Ulquiorra Schiffer
Ulquiorra Schiffer is a anime and manga male character who features in Bleach.
Contents |
Biography
Arrancar
Ulquiorra Schiffer (Japanese: ウルキオラ・シファー, Hepburn: Urukiora Shifā) was a spirit that became a Hollow that came to reside in Hueco Mundo. During that time, he always felt alone and wandered that dimension by himself with him lamenting his existence. One day, he was noted to had found a white tree with many sharp spines where eh found it satisfying due to the emptiness he shared with it. After sinking into it, part of his mask was destroyed and he to find peace. He eventually came to evolve into an Arrancar and was later found by Sōsuke Aizen who recruited him to join the ranks of his Espada.
He was later dispatched by Aizen to the world of the living to investigate Karakura Town in order to gain information of a person of interest with significant spiritual pressure. Alongside Yammy Llargo, they arrived in the human world where they started attacking humans with this drawing the attention of Yasutora Sado and Orihime Inoue who looked to save the innocents in the area. Ulquiorra remained watching at a distance whilst Yammy attacked the two humans who had minor spiritual pressure where he easily overpowered them and nearly killed the two. The two were only saved by the arrival of Ichigo Kurosaki who happened to be the target that Aizen had sent him after where the substitute shinigami managed to fight off Yammy. However, he then had to contend for a struggle for his body by his inner Hollow allowing for Yammy to gain the advantage over him and he nearly killed the human but their fight was interrupted by Kisuke Urahara along with Yoruichi Shihōin. Yammy battled the pair where he was outwitted by their superior skill with Ulquiorra finally intervening though he refused to battle the two. Instead, he opened a portal back to Hueco Mundo as they had achieved their mission and forcibly took Yammy with him back to Los Noches in order to report their findings to Aizen. Schiffer appeared before the gathering of Aizen and the Espada where he replayed the events of his mission where he reported that Ichigo Kurosaki was not a threat to them. Though an item of interest was Orihime Inoue's fate-manipulation powers that were seemingly useful to Aizen.
A month later, he visited Yammy who had his arm reattached after it was severed during the earlier mission to the world of the living. The two then went to meet Aizen who had summoned the Espada before him as he used the Hōgyoku to create a new Arrancar called Wonderweiss Margela. Once done, Aizen then dispatched Ulquiorra on his assigned mission but insisted that Grimmjow took part in the assignment. Schiffer then sent Yammy, Wonderweiss, Luppi, and Grimmjow to Karakura Town where they were to engage the shinigami. In reality though, the attack was simply a distraction that would allow Ulquiorra to capture Orihime when she was returning from the Soul Society to Karakura Town. The Arrancar came to ambush her where he easily dealt with the two shinigami guards accompanying her and forced her to join him to Heuco Mundo as he threatened to kill her wounded escort. He came to tell her that she had no rights anymore as she was not the property of Aizen with the lives of her friends being threatened and that she could never return to them. Orihime agreed to go with Schiffer if he allowed her to say her final good byes to her friends with him agreeing to this as she would do it whilst being not seen by them. After taking her to Aizen, Ulquiorra then appeared in Karakura Town where he arrived in time to stop Grimmjow from releasing his Zanpakutō. He then ordered a retreat as the mission had been accomplished with a number of Garganta opening allowing the Arrancar to depart back to headquarters. Afterwards, Orihime came to say good bye to Ichigo with her willing departure making it seem that she had aligned herself to the Arrancar and thus led to her being declared an enemy of the Soul Society.
Heuco Mundo
Returning to Hueco Mundo, Ulquiorra brought Orihime to Las Noches for an audience with Aizen where he had her display her powers to all Espada assembled by 'regenerating' Grimmjow's arm much to the disbelief of Luppi. This came to confirm the power Schiffer had spoken of upon his first excursion into the world of the living. Later on, he was present during a meeting of the Espada when intruders had come to Heuco Mundo. Grimmjow interrupted their talks when he looked to walk out of the meeting against Aizen's orders but he changed his mind after their leader's Reiatsu kept them in line. Shortly afterwards, Ulquiorra went to Orihime informing her that her friends had come to rescue her. However, he told her not abandon all hope as she was now considered one of the Espada's comrades. He then wanted Orihime to submit herself both body and soul to Aizen's will in order to have her feel despair. After the encounter though, he came to be impressed at her strong spirit. His thoughts are interrupted by Nnoitra Gilga, who asked how he was handling her, explaining he knew Aizen entrusted her care to Ulquiorra. Nnoitra asked how far along he has gotten in 'taming' her, but Ulquiorra instead ignored him and walked away whilst calling Gilga degenerate scum. Undeterred, Nnoitra, used his Sonído to move in front of him and once again asked Ulquiorra to not get so testy, as he was only asking if everything was going well. Ulquiorra cannot comprehend why Nnoitra really cares about something so trivial, but tells him not to worry, as Orihime has been under Aizen's spell even before she arrived in Hueco Mundo. When Nnoitra asks if Aizen used Kyōka Suigetsu as usual, Ulquiorra assures him the situation was not big enough of an issue to warrant its use. He revealed that the moment she was invited there, multiple psychological cages were put in place. She could not say no, as her friends were in danger, and she had 12 hours to say goodbye to only one friend. Nnoitra did not understand leading to Ulquiorra further explaining she was set to believe they qwre not the enemy. Therefore, she would have no choice but to follow them of her own free will. He made note that by allowing her to say goodbye to a friend of her own choosing that it was as though she was a traitor to her allies as she had come to Heuco Mundo of her own free will. Finally understanding, Nnoitra stated the plan was well thought out and he would expect nothing less of Aizen, but Ulquiorra, correcting him, stated such things were nothing more than a game to Aizen, as no matter what, she could not escape. Afterward, Ulquiorra arrived as Aizen presented the Hōgyoku to Orihime.
