Bleach Of Ghosts and Wands

[Estrecca]

Magic = Spirit Energy

This one should be pretty self-explanatory.

Wizards do stuff that goes against the laws of physics as we know them. Spiritron manipulators (Hollows, shinigami and 'awakened' humans) also rape the known laws of physics, but at least we get an explanation of how they do it: through manipulation of a form of matter/energy that is outside said laws (spiritrons, obviously).

Hence, following the spirit of the 'keep it simple, stupid' rule, in such a crossover it would probably be better to turn Potterverse wizards into a new kind of spiritron manipulators, even if most of the wizards don't have the slightest clue about what makes their powers feasible in the first place (seriously, it is canon that these guys wouldn't recognize the scientific method if it hit them in the head with a club).

A secondary question would be whether they get their power from an internal source (like the shinigami) or an external one (like the quincy). Although there have been some comments about how the magical atmosphere around Hogwarts disrupts Muggle technology, most of the descriptions given during the series suggest that magic is something internal that cannot be removed from the individual (squibs and muggles cannot learn to manipulate magical energy, while wizards are wizards since the moment they are born).

 

[Estrecca]

Wizarding Japan

We know next to nothing about Japan in HP canon. "Quidditch Through The Ages" confirms that there is some kind of wizarding society there and that this country is the main exception concerning the unpopularity of quidditch (and broom flight) in most of Asia, with a particularly famous team called the Toyohashi Tengu that burns its brooms when they lose. And that's it.

For a fusion crossover fic to work, the wizarding society of Japan probably would have to be considerably less centralized than Wizarding Britain and lack the means to detect wizarding births (like the Hogwarts Quill used in Great Britain). If we work with this, that would mean that 'Wizarding Japan' is pretty much limited to 'old-blood' magical families (which considering the clan traditions of Japan has a number of implications) and the muggle borns that by chance manage to find out and join this underground society.

This would probably be enough to explain why the spiritually active people at Karakura never got an owl from the Japanese equivalent of Hogwarts concerning their magical education, if we go with the magic = spirit power route. Which also raises an interesting possibility: although some wizards have some degree of control over their abilities during their childhood (Voldemort, Lily Potter), they are noted to get vastly better once they get their wands.

What does this mean? That Don Kanonji (whose "Golden Ball" attack is in the power level of a singularly pathetic Blasting Spell) could become a rather powerful HP style wizard if he ever gets a good wand, even if his natural 'power level' is too low to learn any shinigami style kido

 

[nick012000]

Actually, if the Harry Potter wiki is in any way accurate, a wand might be not unlike a Zanpakuto in purpose. Just more subtle.

 

[Estrecca]

Actually, if the Harry Potter wiki is in any way accurate, a wand might be not unlike a Zanpakuto in purpose. Just more subtle.

Yes, there are some vague similarities, but I'm not quite sure of how to best make the connection.

Wands are vaguely sentient and under extraordinary conditions have even been known to act without the wizard willing it (chiefly, Harry's wand apparently reacted on its own when it detected Voldemort's magic at the very start of DH). They obviously boost the wizard's ability for spellcasting, because while there are some rare examples of wandless magic in the books it is clear that no matter how skilled you are, with a wand you can definitely do more and you can do it better.

For the purposes of a crossover, I'd say that the better the concordance between the magical core of the wand and the spirit of the wizard (remember the famous wand testing scene at Ollivander's), the higher the proportion of the wizard's natural spiritual power that can be used for spellcasting, even if no wand -not even the Elder Wand- should ever be as efficient as a mastered zanpakuto, which are after all parts of the shinigamis' own souls.

In other words, wands would be a workaround for living humans who are largely operating in a level of spiritual world massively below that of Captain level beings and who cannot waste half their lifes in training to manifest outwardly a part of their souls.

Now, a couple of interesting factoids: Incantation-less Kido pack considerably less power than the full version (seen when Aizen uses a level 90 spell to take down Captain Foxman and states that it had about a third of the usual power because he skipped the incantation). Well, this also applies to at least some Potterverse spells like Antonin Dolohov's Curse which would have killed Hermione if he had been able to speak at the time.
Also, I remember that Yoruichi's flight device (the very valuable family relic that allows Ichigo to fly to challenge Byakuya) is like a bat wing that extends from the arm of the user in mid-flight, but I can't remember if we get a clearer image of the skull-like thing that is at the top. Because at this point I'm seeing some very odd similarities with certain bat-winged skeletal horsies that can only be seen by those who have seen death.

 

[Garahs]

I think magic = spirit particle manipulation is a bad idea as a whole concept. That eliminates any possibility of 'different, but equal' as the spiritually stronger you are, the more resistant you are to attacks. Any sufficiently strong hollow (like a Meinos) would have likely eradicated the magic schools long ago. Banquet anyone?

Other things like vanishing, portkeys, and apparating wouldn't work well either. Accidental magic would also be dangerous for muggleborns since they'd be releasing 'spirit energy' every time they did something.

The veil in the Dep of Mysteries could be a crossover device as it's a one way gate to Seiretai (probably spelled wrong). The three Deathly Hallows could also be a remnant from a deal with a Shinigami.

 

[Estrecca]

I think magic = spirit particle manipulation is a bad idea as a whole concept. That eliminates any possibility of 'different, but equal' as the spiritually stronger you are, the more resistant you are to attacks. Any sufficiently strong hollow (like a Meinos) would have likely eradicated the magic schools long ago. Banquet anyone?

As far as we have seen, Menos don't leave Hueco Mundo at all, unless forced to do so by outside forces or attracted by a large concentration of lesser Hollows (if I am right about my interpretation of events, the first Gillian seen in Bleach didn't go to Karakura because of the Hollow bait used by Ishida, but because there were hundreds of lesser Hollows there that had actually been attracted by the bait).

