Newbie's Guide to Bleach

Locations

In the post above, we mentioned that there were worlds other than the human world that comprise the Bleach universe. There are three major worlds where the balance of souls is attempted to be maintained. It is important to keep this maintained because the system of reincarnation requires a constant cycle of souls. If souls are taken out of these worlds in a way that destabilizes this, it is a serious problem.

The first and most obvious location is the human world. It is our world in essence and other than the existence of spirits, it operates on a very normal set of rules. There are ways to violate these rules with spiritual power, but normal humans are incapable of superhuman feats and are very vulnerable to damage and death from simple things. This world is where humans live their lives and die before being taken to soul society. Spirits with regrets stay in this world and become hollows if not handled in time. Shinigami are also assigned patrol routes here and try to keep order. This world often makes itself the battle ground for the racial tensions, and can be quite dangerous.

Soul Society is the next life for souls once they die. Souls that come here are not always gifted with power. Many souls live in the slums in a similar way to the lives they lived as human. They grow older more slowly than the people in the human world, but they age all the same and eventually die. At this point they are reincarnated into the human world again. Soul Society is also home to the race called the Shinigami. These souls are those that possess rare power and formed an organization to keep the balance of souls between worlds. This group, the Gotei 13 are extremely powerful and rule Soul Society while watching the human world from the shadows.

The final major world in the Bleach universe is Hueco Mundo. It is the home of hollows, and thus is a desolate and infinitely dangerous world, even for the hollow kind. Most of Hueco Mundo is a giant, endless white desert where hollows could attack at any time. The only way to get into this world is either by using Garganta, a technique that hollows use to travel between worlds. As such it is extremely uncommon for shinigami to be able to get into the world of the hollows. Even if they do it is often a one-way trip.

In addition to those major worlds, there are a few side worlds created as paths between the major ones. Dangai is a place that Shinigami and Hollow alike gain access to when they use their techniques to travel to the other worlds. It is inhabited by a "cleaner" that makes it impossible to stay for long. Time is also distorted here to make the travel time quicker. Hell is also another world, but one that is not accessible by any of the races. Exceedingly wicked humans that committed horrific acts before becoming hollows are not purified. Instead, they are sent to hell to suffer until their penance ends. The final two locations are realms that were created as part of other realms. The Soul Palace is part of Soul Society, but also not. The only way to get there is to use the King's Key or to use the special platform gifted to the zero squadron. The other location, or locations, are the seven realms that were created as a part of Hueco Mundo. Like the Soul Palace it is not possible to get there without a special invitation.

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