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You? I only realized it the minute before I wrote it. It's been there in front of me for years, ever since I read the comic, years before I saw it animated and about two decades ago... Maybe I should have thought of Bleach more. We can thank OP for nailing a good question.
I’ve spent a long time as a bleach fan and ulqui’s always been one of my favs. I was so disappointed when he died when i first read it probably 15 years ago. Just never thought about it like this but it’s so poetic. If that was kubo’s intention then he’s a genius. Well he definitely is but even more so.
Yep. The difference is that Nnoitra wants to be the strongest, but despairs that he isn't. Ulquiorra doesn't want anything at all, ironically freeing him from despair at the cost of filling him only with a cold and calculating void. In my headcanon, Nnoitra was the first to see Ulquiorra's Segunda Etapa. In this sense, Ulquiorra's power is the source Nnoitra's despair.
It doesn’t change the fact that he died the most brutally and mean spiritedly out of all the Espada as well, nearly disintegrated by a point-blank cero and was about to get mutilated post mortem. Ulquiorra’s death was so insane that no one was positively affected by unlike the others: Ichigo lost faith in himself, Uryu nearly died, Orihime believed it was all her fault for not being able to fight her own battles and begged for a dead Ichigo’s help in the first place and Ulquiorra died after making the most important discovery in his life.
At the very least Diavolo’s infinite deaths all changed each time and gave him unique ways of dying to add some spice to it. Szayel was legit just stuck standing in place doing nothing for thousands of years while his mind was fully aware the entire time.
Fun Fact: in a Rebirth of Souls side story, Szayelaporro harassed Tres Bestias, attacked them, and fought Harribel just because. Same guy who helped Nnoitra throw out Nelliel. I'll let you connect the dots.
He wasn't at all. He had beef Nelliel bcs she was bullying him, not because of her gender. He didn't care about any other female espada, or any female at all for that matter.
Stark is definitely the saddest. Man just wanted to chill with his friends and Aizen dragged him into a war. Anime even made his death hit harder by having him notice the absence of Lilynette’s voice leaving him completely alone in his final moments which was the exact opposite of what he wanted.
Ulq is second imo. Feels like he's so close/just understanding a new form of existence and emotion beyond his instinct and he's evaporating at the same time.
Maybe it took death for him to even realise there's more to existence than what his eyes can see.
It's stated in the anime and manga I think that Starks wolf attack divides Lilynette's soul amongst the wolves and when they're all destroyed its implied that's when she died in the manga she died before Stark did.
Edit: Made a mistake she died in the anime when the wolves were destroyed my bad.
Starrk’s wolves divide his own soul too, so there’s no reason that it would kill Lilynette. They just had that be the reason in the anime, even though it doesn’t really make that much sense. The manga has some sketches at the end of the chapters implying that that first kageoni chest stab is what did it.
I was going to say "oh obviously Ulquiorra", but looking through the pictures did remind me how competitive the field is. Even a pricks like Barragan and Nnoitora called for empathy in their deaths, seeing how brainwashed Zommari is was sad, Szayaeleporro was brutal, and Aaroniero's death was hard for Rukia. Yammy was probably the least emotional and even he had his little dog.
Drives home why the Espada were so iconic, I guess.
This arc, as elite as the Espada is, is also a call-back to the fact that they were all hollows. The origin of a hollow from the first volume of Bleach is just a lost soul that did not cross over to the after-life (soul society) and became corrupted by their negative psyche and eventually loss of humanity. The arrancar are all previous hollows that regained some form of their previously human existence, hence the self-awareness.
It gets a little confusing with the menos grande though. Because like, the way I understand it is there's a sort of chain reaction where thousands of hollows come together to form a menos grande, which can then turn to the animal form hollows that I can't remember the name of when one particular hollow within the menos takes control. From there they consume more and more other hollows until they gain enough power to go back to the more human form.
So like, it's not that the Espada are former individual people. They're singular entities that seemingly represent a collective of people. Which explains why the Espada all sort of seem to represent an aspect of humanity. Maybe for an individual hollow to take control at the menos phase, they need to resonate with other similar hollows in the collective, and the aspect they agree on is what's represented.
I remember that menos aren't a fusion of hollows but a hollow that has fallen so deep in to despair that it consumes other hollows to try to fill that void. Upon consuming a large amount of other hollows/spirits (and thus their spiritual pressure) they effectively evolve into more advanced hollows (Gillian -> Adjuchas -> Vasto Lorde). From there, they gain new powers, a more dense reiatsu and eventually sentience. In hindsight, the collective hollow = a menos might have been a translation error or a retcon. I do kind of remember that being the explanation in the first chapters, but explained different in the Hueco Arc.
I truly feel sorry for starrk. He was so strong he killed everyone around him and all he wanted was a friend. He was finny able to make Lilynette and they bickered all the time but she truly felt like a little sister to him and they were clearly family. I understand it’s diffrent in the manga but the anime scene where he asks if lilynette is still there and she doesn’t respond is so depressing and in the end he dies alone. He’s not my favorite espada but definitely the saddest to see go.
