Summary
The following contains spoilers for BLEACH: Thousand-Year Blood War Part, available onHuluandDisney+.
One of the best things about episode 11 ofBLEACH: Thousand-Year Blood War Part 2,“Too Early to Win, Too Late to Know"is the introduction of a character that turns out to be a deeply important element within the plot from this point onwards, but also on a large scale in theBLEACHplot leading up to this point.
Pernida Parnkgjas is a deeply mysterious Quincy whose true identity is part of the dark history of the lore of theBLEACHuniverse; of what motivated the actions of the plot-warping antagonist that is Sosuke Aizen. What exactly do those beady eyes see as they peer out from the darkness of his hoodie? Just who or what is Pernida, and what abilities are granted to them/it because of the assigned Schrift C – The Compulsory?
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Father, Hold Your Hand
Pernida Parnkgjas has only been seen hooded up until this point, and wears a long cloak that covers their whole body, while their face is obscured by the intense shadow cast by their hood, but a pair of glowing beady eyes can always be seen peering at the world. Pernida is part of Yhwach’s Royal Guard, and has had minimal appearances up until this point. Pernida’s voice is not heard by non-Quincies, so when it scoffs at the giant soldiersummoned by Shutara Senjumaru, Lille Barro serves as a brief intermediary who passes on Pernida’s comment that the enemy was just big for show. It’s only somewhat true that we haven’t seen Pernida uncloaked; however, we actually see what Pernida really looks like in the first scene of “Too Early to Win, Too Late to Know”. During Ichibe Hyosube’s visit to the Lichtreich prior to the first Quincy Blood War 1000 years ago, the monk’s attempt to deceive Yhwach into a non-aggression pact between Shinigami and Quincies led to a brief clash between them, with Hyosube revealing a giant pale-skinned left arm that had an eye in its palm with two irises – like Yhwach at the time.
This was Pernida’s true form – it is the sentientLeft Hand of the Soul Kingwhich is the governor of the very concept of progress. In anticipation of aggression, Hyosube had infused the Soul King’s Left Hand and used it on Yhwach when he activated his omni-precognitive ability, The Almighty. With Pernida’s abilities, Hyosube was able to seal away Yhwach’s most powerful ability until his death; however, the appendage would be freed from the Shinigami as a result of contact with Yhwach’s Blut. From there, the arm would join Yhwach’s ranks and become a Sternritter, because it fully identifies as a Quincy. Pernida and Gerard Valkyrie are the only Sternritter whose powers weren’t granted to them by Yhwach, but were available to them from the start, and this is because both of them are body parts of the Soul King which have gained sentience. As such, Yhwach’s Schrift assignment is more of an acknowledgment of their abilities, with Pernida being C – The Compulsory; an allusion to the concept of evolution that it embodies.
Cornerstone of Sin
The Soul King is the anchor of all three worlds inBLEACH, but was not always such an entity. In the beginning, the Soul King was a composite being: a Quincy, Shinigami, Hollow, and there was no regulated flow of souls between one plane and the next as there is now. The Soul King foresaw a scenario in which five individuals would butcher and mutilate him, using his body as a linchpin of worlds yet to be formulated. In dismembering the Soul King, these five, who are the ancestors of the five Clans that came to be known asthe Five Great Noble Clans of the Soul Society, they ensured that he would remain in suspended animation by severing his arms, which governed the very principles of progress and stagnation respectively, which would essentially leave him in a position where he is perpetually in a dying state but unable to die, nor revive himself or heal. The Left Hand of the Soul King is the very embodiment of the concept of all change, evolution, transformation, metamorphosis, movement, progression, development, forward movement (no matter how abstract).
Schrift C – The Compulsory works through Pernida’s use of nerves that are permanently exposed, and can extend towards the opponent’s body, enabling it to control the enemy and even completely destroy them in an instant. The control ability can also extend to inorganic material, enabling Pernida to warp the shapes of inanimate objects to its will. Unlike the majority of Sternritter, Pernida’s The Compulsory is not an ability granted to it by Yhwach, but an inherent characteristic of it as the sentient Left Hand/Arm of the Soul King. The Schrift is an acknowledgment of the being’s nature and recognition of the significance of Pernida’s abilities.
Quincy: Vollständig
In the finale that combined episode 25, “The Master”, and 26, “BLACK”,Yhwach activated the Auswählenand redistributed the military might to himself and his Elite Guard, reviving his downed comrades. They each activated their Vollständig, which in the case of Pernida, materialized a pair of wings that looked like a pair of simple hands of yellow/gold reishi, which may be an allusion to Pernida’s true identity. As the governor of evolution, Pernida is also prone to rapid adaptation to combat situations, and because it is a Quincy, it also has access to the quintessential Quincy weapon: the Heilig Bogen. The upcomingBLEACH: Thousand-Year Blood War Part 3 – The Conflictwill feature Pernida in a much more significant role than it has been in thus far, and we will be able to better see the overwhelming power that can be found in a sole appendage of theBLEACHuniverse’s most important entity.
