of 'Madness'. His Zanpakuto is Fornicaras and yes, it does mean "you will fornicate" in Spanish. Gets painfully owned by Mayuri.

  • Ax Crazy
  • A God Am I: Gives a big speech about how he is "perfect", "immaculate", and "immortal".
  • Aloof Younger Brother: Doesn't care much about Yylfordt's death and even used him as a guinea pig to study a way to counter Renji's Bankai.
  • Ambiguously Gay: Gives out comments that suggest what clothing style attracts him more and his effeminate voice.
  • And I Must Scream: What Mayuri finally puts him through.
  • Animal Motifs: His resurrecion is related to the parasitic worm. The tentacles he gains also make him resemble a butterfly, and he describes himself as a phoenix.
  • Awesomeness By Analysis: Can reduce damage his enemies cause after analysing their reiatsu.
  • Badass Boast: Subverted to hell and back by Szayel and Mayuri. Sizzle brags at length about how he's perfect and how Mayuri can never win...right before Mayuri's superhuman drug takes effect, incapacitating Sizzle and Mayuri kicks his ass.
  • Bishonen: Out of the male Arrancar, he's definitely one of (if not THE) most androgynous looking.
  • Body Snatcher: If he is eaten while in Resurreccion mode, he will take over his devourer's nervous system.
  • By the Power of Greyskull: "Sip - Fornicaras!" ("Sip - La Lujuriosa!" in the English dub).
  • Camp Straight: Is disturbed when he thinks Renji's actions could be considered flirtation.
  • Complete Monster: His image-poem alludes that he's aiming to be one, and since he was one of only two Espada that went to Hell after his death, he's certainly succeeded.

"Tell me I'm the thing you hate the most in this world."

    • That said, he's also one of the first three Espada to die, so it's not so much that they were the only ones to go to Hell as they were the first to go to Hell (though this was only shown in the fourth movie, and the movies' canon status is debated).
  • Crazy Prepared: Second only to Mayuri.
  • Dead Little Brother: Subverted. He's the brother of Yylfordt Granz, and the fact that he targeted Renji, Yylfordt's killer, made it seem initially that he was motivated by the chance to avenge his brother. He reveals quickly, however, that he actually couldn't care less... Szayelaporro's actual motive was that he had been using Yylfordt as a living spycam, and watching Renji kill him had let Szayelaporro learn how to counter all of Renji's powers and score an easy win.
  • Death by Irony: Effortlessly trashes Renji because he was using Yylfordt to spy on him and knew how to counter all of Renji's techniques. Then gets taken apart by Mayuri because he did the same thing to him using Ishida.
  • Does This Remind You of Anything?: His Resurrecion, during which he sounds like he's having an orgasm. Not helped by the fact that he begins it by swallowing his sword.
    • So, yeah. Pretty much anything about him.
  • Dub Name Change: Apparently "Fornicaras" was too risque by Adult Swim's standards, so in the TV broadcast they changed it to "La Lujuriosa" ("the lustful"). It's still creepy.
  • Evil Counterpart: Zig-zagged with Mayuri, since you could make the case that Syazel is the lesser of the evils. The main difference is that Mayuri does what he does in pursuit of knowledge and improvement, while Syazel thinks he's perfect and stagnated, having no real goals other than pointless sadism.
  • Evil Genius
  • Evil Knockoff: One of his Resurreccion powers unleashes dark liquid upon his enemies, and creates clones of them when they make physical contact with as little as a droplet of that liquid. As an added quirk, he sometimes modifies the clones' appearance to suit his personal "sense of aethsetics".
    • These changes are always obvious; he changes a loincloth to light purple jeans. Though Uryu was the only one to figure this out, and they weren't even HIS clones!
  • Eyes of Gold: When he reveals his Mad Scientist tendencies, he also reveals his animalistic side. He even keeps his fraccion around simply to eat them when he needs to heal injuries.
  • Faux Affably Evil: Seemed to have been among the more well-mannered Espadas, but it vanishes as soon as you get to know him better.
  • Four Eyes, Zero Soul: The second in the series to be revealed as a sick son of a bitch.
  • Getting Crap Past the Radar: Guess where his Hollow hole's located? In his penis. Granted, it's never mentioned, save for a Databook.
    • And then there's his treatment of Nemu - chock full of rape imaginery.
  • Hoist by His Own Petard: Using Gabriel on Nemu was a bad idea!
  • Hollywood Voodoo: He creates dolls of his opponents by temporarily "absorbing" them into his "wings"; the dolls contain "pills" that represent each of the victims' internal organs (w/ different colors, as well as bearing their names in Spanish), and destroying any of these pills does the same to its associated organ.
  • Hypocritical Humour: Gets creeped out by Pesche taking out his Zanpakuto from his loincloth.

"Where the hell are you pulling that out from!?"

  • I'm a Humanitarian: Well, all hollows eat humans, and many eat other hollows before they're made into arrancar, but Szayelaporro is the only arrancar shown eating other arrancars. Specifically, his own fracci�nes are designed to act as powerful healing medicine when he eats them.
  • Immortality: His Gabriel power qualifies for Types IV and X (Resurrective and Vampiric), as it essentially allows him to invade any convenient host that had maintained physical contact with him during his death, devour the victim from the inside to reconstruct his original body (horribly emaciating said victim to near-death), and then burst fully-grown from the victim's mouth. The aforementioned original Body Horror depiction in the manga was toned down for the anime.
  • Impromptu Tracheotomy: Gets hit by Seele Schinder in the neck.
  • Karmic Death: After what he did to Ishida, Renji and Nemu, dying in agony over thousands of years was a fate justly deserved.
    • Going to Hell after what he did is even better...provided the movie is canon.
  • Large Ham: Especially during his fight with Mayuri.
  • Mad Scientist: He's Mayuri's Arrancar counterpart, can't be less.
  • The Man Behind the Man: He was the one that ordered the Exequias to kill Dordoni and Cirucci, since he wanted to extract Reiatsu samples from Ichigo's gang.
  • Moral Event Horizon: His treatment to Nemu certainly qualifies to the fans (as well as Ishida and Abarai), but it's his view of perfection that crossed the line for Mayuri, of all guys.
  • Nerd Glasses: His mask fragments resemble these.
  • Not Quite Dead: He and Aaroniero quite literally went to Hell together.
  • Playing Against Type: Kosuke Toriumi. His previous roles are mostly about heroic guys (Yuri Lowell), silent guys (Strider Hiryu, Gennosuke Kouga), Not So Stoics (Curio), happy-go-lucky guys (Kiyosumi Sengoku), or Idiot Heroes (Kiba Inuzuka, Hong Yun-seong, Junpei Iori). Now tell us if Szayelaporro is anything like them.
    • Ditto his English actor. His best-known role? Numbah One!
  • Post-Mortem Comeback: After getting devoured by Ashisogi Jizo, Szayelaporro reanimated himself through Nemu, enlarging her stomach and jutting through her mouth, leaving her as a shriveled-up husk. It didn't work, ultimately, since a sense-accelerating substance was placed into Nemu beforehand by Mayuri, which led to his own Fate Worse Than Death.
  • Rose Haired Guy
  • Seven Deadly Sins: Kubo Tite revealed in the Masked interview that some of the Espada were modeled after the Seven Deadly Sins. Szayelaporro's zanpakuto is named "Fornicaras", so he probably represents "Lust".
    • His "Aspect of Death" is Madness. Fits it to a T.
  • Sissy Villain: For a mad scientist, he's awfully concerned about his clothes and hair. Perhaps draws attention to him being a Complete Monster, seeing as the two times he does this he's just finished horribly devouring someone alive to heal himself.
  • Smug Snake: He may be a bona fide Evil Genius, but he also believes himself to be an infallible intellect and the perfect being because of his nightmarish methods of escaping from death, and his only fights prior to Mayuri are him attacking people he has already analyzed to put the advantage overwhelmingly in his favor. When he overestimates himself too much against Mayuri, however, his every technique is thwarted and he winds up dying horrifically because he tried to kill Nemu to save himself.
  • Torso with a View: Word of God states it's where his penis is supposed to be. Explains a lot.
  • Ultimate Lifeform: Claimed to be one, since he can come back to life after being killed and take over anything that eats him.
  • Villainous Breakdown: Starts out smug and confident in his superiority. When Mayuri starts messing with him, he throws a temper tantrum and starts swearing a lot. He's also breaking down shortly before his death, begging for Mayuri to hurry up, but then again from his perspective, he's been frozen in place with a sword slooooooooooowly piercing him for an ETERNITY by then.
  • The Worf Effect: Appears in the prelude to the Hell-based movie solely to get his ass handed to him in seconds by the denizens of Hell.
    • He, of course, put up a fight. Justified as he A) Didn't know a thing about who or what he was fighting, B) Was with Aaroneiro, who, when they first crash down, starts arguing with immediately, AND C) Starts the damn fight.


