Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-28096256-20160413001736

So I've been thinking for a while about hollow evolution and stuff like that,and so the first thing I did naturally is check the wikia page on hollows. There I found pretty much everything I needed to know about Gillians and Adjuchas. However, the appearance and abilities of Vasto Lordes were listed as unknown, and any reason for evolution other than being an Adjuchas with a big appetite is also not there. So here I am with nothing, and in order to deal with that nothing, I made up a pretty cohesive theory on Vasto Lordes and related beings.

First off, in order to fully understand Vasto Lordes, I decided to look into the known limits of power in beings. By this, I mean that first off, it seems as though there is some kind of difference between Adjuchas capable of becoming Vasto Lorde and Adjuchas who simply can't, now matter how much they consume. The same also goes for Shinigami Captains, who have an upper limit on their abilities as stated by Lord Aizen. Funny, there seems to be a pretty serious cap on the abilities of captains AND the abilities of captain level hollows. So far, the only way that the strength of a captain can be exceeded at least in soul reapers is to gain hollow powers.

So why is it that hollows have another level of increased strength? Anything going above the level of captain has to have hollow powers in soul reapers, so why not apply that theory the other way around; Maybe the only way to evolve past the Adjuchas stage is to possess some degree of soul reaper power! It makes sense when you look closely. First off, it explains why Vasto Lorde are Shinigami sized. It explains why Harribel had a swordlike appendage as a weapon, and also explain why when Aizen first met Barragan, Aizen claimed that Barragan fights like a Shinigami and has a similar stance. Finally, it explains why a random boost in power occurs between VL's and Adjuchas, because otherwise it would seem like simply eating a lot would randomly give a random set of predetermined "gifted" hollows a power explosion and a human form.

There are a few bugs in this theory, so lemme work out as many as I can... first off, the reason Vasto Lordes don't immediately die from soul suicide upon creation is that they probably actually do die, but since they consist of so many separate souls it would be unlikely that the entire entity would die, just a few of the minor souls making up any Menos class hollow. Second, how they got soul reaper powers in the first place is up for questioning. The first possibility is that they are simply soul reapers who were consumed by a Menos and then managed to become the controlling entity of that Menos, evolving into an Adjuchas with the potential to become Vasto Lorde. Secondly, they could simply be hollows who became hollows by encroachment, but nearly turned soul reaper before becoming a hollow and therefore retained some degree of Shinigami powers, just as Ichigo nearly became a hollow and therefore retained some hollow powers from his training with Urahara.

The beauty of this, is it explains why all Vasto Lorde are destined to have human form when they become Arrancar. The VL already possess Shinigami powers when they become Arrancars, and are therefore set up with a real body. It also explains why only specific Adjuchas and Gillians gain true human forms when they become Arrancars, as we can say only the predetermined Hollows possessing soul reaper powers can naturally become human shaped without the hax of the Hogyoku.

Also, it gives a pretty reasonable explanation for Segunda Etapa-If Resurrección or Primera Etapa is the return of hollow powers to an Arrancar, Segunda Etapa is the return of the power VL's lose to soul suicide. This means that only VL based Arrancars possess the possibility of achieving Segunda Etapa, and also that only Arrancars that are nearly perfect due to Hogyoku interference can overcome the soul suicide that lost them their powers earlier, effectively recovering their true abilities.

If you haven't heard of some of my points, I am an exclusive anime viewer (only canon stuff) and some of these things may be slightly edited or even not there in the manga. If so, please don't complain about it unless it directly opposes my theory, in which case certainly mention it. Also, if you have any other ideas or think one of my ideas is derped up for any reason, feel free to say so! After all, I'm not God, Yhwach, Aizen, or Kubo. 