The Shinigami version of peace, explained

Key points

• Shinigami's moral alignment challenged by a distorted vision of peace and false protection.
• The universe and peace are built on innocent sacrifice, preventing change or progress.
• Genocidal methods of the Shinigami justified by maintaining balance and hidden motivations.

Since the Substitute Shinigami story arc, the BLEACH the narrative questioned the actual moral alignment of the series' central race, the Shinigami. Introduced as balancers who maintain the cycle of life and death to maintain the current cosmological order, which features three distinct realms of existence, the Shinigami are what many would consider “the good guys”, because their goal is always stated to be protection of peace.

However, as Ichigo's journey progressed, we saw many negative sides of the organizational structure, worldview and history of not only the Shinigami, but also others. BLEACH universe in general. What is the Shinigami's conception of peace, and why is it so distorted?

“Balancers”

Understanding the origins of the primary role of the Shinigami

When the Shinigami are introduced through the fateful encounter between Ichigo and Rukia at the beginning of BLEACH, teaches Ichigo and the audience the basics of BLEACH cosmology and cycle of reincarnation of souls. Explain that there are multiple kingdoms; one where souls (also known as “Plus”) embody and experience human lives and afterlifes, otherwise known as Soul Society. Rukia further explains the precariousness of the Pluses' journey, as they are fed by monstrous evil spirits called Hollows, named after the tell-tale hole found somewhere on their bodies which is a “physical” manifestation of the deep void; the emptiness of their souls left after losing their hearts in despair.

It is the Shinigami's job to guide the souls of the deceased safely into the afterlife and purify the Hollows so that their corrupted souls can also rejoin the cycle of reincarnation. Balance is maintained in this way, as the number of souls entering the human world matches that of souls re-entering the afterlife having just lived a human life or been purified as Hollows.

Sorry, humans, but you guys won't be able to defeat Yhwach. But don't worry… peace is just that. Right, Yhwach?

The only case where this is not the case is for Hollows who were heinous criminals in their human lives, as seen with Shrieker, a powerful and intelligent Hollow who fondly remembered his life as a serial killer and even enjoyed torturing mentally Yuichi Shibata, the son of his latest victim, even after his accidental death at the hands of the child. Maintaining the cycle of life and death in this way is why Shinigami earned the nickname “Balancers” way back in the day, and it is revealed very early on that the cessation of this important task, or the disturbance of 'balance, would cause the kingdoms to flow into each other and cause the end of the universe. What makes the current structure possible in the first place is revealed to be the enigmatic “ruler” of the realms, a mysterious being called the Soul King, whose existence serves as the “fulcrum” of the current order.

Original sin

How the Three Kingdoms are maintained

In the beginning, the universe was a gaping maw where life and death were not separated and chaos reigned. A mysterious being composed of Shinigami, Hollow, Quincy and Fullbringer called Adnyeus created the realms: the human world or world of the living; Hueco Mundo, where the Hollows reside, and Soul Society; the afterlife. From the primordial waters Adnyeus shaped the kingdoms and created the separation between the concepts of life and death, giving rise to the cycle of life and death we are introduced to at the beginning of BLEACH. In the You cannot fear your world novels, it is revealed that the Soul King created the realms to act as a lid to cover Hell. As a result of his creation, Adnyeus became known as the Soul King and is believed to have possessed precognitive powers, as well as omniscience, meaning he should have been able to see what the ancestors of the five (now four)) The Great Noble Families of Soul Society plotted to harm him.

Because of the way the universe returns to its original, amalgamated, chaotic state, a fulcrum was needed. The ancestors of Shihōin, Shiba, Kuchiki, Tsunayashiro, and the yet-to-be-named fifth house enacted a heinous plan in which they attacked and mutilated the Soul King, using his torso as the fulcrum that holds the universe together in its current state. . His left and right arms; which presided over the concepts of progression and stillness respectively, as well as his heart, became sentient, with his left arm becoming the Quincy known as Pernida Parnkgjas, while his heart became Gerard Valkyrie. The right-hand man became the local deity worshiped in Rukongai as Mimihagi.

The protection of a false peace by the Shinigami

The winners rewrite history

The ugly truth behind the universe protected by the Shinigami is that the world itself and the concept of peace they claim to protect and represent is built on savage murder and the perpetual sacrifice of an innocent. The sacrifice is perpetual because the removal of the Soul King's arms, which govern immobility and progression, means the removal of the ability to change his situation, essentially placing him in a sort of suspended animation within a special crystal which can only be broken by an entity of similar composition to the Soul King. To protect this universe and order their ancestors to “create”, the Shinigami became “balancers” and, in the process, made the decision that the Quincy should not be allowed to exist due to the threat they pose to balance. The Shinigami justified full-blown genocide; which also involved the desecration of corpses and the creation of synthetic/modified souls for war purposes (souls which they then scrapped regardless of their sentience) due to concerns over the ethics of their creation and use.

Protecting the Shinigami's interests is a constant theme throughout the game BLEACHand despite trying to kill Ichigo and his friends early on, the Shinigami feel comfortable relying on them to clean up their messes and protect their current order. The Substitute Shinigami badge is another example of the Shinigami's distorted sense of justice, who give Ichigo the badge under the guise of it being a gesture of trust in him, but in reality it was a surveillance device. The darkest thing the Shinigami are currently doing is the training they received from Ichigo BLEACH: Thousand Year Blood War, Part 2which supposedly made him stronger to face Yhwach, but Ichibē Hyōsube, who literally asked Ichigo to stop Yhwach, sent him with the knowledge that they couldn't win: the training was Soul Society's creation of a fulcrum replacement in case the Soul King never dies. Ichibē Hyōsube plans to sacrifice Ichigo Kurosaki and make him the new Soul King, and Captain-Commander Shunsui Kyōraku knows it.