New Theory: Ichigo is the Spirit King

[hellbutterfly-x]

Navarre your post deserves rep. I just wrote all this stuff but it looks like you beat me to it.. I particularly agree with this interesting concept:

Originally Posted by Navarre

As for Ichigo being the Soul King, it's entirely possible. I'm not certain how far Kubo had the story planned out when he started writing it, but it may be that he thought of an ending early and has been dropping hints toward it this whole time.

A few problems I have right away are about Ichigo's birth. He was born as a human only a few years ago (in Shinigami time). Isshin seems to be his real father, with no reason to think otherwise. So, what does that mean for Ichigo being the Soul King? Does the Soul King undergo some kind of reincarnation cycle? Does he die? Did Ichigo lose him memory?

A theory I have to clear that up would involve the Soul King being killed around the same time as Ichigo's birth, that the Soul King reincarnates when it is killed, and that somehow Isshin knows this and had moved to the human world with Ichigo as a child to better ensure his safety and secrecy as he grew up and learned how to fight. This would also explain why Isshin, who doesn't seem to be any better a fighter than Ichigo, has such a powerful son that he has no hesitation to let Ichigo walk into dangerous, world-in-the-balance battles to the death day after day.

I’ll still voice some thoughts on this because I like the theory, and have often wondered if perhaps Kubo is going to end up giving us this kind of revelation in the end.

We already know the Soul king is the Linchpin and figurehead of Soul Society. The authority of this figurehead can even be taken so far, viewed or implied as the highest source of power that we know of. I mean, I’m not talking about who is the strongest from those we’ve been shown so far, but who is implied to be the strongest from who has been mentioned to us. Of course, there could be an equally opposing power, such as Buckbeard - but in terms of someone meeting that level, the burden will most likely fall to Ichigo.
Now if he is revealed as the Spirit king, it’s not a twist that I’ll be fond of seeing, but perhaps the mysteries surrounding Ichigo’s birth coincide with this.

This is probably a bad example, but perhaps the current Soul king is someone ruling in the true leaders stead, indifferent to the actions and occurrences of Soul Society. Perhaps Ichigo is the true owner of this title, and his powers were only re-awakened after a ‘chance encounter’ with Rukia and the Hogyoku.
The question would be: Why was there a need for this power or for him to be removed from its/his rightful place to begin with?

There are numerous scenario’s one could come up with, but if not the Soul king then I think Ichigo’s bloodline will be important at least. We still have no idea about the true identities of Masaki and Isshin or their families. Ichigo has always been an anomaly - the amount of reiatsu he holds, his hollow, human and shinigami facets, the ability he has to quickly succeed one level of power after another.

Or in argument of this theory one could say Ichigo is not the Soul King, but someone who has been prepped the entire time to ultimately defeat him? I’ll stop the rant there - but the theory is interesting. You could be onto something with this Marco, who knows.

[Navarre]

It is entirely possible that Ichigo could or could not be the Spirit King. Unfortunately, there's just not enough information to draw any kind of proper conclusion yet.

Another issue that I've thought of while looking back on these posts is how the members of Soul Society seem to think that the Spirit King is in another dimension. Aizen would have had to create the King's Key just to reach him, and Captains get promoted to join the advanced squad tasked with defending the Soul King against invaders.

It is entirely possible that the current figurehead is just a stand-in. With that possibility in mind, it's going to be even harder to pinpoint anything exact in this theory. Even if they reveal a Soul King, he might not be real, and even if Ichigo is told he isn't the Soul King, it might be a lie. I always end up saying this, but we'll just have to wait and look to see if Kubo drops more clues as we get closer to some real answers.

[MarcoPR1]

You see I disagree... Ichigo is the perfect example of the Spirit King...

If we look at what's been insinuated then there are a mountain of interesting qualifiers that make Ichigo the one that fits while others don't.

First off, his name... the translation fits within the dynamic... as I stated earlier... I'm not going to rehash it, but think about the relevance of naming him that specifically...

Secondly, the nature of his birth... its not that he's supposedly human, but that his birth is defined as special. Why? a former shinigami lost of power and a Quincy doesn't make a child special... neither do two former, powerless shinigami... His birth is defined as special... So what's so special about a Shinigami and a human getting together, and wouldn't that make his twin sisters special as well... when their births aren't mentioned as such... Ichigo's spiritual ability is beyond both his sisters ability...FAR beyond their ability... and they all bear the same parents so what makes him so special...

My point is, Ichigo's soul isn't normal... but it IS related to his father's as we have seen, otherwise Isshin couldn't have been able to tell Ichigo how to get where he needed to go in the Dangai training... which means that perhaps Isshin is related to the in more ways than one to royalty...

Thirdly, Ichigo is the only shinigami who bears naturally, Hollow reiatsu that may be of the same level...which does not imbalance him...he's a vizard...

Look at the title... Spirit King... look at what Urahara said about the Spirit King, he/it is the lynchpin. To me, it is the link between the two worlds... which means that the Spirit King exists in both worlds... Which Ichigo does... He wiped out Ulquiorra with his Vizard form using Zangetsu... and is friends with Espada...just as he is friends with Shinigami... The only one of his kind...

Ichigo, fights for both realms as if they should exist... who would do that?

And he is the only one who can...he has the power and the ability to do so in both realms... and there isn't anyone able to stop him once he has decided to do so...

Think about it... Ichigo is the Spirit King...the moment they cut his soul from his body all those pages ago, they showed the Spirit King... we just didn't know it...

All we saw was the human we thought he was...and there were so many more identifiers along the way...

