new fandom + the quincy key

[retro_eidas]

Just when I can't possibly be barraged with yet another fandom... another comes along of course. Within a few months, "Firefly" infected me like the plague. Then SGA came along. The newest edition to obsessive-compulsive speculating insanity? Bleach. For the non-otaku and/or minus a DLing fetish, you might not be familiar with this slice of fanon and thus this entry will mean absolutely nothing. However, it's the current hot item in anime... and my soul is all but it's bitch at the moment.

Also special thanks to new friends _debbiechan_ and mrs_urahara that propagate the :cough:hot Quincy:cough: speculating madness. Since I can't seem to join a fandom without being able to nerdily speculate about it ad infinitum, I'm not sure these poor folks realize what they've gotten themselves into. If either of you bother to read this, I apologize. A lot of it will be retread from bits of our "Significant Filler" discussion over at soul_society.

"The person who will protect this era... A Quincy is this key person." (not verbatim)
Oh the ridiculous amount of questions that statement has made for me... but it makes the sad, sad fangirl tingly in more naughty parts than I'd care to admit.

What exactly did Yoshino mean by a Quincy being "the key to save this era"? How do the Bound know this piece of information? Sounds like the makings of an impending prophecy reveal to me. Ishida part of some massive Bound prophecy... or just a prophecy in general? Something not necessarily limited to the Bound? Ryuuken? Souken? The Quincy (at least prior their genocide)? Perhaps more importantly (and scarily), the Shinigami?

Entirely hypotheticaly speaking... if the (or some... I'd say, Aizen and probably some or all of deceased Central 46) of the Shinigami are aware of this speculated prophecy regarding the Quincy and if the nature of the prophecy were threatening/apocalyptic/universe-altering/etc etc enough... What kind of precautions might they have taken? We already know now what they're capable of regarding those damn obstinate Quincy, so stubborn and proud to the point of imbalancing and threatening the end of the world they had to be permanently removed from the equation (or so we're told)... could they be capable of much more? Taking a look at Aizen, Gin and Mayuri... or hell, even those with 'good' intentions as Tousen, Yamamoto, Hinamori, Urahara and Byakuya... I'm truthfully afraid of the full extent of things they're capable of (whether it's willfully or unintentionally... by duty, honor, curiosity, misplaced justice or manipulation). Whatever their intentions. Who watches the Watchmen, indeed.

Was Mayuri purely satisfying his own insatiably sick curiousity regarding all his (apparently, mass amounts of) Quincy experiments? Or was there something more to it than that? Was he also going by orders? Orders from whom?

Was the Quincy Extermination of 200 years ago really unavoidable? Furthermore, if the extermination was such a "hard" decision as Rukia was told (via Urahara presumedly)... why or how did Mayuri get access to desecrate so many (I believe the number ranged around 1600+) Quincy for the sake of his experiments? Was he just that sly he could abscond with that many souls and go unnoticed? He doesn't seem to take much tact in keeping the Quincy experiments a secret if they're supposed to be secret (hell, he apparently carried around a memento on his person of at least one of the his favorite test subjects... Uryuu's grandfather/sensei, Souken) and he was talking about said experiments openly in Soul Society. Cpt. Kyouraku's departing comments to him in ep71 would also make me lean towards Mayuri's hobbies not necessarily secrets (and what does Kyouraku and possibly the other Shinigami know exactly about those hobbies?). I do unfortunately find it hard to believe the Shinigami didn't have some general idea what was happening to those Quincy. If Ryuuken has any kind of fuel in reigniting Uryuu's hatred of the Death Gods, this probably would be his coup de grace.

In regards to the above paragraph... one could speculate every action Ryuuken has taken was in part of some greater purpose, one that he believes (as did Souken?) is destined for Uryuu.

