Tier Harribel

, sometimes incorrectly romanized as Halibel, is an Arrancar in Sōsuke Aizen's army, and is the Tres (3rd) Espada. She is currently the only female Espada.

Appearance
Harribel has dark skin, green eyes, and messy blonde hair which has three braided locks. She wears an oddly-cut variation of the Arrancar jacket that covers the lower part of her face downward, while baring a good portion of the lower half of her breasts; this jacket, unlike that of other Arrancar, is provided with a zipper running along its entire length that is opened from the bottom upwards (in the anime, this outfit is extended to fully cover her breasts, a black stripe showing where the original cut of the jacket was). The jacket's sleeves completely envelop her arms, terminating in black glove-like extensions at her extremities, which slightly gives her fingers the appearance of a cat's paws. Physically, she appears to be just as well-endowed as Rangiku Matsumoto. Harribel carries her Zanpakutō on her back (similar to Soifon). The sword itself is notably broad and short compared to others, and has a western-style guard.

The remnants of her Hollow mask consist of the sides of her face and her mouth, as well as an extensive area below and around her neck extending down to, and also covering, her nipples; she usually hides these Hollow remnants from view with her jacket. Harribel's mask fragment give her a similar appearance to Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez, at least in regards to the teeth. To date she has the most intact mask of any Arrancar not including the incomplete Grand Fisher (though the mask is removed upon her zanpakutō's release). Her Espada tattoo is oddly placed on the left side of her right breast. The location of her Hollow hole is currently unknown, despite the fact that her release form reveals most of her body.

Personality
Harribel rarely speaks, and when she does, she's fairly serious. An example would be when she tells her Fracción that being afraid of an Espada's released form is a natural reaction. She calculated the battle between Ichigo Kurosaki and Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez was more of a fight between two Espada than anything else. She tends to cross her arms when not engaged in combat.

Compared to her fellow Espada, who are usually arrogant, boastful, impulsive, battle-hungry, bloodthirsty, and egotistical, Harribel is composed, receptive, analytical, and prefers not to engage in combat; she is content on silently observing both parties until the fighting reaches its conclusion, and actually fights only when she is challenged and attacked by an opponent or commanded to fight by her superiors (though she appears reluctant to take orders from a higher-ranked Espada). Harribel's gender and associated rank in the Espada often draws the unwanted attention of other people; Nnoitra Jiruga attempts to provoke her into attacking him with a sharply-worded comment during the Espada meeting. She also catches the eye of Captain Shunsui Kyōraku, even to the point of him mentioning his (rather positive) opinion of her abilities to his opponent.

Before Ichigo Kurosaki and his friends broke into Las Noches, Harribel is usually seen in the company of Aizen and her fellow Espada - in Aizen's throne room, the debriefing room, and the room which houses the Hōgyoku. However, she, like the other Espada, has her own quarters. Whenever she is present, Aizen usually greets the group with words such as "ladies and gentlemen of the Espada" or "brothers and sisters", apparently for her exclusive benefit. She views Aizen and his powers in high regard, which is reciprocated by Aizen to a certain extent, as he seems unconcerned with the prospect of his top three Espada fighting a numerically-superior force led by six Shinigami Captains without his aid.

Strangely, Harribel seems to show some concern for her enemies. This was hinted when she observed Ichigo's fight with Grimmjow and was finalized when she asked Hitsugaya about his fluctuating reiatsu during their fight. Unlike most of her comrades, Harribel does care for her Fracción, as she is noticeably upset when she senses their presences fading. She is then shown angrily assaulting Hitsugaya seconds after their defeat at the hands of General Yamamoto.

Arrancar Arc
Harribel initially appears as one of several Arrancar who attend the return of Ulquiorra Cifer and Yammy Rialgo after their initial intrusion in the human world. In her first appearance, she is shown to be one of those who witnessed the events recorded by Ulquiorra's peculiar ability to replay events using his crushed left eye. Both she and Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez are the only Espada seen attending the meeting.