(#9) Noveno Espada - Aaroniero Arruruerie

<sidebarmenu>

Species: Arrancar
Affiliation: Las Noches
Zanpakutou: Nejibana / Glotonería

</sidebarmenu>
Much easier on the eyes than floating heads in a jar.
Aaroniero Arruruerie

Voiced by: Kaien Shiba: Toshihiko Seki, Deep-voiced Mask: Ryuzaburo Ohtomo, High-voiced Mask: Mayumi Yamaguchi (JP), Kaien Shiba: Dave Mallow, Deep-voiced Mask: Keith Silverstein, High-voiced Mask: Wendee Lee (EN)

Aaroniero is the 9th and only Gillian Espada. Because of his nonhuman appearance, he usually wears a white mask eight tiny holes over his head. He is prideful of his status as an Espada despite being a Gillian. When he fights Rukia, he takes form of former Shinigama Lieutenant Kaien Shiba, which he got by eating the hollow that killed him and psychologically Mind Screws her over it. He defines the death aspect of 'Greed'. His Zanpakuto is Glotonería and he uses Kaien's Nejibana. He is slain by Rukia.

  • Alliterative Name: A very tongue-twisting one at that.
  • All Your Powers Combined: Never used any of them in conjunction, though. Would've won, but was Too Dumb to Live.
  • Animal Motifs: His resurreccion resembles an octopus.
  • Arch Enemy: Rukia's hated him far more than any other opponent she's ever faced here.
  • Brain In a Jar: Two! Almost literally.
  • By the Power of Greyskull: "Devour - Glotonería!"
  • Clipped-Wing Angel: His release is extremely large and makes him a bigger target.
    • It's a giant purple (maybe yellowish as of the Hell Chapter preview) octopus, or possibly blobfish, with a crazy Cheshire Cat Grin.
  • Complete Monster: Apparently, he was so bad that he actually went to Hell once he died.
  • Eldritch Abomination: To say the least, looks the part.
  • Evil Counterpart: Subverted; he only shares superficial similarities with Komamura, because they both wear masks to hide a bizarre face, and their respective releases both involve something giant.
  • Informed Ability: According to him, he'd absorbed the special abilities of no less than 33,650 other Hollows. Despite this, he never actually uses any powers other than Kaien's zanpakuto and some Combat Tentacles. Ulquiorra mentions a third, in passing, calling it synchronized recognition, which apparently let him transmit information between all the Arrancar.
  • Lovecraftian Superpower
  • Making a Splash: Via Kaien.
  • Mayumi Yamaguchi
  • Not Quite Dead: Is currently with Szayel in Hell.
    • So... he is dead. (Although, this has only been shown in the movies, whose place in canon is debated)
  • Offstage Villainy: Along with Szayel, Aaroniero is the only other Espada that literally went to Hell after dying, but we didn't see enough from him to determine exactly why.
    • That said, they were also among the first of the Espada to die, so they might have simply got there first.
    • His treatment of Rukia was pretty bad enough, but even that isn't really enough to cement him as, say, an "Irredeemable Monster".
  • Power Parasite: Absorbed Kaien Shiba and Metastacia into him, which allowed Aaroniero to use Matastacias' possession and Zanpakuto destruction, along with Nejibana.
  • Seven Deadly Sins: Kubo Tite revealed in the Masked interview that some of the Espada were modeled after the Seven Deadly Sins. Aaroniero's resurrección is called Glotonería, so he stands for "Gluttony".
    • Considering that his "aspect" is Greed, he may just represent both of them.
  • Shapeshifter Guilt Trip: Uses this on Rukia, but it only works for a bit.
  • Torso with a View: On his leg.
  • Ultimate Lifeform: Claimed to be one, since he gains the powers and memories of anything he eats, plus the powers and memories of anything they ate, giving him the potential for endless evolution.
  • Villainous Breakdown: He/It starts out very alien. But once Rukia manages to kill him/it, while the top head just curses, the lower head screams about being betrayed by Aizen about never being in pain again.
  • Voice of the Legion: One high-pitched voice and one very deep voice.
  • Weakened by the Light: But while it hurts him, it does not make him helpless.
  • The Worf Effect: Shows up in the prelude to the Hell movie solely to get his ass handed to him by the new antagonists.
  • Too Dumb to Live: Would've won the fight if he wasn't mind-raping Rukia the whole time. Justified as he's a Gillian; those guys aren't that smart.


(#10 & #0) Diez & Cero Espada - Yammy Llargo

<sidebarmenu>

Species: Arrancar
Affiliation: Las Noches
Zanpakutou: Ira

</sidebarmenu>
Don't get him angry. You'll just make him easier to defeat.
Yammy Llargo

Voiced by: Kenji Nomura (JP), Paul St Peter (EN)

Ranked 10 and Zero of the Espada, Yammy is clearly the largest of the group. He's extremely arrogant and loves to destroy things and murders everybody in his way, believing they're nothing but insects. He isn't the smartest though and usually has Ulquiorra explain things. Upon releasing his Zanpakuto, he is now the 0th Espada and has grown tremendously in size. He defines the death aspect of 'Rage'. His Zanpakuto is Ira.

Last seen laying defeated after a battle with Byakuya and Zarakai.

