User blog comment:Xilinoc/Ch. 615 - All is Lost/@comment-24574959-20150218193619

I think that situation with Ukitake is identical to the one of Princess Yue from Avatar: the last airbender. i bet that the soul king gifted Ukitake with part of its own life force in order to save him from his illness as a child, but now the soul king is "dead" Ukitake will sacrifice himself to give back the life force he received in order to revive the king. lol sounds crazy but that's I'm leaning towards