In the manga and anime series Bleach, hollows are soul-devouring evil ghosts, comparable to the vetala of Hindu mythology. They are the principal antagonists during the first part of the manga and remain a primary threat in most of the series. Hollows reside in the Hueco Mundo (Spanish, lit. hollow world; grammatically, the phrase would be Mundo Hueco, meaning 'a world that is hollow'), but can cross over to the human world and Soul Society. The kanji used by Tite Kubo for hollow is 虚, which means emptiness (or 虚ろ, utsuro - hollow). However, it's pronounced hollow (horō) and does not use its native Japanese pronunciation.
Overview
Hollows are former pluses (deceased human souls) that lose their hearts to despair or remain in the real world for too long. Any spirit that is not guided to Soul Society by a shinigami may eventually descend into a hollow. A soul usually takes months to become a hollow (if not longer), reflected by the length of the soul's Chain of Destiny (因果の鎖, inga no kusari), which resides in the same ___location as their heart would be. The Chain of Destiny slowly corrodes over time, reflecting the warping of the soul's ties to the living world. The process can be accelerated under certain conditions, such as being attacked by another hollow or through the use of certain spiritual powers. When the chain completely decays, the soul is warped into a unique and monsterous form with a vaguely skeletal mask and a large hole where their chain was once connected.
In Bleach, the majority of ghosts peacefully move on to Soul Society after their deaths. Some, however, stay in the living world to fulfill certain goals, such as looking after a loved one, protecting a particular ___location, or to continue a grudge from beyond the grave. However, with only limited abilities to interact with the living, and by definition tied to these goals, many ghosts find they are unable to cope when their loved ones move on (or old enemies forget them). At this point, some will become dangerously obsessed with fulfilling those goals, even if the means to fulfill those goals renders them empty (for example, killing anyone who comes near a loved one in order to keep them from hurting that person). In doing so, the ghost warps into a hollow and, ironically, often makes the focus of their obsession into their first victims.
Once a soul becomes a hollow, it is driven to devour other souls (living or dead) to fill the void caused by its descent. While their former obsession often becomes their first target, most hollows will eventually become mindless creatures concerned only with finding the most potent souls to devour. Stronger (or more evil) hollows are often able to retain their intelligence in hollow form, making them more dangerous than the average hollow. While most hollows are evil, or at the very least mindless, at least a few are not, as is the case with Nell Tu (an arrancar) and her hollow companions.
The most distinctive feature of a hollow, their mask, is formed to protect the naked instinct that is left in a being after the loss of its heart, and in some ways is the tangible form of the hollow's madness. The masks of different hollows can differ greatly in shape and form, but they are always white and skull-like. The masks also obscure the original identity of the hollows, but if shattered, the hollow may be able to temporarily resume its original form and personality. The hollows have different abilities and differing monstrous appearances; the low level hollows are small and can only attack in a melee style, whereas the bigger or stronger hollows have all sorts of killing implements. Hollows can range from furry (like mammals) or lizard-like in appearance to demonic.
Hollows are usually killed by splitting their mask (along with their head) in two. A sufficiently large wound (splitting one at the torso, for instance) also seems to be effective. When this is done by a shinigami's zanpakutō, the hollow is not truly killed, but rather its spirit is purified of the sins it committed as a hollow. This allows the spirit within to enter the Soul Society as any normal soul would. In cases where a hollow committed great sins as a mortal, its purification will summon the gates of hell, which drag the soul in. When a hollow is killed by a Quincy, however, it is completely destroyed, soul and all, which has potentially disastrous effects on the spiritual balance of the worlds.
Types of hollows
Though most hollows are simply transformed human souls, a number of unique types of hollows exist.
Menos
Menos (Spanish for "less" or "lesser") are created by numerous hollows piling up on top of one another and merging. These composite entities are far more dangerous than the average hollow, and as such would pose a serious threat to both the living and the dead should they ever leave Hueco Mundo. They are considered so dangerous that Soul Society created highly trained strike teams specifically devoted to handling menos incursions. Three types of menos-class hollows exist: gillian, adjuchas, and vasto lorde.
