Bleach: Why Did Ishida Drink Yhwach’s Blood?

Uryū Ishida is a character from Bleach that we have not written a lot about, but due to his increased role in the Thousand-Year Blood War Arc, we are going to be writing about him much more from now on, which makes sense, as he is one of the main characters in the series. In the first episode of the second part of the anime, Ishida finally completed his transition and joined the Sternritter, which made Yhwach quite happy. After being named as his successor, Ishida was given an audience with Yhwach himself, during which the ruthless Quincy tyrant gave him some of his blood to drink, which Ishida did. In this article, we will tell you why that happened and the consequences of this act.

Uryu Ishida joining Yhwach and the Sternritter was pivotal in the Thousand-Year Blood War Arc. And while the situation turned out to be not so straightforward in the end, Ishida was allied with Yhwach, and Yhwach gave him some of his blood to drink so that Ishida could activate his full Quincy powers, i.e., his special ability. When Ishida drank the blood, he was assigned the Schrift “A” – “The Antithesis” and became known as the Sternritter “A.”

As you might have guessed, the rest of this article will be dedicated to Uryu Ishida and his powers and abilities or, more specifically, how Ishida drinking Yhwach’s blood influenced his powers and abilities in the series. This pivotal moment was related to Ishida’s Schrift, which is why we will focus on his new power, Antithesis, which was an enormously powerful ability, even by Sternritter standards. This article will contain many major spoilers, so be careful if you haven’t actually read the Bleach manga, as this article will reveal a lot.

Ishida drinking Yhwach’s blood gave him additional powers and abilities

Uryu Ishida is one of Bleach’s protagonists. He was once Ichigo’s opponent but subsequently changed his allegiance to his comrades and joined them on their journeys to Hueco Mundo and Soul Society to save Orihime and Rukia, respectively.

He was a crucial ally throughout the entire series and took part in all significant battles. But when Yhwach began his assault on Soul Society, Ishida—a Quincy—began to delve into the group’s secret history and learned some startling revelations about Yhwach.

In secret, he later met up with Jugram Haschwalth, Yhwach’s second-in-command, and joined the Quincy army in a move that shocked everyone, especially because it was unexpected. He did this without actually notifying anyone, although he had – as the anime revealed – some conversations with his father, who probably deduced what Ishida was planning on doing.

Now, this was truly an unexpected move, and while Ichigo and the others had a lot of other things to do, they still worried about their friend. We mean, Ishida did value Quincy pride, that much is known, but he’d gotten so close to Ichigo and the others that no one thought that Ishida would simply abandon all of it to join a brutal murderer and tyrant like Yhwach.

But he did. Seemingly. This was another major issue here, as Ishida did not discuss it with anyone – he simply left, which is why no one really knew what was going through his head (still, Ichigo said that he would smack him until he returned to his senses). And while he did not participate in any battles directly, he was by Yhwach’s side, and he was even named as his successor, to the shock of most of the other Sternritter.

Not long after this announcement, Yhwach summoned Ishida to his room, where he injured his hand and let some of his blood slip into a small glass. He then gave the glass to Ishida, and after explaining why he chose him as his successor, Yhwach told him to drink the blood to activate his true power.

After a moment, Ishida drank all of it, and while nothing noticeable happened, it was obvious from Yhwach’s comments that Ishida became stronger and that his true power was now activated. Overjoyed with such a development, Yhwach proceeded to praise Ishida and decided to award a Shchrift to his new powers, choosing the letter “A” just like his own.

This basically the standard method by which the Sternritter received their powers and abilities, so there’s nothing odd here from the perspective of the Quincy.

So, what powers did Yhwach’s blood activate? Despite the power not being used until the end of the arc, Ishida received a very powerful new ability called Antithesis. Even by Quincy standards, Antithesis was a powerful ability. With this power, he can reverse events that have already happened between two points. In the fight against Haschwalth, he seriously injured him by simply swapping his wounds with Haschwalth’s.

According to Haschwalth, “Antithesis” is the only power that could resist and even counter Yhwachs’ ability, “The Almighty,” which made Ishida so special.

And that is pretty much it. Ishida drinking Yhwach’s blood was a very small moment in the story, but it proved very important. It showed us several things. First, Ishida seemingly did decide to join the Sternritter, which was a big thing at the time; sure, it might have been a ruse, but would he really go that far?

Perpahs, but from a narrative standpoint, it didn’t seem like Ishida was faking anything, despite his insecurities. Secondly, it showed us that Yhwach trusted Ishida, which proved to be a fatal error in the end for him, but more on that at a later point. Ultimately, it proved that Ishida was a truly powerful character, something we knew all along, but it was now officially confirmed, as – otherwise – his power would not have become so dangerous.