  • Animal Motifs: His resurreccion resembles an ankylosaurus. His secondary release resembles an ape.
  • Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: He can apparently change size in his sealed form; when Chad sees him again in Las Noches, he notes that he's far larger than he was in the real world. And then there's his release... And his second release if that were even possible.
  • Battle Discretion Shot: After seeing Renji, Chad, and Rukia gear up to fight the now-towering Yammy, we switch to... the real world to watch the other Espada get spanked. Months later when we finally return? A Curb Stomp Battle has taken place off-screen, with Rukia as the last one standing (so to speak).
    • Averted in the anime where they do show the fight, but it completely skips the conclusion of his brawl with Byakuya and Kenpachi.
  • The Berserker: Rushes into every fight, but loses every single time.
  • Blessed with Suck: The databook indicates that the Espada are ranked by Reiatsu, and Yammy's 0 rank comes from having the most when he releases since his power increases whenever he's angry. Unfortunately, this means Yammy has practically none of the special abilities that made the other 9 Espada (and Arrancar in general) so deadly, and as such Kenpachi and Byakuya are able to combine their strength and defeat him.
    • Doubles as a Small Name, Big Ego as Yammy believes himself to be stronger when that isn't the case at all, especially seeing how his "inferiors" fight.
  • Big Eater: Much more sinister, though.
  • Body Count Competition: Played with. He is the only member of the Espada (the only Arrancar, even) who actually kills anybody on-screen, notably the nurse that reattached his arm, Menoly Mallia, Loly Aivirrne (Ishida pinned her to the wall, though) and Rudbornn Chelute. Grimmjow butchered Luppi and Menoly, but the latter was revived by Orihime. Nnoitra is the only one that can compete with Yammy, given that the former wiped out an entire colony of Arrancar, whereas Yammy's first victims are hundreds of innocent humans.
  • The Brute: A poster boy for this trope.
  • Bus Crash: We never actually see Kenpachi and Byakuya beat him.
  • By the Power of Greyskull: "Be Enraged - Ira!"
  • Cluster F-Bomb: In scanlations, and how. See it here.
  • Complete Monster: He mass-murders tons of innocent humans, and deliberately suffocates Tatsuki with his presence by waling up to her. Once he loses an arm to a fight, it gets reattached by a nurse. He wants to see if it works, so he bashes in her skull and mumbles that if it really was at full strength, he would've split her in half. After that, he punches Menoly through a wall while she had her back turned, and brutalizes Loly when she was protecting Orihime from him. The kicker? He's a deconstruction - the man is personally treated as a joke, but his actions are never played as such.
  • Curb Stomp Battle: The off-screen fight between Yammy and Rukia, Chad, and Renji is implied to be one of these.
    • Similarly, the off-screen fight against him and Kenpachi and Byakuya, in which Yammy gets his ass kicked, although both Kenpachi and Byakuya came out of the fight heavily injured, and it lasted over an hour.
  • Dumb Muscle
  • Evil Counterpart: Not really highlighted as much as several of the other arrancars, but there are similarities to Ichigo of all people. Neither is shown to be specifically talented with regards to tactics or science, but they have utter shitloads of reiatsu, which is the reason for their positions. They're also both quite prone to rushing into a battle. YMMW though.
  • Glass Cannon/Master of None: Word of God says his powers work something like this; he's the most physically powerful and has the highest Spirit Energy of the Espada, explaining the Zero rank, but the tradeoff is that he has no gimmicks whatsoever, having to rely solely on brute strength and the powers all Hollows have. This, of course, makes him a far less effective fighter than any of the others.
  • Hulking Out: See that part on this trope's page about growing to twice your size? Yammy does it when he's already hugantic. Then goes on to imply he isn't even close to being done yet.
  • Idiot Ball: Rushes into every battle, completely genre blind to his fights, first never fight major character when he does a Big Damn Heroes moment, which happens to be all of them.
  • I'm a Humanitarian: Possibly. He explains that his boost in power is a result of "eating" a lot. Since one of his attacks involves sucking out the souls of humans and devouring them, and that Hollows are cannibalistic by nature, who's to say that he didn't eat the remains of the other Espada?
  • Implacable Man: Survives more beatings than all of his colleagues and lives. Dies eventually.
  • Informed Ability: Cero Espada, huh? Mind explaining why you're getting curb stomped by guys that had trouble with Zommari and Nnoitra?
  • Ignored Enemy: Kenpachi and Byakuya barely seem to notice he's there after a while as they keep sniping at each other.
    • Not Worth Killing: They ignored him so much they didn't even bother to finish him off. They just left him bleeding and broken in Hueco Mundo while they went home.
  • Kick the Son of a Bitch: ... Loly and Menoly really just don't get it, do they? Though Yammy's treatment of them was a bit much.
  • Let's Get Dangerous: Go ahead. Piss him off. See what happens.
  • Licked by the Dog: Yammy is a complete and utter bastard from his introduction to his death, but a small yappy Hollow Dog appears to like him. It doesn't entirely count as a Pet the Dog moment, since his entire relationship with it is telling it to shut up, but at least he never seemed to attack it like he did to a nurse.
    • According to the unmasked book, the dog is actually his Fracci�n, and his name is Kukkapurro.
  • Marathon Boss: While he might not have looked like much, Yammy still fought with Byakuya and Kenpachi for over an hour, and heavily injured them before his death. In terms of fights based on manga time, he fought the longest out of any antagonist.
  • Not-So-Harmless Villain: Invoked Trope and zig-zagged.
  • Pet the Dog: He expresses some kind of grief over Ulquiorra's death (albeit in his own strange way). Moreover, the last time we see him implies that he somehow cared for the little hollow dog that followed him around.
    • Kick the Dog: On the other hand, he yells and throws things at his dog, and calls his companions in the Espada garbage compared to him, Ulquiorra included. Ichigo is rather disgusted that rather than his implied True Companions, the only one actually saddened by Ulquiorra's death is Orihime.
  • Scary Black Man... Something Man
  • Seven Deadly Sins: Kubo Tite revealed in the Masked interview that some of the Espada were modeled after the Seven Deadly Sins. Yammy's resurrección is called "Ira", so he should be Wrath.
  • Sure Why Not: He's actually Espada #0, just like how fans jokingly speculated!
  • Red Herring: He was... de-armed by Ichigo in his first appearance, is smacked around by Ulquiorra, and generally makes an ass of himself, giving the impression that he isn't all that powerful. Renji and the others feel confident enough to tangle with him and guess what?! Espada #0!
  • The Friend Nobody Likes: It says something when he's not included in Stark's thoughts about his True Companions when he dies, which included Szayel, Nnoitra and Aarroniero of all people.
  • There Was a Door
  • Torso with a View
  • Ungrateful Bastard: What do you do when a fellow Arrancar nurse just reattached your torn arm? Why, bash her head off intending to smash her up to her feet, of course!
  • Unskilled but Strong
  • The Worf Effect: The three victims of his Curb Stomp Battle (Chad, Rukia, and Renji) are regular victims of it. Ichigo showed a bit more resistance while actually injuring Yammy, but is otherwise ineffective. And then both Byakuya and Kenpachi, with Kenpachi cutting Yammy's freaking leg off -- keep in mind that by now, Yammy is the size of a large building. Kenpachi also cuts off Yammy's fingers and prepares to cut off his arm.
    • And Yammy himself has been a victim before that; Ichigo cuts off his arm, Yoruichi beats him down, and Urahara completely outclasses him.
  • Your Soul Is Mine: By inhaling, the souls of any weak (as in Muggle) being in range are extracted and flow into his mouth.
  • You Wouldn't Like Me When I'm Angry: Crosses over with Not Quite Dead due to the nature of his Zanpakuto, Ira. The name itself means "anger" in Spanish, and like The Incredible Hulk himself, the madder he gets, the larger and stronger he gets.
    • Helps him with defeating Rukia and co. Doesn't do shit with anyone else though.


Privarons and Ex-Espada

<sidebarmenu>

Species: Arrancar
Affiliation: Las Noches (formerly)
Zanpakutou: Gamuza

</sidebarmenu>
Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck

Initially introduced as a child-like Arrancar girl with her two companions and pet Hollow worm, Nel encountered Ichigo, Ishida and Sado back at the Hueco Mundo desert, and after giving them a tutorial on how to differentiate between Espada (ranked by strength) and Numeros (ranked by age), she later agrees to lead them into Las Noches, the headquarters of Aizen and his Espada. Serving primarily as a tag-along comic relief sort of character, similar to Yachiru, Nel accompanied Ichigo during his fights with Dordonii Socacchio, Ulquiorra Cifer and Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez, before her status as a former Espada was revealed by Nnoitra Gilga.

In particular, Nnoitra (as then-8th Espada) fought numerous times against Nelliel, but always failed at defeating her, and when they were sent on missions together by Aizen, she would always be the one to save his ass. Frustrated, Nnoitra conspired with Szayel to tear off the masks of her two Fraccion (Pesche and Dondochakka) and tricking her into fighting a copy of Nnoitra instead, giving the real Nnoitra time to slash down her face from behind, cracking her Hollow mask in the process. Once Nnoitra threw the bodies of Nelliel, Pesche and Dondochakka out of Las Noches, she turned into her trademark child form, as a result of getting her mask cracked, and spent the next years of her life wandering the desert and playing with her friends.

Upon morphing back into her adult form as the former 3rd Espada, Nelliel briefly fought with Nnoitra, where her shared past with Nnoitra was given more detail, but right as she was about to pierce Nnoitra's Soul Chain, the strain from releasing her Zanpakuto had turned her back into a child, apparently losing her memories again. Nel was last seen waking up just as Nnoitra himself was killed by Kenpachi Zaraki.

