Espada

The are the top-ranked and most powerful Arrancar in Sōsuke Aizen's army of Hollow-Shinigami hybrids, serving as the primary rivals of the Gotei 13.

Outline
The Espada are comprised of ten Arrancar with exemplary strength. Members of the Espada are given a number from 0-9. Each Espada has a tattoo with their number somewhere on them, such as Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez, whose tattoo is on his lower back, and Coyote Starrk, whose tattoo is on the back of his left hand. Along with Sōsuke Aizen, Gin Ichimaru, and Kaname Tōsen, the Espada as a group possess comparable strength to Soul Society's Gotei 13 Shinigami captains.

Their immense amount of power and leadership status among the Arrancar also grants each Espada the authority to exert command over Aizen's other forces within Las Noches: the Números, the Exequias, and their own Fracción, chosen by them from the Números. Similar to the power gap between captains and lieutenants in the Gotei 13, the strength of the Espada far surpasses that of the average Número. Aizen himself is confident enough of his Espada's abilities to send them out on potentially hazardous missions, such as gathering information in the Real World, fighting Shinigami captains inside Las Noches and Karakura Town by themselves, and searching for Vasto Lorde.

Being Aizen's most direct subordinates (not counting Gin Ichimaru and Kaname Tōsen), the Espada are privy to several of Aizen's plans and most intimate secrets, such as his goals of destroying Karakura Town and creating the Ōken, and the location of the Hōgyoku within Las Noches. Aizen's respect for the Espada's abilities is reflected in his manner of addressing them, often referring to them as "my dear Espada" and sitting at the head of the same table with them while discussing the events around Hueco Mundo. According to Dordoni Alessandro Del Socaccio, though Aizen treats them as tools to do his bidding, he wanted to take back his position as an Espada to once again be close to Aizen. In accordance with this, Aizen was not at all distressed over the deaths of the Espada, and calmly congratulated the intruders in Las Noches for their victories against the Espada as he left for Karakura Town.

There seems to be a sort of hierarchy among the Espada; a higher-ranked member apparently can give orders to lower-ranked members. This is demonstrated when Aizen orders Ulquiorra Cifer to kidnap Orihime Inoue and Ulquiorra takes a team of lower-ranked Espada with him. Various missions usually involve one or more Espada operating together, with the most senior member exercising command over the others. While the lower-ranked members usually have little restraint in taking their own initiative (thus exceeding their orders), higher-ranked members usually stick to Aizen's commands, and are often the first to bail the others out of trouble, because, according to Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck, they wish to prevent the Espada from losing one of their own. However, Aizen's attitude toward the offending Espada members seems to be one of leniency, officially forgiving them (though not without severe sanctions) on the grounds that they are merely advancing his own wishes.

Aside from regularly appearing in Aizen's throne room and the debriefing room, the Espada are known to have their own quarters within Las Noches. Those that have been seen appear to have been modified to suit the specific Espada's taste. Szayelaporro Granz, for instance, possesses a large building that he refers to as his "palace", complete with a hidden, indestructible laboratory and a changing room. Zommari Rureaux has been shown on one occasion to await orders inside a meditation room. Coyote Starrk's room is designed along the lines of a lounging chamber, and Aaroniero Arruruerie's tower, accessed via a hanging bridge, effectively keeps out sunlight and contains nooks and crannies for hiding cushions and other implements whose purpose is to make his shape-shifting abilities more convincing.

According to Ulquiorra, any Espada ranked 4th or higher are not allowed to release their Zanpakutō within Las Noches, nor are any Espada allowed to discharge a Gran Rey Cero as both are powerful enough to destroy the majority of Las Noches.

After Aizen's defeat and the deaths of Starrk and Baraggan Louisenbairn, Tier Harribel became the ruler of Hueco Mundo. However, an empire called the Wandenreich appeared, and she was personally defeated by Yhwach and captured. The Quincy empire claimed Hueco Mundo as their dominion, as well as another foundation stone to invade Soul Society.

History
The creation of the Espada has long been one of Aizen's most important preoccupations. While it is not specified when the Espada were first brought together as a group, the original Espada were already in existence sometime before Aizen's defection from the Soul Society and acquisition of the Hōgyoku. Since then, the composition of the Espada has changed, both in membership and position.

At some point in the past Nnoitra Gilga was the 8th Espada with Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck as the 3rd Espada and Szayelaporro was not a member at all. During this time Aizen frequently sent the Espada out to search for the Vasto Lorde-class Menos.

Before his death, Aaroniero Arruruerie was the sole member of the current Espada who was also part of the first-generation Espada. He was also the only Arrancar from Gillian-class Menos stock to attain a position among the Espada.

Demotion
An Espada may be demoted from the group either when they lose strength or cease to be useful to Aizen, such as Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez after his left arm was cut off by Kaname Tōsen. In most cases, they will be demoted to the, who are former Espada that have officially lost their rank and are assigned a three-digit number.

Privaron Espada
The Privaron Espada are former Espada who have officially lost their rank and are assigned a three-digit number. Being former Espada, they are far stronger than the normal Números. They reside in. As mentioned by Dordoni Alessandro Del Socaccio, these former "naturally created" Espada were rendered obsolete after Aizen began artificially creating Arrancar to meet his own standards.

Espada exclusive Powers & Techniques

 * is a variant of the Gillian-exclusive ability Negación used to punish Arrancar subordinates by trapping them eternally in an alternate dimension. However, should the Caja Negación be used on an Espada, the Espada will eventually break out of the alternate dimension (usually within a few hours), due to their large amount of Reiatsu.


 * is a very strong Cero. To perform this potent variation of the Cero, the Arrancar first draws blood from the Cero-generating appendage using their Zanpakutō, then charges the Cero while mixing the blood with it. The result is a Cero with a much greater attack power and speed, as well as a change of color unique to the Espada. This attack was first used by Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez in order to incite Ichigo Kurosaki into donning his Hollow mask. Grimmjow refers to it as, "the ultimate Cero". According to Ulquiorra Cifer, it is forbidden for any of the Espada to perform Gran Ray Cero within Las Noches, as it could possibly destroy most of the enormous building.

Trivia

 * In the anime, when Shawlong Koufang describes the Espada, eleven silhouettes are shown, whereas in the manga there are only ten.
 * While he is not an Espada, Wonderweiss Margela is classified with Espada-level spiritual energy by Soul Society.

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