Why Byakuya Should Have Died?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Byakuya is a beloved fan favorite character who

has in the right to be one of the most

popular characters in the series with

his well-composed prideful demeanor he

has someone that you cannot help but to

want to see more of now during the first

Quincy invasion of the Soul Society he

had fought alongside renji against the

stanwitter as not this battle had

resulted in his bunkai being stolen and

after having his own power used against

him it had felt like this was the last

that we were going to see of the noble

head of the kuchiki clan there was

apparently a large outcry from fans

regarding his supposed death and it is

speculated that Kubo had revived byakia

in response to this backlash by faking

out on the death of such a pivotal

character it had affected the tension

within the plot and it had cheapened the

supposed final requests that byakya had

made to Ichigo just as he had arrived

within the soul Society if this is the

case then I'm disappointed that kubo's

story was swayed by the emotions of fans

and his writing was affected as a result

of this imagine not being able to kill

off characters just because of character

popularity polls now this just means

that any characters who are beloved and

are fun favorites will never end up

kicking the bucket in this video I want

to explore what could have been

different if byakya had in fact died

during his battle against aznot and how

this would have affected the events of

the story and why I think that byakya

actually should have died during the

final Arc of the Bleach manga.

Byakuya's battle against Nodt

begins in chapter 495 and it concludes

in chapter 502 byakuya's attitude going

into this fight is revealed Within

Chapter 495 where he tells renji not to

show any pity to the enemy because the

Quincy are behaving mercilessly so the

Shinigami need to behave in exactly the

same manner biakya reminds renji that

they are the cowards who had killed

Sasaki Bay and had shed blood within the

cerate without any warning we see that

he ends up Landing the first strike as

he penetrates through aznot's defenses

by cutting his hand the captain of the

sixth division had already decided that

he was going to use his Bankai at the

onset of battle as he admits that these

stenwitters cannot be defeated without

Bankai following sasakiba's encounter

they had all assumed that the enemy

concealed Bankai but it was thanks to

the sacrifice of biak and the other

captains that the Shinigami were able to

learn an invaluable piece of information

which is that the enemy don't just seal

Bankai they steal it after having

activated his Bankai it is immediately

stolen by asnod and renji is about to

use his own Bankai but he is stopped by

biakya he instead tells him to watch

their fight and to identify the

opponent's ability however he is then

overcome with fear thanks to aznot's

power as he sees a vision of a

decomposing rookia which seals biakya's

fate as he is then impaled by the Quincy

then after utterly succumbing to fear

which I never thought a character like

biakya could do he is then attacked by

his own Bankai in chapter 502 we see him

fall to his knees bloodied and battered

with as not reminding him that there is

nothing that he can do he cannot hope to

overcome his Bankai with his shikai

alone when he gets back up to his feet

biakya is hit with a burst of sembon

Sakura petals that ripped through his

body after the first attack he is about

to fall to the ground but he is then hit

by another Power awful burst of petals

that pushes him into a wall shredding

through his body the battle comes to an

end with biakya's blood all over the

wall and his Rib Cage being exposed

which highlights the fatality of the

attack and how quite frankly his fate

should have been sealed here following

this there were several indications

within the story that had led to myself

and other readers to believe that byakya

was in fact going to die firstly the

most evident indication was when he had

let go of his lombokto and it is seen to

shatter which indicates that he is in

fact not going to last much longer it is

explained that a zambakto is linked to

its owner in chapter 143 we learned that

if a bunkai disappears without the

permission of its owner it usually means

that that individual will die soon so

following this train of thought if a

zombuck door breaks like the way that

byakias did then it too would mean that

he hasn't got long left the second key

indication that byakya was going to die

was a line that was uttered by hashward

immediately after biakya is defeated in

chapter 502 we see him relay to you

saying that it had taken longer than

expected as he theorizes that the

stonewritters are lacking in

ruthlessness now when you read a line

like this it is so impactful and it

baits you along towards a specific

Direction and this is further emphasized

in the scene where biakya offers a final

request to Ichigo when he finally

arrives onto the battlefield in chapter

512 byakya is seen to speak to Ichigo in

what appears to be his final moment

during this conversation you rarely

think about how far he has come as a

character someone who was introduced as

being so prideful that he would allow

the death of his sister instead of being

seen to be breaking the customs of the

Soul Society in order to protect her

this is a character who looked down upon

Ichigo and had stated that his Bankai

was a mockery to the history of the

Shinigami but now during the Thousand

Year blood War Arc he is seen to be

humbly asking for ichigo's help there

was so much that Kubo had done right

with this particular scene and it would

have made so much sense for this to be

byakya's final moments he tells each ago

that as a captain of the gotei 13 he had

failed to defeat the enemy who had

invaded the cerate he goes on to talk

about how he feels responsible for the

deaths of several of his subordinates

and how because of this he has brought

suffering upon their families his pride

is in tatters as he admits that he has

lost miserably and he will die now he is

embarrassed to be asking Ichigo this a

human who should have nothing to do with

the Affairs of the Soul Society so for

this he asks for his forgiveness as he

