Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-24726378-20150102200745

So, I've been thinking about who the oldest shinigami is. After much thinking and research, I've narrowed it down to 3 people. Ichibei, Nimaiya, and Yamamoto. Yes, I'm including Yama even though he died, since he died just a few days ago in the series and I figured this would not make much difference in the long run, so think of this as "Who Is The Oldest Shinigami Up To The Point Of Old Man Yama's Death." But how did I narrow it down to these three, and which of these three do I think is the oldest, and am I prepared for all the flack and hate-filled fanboys when I reveal my thoughts? Note: I am NOT including the Soul King or Yhwach because there is too little evidence to support their ages. And besides, neither are shinigami.

To start things off, we know that Yama is the oldest captain in the Gotei 13. But the Royal Guard is not part of the Gotei 13, so the Royal Guardsmen are exempt from this statistic. He's over 2,000 years old, founded the school, and the Gotei, of which, he has led since it's inception. However, everything he founded, needed a name. That's where Ichibei comes in. He named everything. He had to have named the things that Yama founded. And while info on soul society pre-gotei 13 is scarce at best, it is assumed there were specific things at those points in time that needed named as well, such as the "balancers". Could he have named them after the fact? Possibly. There are things, places, and events in our own history that haven't been "officialy" named until after the fact. And while Royal Guardsmen are all former shinigami, it could be possible Ichibei is from before the gotei 13, back when they were called "balancers".

Now, how does Nimaiya fit into all of this? Well, he created the Zanpakuto. We can determine that he is at least over 1,000 years old. And while this does not mean he is over 2,00 years old like Yama, it certainly puts him up there. But how do I know he is at least this old? Well, back when Yhwach first fought Yamamoto 1,000 years ago, Yamamoto used his bankai. This could only be done with a zanpakuto! And with the image of the first gotei 13 captains, clearly, some are at least carrying zanpakuto. Now, here's where his age is highly debatable. In chapter 529, he claims all shinigami have had zapakuto, since the birth of Soul Society itself!!

This claim, however, raises some very interesting questions. How old is Soul Society? Was there anything before Soul Society? Could this shed some light onto what the Soul King does? Since shinigami since the beginning of Soul Society have had zanpakuto, what came first: the shinigami or the zanpakuto? To add onto that, was Nimaiya around before shinigmai were a thing?

So, who, in my opinion, is the oldest shinigami? Given the evidence, specifically in chapter 529, I believe that Nimaiya Oetsu is the oldest shinigami. The shinigami, and zanpakuto, to an extent, have been around since the beginning of Soul Society. He is the only one to have explicity created something that has been around since the dawn of Soul Society. Ichibei, while he named everything, as I have said earlier, he could've done it after the fact. While Yama is over 2,000 years old and has founded so much, it is impossible to determine how old Soul Society is, and there is nothing that hints at him being around since it's beginnings. Nimaiya is the only one to hold this honor.

But what about you? Yes, you. What are your thoughts? Who do you think is the oldest shinigami? Do you agree with me? Disagree? I am quite interested to hear (read) your thoughts! Or, perhaps, this has sparked new theories on the Soul King, Soul Society itself, or something I haven't mentioned?  