User blog comment:Xilinoc/Ch. 603 - What The Hell/@comment-2211792-20141029165838/@comment-24913480-20141029185429

The way Kubo has been rushing things (fights and quincy deaths) gives me the impression there is something BIG coming our way. Not just a final battle against Yhwach (although we will get there) but against something even greater than him, which might bring a major change to the Bleach verse.

Yhwach seems to have some connection to the Soul King (blood related maybe), plus his motif of glorified holy nazis with angelic-like powers emphasizes that connection even further. From what we have seen of the Soul King, he/she somewhat resembles Aizen's transcendent form. And having a "god" as the final villain is something fairly common in manga and other works.

So killing the ritters might be kubo's way of saying: out with the old, in with the new.