HUGE BLEACH REVEAL | SOUL KING EXPLAINED | BLEACH’S BIGGEST MYSTERY 

Soul King is the saddest and most tragic character in Bleach hands down

Fitting that the head of the Shiba clan was against the mutilation of the Soul King and even offered to take his place. Showing us that Ichigo descends from the most benevolent of the 5 Great noble families. And it makes the fact that Ichigo was the one to free the Soul King from his suffering quite poetic. Of course, the knowledge that Ichibe was planning to turn Ichigo into the new Soul King, adds a dark edge to the whole thing. It seems that the ones that strive to be protectors, are fated to be used by the ones in control of the system.

It's even more tragic when you find out after tybw, yhwach himself suffers the same fate as his father. Yhwach spent his whole life trying to end his father's suffering, but he ends up in the same state as his father in the end.

Fun fact if you connect all the stories from books 1 to 3, you will know Urahara absolutely refused to create and hand over the hogyoku during the last war to Ichigo because it would turn Ichigo into a soul king himself. He clearly knew the fate that awaited Ichigo because he was one of the people who had learned about the history between the 5 ancestral noble families and the soul king as hinted by Tokinada in the first volume of LN.

It's also darkly interesting how widespread the cover up about the ancestor's great sin with the King is. In CFYOW Mayuri states that some historians who attempted to piece together Soul Society's origins all vanished under very questionable circumstances. Imagine the amount of lives ended to keep the truth buried.

Imagine getting mutilated and sealed by those you're trying to protect

Makes sense why Shinigami go to hell after death, as it’s punishment for _their_ original sin.

Honestly I like the fact that Kubo didn't tell us about the Soul King in the Bleach series. Made us think Yhwach was the unjustifiably evil guy while Ichigo & SS were the good guys. Then after we've had that feelgood ending to the series, he tells us about the original sin. Thus justifying the actions of the Quincy during the TYBW arc. In a way, Yhwach was just trying to free his father from his miserable existence.

What hits me most is that the Soul King had all the powers that Ichigo now gained. The power of the Hollows, Shinigami, Full bringers and Quincy. How powerful would he have been in order to cause Hueco Mundo to become a wasteland.

The Soul King didn't resist probably because he had a more powerful version of The Almighty ability and saw the distant future and knew exactly how it would turn out and decided it was what he wanted. By betraying him the noble families sowed the seeds for their own eventual destruction and probably created the groundwork for events to play out the way the Soul King wanted.]

being a kid is hating aizen because hes “evil” and “scary” and “powerful” being an adult is growing up and realising. He had a *damn good point*

ichibei is one of the most interesting characters in the series imo. The only living character who's been around from the true beginning of the world who has seen everything, and who really exists in a pure morally grey area - his only motivation seems to be to maintain a (powerless/mutilated) soul king in place to keep the worlds separate, and he's incredibly indifferent about everything else. Would love him to get some more screentime/backstory in the upcoming hell arc (and of course they better do his fight with yhwach justice in the anime)

I love the fact that the Soul King is just a puppet figure more or less and I love that it's implied that hell existed before the Soul King split the world but not stated outright.

I personally like that all of this lore was not directly relayed in the main line manga plot. What sets bleach apart for me is the feeling that there is a much bigger world that we are just scraping the surface of. Not explaining what so many of the characters mean but showing that others fully understand them is a big way this is conveyed.

I hope they explain how Hell came to be. Also all of this needed to in the war arc. It’s very important information for understanding the world, understanding the feud between the Quincy and the Shinigami and understanding the main Villain. Hope the anime will fix that and hopefully we get a mention of Hell in the anime or the new arc in the manga.

It wasnt until recently that thanks to your vidoes, i learned the Soul King's iris's were not a white dot surrounded by darkness. It was the ALMIGHTY, i thought it was cool how after all of these years im still learning about details i missed.

It seems to me that Ywhach wants to free Reio from his imprisonment by killing him. I think it's mercy that ywhach does to ensure for Reio to be from his prison. I think what Ywhach hates about Reio is him accepting the humiliation that the shinigami did to him.

They better include the Can’t Fear Your Own World novels in the anime. Not only because it helps wrap up the end of the TYBW arc, but also gives a very much needed backstory to the overall Bleach world. It also introduces us to the person who murdered Kaname’s friend, that lead him down his path.

That makes a lot more scenes and ties together the almost unrelated feeling the thousands year bloodwar seemed to have. I do hope we hear more about it in the new anime. I love bleach and anyone who says it doesn't have world building even without the soul kings explanation never looked closely at bleach. The soul society is a fleshed out world and the hollows world is its own place entirely. There is so much for both that it is impossible to understand how people can hold that opinion.

Theory: it is said that when the soul king was living, he had 5 irises in each eye but when he was trapped, it only became 4. The missing 2 became the hogyokus of aizen and urahara.

