Sternritter Assault on Soul Society
The Wandenreich's invasion that opens the Thousand-Year Blood War.
In the final storyline of Bleach, the Wandenreich, a hidden army of Quincies led by Yhwach, declares war on Soul Society. Having already conquered Hueco Mundo, it launches a devastating attack in which many Soul Reapers die, Head Captain Yamamoto among them.
Quick Facts
- Attacker
- Wandenreich (Yhwach)
- Notable deaths
- Yamamoto
Lore & Background
The Wandenreich was apparently founded by survivors of the Quincy massacre a thousand years earlier and had waited for its leader's revival to take revenge. Its elite fighters, the Sternritter, each carry a lettered ability.
Reader's Guide
Captains who lost their bankai, such as Hitsugaya and Komamura, later win them back.
In the first invasion, Squad One lieutenant Chōjirō Sasakibe and Yamamoto are killed; several Sternritter steal captains' bankai, and Yhwach takes Yamamoto's and uses it to kill him. In a second invasion Yhwach replaces the Seireitei with Silbern and later breaks into the Royal Realm. Uryū joins Yhwach to learn the truth about his mother's death, and in the end Ichigo, helped by Uryū and a temporarily freed Aizen, destroys Yhwach.
More in Story Arcs & Timeline
Elsewhere in Bleach
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