‘Bleach’: Who Won the Thousand-Year Blood War?

Tite Kubo’s Bleach is one of the “Big Three” series and one of the major works that contributed to the popularization of anime and manga worldwide. The Bleach manga follows high school student Ichigo Kurosaki as he becomes a Substitute Shinigami (Soul Reaper) and then works with his friends and allies to save his world and the Soul Society. And while the plot of Bleach encompasses a large number of various events, the main plotline takes over a period of roughly two years, which is not that long. The plot can be divided into two major sagas – the Arrancar Saga and the Quincy Blood War Saga, with some smaller arcs between them. The Quincy Blood War, i.e., the Thousand-Year Blood War, was a major conflict, and in this article, you are going to find out what happened in that fight.

The Soul Society managed to come out victorious in the Thousand-Year Blood War. The war was divided into three phases. The first phase consisted of Yhwach’s surprise invasion of Soul Society, which was cut short; Quincy won, but the Soul Society was not defeated. The second invasion saw the Gotei 13 deal massive damage to the Sternritter, but as Yhwach managed to enter the Soul King’s Palace, it wasn’t a win for them. Finally, with the help of Ichigo and his friends, the Soul Society managed to defeat the remaining Quincy and Yhwach, thus winning the war.

The rest of this article is going to bring you a brief overview of what happened during the Thousand-Year Blood War in Bleach. We will tell you about the three phases of the war, how they played out, and what happened in the aftermath. The article will be full of spoilers, so if you don’t want to know what happened, be careful how you approach this article.

The price of winning the Thousand-Year Blood War was high, but Soul Society did it

It all started when an Arrancar calling himself a Quincy, Asguiaro Ebern, entered Ichigo’s room unannounced and failed to steal his Bankai. Nel and Pesche soon appeared and dragged Ichigo to Hueco Mundo, which had been invaded by a Quincy and was now terrorized by a guy named Quilge Opie.

At the same time, a group of masked men in white invaded the Seireitei and murdered Lieutenant Sasakibe, declaring war on the Shinigami to Yamamoto himself. Their leader, the ruthless Yhwach, did not honor his word, and when he found out that Ichigo was in Hueco Mundo, he immediately launched an invasion, as many Sternritter began appearing in the Seireitei. This is how the Thousand-Year Blood War started.

The first phase of the war coincides with the first invasion of Soul Society. Many Shinigami lost their lives, with the Quincy seemingly dealing massive damage with little to no effort. And while each Captain and Lieutenant were engaged in a bitter fight, the fighting was not the worst thing that happened, as the Sternritter demonstrated that they could steal (not seal, as the dying Sasakibe suspected) the Captains’ Bankai.

Captains Soifon, Toshiro Hitsugaya, Sajin Komamura, and Byakuya Kuchiki all had their Bankai stolen by BG9, Cang Du, Bambietta Basterbine, and As Nodt, respectively. This news stopped the other Captains from activating their Bankai, which made fighting much more difficult.

Lieutenant Izuru Kira was seemingly killed; Captain Kyoraku lost one of his eyes fighting Robert Accutrone; Byakuya Kuchiki, alongside losing his Bankai, was almost killed; Renji and Rukia were also heavily injured; the death of Lieutenant Hisagi was stopped by Yamamoto himself, who intervened and easily murdered Sasakibe’s killer, Driscoll Berci; Kenpachi Zaraki managed to kill three Sternritter, but he himself also died when he faced their leader, Yhwach.

When Yamamoto arrived, he activated his Bankai and seemingly killed Yhwach, but it turned out to be a trick as the real Yhwach arrived and killed him; earlier, he had unsuccessfully tried to convince Aizen to join them, but Aizen simply messed up his sense of time.

The Sternritter had to leave soon before they managed to destroy the Seiterei, and even Ichigo’s arrival was not enough to defeat Yhwach. Ichigo ended up with his Bankai broken by Yhwach’s right-hand man, Jugram Haschwalth. Soon after the first invasion ended, Uryu Ishida joined Yhwach and became a Sterntitter.

