Bleach: How Did Ichibei Get Pernida Parnkgjas, the Left Arm of the Soul King? Pernida’s Origins Explained!

The Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War anime has delivered all we wanted it to, but also more, as the series has significantly expanded on the original manga, giving us a series of additional scenes and information that never made it to the final cut of the manga series. Now, Episode 24 was a true delight in that aspect, and we are actually going to explain an additional scene involving Pernida Parnkgjas, the Sternritter “C” – “The Compulsory,” and his origins in the story. In this article, you will discover why Ichibei had Pernida on him 1,000 years ago.

After the downfall of the Soul King at the hands of the five powerful beings, Ichibei took care of the corpse and the amputated limbs that were torn off to keep the Soul King at bay. We know that both arms of the Soul King were torn off and that Mimihagi became a deity in Soul Society and would later inhabit Ukitake’s body, while Pernida Parngjas became a sentient Quincy and a member of the Sternritter army as “C” – “The Compulsory.” But, this happened after Yhwach’s downfall 1,000 years ago, as Pernida was at the time the left arm of Ichibei Hyosube, the leader of the Royal Guard, who seemingly took it for himself after it was torn off the Soul King.

The rest of this article will go back to the past, 1,000 years ago. It will explain the origins and early history of Pernida Parngjas, the Sternritter “C” – “The Compulsory,” who is undoubtedly one of the more interesting characters in the series, as he is – actually – an arm and not just any arm, he is the Left Arm of the Soul King. This article will expand on the new scene from the anime and explain everything to you; we have to warn you, though, as the article will be filled with spoilers.

It seems that Ichibei took Pernida for himself, but he lost it at the expense of disabling Yhwach’s The Almighty

Before we start, we will tell you a bit about who Pernida is, as the character has not played a major role in the series yet, although he will quite soon. Pernida Parnkgjas was the Soul King’s left arm and a Wandenreich member, forming part of the Sternritter’s elite group and one of those in charge of facing the Royal Guard. Yhwach gave him the letter “C” – The Compulsory. Parnkgjas, along with Gerard, was the only Quincy who did not get their powers from Yhwach personally because both of them had their powers without Yhwach’s intervention.

He is the hooded “creature” with limited speech abilities who can bend matter to his own will and destroy it completely. He is hooded because he is, in reality, an arm, so he hides his appearance so as not to make it seem weird; he will later reveal his true appearance during his fight with Mayuri and Nemu, which was one of the best battles in the series by far.

So, before Episode 24, what did we know about Pernida’s origins? Well, not much. Askin revealed that Pernida was actually the Left Arm of the Soul King, which was connected to the story of the Soul King’s origins, and the fact that he was sealed and had his limbs amputated as a precaution, and that – along with Gerard Valkyrie, the Heart of the Soul King – Pernida was the only Sternritter who did not get his powers from Yhwach, but had them before.

And that was, more or less, it, and it was taken for granted, as Kubo never had much time to explore the origins of the Sternrittet, so even these fragments were more than enough. At the time.

But thankfully, in Episode 24, we finally received more information that expanded on the canon and explained how and why Pernida became part of Yhwach’s army. Namely, 1,000 years ago, Ichibei Hyosube went to Silbern to negotiate a non-aggression pact with Yhwach’s Lichtreich.

Ichibei offered him a deal to retain control over his Lichtreich without outside intervention in exchange for leaving the other three realms alone. Yhwach naturally refused this and accused Ichibei of treating him like a baby and as someone who knew nothing, activating his Almighty to show him just how powerful he was.

And while Ichibe was a bit surprised, he was not impressed; he said that he never treated Yhwach as a baby but confirmed that Yhwach, despite his powers, really knew nothing, as his Almighty did not affect the Soul King and Mimihagi and, as this episode revealed, on Pernida either.

He then activated his left arm, which was soon revealed to be Pernida Parnkgjas (as seen when his eyes appeared – manga fans will know this, but anime fans are sure in for a surprise when Pernida reveals his true appearance), and showed Yhwach the truth about the Soul King, which disgusted Yhwach.

The Quincy emperor then attacked Ichibei, but the Monk was not impressed, and he easily repelled the attack. Yhwach activated Blut Vene on Ichibei’s arm, and it expanded to it, thereby implying that the Left Arm of the Soul King was, indeed, a Quincy; this is important because later in the story, when Mayuri asked Pernida why the Left Arm of the Soul King would join the Quincy, Pernida replied that he had always been a Quincy, and this reaction makes more sense now.

Namely, what happened later? Yhwach wanted to absorb Pernida, as it seemed, and Ichibei would ultimately let him, but when Pernida appeared and was sucked inside Yhwach, Yhwach’s The Almighty disappeared. Ichibei then told him that he was foolish to think that he would let him have the Left Arm of the Soul King for free and left, telling Yhwach that he would not be able to use The Almighty again until he died.

Thus, Yhwach gained Pernida, and as the son of the Soul King, this made a lot of sense. He probably released Pernida at one point and allowed it to become a sentient entity, declaring him a Sternritter. Interestingly enough, Pernida did not receive his powers from Yhwach, as we’ve seen, but it seems that Yhwach allowed him to become a sentient being by releasing him. However, that did not give Yhwach his The Almighty back. And that is how Pernida came to be.