supposedly makes his last request here

as he begs him to save the soul Society

this particular scene always leaves me

jaw-dropped the impact of it alone

should help you to appreciate how the

death of byakya would have driven the

motives of characters like Ichigo renji

and Rukia during the future of the story

with a key character like biakya dying

there would have been even more reason

for us and the cast of bleach to feel

resentment towards the Quincy now I'm

not saying that yamamoto's death wasn't

enough for this but it just would have

been nice to see Kubo commit to

something that he was hinting at and

evidently was building up towards as

opposed to going back on his decision

there were plenty of indicators within

the story that biakia wasn't going to

survive we were baited with one outcome

but we ended up getting an entirely

different one with byakia having

survived the encounter and him being

healed at the Royal Palace following the

first invasion of the Quincy the state

of byakya is revealed Within Chapter 515

with a messenger Shinigami informing the

captains during a captain's meeting that

byakya and ranji have both survived but

it seems unlikely for them to regain

Consciousness as they are effectively

comatose in chapter 517 the royal guard

arrive and tanjiro karenji is seen to

take byakya to the Royal Palace in order

to heal him as he states that if he

stays within the soul Society then

byakya will die chapter 545 cements the

return of byakya's character as it is

revealed that he has successfully been

healed karinji informs biakya that he is

the first person in history to have

bathed within his hot springs for that

long but byakya tells him not to be

concerned as he sets his sights on

getting stronger so that he can fight

the enemy now there was backlash from

fans on both sides regarding the fate of

biakya with some feeling annoyed that

Kubo had faked out on his death however

there was a subset of fans who were even

more passionate and upset with Kubo

after they had learned that he had tried

to kill off byakya's character the fan

backlash has been rumored to be the

reason why he didn't go through with

byakya's death I'm not entirely sure if

Kubo was swayed by fan backlash but it

is said that he had death threats at the

time from some really Butthead fans I

want to now talk about how biakya's

death would have impacted the remainder

of the Thousand-Year blood War Arc if

Kubo had in fact stuck with his guns so

we begin by examining the events

immediately following his defeat at this

time within the story the characters and

readers had just seen the brutal injury

sustained by byakya with the reasons we

have spoken about we had every reason to

believe that he was in fact dead the

reactions of the characters at this time

give us hints of how things would have

played out without biakya's presence in

the narrative when renji had seen his

captain being ripped to shreds by his on

Bankai all he could do was beg as not to

stop when Ichigo had seen his mutilated

body and had heard the prideful Captain

feel pitiful as he pleads with Ichigo to

save the soul Society it was evident

that this was a final request the impact

of which fuels ichigo's rage towards the

enemy and this resultant anger had led

him to directly confront the leader of

the Quincy johobak if byakya did die how

would his death have impacted the

remainder of the Thousand Year blood War

Arc there are several characters who

would have been impacted by the death of

byakya and the first would have been

ranji abarai there is every chance that

he could have been negatively impacted

after seeing the man that he aspired to

surpass defeated so effortlessly by a

stenrita renji might not have had the

will to continue training and to become

stronger after all if the person that

you respect and admire to surpass is

killed before your very eyes with such

ease even the strongest Warrior would be

doubtful of the extent of their own

abilities renji Maya felt that it was

futile to resist and would have accepted

the downfall of the Soul Society now if

you were to have let the death of his

captain get to him he may not have

traveled to the Royal Palace to train

and he would not have learned of the

false bank height that zabimaru had

given to him therefore he probably

wouldn't have achieved his true Bankai

and he wouldn't have been strong enough

to fight and defeat mask the masculine

when the time had come on the other hand

this is a Shonen story that we are

talking about so most likely renji would

have been positively impacted by

biakya's death and he would have trained

with that much more determination in

order to avenge the death of his captain

you had seen the passion with which

renji had tried to protect his captain

as he had felt the humiliation of zembon

zakra being used against its rightful

owner after all renji is not the type of

character to take things lying down and

it's for this reason that I believe that

biakya dying would have positively

affected renji and it would have helped

to push him Beyond his limits in a very

convincing manner the next character who

would have been impacted by the death of

yakya is his adopted sister Rukia

kuchiki now we know that she had

undertaken her own training with ichibe

at the Royal Palace which had led to her

acquiring a significant power boost and

it had even resulted in her acquiring

her own Bankai it was thanks to her

newly awakened Bankai that she was able

to defeat aznod and in some way restore

the honor of her brother who was

brutally defeated by the stanwitter now

this was a huge moment for Rookie's

character and I love that Kubo gave her

the win here despite the fact that

byakya had to intervene when she was

succumbing to fear after the stanwitter

had activated his holiform Midway during

their battle now if byakia didn't

intervene to help and reassure her would

she have the resolve to overcome the

fear within her heart if byakia did die

then he wouldn't have been able to help

Rukia and there is every chance that she

would have succumbed to fear and died in

the same way that her brother did

contrastingly the death of byakya would

have been an excellent motivator for

rookia in order to push yourself even

further unlike ranji she too would have

