Who Is The Black Hollow in Bleach?
Episode 11 of Bleach: The Thousand-Year Blood War allowed us to see more of the history of Ichigo’s parents, as we got to learn the true nature of Masaki Kurosaki and how she and Isshin Shiba met. It was through the attack of a mysterious black Hollow that Isshin and Masaki were able to meet as they worked together to defeat this powerful foe. But who is the Black Hollow in episode 11 of Bleach: The Thousand-Year Blood War?
The black Hollow is called White, which is an experimental Hollow created by Aizen and his allies when they were secretly conducting experiments involving Hollowfication. He was created using the souls of several Shinigami. Before dying, however, he transferred his Hollowfication to Masaki Kurosaki.
It is the very fact that Hollow existed that Ichigo was able to become who he eventually became, as his powers were the result of what Hollow did to Masaki. In that regard, a part of Ichigo’s essence and power can be traced all the way back to his artificial Hollow created by Aizen. Now, let’s talk more about this Black Hollow in Bleach so that we can find out more about its nature.
Who Is The Black Hollow In Bleach?
Back when Ichigo was defeated by Yhwach and got his Zanpakutō broken in the process, we saw him going to the realm of the Royal Guard so that he could have his Zanpakutō reforged. However, while he was there, he was deemed a failure and had to be sent back home so that he could learn more about his past and history. And that was when he and Isshin Kurosaki had a father-son talk for seemingly the first time in their lives.
Isshin told Ichigo about the true nature of his mother, Masaki Kurosaki, as he revealed that she was actually a Quincy. They met years before Ichigo was even born, as Masaki was still in high school back then while Isshin was a captain of the Gotei 13. When Isshin learned about the mysterious Shinigami deaths happening in Naruki City, he had to go there himself because he thought that he was the only one strong enough to take down whatever was responsible for the deaths of the soul reapers there.
While Isshin was in Naruki City, he came across a black-clad Hollow that had a humanoid appearance and blades for arms. This Hollow was strong enough to make things tough for Isshin, as he was about to finish it off before Aizen intervened to injure the 10th Division captain so that he couldn’t use his full power against this black Hollow. So, who was the black Hollow that attacked Isshin in bleach episode 11?
Isshin never learned the name of this Hollow, but we got to learn from Kaname Tosen that Aizen called this Hollow the name White. The reason why Aizen was able to name this Hollow is the fact that he and his allies were the ones that actually created him using the souls of several Shinigami. This happened when Aizen was still conducting secret experiments in Soul Society before he defected and waged war on the Gotei 13.
Of course, we know that Aizen was responsible for creating different Hollows using the power of the Hogyoku, as he actually experimented using the souls of Shinigami. And even before creating White, Aizen was responsible for the Hollowfication of Shinji and the other members of the Visored.
The fact that White fought like a Shinigami was something that Isshin noticed, as he remarked that he was not like any other Hollow. We also know that most Hollows tend to be bigger, yet White not only had a humanoid form but is just as big as a regular human being. This allowed him to fight Isshin using Shinigami skills that the former 10th Division captain easily noticed.
During the fight with Isshin, White was strong enough to hold his own against the captain and was even able to quickly decapitate two Shinigamis before his fight with Isshin. White also displayed his power when he incinerated the body of a Shinigami using a single blast from his Cero. That was when Isshin decided that he needed to be more serious in the fight as he unleashed his Shikai.
It is possible that Isshin could have ended the fight quicker using the power of his Engetsu. However, Aizen, Tosen, and Gin arrived hooded and disguised. Aizen slashed Isshin from behind, and this injured the captain to the point that he struggled against the power of White and couldn’t use his full strength, considering that his Bankai actually takes a toll on his body.
What Happened To White In Bleach?
While fighting Isshin, White lost a limb due to the power of the captain’s Shikai. However, White was still strong enough to hold his own against Ichigo’s father as he was about to finish the captain off with a Cero. But Masaki arrived just in time to neutralize the attack with one of her arrows, as she distracted White and gained the attention of the black-clad Hollow.
Despite the fact that Masaki Kurosaki fired a lot of Reiatsu arrows at White, the Hollow was swift and fast enough to evade all of them. He was able to get close to Masaki, and he bit her on the shoulder instead of killing her. This allowed her to shoot an arrow at White’s face from point-blank range, as the shot was fatal.
The attack forced White to self-destruct in what seemed to be an effort to destroy Masaki. But Isshin took the brunt of that explosion. And this encounter was the first time that either Isshin or Masaki ever encountered someone from the other side of the Shinigami vs. Quincy war.
By biting Masaki, however, White actually chose her to become the next host of its Hollowfication, as he must have realized that Masaki’s Quincy physiology was strong enough for her to become a powerful Hollow. Masaki was about to turn into a Hollow, but Isshin sacrificed his Shinigami powers to hold White’s Hollow powers at bay.
But what they didn’t know was that White’s influence reached Ichigo Kurosaki, as the Hollow transferred some of its powers to him when Masaki was pregnant with the boy. This is why Ichigo has Hollow powers. In fact, Ichigo’s full Hollowfication actually resembles White’s appearance.
It is also the fact that Ichigo’s body inherited White’s Hollowfication that he was able to obtain the powers that he eventually used to defeat Yhwach in the Bleach manga. That’s because White’s Hollowfication fused with Ichigo’s Shinigami powers to become the true Zanpakutō that he was born with.
As such, the fusion of White’s Hollow powers and Ichigo’s Shinigami nature combined to make Ichigo stronger. And this power eventually found a way to bite Aizen back, as the power that he was partly responsible for creating was what defeated him during the Arrancar arc.