So here's a thought about Aizen's plan. It seems fair to assume that Aizen was aware that a transcendent being was necessary to hold the realms together. You have to ask the question, once Aizen killed the zero division, what was he going to do? Knowing how he feels about it, I doubt he would leave the soul king as he was just to hold reality together while he ruled. Since he was aware of the true nature of the hogyoku, he likely intended to use it's wish granting properties to tie the stability of the realms to his own immortal existence, and then dispose of the soul king after he was no longer needed to stabilize the universe. If he succeeded in using the hogyoku in that way, and became the new lynchpin of reality without being imprisoned and mutilated, then he would be a soul king that could actually rule all of creation. Not just a lifeless figure head. That would also put him in a position where his death would result in the destruction of the balance of the universe, therefore doubling down on his immortality. I actually think he would be a fairly good ruler. I bet he would create a new zero division that had both Shinigami and Arrancar working together. I could see him assigning a "General" of each race to rule the respective realms. A Vasto Lorde Arrancar to Rule Hueco Mundo, A new perfected Vizard to rule Seireitei (above Yamamoto) a Fulbringr to rule the living world, and I bet he could even find a loyal Quincy out there somewhere to rule the dangai and the weird shadow world (since after Yhwach it prob still exists) they would be like his 4 generals, and they would all report back to him. Weird little theory, but would def be super cool lol

Truly the biggest victim of the saga. Made worse by the fact that his fate at the hands of the ancestors and the reasons for sealing him is a deadly secret, either covered up by twisting lies/propaganda or maintained via murder with Yoruichi herself ready to kill to keep it so. And to think Ichigo was nearly made to endure that nightmare existence.

yhwach hatred for the soul reapers is actually understandable all this just so he can save his dad from humiliation end his years of endless torture.

I wish Kubo would have spent more time with the soul king, original 13 , and lore in general.

story of the soul King makes me think that the soul society might be the real villains pretty much enslaving this dude his son is trying to end his suffering

Hope the upcoming anime brings the backstory of soul king, on how he created the 3 realms and how was Yhwach born! It would be a amazing moment!

The soul kings life must be depressing

Soul king's story is a god damn tragedy

It now makes a lot of sense that aizen’s character philosophy was based on Nietzsche. “God is dead, God remains dead for we have killed him” Soul king + Jesus Christ = coincidence? I think NOT! Also I believe because his eyes are that of the all mighty eyes I believe that he knew all of what would happen to himself from being ripped apart by the nobles to his death at the hands of ichigo(maybe even yhwach’s own fate in the end(?)).

Wait, I just noticed that you did not do a can't fear your own world video. It will be great if you can, your way of explaining is very good

They really need to add the Soul King’s backstory in the anime. I think I would’ve had a stronger emotional connection with Yhwach if his father’s storyline wasn’t so mysterious. I had still assumed he was a misguided son going against the sacrifice of the soul king, and boy was I kinda wrong.

Soul king in one piece: 😁 Soul king in bleach: 😦

I feel complete sympathy for the soul king. What a great video..great job man..

Not only the world building and the lore in bleach is amazing, the potential of the story is absolutely mind blown as well. The build up for this reveal to Ichigo would be insane and having him and now his son to be a potential candidate to replace the soul king will ultimately made Ichigo the most dangerous antagonist of the story and will solidify the words of the villains came before ; "Do not trust the shinigami"....

It's really sad to know that after the Straw Hat pirates adventures are over, Brooke the soul king will be imprisoned moments after regaining his fleshy body and used to create the Bleach universe.

Wooooooow I’m blown away i thought I missed this somehow. I thought I knew but this makes much more sense to me now and thanks for the info.

Reason uruhara didn't go further with his plans was because he didn't have a better one. I think the hogykou was his first step. Aizen fucked it up because he realized kiuske was far more clever and intelligent. But he got greedy

Does this mean the soul king was reborn?... since he was slain by a zanpakuto? If so ...was he reborn as kazui? Could this explain what happened to YWCH in the epilogue? Did the soul king foresee these events and didnt resist because of it?

Thank you my friend for this upload!! I have 35 minutes left at work and this will help! Good luck on the next video!

Great video! Genius work by Kubo!!

Honestly...you can't help but feel something for Yhwach and even Aizen knowing what we know. Yes they're evil bastards and far from innocent clearly...but what they did to the Soul King, even for the sake of maintaining reality itself...is arguably evil itself.

This video adds a lot of context. Wow. Makes you wonder if the soul society is worth defending as it is. Thank you for outlining what some of us could not see. I feel sad for the soul kings existence up till that point. I wonder what he thought trapped in that shell.

i have been watching his videos for over an year now , trust me your subscription is worth it .

This video did help to clear things up, thanks.

