Nnoitra Gilga

was the quinta (5th) Espada in Sōsuke Aizen's Army. He has a philosophy of living only for the carnage of battle, an ideal shared by Shinigami Captain Kenpachi Zaraki. When Ichigo Kurosaki and his friends invade Hueco Mundo to rescue Orihime Inoue, he easily dispatches and nearly kills a battle-worn Chad and Ichigo Kurosaki, but the ferocious Kenpachi eventually becomes his opponent and defeats him.

Appearance
Nnoitra is arguably one of the tallest characters in the series, dwarfing even Chad by at least a foot (around 30 cm). His height is emphasized by his very thin and lanky body. His face is frequently set in a huge smile which reveals his upper-teeth. His black hair hangs past his shoulders concealing the left side of his face along with a large white eyepatch. The eyepatch hides his Hollow hole and mask fragments which consists of a small set of jawbones and teeth surrounding his Hollow hole. His tattoo signifying his rank as the 5th Espada is located on his tongue. His clothing consists of a modified Arrancar jacket with an overblown spoon-like hood and an opening starting at the neckline showing most of his midsection and closes at his waist. He wears the standard hakama but the ends of his pant-legs close inside what looks to be socks and his boots are extended and curved at the end making it look like he is wearing wicked-witch boots. When he was the 8th Espada, Nnoitra's hair was shorter and messier, he lacked the spoon hood, and wore his jacket's collar upturned. Also during his time as the 8th espada, his tongue had an 8 on it instead of a 5.

Personality
Personality-wise; he is extremely rude and lecherous, accented by his snake-like eye and attitude towards Orihime calling her "pet-sama". He even went as far to ask Ulquiorra Schiffer how well he "taught" her. He is also a firm believer in male chauvinism and openly insults and regularly attacked the former 3rd Espada Neliel Tu Oderschvank, it is unknown if he held the same grudge toward Halibel. His overall goal is to prove himself the strongest of the Espada and he does not want to waste his time killing those he dubs weak. However he has no problem attacking stronger opponents who are already injured, a trait both Ichigo and Grimmjow berate him for. He also loathes being made look weak, and thus, will refuse all forms of assistance offered to him during an on-going battle, as seen when he struck his sole fraccion, Tesla, for running over to his side (and releasing Inoue in the process) after he (Nnoitra) got blasted by Nel's Cero Doble. He does, however, appear to have at least some care, or perhaps even concern for his sole Fraccion's well-being (unlike Grimmjow who did not even mourn for his fraccions and former companions), having attempted to warn Tesla to withdraw from battle after he determined via his pesquisa that Kenpachi Zaraki was no opponent to be underestimated when the fearsome shinigami Captain arrived.

In his later moments during his battle with Kenpachi Zaraki he begins to show signs of weakness and is increasingly angry by his inability to overcome the powerful Captain. This stems from an inferiority complex he developed while serving as 8th Espada. Whenever his opponents refuse to kill him during a battle, particularly Kenpachi and Neliel, Nnoitra takes it as a direct affront to his pride, because, in his mind, neither Neliel nor Kenpachi seem to think of him as their equal or superior. This shows a more honorable side of him as even he wishes to be treated as equally as every other opponent he has treated. However, he also does not hesitate to use any means -even unfair ones- in order to prove his superiority in the battlefield. Also, he is quite possibly the foulest mouth in the entire Bleach franchise.

History
Before he became the 5th, Nnoitra held the rank of 8th Espada and was later promoted possibly because his power had grown. During his time as the 8th he would constantly challenge the then 3rd Espada Neliel Tu Odershvank to prove that males are stronger than females but he would lose everytime. Later he teamed up with Szayel Aporro Granz (who was not an Espada at the time) to perform a sneak attack on Nel. Nnoitra completely tore off the masks of both Nel's Fracción, Pesche Guatiche and Dondochakka Bilstin and caused them to turn back into Hollows in order to provoke her to fight with him. During the fight, a device made by Szayel Apollo created a fake image of Nnoitra and distracted Nel's attention. By exploiting the opportunity, Nnoitra attacked Neliel and the attack itself broke off part of her mask, scarred her forehead and left her unconscious. He threw her out of Las Noches so that he could increase his power by the time she returned. However when she reverted to child due to the damage he inflicted he gave up on that goal until she returned many years later with Ichigo.

Hueco Mundo arc
Nnoitra's first appearance was during the meeting of the Espada, where he got excited about the intruders despite the other Espada's caution. He later appears right after Chad defeated Gantenbainne Mosqueda, mistaking him for the leader of the intruders. Him and Chad engage in battle with a single powerful punch from Chad right in Noitra's stomach with El Directo. However this doesn't so much as hurt Nnoitra who then precedes to finish Chad with one strike. To his surprise Chad gets up and attempts another attack but is stopped by Tesla, his Fracción. Nnoitra proceeds to threaten Tesla for interrupting stating that no soul in the universe could harm him.

His next appearance was during Ichigo Kurosaki's fight with Grimmjow Jeagerjaques, silently watching the battle; studying Ichigo's attacks until they finished. He immediately "relieved" Grimmjow from the battle attempting to finish him off but Grimmjow was saved by Ichigo. After berating Grimmjow from being saved by the enemy, Nnoitra returned his attention back to the weakened Ichigo preparing to finish him off.

