nick012000 said:
zeebee1 said:
A lot of that is guess work. We don't know that Zangetsu even exists any more. He might have been consumed.
No, it isn't. The inner hollow explicitely states it when Ichigo starts asking where Zangetsu is.
This. Hichigo makes it abundantly clear that the only difference between himself and Zangetsu is which aspect of Ichigo's powers is more mature and honed.
Ichigo favored his Hollow powers. That caused his Hollow powers to grow stronger, to the point that they eclipsed the strength of his Shinigami powers. Thus, Hichigo became the king to Old Man Zangetsu's horse, instead of the other way around like it originally was.
It's very blatantly implied (in the sense that it wasn't actually outright said, but they more or less said it) that if Ichigo spent the time to hone and strengthen his Shinigami powers, Old Man Zangetsu would come back, and be the 'king' to Hichigo's 'horse'.
Remember. Zangetsu is nothing more and nothing less than a manifestation of Ichigo's power in the form of a blade. Both Hichigo and Old Man
are Zangetsu. They are one in the same. And that 'same' is Ichigo's power. So whatever changes Ichigo's power undergoes will be reflected in how the manifestation of Zangetsu appears. When Ichigo's Shinigami powers were dominant, Zangetsu appeared as an old man, but Hichigo was still 'there' (because part of Ichigo's power was Hollow power), just in a lesser form that was under Old Man's control. Now, the reverse is true. Zangetsu appears as Hichigo, but Old man is still 'there' (because part of Ichigo's power is Shinigami power), just in a lesser form that is under Hichigo's control.
If this is going to be an arc about Zanpakuto rebelling, then that means that there is a much more serious issue going on plot-wise, because from what we understand of Zanpakuto, something like that should not be possible. If you remove the Bleach-specific terms, the plot summary is essentially "the main characters powers rebel against them," which is very unusual.
Though Zanpakuto are obviously both sentient and capable of making choices, I was not aware (nor has it been suggested in current canon) that they possess enough autonomy from their wielder to actively
rebel against them. The only times we've seen something like that, the individual that the Zanpakuto belonged to was themselves conflicted on some level.
Ex: Yumchika refusing on some level to acknowledge or admit that his Zanpakuto is a kido-type = him being ashamed of the nature of his powers = him being mentally conflicted.
Kenpachi wants to win fights by himself because he doesn't feel he needs any help = him not wanting to rely on his Zanpakuto, which he perceives as being 'someone else' = Kenpachi trying to divorce himself from his own powers, which naturally = him being conflicted.
Ichigo didn't want to use instinct in his battles because he felt it made him an animal instead of a man = him not wanting to admit that he loves to fight = him being in conflict with an aspect of his own true nature.
However, this suggests that a conflict is possible even when there is no dissonance on the wielder's part, or when there is no friction between the wielder and the sentience guiding the Zanpakuto.
Or in other words, that a Shinigami's powers can decide
of their own accord to not only not work anymore, but to actively fight back.
If something like that is possible, then I seriously have to question the value of Shinigami powers. As potent and useful as they may be, it kind of sucks if your powers can decide on their own to not work just because they feel like it, or decide that you suck and need to die.
That's like Shonen meets Lovecraft.