So was the case for the last four years, until chapter 485, where she asks for Ichigo's help in saving Hueco Mundo from the Vandenreich.
  • Action Girl: For her beat-down of Nnoitra in the past, though not to impressive being he was a newcomer with not half her reiatsu and experience, Nelliel remains one of the better female fighters within the series' run, bar none.
  • Adaptation Dye Job: The manga showed her with green hair, while the anime has her with bluish-green hair.
  • Arch Enemy: Arguably, Nnoitra can be seen as her biggest adversary, not for being her strongest opponent (not by a mile), but for nearly killing Pesche and Dondochakka, cracking her Hollow mask, throwing their bodies out of Las Noches, and repeatedly torturing Ichigo. Adding to the fact she took it upon herself to be around Nnoitra as an acting babysitter. Thus, she made herself his #1 enemy and target.
  • Animal Motif: She is goat-antelope (and true antelope) themed. Her mask is sheep horns (a goat-antelope), she is a Big Eater as per goat stereotypes (goats are goat-antelopes). Her resurreccion is called Gamuza (spanish for "chamois", another goat-antelope, but the kanji mean "antelope knight"). Her resurreccion form is a centaur-like gemsbok (a true antelope but the word 'gemsbok' is Dutch for a male chamois).
  • Attack Hello: Nel loves to headbutt Ichigo in the stomach. Sometimes, for no reason, she'll increase her speed mid-flight and give him a super-sonic headbutt.
  • Badass Adorable: Both of her forms.
  • Badass and Child Duo: The Child to Ichigo, until she turns back to her adult form.
  • Because You Were Nice to Me: The reason why Nel follows Ichigo, protects him from Dordonii, shows concern over his injuries and, ultimately, transforms back into her unbelievably hot adult form to fight Nnoitra.
  • Big Eater: Well, as an adult, she stopped Nnoitra's Cero, inhaled it through her mouth and unleashed it right back at him. Kubo stated in the databook that she has a big appetite, and that Pesche and Dondochaka cooked for her.
    • Extreme Omni Goat: In a way. More than that, her habit of eating ceros then regurgitating them back at the enemy even plays (liberally) with the idea of ruminant digestion systems.
  • Brick Joke: Nearly a literal example.
  • By the Power of Greyskull: "Declare - Gamuza!"
  • Catch and Return: Her "Cero Doble" technique lets her inhale energy attacks and end them back with double the power.
  • Clothing Damage: As a result of her morphing into an adult, her garb tears apart to such an extent that it's a miracle her "clothes" even stayed on her.
  • Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: From a hyper child, to a buxom battle-babe, she is not one you'd want to mess with.
  • Cute Monster Girl: As a child, that is.
  • Dangerously-Short Skirt: Dangerous enough to demolish Nnoitra in a brief Curb Stomp Battle. Short enough that it reveals her hips, looks like a miniskirt, and clings to her figure despite being a rag.
    • The skirt and top were the only pieces of cloth left for her to wear upon morphing into an adult, so her fighting in a skirt gets a justification. The fact that it even stayed on her, though, is amazing in and of itself.
  • Does Not Like Shoes: She is barefoot everywhere but during the flashbacks. Extra badassery points go to her for blocking the sharp side of Nnoitra's axe... thing, with her bare sole!
  • Does This Remind You of Anything?: Uhm... when Nelliel bear-hugged Ichigo after turning into an adult, the camera is positioned in such a way that it looks like she's humping him.
  • Dual Age Modes/Sleep Mode Size: Nel looks like a little girl, but can revert to her adult form.
    • She's All Grown Up: Ichigo and Orihime's reaction when she first changed back to adult form, as well as that of the drooling fanboys.
  • Easy Amnesia: After getting hit in the head by Nnoitra and having her Hollow mask broken.
  • Facial Markings: She has this weird red line that stretches horizontally across her face, right below her eyes.
  • Fountain of Youth: Due to Nnoitra attacking her from behind. Came with Easy Amnesia, as mentioned earlier.
  • Genki Girl: Even as an adult, Nelliel had her moments of hyperactivity, particularly when she mood-swung from calm and melancholic after blowing up Nnoitra, to ecstatic and girly before glomp-humping Ichigo.
  • The Glomp: She combines this with Attack Hello above, to the point where she almost kills Ichigo with one.
  • Going Commando: A lot of shots make it look as if she doesn't wear anything underneath. One particular instance is right before she releases her Zanpakuto, where we see her hips despite the skirt basically clinging to her crotch.
  • Good-Looking Privates: In contrast to the garb she wears as a child, Nelliel once wore a really nice uniform when she was an Espada.
  • Late Arrival Spoiler: Her status as the former 3rd Espada, her past with Nnoitra, her Centaur-like released form, and her incredibly hot adult form was revealed to dub-watchers two years after sub-watchers saw it air in the anime.
  • Martial Pacifist: According to Pesche, Nelliel hated fighting, but when your Ignored Enemy happens to be Nnoitra Gilga, it's hard for her to avoid it as much as she'd like.
  • Names to Know in Anime: Colleen O'Shaughnessey (Dub Nel).
  • No Sense of Personal Space: Nel is the first entry on the page.
  • Our Centaurs Are Different: In the manga, Nel's released animal part is of a gemsbok, often mistaken by fans for a horse's body because of the flowing tail which is more horse-like than antelope-like. The anime goes further by giving her horse's hooves, compounding the mistake (the hooves are clearly split like an antelope or goat's in the manga). Her resurrecion is called Gamuza (spanish for the chamois, kanji mean "Antelope Knight") and the gemsbok, while not being a relative of chamois, was given the Dutch name "gemsbok" which actually does mean "male chamois". Nel therefore seems to be an example of Kubo doing the research and the anime not so much.
    • Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Nelliel throws her Lanzador Verde at an opponent, spinning rapidly as it travels through the air, building up spiritual energy.
  • Positive Discrimination: Throughout the entire Hueco Mundo arc, Nelliel was among the only female fighters that ever successfully held their own against their opponents (or even fought at all), along with Rukia (against Aaroniero and Rudobon), and Cirucci (against Ishida).
  • Power of Friendship: Nel uses this and cheers on Ichigo in many fights (when she's not getting in the way). She also snaps Orihime out of her despair because of it during his fight with Grimmjow.
  • Put on a Bus: After the battle with Nnoitra, nothing of her character was seen and her fate left in the air...
  • Scars Are Forever/Beauty Is Never Tarnished: The scar between her eyes, thanks to Nnoitra.
  • Ship Tease: With Nnoitra and Ichigo.
  • Smug Super: Back under Aizen's wing, she told Nnoitra she was babysitting him, refused to acknowledge him as the warrior he wanted recognition for being (even to extent of not wanting to kill him, denying him the battle-death he always wanted) and saying that she didn't want to be dragged down to his level of demented beliefs. As a result, Nnoitra felt she was this trope to him.
  • The Stoic: Mainly during her time as an official Espada. This carries over to her final fight with Nnoitra, where Nelliel remained calm, quiet and relatively stone-faced for the majority of the time she fought him, usually speaking only once spoken to.
  • Stripperiffic: In her adult form, Nell's garbs turn into this. Justified by quite a bit, though, since she spent most of her time with Ichigo as a kid wearing a garb, so it actually makes sense for her clothes to get torn up once she forcibly morphed back into an adult.
  • Tall Green And Bishoujo: Nelliel is gorgeous as an adult, and at 176cm (almost 5'10"), she's the third-tallest female in Bleach.
  • Tender Tears: Nel cries. A lot. Happy tears, sad tears, she's quite the crybaby who shows a lot of concern for her friends.
  • Third Person Person: Only in her child form.
  • Verbal Tic: Nel has a lisp in her child form.
  • Vomit Indiscretion Shot: Sort of... Nel can vomit up her saliva, which contains healing properties. This is shown on screen often, much to the disgust of both Ichigo and other Arrancars. It looks like saliva, but... yeah. At any rate, the action is shown quite a lot.
  • Walking Swimsuit Scene: Drawn by the manga author himself, no less.
<sidebarmenu>

Species: Arrancar
Affiliation: Las Noches
Zanpakutou: Trepadora

</sidebarmenu>
Luppi Antenor

Extremely short-lived 6th Espada that replaced Grimmjow when his arm was destroyed by Tousen. He is pretty flamboyant and does not take insults well. His Zanpakuto is Trepadora. After Orihime resurrects his arm, Grimmjow kills Luppi to regain his status.

