Tier Harribel

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

Appearance
Harribel has dark skin (notably lighter in the anime), 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 (in the anime, the remnants are extended to cover the underside of her breasts due to censorship). 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 Captain-Commander 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 Town arc
When Aizen, Ichimaru, and Tōsen invade the Human World, Aizen also brings Starrk, Barragan, Harribel, and their Fracción. Once Aizen, Ichimaru, and Tōsen are trapped by Yamamoto's Shikai, Barragan himself assumes command and threateningly warms the other Arrancar he won't tolerate disobedience. Once all 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 Captain Tōshirō Hitsugaya, while his lieutenant, Rangiku Matsumoto fights all three of her Fracción. During battle, she senses fluctuations in Hitsugaya's spiritual pressure as soon as Momo Hinamori appears to aid his lieutenant. Harribel questions her opponent on this, but Hitsugaya replies with a swift attack.

When her Fracción, Apache, Mila-Rose, and Sun-Sun, are effortlessly defeated at the hands of Captain-Commander Yamamoto, she ups her tactics against Hitsugaya. She says of her fallen subordinates that they fought a good battle. She then unzips her jacket, revealing her rank as the Tres Espada, third most powerful in Aizen's army. Hitsugaya finds it difficult to believe someone so strong happens only to be the third strongest of the Espada, but Harribel starkly warns him she hasn't yet begin to show him the extent of her power. She unzips the rest of her jacket to reveal the frightening remains of her mask covering the lower half of her face. Acknowledging the seriousness of this fight against such a powerful opponent, Hitsugaya activates his Bankai, but Harribel counters by directly charging at him.

After using her Proyectil Azul attack to injure Hitsugaya, Harribel decides to put a quick end to the battle and releases her zanpakutō with the command "Attack, Tiburón". She is enveloped in a cocoon of water and emerges in her Resurrección form, equipped with a dangerously large sword-like weapon. Hitsugaya thinks it would be fatal to underestimate her now, but before he can even react she delivers a seemingly fatal blow by slicing off the right side of his body from his shoulder. Believing her enemy defeated, she says "One blow from the Shark, and the Ice Dragon sinks into the sea.".

Seeing Yamamoto on the side of battle, she approaches him and threatens to exact her revenge against him for taking the lives of her subordinates. Suddenly however, Hitsugaya appears behind her unharmed and nearly lands a fatal blow to her head, but she ducks and manages to slice off his ice tail. Wondering how her opponent survived unharmed, Hitsugaya explains he made an illusion of his image out of ice as a precaution once she released, this ice clone being what she struck down. Hitsugaya then tells Harribel to not underestimate the power of the Shinigami.

As their fight ensues, Harribel reveals her release form has the ability to create and manipulate water, which she uses as a long-range weapon by sending raging torrents at Hitsugaya, but he simply freezes them with his sword before they strike. He tells her that his Zanpakutō is the most powerful ice-type sword, and all water is his weapon, so none of her attacks will ever reach him. Hitsugaya sends Harribel's torrent of water rushing back towards her as ice, and she tells him it is he who is underestimating her. She melts his ice and explains the iron law of battle: when a fighter can use their opponent's attack against them, the opposite is also true. She sends Hitsugaya's melted attack back at him in a massive torrent of crushing water.

Hitsugaya, however, freezes most of the water before it can crush him. He sends shards of ice at Harribel, but she quickly melts them. Hitsugaya appears behind her and converts the water into ice, which manages to freeze her, though she breaks free quickly. He tells her another law of battle, that one faces the greatest danger when one uses their best attack. She sends jets of water at him, but he dodges. She releases a Cero from her sword, but it's a weak attack and only nicks one of his ice wings. He concludes that the reason her Cero was so weak is because both of them are waiting for the battlefield to become filled with condensation, from this he states that when that happens, Harribel will likely use the opportunity to finish him off with one massive blow.

Hitsugaya grows tired of waiting and states that he has never tried one of Hyōrinmaru's special abilities in his Bankai before. He explains that he doesn't have to wait for water, as his sword is the most powerful ice-based Zanpakutō, and all water is his weapon and all of heaven is under his command. He then reveals his never-before-seen power, Hyōten Hyakkasō. The sky becomes filled with dark storm clouds, and Harribel looks up and wonders what is going on. Hitsugaya asks her name, to which she replies: Tia Harribel. Hitsugaya then states his name and rank before attacking. A hole in the sky opens, and snow begins to fall. Harribel attempts to melt the snow with her sword, but the moment her sword touches the snow, ice flowers begin to bloom on her body. As she is quickly encased in ice, Hitsugaya calmly tells her that once all one hundred ice flowers have bloomed, she will die. He then states that she won't be able to avenge her underlings after all. The one hundred ice flowers encase Harribel in a gigantic ice-flower obelisk.

Once Wonderweiss Margera arrives, he lets out a high pitched scream which shatters the ice holding her. She rises from the ice obelisk without any noticeable sign of injury and gives a cold stare to the shocked Hitsugaya.