She is later also seen with several other Espada (including Grimmjow's replacement Luppi) during the creation of Wonderweiss Margera.

Hueco Mundo Arc
Harribel appears again during Aizen's meeting about Ichigo Kurosaki, Yasutora Sado and Uryū Ishida entering Hueco Mundo to save Orihime Inoue. After Aizen warns the Espada to treat the intruders with caution, she enunciates his statement to more rowdy members of the group, a comment specifically directed at Grimmjow and Nnoitra. Nnoitra taunts her thereafter, at which point she challenges him to repeat his insulting diatribe, but before things are able to go out of control Grimmjow interrupts the brewing confrontation by attempting to walk out against Aizen's orders. She is seen brooding silently while Aizen subdues Grimmjow with his Spiritual Pressure to keep him in line.

During Ichigo's fight with Grimmjow, she and her Fracción watch from afar talking about the battle. She tells her Fracción that being afraid of an Espada's released form is a natural reaction and said that the battle between Ichigo Kurosaki and Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez was more like an fight between two Espada than anything else.

Fake Karakura Arc
When Aizen, Ichimaru, and Tōsen invade the Human World, Aizen also brings Stark, Barragan, Harribel, and their Fracción. Once Aizen, Ichimaru, and Tōsen are trapped due to the abilities of Yamamoto's Shikai, Barragan himself decides to give all orders, sending out four of his own Fracción to destroy the four pillars keeping Karakura Town in Soul Society. After the pillars are successfully defended and all four of Barragan's Fracción are killed, all the remaining Fracción and Espada pair up against the Shinigami and begin to battle. Harribel enters into battle with Tōshirō Hitsugaya, while Hitsugaya's lieutenant, Rangiku Matsumoto fights all three of her Fracción. During this battle she senses the fluctuations in Hitsugaya's spiritual pressure as soon as Momo Hinamori appears to aid his lieutenant. She questions him on this only to be rebuffed with an attack on Hitsugaya's part.

Later, when she senses Apache, Mila-Rose, and Sun-Sun's defeat at the hands of Yamamoto, her tactics against Hitsugaya change and she says to her fallen subordinates that they fought well. She then unzips her jacket, revealing her rank as the 3rd Espada to Hitsugaya, much to his dismay that such a strong being is the only the third strongest of the Espada, which earned a retort that she had not yet showed him the full extent of her power. Acknowledging the seriousness of this fight against such a powerful opponent, Hitsugaya activates his Bankai, causing Harribel to counter by directly charging at him.



After determining Hitsugaya's strength to be weak, even with his Bankai, and sending him flying into a building with her Proyectil Azúl attack, Harribel decides to put an end to the battle and releases her Zanpakutō.

With the overwhelming power she gains from her resurrection, she easily delivers a seemingly fatal blow to a surprised Hitsugaya, by slicing the right side of his body from his shoulder, and tells him that "one blow from the shark and the ice dragon sinks in the sea". Yamamoto then appears at the site of the battle. Seeing Yamamoto, Harribel then says she'll make him pay for taking her Fracción's lives. Suddenly, Hitsugaya attacks her at point blank range but she is able to dodge, switch her sword to her other hand and slice his ice-tail off. Apparently, the Hitsugaya she attacked was just an ice clone. Hitsugaya then tells Harribel to not underestimate the power of the Shinigami. As their fight ensues, he tells her that he can use any water around him, telling Harribel that she will never reach him. Hitsugaya then attacks Harribel. She then says that he is the one who is underestimating her and she reciprocates the situation by melting his ice and stating the iron law of battle. She finally attacks him with his melted ice. Their exchange of attacks continues and Hitsugaya tells her another law of battle. To which Harribel releases a cero blast at him, to which Hitsuguya comments on how weak it is. He concludes that the reason her cero was so weak, as both of them are waiting for the battlefield to become filled with condensation, from this he states that when that happens, Harribel will use the opportunity to finish him off with one blow.

