‘Bleach’: Is Gremmy Thoumeaux Really the Strongest Sternritter?
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The Sternritter are 28 of the strongest members of the Wandenreich, which can be compared to the commanders of the Gotei 13 in terms of rank and fighting power. All Sternritter are Quincy inscribed with a Schrift by Yhwach. Thus they now each bear one of the letters of the alphabet, which serves both as their epithet and as the initial of the individual powers bestowed upon them by Yhwach. Their powers are quite diverse, and while some are powerful but conventional, some are completely ludicrous. Gremmy Thoumeaux is known as Sternritter V – “The Visionary,” and his unique ability allows him to manifest anything he imagines. And although he has his weaknesses, Gremmy calls himself the strongest Sternritter of them all, and in this article, we are going to tell you whether that is true or not.
Gremmy Thoumeaux is certainly among the strongest Sternritter, without a doubt, but he is not the strongest. His power, The Visionary, certainly has its limitations, and the more powerful Sternritter (including, but not limited to, Gerard Valkyrie, Lille Barro, Jugram Haschwalth, etc.) would certainly be able to surpass him, just like Kenpachi did. This is why he is not the strongest, but he is one of the stronger Sternritter in Yhwach’s army.
The rest of this article will be dedicated to Gremmy Thoumeaux and his powers and abilities. We are actually going to explain what The Visionary is, how it manifests, and why it is so dangerous. We will also tell you why Gremmy referred to himself as the strongest Sternritter and whether he really was the strongest in this group. This article will contain a lot of major spoilers, so be careful if you haven’t actually read the Bleach manga, as this article will reveal a lot.
Gremmy Thoumeaux is one of the stronger Sternritter, but he is not the strongest
Gremmy Thoumeaux was not introduced in the first invasion, but he was introduced in the second. He first appeared not long after Renji killed Mask De Masculine and had Mugruma and Otoribashi taken care of by Isane and Yachiru.
Suddenly, a crazy-looking old man calling himself Guenael Lee, the Sternritter V (“Vanishing Point”), interrupted them, but it was soon discovered that their true enemy is a blonde boy who actually created (imagined) Guenael Lee. The boy introduced himself as the true Sternritter V, “The Visionary,” Gremmy Thoumeaux.
And while Yachiru tried to combat him, Kenpachi soon arrived and took over the fight, in which Gremmy revealed his power. His power is called The Visionary, and it allows Gremmy to materialize anything and everything he imagines. So. if Gremmy imagines something, then this imagination becomes a reality. For example, Gremmy imagined Yachiru’s bones as biscuits, and they actually did. Gremmy is also able to create and even kill living beings by sheer imagination.
He can also use his abilities on himself, giving his body the hardness of steel, for example, or undo even serious injuries in seconds simply by pretending to be unharmed. In addition, he is able to change his surroundings at will, e.g., he can raise a rock platform out of the ground, create a wide crack in the earth, as well as lava, water, steel beams, or even an arsenal of modern firearms appearing out of nowhere permit.
It turns out that Gremmy has a split personality of sorts: his strongest ability is to manifest this “alternate self” as a doppelganger, which then doubles the power of his The Visionary abilities and enables him to create phenomena of himself to materialize on the scale of a meteorite or to launch your opponent into the vacuum of space.
However, these abilities seem to require a certain amount of mental focus: for example, Gremmy’s battle with Kenpachi made him mentally focused on him, negating the effect he had previously envisioned on Yachiru’s bones.
Another way to wound him (albeit temporarily) is to attack Gremmy multiple times faster than he can realize what has happened. This delays his reaction and, thus, his regeneration. Moreover, it is theoretically quite possible for Gremmy to die as soon as he is no longer convinced of his absolute superiority and mentally considers the possibility of defeat since this negative vision then also materializes.
His own ability was his undoing against Kenpachi: after the Captain had withstood all of Gremmy’s attacks, he regarded him as a true monster. To surpass him, he imagined himself being such a powerful monster, which eventually destroyed his body. After Gremmy’s death, all things or beings created by his abilities, even his own body, disappear without leaving a trace.
As you can see, The Visionary is, indeed, a powerful ability, and while, as we’ve explained, it has its weaknesses and shortcomings, it is nevertheless a formidable power.
Due to this, Gremmy referred to himself as the strongest Sternritter, and Askin Nakk Le Vaar, while observing the battle from afar, commented with a certain alertness how Gremmy began to fight and was the first to run away, aware that Gremmy is able to destroy the whole Seireitei with his power.
Now, we do know that Gremmy’s power is not strong enough to surpass Kenpachi’s power, but Kenpachi is not a Sternritter. So, we know that Gremmy is not as strong a powerful Shinigami, but what about the other Sternritter?
He said that he never fought any of them because they knew they should stay away from him. He never really had a proper fight until Kenpachi came along and implied that all the other Sternritter feared him because of his power, but that wasn’t completely true.
Namely, while Gremmy’s power is truly amazing, a lot of the Sternritter could easily exploit its weaknesses, especially the members of the Schutzstaffel.
For example, Lille Barro’s attack would come so fast that Gremmy couldn’t react; his X-Axis could also penetrate Gremmy’s defenses. Also, there’s Gerard Valkyrie, whose own power, The Miracle, makes him basically invincible, as anything that Gremmy imagines, The Miracle would counter; plus, it is doubtful whether Gremmy’s body could endure so much power.
Nodt’s The Fear could also be potentially useful, as it could make Gremmy doubt himself and imagine he was dead, which would instantly kill him. Jugram, since he was very similar to Yhwach, would also probably slay Gremmy, as would Pernida, who would be able to take control of Gremmy’s nerves and then disable his powers.
It would also be interesting to see how he would do against Askin Nakk Le Vaar; namely, Askin was the first to run away from Gremmy’s power, but his battle against Yoruichi and Urahara showed that he wasn’t so weak. All the others? Gremmy could probably handle them with ease.
So, as you can see, Gremmy Thoumeaux is a powerful Sternritter, and his power is truly formidable, so much so that it makes him one of the strongest in the series, but he is not the strongest. He had a false perception of his powers, but he wasn’t that far off.
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