Coyote Starrk

is an Arrancar and the Primera (1st) Espada in Sōsuke Aizen's army, along with his other half, Lilynette Gingerbuck.

Appearance
Starrk has blue-gray eyes and wavy, dark brown hair, which ends at the base of his neck, is always unkempt, and is parted down the middle. He has a faded goatee. His clothing is typical of an Arrancar: he wears a white jacket outlined in black, though altered with the collar upturned. A black sash is worn in a manner similar to a matador around his waist and he wears white gloves. The remains of his Hollow mask consist of a fanged bottom jaw which is positioned along his neck. His Hollow hole is on his sternum, right below the tip of his mask. His Espada tattoo is featured on the back of his left hand, which is usually hidden underneath his gloves.

Personality
Starrk is a lazy and unenthusiastic man who spends much of his time asleep, and no one, except Lilynette Gingerbuck, his other half, appears to try and stop him from doing so. Despite being the highest-ranking Espada, he is not eager to take a leadership role, allowing Baraggan Louisenbairn to take over at the battle of the Fake Karakura Town. He is not particularly interested in whatever is going on around him, though he is observant and a capable analyst. Unlike many of the Espada, he is not inherently violent or overly arrogant.

Prior to meeting Aizen, Starrk hated the loneliness he felt in the world but often could not avoid it because his mere presence killed off others around him. He envied the weak and wanted to be like them because they could travel in groups. Eventually he felt so lonely that he divided his soul into two separate beings to escape his solitude. From there he continued to search for friends until he met Aizen. Despite having gained many comrades after joining Aizen, he rarely directly addresses any of them other than Lilynette.

He initially does not seem to care a great deal for his fellow Espada, showing no visible signs of distress or concern. When he learns of Aaroniero Arruruerie's death, he lazily states there is nothing he could do about it, and when Baraggan and Tier Harribel are apparently overwhelmed by their opponents' respective Bankai, he only asks Shunsui Kyōraku if all the captains' Bankai are so powerful. However, this indifferent attitude seems to be dispelled with Baraggan's death. Starrk states Sōsuke Aizen not sparing even a word for Baraggan is horrible. Starrk himself is notably affected by this turn of events, being drained of his motivation to fight. After arguing with Lilynette for a while, he states he is not the type for revenge, but his desire to not see any more comrades die proves to be enough motivation for him to keep fighting. Starrk seems to be opposed to the notion of killing people, offering Love Aikawa and Rōjūrō Ōtoribashi a chance to run away instead of finishing them off.

Starrk often ends up in situations with him on the receiving end of physical abuse from his partner Lilynette, even though he does little to stop her actions. He can be serious on occasion, although his personality does not change much: he comes off as reluctant, but nonetheless willing to complete the task at hand. Such is the case when he was ordered to take back Orihime Inoue, despite saying he abhors such a strategy. He is fairly similar to Shunsui in personality, something Starrk himself acknowledges.

History
Starrk tried to live with other Hollows, but simply being near him caused them to lose their souls and die. Because of this, he became jealous of how the weak are allowed to come together, and so wanted to become weak. In an attempt to escape his loneliness, he split his soul into two when he became an Arrancar, unlike most Arrancar who divide their powers into a Zanpakutō, which became himself and Lilynette Gingerbuck. Not remembering which of them originally resembled themselves before they split, Starrk suspected their original appearance corresponded to neither of them. Even so, Starrk wanted to become weak so he could be together with a group, and if this were not possible, he wanted to find someone as strong as him.

When he split his soul, he asked the newly formed Arrancar if she had a name. Telling him her name was Lilynette, she asked if he had a name, despite them being the same person. Telling her his, he threw her a cloth to wrap herself up in. As she asked him what would they do now, he stated they could do anything. When she asked where would they go, he, stating they could go anywhere, assured Lilynette no matter what, they would stick together forever.