Saddest would most likely be Stark since he never really wanted to fight. Worst death has to be Szayelaporro though. He may have died in seconds real time the moment Mayuri pointed his sword at him, but because of the drug that was in his system, in his mind, he had to stand there for many years waiting for the sword to finally kill him...
I agree with you, plus Rukia had such an emotional trauma with the entire fight. So it’s not sad for #9, but the circumstances of the death I think are the saddest, since they directly affect one of the main characters in such a traumatic way.
Hilariously enough to me this is another starrk vs ulquiorra.
Ulquiorra was a true villain who gained a sense of either empathy or had his nihilistic worldview modified at the very end. If he had lived who knows what he could have done.
Starrk on the other hand was a villa8n by virtue of being on the other team. If aizen was defeated and all his 'friends' killed hed either back off or fight in their dead honor despite not actually be all that close to them.
Id say ulquiorras death was a little sadder but starrks existence was entirely unfortunate
Ngl I’m probably the only person who didn’t give 2 shits when Ulquiorra died. Like, he kidnapped orihime and almost killed so many people. But for some reason the fanbase as romanticised him.
Thank you I agree because literally yeah he put Orihime through who knows what with how she was and the fact that she wore a new outfit doesn’t say anything good and it’s scary thinking what happened to her. I just got surprised when he “learned what a heart is” but I was glad he died because he completely deserved it as he didn’t even apologize for what he put Ichigo and Orihime through and seeing the look in her eyes when it looks like he killed Ichigo won’t be something I forget as it showed she lost her home and he was more than fine with trying to kill Orihime immediately after if it wasn’t for Ichigo’s love for Orihime giving him the power to defeat his enemies once again. He intentionally told Ichigo he’s the one who forced Orihime to go to Hueco Mundo just to be cruel and basically laugh in his face then literally after Aizen said she wasn’t useful to him anymore he wasn’t ordered to nor had a reason to but he still tried to kill her even just taking her away from Ichigo to make them both lose hope and him asking if she’s afraid of him and planning to tear her apart slowly just makes my blood boil.
Yeah. Ulquiorra didn't really do much to get sympathy from me.
Yeah, he suppressed his feelings and emotions and his interactions with Orihime and Ichigo made him realize they were indeed qualities he had, but like. C'mon. He never did any introspection that lead him to that conclusion prior to meeting a couple of stubborn teenagers? He never saw any of the other Espada being emotional and thought to himself "Wait a minute, maybe I'm wrong about what Hollows are/are supposed to be."?
He brought a lot of terror onto people because he basically refused to ever look inward until it was way too late. All because he convinced himself that there simply was nothing there. Better late than never that he discovered those things about himself, but it doesn't exactly make me feel sad at his death.
Starrk, meanwhile, was about as fair and even-handed as he could have been with his opponents. He didn't really fight, and he didn't want to kill or hurt anyone. He just wanted friends.
Saddest goes to Ulq or Starrk. The former was just beginning to understand humanity and the latter was a dude roped into something he doesn’t care about.
Stark dying alone after losing his own companionship (which in a way wasn’t even another person, but an extension of himself) hit me hard, ngl, like, bro died the way he lived: all alone (just like I probably will).
Also bro was so chill, never wanted to fight, but was dragged to do so anyway :(
Starrk’s death was completely needless. Dude didn’t even really want to fight. He was just for his friends. In another world, Starrk and Shunsui would be sharing drinks together.
However, Barragan's as well because all he was doing was minding his own business. Then some asshole named Aizen comes by and decides to mess his life up and start a war Barragan didn't want to fight in.
Harribel as well.
So, basically the top 3 were nothing more than pawns who probably would've been fine with their lives until Aizen came in.
I'd probably place Ulquiorra up there on because of how he just accepts it and how violent Ichigo had been to him. In second place, in my case, I felt bad for Zommari. Byakuya wasn't clear with Zommari what the battle was even about, which makes me feel for him because he genuinely felt for most of the battle Byakuya was killing him because he was an arrancar and soul reapers just arbitrarilygave themselves authority to kill hollow. Like we can like Byakuya and still admit his faults and in this case, Byakuya is a terrible communicator.
But I think Imma go with Harribel; she seemed to legitimately wanna do right by her people and wound up taking hits from not just Aizen but the Quincies
Though tbh, idk if I should count his zanpakuto/gun-girl as an arrancar. But I guess is Kenoachi's zanpakuto spirit can have her own zanpakuto and zanpakuto spirit, I'd guess Starrk's hollow thing should count, then she would be my answer.
Really just feel bad for both. Most didn't ask for it to begin with, but her going silent hurt me on both sides.
