The Thousand Year Blood War – Which Quincy Survived Auswellen?

Key conclusions

• Auswählen is Quincy King's ability to redistribute soul fragments, reviving some and killing others.
• Despite their ​​death, some Quincy survived the Auswählen, like Uryu Ishida. The reason remains a mystery.
• Uryu Ishida survived thanks to a theory about his Quincy heritage and possible Fullbringer origins.

Auswählen is the devastating feature of Quincy King's prophecy and his ability to sacrifice pieces of his soul. This had huge consequences for the lives of several characters BLEACHincluding Ichigo Kurosaki, whose greatest trauma is guilt over his mother's death when he was nine years old. Auswählen is shown as a blinding light that saps the Quincy of their powers in anything it touches, often tearing the flesh from their bones in the process.

Although the process is supposedly fatal, there are several Quincy who have survived the Auswahlen, the very first being Uryu Ishida. Which Quincys survived Auswählen and what do they have in common?

First Auswählen

The truth about the death of Masaka Kurosaki

According to a prophecy known as the Kaiser Gesang, King Quincy will return in 999 years. When Ichigo was nine years old, nine years before the events BLEACH: The Thousand Year Blood Warhis mother died after meeting the infamous Logwina, the Great Fisherman, after Ichigo fell for her bait. On June 17, 1995, Iwach took away the powers of the Quincys, whom he believed to be “unclean”, resulting in several deaths, including Uryu Ishida's mother, Kanae Ishida (née Katagiri), who was a frail woman.

Auswellen. He absorbs the energy of those the Quincy deem unnecessary and sends it to those who need it. Redistribution of power. Those taken will die, while those on the receiving end are revived with even greater power than before.

– Sternritter B – Balance, Jugram Haschwalt

Masaki Kurosaki's death was caused by a failure to deploy her Blut Vene, which was the highest among the Quincy. The word “Auswählen” is German for “selection” and is so named because Yhwach chooses those from whom he takes fragments of his own soul. Yhwach is a rare type of Quincy that can dispense power, and when those who received the power from him die, it returns to the sender.

Imprisoned Quincy King…

The pulse is restored after 900 years.

His strength after 9 years.

And the world… in 9 days.

During the events of BLEACH: A Thousand Years of Blood War, Part 2, Yhwach and his elite bodyguard, the Schutzstaffel, attempt to break into the Soul King's Palace and successfully defeat the Zero Squad who were protecting the Soul King, due in part to the massive power boost gained after Yhwach performed another Auswählen. This time, pillars of light erupted across the battlefield, debilitating those deemed unnecessary and resulting in countless deaths. Sternritter N, Robert Accutrone can be seen in utter despair at the sight of Auswählen, because he knows what it means: those who have fallen under the light have been deemed surplus to requirements, thus abandoned by His Majesty.

The light blast is fatal, but several Quincy manage to dodge or hide, avoiding the Auswählen's main blow. Even though the light didn't hit directly, all those Yhwach deemed unnecessary still lost their Quincy: Vollständig and were thus much weaker than when they appeared. The difference between this Auswählen and the one that happened nine years ago is that this Auswählen was specifically designed to redistribute the powers of the Schutzstaffel Yhwach, giving them a power boost enough for Uryuu to not only escape the Shutara Senjumaru Bankai , but also kill her with one shot.

Who survived the selection?

The case of Uryu Ishida is interesting

When Masaki Kurosaki and Kanae Ishida died, Uryu was also supposed to lose his Quincy powers, but that didn't happen. He continued to live, believing himself to be the last Quincy after the death of his grandfather and mentor, Soken Ishida. Uryu is the only “Gemisht” Quincy to survive the Auswählen nine years ago, and also not experience the loss of his powers like the others during the events of Part 2. The reason he survived is never given, but there is something special about Uryu because , in addition to the fact that he survived the Auswählen, Uryū never showed a weakness for the Hollow Reiatsu even with prolonged exposure to them during the arc Hueco Mundo.

We know very little about the Ishidas, but they were Echt Quincies, so did not suffer from Auswählen; however, there may be a theory that explains Uryu's situation and it involves his grandmother, Ryuken Ishida Izumi's mother. During the events of Everything But the Rain, June Truth, we learn that Ichigo's mother began undergoing Hollowification sometime after meeting White. Ryuken, who was ready to marry Masaki, another Echt Quincy, took her to Urahara, but his mother tried to stop him from taking her.

We briefly see a gruesome scar on Izumi's leg, similar to the one left on Orihime's leg when she was attacked by her hollow-layer brother Sora. There is evidence that Izumi knew about what was going on with Masaki, apparently because she was attacked by a void at some unknown point in the past. Here's where things get crazy: If Izumi had been attacked by the Hollow while pregnant by Ryuken, then Ryuken wouldn't have been the Echt Quincy, but a Quincy and a Fullbringer, making Uryu a second-generation Fullbringer.

If being exposed to Polo's Reiatsu is a prerequisite for a Fullbringer to be born, and the resulting Fullbringer was already a Quincy, then the power coming from Ivak would be tainted and thus toxic to the Quincy King. Uryuu's survival in Auswählen led to Yhwach appointing him as his successor and putting him through the Font Appointment Ritual, which imbued Uryuu with a specific letter not yet revealed in the anime. It is believed that Yhwach could have seen in advance that the Font would get a tenant, although it is unclear if this only happens after The Almighty is activated. Uryuu's reason for surviving could be due to the Font he eventually obtained, meaning that the power in question was dormant within him.