Starrk and Lilynette were alone when they were first found by Sōsuke Aizen. The two were sitting in front of mountains of dead Hollows, which impressed Aizen. When asked if they had killed all the Hollows in the area, Starrk told him no, for they had just died. This further impressed Aizen, who told Starrk he seemed strong. Pondering something, Aizen told the Arrancar he was searching for allies. Commenting on what a coincidence it was, for they too were looking for allies, Starrk asked Aizen if his allies were strong. When Aizen told him to come along and find out for himself, Starrk, agreeing to join him, noted Aizen looked like he could stay with them without dying.

Arrancar arc
Starrk is present during the creation of Wonderweiss Margela, standing on the steps opposite from Sōsuke Aizen along with several other Espada.

Hueco Mundo arc
Later, he, having slept beforehand, joins his fellow Espada as they are gathered by Aizen to discuss the matter concerning Ichigo Kurosaki, Yasutora Sado, and Uryū Ishida entering Hueco Mundo to save Orihime Inoue.

When the 9th Espada Aaroniero Arruruerie is killed by Rukia Kuchiki, Lilynette Gingerbuck, crudely waking him up, informs him of the event. When Starrk states he already knows about it, Lilynette, urging him to do something, is asked what she wants him to do about it.

Later, after Las Noches is invaded by the Gotei 13 and Szayelaporro Granz, Zommari Rureaux and Nnoitra Gilga are killed in battle, he appears before Orihime as she heads over to heal Kenpachi Zaraki. Before Ichigo and Kenpachi can stop him, he, stating he abhors such tactics, brings her to Aizen with Sonído.

Equipment

 * Sword: While having no special properties, Starrk wields a standard-sized katana. He uses it as a weapon in his pre-released state to make up for not having a standard Zanpakutō. It sports a pewter-colored rectangular guard, with small protrusions on each corner, and a sun-like design wrapped around the hilt's collar. The hilt itself is a yellow color, and the sheath is a metallic-gold color.

Powers & Abilities
Soul-Separation: Starrk has the unique ability to separate his soul due to his immense spiritual energy. His spiritual energy splits and turns itself into another being, which reacts to his spiritual signature.

Master Swordsman: Starrk has demonstrated tremendous skill in swordsmanship, fighting on even ground with Shunsui Kyōraku - one of the most proficient swordsmen in all of Soul Society - and landing a few minor cuts without fully trying (though Shunsui was also holding back). In their final fight, Starrk also demonstrated great skill in dual-wielding swordsmanship, using Colmillo to fight against Shunsui with his released Zanpakutō.

Master Marksman: Starrk is quite skilled with his pistols when released. He can fire very precise Ceros while fighting more than one opponent, and can launch a continuous barrage of Ceros which even captain-class fighters have difficulty avoiding. He skillfully used them to block at close range against Love Aikawa.

Sonído Master: Starrk's skill and speed in Sonído is so great, it seems as though he possesses a form of teleportation, simply appearing solidly instead of shimmering for a second like other Sonído users. He avoided both Kenpachi Zaraki and Ichigo Kurosaki in order to recapture Orihime Inoue, returning her to Sōsuke Aizen within an instant. His proficiency with Sonído allows him to create multiple after-images of himself to confuse the enemy. He surprised Jūshirō Ukitake by appearing next to him after dodging an attack faster than his own post-release Cero. He also evaded various attacks by the Visored Love and Rōjūrō Ōtoribashi, along with attacks from Shunsui while fighting them.

Immense Spiritual Power: As one of the four strongest Espada, Starrk possesses such tremendous spiritual power that he is forbidden to release his Zanpakutō inside of Las Noches because his release could destroy the fortress. His Reiatsu is blue. Prior to meeting Aizen, his spiritual power was unintentionally killing other Hollows just by being near them, even after splitting his spiritual energy. In his Resurrección, Starrk is powerful enough to defeat Love Aikawa and Rōjūrō Ōtoribashi, two captain-level Visored who were using their Hollowfication and Shikai, without too much effort once Starrk started fighting seriously.