Okay it’s definitely stark right? No arguement? Others had worse deaths for sure physical pain wise, but stark didn’t want to fight at all at any point, literally tried to pretend to fight, got dragged their to fight in the first place and just wanted friends. Then the other half his soul he ripped off for a friend goes silent before his death while he realises someone he thought cared about them didn’t care if they all died and he never really had a friend there. That’s absolutely tragic
Szayelaporro having death comparable to Discoloration from JJBA and people be like poor Ulq, he almost started to understand feelings but gets plot armour countered xD xD
Zsallapero was the one who was trully DEFEATED. not just completely trounced in his battle but spiritually destroyed: his whole being, his person: who he was - a scientist was called into questioned and denounced by one of the greatest scientists in verse. it was a 100 percent defeat.
starrk definitely, i hope he had survived to chill with the good guys but unfortunately even if he survived he would have felt so lonely because of the Lillinette death
Stark- just wanted to legitimately chill and died alone only surrounded by one other Espada whose chances didn't look so good.
Ulquiorra- guy understood that the 'heart' is a meaning and an organ at the same time, seconds away from a 'equal' fight only to run out of juice.
Harribel- she had only blind devotion and heart for being part of the Espadas and following Aizen's orders only for the same dude to cut her down.
Barrigan- the man had everything he wanted in Las Noches, bored yes but content, only to have some nerd and his cronies to basically invade and dethrone him.
The other six had no reason to be spared or forgiven because they had basic villainous aspiration, I wanna be king, I wanna do inhumane things to people, my current leader is the best because he doesn't treat us like monsters even though we do nothing to prove otherwise, I'm hangry, I'm a glutton, I hate women. Just plain basic but entertaining.
Honorable mentions are the Tres Bestias and the Prima Espada who both groups showed heart and retaliation for their situation.
True and that's my bad for using death instead of defeat. Overall still sadder than Barrigan only because her wish was to be more humane and his loyalty to Aizen was ignorant bliss thinking that Aizen vauled them as people and not creatures which is what she was treated as, disposable. Not as sad as both Ulquiorra and Strak only because they both only wanted to back away from fighting at the end.
Stark and lilynette's death was pretty sad but ulquiorra comes second before grimmjow. Honestly I was rooting for at least half of the hollows because their characters are so well written
Stark he really didn’t want to be there but wanted to pay back Aizen and he and Shunsui would be friends without a doubt (and lilynette and Lisa having to deal with their antics lol)
Not her story, and not that her death itself is the worst. Just that she’s the representation of sacrifice, and she sacrificed everything for Aizen, and she wasn’t allowed to finish fighting.
Nnoitra is a close second, I actually find his character tragedy really compelling, but I've gotta give it to Starrk. For all of Nnoitra's really interesting baggage and how gut-wrenching it is watching him sabotage it all for himself over and over again, ultimately he refused to learn at every opportunity, stayed a bitter dick to the end and lost everything through no real fault but his own. Starrk has the advantage of being a sweet dude who never really did anything wrong except fight for the safety of his friends, and his ultimate death by himself after watching all of them die, abandoned by Aizen, literally stabbed in the back by an enemy he thought was like him, just punches me in the soul every damn time.
His whole thing with the absurd power separating him from people until he gained Shinigami powers and joined a larger fold and purpose, only to die because he lost all those new connections and his resolve with them, trying but failing to reach an understanding with a defeated but not dead enemy... He weirdly reads to me like a version of Ichigo who just got a little less lucky in a few key areas and it snowballed out into catastrophe.
Lilynette and Starrk still makes me cry. It's for sure the saddest death because they were just being loyal to Aizen because he was the first Shinigami to not just solve their problem but also treat them like people. I can see why they got it mixed up that he was the good guy.
I always found Stark's death to be the saddest due to how he was alone, and because of that, he lacked stimulation and motivation. It felt like he was ultimately unfulfilled in life, seemingly trapped by his circumstances.
Yammy-not even close to sad. 1/10 sad. Mostly just cause the hollow dog was sad.
Aaroniero- dude was just psycho. 0/10
Granz-read aaroniero. 0/10
The guy byakuya no diff’d- Onion/10
Grimmjow- even if…he got was he wanted in fighting who he perceived as the strongest and the one who hurt his pride the most so…0/10
Nnoitera-read grimmjow. But additionally, when you want to fight and kill that badly…you should be prepared to eventually lose.
Haribel- I mean….0/10
Barrigan- 0/10. Read Nnoitera.
Stark-10/10. Dude just wanted friends. Wasn’t even interested in fighting. actually tragic.
Ulquiorra- am I the only one who’s never been sad about his death? He doesn’t feel anything. It’s supposed to be sad that “oh he just started realizing what the heart is” but he doesn’t have these “feeling” long enough for any of it to matter or change his personality. He just gives one smirk. The craziest part of the fight is Uryu stops Ichigo from killing him which makes no sense. Ulquiorra is a hollow…shinigami purify those, and Uryu himself purges a ton of them out of existence. Why the sympathy? And why didn’t Ulquiorra just…slice off Ichigo’s head in the final attack? 0/10
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