Quincy

Yhwach's descendants, archers of spirit energy and old enemies of the Soul Reapers.

The Quincy are a clan of humans in Bleach descended from Yhwach. His blood makes them spiritually aware, and they shape spirit particles into bows and arrows, swords or explosives. Uryū Ishida is the best-known Quincy in the series.

Quick Facts

Progenitor

Yhwach

Notable members

Uryū Ishida
Ryūken Ishida
Sōken Ishida

Main group

Wandenreich

Lore & Background

At their height the Quincy fought hollows to protect the living world more successfully than the Soul Reapers did. But where Soul Reapers purify a hollow, a Quincy destroys the soul outright, which threatened the balance between life and death. As a last resort the Soul Reapers wiped out most of the Quincy, letting only a few survive. Some survivors married into ordinary families, producing impure Quincy, while others tried to keep their bloodline pure.

Reader's Guide

Tite Kubo designed the Quincy as rivals to the Soul Reapers: long-range weapons against the zanpakutō, white clothing against black uniforms. The name comes from their five-pointed star symbol and the prefix "quin", and the series gives Quincy terms German names.

Survivors of the massacre founded the Wandenreich, Yhwach's hidden empire, which invades Soul Society in the final arc. Yhwach's Auswählen took the powers of impure Quincy, including Ichigo's mother Masaki and Uryū's mother Kanae.