Summary
Nowadays, Ichigo Kurosaki is known as one of the most powerful and respected shinigami. But before that, he was just a lowly substitute shinigami that only a handful of people in the Soul Society recognized. He had to repeatedly prove himself by fighting against numerous strong and dangerous people andwent through literal hellto save the world over and over again until everybody in the Soul Society finally acknowledged his strength and contribution.
So let’s use this chance to talk more about Ichigo’s role as the substitute shinigami forBleach’sSoul Society. From what it means to be a substitute shinigami, to the duties they are expected to, and the substitute shinigami badge that apparently has interesting functions, here’s all you need to know about substitute shinigami inBleach.
What is a Substitute Shinigami?
Before we talk about substitute shinigami, it’s important to know that not anybody can become a shinigami. Only those who live in the Soul Society, have undergone extensive training at the military academy for gifted souls, and have been officially recognized aspart of the prestigious Gotei 13can become a shinigami. In a way, it’s like becoming part of the army or the police force. There are steps that you need to go through to become one.
A substitute shinigami, however, hasn’t gone through any of that mandatory learning and service. In fact, they don’t even come from Soul Society at all. In the simplest terms, a substitute shinigami is a living human from the living world who is trusted to become a temporary shinigami. This responsibility is given to a human who has an extraordinary supernatural perception anda massive amount of spiritual energy.
Although it may seem like simple criteria, there are not many people who fit that description. In fact, throughout the long history of the Soul Society, there have only two substitute shinigami ever existed, Kugo Ginjo and Ichigo Kurosaki.
To be a substitute shinigami,a proper shinigami from Soul Societyhas to share some of their spiritual power with the substitute shinigami candidate. To do that, the shinigami will infuse their spiritual power into their zanpakuto, and then use the sword to stab the candidate’s heart, therefore channeling their power into the candidate.
It’s important to note that this is a really risky ritual. According to Rukia, the candidate will be more likely to die during the ritual than to actually receive the spiritual power, which is another reason why there are not many substitute shinigami in the world.
The Duty of a Substitute Shinigami
The duty of a substitute shinigami is the same as the duty of a regular shinigami. That means they basically have two jobs, to purify souls and to decimate hollows. When a human dies, their soul will leave their body.Several things can happen to these souls.Those who lead a fulfilling life and have no regrets whatsoever will immediately pass on to the afterlife, in other words, the Soul Society.
The souls of those who might have some lingering feelings or strong regrets will stick around in the mortal realm for quite some time. Since they still retain their human appearance, the average human thinks of these types of souls as ghosts. The shinigami called these souls the “Wholes”. The first duty of a shinigami is to purify the wholes. To do it, the shinigami simply need to stamp the wholes’ forehead with the base of their katana’s handle. In doing so, the shinigami provides a safe passage for these souls to enter the Soul Society.
A shinigami has to purify the wholes because when left to their own devices, their regrets and attachment to the mortal realm will keep on piling up. Over time, these dark feelings will corrupt the souls and turn the wholes into a monster called “Hollow”.A hollow will devour a living human’s soulindiscriminately, even those that they used to love when they were still alive.
To prevent these monsters from hurting living humans and causing unnecessary destruction, a shinigami has to kill these hollows as quickly as possible. The only way to banish these hollows to the afterlife is by destroying their mask. But depending on the strength of the hollows, it may require several shinigami to submit a single hollow.
What a Substitute Shinigami Badge Really Represents
When the Soul Society acknowledges somebody as a substitute shinigami, they will give them a substitute shinigami badge. The one who gives this badge is usually the captain of the 13th Division of the Gotei 13,Jushiro Ukitake.This badge has several functions, some are quite straightforward, while others are hidden and quite sinister.
The first function of the badge is as a way to identify oneself to the other shinigami. When a substitute shinigami encounters another shinigami during a patrol, this badge is their form of identification. The second function is to separate the soul from the body. Since a substitute shinigami like Ichigo is a living human, they’d need a way to separate their soul from their flesh. After all, they won’t be able to access their full abilities as shinigami unless they are in their soul form. Ichigo usually needs a 3rd party like Rukia or Urahara to separate his soul from his body. But with the badge, he can now do it himself whenever and wherever he wants.
As for the hidden functions of the badge, well, it is actually a device that allows the Soul Society to monitor and control the substitute shinigami. As explained before, a substitute shinigami is an extremely rare existence. A person withsuch power can be a threat to the Soul Society.The badge allows them to monitor a substitute shinigami’s location, what they said, and even their spiritual energy. In certain situations, the Soul Society can even suppress a substitute shinigami’s spiritual energy through the badge.
It goes without saying that Ichigo didn’t know about any of those hidden functions when he received the badge. In fact, he only finds out about it through Kugo Ginjo during the Fullbringer Arc. Fortunately, Ichigo has talked it through with Ukitake and gladly continues his role as a substitute shinigami for his hometown.