Other things like vanishing, portkeys, and apparating wouldn't work well either. Accidental magic would also be dangerous for muggleborns since they'd be releasing 'spirit energy' every time they did something.

Oddly enough, we have seen at least one portkey-like effect in Bleach, although the mechanism remains unknown. Here and here.

And I am operating under the assumption that given that it is canon that the MoM can order ghosts around and that they kept the Dementors in line until Voldemort himself got involved, that Britain (or at least British wizards) would have some kind of protection against hollows, probably thanks to the Death research done by the Department of Mysteries.

In the end, though, I think worth noting I am not trying to pull an egotrip about how mine is the one and only way to make a good Bleach/HP crossover. I am more than glad to see that some people find this interesting enough to make constructive comments.

The veil in the Dep of Mysteries could be a crossover device as it's a one way gate to Seiretai (probably spelled wrong). The three Deathly Hallows could also be a remnant from a deal with a Shinigami.

That is vaguely my line of thought as well: that the Death mentioned in the Tale of the Three Brothers could have been a shinigami who for some reason gave Cadmus Peverell the clues needed to make the Resurrection Stone.

 

[the DragonBard]

The veil in the Dep of Mysteries could be a crossover device as it's a one way gate to Seiretai (probably spelled wrong). The three Deathly Hallows could also be a remnant from a deal with a Shinigami.

I'd say probably the King of Soul Society, not a mere Shinigami.

 

[nick012000]

I'd think the Veil is probably a one-way gate to Seireitei as well. Avada Kedavra probably kills its targets by severing the Chain of Fate; I do believe we know it has no effect on ghosts. As a result, the effect it would have on Shinigami or Hollows would be minimal. At most, it'd knock them out of any gigai they're in.

Also, we know that there's other teleportation effects in Bleach; Tessai teleports the Vizard to Yoruichi's secret training ground in Turn Back The Pendulum with a forbidden kido. There's also the whole "swap Karakura Town with a copy in Soul Society" thing going on.

EDIT: As for the Death responsable for the Deathly Hollows, it seems to me that the likely Shinigami responsable would have been a member of the Shihoin Clan, especially if personalities like Yoruichi are common in the family. It's totally something I could see her doing. The Cloak of Invisibility was probably their hakama. Or maybe even a Captain's haori.

 

[Estrecca]

One thing that I hadn't mentioned before.

The Killing Curse

We all know what Avada Kedavra does. It kills you dead, in the immortal words of Superboy Prime.

Or, to be more accurate, it seems to sever the connections between soul and body without causing physical damage when it hits a living target. According to Fake Moody, there is no possible defense against the Killing Curse, but as the blood magic activated by the sacrifice of Lily Potter proves it'd be more accurate to state that there are no conventional magical defenses.

There are three points concerning usage of instadeath magic in HP canon that are worth commenting.

1) Fawkes. During the Voldemort-Dumbledore duel in OotP, Fawkes swallows a Killing Curse that otherwise would have killed Albus. Fawkes does "die", but is immediately reborn in typical phoenix fashion.

2) Harry Potter. Even after losing the blood protection granted by Lily Potter, Harry managed to survive a Killing Curse. Or, more exactly, he got better after a serious out-of-body experience and a chat with the late Albus Dumbledore. It is heavily implied that this return was possible because he carried a part of Voldermort's soul.

3) Nearly Headless Nick. He didn't get hit with Avada Kedavra, but he was affected (petrified) by another form of magic that is supposed to cause instant death: the gaze of the basilisk. Avada Kedavra may or may not have the same kind of effect (at any rate, I don't remember anyone attempting to use the Killing Curse against a ghost in canon).

With this and concerning the crossover mechanics there are two possible interpretations of this spell.

-Death of Flesh: The Killing Curse just breaks the connections between physical and spiritual particles without damaging either of them. Used against a shinigami or hollow, this interpretation of Avada Kedavra is likely to be pretty much ineffective, unless the purpose of the attack was to knock a shinigami out of an artificial body.

-Death of Spirit: The Killing Curse breaks the connections between the hakusui (soul of the soul) and the rest of the target. Which would mean that getting hit by the Killing Curse would be very, very bad news even for spiritual beings.

To be sincere, the fact that Fawkes managed to self-resurrect is a very strong piece of evidence against the second interpretation, but I think that I'd offer it here for those authors who might want to even the playing field a bit for the wizards' benefit.

 

[nick012000]

A thought. The Sword of Gryffindor absorbs anything that will make it stronger. This should mean that if a shinigami weilds it, it would become a nameless zanpakuto. If they've yet to manifest theirs, it might even become their true zanpakuto. If it does, I think its powers out to be an extension of its already-existing ability to absorb things that make it stronger.

I think this would have two effects:
1. It absorbs the spirit energy emitted by your opponents and adds it to your power, not unlike a Quincy (and possibly Hollows).
2. It can absorb the abilities of any zanpakuto it encounters. So, if Ichigo tosses a Getsuuga Tenshou at it, and it's blocked by the sword, the sword gains the ability to fire off a Getsuuga Tenshou. It won't gain Kira's abilty to make things heavier, though, for instance, unless he actually strikes the sword itself. I figure it'd only be able to use one ability at a time in Shikai (and even then only the ones usable by a European arming sword), and any and all of them in Bankai. I figure its Bankai form would probably be golden goo (not unlike the white hollow goo in form) that forms into the shape of the weapons its mimicking. Why gold? Gryffindor means "Golden Griffon" in French.

Prolonged use of it in Bankai would be liable to wake up the Inner Hollow of the user, especially if they're mimicking an Arrancar Ressureccion.