 * : A technique used by Espada-level Arrancar, and sometimes others, to open a Garganta between the Human World and Hueco Mundo. He uses one to travel to the Fake Karakura Town.

Cero: His Cero is blue in color. While a standard ability for Arrancar, Starrk's abilities with it are very unique. As noted by Shunsui, unlike other Arrancar, he can apparently fire a Cero without a "fighting pose", meaning he can fire it without any warning from body gestures. Starrk can charge and fire it rather quickly, leaving even less time for his target to react. He can fire his Cero from various points on his body, such as from either hand, his chin, and his chest.

Highly Perceptive Combatant: Starrk is very detail-oriented when it comes to fighting. He notices his opponent's mannerisms, and discerns the reasons behind those actions and the weaknesses and strengths of his opponent. He can look at unfamiliar attacks and figure out how they work by just viewing them once.

Second Being

 * Unlike all other known Arrancar, Starrk's enormous power is not sealed in the form of a Zanpakutō. Instead, it is sealed in the form of another Arrancar, his own subordinate, Lilynette Gingerbuck, who, while a separate, distinct being, is an actual part of him.


 * Resurrección: The release command of Los Lobos is . When released, he wields two identical ornamental pistols. These pistols are actually Lilynette, for both pistols appear to house her body as well as her consciousness. She can speak through both pistols, and retains a sense of feeling via outside stimulus. Part of Lilynette's mask appears on his head, stretching from the back of his head around to the eyepiece on his left eye, with the flame pattern changing to emerge from the eyepiece and follow the mask fragment around to the back of his head. The mask itself is connected by two chains around his right eye. His Arrancar outfit changes drastically as well: his upper body is covered in a gray fur-lined jacket over a double-breasted vest, while his legs are covered in dark, skin-tight pants, with gray knee-high fur leggings covering his lower legs, and his arms are covered in gray, elbow-length fur armbands, which end at his wrists. There are ribbon-covered bandoleers emerging from his upper back and disappearing into his upper forearms. With fur-covered holsters, Starrk's released form resembles a Wild West gunslinger.


 * Resurrección Special Ability: Starrk's released form grants him new abilities and enhances his existing ones.


 * Enhanced Strength: While in his released form, Starrk is physically enhanced to the point where he can parry a powerful technique from Shunsui.


 * Enhanced Cero Firing: Starrk can fire Ceros from his guns. According to Shunsui, his right gun fires a much stronger Cero, while the left gun Ceros are weaker, but can be fired repeatedly at a much faster speed. He claims he can fire 1,000 of these Ceros at once.


 * Starrk uses his pistols to simultaneously unleash a powerful barrage of Ceros which, because of their density and grouping, appear to fuse together into one large Cero blast. He can change the direction of this attack while firing, making it extremely difficult to avoid.


 * Enhanced Hierro: Starrk's Hierro is enhanced in this form. After taking a direct hit from Love's immense Shikai, Tengumaru, and being sent crashing into the town below, Starrk ended up lying practically unharmed among the rubble while uttering only a halfhearted "ow" in response to the attack.


 * Starrk can summon spiritual energy swords from his bandoleers, which vaguely resemble the ordinary katana he wields in his sealed form, but with four curved prongs hanging off of the guard. He uses one, then two swords to combat Shunsui's dual-blade Shikai.


 * Wolves: Starrk can summon a large pack of wolves at the cost of his guns. The wolves are pieces of both Starrk's and Lilynette's soul and emerge from the bandoleers on Starrk's back. Under Starrk's command, the wolves hunt down their enemy and explode upon biting. Love compares them to flames because they reform from physical attacks. The wolves can also move through cracks and rubble. According to Starrk, the wolves are far deadlier than Cero. They can overwhelm two captain-level opponents simultaneously. (Unnamed)

