The Quincy are a group of human beings gifted with the power to sense the presence of Hollows and other souls. They have a potent historical animosity with the Shinigami as they were killed off in large numbers two centuries back. They’re considered to be the exact opposites to Shinigami as their approaches to spiritual beings differs.
The Quincy have the power to manipulate spiritual energy (called Reishi), accumulate them, and use them as weapons against enemies. They have a host of other innovative techniques like Shadow, Blut, Ginto, Ransotengai, and Vollständig. Similar to the Shinigami’s Shunpo technique, the Quincy can also use Hirenkyaku, which allows them to move around rapidly.
History of the Quincy
The Quincy had a drastically different approach to dealing with the problem of Hollows. The Shinigami go through the trouble of purifying their souls with their Zanpakutou and send them to Seireitei. However, the Quincy exterminate the Hollows entirely and don’t give troubled souls a second chance.
This approach disturbed the shaky balance of the two worlds of Soul Society or Seireitei and Human world. This led to the human world bearing the burden of having too many souls. This could potentially lead to the blending of the two worlds, which made Soul Society extremely worried.
However, Yhwach claims that life and death or the human and Soul Society worlds aren’t different. Though there were repeated negotiations between the Quincy and Shinigami, the Quincy refused to back down. This led to a huge battle between the two after which the Quincy were reduced to a small minority.
The Wandenreich
The Wandenreich, led by Yhwach and his captain-level Sternritter, emerged after a long period of hiding in the shadows of Soul Society. This arc will be explored in Season 17 of Bleach anime.
These Sternritter have been equipped with new powers like that of the ability to steal the Bankais of many captains. The Bankais of Byakuya Kuchiki and Toshiro Hitsugaya were unfortunately stolen in this manner.
