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The ending of Bleach TYBW episode 16 was one of the significant moments of Bleach in general. The internet is abuzz with thousands of theories about the fate of Ichigo Kurosaki, as he finally seemed to be granted the powers of the Almighty reflected in his eyes.
Put on a trial by Ichibei Hyosube, the protagonist was traversing the beaten path of Irazusando to surpass being a soul reaper. However, the path of Irazusando was saturated with immense pressure, as Ichigo dragged his feet with each step he took.
Despite that, his commendable resilience and undaunting spirit kept him moving forward. In Bleach TYBW episode 16, after witnessing a series of flashbacks to Soul King's past through visions, Ichigo Kurosaki's eyes, similar to Soul King's eyes, were marked with four other pupils apart from his own.
This begs the question of whether the Soul King himself granted Ichigo Kurosaki the powers of the Almighty. There are limitless possibilities for this unforeseeable conclusion to the episode.
Disclaimer: This article contains massive spoilers from Bleach TYBW.
Bleach TYBW episode 16 ending explains the Soul King's past and shows Ichigo's Almighty Eyes
At the end of the Bleach TYBW episode 16, Ichigo Kurosaki was seen continuing through his trial to reach the end of the path of Irazusando. The immense pressure of the road seemingly burdened him. However, Ichigo Kurosaki's spirit remained undaunted, and he took every required step to reach his end goal.
Suddenly, Ichigo was confronted by visions. These visions, when compiled, seemed to form a narrative about the past of the soul king. What Ichigo saw from the visions was a man standing in the water with many incandescent arrows around him.
Standing in the center of the water, this unknown man was holding a metallic lynchpin and dipping it in the water, thus forming a whirlpool. Three similar whirlpools also appeared with lynchpins at the center of those whirlpools, except the man wasn't holding those other lynchpins.
The next visual showed that the limbs of the man holding the lynchpin were dismembered. However, he wasn't letting the lynchpin go from his dismembered hand. If the theories are correct, this unknown being was none other than Soul King. He is known as the lynchpin who holds the worlds together.
According to analysis, the whirlpools represent the formation of the Bleach world as a whole. The central whirlpool might represent the Soul Society, while the other whirlpools signify the World of the Living, Hueco Mundo, and Hell.
The formation of the world of Bleach was elaborately described in the popular light novel, Can't Fear Your Own World. This novel explored the past of the Reio/Soul King, as well as the Original Sin made by the Five Noble Houses.
According to the novel, millions of years ago, the old world was one without the concept of death. Life and Death existed in a singular form. It took around a hundred million years to cool down this chaotic atmosphere.
Eventually, the hollows were born, and they began to devour humans. Just when the world was succumbing to stagnation, a new life form known as Soul King was born. This entity destroyed the big hollows known as Menos Grande and turned them into reishi/Spiritual pressure sands, thus allowing the circulation of the souls once again.
However, the Soul King was both a messiah and an entity with dangerous powers. His omnipotent powers continued to annihilate the souls of the hollows, similar to the Quincy. Therefore, it was natural that the world would once again succumb to chaos.
Five individuals who would later be known as the founding fathers of the Five Noble Houses: Tsunayashiro, Kuchiki, Shihoin, and Shiba, and a fifth, came together and arrived at the conclusion that the world had to be split to regain stability.
Separation of Life and Death was something that could bring stability to an otherwise chaotic world. However, this required the power of a transcended entity, Soul King. Therefore, the Soul King was tied up, and his limbs were dismembered from the torso and crystallized. He acted as the lynchpin who would bring stability to the new order of the world.
The visions that Ichigo Kurosaki saw didn't include the five noble house members in Bleach TYBW episode 16. However, it was explicitly shown how the Soul King's limbs were dismembered and how he was crystalized to act as a lynchpin.
Just after going through the series of visions about the past of the Soul King, Ichigo Kurosaki's eyes are shown to be filled with multiple pupils, resembling the eyes of the Soul King or Yhwach with his Almighty powers.
Decoding The Almighty Eyes of Ichigo Kurosaki in Bleach TYBW
Ichigo Kurosaki gaining the powers of Almighty opens up multiple possibilities in the story's context. According to the Bleach TYBW arc events, the Almighty is known as having the power to predict and change the events of the Future.
Being an omnipotent entity, Soul King's eyes were immensely powerful. It was later revealed in Bleach's TYBW arc that Yhwach was also an exponent of this ability. So, was Ichigo Kurosaki granted the powers of the Almighty?
There are a few possibilities that the ending has presented. There's a slight chance that Ichigo possessing the eyes of the Almighty is a by-product of the Irazusando trial.
There's also a possibility that Ichigo's eyes resembled the Almighty eyes as a result of the Soul King's reiatsu showing him the events of the past. While this might be a likely conclusion, there's a third possibility to the entire scenario - Ichigo might have truly gained a fragment of the Soul King's almighty powers.
Ichigo is the perfect vessel to become the Soul King as he possesses the powers of Soul Reaper, Hollow, and Quincy. Can't Fear Your Own World light novel also revealed that having these powers was a pre-requisites to becoming the Soul King, and Ichibei intended to make Ichigo the next Soul King if Yhwach had won in the Bleach TYBW arc.
Fans need to understand that the trial Ichigo was put on wasn't about his Zanpakuto but about himself as a person. Ichibei explicitly mentioned in Bleach TYBW episode 14 that the protagonist had to surpass being a soul reaper. What entity could possibly surpass a soul reaper than an entity with the powers of the Soul King?
If Ichigo had to further train and develop his Zanpakuto, Nimaya Ohetsu would have been the perfect Royal Guard for that cause. Ichibei wasn't someone who could further strengthen Ichigo's Zanpakuto. In the Bleach TYBW manga, it was revealed that Ichibei had the power to provide names.
He was the one who named all the Zanpakuto. However, the Irazusando trial was completely different from anything. It was about Ichigo himself and not his Zanpakuto alone.
Being a Soul King candidate, Ichigo was eligible to be granted the power of Almighty. So, it's highly possible that he was granted a fragment of the Almighty. Moreover, theories also suggest that the Soul King has his own will, despite being a dysfunctional crystalized figure acting as a lynchpin.
So, he could potentially see the future with his Almighty. Thus, to negate that particular future, he could have chosen Ichigo as a candidate who could defy the powers of Yhwach's 'Almighty.'
In other words, Ichigo gaining the ability of Almighty might be a pivotal point in the story of Bleach TYBW. He could 'shatter' or 'defy' the altered future of Yhwach with his powers. Moreover, Yhwach's Almighty granted him three pupils, whereas Ichigo seemed to have four pupils apart from his own.
Therefore, it's possible that Ichigo's Almighty powers could be vastly different from Yhwach's. Of course, this is only a theory at the moment. The later Bleach TYBW episodes will surely provide more answers about Ichigo's Almighty.
Be sure to keep up with more anime news and manga updates as 2023 progresses.
