Introduction
Throughout the Thousand Year Blood War Arc and with Can’t Fear Your Own World, Yhwach’s method of removing life and death is seemingly ambiguous and difficult to understand. This blog aims to describe Yhwach’s original plan of attack and how it evolved/changed during the war, culminating in what his final means of action became.
The Original Plan
Yhwach’s original goal was to destabilize the Soul Cycle and kill the Soul King in order to break the balance of the universe causing it to ultimately collapse. Let’s look at the evidence that led me to such a conclusion.
Through the manga scans above it’s clear to see that, prior to Yhwach absorbing the Soul King, he was doing everything he could do to destroy the balance and cause the boundaries to collapse. We see this at the start of the war where he attempts to do so by imbalancing the Soul Cycle through erasing Hollows; however, Mayuri thwarts that plan by rebalancing the Soul Cycle through sacrificing civilians. Additionally, it’s heavily implied that the only reason Yhwach caused such unrest in Hueco Mundo, killing Hollows, imbalancing the Soul Cycle in the process, was solely to trap Ichigo in Hueco Mundo. To which Yhwach succeeds in doing so. This leads into Yhwach’s invasion of Seireitei, wherein he travels his way up to the Soul King Palace in order to kill the Soul King, which would destroy the boundaries between the realms and lead to their collapse. However, as I’ll later display, this method of eliminating the boundaries is disrupted as well, forcing Yhwach to act impromptu and adapt accordingly.
The scans I believe are most important to pay attention to are the two from CFYOW: lack of a Soul King causes the boundaries to collapse and Yhwach’s goal was to remove the boundaries. Additionally, we know that the reason Yhwach wanted to remove the boundaries was to destroy the realms and all connected to them (this will be made explicitly clear in the next section). So, Yhwach wanted to destroy the universe and his win-condition to do so was removing the boundaries separating the realms, this being possible through two methods: imbalancing the Soul Cycle or killing the lynchpin (Soul King) keeping the boundaries intact. To which, Yhwach fails at both, he doesn’t succeed in imbalancing the Soul Cycle nor removing the boundaries through killing the Soul King.
Nothing Goes According to Plan
After the Shinigami of Soul Society prevents Yhwach from destroying the universe through removing the boundary twice (Mayuri correcting the balance and Ukitake performing Kamikake to release Mimihagi to stabilize the Soul King) Yhwach is forced to change plans on the fly. The change of plans involved absorbing the Soul King and as much external power as possible in order to destroy the realms with his own power. After all, if you’re stopped from sneaking in through the window of a house (Soul Cycle imbalance) or breaking the front lock (Soul King’s death) to enter, plant a bomb (remove the boundaries), and blow the house up (destroy the realms), what’s to stop you from nuking the house from outside (destroying the realms with your own power)? Essentially, after repeated failure of trying to destroy the realms through roundabout methods, Yhwach decided to take matters into his own hands and destroy the realms himself. Allow me to lay out my evidence.
- Without Yhwach acting as the new Soul King the world will be destroyed.
- Yhwach claims he will end Soul Society and Living World, crush them, Soul Society will perish, Soul Society and Living World will lose shape when faced with his power (we even see his spiritual energy erupt outside Seireitei), reveals he wanted to merge the three realms of existence, and Askin, after Yhwach had become the Soul King, informed Kisuke that Yhwach would destroy the three realms and create something else.
- Yhwach possessed all of the Soul King’s power, stabilizing Soul Society (final paragraph in the scan).
- The Soul King can control the universal flow of souls according to Tokinada’s father (top paragraph of the scan).
- Throughout chapters 614 to 616, Kubo represents Soul Society as an orb within his end chapter sketches. In the first sketch Soul Society is fine as represented by the complete orb, in the second sketch Soul Society is facing imminent destruction due to the Soul King’s death as represented by the orb split in two, and in the third sketch Soul Society is stabilized again thanks to Mimihagi as represented by a shadowy hand fixing the orb.
- Throughout chapters 675 to 685, Kubo draws symbolic sketches that tie into the information learned in the chapter. First we see a close up of one the orbs used to represent a realm being slashed apart as it zooms out to the whole thing until it reveals multiple orbs with one completely cut in two (1, 2, 3, 4), then we see that same close up/contents of one of the orbs fall upon a set of scales as the scales collapse spilling everything (1, 2, 3, 4), until finally see that orb close up/contents for the final time fall into dust forming the word “despair” before ultimately being stomped out (1, 2, 3).
Before I elaborate on these scans, I will ask a few questions for those who aren’t convinced that Yhwach was going to bust the realms with his raw power: all Yhwach had to do was not take the Soul King’s place and the boundaries would’ve collapsed leading to universal destruction, so why didn’t he do that and why would Yhwach specifically state the realms will be destroyed in the face of his own power?
After absorbing and becoming the Soul King, it is clear that Yhwach has abandoned hopes causing universal collapse through removing the boundaries. Seeing how if that weren’t the case, Yhwach could have just left the universe without a Soul King, as without a Soul King the boundaries would be destroyed within a short time. However, as Jugram and Ichibe state, Yhwach is actually keeping everything stable after becoming the new Soul King. If Yhwach still wanted to remove the boundaries in order to destroy the realms, then his actions in becoming the new Soul King would be an inherent contradiction. The only possible way to explain away this apparent contradiction is to say Yhwach no longer wanted to destroy the realms through a roundabout way (remove the boundaries), and this is supported by the word of Yhwach and his close underlings as well.
