Who Is the Soul King in Bleach? Is He the Ruler of Soul Society?

Tite Kubo’s Bleach has provided us with a variety of colorful and intriguing characters. And while those who have not read the manga know only a portion of these, those who have will know that Bleach has one of the more diverse sets of characters in the story. One of them is the enigmatic Soul King, who is mentioned on several occasions before he is finally seen in the final arc of the manga. In this article, we are going to tell you everything you need to know about the Soul King in Bleach.
The Soul King is the King of Soul Society, whose existence in it is as symbolic as it is absolute. The King is in the Soul King Palace, located in a special dimension within Soul Society, which is protected by the Royal Guard. The dimensional gate of the Royal Palace opens through the Ōken. It is unclear what the Soul King actually does, except that he has a specific “special rights” system that is currently in place.
The rest of this article is going to focus solely on the Soul King from Bleach, as we bring you everything you need to know about him and his actions. We are going to tell you some information about the history of the character, as well as his role in the whole story. We are also going to answer a series of relevant questions about the Soul King.
Who is the Soul King in Bleach and is he the ruler of Soul Society?
The Soul King is the ruler of Soul Society, however, his existence is more of symbolic importance to the residents of Soul Society, as the Soul King is referred to as being of an absolute nature. As the king of Soul Society, however, the Soul King does not reside in the Seireitei area, but rather in a higher dimension where the Soul King Palace is also located. His bodyguards are his own chosen members of the Royal Guard, also known as Division 0. In addition, the Soul King is the father of Yhwach and the creator of Soul Society, Hueco Mundo, and this world.
The Soul King existed before Soul Society existed, and its history begins with the Soul King. Through his ability known as The Almighty, the Soul King created Soul Society, Hueco Mundo, and the human world out of a so-called primordial world, and since then has acted as the fulcrum for the maintenance of these three dimensions.
At some point in the past after Soul Society was created, the Soul King bestowed on Hyōsube the title “Manako Osho” (Monk Who Calls the Real Name). At another unspecified time in the past, the Soul King chose to have his immense powers sealed away by the Shinigami.
During the Quincy War, the King briefly appears at his Royal Palace after the members of Division 0 arrive, along with Byakuya Kuchiki, Renji Abarai, Rukia Kuchiki, and Ichigo Kurosaki at Reiōkyū, where one of his subordinates asks if he is awake. A few days later, Yhwach, his son, arrives at the Soul King’s Palace and proceeds to slaughter many of the Soul King’s vassals and subjects before arriving at the Soul King’s room and stabbing him in the chest.
Shortly after, Ichigo and his friends arrive at the room, where Yhwach reveals the Spirit King’s situation to them before stating that it is too late to do anything. When Ichigo tries to help the king by drawing Yhwach’s sword, but Blut Vene’s veins spread across the right side of him and force him to cut the King across the torso.
Yhwach explains Ichigo’s actions by revealing that the Quincy blood cannot tolerate the existence of the Soul King. As the lower half of the King’s body and the containment pod fall to the ground, Yhwach explains to Ichigo how he forced Ichigo to attack him by giving him the Reiatsu still present in his sword, which his blood reacted to by reviving the Soul King, his Sōten Kisshun is shattered, leading Yhwach to proclaim that the Soul King will never rise again.
However, in the Seireitei below, Jūshirō Ukitake, who was once saved by Mimihagi, the King’s right-hand man, initiates Kamikake to save the Soul King’s life at the cost of his own. In doing so, he bursts out a large black hand. from the orifices of him and ascends towards the palace, where he grabs the upper half of the King’s body.
Surprised by this, Yhwach notes that Mimihagi is the only thing his eyes can’t predict and demands to know if the Soul King is starting to get sentimental towards Soul Society after protecting it all this time as Mimihagi’s eye begins to roll. close. Yhwach attempts to destroy both the Soul King and Mimihagi, but Ichigo stops him by grabbing his arm and dispelling his attack, allowing Yoruichi to pass them and create a Kidō barrier around the Soul King with several seals.
Yoruichi notes that Mimihagi has stabilized the king before proclaiming that they will have to replace him. However, when Yoruichi momentarily loses his concentration due to being shot in the shoulder by Uryū Ishida, the barrier breaks, sending the upper half of the King flying towards Yhwach, who rips Mimihagi from her. After absorbing Mimihagi, Yhwach completely absorbs the Spirit King.
What does the Soul King do?
The Soul King is the ruler of Soul Society and in this position is said to be godlike. The Soul King’s task as a deity is to regulate the flow of souls within Soul Society and to ensure that the flow of souls in and out of Soul Society is always in balance. Without the Soul King, the balance of the flow of souls would be disturbed and disappear, causing everything within and connected to Soul Society, including the Dangai, Hueco Mundo, and the human world, to collapse and disappear.
In a conversation between Kisuke Urahara and Sōsuke Aizen, it is revealed that the Soul King is also defined as a “thing” within Soul Society. Kisuke Urahara also states that without the Soul King’s existence, Soul Society as such would break up. The Soul King is the “pivot” of every kind of existence in itself; if this pivot were to cease existing or no longer exist, the world would simply fall apart. According to Urahara, this is how the world works.
Although the Soul King is the ruler of Soul Society as its king, he only acts as a godlike authority that watches over the balance of the souls, but he himself has no influence over the government and judiciary system within Soul Society. As the deputy for the Soul King, the Central 46, which was once founded at the behest of the Soul King, exists as a feudal system of government and at the same time represents the supreme and sole judicial authority in Soul Society, whereby the Soul King himself is in no way involved in day-to-day affairs is involved within Soul Society and the residents are unaware of the Soul King’s rule or existence.
What are the Soul King’s powers and abilities?
As the supreme ruler of Soul Society, the Soul King possesses spiritual powers of unparalleled proportions. When Yhwach, who himself also possesses immense spiritual powers, acquired the Soul King’s full powers, they were so overwhelming even for Yhwach at first that the Quincy ruler collapsed from sheer overload and it also took some time for Yhwach to recover from his body has fully made the powers of the Soul King his own.
At this point, so much of the Soul King’s reiatsu was spilling out of Yhwach’s body that it manifested in the form of countless “shadow creatures” and tumbled down onto the Seireitei, where the “shadow creatures” attempted to destroy it. Another testament to the Soul King’s powers is that two of his own body parts, the heart, and the left arm, were able to acquire enough reiraku to exist as self-sufficient beings, which Yhwach recognized and placed in his service, even granting them members of the Schutzstaffel, his personal bodyguard.
The Soul King possesses the ability to bestow the Ōken upon those deemed worthy by him to be a member of the Royal Guard, allowing the possessor to enter the dimension in which the Soul King’s palace resides at any time can. When bestowing the Ōken, the Soul King implants its abilities into the bones of those he has chosen to join the Royal Guard, causing the Royal Guard’s bones to become the Ōken themselves.
Like his son Yhwach, the Soul King himself can see into the future. According to Yhwach’s theory, the Soul King foresaw the entire events of Yhwach’s war against Soul Society, even to the point that Yhwach will manage to invade the Soul King’s palace. According to Ichibē Hyōsube, the Soul King has an ability called The Almighty, with which the Soul King once transformed a so-called primeval world in such a way that the Soul Society, Hueco Mundo, and this world were created from this primeval world through his powers.