Later, Ulquiorra arrives to confront Ichigo Kurosaki as he and Nel make their way through Las Noches. Ulquiorra, taunting Ichigo, states Rukia Kuchiki has died. Unsure of this, Ichigo tries to leave. When Ulquiorra asks if Ichigo can really leave without killing him, Ichigo says he has no reason to do so. Ulquiorra is perplexed before Ichigo explains Ulquiorra has not harmed any of his friends. Ulquiorra asks Ichigo what he would do if he knew he was the one that kidnapped Orihime. Ichigo, realizing Orihime did not leave of her own free will, attacks Ulquiorra, who finds it odd her friends came while they had doubts. Scolding Ulquiorra for causing Orihime to be branded as a traitor, he releases his Bankai, knowing he must go all out. Ulquiorra is unimpressed, but is shocked to see Ichigo wearing a Hollow mask. Ichigo fires an enhanced Getsuga Tenshō at the Espada. As Ulquiorra blocks the attack with his forearm, Ichigo manages to send him flying through some pillars. As he gathers himself to launch an attack of his own, Ichigo attacks and Ulquiorra, stopping it with his bare hands, is pushed back a good distance. Assuming he has won, Ichigo goes to leave with Nel, only to find Ulquiorra is barely injured. Ulquiorra, disappointed that Ichigo believed he would not be able to stop the blast with both hands, asks Ichigo if that was all of his power. When Ichigo does not respond, Ulquiorra, figuring it is, fires a Cero at Ichigo, sending him flying. As Ichigo tries to see if Nel is alright, Ulquiorra kicks him further. When Ichigo summons his mask to take the blunt of his Cero, Ulquiorra was impressed by his reaction time. Realizing Ichigo will be unable to use his mask, he asks him to surrender. Refusing, Ichigo stabbed Ulquiorra in the shoulder, reasoning that because Ulquiorra was the main Espada, after he finished him off, everyone else will be simple clean-up.
Ulquiorra looks at him before, tearing his coat, revealing he is merely Espada number 4. When Ichigo, stunned, asks him if he is really only number 4, Ulquiorra states he is the Cuatro Espada, Ulquiorra Cifer. Impaling Ichigo through the chest with his bare hand, he tells him he cannot defeat him, and even if he did, there are three more Espada above him. He concludes there can never be any victory for either him or his friends. As Ichigo lies fatally wounded, Ulquiorra expresses disappointment that he overestimated Ichigo's abilities, as he failed to meet his expectations. He leaves Ichigo, suggesting he retreat if able to, and if not, die; either way, his journey has ended. Returning to Orihime's room in Las Noches, he questions Loly Aivirrne and Menoly Mallia about what took place there, as Orihime is gone and the room is trashed. After discovering Grimmjow has taken Orihime, Ulquiorra tracks them down with ease. Ulquiorra immediately questions what Grimmjow is doing, going out of his way to heal an enemy he has defeated. When it becomes clear he will get no answer, Ulquiorra, stating Aizen has placed Orihime in his care, tells Grimmjow to hand her over. Grimmjow, refusing, attacks, but Ulquiorra easily blocks. Grimmjow, taunting him, fires a Cero, which Ulquiorra blocks. Ulquiorra, appearing above Grimmjow, fires a point blank Cero, which Grimmjow counters with his own, sending both Espada flying. Ulquiorra, emerging from the rubble unscathed, is grabbed from behind by Grimmjow, who throws a portable Caja Negación field into Ulquiorra's Hollow hole, temporarily trapping him in another dimension.