Furthermore, Tokinada’s father claims that the Soul King has dominion over the Soul Cycle. Admittedly, this is questionable information based on two reasons: Tokinada’s dad is revealed to be a liar, thus making him a questionable source at best, and we are told multiple times by the narrator (a pseudo-objective take) through databooks and novels that Shinigami are the ones who manage the Soul Cycle not the Soul King. That being said, if the Soul King really does manipulate the Soul Cycle, Yhwach could’ve simply imbalanced it himself the second he replaced the Soul King, causing the boundaries to disappear, and the universe to collapse, but he didn’t. On the other hand, if Yhwach has no dominion over the Soul Cycle, as the story leans more towards, the “flow of souls” argument is even more of a moot point. The narrative simply does not support the notion that Soul King Yhwach was going to destroy everything through removing the boundaries.
After climbing his way to the spot of Soul King, Yhwach states five times that he personally will destroy Soul Society/Soul Society and Living World. The most direct statement is the following, “The Living World, the Soul Society, it will all lose shape and become one when faced with my power!!” Here Yhwach is blatantly stated that these realms will be destroyed with his very power itself, as opposed to collapsing due to the lack of boundaries. Yhwach, the very person with the ability to act himself, states repeatedly that he will destroy the realms with his power. The fact we see Soul King Yhwach’s spiritual power start erupting within Soul Society, as opposed to moving to remove the boundaries, practically proves that Yhwach no longer planned on removing the boundaries being his method of realm destruction. Lastly, the narrative supports this notion as well, as I’ll detail below.
As shown in the end chapter sketches above, Kubo likes to depict the realms (specifically Soul Society) as orbs filled with celestial bodies (planets, stars, galaxies, etc). During the final battle with Ichigo and Yhwach, Yhwach proclaims his plan to destroy Soul Society with his own hand, and to represent this Kubo draws an orb being sliced in two. Then when Yhwach exclaims how he can see countless futures, we see a sketch with numerous orbs (representing different futures for the realms) where one of them is completely bisected, signifying a future in which Yhwach wins/Ichigo loses. Later, following Uryu’s confrontation with Jugram, we see the contents of one of the orbs spill onto a balance, representing how the fate of the universe is being weighed on the scales of Uryu’s (among everyone else’s) choices. The scale then shatters, as the contents of the orb grind to dust and spell out the word “despair”, this being obvious symbolism to the despair Yhwach wanting to enact on Ichigo in the form of destroying the universe (the ashes/dust of the destroyed orb spell despair quite literally for the heroes). Finally, a foot stamps out that despair as Kazui snuffs out the remainder of Yhwach’s spiritual energy signifying the end of the despair known as Yhwach. To sum up what these end chapter sketches are attempting to convey, if Yhwach wins/gets his way the ultimate despair will fall on the cast in the form of universal destruction.
To conclude this section, not only is destroying the realms via boundary removal going against the narrative, Yhwach directly states that he will destroy the realms with his raw power and displays this intent via causing his black spiritual energy to erupt within Soul Society.
Or Does It Not?
This section will address the counter arguments against the above and why they don’t actually contradict the above conclusion.
The issue with this scan from CFYOW only comes when you interpret it as “Soul King Yhwach was going to remove the boundaries''. Specifically, using that interpretation to argue that Soul King Yhwach was not going to destroy the realms with his own power. First, it ignores the numerous statements Yhwach himself makes, declaring he will destroy the realms (as we see when he erupts his power within the realm of Soul Society itself). Second, it requires you to assume that Tokinada is a more valid source for interpreting what Yhwach was going to do than Yhwach, obviously what Yhwach says he will do takes priority over what others think he was going to do. Third, this statement doesn’t inherently imply Soul King Yhwach wasn’t going to destroy the realms with his own power, all this statement means is that there will be no boundaries if Yhwach wins. Therefore, this statement from Tokinada by no means debunks, nor contradicts the above section in the slightest.
It Doesn’t
To remind everyone what conclusions were reached over the course of this blog in a neat summary. Prior to invading Seireitei, Yhwach may have attempted to destroy the realms via boundary removal by imbalancing the Soul Cycle (it is likely he was just trying to draw Ichigo into Hueco Mundo). Thanks to Mayuri’s quick action, the Soul Cycle was balanced yet again, thwarting Yhwach’s actions. After ravaging and invading Seireitei, Yhwach eliminates Squad 0 at the Soul King Palace, eventually leading to the death of the Soul King. Soul King’s death would lead to the inevitable destruction of the boundaries, causing the realms, and everything connected to be destroyed. This time, thanks to Ukitake’s Kamikake completion, he was able to release Mimihagi, stabilizing the Soul King, thwarting Yhwach’s actions yet again. After failing to remove the boundaries twice in an attempt to destroy the realms, Yhwach decides to take matters into his own hands becoming the new Soul King. With his newfound power as the Soul King and the powers of his children he cultivated and stole, Yhwach sets out to destroy the realms with his raw power, and even begins to erupt his black spiritual energy within Soul Society itself. Alas, the heroes are able to stop and defeat Yhwach before this happens. Needless to say, Soul King Yhwach wielded power capable of destroying the realms directly.