As Hitsugaya is contemplating the words of Sajin Komamura about fighting alongside the newly arrived Vizard, Harribel goes to attack him while his back is turned, although he still notices her. However, before she can strike Hitsugaya, the Vizard Lisa Yadōmaru suddenly appears above her and blocks her sword while another Vizard, Hiyori Sarugaki, appears next to her and pushes her back. While Hiyori and Hitsugaya were arguing about who was shorter, Lisa Yadōmaru suddenly charged at Harribel. She is then seen blocking an attack from Lisa and states that she thought that the three of them would come at her at once. .

After Starrk's death, she continues to fight Lisa, Hitsugaya, and Hiyori. When Lisa and Hiyori summons their hollow masks, activate their Shikais and attack Harribel together with Hitsugaya, Harribel easily push them back after a couple of clashes. However, Aizen, who had taken notice the fight, then suddenly appears in front of Harribel. Harribel, looking shocked at Aizen, questions his actions, but Aizen only responds with a simple smile and slashes Harribel across her midsection, claiming that he is done with her, as it appears that she is not strong enough to fight for him. Aizen then states that after all of the trouble he went through to gather the Espada that he never imagined that he alone would be more powerful than the lot of them. Retaliating, Harribel stabs Aizen through his chest, but, without his expression changing, he says that dealing with her would be troublesome. Harribel is then stabbed from behind by Aizen, as Harribel only attacked an illusion. Aizen states that he will never allow her to raise her sword against him again and withdraws his sword, with Harribel plummeting into the city below.

Powers & Abilities
Harribel is the Tres 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. She is easily able to see through a person's demeanor to determine what they are thinking about. During the battle between Ichigo and Grimmjow, she noted how similar the two were, especially in terms of energy signatures. Her keen intellect and intuition is later seen in the initial fight with Histugaya, being able to see through his icy demeanor and identify his concern for his Lieutenant.

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. 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.

Sonído Master: Harribel has demonstrated incredible speed in battle, initially able to outmaneuver Hitsugaya to the point of forcing him almost completely on the defensive.

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. 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. Her spiritual power is yellow.

Enhanced Pesquisa: The Arrancar ability to sense spiritual energy. While any Arrancar can learn it, Harribel has shown impressive skill with it. She was able to sense a small wavering in Hitsugaya's Spiritual Pressure after the arrival of Hinamori upset him.

Zanpakutō
. In its sealed state, Harribel's Zanpakutō, while not particularly long, is unusually wide and has the distinction of being completely hollow in the middle; essentially 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 yellow 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.


 * 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 pata, which resembles an elongated shark's tooth, featuring an unusual hilt with a hand guard that completely covers the hand. The sword also possesses what appears to be gill markings along either side of 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. The water used for her attacks is generated by the gill-markings on the blade.


 * Harribel points her blade out and instantly boils any form of water that comes into contact with it, including ice.
 * Harribel launches a rushing surge of water at her enemy. The torrent of high pressure water is large enough to cover several town blocks.


 * Harribel is able to condense large amounts of water around her blade before firing it as a blast in the form of a shark tooth, fitting with her Zanpakutō's name. She has also demonstrated the ability to fire multiple blasts in rapid succession with relative ease. The blasts strike with enough force to demolish houses.

Fracción
Harribel's Fracción consists of three female Arrancar, all presumed dead or incapacitated at this time. She seemingly holds them in high regard as she wishes to avenge them.


 * 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

 * Due to censorship, Harribel's design was modified slightly between the anime and manga. The anime has her outfit covering more of her breasts. During the revealing of her Espada rank tattoo in the anime, the remnants of Harribel's hollow mask are extended to cover the underside of her breasts.
 * Interestingly, both Nelliel and Tia Harribel were the Tres Espada, are female, share certain personality traits, and actually cared about their Fracción, who work together by combining their Cero blasts into one. In addition, their attacks are named after weapons and colors, although the spiritual power emitted by that attack is different from the name, with Lanzador Verde being violet instead of green and Proyectil Azul being yellow instead of blue.
 * Harribel is one of the Arrancar to retain a type of weapon after her Resurrección. She shares this trait with Coyote Starrk, Barragan Luisenbarn, Nelliel Tu Oderschvank, Ulquiorra Cifer, Nnoitra Jiruga, Aaroniero Arruruerie, Rudobōn and Mila-Rose.
 * Harribel's aspect of death is Sacrifice.
 * She and Patros are the only Arrancar whose Zanpakutō has been shown to have a special technique in its unreleased state.
 * Harribel introduces herself as Tres (three) Espada, instead of Tercera (third).
 * Harribel and Coyote Starrk are the only Espada that were introduced by their last name.
 * Harribel is the only Espada to be betrayed by Sōsuke Aizen.

Quotes

 * "Attack, Tiburón!"
 * (To Barragan Luisenbarn) "You're being disrespectful to Aizen-sama, Barragan."
 * (To Apache, Mila Rose, and Sun-Sun) "Ladies, despite their appearances, they are captain level...don't let your guard down and attack them at full strength from the start."
 * (To Tōshirō Hitsugaya) "This is a captain's strength? Apache and the others lost to this?"
 * (To Tōshirō Hitsugaya) "You are no match for me."
 * "One blow from the shark and the ice dragon sinks into the sea."
 * (To Genryūsai Yamamoto Shigekuni) "You're next. I'll make you pay for taking their lives."
 * (To Tōshirō 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."

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