Bleach TYBW: Are the Sternritter the Gotei 13 of the Quincy? explained

With the premiere of Bleach TYBW, there's been a lot of focus on the Soul Society and the Wandenreich due to their impending war. Subsequently, their strongest warriors - the Gotei 13 of the Shinigami and the Sternritter of the Quincy - have been brought into the spotlight. But are the two similar to each other? Are the Sternritter the Gotei 13 of the Quincy?

Tite Kubo's Bleach has returned after nearly ten years, with Studio Pierrot adapting its final arc as a sequel to the original Bleach. With this, Bleach TYBW has brought back the old enemies of the Shinigami, the Quincy, led by the Father of Quincy, Yhwach. As soon as Yhwach returned, he decided to declare war on Soul Society using his Sternritter.

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Bleach TYBW: Are the Sternritter the Gotei 13 of the Quincy?

Gotei 13 captains and Sternritter in Bleach TYBW key visuals (Image via Studio Pierrot)

The Sternritter are a group of powerful Quincy within the Wandenreich army, all of whom are assigned a Schrift by Yhwach, which bestows them with an ability. Upon the death of a Sternritter, the ability goes back to Yhwach.

Meanwhile, Gotei 13 is the Soul Society's primary military branch, which Shinigami tend to join after they graduate from the Academy. While the parallels drawn by the promotional videos may confuse fans, the Sternritter are not the Gotei 13 of the Quincy.

Gotei 13 is the entire military of the Shinigami, while Sternritter is a group of powerful Quincy chosen by Yhwach, who work under him. This means that while one could compare the Gotei 13 captains and the Sternritter due to both being vital parts of their military organizations, they are not very similar.

Sternritter as seen in Bleach TYBW opening (Image via Studio Pierrot)

There are 26 Sternritter, all of whom are assigned a Schrift each. A Schrifft is an alphabet bestowed upon a Sternritter, with which Yhwach gives them an ability corresponding to their epithet after an Initial-In-Soul Writing Ritual is done for the same.

This means that Sternritter are just soldiers within his army with a special rank. While they have commanding rights over lower-ranked Wandenreich army soldiers, all of them do not have a squad of their own.

Meanwhile, there are only 13 Gotei captains, all of whom have at least one Lieutenant and several ranked officers under them. As per Squad 12 Lieutenant Akon, the Sternritter are as strong, or stronger than a Gotei 13 captain. This puts the Gotei 13 at a disadvantage as they are half in numbers when compared to the Sternritter.

Schutzstaffel as seen in Bleach manga (Image via Shueisha)

While there are several Gotei 13 Lieutenants capable of putting up a good fight, not all of them are capable enough to take on a Sternritter by themselves. Even within the Sternritter, there are four Quincy who are handpicked by Yhwach to be part of his Royal Guard - Lille Barro, Pernida Parnkgjas, Gerard Valkyrie, and Askin Nakk Le Vaar. They are known as Schutzstaffel and can defeat the Zero Division, who are stronger than the entire Gotei 13 combined.

Thus, one can say that the Sternritter in Bleach TYBW are far stronger than the Gotei 13 as a whole, and not just their captains.