<sidebarmenu>

Species: Arrancar
Affiliation: Las Noches
Zanpakutou: Giralda

</sidebarmenu>
Dordoni Alessandro Del Socaccio

103rd Arrancar and ex-Espada. He has a very goofy personality, but that changes when he decides to get his game face on. His Zanpakuto is Giralda.

<sidebarmenu>

Species: Arrancar
Affiliation: Las Noches
Zanpakutou: Golondrina

</sidebarmenu>
Cirucci Sanderwicci

105th Arrancar and ex-Espada. She's a rather rude and cocky sort who hates being interrupted. Her Zanpakuto is Golondrina, she fights Uryu Ishida in the lair of the Privaron Espada, and is finished off by Rudbornn for failing to defeat him.

<sidebarmenu>

Species: Arrancar
Affiliation: Las Noches
Zanpakutou: Dragra

</sidebarmenu>
Gantenbainne Mosqueda

107th Arrancar and ex-Espada. His Zanpakuto is Dragra. He usually takes it easy unless his opponent does give a challenge which Chad does. He was last seen being healed by Isane.

Fraccion and Numeros

Grimmjow's Fracci�nes
<sidebarmenu>

Shawlong Kufang
Species: Arrancar
Affiliation: Las Noches
Zanpakutou: Tijireta Edorad Liones
Species: Arrancar
Affiliation: Las Noches
Zanpakutou: Volcanica] Nakeem Grindina
Species: Arrancar
Affiliation: Las Noches
Zanpakutou: Unknown] Yylfordt Granz
Species: Arrancar
Affiliation: Las Noches
Zanpakutou: Del Toro] Di Roy Linker
Species: Arrancar
Affiliation: Las Noches
Zanpakutou: Unknown

</sidebarmenu>

The first non-Espadas introduced in the series, these guys were Grimmjow's Fraccion, serving as his pack when they were Hollows. Shawlong Kufang has the long helmet, Edorad Liones has black/red hair, Nakeem Grindina is the fattest, Yylfordt Granz has blond hair and Di Roy Linker has a blue-green bandage over his mask. In terms of rank, Shawlong is the 11th (and oldest) Numero, Grimmjow himself was the 12th, Edorad is the 13th, Nakeem is the 14th, Yylfordt is the 15th and Di Roy is the 16th.

In their first appearance as Arrancars, they were among the twenty Arrancars present when Yammy and Ulquiorra gave their report on Ichigo's power level to Aizen, but only Harribel, Grimmjow, Shawlong and Di Roy were cleary seen. Shortly thereafter, they accompanied Grimmjow in his unauthorized assault on Karakura Town; Shawlong fought Hitsugaya, Yylfordt fought Renji, Di Roy took on Rukia, Edorad fought Ikkaku and Nakeem watched over a downed Rangiku. By the end, all five were killed, but they succeeded in giving their opponents a run for their money.

  • Affably Evil: Although both were still villains, Shawlong is rather well-mannered and Edorad has a surprisingly honorable side.
  • A Load of Bull: Yylfordt in Resurrecion.
  • The Brute: Nakeem and Edrad both look the part.
  • Catch Phrase: Yylfordt says "brother" more than Hulk Hogan.
  • Combat Pragmatist: Shawlong agreed with Grimmjow's sentiment; kill Ichigo before he becomes a problem.
  • The Dragon: Shawlong was their leader before Grimmjow came along, as well as the oldest Numero, holding the number of 11th.
  • Early-Bird Cameo: In the manga, Di Roy was first seen talking to Grand Fisher while Aisslinger patched him up.
  • Mr. Fanservice: The only thing the Granz brothers have in common.
  • Elite Mook: Barring Di Roy and Nakeem, most of them lived up to the previous hype that claimed humanoid Arrancars were on-par with the Shinigami seated officers. To wit, Hitsugaya, Ikkaku and Renji all used Bankai, and Renji even claimed that the Shinigami only managed to win because their Power Limiter took the Fraccion by surprise.
  • Graceful Loser: When Edorad was killed by Ikkaku's Bankai, he was simply glad that he knew the name of the man who killed him.
  • Multicolored Hair: Edrad has black on one half and red on the other.
  • Plot Hole: Hitsugaya guessed and Aizen outright confirmed them being Gillians, but Grimmjow's flashback upgrades at least four of them to Adjuchas.
  • Playing with Fire: Edrad's release does this.
  • Power Fist: Edrad, they're volcano-powered
  • Quirky Miniboss Squad: To Grimmjow, though he becomes a loner after their deaths.
  • Spell My Name with an "S": See Bleach Wiki for yourself, but they're still pronounced as "Shau-long Kuu-Fang", "Edorawd Leeones", "Eel-fort Graunz", "Na-keem Greendeena", and "Dee Roy Leenker".
  • Tagalong Kid: Evil version, with Di Roy whom the others regarded him as a failure and derided him for begging to come along
  • Taiten Kusunoki: Edrad's seiyuu.
  • Takashi Kondo: Di Roy's seiyuu.
  • Torso with a View
  • The Quiet One: Nakeem only ever spoke once or twice.
  • Worthy Opponent: Edrad acknowledges Ikkaku as one in the end.
  • You Can't Fight Fate: They abandon their quest to become Vasto Lordes after eating thousands of hollows and not advancing, believing it was some predetermined factor that was decided long before they became hollows.
<sidebarmenu>

Species: Arrancar
Affiliation: Las Noches
Zanpakutou: None

</sidebarmenu>
Aisslinger Wernarr and Demoura Zodd

Two Arrancars that guarded an underground passageway to Las Noches in Hueco Mundo. Notably, these two fused with their Zanpakuto, so their appearances are more Hollow-like than most Arrancars. The one with the beak is Aisslinger Wernarr, the 17th Numero, while Demoura is the 18th. The two seem to be at odds, as Demoura takes offense at Aisslinger calling him stupid. When Ichigo Kurosaki, Yasutora Sado and Uryu Ishida first arrived in Hueco Mundo, Aisslinger and Demoura were their first opponents, but Kurosaki was forced to take a backseat while Ishida and Sado took on Aisslinger and Demoura, respectively. By the end, Demoura was beaten by Sado and had his mask broken, while Aisslinger was overwhelmed by arrows from Ishida and killed when the passageway collapsed upon their defeat.