I felt that after knowing his story and ywachs, its almost like its a deliberate cycle that once every millennia or so the king needs to be replaced but with an almost Ragnarok level event required before so

So the Shinigami were really the villains? 😮

bleach is such a masterpiece and is officially my favorite anime now

Dam knowing all that I side with the Quincy fudge soul society

i feel like maybe the Soul King thinks things are better this way because he doesn't have to kill Hollows. like he just annihilated Hollows to protec non-hollows but he's part Hollow too, maybe it straight up felt bad about having to erase Hollows

The reason that most of this didn't get into the manga was Tito Kube's health failling after years of overwork, which led to the 1000 years bloodwar arc being sligthly rushed. Another fun thing to remind oneself of is that karma did catch up to the five founders, since the zero squad was defeated and their descendants which had captain level strenght but weren't really immortal couldn't return to the wheel of reincarnation because of their stolen power and where literally cast into hell by their own subordinates.

It finally makes sense now. I finally get it now. Thank you for the info.

You just earned a sub love your vid’s this is the first one of your vids I have ever seen

I want the anime to add his backstory not only because it expands the lore, but also because I find interesting how he willingly let himself be mutilated and put into that state. It makes you wonder why he didn't put up a fight.

I think the Soul King’s story is more relatable to Jesus. Than the story of God. He came into a world of darkness to save people. He was betrayed by those close to him. He didn’t fight it. An his sacrifice is the gateway between the realms

Awesome job man you nailed it this is the core of bleach

Good content. I hope they go balls deep into his character in the tybw arc

Beautiful story. Bleach is more nuanced than a lost of mangas. It wouldn't surprise me if the Soul King was actually a transcendent hollow, the first of his kind. Like how hollows piling up upon each other or being devoured by others end up as one being that eventually looks human again but is much more powerful. That is what the Soul King feels like. Like an union of all kings of souls.

I think the Soul King knew what they were going to do to him. His eyes just like his son's allow him o perceive the future and pick the best outcome.

Your videos are just the best. Thank you for the amazing content and quality videos.

Crazy part is that urahara (probably spelled it wrong) was trying to solve this problem with the hogioku(probably spelled that wrong too) and was casted out for it. Labeled a traitor. Dude tryna end someone’s suffering and nobles is like nah

Wow, this backstory is really intriguing. Definitely would have been great to put into the main story. Perhaps the potential future Howl from the Jaws of Hell Arc could connect to this. After all, it's likely that the traitorous Noble Family ancestors are somewhere in hell, not to mention various captain-rank shinigami that represented dark histories of Soul Society. Not to say that all captains were bad, like I feel bad for good-guy Ukitake, so it'd be great for the future manga to help resolve these things.

CFYOW LIGHT NOVEL Breakdown and analysis 🙏

Knowing who the soul king truly is, was quite enlightening. Appreciate the knowledge.😎

Brilliant video 🎉! A ver good explanation!! Please, could you do one of the Hell realm ! Best wishes

You absolutely NAILED this topic, and actually made the series better for even longtime manga/anime fans like myself. Thank you so much!

1. Another way to look at the Soul King, would be through the lens of Jurassic Park. He might only be a fossil. Like how dinosaur DNA was obtained through a mosquito, the Soul King might be just like that. 2. Without reading the manga, you would never even know there was a Soul King. It's amazing there are details of the world of Bleach that not everyone knows, or even has heard of. I find that interesting.

well, I think is a weird story because if those original noble families were powerful enough to dismember and trap the soul king then they could've help him to take down all the hollows, and build up soul society from there, I think there should be more than "these 5 were evil and did it"

LOVED THIS!

I feel like the 'original sin' is a parallel to the East vs West Dichtomoy of our final spiritual faiths and is best emphasized by Bleach. In Abrahamic Religions, there is no reincarnation. In fact, that is strictly usually an 'eastern' thing, found usually in Buddhism or Hinduism. But even with this, there is distinct layers of afterlives. There is of course 'Heaven' and 'Hell', but also 'Purgatory' or 'Outer Darkness' (which is usually interpertated as either finality of soul destruction for atheists in most typical christian branches or exile/hell for Mormons.) It began when Adam and Eve ate the apple, despite being told not too by a higher power and thus lead to our 'exile' from the Garden into our world. The Garden is supposedly in Heaven, but some believe it is actually on this earth, just lost to time. In Eastern Religions, reincarnation is beget by Karma. There is 'afterlives' but they are temporary. In that sense, Bleach is that to a T. Even in the Soul Society, Shinigami are not immortal. They can be killed by external means or more often than not, they can just die by age, kind of like us. It is almost contradictory until you realize that in Eastern Religion, even Deva or 'Gods' are not immortal by similar rules either. The sin for Eastern Religions is not primordial or 'original' but rather a spiritual defect, we all have unless we achieve enlightenment. How fitting the Soul King was betrayed by mortals and mutilated as it is the convergence of both themes. No one in bleach, not even the Shinigami are perfectly 'good' and the original sin is mortals betraying god and essentially exiling him from the realities he created. In that sense, it makes sense the Quincy are German-inspired. Not necessarily 'crusaders', but very, very close. And with that, you can argue they are not even the 'bad' guys. They are just trying to undo the original sin, for better or worse. It is poetically carthatic the main character, who is probably closest to 'good' we have in the story and was not bound by this history was the one who killed the Soul King. I personally thought the moment even at the time I was reading bleach and 'tired' of it was my favorite moment of the arc. It was a twist I did not expect and it only get better with age, even though I never read the novels.

