User blog comment:Xilinoc/Ch. 615 - All is Lost/@comment-10630156-20150213131326/@comment-26091912-20150216094748

"Anyway is anyone else getting an odd feeling that the Soul King has manipulated a few events up till now?"

Well, it was hinted on the second page of this chapter that he has.

My personal take on the whole situation is: Ukitake may have transferred the Soul King's soul or 'kami' into his own body (via his Zanpakuto, may also explain why he's bandaged up). We don't really know the true nature of his Zanpakuto. Perhaps the "Law of the Twin Fish" correlates with the "Twin Pupils", also the 5 charms could represent the 5 defining characteristics of Kami of the Shinto belief system. Just a theory.