What exactly did Urahara do that was so bad that led to his exile from Soul Society? Particularly considering some of Mengele-taicho's hobbies (and he isn't only still partaking in said hobbies, but is the current 12th Division Captain. The frickin' promoted him. Jesus). What did he do that was so much worse than what Mayuri has done/is doing? Sure the Hogyoku could be bad enough. However... I do wonder if Mayuri has friends in very high places. He may not have ascended into HellHeaven a la Aizen, but another compadre perhaps?

I'm also wondering if Urahara's exile was so involuntary as it sounds. The word "exile" tends to exclaim 'involuntary', of course and I don't doubt it was completely serious and all forcible on the part of Shinigami's ruling body ... but I can't help but wonder just a little 'self-imposed' might factor in as well? Ditto Tessai (who I'd bet anything was Urahara's koutaicho), Yoriuchi and Isshin. I mean to say, Urahara might not have completely regretted leaving. Urahara, possibly Tessai, Yoriuchi and Isshin... all were in *high* positions of power. Until they were just... not anymore. Could it be they may have learned some very dirty and very ugly secrets about SS and wanted to leave (in utter moral disagreement and possibly in fear of their lives. Loose lips sink hellheaven-bound ships, after all)? Yoruichi took it all a step further and was apparently all but *dead* to the Shinigami for a CENTURY. Since I don't follow the manga as closely as I probably should... I'd guess Isshin also possibly faked his death (my guess? Kenpachi believes he'd killed him. Isshin just screams former 11th Division taicho to me).

And on an entirely unrelated venue... what the hell is Cpt. Komamura? Unfortunate recipient of a high level demon spell gone bad? Youkai? Possibly more likely, a hanyou (he seems to have a similar sort of shame/angst as young Inuyasha did. Consequence of a taboo youkai/human union... and made to feel that way most of his life, up until meeting Commander Yamamoto and Tousen)?

Comments

Re: There's Something About Masaki

[eido.livejournal.com]

i guess they saw that Uryuu was no threat or use to them.

That could very well be. Going back to the original conspiracy theory, the seeming 'threat' to the Shinigami / universe / whathaveyou that the Shinigami feard would have been intermarrying/breeding between Quincy and Shinigami (thus, per our theories, risking release of the inner-demon/Hollow ... in other words, Quincy + Shinigami = Hogyoku or natural Hogyoku, in this case). Ryuuken may have kept himself and his son safe by proving to Central 46 his total agreement in segregation from their affairs. He also likely vowed he'd keep his son from mingling with the Shinigami also.... thus protecting his family (and explaining Ryuuken's stipulation in training Uryuu. Ryuuken is using the training as blackmail to keep Uryuu away from his newfound - Shinigami - friends).

Ryuuken also could be training Uryuu due to the now unavoidable impending threat coming (partly thanks to Uryuu revealing himself in Soul Society but also due to the Aizen situation)? A threat he knows could very likely be directed right at them as the last of the Quincy (in theory, the vital ingredient to the Hogyoku creation)?

Souken, however, kept approaching Central 46 asking them to unite the Shinigami and Quincy forces... considering our conspiracy theory, of course, Central 46 rejected him every time. Until Mayuri finally got to him silencing him forever.

However, I do wonder, if one family like the Ishidas managed to hide / keep safe from the Shinigami... could there be more Quincy out there in hiding? In our specs, Masaki's family was another one of those families. Allbeit, likely not very many Quincy survived... but could there be a few more out there besides the Ishidas? May Ryuuken know where they are. I only speculate this I admit because the idea of a reborn, powerful small band of Quincy (led possibly by Ryuuken) could be very intriguing.

I deem his resentment toward his father, Souken, may be that he renounced the quincy heritage to protect his family, and ina way, Souken was "disobeying" Ryuuken's decision by training Uryuu.

