Hollow/Arrancar Racial Information

[NOTE: The Hollow Race is unique in that it offers two paths to power, as Hollows are naturally weaker spiritual beings, they receive a debuff of -1 stat point earned per level. Once they reach VASTO LORDE/ARRANCAR they will obtain the normal stats for their level.]

Hollow are a race of creatures which are born from Human souls who, for various reasons, do not cross over to Soul Society after their death and stay in the Human World for too long. They are corrupt spirits with supernatural powers that devour the souls of both living and deceased Humans. Hollows are the principal antagonists at the beginning of the story and remain a primary threat beyond that point. Hollows settle in Hueco Mundo but can cross over to the Human World and Soul Society. Hollows are former Pluses (deceased human souls) that lose their hearts to despair or remain in the real world for too long. In the anime, non-human spirits can also transform into Hollows. Any spirit that is not guided to the Soul Society by a Shinigami via Soul Burial may eventually descend into a Hollow. Most ghosts peacefully move on to the Soul Society after their deaths. Some, however, stay in the living world to fulfill certain goals, such as looking after a loved one, protecting a location, or pursuing a grudge from beyond the grave. However, with only limited abilities to interact with the living, and tied to their goals, many ghosts find they are unable to cope when their loved ones move on or old enemies forget them. At this point, some will become dangerously obsessed with fulfilling those goals, even if the means to fulfill them renders the soul empty: for example, killing anyone who comes near a loved one, in order to keep them from hurting that person. In doing so, the ghost warps into a hollow and, ironically, often makes the focus of their obsession into their first victim, such as Orihime Inoue's brother, Sora, does. This can be prevented if a Shinigami gives the soul a Soul Burial before it descends into a Hollow.The process by which a soul becomes a Hollow usually takes a year, reflected by the length of the soul's Chain of Fate, which resides in the center of their chest. The Chain of Fate slowly corrodes over time, reflecting the degradation of the soul's ties to the living world. Once a soul becomes a Hollow, it is driven by an eternal and insatiable hunger to devour other souls, living or dead, to fill the void caused by its descent. While their former obsession often becomes their first target, most Hollows will eventually become mindless creatures concerned only with finding the most potent souls to devour. Stronger and more evil Hollows are often able to retain some of their intelligence in Hollow form, making them more dangerous than the average Hollow.

Hollows, like other races counterparts are further broken down into several classes allowing them to differentiate them several from strong an weak hollows.

Hollow Classes:

Appearance:

Evil souls that vary widely in looks and abilities. Hollows are feared as evil spirits or monsters. Their faces are hidden by strangely shaped masks. These masks are formed to protect the naked instinct that is left in a being after the loss of its heart, and in some ways is the tangible form of the Hollow's madness. The masks of different Hollows can differ greatly in shape and form, but they are always white and skull-like. The masks also obscure the original identity of the Hollows. The mask can be shattered, temporarily allowing the Hollow to regain its original identity, but it will regenerate after a short period once the Hollow takes over again.

Hollows have widely varying physical characteristics and powers, and few of them ever appear the same (the few that do are often clones). In terms of appearance, Hollows can range in appearance from furry (like mammals) through lizard-like to outright demonic. Hollows also vary in size, though it tends to be consistent amongst the various classifications of Menos. In Hueco Mundo, some Hollows are no larger than common pets. Most common Hollows are about twice the size of an adult Human, though it can vary to a degree. Huge Hollows, aptly named for their size, are as large as two-story buildings. Finally, Gillian-class Menos are even more enormous than the largest of common Hollows, standing as tall as a smaller skyscraper.



Soul-Body Separation: Two middle class hollow, Shrieker and Acidwire, have been shown using this ability, though presumably all Hollows have the ability. This technique allows a Hollow to forcibly extract a living spirit from his/her body. It is usually not used because Hollows tend to go after Pluses, who have no physical or living body to speak of. Acidwire used this on his younger sister, Orihime, so she could see and converse with him. Shrieker used it for more sinister means, causing the young boy Yūichi Shibata to be trapped within the body of a parakeet for three months while the Hollow chases him. The soul is still attached by the Chain of Fate and can be saved, but if it is broken (in Yūichi's case) then the soul can prevent the Encroachment so long as he/she is placed inside a soulless body or animal. It appears Shinigami have reverse engineered this ability, as shown with the Skull Symbol. It may or may not be possible that this ability could also extract a Shinigami from their Gigai, but this would obviously prove harmful to a Hollow.

