Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-25360536-20140920031731/@comment-25801533-20150617023708

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.

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.

As for any contradictions I'm sorry if I have, I may have muddled my words while trying to explain this. I will try to be more careful in my wording.

I'm going to attempt to re-explain my premise and at the same time walk through as many of the questions you posed as well (there's some really good questions in there). I also want to clear up some terminology so that I make sure I am saying things correctly.

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.

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.

Quick theory recap:

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. 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. This shell is imbued with the shinigami power that Ichigo's Quincy powers were unable to suppress. The hollow with a filled in hole that attacked Masaki was created using a similar process to how asauchi are created. When Ichigo was born a hollow/zanpakuto spirit was created (being "White"/Zangetsu) inside Ichigo's inner world as his shinigami power from the shinigami power of his father and the hollow that infested his mother. The manner in which this hollow was originally created essentially turns his hollow/shinigami power into a hollow/shinigami/asauchi. The asauchi part is necessary to allow Ichigo to be able to use his powers without the need of a zanpakuto. No shinigami has awoken their zanpakuto spirit without the use of one of Nimaiya's asauchi. This means that due to the make-up of white/Zangetsu the zanpakuto spirit is already fully awakened and ready for Ichigo to make use of its power.

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.

On to the questions:

Kman111 wrote: -If Shinigami can only manifest their Zanpakuto inwardly using reiryoku, how can Zangetsu have been structured like a reishi weapon?

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.

Kman111 wrote: -If a Quincy spirit weapon is made of pure reishi, how does Ichigo exert pure reishi?

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. However if they have enough reishi and reiryoku and a high enough reiatsu the weapon they form can take on a more solid/metallic look.

Kman111 wrote: -How could Ichigo form Zangetsu to look metallic like that, if his skill in reishi manipulation is sub-par?

I don't have a great answer for this, and it won't be an answer that you find overly acceptable. The only thing I can think of is that part of it comes from his instinct in just being able to do something as we see so many times with him, and part comes from Zangetsu already being an awakened zanpakuto spirit, that the "look" is ingrained in Ichigo's subconscious.

Kman111 wrote: -If Zangetsu was a reishi weapon, why does it have a bankai form?

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.

Kman111 wrote: -If Zangetsu was a reishi weapon, then when it broke in bankai, why couldn't it be reformed like any other reishi weapon?

The power Ichigo was using came from inside himself. The broken sword can be fixed. It is the zanpakuto spirit that is forever changed. Unless the shinigami receives a new asauchi (blade) to imbue the zanpakuto spirit with, the spirit cannot "re-grow" and reform a fully functional bankai. Kurotsuchi is constantly remodeling his own bankai and it will never be the same as it ever was. Ikkaku had his bankai broken and zanpakuto put back together but it is far weaker than before, but the only exception is Komamura who takes the same damage as his bankai and vice versa. Renji's bankai, before being re-forged, was still missing blades that had been destroyed. It sounds, at least as far as I interpret it, that the zanpakuto has a "copy" of the zanpakuto spirit's powers. When the copy is fractured the end result is no longer the same as the original and so would need to be re-copied to a new asauchi. Ichigo was acting under a false pretense as to which spirit was his zanpakuto spirit so he couldn't consciously form a new weapon properly as he is trying to get his power from the wrong source. 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.

Kman111 wrote: -Why did Nimaiya have to reforge Zangetsu, if it was made of pure reishi?

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.

Kman111 wrote: -Why did Nimaiya say that 'White' was created similar to his Asauchi?

I believe I covered this topic earlier

Kman111 wrote: -Why did Nimaiya say that 'White' is Ichigo's true Zanpakuto?

Again Ichigo never knew that Zangetsu was actually his inner hollow.

Kman111 wrote: -How do we know that the 'true shikai form' of Zangetsu is also not a pair of reishi weapons?

Technically speaking everything in the soul society is made of reishi including the people, buildings, and the asauchi. However I gather you mean not being "generated" as the previous sword (if this theory holds true). The newest version of Zangetsu (forced shikai) is a pair of blades forged by Nimaiya from an asauchi. One representing Ichigo's shinigami powers and the other his Quincy powers. The spirit of both these entities has been imbued into the swords.