  • Animal Motifs: Aisslinger is an avian, while Demoura's up to your own interpretation.
  • Applied Phlebotinum: Demoura gathers Reishi through his hands, enhancing his punches enough that it breaks the pavement rather profoundly.
  • The Brute: Demoura, definitely.
  • Cool Mask: Aisslinger has one Badass-looking helmet, right there.
  • Does This Remind You of Anything?: At the very end of his fight with Sado, Demoura spat out his long, snake-like tongue at his opponent. Didn't do shit either, which somehow furthers the length of the implications.
  • Dumb Muscle: Demoura is none too bright, which is evident in his speech pattern, but he's smart enough to use Applied Phlebotinum against Sado, so he might not have been as stupid as Aisslinger thinks.
  • Early-Bird Cameo: In the manga, Aisslinger was the one that turned Grand Fisher into an Arrancar.
  • Facial Markings: Demoura has them down his cheeks.
  • Flash Step: Aisslinger used Sonido against Ishida, but it didn't do much.
  • Genre Savvy: Aisslinger sets up traps in order to analyze the bodies, speed, and strength of Ury Å«, Chad and Ichigo. When he is fighting, Aisslinger uses what he has learned from when the traps were set, particularly towards Chad.
    • Death by Genre Savviness: The subsequent tag-team from Chad and Ishida derailed that strategy, however, which arguably sealed his fate as the loser.
    • Foreshadowing: Szayelaporro used a similar method of analyzing their attributes and countering when they fought him personally, by using cameras or experiments on defeated Arrancars.
    • Wrong Genre Savvy: Learning of your opponents' fighting style and taking advantage of their weaknesses is fine, but when you're dealing with two and you're fighting the one least suited to defeat you, why didn't you ever expect for your opponents to switch positions? Better yet, why didn't you analyze your opponents' partner as well?
  • In-Series Nickname: "Aiss", given by Demoura.
  • Load-Bearing Boss: When they're defeated, the passageway collapses, killing them both, while Kurosaki, Sado and Ishida escaped and met Nel shortly thereafter.
  • More Dakka: Aisslinger moves all of his arms out diagonally from his body, and extends his fingers out in the same manner, shooting blasts of energy from each of his fingertips at Ishida. He claimed to fire 108 at once, but they were overwhelmed by the 1,200 arrows from Ginrei Kojaku.
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni: Demoura is the Red Oni, Aisslinger is the Blue Oni.
  • Small Name, Big Ego: Aisslinger thought of himself as an Evil Genius, confident in his firing ability being more than enough to overwhelm Ishida. Put bluntly, he was wrong.
  • The Worf Barrage: Demoura had his long tongue and Aisslinger had More Dakka, both proclaimed as the best in their arsenal, but neither made a difference in their fight against Ishida and Sado.
  • Those Two Bad Guys: To an extent.
Barragan's Fracci�nes
<sidebarmenu>

Choe Neng Poww
Species: Arrancar
Affiliation: Las Noches
Zanpakutou: Calderon Charlotte Chuhlhoutne
Species: Arrancar
Affiliation: Las Noches
Zanpakutou: Reina De Rosas Abirama Redder
Species: Arrancar
Affiliation: Las Noches
Zanpakutou: Aguila Findorr Calius
Species: Arrancar
Affiliation: Las Noches
Zanpakutou: Pinza Aguda Ggio Vega
Species: Arrancar
Affiliation: Las Noches
Zanpakutou: Tigre Estoque Nirgge Parduoc
Species: Arrancar
Affiliation: Las Noches
Zanpakutou: Mamut

</sidebarmenu>

The six Arrancars under Baraggan's banner, Charlotte Chuuhlhourne has purple hair, Abirama Redder has tanned skin, Findorr Calius has blond hair, Choe Neng Poww has a long face, Ggio Vega has golden eyes and Nirgge Parduoc has tusks on his mask. In order of rank, Charlotte is the 20th Numero, Abirama's the 22nd, Findorr is the 24th, Poww is the 25th, Ggio's the 26th and Nirgge is the 27th. In a contrast to most Fraccion, Baraggan's underlings never interact with one another on-screen, and their characterization is primarily given from their fights with their Shinigami opponents. They make their debut at the beginning of the Fake Karakura arc, following Baraggan as the top three Espada emerge from three different Gargantas.

During the first half of the battle, Findorr called several hidden Hollows to destroy the pillars keeping the fake Karakura Town in place, but they were killed by Ikkaku Madarame, Shuhei Hisagi, Izuru Kira and Yumichika Ayasegawa, protecting the pillars. In response, Baraggan sent Poww, Findorr, Abirama and Charlotte to fight them off, but only Poww managed to defeat his opponent, forcing Tetsuzaemon Iba to bail him out and Sajin Komamura to take on Poww. After Poww released his Zanpakuto, Komamura activated his Bankai and crushed Poww easily. Following that rather embarrassing defeat, an all-out brawl occured between the Arrancars and the Shinigami, with Ggio and Nirgge telling Baraggan to back down from the fighting for a short while, as they took on Shaolin Fon and Marechiyo Omaeda; both were killed just as quickly later on.

  • Adaptation Expansion: The fights with Findorr, Nirgge and Ggio were expanded in the anime, to the point were Nirgge was killed by Omaeda instead of Ggio, Findorr was Defiant to the End and Soifon legitimately looked like she was holding back against Ggio.
  • Affably Evil: Charlotte, and Abirama to an extent.
  • Animal Motifs: Ggio Vega: Tiger
    • Avirama Redder: Eagle
    • Findor Carias: Fiddler Crab
    • Choe Neng Poww: Whale
    • Nirgge Parduoc: Elephant
  • Arrogant Kung Fu Guy: Poww and Vega in spades. Shame they decided to try fighting CAPTAINS.
  • Battle Discretion Shot: Poww's fight with Ikkaku was skipped in the manga, showing only the ending.
    • A very small part of Poww's fight with Ikkaku was shown in the anime.
  • Blood Upgrade: Abirama gets stronger by cutting himself.
  • Boisterous Bruiser: Abirama Redder.
  • The Brute: Abirama, Nirgge and Poww.
  • By the Power of Greyskull: Poww's is "Breathe - Calderon.", Charlotte's is "Sparkle - Reina De Rosas!", Abirama's is "Scrape The Summit - Aguila!", Findorr's is "Carve Upon The Water - Pinza Aguda!", Nirgge's is "Trample - Mamut!", and Vega's is "Bite Off - Tigre Estoque!"
  • Calling Your Attacks: Everyone does this, but Cuuhlhourne deserves special mention for calling out attack names that are all at least twelve words long. And one is so long that he bites his tongue in the middle of calling it.
  • Catch Phrase: Findorr's is "Exacta!"
  • Clipped-Wing Angel: Poww's Resurrecion causes him quite a bit of discomfort, as his body apparently feels very heavy and hard to move in. Nirgge's Resurrecion also slows him down, but he doesn't regard it as much of a problem. Vega's powered up form of Tigre Estoque sacrifices mobility for strength, which allowed Soifon to kill him.
  • Close-Call Haircut: Charlotte gets one during the fight with Yumichika. And then he goes APESHIT. Also Findor.
  • Dark Chick: Charlotte, naturally.
  • Drag Queen: Charlotte, again.
  • The Dragon: Ggio appears to be this for Baraggan.
  • Dropped a Bridge on Him: In the manga, Nirgge was killed by a stray bone to the skull, once Ggio released his Zanpakuto. Anime, he is killed by his opponent.
  • Dumb Muscle: Nirgge Parduoc, the second biggest in the group, is none too bright, but he's a lot calmer and more patient than Omaeda.
  • Elite Mook: Have names and longish fights, and even some fans, but they are far from the toughest fighters here.
  • Evil Counterpart: Abirama to Ikkaku (despite never interacting).
    • Charlotte to Yumichika.
    • Ggio to Sui-Feng.
    • Nirgge to Omaeda.
  • Evil Genius: Findorr seems to fancy himself one, although he can't really back it up.
  • The Fighting Narcissist: Charlotte Cuuhlhourne.
  • Graceful Loser: Charlotte, for all of his hamminess and vanity, is rather calm when he dies. Even his Famous Last Words ("You're really something...") were a compliment to his rivals' strength.
  • Hoist by His Own Petard: Yeah, Charlotte, remember your giant cocoon-dome that swallows up Reiatsu? If you knew about the true power of Ruri'ro Kujaku, you wouldn't have used that dome to begin with.
    • Ggio and Poww also screw themselves over, but more subtly, as explained in Clipped-Wing Angel.
  • Kenta Miyake: Charlotte, again.
  • Large Ham: ... Guess who?
  • Magical Girl: Charlotte, the huge hairy man, is a deliberate parody of these, to the point that his resurreccion resembles a Sailor Moon transformation. Reactions vary from "oh God my eyes", to uncontrollable laughter, or some bizarre combination of the two.
  • Making a Splash: Findorr gains this ability in resurreccion, he can spray water with enough force to disintegrate concrete.
  • Mighty Glacier: Poww.
  • Mr. Fanservice: The muscular Abirama Redder, long-haired Findorr Calius, and the effeminate Ggio Vega are rather attractive in their own rights. Charlotte is a subversion, though.
  • Power Limiter: Findorr has his mask acting as one. His power increases the more it is chipped away.
  • Stupid Sexy Flanders: Ggio Vega, since he....
  • Small Name, Big Ego: While they had pretty decent fights, with Findors' in particular being the best-choreographed and most enjoyable to watch (in the anime), most of them went down like chumps the second their enemies got serious. To hear any one of them talk, you'd think you were facing Aizen himself. Except Poww, Abirama and Nirgge.
  • Something About a Rose: Charlotte's most deadly attack, "Rosa Blanca" ("white rose" in Spanish, involves roses and their thorns).
  • Takashi Kondo: Findorr.
  • Tetsuya Kakihara: The Japanese actor for Ggio.
  • Walking Shirtless Scene: Abirama, and Charlotte after he uses his Release.
  • Wind from Beneath My Wings: Abirama in resurreccion.
<sidebarmenu>