Appearances in Other Media

 * Starrk appears in the video game Flame Bringer (along with Lilynette) as the final boss of survival mode, but he does not use his Resurrección, nor is he a playable character.
 * He appears in Heat the Soul 7 as a playable character, utilizing his chest-fired Cero as one of his attacks. He uses his Resurrección, Los Lobos, as one of his attacks, in which he releases (with Lilynette) and uses his spirit wolves to attack his opponents. His Cero is colored grey rather than blue.
 * In Soul Resurrección, he is playable in his Resurrección, using Cero Metralleta as his ultimate technique. In this game, his wolf-summoning technique, despite not having an official name, is called.
 * He features in the fourth volume of Bleach "B" Station's fifth season.
 * BuriCon - Bleach Concept Covers features Starrk performing "Orange", alongside Lilynette.
 * Starrk is playable in multiple forms in Bleach: Brave Souls, including in his Resurrección, Los Lobos. In this form, Starrk is a melee character with the "Heart" Attribute and the "Shinigami Killer" ability. His unlockable skills are "Adrenaline +20%", "Berserker +30%", "Bruiser +40%", "Devastation +40%", "Long Reach +20%, and "Sprinter +1", while his Soul Trait is "Normal Attack Damage +20%"; when Resurrected, his unlockable skills are "Adrenaline +20%", "Berserker +30%", "Bruiser +60%", "Devastation +40%", "Long Reach +20%", "Sprinter +1", and "Weaken Defense", while His Soul Traits are "Normal Attack Damage +20%", and "Damage Taken -12%". Meanwhile, his Arena Traits are "Damage Taken -10%" and "Focus +30", while his Arena Abilities other than "All Stats +5%" are "Normal Attack Damage +10%" at level 5 and "Normal Attack Damage +20%" at level 10. Starrk's special is, where he follows his wolves with a sword attack that inflicts immense damage to any enemy it hits.
 * Additionally, Starrk is also playable in his base form, drawing from the beginning of his battle against Shunsui Kyōraku. In this form, Starrk is a melee normal attack character with the "Heart" Attribute and the "Squad Zero Killer" ability; his first Strong Attack consists of him stabbing the enemy, while his second Strong Attack consists of him firing a Cero from his chin. He has two Innate Abilities built in at ★5: "Lacerate Duration -100%", and "Paralysis Duration -100%". His unlockable skills are "Party Heart Attribute Arrancar Strong Attack Damage +20%", "Berserker +50%", "Bruiser +60%", "Flurry +1", "Increased Mind Droplet Drop +17%", "Poise", and "Sprinter +2", while his Soul Trait is "Damage Taken -20%"; meanwhile, His Arena Traits are "Strong Attack Damage +13%" and "Focus +30", while his Arena Abilities other than "All Stats +5%" are "Strong Attack Damage +10%" at level 5 and "Strong Attack Damage +20%" at level 10. Starrk's special is, where he performs a high-speed flurry of strikes coupled with a Cero that inflicts immense damage.


 * Brave Souls also features a unique form for Starrk to commemorate the inclusion of the Can't Fear Your Own World light novel. Designed by Tite Kubo, this appearance mirrors Ulquiorra's own Hōgyoku-enhanced power, transcending Resurrección.
 * In this form, Starrk is completely shirtless save for a sleeveless vest and pants that are composed of jagged black Reiatsu, with flame-like blue Reiatsu emanating from his hips and thighs. He also wears long, dark gray gloves that have light gray lines running down the arm sections and only cover his middle fingers and thumbs. He now has a second Hollow hole on his abdomen, and both holes seem to contain a Hōgyoku and have cracks spreading over his torso, with his chest hole being filled with blue energy and his abdominal hole being filled with green; these Hollow holes each have a bandoleer of segmented Reiatsu that transitions from its color to that of the other hole as it stretches out behind Starrk and circle around, connecting to his guns as ammo.
 * Instead of an eyepatch, Starrk now has flame-like blue-black Reiatsu covering his left eye, as well as a red flame tattoo around it, and his right eye has red sclera and a thin black pupil. His hair, now gray, is hip-length and tied in an unkempt ponytail at the back, emanating blue-black Reiatsu from its tip. Starrk's pistols now resemble short, one-handed Henry rifles and are largely black, with the light gray-colored design of a crescent moon unleashing rays of light on the barrels and a stylized wolf skull at the base of the grip. He also wears knee-length heeled boots of a similar design and material, resembling assault rifles at the back and top, and which emanate blue-black Reiatsu from the base of the heels; Starrk can fire a Cero from the bottom of these heels.
 * In this form, Starrk is a ranged strong attack character with the "Technique" Attribute and the "Arrancar Killer" ability who has a chance to inflict Burn with every attack. His unlockable skills are "Bruiser +20%", "Debilitator +2 secs.", "Devastation +40%", "Fire Duration -100%", "Frenzy", "Havoc +20%", and "Sprinter +1", while his Soul Trait is "Strong Attack Recharge Time -12%". Starrk's special is, where he fires an enormous blue-green Cero from his twin guns that inflicts immense damage and Burn.

