Souls

Spiritual beings that reside in the Rukongai and the spirits of dead humans in the World of the Living are considered Souls. Those Souls that live in the Rukongai are often deceased humans, but it is known that Souls can be born within Soul Society as well.

Plus Souls

Plus Souls, or Pluses, are the benign ghosts in the World of the Living. These souls tend to be the spirits of people that have died. When the Chain of Fate, a chain that protrudes from the chest and connects the soul to a living body, is severed, a soul can no longer return to its body and live. When this happens, the soul can move about freely, but the remaining portion of their Chain of Fate begins to corrode. Shinigami perform a ritual called Konsō on these souls to send them to Soul Society before their Chain of Fate can corrode significantly and the soul becomes a Hollow.

Hollow

Hollows are Plus Souls that have lost their heart and in the process become beings of pure instinct. As a Plus Soul lingers in the World of the Living, its Chain of Fate is slowly eroded by small months that eat away at the chain. This is an extremely slow and painful process, known as Encroachment, but the final erosion is much more painful and violent as the chain disappears and a large hole is ripped in a soul's chest where their heart once was. The soul's body disperses as spirit particles and then reforms as a Hollow. The lost heart of the soul becomes the new Hollow's mask as well as their unique appearance and special abilities. Other ways have been found to force Hollowfication, but the corrosion of the Chain of Fate is the most common.

Arrancar

Hollows that have removed their masks become Arrancar, a special variant of Hollow that has Shinigami-like powers and a more humanoid form.

Shinigami

Souls that are responsible for regulating the balance between Soul Society and the World of the Living are known as Shinigami. Their responsibilities entail that they send Plus Souls to Soul Society through the use of Konsō as well as fighting and purifying Hollows through the use of their Zanpakutō. Some souls have enough spiritual power to enable them to enter the Shin’ō Academy and become Shinigami.

Artificial Souls

Mod Souls, also known as artificial souls, were created by Shinigami scientists to aid in the separation of a Shinigami's spirit from a Gigai, or to assist in separating stubborn spirits from their corpses. These artificial souls are contained within small pills called Gikongan, also known as Soul Candy.

Kanji

魂魄

English

Konpaku

Genetic Descendants

• Bounts
• Hollows
• Shinigami

Other Types of Souls

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Jibakurei

Spirits that cannot leave the World of the Living because they regret leaving something behind are called Jibakurei. These souls are often tethered to a place where they will remain and refuse to pass on to Soul Society. These types of souls are more vulnerable to Hollows as their reluctance to leave the place they are bound to does not allow them to flee as far as normal Plus Souls. It can take months or even years for a Jibakurei to become a Hollows.

Tsukirei

A type of soul that is similar to a Jibakurei but is tettered to a person instead of a place is called a Tsukirei. These souls are bound to a person, with their broken Chain of Fate wrapped around the person they are bound to.

Blank

Blank souls have no memory and have become lost in the space between the World of the Living and Soul Society.

Togabito

Souls that have been condemned to Hell for eternity are known as Togabito. A Togabito is bound with near-indestructible chains, as their time in Hell is punishment for crimes committed during their lifetime.