Gillian-class menos (girian) are the weakest class of menos. They are a more literal expression of the many hollows used to create them, as they are quite massive but lacking any agility or intelligence to match. While a gillian-class menos is quite powerful, they are still much weaker than a shinigami lieutenant. According to Hitsugaya, they are comparable to "foot-soldiers" and have a uniform appearance. In Soul Society, gillians are known as menos grande and are shown in textbooks discussing menos. Menos grande literally means "big minus" in Spanish ("less big" is also a possible translation). Similarly, the kanji for menos grande is 大虚 (lit. big emptiness).
Adjuchas-class menos (ajūkasu) are a much smaller class of menos. They look humanoid, but appear very wide and bulky with ridges on their heads (similar to the ones on Yammy's head). They are also much smarter than the gillians and have the power to match. It is likely they could fight evenly with at least a shinigami lieutenant. They watch over the many gillian-class menos. This type of menos is much smaller in population compared to the gillian class.
Vasto lorde-class menos (vastorōde) are the most powerful form a menos can take. They take on a much more humanoid appearance and each one is stronger than an average shinigami captain; Tōshirō Hitsugaya claims that ten of them would be enough to defeat all of Soul Society. They are the least common form of menos (Soul Society does not have definite information on the number of vasto lorde) and are believed to only exist within the very depths of Hueco Mundo. It seems that Sōsuke Aizen has important plans with them which haven't been revealed as of yet. Ulquiorra's mask makes the shape of a "Vasto Lorde" mask, but it is still unclear if he is one or not.
Arrancar
An arrancar (sometimes written allankar or arankaru) is a hollow that has removed its mask and gained shinigami powers. The name arrancar is a Spanish verb meaning "to remove" or "to rip off," a reference to an arrancar's removal of its hollow mask. In the manga, it is written as arankaru (破面, lit. rip mask) but has no native Japanese pronunciation, instead using the katakana for arankaru.
Few hollows have the potential to remove their hollow masks normally, and even those that can are quite weak. Sōsuke Aizen is able to artifically create arrancar with the Orb of Distortion, which also gives the new arrancar significantly higher power levels. The process of transforming a hollow into an arrancar is called shinigamification (死神化, shinigami-ka).[1]
Arrancar and ordinary hollows differ in two ways: the ___location of their holes and the almost-total disappearance of their masks. The natural or weaker arrancar have considerably larger portions of their masks intact and usually do not have their hollow holes moved. When hollow become arrancar, the chances of them retaining a humanoid form increase with their intelligence; only vasto lorde-based arrancar will definitely assume a humanoid form. If powerful enough, an arrancar can seal its power in the form of a zanpakutō. Unlike a shinigami, this zanpakutō is by no means sentient. It is simply the hollow's former form sealed into a sword. Therefore, an arrancar's release of their zanpakutō is merely a temporary restoration of the arrancar's true power and form. An arrancar release is called resurrección (Spanish for "resurrection"). Arrancar do not have a known second release.
Arrancar ranks
The arrancar under Sōsuke Aizen's command are arranged into various ranks based on their strength. Not all of the existing arrancar are under Aizen's command, mostly through lack of interest on Aizen's part.
The Espada (十刃; lit. ten swords; sword in Spanish) are the top-ranked arrancar in Aizen's army. Each Espada member is chosen for their superior combat ability and then assigned a number from 1 to 10 that indicates their rank and relative power level, which is tattooed somewhere on their body (Grimmjow's is on his lower back, for instance). The Espada are given control over the Números. Espada are the most powerful fighters of the Menos and their strength far surpasses the average Número, similar to the power gap between the captains and lieutenants in Gotei 13. The Espada consist of nine males and one female.[2]
The Números (Spanish: numbers) are arrancar who were formerly Menos. They are assigned a two digit number at birth from 11 to 99 to indicate their age (Número 11 is the oldest, Número 99 is the youngest). They are regarded as combat specialists. The basic Número uniform consists of a white-collared jacket and robes held with a black sash. However, the uniform is customizable, giving each Número a sense of individuality. The fighting ability of Números is thought to be superior to all other arrancar except for the Espada (current and former).