channeled her emotions into avenging the

death of her brother enduring and living

through difficulty gives rise to

strength so rookie would have Avenged

byakya by defeating as not very swiftly

not even giving the standard an open

opportunity to activate his holy form

alternatively renji and Rukia could have

worked together in order to put a stop

to the stanwitter and I believe that

this would have been a fantastic way for

the two of them to grow stronger and to

avenge the death of such an iconic

character who means so much to them in

general the death of biakya would have

had many implications for rukia's

character aside from this responsibility

of avenging his death because after the

war with the Quincy she would have not

only become the captain of the 13th

division but she may have become the new

head of the kuchki family that being

said she is a kuchki in name only and

she does not bear the blood of the royal

family so would she have even been

allowed to take up such an important

position or would her lack of Royal

Blood disqualify her we know that biakia

has no air and his wife is dead now

would that mean the end of the kuchiki

lineage it is definitely something to

think about now the last character who

would have been impacted by biakya's

death is Ichigo our protagonist as a

former enemy 10th comrade vyakiya had

grown to respect Ichigo over the course

of the series in addition to this Ichigo

to also come to respect him him as he

never held any resentment towards biakya

for going along with Rookie's execution

since he had learned that he was only

following the laws of the Soul Society

because he could not be seen to be

breaking them as one of the heads of a

noble family Ichigo played a massive

role in positively impacting byakya's

character and this change had benefited

Rukia and ranji who are finally

acknowledged by biakya after he was

defeated by Ichigo he had seen his

determination to help Rukia during the

soul Society Arc and this had in fact

changed and altered his perspective

rookia and ranji are ichigo's friends

within the soul Society the same way

that they respect and admire biakya had

assume that Ichigo also feels the same

way towards him now during the fake

karakora Town Arc biakya had stopped

Ichigo from fighting Yami in chapter 380

and he had told him to return to the

human world reminding him of his duty to

defend karakura town as its substitute

Shinigami it was byakya's words of

encouragement that highlight the respect

that these two characters have for each

other this is further emphasized later

on in the story after Bianca

defeatsukushima in chapter 473 byakya

states that he has no remorse for

sukishima since he is an enemy of Ichigo

with the death of biakya Ichigo 2 would

have been motivated to become stronger

in order to avenge his death now

following all of this the Bleach Manga

had concluded in August of 2016 but Kubo

did in fact surprise all of us with a

special One-Shot chapter titled new

breeds from Hell which was released in

August of 2021. this chapter established

that a captain level Shinigami has so

much reyatsu that a ritual must be

performed 13 years after their death in

order to send them to hell this is due

to the fact that they are so powerful

their riyatsu is too dense to be

reintegrated into the soul Society now

if biakya did die during the first

invasion of the Quincy his power would

have also contributed to destabilizing

the balance of reishi along with the

deaths of Yamamoto unahana and ukitake

this destabilization had resulted in the

Gates of Hell opening from the inside

now it is not confirmed if we will see

these characters again in a potential

continuing Asian but biakya would have

also been sent to Hell considering

everything that we learned from this one

shot chapter now will Ichigo and the

rest of the gote 13 have to face off

against the former captains in a future

story arc if so would the presence of

yakia have turned the tide of battle one

way or the other because imagine if

Rukia or ranji had to battle byakuya

during this hell Arc how would they feel

knowing someone so close to them has

been sent to Hell an individual who had

not only dedicated their life to protect

the soul Society but to preserve its

honor would Rukia and renji have

defected from the soul Society in

protest of this system that punishes a

man for having done nothing wrong would

renji have felt responsible for byakya

being sent to Hell due to being unable

to save him with this result in the

kuchki noble family withdrawing support

from the soul Society if they had

learned that a former head was sent to

hell or other royal families aware of

this Freight that awaits all captains of

course there would have been a lot of

possibilities open for speculation if

byakya did die but all of these Avenues

of questioning do exist for the

characters of unahana ukitake and

Yamamoto this video idea of speculating

whether if biakya should have died had

come to me after watching the fifth

episode of the Thousand Year blood War

Arc anime after learning that the anime

had cut a line where hashward had

informed yuhobach that byakuya had died

Now by cutting this line it is evident

that the anime is not going to change

the fate of byakuya and they are not even

going to hinder the fact that he is

close to death or he is going to die

like the manga had done changing the

fate of a character like byakuya would

have had such a huge impact on the

Thousand-Year blood War Arc it would

have effectively been a rewrite of sorts

so most likely I was expecting too much

for them to have changed something like

this there are so many theories and

areas of speculation when it comes to

the fate of biakya and I hope that you

enjoyed this video where I explored some

of the possibilities of what could have

happened now we're at the point of the

video where I want to hand over the

discussion to all of you like me did you

think that biakya was going to die after

he was defeated by aznot or did this

thought not even cross your mind what do

you feel about them cutting the line

from hash world where he states that

byakuya has died I would love for all of

you to continue the discussion in the

comments and let me know do you think

that Byakuya should have died in the

Thousand-Year blood War Arc…