As they fight, Nnoitra notices Nel, recognizes her as the former third Espada, Neliel Tu Odershvank, and explains to Ichigo that Nnoitra gave Nel the crack in her mask. Nel denies this accusation heavily as Nnoitra attacks Ichigo again, eventually beginning to break his wrist. Seeing Ichigo hurt triggers Nel's transformation into her adult form. Nel attacks Nnoitra after revealing her ex-Espada status and easily matches him. She releases her zanpakutō (which Nnoitra attempted in vain to thwart, knowing the tables will turn against him should Nel succeed) and overwhelms Nnoitra, but, just before finishing him, reverts to her child form. Nnoitra kicks Nel and an enraged Ichigo attacks again, only to be slammed into the ground. After getting bored with fighting Ichigo he commands Tesla to finish him off even forcing Orihime to watch him die. However at the last second Kenpachi Zaraki steps in to save them badly wounding Tesla in the process.

Nnoitra's lust for battle returns and he does battle with Zaraki. Although he holds the upper-hand at first because Kenpachi's sword couldn't cut through his Hierro, when Nnoitra accidentally slashes Kenpachi's eyepatch off, he is hit with a devastating counterattack resulting in a slash across his chest. Nnoitra responds by finally releasing his Zanpakutō and returns the favor by slashing Kenpachi across his chest critically injuring him. To his surprise once again, Zaraki gets up and slashes one of Nnoitra's arms off but reveals his two extra arms an once again turns the tide back in his favor. However Kenpachi rises again and unleashed his Kendo techniques, which Nnoitra underestimates and is critically injured as a result. Kenpachi unwilling to give Nnoitra the finishing blow it sparks Nnoitra's anger, and he briefly remembers a similar incident between him and Nel Tu where she was unwilling to finish him off. Nnoitra's anger finally reaches its peak and he charges straight at Kenpachi, only to be cut down for good. He locks eyes with Nel one last time before he falls to the ground. He dies on his own two feet before his body touches the ground - the kind of death he always wanted.

Powers & Abilities
As Quinto/Cinco Espada, he is the fifth strongest in Aizen's army. Enhanced Hierro: Nnoitra holds the title for the strongest Hierro of all Arrancar (including the Espada past and present) allowing him to withstand almost any attack with no sign of injury. Despite this arrogant claim his skin does not, by far make him impervious to attacks or is impenetrable as he claims it is; presumably, his Hierro's influences over his entire body is not uniform for every proportion as Nel Tu in her adult form cut through his chest with no obvious difficultly (likely due to her prior combat experience with him) and Kenpachi Zaraki eventually found the necessary requirements to harm him after a brief trial and error duel.

Enhanced Pesquia: Nnoitra is also very different when it comes to using his Hollow powers as an Arrancar. For example, most Arrancar's Pesquisa (ability to sense people with Spiritual Pressure) normally works by using a meditative state and functions like sonar, while Nnoitra needs only to put his hand to a grounded surface. His Pesquisa is even able to gauge the amount of spiritual pressure an opponent has, which he uses to identify potentially strong opponents.

Cero: He also fires golden Cero blasts outgoing from the tip of his tongue, as opposed to using his hands, mouth or fingers like most Espada do. Also, it is a powerful and of a big-sized Cero.

Enhanced Strength: Despite his thin and fragile appearance, Nnoitra is frighteningly strong and can easily wield his ridiculously huge Zanpakutō with one hand.

Zanpakutō

 * Nnoitra's Zanpakutō takes the form of a giant axe-like weapon bearing two crescent moon blades fused together at the backs with a large looped chain connected to the shaft at the end of the handle. The chain is connected to Nnoitra's belt allowing him to perform long ranged attacks such as the sneak attack which promptly ended Grimmjow's fight with Ichigo. During flashbacks to Nnoitra's time as the 8th Espada, it had only one crescent moon blade on his zanpakutō as opposed to the two it features now, possibly reflecting his increased power and subsequent rise in rank since then. Despite its huge size, Nnoitra is able to wield easily with one hand.


 * Resurrección: Its release command is . When released he gains an extra set of arms but if things get too rough he would just grow a third and final set of arms, each of which wields a  scythe like his unreleased form but the design is reversed. These weapons can be "grown" out of the folds of his wrists allowing it to replace lost or damaged weapons easily. He keeps one of his arm sets hidden within his body to perform surprise attacks. He gains a pair of horns, his left horn longer than his right, resembling a crescent moon. His Hollow mask also changes, becoming torn and featuring jagged teeth. Compared to Grimmjow's, however, Nnoitra's released form appears to have very limited battle uses as he did not resort to activating to it after Nel released her Gamuza against him.


 * Resurrección Special Ability:


 * Enhanced Strength: In this state his strength is enhanced even further temporarily overwhelming Kenpachi before the latter unleashed his kendo.


 * Instantaneous Regeneration: Nnoitra is the only Arrancar who seems to have retained the Menos ability of Instantaneous Regeneration and can easily regrow severed limbs. However, this recuperative capacity quickly drains as his reishi reserves, and if injured to an incredible extent, can be ultimately exhausted as seen during the final moments of his battle with Kenpachi.

Fracción

 * Tesla is a male Arrancar and assists Nnoitra wherever he goes. Tesla seems to idolize Nnoitra to a degree, his eyepatch (though not identical) echoing that of his master. This is also shown when he stands by his act of shielding Nnoitra against Chad's last assault, despite criticism from Nnoitra himself. He is badly wounded by Kenpachi Zaraki with one cut and seen dying on the ground later on crying for his fallen master.

Trivia

 * Before his named was officially dubbed as Nnoitra he was called "Noitora" many times in manga scanlations. He like many of the Espada's names have become a huge subject of debate such as Grimmjow's last name changed from Jaggerjack to Jeagerjaques.
 * His name comes from Richard Neutra, an architect.
 * During the flashback, Nnoitra had his postion as the 8th Espada tattooed on his tongue. However, when he revealed his current position as the 5th Espada to Ichigo, the number 5 has replaced the previous number 8. This shows that the tattoos on the Espadas might not be permanent.