After breaking free from the cube, he re-emerged back at Los Noches where at the time Aizen had taken the Espada to the world of the living to enact his plan to sacrifice Karakura Town to make the Oken. Ulquiorra was left in charge of Los Noches until his masters return where he kept within his care Orihime Inoe. By this point though, the girl had served her purpose and wanted her to experience despair before he killed her. However, she refused as she felt that she would be saved as her friends had come to rescue her. The encounter was the interrupted by the arrival of Ichigo who began his battle against Ulquiorra to free Orihime from him.
As he died, he asked Orihime if she still feared him but she said she was not and instead tried to reach out to him. It was then that Ulquiorra came to understand the meaning of 'heart' as it lay in a person's hand. In his last moments, he came to see an unafraid Orihime reaching for him as his body turned to dust ad dissolved into the wind.
Overview
Personality and attributes
In appearance, Ulquiorra Schiffer was a male Arrancar with a melancholic appearance and has green eyes with slit pupils. He has cyan lines descending from his eyes, making it appear as if he is crying, and is almost always frowning. He wears typical arrancar clothes: a white jacket, black sash, and a white hakama; however, his jacket has longer coat-tails than others. Like most other arrancar, he possesses remnants of his former life as a hollow in his appearance. In his first appearance, Ulquiorra's hollow hole is positioned at the base of his neck, but when Ichigo encounters Ulquiorra in Las Noches, it has been moved onto his chest. The remainder of his hollow mask lies on top of his head, forming a broken helmet, much like that of the example silhouette of a vasto lorde. His Espada number four which signified his rank amongst the Espada and level of power was tattooed on the left side of his chest.
On the surface, he was shown a being a very cold, callous and dispassionate person who was rather aloof where he was often brooding or indifferent. It was shown that he looked down on all those whom he judges as beneath him with him not showing any care or respect to any who are weaker than him. Such people were seen as 'trash' to him with them being little more than pawns to be played, used and discarded to be served as expendable assets under Aizen.
Ulquiorra was a very demanding person and expected people under him to follow his orders. To accomplish his goals, he was fully capable of committing truly abhorrent and inhumane actions without feeling any remorse or hesitation. Though demanding, he was not vain unlike some of the other Arrancar. Instead, he maintained a cautious and cool demeanor where he was always in control of his actions whilst holding himself with decent dignity.
Ulquiorra also acts ruthless and intolerant of those he placed beneath him, as he hits Yammy for his recklessness, insults the actions of Orihime's friends to which she slapped him, or when Ichigo considered that he had "become more human" he hit the ground with great anger, visibly insulted.
He had claimed that he did not believe in Human emotions that he referred to as being the 'heart'. Ulquiorra had said that if the eye could not see something then it simply did not exist. This was because he believed that his eye with its enhanced vision was capable of seeing through anything and that there was nothing that it overlooked.
Ulquiorra was shown to be a skilled fighter who was very analytical where he theorised with a degree of accuracy on his enemy's capabilities. He almost accurately theorized the means behind Orihime Inoue's abilities and recognized that Ichigo Kurosaki's power constantly fluctuated between very weak to greater than his own strength.
It was shown that generally he refrained from killing others unless ordered to do so. When confronted by a opponent he deemed unworthy, he refused to even draw his sword to fight them and preferred to use his hand-to-hand combat skills and invulnerability to beat them down. According to Grimmjow, victims that peaked Ulquiorra's interest were killed in a particular way where he stabbed them with his bare hand in the same location as his Hollow hole.
When fighting Ichigo Kurosaki, he believed that the human did not know true despair and looked to teach him that lesson. After his defeat, he felt there was no point in living since he was so utterly defeated by his opponent. This led to him demanding that Ichigo kill him and complimented Kurosaki when he decided to use a point-blank Cero to kill him claiming the lack of mercy was rather Hollow-like.
He came to acknowledge that Orihime was a girl with a strong spirit.
As one of the Espada, he was noted to represent an aspect of death which was Emptiness.
Powers and abilities
Ulquiorra Schiffer was originally a Hollow that were multiple spirits which over time evolved into an Arrancar (破面 (アランカル), Arankaru; Spanish for "To Tear Off", Japanese for "Ripped Mask"). As an Arrancar, Ulquiorra was originally a Hollow who came to evolve through the various life cycles before emerging as a more powerful humanoid form. He was shown to hold immensely high spiritual power that led to him being place among the top five Espada. This meant that he was forbidden from releasing his Zanpakutō in Las Noches as his sheer power could destroy the fortress. Schiffer was gifted with great insight and understanding of situations at hand. His intelligence was something that even Aizen came to respect with his intelelct allowing him to gauge a person's power and threat level.