Trivia

 * Starrk's aspect of death is Solitude.
 * Starrk's name is derived from a French product designer named Philippe Starck.
 * The theme song that Kubo chose for Starrk is "Los Lobos" by the band Dragon Ash on their album Río de Emoción.
 * In the second best bout poll, Starrk's fight with Shunsui Kyōraku ranked 5th and his fight with Rōjūrō Ōtoribashi and Love Aikawa ranked 83rd.
 * When Starrk remembers his Espada comrades right before his death, Yammy Llargo does not appear in the flashback at all.
 * In Spanish, "Primera Espada" is a term referring to a very prominent bullfighting matador, but it can also refer to any person who excels in their profession.
 * In Starrk's original appearance with a sword, the sword is shown with an intricate handle.
 * The anime greatly extended Starrk's fight against Love Aikawa, Rōjūrō Ōtoribashi, and Shunsui Kyōraku, and altered how his wolves work. In the manga, Starrk uses all his wolves against Love and Rose, and Lilynette Gingerbuck seemingly disappears after merging with Starrk. In the anime, Starrk creates more wolves, and it is revealed that Lilinette still exists and can still communicate with Starrk. He uses those extra wolves against Shunsui, who discovers that he can make them explode mid-air using Bushōgoma. Also in the anime, Lilynette's soul resides in the wolves and she dies if all the wolves disappear; Lilynette in the anime dies by sacrificing herself to protect Starrk.

Quotes

 * (To Lilynette Gingerbuck after hearing about Aaroniero Arruruerie's death) "What do you want me to do about it?"


 * (To Orihime Inoue before taking her back to Sōsuke Aizen) "Sorry about this. To be honest, it's a pain for me too."


 * (About Lilynette) "The two of us are one and the same. Whilst when other Hollows became Arrancar, their Hollow powers separated into the form of 'body' and 'blade', we separated into two separate bodies. It is when we are reunited that our power is truly released."


 * (To Shunsui Kyōraku) "I've gone to the trouble of pulling out this damn release. I'm going to see your Bankai if I have to drag it out of you."


 * (To Lilynette) "Like I said, this ain't my thing. Let's just forget it. It's not like Aizen-sama feels like lending us a hand either. Those guys are strong. I get that already. No point fighting when it's just gonna mean more dying. So can we just go home and sleep now?"


 * (To Love Aikawa and Rōjūrō Ōtoribashi) "Ready to give it up? If you run, I'll let you go."


 * (To Love and Rose) "I see. Nothing for it, then. Not that I'm too fond of the idea, but I'll have to finish you off."


 * "Why do I have to fight with a strong guy like this? I always envied the weak. Whenever we made friends, their souls would waste away just from being near us. Because we were so alone, we split our soul in two. I don't know which was our original form. Or perhaps, it was neither. But this was the only way we had to escape from our isolation. I so envied the weak. The weak can always find others to be around. I want to be weak. And if that's impossible, I at least want to find companions who are as strong as I."


 * "I'm not alone. I'm not alone. I'm not alone any more..."

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