Hitsugaya grows tired of waiting and states that he has never tried a particular ability in his Bankai mode before, to which Harribel asks what he is talking about. Hitsuguya then explains that he doesn't have to wait for water, as Hyorinmaru is the most powerful Ice-based Zanpakutō, and all water is his weapon and all heaven is under his command. He then reveals his never before seen power, Hyoten Hyakkaso. Hitsugaya then asks her name, to which she replies: Tia Harribel. Hitsugaya then states his name and rank before attacking. As the sky darkens, snow begins to fall from the sky. Harribel attempts to melt the snow with her Hirviendo ability, but the moment her sword touches the snow, ice flowers begin to bloom on her body. Hitsugaya then calmly explains that once all one hundred flowers have bloomed, she will die. He then states that she won't be able to avenge her underlings after all. Harribel's current status is unknown.

Powers & Abilities
Harribel is the tres (third) Espada, making her the 3rd most powerful Arrancar in Sōsuke Aizen's army.

Keen Intellect: While a person of few words, Harribel has shown herself to be an intuitive person. During the battle between Ichigo and Grimmjow, she noted how similar the two were, especially in terms of energy signatures.

Master Swordsmanship Specialist: Harribel has demonstrated tremendous skill in swordsmanship, being able to fight on even grounds with Hitsugaya, a famous prodigy of swordsmanship while not taking the battle seriously. Harribel is ambidextrous and can switch her sword from her right to left.

Garganta: Garganta is how Arrancar move to and from Hueco Mundo. Harribel has the ability to use this technique. It literally tears open the dimensional fabric separating the worlds, revealing a tunnel of whirling, torrential energy that must be focused and solidified to create a discernible pathway. She is seen using one to travel to the Fake Karakura Town. Cero: Harribel has been shown to charge her cero using her sword and being able to fire it in a very wide ranging form, following the arc of her subsequent sword swing. Although Hitsugaya comments on it being weak this is due to the current situation where they are both waiting for each other's strongest attack.

Immense Spiritual Power: Being one of the top four members of the Espada, Harribel is forbidden to release her Zanpakutō while inside the dome of Las Noches. If she were to do so, her immense spiritual power would be enough to demolish the fortress.

Zanpakutō
. In its sealed state, Harribel's zanpakutō is unusually wide while not being particularly long, and has the distinction of being completely hollow in the middle, consisting of nothing more than the edges of what would otherwise be a normal sword. Its handle is purple and the guard is as wide as the blade, with three small holes on either end that Harribel uses to unsheathe it. Oddly, the sword is longer than the sheathe. It is worn horizontally on her upper back.


 * A technique in which Harribel pulls her sword back as it gathers spiritual energy within the hollow portion of her blade and launches it as an attack, similar to a cannon, towards her opponent, in the form of an energy blade projectile. She has also demonstrated the ability to keep the gathered energy concentrated within the hollowed out portion of the blade and unleash it in the form of a ribbon when attacking. The power of the attack is considerable as it can provide a highly lethal wound if it were actually make contact with a target. Considering the attack's name, its color is most likely blue.


 * Resurrección: Its release command is . When releasing her zanpakutō she holds it in an outstretched arm in front of her with the blade pointing down and declares the release. She is then completely enveloped by a heart-shaped surge of water that closes around her to form a cocoon-like cyclone which Harribel then cuts herself out of. In this form, all of her clothes are gone and her Espada tattoo also disappears. The Hollow fragments seen in her sealed state disappear, creating a collar around her neck with extensions that cover her nipples, spaulders on her shoulders, and two wing-like protrusions on her back featuring what appears to be a shark fin on each. The current fragments also seem to form a mini-skirt consisting of bones and something that resembles a spine down her stomach, created by a row of individual scales found upon a shark's skin. She now wears a pair of knee-length boots and elbow-length gloves as well. Her weapon takes the form of a broad rapier or pata, which resembles an elongated shark's tooth, featuring an unusual hilt with a handguard that completely covers the hand. The sword also possesses gill markings along the blade. Harribel loses her three braids, making her hair become messy, and gains two lightning bolt markings on both sides of her face.


