Who killed the Soul King in Bleach TYBW? Explained

Modified Oct 13, 2024 08:30 GMT

Who killed the Soul King in Bleach TYBW? Explained (Image via Studio Pierrot)

The Soul King has been the most mysterious and enigmatic figure in the entire Bleach series. He is akin to a godlike being who appeared in the primordial world to reduce chaos.

The Soul Society, Hueco Mundo, and the Human World once coexisted on a singular plane in the primordial world. They were later split into three different realities, with the Soul King acting as the linchpin holding these realms together.

The Soul King is inarguably the strongest being to ever exist in the series, far surpassing the likes of a fully powered Yhwach, prime Yamamoto, and even the Royal Guards. Bleach TYBW episode 28 marked the death of the Soul King, delivered by the hands of Ichigo Kurosaki, the protagonist.

Disclaimer- This article contains heavy spoilers for the Bleach series.

The Soul King's killer, explained

Ichigo killing the Soul King (Image via Studio Pierrot)

Yhwach was the Soul King's offspring and the only character in the series who actively sought to dispose of him.

Although Yhwach managed to stab the Soul King with his sword in Bleach TYBW episode 28, Ichigo involuntarily became the actual killer when he lost control of his body and cut the Soul King in half. While Yhwach initiated the Soul King's descent into death, it was Ichigo who ultimately delivered the fatal blow.

Yhwach's role in the death of Bleach's Soul King

Yhwach as shown in the Bleach anime (Image via Studio Pierrot)

Yhwach is the only being within the three realms who actively pursued the Soul King's death over multiple centuries, toppling numerous Shinigami forces with his army of Quincies. Although Ichigo was the one who ultimately ended the Soul King, all of these events were orchestrated by Yhwach to achieve that very goal.

Yhwach plunged the sword into the Soul King and waited for Ichigo to attempt to save him. Yhwach's intense hatred for the Soul King, present in Quincy blood, allowed him to take control of Ichigo once he made contact with the sword embedded in the Soul King.

Yhwach could not kill the Soul King on his own, as it required someone who was a Soul Reaper, Hollow, Human, Fullbringer, and Quincy, making Ichigo the only suitable candidate. The plan to kill the Soul King was a two-man operation, requiring both Yhwach and Ichigo for it to be fully executed.

Why Yhwach wanted to kill the Soul King?

Ichigo and the Soul King as shown in the Bleach anime (Image via Studio Pierrot)

Yhwach's goal of killing the Soul King dated back to the Soul Society's original sin. It was enacted upon the Soul King to bring the numerous realms into existence, as mainly mentioned in the Bleach: Can't Fear Your Own World light novels.

The Soul King was one of the first transcendent beings to appear in the primordial world, serving as a godlike figure for its inhabitants. The ancestors of the Soul Reapers and the original members of the Noble families united to desecrate the Soul King. This reduced him to a limbless, conscious torso, encasing him in a crystal to serve as the anchor of the unstable world. This event was referred to as the "Original Sin" and known to only a few characters within the story.

Ichibe as shown in the Bleach anime (Image via Studio Pierrot)

Yhwach, as the Soul King's son, sought to kill him out of both pity and concern for his father, as well as revenge against the Soul Society, which had wrongfully treated the sacred being and reduced him to a pitiful state as a mere tool. Yhwach's act of killing the Soul King was, in essence, an attempt to free him from a 'pitiful existence' as an anchor for all reality.

Although Ichibē initially intended to cut up Ichigo and turn him into a new Soul King, it was Yhwach's corpse that was later used to create a new Soul King and linchpin of reality by Ichibē following Yhwach's defeat in the series' finale.