A pause came, and the Royal Guard came down from the Soul King’s Palace to help rebuild the Seiterei while, at the same time, taking the three heavily wounded Shinigami (Renji, Rukia, and Byakuya), as well as Ichigo, to their palace to help them train for the second invasion, which was sure to come. While they were recovering, Yhwach launched his second attack.

The second phase was different, as Yhwach used his shadows to simply replace the Seireitei with the Wandenreich, which confused the Shinigami, but they managed to counter. In the meantime, Kisuke Urahara found a way to return the Bankai to their respective Captains.

After failing to defeat Bazz-B, Captain Hitsugaya regained his Bankai and used it to defeat Cang Du but collapsed afterward. Captain Komamura turned himself into a human and managed to defeat Bambietta Basterbine, but he then turned into a regular wolf and was taken away from the battlefield by Iba.

Soifon, regaining her Bankai, managed to defeat BG9; while Ichigo was still training, Rukia, Renji, and Byakuya came back to help, with Rukia and Byakuya defeating the dreaded As Nodt. Mask de Masculine almost killed Captains Muguruma and Otoribashi, but Renji arrived in time and killed him.

The childish Gremmy Thoumeaux seemingly killed Muguruma and Otoribashi, but Mayuri saved them while a recovered Kenpachi succeeded in killing Gremmy. At the same time, Captain Mayuri used his skills to defeat the female Sternritter, including Giselle Gewelle and her zombies, which included three Captains of the Gotei 13 and Bambietta’s corpse.

When Ichigo came back, Yhwach used the opportunity and enter the Soul King’s Palace. He activated another Auswahlen and killed almost all of the remaining Sternritter save for his Schutzstaffel, which included Pernida Parnkgjas, Gerard Valkyrie, Lille Barro, and Askin Nakk Le Vaar, as well as Ishida and Jugram.

And while the Royal Guard seemed to gain the upper hand, the Schutzstaffel managed to defeat them, while Yhwach seemingly killed Ichibei Hyosube, their leader. He then made his way to the Soul King, as Kyoraku released Aizen to help them defend the Seireitei. After Yhwach successfully killed and absorbed the Soul King, the second phase was over; Captain Ukitake tried to save the Soul King, but he ultimately died making that sacrifice.

The third and final phase of the war began with Yhwach transforming the Soul King’s Palace into Wahrwelt, a new Quincy fortress, before executing his plan of destroying everything and creating a new world. Ichigo and his allies were already there, while the Shinigami and their new Sternritter allies also found a way to enter the palace. There, they faced the Schutzstaffel.

Kyoraku and Nanao Ise overcame Barro, who was thrown down into the Seireitei, where Kira killed him. Urahara and Yoruichi, with Grimmjow’s help, managed to kill Askin Nakk Le Vaar after Grimmjow ripped his heart out.

Mayuri and Nemu managed to defeat Pernida, but Nemu died in the process. Ultimately, Byakuya, Toshiro, Shinji, and Kenpachi fought Gerary Valkyrie and managed to kill him unsuccessfully several times before being permanently killed by Yhwach’s Auswahlen. Ishida finally revealed that he was never a traitor, and while Ichigo fought Yhwach, he killed Jugram (who had earlier killed Bazz-B).

Ultimately, Ichigo faced Yhwach, but he was only able to defeat him when Renji, Ishida, and Aizen himself helped him, and with that, the Thousand-Year Blood War was over.

Yhwach was dead, and the last traces of his Spiritual Pressure disappeared ten years later, while the Soul Society had to be rebuilt once again after suffering all those losses. In the end, Captain Komamura became a wolf, Captains Ukitake, Unohana, and Yamamoto died, as well as Lieutenant Nemu; the rest of them, luckily, recovered, including the Royal Guard, whose members have been revived by Ichibei after Ichigo revived him.

The Arrancar returned to Hueco Mundo, while some Sternritter survived and were no longer treated as enemies.