Bleach: Is Ulquiorra Dead? Will We See Him Again?

Despite being an enemy in the Arrancar Saga, Ulquiorra Cifer, the Cuatro Espada, is a character who has undoubtedly withstood the test of time and still remains one of the series’ most popular and enduring villains. His special relationship with Ichigo Kurosaki and Orihime is what helped, but it was his unique characterization that made him so special. In this article, we are going to tell you what happened to Ulquiorra, i.e., whether he is dead or not, and if we will see him again in the series.

Ulquiorra Cifer is, indeed, dead in Bleach, and as far as things stand now, we will not be seeing more of him again in the future. Ulquiorra died after his battle with Vasto Lorde Ichigo, as the latter injured him so badly that Ulquiorra’s healing factor simply couldn’t handle it that time, and he had no energy left to recover. He soon disappeared, his Reishi being absorbed by Hueco Mundo or going to Hell, which means that Mayuri couldn’t revive him either. The only way for him to reappear is in the potential Hell Arc or if Kubo decides to change the anime, but the latter is highly unlikely.

The rest of this article will be about Ulquiorra Cifer, his fate, and his possible appearance in the Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War or the potential Hell Arc if the latter ever comes out in the future. We will tell you what happened to him and, based on that, whether there is a chance for him to come back in the future of the Bleach series. If you’re not fully up-to-date with absolutely everything that has happened in Bleach, we have to warn you that there will be a lot of spoilers in this article, so be careful how you approach it when you read.

Ulquiorra is, indeed, dead, and the chances of him returning are quite slim

As fans of the series will probably know, Ulquiorra’s story is quite complex and very long. He first appeared not long after Aizen betrayed the Gotei 13 and Yammy in the World of the Living, where he was sent to analyze how powerful Ichigo was.

There, the two of them were ultimately pushed back by Urahara and Yoruichi, with Ulquiorra initially judging Ichigo as insignificant. This is how their rivalry started. It intensified with Ulquiorra kidnapping Orihime and forcing Ichigo and his friends to go to Hueco Mundo to save her, but at the time, Ichigo was still not strong enough to defeat Ulquiorra, he almost killed him; had Grimmjow not sealed Ulquiorra away temporarily and then brought Orihime to heal him, Ichigo would have been dead. But, after Ichigo defeated Ulquiorra, it was obvious that he would have a rematch with Ulquiorra, and here is what happened.

Ulquiorra returns to the palace of Las Noches after escaping Caja Negacion to take over Aizen’s palace management because he intends to travel to Karakura with the top three Espada. As they wait for Ichigo, Ulquiorra challenges Orihime, whom Coyote Starrk had brought back, about what it means to have a “heart” and whether a heart genuinely exists as she describes it. However, Ichigo approaches before he can continue questioning Orihime, so Ulquiorra prepares to battle him with his Zanpakuto.

Ulquiorra fires his Cero toward Ichigo during the battle, but he can dodge it. Ulquiorra then observes that Ichigo has grown stronger and wonders if this results from his defeating Grimmjow, his desire to save Orihime, or the fact that all of his companions below are fighting alongside him. He claims that it is irrelevant because Orihime is already one of “them,” and nobody can make that change. Ulquiorra has no authority to make a decision, Ichigo responds, but Ulquiorra replies that it is actually Aizen’s decision and not anyone else’s.

As the fight continues, Ichigo develops the ability to interpret Ulquiorra’s body language, which he attributes to either Ulquiorra becoming more human or himself becoming more Hollow. Ulquiorra responds by revving up the engine but is halted by Orihime’s Santen Kesshun. Ulquiorra then inquires as to why she failed to defend Ichigo at the outset of the conflict, but there is no time for a reply as Ichigo continues their battle.

Loly and Menoly sneak up on Orihime as the two are engaged in combat, torture her, and eventually kill her. The two threaten to pull off Orihime’s left eyeball if attacked when Ichigo notices this and prepares to attack. Ulquiora steps in and diverts Ichigo’s Getsuga Tensho as he attempts to strike her. Ulquiorra turns to Ichigo and declares that to engage in further combat; he must first kill Ichigo. Yammy also arrives and wants to hurt Orihime, but he is stopped by Ishida, who has arrived to protect her.

Following this, Ichigo once more dons his Hollow mask, which is now powerful enough to fend off Ulquiorra’s strikes and even break open his blade. Ulquiorra then makes his way to the Las Noches dome, where he informs Ichigo that Aizen has forbidden the Espada from doing two things there: first, from using the Gran Rey Cero, and second, from using the Resurrección of the top four Espada. He immediately lets go of his Zanpakuto, Murciélago.

Ulquiorra finds it difficult to comprehend why Ichigo persists in his efforts even though he is now clearly superior to him. Even though it is unneeded, the Espada triggers the second level of his Resurrección to demonstrate to Ichigo his true desperation. He mercilessly kills Ichigo, but as he takes on a hitherto unidentified Hollow form—a Vasto Lorde—Ulquiorra wonders how this is possible.

Even more unprepared was he when Ichigo Son dove by him and casually severed his arm. A huge Cero kills Ulquiorra after a brief but intense battle in which he also utilizes his Lanza del Relampago because his body is too damaged to regenerate in time. Ulquiorra then vanishes into oblivion.

As you can see, Ulquiorra is indeed dead. Unlike some other Arrancar and even Espada, whose bodies were preserved, Ulquiorra fully disappeared, and there was no way to revive him, actually. This means that the chances of him reappearing in the current anime series are basically zero; Mayuri is going to bring some of the Arrancar back to life, but the four of them had their bodies preserved, whereas Ulquiorra completely disappeared, so there was nothing Mayuri could do there, as there were no remains. Whether Ulquiorra was reabsorbed by Hueco Mundo or sent to Hell is unknown, bringing us to another possibility related to Ulquiorra’s potential return.

Now, if Ulquiorra’s Spiritual Power went to Hell and if Tite Kubo decides to continue Bleach with the Hell Arc, there is a possibility that we could see Ulquiorra again, but this is only a conjecture, as there are too many ifs in this scenario, and none of them is even close to being solved at this point, so we’ll just have to wait it out.