It seemed like the manga kept suggesting that Soul Society is not actually the pure, good society that it seems. But it was never explained beyond little hints. It could be that Kubo just didn't have the time since the TYBW arc already had a bunch of stuff cut out. Or maybe he didn't flesh out the story until the novels were written. Kubo has always been good at fitting pieces of the puzzle together before even he knew what the big picture was.

Great video

very interesting...I watched bleach so long ago and this explained a lot. thanks

I'm glad Kubo collaborated with Narita on the novels.

I honestly doubt all of this will be included in the TYBW adaptation. As long as they end up adapting the novels afterwards, then I think it’s alright.

The auto-captions translated Hueco Mundo into Guacamundo. I'm now imagining this Mexican-themed place where everyone wears chip-hats filled with guacamole.

This video single handedly explained my things I myself couldn't exactly see clearly. I had no idea the 5 shinigami protecting the soul king were the cause of his imprisonment. Very insightful!

After this I feel like the soul kings story would be an amazing manga with a lot of interesting story and fight ideas with an INSANE main character the soul kings powers have potential to be top 1 in all of anime and manga in terms of power and the betrayal of the nobles could make for an interesting take on the Jesus and Judas biblical story bro a god betrayed by his disciples

I would like to get a full backstory on his specific powers, he was obviously like Yhwach, but on a much more powerful scale. I also wonder if he considered himself a Quincy or just a powerful being. The name Quincy had to have come from him in some way.

Very good explanation

We need to see the return of the soul king in the hell arc to help Ichigo safe the world

The more l think about it , the more Aizen's and Yhwatch's plan makes sense .

This needs to animated!!!!

Love your content

Is it weird that I'm now vouching for Aizen.

I love soul king his background is very sad too

The right hand of the Soul King being identified by Yuha as something he's blind to as well as referring to him as "the real Soul King" he wished when invading the Royal Palace. He is the manifestation of "stagnation"; the same state that Yuha was cursed with when born. By sapping life energy from his hosts, Yuha was able to overcome this "stagnation" and gain independence for himself. From what we know about Yuha, it's the same base substance that he imparts to his hosts that when concentrated makes Stillsilver. By leaching that substance onto others, he's able to both transmit his power to them and steal it due to them being tainted by that substance. Their shared Reishi is the reason they're able to stick around. It's the power of suppression and stagnation that allowed the Soul King to will himself to stay as he is within his prison for what at the time believed to be the greater good. Yuha was then likely born as a product of Reio's Almighty power manifesting for himself an avatar that would be able to express his "other desire"; the will to change and evolve.

and the fact Ichigo possessed all of these powers is no wonder ichibei was planning to use him as an alternate

Cant wait for the anime to explore on this

Now I think yhwach was right

We all know the Japanese industry wanted Bleach finished abruptly, and they demanded it to end, so that they can continue with other agendas. Perhaps the soul king is a personification of the bleach writer himself, Kubo. Split between 2 worlds: An industry that is relentlessly forcing him to end the story abruptly - signifying the perspective of Aizen, desperately trying to get rid of him and to replace him VS something more personal, like the voices of those closest to him, dissuading him to continue in his passions, and instead, to move on in order to "end his humiliation" - signifying the perspective of Yhwach.

Very informative.

The novels really are an eye opener huh

I think it would've made an amazing twist if Aizen the entire time was trying to save everyone form the Soul King. Imagine him having a vision of what the Soul King was trying to do, but no one believe him so he had to go down the extreme route that he went to make sure Ichigo could unlock way more power to help him against the Soul King.

Aizen as Soul King

this is fascinating man

I like how the music in the beginning is from the 2nd bleach movie

So not so much Soul King but Soul Prisoner

So if in the original world people just randomly became hollows over time doesn't that mean sooner or later the Soul King himself would become one too? I mean he couldn't stop others from turning so how could he stop himself? Maybe that is why he didn't fight with the 5 great families, because they had the best idea overall on how to save those that became and were eaten by hollows?

Keep it going i love your videos and im so exited for 2022 bleach and GOW Ragnarok

Feel bad for him