soul king and the flow of souls: how does it work

[Cyberblader90]

So ever since the two prior revision threads, the seems to be a split on the views regarding the relationship between the soul king and the flow of souls.

Wanted to ask what the wiki thinks in regards to this

 

[Damage3245]

The manga and novels both state that the Soul King regulates the flow of souls. Left unregulated the flow of souls would destroy the Soul Society and in turn everything that the Soul Society is connected to.

 

[Sigurd_Snake_in_The_Eye]

The most knowledgeable people within the bleach circle usually laugh at the idea of the flow of souls and Reio considering his only relation to it is setting it in motion once again from the primordial world of before.

 

[Zoro21043]

I interpreted it as,
the reio maintains the worlds thus indirectly maintaining the flow of souls, as the souls need the worlds to exist and not merge for a flow to exist.
The reason i dont believe he directly maintains it is because there wouldn't be a need for soul reapers if reio already controlled the flow of souls directly.

 

[Tyri456]

It doesnt really matter at this point, we do not count stabilization anymore, just the creation and destruction.

 

[Cyberblader90]

fair enough

 

[W0NDER3X]

Not only does a direct statement from CFYOW novel suggest that Soul King regulating the souls is a lie, but also the manga and SAFWY. It is always the Shinigami who regulate the souls. Whether it was intentional or not, it is left for interpretation. But do keep in mind the nature of Bleach and how Kubo directly states that he likes making the reader think while reading the manga and how he legitmately casually foreshadows major events hundreds of chapters prior.

 

[Reio35]

It's stated in the novels soul king power basically fuels the world and keeps it from collapsing.

 

[Jo-Smooth]

The Soul King's Reiryoku/Spiritual Energy is what sustains the realms. That's why people without the Almighty such as Ichigo, Hikone, and Ginjo can become the Soul King as well. They have both the correct qualities (being human, shinigami, and hollow...as well as Quincy for Ichigo and Hikone's case), as well as the power. CFYOW III goes out of it's way to actually show how strong Ginjo is power wise, while we always thought he was a mid tier at best. It outright says Ginjo is one of the few that could potentially beat full power Hikone.

That aside, for those with the Almighty...the OG Soul King and Yhwach, the novels state that it's the Soul King's power, not his hax that keeps the realms from being destroyed. And for Yhwach, in the manga, he differentiates between the role of the Soul King in relation to the flow of souls, and the Soul King's power to destroy and reshape the realms. He actually bursts out his own energy and Reiatsu when he tells Ichigo he's going to erase the realms. So the Quincy and Shinigami's dealings with hollows and souls is one way that the realms are maintained, and the Soul King's actual power is another way. But, the one who has the power of the Soul King can choose to just destroy or reshape the realms as they see fit. That's why the noble clans dismembered and sealed the original soul king. That's why Ichibei was going to kill Ichigo if he became the Soul King. Having a sentient Soul King is too dangerous.

The flow of Souls isn't as much the soul king's thing as it is just another condition for the destruction of the Bleach cosmos. Ichibei even says that if he kills Grimmjow, Nel, or Halibel, that could destroy the balance of souls, and this is after the passive reiryoku/reiatsu from Soul King Yhwach's corpse is being used to stabilize the realms.