The Privaron (Spanish: deprived) are former Espada who have lost their rank and are assigned a three-digit number. Being former Espada, they are far stronger than the normal Números. They reside in Tres Cifras, which translates literally from Spanish as "three digits". As mentioned by Dordonii, these former 'naturally created' Espada were rendered obsolete after Aizen began artificially creating arrancar to meet his own standards.[3]
The Exequias (Spanish: funeral) are arrancar that are part of the execution division, apparently charged with dealing against intruders/rebels.[4]
Abilities
Like shinigami, hollows have a multitude of combat skills and abilities, most of which are usually unique to specific hollows. The more powerful hollows, however, have access to a range similar techniques of greater power or use than their own unique skills. Hollows usually acquire energy to power their abilities by devouring souls, but can also ingest energy from the air when in spiritual realms such as Hueco Mundo.[5]
- Cero (虚閃, lit. "hollow flash;" the pronunciation is Spanish for zero) are high-powered energy blasts that can be fired from the mouth or hand. Only menos, arrancar, and vizard have so far been shown to use cero attacks, and it appears that higher classes of hollow can use it more efficiently. It is unknown whether sufficiently strong regular hollows are capable of it, but Ichigo Kurosaki's inner hollow was able to use the attack when it fully took control of Ichigo during his training with the vizard.[6]
- Negación (反膜, lit. "counter membrane;" the pronunciation is Spanish for negation) fields are used to rescue fellow hollows. Only the gillian-class menos have shown the ability to use it. Negación fields surround a target in a square beam of light that isolates the target from the dimension they are currently in, making it impossible to harm them. The field then pulls the target towards the menos that created the field.[7]
- Gonzui (魂吸) is a technique used by Yammy to suck the souls from a large number of living people. Those with above average energy are able to survive the attack, but are left weakened.
- Pesquisa (探査回路, lit. "inquiry circuit;" the pronunciation is Spanish for search) is the arrancar equivalent of the shinigami ability to sense spiritual pressure.[8]
- Hierro (鋼皮, lit. "steel skin;" the pronunciation is Spanish for iron) refers to the ultratough skin of the arrancar; while very strong, it is by no means invincible.[9]
- Sonido (響転, lit. "resounding revolution;" the pronunciation is Spanish for sound) is the arrancar equivalent of the shinigami flash steps; it allows the user to travel at incredibly high speeds for short distances..[10]
- Bala (虚弾, lit. "hollow bullet;" the pronunciation is Spanish for bullet) is a weaker but quicker alternative to the regular cero attack. The technique hardens the user's spiritual pressure and fires it at around twenty times the speed of a cero blast.
- Garganta (黒腔, lit. "black cavity;" the pronunciation is Spanish for throat) is how larger hollows and arrancar move to and from Hueco Mundo. It literally tears open the dimensional fabric separating the worlds, revealing a tunnel of whirling, torrential energy that must be focused and solidified to create a discernible pathway.[11]
References
- ^ Bleach manga; chapter 175, page 11.
- ^ Bleach manga; chapter 244, pages 16-17.
- ^ Bleach manga; chapter 254, page 1.
- ^ Bleach manga; chapter 254, pages 12-15.
- ^ Bleach manga; chapter 245, page 16.
- ^ Bleach manga; chapter 222, page 4-5, 8.
- ^ Bleach manga; chapter 178, page 10.
- ^ Bleach manga; chapter 199, page 16.
- ^ Bleach manga; chapter 203, page 01.
- ^ Bleach manga; chapter 210, page 11.
- ^ Bleach manga; chapter 240, page 03.