[WhiteOgihci]

if ichigo is the soul king and there's a 0 division dedicated to protecting the soul king, i would've thought you'd have seen the intervention of the 0 division in life-or-death situations, namely when ulquiorra killed ichigo.

ichigo =/= soul king

[xArcher]

Does seem very possible, but I was leaning towards Ichigo being the son of the Spirit King...meaning Isshin..The Spirit King was suppose to be hidden away as a protective sort of reason right? What if he just stayed in karakura town and raised a family, nobody would have suspected that. Not even Aizen..I dunno xD So many possibilities it seems like we may have to wait quite a while before finding out the Spirit King's identity...If Tite Kubo reveals his identity.

[TensaZangetsu54]

This theory is most accurate to my theory of ichigo becoming the spirit king

[respectyoda]

MarcoPR1, your theory can be easily debunked because Ichigo is NOT the Spirit King in any way, shape, or form.

(1) If this was the case then why is the Royal Guard not protecting Ichigo?

(2) Doesn't the Spirit King residing in the Royal Realm?

(3) Aizen would have known Ichigo is the Spirit King if it was the case and he wouldn't need to make the Ouken key.

(4) Here's a picture from Chapter 421 that might be the face of the Soul King.

 Spoiler: click to show

(5th panel - rightmost section)

[Jason369]

first of all I'd like to say that this is a great theory it is ridiculous that anyone even thought of this, much respect to MarcoPR1 on this one

anyway as for respectyoda I believe your own post kinda gives more proof as to why Ichigo could be the spirit king

Originally Posted by respectyoda

(4) Here's a picture from Chapter 421 that might be the face of the Soul King.

 Spoiler: click to show

(5th panel - rightmost section)

I'm gonna start by answering this one first since I have to refer to it for the first and third question, anyway if I recall correctly there were only three in that scene what if what Aizen saw was actually the king who resides within Ichigo

(1) If this was the case then why is the Royal Guard not protecting Ichigo?

Well the thing is who is to say they aren't, I mean who's to say Ishin or maybe even Urahara aren't members of the royal guards themselves, I mean for starters they've both only been using a fraction of their strength and if Urahara actually saw that image and knew what it was he could be one and then how much do we know about Ishin anyway

(2) Doesn't the Spirit King residing in the Royal Realm?

I can't really answer this one completely but there's any number of things that could have made the the king leave the royal realm such as maybe he is in hiding while his power is returning or something, at least that's what I believe

(3) Aizen would have known Ichigo is the Spirit King if it was the case and he wouldn't need to make the Ouken key.

This ones simple.. Aizen he only realized it at that very moment

[respectyoda]

Originally Posted by Jason369

I'm gonna start by answering this one first since I have to refer to it for the first and third question, anyway if I recall correctly there were only three in that scene what if what Aizen saw was actually the king who resides within Ichigo

There is no concrete proof that the king resides within Ichigo. It has been stated that the spirit king resides in a realm WITHIN SS. Since this statement is true, the realm isn't within Ichigo. Hence, your theory is invalid.

Originally Posted by Jason369

Well the thing is who is to say they aren't, I mean who's to say Ishin or maybe even Urahara aren't members of the royal guards themselves, I mean for starters they've both only been using a fraction of their strength and if Urahara actually saw that image and knew what it was he could be one and then how much do we know about Ishin anyway

Again, your argument is full of holes. Haven't you been reading the manga? The Royal Guard resides in the Royal Realm. The Royal Realm is in a separate dimension within SS. Hence, Urahara and Isshin are NOT part of the Royal Guard. Isshin COULD have been an ex-Royal Guard member. That still remains to be seen.

I can't really answer this one completely but there's any number of things that could have made the the king leave the royal realm such as maybe he is in hiding while his power is returning or something, at least that's what I believe[/quote]

You claim the Spirit King is hiding? Why does he need to hide if he's safe in his realm? What you believe has no proof to back it up. At best, its a very very very weak theory.

[MarcoPR1]

Here's the thing Yoda, (man I love your name...lol) Ichigo is protected by the Captain of the Royal Guard, should you believe that Isshin is a captain (which we know to be true since we've seen his shinigami outfit) whoelse is necessary to defend him than what is likely the strongest captain outside of the G13?

That besides the point that there are 2 other Captains within his area at any given time...Urahara and lady Yoruichi, both likely part of the noble clans...

The problem is belief. How is it that Soul Society doesn't incorporate the real world? Especially since the "King" doesn't exist in the SS, he exists outside of SS in another dimension... Isn't the real world in another dimension?

Like I said belief is the issue... Ichigo's birth was termed "special"... how so? How is it a spiritual being like Isshin has a child with a human? Certainly that can be considered special, but given that he was a captain, what led to his meeting Ichigo's mother and him dropping his position for nothing? We've seen Isshin's nature... he's loyal to a fault... the likelihood of him disregarding his station is unlikely, especially when it comes to family...

so to me, the above reasoning falls by the wayside... Isshin has to dump his position for purpose that goes beyond personal...even if personal is part of the deal...

which to me means that the king was injured and Isshin did something along with others, that gave something up when the time was capable of it.... ie, the hogyoku was created...

At any rate, the point I'm making is that that "special" birth about Ichigo comes from the fact that he's the child of the two reiatsu's the world knows about... the ones found conveniently offered by the Hogyoku made by Aizen or Urahara... and Ichigo was born with both...

Funny that... The spirit king just happens to have both in my opinion... it's why Aizen tried to use both, and failed to Ichigo... who naturally had more...

Anyway, to me, it's been showing slowly... the inner aspect just giving interesting perspectives on how Ichigo looks at himself, until the dangai training showed a perspective Ichigo never even noticed...

Completely different guy, after that...even now...

Just my thoughts on that....