Bleach: Why Did Yhwach Appoint Ishida as His Successor?

Uryū Ishida’s role in Kubo’s Bleach has finally increased in the Thousand-Year Blood War Arc, significantly at that, which is why we are going to be writing about him much more from now on; earlier, we haven’t really written too much about him, despite him being a main character in the series so we’re going to make things better now. The first cour of the episodes ended with Ishida meeting Jugram Haschwalth, Yhwach’s right-hand man, so he could join the Sternritter, while the second cour continued with that plot. So, not only did Ishida join the Sternritter and get a new power from Yhwach, but he was also named his successor by the tyrant himself. In this article, we will explain why Yhwach named a complete newcomer as his successor the second he became his ally.

After being named his successor in front of all the gathered members of his army, Yhwach was asked by Ishida why he chose him as his successor in front of all the others. Yhwach then explained that he chose him because of his power, as Ishida was the only impure Quincy (his father was an Echt Quincy, but his mother was not) to have survived his Auswahlen, which is a testament to his amazing power and his worthiness to succeed Yhwach.

As you might have guessed, the rest of this article will be dedicated to Uryū Ishida and his story during the Thousand-Year Blood War arc, i.e., the details of his supposed betrayal and change of allegiance. We are going to give you all the details surrounding Ishida’s betrayal and his joining the Sternetitter as one of Yhwach’s closest allies, as well as how his story was influenced by the fact that he was named Yhwach’s successor. There will be major spoilers for those who have not read the manga, so be careful how you approach the article.

Yhwach named Ishida as his successor because of Ishida’s power

Going back to the beginning of the manga’s final saga, we can conclude that Uryū first appears in this saga when he and his friends protect the shinigami Ryūnosuke Yuki and Shino from some hollows.

Two days later, everyone met at Ichigo’s home, where Uryū and the Shinigami initially quarreled as usual. Shortly after, they ate the bread Orihime had brought but were interrupted by Asguiaro Ebern, who started a fight with Ichigo. Realizing that there is more to this story, Ishida began exploring the secret history of the Quincy as Ichigo and the others were fighting in Hueco Mundo (he himself declined to go as a Quincy, due to their pride, couldn’t help the Hollows of Hueco Mundo).

He found a secret book kept hidden by his father, and in it, he found out a lot about Yhwach and the actual history of Quincy. After Yhwach’s first invasion of the Seireitei, the first couple of episodes ended with Ishida secretly meeting with Yhwach’s second-in-command, Jugram Haschwalth, who welcomed him to the Sternritter. The second cour continued with that scene as we received confirmation that Ishida joined Yhwach.

This was a genuinely unexpected action, and even though Ichigo and the others had a lot on their plates already, they were nonetheless concerned for their friend. Ishida valued Quincy pride that much is clear, but he had grown so close to Ichigo and the others that nobody anticipated that he would just uproot everything to follow a ruthless killer and dictator like Yhwach though he did.

Seemingly. This was a significant problem because Ishida didn’t address it with anybody; instead, he just went, leaving no one with any idea of what was going through his mind (though Ichigo vowed to smack him until he returned to his senses).

So, what actually happened next? Well, in Silbern, Yhwach gathered all of his Quincy, including all of the Sternritter (yes, even the Schutzstaffel), and introduced Ishida to them, but he also shocked everyone by saying that he was, as of that moment, naming Ishida as his successor.

Some were shocked, some openly mad (like Bambietta and Bazz-B), but most of them actually worried about Ishida because no one knew anything about him. Sure, they were aware of his existence, but they also knew that he was an ally of Ichigo’s, so his arrival here was suspicious, to say the least.

And while Jugram Haschwalth later argued that he had nothing to complain about as Yhwach’s word was final, regardless of what he said, Bazz-B and some others challenged this decision among themselves, although no one really dared to challenge Yhwach himself, not approach Ishida about it.

In the meantime, Ishida was taken to Yhwach’s chamber, where Yhwach decided to give him some of his blood so Ishida could activate his true power. Before drinking the blood, Ishida asked Yhwach why he chose him as his successor, and Yhwach was benevolent enough to explain, and the reason was connected to Yhwach’s Auswahlen.

Namely, as the father of all Quincys, Yhwach can redistribute their powers at will as they are essentially all his. He can completely drain any Quincy, even the Sternritter (as he did with Gerard), of their powers, after which the victim is extremely weakened or dies directly (this technique led, among other things, to Masaki Kurosaki being weakened and being able to be killed by Grand Fisher).

The absorbed powers are then available to Yhwach himself, which he can use to strengthen or heal. However, he can also pass them on to other Quincy in order to raise them from the dead and increase their powers immensely.

So, this ability of his caused a lot of trouble both in the past and in the current timeline. Generally, true Quincy can withstand Auswahlen to a certain degree, but they are left in a weakened state, while impure Quincy are generally weakened so much that they either die or cannot defend themselves properly.

For example, Robert Accutrone and Gerard Valkyrie both died, whereas Masaki Kurosaki, Liltotto Lamperd, Bazz-B, and Giselle Gewelle were weakened by it. Ishida’s mother – sadly – died. As far as Ishida is concerned, we have to remind you that he was not a pure Quincy – his father was one, but his mother wasn’t, which means he wasn’t a pure Quincy.

And while he should have died, or at least lost his powers, Ishida was basically unaffected by Yhwach’s Auswahlen, and that happened every time that Yhwach used this technique, which was fascinating.

Yhwach interpreted that as a sign of Ishida’s enormous power, which is why he ultimately decided to name him his successor. Did Yhwach know that Ishida was going to betray him?

Probably not at the time, as his power was not yet fully active, but he might have suspected something, or he was, possibly, like all narcissistic tyrants, simply so self-confident that he did not think that someone like Ishida could be trouble for him, regardless of what he does; how wrong he was, eh?

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