That could very well be, however, Ryuuken may have been angrier at Souken for his repeated contacting of Central 46 and thus keeping the Shinigami in such close proximity to his family, namely Uryuu. If Ryuuken knew Central 46 was terrified of any alliance with the Quincy that could someday lead to interbreeding or power-mixing, Ryuuken would want himself (and his son) far away from the Shinigami's affairs as possible... yet Souken kept approaching them. In Ryuuken's mind, endangering not only himself, but Uryuu as well. When Souken was finally killed, Ryuuken may have been more relieved than anything (even if it was his own father, Ryuuken may have known it would have taken death to make Souken stop trying to make peace with the Shinigami, ending the centuries old feud).

they would have known her, more importantly...i am convinced Isshin's surname is a disguised one

I think it would have to be, with Ichigo's (Karin's and also someday Yuzu's) high reiatsu... Ichigo coming into contact with Soul Society one day was probably an inevitability to him, thus the importance of changing his name. Especially with someone as powerful as he obviously is and/or if he was indeed a Captain... his real name is probably one that would be instantly recognized amongst Soul Society. Maybe even amongst the younger Shinigami. Something of legend, like Yoruichi.

Quincy Justice

[mrs-urahara.livejournal.com]

"Ryuuken may have kept himself and his son safe by proving to Central 46 his total agreement in segregation from their affairs. He also likely vowed he'd keep his son from mingling with the Shinigami also.... thus protecting his family (and explaining Ryuuken's stipulation in training Uryuu. Ryuuken is using the training as blackmail to keep Uryuu away from his newfound - Shinigami - friends)."
--huh. that IS interesting and a highly probable situation..though, it seems that Ryuuken's blackmailing Ishida delves into something much deeper. It felt to me as if there IS some sort of hatred for the shinigami for some reason..which could play into that Masaki love triangle we have been speculating.

"Central 46 rejected him every time. Until Mayuri finally got to him silencing him forever"
---i forgot about that..i think Ishida mentions that in the 6th volume...wait....*runs to check*..yup. 6th volume, p60-63. Souken did plead to the SHinigami to see if there was a way they could band forces, but they didn't listen. I guess he was MORE Of a threat than all the quincies combined.
heh-heh. whihc makes me think of Tousen, perhaps Aizen "opened" tousen's eyes and showed him that Soul Society was truly not a just and equitable organization, but did things according to their own law. AND, come to think of it...Utikake brings this up to Yamaji, too. When Utikake and SHunsui see that Soul Society's laws have to be changed. He challenged Yamaji by telling him that he taught Utikake and SHunsui to trust their heart and to live according to their own truths...hmmm...so, i am thinking maybe this last arc will bring closure to this "inner" turmoil.
not just through the characters, but the overacrhing themes themselves.

"Ryuuken would want himself (and his son) far away from the Shinigami's affairs as possible... yet Souken kept approaching them. In Ryuuken's mind, endangering not only himself, but Uryuu as well. When Souken was finally killed, Ryuuken may have been more relieved than anything (even if it was his own father, Ryuuken may have known it would have taken death to make Souken stop trying to make peace with the Shinigami, ending the centuries old feud)."

EXCELLENT point!

Re: Quincy Justice

[eido.livejournal.com]

though, it seems that Ryuuken's blackmailing Ishida delves into something much deeper.

I don't doubt it, but a little blackmail (to keep him from the Shinigami... Shinigami who felt threatened by the Quincy, per these theories) never hurt either.

whihc makes me think of Tousen, perhaps Aizen "opened" tousen's eyes and showed him that Soul Society was truly not a just and equitable organization, but did things according to their own law.

That's what I'm thinking as well, regardless if our theories actually come to play in the anime/manga... A man like Tousen would probably want a very good reason to betray the organization he'd sworn loyalty too and with "less bloodshed" (that seems to be his big thing, avoiding needless deaths).

Re: Quincy Justice

[mrs-urahara.livejournal.com]

"A man like Tousen would probably want a very good reason to betray the organization he'd sworn loyalty too and with "less bloodshed" (that seems to be his big thing, avoiding needless deaths)."
--it's gotta be..i also wonder if Kubo-san may reveal who the "friend"'s grave Tousen visits. It was hinted it was a woman who became a shinigami. So...you wonder what happened . . maybe this also allowed AIzen to tweak his loyalty.