#fullbringer

Can we all agree that Adnyeus (copy and pasted from his wiki cause I don't know how to say his name let alone write it down), The Soul King from Bleach who is the most powerful being in the entire Bleach Universe has made some questionable and fatherly cruel decisions hell I'd argue he's even made awful decisions for the entirety of the three realms he created along with their inhabitants, and yes I know that in the story he doesn't make any decisions since he's encased in his protective shell and is technically on the constant precipice of death, now only serving as a linchpin to keep the three realms he created from the original one from collapsing back in on themselves but the thing is he made all his decisions before the story even began and made them knowing exactly how it would all end

Ok you know what let's break this down, just like he let himself be (yes I knowingly wrote that down, no I don't regret it).

First we have Yhwach and Ichigo, now Yhwach his self proclaimed son definitely got screwed over more than Ichigo and while he is an undoubtedly horrible individual let's just think about this with the knowledge that The Soul King already knows how this story is gonna play out.

So let's say Yhwach is being honest that The Soul King really is his father that would mean that from the beginning he was created to be nothing more than a sacrifice to one day take his father's tortures place as the linchpin holding reality together, cause let's not forget the Adnyeus let himself be mutilated and then put into his protective shell that keeps him from dying while also letting him know what's going on so he is in constant physical pain from having his limbs and internal organs cut off and scattered across the known realms or something, and so like I said if Yhwach is right and he is his son he was just created to take his father's tortures place and yes like I said Yhwach is a horrible individual with really no regard for the life of those around him but to another extent his life is just that of an unknowing sacrifice and that just a horrid life from my point of view.

Now unto Ichigo, he is as stated by the story as the being who is the most likely candidate as the next Soul King, and I'm not talking about the linchpin Soul King I'm talking the OP God Soul King that made the Bleach realm as we know it and yeah like that's a lot of awesome power but let's not forget that only happens because Aizen and Kisuke messed with both of his parents genetics and spirits, for different reasons obviously, but still in that messing around he became an unknowing piece in a much grander and very dangerous fight that would then lead into wars since before his conception and even after his parents got together and where going to have him if the different species that he's made up of didn't end up working together he could have died what I can an only imagine would have been a very painful death, also I don't even want to think about what could have happened to Ichigo if some maniac like Kurotsuchi had found out what he truly was before he became a powerful ally cause let's face it would not have been pleasant in any way, and technically like Yhwach was his father sacrifice as Linchpin Ichigo was Ichibe'e, also unknowingly.

Then we have the Fullbringers who like Ichigo got screwed over before they were born cause they each carrie a piece of the soul king which means that they were targeted by Hollows since they were in the womb so there's probably been some that were killed by Hollows alongside their mothers before they even had their first breath and then those that survived the initial Hollow hunt seem to all live rather difficult lives and those that don't have some weird ass powers that they don't fully understand since they think they got those powers from Hollows being killed near their pregnant mothers(if I'm remembering that correctly) so they don't even know why they're in danger cause there are still sociopaths like Aizen and Tokinada Tsunayashiro(also copy and pasted) that are hunting them down in order to gain the piece of the soul king they possess or use them if there power is to useful like Orihime with Aizen.

Ok this has definitely turned into an unintentionally long rant so let me speed through the next couple things.

First the Soul Society is in fact run by really questionable individuals with no true scruples, since the Noble House only care about keeping themselves in charge and in doing so they screw everyone under them over cause no one can be more powerful than them in their eyes and if you question how things are done you either get a death sentence or are put in the Magots Nest for the rest of a very long life, not to mention they are highly manipulated by horrible people the biggest example being Aizen who weakend the Soul Society for hundreds of years and no one really noticed, a very few people suspected him of something, but no one realized what was going until it was to late.

Aizen and Kisuke both saw the Soul King as nothing more than a Thing, both refer to him as such, since they knew what he'd become and they are as some of the most intelligent, skilled, deceitful and manipulative individuals in the whole story and in the end the being they looked down upon knew everything about them, what they would in their lives, how they would end up, and he didn't care because in the end they were only useful to him in creating and shaping who Ichigo would become and in doing so manipulated them by doing nothing. (Which I found personally hilarious)

The Shinigami, Quincy and Hollow were nothing more than useful cannon foder so that Ichigo could grow strong enough to face Yhwach as well as make sure Yhwach was strong enough to become the next Linchpin.

Honestly I could go one cause everything that happened in Bleach The Soul King saw would happen long before anything did and basically said "Yeah that seems fine let's do it" and then stood by and watched cause he deemed it to be the best outcome, which kinda makes me wonder about all the other possible outcomes.

This is so much longer than I intended if anyone reaches the end of it thank you for read this rambling rant, and for those that saw the Soul King tag and thought of Brook from One Piece here's a cool gif I found while looking.

Desperate, huh? Coulda been quicker than "showing up 15 minutes late with Starbucks" if he was desperate. Puppet yourself or something while you're down there, hun. You haven't failed quite yet. Move!

Wait, why didn't Tsukishima use his power on Ishida too just now?

Oh, we've been waiting for Ichigo to notice the difference between this guy and the others the whole time, Ginjo. He's still gonna be made to grow up and use poor Hime as a beard tho. (Ginjo's reasoning makes no sense btw.)

Devestating, right? Framed meaningfully. I get all the analysis posts now: this is a low point of despair for Ichigo. And it would also be very defining and important to me for Ichigo as a character and Ichiishi as a ship moment... If it wasn't about to be "jk nvm"-ed.

"Hey Urahara, should I tell my son anything before a sword shish-kabobs him while he's having a total emotional breakdown?"

"Why?"

"You're right."

Rukia fighting in Danganronpa. Like, what? Yes, she smacks him around before this for the usual comic relief, but usually when Ichigo hits a low point, they confirm it WAS low and his feelings were valid. His mom, Byakuya almost killing him, his out of control Hollow, Hichigo-ing out in Hueco Mundo, Rukia leaving. Nobody immediately comes along to say "Pfft, that wasn't that bad! Wimp! You're not really sad, are ya? Show people you're not sad, clown!"

Is it a very Rukia peptalk? Yes. We stan a feelings-averse queen. (Even though she's been empathetic and helped him before.) It's the framing and the way Kubo writes it that I have a problem with. She doesn't know how he's been for 17mos or the freakouts he's had the few days before this. Has he been through worse? Objectively, yeah. Does that erase how he felt or help this character arc? Nuh, bruh.

Idk, it all feels like it nullifies the entire story. Ichigo didn't have to lift a finger or call X-ecution or lose everything again. He didn't have to process anything because his deus ex machina sword was waiting for him and Rukia said his grieving didn't matter. Guess he was a kid having a tired tantrum in the middle of a Walmart. He just acts fine after this and everyone agrees. It's okay, champ, let's get you some McDonald's.

Taken in by Ginjo.

Raised and trained to become his loyal little soldier...

And she has this power, because when she was a kid, she awakened her powers when her murdered parents' blood stained the leather boots her father gifted her and probably stole. Because she liked them a lot.