Loly Aivirrne
Species: Arrancar
Affiliation: Las Noches
Zanpakutou: Escolopendra Menoly Mallia Species: Arrancar
Affiliation: Las Noches
Zanpakutou: Unknown

</sidebarmenu>
Loly Aivirrne and Menoly Mallia

Two young girls that serve as Aizen's servants, one of which is really, really fixated on her boss. The pigtailed Loly is ranked as the 33rd Arrancar, while Menoly is the 34th. They have roughly the same hollow mask, which led to fans initially speculating that they're sisters. Loly's Zanpakuto is Escolopendra and Menoly's remains unknown. Chapter 487 revealed that they have been captured by the Vandenreich.

Loly: "What is she... What... She's... She's... Like a monster...!?"

Yammy: "Where did you hide a knife in that outfit? What a slut."

  • Yandere: Loly, again, and HOW!.
  • Zettai Ryouiki: Loly uses the miniskirt + boots variant.
<sidebarmenu>

Pesche Gautiche
Species: Arrancar
Affiliation: Las Noches
Zanpakutou: Ultima Dondochakka Birstanne
Species: Arrancar
Affiliation: Las Noches
Zanpakutou: Unknown

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Pesche Guatiche and Dondochakka Birstanne

Nel's two oddball Hollow companions, both of whom used to be her two Fraccion, numbered as the 41st (Pesche) and 42nd (Dondochakka) Numeros. While eccentric, Pesche and Dondochakka, along with their pet Hollow worm (Bawabawa), are the first signs that Hollows are not Exclusively Evil. This is further illustrated by how, although they once served under Aizen's wing, they seemed to function more along the lines of Punch Clock Villains, and vowed not to remind the amnesic, child-like Nel of her past as an Espada, in order to keep her happy.

Encountered by Ichigo's gang on Hueco Mundo, they agree to lead the group to Aizen's fortress Las Noches, where they follow several members of the group when they split up: Pesche went with Ishida and Dondochakka went with Renji, while Bawabawa went back inside Dondochakka's mouth. They eventually reunited in the lab of the eighth Espada, Szayel Aporro Granz, and were last seen with Nemu after Mayuri killed Szayel.

So was the case for four years, until Nel and Pesche ask for Ichigo's help with rescuing Dondochakka who's been captured by the Vandenreich.

Szayelaporro: What are you trying to pull from there?!?!


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Species: Arrancar
Affiliation: Las Noches
Zanpakutou: Veruga

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Tesra Lindocruz

Nnoitra's fraccion, the 50th Numero. He's extremely loyal to his boss. His Zanpakuto is Verruga, which means "wart" (logical, as his release is a giant warthog). Killed by Kenpachi in a Curb Stomp Battle.

  • Affably Evil: He doesn't take unnecessary potshots at Chad or Orihime, but he's every bit as willing to abuse Ichigo (when he was already defeated) and Nel (when she was a kid).
  • Bishounen: Compared to most male Fraccion, at least.
  • Butt Monkey: Go to most fanfiction with Tesra in it that's meant to be taken lightly. Chances are that there's a passing sentence with him being attacked by Nnoitra for laughs. And it almost always is.
  • By the Power of Greyskull: "Crush - Verruga!"
  • Drawn As A Cat Boy: Much to the pleasure of the Japanese art site, Pixiv. It's fairly common for him to be drawn as anything but a pig.
  • Eyepatch of Power: Wears one to emulate his master.
  • Jerkass: Abuses his enemies just as badly as Nnoitra does.
  • Just Following Orders: In regards to holding Orihime while Nnoitra fought Ichigo. From that, Tesra promised not to harm her unless she attacked him. He even asks Orihime, when she jolts due to wondering where Nel went, if something was wrong.
    • Subverted when Nnoitra let him finish Ichigo off. Tesra could've gone for a Mercy Kill, but he chose to continue torturing Ichigo, without any prompt from Nnoitra. Shows that he's no better than his boss.
    • In the English dub, Nnoitra's orders were "Do what you want with him." It's unlikely that Tesra could have done a One-Hit Kill, but there's no doubt it was deliberately protracted. Also, when he finds Nel behind a rock, he blows up the rock.
  • Morality Pet: Nnoitra mistreats him every bit as much as he mistreats his enemies, but he cared enough to warn Tesra that Kenpachi was too much to handle.
  • My Master, Right or Wrong: Excluding complaints about it. He willingly defended Nnoitra from an attack, and even when he was nearly killed for it, he still follows him.
  • Pig Man: His release, which made for a good "did not see that coming" scene.
  • Punch Clock Villain: Just like the other Fraccion, his boss is his top priority.
  • Soft-Spoken Sadist: He really wasn't ordered to break Ichigo's arm.
  • Spell My Name with an "S": Tesla? Tesra? Honestly, the first version was actually pronounceable.
  • Subordinate Excuse: People joke with this in the same way they joke with Grimmjow towards Ichigo.
  • Undying Loyalty: To Nnoitra.
    • Loyal Animal Companion: More or less, given the Arrancars' Animal Motifs.
  • Would Hurt a Child: As seen by him searching Nel out, knowing fully well that she was a child, and blasting at her with a Cero.
  • Yuuichi Nakamura: His Seiyuu. He kind of looks like a hollowified Graham Aker, does he?
Harribel's Fracciones
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Emilou Apacci
Species: Arrancar
Affiliation: Las Noches
Zanpakutou: Cierva Franceska Mila Rose
Species: Arrancar
Affiliation: Las Noches
Zanpakutou: Leona Cyan Sung-Sun
Species: Arrancar
Affiliation: Las Noches
Zanpakutou: Anaconda

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Tier Harribel's three fraccion, Emilou Apacci has blue hair, Cyan Sung-Sun has green-ish hair and Franceska Mila Rose is the dark-skinned one; they are ranked as the 54th, 55th and 56th Numeros, respectively. All three seem to like nothing more than bickering amongst themselves, but all are close to their mistress, Tier Harribel, who shows more care towards them more than most of her fellow Espadas to their own Fracciones. As they participate in the Fake Karakura arc, they deal the most amount of damage to the Shinigami, by taking out a total of four lieutenants, before falling at Yamamoto's hands, but Orihime heals them with her Shun Shun Rikka, along with Harribel herself, according to the Unmasked Third Databook.

