Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-25360536-20140920031731/@comment-26091912-20150617134405

You do realize that you're in agreement with me, while at the same time in disagreement with me, and yourself. The fact that your theory is so obfuscating, just goes to show you how implausible it really is.

Coolishy777 wrote: Please don't act like you are doing me any favours. If I don't understand something that is said, I will look it up whether it be a word, phrase, or piece of evidence. Other people reading this are probably less like to want to spend the extra time doing so. Well obviously you can't understand the words I've written, nor what I meant to convey. So you shouldn't feel that I'm feeling smug about myself, or anything like that.

If I say there isn't enough evidence to explicitly say (for this example) that the cross is a mandatory item in forming a reishi weapon, you want evidence to say there isn't enough evidence. I can't provide something if there is nothing, or a lack of evidence, to provide. (i.e. 'I don't have any evidence for my theory, therefore my theory cannot be falsified. I'm entitled to my opinion'.) What do you think is more believable: re-reading the manga to answer any inquiries you have, or making up a theory in your head to satisfy your curiosity and hope *fingers crossed* that it's true?

Reishi is what all spiritual matter is comprised of. Reiryoku is the amount of potential power available to a spiritual being (kind of like a well). Reiatsu is the amount of pressure/force exerted by a spiritual being's reiryoku. If these are wrong please explain, this is what I am understanding. No disagreement there.

Asauchi (beings) are the animated human like creations of Nimaiya. Asauchi (blade) are unnamed blank slate Zanpakuto Swords. Asauchi (I'm not sure if this refers to the beings or the blade, but I assume it's the beings) are created by mashing a whole bunch of shinigami souls together. All shinigami are given an asauchi (blade) when they become shinigami. A zanpakuto is the sword, originally an asauchi (blade), that a shinigami uses and is imbued with the shinigami's reiryoku. A Zanpakuto spirit is the shinigami's that resides inside the shinigami's inner world. Yes. Although a Zanpakuto spirit actually resides in the blade (it's "body", which theoretically is where the "inner world" is also). Asuachi are the ultimate Zanpakuto with the potential to become anything. Technically a Zanpakuto spirit is "born" when the shinigami imprint the essence of their soul into the Asauchi.

Ichigo has not been wielding a true zanpakuto. He has been making use of his shinigami powers (only a fraction) but has not had a zanpakuto to imbue his reiryoku with. Being part Quincy Ichigo created a shell to use in place of a typical asauchi (blade) or zanpakuto. Ichigo being able to wield his own Zanpakuto "without an Asauchi" has nothing to do with his Quincy powers. The manifestation said that he was suppressing his power, as in reiatsu, not his shinigami abilities (he was already using his shinigami/hollow powers prior).

A Quincy uses the reishi in the environment mixed with their own reiryoku to form a spirit weapon. Ichigo has enough of his own latent Reiryoku to form a weapon without needing to draw in extra energy from the environment. That doesn't change the fact that their weapons are made of pure reishi. What Uryu said could simply mean they use their reiryoku to gather reishi, or the amount of reiryoku they have determines the degree of reishi manipulation. Regardless, reishi is a Quincy's primary source of power (aside from their Schrift). Whether that reishi comes from: the atmosphere, trees, rocks, sand, buildings, living beings, or even energy attacks. The spirit weapon is formed out of pure condensed reishi, because the Quincy can't exert reiryoku/reiatsu, even though the Sternritter have the same or more reiryoku than a captain.   So you're right in saying that a cross is only a focus point, but if Quincy can't exert reiryoku, how do they gather reishi without it?

I apologize if I said it was a reishi weapon. I am saying it is formed from spiritual energy. I must have typed incorrectly. It is formed in a similar way to reishi weapons. You've said it twice actually.

Urahara said it him self that Ichigo's sword is nothing more than reishi. All I am saying is that his "zanpakuto", up until the point it was "reforged"/forged, was a weapon made entirely of reishi and therefore has similar traits to a quincy weapon, in how it is formed. You also put Zanpakuto in brackets, as if to imply it was no Zanpakuto at all. If you're going to change your mind, can you at least make it up before you write, otherwise you've just flat out contradicted yourself.

The zanpakuto spirit resides within the shinigami's inner world. This is where most of the zanpakuto training takes place. When training for bankai the spirit must be forced into the real world. The zanpakuto spirit and zanpakuto (blade) are different. It is the blade that is being structured not the spirit itself. Wrong, the Zanpakuto spirit and blade are essentially one and the same. The blade is it's body, the "spirit" is the essence of a shinigami's soul that's been imprinted into the blade. The Zanapkuto and wielder are essentially one and the same. 

Quincy weapons are both reishi and reiryoku. The way I understand it is that Quincy do not have enough reiryoku themselves to form a weapon without using reishi from the environment. Already explained above.

The shell is the only thing that is constructed from energy. He is still using his shinigami powers through that shell and so would have similar traits to other zanpakuto. Yes, shinigami powers. Not "a fraction" of them, all of them. It is not a "shell" (more like a home for a disembodied soul, if you will), but a sentient being unto itself. The way it was formed has nothing to do with his Quincy powers. 

The power Ichigo was using came from inside himself. The broken sword can be fixed... If Ichigo knew how to form the zanpakuto shell again and knew where his shinigami powers really originate than he may very well have been able to reform a bankai. A broken bankai can never be restored to its original state. It's not a matter of "fixing" it, but remaking it from scratch. Ichigo didn't know what the true source of his shinigami powers were before either, yet he was still able to form his Zanpakuto. There's no room for if's and maybes at this point.

It wasn't about re-forging, I don't think. It was that Ichigo never knew where his abilities came from and so he had to learn. Sending him to learn his past and giving him an asauchi that he can use instead of relying on a Quincy ability that he never knew he was using. Nimaiya actually says "I'll personally forge it for you." He also said that Old Man Zangetsu was his Quincy power and not his Zanpakuto spirit, which just proves further that Ichigo's Zanpakuto had nothing to do with his Quincy power. 

In conclusion, the much simpler and more logical explanation is that: The Zanpakuto that Ichigo wielded prior to having it broken in bankai, was one that was inherited from his inner hollow, which used to be known as 'White'. White was created by Aizen similar to Nimaiya's Asauchi, and when it manifested itself as Ichigo's inner hollow, that's how Ichigo obtained his Zanpakuto. (Whew *wipes brow*)

Well I've said just about everything there is to say about this topic, we've both had a good crack of the whip. I think it's best to just let this thread die a natural death.