User blog comment:Soulreaper1234/Is Vasto Lorde the 10 Espada or just another Hollow Being of higher capabilities?/@comment-44061-20100531202121

As I responded to your other comments on other blogs. Instead of going into crack theories the bases of facts can clear some of this up.

1.) The Vasto Lorde is the final stage of hollow evolution. There are so few of them apparently that you can count the number of your hands. They are said to have combat abilities above that of the Gotei 13 captains. We have to take into account that this information is generic information and not for first hand experience of Hitsugaya and we don't really know whens the last time a Shinigami has fought a Vasto Lorde. What is also said is that he assumes if the arrancar are more powerful then they were as Menos. That if Aizen has more then 10 of his Arrancar at Vasto Lorde level when they were hollows that Soul Sociery is doomed.

2.) There is no proof that any of the current Espada were Vasto Lorde. On one side you have those that state Ulquiorra solely based on the similarity of a shilioutte from Hitsugaya's explanation. On the other side that obviously doesn't hold water as all Adjuchas hollows and up would have to look the same and they dont and for obvious reasons its just a random shadow.

3.) Starrk (1st Espada) was killed by Shunsui who just used his shikai to do it.

4.) Ulquiorra (4th Espada) with even a supposedly more powerful second resereccion was killed by the new hollow form of the ever power fluctuating Ichigo. Who even at first meeting him made the point that at times Ichigo's spiritual power was more powerful then his own.

The problem here is people try to determine power level in numbers where the numbers dont exist. Starrk was first in power over all Espada he was beaten by one of the oldest and powerful captain with little effort. It is never stated how many captains or equal to 1 vasto lorde. The biggest confusion is Aizen whose power levels make no sense as being about to take out so many high powered people at once. Though apparently through the power of the Hogyoku and his shikai the power to do this seems to be a mix of his actual power and an increase in power by an outside source.