Unlike Harribel, they managed to escape from the Vandereich and are still free.
  • All There in the Manual: Their full names, numbers and final fates were revealed in the Unmasked databook. This is confirmed in chapter 487, when they show up and attack a bunch of Vandenreich rounding up captured Arrancars.
  • Amazon Brigade/Quirky Miniboss Squad: To Harribel, Mila-Rose is definitely based on an Amazon.
  • Ambiguously Brown: Mila Rose.
  • Animal Motif: Apacci: Deer
    • Mila-Rose: Lion
    • Sung-Sun: Snake
  • Anime Chinese Girl: Sung-Sun, at least in looks since there's no word on her ethnicity.
  • Bare Your Midriff: Mila Rose.
  • By the Power of Greyskull: Apacci's is "Thrust - Cierva!", Mila Rose's is "Eat Your Fill - Leona!", and Sung-Sun's is "Strangle - Anaconda!"
  • Dark Action Girls
  • Deadpan Snarker: Sung-Sun regularly jabs at her other two teammates and is the least emotional of the three.
  • The Dreaded: Matsumoto, Hinamori and especially Kira were terrified of Ayon.
  • Early-Bird Cameo: Apacci was the first shown of the three, reacting blankly to Aaroniero broadcasting his death and asking for Harribel to tell her what to do in regards to that. Nothing came of it, but their entire group chose to observe the Grimmjow/Ichigo fight later on.
  • Elite Mook: The most effective of all the fraccion introduced, counting Ayon.
  • Even Evil Has Standards: They clearly took an issue with Opie murdering one of his henchmen (e.g. it silenced their arguing). Given their loyalty to Harribel, it makes a lot of sense.
  • Freudian Trio: Cool and snarky Sung-Sun acts as the Superego, the impulsive and irritable Apacci is the Id. While she is rarely any better than Apacci, Mila-Rose fills the role of Ego by generally being the one to take up the moderating role, restraining Apacci or cussing out Sung-Sun.
  • Fusion Dance: Sort of: The three can combine their arms to create the Chimera Ayon.
  • Giant Mook: Ayon, their creation who's beyond their powers.
    • Hero-Killer: Took out more Shinigami than the Espada themselves!
  • Hair-Trigger Temper: Mila Rose has shades of this, but ANYTHING will piss Apacci off.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: It's indicated by Harribel in the Anime that the three adapted Harribel's aspect of death; their fighting style in released form involves sacrificing a part of themselves to release the extremely powerful Ayon, and despite being no match for Yamamoto, they charge him anyway, both out of Villainous Valor and knowing that if they are killed, giving up their lives will strengthen Harribel's resolve to fight. Noticeably effective, since Harribel goes from merely keeping Hitsugaya at bay to trying to kill him to get to Yamamoto in her desire to ensure this sacrifice was not in vain.
  • Hime Cut: Sung-Sun.
  • Horned Humanoid: Apacci, both normally and in her resurrección.
  • Kick the Son of a Bitch: Apacci getting a kick out of Opie's beatdown would've been her Moral Event Horizon... if it wasn't, you know, Opie.
  • Lady of War: Sung-Sun.
  • Lightning Bruiser: Ayon; big as skyscraper, but can move fast enough to tear out Rangiku's stomach before she can blink.
  • No Mouth: Sung-Sun's hand is conveniently positioned to hide her mouth at all times, sans her very first appearance while she, her Fraccion-mates and Harribel were observing the Ichigo-Grimmjow fight from afar. This is because she seems to embody traditional Asian femininity, which implored that women keep their teeth hidden at all times.
  • Oh Crap: After Kigre survives a brutal beatdown from Ayon and stabs Apacci, Sung-sun's face screams this.
  • Pet the Dog: Mila Rose does it literally when she pets Kukapurro. This is her friendliest moment in canon.
  • Plucky Girl: Even the loss of their arms doesn't stop the three from trying to take on Yamamoto, who commends them for their courage before torching them to unconsciousness.
  • Sai Girl: Sung-Sun.
  • Statuesque Stunner: Mila Rose is second to Isane in term of height at 177 cm/5'9�".
  • Tall, Dark and Bishoujo: Sung-Sun
  • Torso with a View
  • True Companions: They see each other, as well as Harribel, as this.
  • Tsundere: How Apacci treats Kukapurro in "Nestle to Night".
  • Undying Loyalty: For Harribel, especially, though they themselves have shades of this for one another, subtle as it may be. In the novel "Nestle to Night", Apacci even goes as far as requesting healing from the now freed Orihime for her. When Orihime wants to heal her, too, Apacci declines and insists that Harribel needs to be treated first, despite having grave injuries herself.
  • Ungrateful Bastard: Subverted. Apacci swears in her thoughts while mentally going over how Orihime saved Harribel when she couldn't; clearly envious of Orihime in that regards, but she's actually ashamed that she truly is grateful that Orihime healed all of them.
  • Villainous Valor: After Ayon is destroyed for good, the trio tries to get the drop on Yamamoto. Three Fracciones, not even Espada-level, all missing one vital appendage, charge Captain "Kill It with Fire" Yamamoto himself. That takes balls. Or boobs in this case. Yamamoto even points it out.
  • Vitriolic Best Buds: They snap at each other constantly, but their Teeth-Clenched Teamwork is damn effective, and one gets the impression they were more pushing each other's buttons than outright hating each other.
  • The Worf Effect: Nel hypes them up by quite a bit in chapter 488. Once they actually confront Kirge Opie, they're beaten off-panel. Note that it was kid Nel who hyped them, though.
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Species: Arrancar
Affiliation: Las Noches
Zanpakutou: Arbol

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Rudbornn Chelute

A bull-headed Arrancar ranked as the 61st Numero, Rudbornn is the leader of the Exequias, an Arrancar Expy of the Soul Society's Stealth Force. The Exequias are responsible for terminating any rebels or intruders in Las Noches, hence their name, and the Espada hold a fair amount of authority over them.

  • Adaptation Expansion: His confrontation with Rukia was furthered in the anime; instead of his opponent solely being Rukia, she was joined by Renji and Chad, who distracted him long enough for Rukia to freeze him.
  • A God Am I: He thinks his Zanpakuto's ability is "godlike" since it creates 'people'. He also claimed that Aizen was the one that gave said "godlike" ability to Rudbornn; he was most likely referring to the Hogyoku.
  • Battle Discretion Shot: The manga's version of his fight with Rukia was skipped to the very ending, with Rukia completely unscathed and Rudbornn's tree branches frozen, preventing him from spawning the Calaveras.
  • By the Power of Greyskull: "Grow - Arbol!"
  • Death by Irony: He killed two Arrancars, and he was killed (in the anime) by an Arrancar.
  • Dropped a Bridge on Him: In the manga, just after Rukia defeated him, Yammy flies down from the Las Noches tower and sucker-punched Rudbornn across the desert-field, cracking Rudbornn's helmet in the process, but we still don't have full confirmation on what happened after that. In the anime, Rukia froze Rudbornn solid; when Yammy punched Rudbornn, it ended up breaking Rudbornn's entire body instead.
  • The Faceless: Uniquely, Rudbornn is the only Arrancar with a completely stable Hollow mask, resembling a bull.
  • Faceless Goons: His Calaveras soldiers have helmets resembling human skulls.
  • Flunky Boss: He uses the Exequias to fight his battles for him, since his released form is a tree.
  • Mook Maker: Arbol can spawn a shit-load of Calaveras foot-soldiers.
  • Pragmatic Villainy: He backed down from killing Sado and Gantenbainne once Unohana arrived in Las Noches.
  • Smug Snake: He can spawn an endless amount of Calaveras, but if he used it properly instead of just gloating and utilizing Mook Chivalry, he would've defeated Rukia without many problems.
  • What Happened to the Mouse?: Only his helmet was cracked by Yammy in the manga, so he shares the same "Status Unknown" fate as Menoly.
  • You Have Failed Me...: Exequias are tasked with killing off defeated Arrancars as punishment for losing their fights, hence why Rudbornn killed Dordonii and Cirucci off. In reality, however, Rudbornn was partly acting on behalf of Szayelaporro, who wanted to experiment on the Privarons' corpses in order to defeat Ichigo's gang.
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Species: Arrancar
Affiliation: Las Noches
Zanpakutou: Extingir

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Wonderweiss Margela

An Arrancar created by Aizen through the Hougyoku, with the rank of 77th Numero. He seems childlike and easily distracted, but when he does pay attention, he shows off tremendous power and merciless attacks. His Zanpakuto is Extingir.

Yamamoto: Poor thing... Were your emotions taken away from you too? (Stares at Aizen) That was cruel of you.

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Species: Arrancar
Affiliation: Las Noches
Zanpakutou: Los Lobos

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Lilynette Gingerback

Starrk's young, spunky fraccion (later revealed to actually be a part of Starrk). Appears to be incredibly weak, but has an informal and humorous relationship with Starrk.

  1. ↑ (namely killing the hero twice.)
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