 * Resurrección Special Ability: In this form, Harribel gains immense speed and strength. The increase in strength is so great that a simple swing of her sword is strong enough that even at longer distances it can easily cut an opponent. Her speed is greatly enhanced in this form and her motions become hard to predict until the very last moment. She has also shown the ability to manipulate water in this form.


 * Harribel points her blade out and superheats any form of water that comes into contact with it, including ice.
 * Harribel sends the water under her control into a rushing surge of water at her enemy.


 * Harribel is able to condense large amounts of water around her blade before firing it as a blast of pressurized water, in the form of a shark tooth, fitting with her zanpakto name. She has also demonstrated the ability to fire multiple blasts in rapid succession with relative ease.

Fracción
Harribel's Fracción consists of three female Arrancar, all presumed dead or incapacitated at this time:


 * is a tomboyish Arrancar with heterochromia, one sky blue and one amber eye; the latter has a red ring around it. Apache's mask fragment is on the top of her head with a horn in the middle much like that of a unicorn. Apache's Zanpakutō are the bracelets strapped to her arms.


 * is a dark-skinned Arrancar who dresses like an Amazon warrior. Her mask fragments form a three-sectioned crown around her head and a thick necklace. Her Hollow hole is positioned midway between her navel and breasts. Her zanpakutō is a western style longsword.


 * wears a long white dress, with sleeves that extend well past her hands. She also has two belts criss-crossing each other on her waist. Sun-Sun has long, flowing green hair and three dots below her right eye. Her mask remnants create three hair clip-like extensions on the right side of her hair. Her Hollow hole isn't visible. She seems to be the most mature of Harribel's Fracción, advising Apache and Mila-Rose to stop arguing, as it makes them look weak, then chiding their angry responses. Her zanpakutō resembles a sai.

Trivia

 * Her name is apparently taken from Harry Bell Measures, an architect.
 * Interestingly, both Harribel and Neliel Tu Oderschvank were the only female Espada in their generation, both of them held the number 3, and both were the only two Espada who seemed to care for their Fracción. Additionally, their attacks (Lanzador Verde and Proyectil Azul) are named after weapons and colors.
 * Harribel is one of the few Arrancar to retain a type of sword after her Resurrección. She shares this trait with Mila-Rose, Neliel Tu Oderschvank, Nnoitra Jiruga, Aaroniero Arruruerie, Rudobōn, and Ulquiorra Cifer.
 * Harribel's aspect of death is Sacrifice.
 * She has intentions of avenging her Fracción's defeat. This is demonstrated when she tried to challenge Yamamoto in their names before Hitsugaya's re-appearance.
 * She is the only Arrancar, along with Patros, whose zanpakutō has shown to have a special technique in its unreleased state.
 * She makes her first appearance in a video game in Bleach: Heat the Soul 6.
 * In the video game Bleach: Heat the Soul 6, she can shoot a yellow blast similar to Proyectil Azul.
 * Out of the Espada who have released their zanpakutō, she retains the most humanoid appearance in said form.
 * She introduces herself as Tres (3) Espada, instead of Tercera (3rd).
 * She's the only Espada that was introduced by her last name.

Quotes

 * "You're being disrespectful to Aizen-sama, Barragan."
 * "This is a captain's strength..? Apache and the others lost to this..?"
 * "Attack, Tiburón!"
 * "You are no match for me."
 * "One blow from the shark and the ice dragon sinks into the sea."
 * (To Yamamoto)"You're next. I'll make you pay for taking their lives."
 * (To Hitsugaya)"The moment you arrive at the idea that my water will become your weapon, you must also realize that the opposite may be possible as well. That is the iron law of battle."
 * (To Sun-Sun, Mila Rose, and Apache)"Ladies, despite their appearances, they are captain level... dont let your guard down and attack them at full strength from the start"