Acidic Touch: Many Hollows, like Shrieker and Acidwire, have displayed this ability, although Rukia implies that all Hollows possess this power. When a Hollow grab a Human with their hands, the spot where the person was grabbed is shown to get burned as if acid were poured onto it. This was shown when Orihime was grabbed in the leg, and on the wound on Chad's back. These wounds seem to allow the Hollow's reiatsu to seep into the person, causing great pain to the victim. The wounds can heal if given enough time though, and it is unknown if this ability works on Shinigami or other spiritually powerful beings.

Acidic Touch:

Cero: Is a highly-powerful and relatively-swift energy blast that can be fired from various body parts, such as mouth, tongue, hand or fingers. Only Menos, Arrancar, and Vizard have so far been shown to use Cero attacks, and it appears that stronger entities can use it more efficiently and forcefully. Cero also requires some time to be used effectively, so the enemy must be either not moving or busy with something else, or too badly wounded to even simply dodge it, except for a few Cero techniques and users. Additionally, there exists quite several variations of Cero, which are usually unique to the Arrancar using it.

Cero:

Garganta: Is how Hollows and Arrancar move to and from Hueco Mundo. Kaname Tōsen and Kisuke Urahara have also demonstrated the ability to use the technique. It literally tears open the dimensional fabric separating the worlds, revealing a tunnel of whirling, torrential energy that must be focused and solidified to create a discernible pathway.

Garganta:

Negación: Fields that are used to rescue fellow Hollows. Only the Gillian-class Menos have shown the ability to use it. Espada have a special cube-shaped device called Caja Negación meant to simulate Negación fields, which are used to punish their subordinates if necessary.

Negacion:

High-Speed Regeneration:  The ability that allows a Hollow to heal most injuries very quickly, except for the destruction of the head or vital organs. Only Menos-class Hollows have demonstrated this ability. Ulquiorra states that most Arrancar gave up Regeneration for far greater strength.

High-Speed Regeneration:

[NOTE: When a Hollow becomes an Arrancar by removing their mask, they will regain all the stat points they are owed, making them equal to the points of their level. ]

An Arrancar is a Hollow that has removed its mask and has gained Shinigami-like powers through the power of enlightenment. The still possess the full power of their original hollow forms however they now have the access to zanpaktuo like weapons and an enhanced form of power known as Ressureccion. Naturally occurring Arrancar do exist within Hueco Mundo and born in a similar manner to natural born Shinigami in Hueco Mundo. There has even been said to be a special item that is capable of forcefully turning average hollows in to Arranca but its name and whereabouts are currently unknown.

Arrancar can gain a Zanpakutō although some Arrancar's Zanpakutō don't take the shape of a sword. Unlike with Shinigami, this Zanpakutō is not sentient, but is simply their "true" Hollow form sealed into a sword. Therefore, an Arrancar's release of their Zanpakutō is merely a temporary restoration to their former selves, granting them any powers their Hollow form possesses. The act of release is called Resurrección, which is activated with a command phrase followed by the name of the sword. The Resurrección of an Espada-level Arrancar releases enough power to be comparable to a Shinigami's Bankai. Few Arrancar do not have a Zanpakutō, being too weak to seal their excess power into a blade, while others prefer to have it constantly released. While most of the Arrancar either develop or retain their own personality traits, the majority (not all) of Arrancar shown in the series appear to be similarly cold, cruel, ambitious, impatient, selfish, overconfident, ruthless, arrogant, impulsive, brutal, relentless, battle-hungry, overbearing, short-tempered, indifferent, and/or egotistical.

[ANY HOLLOW can become an Arrancar, they must simply do a 10 post topic of removing their mask and achieving their Zanpakutō]

Appearance:

Arrancar assume a humanoid form, as opposed to the animal-like or monstrous forms seen with Hollows. Upon becoming an Arrancar, the chances of a Hollow gaining a humanoid form increase with their intelligence; only Vasto Lorde-class Menos will assume a humanoid form. This new form will retain remnants of their past selves, like fragments of their removed masks and a Hollow hole. While some Arrancar  prefer to conceal these remnants, others choose to hide their faces completely to escape unwanted attention. Most also have a colored marking of some sort on their face, though some only gain these markings upon the release of their Zanpakutō. Their uniforms consist of a white jacket, black sash, white hakama, and black and white boots that bear an opposing similarity to a Shinigami's sandals; in essence, the uniforms are basically inverted Shinigami uniforms..



