What Happened to Tier Harribel & Will She Return in Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War?

Every anime fan knows that Tite Kubo’s Bleach has some of the most interesting characters in the world of manga and anime. And while we could talk about the Shinigami, the Quincies, the Fullbringers, we have decided to focus on an Arrancar in this article, or – to be more precise – on an Espada from the Arrancar Saga. Tier Harrbel was the Tres Espada and one of the most powerful characters in Hueco Mundo. During the Fake Karakura Town arc she was seemingly killed by Aizen. In this article, we are going to tell you what happened to Tier Harribel and whether we will see her again in the upcoming Thousand-Year Blood War anime.

During the final moments of the battle of Fake Karakura Town, Tier Harribel was shockingly struck down by Aizen, falling down to the ground; this ended her fight with Captain Hitsugaya. And while it seemed that Harribel was dead, just like Coyote Starrk and Baraggan, she later emerged as the de facto ruler of Hueco Mundo, being the strongest surviving Arrancar.

The rest of the article is going to be dedicated solely to Tier Harribel and his fate in Bleach. You’re going to find out what happened to Tier Harribel and why everyone thought that she had died, as well as when the events we are talking about actually took place. Tier Harribel is a character with a great story, which is why the events surrounding her fate are certainly of interest to fans. Beware, this article is going to be full of spoilers.

What happened to Tier Harribel in Bleach?

In the 3rd Character Book, it is stated that Harribel died as a human during the birth of her child. This explains the whereabouts of her Hollow hole and further underscores her death aspect of sacrifice. Tier’s past was briefly covered in a filler episode. She herself was a Vasto Lorde in Hueco Mundo at the time but refused to eat other Hollows, i.e. sacrifice them to become stronger.

That’s why she teamed up with Apacci, Sung-Sun, and Mila Rose so that as a group they were strong enough to no longer be easy prey for the male Hollows. Baraggan wanted Harribel for his army when he was still King of Hueco Mundo, but she refused. When Aizen had Baraggan dethroned and made his Arrancar army, one of Baraggan’s former subordinates came to Tier to get revenge on her for her insolence towards Baraggan at the time.

The Arrancar was stronger than Harribel and used to wear her down in battle. So Harribel’s comrades Sung-Sun, Mila Rose, and Apacci sacrificed themselves for her and attacked the Arrancar. However, they quickly lost to their opponent. Tier Harribel now chose to sacrifice herself for her people and fight him despite the Arrancar’s superior strength. She lost the fight but was saved from death by Aizen.

He promised her that if she followed him, she would gain new strength and never have to sacrifice herself for her people again. Tier accepted Aizen’s offer and joined him. When Aizen and his followers showed up in the fake Karakura Town, the Shinigami were already waiting for them. As the fight begins, Tier Harribel has her Fracciónes fight Rangiku Matsumoto and Momo Hinamori while she herself takes on Tōshirō Hitsugaya.

Her Fracciónes pulls out all the stops in combat and she uses her Chimera Parca technique, calling Allon. They managed to defeat Rangiku, Momo, Shūhei Hisagi, and Tetsuzaemon Iba with Allon, who was ultimately defeated by Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto. The three then attack the Captain-Commander together with a kind of suicide attack, but are burned by him and thus killed.

Tier then decides to avenge them and take it seriously. She opens her jacket to reveal her mask and rank. Tōshirō Hitsugaya subsequently has great difficulty standing up to her and was surprised to find out that she is “just” number 3. When the Tres Espada then attacks, Tōshirō uses his Bankai Daiguren Hyōrinmaru. Despite this, he still has trouble dodging her attack Ola Azul.

After Tier Harribel then unleashes her Zanpakutō, she attacks and splits him. However, Tier only attacked an ice reflection from the 10th Division’s Captain. After that, it looks like neither of them can gain an advantage as Tier’s water-based attacks and Hitsugaya’s ice-based were able to counter each other over and over again.

However, after using his strongest technique, Hyōten Hyakkasō, and imprisoning Harribel in a mountain of hundreds of ice flowers, it looks like a Hitsugaya win at first. But when Wonderweiss appears with a gigantic Hollow Fura and lets out a scream, the icicles around Harribel break and she is free again.

She appears completely unharmed, as if Hitsugaya’s attack had been ineffective, but the Captain seems exhausted from his attack. So things are looking bad for the Shinigami now. To save Tōshirō, the Vzored joined the fight and Tier now also has to deal with Lisa Yadōmaru and Hiyori Sarugaki as new opponents.

Although expecting a three-on-one fight, only Lisa attacks at first, as Tōshirō and Hiyori are still arguing at this point. Tier later faces off against all three, with Hiyori and Lisa continuing to fight her in the Shikai and Tōshirō in the Bankai. Harribel is able to keep her three opponents at bay for a long time, but in the meantime, Coyote Starrk and Baraggan Luisenbarn, the two higher-ranked Espada, have been defeated.

Because of this, Aizen then decides that he no longer needs Harribel and attacks her, cutting across her torso. This angers Harribel so much that she fights back and attacks him as well. But she doesn’t stand a chance and only attacks an illusion created by Kyōka Suigetsu. Aizen then stabs her from behind and she falls to the ground.

Will Tier Harribel be back in Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War?

After Aizen was defeated, Tier Harribel was healed, since Aizen also only betrayed and used her and her Fraccións. The four Arrancar women had no reason to fight the Shinigami anymore and went peacefully back to Las Noches. Since both Aizen, Starrk and Baraggan were dead, Harribel assumed the position of leader in Hueco Mundo.

For the first time in a long time (approx. 1½ years), Tier Harribel was seen again trapped in the hiding place of the Wandenreich. There she was injured and chained unconscious to the ground. As is learned from Pesche, Harribel was quickly defeated by the leader of the Wandenreich. Without a leader, the Arrancar could not help her, and many of them were taken prisoner as well.

This brief story reveals that Harribel is indeed going to come back in Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War, so expect to see her in the upcoming episodes of the anime.