Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War Unlocks Key Info on the Soul King

Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War is now working its way through Part 3 of the new anime series airing through the Fall 2024 anime schedule, and the newest episode revealed some more key information about the Soul King. Ever since Yhwach and the Quincies invaded the Soul Society, he had been aiming for something bigger. While it was clear that he was after the total destruction of the Soul Reapers, he was ominously planned to aim even higher than them as by the end of the second part, Yhwach and a few of the strongest Sternritter had made their way into the Soul King’s territory.

The Soul King has been one of the most intriguing elements of Bleach‘s worlds overall. While fans have seen plenty of the Soul Society by this point, it wasn’t until the final arc of Tite Kubo’s original manga that we finally start to learn more about the figure. It’s also a little bit too late as while fans are getting crucial new details about the Soul King and their origins, it’s not long before Yhwach successfully is able to have the being killed to usher in the destruction of all the realms the being was keeping together.

Bleach: Who Is the Soul King?

As revealed in Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War Episode 28, Yhwach’s new Almighty power gives him the sight to see everything happening all at once. He sees the past, present and future all at the same time, and it’s allowed him to see into the Soul King’s own past. Named Adnyeus, the Soul King was a child who was essentially sacrificed in order to maintain the balance of the human, Soul Reaper, and Hollow worlds. He’s been kept in a stasis as a result of all of this, and has ties with Yhwach as well.

Yhwach previously explained that he was also a kind of being who was isolated from his birth, and ended up having powers that connected him with the entire Quincy race. Appearing to be the Soul King’s son (and would thus explain how Yhwach has such a realm breaking ability at his full strength), Yhwach needed to kill the Soul King in order to make his true dream of destroying the Soul Society a reality. But he needed Ichigo’s help in order to deliver the true final blow and break the seal around the king to make it all happen.

How Ichigo Kills the Soul King

Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War then took things to the next level with its cliffhanger that saw Ichigo unwittingly killing the Soul King. After seeing Yhwach’s sword plunged in its body, Ichigo rushes to pull it out despite his friends wanting otherwise. After he makes contact with the sword, Ichigo’s body starts to move on its own. Yhwach explains that Ichigo’s Quincy blood is calling out to him, and reverberating with Yhwach’s power now flowing through the blade. Thus it makes Ichigo slice through the Soul King’s body completely as the episode came to an end.

Yhwach reveals that the only true way to kill the Soul King was to break through the seal around him. The only one who could do that was someone connected to all the realms. Someone like Ichigo who is not only human, but also has elements of Soul Reapers, Quincies, and Hollows within him was the only one who could kill the Soul King. Meaning that all this time, Yhwach had intentionally lured Ichigo to the Soul King’s palace just so that he could be the one to kill the king and send the Soul Society headlong into its doom.