Hollow

Overview of hollow

In the world of Bleach, a hollow is a spirit that has become a monster, born when a dead soul is overwhelmed by dark feelings or turned by other hollows. Every hollow wears a mask on its face and has a hollow hole somewhere on its body. These creatures often attack people they knew in life, even though they show no awareness of that past connection. Hollows carry their own spiritual energy, which they strengthen by consuming other souls.

A 2018 film suggests that hollows inspired the idea of creatures like yokai in mythology. An arrancar is a hollow that has removed its mask, gaining powers similar to a Soul Reaper, a more human shape, and greater fighting ability. This change can happen on its own or be forced by other hollows. Arrancars who follow Aizen wear white uniforms and keep a Mexican style; many are named after real architects and designers.

Except for the ten Espadas, arrancars receive numbers starting at 11 based on when they were born, and most belong to a group. Soul Reapers, like the main character Ichigo Kurosaki, have two main jobs: to purify hollows they meet so other souls are safe, and to perform a ritual that sends ghosts to rest before they become hollows. When either task is done, the soul goes to the Soul Society to live a normal life until it is reborn on Earth. However, a hollow that did terrible things in life is sent to Hell as punishment.

Hollows breaking into Ichigo’s hometown drive the events of Bleach’s first story arc, which ends when Ichigo leaves Earth for the Soul Society to rescue a friend.

Known Hollows

In Bleach, most named Hollows from the first story arc are one-off monsters. After Ichigo returns from Soul Society, the arrancar appear, and ordinary Hollows become less important, mostly showing up in anime-only side stories. Fishbone D is a fish-like humanoid Hollow that Rukia was hunting before it attacked the Kurosaki Clinic. It wounded Rukia, forcing her to give her powers to Ichigo, who then killed it.

Rukia could not sense Fishbone D well because Ichigo’s reishi was very high. Hexapodus is an insect-like Hollow with six legs and a human-like mask. It chased a five-year-old ghost boy, and Ichigo purified it. Acidwire was originally Sora Inoue, Orihime’s older brother and guardian, who died three years before the series began.

Sora stayed in the living world watching over Orihime, but grew lonely and resented her friends as she prayed for him less. In the anime, another Hollow dragged Sora to Hueco Mundo at Grand Fisher’s command, turning him into the Nāga-like Hollow Acidwire. Acidwire attacked Orihime’s friends and separated her soul from her body. During the fight, Ichigo shattered Acidwire’s mask, and Sora regained his humanity. He used Ichigo’s Zanpakutō to purify himself before he could lose his mind again.