Among his kind, he was noted for being unique in that he retained the regenerative abilities of a Hollow that was normally lost by their evolution into a Arrancar form. This allowed Ulquiorra to restore lost limbs that regenerated quickly over a short period of time. The only exception to this was destruction to his brain or internal organs. Sufficient damage done to his internal organs could see them be destroyed that could ultimately kill him leading to his body disintegrating into dust.
Ulquiorra had the unusual ability known as the Solita Vista (共眼界 (ソリタ・ヴィスタ), Sorita Visuta; Spanish for "Accustomed View", Japanese for "Inclusive Field of View") whereby he was able to replay events he had seen for others. This involved removing his left eye and crushing it where it turned into dust that flowed around for others to see. The dust was able to relay sight and feelings that Ulquiorra had witnessed during his activities. He was shown to regenerate the eye afterwards despite its earlier destruction.
Schiffer was able to perform the Sonído (響転 (ソニード), Sonīdo; Spanish for "Sound", Japanese for "Reverberating Turn") where one of his more noticeable traits being his tremendously skillful speed
He possessed the ability to fire a Cero (虚閃 (セロ), Sero; Spanish for "Zero", Japanese for "Hollow Flash"; Viz "Doom Blast") that was an extremely powerful blast which he could shoot from his fingers on either hand. These blasts were green in colour where he could charge and fire them relatively fast with him able to shoot it from either hand. The strength of these blasts was able to send his opponents hurtling across great distances with it effectively destroying any obstacle in his path. He was shown to be able to charge and fire it quickly allowing him to catch an opponent by surprise by the powerful attack.
In combat, he tended to rely on hand-to-hand combat with him rarely drawing his sword at all. Ichigo came to speculate that he only drew his sword against opponents he considered to be 'worthy'. Ulquiorra mostly relies on hand-to-hand combat. Ulquiorra seems to prefer an off-the-ground method of combat, often attacking opponents from aerial standpoints. His trademark attack towards prey he likes is to impale them in the chest, gouging a hole in them in the same place as his own. Upon drawing his sword, he striked with flawless precision and great speed to inflict lethal attacks without much effort. Ulquiorra prefers to wield his sword with his right hand, leaving the other hand free, letting him perform attacks like integrating his Cero. Like with his barehanded tactics, Ulquiorra seems to prefer stabbing and thrusting methods with his sword.
As an Arrancar, he had a Zanpakutō that was known as Murciélago (黒翼大魔 (ムルシエラゴ), Murushierago; Spanish for "Bat", Japanese for "Great Black-Winged Demon") that was a standard sized katana with a green handle and sheath. The guard had two curved extensions from its long sides with a line going through both sides, giving it an eye-like appearance. Upon activating this release, he gained extremely high-levels of speed with the likes of Ichigo Kurosaki who was used to super-speed himself was unable to keep up with Schiffer. In this state, he gained an ability to create 'lances' of spiritual energy that he could use for long-range attacks by throwing them at enemies or for melee fights. He also gained the ability to use a Cero Oscuras (黒虚閃 (セロ・オスキュラス), Sero Osukyurasu, Spanish for "Dark Zero", kanji translates as "Black Hollow Flash") that was a stronger kind of Cero attack which Aizen had forbidden to be used in Los Noches due to the destructive damage it could bring to the city.
Another trait unique to Ulquiorra was the fact that he could attain a second Resurrección form called Resurrección: Segunda Etapa (刀剣解放第二階層 (レスレクシオン・セグンダ・エターパ), resurekushion segunda etāpa; Spanish for "Resurrection: Second Stage", Japanese for "Sword's Release: Second Level"; Viz "Second Stage Resurrection") with even Aizen having not seen him in this form. In this form, he became even more demonic in appearance were he was black-furred being with clawed hand and feet. His Espada number was shown to completely disappear from his skin as his sclera turned green and he grew a long thin prehensile tail along with markings similar to blood flowing freely from his Hollow hole where the heart would be in a normal person. Ulquiorra's reiatsu lances developd flame-like tips which were called the Lanza del Relámpago (雷霆の槍(ラソサ・デル・レランパーゴ), Ransa deru Reranpāgo, Spanish for "Spear of Lightning") which exploded on impact when thrown with these detonations being immense enough to dwarf even those of the city of massive Las Noches.
Notes
- Ulquiorra Schiffer was created by Tite Kubo where he featured in the setting of Bleach.
- In an interview in Shonen Jump, Kubo said that the name of the character was derived from furniture designer named Patricia Urquiola.
In other media
Television
- In Bleach, Ulquiorra Schiffer appeared in the setting of the anime television series adaptation where he was voiced by Japanese actor Daisuke Namikawa and by English actor Tony Oliver in the dub.
Video games
- In Bleach: Brave Souls, Ulquiorra Schiffer appeared as a playable character in the setting of the mobile video game.
Appearances
- Bleach:
External Links
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