Bala: Bala is an Arrancar alternative to Cero. The technique hardens the user's Spiritual Pressure and fires it like a bullet. Although it is weaker than a normal Cero, it moves about twenty times faster and can be fired at a much higher rate, but the damage is much the same. Stronger Arrancar can also fire a more powerful Bala, while retaining its twenty-fold speed.

Bala:

Cero: Cero are high-powered energy blasts that can be fired from various body parts, such as mouth, tongue, hand or fingers. Only Gillians, Adjuchas, Arrancar, and the Vizards have so far been shown to use Cero attacks, and it appears that stronger entities can use it more efficiently. Various Arrancar and Hollow characters display variants of the technique, such as the Espada-exclusive Gran Rey Cero, the Cero Oscuras that Ulquiorra Cifer can use only in his released form, as well as the Cero Sincrético performed by Pesche Guatische and Dondochakka Bilstin.

Cero:

Cero Cornea: Cero Cornea is a variation of the Cero technique originally developed and used by Tesra Lindocruz. It retains a cero's speed but has a reduced size and damage. However unlike its stronger counter part, it is fired from the cornea of an arrancar's eye, making it an difficult attack to see coming.

Cero Cornea:

Garganta: Garganta is how Arrancar and Menos-class Hollows move to and from Hueco Mundo. Kaname Tōsen, Kisuke Urahara and Mayuri Kurotsuchi have also demonstrated the ability to use the technique. It literally tears open the dimensional fabric separating the worlds, revealing a tunnel of whirling, torrential energy that must be focused and solidified to create a discernible pathway.

Garganta:

Hierro: Hierro refers to the hardened skin of the Arrancar, which is a result of their compressed spiritual power. While their skin is strong enough to block even released Zanpakutō bare-handed, it is by no means impenetrable. Stronger Arrancar generally have proportionally stronger skin than usual.

Hierro:

Negación: Negacion are energy fields are used to rescue fellow Hollows. Only the Gillian-class Menos have shown the ability to use it. Negación fields surround a target in a square beam of light that isolates the target from the dimension they are currently in, making it impossible to harm them. The field then pulls the target towards the Menos that created the field. Espada have a special cube-shaped device called Caja Negación meant to simulate Negación fields, which are used to punish their subordinates if necessary. The cube, when used on a subject, traps them in an alternate dimension from which there is no escape; however, this assumes it is being used as intended. More powerful Arrancar, namely the Espada themselves, can escape given enough time.

Negacion:

Pesquisa: Pesquisa is the Arrancar equivalent of the Shinigami ability to sense Spiritual Pressure. It functions very similarly to sonar.

Pesquisa:

Resurrección: Most Arrancar can seal their power within a Zanpakutō. Upon releasing their Zanpakutō, they gain all their former unique Hollow abilities back, essentially 'resurrecting' their old selves. When using this ability, they essentially combine their human form and their Hollow form, incidentally, increasing their power considerably. As another note, when an Arrancar uses his or her Resurrección, it heals all minor wounds.

Resurrección:

Segunda Etapa: In the anime Ulquiorra Cifer, the 4th Espada, has demonstrated the ability to attain a second form of Resurrección called Segunda Etapa. Among the Espada, he is the only member capable of the transformation. This form is capable of rivaling the Bankai form of Shinigami and in some cases have power that far exceeds their Shinigami Rival. Uryū Ishida notes that Ulquiorra's Reiatsu in his second release is fundamentally different than anything else he had felt before, not just in strength or size but in sensation

Segunda Etapa:

Sonído: Is the Arrancar equivalent of the Shinigami Flash Steps and the Quincy Hirenkyaku; it allows the user to travel at incredibly high speeds for short distances. Use of Sonído is punctuated by a brief static sound, in contrast to the "swish" sound caused by Flash Steps.

Sonido: